Spittin’ Chiclets Episode 544: Featuring Mike Keenan & Brian Noonan

Summary

Spittin’ Chiclets Episode 544: Featuring Mike Keenan & Brian Noonan

Release Date: February 11, 2025

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Health Struggles and Personal Challenges (00:02:34 - 04:50)

The episode opens with Ryan Whitney sharing his recent battle with stomach ulcers. He humorously explains how sympathy symptoms affected him after his wife dealt with similar issues, leading to his current discomfort. Whitney mentions undergoing blood work and beginning treatment with medications like Tylenol and Ozempic. He reflects on the challenges of balancing family responsibilities with personal health, stating:

Ryan Whitney (03:24): "I took your ulcer. It's like, I feel bad. I didn't sleep, but I'm here to perform."

Paul Bissonnette empathizes with Whitney's situation, lightening the mood with playful banter about sharing responsibilities.

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Promotion of Pink Whitney Vodka (00:01:25 - 00:02:53)

The hosts enthusiastically promote Pink Whitney Vodka, a pink lemonade-flavored vodka that gained popularity through the podcast. They celebrate its success, especially among Philadelphia fans celebrating the Eagles' Super Bowl victory:

Ryan Whitney (01:25): "Pink Whitney brings together everyone as one."

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Interviews with Mike Keenan and Brian Noonan (00:04:38 - 02:59:01)

Mike Keenan: The Iron Mike (00:08:38 - 01:58:00)

Mike Keenan joins the show, sharing insights from his extensive coaching career spanning five decades. Keenan reflects on his coaching philosophy, emphasizing discipline and high expectations:

Mike Keenan (01:35:22): "You've got to go beyond what you think you should."

He recounts memorable moments, including intense practices, managing star players, and navigating complex team dynamics. Keenan highlights the importance of pushing players to exceed their own expectations, recalling anecdotes about handling high-pressure situations and fostering team resilience.

Brian Noonan: From Player to Rock Star (01:58:00 - 02:59:01)

Brian Noonan, a Stanley Cup champion, discusses his transition from player to coach and general manager. He shares stories from his playing days, including memorable trades, locker room dynamics, and interactions with legendary players like Mark Messier. Noonan emphasizes the significance of leadership and mentorship in shaping team success:

Brian Noonan (02:15:59): "Mark Messier is going to be one of those guys that always inspires greatness in his teammates."

Noonan also touches on the evolving nature of hockey, the increased scrutiny from social media, and the challenges faced by young players in maintaining focus amidst external pressures.

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Discussion on the Super Bowl and Pop Culture (04:48 - 07:04)

The hosts shift focus to the recent Super Bowl, congratulating the Philadelphia Eagles on their dominant victory. They discuss the game's highlights, including Jalen Hurts' performance and the overwhelming celebration in Philadelphia. Additionally, there’s a brief mention of Netflix’s "Love Is Blind," blending sports commentary with pop culture references.

Ryan Whitney (04:37): "Mahomes couldn't get. Could every single place running for his life."

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Connor Bedard’s NHL Performance and Critique (07:04 - 14:00)

A significant portion of the episode delves into Connor Bedard’s performance in the NHL. The hosts analyze his strengths and areas needing improvement, comparing him to legendary players like Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin. Paul Bissonnette offers a nuanced critique, suggesting that while Bedard is exceptionally talented, he may not yet reach the superlative levels of the aforementioned stars.

Paul Bissonnette (12:33): "These guys have been around the world and they've done this, and man, I think that they go overseas and they're even bigger over there where they're doing stadiums that are 50, 60, 70,000 people."

The discussion includes stats, game highlights, and personal opinions on Bedard’s impact on his team and the league.

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Sport Clips and Sponsorship (08:01 - 12:00)

The podcast features a promotional segment for Sport Clips, highlighting its offerings tailored for men’s grooming while integrating sports themes. The hosts humorously connect their sharp appearances on the show to Sport Clips’ services.

Ryan Whitney (12:45): "Sport Clips, the Haircut experience dialed in for guys. It's a game changer."

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International Ice Hockey Federation and Four Nations Tournament (25:00 - 33:00)

The hosts discuss the recent extension of the International Ice Hockey Federation's ban on Russia and Belarus, expressing disappointment over their exclusion from upcoming tournaments. They also cover the ongoing Four Nations Tournament, providing updates on team performances, player selections, and predictions for the championship game.

Ryan Whitney (29:34): "It's a good day. Would you not say my rotten and take is, is looking better by the day?"

The conversation includes banter about team strategies, standout players, and the overall state of international hockey competition.

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Final Thoughts and Upcoming Events (33:00 - End)

As the episode wraps up, the hosts tease upcoming episodes focusing on the Four Nations Tournament and share details about their planned meet-ups in Montreal and Boston. They encourage listener engagement and express excitement for future content, emphasizing the camaraderie and infectious energy that characterize the "Spittin’ Chiclets" community.

Ryan Whitney (87:04): "It's a magical run, biz. It's a good way to put it."

The episode concludes with humorous exchanges, acknowledgments of guests Mike Keenan and Brian Noonan, and final sign-offs from the hosts.

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Notable Quotes

• Ryan Whitney (03:24): "I took your ulcer. It's like, I feel bad. I didn't sleep, but I'm here to perform."

• Mike Keenan (01:35:22): "You've got to go beyond what you think you should."

• Brian Noonan (02:15:59): "Mark Messier is going to be one of those guys that always inspires greatness in his teammates."

• Paul Bissonnette (12:33): "These guys have been around the world and they've done this, and man, I think that they go overseas and they're even bigger over there where they're doing stadiums that are 50, 60, 70,000 people."

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This episode of "Spittin’ Chiclets" offers a blend of personal stories, in-depth hockey analysis, engaging interviews with hockey legends, and lively discussions on current sports events and pop culture. Whether you're a die-hard hockey fan or new to the sport, episode 544 provides insightful commentary and entertaining banter that captures the essence of the show.

Transcript

[Ryan Whitney]

Hey, Spit and Chiclets listeners. You can find every episode on Apple podcasts, Spotify or YouTube Prime. Members can listen ad free on Amazon Music. Huddle up.

[Paul Bissonette]

It's me, Angel Reese. You can't beat the post game burger and fries, right? Know what else you can't beat? The Angel Reese special. Let's break it down. My favorite barbecue sauce, American cheese, crispy bacon, pickles, onions and a sesame seed bun, of course. And don't forget the fries and the drink. It's gonna be a high C for me.

[Brian Noonan]

Sound good?

[Paul Bissonette]

All you have to do to get it is beat me in a 101. I'm just playing get the Angel re special at McDonald's now.

[Ryan Whitney]

I participate in restaurants for a limited time. This episode is brought to you by Netflix's Love is Blind. It's been five years of unforgettable memories. Making Love is Blind, a legendary dating show.

[Brian Noonan]

Couples date through a wall and are.

[Ryan Whitney]

Engaged before ever seeing each other. And it's back.

[Keith Yandle]

Now.

[Ryan Whitney]

Whether you're a fan of the show, you're looking to get into it, looking to figure out what all the memes are about. You will not want to miss season eight. Will these Minnesota singles marry the person they fell blindly in love with in the pods, you can find out. Starting February 14th on Netflix, me and Ryan have been officially welcomed to the.

[Keith Yandle]

Jungle that is Bastool Sports.

[Ryan Whitney]

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

[Grinnelli]

Shave his head.

[Ryan Whitney]

Ryan Whitney.

[Paul Bissonette]

Paul Bissonnet. R.A. mike Grinelli.

[Ryan Whitney]

Spitting chick lids. Foreign. What is up, folks? And welcome Back to episode 544 of the Spitting Chicklets podcast, presented to you by Pink Whitney Vodka. The pink lemonade flavored vodka we've all come to know and love that was born on us on this podcast. Born by the fans. Just came to us out of nowhere and now it's magic. That city of Philadelphia was hammering Pink Whitney last night, celebrating the Eagles dominant Super bowl win out in Scottsdale. Pink Whitney was flowing through the golf course, flowing through the Bottled Blonde or whatever those trashy bars are flowing through everywhere because people had a hell of a weekend crushing Pink Whitney. And I'll tell you right now, we appreciate it, folks. We appreciate you buying the big bottles. We appreciate you buying the little nips. We appreciate your support. We love you for it. And we all love Pink Whitney. It brings together everyone as one. What is up, fellas? Biz, you're a rock star. Keith, you're a ski star. How you guys doing? Why don't you start us off?

[Paul Bissonette]

No no, no. How are you doing, buddy? You're playing a little banged up right now. A couple clicks for wit. Guys, we had to back up the pod here. So you're. You're going through some stomach ulcers.

[Ryan Whitney]

This is. I don't even know yet, guys. And I hate to make this about me, you know, I'm not about that stuff.

[Keith Yandle]

Never.

[Ryan Whitney]

But I got a heat pack on my tummy right now, and I don't know what the hell is going on. And I think it's some of the greatest sympathy symptoms I. I've ever seen in my life. And for couples, they'll know. Sympathy symptoms. You know, your. Your loved one, your wife, your. Your husband, they get sick, and all of a sudden, you know, something happens to you because you feel so bad for him. My wife was battling bad stomach issues for like 10 days, during which we were away, and. And I was kind of like, hey, get over it. Toughen up, sweetie. You know, like, come on, I need you here. You're leading the family. Not the best thing to say. Oh, wife with three kids under seven at home.

[Paul Bissonette]

Karma got you.

[Ryan Whitney]

And. And we, you know, obviously there's like, a little nerves too. Like, you know, what is going on here? And so she got a CT scan, endoscopy, all this stuff. She's got ulcers, buddy. I have the exact same symptoms. And wouldn't you know the woman who pushed three beautiful little boys out of her vagina? Two of them, all natural in our house. She's tougher than I am because I can't even function, guys. I'm sitting there, I'm on extra Tylenol. I'm on this ozempreact. I think that. It's not Ozempic. Guys. Don't. Don't come at me. It's something.

[Paul Bissonette]

It's a protein.

[Ryan Whitney]

It. No, it's for, like, stomach acid, but I don't even know yet. I. I did blood work today, guys.

[Paul Bissonette]

French kissing her that she passed it to you.

[Ryan Whitney]

I asked, can ulcers be passed? Apparently not. So basically, it could come down to, like. It's just so much love in this house that, like, I took your ulcer. It's like, it's like, there will be blood. I take your milk.

[Paul Bissonette]

You basically gave her a kidney.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonette]

You basically gave her a kidney.

[Ryan Whitney]

I took the ulcer. I think. I hope it's an ulcer. Let's put it that way. Knock on wood for your boy. Witty, but I got a heat pack. I didn't sleep last night. Guys, I texted you at 2:30 in the morning. Said, Guys, I can't do 1:00 anymore. We're going to do 1:00. Which stinks because I was going to take my son into the bean pot final. Let's go be you. They're in one against B.C. what a wagon they have. And, and I just can't do it. I'm. I'm wounded. I feel bad. I didn't sleep, but I'm here to perform.

[Paul Bissonette]

You sound unbelievable.

[Ryan Whitney]

Just kicked in. I think the Tylenol just kicked in. The doctor said stay away from acidic food. You eat bland. So what did I do? I had some ribs from last night. Because I ain't gonna let this take me down. I'm gonna bring it right back down. I had a little super bowl get together, just a couple people.

[Paul Bissonette]

But were, were you the guy though? Like, let's say you were a little banged up going into a game. Would you be like letting the guy who parks the cars know, like battling something? I bud, like, would you tell everyone know that you were going through something before puck drop?

[Ryan Whitney]

If you see right here, you see that cut on my finger?

[Keith Yandle]

Dude, you alright?

[Ryan Whitney]

I've been talking about this cut on my finger for four days. So if you don't think that when I was playing with a broken toe for Michelle Tarrien, which ended up fucking up my entire foot for the rest of my career because it changed the way I walked and it changed my gait and it changed everything that happened. You don't think I was telling everyone about every goddamn injury I had? Biz, you're crazy.

[Paul Bissonette]

Well, hey, so it's perfect time to bring up the guys who don't like the guys who like block shots night. Like Chris Tan's not telling anybody that he's gonna hang now.

[Ryan Whitney]

No, no, no. Chris Tanf could have a broken femur. And he's like, it's okay. Like the bone sticking out of your thigh. Dude, I don't think you're okay. He's like, no, man, I can go. And meanwhile, meanwhile I have like an ingrown toenail because I didn't cut my toenails correctly. And I'm like, I need a day off.

[Paul Bissonette]

Coach, you were too busy on Bam Bam playing video games against G till 2 in the morning to cut them properly. It's your own fault, but yet you're bitching about it.

[Ryan Whitney]

The only thing that I think I th this, this element, these elements, these things that you put in your water. I don't know, something came out. Maybe it's fake. Maybe it's real that they got something in them that's not exactly great for you. And that's the only thing my wife and I have both consumed besides each other the past year daily in, in and out, in and out. And. And maybe that gave us ulcers, but I believe it's stress. I believe it's stress of just being the man of the house and having to provide and having to just carry this house sometimes. I don't really do it that often, but sometimes, you know, the stress of kids and work and it's just. I think it's got me down, guys. It's got.

[Paul Bissonette]

I also think not a. A shameless plug here, but body armor. If you want your electrolytes. That's why iv. No sugar, no bullshit in it. Just straight up hydration, baby. So shout out to body armor and you're. You're done with the elements, buddy. We need a healthy Ryan. We need to be.

[Keith Yandle]

How many of those elements were you doing a day?

[Ryan Whitney]

Like four to five. I don't think that's good. I don't think that's good.

[Keith Yandle]

No, that's good for a week maybe.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah. Like, I was trying to do the funny picture of the elf on the shelf snorting something. I put down some elements. Then I did a line. It's like, what are you doing with. Just kidding, guys. Keithi was. Was not in any sort of bad during the filming of our Elf on a Shelf days. But yeah, I don't want to talk about me, guys. I'm not about that. And I'm. I'm here to battle and I'm here to grind. And I appreciate you guys putting everything back. I didn't want to affect your day on the ski scopes. Keith, you're out in beautiful. What is it? Steamboat.

[Keith Yandle]

Steamboat? Yeah, Steamboat Colorado. Beautiful. I mean, look at the. Look at the backdrop.

[Ryan Whitney]

I know. What a back. Can you explain to the. To the listeners, it's pretty cool what your. Your daughter's school does. It's like ski week. Like the people from Florida just heading up north, bringing their Trump stickers and coming on into Colorado.

[Paul Bissonette]

This is a school trip.

[Keith Yandle]

Yeah, well, it's not like an organized school trip, but it's so apparently everyone used to take the week before President's Day and go skiing to beat all the crowds and everything, and kids would just miss. Miss a week of school. So finally the school's like, you know what, let's just give them that week off so everyone gets on the plate. Like we got on the Plane, There's a direct flight, JetBlue from Fort Lauderdale to Hayden, which is only like 20 minutes from where we're staying, as opposed to flying into Denver and drive in three and a half hours. So you get on the plane, it's every one of your kids, friends, everyone that they go to school with. It's just a, it's like a, it's honestly like an NHL flight. Like people up, walking around, chat and going to different. So that starts off the weekend nice. You get here. Saturday, you get your skis, get ready. Sunday, you hit the slopes early. You're first in line, waiting to get up there, rip it. But my program, my program is I drop the kids off at ski school. I do, I grab a coffee, sit up there halfway on the mountain, have my coffee, wait for everyone else to come up. Then I meet everyone at the top of the, at the hill. We do about 10 runs, lunch and biz. We talked, we talked about that. Best beer in the world. After ski is the number one beer.

[Paul Bissonette]

Wow, I like that. I like that.

[Keith Yandle]

Not even close.

[Ryan Whitney]

We had our top five beers. That was number one.

[Keith Yandle]

It's, it's the pink Whitney because unfortunately they didn't have it. But luckily my legend friend Tim brought a whole slew of pink Whitneys, so he's firing them out yesterday. Giving them the kids.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, it's for the kids.

[Keith Yandle]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

Kids are 21.

[Keith Yandle]

Yep.

[Paul Bissonette]

Well, we do have those, the malt liquor ones now that are only 20% alcohol, so those are probably better for them, not getting them too buzzed too quick. But I digress. So good time on the slopes, eh? You do about 10 runs, what, for the day or before lunch?

[Keith Yandle]

10 runs before lunch and then sit down, do lunch and then everyone else kind of goes back out. I like to call it after lunch, around like 1:00, 1:30, I'm done. I'll go get the table for the opere. There's this one little bar on the mountain that I like to hit up. It's called T bar. You sit outside. They, they have like that game. You can hit the nail into the wood. You just sit there, good people watching, me and Kristen hanging out, having a couple drinks. A little hottie toddy if you want one. Yeah. And then everyone meets up at like 3:34 down there. And we either all go out to dinner or someone cooks or it's just, it's a great, great program. Like 25 people here.

[Paul Bissonette]

It's healthy living. You're up early, you're out on the slopes, fresh air, you're off your phone, you're dialed in. You're like, you're using your brain. I. I felt like it was the. The. The one thing that bra brought me back to being on the ice, where you're just worried about your edge and. And your next move or you're. You're really in the moment. And I ended up going a few weeks ago in Whistler, and, like, I, like, I can't wait to get something on that place in Jackson so I can go back all time and just go hit the slopes there, which I heard it's dumping like crazy there. And the powder is just, like, out of this world because of how high the elevation is.

[Ryan Whitney]

Biz, I know what you're saying where I'm skiing down and I'm really concentrating on the edge work because I'm like, don't get hurt for golf. Don't get her for golf. I hope you weren't, like, concentrating on your edge work playing hockey. Like, we were kind of just like.

[Keith Yandle]

It should be second nature. Yeah.

[Paul Bissonette]

Oh, yeah. I would say. Okay, so. So it was a little different. No, wait, wait, wait. Pump the brakes here. So towards the end of my career, I felt like I was a little bit more in my head about skating, but because my shifts were coming so far and few between. Buddy, it would be like 12 minutes of real time before I would see the ice again. So, like, you weren't in the flow of it. You weren't on your edges like it was. So I would say that my. My skating came progressively worse in games where maybe I was a little too focused on it. Buddy, there's some guys who have played in the NHL who have, like, they kind of go off the deep end based on overthinking, that type of stuff. Like, I remember Donor Yan, I don't know if you were around when you first got to the Coyotes where there was a Coyote player wearing two different types of skates.

[Ryan Whitney]

Was it that's walls?

[Keith Yandle]

No, I think it was Jeff Halbrand.

[Paul Bissonette]

I don't know if it was. If it was Helper, and it might.

[Keith Yandle]

Have been because of his Nico Kapanen, maybe.

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah, don't. I remember donor telling me, and it was just kind of like a guy who was kind of like a little bit of a mental. Did we not talk to a former player who played for the ABs who also had a little bit of the same issue? So, yeah, I mean, obviously, when I'm skiing, I have. I've only skied three times. I'm focusing a little bit more on what I'm trying to learn and, and because I still haven't perfected it yet. But I mean, it's sad to say. Yeah, I was thinking a little bit about my edge work during my shifts. No wonder I couldn't look up and.

[Ryan Whitney]

Stick to crazy though. I, I will always say, and I've said it many times in this pod, the first time I ever saw you skate at camp, it was right after you fought Carcillo at 8 in the morning. I was like, this guy's a beautiful skater. Like you were a very good. At least backwards skating, like elegant almost. And then I think the tightness and the partying really, really took. Oh yeah. Next thing you know, it was like you were wearing like a tin suit and like couldn't even really bend.

[Paul Bissonette]

Exactly. That's a great description. That's a great description.

[Ryan Whitney]

Biz, incredible weekend for, for you. I mean, we had heard the rumblings of you being on stage with Nickelback singing Rockstar, but I was like, is this happening? Like, take us through how you found out and I gotta, I gotta pump your tires again. I don't know if you got an extra special tan. You had a little sweat going. You looked like a legit rocks. You had a nice outfit on. I. You had that. You had the solo cup. Because I'm figuring you didn't know what to do with your other hand, but just water in there, correct? Still just water.

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah. I'm still a great prop. You don't want to be going on stage with the, with the body armor leader bottle. I don't think that's going to get the crowd very hyped up that it's. Yeah, some of them could have probably used some water for how buckled they were after a great weekend at Waste Management. But. So they got like a manager, Bradley Kynes, the guy's name, they call him bk. And he got my number. And I'd met Chad Kroger for the first time through a buddy of mine, Tim Quok, Sister in a Box, where I was invited to view one of the last shows for the Tragically Hip. And they had back to back shows in Vancouver and I was fortunate enough to go to one of them and I got to watch it in a Box with another Canadian rock star legend, Chad Kroger. So that was the initial introduction to them and, and his brother and the rest of the band. And then this Bradley kind reached out and he kind of gave me the heads up. Hey, we're playing at Waste Management. This was, I think facilitated by Darcy, Horace, Chuck Noodles, who grew up with these guys. Jamie McClellan, who was also there with Jerome Iginla. Like Jerome McGinla was there for that performance. 600 goals, dude. I was like, my hand was shaking seeing him again, like, he's a fucking legend. Struds was there. So they had a Tyson Nash. So all the hockey boys were there. So they facilitated them to come to waste management and play at that bird's nest on the Friday. I don't know how many American people are familiar with Nickelback.

[Keith Yandle]

Nickelback, everyone.

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah. I would say that for a Canadian band, they're the most like, world renowned. 70 million records sold, these guys have sold and they're still doing. And a very resilient band as well because of what they, you know, been through. They. I feel like it was like he turned easy to hate on him. Right.

[Ryan Whitney]

Do you remember? They became a little bit of a joke, like. But. But I remember talking to Ryan Malone, who I believe is good friends with Chad Kroger as well, and he's like, they're unbelievable. And then you do listen. They do have jams. I don't know when it turned into like, Nickelback stinks. But the numbers prove otherwise, buddy.

[Paul Bissonette]

And it's bullshit. These guys put on an amazing show. Everybody that I talked to who was there was like, yeah, I wasn't sure what to think going in. They were blown away and every. Like, even if you're not like the most hardcore fan, you probably know 50% of their songs where you could sing like the choruses and stuff like that. So. So their manager reached out and I'm not going to lie. At first I thought it was false.

[Ryan Whitney]

With me, I say this is screaming a false prank.

[Paul Bissonette]

I thought it was false.

[Keith Yandle]

Lost his fastball, though.

[Paul Bissonette]

Oh, did he?

[Grinnelli]

He did, yeah.

[Keith Yandle]

He's done. Oh, no, he's done.

[Paul Bissonette]

I mean, ever since he came on, I. It wasn't a great performance. I. I thought we were having another flow.

[Ryan Whitney]

Keith.

[Keith Yandle]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonette]

Oh, he lost his hair and.

[Ryan Whitney]

No, no, no, he's never had. He's never had much hair. He goes to this. He's got a little like. He. It's. It's straight out of Cheers. He's a part of the real. The old show, Cheers. He has a little bar called the Flow, right about a hundred yards from his house. And he goes there and he has all his buddies. He's got Lefty Paul and Righty Paul. That stands for where they stand politically. He's got all these other guys and I'm like, so. And he was actually explaining the whole thing to me, he's 41. I believe the next youngest guy's 58. And then there's like, seven other guys ranging up to 88 years old. And it's his crew at the Flow. And he loves every afternoon, finishes work off with a couple vodka sodas and hangs with the guys at the Flow. And I think he's lost his pranking fastball. Just talking shop with the guys at the Flow.

[Paul Bissonette]

I'm not gonna win, so I'm not. No, no. I'm not gonna insult his fastball because I do not want FS all of a sudden cooking up his old tricks against me. I hope now that you both have called him out, you guys get it and I'm a part of it. So the closer it got, like. And then finally jumped on a call with this Bradley kind guy, bk. And it was no joke. And I was. At first, I'm like, man, like, Jerome Iginla's there. Like, how are you not asking Jerome McGinley to do this? Like, he's a legend. And he's like, well, one, he won't do it. Neither will Noodles. So, you know, we figured you'd be the type of guy to do it. And I said, all right, sure. I said, I'll go up there, I'll sing the first couple of lines, and I'll hand it off to the professionals. And he's like, no. He's like, you're gonna fucking go up there, and you're gonna have a ball with these guys. They do not take this seriously. They're fucking around. They're rock stars. Let's go. And that was the pep talk I needed. And my mind frame changed going in that. That second. The next two days, I practice it in my car over and over. I'm through with standing in line. The clubs I'll never give Bottom of the night and we're never going away after Quite turned out the way I want it to be. Big house on an episode of Cribs. And a bathroom I could play baseball in. And a king. So that's the problem. I get jammed up on some of the words, right? But they did such a good job of turning off my mic when they needed to and turning it back on for the chorus. And I was high kicking. And then I just fucking had so much fun up there. And then I. Mike dropped on the way out. So those guys made me feel so fucking comfortable up there, along with all the hockey boys pumping my tires, ready to go up there. And I thought, given the circumstances, rocked it out.

[Ryan Whitney]

Crushed. You crushed. I got a question for you. And I remember, I want to say I've been to 15 concerts, roughly, maybe, maybe 10. I haven't been to many concerts. And I remember the Ed Sheeran one I went to, which, which, that was one that the wifey's like, we're going to Ed Sheeran. I don't know. Incredible. He was up there for three hours alone. And I remember looking. It was at Gillette Stadium. And I was like, I can't even imagine standing on stage in front of 40,000, whatever. Like, when you got out there, granted, I'm sure it wasn't like that size, but can you describe the feeling of just, like, these people just living and dying on what you're saying and singing and, like, the rush you must feel as a rock star?

[Paul Bissonette]

I, for not having any booze in me, I was shockingly pretty calm. But I think it had everything to do with the way that the band and also that BK guy pumped me up and, and, and having all the hockey guys there. But it is, I mean, I'm glad you brought this up. The fact that these guys have, have been around the world and have done this, and, man, I think that they go overseas and they're even bigger over there where they're doing stadiums that are 50, 60, 70,000 people. Like, I think in China, they might be even bigger than they are even in North America. So the fact that they go up there and they, like, they command and control the stage the way they do, and even doing it at the age that they are now, it was, it was 90 minutes full adrenaline. Every ounce of energy and every person in there was having a ball, and I, I, and, and we can get into the super bowl stuff, but I feel that, like, when people are drinking, they're having fun. They just want to hear fun, catchy rock songs. Like, it's like a, almost like a dying art. Right? So credit to those guys. And, and, and obviously, Whit, like, to answer your question, like, it was a rush, and I'm glad that I got that pep talk and, and just owned it and had fun and did a couple high kicks and, and belted it out. Now, yeah, I, I, My voice wasn't that great. I think I'm a good singer. But you get up there, man, it's, it's a, it's a different piece.

[Keith Yandle]

So have you guys watched the documentary about them? Like, hate to love Nickelback? No, no, it's, it's, it's like the, you know, like, the rise in the Fall and, like, you know, people picking on them and the kind of. Their whole run through that and the toll it took because his brother's in the band, right?

[Paul Bissonette]

Yep.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yep, it did rattle them. And, like, it was. It goes into, like.

[Keith Yandle]

Yeah, it rattled, like, his brother because his brother had, like, kids. His kids were going to school and like that. But, like, Chad Krueger was just like, that's Chad Krueger, right? He was just like, dude, we're making money. Who cares? Like, this is great. Like, yeah, you know, laugh your way to the bank.

[Ryan Whitney]

Like, at some point. You know, I'm sure it happens a little bit now, but at some point, they're like, those Chiclets guys are losers. Like, these guys are complete old squids. If we're still making money, I'm like, yeah, I guess the Chicago Blackhawks fans already say that about you, but I. If we're still making money, it's kind of like, yeah, I guess you're getting ripped on all the time, but the checks are clearing. But it does. It does. It could take a little bit of toll, but I remember. I remember when all of a sudden, like, Nickelback came on. They're pumping. And then it was like. It was like everyone just made fun of him. And I. I don't really know how that started. Connor McDavid's had a little bit to do with them maybe coming back the way they have. He loves them.

[Paul Bissonette]

I. That's. And. And that's why I said it earlier. Like, the most amount of respect I have for him is in the department of how resilient they've been. To. Like, that would be hard. Like, I don't. I would.

[Keith Yandle]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonette]

That could break a man. And they rolled right through it and continue to sell albums and do their thing and. And. And be passionate about it, and. And I'm so grateful that they were able to allow me to be a part of that. So. Hey, man, maybe potential chicklets cup collab. I might be out of the budget, though.

[Ryan Whitney]

I don't know if they can handle those crowds, those menaces at Chiclets. Cup. Your mic drop was phenomenal, too. Just a. You probably broke the mic, but just.

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah, I got an invoice. Yeah, I'm off the sauce. It's unfortunate because they had actually bought a bottle of Pink Whitney and they had it ready. The one with the new label carried.

[Ryan Whitney]

It out there for us. For Christ's sake. You're the brand, guys.

[Paul Bissonette]

I know. I didn't want to be. I didn't want to make it about us.

[Ryan Whitney]

I mean, if anything, just fill the thing up with Newman's own. The way this whole thing started. Chug the whole bar back.

[Keith Yandle]

Yeah. You would have had an ulcer like you, though.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, I know. I think I have multiple ulcers. And. And I guess that. That. That'll lead us in and we'll get into hockey. Folks, incredible week coming up with four nations. We have a bunch of news. We got the lines, we got the power plays, but we could go into the Super Bowl. I think maybe the biggest. One of the biggest shit kicking, thumping drummings I've ever seen in a football game. It really reminded me of, like, Georgia versus who they smashed last year. Like TCU or so. I don't remember. It was like. It's just one of the. It was. It was like a college game where there's like a. A team who's come out of nowhere and they end up facing the SEC powerhouse, and all of a sudden, it's just over before it even began. And. And you know what? I can't stand the city of Philadelphia, but what a football team. Congratulations to you guys. Well deserved. I'm wearing the green rollback for you guys in honor of the Eagles and that and that, you know, dominating win. But I was just upset. We didn't even get a close game. I'm just looking for a good ending and exciting fourth quarter. But that was he. Mahomes couldn't get. Could every single place running for his life.

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah, the front four for Philly, like, that's what they kept saying, the commentators. Like, that's all they could talk about, is that he had no time. I knew it was going to be a blowout when Roan dropped that. Freestyle. Yeah, that Philadelphia Eagles freestyle. Roan is one of the most talented people at Barstool. We've had him on our show before.

[Grinnelli]

Wow.

[Paul Bissonette]

That got me hyped. Him and Wallow and Gilly and all their involvement and then fuck. On top of that. Since we're talking Barstool content, Jon Gruden is a content factory.

[Keith Yandle]

He is, dude. His thing with the girls was so fucking funny.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah. So for people who don't know, it's. It's out of order. That is like a little Barstool skit, I want to say. They drop one every two weeks, it seems like, right roughly around there. And they had Gruden on for one. The Gruden Bowl. And I don't even want to give it away, so go check it out. It's. It's. And everyone knows who Jon Gruden is. And to go from this amazing coach, super bowl champ, he gets completely hosed by Roger Goodell when his emails were released where he was like, ripping on Goodell. I believe Gruden will coach again. I, I, I kind of hope he doesn't because he's so good at making content. But this skit he did with, with Feidalberg and I think Sass, all the.

[Paul Bissonette]

All the very natural acting abilities.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, my God, the guy, it's like.

[Paul Bissonette]

He could, he could host snl.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, that's what it seems. Like that's what it seems. And we're, we're really looking into a possible Jon Gruden sandbagger. That would be a goal of ours. That would be just an electric factory with the way he's able to chirp. And earlier in the week, Barstool had done a, a combine, like a draft combine where they had two different teams or three different teams. And, and Gruden was announcing it with, with Clicky Nicki, one of the, one of the other most talented men in Barstool. Hilarious person. And he was just, he's a comedian. It's unbelievable the way he's just chirping everyone, like, just really cool to be bought. And we were talking on the unnamed show about how, you know, you got this, this, like I said, legendary coach. He's got plenty of money and he comes into Barstool and he might just be like, oh, I'm going to do my football breakdowns. Nope, I'm into comedy, I'm into acting. I'm into everything that Barstool offers. So just an unbelievable hire for this.

[Paul Bissonette]

Might go down as, as Dave Portnoy's best hire in his career. Yeah, like, it was such an off the board.

[Keith Yandle]

Thanks a lot, guys.

[Paul Bissonette]

Until we hire Hazy.

[Keith Yandle]

Hey, I'm pretty sure, I'm pretty sure he's boys with John Daly. I think they used to, like, hang out at Hooters in Tampa Bay or Orlando or something, wherever that they live. I'm pretty sure they're boys. If we got them for a sandbag would be epic.

[Paul Bissonette]

Well, we need one more. Maybe we do. Today's guest or one of today's guests. Mike Keenan. What a. Well, that was a great interview. We got two lined up for you and we got the coach's pet, Brian Noonan. This one, folks.

[Ryan Whitney]

I don't know what to say about this.

[Paul Bissonette]

Don't even know what to say. It'll go down as my favorite interview of all time. It'll exceed Wayne Gretzky. And just no offense to Wayne. Oh, but Brian Noonan, man, I just, I might bring him a chicken's cup.

[Keith Yandle]

Biz was so appalled that like, someone is just like a mild mannered, quiet guy. Biz, like, just needed more. He's just a quiet guy. He had some awesome stories.

[Ryan Whitney]

I think, I think, I think it back to this day. We were across the Wrigley Field and Nunes walks in and somebody had mentioned like, oh, were you doing. Have you ever done media or something? He's like, yeah, I did Chicago Wolves games. Like, I think he did the radio color for a while. And he's like, but I ended up getting fired because, you know, I didn't really talk that much. And I'm like, oh, fuck. I'm like, we're about to do an hour interview here. I will.

[Paul Bissonette]

I was out of questions in six minutes.

[Ryan Whitney]

I think it was maybe business. Favorite word here. The silliest us three have ever been together during an interview. So we have Keenan, we have his pet, one of his favorite players. I think he played for him four to four times. And, and Brian Noonan, who scored a goal in game seven that Mark Messi got credit for. But we got two great interviews lined up and I think the last thing before we move on to hockey is.

[Paul Bissonette]

Well, I was, I just wanted to pump. Jalen hurts his tires. I thought at the start of that game, buddy, like, they were basically forcing him to pass and they were stopping the run and he came through. I guess he had a picture of when they were defeated a few years ago by, by Casey, but. And like he kept that as a reminder. Just seems like a really down to earth guy. Strong with his faith and just a relentless worker and probably a guy who took even too much heat last year when things weren't going as good as they had the year prior. And even their coach, man, I think their coach halfway through the year was fucking double bearing the fan base and they wanted his head on a platter. So very a difficult market to, to, to be in and to perform in. And kudos to him, the MVP for, for being resilient and getting over the hump.

[Ryan Whitney]

Hertz is a very, very resilient athlete, it seems. And for people who don't remember, he was pulled at at halftime of the national championship game when he was quarterback at Alabama. TUA came in, they ended up winning it all. So obviously two is coming back. So he transfers to Oklahoma where he lit it up there and then he's had his detractors, right? He's. He's been kind of called the systems qb and, and I mean, whatever. Say what you want. That, that he. He's not necessarily like a natural drop back and pass guy, but he is a machine. I've seen videos of me like can back squat 700 pounds, the tush push, literally on. It's un. It's unstoppable because of him and the team and their defense. Just a clinic, absolute clinic. And I actually ended up, as much as I hate Philly, I ended up betting Philly. And my reasoning was it was kind of three ways. It was, it was one, if Philly wins, I get to win money.

[Grinnelli]

Right.

[Ryan Whitney]

Even though I'll be mad Philly. One, I get to win money. Two, what was the other one? The ulcer, guys, Sorry. The third one was that Saquon Barkley. I. I think he's one of the most well liked athletes in pro sports. I don't know if you've seen the video he did with Frank the Tank where he's very complimentary. He's down in his basement with Frank the Tank. He's pumping his tires, how much weight he's lost. He did a walk, one of Frank's walks that Biz recently did that everyone can check out on the Chiclets, YouTube and Frank's channels. And. And then Saquon was just so sick this year, like this guy. The Giants decide to not bring him back. I think there's a clip of the owner being like, I hope he doesn't go to the Eagles. Well, he went to the Eagles. I think he broke some records this year or could have.

[Paul Bissonette]

I think total yards for regular season and playoffs.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah. And. And he could have broken the all time season, but he didn't play the last game. Just I sense a team first like Animal that. That had been just wasting away in that pathetic organization that is the New York Giants. So he goes to Philly and gets a title. And then. Oh, and then my, my third. My other reason was that if the Eagles lose, it was an emotional hedge. I lose money. But I'm still happy that the Eagles lost. So that's why I bet the Eagles won a bunch of money and was happy for Saquon and Jalen Hurts. Yeah. So I want to get to one final thing and that is the halftime show. So Kendrick Lamar comes on and I know the diss track on Drake and I kind of know the battle and the beef between them based on Biz filling me in. And Keith is the rap expert.

[Paul Bissonette]

I know, I know a lot about. I'm probably A bigger Kendrick Lamar fan than Yans is. I've seen him in concert. Have you?

[Ryan Whitney]

I take it back. Only time I've ever. No, I have battled on this part. I think right there, that took offense to that. Jesus Christ. I'll tell the guy he couldn't stick handle. I like Kendrick Millar.

[Paul Bissonette]

Kendrick Lamar, Kendrick Lamar Jackson.

[Ryan Whitney]

I'm a quarter black wit.

[Paul Bissonette]

Shut up.

[Ryan Whitney]

So I'm not a huge fan of the music. Like, whatever. A couple of the songs, good little catchy hits. And it's not about that. It's more about super bowl halftime shows. For me, it's more about what you're saying. Biz with energy and like, I guess the younger generation really, really enjoyed it. But overall, like, the house that I was sitting in, people like, what is this? It's just not what I think of when I think a Super bowl halftime show. Do you remember when it was like, Nelly, Arrow, Smith and like, so, I mean, I know I'm sounding very old and white right now, but I'm more looking at it. Like, I think super bowl halftime is just more energy, and I didn't sense, like, that much energy from that music. Now. I could be wrong.

[Paul Bissonette]

It's just my opinion too much. Like, yeah, a lot of them. I think he's extremely talented. He's unreal in concert. I thought the performance was good, but if you're trying to pertain to the masses who are tuning in for the NFL, I think it was a bit of a miss. I think you need to have, like, if you're going to do rap, play the bangers like they did in LA when they had all the, you know, all the big 50 cent, like, all the bangers that they have that, that, that basically every generation can sing along to. That's how big those tunes were. And if Kendrick was gonna do what he did, maybe a few of his old bangers that did bring energy. Like when he did that good kid Mad City album, like, Don't Kill My Vibe. Money Trees. You've never heard Don't Kill My Vibe?

[Ryan Whitney]

No, I, I, I probably have heard it. I just like. And now Don't Kill My Vibe on the soup bowl. I think, like, that. I don't know if that, that works. Although he was calling Drake a pedophile on stage. So I think you're. Yeah, you're right. I apologize.

[Paul Bissonette]

I'm just a little bit over this rap beef now. It's like, I don't care.

[Keith Yandle]

I think it's over.

[Paul Bissonette]

I, Yeah, I don't care about it anymore.

[Keith Yandle]

Did you see? So the way that he ended the show this, the. The field was set up as a PlayStation controller because Drake's labels under Sony and Sony owns PlayStation. And then when it ended in the crowd, it said, game over.

[Paul Bissonette]

Game over.

[Ryan Whitney]

So Drake's going through a little bit of.

[Paul Bissonette]

What is it though?

[Ryan Whitney]

Now? I will say this. Drake seems to be going through a little bit of like the Nickelback, like Valley right now.

[Paul Bissonette]

I think he's still.

[Ryan Whitney]

I haven't heard from him. I haven't seen him. I don't follow much in Australia. This guy's down back there, is he not?

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah. I would say that based on the amount of hate that he's getting now compared to that he used to, definitely. But I think that his fan base is. Is trying to stand their ground against it. So there's like, I would say it's a 5050 battle on online war. I think that everybody could agree with the. The. The tunes that Kendrick put him up put out. He won the battle. But I still think that Drake's the highest streamed artist on. On Spotify or one of them. And I think that his money has not been affected by this. He's. He's on the other side of the world where he's sleeping when everything's going on over here and he gets to wake up and just go print more money by throwing shows over there. So I think that it. It probably definitely doesn't feel good. He is also in a. In a major, major lawsuit against. He's going after Universal.

[Grinnelli]

He's.

[Keith Yandle]

He's going to get. Yeah, he's going after them.

[Paul Bissonette]

He's going.

[Grinnelli]

He's going.

[Ryan Whitney]

Because they were pumping up his.

[Paul Bissonette]

Lamar, apparently, that he's saying that they were f dreams and. And making the song bigger than it was. So it would just continue to gain steam.

[Ryan Whitney]

And.

[Paul Bissonette]

And I think that part of the theory, or at least his is. Is the fact that he's so big now that he cuts. He's like Floyd Mayweather where his. His record deals are way different than the rest of the market. I mean, like, Taylor Swift might be on that level where they're controlling the whole conglomerate type of thing. So that's how big of an artist they are. So there. I think that there was maybe a bit of resentment or a battle in a sense to try to change. Change the position of power and also get back at him at the fact that he's been able to. To cut those types of deals and they're not making as much of the money.

[Keith Yandle]

I do. I do like all the little things that he had, like the, you know, the A minor chain. And then have.

[Ryan Whitney]

What was that? What was the A chain?

[Paul Bissonette]

He's. He's very petty. All these little, these little Easter eggs.

[Ryan Whitney]

Okay?

[Keith Yandle]

Like, so in the song he says A minor. Like he's going to like as, like as if Drake's a pedophile. Like, whatever. So that's the A minor on his chain. And then he had Serena Williams out there, Crip walking, because she's from Compton and she used to date Drake.

[Ryan Whitney]

Well, let me tell you something. And this is, this was brought up by Shannon Sharp and, and Stephen A. Smith. I think it's first take their show Shout Out a video. One of the videos I saw that video of the weekend was Shannon Sharp telling his brother Sterling Sharp that he's in the hall of Fame.

[Keith Yandle]

Oh, my God.

[Ryan Whitney]

And he's talking about how he followed in Sterling's footsteps and Sterling had nobody to look up to and no path to follow. And he did it all on his own and he made it easier for Shannon. And now Sterling's welcome into the hall of Fame. Great video. But what they were talking about was Serena Williams is. Is a former ex of Drake. Okay? She's married now. She's married. She. How do you feel about your wife going upstage dancing, like, about her, like, get the out of here.

[Keith Yandle]

Like, that's a good point.

[Ryan Whitney]

What the fuck if I'm not.

[Paul Bissonette]

Does she not have enough going on? She's probably worth 500 sheets. She's like the greatest female tennis player of all time.

[Keith Yandle]

He's a billionaire too. Her husband.

[Paul Bissonette]

Oh, yeah, he's Billy Goat.

[Ryan Whitney]

Wait, honey, who are you dancing for? Oh, I'm dancing for Kendrick Lamar. What's it for? Oh, we're burying my ex boyfriend. What?

[Keith Yandle]

He went after Drake, went after Serena's husband, I believe. Right?

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, well, that changes things if that happens.

[Paul Bissonette]

He called him like a dork or something like that. My also, my feeling is, is from reading stuff is apparently Drake has, has pounded a lot of like other rappers and other industry people's girls. So that's probably another reason why they're not happy about it. I think that he's obviously been with Rihanna and like, ASAP Rocky, who he once, like, would bring on stage and collaborate with, like, now he's going against them. So we're getting in pretty into the weeds here on the rap beefs.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, we can move on. We can move on from the rap.

[Keith Yandle]

I will say I bet Drake would do a better halftime show because he's Got those bangers that everybo knows, you know.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, I agree. I agree. There's more sing alongs. I know I sound old. The old man with the dog. Witty with the.

[Paul Bissonette]

Featuring Joe Budden, baby. Welcome back to the show.

[Ryan Whitney]

I love Pete Blackburn, who I think has the show. What Chaos Hockey Show. I think the tweet had 200,000 likes when I saw it. It was Serena Williams just Crip walked for four seconds and still had and had more yards than the Chiefs did in the first half. Very funny tweet. Very funny tweet.

[Paul Bissonette]

Oh, him and Beaner are funny guys. So I think he's getting married this summer.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, nice. Cool.

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah, that's awesome.

[Ryan Whitney]

Marriage will give you an ulcer if you don't. If you don't watch out, you'll literally.

[Paul Bissonette]

Take it from your wife timing and you're gonna get.

[Ryan Whitney]

You love her that much, you'll grab that also out of her stomach and stick it down your throat into your own. So it brings us on to another battle. Bedard versus Biz, the other rap battle heard around the world. I want to get. I want to get your opinion on how everything broke down. I actually, I actually believe that this is one of those things where it's like, I think both people are right. I think that Biz made a valiant point or a point that made sense, a valid point. Not valiant.

[Paul Bissonette]

What does valiant mean?

[Ryan Whitney]

Honorable, maybe. That's a guess. Look it up, G. Oh, that's a.

[Paul Bissonette]

Good word for me.

[Ryan Whitney]

And then Bedard responded in. In what I thought was a classy way and, and just kind of like whatever. I know when I up. So take me through what you saw when you made the comments and kind of the, the, the backlash you've had from Hawks fans is. Was surprising to me.

[Paul Bissonette]

Well, first of all, all the backlash and Chicago Blackhawks accounts and their Twitter, Instagram, all the bloggers. Like, I love the fact that they had his back. I was fucking loving it. Like, this is. Hockey's popping again, baby. This is what we need. That's our. That's our second original 16 putting me in a body bag this season. Like, I am honored at the fact that these old school Boston Brad Marshaw, they put me in two of them. And then his mom did.

[Keith Yandle]

His mom did too.

[Paul Bissonette]

His mom put me in a headlock. So I love this and I love the fact that they got their guys back. And I appreciate that. I do. Like, I want to make sure this kid knows this is not personal. Like, this isn't. And, and, and another thing, as to maybe why this snowballed a little bit more than it should have. And Frank Saravelli brought it up. He's like, I feel like this kid's getting a bunch of, like, unwarranted hate lately, where I guess about five days prior, Mess and PK Suban were kind of talking about some of these things. But they, I guess they didn't break down any video. They were just kind of bringing up the discussion as far as the bad habits and maybe, you know, swinging away from pucks and not stop in front of the, in the little details to the game as to what maybe they haven't seen him figure out at least after 120 games in league. So at the timing in which the thing that, what I said, I think it was just like a big snowball effect where it was like, oh, everybody's trying to take a run at them. And the reason that I was doing it was because they did it. I swear on my life, I was offline. You can even look at my Twitter. I shut it down for, like, three, four days. I did not see that discussion happen. But if you think that I'm gonna, like, fly cross country every week, and my job as an Alanis analyst is to break down video and at the end of a period, see what I saw from him and not, like, break it down the broadcast, you're out of your mind. Like, if I don't do that, I'm not doing my job. I'm, I'm wasting my time. And we're also not creating dialogue and, and teaching anything on the broadcast. Like, that's literally my fucking job. So I, I, I also don't care that everybody online's bringing up my stat count. If anything, like, my only job as a player in the NHL was to have those small details. And if I didn't, I wasn't going to play. And mind you, if we would have had a shift like that, playing for Mike Stuthers and Junior, playing for Michelle Terry and the American Hockey League, playing for whoever at the NHL level, Dave Tippett, that would have been on video in between periods. They would have rolled the clip with the fucking laser pointer and they would have stopped it. Pointed, all right, keep rolling it, and went over every mistake and, and embarrassed you in front of the locker room, that's what would have happened. And I wasn't really trying to embarrass him. I was just trying to bring up the point that, like, listen, I get that this kid's young, but I also watch a guy like Macklin Celebrini, who's the same age, and I don't see some of the flaws in his game that. That Bedard does. And you might say, well, he's putting up more points. And I. I think they're pretty close to points per game, at least in that same realm, based on what Celebrini has been injured for. And I don't see him swinging away or not stopping in front and turning it over and maybe not showing the most emotion on the back check. And if you want to go back to the two shifts itself, I can go over them because I got them in the back of my memory ready to go. And the shift started out where it was an Ozone draw win on the face off. And I was complimentary because I thought that him and Donato were snapping it back nice back and forth. And that's another point. If we don't want to get sidetracked. Here, though, is like, oh, he doesn't have anyone to play with. Pretty sure he's developed pretty good chemistry with. With Donato in the last 20 games, based on the points that they're putting.

[Ryan Whitney]

Up for five more games.

[Paul Bissonette]

So after they finished going back and forth a few times, McDavid is on check on Bedard. Did you guys see the part where, like, Bedard kind of shrugs his shoulders and looked pissed off?

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonette]

Do you think that's because he didn't slide it back to him?

[Ryan Whitney]

I think it's hard to say for sure. It could just be like another play that just, like, went. Went nowhere. Like, it's more like this season, like, things going on.

[Paul Bissonette]

You're the shooter. Donato slid it over you two times. Let it fly, buddy. You're the shooter. You have the best shot since Ovechkin coming in as the first overall pick. I thought, right, that's the tire pump we've all been giving him. We all saw a shot in Junior. He just slid it over to you two times. Let it rip, buddy. Like, you had your separation to McDavid. So then that lane closed off, and Donato gets it back, and he fires it. It did get blocked, but I didn't like the body language. I didn't like it there. And I've watched plenty of other games where there's been times where I'm like, don't like the body language. Don't like the body language.

[Ryan Whitney]

It's a window to your soul. It's a window to your soul. People say, bizarre.

[Keith Yandle]

Oh, never heard that.

[Paul Bissonette]

And then after that play, after Donato gets it blocked, not to interrupt you. I'm trying to keep my train of thought.

[Ryan Whitney]

Sorry, sorry.

[Paul Bissonette]

Not to acknowledge what you're saying. Window to your soul. Okay, we'll go back to that.

[Ryan Whitney]

I think I've heard that Donato retrieves.

[Paul Bissonette]

It, gives it back to him, and then Bedard makes a nice play at the net. And then when he rolls up, he throws that pizza to McDavid. It's a blind pass. Hey, man, that's all right. But then it goes back the other way. He takes the penalty. Now his team has to go on the kill. Block shots and kill, kill a penalty for him. Okay? Not the worst. Wasn't crazy about the body language. Wasn't crazy about the turnover. You take the penalty. Whatever. Well, he gets out of the box, they come back the other way. I think he makes a solid play inside the blue line where he kind of, you know, when he kind of pump fakes and he gets it poked away. Don't mind him trying that at all. And let's not get this lost in translation either. I'm not trying to beat the skill out of his game. I don't want him not trying things offensively because he's afraid to turn the puck over. He gets it poked away, it goes outside the zone. So all these guys who just finished killing the penalty for you and trying to get back momentum after killing that penalty, you try to beat the team one on one. They got five guys coming up to the blue line, and your guys have to tag up based on your turnover. So he gets stripped. It goes back the other way to the defensive zone. And what happens? He doesn't stop in front. What's he do on the play? He swings away. And for those of you who don't know fuck all about hockey, the reason I got a problem with him swinging away is not only because he turned it over and everybody had to. Now backtrack into the defensive zone. The play goes up the strong side, and it's a 50, 50 battle between the winger and the defenseman. Well, if he loses that battle on the wall, who's there to support him? Nobody. Because Bedard swung the other way. That's a bad detail of the game. Okay? But his guy makes the play and the puck comes out of the zone. And what's he do? He goes up the ice. He pulls up. Love it. Okay, but the Edmonton Oilers, man, they're not being fooled by this fluff. Cross eyes. They're gonna clog the middle with good sticks every time. And what does he do? Something that he's done A lot over the first 120 games of his career. He throws a soft one through the middle of the ice, it gets picked off and we're going back the other way. And what happens when it goes back the other way? When he gets beat to the net? He doesn't stop in front of the net. How many fucking mistakes do you want to make in one shift without me watching as an analyst being like, this is fucking pond hockey. And what happens after he doesn't stop in front? The whole shift plays out. That doesn't show on the online clip. That ace just broke down in which what happens, Whit, he goes outside the zone. He's the fucking weak side guy to clog it up. The pass gets by him as the Edmond toilet tag up. They go back in the end, they score a goal while he's going on a line change to give his fucking teammate a shit sandwich, minus stepping onto the ice.

[Keith Yandle]

Yeah, those hurt, those stunk.

[Ryan Whitney]

And I was the one giving them.

[Paul Bissonette]

We're talking about in two shifts. You overextend your shift after turn the puck over twice that you don't stop in front of the net for off of your turnovers. Then you go for the sandwich change and I'm the bad guy here. I've been double wristing this guy since he came in the league. Like, what do you want from me?

[Keith Yandle]

Yeah, you let him win the face off challenge.

[Paul Bissonette]

I let him. I, I think that people think about.

[Ryan Whitney]

He'S been good on face cup since he's.

[Paul Bissonette]

His numbers have gone up. I should be on fucking payroll from the Chicago Blackhawks as an assistant coach at this point.

[Ryan Whitney]

Now here's where I kind of take or look at all this when, when you have the, the, the resume and the pedigree and the discussion about you as a player Since. Since he's 15. This is what's going to happen, okay? You're going to be absolutely like watched as, as closely as you can be watched from the minute you get into the league. And it, it happened to a lot of great players when they came into the league. Sid took a little heat here and there. That was more about like talking to the refs and complaining, whining, diving. They used to say OVI took a ton of heat for his defensive play, basically until they won the cup.

[Keith Yandle]

Yep.

[Ryan Whitney]

The problem is that Sid and OVI had other players to play against. And the other problem is Sid, second year after just dominating the first year, 100 points. Second year we got in the playoffs, right? Ov. Second year they didn't make the playoffs, but they made it the third year and OV had 106 points, then I think 92 points and so many goals. So the offensive production was there and they dogged the defensive play. But the goal scoring and that ability, you're like, holy shit. Like, this is the Ovechkin we heard about when he was 16 years old. And Crosby, same thing. Oh my God, this guy is actually changing the game. This is legit. What happened was these, these build ups and these descriptions of Bedard set unrealistic expectations. I think a lot of people, I think most hockey fans, when they heard Connor Bedard, they thought, we got the Next Crosby, Ovechkin, McDavid, those are the three guys. And Matthews, those are the three guys. Four guys. I think of when it's like coming into the league, you're like, holy shit, we're about to see something crazy. I don't really think that Bedard, this is my opinion and it could complete. He could prove me wrong. I think Connor Bedard is going to be an unbelievable player in the NHL, but I think he's going to be that next level after the true superstars. And you know who I compared him to? I think I was talking to Keith and Posh about this. I think he's kind of like Pasternock where Posture knock is a game breaker. He's a 60 goal scorer. He is, he is a, an incredible all star elite level talent. But he's not McDavid, he's not McKinnon, he's not Crosby. And I don't think Bedard is that player. This is not a knock. But what happened was I think that's what everyone expected. I think you, you, you, you heard and saw the numbers and the stats and, and by the way, this could easily prove to be false and incorrect, but I don't think he's like that next next super level, the level you talk about where I think these guys need another league. Like this league is like too much of a joke to them. And when I say Pastronach, right. There are some parts of Pasta's game where it's like, what are you doing?

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah, a little freelance.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, a little freelance and you can't turn the puck over. But that's just, that's kind of my opinion on two years in. The other thing that's unfair to him. Same with the way the expectations were set that he has no control over is Chicago's horrible. Like when I say OVI didn't make it his second year, neither will Bedard. Sid did. They're not making it next year in Chicago either. And realistically they're probably not making it the year after. So he is in like this world of like, we're watching every single thing this kid does because he's been discussed and talked about for four years, five years, and he's only a second year 19 year old player in the NHL, but he has nobody to play with. And Ryan Donato is a great player and has had a phenomenal season. He's probably going to get traded. They, they realistically should resign him because of the connection that these two have. I think denial's got 19 goals, but if we're.

[Keith Yandle]

He's not Backstrom, he's not Backstrom.

[Paul Bissonette]

I wasn't trying to make the point that he's one of those guys that like he could eventually play with. I just think over the last 20, 25 games, I don't think it serves Blackhawks fans being like, oh, he's got no one to play with. It's like things are clicking pretty good. If you're going to rub it in my face that he's got 22 points in the last 21 games. Like, there's been some really good chemistry and he's provided a lot to Bedard based on how they've been snapping it around. Like, I've watched some of the games. Like, he looks, Donato looks good.

[Ryan Whitney]

And if Bedard turns out to be David Posternak, like, what a fucking player. Like, what an amazing first overall pick. But you're probably going to need another like legit superstar to get over the hump. Like, you're not going to be able to do it alone. The same way McKinnon couldn't do it alone. The same way Crosby couldn't do it alone. The same way if McDavid gets it done, he's not doing it alone. So all this stuff like this has happened to other players and now I think that detractors or people who want to argue, argue with me, would say, well, McKinnon, look at his first few years. I can totally buy that. And he didn't pop off to what was it like year four.

[Paul Bissonette]

He also had his flaws too, though.

[Ryan Whitney]

He had his.

[Paul Bissonette]

He was snapping a lot. Right. And we would talk about that.

[Ryan Whitney]

We did. And. But I'll talk like where I sense or see maybe Bedard not being able to get to McKinnon where it's that other league type player, the size will, will be hard for him. And, and I don't think McKinnon's that much taller than him, but he's a lot fucking bigger and faster than him. Like I'm talking strength wise and speed wise. So Bedard has the vision, he's got the shot. He, he could be a 60 goal scorer. He's an incredible player. But I think people are still looking for McDavid and McKinnon and Crosby and I don't think that's him. That is, that may sound like a knock, but it's not like how many. There's. There's like one player every 10 years like this, so we'll see what ends up happening. But your, your description and breakdown right there and on TNT is very legit. And I think being an analyst like that is what you're paid to do. And I like Tank what he said after.

[Paul Bissonette]

I like his point too. It was, and I agree it makes it a little easier to cheat and make sure you get your cookies because I mean he's looking to re up this summer, right? So if he's got 35 goals and 35 assists, he's probably getting an 8 times 10 right. Like they're just going to look at those numbers. But my thing is, is like, like I think he can be a special player if you're able to put up 40 goals, 40, 50 assists and then yet play. I'm not asking for Berger on here. I'm not asking for, for Sasha Barkov here. I'm just looking for like Sid sometimes takes risks offensively, but they're also calculated, right? A lot more calculated. And I know some people are saying it's not fair to compare the two because of his age. And Sid was probably making those mistakes when he was young too. I don't, I don't know about that many in a shift. And he was also putting up 100 points and to the other side he was playing with better players. Yance, what's your opinion on it? And, and we have to, we have to like I'll follow up with saying agree with you. I don't think considering the social media age, there's been a more scrutinized player coming into the league than Conor Bedard. I completely agree with all that and I, I hope this kid becomes a McDavid and a Crosby. Like that is good for us. And that's what I want. I just saw really bad flaws in his game that I had to point out.

[Ryan Whitney]

I want more of those, the more of the, the generational truly like shake your head, pay 200 bucks to go watch players we have the better. So I'm rooting for it right now. I'm just saying what I see. Go ahead, Yance.

[Brian Noonan]

Yeah.

[Keith Yandle]

Here's my thing, Biz. I played with you in Phoenix and I don't know, in. Throughout my whole career, it was kind of like this. And I don't know if it was because of Shane Doane. You had a voice in the room. If I turn the puck over with two minutes left instead of getting it deep, you were going to say something to me. You kept. Guys, you know, because you're sitting on the bench, you're watching the game, you know what's going on during the game. So you're telling me he's coming in the locker room after that period, and Nick Foligno and Pat Maroon aren't saying the same exact thing that Biz said on tv. At the end of the day, in my opinion, what you said is you were trying to help him. You, you said on TV what you would have said to him in the locker room to help him get better. You're not beating him down and you're obviously, you're, you know, pointing out his mistakes, whatever. Everyone makes mistakes. But at the end of the day, I feel, and I haven't talked to you about this, you're trying to help the kid out. You're trying to, you know, hey, you stop at the net. And I know everyone knows that you do that, but it's just another voice telling you to, you know how to play the game. Because at the end of the day, you did play in the NHL. Whatever. You had 15 points. Who gives a shit about that? You played in the NHL. You played, you sat on the bench and watched a lot of hockey. And you know the game very well. You do a great job on tnt. You do a great job on this show breaking down the game. You know, it just as good as anybody else. So, yeah, it's just, I think, yeah, I, I think you were trying to help him. And obviously, you know his comments saying, you know, it doesn't matter. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter because I'm sure Nick Foligno and Pat Maroon were saying the same exact thing that you said.

[Paul Bissonette]

Oh, I.

[Ryan Whitney]

Mark Recky was saying, it's a Sidney Crosby.

[Keith Yandle]

Right.

[Paul Bissonette]

So were you, were you there to witness all that wit?

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, I, I remember. I'm not going to say several times, but I remember one time, like, like Recce given it to sit a little bit. It might have been, you know, complaining to a ref or something, but like, and now, now Mark Recky's a Hall of Famer. Right. It's, it's harder in today's game, I'm guessing, without being in rooms to, to say stuff to kids who, who have not only all the pressure in the world on them, but like fan bases that are just in love with them based on what they believe they can do for their city and their team. So it's like everything changed a little bit. And I think older guys stepping up and saying things to younger guys has probably changed a bit, but on the good teams it hasn't. On the good teams, that'll never change. And so I, I, I think that this kid's an incredible talent. But yeah, there's, and, and, and what Hank said, for people who didn't know we brought up Lundquist, it's like, yeah, it's like you're, you're last place team in the league. Like you're horrible. And if you're playing for a playoff spot, like, he's probably not doing this stuff. But what leads to better teams and just building as a group, even if it takes years, is doing the little things right. It's just hard when it's like we're fucking finishing in 31st place this year. Like, it's just really hard to grind out the details that you need to end up having to become a playoff team. So there's a lot of different aspects to it. I do think Grinelli makes a good point on the chat here that when I say he needs another superstar, it's like they drafted that Artem Lashunov out of Michigan State, second overall this year. He had a brutal bad luck broken foot right before camp. So he hasn't played any games for the Blackhawks this year. And he could turn out to be a great defenseman. Let's, let's hope he does, you know, a true number one. But this Demidov kid, I think we're looking, we keep bringing him up for Montreal. I think it's Caprisov. I, I think we're going to see Kirill Kaprisov in Montreal next season. So that, that could be an end up being a fumble. Like if all of a sudden you're watching him light it up for Montreal and Lushunov's a good player, but it's like Bedard's like, oh my God, we could have had this guy. Now this is just total like guessing and looking forward to the questions we don't have the answer to. But it was a good discussion and.

[Paul Bissonette]

I love, I wouldn't mind finishing it off with a tire pump. And you talked about comparing him like even if he gets to David Posternak, like not only the way I felt it was very classy the way that he handled the question. Like he wasn't like reactive plug at all. And part of why I really believe in this kid and I think he will turn into a superstar is just the, like his. I feel like he's got that, that drive, that mental strength and that, that cocky confidence where all of that was surrounding him and all that topic and reporters were asking about him. He goes out the next game against Nashville, has one and one big cannon goal. No Selly. Like I, I feel like he's got that. I feel like he's got dog in him. I'll say that maybe you don't see it all the time and maybe you see the bad habits. I think that he's too stubborn, he's too hard working and he's too good of a kid not to figure it out. And he's going to. So I don't want any of that to be lost in all this. And then against, against St. Louis, I think he ended up having to assist the game after that. So he's on quite the run right now. He's going to be getting a little bit of a rest here for four nations. But I like snapping around with you boys and having a good conversation about everything that happened. So yeah, I think that we pretty much covered all.

[Ryan Whitney]

Chicago going at you like the Blackhawks going at you is just awesome. That is, that is, that is what the league needs. Just like going at the most popular analyst in hockey like this plug putting up your stats next to his. I mean that is, that is an amazing troll. Like whoever thought of that is a genius. Well, most people who number have a.

[Paul Bissonette]

Brain only care about penalty minutes and plus minus. And I got them in both categories.

[Ryan Whitney]

By, by the way, Biz, I think of your seven goals, two being game winners is pretty crazy. That's not bad.

[Paul Bissonette]

Not bad. It should have been. It should have been three until we went. We gave up five unanswered against San Jose at the Shark Tank. Remember that? One knee drop, one tee from Oliver.

[Keith Yandle]

It was a bomb.

[Paul Bissonette]

We went up three nothing. I felt on top of the world. Even after the game though, we lost five going around, little towel around my waist. When's the power play meeting? Hey, when's the power play meeting? Frank Saravalli did bring up the point.

[Keith Yandle]

I think Frank was more hurt than Connor was.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, Frank was rattled.

[Paul Bissonette]

To be fair, he probably thought that I'd heard what Mess and PK said. So he's probably like, why is everybody just piling on? This just feels like too easy.

[Keith Yandle]

I think it was something he saw during the game.

[Paul Bissonette]

What?

[Keith Yandle]

Yeah, it was something you saw during the game.

[Paul Bissonette]

I know.

[Keith Yandle]

You were.

[Paul Bissonette]

I know.

[Keith Yandle]

Working.

[Paul Bissonette]

I know. But do you not feel like the. The like. Is it the semantics? Is that the word I'm looking for?

[Ryan Whitney]

I don't know. You haven't said the sentence.

[Keith Yandle]

Depends what you're saying.

[Ryan Whitney]

We need to look great at the.

[Paul Bissonette]

Fact that five days before they were chirping bedard and then I was like, it didn't look. Is that the semantics of it all?

[Ryan Whitney]

No, that's not semantics. That's not.

[Paul Bissonette]

What is it?

[Ryan Whitney]

I don't know. I think. I think that's like saying optics. Optics, Keith. It's like me saying valiant, the fresh air here. Because. Because optics and semantics. It ends with that Colorado air. Those 10 runs this morning.

[Keith Yandle]

Yeah, just like the Pink Whitney's.

[Paul Bissonette]

Just like a line of element.

[Ryan Whitney]

That rich flight from Lauderdale directly to steamboat. So the NHL is on a 12 day break right now for the Four Nations. Very amazing time for guys when you got that break. God damn. We can go into that. But before we go into that, I want to mention to everyone in Montreal and Boston, we are going to be in attendance. We are going to be up in Montreal. I. I get in Thursday. I'm actually driving, boys. I looked at the flights, just horrible flight options. I'm gonna hop in my car, I'm gonna drive up to Montreal with my ulcer and I'm going to drive home after on Sunday. So I think that what I want everyone to know is that we have a Pink Whitney party in Montreal and Boston. But Saturday, Feb. 15, the pregame in Montreal at MVP Sports Bar from 5 at 53200St. Catherine St. And that'll be before the U.S. canada game earlier in the day. We'll be heading into Sweden, Finland and then there's a break. And then U.S. canada at the Bell center on a Saturday night. Holy. Come with us at MVP Sports Bar beforehand at 5:30. We can hang out. We could do some pink Whitney. We can get all fired up, talk some US vs Canada and head on into what should be an incredible game. And then also Thursday, February 20th, we're going to prepare for the championship game at the greatest bar in Boston at 262 Friends street right across from the Garden. Biz won't be there for that one. He's got a crazy travel schedule. I think Jens won't be there either, but I'll be there with Merles and G. And we'll be ready to meet a bunch of you guys in Boston before hopefully what is a U.S. canada final as well. Colby Armstrong will be there also. I should have mentioned the arm dog, but boys, bummer for Keith Murals and myself, Quinn Hughes.

[Paul Bissonette]

Damn.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, I think, I think a guy who should be in the MVP discussion this year. He's in the MVP discussion.

[Keith Yandle]

Should be.

[Ryan Whitney]

Should be probably top three. If the season were to end right now, he had to bow out. And it's a kick in the dick for United States hockey fans. It's a kick in the dick for the coaching staff and the general manager, Bill Guerin, but it's more of a kick in the dick for Quinn himself. I mean, to get to go play with your brother Jack and to represent your country as, as if not the best, the second best defenseman on the planet next to Cale Makar. It just sucks. It's a shitty thing. Everyone, even Canadian fans, I think, are disappointed to not get to watch this Guy and Cale McCarr go head to head US vs Canada. And it just sucks. But I get it. And it all comes down to an injury. He's been battling and I think he's battled several injuries this year. He's played through a lot. He's carried Vancouver who's. Who's gone 3, 0 and 1 since the JT. Miller.

[Paul Bissonette]

They're buzzing, boys.

[Ryan Whitney]

They're buzzing right now. And, and he wasn't able to play Saturday against the Leafs. You saw him skating around, twirling around, trying to give it a go. And this is all about what he needed to do for the Canucks and their chance at getting in the, in the playoffs and winning a Stanley Cup. I get it. I think Canucks fans should really respect it. But it sucks for the tournament as a whole.

[Paul Bissonette]

No doubt. Silver lining. Sanderson steps in from Ottawa. My twin wits love child. And I think that this is like, like the silver lining is, is you're going to get a chance to take a look at the next wave of American defensemen who, man, this is a nice little teaser for him. Maybe this helps accelerate him to making the Olympic team next year. So this is a guy who deserves to be on this team. He's not as good as those other players because of how strong the back end. Probably the strongest back end from, from a one to seven perspective of any team in the tournament. And he gets to join them and gain that experience against best on best. So as far as Quinn Hughes. Man, you can't replace a guy like that. He's a one man breakout like even defensively like you. I know, I know he's not the biggest guy but he closes on guys, he angles them properly. The way he's able to walk the line. I don't know if you guys see that video the other day that one of those jock sniffers posted where he just fucking baits guys in, banks it off the wall to himself and then he's escape moving. He's got the, the lane to the net like he is a fucking water bug on, on the Blue line. Cale McCarr is the only other guy better, but they do it a little bit differently in my opinion. But it is just fascinating to watch.

[Ryan Whitney]

Keith, you, you tried some crazy things wild skill on, on yourself when you played. But his little like, like tight turns an inch from the blue line on the. It's wild to see.

[Keith Yandle]

I, I don't know how they like how you even have the balls to try something like that because it's always like your last guy back. Don't try to do anything stupid. And they're like, it looks like the coach is like, hey, do whatever you want to do at the blue line because we know you can do it. But obviously this hurts the usa. I think it's going to hurt the power play a little bit even though that they have, you know, Fox and Warrensky to you know, kind of, you know, pick up the pieces a little bit. But I thought Billy G was going to bring in Luke Hughes, have him come along.

[Ryan Whitney]

Carlson would, I thought John Carlson.

[Paul Bissonette]

I would pick John over here.

[Ryan Whitney]

That's what I was surprised about. A Cup champ. But Sanderson is I think a guy who they're probably like penciling in on the Olympic roster next year. So it makes sense. Like he's played phenomenal lately for Ottawa and, and I think he's somewhat similar to Quinn Hughes, but based on the lines today, he's actually the seventh defenseman. So we'll see how he fits into the lineup. But it does suck to lose your best defenseman and you're bringing in a guy who then is, is kind of slated in as, as a guy who won't be doing much kind of the wit role in the Olympics. Besides, every time being on the ice you're a minus. I don't think that'll happen to Jake, but I still think it's a good thing for him. It just, it stinks. And, and Elliot Friedman meant or mentioned it was, it was like an Agonizing decision for Quinn Hughes because like, you, you. You're like, oh, I will do anything to play in this. And it kind of goes into Crosby, who is. Is okay to go. He will be playing on Wednesday night against Sweden. He sat out the Penguins final game before the break, and I think people were like, oh, shit, is he injured where. The Penguins are out. They're done this year. This is like, this is kind of all Sid has this season. If Vancouver's sitting in a spot like Pittsburgh or sitting in a spot like the Blackhawks or the San Jose Sharks, maybe Quinn Hughes is here because it's almost like, I'm not me in the lineup. It doesn't change us getting into the playoffs or not. Kind of like Sid. Whereas Quinn Hughes is like, I need to play for us because we are in the mix right now. So Sid being healthy, I saw a couple America tweets. Oh, it's healthy. It's like, no, no, no. We want him playing. The game wants him playing. The league wants him playing. And as an American, like, if you beat Canada, you want Crosby in the lineup. Like, you don't want to be able to say, oh, Sid wasn't playing. It is so cool to see this guy. And quickly. Let me just go over the lines. More so than the first power play on Canada. I almost puked. I think Brad Marchon was asked, how do you defend this power play? He said, just put three goalies in that. And just so the. The first line is Stone with Crosby and McKinnon. And then you got McDavid with Marner and Reinhardt. The first power plays. Crosby, McKinnon, McCarr, McDavid, Reinhardt, like, what the fuck? I don't think I've ever heard of a power. No. Maybe Canada cup with Gretzky and Lemieux, like, but this is wild to see the special teams that these teams will all put on. But Canada's just blew me away. Just.

[Paul Bissonette]

I'm interested to know what. I'm interested to know what Yance thinks about, like, sometimes is it too much where there's maybe too much delegation and respect for the all five guys on the ice. And you might need not only three goalies, but three fucking pucks for the amount of touches these guys need. And how quickly can you, like, gain chemistry?

[Keith Yandle]

Yeah, I think you. I think they can gain it. I think they're. They're obviously high, high hockey IQ guys, but I think that the one thing that they need is that one shooter, like, USA is going to have, you know, Matthews out There, who's kind of going to be the shooter? Canada. To me, it looks like it could be like a power play that you see at an all Star game where they're just embarrassing teams by snapping it around, putting it through the seam, a car dangling at the blue line. But you got to have that one guy who's going to shoot, and I don't see that. Yeah, Rhino is, but he's going to be in the middle, the middle pop guy. They're probably going to try to take him away. And I think that they're just going to seam every team seem to death. But I just, you hope to see that someone's just gonna take the reins and just be like, hey, someone's gonna shoot the puck, you know, what do.

[Paul Bissonette]

You mean by seamum to death?

[Keith Yandle]

Just, you know, passing it seem to seam like cross ice, you know, from.

[Paul Bissonette]

Like McDavid, a dry Seattle back door.

[Ryan Whitney]

Talk to him like a child. He was, he didn't play power play.

[Paul Bissonette]

No. I'm asking for the people listening. You yummy.

[Keith Yandle]

So on the power play with one flank guy coming down the left side, one on the right side, they're just going to be passing it back and and forth up for the one timer, faking it, passing it back, another seam up top, down across. It's just gonna be, I think there's gonna be a lot of passing, a lot of like the first for the first one or two power plays, and then someone like the coach is gonna be like, hey, guys, someone's gonna shoot the puck here. Like, we can't pass the puck into the net, so. But it's gonna be fun to watch.

[Ryan Whitney]

I think that if you remember Kale McCarr, he, he played at UMass, dominated for two years, won the Hobie Baker, and then he hopped right into Colorado's lineup in the playoffs. And he had no problem looking off McKinnon and ripping the puck. And I don't think McCarr's got a problem doing it with these guys either. And I think you're gonna see him like, hey, you want to try to take away Reinhardt in the middle? You want to try to take away the seam to McKinnon? Give it to me up top. And he risks it, too. He doesn't even take many one timers. I feel like he's got one of those rocket wrist shots. And I, I, I see him as having no problem just letting it fly in front. And I think that you're going to see that somebody has to do it. And just based on McCard doing it. Coming from Hockey east into the Stanley cup playoffs the first year he joined, I could see him doing it again with this group. But an amazing talent. An amazing talent. And just to finish off, I was.

[Paul Bissonette]

Going to ask Keith one more question. What would have more semen, the Canadian power play or Bonnie blue? Only fans 1,000 brought her up.

[Keith Yandle]

Yeah. Another thing I want to say about the, the, the, the Hughes thing in Sid situation, like, like you said with Sid, kind of, this is what he's playing for this year. And Sid wasn't able to because, you know, they didn't have. We missed a bunch of Olympics and all these things. So the way that the game's looking, it looks like we're going to have these the next couple years. So Quinn Hughes is probably in the back of his mind, like, hey, I got, I got these coming up every other year or whatever. So.

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah, yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

Let me, let me, let me quickly say before we break down, one more thing I want to mention on Canada. We have to have this tournament before training camp. Like this is now. Like, with Petrangelo's out, Finland's lost half their team to injury. We got. William Carlson's out for Sweden. Like Hugh, this tournament has to be before training camp in September. I don't want to hear that there's football going on. I don't want to hear any of the nonsense. Everyone's healthy. At the beginning of September. The hockey world will be watching. Don't have the game any games on Sunday. I mean, I know Saturday's college football. You could play no games on Saturday or Sunday. People will still be watching. This tournament cannot be mid season. It's too important to the league and international hockey to have this many important players missing based on injuries. And all these guys are thinking about the Stanley Cup. This is a preseason tournament. It's the same way they did it in 96. It's the same way they did it in 2016. It has to be before camp. And then it creates a buzz that leads into the regular season. Because this regular season, let's be honest, has not been that special. There hasn't been a ton to write home about in my. Compared to last year when it was just out of this world entertainment. I think this year's been a little slow. And now this, this tournament maybe helps out, but I think this is a preseason tournament going forward. Okay, I'll leave that.

[Paul Bissonette]

No more TV timeouts.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonette]

They should start to see. I know they kind of already do this. When does the season start? Like middle of October.

[Ryan Whitney]

10Th, October 10th.ish.

[Paul Bissonette]

Maybe backing it up to the end of October. Doing no All Star Game, nothing. Like just keep playing games this period of time and go head to head with the NFL at the start of the season. Like we keep talking about.

[Ryan Whitney]

We're going to just play every game on Sunday.

[Paul Bissonette]

Well, it's best on best. At least you have a chance. Rather than Game 3 of 18 for the NFL.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, I think NFL sick, sick people though, with the gambling.

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah. Nickel back at our halftime show instead of Kendrick and we'll be fucking dummying him with the views.

[Ryan Whitney]

So Drew Doughty was announced as the replacement for Alex Petrangelo. No brainer to me with what he's done and accomplished. I think that this makes total sense. And. And he now joins Marshawn and Crosby as the only two guys. Only the three guys who are part of. What was it the. The last team. Best on best 2016, I believe. Right. So you look at, you look at like those three guys have been doing it at this high of a level for that long that they have. They have those three. And Doty, he would do anything there. He would show up. And right now he has list. He's listed as one of the. One of the pairings, the top six, I believe the guy they had sitting out was Travis Sanheim is the seventh defenseman similar to Jake Sanderson on Team usa. But Doughty's there to be Drew Doughty, to be entertaining, to be a team guy. The locker room vibes, the laughing, the smiling. Like he would have gone there and played one shift the game and not given a flying fuck.

[Paul Bissonette]

No shit.

[Ryan Whitney]

The fact that you could bring in a guy who has the gold Medal, who has two gold medals, who has the World cup championship from 16. Like, I don't even think this was a discussion. And good for him to be able to come back and play and be ready to go in time for this thing after that injury.

[Paul Bissonette]

Completely agree with everything you're saying. Like when things are a little tight and little tense before the big game in Boston, when it's Canada, us and McDavid's feeling a little bit of pressure, you know, Dewey's coming in there naked, helicopter cock loosening everybody up. Like, fuck it. Boys are in stitches before puck drop. And all of a sudden it's a drumming seven one and he's probably getting two apples. So we heard a story about showing up late for the. The gold medal they won in Vancouver. Like nothing happened from. Was it Mike Richards who told that story?

[Ryan Whitney]

Incredible.

[Paul Bissonette]

Like there are certain guys who are made for the moment. And Drew Doughty was made for the moment.

[Keith Yandle]

I will say, as an American fan in this tournament, Canada, adding Dewey scares me a little bit.

[Paul Bissonette]

Yes.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, I know.

[Keith Yandle]

Just from what you guys said around the locker room on the ice, I don't know what he can do, but.

[Paul Bissonette]

He'S going to be shutting down the greatest bar with you guys and then lighten it up the next night.

[Ryan Whitney]

The rest of Team Canada's lines, we got Brad Marchand with Braden Point and Seth Jarvis and then Sam the Menace Bennett with Sorelli and Hagel. So just a wagon up front for Team usa. Based on the first practice, we're looking at Kyle Conner, uh, with Eichel and Matthew Tkachuk. Jake Gensel with Austin Matthews, business boy and Jack Hughes. Brady Tkachuk with J.T. miller and Matt Boldy and then Brock Nelson with Vincent Trocheck. Dylan Larkin. Kreider was rotating with Larkin. Based on the way Crowder's played, I mean, I can't imagine he plays more than three shifts a game. I, I, maybe I'm wrong. And, and, and we figure out something else. On D, they had Jacob Slaving with Adam Fox, Zach Warrenski with Charlie McAvoy. What a pairing that is. And Noah Hannifin with Brock Faber. So Sanderson's the seventh. I think that this is just going to be such a special tournament. I'd love to get your guys predictions before we move on here.

[Keith Yandle]

Question before the prediction. Is it like. I know they're doing NHL rules, but like when you were the seventh theatre Olympics, can they have that extra D?

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, yeah. I, I don't know if it's the same.

[Keith Yandle]

Can you dress an extra guy?

[Ryan Whitney]

I think you can. I know in the Olympics you could. They were dressing. We, it felt like we were dressing like. Nobody didn't dress at the Olympics, right? We just, me and Bobby Ryan just sat there and tried to make.

[Paul Bissonette]

Would you sit on the, the back bench or would you sit on the normal one?

[Ryan Whitney]

I would, I would stand next to Torts and I got him.

[Keith Yandle]

What do you mean on the back bench?

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah, like sometimes they got that, like sometimes there's like a, like a, like, like the hallway there and they got a couple chairs or like maybe.

[Ryan Whitney]

No, we got to sit with the players. I bought, I bought tickets but like.

[Paul Bissonette]

Some of the benches are a little tight. You got the extra guys. I don't want to take up guys legroom sitting on my Harley.

[Keith Yandle]

No, they have the bigger benches for Olympics. The long.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, they get, they add the Benches in the rules, actually.

[Paul Bissonette]

Sorry, never been.

[Ryan Whitney]

You. You bring up the rules. NHL rules. Except for overtime, which will be 10 minutes for round robin games, it'll be, you know, golden goal, I guess, or sudden death.

[Paul Bissonette]

Five on five.

[Ryan Whitney]

I believe. So it doesn't. Although it says NHL rules accept overtime. So I don't think it will be three on three. That's Jeep. Try to look that up quick. But they, they're doing what they possibly should do in the regular season, which is three points for a win in regulation, two points for a win in an overtime or shootout, one point for a loss in an overtime or shootout, and then the top two teams advance to a one game final. So it's just based on points. Points picked up in the three games that you play. And then those two best teams will face off in Boston on February 20th. So I guess Biz, you can give your prediction. I know where this is going.

[Paul Bissonette]

Canada, boys. Come on. He ain't stopping Canada.

[Ryan Whitney]

I heard.

[Paul Bissonette]

No, no. Especially after this tariff nonsense. They're going to go in there and beat him 10 1. And if Trump had any fucking balls, he'd bet the tariffs on this game and we'll fucking drum them 20 to 1. Let's go, Canada. We ain't fucking around. Don't poke the bear. We got all the natural resources and we got the best hockey players in the world. Right, folks? All you Canadians listening? Let's get fucking fired up and fuck these idiots up. Let's go, baby. Oh, Canada.

[Ryan Whitney]

Fuck the terrorists.

[Paul Bissonette]

You're fucking ready for this.

[Ryan Whitney]

It's three on three in the round robin. But overtime, sudden Death will be 5 on 5 in the championship game. So they're not going with. They're not going with the world junior rule of three on three in the gold medal game OT, they're sticking a five on five, 20 minute periods play till a goddamn goal scored. Guys, the way hockey was meant to.

[Keith Yandle]

Be played, the 3 on 3 overtime is going to be because it's all superstars. It should. It shouldn't be. First goal wins. It could. They should let it be as many goals as you can score. 2.

[Ryan Whitney]

2 and it finishes like 14 to 11. Like, holy.

[Keith Yandle]

Especially with Canada's goalies.

[Paul Bissonette]

The last time they did it wasn't at Team North America. The young guns were. They didn't they have a 3 on 3 OT against like Sweden. It was nuts. Yeah, it was back and forth, back and forth.

[Ryan Whitney]

So McKinnon got it.

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah, yeah.

[Keith Yandle]

No one was stopping in front of the net.

[Paul Bissonette]

Oh, here we go. Here we Go.

[Ryan Whitney]

Cornelli's prediction USA beats Canada at the Boston Garden in the championship game. Jack Eichel scores the golden goal. Drinks on the Grinnell tab all night at the greatest bar.

[Keith Yandle]

I'm going usa, obviously. I think having a lot of. A lot of injuries really helps the other teams because I think people were sleeping on Finland a little bit, but, you know, they're. They're a little banged up going into this tournament. But just like everybody else in the world, I need, I want, and I. I have to have it. USA Canada finals in Boston. It would not. See what he's doing right now?

[Ryan Whitney]

No peeing in a water bottle. Yeah, he's a sick prick.

[Keith Yandle]

As I'm giving my prediction, because you.

[Ryan Whitney]

Know what they say, that's what he thinks of us.

[Keith Yandle]

Yeah, this is. This is what you're doing to the United States. No respect for America right there, Biz. Absolute trash.

[Paul Bissonette]

You're a cow, just like your old man.

[Ryan Whitney]

He's from Welland. Trash bucket.

[Paul Bissonette]

Body armor with the wide. The wide nozzle.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, I'm sure body armor loves you hosing in their water bottle.

[Paul Bissonette]

What do you mean? When you're on. When you're on, like a long drive or something. Stuck on the highway. Come on, baby. Shut out the body armor, buddy.

[Ryan Whitney]

I seen your hose. You don't need a wide bottle to get it.

[Keith Yandle]

It's got the squeeze cap on. But you know what they say. They got the defense. Goaltending wins these type of tournaments. And USA's got the goaltender. Canada, you know, if it gets. He just smelt his fingers. The Canada's. Canada's hurting a little bit in the goaltending department. Obviously, any one of those guys could show up and be absolutely lights out for a week. But for me, I look at the back end of USA and the goaltending, you could put any one of those three guys in for Team USA and win that tournament. So red, white and blue, baby. Just like that jersey hanging right behind my good friend Ryan Whitney.

[Paul Bissonette]

Out of your ass.

[Ryan Whitney]

Hey, biz, you got no goddamn. You got no. No goddamn clue what you're talking about. Team USA has reached a different level. And I've talked about it ad nauseam. Yeah, that's a word or two words, Biz. Ad nauseam. I think it's two words. Over the course of the history of spitting Chiclets, we have arrived. We are now equal with you. We are. And I understand that Conor and McKinnon, they are. They might be a step above, but when you look at our team and you look at everything that that encapsulates. I'm talking goaltending. We have the best goalie in the world, Connor Hellebuck, easily heard of him. We got the best six defensemen in this tournament. You look at. I actually really like Sweden's D. We got the best six defensemen and we have a group of forwards who now have the same skill as Canada, the same snarl as Canada, the same fuck you mentality that you've had for all these years and all these years of Canadian dominance. I think I got 15 different bets with random Twitter people about this tournament. Who's going to take it down. It's time for us to win a best on best. 1996 was our last one, buddy. And it's coming again this year in Boston. I like the fact that Jack Eichel, former Boston University Terrier, gets the winning goal. Maybe it's Auston Matthews from Scottsdale. Scottsdale, Arizona, has now produced one of the greatest hockey players in the world. That's because we're a country of 330 million people and they're all playing hockey now, baby. They're all getting in the mix.

[Paul Bissonette]

Bring it on, buddy.

[Ryan Whitney]

They can skate, they can pass.

[Paul Bissonette]

Bring on Musk. Bring rfk.

[Ryan Whitney]

Musk is from South Africa.

[Paul Bissonette]

You don't want. You can bring Bezos if you want. You ain't doing.

[Ryan Whitney]

I don't want him. I don't want him. I know you'll probably take his girl. We're gonna tell you.

[Paul Bissonette]

And his mega yacht. You fuck.

[Ryan Whitney]

You're going down on his mega yacht. Up. It's going to come down to goaltending in a quick little tourney. And we don't just have one.

[Paul Bissonette]

We didn't even need to bring our best goaltender, you fucking peasant.

[Ryan Whitney]

What do you mean?

[Paul Bissonette]

Thompson at home. We didn't even need him. Just to give you guys maybe a little bit of a chance.

[Ryan Whitney]

I'll tell you. Canadians.

[Paul Bissonette]

Eagles and KFC in the super bowl, baby.

[Ryan Whitney]

I'll tell you. Canadians. All you Canadians listening. Remember when we're hoisting whatever this trophy looks like on the Garden ICE on February 20, United States of America, just remember that Paul Bissonnette's the reason, because he pissed in a fucking water bottle. As Keith was talking about our country and our team and our players. Yes, you did.

[Paul Bissonette]

No, it was a Flash IV bottle.

[Ryan Whitney]

It was Flash iv and you were peeing as we talked about our country's team. So you and Canada, for these couple.

[Paul Bissonette]

Weeks, this is what you guys are going to be drinking when we take your Fresh water away you.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, man. So shove those water m up your ass. All right, we can now throw it over to a special guest, Mike Keenan. Iron Mike, as they called him in Keith's house in Fort Lauderdale. Phenomenal interview. And I think he coached a Canada cup team, so he. He's a guy who's been around best on best in the 80s. So right now, none other than Iron Mike. Guys twitt here. And I want you to let everyone know that this episode is brought to you by Body Armor Flash iv. Biz has been drinking this thing all show. It's phenomenal. All the competitors have nothing on body armor and their Flash iv. And it's time to reach for real hydration with Body Armor Flash iv. Packed with electrolytes, zinc for added immune boost, and no artificial sweeteners, flavors, or dyes, Flash IV provides the rehydration your body needs. Whether you are feeling under the weather, have a stomach ulcer, just had an intense workout, or recovering from a long weekend, Body Armor Flash IV helps bring you back. Get yours right now at Walmart or a local grocery store near you. And since the super bowl and the waste management wild weekend just ended, nothing is better than Flash IV to get yourself feeling normal again. Get back to level, get back to square and feel good and get to have a great tasting drink while you're doing it. That's Body Armor Flash IV right now. Go to Walmart, Walmart, or your local grocery store near you and get involved with body armor. What a pleasure now to be joined for the second time. But this is even better because this one's in person. Iron Mike Keenan. What's going on? How you doing?

[Grinnelli]

Hey, great, guys. Nice to be here. Old neighborhood of mine not too far. A lot of friendly bars around.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yep, that I know.

[Grinnelli]

Oh, I've had forgotten.

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Grinnelli]

For people who don't know why I'm so raspberry.

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah, Yan's was saying I didn't come in that early permanent from yelling at your players all those years. Those are all rumors.

[Grinnelli]

That's a rumor.

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah. You're so full of. Your eyes are brown. Your breast stinks, buddy. We know that.

[Grinnelli]

They had fun, though.

[Paul Bissonette]

Oh, I bet they did.

[Grinnelli]

Find.

[Ryan Whitney]

So you're in Key west now. You were telling us living down there and you've had it for 25 years.

[Grinnelli]

25 years. I bought a place down there. And actually why I did it, I was coaching and managing here and Florida, and I said I got to go somewhere where you can walk around, nobody bothers you. So that Was the place. They don't care who you are there, Sit down, have a beer, and you're on your own.

[Paul Bissonette]

Who would be bothering you? Your former players trying to get back to you?

[Grinnelli]

You'd be surprised how many former players I would run into in Key West.

[Ryan Whitney]

Really?

[Grinnelli]

Oh, yeah, because they wanted to come down, they got a few days off and they show up, they're like, what.

[Ryan Whitney]

The fuck are you doing here, Mike?

[Grinnelli]

Yeah. You couldn't stay away from me, could.

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah. You. You tell the reporters you hated me for all the stunts I pulled, but you can't get away from me.

[Grinnelli]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonette]

So that was one of the first things I think I asked you when we had you on the last time, like, are you aware of this kind of, this Persona that you've built up media wise throughout all the years of coaching and all these wacky stories that we ended up hearing?

[Grinnelli]

I've heard a little bit about it. I don't know how many are true, but did you, did you enjoy. It's kind of a life of its own now.

[Paul Bissonette]

Did you enjoy testing your, your players like that? And from my understanding, from talking to guys who played for you, you actually enjoyed the guys most when you would kind of test them a little bit, when they would, when they would come back and they.

[Grinnelli]

Yeah, when they responded, I liked it a lot. And I was pushing them. And as you guys know, you. It's not easy to win and you have to be doing something exceptional. It's not, it's not normal, it's not average to win in the NHL. So to stretch them a bit. And a lot of guys probably learned that they could be better than they thought they could be. They had their own built in expectations or what they thought of themselves, of how good they could be. And then all of a sudden they said, well, I can do that. So that was part of the rationale.

[Ryan Whitney]

Like being challenged almost opened up like new. New windows for them to see who they were.

[Grinnelli]

Absolutely. I said, you can do better than that. And of course, some would get offended, like, I'm not doing enough. No, the idea here is to win. That takes abnormal behavior.

[Ryan Whitney]

That's what you maybe notice is that you'd talk to guys who they thought were lighting it up or they were lighting it up. And you were always like, but there's more. Yeah, yeah. So you get on the guy that.

[Grinnelli]

That was intimidating to them a little bit. Not, not intimidated by me, but of the idea that I could actually do something better than I'm doing. And once they got to a certain Level. Then they said, yeah, maybe I can even do more.

[Ryan Whitney]

You didn't just win a cup. You won a title in the ohl. You won a title in the American League. You won a title in Russia. So every place you've been, you've won. So it's like when you say that, it's a lot easier to call guys out. Like, I've seen winning teams. I know.

[Grinnelli]

Yeah, well, that helped for sure. And I had. Look at you. Don't win unless you have really great players. And I had great players. And, yeah, I helped develop them to a certain extent and developed the team and put the team together and made them believe that they could win. But you have to have the ability to be able to do it, too. As I said to you off camera, for on camera off, or whatever, it's not easy to win. It's tough. Yeah, really tough.

[Paul Bissonette]

Did you learn that as a coach, or was that something that was almost instilled in you is when you were a player and you had a coach like that, and that's kind of just the philosophy you ran with because you had instant success. I think you made a playoffs your first 11 years as head coach in the National Hockey League. So that's pretty. Pretty impressive. Like, where did that all come from?

[Grinnelli]

My mother, she. I had a very demanding mother and built in high expectations. I was the oldest child, and she just said, and my dad was a factory worker in General Motors. Electrician. He became electrician. And the whole Keenan family worked in General Motors, like 150 years of history there. And in fact, when I graduated from university, they offered me an unbelievable job. I said, I'm not going there. That's gonna stop. And my cousins and other folks said, anyway, my mother instilled in me this attitude of, you've got to go beyond what you think you should.

[Keith Yandle]

She wants you to better yourself.

[Grinnelli]

Yeah, that was probably where it started. And then, you know, I started coaching. I had good coaches. A fellow named Doug Williams, God bless his soul, he's passed. He played for the Whitby Dunlops with Harry Sinden, and they won the world champ. I was the stick boy for that team, 1958. So sort of influenced by them. My dad's two first cousins played on the team. Ted O'Connor became a scout with Los Angeles, and Tom O'Connor. So it doesn't get any more Irish than that. Keenan O'Connor. And so then I had good people that pushed me, and. And I learned a lot when I went to University of Toronto after the grad School. Tom Watt had won nine national championships. So I walked into that room, it was like walking the old Montreal Canadian, like, you don't. We don't lose here. I was like, oh, my God, I don't even know if I can make the team. And I'd already been invited. And I just came back from the camp for Atlanta Flames. Cliff Fletcher invited me when I graduated from St. Lawrence. So then I went back to grad. They wanted me to go play in the minors for a year. I said, no, I want to go back to grad school.

[Ryan Whitney]

Not knowing you wanted to coach yet?

[Grinnelli]

No. And then I went to grad school, and then I played minor Pro1A championship. And then I went back and started teaching. And I was. My first hockey coaching job was playing coach. And that really helped me a lot because when I accelerated quickly and got to men in the American League, I knew, like, I had coached many guys playing NHL, many guys that played in the wha. One of the biggest names is Eddie Shack, and he was a pain in the ass, God bless him. But, you know, I had some experience. And then some of the other teams that I coached. The first team where I really got the bug about coaching was lacrosse at Don Mills Collegiate in Toronto. And I had played lacrosse. Bibi Ash was a big hotbed for lacrosse. So I had played it. And they said, well, we need a lacrosse coach. And I was 24 years old or something like that. And, you know, I got the bug. I'd make them run, but I'd run with them. Five miles every morning, 7am Down Don Valley. I don't know if you guys know Toronto.

[Paul Bissonette]

Oh, yeah, the parkway.

[Grinnelli]

Yep, right along there and then. And I also coached female swimming over at Forest Hill.

[Paul Bissonette]

What?

[Grinnelli]

And come on. I did.

[Paul Bissonette]

What the. Do you know about swim?

[Ryan Whitney]

Tread water longer.

[Grinnelli]

I was actually a good swimmer.

[Paul Bissonette]

Were you?

[Grinnelli]

I was. I was a good ass. Those shoulders want to race back then.

[Keith Yandle]

Shoulders?

[Grinnelli]

Yeah. Not now. I actually. You. You guys wouldn't know this either. Like, I. I had some success as an athlete as a young one. I was athlete of the year in my high school in ninth grade, which is unheard of. Played, played for the hockey team and then played basketball. Did it all point guard and track and field. So.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, yeah. So that I. It's interesting. You say get the bug like golf. Like you just.

[Grinnelli]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

Coaching. You just loved it.

[Grinnelli]

Well, we won the championship for the. That school district. Don Mills for lacrosse. And those kids, really. I enjoyed coaching them and enjoyed being with them. I really liked it and liked helping Those young kids and saw results. And just as we were talking, they got better and better and better. So until we finally won. And then once you win, it gets. It's contagious. I mean, you expect to win, and that's how that keeps evolving and developing. So it was interesting. And then I also was playing senior a while I was coaching high school and broke my shoulder very badly. But then I rehabbed, and I was actually in the 1980 Olympic program for Canada when the Miracle and Ice Right Kids won in Lake Placid. Tom Watt, Claire Drake.

[Paul Bissonette]

I think we had Jim Nil on the podcast who was a member of that team.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yes.

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah.

[Grinnelli]

So Greg Millen was the goalie. We were four teams. I played defense, and I'd go back to get the puck and he'd shoot it away, and you're a little bastard. So I said, stop doing that. Either set it for me or pass it all. You know, I'll post up and pass it up, but I just get right back. Anyway, I'm alluding to that particular experience because I'm now the general manager in Chicago. I trade for him. He said, come on in here. I said, payback's a no stick. But he was also my roommate in the Olympic program, and he was just at a junior, and one night he was fired up, and I was quite serious about it and trying to stay ready. And I was one of the older guys in the camp. He comes in, throws a bucket of water on me in the middle of the night. Oh, if I get my hands on you, you're done. He runs. That's why he said, payback's a. Oh, yeah.

[Paul Bissonette]

That's what you got him fact for.

[Grinnelli]

Anyway.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, I'm looking here, and maybe it's incorrect, but Coach Rochester. Americans, 81, 82, 83. You win it all. But then 83, 84, there's nothing. And then 84, 85. You're the coach of the Flyers. Did you. Was there a year.

[Grinnelli]

Toronto. We won the national championship.

[Paul Bissonette]

Okay.

[Keith Yandle]

The swim team.

[Grinnelli]

No, it wasn't this one. No. But yeah, I was.

[Ryan Whitney]

Were you ready to be done with, like, pro hockey or.

[Grinnelli]

No, I just needed a different opportunity. Scotty Bowman hired me from Peterborough. He coached in Peterborough, and Roger Nielsen coached in Peterborough. They're both following me in Peterborough. We win in Peterborough, and then I go to Rochester. We win. Scotty. I got some great Scotty Bowman stories coming down to visit me. But anyway, then I. At when I won the championship, I said, scott, you got Roger Nielsen, Jimmy Roberts, Red Baronson. And yourself. I said, I need a different experience. I'm not staying in Rochester, and there's no room for me in Buffalo. So I went to University of Toronto. They. They come after me, hired me, and then we won the national championship. That's the last time they've won.

[Ryan Whitney]

Holy shit. And then the Flyers are willing to hire you from there?

[Grinnelli]

Yeah. And how that started out was Gary Darling, who was in Peterborough as a scout. He recruited me a little bit and then told the Snyders they had not GM yet because Bobby Clark hadn't decided what he wanted to do yet. So it was an interesting exercise because I had to write a position paper that was prepared by the Wharton School of Business. So I said, well, there's not going to be too many guys can do this. It was like 20 pages. And so then Clarky agreed that he'd become the gm. Then I had to go through the process with him and be interviewed again. But he hired me, and I had a good start there.

[Ryan Whitney]

What's crazy. So you won it in Rochester, in the ahl. You go to Toronto, you win it. You go to Philly. First year, you go to the finals. You must have been like, we got this thing in the bag. I'm winning championships every year.

[Grinnelli]

No, I wasn't that cocky, but I was confident. And Mr. Snyder said. And God bless him, he said, mike, if. If you make the playoffs, I'll kiss your ass at center ice.

[Paul Bissonette]

Oh, nice.

[Grinnelli]

Okay, so we're late in the. In the season. I'm like the last five games, and we lose in the Spectrum now. We didn't lose many games. We won 53 games, I think, that year. He comes running down the hall and people are just scattering, and I stand right in the hall. He comes up to me, we're not ready for the playoffs. I said, you want to kiss my ass now, or do you want me to go out and center ice to the owner? And I said, that's what you said you'd do if we made the playoffs? We're going to end up presence trophy. He apologizes. I'm sorry. Turned around, said, never happen again.

[Ryan Whitney]

Wow.

[Keith Yandle]

I heard. I heard he was like the best guy ever. Like, from my little time there. Obviously he passed, but, like, what he did for that community, the felt like a family.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Keith Yandle]

That's what it was.

[Grinnelli]

Yeah.

[Keith Yandle]

Is that what you felt there?

[Grinnelli]

Yeah, he was. It was really good organization to start with. I was fortunate and we did well, you know, and then we had the tragedy with Pelly. Limberg was killed. And then we had we got Hexi and then we got back to the finals, so. And seven games against the Great One and that machine.

[Paul Bissonette]

Oh, yeah.

[Grinnelli]

So that was. We scared them, but we couldn't beat them.

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah.

[Grinnelli]

And we had so many injuries. It was unbelievable.

[Ryan Whitney]

How'd that series go?

[Paul Bissonette]

Well, I was. Oh, no worries. I was just gonna say, from talking to Wayne, they had a philosophy going against you guys because, well, the one time you guys had Hextall and he was so good at playing the puck. Right?

[Grinnelli]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonette]

And. And like, I mean that like, was that kind of like the first of its kind at that time, like, who was able to play the puck as far as goalies?

[Grinnelli]

Well, Mark, how he said he, he put years on my career because Mark would just post up at the far blue line, actually outlet pass would go to him. So it was unique. And, and you know, we were really banged up, so I was really proud of him. We went the distance. Timmy Kerr was our top score. He didn't even play in the, in the series. You got hurt.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, so you went to game seven.

[Grinnelli]

Yeah, yeah.

[Keith Yandle]

Hextall is a fiery guy. You guys must have had some, some battles.

[Grinnelli]

No, but I'll tell you a little story. So Hexy wanted to concentrate in the warm up. And Proppy, Brian prop would stand over here in the corner and shoot the puck off his ass into the net. And Hex, he'd say, brian, don't do that anymore, please. I'm trying to concentrate on the warmup prop, he goes in. Well, honest to God, it was unbelievable. I was in the dressroom, Proppy's sitting there, he's got his helmet off, and I see Hexie coming straight up the Runway. And now the goalie stick goes up and he goes bang. There's two layers of wood that are for your locker. The first one splits. The second one splits his goalie stick. Otherwise Proppy he was gonna eat one.

[Paul Bissonette]

Right in the middle of the forehead. Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

He told him before, stop working.

[Grinnelli]

Yeah, don't do that anymore. So probably didn't do it after that.

[Paul Bissonette]

Nobody with Hexi after that. Oh, my God. Just going back, you mentioned Bowman, like, what were some of the stuff that you learned from him? And, and just you mentioned some funny stories with him. It must have just been like, like going to university every day.

[Grinnelli]

Well, it was great because he took a liking to me and, and I think he saw a little bit of himself in me. He coached in Peterborough. He wanted to be a player. He got hurt, I got hurt. We both coached in Peterborough. Then we went on to pro. And I think he saw somewhat of the same personality a little bit. And he was great, though, because he'd drive down to Rochester from Buffalo to watch us often. Not. Not as much as he'd like, but often. Or he'd send Jimmy Robertson, Red Baronson down, or Roger Nielsen to critique the team. But he would get there, and he would get in the car and get in that car phone and drive all the way back to Buffalo, which would be an hour and a half, and I'd have to be on to explain it and tell him why, what I did and why I did it.

[Ryan Whitney]

No way.

[Grinnelli]

Yeah, everything.

[Ryan Whitney]

And then he'd remember little, like.

[Grinnelli]

Like, like, maybe, why'd you put fine grain out in the penalty kill? That one. And like, he had just finished his shift, so he had photographic memory about the game, but so did I. So I would tell him and. But it was fine. And then he'd phone me a couple hours later in the middle of night. Finally, at the time, my wife said, out.

[Paul Bissonette]

No way.

[Grinnelli]

Get the phone out of this bedroom. Go up.

[Paul Bissonette]

Something would come to his mind. 2:30 in the morning. Ring, ring. Like, and, hey, why'd you put this guy on the power play here? Like, what would he. Like that?

[Grinnelli]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonette]

That's crazy.

[Grinnelli]

Yeah. But it was an education. But I. He. He saw, I think, a little bit of himself and me, and that's why we got along really well. But because I never would be shy about what I'd say to him, and I'd have a. A good explanation.

[Paul Bissonette]

So at that time. At that time, early on, were you very. You were very quick about pulling goalies early in the game if they let up a bad one? We actually had Roberto Luongo come on and tell a story.

[Grinnelli]

Oh, yeah.

[Paul Bissonette]

And he was like, bad goal thing ricocheted off. Six guys. I had to react.

[Ryan Whitney]

Not ready.

[Paul Bissonette]

So, like, were you just, like, ready to do it if you.

[Grinnelli]

I did it for a number of reasons. One, if I wanted a timeout, two, if I want to rattle official, and three, if I want to deliver a message to the team that they weren't playing well enough. And I'm not going to subject this goalie to your lousy play, so I would tell them that, too.

[Paul Bissonette]

And what about the official part of it? To rattle the official? Like, just kind of like, it would give me time.

[Grinnelli]

It would give me time to. There was no time outside, so I. Give me time. The guy had come over, the fish or whatever it'd be, and. And then I jaw it out with them and Then. Then I put the goalie back. Back in. There was a time I was using it for a timeout.

[Paul Bissonette]

No.

[Grinnelli]

Yeah.

[Keith Yandle]

The goalies used to get shots too, right? Wouldn't you. You'd be able to shoot on them a little bit.

[Grinnelli]

Me?

[Keith Yandle]

No, no.

[Paul Bissonette]

You change the goalie. Like you get.

[Grinnelli]

Ah.

[Keith Yandle]

Or was that.

[Grinnelli]

No, that might have been the case.

[Ryan Whitney]

I think you can do it now.

[Keith Yandle]

Really?

[Ryan Whitney]

I think they might have changed the rule or something. Look that up. But. But yeah, I remember that. Did you like. Because I. I played for Michelle Terry and he was big on, you know, hey, the assistant coach come in with. Coach wants to see. It's like. And we'd have a lot of meetings, one on one, and some of them would be good, but a lot of times it'd be one on one, wake the up. Like, were you doing that or was it more in front of the team? You'd be calling guys out.

[Grinnelli]

I challenged them both in both ways, but not. And the players will probably tell you something different, but I could tell you a little story as well. We were playing Quebec Nordics and we're the youngest team in pro sport. We're not supposed to make the playoffs. We win the President's Trophy. We're playing in Quebec and it's game six. And I come in the room in between periods and there was a table in the middle of the room. I jumped up on the table and I said, I'm not letting you go home without a win. And we went out and beat them and knocked them. And I said, you've come too far. Don't quit. I'm not going to let you quit. There's no way. You can't quit now. We're too close and we can eliminate them tonight. And we did. They're like, I'm standing in the middle of the room looking down at these guys and said, I'm not going to let you go home. They responded, that was what you wanted. And then that's the first year we went to the standing final against. Against Edmonton. Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

Then you get to Chicago. First year success. You go to the, you know, the conference finals. It seemed like right when you got to places, maybe you changed the culture enough to kind of turn things around pretty quick.

[Grinnelli]

Well, Final Four in my first year, and it took us to overtime in the last game this season to get there, but it needed a dramatic change. I'll tell you a little story. So I go in and Mr. Wirtz hires me. Bill Wirtz, God bless him. He's. He's Deceased. We go downstairs Chicago Stadium. I go in, there's lockers, and beside the locker was a wall. You sat there? I sat there. I couldn't see you. I could see the guys across the from the dressing room, but I couldn't see my teammates beside me. And not only that, in between every stall was a nice stand up ashtray. I said, Mr. Wurtz and I came from Philly, and we were ahead of the curve in terms of fitness and facilities and working out.

[Paul Bissonette]

Well, you said a young team, so maybe not as many of those guys hacking darts.

[Grinnelli]

Well, they. They didn't hack darts because Clarkey was in the room with them and he wouldn't allow it.

[Paul Bissonette]

Okay.

[Grinnelli]

They like to drink.

[Paul Bissonette]

Okay.

[Grinnelli]

And they had a beer fridge, which I had removed in the last. They'd run off the game in Philly, run right to the beer fridge where they changed their clothes and. And pop a couple down and then talk to the reporter.

[Paul Bissonette]

So you're saying in Chicago, each stall had its own ashtray?

[Grinnelli]

Well, we shared it. We shared it.

[Paul Bissonette]

Okay. Okay.

[Grinnelli]

So I said, that goes out. I said, knock the walls out. That goes out. Redo the whole dressing room. So, first preseason game. And I said, there's absolutely no more smoking in this dressroom. So I come down after the first period, go in the room. I said, where's everybody? The train said, well, they're out in the hall smoking.

[Ryan Whitney]

He didn't say, in the building?

[Grinnelli]

No, in the dressroom. Sorry, I'm losing my voice, though. Oh, no, they're out in the hall. I said, get in here.

[Paul Bissonette]

So that is too good out there with the fans outside. Hey, I gotta borrow your lighter. Hey, man. Hey. Worry about the power plane. I'll get your new nicotine fix.

[Grinnelli]

Yeah, yeah. Oh, give me another dart.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, Chicago's where, you know, you had Junior just in the hall of fame, and he's told some. He told us a golf story where you. You grabbed him. And it's funny, it sounds like a player would be like, upset, but he's like, it. He basically said how much you meant to him in his career. Like, what do you remember about Hotshot Jr, 19 years old, and you probably being like, I'm gonna have to settle this kid down.

[Paul Bissonette]

I think the story was. It was his first shift and he's just gliding around out there.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, yeah.

[Paul Bissonette]

He's an all star. And he. He had a guy lined up. He did a flyby.

[Grinnelli]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonette]

And then he's back on the bench, smiling, having a good time, and all of a sudden you Grab. You said, you ever do a flyby again, you're gonna play another game for me, you piece of.

[Grinnelli]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonette]

And then he was like that. Like, I was like. I was, like, scared of.

[Ryan Whitney]

And he crushed people after.

[Paul Bissonette]

And then after that, he wouldn't be. He would just line guys up.

[Grinnelli]

Well, he. He came from a high school program, so he really didn't know how to be a pro. And he played a little bit junior in Hull, and then we brought him up and he responded pretty well. He had two pretty good wingers, though, Goulet and Larmor. So he had two. And goo would be sitting on the bench, talking to him all the time. This is what we got to do. This is what we got to do. And instruct him. And Larm said, you little bastard, give me the puck. I said, he's on your backhand. So they were. They were a great line. And, you know, he. He facilitated. And Dennis Savard and I have in the Hockey hall of Fame this last fall. Had a. A good night together. But he gave us the opportunity to trade Dennis for a superstar in Chelli. And that's an interesting story, too, so.

[Paul Bissonette]

Because he was in Montreal at the time.

[Grinnelli]

Yeah, yeah, I was in Chicago, and I have. We're in Vancouver for the draft. I brought everyone in, all the scouts and the owners. So I said, I want to have a meeting with everybody. I put the line up on the board and described what I thought we should do. We should put Jeremy Roenick as the number one centerman and facilitate Dennis Savard. And Dennis was a great guy, don't get me wrong, and a good hockey player, really good hockey player, hall of Famer. But I said, we need a. We need a star on defense. And Dougie Wilson was not the Dougie Wilson that he was, but he was. So Mr. Wirtz said, I'll give you three guys then that you can trade them for. I said, who are they? Said Raymond Bork, Paul Coffey, or Chris Chelios? I said, well, that's easy. The only guy I'm going to get is Chris Chellio, because there's no way I'm getting those other two. So I. And the Mecha court. I don't know if you're familiar with the Meech Corps. It was a. It was a con. A political conflict in the province of Quebec, where they wanted more French Canadian athletes. So I went to Montreal, stayed down there for five days, went into Serge Savard's office every day, badgered him about what we should do. Five player trade. Finally Came down to one. He said, mike, I'm going on vacation. He went to Bahamas or Bermuda or somewhere. I called him every morning at 8am he said, Mike, I'm on vacation. I said, well, make the trade and then I won't bother you anymore. So he came back to Montreal and then I kept pestering him. And then Shelley and Suter went up to Wisconsin, the party and got themselves in trouble. And Serge called me the next one, that was a Friday night, Saturday morning. He says, I'll make the deal. And I said, great, I gotta call Mr. Wurtz and I'll call you right back. Mr. Wurtz, we got a deal. We got Chris Chelios for Dennis Savart. I want the first round pick too.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, come on.

[Grinnelli]

I phoned up Serge. I said, serge, I am awful sorry, but I need your first round pick as well. While he swore at me in French like you wouldn't believe. I said, I. I'll tell you what we'll do. Give me your second and I'll make a real soft trade and give you that second back. He said, okay, deal. So we made the deal. Shelley comes down to Chicago from being involved in a. With suitor comes in and he. Now he's a little bit afraid of me too. I got a great relationship with Chris, right.

[Paul Bissonette]

He's a legend.

[Grinnelli]

And I said, okay. He said, it's going to cost us some money, so don't tell suitor that I'm going to pay for it. And we never did. He said, I. I'm going to tell him that you're paying for it. I said, okay, no problem. So that's a little.

[Paul Bissonette]

Sir, I don't know what was the. What was the trouble? Are you guys even aware.

[Grinnelli]

I know, but I don't know if I should type.

[Paul Bissonette]

Oh, okay.

[Grinnelli]

No, they wrestled some cop to the ground.

[Paul Bissonette]

Okay, well, can't do that.

[Ryan Whitney]

No, he took Charlie's beer.

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Grinnelli]

No, he took such. His beer. Both their beers.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Grinnelli]

I don't know all the details. But anyway, we made the trade and that's really solidified and anchored our team.

[Ryan Whitney]

What was it like calling Dennis Savard, telling him he'd been traded?

[Grinnelli]

Yeah, I was tough because I was. I couldn't get a hold of the first one. I got a hold of me. He's on the golf course. He loved the golf. So I.

[Ryan Whitney]

It was. He upset.

[Grinnelli]

Those big trades and of course he was upset, but I. I don't stand the line.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, my. I know.

[Grinnelli]

What, what are you gonna do? You can't Yep. Chat it out.

[Paul Bissonette]

You give it the click. You just.

[Ryan Whitney]

Well, no, the times I was traded, it actually was. The GMs were like, hey, even traded. Thanks a lot. Like, it. I get what you're saying. Like, what are you gonna stay around and say, oh, what could have been, buddy.

[Keith Yandle]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

Shouldn't have turned it over that. That 15th time, that game.

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah.

[Keith Yandle]

I told you.

[Paul Bissonette]

What were some of the things as your. Your career progressed as a coach that you look back on where you're like, I wasn't doing this right. Doing that Right. Like, what do you think your biggest flaws were in your early days?

[Grinnelli]

And I've said this publicly, so I afraid to mention it again, but my biggest disappointment was how I should have had a better handle or handled Brett hall better. And Brett hall and I really are friends. But. And he would say now. He said, oh, Micah, you know, holy way talking.

[Paul Bissonette]

Oh, yeah, I don't give a. I.

[Grinnelli]

Didn'T want anybody coaching me. Don't worry about it. So. Which was true. But I. I should have been more of the adult in the. In the classroom. So then I'd be getting like.

[Ryan Whitney]

You'd get so mad, too, that you're like, oh, I should have just like.

[Paul Bissonette]

I think we had. Well, we just had pure Turgeon. And he said that, like, one time he looked over and I think you and Holly, were you matching while, like.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonette]

Well, he was on the ice.

[Grinnelli]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonette]

Like, in front of everyone.

[Keith Yandle]

TV timeout.

[Grinnelli]

Yeah, well, he. He did. I didn't. As a professional hockey coach, that's the one thing I could have done better than, you know, many other things, but that obviously, people know Red hall in the history and hall of Famer and great player. Great player. So I could have gotten more out of them. And, you know, I got fired in St. Louis, and they. The president was. Budweiser came in. It was a big transition. It was A group of people owned it. And then Budweiser took it over. And the president called us in. It was Bobby Berry, Roger Nielsen, Jimmy Roberts, Bobby Plager and myself. And he interviewed everyone. I was the last one. And he said, you know, you like him more than anybody else. I said, well, he's a good player. Really good. He's outstanding player. I hope tomorrow I think, too, by the way.

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah.

[Grinnelli]

And I hope he doesn't mind me telling. So he comes, you got to talk to Holly. Come early in the morning. First guy into my office. First guy in the dressroom. Mike, you gotta talk to Holly. I said, you talk to Holly. You're the only One he'll listen to. Oh, I'm not talking to you. Talk to Holly. Okay, so I'll talk to Holly. So anyway, Wayne would have been the only guy that he would have listened to do so he didn't like. And he's been really good because I didn't want anybody coaching me.

[Keith Yandle]

So.

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah, he was just a little maybe stubborn in that regard. I. I heard he would just do all the. He was just such a highly intelligent guy.

[Grinnelli]

Yeah, it's very bright.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, very.

[Paul Bissonette]

So he probably thought, you know, you know, I, I could figure this.

[Grinnelli]

I know already I'm the one scoring, bothering me for.

[Paul Bissonette]

Exactly.

[Ryan Whitney]

And being young too. And goal scoring legend. It's like.

[Grinnelli]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

It's just sometimes hard, I bet to figure like you don't, you don't know it all.

[Grinnelli]

Yeah. And you're trying to. As a coach, you're trying to implement a system. I could tell you this, that there was a little bit of adjustment for him because Wayne would like to delay in the nature zone or during the turn up inside the blue line and hit Holly and Holly be taken off to the races. And Wayne said, no, come from behind. Don't get too far ahead of me. Okay. So anyway, he finally figured that out. Is a bright guy.

[Paul Bissonette]

And.

[Grinnelli]

And they teamed up. Well. And even Wayne said Steve Eisman blasted one over John Casey's head for Game 7 overtime. He said, and God bless John, he played as well as he could. But if we had Grant fear grad Scott even says to this day, we probably would have won the Stanley Cup.

[Ryan Whitney]

And that was the injury from Kyprios that year.

[Grinnelli]

Yeah. Accidentally on purpose.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah. Wow.

[Paul Bissonette]

You. You believe. Well, you ended up winning a Stanley cup with Kiperios, didn't you?

[Grinnelli]

Yeah.

[Keith Yandle]

In New York.

[Paul Bissonette]

You.

[Grinnelli]

No, that's before. Yeah, he played for me.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh yeah, that was.

[Paul Bissonette]

That's right.

[Grinnelli]

Oh, this is after.

[Paul Bissonette]

Wow.

[Grinnelli]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonette]

So you're. You're convinced that he accidentally on purpose.

[Grinnelli]

That I even tell him that today?

[Paul Bissonette]

No. Yeah.

[Grinnelli]

I don't know if he did or didn't, but it looked that way. He. He fell backwards. And Kipper's a great guy too.

[Paul Bissonette]

So you, you were talking about how much respect you have for Chelly. Were there certain guys where you, like, didn't, like, you didn't have to really get on? Like, I mean, I know there was.

[Grinnelli]

Lots of guys I coached that were just incredible.

[Paul Bissonette]

I brought it themselves. Didn't.

[Grinnelli]

Yeah. And it started in Philadelphia. The group I had there, Markel, the biggest, only the only hall of Famer we had on the team. But then Brad McCremen was, you know, and I was getting on guys, and they were young, really young. Youngest team in pro sport. And he said, just be quiet. Sit down and listen to him. So, yeah, he's a pain in the ass sometimes, but we're winning. And that's what this is about, winning.

[Ryan Whitney]

That's what McCrimmon said to the team.

[Grinnelli]

Yeah.

[Keith Yandle]

As a young guy, that's pretty cool.

[Grinnelli]

Yeah. So he said, stop whining. Just do what you're told.

[Ryan Whitney]

After it ended in Chicago, you took a year off before you went to New York?

[Grinnelli]

Well, what happened there? I had coached 11 consecutive months in a row. I coached Team Canada, and I was a manager in Team Canada. Then I was the managing coach of Chicago. And then Mr. Wirtz, we went to the finals, and he come into me and said, I want you to make up your mind if you want to coach this team anymore. I said, Mr. Wirtz, I've just coached 11 months every day and managed two teams. 11 months every day. I said, give me a break. He said, oh, I got no, because Darrell's going to leave otherwise. I said, okay, I surrender.

[Ryan Whitney]

I'm done.

[Grinnelli]

I'm done. Yeah. So then I was supposed to sign a contract, and I was making $200,000 a year doing both jobs. And when I went there, that was the highest paid I was making in. I was signed for 80, 85, 90 in Philly. And then I went to. After we went to the finals, first year, Clark could give me 120, 125. And then I went to. Now I was the highest paid 200 to do two jobs, though. And so I said, Mr. Wirtz, this is five years, so $1 million contract. And I was like, are you kidding me? He wasn't used to paying anybody. And then Allie and Eagleson negotiated that contract for me. So then I go in, and my contract's going to expire, and we make a deal for 400,000. Now the coaches are making 400. I'm doing two jobs again. So I said, I like to make what a coach is making. That's $400,000 a year. I went in and I thought I was going to sign the contract. I walked in and there was. Gene Gazdecki was their lawyer, and Peter Wirtz was the youngest boy. Nobody else walked in, said, you're fired. I said, what? I said, I came in here to sign the contract. You're fired. Okay. I get on the car phone, drive home. My wife at the time, I Phoned her, she said, how'd it go? I said, oh great, I got fired.

[Ryan Whitney]

You said you're getting a new deal.

[Grinnelli]

Yeah. So anyway, that was, that was that.

[Ryan Whitney]

You must have been itching a coach that year, right?

[Grinnelli]

Well, it's funny how life works. And I was then pursued by Mr. Ilitch and Mr. Ilitch really wanted me to coach and he gave me 160 or $170,000 hush money not to say anything to anybody. To sit in the reserve seat, not.

[Ryan Whitney]

Take a job that year, not take a job.

[Grinnelli]

So as Scotty Bowman was the coach, Brian Murray was the manager. I believe I got a call a couple months later. Mr. Ilitch says I got a problem with my family because he didn't tell anybody that he had signed me. And then finally he did tell him and they said they're upset. I said, I don't want you have a problem with your family.

[Ryan Whitney]

Why were they upset?

[Grinnelli]

Well, Jimmy Devil Anno didn't like me and, and this is easy for me to say publicly because it's a fact. And Jimmy Lights was his son in law and I think he was just upset that Mr. Ilitch didn't tell him. So anyway, I said, michael, I don't want you have a problem with your family. I'm sending the money. He said, you do that. I said, absolutely, I'm going to write you a check and send it all back to you. And I did. Now I'm a free agent again because nobody knows about this. And then I get pursued by Mr. Snyder. Mr. Snyder invites me for breakfast. We're having breakfast. I didn't know. I want to talk to you about the team and so on. He's got a sports jacket on, pulls out his lapel, five year deal in charge of player personnel and the head Coach. I said, Mr. Snyder, I, I, I can't sign that right now. So then I go and end up, now I'm being pursued by the New York Rangers and sign a deal. Probably the highest paid first to make a million. And he never talked to me the rest of his life.

[Ryan Whitney]

Holy.

[Grinnelli]

He hated the New York Rangers. Absolutely hated.

[Paul Bissonette]

Wow.

[Ryan Whitney]

Out of curiosity, and I'm going to.

[Grinnelli]

Tell you even to a point, we had the All Star game outdoor game with the New York Rangers and the Flyers and everybody got in line to shake hands. Mr. Snyder would not shake my hand.

[Paul Bissonette]

No, he felt like you were a traitor because of that.

[Grinnelli]

Well, that was a big swallow for him that said, mike, I made a mistake. I want you back. Here's a five year contract right And I said I, I need time to think about this and because I still had feelings about, you know, I'd been in the finals twice with that team. We won so many playoff games, I think I. 56 playoff games I coached there in four years.

[Ryan Whitney]

So you answered my question. I was. Because I was wondering like, like, wow, five years job security back where you were, why not say yes. But there was part of you like I shouldn't have been fired to begin with.

[Grinnelli]

Yeah, absolutely. But. And I don't hold grudges. I just felt a little bit uncomfortable and. And then the five year deal came from the Rangers.

[Paul Bissonette]

Did you have an inkling that that was going to come from.

[Grinnelli]

No idea.

[Paul Bissonette]

Nothing a no. And then you signed the big ticket there.

[Grinnelli]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

Crazy. So you had Detroit that falls through Philly and then in it leads to the Rangers Cup.

[Grinnelli]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

When you got to New York, what needed to change and obviously we can go into that deadline in a little bit of. You rebuilt this.

[Grinnelli]

I wrote a book and that it's out.

[Paul Bissonette]

No.

[Grinnelli]

Okay. So it's in the book. Anyway. Our very first meeting, first of all, Bob Kakowski and Neil Smith under the direction of Stanley Jaffe, who flew to Toronto and met with Rob Campbell was representing me, my lawyer and our agent, if you like. And we made the deal. And probably Neil didn't really want to make the deal, but he was instructed to do that. Now I can't verify that for sure, but I do know the very first meeting we had with the coaches in Neil and I said to Neil, what do you think about the team? He said, well, we should win the Stanley Cup. I said, neil, you didn't make the playoffs. How can you sit there and tell me that? So that's where right from the beginning got off on a rough start and it needed to be retooled.

[Ryan Whitney]

So even needed to be retooled once the season got going and the deadline came like you still knew it wasn't.

[Grinnelli]

I had already gone to the Stanley cup final four in Chicago twice and the Finals, gone to the twice in Philly. And I thought I had pretty good handle on what the ingredients were and what would be necessary. And I said to Neil, I said, neil, we're not experienced enough to meet the what's going to be incredible demands of the New York City. We're going to end up in first place, which we did. And I said we're too small and we're going to meet Jersey and they're a big power house team and they were right behind us in the standings. So that was a debate that wasn't pleasant. But Neil and I gave him a lot of credit. He went out and got a whole line. Matol, Noonan, McTavish and Anderson. So Anderson's experience with mess, you've been.

[Paul Bissonette]

With Noon in so many other places. We actually interviewed him. What, at the Winter Classic? This guy doesn't say much. He's a quiet guy. Yeah, I would imagine. That's why you love them. Just a workhorse.

[Grinnelli]

Well, I. I kicked him in the butt a couple of times, too, when I was a manager in Chicago.

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah, he said that. I told him, go to the Miners. He said, take your lunch and eat it, buddy.

[Grinnelli]

Yeah, a couple times.

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah.

[Grinnelli]

But it was a good lunch.

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah.

[Keith Yandle]

Did you know he was a guy that you could push and get whatever?

[Grinnelli]

Yeah, he's a good example of a GU guy that he was kind of in a area where he thought, well, this is good enough. I said, no, that's not good enough. He picked it up and. And Matt told. When I made the trade for Mato with Cliff Fletcher, and at the time you didn't have to disclose injuries, a toll came. He couldn't. Couldn't skate. Had a huge contusion, and it calcified on his thigh.

[Paul Bissonette]

Oh, no.

[Grinnelli]

So he was out for a few months. But I said, this guy's a big strong guy.

[Paul Bissonette]

What do you.

[Ryan Whitney]

You could trade a guy who was.

[Paul Bissonette]

Just injured, you call him back and say, I want draft pick, buddy. You sent me an injured guy.

[Grinnelli]

No, at that time, that was your problem. Fair game.

[Ryan Whitney]

And those two.

[Keith Yandle]

I mean, Matteo scores a huge goal for you guys.

[Grinnelli]

And, well, Ryan Noonan, my pole, played for me also in St. Louis, Chicago, New York, St. Louis, and so did Newton's and Mac T. As well, New York and St. Louis. So good, dependable players. And. And both of them could fight. Both of them were tough. Both of them. And when I made that or told Neil, we need these players, I said, there's not going to be any adjustment. They know what the expectations are. It'll be seamless. I know Andy and Mess like that said, we have to worry about that. And these other guys. Mess knows Mac T. And the other two guys are going to be Seamus. Just as the case was with Larimer. He didn't know Larmor was. He come to me, he said, I didn't know Larmor was that good. I said, limber is very good.

[Ryan Whitney]

He was nice. Take me through your mind when you see the. The Messier guarantee before game six, you're like what?

[Grinnelli]

I was in the room when he was sort of delivering a message to his teammates.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, that's what he told us this summer.

[Grinnelli]

And it was Miskins a little bit that he was guaranteeing it to the media. Of course, New York media loved that. They just ran with it.

[Brian Noonan]

So.

[Grinnelli]

But he was being affirmative with his teammates. We can, we're gonna, we're gonna, we're gonna win.

[Ryan Whitney]

So did you ever.

[Grinnelli]

And I was in room when he said it.

[Ryan Whitney]

Okay.

[Grinnelli]

So I just happened to be.

[Paul Bissonette]

He was, he was huge on body language. He said, he said like, he'd never wanted guys like, like sulking on the ice. He said, said, and he would point out, look at, they're giving up, they're getting tired. He would point it out like he would just seem like the ultimate leader where, like, it probably helped you as a coach knowing that you like that in the locker room.

[Grinnelli]

He and I would have meetings all the time. It was his team. It was his team.

[Keith Yandle]

So you let those guys police the locker room and kind of have it.

[Grinnelli]

Brian Leach is a good example and I love Brian and we're friends, but. And he'll say, what about Keenan? He said, I don't know. We just won the Stanley cup night. One MVP for the playoffs. Other than that, I don't know what.

[Brian Noonan]

To tell you.

[Grinnelli]

But I wanted him to play a certain way. He had free, pretty free reign probably with coaches before I said, brian, you got the green light, but you got to be more patient. Wait. Because he'd get ahead of the play in the neutral zone. So anyway. Do you understand? Yeah, I explained it to him. You understand? Yeah. So one day in New York, I bench for and I don't say anything. And then the media is all over me the next game. I said, brian, you sit there and when you're ready to do and play the system, we would like you to play, let me know. Mess stood up after like five minutes into the game, said, do what he tells you to do. We need you. He turned around, okay, I'm ready.

[Ryan Whitney]

Wow.

[Paul Bissonette]

Wow.

[Ryan Whitney]

So did Mess ever go to you and say, like, hey, gotta let, gotta let, like, let off the guys a little bit.

[Grinnelli]

He did. And we worked well together. Yeah, not in that particular case, but he and I had a lot of discussions. One on one. He'd come into my office and a couple times both of us are crying. So he's very emotional. And so, so was I. And he said, mike, you gotta back up a little bit here or whatever. And I. He said, you should apologize to the guys, I said, I will. So I went and apologized to him. But we were on the same page and that was the key.

[Ryan Whitney]

And just to win the team overall.

[Grinnelli]

I mean, Brian, all the best players, Ravi, Mike, Richter, we just had the 30th anniversary. He thanked me. Thirty years later, he's thanking me for who we won the Cup.

[Ryan Whitney]

Thanks for not pulling me in the first period. Yeah. Another legendary story from that team was the KOVALEV like, like 15 minute shift. Like, what led up to that? Like, obviously it was. It had snowballed into something, but I.

[Grinnelli]

Was trying to teach them to do a little math with them. So I said, Kobe, you know, you're playing 20 minutes a game and they're one minute shift, so that's 20 shifts. I said, let's make it down to 30 second shifts and I'll still give you the 20 minutes. So you're gonna double your shifts, but you have a lot more energy.

[Brian Noonan]

Energy.

[Grinnelli]

Okay. You got it. Yeah, I get it. Okay, no problem. First shift out there, minute and a half. I said, the other thing is the guys behind you are missing their shift, right?

[Ryan Whitney]

Yep.

[Grinnelli]

That guy misses your shift because I finally put him in center because we needed one more center. He is an unbelievable talent.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, play anything.

[Grinnelli]

Play defense. So anyway, I said, okay, guys, when he comes over, I'm just gonna wave him back. So he started. Come on. Nah, stay out there. Oh, that guy loves me. My coach loves me. I'm always getting a little tired now. Stay out there. I said, okay. So he goes back out. Now he's getting tired. And I said, when he puts his leg up on the boards to come into the bench, you push it back out. And then they did. Then he comes over and I said, that door never opens. You don't open a door for him. He was. But he. You know how he fixed it? He scored a goal in the middle of that ship.

[Ryan Whitney]

No, he did it.

[Grinnelli]

He got his own timeout.

[Keith Yandle]

Then he stayed out after you.

[Grinnelli]

I wouldn't let him off for the whole period.

[Keith Yandle]

Did you bench him after he played more than Rick?

[Grinnelli]

No. All I said, we're walking off at Madison Square Gardens. I said, mess, look after for me. He said, I will. That was the last time I ever talked to him about it.

[Brian Noonan]

Wow.

[Ryan Whitney]

So Mess was like a built in Assistant.

[Grinnelli]

100%.

[Ryan Whitney]

That's awesome.

[Grinnelli]

Yeah. I made him the head coach.

[Keith Yandle]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

Was it your idea? And I don't remember when we interviewed Mess at the cup finals this year, we talked about it, but I don't remember whose idea it was to go up to. Was it West Point? Point before game seven?

[Grinnelli]

That was my idea. And he said, no, no. And Kevin Lowe. No. We want to stay right here and.

[Paul Bissonette]

Embrace the energy of the city as, I believe.

[Grinnelli]

Take it on. Slay the dragon. Right straight on. We want to be perceived that we're running away. So it was great.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, that's cool.

[Grinnelli]

Yeah, it was very cool.

[Keith Yandle]

Did you have a guy like that for every team that you coach? That was kind of.

[Grinnelli]

I had. Yeah, pretty much a guy or guys I had. You know, we're talking about the Rangers. You don't win without everybody being on board. So, you know, between the conduit of Mess and then I had limes was from Chicago and Noonan and Mato, and they'd seen the whole drill before and.

[Ryan Whitney]

They knew the actual.

[Grinnelli]

Yeah. And then I had coached like Anderson and Mass in Canada Cups.

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah. So they had 87.

[Grinnelli]

87, 91. So they had seen the demands. And quite frankly, you know, Mess would. We'd have chats and. And not major disagreements, but we would make sure we're both on the same page at the end of the. The conversation. But he was. He wanted the cup and he knew what it would take, and he wasn't afraid to tell anybody.

[Ryan Whitney]

So would you. Were you a coach? And it's so different back in the day. Like, would you come in and maybe walk by guys in the room and not say hello or good morning or were you personable with them? Do you know how, like, different coaches approach, run into players?

[Grinnelli]

I probably was everything. Yeah, I probably was.

[Paul Bissonette]

Wore your heart on your sleeve sometimes.

[Grinnelli]

Yeah. Sometimes it would be calculated, though, and I wouldn't say anything to them or they would be expecting me to say something. I wouldn't say a word.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, that's a. I'm getting anxiety thinking about this.

[Grinnelli]

I'm proud of this, that I made the adaptations I coached in five different decades and one in five different decades. So the approach that I started with. And I'm not talking. I'm talking about NHL and pro, not talking about the junior or the university, but you have to make the adaptation yourself to the abilities of the players and the changing times.

[Ryan Whitney]

I mean, imagine now, like just this year, it's even. I mean, it's even more different. They're just so young.

[Grinnelli]

They are. And I had lots of examples of guys that you had to adapt to and change. Then I coached one in a country where hardly anybody in the team could speak English, so I had to learn enough Russian to speak to them.

[Ryan Whitney]

So it was interesting in Magnetogorsk. Did you coach Moziakin?

[Grinnelli]

Yes.

[Ryan Whitney]

For people who don't know, I think the all time leading scorer in the khl, Incredible player. He could have played in the NHL, right. Like we coaching him. Were you like holy.

[Grinnelli]

Yeah, he could have. But I had another fellow named Zaripoff.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, he was Dennis Zarapov, I remember him.

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

Lefty.

[Grinnelli]

Yep. Played right wing in the top line and Kovash was a sentiment. He was a tank.

[Paul Bissonette]

Would you get like bored over there though? It's kind of hard like to like you just feel so, so separated or were you having fun doing something different?

[Grinnelli]

I wasn't bored. We won the championship. I thought maybe I'd go for a year and then I end up signing they wanted. I was there three years. But it was interesting in terms of culture. I mean, I took Mike Pelino with me and Mike Polino would play for me at U of T and, and he coached the Rangers with slats and a little bit in various teams. And I said to him right from the beginning, he said, I want you to come with me. But I said, we have to understand not to be understood. So when I went there, I was embarrassed about how all those foreign players came over, couldn't speak English, including a guy like Pavo Burry. And we didn't help them with banking, we didn't help them with housing.

[Paul Bissonette]

Right.

[Grinnelli]

We didn't help them with anything because.

[Paul Bissonette]

Now you were going through it and.

[Grinnelli]

You'Re like, now I'm on the other end of it.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Grinnelli]

And they're helping me, you know, get an apartment. I lived in the basa, which is where every, all the players would live. Except I said, they're not living in the basa. That's sort of a connotation of what historically was like in the country. Yeah, it was interesting. And then we won. We had make some changes and we end up winning.

[Paul Bissonette]

And, and, and immediately you talked about the cultural differences. Like is it true about the, like, oh yeah, you guys had a great weekend. Here's 5k cash for every guy. Like the bonuses and stuff like that. Like, was it pretty gnarly seeing the, the interactions like that?

[Grinnelli]

Not really. We had, we weren't even, I wasn't even aware of the bonuses.

[Paul Bissonette]

Oh, you weren't even.

[Grinnelli]

No, but we had bonuses when I coached New York. Oh, wow.

[Keith Yandle]

Yeah, it's five game segments.

[Grinnelli]

Yeah. I started that in Philly. So if you had six points out of the 10 for every five games, so it's a 600 percentage for the year. But we. We end up with 700 and something in Philly. But you had to get to the minimum threshold, which was six points. And then every point after that, you got additional money. Every shadow, every power play, penalty killing.

[Paul Bissonette]

And you. And you went to ownership and asked for this.

[Grinnelli]

Yes.

[Paul Bissonette]

What made you. What enticed you to do that? Had you done it anywhere else?

[Grinnelli]

I wasn't getting paid much.

[Keith Yandle]

Oh, you got the bonus too?

[Grinnelli]

Oh, yeah.

[Keith Yandle]

Nice.

[Paul Bissonette]

Oh, yeah. That's why I was doing it. And they're like, oh, for everyone. You're like.

[Grinnelli]

Like, yeah. But I. I gotta tell you, the guys like Rick Talkett were making 80,000 bucks a year, and I was making 80,000 bucks a year. And so they could afford it. Trust me, Mr. Snider could afford it.

[Paul Bissonette]

Exactly.

[Grinnelli]

So they. I implemented that system right from the beginning, and they were pleased with it because it got results. You know, it's arduous in the middle of the winter and you're in 47 is a grind. And you're going across the country. It's.

[Ryan Whitney]

It.

[Grinnelli]

Hey, boys, Money's on the line tonight.

[Paul Bissonette]

Oh, yeah.

[Keith Yandle]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonette]

I think there was this.

[Grinnelli]

And the great thing. Sorry for.

[Paul Bissonette]

Oh, no, you're good.

[Grinnelli]

But the. The guys would get cash.

[Paul Bissonette]

Oh, yeah.

[Grinnelli]

In an envelope. And they loved it. Like, oh, yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

Wife doesn't know about this money.

[Grinnelli]

Exactly. Some guys definitely didn't say no. And we made a pantlo that year in New York because we end up in first place. So we every. Almost every five games we got our bonus.

[Paul Bissonette]

No.

[Grinnelli]

So.

[Paul Bissonette]

Well, it's. Yeah, yeah. It's odd how every year that you seem to have that. That you guys were buzzing. No wonder you made playoffs Your first 11 seasons, eh? You're a genius. Just entice him with some bonus incentives. I think it was Rick Talkett who told the story about. I think it was before a game in Calgary. And, you know, he was obviously tough as nails, and maybe you thought for his style he was playing a little soft. And you kind of called him out, and I think he got in like two or three fights that night. And your way of apologizing. Apologizing as he's blowing, drying his hair in the mirror. And you came in, you said, here's my credit card or go for drinks with the boys.

[Grinnelli]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonette]

And he grabbed it and threw it back at you. He said, take your money. I'm good. I don't need your money.

[Grinnelli]

I'll tell you another story about that, though. So I take the Black Eyes bucks out to Banff. I always took the team on a respite at least one, maybe twice. So we go to Banff, the whole team. And then I said, okay. On the bus at such and such a time is like 7:00 or 6:00 at night. I said, we're going to the bar and we're staying there to enjoy. Country band was playing. So at 11 o'clock I know enough now. The guys have been there for a few hours. The and drinks are on on me. I hand goulet my card. I said, goo, look after it. Give me the card tomorrow. He said, no problem, Mike. He bought the entire car. Booze or the. And closed the place.

[Ryan Whitney]

Wait, how?

[Grinnelli]

On my card.

[Paul Bissonette]

On my card, this is when they used to slide it too the pan.

[Keith Yandle]

I. I lost my card.

[Grinnelli]

I said, goo. This is a good story. So I said, goo. What did you do? How much did you guys drink? He says, oh, no, no, Mike. I bought the whole bar. So I go to Mr. Wirtz and Mr. Wirt's pretty tight. So I said, I'm going to submit this bill to the team. And AD started going hyperplastic. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. What do you mean you're going to make. I'm going to pay for that. I said, I make a deal and so if we go to the finals, you pay. And I said, if we don't, I'll pay four grand. No, it was several thousands.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, no way.

[Grinnelli]

Oh yeah, it was about 12,000.

[Paul Bissonette]

Oh, wow. That's a lot of money back then. Jesus Christ. So when you say they bought the bar, did you mean like he bought some. Seriously, like bought the bar?

[Grinnelli]

So what, what I did, I went right downstairs, I said, guys, we're going to the finals. We haven't even finished it. They said, what do you mean?

[Ryan Whitney]

I said, that bill January.

[Grinnelli]

We gotta go to the finals, otherwise I have to pay for it. We do go to the finals. I says, oh, thank God I don't have to pay that bill.

[Paul Bissonette]

So you had some pretty funny interactions with the owners. Like the, the Snyder one saying that you got to kiss my ass at center ice. You're getting to pay your bar tabs.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Keith Yandle]

And he doesn't know any of their names.

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

What do you think about nowadays where it's been talked about like, you're hired as an NHL coach, you got about eight months, it seems.

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

Like are, are they too quick pulling the trigger on guys? Like, what do you think's wrong? Or is there anything wrong right now with the coaches? In the NHL and being fired.

[Grinnelli]

I'm going to reference this or frame it from my perspective, working with the absolute best hockey players ever in the world and that we're making a lot of money. And there was never a discussion about who was in charge. Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier. Go down the line, Mark.

[Paul Bissonette]

How.

[Grinnelli]

Wait for the me. One guy is in charge. And Bobby Clark always would say, this is not a democracy. You do what the coach tells you to do. And they were making a lot of money then and there was no question about it. That's the only way you can succeed in a team sport. You have to have someone in charge. Now you can have discussion and interaction. And like I referenced with Mess coming in all the time into my Office and Brad McCrimmon, God bless us. So tell the young kids, be quiet. We're winning. Just do what you're told. So that was framed. And now I don't know if it's the same. I mean, there's guys making a lot of money, which they made a lot of money at that time, you know, 7 million bucks. And so in the same scale, they're probably making about the same. If you took the value of the dollar back then and put it today. And I don't know if these kids understand that position well.

[Ryan Whitney]

Or sometimes I think too we've all talked like it was probably easier then to make a trade too. Whereas now it's like, well, it's so hard to make deals. The coach is the sacrificial lamb. Instead of maybe moving on from somebody who could be an issue.

[Grinnelli]

Well, don't get me wrong. I got fired a lot and had a lot of success, but lots of coaches got fired. You know, Scotty got fired in Montreal. Scotty got fired in Buffalo. He ran his self out. He retired in Detroit. But it. But maybe they lasted a little bit longer. I don't know. I don't know. But it's a good question. And I don't know if those core four or five on each team understand that I'm thinking that. And was happy the way that the Florida Panthers played last year. They had a little bit of an edge. Paul. I know Paul well. And they responded. I don't think anybody was whining about, you know, we're working too hard or. And they. They were a little gnarly and liked it and were successful. So, you know, I. I don't know if. If the players today, I'm. I'm assuming that. That they have their sights set on the Stanley Cup. I hope they do, but maybe there's too many distractions now with people making a lot of money and people all over them to try to get some of their money, distract them from the goal. I don't know. Like, there was no. I can reference again, Mark Messi or wayne Gretzky in St. Louis and Mark in New York, and Mark, how Sergeant Philly, Jelly, you know, Pronger, McGinnis. I mean, I. I saw the best.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Grinnelli]

And there was never a discussion about who was in charge. They knew who was in charge.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah. What do you miss most about coaching? Like, is there anything that you just, like. Oh, man, I. I love that about coaching. Like, this is what I miss.

[Paul Bissonette]

Asking for bonuses.

[Grinnelli]

Yeah. Oh, getting your credit card. I really enjoyed the fire of it.

[Ryan Whitney]

All right before the game.

[Grinnelli]

The feeling I thrived on competition, and that was the best feeling I would have. And when you could have a. Help a group, do something that you didn't expect.

[Paul Bissonette]

Were you nervous going into games? Did you have that, like, nervous energy? Because you chewed on ice, didn't you?

[Grinnelli]

I did.

[Paul Bissonette]

Was that a Scotty Bowman thing?

[Grinnelli]

No, no. That started in Oshawa. I was coaching Junior, and the Oshawa building was just built. It was very dry. And I turned to the trainer, said, can you give me some water because I'm raspy tonight. He said, no, but I get you some ice. I said, okay. I need something to moist my throat. Keep my throat moist. So that's sort of. That's where it started.

[Paul Bissonette]

No shit.

[Grinnelli]

That's. I just continued that throughout my career.

[Paul Bissonette]

I think you mentioned earlier the coach in Pavel Bure. What was it like? Like, was that. Was that, McGilney your first real experience coaching Russian superstars?

[Ryan Whitney]

Kovalev.

[Paul Bissonette]

Oh, yeah. Kovalev too, I guess.

[Grinnelli]

And also I. I was the first general manager to bring a Russian into Chicago. Craft check.

[Paul Bissonette]

Okay.

[Grinnelli]

So I had some experience with them, but, yeah, they were superstar players, for sure.

[Paul Bissonette]

Did you ever have, like. Did you ever in McGilney ever get in it a little bit, then to say, like, I defected from Russia, I'm not scared of you. Didn't he, like, kind of you back one time?

[Grinnelli]

Yeah, but I. I enjoyed that. So the. The two players were responsible for me getting hired. Mark Messier in Vancouver, he went to the owner, said, we got to do better than this. I want Keenan to coach.

[Paul Bissonette]

Oh, shit.

[Grinnelli]

So I flew to Seattle, met John McCaw, said, this is the worst negotiations I've ever been in. And you're the coach. How much money do you want?

[Ryan Whitney]

Thanks.

[Grinnelli]

Yep. And Then the second one was Pavel Burry. So Pavel Burry got traded from Vancouver to Florida, and he went and told the owner, my coach, wow, that's gotta.

[Ryan Whitney]

Feel pretty good, that story.

[Grinnelli]

I don't know if I put this in the bookie even, but Pavel gets Alan Colon is. Is the owner of Florida. And we talk about a budget, but things got tight there. They weren't drawing much, so he said, I got to trade. Pavo Bravo, at that time was making 10 million. Yeah, he goes to New York now. Slats is the manager there. And they phone me. Not Slats, Mike. I don't think I put this in the book. I don't know. I'd have to read the book again. But anyway, my owner, Alan Cohen, would always come and sit in my office. So I pick up the phone, it's New York Rangers. We come and coach us. And he's looking at me. He could probably hear. I hang up. He says, you're not going anywhere. I said, alan, the team here, you just cut the budget, like half or more than half. He says, no, you're not going anywhere. I could have gone to New York. That's when they had buried Lindros Rat's mess. Wow, that group, they wanted me to go back to New York.

[Ryan Whitney]

And he said no?

[Grinnelli]

Yeah, he said no.

[Paul Bissonette]

Wow, he blocked you.

[Keith Yandle]

Were you GM in Florida, too?

[Grinnelli]

I was. I was the coach. And then I got fired. These stories are unbelievable. Anyway, I get fired and the owner, Alan Cohen again, Rick Dudley was a manager. And Rick thought the team needed a younger coach or a less aggressive coach. Maybe a nice way of saying it, because he said these kids are too young for him. So anyway, Alan goes on a road trip. We come back, we land in Fort Lauderdale, not too far from here, at the private jet. Get off the jet. He said, I got to talk to you. Alan fires me. And then he starts crying. And I get in my car. The phone rings. I had a car phone. No, it's Alan. He says, I fired the wrong guy. I said, allen, everybody in the world already knows you fired me. The players saw it as we were walking off the plane. The media already know you cannot bring me back. Now you look like a jackass. So anyway, then Rick takes over. Only coaches a few games. And then I think, John Tortorella or John C.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, Torchetti.

[Grinnelli]

Yeah. They fire Rick Dudley, they hire Jacques Martin, and then they hire me as the manager.

[Paul Bissonette]

Just chaos.

[Grinnelli]

Absolutely.

[Ryan Whitney]

It's time for the last question by Roback. Mike. Use code chiclets on roback.com for a generous 20% off your first purchase through the end of this Week. Week. That's C-I C L E T S Chiclets on R H O-B-A-K.com rollback 20 off all hoodies, joggers and more with code Chiclets. We're talking about you becoming GM and you being coaching gm. Do you agree that that could not happen now? Right? It doesn't happen because it just seems too much.

[Grinnelli]

Well, even I went to New York. I said, I don't want anything to do with it. I said, I've been working 16 hours a day. Day. I'd go to bed at 2am, I had my own time and get up at six. And I did that for four years.

[Ryan Whitney]

And then you get off the ice from practice and then you got to start making calls on trade.

[Grinnelli]

Then you go up and then you stay up all night working the phone. So I said, no more. But I became the general manager and coach in St. Louis for that.

[Keith Yandle]

Were you the last coach to have both positions?

[Grinnelli]

I don't think so. I don't know, though.

[Keith Yandle]

Yeah.

[Grinnelli]

I don't know who was who.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, I don't know who that would be either.

[Paul Bissonette]

I got one last one. What was the Christmas death skate with the Philadelphia Flyers.

[Grinnelli]

Oh, yeah, that was a good one.

[Paul Bissonette]

What's the. What's that one?

[Grinnelli]

We were. We were.

[Ryan Whitney]

He dressed up as Santa and rode them all around the ice.

[Grinnelli]

We were doing really well. And Dave Poulin was a captain. Very bright guy. He's not working Ottawa and said, mike, we'd like to go home a little bit earlier because at that time you had to play Boxing Day, 26th, so you basically got 24th. Fly home 25th. I know myself. Open up the Christmas gifts with your family and then get on a plane. And we always played in Vancouver, so I had to get on a plane and fly all the way to Vancouver Christmas Day, so we could be in the city on boxing day, the 26th. So Puli said, can we have practice early so we can get out of here? I said, no problem. Well, they weren't expecting. We were going pretty good. And I really give them a bag skate.

[Ryan Whitney]

Merry Christmas.

[Grinnelli]

Merry Christmas.

[Keith Yandle]

The Grinch is here.

[Ryan Whitney]

He just said, they're playing great, too.

[Grinnelli]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, you're something else, Mike Keenan. What a career. We appreciate you swinging by.

[Keith Yandle]

It's.

[Ryan Whitney]

It's pretty amazing. Like you said, five decades doing that. Congrats on all your success and we appreciate it.

[Grinnelli]

Thank you for having me.

[Paul Bissonette]

Of course we'll have to do another one. Sometimes you have a million stories.

[Ryan Whitney]

Read the book. Read the book. What's the name of it?

[Paul Bissonette]

He doesn't remember. Just like GM's name. I heard my Mike bonus or the owner's name.

[Grinnelli]

Iron Mike.

[Paul Bissonette]

Iron Mike.

[Grinnelli]

My time behind the bench.

[Paul Bissonette]

I love it.

[Ryan Whitney]

Guys, need to talk to you about Sport Clips. That's why we're here. Sport Clips isn't just where you get a haircut. It's your playbook for looking fresh. Walk in, catch the game and sit back while the pros in men's hair handle the rest. And when you're done, walk out feeling like you're ready to take on anything. You got a big job interview coming up. Sport Clips, you got a big game coming up. Sport Clips, you got a big date coming up. Sport Clips. Impress whoever you see after you go to Sport Clips and get an amazing haircut by the pros. No hassle, no surprises, just a solid cut every time. It's simple, it's easy, and it's made for guys who want to feel like they've got the home field advantage. And if you want to track your real time wait times, download the app and check in online. Sport Clips, the Haircut experience dialed in for guys. It's a game changer. Sport Clips, thank you so much to Mike Keenan coming up from the Florida Keys to Fort Lauderdale to sit down with us for. For over an hour. So that was a blast. We appreciate it. Legendary coach with many stories right there. We appreciate, we appreciate his time. And one guy who will not be at the Four nations that we discussed previously is Owen the OV goal update. He's now 16 away from Wayne Gretzky's record. The Caps are just having this. It's a magical season.

[Paul Bissonette]

Magical.

[Ryan Whitney]

It's a magical run biz. It's a good way to put it. As of Saturday, they had an 11 point lead in the Metro, 10 points in the conference. So I think Carberry's probably a lock for coach of the year. And they have no players in the Four nations, so they're getting a ton of rest. So this is kind of of turning out to be one of those things where Capitals fans maybe didn't know what to expect coming into the season. I think expectations were pretty high based on all the moves that happened over the summer. But this team has just been outstanding. Two different great goalies. They got Pierre Luke Dubois, who's looked like a different man this season. Yeah, they got Connor McMichael. They got all these guys. And Ovi continues to score. I texted the group chat the other night. This is unbelievable. He did it again. And Biz, you're now believing he will do it this season?

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah. Yeah. I mean especially with the fucking empty netters, man. He's got six empty netters. Every time it's out there you got fucking Dylan Strom or Carlson sliding it over so he can put, so he can put this thing to rest this year. It's honestly, despite the, the lack of offense and I agree with you, I think you said it before the interview started was the, the. It doesn't have that offense offensive flare this year in the NHL. So to have this storyline heating up and potentially hitting us in the back half is very big. And the fact that he's not even involved in Four nations, so we get to focus in on what will eventually be the greatest goal goal scorer of all time. Talk about a team like where has this many off season moves worked out? Every single move they made has worked out. Logan Thompson is, I mean like other than Hellebuck, he's probably the second guy for the Vesna right now. No, like his numbers are out of this world. And, and you talked about no guys in four nations. Like not only do they get to get the rest, but it's almost like this, this chip on their shoulder. Like we talked about it like last two pods. Like do you really believe in Washington if they played Carolina in the first round? Each of us, each of one of us has taken Carolina. So like they, they have this chip on their shoulder going into the back half of the season. No, no. Four nations guys and kind of us against the world along with, with the OV goal chase. So what a fucking story this team is for the whole year.

[Ryan Whitney]

I look at like it wasn't just what they brought in and they, they kind of overhauled the D. Like Chickren's been phenomenal. What does he have four? I think he has 14 goals. Yeah, he's got 14 goals in 50 games. Then you look like, like Carlson has just continued to be a pre. Like an awesome presence, not only on the ice, but in the locker room. He's a leader like Rasmus, Sandin, Biz, like coming over from Toronto, he's been real solid. But you also look at like what's happened with guys who've been a part of their system. Like this Protoss, Alexi Protoss, the Belarussian machine. He's unbelievable. He's a monster. He can skate. He's taken the big leap. Same with Connor McMichael. He's a high pick and it took him a little while. He's taken the big leap. So they've had guys that have been in the system that took the big jump. That's what you need to have happen happen. And they have depth like Duhames on the fourth line. He's a prick to play against. Mangiapani had the one big year in Calgary, he comes over, he's been real solid as a depth player and then goaltending. So yeah, I guess I still like they're kind of with Winnipeg for me. Like, don't really believe in them as a cup threat, but maybe I'm a complete fool, which has been uttered millions of times by all the listens we get.

[Keith Yandle]

Multi, multi million, multi millions.

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah. So do you know anything about Carberry? Because I feel like just from watching.

[Keith Yandle]

Those clips now I want to play for him.

[Paul Bissonette]

I know he's. It just seems like he gets every single guy to buy in and yet like that, that level of like friendship but still keeping it professional, you know, like still being a coach, still being hard line and, and no gray area, but just like having the trust and respect of the player so quickly too.

[Keith Yandle]

I think he's done a really good job. Obviously outside looking in is knowing the group of guys that he has with OV and you know, you know, they're like, you say they're silly guys, they're having fun. And you see that with Carberry after games, whether it's. What's the other goalie's name, our Lingren, him sing. Him singing in the locker room after games, singing country music. And Carberry's like right there yapping it up with the boys. So you see that side of him where you know when your coach is in there having fun with you guys, letting you do what you want to do. You know, he's letting OVI have his six pack of Bears on the bus. Like he's not taking away the fun for these guys during the game, during the game and after the game. So they're playing as hard as possible for him because they know that he's a guy who's going to have their back. He's helping them and just letting them play their game too. And a big thing you look at, you look at chicken. A guy who, you look at him and he is a specimen of a human. He is absolutely shredded. You know, six, three can skate like the wind. But this is really the first year he's figured it out what he is as a player. He's had some tough stops in Arizona, Ottawa and right now he looks like the guy that you thought he was going to be when he came into the league. And you got to think Carberry's had had a lot to do with that. As you know, he's probably just put a lot of confidence in him and you know, we all know how that is. When a coach has confidence in you, it's a huge, huge morale boost for yourself and the team. So I think a lot of their success and you know, as much as you say coaches don't have much as the impact during the game, I think that he's one of those guys that really does.

[Ryan Whitney]

I would love to chat with Pierre, Luke Dubois. When we've kind of had some discussions here about, about getting beat down and, and just getting ripped on. This guy was just a laughing stock. I mean he wanted out of Columbus, he got out of Columbus, he wanted out of Winnipeg, he got out of Winnipeg, he wanted out of la, gets out and it's like, what are you doing, Buddy? He's on pace for like 65 points. So I think that getting to talk to him someday, like maybe Carberry's had an enormous impact with him and who knows, they could have sat down before the season and Carberry could say like, Buddy, like I understand how you feel right now and I think you still have the ability to be like a big time impact player. He's third on the team in scoring, he's playing physical. He's doing exactly what I think everyone saw when you imagine what he could be as a player, he's doing it now. So also Matt Roy came over. He's been phenomenal, awesome player. So it's like everything's come together. It's been unreal work by the management there. And then Carberry, yeah, he's obviously pushing the right buttons and getting guys to, to really feel the love within the entire group because it does seem based on clips like they are a close group and how would you not be with the success you've had this year?

[Paul Bissonette]

Okay, so I was just going to bring that up. Like I know every team does it where they send a camera in and it gets out on social media what the coach had to say to address the team. I feel like they almost do it and he does it better than anyone where he'll always have like four or five guys tires to pump and he does it such in a good way. And I remember at the beginning of the year where he did it with Dubois and they went up and kind of like dabbed each other up. You could Kind of just feel like from that clip moving forward, like there was just like this bond they had within the group and probably a big reason why these new guys coming in feel so comfortable so quickly with this guy and, and they see that on social, like, it makes them all look good. Like that, that, that little detail matters now, I think in. And with how sensitive these players are a little bit. No, Yance, like, they are a little bit more sensitive even.

[Keith Yandle]

I remember one of the clips and I think you guys talked to him on TNT after the game with Dylan McElrath and he stuck around this year and he's played, I think, you know, 10 or 12 games and. But he's a guy you want to have in your locker room because he's having fun. He's gonna, you know, he's gonna be bringing the energy in practice even though he's not playing. And I guarantee you Carberry is a type of guy like, hey, maybe we could bring somebody else up. But this guy's such a good fit for our crew that we're gonna have him around. He's a good morale. If we got to put him in, he can play, he can fight. So, yeah, I just think what they're doing right now, they're pushing all the right buttons in every single guy and it's showing. And, and I mean, did anyone have them making playoffs to start the season?

[Ryan Whitney]

I think I might have said they could be a lottery.

[Paul Bissonette]

I had him last year and I, I, I went the other way this year. They had.

[Keith Yandle]

Do you think, do you think a lot of this has to do with. Obviously, OV's got more respect than, you know, maybe anyone in the game from everybody. But I think a lot of this has to do with him chasing this record too. Like, the guys are playing hard for him. They want to play, they want to play meaningful games for him. They want to have games down the stretch where, you know, that big goal gets them the President's trophy, whatever it is. It just seems like everything that they're doing is just coming together and it's fun to watch everybody.

[Paul Bissonette]

I mean, fuck, how many p. How many people thought he was going to back into this record?

[Keith Yandle]

Well, you thought it was going to. I mean, a lot of people thought it was next year, right?

[Ryan Whitney]

Every one of us, like analysts, was just like, yeah, it's going to just turn into the, there's nothing to watch on Washington.

[Paul Bissonette]

I thought it was going to turn into 25 goals this year and then like, you know, 18 to 20 next year. That's what I thought it was going to be to mention he broke his.

[Keith Yandle]

Leg last year, didn't he?

[Paul Bissonette]

How many. How many does he have so far without the six empty netters? How many is he at right now?

[Ryan Whitney]

Right now he's at 26. So he's got two. I mean who. When you have 800 and I know.

[Paul Bissonette]

But he's got the most empty. Hey, I don't want him breaking it on an empty netter. And especially if.

[Ryan Whitney]

I think he wouldn't. I don't think he would. Would. I don't think he would. I really don't.

[Keith Yandle]

Yeah, he didn't want to. He didn't want the empty netter to break. Gordie, how's record? Remember him and Kuznetsov were passing it back and forth and then finally you just like shot it in the net because that was to break Gordy Howes.

[Grinnelli]

Okay.

[Keith Yandle]

He wanted to score the right way.

[Ryan Whitney]

I think he does it to break the all time record.

[Keith Yandle]

What if it's game 82?

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah, what if it's game. Yeah, what if it's game 82 in against Crosby and it's. And it's to win the division and he's got the whole division's over.

[Ryan Whitney]

But it would be sick Cellie, if he threw it down from like the goal line. It went in. The whole bench erupts to. To wrap up that game. To wrap.

[Paul Bissonette]

It was a tip to solidify a hat trick. And. And he dominated the whole game. And maybe it was the. It was the icing on the cake goal after he already had two in the game winner. That's the only way it can be an empty netter.

[Keith Yandle]

Yeah. Coming from the guy who was 0ot winner. Oh my God. OT would be nice.

[Ryan Whitney]

Remember all the heat he got when he. I don't remember what goal it was when he like put 500 down and was doing the hot hands in Tampa. Oh, I love that nowadays people. Don Cherry was Ben. People were like mad at him for it.

[Keith Yandle]

I think it was 500 goals.

[Ryan Whitney]

I think that was 500. Okay. So another awesome player that, that all of a sudden his name is like getting around in the possible trade mill is St. Louis Blues captain Braden Shen. And oh my God, would teams be lining up with packages to get this guy. I mean this is the guy who's wrapped up a Winter classic game. He's played phenomenal. And then for fun wants to fight Nick Foligno just so he could say he fought at Wrigley Field in an outdoor game. A warrior, a Stanley cup champ, a Captain who signed for three more seasons after this one at six and a half. Half apparently like it would take a haul but I guess with how the blues have gone, they're maybe thinking of shopping him or. I, I, I don't know why you would do that, but what would you say Biz, if the Toronto Maple Leafs grabbed fucking Braden Shen?

[Paul Bissonette]

There was a few guys that I would consider getting off some like a Kill the beast would be a guy. I think a lot of teams are asking about him. I think that they were offered something last year for him and they declined. At least that's nice. No, no, no.

[Ryan Whitney]

Absolutely okay.

[Paul Bissonette]

No, no. He's a foundational player. He's huge. And any guy you ask in that locker room, they're like the sky's the limit for this guy. I think that he could turn into another Nylander.

[Ryan Whitney]

That's what I.

[Paul Bissonette]

Power forward as a.

[Ryan Whitney]

Power forward, he's a 100 point guy.

[Paul Bissonette]

Well, maybe not 100 points, but like a 40 and 40 guy. Like a. Yeah. And just as big of an impact like Nylander can, he can, you know, he can also kind of go for a skate. I, I think that as far as a guy who, who's willing to go to the blue paint, it's hard to find those guys nowadays. Like Hy Hyman does it, he's getting back door tappings like nice will park his ass out front and take punishment. He's a, he can skate well, he forechecks well. But going back to Braden Shen, like that would be a fucking huge ad. So I would be willing. And the fact that you get them for term, I just like don't know how the fuck they would make that work for money. I would give up a hall too. If their salary retention which I think will be part of the hall like St. Louis can do that. Like that's going to be the where they're at for the next few years. So if you get he has a.

[Ryan Whitney]

No move clause right now this season it goes to a 15 team no trade this summer. So it's like he could, he could say no and he would have, he would have his basically decision where he wants to go if he's willing to waive it. But I man, it would take a lot to trade your.

[Paul Bissonette]

I heard he's rumored to Edmonton and then I also heard Vegas.

[Keith Yandle]

Oh my God.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh God.

[Keith Yandle]

Vegas is linked to every big trade though.

[Ryan Whitney]

And every year they do something that nobody saw.

[Keith Yandle]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

So it's like if Vegas my video last year when they grabbed Hurdle and I Had Yoshi behind me. I was disgusted it. I was almost wanted to puke. If they all of a sudden at the deadline got Braden Shen. That may be the end of me knowing that friggin Edmonton's gonna have to play him in the second round.

[Keith Yandle]

But that might have been the start of your ulcer.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, that might have been the beginning of it. Hurdle to the to the Vegas School Knights. We didn't even have to play him last year. Minnesota Wild forward Ryan Hartman is appealing his 10 game suspension. The NHLPA announced that on Wednesday Hartman was suspended for roughing. I guess you can call it roughing. It was more like almost murdering Ottawa Senators forward Tim Stutzel. The appeal goes to commissioner Gary Bettettman and a second appeal would go to an independent arbitrator. They threw the book at him.

[Keith Yandle]

Keith Gary might throw another five at him for appealing it.

[Grinnelli]

I don't.

[Keith Yandle]

I mean once you saw a leg to stand on.

[Ryan Whitney]

I know. What was it last year Biz. Who did he get?

[Paul Bissonette]

So it was a game against the Winnipeg jets and I think that G sent the clip over. I think think army and Merls have discussed this where he told. Told Perfetti. He's like I'm gonna get you. And then basically stuck him in the face off of a draw now. Dangerous. You know some. Some people to the extreme will say oh he could have took his eye out. It's like yeah, he nicked them up. Like you talk about like old school guys like doing that on purpose for guys who are coming after him all game. Like still gutless but not as bad as it probably something regrettable that he did. But that's like. I mean that's Sam Bennett type. Like cheap shot got him and that's like. That could be a catastrophic ending to like landing on a guy's neck like that. So I think that the league took the opportunity based on the clip from last year where he got nothing and used him as an example here saying we don't need guys putting all their weight on their forearm or the back of guys necks off of face off stuff that you're. You got caught. It was a dumb play. See you later. No one else is going to be doing it.

[Keith Yandle]

I heard he got a call from Triple H that they want to assign him in the wwe.

[Paul Bissonette]

No. Eh.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Keith Yandle]

Which would be good for him. You can make some money while he's suspended.

[Paul Bissonette]

Like I can't defend that.

[Ryan Whitney]

You mentioned Bennett. He. He. He's. He Hartman's a sick puppy.

[Paul Bissonette]

He's a Bennett.

[Ryan Whitney]

Bennett the Menace. He's he's.

[Keith Yandle]

But listen, Bennett, Bennett, it does it in playoffs when you know you're only going to get a one game suspension. He does that to Marshawn. Whatever. He might get a 5, 10. He's smart enough to do it in playoffs. Get that one game suspension, on to the next game.

[Ryan Whitney]

Who do you get this year again with the little rabbit punch as he throws the hit.

[Keith Yandle]

Someone in Boston, I think.

[Ryan Whitney]

Was it someone. No, someone in the Rangers. I thought Carl Bennett did it again this year. I know that it was a demon in Florida. All time clip on TNT when he's just like straight up to the jury. I didn't mean to do that. I think he would pass a lie detector test too. He's a real sick puppy and every single player on the in the league wants him on their team.

[Paul Bissonette]

Exactly. I was just gonna say, yeah, I'm not even chirping the guy. I'm like, how much does he make? Yeah, I'd sign him. I have so much respect for Bennett. When he came on right after and just like looked into the lens and just said I didn't mean to do that.

[Ryan Whitney]

So I remember watching it live, starting to think, oh, oh, he's a sick.

[Paul Bissonette]

I was laughing, I was laughing in his face being like, this is unbelievable.

[Ryan Whitney]

I It was Drew O'Connor on Pittsburgh. He got this year. That's what it was.

[Keith Yandle]

We were close.

[Ryan Whitney]

Guys, there was a pretty entertaining to read anonymous NHL player poll on the Athletic.

[Paul Bissonette]

All right, let's go here.

[Ryan Whitney]

So Biz, you haven't. Keith and I have read through this and you, you hadn't seen it. So we're like, oh, let's throw it to.

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah, I was too busy being a rock star.

[Ryan Whitney]

Some of the, some of the, the.

[Paul Bissonette]

Quotes about too busy dodging bras and panties.

[Keith Yandle]

This is like, hey, can I get that nickel back guys?

[Paul Bissonette]

So can we get our trailer back and pick up these rubbers?

[Ryan Whitney]

Some of the responses are pretty funny here though. So.

[Paul Bissonette]

Okay, let's see the questions.

[Ryan Whitney]

If you have a no trade list, what's the first team on it? And this was a resounding number one bids like by, by 30%.

[Keith Yandle]

Why is he thinking so long?

[Paul Bissonette]

Long Island Islanders. The Islanders.

[Ryan Whitney]

The Islanders were not even in the mix. Jesus Christ. The Winnipeg Jets. 48 of the votes. I would have rolled twice.

[Keith Yandle]

All those other votes are from Winnipeg players.

[Paul Bissonette]

Well, if you're factoring in gm, I don't want to play for Louis.

[Ryan Whitney]

Buffalo came in at second at 20%. The Sharks were 8%, the Flames 3%. Ottawa 3%, Anaheim 2%, Rangers 2%. And then the Blackhawks, Canadians, Islanders, Flyers, whatever.

[Paul Bissonette]

So I'm going to defend Winnipeg here. I would love to play in Winnipeg. You're focused on hockey and some of the most undercover beautiful women on the planet. It doesn't make sense how beautiful the women from Winnipeg are.

[Keith Yandle]

You just said focused on hockey. You literally just said, if you're focused on hockey, I would want to play there.

[Paul Bissonette]

I can handle two things, buddy. You gotta have two things. You gotta have a little threesome.

[Ryan Whitney]

I've had a threesome. I can handle two things at once. How about these quotes? There's not much to do there. It's fucking cold. I haven't heard a guy go to Winnipeg and be like, go to. This is going to be my forever home. Can I finish the fucking quote? Nothing to do, bad food, freezing another guy. And then here's one jets player's defense of his city. I remember when I first. He's talking about the drive from the airport to downtown isn't exactly the scenic road. I remember when I first did it. It was underwhelming. There are parts of the city that are great, though, but you don't see that as a visiting player. I always wish they'd stay down at the Forks or somewhere like that. I don't think the hotel meets the criteria for the league, but it'd be better for. Than staying downtown. So a quote about Buffalo, the way it's going there, Buffalo, it's just kind of been mucky there forever. And for me, right now in my career, I really don't need that.

[Keith Yandle]

That was me. I said that.

[Ryan Whitney]

Another player. All they do is lose in Buffalo. Yeah. And then this one. A bunch of people on Twitter said they thought this was me. They're like fucking. They shouldn't ask Whitney. He's retired. Honestly, I wouldn't even mind Winnipeg. It's not that nice. But I hate Philly. I fucking hate Philly. I can't stand it. I can't stand the city. Everything, the rink. It's just the one city that I despise. I can't stand it. I'd be sick if I got traded there. If I had a one team, no trade league this, they'd be on it.

[Paul Bissonette]

Wow.

[Keith Yandle]

How funny would it be if that got released?

[Ryan Whitney]

You know what? They might have interviewed you. Sorry to interrupt because one player said I'd feel lucky to play anywhere.

[Paul Bissonette]

That would be me.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yep. You're in the NHL. Keith always said that, too. What coach would you most like to play for other than your own biz.

[Keith Yandle]

Is going to say Carberry.

[Ryan Whitney]

Because we just talked about him.

[Paul Bissonette]

I would say Paul. Maurice would be probably up there.

[Ryan Whitney]

He was second. Second.

[Keith Yandle]

Oh, John, I thought you said I wouldn't want to play for.

[Ryan Whitney]

No.

[Paul Bissonette]

What's that?

[Ryan Whitney]

Wood. Wood.

[Paul Bissonette]

Oh, John Cooper. Yeah. That's the obvious.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah. Coop. It then went Maurice, Brindamore, Barubi, Monty. I was shocked. Shocked. We have 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. We have 16 answers and none of them are Jared Bednar. Very surprised to see that.

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, man, I'd run. I'd run through a wall for talk and what he's doing in Vancouver.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yep.

[Paul Bissonette]

Carberry was low on that list.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah. Coop is. Coop is the man. And then the next one was. Which coast would you least like to play for?

[Paul Bissonette]

Torts.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, Torts crushed that one. After that, Cassidy. After that.

[Paul Bissonette]

Still making the list.

[Ryan Whitney]

He still makes the list. It's like he's coaching U12 at Saskatchewan. Then Cronin comes in. I guess we've had. We've talked about all these coaches. Then Lindy Ruff, then Patrick Wa. And then you get into Laviolette, Mike Sullivan and Torny. But that was just 3%. The last three guys we then go to. What NHL team has the best facilities for opposing teams?

[Keith Yandle]

Oh, I don't remember seeing this one.

[Paul Bissonette]

I've been going to Minnesota.

[Keith Yandle]

No.

[Paul Bissonette]

What do you mean? On the road.

[Keith Yandle]

Brutal.

[Ryan Whitney]

I liked Minnesota's locker room, though.

[Paul Bissonette]

I like that. It was a big locker.

[Keith Yandle]

Room's tiny, though.

[Paul Bissonette]

Who cares?

[Ryan Whitney]

Dropping your clothes off because I think Little Caesars. Apparently Detroit's amazing. The visitors like, unreal. Unreal.

[Keith Yandle]

It's a full gym.

[Ryan Whitney]

Really?

[Keith Yandle]

Oh, it's a full gym. Yeah. It's like. I. It might be like the Detroit Pistons gym. It's huge. So you can get a full workout if you're into that. That. Yeah. Seattle's was super nice. What were the other ones on there?

[Ryan Whitney]

Edmonton was third. Vegas was tied with the Islanders at four.

[Keith Yandle]

Islanders.

[Ryan Whitney]

New ones.

[Keith Yandle]

Really nice.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah. And. And then Utah Hockey Club's in there and apparently, like, it's. It's. They share it with the visiting basketball team. So they have, like all these cold tubs, hot tubs. Like, apparently Utah has done a hell of a job considering it was just like a renovation. What NHL team has the worst facilities for the road team? This was easy. I knew this one before I saw the answer.

[Keith Yandle]

Oh, it's gotta be. Yeah.

[Paul Bissonette]

Td Carolina, Carol.

[Keith Yandle]

No, they did TD Over.

[Paul Bissonette]

Oh, my God.

[Keith Yandle]

That's the worst.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh my God.

[Paul Bissonette]

Brutal.

[Keith Yandle]

Oh, remember that Carolina?

[Ryan Whitney]

It's like an MDC rink.

[Keith Yandle]

The shower, the showers are where the toilets are and like you'd get out of it. It was the worst smelling. Oh my God. That's where I broke all my teeth too. And I had to walk down that long and it's all mirrors. I'm like, don't, don't look, don't look, don't look, don't look. Cause I didn't want to see my. That lock.

[Paul Bissonette]

What was two stinks. What was two on that list?

[Ryan Whitney]

Calgary. I kind of like Calgary.

[Paul Bissonette]

I love going to the saddle.

[Keith Yandle]

And they did it.

[Paul Bissonette]

So did I. I love the saddle though.

[Ryan Whitney]

Also the quote, quote cracked me up here. One player said it used to be Carolina but then they upgraded and somehow it's still Carolina. The visiting room sucks and the homeroom is basically the visiting room with some paint on the wall. So yeah, pretty shitty.

[Paul Bissonette]

Well, it ain't getting any better if they're going to pay rotten.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, it's either that or the facilities. Carolina said this summer they're supposed to change it up a little bit. We've been telling them to pull it up, put it off because you're like, I don't care. I want these guys to be miserable.

[Paul Bissonette]

I kind of appreciate the grittiness of it. And I played for a team in Junior Owen, Sound attack back and they had a building that when you were on the road team, like honestly like the whole bus ride you were like, I can't wait to get this game over with and get the out of there. Like it was dark, they had good teams. And then I got traded there and I'm like, I love this because it's such a. Oh it's. I feel like it's such an advantage.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, I, I think don't want to come there.

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah, I thought the same about Carolina. You would always just like, oh, like let's just, let's get the out of here.

[Ryan Whitney]

Remember going into Binghamton to play this the Senators, buddy. Oh, that sucked. I had to play Chara was playing.

[Paul Bissonette]

I think a 4pm ER at Binghamton on a Sunday as your third and three. Like give me another ulcer.

[Keith Yandle]

Yeah, well, the old igloo was awful.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh yeah. Bad news.

[Keith Yandle]

The visitors, that's what.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, that, that was tough.

[Paul Bissonette]

I know. But I loved playing at the igloo.

[Ryan Whitney]

The igloo.

[Keith Yandle]

Remember you had to skate. The Penguins had to skate through your warm ups.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, that was awkward.

[Paul Bissonette]

I don't know why didn't care the acoustic Nowadays.

[Keith Yandle]

I think nowadays the owners want to do like good locker rooms because then it shows like when those guys are free agents, like, oh, they got a nice locker room here. That's I'm sure it's amazing on the other side too.

[Paul Bissonette]

Send over tugs.

[Ryan Whitney]

This one was way closer than I thought. I thought this would be renowned, resounding. No. Do you like the idea of an in season tournament like the NBA's? It was 54% to 45%. No, I thought it would be like 80.

[Paul Bissonette]

I think that if you waved the money in front of them and told them that there was money involved that that would be like 80, 20, maybe even more so that I think the NBA players, each player made if they want it like 500,000, if not a million dollars. So maybe not as enticing when you're making you know, 40, 50 sheets for some of the guys. But I still think these guys like playing for money and that's a lot of money. That's a Ferrari for them. So I, I think that if you could get each guy, you know, 100 grand. 100 grand each player to the winner. I bet you fucking. Oh yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

Okay, okay.

[Keith Yandle]

It's not, you're not adding more games. It's just they're making a bigger deal about the games, right? Yeah. So I don't know. Why not give it a try?

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah. I was more intrigued by the different court design. At least the first year they did it. So if you had all of a sudden these funky jerseys that they are rolling out for these specific games for the inseason tournament, I think that it could be something very special. Like what about the, the. The highest point getter of that specific tournament gets like a brand new car. Like make it entice of and. And yeah, make it sick. Okay, maybe, maybe the posts are, are painted a different color.

[Ryan Whitney]

No, paint the ice a different color.

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah, get really wacky. Maybe make it a little bit more like Europe where at least the dots are branded like inside the dots inside the. The ozone are and the center ice daughter are branded with like logos or whatever creative way to sell it. Like make the jerseys more like the Euro jerseys with all the brands. But those are not the traditional jerseys being disrespected.

[Ryan Whitney]

What if they all wear the old like hockey pants in the game?

[Paul Bissonette]

They did the Cooperals a few years ago and I thought they looked a little whack.

[Ryan Whitney]

Like they just did it for warm ups though, I think.

[Paul Bissonette]

Oh, it was just warm ups. I thought they looked like Janko Pants Too much.

[Ryan Whitney]

Is the season too long?

[Paul Bissonette]

Yes.

[Keith Yandle]

Yeah. It should be 72 games.

[Ryan Whitney]

58% said no. I was surprised at that.

[Keith Yandle]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

They said precipitate. One guy said preseason's too long. I think we should start the third week of September and June 1st should be game seven of the cup final. I'm fine with that. They're never taking games away. It would just end it sooner and not have a bunch of June hockey. I think is ideal. But. And then last one. Should Gary Bettman retire?

[Paul Bissonette]

I think he should solidify the next cba.

[Ryan Whitney]

And that's what they talk about.

[Paul Bissonette]

And the TV deal. And then. And then I think that that was a hell of a run.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Keith Yandle]

And what else?

[Ryan Whitney]

That's pretty much what everyone else says.

[Paul Bissonette]

And insurance for the players. I think he needs to do something for the humanitarian side. Humanitarian side to. To kind of unreal send off for Gary Bettman.

[Ryan Whitney]

So it's been a long episode. We're going to get to Quick Hits. And the Quick Hits are sponsored by Dove. Finally, there's a scrub designed for men's needs and the new Dove Men plus Care body and face scrubs to your shower routines using the shower bath or at your sink. Apply to wet skin. Rinse, clean and follow with your favorite Dove Men plus Care body wash or cleansing bar scrub. Transforms how you and your skin feel. That's why Biz looks so good on stage. On stage with Nickelback. He's all into the Dove. It's made for your face, body, scalp, etc. And if you want to try Dove Men Plus Care, find it at Walmart today. The best in the business. Dove Men plus Care. The Red Wings boys, they look great heading into the break. They had a seven game win streak that was halted by the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday. I think Tampa scored four goals in the first like 12 minutes of the game. So they actually ended up making it 4:3. But Tampa ended up pulling it out. 6:3. But Mason, I mean, Jesus, Mason. Raymond Lucas. Raymond. 21 goals and 38 assists. Anything that you think Stevie Iserman could do to maybe help this team out? Biz.

[Paul Bissonette]

I think we were going to talk about Cousins. I heard that he was linked to there. I think that that's the perfect age and a great boost to that lineup. I don't know how they make that work. I. I mean, you. You have to imagine they have really good prospects. They've. They've had a few drafts with Stevie. Why where I wouldn't do anything crazy, but I mean, man, like a legitimate Second line center like those, those also ain't growing on trees. And I feel like his cat pit isn't horrible and I feel like a change of scenery would be, would be good for him on a team on the uptrend. Not necessarily saying Buffalo isn't. I just hiding behind Larkin and playing that way. Like the way that I feel like Laren is a very, very well rounded player, like responsible. He's responsible, yet can produce. While doing so, I feel like he's a guy who could lead a team to a cup as a first line center. So I would like, I would like to see Dylan Cousins there. Somebody also said Toronto, I think that with where the Leafs are right now, I would like Braden Shen, a guy who's been there, done that, a leader, a guy who's been in those hard moments maybe wouldn't necessarily trust a Dylan Cousins in the, in the short term term to like Calgary apparently too.

[Ryan Whitney]

Calgary's very interested in Dylan.

[Paul Bissonette]

That is another guy. You talked about Frost and Farabee in that age range, like.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, yeah, exactly. The, the Wings have. Is it Sebastian Kosa, the tall goalie?

[Paul Bissonette]

Yes.

[Ryan Whitney]

He's been in Grand Rapids. And then they also have Trey Augustine, who is the best goalie, one of the best goalies in the NCAA at Michigan State. So maybe you could move one of those guys. I don't think you want to. You want as much goaltending depth as you can get. But we'll see. The Canucks signed defenseman Marcus Petterson to a six year contract extension that carries a 5.5 average annual value, the team announced on Wednesday. He has a full no move clause in the first three years and a 15 team trade. No clause for the last three. They had to sign him after what they gave up for him, but he's been good dude. And after Roenick and Quinn Hughes, they really needed another guy. And I remember Kevin Hayes told me earlier this year, like I had no idea how good this guy was. Like, he's a shutdown defenseman. He's long, pretty skinny guy when you see him off the ice, but can skate, has a great stick, makes a good first pass and just can play like a solid 22, 23 minutes a night. And that's something that's enormous to Vancouver since he's came over. I think he's, I think first game there he played 26 minutes. So I like the signing. I think it makes a lot of sense.

[Keith Yandle]

I think, I think when you look up five and a half million dollar defenseman, his picture should be right There, he's that exact number. He's not going to blow you away. Offensively, he's very, very good. Defensively, responsible. He's going to make whoever he's playing with play even better. So I think that's a perfect number for him, if not even a little bit lower.

[Ryan Whitney]

But I thought you get a little more to Keith.

[Keith Yandle]

I did too. I thought around six. But I think he's a nice fit there. Obviously it works in, you know, with all of his brothers. The other Pederson's there, so that helps out. But yeah, it's been an amazing fit for him. And you just the guy. Like you said about Quinn Hughes, the. He's. He's a, he's a one man breakout. He's not gonna, you know, do anything crazy back there, toe dragged or anything, but he's gonna get the puck in the, the hands of your best players and help you live to fight another day. So I, I love the signing and I imagine he's gonna, you know, be there for even longer than that.

[Grinnelli]

That.

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah, I thought it was an incredible signing too. I think that it's, it's a good quality to where 65, 70 games of the year, you're going to be like, wow, that guy played a great game tonight. Just so consistent. True professional pro. Like maybe a. I feel like maybe like a poor man's. He's like a poor man's eom. Like I feel like this is one where when like the Oilers got ecomer, I don't think you were gonna. I didn't. I don't think people realize like how good of a pickup that was gonna be. Like it's still paying dividends. I feel like that's going to be the case for, for Vancouver and, and getting him over there and you're paying him a half a million dollars more than what you offered Zadorov. And to me like, Zadorov is like a lot like me as a player. Very hot, very cold. Like he's a, he rides the roller coaster. So to get somebody where you know exactly where you're getting night in and night out and get in at that number, that's a big signing. And if we're on the Vancouver topic, like heedles looked great there, man. He's playing a lot like he's, he's playing in a structure like with, with good wingers and that. I'm telling you man, like, like talk. He juggled this whole situation and, and he's like they're coming out on top of this. Like all that all those distractions. Petey looks a little bit better. Like, he's getting his confidence back. So for what they've done and to lose Demko again and. And still be getting good goaltending and pull off wins again. The Leafs, they beat fucking Washington. Like, this is a good stretch of hockey, and he deserves a lot of credit for managing that shit show.

[Ryan Whitney]

They sit right now in the second wild card spot, six, three and one in their last 10. So things are coming together for. For the Canuck. So that's. It's probably finally a relief for everyone. Like, it's over. The trade happened and we can kind of move forward. And Petterson is a guy. He's an example of somebody. Like, when you don't notice him, like, that means he's doing his job. Robbed. Perfection, right? Like, at the end of the game, if you're not saying his name, it's like, oh, he did it again. He shut down their top score and he made some good breakout passes. Like, I just. I think of Rob Scuderi like, that player. Like, he just. Solid play after solid play, nothing flashy.

[Paul Bissonette]

What are his offensive numbers?

[Ryan Whitney]

Pederson's? Yeah.

[Keith Yandle]

Is he getting, like, 30 more jeans than Scuds? Didn't Scud go 20 years in the NHL? One pair of jeans?

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, I believe so. Pedersen's high for points in his career was actually last season with 30. He had 24 the year before that. 19. 22. 19.

[Paul Bissonette]

Okay.

[Ryan Whitney]

This. This year, he has 18 points in 51 games, so just a solid stay at home D man. Somebody who is flashy, though, is Martin Neches. And he has looked awesome with the abs. Rantanen, on the other hand, has looked very pedestrian, like. Like not himself with Carolina. But Neches is like, wow, I'm playing with Nathan McKinnon. It's as easy as they say. And he's flying around, has looked great. Had the big game winner Friday night against Edmonton in an awesome game. It was four, three. So right now it's like, wow, Colorado's got to be happy with how that's looked.

[Keith Yandle]

Yeah, I think 100%. And obviously it helps, too, because like you said, with ranting and struggling a little bit, but, you know, when we talk to nature, See, he.

[Paul Bissonette]

He.

[Keith Yandle]

He seemed like a guy that just wanted to play hockey. He just wanted to be out there. You know, you remember seeing videos of him on the ice after a game shooting pucks that he didn't think he played good enough. So you can just tell he's a. You know, just a purebred hockey player. And to play with a guy like Nate, like, he, he knows how lucky he is and it looks like he's taken it and, and running with it. And we all know how, how he can shoot that puck. And when you have Nate opening the ice and Makar, you know, seeming guys giving you the puck, it's a, it's a, a, it's a, it's a nice compliment to those two for sure. And as of now, they definitely have won that trade so far.

[Paul Bissonette]

It's always nice when you make like a prediction or have a hot take and, and, and every day that goes by, I'm looking more and more like a genius with the way that this trade is, is kind of played out, you know, it's a good day. Would you not say my rotten and take is, is looking better by the day?

[Ryan Whitney]

So far it's looked very good rotten.

[Paul Bissonette]

And had never gone three games in a row the whole year being off the score sheet. You don't. It only happened for two games straight twice in Colorado and he's already done it once with the Carolina Hurricanes. Not the easiest team to transition into playing. They play a different system. You're not playing with the best player in the world.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, give it a little time. But right now.

[Paul Bissonette]

I know, but treat it, if we're. Treat it like a, like a meme coin here, my stock is up. Right.

[Ryan Whitney]

And those things crash very quickly.

[Paul Bissonette]

Hey, they do. That's why I said meme coin. Do you. Speaking of that, do you have any idea of what the fuck Dave Portnoy is doing? Like, what is all this shit?

[Ryan Whitney]

No clue. I couldn't be more confused. I don't know how to buy them. I don't know what they are. I know this whole crypto Twitter world is insane. It's nonsense. It's there, there's rug pull. It's. It's. I, I am so out of my element with this. But I mean, I saw that like people were making like 10 times their money and like overnight on these things and all of a sudden it's gone. So it's. I think it's basically just like high stakes, high, like quick changing gambling. Like that's pretty much what it comes down to. I don't know. I've never played baccarat either, but it seems wild.

[Paul Bissonette]

Do you know what it's about?

[Ryan Whitney]

You don't have a clue.

[Keith Yandle]

I know nothing. Nothing. I wouldn't even know where to like get it.

[Ryan Whitney]

Gee, hop on here for a second, buddy. Because the next year, quick hitter Is what is the. The watch situation going on with Ronton and Jack Rosslovich? Yeah, so I got this interesting email this past week, and it came with pictures, too, because you never know when you get an email in the Chiclets account. But it was pretty cool. And I sent it over, you guys, and I'll read it here for you guys. It says, jack Rosslovich immediately gave up his 96 jersey to Miko Rantnen, who had been traded from to Carolina, as is customary Rant, and promised to buy Roslovich a Rolex watch in return. The only challenge was that the desired watch model was not readily available without years of waiting. So Rantin had to rely on his home country and Finnish watch enthusiasts for help. Finnish watch enthusiast Eunice Salmella heard about Rantin's need. He managed to find the right Rolex model and quickly traveled to his friend in Raleigh to deliver the watch to Rostovich. Coincidentally, Carolina's game came against Utah, which also marked Rostovich's 500th NHL game. After the game, the Finnish duo, along with Rantnen, who was sidelined for the match, presented the watch to Rostlevich inside the arena. While there, they emptied the Carolina Hurricanes fan store, buying all the fresh 96 Rantnen jerseys as souvenirs for Finland. Mikko personally signed all the jerseys. The surprises didn't stop at the watches. Salmonella also had arranged for handcrafted finished necklaces for the players. And I'll show these pictures now. They were made by a master goldsmith who was particularly popular among Finnish rap artists. Eunice and his friend Rupe got to experience unforgettable moments inside the NHL world. Both Jack and Mikko loved the necklace, and we, in turn, had an unforgettable experience in the NHL and in Carolina. Thanks to Mikko for organizing all this and hosting us. This trip will never be forgotten. That makes me think Nico's gonna catch fire, baby. Yeah, that's some good karma right there.

[Paul Bissonette]

All right, there goes the meme coin. We're crashing. We're crashing, baby. Oh, no.

[Ryan Whitney]

There goes the biz. Meme coin.

[Paul Bissonette]

I'm pulling the rug. I'm pulling the rug.

[Ryan Whitney]

Done. It's done. The International Ice Hockey Federation announced Tuesday. Just upsetting, to say the least, that it's extending its ban on Russia and Bella Belarus through the 2526 season, meaning that Russia will not be in the Olympics next year in Italy. It's just. I get it. It is what it is. It just sucks as hockey fans to see this Russian roster and to see what it would be like to have Russia in the mix with Canada, us, Sweden and the rest of the countries. Check will be back. Kind of shitty news for hockey fans. I mean I know there's a bunch of stuff that goes into this. I'm talking talking purely hockey here. You want Russia in the best on best and they won't be there.

[Keith Yandle]

Especially with OVI probably being his last year too. Having him end with something like that playing for his country. You know how much pride all those Russians take too and playing for their country. And obviously I don't know what happened with the whole suspension for their country, but it would be nice to see the hockey players in there.

[Ryan Whitney]

I think there were several things but I just wanted to see Cooch the man that when we talk about these generational players we never mention what a player would have been sick to see him in the. In the Olympics for Russia next year. But last thing guys, before we send over to Brian Noonan is Chris Bork son Kingston is heading to the Quebec Peewee Championship. I don't know if you know I won that tournament in 1997 with Keith's brother Brian and the South Shore Kings. So. So Kingston will be heading with Top Gun. Keith and I very close with Chris who wanted to shout out Kingston and the Top Gun team, I believe their 12 birth year. 2012 birth years. So go get them. Keith was our stick boy on that championship squad. He was running amok around Laala say.

[Paul Bissonette]

So should be fun. Hey, also G pretty good read of that story. Holy fuck. He didn't skip a beat.

[Ryan Whitney]

Can I tell you guys how nervous I was because I knew I'm getting tagged in one time this episode and it's going to read to write this email. So I took that would have Adderall seven hours and I locked in. I'm like I got one goal. This pod just don't fuck up this email. Is the guy's name Sal Manila though, like the poisoning you can get? Yeah, I mean that's how it's spelled. But I'm just a terrible. I'm terrible with names as you know. Sasha Boucherve. I'm terrible with them. So yeah, it's probably wrong. Great job, G. With that we can send it over to Brian Noonan who in a prior life could have hosted a talk show. This man can talk. We want to thank him for coming on. Stanley cup champion.

[Grinnelli]

Love him.

[Ryan Whitney]

South Boston's own Brian Noonan. Guys, before we continue, I want to talk to you about DraftKings. This NHL season has been as predictable as a puck rolling on its edge. No one knows where it's going, but that just means there's time for your favorite team to figure things out. Just in time for the playoffs and the chase for Lord Stanley. And the games are left for you to get in on the action. At DraftKings sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of the National Hockey League, the NHL is the fastest game on ice. It's the greatest game in the world in person, and you can make fast live bets during any game on DraftKings sportsbook. It's super easy for first timers to get started. Try betting on something simple like picking a team to win. Go to the DraftKings sportsbook app, select your team team and place your first bet. And if you're new to DraftKings, listen up new customers. Bet $5 to get $150 in bonus bets instantly. That's right, bet $5 on your favorite team to win and get 150 in bonus bets right away. Download the DraftKings sportsbook app now and use code Chiclets. That's code Chiclets. C H I C L E T S for new customers to get 150 in bonus bets instantly. When you bet just five bucks bucks only on DraftKings. The crown is yours. Gambling problem. Call 1-800- gambler in New York, call 877-8-HOPE NY or text hopeny 467-369 in Connecticut.

[Keith Yandle]

Help is available for problem gambling.

[Ryan Whitney]

Call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org Please play responsibly on behalf of Boot Hill Casino and Resort in Kansas, 21 and over.

[Keith Yandle]

Age and eligibility varies by jurisdiction. Void.

[Ryan Whitney]

In Ontario, bonus bets expire 100, 168 hours after issuance.

[Paul Bissonette]

For additional terms and responsible gaming resources.

[Ryan Whitney]

See DKNG Co Audio. We're now pleased to be joined by a special guest, a man who grew up, raised in Boston, but now lives in Chicago and has for a long time Stanley cup winner, Calder cup winner Brian Newton. Thanks for joining the show.

[Paul Bissonette]

Who's called the Calder cup in the ihl?

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, I'm sorry, I thought it was the ahl.

[Brian Noonan]

That was. The IHL was a Turner Cup.

[Ryan Whitney]

Turner Cup. Okay, so Chicago was. Chicago Wolves were IHL for a long.

[Brian Noonan]

Time and they were. The year I was broadcasting with them, they won the Calder Cup.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, they've always had a great program.

[Paul Bissonette]

I think they beat us in the finals that year and it was a Wilkes Bear who. They played in the finals?

[Brian Noonan]

No, they played Shoot I knew you're gonna say it, but I know it wasn't Wilkes.

[Paul Bissonette]

Okay.

[Keith Yandle]

Because they played like Krug and Hadar, those guys.

[Paul Bissonette]

Oh, they're all making a million bucks. Yeah.

[Brian Noonan]

Yeah. Steve Malte was their big score. Rob Brown was there.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, we interviewed him. Yeah, we interviewed him. He's a great guy.

[Paul Bissonette]

What are you doing now in your post career?

[Brian Noonan]

I coach a travel team here, the Chicago Jets. They're down actually like a mile from United Center. I do bantams. Minor in major.

[Ryan Whitney]

So are you a hard nosed coach? Old school.

[Paul Bissonette]

You look like you yell at the kids and give them.

[Brian Noonan]

I do too much wake the upper. I had Keenan and Daryl Sutter as I kind of yell a little too much. Yes.

[Paul Bissonette]

Okay, so you're all. You're definitely old school. Do the. Do the younger kids appreciate that they need the discipline?

[Brian Noonan]

I don't think they do as much as the parents do. If I could be surprised. Parents, you know, do say, I like that you yell the kids, you know, I'm not swearing at them.

[Paul Bissonette]

Okay. That's good.

[Brian Noonan]

Not always. Hope I'm screaming in the right way. I'm not just.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, you're holding them accountable.

[Brian Noonan]

Yeah.

[Keith Yandle]

You also have to be loud too. He's one of 11.

[Brian Noonan]

Yes. No, in a second youngest.

[Keith Yandle]

Second youngest of 11. So you gotta, you gotta like also people probably don't know Philip Rivers over here. My sister is married to Bobby's nephew.

[Paul Bissonette]

No.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Brian Noonan]

Yeah.

[Keith Yandle]

That kid doesn't make it to the NHL.

[Paul Bissonette]

Well, everybody's kind of cousins in Boston.

[Ryan Whitney]

Right.

[Paul Bissonette]

There's a lot of. It's a lot of incest going on there. No.

[Ryan Whitney]

What the biz you're from? Welland, I guess. Oh. If you're one of 11, though, like, how nuts was that? It was the whole family playing hockey. You're South Boston.

[Brian Noonan]

South Boston. Seven girls, four boys.

[Keith Yandle]

And the girls are tougher than the boys.

[Brian Noonan]

They are. Most of them were.

[Keith Yandle]

Yeah.

[Brian Noonan]

And we grew up like in o Colony housing project. Like that was down. This wasn't the best place to grow up. But we're all bunched in one little apartment, three people in a room. But you learn to get along and figure it out. Figure it out. Yeah.

[Paul Bissonette]

Who were your. Who were your idols? Who did you watch growing up where you're like, I want to be like that guy in the NHL.

[Brian Noonan]

Yeah. There are Bruins fans, obviously, and Cherry O'Reilly, Rick Middleton. Those were my favorite guys. Nifty was, you know, fun to watch.

[Ryan Whitney]

He was sick.

[Brian Noonan]

Great mitts.

[Keith Yandle]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

Were you playing like street hockey or Were you, like, was it more every day?

[Brian Noonan]

I mean, there was a schoolyard right across from our house. I was. I was out there every day just with a hockey ball or a tennis ball, you know, trying to stay out of trouble. My dad was a cop, so he was pretty. You know, he knew who my friends were. He's like, you're not hanging with them tonight.

[Paul Bissonette]

So he was probably a disciplinary, too.

[Brian Noonan]

Not so bad. But, you know, he. You got the message when he talked to you, right?

[Paul Bissonette]

No.

[Ryan Whitney]

Where were you in the order of the kids?

[Brian Noonan]

I was the second youngest. I have a younger sister.

[Ryan Whitney]

So you. So you had sisters just raising you, basically.

[Brian Noonan]

So I'll be 60. My oldest brother will be 70. So we had one every year.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, it's not even that crazy, actually.

[Brian Noonan]

One set of 20 twins, boy and a girl.

[Ryan Whitney]

That is nuts. When did you, like, know, like, you were gonna be this good at hockey? Like, you. Were you 15, 16? I mean, somehow you played in the WHL. It's like, so random. I think back then, a lot of good hockey players from Boston were going to be you or at least college.

[Brian Noonan]

And that's what I wanted to do. I mean, high school hockey back then was aaa. Now they have all AAA teams here now. Like, they were good teams. It was good BC Archie's where I went. And I was pretty good at high school, so I knew I was. I could go to college. I was getting offers, but unfortunately, I wasn't a good student. Keith didn't think I went to school at all. But I did show up.

[Ryan Whitney]

Keith goes, do you have a diploma?

[Brian Noonan]

But I didn't. I didn't do anything at school. I was stupid. I shouldn't say this, but I just hated school, you know? I had a brother, Paul, who went to Norwich to be an engineer. He played hockey. He was smart, you know, I'd ask him to do my homework for me, and they'd be like, no, I'll help you with it. I'm not doing it for it. Then I'm like, well, I'm not going to do it then. So I just didn't. I should have, obviously, because I could have went to any school. But back then, they changed the rule. You had to have a 2.0 grade average to get a scholarship, and you.

[Paul Bissonette]

Couldn'T even get there.

[Brian Noonan]

I had like a 1.8 or a 1.9, and I went to Archie's as a Catholic school, so I, not the hardest priest, was a president. So I went and met with him.

[Ryan Whitney]

I'm like, can you help me Out.

[Brian Noonan]

Yeah, Bump me up. And he's like, you know, Catholic priest. He's like, we can't do that.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, yeah.

[Paul Bissonette]

Play by the rules.

[Ryan Whitney]

All like, I gotta go to the WHL now. That's.

[Brian Noonan]

Yeah. Where I ended up in New Westminster, which I tried to go to Kitchener, but there are rules that. They didn't have the rules back then. You had to stay in your.

[Keith Yandle]

Yeah.

[Brian Noonan]

You know, your quadrant kind of thing.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, the districts. Right.

[Brian Noonan]

So I. A scout from the Hawks got me a trial with the Portland Winterhawks. So almost like the night before I was leaving, I didn't even know there was a whl. No, I knew nothing about Western Hockey.

[Ryan Whitney]

League or Where am I going right now.

[Brian Noonan]

Yeah. It wasn't like I was going on the Internet back.

[Paul Bissonette]

No, I know it's hard. You couldn't Google anything.

[Brian Noonan]

So then the night before I was leaving, the coach of the New Westminster Bruins called me and said, I can't go there because they drafted. Drafted me. Which I didn't know they had a draft. Didn't even know I was drafted. So my dad, like I said, is a cop. He was a loyal guy. He's like, you're going to Portland. We already promised them. I'm like, we can't.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, there's rules here, dad.

[Brian Noonan]

Yeah. So New west said you can come here, try out if.

[Ryan Whitney]

Where is that?

[Brian Noonan]

Vancouver, just outside. Oh, it's beautiful.

[Ryan Whitney]

So that actually worked out pretty nice then.

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah.

[Brian Noonan]

So they said, come here and try out. And you know, if. If you're good enough, then obviously we'll keep it, but if you don't like it, we'll send you wherever you want to go.

[Paul Bissonette]

I. I noticed you were drafted by the Blackhawks, but then yet in the ihl at the time, played for the Nova Scotia Oilers.

[Brian Noonan]

We shared with Edmonton.

[Paul Bissonette]

Okay, so you went from one coast to the next coast. Like, what. I mean, you're moving around like crazy. Like, what was the. The adjustment like? Did you like it?

[Brian Noonan]

I mean, moving up a level hockey wise, was fun. Nova Scotia, where they. You guys ever hear Larry Kish? Remember that name? No, no, he was a coach. He was an Edmonton guy. So you're supposed to be playing half black.

[Ryan Whitney]

He's playing the Edmonton guys, though.

[Brian Noonan]

All of them, like, I mean, hockey scouts were coming from the Hawks, and we were sitting in the stands like, no, finally they kind of figured out, like, hey, you got to play some of these guys.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Brian Noonan]

So nice. Finally starting playing us. And, you know, I ended up scoring like 25 or 30 goals and I kind of was making a step up. I was there one year. Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

Did you. Did you have a chance to maybe make the team out of camp that first year, or did you know you were going to be in the minors?

[Brian Noonan]

No. Yeah, I, like, I went like once I went from high school, then I went to New west, then I went to the ihl. I signed with the Hawks. I played in there. Then I went to the ahl and then I went to. So I kind of made it one step every. Every year I went one step.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah. And you proved yourself at each level, I guess, before you got up, up. Then you get to Chicago. Like, who's there at the time? Like, who were the legends that had been a Blackhawk for a long time when you show up as a rookie?

[Brian Noonan]

Well, my first year there playing was Bob Murdoch was the coach. You know, he had Doug Wilson, Dennis Savard, Steve Larmer, Bob Murray, who was the goal. He's getting there. Like, Bob Mason came. He was in Washington. Alan Chevrier.

[Ryan Whitney]

What was the rookie treatment like back then?

[Brian Noonan]

Wilson was there. He was a different bird.

[Paul Bissonette]

He looked at me like this guy was crazy or something.

[Brian Noonan]

Was he crazy? Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

What do you do?

[Brian Noonan]

Well, he was tough.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, okay.

[Brian Noonan]

Right. But he was the one year at camp. I hope he doesn't kill me for this, but no.

[Paul Bissonette]

These are the type of stories we like to hear on Chiclets.

[Brian Noonan]

He didn't like camp, Right. He was never in the best shape. So he didn't. So one year they put him up before forward. They said, you're going to play center. So they get him thinking he's going to move around, skate more. Right. So he came into the locker room where all the rookies were and he's like, hey, I'm playing centerman and don't come near me. Like, don't take the puck off me. People are like, okay. And so nobody really went Larry. But one kid was a first rounder, bumped into him like, didn't mean to hit him or nothing. And Ben took his stick and rifled it it all the way up on the rafters, like all the way up to the top. The people, everyone like ice. Like, what a nut.

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah, yeah.

[Brian Noonan]

And a poor kid. I don't think he ever played. No.

[Ryan Whitney]

He was like, that ruined his career.

[Keith Yandle]

Pride and went home.

[Paul Bissonette]

This better than getting the. Was it Billy Garon who like took net? Was it Ned Haven's head off?

[Ryan Whitney]

No, some random guy.

[Paul Bissonette]

Okay.

[Ryan Whitney]

Billy G's told us about that. I was just gonna say that's better than him. Beating you up, but. Yeah, throw my stick. I don't care. I'll go get another one. Jesus.

[Keith Yandle]

What was The Billy G1?

[Ryan Whitney]

He just slapped some kid in the neck in camp who like, pushed him.

[Paul Bissonette]

He was. Yeah. His kid was being a hardo and he just had had enough. He was. Yeah. Give him the old. The lightsaber. Kind of like the vulkoon treatment.

[Keith Yandle]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

He felt bad about it after, I believe.

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah.

[Brian Noonan]

I think he apologized for a minute.

[Keith Yandle]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

Was Keenan the coach?

[Brian Noonan]

No, Bob Murdoch was. Keenan came out year after that.

[Ryan Whitney]

Did Keenan torture you or do he, like.

[Keith Yandle]

Did you have him in New York too?

[Brian Noonan]

Yeah. Brought you. I mean, he was. I didn't like everything he did, but I was. I'm kind of laid back, so I kind of need to be pushed, which I didn't mind. I didn't like everything he did. Like, you know, he sent me down to the Miners a lot, sat me out a lot. But, you know, when I played for him, I. He did push me and I. I felt I got better for it. But he certainly, you know, is a acquired taste.

[Paul Bissonette]

So you felt like. Whit just kind of alluded to it. So your time in Chicago, you spent with him, do you think that earned the trust to then bring you over to. To New York, like. Because at then I feel like he had a lot of say in what was going on, even trade wise.

[Brian Noonan]

I think so. I mean, especially playoffs, I felt I played pretty good and performed and I. He, you know, he liked that. But, yeah, he trusts guys. Like, guys he kind of beat up. You know, he kind of trusts that I would do what he says and never really complained. And, you know, I think that was part he liked also. Like, there was a trust there that, that, you know, I could play 30 minutes one night and five minutes the next night and I was just gonna not complain. Right.

[Ryan Whitney]

Like, no clue, though. Like, every night you're like, I don't know what I'm getting from him.

[Brian Noonan]

I mean, you kind of had a feeling, right? But there were some times I thought I was playing well and had to come in. I, Jersey, wouldn't be up and you know, stuff like that, which kind of pisses you off. But he got the most out of me. I felt for sure he did.

[Keith Yandle]

It's good.

[Brian Noonan]

But some guys he treated bad, you know, like. But couldn't handle it.

[Paul Bissonette]

What's the craziest thing you ever seen him do?

[Brian Noonan]

He was just crazy. When you lost, like, it didn't matter. You could play good and lose. It was just the loss He, he, he hated losing. Like, he, he really thought you should win every single game, which is obviously impossible.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Brian Noonan]

But he didn't really, like, hit, bag, skate you all the time. Like, he didn't really do anything crazy that would be like. But he just, he wanted the team to hate him so much that you just, just.

[Paul Bissonette]

It would galvanize the team almost against the coach. Right.

[Brian Noonan]

That's what.

[Paul Bissonette]

It's kind of a weird philosophy. Not really the one that I would go for.

[Ryan Whitney]

No, No. I mean, Herb Brooks did it, though. That was his thing, too. I just can't imagine over 82 games doing it. As opposed to, like the Olympics. Right.

[Keith Yandle]

Tournament.

[Ryan Whitney]

It's. It's just nuts.

[Brian Noonan]

Like, he was bag skating us one year, and him and Savard hated each other. Like, you could just tell right away. And so half the team was in red, half was in black. And we're just doing goal line back for forever. Right. And Keenan's like, all right, red goal, goal line, stop. Come back after 10 times. Savar wasn't stopping anymore. He would be down. He would turn and go back. Keane would blow the whistle. Red go again. No, stop. Savvy went down, wouldn't stop. So the whole red team's like, fucking stop. Stopped. I'm on the black. I'm like, keep going.

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Brian Noonan]

I don't have to. I don't want to skate. Keep. But it went on for half an.

[Paul Bissonette]

Hour and he kept going on red went.

[Brian Noonan]

I bet 20 times. I'm like, holy.

[Paul Bissonette]

How did it end?

[Brian Noonan]

Finally, guys couldn't. Rick Vai was on his back on the ice. Like, he was dehydrated. I thought he was gonna pass out.

[Keith Yandle]

So was he pulling that in New York with Messier? And.

[Brian Noonan]

And I got there late, eight, but. So I didn't see any of that. Like, they were. They were in first place by a lot.

[Keith Yandle]

Yeah.

[Brian Noonan]

But in playoffs, he was on the bench, guys. And I think Mess and Kevin Lowe said, you know, take it easy a little bit.

[Paul Bissonette]

You're. You're a pretty laid back guy. Did you scrap a lot during your career? Like, how many fights were you doing a year?

[Brian Noonan]

Not many in the mind. I fought more in the Miners. You kind of had to. Right. When I went to New Westminster, I was, you know, an American Boston Yankee. Right. So you had to stick up for yourself. So I had a few. Craig Baruby was my left winger. So that.

[Keith Yandle]

Oh, nice.

[Brian Noonan]

That helped me out a lot. Cliff Ronning was my centerman.

[Ryan Whitney]

Wow, that's a hell of a line right there.

[Brian Noonan]

Yeah, I think he had like 210 points or something, Cliff, that season.

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah.

[Brian Noonan]

It was insane how many points he had.

[Ryan Whitney]

Was Perubi fighting every game then?

[Brian Noonan]

A lot. I mean, he fought and Todd Ewan was on our team. Billy Ranter was our goalie.

[Paul Bissonette]

Wow.

[Brian Noonan]

Mark Rechy was on our younger team. He should have been. Probably been on our team.

[Ryan Whitney]

What, like. Like the g. Like they had like.

[Brian Noonan]

He was like 15 or something.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, wow.

[Brian Noonan]

But, yeah, so I. The NHL. I didn't have many fights. A few. I think my first fight was Herb Ragland and he beat me up pretty good. So that was.

[Ryan Whitney]

Did you. Did you hit the deadline the year the Rangers won it?

[Brian Noonan]

Yeah. Me and my toe for Tony Amante.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, my God. That's a huge deal.

[Brian Noonan]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

Did you know it was coming?

[Brian Noonan]

I knew I was going somewhere. I didn't. I never thought New York and I never at that time thought Keena would bring me back. Then New York, I mean, they're in first place, so we're kind of like. I'm like, I'm not gonna play when I get there.

[Paul Bissonette]

What were you doing when you'd leave the rink? Were you, like, in the. In the era where you guys just get up every day, like drink beers all afternoon? Like lunch extends a dinner and.

[Brian Noonan]

Yeah, long lunches for sure. Yeah. Yeah. In Chicago, we always went to a little bar down the street from the rink. When I first got to Chicago, you weren't allowed to live in the city. You had to live in the burbs.

[Ryan Whitney]

Why?

[Paul Bissonette]

They forced you to.

[Keith Yandle]

All teams used to have those.

[Brian Noonan]

Well, they figured, you know, they didn't want you going out.

[Paul Bissonette]

Well, there's no. No in the suburbs.

[Keith Yandle]

No cars.

[Brian Noonan]

Right. But then everyone's driving home and drinking. Right? Like, kind of.

[Keith Yandle]

They want you to get DUIs.

[Brian Noonan]

Now they all live in the city. Like, none of them live in the burbs.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Brian Noonan]

You'd have long lunches, drinking all day and old school hockey.

[Paul Bissonette]

Any other.

[Brian Noonan]

They don't. Not really.

[Ryan Whitney]

Did you train in the summer? Like, did you ever lift weights or.

[Grinnelli]

No.

[Brian Noonan]

Yeah, I mean, I wasn't a. I had a trainer. One of my friends I grew up was a trainer, so he. We worked out with him all the time. I wasn't crazy like these guys do now.

[Paul Bissonette]

I could only imagine the you guys were doing compared to what they.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, just benching, bench press. Press.

[Brian Noonan]

Yeah. None of the stuff we.

[Ryan Whitney]

Pearls.

[Brian Noonan]

Right.

[Paul Bissonette]

Would you do a warm up or would you just hop right into it?

[Brian Noonan]

I'd play hoops for like 15 days.

[Ryan Whitney]

That's a good warm up actually.

[Brian Noonan]

But yeah, I mean it was.

[Ryan Whitney]

You weren't doing the ladder?

[Brian Noonan]

No ladders.

[Ryan Whitney]

No bands.

[Brian Noonan]

No bands. I hurt my shoulder. Was the first time I ever heard of a band.

[Keith Yandle]

Oh yeah, the old ones.

[Brian Noonan]

The old ones. You stretch. Yeah. But yeah, there were a lot of long lunches. So it's totally different than now.

[Paul Bissonette]

Of course. Yeah.

[Brian Noonan]

Travel. We didn't.

[Keith Yandle]

Commercial.

[Brian Noonan]

Commercial like we play the Bruins on a back to back and we're flying back to Boston. I'm sitting beside a guy in the Bruins who were playing the next day.

[Keith Yandle]

Oh my God. I never even thought. So you never got any of the taste of the private planes that was.

[Brian Noonan]

Vancouver had a private plane when I went there because you know they had to cross the border all the time. The Rangers had one one my second time there. The beautiful.

[Paul Bissonette]

Were you a prankster?

[Brian Noonan]

No.

[Paul Bissonette]

I heard like back in the day when the guys used to have to like. Like fly like what do you call commercial when you're flying with like road billions and they'd like wrap like dildos and tinfoil like in the. Put it in the guy's bag and then all of a sudden they throw it through the machine.

[Keith Yandle]

Well I went back to security back then. Just walk through the airport, right?

[Brian Noonan]

Yeah, actually yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah. It wasn't like. Like 911 changed everything.

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah.

[Brian Noonan]

They weren't checking your bag.

[Paul Bissonette]

Have to throw your bag through a machine before 9 11.

[Ryan Whitney]

I don't think so. The. The guy with might have been looking at the X ray machine. He's like scratching himself. It wasn't like now they didn't know like mall cops.

[Brian Noonan]

Yeah. Our flights would get delayed. Like going to St. Louis. Would be in the airport for hours waiting for drinking.

[Ryan Whitney]

We got food.

[Brian Noonan]

No we're allowed in the airport. Weren't allowed hotel bars or airports. Not allowed.

[Keith Yandle]

So plenty of other places.

[Ryan Whitney]

So after the games though you wouldn't leave till the next morning. Morning. Was it the whole team together? Would you guys be splitting off of groups? Like who was your guy that you.

[Brian Noonan]

Everywhere I play it was pretty much everybody. There was at least 15 guys out every night with you. Like you know, most wouldn't stay, you know, long, but everyone was there, you know what I mean? After dinner then some guys would stay longer. Most guys would stay longer.

[Keith Yandle]

I think that's what's missing from the game now. It's like you don't.

[Brian Noonan]

Then you'd fall asleep on the plane. That cut in your tire guys, that stuff they did.

[Paul Bissonette]

Oh yeah. Tons of pranks. Going on back then. That's why I asked about the tinfoil wrap dildo. But maybe that was a little. Few years later.

[Keith Yandle]

Yeah.

[Brian Noonan]

Like, in delays would, like, get a dollar bill out or a hundred dollar bill and throw it. You know, you have a piece of wire on it and you'd pull it.

[Paul Bissonette]

Back, trickle it in.

[Grinnelli]

Yeah.

[Brian Noonan]

So that was crap. We did. When we're delayed, imagine seeing a bunch.

[Keith Yandle]

Of NHL guys, like, pranking other people with $5.

[Paul Bissonette]

Guys in the A used to do the super glued the tuni so that people be trying to like.

[Ryan Whitney]

And then you see who's going to sit there and really try.

[Paul Bissonette]

And it's two bucks. Like, it's just. He makes it even funnier. Right? Someone just like, knuckle deep on the.

[Ryan Whitney]

Floor, chipping away on it after you.

[Paul Bissonette]

See me walk out of the airport with a piece of granite. Oh, my God. So you never got in a. You match with Keenan in.

[Brian Noonan]

Yeah, I quit before, like, you know the team. Yeah. I got sent down and I was just kind of old enough. I'm like.

[Paul Bissonette]

He's like, I ain't going down. Yeah.

[Brian Noonan]

And I just. And we're in, like, we had a little video room back then. The video rooms were, like, just starting. So it was you. And I could barely fit in there. And you could tell he was nervous. Telling me. He's like, well, I'm gonna send you down. It was like 10 games into the season. I didn't even play that game. I'm like, why are you sending me down?

[Paul Bissonette]

Down?

[Brian Noonan]

I was like, we're gonna go. He's gonna send you back to. I think it was in Indianapolis again. I'm like, well, I'm not going. And I think at the point he.

[Paul Bissonette]

Thought you looked at Mike Keane in the face and you said, I'm not going down. Yeah.

[Brian Noonan]

Like, I'm not going down. I've had enough. So I went in, grab my skates and grabbed Charlie. I'm like, hey, I'm going back to the Miners. I'll meet you on the lot down in the parking lot.

[Ryan Whitney]

You thought you weren't going, though.

[Brian Noonan]

I wasn't. We're going out.

[Paul Bissonette]

Oh, okay.

[Brian Noonan]

You know, I was just telling him because we always left the game together. I'm like, I'll meet you down. You know. So we went out the lodge all night.

[Paul Bissonette]

And so then the next day, you show back up to the rink and.

[Brian Noonan]

Keenan sees, no, I had my skates. I wasn't going back to the rink. I grabbed my skates and Charlie and I were out Remember, we're in that rock and roll McDonald's parking lot, and I don't know why we're separating. I was hopping in the cab and heading home, and, you know, I got to the cab, I'm like, I don't have my skates. So I like Shelly, I need my skates. And he rifles them across the parking lot, sparking, bouncing all over the place. I'm like, oh, my God. So I hopped on a flight the next day. Went back to Boston.

[Ryan Whitney]

No.

[Paul Bissonette]

And then.

[Brian Noonan]

And then like two months or three months, I just didn't do anything. I wasn't going back. I was just trying to get traded. Then I finally realized I should go back. I'm not doing nothing but hanging out.

[Paul Bissonette]

What's your agent saying at this time?

[Ryan Whitney]

Or what are you doing? Brian?

[Brian Noonan]

Yeah. I mean, he kind of knew because like I said, I was getting sent out. Back then, there was a rule. You had to. When you get sent down, you had to clear waivers, depending on how many games you played or how long you're with the team. And I was kind of in that spot where they could send me down. I didn't have to be claimed off waivers. So I was the guy always getting sent down.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, they abused it.

[Brian Noonan]

Exactly. So I just got tired of it. I'm like, I'm not gonna go down no more. So I went home for a few months and then came back, went down, back to Indy, you know, finished the year really good. I think I had like 40 goals or something. And then they said, come to camp next year. You make it, we'll sign you with a oneway contract. If you don't, we'll trade you to wherever you want to go.

[Ryan Whitney]

So what was your game like? Like, were you good skater, bad skater, good hands? Like, I had good hands.

[Brian Noonan]

I think I was pretty good on the boards, you know, strong, you know, nothing flashy.

[Ryan Whitney]

So skating wasn't like your strong suit, but good enough.

[Brian Noonan]

I mean, I had a long stride, like, smooth stride. I wasn't, you know, I wasn't getting around the ice, like, on my edges, like a lot of people now.

[Paul Bissonette]

But you pointed at Yanzer. You thought he was a good skater.

[Brian Noonan]

Yeah, I think he was, of course.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Paul Bissonette]

Oh, I was just wondering what you thought was that.

[Keith Yandle]

You do not think I was.

[Paul Bissonette]

I. I thought maybe I was a better backwards skater than Yan.

[Ryan Whitney]

Base could ski backward pretty well.

[Keith Yandle]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

Fourth line forward.

[Keith Yandle]

Going to New York, like, I feel like back then, especially with Messi, those guys there, you guys must have had some crazy, like, celebrity Run ins, like hangouts with.

[Brian Noonan]

I. I was there and so I really didn't. I mean I didn't see much of that. I'm sure there was. I mean it's New York, right? But New York's so big. It's so spread out. There's so many places. Like it's too big for me.

[Ryan Whitney]

Like you don't like it overwhelming, I like that.

[Brian Noonan]

But it's just like, like, you know, some place you go, you find your like restaurant or the one bar you want to go to. New York, it's like it's too many places to choose from or they're just too far away, too spread out.

[Paul Bissonette]

But through your entire time there, did you get to like run into one celebrity? Were you ever sh. Star struck? Like one time I really wasn't.

[Brian Noonan]

I don't. One time I get there at a deadline and we finish the season, then we're right in the playoffs. Like every other, you know, week you're playing, every other day you're playing. And I didn't really. We didn't really, really get to go out that much where I was, you know, I wasn't the China Club or things like that.

[Paul Bissonette]

I heard that China club was like 10 out of 10.

[Brian Noonan]

I was there once like after we won. And no, I don't remember seeing any celebrities.

[Ryan Whitney]

So were you in the. Were you in the lineup for every game in 94 or were you in and out or.

[Brian Noonan]

No. 94. I played every game except the Messes. Guarantee I hurt my shoulder.

[Ryan Whitney]

Game six you missed and then Eddie.

[Brian Noonan]

O played that game.

[Keith Yandle]

Oh, that's right.

[Ryan Whitney]

But you were good enough to get into game seven. When?

[Brian Noonan]

Two days off and then I played game seven. Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

Were you playing on a line with him?

[Brian Noonan]

No, it was me, McTavish and Tekken.

[Ryan Whitney]

Wow.

[Keith Yandle]

Wow.

[Ryan Whitney]

Mac T. I heard. Would. Would he still have the no bucket on and he would just. He'd headbutt guys on Face off. They had helmets on, right? He was.

[Brian Noonan]

Yeah, he was good at those. But he was good. He was a smart guy. Tikkonen was sudden crazy Tikinese.

[Keith Yandle]

He had his own language.

[Brian Noonan]

We like to have a good time.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, off the ice he ripped it up for sure.

[Brian Noonan]

Messier had to tell him, you know, playoff time.

[Paul Bissonette]

No. He was that much of a wild card.

[Brian Noonan]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonette]

Like night before games type guy.

[Brian Noonan]

Yeah. But fun. Like he never got in trouble. Right. But he just liked to go out and have a good time and you could smell him the next day.

[Paul Bissonette]

Oh yeah. Some guys it would wreak. I played with one Guy in the Miners, was it Schneider Went to North Dakota, Dude, Schneider. You could smell him across the ice. It was crazy. I couldn't believe it.

[Ryan Whitney]

He text me sometimes. He always listens to the show. He reeked like booze.

[Paul Bissonette]

After he used to go to this place like back. Back in when I was playing the ahl. Like we didn't drink every day after practice. We would go home and nap and you know, maybe at. At dinner you'd have a couple beers, but this guy would go to this place called Elmer Suds, around the corner from where we live. And you get bellied up with the owner every day. And he'd come the night, but mind you, he was sick.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh yeah.

[Paul Bissonette]

For how.

[Ryan Whitney]

And he was an animal.

[Paul Bissonette]

Sloppy. He was. Because he was boozing so much. He moved so fluid on the ice.

[Ryan Whitney]

He was great one on ones played at North Dakota.

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah, North Dakota. Yeah. Elmer Suds, he was like co owner in it by the time he's done done playing there.

[Brian Noonan]

Did he play? Did he go up though?

[Paul Bissonette]

I don't think he ever got his chance. I think like he, he like just honestly love like the bottle maybe a little too much. Like when we're talking every day. We're talking like every day. He was getting after it.

[Keith Yandle]

Can't do it.

[Paul Bissonette]

You guys were a different, different breed back then.

[Brian Noonan]

We weren't every day but after like a. We had a practice, but we didn't have anything the next day or we didn't play it for three days. Yeah, it was a green light.

[Keith Yandle]

What was that cup party like at like the parade.

[Brian Noonan]

And right after the game, we, you know, we're in the locker room for seemed like five hours. You know, it went by then upstairs, Madison Square Garden, they got a big ballroom. We were there till, I mean it had to be four. Then we went to the auction house. I think after that, like it was. They gave us. After we won, like a guy came around and gave us all an envelope. It had a hotel room key and a number to the limousine downstairs that you had bottle of lube for.

[Paul Bissonette]

So 12 pack of rubbers.

[Brian Noonan]

My brothers were in town. I had the limo. I think I had it for like six. Six days.

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah.

[Brian Noonan]

Like every day I'm calling, pick us back up.

[Paul Bissonette]

It's like six years later you're there with your family, still riding around the city in a limo. Thanks, Dolan.

[Brian Noonan]

And my one brother didn't drink it. Getting the limo driver was started to drink with us while my brother was driving.

[Paul Bissonette]

Oh, no.

[Brian Noonan]

And we call for the limo and the guy's like, yeah, Mr. Noonan, you know, no more. You guys driving a limo?

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah. You guys were driving.

[Brian Noonan]

My brother was.

[Paul Bissonette]

Oh, my God.

[Ryan Whitney]

The Rangers signed the Ranger signed Panera. And they're like, hey, Mr. Noonan, time to go, man. It's been 24 years long.

[Keith Yandle]

White limo.

[Paul Bissonette]

He's in the back getting crushed with the level driver.

[Ryan Whitney]

He's got a suit on. It's a pinstripe suit.

[Keith Yandle]

He's got a kitchen.

[Ryan Whitney]

The limo's an old, like, Cadillac from Goodfellas.

[Brian Noonan]

Oh, they were all the big lines. Young.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonette]

Oh, yeah. How bad were the suits? You guys were rocking back then. Were you guys doing the bell bottoms and.

[Brian Noonan]

Well, Mark, I thought they were sharp. No bell bottom.

[Ryan Whitney]

Then I think then they look great. Yeah. I mean, like, it wasn't the guy in Montreal with our suits. Actually, I think. I think we have to ask, like, the. The. The story goes that I've been told is that the game winner in game seven was scored by you. And apparently Mess got credit for it. But you hit it. I don't know. Is that true today? It's your moment. It's your moment to announce.

[Brian Noonan]

No, I mean, he said it. I mean, it's happened. Yeah. I mean, he had. He admitted it like a while back.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, he did?

[Brian Noonan]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, okay.

[Paul Bissonette]

Where did it hit you in the limo?

[Brian Noonan]

It was a rebound. I. I just hit a. You know, was on the power play, which I was shocked I was out there, to be honest with you. But it was a rebound. Graves took a shot and I just whacked a weak backhander. And then I think one of their guys.

[Paul Bissonette]

What was the confusion was Mess right next to you?

[Brian Noonan]

Mass was right before I celebrated it.

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

Like they weren't reviewing goals then, right?

[Brian Noonan]

No, they weren't. They didn't have like an odd. No, but they. You could see, you know, it's, you know, pretty clear. But I think, you know, it's game seven of the finals, right?

[Paul Bissonette]

Who gives a right?

[Brian Noonan]

We just went up 3, 1. Like, who knows that's going to be the winner, right? It could be five, Right?

[Ryan Whitney]

Right.

[Paul Bissonette]

You're just. How do you score?

[Brian Noonan]

Yeah. And I didn't have no. I thought Mess. We all thought Mess got it.

[Keith Yandle]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

Then, yeah, he's more just selling, we got a goal. We got a goal.

[Brian Noonan]

Yeah. And then, let's be honest, it's better story that Messi got it correct. Right.

[Paul Bissonette]

I mean, I would agree with that.

[Ryan Whitney]

Well, what about.

[Keith Yandle]

He's got enough.

[Brian Noonan]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

What about that series you're up Three, one. Right. And. And then all of a sudden it's going to game seven with Vancouver. Like, do you remember the team talking? I think Mess mentioned to us that didn't you guys go up somewhere? Didn't he say they went to like West Point or something?

[Paul Bissonette]

Oh, no, I think they went to where they.

[Brian Noonan]

That was before camp. I think that was before I was.

[Ryan Whitney]

Before game seven.

[Paul Bissonette]

He said Lake Placid. I thought.

[Ryan Whitney]

No, the limo back to Lemmo.

[Brian Noonan]

That was me in the limo.

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

Did you not do anything? Did something happen between game six and seven with a couple days off? Thought he said something like that.

[Brian Noonan]

No, I just remember, like we had a hotel. The day rooms we had because we all lived up in Rye.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Brian Noonan]

So you'd have practice there. You go to the day room, which is right across the street from Madison Square Garden. I remember I came out for the game and there was like, I was squeezing through people to get into the.

[Paul Bissonette]

Rink and oh, the buzz must have been.

[Brian Noonan]

Oh, and there were horses, like, ready for, you know, riot. Yeah. Everybody was like, we're winning a cup.

[Paul Bissonette]

And Would you be the type to get nervous before games even, like, in general? And if not, were you just so nervous?

[Brian Noonan]

I was gonna say that was the most nervous game I think I've ever played. Like, I don't know, maybe it was because walking through that crowd like, I was like, holy.

[Paul Bissonette]

Where normally you were. Pretty. Yeah. Pretty.

[Brian Noonan]

Yeah. Common. But I remember shaking that game and I'm like, holy crap. I hope everyone don't feel like. Like I do. And then they went up. We're down, I think three, nothing. And we tied at three. Three. Then I think they scored three more and it was just like, wow. And we had to hop on the plane, go back to Vancouver. Lost again. Now it was. Now it was nervous.

[Paul Bissonette]

Your puckered up this tight.

[Brian Noonan]

But then game seven, it was fine. Like, maybe because it was just. You're going to win or lose, you know, there was no games left. Like.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah. Last year with Florida, Edmonton, I think that's what they said. Like, doesn't matter now.

[Keith Yandle]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

Like, we would have taken being here in game seven before the season for the Cup. Who cares?

[Brian Noonan]

Right? And we lost to Vancouver. Like, we couldn't even get the bus, like back to the hotel. It was. The streets were no, like jammed.

[Paul Bissonette]

They were rocking your bus and stuff.

[Brian Noonan]

No, but there was just no room. Like you had a. Everybody's on the streets. There's nowhere to get the bus around to get.

[Ryan Whitney]

That's when Bure was unstoppable yeah. You ever get stuck on the ice against him?

[Brian Noonan]

He was pretty fast. He took that penalty that killed him though, that maybe he took the five in a game. I think it was game three. Maybe he hit Jay Wells right in the face. Definitely a high sticking.

[Paul Bissonette]

Like he did it on purpose or accidental.

[Ryan Whitney]

Well, he was crazy.

[Paul Bissonette]

He had some. He hit the one guy in Dallas.

[Keith Yandle]

Oh, my God, the elbow.

[Paul Bissonette]

Oh, the, the flying elbow.

[Ryan Whitney]

He had a couple.

[Brian Noonan]

That was hits.

[Grinnelli]

That was fearless.

[Paul Bissonette]

He hit. Yeah, yeah. He had a couple plays where he. He went off the. Off the deep.

[Brian Noonan]

I don't think he did on purpose, but he is, you know, he went to lift up his stick and he did it really hard and hit him right in the face. He definitely caught him. And then he got a five in a game and that hurt down.

[Paul Bissonette]

When you look back on your career, do you always think back of that, that run with the, with the Rangers, like, is that the one thing you always gravitate toward back to just because of how big it was for the city of New York? Mesk. Like the guarantee, the series before, like everything going on?

[Brian Noonan]

Yeah, I mean, I think about that. But the crazy thing is we lost. I lost in the finals with the Chicago to Pittsburgh and that kind of. You think about losing more than you do winning. At least I have. What if we had. Because then after seeing the Hawks win three cups, how crazy that city was. It's like, shit, what if. What if we didn't play Pittsburgh?

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah.

[Brian Noonan]

So I think more losing than I did winning, unfortunately.

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah.

[Keith Yandle]

Mario must have been a treat to see up close live like that.

[Brian Noonan]

And Jaeger, Jaeger was like, we had just won 11 games in a row, like set a playoff record. Then we came into Pittsburgh, first game, we're up 3:1, playing well. And they scored. The next four we lost. And Keenan was killing us.

[Ryan Whitney]

Like you, like in the finals, calling you guys.

[Brian Noonan]

Just one eleven in a row. And he was just screaming at us the next day, you know, we had a hard practice. Then the morning skates, his morning skates were like full on. Practices like battle helmets buttoned up like three on twos and we're out there like grinding it out. Then Pittsburgh comes on the ice and.

[Ryan Whitney]

They got sweatpants on, no helmets, no helmets.

[Brian Noonan]

Throwing saucer passes all over the place, smoking stogies. So I knew the next game we're going to be the good or really bad. And we lost, I think three to one or something. And tough sledding after that. You're not gonna. Then they beat us twice. Yeah, we got swept fourth, obviously. He's fourth straight.

[Keith Yandle]

Was that the start of their. Their run?

[Brian Noonan]

They beat Minnesota the year before that. They weighed back to back, but yeah, Mario was pretty good.

[Ryan Whitney]

How did you decide to end up living here? Like, you played for St. Louis, New York, Vancouver, Phoenix. Like, what. What made you live in Chicago?

[Brian Noonan]

I have an older daughter here.

[Ryan Whitney]

Okay.

[Brian Noonan]

So, you know, I was Be around her, just with her. And then I ended up getting married a girl from Chicago. We have a younger one now. So I felt. I always gonna say, like I was telling Keith, like, Boston's a lot different now than it was, you know, back then. South Boston, where I grew up, was a lot different. Like, if it was. If it is like it was now back then, I probably would have went back.

[Keith Yandle]

Yeah.

[Brian Noonan]

Like, it's like Lincoln park now. Boston, South Boston.

[Keith Yandle]

Did you guys have like a day with the cup? Did you bring it back?

[Brian Noonan]

Yeah, I bring it back. Southy had a. I had it for two days.

[Keith Yandle]

Oh, no.

[Brian Noonan]

Usually have it for one, but scheduling. I had, you know, had it for. I drove to New Hampshire, picked it up. I came back and Charlie was actually in town. I forget what he was doing there, but it was a bunch of kids were having a ball hockey tournament. Like, kids I knew a little younger than me. So I bring the cup. I'm like, the winner can get the cup. And, you know, Charlie was out for a run or something came by, and obviously he starts playing. He can't keep away from it.

[Paul Bissonette]

Right.

[Ryan Whitney]

Spears a kid.

[Brian Noonan]

So, yeah, we had for two days and had, you know, had parties, took it to a hospital, did all the. I couldn't wait to get rid of it, actually. It's like a.

[Paul Bissonette]

Everybody says their hands are sore when they. When they leave because they're just lugging around all the time.

[Brian Noonan]

We didn't have a handler like we were the last time. Like, we. I took.

[Ryan Whitney]

Who brought it.

[Paul Bissonette]

You, like, got it at the airport.

[Brian Noonan]

I picked it up at the assistant gm. I can't think of his name now. Boston, New Hampshire guy. So I bring it back in that big blue case and put the case in my house.

[Ryan Whitney]

There was nobody watching it then.

[Brian Noonan]

No. I had some of my crazy friends from South. Like, there were my bodyguards watching the cup. So everywhere I took it. We picked it up and carried it.

[Ryan Whitney]

I can't believe it never got stolen.

[Brian Noonan]

Then on Sunday, like there was nothing to do, I just. Just took it downtown to a bar. And like, it's amazing how the word goes around the cups at some place. And next thing you know, there's like 300 people in there. I'm like, holy shit, we gotta get. We should get out of here. Then I had to bring it to the airport like that night at two in the morning to bring it, send it to Michigan in that big blue case.

[Keith Yandle]

At least you had the limo to have room.

[Brian Noonan]

I should have had a limo there.

[Paul Bissonette]

Did you enjoy the latter part of your career when you went back and won another championship and you kind of maybe took on more of that like veteran role? Like, did you like that? Was it fun kind of just getting the ease out of your career in the ihl, not playing in the bigs and maybe as much pressure with the Wolves, you mean?

[Brian Noonan]

Yes, it was fun because it was an older team and we're independent so all. I think we had one kid who was under contract with an hl, so.

[Paul Bissonette]

Maybe not as dealing as much politics like from like the. The big league telling you them what to do.

[Ryan Whitney]

They weren't NHL deals. It was just the Wolves.

[Brian Noonan]

Yeah, we were independent team and we had, we had a good team and.

[Ryan Whitney]

They would pay good.

[Brian Noonan]

Yeah, they paid really good back. I mean for.

[Paul Bissonette]

I think it's the still same owner today, isn't it?

[Brian Noonan]

Yeah, he's a nice guy.

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah. And he ain't try to spend it.

[Brian Noonan]

Yeah. Who are they trying to get an NHL team now? I. I think they're with Carolina.

[Ryan Whitney]

Really?

[Paul Bissonette]

They've always been bouncing around like even when I, even when I was playing and they won that, that title that we were talking about when they played Wilkes Bear, I think they were like half affiliated where they were with Atlanta, but then also had a lot of guys they were paying just, you know, 4 or 500 grand who were career AHLers but would put up 80, 90 points. So I feel like they've been always good about like protecting the integrity of what like the owner wanted of that team despite even having affiliation with the NHL.

[Brian Noonan]

And he liked to win and he would pay guys to, you know, come play for him and I think they're with Carolina now and I don't. From what I hear, they're Carolina's kind of. They run a little on the cheaper side. Oh yeah, he doesn't like that because.

[Paul Bissonette]

He'S a nickel so tight. The Beaver or.

[Brian Noonan]

Yeah, and Donnie's the opposite. He'll pay the.

[Ryan Whitney]

I think at a time when the Hawks were going through like the. When there was like seven people at the games, they were getting way more.

[Paul Bissonette]

Oh, they were selling out.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, it was selling a great atmosphere to play in so during one of.

[Brian Noonan]

The lockouts in let's strike, I forget which one. The Wolves were selling that their rink out like every single game.

[Paul Bissonette]

I heard, I heard a rumor. Well, it was a guy on the team who said it, that the owner came in, but it got shut down by the league that before like the, the final round, that he offered them like a million bucks as a group if they ended up winning it. And I'd also heard that he'd done that in prior championships with them. So you never had that happen?

[Brian Noonan]

He didn't do that when I was there. Maybe you were evered.

[Paul Bissonette]

So he never bonused you guys out after the season considering you guys won?

[Brian Noonan]

No.

[Paul Bissonette]

Okay.

[Brian Noonan]

He threw some good parties. He didn't.

[Paul Bissonette]

Oh yeah.

[Brian Noonan]

He wasn't throwing around any.

[Ryan Whitney]

Sent you limo.

[Keith Yandle]

The bonuses back then, like even the NHL, you guys would have like the 5, 10 game bonuses, right?

[Brian Noonan]

Like Keena did those.

[Keith Yandle]

The guys.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, the Russia ones.

[Brian Noonan]

No, Keena had to come in with the five. Like you have to go five game segments where you have like goals again. Points.

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah. Tip did that.

[Brian Noonan]

Like.

[Keith Yandle]

Yeah, but they got paid.

[Brian Noonan]

You could win like a thousand bucks every five games. Yeah, like if you get all the.

[Paul Bissonette]

You know, he would have negotiated with the owner to pay out.

[Brian Noonan]

He went in, he. Yeah, they said if come out later on. He was doing that in New York too. Like those guys made a lot of cash, like extra cash in New York. All those things.

[Keith Yandle]

I remember Adrian a coin said like he didn't spend any of his money that year because they were so good or whatever. Every. They had an unreal year. He just hit like all the bonuses.

[Ryan Whitney]

Where was this?

[Keith Yandle]

I think Vancouver.

[Brian Noonan]

Right?

[Grinnelli]

Yeah.

[Brian Noonan]

He had them all. Like, I forget where they were. Like you get two, four points for a road win. You know, two points for a home win.

[Paul Bissonette]

Is. Is that.

[Ryan Whitney]

No, that's. No.

[Brian Noonan]

Now they come in, they said, you can't do that.

[Ryan Whitney]

That's KHL style.

[Brian Noonan]

Those guys on the Rangers, like when I got there, I bet you they probably made almost 80 grand cash probably for the season.

[Paul Bissonette]

The body of work they'd done for.

[Brian Noonan]

The road dominated all the wins they had. And in first place and 80 grand.

[Paul Bissonette]

Back then, for inflation, it's like probably like 250, 300 now. And that could be. I mean you could have some fun in New York City making an extra.

[Brian Noonan]

Like he would come in with cash and give everybody an envelope full of like a thousand bucks. And that's, you know, 20 guys with cash in their pocket.

[Paul Bissonette]

That's unbelievable.

[Brian Noonan]

It's great, right?

[Keith Yandle]

It's a good. Like, it's good to have that as a. What's the word?

[Paul Bissonette]

Incentivizing.

[Keith Yandle]

Yeah, like during the sea, you know, the dog days. Like, you. Even when your team's really good, you're like, all right, fuck it, let's bear it.

[Ryan Whitney]

You got hammered on the card game on the way there. Yes, dude, make this money back. Did you miss the game when you were done playing? Like, were you somebody that was struggling with it right away?

[Brian Noonan]

Not really. I mean, I knew I.

[Ryan Whitney]

It doesn't seem like much rattles you.

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah, you seem like the most laid back.

[Brian Noonan]

Well, I knew. I. I mean, I don't know. Sure if I could play anymore. So it's not like, oh, you knew.

[Ryan Whitney]

You knew a game like.

[Brian Noonan]

Like I said, go. Probably going down with the Wolves for two years. Years. You know, probably scratch that itch, so to speak. Right. But after that, I was 38 or something, so time was up.

[Ryan Whitney]

What. What about coaching? Like, you're coaching now. Kids, did you ever want to coach in the NHL? Ahl?

[Brian Noonan]

Like, I never really came up. You kind of have to. Like, I almost went. Bruce Cassie is a really good friend of mine and.

[Ryan Whitney]

Okay.

[Brian Noonan]

He was coaching in Grand Rapids and he wanted me to be assistant. So I drove there, talked to the gm, and he's like, yeah, go ahead. Now I trust Butch and get what happened. But he called me the next day. He's like, you know, something's up. I can't. He couldn't do it. Like, he couldn't hire me or whatever. So that's. After that, I was just like, forget it.

[Ryan Whitney]

So he, He. It's. It's interesting. Like, he. It seemed like in Washington his first go round or. Yeah, it was Washington, right?

[Grinnelli]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

That. He's grown a lot. Like, I think at times there guys weren't a big fan, but. But then he comes back unreal with boss. He gets let go, gets his cup. Do you think he kind of learned if you're good buddies with him? Like, do you think he learned after that first go around in Washington? He had to switch some things up because he had to wait a while after that.

[Brian Noonan]

Yeah, before he. Before he went to Washington, he. He coached Indy. Before I went to the Wolves was my first year retired. He was coaching. He asked me if I wanted to come play an indie, like be one of his veterans, you know. You know, pay me pretty good money. I'm like kind of not doing anything. Like, yeah, I'll. I'll go play and, you know, I've Known Butch for a long time now. So he's quiet guy, right? He's. He's funny as anything, but he's quiet. And then we go to camp practice, and then we get on the bench and he's screaming at you like, no. Well, everybody.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, okay.

[Grinnelli]

Me too.

[Brian Noonan]

Right? And I, like, I had to look around like, who are you?

[Ryan Whitney]

Wow.

[Brian Noonan]

So he said he had to learn, like, you can't yell so much. And so he certainly learned. Learned, you know, they can't be crazy like that. Especially because he's probably doing some of that Washington for my hair.

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah.

[Brian Noonan]

And you got Jaeger on your team. He's not. That's not gonna fly.

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah, I mean, we. We kind of already went over this. The fact that Keenan, like, loved you, so you pushed back early on. I didn't realize you also had him in St. Louis. You had him in New York, and then also in Vancouver. So you had him four separate times.

[Brian Noonan]

I was in Vancouver. I was in Vancouver first.

[Ryan Whitney]

He was just dragging you out.

[Paul Bissonette]

He loves you.

[Brian Noonan]

I was in Vancouver before he was.

[Paul Bissonette]

Oh, okay. So then you.

[Ryan Whitney]

That's why he took the job, though, because you were there then.

[Paul Bissonette]

Then you sent the liminal. Grab him. And then he came over. Cross country trip. Get the one with the hot tub in the back.

[Ryan Whitney]

I need your brother to drive, though.

[Paul Bissonette]

But how about. How about this one? You got to play with Brett Hall, Al McInnis, Dale Howard, Chuck, Chris Pronger, Wayne Gretzky, all in one season. That's crazy. Crazy. Adam Creighton was also on that team who I think had a pretty long career. Started playing with the. The Buffalo Sabers. Did he had a pretty good career? Yeah, I played with buffalo. Chicago played 708 games.

[Ryan Whitney]

Holy. I don't even know the name. I knew all the guys. I feel like.

[Brian Noonan]

Yeah, he was. Well, he was good.

[Paul Bissonette]

So what was your experience in that locker room full of these superstars, like, Greta comes over. I think he got traded that year.

[Brian Noonan]

Like, Porson was there. There. Grandfier.

[Paul Bissonette]

Holy Jersey.

[Brian Noonan]

Who else? I feel like, Like, Jeff Cordon. I was there.

[Paul Bissonette]

Cornall was there as well.

[Ryan Whitney]

Did Holly ever yell at you for not passing the puck?

[Paul Bissonette]

Ian the Perry?

[Brian Noonan]

No, but he was a beautiful. No, but he was a beautiful. That. Yeah, he wouldn't. I don't know. He's. He would say things that.

[Ryan Whitney]

Like what?

[Paul Bissonette]

Like what?

[Brian Noonan]

You know, like, who's on his. Everybody want to be on, like, Roger Nielsen one day. Remember Roger Nielsen? Yeah, he's a nice guy.

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah, he loved it to game tape.

[Brian Noonan]

Yeah, he Was a video guy loved it. And we're in Anaheim. They had Korea, Solani, their power play was, like, whipping that puck around, like. And Holly was out there killing. After a minute and a half, he gets the puck instead of just dumping it down. He, you know, goes down, tries to score. Now we're back in our end again. So he comes on the bench and Roger's like, brad, you might want to just. Just dumped that puck in. And he's like, roger, I'm here to score goals. That was it. Like, he was dead serious.

[Ryan Whitney]

Like, not when he was shorthanded to. Right.

[Brian Noonan]

I'm here to score goals. And that was Holly.

[Keith Yandle]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonette]

Would you do the crosswords with him, Holly? I heard he was a wizard at the crosswords.

[Brian Noonan]

No, I don't think I ever seen him do a crossword.

[Paul Bissonette]

What would you. What. What would your. He. From my understanding, he would do splits in the middle of the rock room. Guys would walk in, he'd get there real early before anyone, and he'd be having his coffee, doing the splits and doing a cross, which, I mean, that'd be quite the site for sore eyes.

[Brian Noonan]

They were. They would have killed each other if they lasted together. They hated each other for some. I guess I can see that.

[Paul Bissonette]

Were you trying to bridge the gap considering you were the coach's pet?

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, you were Keen and Brian Keenan.

[Brian Noonan]

But he would go like, we had practice and you know, Keen is always yelling, shoot the puck. You didn't have to tell him how it is.

[Ryan Whitney]

Shoot.

[Paul Bissonette]

Right, right, right.

[Brian Noonan]

But he wouldn't shoot because he knew Keenan wanted him to shoot. So it'd be like doing four on four games and he'd get a breakaway. He'd skate in the corner and curl up and look for someone to pass it. Keenan's and shoot the.

[Paul Bissonette]

And he.

[Ryan Whitney]

You.

[Brian Noonan]

Right. That's pretty much who.

[Paul Bissonette]

Who was like the one teammate that would have you in stitches all the time. Like, you just, like, were like, you decided he was the funniest bastard.

[Brian Noonan]

Joe Murphy was the funniest. You guys ever met. Joe Murphy. He was a funny guy, but he wasn't like a comedian funny just the way he said things and how he said them. And when he said them, it was.

[Paul Bissonette]

Like, that's like, Yance, you just like the subtle one liners.

[Brian Noonan]

Like, he'd be on the bench and like all your hair would like, be like, like, what's the matter? And he's like, portland's losing.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, yeah.

[Keith Yandle]

See it on the ticker.

[Paul Bissonette]

Oh, because you'd have money on it. Eh, how would they. So you'd be caught, like, calling a landline back then.

[Brian Noonan]

No, I wasn't, Campbell. He was. Then Keenan would go around the room ripping you, like, you know, for whatever.

[Ryan Whitney]

He's like, you're good, Brian.

[Keith Yandle]

I love you, Brian. What the.

[Paul Bissonette]

See you later. See you tomorrow.

[Brian Noonan]

It was never like that.

[Keith Yandle]

I'll leave the door unlocked.

[Brian Noonan]

But he got to Joe Murphy. He got to Joe Murphy. And he's like, I can't believe I gave you $10 million. And Joe's like, I don't care. Take it back. Keenan's like, I will take it back. And so then he goes on to the next guy. The next guy. The next guy. Joe Murphy goes, hey, I'm keeping the money. He thought he was really gonna take.

[Paul Bissonette]

His money away when he was walking out. He's like, hey, actually, I was kidding. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I need that. Yeah, I already spent it. I already lost on the Portland. That is so.

[Ryan Whitney]

I can't believe you didn't play in, like, Magnetogors for Keenan. He probably should have brought you over that news to where he still does.

[Paul Bissonette]

His landscaping in the Russia. He's twice stayed in. He walks around with a dog.

[Keith Yandle]

Keenan wouldn't let him move back to Boston.

[Paul Bissonette]

That is crazy that you, like. You guys were just. You guys were attached at the hip.

[Ryan Whitney]

Mike, what do you need? He's like, noonan. I need Noonan.

[Paul Bissonette]

What's the missing piece? Mess. What's the missing piece? We got to get Nooner back.

[Keith Yandle]

Y.

[Paul Bissonette]

Okay.

[Brian Noonan]

Mass was in Vancouver, too, with.

[Paul Bissonette]

Okay, so you played with even more beauties your last year in the NHL? The Phoenix Coyotes. I played for the. We're alumni buddy. Harry Knuckles.

[Ryan Whitney]

You guys must have stunk then, right?

[Paul Bissonette]

Jeremy, Keith, Kachuk.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, Rick.

[Paul Bissonette]

Talk at tipo Tempo. Tipo numinum. It's T, E, P, P. Oh, Tepo. Tepo. Tepo. Sorry, I'm not good with the names right now. What of. Nikolai has been boozing like. You guys had a hell of a roster. You guys had a hell of a. What was that year now?

[Brian Noonan]

We traded for. What was that?

[Keith Yandle]

Keenan.

[Brian Noonan]

The only thing we're missing was Keenan. What was the guy's name?

[Ryan Whitney]

Reichel.

[Brian Noonan]

Robert Reichel.

[Paul Bissonette]

Oh, no.

[Ryan Whitney]

Was that when they were. Was that when you were good and it was the white out there? I remember a couple years, we lost the playoffs.

[Brian Noonan]

I signed with them, like, from Indy. Half pretty much. Last two months, they had injuries. And then we're playing St. Louis in the playoffs. We're up three to one, and we lost.

[Ryan Whitney]

Lost oh, and that was the St. Louis team you'd been on, what, the year before?

[Brian Noonan]

Two, three years before at. In overtime at home. We lost. Might have been double overtime.

[Ryan Whitney]

Who scored? You remember?

[Brian Noonan]

Yeah. Pierre Turjon Terge.

[Keith Yandle]

I skate with him. He's still nasty.

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah, he's a specimen.

[Ryan Whitney]

Hey. Silky reach.

[Keith Yandle]

Unbelievable.

[Paul Bissonette]

Well, I meant, like, he's like, he's a good shape. Yeah. Better shape than I was when I was playing.

[Keith Yandle]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonette]

Tortorello was your assistant that year.

[Brian Noonan]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonette]

Did you see that he would end up being like a head coach, was he? Yeah, he was assistant there.

[Brian Noonan]

Yeah. I didn't interact with him too much, but, yeah, you could see he was.

[Keith Yandle]

I only talked to one coach. It was Mike Keenan.

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah, I was.

[Brian Noonan]

I wasn't even playing.

[Ryan Whitney]

You're a good guy.

[Brian Noonan]

So I was just hanging out. But yeah, you could tell he was. He had a big role at. From what you know, he did a lot of the penalty killing. Him and Sully. Mike Sullivan were real close.

[Keith Yandle]

Oh, he was there too.

[Brian Noonan]

Sully was there. Yeah.

[Paul Bissonette]

Would you watch hockey all the time when you're like. When you're playing? Were you a bit of a hockey.

[Brian Noonan]

Nerd when I was in Vancouver was. Because the games were like, you know, three, four hours earlier. So I just get to the rink and watch games.

[Paul Bissonette]

Watch the east coast games.

[Brian Noonan]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonette]

What do you think of the state of the game now?

[Brian Noonan]

Well, they're obviously a lot more skilled than. Than I was. Anyway. I want to say Yan's, but.

[Paul Bissonette]

Well, Whit was pretty skilled, too.

[Brian Noonan]

Fifth overall. Yeah, sure. It's a different game. I mean, it's a lot faster, obviously. Like, I went to a Hawks game the other couple weeks ago and a lot of wraparounds, like a lot of around the boards, on the boards, like chips. Chipping it in, chipping it to the middle. But everything starts with just firing the puck around the boards.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Brian Noonan]

Breaking it up. You know, they're chipping it to. For one time with a guy coming in, it's like I was amazed how much board player there is, but it's always an offensive guy behind the net. If you don't have a play, you.

[Keith Yandle]

Yeah.

[Brian Noonan]

Fired around the boards, keep possession of it. Like, we never taught. Were taught that our guys taught that.

[Keith Yandle]

Rim was like a last option right back then. Yeah, right.

[Brian Noonan]

Like bring it back or shoot it. But it's certainly a different game. It's better. I mean, I mean, guys are more skilled and faster. Stronger. Maybe not smarter. I don't think all the time.

[Keith Yandle]

No.

[Brian Noonan]

Like, hockey sense wise yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

You notice that with the kids you coach too. Like, oh, like, what are you doing there?

[Brian Noonan]

Yeah, they all just wanted one timers or, you know, curl and drag and kids miss the net constantly. Like, it's amazing how young kids cannot hit the net because they all want to shoot high.

[Keith Yandle]

Right.

[Brian Noonan]

Score a bar down and they're.

[Paul Bissonette]

You sound like you're disgusted with.

[Keith Yandle]

I just want to go to Chipper.

[Grinnelli]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

I honestly just want to go to dinner with Keenan.

[Keith Yandle]

I feel like too, like nowadays, like the kids just watch, like, you know, Instagram, tick tock. Like we, when we grew up, you sit down, watch the game with your dad and your brother, whatever, and you're talking about it now. It's just like 10 second clips and you're not really ingesting the whole game.

[Brian Noonan]

Yeah, they certainly don't watch. I'll ask them if they watch and they'll say, no know, like we'll. I'll show them video. I'll do video with these kids and like, I'll be looking at the iPad and I'll look up and they're like eating their boogers. Yeah, they just, they'd rather be on Tick Tock or doing whatever or watching cellies.

[Ryan Whitney]

Cellies. They're into the cellies.

[Brian Noonan]

Yeah, that's. They want to celebrate more than.

[Keith Yandle]

You got to score first.

[Brian Noonan]

Right? Exactly.

[Paul Bissonette]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

Like, why not go hug your teammate? Why do you got to skate away and sell it?

[Brian Noonan]

Yeah, It's a lot of shoulder shrugging. Two kids now. It's like they want, you know, nothing's ever their fault. Like, nobody ever comes to the bench. Ah, that was my fault, right? I messed up. It's always like, well, he gave me a bad pass.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, yeah, we appreciate it.

[Keith Yandle]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonette]

Thanks for stopping by, man.

[Ryan Whitney]

Thank you very much.

[Brian Noonan]

Oh, thanks.

[Ryan Whitney]

Appreciate it. And congrats on everything.

[Brian Noonan]

Thanks.

[Ryan Whitney]

Good luck with the squad.

[Brian Noonan]

We need it.

[Ryan Whitney]

Thank you so much to Brian Noonan. Thank you so much to Mike Keenan. Thank you so much to you two for joining me in an amazing show. 5:44 down. And guys, we got some special news. Next week. We will have two episodes brought to you. The first one will drop around noon, 1:00 on Tuesday, our usual drop day. We'll be able to go over what's happened in the four nations. We're able to set up the championship game and then we're going to drop a special episode on Friday, same thing right around noon where we cover and go over the championship game. So two episodes next week. We can set up the final while going over the round robin portion of the tournament. And then we'll go over the final game and how it all shook out when USA and how they got the win and also game notes. We'll have the pre game show on Thursday. So they're going to drop Thursday next week at noon Eastern live from Boston before our event, before the championship game game. So army and Merles can get you up to date with what's going on. And then you'll hear from us the next day. Recapping the championship game. It's going to be a special week in hockey and I can't wait to see you boys in Montreal. So thank you so much to everyone listening. Do you guys have any final words?

[Keith Yandle]

I'm going back in the slopes.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yep.

[Paul Bissonette]

I'm through. We're standing in line.

[Ryan Whitney]

And with that, we're done.

[Paul Bissonette]

The bottom of the ninth and you're never gonna win. This laugh just hasn't turned out quite the way I want it to be. That was too long. I don't think that was the line.

[Ryan Whitney]

What an ending, boys. Love you guys. Have a great week, everyone. Peace.

[Keith Yandle]

See you boys.

[Paul Bissonette]

Feeling so hard to work. I'll get you someday.