Spittin’ Chiclets Episode 567: Featuring Kevin Bieksa & Liam McHugh

Summary

Spittin’ Chiclets Episode 567: Featuring Kevin Bieksa & Liam McHugh

Release Date: June 10, 2025

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Introduction

In Episode 567 of Spittin’ Chiclets, hosted by former NHL veterans Ryan Whitney and Paul Bissonnette, along with Rear Admiral and Producer Mike Grinnell from Barstool Sports, the trio delves deep into the intense Stanley Cup Final series between the Edmonton Oilers and the Florida Panthers. Joined by special guests Kevin Bieksa and Liam McHugh, the episode offers a comprehensive analysis of the games, player performances, coaching strategies, and the overall atmosphere surrounding the series.

Series Overview

The podcast begins with an acknowledgment of the high stakes in the Stanley Cup Final, emphasizing the emotional rollercoaster experienced by both players and fans. The hosts express their initial confidence following Edmonton’s victory in Game 1 but quickly temper their optimism as the series progresses.

Notable Quote:

• Paul Bissonnette [02:50]: "This might be a full road game. Game."

Game Analysis

Game 1: Edmonton's Dominance

The episode recounts Game 1, where the Oilers secured a decisive win with a strong offensive performance. Key moments included Leon Draisaitl’s crucial goals and Connor McDavid’s exceptional playmaking.

Notable Quotes:

• Anson Carter [02:35]: "It reminded me of... a biblical moment."
• Paul Bissonnette [12:54]: "If they win that game, they're in good shape."

Game 2: Florida’s Resilience

Game 2 is highlighted as one of the greatest hockey games ever witnessed, marked by intense fan energy and a remarkable comeback by the Panthers. The hosts discuss the shift in momentum and the physicality exhibited by the teams.

Notable Quotes:

• Anson Carter [03:39]: "Game two was the greatest hockey game I've ever seen."
• Paul Bissonnette [07:45]: "Brad Marchand... he's on this team."

Game 3: Escalation and Discipline Issues

Game 3 introduced heightened physical play from Florida, leading to numerous penalties for the Oilers. The discussion centers on the impact of these penalties and the Oilers’ struggles to maintain their earlier form.

Notable Quotes:

• Anson Carter [05:03]: "They out hit him 60 to 40."
• Paul Bissonnette [36:49]: "It's just... getting pounded."

Game 4: The Turning Point

The hosts express concern over the Oilers' ability to recover, citing key injuries and the Panthers' strategic adjustments. The conversation underscores the potential for a series sweep and the psychological toll on Oilers fans.

Notable Quotes:

• Paul Bissonnette [34:47]: "McDavid... hasn't been well."
• Anson Carter [35:03]: "Frankly, we need to do something."

Key Player Performances

Connor McDavid

Connor McDavid’s performance is scrutinized, particularly his struggle against the Panthers' defensive strategies. Despite his regular-season prowess, the playoffs have posed significant challenges.

Notable Quotes:

• Paul Bissonnette [42:48]: "McDavid... hasn't been scoring."
• Anson Carter [43:55]: "The game changes in the playoffs."

Sam Bennett

Sam Bennett emerges as a pivotal player for the Panthers, setting playoff records and demonstrating exceptional skill under pressure. The discussion debates his potential market value and impact if traded to other teams.

Notable Quotes:

• Paul Bissonnette [19:43]: "He's a winner."
• Anson Carter [24:21]: "He's a true gamer."

Other Notable Players

• Kevin Bieksa and Liam McHugh provide insights into player dynamics, coaching decisions, and team chemistry.
• Brad Marchand is highlighted for his aggressive play and pivotal role in the Panthers' success.
• Jeff Skinner's inconsistent performance and skate-tying habits are humorously dissected, reflecting on their impact on the game.

Notable Quotes:

• Paul Bissonnette [39:58]: "He’s a bull."
• Anson Carter [41:58]: "Bennett... gave him the puck."

Coaching and Strategy

The episode delves into Paul Maurice’s coaching strategies for the Oilers, focusing on his attempts to counteract Florida's physical play. Maurice's relaxed demeanor contrasts with the tension of the series, raising questions about his approach.

Notable Quotes:

• Anson Carter [44:01]: "Maurice gets interviewed. He says... he's the life of the party."
• Paul Bissonnette [43:16]: "He needs to portray strength."

Off-Ice Discussions

The hosts and guests touch upon broader NHL topics, including state taxes affecting player salaries, the evolution of team management, and the impact of social media on player-fan interactions. Personal anecdotes and humorous exchanges add a lighthearted tone amidst the intense game analysis.

Notable Quotes:

• Paul Bissonnette [74:17]: "Things change."
• Anson Carter [81:24]: "Drones probably do it."

Player Dynamics and Team Morale

The conversation shifts to team morale, injuries, and the role of leadership within the Oilers. The absence of key players like Zach Hyman and Evander Kane is discussed, highlighting their importance to the team’s playoff performance.

Notable Quotes:

• Paul Bissonnette [60:21]: "Can't have it all at the same time."
• Liam McHugh [63:27]: "He's a legit fighter."

Special Moments and Highlights

Memorable moments from the series, such as intense hits, strategic plays, and emotional responses from players and coaches, are recounted. The hosts emphasize the unpredictability and drama that define the Stanley Cup Finals.

Notable Quotes:

• Paul Bissonnette [88:32]: "He was a tank."
• Anson Carter [91:07]: "The one he doesn't score on, he fakes Bob out."

Conclusion and Future Outlook

As the series nears its climax, the hosts express their hope for a competitive finish but acknowledge the challenges the Oilers face against a formidable Panthers team. They look forward to Game 4 with anticipation, stressing the importance of strategic adjustments and player resilience.

Notable Quotes:

• Paul Bissonnette [135:52]: "I believe that they're going to get a dub."
• Ryan Whitney [135:35]: "It's fun. It’s true."

Final Thoughts

Episode 567 of Spittin’ Chiclets offers an in-depth and lively discussion on the Stanley Cup Final, balancing technical analysis with personal anecdotes and humor. The chemistry between the hosts and guests creates an engaging narrative, making it accessible and entertaining for both avid hockey fans and casual listeners.

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Key Takeaways:

• The Oilers started strong but faced significant challenges against Florida’s physical play.
• Key players like Connor McDavid and Sam Bennett are central to their teams' successes.
• Coaching strategies and team morale play crucial roles in the unfolding series.
• Off-ice factors such as state taxes and player management influence team dynamics.
• The episode combines expert analysis with humor, providing a well-rounded view of the Stanley Cup Final.

Quote Highlights:

• "Game two was the greatest hockey game I've ever seen." - Anson Carter [03:39]
• "He's a winner." - Paul Bissonnette [19:43]
• "Things change." - Paul Bissonnette [74:17]
• "It's fun. It’s true." - Ryan Whitney [135:35]

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For more insights and episodes, visit barstool.link/schiclets. Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and ad-free for Prime Members on Amazon Music.

Transcript

[Ryan Whitney]

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

[Paul Bissonnette]

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[Anson Carter]

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[Ryan Whitney]

Me and Ryan have been officially welcomed to the jungle that is Bastool sports.

[Paul Bissonnette]

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

[Anson Carter]

Paul Vicinette. R.A. mike Grinelli.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Spitting chicklets. What is up, folks? Welcome to the Casa de Yandel and episode 567 of the Spitting Chicklets podcast. We're live in Florida. I am down in the dumps. The city of Edmonton's down in the dumps. We're nervous, we're scared, but we're flushing it down the toilet. But you know what we're not flushing down the toilet is Pink Whitney. Pink Whitney Vodka. I had Florida Panthers fans yelling at me, I'm not tricking you. Vodka you. I said, hey, hey, hey. Let's keep this civil. What did my vodka do to you? And I saw a lot of it being drunk down at the beach at Fort Lauderdale. And we had a little bit before the game. And everyone, I hope, enjoys it right here in Yan's house. We got the bottle right here. We got new bottles too. Even different. Better. Or is this the new One, I'm not exactly sure.

[Anson Carter]

The old one. This kid. Cereal.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Exactly. That's why they're so good at lacrosse. So shout out pink Whitney. Take your shot with pink Whitney. Go down. It's summertime. It's hot wherever you are. Go have some pink Whitney on ice and enjoy it. And get ready for game four of the Stanley cup final coming up Thursday.

[Anson Carter]

Guys, we gotta pump the stream. Don't pump the stream.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Pump the stream. I, I don't. Yeah, everyone's watching. I think. So just maybe tell people that this, that you're friends with to maybe put on our stream. Guys. Holy. What a crazy run. So far we haven't chatted since the, since the finals began. Personally, it would have been a lot nicer had we chatted after game one where I was flying high. I thought we might sweep them at that point. Now it, it's, it seems like a little bit of a panic time biz you were in Edmonton, you got to experience what I think are the two greatest games to ever start a Stanley cup final. Maybe recency bias. But I, I just don't remember being that into hockey. Like I like those games in Edmonton were incredible. And then obviously game three, the Panthers role. We'll get into it all. But talk to us about the vibe in Edmonton, what you thought going into the series, what you've thought so far, and we can kind of figure it out from there.

[Anson Carter]

Well, game two was the greatest hockey game I've ever seen.

[Paul Bissonnette]

No doubt.

[Anson Carter]

Like just like how loud it was. Like it was. And the fact that they'd won game one. Right. So the fans were so much more amped up than game than game one, thinking they could take a 2o series lead. Right.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I was thinking that as well.

[Anson Carter]

But just like, you know, from the moment that like they, they start kind of like, let's go Oilers. And then, and then they start playing the tune, the Metallica tune. And then they open up the doors to the dressing room, they start coming out and then it gets ramped up even louder. And all of a sudden they're at like a 110, 115 decimals of noise. And then the minute they finally come out, you can see them live and, and, and Skinner touches the ice. Bullhorn.

[Paul Bissonnette]

It's like a bullhorn goes on.

[Liam McHugh]

Wwe. It's unreal.

[Anson Carter]

It's on. Just the energy, the fandom. And not to take away from what Florida's created down here, because it was a, it was a ruckus in there last night. A little bit like different in the Way they do it, like, they're very. In your face.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Oh, they're scum. And they're. They're incredible team. Incredible team fans. Great fans. Scum. Scum.

[Anson Carter]

And so I thought it was pretty funny. Game one, there was two Florida Panthers fans. I. I believe they got the first goal on game one, right, because they took a three.

[Paul Bissonnette]

No, no, no. Game one, we. Leon scored, okay?

[Anson Carter]

Leon scored, and they scored three straight, right? They took a 31 lead.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yes. Yes. They're up 3 1.

[Anson Carter]

So as soon as they score the first goal, we were in the corner, like, on, like, near the concourse, and there was these two Panthers fans, like, right on the glass by Skinner. And they score, and these guys are standing up, and they were just going all the time. They turn around and be like, you.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, yeah, you. You want some of this?

[Liam McHugh]

You one on 19, 000, for sure.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Neck tattoos, like Florida people.

[Anson Carter]

It reminded me of. Of Jesus, the. The bowler and the big Lebowski. I'm gonna you up, man. I'm gonna you. And it's kind of how they look, too, so I thought that was pretty funny. But just going back to the atmosphere and. And, you know, when they would score, and obviously when. When Leon put in that OT winner, like, it just. It. I described it as biblical. Like, it's the. The heart of the hockey world. And, you know, as much as you want to say Montreal and Toronto are the Meccas, like, the drunkest buffoonery you've ever seen.

[Paul Bissonnette]

They get crippled.

[Anson Carter]

And. And typically, arenas, they cut off the booze about halfway in the third period.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yes, they were.

[Anson Carter]

They were serving beer until Leon scored that goal.

[Paul Bissonnette]

There was serving beer till in double overtime game, too.

[Anson Carter]

Like, I'm not condoning this at all, but, like, Jeff, my buddy Jeff was sitting next to someone who's like, oh, I think I'm gonna, like, leave here, like, with a minute left before Corey Perry tied it up in game two.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, yeah.

[Anson Carter]

And he's like, yeah, I'm gonna beat the rush. I think I'm gonna take off now. And then Corey Perry buried it, and this guy proceeded to crush five beers in overtime. So these guys are like. They're on a different level, the. The. The drunken buffoonery. But it was just. It was an incredible experience. And the. The biggest thing about it, though, was just the gameplay. I couldn't take my eyes away. Every single shift. Like. Like, you know, there was a chance to score. There was good defensive plays being made. There was a big save. There was a huge hit. Like, game one, there was 51 hits aside, like, these guys were trying to kill each other, which, at the time I was like, wow. I'm like, maybe the Oilers can actually hang with these guys physically. But I think you see it maybe a little bit now where they're kind of reaching, where they're almost like playing into Florida's hand.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Well, that's game. The game was out of hand when they got like that. And at some point you're like, all right, if we're going to get pounded, let's try to get. Let's try to get some flesh, right? Like, let's try to get these guys. Now, Keith, you said after game one, you're like, oh, that's fine. I figured that we'll win in five. Like you. You just figured, no problem, they'd come back, win game two. Because after Game one, I'm like, holy. Now, looking back, I guess my confidence level probably was a little too high based on, like, they were down 3:1. I believe that Maurice going into the. The. That game was 31:0 when leading after the second period.

[Liam McHugh]

First or second?

[Anson Carter]

Yeah, first or second.

[Liam McHugh]

Which is crazy.

[Paul Bissonnette]

So you're telling me when they led after either period or they had to be leading after both?

[Liam McHugh]

Either, I think either or if they were, someone checked that. But yeah, a crazy stat. That's why I wasn't too worried, because, you know, me and Biz were just talking about it. It's like Edmonton almost played their best perfect game in Florida. Obviously, they scored some goals and. And found ways to score goals, but they didn't play unreal. Like, Barky wasn't Barky and it wasn't their best. And then we saw their best last night. And it's like, but Game three, that's why everyone's like, oh, my God, it's going to be a sweep. Edmonton's going to roll them. But I didn't see that at all.

[Anson Carter]

And.

[Liam McHugh]

And Bob, too. Bob wasn't him.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Well, yeah, Bob. Now, that's the disaster.

[Anson Carter]

Like, when we were playing, I remember the ice being a little bit more of the conversation. Like, guys would. I feel like nowadays, like, people don't really complain. You don't really hear, like, in. In the.

[Kevin Hayes]

In the post that everywhere.

[Liam McHugh]

That's why.

[Anson Carter]

But, well, I feel like if it's good anywhere, it would be in Edmonton. Like, they have really good ice. And I felt like Edmonton was able to move the puck and advance it, and it played more into their hand. And after the second game, that was one of the last things Wayne said before we signed off on the broadcast was my concern for Edmonton is how they're going to have to change up their style of play based on the fact they're going to South Florida. It's going to be a muck fest. We know that Florida likes to flick pucks in the neutral zone and all of a sudden you get the grenade. You don't know where it's going, including how good they are in dump ins on the forecheck. So I really felt that, that even when McDavid sometimes was controlling the puck, you know, sometimes he loses it and it's like, ah, I felt like he, those guys couldn't handle the puck as well as they did in the first two games. And once again I feel like it's really playing into Florida's hand based on how they can play really any way, specifically the, the physical nature of their game. And you saw that kind of take over in game two. I think they out hit him 60 to 40. Right. So that's when you kind of say, oh, okay, now they're ramping it up. They're investing a little bit more and you know, given the Edmonton, in my opinion is a little bit more banged up. I think that it's going to continue to, to be more and more obvious that physical play.

[Liam McHugh]

And you remember, I think it was last year or either the year before Maurice said to them, he was like, wear them down now because they're gonna feel it in game seven. Like this team's built to go seven. They don't care. Like losing that first game. A lot of teams I think would be like, oh boy, we're in one. Especially when you're playing against McDavid and Leon. But they're just like, this has to go seven, we'll go seven. We're fine with it. We dealt with a 30 lead last year, had to go to game seven. I just don't think there's really any worry in that lock.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, they're battle tested, man. They're just, they, they don't get rattled. They really don't.

[Anson Carter]

Somebody said they saw Rodriguez because that JW has an awesome gym. Have you ever been to that gym at the JW Marriott?

[Paul Bissonnette]

No. It's like you get injured in there.

[Anson Carter]

He was a foam roller, much like I do. And I think somebody went up and they had you feel. And he goes, we're fine, we're fine, we're good.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, they don't, I mean they're down 20 in the second round to Toronto. Now back to game one. What was amazing For Oilers fans, myself, it's like, all right, last year, the finals, incredible comeback, but you're down 3 0. Leon never scored. Boom. He gets that first goal. It's like, oh, my God. Like that right there. Like, all right. Boom. Leon didn't get one last year. We're up one nothing. Then Sam Bennett, at. At this point, it's. It's. I think he might be the best player in hockey right now. Like, I don't. Now we'll talk about the first goal where he. He gets. He. He falls into the goalie, right? Like, he ends up, like, doing his whole, oh, shoot. To do that accidental on purpose, where, if it was anyone else, you look at the replay like, oh, no, he kind of got tripped up. But because it's always him, I'm convinced he's just the master at making it look like a complete accident. So he gets credit for that first one. Then who scored? Then they went up 2:1 in that game.

[Anson Carter]

Brad Marchand.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yes, the power play. And Nate Schmidt, who didn't slow down in Game 3, either. He looks like Bobby Orr. This is what happened. You go to Florida. Seth Jones, people. Blackhawks fans. Oh, he stinks now. I don't know.

[Anson Carter]

They were losers online.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I think your team stinks because now I'm watching this guy. He's flying around. He scored an incredible goal in game two. But Nate Schmidt passes over Marshawn, gets one. So it's like, all right, well, here comes the rat king. We're down 2:1. Now at home, we had the lead. Marshawn's buzzing around, and then Bennett gets the third. Now, that's where I was like, oh, I. I don't. I don't. What are they going to do against this team now, that comeback and that goal? I think Arvidson scored an enormous goal to make it 3:2 in game one. Okay, big time. And then McDavid has his moment in that game. He's wheeling around the net. What was incredible about that is Gretzky in the intermission. He's like, they're taking away the middle. Connor's going to have to go around the net or he's going to have to, I think, stop up and pull.

[Anson Carter]

Up and hit the late guy.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Well, what does he do? Sure as shit. Gretzky just knowing the game better than anyone. McDavid wheels behind the net, finds Ekholm. Tie game. And we're going to OT now. OT Game one. I think we saw a stat that the team who wins that game, it's like 80% wins the series. Right. Something around there. I don't know if you could. Guys, look that. It was right around 80.

[Anson Carter]

I'm like, I think it's 77 of teams who win game one.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yes. So we go to. Oh, this is. Must win. Can't go down to these guys again. Can't go down. These guys get the W. Now here's, here's, here's the problem. Okay. Florida didn't get rattled at all before game two. They really didn't. And then Edmonton kind of comes into the game. I think excitement. I think we can take this 20 series lead. But Brad Marchand, guys, I, I, Bruins fans are.

[Liam McHugh]

How is he on this team?

[Ryan Whitney]

That's.

[Paul Bissonnette]

How is he on this team? How did they let this happen? How did the league allow this?

[Anson Carter]

The Leafs. The Leafs would be in the Stanley cup finals if it wasn't for Brad Marshaw.

[Liam McHugh]

Yeah, true. For a 32nd overall pick.

[Anson Carter]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

And at the time, it was a second round. I mean, they got lucky. It's gonna be. It's so Brad Marchand in game two. Now, earlier in the year, he kind of struggled in Boston. One, they stink. Two, he had three surgeries. Right. So you have to figure he's gonna figure it out. I didn't, I didn't know he'd be this dominant. I didn't see this coming. I mean, he's so dominant enough to the point where last night, game three, they started that power play unit every time.

[Liam McHugh]

I know.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I think it's Bennett, Marshawn. Is Lundell on that? It's their second unit. I, I would think.

[Liam McHugh]

What, up top?

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, Schmidt up top. And I think he's just like, I gotta ride Marshawn right now.

[Liam McHugh]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

And obviously Bennett's on that unit too. So that guy in game two, that was also for the ages.

[Anson Carter]

It also gives those other guys a little bit of rest to maybe focus more on their matchups with dry Seattle and McDavid. Right. So I feel like the way that they're distributing ice right now for Maurice's sake. He's just doing a master class job. I would imagine that. You saw his in game interview with Jackie Redmond. He must be driving you up the wall at this point, Woody.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, he's just all. He owns everyone. I mean, he's a comedian. He's cracking jokes on the bench like I saw last night. Game three, we get, they get that too many men on the ice penalty, which like can't happen. It's just horrible. Like a puck over the glass. But like two minutes right as the penalty was called. It was commercial. And Pangers on the bench interviewing Knobloch. I'm like, okay, must be sore.

[Anson Carter]

No.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Meanwhile, Maurice gets interviewed. He says might as well put his arm around Jackie. Just. He's cracking jokes. He's just the life of the party, this guy. You can't beat this guy right now. All he does is win and just hold press conference comedy routines. And it's driving me crazy. It's driving. I think it's driving. Giving everyone crazy.

[Liam McHugh]

Not just you.

[Anson Carter]

No, just Alberta.

[Paul Bissonnette]

But, but if, but you know, if you and Alberta. Alberta doesn't have to see the TNT parts. Does sportsnet do the coaches interviews mid game the way tnt?

[Anson Carter]

I don't know if they do that.

[Liam McHugh]

I don't think they have cable. They're gonna have direct flights from major cities. They might not have cable.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Well, yeah. And get into Edmond. I mean. So. Yeah. Right now.

[Anson Carter]

So can we talk about Marshawn a little bit?

[Liam McHugh]

So I, I wanted before I forget, that goal that he scored in overtime, like if you watch it, he's going towards the wall for out. And a lot of people would just continue doing that. He makes a subtle little turn back. Like 90% of guys are just hoping for a glass and out there he made, he made such a smart play. Just coming back to the middle of the ice. And then I forget who passed Lundell.

[Anson Carter]

You got two primary assists on him, baby.

[Liam McHugh]

Pass right up the middle and then break away.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Give to him on the short handed goal as well.

[Anson Carter]

Yeah, I think Lundell got both primary assists where I was just gonna force. Yeah. Like so Lundell and Lister Ryan are essentially mini Barkovs. Right. Like they follow every step that he does. Like whatever he's eating, he' doing, whatever he's training, he's doing, they're doing it.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Liam McHugh]

I think they're all sleeping in the same. But what a guy to learn from. Right? Like you're gonna learn, you know, the correct way to play hockey. The 200 foot game. And, and Barky is that type of guy that he's showing them the right way. Like he's a lead by example guy. And, and it's wearing off on them. And I, I'm telling you in five years, like you're gonna look back and be like, how good are these kids? Like they, they're, they're studs and they're gonna be for a long.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Well, I had forgot. I'm like, I knew they drafted London. How did they get loose to Ryan Trch trade? Oh for so, I mean, God, Like, Troch was great down here. Great in car. Was. He went to Carolina first, right? But they got this kid. I mean, He's. He looks 63, is. He's just long, rangy. That line is just dominant. Now, quickly, like I will say, the first period of game two, you say the greatest hockey game you've ever witnessed. Definitely the best first period of all time. I mean, that we got to see another McDavid moment, that play and that dish. And I believe Ekblad was asked about it after. And he's like, yeah, McJesus, like, almost like, what am I gonna like? First he embarrassed Barkov and just cut back on him where Barkov looked like me when I was playing. And then, like, Ekbag was flying him. He ends up. I think he was on his face by the time. And then McDavid, as he's curling it, which the puck was rolling as he backhand toe drags it. He in. In one motion, just slides it under Lundell's triangle to Leon, that was to go up. Three, two. First period ends. I'm like, this is the greatest hockey team I've ever witnessed. I think I might have tweeted it. I think this is the best hockey team I've ever seen. But Brad Marchon, guys. Brad Marchon, like, I. I, as you said, how is he on Florida? How are we watching this guy over? And, oh, and this isn't even including him starting off game three with a goal. So I just don't understand how he's still this good. And I could say the same for Corey Perry, who was the best Oilers player in game three when we had nothing. What a pathetic, pathetic effort. Disgusting. But Brad Marchand, I can't keep watching him and Paul Marie, Paul Maurice do this. And last night, the fans are screaming, you win. You. I'm like, I can't be in this building anymore. I come to this building, and we just get worked over and over. Of course, I wasn't even at game six when we extended the seat. Or was it game five? We extended the series. I've never seen them do here. I just see them get worked in these rushback stand and watching Marshawn, and he's just. He's, like, perfect at what he does. And somehow he hasn't slowed down so well.

[Anson Carter]

The first period of that game in game two, he was, like, sticking everybody in the balls, creating strong scrums, going after Arvidson. So, like, he's being the rat. The rat king, as well as putting the puck in the back of the net. And then a stat too. So I think this is his third Stanley cup final.

[Paul Bissonnette]

This might have his.

[Anson Carter]

They played again. They won it against fourth. This is fourth. Okay, so he won against Vancouver, played.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Against Chicago, lost against St. Louis.

[Anson Carter]

Okay. Wow. So I think he's got 11 Stanley Cup Finals goals in nine games. Right. So he had a couple games where he got two goals. They've won eight of the nine games. So he is just like a.

[Paul Bissonnette]

When he scores, they win.

[Anson Carter]

He's a winner. He's a winner.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Besides game he did, did he score Game one.

[Anson Carter]

He scored game one. He scored every.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Every. He scored. So he scored every game. How many goals does Bennett have? What does Bennett have? Four now.

[Anson Carter]

So Bennett, I believe, has four in this series. And Bennett has an NHL record 12 goals. Yeah, he's got 12 go. He's a. 14 goals in playoffs, 12 of which on the road. Now, we talked about it in the box last night. You seem to still think it would be a bad contract. I think this guy's getting 10 million all day. I think that four or five teams would offer him 10 million because people. Okay, your argument is what, the 50 point thing, right?

[Paul Bissonnette]

My argument is that this actually makes it seem like I'm not in awe of how good this guy is specifically in the playoffs. Like a true gamer, Stanley cup champion, the perfect player for playoffs. 10 million a year. When you. What is his career high? 50 points. I know it's a different game in the playoffs. I think on this team it's a lot easier for him to be this dominant. Like stick him on another team. I don't know. If he doesn't have this supporting cast. Is he the same type player, like when he has to completely carry your team offensively? Not completely, but wherever he goes, it's not going to be like, oh, there's Marshawn, there's Barkov, there's Reinhardt, there's Varhegi. Like he's able to kind of sneak around. If you give him 10 million, he's one of your top three players. And then I don't, I just don't know if like you want to pay that, pay that guy that much. $10 million. Dude is, is. That's a lot of dough. I mean, that's more than, Than what?

[Liam McHugh]

Every player besides Barkov in Florida.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, so. So I, I wouldn't understand how he wouldn't stay here. Like, if he. How would you not stay in Florida? They would give them what, eight times eight, I would assume. Right.

[Anson Carter]

I would say that they could probably afford to Give them seven and a half, eight.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Okay, so even if they. All right, so say they give them. Say they give them eight times seven and a half. All right, you're. You're a little. You're what, 60 million? That would be 60 million. Okay, so you're gonna go somewhere and you're gonna get seven years times 10. You're saying 70, right? Well, like you're telling me you'd be willing to leave this. This dominance in this team and what you. Where you fit in on this team for an extra, what, 8 million bucks? I. I don't get that.

[Anson Carter]

I've. I've always said this. I've always said that. That's also why the. The state tax conversation comes into play.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Great moment last night. Oh, Gary just. Yeah, nose off. Even your sunburn, he still didn't care. He's bit it off.

[Anson Carter]

Oh, he was. He was ready to answer that one.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Did you tell him you were gonna ask him that?

[Anson Carter]

No, I think he kind of figured and knew I was gonna ask that. What are you looking at?

[Paul Bissonnette]

Oh, Bennett's. Yeah. So GMA Bennett's made 30 minutes now. Let's go back to Bennett. Bennett. Game three, maybe one of the best shifts. It kind of reminded me, remember? Or Brooks orpic. The shift again.

[Anson Carter]

The shift moment.

[Ryan Whitney]

No.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Richard Richards.

[Anson Carter]

I said. I said no.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I think they both did. I think Jerusalem scored.

[Anson Carter]

Yeah, yeah, but.

[Paul Bissonnette]

But he murders Pod Colson just center right. The perfect body check. Then he goes and hammers, I think, Klingberg, who it might have came to on the wall. I don't know who the righty was on the wall. And then just boom. For some reason, Pod Colson, who. I mean, he looked brutal in game three. All the depth Oilers players aren't around. Where'd you guys go? We need you. This is how we rolled through the west. We need you. Pod Colson gets his head taken off by the sociopath Bennett. And then he hits somebody else. Then Podcles and gets the puck probably concussed. Tries going D to D. Like, buddy, you're a fourth liner. Chip it in. You're down three one. You're on your offensive blue line. You got no help. Chip it in the corner. No, he tries going D to D, loose to Ryan and picks it off. Bennett gets it. I'm sitting next to Merle's. He's like, goal. He wasn't even at the red line. And I'm like. I know. I didn't even say anything. I'm like, this is going.

[Anson Carter]

That speed burst, too.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Is he always been this fast.

[Anson Carter]

Ten million.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, yeah.

[Liam McHugh]

He can get it going. He can fly when he needs to, but usually he's flying around when he's going to hit people. Not for breakaways like that. But he, you're right, he'd put it on a, a different level. How about who passed it to him?

[Paul Bissonnette]

Loose to Ryan.

[Liam McHugh]

Yeah, loose Ryan just like go ahead. There you go.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, well, Ben was probably barking at him.

[Anson Carter]

So the reason I give him 10, I would give him 10 million. And I agree with you Whit, like maybe regular season he's not going to stand out and make these flashy plays. And like, I mean let's go to Marner as the comparison who's probably going to make 12, 13 million. Right. He's going to get you the hundred points and pretty much guarantee that your team is going to make playoffs. Yeah, but when you get there, man, like we all know it, playoffs is a different beast. Like making plays under pressure, winning puck battles. Like we. You watch with your eyes. You, you know, you know who's more valuable when it comes crunch time.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I know.

[Anson Carter]

So if, so if you get it, there's rumblings that he might sign in St. Louis. There's rumblings that like LA is trying to go after him. Obviously Toronto would pay him 10 million to their blue in the face. Like to me it's like oh Marner 13 million on, on the right side or would I rather have a second center like Sam Bennett behind Matthews where at 10 million, 11 million for him. I don't see that as a problem. I see that as like okay, now we got a guy who could take the focus off of, of, of Auston Matthews as a secondary option. So if, let's say if Barkov shutting down Auston Matthews, at least you have a guy like Sam Bennett where if you have competent enough wingers like a William Nylander to play with. I mean like let's be real. I don't think, like I don't think Chuck's been at his best.

[Paul Bissonnette]

No, that's the scariest part. I didn't notice them.

[Anson Carter]

That's what I'm saying. So he's playing with Kachuk and who's on the right side. I'm drawing a blank here for, for that line. No, Verhegi got bumped up. I think Erod actually got bumped down to the second line for the last two games on the left side. I think Tkachuk was playing the right side there. So like it's not like he's playing with these all world type players. And what in what he's doing.

[Liam McHugh]

Yeah, he can drive a line. He can drive.

[Anson Carter]

He's essentially driving the line. So that's where it's like, okay, like, oh, he's never got over 50 points. We got Jay Fresh with the charts out here. Like, oh, that'll be an overpayment. Where it's like, bro, like are you watching the games? When, when, when, when it's Stanley cup playoffs and there's violence involved and there's intimidation involved and exactly the type of hockey you saw last night. That's what you're going to have to go through to win a Stanley Cup. Yeah, no, every team is going to have to go through. So, so regular season wise. Yeah, you know What? Maybe he's a 6, 7 million dollar player. He's like a Barbershev type player. But we've seen it the last two years now and yeah, people are always playing behind bar. I don't give a. He still has to go against Draisaitl's line. He still either has to go against dry Seidel or McDavid and he's doing what he's doing now in the Stanley cup playoffs. He's a 10 million dollar player. I'm sick and tired of paying these guys based on the charts. Ask Carolina how's that going? Ask the Toronto Maple Leafs how that's going.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Charts. It's, you're paid literally on regular season stats. Like that is how you get a contract now. I, I, buddy, I agree with you. I'm just wondering, and I'm a bitter Oilers fan right now. Like, would he be doing this on another team? I don't, I don't know. He would. Although he was called playoff Sam Bennett on the Flames. So obviously it's always been in his DNA to be able to be that much better in the playoffs. He's, I, I'm, I'm just, I'm so sick of him too. I can't stand watching these guys be this good. They're bullies and they're just incredible hockey players. I just am like, man, would he be doing this if he was on the Leafs this year? Like if you now, if you switched him and Tavares this season, like, how much worse off is Florida? How much better is Toronto? I think so, so, so look, look.

[Anson Carter]

At JT's regular season and then compare it to the, to the series against Florida, right?

[Liam McHugh]

So that, yes, 11 million GT played down here. He'd turn into a Sam Bennett somehow. Like they would. Like the guys come down.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Okay, so that brings Up a conversation from last night about the Panthers. Like, I watched Kulakov, who, like army was mentioning he was in Pittsburgh.

[Anson Carter]

Great skater.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah. But like, you know, like, solid player. He all of a sudden on this Panthers team, this particular team the last few years, he's a prick out there. You just. You turn into a complete. You're like, look at Ekblad now. I don't ever remember Ekblad being this much of a menace. No, he's definitely playing the best hockey I've ever seen him play. Like, he's just dominant out there. I mean, you saw the hit against McDavid in game three, which people are like, he injured McDavid. He went down the Runway. I think it was just equipment. If you watch that hit, there's. What part of it could he have been injured on?

[Liam McHugh]

That hip pointer.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, but I think. I think he was completely fine. But Ekblad, he's a menace. Kulakov's a menace. You got Mikola, the. What did army call him? Just an enormous, like, tarantula. He's just like, ah, you can't. It's just the whole team is. Is so in your face. And last night was the perfect example of them coming home and them just beating the. Out of the Oilers now getting into the Oilers effort. And I talked about.

[Liam McHugh]

I got to say one thing about Sam Bennett. Sorry. A lot of people, like. A lot of people give. Matthew could Chuck the credit of like, changing the culture down here, which I 100 agree with. But Sam Bennett was. He was here a year before that and they played together in Calgary. But remember when Benny came here, we played Tampa in the first round. It was like one of the best series ever.

[Anson Carter]

It was a Gong show.

[Liam McHugh]

And he got thrown out of one of the games and got a suspension. And pretty much that's kind of. We were. Missed him so much, but he kind of changed the way that. That Florida kind of played with hitting guys late. Being in your face. Like, he deserves more credit for being a culture changer down here than. Than he gets credit for.

[Paul Bissonnette]

He kind of started a little bit, I think.

[Liam McHugh]

So like, he. He was one of those guys. He's just like a silent assassin, like, goes out there. I didn't know much about him. He comes in at the end of the year and then you see him in playoffs, you're like, whoa, yeah. Different animal.

[Anson Carter]

And. And going back to the. The Gary Bettman battle we had, it.

[Liam McHugh]

Wasn'T much of a battle.

[Anson Carter]

Yeah, yeah. One way battle.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Oh, yeah.

[Anson Carter]

I think people are thinking, I'M trying to take away for what Florida able to accomplish. Like it all goes to management and, and that staff and what they've been able to do as far as like I mean forsling picked up off waivers. Like what are the. You just mentioned the Sam Bennett. I think he was traded for a sixth round draft pick. Not sure what the was going on in Calgary when they decided to do that. Like the list goes on.

[Paul Bissonnette]

What was it if that.

[Liam McHugh]

If that's serious.

[Anson Carter]

I think I'm pretty sure Sam Bennett was traded for a sixth, fourth or.

[Liam McHugh]

Sixth round and a kid I remember his name was like Schwinn or something like that. He went there. He was a tall kid.

[Anson Carter]

I think he ever made a pull it up. Now as far as like you just mentioned like getting Listerine and for, for Trotrek and how that's panned out. How about them last year bringing in Oliver Larson.

[Liam McHugh]

Yep.

[Anson Carter]

And who was the other defenseman? Montour. Well they got to get rid of them. How do they replenish? They figure out a way to bring Seth Jones in and then they get Nate Schmidt who in the Stanley cup playoffs is leading the D in scoring.

[Liam McHugh]

Nate.

[Anson Carter]

And then what's that?

[Liam McHugh]

Nate Khan.

[Anson Carter]

Smith. Yeah, exactly.

[Liam McHugh]

But remember who was it?

[Anson Carter]

Mikola. Like he's making 2.75. So there's just so many like moves along the way that's put them in this situation. So once again that other conversation was more for a broad conversation for the league. I don't want it to take away from anything that Florida and management and this team has been able to accomplish. That's not what the purpose of it is. And the argument that everybody keeps making about it and Ace mentioned it and Gary did, It's like oh, 15 years ago nobody was talking about this. It's like yes, well 15 years ago the cap was 44 million. So the 11 of the state tax on that amount of money is like whatever, let's do like three, four million dollars.

[Paul Bissonnette]

The argument that it, it was like this forever is ridiculous. Things change.

[Anson Carter]

Like I don't think things change. And also now we're at 100 million dollar cap and if you're talking about 10 state tax or 11 difference. Talking about a 10 million dollar player here.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah.

[Anson Carter]

Or, or, or, or, or, or two or a Barbashev and then and whatever a couple Mikolas like you know what I'm saying? So that's just why it needs to be brought up. And like you're saying with like things evolve, things change. Like it's like people like remember when Lou lamarillo when he tried to sign Kovalchuk to that deal? Like there's clear manipulation and things that happen over time where you're like, oh, we could take advantage of this, we could take advantage of that. This just seems to be one of those things as the cap's gone up that it's like, it's clearly obvious where there's an advantage for teams. I mean, six years in a row now a team from Florida has made it. Look at Dallas, look at Vegas. Like they're, they're all going to be wagons for a very long time, especially if they have good management.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I, I want to talk about Edmonton game three. I gotta just rip off a couple quick ads here, guys. And it starts with game time. The Stanley cup finals are here. We're almost halfway through. If this goes seven. The only place to buy hard to get finals tickets is game time, the official ticketing partner of barstool sports killer. Last minute deals, all in prices, views from your seat and their lowest price guaranteed. Game time takes the guesswork out of buying your tickets. Prices on the app is they go down closer you get to game time. It's pretty legit. As the puck is about to be dropped, the prices get lower. You can save up to 60 when buying last minute tickets. Stanley Cup Finals tickets, NBA Finals tickets, major league baseball, all the summer concerts you want. Game time has it all. I believe for game four, there's tickets right now for 240 bucks. Is that what somebody said? What are you waiting for? Go to game time right now. Take the guesswork out of buying tickets with game time. Download the app, create an account Use code checklist for 20 off your first purchase terms apply. Create an account redeem code. Chiclets. Download the game time app today. Biz. What time is it?

[Anson Carter]

Game time.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Game time also. One more quick one here, boys. One more quick one here. We gotta talk about aura frames. Aura frames. When you get, what do you get? And father's day is coming up. Any ladies on here? I think right now I see close to 3,000. Is that 3,000 people watching? I there's maybe three women. But if you have a man in your life, if you have a husband who's a father and father's day is coming. Aura frames. What do you get? The man who already has everything or says he doesn't need anything like me. Skip the ties and get your dad something he'll actually love. An aura digital frame. Aura frames was named the best digital photo frame by wire cutter. It's easy to see why I got one said to me so easy. Just all Bluetooth bing, bing, bing. You could have the pictures rotated. It's money. It looks good. It's easy to use. There's unlimited storage, so you can add as many photos, videos and funny memes as you can find. I turned into a meme last week. Week. I'm. I'm an Internet meme now forever of just not moving my face during a very intense.

[Anson Carter]

I'm like you. I don't like those.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, no, I'm not really. I was looking to talk about Oilers game one, but for the guy who swore he didn't need anything, let the aura frame prove him wrong or has a great deal for Father's Day. For a limited time, listeners can save on the perfect gift by visiting aura frames. $30 off on the best selling carver matte frame. That's a U R A frames.com promo code. Chiclets support the show by mentioning us at checkout. Terms and conditions applies.

[Liam McHugh]

Okay, great read.

[Paul Bissonnette]

So Oilers hockey. Yeah, Oilers hockey. Their worst game of the playoffs last. Last night. All right, so a little, little state of the union here where I know games one and two against the Kings were complete disasters, but last night was, was something that I, I've, I really haven't witnessed. I didn't expect to see in this final specifically after they won game one. It's like this is a different team. This is a different year. The lack of discipline to start that game. And I know that the penalties were, were evened up technically. Right? Like Oilers fans. I don't. Oilers fans. I don't want to hear we lost because of the ref.

[Anson Carter]

No, four minors.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Get out of here with this. We're not doing this in the middle of the final.

[Anson Carter]

Four minors each in the first.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Do I like the refereeing last last night? No. It was a little bit of a ref show from the beginning. But don't blame the as. Not why we lost that game. We lost that game because their special teams were better. They were better 5 on 5. Their goalie was way better. The refs weren't great. They didn't lose us the game. Okay, Evander Kane, I don't know what he's thinking in the first period. You cannot. When you take penalties in the offensive zone, one of them on the power play. When you're 200ft from your own goal, you cannot take stick penalties. What did coaches used to say? Those stick penalties, those hookings, those high stickings in the offensive zone are just momentum vibe killers. It's like, you. You're just. You can't deal with it. And Florida's power play and their team, you can't give them momentum. Right. And to start that game up now, Kane also, I saw something. I'm like, what is he doing? And this guy's been awesome in the playoffs and. And they're going to need him to be awesome to win. I think I mentioned on one show, I did like, this is a true X factor in the Finals. Evander Kane with how Florida plays. The starting lineup is on the blue line. It was McDavid, it was Nuge, it was Perry. It was Ekholm and Bouchard, I believe. And the Florida Panthers starting five is on the blue line with the goalies in each crease waiting for the anthems to begin. And Kane is just wheeling around the oiler zone. I'm like, I thought he was starting. He's waiting. I'm like, he's not even start. What is he doing? I don't know if it's a little, like, want to keep my legs going. I don't know if it's a little. I like the attention here. I'm getting myself fired up. I'm just like, this is an odd start. Like, the whole team's on the bench. The starting lineup's in the blue line, and you're doing figure eights. And then to do that in the first period, just running around, which you got to run around, but you cannot take penalties like that. You can't do it.

[Anson Carter]

The one on Marshawn was bad. Like, you can't. That's just bad.

[Paul Bissonnette]

It's just. And then like the late. The one later he got against for. Was it for Hagee or Reinhardt at that point? Yeah. Who cares? Slash him in the face. I don't care. Like, you're getting. I actually didn't mind what they did at the end of the game. They looked ridiculous, but it's like we're getting pounded. We got to do something.

[Anson Carter]

Goes back to that third line, too. Starting that game, minute in, they win the face off. Kind of a weird play. Like, sometimes off the face off, like, if you're a center, you know, you're supposed to lock up center on center. So I think that dry saddle, the puck ended up going to his right.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah.

[Anson Carter]

And I don't know if he lost sight of it. And all of a sudden it ended up springing where like, Lundell got loose. Right. He was all alone. And then. I don't know if you noticed as dry side. I was trying to go get him before he gets to behind the net. Because now all of a sudden, he's got separation loose to Ryan and sets that little pick. And then dry shuttle tries to, like, elbow him.

[Paul Bissonnette]

And. Oh, I think he did catch him.

[Anson Carter]

Oh, he died. There was no call. But I love the play by Lundell. You're a minute in. Like, everybody wants a slow, easy start. It's like, nah, let's get it to the blue paint. Get it to there. They're caving in. And sure enough, the rat king himself goes stick the st. Skate the stick. And. And it's in back of the net now.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Now what is Skinner doing there?

[Liam McHugh]

So he wasn't himself last night.

[Anson Carter]

I was. I asked Hank, I said, how do you think he recovers from that OT winner? Because I thought that OT goal was brutal.

[Liam McHugh]

Kind of a weird bone.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, I thought. I thought when I originally saw it, Leon had such a good back check.

[Anson Carter]

He took his stick away.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, but no, but he did get a piece of it on his backhand. I thought. He didn't touch on his backhand. He let it in. Just coming off his stick forehand through the net. He got a little piece of it where he's opening up his legs. There's a back check. Yeah. Obviously one he probably should have had, but it wasn't as bad. Has he not. Not touched it with his backhand? If he'd scored it when it came right off his forehand, it would have been a real disaster. At least there was contact to slide at five hole. But did you say. Were you saying Hank was, like, nervous for him on how he'd recover from that?

[Anson Carter]

No. I asked him. He's like, you just have to let it go. And, like, kind of gave, like, the, you know, leave it behind your reset and that stuff. But then. Then all of a sudden, Panger's thing piece comes up and. And then he shows how Skinner ties his skates. Did you see that?

[Paul Bissonnette]

No.

[Anson Carter]

You could probably take Skinner's skate off of his foot if you wanted to when it's tied for the game.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Well, that's. Are we going with that, like, now? Like, he's been unbelievable. Like, he. He's tied his skates the same way. He's been to two straight cup finals. Like, I don't think how he ties his skates is, like, why he played bad last night.

[Anson Carter]

I think that, like, they were. I asked Hank about it. He seems. It's a little weird that you can't really push off that good when it's, like, so loose.

[Liam McHugh]

Everyone's like, look at Drew Doughty skates. He's one of the best defensemen ever. And he barely.

[Anson Carter]

I'm not, like, blaming it. Yeah, you are saying it went into that all of a sudden.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Off his hand when he ties all of a sudden.

[Liam McHugh]

He loves their eyelid to eyelid. I don't even think laces anymore.

[Anson Carter]

Marshall got that puck. Skinner was in the neutral zone.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I don't know what happened there. I, I, he kind of went out on the original when Lundell threw it in front, but when I looked at the goal, like, right away, I'm like, he's on his stomach outside the crease, like, what, what are we doing here?

[Anson Carter]

But almost fell off.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Now, now he's wearing pimbal. Now then, like, all right, let's just get out of this first period last night, because before they, I know they scored a minute in that first shift, Bouchard had an incredible shot from the point that Bob made a great save.

[Anson Carter]

Bob was unreal.

[Paul Bissonnette]

And once again, Merles, who's every idea in the history of hockey, was Merle's idea.

[Anson Carter]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

You know, and everything that ever happens, Merle's knew was gonna happen.

[Anson Carter]

We know that.

[Paul Bissonnette]

And I think the first shift, first maybe 20 seconds, Bob just took a shot and went like this. And he's like, you're done. He goes, you're done. Like, it looks, it just looked like, all right, Bob's in that mode, which on, pardon my take, I mentioned, like, that's the thing that scares me the most. And then it happens. My first.

[Anson Carter]

Corey Perry had one. It got him right here early. Like, he had about.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Not that hit his knob, I believe.

[Anson Carter]

Oh, did it. I think, yeah. He had about three or four, 10 Bell saves to keep it to weather the storm in the first period early.

[Paul Bissonnette]

So you know what? All right, let's get it, let's get out of this period. One, nothing. Kind of regroup. But nope, another penalty. And I believe this was the too many men on the ice. Now, Oilers fans, this is where I do agree. You can be, you can be annoyed as, as I am. There was a blatant, blatant, too many men on the ice penalty by the Panthers in the second overtime of game two. Ekblad got injured. I don't remember exactly what happened. Somebody's wheeling into the zone. He's getting, yeah, he got hit in the hand. He's, he's crouched over getting off the ice. And the defenseman hops on for him while he's still three to four feet from the Bench. It's, it's too many men on the ice. Like blatant right, right in front of the puck carrier. The whole Oilers arena standing up, right. No call. Then they get called for this one where it was also kind of Kane's fault. It looked like he gave that fake change. And for people who don't know what that means, if you're coming to the bench, you know, and it's very obvious to the entire bench, including the guy hopping on, that you're coming to the bench and he's hopping on. Well, you can't. Then u turn. You cannot turn around and go back because that guy's already on. That's what happened. Boom. Too many men. And what, what the goes down. Carter Verheagge. I think it was maybe one of the nastiest shots I could remember in this year's playoff.

[Anson Carter]

This much he had.

[Paul Bissonnette]

And the puck was rolling. It was on edge. When the puck went on edge for me, I was over the glass. Like I remember trying to shoot one. It went over the glass in Long island one time. He's picking the corner where the crossbar meets the, the post and it's two nothing and it's panic time. And, and, and now the second period starts. We get, I don't know how Lundell got that penalty at the end of the first period. I think I missed.

[Anson Carter]

Yeah, he, he, he suckered. I forget who it was. Right.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Started that madness.

[Anson Carter]

I mean it was madness. And I feel like he was getting cross checked. You could have, you could have taken one from either side, but he had the most aggressive punch of the guy's face. And at that point, like you said, it kind of was a bit of a ref show where with that penalty there was four minors each side in the first period. So it was just a full fledged.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Gong, which is why I'm not going to sit there and blame the refs. We had, our power play was brutal.

[Anson Carter]

It wasn't good.

[Paul Bissonnette]

And, and let's, let's, let's, let's be honest about an enormous topic here is that Connor McDavid in Florida in the finals. It's, it hasn't, it hasn't been well, it hasn't gone well for him and Barkov and Forsling every single shift are able in this building to really slow him down. I, I, does he have any five on five points in the five games he's played in the finals in Florida? I'm not sure. I, I don't.

[Liam McHugh]

He doesn't.

[Paul Bissonnette]

That's crazy, crazy, crazy because I think.

[Anson Carter]

Maybe one game he has one five on five point going back to last.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Year in Florida, I believe. Yeah. And dude, you're throwing and I can't believe watching. Watching forsling. Like, forget getting Marshawn, getting Bennett. How the did they get Seth Jones this year? They got Forsling on waivers. They got him on waivers. He is this. He skates like MC for defenseman as McDavid does for forwards. Yeah, it's incredible. And he's in your face. And I guess somebody was saying Maurice had brought up that every year he's like, I don't think he can get any better. Like, this could be the year he takes a step back, he comes in and crushes his records or numbers from the testing the year before.

[Anson Carter]

Yeah. So I guess the guy. I guess the guy won't allow him around the.

[Ryan Whitney]

His.

[Anson Carter]

Their wives if he has a shirt off.

[Liam McHugh]

Yeah. That's a team rule. Speaking of shirts off.

[Anson Carter]

Wow, look at this guy. That's my neck.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Look at the shoes. If I wore that right now, we'd have seven live viewers. We'd have seven. You're sitting on the mic. Hey, while we get Juice. Well, we get Juice dialed in. I'm gonna rip off a couple ads here quickly. I apologize, everyone.

[Liam McHugh]

He's on the Juice.

[Paul Bissonnette]

How do you two look like this?

[Anson Carter]

He's commenting on my sunburn. I went to the be with no sunscreen for two hours. This sun, you don't around with it in Florida, guys.

[Paul Bissonnette]

We retired. We were tired. Guys, why do you look like this? Okay, hold on here, boys. Hold on, all right. We gotta talk about DraftKings. We gotta talk about DraftKings right now.

[Anson Carter]

Everything in my memo.

[Paul Bissonnette]

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[Liam McHugh]

Hopefully my wife isn't inside and saw you come in. She's gonna think we have workouts, bro.

[Kevin Hayes]

Me and hanging out with David.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Amber. Amber.

[Kevin Hayes]

You saw him yesterday. Did you see him?

[Anson Carter]

His arms are bigger than my quad.

[Kevin Hayes]

You guys look like 80 years old.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Like the Situation and Ron and. And like. You look like Jersey Shore guys.

[Liam McHugh]

I know they are.

[Anson Carter]

Roll them up.

[Kevin Hayes]

You're the situation. Right?

[Paul Bissonnette]

You guys are. This is ugly.

[Anson Carter]

You're Ronnie yelling at his old lady, battling over here.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Sam and Harry and you guys are Jack Tan and not Harry. And you got a pumpkin on your arms.

[Anson Carter]

It was sunny two minutes ago. Now it's a tsunami.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Well, this guy came in here. The tsunamis from the women in Lauderdale. Watching them walk around shorts.

[Anson Carter]

Well, Hank's coming later, too, man. We're gonna have flood warnings.

[Kevin Hayes]

Different show. This is a different show.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah. You're on sports. That. Yeah. Let me bring up what we just were talking about as you came in.

[Anson Carter]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

McDavid in Florida, there's problems, right? Like, they have Barkov enforceling every shift out there against them. Biz just said 1:5 on 5 point in the 5 cup final games he's played.

[Anson Carter]

That was a complete guess, by the way.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Was it? Yeah, I think it was correct. But David has one five on five. Biz, where's the stats guy over there? We have four. Well, no, Pasha's literally looking at Devil's depth.

[Liam McHugh]

There's seven guys right now. I can't get a stuff.

[Kevin Hayes]

He just grilled Elliot on the beach yesterday about the Devil's free agency. Like, who was thinking about Devil's free agency right now?

[Anson Carter]

He wants to know what the Hughes workout plan is.

[Liam McHugh]

Yeah.

[Anson Carter]

For gaining weight and gaining some muscle.

[Paul Bissonnette]

McDavid. And how he could get points against Florida in this building.

[Kevin Hayes]

Juice, he got smothered yesterday. I mean, it was a concerning loss. Like, I don't know how you feel about it, but just how they sunk to the Cat's game. And, like, the Cats are. I love the way they play. I think everyone loves the way they play.

[Anson Carter]

It's.

[Kevin Hayes]

It's old school, and they wear on you, and they chip you and they clutch and grab, and it seems like they're more suited for that game. Like, you know, when you're in scrums as a player and, like, you're really mad and you're trying to get the guy and the other guy's just laughing at you, like, that's the Cats versus the Oilers. If the Oilers want to, you know, you know, play that game a little bit. But the Cats are good at it, right? Oh, they're playing warfare, and they're still, like, making plays out there. And I think, like, with the oil, like, they have to enough with the scrums. I think to a certain degree, like, hold your ground, maybe fight once in a while if you want to fight like Nurse did. But I think they have to play fast and hard, don't you think?

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah. And I do think, in fairness it, they didn't really get completely out of hand until the game was out of hand.

[Kevin Hayes]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Like, I don't think they did that in the games one and two and. And last night, they didn't really do it early. They just had too many penalties in the first. But you make a good play. Good point. Like, Florida wants them to do that. It would be like being, like, in Tiger's heyday. Want to do a putting competition, Tiger? He's like, yeah, sure, okay, bud. But, yeah, okay. Awesome. The Cats are like, you want to come punch Us, Fine, we'll just score on the power play and then rub it in your face and then cross check it from behind later in the game.

[Kevin Hayes]

So magnified in Florida.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Exactly.

[Kevin Hayes]

So maybe in Edmonton, they kind of got away with it. In Edmonton home crowd, like that factors in.

[Anson Carter]

Oh, yeah.

[Kevin Hayes]

And then in Florida, like with their crowd, you're losing that game nine times out ten of time.

[Anson Carter]

I was actually impressed in game one how they, they almost kind of played Panther hockey and they were just as physical where I'm like, wow, maybe they got something here that, you know, maybe, you know, these, these pod coings, the Yan marks, and they were elevating their play and also playing with that nastiness and barking. But I agree with you as far as being able to play your game. But also the gamesmanship of the, the, you know, chirping after the whistle that, like, Marshawn can do that, Tkachuk can do that, and even the guys that maybe aren't doing it in their lineup, which there aren't very many, they can just worry about playing hockey. So I just thought that that was, that was Edmonton playing right into Florida's hand last night. And they, like you said, they just need to get worried about moving the puck up ice, making plays, and if anything, not giving them anything in scrums and I think completely ignoring them and then letting them kind of sleep. Florida, they're going to play hard. They're going to play their game. I get that. But don't, don't feed into that with the scrums. La, like the second half of the game, every time there was a whistle, it was guys, like sticking guys in the groin, stinky mitts in the face. Like, that's not how it.

[Kevin Hayes]

But who gets the momentum from that? It was Florida every time. Like, that's where somebody on the team, like the leadership or the coaching staff has to see what's happening and say, hey, we're losing this battle after the whistle. Like, we're, we're the frustrated team, so let's just like, chill, right? Like, somebody has to be like, enough with the thumbs.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah.

[Kevin Hayes]

If you want to go ask a guy to fight, go ahead, go do your thing. But enough with the scrums because we're losing all the momentum from all these scrums. The crowd's getting going.

[Paul Bissonnette]

They're happy. They're happy that we're doing it.

[Liam McHugh]

Florida's definitely been like, hey, guys, they're frustrated. Keep doing what we're doing. Keep.

[Anson Carter]

Marshall was going to their bench.

[Kevin Hayes]

I know.

[Anson Carter]

Oh, they use Your heads, boys. Use your head.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah. At the same time, I got a meth head in my face in the W. You. I'm like, what the. Get me out of this building now. I want to ask your opinion on. On McDavid's quote, which I loved. Really kind of fired me up and probably fired up the entire city. We have not been our best in this series, but it's coming. I think there's an argument to be made that. That Florida loves that. It almost challenges them a little bit. But you think that's the right move by him, right? Like, just to. To kind of relax. Not relax his team, but. But, like, kind of put the. Put the fire out a little bit, like, we're fine.

[Kevin Hayes]

Well, you can't overreact. You know, they just got a beat down. They've lost the last two in a row. Series isn't over. He hated your question, so he just took.

[Paul Bissonnette]

He's literally eating in the middle of the show right now.

[Kevin Hayes]

You can wait till the show crumbs all over your.

[Anson Carter]

Your couch.

[Paul Bissonnette]

He's got a bagel. He's got an egg sandwich. That's cold for sure, but I respect it. He's got a sunburn. He's got goat, and he's now eating a bagel sandwich.

[Liam McHugh]

Steak and egg sandwich.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Did you. You like the quote, though?

[Kevin Hayes]

I love the quote.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Okay. Yeah.

[Kevin Hayes]

I think that's the way you have to portra strength. You can't just say, oh, we're terrible. I'm brutal. I don't like that. Like, still show some. Be accountable and understand, hey, like, we didn't play very good. So say that. Say, hey, we got to be better. But, yeah, don't beat yourselves up in the media. Like, there's plenty of guys to beat. Beat you up in the media. Don't beat yourself up. Right. Show confidence. Portray confidence and. But say, hey, like, we gotta. We know we got to be better.

[Liam McHugh]

Do you think they. Do you think they should have went to Pickard earlier?

[Paul Bissonnette]

I said after the third goal. Yeah, because I said, there's nights that you can tell Skinner doesn't have it. The first goal was a sign, right? Verhegi goal. Perfect shot. The Reinhardt goal. That was not that hard of a shot. Perfectly placed. But that's.

[Kevin Hayes]

That's Reinhardt's goal. Like, that's such a. Reinhardt play with him.

[Anson Carter]

Right? What do you think about the way Skinner ties the skates Juice like the wayside down?

[Kevin Hayes]

How does he tie them?

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, it's not tight enough for this.

[Anson Carter]

He Doesn't.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Can I see this video somewhere?

[Liam McHugh]

That's his release dude from, like back here. I don't know how he even gets like.

[Kevin Hayes]

And he, like, does this little manipulation with his blade. Like, it's. He's one of a.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Kind of like Perry does a little.

[Kevin Hayes]

Yeah, exactly. Perry's got the worst shot in the league. I've done. I've talked about it over and over. Worst shot in the league. And this guy's got almost 500 goals combined. Playoffs and so anyways, back to your. Your original question. I thought 4:1. Because I thought 4:1. The game was over. Even though it was only 4:1. It felt like Edmonton had nothing. The game was over. Get pickered in. You know, he hasn't played a long time. You might need him. You might want to start him next game. He hasn't lost in the playoffs.

[Anson Carter]

You would start him next time?

[Kevin Hayes]

I would consider it just to stop the bleeding and give a different look. Because if you, you know, insanity is doing the same thing over and over again. So you just. I don't know.

[Anson Carter]

You.

[Kevin Hayes]

You would consider.

[Anson Carter]

I would enter if you don't tie your skates tighter.

[Paul Bissonnette]

No, I just saw the picture. That is crazy.

[Anson Carter]

He doesn't. He doesn't do the top eyelid and he barely ties his skates.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah.

[Anson Carter]

As a goalie.

[Paul Bissonnette]

But I mean, this is also a guy who was just incredible. Right. Like you said, playoff since the first round.

[Anson Carter]

I. I understand that, but I think that if you watch the goals that he allows when he goes east to west, maybe because escape.

[Liam McHugh]

Maybe he has.

[Paul Bissonnette]

This is going on like. Like what? What you think if. If he came in the locker room next game and just ripped them tight and did the top eyelet, they're just like, we got him now, boys. He might have got Escape.

[Liam McHugh]

He might have goat and he can't tie it tight.

[Kevin Hayes]

What about a layer of tape around like Duncan Keith used to do?

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, I think at one point.

[Anson Carter]

I'll tell you this right now, I would start Skinner and I think he can, I think, get a shutout if I tie his skates.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Well, I'll tell you this right now.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Kevin Hayes]

Keith Ballard barely tied his skates to one of the best skating.

[Liam McHugh]

Yeah, he's. Same way I.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Nobody tied their skates looser than Mike Ribeiro. Do you remember that? Yeah.

[Kevin Hayes]

That's just because he's lazy.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Look at that. Did we get it up there?

[Ryan Whitney]

Can we show?

[Paul Bissonnette]

I mean, that looks like a kid who's just tying on skates for the first time. And gonna go out there and break his ankle.

[Kevin Hayes]

That's a real house.

[Paul Bissonnette]

It looks like biz in the minors.

[Anson Carter]

So even looser than that, I had a coach.

[Liam McHugh]

It can't be real.

[Anson Carter]

That's real, dude. I'm telling you. That's why I brought it up.

[Paul Bissonnette]

All right.

[Kevin Hayes]

Like you're molding them.

[Anson Carter]

So I played for this guy, Mo Mantha and with the sagina spear and I think he was with.

[Paul Bissonnette]

He was at the national.

[Anson Carter]

National program.

[Kevin Hayes]

He was a player, right?

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yes.

[Anson Carter]

Yeah.

[Kevin Hayes]

For Minnesota North Stars.

[Anson Carter]

Correct. And he used to tie a skate so loose.

[Paul Bissonnette]

He was a coach.

[Anson Carter]

Yes. But when he. He. But he would barely tie his skates to the point where it could come off if he just like wanted to take his boot off while he was on the ice. And I was like, wow, like you. You don't really tire skates. He goes, I used to do this as a player. He goes. One time I was playing in a pro game and he went around the net and his skate got caught in the net and it like fell off in the game. Dude. In the middle of a pro game.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I think one year he had like 67.

[Liam McHugh]

Skinner's godfather.

[Anson Carter]

No. Yeah, that's probably why.

[Kevin Hayes]

Let's see Mo man, I think he had a.

[Liam McHugh]

Who's. Who is the guy in the LA benefit game that didn't tie his skates?

[Paul Bissonnette]

He.

[Kevin Hayes]

He's like Bieber.

[Anson Carter]

No, you're talking about D. Is it Evans.

[Liam McHugh]

He's a TV guy for LA.

[Paul Bissonnette]

You know who Mo Manta had 67 points for? And 102 PIMs. The Pittsburgh Penguins in 85, 86.

[Liam McHugh]

All on one skate.

[Kevin Hayes]

Yeah, he looks like he doesn't tie a skate.

[Anson Carter]

So what. What does the chat think about the way that Skinner ties his skate?

[Paul Bissonnette]

I also allow this to become a storyline. I just can't.

[Liam McHugh]

Also when the goalies put on their pad, don't they tie something around? Isn't there like something that ties it?

[Kevin Hayes]

I still don't think that's real. I still think that's like just maybe.

[Anson Carter]

He'S eating a two minute hit before the game. Being like I was down the locker room talking to him about that.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Was letting in goals from the red line when he played. Like we can't really be listening to Panga judge him how he ties the skates. And I love Panger, he's a legend. But we're not making this a storyline. It is all of a sudden if we lose the cup because Skinner's tie in his skates too loose. I won't Be able to stand it. I won't be able to deal with it. Okay. Going into game four, I want to ask him this.

[Anson Carter]

Would you pay Bennett 10 million a.

[Kevin Hayes]

Year, Florida or Toronto? And you're still trying to get them.

[Anson Carter]

I'm.

[Kevin Hayes]

This is tampering.

[Liam McHugh]

You. You lost them.

[Kevin Hayes]

This is kind of tampering. Don't you work for the Leafs if you're a gm?

[Anson Carter]

If you're a GM and free agency hits. Are you saying. Sam, we're offering you seven years at 10 million a year.

[Kevin Hayes]

I don't think you need to pay him 10 million to get him here.

[Liam McHugh]

No. Here.

[Kevin Hayes]

No, I think he stays here.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I think.

[Kevin Hayes]

Why would not. Why would you not stay?

[Paul Bissonnette]

I know.

[Kevin Hayes]

Why would you not stay where you're valued? You love it. You love the team. He suits this team.

[Anson Carter]

Team.

[Kevin Hayes]

Like, where's he gonna go? He's gonna go on some rush team in. In the west or something, you know what I mean? And go up and down. Even though he's really good off the rush, sneaky good off the road, but, I don't know, like, you. You have a good fit. Why would you leave it for, you know, and go back? We're State tax argument. Like, he's, you know, he's making. He's gonna make good money here.

[Anson Carter]

But I'm saying is, if that's not on the table, how much money do you need?

[Kevin Hayes]

Like, you could afford this house. He's going to be able to afford this house.

[Paul Bissonnette]

He's already made.

[Kevin Hayes]

Beautiful house.

[Anson Carter]

You all right? You're really not answering my question. I know that you would I pay him 10. Yeah.

[Kevin Hayes]

Yes. But I also said when Tampa won the. The Stanley Cups, the back to backs. I thought Y Gourd was an $8 million player because he was a certain regular season player, but the way he played in the playoffs made him more valuable. I think you have to start evaluating guys based on how they are in the playoffs. Who cares if you get 60 points the regular season? Do you get points in the playoffs? That should be a part of the evaluation process, your arbitration, all that stuff that should be, like, magnified. How is this guy playing the play? I don't care how many points you get. You know, Jeff Skinner gets all these points in the regular season. Never, you know.

[Liam McHugh]

Yeah, but if you're stuck on a team pretty much exactly what.

[Anson Carter]

What. What we were talking about earlier as far as evaluating where, like, you know more than anyone, like, the game just completely changes come playoff time. Like, there's not as much time in space. Intimidation becomes Way of a factor.

[Liam McHugh]

You would have been making 10.

[Anson Carter]

You probably.

[Kevin Hayes]

Yeah, yeah. I mean.

[Anson Carter]

No, but how many guys did you play with when all of a sudden, like, push came to shove? You were like, where the did this guy?

[Kevin Hayes]

Yeah, you need, you need courage. You need courage to play in the playoffs. And if you're a skill guy, you have to have the courage to take heads. If you're, you know, a physical guy, you got to have the courage to give hits, which I think is easier. I think it's harder to have the courage to take hits and to make plays when guys are just trying to run you through the boards.

[Paul Bissonnette]

And for me, we haven't brought this up yet. The biggest kick in the dick of all this right now is a guy with, with, I think you could argue the most courage on the Oilers or right up there is Zach Hyman. And now you're seeing, like, holy, like, not only are we dealing with the Nugent Hopkins injury with, I think, I think it's quite obvious it's something with the wrist or the hand. That's a, that's brutal. But, like, if you could choose, who do you want out against the Panthers, Hyman or Nugent Hopkins? You choose Nugent Hopkins.

[Liam McHugh]

Right.

[Paul Bissonnette]

So no. And then that's nothing new. But, like, not having Hyman in this series is, is awful.

[Liam McHugh]

And Biz, especially the way he was playing, too.

[Paul Bissonnette]

He had, like, oh, he was running, and then he started scoring right before his injury. I think he had two goals the game before he was injured. So that, that is an enormous loss that you're seeing become even more clear on the road. So, biz, they've played 10 games in the cup finals, and what have the Panthers done in their six wins of those 10 games? Can you, can you think of what they've done? And that's very evident in all their wins.

[Liam McHugh]

Untied, Skinner skates.

[Paul Bissonnette]

They've scored first in every single win and every win the Oilers had, they've scored first. Game 4, 5 and 6. The Oilers scored first. Game 1. The Oiler scored first.

[Ryan Whitney]

Wow.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Thursday night, I, I, I'm worried about another blowout if Florida goes up one nothing. I'm telling you, they are able to, like, completely get into their game, eat in even a different way once they get that lead. It also gives Bob that extra confidence. And, and I, I just, I think in this building, maybe it's just every time I'm in this building, the crowd and the Panthers, they're just dominant that I'm like, they have to score first Thursday.

[Kevin Hayes]

Well, you know what's just as important as in this building for Edmonton is scoring first. The power play.

[Liam McHugh]

I know.

[Kevin Hayes]

So that's the only thing that's going to stop everybody from running around and chopping you in the ankle after the whistle. If your power play scores, they're, they're going to be like, okay, hold on. Discipline, discipline. When you're power play. I know they get the goal, the power play goal, the Perry goal. But too little, too late. You need to score early. Early in the game when there was three penalties in the first period. You get three power plays in the first period. Edmonton, yeah, they had some good looks or whatever, but you score there, it's a different game. Like that was our series in 2011 against Boston. When we went to Boston, we had looks early, we didn't score. They bullied us right out of the building. So Euler power plays more of a concern.

[Anson Carter]

Oh yeah, I know. Going back to that because you guys were like a completely different team at home, right. You guys won those first two games.

[Kevin Hayes]

We won first. We won all the first three and then we won game five as well. We go to Boston and it's just like this series, right? All like the crowd and everyone's on. The other team's like 2 inches bigger and 20 pounds heavier bullying us. So what's your, your pushback?

[Anson Carter]

You're.

[Kevin Hayes]

Well, I'm gonna fight everybody. I'm gonna go fight Chara Thornton, Lucich McQuaid. Like no right score on the power play. That's the only way you can stop these guys from bullying us. So Oilers power play scores early next game. They're in good shape.

[Liam McHugh]

Yeah.

[Anson Carter]

What are the other things that are standing out right now that like you like Edmonton needs to do? Like I. My thing going into to last night's game was given the that Nugent Hopkins gets bumped up to the top line because Hyman's not in the mix. Like I feel like the bottom six is just way more lethal on Florida side. Of course the third line is like, like they don't have an answer for that. Edmonton, really.

[Paul Bissonnette]

And Greer was big coming back. Did you see what he did to echo him? I mean he attacked him at the end of the game and then Ekhom like pretty much is like skating away from him and he's just throwing punches at him and just that Greer, he's a honey badger.

[Kevin Hayes]

So I was, I was sitting before we went on air. You guys are already on airs. You have like a three hour pre game show. I'm standing there kind of Just on my phone. And Greer's parents walk by and they come over and they introduce themselves to me and, like, dad's a big guy and they're from Sucker. You come back. No, but they're. I was like, oh, yeah. And they were so grateful. Like, we're so grateful to be here right now. Like, the nicest, nicest people. And they were like, yeah, we just. This is so awesome, watching our son play in the Stanley Cup Final. And, like, just super, super grateful. I'm like, oh, I hope your son has a good game and maybe scores. And they're like, no, no, no. Like, we're just happy he's playing. We're just grateful he's in the lineup. And then you see him go out and just contribute. But he's always been a tough, tough player like him. And so this brings me to Gadjevic. Him and Gadjevic are like your perfect fourth liners, I think, now, like, run around. They never defer. Every forecheck is a hit, even if they miss the guy and hit the boards. Every forecheck. So as a d, you know what it's like. I hate a plane against the fourth line.

[Liam McHugh]

Yeah.

[Kevin Hayes]

Give me Patrick Kane and Jonathan Taves. Don't give me Ben Eager and Adam Burish.

[Anson Carter]

Right?

[Kevin Hayes]

Like, run, like, every hit. Like, so, like, these guys run in and they hit and they, like, bark. And then Gajevic, in my opinion, is the toughest guy in the series. He's like your legitimate fourth line fighter. So what?

[Paul Bissonnette]

I.

[Anson Carter]

He'll fight Olivier every game.

[Kevin Hayes]

He's a top. He's probably like a top five guy now in the NHL. And the fact that Nurse had to fight him and did well, like, Nurse deserves full marks.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah.

[Kevin Hayes]

How many? Like, 8 million dollar, 10 million dollar defense winner fighting Gadget and doing well.

[Anson Carter]

And that was at the end of the second, right? Was that.

[Kevin Hayes]

No, that was 11 minutes left.

[Anson Carter]

Yeah. Okay. Sorry.

[Kevin Hayes]

But Frederick starts the whole thing, which going after Bennett.

[Anson Carter]

Right?

[Kevin Hayes]

Time to do it.

[Paul Bissonnette]

But he should have done it earlier in the game.

[Kevin Hayes]

Should have done it earlier. But he makes the decision. You could see in his head. Yeah, he makes the decision, breaks the stick on him.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Okay.

[Kevin Hayes]

He's like, I don't care about penalties. I'm gonna make a. You know, I just wish he would have got Bennett more. But then I know what it's like. Like, you go into the pile and somebody grabs. Someone's gonna get gadgets, right? It just so happens he and Nurse just gets pulled from behind, gloves off, fights him for two minutes, but does an unbelievable job.

[Anson Carter]

Sometimes those long fights, though, they could take a lot out of you for like, even like a day or two, right? Like when you're going that long. Like, there was. The refs were the, the lonies were busy getting the other guys in the box. That's why I had fighting. The real ref was there and he's like, I'm not jumping in this. I'll get paid enough for this.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I think there was times too nurses like, we're Don and gadgets, like, we just began.

[Kevin Hayes]

It's a great tradeoff for Florida, right? Great trade off.

[Anson Carter]

We have the clips of, of, of Gadjevic, who's just acting like, yeah, is.

[Paul Bissonnette]

He doing that to the bench? His bench or the Oilers bench?

[Anson Carter]

I think he looked.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Or is he doing it in his skates?

[Anson Carter]

I think he'd look. I think he looked back at that. The oiler's box, like where their guys were, where they're in the penalty box. And then also when he was going down the tunnel, he was like, doing some dancing.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I, I know. And also when, when at one point he was in the box or it was Greer, Greer in the box, they were like, laughing. They were like the Bash Brothers and Mighty Ducks. Like, I'm like, oh, I got a.

[Kevin Hayes]

Quick story about Hip, so. And I, I think this story is appropriate. So in the Toronto series, I'm doing like a thing on Taniv, how he takes so many hits. And I'm like, you know, TANF doesn't have to take every hit on the forecheck. You know, F1's coming, he's going to run you through the boards, just sidestep them, right? Like, I get you're tough and everything, but you don't have to take every hit. And I go like a guy like Gadget and I showed the hit. I go, you don't have to take this hit from a fourth line, meathead, right? I just say it innocently. His dad reaches out to me after, and I've never talked to his dad, I'm not gonna say how, but his dad gets to me and he says, and, and I. And I could. It was a bit of a rant. Like, my son is a great person and a father of twins and a great brother and all that stuff. And usually, like, I wouldn't respond to those types of things, but I'm like, I feel. But I go, no, no, my apologies for that. Like, I use meathead as a badge of honor. Like, it's called a hockey thing. Like, I was a meathead, right? So like, no. And he's like, my son's a clean player. And I'm like, your son, you know, but he's not a clean player. That's what I. That's how I ended. I go, my apologies if I offended you and your family. I get it. It's a badge of honor. But just so we're clear, your son is not a clean player. Neither was I. And he's like, thank you for reaching out.

[Anson Carter]

I.

[Kevin Hayes]

You know, and then I watch this guy. Now, obviously, you're gonna watch him more. I love the way he. He plays his role. You probably don't.

[Paul Bissonnette]

No, no, I play this role perfectly. I have no problem. Like, when I'm talking Bennett, Marshawn, Gadget, like, they're. They're an incredible team with every single thing you need slotted in the right position. But you can't say your son's not a mia. He's getting off the ice, like, flexing at the. Like. That's meathead stuff. It's. It's. Buddy, it's exactly what's needed.

[Kevin Hayes]

It's exactly.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Doing exactly what's needed. It's. It is a compliment. It is a compliment.

[Liam McHugh]

He told me this year that he. Gazovich, tries to fight every game. Obviously, he does it, but he said he's one of the. Like, he's never turning down a fight. He's always asking guys, but guys don't want to fight him because I was kind of like, what's this guy's deal? He looks very effective. He's like, dude, he's a nail gun. He wants to fight. He wants to be in the battle every night, but he just doesn't get as many because there's not a lot.

[Anson Carter]

There's no. There's no takers for guys.

[Kevin Hayes]

Well, who would fight him on the Oilers, like, willingly?

[Anson Carter]

Nobody.

[Kevin Hayes]

No, willingly.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Nobody wants.

[Anson Carter]

I think Trent Frederick should challenge.

[Liam McHugh]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Okay.

[Anson Carter]

Well, I don't think Trent Frederick has. Has made a big impact these playoffs to. To not do that biz.

[Liam McHugh]

He's got to lay some.

[Paul Bissonnette]

The entire. The. I was just looking. Oh, it's no. 6. The other. I couldn't figure the other fourth line guy who's. Who's.

[Kevin Hayes]

He's a big dude. He plays hard. He's not tough, but he's.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I mean, luckily, he got that penalty for game one. That's how we got the dub in overtime, right? The over the glass penalty. But you bring up Frederick and you bring up the depth of the Oilers, who. And I quickly. I brought this up that right now it's like you got through the first three rounds based on your depth, depth. And you saw, you saw what these guys were able to bring. You saw that like Arvidson gets in the lineup, he's playing great. You got Connor Brown, you got Frederick, and Frederick probably hasn't done as much as the other depth guys throughout the series, but now they've all disappeared. Pod Colson, like I mentioned, like, at no point in the first three rounds were you seen him get run over at the offensive blue line, then getting it and turning it over for a breakaway against. So I don't know how you switch that up. I don't know if their depth is just now outclassed and it hadn't been against Vegas and Dallas and la, but if they don't get those guys going, like all we talked about was that McDavid and dry sell hadn't had to win them series and now it looks like they might have to. And I don't know if they can against this.

[Kevin Hayes]

Well, that's why we say last game was a beat down because the top guys couldn't get anything going. Leon had no shots on that. But then the bottom six got beat down too. It was like a full, full beat down. Like you, you can't really nitpick like everybody, everybody played poorly. So you can say that about everyone. You know, you can say, yeah, the bottom six has to help out. You just can't have it all at the same time. Like, you can have your top guys get cold a bit and get smothered. You know, Barkov doesn't really have any points in this series. Right. But you can't have your top guys get smothered, have hymen out, have new church and then have nothing from your, your sick.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Look.

[Kevin Hayes]

They look, they just got. It's a perfect storm right now.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I'll tell you what too, Barkov not like lighting it up offensively. Keith and I, we took like three shifts in a row last night. We're like, let's back come completely ISO cam him. Every single play is the correct play. Like, it doesn't matter if he's like not scoring. I mean, he's rushing it up through the neutral zone. He's giving a little backhand sauce right on a guy's tape. He has it in the off he had in the defensive zone that time. He's under pressure, puts it off the wall to himself. High flip out. Like, he never makes mistakes. He really does it.

[Kevin Hayes]

That's why you're, you're not a writer, because you see that? Because we see that. You don't have to look at a stat page and be like, no points.

[Paul Bissonnette]

You.

[Kevin Hayes]

You watch him. You're like. Like, he's effective. He's affecting the game in a good way. But the people that are like, oh, he's not scoring, like, they're just looking at the stat sheet after, oh, Burkhoff's not playing good. Well, no, he's playing amazing.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah.

[Anson Carter]

Would you have Marshawn, the hall of Fame?

[Kevin Hayes]

Oh, were you talking about this? Were we talking about this the other day?

[Anson Carter]

I don't know if I was talking.

[Kevin Hayes]

About Ellie, and I had this. Had this debate. I said, not yet. And there's another person who's a really good player, and I think he said the same thing. Could be the best player ever. And not yet, because once he gets.

[Liam McHugh]

A thousand points, if he gets this.

[Kevin Hayes]

But he's got no. No one. Well, like, what about Getzlov? Is get Slav a hall of Famer?

[Paul Bissonnette]

I think both of them.

[Kevin Hayes]

So why. What's the difference? Like, I think they're both one cup each in the rookie year. Right. Olympics for gatsy. I don't think Marshan has an Olympics. No window visual awards for either. Right. And I think Etsy's a hall of famer.

[Liam McHugh]

Yeah.

[Kevin Hayes]

Perry's a for sure hall of Famer because he's won everything and he's got the heart. But, like, don't you think that kind of factors in a little bit? Like, you have to have maybe an individual award.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I. I agree. I agree with that. When you. When the other argument is the individual awards and all that. But I also have just. And maybe it's because I played against them. Like, it's more like when I hear a name, I. Right away I'm like, yes or no?

[Kevin Hayes]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

And Marshana gets over. Yes, yes, go. And Perry's. Yes.

[Kevin Hayes]

Well, Marshawn might get 500 goals maybe, right? He's got like 4:30 right now or something like that. So, yeah, 500 goals, thousand points, Stanley cup, maybe two Stanley Cups.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I mean, I mean, like, okay, so Bergeron has how many selkies?

[Liam McHugh]

Six.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Like a bunch of selkies. But if you look at just the numbers, right, you wouldn't be like, yes, right away. Yeah, yeah. But like, I think of. I think of. Of when I think of Bergeron and gets laugh, I'm like, I think Getzlaf would have been Bergeron if he were on those Bruins teams. Oh, yeah. Do you know what I'm saying? Like, in terms of like, holy. Like, I'm not thinking of Patrice Bergeron as like, up here and gets left down here.

[Liam McHugh]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

And maybe that's just playing against him. And maybe people think I'm crazy saying that because he's out in Anaheim. You didn't see him. But having seen that guy in one playoff, I'm like, this is the. One of the best players I've ever seen. So the, the Marshawn thing, I think hall of famer, I, I really. And, and this is adding like a different element to it. Like the three surgeries, the trade as a captain from the Bruins and then taking a little bit of time and now just taking over a playoff.

[Anson Carter]

I thought that this would have, like, basically got him in at this point. If they win the st. If they win the Stanley cup and he has the run, I think what does he have 18 points right now in these playoffs.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Now, mind you, he had a quote that backs up your side of the argument against Gary Bettman where he said the tax stuff would for sure affect his free agent signing. So that. That's a player in the league that's making it clear that it does matter. But Gary doesn't want to hear that question.

[Kevin Hayes]

You can't answer that question.

[Paul Bissonnette]

No, no.

[Kevin Hayes]

3Amongst the owners right now.

[Anson Carter]

Let's go.

[Kevin Hayes]

You started that, eh?

[Anson Carter]

I didn't really start it. It's just like, like, it just like seems like a thing. Right? Like, it's like now these guys are able to keep these good players because they're. Offer them $2 million less, but they're making the same. So it's just like, you know, you, you do that throughout the course of a whole roster. And I. Before you got here, we mentioned the fact that, well, oh, 15 years ago, nobody was complaining. It's like, well, the cap was 44 million bucks.

[Kevin Hayes]

Yeah.

[Liam McHugh]

There wasn't. So he said it wasn't the Internet either.

[Anson Carter]

There's a difference.

[Kevin Hayes]

He said people not talk about the Canadian. The Canadian teams. Everyone's like, oh, the Canadian teams are a disadvantage. You're in Canada, you get pill. I was in Vancouver for 10 years. I got paid in U. S. Money and then I lived in Canada, Canadian expenses. So I got back then, like 25 extra. Right away. Now it's 40. So why is there like. It's the same. It's the same advantage. You're playing in Canada right now. In Toronto, you convert your, you know, your million dollar signing bonus and you're getting 1.4, right?

[Anson Carter]

Yeah.

[Kevin Hayes]

Taxes.

[Anson Carter]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

For the guys living.

[Kevin Hayes]

So there's Advantage. There's all these little advantages everywhere, and they're all subject to change. So that's why it's hard to react to it right now, I think. But it is, like, it looks bad because the south has been dominating for, you know, the last five, six years.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Well, it's also the only two teams in the Eastern Conference.

[Anson Carter]

I. Where I also factor in that, like. Like 15 years ago, the fans didn't have access to the players through social media like they do now. And so just with the, like, how much, like, quote, unquote scrutiny me, I don't think that they want it as much like they're dealing with that in Canada. So they're like, it. Not only am I making more or, like the same. You guys get what I'm saying?

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yes. Yeah. Well, you're in Florida and you have my brains. Two reporters after most practices and games, and you're in Toronto and you have.

[Anson Carter]

30, you turn it over. If you're a Leafs defenseman, like, your parents are getting death threats, you know, if you do it in Florida, like, you're going to the.

[Kevin Hayes]

Or Vegas.

[Liam McHugh]

I got a question.

[Kevin Hayes]

Always buzzing around there, too. Same thing, same advantage.

[Liam McHugh]

What. What trade do you think Boston fans hurts more, the Jumbo one or the Marshon one? Even though Jumbo obviously had his.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Oh, the Marshon won right now by a mile. They.

[Anson Carter]

They.

[Paul Bissonnette]

They were able. And the argument that they'll say is they were able to get Chara and Savard. Based on that. It was kind of the beginning of it. Then they got their Stanley Cup. Right now they're watching their captain light up. Light up the league.

[Kevin Hayes]

You just perked up a light up.

[Paul Bissonnette]

The league against their most. Most playing for their. Their most, like, hated rival the past few years. So this one's just a kick in the dick. Hey, we're. This is not your last question, but I'm gonna get the AD out of the way. It's the rollback. Last question.

[Anson Carter]

Here we go.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Because we don't want you to leave yet. Use the code chiclets on roback.com for a generous 20 off your first purchase through the end of the week. That's C-I C L-E-S on R-H-O-B-A-K.com all polos, shorts, swim trunks, and hoodies. 20 off. Promo code Chiclets. Do the Oilers win game four?

[Kevin Hayes]

I think they do.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I love you.

[Kevin Hayes]

I do.

[Paul Bissonnette]

And Pasha says, same thing. So they're gonna roll in Florida. This is where the two days off helps, right?

[Kevin Hayes]

Juice the Legend. Huge, huge reset. Nobody's at the ring today. This is where kind of the legend of McDavid and dry side will take over. This is where they have to. One of those games where they just will, like in the LA series, like, they're not gonna lose. Like, they will not be denied. If they're the only two going early, they'll be the only two going early and they'll drag everyone into the game. Like that one game in LA, in the first period, they were the only two guys going. Remember they scored the goal with like 30 seconds left in the period on the Face off play. David, it was earlier. McDavid, like, undressed everyone pass it to Dry Seidel. And it was 3:1 going into the intermission. I don't even think they won that game.

[Anson Carter]

But it's.

[Kevin Hayes]

I think it's going to be one of those type of games where they just. Those two will not be denied and get on back. Get on my back and follow me. If not, we'll win it on our own.

[Anson Carter]

There's nothing I want more than that series going back to Edmond.

[Ryan Whitney]

We.

[Kevin Hayes]

We deserve a two, two series.

[Anson Carter]

Yes, we do.

[Paul Bissonnette]

No, we really do. And it's. It.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

For me, like three. One. Yeah. They won three and three in a row last year. Like, I don't. I don't know. Basically, the only thing I'm looking at, because I'm way ahead of myself, my brain is. Is all over the map. They somehow lose four, they're gonna win five, then you just gotta win one game on the road, Game six. But. But that's like, how. So that actually goes. You played in the finals. That's like the madness of the finals. And it's more with fans. Because I want to ask your opinion as a player. Like, the highs and lows, buddy, after game one, it's like, we got the. We're gonna win the Stanley Cup. Then you lose game two. All right, Kind of go back there a little bit nervous. Then you lose game three. Like, I don't think. I don't think we can win. I think it's over. But we win game four, we're going back home for game five. We're gonna win the Stanley cup as a player. Now, you guys were never not leading the series against the Bruins till game seven. But you don't feel the same highs and lows that the fans do. Would you agree? As. As a player?

[Kevin Hayes]

No. And I was. I was talking to Perry about that the other day. It's funny, I'm like, oh, you played in. How many Cups have you played in now? Five ago.

[Anson Carter]

Six.

[Kevin Hayes]

Like, corrected me right away. And I said, now that, like, you're older, you're 40, you're at the end of your career, and you're playing in, like, your sixth Stanley Cup Final, do you actually, like, look around and kind of. Kind of enjoy it? Because as a player, I didn't enjoy any of it. I didn't see any of it. Your tunnel vision. You're thinking about all that kind of stuff, and then, like, the last, like, five, six years been working these Stanley Cup Finals, and you look around like, wow, this is so cool. There's so much going on, and you. You appreciate it more. And he's like, yeah, like, I'm starting to, like, appreciate. Be able to appreciate it more because he's older and he's had the experience over and over again. So. Yeah, like, when you're in it, though, especially, like, earlier in your career, middle of your career, you're like, tunnel vision. You're not thinking about anything. You're not reading anything. You're not. At least that's the way we were. Now, I don't know about these.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, maybe they are.

[Kevin Hayes]

I feel like they're aware of everything.

[Liam McHugh]

Yeah, they are.

[Kevin Hayes]

I feel like. Like, we asked McDavid about the past to echo the goal at home. Goal at home. And I thought the past was going to be Vander Kane.

[Anson Carter]

I thought it was, too.

[Kevin Hayes]

And we had a big debate about it on air, and everybody was against me. So then Elliot asked him the next day, and the media scrums, and he started laughing. Him and new started laughing, and he didn't answer it.

[Ryan Whitney]

It.

[Kevin Hayes]

So, like, he was aware.

[Liam McHugh]

Yeah, he was aware who it needed to get.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Knew.

[Kevin Hayes]

Yeah, he kind of just.

[Anson Carter]

You're saying, as in he knew the. The argument on the broadcast?

[Kevin Hayes]

I feel like. Yeah, of course he did, because he's like.

[Paul Bissonnette]

He knew the question was coming.

[Kevin Hayes]

He's like, yeah, I'm not gonna answer that. But what I'll say is the. The end result's the only thing that matters. Yeah, that's how he answered.

[Anson Carter]

I would have been going, well, it was great, though.

[Kevin Hayes]

It was great, because then it keeps our argument going.

[Liam McHugh]

Right.

[Kevin Hayes]

But I feel like the players are a little bit more aware now. But I. I wasn't in the moment.

[Paul Bissonnette]

So another. Another storyline, I'll say for the Oilers is. And a guy who's been incredible that nobody saw this coming was Klingberg. He's been unbelievable. He was horrendous last night. I mean, horrendous. I think there's a chance you see Stetcher come back in against Florida. Like, that's a. He's an An. And this is nothing against Klingberg, but maybe. And stature smaller, but he is more intense in ways. Like that play last night on the Reinhardt goal. Klingberg has complete control of the puck. He's going behind the net. Barkov does a great job.

[Anson Carter]

Not jammed up by the ref.

[Paul Bissonnette]

So that. That's the. Get out of the way, ref. But still right when he wheeled the net.

[Kevin Hayes]

That's his fault. He skated into the room.

[Ryan Whitney]

Exactly.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah. And he's skating around the net. Barkov has the angle, buddy. Just go off the glass in front of the ref. He skates directly into the ref. Now, Barkov did kind of get that free hand around him. Could have been a call, but I. I don't. Was he. I think he was minus three after the. The. Maybe the first.

[Anson Carter]

Should they remove refs off the ice and just put them in the crowd?

[Paul Bissonnette]

I mean, I think they should put.

[Kevin Hayes]

Them on like, a pulley system and hover them over the place so they're just looking down.

[Anson Carter]

Drones probably do it.

[Kevin Hayes]

Yeah. Like repelling down.

[Anson Carter]

I love that idea.

[Kevin Hayes]

You ever notice with guys like Klingberg, like Swedish defensemen that aren't very physical, they only go after Swedes or fins. Like Klingburg will, like, go after loose to Ryan. And I know there's a lot of them. Florida, they only go out.

[Anson Carter]

Buddy system.

[Kevin Hayes]

They never go after Canadians or Americans. It's just. I don't know.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I don't know what it is.

[Kevin Hayes]

They hate each other.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I'm gonna.

[Anson Carter]

I'm gonna notice that now that you mentioned.

[Kevin Hayes]

Watch whenever he chops somebody, it's. It's a fin or a sweet.

[Liam McHugh]

Yeah.

[Kevin Hayes]

It's just like he feels more comfortable going after one of those kind of guys.

[Anson Carter]

Yeah.

[Kevin Hayes]

But I. I don't know. Like, I think again, everybody had a bad day. How you gonna pick out one guy who's been a big part of you getting here and say, hey, because he. He has the ability to just throw pills at up the middle and make great passes.

[Paul Bissonnette]

That is true.

[Kevin Hayes]

Give you offense, which you're not getting a ton of. I don't think you. I love stats, too. Go 11 and 7.

[Liam McHugh]

Yeah.

[Kevin Hayes]

But I. I think Stetch gives you that, like, you know, that compete and that, like, just steady. But I think you still need. And that's why maybe you do 11 and 7. Because if Klingberg isn't Going, you know, when he's not going, you could tell early the passes aren't getting there. He's.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yep.

[Kevin Hayes]

Then, yeah, maybe play more of the steady stature. But if he's going, you give him a little bit of leash because you need to get the puck to these guys in the neutral zone. Like, they're a rush team, the Oilers, and Klingberg's kind of your best bet to get the puck.

[Liam McHugh]

Him and Rouge and Nurse was really good when he was playing with Stetch. Right. They were like, all year, basically.

[Paul Bissonnette]

That was his guy who, like, caught, you know, he.

[Liam McHugh]

He was never la series that he had a couple goals to, like, Nurse was getting some points.

[Kevin Hayes]

Like, do you find that when you played, like, because you played on all three pairs throughout your career, right? When you're playing on the top pair with like.

[Liam McHugh]

Did you play with Eckblood for like, two games?

[Kevin Hayes]

So say you're playing with Eckblad and you're like, okay, you're both really good defensemen. And then you start playing. They put you to kind of insulate the new guy or the young guy or the seventh defenseman. Do you feel like. Like, I felt like I would play better. Like, oh, they, like, they want me to protect this.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, Yeah.

[Kevin Hayes]

I felt like more responsibility. And it's almost like that's what Nurse was like. He had stature, the 7D hadn't played in a while, and he kind of like, elevated his decent. I. I know I'm the guy that's to going to protect. I just felt like that's.

[Anson Carter]

He played so well with Snatcher as an opponent. What would you be making of, like, Paul Maurice's press conferences and, like, his, like, all the jokes and stuff? It's driving this guy mental.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Oh, yeah. It's a set. It's a set at the comedy seller.

[Kevin Hayes]

They shouldn't be watching, though. I don't know. Like, he's entertaining.

[Anson Carter]

He's entertaining.

[Liam McHugh]

I love us.

[Anson Carter]

Yeah.

[Kevin Hayes]

Great speaker. I had him at the world championships. He ran the D. Loved him. Like, he's just. He's great for the game.

[Anson Carter]

Oh, for sure. It's just like, he's just kind of getting rattled.

[Paul Bissonnette]

What would that.

[Kevin Hayes]

What would irritate you about them?

[Paul Bissonnette]

He just keeps beating us and beating us and be. You know, that's why I'm joking, buddy. If I was a Panthers fan, I'd be loving. I mean, this is unbelievable. We got Jerry Seinfeld as our coach.

[Kevin Hayes]

He wasn't joking after game one. Like, I walked by him before the press. Oh, he Was just like. No, but he just wasn't the same story. He went up and he did his media scrum and he was like, like, wasn't telling stories, wasn't joking around. So it's a product of winning, right? When you, when you're winning, you're, you're feeling looser.

[Paul Bissonnette]

As we're pumping Marshawn's tires as we have been. And we brought up Perry just briefly. Like it's. If it, it's crazy that he's doing this still. I mean he, you mentioned his shot not being that good. He's 40 years old. I think he's. He's as good as he's. He's been since his like MVP season right now. Like, do you just. And he's not like, like jacked. You know what I mean? He's not like some.

[Kevin Hayes]

Well, that's an understatement. Yeah, no kidding.

[Paul Bissonnette]

But it's just you, you mentioned the little stick fakes and the hockey iq, but when you were with them, what that had to be what, eight years ago, were you playing with them? Little less.

[Kevin Hayes]

2015 to 2018.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah. So eight years.

[Kevin Hayes]

Remember his warm up before games? What he would do? Oh, he'd walk around his bar like.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Right now next to him on the stool.

[Kevin Hayes]

But he like walk around this hoodie on. And then he just started doing like, like high legs, like kicking the roof. And then he would like do the splits and he would like stick handle and like he's very limber. Like he can do the splits.

[Anson Carter]

Yeah. So my understanding stretches for about an hour a day now just to stay very limber, especially in his old age.

[Kevin Hayes]

Puts on his two knee braces and gets gears, gears up.

[Anson Carter]

Still wears 2D braces.

[Kevin Hayes]

I don't know. I mean I haven't played with them for a while, but I think a lot of guys do though. You had an MCL injury. Most guys wear the knee braces because they're so. They're good knee braces now.

[Anson Carter]

So you can join.

[Kevin Hayes]

Yeah. They don't hinder you and they kind of keep everything. I wore mine to the end of my career and I had a few.

[Anson Carter]

Don joys in my day.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Weren't those the old, the old shoulder pads or were those like. Remember those shoulder pad, football pad where they doused? Remember those ones? They were just like straight up linebackers.

[Anson Carter]

Yeah. And I think they're coming back as a hockey company. Really Sent me a pair of wheels.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Oh God, dude.

[Kevin Hayes]

Change your shoulder pads though. Like I have never seen shoulder things from college and Then just a new body or like vice versa. The old body, like the old Coho.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yep.

[Kevin Hayes]

And that like, nobody changes their shoulders.

[Anson Carter]

No, obviously.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Pads, shin pads. You're not like, you're literally using them for.

[Anson Carter]

For your whole career. Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I mean, and Crosby has the same cups.

[Kevin Hayes]

Yeah. Like, how so he kind of went through like a little time there where he was basically one year deals. Like if he had a bad year, he would have to retire.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yep.

[Kevin Hayes]

Like, you know what it get like when you get to the end of your career, you're 37, 38, 39. You have one bad year, they're like, you're washed up, you lost a step, you can't play. So every year it's like a one year tryout and he's come through every year with either goals or like having that great role. And it's impressive to see because he's playing so much higher in the lineup than he was like three, four years ago. He was. Remember he was a fourth liner with Pat Maroon there for a while.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah.

[Kevin Hayes]

And he just did what he had to do.

[Ryan Whitney]

Right.

[Kevin Hayes]

More physicality when he's a fourth liner, you know, net front scrums, a few fights. And then now he's playing higher up in the lineup and he's producing like he just does whatever.

[Anson Carter]

He's very sticky, but he just knows that's the term that talk uses.

[Kevin Hayes]

Yeah.

[Anson Carter]

He gets it stuck on the boards. Like, you know, he's just like, he like, oh, you're trying to use the wall as a D man. He'll close it off, it'll get caught in his skates. He'll take your stick away and then he'll wait for someone support and then boom, out back.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I think he waits that split second better than anyone.

[Kevin Hayes]

The hesitation, it's.

[Paul Bissonnette]

It's. It's literally half a second that most guys get rid of it, that he holds it with a little delay and it all of a sudden it opens up everything and somehow like, I just, I never saw him still doing it because, you know, not has never been a great skater. So you're like, oh, he. He's got what, a year left and no, it's just, it's wild to see.

[Kevin Hayes]

Watch all of his points in the playoffs and goals. Everything is like you said, a hesitation before the shot. Everyone run is that little. Like he's the worm.

[Liam McHugh]

And the tie game has stolen from him. Like that weird shot like that kind of just gets there.

[Paul Bissonnette]

The tying goal in game two by Perry. I think I don't. Was at loose it was like the perfect coverage. Like, he had his stick.

[Anson Carter]

Oh, he.

[Paul Bissonnette]

It was. You can't be disappointed as a coach. It's somehow he got that. I know. Crazy. I know. It's crazy.

[Kevin Hayes]

Watch when he comes down the wing and he's so slow, this one. And he comes down the wing. The D's got a gap, and it looks like he's not even getting it inside the blue line. And then sometimes he starts doing this stuff. Next thing you know, he's behind the neck because the D's like, holy. Like, what do I do? Like, this guy's just, like wiggling around, you know.

[Liam McHugh]

Did you see the press conference with his kid? And you, like, have you contemplated retirement? And his kid was like, you said one more year.

[Kevin Hayes]

Mom says one more year.

[Liam McHugh]

Oh, really?

[Paul Bissonnette]

There's no part of him.

[Liam McHugh]

He's gonna sign in Florida next year and then play another four years after that.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I mean, boys, there's a chance he's. He's getting. Get the chance to lose five straight.

[Anson Carter]

Tough. That's tough. That's like, last thing before we bring in Liam McHugh. He's behind here. We're doing a live.

[Paul Bissonnette]

You can drive the bus for this show, too, please, Liam, please.

[Anson Carter]

Take it. Take it over.

[Liam McHugh]

The X is going to be in the pool.

[Paul Bissonnette]

His has egg farts now, though, after his bagel sandwich.

[Kevin Hayes]

Is that what that's smelling?

[Paul Bissonnette]

Open up his legs, too. He's a sick breath.

[Anson Carter]

Breaking news. Calder trophy. Lane Hudson that just broke. What do you make of that? You like watching his game?

[Kevin Hayes]

I liked. Yeah, I do. I liked all three of them, though. I thought all three of them you could make a case for. But Montreal making the playoffs gives him the edge over Dustin Wolf and celebrini celebrity. 18 years old and scores 25 goals. What were you doing?

[Paul Bissonnette]

Celebrating. Still hasn't.

[Kevin Hayes]

All right. Like the 711 burgers.

[Paul Bissonnette]

You were eating mid at a strip club. You were a bouncer at a strip strip club when you were. I just think.

[Liam McHugh]

I just think as a defenseman, like, we were all rookies at one point, like to dominate the way that he did and like you said, get his team into the playoffs as a defenseman, that trumps what everyone.

[Kevin Hayes]

And a small defenseman.

[Liam McHugh]

Yeah.

[Anson Carter]

And that last 15 games, he was paying like 25 minutes. Some games. I remember one. One night they played against Colorado. He's playing out there against McKinnon. I think he had like two assists, 25 minutes.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I mean, didn't he have the most points by a rookie who. One of them Most assists ever by a rookie defenseman. Or was it second?

[Liam McHugh]

Second, I think Larry. No, not Murphy.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, it might have been Larry Murphy.

[Liam McHugh]

Larry. No, Phil Housley.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I don't know.

[Kevin Hayes]

That sounds more accurate. But, you know, what I heard about him is even towards the end of the year, so, like, rookie putting up big points, playing the most. You think he would have, like, a little bit of, like, an arrogance to him, like, not picking up the puck anymore, not going on.

[Paul Bissonnette]

On.

[Kevin Hayes]

He went on first every day still towards the end of the season, and he got off the ice last, like, he still acted like a rookie, even though he was, you know, their number one D. Like, I love that stuff.

[Paul Bissonnette]

He tied him 60 assists, so he. He. He's tied for the record for most assists in the history of the league by rookie defenseman with Larry Murphy. And so that's like, give him the rookie of the year now. Interesting that we talked about Skinner skates, something Lane Hudson had mentioned that has made him the skater he is. Is. He would go out and skate on the ice with no laces in his skate. Yes.

[Kevin Hayes]

What you should have done that.

[Paul Bissonnette]

He would go around when he was younger and he'd skate with no laces in his.

[Anson Carter]

Yeah, I think that all the brothers did that.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Okay, well, I mean, you know, if. If it can work for him.

[Anson Carter]

But he brought him up for the game.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, I know, but I don't think they're tied super tight. If he was training with no laces in the tongues out of his skates, falling around. He still hops around like he does now, and. And start picker, mind you. Like.

[Kevin Hayes]

Like celebrity, but not in a mean way, but, like, in an inclusive way.

[Liam McHugh]

Hey, he used. I used to go through skates a lot, and, like, Biz would be sitting next to me in the locker room, and he'd be like, hey, Stan, can I get new skates? And Stan would be like, walking. I'd be like, yeah. No. He'd be like, biz, you don't want a year.

[Anson Carter]

And then I.

[Paul Bissonnette]

And then I was trying to sell.

[Anson Carter]

Them, and then I got new ones, and then I put them in the oven, and then I got distracted. And then 45 minutes later, I came back and the new ones were melted. I had to go back to my old ones. No, was business.

[Kevin Hayes]

Helmet too high on his head when he played. Like, if I felt like it sat up.

[Anson Carter]

Everybody, thank Kevin Baxter for joining us. Thanks for coming by.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Oh, yeah, he had a sunburn on his forehead.

[Liam McHugh]

So he did.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Juice. Juice, don't leave me Hanging. Please don't leave me hanging. Thank you very much. You're the best. You're the best. We will now bring in. I. I guess the main questions we have for Liam McHugh is how the hell do you work with Paul Biss? I mean, when this guy showed up with that Sunday yesterday, you must have been just. Just talk about the sunburn that he. That you saw Biz have. I mean, you know, brother. You didn't dress the same.

[Liam McHugh]

I thought Liam was gonna be.

[Paul Bissonnette]

No.

[Liam McHugh]

No sleeves, too. He's ripped too. Sneaky ripped.

[Ryan Whitney]

I. I heard. I heard BX was here, and they told me he looked great, so I was in there just pounding out push ups. Right?

[Anson Carter]

Oh, I'm exhausted. Okay.

[Kevin Hayes]

Yeah.

[Anson Carter]

Yan's Kitchen. Yan's wife walks in, looking at army.

[Paul Bissonnette]

And Murray, it's like looking at me. It's like, we look. Look great. Look at these guys.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, I feel like I'm diagnosing something different every day with this.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Exactly.

[Ryan Whitney]

The gout thing, which we'll go into later. But then he walks into the green room yesterday. I don't know if it's a joke. Like, he walked into her so red. Like, this is nothing like what you're looking at.

[Liam McHugh]

They did a good job with your makeup.

[Anson Carter]

Yeah, Jammy won an Emmy.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, that's pretty sick. Actually got her an award.

[Ryan Whitney]

And you didn't believe it. I'm like, what is wrong with you? And you're like, oh, was it bad? It's not bad, right? You look over, you go to the mirror.

[Paul Bissonnette]

You don't consider sunscreen at the floor in the Florida sun?

[Anson Carter]

Yesterday, I put a little bit on my face. I have, like, a special one, but obviously I go in the ocean. It probably got rinsed off. And then. Yeah, I was out there for two and a half hours. And when I showered and then put my moisturizer on to go to the rink, it wasn't bad. It must. That must have, like, accelerated it. By the time I walk in there, like, an hour because of the drive. Like, I saw Liam's face, like, what? And he's like, did you lay on the sun? And I wouldn't look in the mirror. I'm like, oh, I am in one.

[Ryan Whitney]

And then everybody that enters the room, just like, greeting everyone. Then this is, like, everything back. We've got a couple. Exactly.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Looks like he just did, like, the Tortorella skating test.

[Liam McHugh]

You're, like, pink, Whitney.

[Anson Carter]

So actually, I. I noticed Pangers had a really good tan lately.

[Liam McHugh]

I said it to him last night.

[Anson Carter]

I go yeah, you gotta go. He goes, I'm taking peptide.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Peptides, they give you tan.

[Anson Carter]

And then. And then when Bush go. When Bush walked in, he goes, oh, no. It looks like Biz got a whole lot. He took them all. Oh, yeah. I only eat on peptides.

[Liam McHugh]

Bush is hilarious.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah. Totally. Funny guy out there, by the way. You see him banging on the glass yesterday. So the water.

[Paul Bissonnette]

He had enough of that.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, he gave a little. Yeah, that's enough.

[Liam McHugh]

He's a crazy.

[Ryan Whitney]

He's also a big dude. Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

That was Wallman, correct? Doing that?

[Ryan Whitney]

Yes.

[Anson Carter]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

And he's like, I think, yeah, he was the one that cut the.

[Ryan Whitney]

His wires crossed.

[Liam McHugh]

Bush almost beat me up my first training camp.

[Paul Bissonnette]

What?

[Liam McHugh]

We did a drill that you had to like rim the puck around. And I obviously. It was my first training camp. I got a little too excited. I rimmed it a little too hard. He chases me around this drills for the goalie chase. I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I was. Dude, I was literally. I was gonna go home.

[Paul Bissonnette]

He had enough of you.

[Anson Carter]

Yeah, yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

You get him on edge. Yeah, he's that guy. But he's also like the funniest guy. I could do an impression of every single person.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Well, you. You mentioned already. So you were the one that originally were like, biz, you're eating 20 ounces of steak. You know, we're going on 13 nights in a row now. Oh, easy. So you. You, like, maybe before you even mentioned it, say after four nights in a row of a 12 ouncer and then an 8 ounce. Or you probably were like, this is weird. And then finally decided to say something.

[Ryan Whitney]

Well, well, listen. I mean, everyone's. Everyone laughs right away because it's Biz and they're like. I'm like, yeah, but you know. Yeah, seriously, like. Like, we. Well, we had a couple of those days where it was four game days, right. So you get there early and then.

[Paul Bissonnette]

You stake a game.

[Ryan Whitney]

And that was what it was. You know, like, we'd get back. It was third game and I swear to. You had eaten three steaks at this point. But you're in great shape. You're healthy.

[Paul Bissonnette]

But he's injured too.

[Ryan Whitney]

But then he. He looks at me and it's like talking to osley. I got two boys. Boy, boys. This is. You're my third. All right? Because I have a. I have an 11. A 12 year old, a 10 year old.

[Liam McHugh]

Blame him on your.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, I mean, he's just. He's bleeding me dry. But they. He looked at me like that he goes, oh, why is that bad? Should you not do that? Is that too much? Yeah, it's way too much. I love also that I think you were probably more annoyed that I was right.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Oh, this was before the dog. Before. Oh, no, no, he called him up before.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Oh, you had warned.

[Ryan Whitney]

I had. I had concerns.

[Paul Bissonnette]

He was probably like, what are you. You talking about, bro?

[Ryan Whitney]

Semesters of biology at Nassau Community College. And I knew that he had gout.

[Liam McHugh]

So he's like, what does Liam know.

[Anson Carter]

I'm four inches tall? He brought it up. He's like, have you ever gotten Go. And I'm like, no. Like, I was annoyed that. Yes. I was just more kind of like, oh, you got my wheel spinning. I'm trying.

[Ryan Whitney]

Were you annoyed that I was right?

[Anson Carter]

No, I.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Like, I'm gonna prove him wrong. My foot swallowing because the girl sucked on it.

[Anson Carter]

I literally. Because I thought I broke my foot. So when I called the document, he's like, hey, describe to me the pain. Send me the picture. And he goes. He goes, I don't think you broke your foot. I think you have go. And I was like, Liam McHugh.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Hey, but how would you have thought you.

[Anson Carter]

You.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Nothing happened.

[Anson Carter]

I was. I worked out a couple days in a row, and I got a stress fracture maybe, but I thought maybe it was like, a little. Yeah, a little stress fracture, and then it amplified because I flew, and then the swelling, and then, like, then there.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Was a ribeye in your toe.

[Anson Carter]

And I think as. As Edzo described it or somebody described it, like, they couldn't even put a sheet over. Over it, like, if they went to sleep and the sheet touched it.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Oh.

[Anson Carter]

So, yeah, so I texted you right away, so thanks being my. My second father, but I want to dive into your career. How many Stanley cup finals now is this?

[Ryan Whitney]

Like, I. I was part.

[Paul Bissonnette]

What was your first one with NBC.

[Ryan Whitney]

So, like, 2011. Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Okay.

[Ryan Whitney]

And so I just really started there, and I only got to do a couple games. Dan Patrick was still doing stuff. Stuff.

[Paul Bissonnette]

So it was Dan Patrick.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah. So that was his final year.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Remember on oln, it was right after.

[Ryan Whitney]

That, Versus plus NBC. And I got to do a couple. So I did the first two, and then, you know, Vancouver was, like, in full celebration mode, Right. It was like they'd won the cup. They swept them to nothing. And it was awesome. I didn't have kids. My wife came out to be like, we were done. We were just, like, vacationing there and then to watch, as a fan, the rest of that. That one.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Oh, yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, and see it go down. Wow. Then here, like, you know that the plane was taken off and flying from Vancouver while, like, basically, like, you know, it felt like riots were happening.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, it didn't. There was. Yeah, it didn't feel like it. There was.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Anson Carter]

So you flew out the night the riots.

[Ryan Whitney]

No, so I was done. Like, I was back home and like, now I'm watching all this, like, what the hell just happened in this series? So I've been doing it since then. I, you know, the bubble ones wasn't really involved. Solved one of the two, but we did everything.

[Paul Bissonnette]

So when you found out, though, that. That NBC Sports was done, like, you had to have. You had to have, like, a worry. Right. Did you already know TNT was going to hire you? Like, what am I going to do now?

[Ryan Whitney]

No, not at all. I was, like, terrified. Done. Like, I. And I found out, like, around the time that we were losing the NHL that I was basically not coming back at all. And I did, like, football. I did college football. Yeah. So, yeah, no, like, we had, you know, your house, you got kids, you don't know what you're gonna do. It was rough, man. And then people were getting picked off, like, oh, they're going to espn, which is like the worst, because people are, like, trying to tell you what's happening and where they're going.

[Paul Bissonnette]

But also, I got nothing.

[Anson Carter]

Right.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, my God.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I don't want to hear this.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I was like, July 1st, nobody's calling your buddies. They're all telling you they're offers.

[Ryan Whitney]

But I gotta say, like, I mean, a big thing that worked for me was the guys at NBC. I think they, you know, Jonesy, specifically Edzo, those guys went in there and they're like, if you're looking, looking for a host, like, oh, yeah, like, don't overthink this.

[Anson Carter]

That's awesome.

[Paul Bissonnette]

He's done it.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah. And they also, like, you know, I think you're gonna get more out of him here than you got NBC. They're like, he. You know, it was just a different vibe there.

[Anson Carter]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

They were looking for something different, but if you just want him to be him, like, I think it's going to work out a lot better for you. They brought me down and it was awesome. We. We got to do, like, a little rehearsal.

[Anson Carter]

Yeah. It was him and Ace. Like.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, you did your, like, tryout. I remember you went for, like, he. You'd already been hired or. Yes.

[Ryan Whitney]

Just did, like, papers haven't been signed, but I had been. Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

So then they're gonna have you run through some different people?

[Ryan Whitney]

Exactly.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Okay. Okay.

[Anson Carter]

But when I had met before that we hadn't.

[Paul Bissonnette]

No, you want.

[Anson Carter]

I thought maybe we'd cross paths.

[Ryan Whitney]

I think maybe like, online or something.

[Anson Carter]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah.

[Anson Carter]

Okay, cool. Yeah, Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

I was nervous in chat room.

[Anson Carter]

Yeah.

[Liam McHugh]

Everyone meets nowadays online.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Anson Carter]

But I got the email. I thought it was false with me, and then, yeah, sure enough, I fly down to Atlanta, and it was him and Ace in there, and they kind of did like, a little trial bit, and the rest is history. Man, it's been an awesome ride.

[Ryan Whitney]

But I remember that, like. And you were great because you were exactly who you are. You came in, no one, like, tried to be anything they weren't. And I think you butchered someone's name during a highlight.

[Anson Carter]

Yeah, but then you called yourself.

[Liam McHugh]

It was Riley Smith.

[Ryan Whitney]

You got off, dude, so good.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Hey, I. That's Dan Brown.

[Anson Carter]

What?

[Ryan Whitney]

But. But I remember you did that and you're like, is that. And you. It's like, how we do the show now. You're like, is that how you say his name? And I was like, no, you say it.

[Anson Carter]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

And then we sat there and, like, we just, like, were silent for a while. And this is like, while the audition's happening, we're looking at each other, just nodding like, I'm like, so what are you doing the rest of the summer now? You don't have the job. We just started talking about and we just went back and forth and, like, you know, the whole highlight went by. We didn't talk about anything that was happening. And I think, like, a lot of places they would have been like.

[Paul Bissonnette]

But they liked it.

[Ryan Whitney]

But they like that.

[Anson Carter]

But we're very blessed to be at a company that doesn't take themselves too seriously and yet are. Are so professional. And I mean it. They are. They are so first class. It's even hard.

[Ryan Whitney]

And I get that. Listen, I'm gonna blow smoke, but, like, I'm not blowing smoke. Like, I'm gonna pump your tires. Like, I feel that way about you. Like, I feel very lucky that I get to work.

[Anson Carter]

Oh, Liam. Right back, guys. You have the emotions.

[Ryan Whitney]

It's a chemistry thing, and you never know how it's going to work. But, like, it. This has been, like, working with you has been a huge part of my career now.

[Anson Carter]

Hey, right back at you. Your motor's insane. Anybody I talk to? I'm like, I don't know how this guy does it. He's reading off the prompter. He's cutting jokes. He's putting up with my it's just. You just. You deserve a. You deserve like 20 Emmys for putting up.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Well, let's talk about like this year with the Leafs. Like, it seemed like people were really turning on them. Like, you. Like, I think we all had enough of them. Everyone's like, Keith was ready to. Keith drummed his face into oblivion. Like, you had to be like, all right, we need the leaf to. To lose. Like, this guy is.

[Anson Carter]

Yeah, I was kidding.

[Paul Bissonnette]

He's lost in the sauce right now.

[Liam McHugh]

He's wearing the Ambassador jacket.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, the Ambassador jacket with the yellow shirt, the tie. And first of all, he's wearing the yellow shirt every night.

[Anson Carter]

Every night.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

Like, not washing it. Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Chirped you last night. He did.

[Ryan Whitney]

He gave it to you.

[Anson Carter]

I think by the time I lit the candles, the panel was like, we need these guys to get tonight.

[Paul Bissonnette]

The whole world. The whole world was like, I need either the. The. The Maple Leafs to lose or this guy to get fired. That's where we were at.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, we had like a full parade planned for you. Had. They won that series.

[Paul Bissonnette]

That's a perfect description of the Leafs.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, we had in the studio like a full parade route. Follow you around. People are gonna be throwing confetti.

[Paul Bissonnette]

A1 sauce.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah. Oh, yeah.

[Anson Carter]

So now I'm a vegetarian with no testosterone and a sunburn.

[Ryan Whitney]

I guess I look at this camera angle as I. I sit here.

[Anson Carter]

Oh, I just thought the fans love it.

[Ryan Whitney]

And I can't help. I gotta tell you guys story. So yesterday when he went to the beach and.

[Liam McHugh]

Oh, you did.

[Ryan Whitney]

Got a sunburn. I don't know if you heard about that. He starts sending us pictures because, you know, Anson Carter played in Edmonton. There was always this thing about Ace Beach. So he would. He brought sand to his apartment and he had this like, beach party. What I. He was living it up.

[Anson Carter]

He was on a sixth floor of an apartment building and he craned up a hot tub and then he put. Put like, like the tiki porches and then put sand on the balcony and as their after hours for the party in Edmonton. You know, the bars closing 1:38. Everybody go back to East Beach. So that's pretty sick.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Wow.

[Ryan Whitney]

Now the guy's telling dad jokes like. Yeah, but like, that's how he was living back then. So biz. He's trying to take like, you know, some pictures without Ace knowing it. And he's on the beach and he's sending pictures. Every picture is worse than the one before. Most of them are full on just crud.

[Anson Carter]

Like full deck shot. Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

Biz is taking him from here. One is, he's turned over just his ass. Like, it's. And. And he's sending it to me and the producer and the director, and I think we're like, they're trying to be nice in the beginning. Like, could you. Could you take another picture?

[Anson Carter]

Yeah. I'm like, I'm not a private investor.

[Ryan Whitney]

Legs are up like this. And it's. What was. I think Morgan, our director, is like, these are going to be behind a paywall.

[Anson Carter]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

Make sure you're 18 after a while. So we couldn't air any of them. And you're. Yeah. You're sitting here like, I'm not a private.

[Anson Carter]

I'm not a private investigator. But sometimes we share pictures on the broadcast of what people are doing in their downtime. I figured we'd get Ace beach photo and put it up there, but it didn't make.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, maybe after dark.

[Anson Carter]

After. Yeah.

[Liam McHugh]

Yeah.

[Anson Carter]

I was gonna ask about working with, like, Jonesy and. And all those guys. Early days.

[Liam McHugh]

So good.

[Anson Carter]

Mike Milbury, like, what were they like in studio behind the scenes? I want to say Babcock.

[Ryan Whitney]

At one point, he was there with us briefly.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

We'll show him your phone.

[Ryan Whitney]

That was day one. Yeah. All right, Babcock, quickly. We only worked with him briefly, but, I mean, he's exactly who you expect them to be, right? He was like. He knew he was only there briefly. And when you have a guy who's like, he wants to coach again, he's only gonna say certain things, but he.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I remember Courts was on for a minute. Not with us, maybe.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, not with us. And I would love that, Like, I think towards Fantastic. On tv. Babcock. I remember our producer, like, one of the executives came down to talk to him. It was, like, really going over detail, detail. And like, 30 seconds into this little speech, Babcock had had enough. Like, he paused for a second. He's like, all right, is that it? Good. And he just walked away as if, like, some assistant coach had come up with an awful idea. And all of us are like, all right, it's hilarious. Otherwise, Milbury, I. I loved working with Surly. Like, I love going back and forth with him, and you get the perspective of a guy who's, you know, seen some stuff in the innings.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yes.

[Ryan Whitney]

And, you know, and it's part of, like, so many unbelievable teams and weird, like, weird stories with the islanders and someone who grew up on Long Island. It was really cool. Jonesy, uh, honestly, I've said you and Jonesy like, you know, two people have been so big in my career. Anson Carter as well.

[Anson Carter]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

But Jonesy, when I first started this, I was not a hockey guy. Like, I was.

[Paul Bissonnette]

You didn't play growing up?

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, I played almost every other sport. I was more of a soccer player. Did not play hockey. I mean, I grew up on Long island, and my dad was a public school teacher. This was at the heels of the Islanders dynasty. And I'm like, oh, I want to play hockey. And he looked at me, he goes, rich kid, sport. End of conversation. That was the end of it. We never spoke about me playing hockey ever again again. And so that was it. But I love the. Listen, I love the game. I love sports. When I first got into this, though, it's like, you know, all of a sudden, you know, and it's an audience where you mispronounce someone's name. You butcher something, they're all over you. Now, once you're in, I feel like you're in.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

Beginning. It's rough. Jonesy was so big in terms of just working with me, making sure I was on the right page. I think he saw. He's like, you can drive the bus. You can host the show. Like, we trust you. He's like, if you need anything, he's like, s. Ask any stupid question you want off camera. We're gonna get through this. And first couple years, that was huge.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Did you picture him at one point being the president of a hockey team? Like, now? We went to his ranch. It was outside Philly. Beautiful properties, got horses. And I was. And I always heard how funny he was. And he was, like, the most hospitable, like, funniest guy. I'm like, this guy's a legend. But I still. Even at that time, I was like, oh, he's just perfect at what he does on tv. Like, never saw him. Him, you know, taking over the reins of an NHL franchise. But I think. I think he's, like, perfect for that as well. I just didn't picture it based on his sense of humor and stuff.

[Ryan Whitney]

No, I wouldn't have either, just because of who he is and the life, you know, he leads. And I think he's. He's. That guy. It's funny. He's laid back, you know, he's a storyteller.

[Paul Bissonnette]

But he was a prick when he played, too. Yeah, that's like.

[Ryan Whitney]

I mean, just the stories, right? Like, Jagger was, I guess. Like, he's losing some money in the market. Like, he'd been. It had been public. Like, it was in the news and you know, Jonesy goes over to the bench before games, puts his foot up on there. Jonesy can't even like touch his knee when he stretches. And he's like, hey, yeah, this has the day trade going. That's like the quintessential. Like you're pissed off at him at the same time, like everyone on the bench probably laughing about it. I mean, guys would chase him around the ice.

[Anson Carter]

Yeah, yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

He pissed them off.

[Anson Carter]

Oh yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

He was that type of player. So. No, I don't think so, but I think what he said is interesting and I totally believe it. I don't believe it when anyone else says it, but when he said only this team, like only the Flyers, I, I really do. I think he loves that team, loves that city.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Have you ran into any of the. The. It's. I think it's more the play by play announcers in the color where like, you hate my team. Why do you hate my team? You know? You know, I guess it'd be different. You're just hosting the pre game or the intermissions and stuff. Stuff. But I don't know if you've had fans reach out, like.

[Anson Carter]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, fans, absolutely. Yeah. I mean, even with Florida, like, I mean we got to overtime in that first game and I think Florida was out to have what, 14, two in the third period. I mean they had nothing in that third period and the Oilers were coming. So like we were pretty heavy obviously in that intermission about the push by Edmonton and you get people like, like, like, all right, you know, like you obviously want them to win. You don't care. You hate Florida. We'd spent so much time talking about them, it could turn on dime.

[Liam McHugh]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

Which is the weird thing. And I, I love when I remember people actually accused me a few times of like trying to push the Rangers. And I grew up on Long island and I'm an Islanders fan.

[Anson Carter]

Like, I hate this dude.

[Ryan Whitney]

And I was like, I don't really. I was like, just do like an ounce of research. Like, I'm not like, you know, I'm not pushing anyone. I don't, don't care.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I think they hear what they want to hear.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yes. And if you're not pumping the tires of their team, if you're talking about the other side. Yeah, everyone's pissed. But I mean, I don't know. I feel like our show, we're talking about what's interesting. It's not 50 50, like, because not every period is 50 50.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Right.

[Ryan Whitney]

Interesting content. Like, and you know, if we Get a game. It's different now in this. You know, the series has been phenomenal and there's so much. I mean, I think Hank tweeted out before we went on the other night. He's like, we need like a 45 minute intermission just to talk about everything that happened.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Oh, for sure.

[Ryan Whitney]

When you get like some of those October, listen and it's late night, you get a West coast game, you get.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Seattle, Anaheim at 10 o' clock exactly. Like, and eating steak, it's like you.

[Ryan Whitney]

Might as well just eat steak on air for like during the intermission. I mean, it's. But I think the cool thing about our show is we don't try to pretend it was interesting.

[Liam McHugh]

Right.

[Ryan Whitney]

Because if it wasn't, if it was a bad period of hockey. It was a bad period of hockey.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Quite out like that. That was watching paint dry.

[Ryan Whitney]

That's okay. Like if that's. What if the fan probably feels that way. I think most of them and funny things. You get responses from fans on that and they are with you because they tuned in and they want to see something exciting also. They want to see their team play well. So you get some honesty there as well.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Let's get to some kind of quick hits. You're here. Love to just have you stay around and talk about what's going on. First thing that catches my mind is the Dallas Stars have decided Pete DeBoer is gonzo and biz was the first one. We were doing a live stream of Game 5 in Dallas against the Oilers. He pulls Jake Ottinger after two goals against two nothing. Only I think seven minutes into the game. And Biz right away he's like that. That's. This is like a fireball offense. Like. And we all kind of like, I don't know. He's been to three straight west to call for the finals. He's been to five of the last six with other teams. No way. No way. Boom. Decisions made. Biz like you, I guess you right away you realized how big of a mistake it was pulling on. And that was before we heard the quotes after the game. That might have actually done him in completely.

[Liam McHugh]

I think it did.

[Anson Carter]

Yeah. I just. After the game when he said that, it just felt like he was thinking about it before the game. You know what? He said that like, how would that. Like what. You know what I'm saying? Like, he's like, oh, going back to last year, he did this, this and this of these games. And it's just like, how are you. You processing that? After the loss, rather than like, all the other stuff that was going on in the midst of that.

[Ryan Whitney]

Like, it was discussed beforehand. And then it's like, see the start. See, I told you this might happen.

[Paul Bissonnette]

He had said he had lost six out of the last seven against them. We give up two goals early in an elimination game. Boom, he's done. And it's like, whoa, I didn't know you'd be coming with that. The season's over. Like. Yeah, so you called it, though. And.

[Anson Carter]

And. And how about, like, how do the goals happen? Like, how.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, yeah.

[Anson Carter]

The seas parted. So what are you. What do you make of all that?

[Ryan Whitney]

I thought the decision was beyond questionable at the beginning. And then I thought, like, you guys, I thought the press conference made it so much worse. So much worse. And I think there's such an opportunity there. And I think, honestly, if Deborah had a chance to take. To do it differently, he would. I think it's an easy thing to feel that way and not say that. And it doesn't make a difference what sport you're playing. Franchise player and coach, you can't have that. You can't have them there. And, you know, Andre is their franchise goalie. He's also really well liked throughout the entire league.

[Anson Carter]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Where the guys were upset by the. Yes.

[Ryan Whitney]

And I think that's the other thing.

[Liam McHugh]

Where it's like his comments, too. Remember, he was like, he handled it great.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

He. He. You thought he might have saved it. It based on, like, how he handled it and where he could have gone with it, but they had made their decision.

[Anson Carter]

Did he say that they had or hadn't spoke? Like, had Ottinger had a. Like a behind the closed doors conversation with the Boar after that game before. He was then interviewed after the season.

[Ryan Whitney]

I don't remember seeing.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, I'm assuming they would have spoken by then.

[Ryan Whitney]

Right before he takes. So no, before the press conference.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I doubt it. No, no, I'm saying before Ottinger's press conference.

[Anson Carter]

Yeah, like one you, you know, you kind of clean out your locker a couple days.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, you're talking about, like, the exit.

[Anson Carter]

Yeah. So, Pasha, you're saying that. That they never had a. That's weird.

[Ryan Whitney]

That's weird.

[Anson Carter]

That tells me everything right there, where there was obviously a disconnect, and now it makes a lot more sense.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Well, that brings up the other side of, like, where you could play devil's advocate, conspiracy theorist, where he's like, all right, I got one year left.

[Anson Carter]

This is where I'm at.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I'm seeing these deals. I got Mike Sullivan making 7 million a year in New York. I got, I got. Talk it making five. David Philly. I will be immediately the number one guy wanted. And I know I can get, like, he's, he's gonna get. He's gonna make 6 million a year.

[Liam McHugh]

What's he make now?

[Anson Carter]

Four and a quarter.

[Ryan Whitney]

But doesn't it. I mean, it's gotta give you some pause, though, if you're a gm.

[Paul Bissonnette]

That he was willing. Yeah. I don't.

[Ryan Whitney]

Well, I think his success, his resume is incredible.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah. All right.

[Ryan Whitney]

And he wins. He does. And I would say, even before this episode. Well, he has, listen, blame goalies in the past. I think it's been documented.

[Anson Carter]

Oh, really?

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah. I mean, and not to this degree. Yeah, but it's, it's been documented. Like, listen, he's talked about them in the past, but nothing like this. Okay. I think probably nothing really more than most head coaches if they're asked direct questions about their goaltending. But it would seem to. It would give you pause. It would give me pause as a gm, you know. Now I think his resume, like, probably over.

[Anson Carter]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah. I think his success is more what sticks out.

[Ryan Whitney]

And now you also have to look at who's available. Right. Who's available from the coaching standpoint. And it's anything, any of those coaches, even in his league. And the answer is no.

[Anson Carter]

Oh. And so I guess with a Flurry situation with the sword in his back. That was the boar also.

[Ryan Whitney]

I, I, that I believe that was. Yes. Yeah. Flurry. And Walsh tweets that out and. Yeah. So, like, there's, I mean, there's history, but I don't think it's like a history where it's like everywhere he goes, he's doing this to goal. He's like, I don't think it's like that.

[Anson Carter]

I, I do feel that part of him was obviously comfortable enough where he has this resume we're talking about, where he's like, I'm gonna say this because I'm feeling it.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah. And I don't care.

[Anson Carter]

And I don't really care. And what's going to be the consequence? I got a year left at 425. They're gonna have to pay me if they do fire me. And then halfway through next year, when a team's desperate, they're gonna hit me with a five times six.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yep.

[Anson Carter]

I also, that, that, that might not be like, that might not have been a thought through in his head. Like, I'm not like, we're just kind of speculating here, but you have to imagine where you say something that as a coach you have to feel very, very comfortable in your skin with where you're at, where it's like, I feel like I'm invincible.

[Paul Bissonnette]

But I brought that up because you. We had talked about this, about. It's. It's the same for a player. I mean, you're having a big season and you see a couple guys sign deals. It's no different for a coach. Right. Like you're a player, you're like, whoa, that's a comparable for me. And he just got seven times seven. Like, it's just, it's just human nature to be. Be to see. Now he had one more year left and he would have gotten it after that. But yeah, it was a weird way for that all to go down. I mean, they went from. I think a lot of people kind of had them beating the Oilers and then being a legit Stanley cup threat against the Panthers and boom, he's out of a job. That's how crazy the coaching carousel has become in the NHL. It's wild. But sticking with the coaching in the league. The league has kind of changed up how they're giving out certain awards this year. I thought the Spencer Carberry, Jack Adams, how they did it. And for anyone who didn't see it, they brought him in. Who's the guy who does the play by play for the. For the Caps? Great, great play by play guy.

[Ryan Whitney]

Joe Beninati.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Joe Beninati. So they had him in. It was all completely fake, but it was more to go over the season with Joe Betnotti was at the TV studio and Spencer Carberry thinks they're going to talk about the big wins and the OV Go Jason. They're going through it all. But it was all set up so that his kids and his wife could come in and I believe maybe his parents too, with the Jack Adams trophy. Pretty cool way to get it for a guy who. We've seen the locker room speeches, we've seen what he's created in Washington as a culture and where he's come from and climbing from the coast all the way to the top of the mountain in the NHL. And I loved it. I. I think it was. He was a deserving winner and I thought it was a cool way to do. Do that. Do that video presentation. Yeah.

[Anson Carter]

You like all those videos?

[Ryan Whitney]

I like this. Yeah. I mean I think there have been, listen. Award shows in general.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, they're tough.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

We have biz doing it in Nashville.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah. Yeah, listen, I was next to.

[Anson Carter]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

And they've hit or m moment miss moments.

[Paul Bissonnette]

And like, that's where McJesus first wanted to kill you, I think. Yeah.

[Anson Carter]

That was the first time I brought up the hot tub time.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Gave you.

[Anson Carter]

Yeah, yeah, he was.

[Ryan Whitney]

He had had enough of that. Yeah, yeah. That was the dry side of look that he. When he called you whiz. It was that. It was similar to that. I. I love what they're doing, and I think it made total sense, especially for Carbury and the Caps, because what we've seen with that team, I think throughout the year is I loved all the behind the scenes. I. I love it all for many reasons at many different teams. But what the Caps did this year. And you got to really see that locker room during the chase and how they're all pulling for each other. And Carber, you really get to see the communication that he has with his players. So genuine, so authentic. It was the perfect fit for that award for that guy.

[Anson Carter]

Yeah, I think it's a good example for, like, these up and coming coaches and the new wave of how, like, players want to be talked to. That's it right there. That's the epitome of it. And going back to the award stuff, like, people's attention spans are getting smaller and smaller too. So have these cool, fun, viral moments.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Videos where that.

[Anson Carter]

That probably got more views than what, like, people watching on TV would have got. Right. So. And then they had Meredith Boudreau, who surprised.

[Liam McHugh]

That was awesome.

[Anson Carter]

Like, that's a great, great moment. Like, so to capture these fun things and, like, allow the fans to see it. And you don't everyone have to assemble in an auditorium or whatever it may be for auditorium.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Even. Even Barkov receiving the Selkie and the King Clancy.

[Anson Carter]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Like, I think they. Zito's there and mentions how, you know, they usually go over to the hospital and visit. Instead, boom. The kids come there with it. They gave him the King Clancy. And then they're like, oh, I think we had one more. Boom. The selfie comes in in the team with. In front of the team in the video room. Another cool way. Like, I had heard that they were going to do that this year. They were done with the award show. Or I think they're still maybe having.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, it's like a tape the majors.

[Paul Bissonnette]

For the major ones and that they were going to do little videos for. And I was like, what are they talking about? But they've actually all came out great. And yeah, Meredith Goudreau bringing Sean Monahan, that trophy. That's an emotional one. And, and they've done a good job. I've been impressed by, by how the league's kind of pulled that off so far.

[Ryan Whitney]

Well, who do you guys think wins the hard trophy?

[Paul Bissonnette]

I think Leon. I, I mean, we've, we've already seen. Did Kucharov win the Ted Lindsay?

[Anson Carter]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah. That was already. So that's, that's one where like, like, God, when you see the players vote when it doesn't match up, it's like, oh, Jesus. Like there's that much of a disconnect between the media voting and the players in the league. Like, you almost would rather the Lindsay. Right. Like your peers are telling you you are the best player in the league. You're the most valuable.

[Anson Carter]

I don't think they pick Leon because he's so dirty out there. You're slashing.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Oh, yeah. Kucherov's a real, real Lady Bing type winner.

[Anson Carter]

Oh, oh, is he, Is he pretty?

[Liam McHugh]

Yeah, he's dirty. Yeah.

[Anson Carter]

Nastier than Leon.

[Paul Bissonnette]

She does like the toast players in the top end talent.

[Anson Carter]

I thought Leon can have a very nat.

[Paul Bissonnette]

He can, but Kucherov is dirty.

[Liam McHugh]

Yeah.

[Anson Carter]

I would say.

[Ryan Whitney]

I think Kucherov's reputation is past history is actually. It's worse.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

Expended.

[Anson Carter]

Yes. I feel like something like Leon, I.

[Ryan Whitney]

Don'T consider him a dirty player, but it's like, but I do wonder about that, like, for players, how much personality plays into it. Like, if you don't like somebody, oh, are you voting for him as.

[Paul Bissonnette]

But you're also. I think Kuchero probably has guys in the league. Like, I love how little he he gives a. That that sounds worse than it is. Almost like it's just like cooch. Like he's just, he's so nasty while also being like he could give a.

[Anson Carter]

About your Ted Lindsay trophy.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Like, hey, get it in deep. He's like, you know what I mean? Like, that's more like players kind of love that a little bit, but we'll see. I mean, so we have, we. I think leon gets, gets MVP. I do. Rocket Rashard McDavid missing time. Him being that good. I, I, I think that ends up happening. But the Ted Lindsay did surprise me because I thought this year's winner would, would win both.

[Ryan Whitney]

I, I, I can say so I have a vote. I voted.

[Paul Bissonnette]

They took my vote away. They took away.

[Ryan Whitney]

I just would have voted whoever I.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Gave Crosby the selkie last year, and I think I lost my vote for that one, so.

[Ryan Whitney]

Wow.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

He was on my list.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Okay.

[Ryan Whitney]

Who'd you vote for? Hellbuck.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Okay.

[Ryan Whitney]

Second dry side of third. But I would say this. I don't care. Like, not that I don't have an opinion on any of the three of them could win. It doesn't feel like that year where.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

But I do wonder, now that you mentioned, like the player vote, I wonder how the players would feel about voting for a goalie.

[Paul Bissonnette]

So my whole thing is that the goalies, they start, what, in hella Bucks at the top end, 55, 60 games. They're not playing in every game. Now when they're in the game, they're out on the ice the entire time. But the pucks in the office of zone. I just, just to me, the MVP is somebody that's. That's playing every game or, you know, missing two. What did Leon miss two or three games? Like, I just have a tough time giving MVP to goalie. Based on the fact that you're not in the lineup contributing every single night. But Hellebox season is that impressive where I. I'm with you. If he got it, it's not like I'm like, that's.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah. And that. That's kind of. I don't know if you guys had a strong feel in one way or the other about who wins it this year.

[Anson Carter]

No, I think that Hella buck, especially from today's standard of how much goalies actually. Actually play. Like when. When Olmark won it, he. I feel like he played like less games.

[Liam McHugh]

Well, they split the net. Yeah. Him and.

[Anson Carter]

Him and him and Flaming Roman.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Anson Carter]

So when. The year that Theodore won it, how many games did he play as a goalie?

[Liam McHugh]

G. Probably 70 back.

[Anson Carter]

Yeah. Because that's what I mean back then it might have been a little bit more. A little easier because guys can respect the fact.

[Paul Bissonnette]

And Price wanted as well, right?

[Liam McHugh]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

So you price one mvp. Correct.

[Ryan Whitney]

Price one mvp.

[Paul Bissonnette]

So.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Okay. So you have to look though, that the last two goalies that won it, when you're that good in Montreal, that's going to add something.

[Liam McHugh]

True.

[Paul Bissonnette]

That is going to add something with media. You're. You're the Canadiens goalie and you're lighting it up. That's going to make a little bit of a difference. Now when. When obviously, you know, Hellbucks in Canada, so that could also kind of add to this.

[Liam McHugh]

But I also think if he's not on Winnipeg, they don't even make playoffs like there.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Which would be the definition.

[Liam McHugh]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Which would be it's most valuable to your team. Correct.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yep.

[Paul Bissonnette]

That's the. But I look at, like, without Leon this year.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, I think you make the case for all of them. Yeah, I think you absolutely do. And Leon specifically, in terms of if he was out, I mean, for an extended period of time. And this team's grinding.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Oh, God.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah. They're scraping by to try to get in.

[Anson Carter]

Is there any other award?

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, there's no other awards, but there's a player that. That we've talked about endlessly here, that we now will have on, I believe. But TJ Oshi announced his retirement, and this year was just. It was a foregone conclusion. The back could not hold up. But holy, this guy. I mean, talk about a gamer. And like, I think of Oshi and I think most hockey fans that know his name, maybe fringe hockey fans. It's like Olympics shootout against Russia. It was. It was one of the coolest things anyone's ever seen. I just more remember playing against him. Him. I remember hearing about him at North Dakota, hearing about him even prior to that, when he's lighting up. Was it War Road or no? Yeah, he's just. He's always been a gamer. He had the most insane skills on. On breakaways. He was a tank. One of the masters of the reverse hit. A true animal. That kind of changed where St. Louis had been. The Blues had been. They. They had good teams. Early 2000s with Pronger, I think they won a President's trophy. Then things slid for a little bit, and then Oshi came in and. And then Petro was there and David Backus. But Oshi was kind of the thing that brought life back to St. Louis Blues hockey. And then to see him, right, like, he moves over to Washington and they get that Stanley cup. And it makes total sense that he was a guy that finally helped them get over the, you know, get over the hill and figure out what it took to win a Stanley Cup. He'd been through the playoffs in St. Louis, and no wonder. A back injury is kind of what ended it for him. Playing the way he did. There was no chance to. His body was. Was going to be able to last. But that's what made you respect him that much, that he was willing to literally do anything it took, take any hit, give any hit, while also scoring big goals.

[Anson Carter]

Like, as far as, like, a herniation.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I don't know if they've ever seen all five.

[Liam McHugh]

So I. I texted him, you know, obviously congratulating him, and he said, that was harder than I thought, which I think is perfect. For him, because he gave it all. Like, he's a guy that gave everything to the game when he was playing, whether it was in the summertime or when he was playing. That guy gave everything. And I can imagine for a guy like that, like not having the game to play, especially this year too, and.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Actually announcing it, well, you could tell.

[Anson Carter]

He was just the ultimate team guy.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah.

[Anson Carter]

Look at the tunnel antics that they would like. Just all the. The pre game rituals and how. How big of a smile he had.

[Ryan Whitney]

On and warm up the parade celebration.

[Paul Bissonnette]

And I think think they kind of.

[Liam McHugh]

Were the first team that brought those crazy parties.

[Ryan Whitney]

Like every day. Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah. They'll make you dance. I think that most people who know TJ Oshi, and then even fans learned along the way, like what his dad meant to him. Coach. And if you remember, he. He had passed away when he won the Stanley cup. And. And. Or was he. He might.

[Liam McHugh]

He was there.

[Ryan Whitney]

No, he was there with him on the ice.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I'm sorry. He was, but he was. He was in a tough spot.

[Liam McHugh]

Yeah.

[Anson Carter]

Right.

[Paul Bissonnette]

And. And just seeing the emotion coming from him that his dad got to witness it and. And like knowing what he meant to him and. And being called coach and always being around like that was something you think of too, for him, how much his dad meant and that he was. He got to be there. Sorry I messed that up. But more just as an American, like watching this kid, you're like, holy. Does this make you. You proud to like know this guy, see him play and congrats to him. Incredible career.

[Ryan Whitney]

So I was there. Yeah. Oh.

[Paul Bissonnette]

For that game.

[Ryan Whitney]

And it's remains, you know, the best live sporting event I've ever been.

[Liam McHugh]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Was Bob in net for that?

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, he was.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yes. And so. And Oshi, if you go back and look at that, he doesn't score on one of the times because, you know, it's the international rules. And you can go over and over. The one he doesn't score on, he fakes Bob out. Out horribly and misses the net.

[Paul Bissonnette]

He. I mean, like, he had him beat every time.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, his stick skills were incredible. And to watch someone who. It's funny, when you look back, people sit there and like, wait, how did Oshi actually make that team? And a big reason he made that team was the idea that they could go to a shootout.

[Liam McHugh]

I was there at that world Championships.

[Ryan Whitney]

Right. You could use them.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Oh, he got it prior. You brought that up on a show.

[Liam McHugh]

Yeah, we were like, we were gonna get relegated by like France or something like that. It Was our team was horrible. And he same thing. He scored like six in a row for us to, to win the game. And that next year he was on the team.

[Paul Bissonnette]

You know what his move was? Yeah, he had, he had one of the best fake shots. Yeah, he would like, he'd bring it back and totally put his body to it. Then he'd go backhand, but then he'd bring it back for him. So it was two different enormous fakes. The shot backhand and then back again. So against three and like you couldn't stop it. Like every goalie bit when he faked the snapshot spot. And it was, I remember in the blues camp, he was doing it.

[Anson Carter]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

And he was also running around camp. You're like, holy. Like, I didn't know about him that well until I saw a training camp with him.

[Ryan Whitney]

And you watch someone at the Olympics go much sports obscurity. I mean, he was a guy that fans knew.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Right.

[Ryan Whitney]

But a legend overnight, like in an instant. And he's on every talk show and.

[Paul Bissonnette]

He'S a good looking cat and he's.

[Ryan Whitney]

You know, it's hockey's a joy. And he's so happy to be there. And like he was a huge smile on his face. And you knew like in one way or another this guy was gonna be a star. He had the skills, you have the personality. And then you'd watch him like his teammates loved him, loved him. And you mentioned, like, you're right, it, it's sort of sadly appropriate that he goes out with this sort of injury because. Not a big dude.

[Liam McHugh]

No, not a big dude.

[Paul Bissonnette]

He was a tank.

[Ryan Whitney]

He wasn't tall, but he's put together. And then he played big. And I think the two images for me are him and that shootout. And then the other one you mentioned him and his father and I don't.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Know if we could pull it up. Might be too late. Anyone can go check it out. YouTube Oshi highlights @ North Dakota. You'll see some of the biggest reverse hits you've ever seen in your life. Like there's one YouTube video and he was, he was a dominant player in college, but like the way he was throwing the body around, it was crazy. But we got one last thing.

[Anson Carter]

I was just gonna say it's. It's nice to see when guys like that get their thousand games. So we got a thousand regular season games.

[Liam McHugh]

So got a mug.

[Anson Carter]

That's a big milestone. He got the mug. Going back to that Olympics though, when the shootout against Russia. Was Putin in the house?

[Ryan Whitney]

Yes. This was I mean, so there's tension. You feel it also. So Sochi was such a strange Olympics for many reasons, but we would go in and there'd be security. Like any Olympic event, you'd go in, going. There were days where, like, it felt like the security guards were, like, half asleep. You're just, like, walking through, like, all right, cool.

[Paul Bissonnette]

That's Russia.

[Ryan Whitney]

And then that day, they were taking people and put them in back rooms, patting them down, and you're like, oh, so it's gonna be different today. And after that game, the next day, I remember, like, again, it was just like, hey, what are you bringing in? Go right ahead. Enjoy. The big guy's not here, so, like, it'll be fine. But that day was different, man. Yeah. I remember Dave Strader, late Dave Trader, he was calling, and I, like, he got the full, like, pat down in the back and, like, just. Nice, man.

[Paul Bissonnette]

They hit him with some Russian gas in the neck.

[Liam McHugh]

Wasn't that the year that all the guys on Team USA came back with dogs? Because there was, like, straight dogs.

[Ryan Whitney]

Absolutely. Yeah. That's David back is, I think, was a big part of it.

[Liam McHugh]

Yeah. Step on, Eric. Step on him.

[Ryan Whitney]

It was weird. I mean, they were there, like, when we arrived, and then, like, a week later, you're like, where did the dogs.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Like, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Anson Carter]

You're eating it at the Village.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah, that was in.

[Anson Carter]

Yeah. Good luck with the goat. The dog. Goat.

[Paul Bissonnette]

How's that bernadoodle taste? All right, boys, big announcement, especially with you two sitting next to each other. September 25 to September 27, the Boston Stranglers vers the Big Deal Select. You know where this is going down?

[Liam McHugh]

Where?

[Paul Bissonnette]

The city of Boston. Oh, my God. You hear where it is? We're gonna be in Boston. We're not going to announce the exact location yet. We're not allowed to do that, I was told. But start to get your teams together, book your hotels. More info will come in the next few weeks. But we're coming to Boston. Late September. Best time of the year weather wise in Boston. We have a war on our hands. We got Yans and a bunch of criminals that are the boss. Boston Stranglers vs. The Toronto Maple Leafs of the Chiclets Cup. A team who can't win at all, who's never been able to get it done, and consistently every year thinks they will.

[Liam McHugh]

More breaking news.

[Paul Bissonnette]

What?

[Liam McHugh]

I got Pete DeBoer, coach.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, geez.

[Paul Bissonnette]

So just not playing goalie. That stinks.

[Anson Carter]

Yeah, but there's a lot at stake here. The big deal Selects. We're putting our pink slips. Pink slips. If we go, this is it.

[Liam McHugh]

This is pink.

[Anson Carter]

We go farther than them. Boston Stranglers are done.

[Liam McHugh]

Just like his face. Pink.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Oh, you're not doing though. If we don't win it, we're not done.

[Anson Carter]

No. If we have to go farther than the Boston Stranglers, and if they go farther than us, he owns the big deal. Selects. He owns the name. He owns it all. He owns the players. But if the boss. We beat the Boston Stranglers. They're done.

[Ryan Whitney]

This could be a full road game.

[Liam McHugh]

To my know you're watching. Get ready, boys.

[Ryan Whitney]

I mean, it's full road game. Game. Yeah.

[Liam McHugh]

Uncles and cousins gonna be good for him. It's good. They're gonna. They're gonna need the security that. When Putin was at the games for his team to get in.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I.

[Ryan Whitney]

Everybody knows you there. I mean, we were at Fenway for the Winter Classic, and weren't you, like, walking around outside, some guy was scalping tickets or something. Yeah. Green, he's like, hey, yeah. Like, yeah. Like you're friends with this guy.

[Liam McHugh]

Yeah.

[Paul Bissonnette]

There's no way that Putin hasn't had the goat before either. So there are a lot of similarities, I think, between you two. You. It's really something that. That could be a bad thing for you, but Chiclets Cup September 25th 27th in Boston. Cannot wait. Liam, thank you so much.

[Anson Carter]

And once again, man, it's been a pleasure working with you. Like my first time, like being in, like the broadcast game, like, you're a true professional and it's been a. A true blessing, buddy. So thank you for everything, your friendship and. And. And your leadership as well, man.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Yeah. What you.

[Liam McHugh]

What you've done for the game, both you guys, but you especially what you've done for the game game. Building it the way it is, getting these guys to get personalities going, it's amazing.

[Paul Bissonnette]

I don't think you're the best DMT this year, and this is excluding Canada with Don Cherry in his heyday. People have looked forward to intermissions.

[Liam McHugh]

Right.

[Paul Bissonnette]

And with your guys show, it actually is not a time to go do stuff at intermissions. I want to see what they say and credit to both you guys. Wayne, Hank, Anton. So, yeah, let's.

[Ryan Whitney]

Thank you. So listen, I love this show. I love working with you guys. And I think the biggest thing people say is it looks like you're just having an awesome time.

[Liam McHugh]

Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

With your buddies. And I think it's what you have right here, what should be. And that's it. Looks that way. Because it's true, right? It doesn't. It doesn't feel like work. It's not a grind. It's fun.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Chicklets, YouTube. Thursday, noon. Thursday, noon. Game notes coming to you to set up game four. I'm nervous. I'm scared. But I believe and I think that they're going to get a dub. We needed these two days off. Thank you, everyone, for watching. Thank you to Liam. Thank you to Kevin the juice.

[Anson Carter]

Thanks for staring at our packages for two hours.

[Paul Bissonnette]

And. Yep. And. And. And watch out for eating steak every single night for 14. You don't want gout. You don't want to be like this. And no crotch shots to your co workers.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yes.

[Paul Bissonnette]

Have a great day. Love you guys. The other way.