Spittin’ Chiclets Episode 537: Featuring Sean Avery, Shane Pinto, Drew Shore & Trung Phan

Summary

Spittin’ Chiclets Episode 537 Summary

Featuring Sean Avery, Shane Pinto, Drew Shore & Trung Phan
Release Date: December 23, 2024

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1. Discover NHL Winter Classic in Chicago

The hosts, Ryan Whitney, Paul Bissonnette (Biz), and Rear Admiral Mike Grinnell (RA), kick off the episode by promoting the upcoming Discover NHL Winter Classic set to take place in Chicago on December 31st. They highlight the event's significance, mentioning special guests like Tim Stapleton, Jeremy Roenick, Chris Chelios, Matt Murley, and Colby Armstrong. Whitney emphasizes the importance of attending both the live show and the pregame event at DraftKings Sportsbook at Wrigley Field.

Notable Quote:

• Whitney [04:20]: "Pink Whitney is there to quench your thirst, any season, any mood."

2. Carvana and Selling a Car

A humorous segment unfolds when Drew Shore mentions selling his car to Carvana, prompting the hosts to share their own experiences and endorsements. RA promotes Carvana as a convenient platform for selling vehicles, emphasizing its widespread acceptance.

Notable Quote:

• RA [01:17]: "Whether you're looking to sell your car right now or just whenever feels right, go to Carvana.com and sell your car the convenient way."

3. Vancouver Canucks Drama: J.T. Miller vs. Elias Pettersson

A significant portion of the discussion centers around the Vancouver Canucks and the rumored tension between star players J.T. Miller and Elias Pettersson. The hosts analyze the impact of their discord on team chemistry, performance, and potential trade scenarios. They debate whether one or both players should be traded, considering factors like age, performance metrics, and locker room dynamics.

Notable Quotes:

• Biz [08:36]: "Do you think this is your client? Would you not be like, 'fuck off'?"
• Shane Pinto [10:51]: "I think long term for the Canucks, a healthy, happy Pettersson is more valuable than a J.T. Miller."

4. Spotlight on Defensemen: Quinn Hughes and Adam Fox

The conversation shifts to commend Quinn Hughes, the Norris Trophy-winning defenseman, applauding his exceptional skating, playmaking, and leadership qualities. Adam Fox is also lauded for his defensive prowess and offensive contributions, solidifying the Canucks' blue line.

Notable Quotes:

• Whitney [20:25]: "He is something special. He's must-watch TV. He really is."
• Shane Pinto [21:46]: "He has good IQ and I've actually enjoyed playing with him a lot."

5. Agent Drew Shore's Insights: Handling Player Issues and Trends

Drew Shore, a current player agent with Judd, shares his experiences navigating the complexities of managing players' off-ice issues, mental health, and contract negotiations. He discusses the increasing responsibility agents bear in supporting their clients beyond mere contract talks, including mental wellness and personal challenges.

Notable Quotes:

• Drew Shore [26:18]: "I actually love getting the contracts for guys who are playing professionally. I hate, absolutely hate, the recruiting of kids."
• Shane Pinto [10:08]: "It's a lot more babysitting than I originally thought I was signing up for."

6. World Juniors Tournament: Team USA vs. Team Canada

The hosts delve into the upcoming World Juniors tournament, discussing the strengths of Team USA with standout players like Cody Boughner and Zach Peretz. The absence of Russia is noted, but the tournament's excitement remains high with prospects like Matthew Schaefer and Porter Martone for Team Canada.

Notable Quotes:

• RA [33:41]: "The USA goes back to back because behind the bench they clearly have the biggest advantage in the tournament."
• Shane Pinto [35:57]: "It's a pretty good tournament because, like, you have these potential superstars."

7. Interview with Sean Avery: New York Rangers State and Potential GM

Sean Avery, a New York Rangers legend, joins the podcast to discuss the team's current state and his potential interest in taking over the GM role from Jerry Balson. The conversation covers recent trades, team performance, locker room chemistry, and the challenges facing the Rangers in their playoff aspirations.

Notable Quotes:

• BA [47:04]: "The Rangers have got this deep goaltending regime in the world."
• Shane Pinto [82:51]: "He's too good, and it's time to protect him. He's your quarterback."

8. Team Dynamics and Event-Based Sports

The hosts compare the NHL to other major sports leagues like the NBA and NFL, discussing how personalities and star power influence fan engagement and team performance. They touch upon the trend of fans gravitating towards individual stars rather than team identity, emphasizing the importance of resilience and teamwork in hockey.

Notable Quotes:

• Biz [232:10]: "It's about creating turnovers, like, that's the purpose of hitting."
• RA [217:46]: "Nvidia is a super chip. It does one thing really, really, really well."

9. Business and Technology Insights: AI, Bitcoin, Nvidia

Trung Phan, the business correspondent, provides an in-depth analysis of the intersection between AI technology and the NHL. He explains how companies like Nvidia are pivotal in advancing AI through their specialized GPU chips, drawing parallels to how historical tech giants like Intel shaped their industries. The discussion also touches on investment strategies involving Bitcoin, its evolution as a store of value, and its integration into mainstream finance.

Notable Quotes:

• Biz [243:34]: "If you think about the AI revenue... Nvidia is just leading the charge."
• Trung Phan [242:31]: "AI is a top-level thesis... think about how much you want to allocate to it."

10. Closing Remarks and Future Episodes

The episode concludes with the hosts expressing gratitude to their guests and listeners, promoting upcoming live shows in Chicago, and emphasizing the importance of enjoying the holiday season with family and friends. They also encourage listeners to engage with sponsors like Body Armor and DraftKings, integrating promotional content seamlessly into the conversation.

Notable Quotes:

• Whitney [263:19]: "Have a great New Year and a great Christmas. Hanukkah, wherever you celebrate. Enjoy it."
• RA [195:36]: "Nvidia is a super chip. But what it."

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This summary captures the essence of Spittin’ Chiclets Episode 537, highlighting key discussions, insights, and notable quotes. For a comprehensive understanding, listening to the full episode is recommended.

Transcript

[Whitney]

Hey, Spit and Chicklets listeners. You can find every episode on Apple podcasts, Spotify or YouTube Prime.

[Biz]

Members can listen ad free on Amazon Music.

[RA]

Here on Spit and Chiclets, we talk a lot about hockey, including the best ways to enjoy game day.

[Whitney]

That is right. If you need help getting those game day essentials, you got to have Discover in your back pocket. Discover is accepted by 99% of places that take credit card nationwide. So when it's time for wings and drinks, you're pretty much covered.

[RA]

Yeah, you don't want to be the guy scrambling for cash like Whit when the rounds on you. And remember, y'all, Discover is accepted by 99% of places, but attempting to start a wave at a critical point in the game is not it pays to.

[Whitney]

Discover percentage based on the February 2024 Nielsen report. And don't miss the puck drop for the Discover NHL Winter Classic on New Year's Eve. Nah, not quite. What's up?

[Drew Shore]

Sell my car in Carvana.

[Whitney]

It's just not quite the right time.

[Trung Fan]

Crazy coincidence.

[Drew Shore]

I just sold my car to Carvana.

[RA]

What? I told you about it two days ago.

[Biz]

When you know, you know, you know.

[RA]

I'm even dropping it off at one of those sweet car vending machines and getting paid today.

[Whitney]

That's a good deal.

[Trung Fan]

Ugh.

[Whitney]

Great deal.

[Shane Pinto]

Come on.

[Biz]

What's your heart saying?

[Trung Fan]

You're right.

[Biz]

When you know, you know.

[Whitney]

Sold.

[RA]

Whether you're looking to sell your car right now or just whenever feels right, go to Carvana.com and sell your car the convenient way. Terms and conditions apply.

[Biz]

Me and Ryan have been officially welcomed.

[Whitney]

To the jungle that is Barstool Sports. Our white whale, Sidney Crosby. Shave his head.

[Shane Pinto]

Shave his head.

[Whitney]

Shave his head. Ryan Whitney.

[RA]

Paul Vicinette.

[Whitney]

R.A. mike Grinelli. Spitting chicklets. What is up, folks? We're back. Welcome to episode 537 of the Spit and Chiclets podcast, presented to you by Pink Whitney. The little nips, the big bottles, the in betweeners. Any season, any mood, Pink Whitney is there to quench your thirst. And it's a very, very special episode. Christmas is upon us. We are here, boys. It's the holiday season. It's New Year's. New beginnings. And we got biz. And there he is. Santa Claus biz. And we got Trunk Fan on this podcast. Oh, if you don't remember, Trun Fan. He's our business. What are we calling him? Biz.

[RA]

Business Insider. A master of threads on Twitter. And we're going to have him at the end of the podcast to talk everything Non hockey related from Bitcoin. We dive a little bit into Elon Musk, the super chip Nvidia guy. And then, of course, Taylor Swift, a $2 billion world tour. It's insane. And did we mention our special guest that's going to be on for us for the rest of the Paul.

[Whitney]

Well, hold on. Before we get to him, we also added Sean Avery. Sean Avery, who joined us with Larry Brooks last week in discussing quickly what was going on with Jacob Truba and the impending trade of Capo Kako and all the madness in Rangerville. So we got apes. We go through many teams in the league as well. Daves. And then we had Shane Pinto, parlay legend himself from the Ottawa centers. An awesome interview. Great guy. I just love how much he laughed. That's made me feel really good about myself. But what's very special to me is we actually have another guy joining us for the rest of this show. A really good friend of mine, a guy I played pro hockey with. This guy played 10 years of pro hockey himself all around the world, and he's been on the show before. Current player agent with Judd. The game runs through me, molding.

[RA]

Oh, no.

[Whitney]

And also host of Betting the Limit podcast, Drew Shore. Shoresy. How you doing, buddy?

[Drew Shore]

I'm doing great. Thanks for having me on, guys.

[RA]

It's been all we get after that intro.

[Drew Shore]

That was a good intro.

[RA]

You better bring the fucking noise, buddy.

[Drew Shore]

The noise will be here.

[Trung Fan]

It's good.

[Drew Shore]

You guys are about nine. You guys are 90 minutes late. I could have taken a nap.

[Whitney]

I know, buddy. This is what we do. We put out 30 minutes for interviews for Avery and Chung, and then we ended up going two hours. But quickly, while I let you just really get, get, get the ideas flowing, I got to bring up Pink Whitney, and I didn't say it enough at the beginning. Pink Whitney. That's why this podcast exists. That's what we're all drinking at Christmas or Hanukkah or New Year's Eve. It doesn't matter. So go to your local bar, take your shot with Pink Whitney, and support the cause while having a great time.

[RA]

So, Drew, you better get your big old bucket and your big old bucket.

[Whitney]

Have you seen the Birdie Buckets?

[Drew Shore]

I have not seen the Birdie buckets.

[Whitney]

Oh, baby. They sell 20 Nips in just one bucket. And then on it it says, just add ice, baby. Just add ice. So I know you're getting worked by your brothers on the golf course, so they're probably the ones making the birdies drinking the pink Whitney. But you can now get them at your local liquor store. Shoresy.

[Drew Shore]

Perfect. I can't wait to grab some for Christmas.

[Whitney]

Biz Biz. We got a lot of things to discuss quickly. We got a lot of things to kind of catch up on. And most on the forefront of my mind is our trip to Chicago for the Winter Classic and our live show. Shoresy. We're doing a live show in Chicago. We got Tim Stapleton, who you know, we got Jeremy Roenick, we got Chris Chelios, we got Matt Murley, Colby Armstrong. It's going to be a time and a half, I guess there's about 140 tickets left. Barstoolsports.com events if you're in Chicago, check it out. It's going to be a great time before the Hawks play. Before the Hawks play. So you can go to our show and then go check out Connor Bedard and see the action in person. But we need you guys there also the night before the live show. So on December 28th, we will be watching some hockey at 6pm Chicago time at the DraftKings sports book at Wrigley Field. We're going to be hanging out, watching games, having drinks. Pink Whitney will be flowing. The laughs, the love, the New year resolutions being discussed. Okay, so everyone come to the DraftKings sportsbook at Wrigley Field and check us out. And last, sorry to bother you with the details, guys, but we want to meet some of you in Chicago. Yeah, we have a Pink Whitney meet and greet at 12:30 the day of the Winter Classic, December 31st at Sluggers across from Wrigley. And quickly, my one memory of Sluggers was Steve Eminger's bachelor party. Amazing time. Awesome time. We ended up at Sluggers after the Cubs game we went to and Boland had just won the cup. That legend, Dave Boland, Corey Perry was with us. And I all of a sudden, Boland comes out of the clouds. He's in Sluggers. He's finishing beer, smashing the glasses off the wall. They didn't flying. He was a champion. He was a Stanley cup champion with the Chicago Black.

[RA]

He could have took a on the.

[Whitney]

Dance floor, he was allowed to finish his pint and just fire the glass off the wall. And then everyone. That's how fun Sluggers is.

[RA]

So that's unreal.

[Whitney]

Last piece of cleanup before we get going. Chiclets, you drops this week. Thursday, the number one team in the country. No, not Drew Shore's former school, Denver, the reigning national champs. Right now, the number one team in the country is the Michigan State Spartans at noon on the Chiclets YouTube. Chiclets U. Michigan State, Red Savage, Isaac Howard, the Iceman, all with Grinelli showing them the campus and the new incredible facility that the Spartans have. So with that being said, Biz, we got some drama going on in the league right now. Drama. And I think that it kind of starts off in, in Western Canada, Shorzy. And I don't know if you're following this, but Elias Pederson and J.T. miller apparently allegedly despise each other. And now that the Vancouver media's got a.

[RA]

Got a little handle on it, they're running with it. Every fucking question. Did you see that clip of Petey after the game last night and them grilling him? And finally he said fuck this and just walked out of the media scrumtures. Do you see that?

[Drew Shore]

I did. He said no more questions on JT a couple times now. I think in different interviews he has before that too. I've seen it twice, I think. Yeah, I think they've asked him about that. I think going back, this one was a while ago, but yeah, it's. It's been pretty entertaining to follow.

[RA]

I think it's ridiculous that they keep asking them though. Like, if I was like, I don't want to be out of line.

[Whitney]

It's ridiculous to the media, I think.

[RA]

I think that there's a line knowing that this person is like, enough with this. It's clear that there's an issue, right? But they're face to face, they just keep wanting to dig information that he's not going to give you. So they keep relentlessly peppering him with this stuff. If you're saying, well, he makes 11 and a half and he doesn't get along with his teammate and everybody wants to know about it, he should be entitled to talk about it. But Shoresy, what if this is your client? Would you not be like, like, fuck off. Don't even make them available for media if all they want to ask him is fucking J.T. miller questions.

[Drew Shore]

I mean, I don't think because he makes 11 and a half, he has to answer personal questions about a relationship with a teammate. You know what I mean? Like, I think that would be.

[RA]

That would be what some people are throwing back. Like, we're paying this guy big money. He should have to sit up there and take any question that the media wants to ask.

[Drew Shore]

Yeah, I think that, I mean, if, I think, like if I'm a media member there, they have the right to ask any question, but he also has the right and I also think whatever is going on inside their locker room, like, as you guys know, like the saying, loose lip sync ships, like, he also has a duty to his teammates, you know what I mean? To keep certain things in house and not allow that stuff to go to the media.

[Whitney]

That's what's frustrating, I think, for. For the team and the fan base, even though they differ on all this, is that, like, why can't you figure it out? Like, there's been so many instances in pro sports over the years of teammates not liking each other, but once the game starts, you have respect for the guy. You cannot like a guy, but you gotta have respect for him, and you're working towards the same goal. And now you have this situation with these truly highly skilled players who apparently don't even want to be on the power play together. Now, here's the problem. We don't know really what's true or what's not. Peterson comes out, says, this is bullshit, but then you can tell there's something to it based on all the noise around it. But Biz asking you, it's a good question, like, being an agent now, how much more of it is talking to guys about, not necessarily on ice issues, but just issues in their life where it's like, they need. Excuse me. They need somebody to talk to, somebody to lean on. Are you getting calls like that, or is it more about ice time and lack of power play and things like that?

[Drew Shore]

Yeah, it's a lot more babysitting than I originally thought I was signing up for.

[Whitney]

Well, look at what you did to your agents.

[Trung Fan]

Yeah.

[Biz]

Now.

[Drew Shore]

Now I know.

[Whitney]

I.

[Drew Shore]

It's actually funny. I almost respect my agent more now because, like, when I get the same call that I was giving my agent, and, like, I'm sure he was just sitting there, like, trying to have dinner with his wife, rolling his eyes is exactly what I have done in a few times. But, no, I think that the point you made, there's a difference between not liking your teammate and respecting your teammates and then, like, truly hating each other. Right? Like, if they don't get along but, like, they still respect each other and they can win together, then who cares, right? But if these guys truly hate each other, I don't know if it's at a point where, like, one of them has to go, but if it's at the point where they actually can't play on the same power play together, I think you got to do something.

[RA]

So it was at that point, and then the. It seemed like the relationship was paired. I Think that was one of talk talk. And keep in mind, I have not messaged talking about this, right? Like, this is stuff where I'm like, oh, like I don't even want to check in to say hello. But I think it's pret pretty public knowledge that when he got there, one of his biggest things that he had to do was to repair those two relationships. And that was that half a season that he got to understand it, try to bridge that gap. And then they go on last year to having all that success. Obviously there were things that happened last year where they were probably, you know, at each other's throats and not necessarily gelling, but you got to think that two professionals in the NHL, regardless of maybe not having a relationship off the ice, could figure it out and repair it to where they're not becoming a full blown distraction to their team. Like, this has become a distraction, full blown. It's taking so much energy and oxygen out of the room, even the other guys are having to answer the question, so what needs, what do you think needs to be done right now? Like, who would you trade? Would you move on from Petey? Would you move on from jt?

[Whitney]

I don't know if I'm ready to make the trade. I think that's last. Like, all right, there are no other options available. And I guess I did say, like, we don't even know if this is true. I, I, I should take that back a little because Bruce Boudreau, who was the coach prior to Talk, Bruce, there it is, you know, all that stuff. So he has come out, I think on a radio show and said, yeah, there was definitely tension there. So then you get a former coach saying, talk comes in, he has to repair it. They have the season you have. But now I don't want to trade either one of these guys. That's the thing. And I don't, I just don't understand how it's gotten this ugly now without knowing the, the insides and being in that locker room, nobody really will get it. But I don't want to trade either one of them. I really don't. Because, like, if you look at, you look at how are you going to get the return back that, that these guys would both bring based on teams circling around you, knowing it's a disaster brewing in the locker room and that you have to trade one of them. So, like, that's the aspect of like, we're going to get fleeced on the return of one of these guys if we have to move them. Because the whole World knows how much they can't stand each other. And also, you bring up a good point, Shoresy, about you don't have to answer personal questions. But what's happened is since Miller's come back, Pedersen's played six points. He played very well.

[RA]

Well, Miller, six games.

[Whitney]

Six games and has no points. I misspoke. So that's where the reporters can start being like, all right, well, this isn't just personal because since he's come back and we've heard of this riff, you actually don't have a point in six games and you make 11 and a half. That's where it's like, is it really a personal question because it's leaked into your game? Whether Patterson believes that or not, Pasha.

[RA]

Put in the group chat, he goes, mills, he's back now watch. Petey's going to go ice cold. And he, he referenced it again by replying to his own text today, this morning. So posh, I don't know if you want to hop on and you have any words for what's going around in Vancouver.

[Whitney]

You're living there, Pasha.

[RA]

Yeah. I mean, you're pretty much playing tummy sticks with these guys every fucking weekend. Dovetail or dove tits, as they're calling it now.

[Shane Pinto]

Yeah, listen, I mean, I said in the group chat, I don't know the dynamic of who's wrong, he said, she said, between Miller and Pedersen. But one thing, I think it's past the point of no return. This has been going on. This has been going on for three, four years. If they haven't hashed it out by now, to me, I think one of them is for sure getting traded, whether it's a week from now, a month from now, six months from now. It's just you can't win with that dynamic with, you know, your two highest paid players or to your top three highest paid players having that and like, they can't even be on the ice together anymore. Like, it's insane. So I think, I mean, you obviously know who I think should get traded. I think long term for the Canucks, a healthy, happy Pedersen is more valuable than a J.T. miller is when you look at, like, the next eight years. But like you said, wit, obviously teams know you're vulnerable. You're not going to get like the best trade value, but you got to rip the band aid off. If this is a big, big issue in the room, I think for sure one of them is going to get traded at some point.

[Whitney]

So if you were to, and you asked me at the beginning of this biz, I kind of dodged it. I. I would rather J.T. miller on my team all day, any day.

[RA]

Right. Playoffs.

[Whitney]

But if I'm Vancouver, I'm probably trading J.T. miller solely based the fact that he's 31 years old. Pederson's 26 years old. So you just look like, all right, if we can get this guy happy and looking like he did. He hasn't looked like he did in a calendar year. Like, he has not been the player he we saw as a rookie coming into the league. Was he 100 points or 99 points? Like, he hasn't been that since he signed. And so now it's like you have the worry, like, I don't know if he can get back there, but I believe he can based on the contract we gave him. And he's five years younger than Miller, so let's move on from Miller. But then it's like some team. If A contender grabs J.T. miller, I talked to an NHL scout. He's like, if a really true contender, one of the three or four teams we believe can win the cup, somehow get him, they're winning the Cup. That's how good he is now, maybe he goes in and things change over time, but he's that good and dominant when he wants to be. Where Pedersen just hasn't shown that level. He hasn't posture. You could talk about defensively all you want. He pks. He plays a ton of minutes. Yeah, he shuts down. He shuts down other teams, number one centers. And. And did you watch the game last night?

[RA]

So what you don't like too Pasha is like, last night, I think he lost. You say he lost his man on the tying goal, and then in overtime, he was to blame for it.

[Shane Pinto]

It was his guy that scored shorthand on the power play, and then over time, it was his guy that scored. And then last game in Utah, he was on the ice for a minute. 20 didn't come off. Petey's waiting to get on, misses a shot wide. Utah scores like this.

[RA]

And it bugs you. It bugs you at the fact that he. He declined media after the game, too. You said that that was kind of like the cherry on top.

[Shane Pinto]

I mean, like, you got. You got pet. Well, no, I mean that I've kind of been unhappy about the situation for a while, but I just think Pedersen's out there fielding the questions. Why is Miller not when he was requested to go out and talk about it, Like, I totally get him not wanting to talk about his leave of absence. That's fair. But I think you got to go out there and answer for, hey, okay, like, what happened on that play and talking. Even called him out by name last night.

[Whitney]

Yeah, he did.

[RA]

Maybe. Maybe this is just being amplified more at this point, too, because of the streak and the ten games that JT was gone for. Pederson all of a sudden looked more like himself from before that period of time where you said he just like, hasn't really put together a sustained amount of hockey where he looked like himself before he got the deal. Right. Like, that would be probably your one argument why is to this? And then all of a sudden he comes back and then now all of a sudden the questions come back up and they can't plan the power play. So I kind of agree with Pasha to where now you've tried to repair it all this time. Petey has success. JT's back. Now he's back into no points in six games. It seems to be like they're going to have to move on. And I would agree that JT would be the guy that you would end up moving on from because of the age 32 years old JT is or turning 32 in March, and then Petey's 26, about to hit his prime. Shorzy, who. Who would you move on from if you had to pick one?

[Drew Shore]

They're in a tough spot because, like you said, I'm a huge JT Miller fan. Like Whit said, I think he's a guy who plays hard. Like, and I know he takes some nights off during the regular season, but, you know, if he goes to a playoff contender, he's a guy who's going to play 20, 22 minutes a night in the playoffs, play on the power play, play on the penalty kill, and is a true difference maker in like one of big heavy hockey. I think that one interesting thing. Pasha, you mentioned this. I don't know when you want to start saying that Elias started struggling, but like, when Bo Horvat. I just thought of this randomly, but he kind of got shipped out of there, what, like two. A year and a half, two years ago? Like, I don't know. That's kind of.

[Trung Fan]

I don't.

[Drew Shore]

I don't know if there's any correlation there or what it was, but I love Bo Horvat as a leader, a player, all of the above. And it is kind of interesting that as soon as he got out of there, that's kind of when, like, Pedersen's game started to decline a little bit.

[RA]

Do you think he was almost that Guy that, like, could calm JT down. And he was the good, like, it kind of like Landiscog is to the Colorado locker room almost, where if Nate's kind of barking maybe at somebody, he can be the one to be like, hey, enough. And also the guy that that person being yelled at can go to and trust as a leader.

[Drew Shore]

Yeah, exactly. I mean, I think you said it like, Landiscog is the perfect example of that. Like, when he's out of the AVS lineup and shit's going crazy in their locker room, I don't really know who stands up and garnishes like, you know what I mean? Like, every other guy shuts up. And I think that Landis Cog has the ability to do that. I played in Vancouver briefly with Bo Horvat. I know that he did have the ability to do that and then on the ice too. He's just a guy that was like, could play against every best player in the league. You know what I mean? So whether it gave him easier matchups, he was an elite bumper player on the power play, like one of the best bumper players in the league, which opened up a ton of cross seam stuff for Pedersen. So I think, just like, I think it could have affected it on and off the ice.

[Whitney]

On a positive note for the Vancouver Canucks and Pasha, you could stay on here because this is your guy. Quinn Hughes right now is the Norris Trophy winner. I know Makar has been unbelievable. I think without Quinn Hughes, the Vancouver Canucks are possibly a lottery team the way they're going right now. This guy and I watched the entire Sense game on, on Saturday night. He had three points. He was dominating. I'm talking on the ice for every five on five goal that the Canucks had. And every time he's on the ice, he must have the puck. 70% of the time he's on the ice, he's making toe drags at blue lines, embarrassing guys breaking their ankles.

[RA]

Alan, see the one where he put it through the guy's legs when he's on a four check.

[Whitney]

He's doing it. He's doing it every game. And it's at the point now, like last year, it's like, oh, Quinn Hughes reached that other level and he was already a special player. He gets his Norris Trophy. What's going to happen this year? He's better this year. He's actually doing things that I didn't even ever see possible. Even when he was drafted as high high as he was. And with the, with the, the prospect write ups and you saw him in college and how great he was. But man, this guy, he is something special. He's must watch tv. He really is. Like when he gets the puck and he has these tight turns, acceleration, he also with his speed is able to slow the game down. Like the change of speeds that players, certain players possess where they'll go slow and they'll bring you in and then boom, they're gone. With these jets. It's just crazy. Sure as you. I don't know if you know the Hughes's at all, but have you seen what I'm seeing in terms of domination from this D man?

[Trung Fan]

Yeah.

[Drew Shore]

And I feel like you said he's must watch TV every night like, you.

[Biz]

Know what I mean when you were.

[Drew Shore]

Playing in the league, like the guys who were the best D man, like Latang and these guys, they couldn't do nearly the stuff that Par and Hughes and I mean now forwards too. These guys get so much time because they're scared to even run at these guys because like you run at one of these guys at the blue line like then you're probably going to end up on Sports center anyway. So then it gives them even more time. So now they're just walking the blue line like it's like a Sunday skate. It's amazing and it's super fun to watch.

[Shane Pinto]

Yeah, I think he's. He's really gone evolved from that sort of. He's one of the best defenders in the league. Como. He's one of the best players in the league. Yeah, I slot him in that kind of like five mark after like you know, the Matthews, the McKinnon's, all that McDavid's obviously. But yeah, he, he dominates the games and if he drags that joke of a Canucks decor into the playoffs, I think he for sure should be in the heart conversation.

[Whitney]

Mvp, I was going to say what he's doing and not only is it on the ice what he's doing, but all this madness we're talking about in the worst possible city to have friction between a locker room Vancouver with those media members and, and I'm not blaming them but it's just that's that market. It's nuts. It's nuts when things are going well. He's dealing with all this off the ice and he had a great quote, he had a great little I think a minute answer to what was going on in the room and how it's kind of his job to bring guys together and gee, I don't know, do you want to play that team Unity.

[RA]

These days, there's a lot of talk.

[Trung Fan]

Outside about, is there a rift in here?

[RA]

You're the leader of this group.

[Trung Fan]

Have you had to step in and.

[Biz]

Sort of your leadership been tested in any way?

[Shane Pinto]

Yeah, I mean, I think that it's been a lot of learning for everyone in here. And, you know, obviously not to beat around the bush. You know, everyone knows what the reports are out there. But I think that, you know, everyone expects a lot from each other. You know, there's times where, you know, I get, you know, upset with Milsey, there's times I get upset with Petey.

[Trung Fan]

There'S times I get upset with Hroneck.

[Shane Pinto]

And that doesn't mean that I don't.

[Trung Fan]

Love those guys and vice versa.

[Shane Pinto]

And, you know, I'm going to make some bad plays. They're going to make a play where I wish, you know, they. They saw me here or saw me there. And over the course of playing together for six years, I think that those things are normal and they're going to happen. And as far as my leadership, I think just continuing to keep everyone on the yellow brick road and what our.

[Trung Fan]

Ultimate goal is, which is short term.

[Shane Pinto]

You know, having a good game tonight and long term being a successful team.

[Whitney]

Team getting in the playoffs.

[Trung Fan]

Is it workable, though?

[RA]

Like, is it just outside.

[Drew Shore]

Outside noise?

[Trung Fan]

Yeah, I mean, I just think 100%, I believe it's workable, and I know it's workable. I mean, saw it last year, very.

[Shane Pinto]

Evident, and I think that both of them have been going through their own.

[Trung Fan]

Struggles this year, and I believe in both of them.

[Shane Pinto]

I think they're great players, great people, and, you know, like I said, there's times where we all get into it, but it is a family in here, and we just got to continue to, you know, push forward and, you know.

[Trung Fan]

Play the way we want to play.

[Shane Pinto]

If there's a positive looking forward to this, I think Petey and Milzy would both say that they haven't played their.

[RA]

Best hockey this year, and we're still.

[Shane Pinto]

You know, where we are in the standings. And I think that, you know, that's a positive thing that we can look at, is that, you know, two of the best players out there can be better.

[Whitney]

So you hear him kind of like, you know, there's probably some exhaustion in answering these questions, but being the leader he is, it's hard enough to deal with that and try to get two guys to get along and still perform at a high level. And he's performing then better than he ever has, and he Won the friggin Norris trophy last year.

[RA]

They should just room PD and JT on the road. Just figure it out.

[Whitney]

I. I said they should come out and maybe it is like Pasha said, it's. It's beyond the, the. The point of like fixing this. They should just drop a tweet of them. Just like having a beer together. Aren't like arm around each other, just.

[RA]

Tagging abroad the Internet. Just kidding.

[Shane Pinto]

I saw a tweet saying that, that Quinn deserves the heart just for the babysitting alone he's out to do between these two guys.

[RA]

Just kidding.

[Drew Shore]

So it would be funny if they started just trolling the media like that.

[Whitney]

That's what I'm saying. They should. I bet, I bet you that if they like were like, all right, fuck it, I can't stand you. You can't stand me. But let's drop this pick where arm in arm, having a beer, smiling. They would probably go on a 10 game heater where they both get like 18 to 20 points.

[Shane Pinto]

I don't think you could pay them enough money to do that.

[RA]

Just get matching tattoos. Just like get the picture or like re.

[Whitney]

Like pose has the stepbrothers like Will Ferrell and what was the guy named? John C. Reilly. Like dress up in the costume and just figure it out. Boys.

[RA]

Yeah, the car. Argyle sweater vests.

[Whitney]

Sure as I kind of hopped over introing you right away and we brought up how you're an agent right now on your podcast, but are you enjoying the agency aspect of your life now or how is it to go get the 14 and 15 year olds that you got to do now? Like take us through the inside.

[RA]

Have you told the GM to off yet and hang up on them so.

[Drew Shore]

Well, a couple does that. A couple things to take back. I am actually no longer working with Judd.

[Shane Pinto]

I'm on my own now.

[RA]

Okay.

[Trung Fan]

All right.

[Whitney]

I'm sorry.

[Shane Pinto]

No, you're good.

[Drew Shore]

That's by the intro. I love Judd. Judd is amazing.

[Whitney]

Does he hate you now?

[Drew Shore]

No, we're actually very cool. We're actually competitors for this.

[Whitney]

Awesome.

[Drew Shore]

Judd, I would imagine is one of the few agents in the NHL who routinely tells those guys to fuck off on behalf of his clients. And. But no, it was awesome. Like I said, like being able like getting an upfront kind of seat to his life and just how he manages those top guys for three years was amazing. And I mean you see it now and a lot of people don't see this, but what he's kind of been able to do with like especially Conor And Austin off the ice just in terms of some of their marketing and that stuff that's really never been done before in hockey, you know what I mean? And it's like the on ice stuff is pretty simple, right? Like with the salary cap, there's not that much that goes into those contracts, you know what I mean? Like the only thing that's really changing on the, like from the best guy in the league to the last guy is one number. But I mean, if you look at it too, there's a lot of guys, like even in Austin, I mean, I don't know what Austin's going to retire when he makes the NHL, but there's so many guys who just signed that eight year deal right off their entry level deal, you know what I mean? And he was kind of the first guy to be like, all right, hold on, Cap's going to go way up. Like not many guys would have just signed like, you know, I mean, now he's kind of dead it again. And for people who don't know, like now Austin's going to have a chance again to sign another big deal because he's going to be 29 or 30.

[RA]

So that'll probably be the eight year one.

[Drew Shore]

That'll be the eight year one. That's be the eight year one and it'll be. But I mean a lot of guys though, like when you look at kind of the standard progression of contracts in the league for star players now, it's like, you know, I mean you play your three year entry level deal, then they get like the eight year by like, like six or seven to seven and a half, kind of depending on whatever it is. So I mean, people say like he kind of had a lot of balls by like not taking.

[Whitney]

That's what I was gonna ask you.

[Drew Shore]

Like eight year deal with that. And I think a lot of it, like one of the biggest things I learned from him is like, it's kind of, it's about what you and your player like think you are, right? You know what I mean? Like if you think you're a guy who is a second, third line guy who happened to have a really good shooting percentage one year and scored 30 goals, like, that's kind of your ceiling. Like that's it. But I mean with the him and obviously Austin believes it too. He's truly a guy who's like, you know what I mean? Like I'm gonna score 40 to 75 goals every single year. So I think a lot of it like, and it's easy for people to look back and criticize deals, but like people don't know like what the player wants at that time, what the player's family wants at that time. But it's very easy to go back and nitpick an agent and an agent's deal. But Judd was amazing. As you guys know, he's super fun to hang out with on a daily basis and that was super fun. And now doing it on my own, it's been a lot different. I love kind of doing the contracts for guys who are playing professionally. I hate, absolutely hate the recruiting of kids and I've almost kind of like not stopped doing it entirely, but I honestly, I did it while I was at Wasserman for like two or three times. And I mean, as you guys know, like, it's insane. It's like you sit down with a.

[Whitney]

15 year old kid, younger even, right?

[Drew Shore]

Sometimes, I mean, yeah, younger, but like you either lie to him and tell him he's the next Sidney Crosby and then the parents and the kids love you, or it's like you tell them the truth. It's like, all right, you got a pretty good head start on the marathon and if you get better every year for the next four or five years, like you're going to have a chance to be a really high draft pick and have a good career. But believe it or not, parents and like 13 year old kids prefer the Sydney, you're the next Sidney Crosby pitch a little bit more. But I kind of had a hard.

[Whitney]

Bullshit though like that that I, I can't believe. And I guess there are so many like clueless parents in every sport. But personally I, I remember like Bobby Oren, Paul Kropelko, who's now with the Florida Panthers, they were, they were like, yeah, they were very complimentary. But they also said like, it is a long road, the odds are still so difficult and so it's, it's so hard to forecast that many years in advance. And the honesty you appreciate because it's also what my parents have been saying anyways, like, you realize the chance of you playing in the NHL is so slim. I don't care how good you are when you're a freshman in high school.

[Drew Shore]

So, but you now there's enough bozo agents who will just go into these meetings and tell these kids they're the next Sidney Crosby and it's like they end up with the client. So I actually hate that part of it. And I've kind of almost stopped recruiting a lot of kids entirely just because it's kind of A waste of time. And then from a pure business perspective, it's like, okay, even if this kid's great, you're going to recruit him at 13 and then service them for six, seven years before you ever see a dollar. I mean, Whit knows what you're a gambler. Like the odds. That's not, that's not a very good, like, can you explain that to a normal businessman? They're like, what are you doing?

[Whitney]

No, you're, you're like, honey, you're daughters are crying. You're like, I'm dealing with a kid that's playing Minnesota high school hockey. She's like, wait, you might get paid from him in seven years.

[RA]

Yeah, yeah, it's a penny stock.

[Drew Shore]

Yeah, yeah, exactly. It's like, I'd rather be with your boy. Like, what's the guy's name who's coming on next? True Fang. I'd rather buy his whatever Trump Fang. I'd buy his meme coin rather than like going to recruit another 13 year old hockey player.

[Whitney]

What you did say about contracts is interesting and that's why the, the, the greatest contract right now and for the next, I believe, six years in the NHL. I will argue anyone is Jack Hughes. And his, I'm not saying cockiness, his confidence in like how good he knows he is. That's a guy that like Judd probably saw and he's like, what? Like, that's a guy who probably should have signed four or five years and then been like, I'm going to crush this thing again. But what you're saying is true. Like, maybe I just want the security. I just got $64 million. I'll still be 30 when I, when this deal ends. But Judd did really change that. And now you're seeing players be smart enough to gamble on themselves while still making a ballsy decision.

[RA]

I also look at it, sure. See like the other side too. And like certain guys and like, I think we've gotten confirmation on the Clint Klingberg offer where like, knowing what you are and having that hard conversation with your client, where if you're being offered something and you're like, listen, man, take this, or you could end up getting nothing. Like, I've heard a couple awful, awful situations where guys like, they could have made, you know, $50 million and might have made another 12 to 15.

[Drew Shore]

Yeah, certainly. And I mean, I think too, you got to be careful with that. Like when you say, like, I would be very careful if you're not dealing with a superstar taking the term, if that makes sense. You Know what I mean? And Jack Hughes is a guy who is a superstar, but don't quote me on this, but I think he struggled a little bit his first year or two in the league.

[Shane Pinto]

Right.

[Drew Shore]

He didn't have the instant success that like an Austin had. And I mean he did get 6. He did get $64 million. And I mean now it's easy to say and now, but now having one of your best players in the league locked in at $8 million for the next six, seven years is like why New Jersey is going to be competitive for that time period. So, I mean, it's good for the team, obviously. And I mean, I don't feel bad for him, but definitely he could be making more money towards the end of that deal for sure.

[RA]

Let's, let's start a GoFundMe for, for Jack Hughes before we throw off to Sean Avery, who did a great deep dive on the New York Rangers. We end up getting into around the league discussion, but this was more state of the union for the New York Ragers. And a team that he watches frequently, World Juniors is coming up. I know the game notes, guys touched on it. You played World Juniors, Whit played World Juniors. What are you seeing this year? USA looks stacked again. They got some studs in the making that first line or first power play unit with Leonard who ended up giving the be being given the captaincy. What are you seeing and who are some guys we need to watch?

[Drew Shore]

Well, I was just talking about this and whether anyone wants to admit it or not, the storyline is less enticing for this tournament without Russia. Like, Whit, I don't know about your.

[Whitney]

Year, but all we talk about, dude, the same thing.

[Drew Shore]

The tournament is so much better with Russia in it. It's still going to be a great tournament. I think USA goes back to back because behind the bench they clearly have the biggest advantage in the tournament. Dave Carl, the best coach in the tournament, hands down. And for him to go World Juniors, National Championship, World Juniors again, I think would be pretty cool. So I'm on the USA bandwagon. But no, it's a sweet tournament because like I was just looking some of these kids on Canada even like that. Gavin McKenna, I think his name is.

[Whitney]

Like, oh my God, he's got 60.

[Drew Shore]

Points in 30 games in the Western Hockey League and I think he's not even draft eligible until one more year because he's a late birthday. So I mean, it's going to be an awesome tournament. I think the fact that it's in Canada makes It super exciting too, just because, I mean the build up and hype and pressure there, I think adds a new element. USA's got a bunch of good players like you guys mentioned. I think that they've got. I mean the DU kid, Z William was an absolute stud on the back end. I think Gabe Perot is a Rangers draft pick. I think he set like a bunch of records at different points. And then obviously Leonard will be excited to watch too. And then the BC kid who could be first overall this year, Higgins, that'll be awesome. I don't know if you guys saw that clip. I could have been. I don't know if it was fake or not, but like on Instagram of his shift.

[Whitney]

Yeah, we talked about it. Dude, his head doesn't move.

[Biz]

His head doesn't look.

[Drew Shore]

I don't know if that could be real or, or if he's just naturally like that good, but that was insane. I actually like had never even really seen him until I saw that clip. And it was, it was crazy.

[Whitney]

That was Trunk fan. Actually it was Trunk fan who made that on AI. Yeah. So we'll get to him a little bit later. My, my. So I love world juniors. The. The time of the year it happens and I agree shores he Russia. And if they're not in the Olympics next year, oh, it's going to absolutely suck. And save all your tweets to me about what Russia's doing as a country. I don't really care when I'm talking about them representing like the hockey.

[RA]

Malcolm's got the nukes.

[Whitney]

I, I don't, I don't care about like, I just want to see the best hockey players.

[Drew Shore]

And the 18 year old kid who would have been playing in this tournament I don't think had too big of an impact on what they're doing.

[Whitney]

It's a joke.

[RA]

Putin's gold card. That's all he's got.

[Whitney]

Yeah. So playing in the tournament, like it was always a dream growing up. But I remember like the first time I kind of learned about it, probably about 14 years old. I remember watch, watching the 79 birth years playing. It was in like Winnipeg. Ish. And just being like, oh my God. And you see the half shields. That was one of the big things, like see the kids in the half shields. And so I now look forward to Christmas until New year because of this tournament and all the success USA's had and what that program has kind of turned into when they never really had a chance when I was growing up. And then the 84 birth years actually got the first gold medal right after I played in the two. I got to take part in where we were brutal. But now I look to like NHL. Like the draft picks that are in the tournament, the. The pot, the upcoming draft. Cause that's like exciting because you hear a lot about the guys who are picked pretty high look leading into their draft in the summer and when the draft goes down. But now it's a lot of people's first. First opportunity to see like these possible really high picks. And then this year it's James Haggins from. From Team usa. Can't wait to watch him. I've seen BC play once this year. He looks ridiculous. And just the fact that he has Leonard and Perot, it's crazy. He just slid in and took Will Smith's spot. And that team has looked unreal. They're unbelievable. And then you got this Matthew Schaefer, I believe his name is. So he's a defenseman that is basically like the best defenseman on Team Canada according to scouts I've talked to. And he hasn't even been drafted yet. And Team Canada, I mean there's guys that. Like that. That Bennett Senake didn't even get asked to camp, dude. The. The Anaheim third. Third overall pick. And Michael Misa. Wait, Michael Misa leads the CHL in points and they didn't invite him? No, I think that, that I thought that. That Gavin McKenna leads the CH on points, but either way, yeah, he's a superstar. Didn't get invited. So the depth of Canada is wild. So knowing that this Schaefer kids apparently their best defenseman and could go first overall as well. And then the other kid is this Porter Martone and he's Canadian and he's also draft fellows with this summer. So I like, like seeing these guys who. When you're playing in the. In the world juniors before your draft year, you have a poss. You have the. There's a chance of you being a superstar in the NHL. That's pretty much how it is. And Gavin McKenna, forget those guys. I think there's been like seven or eight guys who have done it for Team Canada. Crosby, Bowmeister, Spezza. Names that ended up going on to be true stars. So the tournament, the national pride this year being in Canada. So the times of the games aren't crazy biz. Go ahead.

[RA]

Oh no, just the last two Grinelli let us know. Canada's one goal the last two times they've played on home soil. You said that your experience was shit. What was your Experience, like, when you played for Roll Junior, mine was in.

[Drew Shore]

Buffalo, which ended up basically being like, Canada. I don't know if you remember this, but I think it was Emerson Edom was playing on the American team, like, right when Twitter was kind of getting buzzing and came out, like, during one of the off days and said Buffalo was like, an absolute shithole of a city. I don't know if you remember this, but, like, it went from, like, it basically being Canada's home ice into then, like, him kind of alienating a lot of the local Buffalo people. So we ended up playing Buffalo in the semifinals.

[Shane Pinto]

We got Canada, you mean?

[Drew Shore]

Yeah, we played Canada. Yeah, we played Canada in the semis. Ended up getting crushed. And then I think we beat Sweden in, like, the consolation game or whatever. But that was the game, I think when Russia came back down, like, four, five, one, beat Canada. And then the next morning at the airport, guys couldn't walk. And, like, the team staff, like, each.

[RA]

They were smoking darts on the plane.

[Whitney]

Yeah.

[Drew Shore]

And they were pushing them in wheelchairs, like, not because they were hurt, because they still hadn't slept from the night before.

[Whitney]

I think that's why we need Russia.

[RA]

We need Russia back.

[Whitney]

Hey, this is the tweet. I just googled it. Emerson Edom. This is. This is. Let me see, right here. That the date? Sorry. It's December 27, 2010. He writes much needed day off. Buffalo's a ghost town. The worst city ever. It makes Medicine Hat look like paradise. Never thought I'd say that. So he also chirped Medicine Hat.

[RA]

Oh, no.

[Drew Shore]

Yeah, that's what he was playing at the time, too. He was playing in Medicine Hat.

[Whitney]

Oh, my God.

[RA]

Dude. Just asking for a trade out of town. Before we move on, though, if you want a little bit deeper dive into World Juniors on our channel, you can go check out the last game notes with army and Merles. They had a few guests on, and they kind of give a little bit of a deeper dive into this year's tournament. Some stories from past tournaments. So a little bit more than what we're giving you, but I wanted to ask you both, considering you played and. And glad you brought up the Russians hacking darts after they won the gold off Canada.

[Whitney]

My second World Junior. Sorry, Was. It was in. Was it my first? No, it was my second because it was in Halifax and. And Cape Breton, and we played Russia first game. And it was Ovechkin. It was his. It was his. Like, I think before year plus one, before the draft, like, McKenna. And he had a hat trick and he was running people over. And that was my first ever experience seeing Ovechkin playing against him. And I found out he was 16. I'm like, what? Because he was.

[RA]

He was.

[Whitney]

He was 210, then 215, then. It was. It was unreal. But what were you gonna say?

[Drew Shore]

I was gonna say, what do you guys think about. Because I know, like, a hot topic among teens, the NHL now is like, if you had one of these young kids who was eligible to play in the tournament, so many GMs handle that differently. Whether you would let that your player go for two weeks. What do you guys think about that? If you guys were running teams?

[RA]

I think it would depend on the impact he's making with my team at the time. And if he's just kind of like. Like, where Shane Wright was at or whatever, or Lafreniere, send them. And you want him to go get that experience. You wanted to be a top dog under that much pressure and see that, how he can compete and. And the results that can only benefit him and his confidence moving forward. And. Or if he goes and shits the bed, you know, everything that you need to know. You know, at least at that point. Why are you smiling like that?

[Drew Shore]

Well, I'm just laughing because if he shits the bed in that tournament, then, like, what are you supposed to do?

[RA]

Like, you're supposed to play the American Hockey League. You say, get better.

[Trung Fan]

All right, well, then you tell the.

[RA]

Agent to shut the up if he keeps calling you at dinner.

[Whitney]

The lockout year, that's when Bergeron went, and he was playing in Providence at the time. Cause he'd played in the NHL the year prior, and that was the super team, like, the greatest team of all time in Grand Forks with Crosby and Bergeron and Fanuf. And it was like, they've walked through the entire tournament. That kind of makes sense because he's in the ahl. It's kids his age. He'd been in the NHL already. But if my guy's in the NHL and he's playing, I. I don't. I don't see the need. I don't now.

[RA]

I don't see the need. You don't see the world. Send him.

[Whitney]

I. No, I don't. If he's playing in the NHL at the time and he's playing solid, he's not obviously playing, like, if he's playing 20 minutes, 18 minutes, no chance. But even if he's like, last year, who did the Bruins send?

[RA]

G. Patra.

[Whitney]

And he hasn't been the same since he was, he should have been in the ahl.

[Drew Shore]

Yeah, because it's like what Biz said. Like, you send this top guy who thinks he should be playing in the NHL, everyone else does. Then he struggles a little bit at world Juniors. Like, that's important.

[RA]

That told you everything you needed to know that he doesn't belong there. Like, what do you mean? We're talking about somebody that's mentally weak enough to go get, oh, I didn't perform well at world Juniors. I'm never going to be the same. Like, oh, that mental was ready for the NHL and for the dog fight of NHL playoffs.

[Whitney]

You know where I think you, you know what? I think the, the best thing you could do. And I, I, I'm biased because this happened to me. I think if you have a young kid who has a good season in the NHL and your team's not getting in the playoffs. Right. Your team's on the upswing. It's going to take a couple years, I think, going to play in the AHL playoffs. If the AHL team's in that, that, that is something that can help. And when I, my rookie year in the NHL, I had 38 points in, in like 68 games. And then at the end of the season, had a chance to maybe go to worlds. And instead Pittsburgh's like, you're gonna go down to Wilkes Barre. And we won in game seven, first round. Then we lost to Hershey. But that's just more playoff hockey. And it's like that, that's something that I want my prospects.

[RA]

I was on that team, Whit.

[Whitney]

Yeah, we had a blast. We remember we beat Bridgeport at home, game seven. And then Hershey. Hershey had John Carlson. That's the first time I saw John Carlson. I was like, what the fuck is this guy?

[RA]

That was always a, an intense rivalry between Wilkes, Barrett, or at least during those days.

[Whitney]

Yeah.

[RA]

And we get into it with Avery because we'd already recorded the interview. But just about that development process, Shoresy and how, I mean, when we played in Wilkes Barre, like, outside of Crosby and Flower, who were like the one and two picks, or I think they were both number one. And then like, guys had to go season and learn how to play and win at the American League level. Like, Whit just talked about it. I feel like that's kind of like a lost art and something that, a step that these kids want to skip now.

[Trung Fan]

Yeah.

[Drew Shore]

And I mean, I think 100. Like you said, like, if I was running an organization, unless it was a Crosby or something like that, I would make every prospect kind of how the Red Wings did spend a little bit of time in the minors. Now, whether that's a month and he wins player of the month, he's got 30 points in 30 games, or until he clearly shows he's too good for that league, I think it's good for everyone. But now you see a lot of these kids get rushed to the NHL, struggle a little bit, then go down to the minors, then struggle a little bit there, and then all of a sudden, like they're kind of fucked.

[Whitney]

Yeah. And capo Kako, now we'll see what happens in Seattle. He was an example of that. We go into that with Sean Avery, his state of the Rangers. We discussed the league and we discuss a couple other things prior to the hockey discussion with Ave. So right now we're going to throw it over to him. Sean Avery. What up, guys? Before we continue, I want to talk to you about Labat Blue Light. And whether you're at a beer league game or you're just watching some hockey with your squad, you cannot find a better beer than a fresh Labat Blue Light. Lots of things are better together. Everyone knows that. Hockey, food, golf, friends. But if you really want to take things to the next level, drink some Labat Blue Lights with your buddies and live life to the power of we, I cannot stop thinking and I cannot stop feeling sorry for Sabre's mafia and how many Labat Blue Lights they've had to drink this year to try to get through this season. Thank God they have the Bills. I can't imagine the Labat Blue Lights getting poured down people's throats while they jump on tables during Bill's mafia tailgate. That's what it's all about. And Labat Blue Light brings people together through the power of we. Remember, take a page out of the Labat Blue Light book and enjoy your beers together with friends doing things you love so you can live life to the power of we find Labat blue [e-mail] finder we are now pleased to be joined once again by New York Rangers legend Sean Avery. Had him on recently with Larry Brooks, the Godfather, New York Post.

[RA]

It was just quick, though.

[Whitney]

But we had to have him back on when Biz broke a little news. So, Aves, what's going on? The Rangers had a big win on Saturday against Dallas, I believe. How you. How's the team looking now and what'd you think of the Cocko trade?

[RA]

This is a state of the union conversation, by the way, because I'm hearing Rumblings that you might take over Jury's position as GM of the New York Rangers. Now, did you meet with Dolan, yes or no?

[Trung Fan]

All right, so first of all, gentlemen, it's great to be here. I'd like to extend congratulations to Granelli and the Grinelli family. His mom, his girlfriend. Real couple of warriors there. So I hope everybody's families. Is that. There you go. That's the T shirt.

[Shane Pinto]

Love you, Avery.

[Whitney]

The besties.

[Trung Fan]

Beautiful. I hope everybody's getting ready for Hanukkah and Christmas and biz. You might. Somebody might get you a present. You know who? You never know. You never know.

[RA]

I think I might have another guy.

[Trung Fan]

No, because you don't have kids yet, so it's different. The whole gift giving thing becomes. Well, it just takes on a life of its own when you have children, right? You're. You're. You guys are probably ready.

[RA]

You're.

[Trung Fan]

You're rapping, you're in it.

[Whitney]

We ra. We wrapped. We wrapped the other night, so we did it in advance instead of, you know, it's like Christmas Eve. You're spending it. You're so busy. Get home at 10:30, the kids go to bed, then you gotta wrap till 2 in the morning. No, we're wrapped. We're right. So now I can just chill on Christmas Eve. I love it.

[RA]

You know, get your kid apes.

[Whitney]

Something's the best.

[RA]

Yeah.

[Trung Fan]

Oh, man. Nash, he gets everything. He gets everything. But he's got a new. A roller bag. You know those roller bags that you can sit on, the kids can sit on?

[Whitney]

Yep.

[Trung Fan]

They're. They're high end. He's very excited about that. So that's that. Let's get the pleasantries out of the way. I think that we should have a little bit of fun before we get into the Rangers. Talk very quickly. Obviously, I'd like to thank you guys for ending my podcast Quick Shift. I don't know if we've ever done an episode since the whole sandbagger debacle, which you guys took good teammates.

[RA]

You weren't happy with the way that we handled it.

[Trung Fan]

Well, it came out of nowhere, and I was so excited because we had so much love around it. And by the way, by the way, Darcy, Tucker, Steve Thomas, two guys, when I look back on my career and I go, oh, let's look at some fights that I had just. Just from a personal standpoint, like, those are the guys that I fought, and that makes me very happy because they're both. And fucking hard as nails, the two of them, still.

[RA]

Oh, yeah.

[Trung Fan]

They still look great.

[Whitney]

Both. Stumpy's 62.

[Trung Fan]

Unbelievable. What a guy. What a guy.

[Whitney]

He was past me. I was like, Jesus Christ.

[Trung Fan]

He originated the one timer wrist shot. He used to. He used to do this, this slingshot. He was like the guy that did it.

[Whitney]

He.

[Trung Fan]

Stumpy's awesome. Good. You know, both.

[RA]

He explained, I think on the course that he was taught that by a teammate and they used to just practice it over and over and over. Oh, I'm. I'm. I'm drawing a blank as to who. Who was the one who taught him. I want to say Terjean, Pierre Turjon, maybe. Maybe I'm crazy. They didn't even play together. But anyway, back to what he was saying.

[Trung Fan]

Yeah, there. So they were great. They were great. That was fun to watch. But, yeah, quickly, Jersey Jerry and. And my good friend Kevin Connolly. I think the whole thing. First of all, I reviewed the contract, right? And here's my summary. Jersey Jerry, Kevin's always early on guys. Bob does sports. Bob Menery. Kevin's like a visionary. He finds these guys early. But the guys that he finds, usually, you know, they're not all there. They're not the most well rounded. Early on, Jersey Jerry got hired. He had a salary. He got fired. He didn't have severance in his contract and he didn't have guaranteed money. The NHL is guaranteed money. The NFL doesn't have guaranteed money. If you work at Avis Car Rental, do you get guaranteed money? And I'm not here to debate it, but I just again, wanted to thank you guys for. I haven't done a podcast since, so that was nice.

[RA]

We. We just wanted to take it off for solidarity for a co worker. I think that what he was most frustrated about was the way that cons handled it, where he didn't call him and have a conversation about it. It was kind of like. Like it was. It was done in. In poor taste. I don't think we need to get into the weeds on it. The good news, though, is it's back up. It's getting views. People love it. Some people, of course, hate it because you're a polarizing guy. But nonetheless, we got to have a great day on the course and there's no animosity anymore.

[Trung Fan]

I. I agree. I agree. Now, one last thing, Biz we have to talk about, because, you know, I shouldn't be wearing my hat backwards if I'm, like, gunning for a GM's job right now. And I probably shouldn't talk about all of my off ice antics, but I've had numerous fights with numerous individuals at one time. Right. I had a real barn burner once in an AMC movie theater in Union Square. Seven, seven Rangers. No, I wasn't on the Rangers for that one. I just.

[RA]

Were you in transition, like the Dallas to back to New York maybe?

[Trung Fan]

No, I was done, I was done playing. But I also had a famous one. It's on tmz, I believe. Prince Street Pizza might fight with three guys in front of Prince Street Pizza. I know. And listen, you just can't back up ever. And I guess, I wonder, did you not just want to go at one? I think you go at one quickly and you really decimate one.

[RA]

So, so, so I, I, they started swinging and what the video doesn't show is I end up going out of frame inside the restaurant. And you could see a gap in time till I end up going out the door where I didn't want to get caught in there because there was nine guys in there. Like, I didn't know where the punches were coming from. Like, I, I went from ordering a salad to going over to be like, like quit harassing the manager to nine guys coming at me. Yeah, I, I, I'd finished a work call just before that. So I was not in fight mode in my brain and, and that ended up happening. So my idea was, is don't get caught. Because if I got caught and I dropped and they, and I ended up going like, you know, knockout, where you're, you're unconscious, they would have just kept boot me. So that was more of my thinking. And also, if I backed up, some of them at one point would drop off. But not a lot of them dropped off. There was always at least three, four guys. So that was my thinking and that's why I kept backpedaling. And once again, buddy, like, I, I, I haven't gotten a fist fight in a very long time. I just wanted to enjoy my salad.

[Trung Fan]

I totally understand. I would say the next time because here's what's what happens. You're in this in between spot where like, all right, I'm gonna fight, but I don't know what's going on and where it's coming from. And in the end, you end up with, with no shoes on and I don't know, maybe no shirt in a cvs. If you had just ran, if you had to just ran, if you were like, okay, I'm not in this, I'm running and I'm gone. I'm clearing the zone and I'm going to find help. That's. That's the right choice. But adrenaline, and you want it. If you stay in it, you got to go. You pick one guy, and you try and end him so badly so quickly that the rest of them are kind of like, you know, they give it the old fuck. Mike, this might not be a good idea.

[RA]

So I. I thought I'd done that inside the restaurant, but. But apparently.

[Whitney]

But that was probably the. The. The. The alleged, like, cocaine that they're on.

[Trung Fan]

You know, so then you got to realize who's. Who's the demon you're fighting. How hard do you got to go.

[RA]

That I ended up knocking out, who sprinted at me past everyone. He had to have had at least a couple ketoaks before he went to Houston's. Like, his wires were fully crossed. He was foaming at the mouth. But I don't think. I think that people maybe are a little bit, like, tired of hearing it. But the good news is, is tomorrow. We're recording this on Sunday. Right now. It's an early Monday drop. I'm going to a Kav McGraw class tomorrow. I also plan on flying out to go see you. And we're. Is like the Israeli soldiers practice Kav McGraw. So six on one. Like, they practice exercises would be like the situation I was in. You have been doing a lot of Jiu Jitsu, and I. I am going to fly out there for another Road warriors video, and I'm going to train with you in Jiu Jitsu. I'm also going to go see Bugsy Malone. I'm going to start doing a little tour to go learn how to better defend myself and get back in better fighting shape after my. My, My. My career has ended because I'm. I'm. I'm not as good as I once was, Sean. And I know that you are still in the mix, very much so, with the Jiu Jitsu.

[Trung Fan]

Well, and by the way, I wasn't. And that's the smartest. I'm so happy that you're going to do that. And Max Talbot. Max Talbot. Max is rolling. It's a total game changer. But again, you know these situations. We got a wild world we're living in right now and being able to defend yourself a little bit. Like, I would say, wit, you should do it. But wit, I don't think you, you know, you don't want to do it right.

[RA]

Just keep the seminar in your hands.

[Whitney]

I actually do. I want my son to get into it. And the best way to do that is you do something, your kid falls because he's not like, he needs some confidence, my older guy. And it's just about knowing that you can handle yourself and like the self discipline that we were talking about at the sandbagger in like mental, mental toughness that you gain from it. And so, yeah, I probably like, won't, but I would like to.

[Trung Fan]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay.

[Biz]

All right.

[Shane Pinto]

All right.

[RA]

And before we go on to the hockey stuff, what is the, the, the best stuff from Jiu Jitsu that it's taught you and why you continue to do it and even compete? Like, I think that you're at tournaments now, aren't you?

[Trung Fan]

Yeah, I did a tournament a couple weeks ago. I did the Orange County Open ibjjf, which is the Brazilian federation. It's like the official one. And again I got some poor bastard who's a carpenter from Simi Valley and we had a great fight and I beat him fairly quickly. But it's not about that. It's about the competition and the fact that I was nervous because I don't know who this guy is. This guy could be a killer. I know some electricians in the valley that got 818 tattooed on their neck and their black belts and you would think that you would roll them over in a 7:11. These guys are killers. So the thing that it's given me a reality of like one. You never know. Okay? You never know. And never knowing is, is, is a situation that you should probably not venture in when you don't know something, right? Like take your time on situations. So the impulsiveness is, is. It's an incredible tool. And like Whit said, for kids, you know, Jiu Jitsu is a new Sport. So it's 20 years in America. Basically. Kids that have been taking it for 10 years now that are like 13, 14, there's 13, 14 year old American kids that are walking around that are going to turn 16, get their blue belt, that are total assassins. Like, not like wrestlers, wrestlers. We always knew the wrestlers, right? Wrestlers are going to get double legged and you're going to get slammed on the ground, but after that they're in trouble. And that's what I was saying about the fight. Like, you know, you could have fought that, that whole thing on your back. You really could have. And take, took, took, took a guy's ankle home with you. So it's an incredible sport. It's new in America. It's growing fast, much like golf, I think. And for kids it's the best thing. I can't wait to get you on the Map, because you'll immediately.

[RA]

I can't wait to.

[Trung Fan]

You'll realize. You'll be like, oh my God, I'm so defenseless because it's all levers, it's all weight distribution.

[RA]

I cannot wait till my trip, man. And I appreciate you sharing your passion for it and it makes me more interested to get more into it. So I'm starting with the Kav McGraw and I'll see you soon, buddy. And we're going to be trained assassins before we know it. Maybe the Rangers will come calling because Rempe keeps getting ejected from games. They're gonna need some toughness in the lineup. Maybe we could be the, the reinvention of the Bash Brothers here.

[Trung Fan]

Yeah, well, listen, you'll get your fast twitch muscle fibers back. That's a, that's a great thing. Let's talk about Rempe because, you know Brooks, he said something to me. I talked to him a couple days ago. He said when he went into camp this year and talked to Rempe, Rempe was saying things to him like, like, you know, I want to be a great fourth line center in this league. Which it's an extremely commendable thing for a guy to say, like, great, because you can't win a Stanley cup without great fourth line centers. So that immediately told me, like. Cause I got a little bit bothered by the, the hoopla of him with Laroque and the whole fighting thing. And, and I, I just wondered where was the team? Where was the core team? I know he worked out with Kreider towards the end of the summer. Repi took. Wow. I mean, he's going to get five games. Do you not think?

[Whitney]

Yeah, he's got in person hearing. So minimum. I guess.

[Trung Fan]

So it's a minimum of five. It could, it could be eight. I mean, it was a terrible fucking hit. Here's what I say about that. And this is. I'm going to be all over the place on this a little bit. But. But Mike Pekka, one of the greatest defensive forwards ever in NHL history, was a savage when he played. Mean, mean, mean. Timed hits beautifully. Was like undersized guy, 185 pounds. He was a wrecking ball. What, what I don't understand with Rempe, it. This is a timing thing. The kid's not the, the greatest skater in the world. He's always one or two strides behind. We know that. We understand that every single day they should be working on his angles and his, and his timing on hits so that, that quickly can become even more effective. Because he got in on the forecheck early in that game a couple of times. And those hits probably were charging penalties. The way that he ends up hitting guys and finishing guys from the back a little bit, I don't know why Mike Pekka hasn't taken that on and said, at the end of practice, all we do is I chip pucks in and you gotta try and smoke me. Honestly, you gotta try and find angles and you gotta get this timing right. I loved when a defenseman was 4, 4 to 6ft off the boards on a forecheck is like my money zone. My money zone. I don't even want it to get to the boards because then the boards, I gotta hit you. I gotta hit the boards. It's all timing with this kid, but he does something special for this team. There is no question about it. He almost hurt them. But he didn't. But he didn't. And there's going to be nights when you have guys like this on your team where, you know the scales of justice, they're not going to be even. He's going to draw penalty minutes. He's going to also put the defenseman on their heels.

[RA]

Yeah, they're going to be looking over their shoulder all night. And I, And I agree with you. I think that the skating element, when he gets going, he has a long, powerful stride. But the angling portion that you're talking about, it's a skill self in its set. It's a skill set in itself. Excuse me. Whereas not every time does a hit even need to be applied. It's more about applying the pressure in the right area and how quickly you can do it. Do you remember when, like, the. We would line up at center ice, half the guys on each side, and then the coach would throw a puck one way and then you had to tag up at the blue and then find that angle. You're saying he should be doing more drills like that in order to learn what a majority of what his skill set should end up?

[Whitney]

Well, it's about creating turnovers. Like, that's the purpose of hitting, right? Like creating a turnover. It's. Oh, there's some intimidation involved, but it's more like, let's get the puck back. Whereas I think he's just like, I want to murder this guy.

[Trung Fan]

Yeah, yeah. Well. But also that comes with the coach. Not really. You know, going into a lineup and knowing that your coach is nervous about putting you out on the ice is not fun.

[RA]

Brutal.

[Trung Fan]

It's the worst thing in the world. Okay. And it gives Me the feeling that, that the coach of the Rangers, Laviolette, doesn't sit down with the kid before the game. Heart to heart, like, like feel him and go, listen, you're gonna. I'm gonna play you. You, I'm going to fucking play you. I need you to be responsible. And if you get a bad one, I'm going to give you another chance. You're not going to get many of these, but just giving him that reassurance when he goes in so that he doesn't have to on his first shift, think, holy fuck, I got to make a play right now, otherwise my night's over and you can't play. Guys, three, four minutes a night. You have to have lines and be able to turn them over. You got it?

[Whitney]

Teams do, they do.

[Trung Fan]

Look at Tampa like I. And I don't know if you guys have been watching. I'm sure you guys have been watching.

[RA]

Well, you love Cooch so it draws you to watch a lot of Lightning games. And we're going to get to the Pointer because you dissect a lot of what's going on for the Rangers. So go over to Tampa and then we're going to bring it back to the Pointer. And what you see from New York.

[Trung Fan]

Well, what I see from Tampa is that they've retooled their fourth line to live inside of the DNA of their team, which is we get fucking hungry on pucks, we cause turnovers, we turn pucks around quickly, and we are not afraid to dump pucks in. We are not afraid to dump pucks in. And when I look at the Rangers and I go, okay, I just don't understand what line is playing, what angle. Like, where's the identity on this team? I know that Mika. Well, let's stick with Panarin right now because Mika is a major issue. Mika is a major, major issue. And this is, this isn't a situation of like, is he Steve Iserman, can he win? Type thing. And maybe that's the Panarin situation. And I'm not ready to say that he can't win. But like, Mika is giving me major doubts about whether you can put a portion of the team on his back. It's really disappointing at this point for the kid's size and his skill. Where's his compete? That comes back to again, the coaching, the coaching. When I think of. And here I'll jump ahead a little bit. Chris Jury had the first closed door meeting or the first team meeting. How great is the movie Moneyball?

[Whitney]

Unreal. Billy Bean.

[Trung Fan]

Okay. Not only was he dealing with his stuff in the office and changing the game and how they scouted every single and the movie's glamorized a little bit, but it makes me believe this is who he was as a GM in the room. Touching guys, touching guys walking around. He's in the batting cages, he's touching guys. Your GM is supposed to be an asset. Chris Curry played the game, was an unbelievable fucking player. Stanley cup winner, big time goal scorer, big time player. Okay? Use that asset. I, I don't know why you're hiding from the guy.

[RA]

Right? Because those guys have respect for you as opposed to like some analytic guy. It's like they'd be like, ah, fuck off. So they almost like instantly have that type of camaraderie where they can see eye to eye.

[Trung Fan]

Well, they should, I mean, they should, you know, they watch the game, they know, they should know. I mean, Cry's knows Drew's history, all those guys, you know, he's the gm, he was the captain of the team. You know, watch any documentary with Detroit and how important Jury was with Colorado, but I want him like, I, I want these guys in the room more.

[RA]

So that's okay. So let's stick with that. Then we're going to go back to Zabettajad and more the individuals. So you maybe you've disagreed with the way that Jury has basically handled everything. Do you agree that he mishandled the Truba thing in the summertime and then everything throughout the course of this, or do you agree with the way that he, he handled the true but thing?

[Trung Fan]

Well, let's not forget like Drew got run out of New York as a player. So he's been there and he got run out of New York because I think his no trade, his limited no trade put him in a box. And at a certain point in time there were no more takers and they kind of just had to unload them. So that's the business aspect of it. And Truba has to understand if you play a card at a certain point, you got to be able to back that thing up because there's, there's rules to this. You send a guy down, that's totally legal. You can call that bluff. You, you know, remember the, the guys we played with in the American League that were making 5, 6 million bucks 15 years ago? There was guys, you know, it, I, I was one of them at a certain point. So. But yes. Did Drew handle that properly? I mean, no, because why not just be straight up about it and say in the Summer, like, listen, we thought at this moment it was best to Chip, to move Jacob. He doesn't want to move. We hope, I hope that that's a statement to me in this organization that he's going to come back and he's going to be one of the best players on our team. There's an angle on all of these things. You have to be touching these guys and challenging these guys at every angle. So did Truba do something to the room? Well, who knows? Capo Kako should have never been drafted in the first place. So if you want to really rip the DNA of, of like where this organization has been built and who your depth guys are, that, then we can go there also. He. He has flashes. He has moments. But Capo, Kako, Roslovic, I just watched Roslovic score the game winner against New York today.

[Whitney]

He has like 15 goals, doesn't he?

[Trung Fan]

Maybe. And maybe that's a better system for him. But for the Rangers to win the cup last year, he was not the guy to get at the deadline.

[Whitney]

Yep.

[Trung Fan]

No way.

[Whitney]

But on the, on the other side of all that, the way you played the game, don't you think there's something to be said about, like, you're the reports the room's fractured. The room isn't happy about Goodreau and Truba and this and how it was handled, but it's like, go out and fucking play. Like, guys like you could be unhappy, but enough's enough. Like, you gotta, you gotta. You're getting paid all this money. I hate to sound like one of those people, but, like, the room's fractured. Like, fucking figure it out in my mind.

[Trung Fan]

Yeah. But again, I'll come back to the coaching aspect of that is like, you. You are what you are. You are what you have. This is your team right now and you gotta get those guys. It's not that hard to get a team fired up to play in MSG every night. And when I look behind the bench and I see La Violette and Phil Housley and Mike Peckup and there's not like a fucking organism of strength behind them. They're not touching the players after every shift. Get off the iPads. Get off those fucking iPads and let's talk it out. You saw what I saw, so that's an issue. To me, that's an issue. But also the depth of this organization right now. And I'm obsessed, you guys. This Easton Cowan kid, holy fuck. I watch all his highlights, you know.

[Whitney]

Seeing what he's done in these pre tournament Games, too, for Canada. It's. It's insane how good he doesn't look.

[Trung Fan]

Stop moving his feet. He does not stop moving his feet. And that's what you need. And you also have to have structure in how you're coaching your team. So what's going to happen in New York? How long are we going to let this go on for? As a fan, I'm, I'm saying this as a fan. And when I texted biz, I don't know, last week, I. I'm going to New York. I'm going to see Fish. I'm making the pilgrimage to. To dance with the Wookies. It's a, It's a thing that makes me happy. I do it. I fucking treat myself every once in a while, you know, Was it an impulsive thing? Did I have a meeting set up with the owner? No, but I usually, you know, he's around. He's very easy.

[RA]

Is he. Is he watching your Instagram clips where you're pointing out flaws in the team?

[Trung Fan]

Absolutely.

[RA]

That's what I'm saying. Because he's probably saying, this guy's watching. And you're pointing out issues that you have. You talked about stop moving your feet. You've been very hard recently on Kreider. Now, we could talk about him and Zabenajad because you talked about the identity of the team where these are guys who are getting a lot of ice time. Agreed with you on the afraid to dump it in and go for check and get it. That was my issue with the Buffalo Sabers. They've been struggling and they can't win a fucking game. They haven't won one since crisis. A Cowboy. And the other night we had them against the Rangers who were struggling. I counted one fucking hit in the first period.

[Trung Fan]

Yeah.

[RA]

So they're not playing physical. They're not dumping the puck in. And then those leaders are not setting examples in that department.

[Trung Fan]

Well, and I was thinking about this also, like, I played against Kevin Adams. We played against him.

[Biz]

He played hard.

[Trung Fan]

Okay? He played hard. He always showed up. He wasn't a fucking game breaker. Kevin Adams was not a game breaker. Okay? So I don't know how Kevin Adams becomes the general manager of a team that has lost 12 games in a row in the NHL. Are you kidding me?

[Whitney]

He has three coaches under him who've had 10 or more game losing streaks. Like, it's like crazy, crazy shit.

[Trung Fan]

So Mr. Pula, he owns the team in Buffalo, very successful guy. How do you keep making the same mistakes? And these guys that you Find to run these teams are like, I mean, you. Come on. I didn't know that stat with that is disgusting.

[Whitney]

It's crazy.

[RA]

I thought it was four, but. But nevermind. Three. Yeah, still ridiculous.

[Trung Fan]

So, you know, like we said it last year and I tried to jump on the bandwagon last year and thought I knew that they couldn't get over the hump. I mean, we're not even talking about their goalie, how good their goalie is the Rangers, and how many games they. That that guy bails them out, which is fine. He gets an allotted amount of money per the cap, his percentage of responsibility is higher than others and he pulls his weight. But then coming back to Mika and cry like, we're running a business here, guys. We are running a business here. Not only a business, we're in the business of winning. That's what we should be. And I can't have you guys taking nights off, weeks off. I can't. I just can't rely on you. I can't build a team like Sebastian Ajo. He has a bad week. I know it's not going to last that long. He's going to find Seth Jarvis. You know, I need some of these fucking core guys. Ryan McDonough. Ryan McDonough, who the Rangers gave up on. And maybe it was the time at a certain point, but I would have found a way to get him again. And even the Brady Tkachuk stuff, you gotta find a player to build around. You gotta find. And Lafreniere is being sucked into this.

[RA]

See now, but that, yeah, that's. I don't think that's naturally him. He's. He's like, kind of like a. Like a Phil Kessel. He's a piece. And then you're. You're gonna go talk about Panarin a little bit. Like, I think he's one of the most skillful players in the world. I, I think he's all time. But you're essentially saying that he's not that piece to build around. He's not that guy. Where you're gonna say, I'm gonna follow that guy outside the locker room. Like Matthew, like Brady, like Nathan McKinnon, like Kale McCarr, like Sidney Crosby. Like, that's a different beast, that's a different dog. And you're saying that they don't have that. And they might have. Like, they might have had a little bit with Truba in the sense that at least he was a fucking killer.

[Trung Fan]

Well, and, and by the way, Crydes could do a lot of that, because we're not asking a lot from him. We're just asking him to have a heartbeat and be alive and show that, you know, you bleed blue and you've played for this team for a long time. This is your home, and you don't want it to go down this way.

[Whitney]

He weighs 230 pounds. You know, he can. He can fucking smash people with his speed.

[Trung Fan]

Yeah. And, and, and then I think about this as a fan, this is from a fan standpoint. And, and if I had the opportunity to tell Mr. Dolan in a. In a calm atmosphere where it was like fun and jokes, like at a.

[RA]

Fish concert on shrooms.

[Trung Fan]

Well, he. He's a big jam band guy. You know, JD in the sure Shot. His. His band that he has is a jam band. I, I would say what's going to happen? Drew's going to fire the coach. He's going to go hire Jay Pandolfo, who, I don't know Pando, but I'm sure he's a great guy. But Pando's not the next coach in the New York Rangers. Let's not repeat this and go, okay, then we got to get the Tortorella guy and then we find the young guy, the jock, the Quinn guy, and we're going to develop. Develop what? What did he develop? He almost buried. He almost buried. La Fourniere. Kid's an unbelievable. A superstar, in my opinion. He almost buried him. Cocko and Heidel, where was their development? This team is in a bad spot as an org chart. This team is not in a good spot as an org chart. I'm not talking about right now, today.

[RA]

Would it be safe to say that they're fugazes?

[Trung Fan]

I've heard you use this term. You know, that seems like a heavy handed. That's a big one to drop that on them. It is, right? It's a little early. It's a little early.

[Whitney]

Okay, what do you do. What do you do with Keandre?

[Trung Fan]

Oh, geez. I.

[Whitney]

Okay. But I've said like, fuck, that's a guy you trade. And he ends up figuring it out. It's like six, four skates. But is it. Enough is enough. And like we were willing to make that risk at this point because I don't know.

[RA]

Yeah, I don't know if you were on too. And Larry Brooks's theory was, is that he got involved in hockey very late. Like, I think he started playing when he was like 11 or 12. And maybe he lacks some hockey instincts that like, maybe people who played Their entire life would have like. Do you believe that? Do you think that's true? What do you think is wrong with him?

[Trung Fan]

Well, first of all, he's a big kid. He skates well. The kid in LA who's the first rounder in Lant Clark. No, the kid that's starting to play. Play well, they've, they've stuck with them.

[RA]

For, oh, Quentin Anderson.

[Trung Fan]

Byfield, the forward, I mean, he scored a couple of goals in the last couple of weeks and made some plays like. Holy. That doesn't happen that often where a guy comes and finds it. Even the Dubois kid. Maybe it'll work out, but it. But Byfield seems different as far as K. Andre. You got to move him now, okay? You got to move him now while he has trade value. It's not going to work out. He's not a big market guy. He's not. He doesn't have the demeanor of Ryan McDonough because Ryan McDonough, when you put him in a war zone, he turns into a real fucking warrior quick.

[Whitney]

He's coming out of the corner with a puck. And I don't think Keandre Miller is, at least right now in his career.

[Trung Fan]

Yeah, so. So if you're running the team, if you're managing that org chart and you're also trying to stay in it, you move him now. You get, you move that early. You got to move early. Before and Drew did a great job with Cocco getting a third and a six. I mean, that is a steal for that kid, an absolute steal. And again, I get upset about other things like who's at the World Juniors right now trying to find the next Brandon Prosthetics or Sean Avery or Easton Cowan, although Cowan's turning into a whole different level of a player. Not just like a, a water bug. He's like a game breaker. A game breaker. Who's at, who's at that tournament right now? Who is watching? Who is trying to find the next player that can come in and play, like right now. And I don't see that. And it's very upsetting. And the team is so fragile. It's so fragile. I mean, you don't have. You've got Remy just sitting around. Totally mismanaged. Our fourth line is nondescript. I mean, you got Enstrom and Sam Carrick. Do you think any team. Do you think the Florida Panthers go, oh, boys, watch out for that fourth line out there tonight. They're really going to lean on you.

[Whitney]

Is it Edstrom, like six, eight? Dude.

[RA]

Yeah. You know what's? Funny is, is I was, we were texting Today about the J.T. miller Pedersen situation, and I felt that there's a few teams who could really use J.T. i feel like New York could use a bulldog like that. And you think that something maybe like Keandre Miller and somebody else and a high draft pick could, could maybe get him back and then all of a sudden you, you like. I think that Trocheck is probably a guy that you can rely on. Like, that's a foxhole guy, in my opinion, that you can win with with. So with him and JT at center ice, that's a pretty good one two punch. Just right there.

[Trung Fan]

Yeah. I mean, listen, Trocheck, I like his game. I think he's a little small and doesn't skate well enough to like he's, yeah, be a superstar in the playoffs. But he's going to score you big goals and he's going to kill penalties and he's, he's great. He doesn't make too much money. J.T. miller made an impression in New York City. Let's not forget that. He had had some major moments and, and scored big goals for that team already. The fans, whatever happened, I don't know if that was a Quinn thing or there was something happened with J.T. miller in New York, but it wasn't really, it wasn't off ice. Shit, he's a superstar. J.T. miller's a big player. Reminds me of Rod Brindamore, but like a little bit different. I, I, I don't know. He's got something about like maybe faster, faster kind of. He got a little of those Primo Brothers and I don't know, there's something. I love them and yes, that would be. But sweeten the pot and don't wait too long. Like it's the perfect situation. You've got an opportunity. It's a West coast team. You don't have that boundary. Make the move. Give them. I would give them Heidel and I would give them K, Andre Miller and I mean, listen, who else can you just throw in at this point? But aren't those two enough? Why do I even need to move a pick? I'll move guys that are playing for. I'll move Mika. You want to go straight up? One for one? Let's go.

[RA]

I don't think they're doing that unless they get into your, your, your pregame mix before the Fish concert. One, one last guy we haven't talked about and it kind of goes with the theme. Do you believe in An Adam Fox. Do you think that's a piece that you can build on?

[Trung Fan]

Listen, I love foxy. I get upset that they don't embrace foxy and the Jewish community. Like, I. I would love to see, like, a Hasidic section at msg.

[Whitney]

Yarmulkes and stuff.

[Trung Fan]

Yes. Dancing. And you should see the Brooklyn churches. The Jews go hard there. Like the dancing. I. But whatever. That's just from a marketing standpoint, I guess, if I was the gm, what.

[RA]

Do they call it when. When they chop off the foreskin.

[Trung Fan]

Wow, that's a chutzpah.

[RA]

They could do like a fox chopping. Like, they could do like a special. Like, they show up, they do it. They get like a Rangers jersey.

[Trung Fan]

No, I don't know what the official term is. I was. Oh, it's a breed.

[RA]

It's a. Oh, it's a breed.

[Trung Fan]

I was at one recently. Yes, yes. Shout out, David.

[RA]

And they do it with like a.

[Trung Fan]

Skate blade right there. Baby cries. You hear it all. It's really. It's not. It's uncomfortable.

[Whitney]

Our middle and youngest was right. Right in the kitchen.

[Trung Fan]

Really?

[Whitney]

Yeah. Calamari right around the right on the kitchen island.

[RA]

We're gonna have a nice little dish of placenta and calamari tonight.

[Trung Fan]

I. But a circumcision is a blessing for everyone. Everyone. Right.

[RA]

I mean, I got a covered wagon. But back to foxy. I know apes. I. I mean, it wasn't my decision. I was, you know, my parents. You blame my father. So. So you like Foxy. They need to embrace him more. And. And playing wise, you like his game and do you think he should get.

[Trung Fan]

The C. Well, listen, yeah. I mean, he's not Brian Leach. Okay. But I'll tell you a very interesting demeanor similar to a Brian Leach. And if you built a team around him with like Jeff Buka Booms and Kevin Lowe's and guys that are fucking reliable and can handle minutes. Lindgren has just played himself to death. He's shot. All right, then Adam Fox is the star that he is. But he's getting killed. He's tired, he's exhausted. He gets run. He plays too many minutes every single night. And, you know, he's also disenchanted probably. He's probably not feeling too hot about his own game right now. So you gotta immediately build and protect him. He's your quarterback. He is your quarterback. That's where it all starts. When he's playing and he's making moves, they're a different team. But he's too susceptible to everything. Right now, you know, and Rempe on a nightly basis also gives Adam Fox time to breathe because now you have. You just have the ability to match whatever's thrown.

[Shane Pinto]

So if.

[Trung Fan]

If you want to play a hard game on Foxy tonight, Remy might play a couple of shifts with Panera. You gotta juggle that. You have to fucking understand that that's the game you're playing. I don't see it.

[RA]

Would you fire Laviolette or would you keep them?

[Trung Fan]

I'd fire him to today.

[RA]

Yeah. Wow.

[Trung Fan]

Absolutely. Yeah. You have to. You have to, guys.

[Whitney]

It's been too much.

[Trung Fan]

Yeah.

[Whitney]

Too bad.

[Trung Fan]

Come on.

[Whitney]

I saw a thing. I saw a thing. They're 25% chance to make the playoffs right now.

[Trung Fan]

I mean, in a big market like that. Eastern Conference finals last year were that close. Like, I mean, it starts. Unfortunately, that's part of it. Yeah. The coach goes first, but, you know, that's where I get nervous. The coach goes, then, then, then who goes, then, then who do you bring in?

[RA]

Like Sean Avery.

[Trung Fan]

Yeah, well. And by the way, I don't want to drop.

[RA]

I'd love to see you in the room with that fucking pointer. Hey, hey. He's a better. Jad, you're here. Move to the corner and get here.

[Trung Fan]

You know what's so funny? You guys know this. I look at assistant coaches. They're so exhausted. They're so tired. My buddy Rich Clune, he. He's in Anaheim. I haven't asked him about this. I'm sure they're at the rink all day long.

[Whitney]

Oh, video, Video.

[Trung Fan]

Why do we need to be there? Give me the pointer stick. Guys, you want to break down the tape today? Let's do it before practice. We'll break it down. It's so easy. We'll take 35 minutes. We'll break it down with the pointer stick. You guys can get up and use the pointer stick. This can be a full fucking conversation. Interactive. You don't have to sit here and try and stay awake watching mistakes.

[Shane Pinto]

But.

[Trung Fan]

But the assistant coaches are exhausted, and that's why I look at Pekka and I go, this guy's so tired. He's. He's too tired by the time the game starts. To even get these guys fired up, it. The whole fucking system is broken. And the iPads on the bench. Guys, you know the game. What do you. What do you want to see? You want to watch your release point on that one? Like, I. I need you in the game, fellas. Get rid of these iPads.

[RA]

I think it's ridiculous. I think, like, maybe once in a while, like to show, hey, this is what I'm talking about. If he can't understand it when communicating. But, like, I mean, some of the old school guys, like, torts. They're breaking them over their knee.

[Whitney]

Eight games.

[RA]

Oh, very reasonable. I think that. Yeah. I mean, what's your reaction to that? But I think it's also okay to move on, like, past the Ranger stuff. Wait, did you have anything more on the Rangers?

[Trung Fan]

Well, Rempe gets eight games. Fuck me. I mean, yeah, it's.

[Whitney]

How much money is this kid lost? How many suspensions has he had?

[Trung Fan]

It's an eight game hit. I gotta tell you.

[Whitney]

It was an eight game.

[RA]

It was on a superstar, too.

[Whitney]

Yeah, one of the best defensemen in the league.

[RA]

So they're like, enough of this.

[Whitney]

Double it.

[RA]

Enough.

[Trung Fan]

Yes. So.

[RA]

So it comes with an angling class, though. That's the good news.

[Trung Fan]

Well, they sent me to rehab for man anger management, so you can add any addendum to any suspension you want. That's been proven right. Don't. Don't forget that. So they should have. Gary should have said okay. And one mandatory angling class. Is Colin Campbell still there?

[RA]

I have no. I. I think he's.

[Whitney]

He's still in the mix.

[RA]

Yeah, he's still in the mix.

[Biz]

And did they.

[Trung Fan]

Did they make Remy actually go to the NHL office for that decision? Like, what was the in person hearing about?

[RA]

Well, I mean, he's in New York. He could have just went and grabbed a coffee and went over. It's a. You have to fly in.

[Shane Pinto]

Right, but what do you think they.

[Trung Fan]

Spoke about when they got there? Did they ask?

[Whitney]

They were probably like, hey, dude, what. What is wrong with you? Like, you've played 22 games. You've been kicked out in 25% of them.

[Trung Fan]

Oh, boy. They can't. His name at the Garden.

[RA]

I mean, I think they got to. Yeah, I think they got to sign him up for, like, UFC or something to get his anger out.

[Whitney]

Throat.

[Trung Fan]

He doesn't even seem like an angry. No, he needs an angling class at the end of practice. That's what he needs. We're gonna dump these pucks in and you try and hit me as hard as you can until you can figure this out. Like, it's. It's a mathematical equation. It's what we've been doing since we were kids. Our eyes work differently. We can just. We can just sense it. I killed Katra Coletta. It's my favorite hit in NHL history. I. I killed him. I. I killed him.

[Whitney]

Great guy to kill, really. Oh, he just.

[RA]

Well, just. He was. He was a rat on the ice, you know, Respected his effort. He was perfect for Buffalo. Yeah, he was. He got a couple sussies. Moving away from hockey. Were you in the Happy Gilmore 2 movie? Do you have a cameo in that?

[Trung Fan]

I was in Happy Gilmore. I am in Happy Gilmore. And what a wonderful Week. Chris Chelios is also in it.

[RA]

Nice.

[Whitney]

Where'd they film at Aves.

[Trung Fan]

We're in New Jersey. Like bed. Mr. You know, kind of rural Jersey. It was very nice. Sandler's. What a mensch. What a mensch. That movie's gonna be very funny. No wokeness. The wokeness is gone. They're firing. They're firing on all cylinders and everything. And I think it's going to be like Netflix's big summer movie. But they had a bar on set. Yeah, I mean, it's Happy Gilmore, too. He's just like. Sandler's the King. You saw it. He was. He was shooting. You know, he'd shoot in the morning, going to New York City and play pickup in the afternoon. But let me tell you this. This is great. So I got to spend five uninterrupted days with Chelly in the city and working. And the city days were really special because Chelli is a machine. He's a warrior. He still looks incredible, but his knees shot, okay, so this is how he manages it. He says, I feel great. We're going to have a great day. We're going to traverse New York City. But we have to go to the Russian bathhouse downtown in the morning because he's got to get in the cold pulp plunge to essentially freeze his knee for four to five hours so that we can walk around. And then, like, two in the afternoon. I can see he's starting to slow down. I said, shelly, listen, you know, a side note, you should get your knee done. He says, no, my knee's fine. We just gotta go to the. We gotta go back to the bass. So we would go back to the bass, he would refreeze his leg and his knee, and he'd be good for another four to six hours. So that's not a way to live, right, guys? You understand that?

[Whitney]

You got to get the replacement.

[Trung Fan]

Well, he should, but he. Who knows? Who knows? We had an unbelievable time. The movie's gonna be great. I was back in New York.

[RA]

I.

[Trung Fan]

There's just an energy. I gotta get back to New York, you know what I mean?

[RA]

Really? Because, I mean, it was. It got Pretty gross there over Covid. And, like, I still don't really enjoy all the people in some of the areas where I'm just like, oh, like, it's still gross. I'd rather just. Yeah. Oh, you just.

[Trung Fan]

You, You.

[RA]

You missed that New York energy. You're kind of sick of la. What are the people like in la? Kind of not vibing with them?

[Trung Fan]

No, I love everyone. I. I'm in Laurel Canyon. I lived here when I played for the Kings. You know, a lot of Biden Harris stickers. Biden Harris walls. A lot of walls, stickers. But, you know, everyone's. You don't see anyone. You're in your cars all the time. People don't leave their houses. I. I'm talking about when I talk about New York. And, like, I would love for Drew to just give me some special assistant to him job and let me go out on the road and watch games. I want to traverse the American League and find the next me, okay? I want to find dogs that can play on your bottom six and outplay any bottom six in the league. That's because until you have that, you cannot fucking win. You are not going to win.

[RA]

Go find a couple.

[Whitney]

It's on those guys, too. It is seeing them in person. Because when you watch film, it's like, you don't see, like, after the whistle or skating by the bench or all like, the things that you're like, oh, if I'm in the building, I see a totally different side of that guy. And I could see you just. Just watching after the whiskey.

[RA]

You're gonna go. You're gonna go on the road and go to these barns and. And like, what are they gonna have to pay you to do it?

[Trung Fan]

I mean, more than the average scout, that's for sure. More than the average bear.

[RA]

Yeah.

[Trung Fan]

Yes, of course. But, yeah, that's easy. And I don't need to rip. Rip the. The repetition. I see a kid play once. That's all I need to. I just need to see a kid play once. Okay? World Juniors, all these special tournaments, you got to find dogs. I was also thinking about who would my assistant coach hires be? Right? I was thinking about some wild. Where's Zenington upkeep these days?

[RA]

Zening Canopka is coaching in the Niagara region, I believe. I love Zena Canopka. We were going to get him on the pod. We will at some point. He was a. Interesting, you know. You know the old rule, like, back.

[Trung Fan]

Look how excited Biz is. Wit. He loves this.

[Whitney]

He loves Zen and Konovka.

[RA]

But we, we used to have to play. He was in Syracuse. He was the captain of the Syracuse Crunch. We were playing for Wil all those years. And there used to be a rule in, like the 80s and early 90s where if you're playing a tough team, you would never want to be up by more than two goals. That still existed in the 2000s. Playing against the Syracuse Crunch because they had Kopka, they had Derek Dorset, they had John Stadts, they had all these guys. Rome was there, who was a tough guy who ended up going, playing Vancouver, who ended up drilling. I think it was Nathan Horton in the finals.

[Trung Fan]

Yep.

[RA]

They would. If you would get up by more than two, they would beat the. Out of you. If your, if your goalie froze the puck, they would spear him right in the wrist and then they would be ready to drop the gloves if you wanted to say anything about it. So going back to your point, like, like, yeah, like you're, you're saying those types of guys to what, to be your assistants who are savages.

[Trung Fan]

Yeah. I mean, guys that, like, come to the rink every single day and there's no challenge that's too big to win. Like guys that, that, that climb that mountain but still have that dog in them and, and that rubs off on your team. You know what I mean? If your team, if your fucking coaching staff is fearless and they're with you in this fight and you. And they trust you and you trust them, then it just changes everything. It just changes. And part of the reason that teams don't have that is because the responsibilities that they put on these assistant coaches with all this video. You know what I mean? And, and, and so, yeah, I think about that name. I was thinking about all kinds of names.

[RA]

Mike Stuthers is an old coach of mine who, he dealt with some cancer stuff, but he was, was. He was a head coach of mine, not only in the American League, but in junior.

[Trung Fan]

Oh, I'm down guy.

[RA]

What's Owen sound? Oh, yeah, you played for the attack as well. Yeah. And he. I mean, buddy. No, still a great guy, man to man, but like, yeah, like, he would instill fear in you if you were playing, like the way that some of these guys you're talking about are playing, he'd be like, he'd be no nonsense. Where. I don't know if you had anything else.

[Whitney]

My final question. Oh, yeah, this is awesome. Whenever you come on. Final question. Right now, we're about, I don't know, 40. 40% through the season, 45. Who's your cup pick?

[RA]

Yeah. Who you like?

[Whitney]

Cause I think the Oilers are still going to get it done. But I don't know if you are in complete disagreement or you got another team.

[Trung Fan]

I don't know if I'm blinded by bias, but let me tell you something, guys. Why is the Tampa Bay Lightning, why do they get me so excited like Brandon Hagel turning into not only a, a hell of a fucking trade, right, but an NHL superstar?

[Whitney]

He's a pace, right?

[Trung Fan]

He, he got chosen for the, for the Cup. What's it called?

[RA]

The Four Nations.

[Trung Fan]

Four Nations Cup. Like they've got guys. Paul's a second half player. Okay. I think that Vassi knows he's got one or two left. I think Headman knows he's got one real fucking bomb left to really throw out there where he's like the best, could win a Vesna again. They've retooled some of these kids on defense that they got. And how about the, how about the geeky kid? This geeky kid is turning. Every week he gets so much better. Every week he gets so much better. That's the progression you want to see happen from your young guys. Like, we don't have time to wait for this shit. You're either in or you're in the way, guys, we'll give you a little bit geeky. Now all of a sudden, he's found a home. That team is the real deal. Coming out of the East, I, I don't, I don't watch the west enough. But, but it seems wide open.

[RA]

My understanding too is given the, the, like, the no move clause stuff is that J.T. miller has said that he'd be willing to waive it to go there.

[Whitney]

Well, back to Tampa, that's.

[RA]

Listen, Pasha, was it you told me that or somebody else did. I thought, I want to say, I remember hearing. Well, he played there, he played there, right? So he played there and New York, and they're both, you know, big, the big markets, at least in the sense of like, can make a run for it. So that's what the, the two that made sense. The other one I threw out there was Pittsburgh because you said, like, they don't got time to wait. Same with Pittsburgh. They need a fucking dog. Although they have played really well over the last like 12 games. Yeah, they could really use a guy like J.T. miller and he'd be going home and I just don't know what they'd be able to give up to get him. But going back to Tampa, if you were them, would you want him and who would you give up to get him?

[Trung Fan]

Well, I guess that's the question. Who would you give up?

[Whitney]

There's nobody on Tampa's roster that would get J.T. miller that they could afford to give up up to still win a cup.

[Trung Fan]

So, so I would give up. Do they have an heir to Vasilevsky that's like a. The highest touted goalie in the system. I would give up whatever my blue chick number one was. I would give that guy up to get J.T. miller now and make one more run.

[Whitney]

Make one more runner. Geeky. It would be Connor. Geeky and a bunch of other things. But that, that, that, yeah, J.T. miller makes such a difference.

[RA]

I wouldn't. I, I think that Breeze Bois is a GM that could figure out a way to get it done because he always does. You talked about the haggle move before that. Who else did he do it with?

[Trung Fan]

Samko's move. Listen, the Stamco's move. He did the opposite of what Drew has done in New York. And the Igor deal is different because Igor is worth every penny. I don't care. I mean he, he, he overpaid him wildly, but you had to. That, that breezeball got. Gets these deals done and he gets them done early. And if he doesn't see what he likes, he moves on quick.

[RA]

Yeah. Who was the kid who was in LA now, Jano. That was a fumble. They overpaid drastically for that even when, like, even if he did score 20 goals. And then the other one I was thinking of is Coleman. So they just. And Paul, Paul seemed to really go out there and, and, and the scouts exactly know exactly what they're going to find and they usually hit it pretty good.

[Whitney]

Oh, they actually have g. Just mentioned they got that kid, the iceman, Isaac Howard from Michigan State Aves. I think you'd love this kid. I know him.

[Trung Fan]

I know him well. I remember his draft.

[Whitney]

I remember when he said I'm the best looking guy at the draft.

[Trung Fan]

Yep.

[RA]

Oh, the man missile.

[Whitney]

Yeah.

[Biz]

Did he light it up?

[Trung Fan]

Did he have a great year?

[Whitney]

He's. He's lighting it up right now. Michigan State's number one in the country, so he would have to be involved in that.

[RA]

Well, I actually got one more for you.

[Trung Fan]

That J.T. miller, that J.T. miller stuff. By the way, guys, I spent some time in, in Vancouver. I was visiting the kits eyeglass factory and I went to the Arbutus Club.

[RA]

Arbutus? The fest. The hockey fest. Did you get laid?

[Trung Fan]

I. There's, there's a hockey game going on. There's a full bar, it's Christmas, there's kids running around. That's an incredible.

[RA]

Yeah. No, Paris, because they're all on the third. The third level of the parking garage.

[Trung Fan]

Do you have an animosity towards them because you broke it or like.

[RA]

No. Yeah, I do. They wouldn't let me in.

[Trung Fan]

Oh, they. I would be upset, too. I love it there. I love that place. Why wouldn't they let you in?

[RA]

No, to the fest on. On level three. I got.

[Whitney]

I thought it was made clear they weren't happy when you released the news.

[RA]

Covered wagons at the Arbutus Club. Hey, there you go. There you go. You could. Good luck getting your membership. The ISER plan. What are your thoughts on the Iser plan? What's happening with your boy? You loved playing with him.

[Trung Fan]

Is he waiting for a moment? Like, is he just retooling enough and filling spots in? Because he sees that he's got a guy that's going to fill that spot, but he doesn't want to go out and overpay a guy to hold that spot. And is there that piece of his plan that's still in the motions and in the mix? Yes. Yes. Because he's not happy about his team laying fucking eggs right now. You know, just being kind of competeless a little bit and really easy to play against, which was not. The teams that Detroit won Cups with, they were the hardest team to play against with with Kozlov and Konstantina. I mean, the fucking Russians on Detroit, when they were winning Cups, were some of the hardest players to play against, period. Not. Not just the Canadians and the Americans, they were the nastiest. So that's in Stevie's DNA. Like, he's never going to change. I know that. Okay. And Shanny in Toronto's getting fooled. Shanny. There's a little bluff going on in Toronto right now, which is. Fine. Fine. I'm okay with it. What does that mean? Wow. I mean, it means that they're great in the regular season. It means that they're great in the regular season. But they changed. Listen, Bobby McMahon. I love the kid. He changes the team immediately. Different DNA. Okay. The defenseman, the Lilgren. Is that his name? The finish kid?

[RA]

No, he's. He. They moved on from him. He got dealt.

[Trung Fan]

Okay. Anyways, the team looks good. They're better biz. They're going to get fucking. They'll get shit stomped by Tampa or Florida in the conference finals, guaranteed. They don't have that depth yet.

[RA]

They don't okay, that's fair. But this is the best team they've had in the last 15, 20 years, and I trust that. I don't necessarily agree with you on Tampa. I think that they would definitely have a hard time getting past Florida. They would just have to find. They would. They would also have to make a move or two in order to add the things that you're talking about. Do you think that. So do you think that. I mean, Martyr's been incredible. Do you just don't think that transfers over to come playoff time? Like, you don't think their Big Dogs can be the Big Dogs against Florida?

[Trung Fan]

I do, but I think they're easily beaten. If a team decides to play a certain way, and there's only certain teams that will stay disciplined enough to play that way, which is we might not win game one, we might not win game two. If we put every puck behind Morgan Riley and we wear him down and we grind the fuck out of them, I don't think they can win.

[RA]

Okay, and then I agree. Back to the ISER plan. You think that there's some big moves coming. He's just sitting in the weeds right now with the sniper rifle and then he's gonna get something done.

[Trung Fan]

Yeah, I think, and I'm not saying necessarily that it's, you know, moving players this year, but I think that when he looks up at his board, I think he's got some diamond in the rough in fucking Kazakhstan or somewhere. You know, I think that there's pieces that he's going to move and he's going to put. And he goes, okay, now I see it coming. And he hasn't overpaid. You know, I don't know what their cap situation is, but it's got to be extremely healthy.

[RA]

It's very healthy.

[Trung Fan]

Yeah, right.

[RA]

It's very.

[Trung Fan]

This guy's not saddled with any long term deals.

[RA]

No, the only long term ones they got are good ones. Raymond. Raymond and Cider. I think the only ones with long. And then. And then they're Captain Larkin, which is a great piece.

[Trung Fan]

Which brings me to who's going to be buying the Islanders assets? Because Barzell, if I'm the Rangers right now, I don't know, weirder things have happened. Like, how do we make that move? How do we get Matt Barzell on our team? You know, Lou may just say, I don't know, it's not unheard of, but there's some pieces over there that I would like to add to a couple of teams, you know, and I. I just don't see them winning.

[RA]

Right.

[Whitney]

No.

[RA]

Last thing. Western Conference. Any team. Any team stick out to you. What's year?

[Trung Fan]

Yeah. Adrien Kempy and the LA Kings.

[RA]

Because I been saying this Merls thinks they're frauds. They don't even have dy.

[Trung Fan]

This KE dude is one hell of a play. I got goosebumps. He might be the best player in the NHL.

[Whitney]

Like I guess he's competitive as too, right?

[RA]

Oh yeah.

[Trung Fan]

And. And that's what I'm talking about. As far as a well rounded guy. Holy fuck. Is he a good player, man. And.

[Whitney]

And he's produced in the playoffs like it's gotten worse against Edmonton. But he's their best player the last two years in those in.

[RA]

Well, I think it has a lot to do with how he was groomed especially in the American Hockey League. I was his roommate in when we want to call their cup together. Oh, you know I know. Adrian Kempe. Yes. I was his roommate. We want to call their cup together. I saw him play and develop and. And aves. It kind of goes back to. To. To like you talked about Byfield earlier.

[Trung Fan]

Yeah.

[RA]

The LA Kings are one of the best organizations at drafting and developing and they go and draft players like they'll go spend a fourth rounder. They're not trying to get the. The okay. That guy's got the most skill and he can end up being this 100 point guy like a. Like a coocherov. They're saying this kid is 62, he's 210 pounds, he skates well. He plays his position and when he's out of position he sprints back to his position. He's great at stick on puck. He play, he'll block. They go and they find that tool to replace the next tool that they're losing.

[Trung Fan]

Right. And right.

[RA]

And they are just. And Adrian Kempe played in the American Hockey League for the better part of two two and a half seasons, if not closer to three. That player that you're watching now spent three years in the American League League. That's how you draft and develop in order to make an impact at the next level.

[Whitney]

That's why I do feel not bad for but Capo Kako had no business being in the NHL right away.

[Trung Fan]

No.

[Whitney]

And there's a ton of guys who I think careers really do get hindered by not playing two to three years in the ahl. What's wrong with dominating down there before you come up? I don't get it.

[Trung Fan]

Look at the. Look at the Robertson kid in Toronto. You know Biz, that's one thing. Okay, I know he's playing better. And shout out to Max Domi, who's moving his feet every time he gets the puck. He's moving his feet and he gives and goes. That's how Max has to play. He's got to play a little reckless, but straight ahead. The Robertson kid, they've, they've worked him for a while. I'm nervous about him in the playoffs.

[RA]

Whether or not same, I don't think that he's going to be there. He's not the long term answer. I think they're going to move on from him. They need to. And listen, he was unbelievable in preseason, but you got McMahon, you need another. McMahon is what you need. And I think that they could potentially get by Florida. I think that they're going to be okay against Tampa. And another example G just put in the chat is kind of like Shane Wright. Like Shane Wright wasn't ready. Where did he go? And he's starting to turn the corner a little bit. You're starting to see like, like, kind of like La Frontiere. Like yeah, he probably should have been maybe even down in the minors too. So it's kind of a big discussion going on right now where the game has gotten faster and more skillful. But there seems to be a lot of brains and hockey sense that is being lacking as a, compare as, as a result to that. Excuse me.

[Trung Fan]

Yeah, well, they're, they're. Everybody's trying to chase it. It's too fast. They're trying to chase it. These guys play fast. They want it, they want these guys that it doesn't make up a team. And I don't know. Anaheim. Listen, is Anaheim off the, the tracks? Are they that bad or are they, do they have moments like are they a second half team team?

[RA]

No, I don't think that they need to figure out they got to switch their. A few of our friends have had issue with the way that their coach coaches really.

[Trung Fan]

He's too hard on guys.

[RA]

I hear he's just like not. He's just like unfair and maybe like a little bit, a little bit out there with his philosophies. I think that he thinks his philosophies are like earth shattering where it's really not that deep. I think mostly of what you said on the show is right, you got to just show up with your balls and that's about 90% of it.

[Trung Fan]

Right? Right. Well, you also have to read the room. You know, if guys are focused on the tick tock algorithm today, Work that into the conversation.

[RA]

That's why we got the laser pointer.

[Whitney]

That's why we got the laser pointer. Abes, what's your tick tock?

[Trung Fan]

Okay, so quickly, I've just. I've. I'm only focusing on Instagram subscribers.

[Whitney]

Oh, okay.

[Trung Fan]

I'm trying to build my own network. Right. I just want subscribers so that I can say maybe at some point Biz goes, hey, Aves, come on tnt. And I go, okay, Biz, I will, no problem. But I. I need more than 400 to show because I got 8,500 subscribers on, on Instagram that if I do this game, I'm letting them down.

[RA]

Right.

[Trung Fan]

And I got it, you know, the balance. So everything's on Instagram and I'm just trying to. And I'll probably get sued.

[RA]

I'm.

[Trung Fan]

I'm saying this now because I'm the only guy that's figured out how to use the ip, right. Essentially, I'm using the intellectual property of the NHL. I pay for the subscription so that I get the feed for the games on espn, ESPN plus. But the pointer stick has given me the ability to make this thing like a real thing.

[RA]

It's like, it's because you're not in frame. Yeah, okay, interesting.

[Trung Fan]

So I'm just foreshadowing a little bit of something. That's what I'm trying to do. I'm trying to build up that audience where you guys small. I mean, 299at Tim Hortons, a double double cost more in the subway in New York costs more. Right. 299amonth to subscribe on Instagram. So I'm just letting it rip over there.

[Whitney]

There.

[Trung Fan]

And it's fun. And I just had an audition for what's going to be the biggest movie of 2025. And now I just sit and I wait.

[RA]

Is there anything you can tell us about the movie?

[Trung Fan]

Yeah, I'm gonna get it. I'm gonna get it. But I've worked with this director before.

[RA]

Yeah, yeah, Nolan. Christopher Nolan. Well, I mean, like, that's unbelievable. So now the. In Oppenheimer, you had a pretty significant role. Like you had a speaking role in a very impactful moment. Moment. Do you think that the role this time would be more significant? Like more lines and more FaceTime?

[Trung Fan]

I think so.

[RA]

I think that's awesome. That's awesome.

[Whitney]

That would be sick, Abe.

[Trung Fan]

Yeah, that's what this whole thing, this whole game, whether we're talking about hockey or life or you're selling insurance, the ascension is real. Like, you have to earn all of these minutes. I'm not going to give anyone anything and no one's going to give me anything thing. Let's just go out there and lay it all out there. Let's go. You want to win games, you got to go to the bad spots. You got to go to the dark areas. It's uncomfortable.

[RA]

A thank you so much for joining us, buddy. I hope you get that gig, man, because you obviously know a ton about the game. You can break it down and you could probably translate a lot of that knowledge to. To the younger kids coming up. Like, they'll respect you because you were there and you did it and you're always a breath of fresh air, my friend.

[Whitney]

Dave. What? One question. When would. When would you find out if you get that role or do you not even know?

[Trung Fan]

No, I'll know in a week or two.

[Whitney]

Oh, good luck, buddy.

[RA]

Shoot us a text because we'll let the fans know.

[Whitney]

Good luck.

[Trung Fan]

I will have everybody have a great holiday. G Mazel tov. And yeah, just. It's beautiful. It's a beautiful game. It's a beautiful game, guys.

[Whitney]

Hockey. Hockey gives. Hockey gives. It always delivers. Boys. Hockey delivers. Sean Avery, thank you so much. What up, guys? Whit here. I want to talk about DraftKings. It's the most wonderful time of the year. It's the holiday season. It's the perfect time of year for getting in all of the hoops, the football, the hockey. There's action everywhere@the DraftKings sportsbook. And in the season of giving, we're being gifted. College football and basketball, Pro football and basketball and pro hockey, too. Two, almost 24. Seven. That's not even including world juniors. That's going on now. So many games every day. So many opportunities to place your first bet. Try betting something simple like picking a team to win. Go to DraftKingsportsbook app and place your bet. And here's a gift for all new customers. Bet $5 to get 150 in bonus bets. If your bet wins, download the DraftKings sportsbook app and use code chiclets. That's code chicken. C H I C L E t s for new customers to get 150 in bonus bets. If your bet wins when you bet just five bucks. Happy holidays from DraftKings. The crown is yours. Gambling problem.

[RA]

Call 1-800- gambler in New York.

[Whitney]

Call 877-8-Hopeny or text hopeny 467-369 in Connecticut. Help is available for problem gambling. Call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org Please play responsibly on behalf of Boot Hill Casino and resort in Kansas 21 and over. Age and eligibility varies by jurisdiction. Void in Ontario. Bet must win to receive reward. Bonus bets expire 168 hours after issuance. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see DKNG co Ice. Thank you so much to Sean Avery. I cannot wait to see that Happy Giller Happy Gilmore remake. I'm not a huge fan of remakes, but this one being hockey and golf, like I'm all in. It's. It's my two things things. But that, that was a great conversation and man imagine, imagine if he was somebody that was like high up with the New York Rangers and then Dolan took like the leash off of his guys how they can't talk to anyone and he was just making content while working for the Rangers. Just, just an incredible idea possible.

[RA]

I'm here for the tick tock Ranger era.

[Whitney]

I'm here for Ranger era. Well, a team that's battled the Rangers forever. The Pittsburgh Penguins. Penguins. Shorzy Biz and I, we, we announced them as dead. We pronounced the entire organization is completely over. They could fold, they could move. It was a disaster. And I think since then they're 7, 3 and 1. So something has turned around. Biz, you had him on tnt. What are you seeing? What, what do you think's happened? And can you. Do you remember the Crosby quote? Because it cracked me up. Why when he was asked about his little slump, did you see what he said?

[RA]

Yeah, he basically said that I was waiting for you to ask me earlier because usually when you ask me it ends. So he's. Now he's got the superstitious superstitions going with the media members. But we, we had them on TNT and I think it was, I think it was one or two games after the shellacking they took from Utah and since then after they made the trade with Nashville. Now I'm pretty forgetting the kid's name. He's a little spark Tomasino and ever since he's came over there 8, 3 and 1. And that game that I got to watch was against the Boston Bruins. They ended up running a nice face off play a kind of stunning Boston to tie it late in the second period and ended up winning 2:1. Thomasino had a point. So it seems like ever since that trade it was a little bit of a spark plug. A lot of my issues early on were maybe the play of Latang and Carlson. Now I did hear rumblings that Carlson was dealing with like A herniated disc in training camp and it led into the season that hey listen, this could be completely false. I read it on the twitter.com machine and also might have heard it from somebody else. So that's maybe a reason to why it looked like he wasn't putting as much effort into his defensive play. Like do you remember that one goal specifically against the Carolina Hurricanes where he was skating backwards to the neutral zone like he looked like a guy rent a skate that couldn't even fucking turn his hips around to go back check after they blew by him. But the play of, of, of Latang and Carlson, specifically Carlson army says it's a world of difference. The compete level where he's at on the defensive side of the puck, how he's breaking up plays and things are obviously clicking a little bit more offensively for him, getting better goaltending. Jari was a bit of a disaster at the start of the year. Ended up getting sent down to the mine Miners. That's cleaned itself up again. And I think that the overall compete like every time we talked about it, it's like these guys look lifeless. Anytime they need a little bit of a spark, it's Crosby having to give somebody the stinky mitt and involve themselves in fisticuffs where that should never be his responsibility. You saw at the end of the game against Nashville the other night where they end up, I think they lost that one. But they, you know, like doggy pile, they. That's the fucking hockey that they need to play where they're way more emotionally involved that we haven't seen over the course of the last two seasons when they missed playoffs. So things are heading in the right direction. Are they out of the woods yet? Absolutely not. I still think if they can make a big trade, would love, would love to see G J.T. miller back there back in his hometown. And it would be a little bit of revival where you could actually see if they even got into playoffs in a wild card. Maybe with a fucking one two punch of Crosby and J.T. miller, that team could make a bit of a run. You go back to the year they won their second of the back to back Stanley Cups. Like their back end was not that impressive. Like Latang was injured. I think Dumalin was their best defenseman. They got unreal goaltending from Matt Murray and then they rode their strength through the middle of the ice and some clutch playoff performances from Malkin and Crosby. So. So it's looking a lot better. Things are heading in the right direction. Shoresy I don't know what you've seen.

[Whitney]

Well, sorry. Sorry, Biz. I was gonna ask him because when I first met Shorzy, when I got sent down to San Antonio, he would ask me about Crosby all the time. Like, that was your guy. I remember. Do you remember, like, first time playing against him or any. Anything about that?

[Drew Shore]

Yeah, he was everyone. I feel like everyone my age, like, growing up, he was the guy. And so, yeah, playing against him was amazing. I actually, like, my best game I ever had, scored two goals in Pittsburgh. And I think he told me to, like, act like I had scored before or something. I don't know.

[Whitney]

He chirped you?

[Drew Shore]

Yeah, he chirped me on one of the face offs or something. I gave, like, a pretty big. We beat them, actually. We were horrible, too. Beat them, like five or six, too. I can't even remember. But he was like. Even that interview, though, it's amazing. Like, he still looks so good on the ice, off the ice, just like a complete stud. And then not to pour it on them, but, like, when they were losing, too, you turn on the tv, then Gensel's down there in, like, South Florida now, and him pointing Kucherov, like, they might be lighting it up, looking like the Harlem Globetrotters.

[Shane Pinto]

So.

[Drew Shore]

No, it's. But I think they're never dead. I mean, with those guys, with Crosby, Malkin. I still think in like, one game, like, of a game seven, if I had to pick, like, two guys that I knew were gonna, like, play well. Like, I mean, I know a lot of these young guys are good, but I still think it's hard to take other guys between, like, 87 and 71 1.

[Whitney]

I know the thing about Sid is that he's somehow still. What you're saying is true. He looks young. Like, his face and stuff, it's like, what the. You've been doing this for 20 years. Like, why don't you.

[RA]

Skin care routine.

[Whitney]

He must have a legit one. He's got a great hairline. His hairline hasn't moved back a centimeter either.

[RA]

It's like, you think him and Marshall got a package deal on the Turkish hair transplant?

[Whitney]

They were. That Sid does, like your Europe after the season. Maybe him and Marshy went over with Nikki, smokes in the. The bald barstool clan, and got one of those hair transplant surgeries. But his hair, his, everything about him.

[RA]

And the fact he's on the Andrenochrome, the Depends, what I'm hearing.

[Whitney]

The Pens are three points out of the second wild card spot. Actually, the first wild card spot because Tampa and Ottawa are tied at 38 points. They're at 35 points and they look dead. Their goal differential is still minus 25, which is the worst in the Eastern Conference. So what I've been told by one NHL scout that doesn't mean anything, but take it for what it's worth, is if they had average goaltending average, that they would be sitting easily in one of the top three spots.

[RA]

That has a lot to do with the way that it went in the first probably 10 to 15 games. They couldn't get a save like Jar Jari couldn't even get a save in the American Hockey League when he was sent down there. That's how bad things were. Another component too is you go back to last year, that anchor of a power play play. Despite having four potential hall of Famers, including Latang on that list, power play is buzzing at 22% right now and PK at 82%. So anytime you're over a hundred combined on those, you're doing all right and they're a little bit over. So not the anchor that it once was.

[Whitney]

I. I'll still never forget in Shores, he. I don't know if you saw this on Twitter last year of the coach. I, I don't remember who it was. He's holding the whiteboard with a pen and he's just, just staring at the thing for 45 seconds. Like he goes to draw something and he takes the pen back and he goes to draw something again. He takes it back.

[RA]

Come on, take it easy on my boy. Todd Reardon. Come on.

[Whitney]

Great guy.

[RA]

He's drawing the boobs.

[Whitney]

It was an all time clip though, where it's just like, I don't, I don't know what to put this. Power plays horrendous and all these players are nasty.

[RA]

So that was like you coaching the big deal selects when we wanted you for power play expertise.

[Whitney]

Yeah, but he wasn't laughing when the Penguins lost.

[RA]

Lost.

[Whitney]

You know what? You mentioned Matt Murray Biz and I read an awesome story. I'll tell anyone to go go check it out. If you have a a subscription to the Athletic, it's by Joshua Clokey. Hope I'm saying that correct. A long road, a big mountain to climb inside Matt Murray's emotional journey back to the NHL. And the gist of it is basically bilateral hip surgery and all the success he had in Pittsburgh the first two years in the league. He's Stanley cup champ, like back to back playing phenomenal. And then the Injuries started mounting and the play went downhill. And all of a sudden he has a surgery where you don't even know if you'll ever play again. And. And he was able to grind and grind and grind and never stop. He was always around the guys in the room while still not knowing, like, I don't know if I'll ever be the same. And he came back and he got an enormous win. Six, three against Buffalo, where that was, I think, 93% Maple Leafs fans in Buffalo, which is usually at least 50 50, but with the way the Sabres are going, Toronto took the arena over.

[RA]

12 in a row.

[Whitney]

And after Murray's talking about how he kind of just. He was pretty emotional with the media, and he's sitting there and he's just like, I didn't know if this would ever happen again. And Shoresy, I want to ask you, like, when you battle through an injury or you're down in the minors after being in the NHL and you don't know if you ever will get the chance to. To be in the National Hockey League again when you get that next game, how amazing is that feeling? And, like, the thought of, I'm back here and I didn't know if it would happen.

[Drew Shore]

Yeah, it's the best feeling in the world. I can't imagine him because I never had the highs that he had or the injuries that he had. And I don't know, Biz, I can't keep track if you're. If you're on the Leafs bandwagon or not, but how good would it be if, like, somehow he just, like the second half of the season and then playoffs, like, gets super hot again, how he did back in the day in Pittsburgh and, like, the Leafs finally get the goaltender?

[RA]

Well, I mean, we got. I mean, we have the deepest goaltending regime in. In the world, like maybe the. The hockey world has ever seen. Stolars, buddy, we got. Stole ours. We got the Hildebeest, we got Joseph Wa. And then now we got Matt Murray. I mean, like, come on. Meow. Fucking four Stallions.

[Whitney]

I believe, with Stolars out four to six weeks, they gave your Hildebeest boy a little chance, and he did not look good. I think now it's Murray and Wall. I think it's Murray and Wall.

[RA]

He's young. He's got the pedigree.

[Whitney]

But I was happy for him because that's a good point, Drew. Like, the wit that. The highs that he had, that's nothing close to anything we had. And we still were in the Miners like, please God, get me one more game. And this kid's grinding and grinding and kind of ended up like there were people who were like, what the. That was. That was fluke. What happened? Like, that guy was awesome. Two cups now he stinks. It's like, no, I've been injured and I haven't been able to feel like myself. And finally again, he's back. So very happy for him. On the opposite side, Leafs fans, Biz, there's got to be some worry here because Auston Matthews has re aggravated an injury that had he missed time with before. I, I believe the Twitter sleuths have figured out it was a cross check by Tage Thompson. Did you see that clip?

[RA]

No, I think that he got hit by Tage Thompson and then it was the cross check from a defender, number eight for the Buffalo Sabers. People were assuming that it was the big hit hit in which Morgan Riley responded to by going to fight Tage Thompson. Hey, listen, that could have aggravated it. I don't know if word came out which one it was, but it seems like he was like keeled over after taking that rib shot from the Buffalo defender. My understanding is this is something that was he was coming into the season with and then they couldn't nip it in the butt and then they shut him down for the time period that they did. He went over to Germany to talk to a specialist which hey, man, man, you have the opportunity to do that. Go, go seek out any professional you want. Came back, looked great, and then now this. So definitely a little bit of concern. All I care about is whether he's back for probably about 10, 15 games before playoffs. I don't think it'll be that long, mind you, in order to get back in game shape. That way he can be the his thoroughbred self heading into the games that matter. That's all I care about. I want him healthy, looking like himself heading into playoffs. I don't care if he scores 50 goals this year. I don't care about the regular season. I want AM 34 balls to the wall, playoff puck drop. Let's go our year and free up.

[Drew Shore]

A little cap space maybe at the deadline.

[RA]

Oh, that wouldn't be bad.

[Drew Shore]

That wouldn't be bad either if you're a Toronto Maple Leafs fan either.

[Shane Pinto]

But no.

[RA]

Oh, Tampa. You think you're the only ones who could play that game? Him all picky in the brain out west in Vegas. I see you. I see you, Ryan. I see you, stoner.

[Whitney]

Hey, Biz, I can't ask you because you're biased and you don't want him to play just for your health of the Toronto Maple Leafs and also you're Canadian. But is there a question now where Brandon Shanahan and Brad Treliving are like, Austin, we can't have you play in the Four Nations. Like we're, we don't ask any Leafs fan for he's, they don't want him to play anyway. And now that he's injured, what.

[RA]

As good of a player as you are and as a world class talent as you are, save yourself the time of getting embarrassed by Team Canada at the Four Nations. Just sit this one out. Save your energy up for playoffs, the games that matter. Fuck the Four Nations. Canada's a wagon. Don't embarrass, embarrass yourself. That's what I would say personally if I was Berubai Shanahan and Tree, I would sit him down now and save him from that. What would you say to him, Charzy?

[Drew Shore]

Well, it's going to be interesting to see and like when those rosters got announced, I don't think people realize like how much hockey still had to be played before. Like, you know what I mean? Like, I don't know how many games say there's, I mean, what is there, six weeks, seven weeks? So you know, I mean a lot of these guys have like, I don't know, 15, 20 games left. So I don't think he's going to be the last guy guy that either is dealing with a nagging injury or gets re injured.

[Whitney]

I, I just, I just want to see the best compete against the best. And I totally understand like Leafs fans being like, well, we don't want him in for two different reasons. To help out our team and to not hurt our country. We'll see what happens. But yeah, they did name it pretty early. I don't know why they needed to have it that early before the tournament. Like why, why can't January 15th, the announcement of the teams, I mean that's a month out, right?

[RA]

Because they're trying to blue ball everybody. They're trying to add a little excitement and then, oh well, especially the full rosters on tnt. Meanwhile, all online, the rosters are out. Like they just, they gotta dress it up.

[Drew Shore]

But then there's a guy like Zach Hyman who wasn't, I mean, for his own standards, playing that great. And I think since they've announced the roster, I think he's got eight goals in seven games, you know what I mean? So there's definitely going to be A lot of guys who either start heating up or slowing down in the next.

[RA]

Six weeks, no doubt.

[Whitney]

Well, one, one team who has heated up and we have a. A member of this team joining us right after we chat here is the Ottawa Senators. And Biz, this is kind of on you. You. You promised that if they got to three games over.500 that you would finally talk about them again while they're buzzing. They've won six in a row. Eight of their last 10. Linus Almar, who didn't even play against Vancouver on Saturday night so that they could save him for the Oilers, which is going on I think in two hours on Sunday night. Tonight. What has happened in Ottawa biz. How did they finally figure this out? Is it all goaltending or is it just everything coming together at once?

[RA]

I think all Mark's numbers speak for themselves. And actually before I ended up sending out a tweet, I said I'm not getting emotionally invested to, to these guys until they get three games above.500. Well, now they've exceeded that. And El Mark was playing like dog when he got over there the first like what, 15, 20 games, whatever it was. And then ever since then, he's caught fire. There was also a big pivotal moment where Travis Green stuck up for Brady Kachak. I think some people were maybe questioning how much he was fighting and he's like, my fucking guy's gonna get emotionally involved. Shut, like basically shut the fuck up and had his back. And I think that that also propelled the team. Not saying they haven't had that type of backup in the past from their coaches, but just to hear it out of Travis Green's mouth during a difficult time, I think really resonated with the group. And I don't know, man, I just, I, I think that overall this team, team, their numbers even before, like from an analytical perspective, the way that they're able to move the puck, the power play, their first two lines and how offensive. And they can snap the pillar, pillar around the growth of, of bath. Bathurson Stutzel is. Looked like a world class player all season long. Not saying he hadn't in the past, but this is a different level I think we're seeing from him. So everything's just really coming together, including goaltending. And now they, they are the team that the fans thought that they were. They're finally becoming that. And the Viagra triangle in Ottawa, Buffalo and Detroit, we have finally seen a team rise. We have seen it with a little bit of blood flow. You know what I mean, Drew it is fully erect in the nation's capital, north of the border, you believe?

[Drew Shore]

I I'm a big Travis Green fan. I mean, I always liked him. I just think I've known him for a while off the ice, complete st. I think that like, yeah, he looked at the reporter who like, basically, I don't know what the question was, but he was like, yeah, I'd way rather have to like basically reign this guy in than have to like yell at him to get going all the time. He's like, what do you want me to do to like. He almost made the reporter look like it was the dumbest question ever, which I loved. And I think that, yeah, I mean it seems like I, I know that he's a guy that like players. Like, he can be hard on guys, but he's one of those guys that like, players don't want to let down. Like, I'm sure you guys know you have certain coaches who like, you want to win with you want to go to battle with. And I do think he's one of those coaches. So happy to see them get going. But yeah, like you mentioned, I'd love for Detroit to get going for my boy Newsy. They need to pick it up here a little bit.

[Whitney]

Oh, poor Detroit fans. Jesus Christ. I actually am, I'm surprised that that Newsy still, you know, he's still there, a great guy, happy that he's still there. But yeah, I think fans are kind of starting to wonder what is happening here in Detroit. It's a confusing time. But I am happy for Ottawa. I'm happy for Ottawa and I'm also happy for Ottawa fans that the NHL and Amazon Prime Video, they, they've begun production. They've agreed to doing Face off inside the NHL for a second season. The league announced. And season two will feature Brady Tkachuk, which is a guy who once you saw Matthew in it and the way it ended, it was just perfect that they had followed him and then they won the Cup. But Brady is a guy who'll be able to kind of of, I don't know, show you how much it means to him off the ice and then also show you like, how much he cares about Ottawa and that organization and getting them back in the mix as a playoff contender. So I think I, I, I'm going to check out season two. No doubt. I mean season one was great. Why wouldn't you look at the second season? I'm happy that got that got renewed and now we could chat to with Shane Pinto. Shane Pinto, N.D. he played at North Dakota. He loved North Dakota. And all of a sudden, sudden he's now back with the sends after a little bit of a problem. But we discussed that just, just for a minute. Just for a minute. And we also get to know him and his personality and how he got to the NHL. So right now, Shane Pinto. This episode of spit and Chickles is brought to you by body armor sports drink. As you can tell right now, I just crushed one of these body armors. The electrolytes, the alkaline water, the body armor sport water. The best water in the world. World. I drink them all day long. They keep delivering them. I keep drinking them. They're unbelievable. They got the wide mouth bottle. It's easy to drink, it tastes great and it's real hydration, real ingredients packed with electrolytes, vitamins, and nothing artificial. Body armor is the official sports drink of the NHL. And we'll be checking out the Discover NHL Winter Classic on December 31st in Chicago. Including the body armor bus takeover and hockey activation at the NHL winter Classic pregame. Body armor sports drink has great tasting flavors like strawberry, banana and orange, mango. And my favorite thing, my favorite thing is just the size of the bottle. It's perfect. It's a little wide. It's longer, but it's not too wide. It's perfect. It's body armor. It's the only water I drink. I love the flavors they got too. With strawberry, banana and orange. Mango Body armor is the best. We're so lucky they're a sponsor. Get yours today at Walmart or a local grocery store near you. Body armor. Boom. It's a pleasure now to be joined by Ottawa Senators forward American, United States of America, Shane Pinto. What's going on, Pince? How you doing, buddy?

[Shane Pinto]

What's up, boys? Thanks for having me. Good to be here. Finally. Finally.

[Whitney]

I know. I feel like this has been a long time coming.

[Trung Fan]

I.

[Whitney]

Maybe it was last year or a couple years ago. We're, we, we talked about having you on, but we appreciate it. You just told us you're out in Calgary. Teams buzzing right now. How you guys feeling?

[Shane Pinto]

Yeah, boys are feeling good. I think, you know, we had a long road trip here. I think we're nine games because of world GS in Ottawa. So start off. Big win versus Seattle and shuttle keep it rolling. It's. You got to win these games because obviously it's. This league's pretty tough, so you got to stay, stay on it. So, yeah, it's been good so far. It's Been good.

[Trung Fan]

Are.

[RA]

Are you on Twitter? Are you seeing all these crazy sense fans, like, messaging us and, like, threatening my life to. To talk about the Ottawa Senators? I said I wouldn't talk about you guys anymore and get emotionally invested till you were three games above.500. So sure as last night, the minute you guys win that game, these people are all over me and we got you on the pod. So at least I got him a gift.

[Trung Fan]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Shane Pinto]

No, I think when I started here in, like, Canadian market, I didn't really. I was on it a good amount because I was kind of always curious what people were saying. I think as time. But yeah, as time has gone on, I realize, good or bad, I don't think it's. It's good to look, so. My mom always keeps me up to date, though, with what's going on on Twitter. Oh, man. She. She lets me know. Even if it's, like, bad. She just, like. She's just always cute. Be updated.

[RA]

So it's not bad right now, buddy. They got the Jurgens out and they're giving you guys the double wristers because you guys are buzzing. Maybe not all quite as good as all Mark, but you guys are fucking buzzing right now.

[Shane Pinto]

Yeah, no, I think, you know, when it's going good, it's going good, but, you know, there's obviously been a couple tough stretches, so it just goes back and forth. So that's why you got to kind of stay even keel about it.

[Whitney]

First playoff game I ever played in, it was against Ottawa. They worked us in five games, but, like, I'll never forget the atmosphere, the noise, the crowd, like. And I know you guys want to get back there, but can you sense even some big games you've had as a. As a senator, like, how crazy it could be if you got into the playoffs and made a little bit of a run?

[Shane Pinto]

Yeah, I think two years ago, we were kind of in the playoff race. I think when we had. That was the Deburn cat and chicken year, I think we were. We were like six points out going into April, so we kind of felt it there. And last year was a little bit tougher. But, I mean, these fans are pretty nuts. I think, you know, all our. Our trainers and our equipment guys have been with our team for a while, so they kind of let us know how sick it is once.

[Whitney]

Yeah.

[Shane Pinto]

If hopefully we do make playoffs. But.

[Whitney]

Yeah.

[Shane Pinto]

And I think any Canadian market, I think you could tell the fans are super passionate, but, yeah, you could sense a little bit of momentum coming from them. So it's it's been awesome.

[RA]

I. I know you said you want to stay even keel, but, I mean, there has to be a certain feeling in the locker room right now maybe a little different than in years past and obviously mounting pressure for you guys to make playoffs. Like, what's it like for a guy like Claude Giroux along the. Around the locker room room? Local guy, so he's probably wanting to deliver to that fan base too. But, I mean, if it wasn't for some of the distractions, too, like Whit making up rumors that Brady Kachuk's gonna get traded.

[Whitney]

That was cheap. That was. Jeez.

[RA]

It seems like this group. It seems like this group is pretty galvanized. Don't interrupt my question, Whit.

[Shane Pinto]

Yeah, I think it's been a long time coming for us. I think obviously everyone knows the. The core we've had here for a couple years, and. And I think there's always been an excuse of us being young, and now that we're getting a little bit older and a little bit more mature, there's. There's less excuses, and you can just feel it in the room. I think, you know, we brought us some older guys this year. I think Steve Sales did a good job with that. And yeah, you know, I think we're all doing it for. For G, too. I think he's been. He's battled for us for the last two years and to get some meaningful games here this early in the year, it's. It's awesome and he loves it. So it's been good. Good.

[Whitney]

That's awesome reading about you and kind of hearing about you. I love seeing you. You played all sports. I mean, really good football and baseball player. Apparently, like, according to this one article, your. Your. Your grandfather was like, go to baseball. What are we doing playing hockey in the summer? But was it important for you and your family that you weren't going to be one of those kids who was all year on the ice all summer and doing other things?

[Shane Pinto]

Honestly, I just didn't think we knew any better, which kind of resulted in. And probably good it being better. I think parents nowadays are insane with these kids nowadays trying to get their kids to play 24 7. But, yeah, for me personally, I grew up in a town that was super baseball and football focused, and that's all I kind of knew growing up. I was just kind of playing hockey for fun. And yeah, I think that kind of helped me with. With things on the ice, but I think it was a hidden blast. And I think kids nowadays are so. I think it's too much. I think it's overkill. And to play that, that other sports growing up, it's important to be an athlete nowadays, especially of how skilled these guys are. So I think it kind of helped me out.

[Whitney]

Were you somebody that played like Pop Warner football, like 7, 8 years old, tackle football from, from the time you can remember?

[Shane Pinto]

Yeah, I, I started when I was like 4 years old playing Pop Warner. Yeah. I had like a neck brace. My parents made sure I was pretty.

[RA]

You were like 80s.

[Whitney]

An 80s linebacker. Remember those things?

[Shane Pinto]

I got trying to find a picture of it. It was like the big white thing, like one of those linebackers wore it.

[RA]

Yeah. No shit.

[Shane Pinto]

Yeah.

[RA]

Yeah.

[Shane Pinto]

My parents made sure I was protected, but. But yeah, I think, yeah, I started when I was four and then I. I played junior high until I was, I think 13 and then played JV and then I broke my collarbone.

[Whitney]

There's.

[Shane Pinto]

Yeah, you joined. Yeah, you, collarbone. When I was 15. And then that's when I kind of decided to just play hockey because I got hurt in football. And you know, thankfully I did.

[RA]

Yeah, Just naturally went. I was listening to the empty netters pod you were on and you said, yeah, thankfully. So you were kind of focused on all sports because you said if you would have done it at such young age, you probably would have burnt yourself out. Now where do you think you could have brought this NF or your, your football career? Like, could you have gotten a D1 ride?

[Shane Pinto]

No, no, I think I, I think I had no chance. I think. I think the better chance would have been baseball. I was a pretty good baseball player, but football had zero chance. I mean, these guys. I mean, I'm only like 6:2. These guys are freaks. And I wouldn't stand a chance.

[RA]

What were, what were you doing in baseball? Like, how you think you could have for sure, maybe even been drafted to the bigs?

[Whitney]

He's putting you on the spot here.

[Shane Pinto]

I love it.

[RA]

Dude, I. I don't know your numbers.

[Shane Pinto]

In high school, the boys are going to hear this interview.

[Whitney]

The kids back home are like, buddy, you weren't that good. Good.

[RA]

You were a scrub.

[Shane Pinto]

I was all right. Like, I made. I was playing 10th grade, I made varsity and I was starting for my varsity team. I was starting third base, but I mean. Third base, Yeah, I don't think I could have. It's so tough to tell. Maybe if I put as much focus as I did for when I was 15 into baseball, as I did hockey maybe, but I still don't think there was a chance so it's tough to tell the.

[Whitney]

The same article I was reading your sister was just chirping you back in the day. I guess you can't play in the NHL, like just all over you and dogging you for stick handling in the house, I guess. No.

[Shane Pinto]

Yeah, my sister was the better athlete growing up. She. She dominated in high school, was getting like all. All Long island and softball and track. So I was kind of like the peasant in the family. She was the better, better athlete. She got like a D1 commitment to Fordham in the Bronx for softball at like 16. See, I was kind of the pigeon. And yeah, she always kind of got the recognition. And then, yeah, obviously my stick only in the. In the living room got her up after a while, but that's what it kind of took to kind of get better at hockey in the summers. And. Yeah, that's the reason I kind of did.

[Trung Fan]

I. I heard. Well, first off, good to meet you, but I. I heard. I heard you a crazy, crazy competitive. And it sounds like from, you know, what you're talking now comes from that too. But also heard that you do anything.

[Drew Shore]

To win, which also includes cheating.

[Whitney]

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

[Trung Fan]

I heard this from probably the biggest.

[Whitney]

Cheater in sports I've ever played with Claude Giroux.

[Shane Pinto]

So if he said no, also, we do this. This game called Pressure in the. In the weight room for. For the Suns. We have like this mini basketball hoop. And it's like this game pressure where guys have to make a shot and you like five points and if the guy makes it before you, you have to make that shot or you get minus the point. And G's always saying I cheat in. I'm just trying to win. He's the same way. I don't know what he's talking about. He's always trying to gain the edge, too.

[Whitney]

Who's better at that? Who has more wins, you or him?

[Shane Pinto]

I actually have more wins than him. He plays it like it's beer pong. He like grabs it with one hand and chucks it like this. And I actually have a. A basketball shot rhythm. He just has like a beer pong shot.

[Whitney]

He has a French Canadian, like, hockey player rhythm. He's actually pretty good at basketball.

[Shane Pinto]

No, he's a n. He's a sneaky, nasty athlete. I hate to gas him up, but soccer, anything we play, he finds way golf, like, he doesn't have that. He has a nice golf swing, but he just competes every. In anything he does. I think that's why he's been so successful. But.

[Whitney]

But yeah, who, who's like who's the biggest clown in the room? Like who's the guy keeping guys loose?

[RA]

Who's doing the helicopter right in the middle right before warm up. Let's go.

[Trung Fan]

I think we're talking to him.

[Whitney]

We're going.

[Shane Pinto]

I mean I'm probably, I'm probably one of them. I keep, I try to keep it pretty light in the room. Nick Cousins, the guy who just came.

[RA]

Oh my God. He hates me though because I called him a cuz. Cuz I called him a diver. He sent me a, he sent me a funny text. I actually want to get him on the pod to talk about the text.

[Shane Pinto]

You got to talk.

[Whitney]

Sending B the 2am text. Like basically I hate your guts.

[RA]

Like I'm sending in the Irish travelers. You piece of. I'm.

[Shane Pinto]

Oh dude, this guy, he's all time. I, I, I've never met a guy like him. Like I'm playing on his line right now and just, just the banter even during the game. He's just an all time individual.

[RA]

He drives people insane.

[Shane Pinto]

Honestly this year he's been pretty, he's been pretty mellow so far. I, we haven't really, I mean he's.

[Whitney]

Had a few, few incidents waiting for playoffs.

[RA]

Wait. Yeah, wait.

[Shane Pinto]

No, I'm sure it's gonna come.

[RA]

I could see it but when you guys sign him this summer of not only a Baron contract, but he's a pest. But he can play with the puck like in the ozone. He's really slippery and sneaky. He can make plays and he's a gamer. Like you'll be like halfway through the first and maybe not much is going on.

[Shane Pinto]

Yeah.

[RA]

And then he's fucking elbowing the goalie in the head after he stops it. Like he just, he's one of those guys. He's a spark plug.

[Shane Pinto]

Yeah, no, I like, I didn't know much of him before. Obviously I saw him, you know, win the Stanley cup and stuff. But him coming in, I didn't know much of him and that we, I started playing with it. I'm like, this guy is like, he actually makes a lot of good plays and he's a smart player out there. Like he has good IQ and I've actually enjoyed playing with him a lot. He's, he's a sneaky, very good player in my opinion.

[RA]

Bel Vegas, I want to ask you about this. I was actually to a model in a magazine one time called Scottsdale Health and I noticed that you did a photo shoot. I think I look a little bit better in Mine especially with some of the amazing quotes I had that Yance can talk about. But what made you do the COVID of this? I mean, you're. You're a bit of a man missile. And I thought when that Yance hopped on when his thing was buzzing, I thought it was Uriah notifications, but it was actually, yeah, so there.

[Shane Pinto]

I just. They, they. They reached out to me a few times and it was more kind of like. I just. I just felt like it was. It was right to do. They. They've been on me for a while and it was a local magazine and.

[RA]

What'S the name of it?

[Shane Pinto]

It's called Faces. Most of the boys have done, I.

[Whitney]

Think Daily Play girl.

[Shane Pinto]

I think most of the boys have done it.

[RA]

And.

[Shane Pinto]

And my mom wanted me to do it too, so I did it for her too. She wanted.

[RA]

So your mom runs your show?

[Shane Pinto]

She used to run my show. I mean, she still kind of takes care of a lot of things for me, but I wouldn't say she runs my show.

[RA]

So if you meet a girl. Girl, you. You get. Does she get rent? Does she ran through the ringer?

[Shane Pinto]

No, no, she. She has to, like, after a while, like, I'm not gonna. I'm not gonna like, if I like a girl. I like your girl. I already have a girlfriend.

[RA]

Okay.

[Shane Pinto]

But she definitely has to approve of her. But, like, I don't. I don't think that's screening process.

[Whitney]

Do you think if your girl gets chirped online, your mom tells her like she tells you when you get chirped online line?

[Shane Pinto]

I would hope not. I would hope not. Hopefully she's not that involved.

[RA]

His mom hired Shea Stevens to look the who he's dating up, like, do a little background information.

[Whitney]

No. No.

[Shane Pinto]

Yeah, she's not bad at all.

[Biz]

She.

[Drew Shore]

She.

[Shane Pinto]

She's pretty chill. She's chill.

[Drew Shore]

Did she put that wallpaper up in the background?

[Shane Pinto]

Dude, it's bad. What are they doing with this archetype?

[Whitney]

He's in Calgary.

[RA]

I like that.

[Whitney]

Oh, it's a hotel room.

[Drew Shore]

Yeah.

[Shane Pinto]

This isn't my house.

[RA]

It says live above the bed for.

[Whitney]

Anyone listening audio only. It's like flowers and like, it looks like, you know those things. Oh, there's birds on there. You know those little balls people have in their yard?

[RA]

Those are slips. There's tape to the wall.

[Shane Pinto]

No idea how many, like, the boys still give it to me for it. It's unreal. I. I could laugh about it now, but, like, when I came back back, like from the whatever in January when I started Playing again. Like a couple of the boys were TR me about it and it was a little too soon, but like that was. Time has gone on.

[RA]

We're not going to get into it because it's obviously like, it's a, it's a sensitive topic, but I'm sure that was a tough thing to go through and, and get that phone call and like here there's kind of no fighting it. Like, I know you can't say much about it, but what would you want most people to know about the situation if they're kind of hearing you for the first time talk about it?

[Shane Pinto]

Yeah, I think, I mean obviously it was, it was super tough for me. I think throughout that whole process I really couldn't tell much to the boys and that's probably the worst part about it. And I was holding out at the time, so that was even worse. And the boys were always asking like, what's going on? Like, what's.

[RA]

We need your picks, boys.

[Trung Fan]

Gary's got my hands tied pretty good about it.

[Shane Pinto]

Like when it, when it got announced they were, they were super supportive about it. But, but yeah, at the time it was, it was super tough. I tried to not go on any social media because nowadays people just shred you no matter what. Obviously now it's a little bit more light hearted. Everything ended up working out. But. But yeah, it was definitely a tough, it was a tough time but thankfully I got through it.

[Whitney]

Have you ever heard the story? It's been told multiple times. Times. But yeah, like when Ronick was on the. Was on the Flyers, I guess. Like it's like a TV timeout late in the third during a Sunday afternoon game. Like, kind of quiet. He's like, fuck. They're like, what the hell? And it's like the NFL scores are just going up.

[RA]

They never used to do that. The players asked for it.

[Shane Pinto]

Come on.

[RA]

No, I was just.

[Drew Shore]

No, come on.

[Shane Pinto]

Yeah.

[Whitney]

On the bench.

[Shane Pinto]

Yeah, yeah, that's what we have. We have the Yahoo Sports ad pulled up.

[RA]

Imagine, imagine all that leaked. Like the players weren't even using them for the hockey side of it. They're just watching NFL. We're on the game every night, coach.

[Shane Pinto]

We're watching Red Zone, checking our fantasy.

[RA]

How have you liked Travis Green? I mean, it seems like the boys are clicking under him. Like he seems like a beauty. Players coach.

[Shane Pinto]

Yeah, yeah, he's awesome. I think that's, that, that's the main thing. He's a players coach. I think he keeps it pretty light in the room and he gives it to Everyone. I think that's an important thing. I think when you come in, you want to make sure he holds everyone accountable, no matter who you are. I think he's done a great job of that. He's got all the boys going and, and a staff as well. Yozy, Bomber, Sexy Petey. We have all these guys, we have a good staff, so it's, we've loved them so far, so it's been super good.

[Whitney]

Would you like being an American kid? I saw you play two different years in the ushl. Was, Were you ever, like, talked to by the National Development Program? Or, or were you kind of a later bloomer? Like, how did that go about.

[RA]

He's throwing, he's throwing no hitters.

[Shane Pinto]

Yeah, yeah, no, I was, I wasn't that good of a player, honestly, growing up. Like, I never got invited to like those, you know, those state camps you have to make to make like natty camp. I never got invited to those.

[Whitney]

Really? Never?

[Shane Pinto]

Never. Yeah, never once. So I never mean Ash.

[RA]

Well, yes. Was robbing banks.

[Whitney]

You were a problem child, though. Yeah. It wasn't your hockey. You were nasty.

[Biz]

At least I wasn't betting.

[RA]

Oh, God.

[Trung Fan]

All right.

[RA]

No, but yeah, Gary calls, just forward it to me. I'll talk to him. We're boys now, but yeah, I was.

[Shane Pinto]

A bit of a late bloomer. I played a year in the USHL because I played 18U hockey. Got drafted like in the 21st round of the USHL in phase two. So I was kind of a write off then. Played 18U and then, yeah, I just went to Lincoln for one year. For half a year. We weren't making playoffs. We were like dead last. And Nodak asked me to come in the next year, so they just figured they would treat me. Went to Kearney, Nebraska, that beautiful area, and played a half a year there, so that was kind of a rolling.

[Whitney]

So you popped off that year though, because you're a high pick. Like, I mean, like, did you, did something just click?

[Shane Pinto]

Yeah, I just, I, I, I was playing super good in Lincoln. I was scoring a bunch somehow and then had a good playoff run versus Lincoln. I didn't think. Or with Tri City. I didn't think I was going that high, to be honest. I thought I was going to be like a third or fourth rounder and I had a terrible combine interview with Otto. I, I, I didn't think there was any chance I would get drafted by them because I was a mess. It was like my first interview.

[RA]

You're going like Rob Gronkowski and just Say, I'll fuck Adam.

[Whitney]

Did you see that?

[RA]

Draw your own place.

[Shane Pinto]

No, I was just super nervous. I think anyone who goes to the combine, you're like a 17 year old kid and you're talking to these NHL exacts, and I'm like, yeah, what's. Like, I didn't know what was going on, so I was super nervous. And I remember just like, like mumbling and just spitting out words. I didn't even know what I was saying, so I didn't think I was gonna get picked by them and then ended up getting picked by them in that first pick of the second round. So it was kind of. It was pretty cool.

[RA]

Do you remember any of them being hardos and asking you weird questions? Like, we've had Terry Ryan on who told a Mike Milbury, like, draft combine? The combine, like, interview story. I couldn't believe it. My jaw dropped.

[Shane Pinto]

No, there's some. There's some weird ones, I think. I don't know if it was Montreal. It was one of the original six teams. It was one of the big boys. And like, they were. The way they set up the room, it was just like. It was you sitting in one chair. It wasn't like a roundtable. There was just like all like seven of them, like their big dogs right in front of you. And they were just asking, just like grilling you. And I don't know, it's just a super nerve wracking experience, to be honest, but I remember Montreal asking some weird questions about, like, what kind of animal you are. I think you've probably heard of all these. And so, yeah, it was. It was a stressful experience. But now looking back on it, it's really. I don't think that they take it.

[RA]

Into account, but what would you answer if they asked you what. What type of animal you are?

[Trung Fan]

Flamingo.

[Whitney]

A sick. A sick greyhound. What'd he say? Flamingo?

[RA]

He said a fly.

[Biz]

Did you not block shots?

[Shane Pinto]

Did you not block shots in your.

[Whitney]

Day to get out of the way of him? Like, like Keith Yandel, was Craig Ludwig over here? But, but, but no. Will Compton busting with the boys guy. Our buddy at barstool, we were playing golf with him. He's like, dude, you look like. No. He said, you chirp a lot for somebody that looks like a sick greyhound.

[Biz]

All ribs and caul.

[RA]

Yeah, ribs and all ribs.

[Whitney]

No cocktail talk?

[Shane Pinto]

Oh, no, no. But, yeah. I don't even know what I answered to that question. But yeah, it's just like you're a young kid and you're Just trying to, like, act super professional. Like, trying to act like you all gotta figure it out, but you know you're gonna try to do your best.

[Whitney]

How unreal was North Dakota, though? Like.

[RA]

Oh, that's the question. Yeah.

[Whitney]

Oh, sorry, buddy.

[Trung Fan]

I was just wondering because we were.

[RA]

On the ushl, like, with these new.

[Trung Fan]

Rules that the kids can go to major junior and then to college, you think that's gonna hurt the USHL at all?

[Shane Pinto]

I. I mean, yeah, I. I would think so. I think. I mean, you see those major junior teams, they. They invest into their. Into their teams pretty a lot. And it's obviously, I think it's going to ruin it a little bit, but I think it needed to happen. I think it was. I think it's stupid that you can't. You weren't able to play major junior and then go to college. I think that's ridiculous. And I think college hockey now is unreal. Obviously you're seeing all these kids get drafted high and. But yeah, I think it was definitely necessary, but I think it will hurt the USHL a little bit. Definitely, but it's just part of it.

[Whitney]

What about no Dak? I mean, she did the Chiclets University there. It's kind of like, holy. You've heard a lot about it. Where else were you getting recruited?

[RA]

Like, oh, they got hyperbaric chambers in there. Robin togs. They got everything there. I mean, the massage room. The massage room.

[Shane Pinto]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But, yeah, I think nodd, man. I think nodded for me. I was going to go to either UMass, Amherst, Penn State, or Noddac. I was really thinking about UMass because it was close to home and the coaching staff there was pretty awesome. Carvel was a super genuine dude. But I went to NOD for my visit on Thanksgiving break and all the kids, all, like, the students were gone. I went to a game and it was still sold out. It was. It was just a belligerent experience. Like.

[Whitney]

Like, usually it's empty. That break too, at those games.

[Shane Pinto]

Yeah, that's what I mean. I thought it would be, like, not that packed, but it was so loud in there. And then obviously the facilities. And I remember going into my. Like, I was talking to Bubs, Brad, Barry, Dane Jackson. They brought me into, like, their meeting room and, like, they brought Zach Parisi in there to talk to me. He was in there at the time. So they. They bring out the. They were all at the red carpet and. But yeah, I think. I mean, that was probably the two best years of my life, of how fun it was. Just all hockey, I mean the schooling is good, but like when you go there for, for hockey, I think there's obviously that. That's the reason you go there for. So. But yeah, just the facilities, the, the atmosphere. I mean that. That's all they kind of had there is hockey. So that was probably the best two years.

[Whitney]

Did you guys make a run in the NCAA's either one of those years?

[Shane Pinto]

First year, we coven, we. We probably had the most. Most. I think that was our best chance. And then our second year there, there was the bubble of the. We had the NCAC bubble and then we played Minnesota Duluth. Michigan was in our, in our bracket. They got Covid, so they got, they got kicked out of the tournament.

[Whitney]

I remember that.

[Shane Pinto]

Yeah. So Duluth had a buy. We had to play aic. We beat them and then we had to play Duluth the next day. We went into a five overtime game.

[RA]

Oh yeah, it was your last college game, wasn't it?

[Shane Pinto]

It was like a quintuple overtime. It was, it was insane. Yeah, it was, it was, it was crazy what we were doing in the locker room.

[RA]

How much did you play? Did you play like 93 minutes or something?

[Shane Pinto]

No, no, I, I think me, Sanderson Kirsted and another guy played like over 55.

[RA]

Oh, okay. Off by 40.

[Shane Pinto]

I don't think 90 is possible. But yeah, we lost on like. So they scored in the second overtime. They called it back because of offsides. We thought we lost. They called the offsides after review with another three overtime. Then the guy just came down and shot up between the guys trying and just went five hole. And it was pretty, it was pretty devastating. But we definitely had, we had a sick team. We had Sandy, me, Jacob, Bernard Docker. Our first line was like Grant Mismatch, Jasper Weatherby played for Nashville for a bit. We had a. We had a lot of good players. Clevin, who's with us now, it was. We had a pretty good squad.

[Whitney]

So how sick was it that a year after you got picked, like Sanderson gets picked real high by Ottawa. You guys are. Were you already buddies at that time or he not coming to school yet?

[Shane Pinto]

So he came. So that draft was like later that year because of COVID So he was at school with us in the summer, so I got to know him. We became good buddies. Then we actually got Covid together. So we quarantined for like two weeks together. I actually texted one of the development guys in Ottawa. I'm like, guys, like, I know he was like around the 5 or 10 range for for getting drafted. I'm like, guys, this kid is so dialed in. Like, this kid's a legit player. He cares about the game. Like it'd be stupid to pass up on this kid.

[Whitney]

Like, he, wow, you had even played for him too.

[RA]

That's kind of how you scout that's ball.

[Shane Pinto]

I mean, I don't think it had it carried any weight, but they ended up picking him five. We got Timmy Stu at three, him at five, and Ridley Greg at like 27th.

[Whitney]

At draft, he's like, I actually already put in a bet that he's going for the overall, so can you guys, guys take them?

[RA]

You're brutal. You're brutal.

[Whitney]

Last one.

[RA]

That's the last one. That's.

[Shane Pinto]

It's the fourth one.

[Whitney]

That's over.

[RA]

That's over.

[Whitney]

It's over.

[RA]

We're. Clean it up. We're done here.

[Whitney]

He's sick though. He is nasty. I, I thought prior to four nations he might make the team. I kind of understand, but I think he'll be on the Olympic team next year.

[RA]

Yeah.

[Shane Pinto]

Yeah, in two years. Like this guy, he's, he's, he's such. So sound just all around. Like the way he, he carries himself. I mean his offensive game still has and like I think he'll continue to build on that. But his defensive game is so dialed in for a 22 yard.

[Whitney]

Like the win.

[RA]

Is his left ear as big as wits? In person, it's enormous. I think his other one looks normal, but his left one is enormous.

[Whitney]

That's me. Look like this one sticks out way more.

[RA]

No, we have a lot of feelings here for, for your big eared people or one.

[Whitney]

One big eared person? No, one big ear.

[Trung Fan]

Sandy. I'll bet you any amount it's not bigger than wits.

[RA]

It's like playing with a weight vest.

[Shane Pinto]

I thought, I thought they, I thought I saw something like a couple years ago, they were chirping wit when Sandy got picked or something about the big ears.

[Whitney]

He had a picture like where, like we don't look alike, but he had a picture where we did look alike. And I was like American, except for he can skate and pass. So I could pass and shoot.

[Trung Fan]

Shoot.

[Whitney]

And like.

[Shane Pinto]

Oh yeah, his ears are what, I mean, it's just. What, you can't control that stuff. So I mean.

[Whitney]

Exactly.

[Shane Pinto]

He's a stud. He's a stud. So that's all I, I want to.

[RA]

Hear about this list that you made when you were 15. You wrote down 10 things about what you needed to do in order to make the NHL. What made you write this list? And can you like do you remember all of them off the top of your head?

[Shane Pinto]

Yeah. So I was, I was a bit of a. I, I said in the empty netters pod, like I, I had no life from like 15 to 17 to 18 years old. Like in the summers, like I wouldn't even hang out with my friends. Like all I worried about was just kind of getting better at hockey. It was kind of embarrassing, but now I look back on it, I don't think I'm here if I didn't do it. You know, you got to sacrifice some things at a, at a young age if you want to make it to this level. So. But yeah, those 10 things, I wrote it down like I think that summer going into my 15 year old year and I was just like, it's think first one was like stick handle for like an hour a day, shoot like a hundred pucks, work out every day, work on balance, work on skating. And then like at the, it was like I had like a little goal on the side. It said like. And then one day playing the NHL and playing the same line as Sid the kid. Obviously that had. Doesn't happen yet, but that was like my dream and I, I always believed in writing things down.

[Whitney]

And so you became obsessed though.

[Shane Pinto]

Oh, obsessed. Like I, I, like I said like it was every day I woke up in the summer. That was my goal. It was just to work at it and. But yeah, for those three years I just kept on just.

[RA]

Were you not boozing? Were you like a legit rocket nerd?

[Shane Pinto]

Yeah, no, I'm not. I was a rocking nerd for, for that like all my buddies, like when you're 15, 16, that's when kind of all the boys start to get into that stuff, you know, that's just. I just try to stay away from that. And I was just a hockey nerd and the boy, you know, my buddies back home would give it to me all the time at that age. Like, where are you? Like doing. Like I would get made fun of a lot, but thankfully it all worked out for me. So.

[Drew Shore]

So you're grinding from 15 to 17.

[Trung Fan]

You're like I'm gonna knock, hang out with my buddies.

[Drew Shore]

I just gotta, you know, get a.

[Trung Fan]

Scholarship to college and then I can have my fun.

[Biz]

And then boom.

[Trung Fan]

Covid hits.

[Biz]

So you can't even have any fun in college either.

[Shane Pinto]

So my freshman year we, we, we found a way. It was before COVID my freshman year. So my freshman year it was pretty. I mean when you're a freshman in college, I think you just kind of go off the rails a little bit. Especially with all the stuff you have to do for like the juniors and seniors. Like, they make you do a bunch of stuff, like rookie party and all that stuff. So I was off the rails a little bit my first half and then Covid obviously happened and then that next year we could have like a gathering of 20 people for, for when we went out or whatever. Like our bars downtown were closed, like Joe Black's was closed. So it was definitely a different experience. I didn't get the full college experience. Honestly, it kind of sucks.

[RA]

But I heard you saved it up after that for the night of your draft of the Roxy. I, I, I called Van. Yeah, I was living there and I even caught wind of your, your night at the Roxy.

[Shane Pinto]

Actually, I did see Matt, I, I saw Matt Barzel there that night.

[RA]

So you were the second best looking guy in the, in the bar.

[Shane Pinto]

I, yeah, I, I got no, nothing happened for me that night.

[RA]

No.

[Shane Pinto]

Yeah, he had a bunch of, he had a bunch of girls around him and that was, Come on.

[RA]

Did he actually.

[Shane Pinto]

Oh yeah.

[Whitney]

Are you surprised? Look at him.

[RA]

No, but I mean like, would he have like two on each arm?

[Shane Pinto]

No, it was like, you know, the downstairs, I think, right? There's a downstairs to the rocks in the back.

[RA]

It's the everybody.

[Shane Pinto]

I don't think that, that, I don't think I went to the Roxy that night. I don't know. There was some downstairs and he was just at the bar and there was just like a million girls around. They're like, this is nice. But yeah, it was just me and my eight buddies. We were just like, we were loving it. So it was, it was a fun day.

[Whitney]

Talking about Ottawa a little bit more, kind of looking through the roster here. We've been raving about Stutzel since he came in league and, and like you watch him, it's kind of crazy. He doesn't get talked about. I think the better you guys do, you're going to start hearing about him more and more. But it must be sick in practice seeing this guy.

[Shane Pinto]

Yeah, his, I mean, I think the most impressive thing is just his confidence. Yeah, it's insane. Like even just on the ice, he just knows. He's like, he's so unbelievably talented. Like, even off the ice, like athletically, when we play soccer. He played soccer growing up. I think he was like 15. He was getting offers to play in Germany again, like Bayern Munich.

[Whitney]

Like, they're like the academies and stuff.

[Shane Pinto]

Yeah, he was. He was a legit soccer player. So I think that translated to the ic. So gay gifted.

[RA]

It's.

[Shane Pinto]

It's insane. And obviously when he's on the ice, I mean, he's only 22 still, and he's.

[RA]

So that's where the diving comes from, that background?

[Whitney]

No, no.

[Shane Pinto]

One of our guys, nor Josh Norris just got. He, he. He got fined for embellishment or. Or diving. And we were like, how about.

[Whitney]

Did he get a penalty for it in the game? Yeah. Oh, okay.

[Shane Pinto]

But we were like, how does nine. How does niner get it? And Timmy has a gal.

[Whitney]

Do you guys give it to him a little bit?

[RA]

If I was that good, I'd be diving all over the place.

[Whitney]

Oh, dude, you were diving when you fell.

[RA]

Hey, stripe, do your job. Give me a power play.

[Shane Pinto]

Yeah, no, his. He's so gifted. I mean, his skating. I mean, there's just. I mean, you guys. People start watching you more and more. He put up 90 points as a 20 year old and no one really talked about it, which is just crazy to me. Like, that's. No one understands how hard that is to do. And then. Yeah, this year's. Obviously I'm a sick year and I think he's going to hit 100 points, in my opinion. Just the way he's playing. So just a gifted player and it's pretty fun to watch every day.

[RA]

What's Bson like? He's pretty much like guarantee point a game.

[Shane Pinto]

Yeah, he's. No one talks about him either. I think he makes like 5 million bucks and he's a point per game. I think he had like 70 last year, but this guy, I went out to train with him this summer actually in Halifax for a few weeks. He's. He's so gifted. I mean, he's so smart out there. He. He's butter. He's a big boy, too. He's like six, three. He flies righty. So that's kind of. It's pretty hard to find. And he just rips the pill, so. There's a lot of guys on our team that don't get talked about enough, to be honest.

[RA]

Is he training out there with Crosby and McKinnon and Marshawn? Like, is he doing the ice sessions? Is that why you went?

[Shane Pinto]

Yeah, yeah. He. He's been training with them for a while now. I think the past like seven years he's been. Been with them? No, he works out with Nate. Nate all the time. We. We ended up. We actually worked out with Nate at his House one one.

[RA]

No. You. You didn't get screamed over to Crosby's?

[Shane Pinto]

No, I didn't get the crow. We didn't go to Crosby. Went to Nate's for one. A workout, and it was like a song in there. He. He like, jacks up the tap, and we just sweat it out, and it was. It was a pretty sick experience for me this summer. I. I felt. It didn't feel real, to be honest with you.

[RA]

Was he barking at you when he was training? Like, how hard does he go? I heard he's amazing. Maniac. Did you do the pool stuff?

[Whitney]

We didn't show anyone that.

[Shane Pinto]

No, no, he. He just started that, apparently.

[Drew Shore]

But.

[Shane Pinto]

But yeah, he. He was just. He's built like a brick ship house, and he's crazy. Yeah, he trains like an animal, and it was just really cool to see, to be honest. But. But yeah, to get that invite to work out at his place, I just. It was so surreal, honestly. But he's actually a down to earth dude. Like, I know everyone thinks he's crazy, but he's like. He's a beauty. He's a. He's a regular dude.

[RA]

Oh, he didn't snap your neck for eating the Snickers?

[Whitney]

No, he's feeding him stickers because he's not on the Avalanche.

[RA]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Shane Pinto]

No, he. He was. He was. He was pretty calm when I was there, so it was awesome.

[RA]

How about Jeru getting his car stolen? I was gonna ask you about. That's up.

[Shane Pinto]

Yeah, that's not. I mean, I don't know. I mean, a lot of people are even in the NFL. Like, the people breaking into the guy's house now, it's like, what's. I don't know what's going on there either. But, yeah, he got his range stolen. I don't know how they don't.

[RA]

Are you talking about the burrow situation when he got blown up more than just his house?

[Drew Shore]

Yeah.

[RA]

Yeah, he was pissed. How many ladies you think he's got on the go, that guy?

[Whitney]

Yeah, but imagine, like, they see a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model in there. Could have been way worse.

[Shane Pinto]

Yeah, like, that's actually. It's a pretty good look for him, though.

[Whitney]

Yeah.

[RA]

Tall. Yeah. Until the other six.

[Whitney]

Imagine if it was just a troll and everyone's like, what the hell, Joe?

[Trung Fan]

Yeah, they said.

[Shane Pinto]

They said she was employed for him, whatever that means, but I don't know.

[Whitney]

Oh, God.

[Shane Pinto]

But yeah, that was kind of up. He was. He was pretty distraught for the. For the two days. G. G Keeps it pretty, like Close to the chest. He doesn't like to react to too many things. He keeps it pretty quiet. But he was not pleased with that situation.

[Biz]

Did you.

[RA]

Weren't you giving it to him? Like, weren't you kind of chirping him about.

[Shane Pinto]

No, I never. I get. I give it to G here, there, because we're. We're pretty good buddies, but at that point, it's like. It's like, I don't want to trip about that. That's a tough situation, but he'll be fine.

[Whitney]

G used to say he was the king of Ottawa. When. When I played with him in Philly.

[Shane Pinto]

He was like, I'm the king of Ottawa.

[Whitney]

And then he gets his car stolen.

[Biz]

If you're the king of somewhere, they.

[Whitney]

Ain'T stealing your car.

[RA]

Well, he. Yeah, he said that, and then he. And then he moon mooned the city. And then he got arrested too. He's been having a tough go there.

[Shane Pinto]

When did you do that?

[RA]

That was old school, that. Old school.

[Shane Pinto]

Yeah, I've heard some stories about old school. G. He was pretty.

[RA]

Oh, never mind. He didn't move. He. Like something happened with a cop or something. Do you guys remember when he ended up in. In the cuffs?

[Whitney]

No, I just remember when he brought you to the awards and it's like, what the hell is this guy doing?

[Shane Pinto]

I saw that YouTube video. I remember that interview.

[RA]

Yeah, that was. That was one of the. My greatest quotes ever. Donkey all donkey biz. Oh, show hl guys guy were you.

[Shane Pinto]

You were playing that? No, no.

[RA]

Yeah, yeah, he was on the team.

[Shane Pinto]

You were on the Flyers?

[RA]

No, no, no, I was on the Coyotes. And I think it was like a make a wish thing. And he said, all right, I'll. I'll let B. Come along. Hey, he told me.

[Shane Pinto]

He told me when he was younger, like, is like 20 to like. Like 20 year old years. He was. He had a good time.

[RA]

So he had a block blast. He had a blast.

[Trung Fan]

He's.

[RA]

He's. He's a. He's a father and a. And a husband now. And he's. He's the man father.

[Shane Pinto]

Great father, great husband now.

[Whitney]

So where's the team trip for the. For the break?

[Shane Pinto]

So a lot of the. Obviously the guys with wives and stuff will go with their wives, but me, me, Josh Norris, a couple of the single or. I'm not single, but like without wives and stuff. We're trying to figure out a cough drip somewhere, right? That is why you give me that look.

[RA]

Well, I'm giving you that look because I. I just get this. Have you seen this? Have you seen this? Tick tock.

[Whitney]

Is that your girl?

[Shane Pinto]

No, that's not my girl. She's not gonna be pleased. Like a lot like.

[Whitney]

Delete it. What?

[RA]

That.

[Whitney]

That. That. Really? Really?

[RA]

What do you mean? Women control. G sends me this Nikita bricks. Tick tock. And it's an Alphabet missile launcher saying, I feel like you're just here for Shane Pinto at the Ottawa Centers game. And the girl holds up a sign saying, I don't know much about hockey, but I'm here for Shane Pinto. And both these girls I would marry tomorrow and I'd let them wear a Pinto jersey to the wedding like they're absolute rocket launchers.

[Shane Pinto]

Oh my goodness. Yeah, I don't know. I can't really. Yeah, I mean, it's just what it is. What can you do, you know, it's just part of it.

[Whitney]

I.

[RA]

No, I know. I mean, it's. It is part of the game.

[Whitney]

Poor guy was born and he's really good looking. It shuck. Shane can't do anything about it. So where are you guys going golfing?

[Shane Pinto]

Well, we're going to be playing in Florida right before the break, so I think we're going to try to find somewhere.

[Trung Fan]

We.

[Shane Pinto]

We may go to that Citrus place because we went last year and it.

[Whitney]

Wasn'T ready yet, right?

[Shane Pinto]

Yeah, but we played like when it wasn't ready, so we might go there. We're just trying to find. Trying to find a spot right now.

[Whitney]

So are you in Tampa or playing the Panthers?

[Shane Pinto]

We play Tampa and like a weird. Like we play that Monday, Wednesday in Tampa and then we play Florida on Thursday. So the Grove I'll take you up to. I play the Grove. I played the Grow with G. Took us out there two years ago and Jordan was actually out there with Ken Griffey, so that was a cool experience.

[RA]

Still, that's unreal.

[Shane Pinto]

Yeah. Yeah. No, that's a sick track. But the. The carts man fly. You guys probably played it. Obviously I haven't.

[RA]

Yan's. Yance put me on the. The no Fly list there. I can't go.

[Shane Pinto]

It's not that uptight of a, like spot though, is it?

[RA]

No, not at all. You said I didn't make enough in career earnings.

[Trung Fan]

Yeah, I haven't either, don't worry.

[Whitney]

Oh, because busy be asking every athlete out there for an interview at one point.

[RA]

No. Yeah. MJ for two bucks a hole.

[Shane Pinto]

Yeah, yeah, he's crazy.

[Whitney]

Wait, G just wrote on the chat a producer. G wrote in the chat that you had to quarantine with Colin White. The. The. The rink, the rat rink.

[Shane Pinto]

I actually live with him my, My rookie year. We. We actually both. I had shoulder surgery my rookie year and he actually had shoulder surgery that year as well. So we were with each other 247 for like for that whole year. And we became good buds. But what a, what a beauty that guy is, man.

[RA]

Yeah.

[Shane Pinto]

I have so many stories about White.

[Whitney]

Like what?

[Shane Pinto]

I don't even. I mean you guys all know Whitey, he's just, he's just a down earth, just goofy good. And we just had a. We just had a ball there. But yeah, just the matches we had in ping pong little basketball with her one hand. It was, it was. It's good that we have each other during that time because when you're injured, you guys know it's. It's tough when you're away from the team and. But yeah, it was good to have him throughout that time for me.

[RA]

Has, Has Kachuk said anything about wits rumors about him getting traded to you?

[Whitney]

There ain't my rumors, Shane. They. I don't know what, I don't know what he's doing right now.

[Shane Pinto]

Wasn't it Larry Brooks?

[Whitney]

I'm the guy who said saying if you trade him, you're the dumbest hockey mind in the game.

[Shane Pinto]

So I mean that's just bullet dream. The fact that that's even like he's our captain. Why would that even be brought up? But I mean, obviously we all know what's going on. I know we try to say like we don't know what's going on in the media stuff, but we luck here and there. So you hear everything. Yeah, we hear everything. So I mean we, we tried not to look too. I mean that's a shit accusation to make though. Especially when we're in the. Like we're trying to focus on games and obviously they're struggling a little bit right now, the Rangers, but. But yeah, that'll never happen.

[RA]

And can you tell them I'm shutting it down every time and I'm trying to talk these guys off the ledge from even mentioning it on, on the pod.

[Whitney]

I think this took an edible and it's just hitting now.

[Biz]

Like he.

[Whitney]

This guy is insane.

[Drew Shore]

Whit went on a 10 minute rant.

[Whitney]

Of how you guys should never ever.

[Trung Fan]

Even think about trading.

[Shane Pinto]

But just like I don't even know how that gets like fabricated though. Like how does that get brought up on ask where.

[Whitney]

Well, you can, you can just write anything on Twitter and then press send or post.

[Shane Pinto]

That's A bad thing about social media. People just say random and like they try to gain traction.

[Whitney]

It's just like for example Granelli's saying he was drunk on the Jersey shore and just tweeted it out. So it's like that's how things get out there. There you go. Rumor boys.

[Shane Pinto]

Yeah, but yeah, I don't think they're trading. Brady could chug anytime sitting here.

[RA]

Have. Have you spent any good quality time with an Lauer and have you noticed a big difference in just the way things operate since his takeover?

[Shane Pinto]

Yeah, yeah, he's him and Stayhouse. I think they just because my first two years we had the Melnick and Dorian era and I, I never want to talk bad about people but I didn't. We didn't really realize what was kind of going on and kind of how NHL team was kind of supposed to be ran in a sense. Like I don't want to chirp them.

[RA]

But like, like oh you did.

[Shane Pinto]

I know rest of you said like he, he. Obviously we're thankful for him but like just the way Al hour and sales have came in and the way they've implemented things like they provide us with a good foundation and they're just. They're investing in the players. Like we just got a new gym. They just do it. They. They're doing a much better job and we, we definitely feel the support from them and we're definitely thankful for it. So it's definitely a different feeling from what we've had in years in the past Fast. But I don't want to chirp anyone. I hate. I don't want to say anything.

[RA]

So you were going from like no dak to like oh, I'm in the coast.

[Whitney]

Yeah.

[RA]

Like holy. Can I go back? Take my money.

[Shane Pinto]

I think, I mean Noak is better than a lot of. A lot of NHL teams facilities. So yeah, I was just happy to be playing in the NHL.

[RA]

Let's make a list. Let's make another list.

[Shane Pinto]

I think they're better.

[Whitney]

Love it.

[Shane Pinto]

Yeah, no, I'm not going to make a list. I don't want to.

[Whitney]

Hey, we got to chirp you for something. Like apparently you are a die hard jets fan. I mean this is, this is pathetic. Pathetic. And you, you get all poopy pants when they lose and they always lose. Like how. What has happened with your squad?

[Trung Fan]

They're going to the cfl, I heard. No, no.

[Shane Pinto]

I think that's the one team that could genuinely like ruin my. Like I, I'm starting to understand now when people get their mood Ruined. Ruined from our performances because like I, I, I, I'm, I'm sitting on the couch and I'm just ripping the jets and like, you know, our defense or whatever. And now I, I get the fans, they're shredding us when we're playing that. It's totally understandable because when I watch, I sit down for three hours of my time and I just watch your. It's horrible. It's just like year after year after year, year after year. Like this year like we started out pretty good and just the way they just like, I don't know, they're just so sloppy and we have so many talented players like Garrett Wilson, Breeze hall and it's just gone to shit. We got Devante means nothing. So.

[Whitney]

So two years ago when all the expectations of their Rogers first game and he tore his Achilles, you must have been inconsolable.

[Trung Fan]

Yeah.

[Shane Pinto]

And that, that's when I was going through my shit too.

[RA]

Oh, double whammy.

[Shane Pinto]

It was a tough time Height but I remember them winning that game on 9 11. They found a way to win on like a punt return and then. And I knew the season was over because Zach Wilson was coming in and he just wasn't. And I knew our defense was good, but it just. Our offense sucked. But yeah, I mean what can you do? I think next year hopefully we'll be better, but we'll probably bring bring back Rogers for one more I think. But who knows.

[Trung Fan]

And that was the year they had.

[Drew Shore]

The Hard Knocks too.

[Biz]

Right.

[Drew Shore]

So everyone even like fan.

[Shane Pinto]

Yeah, like every, everyone gets horny when you're on Hard Knocks. You know, you got, you know everyone thinks they're going to be better and I thought so too. I fell for it and obviously it's just been ever since. But what can you do? It is what it is.

[Whitney]

Did you go to games growing up and stuff?

[Shane Pinto]

No, my, my dad was a Giant fan growing up.

[Whitney]

Wow.

[Shane Pinto]

Yeah, I kind of went everything opposite of him. He was a Giant fan. I was a Jets fan, Met fan. I'm a Philly fan, Ranger fan. I was a Penguin fan, man.

[Whitney]

So all said.

[Shane Pinto]

All because I said yeah, I was, I was just a big Sid guy. So yeah, everything I kind of went against. I don't know why I did that but. But yeah, I never really went. I don't like going to football games live, honestly.

[Whitney]

Oh, they're brutal.

[Shane Pinto]

It's a TV sport.

[Trung Fan]

Yeah.

[Whitney]

Have you playing against Pittsburgh, have you asked like trainer to get a stick from Crosby or anything?

[Shane Pinto]

Yeah, I got, I got my first year, my rookie year I got him and Bern. Those are my two guys I look up to the most most. So I got those two guys stick hanging up sign and stuff like that. So. And then I got to train with Sid this summer and like now he's got my number. I like he texted me the other day after the game.

[RA]

The other day too.

[Whitney]

I thought you were gonna say blocked you.

[Shane Pinto]

He's just like. Even when we went, when I went out to Alpha I was super nervous like because he's my, like I don't. He was like my role model growing up and when I first met him he was just such a down earth like welcoming guy and just the way he goes about things, he makes make sure everyone's included and. But now yeah, he texted me after the game because he laid me out and he said sorry about it. So it's pretty cool. He's a good.

[RA]

He texted you sorry about laying you out. He's like sorry dude, geez, tummy sticks, texting, going on eating ice cream with the enemy, a coach.

[Shane Pinto]

It's just because him and bath are good buddies and I, I went out to train with them so this summer. So it was pretty cool.

[RA]

I mean I think Ottawa Centers fans are going to be thrilled. We got you on. This has been awesome. I've had a blast. The only other thing I had written down was just your world junior experience. I think you led led the team USA in scoring with four goals, seven points. So I don't know how you guys fared in the tournament.

[Shane Pinto]

We actually didn't do well at all. I think we lost to Finland like one nothing in the quarters. One of those trap games that they got us with. But yeah, that was probably my coming out party. I think no one really, really because when I got drafted people were shredding me like why they picked this guy in the second round like because there.

[Whitney]

Were other guys like here, look, look.

[Shane Pinto]

So that's what I was on Twitter those days. I was looking up things. But yeah, I think that then that kind of was my coming out party of that I could actually be a okay player hopefully one day for the sens and. But yeah, it was a super good tournament but we lost. I think Zegra sat year 2 tourists it up for us. We had a pretty good team. We had Caulfield Z Robertson, Keandre Miller, Spencer Knight was our goalie. Bobby Brink, all those guys. We had a good team. It's just we got into a one nothing game with Finland and they just shut it down.

[Whitney]

So that's what they do.

[Shane Pinto]

Yeah, they're going to be dangerous in this four nations thing. I don't know why.

[Whitney]

It's a joke.

[Shane Pinto]

Yeah, it's crazy. And their goal is Soros is legit, so I don't know. I don't know who's going to win that thing. Like, I think obviously us has an advantage in goal, but I mean, it's one and done, so who knows? That's gonna be fun to watch though.

[Whitney]

Are the boys still playing like credit card game or like birds in the bush for dinner? Or is that like, is that done? Is that older? Is that.

[Shane Pinto]

No, no, no, the boys, the boys still play credit card game. Except if you're on entry level, they don't let you. They don't let you put the card in when you're on entry level. Classy.

[Whitney]

Yeah.

[Shane Pinto]

Other than that, credit card game, I think that's. I mean, you have to do it when you go out to these dinners. Like we're going to the. We're spending a good amount of money, so. Yeah, you can't split bills either. I mean, that's just embarrassing if you do that. You know, I do that, so. No, but yeah, it's still, it's still around the credit card game.

[Whitney]

Shane Pinto, buddy, this has been a blast. I. I really appreciate you coming on and glad to see the team doing well. Dude, I think that, that Ottawa getting back in the mix is a good thing for the league. I really do. And it seems like you guys have a really close group of guys. So that's on all your success getting through all that shit you had to deal with. And we appreciate you coming on, having a great sense of humor.

[Shane Pinto]

Awesome.

[RA]

And last thing, what would you say to those lunatics fans on Twitter if you could say something to them right now? All of sense nations, all of the, all the jock sniffers. What would you say to them right now?

[Shane Pinto]

What would I say to them? I just want to, like, it's a long year. I think there's 82 games in a season, so there's going to be ups and downs. We're in our. A little bit of an up right now, but, you know, I'll hope, you know, hopefully there's not too many downs, but if there is, just be patient and it'll be okay. We're a good team and it'll. Eventually it all. It all evens out, so we'll be okay. So don't get too, don't get too worried about it. But like I said, I understand where they're coming from because I was on Twitter too shredding my jets and I was being a crazy fan too so I get it.

[RA]

So that sends nation it all evens out in the wash. Shane Pinto the Pinto Parlay. Thank you very much. That was great.

[Whitney]

Guys, it's time to talk about Game Time. Before we continue this podcast, I want to talk to you about Game Time. Our wonderful sponsors that make it so simple and so easy to get tickets to anything you want to see. Shows, sports events, concerts, it does not matter. Game Time is focused on togetherness. This holiday season when you bring people together at live events, the experience experience is that much better and it's the perfect gift. You know how much we love Game Time. Now with their brand new Game Time Picks feature, they're 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. I was looking at tickets for the Winter Classic. We will be out there in Chicago December 31st and I saw an amazing Game Time Picks deal for great seats under $200. We are so lucky we'll be at that game. It's because of Game Time. So just pull up your chosen event and 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 GameTime app homepage. What are you waiting for? I'm going to buy those Winter Classic tickets in Chicago right now with gametime Picks. So take the guesswork out of buying tickets with Game time. Download the GameTime app, create an account and use code Chiclets for $20 off your first purchase. Purchase terms apply again. Create an account and redeem code Chiclet C H I C L E T s for $20 off your first purchase. Download the Game Time app today. What time is it? Game Time. Thank you very much to Shane Pinto. Awesome guy. Auto was buzzing. Let's see if it can it continue and they can finally, finally get back into the playoffs. Some quick hits around the league.

[RA]

Do you mind if I chime in here? I'm taking a lot of straps shrapnel from all these Ottawa fans. Basically insinuating that I was involved in the Brady Tkachuk rumors. Like I want to say that you're blaming me, buddy.

[Whitney]

You've been blaming me.

[RA]

I never blamed you. One time.

[Whitney]

The interview we just listened to you blamed me four times.

[RA]

That was not me.

[Whitney]

Do you. Are you conkeyed?

[RA]

Are you Conkey still, who started the Brady rumor?

[Whitney]

Grinelli, answer. Get on here, Grinelli.

[RA]

What the fuck is this? I'm not taking your shrapnel. Shrapnel.

[Whitney]

No, no, send. I get all the shrapnel as well, though. They're in my DMS every time they win. Every time he scores. Telling me to myself, so I'm okay with it. Come at me, don't come at this.

[RA]

And you're taking full responsibility on behalf of the podcast, correct?

[Whitney]

Full responsibility. I've even spoken with Brady about it. So I've been. He's addressed me. Everyone's addressed me. What did he say? Fans come for me.

[RA]

What did he say to you?

[Whitney]

You're a idiot, basically. Okay, it was pretty brief. I'll leave the conversation between us today, too. But basically, yeah, it's just like, you.

[RA]

Got Peepee whacked by Brady Tkachuk.

[Whitney]

Well, it was also family loves Peepee whack in this podcast.

[Shane Pinto]

Oh, yeah, it was also at the.

[Whitney]

Time, RA Was getting PP whacked from basically everyone in the world right down by the ice at the Stanley Cup Final.

[Shane Pinto]

So it was.

[Whitney]

It was easy.

[RA]

Okay, so on behalf of the Spit and Chicklets podcast, we want to issue an apology to not only the Ottawa Senators, Go send them goal. But to the Tkachuk family. We're waving our white flag. We surrender. And congratulations.

[Whitney]

I do not surrender one bit. I stand by my. My rumor. I still think Brady Tkachuk is playing in the Tri State area by, I'd say 2027, Brady Tkachuk's either a Ranger. I think at one point you said by 2025, though, like, I think you've.

[RA]

So let's be in the middle. 2026.

[Whitney]

2026. By the time I get married in 2026, Brady Tkachuk will be. Be on a Tri State team.

[RA]

Yeah, well, I don't see you. You. You're. You're speaking for yourself and not the Spit and Chicken podcast. Ottawa Centers fans, we love you. The Pinto parlay, the gift that keeps on giving. What an infectious laugh. Enjoy that over the holiday season. You deserve it. And I love you. You're still the second best team in Ontario, though.

[Whitney]

Fair enough. Fair enough. All right, so there's an NHL holiday roster freeze right now in effect till December 27th. People have kind of asked why before. It's just nice to not panic that you're going to be traded when you're sitting down for Christmas dinner or Christmas Eve, couple glasses of wine. It's like, I don't Want to get the phone call then that I got shipped to Edmonton, although when I got shipped to Edmonton, it was bad news. Now, if you got shipped to Edmonton, you're going to win a Stanley Cup. So I shouldn't use them. That's a kind of a ricochet shot at the beautiful city of Edmonton that I know and love. Basically, it would be like I got traded to Buffalo on Christmas morning. Merry Christmas, buddy. That will not happen. So that the. The trade freeze is in effect. Jeff Marek said on his new show, the sheet, that in 2019, there was almost a Leon Dreis title for Nikita Kutrov trade, kind of.

[RA]

But he also said that line a would buy TVs on the road everywhere he went. And that only happened one time. So there was a little bit of fake news coming up out of Jeff Merrick. Now, I'm not throwing a shot. I would love to get him on to clear the air. But do you believe that? Do you believe that that was actually a trade that was going to go down?

[Whitney]

I mean, I, I believe him. I also believe that if you, if, if that trade had gone down, like, it might be the most fair trade ever. Like, they're both, I mean, obviously Lightning fan are snapping that Leon doesn't have a Stanley cup cup and that he's never had as many points as Kuchero has had in his best season. But they are pretty as. As similar across the board players. Like both scorers, both amazing passers. It's like, I don't think, like, I couldn't really decide who would win or lose that trade right now. Are you somebody chores? You say no Kuchov all day or Leon all day?

[RA]

I think you got to go cooch based on salary.

[Drew Shore]

Yeah, it's tough because it's like, I feel like Leon, Leon. I would probably rather. I don't know, it's hard to say. I was gonna say, like Leon be a. He's bigger, stronger and like the same. But like, Kucharov has so many cups, so many points. Like, it's very tough to like Kutcher. Kucharov's resume is technically better. You know what I mean? But I don't know also, like, yeah, like you said now based on their cap hit, I mean, that's a different story as well.

[Whitney]

Man, it would have been incredible though, magic, Kuchov and McDavid. But then at the same time, it's like, But Leon and McDavid are so deadly together. So that's one of the most evenly matched superstar trades I've ever heard. Of like the fact it almost went down is wild. And then what Kov has done since, it makes lightning. Fans say, thank God that that didn't happen. Yeah, I mean he's been your eyes at biz. What are you rolling your eyes at biz?

[RA]

Oh, I wasn't rolling my eyes. I was thinking like. Yeah, I was just more trying to think you, you could actually see my wheels turning the hamster wheel. What were you going to say? Short?

[Drew Shore]

Well, I was just gonna say it's one of those things that like, I wonder now, like with the cap going up a little bit, if we start to see more superstar trades because it's like, you know, I mean like stuff like that around the league from an entertainment perspective, like would be so good for hockey. But it's like I feel like it's happens very few and far in between because a lot of teams like due to cap space can't even accommodate some of these deals even if they wanted to.

[Whitney]

The cap has really up the trade. The trade game in the nh Michelle. We'll see what happens. Every deadline there's some sort of surprise hurdle. Last year, for Christ's sake. I still haven't gotten over that one. Even though Edmonton went to the cup final. When the Golden Knights got hurdle at the last minute, I almost puked on my couch. I made a video. Let's shout out Justin Schultz, who had the chance to play with in Edmonton. He announced his retirement from the NHL Wednesday this past week. 745 games over 12 seasons and two Stanley Cup Cups. He was the guy who I'd heard a lot about. He was dominant in college and then that lockout shortened season. Hall Eberly and Justin Schultz went and played in the AHL and I think they all had like 40 points in. In like 20 games. It was crazy. So you got to see what was coming in Edmonton. Then he came. He could skate like the wind. Great puck mover, an awesome career and a really nice guy. So I, I want to say congratulations to him. I don't know Shoresy. Did you know him at all or Biz? Have you ever met him?

[Drew Shore]

Yeah, I was playing in San Antonio during that lockout year. So we played Oklahoma City 16 times when they had like, you know what I mean? Those guys, I think, don't quote me on this. I think he led the league in scoring playing half of the like for defensemen for playing half the year. But I mean, amazing player, amazing puck mover. I played against him at Wisconsin for a couple years too. And I don't know if you guys know Jordan Smalt. But he was laughing. He texted me when he saw you retired.

[Biz]

He was.

[Shane Pinto]

Was like.

[Drew Shore]

He did one bus ride in lovely Switzerland and just said, okay, I'm done.

[RA]

That's it. Peace out.

[Trung Fan]

Like, thanks.

[Drew Shore]

Like, I'm good.

[Whitney]

I saw that. I saw that. And you go over and you want to keep playing, but then you're like, oh. And it's no offense at all. This is anywhere in Europe. It's just so different from that rush of the NHL where it's like, I don't. I don't love the game this much anymore.

[RA]

That's.

[Whitney]

That's funny. He sent that. I was thinking the same thing. That was me after the first period. And Sweden, I'm done. But I also couldn't play anymore. So I think it's time to throw it over to Trung fan. This guy came on the podcast for the first time, I don't know, maybe a year, two years ago, but he has blown up since. He is a business whiz. He knows all about AI, he knows all about Elon. He knows all about Taylor Swift's tour. He knows about Bitcoin. He's basically like a. A human computer. That's what I'd like to call column. So I think no matter what, check this out. You'll be interested. He's a great dude, and we appreciate him coming on right now. Trunk fan. Before we continue, guys, I need to talk to you about Jackpocket. Are you feeling lucky? Well, get ready to try out your luck with Jackpocket, America's number one lottery app. With Jackpocket, you can order Powerball and Mega Millions tickets right on your phone. They even have official state lottery games. I think Powerball's getting up near a building million. You could be a billy goat because of Jackpocket. You can order them right to your phone. It's so easy. Powerball and Mega Millions without having to get out of get off the couch. It's perfect. Every day there are millions up for grabs right on your phone. New customers to Jackpocket can get a free lottery ticket using code Puck. P U C K. That's code puck for a free Powerball or Mega Millions ticket. Imagine the story if you download Jackpocket and you get a free Powerball ticket because you signed up and then you win a billion dollars. Can you picture it? Because I can. Don't wait. Download Jackpocket now for your chance to win.

[RA]

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[Whitney]

It's been a minute since we had this legend on the show. Busy boy. It's been a minute. It's really hard to describe this guy. I think he's a. He's a Twitter thread master. He's a. He's an AI. He's a. He's a wizard of AI. And he's also the. He's the spitting Chiclets business correspondent. That's what we're gonna go with. Trunk Band. What's going on, bro?

[Biz]

The Asian correspondent. The Asia. The Asian.

[Whitney]

It's been a while. It's been a while. And Biz had the idea we gotta have Trunk back on. I said, that's perfect. Catch up on everything. The year's coming to a close and I guess one of the things we could kind of start with is something we chatted about last time and. And Biz was kind of dogging bitcoin. And since then, this thing is ripping. It's ripping. Biz looks foolish.

[RA]

So where I bought the Hawk to a coin.

[Biz]

Oh, my good. I mean, fair enough, right? The. I mean, did you. Did you lose your shirt on that? That was like.

[Trung Fan]

She's asleep.

[Whitney]

She's still sleeping.

[Biz]

I mean, I think we were. I think Biz said last year that he had a. He. He was gifted a coin as part of some promotional things thing. Are you still holding on to that?

[RA]

Yeah, I got.

[Biz]

Wait, but did you get any of that? Did like, you get an email from like the creditor being like, hey, by the way, like, we sorted this out and here's your like 0.1 Bitcoin.

[RA]

Well, they're. They're trying to. I thought it was spam. I actually got one the other day. I can pull it up. So you're saying that if I fill this out, I'll get my money back? That was in that fdx.

[Biz]

So they got. So two years ago, we covered the FDX blowup, which was like the first time I rolled on it. That was. And basically everything we talked about ended up kind of happening. I end up going to jail. Jail. And. But what happened from. There's the bankruptcy courts. So the guy that ran the bankruptcy for FTX was the same dude that did Enron. So this guy's like the LeBron James of like, bankruptcies. So he's rolling in.

[Whitney]

So he gave his son a job too.

[Biz]

Yeah, exactly. Right, well, well, we'll see. I mean, I don't know about that one because we're going to count that as the six minutes that Bronnie played. But let's not get into that too deeply. But so the dude that did the ft, the thing that ended up happening actually was. So if Sam Bankman Fried had just held onto this scam for like three more months, the markets like kind of rallied. He could have like kind of kept it going, which is insane, dude. So like the running joke on crypto Twitter is like, if you just kept this thing go over three to six months, like, he'd be like, you know how like Elon and got really close in the political process. And like, that's what SBF was doing two years prior. So everybody's like, oh my God, this guy was like this close, close to being kind of the king maker for politics. But obviously he went and. But basically your point, people are upset because they're getting back in dollar terms what the asset was worth. So you'll get back what that was worth in November of 2022. But ever since then, like, crypto assets have 10x.

[RA]

And from my understanding that is if you have a lot of bitcoin or even just a little bit, you shouldn't just keep it in the wallets, which is like something like an FTX or like an app like that. If you have a significant amount, should you not have it on like a, like a hard USB or something that like where you.

[Biz]

What they call it.

[RA]

Yeah, okay.

[Biz]

Yeah. I mean, if you. Now that you're convinced, when I convinced you in three minutes of the merits of bitcoin and why you should be going all in. No, I mean, cold storage is what the, the true OGs do. They. They're like, they'll bear it in like their backyard and like hide the codes everywhere. Where. Well, I'll give you an example. The, the Winklevoss twins are very, have publicly very spoken about their big bitcoin bags. And. But what they do is they cut the keyword phrase, which is what, how you yourself will be able to access your bitcoin. They split it into like 12 phrases and put them in banks across the country. So like, they take it very seriously, as in only they will be able to access it. So like, to answer wits, but just to circle back to Wit's original question, like, what's going on with bitcoin? I Mean, it was a very, very Trump trade in the sense of there's like 80 million Americans that hold some type of crypto asset. It was like the lowest hanging fruit for either the Democrats or Republicans to go after because you just say, hey, we're not going to, you know, take your bitcoin or we're not going to do legislation which will crush the crypto industry. That's like 80 million Americans, right? It's a quarter of the electorate holds some type of crypto asset. And like it was such low hanging fruit for Trump. Like he went to this Tennessee bitcoin conference and is like, yeah, hold on to your bitcoin, like, I'm going to be the biggest bitcoin president ever. I don't even know if he understands how it works, but he understands that it's an important asset, right? And then he just says that. And people, if you're a one issue voter, you're just like, okay, like Trump will protect my crypto. And I think a lot of that had to do with the post election rally. It's just up almost two times.

[RA]

Do you think a lot of it had to do with the fact that over the course of COVID that they kept printing money. So maybe a little bit of the lack of trust and maybe the Federal Rule Reserve is what has like, like basically the reason why this thing has rallied and gotten as popular as it is now. And the fact that it's up to over $100,000, which a lot of doubters said there's not a chicken dick's chance, especially when it would go up to 20, 30 grand. And then all of a sudden it would, it would, it would drop to like 10 or 5. So.

[Biz]

Well, dude, when we talked two years ago, it fell to 16,000, right? And people were like bearing, they're like, oh, this is it, this is the end, right? Like the biggest scam ever. This guy's going to jail. People got absolutely rugged and screwed, which they did at that moment. But I think the, the, to answer your question, biz directly, yes, I think a big part of this is just, it's not just the U.S. government. So the U.S. government added $6 trillion during COVID And I mean you can literally just go to the Federal Reserve's official website. They have this crazy chart. I'm sure that Grinnell could pull it up, but it's like, it's like the money supply and it just hits and then 2020 just boom. It literally added about 40% of all the money that's ever been made in the last three years. So, like, you don't have to be. That's not a difficult thing to understand. Right. It's like you print money. It's kind of devalue a lot of things and. But the interesting thing, biz, which you'd ask is like, is this the kind of the. If you're say, the quote unquote, the investment thesis. So if you guys remember probably 10 years ago when bitcoin started coming up, people are like, oh, it's a medium of exchange. Exchange is that digital cash. It'll be competitive with the US Dollar. Right. So that's one version of what money is supposed to be. Like, money serves three purposes. It's a unit of account, medium of exchange, and a store value. Right. So like people like, oh, bitcoin's going to do these three things and. But then you actually found out that if you pay for a pizza, famously with Bitcoin, 10 years ago, that was like the most expensive pizza you ever bought in your life. Right?

[RA]

That was a true story.

[Biz]

Yeah.

[Whitney]

Oh, yeah.

[RA]

How much is it worth now in. In bitcoin coin?

[Biz]

I think billion. Literally billions.

[RA]

Oh, my.

[Biz]

Like the very first. Because this was like done like over 10 years ago.

[Whitney]

Like, people. I thought people spent like 10 bitcoins on a pizza.

[Biz]

Oh, yeah, but they did, right? Like 10 years ago. And then actually the. Do you guys remember the Silk Road, which is the underground dark market? The guy went to jail. Ross Ober. Actually, Trump says he's gonna. What's it called when you. Yeah. Pardon him. And, uh, he might. I don't know if that's going to end up happening. But the. The point was the tweets that have been coming all the past month. When Bitcoin hit 100, some of these things were sending me, man. It's like some chick just tweeted something like, I'll send it to you guys to post up later. But something along the lines of, wow, I just realized I spent 300k on Molly for a party. 50 10.

[RA]

That's what G just sent in the chat.

[Whitney]

Yep.

[RA]

G said, my friend used to buy drugs on the Silk Road with bitcoin. All of Plymouth State would.

[Whitney]

No wonder they were at Plymouth State. These dumb.

[Biz]

No offense, G, but so I want to say, like, so six weeks since the election. Now, at this point, there's a couple reasons why rallied. There was that part like biz, you kind of hit the top note.

[Shane Pinto]

You hit.

[Biz]

The main thing is people realize that it's not just the US Dollar. It's like the entire world is printing money, right? Like, everyone printed money to combat Covid, which, I mean, at a top level you can understand, but you're kicking the can down the road, right? It's like the US Debt, it's like no matter what happens, somebody's going to have to pay that eventually. And I don't want to get super political, I know, blah, blah, political topics, but somebody's going to deal with it. Probably our children, right? Like our children's children. But when you print money, it's the same thing. Like you're carrying something in the medium term. Like, the main purpose was during COVID was because, you know, you had lockdown, businesses were not operating, is you just had to kind of stimulate demand somehow now, which is why so many things went online. But there's a price to pay for that. And the price, the price was inflation, which I'm sure all you. We talked about last year, inflation was a big reason, largely for why Trump won, too, is like people were just upset, just looked at the paycheck. They're like, I'm buying less groceries every time I go to Whole Foods. Right? Or probably not even going to Whole Foods. It's like you go to Albertsons or you're getting donged. And so the bitcoin thing, the other part, and I wrap it up with these two things, is, number one, biz nailed the top level. People realizing that this is the. When people say the hardest asset, like you guys saw Michael Sailor talking with David Portnoy. That was like a month ago. It went pretty viral because Sailor, who's kind of the master at analogies, kind of made this one about Jordan LeBron is like, kind of didn't really hit, but people. You remember that, right?

[Whitney]

Yes. So, but he said he'd buy it at a million. He goes, I'll be buying it when it's at a million.

[Biz]

Like, not investment advice, he's putting a $13 million target on it. Right. Just like, like biz. I. I don't know if that's that one that's going to convince you, but I think the best way to think about it, though, is if they've moved from kind of this, hey, is it a medium of exchange 10 years ago? Maybe not the best thing, because it's probably a better store value. Maybe it's just not going to be cash the way we think about it. But if it's a store value, it's clearly increased in value and it's held its value better than almost any asset since it's been around gold is the thing that we kind of briefly talked about. But global gold market cap is about $15 trillion. 15 trillion. So bitcoin right now is 2 trillion. So the thing that for me, if I were to have like one long term thesis and again not investment advice and I am pro, because I'm at a. Wait, I'll just throw this quickly is so let's say there's 15 trillion gold, Bitcoin's 2 trillion. So somewhere between there you may believe there's going to be a convergence. And I'd say the some people be like, well you know, gold has these applications, but it's like dental applications or like jewelry. But the reality is that the large majority of gold is as a store value. And bitcoin here is kind of like the top level thesis, not investments fight is like the 70, 30 to 70 trillion dollars is being transferred from boomers and Gen x to millennials. 30 to 70 trillion. I know that's a big delta, but it's in the tens of trillions of dollars of wealth. So just think about what do you think under 30s are going to put their money in store value if they're going to pick bitcoin or gold, right? Is that again I'm there are, you know, do your own research. There's a lot of problems that bitcoin does have, but I think it's kind of crossed the Rubicon. And, and in such a way of like America is talking about having strategic bitcoin reserve. Whether or not that happens, the fact that you have the President of the United States saying that is pretty significant. You have Fidelity, BlackRock, Vanguard, the biggest financial money managers in the world have all released ETFs around Bitcoin. Bitcoin, it's, it's been mainstreamed, right. And, and there's just, there's, it's completely cross a Rubicon. And now the question really becomes, you know, how much do you want to allocate to it if you want to do any at all? There's still these concerns. I know there's this narrative around money laundering with it, it's like, hey, you know what the easiest way to money launder is? It's called the US Dollar, right? It's like what do you think El Chapo and Kabul Escobar had like underneath there? I mean it's just you can launder a lot more money at one time. But the thing is like bitcoin can actually be traced because it's on chain, right? There are money laundering risks certainly, but anything any Mediums, any cash type instrument will have laundering risks.

[Whitney]

My last question about bitcoin, so I'm kind of a more safe than sorry guy. I think that looking at it and I don't have any bitcoin, My brother Colin actually is really involved with it and he has been for quite a while. While my thing is say, say you had 20, say you bought two Bitcoin when they were at 10 grand, so you're in for 20 grand and that, and that two Bitcoin is now worth $230,000.

[Biz]

OK?

[Whitney]

Talking to people who are all in on bitcoin, like to even mention to them of selling off a bit of it, they think you're crazy. Where I'm, I'm like, all right, why don't you take 80 grand of it? You're still, you're still in for, you know, a good amount and then you at least have something where you can then invest on another side. Like do you see the side that I'm coming from or do you see the side where these bitcoin actually don't ever sell a thing?

[Biz]

No, I, I, I, I'm very much in your camp. It's from just a traditional kind of, I have a more traditional finance background. It's like, it's just standard good practices, right. You don't want everything in one bucket, right. And but you're right, there are super hardcore bitcoiners that will, they're like 99% invested in Bitcoin and I mean clearly they've done well for themselves. I'm sure they have some liquid just for their bidded day. But some of, I mean a lot of it is, a lot of it is tied up. The way that you mention it is quite ideological in the sense of it is you, you're, you're finding a way. It's decentralized and censorship resistant. That's the idea, right? It's like if you wanted to take a billion dollars and leave the country and never come back, that's what you would do, right? And you couldn't, you couldn't do that. 50 years gold, gold, right. That's impossible. You couldn't move that amount of money around. So there's like that very ideological element to the type of individual you're describing. But now I think it's mainstreamed in the sense of if somebody told you they had 100 grand in bitcoin in their investment portfolio, you're not going to bat an eyelid anymore, right? Even two years ago when we were talking about it, you might Be. Oh that's, you know, that's. It sounds like a lot, but it's like totally mainstreamed at this point.

[RA]

Do you think there's a possibility that it ever goes back below $50,000?

[Biz]

Certainly I do think there's possibility. It's a very, it's a very volatile asset and because it's so easy to unlock load and, but over. If you actually look at, and this is just numbers, right, if you look at any 4, 5 year period of a bitcoin's lifespan, granted it's only been around for 15 years or yeah, about 15 years. It's always up over that five year time span now. You know, past performance, not future guaranteed of future performance. But like there is this idea that if you wore just the time it's been around, it has outperformed almost every asset. Not to say that that will be the same going forward because there's only. It's already at 2 trillion, right? It's a massive, it's like how much more can it be? Like the biggest company in the world is Apple, like 3.9 trillion. Like once it I.

[RA]

So that's what's crazy is, is it has the same, basically the same market cap now as Apple, which Apple has been selling products for however long and all of a sudden this thing comes out of nowhere and now it's got the same market cap. So that's something that I think that people have a hard time time grasping.

[Biz]

And I would wrap it up with this, a biz. It's actually something you said. Like you said, you know, Apple's been around since the mid-70s, right. And it's, it's created the greatest consumer product ever. Like the iPhone, they've sold, I think it sold 2 billion iPhones lifetime and over a trillion dollars revenue just from the iPhone. The greatest consumer product ever. It might never be matched, but like Bitcoin is selling a product, right?

[Trung Fan]

It is.

[Biz]

We just talked about, Whit had mentioned and you mentioned the money printing the product is you're, you're protecting, you know, the amount of money that you've made in your life. Like the line that Michael S. Likes to use is, you know, people will spend 99% of their life thinking about how to make money and then spend 1% of it thinking about how to secure that value. He's like, you should probably spend a bit more time thinking about how to secure that value. So I think that's actually a, you know, he, he has some more like kind of ambitious statements. But I think that one makes A lot of sense, right? It's like man, you spend a lot of your life trying to make money like figure out how to keep that value. Right.

[RA]

Well, since we're kind of talking about money and stocks, we got to mention Jensen Juan. He's the CEO of the year and the AI leader, Nvidia, which Nvidia. If you've had that stock over the last five years, I think it's up like 2,000%.

[Biz]

Yeah.

[RA]

And my understanding it's a super chip, but what but it. Trung's laughing at me already.

[Biz]

I can't even explain it this explanation.

[RA]

But it's a super chip. But it, it, it's able to use AI technology the best as far as far as a super chip. Taiwan, they had a super chip factory. I want to say it burnt down over the course of COVID which kind of delayed a lot of cars being made because a lot of things use this super chip now to the point where now they've built one or at least started the construction on i17 in Arizona where they will be making them. So let's talk about Nvidia and the CEO of the year and what they've created and why it's one of the hottest stocks in the world over the past few years.

[Biz]

Absolutely. I, I have a feeling your investment advisors have given you guys some Nvidia. If they haven't, you might want. No, check it. I'm not telling you to fire investment. Do you guys have any Nvidia?

[RA]

I think I missed the boat on it.

[Whitney]

I don't feel like Whitman might. It's pretty pathetic. I, I, I may, I don't know what I have. I don't it's my But I might.

[Biz]

You just you trust at the end of the year your investment financial advisors give me like you're like hey, listen, we're up. That's all you need to know. Right?

[Whitney]

I feel like I saw that on the, on the breakdown. I get a quarterly breakdown. I feel like I saw Nvidia.

[Biz]

I think I would not be shocked if you did. It was like I, I, I want to jump on what kind of biz says here. So it is, it is a chip and I want to kind of, I'm gonna walk through it a bit, but I want you guys to tell me if everything I'm saying is making sense. Right? Because I want to make sure I'm respecting the listeners levels too. Like I know sometimes because I spend a lot of time in the weeds here. I don't want to go too far down that Road, but top level. What I will say is this just to kind of frame the situation for you guys to understand. Jensen Huang, he's within the tech business world. He's become a total rock star. Like, have you guys seen this guy with a leather jacket? Have you ever seen a picture?

[Whitney]

Yeah, I saw. He's worth 120 billion almost also.

[Biz]

Right, okay. So as to frame it. I. I'll add this just to give an idea of what's happened in the chip space. What is the biggest semiconductor company in America in the second half of 20th century? You guys will know it. Electric starts with an I. You guys will know it. In, in, in, in. Hit it, hit it. Intel.

[RA]

Interact.

[Biz]

Intel. Intel. Yeah, yeah. Okay, you got close. Internet. Intel. Intel was the leader, right? Everybody, Intel. You guys definitely know. You remember the Internet. Yeah.

[Whitney]

God.

[Biz]

God damn it. Yeah. We're so close. Okay. Intel. So intel was founded as, as a chip company and the Silicon Valley. The term Silicon Valley refers to the silicon inside of chips. Like, that's how this entire thing started, right? So intel was a leader of that. And if you've ever heard Moore's Law, which is the idea that every two years, computer power, like double bubbles, that's also from this intel, the company and like the most important semiconductor company in America in the second half of the 20th century. So wait, you said 120 mil is 120. Bill is what Jensen's worth. He's worth more by himself than intel is now. So, like, that's how crazy this Nvidia story is. And the Nvidia story is very. It's an AI driven story. And the top level way to think about it, which I'm sure some of your listeners have heard or understand, is you guys remember the Gold Rush, who made the most money in San Francisco in the 1850s for late 1840s, early 1850s, in the gold Rush, it was not the gold miners. It was a person selling the picks and the shovels, right? It was. Or even like Levi's. Levi Strauss sold the jeans and famously, like, that's how they developed the jean product. And he sold it to every single person that went to.

[Trung Fan]

To.

[Biz]

To mine gold. And. And there's a saying in these kind of waves, these technological waves, is like, if you're the individual providing the picks and shovels, you're the one that's going to end up making all the money. And so if you actually look at the AI revenue and you're talking about Amazon is buying AI chips. So when Biz said super chips, he's referring to. What is it called, the H100. It's this GPU from Nvidia. And I'll explain the difference between a CPU and a gpu. Cause it's relevant. I think you guys will find it quite interesting. Interesting is these chips now are being bought by Microsoft, Elon for Tesla, Elon for Xai, OpenAI. All these big. The big tech companies, 10 biggest companies in the world are all buying AI chips from Nvidia because Nvidia sells by far the best product. And we had mentioned iPhone earlier, Steve Jobs. What Steve Jobs did with iPhone and with Apples, he vertically integrated, which means he controlled every part of the system stack. Not every company is like that. For example, Microsoft, when they were like minting in the 90s, they had the operating system Windows. But you could go to like Dell, right? Or you could go to Compaq, or you could go to HP and buying computer. That's not Apple, right? Apple's like, we want to control every level of the stack. So the. Are you guys, you guys, you guys are iphoners, right? Or do you could do Android?

[RA]

Yes, yes.

[Biz]

So the iPhone, they lock you into their ecosystem. Because it's incredible. Incredible. It's incredible.

[Whitney]

It's so easy.

[Biz]

It's so easy, right? You buy any new product, it links to your laptop, it links to your phone. So they combine software and hardware. That was unlike Microsoft, right? Microsoft did the software, but not the hardware. In the 90s, that's when it became the biggest company in the world. Nvidia did the same thing. They created the chip, but on top of it they stacked something called Cuda, which is the software layer, and that allowed you to program these GPUs. And GPUs were initially meant for graphics. It's right in the name graphics computing, sorry, graphics processing units. Right? That's, that's what it's for. In the 90s, when Jensen founded this company, it was to make video games. So he saw in the early 90s is like, I think video games are going to be massive. So I want to create the best chip for video games. Now what do you require for video games? You need graphics. And what is, what is ultimately graphics being rendered? It's math. It's a pure math problem. Like you're rendering these like triangles, you render shapes, and you want it to follow the laws of physics. It's a math problem, essentially. So that's what a GPU does. It's like the best way to think about it is just really, really, really good at. At high level and Intensive math and the you will see why it's relevant for AI shortly. But a cpu, which is what intel specialized in, is more generalized. So it's a central processing unit, you use it, it can't do very many things at once. It's more of a sequential thing. But what it means is it can do very kind of like Excel spreadsheets, surf the web, any app you want on your computer, you'd rather have a CPU do it because it's, it's general and it's smarter in that sense. Right. Smart zone relative here. But GPU is very powerful for math. And basically what we've seen is, and what Jensen saw was okay, you can use GPUs to render graphics, but it turns out rendering graphics which require a lot of intensive math that can be done at the same time, it's called parallelization. It's not super important. But just know that math is very relevant here and how intense you can do it, you can actually apply that to multiple industries. And that's why people realize over the past decade is like, oh, AI is a huge math problem and the best chips to attack it is actually not the CPU which is more generalized and you can do many things on it, but it's the GPU which does one thing really, really, really well. And you just buy these massive data centers like the one that Biz had mentioned earlier and you just throw hundreds of thousands of these chips. And these are the results we're Getting now with ChatGPT. These image generators, these video generators and, and like that's why Jensen became worth 120 billion. Nvidia is the second most valuable company in the world. Biz, you said 20 times. Yeah, it's about 20 times up in the last five years. And yeah, that's kind of the Nvidia story and what I wanted to say. I want to pause that for a second because I do want to talk about Jensen specifically because you guys will. This guy is an animal. And so if you guys any more Nvidia questions specifically I happy to answer.

[RA]

Of those, what do these chips that he's creating, what are they most used for? Like what are they for cars? Like what are.

[Biz]

Oh yeah, because cars are AI. For example, Elon and Tesla built a massive data center for the self driving. You guys, don't you ever use full self driving on Tesla? Or actually B, you live in Arizona. You guys have Waymo, right?

[RA]

Yeah, there's tons of self driving cars around here. And like, yeah, like yesterday like at three, like three of them within like like the stoplight, they were just all there and this is like one of the, the main places. Yeah. Because I feel like in the Scottsdale area everything's pretty flat and gritted properly. Where it's such a, a newer city compared to like going to like New York or London where you know these cities and were gritted out long, long time ago. Where I feel like in order for them to get it and understand it and, and store all the information through these chips ships, it's easier to start here than it is anywhere else. So I don't think it's far fetched to think in 20, 30 years that maybe 50% of the cars on the road here will be self driving. Especially come like any type of Uber or transportation from the airport. No doubt.

[Biz]

Oh you nailed it. That's exactly why they picked Arizona, because of the grid. Right. It's all parallel the streets because this is New York City. Interestingly Waymo actually just is going to launch in Tokyo. So they're really testing how far they took it. But to answer, to answer your question, what does it use for that? That's one massive example. So a thing that Jensen has always done is he identified a market like 10 years before it became big. He's like I'm putting all my chips in so the, when I talk about them specifically you'll see why this guy's such an animal. But so to answer your question basis like self driving cards is a big one. All this, all this generative AI stuff that you're seeing, you know, you know, text to video chat, GPT, all that stuff is being done that you're seeing. A lot of medical research is being done with AI chips too because like protein folding, which is a very bio in biology, protein folding is an extremely math intensive, you know, requirement. So that's what you use a lot of chips for.

[RA]

Those one, one last one before we get to Jensen is like sometimes like technology it become like completely irrelevant very quick because another company comes in and they, they have a better chip and better technology. Who is a threat to Nvidia? Like who is the biggest threat where all of a sudden it'd be like well we'd rather use those than go to his chips, right?

[Biz]

No, that's a great question. So this is actually a very big deal right now in tech because these companies are getting bent over to pay Nvidia. Like they are paying through the nose. You mentioned a shortage biz during 2022, during COVID there was a shortage because a lot of factors had to be shut down down but now they kind of work through that shortage. And a lot of the manufacturing does happen in Taiwan, which is a, we can talk about maybe top of the geopolitical issue between China and the US That's a kind of a, another separate thing, but very important. But to answer your question, B, there's actually two very interesting competitors. Actually the main one is Google. So Google has been developing its own chip for AI for ages because.

[Whitney]

Is that the quantum computer?

[Biz]

It's not the quantum computer, but we should talk about that too because they did create a chip. No, but they're very good at creating their own chips. And so is Apple, by the way. Apple. People may not know Apple's M and A history, but I'll give it to you right now. For example, you guys remember Mark Zuckerberg bought WhatsApp for like 17 billion, right. Microsoft bought the gaming company Activision for 69 billion. Massive acquisition, right. Apple doesn't actually make very large acquisitions because you know, when you acquire a company, you maybe want their brand or their revenue. Apple's like, yeah, we don't really need any of those things. We're like a platinum brand and we have tons of revenue. Right. They acquire technologies. But this is just to answer business question. They bought a semiconductor company. This is one of Steve Jobs last acquisitions before he died and it turned into a monster because Apple now creates chips in house. House, which is why their freaking phones. And like what you're saying, it's like everything just works seamlessly, right? It's because they've been developing their own chips. So the big tech companies developing their own chips is probably the biggest threat to Nvidia. And it makes sense for these big tech companies because they're spending so much money. And then in terms of like traditional semiconductor companies, AMD is the other big one. Funny enough, AMD is run by a Taiwanese American lady named Lisa C. Sue. She's cousins with Jensen Huang. So like this family is insane, but they're both Taiwanese. And I'll circle back actually Jensen's story and I hope at this part Grinnell just has photos of Jensen in his leather jacket because this guy's a badass man. But I'll give you some like top level stuff is there was like a very famous article that came out earlier this year. It's like when I was talking about how these companies were just begging Nvidia for, for chips, just begging them, right? And it, it turned out, I think it's a Wall street journal said that like Elon Musk, Larry Ellison, the third Richest guy in the world, founder of Oracle. We're having dinner with Jensen Huang and Nobu and there's like hilarious, like we're literally just there begging him to give us more chips. It's like this is like the level that Jensen's on. And like if you, if you listen and talk to any of these top CEOs, like guys like Zuckerberg, Elon, Larry Ellison, they're just like, they know, right? Like, they're all just like, yo, this guy, he's like, we respect the shit out of this guy, right? He's like, what he's done. And there's multiple reasons to it. So one, he's been the CEO of Nvidia for 31 years. For a tech company, it's pretty unheard of. So Bill Gates was about 25 years at Microsoft. Steve Jobs between his two runs was 23 years because he was famously fired. But the Last one, from 97 to 2011, when he passed, 14 years. That was when Apple did that fucking insane streak they did. Ipod, iPhone, iPad. The greatest run in corporate history. And then, and then a guy like Tim Cook, 13 years, current CEO of Apple, Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, nine years. So I'm just trying to show you like Jensen in the most cutthroat industry, he's still here.

[Whitney]

How many, how many years was it, I'm not going to say a struggle, but you know, the roller coaster of a company, in the beginnings of a company, up and down, was it like, because if he's 31 years now, was it the first 10 to 15, like.

[Biz]

Nothing was popping the great question. They, they almost went bankrupt three times.

[Trung Fan]

Wow.

[Biz]

Three separate times in 30 years. So like, this is also why a lot of other executives look like they're like, disrespect them so much. He, because he bets his company, he makes these massive bets and they're 10 year long bets. Like this AI bet he made, he made 10 years ago. Like when even more than 10 years ago he realized that people wanted these really powerful chips that we described, described, but they wanted the software layer on top of it. So he was taking resources from every other part of his company, just plowing it into this software layer called Cuda. And like investors were like, dude, what are you doing? Like, why are you doing this? And he's like, this is 10 years out. Like it's going to be worth it. This is where we headed. And to your, to your point, Whit, they almost like went bankrupt and like bust during these periods. So like all these other Executives like, holy shit. This guy like bets the farm. Right? That's why people, when you look at Elon, Elon bets the farm every time.

[RA]

It's almost like the big short for him in a sense where there were not a lot of believers. Maybe in the beginning now.

[Biz]

Right.

[RA]

Why did he get to stay in that seat though? When maybe there was doubters and people were like why the are you doing this? Did they have no choice? Because they were knee deep in the. At that point anyway.

[Biz]

Knee deep. And just like they, they knew that no one else could run this company. So I want to give a shout out to probably the best book I read this year came out just a couple of weeks ago. It's called the Nvidia Away by Take him. And it's only 245 pages. So if you guys are interested, take.

[RA]

Me a couple months.

[Biz]

No, hit the audio book. Hit the audiobook, dude. But I mean, Jensen, I, I wanted to kind of go back to his childhood because his parents were from Taiwan. They sent him to America because they knew America is a land of opportunity. And he was here with his brother without his parents. They were here at their aunt and uncle. But here, this is where you guys will get a laugh. They sent him to what they thought was a boarding school. His parents, parents like in Taiwan, they're like somehow finding a way to send in a boarder school to give him his best opportunity. Send him a board of school. And I believe it's in Kentucky. And then they later found out it's not a boarding school, it's a juvenile house. So his like bunk mates. Yeah. Or like gang bangers and people that had stab wounds. This, he's like 13 years old. I'm sure there are a couple people do 6v ones with him. You know what I mean? He like was living like biz down at AZ a month ago. This is like Justin Huang's car. So.

[Whitney]

But I bet you if you talk to him, that probably like molded him like he was. He was lucky enough to get through it. But there's no way that didn't affect him in a good way as crazy.

[RA]

Now I understand the leather jacket too.

[Biz]

Yo. You know that you get shanked. You wanna, you wanna grab the leather jacket. Ready? Right. But like so he does this and I, I'll add two things to wit's point. He has the greatest LinkedIn profile in the history of mankind kind because in his mid teens he worked at Denny's. Famously he founded Nvidia in a Denny's with his two Co founders Curtis Prem and Chris Malachowski. So this is what happened when he was 15, started working Denny's, the shittest jobs in the world. To, to which point, like he's eating right, he knows what it's like at the bottom and he doesn't care. So he used to clean bathrooms, you know, do places, standard stuff, like stuff that, you know, if you've ever worked in one of these restaurants, you done it. But the point is this guy is like the sixth richest guy in the world right now. But like he remembers those experience. There's a video on YouTube. He went to Stanford Business School in March of this year and he's surrounded by Stanford MBAs, you know, the, the future of corporate America. Smart kids, probably super wealthy parents. And he just goes, just looks around, he goes, looks around the room, just points his finger. He's like, I've cleaned more bathrooms than every single person in this room combined. It's like, you know, I like my life's about pain and suffering. He's like, that's the only way you'll succeed in building business is that he goes, I wish you pain and suffering because in this business the only way to win is to experience that and to come on the other side. Right? He's like, resilience is the only. He's like, being smart is great. Being resilient is 100 times better. So that's his story. This is why he's a legend, man. He's a absolute legend.

[Whitney]

Yeah. All these kids who, who have all the, this, this resume and these diplomas and all the, the future in front of them, will they be able to get back up after they get knocked down, which inevitably they will get knocked back down. And that's probably the biggest thing about it. And I guess him living it now, my, my final question for him would be, you talk to some people and they look at billionaires, especially people like him, multiple, multiple billionaires, and there's something bad to be said about them. Now what would the detractors of this guy maybe say? Or is there nothing really there because of what he came from growing up?

[Biz]

Yo, there's, I mean, there's certainly, there's none of this kind of like, oh, you came from money thing, because he clearly did it, but now it's more like, because there's always gonna be, you guys know this, you guys work in media, you guys are professional athletes. Is like, no matter what you do, somebody's going to try to tear you down. Right?

[Whitney]

Oh, and the bigger you get.

[Biz]

Yeah, the bigger you get, right? It's just. It's just human envy. And envy is just like the great. I mean, it's the most poisonous thing, but it's just so natural. And I get it, right? I get it all the time. But for him, I think the. The criticism is more so around him as like a manager, like, in the same man. If you listen. Read anything about these guys. You read about Steve Jobs, was it like a. Like, do you think he was a good dude at the office? People out, cutthroat, Right? But, like, what I would say about a guy like Steve Jobs who had, like, a pretty bad corporate reputation is that he'd had a really bad temper blowup was like, he once told Johnny I, which was his chief design officer. You quite, Sir John A. He's basically invented everything in a second around the iPhone, the. The design of it. But like, Johnny, I've once went to Steve Jobs after a meeting where Steve had chewed on an employee. And Steve was like, man, I met Johnny. He's like, Steve, like, man, that was clear, unnecessary, right? Like, why'd you do. Do that? And. And Steve was like, steve told Johnny, I'm pretty disappointed in you. Johnny's like, why? He's like, I. I think that you care more about being liked by the other employees and doing great work, because I thought you like doing great work, and that's why we're here. He's like, and sometimes you just have to chew people out to send a message. And then Johnny's like, actually, that's. That's pretty true. It's like, it wasn't necessarily about him caring about this other person is like, him wanting to be liked for himself. Right. And that. That's why he's like, oh, Steve, why would you do that? And Steve's like, no, we're here to. To, like, do good work. And I'm sure, I mean, you guys play.

[RA]

Yeah. I think there's a fine line.

[Whitney]

Like, I have a hard line.

[RA]

Oh, yeah. Like, I've been chewed out. So my favorite coaches are the ones who chewed me out the most for keeping me accountable and stuff like that. Some people are. Are maybe, you know, built for it. Some people go into the shell. And that's why we go back to the resiliency talk.

[Trung Fan]

Yeah.

[RA]

About Juan in. In general. Now, speaking of resilience and moving on from that talk topic, Taylor Swift. Oh, my God, that insane world tour she was just on for multiple years. I think it grossed over $2 billion. She's a machine. My understanding is after her shows the next day she'll actually just lie down and lay in bed for like 15 hours straight to restore energy to keep this thing going. How could someone possibly make that much money in music on a world tour to the point where wit Canada, Rogers, I think Rogers offered her $30 million just to even come to Canada.

[Biz]

Unbelievable.

[Whitney]

She gets the money on the tickets and the merch.

[RA]

Before any of that, just please come to our country and move the needle. Help us, you know, help, help, help stimulate our economy. Taylor. So I'll throw it over to you. Like how the do you do that?

[Biz]

Well, let me ask, do you guys go to the Heirs tour?

[RA]

I never.

[Whitney]

And I laughed at the fact when, when, when it was announced she was coming to Foxboro, I was like, ah, Taylor Swift. I can completely admit after seeing what happened on this tour and clips and how people talked about it, I, I don't, I'm not a huge fan. Like I don't dislike her, but music's not like what I'm listening to a lot. And I would love to go to one of these shows now.

[Biz]

Right? So that, that, that was literally how, I mean I listened to her early stuff, but I wasn't, I don't follow her all over, you know, albums over the past decade, but I knew I was going to go to this. So she did her last three shows in Vancouver. So I, I fell into my lap. So I'm like, okay, I don't have to go out because I was thinking of going to another city to watch it. And the only reason I wanted to watch it was kind of what you said as like, I kind of knew that this would be, this might potentially be the biggest concert tour ever be. And I'll tell you why I believe that.

[Whitney]

It's an experience.

[Biz]

It seems it's an experience, right? It's like, like I'll watch the Olympics, right? And there's like, I don't know, 90 of these sports, but I'll watch some dude like, whatever with a ski shoot after you do skiing. Oh, appreciate. I'm like, damn, this guy's the best at this, right? It's like I can appreciate what this guy's doing. Like I had no idea what's going on, but I'm like, this guy is a gangster or this gal's a gangster and she's doing whatever, cross country skiing and shooting things. This is a sport somehow. And I'll appreciate that. This on another level is like as soon as the tickets came out, you have to remember there's a couple elements here that I want to teas I'll at the top level ask you guys this. So I'll work through the top five largest concert tours ever. I'm curious if you guys have gone to them. So number one is Taylor Swift era tour. That's $2 billion total gross. This is all inflation adjusted. Coldplay Music of the Spheres. I feel like wit spin of this one. YouTube 360 degrees. Did you go to that one?

[Whitney]

That's I've been to both. I've been to Coldplay and YouTube. Okay.

[Biz]

You did Copen YouTube. Okay. Elton John's Farewell the Yellow Brick road is number four. Number five is Ed Sheer Divided Tour.

[Whitney]

And I've been to two, three, four and five.

[Biz]

Oh Rolling Stones. Rolling Stones. The Bigger Bang.

[Whitney]

I've never been there. I've never been to se last one.

[Biz]

I'll have is Guns and Roses. Not my lifetime. That's number seven.

[Whitney]

Okay so but we had the ref Axel Rose at Waterville Valley tournament last weekend. But I digress.

[Biz]

So Taylor did 2 billion with her tour. Again all inflation adjusted. Everything else is a billion or less. So she's double wow. Yeah. So she's the Just to give an idea of how big this tour is. Right. And granted she did 149 shows. So just to give some numbers busy you said it is over two years. She 149 shows in 18 months. That was one show every four days. It's three and a half hours, 44 songs, 25 plus costume changes. It was non stop. Right. So the way she trained for it and you biz you said she just lie down. It's because she's a professional athlete at this point. She would do three and a half hour sets. And the way she trained for and this is from her time person of the year cover last year. You know shuttle. She won it in 2023 is in the six months lead up to the Heirs tour which she'd already spent a year kind of just putting the set together, the costumes, the design of how the concert would look every day. This was her workout, her cardio. She would go on a treadmill, do three and a half hours on the treadmill and she do a fast song for her fast songs. Oh she. She put it in like whatever. Five, six, five miles for her fast songs and then three miles for her slow songs. Three and a half hours on the treadmill. That was her cardio.

[Whitney]

Straight.

[Biz]

Yeah, just straight.

[RA]

Cuz she was she doing the witty workout where you would do the little bit of an incline.

[Biz]

A little incline. I don't know about the incline.

[Whitney]

Could have torn his Achilles and ruined the whole concert thing.

[Biz]

No but I mean like I'm sure she's. She was pushing it, right? And then obviously Travis. Who knows what else they added to the routine, right? The Travis Kelsey workout. Like I know literally like she's probably. Probably had her doing. I'm like so hang cleans and things of that nature.

[RA]

But I thought you meant bringing her to the workbench is what I thought you meant.

[Whitney]

Hold on.

[Biz]

This just going. They're going to make mining the gutter here. Come on.

[RA]

All right. Sorry buddy.

[Whitney]

This is a people he lives. Splinter the rat.

[RA]

No Splinter.

[Biz]

But there are a couple things I want to point about the cont. The. So the size of it before talking about the economics of it because you guys had mentioned it, right. Rogers had offered her 30 mil. So it was insane. The. The economic impact she was doing in each city. It was like it was a. Estimated each city in America for her first leg of the tour was 100 million. Economic impact from hotels out of towners. Right. Hotels FMB spend just shopping and transportation. Insane. 100 million for each city. So I'm going to talk more about the economics but I'll talk about why I think it blew up. You guys remember the timing of this event. So Beetle Mania which is often compared to. And I mean I know none of us were live for Beatlemania but certainly it's. It's silly in our minds, right? So the. The main moment of Beetle Mania in America was February 1964. That's when I'm sure you guys have seen this Ed Sullivan, that Sullivan show. The Beatles rope at Sullivan Show. Just to give you guys an idea. You guys guys are massive podcast massive numbers. This is what the Beatles did on that day. 73 million Americans watched them. 50% of American TVs watched that performance on Ed Sullivan. This is the. The size of that performance. The timing of it was very interesting. And this will be relevant. We talked about the errors tour. JFK was killed four months prior to that. So America in itself was in a very dour mood.

[Whitney]

They were looking to feel good. Good.

[Biz]

Exactly. Exactly. Dude, you nailed it.

[Whitney]

And which was my thing about the concert is that you're there and you're just around for three and a half hours. Everyone is so happy and it's so.

[Biz]

Rare literally it that that's why when the first thing that came to mind when I saw the. The ticket master sale for errors the ticket Taylor Swift is so big that the Ticketmaster had a issue with their. The opening sales for her that the Department of Justice launched an antitrust case against Ticketmaster because Taylor Swift was mad. Like they is like the skill that she's at is unbelievable, right? It's truly unbelievable. So like the Beatles. Whit nailed the main point there. It was this country needed something to get out of of the JFK assassination. And actually like Walter Conray who's also a massive TV personality. The, the CBS and news anchor, one of the most important media personalities in the 60s in America. Like famously he came back from Vietnam in the 60. In 68 he went to Vietnam on a fact finding tour, came back and basically told the American people I don't think we can win this war. And Lyndon B. Johnson, the president at the time after watching that newscast said we just lost middle America. And a week later he said he would not run for re election. This is like the power of a guy like Walter Cron Craig. So Walter and Ed Sullivan also massive. They're just like we gotta like, like you know we're, we can't single handedly bring the country out of this. This is a shock to the world, right? But we could try to do our part. It's like they find these goofy four dudes from Liverpool, England, right? John, George, Ringo and. And Paul. And two of them are still around, Ringo and Paul. And they found them, they discovered them because they were blown up in the uk. But here's another thing that's interesting. As they were blowing up in the UK in 1963 so say about January, November when JFK was killed. They're blowing up in the UK but they b. Barely did anything in America. Like George Harrison came to America in September to visit his sister. No one knew who this guy was. And you know, and then three months later he's the most famous guy in the world. And the reason that happened was because there's a two record labels. There's the parent record label of, in the UK of, of the Beatles, the sister record label in America. The guy run winning it thought the Beatles were. He's like these guys, look at them, they're so goofy. They'll never make it here. So what happens is now think about it. The Beatles are releasing singles in the UK throughout all the, throughout the entire 63. And they're, they're picking up steam. They end up performing in front of the Queen in I think October. So they're making a legit run. America has no idea what's going on with this. These guys, JFK gets killed. Guys like Walter Concrete and Ed Sullivan are like, we gotta find something thing to kind of brighten the mood up. So the Beatles now, instead of dripping their singles throughout the year in 1963, they dropped three or four massive singles at the same time over Christmas. And here's another thing that happened. The transistor radio had its biggest Christmas ever in 1963, I think 10 million units sold or something. So you're dropping, you're putting. Instead of, you know, firing five arrows throughout the year, you're putting every piece of wood behind one arrow at one time. Around Christmas, everybody's home. So this, you guys are seeing how like this conflict of events, like, led to this like it. I'm not to say that Beatles wouldn't have been famous, but they kind of lucked into this wild situation.

[RA]

Yeah, timing is everything. It seemed like everything just kind of came to a head. Now I'm interested to like how this might have happened for Taylor.

[Biz]

Exactly. This is exactly where we going. You kind of hinted at it with COVID right? Covid happens. So she was going to tour in 2020. Her last tour was 2018. She, she doesn't do a tour in 2020. So now you're backing up all that demand for everybody that was going to go see her. And then between 2018 and 2023, when she starts touring, she released six new albums and her social media following doubles. And TikTok goes from 0 to 1 billion users. Spotify, the number one music app in the world, goes from 1. Whatever, call it 100 million users to 400 million users. All this tailwinds behind her now. And we're coming out of COVID in, in, in 2023, people hadn't been spending money, people hadn't been going out. So that was the similar. Do you guys see what I'm saying? Those are the tailwinds behind her. So she walked in a situation again. Like there was a, there's a global tragedy with, with COVID and a global situation that you didn't wish that, that. But that's what you end up walking into.

[RA]

And everybody's just starving for live entertainment again.

[Biz]

Exactly.

[RA]

The economy's been stimulated. They've printed $6 trillion. Everybody wants to spend it, and she's the one that they want to go see. And I, I, I'll go back to what Whit said. Like, I've played a few of her tunes. Like, I won't Bumper in the Car. I won't really play her, but you have to have respect for what she's been able to accomplish. And the fact that she's putting that much time and energy to train to go on this run. 149 shows, you said. The fact she's on a treadmill for three and a half hours singing songs while she's on the treadmill, like, that's fucking in. That's. That's insane.

[Whitney]

Let me ask you this trunk. I've been ridiculed by certain people at just the thought that the NFL could possibly be paying her to go to these games. I think it's somewhat realistic that if they're like, hey, you go. I mean, there's no way. It doesn't help their bottom line. You see how many people are watching the Chiefs games and it's not just because they're a dynasty.

[RA]

Look at, look at his podcast. Him and his brother's podcast.

[Whitney]

Is that that crazy of an idea?

[Biz]

Well, actually, I, I'll. So wait. I don't think it's a crazy idea. But I'll tell you why I don't think it's true. And it's a very simple reason. If you actually look at the recent halftime show performers, the NFL doesn't pay you to perform halftime. But if you're an artist, you're guaranteed 100 million views years. It's worth your, like the Weeknd actually invested over $10 million in his show because he knew that the Spotify bump any concert he did after he would get. I think Usher did the same with his performance in February. So, like, I don't think, I don't think it's insane for that to happen. But based on the fact that like the halftime performers are paying, like, they're literally paying to perform. Like, the NFL's like, hey, you can have the stage. But like, we're giving you this but budget. If you want to add extra, you deal with it and they're doing it. It would suggest that the NFL as a property. So actually, this is an interesting question because this is. You guys cover NHL, obviously, and you know, a lot of athletes in different sports. The NFL is such so much bigger of a juggernaut than just by the numbers. The NFL is a media property. Is a 20 billion dollar a year media property. Right. What's the NHL right now as a media property? What you call the revenues.

[Whitney]

I wouldn't even be able to guess.

[RA]

Oh, I, No, I, I think that the NHL just surpassed 5 billion in what they make. Yeah. So the NFL's four times the size.

[Whitney]

I would have guessed 40. I would have guessed they were 40 times bigger.

[Biz]

They're Definitely. I mean they're, they're headed in that NHL614, the NFL is bigger than every other major sport in America combined like that. It's just how it is. Right. And I think we talked about it briefly is how do you guys feel about kind of these, you know, these event based sports. Right. It's like NBA's 82 games way too many. And MLB is 162 or whatever. 160 and NHL is 82 also. It's like the event based stuff is what ultimately is what's happening with the Internet. Right. People are kind of lazy. They're doing their things. Like you're going up to the events like you go to the errors concert. Right. Or you go to the ERA tour or you go to the game on Sunday.

[Whitney]

You prepare for one game a week.

[RA]

I agree with you.

[Whitney]

And you could plan your entire week around it.

[RA]

I've said that the NHL should reduce their schedule and, and I think it would make more of an impact because every game means that much more more. I mean they won't do it. Charge more for the individual game tickets to compensate for the, the, the lack of the 82 game schedule. I'd like to see them move it down to at least 72. I think the product would be better. There would be more buildup as you're, as you're saying it just becomes a little bit watered down in my opinion. If you're doing so many baseball that's. That's the full blown extreme of it.

[Whitney]

Sad biz both and, and Trung is that it's, it's. If anything they would add like it's never getting mine. Actually it kind of. We're talking the leagues now. I know you're a big hoops fan. What's your thought on. On the ratings and how. And how horrible the ratings have been right now. Even we got Celtics coaches, we got LeBron mentioning like yeah it's a problem.

[Biz]

I. Yeah it's. I think for me personally I don't know if this applies to everyone across things like I just stopped watching the problem of like I don't watch games right. I watch YouTube highlights. I'm sure to a bit that this, this happens with NHL2. I'm just, I'm just a lot more concerned also about the off off, you know the off season and like the non court stuff. And I think, I think somebody brought a great point is like LeBron created this empowerment era, right. So I'm curious what you guys thoughts on this. Like he kind of made it no longer about the teams. It was about the players, right? And then once that happened, happens, and you lose connection to the team. Now you don't care about going to the stadium, right? You're just kind of following LeBron wherever he goes. Like, I've been following him since the Cleveland days. I know that the 2016, for me when we came back against the Warriors. So one of the greatest sports stories in the past decade for, for, you know, in my lower and personal life is like, but you kind of lose the connection. So I'm curious, do you guys see that breakage happening where, like, I do break.

[Whitney]

I do. I, I, I think, like, listen, I, I just can remember my dad growing up, somebody get traded from the Bruins, his team, team, and he'd say, I love the crest on the front. Like, I'm gonna miss the guy, but I love the crest in the front. And I think, and this is every sport but the NBA more than anything, like, guys are following individual athletes, fans are following individual players.

[RA]

I also think it has gone to their head to, in a way where you see the way, like a guy like Joel Embiid is, is acting, where there's rumblings that he'll be late to everything. And because they make so much money and they have so much control, I think he makes over $50 million dollars that it's kind of like, what are you gonna do if you get rid of me? Somebody else is just gonna pay it to me. So I, I agree with what you're saying, and I believe that that attitude has turned people away from watching it as well as the product. I think it's all really gone to their head to where that that can no longer happen. That's also why I think that hockey, in a way, more individuals have shown their personality, but it's still probably of the four major sports, extremely team oriented. And I feel like people gravitate towards that and why I feel like NHL is on the rise. Like, I think that the NHL right now, based on the four major sports, I think it has the biggest opportunity for growth because I also think that it hasn't been untapped yet in the United States. And we're starting to see a revolution where Team USA in this year's four nations and in next year's Olympics, is going to be incredible. The USA Hockey Development Program, College hockey, like I got right now, I have the new commissioner of the chl, or maybe it's the Ontario Hockey. Excuse me. In a text thread. I think he wants to come on the show to Talk about their league where you could see a sense that they feel like they're losing a little bit of steam and that now they need to get ahead of that. Where that tells me everything I need to know. Where the United States is a big opportunity for growth for hockey. And it just kind of alludes to what we were talking about. About. I don't really have much else on. On that. Do you guys?

[Biz]

No, yeah, I don't have much on that.

[Whitney]

I appreciate all this chunk. It's. It's a blast. I think. I think every time we get you on we're like, we got to do it more often. But I know it's. It's a Sunday, dude, and you're out out west. We appreciate you, you coming on explaining all these things to. To us two dummies and some of the dummy listeners. I'm not gonna lie. But it's. It's a blast chatting with you and congrats on all your success. I continue to see you rising, becoming bigger and bigger on X and I see Elon sometimes. Elon responds to. I'm like this guy, this guy's doing it. So thank you so much.

[RA]

That's one guy we didn't get the chance to ask you about. So one quick thought on your relationship with Elon.

[Biz]

Yeah, well, that's going to be a big, you know, a. A probably. Yeah. Let's do next episode. But what I did want to say, the last thing I want to tie off, you know, appreciate the time on this guy but the last thing I'll say about Tim Miller, I do want to shout out to this. Well, first of all, I got a shout out to my friend L who went to The Melbourne Show, Taylor's largest show ever, 96000 at the cricket stadium. And she's like, you got to go to the Vancouver one. So thanks for making me do that. And last thing I'll say about her is the tour did to bill. She gave 200 million to staff and crew as bonus on top of their salary. So that's a shout out and that's an amazing. Yeah, like I, I didn't want to leave it and people just think, oh, she made a ton of money for herself. It's like I wanted to close it out with that but you know, with the er stuff we got to come back because I got he. He's got so many, many things going on that are super interesting and happy to do that whenever is.

[RA]

Is Elan or is Elan. Is Elon throwing out bonuses?

[Biz]

Oh well, I Mean, listen, the people that work at his companies are extremely well compensated for the very difficult missions that they're going after.

[RA]

Love it. That's all I need to know. TR Fan, the big Business Insider for spitting chicklets.

[Biz]

That was amazing. Thank you guys.

[Whitney]

Thank you very much to Trunk Van. We didn't ask him about the drones. Shores, you got an opinion on the drones in New Jersey area?

[Drew Shore]

No. It's a little scary though.

[Whitney]

Yup.

[Drew Shore]

You know what I mean? It's a little scary. And I feel like more like my eyes are more and more open now. I feel like ever since COVID everyone's kind of realized what's, what's been going on in the world and like, you know what I mean? I think that we were living like in a pretty naive world for a long time. Or at least maybe I was. So it's a little scary.

[Whitney]

Yeah. Now you got the Joe Rogan interviews that I'm just listening. I'm like, I'm petrified right now. I don't know if I should listen to this anymore. Anymore.

[RA]

But he's a great take on it. I don't know much about, like, what's going on with these drones. I haven't been paying attention.

[Whitney]

I, I, I, I couldn't tell you. I would, I would think that with, I don't know if it's thousands or hundreds of drones in the New Jersey area that the government would know something they say they don't, which is, I guess, alarming.

[RA]

Probably a better chance if you walked.

[Whitney]

Out of your house. If you walked out of your house and saw a small SUV sized drone just hovering above, I would think it'd be a little terrifying. I mean, that's just me. I don't know. And then all of a sudden I got my brother in law, Moose, sending me a picture of a drone in the sky. And it looked like, like the way the picture came in. I'm like, oh my God, there's a drone above your house. And I zoomed in and it's, it's Barry, the big black car in the middle of the drone.

[RA]

So that's what it's buried with, the drone.

[Whitney]

Yeah, I got, I got to bury the big black guy in, inside a drone. So that's kind of what this has turned into too. Two last things I guess I'll mention. Or a couple last things. Glass Banger, who we've chatted about often with the Dallas Stars, just ruins the experience for people. Sits behind the net where Dallas shoots twice and bangs on the glass all game long. And brings hookers. He's in jail. So he's in prison. He gets out May of 2025, which scares me a little bit as a Western Conference Oilers fan, that that would be just about the time the Western Conference finals would begin. Would he be getting out of prison only to be right back on the glass for the Dallas Stars to make a run and win the Stanley Cup? Possible storyline right there. Let's hope not. The second thing that cracked me up just hit Twitter. We had a Saskatoon Senior Hockey League father verse, fun father versus son fight in Sask Prairie.

[RA]

And they were throwing.

[Whitney]

They. This isn't just like, oh, I'm just messing around with my dad. And this is funny. No, no. This is trying to take my dad's head off. And the dad trying to take his kid's skull off his body. Chris Ewan of the Langham Vikings, who's 47 years old, he fought his son Tyler Drager. I don't know why they have different last names. If they're father son, that's very.

[RA]

Well, you know, why they fought caught is because the old man caught the son, the wife.

[Whitney]

So I don't know where to go. Why do they have. Why do they have different names? Do we know if these guys are father, son, what the. Either way, that is a. That's Saskatchewan right there, boys. That's WHL hockey. Oh, yeah, that's just laying it out on the line. But final thing I'll say is, and everyone's kind of been asking is, is. I chatted with RA So we mentioned to all you listeners at the end of the summer that R.A. was taking a break. He's looking to go get healthy, figure some things out going on in his life. And. And he's been doing that. And we finally chatted. We were supposed to chat, I think, three weeks ago. And then he got real sick, he told me. And so he was kind of bedridden for a little while. He thought it was the vid. But we chatted for. For 30 minutes. It was. It was good to catch up. And I, I just told R.A. like, we'd like to see you get back in the mix. And, and, and obviously he thinks he agrees with that. He knows there's still some work to be done. There's still a couple things in his personal life he's looking to kind of iron out and, and, and feel a little bit better about himself. But he's doing good. Sounded good. I mentioned to him to. To start blogging a little bit, and that'd be one way to, to kind of get back into the swing of things.

[RA]

And when he did drop the Steven.

[Whitney]

Seagal one and then say in classic RA fashion, I, I was talking about, you know, the NHL and, and the next day he dropped a blog. It was about the Steven Seagal Blu Ray DVD disc possible buying scenario. I don't exactly know what wasn't the block I was looking for but he's blogging, he's blogging. So I chatted with him and we'll see, we'll see what ends up happening as, as he continues to work on himself and some things in his life. But he sounded good and it was good to catch up with them. So that's kind of where we're at right now with, with RA and, and I wish him and all of you guys a very merry Christmas, A happy new Year. It's an amazing time of year to kind of reflect on the, the year that was personally maybe, maybe your business wise or your profession. But it's an amazing time to spend with family and friends. I hope everyone listening is able to do that and able to enjoy themselves and and final thing, live show Chicago boys live show Chicago. We got 140 tickets left. Shorzy, come on down from Denver or come on up, whatever the hell.

[Drew Shore]

Stapleton is such a beauty. I spent like three or four weeks with him in Minsk where he played during a world championship. So he was like the king of the city and we, no one knew, no one else could even like navigate how to get down the street and he, he had like people picking him up and he, he treated everyone very well there. So he is the man. Tell him I said hello.

[RA]

One other thing. Spangler Cups around the holidays. Did you get a chance to play in a Spangler? I did see that you won a championship playing in the Swiss A league.

[Shane Pinto]

Yep.

[Drew Shore]

MVP of the Spangler cup actually for Davos. Don't.

[Whitney]

Wow. Good for you season with Davos.

[Drew Shore]

No, I just went there. So it was weird. My first year in Cloten I like Davos basically takes a bunch of imports from the other teams to like try and have like the best group of players because there's not an import limit in the tournament. But it was, was an amazing experience. My wife and I got picked up like on a horse for like instead of an Uber like from the hotel like you can call like a horse to like basically pick you up and like take you to a cool restaurant for dinner. It was awesome. And then Canada throws like a New Year's Eve party there every year. So it was, like, nice. Like, you're over there by yourself, and then, like, 30 Canadians come over. And we had a blast on New Year's Eve with, like, Team Canada.

[Shane Pinto]

So it was awesome.

[Whitney]

That might have been why Justin Schultz retired, as he ordered an Uber and a. What are they? Clydesdale showed up.

[RA]

Yeah.

[Whitney]

And he's like, all right, I'm going home. I'm going.

[Drew Shore]

He's like, I've had. No, you probably got. He probably sat on the bus from four hours from, like, Lugana to Cloten, got hit from behind. It was just like, all right. Like, some Swiss rap forward and just was like, all right, I'm good.

[Whitney]

Like, well, we got Chicklet. You. Michigan State, Thursday at noon on the YouTube channel. We got live show tickets available in Chicago.

[RA]

Don't forget the sandbox and the sandbagger.

[Whitney]

If you haven't watched it yet. What a match. What a match that was. Oh, my God. We talked with Avery Quick, but Darcy Tucker and Stumpy Steve Thomas, two great guys, went down to the 19th hole. Check that thing out if you haven't. And sh. Thank you very much, buddy. It's been a while. We appreciate you coming on.

[RA]

Yep.

[Drew Shore]

Thanks for having me on. Glad to hear you guys are doing well. And Merry Christmas, everyone.

[Whitney]

Thank you so much, everyone. Have a great New Year and a great Christmas. Hanukkah, wherever you celebrate. Enjoy it. Love you all.

[Biz]

Know any other way, Even if.