Spittin' Chiclets Episode 552: Featuring Doug Armstrong & Kevin Shattenkirk

Summary

Spittin' Chiclets Episode 552: Featuring Doug Armstrong & Kevin Shattenkirk

Hosts: Ryan Whitney, Paul Bissonnette, Mike Grinnell
Guest Speakers: Doug Armstrong (General Manager, St. Louis Blues), Kevin Shattenkirk (Retired NHL Defenseman)
Release Date: April 1, 2025

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1. Introduction

Ryan Whitney kicks off the episode amidst battling a sickness but showcases unwavering dedication by continuing the podcast. The hosts share humorous anecdotes about their recent travels and personal misadventures, setting a lighthearted tone for the episode.

2. Travel Troubles and Golf Fiascos

The hosts delve into the frustrations of frequent traveling, highlighting incidents like prolonged flight delays and uncomfortable situations on planes. Paul Bissonnette humorously attributes some of Ryan Whitney's ailments to possible food tampering by "foreplay guys," leading to a series of laughs and playful banter.

Notable Quote:
[02:10] Ryan Whitney: "I just fired myself up. Doesn't sound like I got that because I just fired myself up."

Additionally, their shared golf experiences reveal their irreverent approach to the sport, criticizing poorly maintained courses and sharing laughs over challenging gameplay.

3. NHL News and Insights

The conversation seamlessly transitions into NHL discussions, focusing on team performances, strategic trades, and standout players.

a. St. Louis Blues’ Strategic Moves

Doug Armstrong provides an in-depth analysis of the Blues' recent strategies, emphasizing the successful acquisition of players through offer sheets like Broberg and Holloway. He discusses the importance of building a young, dynamic core while maintaining depth within the team.

Notable Quote:
[77:59] Doug Armstrong: "We have a job to do for the St. Louis Blues organization... Find the players that can contribute immediately and in the future."

b. College Hockey Spotlight

The hosts spotlight emerging talents in college hockey, with Paul Bissonnette expressing excitement over players like Matt Davis. They discuss his exceptional performance, noting his impressive stats and potential transition to the NHL.

Notable Quote:
[12:57] Ryan Whitney: "The last year that the Boston Bruins and Detroit Red Wings didn't make the playoffs was 1967."

c. New Canadian NHL TV Deal

A significant portion of the discussion revolves around the groundbreaking Canadian TV deal for the NHL, valued at approximately CAD $11 billion over 12 years. The hosts speculate on its implications, including potential partnerships with streaming giants like Amazon and the positive impact on the league's growth and player salaries.

4. Interview with Doug Armstrong

Doug Armstrong, the General Manager of the St. Louis Blues, shares his perspectives on team management, player development, and the intricacies of navigating NHL trades within salary cap constraints.

Key Discussion Points:

• Team Building: Emphasizing the blend of experienced veterans and promising young players to create a balanced roster.
• Trade Strategies: Balancing immediate team needs with long-term organizational goals, and the challenges posed by the rising salary cap.
• Leadership: The importance of strong on-ice leadership from players like Robert Thomas and maintaining team morale.

Notable Quote:
[79:22] Doug Armstrong: "My job is always to do what I think is best for the St. Louis Blues as an organization... Monty's track record made him a perfect fit."

5. Interview with Kevin Shattenkirk

Kevin Shattenkirk, a retired NHL defenseman, offers a nostalgic and insightful look into his career, from his early days with the New York Rangers to winning the Stanley Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Key Discussion Points:

• Career Journey: Transitioning between teams, dealing with trades, and the emotional aspects of leaving beloved locker rooms.
• Player Relationships: Reflecting on influential teammates and coaches, including the impact of Steve Monty on his career.
• Post-Retirement Plans: Exploring potential roles in broadcasting, media, or coaching, while cherishing the camaraderie built during his playing days.

Notable Quotes:
[121:08] Kevin Shattenkirk: "I'm happy with being around here and maybe trying to do something in broadcasting and media."

[156:00] Paul Bissonnette: "Shady, what a guy. What an amazing person. Hell of a career."

6. Player Highlights and Statistics

The hosts analyze standout performances from current NHL stars, including Leon Draisaitl and Sidney Crosby. They discuss Draisaitl's incredible goal-scoring streak and Crosby's enduring legacy in the league.

Notable Quote:
[13:06] Paul Bissonnette: "No fucking way. No way."

7. Concluding Remarks

The episode wraps up with reflections on the season's developments, upcoming games with playoff implications, and appreciative nods to the guests for their contributions and insights.

Final Thoughts:
The hosts express gratitude towards their guests, emphasizing the importance of strategic team management and the ever-evolving landscape of the NHL.

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Overall Summary:

This episode of Spittin' Chiclets offers a blend of humor, personal stories, and deep dives into NHL strategies and player performances. With insightful interviews from Doug Armstrong and Kevin Shattenkirk, listeners gain a comprehensive understanding of team dynamics, the impact of strategic trades, and the personal journeys of players within the high-stakes world of professional hockey. The hosts' engaging banter and the inclusion of notable quotes enhance the episode's appeal, making it a must-listen for hockey enthusiasts seeking both entertainment and expert analysis.

Transcript

[Ryan Whitney]

Hey Spit and Chiclets listeners.

[Paul Bissonnette]

You can find every episode on Apple.

[Ryan Whitney]

Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube prime members can.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

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[Doug Armstrong]

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[Mike Grinelli]

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[Kevin Shattenkirk]

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[Mike Grinelli]

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[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Up between meetings or you need some.

[Mike Grinelli]

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[Kevin Shattenkirk]

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[Mike Grinelli]

Ryan have been officially welcomed to the.

[Ryan Whitney]

Jungle that is Bastool Sports our white whale, Sidney Crosby. Shave his head.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Shave his head.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Shave his head.

[Ryan Whitney]

Ryan Whitney Paul Bissonnette RA Mike Grinelli Spittin Chick what is up everyone and welcome to episode 552 of the Spitting Chicklets podcast. We are live together in Atlanta, Georgia, the Dirty south. Down in the atl, hanging out together, getting ready for a sandbagger. I'm sick as I'm grinding through. Doesn't sound like I got that because I just fired myself up. I imagined I was listening to Thunderstruck and I've been asleep in my bed for 23 hours in the four seasons. The worst four seasons in the country. But no offense to the four seasons here. What is going on everyone? I'm with Biz, I'm with Keith, I'm with G Pasha Fishy. What a crew we have. And shout out Pink Whitney. I was in Nashville for icecon and we got Pink Whitney.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Is that what got you?

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh no, I'm just sick. I didn't even drink. Just absolutely grinding through this podcast. But I'm ready to rip. Just like everyone was ready to crush Pink Whitney at the Barstool Bar getting ready for icecon. Icecon was a complete disgrace. I feel bad for Elio. He lost everyone mortgage payments, diaper money and food for their kids. But it was still fun to see everyone and it was Fun to drink Pink Whitney. Even the people who didn't do it like me. I still looked at the bottle and said, what a cool pink bottle and what an amazing drink. I wish I could have some, but I'm sick as. But I love Pink Whitney and I love you guys. What's going on, boys?

[Mike Grinelli]

Lee Chrysler.

[Ryan Whitney]

I've been in bed. I've been in bed for 23 hours. Haven't eaten in 48.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I'm so proud to be here.

[Ryan Whitney]

No, I'm so proud of you, Biz. Today he picked up two interviews. He picked up an interview with Doug Armstrong. Did it solo cause I was hurting so bad. Then he picked up Nick Dow. Did that solo. Cause Keith was stuck on the tarmac in Fort Lauderdale for six hours. Why do they get you on a plane and then make you wait? I don't get it.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Oh, I. You know what I think? I think that the Foreplay boys are fucking with us. I think that they probably spiked your food.

[Ryan Whitney]

No, no, they didn't. They didn't. Just. It's just I. I was due to get sick. I hadn't been sick this whole winter. You know, everyone gets sick, especially with kids. When you have kids, they just bring home these nasty germs. And I thought. I thought it was. What is that word?

[Paul Bissonnette]

Food? Poison?

[Ryan Whitney]

No, allergies.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Oh.

[Ryan Whitney]

Because allergies. Allergies been killing me the last two years. As I turned 40, I started getting allergies in Nashville. Wyatt, he has brutal allergies and his eyes were swollen shut and he had boogers everywhere. And I was like, oh, I don't feel good because of the allergies. But then yesterday it just hit me. I'm not going to talk about myself being sick the whole time, but I just. I just had to talk to you guys and Biz shout out you for doing those two interviews. How's Army? Army's great.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Army is so funny.

[Ryan Whitney]

I know. He's funny about.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I told him you weren't doing the. The interview because you offer sheeted two of his. So I think he was a little shocked by that. And he's like a. That guy. But I gotta go back to the sickness thing. Do you get the flu shot?

[Ryan Whitney]

No.

[Paul Bissonnette]

So I used to find when I would get the flu shot, I would get sick. And then when I gives you something.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah. It puts it in you and you feel like for like a day, but you're supposed to not get it.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Oh, I would get like, like deathly ill when I would get the flu shot. So.

[Mike Grinelli]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, no, I Don get it. I don't get it. I. I haven't gotten it since. Remember the teams? They'd make us get them.

[Paul Bissonnette]

They would make us get them, dude.

[Ryan Whitney]

I know. I'm going to feel horrible tomorrow for this. Bag skis. I don't care. Zing. And put the freaking needle right in your arm.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Do you think I was out of line maybe blaming the foreplay guys about spiking your food? I mean, Yan was delayed on his flight. He was just. He was doing circles around Atlanta for a little bit.

[Ryan Whitney]

You were in the air.

[Mike Grinelli]

No, Never.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Oh, I thought you were in the air.

[Ryan Whitney]

We sat on a plane for six hours.

[Mike Grinelli]

10.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Even worse.

[Mike Grinelli]

10. 20 to 4. 20. Sat on the tarmac for six hours.

[Ryan Whitney]

How crazy is that?

[Paul Bissonnette]

No, you didn't.

[Ryan Whitney]

How crazy is that?

[Mike Grinelli]

Just lit.

[Ryan Whitney]

One time I was flying somewhere with a buddy and he passed out right when we got on the plane. It was like a 7am flight. He woke up at 10:30. He's like, yes. And I'm like, buddy, we haven't even moved yet today.

[Mike Grinelli]

You passed out Pasto. Because we taxied out. We sat on the tarmac, and the guy was like, we're third in line. I was watching White Lotus shout out White Lotus, Walter Goggins. And sat there, passed out, woke up, and I'm like, oh, we might be here. Sure. No. And then the guy next to me for the next five hours peed every 27 minutes.

[Ryan Whitney]

No.

[Mike Grinelli]

Oh, that's me getting up.

[Paul Bissonnette]

That's me.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, that's what? You just got to give him the aisle seat. You just gotta. I just started like, buddy, how are you hosing?

[Paul Bissonnette]

That's why I bring the body armor. Wide nozzles. I just hose on the plane.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah. You see that kid at the. At the baseball game? I think it was a Brewers game. Just hosing right in the middle of the concourse of the field. Ye. The kid is literally hog out in the middle of the concourse just peeing. Baseball's back to a bottle or. No, no, no. Right on the cement. Oh, yeah, Cleveland, real sick. I think it was Milwaukee. I'm pretty sure it was Milwaukee.

[Paul Bissonnette]

That's why all these illnesses are buzzing around people just treating the streets like their goddamn toilet. So maybe I was out of line blaming the foreplay guys, but we do have a very intense match tomorrow and obviously a little of a little bit of adversity leading into this one with.

[Ryan Whitney]

Your illness, but no excuses. No excuses.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Play like a champ. We did. Yes or no? Switch up the course because we did get a few Pictures of a course that we were supposed to play. You went and tested it out. Literally. Disgusta.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh. I mean, when I tell you. When I tell you this was the worst golf course I'd ever played. I'm not even gonna say it because the guys there were so nice. And a guy brought me around, and I was like, dude, I, I. He's like, what do you think? I'm like, what do I think? I'm like, there's a bulldozer on three of the nine fairways we've played, so there's no sand in any bunkers. There's just enormous pieces of tarp. I was like, you want this on camera? He's like, no, you're playing the front nine three times. Keith was texting Frankie. Like, is this a joke?

[Mike Grinelli]

Frankie was crying. I could see his tears over text. He's the biggest baby in the history of the world.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, he's a snapshot.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Read the text that you just gave the thumbs up to. You gotta read it.

[Ryan Whitney]

He's a snapshot.

[Mike Grinelli]

Somebody else read it.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Oh, yeah, you don't want me reading it. We'll miss our match biz.

[Ryan Whitney]

I have the most insane Maple leaf stat that we'll get into in a little bit. Like hockey.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I can't wait.

[Ryan Whitney]

Illuminati would literally come in his jeans when he hears this stat. I'm telling you, but I'm not even going to tell you yet.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Okay. All right.

[Mike Grinelli]

So when I got blue balls, when I got the photos from the chorus with a bulldozer and a tarp on it, like, it was way on a rainy day.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Names. He put a photo in the group chat of us three on the tarps covering up home plate.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, that was the Chicago White Sox, one of the worst franchises in pro sports. Like, a true disgrace that they didn't. They. They weren't able to put the tarp on the entire infield. And then it just ruined the first baseline. I guess they were trying to, like, put mini tarps all over the first baseline. It was just pathetic. That was the course we were at.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Oh, no. And so what did you send to Frankie?

[Mike Grinelli]

So I said to Frankie, like, hey, if we need to pay for a course, like, whatever, we'll do it. Like, just. We got to switch it up. We can't play this course. Like, you know, we're YouTube golf stars now. So he wrote me today. Excited to see you tomorrow, Yan's. Unfortunately, you're. Oh, because I Army Colby Armstrong said he could set us up at Atlanta Golf. Atlanta Country Club. So Excited to see you tomorrow, Yan's. Unfortunately, your guy couldn't come through at Atlanta Golf Club. We called and said Yandel set it up, and they said, who? So I don't know what that was about, but we found a great course that hopefully will live up to your standards. Echelon Golf Club. We let them know to get rose petals ready for you on your arrival.

[Paul Bissonnette]

So the chirping has begun.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah. I mean, I don't know if they.

[Mike Grinelli]

Want that smoke, though.

[Ryan Whitney]

They. They. They can say whatever they want. Like, Right. We're battling things. Keith sat on a plane for six hours, had a guy pee next to him 45 times. I'm sick as a dog. Biz plays golf three times a year. When we do three sandbaggers, they should win. No, no. I mean, these guys play golf.

[Mike Grinelli]

Yes.

[Ryan Whitney]

Every single day.

[Mike Grinelli]

But Trent moved to Florida to play more golf.

[Ryan Whitney]

Legit.

[Mike Grinelli]

But he saw the writing on the wall. They brought in beef you. He saw the writing on the wall that he was.

[Ryan Whitney]

Probably Saw the food at the. The Turn Shack.

[Paul Bissonnette]

But at the end of the day, we're professional athletes. Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah. We played a pro sport, and we're.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Gonna find a way.

[Ryan Whitney]

We're gonna find a way. We're gonna figure it out. I'm figuring even though they poison your.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Food and even though they mess with the Delta Airlines for Yans, we're gonna pull through on this.

[Ryan Whitney]

My wife's trying to get me. She's. She's in the process of finding me an IV to come to the hotel in the morning because I've had IVs before with. Before golf with Toradol, and I'm just like. I'm like Robocop, you know, like. Just like swinging around my body and not shanking the ball and just lighting it up with feeling. No pain. And I can grind through anything.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Boys, I think we should be getting that. I think we should do Team Tortle.

[Ryan Whitney]

Pasha also got me this mono Lauren. It's from natural coconut, 500 milligrams.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Him and his blue light therapy or red light therapy.

[Ryan Whitney]

He kind of. I saw him in the steam room earlier. He kind of looks jacked right now. It's actually usually when you get a girlfriend, you get fat and gross because you're so happy and you don't need to impress anyone anymore.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Well, he's got to do that to keep this one.

[Ryan Whitney]

Exactly.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Kicking outside of his car.

[Ryan Whitney]

Well, she's doing dick pills commercial with you, so, I mean, she needs to. He needs to remain.

[Mike Grinelli]

That's what we talked about.

[Paul Bissonnette]

This. No, I didn't.

[Ryan Whitney]

I thought that was public knowledge. That one time I saw doing a dick commercial and I said, who's this rock? He said, that's Pasha's girlfriend.

[Paul Bissonnette]

What? I've drawn a blank on the. On the. The pills. Like the Felix Health.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

So you can go there to get a bunch of prescriptions online. But they were trying to promote to my audience, so they're like, okay, well, let's promote Cialis and Viagra.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

So we did. We were doing a photo or not a photo shoot. A commercial shoot.

[Ryan Whitney]

A por.

[Paul Bissonnette]

And no. And. And she was nice enough. She had a little experience, you know, filming a few things. So we figured not like, shut up. So we. We'd already been hanging out. I was hanging out with her friend, remember? I. I told the story, the pictures. Yes, Rocket and. And. But she shares the same name as my father and created too much PTSD from the fact that my sister's also married to a Paul. So we didn't want, like, we didn't want my sister dating a Paul. And then like me can Camille. And we're off the rails at this point. But now Posh is dating my co host in a dick pill commercial and we're just one big happy family here. Shout out to Felix Health.

[Ryan Whitney]

She feeds the dick pills and then. And then she's able to pound her the way she needs to be pounded. The way that you pounded her when you filmed the commercial. Just kidding, Pasha. No, just kidding.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Just kidding.

[Mike Grinelli]

She doesn't.

[Ryan Whitney]

Anyone else.

[Paul Bissonnette]

She's so angry.

[Ryan Whitney]

Does anyone else feel like this microwave we. I mean, this microphone weighs 53 pounds. I. I can't even hold this thing up right now. Felix, I'm going to grind through this show.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I feel like we're still on the sauna.

[Ryan Whitney]

I feel like I'm on another planet right now. I need to eat something, but my stomach just can't. I'm not going to complain all show. I'm not going to complain all show.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Can you please tell us the Maple Leaf stat right now?

[Mike Grinelli]

No, don't.

[Paul Bissonnette]

We've earned it. He's complained about his sickness for 30 minutes now.

[Ryan Whitney]

The last year that the Boston Bruins and Detroit Red Wings didn't make the playoffs was 1967.

[Paul Bissonnette]

No fucking way. No way.

[Ryan Whitney]

I saw this and I went to AI and I asked, AI, am I getting punked? Is this a real stat? And a. I said, wit, you may be sick, but this is real. This is really.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Get back to work.

[Ryan Whitney]

It said, order some soup wet. This is AI talking But the last year both the Wings and the Bruins didn't make the playoffs was 1967. The last year the Maple Leafs raised Lord Stanley.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Wow.

[Ryan Whitney]

So right now. Right now. And they're winning. They're leading the division.

[Paul Bissonnette]

They are. Even though they haven't. Even though they didn't beat San Jose all season long and they squandered those ones. They go in on the. On the California swing. They end up beating la. Huge win. Did you see that scrap?

[Ryan Whitney]

No. Okay, the scrap. We'll get to the scrap in a second.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Just.

[Ryan Whitney]

I feel like Matthews is. It's been like. Just like building up. He's been injured all year. The goal.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Been playing the goal.

[Ryan Whitney]

He goes. He gets it goes between his legs, like on a one touch, then goes under some poor scrubs triangle. I don't even know who the defenseman was. And then just snipes. I was like, oh, Matthews, bro.

[Paul Bissonnette]

You know what's even fucking crazier?

[Ryan Whitney]

What?

[Paul Bissonnette]

You know who just texted me literally one minute ago?

[Ryan Whitney]

Hockey Illuminati.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Brad Tree Living. The GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs. I'm not going to read out what he sent me. That is the fucking.

[Mike Grinelli]

Hey, biz. Stop talking about my team. You're a piece of trash. Stop banging Pasha's girlfriend.

[Ryan Whitney]

You got any dick pics?

[Mike Grinelli]

How does he know?

[Paul Bissonnette]

Just. He's gonna kill you. You know that, right? Pasha? But he won't be able to film the sandbagger tomorrow. He's gonna be in a body bag. Our whole. Our whole team's being taken down.

[Ryan Whitney]

I can't believe.

[Mike Grinelli]

Send back your ambassador.

[Ryan Whitney]

I'm starting to think the Leafs are gonna win the cup. I swear to God. Oh, I swear to God. I had once I saw that stat. And Tree Living's texting you. Watch. You're gonna lose to Ottawa. We're all over the place right now.

[Paul Bissonnette]

That's okay.

[Ryan Whitney]

We're all over that place right now. You're sick. Quickly. Before we get into the current NHL. I was at Icecon. Now, for people who don't know.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I thought it was Wickcon.

[Ryan Whitney]

It was Wickcon.

[Mike Grinelli]

Have fun.

[Paul Bissonnette]

So.

[Ryan Whitney]

So you had a blast. Besides, he said, this is such a boring game, dad. I'm like, I know, I know. It was so bad. Nashville is so bad now. They didn't have Yossi. They didn't have. I think. I think everyone else played. They had this. What's the. What's the goalies name? Pasha Sorrow. No, it was the other guy. A Noonan and an Unbelievable. The guy. They still lost but the guy was phenomenal. Vegas was out for like a. A Saturday skate, like a. Like a pickup hour. They still won. Eichel, who's I think, fourth or fifth in the league in scoring right now, just dominant. He had a goal, he didn't assist. He was nasty. But the ice people, man, these people, they come and they just lose and lose. Last year they lost in Scottsdale. This year they lost in Nashville.

[Paul Bissonnette]

And they're coming from all over the.

[Ryan Whitney]

World and they're putting their entire trip on the game. Yeah, there's a guy from Czech. The normal guy from Ch. What's his name? Jc. There's a guy from England. Yeah, these people are crazy. And then one guy yelled out, this game's making my dick soft. And Ryder's like, what's that mean, dad? I was like, I'll tell you later. He's like, when? You'll forget. I go, five years. He goes, you'll definitely forget. I go, talk to Justine's gonna be on waivers tomorrow.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Pod drop. We're gonna be number one in Canada. Paul Pasha's gonna be downloading.

[Mike Grinelli]

Ryan, guess who just texted Biz.

[Ryan Whitney]

Guess who just texted Biz. Peter North.

[Mike Grinelli]

Hey, you up?

[Paul Bissonnette]

Oh, my God.

[Ryan Whitney]

So Icecom was a complete failure. Great people.

[Paul Bissonnette]

So wait, so. So Portnoy was all over you originally because you announced that you were going there to see your brother who has moved there.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

And that you were bringing Ryder. And then he said he was gonna scream Ryder's face.

[Ryan Whitney]

No, he said, I hope someone says you in his face. And I was. And actually, Kirk, my guy, Kirk Minahan, he. He later was like, you said, you hope somebody screams in his face. He's like, I didn't say I hope. We replayed it. We went to, like, the tape and like, it was like a review for a goal. And. And he said it. Yeah, he said, I hope someone screams in your face. And then there was like one guy over there, like, he's like, hey, this guy might yell in your kid's face. And I was like, buddy, you kidding me? Like, I'm gonna have to fight you in an NHL arena. He's like, no, no, I have kids, man. I just wanted, you know, I wanted to get important. Good side. I'm like, oh, by saying you'll yell in a seven year old a loser you are. He's like, no, I have kids too, man. I go, he makes even a bigger loser.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Is that why he was sucking up with the Witcon shirt and trying to.

[Ryan Whitney]

So he made a Witcon shirt. Then another Guy's fiance who was one of the three women at Icecon. She made a black Whitney family reunion Nashville, Tennessee, March 2025. He ended up giving it to my dad because my dad was at the game too.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Oh, it really was a family.

[Ryan Whitney]

It was. Well, yeah. So my Brother Collins turning 40 April 1st. So we wanted to go down. I hadn't met his daughter yet, so we got to meet his daughter. It was a great trip. We didn't bring Cal because Cal is just a real. Right now he's 11 months old. This kid can't bring him anywhere. He's nuts. He makes Wyatt look like normal and calm. I know. So I always thought the third kid was supposed to be relaxed. Cal's insane. So we had a little family trip without him. Yeah, Keith's the third kid and look at him. He was mooning my. He was mooning his. His brother's dad's. His brother's friend's dads when he was 10. Literally shoving his right in guys faces. He was a punk. And so I gu. Third kid's gonna. Maybe. Maybe he'll break the freaking all time iron man streak.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Though I was technically the third too. Mom had a miscarriage, so I guess I was.

[Ryan Whitney]

I didn't know that.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Bit of a right turn. Sorry. That'd be only love you biz.

[Ryan Whitney]

Sorry.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah. Where do we come from? I was just trying to make the point that I'm crazy.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, you are crazy. You are crazy. So it was just a great trip though because like we got to see my brother's place. He lives in East Nashville. Nashville, the coolest city too. The fact that Bridgestone and the football. I think it's Nissan Stadium is right downtown. But they're building a new stadium. I think it's going to be ready. And they got two more seasons for the Titans. It's going right next door. They're building like a Patriots type Patriots place style like enormous like retail restaurants around there. Then they hired the guy who built the seaport in Boston to do another huge area in Nashville over. It's crazy the growth.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Oh it's like Scott's down. Scottsdale and Nashville are very.

[Mike Grinelli]

He lives in the Grove area.

[Ryan Whitney]

He. He lives in East Nashville.

[Mike Grinelli]

Okay.

[Ryan Whitney]

So I don't really know. I don't know anything besides East Nashville. But yeah, it was awesome to get down there and then the game was like a bummer. But it's still. The city is so alive. So electric.

[Mike Grinelli]

Elio on the Zambo.

[Ryan Whitney]

Elio. Dude, buddy Elliot was on the Zamboni. He Looked like a giant 10th grade special needs kid. Just ride riding like a huge kid who played linebacker and, like, didn't know how to read. And he's just sitting there, so sad. There's no goals.

[Mike Grinelli]

They scanned my cat.

[Ryan Whitney]

The guy came, grabbed him with six minutes to go in the second period. I was like, where's he going? And Dave's like, he's riding the Zamboni, apparently.

[Mike Grinelli]

I thought you said that he didn't.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Want that game, but Dave made him go there because it was a better.

[Ryan Whitney]

That's the problem. Dave's just torturing him the entire time. Dave's screaming out the live line throughout the game. Like live over under three and a half. Just making him sound even worse. Like the game had no chance of going over well. Meanwhile, I find out Elio had like, basically begged the guy to let him do Columbus. That's a draft. King State. Columbus scores a lot of goals. They can give up a lot of goals.

[Paul Bissonnette]

The night before that, they. They.

[Ryan Whitney]

That was the game we were going to go to. They had 12, there's seven, six, 13 goals in a shootout against. Who's that against? It was an amazing comeback.

[Paul Bissonnette]

It was a come. Was it Ottawa?

[Ryan Whitney]

It was Vancouver. They were down three nothing. And Columbus won the game to keep their playoffs hope alive. So that would have been the game we were at. But Dave's like, nobody's going to want to go to Columbus. We got to go to Nashville. So blame Portnoy for the loss, I guess.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

But still a fun weekend nonetheless, until I got sick and just started grinding through this podcast. But there was other news in the hockey world, and we can kind of start with college hockey biz. You've become an enormous fan. I feel like you.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Well, I just kind of switched all you guys. Yeah, I kind of just follow you guys.

[Ryan Whitney]

Okay, maybe not then.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Well, no, I pay attention a lot more because you guys are so invested. Obviously. G's the one who kind of got the ball rolling with. Talking about it more on the podcast. You having played. Played college hockey, like, obviously you know what you're talking about. You follow mostly BU and the fact that you're an associate coach. Kind of.

[Ryan Whitney]

I was for like 10 minutes last year.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Okay, well, I still.

[Ryan Whitney]

I still. I went and visited the team last week. By that I mean visited the coaching staff and watched a little practice. And I'll go back a couple times before the Frozen four. Shout out Granelli, who is the Chiclets. You master. And Merles and game notes. Notes. Merle's horrible. They didn't pick one Frozen Four team, right? They didn't get one. They didn't get one. Army got Western Michigan. That's it. These idiots follow college hockey more than anyone. Didn't pick bu. Let me tell you something about Jay Pandolf. We played four years at bu. He went to the Frozen Four every year. He's in his third year as head coach. He's been to the Frozen Four. He's seven for seven. And these didn't pick him to come out of that at that.

[Paul Bissonnette]

That's an incredible run.

[Ryan Whitney]

It's in. It's amazing. Amazing.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Do you think there's a extent.

[Mike Grinelli]

A couple cups there too.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Do you think there's possibility that he gets an NHL coaching job?

[Ryan Whitney]

I think he could. I think he could if he wants, and I just hope he doesn't. That's kind of where I'm at.

[Pasha]

I mean, Boston. Why wouldn't Boston hire him?

[Ryan Whitney]

Because he knows high school. Yeah. I'm just thinking he knows that like you get. You get hired to get fired in the NHL. Right? Like, you could have this. He could coach at BU the next 25 years, making a hell of a living with a great team every year and just not have to worry about the drama of NHL head coach. NHL head coaches. I mean, I mean, who's. I think Knobloch's one of the most longest tenured coaches and he came into the league last year, 10 games in or whatever for the Oilers. It's crazy.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

So college hockey, though, BC just in an unbelievable choke. Number one team in the country, they lose to Northeastern in hockey's playoffs and then barely get by Bentley over, only to lose to Denver. Denver now is a problem.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Okay, this goaltender, is he the biggest gamer?

[Pasha]

Matt Davis, he's incredible.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Is there a possibility that he goes down as the best college goaltender of all time? Time? His college. Can you read out the tweet of his college tournament? The NCAA tournament numbers. So every time he's entered like the. You call it the Frozen Four, even.

[Ryan Whitney]

If it's no, just NCAA Tournament, like Regionals, then Frozen Force, Just the final.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Okay. Okay. All right.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, but his numbers are insane for all of them.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I think that. Yeah, I think he's at like a 9. 35 save percentage. I don't know. I mean, G's gonna read it off here, but somebody tweeted out after word and this is the kid who last year he was the MVP of the.

[Ryan Whitney]

Finals, made that save on Leonard, made.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Ridiculous saves in that final, and then had one of the best post Game speeches I've ever heard. It was very emotional. They were the first, the first university to hit 10, 10 championships as well. So I don't know if you guys have heard the, the, the post game speech that he gave last year in Minnesota, but more than likely is.

[Ryan Whitney]

Are.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Are all four of those teams heading to St. Louis for the semi finals.

[Ryan Whitney]

So Western Michigan, both NH what is it?

[Pasha]

NCHC.

[Ryan Whitney]

NCHC teams. Which kind of people thought was going to be like a down year. But they got two teams in the frozen four. Hawk east, but they played each other.

[Pasha]

In the NCHC finals as well. Denver goes up three, nothing in the game. Western Michigan comes back to beat them in overtime. So there's definitely a little bad blood there. It's going to be a fun game for everyone to watch.

[Ryan Whitney]

And then BEU first Penn State. Penn State played Yukon in an all time classic. Neither team has ever been to a frozen four. Penn State got it done. Awesome goal in overtime. Yukon. Like I kind of felt bad. Mike Kavanaugh was a former coach at BC. He started making some big time waves with UConn. They have a new rank, but Penn State, Penn State got the better of them.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I watched the game. Penn State against Maine, right? That was the game. They worked them. I was impressed with McCarr's brother though.

[Ryan Whitney]

He was hammering with Colorado today.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I saw that he just signed that. But going back to Penn State, that was a club hockey program. Not too long ago, less than 15.

[Pasha]

Years ago, when I was in college, they were a club team. Like that's crazy.

[Paul Bissonnette]

And I've seen like videos of their home. Home barn. And it was pretty much a home game for them because you guys mentioned they were in Lehigh Valley.

[Ryan Whitney]

They were. Yeah. Allentown there. Which is kind of a scam that like it's, it's so they. I like, I feel like because they were the third seed.

[Pasha]

The fourth.

[Ryan Whitney]

They were the fourth seed in that like you almost shouldn't send them to what would be a home game for them if they're going to be. They're. They're the 13th, 14th, 15th or 16th. Right. Like I don't know how it worked out. Maybe they were the 13th, but don't give them the chance of having two home games. Right. And you know the Nittany lion fans are going to be traveling. Right. They're going to travel wherever. So the fact that they were able to get that home crowd in Allentown was a big thing. But it is cool to see a former club hockey program.

[Pasha]

I think it's also massive for college hockey because of the alumni network. Penn State's alumni network is massive. They like, everywhere you go there's Penn State alumni and, and they're making. And the alumni network's going to notice. There's going to be a ton of people in St. Louis. It's, it's good for the game.

[Paul Bissonnette]

What were Matt Davis's stats do you.

[Pasha]

Have that I saw against BC? 70 out of 71 shots in two tournament games. 985. Tournament 985. Save percentage.

[Mike Grinelli]

You see him in between whistles like he's, he looks so calm. Like that must be so nice for the players just seeing him doing his meditation sitting there. But you never. It's so weird to see opposite hand goalie, especially in college, like be this dominant. Like I know just looking at the game, I'm like, oh my God, BC is going to beat them by 15. Next thing you know, they had nothing.

[Ryan Whitney]

Who do you think of when you think of like, like when they.

[Mike Grinelli]

Jose. Theodore.

[Ryan Whitney]

Me too. Yeah, me too. Biz silly side gold years. He was. Holy shit. I didn't even think of him. Yeah, I think of Theodore. Jose Theodore dummied us in a sandbagger.

[Mike Grinelli]

That Penn State though. My buddy in, in Florida, he, he went to Penn State, loves Penn State football. Now he's all in on the hockey team. He like bought a house in Penn State just so when he goes up on the weekends to watch football games, he has a place to stay. Like these people are.

[Pasha]

State College is insane.

[Ryan Whitney]

I am very worried about the future of college hockey with just kind of Big ten completely taking over with this nil money. Like I'm hearing Michigan has like 700 grand a year to give to kids. Now I don't know how accurate these reports are, but any team with an enormous big time college football program is just going to have resources that teams like, like BU and Denver and these other teams don't. Now they're in the frozen floor. Let's see where this goes over the next couple years. But the Big Ten programs with the football money could end up just buying up all the players. I don't know what's going to happen.

[Mike Grinelli]

Don't you think like the, the history of like the hot. Like when I think college hockey, I don't know, maybe it's because I'm from Mass. Like I think bc, bu, like you don't think those schools will always have like the. I think guys will want to play that.

[Ryan Whitney]

I think they will and I think they'll be able to give some money to guys. But, you know, if you have this football money or. Or maybe UConn has basketball money too. I don't know how that'll work with them. BC will have some football money too, so that's kind of a little scary being.

[Pasha]

Good thing about the Big Ten schools, though, too, is they'll get a TV deal. Like, if you want a college hockey TV deal. That's only happening with the Big Ten schools. They're the ones that have the money. They have all the connections with the TV deals already. And that I. That's what's presenting, preventing college hockey from growing the most, I think, right now as a tv.

[Paul Bissonnette]

All right, I got the stat here. It's over six NCAA tournament games. Den Tender Matt Davis has only allowed five goals. That's equal to less than a goal a game and a ninth. Well, thanks tips. And a.976 save percentage. He's made two thou, two, 203 saves on 208 shots. That's the highest save percentage of any goaltender in the past five years who has played in six or more NCAA tournament games. So he's just on an absolute heater. He's feeling it and an easy guy to root for.

[Mike Grinelli]

He's drafted too, Right?

[Paul Bissonnette]

Right. I believe undrafted.

[Pasha]

Correct.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I believe he's undrafted.

[Mike Grinelli]

He'll get a shot.

[Paul Bissonnette]

So here. Here's the thing. Like, I don't know exactly where Dustin Wolf was drafted, but I don't. Is. Is Davis not necessarily the biggest goaltender either?

[Ryan Whitney]

He's small.

[Paul Bissonnette]

So sometimes they write off these small, small goaltenders where, man, you just got to find guys who are gamers. Like I. Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

Dustin Wolf was 214th pick, seventh round 2019.

[Paul Bissonnette]

And. And he developed in LA and. And in. In front of the. The. At the El Segundo where all the LA guys are. So the fact that he slipped through the cracks there, but it. It's crazy, man. You got to give these gamers an opportunity. I'm sure he'll get a contract somewhere when his college career is over.

[Ryan Whitney]

I think the biggest news coming out of the post regionals was probably Ryan Leonard.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

No surprise at all. Signed with Washington. So what an amazing, heartbreaking loss, right? They their number one seed in the whole tourney. They lose, lose. And what's he gonna do? He's gonna make his debut Tuesday in Boston, his home state against the Bruins, playing with Ovechkin.

[Paul Bissonnette]

So that's unreal.

[Ryan Whitney]

And then also Gabe Perot, I was a little surprised to see him turn pro. There's been a discussion about how you turn pro and you burn a year of your entry level deal. Right. Which, by the way, Rangers fans. Pasha, I'm with you on this. So dumb. They. I was reading the responses. You have to go to the responses of the Rangers tweet announcing the sign of Gabe Perot. They're like, three years. Never even heard of this guy. Never even played the NHL. You're giving him three years? There's like 500 comments like that. I'm like, holy Rangers, get out of your own way. That is what entry level contracts are. But they'll burn a year. Now the argument is some people say, oh yeah, get rid of a year right away. But if you're not necessarily going to light it up in the two years you're going to be playing, like you're not going to hit that home run on that first deep deal. Right. Like, maybe having the third year would almost help you sometime to crush it on the second deal. Do you know what I mean?

[Paul Bissonnette]

Agreed. I. I think that their thinking is, is that they're going to get plenty of opportunity in that first year and if they don't, if they play somewhat decent in that second year. The full year.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Which would be. I mean, you have both options. If you light it up your first year, then all of a sudden you're actually eligible to sign next summer. 16-7-1 extend.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yep.

[Paul Bissonnette]

So it kind of gives you two opportunities without having to wait that extra year. I mean, true. Look at what. Like, what do you, what do you think Connor Bedard's gonna get? I know we're kind of jumping chips here at a guy who was a number one overall pick, but he's proved it for two years now. I'm pretty sure he's gonna finish with 65, 70 points and he's probably going to make 10 million a year.

[Ryan Whitney]

I can't wait two years. See what his deal is.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I bet he's gonna get 10.

[Ryan Whitney]

I think it's gonna be more than that, actually. We should talk about College Village. Oliver Moore and Sam Renzel from the University of Minnesota, who also lost. They turned pro with Chicago. This Renzel, incredible.

[Pasha]

I told you guys, six, five.

[Ryan Whitney]

I didn't know much about this guy. Dude, he skates like the wind.

[Pasha]

He's incredible, man. And once he fills out too. That's what everyone, when we went there was saying is this kid hasn't even touched.

[Paul Bissonnette]

So how did Minnesota win then? If he played there, then Snugaroo play there. They had all these guys and they couldn't win.

[Ryan Whitney]

They're. They're chokers.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Choke artists.

[Ryan Whitney]

They're chokers. And Snuggerood. And Snuggerude left as well. And he's playing for the blues tomorrow night. Did you talk to army about.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I got the chance to talk to Army. I actually got a chance to talk to Nick Dowd. He won't be on this podcast, but it was good to touch, catch up with an old teammate.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

And a guy who's been a. A member of Washington Capitals for seven seasons now. And you know, he joined them the year after they'd won it and obviously there was a lot of superstars and special players on that team, but obviously this year has been, you know, probably his best, most successful year. There's there. And we did touch on the fact that Ryan Leonard will be joining them at the end of the season here to get his feet wet. And, and, and Leonard having spent that extra year at college and doing what he did, who knows, man? Like, he, he has the opportunity to come in here and, and make an impact come playoff time. Like, these young, fresh legs. Seems like he's like. Seems like he's a little stockier than most.

[Pasha]

Built like a.

[Mike Grinelli]

He's got the NHL build already.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Mike Grinelli]

Which they say too, if you need to get bigger, you go to college so you can lift five days a week. And I think he's. When he's out there on the ice, it's like when a point guard has the basketball, you're like, oh, my God, he's going to do something here. And it's every shift with him. He is a sp. I didn't watch a ton of their games this year, but probably the last four or five. And he is a special. Special.

[Ryan Whitney]

Now, looking at Washington's lineup right here, like, they got Wilson with Strom and Protoss. They got OVI with Pierre, Luke dubois and Bolivia. They got Mangiapani with Lars Eller and Taylor Radish. Then they got Connor McMichael with Nick Dowd and Brandon Duhame. This is on daily Face Offs line charts. So, like, with the year they've had. Right. Like all of a sudden, it's kind of odd somebody's getting bumped out for Leonard. Looking at this, I would assume Bolivier. Now, this is without me knowing anything about the season he's had. But you're not going to stick him on the fourth line. I don't think maybe you do, but even then, like, who's coming off there?

[Paul Bissonnette]

I think that.

[Ryan Whitney]

So when a team's that good, it is. It is a little Bit of a story like, oh, who's coming out?

[Paul Bissonnette]

Well, so they traded for, he was in Pittsburgh and they traded for him. Right? Bolivier. That's where he started this season. I think he, he's a pretty streaky player. The type of guy who can get hot. He did have a one decent playoff run there with the Islanders. I, I felt like. And yeah, I feel like he'd be the, the easy, easy guy, at least off the hop just to get Leonard's feet wet. And if Leonard hops in and he, he looks like an NHL player, like, you know, I wouldn't be shocked if you, you saw him for the, for the rest of the year. Now if he's having a hard time getting adjusted, at least he gets to be around the environment, be around the team, you know, get used to, to what it's like to be a full time NHL. But it's actually the perfect team to get kicked off with if we're going to transition to the NHL. Not only did I get a chance to talk to Nick Dowd, but the, the Jacob Chicken deal.

[Ryan Whitney]

What a monster contract. I also didn't realize he's only 26.

[Paul Bissonnette]

He's still young, man.

[Ryan Whitney]

Has he been in the NHL since 19?

[Paul Bissonnette]

He's been since he was very young.

[Mike Grinelli]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

Holy sh. What is the news I'm hearing about? He wants light bulbs out of his house.

[Mike Grinelli]

Was messing.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, I think they were blowing it a little bit out of proportion. I think at, at some health nut. At a certain time. We should get posh on to talk about this. Unless we want to keep having Justine.

[Ryan Whitney]

Right now trying to get out of the dog house.

[Mike Grinelli]

Hey, hey, babe. Don't listen. Tomorrow.

[Ryan Whitney]

Hey, babe.

[Paul Bissonnette]

In the doghouse. But if I'm in there, could you put candles instead of light bulbs?

[Ryan Whitney]

Babe, I just took a dick pill. Love you.

[Paul Bissonnette]

But at a certain time of night, you don't want to be like taking in any blue, blue light, as they call it, it up with your, your, your, your sleeping circadian rhythm. Your circadian rhythm.

[Ryan Whitney]

So when I'm laying in bed on my phone for an hour, it's not good.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Literally been doing it the last 15 years. Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

How about my laptop on my beanbag right now like it has been for the last 20 years.

[Paul Bissonnette]

That's why, why I got the phone on my car.

[Ryan Whitney]

I think I'm low T too. That's why I'm sick.

[Paul Bissonnette]

But like, like, literally perfect timing. You know, he's dealt with so many injuries throughout the years and like, you know, I don't even know if he's had a full season played yet, like based on the fact that how much he's been injured.

[Ryan Whitney]

But last year he played 82.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Oh, he did. Okay. So it was. Hey. And it didn't work out there. You know, everyone's like, oh, what's going to go on in Washington? Well, he just hit a 20 goal mark the other day. 20 goals and that. That was after he signed his deal too. So he got 19 money. And I would say that, you know, once Carlson's gone, that's kind of his. His decor, right? He's the offensive guy, he's got the big shot, he can run power play and. And given with the growth of his game, he could probably handle all situations, right? So.

[Ryan Whitney]

So he actually turned 27 today. His birthday. Happy birthday. Jacob Chickren.

[Paul Bissonnette]

He just got married over there. He just got married. He just got married over the break too, during four nations. So a lot of positive things happening for him. I. There was another rumor that he got rid of.

[Mike Grinelli]

Got married or engaged?

[Paul Bissonnette]

No, he got married over the break. Yeah. Over the four nation.

[Ryan Whitney]

Eight, nine. He got.

[Paul Bissonnette]

No, well, actually eight times four and a half because he got married, right?

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. You're done, you're done, you're done. Eight times two after expenses.

[Paul Bissonnette]

And yet. But no, but where were we?

[Ryan Whitney]

You were saying something about Tesla. Tesla.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Oh, yeah. Apparently he doesn't want to be sitting on a battery all day too. So he's done.

[Ryan Whitney]

Doesn't want somebody to like blow your car up because you're driving one of those. That. That's not ideal.

[Paul Bissonnette]

But he's taken a lot of steps from the nutrition, the training perspective, and he's went all in and dived all in on that and it's obviously paying dividends, like as much as. As much as the chirps he get eating the raw meat and liver king this and. And light bulb that. Like whatever he's doing is working it. I will join whatever cult he's in if I can get a ticket like that and. And look like a Greek God.

[Ryan Whitney]

Very goodlook, man.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Oh, he looks like that Hemings Worth.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, he does like that picture.

[Paul Bissonnette]

He's a missile.

[Ryan Whitney]

That picture's crazy.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Oh, I bet he looks like a.

[Ryan Whitney]

Greek on this one. It's like, whoa, what the hell?

[Pasha]

Young.

[Paul Bissonnette]

He was coming.

[Ryan Whitney]

No, that's in Ottawa. That's. He had the short hair and he looked like an absolute.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Well, he had the wrong diet going then. That's why he was doing.

[Ryan Whitney]

He had a light bulb that's why.

[Paul Bissonnette]

He looks so pale.

[Ryan Whitney]

What a deal though for him. I mean, I think he's tore one ACL twice and other one once, like.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

So there's times where this guy's wondering like, am I ever going to get a big payday? Right, Right. And I think he had signed.

[Paul Bissonnette]

It was like he signed a pretty good deal. I want to say it was six. I think it was six years at like four and a half. And it was one of those ones that at least provide. It provides you enough security knowing you're never going to go broke. But I think that he had bigger aspirations being drafted in the first round. He was a studding junior. You're playing in the NHL at such a young age and yeah, I think that like he, he was the type of guy who believed in himself to, to reach the echelon in which he's done this year. I mean, 20 goals. The D man he might finish with, like, that's insane. We talked about Makar maybe hitting the 30 mark and how, you know, he's a shoe in for the Norris. Well, I mean, Chickering ain't that far behind. I think that based on this year's stats, he, he's easily a top 15, maybe even top 10 defenseman. So good for him. Very well deserved. And it's just like a great message out there to any kid whether you get drafted high, whether you don't and you just battle injuries. He's like, don't give up. Pour everything you have into it. And the game will find a way to eventually take care of you. If you put that as Bucky Malone.

[Ryan Whitney]

Said, love the game, it'll love you back.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, but say it in his voice.

[Ryan Whitney]

Hey, love the game. We're love you back is what I say.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Jaga bomb.

[Ryan Whitney]

Jag bomb. So staying in the in the East, Montreal with an enormous win against Florida 4 to 2. Actually sticking with Florida for a sec. Marshawn plays his first game Friday and night gets the game winning assistant overtime. Who's he give it to? Bennett the Menace. I'm like, Jesus Christ. These two together could. Chuck's out there skating today, so I assume that he's on the right path getting back for playoffs. But Montreal, they're not going away. They are not going away. Lane Hudson gets three assists. One of them was a beaut. Just Suzuki right through the crease. They win 42 in Florida and it was an ugly game. I never seen this Mikola. What the hell was he doing? He took a slap shot at the other team. Did you See that? He got fined 5,000 for some reason. He took a slap shot. I saw the ref got. The ref basically, like, saved him. The ref at that point should let him go. And, like, you have to fight if you're going to take a slap shot at the other team, like, you should be allowed to be attacked.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I think that he had a calm temperament before he went over to Florida, but once he joined that whack pack back, you just become a crazy person.

[Ryan Whitney]

They tell you, like, you have to do something really, really dirty tonight or you're not hanging out with us. All right, I'll take a slap shot at the Canadians. But the Canadians, right now, they sit in the. In the second wild card spot. They have a game in hand on the Rangers, who are tied with them in points. But Columbus has a game in hand on Montreal and they're two points back. Detroit, on the other hand, and man, I don't know what's going on in Detroit. It seems like they just. They couldn't even build on last year. And they are not out of it by any means. They have nine games remaining right now. They're three points out. It's more about just Columbus and New York are in front of them till you get to that second spot in Montreal. But it seems like Larkin and Raymond have gone a little cold. I also am doing some research and finding out the Red Wings are. Have a chance of basically having the worst penalty kill in league history. History, like their penalty kill is just horrific. So you can't all of a sudden have a great power play as they do this year, and then lose your PK, I guess. Todd McClellan was talking about how before he got there, they were trying something, then they've tried something else, now they're trying something else. So they're almost kind of like stuck in between three different ways.

[Paul Bissonnette]

They try to stop taking penalties.

[Ryan Whitney]

That's. That's kind of where I was going next. Maybe just stay out of the box. But much Detroit fans, they're looking at a. Like last year, you remember the push they had. They were right there. One point, they almost did it. And now this year, it's like we're taking a step back. And I don't know if at some point you think Steve Iserman's job is, you know, a little bit on the hot seat or something, but the Red Wings, I thought this year, now all of a sudden Montreal, who nobody considered even close to really where Detroit or Ottawa was, is. Is looking better than Detroit is.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I think that if next year they don't have a season like Ottawa had this year year that you could start the conversation. I think that you know it's you know it's Stevie Y. I think he's going to get a little bit more of a. A longer leash than than majority of guys in that seat. Especially what he's done for that organization and he deserves it and I think he's a brilliant hockey mind. Ultimately if you're you know if your draft picks aren't hitting which I think that they have a wave of really young ones. They got some good prospects that that that are are about to kind of come to fruition and really start making an impact. You mentioned like Larin and and and at the brinket have calmed down a little bit. Like I just think that they're just so top heavy and they're so reliant on those guys that to just count on them for a full 82 every season. Like no. No team does that. Like they're like the teams with depth where they can snap it around where certain guys could take the the limelight off those guys for. For a 510 game segment. That's the type of roster that you have to build. So I guess I'm not shocked locked based on how the deadline went and it just didn't seem like they were pushing the chips in and that they were in any type of win mode now. But they're still in the Viagra triangle going into next year if they don't make playoffs. But if it's an ugly start and they start fading off. Nah nah, nah, nah. They're walking the fucking plank. And I would I bet you if you pulled majority of of Detroit fans and you said by the end of next year if it's another abysmal season, no playoffs that you could start the clock at that point where if that following year there's no playoffs. So another two years of misses. You gotta at a certain point what do you do? You gotta sometimes if you don't have an answer to put somebody better in the seat you kind of just keep riding the horse. I would imagine that if somebody's gonna start barking at that point. Am I crazy?

[Mike Grinelli]

No, not at all. I mean yes you are but not.

[Paul Bissonnette]

With that I am the third it's.

[Mike Grinelli]

But it's also too who is the last big name free agent to sign there. They're kind of in that. You know it's not the greatest city. No offense but guys aren't dying to go there. You know what I mean? When they were winning, you know they were getting, you know, the Brett Hulls, the Brendan Shanahans. The big boys wanted to go there because they were winning. But now you have to draft well. You have to develop your guys. They've been known for really good development, sending their guys to Grand Rapids, giving them a couple, couple, couple years in the Miners to figure it out. But I think they got to pull the trigger a little bit sooner now with these young guys and get some young blood in there and develop them in the NHL as opposed to the hl because you're not getting the signings that you were back in the day.

[Ryan Whitney]

I thought that Tarasenko would be a lot better there. You know, he wins the cup last year and signs in Detroit and he's got 10 goals, 71 games. Like, that's just kind of like you needed him to pop off for 25 to 30, and then you. You're looking at like, all right, we have another goal score in the lineup. But maybe he's just kind of. He's got 822 NHL games, 121 in the playoffs. He's 33, but never been the fastest skater. Maybe now that's kind of catching up with him. But I thought, I thought he would be a lot better this year than. Than he has been for Detroit. Raymond, and Raymond's been awesome, but like I said, he's kind of slowed down a little bit. It seems like since Four nations, like, you see these teams that had, like, guys with a bunch of break, you know, and like, look at Washington, right? Nobody was there and. And now Edmonton's dealing with a McDavid injury and some of these teams that had guys there, it's just. It's almost hurt them a little bit.

[Mike Grinelli]

But Florida.

[Ryan Whitney]

Florida. Yeah, exactly. So although Ottawa hasn't slowed down, the one other east team that, like, we never talk about, and if they do go to the cup finals, you'll need security business. Carolina is just humming along long. Maybe, maybe this year, somehow Carolina is able to do it. They have a great first round matchup against a team that Pasha roots for, that stinks.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Halsey's. It's like rejuvenated his career.

[Ryan Whitney]

I know, I know he looks awesome there. And I think that it's about being comfortable, right? Maybe the way that he plays. Rod Brindmore loves it, but I think that, like, Carolina's sneaky, just like, moving along, moving along. And what's his. Jarvis has been awesome, man. That guy, guy. He's probably gotten a lot of confidence, actually, from four nations, even though he didn't play an enormous role. He gets to see how these guys act, these superstars. And he's, he's been playing great. So, yeah, Hall's got 14 points in 23 games there. Eight goals and Carolina's eight and two in their last 10. So I don't know anyone else in the east actually staying in the East. We got to talk about Torts. He got himself fired. They lost an absolute blowout game to the Maple Leafs. And he came out and said, I got no desire to be coaching this team. Basically, I don't know.

[Paul Bissonnette]

And then there was a. Apparently there was an incident with York. Cam York.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yes.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Right. Where, where the following game after Torts was like, what. What was the title? That they said that he was relieved of his duties.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, they. Well, yeah, not exactly fired, but Elliot.

[Mike Grinelli]

Said at first that he stepped down because he hadn't heard yet from the Flyers. And then the Flyers can't fire me.

[Paul Bissonnette]

If I quit kind of thing.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Mike Grinelli]

Hey, can you come in my office? I quit. I think essentially he was, he was fired.

[Paul Bissonnette]

So then the, the, the following game after he was relieved of his duties, Cam York sat on the bench the whole game. Like, that's what I did. Didn't play one second. Didn't get, didn't get to step over the board.

[Ryan Whitney]

Doesn't even count as a game played. For people who don't know, that sucks.

[Paul Bissonnette]

At least give him a 10 minute mascot so he gets the game played. Like that reeks of maybe like they kind of gotten like a shoving match and maybe things.

[Ryan Whitney]

So it wasn't, it wasn't physical.

[Paul Bissonnette]

It wasn't.

[Ryan Whitney]

I talked to somebody in Phil.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Chest to chest.

[Ryan Whitney]

No, I, it was just, I think he had like, like he had a bad play in the first period. Toronto scored and Torts came in and just was unloading on him. And then he kind of went back at him, like almost one of those, like, hey, I'm gonna be here longer than you are.

[Mike Grinelli]

I heard he got personal with Yorkie and Yorkie was taking it for a while and then he got personal with him and then Yorkie unloaded on him, which I love that out of a. If you had enough, get personal with the guy and call me a loser.

[Ryan Whitney]

16 or 17 more times, I'm out of here. Showed open basketball, bad breath.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Guys don't like you.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, but so, so he didn't play the rest of that game. Then Torts got fired and then the team just like punished him like, you can't, we can't have that you know, you screaming back at a coach, you're screaming at you, me.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Scott's probably got the popcorn out like. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

But they didn't have, they, they had to drag dress them because they like didn't have enough healthy guys to not.

[Mike Grinelli]

You know, ran out of call ups.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah. Oh, really?

[Mike Grinelli]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

Jesus. Philly man. But they had to dress him because not have enough guys. You're not allowed to dress. Not the number that you need. So he just sat on the bench all game.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Pretty gritty play.

[Mike Grinelli]

Yeah, that's it, that's. But I mean, I, I played with Yorkie for the year in Philly. Nice kid, passionate kid, cares. But like, I would never expect him to yell back at a coach like that. And I absolutely love it. No, yeah, I mean, I'm sure you just had enough. It's probably been three years.

[Paul Bissonnette]

So you know the full story then.

[Mike Grinelli]

No, I don't, I don't.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yans.

[Mike Grinelli]

But yeah, no, I'm, I'm proud of him.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Should we waterboard Yans to get a lot of them?

[Ryan Whitney]

I, I, I, I think torts was like telling them, like, like resign here, I'll bury you. Like there was, it was getting like a little, little over the line, I'd say.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Oh, you, oh, you know what was said?

[Ryan Whitney]

I don't know anything. I'm just telling you what I'm hearing.

[Mike Grinelli]

If you hit, if you hit someone with, I'm gonna be here longer than you. And then they get fired the next.

[Ryan Whitney]

Day is so funny when, when Tarian was just like all over me. I remember my agent would be like, dude, you're gonna be there longer than him. You're gonna be there longer than him. I was like, okay, yeah, that's a good thing to think. It's a good thing to think. And then he got fired. Weird. And then I got traded like four days later. And my agent was like, hey, I told you, you made it longer than he did. Well, technically, technically, I did make it a day longer.

[Paul Bissonnette]

At least you could trust me with.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, exactly.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I'm a man of my word. My word. My words are strong as oak.

[Ryan Whitney]

But it said Brier said I felt it was time. You're going to ask me, is there one thing that happened? It's not one thing. It's a series of things that have happened and probably a little bit more in the last three, three weeks that have escalated since the trade deadline. I'm guessing he wasn't thrilled, right? Like Lawton gets traded. They'd already traded Frost and Farabee and you're just kind of at a place. Torts is like 65, 66 years old. The team. I don't think Philly is even remotely close to being a good team. Like, when are they going to be good?

[Paul Bissonnette]

You know, it'd be ironic if Anaheim hired him and Go check.

[Ryan Whitney]

No, they just traded Cronin for Torts called.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Go check. Do you. Do you think Torts coaches again?

[Ryan Whitney]

I think he does. What? I don't think any. I don't think the league can quit this guy.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I kind of agree with you.

[Ryan Whitney]

And it's like. It's like a toxic relationship where the guy just, like, can't not take the girl back. Like, Justine come back conditioning st. You almost like it.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Towards his revenge.

[Mike Grinelli]

I'm trying to think of what team could.

[Ryan Whitney]

It would be a veteran team.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah.

[Mike Grinelli]

It'd have to be like Carolina if they would. To ever fire Brenda Moore and bring him in for half a year or something.

[Paul Bissonnette]

To imagine they were together both like.

[Ryan Whitney]

H. Like he was making 4 million, though.

[Paul Bissonnette]

He's got. He's got one year left of 4 million.

[Ryan Whitney]

Well, not anymore.

[Paul Bissonnette]

No. I think. Because the way they handle it, he's still going to get his money.

[Ryan Whitney]

Really?

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, I think so. I think so.

[Mike Grinelli]

Oh, this wasn't his last year. Year.

[Ryan Whitney]

No year.

[Paul Bissonnette]

It's not a four. Four, which is. That's a. That's a healthy tag. Okay. Where. Where would you most love to see Torts?

[Mike Grinelli]

Winnipeg.

[Ryan Whitney]

Back to the Rangers.

[Mike Grinelli]

O.

[Ryan Whitney]

Back in.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Okay.

[Ryan Whitney]

Speaking of him and Brooksie, I met Brooksie's son. He was at the bar stool.

[Paul Bissonnette]

No, he.

[Ryan Whitney]

That's the picture I sent you. Can you name who we. This guy's dad, who we interviewed. I sent the picture. That was him. That was him. He was wrecked. Great guy. Great guy. Came up to me at one point. He's like, wanna call him? Wanna call him? Showing me his phone. It was Lou Lamarillo. I'm like, no, Brooksie Jr. We're not gonna call Lou Lamarillo right now in the barstool bar. But I met. I would have called him. He was telling me all about him and his dad, his dad's battle with Torts and stuff. Great guy, little Brooksie.

[Mike Grinelli]

He's like, what, was he at ice?

[Ryan Whitney]

No, he's there, like, the day before. He was on, like, a bachelor party there. And then at the same time, laviolette's son was there. And I don't even think they knew each other.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I. I wouldn't. Obviously, I don't want to see it because it means Things wouldn't be going well in Toronto. And I love Chief, but imagine Torts in Toronto.

[Mike Grinelli]

That would be unreal.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, him and Steve Simmons just fist. Fist fight.

[Ryan Whitney]

Wow. I mean, where has Torch Ben? He's been in Tampa. He's been in Columbus. He's been in Columbus. He's been in Vancouver. He's been in Philly. Are we missing anywhere else?

[Mike Grinelli]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

Is he coach Calgary?

[Mike Grinelli]

I think he was a assistant before too, right?

[Ryan Whitney]

That doesn't count.

[Mike Grinelli]

Okay.

[Ryan Whitney]

Where else could he be? Yeah, Boston as they're rebuilding.

[Mike Grinelli]

Oh, my.

[Ryan Whitney]

Torts would scratch pasta in an interview. Pasta's been unreal this year too. By the way. The Bruins G are so bad. Maybe they're gonna get a top five pick, though.

[Pasha]

They might could be top four.

[Ryan Whitney]

Top four. I don't know why I saw McAvoy skating again. I. I would. Why just keep him out, keep tanking till September.

[Paul Bissonnette]

The. The good news though is, is I'm sure that we'll see Torts back on television.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yes, I would think so.

[Paul Bissonnette]

You'd be maybe with you.

[Ryan Whitney]

Were you with him before?

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, I think, you know, he was doing espn, so I would imagine they would bring him back or, and. Or us. We. We started bringing in Bo. I mean, you know, maybe they're. They want to snap it around and bring him in for a. For a test ride. I would love to do a show with him.

[Mike Grinelli]

I've heard he's great guy. Same family guy.

[Ryan Whitney]

I had him in the Olympics. It was two weeks and he. He hated me as a player, but he was the man as a. As a guy. Yeah, I think guys do love him as a guy. I think just as a coach. He just wears you down. Wears you down, Wears you down and then just grinds your gear over and over. You know what? I did think about Torso going back to ncaa. That kid tried the Michigan on UK Yukon and did you see that?

[Paul Bissonnette]

No.

[Ryan Whitney]

Kid on Yukon in overtime tried doing the Michigan and the defensive from Penn State ran over and I was like, torts might just crank one off to that, like, you know, tortates the Michigan. If you see a defenseman just light up. Somebody doing the Michigan Torts is probably just watching that Torts might coach Penn State now just to coach that kid.

[Paul Bissonnette]

In this in the spank bank. Oh, that kind of just reminded me the. Our first ever pilot episode of the. The show Peak Speaking with me and Wonton dawn is going to be airing later this week.

[Ryan Whitney]

Nice.

[Paul Bissonnette]

So if you guys want to check that out, that'll be.

[Ryan Whitney]

Tell people what the show is about what you did for the first episode.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

So are the film about your order, you ordering breakfast? Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah. That was kind of the order heard around the world where it was very high maintenance. I ordered breakfast where I changed literally every single thing on the.

[Mike Grinelli]

I get fresh over easy, but over medium fresh.

[Ryan Whitney]

Squeeze orange juice from McDonald's.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah. So that ended up going viral. But the premise is, is we're going to pick a new location. We're going to travel mostly to national parks and we're going to go explore a city or a town or the area. And then we're going to proceed by doing a hike of some sort. And we did Mount Leante. So it was in the Smokies and it was awesome. It was like about an 11 mile hike, like close to five and a half on the way up and five and a half on the way down, obviously. And it was a great day and obviously we, we enjoy some Scooby Snacks on the way up too. So of course it was just a, a great time exploring with the wanton dawn and Corey, who's our, our film guy. And he edited the thing so it'll be coming out. And this is the pilot episode and I look forward to doing more. I would probably try to bring them to Arizona next, then camp out on my lot in Jackson and go do something. Something in the backwoods there, which would be awesome.

[Mike Grinelli]

Ryan with them.

[Paul Bissonnette]

And then eventually in the summertime. Yeah. Head up to. To Vancouver and. And do something in the Pacific Northwest area. Gross Rhine could be an easy, like a quick one. But I think you want more of a substantial hike, especially if you're in that part of the world, like, gross grind. You're done in, in, you know, 50, 51 minutes or whatever.

[Ryan Whitney]

Bedard.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Or if you're Bedard, you're done in 38. At this point, we're obviously not getting Bedard because he hates my guts because I told him to play defense better. In which then they moved him to the wing because I'm the best coach in the world.

[Mike Grinelli]

Didn't you guys go to Dollywood on that trip?

[Paul Bissonnette]

We went to Dollywood to go sniff Dolly Parton's bras.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, that was a fun exhibit.

[Mike Grinelli]

It's like a Six Flags but Dolly Parton themed.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, it's amusement park.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I thought it was like Graceland for, for Dolly Parton, but it was. Yeah, it's an amusement park.

[Ryan Whitney]

You just ride like, like mechanical tits.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, that's it.

[Ryan Whitney]

Speaking of, I did, I did a monster. Yeah, I tore Nashville in a monster truck. Forgot to mention that.

[Paul Bissonnette]

What?

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, there's something for wild.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Not the teacups. I won't even say it today.

[Ryan Whitney]

Junior Phil Rudo. So I toured Nashville in a monster truck, and on the tour, I learned that it's called the Volunteer State in Tennessee because Texas was fighting some war with, like, Mexico, and they asked for 2800 men. Like, the state of Texas asked for, like, 2800 men from Tennessee, and 30,000 men went to help. Like, they're just great people in Tennessee. And I am assuming they won the war, considered it's Texas and not Mexico. And now, because of this, still to this day, the tour guide told me that if any kid in Tennessee gets into college, in Texas, college is paid. Paid for.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Wow.

[Ryan Whitney]

Gee, look it up.

[Mike Grinelli]

No, I don't even want to know. I don't even want to know if it's fake.

[Paul Bissonnette]

So the. It's the. The. The Volunteers is the name of the university?

[Ryan Whitney]

Yes, University Tennessee Volunteers.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Is that Knoxville?

[Ryan Whitney]

That's in Knoxville, yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Okay. So that's actually where I landed to go meet Donnie.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, really?

[Paul Bissonnette]

And then we went to a place called Pigeon Forge.

[Ryan Whitney]

I must be horrible.

[Paul Bissonnette]

The worst place on earth.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

There was 14 laser tags, 29 mini pipes, putts. There was like. Buddy, there was a million mini putts. Any, like, junk store you could imagine? Vape shop. Vape shop. You want inflatable dolls? Yeah, Come here. You want shitty, cheap T shirts that you don't need? Come here. You want a million mugs? Come on over. It was called Pigeon Forge. And then the. The. The main place where we stayed before we were on the hike was called Gatlinburg. Gatlinburg. And the whole city looks like it's owned by Ripley's Believe it or Not. And there's all these pancake houses. The food is terrible. Terrible. He brought me to this place called the Moody Mushroom, and he said he vouched for it. He's like, oh, this is unbelievable pizza. I wouldn't feed it to your dog.

[Mike Grinelli]

You sure it wasn't a mellow mushroom?

[Paul Bissonnette]

It was the mellow mushroom.

[Mike Grinelli]

Yeah. I've had that place. Yeah. It's a chain. It's like a domino.

[Paul Bissonnette]

That's when he started balding from the kryptonite they put in the pizza. Crazy. So, I mean, the people were very kind and friendly. You know, the pancake houses were. The pancake houses. But if you do have an opportunity to hike Mount Lante, it's. It's called Leonte.

[Ryan Whitney]

Jesus Christ.

[Paul Bissonnette]

And they have These, they have these like shacks at the top of it where if you get out a year in advance and you can file for like a permit, you can stay up top pop. So you could hike it, stay up there for the night, cook your own food, smoke some Js, do some shrooms, and then, and then come back down the next day. So it makes for a pretty cool experience. We were fortunate where we went on a Friday. And on, on the Fridays they send the llamas up where they have like, they put all the supplies on and.

[Ryan Whitney]

We cook up those llamas and eat them up with some barbecue sauce.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Slit their throat. If we're in a goal scoring slump and we eat the llamas. No, but they carry to the kl, they carry all the supplies up because like when you get up there, it's like as, as old school and you're, it's like you've stepped back in time. Like you're in like the, the, the Jesus Christ era.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah. Yeah. How much to go.

[Mike Grinelli]

How much would we have to pay you to go do that hike?

[Ryan Whitney]

I don't mind a little hike. He goes on like 7 mile hikes. Like I'll do a mile, do a mile up a hill. I like blue hills. It's like 700ft. 755ft.

[Mike Grinelli]

Yep.

[Ryan Whitney]

You can there and get a little sweat going. Yeah, it's not bad. It's not bad.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Would you, would you, would you rather have gone through the sickness you gone through today or have to have done that trip with me?

[Ryan Whitney]

I'd rather go through this sickness for a week straight than do that trip. Like think six you were eating food. You were just g. But I will.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I, I will change.

[Mike Grinelli]

Hanging out with the foreplay boys.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Oh, no. Oh, no. Check it out. Peaking with wanton Don and biz coming.

[Pasha]

Out this week, kids in Tennessee definitely have to pay tuition.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, you made that up.

[Ryan Whitney]

Really? Oh, no, I didn't make it up. The guy driving, maybe they get the.

[Mike Grinelli]

In state, like as if you pay.

[Pasha]

Just, just attending a public school or university in Texas as an out of state student from Tennessee typically means paying higher tuition rates.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Oh, yeah. Not even.

[Ryan Whitney]

That's what happens when you're driving a monster truck, giving a toy.

[Mike Grinelli]

Yeah, it's sponsored by monster energy and meth.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Like, you don't think it's got the brass balls on the back too?

[Ryan Whitney]

I mean, this guy said this. He's so confident, so trustworthy. He's like, I'm gonna say that on the pod. Sure. He was lying. Well, Going out west. The LA Kings are not frauds like Merle says. They're a wagon right now. Now the Leafs did get them and I think they lost another game game. I think they lost their last two games the Kings, but they look good, man. And Quentin by field's probably one of the biggest reasons I, I. This has been your team for three years now. Biz like one of your.

[Paul Bissonnette]

They saved my life.

[Ryan Whitney]

Well, yeah, the AHL team did, but.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, well, the organization did.

[Mike Grinelli]

You weren't on a two way.

[Ryan Whitney]

Okay, so you're gonna stick with three prior years that they're gonna beat Edmonton?

[Paul Bissonnette]

I think that like you were laughing them off stage. Merles were calling them frauds.

[Ryan Whitney]

I never called them frauds. Merles. I know can't pick one.

[Paul Bissonnette]

You were like, there's no way that Edmonton loses to them. I think that Edmonton needs to get healthy and things need to start going in the right direction for them. They need to figure out their goaltending and not get any more offer sheets and their players stolen from them. And yeah, I think that they do have. I think if you ask me right now, now if all, every both teams healthy, I would give Edmonton a 51% chance to win that series. I think it's going seven. I wouldn't be like that shocked if they lost. Like, I feel like Edmonton got smaller, slower and older in the off season. Like, say what you want about how Skinner's played lately, he's played a little bit better. Nugent Hopkins has turned the corner, but like, look at the fucking list of guys they lost. They lost. Fogle, they lost.

[Ryan Whitney]

Who's nasty on the Kings?

[Paul Bissonnette]

I think he, I think he's like second on their team and five on five goals.

[Ryan Whitney]

He's got 22 this year. He's been great.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, I don't, I don't think he. Bar, he barely plays any power play. The, the list goes on of guys that they lost and then they replace them with the Arvidsons, the Skinners, they're, they're smaller players. I really liked Arvidson's playoff two years ago with the LA Kings. I just am not as threatened as I would have been last year about the Edmonton Oilers and the, the, the, the question mark on McDavid's health and, and you know, he's not back quite yet. That just scares me a little bit. And they seem to be very top heavy. So it's not only like, oh, hey, welcome back to the lineup. Hey, we're going to be playing you 24 minutes a night because we're not as deep as we were last year. So I could be totally wrong and they could just. All of a sudden Frederick's back, Evander Kane's in the lineup and they're buzzing like the. The 84 Oilers again by all means, but I think this one's going to go the distance.

[Ryan Whitney]

The only thing that, that helps the Oilers in my mind is like the King's leading scorer. They have two guys with 60 points. Okay, right like that. It's Kempe and Kopitar. Their next guy, Fiala has 50 points. So when you're talking about like true top end talent, like they can't sniff the Oilers, but obviously the Oilers were way better last year. Like I can admit it. And, and they, they up with a couple moves in the off season. The Armstrong buried us with frigging Hallway and Broberg. Hallway looks like fucking Patrick Kane in his prime right now. And Broberg's phenomenal. But it's still about like McDavid and Leon and LA having nobody close to them to. I do believe it would go seven now. Interestingly enough, it went seven games three years ago, then six. Then last year it was just domination in five. This year, if LA holds on to home ice, they're great at home, but they suck on the road. So it's also like if Edmonton can get one game in la, then all of a sudden we just hold hold court at home and we win the series. But it, it's a weird feeling now seeing the Kings be. And the Kings are definitely keeper, no doubt. I love Gavrikov on D like Brant Clark. It's just, it's a team that's very good and, and Kemper's actually been awesome this year. But it's like, I don't know if you've seen his numbers, but he could be like almost like Vesna type if it wasn't for hella Buck just being out of this planet. So LA's got a very good team. But Byfield, that's what Kopitar said. He's been our best player for a while. Like he has kind of reached another level. But they don't have Leon and Connor. That's my only hope. Now how long does that last for the Oilers? Who knows? This year it's been, it's been just bizarre. And if you can get Frederick Kane and Connor back, that's a different team we're talking about. If Kane comes back and he's like really good, like then we could win the Cup.

[Paul Bissonnette]

That, that's the thing is like right now it looks like doomsday, but. But in. In two weeks, it's all of a sudden, oh, wow, they worked the Kings in five. And. And they're on, on to greener pastures.

[Ryan Whitney]

So back.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Oh, 50 and 51, baby.

[Ryan Whitney]

And he put on a clinic against Calgary. He had an assist on the first goal by Arbertson. He then scored the tying goal with like five minutes left for his 50th goal, his fourth season being a 50 goal scorer. And then got the OT winner, number 51, to win three two. I tweeted out yesterday that Leon Dry Settle is the MVP of the league. And if you don't think that, you get a big dump in your pants. Some people were very upset saying, like, hella Buck and McKinnon, and I get it, and I think that those are the three finalists. But to me, Leon like, leading the league in goals by this many. He's played most of the year with Pog, Colson and Arvinson. Like, come on. And I understand he's got McDavid on power plays and stuff, but McKinnon has Makar. Like, it's not like that. Crazy to think that you have another, like, big time guy. But without Leon this year, who's been the Oilers best player by a lot? Like, who knows where they are? They could be sitting out of the playoffs right now. And Leon's just been so good. He's. He's got 50 goals, 50 assists again, 51 goals. Now 51 goals, 50 and 50. Guy, though. It's just, to me, he's the MVP. He's carried the team completely.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I would have no problem with him.

[Ryan Whitney]

Okay, I appreciate that. Like, I. Keith.

[Mike Grinelli]

Yeah. I think any questions that were ever in the past of could he do it without con or whatever, He. He's obviously put those to bed the last few years. He could drive the bus on any team. He doesn't need somebody else. He is an absolute stud. So the thing that, like scoring 51 goals and I still think of him as a passer, a playmaker. I know he's such a good playmaker, but he just knows how to finish. Like, he's not ripping the puck a thousand miles an hour like Ovechkin, but he just knows how to shoot it. He beats goalies and. Weird. Yeah. And it's just that weird paddle. Good. I'm sure it's hard for the goalies to read coming off it, but yeah, he. He's 100 in the MVP race and probably should win it. Just seeing how, you know, you Know.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Where he got his paddle from? Remember that old goalie stick that was in the away room at Rex Hall? That's it.

[Mike Grinelli]

Oh my God.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Did you ever play away game at Rexhall? They used to have that big, that huge ass goalie stick.

[Ryan Whitney]

I don't even remember it though. It was just sitting in the locker room.

[Paul Bissonnette]

It was just in the away room. Room. Yeah. I remember we used to give it to Red when we were going on the way out. Remember Red?

[Mike Grinelli]

Oh, the best in Calgary. Oh, oh, best Red story. So the Red was he. He worked the visitors room in Calgary and we used to bring him to Edmonton. He'd fly on our plane with us and remember Red? He sat outside the room. He's going, let's go.

[Paul Bissonnette]

So wall. It started with wall, right? Keith Kachuk was very good to people who were like underprivileged village. Like, there's stories of Walt when the, like the team buffet was done and all the guys had gone to the room to take their pregame nap. Like if there was like a homeless person or two outside, he would invite them in the meal room to like finish the food. Because there was always this unbelievable food that was left over in. In some cases. I even heard that he invited a few people up to be able to use his room to shower. Is that true?

[Mike Grinelli]

I've never heard that.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Okay, maybe I wouldn't.

[Mike Grinelli]

Wouldn't dummies.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah. But he's just like such a salt of the earth. Unreal human beings seeing. So I think when he was playing in Winnipeg, they got to meet this Red guy. And when he was moved on from Phoenix, he would then meet them when Phoenix came into town for Calgary, Edmonton, road trip. And then Donor kind of took the torch. So this guy was kind of our good luck charm. I don't think we lost the game in Edmonton. My five years, like our record against them was unbelievable.

[Mike Grinelli]

It was awesome. When Whit was there too, they would.

[Ryan Whitney]

I remember we beat you guys one game there for sure.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Maybe one. I bet you.

[Mike Grinelli]

So he, he was in Calgary. He'd come on the flight with us to Edmonton and we got him a room at the hotel and we were like, red, how's your stay last night?

[Ryan Whitney]

He was like, oh, it was good.

[Mike Grinelli]

He was like, next time you think you could get me a room with a TV in it? It was in like the bureau. You know how like you have to open it up. He didn't. He didn't open up the. What's it called?

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, like no clue armoire.

[Mike Grinelli]

He didn't Open that up to find the tv.

[Ryan Whitney]

He's like, I don't have any clothes to put in there. I'm not going to go in that room. Oh, that. That was where the TV was.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Armoire.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I like that. That's a good word.

[Ryan Whitney]

So speaking of the west, finishing it up, I think the eight.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I think he was a huge strip club guy too.

[Mike Grinelli]

We used to all used to throw the tunies.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Oh, yeah. We'd all give him 100 bucks from our per diem pack and he'd go blow it at the rip joint.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, my God. He probably marry one of them with all that. He get 22 bucks?

[Paul Bissonnette]

No, he did.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, he did. And he lost half of it immediately. Immediately to the stripper. The eight teams are set in the west, though, I think.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

St. Louis has been on a complete tear. We're gonna throw it to army in a second.

[Paul Bissonnette]

This is a wild.

[Ryan Whitney]

Probably have a better chance of getting caught by somebody.

[Paul Bissonnette]

This is a St. Louis Blues theme podcast. Ever since the Winter Classic. Right before that, they made the train for trade for Cam Fowler. That's where I kind of felt like they had something the. The.

[Ryan Whitney]

The Kelly still didn't.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Then the Kelly Chase shoulder pads. It felt like they started gaining a little bit momentum. Braden Shen game, you could say maybe it started earlier in the year when they picked up Monty. They had a hot start with him. Then they kind of faltered again after that. But I really felt like after the Winter Classic and. And Fowler scoring a couple goals in his thousandth game and just kind of the mojo along with guys like it's not just Holloway and Broberg like Thomas Kyru have had huge ears. Bull Duke. They have this player in a window of 23 to 26 that are like that's going to be their next COR group that are all peaking right now at the perfect time. And. And this has been a hell of a run.

[Ryan Whitney]

One in a row.

[Paul Bissonnette]

One, if not the hottest team since the four Nations. I talked to it with Doug Armstrong about how Thomas couldn't go because he was hurt. So, you know, got the rest and really built up. Like I want to play meaningful hockey. So should we throw it over to. To Doug Armstrong?

[Ryan Whitney]

Yep. Yep. Winners of nine in a row, including last last game game against Colorado, 21 on the road.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Before that, it was against Nashville. They were down two nothing and then stormed back three unanswered. So it's been a magical run and Benner's kicking, so they're looking dangerous.

[Ryan Whitney]

All right, time right now for Doug Armstrong.

[Paul Bissonnette]

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[Paul Bissonnette]

Welcome back to the podcast. Unfortunately, given the fact that you gave offer sheets to Broberg and Holloway, Whit will no longer be joining the podcast where we do interviews. So we've lost him. Yan's flight was delayed, but it's great to have you on and your team is humming right now. One of the hottest teams in the league. It must feel unbelievable.

[Doug Armstrong]

It sure does. You know, obviously the guys have came out of that Four nations event with a purpose and they've played really good hockey since then. I think the having a new coach biz, I think having that little training camp, mini training camp really helped us. And Bennington and Perenko coming back on a high and then Robert Thomas being healthy is, has taken his game to a new level. And just from top to bottom, young players to, to our captain Shen, playing fantastic hockey, we, we've had contributions throughout the lineup and that's the way we're built. And to have success, we need to have, have everyone pulling the rope in the same direction.

[Paul Bissonnette]

So we actually got Shaddy coming on this podcast as well to talk about his retirement. So we're making it very blues focused. But going back to the start of the year when you had to make that decision to let Banister go, I mean, obviously it felt like Monty was really a guy that you'd been eyeing. So when he was fired, you guys scoop him up right away. Just an absolute no brainer for you guys.

[Doug Armstrong]

It was, and it was one of those things where, you know, going to bed the night before, we weren't considering a coaching change whatsoever. You know, we had, we were going to move in this certain direction. Then all of a sudden someone of the caliber of Jim Montgomery comes available and you have to be, you know, for us, we, we had a plan, but you have to also be able to adjust to something like that coming down the pike. And again, Monty's track record, our relationship, my understanding of working with him here and knowing him, I thought he was a perfect fit not only for what we're doing today, but when we get there, he can coach that team too. It was one of those ones where when we talked, I said, not many coaches get this. You have to bake the cake, then you can have a slice or two if you want. Also he's done a really good job for us.

[Paul Bissonnette]

And you were happy with Bannister and it seemed like that was the decision coming into the year and you're going to let him role. So it was more about the fact that Monty and. And his talents became available more so than Bannister. How hard was that for you to like, deliver that news?

[Doug Armstrong]

It was really difficult. I. We did it early and we were on a road trip in New York and Drew, you know, took it like a professional. I told him that it was more a reflection of. Of someone of that calorie coming available. Like, I think if you look back to when Drew got here, we were a.500 team. We ended up with 93 players points. You know, we had more. If we were in the east, we would have made the playoffs last year and transition. We brought in new players at the top of our lineup this year. We brought in the offer sheet boys. So there was a lot of, lot of lot going on, quite honestly. And we were just getting our feet under us. And then Monty became available. So it was one of those ones where I felt for Drew. But as you know, this business can be. Can be cruel at some times. And unfortunately for. We had to make a hard decision with Drew. But my job was always do what I think is best for the St. Louis Blues as an organization, given how.

[Paul Bissonnette]

The year's gone with Monty under the helm. Like, is there anything about the way he approaches coaching that surprised you, even though you knew he was as talented as he was? Like, is there anything you've been floored by? I always see the clips of how he enters the locker room and how he addresses the team where I'm like, jesus Christ, this guy must have killed public speaking in high school and college, because he sure knows how to address a room and get everybody's attention.

[Doug Armstrong]

Yeah. And obviously, as you know, I'm not privy to that being, being sitting upstairs. But I guess what I have learned and what I really appreciate is his dialogue after the games that we have and then just our ability to communicate later on in the day after, like every day. We'll talk in the morning and then early evening. Just a refresher what's going on. He does. You know, I, I've worked over, over the years with people that ask, ask me because they think they have to, they have no, they don't really care what I say. Where Monty actually seems to. To digest a little a few of the things that we're talking about and, and agree to disagree, but at least he thinks about them.

[Paul Bissonnette]

That's awesome. That's. And, and like, because you guys have such a young core, are you maybe expecting like more feedback, more regular? Like, does that make sense? Whereas if you have kind of an established veteran group, maybe you wouldn't be as communicating as much to the head coach or are you trying to constantly get feedback to know? Because you look at this core that you guys have, it's kind of between the. The age of 23 and 26, where your really valuable pieces are who are going to be that next wave of St. Louis Blue.

[Doug Armstrong]

Yeah, I. I would say that this is the. For the first time in probably 24 months biz that we had our veterans and our young players all playing at the same time for the same purpose. And I understand that. I've been around the game long enough to realize that when you're. When things aren't going good, you know, there's just human tendency is okay, this isn't going well. I got to take care of myself. You know, at the end of the day, like it is my profession. And right now we've been able to play good enough where the players can sacrifice suffice personal gains for the benefit of the team. And then when you see the benefit of that, it pays dividends. And I think that Monty and I talk quite a bit because we have really strong leadership in Shen and Falk and Paranco and Binnington and that next wave of guys coming. And we've just got a couple of guys like Buch, Navic, Kyro and Thomas that are sort of stuck in the middle there. But Thomas and Cairo at the young age of that, and they are the engine moving forward. Forward. They're the engine now, obviously, Robert Thomas is just such an elite player. I felt bad for him this October, November when he got hurt because I know he had his sights set on the four nations and now missing that opportunity because of the injury, the work that he's doing now, he's on everybody's radar screen for the Olympics and that's just a positive for the organization. But yeah, we do ask a little bit more because what we want to do is build a foundation that sustains sustainable so as they mature, we don't have to ask as many questions.

[Paul Bissonnette]

That's awesome. Yeah. Because with Robert Thomas getting hurt, like, I feel like some of those players who were able to get that rest have been able to come out of those breaks and, and kind of light the world on fire as he's done. And I feel like him and Kyru are just really Coming into their own. Like the reason why you gave them those eight times, eight contracts is exactly what we're seeing now. And even going towards Cairo where maybe there was some inconsistencies in his game, where he's kind of rounded those out a little bit more.

[Doug Armstrong]

I think biz, as you know, you can rush a lot of things in life. You can't rush maturity and experience. And Cairo came into a highly functioning team and it was hard to get in. And then we thrust the contract on him and the opportunities and it took him a little while to grow into it, but now every night he's a threat to score goals. That's what he gets paid to do. That's is, you know, everybody has one, one quality that they lean on and his is to put the puck in the net. And he does that regularly for us now. I just think he's very comfortable with the pressure that goes, that comes with being a scorer. He understands the effect that he has to have on the game and. But it's one thing scoring, the other thing scoring and being a plus player, that, and that's what he is now. And it's really no good if you, if you get two and give up three, you know, at the end of the night that's not a good night for, for the team and that, that's where he's really matured and grown. And, and as I said, you have Robert, you have Robert Thomas, you have him and then you have that Broberg, Holloway, Jake, Neighbors, Hofer, a bunch of guys, Bullduke, a couple of first round picks coming into our group now. So we do have a, a wide, a wide grasp of, of players. The one thing again that excites me about Monty is that Holloway and, and Bullduke are playing the best hockey and so is Shen and so those are the goal post age wise and he's getting the most out of those. And so I'm sure everybody in between the post is doing well too.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I was going to bring it to Bennington, but I guess we'll go to Shenner. There was, there was rumblings that he was potentially on the trade blocks. I actually heard a story this could be completely fake on Twitter where I get all my news that you, you guys had actually maybe brought him one and proposed it and he was not happy about it where like, what was that like? And obviously the decision to eventually keep him because you guys didn't get what you thought the value was in return, ended up paying dividends. Like he's doing what he's doing now he's the leader of this team and sometimes the best deals are the ones you don't make. So I'll just throw it to your plate like, is that true? And was he not happy about it it. And obviously. Have you guys reconciled your differences?

[Doug Armstrong]

Yeah, well, I, I'll maybe I'll take a little bit further back. Is coming out of the four nations. Our, our job as a management group is to, to have a plan and you know, and then you adjust to what the information you're given. And we said to the teams that, you know, we're, we're not playing to a caliber of hockey that's sustainable or successful. We have players that are going to be available. And, and now with the caveat if, if we start winning games, things will change. So if you want to buy, buy now. And, and, and we ended up going on a little bit of heater and then we got to that last game and we had said that the only trade we're going to make, a hockey trade, we're not going to make a futures trade because the players had given us the information that, that that's what was needed. You know, like they would understand a hockey trade. They wouldn't understand. Not that we do it because we need their acceptance. We have to do our job. But they had earned the right to play this out. And so if we could have done a hockey trade, we would have looked at it, but we weren't going to do a futures trade. And again, this isn't with Shannon. It's with anybody with a no trade clause in our group. They have the right to veto a trade and they've earned that right. We've negotiated that right. But I also have the right to find out what their value is and take it to them later, too. So it's a, a no trade doesn't mean no talk. No trade means you get the final say now. It's just not Shanner. That's everybody.

[Paul Bissonnette]

How many times did you have to use yesterday's price is not today's price at the deadline?

[Doug Armstrong]

I, I use it a couple of times.

[Paul Bissonnette]

But when you spoke to him about maybe something potentially happening, what was. Was he maybe a little upset saying like, like, no, I, I believe that I can get things turned around here with this group. Like, was there any dialogue like that, that. Or maybe is that a little bit too private? Am I getting above my skis here?

[Doug Armstrong]

Yeah, I don't really want to get into individual stuff just because I don't think it's fair to him because Whatever I say now, he's going to be asked about tomorrow after somebody sees the podcast. But, but in, in theory, you know what, what I said to you earlier is true is that, you know, I have a job to do and, and they've earned the right and, and we had a situation because he's not playing anymore. I could bring up with Tory Krug a couple years ago and he said no. And I said I, I, I respect that. You know, you've earned the right and we move on. And, and so it's, and, but I do say to players like it's easy for me to say. It's only a business. I'm not packing up and moving. So, so I, I, I, I, I do get it when, when, you know, when they, when it's brought to them. But I have a job to do. And, and my job is, is for the, is for the St. Louis Blues organization and, but I always respect the player that has his rights and, and he, he, he's earned those rights because of his play and his stature in the league.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Oh my God, it'd be funny to golf with you a full round. You got some, you got some good one liners. Rba, you don't around. I want to talk. You mentioned maturity earlier and you know, Bennington came in the league, ends up winning the Stanley cup very early on. I think there was a lot of attention drawn to him after that where probably given his attitude and how he carries himself, maybe some guys taking cheap shots at him in the creek and he's a fiery guy and he would want to handle his own business and maybe kind of got a little bit lost in the sauce with that kind of stuff. And I feel like maybe you and the organization, I know Chief at the time may have had a conversation with him where he looks as locked in and as focused as he did when he went on that playoff run. Do you feel the same? And you feel like that maturity has finally came along with all the accolades and the money and the contract track that followed all that success.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Yeah.

[Doug Armstrong]

And again, as we talked about earlier, you, you can't rush experiences and things like that. And I think one of the things though biz that that is different is that when you're winning and, and that shit happens, everyone just laughs it off. But when the team's not winning, that just gives them something to point to, to why. And I remember saying I think it might have been last year, could have maybe it was two years ago when he wanted to get a flurry. I was just like Just let him go. Let's get this out of his system. Like, uncle, if you want to have it, go have it. But it did, it didn't happen. And we did talk to him after and said, like, you're. His fire was all for the right reasons. It was team oriented. But it became a distraction. He made distraction to the coaches, to, to himself, and he understood that. And you know, he's probably right at the tail end of having to deal with a lot of, a lot of things because of, of that. The referee's human nature is, hey, you brought it on your soul. Deal with it. You know, the extra whack, the extra punch, the extra push. And he dealt with that now for the better part of 120 games. And now I, I don't see they don't do it as much anymore because he doesn't react to it. And he, I think he's earned the referee's trust again that, that he's not, he's not trying to navigate the game in a different way. He just wants to play his position, stop the puck, and then you fast forward that to the four nations. And I think going into the four nations, the question was, you know, where was, where was the goaltending in Canada going to stack up to the other countries? And he goes in there, we don't get a, like, if you go back to game one, we don't get a point without him. In overtime, he made some great saves against the Swedes. You know that if we don't get that extra point, we're not in that, we're not in the final game. And then you get to the final game and what he, he did to the US in the finals, it, it just made validated his stature in the league. But it also, and, and being a, you know, an Ontario and Toronto fan there, like, he, he can go home this summer now and breathe. Like, could you imagine if a bad goal had gone in? Like, he wouldn't have gone to Toronto. He. Now, now I said, you just go there, go out every day, you're going to get a free beer from somebody.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Why? And, and he's a sick puppy and he lives for those moments. Like, I feel like he is one of those guys even going back a few years ago when you guys played against Colorado, you guys were the hardest series they had. And if, if he doesn't get injured there with his knee, I, I want to say it was Kadri who fell on him. I don't think, I mean, that might have gone to seven.

[Doug Armstrong]

Yeah, we had. We had. We were up and we were playing really good hockey. I think we, that's the year they won. I, I think we could have scared them. But hey, things happening in, in life and things happen in hockey. It wasn't. I felt bad for Benner. I felt bad for team but he's a competitor. Like if you, you, you get him there and that's always one of my belief in him is like we have to just supply a team for him and when we get there I know he's not going to spit the bit.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I can't remember somebody offer sheeting somebody and it working out as well as. As the Holloway one has. But you did it with two guys and you have struck gold on both. Should we be expecting this more from the St. Louis Blue? Have you gotten death threats from Oilers fans including wit recently Especially when you're at Four Nations.

[Doug Armstrong]

So it's a funny story going into that. We were in, we were in Edmonton at the Helinka that, that just went before we did that and we had all this plan. We had to wait till arbitrations were done. There was a plan on when we did it. But I, I said to our guys like don't send that fax till that plane gets out of, out of Canadian airspace.

[Paul Bissonnette]

That is unbelievable. Of all.

[Doug Armstrong]

We got home and we did it actually a day or two later. But it was a perfect storm biz honestly. And I actually think it's, it's probably going to reduce offer sheets and increase them because when I look and see, you know, Edmonton had a really good July 1st. They improved their team. They're still a favorite to win the cup, you know, but to do that they had. They had to assume some risk on, on amount of cap space they had. Now you, you look at Boston. Detroit went the totally the opposite way. Detroit had the, the Ford and the young D. They left 19 million there. Boston had the goalie. They left 10 million. So I think what, what I, what I'm expecting is that a. The rising cap would likely mean it's harder to get an offer sheet through. And I think teams are going to make sure that they prioritize their play players. So let's say we have a player now we're gonna, we're gonna save as much money as necessary to match anything that we don't think is fair. Now if somebody offers three or five first rounders, I'm not like maybe, maybe we'll say as an organization we'll take that so we don't have to save more than that. So I think, you know, we're gonna try and organize it where we'll, we'll, we'll, we won't match it if, if, if the compensation is what we think is appropriate. Appropriate. And I, but I, I think, you know, we're going to make sure we save enough space for our guys and I think it might have just let everyone maybe focus a little bit more that, that, you know, buyer beware if you, if you're right against it.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I think the comments you use because people were questioning on whether you would have sent the offer sheets over if it was Ken Holland who was still the gm, and I think you said, I would have sent those offer sheets over if my mother was the GM of the Edmonton Oilers. The way that these guys are performed, I actually believe you now.

[Doug Armstrong]

Yeah, well, ultimately, and you know how St. Louis operates, you're here for a short time, but you have a lot of friends in our organization still and it's a blue collar city that expect us to do the best we can do every day. And if we do that, they're going to support us and offer sheets are part of that. And my job is to take care of the St. Louis Blues organization. Mr. Stillman, who's our owner here, says something to me that, that resonates is you're just a steward of the franchise for a small amount of time. You know, you're not the franchise. No one's bigger than the franchise. No player, no coach, no owner, no manager. So just do your best to make sure you're doing the best for the organization. And I thought at that time, or we thought at that time, the best for the organization was just to, to do something unorthodox in the offer sheets because we thought we could get the players.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Unbelievable move. Who are you most excited about as far as those young groups like you mentioned? Bull Duke. I don't think he's talked about a lot. He's had a really good coming out party this year. So like I mentioned before, it just seems like Everybody from that 23 to 26 year age is just thriving and kind of, you know, maturing very quickly and maybe a little bit ahead of his schedule. Schedule?

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Yeah.

[Doug Armstrong]

Well, I would say the, you know, we talked about Thomas and Kyru because you know, it's one thing to be the best players, but then you have to be like good leaders and you have to set a standard and they're, they're setting that standing. They're learning to do it more and more every day, which is exciting. And then drafting Skill. We're starting to see it paying off. Like Bullduke is a scorer. The snuggered kid that just signed up, excuse me, out of Minnesota as a scorer. He had his first practice here today. We saw some released points that were impressive. Dvorski is another playmaking centerman. So the excitement is that and we know they're all not going to hit. That's why we sort of buckshot that we're trying to get as many guys in a five year birth rate. So if you have 13, maybe eight will play well. That's a lot. That's a lot in a five year plan. And what we're trying to do business get these guys all together so they can grow together together, they can skin their knee together, but they can also have great success together.

[Pasha]

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[Paul Bissonnette]

So GR Elli's head's about to pop off because I haven't mentioned that Snugaru kid yet. He's been doing all the the Chicklets University series. He's all about the college hockey, which is thriving and doing unbelievable along with this series. And he was mentioning to me that a lot of people expected him to potentially maybe sign after his freshman year. Well, he goes back his sophomore year, has a great year. Goes back even for a junior year after they thought he would sign after sophomore year. So what is about his decision to stay there and develop? Like, obviously you guys are happy with the way that it's transpired, but like, what, what do you think the ceiling is for this kid because we've seen a lot in, in, in, in the, in the college ranks and people think he's going to be a bonafide superstar.

[Doug Armstrong]

Yeah, you know, superstar there, there's not a lot of those. But I, I think, I think when he went back, we, we wanted him to come out after we. His freshman year. If he had to come, we would have accepted that. But, but we, we weren't pushing that. You know, after a sophomore year when cool like his, the two guys he had most success with knives and, and Cooley had both on. We thought he could come out after sophomore year and he made a really well educated, well thought out reason to stay about gaining physical strength, extra practice time, becoming better on the wall. He wanted to improve his leadership skills and going back there, he was a captain of the team and all those things. We thought he should have turned pro. And in hindsight, he was right. That extra year really helped, helped him help them on the ice, off the ice. I picked him up the other day to take him to the rink and you were talking to a man. You know, when you come to development camp, you're talking to boys. He's a man, and his mindset is that of a man. Now he understands this is how he's going to make his living. You know, one of the things that we talk to our younger players about is I expect you to be extremely respectful in the locker room, understand your place, but when you get on the ice, do not be respectful. I mean, these guys are counting on you to put food on their table. So you do what you do. If you're a shooter, you shoot the puck. Don't, don't overthink it because that's, that's what they need and they expect of you because this is how they make their living too.

[Paul Bissonnette]

So he wasn't doing the revil, falling asleep in the hot. Falling asleep in the hot tub. He wasn't grabbing the ox cord like I was when I first got there asking where my pretty impact was. He came in all class and treating the boys with respect.

[Doug Armstrong]

Yes. Yeah. And as I said, it's just his first day, but I just think that he's just mature now and I think he's going to be a really good pro. But the good thing is where we're at in our maturation, we don't need him to come in. He's not the final piece. You know, it's not like you have to do this or else it's a failure. He's going to come in. If Monty plays him great. If he doesn't play, the experience that him and Divorce are getting, just being around Shen and Parenko and Binnington and Thomas and those guys is going to be so beneficial for next year. But I do think he can score some goals and we're going to find out here maybe over the next five or six games on how he fits into our group.

[Paul Bissonnette]

That's awesome. Actually, the G and Fish were also saying that Faber had a little bit to do with the decision as well. Staying that extra year, the mature 30, being a leader on that team. So I've pretty much asked you, I think everything I wanted to ask you about the Blues and, and we want to thank you for hopping on. I think this is your third or fourth time and we wanted to make it a blues focused podcast because you guys are one of the best, if not the best story in the league right now. So thank you so much, army, for, for hopping on and gee, did you have anything else?

[Pasha]

Any final words for wit?

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, yeah. Any final words for our buddy?

[Doug Armstrong]

Yeah. Well, I hope he gets better.

[Ryan Whitney]

Better.

[Doug Armstrong]

You know, I'm very, very nervous now. I want to make sure he's okay now. Tell him I'm. Tell him I miss him. I wish he was on.

[Paul Bissonnette]

And your new.

[Doug Armstrong]

Your new partner. I hadn't had an opportunity to meet him yet, but I'm looking forward to it. And I always love coming on with you guys. It's. It's a. It's a ton of fun. And getting some one on time with the biz, that's a.

[Paul Bissonnette]

That's a highlight of my career, that is. And I'm going to leave you with one difficult one. You could say pass and not answer. You guys are more than likely going to end up in a wild card. You would either play probably looks like Vegas or the Winnipeg Jets. Any preference on maybe who you think you match up against better? Any preference to travel? Maybe Vegas, you know, play the tables a little bit.

[Doug Armstrong]

I'm gonna make a hard pass.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Okay.

[Ryan Whitney]

All right.

[Paul Bissonnette]

That's a very wise decision. Okay. Well, army, we can't thank you enough, buddy. And good luck on getting another run here and hopefully you guys make a push.

[Doug Armstrong]

Always. Thanks, Biz. Always. Appreciate it, pal.

[Paul Bissonnette]

You're the man. Thank you.

[Ryan Whitney]

Thank you so much to Army Biz. Great job there picking us up. Appreciate it. And the Blues are humming. The Blues are humming. The NHL and Rogers have agreed. According to Politico, I think it is Sportico on a new Canadian TV deal. 12 years, 11 billion Canadian which is like 1 billion U.S. no, 7.7 billion in current USD, more than double the current deal that I think ends after next season. Owners are going to vote on it this week. Kind of crazy. I. I think that's like Amazon would then buy some of that. Do you know how it would work?

[Paul Bissonnette]

That would be what I would assume, right? Yeah, that, that. Yeah, that. I, I mean, you know, I'm not exactly the guy to ask about this type of stuff, so.

[Ryan Whitney]

Rogers owns some of the Leaf Leafs, right? Or mlse.

[Paul Bissonnette]

They own like, regional stuff as well. Like Elliot will do regional Leafs games and stuff like that. And yeah, I, I think that they would probably delegate some of that. I think they probably just learned the lesson from watching what, what happened with the basketball situation with.

[Ryan Whitney]

To get ahead of it.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, get ahead of it. And then if you own it, then you can always sell parts of it off rather than, you know, worrying about that later and having people outbid you. I thought it was going to get to a place where, where it was going to come up and, and it was kind of going to be like the States, where. I think you want the exposure of having ESPN carry hockey and TNT and different players, because, like, not only can you consume it in different ways, but, like, you know, it's. It, you know, it's. It's just good to have different people doing it, I think. Yeah, more jobs. More jobs. You know, I think that TSN has some very talented people there. They do regional games, of course, but I would have assumed that it would have been Amazon, TSN Sportsnet, and then maybe even another random network in Canada that would have taken it on. Just kind of like we talked about the U.S. but hey, man, congrats to them for locking it in and controlling that. And that's great for the league, man. That just means the cap's going to keep going up.

[Ryan Whitney]

Like, that's for sure.

[Paul Bissonnette]

That is like some gnarly money.

[Ryan Whitney]

And the U.S. deal, I think, is 600 million per season, and that has, has what? Two more years?

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, the. The. No, the. The. That. That'll have three more years.

[Ryan Whitney]

Three more years?

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

Okay.

[Paul Bissonnette]

It'll have two more years after that deal was supposed to be up. So that deal that we just talked about was supposed to end at the end of next season.

[Ryan Whitney]

Okay.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Okay, so. And after that, there's two more years. So three after this year. And yeah, just.

[Ryan Whitney]

That next US TV deal could be huge.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, I think that you, you, you're. You're, you're not trying to price yourself out or kind of trickle it out where you want to continue to, to draw fans in. Right. You don't want to, you don't want to all of a sudden have one out, one outbid it and then all of a sudden not a lot of people can access it and then it's being counterproductive from the amount of people watching hockey. So that's just kind of where I'm at. But money talks.

[Ryan Whitney]

I know, but it's good to see though that, I mean, they do a great job. Right. And they're spending a lot of money now. So it's awesome to see that the money's flowing, the money is flowing in the NHL and that you're right, the cap will continue to go up. Sidney Crosby. Guys, I, I sent this to Keith and, and myself's group chat at home. Like it's mind boggling that he has over a point per game in 20 seasons, 20 NHL seasons. Like a point per game is so hard, so difficult. How many of those years has he been like 30 or 40 points higher? Right? I mean, maybe not that much, but like he's still doing a. 20 years later. He rat, he, he, he knocked up and made sure that he would get over a point per game. And it's crazy to me. It's wild to think so. Like, he's done it every year he's ever played hockey. Right. He's probably for like the first, like maybe like what, 13 years of his life. He's probably over two points per game.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I think he could still do it another three more years.

[Mike Grinelli]

Yeah, for sure.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah. I think I, Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

He's such a psycho off the ice about taking care of his body. Like he's not the type of guy was going to, he's not going to have. When he's, when he's not 100% committed, he's not going to play hockey anymore. Next year you got the Olympics. He'll be in the best shape of his life. He's going to be ready for that.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yep.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Point per game. And then what does he have one more year or two more years after that on his current, on his deal.

[Ryan Whitney]

And he's already proven that like when the time came that he wasn't the fastest player anymore, like wouldn't affect them. Cerebral and so like, yeah, I think as long as he's playing, he'll just get over a point game. 20 years broke Gretzky's record of 19 years doing it.

[Mike Grinelli]

And what's his drop off if he's at 60 points? Like, are you mad about that. If he's 43 years old at putting up 60 points. If I'm a. If I'm a Penguins fan, I still want him.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I probably uninvite him to the Sandbagger, but I'd still be okay with it.

[Mike Grinelli]

Yeah, you'd be fine.

[Ryan Whitney]

Maybe he won't want to play. Like, I bet you if he has a season where he's under, that'll be it.

[Mike Grinelli]

Can you imagine?

[Ryan Whitney]

That's when he finishes with 80 points in 81 games. He missed one game. He's like, see you guys. All right, so let's look here. He's ninth in all time scoring with 1677 points. Next is Lemieux, then Iserman, then Dion Ron Francis, Gordy Howell, Mark Messi, Yarmor Yaga. Wayne Gretzky. Who does he catch? Okay, He's Lemieuxe at 1723. So that would be. He's 46 points away from him, Chuck.

[Paul Bissonnette]

So I. I think he also. Do you think he could beat Mario's franchise record and goals?

[Ryan Whitney]

No, 56. Sorry, what?

[Paul Bissonnette]

Do you think he could beat Mario's franchise record and goals? Because he just passed it in assist. I would imagine he keep plays to beat that. That would be my guess. It would be very difficult.

[Ryan Whitney]

You need 72 more. 72 more goals.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I think he'll be very close. I think that he'll retire with being the Pittsburgh Penguins leader and everything, unless, of course, he gets dealt.

[Mike Grinelli]

So four more years, 20 goals a year.

[Ryan Whitney]

All right, so. So let's see here. I think my math is way off. What's. All right, so 23.

[Mike Grinelli]

He's not asking.

[Ryan Whitney]

Plus 23, 46. So he needs 47 points to pass Lemieux. So he's gonna get him. And then he needs, like, 32 more. 33 more after that to pass Eisenman. He's gonna get him. And then he needs, like, another less than 20 to get Dion. I think he. I think he might end up. He might end up fourth all time. He might know. I don't know if he'll catch how. But he is on the path. He's gonna. He's gonna catch Francis. I think Francis is. He needs 125 more. Right. Roughly. This is crazy, though. I mean, me trying to do math right now, and then with you two.

[Paul Bissonnette]

That's okay.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah. You two are just looking at me like.

[Paul Bissonnette]

It's very soothing.

[Ryan Whitney]

What's math?

[Mike Grinelli]

You could say any number would be. I get. Yeah, he'll do it.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Is this what it's like listening to me Read.

[Ryan Whitney]

You see those torpedo bats in the. In Major League Baseball?

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

What the is going on there?

[Mike Grinelli]

I hope that. So the little research I've done on it, like they hired a guy from mit.

[Ryan Whitney]

It's exactly the gm.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Did we get there?

[Ryan Whitney]

No, it's. It's the GM of the. The. It's the GM of the Hurricanes. It's the same story.

[Paul Bissonnette]

No way.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yes, dude. The guy was like an MIT professor or something. I got to look this up.

[Mike Grinelli]

But I hope that they just paid this guy a ton of money and like, hey, make these bats just for our team.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I heard the rotten trade was going down. They said he won't agree to a contract. Essentially he said, I don't give a. I'm worried about the torpedo batch. Just trade for him. And that's what I heard.

[Mike Grinelli]

It wasn't the guy. He was saying it's like that guy. Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

No, it's like very similar where the.

[Mike Grinelli]

Guy wasn't like, involved in baseball.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Oh, he's not.

[Ryan Whitney]

Okay. Aaron Leonhardt, the mastermind behind the Yankee torpedo bats, has one of the craziest career pivots ever. He earned a Ph.D. from MIT. He worked on a NASA funded research team. He was a physics professor at Michigan for seven years. And then he left academics at 40 years old to pursue baseball. Baseball. He started at the Dawson Community College in Montana before becoming a minor league coach for the Yankees. Leonhardt then got moved to the big league club and was responsible for bridging the gap between the analytics department and the players by translating complex analytical data into actionable insights. What a journey. And he built the torpedo bats. Wow, what a read.

[Paul Bissonnette]

This guy's like Forrest Gump.

[Ryan Whitney]

I know. Look at him too. Guy was a. Oh, he kind of physics professor at Michigan and now he's of the Yankees.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

And these bats, apparently they've taken the wood out of like, this. I don't even know.

[Mike Grinelli]

I think they took ships. No, they took like the. The sweet spot out of like other bats and put it where the dead spots are. It's all legal, right?

[Ryan Whitney]

Do you know that if you're from Tennessee and you get into a college in Texas, you go for free?

[Mike Grinelli]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

And you get the slam. Everything.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Mike Grinelli]

Homeless guy.

[Ryan Whitney]

And you get to bring a torpedo back to school to protect yourself from homeless people.

[Paul Bissonnette]

That Keith, you get to give your professors wedgies too.

[Ryan Whitney]

There's homeless people that you use a torpedo bat on if they come near you. Unless Walt's with them. Giving them food at an NH pregame meal, showers.

[Mike Grinelli]

You should Call Walt.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Wow, that was weird how OV's five goals away, boys.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Oh, hey.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Oh, okay. We're back there.

[Ryan Whitney]

Got nine games left.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Well, he's doing it. Oh, 100%.

[Ryan Whitney]

I think it's going to be Pittsburgh. We've said this 400 times on the show this year, but you said it. First show of the season, Pittsburgh game.

[Paul Bissonnette]

So we're actually flexing a bunch of games.

[Ryan Whitney]

I saw Jazz was at icecon. I was supposed to bring that up. He, he, he, he drove down Saturday morning and I saw him at the barstool bar, and he was telling me that you guys got bunch of OV games coming up.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Y. Yeah, yeah, we got this week they're playing Carolina and then I believe, Yeah, I believe we got next week, next Sunday as well. It wasn't, it wasn't supposed to be, but they're going to keep flexing them and when it hit five games, Betman and Wayne on the road together. They're bunking up. They're following the, the gold Chase, sharing a bed, sharing a room. They're bunking up.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, that's cool.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, that's cool. They're documenting the whole process. That's going to be. Gordy did it for Wayne, Gordy did it for Wayne, and, and they're going to document it with the Amazon. Them bunking up.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, really? Yeah, it's kind of cool, them getting room service together, disagreeing on movies.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah. Probably some Sunday action. Late night. Who sleeps on the cot?

[Ryan Whitney]

I was going to say something. I'm not going to say, but I, I think that Wayne will be shoving Gary in a cot.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

Any second, any chance he gets.

[Paul Bissonnette]

That's what I thought.

[Ryan Whitney]

Gary, come put this part. I'm going to put this cot in the hallway, and you're going to sleep out there, and I don't want to hear a word out of your mouth.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

Okay. Just get the jet ready and. Oh, we better break this thing sooner.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Up with these TV deals and do your job.

[Ryan Whitney]

Also, I, I, I'm having this daydream of, like, Sid being psychotic about not wanting. Like, OVI needs the goal, that game. And then Sid, like, like diving in the crease to, like, knock it out from going in. Like, you know, Sid does not want that to happen against them. No way. Way. No shadow.

[Mike Grinelli]

Shadow him the entire.

[Ryan Whitney]

No way.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I don't know.

[Ryan Whitney]

No way.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I don't know. I think that they're.

[Ryan Whitney]

You're talking about how psychotic Sid is. You think he wants OB to break the record against him?

[Paul Bissonnette]

I feel like the, the pettiness of their rivalry is gone.

[Ryan Whitney]

Like, I don't think it was ever petty. I think it was just two nail guns head to head.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, no, but I'm just saying, like, I don't think that they, they carry the animosity towards each other like they once did. Like, like, not in.

[Ryan Whitney]

Agreed.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Not in a, not in a bad way. It's because like the media and everybody was pinning them up against one another. Like who was going to be better, like who was going to win the Stanley Cups. Like, you know, who was going to be the better number, number one overall pick. Like, it was just kind of like built up media wise where now they've been able to achieve everything they've been able to achieve where like I would say that they're, they're, they're dead even. Like you're going to have one guy who's going to have the goal round record. Well, I, I think Sid's way more happy with three Cups.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Than having that and one Cup. Right. So it's just kind of the Olympic gold. And so they've, they've both achieved and lived up to every bit of hype that they, that, that went towards their way. So I don't know if he would care. I, I actually think he would not mind being there for that experience. Now if we're talking about something like that, it was pretty cool. I don't know if you saw when Washington was leaving the ice yet other night, OVI called all the guys back onto the ice to, to say goodbye to Mark Andre Flurry knowing that he was going to be their last matchup against one another. So just a cool gesture. And like I think that ovi's one of those guys he flies under the radar. Like, you know, he doesn't like. I don't think he necessarily likes talking about himself, but you could just see that he's a great guy, great teammate. You see these videos with his teammates in the, in the hallway bands makeup dance.

[Mike Grinelli]

I was thinking they have to have Juicy J come and perform that for him if he's one goal away. That have to have him come and sing that song in the hallway.

[Ryan Whitney]

It's so funny whenever he's singing it too. Like all the guys are dying laughing. He's got a big piece of gummy dance. I swear, I swear to God. Don't make a dance. I got a whole one.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I love their tunnel antics. Oh my God.

[Mike Grinelli]

More than anything, I love their locker room there.

[Ryan Whitney]

The Rangers bus ran into Mac car apparently.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Oh yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

What the did they do? What's this bus driver doing?

[Mike Grinelli]

Nothing, actually.

[Ryan Whitney]

2.

[Mike Grinelli]

They beat him that night. Yeah, that. That's a.

[Ryan Whitney]

If you come out of the game, think of how tight bus hit your car. What the hell?

[Mike Grinelli]

Remember how tight that driveway was in San Jose, though? So you can't put too much blame Macklin. Probably a rookie driver. He's probably only had his license for two years. Probably left it out a little too far. Can't blame the busy here.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, busy's like, no, no. Me.

[Mike Grinelli]

Yep.

[Ryan Whitney]

What kind of car was it, G?

[Paul Bissonnette]

It was a Range Rover X3. Heard of it?

[Ryan Whitney]

Nice. Not the little one, right?

[Paul Bissonnette]

No, I think that the big dog.

[Ryan Whitney]

You know, sometimes people. I got a range.

[Mike Grinelli]

J.T. miller had an X3.

[Paul Bissonnette]

That. That's who did it. That's who was driving the bus.

[Mike Grinelli]

Oh, that's right. I forgot.

[Ryan Whitney]

Posh is like, yes, I hate that car.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Do you expect anything less from that organization than to hit and run in a parking lot?

[Mike Grinelli]

Did they run?

[Doug Armstrong]

Oh, they ran.

[Ryan Whitney]

Brini was calling Bettman up. He's like, hold on. Wayne's ordering fries to the room. Let me get on this. I'll fix this right now. You wait one second here. All right, with that, we're going to throw it over to Kevin Shat. Kevin Shaton Kirk, one of the best guys I've ever met. Hell of a career. We interviewed him a few months back right when he announced his retirement. We've been sitting on it a while. Great dude. We're going to throw it over to him right now. We talk about his career is life in the NHL and what's. What's next for deuces. So right now, Kevin Shaton Kirk.

[Paul Bissonnette]

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[Pasha]

We go any farther, it's time to talk to you about our good friends at Game Time. The best part of college basketball is here and we know you're as excited as we are to watch some big upsets throughout the tournament. Even though there hasn't been a ton while we've been streaming in the cave, you can get out to see the action in person person with GameTime, the official ticketing partner of Barstool Sports. GameTime makes getting tickets faster and easier. Prices on the app actually go down closer to showtime. Plus the Game Times Pick feature makes it even easier to find the great deals on the seats that you want. You can find last minute tickets for the tournament for up to 60% off quickly and easily. Just pull up your chosen event, turn on the GT Pick setting at the top of the screen screen or browse your best local Game Time picks deals near you on your GameTime app homepage. I was looking at tickets for Bruins playoff games, but unfortunately for me the Bruins won't be making the playoffs. And I know Pasha, you've been dialing in on Game Time.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

I have, yeah. Thanks to Luke Hughes's heroics after Jackie's went down, the Devils will be making the playoffs playing Carolina. And you better believe I'll be using Game Time to secure my tickets for games three and four and Jersey and hopefully a lot more games than that if they can pull off a miracle run. No better place than Game Time. Easy to use, great prices. So use Game Time to get Devil's tickets and I'll see you at the games.

[Pasha]

Devils fans, what are you waiting for? Posh is using the tickets to pick out his seats on Game Time. Picks take the guesswork out of buying tickets with GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account and use the code chicklets for $20 off your first purchase terms. Apply again, create an account and redeem code Chiclets for $20 off. Download GameTime app today. What time is it?

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Game Time.

[Ryan Whitney]

It is a pleasure and an honor and I can't believe it's taken this long, but now we finally have Stanley cup champ, good friend of ours and newly retired Kevin Shatton. Kirk. What's going on, Shady? How you doing buddy?

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Doing well, my man. Good to be. Good to be on here. I know. I can't believe it's taken this long, but this is a good time to do it.

[Ryan Whitney]

I I, We've been doing it so long now. I was like, has he been on thinking years ago, Grinnell, he's like, no. He kind of always said once he retired, so it worked out good, and, and we were kind of hoping to see you again, but I guess it finally. You realized it was time. It was time you'd done so much and, and you were just kind of ready to hang them up, huh?

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Yeah, you know, it's, it's tough. I mean, I think if you asked me that in July and August, there would have been a different answer. You know, even through September, you're kind of waiting around through training camp and seeing what might come around. But, you know, it's, it's, it kind of starts to sink in a little bit, you know, and I think being home and, and getting the opportunity to be around the family a little bit more and hang out with the kids, you know, see them start to grow and, and, and be around for some, some milestones, it, it was kind of the right time. And I think, you know, I just, I reflected on a lot of things. I think, you know, I, I, I always wanted to play a thousand games. In the last couple years, I was focused on that. And then when I really thought about it, you know, I, I kind of knew that that wasn't going to make or break my career. You know, I didn't, I didn't come into the league to, to play a thousand games. I came in to play one and, and see what happened after that. So, yeah, happy to be in this spot.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Now, were you training after the season? Preparing as if, though you were going to play? Like, was, was it like. And like, was it a case of where you were still trying to find a contract? Were you offered PTOs? Like, how did that all go down?

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Yeah, I was, I was training. I was skating, you know, trying to stay ready and, and see what might, what happened, you know, what might come around. But I had a couple offers for PTOs at the beginning of the, you know, training camps, going into training camps, and I just kind of thought, you know, that that isn't really what I wanted to do. I didn't, God forbid, you know, something didn't work out and you get cut. That's not really how I wanted things to happen.

[Paul Bissonnette]

You probably saw what me and Wit went like. I'm not going to be like those losers.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Well, I was glad I had a front row seat for that. So it was, it was nice to, to be there for your, your PTO experience.

[Ryan Whitney]

The circus was in town For a couple weeks.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

You know what that was like for me? I, I feel like that was the start of this podcast. Like we would go out to lunch and, and I feel like there would be six of us. We would just sit back and let's listen to you two go. Like I remember Whit telling a story about like flossers and, and Biz was like stealing your, your floss or something from, you bought them from CVS for like 10 bucks. Biz wanted to give you like $2.

[Ryan Whitney]

For the individual ones.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Individuals.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Took them out of my hotel room.

[Ryan Whitney]

I just bought them.

[Mike Grinelli]

Don't you get like a thousand in a pack?

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, he took them all and he took them all and then now he's flossing on the golf course like in sandbagger. So he hasn't changed?

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

No, no, not at all. But I was like, there's something here. I think they're, these two are going to have a, are something to go out, go on out, go out on after.

[Paul Bissonnette]

But going back to that experience though, the one thing that I took away from just getting to hang out with you and the rest of the blues is how tight knit group it was and just like the camaraderie and you have a lot of friends and you're a funny bastard. So I would imagine that is probably the hardest thing for you to let go of right now is just all those, all the guys in the locker room going to the rink every day and, and being out of that roots team with your father friends.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Yeah, I think that's what everyone warned you about, right, is, is, you know, telling you that's what you're going to miss the most. And there's no doubt that's, that's the hardest part. But you know, I, I, I feel like when I played I really cherished a lot of those moments, a lot of those, those small moments and being a practice on a day that you didn't want to be there and you know, maybe giving to a coach for, for bringing you in on, you know, an off day or, or something, you know, that's what, that's what brought the group together. And I always, you know, kind of tried to take a step back and just, you know, never take anything for granted, you know, and always appreciate every day in the league. And I know a lot of guys say that, but I had a lot of fun and you know, part of that maybe held me back a little bit as a player sometimes, but you know, I never missed a night out and always, always wanted to be that guy. That was there and didn't miss, you know, any of those jokes or funny moments.

[Mike Grinelli]

Yeah, that's the biggest thing I miss is, is the plane rides, the locker room. And like Biz said, every team that you were on was a close knit group. And it was probably because I know you're not going to say it about yourself, but it's probably because of you because every guy you talk to just raves about how good of a teammate you were. And you know, in the locker, obviously your play on the ice spoke for itself. And even going back to the thousand, thousand games thing, I have a silver stick, but you got the silver trophy, so you don't need that.

[Ryan Whitney]

Right.

[Mike Grinelli]

You got yourself a Stanley Cup Cup. And you know, obviously amazing for that, but yeah, amazing career.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Thank you. Thank you. No, it was great. I mean, I, I, you know, like you said, I think that made the decision a little bit easier knowing that, you know, you have a Stanley cup in your back pocket and I, you know, being playing on seven different teams along the way and, you know, not really knowing where you're going to fit in the locker room, I, I think that was something I was fortunate for that Every group I went into always had a great group of guys, both young and old. And, you know, I tried to just impart my wisdom wherever I went.

[Ryan Whitney]

It's, it's really great for you that you got your cup because you'd been in St. Louis for a long time and all those guys are a lot of them, you know, Steener and these dudes that, that you were really close with when they won, like, it, it wasn't the same season like when I was traded, but it had to be like, oh my God, like, I'm happy for them, but I also was kind of a part of, of a lot of that in the growing years. So then to get yours, it had to feel extra special after witnessing them get theirs, right?

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Oh, it was, yeah, huge weight off my shoulders. I mean, I got traded to Washington. They won it the year after I left. And I thought, you know, the team that I was on, we were, that was maybe one of the best teams I played on in my career. Yeah. And then following that year, then St. Louis goes on this magical run and, and takes the Stanley cup home. And I was obviously, you know, obviously very, very happy for those guys, for the city. You know, I know what it's like to play there, but yeah, that one hurt a lot, you know, and, and you know, you're just thinking like, oh, maybe I'm that guy that's just going to be missing his, his chance by this much, his whole career. You know, then I get bought out that summer, which was, you know, even more of a gut wrench. But you know, I look back on it now and smile. It was obviously the best thing that happened to me and, and went on to, to Tampa Bay to do something special.

[Ryan Whitney]

We, we'll get into that in a little bit, but I, I like starting at the beginning, especially a guy like I've known, but we've never really had a discussion about you growing up and, and how you got into the game, how you fell in love with it. So New Relle, New York is where you grew up, correct?

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

So is that, is that Long Island, Texas? Technically?

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

No, it's Westchester.

[Ryan Whitney]

Westchester. Okay. So like you're a die hard Rangers fan. You know that as a little kid you remember just watching Rangers games. You remember the beginning years of hockey, who you got, who you, how you got into it and all those things.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Yeah, I mean, my, my brothers led the way. I have two older brothers and they, you know, my dad moved around a bit for work. He was in London in Japan. So when they, they came back home. Before I was born, my oldest brother wanted to get into, into some sort of winter sport and tried hockey out. That was kind of the, you know, the birth of hockey in our family. But your dad never played? My dad never played. He was a football, you know, rugby bruiser type of a guy. So, you know, when I would turn like three or four years old, my brothers were playing for the New Rochelle Lightning. And my parents just didn't want to chase me around the rink anymore. So there was a little studio rink. They threw me into a learned skate and you know, the rest was history. But you know, from that point on, like we were, we were growing up playing at Rye Playland, which is where the Rangers used to practice. So, you know, this is the golden years of, of the Rangers with Leech and Graves and Messier Kovalev, like, you know, Richter, the list goes on and on. And once a week I was watching these guys on the ice and, and from there I went to New Jersey Devils youth program. Program. The Devil's teams were practicing at our rink. So like I had it around me just by chance all these years and you know, just, just amazing to be able to, to, to experience that as a young kid.

[Ryan Whitney]

It's, it's funny having two older brothers because you were probably also just going to their games and then like some kids are running around, some kids are Watching it. And some kids are doing a little of both. But they probably meant so much to you. Like, when you're drafted and end up in the NHL, like, without your older brother brothers, you. You watching them and following them, it probably never even happens.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

No, without a doubt. I mean, you know, I was grateful that they always included me. Right. With their friends. A lot of. A lot of. A lot of times, you know, you're probably just pushed off to the side, but, you know, I was always allowed to play outside with them and, and always served a purpose, even if it meant getting a net like most younger brothers know. Like, you just do whatever you can to get in the game. Um, and, you know, I. I think also like to. To make it this far and have two brothers who didn't have any ounce of jealousy in them. You know, they were proud of me every step of the way. And, and that means a lot, too. I mean, they're. They're always going to be my role models and people that, That I look up to, and for them to be there to support me is. Is amazing.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I could even, like, I could sense the gratitude in your. In the way you're talking right now and just reflecting on all of it going back to your. Your childhood. Were you always a defenseman? Like, were you all the way up?

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

I, you know, early on, I started as a forward, and I remember my. One of my coaches, when I was probably six or seven years old, just said, you know, I want you to play defense next game. And I kind of looked at him and was like, well, you know, can I score goals? So he said, go home and watch Brian Leech and tell me if, you know, defensemen are allowed to score goals. And, you know, he was. Brian Leech was my, you know, my number one guy watching, growing up, and, you know, that. That's how I turned into, you know, the defenseman that I was. How.

[Paul Bissonnette]

How quickly did. Oh, I was just gonna ask how quickly did it accelerate? Because when you moved over to that New Jersey program, it probably wasn't long before you were getting scouted for the. The US Program.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Yeah, it was. You know, that. That jump was big because the hockey around, you know, where I grew up wasn't huge at the time. It's blown up now, but the New Jersey area was. And. And Long island was another, you know, hotbed for it. But New Jersey was. Was kind of where, you know, you start to go into the regional, the festivals and, and, you know, all these little tournaments, summer tournaments and stuff. And. Yeah, I mean, I. I Always played a year up. I always played with the 88 birth year and I feel like that helped me, but it accelerated fast. And I mean, we, you know, won national championships. We had, we had a great team teams, but again, you just never really know like where you, where you stand until you just tick off every box. And by the time I was 14, 15, you know, that's when I got invited to the, the NTDP camp and you know, absolutely the bed in my tryout, but still, you know, lucky, lucky. Oh, man. I caved under pressure, without a doubt.

[Ryan Whitney]

Wow. So you even at that. I remember going out, but I, I don't remember feeling like that type of pressure. Maybe I was just so, so dumb. But you were kind of going in like, this is the best players. I gotta make this team. And just, just folded.

[Doug Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

And. And you know, like that, that year, like you guys remember like the USHR reports that would come out the festivals, right? Like, I think coming out of that, I was like in the top two or three as a defenseman. So I'm like, I gotta go there and show that I'm like one of the guys. And that didn't happen at all. And, and you know, I think one of my coaches from the Atlantic District, John Riley, kind of had to like, beg and plea for them to like, hey, just watch him again, like, come. He. Trust me, he's. He's the guy. And you know, luckily it all, it all worked out.

[Ryan Whitney]

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but you're from Westchester and that whole Mid Fairfield, like the old Connecticut Yankees, that's like one of the top programs because they have such a big pool of kids to, to choose from. There's a lot of money there, which does matter. Hockey, unfortunately. So you end up going to the, the Jersey, like, program. Like, why weren't you a part of that Connecticut Yankees type thing? Because you went to Brunswick too, which a lot of those kids end up going to.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Yeah, I mean, the biggest reason was because my, my middle brother Keith made the Devil's team as well. So, you know, it was one of those things where my parents couldn't drive through both. No, they weren't doing both. My. I think my oldest brother was playing, you know, for the Long Long Island Apple Corps. I don't know if you remember the Apple core dynasty back in the day, but so it was like one of those things where like two are going here, one are going there, and, and obviously the Devils had a great team. But later on, when I, when I was in high school, At Brunswick, I started playing for Mid Fairfield and we had a, you know, awesome team there. Mark, Arcabello, Pashioretti, like ton of guys who were on our team. We wound up winning a national championship there, there. So that was when things started to get going around our area with, with the youth hockey.

[Mike Grinelli]

I didn't know that when you go out to that national program, it's an actual tryout. I thought like you're a guaranteed a spot.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

It's like a four, you know, they, they, they invite 40 of the best at your age. So.

[Ryan Whitney]

Well, obviously it's not a tryout if he made the team, considering how bad he was. He's saying, I think, I think every year there's like eight to 10 kids that are on the team, but everyone does it and then there's definitely some roster spots open.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Yeah, few kids go out there with like their contract signed, no doubt. Yeah, you know, I certainly wasn't one of them at the time. But yeah, it's, it's, you know, even through the summer I think they still evaluate kids at that like Ivan Halinka tournament and add some guys in along the way. But yeah, it was, you know, probably my first taste of, of like, you know, almost like going to an NHL training camp and, and being like, I gotta make this team.

[Ryan Whitney]

When you get out there a lot of times the first year is hard on kids. Like you're living away from home for the first time usually and the grind of that many games and the workouts and yeah, you're treated like a pro but at a young age it's kind of hard. Was there, were you homesick? Were you like this is a lot or did you kind of like dive in and love it from the get go?

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

No, I was missing home the first couple months. Um, without a doubt. I mean, you know, I left Brunswick, I mean Greenwich and you know, I have this unbelievable campus. There's, you know, my first time going to, to school with girls. I was at all boys school growing up and then I'm moving out to Ann Arbor, Michigan. I had an unbelievable family and that was my saving Greece. The Pericos family, you know, they owned, they owned a couple restaurants downtown in Ann Arbor and kind of, you know, were able to get me out and go to some Michigan football games and hockey games and experience the town. But you know, those first few months of like real hard work doing boxing, you know, and playing in the NHL, which at the time was just like a goons league, you know, we were getting, we were getting our asses kicked left and right and you're like, you know, thinking, what the hell is this all for?

[Mike Grinelli]

And you, you got to play with Patrick Kane. How was he at, you know, 16, 17 years old. Could you tell that he was going to be the player that, you know, the hall of Fame player that he is now?

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Yeah, without a doubt. I mean, again, because I played a year up and he's in 88. Like he was always. Every tournament we went to would be like, Patrick Kane has 20 points and the next best guy has 12. Like he found his way to get his goals, his assists. And then when we got to the, to the ntdp, like, it was no different. And you know, everyone would always say, like, this is the level where he's too small, he's going to get pushed out and, and he can't perform, he's not going to put up his number numbers. And you know, it was, it was comical because like, I would watch him on a day to day basis and, and you know, he worked so hard on the ice. I mean, his, his size and stuff didn't come until a little bit later, you know, when he actually filled out. But to do what he was doing at that age was absolutely incredible.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Shady. I'm actually shocked Whit hasn't brought this up. When you played with that New Jersey minor league system, you went to the 2002 Peewee Championship in Quebec, correct?

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Yes, we did.

[Paul Bissonnette]

How did you fare there? I'm surprised Whit didn't mention it. He does. Every time there's a guy who played on, we.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

We won. We won. So I believe that was the first year where they stopped doing like the crossover where the winners of each division start playing each other. But we won like the NHL double A division. We lost to, I think in an exhibition game to like Honeybee big to won the aaa. And they were insane. I mean, they had some unbelievable players. There was a team from Slovakia that was nasty too, but they wound up being like finding out a couple years later that they were all 86s playing.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, Danny Almonte was on the team.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Yeah, exactly who you say. But I mean like, I heard the team. Yeah, honestly. Honestly, I think it was like that.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Like that number 17 from your game the other night went, no, no, I.

[Ryan Whitney]

Think that kid is the correct age with all the birth certificate stuff. You got to give in now. Yeah, like Host is playing for Slovakia.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Yeah, exactly, exactly.

[Ryan Whitney]

Leaving the Thrashers.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

But it was awesome. I mean, like, like Whit always talks about, like, it's the greatest experience that you can go through. As a kid, we lived with billet families. Like, it was just. It was an incredible, incredible time.

[Ryan Whitney]

When did you know BU was the spot for you? That's what I remember first seeing you and didn't know about, like, you know, the USA program and the players, but always watching bu, I'm like, jesus, this kid's silky. And you had a great team. You guys want it your sophomore year, but what was the recruiting like with Jack Parker, Quinny and all that? Like, how you must have had your options of really anywhere you wanted to go?

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Yeah, you know, I. I kind of ruled out going, like, west early on to the wcha. I just. I knew that wasn't really where I wanted to be, you know, and I grew up going to. To a lot of Hockey east games and championships, experiencing that, and always knew college hockey was where I wanted to go. But Michigan was like my team growing up. I mean, Brendan Morrison and that whole, like, Marty Turco era was who I love to watch. So they actually gave me my first offer and I was like, right away, I'm in. Like, let's sign the papers. Let's go. And my parents said no. My parents were like, listen, if. If Michigan's going to offer you, there's going to be more teams. You know, just be patient. You know, you have to go check these places out, meet the coaches. And, you know, they were. They were always great in that regard of making sure that I made informed decisions. And, you know, at that point, I kind of narrowed it down to Michigan, bu. I wanted to go to bc, but they offered Nick Petrecki as. As, like their loan scholarship that year. So it was BU in Michigan. And. And part of why I went to BU is because I was living in Ann Arbor and I was so homesick. And I knew that I wanted to get back to the East Coast. I wanted my parents to be able to come watch some games and, you know, and I loved. I loved Jack, I loved Quinny. They were great salesmen. But, you know, I came to find out later, they were obviously better coaches. And. And, you know, they. As soon as I got there, it was. It was, you know, the. The perfect match.

[Paul Bissonnette]

What was the most page yelling like.

[Ryan Whitney]

That'S what I was gonna ask him. You ever get the cage treatment from Parksey?

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Of course, of course. I mean, like, he was the most intimidating guy ever. Ever. And, you know, I remember, like, some of the old, old guys being like, well, you got. You didn't have him when he was, like, drinking and smoking, you know, cigarettes on the bench. Like, you know, like, you think his highs and lows were. Were bad now, like, he would. He would be like this and, like, there. But, you know, like, he. He always knew, like, just how to get you. Like, how to get you going. And, you know, he always knew how to, like, clip your wings when they needed clipping. You know, you come out of a weekend with, you know, maybe four or five points in two games. Sit you down, asked you, how do you think you play this weekend? Like, me, I was great.

[Ryan Whitney]

Like.

[Paul Bissonnette]

The bar.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

He's like, you were awful. You can't defend. You know, like, just. And you're sitting in your chair just, you know, like, all right, I guess. I guess I got to go back to the. To the film on this one.

[Ryan Whitney]

But as an offensive defenseman. Biz. Sorry. Quickly.

[Doug Armstrong]

He.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I love it. I love it.

[Ryan Whitney]

If you didn't. If you didn't get points, which, like, he knew. He was smart enough to know that, like, you're like, oh, I got to get points, which is ridiculous. But that's just how we all were or are. He would. He would say, hey, you played phenomenal this weekend. Like that. That's the Hawk. You got to play. The points will come. Like, he was good. He definitely could sense, though, when anyone thought that they were just buzzing around, he's like, you.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I need to knock this guy down a few pegs.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

So.

[Paul Bissonnette]

So Quinny does the recruiting part of it. Is Jack Parker there when you're doing these meetings so he can bring you over? And obviously, you mentioned how intimidating is. Is he putting on this, like, kind of nice front when he's recruiting you, and then all of a sudden, you have this first experience when you get to your first day of practice.

[Ryan Whitney]

He's so personable, dude. He.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, like, you know, Quinny. Quinny was at the time and. And Mike Davis were. You know, they were the guys on the road and going to the games and checking out, you know, all the players. And then when they narrowed it down, they would bring guys, you know, on their visits to BU and you'd go. And you, like, you'd go into Jack's office and sit down with him and your parents. You know, he always knew what to say to your parents. And. And. And he really was essentially your. Your father away from home. I mean, he. He took that responsibility, you know, pretty. Pretty seriously, that he was in charge of your kids. But, you know, without a doubt, like, the. The mood changes once you show up on day one and, you know, for practice like he's not got you here guy anymore. Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Where's that guy from your office? The hell.

[Ryan Whitney]

Hey, Shady. I. I need to hear your break breakdown of one of the greatest college hockey games of all time. And biz, I. I guess Miami of Ohio fans would completely disagree, but my.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Buddy Vinnie Laverde was on the opposite side of this.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Yeah, that's right.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I played with Vinnie. I want to call their cup with him. And he. He still talks about. He's still devastated from this game live.

[Ryan Whitney]

Odds like they have now, like it was 99.9999%. They. They were the national champs. So just take us through that and what, what happened?

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Yeah, I mean, you know, I always think back on that game and like we. We just didn't show up, you know, to play. Like, I don't know what it was. We had a pretty amazing win against Vermont the game before that in the semis that, you know, kind of gets overlooked. But you know, we, we went into the game and, and Miami absolutely dominated us. Like they. From start to finish, they were just playing harder, you know, blocking the shots they needed to block, block, putting pucks in deep like just the. The way you win. And you know, we, we had a lot of. A lot of resiliency that year. We obviously were such a good team that we never felt like we were ever out of any games. And you know, when we scored that, that second goal and we looked up and we kind of had like, whatever it was a minute or so left in the game. You know, we kind of like we knew that something was going to, to give. You know, we had the belief in the players that we were going to put out there. And you could tell, I mean the, the last couple minutes there, like Miami just started to sit back. They didn't attack anymore at you know, I think at one point it looked like they had like a three on one and the guy just duns the puck and like just save us sit on this lead and just, you know, so, yeah, I mean, and then we. We tied it up with unbelievable play by Matty Gilroy. It's a beneath Nino. The place went nuts. I actually think my, my dad left the rink when it was three to one with a couple minutes left because he was so upset.

[Ryan Whitney]

Wow.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

And missed the two tying goals. And then he like was like, well, now what do I do? Do I come back into the game? Like, I.

[Ryan Whitney]

No.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

So I, I think he just kind of sat that one out and, and you know, went into overtime and, and again, once we got Into. Into overtime. Like, we knew that we had the game at that. That point, but it was still just an incredible game to be a part of.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Well, who.

[Mike Grinelli]

Gilroy's family.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Le. Don't leave me blue balled here. Like, who scored the goal, how to go down.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

So, yes, I mean, it was like.

[Paul Bissonnette]

What was it? What was like in the locker room, you guys, like, we got these.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Oh, yeah, like, we go in the locker room. We had heard that, you know, kind of some of the backups on their team had their, like, championship tees on and hats, like, ready to get on the ice and. Which is like, you know, there's two minutes left. It's no fault of their own. What are you gonna do? Just, like, wait?

[Ryan Whitney]

But I think it was 3:1 with like a minute 30 left.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Minute 17. Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

I think it's like, oh, my God.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Yeah. So we went a lot. We went in the. Into the locker room, cooled down and. And obviously, like, gathered ourselves. But again, there was just like that quiet confidence that we had them. We had our game in order.

[Paul Bissonnette]

We were.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

We had everything going. You know, we went overtime and. And few minutes in, you know, I got a. I got a pass low to high, walked the blue line, look for my shot. My buddy Colby Cohen came behind me. I did a, you know, behind the back drop pass in the blue line, which was almost picked off for a breakaway.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Oh, God. Yeah.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

And then Coley kind of took the puck, opened up, took a slapper and. And their captain, I always forget his name, but he. He went down on, you know, just full stack, the pads. It hit his pants and just loops over, goalie doesn't see it, and goes in the back of the net. So it was like, again, that's how those games are won college games especially, you know, those momentum swings. And. And it's always. It's always the one that, you know, maybe you don't expect to go in, but it was an incredible, incredible finish.

[Ryan Whitney]

Wow. What's. What's cool to see is nowadays, like, kids are staying one year, maybe two, but you won it all. You had 30 points, which is a lot for a college. College defenseman. You're. You're a high pick, and boom, you decide to go back. Actually like that. That's a pretty mature decision. It's way different now, I feel like. But looking back, you must have been like that. That was the right call. And like, how did you come about not turning pro then?

[Paul Bissonnette]

And also got to be captain there, which I'm sure was like an unreal honor. Yeah.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Yeah, and I mean, that was a huge part of my decision. You know, we. We had, you know, obviously some great players in front of me. Matt Gilroy, like I mentioned, you know, Brian Strait, Eric Reibo were, you know, that the two or three people ahead of me in age. And, you know, when Maddie. Matty left to go pro, you know, that they gave me the captaincy. And Brian, straight and straighty, you know, unbelievable guy, great leader. He was weighing out his decision of what he was going to do, and then he decided to leave. So I was like, kind of like, dude, you left me hanging here. Not that I was leaving, but I was like, I kind of need you to, you know, help me run this team. But, you know, we go into the junior year and, And I just felt like I, I needed to see, you know, if I was ready to go, and I didn't want to make that jump too early and, and feel like I missed out on, you know, an amazing experience at college, you know, just to kind of go slumming around on a bus and, and feel like I was, you know, talking to my buddies the whole time, wishing I was at team pub. So, yeah, you know, it's. It's. It was. It was definitely the best decision for me. And, and we didn't do great, you know, the next year, but it. It allowed me to realize, like, that I was ready to move on to the next level, that I wasn't really getting much out of college hockey anymore rather than leaving. And, and, you know, not knowing.

[Ryan Whitney]

Did Colorado tell you at the time it was up to you? Because now I feel like a lot of these teams are like, like, hey, we'd rather have you developing in the ahl. We want control. Or was it like, hey, when you're ready, let us know type thing?

[Doug Armstrong]

No, they.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

They were pretty, you know, open with us, and, and they, you know, they kind of said that they thought I should, you know, maybe think about leaving, but it really was up to me. And, and I give them, you know, a lot of credit for that. And, and, you know, they. They also laid it out like they were probably. They were like, you're probably not going to play, you know, in Colorado.

[Paul Bissonnette]

We.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

We're going to want you in the minors. And, and that way I was able to make my decision. And I think they didn't promise me anything. And, And I know that changes. That's changed a lot these days where kids are coming out and they're like, you're going to get 10 games or 40 games, or they're asking for Games. Like, that's ridiculous to me.

[Mike Grinelli]

You're one of the. The only ones that never played an AHL game, right?

[Paul Bissonnette]

Like, no, he's got a few. Thirteen of them.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

I got a couple.

[Mike Grinelli]

Did you?

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

I got a couple, yeah. A couple.

[Doug Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

I played three out of. Out of college. Like, it did like this. The pto, whatever.

[Ryan Whitney]

Those ones don't really count, though, because.

[Mike Grinelli]

Like, yeah, that's like a showcase.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Give me. Give me my signing bonus.

[Mike Grinelli]

Going into Colorado, especially back then, that must have been pretty intimidating. There was some legends on that team.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, my. My rookie year, you know, Adam Foote was there, Scott Henry Hannon, you know, Joe Sakica just retired, but, you know, Milan Hayduke was leading the charge up front. Like, it was amazing. Amazing group to be a part of.

[Ryan Whitney]

What was Adam Foote like? Like, did he take you under his wing, giving you tips at practice? Like, was he just that old school, too? Where on the road, you're just like, oh, my God, this guy's. He's like my dad almost.

[Mike Grinelli]

He let him use his nose.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

It. Oh, my God. Like, his nose was. Be. Like, it was impossible to talk to him and not look at that thing. It was going every which way. But, I mean, he was. It was almost like. Because then obviously now he's coaching. Like, he was getting ready for that job. You know, at the time, he had Matthew Shane living with him. And, you know, I took. Taking him in to his. To his. To his house. But, like, Footy. Every morning it was sitting. Getting ready for practice. Practice, and he would just be holding court, chirping guys around the locker room. You know, I blocked a shot one night and I was limping and I. I wound up getting the day off from practice.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Oh, no.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

And, like, you know, I wanted to crawl into a closet and just hide from both of those guys, from Scott Hannon, who was my D partner. And footy. And they're like, coming in. Are you kidding me? You're sitting, like, all this stuff. And the trainer is like, no, it's my call. It's my call. He's like, I don't care. Get your ass out there. There I was, walking out of the training room to go out, and he's like, nope, you're not going. You know, but, you know, it was just like most rookies do or should do, like, just shut up and listen and speak when spoken to type of thing. I know that's changed also a little bit, but, you know, I just enjoyed it. I enjoyed listening to these guys go back and forth and soaked up, you know, a ton of knowledge from them. John Michael Lyles was another guy who really took me under his wing being an offensive guy. But you know, I had one, one game where we were playing Dallas. We went to a shootout and Brad Richards, you know, went down, made a move, missed, and he skated by the bench. And I was like, you know, nice shot, Brad.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, geez.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Young guy grabs me and he's like, don't you ever talk to Brad Riches like that or anyone? He's like, how many, how many goals do you have in this league? Like, he gave me that, that whole rundown, you know, and I got it right away. You know, it's just me being stupid and naive, but I was so grateful to have guys like that around me to just keep me in check and, you know, just make sure that I was doing things the right way.

[Ryan Whitney]

Crazy news that year where St. Louis decides they're ready to move on from Eric Johnson and, and you're just, you're in Colorado, first year pro, probably loving being in the NHL, and boom, you're traded. Like, usually you get a little bit of time before your first trade. I, that was pretty shocking deal. He had been the number one overall pick. But they move. I think it was you, Chris Stewart and a first round pick. And all of a sudden you're getting told you're traded. Like, must have been complete shock for yourself. Like, how did you find out?

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Yeah, this crazy story. So I, I, we had been, we were going out to San Jose and we're playing one game, just in and out and like this is the time where you weren't allowed to wear, you know, different clothes for dinner. Just wear your suit. So I just brought out like whatever I was sleeping in. I had my suit, we were gonna be in and out and I had dinner at my, my cousin Rachel's house that night. Told them, I'll see you guys tomorrow at the game, get back. And I was rooming with a guy named David Kochi. Fighter.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I don't know if you guys, I played with him, I played with him in the Miners coach like pounds of salmon every day. Literally, like, holy. Like, I don't know if there's enough Omega 3s to worry about all those concussions you've got. But good with the famine.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Honestly. He was, he was trying to do his best to, to work on his cte, I think, but you know, he legitimately would be like, grab a controller out of my hand at 9 o'clock at night, turn off the TV.

[Ryan Whitney]

He was a bully. I loved him, but he was a bully.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

And he'd walk around with just his like short briefs on, just like flexing his muscles. He was, he was great to me, but like, just an odd guy to have character. Roommate.

[Paul Bissonnette]

He was a kid.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

And we're in the room. It's like 12 o'clock at night. The room phone rings and it's Greg Sherman, coach. He picks up, who the hell is this? Who's calling? Blah, blah, blah. He's like, put Shady on the phone. Shady. One of your fucking friends is calling our room. And I'm like, one of my buddies is calling the room phone like it's 2011, dude. I have a cell phone. No one's calling my room phone. So Sherman called, you know, he's like, hey, come down to my room. I put my suit back on because I don't have it, you know, really. Anything in a room.

[Ryan Whitney]

Any idea what this is about?

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

No.

[Ryan Whitney]

Like, shirt, tie on, your hanging out in his robe.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, yeah. Half.

[Doug Armstrong]

Bam. Bam.

[Paul Bissonnette]

You're like, what the.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

I go down and, and, you know, Greg tells me that I've been traded and going, I'm leaving at 5:00 in the morning and I wake up, get up, get my bags. At this point I'm like, just, lights on.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Screw you, coach.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

You. I'm never going to see you again. Go downstairs, the car's waiting for him. I get in. Chris Stewart's there. He's like, yo, no, like, you know, what the hell are you doing? He didn't tell me that I was traded with Stewie. So I had no idea until I got in the car and we, we flew to St. Louis. We played that night. We. We played against Anaheim in St. Louis. I flew back the next day to, to Colorado. Packed my car to get it shipped. And then the following day after that, we played Colorado and St. Louis, so.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Oh, God, here we go.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Yeah. So, you know, five on three. I had, I had a. I think an apple or, or two that game, but, you know, just. That's the crazy, the craziness of the NHL sometimes.

[Mike Grinelli]

Stu Chains must have been a good guy to get traded with though, because he's such like a big personality, fun guy to be around.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

He's the best. I mean, he, he's a day one for me in, in the league, you know, took care of me at development camps. He was obviously like a little more accelerated and getting to the NH NHL and being a couple years or being a year older than me. But, you know, anytime we just clicked. Anytime we hung out and you know, just an outrageous human being at times. Like he said, he walks into a locker room and just, he's just crazy, absolutely crazy. So I was lucky to be, be a part of that with him.

[Mike Grinelli]

I heard an unreal story about him. It was like, you know, the PK meeting was at 5:30. So the coach came in, he was like, killers, 5:30, 30. And he stood up, he goes, you talking about the real killers or the penalty killers? I heard his one liners were insane good.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Oh, unbelievable. Like, you know, he, he would just, he would just like again come into a room. Like he, he'd score a goal or something, be coming down the line, he'd be like, like, let's go baby, let's go. Like he just, and he always was ready, like he was always ready to go out, ready to chuck him if he needed to chuck him. Like he, he always knew like what, what moment, what the moment needed, you know, and, and I was grateful to be like one of his, his best buddies and, and he took care of me. So I was, I was lucky to have him.

[Paul Bissonnette]

So that first year, like I remember that group of guys, if you had Yipper, you had Ryan O'Reilly. Like I remember here, I think we actually saw them when they were on their either Olympic break or All Star break. Were had you been trade before that or after that? Because I, I've heard iconic stories of their time on these trips together. And just this young group of guys you guys had there.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Well, we called ourselves the Fab Five. So it was me, Stewie Yipper, Phil dupu and Ryan O'Reilly.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Oh my God.

[Mike Grinelli]

Dup is a beauty.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

I play with them in J. Dupes is awesome, dude. I mean this is probably why I got traded because like, I think after two years, none of those five guys were on, were on the Avalanche except for O'Reilly. Go figure. Um, you know, but even as like an 18, 19 year old Ori was leading the charge at times. Um, you know, but it was, it was an awesome group. I got traded after that, that All Star break and you know, actually, no, I, I was at the All Star game at year, I think. Yens, you were there. I was there in like the rookie, rookie thing or whatever. And that's almost why I was taken even more back when I got traded. You know, I came in after the All Star break, like, oh yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

So bringing my arms around like, no. Come back to haunt your dreams.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Yeah, exactly.

[Doug Armstrong]

So.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

But we had a crew. I mean we were, we were out probably more Than we needed to, like thinking that we were keeping it hidden. What you. Meanwhile, at like 8:00, we're all walking out of the steam room every morning. They're like nanas. It's like, we got to get rid of these guys.

[Ryan Whitney]

When you get to St. Louis, it was Dave, was it Davis Payne?

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Davis Payne had just had taken over that year. Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

And then all of a sudden, next year hit Charlie comes in and biz. And I still laugh about Hitch in training camp just being a part of that team. Like, how he would talk to the team, how guys would talk back to him, but he made an immediate difference. And all of a sudden, like, that blues team got better and better. And what was your relationship like with him? Like, would he give you. Were you one of the guys? Like. Like that would give it back to him a little bit or. No way.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Always. Always. You know, I. And I appreciate the side of Hitch that, you know, he always could take it. He never carried it into the next day. You know, I said things to him that I would never say to, like, anyone, let alone a coach, but he just. He had a way of pushing your buttons. And he told me, like, he sat. He sat us down when he first took the job and kind of had individual meetings along the way and just, you know, sat me down. He said, look, I know you're a young client player, but I'm gonna treat you like you're 27, 28 years old. I'm not gonna let off on you. I'm gonna push your buttons. Even when you think, you know, that you're doing something right, I'm gonna, like, needle you even more because I want to get the most out of you. And. Took a while to learn that lesson, you know, but he was a great coach. He was smart. His X's and O's and his game plans were always on the money. And. And, you know, we bought into that, and we were, you know, a hardworking team.

[Paul Bissonnette]

We.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

We obviously had some talent, but, you know, we knew where our strengths, you know, really were, and that was from grinding teams down and. And playing a physical game. And, you know, if you made a mistake and came back to the bench, like, you didn't have a second to think about it, Hitch would just be right on you. And that's when I would just.

[Paul Bissonnette]

He'd be opening a B door. Have a seat.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

I think one game. Yeah, like, one game. I remember it was the second period, we were at home, and we're on the power play, so we're out there For a face off on the right hand side. I think Backus wins it back to me. I get the puck, I'm getting ready to, like, walk the middle. And Hitch is already, like, screaming from the bench, like, ski, ski. I look back, like, as I'm walking the blue line, I'm like, will you shut the up? And like, right back into the play. I get back to the bench, I'm like, I can't even hear myself think outside here. Like, let me play the game. And he's like, all right, all right, settle down, settle down. But I mean, you guys know, you were there for that training camp. Like, it was. He just. He likes things done obviously, a certain way. And, and you know, he's. He's very meticulous with. With everything. But we had some great coaches around him too, that, that knew how to, you know, calm us down. Brad Shaw was a big coach for me. Kirky Muller was. Was awesome. So, um, you know, they were like therapists at times more than they were coaches.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I was always intrigued his ability to break down the game tape and simplify it in his explanation, especially for a guy, like, who never played. Right. Like, his details, like you just mentioned to the game were just fascinating. And I don't remember the video sessions being overly long either. So he was very concise and, and knew exactly what he wanted.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Yeah.

[Doug Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

I mean, that again, that was the. The beauty of it. He'd say, like, here are the three things we need to beat this team. And, you know, whether it was like, possessing the puck down low or, you know, they play this sort of defense. This is where our shots are going to be. Like, it was. It was easy because we. Because he showed us that early on, and we bought in and we. We went on a, you know, a crazy, you know, tear and. And that just kept staying consistent, you know, for. For the time he was there. But no, I mean, I. I still remember, like, I think we. We actually played together. Biz, in a. In an interview squad game at camp that year. You were my D partner. Do you remember right?

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yes.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

And I remember traded.

[Ryan Whitney]

Sh. He's like, this ain't good. This ain't good.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

I think that was the year that I did get traded, too. So I was like, all right, they're bringing in Biz over me. But I remember there was one player like, I got a. I got a puck. I was kind of pass back door, and Biz was kind of back through the scene. Like, I think I shot the puck and. And he stayed. I got back to the Bench and biz was like, hey, did you, did you see me? Did you see me on that play? And I kind of like looked over and I didn't. Like, I was trying to be an. But I was just like, huh. Like you kind of cut me off guard and you're like, yeah, don't worry about it. Don't worry about it. You know, it's, it's, it's cool.

[Ryan Whitney]

Like, if you call me loser 10 or 11 more times, I'm gonna get out of here.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Next day I got the car service like you and Stewie like, Steve, hey.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

So your retro sign.

[Paul Bissonnette]

You must have been calling all the other guys guys like this on the bench during this inner squad game. I'm ID, partner buzzing down the back door, asking me for tappings. This guy, get him out of here. That's when the I, I, I noticed there was a tone that changed with you in that camp with me. And that, that was probably the moment right there.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

That was it 100%.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I also remember, I think like Otter was around then and was Otter and hits relationship. Like the funniest, like, was that the, the comedy routine? Because I feel like Otter was like.

[Ryan Whitney]

That'S what I remember.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Like, Otter was, it was crazy.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Well, he had, he had the best understanding of Hitch because of his time in, in Dallas. So you know him, Jamie Langenbrenner, who we had a couple years before that, Brendan Morrow, I mean, they came in, it was almost like they were tired of the act at that point. You know what I mean? They were just kind of letting us all go through it. But you know, Otter, like, talk about quick wit and like one liners. I mean, he was ruthless, absolutely ruthless. Like sitting on the bench and listening to him go. And then, you know, obviously you had Revo and, and DJ Cromine at times is another guy who could just like, pepper players, you know, it was like almost exhausting to listen to over and over again. Like, I'm like, you know, I, I get it. You guys play eight minutes. But like, save some energy for the ice because this is like, it's wearing me down. But, you know, know, and I again, like, Otter was, was around. I think he took a lot of, a lot of lessons from Hitch and, and I'm sure he would say that he appreciates it now, like being a coach and, and seeing it on the other side.

[Ryan Whitney]

Was that first year in St. Louis for you. That was Revo's first year up too. Like, were you there when, when he was, when he was falling asleep on the massage Table or anything I missed, I missed that.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

I think that was his training camp of that year. Like, oh, okay, when I got trader, maybe even the year before. But yeah, like, Revo had his moments for sure. You know, And I, I still remember, like, me and Stewie went and picked him up one day for a game, and Revo came out, he's got like size 14 shoes. He comes out with his suit on. He's got white shoes on, these things. Like, it was unbelievable. Walking, like, he walked out looking like Don Magic Guan. And Stewie just absolutely laid into him. It's unbelievable. You know, again, another guy like Revo that I, I kind of got to grow, you know, and into the league with. Great guy to have on my side, obviously. I, I obviously picked two of the toughest guys on the team to, to be my best friends, but lucky to have them both.

[Paul Bissonnette]

A big responsibility in the locker room is being locker room dj. Now, I know you didn't get your silver stick. We were talking before we, we ended up hop on recording here. You should get the golden ox cord. What, what drove you to be the team dj? Like, did you just like, were you on Napster getting all the tunes or. I. What was it about you that got the reigns?

[Mike Grinelli]

Toughest job in the game.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Yeah, I mean, you know, I think, I think it just came from like, one day being in the blues locker room and, and kind of just saying, enough. I can't listen to, like, I can't listen to the same old that we're listening to. And I always was like, I always love music, you know, any, any type of music. Didn't matter if it was like, house music or rock and roll, whatever. I tried to keep my, my pulse on or my finger on the pulse and everything, but, you know, I just, I plugged in one day. I, I, I always listened to stuff myself, so I just figured, let me throw it in and, and see where it goes. And yeah, I mean, it kind of took off from there. I remember, I think it was my second or third year with the blues. I, I put up on the board, like, if we sweep the abs, let's say we're in our division. I'll get new speakers for the locker room because our speakers sucked. And sure enough, like, we won two out of the three right away. So next thing you know, I'm having speakers installed in the locker locker room, which I was so happy about, because now I'm like, this is my concert hall. You know, I could kind of just like, let it rip in here, but I always. I always cherished and, and, and love that responsibility. And I did used to do the LineUp read in St. Louis, which was another, you know, big honor to. To have to take on night in and night out.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Every game.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Every game.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Hitch.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Hitch would hand the lineup in, and I used to do it with Scotty Nickel, who really, like, was the one who I think started it, and he was so good at it, like. But we would trade on and off, and then next thing you know, he was gone. And I was left with that responsibility.

[Paul Bissonnette]

How hard was it keeping everybody happy with the tunes? Or did you do it? Like, what were you. Like, were you bouncing around country techno, like rock? Like, were you just all over the place?

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Yeah. The rule was, like, there was no house or no hip hop before for like, half an hour, you know, once the 30 minute, and then it was time to jack it up. And I would usually start, you know, with some hip hop and then really.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Like, Jack, then sprinkle the MDMA and body armor cups. Excuse me.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Exactly.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Let's fucking go, baby.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Exactly.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I like that.

[Ryan Whitney]

Before we get over to, like, you know, the trade and leaving there, you played in a legendary college game and you played in one of the best Olympic games I can ever remember in 2014.

[Paul Bissonnette]

First.

[Ryan Whitney]

First off, making the Olympics and two, like, first it was in Russia. How exciting was that? And then that Oshi shootout, like, you knew it, you'd seen it. I remember him in practice at training camp. Breakaways. He was insane at. But it must have just been incredible, like, thinking back and. And remembering that game against Russia.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Yeah, yeah, it was nuts. I mean, I. I think going into the Olympics, like, I remember they announced it, I think, at the Winter Classic when they had those, like, kids stating out and they were turning around.

[Ryan Whitney]

That was cool, actually.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Yeah, it was cool, except they didn't tell me that I made the team before that. So I was legitimately watching that game, like, with my family at home, and we're on the phone, and I think I was one of the last guys that would, like, the kids skated out and turned around, so.

[Ryan Whitney]

No way. That's how you found out?

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

That's how I found out. Like, I thought I'd get maybe a phone call or something that, you know, I made the team or I didn't beforehand. So that was kind of the start of it. And then. Then, you know, once we got over to Russia, like, it was. It was great. I mean, we had an awesome, awesome group of guys, you know, that we played well in, in the. In the early round. But that game against Russia was like, you know, it was nuts. I think Putin came to the game, which was even crazier that we were playing in front of him. And then we get into that shootout and. And, you know, we're not.

[Mike Grinelli]

You.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

You're not used to that when you don't have those rules, right? You're like. Even for us, I think for some of us, when we saw Oshko a second time, we were like, is this allowed? You know, like, because it's not fair because he's that good. But, I mean, that was. It was amazing. Like, I. Whenever people talk about that game, I'm like, yeah, I had the best ticket in the house right on the bench with no responsibilities of, like, thinking that I was going to score or have.

[Paul Bissonnette]

A nice feeling, isn't it?

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Oh, it's great. It's great.

[Paul Bissonnette]

The whole.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

I mean, I. I think I was probably right in the middle, right where. Where you. Where you would have been.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, the best. Best job in the world.

[Mike Grinelli]

I think Oshi made that team. I think the year before that Olympics, we. I went to worlds and he went and we played like. Our team was horrible. We played like it was either Italy or Kazakhstan to get, like, relegated. And it was in a shootout, and he scored, like, six in a row. And I believe he had one contact in at the time.

[Ryan Whitney]

He did the world, too.

[Mike Grinelli]

Yeah. This is in. Where the hell was it?

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Germany was in Germany. Because I remember, like, Bish. Ben Bishop was your goalie, too. I heard like. Like, I. I heard you guys were just getting after it at that.

[Mike Grinelli]

Oh, my God.

[Ryan Whitney]

World Championships.

[Mike Grinelli]

It was me, Greener, Oshi, and Chorny was our foul.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, I love chs.

[Paul Bissonnette]

As in Greener from. From la.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

He was my roommate. Come back.

[Mike Grinelli]

He was my roommate. It was bad.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah. Do you remember.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Do you remember when you almost got into a fight at Olympic camp?

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, I was just gonna ask you about this. I got. We got a text.

[Ryan Whitney]

Gotta be off ice, fighting on there.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

We didn't skate exactly.

[Paul Bissonnette]

We were at a.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

We were at the bar, like, World of Beer or something like that.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, yeah.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Having beers. And there was some guy there. He was, like, mouthing off and. And chirping us, like, kind of started off as playful. I think he was a Red Wings fan or something. And next thing you know, like, yams starts peppering him back a little bit. Again, just like, very harmless. And the guy went over the line. I think he said, like, whatever. Made a joke about your mom or something. Next thing you know, yeah. And so it's like, oh, really, buddy? Like, let's go. We got like, we're going outside, blah, blah, blah. It was unbelievable. Like, I'm again, I'm sitting there with all these amazing guys, you and, and these other players, and we're just like having casual beers. Next thing I know, Yan's is like being held back from this guy at the World of Beers. And I'd always laugh about that. Now I'm like, that would have been amazing if we just had 30 guys tune up some, some random guy, a world of beers in D.C. you might.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Have made the team, Yance.

[Mike Grinelli]

That's probably why I didn't make the team.

[Ryan Whitney]

He's trying to fight a Wings fan at the bar. So when you got moved to Washington, you were coming up on ufa, I believe, if I'm not. When did you realize that St. Lewis wasn't going to sign you or that you didn't want to sign there? I know they had Petro, so there's so much going on. But was that hard for you if it was them that were like, hey, we're actually not going to resign you this summer and you're probably getting moved at the deadline.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

No, we, we talked, you know, that summer before and you know, army was, was good about it. I mean, he, he laid it out. You know, he, Petro was obviously the guy, the number one guy and, and, and you know, going into that season, you know, being the power play guy and, and feeling like I was starting to really, you know, come into my own and, and, and not really know, like, what my ceiling could be, it was kind of a decision that I, I had to make, you know, whether I would be staying in St. Louis and, and sit behind Petro for the rest of my career. Which, you know, was definitely nothing to sniff at because he's, he's a phenomenal player. But I wanted to know, you know, like, what I had in me and if I could be that guy myself. And we knew, you know, we kind of knew by the time December hit that that's what I wanted to do. And, and we explored, you know, some trades earlier on. I almost went to Tampa, I think, in, in January and, you know, couldn't was going to be like a sign and assign it or trade and sign an extension type of thing. But again, I just, I wanted to see, I wanted to go to free agency and, and see what that was all about, you know, and then obviously at the deadline, I, I, I was traded to Washington. I thought I was actually going to Pittsburgh. It sounded, you know, everything I was reading on Twitter, at least it sounded like everything was done. And I think Washington came in in the final hour.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I mean, just reflecting on your time in St. Louis, obviously you're going to be remembered as a blues guy. Like, I look at the list I. Of guys like you had Stass knee there, Steener, like just so many awesome. How hard was it to say bye to all those guys in that locker room after you end up getting moved on from. And then I was also going to follow up with Steener. Like, did you see him eventually getting into management? Like, he's, I think he's been crushing it with army so far.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Yeah, Yeah. I mean, you know, to your first point, your first question, like, I, I, when I think of like my guys and, and my closest team teammates, it's that group, without a doubt. You know, I was so grateful that I was, I was able to grow up, you know, as a, as a young man into a, you know, an older man and, and learn from those guys. And, and we just, we did. We had such a great group. We would do the Vegas trip at the end of the year every year and you know, we would have great team parties. You know, whether it's Christmas parties with the wives and the girlfriends. You know, there was, there was never a moment where like, we weren't together doing something and we saw the value in that. And you know, Steve, Odd, I think, was a big, like, big proponent of that. When he came over, you kind of noticed that maybe there was a little bit of a divide in the locker room. Maybe it wasn't exactly where it needed to be. And he just like forced us to get together, forced everyone to come out. Didn't matter if you drank a beer or if you didn't, everyone should go out and, and be together and, and talk about a game. Hot stov like that, that goes a long way when, when you're looking to fight with, with your team and you know, at the end of the year. So I learned a lot of lessons. I brought that with me when I went and Steener was, you know, again, like, he could have been our captain just as much as David Backus was our captain. Like, everyone looked at him that way and you know, I didn't see him going into management. Like, I, I always knew that he loved the game game, but, you know, he sold out and now he's, now he's going into alpha management. But, you know, at least this hopefully might mean that maybe there's a job for me somewhere down the line.

[Paul Bissonnette]

You think he's still riding that Monarch bike with those quads of his?

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Hundred percent.

[Paul Bissonnette]

What a machine.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

I had, like, one of his workouts one summer. I asked him, you know, when I was like, all right, I got to take the next step here. I'm like, steener, can you send me your. Your bike workouts? Because I, you know, I want to come into camp this year and. And rip it up and sent them to me. I did one workout and I was like, absolutely not. I'm like, I'm fine where I'm at. I'm just going to be like, the fat, out of shape, you know, offensive defense.

[Paul Bissonnette]

He was doing them before practice in training camp. I'm like, bud, you've been on the bike for 30 minutes and it's fully cranked on the. On the RPMs here, man. Save the pistons and see that big.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Like, metal thing, Whatever. The big weight going down. Yeah, I thought it was Wingate bike.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I thought he was doing the Wingate. Yeah. Unreal.

[Ryan Whitney]

I was kind of going to ask about the Rangers, and I know, like, it was a childhood dream to play for them, and it didn't end the way you hoped, but kind of like, what happened there? Like, what was your thought process going in and. And what was your kind of experience looking back on getting to be a Ranger, even though, you know, it didn't go as you'd hoped?

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

I don't have many bad things to say about it. Just because it was worth, you know, the experience of playing in New York, you know, Yan's nose and. And Yan's. I, like, I feel like I just missed that window of, you know, those teams that were so good in New York and right on the doorstep of. Of winning. And that was a big, you know, big reason why I went there was because, I mean, if you could win in New York, it's. It's. Forget it. But, you know, that the team. We were a great team when we started that season, my first season there, I think we were a couple points out of playoffs, but, you know, we kind of started to slide a little bit. Maybe we weren't maybe similar to how it's going for them right now. And management didn't really see the. See the end of the road looking very clear, and I think it was time to maybe make a move. And that's when, you know, the letter was dropped by Dolan and, you know, that was crazy. It was. It was to be a part of that, you know, and, like, you're like, wait, what? Yeah, like what's going on? I think I was injured at the time. I, and, and I, I tore my meniscus and I tore it in training camp and, and was playing with it through the year, just trying to grind through, and eventually it, it came to a head where I had to get surgery. But, you know, I, I was focused on the next year, like, coming back and, and being the solution, evolution. And, you know, they had, they had given me this deal. I wanted to be obviously a leader for the team. But, you know, we, we came into that next year of part of a rebuild, and I didn't realize at the time, you know, how hard that is to, to start that and, and get things going in the right direction.

[Paul Bissonnette]

You did, did I hear right? You said a letter from Dolan. Like, did I miss something? What happened?

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, they were like, he just like, quit. He's like, time to rebuild. Basically.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Yeah, pretty much was like, we have decided that we are going to, like, strip this whole thing down and rebuild this team. We're going to trade our older guys away. I mean, the first one to go, I think, was McDonough and J.T. miller. Then Rick Nash went, You know, it was, it was, you know, top to bottom. Like, no one was safe other than probably Lundqvist. And it was crazy. I mean, I never seen anything like that before. And we're about to see it again. What's that?

[Paul Bissonnette]

We're about to see it again? Yeah, we're in the process.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

That's the, that's, you know, again, like, I mean, I don't know, like, troops. What Truba said about, like, being fired, msg, it's a rite of passage. Like, it's, it's not wrong. You know, it's, it's part of what you, what you sign up for when you play there. You know, I don't think it's, it anyone should be surprised by that. You know, you're playing in New York, people expect results right away.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I just wanted to ask about this whole situation going on. So you're in agreement with Truba, and if you were a player on that Rangers team right now, would you like, would you be upset maybe at the way that management and they've handled it? Because, like, I guess you kind of saw it firsthand. I know that there's an expectation playing in New York, but is there also a way to treat the guys in the process?

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

I think so. You know, I, I, I, I think there's always open dialogue, you know, with the GMs and, and the coaches that I played with. Or played for. You know, there's always been an open dialogue as to like, this is where you stand, this is where our team stands. And you know, you're, whether you're safe or not, you kind of know. And you know, I think when you bring that out to the public, it's, it's, it makes it real. And, and I mean you're not going to know how guys are going to respond to that, right? It's, it's, it's hard, hard when your name is getting put out there in, in a press letter or memo that you're, you know, you're, you're available for trade to be able to go out there and show up and, and you know, not feel embarrassed in front of your teammates, you know, walking into a locker room or stepping on the ice and, and maybe the other team is, you know, needling you and chirping you about, you know, hey, I heard you're on the block. I mean that's, it's, those are all real things, right? So it's, it's hard to deal with that.

[Ryan Whitney]

Without a doubt, the J.T. miller trade was crazy. Looking back, I mean he'd had back to back like mid 20ish goal seasons. He's 24, I guess nobody, they didn't know how good he was going to become. Did you? Could you sense like, holy shit, this guy could be a hundred point player?

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

I did. I mean, I couldn't see him being a hundred point player, but I knew he was a player for sure, like a top two line guy, without a doubt. And his shot was incredible. Incredible. But like at the time he was like one of those guys who didn't want to shoot the puck. You know, like we were, we'd be on the power play together and he'd set him up and he was just like, I don't know if he was just too young and playing with, you know, obviously some, some legendary guys that he felt like it wasn't his place. But I think when he went down to Tampa, he kind of again came into his own a little bit there, you know. And then when he got traded from, from them to Vancouver, like, you know, it seemed like he really took the, took over and decided that he was going to be a leader and you know, a force on that team. And I think that's what we've seen, you know, today.

[Ryan Whitney]

When did you find out you were being bought out? I mean, kicking the dick. Did you get a phone call? Same thing at midnight like when you got traded from Colorado or like how did that. Had you, had your agent heard rumblings this might have happen?

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Well, I mean, like, just like anything in New York, you. You find everything out from like Larry Brooks first. So I mean, if you picked up the, you know, the post for any of the two weeks leading into that, that day, you know, it was, it was being thrown out there by him. I mean, they signed, they traded and signed Truba, they went and got Panarin, you know, and then that second buyout window was, was coming. And, you know, I was kind of the one guy that was out on the line there that, that, that would have offered them the cap relief they needed. And I think we got all the way to that final day. And you know, it was like maybe in the, the last few minutes of the buyout window when I was driving home from, from a workout and got the call and, you know, was like, holy shit. You know, we had just had it. We had just had my first son a few weeks back and. And you're kind of like, you know, you're out of a job, you don't know where to go from there. I mean, that, that whole process is very strange. But, you know, I think the following day I had like two or three phone calls from teams. And you know, that sort of picks your spirits back up a little bit. It makes you realize that, you know, there are some teens that still, you know, value you. You know, I'm in Tampa, you know, was one of those teens, which was great.

[Paul Bissonnette]

You end up making more money than you would have based on the how because you got 2/3 of your salary. Then you sign. Did you sign for more than what that onethird would have been and what's it feel like double dipping?

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Like I did. So I did, I did. The Anaheim, Anaheim contract was, was what made up for it, but yeah, was great. It was awesome. I mean, like Ryan Getzloff always used to say in Anaheim, but every day or every game we would play the Rangers, you'd be like, daddy, like, you're so bad that this team's paying you not to be on their, on their lineup right now. But I was, you know, I'd always say like, yeah, but the checks keep coming, you know, and I got them for another like four years.

[Paul Bissonnette]

So you would get, you would get two separate wires every twice a month.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Two. Every, every payday I get two checks.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Oh, has anyone ever gotten three, three different teams paying?

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Yeah, I think Suter's getting it right now.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Okay. Yeah.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

I mean, I just wish I could have pushed it you know, into my retirement years. I know.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, like O'Shanti Bobby.

[Ryan Whitney]

The Bobby Bonilla. Day of July 1st.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

He used to, he lived on my street.

[Ryan Whitney]

Really?

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

In, in New Rochelle. Bobby Bonilla lived down the street from me. And I'm like, no wonder this guy's always getting his cars, you know, shine in his driveway. He's got like a million four coming every year.

[Ryan Whitney]

Another like 25 years too.

[Paul Bissonnette]

No, no, no.

[Mike Grinelli]

It's coming to an end.

[Ryan Whitney]

Is it?

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, it's finally.

[Ryan Whitney]

Maybe it was for 25 years or something.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

It was like 20 years. Yeah.

[Mike Grinelli]

But the whole like getting bought out, obviously it sucks. It happened to me. It's a, it's a, it's definitely a kick to your ego. But for you, the next year you go to Tampa and you win a cup. Like how, like looking back now, you. It must just be like, they could have bought me out 10 different times and it's still to get that cup, like that's kind of all you're looking to do once you make it and establish yourself in the NHL.

[Ryan Whitney]

Shady quick, quickly. Sorry. Because I also want to hear who else you may be signed with because you had some teams call. And finally Bobby Ben is getting paid till 2035 every July 1. He still has 11 more years, so 10, four years. So what other teams were in the mix maybe? And like, how'd you pick Tampa?

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Yeah, so, So I think when it came down to it, you know, at that point it was first, second week of August, so you're kind of screwed. A lot of teams have already signed guys and that, you know, on July 1st and there, you know, there's not much space. So the, the final two teams were Tampa and Anaheim. And Anaheim offered me a two year deal. But I knew at that moment, you know, at that point that I needed to go to the best team possible. You know, it wasn't about the money and I needed to, you know, make sure that I, I put together a season where I got myself back, you know, in, in the game type of, you know, so to speak. So, you know, when I went to Tampa, like instantly, the, the way I felt going into those practices, practices and, and through that training camp, I was like, this is, this is where I want to be. I mean, the, the pace was so high. They had just come off of that, that lose, you know, losing to Columbus, getting swept by Columbus and you know, the, the, it was intense. I mean, I remember we first day we had just like a scrimmage that really there was no, there Was no, like, nothing to it. It was just like, hey, go play type of thing. That's how it felt at least. And the next day we came in and. And we had video and Coop laid into me. He's like, you know, I think I, I swept across on a guy and like, someone else got a breakaway and they scored. He's like, what the do you think you're doing? Like, are you here to play for this team? Are you here to play shinny hockey? And I knew, like, that it was. This is why Coop was such an amazing coach. He knew he. Who he could lean on, who, like, he. He could give it to in front of guys that were going to take it and not be hurt by it. And he was setting the tone, you know, and he did it, you know, multiple times over the course of the season. But he, again, he knew, like, when it was, when it was time, like, if he saw something slipping, how to really, you know, make sure that guys knew that we needed to get our shit together. And like, that moment right there was like, all right, like, you know, this is where I'm playing. I'm playing on a winning team again, and, and nothing's going to be, you know, let go by the wayside. Like, we're. We're going to have to be detailed and, and. And ready to play every day, which I loved.

[Ryan Whitney]

You guys must have been fuming as Covid hit and fucked everything up that year, because the anger that those guys were coming back with, it must have been evident to you. Like, that was embarrassing. They break this record. They're the best team of all time regular season and swept. Could you sense even in camp that guys were like, let's get this thing going going, like, we need another crack at all this?

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Yeah, no, I, I think that's just how it was. Like, I mean, I think everyone was ready to get out of the, you know, the first couple months of every media outlet and every city you go to asking about the year before and, you know, yeah, I was like, I didn't even make playoffs last year in New York. We were about a hundred points out. So, you know, I think that was. Was a big, you know, big weight off of everyone's shoulders. And we kind of got to December. We went on. On the global series trip to Sweden and had an unbelievable time over there and, you know, swept the Sabers. And that kind of kick started our. Our year. I think we won like 13 games in a row or 11 or some of that, something like, like that. But, you know, that's again, like guys understood that we maybe weren't playing our best and we were maybe distracted and thinking about the year before. And at that point, you know, our leaders just started to take over and say, like, you know, we got to start doing something here, otherwise we're going to end up in the same position as we were last year. And you know, there's a lot of experience on that team. There's guys who went to cup finals and, and I think everyone just believed in each other. And you know, the once Covid hit, we were like, holy shit. Like we're in the middle of, you know, our run here and now we're like getting stopped completely.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Everybody loves the mystery of Kucherov, right? Like, he's such a nasty player. I don't think a lot of people know a lot about him other than of course, that celebration when he really came out of his shell. But like, what was it like being around this guy who's just an absolute assassin out there, there probably top three, top five player in the world, year in, year out. What's he like behind the scenes?

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

He's quiet. I mean, he's a soft spoken guy. I mean, like, unless you get him on the podium after a Stanley cup with a bunch of beers, you know, he's, he's exactly like as he's advertised. He doesn't, I don't think he loves being in the spotlight. I think he just loves playing hockey and, and just trying to be the best. And again, I don't, I mean, I'm sure he has that fire in him that he's, you know, competing with other guys in the league, but I think he just wants to be, you know, his best self and if he can improve by 1%, he's going to try to find a way to do it. I don't, I've never played with anyone who's poured more time on the ice into their, you know, into their game, you know, and he, at least when I was there a few years ago, like, that's seemed like he was starting to make the, make the turn in the gym too and start to work out more and do that stuff and understand the importance of it. But you know, he would spend hours on the ice just working on like picking up hard rims from the other side on his backhand and getting his head up right away so that, you know, if you're a defenseman, you're coming in, you think you have a guy lined up with his back to you. Like as soon as you see his eyes come up and fade face you, you know you're screwed. And he had those pucks, like one touch on his forehead.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Crazy.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

It's nuts. It's absolutely crazy. But it's, you know, when you see it in games, it's obviously amazing, but, like, you watch him practice it every day and you think to yourself, well, like, there's the perfect example of, you know, you keep ticking your reps at something, eventually you're going to know how to do it. Like, it's secondhand nature.

[Mike Grinelli]

Cam Atkinson told me he, when he got there this summer for the, you know, the skates before the season starts, Kuchara was on the ice by himself, and he'd just come in over the blue line, do a turn, make a backhand sauce pass for like an hour and a half to nobody. He was the only person on the ice not even passing to somebody else. So he's doing all this by himself?

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Yeah, yeah, a lot of it, you know, like, and even, even when we would have, you know, the end of practice when everyone be, like, shooting around and doing all their stuff stuff, like it was almost like, you know, the one end at the top of the circle where he's posted up on the power play, that was his spot. Like, give him 20ft, he's going to go through his drills and do stuff and maybe he asked Pointer to come down, he's going to work on his little pass into the slot and work on his bumper play with him, you know, but he, he doesn't need guys on the ice, you know, like to, to practice his stuff. He can just stay out there and, and it might even look like slow to someone because he's working on something like, so specific. But again, like those little backhand sauces, they're always like, just a little bit over the blade so you can't knock them down. Like, it's, it's so frustrating, but absolutely incredible to watch on a daily basis.

[Paul Bissonnette]

That's awesome. Any other, any other Coop stories? I mean, you told the one in training camp where he called you out right away way and you kind of appreciated that about him. Like, is there anything else, like a story that resonates with you and in your connection with coup? Because I think everybody's just fascinated by the fact that he's lasted as long as, as he has and how, how much of a player coach Eddie Stills is and his, his message stays fresh year in, year out.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Yeah, you know, I think it, there wasn't anything else, like, specific. I, I, I, he always delegated, you know, different Things to different coaches, which I saw. Um, it was kind of like the first time I saw that. And, you know, he didn't over. You know, he didn't want to, like, take all the power to himself. He wanted to let his other coaches work. You know, Jeff Halpern was working on the power play, and Todd Richards would have, like, the D zone coverage, and it was just refreshing to see that and. And. And see him, like, he knew what he was like. He's. He's a great motor motivator. He's a great manager of players. And, you know, he would come in on a daily basis and. And always have that energy and. And again, like, no, maybe if a guy was fighting it in a game or is on a little bit of a slump, like, how to approach him, or maybe one to, like, get on him and make sure that he needed to, like, pick his shit up. You know, he always would be, like, coming up to us at morning skates and asking us, oh, like, where'd the boys go last night in Nashville or something. You know, he always wanted to have his. His finger on the pulse and in that regard. But, you know, Patty Maroon played for him growing up, and. And he told us all early on, he's like, don't tell Coop where you went the night before the game, because God forbid you make one mistake. Like, he's bringing that out.

[Paul Bissonnette]

The crazy part about is Maroon played from when he was 13. That's probably when he started going to the bar.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Yeah, a hundred percent. I'm like, not all of us are like you. You know, we weren't like, this isn't our dad. We weren't drinking when we were 16 under this guy.

[Ryan Whitney]

Could you have resigned back there when you signed with Anaheim? Like, was that something where you're looking for some term and going out west, or was what. What happened in that negotiation after you guys?

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

No, I mean, it was kind of like we. We had the. It was the. We knew the agreement type of. Type of thing. You know, they. We tried to make something work, but, you know, it just. It couldn't with the way that their cap situation was, you know, and it was unfortunate. I mean, I would have loved to stay there and obviously be a part of, you know, the next year and even the run in the finals the year after. But, you know, just one of those things where we kind of shook and said our goodbyes and, you know, understood that we both would have wanted something to last longer, but it just. It wasn't going to happen. So, yeah, at that point you know, Anaheim circled back and. And, you know, the money went up, which was nice. You know, like when you. When you prove it and you win a Stanley cup, it was. It was perfectly times. But, you know, deciding to go out west and, and go to Anaheim, and I kind of knew obviously the situation there at the time too. I was leaving a Stanley cup contender and going to a rebound build. But being in New York, I kind of knew what I was prepared for, which was nice.

[Ryan Whitney]

I know you. I know you gotta run. My. My last question is, even though you're so freshly retired, have you thought about, like, kind of what's next? It's. It's so normal to take a little time off. But even when playing, had you thought about coaching, management, scouting? Like, has there ever been any thought with you or discussion?

[Paul Bissonnette]

Better not be with the Boston Stranglers, you piece of. I'll come after you.

[Ryan Whitney]

We need. We need. We need some guys. We need some guys on the hockey team.

[Mike Grinelli]

Yeah, we do.

[Ryan Whitney]

Shouty skill.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Whoever slides the envelope under the door.

[Ryan Whitney]

With the most cash, it ain't gonna be biz. He'll send you a T shirt's gonna be triple dipping.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

No, I mean, I. I think I don't have any desire at least right now to. To coach or, you know, be a GM at. At this level. You know, it's. It's a ton of work and. And you know, you understand how much they get pulled away from their fans, families, and. And the like. So, you know, I'm happy with. With being around here and. And maybe, you know, trying to do something in. In broadcasting and media or whatever that might be, you know, if not maybe working with the PA because I did a lot of work with them over my career and always enjoyed being with them. So I think as far as hockey goes, that's. That's where my sights are set and, you know, maybe coaching my little guy here for the next couple years and probably turning into a. A monster hockey parent like most people are these days.

[Ryan Whitney]

It's impossible not to. I'm learning. I'm learning the hard way right now. Every dad who says they're not a crazy hockey dad's all lying shady.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Were you banging on the glass this weekend at Riders?

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, I make sure it's with my ring finger too, so it's really loud. Bend your knees. That's my thing. Bend your knees.

[Paul Bissonnette]

He's got a head.

[Ryan Whitney]

I remember my dad saying. Ben. Well, Shady. Unbelievable career, buddy. I'm so happy for you. Stanley cup champ. You did it all with class.

[Paul Bissonnette]

And.

[Ryan Whitney]

And every teammate that you had is going to miss you. So thanks for coming on and joining us.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Thank you guys. Appreciate being here with all you guys is amazing.

[Ryan Whitney]

Thank you very much. To Deuces. What a guy. What an amazing person. Hell of a career. You guys will be back on Amazon.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah. We're gonna miss you boys.

[Ryan Whitney]

I know. Wish I could make it. Really wish I could. But I won't be there this time. But you two with Andy Pretty Trello. Will there be a third for you guys?

[Paul Bissonnette]

I don't think so. There. Normally there isn't a third. Oh, we just asked that. Like just let.

[Ryan Whitney]

Let them bring me one time especially.

[Mike Grinelli]

We needed someone to make fun of.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah. Yeah, exactly.

[Ryan Whitney]

I got tortured at that thing.

[Mike Grinelli]

Oh, it's unreal.

[Ryan Whitney]

Jesus Christ. No wonder I'm not going back. I called better. I. I called better help the minute I left.

[Paul Bissonnette]

We got a Whitney bum chin pinata for this one. Yeah, we're gonna. Between games. We're gonna hit it. We're gonna get it.

[Ryan Whitney]

Who's the. Who's the games? Is it Thursday? Let's see who we got that night. Let's see who we got Thursday for you guys. All right. Right now I'm hoping for some games with playoff implications Thursday. There's always a lot of games Thursday. We got nine games. Bruins, Canadians. Canadians need to get that win. It's in Montreal. Lightning, Senators, Avalanche, Blue Jackets. Blue Jackets need as many wins they could get. Pred. Stars, Penguins, Blues. Blues. Keep it going. Kings, Utah. Oiler. Sharks.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Keep naming teams.

[Ryan Whitney]

Gonna run over Macklin Celebrini's rental car. Jets, Golden Knights and Ducks. Flame. So you guys will be there representing and we can't wait to watch. I'll be watching. I'll be texting you guys and I'll be making fun of you on. On Twitter. We got peaking. Obviously Biz mentioned that. So check that out.

[Paul Bissonnette]

We peeking.

[Ryan Whitney]

I can't wait for the second biz on shrooms with Donnie does in Pigeon Force Tennessee. So check that out and wish us good luck. Game notes Friday noon. They. They need need to address Merle's needs to sit there and apologize to every viewer. I'm sorry. I'm the college hockey expert and I couldn't pick one team. He never picks bu. Ever. He couldn't get one Frozen four team. But game notes Friday noon. Right.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Talking with the same baby. Same guy who said that the LA Kings were frauds.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah. Merles Merls has been cold this year on his picks every. What are you doing? What are you doing, merles? Not one frozen four team.

[Paul Bissonnette]

The og 29.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, that's exactly what it is. Me. McKinnon stole his number and it was.

[Paul Bissonnette]

All downhill from there.

[Ryan Whitney]

Biz, thank you for doing army alone.

[Paul Bissonnette]

What do you mean? Dude, you were incredible. Flu game performance. Oh, great. Now we got sars.

[Ryan Whitney]

I'm going to sleep. Love you guys. Have a great week. We'll see you next week. Bus drivers don't hit any Range Rovers out there. Or Teslas unless you want to light it on fire. By.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Holy.

[Kevin Shattenkirk]

Away.