B (1:52)

Welcome, everyone. Good morning, good afternoon, good evening. Whenever you listen, pinkies up. Pinkies up. Pinkies up. Well, I annoy the hell out of you saying pinkies probably, but that's what we're talking about here. It's Pink Whitney. It's Pinkies Up. It's our new commercial. If you haven't seen it, please go look. If you haven't drank Pink Whitney, please go give it a shot. And to everyone who has, thank you so much. Thank you for representing, drinking the pink and getting those pinkies up. You know what I'm talking about, Biz. You know exactly what I'm talking.

D (2:23)

Oh, yeah.

B (2:24)

Guys, it is Thursday, currently 12:27pm we got some news to talk about. We have a big trade from the St. Louis Blues and the Buffalo Sabres that isn't even officially a trade because Colton's like, it's. It's one of the most bizarre situations that I can remember. We'll get into it in a minute. But I just do want to mention if you're listening today, Friday morning, hopefully the game notes trade special extravaganza one to three Eastern today, Hopefully you guys tune into that. Hopefully we have a bunch of action coming down to the end. As you remember last year, Grinnelli poured water on him when Marshawn went to the Boston Bruins. I think it ended up turning into a first round pick for the B's. Probably worked out pretty good for them. And the Panthers won the Stanley cup and Brad Marchant dominated. So that was the storyline from last year's deadline. Will we have a major move this year? I don't know, but as of right now, guys, I saw that would be

D (3:21)

the biggest blue ball. Kind of like the Paranco deal. If we don't get something major, like everybody seems like they're in play right now. If nothing ends up going down and then we get the Paranco blocks situation, this will be the biggest letdown deadline of all time.

E (3:37)

Yeah, sonk deadline.

B (3:40)

So yesterday when it broke Pareco to the Sabers, right away our group chat started firing off and it was like, wow, what a fucking decor they have. Okay, like this is ungrateful. He's an absolute horse. He's great defensively. He skates pretty well for his size. He's just exactly what they needed. They already got Samuelson. Dahlin's been a Norris Trophy type level player this season. It's like they are coming together Byram and Owen Power. And then all of a sudden it's like, well, he has a no trade clause. And the way that it came out to me, I was like, oh, done deal. He waived. And then it's coming in like, no, he actually hasn't now. This was about, I think close to 24 hours ago. He hasn't waved. And it brings up a conversation of these no move clauses. And it's incredible when players get them. I'm very happy that players get them. They have the right to, to use it and to, you know, be able to say, no, I'm not going there. But the way the GMs have looked at it and I get it from the business side, it's like, well, I want to trade you and I'm going to put it out There that we have traded you and then it's all on you. So it's created this like very uncomfortable atmosphere for certain guys. Right? Like because now Pariko and the insiders. And the insiders because they're breaking trades and we have Darren Drager on. We just interviewed him. We go over a list of names and what could happen, what has happened. And he said this whole situation's taking years off his professional career. Because you hear, all right, this deal's done. I've heard from one source that he will waive. And then I've seen way more today, including from Patty Maroon, like, no chance. Why would he. So as a player, Keith and Biz, like, I find it so hard to not wave based on the fact that they've told you, like, we don't want you anymore. And how do you walk back into the room?

E (5:27)

Do you think it has anything to do with Dougie Armstrong not going to be there next year? He's like, fuck it, I'm going to.

B (5:32)

I don't think so.

D (5:33)

No, no, I. A couple things. I think that just like the, the, the eating, you know, half a player's contract, when you send him out, you get three bullets for it. I think there should be a certain cap, an amount of players on your active roster that you as an organization have handed a no, a no move clause to. I think there is. Or a no trade list. No, I think, I don't think there's. On how many. If a guy's like, hey, I want to sign this contract and I want a 12 team. No, no trade list. I don't think that you could have seven, eight. Like, look at, I think that if you look at some teams, they have like eight or nine guys with certain or partial no move clauses. So I feel like they should implement a certain cap on the amount of players that you can do that for. And like you said, guys, there's no player. Like, it goes back to the Truba incident and when Pasha was fucking bitching about him. If you have that and you've negotiated that, you should exercise that to the 10th degree. Now in Colton Pareno situation, if he's happy in St. Louis, is he. I'm pretty sure is he married with kids.

B (6:39)

Here's a friend, Patty said that that's from St. Louis. Like he does a lot with the

D (6:44)

community, lot with the community and he doesn't want to leave there. That's his right. But I just look at the fact that there's a chance that Robert Thomas is going to go. Maybe Bennington goes and they're basically in partial, if not full rebuild mode. And you have the opportunity to go to the Buffalo Sabers where we just, we just talked about this back end. Like there's. With him there, there would be literally no holes that Kesselring guys there. And then I don't think outside of Bo Byram, they don't have a defenseman that's like under 6 3.

E (7:16)

No, they're monsters.

D (7:17)

They're monsters mobile. And this is a team now that I think all of us can agree they're going to be a top three team in the east for at least the next four or five years with what they got and where they're headed. So to me, I'm a little surprised in a guy that's played for team Canada who, who's you know, a natural winner. He won it there when he was, when they won it. What was it? 19 or maybe 17? Excuse me, 19. I, I guess I'm just a little surprised that he wouldn't want to go enjoy the second part of his career on a team that is going to win a lot of hockey games. The fan base is reignited. I mean you guys have seen like with the Tage Thompsonite the other night with Vegas coming to town that, that felt like it was the fucking east. An Eastern Conference final.

B (8:02)

When was the last time you saw towels for the fans at a regular season game and people were on them for that. It's like off. Buddy, you there's 26 year olds that don't remember a playoff game. Buffalo.

E (8:14)

Yeah.

D (8:16)

So going back to Parenco and the fact that it didn't all go down, I'm shocked. And maybe it comes out today that he ends up finally saying, you know what, this is the right move for me and my family. But it's hard because he's probably got a lot of decisions to make. I'm sure he wants to talk to Steener and Armstrong and say, hey, like where exactly do you think this team is going and at least let me get as much information before I make this life altering change. So a lot going on, but I definitely feel like as we've progressed and we've seen these like CBAs where people are able to expose them in certain ways. You see these different rules added in order to change things up, to change the, I guess essentially the game at hand, I think that the limiting of the no move, no trade team list thing needs to fucking change.

B (9:04)

I would almost say that. And buddy, I don't want to, I would never want to screw Over a player in a contract. But, like, just don't even have no moves. Now that players want that, they sign a seven year deal, a six year deal. They'd like to know if, If I got 15 teams that want me, I'm going to pick one and then know that I'm going to be there. The point is now though, they don't even matter. They matter in a sense that Pareco could say, no, I'm not going. But then it's like, personally, I just, I would never want to be on a team that has traded me. Even with the, the, the what? I had the language in my contract. They're still out there like, no, we're trading you. It's like I, I would have a hard time going back to that. And I don't think it's personal, right? This is all business. But buddy, I, I signed this deal with you. I wanted, excuse me, I wanted to be here. And you're not honoring anything that was in the deal. Like, and listen, players do this at the same, in the same breath, like, hey, Katagoti, I'm not signing with you. Trade me. Like, players have a lot more power than they did and the GMs are kind of just saying, hey, sorry, it's business. You got a no move, but we're trying to get rid of you.

D (10:13)

And I don't gave the turd cutter a quick shout out there. 31 goals on the season. That celebrity right now, he needs to, he needs a double barrel right now. He deserves it.

B (10:24)

These no move clause, like, they're out there, but it's like, oh, he has a no move. I don't, I don't really care.

D (10:29)

This is also Yan's army. Like he's going to be handing the reins over so he's able to look like the bad guy doing this. I think he's essentially eating the bullet for Steener.

B (10:39)

And then as a new GM can have like a clean slate, you're rebuilding. This is, this is on you now.

E (10:45)

But if Pariko, if Pareco, if he's one of those guys, he's like, hey, listen, at the end of the day, I just, I don't want to live in Buffalo or I don't want to live in where I said Carolina or any place. Like, he has that right. So I think having that right, you should exercise. I did it in Florida. They wanted to, they want to trade me. And I said, no, I'm not, I'm not waving it. Like, we can wait this out.

B (11:06)

Know that. So you're and you were fine with knowing that they were trying to trade you, going back into the room? Because it's not the players trading you. It's not the coach. It's not the people you're around day to day. You were like, I don't care.

D (11:17)

How did they handle it with you? Like, how was it delivered to you?

E (11:20)

Well, it was a little messy. If you remember. It was like Zito's first year. He came in, obviously, he had a. He had a plan and set, and obviously it's worked out, whatever he's done. And, you know, it was like, hey, listen, we want to trade you. And I said, I have a no move. You're going to have to wait it out. And you can buy me out in the summertime, like, basically. And. And that's what happened.

D (11:41)

You said. You said. Were you in the office when you said that to him?

E (11:45)

Yeah, in his office, sitting there. Yeah. Me, him and Q.

D (11:49)

Was it awkward?

B (11:50)

Can actually. Yeah, you could. You could try to treat me, anyone. I ain't going anywhere.

E (11:53)

Yeah.

B (11:54)

And that's when they then said, okay, we're scratching you and ending the streak.

E (11:57)

Yeah.

B (11:57)

And that's when Biz then said, I'm gonna shit on Zito's windshield.

E (12:00)

Yes.

D (12:02)

I said I'd take a sky dump on his. On his car window over the overpass.

E (12:06)

And then Rick Patino came in, Remember?

B (12:08)

Yeah. He came in with a tweet.

F (12:10)

All of a sudden, it was college

B (12:11)

basketball coach defending Keith Yandel online.

D (12:14)

Yeah, it's. Had you talked to your agent before going into that meeting, or did they just call you in and then, like, hit you with it raw without reaching out to your agent?

E (12:23)

No, he called me. I think I was on the way. It was during, like, preseason, and I was on the way to the rink, and. And he told. He was like, dude, some crazy shit's about to happen. I was like, all right. And we kind of just dealt with it, and it took, like, a couple. It might have been the COVID year or something. Like, it was a weird training camp anyways. I can't remember exactly, but it was kind of like I wasn't even skating with the team. I was skating with, like, the Black Aces and shit. And, like.

B (12:49)

Like, they're really trying to bully me out of here.

E (12:51)

Yeah, they tried to bully me. And I was like. I was like, that's not going to happen. And I used my. You know, the leverage I had for having a no moon. But it was a little different. I had a family. My kids were in school. I didn't want to.

D (13:03)

Didn't want to move.

E (13:04)

And, you know, like you said, when I, I signed that contract there, I expected to be here. And I was like, hey, listen, you can buy me out in the summertime if that's what it is, but I'm not waving my. No move.

B (13:13)

I do wonder if there is a time frame, like, when does Pareco have to answer them, right? Like, is it like, do you have.

D (13:21)

Well, they got like, tomorrow at four.

B (13:24)

He tells him at four o' clock on today, it's like, hey, yeah, sorry, I'm not. Because Buffalo right now, they're. They're sitting there like, we need an answer. Like, we want to do something, which I love that the Sabers are getting aggressive and Drager mentions that Buffalo's looking at a D and a forward. All right, well, we got our D. Oh, hold on a second here.

D (13:44)

That, that, the, the second part, you kind of answer your own question with like, yes, it's more about Buffalo being like, well, this is what we were prepared to move off of to get this can. Now we get that package, we got to bring it somewhere else and address that need. If that's the case, and going back to St. Louis and Paranco, like, the, the treatment of Truba and when he wasn't doing it, if you're a fan or an organization and that's the treatment, that's complete fucking bullshit. That should not be happening. But if you are St. Louis and he says, no, I don't want to, he's still a very good defenseman. And it's not like it's a horrible contract either. You end up keeping him, he doesn't go anywhere. That, to me, is not the end of the world. Like that is. That's a guy that's like, okay, well, he's a leader. He's got unbelievable experience. Stanley cup playoff, just. Just keep him. You eat it and you don't get to get the future assets that you wanted. But not the worst situation. I don't.

E (14:40)

Then maybe he sits down with Steam in the summertime, like they played together, right?

B (14:44)

And then maybe his spot, you're saying, right?

E (14:46)

Yeah.

B (14:47)

You want to move him still?

E (14:48)

Yeah, yeah.

B (14:49)

Because he could come back and say, hey, I'm open to moving. Here's my two teams, here's my five teams. But I don't want to go to Buffalo. Now. The trade, if it does go down. Ratam Mertura, I hope I'm saying that right. But he's ninth overall pick. Six, six defenseman. So it's like, all right, Buffalo's almost getting a guy that they think he'll be in five years for right now, or maybe four years, three years and a first round pick. So for St. Louis, it's like we're getting a younger Pareco in our minds. We're getting another first rounder. And, and we're getting off a guy who's aging. And even though you said his contract isn't bad biz, it's still at this point in the Blues organization. It's, it's like, okay, I, I'd rather restart with a very similar type player along with the draft pick. So I don't know. It's. It's crazy. And it's just interesting that now these trades get broken like they're official and different tweets are written where people are like, oh, what a. What a gift for Buffalo. And then like, there's fan. They're Sabres fans. Like, we got Pareco. And then like at the bar, their buddy's like, it's not done yet. Some guys like, crippled in Buffalo. Once again, like, what do you mean it's not done?

D (15:51)

Elliot Freeman. I, I retweeted the clip. Like, he had to address it as well because obviously he was reporting it too, where he, he basically broke down this whole situation and the fact that he's an actual insider and he's got to kind of be the bad guy and all that, so difficult for really everybody at hand. And this, this no move, no trade, no trade list situation has really put people in a, in a weird spot. Now, one guy who did end up waving and the deal did go down wet. I'll throw it over to you to break it down and we can go over it.

B (16:22)

Yes, Mackenzie Weiger, he goes to Utah. Now all we've been hearing is Utah and their aggressiveness and the fan base out there. It looks exciting. They got a good team, but they're looking to add. And Mackenzie Weiger, man, he is signed. Let me say the trade first. He went to Utah for Olimar forward prospect Jonathan Castana. I hope I'm saying that correct. And three 20, 26 second round picks. Now, the second rounders were originally owned by Utah, the New York Rangers and the Ottawa Senators. Weger agreed to waive the no trade. He's 32. He signed through 2030, 2031. He's got a $6.25 million cap. It. Keith, I know you played with Weeks. This year has been kind of a tough goal for him. Now it's Calgary. They've they've had a tough season. The year before that he was excellent. The year before that he had 20 goals. He's a big game player. What I've noticed a lot coming out of Cal Calgary is like they loved him. And it's not just the teammates, the reporters. And you don't see that that often where they're saying like this. And this guy would sit down and talk with us if he was the worst player on the ice, he would address the media. He kind of faced us head on. And he's a guy that, that also is being given a lot of credit for getting the new arena going. I don't know if you remember that press conference he gave where he's like, yeah, we need a new rink now. If that, if that. I don't think that's what put it over the finish line. But what do you think of the deal? And, and is that something that's good for Utah and just getting a puck mover.

D (17:49)

On the record, though, I loved playing at the Style Dome.

B (17:52)

Me too.

D (17:53)

I love playing.

E (17:55)

Yeah. I mean, I love playing with wigs. One of my favorite teammates of all time, the guy, you know, he's earned everything. He's one of those guys. I don't even think he was drafted or if he was, it was a late round pick. You know, he, he's one of those guys just loves to come to the rink every day. He's, you know, smiles, he brings good attitude. You know, he's definitely going to be a shining light in that locker room. But you know, more importantly, on ice, like, the guy's a stud. He can play power play, he can play pk, he can play in the first minute of a period, last minute of a period. But what I like most about him, he can play the left or the right side on the, on the, on the decor. And I remember in Florida he was a guy who played with Heckblad, but he played his offside and he was unbelievable at it. And you know, it's a tough thing to do as a D man, picking up rims on your backhand in the offensive zone, getting to the middle. But he was so good at it, worked at it all the time and you know, got him to where he is now, signing that nice deal. And I think Utah is going to be very, very happy with him, not only as a player, but as a person in the community. Guy in the locker room. And I think it's a huge home run for Utah and, and for a

D (19:03)

guy who's pretty good offensively, like, he does it all. Like, he'll block shots, he'll help kill penalties. And I think also for a group like Utah, like, I know they got kells, they got schmaltzy, I don't think it would hurt them to have a little bit more leadership in that locker room. They don't have a lot of guys with playoff experience and, and just really that veteran presence. So I feel like it's a good foundational ad and you get them for this extended period of time. I don't think the cap hits too aggressive, and I think they have solid goaltending and that really bolsters their back end. And now I expect them to go make a move for a guy up front. And to me, I think that that's at least a wild card team. I think that that's a team that can, for the first time in a long time, make playoffs. They can really make a punch and establish themselves in Utah. After being there last year and having the great start and then fizzling off, I feel like there'll be a need there for some playoff hockey to really get the fans hardcore interest in the state of Utah. So very cool. Very happy to see that he now gets to go play for a better team and not, I guess not be. Not have his services go to waste, essentially.

E (20:13)

That's such a good point Biz of getting the fans involved with playoff hockey, even if, you know, you hope it's more than one round. But like, to get playoff hockey for a new franchise is fucking huge. Like, just to get the morale around the city, get guys to want to be there and all that.

D (20:28)

And they're second rounders, boys. They're second rounders. Like, they have a stockpile of draft picks.

E (20:33)

Yeah, yeah.

D (20:33)

Bill Armstrong has been selling off. They've been retaining all these salaries. We joked about it with Drager, about how you got, you know, they got Datsuk Pronger, Shea Weber. I think they got Carrie Pre. They got every hall of Famer coming up on the.

E (20:47)

On the Grand Fear.

D (20:48)

Yeah, exactly, exactly. So I think it's. It's a good move. And. And once again, not crazy on the books.

B (20:57)

I like their D. Like, you got Sergachev. Say, like, just list in the six. You got Sergachev. Now you got Uyghur there. John Marino, really underrated player. Nate Schmidt, you saw what he can do in the playoffs. You got Ian Cole. He's getting older, but he's a warrior. So it's like you're adding a guy that just moves the puck and olimar hit. He'd only played 22 games this year. So it's like, that's a big upgrade on the D side. And you're. And you're not losing, like, anything from the roster, right? Like, you're continuing. You're just adding there. And the draft picks are the draft picks, buddy. You want to get good. Like, enough with the draft picks. They've had plenty over the years. They do have some really nice prospects. So I don't know what else they do because apparently they're not done. That's what everyone's saying. Like, if every insider is like, Utah, Utah, Utah, it's like, all right, well, they're cooking there. Just what else can they do?

C (21:45)

We got some. We got some breaking news. This is via Elliot Friedman. Officially, Colton Pareco has declined his wave to. Wave. Wave. His no trade clause to go to Buffalo, as is his contractual right. We will see where this goes from here

E (22:00)

for him. Good.

B (22:02)

Was asked.

A (22:03)

Yeah.

B (22:04)

With. With Johnny Lazarus, Colby Cohen and Army was on with them. They had him on. He's like, do you think he'll wave? And Patty literally sitting back, he goes, no chance. Like, he's like, why would he. He's a big part of the community. Want to cup there? His girlfriend's from there.

C (22:18)

And his girlfriend's family is like the pizza kings of St. Louis, too. They own all the pizza shops.

D (22:24)

Elio is the pizza king.

B (22:26)

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But he's Boston. He's Boston.

D (22:28)

Oh, he's in Boston, eh?

B (22:30)

Yeah. Yeah. Elio lived.

D (22:31)

Oh, fuck. I thought he lived in Tony's place.

B (22:33)

No, no, no. He just rode the blues for a couple years. Wow, man, this hits Buffalo hard.

E (22:39)

Yeah. I honestly think if I'm a Buffalo fan, I don't think you can take this out on him. I think it's one of those things he's exercising his right to do that. It's nothing against your team. Your team's in a great spot right now. It's. Honestly, it's.

B (22:53)

It's.

E (22:53)

It's a business decision. At the end of the day, he doesn't want to. I'm sure he's had a house there forever. He doesn't want to sell a house. He probably stays there in the summer. Who knows? Like, this guy, you don't know what's going on in these guys. Head of what? You know, the behind the scenes stuff.

D (23:07)

I. I kind of don't mind that it broke after we'd already talked about it because you get that, like, our, Our, like our organic feelings as before it actually goes down. But wow, this is wild. But here's the thing though. For Buffalo, I'm not like for, for the fans especially, I'm not overly rattled because I don't feel like it's an area that they can't go address and they probably, maybe don't have to give up as much now to go address that. Cause like, based on their D right now, like he's probably, he's probably slots in as your number four there, right?

B (23:39)

So now for sure, you know, he's playing, he's playing big minutes there. If, if he'd ended up there, he's not going to be playing big minutes there anymore.

E (23:47)

Now you hope that kid that they were gonna trade, it turns out the six

B (23:53)

dangling him for something else maybe. Although with the term on Pareco and like his size, you know, I don't think they're, they're willing to move him if it's, if it's a lesser defenseman, right? But when you hear Oliver, Ekman, Larsson with Detroit and Boston like that, buddy, they got Darlene there, all of a sudden you bring in another big Swede who won the Stanley Cup. Maybe that's a guy that they're now in the mix for. Wow.

D (24:15)

I feel like it's a miss though that they didn't get Tyler Myers like Dallas.

B (24:21)

That's one that they're probably rattled about now.

D (24:24)

So much cheaper. I was shocked to see how cheap he was compared to what Pareco would

B (24:29)

have cost rookie of the year in Buffalo years ago.

D (24:32)

He, he's, he's making absolutely peanuts. He might be making 2 million bucks moving forward, maybe a million and a half, I believe next year. He's on the books for so.

B (24:43)

Well, interesting.

E (24:44)

Believe that.

B (24:45)

So Vancouver dealt Myers to Dallas. It was a second round pick in 24th rounder in 2029. And Vancouver's eating 50%, which is 3 million, right? So that's through next season as well. And, and Dallas, boys, they've won 10 games in a row and they are like, buddy, the fact that Minnesota and Dallas are going to be playing in the first round, it's just wild that one of those teams are going home. So it's like, what else are they going to do? Now you got the. Obviously we talked about Sagan's money's off, right? So you got to figure that they're not done. And Minnesota, they go out and they get McCarron. All right? So that's a guy who, I think people were a little surprised. And biz, we go into it with Draeger, the return for him. But Billy Garon's like, I don't care. Obviously the return at this point is like we, I want certain people in here needs that we have. They are smaller, I would say, and they get a big giant guy. Now he's a fourth line player, but if he can make a difference, it's like I don't think that they worry about what they had to give back to Nashville.

D (25:46)

Yeah. So a couple things. He doesn't make much. I want to say he makes a million and a half. And the reason I know that number is because that's where they were trying to keep Kiefer Sherwood under when, when they ended up trading him off to Vancouver or I believe they just didn't sign him and, and wouldn't, wouldn't, wouldn't figure that out because they, they viewed him such a, such a, a big piece of their group. Now his. Everybody will show you his like underlying numbers and being like, you're giving up that much for this guy. Like, nobody really even talks about him anymore. But sometimes when you play on a team that's brutal, especially at the start of the year, your numbers aren't going to look that shiny, especially as a fourth line repair man who's killing penalties and not putting up many points. So when he moves to a better team, now that he is, I see him being way more of a factor and way more of a presence than he was on Nashville. So I guess I could understand the value in which he gave up. And it's clear that Billy G. And his staff have scout of him. They probably love him as a locker room guy and a guy who could just quickly fit in there and then patch that hole up if in fact they're not able to go get Trocheck, as we know that they are. So it's kind of that safety valve. I think we can all agree though, I don't think that you can go deep and do that much damage with just Erickson, Ek, Hartman and McCarron as your three centermen.

E (27:08)

I, I think Billy G too, you see it at the Olympics, like how much he values guys that can kill penalties, win face off. McCarran's 52%, I think in the face off circle a big body. So maybe it's a guy like you bring him in. It's like, listen, this is your role. Do not worry about getting any points. You're going to kill penalties. You're going to run guys through the end wall and play some tough minutes down the Stretch and you know, like you said, like if they have to play Minnesota first. First. Sorry, Dallas. Dallas first. First round. It's like, listen, we're building this to beat this team first round just to try to get by. So you got to have big. He's playing against all those teams out west. So I, I like the trade. Yeah. Second rounder is a second rounder. But to bring in a big body, a guy that's physical, that no one likes playing against, I think it definitely helps you out.

D (27:57)

I would like to know how many years McCarran has left or is he in the last year of his deal? He's making, and I believe he's making only a million and a half unless he's re upped.

C (28:08)

Mike McCarron is in the final year of a two year contract where his cap hit is $900,000.

D (28:13)

Okay, so he's under a million. Wow.

A (28:16)

Jesus.

D (28:16)

O he for Sherwood ended up getting a million and a half in Vancouver and they wouldn't. Weren't willing to go more than McCarron to keep him in Nashville, which is crazy. And if you guys want to hop into that one, is Sherwood going to

E (28:29)

give you any of his money that he just signed?

D (28:32)

Buddy, he deserves all the fucking guy. Buddy, he deserves all the praise that he got in Vancouver. He's physical, he forechecks like a bad man. He could probably get you 20 to 25 goals. And now he goes over to San Jose. There was rumblings that they were not aligned on the money and the term and that they were potentially going to remove him before the deadline. Yeah, sometimes that is used as a little bit of a threat. And then obviously they end up locking in him at, at, what was it, five years?

B (29:05)

Just under 6 million 575 a year for five years. Dude. A guy that wasn't drafted, like the way he's gone about his career and coming in and grinding it out in the AHL and playing physical down there and being like, just give me a chance on the fourth line, gets his chance in the NHL. He's running around leading the league in hits. Then he starts scoring a little bit. It's like nothing was handed to him. And you get your chance to get a big payday. Like, Buddy, imagine telling him fucking nine years ago you're going to sign a deal just under 30 million in the NHL. Like that is a story that, that as a, as a former player, you just, I love seeing that. So happy for that guy and I don't even know him. So. Yeah, that's a great Deal. Now Dallas bringing in Myers. I love that move. We mentioned that one quick, just a big defenseman right like that, that decor that's going to be hard for Minnesota to play against. Right. Like you, you know Boldy's a big, big guy but if Hartman's still there and Caprisov's still there and Zuccarello, you get some big demon. You get that Bishell, he's a monster. You got Myers. Essa Lindell is really hard to play against. Then Heskin is the water bug that can play 30 minutes. But he's not like that. They're building. I think you're right. Keith. You, you have to look at it like for those two teams like we just got to get out of the first round. So we're almost making deals to beat Dallas or beat Minnesota, vice versa and

D (30:28)

we just assuming that, Are we just assuming Colorado's winning that division, boys?

B (30:32)

I, I, I am. Let's see right now that the Tyler

E (30:37)

Myers deal kind of reminds me of the Mika deal. Like a long body gets in like big disruptor. A guy that, you know he's been around forever. He's played, played a lot of games in this league. He knows what it takes. Like I, I love that trade for them. Like he's a minute eater and he's going to play tough minutes. Take away a little bit for, for Heiskin and, and it like if you can bring in a guy who's what's he, six, six, six, seven to play. Yeah.

B (31:02)

I mean Colorado has a six point lead on Dallas and a nine point lead on Minnesota. They got a game in hand on Dallas, two on Minnesota. Six points with a game in hand with 20 left. Like I think Colorado gets that division. It's not over yet but that's kind of what I'm looking at.

D (31:21)

We're getting the wit stamp of approval.

B (31:23)

Yeah. That 0.0. Just lock in Dallas for winning the central guys and, and we can go out before we get to the, the news that kind of broke while we were talking to Drake about Nicholas Waugh going over to Colorado. I, I gotta bring up Edmonton. So Edmonton makes a deal, right? They, they trade for Connor Murphy. I really like that trade. Okay. They then trade for Jason Dickinson and Colton Doc. Now the return which I tweeted out originally we traded a first rounder for Jason, Jason Dickinson. Is this what I'm reading? Is this correct? It hadn't been announced it was Colton Doc yet. Not that that's like a game changing like name where all of a sudden oh ok, I get the first rounder. I got a call from Stauff in seven seconds and Stauff and I talked and he explained it to me a little bit more. Now, the one tweet that's gone pretty viral. Let me pull this one up. Is Stan Bowman and the Oilers this season. He's traded away a 27 first, a 27 third, a 28 second, a 29 second. Stuart Skinner, Brett Kulak and Andrew Mangiapani. He's added Spencer Stasney, Tristan Jari, Samuel Poulin, Connor Murphy, Jake, Jason Dickinson, Colton, Doc, that is probably something that, that doesn't look great, right? If you read that, it's like, okay, the, if I'm going to list the mistakes, the order is the Skinner trade first and the second is the signing of Mangiapani. This trade is not about a first rounder for Dickinson and Colton. Doc. The first rounder is to get rid of Mangiapani. Okay, that, that is the ultimate. Like that signing did not work. He's five, what, nine? He's playing on the fourth line.

D (33:08)

They just did this with Arvidson.

B (33:11)

Yeah, no, and there's been a ton of errors.

D (33:13)

Sure, they brought it.

B (33:14)

But, but, but I'll say this, dude, like, like the Oilers looking at them, it's like they need a third line center. They need a big right shot defenseman. They got both. They got both and they're both solid. And Dickinson's offense isn't there. But dude, you look at Pasha style, under the hood numbers, he plays against elite competition, you, I think it's like McDavid and Leon are around 38% of their shifts are against the number one lines. The number 1D pair. It's 50, 55% of the time for Dickinson and he has nice numbers on a dog team. So you're getting in a guy. And there's also a clip if you want to check it out of. Who is he fighting in that clip? He's fighting Barkley, Goudreau on San Jose. Dickinson's tough too. So now you have a third line check and center. So you look at that team. It's McDavid at number one, C. McDavid number two, Dickinson number three. I like that. All right, then you got Henrique maybe centering the fourth line and then, all right, if Nurse is playing well, Bouchard's Norris Trey Fish style season, you got Echolm, then you got Connor Murphy. It's like I, I, I like the moves. The first rounder and how it looks and, and how it looked to me. Right away. Oh, my God. You're like, are you kidding me? What the hell does the first round pick matter at this point? They got like, it doesn't matter. Like, it, it's win now. It's win now or forever. What is the prayer?

D (34:34)

Forever.

B (34:34)

Hold your peace. Forever. Say goodbye to Conor. You got to win now. You. They.

G (34:38)

They.

B (34:39)

Buddy, there's been mismanagement. The Mangiapani signing sucked. The trade of Skinner, which was basically, it was almost like a bully job by the entire fan base. I get it. But now you're like, holy fuck, this didn't work. We got, we got a goalie who's the exact same, if not worse, since he's come over making double the money. Like, not ideal. I don't know. Can they go out and get a goalie? I have no idea if they can. I don't think they're done. I hope they're not done. But they, they added.

D (35:07)

I don't know about you, but my issue isn't the roster. It's the juju going in the playoffs after hearing that Spectre has blocked Ryan Whitney on Twitter. This fucking fan base and this media group is in shambles right now going into the deadline.

B (35:24)

Let me tell you something. If you've made a career out of and hey, all reporters out there, it is not an easy job to ask questions. Hard questions have to be asked. No doubt. I would never question that. There is a way to ask hard questions, buddy. We all answered them. I answered them repeatedly in Edmonton. There is a way to ask hard questions without being a prick. Mark Spector asks questions in a certain way in an exact tone that comes off as I'm a prick. Okay, I'm trying to rattle you. I want to annoy you. I'm asking you a question that I have to ask. I get it. But I seem to enjoy asking you this question. Ok? If you're going to be that guy, hey, no problem, buddy. That guy's done it forever. If you're there, then you're going to go to Twitter and block. And let me tell you something, guys, since I went to Spec Dog's Twitter, everyone reads spec except for me. And the thousands this guy's blocked, the amount, I'm going to say thousands, because he hasn't blocked. He's blocked everyone. If you question spec, everyone reads spec. You're blocked. Now, if you're going to be a guy who's asking questions in the tone that you ask questions, you cannot be blocking people on Twitter, boys. That is the most hypocritical thing I've ever seen. You cannot block people who.

D (36:51)

Sometimes I block people, but I just put them on a timeout like I did that Alex Jones guy from the Buffalo Sabers fan base. And when I saw you, your hashtag leader tweet where, when you were playing there in Edmonton, when people would chirp you, you would get a little bit sensitive and block them at that time.

B (37:08)

So I blocked while playing.

D (37:09)

I saw that tweet.

E (37:10)

That's fair.

D (37:11)

And I went and unblocked Alex Jones. So I might actually even go through my full block list like I, like I was doing when I played. Kind of like you wit and unblock just everyone in order to give everyone a clean slate. But I, I, I have not been blocked by Spec. I begged him via DM to come on the podcast. Now he hasn't answered me in 24 hours. And I would even go as far as saying this. I think that the players of the Edmonton Oiler, in order to get the juju back going, they need to go on a Spec strike. A Spit and Chiclet spec strike where if he's not going to come on the, if he's not going to come on the podcast and answer some hard questions that we have for him, the players need to stop answering his. They need to say, mark, respect what you've done your whole career. Sonk, I'm not answering questions till you go on the Spit and Chicklets podcast. So I ask all of the Edmonton Oilers if you could do that on our behalf. Do you think that they would do that? Wit, do you think that you could pass the message?

B (38:11)

They would do that. But. But what? I would pay the amount of money and the enjoyment I would get if he's going at Leon and just, just asking a question in a way where if you were allowed in this world to just straight up sucker punch a reporter, the players would, if, if, if one of them could ever say, listen, Speck, I've, I've looked into this and, and you've blocked countless, countless Edmonton Oilers fans who question how you ask questions and how rude you can be while asking the question. So I'm going to do this. You're blocked. And just for, if they could verbally block him back, that'd be a storyline for me that would, it would make this entire career I've chosen after playing just seems so worth it. If I could get Connor McDavid to say, hey, listen, Spec, you're blocked. I, I think I might retire, that could be it for me. Now, these guys, they're They're. They're professionals. I don't think we're going to see this happen. But you cannot ask questions. And look. Look for a way to make a player so upset while also answering your question and then block people who question you on Twitter. That does not seem to be like who Mark Spector is as a reporter. Right. You gotta live with how you ask questions.

E (39:20)

Yeah. Is he. Is he the guy who asked the questions when everyone gives like the. Look like.

B (39:25)

Yeah.

E (39:26)

So he's the one behind all the. Yeah. You can't be blocking people if. If you're the guy asking these questions, end of story. He's gotta. He's gotta reveal his block list or is that public on.

D (39:36)

No, you can't see it. It's part of his now as. Listen, I. I'm not innocent either, and I have a little bit of a soft spot for him because I've asked some pretty stupid questions from time to time, too. Even on tn.

B (39:48)

Stupid's different than. Stupid's different than looking to piss off. It's not even the same.

D (39:53)

Well, I asked Larkin about his contract negotiation while he was going through it when he was in Detroit right before a game. Now, I would like to take.

B (40:00)

I would like to take one an hour.

D (40:02)

I would like to take credit in the fact that I got that over the finish line. I still have yet to see any percentage of Larkin's deal and the fact that that got done shortly after I did ask that and push it over the finish line. But I digress. Spec, you better come on spit and checklist, buddy, because you got some questions to answer and join us.

B (40:22)

We'll be as one as this playoff goes. Now, mind you, Tuesday night, the Oilers, they go down 42 to Ottawa. It's like, are you kidding me? They're going to lose. I think it would have been their sixth of seventh game and three or four in a row at home. It's like, what is going on? And I tweeted out, oh, Oilers got to get five goals minimum again to win a hockey game. And I think now I'm blocked, so I didn't see it. So you can. Everybody reached back except for me. He tweeted out the exact same thing.

D (40:51)

Exact same thing.

B (40:52)

We are osmosis. We are one, but we are not one. You understand what I'm saying here?

E (40:57)

Wait, did he copy your tweet?

D (40:59)

No, no. It's just great minds think alike. And the love triangle right now between specific and. And stoff. And now are you allowed to divulge a little bit of the conversation that you had with Stoff, like, where does he sit? Is he still as confident as he was that they're going to win a Stanley cup with Connor McDavid and Leon Dry settle, are they going to figure this out? Are they going to write the ship with.

E (41:23)

And what did. What did Stoff think about Spec blocking you?

B (41:27)

That did not come up and I didn't even want to bring it up because I know stuff. No Spec. I'm not going to stick people in the middle of that.

E (41:32)

Okay.

D (41:32)

That's close battle.

B (41:33)

That's classic battle. I'm not looking now, granted. Did I send out a tweet calling him? It's.

F (41:38)

It's.

B (41:38)

By the way, it's Charmin Spec. It's Charmin Soft Spec. So it's Charmin Speck. If even if a player could say, hey, Charmin Speck, what's going on? What do you got for me today? Like, that would make my day. But listen, Stoff's as confident as ever. I, I think, like I said, they got three centers. I like their D. Can, can they play better defensive hockey? Can they play more mature hockey as a team? Can they figure out you. There's just certain plays and mistakes you can't make. Like they're funny. They're. They're going to be top three in the Pacific because it's one of the worst divisions we've ever seen. Like I said, Anaheim fans. You're saying we're going to wax us Anaheim fans. I'm sorry. You guys are at the beginning. I actually picked you to win a stuff a Stanley cup for the Devils. I like Anaheim. I like watching. We're going to wax you. That, that, that is a wit guarantee. Will this end up being used on quote, boards and end up looking. Making me look stupid? Possibly. That's happened many times. It will again. We're going to wax them and we take care of Vegas and then all of a sudden we're conference finals. So I, I believe, I truly believe can. Do they get a goalie? I don't know.

E (42:40)

The Spec strike's going to just get these guys to loosen up their grip a little bit. Like, I bet, you know, knowing you have to answer Spec's question. They're gripping their sticks a little bit tighter with the Spec strike. You're going to see these Oilers go on a fucking heater.

B (42:53)

Charmin Speck. Charmin specifically.

D (42:57)

Is there, is there any potential fine.

E (42:59)

Breaking news.

D (43:00)

We got breaking news.

C (43:02)

Frank Saravelli saying, I'm told right now, St. Louis Blues, Colton Pareco is still open to a trade to a different destination.

B (43:10)

Now Buffalo fans can hate him. Okay.

F (43:12)

Oh, wow.

C (43:13)

But not Buffalo. An outcome not all that different from Tyler Myers with Detroit.

B (43:18)

That was the tweet from Frank Saravelli that Detroit was. Well, it was reported that Detroit was going to get Tyler Myers and it didn't. But that wasn't because he had a no move. Right?

C (43:29)

Not sure that Shreen Frank's tweet here.

E (43:30)

Stevie Wise, just like this.

D (43:32)

Oh, yeah. He's just licking his chops.

E (43:36)

Wow.

D (43:36)

The. The. The. The last question I had. And then we'll move on from spec. Even though I'm obsessed with the storyline now, it's all I want to talk about. Is there. If they deny his questions, is there any type of fine implication, like, can they deal with any from the league?

E (43:52)

I'll pay.

C (43:53)

I'll pay it.

B (43:54)

I don't. I don't think there's. I think. I think you, like, reporters have to be allowed in the room. That is a league thing. But if nobody will say anything to

D (44:02)

you, like, what if they go like this? They go, you know what, Spec. Pinky's up, buddy. Pinkies up. I'm not going to ask.

E (44:08)

Free pink Whitney for every guy.

D (44:11)

I don't know if that's going to move the needle for them.

B (44:13)

I don't think.

D (44:13)

I don't even think Conor drinks.

B (44:15)

Yeah, I don't. I don't have any friends on the Oilers. I don't. I only know Nuge. Haven't spoken to him in 10 years. So I don't. I don't think we're going to get a pinkies up in Charmin. Speck's face, but that would be a storyline. I don't know if they necessarily want the smoke and the noise of.

D (44:32)

Like, you wouldn't consider Conor a friend.

B (44:35)

I've met Conor on the bus in San Jose. What was he with us for 20 minutes? Like, I don't think that Connor McDavid considers me a friend. I think he knows that I'm basically the one. Actually, I shouldn't say the one guy. Considering everyone says this, but the man that has spoken about the enjoyment I get in watching him play hockey is like nothing I've ever seen. That's why I've really hopped on back to the Oilers, because getting to watch him play hockey is a treat in itself. But am I going to expect him to give a. A strike to Charman Spec because of me? No, I won't. I won't. I think that'd Be a little ridiculous. Can you pump.

E (45:13)

Can you promise whoever goes on the Charmin spec strike that they can be in the next Pinkies up commercial at least 100%.

D (45:20)

Take it.

B (45:20)

Okay. All right, buddy. We got to get.

E (45:22)

We got to dangle a carrot.

B (45:24)

Buy him a set of golf clubs. Whatever they want. Whatever they want. Whatever they want.

D (45:30)

We kind of maybe didn't dive into what Stoff divulged. Did he divulge anything to you that. That gave you more hope?

B (45:37)

Just speaking to stuff gives me hope. And I'm not talking just about the Oilers. I'm talking about life in general.

C (45:42)

Life.

B (45:42)

Ok. So you want to. You want to know a man who is loved and respected by the Edmonton Oilers community? That's Bob Stauffer. Read the comments. Read the comments under my tweet. So many stuff mentioned. Stuff's the one man we love, the one man we believe, the one man who gives us hope and stuff. Knows. Knows Puck. Okay? And he has me thinking Colton Doc can run around and he could throw his body around, play on the fourth line, be a big impact player. That Jason Dickinson could play against any team's top line and shut him down. That Connor Murphy can be hell of a player on the PK and be physical and be respected in the locker room. And that the team's defense can turn it all around and that we can raise Lord Stanley this year. So laugh all you want, everyone. We got Connor McDavid and Leon Drice title. Fucking laugh all you want. Do we have a goalie right now? No.

D (46:32)

Let's go.

B (46:34)

Thank you. Thank you. Biz. Do you think I'm on the oil team?

D (46:37)

Do you think.

B (46:38)

Do you think. Oh, shit. No. Nope. Nope.

D (46:42)

Buddy, listen. I'm not saying I'm, like, essentially hopping on board in first. No. I'm gonna fucking run and jump on the caboose the last one, and nobody's gonna go on there. I'm getting free fair. I'm jumping on.

B (46:55)

But that's what happened with the Blue Jays. But. And that. That.

D (46:58)

No, that's our buddy. It's our only chance to bring back the Stanley cup to Canada.

B (47:04)

I have to say,

D (47:07)

buddy, come on. Not right now.

B (47:09)

Our.

D (47:09)

Our legitimate shot this year. And if they don't, let's say they fizzle off. They meet Colorado in the conference finals and they get beat. Do you think that Stoff should be handed the reins as general manager of the Edmonton Oilers?

B (47:23)

Stoughf could easily be a GM. I'm not even kidding either. Not kidding. If Martin St. Louis. Yes, he's a Hall of Fame player, can coach fucking 13U AAA hockey and hop into the Montreal Canadiens locker room and just dominate as a coach over the past few seasons, then Bob Stafford could be a gm. And I speak for every Oilers fan who's listening and hearing you say I'm hopping on the bandwagon of the MN2 Oilers and going, no. It's time for Darren Drager. We are joined now by TSN Insider. Been doing this a long time. Darren Dreger. Dregs. What's going on, buddy? It is Thursday, 11:47 Eastern. We might actually have a Friday crazy deadline for the first time in a long time, huh?

F (48:16)

Yeah, I think that's right. And there's been some chirping on social media, which isn't unusual as you guys can appreciate and live through. But many general managers going into the week describe it as a buyer's market. And the definition of a buyer's market is the flood of players, the number of players that are actually in play. So maybe you don't jump at the first, second, even the third opportunity if you're in that buying mode. You know, you sit tight, you make sure that you've got a full understanding of what the market is all about. And that's the way it is. It is frustrating for the sellers, trust me. You know, there are a number of teams that would really love to get involved and start moving on. Some pieces and some bigger pieces, as you guys have read and we've speculated on. But that's where we're at. But there's, there's plenty of time. There's a lot that can get done on Friday.

D (49:08)

No offense to McCarran, but in a buyer's market, you would assume that maybe he wouldn't go for a second rounder. So I think a lot of people might have been thrown off by that. So I guess to, to throw it back at you. What do you make of that? And could that raise the level of, for, for the price of everything else?

F (49:24)

Yeah. Biz. So that's interesting because that was my reaction to it as well. But then as I poked around a little bit, you know, just again, trying to establish. All right, well, is that now the benchmark for what that, what, what that sort of package is going to be? And if you're a player that's better than McCarran, with all due respect, are you talking about first round draft picks now being part of the equation? And some of the messaging I got back from other clubs was McCarran has improved his game to a Point where they're like, you know, it's high, but it's not outlandish, it's not outrageously high. And you know, I mean, obviously the Minnesota Wild felt like they had the need for that level of presence, size of player, the game that he brings, and, and they, they pulled the trigger. But I, you know, not that I'm going to compare him to, to Vinnie Trocheck, it, it, that's not a fair comparison. But now I'm reading, you know, some of the speculation that Minnesota could be out on, on Trocheck. So you always look for a plan C, a plan D, and then you get into plan B and then there's plan A. So that's what the gunslingers like Billy Guerin are all about at this time of the year.

D (50:32)

Year.

E (50:32)

Now, a lot of these, A lot of these deals that we're hearing about more seem like summertime deals with the Robbie Thomases, even, you know, the Parecos, the Vinnie Trochecks. Like why, why this year do you think that there's more of the big dogs on the chopping block?

F (50:47)

Right. Well, I mean, if you look at New York, we all know where the New York Rangers are and they're headed. We don't need another letter to tell us the direction that this team is going in. So, you know, that, that makes sense. St. Louis isn't dissimilar, right? I mean, the St. Louis Blues are absolutely in a rebuild mode. I'll tell you what, fellas, as, as much as you're right, you know, you look at Robert Thomas, you try and do the math on this. You try and make sense of it. This kid is in year three of an eight year contract extension. You know, why would the Blues be doing this? Well, Doug Armstrong, he's sport fishing. That's what he's doing. You know, I mean, the deal that was on the table for the Buffalo Sabres included two top prospects, a first round draft pick, and I believe Josh Norris was the other piece and Buffalo, and yeah, like we can't do all of that. And if we give up Josh Norris, who, you know, knock on wood, you know, that kid needs to stay healthy. But we weaken ourselves up the middle of the ice. With all due respect to Robert Thomas, who's, you know, a real rock solid 2 seed. So unless army gets what he wants and needs and is demanding. You're right, Yan's, I think that drifts into the summer. But keep an eye, fellas. On the Utah team, you know, they, they made a nice ad by bringing in Mackenzie Weger, Billy Armstrong isn't done yet. And when you look at the prospect pool and the pieces that the Mammoth have that they could potentially part with, I mean, they're not loading and filling the pockets of Doug Armstrong in St. Louis. That's, that's not what Utah is all about. But if they can bring, bring in a piece like Robbie Thomas, they're going to do everything between now and the three Eastern deadline to try and get that done, because the market will open up wider in the summer for Robert Thomas, and a team like Utah doesn't want that.

E (52:34)

But don't, don't you run the risk of pissing these guys off? Right? So, I mean, eventually you have to trade them, right? No matter if a guy like Robert Thomas's name's getting thrown around there, you have to do it whether it's right now or in the summertime time.

F (52:46)

Agreed. And you guys are players and the game has changed, you know, since you guys stepped off the ice in, in that respect. The business side of the game is more cutthroat now than it's ever been. And you will get hockey operations, people that say, no, we care about the players. Of course they care about the players. But if they can figure out a way to make their team better by utilizing that piece regardless of the trade, protection doesn't matter. You know, I, I always say I feel bad this time of year because I don't like identifying players in trade speculation. And, and so, you know, look, I, I mean, Colton Pareco continues to consider his option. Now, does he stay in St. Louis? Is there something else that comes along? Does he wave to go to, to Buffalo based on the deal that's on the table for a prospect in a first and something else, well, that's up to the player, but the player probably wasn't part of that process until it become, you know, it becomes public. And I'm the guy that makes it public. You know, so you're sitting there going, all right, well, you know, that's my business. And I guess I can appreciate the business side from the club's perspective, too. But there's a human element to this that you guys can appreciate more than me. And that's, that's where things have changed over time.

D (54:11)

You mentioned a drastic ask for, for Robert Thomas from St. Louis. Was Owen Power ever a name that was also thrown in there as opposed to Norris?

F (54:22)

Not to my knowledge. Biz? Not to my knowledge. But that's not to say again, you know, when I tweeted the other day that things were heating up between the Sabers and, and the St. Louis Blues with Robbie Thomas being the principal piece. I had a pretty good feel and understanding what that package looked like, but that was maybe where they were getting towards the end of closing on a deal. How do you know what was included initially that, you know, kind of sparked that sort of back and forth in the negotiations that took place? It could have been. Because I'll tell you this, you know, the one thing that, that I wonder about that maybe shoots that down is Yarmo. Kikalainen has been in the market for a forward and a defenseman basically since the moment he took over as general manager of the Sabres. So do you use Owen Power as part of the bigger package? Potentially, if you're getting both Pareco and Robbie, that, that would make sense to me. But that's just speculating based on, on your question. I did not hear Owen Power's name involved at any point. As I was following this.

B (55:25)

I mentioned last episode we had that with Florida gone, this is Carolina's year, like it has to be. And I don't know what you've heard. I've mentioned like Kadri on that team, like thinking of Kadri against Tampa Bay in the playoffs, like they need some bite now. Is it true Calgary has no interest in eating any of that deal at the moment?

F (55:47)

That's. That's the way it stands. Yeah. And okay, so here's a bit more inside information and I'm fairly certain, so it isn't speculation. I think that there were scenarios that were more or less presented to Calgary and Carolina might have been one of them. He has some level of trade protection. He doesn't have the full no move. Right. And I did hear that Carolina might have been one of those teams on his no fly zone and maybe he would prefer to stay in the West. I mean, the Colorado angle has been there for a long, long time. I know Colorado has interest, but to your point, Whit, I mean, Colorado, Montreal, pretty much any team is looking at the Calgary Flames and going, okay, you got to take a piece back. I mean, he's got three more years and father time is eventually catching up to this guy. Some would argue that, you know, to a degree it already has, so we'll see how it plays out. But I'll tell you, Calgary is interesting for a lot of different reasons. I thought they did okay with the Uyghur trade to Utah. Blake Coleman's got a ton of interest, yet it's like 40, 60. He gets dealt and Zach White Cloud. And you guys know this. You know, he's a tremendous teammate and he's a hell of a mentor for the young D that the Calgary Flames have and they're going to have moving forward. So Craig Conroy is sitting there going, Yeah, I got 20 teams that want to crack. It's like, Zach White Cloud, okay, blow me away, because otherwise I'm not doing it. I don't have any reason to do it at this point.

D (57:25)

You gotta. You gotta keep some players. Right? And. And the last. Just to touch on that, about the not wanting to retain. If cadre does get moved. Every team gets three. Yes, three.

G (57:35)

Three.

D (57:35)

Three bullets. Basically where they can retain salary. How many has Calgary already used? Because I don't believe they retain anything on Uyghur.

F (57:44)

Correct. No, no. I'd have to look back at that. I mean, it's all throughout my head here. I don't know. And I don't know that this is also an issue with, with ownership. I think the owner, Murray Edwards, I mean, every NHL owner is heavily involved. He's involved, like he's deeply in on these, These trades. And it's not necessarily about the money. Me, it's more about being sensitive, especially in a Canadian market. And you're, you know, you're building a new building and there's a lot of positive stuff. You know, can you roll out a team next year that really isn't going to be competitive? And the answer to that is no, you can't. So, you know, Edwards is sitting there going, well, I like Nas. Why are we trying to trade a player that's under contract? But I like MacKenzie.

D (58:28)

But everybody knows that in order to get good again, you have to go to the bottom.

B (58:35)

Calgary never had a high pit. It's crazy. And I just looked dregs and biz. So they're retaining on Markstrom and they're retaining on Rasmus, Anderson. So they got.

F (58:43)

So there you go.

B (58:45)

That's dangerous in terms of like not wanting to give the final one out.

E (58:48)

Yeah.

B (58:49)

Dregs. I talked about this earlier on this episode. The. The league deciding to get rid of double retention. It sucks. It sucks for fans.

E (58:59)

Yeah.

B (59:00)

Can. Can you explain the reasoning behind that? Because that's. That's really what making trades is making trades so difficult at this point?

G (59:07)

It is.

F (59:08)

And I guess the National Hockey League just felt like there was too much shenanigans going on behind the scenes. But that doesn't necessarily compute with me either. I mean, isn't that what central registry, you know, the heartbeat of The National Hockey League is all about. I mean, if a trade doesn't pass the sniff test, then it gets veto. It's pretty. Why do we care if, if, if teams are retaining here and then you're shipping that piece off and there's another piece that's. I, it's. It's one of the many things that frustrates me. As old school as the National Hockey League continues to be. We see all the stuff that goes on in the, the NFL, in the NBA that drives the buzz around.

B (59:52)

Traffic.

E (59:53)

Right.

F (59:53)

The traffic.

G (59:54)

Right.

F (59:55)

And, you know, if you've got aggressive general managers with supportive owners, you know, I automatically think of Kelly McCremen in the Vegas Golden Knights.

D (60:03)

Oh, yeah.

F (60:04)

They're in it to win it. Every damn year. Every single year. And, and again this year. That's because, you know, Bill Foley, the owner, when he first, you know, got into the national accurate, he said, I want to win the Stanley cup, but I want to do it multiple times before I'm done.

D (60:17)

I think he said he wanted to do it in the first five years and then they hit it right at the five year.

F (60:22)

Yeah, yeah. So if you've got support of ownership and you've got an aggressive and smart hockey operator, operations group, that's good for business. For me, across the board, it's. I don't mind what they did, you know, with the injury cap and the cap and the playoffs, because again, I'm one of those that always push back. You think of Kucherov and the, the time that he was off and then he comes off back magically, Mark Stone in Vegas and, and all of those things. But I do think that it does create a more balanced environment in the playoffs to make those smart hockey men use those smarts and make sure that you're managing your roster in an efficient way. But the double retention and why that was taken out, I still want to have a sound.

E (61:07)

I think they took it out because the Coyotes are gone now. They were the kings of the double retention.

D (61:12)

Yeah, yeah.

G (61:12)

Double wrist

B (61:15)

pronger.

F (61:17)

Everyone, Gary Price, everybody was doing it. That's right. Yeah, that's right.

D (61:21)

I'm gonna, I'm gonna beat the wheels off the Robert Thomas. Thomas stuff. But, you know, I, I want to commend the Iser plan and how patient it's been, but I feel like that's the type of player that could put them over the edge, especially in the east with it being wide open. And you also look at a team like St. Louis, who I would imagine potentially is going to move on from Biddington because he wants to go win and they're going to be in the midst of a rebuild. They have two unbelievable goalie prospects and they also have been floating the idea of Casper moving and. Or do you maybe throw over if it's not Casper? Maybe a guy like Finney like to. To lock in and have Robert Thomas and Dylan Larkin making under 9 million as your 12 center. To me that for. For extended period of time here. To me that's the move right now. Is there been any tires being kicked on that?

F (62:13)

Well, I'm sure there have. I mean there wouldn't be a general manager in a position like Eisenman where you're still part of an up and coming group that isn't making a call like that. I mean you're talking about 26 year old guy here, right? Like, and when you're getting players like that on a long term contract, there's no messing around. You've got him locked in for the next five years. I mean it's, it's virtually a no brainer. The only thing biz that I push back at and this messaging that I've, I, I've gotten consistently out of Detroit over the last couple of months anyway is that they're very mindful of where they're at and they don't want to blow out young assets because they don't feel that they're quite ready. Now I'm talking about, you know, they're not going to do that on rental players, you know, that they missed out on Tyler Myers. They're going to land a right shot. D. You know, is it, is it Justin Falk? Is it some. Like there's no doubt Eiserman is going to bolster his blue line, but what you're saying is, is bang on. So I'm confident in saying I get yes for sure. But go back to the ask again, like the pieces that Buffalo was willing to give up, I've already described they're significant. I look, I heard with Utah, they wanted Utah's three best prospects, they being St. Louis, so. But as you guys also mentioned earlier, leverage can change a little bit and you do as a club risk pissing off the player. Like do you think Robert Thomas enjoys being dragged through this process? No chance. Like no chance. So you know, what does that look like if the deal doesn't get done? Wherever it is, the deal doesn't get done. You think Robbie Thomas is going to be happy for the remainder of this regular season and going into the. And I would extend that to, to Calgary and to some of these other guys as well. So I'd be very surprised if Eisenman wasn't in there, especially because a piece like Thomas would fit their, their move as they try and, and, and get better. But the assets are tremendous. Maybe he's not willing to do that.

C (64:19)

Guys, we got a little breaking news here. The Toronto Maple Leafs have traded Nicholas Roy to the Colorado avalanche for a 2027 conditional first round pick and a 2026 condition.

E (64:33)

So he got McCarran boys, we've talked about the market.

D (64:38)

He set the market there and you got cup experience, you got size and then yeah, he, he has to play fourth line center.

B (64:45)

So with Nelson already in Colorado, you could put Kadri stuff to bed I think at Colorado now.

F (64:50)

100%.

G (64:51)

Yeah.

F (64:52)

And that's interesting. I mean frankly I just got a text at the same time or now it's like a first of fe.

E (64:57)

No, we beat you.

F (64:59)

Yes, you beat me. Scoop me. So that's, I think that's tremendous value for Nicholas Raw. I mean, come on. And I do know, you know, Brad Trolling was taken a few punches based on, on the return that Edmonton got as part of the mangiopani Jason Dickinson. That trade where a first round pick was included and all that. Well, you don't think that true living was in the conversation with Stan Bowman? Of course he was Right. Here's the thing. Edmonton had Jason Dickinson higher on their list than Wa. Okay, that's a hockey decision. All the other pieces come into play. Right. I mean that's, that's the prerogative in the view of, of Stan Boland, that's fine. And now that we see Nick Rock going to Colorado.

A (65:45)

Wow.

F (65:46)

I mean he's, he's younger and he fits the need. I mean Calgary would have been their number three because of the year that Brock Nelson is having.

G (65:55)

So.

F (65:55)

And this is, this is what is going to frustrate Craig Conrad. We're messing around. We're messing around here. You know, Colorado has been consistently interested in Conrad Montreal consistent. But as we talked about earlier. Okay. We're not willing to retain on that. Okay, well there's, there's one more big piece that Craig Connery doesn't have to work with in the Colorado Avalanche.

B (66:18)

So yeah, where you're saying like I, I'm trying to tell the owner here like almost let me do my job. Like retention is part of us. I mean the list, the number of draft picks Calgary has this summer moving forward is incredible. Like you're rebuilding. Like let us Retend a little. We're going to get even more back, boys.

D (66:33)

Here's a crazy one. I think. I think Kadri might end up in Vegas if William Carlson's not coming back. That's. We always. They always end up doing something fucking crazy.

B (66:43)

I'm.

D (66:43)

I'm throwing Vegas in the mix for Kadri now.

E (66:46)

I mean, they're always in.

B (66:47)

Yeah, they got hurdle that one year. I was like, what, though? It was at 303:00pm but yeah, so

F (66:53)

like, like two trades ago now, because they just acquired Nick Dowd, and then it was Cole Smith prior to both those deals. An excellent Vegas source said to me, nah, you know, we're gonna be quiet. I don't think we're gonna do a whole lot like, yeah, here's Pinocchio.

D (67:10)

Like, what are we doing here?

B (67:13)

So I want to commend Nashville and what they did from the start to get back in the mix, but we had this discussion about, like, what do you do? And, and Stamkos name is so interesting to me, like, the year he's had.

F (67:26)

Yeah.

B (67:26)

I also Wonder about Ryan O'Reilly. Now. I want to ask your opinion, because I don't. It's been said before by trots, like, Ryan O'Reilly doesn't have a. No movement, but I'm treating it as he does. It'll be up to him. The side I don't get is like, man, if you're trying to rebuild and get this thing going again, like, what I. I get the respect for him, but why have it? Like, you got to make hard decisions here. And you could almost, like, say, sorry, Ryan, I know you don't want to go anywhere, but, like, we're trying to get this thing going again. Like, what do you think about those names and, and, and going on in Nashville?

F (67:56)

Yeah. And Stamcos, too. Right. And the issue that I have and we in the media have continued to, to pound away at that possibility. I mean, ror's name's been out there for several weeks now, and there's a high level of respect. Barry Trots has and, and Ryan O'Reilly has earned that because, hey, the other thing is, how active do you think and influential O'Reilly was in getting Stamkos to sign? Come on. Of course he was right. You might say the same thing of Jonathan Marsh. So O'Reilly is pretty sensitive to all of that. But I know O'Reilly and Stamkos are just flat out waiting for the phone to ring. And if Trots comes to them, okay. In Stamkos case, he can manage that process. He's going back and saying, all right, here are the two, three, maybe four teams that I'm willing to consider, but we're running out of Runway here, fellas. You know, we're having this conversation on Thursday. All of a sudden that Friday deadline hits like a ton of bricks. Or when you're trying to navigate a process including a future hall of Famer like Steven Stamkos, Friday morning of the trade deadline, I mean, it gets pretty complicated. I think today, I think today, tonight on Thursday is pivotal with all these big guys. Yeah, Thomas, Stamkos, O'Reilly, I mean, Pareco still sitting there trying to figure his stuff out. I mean, all of that, all of that I think is going to shake down today.

D (69:26)

I also believe that the, the McCarran trade and then it was Smith who also got dealt. I think it, it upset the group a little bit. It seemed like it also caught.

B (69:35)

That was kind of like, oh yeah, you could tell.

D (69:37)

So that could maybe potentially be the, the straw that broke the camel's back and then being like, all right, this, let's just get the here and, and, and, and, and reshuffle the deck.

E (69:47)

I, I had one just to go back to Detroit and Biz mentioned having the two goalie prospects and my mind went back to when Florida had Levi and, and Spencer Knight and you know, they get Reinhardt in that trade to Buffalo for Levi and then they get Jones, like two pivotal guys to help them win two different Cups. You think Detroit's sitting on that? Like, okay, we can either wait a few years to trade these guys, let it kind of marinate, or they're ready to trade one of them now.

F (70:14)

Yeah, I think they're right. I do. But now we're going back again into the Robert Thomas world and the type of deal, the Tribe of Peace that your piece is that you're getting back because they see big value in those kids that are developing that position. And when you look around the National Hockey League, I mean, how many times do we look at so called contender teams and go, their goaltending is not

D (70:40)

good enough at Borderline, there's about four right now. Yeah.

F (70:43)

So, yeah, the problem is that, you know those kids that you've talked about, Gans, I mean, they're not going to materialize or develop overnight. You've got to be patient in that process. But I will tell you, they're highly regarded. They're not being shopped in any way, shape or form. But are they assets that Eisenman is going to use, if not now or potentially in the summer, 100%.

B (71:04)

I mean, I'm looking right now and the McMahon situation is interesting to me because all of a sudden it's like, hey, if we don't trade him, we can resign him. But where Toronto's at, I'm like, I don't know. I mean, look at Sherwood's deal. It's going to be similar, right? So it's like this guy's, this guy's value is as high as it's ever been. Like being Oilers fan, I, I, that guy is like a dream come true for a playoff run, I think. But what are you hearing on that? Do you see the side of like signing them if you don't get what you want?

F (71:31)

Yeah, it's being considered for sure. It'll be interesting to see if, if the Nick Watt trade influen scenario at all. I had a long talk with Toronto early this morning and to be fair, Cherry Living was growing frustrated because there, there weren't offers, there was interest, there's tire kicking, but there weren't any legitimate offers that he could work on. Well, obviously that changed, right? Bobby McMahon, he's one of those guys. I'm not going to compare him directly to Zach Hyman, but I will use the market as the comparison because when Hyman left and then found his way very quickly in Edmonton, Leafs Nation just went, oh my God, like, how good would have he looked with Matthews and all that? We wouldn't pay him. What are we doing?

B (72:18)

Yeah.

F (72:19)

So you're talking about Toronto doesn't have the appetite to go to 5 million a year on Bobby McMahon. The key for Sherwood deal with the San Jose Sharks doesn't change the appetite of Vancouver, Toronto, but what it does is solidify the position of Bobby McMahon and his agents, the Bartlets, right, They're looking, going. Okay, well, as much as this kid wants to stay, you know, in Toronto, he's not a 25 year old.

E (72:48)

Like, he's, this is chance.

F (72:50)

This is chance. No different than KE for Sherwood and San Jose. He's earned the opportunity based on his level of play. And Toronto I think would get to four and a half, maybe slightly above that. I mean, I know it's dollar in, dollar out when you're a, you're splitting hairs here. And that's a guy that keeps you competitive. And they're not trying to renovate or rebuild in Toronto. They're trying to flip a switch and bring in good players so they can be real competitive again next season, not two years or three years from now, and players like Bobby McMahon, as soon as they're gone, man, you regret it because you keep looking for the same type of player down the road.

E (73:30)

You look at the quotes in Boston between Geeky in the media and then Don Sweeney in the media and, you know, Geeky as a player. And we all know, like, you put yourself in a position to make the playoffs. The big dog, Florida, they're kind of done right now. You look at it as like, this is our chance, right? And Geeky's like, oh, yeah. Hopefully we're, we're proved to Don that we can go out and get some guys. And then Don kind of didn't seem like he was on the same page.

F (73:53)

Wow. Don is a bit of a lone wolf. You know, obviously he deals on a deal a daily basis with Cam Neely and, and the head honchos of the Boston Bruins. I got lots of time for Sweeney because of history.

B (74:07)

You know, that guy can have a deadline.

F (74:10)

He figures it out and finds a way. I mean, we thought the Bruins were essentially dead and buried after last year. They moved Marshan at the deadline, Brandon Carlo to the Toronto Maple Leafs. All right, they're, they're using one of the R words. Here we go. In Boston. It's going to get stale for a couple of years and then they're competitive. Look, they're in the market for a defenseman. They've been kicking tires and wrist aligning for a good amount of time. I'm starting to see the Oliver, Ekman, Larson stuff, so I can't imagine Don Sweeney doesn't find a way to take the bat off his shoulder between now and the deadline. So they're going to get help, whatever that help looks like. It seems like it would be on the back end. I believe they'd like to add a winger in Boston as well. And they've, they've got some pieces that they can throw in play. Right. They've got some prospect players that have caught the attention of other teams around the NHL. So I'd be shocked if Sweeney doesn't

D (75:09)

add Stan Bowman in his time at Edmonton so far. There was a list that came out of basically what's gone out this year and then what's came in. And I feel like it's been a bit of a failure in a sense of lost assets based on what's been returned. What is like, what's your opinion on that? And I mean, do you think that there's any possibility that he's able to flip the switch and make something relevant? Happen before the end of the deadline.

F (75:34)

Yeah, well, I mean, it's pretty obvious that, you know, the, the Edmonton orders go as deep as their superstars will carry the them.

E (75:41)

Right.

F (75:41)

And I don't, you know, it's not my job. You guys can analyze. I don't pile on people because, you know, I just put the pieces of the puzzle in play here. But when I look at the pieces of the puzzle in Edmonton, what I see is a hockey operations group that is trying to fix past mistakes. That's, that's what I see. Moves that haven't worked out that now they're realizing they got to fix. Otherwise, this, this team isn't going anywhere near a Stanley cup final again this year or next year. Maybe the. Then you. And if you don't this year and then you get into the year now you're into having some real tough conversations about Connor McDavid and others. Right. So I will give Mc Bowman the benefit of the doubt. Every general manager makes mistakes and lots of them make multiple mistakes. You can't dwell on it. You can't curl up in the fetal position. You've got to find a way to fix it. And you know, if they go deep again or who knows, they continue to add here. I think like Connor Murphy was a nice ad. He's a good, solid defenseman.

B (76:47)

He makes Dickinson.

F (76:49)

Yes, those are good pieces. Right. And I feel like he's touched two areas that absolutely needed it.

B (76:55)

Now.

F (76:55)

They need their goaltending to be better. I mean, that's, that's crystal clear. And, and they need some, some other players to, to find a way to figure out, you know, Darnell Nurse. I mean, go down the list of all the guys that need to be better, who have accepted the challenge of being better. And I don't think Bowman is done yet. I, I still think they wants to add another forward because you look at last year, all right, who don't they have? They don't have Corey Perry. Evander Kane was a nice, he was a nice player for the Oilers in the playoffs. Right. You know, until he's hurt and Connor Brown and, and they didn't have those players this year.

B (77:33)

And Yamart's hurt now for a while.

F (77:35)

Yeah, yeah.

E (77:35)

Don't, don't you run the risks though of, you know, pissing off your big dogs like Leon and Connor where like Connor signed, you know, three year extension, not a eight year when he could have last summer. It's like, it's almost like, hey, listen guys, you got four years of me to win this like they should be three.

D (77:51)

It was a two year, two year extension.

B (77:53)

Even less.

E (77:53)

Sorry. Yeah. So it's like these guys, in my opinion, if I was their gm, I'd selling everything that I own to get this guy a championship. So maybe he'll stay longer.

A (78:03)

Yep.

F (78:04)

And I do the same thing in Toronto. And I do the same thing. You know, most of the other top five, top seven superstars are insulated by good, good players and they're good teams and they're, they're top contending teams. Can't say that about, about Toronto. And that's why it's fair in the media for us to look and go, okay, well, well, you know, what if those guys take the Quinn Hughes approach in Vancouver where they're two years out and they go, yeah, there's a pretty good chance I'm not going to extend. And you know, I'm just being honest here. Let's see how the season goes. And then the season doesn't go great and Vancouver cuts bait and gets a hell of a deal from the Minnesota Wild. You know, what if, let's just play that. What if Auston Matthews has that same conversation with, you know, the Maple Leafs through his agent, Judd Maldeo favor this off season. I don't think it's going to happen with Connor McDavid this off season. I think there'd have to be a, a collapse, a colossal failure for that to happen. But to your point, Yens, that's the territory that you get into when these guys are on short term deals. Like, Conor didn't have to extend.

E (79:12)

Right.

F (79:12)

He could have said, nah, you know what, we've been back to back Stanley Cup Finals, I get it. Game seven, it's a flip of a coin. Coulda, shoulda, we didn't. But I'm going to wait it out. I'm going to see how this season goes. I'm going to see what we've done to add, to make a future here, something that I can deeply invest in. But I'm going to wait till the end of the year. He didn't do that because he didn't want to be a distraction. But that doesn't mean that he can't come forward in the near future and say, yeah, this, this isn't the direction I'm going.

D (79:42)

I got a name, Elias Petterson.

B (79:45)

I was just gonna bring him up.

D (79:46)

It seems summer, right, but it seems like they don't want to retain salary. And if that's the case, like you'd probably basically have to give them away. Like for, for, for very minimal. It just feels like it's not the same player. What's. Who's kicking tires on him and what's the answer?

F (80:05)

Yeah, well, kicking tires is the right way to describe it. And I'm not even sure that people are kicking tires anymore. They were just prior to the Olympics, I think there were a discussion or two during the Olympic break and now it's relatively quiet around that. And look, if you're not willing to retain, how do you move that contract?

B (80:23)

You don't.

F (80:25)

Because even though you know you'd have to take back a, back a bad contract or contracts, but teams view Elias Pedersen as a 70 point guy. Right. That's. That's what they view him for me. And what do I know? I'm not chastising Patrick Galvine or Jimmy Rutherford. You get off that contract, I think it's a win.

B (80:46)

I think any way possible, you know,

F (80:48)

somebody gives you a first round draft pick for Leah's Pedersen and you don't have to retain salary. Don't you take it?

D (80:54)

I took it.

B (80:55)

They'd have to maybe give a first rounder to get rid of them.

F (80:58)

It's like, wow.

E (80:59)

And get one and give one.

F (81:00)

Yeah. The sad part is, you know, you talk to Adam Foote and before that you talk to Rick.

G (81:05)

Talk it.

F (81:07)

He's a good kid. You know, he's a good kid when he's on his game. He can be an effective player. It doesn't look like he's going to be that 100 point guy again, but that doesn't mean he can't fit with another team where he's surrounded by good players and his ice is managed, his situations are specific, all of those things. Well, that's not going to be in Vancouver. He's not going to age. Well, there's. And they don't. They. They can't lean on him moving forward. So I, I'd be surprised if he, he. It feels like that's more of a summer thing. Like I think Carolina was, was probably one of. Or the team that, that kicked tires again prior to the Olympic break. But Tom Dunnan's not doing that without some serious retention, I wouldn't think.

B (81:53)

Well, it's going to be a, it's going to be hopefully a wild day today as this drops on Friday. We appreciate, we know you're buzzing and busy right now, so thanks for hopping on and filling us in on some different names and teams and.

G (82:04)

Was there.

F (82:04)

My pleasure.

E (82:05)

Boys.

D (82:05)

Was there any one or any trade potentially that you wanted to Bring up that we didn't ask you about. Was there anything else?

F (82:12)

I don't think so. I mean, I can tell you what, man. I'm getting closer to retirement. I don't know when maybe I got five more years in me. I think this whole Robbie Thomas, Colton Pareco thing with the St. Louis Blues maybe shaved a good year off my.

D (82:26)

Okay.

F (82:27)

My professional life expectancy.

C (82:30)

Okay.

G (82:30)

I will.

F (82:31)

I will tell you this just a quick, shameless play plug. You guys get to see what James Duffy has put in store for we. You guys would. A cold open is in tv, right.

B (82:39)

I already saw a quick clip of the beginning in the car with the masks.

C (82:43)

Yeah.

F (82:43)

Like how they got me and others to participate. I mean, we try and entertain, I guess. Yeah. I'm a good teammate. It's. I just saw the cut version this morning. It's outrageous.

E (82:54)

So I got one for you quick before. If we can just. The Islanders, like, they've kind of put themselves in a good position. The. Obviously with the young stud Schaefer. They're not really a team at the deadline that goes out and does stuff. But with Darshan, you think they could make a splash or they'll hold serve for a bit?

F (83:10)

Yeah, no, I don't know that they're gonna hold serve and I don't know that they're ready or wanting to make a splash. I'm sure he's participating in lots of stuff. I've heard Shabanov's name out there. I mean, that's not something that really moves the needle unless he's. He's packaged in. In something along those lines. But yeah, I mean, any team that. That feels like they're not right there, but ready to give their group a bit more experience and. And go as deep as they can and the playoffs is definitely in the market to add. But guys, I'll. We'll end it the way we started. The number of players in play is borderline unprecedented. Borderline. So if Darts has kicked the tires, and I'm sure he is, there's gotta be opportunity for him out there to do something that's gonna upgrade.

E (83:57)

Awesome. All right.

B (83:58)

Dregs, Dregs.

D (83:59)

Thank you so much, bud.

F (84:00)

Yeah.

B (84:00)

Get some sleep.

E (84:01)

Yeah.

F (84:02)

All right, fellas,

B (84:07)

Thank you very much to Darren Drager trying to set us up on what may go down and dregs. I mean, God, we didn't know that. I want. I would love to get his live reaction when we found out Paro did say I'm not going to Buffalo. There's a lot of work he put in and it is just a non existent existent trade now. But thank you to Darren Drager. G I gotta ask you. Maryville University is going to D1. I think they're transitioning next year. Full D1 the following year. I'd never heard of Maryville University. Where is it?

F (84:37)

St. Louis.

C (84:37)

So it's, you know, kind of joining Lindenwood. St. Louis is growing college hockey. That's why they did the. They did the Frozen four there last year. So I. They're going to become a team. I believe 27:28 will be their first season. They're going to play a hybrid year. 26, 27. Awesome for the St. Louis area. I think you got. We've seen it over the years. There's been so many NHL players that have come from that area. They deserve college hockey. So I think it's great to see

E (85:03)

if they don't hire Patty Maroon. I'll never watch a game of Marymount. Maryville Mary Bill.

A (85:10)

Hey, that's a genius idea.

D (85:12)

Jackie Robertson.

B (85:14)

If Augustana can be right now in the NCAA tournament, I think anyone can do it. No shot at Augustan. I'd never heard of them. Now we have Maryville. Maybe Maryville's winning the Frozen 4 in like 10 years. Who knows? As I've said, there should be no bad NCAA Division 1 teams with the CHL rule. So Maryville, hopefully they go out and they become a dominant program and it just adds another team that kids can go play D1 for if they're that good and able to.

C (85:42)

They're ach in two right now. So I think it's pretty cool for all the alumni, like there's kids 10, 15 years ago that were played on a club hockey team that, that you know they're going to be telling their kids they played for a Division 1 hockey.

B (85:52)

Yeah, I think that happens. I think there's a lot of guys who played Penn State club, Arizona State club. Yeah, I played at Penn State and they might leave out the fact that when they played there it wasn't D1.

C (86:02)

But hey, you're telling me. I don't Lee. I leave out that club word all. Oh yeah, I played up at Plymouth State. They're like, you dig?

F (86:07)

Okay, well, club.

C (86:08)

Yeah. But you just. You're throwing it after.

B (86:11)

Okay, well I respect that. Capri soft boys. It hasn't taken very long and he's got the most goals for the Minnesota Wild.

E (86:19)

Crazy.

B (86:19)

Their franchise history goal leader is now Cabrill Caprisov. He starts making. What does he make next year? 17.

D (86:25)

17 sheets.

E (86:26)

Beautiful.

B (86:27)

Good for him. He has 220 goals now, so. I love watching the Wild. That was in the game. They beat Tampa Bay 5 1. It was an empty netter backhander from center ice. First 35th of the season. So he probably ends up with over 40 goals again. Again, close to 100 points. If he doesn't get there. It's an incredible player. He's changed the franchise. There was no chance Billy G was letting him move. And I think Wild fans knew we need to sign him. Whatever he wants. They did. And he's now. I just can't believe, like, I don't feel like he's been there that long. What is it, Biz? You think? What. What do you. What season is it for him in Minnesota? Would you guess for Carell?

F (87:04)

Six, five?

D (87:05)

I would say sixth.

B (87:07)

This is his sixth NHL season and he's never played 82 games. He had 55 games. 81. 67. 75. 41 only last year and 62 this year. What a player. He is.

D (87:20)

Not a great number for highest amount of goals in a franchise that's been around that long. How long's Minnesota been back there? Third. 25 years.

E (87:30)

Yeah.

B (87:32)

No more than that because they were playing. Was it 2000, 26 years, maybe 99. Right around that they came in. Yeah.

D (87:40)

Not great.

B (87:40)

Fuck it. It's. It could end up at 500 with this guy.

D (87:44)

Right? You're right.

B (87:46)

Right? I mean, what is the Leafs leading goal score? I don't think it's 500.

D (87:49)

Auston Matthews. Just under 500 and it's going to get there soon.

E (87:53)

Biz Whit, I don't know if you know the answer, but who do you think he beat to break?

B (87:59)

Had to be Gabric.

D (88:00)

Gabric. He. He did a video for him.

B (88:02)

I saw a. An old New York Rangers dinner, I believe it was. Or who else was there? Avery, Gabor, Jabinski, Haglin. Look like a hell of a crew.

D (88:18)

Delado was there a bunch of good looking cats, too. That's a good. That's a good looking lineup.

B (88:24)

Hell of a dinner that must have been. They had some great teams those years, but. All right, boys. We haven't talked to him in a while. Let's bring them in. Ra's World.

A (88:32)

World.

B (88:32)

Here we go. The Alien. All right.

A (88:44)

Hello, everybody. Welcome to Ari's World here in the Spit and Chicklets podcast. What's going on, boys? Want to piggyback on your Kirill Caprizov stat there? Imagine he beat Gabric's record with in 121 Fuel games. That's insane to break that, that like that few of games. His goals per game, 0.577 for Kirill Gavrick was 0.436, but I saw that number jumped right off the screen for me. But in that same game too, I don't know if you saw Tampa Scott, Sabrina, he got a 10 minute misconduct for some sort of chirping. And I poked around, asked a few guys around the league and I guess the officiating calls things a lot tighter. Now. Keith, you, you've been the most recent NHL among the squad here. Did you notice like a, a change maybe trending with refs? Like they'd be calling shit that they

E (89:25)

wouldn't before big time. Yeah, it's, it's more of like the younger guard coming in like you, you've seen in the last like five or six years, the older guys getting pushed out, which I wasn't a big fan of. I love the old school guys. You could give it to them, they'd give it back to you and then you'd go crack a beer with them after. But I think the new, newer generation of the ref is a little bit softer than, you know, the old guys. I mean, you still get your, the West McCauley's, the Kelly's, the Chickaroonies. Those guys are, you know, the pros, pros. They're not going to tee you up probably as easily as a younger guy. But I do feel that the younger refs in the league nowadays are a little bit softer and quicker to give you a 10.

B (90:02)

So it wasn't, it wasn't something he said to a player on the opposite team. It was something he said to the ref.

A (90:07)

Well, they didn't specify. I mean, but he, he got right in curls there and they tossed him. I mean, it, I mean, the video.

B (90:12)

Yeah. So I feel like it's more. That's what's crazy. If it was over something you said that isn't like racial obviously or something, then it's like, wait, what are we doing? Like.

D (90:22)

Yeah, I think sometimes they do that to just de escalate the situation.

B (90:26)

Yeah, that's kind of like getting the

D (90:28)

guy out of the gate. Getting, getting the guys out of the game. Like if there's under 10 minutes to play, they just give them the tens to send them, send them to the locker room for a quick shower to calm down.

A (90:36)

Like there was an incident when, you know, a goalie had been pulled for an extra attacker and you know, the late, late Game shenanigans are going on and the ref gave everybody a 10, including the guy who came on the ice as the extra attacker who had nothing to do with anything. He come on, you know, hoping to score a goal and ended up getting a 10 minute misconduct just because the refs didn't want to hit more of that. So I was interested to see what he had to say about that. Keith, trade deadline kind of a, I don't say a dud. It's a little, it's a little bit lower biz, I think, but the cap going up, I think eight and a half million next year. Do you think maybe like there's more teams that could maybe retain more players next year so they're like maybe hold on to some guys?

D (91:09)

Yeah, I think that definitely that's going to help things out and I just think it's just one of those year where, where there's so many, like especially in the east, there's so many teams that could end up coming out of it that that just makes more people want to add and then in the sense of, of all the other teams are willing to sell because if the market's high. So I guess I don't really have an answer for you other than, yeah, the, the. I think next year it'll be a

B (91:32)

little easier and this is our first year without double retention. Like we talked to Drager about. It's, it's a brutal, brutal rule for like activity around the deadline and things happening and you know, storylines that maybe would not be there. Like the double retention was great. I mean you, you just, you're getting a guy out because you get another team in the mix that eat some of the money and boom, we have a trade. Without that there, it could always be, you know, more quiet than we, than we hope.

E (92:00)

It seems, it seems like more teams want to get guys with term. Like back in the day it seemed like if you were going to trade to go on a run, you know, like I think of the Claude, the Claude Giroux year, like he had one, he was a UFA that summer. Like now these teams, it seems like they want more term, you know, when they are making a big trade.

A (92:17)

Yeah, much of I missed the first part of Dragon, but yeah, there needs to be 75 regular season days between trades if salary is going to be retained.

E (92:24)

Really?

A (92:24)

Yeah. The new rule obviously kind of deter them from doing it close to the deadline, but a couple of the boys on the chickless fam have been part of some big trades. Colby Armstrong of course was the Marion, HOST of Trade back, back. See March 2608, huge trade there when he went from Atlanta to Pittsburgh. And our own Wit dog. I don't know if you saw Mike Camino put the tweet out the other day. It was 3409, the wit dog to Anaheim for Kunis and Tangrati. Obviously we talked about this a bunch,

B (92:51)

but yeah, that was a week. That was a week before the deadline. I was traded on deadline day from Anaheim to Edmonton that I was called 20 minutes after 3 o' clock, too. I thought I was safe there. I was not safe. I'll never forget finding out that was the first big trade in my career when army got dealt and army was such a big part of our team. He was locker room guy. He played so well with Sid. Especially the year before when they're on the same line and all of a sudden you're like, wow, Army's gone. We were in Long Island. It was crazy just finding that out. And then it's like, whoa. We got Hosa, though. And it's, it's been mentioned before, like, like, players really appreciate when they have a good year. We talked about geeky in Boston saying, yeah, I hope we've proved to add somebody. And the feeling you get of losing a teammate that you love. And like, I'd been with army in the minors too. And then the crushing feeling of that compared to like, holy shit, Marion hostess on our team. It's like, it's just like crazy emotions on both ends of the spectrum. Him and Hosa came in, unfortunately, he got kind of hurt right away. I think he might have heard his MCL and missed like the first 10 games after we got him. But then once he was playing, it was like, holy shit. And it ended up being Eric Christensen, Army. I think Angelo Esposito, who never panned out, was a big time prospect at the time and maybe another first rounder. And you look at the return, it's like, wow, Atlanta got a lot. It's like. But no offense to army, like Marion, Hosa, like crushes all that combined. So. So it's just weird how it, it went down. I'll never forget that.

A (94:25)

And yeah, and you were part of a big deal as well. Like, did you know it was going to be going down? How much insight did you have before it happened?

B (94:31)

You were telling us this story recently.

E (94:33)

Yeah, so. No, I was actually. I talked to Don Maloney probably like two days before the trade deadline, and they had talked to Donor as well. They told me I wasn't going to get traded that I was going to be there because that was the year it was the McDavid and Eichel sweepstakes. So they were trying to, you know, eventually ended up trying to tank to try to get one of those guys. Didn't work out. But yeah, I was. Didn't even think about it really. I was at Z's kids birthday party and didn't have service in there and came out and had like three missed calls from dawn and he was like, you got traded. And I. I literally didn't think it was gonna happen. And yeah, I was off to. Off to New York the next day. PJ from Dolan. Thank you.

D (95:17)

He actually sent it out for you.

E (95:18)

It's PJ and then when I landed helicopter to the, to the stadium.

C (95:23)

Wow.

B (95:23)

Alone.

D (95:24)

Were you by yourself in the chop in the. In the plane?

B (95:26)

No.

E (95:27)

James shepherd was in San Jose. They traded for him and they said you can either fly from San Jose to New York or you can fly to Phoenix and jump on the plane. And he. When I got on the plane, he was sitting there. He was like, you're nuts if you thought I was flying in New York and not.

D (95:41)

Yeah, not a chance, dude.

E (95:43)

What a guy too.

D (95:43)

I'd fly to Alberta just to get on a pj.

A (95:47)

No. A couple of trades jumped out to it like how good they worked out for the teams that acquired like going to Jeff Carter when the Kings got him back February 27, 2012. He ended up playing for the Kings for 10 seasons after that. Put up 38 points in 46 playoff games, won the two Cups. That was an outstanding tree for the Kings. Obviously he didn't want to go to Columbus. And then another one that jumped out too when the Caps got traded. Philip Forsberg to Nashville for Martin Erat and Michael Lada. E. Rat only played like two more years as Horseburg's been getting it done for Nashville for the last few. But I want to ask you Biz, what do you think? Obviously Gretzky trade. We don't. That's will exempt out from this. What do you think is the biggest trade ever, the most stunning trade like close to the deadline that you can remember.

D (96:25)

I just kind of look at how ridiculous the Joe Thornton one was looking back and, and, and what the return was and the fact that he ends up winning the MVP in that same season. I don't think that'll ever happen again. And yeah, I was just kind of I guess blown away by that one one.

A (96:43)

What about you?

B (96:43)

Do you have somebody zooming in and out.

A (96:45)

Yeah.

E (96:45)

What is going on?

D (96:46)

No, no, it's a certain. When you log in, if you don't hit a certain button, it's going to keep adjusting to the movement. And we know RA likes to move, so the camera will continually focus.

A (96:56)

Move it, move it. I like to move. Move it.

D (96:59)

Yeah.

A (96:59)

I. I don't see. I'm sorry. I'll. I'll try to sit still.

D (97:02)

No, don't. Don't even try. Don't even try.

A (97:06)

What? What? What? What? Obviously not Thornton Aggress. What trade jumps you at the most?

B (97:10)

NHL history? I don't know, but the fact that Pittsburgh traded for Chris Kunitz and I was the guy going the other way. Like, Kunitz was incredible there. He was incredible. He won Stanley Cups. He was Sid's linemate. Like, they don't. They don't. I don't know if they win those Cups without Chris Kunitz. He played that much. Do you remember the hit he threw on Kimo timing the year that they played Philly in the playoffs when they won their first Cup? Like, he was. He was killing people. He was scoring big goals. He ended up being the. For all of them. It was just. It was a trade. Looking back, as a Penguins fan, like, that guy's forever remembered as a key part of those three cup teams. And you got rid of me for him. It was like, what a trade, Ray. Cheryl. Rest in peace, Ray. What a deal.

D (97:55)

I. I know it's, it's. It's like been like only what, a year now since it happened. But looking back at the Marshaw one and the fact that the year prior to that, they won the President's Trophy, he gets knocked out by Bennett, you got Kachuk chirping him. I was just on like, the Kachuk's podcast, and I didn't realize that Matthew Tkachuk was, was when Marshawn tried to come back in that Game seven that he was like, he called him a quitter. He's like, I've never seen a captain quit in his team like that. Which hit Marshall pretty deep in the fact that I know it's turned. It went from a second router to. It was a conditional first if they got past a certain round. So now it's a first rounder. But for the impact that Marshawn made for just a late round first pick, I think that that is probably going to go down as one of the. One of the craziest deals at the deadline to like, essentially a rival who knocked you out the year before. And for him, at the time get traded for a second rounder to then have. Did he have what, 12 goals in LA in, in last year's cup run?

B (98:56)

He was on six year deal out of it.

D (98:59)

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

A (99:01)

I, I always go back to. I mentioned before the Esposito trade. Anytime you have three hall, future hall of Fame is in the same trade. Insane. Esposito and Carol Vadnai went to the Ranges for Brad Pac, John Retell and Joe Zanusi who played, I think a couple.

B (99:13)

It was also crazy that, I mean Chris Pronger got Delta Edmonton. They go to game seven cup finals, right? He goes to Anaheim, they win the Stanley cup. He goes to Philly, they get to the cup finals against the Blackhawks in 2010. It was, that was a guy, it was like trade for him and you're going and Corey Perry, same thing. It's been so unfortunate all the cup finals in a, in a row he lost. But you grab him until this year in la, it was like, well, you're making a run. There's just so many players that have been moved different times and every time made an impact. And it shows like their worth is not just a player, but obviously them as a teammate. There's something there that like helps this team or their team like go on different runs.

E (99:53)

Mine was Ray Bork. Oh, because that was kind of in that era too of guys staying on teams their whole career. And as a kid I thought Ray Bork would be a bruin his whole career. I know the trade was, you know, almost like a thank you to him to try to get him a Stanley cup, but just what it meant in history. And then, you know, Joe Sackett giving him the cup to raise before him. Like I, I, I just think of that trade as being probably my favorite just because I got to see Ray win the Cup. And you know, all the Boston fans were happy for him as well.

B (100:23)

Well, and it's crazy that I think most people think that when he got dealt they won it, but they didn't that year. Right. They did not get it done. And then the next year they get out Rob Blake, then they got it done. So it was that full season Ray had there with the cop G through

D (100:37)

this one in there. Taylor Hall, Adam Larson, one for one. That was a pretty wild one. Goes on to win the mvp.

A (100:44)

Legendary stuff. This is like journalism nerd stuff. But Puck Empire, they've been keeping stats on who's been breaking all the, the, the trade stories right now. Elliot Friedman I pal elliott, he's broken 4 of the trade so far, Darren Dragger, our other buddy, he's got two. Michael Russo one, Chris Johnston one, David Pagdo one. And the NHL team release got one of them. So I like. Yeah, I know that's like journalism nerd. But I have to keep track on that, you know. Always nice to get a notch when you surprise weeks. He hasn't, man. He hasn't. He hasn't cracked too many. When he does his weird videos from like strange locations, he's been cracking them pretty good. How about this? Players who got traded at the deadline. In the last season, the Save has made the playoffs. Just some random names. Jason Arnott, Dustin Penna, Sergey Samsonov, Frederick Modine, Corey Stillman, Alex Kova, Nyako Rutu. But wait, Save is their end. They're not going to blow this, right? They're going to be in the playoffs?

B (101:33)

Yeah, yeah, I believe so. They could win their division and they're not slowing down. The break didn't hurt them. Now, we thought they had Pareco, they don't. But they'll still go out and do something else. And dude, it's magical. And what's cool is that Kekalainen's well aware that they may not be able to come to terms with Alex Tuck, but they're not trading him now. Did I just get him traded? Possibly, but I don't see it happening. And I just think that like the fans, I'm just. I'm very, very happy for Sabres fans. Like what they've been through. Dude, they've seen nothing but failure since I was 29 years old. Like I'm fucking 43 years. Like it's just. It's been so long and it's such a hockey market and I can't wait for the first round in. In that building.

E (102:22)

They should. The only thing they should be worried about and I know biz well and is close to Buffalo. You hopping on that bandwagon.

B (102:30)

There's been a lot of tweets about like, keep him away from our team. I've seen several, but that was the team.

E (102:37)

You went to more games in Buffalo growing up as you did in Toronto, right?

D (102:40)

I've. I've said that from the beginning. We used to.

B (102:42)

To.

D (102:43)

It was easier at the odd we are the bank I used to go to, they used to just say, hey, we got season tickets. Nobody's taking them for tonight. You guys want to go? And I would ask my dad, hey, can we go? And he'd take me. And obviously the Toronto was the big smoke and that was where it was expensive to get tickets, so I didn't see as many games there until I. Actually, it'd been a wide, wide gap. And then my. I. I got recruited by a new agent, Mark Guy. Guy in Newport Sports, and they brought me down or up to Toronto. Excuse me. Brought me out for dinner. I got to go see the Toronto Maple Leafs against the LA Kings. And, you know, I grew up. I grew up a Toronto fan, but it was hard, man. It was. It was expensive, as it still is.

B (103:22)

So he's like, biz, I see in your future, you being. You're being an ambassador on a Toronto Maple. Ambassador. And you're just like, no way. And then like. But you're not even a play for him. And you're just like, wait, what? That doesn't make sense. Mark.

D (103:37)

Just.

B (103:38)

Just, just trust me.

D (103:39)

Listen. I'm not listening to you guys. I'm gonna hop on any wagon I want to jump on. Like, that's my own right? As a. As a hockey fan, there's no rules as to how many teams you can have. They. You can get scrutinized by the fan base and they can say, no, no, no. They're avoiding me like the plague. You. I'm gonna hop on any wagon I want to. I just haven't picked which one I'm going to hop on yet. Because chances are, unless the Maple Leafs go 18 and two their last 20 games of the season, they ain't making playoffs. So I'm jumping on a fucking wagon. I don't care what you guys say.

E (104:11)

Who are your five? Who are your top five to get on right now?

D (104:15)

Montreal would probably be one of them. Edmonton, obviously. Canadian teams for sure. Buffalo will be one. One of them. I'm going to.

B (104:26)

I'm just Riot. Rya. And Dallas must be humming coming.

D (104:31)

I'm gonna. I'm just gonna give you those three. I'm just gonna give you those three for right now. Those are the. The high contenders. And I might have a sleeper that's in there. And it's probably gonna. It's probably gonna be like the one year where I try to hop on all these different trains. And it was like the, The. The.

C (104:47)

The.

D (104:47)

What's. What's the guy with the. The big thing. The hood on his thing. The Cryp Keeper.

B (104:51)

Conductor.

D (104:52)

No, the Crypt Keeper. Or the, The. The guy who they see. It's like when he shows up when you're in a.

F (104:57)

Doctor.

A (104:58)

Oh, the Grim Reaper.

D (104:59)

The Grim Reaper knocking on the doors. That's gonna be the meme of me Just ruining everybody. But listen, you know what? You know what? Maybe I will jump on the stars bandwagon, but it's only gonna be after one thing. After this guest that we have coming on right now tells me why I should hop on the stars bandwagon. Bring them in. Matt Duchesne, ladies and gentlemen. We had to bring a guy on.

B (105:25)

Dutchy, what's up, buddy?

G (105:26)

Not much, boys. Just got. Just got home. What's going on with you guys?

B (105:30)

You guys are humming right now, huh?

G (105:32)

Yeah, you know, we're playing well. Yeah. We're about to enter an absolute gauntlet of great teams here. Obviously, there's no easy nights, but we have tough schedule coming up, a big one tomorrow, so we're.

F (105:47)

Yeah.

G (105:47)

Just taking a day by day. You know how it goes this time of year when you're kind of gearing

B (105:51)

up for that stretch waiting, buddy, you're just getting excited, like.

G (105:54)

Yeah.

B (105:55)

For the first time round.

G (105:56)

You know what's coming. You know what's coming. So it's especially in our. In our division right now.

D (106:01)

So. You look like Riley Duckman right now. Has anyone ever told you that?

G (106:06)

Who's that?

D (106:07)

Riley Duckman? Is it Riley Duckman, country star? Every.

G (106:12)

Riley Green. I definitely do not look like him, but I'll take what I can.

B (106:16)

Getman. I thought his.

D (106:18)

His name on Instagram was. Was Duckman or something. He's got like a. I don't know. Maybe I'm at all up that.

G (106:24)

That's his handle, I think. Yeah, I follow him. He's actually one of my favorite, favorite artists. But yeah, I definitely. I'm like a Walmart version of him at absolute best, so I appreciate it.

D (106:36)

Yeah, Costco brand.

G (106:38)

Costco's actually too good.

B (106:39)

Dutchy.

E (106:39)

We would just. We were just talking about the Paro, you know, deal not going through and him saying no to it. Like, as. As a guy playing right now, like, what are your thoughts on him just. Just, you know, exercising his rights to. Not. To not go to Buffalo this first

G (106:54)

I'm hearing of it, I guess. But, you know, I think. I think the big thing is whenever you lock in with. With a team for however many years and you get a. You got a no move. And there's a reason we all want it, right? And it's. There's reasons we sign where we do and reasons we want to be where we are and, you know, I think, you know, obviously there's certain guys that would have jumped up that opportunity. He was. And he, you know, know, didn't want to go there. I mean, you can't hold any of that against, you know, anyone. It's their. It's their right with their. Their contract.

F (107:22)

Right?

G (107:23)

And we all play. We all play hard for. For that, right? And he's a hell of a player, obviously, so that's kind of my take on that. I don't. You know, I'm pretty neutral on, you know, his decision, obviously, but at the same time, it's his right. And obviously, if he's. He locked into St. Louis for as long as he did because he wanted to be there, right? So I'm sure he's.

B (107:44)

He's.

G (107:44)

I'm sure he's kind of like, okay, if I'm gonna go, I want to be somewhere that I really, really want

E (107:49)

to be, I guess.

B (107:49)

Dutch, you've been on with us before. Great interview last year on things you've been through and. And the Nashville and what happened there and. And then this season, Buddy, you battled a lot, right? Like, I imagine it was hard for you and. And your family probably played a big role in staying positive throughout, trying to get back.

G (108:06)

Yeah, that was tough. I mean, I. I'm sure you guys have all been through the concussion stuff and. And, you know, the first two years here, I. I missed two games, and it was. You know, I was. I've been pretty healthy. I've.

D (108:22)

I've been.

G (108:22)

I've had to play through a little bit of stuff in the playoffs, but other than that, you know, I've been really healthy. And then all of a sudden, you get, you know, hit like that and just going through it. It was a pretty nasty concussion. I had an unreal doctor that I went out and saw in San Francisco. His name's Sergio Azzolino. And, like, I know Sid's been out to see him and a couple other guys at different points, and I spent, you know, parts of two weeks out there, and he got me. He got me, right? I had, like, one of those, like, vestibular concussions where you're like, your eyes are way off and just. Yeah, it was nasty. Every time something would get better, and I would think, okay, I'm right there.

D (109:04)

There.

G (109:05)

Something else would pop up. So, yeah, when I got back, and the hardest thing about coming back was, you know, I. I hadn't really played any games for our new coach, and, you know, he was.

E (109:17)

So.

G (109:18)

It took about you know, 20 games to get comfortable and for him to get comfortable with me and kind of know where to put me and, you know, our power play, our first unit was clicking at a crazy rate. And they were playing almost full two minutes. So you come back and you're used to playing, you know, at least a minute of, you know, power play time, whether you're on the first, second unit, and all of a sudden you're not getting any of those touches. And that really helps you get back into, you know, the swing of things. And it was. It wasn't anything I was upset about. It was just because of the success they were having.

C (109:49)

I.

G (109:49)

But it.

F (109:50)

It.

G (109:50)

It took a little bit, and I think, you know, probably took.

F (109:54)

I have a. I.

G (109:55)

You know, the first 20 games I come, I play a really good game. I feel good. You know, maybe not get on the board, you know, not quite get that confidence that you're looking for as an offensive guy. And then the next game, it would be, you know, not as good, or you'd be. You'd be trying to find your way a little bit. And we weren't playing particularly well through that stretch either, as a team. And so, yeah, it took me a minute. But, you know, I think for you guys that have families, I think to your. To your point and to your question, you know, I got to spend a lot of time at home, but during that time, which I obviously didn't want to be at home, but being around, Getting to be around the kids and my wife, you know, it. You realize that this is something we do. It's not who we are, and our family is more about who we are. And.

E (110:40)

And.

G (110:41)

And I think that kind of resonated with me. So on those hard days, they definitely made it a lot easier.

D (110:46)

Dalton, new coach. Like, what's the vibes with him in the locker room? Obviously you said it took a little bit to figure things out, but. But ten in a row now. And how are the guys vibing with him? And the fact that he's the new

G (110:57)

bench boss, he's been great. I think, from day one. We really enjoyed he. First of all, he's. He's. He's a. I mean, he's a smart hockey guy. He came in. He didn't want to reinvent the wheel because we've been right there, right. And our. Our past coaching staff did such a great job and laying such a strong foundation. I think at the. At the beginning, I think we might have even made a few too many adjustments. And we've.

A (111:21)

I've.

G (111:21)

Actually, he and I have talked about it where. Where we maybe try to take some. Like, he didn't want to reinvent the wheel, but then we kind of started playing a little different. Losing some of what made us great the last few years that, you know, Pete and those guys had kind of laid a foundation for, and we got back to some of those things and then found that kind of balance between trying to improve upon the things that we felt we needed to, but also keeping our foundation. And I think that's been a key. I think the other thing is we've. We've tried to become more of a physical team, and he. He preached that coming in, in the season, but I think we. It's really taken hold during this streak, and it's a type of hockey you got to play in the playoffs, and it's something we bought into big time, and we're obviously a talented deep team, but I think the biggest jump in our game has been. And it's super cliche, but it's. It's. It's. It's true is the. The little things, you know, for checking, tracking, finishing checks, just little things like that. I think our D zone has been really effective this year. We changed that system. And, you know, I think he's done a really good job, and he's been. He's communicated really well. And I definitely at this. When I first got back, I was trying to feel him out a little bit of what he wanted from me and what, you know, he kind of. How he saw things. And I. We had a few conversations through that, and I'm grateful for. For kind of those struggles now because I got a chance to sit down with them and we'd. We'd sit down for. We sat down a couple times for like 30 minutes and just kind of shot the. And just talk through everything. And it felt like I was talking to, you know, a family member or a friend who. That's the comfort level that it was at. And I think that's really important when you're kind of going through that stuff and you're trying to find your way. And it's a really hard injury to come back from, and I had no sample size before to kind of fall back on this season, so. So I think we had one conversation after we played Tampa. We had a game at home. We didn't play well. I didn't play well. And we talked that next day, and I think that was a big turning point. I know for me, for sure.

E (113:23)

Obviously, missing Sagan for the rest of the year is a tough blow for you guys. But even speaking on Gulleton, I saw a quote that he's. He still wants to have him around, which I never understood why they never Wanted injury guys around. Usually when guys are hurt, they're in. In the morning and then gone by, by. By the time the guys get there. But what does that mean to your group? Just to have your coach come out and say, hey, we want this guy around. He's been there, he's done it. Be like, we want a guy like him in the locker room being around.

G (113:49)

Yeah, you know, he hasn't. He's kind of been on, around on and off. He came on a road trip recently and then we haven't seen him a ton lately. But I think it's, you know, more than anything. I think it's great for the player. I think, you know, a little bit when I was hurt, he would grab me and chat with me and ask me what I'm seeing and stuff like that, and it just keeps you engaged and it keeps you issue being part of it. And Seggy's had such a tough go the last couple years with, with these injuries and surgeries. And when he got hurt this time around, I don't know if I've ever been as heartbroken for a guy just because of how it's gone for him the last couple years in terms of his health. And he's played so well when he's been in it, it was. I felt just so bad for him. So I'm sure for him, it's great to be able to stay engaged with, you know, a coach asking you what you see and. And things like that.

E (114:33)

So.

G (114:33)

So I think it's. I think it's a, you know, by golly, I think. I think it's just like a. He. He has a really good awareness with that, I think. And I think that's probably why he wants to keep him included.

B (114:45)

I. I watch you guys and like, you know, everyone talks about Ronton and for good reason, but like, what Wyatt Johnson's done is incredible. And to have a player that caliber, like, there's so many things that go into it, whether it's shot, like his skill level, but. But his compete seems crazy to me. Like, he's just a guy that's like, he never stops coming. And I imagine you see the same thing, just kind of like honey badger and. And skilled, but also will grind it out the way like a fourth liner would. And that's probably why he scores so many goals around the crease. And do you see that as well?

G (115:18)

Yeah, you know, I think he battles like he's. He's not a big. He's a. He's taller than you think he is. But he's, he's pretty slight and, and he's just a, he's. He doesn't maybe battle and grind like a fourth line guy would, but he wins battles like a fourth lane guy would. I guess if we're going to use that analogy, right, where he goes in, he's just really good with his stick. He'll get, he'll. He'll be like, it'll be like a 7030 battle at center ace where a guy might be jumping by him for a two on one and he'll find a way to. You know, he just did it the other night where he just gets on the right side and, and wins that battle and you're like, okay, like that went from a very dangerous situation to nothing. Right. And I mean he's got great hands around the net. He's a very, he's not allowed player. He's not super dynamic, but he's extremely dependable, consistent, especially for a young guy. I mean young guys usually are, are a little bit more inconsistent and he's just never, he's just kind of. His bad games, you don't even notice that they're bad. I can, I don't even, I can't even think of a game where I was like, oh, Johnny's in one. And I, you know, like he's, he's always just like consistent and, and yeah, he's. Yeah, yeah. I mean he's having that success because he's so steady and he's a very, he's quiet, he's laid back, he's just very even keel. And that, that kind of disposition I think allows him to play the way he has. And he's obviously been an absolute killer on the power play this year. I think he's got 21 or 20. He's in the 20s for power play goals. I think he's so pretty, pretty wild.

D (116:57)

Dutchy, I, I got, I got one more for me. And we thank you for hopping on with such short notice, but I had to get ahead of it.

G (117:03)

Yeah, no problem.

D (117:04)

When we don't get representation from Dallas after you guys go on a 10 game heater, we're going to be hearing it from the fans. My last one is, is it was kind of a weird ending to last year with the Ottinger and Deborah situation. Where does the trust lie in. In Ottinger and, and moving forward? And how do you think that he's kind of recovered from that kind of. That just that whole weird scenario?

G (117:25)

Yeah, it was, it was unfortunate because I, I'm A big fan of both people involved in that situation, Pete and Otter. And when you're in. It's kind of. I think when stuff like that happens, you want to kind of take a side one way or the other. And. And I think it was just an unfortunate. Like I was sitting there going, gez, I like, I. I hate this. I hate the way this feels. And it was unfortunate for sure. And, you know, I. I don't think you'd have to ask Otter, but I don't think it stuck with him. I think he. He knew he had all of our confidence and support through the whole thing, and he's been great this year. And, you know, he's on that Team USA team for a reason, right? With how good the goaltending was on that team. He's right there. He's backing up in the gold medal game. You know, I. I think they still could have won with him. Obviously, he's in that instead of as good as Hellback played. I think Otter could have given that performance as well, because I've seen it. That's how good he is. And you know, the amazing.

A (118:26)

The.

G (118:26)

The really great thing that people don't talk about enough is if when he's not in. We got another number one goalie in Casey De Smith and he doesn't get near enough, credit it for that. And I think that allows Otter to, you know, I think it probably pushed him a little bit. And I also think it. It's a great, you know, compliment for him. And so we're really lucky to have. Have those guys back there. And we know every single night that, you know, those guys can steal a game for us, and we can win any game with those guys back there.

B (118:59)

Dutchy, thank you very much, buddy. It's. It's been incredible hockey to watch. I know you guys are getting fired up for the playoffs, so thanks for hopping on and good luck. Glad you're healthy again.

E (119:08)

Go Stars, go.

G (119:09)

Appreciate it, guys. Take care.

B (119:11)

Keep biz away from you guys. Guys, we're to take a minute and talk about prime Monday night hockey.

D (119:19)

Huge match this month.

E (119:20)

Huge.

B (119:21)

Ottawa, Vancouver Biz Monday, March 9, 9pm Eastern Barn Burner here. Can Ottawa get in biz? Can they do it? Can they beat the lowly Canucks on prime Monday night hockey?

D (119:34)

They're gonna have to spank them. They're gonna have to make a statement and continue to march towards that wild card position. And if there's one team to do it against, it's the Vancouver Canucks. Cause they are not looking too great right now, it's been a tough season. You know, a few years ago, removed from that second round matchup, game seven loss against the Edmonton Oilers, it seems like that was 20 years ago at this point. So Ottawa, tough loss the other night, up 42 against Edmonton. So they're going to have to rebound here and start stringing some together in order to march towards that wild card position in Vancouver.

B (120:09)

Monday night, 9pm Eastern. Prime members in Canada can watch Monday night's game streaming on Prime Video. Not a Prime member yet. Sign up for a free trial@prime video.com Prime Monday Night Hockey. It's on Mondays. It's on Prime. And the Canucks fans at home have been chanting we want the cup. So they have a sense of humor. Can Ottawa go in and take care of business? It's on Monday and it's on Prime. Prime Monday Night Hockey. Check it out. All right. Bring R.A. back in.

D (120:37)

What would you have asked Dutchy if you had the chance?

A (120:40)

You know what? I actually, I was going to ask him about playoff format. I know a lot of people haven't liked the last few years out of the divisions, but I was going to bring up back in the early 80s, who knows what was going on back then. And they actually went 1 through 16 back in the day. 16.

E (120:55)

Yeah.

A (120:56)

And I think I was going to ask him if, like, would players want that? Because I, like, I think the possibility of any two teams meeting in the Stanley cup final would be unbelievable. Like, because that, that could happen when it's 1 through 16. I know, like, divisions might not matter as much. You know, you keep the divisions. But I mean the idea of like the Broads and the Canadians in a Stanley cup final, like LA versus Anaheim, it'd be unbelievable. So I was going to pick his brain on that.

D (121:17)

But I think that that's more ridiculous than the format than they have now.

A (121:22)

Really.

D (121:23)

Just because you're not playing against the other conference where, like for instance, this year, if it's so much more difficult, like if you're a great team in the east, you would have the opportunity to get so much more ahead of teams in the west who have to battle against each other. So for me, it's more about the focus in the conference that then you seed one through eight in the conference. That to me is the play.

C (121:45)

You guys just mentioned LA and Anaheim. And we do have a little update on Col Paro. So Kevin Weeks is now reporting. Update on St. Louis D. Colton Pareco. I'm told his preference as of now is to stay in the West. And he's open to the LA Kings and Anaheim Ducks among potential landing spots.

B (122:01)

Wow.

D (122:01)

Imagine him and. Him and Das and Truba. Man.

A (122:10)

Did you catch SNL the other night? Not necessarily live, but, like, on whatever.

D (122:15)

A. I did. I watched.

A (122:16)

I thought. I thought, like, I know people like, well, it's the Internet. Twitter, like, bellyaching about stupid. But I thought they pulled it off perfect. The way they brought, you know, Quinn and Jacket and then brought the ladies in after was. I know. It was good stuff. It was. I. I think it put a bow on everything, too. It was like, okay, I think we can all move on now, you know? And then. And she dropped the puck at Toronto Jersey the other night, too. I'll tell you what, one of the best things I. I love the duds all the. The US Athletes had with the bucket hats and, like, parachute pants, but I'll tell you the best thing I love was the sneakers all the guys had on. They were like the Nike Quartez, like, you know, the George Costanzas, like, the blue with the white stripe, but they were blue with the red stripe. I don't know if you've seen any McKeith.

B (122:53)

Yeah.

A (122:53)

Did you catch them at all?

E (122:54)

Yeah, I didn't even notice those.

A (122:56)

Yeah, yeah, Pretty well.

B (122:57)

They had, like, bell bottoms on the whole time. You could barely see them, but when you got a view of them, they were nice. I could see you rocking those ra.

A (123:04)

Oh, yeah, the Oca Stanzas. I got them probably somewhere in my closet over here.

E (123:07)

Cortez's were big in Charlestown Zone.

A (123:09)

Ah, absolutely, man. The Gazelles, too. I got a couple pairs of those, too. All right, a couple more notes before we wrap up here. And my pick tonight, San Jose is in St. Louis. San Jose very much alive for the playoffs, but playing great hockey. St. Louis got the four seal sign out right now. I think that maybe demoralize the team. Don't know the line yet. Obviously. We're a little. A little ways out, but San Jose over St. Louis Friday night. My classic recommendation this week is the TV show version. Veep. Julia Louise Riffis. She won six Emmys. Nominated seven times. Brilliant show, Keith. You ever hear of it?

C (123:41)

No.

B (123:42)

It was on Funny.

A (123:43)

Hbo. So goddamn funny. Like, shop funny. It was. I think they did seven seasons, 65 eps. Just an insane cast. Absolutely hilarious. Just like, legit. One of the funniest shows.

F (123:54)

Seinfeld.

A (123:55)

Yeah. Yeah, Louis. Yeah, she went. Like I said. Nominated seven times, won six Emmys, done this. Rolling. She's awesome. I mean, I better. Better in this than she was at Seinfeld. Two completely different roles. So if you haven't watched Veep put it on, it's like, it's like, yeah, it's a set in a political world, but it's not a political show. It's just. It's just non stop polarity. Give that a whirl. And one last one here. Our buddy Feidalberg, he wanted to reach out to the Blackstone Valley schools hockey program. They're playing Rogers tonight, the Rhode island playoffs. And Fights said to the Blackstone Valley boys, go kick Rogers. Let's go Blackstone Valley.

C (124:27)

Black guys, Blackstone Valley is the team that they were on the ice when that Pakit shooting happened a few weeks ago. So fights asked us to, you know, give some encouraging words. They're underdogs heading into a big game this weekend. So go Blackstone Valley. The boys are rude.

B (124:43)

Let's go Blackstone Valley.

E (124:44)

Come on, Blackstone, baby.

A (124:46)

Let's go kick some ass.

B (124:47)

All right. Have you seen the show industry?

A (124:50)

Oh, yeah. Oh, are you watching it?

B (124:52)

Yeah, it's awesome.

F (124:53)

How. How.

A (124:53)

How long would you start?

B (124:55)

Like, like four days ago. Crushed the first season.

A (124:58)

I gave it a couple weeks ago. Yeah, I started.

B (125:01)

You gave it out on here? Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's. It was. It was. I knew it was like, I didn't remember. That's where I'd heard it already. I apologize. Hell of a show.

A (125:10)

It's dynamite. And like I said, I know nothing about like British banking or like the politics, but it's. It's awesome show.

B (125:16)

Yeah.

A (125:16)

You jump in? Yeah. Good stuff. Highly recommended. Yeah. What else? What else? Anything else, boys?

B (125:21)

What'd you do last night, Ari? What have you been doing every night?

D (125:23)

Night?

A (125:25)

Like low key, man. Just been chilling. My back's doing a lot better. Physical therapy's been working. I. I'm feeling much like myself. I could actually pod my French wipe my ass like a man once again. Oh, nice chick after taking a pee. But yeah, I've been. Been moving around a little bit.

B (125:40)

Just.

A (125:40)

Yeah, just been chilling, man. Just watching hockey and, you know, relaxing and. Oh, enjoying my new. My new life as a single man and living alone.

B (125:47)

All right, buddy. Great seeing you everyone. Yeah, if it's Friday morning right now, one o', clock, we got the game notes, trade deadline extravaganza. And if you're not, if it's later, thank you so much to everyone. We will see you on Tuesday morning. To recap everything. Won't happen, won't happen, won't happen again A bad habit worth breaking, but it's taking time.

D (126:27)

I don't know.

F (126:27)

It don't matter.

B (126:29)

It's going to happen. It's going to happen again.

D (126:53)

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