Biz Nasty (2:30)

Oh, I had a blast. Like the time flew. I mean it's a five hour show. Was it how I described where it's very fast paced at the beginning and then a little bit more time in the back end to have conversation, dialogue. We talked to, to Bobby McMahon. We also talked to Boone Jenner who who had, you know, suffered an injury coming into the season but they were going into stadium series so just a great experience. That was my second show. As you mentioned, Andy Petrillo does an unreal job of driving the bus and just want to thank Amazon for having us on board as well as obviously Yan's and looking forward to another one. I think the next one I'm on is April 3rd and a concept that I hope that they adapt to in the United States as well. Like right now you said it's only available in Canada for Canadian viewers on Amazon prime. But moving forward, I guess you could call it somewhat of like a Manning cast slash red zone. That would be the, the, the example that I would use. So Yans, I had a blast. Always do with you. How'd you feel about it?

Keith Yandle (3:30)

Yeah, I loved it. I, I think adding the, every time I've done it has been with two people and then Andy and like you guys said, Andy's an unreal bus driver. I think the three guys, I think it really helped out and like, you know, like you said because it does get long but you're telling stories, wits telling hilarious stories. So I, I, I had, that was the best time I've had doing it. Not that I didn't have good times the first two times, but I thought it was amazing just just slinging around with you guys and you know, even just hanging out in the, in the hotel after getting you know, bottle of wine after the show. It was, it was a blast and hopefully we have the opportunity to do it again. But like we, we just talked to Ryan Kessler and you talk about, you know, these kids attention spans and I think a show like that is perfect for it where you're watching the game but it's a little bit more than the five second clip. You're actually watching how plays develop and we're touching on it and stuff like that. So I think for the development part of the game, I think it's a great show and Then the entertainment part's amazing too.

Ryan Whitney (4:30)

And for the American people who didn't get to witness, I. I got just truck stuff. The whole show. It's like, hey, want to come do this show with us? Yeah. Great. All right. We're gonna make fun of you for five hours. I was produced. I was. It was. It was a roast.

Keith Yandle (4:43)

It was like Amazon Roast to roast.

Ryan Whitney (4:48)

I was like, is Nikki Glazer gonna pop out of the. The door? And just.

Biz Nasty (4:53)

I mean, I hope so.

Ryan Whitney (4:54)

I was begging the producers to show one of my goals. I was like, guys, I had 50 goals in my career. You're showing me getting lit up by Mike Comaseric. You're showing me fall over by a two by four. And Barry Mark, Andre Flurry. You're ripping on me constantly. But you know what? Sometimes you just got to be the butt of the joke biz. What was your saying? Or Keith, if you can't.

Keith Yandle (5:13)

If you can't take a joke, you become a joke.

Ryan Whitney (5:15)

Yeah. And I guess I am a joke while also being able to take a joke. So I hope it's double dipping.

Keith Yandle (5:22)

Then they were showing look alikes of.

Ryan Whitney (5:23)

You in the stand.

Keith Yandle (5:24)

They were all over you.

Biz Nasty (5:26)

That was the icing on the cake. Your first show. That's what happens. Even my first show. Although. Yeah, that was your first show. And I felt like I was getting it more than you.

Keith Yandle (5:34)

It was. It wasn't my first.

Biz Nasty (5:36)

Oh, okay. Did you get torched on your first one?

Keith Yandle (5:39)

No. God, no.

Ryan Whitney (5:41)

Yeah, because he's in the pocket. He's like, yeah, he's bringing the producer. Pink Whitney. They put a guy. I mean, it looked like a guy from Rockland with a green shirt on. And I. I had a green shirt on. I mean, the. How much rollback, how much we looked alike. I was just like, yeah, I got a rollback on. That's green. This guy has a green shirt on all of a sudden. I mean, you guys, you spit out your drink biz laughing when they showed this guy on tv. So it was great.

Biz Nasty (6:10)

Concentrate. Now that you said Nikki Glazer, she gets me going.

Ryan Whitney (6:14)

Really?

Biz Nasty (6:15)

Oh, you think? She had like the. One of the biggest glow ups in Hollywood over the last 18 months.

Ryan Whitney (6:21)

I think that Brady roast is actually huge for. I think she kind of popped off after that.

Biz Nasty (6:25)

That's where she was big and touring before that. But that Tom Brady roast put her to a different level, like where every time she's going to a different city, she has to do like two or three shows because they're all selling out. She's a hot ticket right now. And I feel like comedy really had a resurgence and it still is. Like, even with. Oh, God, how am I drawing a blank on this guy?

Max Talbot (6:46)

The.

Biz Nasty (6:47)

He's like the main guy now. Just did SNL again with Tate McCray. The fact.

Ryan Whitney (6:50)

Shane Gillis. Shane Gillis.

Biz Nasty (6:52)

Shane Gillis. Thank Gillis.

Keith Yandle (6:53)

Oh, yeah.

Biz Nasty (6:53)

Like, I feel like. Like they're even starting to bring, like, the racial jokes back in. Like, which, like, I feel like it's really taking a turn. Like, the one this past weekend was, like, kind of aggressive, but ultimately, yeah, comedy's. Comedy's getting back to comedy and. And people are starting to be able to take a joke again now that Covid's over.

Ryan Whitney (7:15)

The. The couple of beers segment on SNL was one of the funniest couple of beers. And then, like, he's like. He's in the stand, his kid strikes out. He's like, you can't suck at sports and school. What did I need to become a better dad? A couple of beers.

Biz Nasty (7:32)

How about the wife? The wife. Hey, come over here and have a seat. We got to talk to you. He's like, nope.

Keith Yandle (7:38)

Feeling drowsiness. Grab a. Grab a couple bumps.

Ryan Whitney (7:43)

A couple of bumps or a key bump. He. And then what was the other. Oh, before he gets the couple of beers prescription, he's like, in the office, he comes over and there's like four people working. They're like, what do you want? He's just a loser. The couple of beers change his whole life. But an amazing skit. Check that one out online. And during coast to coast, we were actually trying to get JVR on James Van Reich. Keith had played with him in Philly, was telling us some hilarious stories. And if you didn't catch the story on Instagram that we put out, Keith retell the story of when he would sleep on the plane.

Keith Yandle (8:16)

Yeah, so he was. They used to call our. Because me and him sat next to each other and we both slept on the plane, but he slept more than anyone I've ever met. Soon as he got on the plane, it was his. His winter hat over his eyes out cold from before you take off. Just sleep and mouth open. He's a mouth breather. Obviously, he's like sleeping like this. So I just used the laces. Lace his mouth with like, you know, Mike and Ikes or something. Whatever candy I had. It was mostly Mike and Ikes and. And I just put them all around. The most I ever got in his mouth was seven. And he'd be sleeping and then you know, he'd maybe some of the drool got down his throat. He tasted a Mike and Ike, he would just open his eye, look at me, and just chew away, eat them, then go back to sleep. The guy is.

Biz Nasty (9:01)

What a dream that would be.

Ryan Whitney (9:03)

And then we got back to the hotel. Keith and I ordered a pizza, had some wine, and we're hanging out. The other story you told had me crying, laughing in the locker room when AV was losing it. Laugh. Jvr sounds like a cartoon.

Biz Nasty (9:17)

Oh, yeah, man.

Keith Yandle (9:19)

He's the best. And so he. He was. He's one of those guys, like, Brent Burns has a backpack full of stuff. He's got, like, every single gadget you could imagine. He rolls up with everything. His. His locker and biz. You know how I am. You play with me. I don't like when anyone stuffs over my. Don't cross the line. I used to put the line, like Scott Lawton on the other side of me would come over the line. So I'd put the piece of tape and just remind him for a couple days, but. So he would just have shit everywhere in his locker hanging up behind him. Like, he's sitting on pads there. I'm like, dude, you got to get rid of some of this stuff. Like, it's a bad look. This is the first day of. Of training camp. Coach comes in, AV team meeting, going over. You know what you expect in the year. You know how you know this is. We're all bought in. You know, Stanley cup or bus was sitting there, and all of a sudden you just hear a boom. This dude had so much stuff in his stall, it broke down and he fell down. And I look over, and he's looking up at me like. And you know when, like, your ass gets stuck down and, like, your legs are kind of. We couldn't get up. The whole room is crying, laughing. And AV has one of the best laughs. You can look up his laugh when Vern Fiddler's making fun of bxa. He just, like. It's an infectious laugh. So he started laughing. The whole team starts laughing. He has to walk out of the room. Trainers are coming in to, like, see what happened to jvr. He's still sitting in there. It and, you know, kind of loosened up the mood a little bit for that first jitter, first day jitters. But it was. It was every day with this guy. He was summer, and he's just all.

Biz Nasty (10:54)

You know what that reminds me of is I'm gonna get criticized. And I always get tweets like, oh, you Sit down to pee. It's like, shut the up. Who cares? I love sitting down to pee. I don't want to stand up. But like in the middle of the night when the lights are off and you, the seat was up like the to. And then you go to sit down and then your, your ass ends up in the toilet and you got the cold water on your.

Keith Yandle (11:13)

That's what it was like.

Biz Nasty (11:14)

That's, that's kind of what it remind me of when I was just thinking of it.

Keith Yandle (11:17)

Yeah, exactly.

Ryan Whitney (11:19)

I love sitting down to pee. B.

Biz Nasty (11:21)

Love sitting down.

Ryan Whitney (11:21)

Is that considered, Are we not men?

Biz Nasty (11:24)

I'll sit, I'll sit on my phone for, you know, 10 minutes after taking a piss. You know, I'm getting up, my legs are asleep.

Keith Yandle (11:30)

Yeah, I, I, I don't stand up till my feet are tingling.

Ryan Whitney (11:34)

Yeah, I think once you have kids too, it's like, oh, I gotta go to the bathroom. And then like, your wife's like, ryan, sorry, sorry, sorry. I was just, I was taking care of business. Sorry it took me a little while. You're like hiding like that movie. What movie is that? Paul Rudd. He's just sitting in there, his wife's losing, he's watching his eye.

Keith Yandle (11:53)

This is 40.

Ryan Whitney (11:54)

This is 40. Yeah. Flick.

Biz Nasty (11:56)

That's, that's me in a couple weeks, boys. I know you guys G. Yeah. G's coming to my birthday party. I'm gonna have a little pink Whitney cocktail and shooter bar. So you'll be there in spirit, are you? Yeah.

Ryan Whitney (12:09)

So how many people? I think you said what, 30 to 40 people expected?

Biz Nasty (12:12)

No, I think like 60 are coming down from Canada. I think by the time at my house, I'm gonna have about a hundred people and they're just finishing up the backyard now. So. Yeah, I would say probably about 100 people. Like some local people, like, like Tyson national come by Ray Whitney. I don't know if Doner is going to be in town. He's obviously on the road all the time now with the Toronto Maple Leafs. But yeah, I'm excited, man. It's going to be a hell of a way to kick off 40 and I'm pumped. I, I'm not a huge birthday guy. I'm doing a collab birthday with Jackie the Alien. You've, I think you've met him. Met her? Yans, I don't know if you've met her with. No, but, but you know, it'd be a good time to see all my friends in the midst of the season, which I usually don't. Only in the summertime up in Vancouver. So super thrilled. Got the pink Whitney stand. And I'm not going to drink. No, I'm off. I don't even know if I'll ever go back, man. I love not. Not drinking now.

Ryan Whitney (13:06)

Yeah, you feel. You just feel healthier. You just feel until the L5s one every month goes, you're just a rock.

Biz Nasty (13:13)

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly. Exactly. I've been all right lately with the L5S one.

Ryan Whitney (13:18)

You change some things up.

Biz Nasty (13:20)

I just been making sure I stretch a little bit more. Not going too heavy with the weights. Yeah, no, that's pretty much all I got.

Ryan Whitney (13:28)

This is 40, dude. This is 40. Can't wait. Can't wait. Keith's next. Keith's got about three years, though. He. He's a lot younger than us. Biz or two.

Biz Nasty (13:37)

88.

Ryan Whitney (13:37)

86.

Keith Yandle (13:38)

No, I'm in 86. I got 86. I got two years.

Ryan Whitney (13:42)

I can't believe that I'm 42 now, guys. I'm the old man in the group. Who would have thunk it? Jesus Christ. I feel old. I look older. But you know what? At least we're doing? Spitting Chiclets. And that kind of brings us to this week. One of the biggest weeks of the year. Every year is trade deadline week. And this. This week's kind of wild because I think there's so many different names in play. It could be a giant, crazy deadline week, or it could kind of be a bust. Who knows? But there's a lot of teams that still think they're in the mix for the playoffs. They still have a chance of getting in and going on a run, actually. Game notes. They're doing a live show on Friday from 1 to 3 Eastern. The deadline ends at 3, I believe. So those guys are going to have very special guests. They're going to have a ton of people popping in. They're going to be going over what has happened all week and that day. I always feel for the guys, and I know biz, you'll be at sportsnet for their trade deadline special. You. You see the trades go on and happen before Friday, and you feel for the guys like you and James Duthie and all these guys who are hosting all day.

Biz Nasty (14:44)

Yeah, I feel like they've. They've prepared nowadays where they bring in so many different guys. Well, they'll, you know, they'll do different segments. They'll start slinging around the stories like, hey, what's your trade story? I'm like, well, no one wanted me, so I didn't get Dealt. What about you guys? But it's going to be a great day getting to see all those guys. I love going back up to Canada and especially Toronto and, and mucking it up with the crew, so it'll be good. And, and kind of alluding to what you said, wit like, like Jim Neal talked about it, he's like, well, it might not be as crazy because you have the eastern wild card race where fucking eight teams think they're in the mix, so maybe they're holding on to these assets. So I can't wait to go over it with you guys. Rumor boy boy style. Who you think teams are going to move off from? Who. Who has been moved so far? Obviously a massive trade went down the other day between Chicago and Florida. So I'll throw it back over to you, Whit. Let's hop into this bad boy and create some more rumors and stir up, stir up some controversy.

Ryan Whitney (15:39)

So the, the party began and Kyle Davidson in Chicago, he traded Seth Jones. He made it very clear, didn't want to be there anymore. Came out in the media, said it kind of gave the team a tongue lashing after that game. I don't think it was against Vegas. I don't remember. It might have been against Utah where he's like, we are the same exact team as game one. And it was just quite obvious that where he was at in his career, he was ready to move on. And dude, Bill Zito in Florida went out and they grabbed him. Chicago traded Seth Jones in a fourth rounder to Florida for a first round pick in 2026. Says 2027 G. Make sure that. I thought it was 2026, but maybe 2026.

Keith Yandle (16:19)

Either or.

Ryan Whitney (16:20)

Either or. And Spencer Knight. I thought this was kind of a great deal for both sides, personally. Like, I look at Florida now. My first question, um, Keith, you're kind of around that team and see them a little bit more than us. But it was almost like, oh, why didn't you sign Montour? Right now you're, you're looking him for Montour's replacement and you got him. But you could have just signed a guy that you won the Stanley cup with. But for Chicago to retain, I think it's two and a half million. So Florida's getting a $7 million player in. Seth Jones plays about 25 minutes a night the past four years. They needed help on de since Montour was gone and Oliver Ekman, Larson, and then for Chicago to get a young goaltending prospect who's, who's had success in the NHL Keith, I'll start with you in terms of Florida, like what did you think of the deal and how do you think Seth Jones will fit in there?

Keith Yandle (17:10)

Yeah, like you said, I think it's a great deal for both sides. Especially the fact that, you know, Seth Jones came out and said he wants to be traded in. The fact that they were able to get a young goaltender, Spencer Knights, 23 years old, spend in the league now for I think four years. So it's like he's seen it. He hasn't really got the opportunity. I know he missed some time for some mental health issues and stuff too, but at the end of the day he, he's, he's been in Florida around a winning culture around a future hall of Fame goalie. I think he's going to bring them a lot of success, hopefully. And you know, when you're rebuilding, if you don't have a goal, you can't do shit, right? I mean, I know they have Connor Bedard, a first overall pick, hopefully he's a generational talent, but it's, you have to have a goaltender and to get a 23 year old goaltender, a first round pick, I think it's great. He's really good at playing the puck, which I think it's going to help them, you know, kind of, you know, not spend as much time in their own zone.

Biz Nasty (18:09)

Help their brutal D. Yeah, help their.

Keith Yandle (18:11)

Brutal D that they just got worse at. But, but like just going to Seth Jones too. It's like you look at a guy like him, like he, he's, he's had a great career already and he's only what, 29 years old and it's, or maybe 30, but it's, it's one of those things he's gonna, especially after being in Chicago the last couple years, he's gonna, you know, be like, okay, this is my time to win. This is my opportunity. Coming to a winning organization, a team that's committed to winning and I think you're gonna just see his stock just go higher and higher and absolutely love the trade. I think they, they've needed a right handed D man like you said, since losing Montour. Their, their power play hasn't been great this year. I think it's bottom, you know, five in the league. And it's, it's just one of those things where if you can go out and get an all star defenseman like they did in Seth Jones, and you know, he's not just a skill guy that's going to, you know, give you power play minutes he's playing hard minutes. He's playing a lot of minutes. He's really good defensively and really good offensively. So I think it's a home run deal for Florida. They beef up the back end and I don't think they're done. I think they're going to go out and get another, a depth forward as well. But really love this trade for the Cavs.

Biz Nasty (19:29)

Yeah, great breakdown, Yance. Lot going on online. Obviously, Chicago fans saying that this guy's washed up. They have no clue what it's like for a player of that caliber to be playing 24, 25 minutes a game playing on a team like that, and it's, it's. It's like it just shatters your confidence. He's going to be a completely different player in Florida. In a perfect world, Chicago has to retain probably 50%. That would have been ideal for the Florida situation, but I would imagine Dallas was kicking tires on this too. So Chicago had a lot of leverage in the sense. I'm sure a lot of teams wanted Seth Jones. So a great trade for Florida. I don't think he's going to be playing 24, 25 minutes there. I think he's going to be slated in the 21, 22. Perfect. Not as difficult of line matchups or if he does have the harder line matchups, at least some nights they can relieve him of that right where there was nowhere to hide for him. He was the clearly the best defenseman on Chicago for the last few years. Is a $9.5 million tag ideal for Seth Jones? No. The same way it isn't for fucking Darnell Nurse, but that's the reality. But as a $7 million defenseman and him going to play there and having other guys around him, I think he's going to fit in seamlessly and perfect. Going back to your Montour comment, it's like sometimes, yeah, looking back, hindsight, they probably should have signed him and kept him, but they probably thought they could move on from him. They clearly see that there's a hole there. So now they got to refix it again. And they still have an unreal forward group with really good depth down the middle. And when Chuck's healthy, a pretty, pretty lethal top six. Going back to the Spencer Knight thing, I think that that also relieves a little bit of pressure for Chicago, where they could probably move on from Morazic. There's gotta be a lot of teams kicking tires on him, man. He's a hell of a goalie. Fuck with your Edmonton Oiler. Should Be kicking tires on him. He'd be the starter in a fucking heartbeat.

Keith Yandle (21:25)

The way he makes like four and a half though. And they can't retain any more money.

Ryan Whitney (21:29)

No.

Biz Nasty (21:30)

Maybe Evander Kane goes back the other way.

Ryan Whitney (21:32)

You could get a third party to like take some of the money because that's why Chicago can't retain anything else. They did third. They did third party retention from ranting in. Correct.

Biz Nasty (21:41)

Correct.

Ryan Whitney (21:42)

And then they did it with Seth Jones. I don't know who their third one is. If you could look that up G. Why they have no. No more of that available. But I was interested in. And. And to see Seth Jones go there. It did. It did make total sense. And then also like Zito was in Columbus when he was there. He knows his game now. It was a while ago but he still knows what he's getting as a guy, as a person. And I think like to go from Chicago just. Just a horrible team. A horrible team. Right. There's nothing. And to go to Ryan Kessler's 15.

Biz Nasty (22:12)

Year old team might be able to beat them.

Ryan Whitney (22:14)

Yeah. We interviewed Cass playing next weekend.

Biz Nasty (22:16)

Oh there's mm.

Ryan Whitney (22:18)

It's a scrimmage for. For Little Caesars before the nationals. But to go from Chicago and what that's been like just exhausting. Exhausting to be a guy on team. I was on a team like that in Edmonton for a couple years. It beats you down. And to now go. Not only is he going to. To a cup contender last year's cup champs. He's going to the weather, he's going to the way they go to the rink. They got their golf carts. They're driving over the brand new beautiful practice facility. You're just thinking about winning a Stanley Cup. It's like mentally this guy is a player will be in such a different spot and he doesn't have to completely carry like all the minutes, all the load. And now you go, you go say you go him and Mikola and then you go Ekbad and forceling. Like they could just roll the top four all game.

Biz Nasty (23:05)

That's a big. That's a big fucking back end too, man. That's how. That's what they want. Big mutants. You win your puck battle you great first pass and then get it into the forwards hands and see you later. That's all they're looking for right now.

Keith Yandle (23:19)

Jones also played four years with Bob too. And I know even, I know it's a small thing but I remember getting traded to New York and haven't played with Mike Smith for a While like the goaltending tendency is how, how they want to take two on ones. Little things like that, like what, where they want you if there's a pass coming from the corner. Just little things like that I think is going to help him immensely too and, and it'll help him early too. I know he's a smart enough player where everything's going to come to him, but I think you're going to see him right away kind of pick up where, where, where we know he can be.

Biz Nasty (23:50)

I was just surprised with online to see all these idiots just write off Seth Jones because his under the hood numbers, as Pasha likes to call it, weren't good in Chicago. Like I played for the Saginaw Spirit or we had tough teams. Kind of like you mentioned with the Edmonton Oilers. I think in the first half of my last year of junior, I was like -21, -22, you know, obviously having all the hardest line matchups because I was the top defenseman on that team. Not a big deal at that point in my career. Well, I get traded halfway through the year to the Owen Sound Attack. I think I finished the season like plus three or four. It's, it's just like a whole different ball game playing around guys where you, you know, you're around the net, you snap the pass to the half wall and they're executing and making the play to get out of the zone because they have good center support where, fuck, man, all of a sudden that guy loses his battle. It's back in your end and then all of a sudden you're, you're, you're tallying up all these fucking analytics numbers where, oh, he looks brutal. He's in his own end the whole time. And oh, look at his offensive abilities gone down too. It's just like, buddy, they're a dog team. It's, it's, it's going to completely flip all that stuff upside down and there's no world that exists where Seth Jones, not a $7 million defenseman. He's going to be just fine. He's going to look exactly like he did when he was a prospect coming in with the Nashville Predators and then the same way he did with the Columbus Blue Jackets. So a great trade for Zito, but also looking at Chicago, great asset management. They're probably going to move on from Donato, they're probably going to move on from Mirazic, and they're going to stockpile picks, they're going to have a shit ton of cap space and they're going to go on I'm sure in two, three years and have success. So that's how you got to do it. You got to strip it to the ground and, and rebuild. Especially if you're in Chicago's case, because they'd already done it with the haggle, the fucking. Who else moved on? Dylan Strom. Like if they took that approach, they're doing it the right way by stripping it to the ground.

Ryan Whitney (25:46)

Grinnelli, thank you for finding this. It's Jake McCabe is the other player that they are retaining on. So that's their three retainments. That, that, that doesn't allow them to do it, do it any further with Morassic if they do move on from him. We talked about this on coast to Coast. Interesting to see. I kind of talked about Crosby second year now he had Stall, he had Malkin, he had gone. It was way different. But to see Chicago be such Sellers Bedard second year, I think it really crushes that fan base where it's like, oh, his second year, we're going to be going, we're going to be coming. And it's just, it's been the exact opposite of that. So we'll see where it goes. And, and we've been very hard before. Keith was on this show on Bill Zito based on kind of what happened with you and possibly being a scratch in Florida. Keith. But to give him credit, he's now brought in Sam Reinhart, he's brought in Sam Bennett, he's brought in Brandon Montour in his time as GM of the Panthers. And I think now they are on the, on the path to possibly having a chance of repeating. Now, it wasn't all good news. Bill Zito came out and mentioned that Matthew Tkachuk is heading to LTIR and will not be back for the regular season. They're just hoping to have him ready for the playoffs. Didn't even sound like he's that confident he'll be ready for playoffs. Now on the bright side, they now have $8.7 million in LTIR cap space. So I don't think they're done. I don't think they're done at all. Now what they end up doing, if it's, if it's a depth player, but they can kind of go go big game hunting on a rental as well. I just don't know how the team's going to fare in trying to win this division at the end of the.

Biz Nasty (27:19)

Season without Matthew Tkachuk a winning that Atlantic. By the way, go look at the win streaks right now for for each of the top three. Three teams in the Atlantic, like that is if, if you're the Toronto Maple Leafs, you want to grab that top spot and have Tampa Bay, who's won eight games in a row, and you know they're going to go find something at the deadline, you know they're going to go find that Nick Paul or that Blake Coleman or that Brandon Hagel. They're savages. They're pushing all the chips in and going back to Zito. You just won the Stanley cup last year. Like you're playing with the house's money. This is your window to win now. So just keep pushing them in and, and what does he have to lose? Absolutely nothing. Cause even if he does it and he gives them a chance to win and they don't, nobody gives a fuck. He's got it. He's got a Stanley Cup. He brought him a championship.

Keith Yandle (28:06)

I, I, I believe Zito's first draft, I could be wrong, but I think he took Spencer Knight in the first round and then the goalie Levi, and he's traded both those goalies. One for Sam Reinhardt and one for Set Jones. Pretty, pretty amazing stuff. Like if you're getting and I don't think that Levi's kind of been where he, you know, was expecting to be, but he's also playing in Buffalo and, but yeah, pretty, pretty impressive moves by him and yeah, he's done an unbelievable job down here.

Biz Nasty (28:36)

So in South Florida, don't they have back to back drafts? Like five of the top eight picks? Like so like one year they have two of the top four picks and then the next year they have three of the top four picks.

Keith Yandle (28:50)

Yeah, Barky and Seth Jones. And then the other ones like Reinhardt.

Biz Nasty (28:54)

Ekblad, drawing a blank on the other one.

Keith Yandle (28:57)

Bennett. Bennett.

Biz Nasty (28:59)

And Bennett. Isn't that crazy.

Keith Yandle (29:01)

That is real.

Biz Nasty (29:03)

Collecting Pokemons.

Ryan Whitney (29:04)

Biz mentions Tampa. It's been incredible. They have won eight in a row. They're nine, zero and one in their last 10. The Panthers are 820 in their last 10 and the Leafs are eight, two and zero in the last five in a row.

Biz Nasty (29:16)

Baby.

Ryan Whitney (29:16)

At one point it kind of looked like Ottawa had a chance in the top three of the Atlantic that has Ottawa ended up losing five in a row in regulation, I believe. So it's pretty, pretty set in stone now the top three teams in the Atlantic. I was amazed. Looking over numbers today, Tampa bay has the third best goal differential in the NHL this year at plus 55.

Biz Nasty (29:36)

Basiles kicking boys. I know they are looking dangerous.

Keith Yandle (29:39)

You don't want to see him in playoffs.

Ryan Whitney (29:41)

No. Boys, the rumor boys are hearing Alex talk to Alex Tuck. Name is mentioned a lot with the Tampa Bay. I think that would be a great. Yeah. You know who I was thinking is because we talked about the year they brought in Coleman, they brought in Nick Paul, they brought in Hagel. And I think of those three players and I kind of think of Scott Lawton, you know what I mean? Like a little dirt dog. He could play second line, he could play third line. And one of the funniest goddamn tweets I've ever seen from a player this year, he dropped a picture of the Last Supper and he said he had no idea it was going to go that viral, but he was out to dinner with all the training staff and it's, you know, I think it's their last road trip before the deadline. And they put this picture together that is just the exact replica of the painting. The Last Supper. Like, I don't even know what filter they used to make it look so good, but.

Biz Nasty (30:32)

Fish lens. Yeah. This guy's a cartoon character now. I'm sure you've.

Keith Yandle (30:37)

You.

Biz Nasty (30:37)

You like, when you were playing there, you knew some of those trainers, if they were around, like, obviously a nice gesture, probably saying his goodbyes, knowing that he's gonna get dealt. Yeah.

Keith Yandle (30:46)

I don't even know if it was that. I just know he's a good guy and takes the trainers out to dinner. He's just that type of guy. It. The picture was absolutely hilarious. And I, I agree with you. What I think he, he could be a great fit on any team, but especially Tampa. But I thought Tampa was gonna throw the old Pokemon reverse and bring yawn Yanni Gourd back.

Ryan Whitney (31:07)

That. That is. I know. Holy.

Keith Yandle (31:09)

Because I feel like they. They're the bottom. They love bringing in the bottom six guys, you know, to kind of revamp their lineup a little bit. But anyone who gets Scott Lawton is going to enjoy him if he does get traded on and off the ice, but in all time. And I don't think he's smart enough to know that it would go that viral or. I don't think he's smart enough to know if he was going to get traded that the Last Supper, that that would kind of be like that. I think it was just him being hilarious.

Ryan Whitney (31:35)

And he's still.

Biz Nasty (31:36)

He didn't throw that up regarding the trade or any trade.

Ryan Whitney (31:40)

No, he said, he said that he's. He's been. He's like, ah, it's just me Having fun after hearing my name and rumors for like three years, I think is what he said.

Biz Nasty (31:49)

Okay.

Ryan Whitney (31:50)

But I sat next to him at Kevin Hayes's wedding. Holy Yance, he is, as advertised, just a hilarious guy. His dad.

Biz Nasty (31:58)

I want him on the Leafs now.

Keith Yandle (31:59)

Yeah, he'd be unreal in the Leafs from.

Biz Nasty (32:02)

I mean, considering we bring up the Leafs every goddamn podcast, I think that's a perfect segue. You look at top teams in the east like, Toronto's got to do something now. Like, Tan ev's hurt right now. Matthew's not quite looking like himself. I don't know if he's still battling the back, but I think all. All roads lead to Braden Shen. I don't know what the asking price is going to be, but I think that if they can solidify that second line center role and really relieve pressure from John Tavares. And mind you, JT has had an unbelievable season. I've been so happy with him. Even going back to last year's playoffs, I thought he was excellent. Max Domi filled in last year at center, given the shenanigans that were going on in the first round. The Leafs too. He was snapping back draws. He was putting up points. But like, if we're looking at truly competing for the Eastern Conference and trying to come out of there, and if they do end up playing, especially if they have to play Tampa or Florida in the first round, you have to find at least one more piece up front. And to me, I think Braden Shen is. Is the perfect answer. He's proven Stanley cup champion. He's a honey badger. He'll fight if he has to. He'll block shots. A great locker room guy. Fuck. Bring his brother into. Bring the Bash Brothers, because we need all the help we can get now that fucking Florida's pushing all the chips in again. And they're the cap circumcisers.

Ryan Whitney (33:25)

Did you bring up Tanev? Did you bring up Brandon Tan?

Biz Nasty (33:29)

Well, Tanev's hurt right now. I don't know when he's set to.

Ryan Whitney (33:31)

Come back, but I. I know Brandon Tanev. Bring Brandon Tanev over, buddy. You want to talk about playing Florida? And Merle's is on the record as saying Florida will fucking eat Toronto if they play. He's, he's. He swears his reputation that Florida will bully them all around the rink. Brandon Tan's a guy. He's got speed. He's in your face. He hits like a Mack truck. That's a guy Turbo. That's a guy who maybe Toronto's looking At now. Yeah, there's just so much, so much that could go down this week. Biz. I did see this on Twitter. Loch Ness Monster. It popped up on, like, my 4U section. In fairness, he's a, he's a Canadiens fan, but of the 16 teams currently in a playoff position, the Toronto Maple Leafs are currently 9th in goals against, 9th in goals for, 12th in Corsi, 13th in expected goals for, 6th in expected goals against. These are ranks out of 16 teams. Other than having great goalies, how is this team any good? So now that's a, that's a Canadiens fan, but he's, he's pointing out some things that of the 16 playoff teams, like, I don't know how good the Leafs are now, I would just, I would just love if the Leafs lost in the first round. If the Leafs lose in the first round this year, I'll cry tears of joy like, like Ryder, Wyatt, Cal being born tears of joy. These scrubs can't even win this year because I'll say this, this is their best team. This is the best team I've seen the league.

Biz Nasty (35:06)

I'll fucking send Squanto to boot camp if they lose in the first round. He better be pulling his weight too.

Ryan Whitney (35:11)

He, I, I, I sent him, I sent him yesterday. It was a long weekend in Enfield, Connecticut. I had enough.

Biz Nasty (35:17)

He, I'll send him to play for Ryan Kessler's team.

Ryan Whitney (35:19)

I actually sent him to Mutt Cuts. You know, the dogs that, you know the dog buses that come pick up all the dogs he's in. He was in that bus, okay? He was chilling with all them. So Cornelli's mentioning here that Elliot Friedman said the Leafs will poke around on Rontanen now. That's another guy we could chat about.

Keith Yandle (35:36)

Actually, first, I have one question for biz. One question for biz.

Biz Nasty (35:39)

Oh, here we go. Here we go. Stir it up. Yance, you fucking ass.

Keith Yandle (35:44)

You would put Shin on the second line over JT, even though what JT's.

Biz Nasty (35:49)

Done this year, I just think that you can, you could switch them up like, if, if you want to, if you want to keep JT and, and, and allow him to play against a third line center where he could expose him and provide a little bit more offensively, you know, maybe, maybe they have a second line center, whoever their opponent is, who has a lot of speed, where maybe he's not the fastest afoot. Mind you, Anson brought up a good point on the broadcast. Like, he gets a decent amount of breakaways, and when he gets them, he never Gets caught. So maybe it's just kind of like the yogurt with the black tucks where he looks slow but he's actually not. And it's deceiving. Kind of like me, right? I, I, I had a short choppy stride, but I had the quick feet. I had the quick feet, you know, so maybe that's what it is. But I just think that anytime you can have strength up the middle, especially if you're going against Florida, I mean you got fucking Barkov, one of the best in the league. You got Sam the Bennett Menace. And then who's their third line center? Lundell? Yeah, fuck, dude, he's big, he's fast, like he's coming into his own. So that's a triple threat. So it's kind of like how LA last year they tried to combat having to go against the Vegas Gold Knights where they had Eichel, they had William Carlson and then, and then who was the other one they had who got traded to Seattle? Was it Stevenson?

Ryan Whitney (37:07)

Wa. He signed, he signed in Seattle. Chandler, Stevenson.

Biz Nasty (37:10)

Chandler they had, but they had Chandler Stevenson and then, and then they had a wa. So you're trying to, you're trying to build your roster to who you're going to end up going against. And in Toronto's case, man, fuck, the way that Tampa's going, it might be, it might be Toronto and Florida playing in the first round. Who knows, right? To me, that first spot in the Atlantic, if Toronto can get it, I think that for sure they're going to the Stanley cup finals. I think that, buddy, I think that, keep in mind here, okay, I think that if they make a big move, I still think from, from a top to down roster, they're going to be stronger than Tampa Bay is maybe. If they're not and they're, they're similar or even a little bit weaker roster wise than Florida, if they have to go against Tampa in the first round, they're going to beat the wheels off each other. And they've played a lot of hockey in the last two years, boys, Stanley cup finals the year prior against Vegas, all the way last year to the dance to beat the Oilers. And now this whole season, most of their guys going to four nations. Like that's a lot of fucking hockey. If Toronto can solidify the first place in the Atlantic Division, mark my words, they are going to the dance. They're going to the dance.

Keith Yandle (38:22)

You're right.

Biz Nasty (38:22)

That's going to the dance, baby.

Keith Yandle (38:24)

They gotta win us, they gotta win the Atlantic.

Biz Nasty (38:27)

How's that for an answer to your question, Yance, you wanna get my pot boy?

Ryan Whitney (38:31)

Yeah, I don't think there's. I, I think you could argue the Central, but those two clearly are like the, the divisions that you need to win, right? Because you gotta, you, you gotta try to dodge one of the Florida teams. If you're Toronto in the first round.

Biz Nasty (38:45)

No doubt.

Ryan Whitney (38:46)

It's just like, and, and it's kind of a win. Win for us fans because you get, if Toronto does win the Atlantic, you get Tampa, Florida in the first round, which was a legendary series they played a few years ago. And then if not, you get Toronto against Tampa. Like that'd be awesome. It's just one, it's just one thing to, to have to beat that many good teams starting in the first round. And that's nothing against Detroit, Columbus. And I have a big apology to Columbus fans coming up in a little bit, but yeah, it's very interesting to see what the Leafs are going to do.

Biz Nasty (39:16)

Can I let you guys know, like my, my, my darkest thought? Could you guys act as my therapist for like just like a one minute here?

Keith Yandle (39:23)

Yeah, why don't you lay down on that, coach?

Biz Nasty (39:25)

The, the there. I'm going to lay down. My, my, my, my biggest fear is that they draw Tampa or Florida in the first round. They lose and Mitch Marner has like 10 points and then all of a sudden you got to give him 15 fucking million dollars. We shit the bed, we're the laughing stock of the league again and we're in capel. So that if that happens, take my shoelaces away. No more staying at the four seasons in Atlanta on any floor above the second floor. And I don't know what else I'll do to myself, but it won't be good.

Ryan Whitney (40:06)

Yeah, that would be, that would be crazy, man. But if they lose in the first round, even if he lights it up, it might just be like we gotta overhaul everything, man. It might just be like we're gotta let him go. We gotta try, try to sign Ronton. And if he's not signed, it's. There's so many storylines going into this year's playoff like any other year. Colorado made a move though. Boys.

Biz Nasty (40:28)

Wait, wait. I want to say one more thing. I want to say one more thing. If Toronto loses in the first round this year.

Ryan Whitney (40:36)

No, no, no, no, no. Don't do this, buddy. You say all these things, you don't do them, so don't do it unless you mean it.

Biz Nasty (40:42)

I've done everything other than chop my 4Z off and that was because the doctor told me not to because of disease. Potential disease. Now I'm going to hand back my Ambassador jacket to Brandon Shanahan if Leafs lose in the first round.

Ryan Whitney (40:56)

I thought they already tried taking it back.

Biz Nasty (40:58)

They did, but I didn't give it back. And I said that I would be handing it back if they lose in the first round this year now, and.

Keith Yandle (41:05)

You'Re done forever with them.

Ryan Whitney (41:06)

That's what I'm gonna say. Are you?

Biz Nasty (41:07)

No.

Ryan Whitney (41:08)

You should. You should be done forever. You should be done forever if they lose in the first round this year.

Biz Nasty (41:13)

I'm not. I'm not willing to make that promise. I'm gonna text Brandon Shanahan. So I don't take. I don't want to catch him off guard tomorrow when he listens to the podcast because he listens to every episode, I'll be handing back my jacket, and I just think that I should separate myself to that degree. Not to completely cut ties, but I feel like I wouldn't be worthy of being basically in management with them. Why are you laughing?

Ryan Whitney (41:40)

Basically.

Biz Nasty (41:41)

You don't think I'm part of the round table?

Ryan Whitney (41:43)

No. Who do you think you hand back that jacket? If I was you, I would hand back that jacket. I'd FedEx that jacket today after this podcast. And that's what'll get them to win a cup, is getting rid of you. Because as much as we've talked like you're a mush, you're a mush. You hop on teams. They lose, I'm gonna call them or they're smash them. Toronto can't win since 19. Like, you're a mush. The one team you made your name with isn't even a goddamn team in the NHL anymore. Like, you're the true mush of the pod man. So if I were you, and I really cared about the Leafs, I'd send that Ambassador Jack it back. I would send that thing as back as humanly fast as humanly possible, and then they'd have a chance.

Biz Nasty (42:20)

I should. You know what I should do with it?

Keith Yandle (42:22)

Bring it with you when you go to sports. That. You know what I should do it to Leafs.

Ryan Whitney (42:26)

What?

Biz Nasty (42:26)

I should give it to my. My son. Hockey Illuminati. Who'd you say?

Keith Yandle (42:33)

Squanto?

Biz Nasty (42:35)

No, I think I should send it to Hockey Illuminati.

Keith Yandle (42:38)

Dude, they'd still think it was you wearing it. You guys are identical twins.

Biz Nasty (42:41)

No, he's my love child.

Ryan Whitney (42:44)

He's still looking for signs that it's the year he's with Jersey Jerry. The signs, the signs, the signs. The Rangers traded Ryan Lindgren and Jimmy Vezy to the Avalanche in Exchange for Calvin DeHaan. Jusso Parsonin, a 2025 second rounder and a 2025 fourth rounder. Pretty funny. Calvin DeHaan does a press conference after traded over to the Rangers and mentions that basically, like, if you look at my hockey db, you're going to think I stink.

Keith Yandle (43:16)

What a great play by him.

Ryan Whitney (43:17)

I know that's just getting ahead of the storyline. Like, oh, you think I stink? I'll tell you, I stink. Go look at my hockey db. I really stink. But I really don't stink if you watch me play night in and night out. But yeah, you said you had a funny story from him.

Keith Yandle (43:30)

Yeah, well, first off, I think he's a great demon. One of those guys that, you know, a 5, 6 guy that's going to give you 16 to 18 minutes break the puck off for you. You know, just show up to the rink every day and play. But yeah, funny story about him. He was Mackenzie Weger. Had some concussion problems in some, what do they call those? Not migraines. What's the, like, I don't know, Whatever, whatever. They're like. So he used to get the, the head issues and, you know, he'd like get the spins and stuff. So he was trying everything. And he tried that, that pink tinted visor that was supposed to help you with concussions. I don't know how, but he was trying it out one game and we were playing. I can't remember what team Dahan was on. Maybe the Islanders and face offs in the, in the D zone. And he's the lefties at the point, kind of right next to our bench. And Weeks is chirping. I'm yelling at him, telling him he stinks and whatever, whatever the case is, but I think they're buddies and, and he looks at the bench, he goes, shut up, Weeks. You look like Elton John out here. In our whole bench, the coaches, the train. Weeks was standing up, yelling at him. He turns around, our whole bench has their faces in their jerseys laughing at him. Just absolute classic line. So you, you know, he's a good guy and a good locker room guy, so I think he's got to fit in in New York.

Ryan Whitney (44:55)

Well, I, I don't, I, I need to see the sports science behind the pink tinted visor helping your concussion.

Keith Yandle (45:01)

It's pink Whitney.

Ryan Whitney (45:02)

The pink Whitney visor. Yeah, that's really what you need when you have a concussion is just a pink Whitney Visor. I don't really get that, but funny line. I mean, the Rangers are now also holding out Riley Smith as kind of like roster management, so they're able to trade him. Seems like they're. They're looking to sell some parts while also being right in the mix. And. And I guess that leads into the bet with Pasha. I mean, well, we can. We can go into that later because I got another one with them that the Rangers are going to make the playoffs. I think they might sneak in. I really do.

Biz Nasty (45:32)

Did you guys. Did you. Did you mention the tweet yet? I just went and took a piss. Did you mention the tweet that we sent to the group chat today?

Ryan Whitney (45:39)

No.

Biz Nasty (45:40)

I believe that J.T. miller, in the 10 games that he's been with the New York Rangers, has 12 points now, which is actually more. More points than Elias Pederson has shots since the trade, which Elias Pederson has eight shots since J.T. miller has been traded. No goals. I want to say three assists. So Pasha, who's been just getting absolutely.

Ryan Whitney (46:03)

Torched lately, Nobody's taken more Ls in one season.

Biz Nasty (46:06)

Oh, they should take his shoelace. Shoelaces away, too. That is just like. That's tough sledding. Do you think that maybe they should just shut him down? My understanding is maybe he's battling a knee injury again like this. Maybe the same one going back to last year's playoffs that he was bitching about. He's not skating well. He's not moving his feet much. He just doesn't look anything remotely looking. Like he looked the season where he had a hundred points. Like, why wouldn't. At this point, you just shut him down?

Ryan Whitney (46:35)

I think Vancouver still thinks they could make the playoffs, but now Quinn Hughes didn't play the last 10 minutes the other night. It's like just a. Just a disaster season. Like, I never saw this season going this way for Vancouver. I mean, they were so good last year. They win that division, they end up just like, everyone's coming back. It's like, holy shit. Like they're going to be writing it again. And from the hop, it's been a disaster. And the Patterson stuff, I. I would hope that he's injured. Like, if you're a fan of the Canucks, like, that's kind of your own. Like, all right, if he's injured, I. I kind of get it. If he's not injured, then you're like, holy shit. And I. I think, when does his no move clause kick in? Is it this summer?

Keith Yandle (47:16)

Yeah.

Ryan Whitney (47:17)

Yeah. So it's like, could he be dealt by Friday? I don't know who's trading for him at this point, but it is. I would. I would hope he's injured based on the fact that he looks that bad and that lost. Just a kind of a. Kind of a brutal story. You don't want to see that. You don't want to see a guy that. That's just lost. It's like when you see PJ Tour golfers, like, lose their game, like, all of a sudden they're. They're toiling away on, like, in, like the. The mini tours after being. Being on the PGA Tour for years. It's crazy. You don't see it in hockey like you do in golf, but it's wild. It's absolutely crazy to see what's happened to him. And J.T. miller's been good, real good for New York. The fans love him, plays hard, brings that dog dog mentality to every game, every shift. So that's working out very well right now for the Rangers. The Wild went out and acquired Gustav Nyquist from the predators for a 2026 second rounder. I guess Columbus was also kind of looking at him, and he had been there. But Minnesota goes. They're battling so many injuries. Erickson, X out. Caprisov's out. They beat the Bruins one nothing. Yesterday I had that game on biz that you were doing.

Biz Nasty (48:24)

Yeah, bro. Dean's out, too. Unreal. Shut down D, man. Who's the fourth guy they have? Oh, two. Who's between them and Boston in that game? They had a couple All Stars. Five guys who represented the teams in the. In the four nations were out. So, I mean, Marshall was out. Lynn Holmes, home. McEvoy. Like, that was like we were fucking watching the Providence Bruins against the Iowa Wild, for Christ's sake.

Ryan Whitney (48:49)

Who.

Biz Nasty (48:49)

Who's the other guy that. That the Wild had out of the lineup? There was four guys missing. But, hey, listen, right? Nyquist, unreal year last year with the Nashville Predators. No one's really having a great year there this year, but I think that's a great pickup. And once they get healthy, man, that. That could be a very sneaky team come playoff time. Yeah, very, very, very sneaky. It will be much like every 2, 3 matchup, though. It's going to be tough, man. If they get the second or third seed, they're playing Dallas because you know that Winnipeg's more than likely going to win that division. So I said on the broadcast, fuck, if I'm Minnesota. I might even just like Tank a little bit and rather. I think I'd rather play the Winnipeg jets first round than I would Dallas and the travels way less.

Ryan Whitney (49:37)

Dude, Dallas, they mean the Harlem Gold Trotters. They are scaring the shit out of me. We'll get into the Oilers in a little bit, but Dallas I Two trips to the Western Conference final. It's like this could be the year and you know that they're going to do something at the deadline. They look like. How about in the last six games? Wyatt Johnson has six goals to assist. Rupe hints has two goals and 10 assists. So like something's clicking. Duchenne got his 25th goal of the year. They're getting guys healthy. Heskin and I don't know if he'll be back before the.

Biz Nasty (50:11)

I think he's coming back towards the end of the regular season. There is rumblings that. That Sagan might be ready around that first. First, like first to maybe second round. I mean like I said, you're. If you get Haskin and Segin back the way that Grandland has replaced Seguin on that second line, like seamlessly. He looked great last night in that game. Against who. Who they play against who they roasted. They beat him.

Ryan Whitney (50:39)

St. Louis.

Biz Nasty (50:40)

St. Louis. Yeah.

Max Talbot (50:41)

Who.

Biz Nasty (50:41)

Who? I think they. They say I like St. Louis in the way that they're built. They got a good future. But we're getting off the rails here. If they get Segun Haskin in and make a deadline, move along with Granlund. That's a dangerous team. I think that they would smoke Minnesota in the first round and then they would look to do damage moving forward. So interested to see what they also do. I think that Dallas, Alexia. They need a defenseman. Alexia Aristoline and who are some other demon who they could pick up to bolster that back end to combat basically what Florida did. Who are some other guys?

Keith Yandle (51:20)

Resto would be a really good one.

Ryan Whitney (51:23)

Well, if you're talking a big guy like you're bringing up Alexia. What about Luke Shen? Right?

Biz Nasty (51:29)

Yeah. I think that Luke Shen on a Stanley cup team is an awesome number six. I think that you need. You need.

Ryan Whitney (51:36)

Yeah, you.

Biz Nasty (51:37)

You need a 4 to 5 guy in my opinion.

Ryan Whitney (51:40)

Really?

Keith Yandle (51:42)

Even with Harley and Heiskinen, you still need. I. I think wrist align would. Because you can put them with either one of those guys and he can be in your top four.

Biz Nasty (51:51)

That's okay. Well, there you go. That's what I'm. I'm trying to say. You need a 4 to 5. I think. I think like. I think Shen is, you know, if. If you can't get anyone else. Sure. He's a big body. He'll. He'll fight if he has to, but he seems like on a Stanley cup team, a guy who's like, in and out of the lineup as a 6, 7. So I think you need to do something that moves the needle just a little bit more. I. My understanding was they were. They were kicking tires on Seth Jones, but there has to be a guy out there that they can go grab that can fill in and play more of a role.

Ryan Whitney (52:23)

Yeah.

Keith Yandle (52:24)

And G just said in the chat Connor Murphy. And. But I mean, I think Chicago's got to keep some veterans around, right? He's been there a while.

Ryan Whitney (52:33)

He's been there. I know you need one NHL defenseman, I think a Vlasic. He's nice. But. But I don't know if you can move on from Connor Murphy. Dude, that's like.

Keith Yandle (52:45)

No, I know.

Ryan Whitney (52:45)

And I do think that Lindell and Heskin and back healthy and Harley, like, those guys can play a ton. Dude, they could play a ton. You got Ottinger. I know what you're saying, Biz, but it kind of leads us back into the. The main discussion coming in is. Is Rontin, and we're coming down to the wire here. I mentioned on coast to coast, the night we were at Amazon, he had a goal and an assistant. He looked great. Now, they played Buffalo, so that doesn't really count.

Biz Nasty (53:11)

And they were wearing the Whalers jerseys. Fuck. Everybody had one and.

Keith Yandle (53:14)

True. Yeah. Little Caesars, boys.

Biz Nasty (53:18)

What do you do? I mean, I. I think I agree with a lot of people saying they're in win now mode. The. The criticism ain't winning, dude. The criticism for the last three, four years. Oh, they don't have that superstar who could push him over the edge. But, like, so what do you. So you kind of disagreed with me. I think if they keep him past the deadline, Whit his leverage with them goes up so much more, he could ask them for another million per and they'd have to give it to him.

Ryan Whitney (53:45)

I know. And I don't think at that point it matters. Yeah, I don't think. I don't think. Okay. Okay. So, Biz. So say he. They keep him. And yes, then it's like, hey, I'm going to tell you what to give me. You can't lose gentle and then lose me. All right, so we'll give you 15 million and you can get 14 million from six other teams. Like, like, at that point, what's the extra 8 million bucks.

Biz Nasty (54:06)

Well, I mean this was all about money to begin with, wasn't it?

Keith Yandle (54:09)

In, in Colorado?

Biz Nasty (54:11)

Yeah. I mean, why did he get traded then? My understanding right now, I think Elliot Friedman reported it, is they've offered him what McKinnon was. Is making 12.6 was the offer. And he's like, oh, I want to, I want to test it out longer. Like I, I mean I, I get it. I get that he wants to test drive it before he makes an eight year commitment, but holy shit, man, this is. You can't tell me that, that, that Carolina fans and management aren't fucking nervous about this situation. Like this has to be like, like if you're a Carolina Hurricanes fan, you have to say that this is a catastrophic situation. That if you end up getting bounced in the second or third round, you have no nature, no gensel, no rotten and you gave away everything else you did with, with picks or whatever in the meantime. Like Drury also, right. Drewry was the one guy. I think Drewry's got more goals than Rotten. And since they've been traded so catastrophic deadline moves if they don't end up resigning. Rotten and, and is it a win if you end up giving rotten and 14 million, is that a win?

Max Talbot (55:19)

Are, are, are.

Biz Nasty (55:20)

Are Carolina Hurricanes fans prepared to sign over a check for 14 million a year for Rotten Arya?

Keith Yandle (55:27)

Well, I think with the cap going up, it kind of hurts a little less. But yeah, that's a big, that's a big number to pay a winner from.

Ryan Whitney (55:34)

What you've seen so far. Like. No.

Keith Yandle (55:36)

Right?

Biz Nasty (55:36)

Yeah, I think he's a great player and I think that he's been sneak bitten a little bit and his, his, his numbers are not a reflection on how he's played. But I mean, this is Army's argument. He's like, fuck the $14 million deals. They got to start bumping up the league minimum for some of these third fourth liners. And I agree with him as a fellow fourth liner. Fuck these big deals. Snap the wealth around a little bit more.

Ryan Whitney (56:00)

What does he want? A million bucks? A million bucks.

Biz Nasty (56:03)

I agree with him completely. The league minimum should be at least a million dollars.

Keith Yandle (56:07)

What is it?

Biz Nasty (56:09)

I think it's probably 750, 800 at this point.

Ryan Whitney (56:12)

Yeah, you would think that could move up.

Biz Nasty (56:14)

It better hope.

Ryan Whitney (56:15)

Although if it's that or our insurance. We'll take the insurance.

Keith Yandle (56:20)

We'll take the insurance.

Max Talbot (56:21)

True.

Ryan Whitney (56:21)

For morals. For morals. But we deserve 75 right now. The league minimum is 775. 775. That's not bad guys. I got some serious worries and doubts right now about the Edmonton Oilers. I don't really know what's gone on, like, this year, and they had this incredible run where they were the best team in the league for. For a decent stretch. But I go back to the Four nations ending, and McDavid played an afternoon game like, 20 minutes later against Philly. Like, basically, Knob Block said, like, you can't get him off the ice.

Biz Nasty (56:54)

He didn't take his gear off even today.

Ryan Whitney (56:57)

They did it. They gave the option to arvidson, who played Four nations at Colema, who played Four nations, and McDavid, and he still skated. And it's like, oh, I get wanting to win that division. They're four points behind Vegas right now. I wish they could rest him. I. I really do. And, like, Leon is on this path this year. Like, he's just feeling it, and you don't need to rest him right now. But I. I just wish they'd rest him and. And I don't know if he is banged up. He came out and said, after that, what loss did they have when we were watching?

Biz Nasty (57:27)

They got smoked by Philly.

Ryan Whitney (57:29)

They got smoked by Washington. No, it was more. It was more recent.

Biz Nasty (57:32)

4, 3 to Florida.

Ryan Whitney (57:33)

Florida, Florida. And he said. He said, like, I'd be lying if I. If I said I. I felt great right now. It's like, oh, my God. We just. And then the Kane situation. So the Evander Kane situation is apparently, according to all the insiders, they are, like, talking to teams because he has. He's given his list of teams that he can go to or he'd be willing to go to. Now a lot of Oilers are fans, like, put him on ltir. You could still trade for someone and then. Then you get them back, but it's not really how it works if you play by the rules. Like, if he's cleared and healthy, he has to start playing. He wants to play. He wants to show that he's still got a lot left to give. So you can't just say, like, hey, dude, you're. You're waiting. You have to wait till the playoffs, and then we'll get you going. That's not how it works. And I don't really, like, who would trade for him right now. Like, and if you just try to get rid of him for. For almost nothing, just so you could make a deal, I. I'd rather kind of see what he has because he could be such an impact player. And you've seen it in the. The playoff runs he's had that. And mind you, last year in the Cup Final, I don't think he played the, the last five games like that was a big loss. He's physical, great on the forecheck now. I don't know what his health's like. It's, he's different surgeries, he's got all these different injuries, so you don't know what you're getting. But you can't just stick them on LTIR and then go get someone Golden Knight style. Unfortunately, you can't do that. I wish you could, but now I just, I just look at Edmonton's season and it's, Something's missing. And, and Stan Bowman has made it clear he's not in the market for a goalie biz. You mentioned Marazik. Gibson's made it clear that he'd go to Anaheim.

Biz Nasty (59:10)

I trust you're saying that Gibson would leave Anaheim. I just, Sorry, I, I think that the ship has sailed on the G and stuff. This has been rumor mill longer than Scott Lawton. Like, this has been three, four years that people have been talking about Gibson. And like, is he even their starter now? Like, I feel like that younger kid took over. So, like, I think that Marazik is, is one of your only answers. And I don't know, I, I, if, if I'm them, like, by the way, I, I think they completely fumbled this whole situation with not bringing back the, the, the guys who got offer sheeted from St. Louis. I think it's ridiculous. I still think it's the, one of the worst moves I've seen in the last fucking 10 years. Not bringing those two guys back, especially with the success they both had in St. Louis. I think you keep Evander Kane and. Because I believe he's up for contract. Right. This is the last year of that contract.

Ryan Whitney (60:02)

Yes, I think so.

Biz Nasty (60:03)

You. He's playing for a contract. Do you not want a hungry Evander Kane?

Keith Yandle (60:07)

Yeah.

Biz Nasty (60:08)

When was the last time he was hungry? Was it the year that he had 14 goals in playoffs?

Keith Yandle (60:14)

Probably. Yeah.

Biz Nasty (60:15)

I thought he might get a hungry Evander Kane. Hungry, healthy Evander Kane. I think that's your only solution to combating the negligence of, of not offering those ma. Or matching those offer sheets.

Keith Yandle (60:27)

He's got one year after this.

Ryan Whitney (60:29)

Yeah, he's got another year now. Biz, here's what's crazy. What?

Biz Nasty (60:32)

Four million.

Ryan Whitney (60:34)

Still a bargain. 5.25.

Biz Nasty (60:36)

5.2. All right.

Ryan Whitney (60:37)

But yeah, it goes back to, like this summer. Seems like it was, it was a, it was a big mistake. And. And I. The Broberg one was one thing. Like, they had Nurse on a huge deal. They had Kulak as a left shot defenseman. They have Ekholm. All of a sudden, Broberg's getting offered 4, 6. They have to sign Bouchard. Like, I kind of get that one right now, obviously. I wish they'd match it. The. The hallway 1. The Dylan hallway one's nuts.

Biz Nasty (61:04)

He's got.

Ryan Whitney (61:05)

He just scored his 20th goal the other day. It was 2 million bucks. 2 million bucks. And that one is like, holy shit. You got this young forward who could skate. That was great in the playoffs. And instead. And also, don't forget about Warren Fogel, who's been great with the Kings. He was there. But now you bring in Arvidson. That hasn't worked out. You bring in Skinner. That hasn't worked out. And then what do we come to find out? They have no move clauses. They both have no move clause. So it's like, holy shit. And it's like, I don't really trust Stan. Stan Bowman was brought in to be the guy to get him over the hump. I. Yeah, I mean, he won the Cups in Chicago.

Biz Nasty (61:43)

Bring Holland back.

Ryan Whitney (61:44)

Dale Talon built the team. The first one.

Biz Nasty (61:47)

Does Bowman have a no move?

Ryan Whitney (61:49)

It just seems like this year I'm obviously not giving up. Although last year I did. Then they went to game seven in the cup final. I just. Right now the vibes around Edmonton, now it can turn quick. They had a big win against Carolina in. In a game that they still. Dude. With a one goal lead in the final minute. Got a power play and gave up a breakaway. Like, what are we doing here? Huge shave. Picard started that game. So it's just kind of crazy to see they don't really have any room to do anything. That's probably why they're calling these teams about Evander Kane. But it's. It's a weird time in Edmonton. McDavid's looked off all the respect in.

Biz Nasty (62:27)

The world to McDavid, though. Trying to work through this.

Ryan Whitney (62:29)

I know.

Biz Nasty (62:30)

Taking the easy road. We forget these guys are humans, man. These guys have been just on an insane run.

Ryan Whitney (62:36)

What did you say to the group chat about McDavid? Just about how like, relentless he is. And it's like at some point, it's. It's mentally exhausting.

Biz Nasty (62:44)

Yeah. I mean, to put it into. To what do you say that. To put that into layman's turn? No, to perspective. As far as how much he struggled. I want to say since February 5 till now, he's got the worst plus minus in the league. Like. Like, that is. That is gnarly. Like, the fact of how much he's on for goals four. And, like, he's never. I mean, he's always ahead in that category, so it's just been a tough stretch, you know, I. He doesn't really have an answer for it. I don't think that he looked like himself even in that final game of the Four Nations. Obviously, the big goal kind of erases that, but hey, man, kind of like, Matthew, some of these big dogs are a little bit fatigued right now, and they'll just continue working through it, and he'll probably look like himself in a few weeks once he gets out of this little rut, but. Or at least you hope.

Keith Yandle (63:33)

I remember Barkov, when YOGS was here, he. He was on the Yogs program, going to the rink late at night, whatever, skating all the time. His back started hurting him a little bit, and the GM was like, dude, this is done. You got to stop doing this. Like, you're. You're overworking yourself. Like those. Those guys. Those elite. Elite guys just have something different in their DNA where they just want to get better and better and someone to just be like, dude, pump the brakes a little bit. Like, you just need a little bit time off. Let your body. Let your body catch up to whatever, because have you ever, like, the last game in the Four nations, obviously, like you said, he scored, but I've never seen McDavid fumble a puck. Like, he was skating. He was skating stick handle. And, like, losing the puck, I'm like, must be something wrong with the ice there. And then when he comes back out there, still the same thing. So he's definitely. Whether it's fatigue or he's dealing with something, he's going through something right now, but obviously, because of who he is, he's gonna snap out of it at some point and go on an insane tear like he usually does.

Biz Nasty (64:34)

He needs Michael's magic stuff.

Ryan Whitney (64:37)

What's that? Oh, yeah.

Biz Nasty (64:38)

From Space Jam.

Keith Yandle (64:39)

From Space Jam.

Ryan Whitney (64:40)

The body armor Flash IV body armor. Check it out. So, guys, this. This kind of leads us into the.

Biz Nasty (64:47)

And.

Ryan Whitney (64:47)

And there are obviously other topics for the trade deadline. Game notes, guys, will have that covered. One to three. I'm gonna try to hop that whit. That's on our YouTube channel B. How many subscribers do we have now?

Biz Nasty (64:59)

I want to say we just hit388.388,000 subscribers on our Spit and Chicklets YouTube channel. You can check out game notes. You can Check out our podcast. You can watch the whole thing. Sandbaggers, Sandbagger scrambles. You got the chick, the chicklets, you with fish and G. So we just got tons of stuff you can watch and enjoy on our Spit and Chicklets YouTube channel.

Ryan Whitney (65:25)

And this week we will have our Four Nations Chiclets TV coming out Thursday at noon. Check that out on our YouTube channel. That's a great time. We were up there having a blast in Montreal. So, guys, I want to go next to an apology I have to make and that is to the Columbus Blue Jackets. And the apology stems back to last week when I was discussing the teams in the race for the final two wild card spots in the East. I didn't say them. I said the Rangers, I said the Senators, I said the Bruins, I said the Red Wings and I didn't say Columbus. But you Columbus fans, I hope, I hope you didn't take it too personal. It was just. I forgot I, I was trying to list off teams, but you were in my head. I didn't say you guys. I've been mentioning even last year how great this fan base is, how awesome it would be to see you guys get in the playoffs. The passion that we saw when you did get in and pulled that amazing upset against Tampa Bay and then what they've dealt with and what, what, what happened before the year with Johnny Goudreau's passing and what this team's done, it would be one of the stories. I am rooting for you guys. I apologize for not mentioning your team. And holy. Did Columbus show up for that game this weekend? Unreal. Two games for Columbus. They beat Detroit in Detroit. Awesome win. Then they go to the, what is it, the Horseshoe at Ohio State. Awesome game. I caught the third period and I was just like, holy shit. It looked great. It was awesome. Now biz, I don't really get what you're. I understand Detroit fans whining like that is a penalty. To me, that is a penalty.

Biz Nasty (67:00)

But that's not what I'm talking about. I was congratulating Columbus on a big win, on a big back to back wins. And they're flooding my mentions. It has nothing to do with them. Them, they're, oh, the refs gave him the game. Blah, blah, blah. It's just like, get the out of my inbox here. I don't give a flying that the ref missed that call. I don't care. I have, I don't own nothing to Motown. I'm congratulating a team that deserves it, that's had A loyal fan base that has dealt with more adversity than any team in the league, not only to start the year, but losing Boon Jenner, they lost Wsky for a little bit, I believe. Kent Johnson was injured. They've had injury after injury after injury. They had no expectations to make playoffs this year. And look where they are in that top wild card position, fighting with the other team in the wild card position, having to win their games. And they win back to back. And I congratulate them. Detroit played a hell of a game. They dominated that game in the first half. They peppered them with shots, their goalies stood on their head, and they pull off the victory. And listen, was it a bit of a missed call? Sure. I thought that it was a puck battle. And he went to lift the stick and, yeah, he nicked him in the visor. Do I also think there was a little bit of a sell job? Yes, I do. I do think there was a little bit of a sell job. So the fact that it wasn't called, I have no problem with. They go off, they score that goal. Hey, you can go bitch online, but don't flood my inbox when I'm congratulating the Columbus Blue Jackets. You direct all your hate towards the NHL Twitter account or the player safety or whatever you got to do. I don't want to hear about it. Red Wings fans, they're insulting me about my. My. My points per game. And this basically stealing everything that Chicago Blackhawks were throwing at me a few weeks ago when I was trying to help their team out, their rival. So you guys could. You could buddy up with your rival and come flood my inbox all you want, but it ain't going to change the fact that you drop back to back games and that if you ain't nice to me, I'm gonna throw it the hex on you and you won't even get inside that wild card spot. And Toronto's gonna be the only original six team making playoffs this year. You better watch your mouth, Motown.

Ryan Whitney (69:11)

You think?

Biz Nasty (69:12)

You better watch your mouth, Motown.

Ryan Whitney (69:15)

I just think it's a penalty. It's like the guy, he. He's going to lift up his stick, he catches him up in the face, buddy. That's called.

Keith Yandle (69:22)

It's called 99% of the time. Yeah.

Biz Nasty (69:28)

Go gargle the iser plans nuts. I don't give a flying.

Ryan Whitney (69:32)

I know, but I want to hear how you think that's not a penalty, even if it was a sell job. Take them both and get the win.

Biz Nasty (69:38)

I think if you slow it down. It started out as a puck battle and then. Is it, how do you say, his last. Is that soda? What's the last name? Soder?

Ryan Whitney (69:45)

Blonde. That was Edmondson. That was Edmondson.

Biz Nasty (69:48)

Oh, that was Edmondson. My apologies, Edmondson. I don't know. I, I grabbed the screenshot. It seemed like a bit of a sell job. No disrespect to him at all. He's trying to get the call. What do you think, Yance?

Keith Yandle (69:59)

Well, first, I've known ryan Whitney for 30 years and this might be the first time I've ever heard him apologize. So Columbus Blue Jacket fans, he means this.

Biz Nasty (70:10)

Yes.

Ryan Whitney (70:11)

I love the Blue Jackets. I love.

Keith Yandle (70:15)

So take that. That. He, he really meant that. Blue Jackets fan.

Biz Nasty (70:20)

There's nothing I want more. I would say I would put it as a tie for Columbus to make playoffs and for Toronto to make it past the first round. I'd put that at a tie right now as far as where my feelings are at. And that's maybe why I got a little bit, a little sensitive with Detroit fans coming at me because I'm a ride or die for Columbus right now. But if you, if I get a, we're talking about apologies. If I get an apology from Detroit Twitter, maybe I'll lay off you guys and not put the hex on you.

Ryan Whitney (70:52)

If, if Toronto plays Columbus in the first round and Columbus beats him, I, I, oh my God. Oh my God.

Biz Nasty (71:04)

That, that's where the, that's where the story has to end.

Ryan Whitney (71:06)

I would pick, I would pick Columbus making the playoffs and playing the Maple Leafs and beating them over getting the chance to play Augusta. No joke. If you offered me a one round at Augusta or Columbus gets in, plays the Leafs and beats him, I would choose that. And I promise you that, Columbus fans, that's how much I love you guys. That's how much I love your passion. That's how much I love that giant cannon you have that used to scare the shit out of me. And I'll tell you right now, if they beat the Leafs and just seeing this idiot's face that you're looking at right now, pausing at and is crying and is whining and Marner getting 16 points and then signing for 16 million a year. Oh my God, if that happens, you.

Biz Nasty (71:52)

Could load that cannon up and shoot me right in the arsehole. You could shoot me right in the hoop with that cannon if that happens.

Ryan Whitney (72:00)

Oh, guys, Obi scored again.

Keith Yandle (72:02)

Oh my God.

Ryan Whitney (72:04)

Oh, we got another one. Just 10 away from 10 away from time. No, no, no, he just got it in a loss. Who? Dude, they lose to Tampa just now.

Keith Yandle (72:13)

It's 6:00.

Ryan Whitney (72:14)

6:10.

Biz Nasty (72:15)

Yeah, 6 Eastern.

Ryan Whitney (72:16)

They, they had one of those Monday. 6:00 puck drops. He scored first shift. It was sick. He went end to end game.

Biz Nasty (72:23)

All the kids, the school kids are there.

Ryan Whitney (72:26)

Monday, he's 10 away from tying Gretzky's 11 away from breaking him. And Capitals fans are, they're making a big stink out of the possibility of their two announcers not calling the record breaking goal. Now that would be Joe, Ben Andotti and Craig Laughlin, who do the Capitals broadcast. I guess there's been a lot of flexing of the schedule to give ESPN more Capitals games and ESPN could end up taking the game. That OVI breaks the record. It's like Caps fans, I get it. I mean, what do you think? This is not going to be like nationally televised. I think their complaints on this one's crazy to me. Like, sorry, it stinks, but those are your guys and this is an all time record, a record that would never be broken. Everyone said this record won't even be touched. And, and you guys are upset. Your announcers aren't going to call it like it's not the end of the world. And I get espn whoever figured out a way to get whatever game, he does it on a national broadcast.

Biz Nasty (73:28)

Yeah, I also think that they're still going to have the local broadcast doing the game where you can watch it locally. So you'd be able to get the call.

Ryan Whitney (73:36)

Sometimes it's blacked out and sometimes it's not.

Biz Nasty (73:38)

Yeah, it would, it would be, it would be blacked out, but you'd still eventually see the call by them because they're still going to be doing the actual game locally. It just so happens that they're flexing the games and it would be getting, it would be getting televised nationally. So majority of people would just see it being called by ESPN and. Or I guess tnt. We got them. I think we got him Wednesday against.

Ryan Whitney (74:01)

Well, for example, Biz though I don't think that's true though. Like I like yesterday, the Bruins game was not done by their announcers.

Biz Nasty (74:08)

I mean, I don't know. I'm pretty sure they could. I'm pretty sure that their local announcers could still call the game for their local broadcast. As it close, it closes up. That's I guess where I'm. You're saying that that's not going to happen. They're not going to work that game. It's just going to be the ESPN crew or the TNT crew.

Pasha (74:28)

I think that's the issue Biz is they're saying that they would flex that game from national and pull it off of the local broadcast. So like, no, regardless, you can't listen to their, their broadcasters.

Biz Nasty (74:39)

Oh, well, I guess I kind of disagree where they should probably be doing both. Like at least have them, even if it's just an in house feed, like have them do it so, so their fans can kind of like, I don't know, watch it online or so I, I mean maybe not something like as a, as a, as a casual fan I would be upset about, but if I'm a hardcore Capitals fan who's been following over his career from the beginning, I guess maybe that's why you'd get a little bit poopy pants that that.

Keith Yandle (75:07)

Guy'S announced every single one of his goals and doesn't get to do the. Yeah, the record break one. I, I agree with you that it needs to be obviously on national broadcast. But yeah, I, I agree also with the. Those guys deserve a chance to call it as well.

Ryan Whitney (75:23)

And we've been told Biz, correct me if I'm wrong, Gretzky, once OV's five away from, from breaking, he will be following him around.

Biz Nasty (75:32)

Yeah, him and Gary are doubling up. They're going to be rooming together on the road. No, they had the bunk beds and everything. Really awesome filming the whole experience.

Ryan Whitney (75:41)

Wayne gets caught.

Biz Nasty (75:42)

Yeah. Could you imagine just them sitting next to each other at a king size, kind of like me and Yan's used to do.

Keith Yandle (75:52)

You asleep yet?

Ryan Whitney (75:54)

No. What do you want to talk about, Biz Wayno, as a Canadian, the only Canadian on this show.

Biz Nasty (76:02)

Yeah.

Ryan Whitney (76:03)

He's taking a lot of heat.

Biz Nasty (76:05)

Yeah.

Ryan Whitney (76:05)

And I didn't know if you wanted to mention.

Biz Nasty (76:07)

Yeah, I wanted to talk about it just because like I. It's been going on for like, like a little over a week now where it's been pretty aggressive online. And guys, obviously there's been a lot going on lately in the politics world. We don't talk about politics on the show. We kind of, I mean, I know we referenced it with the four nations because we couldn't really avoid it with the booing of the anthems. I'm not going to get into the weeds on politics. Obviously as a Canadian, I'm not happy about the tariffs or the 51st state comments because I just feel like we've as Canadian and Americans been friends for so long and we've worked together in, in order to be successful. And as human, as, like, citizens and for humanity. And, you know, I just, like, think it's ridiculous that people online are questioning Wayne's loyalty to Canada and how much he loves his country. I think it's ridiculous. I know a lot of you are not happy about the fact that he's friends with Donald Trump. I just simply don't care. I'm here to defend my friend and say that he loves Canada more than anything. Any time I mention that I'm going to Edmonton or I'm doing an interview for this, he just reminds me, oh, I tell people I love the people of Edmonton. I. He loves Canada. This is the guy at the 2010 Olympics who lit the torch. And it's just ridiculous to me. I don't want to be long winded about it because I know that people are going to try to use everything I say politically against me and come at me online, too. I just think it's ridiculous. Yan's, you know him, I see you wearing the 99 hat. His family loves Canada. Like, like, he. When you think of Canada and you think of the, the people that represent it and the most famous Canadians, Wayne Gretzky is one of the first names that come to mind. And every second that I've spent with him, all I've seen him is pour out so much love and support for his country. He loves going back there. And, and I just, I, I think it's ridiculous and, and sometimes I'm not the best talking about these types of situations, but I just want to show love and support for my friend right now. And I think that, you know, Subaru, Twitter's just been going fucking nuts on him and I think it's ridiculous. And people, oh, he came out through the USA bench at the Four nations, and he wasn't wearing his, his pin when he, when he was sworn into Canada. It's just like, it's ridiculous the shit that's being said online. And Yanz, I don't know if you want to say anything or you did whit, but it's just, it's crazy, man. It's fucking crazy.

Ryan Whitney (78:44)

I will say quickly, Yance, if, if you told me years ago that there'd be Canadians out there that hate Wayne Gretzky and Bobby Orr. I told you, you're the craziest motherfucker I've ever heard. Bobby Orr and Wayne Gretzky, two legendary Canadian people, and you hate them because they're friends with the president of another country. Now I understand. There's been so much that's gone into it and the comments and what you said, biz and the tariffs, it's Wayne Gretzky and Bobby Orr. These guys would do anything for their country. They love their country. And just what it's turned into for both of these legendary players and people, it's crazy to me. It's just wild to me. And I really hope it's the silent majority and that if you talk to most Canadians, they wouldn't agree with all the shit I'm seeing and reading, but it is wild to see. Wild.

Keith Yandle (79:42)

There's two things I don't. I don't. I know nothing about politics and I know nothing about Twitter. So I've kind of been, you know, not seeing as much as maybe people on Twitter. But Wayne Gretzky is involved all time human being. It's Wayne Gretzky. He cares about his country, he cares about his friends, he cares about the game of hockey. It honestly, the fact that stuff like this is happening to him, it makes me sad that there's people in the world that think that because he has done absolutely nothing wrong, it's unfair to him for what he's done for your country. You know, whether it's hockey or giving back. Like, you know, his house growing up is a museum. He has companies up there. It's just, it's sad to me to think that there, there's people out there that would, that would try to hurt somebody that, you know, hasn't done anything wrong and that, you know, in his whole life, he has done nothing but be proud to be a Canadian and been a good friend. And I had him as a coach and I've got to know him as a friend. And there is not a guy in the world that just would do of his stature who he is. He cares about the lesser, he cares about us. He cares about, you know, the people working at the rink, the people working at the golf course. And it's, it really, it's sad to me to think that there's people out there that want to, like, see him hurting. Because at the end of the day, like, he's, he's hurting from this, I would imagine. Like, there's no one, it wants to hear that their country's turning on him. Even if it's a tiny, tiny majority of people, like the fact that there's anyone out there that doesn't, you know, think that his, his, his alliances with Canada and his country. And it truly, it's sad and it's heartbreaking to me and I hope this all kind of blows over because how good of a guy Wayne is and you know, what he's given to the sport and in both countries with the hockey that he's, the enjoyment that he's brought to both countries and growing the game, it's just sad to think.

Biz Nasty (81:44)

And nobody's saying, like anybody listening, nobody's saying that you don't have a right to be frustrated or disgusted with a decision that Donald Trump has made. You're just directing it at the wrong person right now. And that's what we're saying. This man loves his country. It's all he cares about, our people and his country. And I just, I'm, I just wanted to speak up for a friend. So I don't think we need to be any more long winded about this. I'm sure we're going to get tons of messages, but to all of our Canadian supporters and if you're being affected by these tariffs and, and, and you are really sensitive to the 51st state comments, I agree with you. I don't like them either. And I'm really sorry for, for, for what you are personally going through or how you feel about it, that, that doesn't need to change. And we're okay with you being frustrated with that. It's just the, the, the directed hate towards one of the greatest Canadians to ever exist is just being completely misplaced. So thank you guys for letting us talk on this. And if we frustrated some of you and some of you don't want to listen to our podcast anymore, that's fine. That's your right. But our right is to defend our friend and let you know how we feel about the situation, too.

Ryan Whitney (82:57)

And speaking of Canada, when we were up there a couple weeks ago, we sat down with Max Talbot, former teammate of myself and Biz. Great guy. I didn't realize we hadn't talked to him in like five, six years almost. And this guy is full of energy. He's full of passion for life. We had a great sit down. I hope everyone enjoys this. So without further ado, Maxime Talbot. Guys, it's Whit here. And before we go any further, I need to talk to you about Roe. Let's talk about RO Sparks, a two in one prescription treatment for stronger, harder erections. That's right. I think Biz should be doing this read, but Rose sparks dissolve under your tongue, meaning they hit your bloodstream faster than pills, so you can get ready for action quicker. Once the medication dissolves, they work in about 15 minutes on average, giving you the boost you need for thicker, longer erections. That's right. Thicker, longer erections. My wife will be loving it and helping you last longer for more fun for both you and your lover. Plus, Rosparks stay active in your system for up to 36 hours. That means you can be ready to go round after round or even the morning after. And no need for awkward in person doctor visits. RO connects you with a medical provider 100% online and if prescribed, your treatment ships right to your door. I never thought I'd be saying it, but longer, thicker, harder erections. Rosemax baby. If prescribed new sexual health patients get 15 off sparks on a recurring plan. Connect with a provider at RO Co Chiclets to find out if prescription rose sparks are right for you. That's Ro Do Co Chiclets Ro Co. For $15 off your first order. And longer, thicker, harder erections. Who doesn't like that? I'm here now to talk to you about Orgain. Being healthy is a big part of my life, but I'm not hardcore about it. You could tell if you've seen my body. But I want to incorporate better habits into my life like getting more protein in my diet. And our next sponsor makes it so easy to do just that. This podcast is sponsored by Orgain. Orgain believes real nutrition has the power to make a real difference in people's lives or Gain's new 30 gram complete protein shakes offer protein packed real nutrition designed to satisfy your cravings without any added sugar. Plus they are an excellent source of premium ultra filtered protein with all nine essential amino acids. Are you looking to fuel your personal best? Do you need muscle support and recovery or are you just looking to maintain a healthy lifestyle or gains 30 gram protein shakes? Check all of the boxes. Are you busy? Me too. That's why Orgain is simple. You literally just grab one of organ's protein shakes and go bring it to a workout. Bring it in the car wherever you need it. No more time consuming prep to get the protein you need. No more getting the blender out and having to clean it after. Nope, you just grab an organ for the go for the ride and boom, you're gone on. I love organ because it tastes phenomenal. You would think with the nine amino acids that you need in this ultra filtered protein that it may not taste good. It tastes phenomenal. I love chocolate. I love vanilla. I could even mix them up. I might do that. Maybe a chocolate vanilla organ. That would be homemade of course, but it tastes phenomenal. It's amazing for you and it's so easy to grab and drink on the Road. Remember, there are no quick fixes when it comes to your health.

Max Talbot (86:24)

Health.

Ryan Whitney (86:24)

If you want more protein, give or game, 30 gram protein shakes a try. Head over to orgain.com chiclets and use code chicklets for 30% off your order. That's O R-G-A-I-N.com Chiclets with the code Chiclets for 30% off. That's the best offer you'll find, but you'll have to use code Chiclets one last time. 30 off. Head over to orgain.com Chiclets and use code Chiclets. What an absolute pleasure this is. We're in Montreal, the home of our guest, our friend, Stanley cup champion, game zero, game seven hero, Maxime Talbot. What's going on, buddy?

Paul Bissonnette (87:06)

What's up? I love the accent, Maxime.

Ryan Whitney (87:09)

Well, biz had a good, he had a little friend last night. I said, oh, that's French I see. But what a, what a pleasure about it.

Paul Bissonnette (87:20)

Thank.

Biz Nasty (87:21)

We're going to move over to you the, the professional chauffeur now.

Ryan Whitney (87:25)

Well, but buddy, what's going on? You're, you're, you're living here. We were just talking about all your kids, all how busy you've been. But you're covering hockey here. You're covering hockey for the Penguins. How's everything going?

Paul Bissonnette (87:35)

Busy. It's good, it's good. You want to be busy? You know, I've been done for five years and you want to, you, you want to get into stuff that you love that's going to wake you up in the morning and start two drinks company. I'm coaching my two oldest kids in hockey. Do media here in Montreal. Cover the habs, do some Habs game. Do some TV for the Pens this year too. So it's, you know, daddy duty plus the, the job. So it's busy.

Biz Nasty (87:58)

When your kids were a little bit younger, that's when you were doing a little bit of coaching as an assistant in San Diego. Right. So, so you kind of been doing a little bit of everything since you retired and just trying to find what makes you happiest.

Paul Bissonnette (88:09)

Yeah, that was, that was my goal, basically. I, I always tell my wife, like I have a tool belt like around, you know, and you want to put, put a couple tools around there to be able to do some other stuff. Right. So I tried coaching and I knew that was gonna come eventually in my life, that I was going to be interested in coaching. And it was early enough that the kids were young enough to travel to San Diego and change School and everything. But I wanted to try it and I tried in a perfect situation with Joel Bouchard, a buddy of mine. He called me up and you go to a nice city too. Like, I don't. I'm not sure I would have went to like, you know, different places in. In Bingo. Yeah. To start, because it was a tryout I wanted. But then I realized quickly that, you know, I'm a family man. You know, like, it's. It's. It's hard ending. It's hard. It's. And even I was trying to envision for myself as an ex player, you have to be very, very, very passionate about hockey to coach. I am. Which I am. But like, I love going to ring, but I felt like I missed so many good moments with the kids. It was busy and sometimes I was in the coaching office. I was loving my job, but I was like my. My wife would send me pictures of like my son throwing the football to himself basically and going to catch. I'm like, I should be there. Right? So. So that, that was the hard thing about it. But I. I loved coaching, but maybe.

Ryan Whitney (89:20)

When the kids will and the video, tough. The video stuff for me, I'm like, oh, those guys are grinding watching videos.

Paul Bissonnette (89:27)

Yeah, it's a lot of job. But I feel like even as the first year I went there, I was like, my ears open, my eyes open, trying to learn from Joel and. And Danielle Jacob, which is the assistant coach of the Rockets this year. Amazing coach. I was trying to learn, but at the same time I feel like if I would do it differently, like being closer to the players and bring my person into it. The first year was like, there's a lot of stuff to learn, like just working and doing PowerPoints. Like I never done that, you know?

Ryan Whitney (89:51)

Yeah. Even like the, the computer stuff, presentations out of present.

Biz Nasty (89:55)

Would you get nervous talking in front of the players a little bit?

Paul Bissonnette (89:57)

Not so much. It was more all the technicalities behind it that my message was going through. To start, you know, it's something new. Like we, we all talk a hockey. All a career playing hockey, but once you have to explain it to somebody else with a video and like your own PowerPoint. So I was on my computer a lot and at one point it got like, hey, my kids need me. And so it's, it's. It's unpause for now. Yeah.

Pasha (90:18)

My thing with coaching is you don't realize how much travel. You're a player again.

Biz Nasty (90:22)

Yeah.

Pasha (90:22)

One traveling during the season, but your job only gonna last two or three Years. And then you're gonna have to move the family again.

Ryan Whitney (90:27)

I know.

Pasha (90:27)

Fired. Or when you start in the minors, you're trying to move up, so you're gonna get moved up again.

Paul Bissonnette (90:32)

Yeah.

Pasha (90:32)

So it is tough when you have kids.

Biz Nasty (90:34)

Was that, Was that part of your goal? Sorry to interrupt you. Was it part of your goal to try to move up to the NHL as a coach?

Paul Bissonnette (90:40)

That's almost why I kind of resigned. It was like I was trying to envision myself. What's the end goal with this? Okay. Coach in the NHL, to start, obviously, assistant coach. And I would see myself lifting the cup as an assistant coach. And I was like, I wanted this. A player. And aia, you know, I drew blood, and it was my cup. And I remember, like, Yozy and all the, the other assistant coach. I was very proud for them and happy for them. Right. But once you win as a player, I was like, okay, I live the cup, middle of the ice. I did the power play, whatever, but it's not my cup in some way, in some sense. So it was not to me. The end goal was not like, I'm gonna do all those sacrifices. And the supreme extreme goal is to lift the cup. I've won it as a player.

Pasha (91:25)

Yeah, you did another little flex here.

Biz Nasty (91:30)

You literally won the cup, whereas.

Ryan Whitney (91:33)

Yeah, I know. No, literally two. One game. I had both goals, but I. Whereas you're saying, like, I could see players that maybe never got it. All right. I'm gonna get it as a coach. I, I, I know what you're saying. I know what you're saying.

Paul Bissonnette (91:45)

You're like, you're, you see the end goal, and it's like, it doesn't bring that, that butterflies in you.

Ryan Whitney (91:50)

Yeah.

Paul Bissonnette (91:51)

But I loved all about development and talking to guys and getting them better. That that's what I, I live for, basically, having relationships. So it was very good. And that's off to all the coaches out there.

Ryan Whitney (92:01)

Man.

Paul Bissonnette (92:01)

You realize how much job it is, how much passionate you need to be. And so I, I mean, I have so much more respects for the coach now that I've touched it. Yeah.

Ryan Whitney (92:08)

Yeah. And the job security thing, God, it's just so stressful.

Paul Bissonnette (92:11)

Yeah.

Biz Nasty (92:11)

This is salt. But, man, does he ever seem so much more mature than when we all played together and you guys do.

Ryan Whitney (92:21)

We all better seem a little bit more mature? We're out of our minds for a while.

Pasha (92:25)

This guy, I was roommates with this guy, and then we both made a team in Pittsburgh together. We're living at that Marriott hotel every. Nobody Else around, just us two clowns going out all the time. This guy would fall asleep in the elevator, and I would have to take it. He owes me his whole. He should give me one of his rings. I drag him by the foot down the hallway, open his door for him, put him in bed, tuck him in.

Ryan Whitney (92:48)

Old school. NHL man. Doesn't happen now.

Paul Bissonnette (92:51)

I used to do business laundry when he was getting called up in Pittsburgh. Sometimes, you know, sleep on my couch and pit and everything.

Biz Nasty (92:58)

No, I'd be sleeping in your hot tub on your roof. What was this?

Ryan Whitney (93:01)

Oh, that house was unbelievable. Oh, on Carson Street.

Biz Nasty (93:05)

I hate to call it a palace, but at the time, I think you were. You were single. And it was the ultimate.

Ryan Whitney (93:11)

It was. It was the most. It was the most beautiful house in an area where there really weren't beautiful houses.

Paul Bissonnette (93:16)

It was risky. My agent saying, like, Max, this is like a nice house and like a. In very average neighborhood. How are you going to keep the value? I was like, I don't know, but I'll have fun in it. It's going to be worth it.

Ryan Whitney (93:28)

You built that place?

Paul Bissonnette (93:28)

No, it was there.

Ryan Whitney (93:29)

Oh, it was there. Okay.

Biz Nasty (93:30)

Definitely out of the hot tub, though.

Paul Bissonnette (93:32)

It was right beyond Mario. I built the hot tub. I got. Put a crane there and.

Ryan Whitney (93:36)

Yeah, right across from Diesel, next to Mario's. What fun days. We were just chatting before you came in, too. Like, you've been so close with Sid. Pat Besson, his agent was your agent. So you just mentioned you had lunch. So, like, how about the fact he's still doing it? I. I made a video the other night saying, like, if there's still one game you need to win, it's still him.

Paul Bissonnette (93:56)

You're taken. Yeah. I would take him before McDavid and McKinnon, how fast and good they are, but he's the guy. I was worried. I was doing the game in Pittsburgh last week when he got hurt. Oh, I was, like, thinking about that, you know, like. And for me, the commitment that he has, that he wanted to be here and everything, it's. It's inspirational. You see Mario with him at the start of the game, at the end of the game, like. Like, it was such a.

Ryan Whitney (94:18)

Can't name.

Paul Bissonnette (94:19)

Yeah. And that was, like, that why I was so excited to this tournament, because it is. The stories are amazing. We're two games in, and the stories are already, like. It's exciting for hockey, and Sid is still the middle of it, and it's crazy. It's great. Sometimes I. I'm in Pittsburgh and I I see fans and sometimes the upper bowl is not full anymore or stuff like that. They're losing more. But I'm like. The first thing that comes to my mind is don't. Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happens. And it's still. He's still there and Malkin's still there in Latang. And it's such a good story. Just appreciate every time he's gonna touch the ice until he's done.

Ryan Whitney (94:54)

Yeah. Because it's gonna end. Yeah, exactly. That's a good way to look at it.

Biz Nasty (94:58)

And I know he's, you know, from Halifax and. But he. I felt because he played in the queue, he gravitated more towards the. The Quebec League guys like you and Flower. So you really bonded with him from early start in Pittsburgh.

Paul Bissonnette (95:10)

Oh, I met him. He was 13. I was at the. My agent was Pat Brisson. And Pat always brings all these prospect to LA for a camp in the. In July. And that's like a big. Before your draft and everything. When Sid was 13, and so he got invited. He was already signed by Pat. So I remember sit at 13, going like. He was going around chilios and stuff like that. She also was slashing him because he was pissed. Top of his game. This 13 years old come in and he's going around, you know, Kelly and he's like, you know, Shelly slashing him. So it. You could already tell and see. And, you know, after that, played world juniors with him and competed against him for two years in the queue. And when he. He obviously won the lottery in Pittsburgh, I was like, this is. This is. It's a spot less for me.

Ryan Whitney (95:52)

I don't know.

Pasha (95:54)

I was so pissed when they won the lottery. I'm like, God damn it.

Biz Nasty (95:56)

Yeah, one last spot.

Ryan Whitney (95:57)

Yeah. Then they're gonna bring in everyone too.

Pasha (95:59)

Yeah, I want to go back that too. Like Crosby, like, you were a big leader too.

Ryan Whitney (96:03)

You.

Pasha (96:03)

You won the Memorial Cups. But my thing I always talk about. I met Sid the first time. He's 18 years old. I'm 25. 26.

Biz Nasty (96:10)

6.

Pasha (96:10)

His leadership was. It was right away. It was something I'd never been around. Did you feel the same way?

Paul Bissonnette (96:15)

Oh, for sure. I mean, if you look at his season at 18 years old, right. You won't. You got 100 and something.

Ryan Whitney (96:20)

102.

Paul Bissonnette (96:21)

102 points. And we were in a. It was the. Not the start of rebuild, but we had a very old team, right. We had like Lionel the line, Ricky LeClaire. They were all there. And Mario and Edzo was the coach and it was kind of like it was old time hockey, right? We would have a lot of drinks and you know, after practice.

Ryan Whitney (96:38)

Oh my God.

Paul Bissonnette (96:40)

Mandatory drinks after every practice with od playing like that, that golf, you know.

Biz Nasty (96:45)

You golden te.

Paul Bissonnette (96:46)

Yeah, golden te. Right.

Biz Nasty (96:48)

The missing finger.

Paul Bissonnette (96:49)

Yeah, go like this.

Ryan Whitney (96:51)

And he would shoot 26 under too. Well, he took 10 grand for me.

Paul Bissonnette (96:55)

Playing that game, so. But, but Sid already have like memories of Sid kind of arguing, going at it with Rex on the bench like he was 18 years old. And I remember we'd go out a lot after games and. And sometimes I'd come back with Sid and it's like Sid would say, like, that's not how it should be. That's now I envision, you know, the NHL. And then, you know, Ezo got fired, Kirk Patrick got fired. He brought, you know, Shiro and that's when, the year after that we got all the young guys in the team and it became to build the future of the Penguins. But that was all Sid's leadership. You know, he was talking about winning.

Pasha (97:29)

Cups at those pre game meals when we're last in the league. He's like, we're going to stick together. We're going to start winning Cups. I'll never forget it. It was amazing. Now he's still here, the best player.

Paul Bissonnette (97:39)

Just look at what he did this week. Like, you know, they played the big game against Sweden and then the next days there's an optional and these gives me goosebumps with McKinnon. It's like, yeah, dude. And to me as a player, that was so frustrating. When we played in pit, you had to skate. You had to skate every optional practice. You know, I played 12 minutes. I'm tired because I had drinks the night before. There's an optional on Sunday and Sid is on the ice and you like, he played 20, 22 and he's going hard and he's on and you're like, crap, I gotta skate.

Ryan Whitney (98:06)

I remember coming into the igloo and like optional day and like I'd see him get, get his gear on. I'm like, no, no.

Biz Nasty (98:13)

That old ass.

Ryan Whitney (98:15)

I'd walk it. Yes. Jock was from when he was 8 years old. Dana's stitching the thing together. Oh my God. Yeah, it's crazy.

Biz Nasty (98:22)

What were some of the weirdest superstitions you see? You've seen him have.

Paul Bissonnette (98:26)

Oh, Sid.

Ryan Whitney (98:27)

Remember throwing the trash away?

Devils Fan (98:28)

Yeah.

Ryan Whitney (98:29)

And he had to hit it and all of a sudden it'd be like 20. You're like, we're not leaving until this kid hits the. Hits his shot.

Paul Bissonnette (98:34)

No, no, he could. He could. You know, to me, it was not so much a superstition, but with Flower and going like drills, normal drills, like flow drills, and he would not stop until he scored on Flower. It's like, you know, Bosno was with the whistle, waiting for them to. But it's a flow driller wouldn't.

Biz Nasty (98:52)

He was never out of it, too. He'd be diving across, hitting it with.

Paul Bissonnette (98:55)

His pack battle beating so hard. And it's to me, like, I was talking to my son on the couch yesterday, watching, you know, some clips of. Some highlights of the game, and I was like, look at how hard he works and how, you know, he talks about his teammate and how unselfish he is, and he gives credit to everybody else, and that's why he's there. He's so special.

Ryan Whitney (99:17)

Yeah, it's. It's. It's. It's how humble he is.

Paul Bissonnette (99:19)

Yes.

Ryan Whitney (99:19)

And I. And I. I think, like, we talk about it all the time, all the people we've interviewed that played with him, but that's the stuff that, like, I remember is, like, the humility and the lack of ego. And it goes so far with teammates. You're just like, oh, my God, this guy has the right to be the biggest asshole. Rude. And he just never was like, waiters, anyone. He just treated with the utmost respect.

Paul Bissonnette (99:41)

So just like Mario. He had Mario as a, you know, mentor in some way. He lived, like, what, 15 years at his house.

Ryan Whitney (99:47)

They were, like, circumventing the cap. At one point, I think the league was getting involved, but, like, it's like.

Paul Bissonnette (99:53)

You got Mario as a mentor. Like, you're gonna end up okay.

Ryan Whitney (99:56)

Yeah.

Biz Nasty (99:56)

You know, like, did you see his wink the other night? Mario, Is he the best winker in the world?

Paul Bissonnette (100:01)

Well, him and Patrick Waugh with his famous wink.

Biz Nasty (100:03)

Yeah, we were talking about him.

Paul Bissonnette (100:05)

But, like, you look at Mario, it's the same thing as the presence to me. It's the aura. It's the how he presents himself. It's class. It's like, it's such good ambassadors for hockey.

Biz Nasty (100:15)

It's been since 2019, we've had you on, and I always like getting guys on who had very resilient careers. And. And I believe that you were not drafted to major junior, correct?

Paul Bissonnette (100:26)

No, I was. You were first rounder, dude.

Biz Nasty (100:29)

Okay?

Ryan Whitney (100:29)

You were.

Paul Bissonnette (100:29)

You were.

Biz Nasty (100:30)

I know you were in eighth round. Okay? Yeah, but, I mean, it didn't start out as smooth, but you ended up having an unreal junior career. And I believe that your jersey was eventually retired from the Hall. Olympics, right?

Paul Bissonnette (100:42)

Yeah, Olympics. My major triple A team. And this year I got inducted in the lhq, like the QMJHL hall of Fame, which was for me, I was. I was looking back at 20, 24, like with my kids and we did, you know, resolution and the. In French we call it Bella. Like looking back of the year, what. You know, we did good and everything. And to me that. That was I think the proudest have been in a while being, you know, hall of famer of the queue. Like it was big and. And had a chance to make a speech and kind of look back on your career and thank everybody to help you to. To achieve your dream. And it was super cool. So. Yeah, it was. But it was not an easy and automatic career. Obviously being an eight rounder, like seven. Like there's seven rounds anymore.

Ryan Whitney (101:24)

Yeah, you wouldn't even drafted now. That's crazy. We've talked a lot about Tarian and actually we kind of got a little hook into maybe interviewing him, which would be unbelievable.

Paul Bissonnette (101:33)

I had him on my show in Pittsburgh two weeks ago. He was great. He was my first guest when I knew I was gonna do like an obstructed view, like, you know, you can talk to. I was like, I gotta get Michelle. And the anniversary. Sorry to cut you off.

Ryan Whitney (101:46)

No, no, no, no, no.

Biz Nasty (101:46)

I love Buddy.

Paul Bissonnette (101:47)

The anniversary of his famous rant. It's been 19 years in January. Something.

Biz Nasty (101:52)

Yeah, we posted it on our.

Paul Bissonnette (101:53)

Yeah, we posted 5 foot 8, whatever, like. But we talked about it. We started the show with that and you know, he always had a plan. And I know you guys as much as, you know, it was tough on.

Biz Nasty (102:03)

Us, you know, like, I love them.

Ryan Whitney (102:05)

I mean, every year that goes by like that's what I was gonna say is that, you know, I kind of appreciate it more. And I think he. He was an unreal coach. And the way he did things. Yeah. While playing, it was hard. But you look back and older, you're like, there was a reason for sport. And the reason I started asking the question was like he came in that year, our rookie year. You'd made the team with. With Edzo. And then he's fired and Michelle comes in. You got to think maybe your career isn't the same had he not been your coach.

Paul Bissonnette (102:33)

Yeah, I agree.

Ryan Whitney (102:34)

I got very hard on you.

Paul Bissonnette (102:36)

He was hard. But the. The first move. And we talked about that too. The first mood, the move he made when he got the job in December. Me and Johnny Claire had red jersey. I was on the third line at the time. And me and John Leclerc was on the fifth line the morning he got. Got the job. And he got me after practice like, Max, I'm sending you down. And I like, I, we had a great season the prior year. I'm like, this, this coach gonna love me. He loves me in minors. Like, it's gonna be great for my career. First movie makes is sending me down. I'm like, the, like, Mike, you know, he's like, go down. I heard rumors about you. You're having a little bit too much fun in the NHL and go, go become a professional down there and show me that you want to be called back up. And I think they sent me down for, for four or five games. I got the call back up.

Ryan Whitney (103:19)

It'll wake up though.

Biz Nasty (103:20)

I remember that. I think I was on the team and Nazardine was there as well.

Paul Bissonnette (103:24)

Exactly.

Biz Nasty (103:25)

You came down and you were, you were awesome. You were professional. You played your balls off and then right back.

Paul Bissonnette (103:30)

But that wasn't. Ask him like, why. And I knew the answer, but it was like, you know, I wanted you to have a long lasting career, not just be like, you know, a guy that likes to have fun and, you know, so it was a lesson. And it ended up like, you mean like you said, it's like I had the chance to have good coaches, but at the same time you have to take your spot. Like I'm looking at Emil Einemel this year and the, the Montreal Canadiens. He made the team out of camp. It was not like a sure guy. But then he took his Chair Like Martin St. Louis said, you know, he took his spot and nobody in the minors could take it away, you know, I mean, and that's kind of what when you play with like urgency to, to keep your spot every night. I was the third, fourth line every night, night. But I knew that they were better player than me in the HL and.

Ryan Whitney (104:15)

They were hunting after your job.

Paul Bissonnette (104:16)

Yeah, but. And that's an 11 year thing. It's not like, hey, okay, even though you win the cup, oh, I'm comfortable at a contract. Crap.

Ryan Whitney (104:24)

Yeah.

Paul Bissonnette (104:25)

One week of off hockey, there's someone coming for you. So you know, the, the way that I, I say that you made. I made myself indispensable every night in a way where if it's not by playing good because I don't feel it for a week or two, it's about going to fight. Playing with the music, taking the guys out, organizing party around the team. And that's part of the whole social. Is part of, you know, being a hockey player. I think intangibles.

Pasha (104:49)

You had intangibles. I remember we would do it together. But I always remember the one time in Wilkes Barre, you were working the red line during the playoff series. Pitchfork and McGrath, guys, twice the size of you. But I remember seeing that, and I'm like, well, if this guy's not afraid of McGrath and I'm not, and we end up, like, winning that series. But, like, you would do little stuff like that, and. And that's why you. You won the Stanley cup.

Paul Bissonnette (105:10)

And that's why I wouldn't like my son to do that.

Ryan Whitney (105:12)

But, you know, like, put it in kids. Like, I don't. I. It's actually a question for you. Like, you see kids that are crazy when they're little and, like, you hear the term, like, it's a lot easier to put out a fire than it is to start one. Did you always have that, or was that put in you? You know, I feel.

Paul Bissonnette (105:27)

I was kind of. I wanted it so bad. I was.

Ryan Whitney (105:30)

Yeah.

Paul Bissonnette (105:31)

You know, I was looking for. Not a way out, because I was not in any kind of. You know, but I. It was so, like, yeah, I wanted to make a difference. I wanted to be the guy. It was. Maybe I had something to prove, but it's all. But it's. It's a good character trait, I feel, to, you know, you. You want to be there. It's not. It's not. It has to be deserved. I was not entitled. I was like, crap, I gotta work for it. But you're talking about young kids. You know, in French, we say the same thing. You know, rather, you know, hold a wild horse than push a donkey, right? That's the same kind of illusion.

Ryan Whitney (106:02)

You say, love that.

Paul Bissonnette (106:03)

And my son is the. He's exactly like that, man. He can't wait. He's 10 years old. He can't wait to hit, and he. He takes one or two penalties per game. And I'm the coach, and I'm like, dude, stop being on this.

Ryan Whitney (106:13)

You don't hate it deep down, but.

Paul Bissonnette (106:14)

I'm like, if he was not my son, I'd be like, yeah, we need bread now. He's my son. He's taking penalties. And so you have to have the intelligence, okay? Like, hold on. There's. Ref there. There's everything. And you're. You're not helping the team by being in the box. But. But it's. It's. It's a. It's good that he has it.

Biz Nasty (106:32)

This, the saying is, is you'd rather hold back a wild horse than push a donkey.

Paul Bissonnette (106:36)

That's. I like that. I like that.

Biz Nasty (106:38)

I'm gonna get that tattooed on my neck.

Paul Bissonnette (106:44)

Tonight.

Biz Nasty (106:44)

We're buckled.

Pasha (106:45)

Biz used the same one on St. Catherine's last night.

Biz Nasty (106:48)

For sakes.

Paul Bissonnette (106:49)

He was a wild horse. No donkeys on St. Catherine.

Biz Nasty (106:54)

Where did that come from? Like, when was that instilled in you? Like from an. An early age. Did you just always have that? Because you do have a few brothers, right?

Paul Bissonnette (107:00)

Yeah. Maybe to being the youngest of two older brothers that, you know, we. We were. My dad would work on the road too, so my mom had the hands.

Ryan Whitney (107:07)

Full back, you know, with three towel.

Paul Bissonnette (107:09)

But yeah, Jesus, we were wild and we were, you know, I remember being on like a highway on my bike at 9 years old, like going to see my cousins, you know, like there was not a lot of rules in the house. Our dad for not forced us. But Anchorage very strongly to, you know, being paper boys at like 9 years old for I did it for 3, 5 years. Waking up at 5:30 to do the paper. So it was all about work. My dad was the hardest working man I know. And so there was never lessons in words in a way where, you know, like I find myself as a dad always trying to bring quotes and, you know, inspirational stuff and I have to adhd and I like that. Come on. You know, like, so my dad was more about, you know, know, the way the lessons were made by watching him and, you know, working it so hard for his family to be able to pay for. For the equipment and everything because we're not wealthy. So like I said, maybe being desperate to actually make my place in the world. I don't know.

Ryan Whitney (108:04)

When I think of Mark Andre Fleury in my time with him, I kind of think of you right away like it was you two. It was the Talbot and Flurry hanging out and the fact that he's still doing it too. And I know how close you guys are. I saw you was it the last game here in Montreal and then I saw you somewhere else. He recently did something big. But talk about your friendship with him, what he means to you. And another guy who like, truly is everyone's favorite teammate with his sense of humor and, and his passion too.

Paul Bissonnette (108:30)

It's nuts it. What he's been able to do. Like I remember having conversation maybe four or five summers ago. He was still with Vegas and he was asking me about like, Max, what do you do? How did you do to stop playing like what. What do you plan? So he was trying to plan is. Is because he was hurt too and that problem was a hip I think like. And we're looking back like. And he's still doing it. Meaning like he's not ready yet.

Ryan Whitney (108:51)

I still want him to play one year. I'm like, I don't want this to be last game in Montreal and he.

Paul Bissonnette (108:56)

Could third string goal.

Ryan Whitney (108:57)

I know we said that on the.

Paul Bissonnette (108:58)

Show, you know, like he should have been there but you know, I skate on him with him every August right before he leaves for Minnesota. And I bring my son on the ice and we're four or five shooters. Bovillier guy from Sorel and Bruno Gervais comes and we shoot on him. He rents ice. The ice like during school hockey camp, you know, in a normal public ice rink and there's like 100 kids in the stands. And I always say like. So he still half gear, you know. And he signs autograph like an hour after his two hour ice session. You know, that's how Flower is. And it's. It's amazing what he's meant for hockey. And you look at the perfect. Why is he capable? Capable? To have such a long career for me is the fun that he brought every day to the ring.

Ryan Whitney (109:38)

I know that guy has. He loves the game.

Paul Bissonnette (109:40)

He loves just, just.

Ryan Whitney (109:41)

And the boys around.

Paul Bissonnette (109:42)

He loves the boys. He loves the game. Yes, I'm sure he loves to compete. He loves to around on the ice in any way, but he loves to, you know, just the boys and like that, that.

Ryan Whitney (109:52)

Those saves he made in the game in Montreal and then they went down to make it three. Nothing. Like I forget who he robbed. And. And then they show him after and he's smiling. It's like this. It's. It's been 21 years and he's doing the same thing.

Paul Bissonnette (110:03)

It's nuts. It's nuts. And he was. It was 100 people for him after the game. And I was in the room with my two kids because Billy G. Is the gm. So as soon as has seen me in the stands like Max, Max. So I'm in a room and this guy's showering up and he's like. He's covering my eyes, daughter, my eyes, my daughter's eyes. He's like, hey, don't go there. So you know, Billy is, is obviously the best. So with Flower and I think that it's. It's a very good. We had dinner actually because I. I saw this game. Sorry, I'm Changing subject. But I saw this game in Montreal and I was at his last game in Pittsburgh too. This year I was doing the game. So it's two special moments. And he had the first star in Pittsburgh also, which is freaking amazing. The night before that game, we. We had dinner. Me, Billy G. Saw a player with his gm, which is kind of funny to have dinner the night before a game. Sid army was there and Latang, so. And we went to a small restaurant.

Ryan Whitney (110:56)

Army was the only guy without a cup.

Biz Nasty (110:59)

Yeah, he's got a chicken. That's about it.

Pasha (111:02)

He didn't even win that.

Paul Bissonnette (111:03)

Yeah, win it. Oh, sorry.

Ryan Whitney (111:06)

Win that.

Biz Nasty (111:06)

Ricochet shots.

Paul Bissonnette (111:07)

Sorry, Army. But we, we had, you know, we had a bottle of wine and we chat for a whole night and it was like if we're back in 2009, you know, like it was so special where we didn't want to leave, you know, guys. But at the end we're waiting for the cars and we're like taking pictures like. Like kids, you know, like these type of nights where you're like way back and it's like all the stories about this outside and everything and it was. It was amazing. So Flower is just to me is like the perfect acuplant player that like. When hockey's fun for you, if I can say that for the young kids, if hockey's fun for you, when you have adversity, that's when. That's what I gonna keep you going.

Biz Nasty (111:43)

Yeah.

Paul Bissonnette (111:44)

If hockey is forced on you or you're just like mentally want to do so good, or your parents put me through hockey too young and too much. When he gets hired, you're gonna shut it.

Biz Nasty (111:53)

What a storybook career he's had too. And I think that last year, like people weren't sure if it was going to be his last year. I don't think he played in Pittsburgh and Montreal.

Paul Bissonnette (112:01)

He played in Montreal start a year, but in Pittsburgh because he had the coach gave him the choice. If you have the choice between Pittsburgh, Montreal this year, which one you're going to take. And he took Montreal last year and this year he had a chance.

Biz Nasty (112:14)

Wow, that's unreal. Given the fact that you were so close. Did you get roped into any of these pranks with them or would he keep it hush hush from you too?

Paul Bissonnette (112:22)

Well, it's funny because in Pitt, the Pittsburgh practice in Cranberry now. But the, you know, the Wild was practicing in Pittsburgh and so the team was away. So they, they got me, Jen Balano, she asked me to do a Prank to Flower. Because they asked Flower, they were going to do a tribute to him. They asked him like, hey, what. What do you. He's like, I don't want it sad, I don't want it emotional. You know, he didn't want to crack as Montreal. Yeah, you do. You can see, right?

Ryan Whitney (112:47)

Yeah.

Paul Bissonnette (112:47)

So he's like, I want something light. So they got me to do a prank to him in the morning skate. So I taped, you know, the tape, his equipment, and fucked around with his shit. So they showed down a Jabotron first tribute. All the prank he did. So it was. It was light, but no Flower. I mean, there. There's. You know, why Flower got that? He was always like that. But he roomed with Mark Bergeman.

Biz Nasty (113:08)

Oh, my God.

Paul Bissonnette (113:09)

Year or so.

Ryan Whitney (113:10)

Oh, when? Before the lockup.

Paul Bissonnette (113:12)

Before the lockout, it was 19.

Ryan Whitney (113:14)

The yellow pad.

Biz Nasty (113:15)

I'll never forget my first training camp. He would come in between periods. He would get completely naked and go shower every period. I was like, how is this guy not exhausted? He was like the most wily veteran I'd ever.

Ryan Whitney (113:26)

King of the Prank. So that's cow power.

Paul Bissonnette (113:28)

So, yeah, I mean, Burge would bring, like, itching powder in his. Like, in his luggage to go on the road, you know, so he was always thinking ahead. So Flower kind of got that a little bit from him to start his career. But he was great. He goes all the way. He's pranked. Durham was probably the best one. We took the rims out of his truck when he got traded to Colorado.

Ryan Whitney (113:47)

Durham was the one who started it.

Paul Bissonnette (113:48)

Yeah, I know.

Ryan Whitney (113:48)

I think somebody with the cane, they were like, what are you doing? Yeah, wrong guy. Wrong guy to, like, army fighting now. It was like, kid's name.

Biz Nasty (113:57)

His house is on the back of a truck. They pull it from the ground, relocate.

Paul Bissonnette (114:02)

It happen.

Pasha (114:04)

Gavin Morgan.

Ryan Whitney (114:05)

Gavin Morgan. Yeah. Check the game notes.

Biz Nasty (114:07)

Going back to that run with the Penguins. Like, obviously, it's probably one of the most, if not the most memorable parts of your career. Like, what do you.

Max Talbot (114:13)

What.

Biz Nasty (114:14)

Like, what do you reflect on most about it?

Paul Bissonnette (114:16)

Just the. The gratefulness of being there. You know, you look at Harmony, you got traded. You know, you got traded before. So you talk about. About luck to first of all, be in that team because there's, you know, you can get traded, whatever move they're. They're making. But after that, everything that kind of got together at the right time, you know, they are like, unfortunately fired Cherry. And right before the run and got Dan. And Dan was that, you know, ex player, coach. Super fun, super light. So we got all the good mood in the room. And then Billy G. We got to the train. That line too, that start around with Sid and showing him to just relax and have fun. Billy G. Was a big, big, big help around the team. And then just everything going right, you know, you need a lot of luck.

Ryan Whitney (114:56)

I remember that game when Terry and was fired. Remember we were in Long Island.

Paul Bissonnette (115:00)

Yes.

Ryan Whitney (115:00)

And we had an afternoon game and so we. It was announced in the morning he was fired. And then Biles McCame and he addressed us basically right before the game. I think that's the first time he talked. And it was just more about like, he was totally like changing the tone to go from like serious and hard on guys to just joking around. We lost that game and then I ended up getting traded. It was just the only game I played, but I was like, wow. It was just a totally different vibe.

Paul Bissonnette (115:24)

Oh yeah.

Ryan Whitney (115:25)

Right off the hall.

Paul Bissonnette (115:25)

Change the system a little bit. But then it is mostly about the vibe. You know, Xinos is something. But when. Okay, we agreed and it's just a change. Remember Fitzy's meeting that game? So Tom Fitzgerald never coached a day in his life. And they fired Andre Savard with Michelle. So Fitzy, the coach, the. The GM of the. The Devils. Now I saw him in Pittsburgh two weeks ago and we talked about that. That. And so he. He came in and you got to run the pk. Never. Coach never presented himself. So it's like basically when I start to coach in San Diego. But it was like from the NHL team.

Ryan Whitney (115:56)

Like me and Malkin.

Paul Bissonnette (115:57)

Yeah, exactly. And he's there and I remember he had like a blue shirt and in the middle of the. The speech, he's like, sorry, guys, I'm. I'm so. I'm sweating. And he. And he was always and nervous. And I think he just at one point is like, ah, fuck it. Like, just go and have fun, you know, like he was like out of his element. But then we ended up winning and everything, so it was just. Just great.

Ryan Whitney (116:19)

The craziest part about that run was that Hosa was so sick with us in the finals. And then like, we're going to resign host and he goes to the team that beat us. And then you play him in the finals again. You're down, you lose that game five, I think you got blown up.

Paul Bissonnette (116:34)

Nothing.

Ryan Whitney (116:35)

Yeah. And boom. All of a sudden we got to go home. We got to get a win. It was more about going back down. Three, two, back to Pittsburgh and getting those two in A row. And against a team who probably was better than the year before. Oh, yeah, that Detroit team was better than. At least Danny Cleary said the same thing.

Paul Bissonnette (116:49)

Yeah. And then Datsuk and Zetterberg and all these big guys, Litzrum or Falsky, like, they were a scary team. And it was kind of the same scenario where we. We go back home, game six, and we're down by one. You can win the cup that night. And we. We won that game two one, and went game seven. And, you know, we had Mario's text like the right before the game saying, hey, win tonight and we'll see you at center ice. Like, he sent us a text message like the. The night before. Game seven is like, guys, one game. And you know, we'll see you at sunrise tomorrow. And it was like a famous text message that, you know, look at your phone. It's Mario Lemieux. And it's like that inspirational text. And then it got us go on for sure. And it was just to put like a seed in her mind that have the vision to basically see yourselves there. So. But also, yeah, it was a weird, you know, move by him and I respect.

Ryan Whitney (117:39)

And it was a one year deal.

Paul Bissonnette (117:40)

One year deal. And he's like, I. I think I have better chance to go.

Ryan Whitney (117:43)

Yeah.

Paul Bissonnette (117:44)

You know, And Sid was. Sid went to vacation after 2008, after he went on vacation with Osa and he was sure that he was going to resign with us. And then what a surprise, like, came.

Ryan Whitney (117:54)

He was so good, though, because most people, you're like, you lose to Detroit, I want to go join them. Then you lose the team that you left. But he was so good. He got three.

Paul Bissonnette (118:03)

Yeah, he still got three. He was nuts.

Ryan Whitney (118:06)

He was a great guy, too.

Paul Bissonnette (118:07)

Yeah.

Biz Nasty (118:08)

Was that the year you fought Carillo as well?

Paul Bissonnette (118:10)

Yeah.

Biz Nasty (118:10)

Where. Yeah, you shush the crowd and you had some very monumental moments.

Pasha (118:16)

They got a bobblehead coming out or did it come out already?

Paul Bissonnette (118:18)

Yeah, February 27th. So in two weeks. Yeah, this is like, this is super cool. Like, Jen Bano called me May of last year. Like, hey, we're thinking about doing the bubble out of you. Are you okay? I'm like, yeah, yeah.

Biz Nasty (118:32)

I got an Obiz one, Kenobi one, a Star wars one. This guy's getting a Stanley Trade you.

Paul Bissonnette (118:38)

I want it.

Biz Nasty (118:39)

I'll trade you.

Paul Bissonnette (118:39)

But like, yeah, it's. They did five this year. They did Mario Jaeger or Inquisition, Castle, Bubble Head and myself. Because it's the five. Five. Historic moment of the cups. 91, 92. 9, 16, 17. So we'll be like 50 French Canadian party box, you know, celebrating that my kids are coming. It's my. My. My oldest birthday to that night. So we'll be.

Ryan Whitney (119:01)

That's going to be great.

Paul Bissonnette (119:02)

Yeah. And I'm going to. I'm going to call Cars, actually, Carcello, because every birthday of that date, when that moment happens, happen. Like, there's a lot of traction on social media and Twitter and everything is like, oh, anniversary of that moment. Because in Pittsburgh, it was a special moment. And Cars, I feel like he lives well with it now and everything, but I. I just wanna. Because the game is against Philly, too.

Biz Nasty (119:23)

Right.

Paul Bissonnette (119:24)

So they're making that bubble at night against the Flyers at home at ppg. So it's gonna be. It's gonna be a special moment.

Ryan Whitney (119:31)

That part of the series. Do you remember where the series was at? They were obviously up in that game when you did. Yeah, that. Was it an even series or were you up or down?

Biz Nasty (119:38)

I want to say it was like three nothing at that point.

Ryan Whitney (119:41)

Well, yeah, but I'm worried about the game.

Paul Bissonnette (119:43)

We're up three two. So we're game six in Philly, and Philly has the momentum. Like, they're. They really have them. So we lose this game, we're going back home. So we're down 3:2 in the series. We're in the first and the start of second. So the first period, I did a turnover. The first goal was all my fault. And then second goal, third goal. So we're like, okay, we're going back home. But in the room, I'm like, I'm not gonna score a goal, like, tonight. Like. Like, what can I do? And I. So I asked Cars, which we knew very well from, but I'll also like how volatile he was in a way. So I asked him to go. He said yes, and we fought. Didn't win the fight. But then. So he went like this. So I went like this. The opposite. When I woke up, I'm like, he's going like this. The crowd in Philly's going crazy.

Biz Nasty (120:25)

You just panicked.

Paul Bissonnette (120:25)

Yeah. They obviously listened to me.

Ryan Whitney (120:30)

He was being serious.

Paul Bissonnette (120:34)

But then I go in the box, and while I'm in the box, we scored three goals.

Biz Nasty (120:38)

Yeah.

Paul Bissonnette (120:38)

So it's three goals switch, right? It was amazing in the world. The first one, you're like, yeah. But then second, you're like, holy, that's great. And we tied it. I'm like in the box buying my thing, and I got guys on the bench pointing at me like, yeah.

Ryan Whitney (120:53)

Were they? Were they?

Biz Nasty (120:54)

Oh, yeah.

Paul Bissonnette (120:55)

I mean, it was the kind of like, you know, because, you know, you. You fought all your life. Sometimes it can go the other way. Like, Cars beat me up. They're up three, nothing.

Ryan Whitney (121:03)

I know.

Paul Bissonnette (121:04)

I got this. You know, it's amazing. It's a good story. But then just because my team had such character, we answered with three goals, so.

Ryan Whitney (121:11)

And then did it end in OT or.

Paul Bissonnette (121:13)

No, we won five, three. So Sid got the goal in empty net. Gunshot, I think tied it well, got the G dub. And then Sid scored the clinch. And then. Yeah, it was after we went in seven games against Washington. I was just an amazing series.

Biz Nasty (121:27)

I was just gonna transition to that.

Paul Bissonnette (121:31)

Yeah.

Biz Nasty (121:31)

Ovi's gonna, you know, break the goal record. Yeah, Sid is Sid. These guys have carried the league since they came into the league, and every time that they advanced, they had to play Washington. Going back to that series, I feel like that was the cup.

Paul Bissonnette (121:44)

Oh, it was nuts. It was so big. And like. Like you said, like that game where they both had a hat trick. And it's funny because all throughout the career, I'd be very curious to look at the stats. I think Gino might have more points than sit against Washington. It's. It's. I. And I'm not sure, like, but I'm.

Ryan Whitney (122:01)

Sid crushed Philly. He might have crushed Washington more because.

Paul Bissonnette (122:03)

Sometimes, you know, you. You expect Sid and ov. And then all of a sudden, Gino would score big goals. He scored an overtime goals against that series. And game seven, we're in Washington. And I think in the first five minutes, ovi's got a breakaway on Flurry, and Flurry robbed him with his glove. And then we. I think we won seven nothing or five nothing. The game seven happened, but it all started with flurry save. Legendary save. So, yeah, it was a great series.

Ryan Whitney (122:29)

Did Washington, when they won their cup, did they have to get through?

Biz Nasty (122:32)

I think they beat. They did. Yeah. I think, like, I think when each of them have won their cups, they.

Ryan Whitney (122:37)

Had to go, oh, yeah, what a legendary.

Biz Nasty (122:39)

And then I think you guys drew Carolina, which was kind of a layup. And then you talk about Gino. I think that was when Gino's parents came to town. Yeah, he had, like, I think he had a Patrick one game.

Paul Bissonnette (122:49)

Yeah.

Biz Nasty (122:50)

Behind the net, spin around.

Ryan Whitney (122:51)

Yeah, that's the one I think of.

Paul Bissonnette (122:53)

Yeah. And that.

Ryan Whitney (122:54)

That.

Paul Bissonnette (122:54)

That's where probably that series where you won the cons might. Because he won the. Gino won the cons might that year, that series to Me, I always say, and it's a very ballsy call it, like, for one game max, who's the best player you ever played with for one game? Dominating like other players. It was Malkin at that moment, at his best, I'm like, I'll take Gino Malkin. He was big, strong, fast. He would. You know, when you're Afghani, Malkin, you start throwing your body around a little bit. Like the Four Nations Cup. You see all these superstars going at it.

Biz Nasty (123:21)

Yeah.

Paul Bissonnette (123:22)

You know, you get inspired on the bench. You're like, me, Malkin's blocking a shot and throwing his body around. Like, everybody's got to go. So Gino was dialed in. I was lucky enough to play on his line, too, for. For this series. So it's me, him, and Fedenko, and we were just.

Ryan Whitney (123:36)

I was just going, you're just driving in the net.

Paul Bissonnette (123:37)

Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

Ryan Whitney (123:40)

That's when Gino was at, like, the whole super superhero power, when, yeah, he'd be flying up the ice and he'd just throw it under your triangle.

Paul Bissonnette (123:47)

Oh, yeah.

Ryan Whitney (123:47)

Like, he was so sick at that. Like, you're coming at him and just like. Like pass it. He'd pass it one foot to himself, right through your triangle, your stick, and then be gone. Russian gas.

Biz Nasty (123:57)

He showed up at training camp the one year he. He took skates right out of the box. He b. I. I think he might have brought his jock from Russia, put all new gear on, and he was the best guy on the ice.

Paul Bissonnette (124:07)

Well, this year it was the same thing. He started the season fire. He leading the league for. For a while and same thing. Guys were like, cuz Minnesota game when we had dinner, we're like, talking about him. I was like, Gino lost 15 years this year. He's like, he was back to his. His form and. And you look at him go, and it's like, it's. He's. He's a specimen, too. Like, he was. He was very special at that moment.

Ryan Whitney (124:29)

Yeah, he was.

Pasha (124:30)

I know you were in Pittsburgh, but we're in Four nations here. We talked a little bit about McKinnon. I want to transition right, to another superstar you got to play with. I think it was early in his career, he wasn't the McKinnon we know now.

Paul Bissonnette (124:41)

He was living in my house. Okay. His second year. So his first year went to Jiger's house. And then his second year, Jigar retired, I think. So he came to live at my house. So I had to see the creature from very, very close. And what a Teenager. He was. Oh, you would. You know, you look at Sid and Nate, the way that they come from the same place and everything, and I'm looking at Mario, the relationship between Mario and Sid. Sid has that relationship with McKinnon in a way where he was so positive of. For his development and everything. Because when Nate got in the league, he was. He was different than sit at 13, right. He was more, like, chaotic, like, a little bit more, like.

Ryan Whitney (125:20)

Yeah, he was more raw.

Paul Bissonnette (125:22)

He was very raw as a.

Ryan Whitney (125:23)

As a what was gonna come.

Biz Nasty (125:26)

He was like a wild horse that you had to kind of tame, right?

Paul Bissonnette (125:29)

Exactly. He was exactly that. We're gonna get that, too.

Ryan Whitney (125:32)

He was the donkey. I was the donkey.

Paul Bissonnette (125:37)

But he was. Yeah, he was very raw. Very, very raw. But it's the first time I saw a player, and I'm like, the speed that he has is getting dangerous. Because I got the question asked, actually two nights ago. I was like, how much did the speed involve evolve since we played? Right? And I'm like, you know what? It's a weird question, because you look at Sid hasn't got faster. Dowdy. You know, all these guys that we played against, they're not faster than they were. Right. But the youth, some specific player are way faster.

Ryan Whitney (126:05)

Yeah.

Paul Bissonnette (126:06)

So they move the puck faster. They move their leg. The weight of, you know, McDavid isn't. You know, you look at another planet, right? But I think McKinnon and McDavid are two. They're both on different planet compared to the rest of. But McKinnon was the first time, like, if he steps on a stick right before the net, I'm like, he's gonna kill himself because he's going so fast.

Biz Nasty (126:25)

So I think that that's part of the reason why he's doing those pool exercises, is you have to get to a place mentally where you're not fearful of going that hard, especially as you're nearing in on the net, other bodies and getting to the end wall.

Ryan Whitney (126:39)

I think that, you know, your speed could be. Yeah.

Biz Nasty (126:41)

They said that downhill skiers do the pool exercises, and as a downhill skier, you're. You're diving in. No second thinking is like, you're taking every cut, like, as hard as you can. The way that he goes, he's ferocious about it.

Paul Bissonnette (126:54)

Yeah. Well, think about all the times where you struggle mentally at hockey. To me, it was when I was fearful. When you play with a doubt, that's when you. You slow down, you know, a second or two in every play. Like, you're hesitating on Every play, that's where you start, you know, doubting. And I would write on my. On my knob, like, no fear for a couple years, you know, like, just play with no fear. It's the only way. Especially when you're not so skilled. Like, that's the only edge you got and everything.

Ryan Whitney (127:19)

You had to bring that aspect to the game. Like your game.

Paul Bissonnette (127:22)

Yeah, exactly. But these guys, for sure, it's.

Biz Nasty (127:24)

I used to put no skill on this thing.

Paul Bissonnette (127:28)

Yeah, it worked well for you.

Biz Nasty (127:29)

No confidence, no skill.

Ryan Whitney (127:32)

Great guy.

Biz Nasty (127:33)

Out at night, though, all fear.

Ryan Whitney (127:35)

Oh, God.

Biz Nasty (127:37)

Just don't. Yeah, just don't turn it over. You'll be out of the lineup, you idiot. Oh, man, that's so like, getting to see him early stages was. It was. Was pretty fun and see through. Was he having. At that point, though, he started working with a mental coach. Was. Were you around for that?

Paul Bissonnette (127:53)

I was not around, buddy. It was a little later, I think.

Biz Nasty (127:55)

Yeah, a little later. Okay.

Paul Bissonnette (127:56)

But you could, you could. You could tell that he was so raw that he was gonna develop into something amazing. Right. And we had that little rivalry in the room between and Duchenne too. So that was a situation where Patrick Wall and Joe Sakic, they had to obviously pick one because they were always in competition for points a little bit at the start, you know, it was because third overall. Yeah, he was making points and, you know, and Nate wanted that. And then you had Gabe Landiscott, which one of the best leader I've seen too. You know, the kid was like 21. He looks like he's 30 in his maturity and body language. He was just. Just amazing. And Tyson Berry was there too. So we, we had a. We had a fun team, but. But yeah, Nate was like a wild horse for sure. That's the definition that I so good on him to mature the way that he. He's done. Because even a couple years ago, you know, in snapping his coach a little bit and everything. But that's because he wanted it so bad, right? Yeah, he likes to compete. So he's a wild horse.

Ryan Whitney (128:55)

Yeah, he's competitive.

Biz Nasty (128:56)

As I. When. When players move over to rivals, it's as scrutinized as it used to be. Like, we talk about the Chelo stuff. Did you feel weird when you ended up signing in Philly? Like, was there a hesitation to be like.

Paul Bissonnette (129:09)

Huge, huge hesitation. It was such a. Like an important decision of you, of your life, your free agent once. Usually, like, there's one time that, you know, unless you're an exceptional player, you know.

Ryan Whitney (129:20)

Yeah.

Paul Bissonnette (129:20)

So I'm two years away from winning the cup up. You know, we won 09. I'm free agent 2011, and the phone's ringing.

Ryan Whitney (129:28)

And you wanted to stay.

Paul Bissonnette (129:29)

I wanted to stay. But the Ray, it was not gonna work because they were stuck at two years. And Pat, we already. Five years. Team calling for five years. So you're like, hey, like, I monumental. Yeah. And I remember being 2010 to 2011. We went on vacation with Sid after you went in France and, and had fun down there. And I remember talking to him in 2011. He's like, Max, like, are you gonna stay? I'm like, I wish. Like, I hope so, but I'm setting up my family. Two and five years. You're like, but. And then when the phone started to call, it started to call. I was like, start to ring. I was, it was my girlfriend and I before. But I prepared, like, an Excel like, template with, like, what are my priorities that I'm looking for as a free agent, you know, And I was member of Maple Leaf for week two, too, because the rights were traded. The rights were traded because Brian Burke wanted to talk to me before free agency. And, and it was great, man. I, I, I almost signed there, and they were offering more money than I got with Philly, but to me, the important thing was to win, and they were not in that. You know, Toronto can't win.

Biz Nasty (130:40)

That was a difficult time. That was the downturn.

Paul Bissonnette (130:43)

No, no, no. But not the thing again.

Ryan Whitney (130:45)

Philly as a chance to win the Cup.

Paul Bissonnette (130:47)

Exactly.

Ryan Whitney (130:48)

Yeah.

Paul Bissonnette (130:48)

And I had a conversation with Michelle Taran, which was not my coach anymore. He called me. He's like, max, where are you going? You know, just as a friend, and I'm like, this team, this team, this team is like, max, stay in the East. He's like, you're a guy that likes to perform on the spotlight at 7pm he's like, you're gonna go on the West. You're gonna be there. You're gonna lose a little bit of your spunk. Your spunk. Yeah. So it was a great advice, but it was tough for me to leave. And the first year that I signed Philly, we played the Penguins in playoff. The first round, you beat him, and we beat him. It was that crazy series where nobody.

Biz Nasty (131:19)

Could stop a beach ball.

Ryan Whitney (131:21)

Yeah.

Paul Bissonnette (131:22)

Oh, my God. And said peace and Briz. You know, remember the universe thing on HBO with, you know, and we, we gave Bobrovsky to keep to sign Bris Golf. You know, like, if you think about the trouble Philly had with Goalies forever. Like, you give away, like, you know, Bobrovsky for. For Briz. And Briz was the same as. As. As Gino. He showed up to camp, he had new gear, didn't skate all summer. I was like, we signed this guy for nine years or seven years. At the time, I'm like, it's gonna end the whole season. It was tough. I mean, different guy. Yeah.

Biz Nasty (131:56)

I play with him in Arizona. That was where he came from when he signed the deal. And, you know, different guy.

Ryan Whitney (132:00)

And he'd been that good with you guys?

Biz Nasty (132:02)

Oh, he was. He was exceptional. He. But the thing is, though, is he had Sean Burke as a goalie coach.

Ryan Whitney (132:07)

Yeah.

Paul Bissonnette (132:07)

Yeah.

Biz Nasty (132:07)

And he was the goalie whisperer. And then I think after Briz left, we had Mike Smith, and then Mike Smith had.

Ryan Whitney (132:13)

He turned into.

Biz Nasty (132:13)

Yeah, and they had Devin Dubnik. He turned his career around. I. I think there was, like, two other goalies that he did that for.

Paul Bissonnette (132:19)

Yeah. And the system. He would always put the system on this, too, because when he got to Philly, he had excuses of his performance. And he still holds the record for the most because Jari and the Penguins were almost beating it this year. The most game him, first shot allowed.

Ryan Whitney (132:37)

Oh, that's a kill.

Paul Bissonnette (132:38)

Every first shot would get in the net. You're like, okay, we're gonna score two.

Biz Nasty (132:42)

Yeah, he has the record year.

Paul Bissonnette (132:44)

It was like, come on, man, stop. The first one. We have a chance.

Ryan Whitney (132:47)

Who did you guys in Philly that year? Did you make it to the conference final, too?

Paul Bissonnette (132:51)

No, we lost second round against Jersey in five. In five.

Ryan Whitney (132:55)

And they ended up going to the final?

Paul Bissonnette (132:56)

I think so. Yeah.

Biz Nasty (132:57)

And partway through that year, was that when Mike Richards and Carter got in training?

Paul Bissonnette (133:00)

No, at the. At the. Right before the free age agency in that summer, I think at the draft, they got traded.

Biz Nasty (133:05)

Okay.

Paul Bissonnette (133:05)

Yeah. And that's one of the reason. Another reason why I signed there. You know, that July 1st, they signed Jaeger, they signed Bris Galov. And then after that, I was July 1st, but I'm like, this team's going right direction. They wanted to, you know. Yeah. Girou was there. So Couture was. First year at Voracek. Was on fire.

Ryan Whitney (133:23)

Was there that year you beat Was. Was the year you beat Pittsburgh when Giroud had that shift where he kind of owned Sid.

Paul Bissonnette (133:30)

Yes.

Ryan Whitney (133:30)

He ran him over and called the.

Paul Bissonnette (133:32)

Yeah, yeah.

Ryan Whitney (133:33)

Remember that?

Paul Bissonnette (133:34)

Oh, yeah.

Ryan Whitney (133:34)

That was the year you guys be him.

Paul Bissonnette (133:35)

Oh, yeah. It was a crazy playoff series. I remember after the game, I think some game in Philly where After the shift, I remember watching the TV and Sid's postgame comment were like, I don't like any of these guys on the other side, you know, like the big rivalry and everything. So after the game, I'm like, watching the slip, and I'm like, sad, first of all, you know, So I think I take my phone and I'm like, even me. Sid is like, you're okay, Max.

Pasha (134:03)

The scores in that series, 438-584-10 to 33 2, and 5 1.

Paul Bissonnette (134:10)

It was nuts. It was nuts. Kutri had a hat trick, too. And playoff series.

Biz Nasty (134:14)

Couture was young.

Paul Bissonnette (134:16)

Yeah. And Yags was, like, so cool.

Ryan Whitney (134:19)

Who was. Was that. Who was the Philly coach?

Paul Bissonnette (134:21)

It was. That year was Lavi, and then the second year, it was Lavi again. The third year, when I got traded to Colorado, Lavia had three games, and Chief got in as head coach.

Pasha (134:34)

Yaga, we gotta get yogurt stories. Sounds like you got some.

Biz Nasty (134:37)

I was gonna say, before we get to yogurt, when you signed with Philly, who was the first text that you made? Did you text Sid right away? Who was the first guy?

Paul Bissonnette (134:45)

I think they saw it. But then, yeah, I think everybody was texting Mackenzie Brady.

Biz Nasty (134:49)

It was you.

Paul Bissonnette (134:50)

Oh, it was a big. I mean, for Pittsburgh. I was scared, too, because I was so involved in the. The city of Pittsburgh, you know, my charity. I was trying to build something, and, you know, the next day, you're basically a trader. Like, it's really how the Pittsburgh fans took it, Right? You're like, how can you do that? I go.

Ryan Whitney (135:07)

Something they don't think of, what goes into it.

Paul Bissonnette (135:09)

No, exactly. But it got me motivated also. Like, my first year in Philly, I had 19 goals in my career year. Like, I. I played amazing, and I was motivated. In playoff, I played good, too, in that series, so I was motivated. But then I got there, and it's not to bash anybody, obviously, but it was tough to make the transition after six, seven years in Pittsburgh, and everything is run so smoothly by, you know, Mario being the owner, and it was like a one organization. And I got to Philly, and it was like there was no protein, no chefs yet. Now they did. Now they're up to the standard, you know, but back in the day, it was like it was not there yet. So I remember being, like, uncomfortable at start. Like, hey, can we. And kind of needy. Like, hey, can. Can we make sure the guys have this? Or you sign me 5 years years for leadership, too, and, you know, I'm gonna tell you. And you just won like, hey, maybe that's why you signed me to bring a little bit of culture at Pittsburgh to bring to Philly.

Biz Nasty (136:00)

They're like, you hire the omelette guy.

Paul Bissonnette (136:02)

Oh, that was kind of it, like. And we get breakfast, you know, so it was part of like, you know, the, the moments being there. But did you get the, did you.

Ryan Whitney (136:12)

Get the booze in Pittsburgh when you touched the puck when you were on Philly?

Biz Nasty (136:16)

The booze?

Ryan Whitney (136:17)

No.

Paul Bissonnette (136:17)

Okay, sorry. Yeah, I got the booze.

Ryan Whitney (136:21)

I got some booze here and there every though.

Paul Bissonnette (136:23)

But you know what? I was. It was I think December 27th and they made me a tribute video the start of the game. And I was like nervous about it. I was like, how is it going to turn out? And there were. At the start, it was a little bit of both. And then the claps got loud because it was a cup video.

Ryan Whitney (136:40)

Right.

Paul Bissonnette (136:41)

So the, the cloud. The claps got louder. I was like, okay, peace. You know, it was like to me it was peace. And to be able to be back in Pittsburgh and doing TV there and, and seeing my jersey still there and you know how faithful the. This crowd is and how, you know, proud the city of Pittsburgh is. So it was really. I. I kind of. I'm very grateful that he kind of re. Accepted me as a Penguin.

Biz Nasty (137:02)

Yeah, that's awesome. Yager though, we got to talk about that was when he was going to the rink at like 10 o'clock at night and skating ankle weights.

Paul Bissonnette (137:09)

Yeah.

Biz Nasty (137:09)

Weights on his stick.

Paul Bissonnette (137:10)

Yeah, he kind of playing.

Biz Nasty (137:12)

Yeah.

Paul Bissonnette (137:13)

Yeah.

Pasha (137:13)

He's still in Atlantic City all day biz so they the only time to get the ice at 10 o'clock.

Biz Nasty (137:19)

He daddy recently posted his hockey DB page and he's like, I don't think people understand how insane this is.

Paul Bissonnette (137:26)

It's nuts. And we were lucky enough he was at Mario's fantasy camp last year because his season was over in Clangdo in Czech and he came to play because Mario's last year was the first time he didn't skate at the fantasy camp. He does a big thing for his, his charity, his foundation. He does. You know, you play with sponsors and fans and we're were two ex players per team and Kobe's there, Tyler Kennedy, all Mario's friends and Jagger came to replace Mario kind of. And it was so such a legend, like you know, playing in every team. And he retired his jersey last year too. And I got invited for that kind of.

Ryan Whitney (137:59)

That was a big deal.

Paul Bissonnette (137:59)

Oh, it was huge. It was like peace. It was Kind of peace. Because when we signed in Philly, there was rumors he was going to sign back because that's when he was in Russia and he was going to sign back in Pitt. So people were kind of excited. Then he signed in Philly, so people are going to pick pissed. And then they retired his jersey last year, and it was a amazing moment. Mario was there. You know, he made the joke about his girlfriend. Like, you know, remember that. That speech where he got on the ice in his ceremony? He's like, you know, everybody remember me play, but unless. Except my girl. She was too young. You know, she's not even born or something.

Biz Nasty (138:32)

So.

Paul Bissonnette (138:33)

Yeah, but. Yeah, same. But I. I sat down beside him last year at Mario's Fantasy, and it's just like, the amount of stories that he's got through life, and he's got a different perception on life, on religion, on where he's from, the war, extraterrestrial. He's a very, very deep guy. He still reads his Bible before every game. That was something I was like, what are you reading? He sits down his stalls here. He sits on the floor and read his Bible before every game. And even when we interviewed him for my show in Pittsburgh this year, he had, like, a Christ jersey. So he's. I don't know if he's born again or. Religion was always part of his life, but he really. He wants to spread the good news in that way. So he's a very, very profound and interesting guy. I mean, I. I signed there and every dinner had a chance to sit by him and just chat him up about.

Ryan Whitney (139:25)

Oh, yeah, you know, we had him on the show year or two ago, and he did it at 12:30 in the morning in Czech. And he gave us like, an hour and ten minutes.

Paul Bissonnette (139:34)

Yeah.

Ryan Whitney (139:34)

Right in the middle of the night. And he was just.

Biz Nasty (139:36)

Awful life.

Paul Bissonnette (139:37)

Yeah.

Ryan Whitney (139:37)

Yeah.

Paul Bissonnette (139:38)

He's a passionate guy, like.

Ryan Whitney (139:39)

And even the way he went back to play for that team because they were gonna, like, fold, so he bought the team to keep it there.

Paul Bissonnette (139:45)

And he does everything with that team, too. Like, now I think he's getting a little tired about that. He talked to us about. I think he's trying to sell or something. But, yeah, he's a. He's a passionate guy. He's a character.

Pasha (139:55)

Like, still playing on that.

Ryan Whitney (139:56)

Yeah, I know. I think he lost a tooth recently. Yeah, he did a denture.

Biz Nasty (140:02)

Are there any other players that you played with throughout your career where you're just like. It comes to mind right away that were so impactful on you and just like rubbed off on you. I mean, except you.

Paul Bissonnette (140:12)

I don't know. Well, Mario, like, Mario is a special guy to play with. You know, our first year, he's there and it's like, you know, first game in Jersey, you were there. We had a two on one chance. My first NHL game. I was in the line with Merls and we were killing penalties together and we had shorthanded on.

Ryan Whitney (140:29)

He would have played 20 years had this goal gone in. Yeah, probably 100%.

Paul Bissonnette (140:32)

Probably.

Pasha (140:33)

We. I'm telling you, if they had the stats that they keep now for who gives up the shorthanded goal goals. Like, our PK was horrible, but we would play together. We didn't give up any of the goals. It was the other group that gave up all the goals. But it reflected you needed the advanced. I needed, I needed. Back then we were weapons here. We got the chance. I just couldn't bury. I couldn't do anything.

Paul Bissonnette (140:52)

Yeah. I'd say looking back also, Patrice Bergeron to me is like the Cynic Crosby of Quebec in a way that, you know, he's so, so proper and so nice.

Biz Nasty (141:06)

It must be exhausting to be that perfect.

Paul Bissonnette (141:08)

I agree.

Biz Nasty (141:08)

It's.

Ryan Whitney (141:09)

I think it's how he lives though. I think it's him. Like, yeah, there's no act.

Paul Bissonnette (141:12)

Oh, no, no, no.

Ryan Whitney (141:13)

He's just a pro.

Paul Bissonnette (141:14)

His family, you know, he's like his beautiful wife and his kids, they're all, you know, like. You looked at me like, yeah, he's the type of guy you want to marry your daughter. Right? Like, he's such a professional leader in the room. It was Shara's the captain my last year, but Berge was like, like leading the charge for sure.

Ryan Whitney (141:32)

He's coaching his. One of his kids is an 18 birth year and so my son's a 17 birth year. So we had a game after his team was playing. He coaches like the. The Junior Eagles. My son Ryder, stand with me. I'm like, hey, you see that guy at the end of the bench for the. The Eagles? He's like, yeah. I'm like, that's Patrice Berreon. He's like, what? And some lady straight out of Massachusetts. It was like a Dunkin Donuts commercial. She's like, wow, right? She's like, that's Bergeron. I'm like, yeah, that's him. He. Holy. Honey, honey, get over here. For three person. Look how hot he is.

Paul Bissonnette (142:03)

He's unbelievable.

Ryan Whitney (142:04)

Get your picture. Jimmy, get your. Get your phone. And I was just. And then after everyone's like seeing him and, and he's just professional, great looking guy, like in great shape. It was like, this is the guy.

Biz Nasty (142:16)

Now he's hopping into the media too. He's slowly getting.

Paul Bissonnette (142:18)

He's doing that. Unobstructed views on nest.

Ryan Whitney (142:20)

Yeah, I went on with him one time. It was cool. He was home for Christmas in Quebec. But he, he did a good job and he was, it was cool talking because you're watching the game and him talking about like penalty kill or angling forechecking stuff. It was like, wow. Like you forget how good he was. And then he talks. You're like, yeah, he knows the game so well. Like I could have seen him coaching, but he actually could be a GM too.

Paul Bissonnette (142:41)

Yeah, I think so.

Biz Nasty (142:43)

One thing I read that I was a little surprised at is how much you love the cage.

Paul Bissonnette (142:48)

Yeah.

Biz Nasty (142:49)

You loved it.

Paul Bissonnette (142:50)

I did, I did. And I.

Biz Nasty (142:52)

That was how you finished your career, right? Well, you couldn't get a deal in the NHL anymore.

Paul Bissonnette (142:56)

Listen, I was in Boston my last year and it was, I was up and down and I just had my second kid. And so we're in the month of March, I think in April. And I'm thinking about the next year, right? I was doing Providence, Boston the whole year. My wife was there. We just had a second kid. Kid. And the first phone call in March, I think it was a locomotive Yados level. And they called me. They were, they had a great offer. And I'm like, okay, what, what are the alternative? I can go pto. I can go in a two way somewhere else. Like, because I was up and down, I'm like, that's insecurity for family. I didn't want to be away from a family. I'm like. My wife was a figure skater too, so she competed in Russia quite a bit. So she's a, she's a warrior. She's like, like a little lion. So she's like, yeah, let's go, let's try it out. And I said, I was signed I think before the season was over.

Biz Nasty (143:49)

Right.

Paul Bissonnette (143:50)

By the season ended, I'm like, let's try it out. And I went, there, you have to go July 1st. Yeah, yeah. Oh, oh, yeah, I did.

Ryan Whitney (143:58)

I missed that at least. But you're actually the guy who'd be like loving it.

Biz Nasty (144:02)

They had these facilities. Yaroslav's arena was beautiful.

Ryan Whitney (144:05)

Played their under 18 like playing there, 11,000 people.

Paul Bissonnette (144:09)

And I was doing a TV show with Bob Hartley three days ago. And Bob was my coach for almost my last year. And we're Talking about stories. Because I played there two years. It was amazing years. Like I said, the first year, live in a shitty little apartment. It was complicated. Second year, they built the baza. So they build a practice facility. It's the nicest thing you ever seen, like for a team. We lived there all the imports, the five imports. We all the apartment with three bedroom. We had like babysitting, catering, food, gym, soccer, football. This is for Yaroslavo.

Ryan Whitney (144:39)

Oh, you were both years there?

Paul Bissonnette (144:40)

Two years there, one year.

Ryan Whitney (144:42)

Oh, okay. Okay.

Paul Bissonnette (144:43)

Wow. So it was the Cusco across the street. And it was like the easiest thing I ever seen. Like, we. I could skate with my kid every morning, like if I wanted. Because it was. The practice rink was in the building. There was a spa there. There was like five different type of saunas, like in the building just for the hockey team. It was. It was a very good program. Program. Then I got bowed out right before. Two days before I went for my third year because I signed a third year there. And the coach, you know, was special there. And.

Biz Nasty (145:09)

Yeah, you don't want to say anything. You don't want to get a red dot on your forehead.

Paul Bissonnette (145:13)

Yeah, well, I got scared one time playing against Scott. It just. I'll get to that. But so finally I'm there with David the. The guy for the Habs. And so Ohms got us like Bob already was his first year there there. He's like, he needs French Canadian that no to. To help him. Because I was in the league two years, bro. And we went there and my first game with OMS right after I got it was in Yadoslavo. So we won four nothing. I got two goals.

Ryan Whitney (145:38)

Oh, suck it.

Paul Bissonnette (145:39)

And my ex code, that just bought me out. So I got the first star. I got on the ice and bub, Bub. Arley was telling me the story. Like, he's like, Max, I had shivers all over. So I got on the ice and he gave me like a Maxime Talbo. Maxime Talbo and Yaroslav. When I'm playing for Ohms and we beat them for nothing, and I'm looking at the coach straight in the eyes and I'm like, you always stepped up.

Ryan Whitney (146:00)

It was when, oh, it was a.

Pasha (146:04)

Bigger accomplishment than maybe the Stanley cup goals is when you can get paid by two Russian teams.

Biz Nasty (146:12)

Trying to spike your food.

Paul Bissonnette (146:14)

But there's one thing I got scared one time we're playing ska, which is St. Petersburg. So the coach, the gm is like the Olympic team coach in gm and they're. They're the richest team in the league. It's Gas Prom that owns the them. And we play them in playoff. At one point, there's a goal in playoff that gets kind of taken away. So we score a goal. You know, it hits the. The round thing right beside the bench, just the round glass. So we score the goal and like 20 seconds prior, it hits the round thing. And Scott asked the ref to review this, but it's not reviewable.

Ryan Whitney (146:43)

Oh, no.

Paul Bissonnette (146:44)

Well, there's rumors that they, you know, review any. They go review the goal and they take it away. Like, they take a goal away way. So I'm furious. So I go in front of their bench and I'm like, dinky.

Biz Nasty (146:56)

Dinky.

Paul Bissonnette (146:56)

I said, money went. I'm like, dinky, Dinky. I'll. And I'm. I'm aggressive. And the coach of Scott, which is the coach of the Olympic team, you know, he's like. Like desperate Putin or whatever. I don't know. But he's like, looks at me and.

Ryan Whitney (147:09)

He goes.

Paul Bissonnette (147:12)

He gave me the throat.

Ryan Whitney (147:13)

The coach in Russia, that's immediately.

Pasha (147:16)

You're out of here tonight.

Paul Bissonnette (147:18)

So I go in the room after, I'm like, guys, should I be where? He's like, oh, it's Russia.

Ryan Whitney (147:24)

But that's the.

Paul Bissonnette (147:25)

I loved everything about my experience. I. When there was weird things about it, I was like, take it and like it, and it's part of the experience. You know, I went there with an open heart, being like, hey, like, this is going to be fun. And, you know, my. My kids had fun, my wife had fun. But the third year with the three kids, it became a little chaotic living in Moscow because Omsk ring broke, so we play in balashi. So the Ohms team, we were located in Moscow, but I lived on the Red Square, like, street with the rna.

Ryan Whitney (147:49)

It was with a baby too.

Paul Bissonnette (147:51)

Yeah, with a young baby. But it was good. But it's not for everybody. But you have to have the right personality to prove yourself to these guys that you're there for the right reasons. You know, you have to work hard on them and, like, drink vodka with them. And once they accepted you after like a week or two or a month, then, like, they're very. They're hard worker. I still have a bunch of friends that are there and I really, really enjoy. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Guys still text me, like at 3:00am, like, when they're going out and they, you know, it's. That's great.

Ryan Whitney (148:20)

Yeah.

Pasha (148:20)

They don't speak English to you until you have that night out with the vodka. Then they're all.

Biz Nasty (148:23)

Bu.

Paul Bissonnette (148:24)

You realize they speak. They spoke English the whole time.

Ryan Whitney (148:26)

Oh, yeah, that happened.

Biz Nasty (148:28)

Did you have any other crazy experiences there that you're able to talk about other than the throat slash? Like, any. I heard that the guys were talking about how if, like, they went on a gold drought, they would, like, slaughter a lamb in the crease and they.

Ryan Whitney (148:38)

Would, like, cook it after somebody, one person told us that story.

Biz Nasty (148:41)

Yeah.

Paul Bissonnette (148:43)

I never experimented.

Biz Nasty (148:44)

We had Costco, not this.

Paul Bissonnette (148:46)

Who told us that story?

Biz Nasty (148:47)

Oh, I. For.

Ryan Whitney (148:49)

It was like where the Zamboni leaves the ice.

Biz Nasty (148:51)

Yeah. Oh, I think it was the guy who played for. Did he play for the.

Ryan Whitney (148:56)

Was it Tim Brent? Was it Tim Brent?

Biz Nasty (149:00)

No, no, I think he played for the Quebec Ramparts. He was. He. We had him on Hennessy. Hennessy. Was it Hennessy?

Ryan Whitney (149:06)

Maybe, actually.

Pasha (149:07)

But there's, I mean, of all the Russian stories.

Biz Nasty (149:10)

Video.

Pasha (149:11)

We could sell that video.

Ryan Whitney (149:12)

Was it Doll? It was Dalman.

Biz Nasty (149:14)

Yeah.

Ryan Whitney (149:16)

He was like Makar over there.

Paul Bissonnette (149:18)

We should do a podcast in Moscow.

Biz Nasty (149:20)

Yeah.

Ryan Whitney (149:20)

I don't know if I can ever go back. That's really tough on that.

Biz Nasty (149:24)

You've been tough on the league Fighter Jets.

Ryan Whitney (149:26)

But I actually do, I have said that I really loved playing the games over there. The crowds, how good the hockey was, the. Some great ranks. It was more the other stuff. But I was also single where I was. Like, having your wife there would have made it a lot easier.

Paul Bissonnette (149:40)

Right?

Ryan Whitney (149:40)

Like, not being so lonely. But I, I, I don't know if I'm willing to step back. But Moscow was a hell of a city. Moscow is like New York City on steroids. It's crazy.

Biz Nasty (149:51)

We have surviving Barstool. We're going to have surviving Russia.

Ryan Whitney (149:54)

I already won that one.

Biz Nasty (149:56)

I was just gonna ask you, like, in post, like, now that you're not playing anymore, I've noticed that you're, like, very into Jiu Jitsu.

Ryan Whitney (150:03)

I was just gonna say.

Biz Nasty (150:04)

Oh, were you gonna ask about that?

Paul Bissonnette (150:05)

Oh, I was. I got a busy no. 2 knee surgery last year from Jiu Jitsu.

Ryan Whitney (150:10)

So you can get injured from that stuff.

Paul Bissonnette (150:12)

Oh, crap. I, I went there and, you know. You.

Ryan Whitney (150:15)

Were you competing?

Paul Bissonnette (150:16)

Oh, yeah, I did. Competition and everything. Yeah. And it was not federated in Quebec, so we had to go Ontario. So my competition went Ottawa. Now it got Federated Raiden last. Last year. But it was the most fun I had playing a sport. I mean, except hockey. Like, I think my, my medals from my judicial competitions are in my office and not my small standing cup, you know, like, I Was so proud because.

Ryan Whitney (150:39)

Yeah, because it was something else.

Paul Bissonnette (150:40)

Yeah. Something new. You learn from scratch. And I'd go to the gym like five, six times a week and just being so motivated to learn and to get better and, you know, the first week you get strangled by 140. You're 140.

Biz Nasty (150:52)

You used to that in Pittsburgh with the hot tub on your roof.

Paul Bissonnette (150:54)

Yeah, I used to like that back in the days. But when you're. You're growing up, it's not the same except with belts. But it was a very cool sport. My three kids were doing it. But then I went to roll December 27th of 2023 and tore my meniscus. Got a surgery, got back training, torn it again, and I got a second surgery. So now I'm kind of like, I'm missing moments with my kids skiing because of a pastime, basically a passion. So it's like, it's a tough sport, but I, you know, encourage everybody to do it is like awesome.

Biz Nasty (151:25)

It. It also like, allows you to. To be in the moment and be present. Right. Which is something that's at least I find very difficult and something I enjoyed where I haven't done the jiu jitsu yet. I did that. What's it called? Krav Maga. I did that like, you know, it was. It's fun. Like, I would consider also getting into Jiu jitsu and something like that.

Paul Bissonnette (151:46)

Thompson's doing it too. Sean Avery, big into it. Yeah. When I was getting Bugsy. Yeah, Bugsy. I saw you at the. You know what I played tapped me.

Biz Nasty (151:55)

Out in the sand.

Paul Bissonnette (151:55)

I saw that. I was proud of him. But even when I was getting good, I remember like Avery liking one of my posts and stuff. And we start messaging like quickly because he all has the reputation. I know you interviewed recently that he hated French guys. Right. Because, you know, I.

Biz Nasty (152:11)

Whatever you were, you were. You were the type of guy like his weight class.

Paul Bissonnette (152:16)

Yeah, exactly.

Biz Nasty (152:16)

Had hate each other.

Paul Bissonnette (152:17)

And I tried to fight him once too. And you the rev going to it. And I went like this and he goes like, meow, meow.

Ryan Whitney (152:22)

In the box.

Paul Bissonnette (152:23)

He was around with.

Biz Nasty (152:24)

He's a funny.

Paul Bissonnette (152:25)

Yeah. So I was thinking, hey, man, can we plan some type of competition like me and him and raise money for fun? But then I stop and now he would kill me because he kept doing it privately and everything. But. Yeah, but like you said, being the present moment was a big thing. But I find that in golf and in, you know, pickleball. I'm big on pickleball. Now I play, like, twice a week.

Biz Nasty (152:46)

I'm putting one in my backyard.

Ryan Whitney (152:47)

I have one right now because you do it.

Paul Bissonnette (152:49)

I have one in my backyard, too.

Biz Nasty (152:50)

Let's go, buddy.

Ryan Whitney (152:51)

I love it. It's so fun.

Paul Bissonnette (152:52)

Yeah. I have one in my backyard, too. It's awesome.

Ryan Whitney (152:55)

It's time for the rollback. Last question now, Talbo. Use code Chiclets C-I C L, E T S on roback.com for generous 20 off your first purchase through the end of the week. That's Chiclets on roback.com Rho B-A C K.com 20 off all hoodies, joggers, and more with code Chiclets. Us being in Montreal, you being a part of the media network, we were saying walking into the Bell Center, I need the. The Canadiens back in the playoffs and thinking of a Cup final in this building, in this city. Where do you see their team headed? Do you like where it's headed? They had the great run this season. They have Demidov coming over. Like, what are your thoughts on that organization?

Paul Bissonnette (153:29)

I trust the leadership.

Ryan Whitney (153:31)

Yeah. I like Ken Hughes.

Paul Bissonnette (153:32)

Can't use Gordon. They. They have the. The right way. They have a plan. I think they're taking very good care of the players. Jeff Mohlson's on board with their plan. I think the fans are on board with the plan, too. Too. Are the fans getting impatient? A little bit.

Ryan Whitney (153:45)

Little bit now, yes.

Paul Bissonnette (153:46)

Because, you know, this year we're the same places standing as they were last year. So we're talking about progression going back to the golf tournament this year. Talking. We want to be in the mix. Right? And they were in the mix in January. They were. They had that amazing run. Everybody's like, oh, so excited. We gotta make the playoff this year. They lost. Enemy was a big loss. Bigger loss than we thought. Also because since Anaman got hurt, got hit by a car in San Jose. Yeah, yeah.

Ryan Whitney (154:12)

Up.

Paul Bissonnette (154:12)

Yeah. On the way to the kid.

Ryan Whitney (154:14)

Young kid.

Paul Bissonnette (154:15)

Yeah.

Ryan Whitney (154:15)

Nice player.

Paul Bissonnette (154:16)

Yeah. Great player. So he. So he was like, they were the. The best fort line in league with Evans and Army. They were playing amazing. And so. So these two injuries. Dosh was a great story. Now, like, you know, the team's not.

Ryan Whitney (154:29)

So.

Paul Bissonnette (154:29)

The team's getting patient with Laney right now. But the stories of the year was Hudson.

Ryan Whitney (154:33)

You've liked watching. Oh, how about the mobile Quinn Hughes?

Biz Nasty (154:37)

He's gonna be a Quinn Hughes.

Paul Bissonnette (154:38)

Oh, yeah. Like, for sure. Like, he. And he. He's. He's. He's doing a lot of things right. He creates Like a lot of offense from nothing. Like he's. He's very. A generational talent. Like he's gonna, he's gonna be good for.

Biz Nasty (154:50)

And Eric Engel said it's a lazy take about his defensive play where he does. You can see some clips where he gets roasted, but I guess everybody does. But you're very impressed with even defense.

Paul Bissonnette (155:00)

He competes. That's the thing. His compete level is so intense. He's got a great stick. So he competes. His stick is there. Of course he's gonna get. You know, he's not the fastest skater in straight line but he's so agile. So yeah, so that's the biggest story of the year. Carrier's trade was amazing. Alexander that they want to get in Nashville to help like very elder defensive corp. Having everybody in the right chair and the guys keep growing. I think they'll have a problem with Evans contract right now. You know, there I think they started to talk because he's a big part of this team. He's becoming a big part of his team. He's going to be free this year. So there's trade rumors. So I'm excited to see what they're going to do because you know, he's worth, you know, maybe four a year right now. Four or five year contract. So are they gonna take that chance? Because if you lose him, Beck is coming up. He's playing well. Owen Beck. But then you have like Suzuki obviously. But after not convinced with Doc on the second yet, you know, so now it lives. It leaves like the second third line center open. So they still have a lot of I think, you know, moves to make to become that team. But I like the face of the team in Suzuki's leadership.

Ryan Whitney (156:06)

Caulfield like and the prospects are nice.

Paul Bissonnette (156:08)

Yeah, they have good goalies too. There's Fowlers come in. There's a Russian goalie too that's doing good. So they have some, some stuff in the bank but you need to put it all together.

Pasha (156:20)

Hey, there's no guy that can answer this question better than you.

Ryan Whitney (156:23)

It's.

Pasha (156:24)

This is total rumor boys, but will we ever see Crosby playing for the Canadians?

Ryan Whitney (156:28)

Oh crap.

Paul Bissonnette (156:29)

People got excited this weekend.

Ryan Whitney (156:31)

Oh my God.

Paul Bissonnette (156:32)

Imagine that. But ah, man, it's so tough. Like I wouldn't want to be Cal Dubas like right now in pet. He's got a lot of work to do, right. I think he started the process of rebuild right now with the recent move. But like I think you just need to address it with Sid. I don't have any ends of that answer. But you need to ask Sid, like, what do you want to do? You know, that's the. The only thing that Dubas can do. Basically, he's got no move, no trade. But I think to accelerate the build of the Pittsburgh Penguin franchise, it's one thing you need to consider.

Biz Nasty (157:06)

You think it's more likely he ends up with the ABs than he would with Montreal?

Paul Bissonnette (157:11)

That's the rumor, probably, you know, to play and have a chance to win and stuff like that. Because the.

Ryan Whitney (157:15)

The.

Paul Bissonnette (157:16)

I don't know if Montreal is ready to win the next two years. Who knows? But I, you know, so you go there basically just for the story and play and for. Yeah, we'll call him.

Ryan Whitney (157:25)

He's like, if you hadn't signed, if you hadn't sign in Philly, I tell.

Paul Bissonnette (157:28)

You, are you gonna sign for much? I don't know. I mean, as a fan of the game, I mean, I just want him.

Ryan Whitney (157:34)

In the playoffs, like you. Yeah, that's. I just want to. After last night, it was one game, so I can't wait till, you know, Saturday night with usa. It's like, you just miss him in the big games. You just miss seeing him in the big one.

Biz Nasty (157:45)

I had bloggers and media from Pittsburgh. They were not happy with me starting. Kick up dust on the Crosby to the.

Paul Bissonnette (157:51)

Yeah, when.

Biz Nasty (157:52)

Yeah, I know, but, like, like you just said, I'm a fan of the game. Like, I would love to see Sid back in the mix, and playing him and McKinnon together, that would be an NHL dream. The cap would go up another 3 million bucks.

Paul Bissonnette (158:04)

Well, I agree that if he goes, imagine him going to New York Rangers, like, you know, a big market or even Toronto. Let's say that. But you look at his face, you're like, can you see him with a different jersey? Like, I can't.

Ryan Whitney (158:17)

I can't, but I can't.

Biz Nasty (158:20)

But somebody did send me a photoshopped one of him with the ABS One on. It looks the most normal.

Paul Bissonnette (158:25)

You put it over your bed.

Biz Nasty (158:27)

Yeah.

Ryan Whitney (158:27)

You haven't even seen one with him with a Habs jersey on. Imagine that one. It probably looks.

Biz Nasty (158:36)

They say that Habs is likely because his father was the biggest Habs fan growing up. So I don't know. This was awesome.

Ryan Whitney (158:43)

Any. Any kid who wants to make the NHL, listening to how you approached your life and your career here. It's. It was an honor playing with you, buddy. And we appreciate you swinging by. This was a blast.

Biz Nasty (158:53)

And remember, kids, it's better to hold back a wild horse than it is to push a donkey for sure.

Paul Bissonnette (158:59)

Do it, do that. Guys. It's, it's. Hey, and guys, I'm so proud of you guys, everybody. Hey, you guys played with, you played with this guys, you know? Yeah. And I always, I'm so proud of you guys, man, watching you and tnt, I always say it's the best intermission. I don't miss those, you know, like, wow, that's. Oh, for sure.

Biz Nasty (159:18)

It's you guys are doing on there for one tbo. We got Tukaras coming in on Monday.

Ryan Whitney (159:23)

Oh, is he coming?

Biz Nasty (159:24)

Yeah, Tukas is joining the mix. So I think they should. They're going to start incorporating more and more guys. So just don't take my spot, please.

Paul Bissonnette (159:32)

Never.

Ryan Whitney (159:33)

Thanks, guys.

Biz Nasty (159:34)

Love you.

Paul Bissonnette (159:34)

Appreciate it, boys.

Ryan Whitney (159:38)

Guys, Whit here. I want to talk to you about body armor. This episode is brought to you by Body Armor Flash iv. Body Armor Flash IV is packed with electrolytes and provides faster and longer lasting hydration with zero artificial flavors, sweeteners or dyes. That's the stuff you cannot have in your drink. And Flash IV has none of it. None of that crap. No artificial flavors, no dyes, no sweeteners. It's all goodness in a Body Armor Flash iv. And that includes the flavors. Great tasting flavors like strawberry, kiwi and tropical punch. Body Armor Flash IV gives your body the rehydration it needs to recover. Recover. I had a long weekend. All of a sudden I got home, I had a new shipment of Flash iv. Boom, down the hatch. I felt phenomenal on a Monday morning, waking up when back in the day I wouldn't have felt so great. And it's all because of body armor flash IV. Get yours at a local 711 or on Amazon today. That's right, you can go right on Amazon. Go down to your local 7 11, get your body armor flash IV. It'll bring you back, you'll feel great and you'll be hydrated. Traded for as much as you need to do. 711 or Amazon today, that's body armor flash IV. Thank you so much to Max Talbot. What a guy. I'm so happy to see how well he's doing. And that guy lives life with a lot of passion, man. Like what? He's. He's tried so many different things. He's got all his hand and all these different things. And I had a blast playing with him every day. He had energy at the rink and I, I hope you could kind of see that or hear that from listening to that interview. So thanks a lot, Max. It was Great spending time with, with you and the guy. We had nowhere to sit, we had nowhere to go for the US Canada game and all of a sudden he gets on the phone and boom, we're sitting in a box and we had a great night. So, Max, what a guy. Thank you so much, buddy. I appreciate it. And on to the quick hits, which is sponsored by Dove Men plus Care. Finally, there is a scrub designed for men's needs. Add 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 your skin feels and it's made for your face, your body and your scalp. So right now, go to Dove Men plus Care. Check it out. Get involved. You'll look amazing. If you want to try it, find it at Walmart today. Guys, I did want to mention that with all the talk about over and his goal chase and how cool this story is, there is a Crosby side to this and what he's chasing and that is that if Sid finishes this year with a point per game or better, he would break Wayne Gretzky's all time record. He would have 20 seasons as a point per game player or better. Wayne did it 19 times as Sid has, so I think Sid needs 16 points points to guarantee himself over a point per game again, which is just the fact that he's, he's knock on wood, gonna do it. That is just wild. I mean, 20 years in a row as point per game or better. So that's an amazing thing to see happen and, and it's just incredible and unfortunate to see Pittsburgh struggling so much, but to see Crosby still doing his thing. The Washington Capitals have re signed goaltender Charlie lingren to a three year, $9 million contract extension mentioned Lingren's contract will carry an average annual value of $3 million. That was interesting to see and also.

Biz Nasty (163:03)

To put things in perspective, they're, they're both, they're tan. Their tandem is making less than Bobrovsky, I think. You know, so that's a pretty good, pretty good bargain for that Washington team with not only Lindgren but Thompson playing as well as he has. So just a great thing they got going in wash. Right. Right now.

Ryan Whitney (163:23)

So also Taylor hall is in talks with the Hurricanes for an extension. What do you think that that deal would look like, Biz? I, I think it goes back to our interview with him and him just being so grateful for playing in the NHL and wanting to win. I, I would assume he wouldn't be trying to break the bank or anything.

Biz Nasty (163:39)

No, I probably say like a two year, four year.

Ryan Whitney (163:42)

Yeah, yeah. He scored his first goal with the Hurricanes recently. That was. I was happy to see for that. That. Yeah, I think something like that. Two years at. At 4 to 5.5 a year.

Biz Nasty (163:53)

Yeah, he's. He's going to be your, your like 5th to 7th best forward on the team. So he should be making about 4 million bucks if he makes a little more. Good for him. But I think that all he cares about, kind of like when he went to Boston, is just being in a winning culture, being part of a fun group of guys and riding out like a. I mean, fuck, man, the guy got drafted first overall. He's got a heart trophy came within, you know, I mean, Stanley Cup's the last thing he needs to add to his mantle. So, you know, it's a good opportunity being in Carolina and he gets to ride it out in a place where he's not under the microscope. I'm sure it wasn't that fun of a time, you know, his time in Chicago, especially losing as much as he was. So it's all about just your environment now. So good for him. And didn't he just have a kid? Right?

Ryan Whitney (164:40)

Yeah, his son. I think he might be approaching a year. But yeah, it was good to sit down with him and I'm happy, man, he's got a chance to get into the playoffs and make a little noise and I hope he resigns there. He has moved around a lot too. So I think for him it's like he's there. He probably wants. All right, let me, let me sign here. So hopefully that works out for him. Olimara signed a three year extension with Utah. That's a 3.5 AAV for him, you know. So Utah has been coming on strong man that Clayton Keller. Since he didn't make four nations roster roster, he's been on a tear. I think he was first star of the week last week in the NHL.

Biz Nasty (165:16)

So Olimara, another guy, he's been playing solid too. He's starting to come along. Schmaltz had a slow start, but he's been buzzing too. So. Yeah, they got a lot of jam going there. I actually had dinner the other night with Ryan Smith. He was in Arizona. Yeah, I brought him to Houston's.

Keith Yandle (165:34)

Got him jumped.

Biz Nasty (165:35)

Yeah, no, no, no, I brought him there for security reasons. But no, it was good chatting to him, man. And he's thrilled and Obviously he's looking to make a splash in the offseason too. Not shy to spend money and really just continuing to integrate like the, the multi sport like they, he's going to get something going with the basketball and the hockey and continue, continue to, to grow you sports there in Utah which is as he explains an unreal community to live and it's, he loves it there.

Ryan Whitney (166:04)

Brutal news for Devils fans. I think the Devils are like 9:12 and 3 in their last 24 games after an incredible start to the year. And the most upsetting thing for all is, is Jack Hughes was injured against Vegas on Sunday. Kind of a scary looking injury. We don't really know if it's wrist, if it's shoulder. He was going off the ice in a, in a really awkward position. I saw a tweet, don't know if it's true or not that Luke Hughes was pretty emotional after the game and Jack Hughes has been through all these different injuries and what an incredible player. But Pasha, I mean this guy and, and let's go. So the bet we made now I hated making this bet. The bet popped up where Pasha was ranting and raving about how amazing he was three years ago and, and I, I actually didn't realize how good he was then. I didn't understand. I hadn't seen him play that much. And Pasha's like, you know, he's a superstar. He's going to be top five player in the league, league. And I said oh. And this was solely because I was just like I, I want to argue with Pasha right now. I said oh no, he's not that good. He's not that good. And we ended up making a bet that he had to get a hundred points in one of the next three seasons. Ok now then I started watching more closely and I was like holy shit, I love watching this guy play. I, I, I hate that I have this bet now. Part of the bet was that I just can't stand Pasha and wanted to bet against him. And then part of it was that he is kind of slight. And I was like I don't know if he'll be able to stay healthy for, for 82 games. You know, like even though he's as incredible as he is, to get a hundred points you gotta play at least 75 games, right? Like and so we made the bet and the first year he got 99 points. And I was like holy shit, I'm screwed. I am absolutely screwed in this thing. And I was bummed out because like I like watching the guy play, and he's American rooting for him. And now I'm like, oh, I don't want him to get 100 points. But I was like, whatever. And then last year, he gets hurt. Okay, he gets hurt. So now I'm two years in. And so going into this season, I said to Pasha, I said, listen, dude, I don't want a part of this bet anymore. I love what. The guy's one of my favorite players to watch. So dynamic fast. He's exactly like a new NHL type superstar. I want to get out of this bet. I'll pay you 2,500 bucks. Now, to me, if you make a bet with a buddy, right, you pay your bets always. But you make a bet with a buddy and he's offering you, what, 90% of the payout just so that I could root him on and enjoy watching him, you'd take it? No.

Biz Nasty (168:43)

Would you take that bet? You'd think.

Ryan Whitney (168:45)

You'd think, think. But as Biz said in the group chat, you know the old saying, Pasha, Pigs get fed, hogs get slaughtered. And this asshole said no to me. Oh, man, this guy is down.

Biz Nasty (169:00)

Oh, you look like you're down.

Ryan Whitney (169:01)

Guys down. And now looking back, Pasha, as friends, as like, two, Like, I love you and I know we've become close. Like, 2,500 bucks. Like, we what? What were you thinking? Warning. The following statements are about to be.

Paul Bissonnette (169:16)

Made by a deranged Devils fan. The views expressed are his and his only. Take everything you hear with a grain.

Ryan Whitney (169:21)

Of salt because remember, he is a deranged Devils fan.

Devils Fan (169:24)

I was just gonna say, like, don't even bother rolling. Disclaimer. Like, I, I. There's nothing to say. I barely slept last night. Like, woke up, had five seconds of peace before I remember what happened again. Dave ruined. This is just like living in a nightmare. Seems like every year this happens. Like, I almost peep cute watching the game last night. And like, wait, I don't give a fuck about the bat. I don't care about the money.

Ryan Whitney (169:45)

I know, I know.

Devils Fan (169:46)

I just care about, like, this excitement of the season's been sucked out. I was looking at places to rent in Jersey, go for the playoffs. I don't even know if they're going to make it anymore. Even if they do. Like, they're not going to do shit.

Biz Nasty (169:56)

He was looking at penthouses in Hoboken thinking not only was he going to win your bet, but he was going to ride out this playoff run. There being a content factor. And I, I don't even Know if they're going to make it out of the first round at this point.

Devils Fan (170:10)

I don't know if they're even going to make playoffs at this point. They've alternated wins and losses the last 12 games. That's with Jock, like, lighting it up.

Ryan Whitney (170:17)

They're so, dude, hey, he was gonna, he was catching. I was like, this thing's over. Like, he was two points a game every game lately.

Devils Fan (170:25)

They're so. I just like, see, season's over. I mean. Yeah. I don't even know what to say. I'm in shock. It's a joke.

Biz Nasty (170:30)

Yeah. Now, I, I, I did read reports this morning that it maybe wasn't as bad as it originally looked. Now, is that, was that false?

Devils Fan (170:39)

I know I saw one tweet from like, a team B reporter that he's flying back to Jersey and he's heard it might not be as severe as people think.

Ryan Whitney (170:45)

That's true.

Devils Fan (170:45)

What is, what does that mean? Like, instead of fucking four to six months, it's two months, three, like, you know, who knows?

Ryan Whitney (170:52)

Like, well, no, I, I, maybe they take a look and, and it's a month and, and he's ready to go.

Paul Bissonnette (170:57)

Yeah.

Devils Fan (170:58)

Like, to me, like, if he's ready for Game 1 of the playoffs, I'll take that as a win right now. But to me, that's, it just looked so scary that even that seems like a big if. And again, like, we've seen it with him in the past. Even when he comes back from these shoulder injuries or wrist, I don't know which one it is. It takes him a while to get going and, like, they're not going to have enough Runway for him to, like, get back up to speed. They're, they're so fucked, boys. The only, only flash of positivity I can see is if it is one of those things where it's six, seven weeks. I think playoffs are seven weeks away. If he's out four or five, six weeks, and Fitzy somehow uses the ltir thing to load up and then Jack comes back and kind of doesn't miss a beat. That's the only silver lining of this. But I am not very optimistic, I think.

Biz Nasty (171:42)

So that's what I was going to ask you. It probably looks like they're going to end up playing Carolina. Right? So not going to be easy, buddy.

Devils Fan (171:48)

I think it's more likely that they end up slide to a wild card or even like, they might miss, dude, like, they're, they're so fucked without him. Like, they already could not score like, they have the goaltending, they have the defense. Even though Sigenthal are their best defensive defenseman's been out, they just can't score. Scoring has been their problem, which has been the opposite of them the last couple years. So you take Jock away. I mean, fuck me.

Ryan Whitney (172:09)

Like, so they, they're eight points up on the Rangers. The Rangers do have two games in hand. I, I would think with, with Markstrom and the D that they'll be okay to hold on to that. And it's like I don't, I don't mind them at all against Carolina. Now granted that's with Jack Hughes, but I've kind of seen. And now this is Twitter. This is hockey Twitter. But like Devil's fans seem to be all over Tom Fitzgerald a little bit. Where I'm like, I, I don't really see that.

Devils Fan (172:38)

That's crazy. They're talking about Fire Fitzy, this and that. Like, to me, that's crazy. I've loved, I've loved Frank the Tank talking. No, no, it's more than Frank.

Ryan Whitney (172:47)

It's more.

Devils Fan (172:48)

Yeah. Like nowadays, like you act like they've. They act like they've lost 20 games in a row. Like, like I said, they've alternated wins and losses for 12 games in a row now, which is for a team as good as they should be. That's still pathetic. They're just kind of treading water. But like people are talking Fire Fitzy. Fire Fitzy. To me, it's crazy. Like they, you know, their biggest needs are top six winger and a on a bottom six center. Those are easily addressable with the, the kind of the resources they have, the picks and prospects. So to me, like when Jack was healthy, this team was a couple very doable moves away from being an absolute wagon. The Fire Fitzy stuff is crazy.

Keith Yandle (173:21)

So crazy.

Biz Nasty (173:22)

So I would say that the palat signing has been underwhelming. I'd say that the Timo Meyer trade and signing has been underwhelming. Now, Timo Meyer is the type of guy in playoffs, like, he is a power forward. He is solid below the goal line, the offensive zone. He's the type of guy will go to the crease. Like are those two that really stand out? What are the other ones that you're not happy with?

Devils Fan (173:44)

No, I, I mean, I would have liked to see more from Meyer, but I've never in my 20 plus years of being a hockey fan see a guy be a snake bit in his Meyer. I think he's dead last in the league and Goals scored under expectations. He's driven play the whole season. He doesn't get power play one time. He's been playing third line most of the season. I think he's one guy that'll benefit from Hughes being out. He'll be put on that first power play. I think he had 15 goals in 19 games in March last year. I think we're going to see a similar offensive explosion or they're going to need that from him to stay afloat. So I think Meyer actually like has been a beast despite the goals not being there. I'm not worried about Meyer the palat deal. Yeah, sure. But again, like to me, that play he made in game seven that won them that against the Rangers. I don't care if he's like, he's the worst contract on the team, whatever, like making 6 million bucks. Bury him, buy him out, whatever cap going up, like, and if that's the biggest blemish on Fitzy, like, whatever.

Ryan Whitney (174:37)

What, what do you think? And he's only 22 years old, but I kind of thought a little bit more from Dawson Mercer this year. Like do you see on a cup, on a cup team, is he, is he a third liner or do you still think there's more to, to his game?

Devils Fan (174:52)

He's been very disappointing. I will put part of that on his usage. I think the numbers when he plays with Jack have been really good. He's not a play driver. He's a complimentary guy. You know, he needs a guy like Jock to sort of drive the line and he'll finish, but that's no excuse. Like, he has been very, very disappointing. Probably the biggest disappointment of the season, along with Simone Nemes.

Ryan Whitney (175:13)

Yeah. And then lastly, like this Kovacevic, who no one really expected anything offensive of, all of a sudden he, he starts playing with Sean Thaler and they're one of the best shutdown pairs in the league. Since Siegenthaler has been out, it's kind of been pretty apparent that he was carrying Kovacevic a little bit. Like that's, that's what I've seen. And, and it, it kind of now you're like, oh, do we resign this guy? Where before there was a lot of.

Biz Nasty (175:37)

Talk about extending him, Pasha was calling him Kovechkin.

Devils Fan (175:41)

Well, that was Keith after game one.

Keith Yandle (175:43)

Oh, but no way.

Devils Fan (175:45)

You're, you're bang on with that. And I think the expectation was like, okay, well, like is it going to be him or Nemetz because there's only so many slots available in the right handed side, I think it might help them in the long run, you know, not sort of giving him a big deal based on a really good 40, 50 games. So we'll see. I think, I think the jury reigns out on kind of what kind of player he truly is for them. But I mean, listen for what they got him for, he's been great.

Ryan Whitney (176:09)

I feel for you, Pasha, and that is no exaggeration of, like, if people think we're joking about how much this guy loves the Devils. He has never missed a second of a game when I've been with him. He lives and dies with this team. And I was actually, like, excited for what they were doing at the beginning of the year too, based. Based on how fun they are to watch like that. Like, Sheldon Keef came over and it was like, holy. Like, they are not only good now, but they're set for the next five, six years. I still think that's the case, but what has transpired has been. Has been a disappointment for, for Devils fans and, and hockey fans. They. I mean, I know if you're a Rangers fan, you hate the Devils.

Devils Fan (176:47)

And also, like, not to just add to the doom and gloom, but like, at some point, this is a bigger career type concern for Hughes. Like, how many times can you hurt his shoulders?

Ryan Whitney (176:55)

We're hoping it's not shoulder. We're hoping it's not shoulder.

Devils Fan (176:58)

I'd rather be broken wrist. And like, he's. He's back four to six weeks type thing, hopefully. But like, you know what, you start to have to kind of wonder, like, how many times can this guy hurt his shoulder. Shoulders before it's like a bigger picture concern. So maybe that's just my like, shock and negativity talking right now, but very, very rattled.

Keith Yandle (177:15)

Good news. You. Good news. You got Dallas tomorrow.

Biz Nasty (177:18)

Oh. Oh, Jesus. Any consolation, your hair looks incredible. Your tan looks great. Your beard looks manicured. You look like a. You look like a model right now.

Ryan Whitney (177:29)

We have a. Another thing that'll brighten your day. A sponsor of ours, betterhelp.com oh, go to betterhealth.com I thought it was a MEM sponsorship. There's. There's over 30,000 therapists online. So check them out and we'll talk to you soon, buddy. We'll talk to you soon. Poor Pasha.

Keith Yandle (177:46)

And, and wow, he was in the dumps.

Ryan Whitney (177:49)

If. If. If you think I enjoyed that bet, like, I was like, this sucks. Like, I hated it. I hated it. But, you know, I offered him 2,500 bucks.

Biz Nasty (177:58)

I think he would have rathered his Girlfriend break up with them than what happened?

Ryan Whitney (178:02)

Hey, 1,000%.

Keith Yandle (178:04)

One million percent. Yeah.

Ryan Whitney (178:05)

Like, yeah, we're on the road with this guy, and he's got his phone. Oh, penalty.

Paul Bissonnette (178:09)

Oh.

Ryan Whitney (178:10)

Oh. It's crypto wallet by greed. With. By greed. So it really stinks. It really stinks. That kind of leads us over. Look, I want to give a Congrats to Kevin BX's son Cole. He signed with the Colquitlam Express in the BC Juice is an awesome dude. I think he's also coached his son a little bit, and so it's cool to see his tunnel be going to the bchl. I love that guy. And I'm rooting for. For Cole. Good luck, buddy. And we interviewed Ryan Kessler, boys. We're going to throw it over to him. So he is the coach of the 2010 Little Caesars team. They're the number one team in the country.

Biz Nasty (178:50)

They could beat the Blackhawks right now.

Ryan Whitney (178:52)

They. They are a wagon, needless to say, like an absolute wagon. And we wanted to have them on because a story went viral. They played Bel tire. They won 43 to nothing. 43 to nothing. It. It cost four. And when you listen to the interview, he mentions that there was a goal. They didn't count.

Biz Nasty (179:15)

This is like Alabama playing Davenport University in football.

Ryan Whitney (179:19)

Yeah.

Keith Yandle (179:20)

Online school.

Ryan Whitney (179:22)

I, I, you know, I saw it and I was like, holy. And I kind of just immediately fell. Felt really bad for the kids on Bell Tire. But I wanted to talk to Cass and kind of get his side, get his viewpoint of everything. So without us going into it, let's throw it over to Ryan Kessler right now, who is coaching a team who. Yeah, they may be in the NHL next season. So NHL veteran Ryan Kessler. What up, guys? Time to talk about DraftKings. The NHL season has been as predictable as a puck rolling on its edge. No one knows where it's going. We got the deadline coming up. Who's getting traded where what assets are getting traded where whose favorite players going to another team. And all that brings back to DraftKings. But there's more time for you now to figure things out, because DraftKings is here for you. The DraftKings sportsbook and official sports betting partner of the NHL NHL is at your fingertips with the DraftKings sportsbook app. The NHL is the fastest game on ice, and you can make it fast with live bets during any game on the DraftKings sportsbook. It's super easy for first timers to get started. Try betting on something very simple, like picking a team. To win, go to DraftKings sportsbook app, select your team and place your first bet. And if you're new to DraftKings, listen up right now. New customers bet $5 to get $150 in bonus bets instant instantly. Download the DraftKings sportsbook app now and use code Chiclets. That's Code Chiclets for new customers to get $150 in bonus bets instantly. When you bet just five bucks only on DraftKings, the crown is yours.

Paul Bissonnette (180:58)

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Ryan Whitney (181:19)

Void.

Paul Bissonnette (181:19)

In Ontario, bonus bets expire 168 hours after issuance. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see DKNG CO Audio.

Ryan Whitney (181:32)

We are now joined by Ryan Kessler. 1001 regular season games, many playoff games. Hell of a player. And now now the coach of the number one team in the country for 2010 birth years. That's Little Caesars Hockey Club. They were in the news this past week. They were in the news. Hell of a wagon they have here. Cass, how you been, buddy? What's going on?

Max Talbot (181:54)

I've been good. Took a lot of heat for that one and I wasn't, I wasn't even in the state. I was. I had some business to attend to in California, so I watched that one at, at Joey's on my phone and saw that, Saw that beating. Yeah, it was. It's, it's too bad. You know, that's not a game we set up. It's. It's actually a playoff game. That's our league and we have eight teams in our league and, and unfortunately, USA Hockey and playoffs make you play all 48 minutes and there's no run time, there's no mercy rule. But in the regular season and there is a mercy rule. So after two periods, if you're up by 15 goals, the game's just over. And every, like if you score your 15th in the third period, the game's over. It was. And with it being playoffs, our teams geared up. This is what you play your whole season for is, is state playoffs. And you know, we will have some competitive games here next weekend in the semis and hopefully the finals and then three weeks after that we're looking to win another state or another national championship.

Biz Nasty (183:05)

Foot on their throats, man. Don't let up. Can we. Can we explain the backstory here when I feel like it made national news? A lot of conversation these days about minor hockey and how it's handled and maybe some parents being a little bit too intense about it. So when I'll hand it over to you to explain, explain the final score. Maybe some backlash from some of the parents. Some of the shots.

Ryan Whitney (183:28)

143 to nothing. I saw.

Keith Yandle (183:34)

You should change your name to the no Limit Soldiers.

Max Talbot (183:37)

They actually forgot a goal. We actually won 44 to nothing.

Ryan Whitney (183:40)

Okay. Okay.

Max Talbot (183:41)

And the shots were 121.

Biz Nasty (183:43)

Was that souk in the lineup?

Ryan Whitney (183:44)

All right, well. Well, let's get into.

Max Talbot (183:46)

We got a hell of a staff. Our staff's ran by myself, Alex Tangay, who I think runs a 38% power play percentage with the Red Wings right now. And. And he does our power play as well. We have Brian Sippitz who played like 10 years for the Chicago Wolves. You got Chris Connor, who played 250 NHL games. So our staff is. Knows what it takes. And all these kids are so dedicated. They. They want to win and they want to. They want to make it to the NHL like all of us did. So to have them take a game off is. Is non negotiable.

Biz Nasty (184:20)

They have an analytics guy. Actually Pasha's doing their under the hood analytics. They have a massage therapist as well that travels with. With the team diet.

Max Talbot (184:29)

But we do have iPads on the bench and.

Keith Yandle (184:32)

No.

Max Talbot (184:32)

And that live stream. And we do have sensors on the boys.

Biz Nasty (184:36)

Do you have a video coach?

Max Talbot (184:38)

Well, we have a guy filming and my brother. My brother as well. My brother helps out with us and he does all the tech. I run it and our staff runs it like a professional organization. And I think that's where all the heat comes from. From. I take pride in it. My staff takes pride in it, and we give the kids as much as we need. Brian Sipitz, our D coach, runs his own gym, Advantage Strength.

Biz Nasty (185:02)

So the.

Max Talbot (185:02)

The boys are. Are dialed in with the workouts, they're dialed in with the video, they're dialed in on the power play. Nutrition. We have a nutritional coach, which is also Brian Sippit. So we have everything that they need and we just expect hard work and. And the ability to come to the rink and be coachable. And that's what they all do.

Biz Nasty (185:20)

You got them on peptides. Like are the kids doing injections or anything or. I heard.

Max Talbot (185:24)

I heard about that stuff, I haven't tried it yet.

Ryan Whitney (185:29)

So get back to the game. And, and obviously I've kind of heard a lot about this team like this. Obviously it's the number one team in the country. These kids will be turning 15 in 2025, correct?

Biz Nasty (185:40)

Yeah, correct.

Ryan Whitney (185:41)

So I think that it was kind of split I saw on social media. Once it went viral, it was like a lot of people like, hey, like, this is, this is legit hockey. These kids are 15 years old. It's not like they're 8 and 9. And then the other side was like, all right, at 20 nothing. Almost make it like a, I don't know, like a 10 pass rule or, or, and it's really hard to, to just not score. What, what did the coach tell you after the game in terms of like, what he was telling the guy? Guys, like, was there ever a point where you're like, all right guys, enough's enough.

Biz Nasty (186:14)

Where they were playing with their sticks upside down when it went to 20 nothing.

Ryan Whitney (186:17)

They should have gone righty, lefty, right. I just feel for the other kids on the other team, but like, I.

Max Talbot (186:24)

Feel for him, you know, and, and to be honest, watching that game, none of those kids on the other side gave up, which is impressive, right? They weren't seeing kids crying on the ice or upset that, you know, their backup goalie actually played D that game. So he dressed out as a, as a defenseman. So they didn't even have a backup goalie that game to, to pull the kid, which I felt awful about.

Ryan Whitney (186:48)

But yeah, the backup's like, I ain't going into this game. I know what's coming.

Biz Nasty (186:52)

One kid let, I, I, I heard.

Max Talbot (186:54)

All the things like play opps at hand. We're in state playoffs. I'm not going to have my team do any of that. I think playing keep away, I think that's, that's disrespectful to the other team. And if you watch the game from goal one to game 43, the only two times that our team celebrated was in the third period when we had two kids that haven't scored in a while scored a goal. And that was not to throw that in their face. That was because they're happy for their teammate. They scored goal one, they lined up, they did it again. There was no big hits. If you watch the game, there's one, one, one hit in the game maybe. So they're not taking other kids heads off. They're, they're being respectful. They're not chirping them. They understand that you know, it's going to be a lopsided game, but they, I was proud of the way our boys handled it and, and they were super respectful with, with playing under a name like Little Caesars. Brian Ralston's the hockey director and being associated with the Red Wings, I think it's important that, that we, we, we have the utmost respect on the ice.

Keith Yandle (187:59)

Did every kid on the team score?

Biz Nasty (188:00)

Yes.

Ryan Whitney (188:01)

And how many points did the leading scorer in the game get?

Max Talbot (188:05)

I want to say like 10 maybe. So it was, it was 10 points is a lot. But you look at the score and, and it's the, it was spread out throughout the lineup. It wasn't like one line was doing it. And that's the thing with my team. There's no drop off, you know, from forward one to forward ten. I can, I can play anybody. And, and our staff feels comfortable playing anybody against like we don't match lines, minds. We just go out and next man up. We, we take pride as a staff in developing all 18 kids, a lot of kids. There are a lot of teams and youth that they focus on their five best players and if they don't give them ice time, they're leaving to go to the next team. And that's just not the way we coach. We, we coach as we're going to teach every kid how to be on the power play, we're going to keep, teach every kid how to kill because, you know, even me, we played different positions too. The first time I played wing was with Matt Sundin in Vancouver and I had no idea how to play on the wall, like, no clue. Like, I was always a centerman. So the ability to gain these traits and develop over the course of a few years and maybe pick up something that you learn or you have to have in your bag down the road to help advance your career is something that we all believe in as a staff.

Biz Nasty (189:20)

Should those kids who they played against be playing aaa and was there any backlash from their coaching staff or their parents or were they okay with it and saying, hey, sometimes in life your kid needs to get, get a licking and it's a good learning lesson and you got to go hit the gym like the other team's doing. Go pay attention more to the power play and maybe the little details because some people might like these kids are turning 15 years old. It's not like we're talking about eight, nine years old. Like you're, you're about to hit, you know, getting draft ellable to junior age.

Max Talbot (189:50)

Yeah, yeah. You know, they, they've had a challenging year, to say the least. They, they, they've lost some pretty lopsided games and, and I give it to their coach. Their coach is a great guy. He talked to me after, after the game and he talked to me yesterday and he wished us nothing but the best. And, and he, he coached his last game yesterday. I think that team is, I think there's a new team coming in for that team next year. I'm not sure what's going on there, but I don't think that team's going to be a team next year.

Ryan Whitney (190:21)

So I saw recently that you were hired, kind of explain with, with the National Team Development Program. Now, I'm guessing with your past playing for, representing your country, playing there and doing all the things you did that has something to do with it and maybe possibly because there's gotta be, I don't know what, five, six kids that will probably make that team in two years. The under 17 team.

Biz Nasty (190:44)

Yeah.

Ryan Whitney (190:45)

That you're coaching now, I would say.

Max Talbot (190:48)

At least five or six, I would expect. But you never know. We, we have some good players and some players that are climbing the ranks quickly. We have some kids that are very dedicated and they work out. They're crazy. Way crazier than I, My own son's a nut job. He works out like seven days a week, week on his own, which is bizarre to me. But looking at that U17 team, if we have five or six guys, I wouldn't be surprised. But I, I, I bet you we could have more and we could have less because, you know, I know they like to pick from around the country.

Ryan Whitney (191:21)

And what are you doing for the program? Did, did I see that correct or no?

Max Talbot (191:25)

I used to be like a volunteer assistant coach a couple years ago.

Ryan Whitney (191:30)

Oh, okay.

Max Talbot (191:30)

For Adam Nightingale. Adam coaches Michigan State now. And he, he's a, he's a great coach. He, he has a, he taught me a lot. It was, it was a great experience. And then when, when he left, the new coaching staff just didn't want me there, I guess.

Ryan Whitney (191:49)

Oh, really? Yeah, it just, so that, that means, that means Riker's going to the O.

Biz Nasty (191:55)

Not so much.

Max Talbot (191:56)

They didn't want me there. It was, it was more like they wanted me to be a video coach and, and, and do a bunch of video. And I, I was fine with that, but it just, I, I didn't like it. I didn't like, I, I'd rather be on the ice with the kids and helping them and developing them and, you know, especially watching that Four Nations Tournament and that first game I was, I was, I was loving that. That, that brought back a lot of memories and, and, and it makes me like, you know, it brings you back to playing for the Olympics and playing for your country and, and I'd love to get in with coaching with the national team again for sure.

Biz Nasty (192:29)

Cass, how many other programs at that age around the country do you think are running it the way that you guys are running it? Like, are you talking to anywhere else? Because you just brought up the four nations. Like there's obviously like a, a resurgence almost of American hockey. Right? Like there, there's a lot of popularity and buzz going right now and I'm sure we're going to see tons of players coming out of the states because of it. College hockey's growing like crazy, especially the viewership. So are you in contact attack with these other programs that are running it like you and, and as hardcore and invested?

Ryan Whitney (192:58)

Yeah. Who are the top five 2010s after you guys?

Max Talbot (193:02)

Shaddock, St. Mary's so I don't know anything about their program. We haven't played them yet this year. We, we tried to link up it just with, with us being so far away from each other, it just didn't happen. Mount St. Charles, which is another prep school out east, Boston Minutemen, which is a kind of split season team, they're up there and I can't even tell you after that. They change so much. I know Buffalo's has a good team. Dallas boss Bishop Kearney, BK selects, has a good team. But I would say out of the top, like the top 10 teams can compete. And then after that there's a, there's a bit of a drop off now.

Keith Yandle (193:43)

Will the, will these kids go and, and play high school and still play for you? Like how we used to play the split season type stuff or is it okay?

Max Talbot (193:53)

Yeah, yeah, we are, we are. Full season out east is still like that. So like Boston Minuteman, they all go play for their prep schools. I'm not sure how you probably can speak more on that, but I'm not sure how that all works. I know talking to the Boston Minuteman coach, he has a really good team. We have won one goal games all the time with them and he lost his team to split season. So they all like disperse and then they come back together for nationals.

Ryan Whitney (194:23)

Keith, that's like Collins team, your nephew. Yeah, they, they, the Junior Eagles, the 2009, they play, you know, fall and spring and then in the, in the winter they're all at their prep schools and stuff. So it is diff. It's always been a little different for Michigan, Michigan as opposed to Massachusetts area kids with the full season stuff.

Max Talbot (194:41)

But all the tier one teams play under different rules. It's. It's bizarre. So like we are only allowed to have five kids from out of state. You have to be born in Michigan. So we have our five players from out of state. But a team like, you know, Shadic, I think they only have two kids from Minnesota or another tier one team doesn't have any rules at all and they can have every kid from out of state. So I would wish that tier one would just have one set of rules for all the teams and make it even across the board. You know, we have a bunch of good Michigan players on our team and people call us an all star team but we're really not. We're just playing under the rules.

Biz Nasty (195:19)

Cass, it was kind of a tough back half to your career with the, with the hip injury and getting surgery and stuff like that. And I'm sure you had your struggles in, in, in post retirement. Would you be as invested if your kid wasn't playing and has this whole coaching thing kind of gave you, you a purpose in the, in the second part of your life?

Max Talbot (195:37)

If my kid wasn't playing, I don't think I'd be coaching at this level. I think I would be involved in hockey for sure, but I don't, I don't think I'd be coaching at this level. Saying that having a son and coaching and, and having the career taken away from me and having a tough like at the end of my career I hated hockey. I did. I, I hated going to the rink. I hated being in pain like that that you know, your mind thinks you can do it and your body's like, nope, next time. So, so I decided, you know, to get, get the hip, hip replacement and the ability to get offered a job and coach my son and I didn't know if I was going to like it. I, I was like, no, even, even to the point where I'm like, don't call me coach, just call me Ken. Like I don't like the word coach, just call me Cass. Cuz I was still in the player mindset, you know, so. But I think it saved me to be honest. And my passion grew for the game again. And you look at it, you look at the game at a diff. With a different lens now. Still, still the player lines but you look at it as a more of a development aspect on why you do certain Things and how can I teach this? And. And how can you develop hockey iq? How can you make your kids smarter on your team and with the staff we have. We collaborate all the time, and there's no egos in that room. We get in fu fest all the time, and it's great. We disagree, we agree, and we come out of that room with one message. Coaching has, Has. Has just saved me.

Ryan Whitney (197:22)

I don't.

Max Talbot (197:22)

I don't even know where I'd be without coaching right now. You know, I felt lost after I. I was done playing, obviously. I have a. I have a young family. I got three girls and a boy. And being an Uber driver wasn't something I thought I'd be doing. But. But that's. That's. That's my life and, and the ability to have. Bye. The ability to have. That was just. My girl. She's going to hockey right now, so. I got one girl in hockey too.

Ryan Whitney (197:52)

Oh, boy. What year? Birth. What birth year is she.

Max Talbot (197:55)

She just started. She. She goes to a skating coach. Stacy Barber. She's. She's great. She. She's really hard on.

Biz Nasty (198:05)

It's. It's.

Max Talbot (198:06)

It's, uh. I don't even know what birth year she is. What is she of 2017? She's a 2017, so watch out.

Biz Nasty (198:13)

Okay. Okay.

Max Talbot (198:15)

Bit of a late start.

Biz Nasty (198:16)

You mentioned that your kid's hardcore. Like, he's the one pushing himself. Was it that way at an early age, too? Or did you try to instill that in him? He caught it, Caught the bug. And then now he's running his own show. Like, how did you balance that? Because I obviously you were very hardcore, you know, in your approach to hockey.

Max Talbot (198:33)

Yeah, it kind of happened organically. It happened this year here. I worked with exercise physiologist during my career. The guy's out of Vancouver. His name is Ben Spore. And I worked with him for probably the last eight, nine years of my career. And exercise physiologist is basically. He develops a program for you that you follow. He does your bike rides. It's basically idiot proofs being in shape for camp. So I didn't have to worry. I was a guy that always worried if I was doing too much or if I. I was not doing enough. I got to be in shape for camp and he. I trusted him and he. He works with Sam Reinhardt, so, like, you just gotta be dedicated and you gotta trust him. And I was in the best shape of my Life in my 30s, and unfortunately my hip. Hip went. But I felt like my game kept Getting better as I was getting older up until a certain point. So my son, we went to a Vancouver tournament. He broke his hand. Didn't know he broke it. He broke it in the semifinals. He's like, dad, I need ice. And his hands, like, puffy. I'm like, you're fine. Because that's what dad does. Yeah, you're fine. Played the final game completely fine. And like, two days later, I'm like, yeah, it's broke. We got to go get an X ray. So I just called Ben. I was like, can you give him some bike rides just to keep him in shape? And it kind of happened organically where, where my son asked if he could do this full time with him. And I'm like, I don't know. I think he only works with NHL guys, bud. And he took him on and his game has progressed so much since working with him. And I'm hands off. And that's what I told him. I said, I'm not gonna push you. If you need help, I'll help you. But if you want this, you have to do it. Because if you don't want it, like, why play for me like you? I'm not going to live through you. I want you to succeed. So if you're going to succeed, work with him. And he did. And, and I think he's, he learned the first couple bike rides that he can see every, every stroke of his pedal on, on the stationary bike because he kind of cheated it a little bit. And he's like, hey, what happened on the bike ride? And then he knew, like, oh, no. Okay. And E.T. kills it. Man, I'm so proud I him. And I'm not a dad that there's, there's dads out there that think their son's better than what they are. I'm not that dad. I, I, I, I see all his flaws. I don't see his, see what he's good at.

Keith Yandle (201:00)

Have you ever thought of pulling a, a Deion Sanders like him? Like, just kind of going with your son, with.

Ryan Whitney (201:06)

I was kind of going to ask you to miss. You're going to miss it so much.

Keith Yandle (201:10)

Wouldn't you rather him learning from you? I mean, no offense, there's great coaches.

Biz Nasty (201:14)

Out there, but let's sign a 15 year old to the Gargoyles.

Max Talbot (201:16)

We'll let you be the head coach, too. I love doing it. I love spending time with them. Let's just say I wouldn't say no if I got asked, but saying that he does take a lot of heat. He takes A ton of heat for me coaching and. And with me being who I am. He gets it from not only the kids, but he gets it from the parents in the stands, too. And. And it's just. He's learning how to deal with it and he's doing a better job. Job. And he realizes that, you know, it's. It's all because the name on his back and he has to go out and prove them all wrong. And. And he's doing it. He's doing a good job of it.

Keith Yandle (201:53)

I mean, I played with Chris Bork growing up, and I remember him getting tortured by. By kids. Everyone wanted to take their liberties on them. Yeah. You know, you hear people in the stands yelling at. It was brutal. And it. But it all. It drove him, too. So I can imagine the same way, the way you're talking about your son, that it's going to drive him as well.

Max Talbot (202:11)

Yeah. Yeah, it definitely is. It. It is crazy what comes out of some people's mouths.

Biz Nasty (202:16)

You ever get in a Donnie Brook or. Or. Or almost in the crowd? If I had a guy chirp, a grown man chirping my kid, I'd pump his eyes shut.

Ryan Whitney (202:25)

Unless he was an Irish traveler.

Biz Nasty (202:28)

Not.

Max Talbot (202:28)

No. I. I've never. I've never gotten to a. Into a fight. I've gotten into a couple screaming matches, but it's more because the parents are screaming at me. Me telling me like, you and I'm. It's like, buddy, I'll put you in a body bag.

Biz Nasty (202:43)

Like, come on, let's go, let's go. I might start watching these games on my phone with live Barn. Yeah. I was going to ask. With the changing of the rules now that you can go play junior and then you can also go off to college, is. Is. Is the OHL CHL something. Something that you guys would consider, like, what. What do you think the path would be in order for him to. To keep going here?

Max Talbot (203:08)

You know what? I don't know. He really wants to play for the US national team, like every kid at this age. But if. If he doesn't, he'll probably go to the OHL or USHL or wherever. I just want him in a good situation somewhere where he. He's. He's living in a great place, he's playing for a good team, getting coached by a good coach. Coach and, and developing. And I think we all know, like, I'm not coaching my kid to make it to the NHL if he does great, but it's such a small percentage that make it there. I just want him to play as long as he's had as he can and have as much fun as he can. Because those are, those are some of my best memories in my life is, is sitting around the locker room with 23 dudes and, and shooting the, and, and making fun of each other and, and going to dinners, all that stuff. That's the stuff you remember at the end of it all.

Ryan Whitney (204:01)

You mentioned in all these kids they want to play in the NHL. You just brought up how hard it is to make it so it's like how do you balance the line with your son and your team? You, you never want to remind them how difficult it is going to be to make it and how maybe one or two of those kids will. But you also want them to be like realistic or, or am I wrong in that it's more just like you're pushing towards as good as you can become. Come and, and don't worry about five, ten years from now. Like how does it work with talking to kids about their future? Is it more just day to day?

Max Talbot (204:32)

I'm a, I'm a big believer in goal setting. So I have them set goals and I used to do it in my career even on a game to game basis because it becomes monotonous throughout the year. Right? You sit down, you create five points that you want to focus on that game. And it's not goals and assists. It's like I want to be under the puck, I want to be 65% in the face off circle. Something that's not, not, not driven by goals and assists but just playing the right way. Things you can focus on. Maybe it's a, a power play system that you're doing that night, something like that. And I, I would really just. What I do with the boys is I tell them win the day when, when the practice, let's get better today. If you didn't get better today, you're going backwards. Because everybody, like we're a target. I mean our slogan is everybody hates us and we don't care. Like we, we know that it's true. Like we walk in the building and.

Biz Nasty (205:30)

That'S been your slogan since you fucking put on the skates. Cast.

Max Talbot (205:34)

We're a team that plays hard. We are, we're a team that plays hard. We compete. We play 200ft and we can beat you. We can outskill you. We can out hit you. We can out skate you. End. That's a tribute to them buying and that's a tribute to them working so hard because they all go to a Hockey Academy together, and they all do so much effort that there's not a chance that anyone's going to catch these kids. Like, they work too hard. There's no one that works harder than these kids. It's crazy to me how much work and how much time these kids are on the ice.

Biz Nasty (206:10)

Kind of what I take away from this wit and Yan's is kind of there. You know, there's two approaches. Some people might be like, oh, let these guys be kids and, and just play and have fun. But, like, some of these kids want to make something of theirselves and they want to approach it differently. And it's also setting a. A good precedent for. For life, man, life's hard. So that's your approach. What are maybe some. Some approaches that you don't agree with or don't like that a lot of minor hockey teams or programs are taking that you disagree with? That might be a vague question and a very long laundry list, but is there anything that you see where you're like, ah, this is no good?

Max Talbot (206:45)

No, that's a good question.

Keith Yandle (206:46)

He hates the mercy rule.

Max Talbot (206:51)

I. I hate when people are quick to judge. For me, I coach to help develop 18 kids and we get a bad rap because we're hard on the kids, but we respect the kids and we, we coach not to win, but we coach to, like, teach and develop. That's why we have the iPads on the bench. We don't have the iPads on the bench to show off to the other two team. I think it's the best coaching tool there is because you actually see your mistake or you see what you're doing well. Or to be honest, you can see what the other team's doing on the pk. Like here, look at what they're doing. They're pressing three guys high. We had to move the puckalo, something like that, right? I just don't like coaches that play the same five guys on the power play every time, like they're 14 years old. I think I have six kids with over 180 points this year.

Ryan Whitney (207:39)

Six.

Max Talbot (207:40)

That's because I don't have a five. Five guys that are going out on the power play first every time. Our job as a coaching staff is not to develop five kids. That's not my job. I committed to 18. And we have a goalie coach that comes every practice. That's not normal in AAA hockey. You might see it once a week if lucky. I thought, why. Why do I have goalies? Just be a shooter, tutor. I could just put two Shooter tutors in the net, and they'd be fine. They're not learning anything. And meanwhile, we have six player coaches on the ice that are developing and teaching. So I thought it was important when I first started to bring in a goalie coach that was full time. I just feel like too many coaches only care about five kids and they want to put the best five kids out there, which I get. You got to win. But I know I'm here, whatever our record is saying, I don't care about winning. I don't. I mean, we just beat a team to nothing yesterday in the state playoffs that, you know, they played a good game and we needed it. We got kicked in the teeth. We. We should have lost that game. And I wish we would have lost that game because it would have reset our group. And. And the last time we lost was November 21st 4th.

Ryan Whitney (208:56)

Who beat you?

Max Talbot (208:57)

Mississauga Senators.

Biz Nasty (208:59)

Grand Rapids Griffins.

Ryan Whitney (209:01)

Yeah, they played the Golden Knights.

Max Talbot (209:04)

Yeah.

Ryan Whitney (209:05)

Over time, kids, out of curiosity, because, like, so I have a 2017, and you wonder and you see kids that are really good, right? They're seven, turning eight. And then it's funny because some kids, like Jack Eichel and Noah, like, these kids, kids, they were the best when they were 6, and they're the best when they're 20. And then you see kids who were bad when they're six, seven, that turn into good players, and then they turn bad again. And then you see. What range have you seen since the kids you're with now were at a very young age? Because that's the thing that you notice is like, it's such a development, is not linear, right? It's just so up and down for so many different kids. What have you seen since these kids were much younger, like you said, say.

Max Talbot (209:48)

They have ups and downs throughout the year. Some. Some days you're like, wow, this kid can play. And other days you're like, did I make a mistake on this kid? What is he doing out there? But I don't think. I think it's very rare to see a kid that's a stud at 2017 level like your son be a stud later. I just think if you're good at that level, it's because you skate faster than everybody else. And you can just go in and then you flick the puck over the goalie's shoulder. You don't even shoot it. It's like a flick into the top of the net. I see right now what's separating guys is skating ability, not how fast you are, but Just being deceptive and elusive like skating ability and then hockey sense.

Ryan Whitney (210:35)

Why do you think it's disappearing a little bit? When you talk to scouts and you talk to people, they're like, God, less kids have it and you're in the midst of, you know, 14, 15 year olds. Like, what have you seen?

Max Talbot (210:46)

I think it's all because of social media. I think it's. They get their five second clip that they see the goal scored, but they don't see what lead. And I just don't think kids watch enough hockey games. I, I made it a rule for my team this year. Every night you watch one period of hockey. Just one. Watch one period of hockey. And then don't watch the puck. Watch what's going on in the game. And that's how you learn. Like you don't learn from turning on Instagram and seeing a 5 second highlight reel of your favorite player. You know, we do kind of like book reports on games. I'll have someone pick their favorite player and, and watch them and tell them five things he did good and two things he did bad. Bad. You are right. I think it is disappearing because the kids are so worried about skills and they don't realize that the best skill you can have is a, is a next level mind. I played with two guys that were brothers that their, their minds were unbelievable. Their hockey IQ was off the charts and they, they taught me so much during my career. And, and just watching them, you can just see how well and how quickly they see the game.

Biz Nasty (212:02)

Cass, thank you so much. This is awesome. I love getting this insight about the minor stuff. Now if we can shift topics. If Kessler is in the locker room with the Vancouver Canucks this year and you got J.T. miller and Pederson with whatever was going on there. How, how are you handling that when you're in that locker room?

Max Talbot (212:20)

Didn't. Back in the day, we used to do helmets and gloves.

Biz Nasty (212:26)

Oh, yeah.

Max Talbot (212:27)

Box, Walker, box.

Ryan Whitney (212:30)

That's when I knew. I'm like, oh, I don't know if I got this dude fighting Donnie Grover, getting my head punched in.

Max Talbot (212:37)

Hey, I got my face punched in a couple times.

Biz Nasty (212:39)

Hey, they put me with Nathan Horton when I was 13. The guy was benching £250. He was. He looked like a grown man. I got my pushed in, but I'll throw it back over to you. I mean, that was just a crazy situation. Obviously, JT ends up getting traded, but I don't know if you'd ever seen anything like that, but how would you have handled it?

Max Talbot (213:00)

You know, I definitely haven't seen anything that's been that public before. Right. Like, there's, there's rifts in the locker room throughout the year, but nothing to that scale. I don't, I, I've met both of them. I don't know them personally. I, I haven't heard the real story or I've heard versions of stories, but I don't even know what happened. But it's a tough one. You have two of your star players that allegedly can't get along, and they go, they go toe to toe, basically. And then it gets out in the media, and, and it's. I know that Vancouver market, and they, they definitely, they, they love the drama, which is fine. Like, it's a hockey market, and, and you got to have something to talk about. Right? And, and that definitely grew, and I think it really hurt their team this year. I watched them play Anaheim when I was in California, and, and they don't look like the same team they did last year.

Biz Nasty (213:59)

Would you have, like, would you have tried to take them both out to dinner together? Like, would you have tried to, to mend the relationship? Like, I, I don't know if that was done with any guys in their team or if you'd heard that, but.

Max Talbot (214:09)

I mean, you would think so, right? Like, that would be. My first thought is, like, let's get these two guys in a relationship room. Let's, let's take them out. Like, let's go have drinks with them. Like, it might make things worse, but, hey, maybe. Maybe that's what we need. Maybe we just need a sucker punch and we're good the next day. I'm guessing they exhausted all options, because I'm guessing they did not want to trade J.T.

Paul Bissonnette (214:29)

Miller.

Max Talbot (214:30)

I don't know, but I'm guessing they didn't want to. And they probably didn't want to trade PD either.

Ryan Whitney (214:35)

When you're watching hockey now, are there any teams that stand out to you? Like, Jesus? Like, they're kind of my horse for this season. Or, or are you actually, like, how much hockey are you watching still? I mean, it sounds like you're pretty busy with, with your own team.

Max Talbot (214:47)

No, I, I saw biz go off the. The handle last night. I was laughing about that.

Biz Nasty (214:52)

What do you mean? Oh, let the bodies hit the floor. That, that band, like, posted on our Instagram and they, like, retweeted it and stuff.

Max Talbot (215:03)

I love it. I love it. No, I, I, I watch hockey. Hockey. I, I got a setup downstairs where I can watch four games at once. So I, I, I love to be a student of the game still and I, I, I love watching it. I was never really a hockey nerd when I played, but I kind of am now. I just love seeing the talent. But a dark horse for me. I would say Florida, but with the injury to, to Chuck, I, I don't know. Let's go with the Red Wings. They're, they're buzzing. They're buzzing it, it's actually sick to.

Ryan Whitney (215:39)

See them good again. And you're in Detroit.

Biz Nasty (215:42)

Be able to get over the penalty at stadium series game. They're all crying online. Edmondson got trapped. He got high. Stick to the visor.

Max Talbot (215:53)

Yeah, they, they lost two important games there, but they've been playing good, man. They, they're a well coached team and, and they, I, I played for Trent Yawnings, so, and obviously I know Tangs, so I'm pulling for those guys.

Ryan Whitney (216:08)

Cass, we can't, we can't thank you enough for the people who are upset about the 43. Nothing beat down. Actually 44. The slogan is everyone hates us and we don't care. So good luck to you guys in the nationals and the state tournament and we'll be catching up with you soon. Dude, thanks.

Biz Nasty (216:28)

Yeah.

Max Talbot (216:28)

Good talking to you guys.

Ryan Whitney (216:33)

Thank you very much to Ryan Kessler. They have iPads on the bench, boys.

Keith Yandle (216:38)

Did you tell everyone that next week we're interviewing Doug from Detroit. The he, he's a dad on the Bell Tire team. So we're going to get his point of view on, on how the game really went.

Ryan Whitney (216:49)

How about he's like I wasn't at the game. I was watching on my phone in California. Get him. As, as, as Coach Riley said, it ain't worth winning if you can't win big for the Hawks and mighty D ducks. 43 to nothing is his 44. Sorry, that's a crazy beat down. But, but you know what the coolest thing about that was is that he said that those bell tired kids, there was zero quitting any of them. So I know that sucks if any of those kids are listening, but good for you and better times ahead. Better times ahead. So guys, that about wraps it up. So we got four nations Chiclets TV that's coming out this Thursday at noon on the spit and Chiclets. You YouTube. The next Thursday at noon is the rematch. The rematch heard round the world spitting Chiclets versus Bob does sports. Please go to Bob Does YouTube. Watch our first match if you haven't so you're ready and prepared for the rematch. That'll be next Thursday on our YouTube. And the Thursday after that at noon will be Chiclets you at the University of Minnesota with the Golden Golfers coming.

Biz Nasty (217:53)

Week after week after week with the.

Ryan Whitney (217:56)

Three awesome content pieces coming out the next three Thursdays at noon. Thank you so much for listening. Any final words for you guys?

Biz Nasty (218:04)

Go, Leafs, go.

Keith Yandle (218:07)

Go, Columbus, go.

Ryan Whitney (218:08)

I want to shoot that cannon right at your face.

Keith Yandle (218:12)

No, he said hoop.

Ryan Whitney (218:13)

Oh, hoop. Hoop. Okay. Yeah. Fair, fair, fair, fair. He does like hoop play. All right, everyone, thank you so much for listening. Have a great week. Love you.

Paul Bissonnette (218:47)

Even if I go away? I don't know any other way?