Spittin’ Chiclets Episode 534: Featuring Jake Middleton, Jay Pandolfo & a Mystery Detective

Summary

Spittin’ Chiclets Episode 534: Featuring Jake Middleton, Jay Pandolfo & a Mystery Detective

Release Date: December 3, 2024

Introduction

In Episode 534 of Spittin’ Chiclets, hosted by Barstool Sports’ Ryan Whitney and Paul Bissonnette, along with Mike Grinnell, the trio delves into a mix of intense personal experiences and in-depth NHL analysis. This episode stands out with the inclusion of special guests Jake Middleton and Jay Pandolfo, alongside a suspenseful segment featuring a mystery detective investigating a disturbing incident.

1. The Houston’s Incident and Legal Aftermath

The episode kicks off with Biz Nasty (Fran from Chicks in the Office) promoting Abercrombie’s holiday collection and High Noon Tequila. However, the focus quickly shifts to a harrowing personal experience shared by Biz Nasty.

At [03:16], Biz Nasty recounts a violent altercation with a group of Irish travelers outside a Houston’s restaurant. He describes being knocked out and assaulted, leading to a grainy surveillance video capturing the incident. Biz reveals that four individuals—John Carroll, Sean Daly, Henry Mesker, and Edward Jennings—were arrested in connection with the assault. He expresses frustration over the individuals being released without bail, exacerbated by their affluent lifestyles and continuous scamming activities.

Notable Quote:

"I want them getting everything that's coming to them. These people are scum of the earth." — Biz Nasty [14:26]

2. Interview with Detective Dale

To shed light on the ongoing investigation, the hosts bring in Detective Dale at [17:44]. Detective Dale provides insights into the Irish travelers’ criminal activities, detailing their scam operations involving fake addresses and fraudulent businesses. He highlights the challenges law enforcement faces in tracking and apprehending these individuals due to their sophisticated methods of evading capture.

Key Insights:

• The Irish travelers are involved in various scams, including roofing and asphalt companies.
• They frequently move between towns, making it difficult to build substantial legal cases against them.
• Detective Dale emphasizes the need for broader law enforcement efforts to dismantle these networks effectively.

Notable Quote:

"They have this whole scheme. They're professionals at what they do. They have legit fake IDs." — Detective Dale [24:40]

3. Transition to NHL Analysis

Shifting gears, the hosts dive into current NHL season performances, discussing surprising team standings and player performances. They highlight Washington’s unexpected top position in the East despite their struggles with goal differentials last year. The conversation underscores the unpredictable nature of the season and the impact of strategic player acquisitions.

Notable Quote:

"They were one of the worst goal differentials to make playoffs... now they're at the top of the East." — Biz Nasty [42:35]

4. Guest Interview: Jake Middleton

The latter half of the episode features an in-depth interview with Jake Middleton, a rising NHL player. Jake shares his journey from junior hockey to the NHL, detailing the challenges of being traded and adapting to new teams. He discusses his passion for motorcycles, providing a glimpse into his life off the ice.

a. Early Career and Challenges Jake reflects on his late draft pick and initial struggles in the AHL before making his mark in the NHL. He recounts being traded to Minnesota and how it transformed his career, highlighting the supportive team environment and strong locker room chemistry.

Notable Quote:

"I made the team out of nowhere... I owe a lot to San Jose. That's a tremendous opportunity to win two Stanley Cups." — Jake Middleton [85:38]

b. Balancing Personal Life and Professional Demands Jake opens up about balancing fatherhood with his professional career, sharing humorous anecdotes about diaper changes and the challenges of being a new parent. His dedication to both his family and his sport showcases the multifaceted life of an NHL player.

Notable Quote:

"I let my wife sleep this morning, and I got the morning poo out of the way and all by myself." — Jake Middleton [87:56]

c. Coaching Insights and Player Development Drawing from his past as a player under legendary coaches, Jake discusses the importance of communication and accountability in coaching. He emphasizes the need for patience and consistent effort in developing young players, contrasting it with the often impatient nature of today’s athletes.

Notable Quote:

"Making sure they know where they stand... that's a huge part of it." — Ryan Whitney [182:28]

5. Hockey Strategy and Player Performances

The hosts continue their analysis by discussing standout players and team strategies across the league. They commend players like Sam Reinhardt for their exceptional performance and leadership, debating his candidacy for awards like the Norris Trophy.

Notable Quote:

"He is the best Russian I've ever met. He's a tremendous player." — Jake Middleton [116:33]

6. Closing Remarks and Future Episodes

As the episode wraps up, the hosts tease upcoming content, including interviews with legendary players like Steve Thomas and Darcy Tucker. They also promote future events and encourage listeners to subscribe to their YouTube channel for exclusive content.

Conclusion

Episode 534 of Spittin’ Chiclets masterfully blends personal narratives with expert sports analysis, offering listeners a comprehensive and engaging experience. From the chilling recount of the Houston’s assault to insightful discussions on NHL dynamics and inspiring stories from Jake Middleton, this episode delivers a compelling mix of emotion and expertise.

Notable Final Quote:

"The spirit is so hard to break. Even if I go away, I don't know any other way." — Biz Nasty [203:04]

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Note: All timestamps are approximate and correspond to the transcript provided.

Transcript

[Biz Nasty]

Hey Spit and Chicklets listeners.

[Ryan Whitney]

You can find every episode on Apple podcasts, Spotify or YouTube Prime. Members can listen ad free on Amazon Music.

[Biz Nasty]

Hey, this is Fran from Chicks in the Office. I can't wait to get dressed up for the holidays in Abercrombie's newest party collection. There's nothing more motivating to make plans when it's cold out than a hot outfit. I love a sparkly skirt and sweater combo for date night and you might just see me in a sequined dress for New Year's.

[Wit]

Abercrombie has tons of coats and jackets.

[Biz Nasty]

To layer over your party looks too. And we can't forget to plug their scarlet mini skort. It's the skirt of the season. Leave it to Abercrombie to set the outfit vibe, so make a night of it. Shop Abercrombie's newest party looks online and in store.

[Wit]

Bring the FIESA anywhere you go with the all new High Noon Tequila Seltzer Fiesta Pack.

[Biz Nasty]

This variety eight pack features two new Tequila flavors, Blood Orange and Prickly Pear, alongside two tequila favorites, Grapefruit and Lime. All are made with real tequila and.

[Wit]

Real juice, perfect for any fiesta. Find the High Noon Tequila Seltzer Fiesta.

[Biz Nasty]

Pack nearest you@highn spirits.com Please sun sip responsibly. Copyright 2024 High Noon Spirits Co. Modesto, CA.

[Wit]

All rights reserved.

[Ryan Whitney]

Me and Ryan have been officially welcomed to the jungle that is Bar Stool.

[Wit]

Sports Our white whale, Sydney Crosby. Shave his head.

[Ryan Whitney]

Shave his head.

[Biz Nasty]

Shave his head.

[Wit]

Ryan Whitney Pa Mike Grittin Chicklets what is up folks? Welcome to episode 534 of the Spit and Chicklets podcast. We have a very special episode today. A lot to catch up with Biz on and his life and this madness that is surrounding the Irish travelers. We got Thanksgiving. A wonderful holiday we all enjoyed. We got teams in the playoffs as of Thanksgiving, out of the playoffs. Tough to make if you're not in right Right now we got a bunch of story lines, but first we got to talk about Pink Whitney. This podcast is presented by Pink Whitney. It's on the Bar Stool Sports Podcast family and Pink Whitney. Guys, this fall, this winter, Pink Whitney is the go to shot for a new generation of drinkers. They've launched the Birdie Buckets, the party buckets, 2050 milliliter pink Whitney bottles in fun convenient bucket packaging. Just add ice and enjoy it. It combines the excitement of shots with the convenience of a multi pack format, making it the perfect accessory for fall tailgates and game days. And Pink Whitney will Also be selecting one grand prize winner and sending them and a few of their friends to a trip in Nashville. Come on down Nashville for a weekend of Pink Whitney filled fun. Pink Whitney will also be selecting 11 contest winners that will receive limited edition Pink Whitney western merch. All they have to do is follow the prompts online. Enter by December 15th. That's pink whitney.com Nashville to learn more Biz. How you doing buddy? What's going on, man?

[Biz Nasty]

You think the Scottsdale six were crushing Pink Whitney nips on the golf course?

[Wit]

I hope not. I really hope. They seem like maybe those the other side. The dark side begins.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah, maybe some key tokes. Yeah, yeah. And acid. Acid tabs.

[Wit]

Yeah. Like, oh no, we don't want any Pink Whitney. Just give us crack and then we can go around sucker punching people.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah, I've seen, I've seen guys fight on cocaine and these guys were definitely on cocaine, I'd have to say. I mean I use the term whirlwind. This last week has been a whirlwind for old busy boy here and a lot has happened since I last came on this podcast to talk about went down. And the good news wit is based on my recollection after getting boot and conkey from the six Irish travelers as we're calling them is about 95% of my recollection. Recollection of the events based on what the cops have seen on surveillance is accurate. So I didn't fabricate anything that ended up going on.

[Wit]

You're not a fabricator.

[Biz Nasty]

What I did mess up is the fact that the guy that I knocked out, he wasn't in fact bald. He was a little thin on top. He was a little older as I remembered, but he was not bald when I buckled him to his knees after giving him a right right to the fucking temple as he sprinted towards me. The bad news as of right now is I have not seen the surveillance. I am an understanding that there is janky surveillance from inside the Houstons, which I'm still shocked that today's day and age to 2024, we're sending rocket ships to the moon and Mars, but yet we can't have clear cut surveillance. But the good news and bad news for me I guess is they do have surveillance from across the street. When I finally become visible past the dumpster after knocking out that inbred fuck, is four of the gentlemen catching me. One of them tackles me, holds me down as the other gentlemen do punch and boot, fuck me in the head. Now since the podcast came out last week I knew that they'd been arrested, but the names have finally arrived, so we should probably list off those names.

[Wit]

Okay.

[Biz Nasty]

And I'll read them to you folks. So everybody in the world, if these.

[Wit]

Are their real names, who knows?

[Biz Nasty]

Correct. That's another thing, too. We don't know what we're dealing with here. They have fake addresses, fake companies scamming people with all asphalt and. And painting companies, apparently. So let's start with the top guy, top left, John Carroll. So John Carroll is brother to William Carroll, the old that I knocked out with my right hook. And John Carroll is actually one of the guys that was trying to boot my head off my shoulders like he was kicking a 50 yard field goal. Now, I guess I'm not so angry at him as I am the young guys. And maybe he wanted vengeance on me, considering I knocked out his. His inbred, coked out brother, William Carroll. And moving along here, Sean Daly. Now, Sean Daly is the only guy I didn't get a letter from the police about. Because when you're a victim of these types of things, at least in Arizona, wit is you receive these letters like Basie victim letters, telling you what, that your. Your. The people who assaulted you have been booked on. And it gives you a little information and background. Now, he did have a video come out on TMZ that was released where he went in front of the judge the next day where they basically said that they have a court date set for December 10th. They have to come back. So a few of these guys, if not all the guys arrested, are out of state guys. And I guess a lot of these Irish travelers hang out in or are in Dallas, the Fort Worth, Texas area. Okay, so that's my understanding as to where these guys live. Now, this little fuck who went in front of the judge, who basically insinuated he's not going to be coming back for his Dec. 10 court date, until she was stunned by his response and was like, no, you have to come back. That's that little midget Sean Daly. Okay.

[Wit]

He said. She said, will you be back? He said, I'll try.

[Biz Nasty]

I'll try.

[Wit]

Like, I'll try to go to the grocery store, honey, I don't know if I have enough time. No, I'll try to come back to court.

[Biz Nasty]

One of the other young, Henry Mesker was one of those four guys past the dumpster that was throwing punches and kicks. I feel a little bad for this old. I don't know how he got roped in all this Edward Jennings, but we're Going to undercover a little bit of his past and a little bit of his family matters a little bit later when we bring on a detective. Now the main guy that I would love to get locked in a room with, okay, is this Danny Bradley. He was the one I described to having the lime green shirt. Now after I said my piece on the last podcast, I didn't know any of these guys history, right? My assumption was, is these guys were on a golf trip, they had one too many cocktails, they ended up coming over to Houston's. It was the wrong setting for them and they just had poor judgment, were being complete. And then we ended up getting into the debacle that we got into. Well, sure as shit. Not only a day later, maybe a little after 24 hours, this gentleman online, he goes by the name of Shay Stevens, he ends up dropping a video where these hooligans were at a golf club just hours before in the, in the Scottsdale area. They'd finished around. And at 6:00 at this Raven golf course, the bar closes. Wow. These gentlemen wanted another cocktail and they didn't want the bar to close. Well, this Danny Bradley surveillance video ends up coming out of him assaulting one of the staff members and in the meanwhile ends up connecting with one of the waitresses as well. Now for any of you following this case, you've probably been on our Twitter accounts and we've been retweeting and posting this video. This is exactly what went down at the Houstons. Okay? Because after the incident, you're thinking to yourself and even some comments online from about, let's say a few percent of the people commenting, ah, you know, you shouldn't stick your nose in other people's business. And although, you know, partly that is true, I shouldn't. But when I look over for 30 seconds and see that same look in Danny Bradley in those hooligans eyes as you see in that video of them assaulting the people at the golf club. I just gotta go with my intuition and maybe I should have just sat down and waited for my traditional salad from Houston's and minded my own business. But what if that Danny Bradley coxes right and ends up feeding one of those managers at Houston that same right hook that he did at the golf club. What if one of those guys drop and next thing you know they got a conky or even worse, they hit their head and, and, and they're on a breathing tube. So I used my judgment, looking over there by the bar area wit to know that something was up and after he was in the manager's face, even when he backed up just a little bit, the stance that he had told me, this guy's just waiting for the manager to say something that he doesn't like until he feeds his jaw with a right. Hey. And, and credit to Danny Bradley, he has some good hands, he can throw down. And I think he caught me with a couple. And I never really got a chance to get him because of all the hyenas that were surrounding me the entire time. But I'll tell you what, if these guys wit don't show up for their court date, and I'm going to let, I'm going to let the legal system take their approach and handle the business accordingly. But if him and those other fucks avoid it and they try to keep hiding, I'm going to do anything in my power to smoke them out. That is a promise, my friend. That is a promise.

[Wit]

We have Jake Middleton on this pod. That's a Billy guarantee. That's his gm. We got to get it. Get that in there. Biz, I will say a couple things from this. When you mentioned that golfers, yeah, like they're on a golf trip and you see these six, I said it's six of the most minifan looking people in the world. If you don't know the Kirk Minahan show, that's what, that's what his live show looks like. There's like a thousand of those guys. Now they're not Irish travelers. They're good people. But that's the look. I saw the look. I said, what an odd group to be together. Like, is it, like, is it grandfathers? Is it father and son? Well, come to find out this was a golf strip. There was 57 of them, 57 of these lunatics. Now, not fair to say that all the people are like these clowns going around abusing people and sucker punching people just because they can't get another drink. But just to know that, to find out this, there are Irish travelers, we had no idea who they were. And then to read and kind of be learning a little bit about this community, I guess it's, it's nuts. They travel. I would say it's 0% chance that these people show back up to court. Like zero. I think they're just gone with the wind. They're on to the next town, they're scamming people. And that's why. Go ahead, Biz, go ahead.

[Biz Nasty]

Well, I was going to say the thing that infuriates me the most is when that Sean Daly fucked that little midget inbred. He says, oh yeah, I'll try to make it back. They don't even hit him with bail. Yeah, like they don't got to put any fucking money back to ensure that. Hey, but mind you, folks, with all the scams they're running in a Fort Worth, Texas area and all around the country, these guys are driving around in brand new Corvettes, brand new Escalades. They're turning over new vehicles every six months. They're at pebble beach, they're, they're, they're golfing at Pebble Beach. They're going on this, these luxurious vacations. From our understanding, from our buddy Shay Stevens, who's been working like 23 hour days trying to get every bit of information on these guys. They tried to book a PJ out, out of, out of Texas. They try to wrangle up the crew. And apparently the, the, the larger group of Irish, Irish travelers are upset at these six gentlemen because now all the attention they've brought on and all these scam artists, these guys want to go scam people flying under the radar.

[Wit]

But these gentlemen, they're getting the elderly, they're getting the elderly on like asphalt and pavement jobs and just. Yeah, it's crazy. And, and that's why we have a detective coming on biz. We need to do some work.

[Biz Nasty]

And the reason I want these guys behind bars and the reason I want these guys to pay is not only because they fight dirty, but when I was on the ground past that dumpster witness, they were trying to kick my head in. And if I would have got knocked out there, like their buddy William Carroll, the one that I bent to his knees, they, they would have kept kicking me in the head with. They would have, they would have kept kicking me even off I was knocked out. This is how these savages operate. So I want them getting everything that's coming to them. These people are scum of the earth. Low life, inbred, dirt bag, losers.

[Wit]

Yeah, I mean the videos that have come out about people that they're related to also have been in the news. There was one of these guys, aunts was, was like beating their, her child who was 4 years old. And like, it's just, it's, it's wild to see it's this big of a group of absolute scum. But I think it's a non political take to say the justice system's a little fucked up right now. I think that you see people that get out of prison and commit crimes and then you look at what they were in prison for and how they were released. And then you see this case and you brought it up, the no bail thing. And I always thought Arizona was a pretty hard state.

[Biz Nasty]

I think it was.

[Wit]

They look like the biggest scrubs. They look like the biggest. They look like exactly what you think they'd be doing, going around sucker punching people. And the Danny Bradley kid, he did it does look like he has a cut on his forehead. Did you. You must have hit him with one at some point.

[Biz Nasty]

So the only. The only chance I would have got to actually make contact with him was either in the restaurant when it original started. That was like a blur to me. I'd have to see surveillance on who I connected with, who got me, how I ended up on the ground, how my tarp got ripped off when I first got out the door, Remember? So do you guys remember me describing that. The guy, I think it was that Sean Daly, the little that got let out, no bail. He had already been asked to leave the restaurant after screaming in the assistant manager's face. So after I started getting in the donnybrook, when I got brought to near that statue, you said, oh, you probably should have stayed in the restaurant. My thought was always, no, I always have to have the ability to back up because it's never going to be a fair fight that the way that it all started. But when I was going out of the restaurant, I knew that that kid had already been let out. So I couldn't just slowly back out and face those guys because he would have probably suckered me from behind, right? So when I got out, I. I tried to figure out where he was. Sure enough, he was at the end of the entranceway where the tarp covers the entranceway at Houston's. And I had to run past him and then open towards the group. That's when as I'm backing up, I end up tripping on the curb. As they're swinging at me, my one of my Reebok shoes falls off. And that's when they start to boot me and punch me on the ground Closer to the restaurant. I'm able to get back up on my feet, but wit, at that point, I got no tarp on. I got one shoe. I have no leverage really to like, stand up because I got nothing sticking to the ground. I believe at that point it was on my front foot. So if I'm following through with my punches. So that's kind of where I was fucked the entire time. Like I had. I had. I had no fucking shoe on. My one foot and then ended up losing my other shoe past the other dumpster. So it was just a fucking debacle from the beginning. I'm just so fired up at the fact that these guys get to leave with no bail and all I got is these fucking letters with their name on it.

[Wit]

They're done. We ain't going to see these guys again. Maybe because of the news it's made. Maybe that means it's time to bring in the detective that we hired to see if we can get some news from him. Do you agree with that?

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah, I think it's time we should bring on Detective Dale.

[Ryan Whitney]

What's up, boys?

[Biz Nasty]

What's up, Detective Dale? Thank you so much for joining us especially. I know you're busy looking after this case and we just basically wanted to bring you on to ask you a little bit more research and questions about these six hooligans that assaulted me, tried to gang beat me and leave me for dead.

[Detective Dale]

Oh, for sure. So I've just. Since that's happened, I've just indulged myself in this whole crime underworld that no one had an idea what was going on. It's like Gotham City. Like, you pick up a rock and there's bugs just everywhere. So now I've. I'm getting into the scams a bit. I'm trying to get the feel of what they're doing. Couple petty crimes. I'll go to the bar, I'll be like, hey, buddy back there said he's got my beer tab. I had. I'm like, thanks for the beers, boys.

[Wit]

Starting small. You're starting small.

[Detective Dale]

Just dipping the loaf of bread.

[Biz Nasty]

Make it four boiler makers kind of thing.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Detective Dale]

And it's addicting, I gotta tell you. These guys have been doing it for years, the older guys, Edward Jennings, for decades. And they're part of a bigger. The Irish Travelers, which said earlier, there was 57 of them. And they've been doing this since the 1900s. They, like, came over and the reason they all look inbred is because apparently they all do crossbreed. They marry within family. That's why they. They all look the same. Like mutants.

[Biz Nasty]

So you're saying they're. They. They. Their cousins. Like, not their direct sisters. It's just more of like, oh, I'm gonna pick somebody from the other side. But still somewhat blood related.

[Wit]

Yeah. Not as bad. You know what I'm saying?

[Detective Dale]

I can't confirm or deny, but I'm confirming they're cousin fuckers.

[Biz Nasty]

Okay. They're cousin, so not. Not direct. Family, but indirect with the, like the. Yeah, okay.

[Detective Dale]

And they'll have all the, the painting, the roof jobs. They're big ones. Paving. So they'll, they'll go town to town and they'll knock on doors and be like, hey, buddy. Or the top of the morning, buddy, because they're Irish and be like, hey, looks like your driveway is pretty crap. We just did a job down the road. We have extra asphalt. We can bang this out today if you want, if you want to sign this contract. So the person will sign. It'll be like three grand, five grand.

[Wit]

Older people, Dale. Older people, I believe, too older.

[Detective Dale]

Yeah, the seniors. That's what I.

[Wit]

So real scum. Scum of the earth to just screw over an older person that doesn't know.

[Detective Dale]

And they'll, they'll do it that day. It'll look all right. But a biz fraction here. They'll do like 3, 8 of the job. They'll do like the top layer of asphalt. So like they'll come home, it looks fine, next morning, it's already crumbling. And they'll be. And they'll tell them too, when they sign up, they'll be like, if you don't like it, free charge. So of course they're like, yep, I'll sign right here. Free charge. They'll call them be like, hey, I don't like it. They're already gone. They're in the next town.

[Biz Nasty]

Dale. Outside of the petty crimes, what was the, the worst of the worst as far as the stuff mentioned in, in the, in the thread by Stephen Shea? So based on your detective work, that.

[Detective Dale]

Edward Jennings, he had allegedly.

[Ryan Whitney]

Allegedly.

[Detective Dale]

This is allegedly his brother in law had a, a housekeeper who was 72 years old and he paid out a life insurance on her. And then the next week she was brutally murdered.

[Wit]

That's alleged.

[Biz Nasty]

That's all alleged.

[Detective Dale]

And then the FBI, I don't think they got paid out. From what I've read, they stopped a $5 million life insurance to go to his brother in law and Edward.

[Wit]

So, so what I've read from, I think it's Shea, Stevens, the thread, and go to it everyone and check all. It's long because there's so many different things. What I've read too is they've kind of mastered a way of scamming people and avoiding like legal trouble. Like it's stuff where they're stealing from people, they're gone. But it's all so hard to catch. It's so hard to catch them, right? And then like these courts are so Busy and full. These things, they just disappear. Things just disappear. And that's why they're able to get away with it constantly. I would say the biggest part being that they're gone. There's no record of them. They're not. Dude. They're not like, online. Until some of these guys were tweeting, apparently after the pictures were released. Biz. They were tweeting things about the incident. Since this has happened, their Twitters have been completely deleted. They're erased. But for the most part, I don't think Irish travelers are living online and have any sort of, like, info to find about them.

[Biz Nasty]

Detective, what do you. What. Did you read any of those comments about what? Why they were firing back originally, thinking maybe this wouldn't have escalated to the. To the place that it's gotten now?

[Detective Dale]

Oh, for sure. When it first came out, I'm like, oh, these are just, like, petty losers. Then you start digging into it. They're coming at barstool personalities for years, too. They're like, chirping in the comments, like, frank the Tank.

[Biz Nasty]

What did they say to Frank the Tank?

[Detective Dale]

I think they said, fat fuck.

[Wit]

Oh, wait.

[Biz Nasty]

That you should get fucking thrown in prison for that alone.

[Detective Dale]

Exactly.

[Wit]

You can't. That was the least. There was racist. I mean, there was. They were fucking clowns.

[Biz Nasty]

Like, at what point do these people actually end up behind bars? Detective, it's got.

[Detective Dale]

It's. We got Trump in office. He's got to crack down on this.

[Ryan Whitney]

Now.

[Detective Dale]

Get Make America Great again.

[Biz Nasty]

Do you think he's actually going to help resolve this issue?

[Detective Dale]

They. They have all different addresses for their business companies, but we have the six names out now. So when they go around now we have the names. They're out in the public.

[Biz Nasty]

Detective, do you have any idea how they're able to just keep affording to buy these new cars and never get busted? If they have the funds to pay back these people who they've scammed, how are they not being booked? I mean, it's clear that they have assets in their name. And then after every six months when the new Corvette or the new Escalade ends up being a little bit out of date, they go get a new one.

[Detective Dale]

They have this whole scheme. Like, they're not just, like, little petty guys. They're professionals at what they do. They have, like, legit fake IDs for when you sign up for their company. It'll be an address of a random other paving company so someone will look it up. They'll be like, oh, that's what's Their one affordable road and drive. That was their one paving company, but that's a legit company in another jurisdiction, so that they. They have it all dialed out.

[Wit]

Detective, you're going to have to get to work on this thing. I know you have already began, but I guess it just begins now with you. With you maybe finding these guys now.

[Biz Nasty]

Have you talked to Trump directly about this and cracking down on this?

[Detective Dale]

We've had a couple pops.

[Wit]

I think we got the wrong detective.

[Biz Nasty]

I think we got. Yeah, the wrong detective here. Detective, any other, like, crazy tweets that you wrote down that you'd like to read out that were even more surprising and unraveling this entire case? Because at a certain point here, we're going to move on. And I will continue to update everybody on what's happening throughout this. As I mentioned, in eight days, as of right now, when we're recording, they are set to meet in front of a judge in the Scottsdale area. Now, neither of us, myself and Whit think that these guys are going to show up for the court date. Surprisingly, I didn't get any paperwork on the one guy that we saw the video from, basically insinuating he wasn't going to show up. I did get a piece of paper on Danny Bradley. I got one also on Henry Peter Mesker, who's another one of the young fucks. And then John Gerald Carroll is the brother of the William John Carroll, who I knocked out. And last but not least, the other name I have here is Edward James Jenning, who's the old guy who I'm letting off the hook. Those four first names I mentioned are guys that I would like to get back in the ring with 1v1 if the court and legal system does not take action. So I don't know how we're going to make that possible. But if you own a barn in that Fort Worth, Texas area, I would love to meet these scoundrels behind there. And we're going to keep it a clean 1v1 fight this time. And then we're going to roam through one round after the next, and I'm going to buckle them just like I did that William John Carroll, because John Gerald Carroll is the guy who tried to kick my head like a goddamn football.

[Wit]

A very, very crazy story to say. I mean, remember, Detective, this is alleged. This is alleged stuff. Business is not alleged, because business actually, like, I'm going to go one on one behind the bar. But the murder stuff, that was all alleged.

[Biz Nasty]

Now, Detective, any other crazy tweets or Is it time to let you go and get back to work and enjoy your pops?

[Detective Dale]

That the Sean Daly, his brother, he was arrested the same day as your little scuffle for prostitution. So I don't know if he was. Had a prostitution ring going or he was the pro.

[Biz Nasty]

Like, was he selling his body for money or running it?

[Detective Dale]

I've tried looking into it. It just says prostitution. So I'm going to say he was the prostitute.

[Biz Nasty]

Was he fucking cousins on only fans to earn money for the family?

[Detective Dale]

It's. That's what it's looking like, Dale.

[Wit]

You don't follow that page on your only fans, do you, Detective?

[Detective Dale]

No, no, sir.

[Jake Middleton]

No, no.

[Detective Dale]

Onlyfans for me. There's plenty of free porn out there.

[Wit]

Yeah, we're asking the questions to you now. Thank you very much, Detective Dale.

[Biz Nasty]

We appreciate your time and I hope that you can undercover some more things when you're not enjoying too many pops and actually get to work and tell Mr. Trump or President Trump that is that we need to crack down on all this scamming, inbred bullshit that we got going on in Texas and the rest of these American states and we need to clean up our streets before people at Houston's can't even start enjoying their traditional salads and they're getting knocked out left and right because this is fucking bullshit.

[Wit]

God bless America to you, Memes Biz. The other crazy thing about this story is you mentioned Houston is, I think you said militaristic, which I got a kick out of, like being a restaurant. But I've been told by numerous people they are the most successful chain in America. I think it's. They have that Hillstone maybe, but apparently you weren't mistaken or incorrect. At that place is the best meal and the best service you could ever get anywhere.

[Biz Nasty]

If you include that comment, I'm 98% accurate about every single event that I talked about on last podcast. And when I say that, it's very similar to like In N Out Burger and in the hiring process and seeing how. How they answer their questions, their background, like their work ethic. These people aren't like on their phones when they're at their job. It's military, like where they are dialed in 24 7. They never fuck up a meal, they never fuck up an appetizer. And in situations where they're being harassed and threatened at work, they're still able to keep calm and civil despite assholes like Danny Bradley in their face.

[Wit]

Oh, buddy. Crazy story. Also, if this ends up leading to, like bringing down Some of these Irish travelers, like, it'll be even crazier because.

[Biz Nasty]

We thought it was the best thing about it, though. Wit is people try to be like, oh, you can't refer to them as that. It's like, since when did we have to start being politically correct to people that are harassing, assaulting, and scamming people? Like, what do you want me to call them?

[Wit]

Listen, like, we've been having this discussion for years, and you've always taken the other side because you're a very nice, forgiving person. And I'm like, this is bullshit. And now you're starting to see it's ridiculous. You're getting called out for calling them Irish travelers. What the hell is wrong with that? What's wrong with Irish travelers?

[Biz Nasty]

And apparently, you can't use the word gypsy anymore. And it's like, you're just referring to people that were doing the exact same thing. Like, do you want us to think of a kinder name for them? Like, what fucking what? What planet am I on right now.

[Wit]

After they kick you in the temple?

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah, like, mind you don't mind the boot to my temple. Be more concerned about the proper terminology for these fucking degenerate criminals that are their cousins. Like, this is nuts.

[Wit]

I also think that the people you bring up about saying, mind your own business, that had to be 0.3% of the comments and the discussion about what happened to you, because everyone. Everyone is in agreement. You need more people like that willing to help out some poor person getting tortured by some psychopathic, inbred lunatic. And you did the correct thing.

[Biz Nasty]

Well, buddy, if I don't, then nobody's going to be getting their traditional salads. Nobody's going to be getting their rotisserie.

[Wit]

Apparently, if you get a martini and then you're taking a little while to drink it, so your glass isn't necessarily chilled anymore, they come over and then with the chilled one, and just pour the rest of your martini in the chilled one.

[Biz Nasty]

Why do you think I was willing.

[Wit]

To keep getting abused by inbred?

[Biz Nasty]

Why do you think I was willing to take on six of them? I will die for that. Traditional salad with Thousand island dressing. As J.J. watt tweeted out, I thought.

[Wit]

It was the other sandwich, the French dip.

[Biz Nasty]

The French dip is worth dying for. So, like I said, the offer still stands. If these guys don't show up December 10th, which they won't, we're gonna smoke them out. You hear that, Danny Bradley? I'm gonna. I'm gonna pump your cross eyes fucking shut, motherfucker I'm done heard it here.

[Wit]

You heard it here first. You heard it here first. Well, before we finish it off, Brad Marchand, I mean, he grabbed you by the back of the head, smashed your head into the wall, and then put you into a casket under the ground on tnt. An amazing response that I didn't see.

[Biz Nasty]

Coming, but I should have, is going down the time. He should be worrying about the Boston Bruins power play, not about fucking coming in with premeditated chirps. And another thing, too. I came in with a softball asking about what he took away from Sako's message when he first addressed the team. You know what he said back to me? He goes, that's a boring question. So all I keep hearing about this.

[Wit]

No, you said it first, I believe. I think you said it first. Didn't you say about my first question being bad? Or was that when you asked them about that thinning hair?

[Biz Nasty]

That was my second come around.

[Wit]

So he chirped your question right off the hop.

[Biz Nasty]

I asked him. I said, brad, I said, biz here. I said, I'd like to know what Sacco. What your takeaway when he first addressed the team, like, what you took from that? And before he even answered, he says, well, that's a boring question. So I keep hearing about how resilient he is and battling through all these off season injuries and having 14 surgeries. So I come back with a compliment. I say, brad, I said, was one of these off season surgeries a Turkish hair transplant? You're looking a little less thin on top, complimenting the thickness of his hair. And what does he come back with? He goes, I just want to look a little bit more like the guys who beat the wheels off you last week. Like, come on.

[Wit]

The quickness of it.

[Biz Nasty]

Come on.

[Wit]

Right on the spot, getting ready for a game and just buried you. I rewounded, I started. I got you going to see this, Bree. You got to see this business.

[Biz Nasty]

I'm calling for a league suspension. I already talked to George Peros. I think they're going to throw the book at him this time. This guy's a repeat offender, okay? There's plenty of examples of him chirping. I mean, the guy's fucking licking people's faces. And now he wants to come at me with the torpedo elbow right to the dome. Fuck that.

[Wit]

Was it a boring question? The first one? Give me the question right now. Like, redo it. As if I'm Brad.

[Biz Nasty]

I go, brad, I said, I'm interested to know what your takeaway was. From when Sacco first addressed the team. What did he say to the team that you really took away from it that are going to change things and maybe the direction in which this team is being brought. What's the voice from the head coach? This is the first time we've gotten to talk to him since. And obviously things have changed a little bit where they've been better defensively. They still can't score worth of shit. Unless you're talking about the last game they had. The power play is dead last in the league. So I wanted to know what he took away from the head coach's message. The head coach in which had to replace the guy that they got fired.

[Wit]

I don't hate the question at all.

[Biz Nasty]

I would have.

[Wit]

I would have enjoyed getting that. It's a softball, but also not a terrible question. I guess maybe it's like, yeah, dude, I expected something else from you. You biz nasty 2.0. Well, I did. Fair enough. You did. And he hit you back. So that was classic. The Centennial drone. Did you see the drone footage that the Boston Bruins Beautiful. Tweeted out? They go through the. You got to go check it out. It is. It is unreal for the centennial game against Marchall. They win 6, 3. But they have all the legends in the arena as the drones flying through. So a really cool day for Bruins fans. And yeah, they've looked a little better. But marshy still, maybe that'll switch the season around. Him just being like, yeah, I just crushed biz. It was no problem. Just he's done. He's not on TV anymore tonight. I'm going to have to go on.

[Biz Nasty]

A run Dale on him.

[Wit]

And they go, oh, yeah, that'll do a lot. Detective Dale is cracking open a beer right now, firing up his PlayStation. And he's not doing any more work tonight. We know that. But Biz, we got to mention, geez, Chiclets, you phenomenal job at Michigan. Awesome facility. What a program that they have. But a clip of the head coach and you talking went kind of viral. I think it was misunderstood a little. But can you explain what happened there?

[Jay Pandolfo]

Yeah, it definitely was misunderstood. It was Coach Brandon Rodo and I told you guys about this right after video. It was one of those moments where I knew we had something right away where coach Norado kind of deadpans to the camera, looks dead in the camera's eyes and says, if you're a top CHL prospect, you come to Michigan. We don't even compete with the chl. We compete with the AHL And I. He's talking about the future, where the future of the game's going, and he's not wrong at all. And I think, you know, Jeff Merrick had a great article today where he mentioned that two of the top three prospects in the CHL likely are headed to Michigan, allegedly next season. So he's not wrong.

[Wit]

I don't think that's definite.

[Jay Pandolfo]

It's not definite at all. But, I mean, Michael Mesa may be heading to bu, too.

[Wit]

Wit.

[Jay Pandolfo]

So that's on the table as well. But there's a lot of. There's a lot of things happening in college hockey right now for the positive. I think there was a lot of people coming at him, you know, the CHL stands who. Who just love the CHL hockey.

[Wit]

But I love the AHL comment. It was the AHL comment where he meant. He said, I think we're better than the AHL now. He said something like that. But people were like, what is he talking about? He meant staying there, playing, going to school, and then maybe going to directly or playing four years even. Like, you'd almost be better off staying here than going to play in the hl. That's different for every player. I see the side, but the way he worded it made it sound like we're better than age.

[Jay Pandolfo]

Well, and I don't want to say we clipped him out of context there, but when you hear. When you hear the full interview. When you hear the full interview, we. It was in context to us basically being like, Michigan is the best place on earth.

[Wit]

Like, why you contacted him. You contacted.

[Jay Pandolfo]

We kind of did. We kind of did. I talked to Coach after. He's feeling great about the whole thing. He's, like, challenging people to the fight. But, yeah, it's. It's that the whole thing's crazy. It blew up. That clip on Instagram got like, a million views. So it's. It's been kind of wild. The video turned out awesome. Fish did an amazing edit. Michigan's facilities are crazy. Yoast arena is unbelievable. So historic. We got to go to the big house, which is awesome. So it was a great video, but, yeah, Narada was making the headlines, not me here.

[Wit]

I know, I know. Well, good job and biz for you. Surviving Barstool starts tonight.

[Biz Nasty]

No, great. Great. More. More online attention. That'll be awesome.

[Wit]

Horrible timing for you. Just maybe looking at get out of the spotlight while simultaneously challenging and getting maybe barn rough and rowdy fights ready and available. I don't know what to think about this show. I think it's going to Be incredible.

[Ryan Whitney]

The.

[Wit]

I know it's going to be incredible. I don't know in terms of context how they cut these things where I'm prepared to look. Look like the dumbest person in. I mean, I look dumb a lot. Sometimes I sound dumb. But this, this could be. This could be ugly for your guy. This could be ugly for your guy. I'm not giving away anything though.

[Biz Nasty]

24 of us went to the office in Chicago and you try to survive as long as possible. They did such a good job as far as production and putting all these games and challenges together. The immunity bracelets and just like the, the chaos that surrounded it all was perfect. And the cast of characters was unbelievable. I mean, Wallow and Gilly were involved. Who are some other outside characters from barstool that were even there participating, of course, like Big Cat, Dave, Jersey, Jerry. Any other ones that you could think of that were.

[Wit]

Kirk Roan. Yeah, it's just the crew of, of, of some hilarious people. Mutants, a lot of them. Ben Mintz. I mean, did you see the guy? Ben Mintz. Pizz, did you see this? What? He missed his flight. See this guy? You know, he's always in trouble.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah.

[Wit]

You know Mintz, he has a free $25,000 bet. He won a contest for a free. So you win it. Boom, 50 GS. All he had to do was be at the office in Chicago at noon on Sunday. He went home or went to Mississippi for the Ole Miss game. The game was on Friday. He couldn't get back by Sunday. Missed the flight Sunday morning. He got to the airport like 53 minutes before the flight left on Thanksgiving weekend. So this guy, this is the type of people that were in this surviving bar. So just quick side top there. But I think everyone's going to enjoy the show. I don't know what to say though. Besides, it's wild. Before we continue, I want to talk about yeti. We are so lucky to be sponsored and working with YETI right now. I've already talked about the Edmonton Oilers mug I received. Grill's got all his Bruins gear. It's the best, the best way to drink a hot drink or a cold drink. And it's all about yeti. They have so many options of so many different things. I can't believe they're a sponsor of Spit and Chiclets. And it's amazing to have Yeti involved. And you can get the Yeti Rambler 20 ounce cocktail shaker right now. Take the bar where you are with the ultimate cocktail shaker.

[Jay Pandolfo]

Whit as a former bartender Very very easy to assemble. To assemble the shaker you just add the press to fit lid to the vessel before adding the twist on cap. To disassemble the shaker you unscrew remove the twist on shaker cap. Very, very easy. Former bartender Greatest bar. I know these things. Before moving the press fit lid so the cocktail shaker lid can be put on the NHL customized drinkware. It's 20 ounces stackable for dual use. These are unbelievable. I love my Bruins. Like Whit said, he loves his his Edmonton Oilers so get the Yeti Rambler 20 ounce cocktail shaker today. That's today. Get the Yeti Rambler 20 ounce Cocktail Shaker today.

[Wit]

Customized customized baby Getting into the hockey talk, it's been a while. It's been a long little discussion to start this thing. Thanksgiving's here, dude, and there are some teams that are outside the playoffs right now we're shocked by and there's some teams leading leading the conference in the west that we're shocked by. At least I am. So I don't know what you think when you look at right now, who's in, who's out. Are you more surprised at Minnesota being at the top of the west or are you more surprised by Washington being at the top of the East?

[Biz Nasty]

I would definitely say that I'm more surprised on Washington. I think we talked about how impressed people were at how active they were in the off season by the additions. I think you maybe always question how they would integrate into the team and how quickly and you know, especially with the PUK dubois experiment. But even after losing ovi, they've been on this insane run and they just have been playing with this certain mojo and a lot of credit has to go towards Carberry and what he's done. I think a lot of people looking at the underlying numbers from last year are under the hood, as Pasha and Kobe Armstrong like to call it. They were one of the worst goal deferentials in the league, one of the worst goal differentials to make playoffs. Like maybe since the time they started tracking goal differential and the fact that they've gotten off to this hot start after making those moves is probably to me just as surprising, if not more surprising than any other storyline in the league and then catapulted by the fact that, you know, OV's on this goal chase and like everyone's kind of galvanizing as far as a group around that. Well then they lose them and I think like maybe there's going to be a little Bit of an emotional drop off. Well, no. Every time you think a team has them dead to rights, like the other night, they're down. I think it was two nothing to Tampa Bay. And then they give up a breakaway, and then they get a big stop, and all of a sudden they come marching back, and then they give up the lead again. They march back again. They give it up again. They march back again. So just to see the type of mojo they have and how fun that locker room is and how Carberry is able to get so much out of these kind of misfits that were brought in from other situations that weren't working. I mean, Maggio Pani, I mean, you're going back a few years. I think he had 29 goals the one year. And then maybe has regressed since Jacob Chickrin, you know, not really being able to make things work in Arizona, then going off to Ottawa and then them casting him away. He's having an unbelievable start to the. Matt Roy, he's been awesome. Dylan Strom, I mean, I thought that Strom's nuts. I think Merrick described them perfectly. Like, it's not the bullet, but it's kind of the. Like, the right behind it. Right. They play at this certain speed where they slow the game down, and maybe from a young guy coming into the league, people are a little bit afraid of that, considering it's a speed game now. Well, he's found such good chemistry with OVI that it feels like the second coming of Backstrom. They're getting that goaltending, and I just think, to a man, they're probably the most impressive story in the league so far this year and have undoubtedly surprised a lot of people where I would say that 50% of hockey experts might not even have these guys making playoffs.

[Jake Middleton]

I did.

[Wit]

None of us did. Right.

[Biz Nasty]

Well, I wouldn't exactly call us hockey experts.

[Wit]

That's fair. Connor McMichael. Two kids got 14 goals.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah, I.

[Wit]

They're fun to watch. They're really fun to watch. And it's going to be hard, I think, when John Carlson doesn't get named to the Four nations team. I don't think he will. Maybe I'm wrong. He's been so sick and all the. All the times he's been out in the past, they're just not even close to remotely as good as they are. So it's a great story. The shocking thing for me, I shouldn't say shocking, but it's just what's gone on with the Rangers. And not only is it on the ice and playing poorly. It's off the ice, kind of taking over your Bruins headline hogs thing. And I don't know, I just thought of them as such a strong team, like, going into the. I'm like, they're going to be right there again. And maybe they will be because the overreaction or the discussion right now is like, they're 8 and 20. You know, they still have a winning record. They just, they've made things so public, and Elliot was talking about it on his show, that now they're in the news constantly. And I just can't believe that they've let this happen. Going into a year where it started with the Truba stuff in the summer. Now I think at some point he's getting traded. Your guy Brooksie, who never responded to your dm, he kind of crushed him in an article this weekend that he wrote. I don't know what you see happening there, where you see it going, or do you think that they're going to be fine and that they'll all get it figured out, even if there aren't big changes made.

[Biz Nasty]

Well, I just go back to the off season and maybe the way that things were handled now, I, I don't. Like, like, as far as jury's concerned, like, if you're trying to move on from Truba, I guess at a certain point it maybe needs to become a little bit public knowledge for teams to be aware that they're willing to move on from them. But I would think that you would have the ability to keep that a little bit more in house. Same goes with the, the Shasturkin contract talks, which became public right before the season started. So maybe even a little bit more of a distraction outside of the Truba thing. And then all of a sudden, like, you know, Z Benjad not out to the most exciting start. And, you know, Kreider, who I thought started out okay, you know, he's putting the puck in the back of the net. Maybe not at the pace he's done the prior years, but then to have like no assists. So maybe they're not happy with this game. To then say that, you know, these players are essentially available for trade. So it just seems like the media is being used for a lot of this conversation. Where is this where these players are first hearing of it. And if that's the case, like, it creates such a toxic environment in the room. Like, no wonder Shusturkin's not taking any type of hometown discount. And not even, like, I'm not even saying that what he was offered is essentially a hometown discount. But he ain't taking like any type of fraction of what's not the max that he can get. Like, it's kind of like you're hearing about the Capri Saw thing and like maybe a few other guys like rotten and like we're rotten and searching for 14 million bucks. Like, is that what Igor is going to command based on the fact that he's like, look at this show around me. We're talking nonstop about shopping our captain after he was named two years ago. Now all of a sudden this career New York Ranger and Kreider is being shopped around as if he's like simply disposable. So it's just like shocking how you go from winning the President's trophy to all of a sudden like all these conversations circulating in the media like this should be kept in house. No, I feel like that's where the mistakes happen. And if you look at their record, we said the same thing about Boston where when Monty was fired, I want to say they were maybe one game below.500, if not 500. Whereas if I'm not mistaken, is New York three, four games above 500 right now and the panic buttons being pushed this hard?

[Wit]

Well, they'd be in a wild card spot, that's fine.

[Biz Nasty]

But like we're talking about hitting the panic button and you know, a three ring circus of trying to trade whoever and shake things up when they're still in a wild card 20 games into the season and four games above.500 seems like a little bit crazy for basically the exact same lineup that won the President's Trophy. Like I don't know here.

[Wit]

Yeah, well, Zabana Jad's been brutal.

[Biz Nasty]

I understand.

[Wit]

Okay. Okay. I think maybe looking at it as Chris Drury who's won everything, he could tell, he could tell something's off if he could tell. Like this team can't. I don't, maybe he thinks, I don't believe this team can win the Stanley Cup. And then like, all right, well, you're, you're, you're, you're not in it to win presidents trophies. Their ban, although their banner is sweet. Regular season champs in msg. It's a great one. He knows there probably needs to be changes. If you look at the team which going to the year I said I thought would be right in it again. But do you think they can win the Stanley Cup Even when they're firing on all cylinders, do you think they could?

[Biz Nasty]

I think that the. I think outside of maybe Florida I mentioned, like like with a hot goaltender, like, I could see them beating New Jersey. Like, I think that overall New Jersey has a better roster. But I think with Shusturkin getting hot and then going back to last year, it was special teams. Special teams and goaltending is, is where they're really good and that's why they won the President's Trophy. I believe they were top five in power play, top five and penalty kill. So with the right matchups, like I could see them coming out of the east, especially at the fact that they didn't make any moves in the off season where maybe they can make one deadline addition. Like where they came into limbo with was the same place they came into limbo with the last two, three years. It's the Hedle, the Capo Cocco. And then I don't think that many people after last year's outburst had a lot of questions on laferriere. Whereas now he's like a proven guy that can get it done. So that throwaway, although he's been brutal.

[Wit]

Since his extension, fair enough.

[Biz Nasty]

But still not, still not as disposable as what Hedel and Kako would be to that lineup. Correct. So I don't think that they've ever truly solidified that bottom six. Like there's a few guy, especially that third line. They did get that outpouring of offense a few years back when they beat the Penguins and they went off, I believe, to the, they went to the Eastern Conference finals. I believe when they had the young guns line going.

[Wit]

They won the first two against Tampa. I think they were up 20 in that series.

[Biz Nasty]

Sure, maybe they ended up losing the second round that year, but no third. Nonetheless. Sure enough. But they haven't ever solidified that third line where I think that if you're looking to move on from someone and maybe go give them new life somewhere else where it necessarily hasn't worked out with New York. You're looking right at Hedle and I know he's got a lot of injuries and a lot of concussions in the past and also Capo Cocco. I think those are two guys that, that Rangers fans would say if they found a new destination and we got something in return that might work. Sayonara. And I also think with maybe the, the play this year and considering that, I think that from an overall perspective, if you can't move off of Truba, maybe Keandre Miller, like he's had a tough year this year, he's making a lot of mistakes. I don't know if he's feeling pressure at the fact that, you know, he's on this bridge deal and, you know, next up is his big contract and he's trying to play up to those expectations. Like, what about whatever happened to like, maybe letting these guys work through things?

[Wit]

Yeah. When things are going this poorly in, in, in the GM or the fan bases, the team's mind, they're, they're willing to move on from people in a rush that'll. I mean, we'll get into that later on. Moving on from Young D, man, I, I wouldn't, I wouldn't be comfortable trading Keandre Miller. Dude.

[Biz Nasty]

No, hey, I, I agree, but if you're trying to shake things up, you're going to have to give somebody something that's going to provide them value or at least something that they think of upside. But it goes back to my original question then. Do you think at least part of the blame and onus has to be on. On management, in a sense of maybe the way that things were handled off the ice and how all these negative storylines and bullshit has trickled into the locker room?

[Wit]

Yeah, I would, I would be shocked if, if, like, management wasn't looking at it. Like, this is kind of a disaster, that it's out in the open and in the public.

[Biz Nasty]

And given the fact that there's still four games above.500 in a wild card spot, it seems like a, a bit of a trigger happy response. That's all I'm saying.

[Wit]

Yeah, Crider's name being thrown out there is. That's where you almost wonder, like, is this just trying to get him going? Like, get him fired up? Like, the players read this and they're like, holy shit. Like, we don't want to lose this. We believe, we believe in this court.

[Biz Nasty]

What, you think that there's part. They're just trying to get these guys fired up and they have no intention on actually moving them?

[Wit]

Only because I saw Kreider's name. How would you trade Kreider? That guy in the playoffs? He shows up every single year. The guy's a gamer, he's in front of the net, he's hard to play against, he's four checks, he skates like the wind, he's physical, he scores big goals. Why would you trade that guy? That. That's when I was like, this makes no sense. But we'll see where they go from here. And when I say they can't, I don't think they can win the cup. And then you're like, yeah, Shuster can go On a run. I agree with that. But that's all anyone says. Every, every. If you, if not everyone, Rangers fans would disagree with that. But most people say if Shusturkin gets hot, yeah, they could win it all, right. Yeah, I could see it. But it's hard for a goalie to win you a cup straight up just standing on his head like he has to most of this season.

[Biz Nasty]

Well, I'll tell you this, they're a lot closer than a lot of other teams in this league. And I think a couple tanks or just Everybody elevating their game 10, 15% will make the world of difference because as I mentioned, this team is 13, 9 and 14 games above.500. I don't think that the shit circulating in the media kind of justifies what their record is in the, the amount of firestorm chaos that it's created now. Good for us. Maybe not good for inside that locker room. And then the one other question, based on your stat of 80% of teams inside of a playoff spot end up making it as far as Americans Thanksgiving now looking at it right now, currently Philadelphia holds that second wild card spot. They have been playing very spirited hockey. I'm hearing rumbles that actually Sanheim might make the Four nations team for Canada. There was something that was circulating on Twitter where a few of them were basically getting pats on the back and congratulated on the ice. Connect Me was one of them. This might be straight rumor mill as well, right? This like. But this is just we're giving in.

[Wit]

Today to the players association in the league. So if that happened today, I was going to Connect Me. He better be on the team.

[Biz Nasty]

I think that he has definitely deserved a roster spot. We got G popping back on what's up G Biz.

[Jay Pandolfo]

The tweet you're referencing, it was from Siobhan Nolan and she said, John Tortorella smiling really big today. The guys are cheering and patting Travis Sanheim, Travis Konekney and Rasmus Verstallainen. Sounds like they all made their country's rosters for the Four nations tournament in February.

[Wit]

Sennheim's a player, dude.

[Biz Nasty]

Oh yeah. And Connect Me was one of those borderline guys. But the reason I brought it up, if you had to pick one team on the outside looking in to make playoffs and sub in, because if I look at the Atlantic, Florida, Toronto, Boston, I think that we all pictured them being in a playoff spot. Washington, probably the surprise team in the Metro, but New Jersey, Carolina, we would knew we would knew we would know. Excuse me, would be right there. To me, it's the Tampa Bay Lightning that are the outside looking in that will eventually take over either Philadelphia or New York Rangers if the bad gets worse. That would be my pick. Probably not an earth shattering pick to most of you people listening and I think praise needs to be given to Columbus and the way that Dean Evans and that wrestle lineup have conducted themselves through that, that tragedy before the season even began and that resilient effort they've put forth and how hard they work and they're just on the outside looking in as well. I don't think that they end up making a playoff spot but they are definitely going to be a disruptor in the in the east based on how they've played. Do you see anybody else on the outside looking in cracking that playoff roster?

[Wit]

No, I don't. I wish Columbus would get in because I do want to talk about them but Buffalo is Buffalo. Forget Buffalo, Ottawa biz. How about when we talked about Ottawa? They're in, they're in ninth place. They're in the second to last place team in the Eastern Conference biz. They're horrible. We thought they'd be in the mix.

[Biz Nasty]

Nope.

[Wit]

Buffalo. Sometimes they look good, sometimes they look horrible, inconsistent. Don't see them getting in Columbus. I don't know if they can hold on to it. I think Tampa get it in. I agree with you. I look at, I look at the Bruins, man, I don't know. I've been kind of saying they might miss. I could see that happening. But they look better since Sacco took over. So I think it would be Tampa for Philly too. Philly's nice to watch though. Connecting is so. He's a rat out there too. But skilled. Always, always in the mix after every whistle around the crease. I Torella has done a great job. Mitch. Coffee. These Michkov haters biz, they're all over me.

[Biz Nasty]

Well, he did bury the OT winner the other night. It's funny that you brought up the Flyers and connect me again. It reminded me to bring this up. So one issue going back to the Rangers the other night, they were all like a hyena pack around Panarin and there wasn't one response from another guy in a Rangers jersey. So as far as like you talk about team identity. Well, connect me and the Flyers have it because if you're on the ice and you're getting involved in anything, it's a five man group getting in there and that's maybe one of the issues that the Rangers have. So I got really nothing left on the east, buddy. I agree with you on Buffalo. They'll go on a four game stretch where they look like the 84 Oilers and then they look like the worst team in the league for four games. One thing though, I've been hard on Owen Power in a sense of that deal that he signed. I think that he's starting to turn the corner. You're starting to see slight improvement that point production's coming. He's starting to play a little bit better. Getting a little bit more pep in his step. Let's see if that continues because if he doesn't take that next step, there's no chance that that team makes a playoff spot.

[Wit]

I said the Meech haters. I meant the wit haters that are the Meech lovers that are coming after me. He's an unreal player dynamic. I've been getting sent tweets about his speed on the ice that it's right around average. His speed burst. I love the kids game. All I said, not the smoothest of skaters. Just looked a little awkward. This is going to live with me because he's lighting it up. He's got three OT goals, which ties the record for most by a teenager in NHL history. I believe around the net. He's crafty.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah, it's just.

[Wit]

It just looks. It doesn't look that easy for him sometimes he bent over a little bit. The guy's sick, unreal player. But my skating thing remains. It's. He could be quick, he could be faster. It's just a little awkward looking. Okay. I'm going to keep having to address that as he continues to light it up. So the Flyers are a cool story going out west Biz, Minnesota and Winnipeg. It's just. I didn't, I didn't see this. I didn't see this at all. I saw this as more of a possibility for Minnesota than I did Winnipeg. That's how much I didn't believe after they got crushed by Colorado in the first round. I'm wondering where you look at this conference. Edmonton, my guys. I'll have to talk about them in a minute. They're coming. But what do you look at this conference at this point? Do you see teams coming in? Do you see teams going out like, where are you at?

[Biz Nasty]

I thought Calgary was going to drop off sooner.

[Wit]

Me too.

[Biz Nasty]

But they are just a gritty team fighting for points night in, night out. They're getting great goaltending from Wolf who's been, I mean, I guess no surprise to people in the organization. Maybe not a household name in the hockey world just yet, but the way that he was able to develop and dominate the A, he's been a huge bright spot. I still see them as a team right now who's in a wild card position get overtaken by the Colorado Avalanche. I've been very, very impressed by how Colorado has dealt with all their injuries and climbed out of that bad hole. They ended up making that big trade the other day and getting Wedgewood. Now when I was with the Arizona Coyotes, he was one of their goalies and he's a guy who can get hot and all of a sudden become the starter. And my biggest thing for Colorado, and I always go back to when I was with Arizona and Darcy Kemper was named the starter. He struggled for a little bit. He was getting a little bit scrambly in his net, right? And at the time we had Auntie Ronta and Aiden Hill in the system and what talk it did was is he we had Corey Schwab as the goaltending coach and he goes, hey, you're going to practice, you're going to get back to your fundamentals and you're going to take about a week to 10 days here and you're not going to play games and you're just going to get back to basics and refine your game. Well, the problem is, buddy, they haven't had any goalies in their system where they can relieve that pressure off Gorgiev. They haven't been able to give him that reset. They put that anon guy in there and he's getting lit up just as bad. So they keep rotating between those two guys. Well, they go out, they move that anon guy and they get this Wedgewood guy who's a proven backup where they need to give Gorgiev a little bit of rest. They need to let him go hit that reset button because Colorado wit with the way that they're able to produce and even going back to when they won a Stanley Cup, I don't think they have the same roster quite as good as that, but they were able to outscore average goaltending. If you go back and look at Darcy Kemper's numbers throughout the course of that run, it ain't earth shattering that you see from the the Vasilevskis or even what Aiden Hill's numbers were when he won it or going back to last year, what Bobrovsky was able to do and even, even Skinner by the time his numbers ended up rounding out. So they just need to get average if not A little bit above average goaltending. And there's no doubt my mind they're not only in a playoff spot, but they're also a threat in the west. Because when you're going out there and you're dropping those ace of spades, that top line and that top deep pairing, they can fucking cook just as any, any five man pair in the league. If not, they're the best. So that to me is what I got to say on the west and outside of maybe the obvious and which is the Golden Knights at the top of the Pacific and the fact that Dallas is also still a juggernaut as they've started around their game out as well.

[Wit]

Yeah, Edmonton plays Vegas tonight. I believe that's a big game. They're coming up Calgary. It's pretty sick to see what they've done there.

[Biz Nasty]

Unbelievable.

[Wit]

Like Dustin Wolf is just ridiculous. They get these. They just get teams at the beginning of the season for sure. Overlooking them. Right. They come out hot and now it's like, I don't think it can last, but at least it's gone this long. Where you're seeing as a, as a Flames fan, some young players that are showing serious promise. I think if you told Flames fans where they're at right now, they would have been over the moon. I mean, everyone looked at them. I kind of looked at them as like a lottery team. That's why we're not experts. As you reminded us earlier, I. That the west though, for me, Minnesota, I don't know if they can stay up there. Winnipeg's lost three of their last five. I think five of their last eight. Is that what it is? G, Maybe you can look that up for me. All in regulation too, Biz. So they're slowing down a little bit, which obviously they were going to.

[Biz Nasty]

I think that that Central Division is the most surprising based on the fact that Minnesota's in one, Winnipeg's in two. Yeah, I think most people would have probably had Colorado and Dallas at the top of that division and maybe even Nashville based on the excitement on those off season moves. Some people might have assumed Nashville were frauds from the beginning and how and where they went and spent their money. I don't know how many people are believers that they can actually turn this thing around. That is probably the team with the highest expectations based on off season moves in that division that people have maybe the least amount of optimism for. Would you, would you. Would you say right now there's not a chance that Nashville ends up in a playoff spot?

[Wit]

I say no. Chance Edmonton did this last year. But look at, look at the firepower. Look at, look at the difference in the team's makeup. And can you find me, is there anyone out there listening who predicted that Nashville would be not only bad, but this bad or out of the playoffs before the season? I. Do you remember one person, Biz, when you're reading predictions that that thought that this was going to happen?

[Biz Nasty]

I don't remember what my prediction was. I might have had them in a playoff spot, but I was high on them. I thought that based on the strength of the west that they would be in a wild card situation. I don't think I had them in the top three of their division.

[Wit]

If you look out west too, I want to talk Edmonton. But first Vancouver, they have something going now Biz and Kevin Lankonen, he's the first goaltender in NHL history to start the season 10 and oh on the road. This is the goaltending position. You have no idea year to year who's going to be good, who's going to struggle. It's so. It's just always, always changing. I don't know why it is now, but he goes over there. Connor Garland is point per game player. This is without J.T. miller. Patterson steps up. This P is suitor biz like they have. They have third and fourth line guys that stepped up. That was the same way that happened last year. And talks got something cooking out there.

[Biz Nasty]

Now they like, we'll get into the JT stuff Now that Pedersen has kind of taken this step going back to the goalie. How do you pronounce his last name?

[Wit]

Lankan, I believe. Correct me there.

[Biz Nasty]

Nashville has been the gift that keeps on giving because they basically handed them Kiefer Sherwood and now they handed them a goalie of that type of caliber. So the their ability to find diamonds in the rough with the goaltending position with Demco out, unbelievable. And going back to your comment about last year, like they found a great connection with Dakota. Joshua Garland really stepped up his game, especially after the rumors that maybe they were going to move on from him at the beginning of the season and things weren't working out well. Talk. It just had to work as magic. And the fact that Debrusk, Kiefer Sherwood and Elias Pederson have now found this chemistry and they're clicking at the rate that they're clicking. It is. It couldn't have came at a better time for this Vancouver team. And it just poses the question. There's been A History of J.T. miller & Pederson butting heads like this has been documented. This is not just coming from us. Don't kill. What's the term? Don't kill the messenger.

[Wit]

You got it.

[Biz Nasty]

Kill the messenger. Now there also has been rumblings of this New York situation and maybe that there's a connection between JT and ending up with the Rangers. What would you see as a possible return if something like that ends up going down? Because with the way that Vancouver is playing right now without JT in the lineup, not saying that he can't come back and still make a huge impact just like he did last year, because that would even give this team a bigger lift. If it doesn't work out that way. Who could they add as far as a trade? If they end up moving on from jt that continued to further the greatness, which is the Vancouver Canucks.

[Wit]

I don't see how you could move on from them. That's what I don't get. I couldn't. I couldn't trade a player like J.T. miller. I couldn't do it. Biz.

[Biz Nasty]

So you wouldn't even entertain the idea based on everything else that's gone on since?

[Wit]

No. And now I don't know if this is something. I'm not in the room, dude. If this is. If this is some sort of relationship that is like ruined or will never work out together, that's a different story. But if I'm the gm, if I'm talking coaching him, I. I want this guy on my team. If we want to win a cup, who are you going to get back that that is. Is going to be as good like you're never going to get a fair return in that. In a trade for him. You see what I'm saying?

[Biz Nasty]

The. If, if, if any FA Vancouver fan, if they wanted to address needs, it would probably be in the defense position. I would say that they would probably look to get to solidify that second pairing and alleviate a little pressure from Ronick and Quinn Hughes. And my understanding too is now Ronick's out with injury. So not saying that that would force them to make a trade anytime quickly, but they are notorious for making a move before the deadline like they've done it the past couple years by you might as well underpay a little bit and address needs earlier on to maybe catch team sleeping. And that way you can approve your team without competing against everybody else and having to overpay for something in return. So I just wanted to throw that across your desk to see what you would do in this situation. It's nearly impossible to get first line centers via trade, especially in today's NHL, especially with the point production J.T. miller has and especially at the cap hit that he has, which is extremely favorable. But if there is a dynamic in a locker room that is not going to work, you have to entertain the idea at some point because if he comes back and there's this constant commotion and it's making a guy that you have for another eight years at 11.5 very uncomfortable and he's not the same player, something at some point has to be done. Hard decisions have to be made and that's all I wanted to throw across your desk.

[Wit]

Yeah, for me a hard decision is telling them figure it out. Plenty of, there's plenty of championships that have been won between teammates who weren't fans of each other.

[Biz Nasty]

So basically get them behind a barn like me and Danny Bradley say let him figure it out and then let's get back to.

[Wit]

That would probably be the old school way. Yeah, go down to a Houston's, order the salad and then boom.

[Biz Nasty]

I would like an apology from Matt Murley also because he was very hard on the LA Kings early in the season in the group chat saying this is not a playoff team. Not only have they marched to second place in the Pacific Division, they've done so with coming in what was considered shaky goaltending and without a Norris winner, a Stanley cup champion two time and an Olympic gold medalist in Drew Doughty, and also with dealing with some injuries up front with guys in and out of the lineup. So I want an apology from Matt Murley for his ridiculous takes on the Los Angeles Kings.

[Wit]

That is him just underestimating Kopitar, I think, which if you saw his numbers right now, could you, could you believe if you saw his numbers right now prior to the season? Because I thought he's slowing down a little bit. Still a great player, but offensively to be have 29, 30 points already and still be shutting down these young guns, these guys flying around these top centers in the Western Conference that he's dealing with and he's getting points, it's crazy. I, I wonder if Dowdy, if it sounds like if he'll be back, if he could possibly be named to Canada's team. I think it sounds crazy but man, that guy, I just, I can never. When you think about the best on best, I just remember Vancouver. Were you watching any of the Olympic Games in Vancouver in 2010?

[Biz Nasty]

Oh yeah.

[Wit]

Dody put on a clinic. He was, he was a freak. So now I think about him Missing out on a best on best. I'm kind of sidetracked here, but la. I didn't see it either. I kind of. I was with Merles a little bit biz. I was like, I think the Oilers buried him three years in a row and they just crushed the entire organization. And then Dowdy gets hurt. And I think I owe you an apology. I was definitely in the group chat with Merls Dog and the Kings.

[Biz Nasty]

So to round out the West. You know, we haven't even talked that much about the Leafs and Oilers that much as of late. But you wanted to give a massive tire pump to your Oilers and what they've been able to turn, how they've been able to turn things around, it.

[Wit]

Was all bound to happen. There was no panic last year. Last year I panicked. But this year it was like, all right. It's so hard to go from that, that moment of Game seven and that devastating loss back into regular season hockey, short off season. It's just so hard to think about the fact you have 82 more games even to begin the journey, to get back there mentally. So I was worried for a little bit at one point, but now everything, Biz, everything is. It's right back to being on the track and the path I pictured before the season on them winning the Stanley Cup. McDavid has completely taken over. He had 10 points in 10 games or. Yeah, right around the point per game in October, November, 21 points in 11 games. He's got nine goals. He's flying around. I don't know if you saw the shift against Colorado the other night, his assist to Kaepernick, who was picked up on waivers because Hyman's been out. So they throw him on McDavid's line. He's out there against Makar, Taves and McKinnon and just wheeling and dealing around the zone. Nobody can even get a finger on him. Tight, tight turns. He's cutting back on the car. Like, I. I wonder if you can get the whole shift online prior to the goal. Then he just gives this no look, backhand rocket pass to Kaepernick, who's standing there. He's like, oh, my God, this is how easy it is. So just to see him doing that again, Leon's been money Leon second in goals. He's one behind Reinhardt. He's right. I think, I think a realistic pick to win the Rocket, Richard, which is going to be a sick race this year. Ovi. OVI could have still been in the lead. That injury sucks. But you got Reinhardt you got Braden points right there. You got Leon. So little different race with Matthews battling injury and stuff. So that, that'll be something to watch. But Leon will be right in that they have. You know who, you know who Murls needs to apologize to is Darnell Nurse. Darnell Nurse, who I guess in the playoffs I was hard on as well. He's been phenomenal, I think. Currently the Oilers lead the league in goals by defenseman biz. How about that stat for you. So everything's rounding into form. They got a bunch of home games coming up against some brutal teams that probably that, that one I may regret because I think I just talked them into a losing streak at home. But it's all good in Edmonton. I think the fan base is relaxed. I think everyone knows it's going to be a long year, long run. They figured things out and I think it's really, really possible that they win the Pacific Division. I'm telling you, they may end up just winning.

[Biz Nasty]

I'm getting a no name call from Cedar Hill, Texas. Should I answer it?

[Wit]

Yes.

[Biz Nasty]

Hello? Hey Paul. It's funny over season power. How are you? Oh, I'm just recording a podcast. I'll call you back. I thought maybe it was one. I thought it was Daniel.

[Wit]

Where was she from?

[Biz Nasty]

No idea. It said a Texas number. We could continue Thai massage spot.

[Wit]

They just, they got your email. They busted it to so many of them.

[Biz Nasty]

Okay, what about the Truba rumors connected to Edmonton. Would you like Truba on your team?

[Wit]

100%. 100%. I think every team that that is trying to win a cup would take Truba as not your top defenseman, not on your top pair. But buddy, second pair. Pasha thinks I'm ridiculous for this. He runs around in murdering people. People say he runs out of position. His skating isn't strong. That is the type of defenseman we've seen in the past few cup champs going back a wild not a while now that are on cup winning teams.

[Biz Nasty]

Like would you want him on Toronto at this point? No, I think we have enough of that toughness on the back end. I'd be okay not having him. Yeah, like if we didn't have McCabe maybe that, you know, he would be a guy that I would be okay with A beast. Tanb's incredible defensively. You're not going to like bully him. Oliver, you know, from today's standards, like I'm not saying he's going to throw down, but he's not a pushover. He's not. He's not Truba train, but he also can play a lot more with the puck and make better breakout passes and doesn't run out of position as much as Truba. But I don't disagree with you. The only problem is if I'm not mistaken, he holds like at least a 7 to 8 million dollar cap hit. So at what cap hit are you bringing him in at? Like how much would New York have to retain? And let's say it's half. Why the fuck would you not just have signed Broberg if you're making this move halfway through the season to now bringing a D who's going to make 4? 4 and a half after they retain salary? Couldn't you just have brought Broberg back?

[Wit]

Not a bad point.

[Biz Nasty]

Like what are we doing?

[Wit]

Not a bad point.

[Biz Nasty]

What are we doing here?

[Wit]

Broberg's deal would have been was what, two years or three?

[Biz Nasty]

I thought it was a four year deal at like just like four and a half, five million. The chat will help us out here. They can dig it up. But if they want Truba, they, they ain't doing it. At what he's making now, no Rangers are going to have to retain a shit ton of salary.

[Wit]

You couldn't. Oh, I wish Pasha was here to give his argument on why he, he couldn't even see Truba as like a six defense but on a, on a Cup champ. I think he's ridiculous for that just because the way he. Buddy, that's playoff hockey.

[Biz Nasty]

It's also tough paying a 6 defenseman 4 million on the books to help you win a Stanley Cup. I mean I think they were paying Cody CC the same amount.

[Wit]

No biz. So Broberg was a two year deal. So that makes even more sense what you're saying.

[Biz Nasty]

Oh wow. I thought he was, I thought it was a, what was it at four and a half?

[Wit]

Yeah, it was two years for 9.1.

[Biz Nasty]

Okay.

[Wit]

All right.

[Biz Nasty]

I was right on the number then. I think that that's pretty much all I wanted to ask you about Edmonton. Now we probably haven't covered Minnesota enough, but we're going to do so with our guest today, Jake Middleton. And before we get to him, what do you make of this big trade that they made? I mean Billy G Notorious from stealing Brock Faber from the LA Kings and now he goes out and gets another prospect defenseman. Now I don't know much about this guy. I do know that there was a bit of a falling out, like he was no longer happy with his situation in Columbus, maybe not getting the playing time he felt he Deserved. What is your take? What did you see from him? And do you think this guy could be another Brock Faber type trade?

[Wit]

I think the reason he was traded was because of his, of his skating. Like, I think there's some worries in Columbus of his skating. And I don't, I don't know. I haven't seen this kid play enough. He's. He won the best defenseman at world juniors. He's a super high pick. He's great with the puck, but apparently his pace isn't great. Now that can change, right? Like he's a monster. You know what it is like 20 years, a 20 year old, 21 year old, you're going to grow into your body. But if there's worries from Columbus on his skating and I think the major thing is Don Waddell, he didn't, it wasn't his pick, right? So you come in, you become the gm and you see a guy play and Waddell said he had a quote. At some point you kind of got to stop looking at where they were drafted. If there's something you see that you don't really believe in as a younger player is coming up and you didn't pick them, if you pick them, it's a lot harder because those picks are your resume. But he ends up going and making this deal that it was open, it was done, like everyone knew beforehand this guy was going to get traded. And then you think of young defensemen, how long it can take and how scary it is if you lose a guy who ends up being really good. You know, maybe his skating gets a little better, maybe a different system helps him out. But now if you look at this kid panning out and you got Minnesota and looking at Brock Faber locked up on what's going to be a joke of a deal, you got Spurgeon as a captain. If he can stay healthy, he's still a really good player. We're going to talk to our guy Middleton. He's a dog out there. Ziv Buyam was drafted really high this summer. He's going to be a stud. And then if Jurek can form out, you're, you're looking at a pretty sick decor.

[Biz Nasty]

Oh yeah.

[Wit]

So it's hard to judge this trade right now, but I do think it's, it's, it's a lot, it's a lot easier said than done when you make the pick. When you pick a guy, sixth overall, fifth overall, whatever, top of the first round, to give up on him because you're like, fuck, that's a Chance where you get a difference maker. Most of the time I. Right now he's in the. Ah, well, he was called up when he got the trade happened. I don't think he's playing tonight. They play Monday night. After that, we'll maybe see him. So, dude, if you have that much skill and you're that big and you've had moments of looking great and all of a sudden a new coach comes into Columbus and you're young and you're not playing, you could see. I could see him figuring it out and I could see him getting back to like, what made him this good to begin with. Maybe a little bit more confidence. He's probably struggling with that. If you're playing 12 minutes, you're under the impression if I make a mistake, I'm getting sad anyways, so I can't wait to see how it works out. Minnesota's playing great though. It's going to be hard to change like a winning lineup. Although Middleton tells us that Brodin's battling some stuff with his back. So Alan Walsh is his agent too, so, you know, he loves his clients. He's going to back his clients up. He had a tweet that said overtime winner David Yurichek, what a goal. I believe with an exclamation point. He was going to the net. He threw one hand on the stick, the puck was ahead of him, tipped it top shelf, one hand. So Al Walsh, you know, announcing the goal, representing his client with passion on Twitter. So I love the Wild, though. They're a fun team to watch. The arena goes crazy. They got a great crowd. Those green and yellow jerseys look so sick when they wear those. Kaprisov has not slowed down. So I talked about McDavid getting was 21 points in November. I think. I think the only guy he didn't have any more than is Kaprisov. And to see what he's doing, he hasn't slowed down. Thank God. He wasn't too injured. I think we. I might have mentioned that last week, but it's a fun team to watch and it seems like a great locker room. Probably starting with Billy G, our guy.

[Biz Nasty]

No doubt, no doubt.

[Wit]

Do you want to throw it over to Jake right now?

[Biz Nasty]

I think we should. It was a great interview. Good to get to know him and, you know, talk a little bit about the off ice activities and then get into that locker room and. And what makes it such a great culture and how inviting they were and. And made him feel right at home after he was originally traded. So without further Ado Jake the Snake.

[Wit]

Middleton Hockey season is here and we cannot wait to get out to some games this fall with the help of Game Time, the official ticketing partner of Barstool Sports. There's no feeling like seeing a breakaway goal in person and Game Time can help. You know how much we love Game Time. And now with the brand new Game Time Picks features, there's making it even easier to get to a game. Game Time Picks filters out the fluff to show you only incredible deals on great seats so you don't have to waste time searching through thousands of tickets for an NHL or college hockey game near you. I was looking for tickets for the Winter Classic and I saw an amazing Game Time Picks deal for great seats and you can just pull up your chosen event, turn on the GT Pick setting at the top of the screen, or browse the best local Game Time Pick deals near you on your Game Time app homepage. What are you waiting for? Go buy your Winter Classic tickets on Game Time. Take the guesswork out of buying tickets with Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account and use code Chiclets for 20 off your first purchase Terms apply again, create an account and redeem code Chiclets for $20 off. Download the Game Time app today. What time is it? Game Time. What the.

[Biz Nasty]

Sorry, boys, I just moved in here. Let me just adjust this seat here.

[Wit]

Oh, buddy, buddy, you got zits all over your ass. What's going on?

[Biz Nasty]

I got a couple.

[Wit]

That's what the steroids.

[Biz Nasty]

A lot of stress going on lately here. Wet been getting in Donny Brooks with a bunch of traveling Irishmen. Sorry about that, guys. We're good to go.

[Wit]

For everyone that is now listening, Jake Middleton. Buddy, thank you so much for joining the show. I didn't realize biz biz had a little funny bit there where that's how you play hockey, buddy. Just in the jock strap and that's it. When I found that out, I said he's gotta be the only player left in the NHL that has nothing underneath except for the old nut huggers.

[Jake Middleton]

Yeah, thank you guys for having me. I. I am gonna disappoint you. Now though, I got some shorts on this year. What?

[Wit]

Why?

[Jake Middleton]

Oh, have you guys seen the video they show at the beginning of the year about getting cut?

[Ryan Whitney]

True, true, true.

[Wit]

So you get the protective.

[Jake Middleton]

I tried last year putting them on. I couldn't do it. It was still too claustrophobic and hot. And this year it. It got the better of me and I had a couple points in the first Couple of games of the year. So now I'm sticking with it.

[Biz Nasty]

So now it's not. The balls aren't hanging free anymore.

[Jake Middleton]

You're not it on underneath, you know, like they're still hugging them, but it's underneath the cut proof.

[Biz Nasty]

Are you. Are you still doing post game interviews with the tarps off though?

[Jake Middleton]

Is that still no shirt? I can't do a shirt. I can't even do the wrist guards. I tried those and it's still just hot.

[Biz Nasty]

I'm going to do the whole interview like this as a kind of like an omen to you and all the post game interviews you've done. So I hope you don't mind if we continue.

[Jake Middleton]

Thank you.

[Biz Nasty]

Would you mind joining me so I don't feel uncomfortable and going tarps off. Or is that a little too much?

[Jake Middleton]

That might be a bit too much.

[Ryan Whitney]

I don't know.

[Jake Middleton]

You didn't give me the green light on that for spin Chiclets.

[Biz Nasty]

But when did you get your teeth done? Or are those just like the flippers? Okay. And how did you lose those guys?

[Jake Middleton]

First two I lost were in Ontario actually playing against the rain. Your buddy Juice hit me from behind and I bit the dasher. Lost a couple then. And then another one was just in the American League again. I slid for a two on one and kind of got torqued into the bottom Dasher broke my whole face and smashed another two teeth. So now I got these fake pearly whites and no teeth during the game.

[Wit]

They look great right now though.

[Ryan Whitney]

Thank you.

[Jake Middleton]

I try. I just look like I can't go to the grocery store without four front teeth. Like I don't have that essence. Like Burnsy, he can do it and walk around all the time with nothing. I feel like I look weird.

[Biz Nasty]

We've had a few people on recently talking about party tricks. I think it was Bruce Boudreau talking about how old school guys would take out like their eyeball and put it in a drink. Do you ever put take.

[Jake Middleton]

Oh yeah. If it's been a while between rounds or something, I'll take them out and put them in someone's beer so I can have it.

[Biz Nasty]

That's unbelievable. Well, we appreciate you coming on. Obviously you guys are off to an incredible start this season. But I was just going to ask how was your off season? I. I understand that you're, you're a big motorcycle guy and during COVID you actually purchased one just to tear it all apart and, and reconstruct it. Now you hit the road with it quite a Bit in the summertime. Yeah.

[Jake Middleton]

So I got one that I ride all the time. I got a Harley crossbones. It's an older one. It's a 2008. That's like my daily driver that I ride all the time. I went on a trip with my old man out to Vancouver. Basically Salmon Arm from Minneapolis. He picked me up, so I did that in the summer. The one you're talking, it's a little Sportster. I took it apart during COVID put it back together. It's traveled with me here to Minneapolis, and now it's in pieces because I got a little ahead of myself. And now it'll be more work than I was expecting to get it back running, but we'll figure it out.

[Biz Nasty]

So you do nothing about, like, reconstructing a bike before you took it apart? And, like, were you just going based on.

[Jake Middleton]

I was watching YouTube. I was. I don't know. You guys were probably bored during COVID too, right? So I was watching YouTube. I bought this thing for a couple grand and took it apart and started tinkering around with it. But like I said, it's been sitting there. Now I cut something off that I shouldn't have. Now I gotta rewire a whole bunch of. I wasn't expecting and. But we'll figure it out. We're fine.

[Biz Nasty]

What were you. Were you riding them when you were a little bit younger? Like, when you first got your driver's license? Was riding a motorcycle one of the first things you wanted to do?

[Jake Middleton]

It was. I didn't have. I didn't have one at the time. We had road dirt bikes and that growing up, so I'd always liked it. My dad absolutely loves motorcycles. Like, it's a huge passion of his. And then when I was 20, I got my first one, and I just haven't looked back since.

[Wit]

What's cool is I saw a great video. It's becoming wild on YouTube about yourself. I think they do it for a lot of the wild players. And in that your dad talks about how his father, your grandfather, he rode motorcycles along the convoys in World War II in France and Germany, North Africa. And then all your tattoos are related to your family and, like, what they mean to you. So I guess the motorcycle love came from your grandfather to your dad, and he's passed it down.

[Jake Middleton]

Yeah, it's just been a passion in the family, and we all. We all enjoy it. It's pretty cool. Like I said, I got to go. I got to ride out to B.C. with my old man this year. And then we had a Father's Day ride a couple years back when I was home in Ontario. It's just. It's a. It's cool bonding experience for us.

[Biz Nasty]

Is there anybody else in the league that you. You ride with? Like, I know Zach Cassian's a huge motorcycle guy. Do you ever get together with some of the. The players and ride?

[Jake Middleton]

There's a guy. I played with him in San Jose. Him and I went out to Sturgis one year. He picked me up. He left Windsor and same thing, he picked me up just outside of Minneapolis and we rode over to Sturgis in South Dakota. That was quite the trip. That was fun.

[Biz Nasty]

Well, I've always been intrigued by it, but obviously scared about the fact that, like, one little mistake, like, what is it about the riding that you just love? Is it like, the thrill of it, like, hitting the open road? Like, how would you describe your passion for it?

[Jake Middleton]

Out of meditative, I would almost say, you know, you're not thinking about anything else other than your knees are to the breeze, I like to say. And you're just. You're. You're cruising. There's nothing else going on than. Than the two wheels moving, but underneath you, and it's. Yeah, you just lose track of time and follow the sun.

[Biz Nasty]

That's awesome.

[Wit]

I. I'd love to talk about your beginning in hockey because you talked about your dad and. And he built a backyard rink for you and your brother, who you and your brother got to play together in the AHL a little bit. Real. It looks like he's tough kid. I'm guessing back in the day, you used to beat him up, but now, I don't know, dude. He looks like he's bigger than you. Is he tougher than you now?

[Jake Middleton]

I might have had him till I was about 12 years old and he was 10, because then he got a lot bigger than me. And he's got that switch too, you know, like, he's got that if you flip the switch, he'll fucking lose it. So I stopped fighting with him when I was about maybe 14, I'd say, is when he really started scaring.

[Wit]

Do you remember the one instance and you're like, oh, shit, I don't got him anymore. This is. This is all flipped.

[Jake Middleton]

It wasn't so much where he started taking. Getting the better of me, but there was one time where he. He was on top of me, got me with a nice right hook and my nose started bleeding, and he just looked at me and said, you're the only one who's Going to get in trouble anyway. So go ahead and tell mom. That was just like he had me every way. There was no way I was not getting in trouble.

[Biz Nasty]

So that's unreal. You guys must have had a very interesting upbringing and you're kind of known as a player to be like that lunch pail style, like very blue collar. I was talking to Billy G too and he said that growing up you, you helped out a bricklayer. That was one of your part time jobs where you have to lug brick in the mo and I, I guess your parents obviously trying to teach you values and earning your own money and things like that.

[Jake Middleton]

Yeah, my brother and I, we had worked from a very young age, whether it was at a, at a restaurant, washing dishes, running hockey camps all day. And then high school was kind of the one where we got into Brickland because they paid money. They like 15 bucks an hour was a good job for the summer. So we would work out at like 6 in the morning. The boss let us come in a little late. We'd get in around 7:30, 8:00 for work, then we work till 5 and then go skate at night. But yeah, that was three years. Three years that I did Brickland.

[Wit]

That's just the work ethic right there, I think that you're talking about that got you to where you're at today. But what, what I'm interested in is the, the. We've interviewed a lot of guys who, right, were kind of like no names and then really took off and came out of nowhere when they were 18, 19 and yourself, you were a really, really nasty younger player, a real high pick in the ohl. And then by the end of junior, you know, you're kind of looking for a deal. You're invited to San Jose camp. Was, was there something that changed in the OHL where, you know, maybe you didn't kind of keep progressing as they thought you would as that high draft pick or was it just changing your game a little bit? Like take us through how you went from where you're at at the end of junior to where you're at now, like playing on the top pair.

[Jake Middleton]

Yeah, I don't know. Obviously 8th overall in the OHL draft and then slipped all the way to Mr. Irrelevant by draft year, which I wasn't expecting. But I probably just, I don't know, I had a lot going on. I probably had too much fun that, that summer I was still being a kid. Maybe immaturity was an issue. I can look back on it now and say that right. Because it all worked out. Fortunately I'm not. I'm not still laying brick. So that might have been a scenario, but then no. And then LA picked me up. Those guys were unbelievable biz. You would know that. Whole development staff, like Rob Blake was on the development.

[Biz Nasty]

Unbelievable.

[Jake Middleton]

Nelson Emerson, all these guys. So even though I got picked last and it didn't work out with them, they were. They did wonders for me in my development. It was such a good development staff they had. I would come out here to Minneapolis even and train with Jeremy Clark. Yeah, I'd have John Scott and Stu Bickle throw me around a boxing ring in the summer and just that kind of thing. They were just so good to me. But yeah, to figure out at the end of your junior career that you're not really getting a deal. I thought I was going to be again laying brick for the rest of the year, maybe go play in the CIS for a bit, not know what was going on.

[Biz Nasty]

So they call the last pick in the draft Mr. Irrelevant. Like that's the actual title of it. I don't know.

[Jake Middleton]

That's what everyone keeps telling me.

[Biz Nasty]

Did you get like any type of award or like for it?

[Jake Middleton]

Nothing, just. Everyone just laughs at me now.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Wit]

Signing bonus was the award.

[Jake Middleton]

One pick before David.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah. The year prior. That's unbelievable. So I noticed that you were drafted by Owen Sound and then I think it was after your first year or midway through your first year.

[Jake Middleton]

Yeah, yeah.

[Biz Nasty]

You ended up getting traded over to Ottawa. Now I played no. 1 sound. I loved it. But going over to Ottawa like really well ran organization like. Well, one of the deepest and great pedigree there. Was it a, like a world of difference going from Owen Sound to there and like the way that you were able to develop and the way they ran things?

[Jake Middleton]

In a certain sense, yeah, we were in a bit of a. They had moved from that civic center down in downtown. We were playing out in Canada. They were redoing the football field my first two years. So we had to go all the way out to Kanata. So our ice time, it was weird development wise. We were practicing in like an old arena and then we'd drive 45 minutes to Kanata for games and there'd be a thousand people in the Canadian Tire Center. Nah, well, it wasn't great. But then you'd look at Owen Sound. Owen sound is what, 30,000 people, one, two high schools. And then I went to Ottawa, the nation's capital. Two universities, two colleges, like a huge downtown. So maybe that was. Maybe I Had some growing up through there as well too.

[Wit]

You know, just ripping a Harley through the Capitol, winking at everyone. But when you went to camp, you were invited by, was it San Jose? The Barracuda? First off for the rookie camp, I.

[Jake Middleton]

Had went up after my last junior year. I had went up to Ontario because they still had my rights, Louisiana did. So I went up to Ontario and I did a practice. I missed a practice. I was waiting in the lobby. Nobody picked me up to go to practice. Curtis McDermid comes back, picks me up in a truck. He's like half dressed because practice is starting. I get on the ice, stutzy screaming at me, as I'm sure you biz, you, you might have.

[Biz Nasty]

I was on the team.

[Jake Middleton]

You probably hurt, but you were.

[Biz Nasty]

There we go.

[Jake Middleton]

Actually, I was only there for. So I get there, we practice, we bust to Stockton. What? That's like seven hours. I'm on a bus. They play the next night. I'm warming up and I'm not. I don't know what's going on. I've been here for 24 hours and Cole Norris screaming at me on the red line in warm ups. I'm like, what's going on here? I don't play. We bus back home. On the bus ride home, I get told I got a flight at 6am to Manchester. We get home at 4 and I'm on a flight at 6. I was in Ontario for like not even 36 hours, so you probably don't remember me, but they had to bring.

[Wit]

You on the bus, by the way. They're like, guys, yeah, sending me to Manchester.

[Biz Nasty]

Well, now that you say it, I do remember you from training camp. And I remember the fact that you ended up in San Jose with the Barracuda that same year because you were on the team. The last year I ever played with Zach Startini, you must have been on the ice with. In the last game of my career, I definitely.

[Jake Middleton]

Were you fighting Stores or were you fighting Galley then?

[Biz Nasty]

No, I. What happened was, is I went for a puck battle and I was just coming back from a. A left torn ACL or excuse me, a right one. And this was my first game back after prehabbing it, knowing that I was going to get surgery at the end of the year and I go for a puck battle with Storts and boom, I tear my left one. So I'm literally the rest of the game, Big Bambi. I couldn't even stand up for a full shift. Just getting knocked over with two noodle ACLs. And then I decided, well, I can't even play and stand up out here. I might as well fight Stini. Fought Stortini. And I think I might have had one or two more shifts, and that was the end. In front of kind of like your situation Canada. In front of What? There was 200 people in the crowd with the Barracuda.

[Jake Middleton]

Yeah, exactly.

[Biz Nasty]

It was. It was tough.

[Jake Middleton]

Part of your last game then. That's fun to hear.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah.

[Wit]

I love that.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah.

[Wit]

But when you went to Barracuda, you were saying on this show that they were just carving you like they. You. Yeah, they hated you.

[Jake Middleton]

I go, I don't know if you guys know. Do you know Tim Burke? Like, he's.

[Wit]

Oh, I know Berkey.

[Jake Middleton]

Yeah. So Berkey. So I get invited. I don't sign with la. They offer an A deal. I say, no, I'm good. I'll go to cis. So then my agent calls, and he's like, you're going to. They brought you to. Or they want you to go to development camp. So I said, great. I'm still laying brick, so I'll take the thousand bucks per diem. Have a good summer. It'll be fine. And then I get there, and I'm getting ripped apart. Like, the whole week, I'm just getting torched. And it's Berkey. He's all over me. So I get home, I call my agent. I'm like, why did they even invite me? Like, I just got ripped apart for the whole five days of development camp like that. There's no reason I should have even been invited. And then they call me back for rookie camp, and I'm looking at my agent saying, okay, I'll just. I'll go collect the per diem again. Finish my away year in junior, go get some per diem. And then, yeah, that was a wild one. I had a good rookie camp. I don't even know if it was good. I was just playing hockey. Good rookie camp. I get invited to training camp, and I'm a free agent, right? Like, I have no status with the San Jose Sharks whatsoever. So every day, you know, after two days, they send the guys home, and then another two days, they send guys home. Well, every day that they're doing cuts, I'm sitting in the cafeteria lounge waiting and waiting and waiting, because I'm like, I got to be getting sent home soon. Like, they're not. They're not up in my per diem yet, and I'm still here. What's going on? And finally, the one Day Reach looks at me. Mike Ricci, who's. He's one of my favorite people. You guys have got to know him at all. But he comes and he just looks at me. He says, go home, kid. So I'm like, okay, fine, I'll go home. And then the next day, they were doing cuts again, and I left on the first bus. I was like, I'm out of here. If they're going to send me home, they got to call me back to do it it. And I ended up staying the whole year. So worked out.

[Biz Nasty]

That's unbelievable.

[Wit]

Did you. You must have played real well then because, like, from what you were hearing earlier and then to make the team, it's like you had to be really showing up. And were you already like, shut down DMAN style like Biz said, blue collar, just getting pucks out or was your offense.

[Jake Middleton]

I can't stick handle.

[Biz Nasty]

I don't.

[Jake Middleton]

I don't have much offense. Like, what do you kind of do, though?

[Wit]

You kind of do a little bit.

[Jake Middleton]

Like, a little bit. A little bit. Not like, I don't. I don't have any confidence in it when I do it, but if it works, it works, but I don't. Yeah, I really. I don't know. They, they. I just kind of. They had a system, right? That was. Pete DeBoer was coaching there, and I just kind of dove into being able to play that system well, showing I could do it, because like I said, I don't have many skills that I can rely on. But if you give me a system, I think I can, I can figure it out. And it was just one of those things where I thought, I, I'm here. I may as well give it the best I got, right?

[Biz Nasty]

I'm. Outside of maybe like, you know, being naive to it all, who would you say outside of Pete Deborah was like, the. The most beneficial to your growth? Like, I mean, Spotter is usually his assistant. Like, who are you working with hand in hand? Was it maybe Vlasic, like one of the other D man you were able to relate to?

[Jake Middleton]

It wasn't so much relating to any, any one player there. My first year. There was a coach there, Ryan Mujanel, who I believe he's still the head coach in Providence. He kind of really took me under his wing and just helped me, showed me how to play the game the right way and just get by and do the right things day in and day out. So he was someone I always looked at. He helped me a ton, especially my first year. That whole first Year for me was kind of a shit show. Like, I signed an A deal after training camp, but they told me to stay in a hotel because there was like a clause that I could get sent back to Junior in November if I wasn't doing well. So then it's like November comes around and I'm still in the hotel. So then I move into a two guys two bedroom apartment and I put a mattress on the floor because I was like, I. I can't get a place by myself. You gave me 50 grand crack house.

[Wit]

Pro hockey, baby. Pro hockey.

[Ryan Whitney]

A little cracked.

[Biz Nasty]

And that's how you lost your teeth.

[Jake Middleton]

Actually.

[Biz Nasty]

You just made up that other story.

[Jake Middleton]

Yeah, that's what it was. Selling on Craigslist, trying to pay for my apartment. But yeah, so it was just a crazy thing. But we had a good team. I don't know if you remember, we went to the conference finals my first year in, in San Jose when I was on an American League deal. And I think that is kind of what helped me get an NHL contract the next year because we went into so deep into the playoffs.

[Wit]

When you finally got to the Sharks, right? Like, like Joe Thornton just got the number retired and we were talking about it last week, but he's kind of notorious for really taking care of guys who get called up young guys that are on the team. Was, Was it the same for you with him?

[Jake Middleton]

Yeah, he was just. He was such a character. He actually. My brother just got a call for the Spengler cup too.

[Wit]

Oh, nice.

[Jake Middleton]

Jumbo was on that committee and he said he got a call from Jumbo. He was shirtless on a beach in Maui or something, just screaming into the FaceTime. But yeah, Jumbo's just that guy. I watched his YouTube or his. The teal thing they did for him with his jersey retirement and he's just like that with everybody. It makes you feel so welcome.

[Biz Nasty]

Isn't he the best man? Like, just like. It's. It's crazy how much energy he has. And he still, I guess goes to the rink all the time and hangs out with the trainers and hangs out kind of like you do with just your jock on.

[Jake Middleton]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's. He's that same kind of person. Him and Mario Ferraro. I don't know if you guys have. Have met him.

[Biz Nasty]

I heard he's a character too.

[Jake Middleton]

Those two together was like when I was young also. They were. Those two were insane together.

[Wit]

Ferrari's like that.

[Jake Middleton]

Oh yeah, Ferraro's. He's bouncing off the wall at all Times.

[Biz Nasty]

Kind of one of those undercover guys you don't hear about because he's in San Jose right now and they don't. There's not enough light shined on them, but. Or did he. Did he move on now or is he still there?

[Jake Middleton]

No, no, he's still in San Jose.

[Biz Nasty]

Still there. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Wit]

Oh, he look. Yeah, he looks like a character. He's missing all his jibs. Kind of looks like you a little bit.

[Jake Middleton]

He's way uglier than I am with no teeth, but yeah.

[Biz Nasty]

Is it. Is it true? Because I. What they say about San Jose, like, man Jose. Because I felt that every time I went there, like, it was hard. There was like, no women around. Like, it was weird. It was like it was just all dudes. Yeah.

[Jake Middleton]

Yeah, you could say that. There's not many there. There's not much of a nightlife either, though, right? There's some good restaurants in that if you get out Los Gatos way. But yeah, there's not much going on in terms of nightlife. So for a young guy, if you're looking for young single guy, it's Slim Pickens.

[Biz Nasty]

Well, were you single at the time? Where would you go? San Francisco.

[Jake Middleton]

Been married forever, but yeah, San Francisco, we would go up to the marina district in San Francisco. That was a good time. It's a little like a lot of homeless people and up there literal on the streets. But we'd head up there sometimes. Take the train.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah. I think there's an app now that actually it like registers where all like the people of. Around town. So just to be aware of like the, The. The. The piles of. From. From people leaving those. Now, I guess it's time to. To move on to. When you finally got to Minnesota, like, did it come as a. As a shock to you moving on? Like, obviously things have really worked out there, but, like, probably hard to say bye to the team who really gave you your first opportunity in the NHL.

[Jake Middleton]

Yeah, it was. There's a lot of emotions. Good ones too, though. Like, that. And I owe a lot to San Jose. Like, even that year, I kind of made the team out of nowhere. Like, I thought we talked about how I was going to finish my junior and go to the cis. That was the same kind of way I felt before I got to the NHL too, because I had done. I'd played three years of a couple games a year type thing, and I never really got a opportunity to stick with the team out of training camp or get a full run of a handful of games at once. So I made the team. Kind of out of nowhere, Bob Boogner gave me a shot, told me opening night, he said, you're in the lineup. Don't give me a reason to take you out. So I got into a fight the first game, and then just kind of snowballed from there. I was playing with Carl, too. Like, fuck. I owe Carl probably half the money I've made because he's the reason I'm here now.

[Ryan Whitney]

He.

[Jake Middleton]

After training camp, he told me, he's like, you're going to be my D partner. And I was like, yeah, sure, buddy. And then it actually happened, and he. He gave me an opportunity to be seen, you know, and that's what gave me an opportunity to get picked up at the deadline and have a career here in Minnesota so far.

[Wit]

That's what's odd, though, is that you mentioned the three years of mostly ahl, couple games, and then this year you make it and it's your first full NHL season, and you're traded. Like, was the contract ending, like. Cause it's almost like, hey, we've put in a lot of time and effort, this guy. We're seeing the rewards now. You would have thought it would been the beginning of something for you there.

[Jake Middleton]

I. I think I did. I did think that. So I was restricted that year. Like, I was a restricted. I had to play a certain amount of games, otherwise I went to ufa. Oh, again, I don't. You guys might know it better than me, but there was a threshold that I was close to not crossing, and if I didn't cross it, then I was a ufa. And at the time, San Jose hadn't offered a contract extension, which my agent had kind of thought we were going to get an extension done with how well I'd been playing in San Jose the first half of that year. And then tsn, all that shit's kind of swirling around going up to the deadline day, and my name's all over it, and I have no idea what's going on. I've played 45 games in this league, and I'm like, no, I'm in the top 10 on Trade Bait, on TSN. So I'm calling my agent and he's saying, yeah, no, there's a. There's a handful of teams who are really interested in you and this and that. And I'm thinking, okay, cool. But I'm also not sitting out games because I have this restricted thing, right? So normally guys are. If they're going to get traded on deadline day, they might not sit out the game before.

[Wit]

Yeah.

[Jake Middleton]

So we play Arizona the night before deadline day, and I'm in the lineup. My agent's like, can you tell me if you're playing tonight? So I get there, I'm in the lineup, I text him, I say I'm in. And he's like, okay. Because he's still kind of wondering, too. He's like, I don't know if you're getting traded or not, but there's a lot of teams looking and I play. So I'm kind of in the back of my head now. I'm like, maybe I'm not going anywhere, right? Like, maybe I'm staying here. It's all going to work out in San Jose. And then 8am the next morning, I get a call and it says, I trade if it's my gm. Carl was actually the first person to call me, Eric, saying, oh, they fucking traded you. And then I had to hang up on him because Joe Will, the gm, was calling and he said, yeah, we trade you to Minnesota. I said, who? Like, I had heard all these other teams. Minnesota was not once brought up to me.

[Wit]

Who was the team you heard most?

[Jake Middleton]

St. Louis, Boston, Edmonton and Toronto were like, the ones. I remember my agent saying, those guys are okay, are looking. And that was like 10 days before the deadline. Up until the night before the deadline, not once was Minnesota even mentioned. So. But it fucked, man. It worked out. I've been having a blast here. I keep fooling Billy into letting me stay here. It's. It's working out.

[Biz Nasty]

How long did you. Did it take for you to actually feel like yourself in the locker room? Because as all these, like, content pieces and, you know, all these Internet clips have circulated, it's evident you have a lot of character and you're silly in the locker room. Like. Like, did you come in hot right away? No pun intended?

[Jake Middleton]

I mean, I don't think I come in too hot. Like, there's other guys on there. Like Moose, that guy.

[Biz Nasty]

Oh, yeah.

[Jake Middleton]

Like, he's a character. Zuccarello, he's a character. All these guys here, they're just. But they're so welcoming. Like, it was so. Even when I got traded, I was at the hotel. Tyson Jost had got traded with me, Flower, and then Delorier. We all kind of came in within a couple days of each other, and we all just kept talking about how good this room is. Like, everyone's so. It's friends everywhere. If guys go for dinner, it's a group of 12 to 15 getting a table, and it's been like that since I got started here. And, yeah, it's just. It's a blast room so good that anyone can be themselves win.

[Biz Nasty]

I think the term that Billy G Used this off season was no, right? Isn't that what he said? No, no, no.

[Jake Middleton]

Yeah, that's a perfect. Perfect way to put it. No.

[Wit]

Has Flurry buried you with anything yet? I mean, how ridiculous is he trying to deal with him, or are you kind of off his radar?

[Jake Middleton]

I stay away from that because I don't want to get involved. I do. He loves the shaving cream and the towels. You gotta double check every time. Classic.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Jake Middleton]

Oh, yeah. We just played last puck in practice, and he was doing. You see clips circulating now of you guys in Pittsburgh with him in last puck and that kind of thing. He's the same, and he's 40.

[Wit]

I know. I. And he hasn't even ate. He doesn't even. Like, he's not aging physically either. It's crazy.

[Jake Middleton]

Yeah.

[Wit]

No, it's phenomenal.

[Jake Middleton]

Specimen.

[Wit]

Did you ever catch up or did anyone ever get word of how pissed off Duhame was last year when he put his car on the. What do you put him on the blocks?

[Jake Middleton]

Duhame started that. He was asking for it from the go. You're gonna go up against flour, you got to be ready for anything.

[Biz Nasty]

Oh, God.

[Jake Middleton]

Well, it was there, so we. He did it to him. Whatever day he did it to him. We went back to Colorado like, 10 days later for another game. It was still on cement blocks in the parking garage.

[Wit]

Oh, there's nothing he could do.

[Biz Nasty]

Actually.

[Wit]

One more thing about Flower. Considering you're Canadian and we're talking four nations, we have him for a little bit, and so many people have all these different opinions on Canadian goaltenders. I think they're nuts if they get three goalies to not bring him as one of him.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah, I agree.

[Jake Middleton]

He's a gamer. He still got it. He's lost one game for us this year, right? Like, his record, still saying he's good. He's playing unbelievable. And you know how competitive he is. Like, you know he's gonna. When the game's on the line, he's someone I want in the crease.

[Biz Nasty]

And despite that, it seems like he's transformed into, like, an unbelievable partner. More on the backup side. Like, he was able to do that. And you saw when he was competing with Murray in Pittsburgh, but also for Gustavson, like, they're in Minnesota. Like, it just seems like he's been the perfect mentor for him.

[Jake Middleton]

Well, he's just such a salt of the earth human being. Right. Like, he doesn't have it in him to kind of hold a grudge or, or be mad about those kind of. Whatever situation he's put in, he's going to make the most of it. Right. I'm sure you guys know, you played with him like that's just who he is. And it makes him a great mentor and a great goalie tandem guy and he's just. He's unbelievable.

[Biz Nasty]

I want to ask you about Kirill the Thrill. Like this guy not only a specimen on the ice, but. But going back to when we had Moose on. He was talking about the group text. Basically being like, I'm not playing with these pigeons anymore. I'm the. I'm the top dog on the team. What are some other stories that come up from a day to day, like with the antics of, of this, of this crazy Carill the Thrill.

[Jake Middleton]

He's just. Well, I like. People don't get to see how good he actually is either. Right? Like, he is. You guys probably do you watch too.

[Wit]

They're starting to, right?

[Jake Middleton]

But he's been doing this for five years now.

[Biz Nasty]

Like he's.

[Jake Middleton]

He's unbelievable. He can. He takes the game over. He just. The way he battles too. And he's the best Russian I've ever met. Like he's from a small town village I think in the. Just above Mongolia. Like, he's just such another salt of the earth dude. Loves going for beers, loves hanging out, dinners, whatever it is. He's around. He's not so much like you. Are you talking about the no players text or whatever is.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah, yeah.

[Jake Middleton]

Well, he still gives me all the time. Like him and Zuccarello after practice. Like a week ago, I was feeling good about myself, right? I had like 10 points in 18 games or something, which again, that was all thanks to Krillin Zuki. I just get a second assist, but there they take my stick after, after practice and they're like high, flipping the puck, punting it off the glass, falling over, just making fun of me. Like they're, they're ridiculous. I get out there sometimes with them and they'll do. They're talking up like a face off play and they're just like, go ahead, go stand over there. You're good. We're not going to use you.

[Wit]

We don't even want you to know what we're doing.

[Jake Middleton]

You'll fuck it up. I'm just a decoy out there whenever I'm with those guys.

[Biz Nasty]

So so he's not your typical Russian. What's the most Russian thing that he does though? Is he showing up in like, you know, like fancy track suits? Like, no, nothing.

[Jake Middleton]

I don't see any big watches on them ever. He's like, he's very. The most Russian thing he does is like he lives in a sauna. Like, he just, he loves the sauna. Other than that, like, he doesn't drink vodka. He doesn't do anything crazy like that. You know, like there's nothing, nothing too Russian about him. He's just a. He's like a Canadian kind of like, he's like a Canadian who speaks Russia.

[Wit]

How's his English?

[Jake Middleton]

Way better than he lets people believe.

[Wit]

Oh, that's the smartest move that they have, though. I can't do the interview.

[Jake Middleton]

He started to do a lot more media this year, like talking with our beat guys and that kind of thing after games because he is really good at it. And he's a well spoken leader too. So it is that he's. It is good that he's starting to use it more. But yeah, his English is, is absolutely fine.

[Wit]

Zuccarello is another character. Like Kevin Hayes was telling me he went to Norway with him for. I think he has like a big hockey tournament.

[Jake Middleton]

Yeah, the charity game.

[Wit]

I don't know if you've been or plan on going. He said it's like walking around with like Tom Brady. Like he's, he's like the most famous person from the country and I wouldn't experience that would be to be with him there.

[Biz Nasty]

There.

[Jake Middleton]

Yeah, I haven't got to experience it. He dogged me this year on it. This was my last summer. I had a kid a month ago, so I was hoping I'd get the call to go play in his Norwegian charity game, but he didn't give me a call. And again, it's probably because he says I have no skill. He didn't want me to high flip it. In his charity game.

[Wit]

He's like, we need some tape to tape passes. We can't have you over there. Well, hey, congrats on you had a son or daughter?

[Jake Middleton]

I had a daughter.

[Wit]

Congrats, man. How's that going?

[Jake Middleton]

Thank you. Good. I haven't been home much. We. She's a month old today and I think we've been gone for two weeks of it, so.

[Biz Nasty]

Oh, how many, how many diapers have you changed, do you think?

[Jake Middleton]

Man, I'm not doing well. I like, I, I like gag picking up my dog. So now I'm doing Diapers. And I. It's like, it's bad. I.

[Biz Nasty]

My.

[Jake Middleton]

We had her parents here at the start, my wife's parents here at the start. My parents came in and then her sisters. And I was using every excuse in the book. That's not what. Like, it was bad. And it's like I'm trying, you know, like I'm getting in there, but then my eyes start watering and I start gagging. And I. I'm pretty proud of myself, though. I let my wife sleep this morning, and I got the morning poo out of the way and all by myself.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah.

[Jake Middleton]

Yeah.

[Biz Nasty]

This is.

[Wit]

Yeah. What a guy you are. Every.

[Biz Nasty]

Women.

[Wit]

Listen. It's like he changed one diaper and he's proud of himself.

[Biz Nasty]

How hard was it for you to say, bye, Dean Evanson? I mean, he. It seemed like he had a. A great rapport with the players, and obviously things with Heinz has really worked out as well because he's a great coach. But it seemed like you'd obviously gained a lot of confidence under Dean Evanson, and I'm sure that was a difficult part in saying goodbye to him.

[Jake Middleton]

Yeah, that was tough. That was the first coaching change I'd been a part of, too, where I was. I was full time on the team. And to see a coaching change like that happen, the emotions are all over the board because you know that you had a hand in it, right? Like, you weren't performing how you were supposed to, and it led to another person's firing. So you feel awful. Him and his staff, they were so good. Players, coaches, they're. The guys in Columbus are going to love them.

[Wit]

They've. They've played real well, too.

[Jake Middleton]

Yeah, they play a fast game, a lot of pace, and he brings it out of guys. He brings guys into the fight. He's an intense person, so, yeah, we miss him. But like you said, we're doing well here with Heinz, and it's been so.

[Wit]

Big for you guys to have Spurgeon back again and all that, but Faber and you getting the chance to play with him, how. How incredible is his game? I mean, he came in right out of college to the playoffs two years ago, last year, unreal season. And you've seen it so close, being his partner for a lot of games.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah.

[Wit]

What impresses you most about him and his game?

[Jake Middleton]

His skating is, bar none, like it. It's so explosive. He covers so much ground. I think that's what allows him to defend so well. He's like. Like a running back. Like, he's stocky and Thick and just so explosive. He can end plays quick and then if he's in trouble, he can skate out of trouble too. Right. He's just. It's really impressive the way he plays the game and how hard he can compete for how many minutes he plays. It's. It's another thing he's got a huge engine on.

[Wit]

Yeah. He's young enough to just keep going. And with the. With the start you guys have had, it's been awesome to see with all that dead cap space too. A Parisian suitor. What do you think you guys have done best? Like, what. What's. Obviously it's a close room and. And it's. It's been a very great start. But I don't know what you look at in your team's game. You're like, this is where right now, like, we're unbeatable at this aspect.

[Jake Middleton]

Just our. Our structure has been. It's been what's keeping us on the rails right now because we have. We're. We're down bodies.

[Wit]

We.

[Jake Middleton]

Like, we've lost Zuccarello. We ruptured his testicle the other week and. And Brodin's back is gone right now. He's trying to get that figured out. And we just have guys that you can plug into the lineup. And our structure is so detailed and guys are playing it so well that that's giving us success as we can still go through four lines and three sets of D and everyone knows where everyone's going to be and they're going to execute it to the best of their ability. And that's what's given us an opportunity every night to win.

[Biz Nasty]

I wanted to ask you about boldy too, because we had Bill G on before the season and he said like, consistency for young guys is sometimes the issue, but when he's on his game and if he was able to stretch that over a full 82, he thinks he's what, a 40 and 40, maybe even a 50 and 50 guy. Like, what's it like playing with. You talked about the structure, but you guys have some game breakers where with a break out of that and really be difference makers.

[Jake Middleton]

Absolutely. Like Bowles is. I call Bold 711 because he is always open if you ask him. Him.

[Biz Nasty]

But.

[Jake Middleton]

And I say it as a chirp, but he. He truly wants the puck on his stick.

[Biz Nasty]

Right.

[Jake Middleton]

Like he wants to. To get the puck on a stick and make something happen. And you can't ask for more from a player who. Who wants to be put in the toughest scenarios and toughest situations and try to make something of it. He's, he's. And he's got so much skill. He's so big. He can protect pucks and work them down low and he can go one on one and stick handle in a phone booth. Like he's just a, He's a tremendous player.

[Biz Nasty]

And I was gonna ask like, outside of obviously the team, the camaraderie you guys have, what's the best part about playing in Minnesota?

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, gosh.

[Jake Middleton]

Well, the summers are way better in the winters, I'll tell you that. My wife has a job at a, at a hospital down here, so we get to spend the summer as well. And you can tell that's why people live here. The lake life and the golf. Have you golfed out here, Whit?

[Wit]

Yeah, I've played, played Hazeltine. Played a couple other real good ones. And like I've been told I haven't played 25 unreal tracks. Like in the city even.

[Jake Middleton]

Yeah, there's so many just in the metro that are unbelievable and so things like that. The people here are great. They're all sports fans. They're passionate fans. I guess that's another thing I should probably throw in here. That why I love playing here is the fans are passionate. They care deeply about all the sports. Even last year we got to see the Timberwolves make it to the Western Conference final. This city was electric. Like I live right downtown. Every night there was a game. It was just the passion behind it was. Was really cool. So we're looking to do that with the Wild too. Take them on a run because that's. The fans here deserve it.

[Wit]

Have you gotten a chance to swing by the Minnesota high school hockey tournament at all? Were you guys out of town?

[Jake Middleton]

I haven't. We're out of town always. They come in and flood xl so we're usually got a big road trip whenever that's going on month.

[Wit]

So this is the last year of a three year deal. Like your cap hits 2.4 and then this summer you signed, you know, you're eligible to sign an extension. Congrats on that. Four years, 17 million. That's awesome for you. But I was wondering, was it an easy decision or was there maybe a part of you like, hey, play my UFA year, maybe get a bigger payday or you're just that happy where you are now to sign that extension?

[Jake Middleton]

Yeah, we. It was a no brainer really. Like you. My agent had mentioned that when July 1st comes around, you can't get mad at me. But that Was not a situation like how are you going to say no to money that's laid out right in front of you? Especially when you one love playing in the city, you love the guys and you can feel that there's something being built here. There's things set in place where you can see success is hopefully inevitable within this organization and you just want to to be given the opportunity to see it through with something you kind of started help build. It's a tough opportunity to say no to.

[Wit]

Well, congrats on everything, man. Biz, I don't know if you had anything else for this guy.

[Biz Nasty]

No, no, I. I mean, thank you so much for your time, man. You're an interesting cat and look forward to seeing your guys success. I think, I think you guys are one of the best stories going right now in the league and I don't know why people maybe counted you guys out coming in, but you guys are getting done as a group and it's great to see.

[Jake Middleton]

Yeah, it's really nice. You guys have me on this was fun.

[Wit]

Anytime. Anytime, buddy. Congrats on everything and we'll talk to you soon.

[Jake Middleton]

Right on. Thanks again guys.

[Wit]

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[Wit]

Thank you very much to Jake Middleton. Guys. Guy looks like a guy you'd like to crush. A few beers with biz or pink Whitney, I should say.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah, I thought he was going to take my tarps off invite, but I Guess I'll just be the only he.

[Wit]

Looked over to maybe like a PR person from the team. And like he's like, no, I'm not. Maybe, maybe he was, he, he was being shadowed. Okay, well, so in terms of quick hits around the league, Sam Reinhardt, somehow, not somehow, he's just that good. Is on pace for more goals than last year. Last year he pops off the. One of the most legendary seasons just with the contract, the cop, the goals, like a fairy tale season. He's coming back and he's doing it again. And the Panthers, when they want, it seems like when they want to be good, they just turn it on and crush teams. And he's the biggest part of it. Like Barkov, there's so many players there. But Reinhardt being this good, I never knew he was so good defensively. Everyone saw that in the playoffs all last regular season, killing penalties. And I guess he's this great of a goal scorer because now you're looking at like, all right, there's no fluke here. You've seen Hyman, who's battling injury. He slowed down. That was probably one where it's not fair to compare the skill and the goal scoring ability that Reinhard has to Hyman. But I think people thought that Reinhardt would maybe slow down in a similar fashion after last year just popping off. Did you see this happening again?

[Biz Nasty]

Well, I just go back to last year's comments from Maurice saying that he's the second most intelligent hockey player he's ever coached. I think he said Ron Francis is number one. So that's like high praise when you're comparing a player in the same breath as Ron Francis and what was even like a. So to answer your question, I didn't think he was going to be able to do it at last year's rate. And I definitely didn't think that when Barkov ended up going down with injury when he slid into the boards against the Ottawa Senators, when it, when I, when he was going to miss time, I'm like, well, it's going to affect everybody's offensive output, including the power play and how well it clips at. Well, that didn't fucking slow him down either. So it's just like, like the fact that he took a hometown discount to stay there and now he's producing at that same clip rate. Right. It's like almost unfair that they got him and Verhegy and Barkov and whoever else they have locked into these fair team friendly contracts because I don't care what you say like that Is one of the biggest bar goons in the league based how he's came out of the gates this year. So just highly impressed. And one guy it doesn't shock is Pasha, who's very close with them. They grew up together, I think Reinhardt's from North Vancouver. Pasha's a cake eater from west Vancouver. So somehow they, they, they grew up together and, and, and probably played on the ice together. Mind you, Pasha's got shit mitts. He can't skate. So all the skill for hockey players was in North Vancouver, not west, but.

[Wit]

Just was a bender, right?

[Biz Nasty]

Just. He, he still is like the ugliest skater you've ever seen in your life. He looked like William Jennings after I gave him the right hook to that left temple of his skating out there. But yeah, just remarkable what he's doing. And he deserves all the praise and possible Rocket Rashard winner. Given how good he is defensively. Do you ever think he would get any Selkie consideration? But because he's a winger, it's hard, you know? Like, do wingers typically get nominated for the Selkie?

[Wit]

Well, I, yeah, I more look at it like, do they not even worry? Like, does the goals not even matter for the Selkie? Like, do voters of the Selkie not even worry about that they're solely defensively? Or do you take into effect. I think you have to take into account, excuse me, like he's scoring goals while also playing a huge role defensively.

[Biz Nasty]

That's the way I look at it.

[Wit]

So I think that that's even more impressive. But also impressive. We talked Columbus. Zach Warrenski is on fire. When we met him for the original Chiclets cup. That was, that was the first one Detroit, correct?

[Biz Nasty]

Yep.

[Wit]

I. We had never met him. Did the sandbagger. The most ridiculous shot I think we've ever seen on a sandbagger. When he chips in from about 80 yards away. I just thought he was a great guy. And I didn't know much about his game. And watching him more, you see like, holy fuck this guy when he wants. And he got. He's had injury troubles. He dominates. He's turned it on this year where definitely I would say a Norris trophy candidate. He leads the league in time on ice per game, 26 minutes a game. He's lighting it up. He had a five point game the other day. He had a Gordie Howe hat trick. Another game and Dean Evanson, which I think we said last week, he's like this guy. I never knew how good this player was. So I've just. I think he's on Team USA or he should be on Team usa. A lot of people say you already have Quinn Hughes and you got, you know, similar type players. But to have him as a guy that could hop on the power play if it was somehow struggling in a quick tournament, the way he moves the puck, the way he skates, I don't. Now I know they're talking that it's an undersized D. I think he should be on that team. He's played his way onto that team.

[Biz Nasty]

I think when you talk about the Norris, I think there's three names that are always going to come up. It's always going to be Makar, Quinn, Hughes and Haskin. And right. These guys do it year in, year out. I actually got to watch Makar and Hasken and go head to head the other night. Did you see that assist that Makar had when he fed over to Rotten? And Ron was like, holy. Pointing at him like, how the fuck did you just dance five guys. But Werenski has entered the conversation for the Norris trophy. And I know that a lot of people put emphasis on points, but you just talk about not only his ability to work on the power play, he can play penalty kill in all situations. Very, very impressed with the season he's having. And I think that a lot of people who know him knew that he was capable of this. But you talk about the health issue, like dealing with the shoulder surgery. He's had other injuries as well. I think he had had knee, like maybe a scope or something done at some point. So to see him fully healthy and playing for this Columbus team after getting that deal that he did, it's awesome. And couldn't be happier for the guy. Great guy. I still hate his guts for that chip in though, especially after we gave him the relief after ground under repair where it shouldn't have been. But that was your mistake, not mine, but all in all, club's mistake. He's. He's probably in that top three and I would probably put him in over Haskin and right now. And I know Dallas fans are going to be losing their minds when they hear that, but hey, come on, you got to tip your cap sometimes.

[Wit]

All right, well, you want to talk possible Norris trophy guys and the Calder race early to talk about it, but the Calder trophy to the rookie of the year, Macklin Celebrini is taking over this league. He's doing it. The youngest player in the league, will be 18 all season. Is dominating in the last 11 days. He has four goals and nine points, which is third in the NHL. That's since November 21st. He's got two game winning goals, eight block shots. He, people are saying is the best Sharks rookie ever. I think he's the best rookie in the league by a mile. Philly fans come at me. This guy is all around playing both zones. Michikov, super talented, talented. Offensively, Celebrini is killing people in his own zone. I say killing people, running people into the wall, stealing the puck. He's got a great stick. He's playing defense, he's scoring. Will Smith has started lighting it up. I mean, how about Granland out there? He's, he's on pace for like 95 points. I think Eklund's a young pick that William Eklund and he's playing great. It's, it's exciting to watch the Sharks. Last year you couldn't pay me to watch the Sharks. I wouldn't have taken money to go to the game and watch him. I wouldn't have done it. And now I'm like, oh, I can't wait to watch the Sharks tonight. And it's, it's mainly Celebrini and the excitement that, that he's kind of brought to that entire team. And I think your country, Biz, Canada, they got to take him on the team. You're building for the future for next year's Olympics. Imagine how good it'll be next season.

[Biz Nasty]

That's my feeling. When a lot of the conversation was coming up about Bedard being on it to pass the torch and see how these other guys operate under the pressure in that environment of playing against the world's best. I think that Maclin Celebrini deserves it. And the reason I say that is if you watch him play like you just talked about his defensive game, it's almost, it almost reminds me of when Nico, he share broke in like how good his skating was. And you're like, this kid's this young and this responsible defensively and like you can really trust him in all areas where he's not really being hung out to dry and not being exposed. So his skating ability and, and now the way that he's able to produce offensively, he's got a lethal shot. Like I didn't realize his shot was going to be that good either. It just seems like he's able to play at this level and fit right in seamlessly. Where I agree, I think that he should be the one extra because I think that he would fit in there and it would all work out. That would be my 1 pick if you had to bring a young guy and you know, maybe Chicago fans disagree and they want their boy Bedard. But but I think as far as this year in sample size and who deserves to be on the roster, I got Macklin Celebrini on there. I think if you're taking a wild card, take him. I don't think he'll be on the team but I would take him.

[Wit]

Yeah, I don't think he will be either but it would be smart too because you know he's going to be there in the future in these best on best tournaments. I think talking about Macklin Celebrini leads us into our next guest perfectly. J. Pandolfo, current head coach at Buffalo, sat down with him about a month ago. Maybe maybe a little bit more biz as the BU season began. So right now we're going to throw it over to him. Jay Pandolfo before we go any further, I need to talk to you about Aura Frames. Isn't it funny how the people we love most are often the hardest to shop for? Luckily, there's one gift that everyone on your list is sure to enjoy. An Aura Digital Picture Frame. Name number one by wire cutter Aura Frames make it incredibly easy to share unlimited photos and videos directly from your phone to the frame. And when you give an Aura Frame as a gift, you can personalize and pre load it with a thoughtful message and photos using the Aura app, making it an ideal present for long distance loved ones. It's a gift so special they'll use it every day. It's amazing. You can just the easiness to just put the pictures onto the frame is incredible. It's so, so simple. And that's what I think some other frames are really missing. It's too difficult. It's too difficult to get your pictures up. Not with Aura Frames or a frame. Simple. Click, boom it's on. So save on the perfect gift by visiting aura frames.com to get $35 off Aura's best selling carver Matte frames by using promo code Chiclets at checkout. That's a U R A frames.com promo code Chicken Chocolates this deal is exclusive to listeners, so get yours now in time for the holidays. Terms and conditions apply. What an absolute pleasure it is now to be joined by Boston University legend and now Head coach, two time Stanley cup champion, one of the best checking NHL forwards we've ever seen. Biz Burlington, Massachusetts Zone J. Pandolfo Panda what's going on fun.

[Ryan Whitney]

Not much. W. I appreciate you guys having me. This is long overdue. So I'm glad. Glad to be here.

[Biz Nasty]

You mean, you mean Frank Stallone, as Scotty Gomez calls him.

[Wit]

So funny business. Like, he's like. He's like, oh, I used to just say this. Frank Sloan, you want to meet Sly's brother?

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah. I used to go up to girls at a table and you want to make Frank. Frank meet Frank Stallone, Sty's brother. It's awesome.

[Ryan Whitney]

That was Gomer's thing for a long time. Just to get the conversation started, what.

[Biz Nasty]

Was his batting average on that Gomer?

[Ryan Whitney]

He's. He had a high average, there's no question about it. But when you talk like that. You guys have interviewed him. He would sit here for four hours.

[Wit]

Oh, we did. The first time we interviewed him, I believe it was about an hour and a half, and we'd gotten through his rookie year in Jersey. I was like, oh, my God, I think we've done like. It was a four parter.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah. Oh, it was. It was a goosebumps. Choose your own ending. Every. Every story would spiral out into a different story. So we'd ask one, one, one question, put a quarter in, and he's done.

[Ryan Whitney]

He does not forget a thing, too. That's. That's why it takes so long. He remembers every detail.

[Wit]

Crazy.

[Ryan Whitney]

Remembers every story. It's. I wish I remembered as much as he did, but we, we certainly had a lot of great times together and a lot of good stories.

[Biz Nasty]

Was he your first NHL roommate?

[Ryan Whitney]

No, no, he came in later. So he came in later. I had a few, few different ones. They changed over the years, but when he came in, he was my roommate right away. And we were, I think we were together for like eight years, so those walls could talk. But he, he's a treat. He was, he was like a younger brother to me. Like, he actually grew up playing with my brother in some of the USA hockey stuff.

[Wit]

They played world juniors together.

[Ryan Whitney]

World juniors together. He actually came into training camp his 18 year old year and he, he probably should have made the team that year, but Lou always, you know, guys always had to earn it and came in the next training camp and it was clear that he was going to make the team. And not many guys back then, I think Niedermeyer, Gomez were the only two that never really spent any time in the minors. So that tells you what type of player he was at a young age and obviously enters the league and wins a cup his first year. He thought it was going to be easy.

[Wit]

Oh, he thought it was just cups galore, but, I mean, you guys could have got another one too. But I mean, we want to kind of start at the beginning because you're. You're a legend around here. And it's funny because you played at Burlington High, which you don't really see many players, like, coming out of those type schools anymore. It's even prep schools now. You see kids have to go to the USHL or play junior somewhere. But for you, like, there was never an. I'm sure there was an option. There was never a chance or a risk of you going to a private school. You just wanted to stay at Burlington High.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, my. Actually going. I was younger, too. I. I went into BU at 17 and turned 18. December. I had, like, the. I got drafted out of college, not high school, so it was a little different. But I did consider going to, like, St. Sebastian's or Avon, repeat my junior year. But I was talking to some of the schools, and they felt like I didn't have to. So once I heard that, I'm like, I'm staying. Like, there's nothing better than that. There really isn't. You get to play in front of all your family and friends and all your buddies and play with your buddies that you grew up playing with. You can't beat it. It's kind of a. Kind of a shame that it just doesn't.

[Wit]

I know.

[Ryan Whitney]

Like that anymore.

[Biz Nasty]

Geez. Fist bumping right now. That's his hometown. He says he used to see you playing street hockey because you guys lived on the same street growing up.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Biz Nasty]

Were you aware of that?

[Ryan Whitney]

I've. I've been told by Mike. Yeah. And I remember there were kids that there were kids that came over all the time. And it was different back then, too. The kids used to roam the streets and look for street hockey all the time. That's how we grew up. And I don't see that as much anymore either. I got young kids, and now, like, they're all scheduled. Everything's scheduled. You don't see them go trying to find games. And it is. It's sad. Oh, things have changed that.

[Wit]

Well, it leads kind of like how. How much hockey's changed where you were. A guy who played all these sports and summers, you'd put the gear away and. And now, like, you mentioned the schedule. Like, my son's turning 7 in November, and it's every. You know, every day they have something after school where for you, it was just that much different playing with the kids from town yeah, it was completely different.

[Ryan Whitney]

You used to put your rollerblades on and you go rollbad and hopefully find a tennis court that had no nets up and, and go out and roll bait. And you played, you played every sport. And I'm trying to keep that going with my kids. I got a 15 year old son who's still, you know, really good player. Biz played lacrosse a little bit last year. My younger guy plays everything, plays flag football, lacrosse, baseball, so. And I got a daughter that plays too. She plays everything. You got to keep the kids in as much as you can because I think too, you see these kids as they turn 17, 18, they're having hip surgeries and all these sorts. It's just overuse. So it's, it's nice to see the kids do it as much as they can.

[Biz Nasty]

I think it was Charlie Coyle we had on who his, his email address was. Boston. Boston University wasn't.

[Jay Pandolfo]

Yeah, screen name.

[Wit]

He still left it during his freshman year.

[Biz Nasty]

So for you growing up, like, was that the number one choice where you wanted to go? Bu.

[Ryan Whitney]

It was, it was one of the Boston schools. Harvard was a stretch academically for sure. It was really probably came down to bcbu. My dad, believe it or not, played football at Boston College. He was a quarterback there. Never really, we give him crappy, never. I don't think he ever got past third string. But for me at the time my older sister went to bc, she was only a year older than me. But for me, I just, at that time just BU felt like a better fit. And you know, I would go to both games, both campuses and for whatever reason I just felt like I fit better. At Boston University, you know, they were producing players at that point. They had Mike Boyle there as a strength coach and it seemed like he was ahead of his time and, and then Jack Parker, who was, you know, second to none. So it was, it was just once I got there, got around the guys, it just felt like it was a place for me.

[Biz Nasty]

And, and I was just going to ask about Burlington High School. You got recruited out of there. Was that like, was that more common though back then where guys would actually play high school?

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, no, no question. It was definitely more common, especially around Massachusetts. You'd have, you'd have a handful of kids out of public high schools. You'd have a ton of kids out of the Catholic Conference difference and a ton of kids out of prep school. That, that's how they used to recruit around here. And back, back then too, it was a lot different, you know, the country obviously has expanded hockey wise compared to back then. And back then you got, you come to Massachusetts, you go into high school games and that's where you're finding the players. All these schools are finding all the players there.

[Wit]

So growing up, were you always like the best player when you were 11, 12, you were a late bloomer, or was it kind of easy for me? For you? From the time you remember?

[Ryan Whitney]

I think probably, probably after my first couple years, because when I first started, I was a lot younger than everyone. You know, back then you played just in town and it was two years, two age groups, so it was a little different. But probably like around peewees, I started maybe thinking I was, you know, one of the better players. Yeah, but you never knew how it was going to end up. But I never sat there and thought that, you know, I was ever going to have a chance to play in the National Hockey League.

[Wit]

Oh, really?

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah. I think you start, as you get a little bit older, you start going to watching the bean pot and you sit and you're watching the bean pot, like, wow, that would be unbelievable. Have opportunity to play.

[Biz Nasty]

This is the NHL to me, to us.

[Ryan Whitney]

That's what it was. And then, you know, I was obviously a huge Bruins fan, but that was so far out, you didn't even think about it. And then when you start getting 16, 17, and you're starting getting recruited for colleges and you see some of the kids that are coming out of Boston University and bc, then you maybe you think it's a little bit more realistic. So that's probably the first time I thought about it. I didn't think about it when I was really young.

[Wit]

Were you. Were you kind of obsessed with the game, shooting pucks? You mentioned street hockey, but were you. Was it constantly on your mind of like practicing, but you didn't look at it as practice? It was more just what you loved all the time.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, yeah.

[Jay Pandolfo]

You had cement sheet in your backyard, did you not?

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, my dad, My dad, he's in construction, so he built like a asphalt in the backyard. We had a net back there, so I was out there all the time. It was awesome, man. You know, have the friends over all the time playing street hockey. So. No, no question. Like I had a passion for it. I loved it. It. Yeah, it did not seem like work at all for me to go out back and shoot pucks. And I also grew up, my dad was in construction, so I spent plenty of days on the construction site.

[Wit]

And you out working?

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah. Oh, and shooting pucks is A lot more fun than that. So, yeah, if I could work hard at that and not have to spend another day on the job site, that was what I was gonna do.

[Biz Nasty]

I used to help lay bricks. I had to carry the mortar to them to do it. So I had the job, too. I didn't even get to put the bricks up. So, yeah, you, You, You. You definitely rather go train than do that type of stuff.

[Wit]

But now you lay pipe.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah. We got to clean it up for Pando. He's trying to recruit some players here, especially with these new rules popping up. Your first year, it seemed like you transitioned pretty good. Like, back then. Was there like a. Like a. Not a hazing process, but did you guys?

[Wit]

Definitely was different.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah.

[Wit]

Well, my freshman year, it was so. Jay's brother Mike was my captain. He was a senior when I was a freshman. Unreal guy. Great leader. Him and Chris Diamond. And back then you had to do some, like, shots of this brutal drink. I remember. But it wasn't, like, hazing by any means. And I'm assuming, like, now there's nothing. It's just changed so much.

[Biz Nasty]

But it was more of like, you were getting, like, baptized into this team. Like, what did you guys have to do?

[Ryan Whitney]

It was the same as widow. They had the tradition there at bu. What was it called? What was the party? It was actually the name of the party.

[Wit]

The Blowout.

[Ryan Whitney]

The Blowout, Yep. And I think it was Seagram 7.

[Wit]

Seagram.

[Ryan Whitney]

So. Right. Isn't that what it was?

[Wit]

And I was like, oh, I remember. That was the night that I. I had shaved, and I get the worst razor rash or whatever it's called, and.

[Biz Nasty]

It'S dripping down your chin, so it's burning you.

[Wit]

No, no, it was more that I had this. I. I had a silk shirt on, dude, like, and. And I showed up and thinking you were sick. Jack Baker, our senior class was awesome. This kid, Jack Baker, he's from Boston, and he's like, would you shake with a curling iron? And I was like. Because my neck was just so red. I was big eared, goofy. But yeah, those are. Those are the days. But it more made the team, like, just come together right away. But Biz does mention you lit it up, that you lit it up your freshman year. You had some great teams. Great teams. And then you won it. What, junior year?

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah. 95. Yeah.

[Wit]

So did you think about leaving then? Because, like, you'd done so much or that.

[Ryan Whitney]

Well, that year when we wanted. I had, like, like three or four different injuries. I just was, like, battling to get through that year. And I just made it back for the NCAA tournament. I had actually got my hand skated over in the bean pot that year, so it was, like, during a penalty kill, and I was kind of, like, down on the ice, and the puck was there, and a guy, like, kicked for the pocket, and in one motion, kicked my glove off right down my hand. And I looked down.

[Wit]

I would have cut your finger off.

[Ryan Whitney]

I looked down. Honestly, it. Your blood's, like, red. It was. This was, like, purple, and my hand was wide open. It was at the Garden. It was disgusting, so. And I had already battled some different injuries before that, that year, so I, I, I didn't think I was ready after having to do that the whole year. And I talked to New Jersey a little bit, but I just thought it was the right choice to go back. I was still young. I'm like, I need one more year here before I think I could even have a chance to play at the next level. So it ended up working out well. Going back for my senior year.

[Biz Nasty]

Everybody says, jack Parker, legendary coach. Like, what was it about him that made him legendary? Like, how did he help you as soon as you came in there? And how did he mold you into the player that you were?

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, I think he was. He. He could be hard on you. He certainly held you accountable. But he, he let you play. Like, he wanted you to make plays, he encouraged you to make plays. But also, when it was time to hold you accountable, he would. And I think he did that with a lot of his players. I mean, you certainly had to have thick skin to play for him.

[Wit]

Yes.

[Ryan Whitney]

I mean, what, you know. Right. Yeah.

[Biz Nasty]

The cage treatment, like centering you out in front of a locker room.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, yeah, no question about it.

[Biz Nasty]

No brainer.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, he would do that a lot, but I thought it goes a long way. You know, you got to be able to be able to take that in front of your peers, and I think if you had thick skin, you could do it. And he was just. He would get hard on you, but he also knew when it was time to give you a hug afterwards. Like, he really cared about his players. And for me, just sitting here thinking about and what this, what this podcast does, I think, like, I can't believe he's not in the hall of Fame at this point. Jack Parker, I think he should be in the Hockey hall of Fame just from what he's done. How many players that I said 50.

[Wit]

To 60, I think probably NHL players.

[Ryan Whitney]

It's not more, I would say, for sure and then beyond that, how many guys that played for him are head coaches in the NHL, general managers in the NHL, assistant general managers, not only.

[Biz Nasty]

Forming them into players, but also like the people they up being and what they can handle from a mental capacity and battling through adversity. And the list goes on, I guess, as to what he's created.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, I think the whole package. I'm just actually really surprised that he hasn't got that nod yet. I think he will at some point just because of kind of what he's done. And if you just look at the whole package of kind of what he created at Boston University and the players that went on beyond that and have had a ton of success and still are having success.

[Wit]

We ran into him last night and he did. He said, yeah, yeah, I didn't. And he said, I haven't been asked to be on your show. I'm like, would you come on? He just started laughing. So I'm like, does that mean yes or no? So I got to get in touch with him because the stories this guy has and talk about a memory, like, he'll remember. He'll remember a play from like the 93 season when he was a freshman. It's wild. But I had to ask you, like, you played with so many great players at bu. I, I gotta ask about Drury, but. But do you think that the biggest hit you ever saw was still the Mike Greer being part of Bizarre. We can get fishy to put it on the YouTube killed somebody.

[Biz Nasty]

Oh my.

[Ryan Whitney]

Incredible dude. Incredible in the bean pot too, where.

[Biz Nasty]

Like everyone YouTube it right now.

[Wit]

I'm gonna pull it up for you. I'm gonna pull it up for you. But Greerzy, what a, what a career. And you know what he's doing now is GM of the San Jose Sharks. But here, business, watching the hit that you can check out. Watch this, watch this head, dude.

[Biz Nasty]

I mean, what was the guy doing?

[Wit]

But could you tell right away that greasy, like was going to end up up being an NHLer too? Or was he just like, so raw then?

[Ryan Whitney]

He, he was raw right away. He came in like he was, you know, over overweight, I'd have to say at the start. And he'll, he'll tell you that. And he just. Mike Boyle took him under his wing and he just worked with him. And Mike was willing to put in the work. I mean, you've been around him. His work ethic is, is endless. And once, once he got into shape and the way he played, I think we all thought he was going to play in the National Hockey League. And obviously he had a tremendous career. He's just a tremendous guy.

[Wit]

Nicest guy in the world.

[Ryan Whitney]

Nicest guy in the world. And his crazy, like the whole thing with him being a gm, his brother being the GM of the Dolphins, his dad was a G. Like, it's, it's pretty amazing.

[Wit]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

So great, really great family.

[Wit]

And what about Chris Drury? Like, did you know right away? Because freshman year, I think his freshman year, they won it. Oh, you guys want it?

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Wit]

Could you tell? I mean, because, like, for a kid that was just, I guess, undersized then a little bit, but always had that heart and that passion, like, you knew right away how special he was going to be.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah. Just his competitiveness. Right. And the type of kid he was too, that, you know, he probably thought he should play more, but he, I think he was on the fourth line that year and he didn't complain. He just went out and played and did whatever he could to help the team win. And as he got more and more ice time, you saw, saw, you know, how good a player he was. And his competitiveness is second to none, though.

[Wit]

Crazy.

[Ryan Whitney]

If you look. You ever see the Little League World Series when he's pitching? He pitched in the Little League World Series. No. This is Chris Drury, Drew.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

He won the Little League World Series.

[Biz Nasty]

I remember that.

[Ryan Whitney]

He just has this crazy mindset when he's determined to do something, but he was an unbelievable player. But another guy that just worked, worked at his craft all the time.

[Wit]

Yeah, I, I would say that one of the most impressive things about you is that, like this elite level scorer in college, like highly offensive. And then we talk about a lot of guys who do that in junior or college and kind of get to the NHL and realize it's going to have to be different. Like, was that for you right away when you turned pro and was it hard for you to be like, oh, I'm not going to be the power play first line player I was at BU to stick around in the NHL.

[Ryan Whitney]

I don't know if it was hard. It. It did happen pretty quickly where Jacques Lamar was the coach when I, when I got to New Jersey. And, you know, he was certainly defensive minded. And I feel like back then, like, there were a lot of checking lines that played against the other team's top lines. I think more now it's like top against top. It seems like even the last 10 to 15 years. Back then, though, there was like checking lines. And pretty much from my first game. I remember my first game I was, I got called up probably a month into the season and we're playing Vancouver and I'm on a line with Bobby Carpenter and John McLean and we're playing against Paul Val Night and I'm like, oh, this is going to be fun. So that, and it kind of just, you know, I kind of had that role there and it's not like they weren't telling me that you, you can't, you can't, you're not allowed to score a goal. It wasn't that. It's just, I think I kind of figured out there's a lot of really good players and if I can do this and be good at this and be able to have a good career because of it, I was willing to do it. I just wanted to play there and if you can find something you can do that's going to make you stick, it's, it's probably a good thing to do because, you know, it is a lot of players, there's a lot of good players and maybe you get a different opportunity in somewhere else and it maybe would have been different, but I mean I was very fortunate to play in a great organization, you know, fortunate to win two Stanley Cups. Not a lot of people can say that. So it's, it was, it was awesome.

[Biz Nasty]

And also like when you're playing out there, like, not like the pressure of not having to produce the offense is maybe a little bit off your plate too, as opposed to what you were doing in college where you really had to do it all.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, definitely different. I think there was pressure, but yeah, I think pressure. Having to produce on a nightly basis is probably harder but like there was pressure to make sure the other top lines didn't score. So I definitely felt that and I think I took a lot of pride in trying to do the best I could so they don't score and make it hard on them. And John Madden and I played together probably for eight or nine years and that was our, that was our job every night making sure the other top lines don't score. And you know, it's, it's fun. We took pride in it and you know, I think we, we did a good job trying to help the team win.

[Wit]

I think that like now it's probably as you're coaching now, it's probably harder where like it seems like every kid wants to be the, the half wall guy in the power play. Like, I don't. Would you, would you ever tell a player like, hey, you could play at the next level, but it might be different, or is that, like, a hard conversation at the time to have?

[Ryan Whitney]

I think it's a little bit hard because you don't want, I guess, the kids this young try to, like, pigeonhole them right away. You might talk to them about accepting the role they're in right now and telling them it might not be this way all the time, but right now, this is what we need you to do for our team. And I think guys are willing to accept it more that way, you know, knowing they're maybe not stuck in that role. And. And there is opportunity to kind of move into a bigger role for the team. And with us, like, we. We have probably 13, 14 NHL draft picks, so I'm sure, sure most of them think they should be on the first power play. Most of them think they should be on the first line. But we have a good group of guys, and I think they understand that they have to buy into a certain thing if they want to be part of it. And we've been fortunate that we have good kids that are willing to do that, but they're not. They're not stuck in those roles. And, you know, I think there's less and less kids that are willing to do that, but we try to find the right kids that are. And know that they're going to get better along the way and. And certainly can have a bigger role as time moves on. A lot of kids aren't patient nowadays. That's. That's another part.

[Wit]

Not much patience at all.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, I don't want, for me, the one example from last year, and this kid, like, I have so much respect for, just because there's not a lot of kids like this anymore. Jack Harvey, who plays for us, he probably played maybe three games for a semester, maybe, you know, limited minutes. In those three games, this kid never bitched once, never received a call from an agent. I don't know if behind the scenes there was talk about him, because he still could have went back to the ushl, but I never heard a thing about it. He just showing up every day, showing up every day. He was drafted by Tampa, and I know Breezewalk came in one time. He's. He's a great guy. He had a conversation with him, and I think he pointed to the weight room, said, you got to live in there, to this kid. And I think it meant a lot to Jack, and he got his opportunity and he's never looked back and. Yeah. Why?

[Biz Nasty]

In a sense, because he's a little too frail and he's got to put on some meat I think just.

[Ryan Whitney]

Just make. I think Julian just wanted him to make sure that he's just working. Just put your head down to work and. Because we see where it goes.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah. Because we talked to Pat Verbeek and he said that a lot of the young guys, they like to skate, skate, skate, where they're lacking a lot of the muscle. And, you know, back in the day, we used to chuck weights all the time, like five days a week, where younger players seem to have gotten away from that and it's kind of hindering them and they're getting a little bit more injured when they take that next step.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, I think that's part of it. Especially when you. Especially when you go to college, do you have that opportunity? You're not. You're playing two games a week.

[Biz Nasty]

Right.

[Ryan Whitney]

You have an opportunity to really develop off the ice as well. And I think that's probably the message he was trying to send to Jack. And I give the kid a lot of credit. And, you know, I think he was probably raised the right way. I'm guessing he's a kid that didn't bounce from team to team. You know, he. He came into it because I think he scored 90 points in the USHL coming in before his freshman year. He probably thought he was going to be big part of it right away, but I think he understood when he got there. Wow, these guys have a lot of good players. I'm just going to keep going to work and hopefully I get my opportunity and take advantage of it. And that's what he did.

[Biz Nasty]

Also. The transfer portal, too, is that another option out these players have been given?

[Wit]

Is that something that's got to be tough?

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Biz Nasty]

Are you fearful of that with some of these guys and definitely not snapping around the ice time to which they want enough of?

[Ryan Whitney]

No question. Yeah. It's always in the back of your mind you're worried about missing or miss losing kids that you actually think are going to be a big part of your program. Maybe they're not a huge part of it today, but you know they're going to be. But a lot of times a kid doesn't see that. So that's where it gets difficult and difficult. And yeah, there's no question you get nervous about, oh, he's not getting enough time, is he. Is he going to want to leave? You know, and you don't want that. And. And I think we try to identify the kids that have a certain mindset that we think they'll stick it out and try to work for it and wait for that opportunity.

[Wit]

Back to your playing career. So, like, your first full season. I look at the roster like, Randy McKay, Lyle Odeline. Was there someone that took you under their wing most, or was it more just kind of like learning through osmosis with how many older vets there were on this team?

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, I just. Just stayed quiet and just watched and learned. And there were some characters. Billy G Was. Oh, God, he was really good to me. He was really good to me. We had the same agent, too, so he would have hear me right away. I remember he's him taking. I never had sushi before. He took me for this sushi for the first time. I was threw up, but I like it now. But he. He was. He. You guys know Billy G. Like this guys, he's. He's the best. But Scott Niedermeyer was another guy. Brian Ralston, but the whole group, it was a. It was a. These guys were tremendous. And a lot of characters, too. There's no question about it.

[Biz Nasty]

Was Scotty Stevens very intimidating off the hop?

[Ryan Whitney]

Very. Just. He was pretty quiet, but intense. All you had to do was kind of look at him before a game and like, all right, I better be right tonight. Yeah, he would just look through people like he was. Was. He was intimidating. But he. He came to play all the time.

[Wit]

Practice, too. Just like, oh, it was hot.

[Ryan Whitney]

Stevens, you knew when you're out there.

[Biz Nasty]

You look where you're at with in the line, and you'd be like, that.

[Wit]

Was the wit moves. He crossed me and just cut back.

[Biz Nasty]

I need a lace.

[Ryan Whitney]

I'm not ready to go. Yeah.

[Wit]

We interviewed Bobby Holik. What an interview. Great guy. And we had to ask him. We got to get your opinion. Like, when F got fired in 2000 and you guys are just cruising, it had to be just shock waves through the locker room. You go on to win the cup. But, like, do you remember that day here in the news?

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, yeah, I do. Yeah. I think we're all shocked. But also, like, knowing Lou, if he feels something is off or not right, he will just go with whatever decision he thinks is right for the team that's going to help the team. And. And that that year, it certainly paid off. And even when I think Robbie got let go, Larry took over, and I think we only went. I think we had eight games left, something like that. I think we only went like 4 and 4. We weren't, like, playing great by any means, but it ended up certainly working out. And Larry at that time was just the right guy for our group. And I think Lou felt that.

[Wit]

It's crazy that he was. He. His pulse of the team was like that on.

[Biz Nasty]

Was he lurking around the room a lot when he was making the decision? Like, was he trying get a feel for it himself, or did he have people kind of.

[Wit]

Wouldn't he sneak up on guys quick?

[Biz Nasty]

I heard. I heard when he was coming down, everybody would put the L on their forehead. Like, he's coming in the room. He's coming in the room.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, yeah.

[Biz Nasty]

But they wouldn't say it. They just put the L on their forehead.

[Ryan Whitney]

That's all you needed to do. I think there's more than one of him, too. That's the other thing.

[Jake Middleton]

Oh, no.

[Ryan Whitney]

He would show up out of.

[Wit]

He's like, turn left.

[Ryan Whitney]

He's there.

[Biz Nasty]

Oh, God.

[Ryan Whitney]

Turn right. Like, wait a minute. How do you. Incredible. This guy. He's. He was on top of. He didn't miss. Miss a thing.

[Wit]

Would he have meetings with players? Like, he ever call you in and.

[Jake Middleton]

You'Re like, oh, boy.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, yeah. He would have meetings with players. He had meetings with. With the team probably at least once a year if he felt something just didn't feel right or didn't like the way things were going, he would come in at least once a year and he would. It was incredible.

[Biz Nasty]

And address the team.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, yeah, it was incredible.

[Biz Nasty]

And he would go.

[Wit]

It just carves.

[Ryan Whitney]

He would go around the room.

[Biz Nasty]

What was the worst thing he ever said to you?

[Ryan Whitney]

He was pretty good to me.

[Wit]

He didn't get responsible.

[Ryan Whitney]

Not that he. He just. But he'd go around the room. It would be a lot of times, too, just like a message to the group. I think there was the one I remember. I wish I could remember all of them because there's some legendary ones. And he's. He's like, you. And you better make sure that you're staring at him the whole time, looking him in the eye while he's addressing.

[Wit]

Really?

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, yeah.

[Biz Nasty]

Holy.

[Ryan Whitney]

He's intense. Like, he's. And he's got a presence about him.

[Biz Nasty]

But I think he wants us dead for the stuff that we joke around about on the podcast.

[Ryan Whitney]

He's. He's got it. He's.

[Biz Nasty]

He's got a good sense of humor.

[Ryan Whitney]

He does. Yeah, he does.

[Biz Nasty]

So future guest of Spitting Chicken.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, yeah. You got to get him on here. He's got some great stories, but the. The one I remember, that was just. It was kind of funny. He. He hated. I don't know. I actually don't remember when it started either, but, you know, Everyone now, like, you score and you go through the whole line on the bench and knuckles, which never was a thing back.

[Wit]

No.

[Ryan Whitney]

When I first started playing and I remember him, the coming in and just going up and down everyone. I think he thought we were, like, being selfish. He's like, oh, yeah, score a goal. Look at me. Gotta go by the bench, fist bump everyone. He's like, f that all this was. And then he's like, oh, yeah, all you guys with your fancy cars and your faith.

[Jake Middleton]

Fancy briefcases.

[Wit]

And we're like, who has a briefcase?

[Ryan Whitney]

Exactly. But it was like, you know, everyone started having those bags. Yeah. Everyone starts carrying around those bags.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah. Louis Vuitton duffel bags. Oh, yeah. You must have loved them.

[Ryan Whitney]

It was incredible. It was incredible. We're all like, wait a minute. What did he just say? Fancy briefcases. But like, he was. He was unreal when he'd come in and go up and down, but it caught everyone's attention. And I'm pretty sure every time he came in, we went on some sort of run every single time.

[Biz Nasty]

So your relationship with him was pretty good?

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, very good. Yeah. And even guys that maybe didn't have the best relationships with him know that he would do anything for them if there's a guy. Honestly, even today, if you talk to a lot of guys that played for Lou and know Lou well, if they had some sort of trouble or anything, needed help with Aang family member, whatever it may be, he may be the first one they call. Really, it's just how he is. He's sold. So he's so loyal to his players and people that work for him. It. It's incredible. It really is.

[Biz Nasty]

Scotty Gomez says the same thing. So I went to film something with him. I went to his team, Siri Eagles, and I walk in the locker room or the coaches. Coaches room. Excuse me. And he's got two frame pictures, one of loose smiling and one of them angry. And when the players come in for a meeting, depending on Scotty's mood, he'll put whatever photo up of whether he's happy or mad.

[Wit]

How.

[Biz Nasty]

How. How awesome is the homage that Scotty's paying to him?

[Ryan Whitney]

That.

[Biz Nasty]

Is that something that you would do at bu?

[Ryan Whitney]

That is incredible. I do not want to Jack. I could see it with him. And Lou's relationship was crazy. It was. It was incredible. Like, they had a great relationship because Lou knew he had to stay on Scotty, and Scotty needed that for sure at times, but they. They had a unbelievable relationship. I think at times it Drove Scotty nuts. But I think at the end of the day, and if you talk to him now about it, he knew Lou was doing certain things for the right reasons, to help Scott out. Out. And clearly the kid had a tremendous career. But there's some funny stories.

[Biz Nasty]

So the way you're making it sound is you would maybe get dragged into some of these predicaments because of Scotty being his roommate.

[Ryan Whitney]

I think I was his roommate for a reason. I can't keep an eye on this kid. But good cop, bad cop. Oh, yeah, yeah. A lot of fun, though. A lot of fun. A lot of funny stories with him. Lou would get on Scotty about his weight at times, especially when he was younger. And Scott always had an answer for everything. It was so funny. So the one time he comes back might have been after the first year we won the cup, and Scott would always have to come back early to train. Lou's gets. We had this, like, scale, that South Mountain arena, this whole scale we had, and it's this huge, old, like, industrial scale. So Lou wanted to see Scotty on it. So Scott gets on it, and he's. Whatever. He probably asked how much joy. And Scott's probably 192. He said, all right, get on the scale. Deal. Gomer's probably, like, 205. And Lou's, like, ready to snap on. He's like, can you get the scale from Alaska? Like this. He had the answer for everything.

[Wit]

Now they probably cracked Lou up, too.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, I think Lou probably is laughing inside with this kid. And another time, he came home with me for Christmas because he wasn't gonna go back to Alaska. So he'd come back with me and my family, and we had a. Probably had, like, three or four days off. We go back again. We all have to weigh in. And Scott comes back, like, I don't know, seven, eight pounds overweight or whatever. And our strength coach probably, you know, had to give Lou the numbers. And Lou came to grab Scott. Scott's like, lou, what do you want me to do? Matt, the pandolf was. They have so much food. I didn't want to be rude and not eat it. And Lou's like, oh, yeah, the Italians, they do. They do have a lot of food everywhere. Just get your way back down. So, like, Stormer could. He could manipulate any situation.

[Wit]

He was probably thinking ahead, too. He's like, I'm gonna go with Pando, and then I can use the Italian thing as a little excuse.

[Ryan Whitney]

He always. He always had an answer.

[Biz Nasty]

Had nothing to do with the three cases of beer over the five days either.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, exactly.

[Wit]

We talk now a lot about, like, when teams go to the finals and like, Tampa went back to back and how hard it is to, like, come back to the next year and do it again. And you guys went back to the finals in 01, and like, do you remember how much more difficult that run was? I mean, you lose game seven, the race board game, but, like, what do you remember about actually getting back there after that long run against the Stars?

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, I think, you know, you win at that one year and you get back there and you kind of get on a roll and you think you're gonna win it again. I mean, we knew Colorado was going to be a tough, tough test, but I think when you're in it, you don't even think. I think you just keep going. Yeah, you just kind of keep going. And then when it's over, that's when you. Everything hits you. And even like, losing in game seven is. I don't think there's any way that.

[Wit]

It'S great, like, almost worse than it was. Great winning.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yes.

[Wit]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

Like, how great it is to win. It is that much worse. It's just the feeling is. And after you had won it once, too, like, you know how great that feeling is. And to lose in game seven, when you went home up two in game six, or up three, two going home and then. Or three two going into game six, and then lose that game and, you know, and then you go back to Colorado and it just. It was meant to be for them, I think, that year for sure.

[Wit]

But would you say, like, after that you still saw. Because you got 1 in 03 against the Ducks. Like, did you still see, like.

[Jake Middleton]

No.

[Wit]

There's a lot more here with this core and who we have.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, I. I think. I think the next year we definitely had a little bit of a down year. Certainly in the playoffs, we still felt like we had enough to. To, you know, get back there again and, you know, we certainly had. Geez, I don't know how many coaches I had in 13 years in New Jersey. I'd say at least 10, 10, if not more. So there was always different coaches that came in. And then Pat Burns came in in 2002.03 when we ended up winning it. He was a little bit different than some of the other coaches. He. He kept the guys accountable. He. He. I think for him, too, he had a lot of success in different spots, and he hadn't won it yet.

[Wit]

So people loved him, huh?

[Ryan Whitney]

He was he was. He was a beauty, really. See? Great.

[Biz Nasty]

So kind of like Jack Parker, where he kept you accountable, but yet you just wanted to run through a wall for him.

[Ryan Whitney]

Him, no question. And he. He was really hard on anyone and everyone. It didn't matter.

[Wit]

Even, like, Niedemeyer.

[Ryan Whitney]

Everyone.

[Wit]

Wow.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah. Really, really hard. Scott Stevens, he wasn't afraid to. To be hard on anyone. And I think that went a long way with our group. He, at that time, like, Patrick Elias, and he was probably our best player. Gomer, he was all over those guys, like, always.

[Wit]

Always enough where, like, he'd piss him off so much that it was like the Herb Brooks, like, just, like, end up getting together because you're mad at me.

[Ryan Whitney]

No question about it.

[Wit]

Wow. I didn't know he was that hard to play for.

[Ryan Whitney]

He was hard. Really hard. But he was. He was great. Like, at the end of the day, he was great. He. He had first. I don't know if Gomer told you the story. He was probably there for, I don't know, three or four games. We're playing in Carolina. We sucked. Like, we didn't play well. He's pissed. Where. I forget where we went the day after. We're. We went to some, like, resort, Reynolds Plantation from Atlanta before we were going to play Atlanta. And it's the next morning. We always had, like, team breakfast in the morning. And, you know, it's probably the whole team wasn't in there. There's probably a handful of us, maybe 10 to 15 guys. We're just sitting around eating breakfast, shooting the, like. Like you normally do. Right. Not thinking much of it. Yeah, we stunk.

[Wit]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

Tough loss or like, whatever. And all of a sudden, we're just sitting there and Burns, he walks in by himself, and he's just.

[Biz Nasty]

Screaming.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yep. Call your old ladies. Tell her to get the boxes out, because the old man's upstairs right now working the phones. I just got here. I'm not going anywhere, but some of you guys might be. And he's just talking. Not. Not to anyone. He's getting his food, like, from the buffet. And you hear, like, clink. He's. He's slamming, like, eggs on his plate. He's just. And he's just chirping us the whole time. It was incredible. Like.

[Wit]

Like, who's he talking to?

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, we're all like, what?

[Biz Nasty]

And then walked out with his.

[Ryan Whitney]

And just. He sat down and started eating.

[Biz Nasty]

And he kept talking.

[Ryan Whitney]

Just was talking. All the old ladies get the boxes out, start packing.

[Biz Nasty]

Wow.

[Ryan Whitney]

It was on. Unbelievable. He. He. I love Pat, like, he was, he was unbelievable. He was such a. He was a. He was a really good guy, but he, he had a certain way and a certain message he wanted to get across to her group. But overall, as a guy, like, he was, he was incredible.

[Wit]

Marty Broder, like, all the, the different stories here about goalies and not touching Patrick was gear. Like, was he more. Nor on the normal side did he have his own quirks. Like, what was it like with him and just knowing every game, the bigger the game, the better he's going to play.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, he, he was probably one of the least quirky goalies that I have ever played with. He's pretty laid back and pretty calm and you could talk to him. And he had some things that all goalies do, you know, I mean, little superstitions. But he was really easy to get along with. Really easy. And he, he just, he just loved to play. He really did. He would have played 82 games if they let him, I'm telling you right now.

[Wit]

So they were.

[Ryan Whitney]

I don't know what his highest number was, was in the 70s for sure. 74, 75, maybe.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah. They don't make them like him anymore.

[Ryan Whitney]

He would have played 82. I'm telling you.

[Wit]

How, like, how. I mean, the games changed. But like, was he in. Was he that flexible or in that good a shape? Because he always looked like a little bit of a bigger guy.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, definitely. I don't. He was just in like goalie shape.

[Wit]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

You know, it's not like he was killing it in the gym, but he, he worked so hard in practice every, every day. He never wanted to get scored on. He really competed his ass off.

[Biz Nasty]

Play every puck out, play every hour was.

[Wit]

Yeah.

[Biz Nasty]

Where he, like when you thought he had him down and out, he'd throw his paddle out and get it and keep squirming.

[Ryan Whitney]

I'm sure very similar. He didn't quit anything, didn't quit on anything. And I'm telling you, he just loved the play. He didn't want to sit up.

[Biz Nasty]

Really good at directing the puck wherever he wanted with his paddle. Eh.

[Wit]

Oh, passing, it was Unknown Speaker 0.

[Biz Nasty]

Passing was another thing that was his rebound control. It was so weird. It was effortless where, you know, anytime your team needed a whistle, he'd find a way to deflect it to play.

[Wit]

Yeah.

[Biz Nasty]

Off of a shot or his rebound control was. Was next to none. So you play with Madden like most of your time there, right? You said like seven years.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Biz Nasty]

Were you guys on the same line the entire time? Like all 82 games or were there odd time they mixed you guys up.

[Ryan Whitney]

For the, for the most part on. For that probably six, seven year stretch. Pretty much the whole time was him and I and we'd always have like different right wingers and it wouldn't matter. You guys wouldn't matter.

[Biz Nasty]

Brain out there, was that the best? Just knowing night in, night out exactly what you were getting from your center?

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, it was. We like, we just had some sort. We used to joke about, yeah, we had chemistry, but it didn't really result into a lot of offense. It would have been a lot more fun if we had chemistry. You guys are celebrating. Yeah, good angle. But. But we did have like a chemistry like killing penalties together and all we kind of just knew where each other were, was, was. And it was definitely a lot of fun playing with them. And you know, we, I think we both took pride in, in that role. So yeah, we played together for a long time.

[Wit]

Were you lucky? I mean I see 82 games. 82. 82. But other years, you know, you missed some games. Were you lucky overall, injury wise though, like nothing too serious or what was. What was like the worst you had playing?

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, there was nothing too serious. That was the only stretch I really stayed healthy. It was that three year stretch.

[Wit]

Well, your role. It's so hard not to take a block shot or something then.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah. Shoulder stuff. The one, the one year, I think it was 0708 maybe I. I was actually having probably one of my better offensive years the first half and kind of freak I was kind of was, went in on a breakaway, kind of got tripped and went like full speed into the end boards and I tore my pubic symphysis muscle. It honestly was the worst pain I've ever had. Where like your wife's like. No. Yeah, exactly. I think she's still saying that.

[Wit]

Woody. Just wait. So just like flew into it where like, like front of your body hit.

[Ryan Whitney]

The board side, side. But because the impact was so hard, it like it. It ended up tearing the front like it honestly it was the most pain I ever felt like injury wise. Oh, so that. That screwed me. I don't think I was ever the same after that really. Skating wise.

[Biz Nasty]

Hey, that was it.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah. I just don't think I felt I couldn't skate the same and I didn't feel as good after that. I'd always feel like little stuff in there that just didn't.

[Wit]

Yeah. Where did this come from? Yeah, another legendary devil's moment that you were, you know, there for Was the, The Stevens hit on Korea? Like, I, I imagine if you were on the ice, on the bench, you're like, what the just happened? He comes back, he scores. But I guess the hits that he threw, the Lindro Swan, like, it would probably just change the whole, like, attitude and vibe on the bench when they happened.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, yeah. He. He. Back then, he. It was probably at least one guy, a playoff series that he would.

[Wit]

He got the guy in Carolina, like Caroline Willis.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Wit]

Oh, God.

[Ryan Whitney]

Ron Francis. He. He buried Ron Francis one time in Carolina, too. Ron was fine, but he.

[Wit]

He would.

[Ryan Whitney]

He would get someone.

[Wit]

Game changing hits.

[Ryan Whitney]

Game changing. Yeah. Every playoff series. And I think he kind of would wait for that moment and when he saw it, saw it was there, obviously nowadays it may be a little different, but he did. It was clean. Like the career one, maybe a little late, but most of the other ones were, like, through the chest for the most part.

[Wit]

Down.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Wit]

Would he be, like, yelling in the locker room? What was he like, like, before periods and stuff?

[Ryan Whitney]

No, very quiet.

[Wit]

Wow.

[Ryan Whitney]

Very intense. Really quiet. He didn't. He didn't say a lot. Once in a while, if he felt like he needed to say something, maybe he would. But he. He was pretty quiet. He. He just had this intensity about him all the time, where he, he was going to be ready to play. He had the. In Tampa. No, I think it was the 03 year HE. That Kabina took a slapshot off the side of his head. Yeah.

[Wit]

And he ended up wearing the earpiece.

[Ryan Whitney]

Earpiece. So we didn't see him for like a day and a half. We didn't know he was going to play. And all of a sudden he comes out and sure enough, he's ready to go.

[Biz Nasty]

That. That was like the char. A moment where he broke his jaw.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, it was.

[Biz Nasty]

Nothing was keeping these guys out of line.

[Ryan Whitney]

No, nothing was keeping them out. And I think he ended up scoring that game, too. And you just see something like that, like, how the heck am I not. How can I not get rid of tonight? You know, like, he was. That's how he was.

[Wit]

I. I wanted to ask also, like, as. As you got older and you mentioned that injury, like, was it hard to kind of realize when it was slowing down? Like, you always talk about it being hard after you retire, like, when you started realizing, like, I've lost a step a little bit, like, was that mentally difficult for you, or were you already somebody that was thinking, I think I'm going to coach someday? Like, did you know near the end of your playing career, what you would do after and how it was coming to an end.

[Jay Pandolfo]

Almost coached at Burlington High during the lockout, right?

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, a little, little stretch there. Did you? Yeah, during the 0405 lockout, I helped out Bob Concession. Who, who's long, it was a long time. Coach just retired I think two years ago from Burlington High. He's a great, great friend and he was, he was great to me. So I helped him out a little bit when I was around. So it was a lot of fun. Fun to get back.

[Biz Nasty]

As the years have gone on, as you've been a coach, like, what's the most that you've taken out of it and learned from, from the experience. I mean you obviously grew up playing under guys who are a lot more intense. Clearly can't have that same approach with today's player. But like, what have you, what have you like learned from the start of it? That's the most important.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, I think the most important is the communication part of it. I think that's really important. So. Because I think the players, they want to know kind of where they're at, what they need to get better at. Just it's, it's constant communication every day. Just talking to the players on what, what the expectations are, what you expect from them, what they expect from themselves. I think that that's a huge part of it. And still, you still have to hold these guys accountable. Like you can't get away from that. I think that's really important and I still think these guys, they need it and I think they, at the end of the day, they want it. I think if you're honest with them and tell them what they need to hear, I think at the end of the day they respect that. Rather than trying to like circle around different things, just tell them like, tell them what, what you feel they need to hear. And you know, maybe they won't like it, but I think at the end of the day they're going to respect it. So I think that that's the biggest thing for me is just making sure kind of they know where they stand.

[Biz Nasty]

So throughout a week, like will you call a guy like, like two, three guys in per day through the practice week and, and have a 10 minute conversation about that like non stop throughout a season.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, we, yeah, we're talking to guys constantly. We, we do it. We have a lot more time to, during the week than, than you would at the NHL level where we watch a lot of videos with the guys. So the, the video doesn't lie either. So that Helps a lot. That confirms a lot of the stuff that you're seeing and confirms a lot of stuff to the players, too. They see it, and then sometimes they don't realize it until they see it too, what you're talking about. So it's nice to have that where you can sit down with them and spend some time and watch video with them and get their feedback, too, because I feel like I still learn from some of our players, you know, they have different thoughts or of different things and what they were seeing. And maybe you didn't see that. Like, I don't think coaches have all the answers either. So I think there's a little bit of that give and take that we like to do.

[Wit]

And you spent. So you spent five years as the assistant coach of the Bruins, and in that time, Quinny had left BU and gone to the NHL. And it's like, as a BU alum, it's like, oh, Pando. Being there would kind of be a dream come true. Like, was it ever on your mind or at the time with Boston where you're like, I'd love to be an NHL head coach. Like, how did that whole thing come about? And there had to be some party that, like, taking over, like BU or Jack Parker was. Was. Was so appealing to you.

[Biz Nasty]

And a little bit more like, I don't want to say structure, but security a little bit. When you're a head coach of a college program, usually they give you a little bit more rope. Where NHL head coaches are changing seven, eight of them a year now, right?

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, no, I think that was part of it. I. I don't know if I ever. We're talking to Quinny a little bit over the years and just picking his brain if he enjoyed it at the college level. It was something I thought about a little bit, but I was more just. Just, you know, happy being in Boston.

[Wit]

Being trying to win a couple.

[Ryan Whitney]

Didn't really think about being a head coach in the NHL. I knew if I was going to be, I would have to go probably to the minors and be a head coach there first before I'd ever have an opportunity to be a head coach in the NHL. And then the. The BU opportunity came up. And at that point, too, like, I. My kids are young. I just felt at the NHL you just miss a lot. Lot. You really do. You miss a lot of things with your kids. And I wanted to be around a little bit more. The college schedule is a lot easier. Yeah. It's still a grind in certain ways with the recruiting and all. That. But coaching at Boston University, I mean, you're in your bed pretty much every night, right? You have two or three trips a year where you're not at home. So being able to be around my family a little bit more made a lot of sense. And then also, too, I. I loved my experience at bu, so I felt like if I had an opportunity to. To coach there, try to do the best I can to hopefully these kids have that same type of experience. I mean, you went through it with, too. Like, it's a great place, amazing to go. It's a great place to develop, not only as a player, but as a person. So we're trying to give these kids that experience because most of the kids that come there, 95%, their goal is to play in the National Hockey League. We're trying to do the best we can to try to help them get there.

[Wit]

I kind of jumped over it. And, you know, you mentioned losing a Game 7 as a player, and then in 2019 with the Bruins, like, it had to be so much more difficult as a. As a coach, almost with no control and just how. How bad you probably felt for the. For the group against St. Louis, because it was a great team, great series, but just, like, just came up just a little bit short at the end. Like, what do you remember about that series?

[Biz Nasty]

I think you guys are up 32 in that one, too, weren't you?

[Wit]

No, we were six on the road.

[Biz Nasty]

Oh, that's okay.

[Wit]

They blew them out. I remember.

[Biz Nasty]

Oh, yeah. Okay.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, yeah. We were down. We were down three. Down three two, one, Game six, and then coming home for game seven, you know, you just felt like we were going to find a way to win that game. And, yeah, it's really tough as a coach, but I think it's a lot tougher as a player. You're the one out there every day and giving it everything you have. So you really feel for the guys. You really feel for them. And that's a special group of guys there, too.

[Wit]

I just felt for Tuka, too, so, like, because he had the con. Smythe had you one. It was just. Just. It was a special season, but, yeah, I guess, obviously playing is that much worse. You've done it all year, but as a coach with just no control, that's what's hard. Like, Final Four last year, you're watching, and it's like, you. You have these guys prepared, but in the end, like, you can't do anything.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, it's. It sucks. You know, you wish you could control a little bit More. But now you gotta hopefully, like you said, hopefully you have your team prepared and hopefully they can find a way. You obviously need a little luck along the way and one bounce here, one bounce there and. But it, no question it's, it's difficult. Not really having a ton of control that way.

[Biz Nasty]

I was going to ask about Macklin Celebrini, obviously a huge first game with San Jose. Was he the best natural player you'd ever seen play for the BU while you were the coach?

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, yeah, no, no question. He.

[Wit]

Before I came in the first day, he's like you. This is effing insane how good he is. Yeah. In his office before. And then you get out there.

[Ryan Whitney]

It was.

[Wit]

Is nuts.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, he's. And being that young, that's the other part of. The kid's 17 years old, right. He's out there and his, his just is the way he, his approach to the game, how hard he competes on everything.

[Wit]

You tell him not to skate too much, right?

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah. And he, he just, he loves being on the ice. You guys have, you guys know those guys that are that good, they just have an obsession about it. I mean, you guys play.

[Biz Nasty]

Seems like he also has an obsession with the gym too, because he's pretty stock. Very. I feel like he's filled out. We interviewed him. He looked yoked.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh yeah, he's pro. He's probably very close to £200. So he. Yeah, he's physically, he's, he's developed for. At a young age, but he just, he loves the game. Loves the game. Like we had to, we had to try to pull back, pull him back a little bit from being on the ice because he would go out there two, three times a day. So I'm sure he's trying to do the same thing in San Jose.

[Biz Nasty]

But it also doesn't feel like he has that pressure either. He seems happy. Go lucky. Where like you said, it's just this like love and passion where it doesn't really feel like a job to him.

[Ryan Whitney]

No, he loves it. He loves being out there. But he, but he's competitive. He gets, he can get. He can he.

[Biz Nasty]

Oh yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

A little bit.

[Biz Nasty]

Little motherfucking going on.

[Wit]

I saw last year they had a fifth year senior captain and him and this kid are going at it like hard. Like it's like there was he. He has that little wireless wire crossing.

[Ryan Whitney]

No question.

[Biz Nasty]

You let wit come on the ice with you guys?

[Wit]

No, I wasn't allowed on the ice. NCAA baby.

[Ryan Whitney]

Too many rules.

[Wit]

Too many rules. This podcast ruined my chances so what are you doing?

[Biz Nasty]

You're coaching.

[Wit]

I'm gonna quit this pod to coach BU with Pando.

[Biz Nasty]

You coaching from the crowd?

[Wit]

I was from the bench eating an apple. Guys are laughing at me. Just wearing my BU sweatsuit.

[Biz Nasty]

You did.

[Ryan Whitney]

Honestly, you look good in the sweatshirt.

[Wit]

I look great. I had the same sweatsuit every draw.

[Biz Nasty]

Drills with the sharp.

[Wit]

I just sat on the table in the back of the meetings video. My God, I remember getting called out in video meetings. I don't miss this at all. I don't miss it at all.

[Biz Nasty]

You guys should let them do one drill. One drill of practice.

[Wit]

It'll be the peanut.

[Biz Nasty]

It's the Woody special. What's the Peanut? Just go up, down, shoot.

[Wit]

Go in and out and around for hours. But the other guy last year coached and he was with you in the back to back final fours is Lane Hudson. And like you've kind of. Montreal fans are. You're seeing this PK subband excitement when he touched just the puck. And same thing you told me. Like he's. He's going to dominate. He's just that skilled. Like was. Was it pretty obvious to you like he's ready to go on? Same with Mack. And like you knew halfway through last year, he's gone.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah. I was pretty sure both of them were going to be moving on. Lane is another special player. He's just. He's so unique. I don't know if I've seen a.

[Biz Nasty]

Smaller Duncan Keith the way that he. I feel he has that motor, quick feet too. The way that. Yeah, he just like his motor is crazy.

[Ryan Whitney]

Unbelievable motor. And he's so quick and he likes to isolate you. You don't know what the hell he's going to do. His head fakes. And he's another guy though that his competitiveness and how hard he works every day. You start with like being at practice. Like you notice it right away. Never quits on anything. And another guy that spends a lot of time on the ice. And he loves it. He loves it. He is. He is obsessed. If he could do nothing else but play hockey, he would.

[Wit]

Missing a pass, slamming his stick on the ice. Like great. Crazy, crazy intense kid. Which, which you like you. You need to have that. I mean that's why he. He's that good. I think. I think your job is probably to like get those kids to tone down a little bit in. In a way.

[Ryan Whitney]

In some way. Yeah, but. And also you don't want to take that competitiveness away from them. I think with. With Lane too. Like I used to at times too, because, say, the drill was going a little bit long and you know, I just felt like it was time to blow the whistle. If he. I'd do it sometimes purposely, just, just to see his reaction. If he had the puck, he would snap. All of a sudden he'd fire the puck into the stands. That was his thing. So I used to joke around to play Lane. You like that, you just like shake his head. He would laugh about it after, but I could tell like, oh, watch, I'm gonna blow this right now and he's gonna lose his mind every single time.

[Biz Nasty]

I think we were just talking about it at dinner too. Cole, his. Is that his older or younger brother?

[Wit]

Younger.

[Biz Nasty]

Younger brother. He's got a great motor too. I watched the game against Union the other night. I took a big hit the rest of the game. I noticed them every shift, controlling things very fast. The neutral zone. So it seems like it's a family, a family affair.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, they are. They're terrific hockey players. They're. Lane and Cole are a little bit different, but a lot of times it ends up in the same result, if that makes sense. They. They do it a little bit differently, but they, they're just so smart. They see the ice so well. So yeah, they're. Cole's going to be a special player too. So I'm sure you're going to see him in the NHL not too long from now. Hopefully.

[Wit]

At least give us two years.

[Ryan Whitney]

Two years, that'd be great. And their older brother Quinn is a forward, terrific player as well. He's really come a long way since his freshman year and other than Macklin, he scored the most goals for us last two years and I think he will again this year. So he's another terrific player.

[Wit]

I wonder now because times have changed so much with players and kids kind of are a little bit more entitled now. When you're recruiting a kid and you're recruiting a family, really, like, are there things you're looking for in meeting the parents and the kids? Are there things that are turn offs or is it more just like, hey, if a kid's this good, we gotta try to find a way to get him here? Or are there things that you notice that you may love or dislike in a certain kid that you thought you wanted or maybe you want more than you thought to begin with?

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, no question. Meeting the kid with their family goes a long way for us. You get a certain feeling.

[Wit]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

You obviously do your research on the kid talking, talking to different coaches and obviously watching him and Watching kind of how he acts on the ice and how he acts off the ice. But you really get a good feel being around a family, how they interact. So that's. That, that, that really goes a long way for us. Those, you know, those conversations sitting down like this on a couch with the families. You learn a lot about them just, just in a, whether it's a 30 minute conversation. You just get a really good feel that way. And the personality, personalities, how they interact with their parents, how their parents interact with them, how they interact with the staff, how they interact with people around the building. You learn a lot that way.

[Wit]

Yeah.

[Biz Nasty]

And you talk to the Zamboni driver. Isn't that the, the trick?

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Biz Nasty]

Why are you laughing?

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, I agree.

[Biz Nasty]

That's how, you know it's never heard.

[Wit]

That I kind of like, oh yeah.

[Biz Nasty]

Bony driver and the trainer and what's this kid like?

[Wit]

Okay, well the other thing is actually hockey wise, I wonder if you agree or disagree. But now the skill level and the skating, it's, it's insane. But like I talked to certain scouts who think hockey IQ as the skills have gone up, have, have gone down. Like, do you notice that where kids can skate and stick, handle and shoot, but actually playing the game of hockey, there's like less hockey IQ guys. Do you know what I'm trying to say?

[Ryan Whitney]

Absolutely.

[Wit]

It's weird, huh?

[Ryan Whitney]

I, there's no question I feel that way as well. Like most kids now, they're so overtrained with all the skating and stick handling. Everyone has a skills coach, skating coach, whatever, shooting coach. So they're over trained that way. But not as many kids like grew up like just, you know, freelancing up, playing street hockey, roller hockey. Watching hockey, watching hockey. That's the other thing. They're playing video games now. They don't watch as much. Hot. You can learn so much from watching hockey. Yeah, it goes a long way. I mean I remember as a kid like I think I watched every brewing game. Right. So you just learn a lot just from watching you pick up on different things. And I don't, I don't think the kids, it's just different. I think now with the kids that are coming up, like we said, they're so scheduled or everything's scheduled for them. They don't just kind of go out and do it on their own.

[Wit]

Yeah. Well, Biz, I don't know if it's.

[Biz Nasty]

Been awesome, great getting to know you, it's just cool.

[Wit]

Like an incredible career and you're back at bu. So as an alum it's amazing, amazing to have you there. We appreciate you coming on and, and the team looks great this year. I mean, you lose two studs and, and the start's been good. So I guess it's about finding the footing for the rest of the season in this new group.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. We're. We're younger for sure this year, a younger group, so it's going to take a little bit more time. But yeah, we have a bunch of good players, so I'm looking forward to another great season.

[Wit]

Nice. Thank you.

[Biz Nasty]

Love it. J. Pandalfo two time.

[Wit]

Appreciate it so much. And thank you very much, man.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, thank you guys. You guys do a hell of a job.

[Wit]

Before we continue, I want to talk about Labat Blue Light. Whether you're at a beer league or just watching some hockey with your squad, you can't find a better beer than a fresh Labatt Blue Light. And lots of things are better together. Hockey, food, golf. But if you really want to take things to the next level, drink some Labatt Blue Light with your friends and live life to the power of we. I can't imagine how many Labatt Blue Lights Bill's Mafia has been crushing this season with Josh Allen, the MVP of the team, and Bill's Mafia tailgates. Lab Blue Light must be everywhere. And with the way things have gone for the Sabres, I'm sure they'll be having a few more for the off season as well. It doesn't look like things are going great again in Buffalo, but you do have the Bat Blue Light. Enjoy your beers together so you can live life to the power of we. Find Labatt blue [e-mail] finder thank you so much to Pando. That was a blast. BU was over in Belfast, playing in like a mini tournament over there. I think they played Merrimack the first game, beat them, Notre Dame beat Harvard and then BU beat Notre Dame in the final. So kind of a cool event. Notre Dame's over there, obviously, and BU gets to be a part of that in Northern Ireland. So that looked like it would be something sick to be at, but what a legendary career he had. Thinking of the times with him and Gomer when Gomer's a young rookie. Just cracked me up, up. I also can't wait to see that footage with. I mean, the video you did with Gomez and Mike Monobiz, the Road Warriors.

[Biz Nasty]

I think you said it's coming out early January because we've had so much stuff coming out and we got to give our time, our editors time to actually dive into it and edit it properly. But I believe we have one more sandbagger coming out before the new year, and that's going to be Steve Thomas and Darcy Tucker, legendary bagger. Some awesome stories from those old goats. And yeah, like I said, early January. It's going to be out there. I had a blast skating with him in the Surrey Eagles. And yeah, subscribe to the Spit and Chiclets YouTube channel361.361,000 subscribers.

[Wit]

A little pop for us. That's a little pop up. Last couple of weeks.

[Biz Nasty]

Well, we're actually going to put the surveillance footage of that entire donnybrook on there. So make sure you subscribe to catch that as soon as it hits the airways. What else you got for me? Witty.

[Wit]

Matthews back. That had to be released.

[Biz Nasty]

No pun intended.

[Wit]

Back. It's two points, they win five. Three. Did you see any of the game? I don't know if you were working what your deal was that night, but he looked good. Leafs looked nice.

[Biz Nasty]

I took the night completely off. I needed to hit the reset button. I mean, I think we texted and I said that to you, but you know, he went to see Dr. Kevorkian over in Germany. I know that Judd was not happy with some of the articles coming out. I think Steve Simmons tried to say that he went and saw some controversial doping doctor or some bullshit article that he wrote. Steve Stevens always stirring it up. Hey, if your back's not feeling good or you got an injury and you want to go get a second opinion, go do it. Because these players health is important and the fact that we got AM 34 back on the ice and after the damage we did without him in the lineup, I gave Reinhardt praise for doing what he did without Bark off for that short period of time. How about the Leafs without Matthews in the lineup? We got the Marner Magic after getting the Squanto jersey. What is he ripping at two points a game since. Since Squanto got the jersey, he's been humming. William Nylander looks unbelievable. So your boy Tavares.

[Wit]

Tavares looks.

[Biz Nasty]

Fuck. Give him 11. Give him 11 million again. I don't even care it. That's like a bar goon at this point.

[Wit]

I think at one point you said a million. So you've gone up 10 million in your negotiation in the first quarter of the year. I respect that. You'd be a great gm.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah, I fluctuate. I'm high and low, but Leafs are looking good, man.

[Wit]

Leafs are good. Matthews was on the intermission like with army does like Coach Couch with Colby or something funny and he's showing him like how he shoots the puck, how he just brings it from the toe to the heel. And Army's trying. Army actually looked good when he got a little lesson from Matthew 1.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah, the one shot but it just.

[Wit]

It never leaves a stick. Army's first shot. It just both 4 inches off a stick. Old school snapshot muffin.

[Biz Nasty]

Exactly how I shot Matt Matthews was.

[Wit]

He almost threw up. He was disgusted and then he just says the puck never leaves my blade and just comes from right from the toe to the heel. It was sick just seeing how good his shot is, how his release changing the angle. So arm dog kind of crushed that segment biz. You're on the Amazon Prime Video Canada NHL broadcast this week.

[Biz Nasty]

Yeah, like almost like the red zone for NHL. They're doing the snap around show. They do it on Thursdays and they've had a little bit of mix of, of different guys. Andrew, it's, it's Andy Petrillo, she's kind of the navigator and all of it. And then they just throw in a few new guys. I'm actually going to be doing with Yan. I know that you're down in Florida. We were trying to get you in the mix too, maybe adding a third. But next time I'm on it. I think I'm doing three or four appearances this year. It'd be fun to get you and Yans in there with me if you guys are available.

[Wit]

That would be a blast. Is it third? It's Thursday night.

[Biz Nasty]

It's Thursday night and I think we do one of the east coast games and then we do half of a second like the west coast game. So we don't go all the way to the end of a west coast game. I think we ended up getting off the air around like 11, 11:30.

[Wit]

Not bad.

[Biz Nasty]

So yeah, I'm excited to try it out. It's something new that the NHL is doing and as there's in the future going to become more players, whether it's espn, tnt, Amazon obviously TSN and Sportsnet, you know, different types of programming, different things that people enjoy watching and how they consume it and I guess in a sense of where the world's headed and maybe attention spans getting smaller and smaller, you know, maybe you're not just focusing on on one eastern game where you're hopping around after five, ten minutes. Oh, we got a power play over here. Let's go see how, how Edmonton's on the Power play. Let's go see what's going on in Leafland with Auston Matthews and his back and him carrying the team. So I like the fact that they're going to be hopping around and keep us engaged. And I'm excited to do it and excited for you guys to watch. So check it out, Amazon.

[Wit]

Love that we still got some live show tickets available in Chicago. I believe the floor section sold out, but there's some in the balcony. G says it's a great spot, actually being in the balcony. You know, that's kind of how I like being above the ice biz, Seeing it all develop, seeing how this live show goes down. Go to Barstoolsports.com events. Check that out. And the final reminder about Barstool Survivor Tonight, I think 8:00pm Eastern Biz. Anything else, buddy?

[Biz Nasty]

No. I was a little bit fired up at the beginning of the podcast.

[Wit]

You know, I'm a little angry. Yeah, I can sense that. Everyone can sense that. It's just nuts. You've had. It's just you've had a crazy, crazy couple days here. So I could see the rage coming out. Like the wires are truly crossing at the beginning of this episode when I see you talking about it.

[Biz Nasty]

I want these guys to pay for my hospital bills. I want a new pair of Reebok kicks that they ruined. I want a new shirt, my reigning champ shirt that they ripped off my body, my Lululemon flexible pants. And thank God I had those on so I was able to keep backpedaling like that. And I'd like a little bit of Thai massage paid for. My neck's all jacked up after getting boot in the brain.

[Wit]

Well, they just called you the Thai massage.

[Biz Nasty]

No, that was. I think that was like for solar power or something. Oh, maybe they're trying to scam me with solar power.

[Wit]

Might be one of their scams.

[Biz Nasty]

Me, that was their aunt who beat the wheels off her daughter and then was wearing her shirt after with her mugshot.

[Wit]

Have a great one, folks.

[Ryan Whitney]

The spirit is so hard to break.

[Biz Nasty]

Don'T know any other way.

[Ryan Whitney]

Even if I go away I don't know any.

[Biz Nasty]

Other way the spirit is so hard.

[Ryan Whitney]

To break I'll get you someday.