Spittin Chiclets Episode 643: Featuring Gary Lawless

Summary

Spittin Chiclets Episode 643: Featuring Gary Lawless

Release Date: May 4, 2026
Main Theme:
This episode delves deep into the aftermath of the NHL playoffs' first round, focusing on major upsets, playoff analysis, prominent team issues (notably the Edmonton Oilers collapse), and a raucous preview of the second round. It features expansive discussion of league-wide storylines and a guest appearance by Vegas Golden Knights insider Gary Lawless to break down the Vegas-Anaheim series and the state of the Knights. The tone is irreverent, outspoken, and blends hard hockey analysis with the podcast’s signature humor and banter.

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Episode Overview

• Hosts: Ryan Whitney, Paul “BizNasty” Bissonnette, Rear Admiral (RA), Keith Yandle, producer Mike Grinnell
• Special Guest: Gary Lawless, Vegas Golden Knights insider
• Episode Focus:
  • Breaking down a wild NHL playoff first round, including the Oilers’ stunning elimination and the ascent of youthful teams (Anaheim, Montreal, Philly, Buffalo)
  • Post-mortem on the Oilers era of McDavid & Draisaitl
  • Analysis and predictions for Vegas vs. Anaheim and other second-round matchups
  • Interview with Gary Lawless on Vegas' outlook, team construction, and rivalry with Anaheim
  • Notable league news (Toronto’s Chaika hire) and updates from around the league
  • Candid personal segments, including RA’s vulnerable discussion of divorce and life changes

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Playoff First Round Recap

(Starts ~08:14)

• Biggest Story: Upsets & Collapse
  • All four youngest clubs (Anaheim, Montreal, Philly, Buffalo) advanced — a historic first.
• Oilers Fallout:
  • Dissection of Edmonton’s four-year run ending in disappointment; sharp criticism of management decisions and missed roster-building opportunities.
  • “Twelve years of McDavid and Draisaitl, and it’s like, oh my God.” - Ryan Whitney (09:19)
  • Oilers' lack of depth, failure to support stars, and questionable contracts/trades hammered home.
  • McDavid’s “average team with high expectations” quote echoed repeatedly.

Quotes:

“As Connor McDavid said… an average team with high expectations… and that usually ends in big time disappointment.”
— Ryan Whitney [09:14]

Memorable Moment:

• BizNasty’s epic rant on TNT about Edmonton’s missed window.

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2. Horse Racing & Kentucky Derby Tangent

(07:36–09:03)

• The crew shares personal Derby stories, biggest betting regrets (“Of course Matthew Tkachuk bets the 23-1 winner… that’s at least 110 grand…” — G), and muses on the similarity between high-stakes gambling and playoff hockey.

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3. Vegas Golden Knights Focus with Gary Lawless

(43:58–75:52)

• Gary Lawless joins for a lively segment, representing the Knights’ POV and sparring with Biz, Whitney, and Yandle over the Vegas-Utah series and Anaheim matchup.
• Key Points:
  • Vegas wasn’t just “luckier than Utah”—they won three straight and closed strong.
  • Detailed breakdown of Jack Eichel’s dominance and role flexibility.
  • Praise for new Golden Knights’ contributors (Lawless: “They don’t have to lean on Marner every night—depth everywhere.” [53:43])
  • Vegas’ “cutthroat” (or “just business”) approach to management and player loyalty challenged and defended.
  • Preview: Why Ducks are dangerous, praising Troy Terry, Leo Carlsson, Jackson LaCombe. Lawless calls series a “pick ‘em, dynamite series.”
  • Special teams, physicality, and fourth-line impact highlighted as X-factors.

Quotes:

“The beauty of Jack Eichel is he determines what the Golden Knights need from him… He decides, okay, they need me to score – I can score. They need me to shut down their best guys — I’ll shut him down.”
— Gary Lawless [46:58]

“This is a dangerous, dangerous [Anaheim] team… LaCombe already with nine points in the playoffs… It’s Joel Quenneville behind the bench. Extremely well coached.”
— Gary Lawless [49:24]

Humor/Notables:

• “He’s not cutthroat, he just has a shovel in his car at all times.” — Yandle (72:13)

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4. Other Playoff Series: In-Depth Analysis

Montreal Canadiens’ Game 7 Survival Over Tampa
(24:12–41:53)

• Stat: Only nine shots on goal in a playoff win (NHL cap era record).
• Goaltending heroics (Jakub Dovish), depth scoring, and defensive contributions praised.
• Montreal’s “mojo” and “fun” highlighted.
• Plugs for Lane Hudson’s elite play and the rise of Kirby Dach’s line.
• Concerns about Montreal’s ability to keep pace with Buffalo.

Tampa Bay’s Fate

• Questions about Kucherov, Point, team leadership, and management’s ability to retool.
• “Their window is still open, but they need a reset and to get healthy.” — Biz Nasty (36:31)

Colorado-Minnesota “Crack Hockey” Series
(84:20–97:02)

• Wild comeback falls short, Avs win 9-6 in meth-level mayhem.
• McCarr vs. Quinn Hughes D-battle, defensive miscues.

Buffalo Sabres Rise, Bruins’ Elimination
(111:54–117:26)

• The Sabres easily dispatch the Bruins, their talent and physicality overcoming Boston’s surprising playoff run.

Round 2 Previews
(124:13 onward)

• Panel picks for Buffalo-Montreal, Vegas-Anaheim (“I’m picking the Ducks — I was a Duck, boys!” – Whitney [111:03]), Colorado-Minnesota.

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5. Toronto's Chaika Hiring — League-Wide News Segment

(143:13–154:08)

• Roundtable panning of John Chayka’s hiring as Leafs’ GM, with particularly sharp criticism from Biz for “backstabbing” Shane Doan in Arizona.
• Consensus: Leafs, by hiring Chaika, show poor judgment (“not a serious organization” — Whitney [143:36]).

Quote of the Segment:

“I’m out. I would literally take a bullet for Shane Doan. Shane Doan was stabbed in the back [by Chaika], and I’m out.”
— Biz Nasty [143:55]

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Notable Quotes & Highlights

• On Oilers Collapse:
  “To be where they’re at with those two [McDavid & Draisaitl] after twelve years… I’m looking at Crosby and Malkin and Letang and their three Cups… Crosby did it, McDavid didn’t. That’s insane.” — Ryan Whitney [11:09]

• On Vegas’ Mindset:
  “Who fires a Stanley Cup-winning coach? The Golden Knights, because it’s business. Business to win, Gary. Cutthroat.” — Ryan Whitney [56:10]

• Gary’s X-Factor for Vegas:
  “It’s the bottom six. The fourth line was the X factor in round one, I’m gonna roll with them again. I love these guys.”
  — Gary Lawless [75:18]

• On Montreal’s Playoff Magic:
  “The Dovish kid — go go Gadget legs, the puck always pounds his pads…”
  — Merles [126:31]

• On Anaheim’s Leo Carlsson & Ducks Narrative:
  “66 minutes he played 5-on-5 against Connor McDavid… even if he’s not fully healthy, it’s a confidence boost for LaCombe, you’re still shutting down one of the best players who’s ever laced up skates.”
  — Biz Nasty [108:14]

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Notable and Memorable Moments

• Gary Lawless’ banter: Trading playful jabs about rumors, insider information, undying loyalty to Vegas.
• Lane Hudson praise: Comparisons to Quinn Hughes, “superstar” status as a puck-controlling defenseman (30:32+).
• Discussion about “meth hockey”: The out-of-control Minnesota-Colorado 9-6 gunslinger game is labeled "meth hockey" as a step beyond the usual "crack hockey" (98:29+).
• RA’s Personal Segment: Emotional transparency as RA discusses the difficulties of divorce law and the realities of sudden financial hardship (176:46–183:28).

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• First-round takeaways & Oilers autopsy: 08:14–24:12
• Montreal-Tampa analysis: 24:12–41:53
• Vegas vs. Utah wrap, transition to Anaheim preview: 43:58–75:52
• Toronto hires John Chayka (Leafs rant): 143:13–154:08
• RA’s heartfelt divorce vent: 176:46–183:28
• Second round picks/predictions: 124:13–130:06, then woven through remainder

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Episode Flow & Tone

• Irreverent, banter-filled: The crew riff loudly, roast one another, and exchange inside jokes while delivering hard hockey truths.
• Outspoken, unfiltered: Critical assessments of team management, speculation on coaches' futures, spicy language about bad trades, and league-wide dynamics.
• Personal and vulnerable: The final 20 minutes shift into candid, real-life territory as RA opens up about personal struggles, with the crew showing solidarity and support.

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Summary Takeaways

1. Oilers autopsy: Years of mismanagement wasted McDavid’s and Draisaitl’s prime; "a step back" now feels like a fatal blow to their Cup hopes.
2. Knights-Ducks has barnburner potential: Vegas' depth vs. Anaheim’s explosive young core. Watch Jack Eichel, Leo Carlsson, and the new power of both teams' D corps. Gary Lawless bullish on Knights’ construction, but acknowledges the Ducks’ speed, skill, and Quenneville effect.
3. Montreal and Buffalo: Youth revolution. Dovish and Lane Hudson lead a Habs surge that’s refreshing and unpredictable; Sabres are seen as “a wagon.”
4. Toronto Leafs are adrift: Chaika’s hiring is near-universally condemned.
5. RA’s closing segment grounds everything in real life: A moving, relatable reflection on divorce, law, and the unexpected ways life changes, openly discussed among friends.

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Selected Quotes with Timestamps

• On Oilers failings:
  • “Average team with high expectations… that usually ends in big time disappointment.” — Ryan Whitney [09:19]
• On Vegas’ killer instinct:
  • “Business to win, Gary. Cutthroat.” — Ryan Whitney [56:10]
• On Jack Eichel’s versatility:
  • “The beauty of Jack Eichel is he determines what the Golden Knights need from him.” — Gary Lawless [46:58]
• On Dovish's emergence:
  • “He just lays his legs down… the puck always just pounds off him.” — Merles [126:47]
• On divorce realities (RA’s closer):
  • “You feel like you took care of that person for 10 years and now they want to leave, and oh, by the way, I'm still going to take half of what you make… It's not a woman-man thing — it's the laws, bro.” — RA [181:08]

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Final Recap

This episode exemplifies Spittin Chiclets at its best: raw, emotional, and uproariously funny, yet still deeply knowledgeable about hockey. It’s the go-to audio tour through the state of the NHL playoffs, packed with rants, analysis, hilarious one-liners, and the type of authentic conversation found only among close teammates. From Edmonton’s heartbreak to Lawless’ Knights gospel, and RA’s cathartic closing monologue, Episode 643 delivers a vivid cross-section of hockey’s on- and off-ice drama.

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[END OF SUMMARY]

Transcript

[Ryan Whitney]

Hey, Spit and Chiclets listeners. You could find every episode on Apple Podcasts and Spotify prime. Members can listen ad free on Amazon Music.

[Gary Lawless]

Okay, guys, it's grit week. This is the part of the football

[Ryan G]

calendar where nobody's watching, but everything gets built.

[Gary Lawless]

Early mornings, pads back on, conditioning, film reps. Spring training in football is all

[Biz Nuge]

about putting in the work when nobody's cheering yet.

[Ryan G]

And honestly, that's the same mindset behind the Chevy Silverado.

[Gary Lawless]

This is a truck that is the definition of grit. Long days, dirty work, and showing up

[Ryan G]

day after day, no matter the conditions.

[Biz Nuge]

Strong, dependable, and built for the grind.

[Ryan G]

Because grit isn't about being flashy. It's about being ready when it's time to go.

[Gary Lawless]

Check out the current offers and build your [e-mail] that's Silverado.

[Biz Nuge]

All grit, no quit.

[Gary Lawless]

And you can build your [e-mail] today. In sports, winning takes more than talent.

[Ryan G]

It takes strength, reliability, and the drive to go the distance.

[Gary Lawless]

Sound familiar? That's the same DNA you'll find in a Chevy Silverado. As capable and dependable as a winning

[Ryan G]

team, Chevy Silverado shows up and gets the job done.

[Gary Lawless]

It won't flinch when the pressure's on.

[Ryan G]

It doesn't take plays off when it comes to trucks.

[Gary Lawless]

Chevy Silverado is football guy approved. To learn more about Silverado, visit Chevy.com

[Ryan Whitney]

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

[Biz Nuge]

I brought it towards the Coyotes and I asked them if it was okay if I joined the Spit Chickens podcast full time.

[Ryan G]

Ryan, Whitney's got a Pink Whitney out there now.

[Merles]

Sandbagger.

[Gary Lawless]

Get that on camera.

[Ryan G]

Deek Yandel, the song man. Kate is a full time member. Marley just gotten assist from Chris. Whoa.

[Keith]

We're buzzing right now.

[Ryan G]

What is up, folks?

[Merles]

Quack.

[Ryan G]

Welcome to episode 643 of the Spit and Chicklets podcast, presented by Pink Whitney. Pinky's up. You see us doing it, you see people everywhere doing it. And if you haven't, you're not looking hard enough. Cuz Pink Whitney's everywhere. It was at the derby. It was in the playoffs. I saw a Gu and Anaheim who sent me a picture of him crushing a Pink Whitney shot before the game and then said, now I'm gonna crush your team. I guess he's on the team, but I act like I'm on the team. So all's fair and love and war. Shout out Pink Whitney. Shout out New Amsterdam and let's go Pinkies up everywhere. Please send me your pictures. Of pinkies up. Even you old guys, you 83 year old Buffalo sabers fans. That made life so much easier for me when it could have been horrible after the slow chug.

[Biz Nuge]

I'm good. Quack quack. I'm good. Come back in a few hours. Thank you.

[Ryan Whitney]

Okay.

[Ryan G]

They always come at the worst times.

[Keith]

Well, you know, you can have a do not disturb.

[Ryan G]

Yeah. Door.

[Keith]

We've talked about this. You've been doing this podcast since 2016. You can put a do not disturb on your.

[Ryan G]

They got the tags outside. You put the tag on, says do not knock on this door.

[Biz Nuge]

But maybe much rather just quack quack.

[Ryan G]

Yeah. Guys, so the first round's over. The first round.

[Biz Nuge]

I was gonna ask you about the derby though. Did you guys bet the derby and the horse? I guess. Yan's, you got ties. Vinnie Viola is the owner of the horse or something?

[Keith]

Yeah, he's a half owner of that horse. Yeah, no ties to me. Just the fact that I played for Vinnie and one time he took me to the Kentucky Derby and I got to walk out the horse. Not a big deal.

[Ryan G]

Pinky's that, that actually underrated. Unreal.

[Keith]

I know. I was actually, I was telling people I was at a derby party telling people that they were like, wait a minute, are you serious? And I was like, yeah, it was unbelievable showing them the videos. So maybe I can send the videos to G and he can post some fun.

[Biz Nuge]

How did the horse do that? You walked out.

[Keith]

He's still running, unfortunately. Five years ago,

[Ryan G]

I, I, I kind of forgot about that. And then we're watching the walk out. I'm like, wow, Yance did this. That was big time. We saw Portnoy do it with his horse in the oaks the night before and you could tell he was top of the world. And then you got to do it in the big dog race on Saturday. Now my thing.

[Biz Nuge]

Picked for that.

[Ryan G]

Like what?

[Biz Nuge]

Like how did you get picked for that? Yan's?

[Ryan G]

Like, it was just took a bunch of the panthers, right?

[Keith]

Yeah, Vinnie. Vinnie invited a bunch of us to go when he had vino rosso running. And you know, just the guy that Vinnie is, he was like, hey, why don't you guys come down and walk the horse out? I bought a parachute. You know how you got to get dolled up? I bought a pair of shoes. They were like three grand, which is obnoxious to spend on shoes, but like, nice, unbelievable, great shoe. And I'm like, I'm like, man, I think I just ruined my shoes. To Mrs. Viola and Vinnie tro checks like, yeah, mine are ruined too. Look down. He had Adidas shell toes on. I'm like, Guy, they're $60. He's like, yeah, I guess you're right.

[Biz Nuge]

Shell toes to the Derby. You should get kicked out for that.

[Keith]

Yeah. He's no longer ever invited.

[Biz Nuge]

Oh, no.

[Ryan G]

Well, I mean, then. And then the pants moved on from him. That kind of.

[Biz Nuge]

That was the straw that broke the camel's back.

[Ryan G]

Quickly, quickly. My, my. I couldn't believe myself. And when you're cold, you're cold. But we went through. My wife and I would always pick a horse and then bet on it. And I kind of.

[Biz Nuge]

I mean, I.

[Ryan G]

No, I mean, I love going to Saratoga. I love watching the Derby. But I'm not like a horse guy. I don't know anything. So I was looking at like top 67 favorites, right? Which is stupid because it's like 6 7. But why wouldn't you just throw some cash on. On a, you know, an underdog buddy number 19. My number right there most of the time. And then Golden Tempo, the. The dream for any golf nuts, life is to have just Golden Tempo ready couples. The. The. The name and the number. Like, how am I not betting that? And of course Matthew Kachuk bets it. Of course he does.

[Biz Nuge]

What did he throw on it?

[Ryan G]

What?

[Biz Nuge]

What did he throw on it?

[Ryan G]

I don't know, but that thing went off like 23 to 1. Ish. Yeah, I think at one point it was higher. And then by the time the race started, I mean, I have to say he put at least five grand on it. That's 110 GS right there.

[Biz Nuge]

I have more than Yanza's shoes.

[Ryan G]

Yeah, I'm sure. Yeah, the three thousand dollar shoes resonates well with people. But I do, I do love watching the Derby. Man, that two minutes is just something else. And that horse, the video of that horse, I. Around the last bend in last place or second to last place. And the way. Now my question, any of you guys know, does that horse know to run around the other horses or is that jockey.

[Biz Nuge]

Apparently it's been doing it in a lot of the races leading up to it. Like that's how it operates.

[Ryan G]

But is the jockey the one like go right, go left?

[Keith]

Yeah, you're ste.

[Ryan G]

Okay. You're steering the horse.

[Keith]

Okay. Maybe it's.

[Biz Nuge]

They're just a lot around for the cruise, but.

[Ryan G]

Yeah, no, no, I knew, I knew

[Biz Nuge]

they literally do nothing.

[Ryan G]

No, I knew they'd get them going. Like time to really go, but I didn't know if the horse is so smart, it's like, all right, I'm gonna pass this guy around.

[Biz Nuge]

I think that there's. I think there's a. It's like a team effort.

[Keith]

Okay.

[Biz Nuge]

I would assume that you, you like just tug a little bit on this side.

[Ryan G]

Like.

[Keith]

Like just a quick tug, little blinker

[Biz Nuge]

or kind of give him the fish hook.

[Ryan G]

Just a quick time massage. For biz, the horses all hor.

[Keith]

I mean, they're like hockey players. Some guys like to play in the mix, like in the middle, in the. Some guys like to be on the perimeter, on the outside. Some guys like to be on the wall. Like it's. Every horse is different. And then like, you have to get the right jockey to know what that horse likes, because sometimes they've never read roden them before.

[Ryan G]

Yeah, well, it's an electric. It's.

[Biz Nuge]

We're actually not going to talk about playoff hockey. We're just going to get into the

[Keith]

horse at the party that I'm at. This one guy comes in, he's all decked out at. Glasses on, looked like you knew what he was talking about. He's like. He's like, hey. I forget the name of the horse, but he was 50 to 1. He was like, hey, that horse right there, I'm telling you right now, he's either gonna win, place or show. Put some money on him. So I put some money on him. He's the horse that never made it into the thing, the one that bucked the guy. So as. As I see this going on, there's like 200 people at this party. I'm running around looking for this guy, just trying to give it to him. He's nowhere to be found. He must have left as it was going.

[Ryan G]

You have to. You have to leave. If you give a horse pick and the horse doesn't even get into the gate, you're out of the party.

[Biz Nuge]

Okay. It was. I didn't see the race, so it was just like it was being. It was going crazy beforehand.

[Ryan G]

So they're like, buddy, it jumped up on its hind legs. The guy felt. I mean, the horse could have landed on him and killed him.

[Biz Nuge]

Oh, yeah.

[Ryan G]

Like, it was crazy. And then they just. Then they show the. The chalky gets up, he's furious, and then the people are just walking the horse away. No race for this guy. Good pick, buddy. Good pick. It's like my picks in the first round, which we'll get to now quickly as the first round has ended. Okay, Mark. Just the fourth time in Stanley cup playoffs history that each of the four youngest clubs won a series. Okay, now, G didn't include who the four youngest teams were in the outline, but I'm gonna guess Anaheim.

[G]

They're in there. They're in there. Montreal, Anaheim, Philadelphia.

[Ryan G]

Okay, you just added them. Great job. Montreal, Anaheim, Philly, Buffalo. All right. What a first round. We're gonna get to game seven seconds. First quack we got to address. Yeah, the Edmonton Oilers.

[Biz Nuge]

What a run with water run.

[Ryan G]

It was a fun four years. It was a fun four years. And then this year comes and just disaster. Was I. Was I trying to fool myself? Were Oilers fans definitely hesitant going into the playoffs? You had to be. If, if you had a brain, you'd watch the games. You realize this team, as Connor McDavid said, and we'll get into the press conferences after, I think it was yesterday, the day before, an average team with high expectations and that it was a hell of a quote, average team with high expectations. And that usually ends in big time disappointment. And that's what it was. Now, you could talk about his injury. Turns out he was playing with like a broken ankle. I guess Dickinson had something similar. Leon had a significant lower body injury. If those guys are hurt, you're done. Now that's part of the whole problem with the team this season, though, man. Like, is a step back. Leon said it. The entire organization took a step back. I don't even know if they're healthy. If they beat the Ducks, I mean, the Ducks, they're way ahead of schedule. They look phenomenal. Shout out, Anaheim. I mean, that's just a fun team to watch. They got some superstars there already. Can't believe Jackson lacombe. But in terms of the Oilers, where do you go from here, guys? And my main takeaway is 12 years or 11 years. Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaidl. And it's like, oh, my God. Like, look at where they're at. Look at where they're at. You go back to that game seven, that was for sure. Biz. You had a great little rant on TNT that went really viral because it was well said. That was their best team. That was their best chance. They go down 3, 0, they make it to game seven. Who knows? If you split one of the first two games, games, maybe it's a different story. But to be where they're at with those two guys after 12 years and I'm looking at Crosby and Malkin and Latang and there are three Stanley Cups, and then, you know, it's. It's Connor McDavid Leon Dreisaitle and Evan Bouchard. You can't tell me that on paper it's that different, Right? In terms of the numbers that McDavid's put up, it.

[Biz Nuge]

Latang was never really in the mix for Norris. Not as much as Bouchard.

[Ryan G]

No, not as much as Bouchard.

[Keith]

And.

[Gary Lawless]

And.

[Ryan G]

But you look at the surrounding cast, and then you look at the goaltending. Now, the crazy thing with the Pittsburgh run is those two Matt Murray Stanley Cups, like, that's kind of out of nowhere, and you're hoping for that with Ingram, and then Skinner gets him to the finals. But then you look at the other guys and it's. It's. When you. When you look at what. How this roster was built and, and just the mistakes, it's like the depth, right? Like, okay, I'll give us Hyman, I'll give us Nuge, right? And then you give Pod Coles, and that guy's been phenomenal for a great player. But it's Kunitz, Kessel, Haglin, Bonino, Connor, Sherry Rust, and then the D, like that one Cup. Trevor Daly, Ian Cole, like, they just never were built the same way. Another similar team with two generational superstar talents were. And then they didn't get goaltending. And now at this point, people say this year it wasn't the gold. Like, the goaltending wasn't good. But it's not just the goaltending, like, at the same time. And I'm like, all over the place. Look at the goalies, man. Look at the goalies they had. And I don't. That Jari trade, that was a complete disaster. He was the backup. And if. If you kept Skinner, who'd been to two cup finals, now you have Ingram and Skinner, who are both UFAs, and you kind of got a clean slate. You could figure something out. Well, no, you got Jari signed. Now he's not even playing for you. It's just. It's. It's sad. It's sad. And when you hear your best players saying the organization has taken a step back and all these different things that you're just thinking they. They don't have a cup. They're in a worse spot now than they were three years ago. And the fact is that, like, I don't know if this is going to be able to switch for next year. Like, how do you retool this team? How do you get a goalie? How do you get rid of nurses contract? There's so many questions, and I don't know how it's going to be answered. Biz quack.

[Biz Nuge]

Yeah, I. And like I said, management, like, I wasn't signaling out Bowman because, like, I feel like it's a collective effort between. I don't know what the backstory is on the Holland move not protecting Holloway and Broberg. Because if you look at the big picture, that's probably a big percentage of what's wrong. Right? Because if you add those two guys and what Broberg, everybody can see what he's doing in St. Louis. Unbelievable guy. Then all of a sudden you would have Bouchard and then him on a second pairing where you have a puck moving defenseman in which, I mean, I think that that's what they want. Those forwards want the puck and they want a guy who can also defend and really be put in all situations. And at the time, if they would have offered him something, it probably would have been less than what they ended up giving Wallman. Right?

[Ryan G]

Yeah.

[Biz Nuge]

Is that fair? Is that fair to say, like, you end up paying Wallman $7 million over seven years and you're like, wait a minute, that guy was coming off of an entry level and he wouldn't have taken that. I mean, it was even less to, to match what, what, what St. Louis gave him on that, that the offer sheet, the Holloway one is like the most insane head scratcher to me because he made just over two for two years. People are saying, well, we didn't know he was gonna turn into what he turned into. Well, that's a management job to evaluate that.

[Ryan G]

Did you watch him that year in the finals?

[Biz Nuge]

Exactly. Did you watch him play? Like even that right there, it's like, well, it's not like you're taking a risk giving this guy $2.2 million and then like you go the next year and then you give Skinner $4 million and then Arvidson and, and then Mod Giopani comes after that. So there's just like so many things as to like. But once again, I don't know if Holland did that and didn't protect them because he was aware that he wasn't coming back and, and he was kind of being pigeon tossed.

[Ryan G]

Like, like, I don't know, you're saying maybe in some crazy world, he's like, I'm not saying. I'm not helping that world.

[Biz Nuge]

I'm saying that Holland's a pretty. I would say that he's a pretty competent GN GM and if anything, he's got the respect from other GMs where, where army wouldn't have done that to him. Maybe Holland caught wind. He's like, well, oh, I've orchestrated this. This partial build to get us to the Stanley cup finals and go seven games and I'm not coming back. And you're just gonna trade. You're gonna. You're gonna sell me to the farm for the. The next hot blonde kind of thing. You. I'm not protecting these two guys. I don't know what happened, bro. But it's a pretty common thing to know that if you have two studs that are coming out of entry level and other teams have massive amounts of cap space, that there could be an offer sheet coming. If you don't know that, then. And, and he didn't know that then I guess he did deserve to get fired because that's kind of crazy. Andor he has enough respect around the league where. So nobody would have done that to him. Because if you're listening right now, that's a thing like, would you guys agree that. That. That certain GMs don't offer sheet other players on other teams out of. And they don't want it to turn into a gong show. It's like an unwritten rule almost.

[Ryan G]

Yeah. But also, he said he would have done it to his mom.

[Keith]

Yeah.

[Ryan G]

So. And then, by the way, we haven't even mentioned.

[Biz Nuge]

I need a lie detector.

[Ryan G]

The Blues just announcing right. As the Oilers die.

[Keith]

Yeah.

[Ryan G]

Dylan Hollow signed to a 7.755 year extension. It was just like, oh, my God, give me a gun.

[Keith]

Because Edmonton was going to offer Sheetum back.

[Biz Nuge]

Yeah. But so ultimately I, I just, I. I feel terrible because I. The reason I compared Colorado and people are saying, oh, well, they've been knocked out in the first round. How many years? It's like, I get. I, I understand that. But they won one and now they're in a position where they have. Well, Wedgwood has to resign, but ultimately there are two goaltenders that they have right now won the Jennings Trophy, which is the best goalie, goalie tandem in the league. Okay. You have Blackwood locked up at the same amount that you have Jari locked up for. I think he signed for 5 million bucks or maybe just over. I think you have Jari for two more years, right. At $5 million, which is even crazier because you're paying him more than you were paying Skinner.

[Ryan G]

Dude, all you have to say, don't forget Jack Campbell. All you had to say there. But they won one. Yeah, they won one. And they're the best team in the league.

[Biz Nuge]

Right now. Best team in the league, right?

[Ryan G]

Don't fucking give me, oh, Colorado lost the. Don't compare the Avalanche to the Oilers. I'm sorry, all right, I won't. Like, I'm talking devil's advocate. Yeah, no, I'm talking to the people that said that to you. Like, what are we doing? They, they met one time, it was a sweep. Okay? Like, we're not comparing these two teams. We're not comparing the depth. We're not looking at those rosters and say, oh, look at, look at some of these deals. Like Frederick, he hurt his ankle. He gets the eight year no move clause 3.8. He doesn't kill penalties there. He's a bottom six forward that doesn't kill penalties on an eight year deal. He's not even playing in the first round. Like, there's just been so many bad. And I'm not going to sit here and say everything Stan Bowman did was bad, right? Like, I don't know, bringing Rossovich in was good move, right? You've seen like, things work out. Small moves. The big ones though, there, they've been disasters, I think.

[Biz Nuge]

I think the bad outweighs the good. And that just simply can't happen with those three, four, five guys. You mentioned the hyman, that core group you have, management has failed them. As simple as that. We could sit here and just keep hammering, hammering and hammering, but every move. And I compare it to the good teams like the Colorados, they haven't taken many Ls, and if they have, tell me what they are. And they're not even near as significant as the ones that we just mentioned that the oil have. And here's the thing though is now they have to try to dig out of it even more. And as, as Leon said, we got two years here to do it, and I don't even think you have that long if it's this ugly.

[Ryan G]

I think they have next year with mc.

[Keith]

They have next year. And good for them for saying it because when was the last time you heard two superstars come out? And I mean, yeah, obviously they called themselves out and they need to be better, but they're putting some blame on the management. They're putting some blame on, you know, the roster of this team. So I, I commend them for that because like Biz just said, Leon said, listen, we know we have at least one more year, two years, hopefully with Conor, they have to win with, like, this is one of those things where if you do not win with those two guys, it is a complete failure of 12, 12 years.

[Ryan G]

And I never thought like in going back four or five years when this all, when they really started cooking, it was like, all right, at some point they, they'll probably lose in the first round to an upstart young team exactly like the Ducks, but it'll be after a cup. It'd be after the Islanders going for five in a row, lose to the Oilers, right? Like, and now granted that was in the finals, but it's like at some point a young upstart team's going to get them, but they're going to have a cup before then and they don't. And it's just, it's crazy. And Oilers fans may be mad, but like if they, if they're not great next year and they don't win and Connor moves on and you don't like or you hate Conor McDavid for that, you gotta go touch some grass, buddy. Look at what this guy's done. Look at what, look at the player you have. Look at what he's given for a long time. He takes 12 and a half million on a two year extension just to try to leave some money for the team and to try to build a roster that can win a Stanley Cup. If, if he ever does leave and fans don't like him. Those fans are morons and I don't even think they will. I think they'll understand, like, all right, we had, we had the best player any of us have ever seen for 13 seasons. And, and I know it was signed

[Biz Nuge]

before the season went, but like, and on top of that, he just gave you two years at 12.5, which is like a 5 to 6 million dollars discount if not more. If, well, 20% is the max you can get. I don't think he's ever the type of guy to take that, at least not now. But the, and once again, the only reason you even get to the situation that you were in, in the finals, he had what, 40 something points the year they went to game seven. Like both, both him and Leon had to go all world in order to get them there. So you, you kind of, you, you expect year over year, the last two that, okay, they would build and add to that depth and add pieces in the right way. They've just, they've taken so many step backs. It's so sad. I thought, what's next?

[Keith]

What's, what's next? What can they do this summer to go out and bolster that, that lineup?

[Ryan G]

I think you have to make a call on any goalie in the league. I'm talking Gustafson and Mini. Call Winnipeg. Do you even have, like, I don't. I'm. I'm seriously, like, at this point, this is it.

[Ryan Whitney]

You got.

[Ryan G]

You got this year, man. And if they lose in the first round or we're bad next year, like, he's gone.

[Biz Nuge]

Am I.

[Ryan G]

Am I a bad Oilers fan for saying that? No, I'm a realist. Now, the. The last thing, hearing Leon mention the guys that they had, that was like, it Biz. It sounded like you the whole year. He brought up McLeod and Cece and all these different names. It's like, wow. Like, that shows what this. What, what? Like the camaraderie they had and the. The ability that they thought after game seven, like, we're there, we're there. No, man, you got back Game six, it was not nearly as close of a series, but just to hear your star player, one of the two, just bring up names that aren't there anymore, that should be. Is just crazy. It's crazy. So at Anaheim, quack, quack, quack. Incredible performance. I can't wait for this Vegas Anaheim series. We're going to get in that. Into that a little bit. But we got to talk about game seven. We gotta talk about maybe the worst performance I've ever seen in a win by a hockey team. Yeah, easily so. They broke the record for the most. The least amount of shots on goal in a playoff win. In the salary cap era, nine shots. None in the second period, one in the third. But the Canadiens around some goaltending magic, which we've seen before. Move on. Beat the Lightning. John Cooper just. I mean, the numbers of the shots that Canada had over the US And Lightning had over the Canadians, and losing both of those games, just shocking. Tampa's out in the first round again. Crazy thing that happens at home where you dominate, you can't win. What do you got, Biz? Just nuts.

[Biz Nuge]

Well, Yance, you've been on the. The Canadiens. I'll get to it. Like, just. What did you see? What are you happy with? And, you know, I know you have a buddy who's a scout for them as well.

[Keith]

Yeah, I don't think that game seven, you can be happy with much besides Dovish, obviously. Finding a way to win any game 7 is huge. Getting that first goal, that was a crazy stat. It's like 70 of the 75. Yeah. You score the first goal, you win, which is crazy. They had no reason to win that game. But hey, at the end of the day, they move on. I think I think if you look at them as a whole, like, their defense played great. Like, I thought Mike Matheson played really well. Besides the penalty at the end, guys jumping in, Dobson coming in in that game seven, we, I mean, even talking on the group chat, like, man, that's a tough position to get put into as a, a skilled puck moving D. Man, like, you haven't played in any games this, this series and you're jumping into a game seven against the team like Tampa. So shout out to him for holding it down. But yeah, I think with Montreal, like, they got the juju. You see, you see Marty St. Louis in the locker room after. Like, you can tell. Yeah.

[Ryan G]

How awesome is that?

[Keith]

Yeah, he's, he's excited to be a part of this group, and the group's excited to have him as their coach. And I, I just love the, the mojo that's going on there. They're, they're getting, you know, scoring from different players. I thought slough after the first game, kind of his dropped. I mean, he did get knocked out twice. So shout out for him for even playing. Yeah, his, his, his game needs to get picked up if they want to win this next series. Cole Caufield, another guy's got to find the back of the net, play a little bit bigger. And then another guy too shout out. Brendan Gallagher coming in, just being a spark plug guy. Didn't. Didn't pout when he wasn't playing. So I, I just love the makeup of this team, man. Like, they, they look like they're having fun. They look like they got the mojo. And I think this next series is going to be an absolute barn burner.

[Ryan G]

Yeah, I think they got to play a lot better biz to beat Buffalo.

[Biz Nuge]

Yeah. Oh, for sure, for sure. I, I mean, we'll get into that series breakdown. I think it starts with Marty and just the, like, the mental preparation going into that one. But he was saying, like, he's like, you can't pay for these reps for these young guys. Like, this is it, man. You're going into against a former team that's won two Stanley Cups with all the legends across the ice. It's like, this is, you know, this is why you play. And, and also not to make excuses for him. I believe they had travel issues as well, so maybe a reason. I don't think they got until really late the day before, and then there was something going on with either weather or, or travel. So maybe they, that's why they didn't look like they had their jump like in Other games because you go back to the game before the 00 going into OT, like that was one of the most entertaining no scoring games I've ever seen.

[Ryan G]

Like it was, that was a hell, that was incredible.

[Biz Nuge]

It was unreal.

[Ryan G]

That reminded me of The Lightning Bruins 2011 Game 7 Conference Final where it's 00, but it's one of the best hockey games I've ever seen. That was incredible.

[Biz Nuge]

Oh yeah, the crowd was into it, the Bell center was going crazy. But I mean, as far as the players, it obviously starts with Dobish. It was pretty cool to talk to him post game and hear how Accucherov was like in his ear being like, you're nervous, you nervous? This kid just is. Even after game seven, he was just like, no, he was just telling me like, you look nervous. But I wasn't nervous. And like it was pretty sick to see like how much confidence he has and the way that he handles the puck. Like I didn't realize how good he was at handling the puck, which I think calmed things down a little bit early for them. And obviously, as you guys have mentioned, being defensive in the NHL relieved a lot of pressure going back and not getting ran through the glass. I, I, and obviously he was kicking and he, and he looked unbelievable. I thought Tampa could have done a better job with their opportunities, getting pucks elevated. I felt a lot was hitting them in the pads where, hey, but credit the D, right? When you're not giving guys a lot of time and space, like they're trying to get it off quick and maybe they couldn't it up but just, yeah, just not, not a, not an ideal game plan in order to try to win. But they get that big goal from Suzuki which I don't think that, that, that between him and Caulfield, they hadn't scored a 5 on 5 goal the entire series. So that was obviously a problem. Crazy at the fact that how low producing those two guys were and yet they get past the Tampa Bay Lightning. But you got to credit that, that, that well, it was the fourth line. Now it's being labeled the third line in, in the Kirby, Doc Texier and, and the Bulldog. Like they were huge. Especially after that, that game two blunder. Like they came out game three and I thought they really established themselves, which was huge. And then I mean, what else, what else can we talk about?

[Ryan G]

Well, we could talk, we could talk about. Keith brought up Mason in the third period. They already had the lead. I think he had Kucherov all over him. He wheeled the net, made an incredible breakout pass under pressure. And then later in that, in the, at the end of the period, broke up two plays. Perfect stick positioning. Remember those plays coming over the blue line? They went right out of the zone. He was awesome. Dobson's back in. I mean, he's got a pin in his thumb or whatever it is. Like that's, he made a pretty good

[Biz Nuge]

play on the two on one where he slid and poked it away too. I think that was in the second period. I was surprised to see Arbor Jack Guy coming to the lineup.

[Ryan G]

Same here. And he needs to go in against Buffalo with the size of their forwards. He looked good 100.

[Biz Nuge]

I thought he looked awesome. He's not taking like, I think the knock on him before was he took too many minors, but I don't think I haven't seen him take too many come this playoffs. Maybe one, maybe one or two. But I would assume that he draws back in for the same reason you just mentioned where like Buffalo's a big skilled team. They're going to need some physicality. So. But hey, credit to Dobson, like you said, Yance, for coming in, in that situation and, and, and having the jam to play in a game seven when you hadn't gotten any reps, especially a team against Tampa. Yeah. And I mean as far as any other individuals on, on Montreal, I, I, I, I, I just think it's, I think it's awesome at the fact that they didn't really need that top line firing on all cylinders in order to get the job done. Like that's probably the biggest takeaway.

[Ryan G]

Hudson's incredible. He is unbelievable. It's different than Quinn Hughes. I don't think it's that level. It's not that far off. But the time that he has the puck on his stick is. It's wild. When he's out on the ice, he's controlling the play. Now, I don't know the exact date this happened, but at some point in the season in the second half, Montreal, they fired their goaltending coach, Eric Raymond. They brought in Laval's goaltender coach, Marco Marciano, and dovish has been 17, 8 and 1 since then with a 2, 4, 2 and a 9. And then Fowler, Big cat. Okay, they got a big cat. 2.179, 18 for Fowler. Obviously that made a big, you know, a big, big, I don't know, change in, in the way that those goalies played. Also shout out Kenny Albert, who mentioned as him and Edzo were walking into the rink. I think there was, I think he said 10 Montreal Canadiens players playing soccer, you know, two touch, getting warmed up, loosened up. And as they kept walking, Alex Newhook is sitting there concentrating, doing eye exercises all on his own. And you see that goal, people kind of. I. I feel like there's been this. Oh, that was just like a shitty. Not a shitty goal. Like a lucky goal. He wax it. That was incredible. Incredible. That puck is flying by him. He's knocking that thing out of midair.

[Keith]

Off.

[Ryan G]

Off of Vasilevsky. The only way you could beat him is a shot going way wide that's tipped by Suzuki, continues to be going way wide and hops in off Moser. And then this one where new hook. That's an incredible goal. An incredibly skilled play to knock that out of midair. And I just couldn't believe. Luckily, Montreal had had a shift right before the goal where they had a bunch of chances. I think that Tampa was stuck on the ice. That was the ship, the shift. Gergenson had like, three block shots. Oh, yeah, they had a. They're like, all right, they got something going for the first time in like, 30 minutes on the game clock, and then boom, next shift, they get it. Hudson gets the shot through the rebound off the glass, and he knocks it in, and Montreal's moving on.

[Biz Nuge]

So that's a key, too. You just mentioned, like, like the. The ship before, how many they had blocked. Like, I thought Tampa did a good job of getting in the lanes, but Lane Hudson, being the smart player he is, you miss short side, it gives you an opportunity to, like, get a rebound, you know, and keep the play below the goal line, at least. Well, in that case, it ended up in the back of the net. But great play because, like, you could see Vasilevsky reaching right. So typically that blocker and that arm is hugged up against the post, where, if that was the case, that's just going to hit his body and go, go, go back to where it came from. But when he extends like that, it opens up a piece like, right where, like, his rib cage is. And like you said, just incredible hand, eye. And, hey, that's a guy who's got a Stanley cup, right? And.

[Ryan G]

And.

[Biz Nuge]

And the little experience that that group does have come playoff time, so pretty remarkable. I thought that Montreal did a dog job of establishing their forecheck, and if they have any chance against Buffalo, they got to be way better at that. Like, I felt like their forwards were not in unison with their D. Like, their D get the up the ice. Like, if you're. If you have good F3 support coming back for you where his blades are facing your D zone, you got to pressure up as that D man. If it gets by you, that F3 centerman will swing by, grab it, and jam it right back down their throat. So you can't be given good teams like free exits out of the zone and make life easy on them. So that would be my only criticism from game seven that I noticed. But I'm glad you brought up Hudson and New Hook, but Hudson, man, yeah, he's.

[Keith]

He's a superstar.

[Biz Nuge]

He's a. He's a sick puppy, man. He's a sick puppy. Not afraid of the moment.

[Keith]

And we talked about him before the series started, like, as a smaller defenseman. Is he gonna get, you know, bullied around? Is he gonna get pushed off pucks easily? Nope. The guy's just an absolute water bug gamer. Shows up it, he doesn't sweat. He's on the ice 25 minutes a night.

[Ryan G]

You can't hit him. And Quinn Hughes, they don't get hit. So it's like, go run him. Go run him. Good. Good luck.

[Keith]

Yeah.

[Ryan G]

And how about this one? This is a tweet from Down Goes Brown. The Kraken, the Rangers, the Devils and the Canucks have all won a series more recently than the Tampa Bay Lightning. And when you look at like every regular season and the roster and Kucherov and then them losing in the first round, it's just shocking. Now, granted, you had the Panthers to deal with, you had their number, then they flipped it. But Sergey Bobrovsky has more points in his career in game Sevens than Nikita Kucherov. And I never thought Kucherov looked like himself. Like, there were moments he did. But this game in particular, and then other times in the series, it was just. It wasn't the same dominance that you've seen in these regular seasons. And I don't know. I don't really know what it is. I. And. And I know, I know point was banged up. He didn't have his game right. Genso was a. Genzel was a non factor in game seven. He's a guy you're kind of planning on getting a big goal, but I would say some no shows from guys. And yeah, granted, they outshot them by a crazy margin. They had the puck most of the game, but you got. You got to score. And. And they weren't able to. And it's just. It's surprising to me to see the Lightning once again go out in the first round after just having a brutal home record year after year.

[Biz Nuge]

Yeah. What was it? 2 and 10 in their last 12 home playoff games.

[Ryan G]

Yep.

[Biz Nuge]

Yeah, I, I mean I'll, I'll be the one to say it. Like obviously coach didn't look like himself. I think that maybe like good teams that are well prepared against him, like kind of know his tendencies and also know when they get on him like he 10, I don't want to say shuts it down. I just think his body language is brutal. Like it's, it's brutal. It's very noticeable.

[Ryan G]

He gets the, he gets the kind of whiny like shoulder shrug, shoulder shrug.

[Biz Nuge]

Go over to the bench. Just an absolute show every time he enters the bench, like open the door for me type thing. It's just kind of, it's kind of brutal. And to me when you guys like that around, it makes things a little bit uncomfortable. Obviously. No headman was, was a, was a big factor in this one too. Like a big long range Ed man who's done what he's done. But yeah, I think, yeah, it's, I, I, I, I still think their window is open. I think they just need a reset here and, and in order to get healthy. I think that point was definitely banged up and had probably the worst year of his career. Just as far as like off ice that he had to deal with like never like, I mean he didn't, didn't get to go to the Olympics because of it. I don't know what was wrong with them, but they need a nice long offseason to, to, to get healthy and who knows if they get radish back right, he's going to hit the open market. So it's, it's interesting times people are trying to give coupe the quote. Like you know, we, we. What did we, we, we lost it on the score sheet. But we. What was his quote after kind of had a brindamore one.

[Ryan G]

Yeah, but I didn't see that quote. I don't know. But the guy, I mean after the gold medal game in this game, I could imagine a crazy quote coming out because he's like, what it happened again? Is this it? We play it?

[Biz Nuge]

That's the feeling I had. I've seen this movie before and it happened in Milan in February. And all you can ask for your team, whether it was the Olympic tournament or best of seven playoff is get better as you go. And I thought we got better as we went. And I thought tonight we played our best game of the series. Yeah, like sometimes you win the game and not the score. When it's game seven, there's no, there's no moral victory in that. I didn't mind that one. Compared to the.

[Ryan G]

No, he mean, he means sometimes you completely dominate. Like you dominate a game and then you run into a goaltender dovish, hella buck. And at the end of the game you're like, what just happened? And that was, that was, that was probably even crazier based on being a seven game series. Right. Like you could see a one game gold medal. It's like anything could happen. And we witnessed it. That one you consider we're going to wear them down. We're going to wear them down and then they finally do it to the, to the biggest degree that you could in game seven and they lose at home. So while the other, the other thing with.

[Keith]

Go ahead.

[Ryan G]

Just an all time series, all time, great series. 4 hours and 39 minutes of the 4 hours and 45 minutes total time in the series was played with the score tied or someone up by one. Wow. It was just. The whole series was close. Every play mattered in every game and it was awesome. So Corey Perry not going to the Stanley cup finals for only the second time in seven seasons since the pandemic. Merles was in the group chat. Like, you got to get him off the line, I think with Genel and point was he playing with.

[Biz Nuge]

Yeah, it was the whole game. It was majority of the game. Yans, what were you gonna say?

[Keith]

I was just gonna say about Tampa, like they're the last time they won the Stanley Cup. Like you think of players that they have, the Paats, the Korns, you know, even a guy with Patty Maroon. Like, who are the guys that they have now in that locker room where if shit's not going the right way, they're being like, hey boys, let's settle this thing down. Yeah, they have the superstars. You got Kov, you got point. You know, Haggle's a superstar now, but it's like, who, who's the core guys that is, you know, making them a team, like getting them to really buy into a system. I just don't think they have what they used to have and they're not nearly as good as they were when they were winning those cups. Stamp coast. Like, you lose a guy like Stamcos, who's obviously filling the net with goals, but he's also bringing you a certain swagger in the locker room that knows how to win, knows how to handle big time situations. So I think roster management there too has been an issue and, and having, you know, let go guys that maybe that might not be the Best on the ice. But when they're in that locker room, it means something to that team. And that's why they won then. So is it one of those things too? Biz? I know coops your buddy and stuff. Like, he might get his first ever Jack Adams this year. Is he gonna be on the hot seat to, you know, get fired?

[Biz Nuge]

I. I mean, no. I, I would say no like that.

[Ryan G]

Me too. I think that'd be crazy.

[Biz Nuge]

There's not like a, A, like a ton of great coaches out there. Like, who are you going to replace him with?

[Ryan G]

I do wonder if you go back in time, would they resign Stamcos if they could? You saw this year, dude.

[Keith]

100.

[Ryan G]

He's not. He wasn't done. I think they thought he was done. He had 40 goals this year.

[Biz Nuge]

Yeah, like.

[Ryan G]

And he was captain.

[Biz Nuge]

I can agree with that. Yance.

[Gary Lawless]

And then.

[Biz Nuge]

And like, it's just like. I think it would have been tough to match the calorien offer. I don't know how close he would have wanted them to. To keep them. Maybe not a regular season burner, but as you're seeing with the Anaheim docks, like, that's a guy you need when the, when the going gets tough. So yeah, Tampa Bay obituary. I don't think their window is closed. I'm interested to see how they can replenish and figure out how to get back to being as relevant as they were.

[Keith]

I think they need 97 down in Tampa.

[Ryan G]

They still find these gems though. I know that Dominic James kid is awesome.

[Biz Nuge]

He was awesome.

[Ryan G]

All right, we got a special guest, Gary Lawless coming on, but before we get to him, we got to talk body armor. This episode is brought to you by body Armor Flash iv. The NHL playoffs are here, first round's over, and there's no better rapid rehydration than body armor. Flash iv. An official partner of the NHL, Flash IV is packed with electrolytes. Living faster, longer lasting hydration without any artificial dyes, flavors, or sweeteners. None of the junk. Whether you're training, traveling, or just feeling the heat, work hard and hydrate hard. With body armor. Flash IV. Grab it at a 711 and Aura frames, guys, aura frames. The perfect mother's day gift. We got one of these in the house. They're phenomenal. You just put on the pictures you want so easily. You give somebody one, you can then put on the picture yourself, and all of a sudden they're walking through the living room and boom. A nice picture you just took of your kids or of your family is Popped up in the house of the person you gave the gift to. Add as many photos and videos as you want. Keep adding from anywhere, anytime. Like I said, add a message before it even arrives. Every frame comes packaged in a premium gift box with no price tag. Download the free Aura app or text photo straight to your frame. It reached number one in the App Store on Christmas Day in 2025. Make Mother's Day special with Aura Frames named number one by Wirecutter. That's a big deal right there. Wire cutter number one is no joke. You could save on gifts moms love by visiting auraframes.com for a limited time. Listeners can get 25 off their best selling Carver matte frame with code Chiclets. That's a U R A frames.com promo code. Chiclets support the show by mentioning us at checkout. Terms and conditions apply. So bring them in. Because last year I was able to just own this guy, Gary Lawless. We thought it'd be a. We thought it'd be a series for the ages. Last year Oilers drummed him and this year Gary owns me, he owns biz. He's been all over both of us in text and he's here now. Gary, congrats on the first round win. How you doing?

[Gary Lawless]

I'm good. Yeah. I have to say I. I don't really live in this, in this world, like in the good for you the

[Biz Nuge]

Instagram and probably a lot happier man stuff.

[Gary Lawless]

But I was watching. There's some, some wing nut Chetty or something.

[Biz Nuge]

Beautiful.

[Gary Lawless]

Yeah. He was chirping you last night, Yance. And you bis.

[Biz Nuge]

About what?

[Gary Lawless]

I don't know. He was at the, he was at the Lightning game.

[Ryan G]

So he was blacked out for sure.

[Biz Nuge]

Yeah.

[Gary Lawless]

And he bumps into Pat Maroon at the buffet. And Pat put together a nice plate credit to Pat. And then Chetty rolls up on him and he's got his, you know, he's got his minions recording it all and where's Gans? And tell that bissonette that I need to be on Chiclets. Like it's. He's.

[Biz Nuge]

Anyways, Chetty's rubbing elbows with like Justin Bieber and, and the Nelk boy. He's a. He's a big dog.

[Ryan Whitney]

I.

[Biz Nuge]

You know, he. Maybe he's too, too big to come on this pod, but we are buddies with him and maybe in due time we will have him on for a playoff breakdown.

[Gary Lawless]

And maybe he's getting the Heisman. Sounds like he's getting a little bit of a soft Tasman.

[Ryan G]

Well, it's team doesn't know anything about hockey.

[Biz Nuge]

He knows as much as I do. We don't need two.

[Gary Lawless]

You're on tnt.

[Biz Nuge]

I know. We don't need two dummies on this podcast, though. And. And who. Who's he gonna break down? I think the Lightning or his team. Aren't they.

[Gary Lawless]

Yeah, they are. Yeah.

[Biz Nuge]

Well, they got bounce, so what do we need Chetty for? But he.

[Ryan G]

No mini. He's a mini guy.

[Biz Nuge]

Okay, well, we'll have to get. Okay.

[Ryan G]

Yeah, he's hopping on Minnie.

[Gary Lawless]

If he gets from. I think he's from Benny.

[Biz Nuge]

Yeah. You wouldn't know what the accent he has. We don't. I mean, he looks like he sounds like he's from fucking planet Zoltan the way he talks. But I have to congratulate you, Gary. What a. What a first round. I will say that I felt that Utah did have that one in hand and spit it up all over themselves. But at the end of the day, you got to make plays and you got to get it done. So congratulations to the Vegas Gold Knights on advancing to the second round against the Anaheim Ducks. What do you think the main reasons as to why they did? I'm looking at special teams.

[Gary Lawless]

Well, it's an interesting take because I've heard that in a bunch of places like that, Utah spit it up. Vegas should have won game two. They should have been up to nothing. They had a bad. Like they had a bad third period in game two. Game three was for sure was Utah. But then, you know, Vegas won three in a row. Four, five and six. You know, you win three in a row, you're the better team. So to me, and the last game, game six was a cruise, right? They won 5:1. So, you know, special teams, big factor. Jack Eichel just decided at a certain point in time that. That Cooley and Gunther weren't going to get anything. Anything done anymore at 5 on 5. And they didn't. Cooley was pretty much held off the score sheet after game two. I think Gunther had a power play goal after Game 2, but he had a couple.

[Biz Nuge]

He had a couple.

[Gary Lawless]

It's the beauty of Jack.

[Biz Nuge]

I think he had three.

[Gary Lawless]

He decides, well, he had three, four in the series. Yeah, so he didn't have. I'm talking about after game two. He didn't have three goals after game two. Anyways, the beauty of Jack Geico is he determines what the Golden Knights need from him. Like shift, period game. He just decides, okay, they need me to. Need me to score. I can score. They need me to shut down their best, their most dangerous guys. I'll shut him down. He finished the series nine points. He's right near the top of scoring in the National Hockey League and he just was. He's just a dominant two way center. He was the best player for team USA at the Olympics in that regard as well. You know, Sully put him out there in all situations. Tortorella has witnessed that. Tortorella said about Eichel, halfway through this, after I think after game four, game five, he was like, I had him at four nations. I had him at the Olympics. That's the best game I've ever seen him play. And you know, I do understand the like the recency bias. Like people look at Utah and you can say the same thing about Anaheim. They can go, boy, are they ever talented. Well, Vegas is talented too. Barbershev, Eichel, Dorothy of Marner. We'll talk about Marner in a minute. Biz, Stone, Hurdle and then on the blue line, Theodore Hannifan Anderson. There's a ton of talent in Vegas as well. They're older, they're a little more experienced,

[Ryan G]

but a little slower.

[Gary Lawless]

Who's, who's faster than Jack Eichel?

[Ryan G]

I'm talking team speed. Do you think Anaheim or Vegas?

[Biz Nuge]

If you watch the series like they were. They were. Utah was the faster team and like I said, faster. They were faster when I threw it over to you. A big reason.

[Gary Lawless]

There's lots of metrics that show that Vegas, the pace and rate of play was in favor of Vegas.

[Biz Nuge]

I mean, but I watched, I mean boys, when you watch the games, like what did you see?

[Keith]

Utah was faster.

[Ryan G]

Utah. But, but Vegas, but Vegas is very good at. Or they got very good at slowing them down. So I'll give you that. But it. Here's the, here's the thing, Gary. Like I, I think Vega, obviously they are proven. They've won a Stanley Cup. Marner looked phenomenal, got better and better as the series went on. I do feel, and maybe you aren't doing this, but I know one guy, Bulutman is that. That have. Are overlooking the Ducks a little bit. I'm not saying.

[Gary Lawless]

Yeah, I'm overlooking the Ducks.

[Ryan G]

Okay.

[Gary Lawless]

This is a dangerous, dangerous team. Troy Terry is, you know, a lethal shot. You've got. Goce has four holes in the series. Leo Carlson is. He's a lot like Jack Eichel. He's an excellent two way player. This Lacombe, nine points already in the, in the, in the, in the playoffs. Joel Quenville, arguably like he's right there with like it's Scotty Bowman and then it's Joel Quinville.

[Merles]

Like they're.

[Gary Lawless]

They're extremely well coached. This is, this is a pick them in many ways. You know, you're not getting a prediction out of me. I think this is going to be. I'll give you a prediction. It's going to be a dynamite series.

[Ryan G]

Yes.

[Gary Lawless]

And I expect it's, you know, it's going to be really good for hockey. It's this. It's. Vegas is supposed to have these rivals with Southern California. You know, they. They had it with L A early on. They beat L A in year one and then L A kind of faded. Then it was San Jose. That's Northern Cal. But then they faded and I don't think Anaheim has been in the playoffs since Vegas's first year in the NHL. I think this is the first time since 1718 that they've been back in and credit to them, you know, they've drafted high and they've put together a lethal combination of players and like they dusted the Oilers. Game six wasn't even close. And that, you know, the Oilers arguably have the two best offensive players in the world.

[Ryan G]

I do. I am surprised because Vegas knows usually draftkings the. The Golden Knights are minus 210. So it's like they're looking at it like it is. It is. It should be an. Maybe not an easy but a. A win for Vegas. I do want to ask and you said we get into Mitch Marner. Tortorella said after game six is the best game he played in the series. He was dominant. Two goals and an assist, I believe. What did you see change throughout the series with him? And at this point, if he's able to finish that series off with that game, the expectations for him moving forward into this series, they have to be sky high.

[Biz Nuge]

And I would say after Jack Eichel, I think that he was the best Golden Knight, if not the best player in the series.

[Gary Lawless]

Well, Brett Howden and Ivan Barbershev.

[Biz Nuge]

Sure.

[Gary Lawless]

Theodore would sure would. Would put cases forward for themselves. Here's the thing. I'll just. The last thing you said the expectations for Mitch are sky high. They're not. And that's the whole thing about the Gold Knights. Mitch doesn't have to put the team on his back, which he did in game six. He doesn't have to do that every night. He has to take his turn. That's the difference between like when he played in Toronto, when did the fourth line in Toronto. Cole Smith had two goals, Jim Nick Dowd had two goals. And Colton Seasons had two goals. Six goals. They combined for 10 points in the series. Like, it's not up to Mitch. Every night, Mitch has to do his job. And when it's his turn, he's got to take his turn. He. In game four, he makes a fantastic play to steal the puck and find Howden in the slot for the first shorthanded goal. Game five, he stays up on the forecheck, gets in the corner, disrupts the play, makes a little subtle. It's small thing. He nudges the puck, pushes it forward so that Howden can go get it. How goes in and scores. They win game five. And then we forget because it was the first goal of the game. Vegas had to score first in game six. They could not let the crowd and the building get into it. Marner sets up a great feed, sets up Howden again. Howden scores. Vegas is on its way. And then Mitchie adds two goals later on.

[Biz Nuge]

What was it like seeing a slap shot from him live? Were you there live?

[Gary Lawless]

I was there live.

[Biz Nuge]

I don't think I saw him take a slap shot his entire time with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

[Ryan G]

That's what he's missing.

[Gary Lawless]

He's played the top at the power play all year long, and it was all Sifters. Like, he never.

[Biz Nuge]

He loves the sifters.

[Gary Lawless]

Well, he's. He's fantastic at it. So he just the. The Clapper. Mark Stone pulls one out every once in a while. Like, Mark's usually the wrister. And every once in a while, there's a slapper from Stone, and you're like, oh, my God, the Manitoba Maniac. And it's. It's really fun. So the Torch has got this group. Loose isn't quite the right word, but they're not tight for sure, and they're having a ton of fun. It's been amazing to watch. I want to listen to you guys talk about. About the Oilers in Tampa. I want a couple stats for you. Since 1718, Vegas now has 66 playoff wins and 13 series wins. That's tied for number one with Tampa. They're in the. They're in the second round for the sixth time in nine seasons. Carolina has been to the second round seven times. Vegas is, you know, Vegas has got to the quarterfinals four times or, sorry, the conference finals four times. I don't think anyone else has done that. So everything they do from here on forward is a huge plus for them. And they had seven skaters in the lineup. He talked About Edmonton. So Edmonton beat Vegas last year. Kelly McCrimmon determined, hey, we're not good enough. We got to get better. Which he does, I think every season. Off season, he added seven players, and we're not talking about bit guys. He adds Marner Sissons, Dowd Smith, Lozan Anderson, and Carter Hart.

[Ryan G]

Who.

[Gary Lawless]

Who was the winning goalie for them. I know you guys like to call them, like, whatever. Whatever nickname you have for him and McPhee. These guys, it's a master class.

[Biz Nuge]

Pinky in the Brain. That's a compliment. If they don't take it as a compliment, then that's on.

[Gary Lawless]

Is it a compliment? I don't know what it means. Like, again, I don't.

[Biz Nuge]

You ever seen the cartoon Pinky in the Brain? One is a genius, the other's insane.

[Ryan G]

I mean, hey, because.

[Biz Nuge]

Because George McPhee did you. I. Apparently, when he played, he was a nut. He's the guy. Well, then. Exactly.

[Gary Lawless]

He fought Rick Talkett and Dave Brown in the same game.

[Biz Nuge]

There you go.

[Gary Lawless]

55. Grinnell is bigger than him.

[Biz Nuge]

Yeah, they don't care about the backlash of being cut through throat. Like, who the fires a Stanley Cutthroat.

[Keith]

Who the.

[Ryan G]

They're not cutthroat, Gary.

[Biz Nuge]

It's business, Gary.

[Ryan G]

Yeah, there's business and there's cutthroat. Business to win, Gary Cutthroat.

[Gary Lawless]

Okay, Cutthroat. I understand why it's cutthroat. All players all want to play here. Players look around the league and they're like, where can I go?

[Biz Nuge]

Yeah, Mark Andre Florian wanted to play there.

[Gary Lawless]

Hey, okay, you got. You got me on that one.

[Ryan G]

And he. And he. And he brings up goaltending. Okay. So we talked throughout the series. Carter Hart found something with torts, and he was playing incredible. At one point in this series, Biz is kind of wondering, like, Aiden Hill won a Stanley cup for them. Like, Carter doesn't look great now. I'll say this. He made the big saves when it counted in a lot of those wins, but his entire body of work definitely needs to be better. At the same time, Dost style was, I think, the worst goalie in the first round. So it's not like you're worried that you're running into this guy who just had this incredible first round. What do you think about Carter Hart is. And. And business point was. Was valid. Like, based on what we saw, there's probably no chance Aiden Hill is playing, right if he hasn't played yet.

[Gary Lawless]

Well, it's. Carter was. Was dynamite in game six. He Won two overtime games. Game four is an overtime game. Game five is a double overtime game. Made a ton of big saves. Game three, they scored four goals on their first, first eight shots. And someone explained this to me. I, I called in the next game.

[Biz Nuge]

They gave up a three goal lead. So it's like he, I in that game he let up four like and I wouldn't say they were all know

[Gary Lawless]

but he won four games. Right.

[Biz Nuge]

That's fair. Yeah, that's.

[Gary Lawless]

That gets ignored. Right. At the end of the day he did what his team needed him do to, to, to win the series. Was it a, was it like a masterpiece? I guess not. This was explained but he also like don't forget like Vegas lost six of seven or sorry seven of eight before, before Kelly fired Bruce they were going to miss the playoffs and, and Torts came in and he eventually gave the reins to Carter Hart and I think like he was seven. Oh and one.

[Ryan G]

Yep.

[Biz Nuge]

Sorry.

[Gary Lawless]

No, no, he was the, the, the game, the shootout loss I think In Seattle anyways, like 701, something like that. Under two, way above 900, you know. So game, game three, he lets in four on eight shots. None of them are bad goals, but two of them he stops like nine out of 10 times. And it was explained to me the, the real good starters in the NHL they have seven really good starts, seven A starts, then they have you know, two B starts and then a C start. Well that was a C start from him and then he flipped the page and they've been A starts for me ever since. So he certainly has earned the net and teammates love him. He's torch is very confident in him.

[Ryan G]

Yeah.

[Keith]

And you talk about Torts like you even a little thing I noticed in the last game it was the Hyman goal gets called back. Then there's an offensive zone face off and they have Dowd line out there. Dowd wins the face off back. They go on and score. Like how much credit are you giving a guy like towards for even putting his fourth line out there in that situation?

[Gary Lawless]

Well, he's used on a ton and actually after game six he said I can't call them the fourth line anymore. They're you know like their ice time is like that's been. I'm not going to talk about depth because you guys jammed it down my throat last year. But like the ice time in game six, forward one who was I believe Marner and then forward 12, the gap in ice time was under five minutes.

[Biz Nuge]

That's what, that's what it was like when they won a Stanley cup too because they had that Kolasar. I think it was law. And I forget who the other one was.

[Gary Lawless]

Belmaer will carry when Belmar was year one and when they won the Cup. If you remember game six against Dallas, that line went out like they scored. Like they just pound that line stole the game. And that's what Kelly McCrimmon wanted to do. Excuse me guys. That's what he wanted to do at the deadline. He thought they didn't have a fourth line with an identity. He wanted to get that and he went like this. Cole Smith.

[Ryan G]

I didn't know about him. Gary.

[Gary Lawless]

He is. He is like a Saturday night in jail. He plays so hard. It's. He hits everything. He goes to the net. He's. And Nick Dowd like this guy's become.

[Biz Nuge]

I can't believe that Washington let him go.

[Gary Lawless]

He's become a leader here in no time. Like he's. And Colton Sizzles was kind of lost all year. He didn't have the right mixer match for him and now all of a sudden he's. He was two goals, two assists, four points in a six game series.

[Biz Nuge]

What did you guys give up for Doubter?

[Gary Lawless]

I don't even know.

[Ryan G]

I forget what I'll say this Gary. I'm gonna look right now.

[Biz Nuge]

I love that Nick.

[Ryan G]

Doubt is you're about to witness a hell of a fourth round, fourth line matchup in the second was VL is amazing.

[Gary Lawless]

Yeah. Like. And I love like this is the same as Smith and Dowd. They don't care who it is. Oh that's. It's like, like VL he went after McDavid. These, these guys don't care who it is. You saw the, you saw Doubt in his comments to. To Cooley and it worked. It was a head game. Like Cooley. He was. He played on the edge and went over the edge a ton. He takes a terrible penalty in Game 6. Vegas scores on the power play. It basically it ended the game. Like these guys are. They're savvy.

[Biz Nuge]

They're.

[Gary Lawless]

They want to win. Doubt has never won. He. He missed. He got to Washington the year after they won. So he, you know, he just missed the training.

[Biz Nuge]

You want to call their cup in

[Gary Lawless]

match Vegas with you.

[Biz Nuge]

That's what, that's why I love him. I saw him firsthand. Like he's like you said, he wants to win. He's a competitor. Like y not like when it comes down to it, there's not a ton of guys like that that are willing to do whatever it takes. And who are, who are also like so confident in the moment when the stakes are. Stakes are high. So when you witness it, you play with a guy like that. That's why I've always been high on him, even when he was in Washington. And when you guys picked him up, I was like, oh, well, that's a sneaky little ad. And I'll tell you, Gary, I got Vegas winning the series in six games. I am a believer. I feel like they're like goaltending, I think is going to get better compared to what it was in round one. I think that's a given. Not to knock him, but just thinking like there were some games there where he let up, you know, four, four goals where I'm like, okay, I don't think we're going to see as much of that. And I think that the physicality will wear Anaheim down like I felt that it did against Utah. And it will kind of counteract their speed. And the other thing too, man, I, I said special teams. When I threw it over to you at first, I think that they were like plus eight on special teams overall on. In that series against Utah. Correct. Yeah.

[Gary Lawless]

Yeah. Well, they scored two shorties and then they had, I think they had four play power play goals. So definitely very good.

[Biz Nuge]

They were very high on the plus minus on special teams. So I think that they have a ton going for on their well balanced lines. And it just like the, the as. As. As maybe a big of a stab in the back as it was to Cassidy the reset with torts. You guys got some good mojo going right now. I'll put it that way, buddy. And that's why I got my Mitchie Marner jersey on, bud.

[Gary Lawless]

Cut throat backstab. I love how he throws these little, these little jabs in.

[Biz Nuge]

I think if you pulled anybody outside

[Ryan G]

of Vegas, outside of Canada, Gary, he's the only one.

[Biz Nuge]

Yeah. I even think that that pinky in the brain would be like, yeah, we're cutthroat because we're in it to win it, baby.

[Ryan G]

By the way, guys, he's paying us

[Biz Nuge]

the big bucks to bring rings here.

[Ryan G]

Sorry. Daud went to Vegas for goaltending prospect Jesper Vickman, a 2027 third round draft pick and a 2029 second round pick. So just more of like, we do not care about the future. We're here to win. And we got our fourth line center Gary Rollback. Last question. Use code chicklet on rollback.com 20 off to the end of the week Polos, hoodies, joggers. C H I C L E T S on r h O-B-K.com you mentioned the skill Stone Eichel, Dorothea Marner. You also mentioned Thomas Hertel. What is going on with this guy? When was his last goal? And. And is it. Is it Pace? Can he not handle the pace?

[Biz Nuge]

He's gonna have four in this series now.

[Gary Lawless]

Yeah, you know, I, I don't know. Listen, I stopped counting. Like, I, like, first of all, this is one of the best guys in hockey. He's like, fantastic, treats everybody super well through all of this. Has not stopped smiling. Saw him at the rink with his kid the other day. There's a team here, there's a minor team here. There's a Hurdle, there's a sod, there's a Petrangelo on it. And like, you see these, these three guys, you know, watching what. These three NHL legends watching their kids play, and it's kind of fun. Anyways, the pace, he was actually, he got better late in the series, so I don't know if something's been bugging him. And you never know, right? Like, these guys, are they in Vegas in particular? Somebody's got something wrong with them. You just don't find out.

[Ryan G]

Right?

[Gary Lawless]

You know, like, we're around them all the time, so you're kind of like, okay, you see him, you know, limping on the, on the plane or whatever. I haven't seen any of that with Hurdle, but I wonder about that. You know, he's playing with Riley Smith and Keegan Kolasar right now. So Riley had 16 goals in the regular season, but you'd like to see maybe a little bit more finish playing alongside Hurdle. I don't know if William Carlson is going to play in this round or not. I know he skated with the team yesterday. He skated before game six in the morning skate. So our morning skate is coming up here in about 90 minutes. So we'll see, you know, what's happening there. He did not take. He wasn't on a line yesterday, so I don't think he's playing in game one. But I would assume when he does return, you're not touching the top six. You know, you're going to mix him with Hurdle. That might, that might be what gets. Gets them going. Maybe they can move Hurdle to the wing, leave the defensive responsibilities to William, who, like, they take her.

[Ryan G]

Okay, so then who comes out?

[Gary Lawless]

It's.

[Ryan G]

It's Kolasar or Riley Smith. You're not touching the fourth line.

[Biz Nuge]

Riley Smith he wasn't as big of a factor. I thought Kolasar looked great. I would be okay seeing Riley Smith come out.

[Gary Lawless]

Yeah, Torch. Torch will make that decision, you know, I mean, that'll be. That's up to him. I don't.

[Biz Nuge]

Those are good problems to have boys,

[Gary Lawless]

you know what I mean? And, and Henderson, the American League team, they're still playing right now, but there's two guys there. Braden Bowman, who played a big chunk of the season here, lost his, lost his spot because Carter Hart came back and they needed the cap space. You know, I wouldn't be surprised to see if he figured factors in at some point in time. And I'm waiting to see Trevor Connelly. I might have to wait till next year. This kid is like, he matches up with that speed and skill and the, that and the youth that you have in Utah and Anaheim. Like he's going to be in the mix.

[Keith]

He'll be traded this summer.

[Biz Nuge]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.

[Gary Lawless]

I got a couple special.

[Biz Nuge]

I got a couple, a couple follow ups here and thanks for your time here. I love your loyalty to the goal.

[Keith]

Oh, it's unbelievable.

[Biz Nuge]

We need this homerism on our podcast.

[Gary Lawless]

I haven't been homer at all.

[Ryan G]

No, no, you said, you said that they, you thought that the other teams weren't faster than him, Gary.

[Gary Lawless]

Yeah, I don't think they were.

[Keith]

You said Vegas isn't cutthroat.

[Biz Nuge]

He's getting Bill Foley in the Pinky the brain spreadsheet.

[Gary Lawless]

I'm telling you right now. I know that Grenell is the henchman. If I get screwed on the, like the social media clip.

[Biz Nuge]

Oh, we're gonna screw you. You're getting it right in the hoop.

[Ryan G]

But if you win, you can really screw up. Oh, yeah, that's, that's.

[Gary Lawless]

No, I can't. I can't.

[Ryan G]

No. We'll make sure that we get screwed.

[Biz Nuge]

We're gonna hire Chetty's guys.

[Gary Lawless]

You're so funny, Whitney. We'll make sure we get screwed.

[Ryan G]

Have you seen me on the Internet from my own guys? They're getting me. Gary, don't worry.

[Keith]

We'll get.

[Ryan G]

We'll get us. We'll get each other.

[Gary Lawless]

Wait, I like, I don't know where you live, but a guy was like, I was gonna put it in APB for you. Last week, a guy wanted to send a therapist to your house.

[Ryan G]

Hey. Hey, Gary.

[Biz Nuge]

He's gone.

[Gary Lawless]

No one had a bigger mushroom in the history of professional sport than you did in the last two weeks, Gary.

[Ryan G]

The problem would be if I had that Week. And I didn't have the haters coming in droves in the thousands. That would be the problem. Okay. That would be the problem right there.

[Gary Lawless]

Fair enough. I got slaughtered by your legions last year. Like, like. And, like, I wake up every once in a while. I'll grab my phone, I'll throw it on Twitter. There's like four thumbs on my timeline. Some guy, you know, some guys called me. Some guys called me tubby already. Not tubby again. Like, mean people.

[Keith]

That's just me.

[Ryan G]

Mean, mean people on the old world Wide web. Gary Quack.

[Gary Lawless]

I had Golden Temple, by the way.

[Biz Nuge]

Of course, now you do. Of course you did. Of course.

[Gary Lawless]

So I, I, I, I, I followed all like, you know, all the real smart guys. And I, you know, I did an exact with the 8 and the 18. I did all this stuff. And then I, I worked for this, I do work for, for a sports app called Boomers. And they're having a derby party at this really cool casino just off the strip. So I go there and a bunch of my buddies come over. There's six of us sitting at a table. It's five minutes before post time. And I'm like, hey, let's all throw 10 bucks in and bet a long shot. And they're like, yeah, yeah, yeah. And they're like, who do we, who are we gonna take? So I'm looking at the board, I'm like, golden. Golden Knights, Golden Temple. Let's. So we put 60 bucks on the nose for the win on Golden Temple. We're sitting there, we're watching the race, and at the very end, like, this horse, like, I don't even Forget his number.

[Ryan G]

19, 19 Matthew Larry Robinson, please.

[Gary Lawless]

And thanks, Steve. Guys, all three are good. Gets the win. And one of the, one of the guy's wives looks at me and says, what horse is that? And I look, I look, I had it written down. 19 golden tempo. And we went bananas. We're the only table in the place where we're high fiving and hugging. We cashed 1447.

[Biz Nuge]

Beautiful boy.

[Gary Lawless]

Left, left, left. A big tip. Everybody, like, everybody took home like 200 bucks. It was really.

[Biz Nuge]

That'll get you a mickey at one of those day clubs in Vegas. On the way out, if Bill Foley called you three in the morning and he's, hey, we gotta, one of these guys in the locker room won't rave. Is no move clause. We gotta bury a body right now. Would you do it for him?

[Keith]

Yeah.

[Ryan G]

Oh, he's, he's, he's Joe Pesci. And Goodfellow is like cutting the hind legs off the human to bury. He said they're not cutthroat.

[Keith]

He's got a shovel in his car at all times.

[Gary Lawless]

The longtime mayor of Las Vegas, Oscar Goodman. He's in the movie, right?

[Ryan G]

He's.

[Gary Lawless]

I forget the character that Pesci plays. Look that up first, Mikey. He looks like I'm on the show. I'm telling Grinnell.

[Biz Nuge]

Yeah, exactly.

[Gary Lawless]

Stuff up. I got comfortable.

[Biz Nuge]

You'd be giving us that gold ticket money.

[Gary Lawless]

This guy gets. He has these dinners, and it's like, somebody took me. It's. But it's like they're like. It's a grand seat. You know what I mean? And someone invited me. I went to it. He tells the stories because he said to me, he goes. He said at the start, he goes, I don't have a filter. I don't have to keep any secrets. All the guys are either. They're. They're all dead. They're all gone. I'm the last one standing. So he. It is so much fun. Like, it's the stories behind.

[Biz Nuge]

They're all buried. T Mobile that are in casino.

[Gary Lawless]

I work for Bill Foley. So whatever. Whatever Bill. Whatever Bill asks.

[Biz Nuge]

And my last question. And we usually ask this for. For guests who represent teams. What is your X factor for the Golden Knights in order to win this series? And do you have.

[Ryan G]

I got one.

[Biz Nuge]

Why don't we let Wick go first, then, Gary, if you don't.

[Ryan G]

Well, it's not really an X factor, though, so I might have messed that up. But, Gary, tell me if you agree. If Eichel outplays Leo Carlson, this thing's done. That's it. That's it right there.

[Gary Lawless]

That will be a very important matchup in the series. I almost think the top sixes kind of cross one other out. And they got a good top six, right. You know, Kreider, Carlson, Terry coloring was fantastic in that series.

[Keith]

Yeah.

[Gary Lawless]

Calorie and Gramlin and Seneca. So I think they kind of match up. And then it's the bottom six. And the fourth line was the X factor for Vegas in round one. I'm gonna roll with them again if. If they can have another big series. And I love these guys. Like. Like, I got to. I got to. I got to hang with. With Doubter and. And TJ Oshi for a little bit during TJ did. Did a game in our series, so I got to watch those guys trip Tracy and watch your toes.

[Keith]

More names than.

[Gary Lawless]

Oh, sorry.

[Ryan G]

They were at a pool party, too.

[Gary Lawless]

You know what? I thought you guys would appreciate it because they're all Americans.

[Biz Nuge]

Listen, I get bullied. You should see us on the golf course. No wonder I can't even have a backswing. It's getting stabbed by hands.

[Gary Lawless]

Drop a little Shakespeare on on him. A two brute. That could be your line to to Yan's moving forward best.

[Biz Nuge]

I can't even speak English. I don't know what you just said, but keep going. Gary, what were you saying before?

[Gary Lawless]

I, I, I, I just like this fourth line.

[Biz Nuge]

I.

[G]

Okay.

[Gary Lawless]

I think it's special. I think it gives them a real identity. I also, you know, Rat Rasmus Anderson doesn't have. Doesn't have a goal yet. And he's been close. He's played a ton of minutes. He played like 34 minutes in the double overtime game. He likes playing that much. Shea Theodore is fine in his game. That's it. I'm going with Shay Theodore, former Duck. Former Duck. Getting some power play time now after not having to be on the number one unit all year, Shea Theodore is going to have a series.

[Biz Nuge]

Boys, how hard you think Liam Bluntman, right. Is right now after listening. Stroke that team off.

[Ryan G]

He said this morning on Wake Up Barstool, he would be shocked if Vegas doesn't beat the Ducks.

[Biz Nuge]

I was like, wow, six games. I'm rolling with you, Gary.

[Ryan G]

So would you be shocked? Biz would shock be the word you used if Ducks win this series, I would be shocked. Wow. Okay. You and bloody on the same page.

[Biz Nuge]

And I actually think that that bet that he told Dave to make was a smart one. I actually am like, I'm kind of seeing the light, Gary. It might be something that you and Bill and Pinky in the brain put my drink.

[Ryan G]

So that's you picking if Colorado and Vegas win, you're picking Vegas to beat Colorado. That's.

[Biz Nuge]

I think that that would be an epic series.

[Ryan G]

All right, we're ahead of ourselves.

[Biz Nuge]

We're ahead of ourselves, Gary.

[Ryan G]

Thank you.

[Gary Lawless]

Hold on, I got one. Do I have to go?

[Ryan G]

No, it's your podcast, Gary.

[Gary Lawless]

You.

[Ryan G]

You tell Grinelli to go get your soda at the pool party.

[Keith]

Betting lawless.

[Gary Lawless]

Witness.

[Merles]

What?

[Gary Lawless]

Like, what's this? I heard you this morning. Vegas was the worst team in the NHL for four months.

[Ryan G]

I said they were one of the worst teams in the NHL for four months. Gary.

[Biz Nuge]

I think they are under. Based on an underachievement.

[Ryan G]

They were perspective. They were brutal. No, I said one of one of. They were brutal.

[Gary Lawless]

Gary, let's not split hairs here.

[Biz Nuge]

I think if they're not in the worst division in hockey. They're not in playoffs.

[Ryan G]

I'll say that we're now going into that. That they weren't one of the worst teams in the league for four months. They fired their coach, Gary. That won him a Stanley Cup.

[Biz Nuge]

That.

[Gary Lawless]

Was that a cut? Was that a cutthroat move? Like, I don't get it. Which one. Which one is.

[Ryan G]

I actually don't consider that as cutthroat. I don't.

[Biz Nuge]

I don't do. That's why I asked him. I said, do you not feel like you deserved what I asked him on the panel?

[Gary Lawless]

Which I saw you asked him. I saw you ask him.

[Biz Nuge]

I would have.

[Gary Lawless]

Hey.

[Ryan G]

Hey.

[Biz Nuge]

These guys said they got a bunch of texts and tweets that I was sucking his. On the panel because I didn't go at him about how he. How he runs. He gets hard on players, does he not? Is that one of his.

[Gary Lawless]

I'll answer this because I can't be attached to the opening statement here. Grinnell can't put out a. A clip with.

[Biz Nuge]

That's literally. That what you said word for word, wasn't it? When? On the. On the. On the video.

[Ryan G]

Yeah. Oh, yeah.

[Biz Nuge]

Does that make you uncomfortable, Gary?

[Gary Lawless]

I thought you did a great job asking him that question. And the one breakdown he did of the power play.

[Biz Nuge]

Yeah. Like, it was about how you typically drop it, but then you. He just bypasses it.

[Gary Lawless]

Yeah.

[Ryan G]

Oh, Bruce Cassidy power play breakdown is. Is Viagra to Gary. I mean, this is what we're talking about here. This is a. This is a guy that brought a Stanley cup to Vegas. Gary will think of that power play breakdown on TNT at night when he can't sleep. Boys, that's Gary. Hey, Gary, I'll tell you, you bring the thunder on this show. I love having you on this show. I hope you never, ever stop coming on, because you're electric and you're opinionated, and you back up your opinions. You are a Vegas Golden Knights homer, and I respect the hell out of you for it, bud.

[Gary Lawless]

I don't. I don't agree with the homer part, but everything else is very good, because, listen, if you listen to us on our broadcasts, we keep it real. We don't. We never make a person.

[Ryan G]

Yeah, so does the ABs broadcast. They keep it real, too. All right, Gary. Thank you so much.

[Biz Nuge]

Gary's gonna have artwork in his house of that. That whiteboard that Butch wrote out. Picasso. We love you, Gary.

[Gary Lawless]

I've got a Stanley cup replica trophy. My wife keeps it in their garage. Or not. I'm not in charge of the art in this house at all.

[Biz Nuge]

Hey, we'll see you for. We'll see you next round for the breakdown.

[Gary Lawless]

It would be great. I'd love to be here. Thanks, guys.

[Ryan G]

All right, boys. I love Gary. I mean, people sending him. People sending them thumb emojis. That's dirty, Keith. That's dirty. But, guys, we got Merle's coming on. Merles is a happy man today. I think he's a happy man. He's lucky that game one was last night. But before we get to him, we gotta talk Noble Biz. I got an amazing Noble sweatshirt sent to me. Forget the I got 15 pairs of shoes set. They're incredible. The sweatshirt I wore to Base Riders baseball game yesterday, I got a bunch of compliments. It's that sweatshirt. It's that in a sweatshirt. This episode is brought to you by Noble, Barstool's favorite footwear brand. And they don't just have sneakers, let me tell you. Noble is a brand known for their best in class footwear. And they're everywhere right now. Walking around city to city, at the airport, grabbing coffee wherever I go. They've got so many great styles and colors. We've been loving their daily runner the journey, too. That's what I walk in now. So I do my power walking in. This is Noble's daily running shoe, or walking, if you're like me, with an emphasis on comfort, support and dependability. Software you want structured where you need take it outside. You can run or walk the journey to are made to move your way Biz. Describe those things, and I'm going to give you two sentences.

[Biz Nuge]

These. These running shoes are incredible. It's like you're walking on a cloud. I actually tested these out when they came, and we did two video projects that will be coming out soon. Love their gear. Very lightweight, breathable, incredible. And then these. To me, the journey twos, in my opinion, are the best shoe they've ever came out with. They come in, like, I think, like, 10 different colorways. I've asked them to send every colorway to my house. They knocked it out of the park with these bad boys. And the structure of the shoe, like, look at how thick that is. And another thing too, is it locks in your heel. Like, you know, sometimes you get shoes and your heel kind of comes up and down. It locks it in. Probably the comfiest runners I've ever worn in my life.

[Ryan G]

I know you may think out there listening, like, I'm. I'm doing an ad Read. Which I am. They are. That shoe is the most comfortable shoe I've ever put on. Like it for somebody with feet like me, with bones sticking out of the bottom. Just disaster. It's the Noble journey, too. Exclusively for spitting chickens. Listeners, Noble is offering 35 off your first order. Visit www.nobullproject.com. use code CHICKLETS for 35 off your first order. N O B U L-L-P R O J E-C-T.com. use code C-I C L-E T S 35 off. The official training shoe of the NHL. Where is the merman? The mer. Where is he?

[Biz Nuge]

Oh, and witness protection.

[Ryan G]

Oh, not anymore. Go ahead.

[Merles]

Before we get to the Avalanche in the wild, I gotta talk some Vegas with you guys because Gary, like, you guys need to get one of the game notes. Deranged fans. Disclaimers for him.

[Ryan G]

Thank you.

[Merles]

He's out of his mind. And then, like, he's really, like, sticking to, like, what do you call it when you, you know, like, you're in the mob? You don't give out the secrets.

[Ryan G]

Oh, he is.

[Keith]

Silence.

[Biz Nuge]

Sworn to secrecy.

[Merles]

Yeah, like, oh, I don't know if William Carlson's gonna play in this series. Are you out of your mind? Gary? Like, he's definitely playing in this series, and when he gets the morning skate today, who knows what will happen? But. But he is just absolute.

[Biz Nuge]

You think he's gonna play in the next couple games?

[Merles]

I. I expect. He's a Swede, man. He's a Viking. He's gonna get back in there as soon as he can.

[Ryan G]

He's had a no contact jersey on too, like, so it's almost.

[Biz Nuge]

Listen, if Gary says he's not playing this round and he plays by game two, we have to, like, suspend Gary for.

[Ryan G]

He didn't say. He's not. He didn't say that, did he? Said. He said, I don't know if he's playing this round, but Merck, when he said it, my spidey sense went off. This guy, the thumb. The legend of Gary Lawless. He knows his plan. But Bill Foley was on the other side of the computer screen with a rifle point.

[Biz Nuge]

No, he wasn't. He had his hand up his ass. He was like a puppet.

[Ryan G]

Gary. Just Gary, though. I don't know if you missed the beginning, like, him. Him, like, trying. I'm not in this Instagram Internet world, and I can't imagine a guy like that being like. Like, what is happening to me after fake after Oilers beat them last year. But Murray you were down because Minnesota, they took care of Dallas. You, you, you called them the frauds. They get out of the first round first time in, what was it, 11 years. They look great doing it. The scary part is in game six, Eric Sinek goes out, he crashes into the boards. Just fell on his own. And I'm like, oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. They cannot afford to lose him. He comes back, they close him out, you're down. And then we get game one. We're gonna kind of have to go over both. No Eric Sinek, no bro Dean. That spells disaster for the series if they're both out long term for the Wild.

[Merles]

Yeah. So first, like, I, I know there's a lot more listeners on here than have my Twitter where I made my apology video. I, I don't know if everybody understood it.

[Ryan G]

That was a sad video. Like Gilmore, I was like, oh my God, he's down.

[Merles]

And I tried to put on like,

[Biz Nuge]

can we play it?

[Merles]

Yeah, he had a great video shirt on in the video and a half backwards. I tried to look like him as best I could. And if, if they pull it up, you'll see. But I say, you know, you're good looking, I'm bad looking. Everybody knows that, that quote. But yeah, I, I apologize to the Minnesota fans. They were right, I was wrong, but all my decisions are always calculated. RPI guy here, wit. I knew who was coming in the second round. I knew I was going to get a redemption. And here we are.

[Ryan G]

Okay, now I'll go into game one and, and say that the group chat was probably one of the funniest nights we've had. I thought, because that was. Whoever first said we had to have some sort of Oilers hockey in the playoffs with them gone made me laugh. That was crack hockey. That was. I don't, I don't even. That was beyond crack. Whatever. Whatever's beyond crack because I've never seen two teams play less defense. At one point, there was a 2 on 0 goal for the Wild, shorthanded by Foligno, who I think didn't score for 50 games this year. And he looked like he had 50 on that move. But the why the Wild coming back down from down three zero, taking the lead. All of a sudden it's five. Five. And losing that game, that to me is like, oh, no, man. If they couldn't get that one, if they couldn't pull their goalie at some point in that game, which is the one question I have, like, how does, how does Walstett not get the hook in that game. But Makar, who leaves on the one of the funniest looking hits I've ever seen. His foot was above the glass after Felino ran him over. He leaves, then comes back, looks like he's completely mangled. Doing his little test spin. Then we get a video of him rubbing something on his hip where everyone thought it was the ankle. Well, no, it's probably the hip. But then he just dominated moving forward. And while Quinn Hughes was probably the best player on the ice, maybe right there, the Wild still got trucked. Nine, six. I don't know. Who wants to take it Biz. You were on the broadcast. What'd you see?

[Biz Nuge]

Yeah, I was more frustrated with Colorado just having a 3 nothing lead, all that rest, game in hand, and then just making some bonehead mistakes. Like the one the neutral zone face off, where. How do you say that? The defenseman, number 37's last name.

[Ryan G]

No, it's. What is it Bert Clattenberg?

[Biz Nuge]

No.

[Ryan G]

Is it.

[Biz Nuge]

Is it Gatlinburg? That's where I went hiking.

[Ryan G]

What a goal. Connor Clattenberg. No, no, no, no. I'm thinking of someone else. Nick Lackenburg.

[Merles]

Mini Mini Makar.

[Ryan G]

So what a goal.

[Biz Nuge]

Well, what a goal he scored, but then on the ensuing face off in the neutral zone, like a few minutes later, he just loses coverage to like make it another one goal game. So, like just some of the bonehead mistakes they were making when they basically had the game in hand against a tired team coming in who were riding high off of emotions following a series win against Dallas, that's where my mind was. And then of course, the two on ogle goal when they were on the power play. So just a crazy game overall. Now you said Quinn Hughes was the best player on the ice. I would argue the fact that, like, considering McCarr got injured and then came back and then scored two goals and had an assist, I was pretty impressed with him. And that was one of the storylines coming in where we're gonna see the two best defensemen on the planet going head to head. So I was a little nervous early on after he did the splits over Marcus Foligno's heads there. And then he goes down the tunnel having only played a minute and a half right. He was going full Cirque du Soleil mode on him.

[Ryan G]

I was rattled. I was like, no, no, no, he cannot be out. Like this series needs both of them. No.

[Biz Nuge]

Yeah, well, so that. That to me is why things came unraveled a bit and bones touched on it all of a sudden. When McCarr went down the tunnel, they were down to 5D. Blackenberg was one of them. So you had every guy, every D man going out there like whatever it was, and then playing their offside. In some situations, like Brent Burns typically, I think plays the right side. He was playing left side on one of the goals, like missed his Guy Hartman net front coverage. So it was a bit of a gong show. But once McCarr finally came back, I thought that they settled in a lot better. And then of course, it was the Makar show. I mean, two goals, what, how dynamic he is on the blue line and enjoying the rush and doing what he does. Not taking anything away from Quinn Hughes, because he was tremendous too. We saw both of the top world class defensemen fully on display. But I do think when McCarr is at the top of his game, he's in a level on his own. I don't know if. I don't know if we all agree on that, but. Incredible.

[Ryan G]

Starting to change my stance where like they're both pretty even to me when they're at the top of their game. I think, yeah, maybe I'm giving like 0.3% to Makara, but what I'm seeing from Quinn Hughes, it's incredible. Now I will say this. It did look like he kind of got out of the way of that shot.

[Biz Nuge]

That's what I'm saying. Little things like net front and defensively, way more of an edge to Makar.

[Ryan G]

Okay, Fair, fair.

[Biz Nuge]

Not saying he doesn't get like Quinn Hughes doesn't gap properly or, or surf properly. An angle always has stick in the right place. Like, I'm not saying he's a liability defensively. I just think when you're talking about in some cases where you have to out muscle or box a guy out net front or maybe willing to sacrifices. But then again, if I have Quinn Hughes in my lineup, I'm saying I want you to be Keith Yandel. I want you getting the four out of the way if the puck's coming through, right, Yance?

[Keith]

Yeah. 100. And you even saw a couple like dump ins too. He kind of hesitated going back, but he's also playing so much like he's on the ice every other shift. Like, you can't expect him to do everything. And that's when you're gonna miss a guy like Brodine. Like, is. Is there a timeline on him, Merle?

[Merles]

No, I haven't heard anything on him.

[Ryan G]

And here's the thing about Brodine being out. I love Jake Middleton, man. We've had him on incredible interview just like, like just a hockey guy, man. Like, but he's all of a sudden playing a lot more and you saw on the jury goal, right? He, he kind of, I think he went for the high flip out of the zone and whiffs on that one. And then what was the other one?

[Biz Nuge]

He made the other one in the corner just turned it over like I think he just like he got it stripped. The guy got position on him and basically took it away from him like

[Ryan G]

two just playing a little bit too much now with Rodino. Brody skates like the win like that. This, this, this matchup without Brodine and, and Eric Sinek. I, I, man I love this wild team. I'm happy for their fans. I want a great series. They need those two guys and I, it sounds like Eric Sinek could play game three based on him coming back in game seven. It, I was, I was kind of surprised he wasn't in the lineup here,

[Biz Nuge]

but that's why I was nervous. I was nervous from a car. I thought Macar's was looked like when he hit the glass. Maybe his ankle went a certain way where you're like oh no. High ankle sprain. That would be my guess for Eric Sinek the way that he crashed into the wall and when your blade catches on the yellow. But you know he finished that game just like McCarthy. Sometimes when the game's over you take off the boot, then you're in one for the next couple weeks. Like that's the worst part about a potential high ankle sprain. Boys, I'm going to be honest. I, I was going to pick Minnesota in seven games in the series and then when I found out Eric Sinek was out and then it's looking like Brody might be done for at least half the series. I don't think there's a chicken dicks chance that, that, that Minnesota could win this without those two guys in their lineup.

[Merles]

Yeah, Minnesota Wild are 1 in 7 without Eric Sinek in the playoffs. Fun stat for you guys.

[Keith]

And also I think that Josh Manson being out too for call. I mean I know they won last game, but you give up a six piece, him being out hurts them. Like just kind of see settling everything down. I, I, I don't know what his timeline is, but he's another guy that like you need him on your team if you're going to go far, you need him in the lineup if you're gonna, you know, make it to the Stanley cup finals to beat a team like Minnesota. So who know. Hopefully he's back soon because he. He's a. He's a fun guy to watch, especially during playoffs.

[Biz Nuge]

And you talk going back to. To Eric S all of a sudden, like, Big sexy has to play more minutes where normally he's that fourth line center. So everybody's playing a little bit out of position right now for. For Minnesota and. Oh, man. Yeah. Manson's tough loss too. Is Manson listed to come back anytime soon?

[Ryan G]

I haven't seen anything. We just. And if we talk to any of the insiders, they're going to Gary Lawless us. They're not going to give us any answers.

[Biz Nuge]

Would you guys. I asked Bones a similar question. Did. Do you think that you break up Faber and Hughes if you have no bro Dean, in order to just kind of help help out the situation defensively?

[Ryan G]

No doubt. And. And I think Spurgeon's so solid. Right. So I feel like they're like, all right, our captain, he'll play with Middleton, but I would say Faber and Quinn are obviously better than Spurgeon.

[Gary Lawless]

Right.

[Ryan G]

So you'd rather have one of them. I think you put favor with Middleton, have Hughes with Spurgeon. Right. And. And I think Faber could calm it down a little bit. Now I do want to bring up two of the sickest goals we've seen in the playoffs. That McKinnon pass off the pads to himself. Biz, that is like. That is for you.

[Biz Nuge]

I was cranking it last night.

[Ryan G]

Yeah, for sure. I knew you were pass off the pads to yourself. Like, even you couldn't have imagined that. And then just how does he know Lekkan is there? And by the way, he's not throwing that thing blind. He knows somehow. Quick shoulder check, peripheral vision, incredible pass to Lekonen. But that Tarasenko Forsberg move guy draped all over him, that was like the. The entertainment factor of that game was nuts. It had to drive the coaches insane. But Mer, at what point in the game were you like, why is Wallstead still in this game?

[Merles]

I. I thought your only chance to do it was at the three. Nothing.

[Biz Nuge]

Yeah.

[Merles]

Once it was. It's a game. It's. It's hard to take them out when it's. It's 3, 3, 4, 4, 5. You're up 5 4. Everybody forgets they were up 5, 4 after that shorty and then Makara.

[Ryan G]

Yeah.

[Merles]

And then maybe I. I would. That's why I wanted Biz to ask. Ask like a real coach. Like maybe at that intermission you can do something too. I wouldn't have Been surprised if either team changed their goalies.

[Ryan G]

Well, at this point, I asked Biz, do you see Colorado making a change? No chance. Hasn't lost yet. So how are you gonna do that? I would guess Gustafson's. Gustafson's playing the next game. Would you guys agree with that?

[Merles]

Yeah, I think it's a perfect spot because if you do lose it. Does it. I mean, it matters. But that's the perfect game. He loses, you go back home. There you go, the wall of St. Paul. He's back for the rest of the series.

[G]

And then.

[Merles]

And then. And then you go with him. It's the perfect game to give him a game off.

[Keith]

I know. I mean, you guys even talked about on the panel last night, like, that wasn't real hockey. It's October hockey. I hope every game is like that. Sam was such a joy to watch. It was so fun. Imagine not being like the biggest hockey fan watching that Montreal Tampa game and then switching on that game. You'd be like, what the. This is the same league. So I hope every game is like this. I doubt it's going to happen because, you know, both teams are well coached. But if every game's like that, I will be the happiest guy on the planet.

[Ryan G]

So you would rather that late, like later in this series, say it's a. A closeout game over, like an unreal battle. 00 go.

[Biz Nuge]

I would have rather games. I would rather game six of Montreal, Tampa in Montreal than that 00. But that 00 game was like.

[Ryan G]

That's what I'm kind of saying that as entertaining as that was, if we're getting to the end of the series, I think I'm looking for just, I would say better game. Although some people say I'm crazy that that was so fun to watch and that would be their idea of a great game.

[Keith]

Yeah, I think that 00 game, you got both from both teams. Like the game 7 was kind of mostly Tampa Bay. So I would.

[Biz Nuge]

No, I don't know.

[Keith]

I'd rather 6, 5. I'd rather every game with 10 goals at least.

[Biz Nuge]

I just found it frustrating, I guess, knowing if you're not a hockey fan and you're unaware of what's going on, I just found it frustrating where I'm like, man, these are two teams that could potentially win a Stanley cup, that are making mistakes that I even like might's not even make right. Face off responsibility.

[Ryan G]

Caprisov on the one Face off play. Where was he going?

[Biz Nuge]

Where was he going? Going. McCarr is your D, man. He's walking down Broadway. And it was the same thing for him on the.

[Gary Lawless]

The.

[Biz Nuge]

The. I think it was goal one. It was goal one. When Natures ended up finding McKinnon back door, right.

[Ryan G]

That was Milinsky's. Was.

[Biz Nuge]

Excuse me.

[Keith]

Yeah. A lot of. A lot of brain.

[Ryan G]

Even the.

[Keith]

Yeah. Nate dog, like, kind of, like, gave up on one of the back checks. It was a lot of brain farts in that game.

[Biz Nuge]

I was gonna ask you guys about that. So they get the zone entry, and it's McCarr going through on the zone entry. And he bumps it back to Landiscog. Landiscog kind of leaves a shit Sandwich bank because McKee puts it on McKinnon's backhand and kind of jams him up. But should it not be nature as that weak side, essentially the defenseman in that situation? Because McCarr blew through. Like, should Nate just not be the safety valve, weak side to then just, like, curl up and, like, be.

[Ryan G]

I think Nate thought there was a safety valve, and then by the time he realized there wasn't, he started going. But at the beginning, it looked like he's, like, he was gonna change.

[Biz Nuge]

But nature is on the far side, not doing anything and not involved on that zone entry, and they don't have possession yet. I thought that Nate just should have been the one, like, covering for him. That might be because I'm like a. Like a life. I'm a Nate dog lifer, and there's no. He can do no wrong. In my eyes, I'm like, go, Gary Lawless when you talk about the dog. But. But yeah, that was a. That was a cluster of a game. And just. I don't know who coined it, but that's crack hockey, baby.

[Ryan G]

Crack hockey. Crack.

[Merles]

It was. It was actually beyond crack hockey. What I was saying. It got closer to meth hockey. But whit was talking about 2022 when the Avalanche and Oilers opened up with crack hockey.

[Ryan G]

Game one.

[Merles]

I was there eight, six. So I. I did some digging, did some stats for you guys. The next game, The Avalanche won four. Nothing. Game three. Avalanche one, four, two. And then game four went back to crack hockey. Avalanche, 165. So if you're expecting it.

[Keith]

So we got some crack. Continued it.

[Merles]

It may continue a little bit.

[Ryan G]

Murray, let me ask you a question. You had the abs. That was your. That was your RPI brain. No matter what, they got the AVEs. Next.

[Gary Lawless]

Next.

[Ryan G]

If Erickson, Ek and Brodine were playing, would you still be like, yeah, no chance. Abs Dust them. No chance Fraud squad or after that Dallas series are you like okay, I, I, I was wrong. You were right.

[Merles]

No, you know, I, I, I saw how good Minnesota was during that series but I had, I, I drew my line in the sand as they say. I, I couldn't go back on it. But yeah, they're awesome. They're fast. They were so much faster than Dallas Erickson, Ek Brodine. I would have guessed it would have been a seven game series but without them it's, it's ABs and five who

[Keith]

is a bigger upset losing first round Dallas or Edmonton. And I know Minnesota is a better team than oh, Edmonton.

[Merles]

I, I think Edmonton just because how bad Anaheim was at the end of the season. That's why everybody giving wit a hard

[Ryan G]

I still don't get it.

[Merles]

They were I think 2 and 10 down the street.

[Ryan G]

I wouldn't have said any of those ridiculous, stupid, dumb comments. I said how they, they weren't so pathetic at the, there was a chance at one point they were going to miss the playoffs and then all of a sudden they, they, they start the series first game McDavid can't do anything. I'm like, okay, I, I missed the boat on this one. Quack. All right, well I, I, I, I really hope, I really hope that Eric Sinek and Brodine are back in Game 3. Don't know.

[Biz Nuge]

But I'm just going to, if I could just go touch on Dallas. I think that that is a, like a, a prime example of why the deadline matters so much too. They picked up Bunting and they picked up Myers and you know, Bunting was basically a what a healthy scratch till

[Ryan G]

it was Myers in game six and

[Biz Nuge]

then well yeah, Bunting till I think game five he got inserted and then Myers just like had a very forgettable series. Right. And look at the impact that big sexy made for, for Minnesota. I got two big goals there and yeah, yeah, what's that?

[Keith]

A guy like dawed as well.

[Biz Nuge]

That's what I'm saying. And like you look at what yeah, like you, oh wow. That, that trade, like they gave up a goalie prospect a second and a third. Like that's a lot. But like they obviously looked at what they were getting and they've, they studied it and it ended up panning out. Right. So sometimes cutthroat though not cutthroat. So deadline matters. And I thought that the movement moves that Minnesota made paid off for them and the moves that Dallas did, didn't but ultimately no Rupe hints was a, was a huge and the, the one thing too is, is Bluntman said is he goes, they were never a contender. I guess if you were looking at it, if you're saying before the series started, no Rupe hints, no second, like, is that a contending team on paper? Okay, his opinion makes sense in that regard. But I think if you finish second place in that division and in top five overall in the league, you deserve to be labeled a contender. When you have goaltending, you have a lot of skilled superstar players on your team. So I don't know where Dallas goes from here. I think that maybe we've seen the end of Jamie Ben in a Dallas Stars uniform.

[Ryan G]

That was a tough.

[Keith]

Really?

[Ryan G]

That was a tough.

[Biz Nuge]

I mean, buddy, what are you going to do? Like, he was not. He's not good like you. He's not good.

[Ryan G]

He's gotten older.

[Ryan Whitney]

Penalties.

[Ryan G]

I'm way more curious about the Robertson situation and I don't. They're either going to trade him or they're going to sign him. And.

[Keith]

But he proved himself.

[Ryan G]

He was incredible all year. Then he scores in the playoffs. Like, I don't really get the, the, the storyline for a long time now is like, oh, he's on the market. He couldn't get Trick. It's like, why don't you sign that guy? I. What are we missing here?

[Biz Nuge]

Well, but by not doing that, they've cost themselves a lot of money and some space. Like, he's making 12 million if you want him now. Like, who he's. He's like, I think Alex Tuck ends up back in Buffalo. There's nobody even close to Jason Robertson when it comes to wingers as far as free agents.

[Keith]

Like, maybe he would have taken a discount, maybe he would have taken a discount too before, but they haven't signed him. Now he's like that. I'm getting as much body as I can.

[Biz Nuge]

People keep saying rfa. Rfa.

[Ryan G]

No, I know.

[Biz Nuge]

He's saying, you pay me.

[G]

They don't have a ton of cap space this summer either. They only have 11 million cap space.

[Biz Nuge]

Somebody is gonna desperately want to pay him. And. Yeah, and there's a lot.

[Ryan G]

I mean, we haven't even brought up the, the, the elephant in the room. Glassbang guy shows up to Minnesota, doesn't even get a front row seat. Second row. You can't be Glassbang guy if you're in the second row and then they lose. Like you want to blame anyone. You talk hints, injury, you talk Jamie Ben, bad series. Glass bang guy buying a seat in the second row in Minnesota. That was the end.

[Merles]

That was hard in on my take from that. No pun intended there. But like I should get pardoned.

[Biz Nuge]

And it sucks because we are robbed of Natalie, the one with the massive, massive jugs. She had tickets behind Dallas's bench for game seven if it would have went back to Dallas. So we missed out on that.

[Ryan G]

That might be one you dig on. You don't dig usually. You dig on that one though.

[Biz Nuge]

I got a few texts. I got. Okay, okay, I did. I got the inside information on that one. And as far as the game ops in Minnesota, they put him on the Jumbotron. They did that and smart and Minnesota scored a minute later and then that was the series. It was. They never looked back from there.

[Ryan G]

So yeah, if you're not sitting on the glass, you can't be Glassbank guy. That, that's as simple as, as anything we've ever heard on this show.

[Biz Nuge]

We didn't really get a chance though when we broke down Vegas with Gary to pump Anaheim's tires at all in preparation for, for that series.

[Ryan G]

You're right, you're right.

[Biz Nuge]

We have to double risk the Anaheim Ducks and what they got 100.

[Ryan G]

I just, I, I can't believe Jackson Lacombe. I said I don't know if it was a video or something. I did. That's the best defenseman in the next series too. And, and Shay Theodore is awesome. Rasmus Anderson, talk all you want about these guys. What I just witnessed was one of the most dominating series by a defenseman I've ever seen. He had nine points, boys. He shut down McDavid while injured. Doesn't matter. The guy skates like the wind. He's a tank. He buried Hyman. I don't know what game was that game one or two. A cold shoulder that was straight out of Peter Forsberg playbook. The guy can play the entire game. He runs their power play. He plays all situations. It's the Chris Pronger definition of a number one defenseman. And then you get Gaultier scoring Troy Terry. Boys, I want to make this clear. When we were laughing and having a great time with his no hit season. That's not chirping. I had a couple Ducks fans you go to. No, no, no. This guy is so smart. He's so good with the puck. He doesn't need to hit. He does not need to hit it now. Another person reached out and they said that was the least physical series of the first round. That was. All right, well, you want to say that. Is Vegas going to, going to rough him up and is he going to have to be more physical? I don't think that guy has to be. Him not hitting just proves how smart of a player he is. And he could score. And then Leo Carlson. It's the Leo Carlson effect for me that I'm watching games and I see this 65 giant flying through the neutral zone, dominating every shift. He's out there where. Yeah, you have Jack Eichel. Can Jack Eichel neutralize him? That was my thing. If Jack Eichel outplays him, it's over. Vegas wins. But I don't think that's like a guarantee. That's my thing. Leo Carson, now, they're ahead of schedule, boys.

[Keith]

But I think what, what Gary was saying about Jack, like, he did it at the Olympics. He just did it to the first line of Utah. Like, is there a line that he can't shut down? Like, he's so good defensively and also offensive. Like, if he really just focuses on playing D and doing a good job against that line, I don't think there's a line in the NHL that can, that can do anything against them.

[Biz Nuge]

I think that happens more than people realize is sometimes those top lines, because they're so good and good at playing both ways, that they kind of neutralize one another.

[Keith]

Right.

[Biz Nuge]

Like, look at, look at Montreal. Like, I'm not saying that Suzuki and those guys in Caulfield and Sloth had a horrendous series, but they were definitely neutralized and in some cases did a pretty good job against Cooch as well. Right. I'm not. So it kind of goes both ways, but it's. Yeah, it's unreal how Jack can, can do it both ways. And that's what makes him probably, what, top, top five center in the world?

[Keith]

Yeah, for sure.

[Biz Nuge]

Five.

[Ryan G]

I, I, I, I do. Gary, a lot of love for the Vegas fourth line. I'm biased. What I just witnessed. Have you ever seen Leon Drysel get hit like that in game six?

[Keith]

That was crazy.

[Ryan G]

He ran him over and he. They were running McDavid and one of them, once again, he's a defenseman. Ian Moore, who played at Harvard. And then you got washy and then you got Vial. I like their fourth line better. And maybe I'm just going against the thumb right now. Maybe I just can't handle the thumb's cockiness in his attitude and his confidence, you know? Good for you, thumb. Good for you, Gary. But I just witnessed the fourth line basically dominate a series against the Oilers.

[Biz Nuge]

So going back to Lacombe 66 minutes. He played 5 on 5 against Connor McDavid in that series. And I know Conor wasn't healthy, like fully healthy, and who was this D partner like in 60, 65 on five minutes against that line.

[Keith]

But even if he's not, even if he's not healthy, McDavid, like, it's still a good confidence boost for Lacombe. You're still shutting down one of the best players to ever lace up the CCMs in the history of the game. So I think you're gonna gotta expect more. Another guy too, on that team. Paling. He had, I think he had four goals that series. Like, big body guy skates well. Remember when he came in the league, I think he had a hat trick his first game in the league in Montreal and then kind of dipped a little bit. But now he's one of those guys, you look at him, he's kind of built for playoffs. If he can continue on that third line, this is going to be a hell of a series. And I think Gary. Gary's in for a little bit of a surprise.

[Biz Nuge]

I don't. I think if those stall plays the same as he did in the first series. 5.

[Merles]

Yeah, that's what I was gonna say. Dostelle's got to be back to how he. How he can play, how he played for check, how he played the start of the year. But the best thing was this lacomb. I saw an interview after the game with him and it reminded me of when I was, I think, 18 years old, coming on campus for the first time and you'd meet a senior and he had this big giant neck and like this big head and you're like, whoa. These guys are different because you don't see that anymore. These NHL guys, they're all so little and frail because there's no hitting skater on. This guy is just. He's a man. And, and he, he was awesome. I know Connor was hurt, but he was awesome. The Duck speed is going to give Vegas some trouble. Utah speed gave him some trouble and the Ducks are better than them. So I, I think it's going to be Vegas in seven games. And just because the Vegas veteran leadership and Eiko will wear him.

[Biz Nuge]

You just mentioned lacombe. Is he from Minnesota?

[Ryan G]

Yes.

[Gary Lawless]

Yep.

[Biz Nuge]

So I got a text from Jeremy Clark. He was a guy who, one of our trainers in la, he still works for the Kings. And he, he texted me, he goes, just saw your clip on Jackson. The comb kid is in my gym. Last summer he'd get ID'd for milk. Looks 11, but strong. Sneaky. Doesn't make sense. Strong. He hasn't. Hasn't had a tilt yet, but he wants one, I guess. He's just an absolute freak in the gym. Like, just like it. Like, inhumane strength.

[Merles]

You remember the guy at Penn State there? The football player with a big neck?

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Ryan G]

Who was with us in the box. What was his name? Giants. Right?

[Merles]

Right.

[Biz Nuge]

Yeah.

[Ryan G]

Abdul Carter.

[Merles]

Yeah. That's what it. Kind of. When I first saw.

[Ryan G]

Right.

[Merles]

We had this big neck.

[Ryan G]

I was like, oh, man.

[Biz Nuge]

Did he get busted for tugging off in class, or is that a joke?

[Ryan G]

I think that was a rumor. I think that was. I don't think that was true. And I don't even think it was class.

[Keith]

It was a meeting.

[Ryan G]

Team meeting. And then I don't even think it was true.

[Biz Nuge]

So that's a tough rumor.

[Ryan G]

Yeah. A tough, tough, tough rumor. Yeah. Shout out, Anaheim. I have. See, like, I. I think Vegas is gonna win, but I don't care. I'm picking the Ducks. I'm picking the Ducks. I was also a Duck, boys. Don't forget. I was an Anaheim Duck. I'm going the Ducks in seven. Biz, you got Vegas.

[Biz Nuge]

I got Vegas in six.

[Keith]

I. I got Ducks in seven.

[Ryan G]

Okay? And then I'm going Colorado in six. I don't. I think we. Did we make all those?

[Keith]

No, I got. I got Colorado in five.

[Biz Nuge]

I'll say. I'll say Colorado in six. Now, the injury reports. Brutal. That they can't win without Ericssonk. Simple as that. Ambrody, you got five.

[Ryan G]

Five. Yeah. He's sticking. He's made his line in the sand, folks. Going to the East. The Bruins done. And.

[Gary Lawless]

And.

[Ryan G]

And let's be honest here. Even with my moment, my disastrous moment with this sword, it couldn't even stop the Sabers. The Bruins, not even close without Jeremy Swayman. I mean, if you look at those two teams, the Sabers are so much better. They had a performance by Swayman that was just unreal in so many of the games. But nothing was stopping the Sabers against the Bruins. And I. I do want to show the one picture from the third goal in game six in Boston. I sent the picture. Josh Stone got this puck. He beat McAvoy and Pasta. Big time miscommunication on who's going. Who's going to the net. Front and Doane right there. If you could see that picture. McAvoy's holding back. Looks like they both have a step on him, or at least McAvoy does. He gets there, takes an enormous, I think elbow to the head and dishes it in front to Benson. Three 1. Curtains for the Bruins. The Sabers boys. I thought that thing was going seven. I was almost certain it was going seven based on the Bruins effort in game four at home. They didn't, they didn't do anything else in this game. G. Your team, I don't know where they go. I saw you say you're very happy with their season. Yeah, I wouldn't argue that. Expectations super low and they make the playoffs. They get to game six. But not even close to the Sabers level. No, no.

[G]

I think the Buffalo Sabers were clearly the better team in this series. But the reason I'm excited is because the Bruins have typically struggled with developing young talent. Frazier Mitten is that guy like he. I had the chance to meet him the past.

[Ryan G]

What do you mean by that guy?

[G]

I think he can be that number one or two center that they've lacked for years. This was his rookie season and look what he did. He was a difference maker for majority of the regular season. What usually happens to rookies at the end of their rookie season? They run out of steam. I'm not surprised by it, but this kid is so mature on the ice and mature off the ice. I've had a chance to talk to a few of his teammates. They're so high on this kid. You got Marat Kuznadinov. I love this kid. I think he can be a rat. I think he's a part of the core moving forward. You have a coach like Marco Sturm took this team. Let's let me remind everyone going into the season they had the fourth worst odds to win the Stanley Cup. They were a lottery team. Everyone expected them to be a lottery team. And Marco Sturm came in and put on a coaching performance for the ages this season and brought the Bruins back to the playoffs. So I'm. What's crazy too is the draft lottery tomorrow has such an impact on the Bruins future. If it goes. If the Toronto Maple Leafs get the fifth round, the fifth overall pick. The Bruins don't have that early round pick and it gets pushed to next season you can get. Look what Porter Martone just did for the Philadelphia Fires. They got him what, 6 overall. So if you can get a difference maker like Porter Martone in this year's draft, the Bruins future is so, so much brighter. But as for the series, like you said, Buffalo was just a better team. I, I like you kind of said on on Wake Up Barstool this morning. I knew Going into this series like the Bruins weren't going to win. It's just you have that delusional fan in the back of your head saying they're going to do it, they're going to do it. So I'm really not too mad and I think a lot of Bruins fans feel the same way with me. This team is, the future is bright. And James Higgins, I'm, I'm very excited for what he's going to bring.

[Keith]

Had zero points.

[Merles]

Yeah, yeah.

[G]

But I still loved what I saw from him. I, I again, yeah, like he ran out of steam in the playoffs, like, but all season I think, I think Minton was great. Marat didn't have any points either and I thought he was awesome as well.

[Merles]

Gee, what about the closing comments from Pasta though? He's not getting any younger. What do you say? He's 30 years old

[G]

listening. I hope that was my one thought process was Don Sweeney better be listening because this guy, like he ran out of steam at the end of the season too. Like he, you can only carry a team so far. Like this guy is incredible and he's been incredible for the past three seasons. He's carried this team. So what they need to do this summer, they need to address the top six.

[Ryan G]

You need scoring, buddy, you need scoring.

[G]

You have to get some high end skill, whether that's, you know, a big trade or you know, someone comes up from the system. But you need to address the top six and you need a right handed defenseman. You need a top four defenseman because the D right now, it's not good enough. Unfortunately. It's not good enough. You signed Hampus Lindholm to be a 1A defenseman. He is, he's a 3C defenseman right now. Like this guy. I'm not a big Hampus Lindholm guy. You talked about that play with Josh Stone there. Hampus Lindholm should have been back checking. He could have picked up Zach Benson in front of the net, but he didn't, he wasn't back checking.

[Biz Nuge]

So I think with how good the Atlantic is in the East, I would bet that they don't make playoffs next year.

[Ryan G]

Yeah, I feel like they're coming.

[G]

I'll take that bet. I'll take that bet with you, Biz.

[Biz Nuge]

Yeah, well, I don't think that's a

[G]

crazy statement to make. I definitely don't think it's.

[Biz Nuge]

No, I think, yeah, I think, I think they overachieved this year. It was a great year. Like good for Sturm. To come in there and re establish the culture. And I think that Swayman, not dealing with the contract coming in, got his mind right. And you know, they rode good goaltending the whole year.

[G]

Yeah, I think you're spot on. I think the schedule played into like the Bruin style of play. Like you're playing three, four games a week and you have Marcus Stellic starting against you, throwing the pucking deep. It's like you don't want to have to deal with Castellic and Jeanneau and all these just so. Yeah, I wouldn't, it wouldn't surprise me if they took a step back next year. But I do think it was really encouraging. In the press conference that Marco Serm had yesterday, he basically said like we need better players. We squeezed everything we could out of the Eisenman line.

[Merles]

Yeah.

[G]

Like we, we gotta go get everybody.

[Biz Nuge]

But there's not available.

[Merles]

There's none out.

[Biz Nuge]

There's not available. So that's kind of like the.

[Ryan G]

I got a question for you.

[Biz Nuge]

Yes, sir.

[Ryan G]

So Charlie McAvoy, they're saying a slew foot by Benson. He is. Wires crossed, the baseball bats swing. He has an in person hearing. So it can be six or more game suspension. I got a text about this from somebody, it said, I'd love to hear your guys opinion. Do you believe he should have come back out for the handshake line?

[Keith]

No.

[Ryan G]

No. Okay.

[Biz Nuge]

I, I kind of like, I'm indifferent like any. If you have one.

[Ryan G]

The guy asked the question, I said, oh, that's an interesting one.

[G]

Aren't they not allowed to.

[Biz Nuge]

I think that, I think he's probably not allowed. How many, how many career fights does Charlie McAvoy have?

[Ryan G]

I don't know. I don't really don't know the answer to that. Well, I, I told him, I go, I think McAvoy probably, I think he probably knows I'm getting suspended for that slash. And if I see Benson in line, I'm probably gonna get another six games added to it. That was kind of my thought. Like I'm not shaking that guy's hand right now. The old Dino Cicarelli. I can't believe I just shook that guy's hand. About Claude Lemieux in 96. But the way it ended, it was just like this Benson guy. No wonder he's a cult hero in Buffalo. The way that that guy plays is so perfect for the playoffs. He's tiny. There is a lot of Brad March on there. I don't know if he'll ever become that type of Scorer. But this guy, he's going to drive people insane in Montreal.

[Biz Nuge]

I said I used the Gallagher comparison.

[Keith]

Yeah.

[Biz Nuge]

And now they're going to be going at one another. Gallagher obviously, when he was a lot younger in his career, just going to the net, always getting that stick in the goalies hands when he's froze the puck just like anything. And he's just got that look on his face where I get why McAvoy wanted a baseball swing his head off. Like, I get that. I just thank. I just thank God it wasn't a beer sword.

[Keith]

Is there arm off the rumors. Is there any truth to the rumors that I heard that he was actually in the Blade gang last year?

[Biz Nuge]

Yes, he was.

[Keith]

Okay.

[Biz Nuge]

He was one of the founding members.

[Keith]

The only thing I didn't like about the McAvoy thing is why does McAvoy have to get in there for himself? I think someone else on the Bruin should have been.

[Biz Nuge]

Yeah, but do you think that he actually broken jaw. He actually slew for them like. Like I didn't really get a chance to look at the video. He kind of got the.

[Keith]

I don't think it was on purpose maybe but like yeah, he did get him.

[Ryan G]

And you know there's enough at the end of the game that thing's over for wire cross. Like I got it.

[Biz Nuge]

Okay.

[Keith]

We've talked, we've talked about it recently. Like anything that happened that has to do with feet in the NHL. Guys lose their mind

[Ryan Whitney]

though.

[G]

Two guys. He's got a broken.

[Biz Nuge]

But it's Benson. Like I would have just went over there and I wouldn't have baseball swung him. I would have just dropped them. And if you. You would have got less games for trying to out eye gouge him at the bottom of the pile.

[Merles]

Like everybody knew it was over. The only person that was mad was like McAvoy. It wasn't even. The game was done. So I defend other guys on the ice.

[Biz Nuge]

Yeah. I think Pasta was Pasta, the other guy who was in there and he was like, what's going on here? Yeah, I'm just trying to book my trip on Expedia and get the out of town here. Trying to get to Cancun, man. Yeah, tough. But going to. Going back to Benson. Like, what's awesome is think of how many big guys he's got around him so he can get away. I'm not said they got like the toughest team in the league. It sucks that Carrick's out. They got. But they do have some guys there. Like Malistein will chuck them so they got guys like Benson can do that. I'm sure he would answer his own bell if against Montreal. I don't think there's anybody he's scared of Boston.

[Keith]

Anderson would try to kill him maybe.

[Ryan G]

Yeah, yeah.

[Biz Nuge]

But he doesn't have to answer the bell to Anderson. There's others.

[Ryan G]

He doesn't have to answer the belt to anyone. Now that's, that's basically like what's kind of happened with the league.

[Biz Nuge]

And I think, I think if I'm Martin St. Louis, I go have a talk with Gallagher and I say that's your guy. You want to make your memory you, you want to make everyone remember Gallagher in Montreal. Ten years down the road, 15 years down the road, like on an even bigger call, you go for the head of the snake, that little puke rat.

[Ryan G]

A Wednesday night game one Gallagher, Benson, Tilt will just set that series off. By the way.

[Biz Nuge]

I'll whip my out at the desk.

[Ryan G]

Montreal, please do it guys. That, that, that Joe Thornton style four goal game. That crowd at the Bell center while Montreal, Tampa, it was. There wasn't an empty seat. I, I've seen the, the arenas do the crowd while the team's on the road. That one was. I don't remember one like that. I, I do you guys, how about them?

[Keith]

When they finally got a shot,

[Ryan G]

they

[Keith]

had the towels going. When they finally got a shot after 97 real minutes it was.

[Ryan G]

There were also some, some titties were whipped out in, in the celebration out in the streets.

[Biz Nuge]

Those are some of beautiful bolt on.

[Ryan G]

Of course Meme sends that. If Memes has anything in his holster, it's titties. Popping out in the streets of Montreal after a game seven win.

[Biz Nuge]

Those tits made Kate's look like Walmart tits.

[Ryan G]

That was basically like that was, that was a dark moment for Chiclets. People were not happy with the interviewer, Kate. So we will not be interviewing.

[Biz Nuge]

Everybody has their eras. Like we had our dark era. We had our dark era on the ice with the, with a choke collar on. Like I don't know what to say man. You know it's just like we go through our eras. We're in the, the Fraud squad era right now.

[Ryan G]

So going into this series, boys, it's kind of a hard one for me. Based on that, like I'd be happy for both teams to move on. Like I love watching this Montreal team. I'm, I'm picking Buffalo. I'm picking Buffalo in seven games. I think it's going to be an entertaining series. I think it's Going to be offensive. I just kind of look at, at and I know I've talked about Lane Hudson, but the D as a whole, I, I like Buffaloes a little better. It's close though, man. It's very close. I guess actually I look at like Tage Thompson. Can he overtake this series? I don't. I. Based on Suzuki's first round where he got better. St. Louis talked about every game he got a little better. Like, it just seems like it's Tage Thompson's time and you look at. I think him and Caulfield are the number one and two American goal scorers the last two seasons. But I look at his size and in the playoffs, like, can he outplay Caulfield? Based on the first round, I would say yes. I got Buffalo in seven. I think it's going to be amazing. I, I really. It's one of those ones where I'm kind of happy no matter who wins. Anyone else got an opinion or, or a pick?

[Biz Nuge]

I got Buffalo in six. You know, that's obviously a little bit longer, a little bit more energy spent. I think that if Montreal has a chance, I think that Jack Guy has to be in the lineup and play his best hockey that we've ever seen. I just mentioned the Gallagher going after Benson. Slough has to like recalibrate and find. Find what we saw. Like Game one, like Yan's. You touched on it. Like, I get why. Maybe he's not in the right frame of mind. He got reset twice in that series. So let's hope the, the computer's back and firing and on all cylinders by the time this series starts. But I just think that, that overall Buffalo is just too. They're. They're just as skilled, but they're so much longer and bigger overall. And, and I don't, I don't think that they're intimidated by Montreal speed. In fact, I think that Buffalo might even be faster. So yeah, that's, that's kind of where I'm at. If, and also for Montreal 10, they almost have 2 3rd lines right now. The way they played in the first round, like Dano Danault is like a. One of the, one of the better defensive centermen when it comes to like a bottom six center at this point in his career. So if, if the depth for Montreal can, can really, really elevate the same way we talked about it with Gary Lawless in Vegas, I think that this can get extended to like seven. And I mean, can Dolbysh be that good again? Can Dovish be. I Mean, keep in mind if. If he. He's playing that well and I know Lyons been awesome and I know UPL had a great season. Like, I give edge to Montreal and that I do.

[Ryan G]

Oh, yeah. Because. Because I actually think at some point UPL will be starting a game in this series. So the. Do you guys agree or not?

[Biz Nuge]

I agree with you.

[Ryan G]

Yeah.

[Keith]

I think we're seeing four goalies in this. In this series.

[Merles]

Wow.

[Ryan G]

Okay. You think Fowler ends up making an appearance? I think Montreal. If Demidov can get going. Obviously, like that first round was difficult for him, but if all of a sudden he's able to take a step. I think now DraftKings has it a complete pick them.

[Merles]

Really?

[Ryan G]

I thought Buffalo would be favored, but I gee, on the outline, it's minus 110 each. Yeah, that's still the case.

[G]

Yeah, that's correct.

[Ryan G]

So Mer, what do you got?

[Merles]

I. I got the Sabers in seven because I'm a Sabers guy. I. I am worried about the goaltending. We saw Dovish guy. It's like Go go Gadget legs. He just. He just lays. Lays his legs down. They're always flat. The puck always like pounds on. You hear the sound?

[Ryan G]

It goes.

[Merles]

Every time it hits his pads, these other guys, it just like it soaks into them. It slips under these. I'm very scared of Dovish and. And I'm kind of sick of the rookie talk on him. He played 19 games last year. The rule is 25. But that. That counts as players too. So 19 as a semantics. You're not a rookie. I don't want to hear a rookie goalie camp.

[Biz Nuge]

What? He's never played.

[Keith]

He's a rookie.

[Merles]

Yeah, the rookie.

[Biz Nuge]

And he's never played playoff hockey.

[Ryan G]

Guys on his points. Oh, man.

[Biz Nuge]

Weird about these points.

[Keith]

It's a rule. The rule is under 25 games, you're a rookie.

[Merles]

The same for a goalie and a player.

[Biz Nuge]

That's like saying he's a guy's a man because he grew a pube.

[Merles]

Goalies play 60 games. Now they don't play the 82 games. It should be a different. It should be 15 games as a rookie goalie, 25 as a player. There should be a difference there. This guy's played plenty.

[Ryan G]

I don't think with the rookie discussion

[Merles]

because I know what happens. We're going to start hearing about what Patrick Waugh wanted as a Ken Dryden. Ken Dryden.

[Ryan G]

That's why they're doing it.

[Merles]

He's not a rookie, so we're not bringing that Mojo around my saber.

[Biz Nuge]

Did either of those guys ever play a few games the year prior?

[Merles]

No. They came right out of college in junior, I believe.

[Ryan G]

All right. I'm almost one of them did for some reason.

[Keith]

I did too. Let's look it up.

[Biz Nuge]

Let's look it up to prove him wrong.

[Keith]

I think. I think I'm with you, Wit on this series. Don't care who wins. I think either team going on is good for the game. Both teams have been exciting to watch, but I've been riding with Montreal. I gotta take Montreal. I think their bottom six. You guys talked about it. The bottom six has to be better than Buffaloes. And the biggest thing for me. Can Matheson, Matheson and Carrot. Can they shut down Thompson's line like that? That's the biggest question mark. Because I think Thompson, if he's out there against the other four guys, I think he'll have his way. But I think if Matheson can shut him down, then. Then that's huge for them, obviously. But biggest thing for me is the depth scoring. If Montreal can get some of that and then slap waking up a little bit. But I got Montreal on seven boys.

[Biz Nuge]

Random question here. So Ken Dryden, he passed in 2025. He won six Stanley Cups. He only played eight seasons. Why did he retire so early?

[Ryan G]

He was. He was like a genius. I think he was. He was on to bigger and better things in his mind. Like I'm pretty sure law degree. Law degree. Like politics, author. The guy was. He was. It wasn't just. He wasn't one. One of those guys. It's like hockey. Hockey or nothing. It was. There's a lot more to his life than hockey. He was an incredible person. He. I. I read or law and Former

[Biz Nuge]

Minister of Families, Children and Social Development in Canada.

[Ryan G]

Yeah. The guy I listened. I shouldn't have said. Read the audiobook that he wrote about the 72 Summit Series. It's unbelievable. It's incredible. And he's the one narrating a legend. R RIP Patrick Watt did play one game the season before.

[Biz Nuge]

Not a rookie.

[Keith]

Not a rookie.

[Biz Nuge]

He got a personal DM pack.

[Ryan G]

Was not Mer was on there.

[Biz Nuge]

Wait a minute. Training camp. Not a rookie.

[Ryan G]

Guys. We're one game into Philly.

[Biz Nuge]

Carolina.

[Ryan G]

So here's. Here's the question. Is this. Is this what we got? Is this just going to be a Carolina through the metro kicking like every other year? Or is Philly just totally overwhelmed? And the, the, the, the game seven emotion and just trying to get quickly into a series in Carolina. Like they kind of had no chance and they bounced back game two. Or like I just said, is it like, all right, well, this is not even going to be close. That was. That was domination.

[Biz Nuge]

That was domination. I think the fact that Philly's power play is so horrendous that they really don't. Aren't going to have a chance in the series because there's no way they're going to beat him 5 on 5. I think that one thing working against Philly is the fact that they've been playing playoff hockey for the last two months and it drains you. And then you go through that ballot of Pennsylvania, it drains you. And Carolina's built for this. Like they've. With the experience that they've had, the, the amount of guys that they have who have been there and the way that they play, it's just a lot for a young Philadelphia team. And I'm not taking anything away from the Flyers. Before the series, I said seven games because I believed in Philly and they were getting good goaltending and they're riding a high right now. But after watching game one and seeing how brutal their power play was once again and how tired they looked, I would. I would probably change my mind to five games. I'd be. I'd be shocked if Philly won two games. But hey, I picked Carolina to begin with. I just. I hope the, the. The lack of. The lack of. Of rest leading into that series after such an emotional high of winning that for a young group who have been what they've been through over the last two months, it's a lot and I can't fault them for it. I'm not being negative towards them. It's just, what are you going to do?

[Keith]

I think we're going to see better from Philly for sure. Like the two goals, it was the first goal. Kate's got beat out of the corner, so a forward kind of losses responsibility. They score the goal and then the other one, Meech Cobb messed up on the. Given that two on one. So I like. You can kind of. If you can take away those mistakes from the forward helping out defensively. Other than that, they were pretty good. I mean, you gotta, you gotta do something with the Stankhoven hall and Blake line. Like they've scored 10 of their 14 goals in playoffs, so you gotta figure those guys out. I think Sandheim and wrist aligning can do that. But after that series against Pittsburgh, I thought that first game you might get. They might lay an egg. But I think you're going to get A lot better from Philly. And I think they're going to show up. I think they're going to make it a series and I think they win this in seven.

[Ryan G]

Wow. Okay, so. Wow. That's, that's the question. Game two is kind of going to show me this entire. If, if, if, if that is the same thing we see in game two. Like this thing. This could be another Ottawa series.

[Biz Nuge]

I think they gotta go full scumbag.

[Ryan G]

Yeah, they. The scumbag wasn't there. How about this? That the Hurricanes have yet to trail in this postseason. They become the fourth team in Stanley cup playoff history to go six straight games to start a postseason without trailing. If they're able to pull it off in game two. Yeah, I. The game one thing. Yeah, it's all about game two. Game one, that was, that was murder. We'll talk about gambling. That was probably, probably one of the biggest locks just based on like you come off a game seven at home like that and you're going down to a terror dome for any other team. And you had to know that that was going to be the case. But we'll see in game two.

[Merles]

For people that don't know that Carolina is one of the harder buildings to play in. We say it every year, it's a little bit smaller. It's a little. It just, it makes it that much louder and more intense. The ice feels smaller. And then not only do they have that going, they released the beer skate with down there for one of those.

[Biz Nuge]

That was a big drop.

[Ryan G]

Oh, hey, I would love to give that beer beer skate a shot. I'll tell you right now, it, it could be all over me. But it is not going to be horizontal like this.

[Biz Nuge]

They're going to fill it up with Tulski's urine for you.

[Ryan G]

I'm not going to drink that. Then. I'm not going to drink that. I mean, I'm a. I'm a part owner of the East Coast Hockey League team. Why would they try to poison me with the GM's piss? I wouldn't appreciate that. But. But they sold so many of those. That was a hell of a drop by the Hurricanes.

[Ryan Whitney]

And I'll.

[Merles]

And I'll give you one more thing. I'll give you a DraftKings sportsbook bet for today. On this game. It is Carolina to win. Stank over to get a point parlay plus 113. Stanky leg is on a 12 or 13 game point streak overall. He's just feeling it. Number.

[Biz Nuge]

He's going pointless.

[Ryan G]

Yeah.

[Merles]

So that's the play of the day.

[Biz Nuge]

I don't think enough can be said about what this kid, what that line is doing. Like Jackson Blake, like that guy's. He's a lightning rod. They, they, yeah, I'm. Like I said, I said it after last series. I'm a believer. You see them play and just how fucking good they are, how sound they are and just how mentally they are so mentally dialed. Like, Rod has them primed up, ready to go right from. When's the last time you saw them have a slow start in a playoff game. I don't know if it's ever happened.

[Ryan G]

Nothing bad happens until the conference final. And then this year there is not a bully coming. If they get through. There is not a big, bad mean ass hockey team coming. There's another skilled team coming, but it is no Panthers. So, yeah, Blutman's like, you think the Carolina Hurricanes have a chance at the Cup? I'm like, yeah, this year I do. So by the way, Jackson Blake is just starting next. Next year. Eight years, 5.1.

[Keith]

Wow.

[Biz Nuge]

Him and Stankhoven are locked in for just over 11 million for the next eight years.

[Keith]

It's a wagon in Halsey.

[Ryan G]

Let's see how Philly responds. I like Keith. I like Keith there. Keith's not giving in. He's not giving in. But Biz, I think it's more of

[Biz Nuge]

his hatred for Carolina than it is his love for Philadelphia. Like, this is a team that took his iron man streak away and he's still rooting for him.

[Ryan G]

I think he's scared of seeing Carolina in the cup finals. He's worried about the product.

[Biz Nuge]

Is that what it is?

[Keith]

Yeah. Yeah, we don't need that. And it starts to like, the road team's locker room is so disgusting.

[Ryan G]

I made it better. I thought they like improved it.

[Biz Nuge]

Yeah, they gave. They gave towels to the guys.

[Keith]

You don't have to bring your own towel. Like, it just like, it's disgusting, disgusting hockey. And we cannot have them in the finals.

[Biz Nuge]

It's where the pig mascot lives.

[Ryan G]

Coming around on the hurricane.

[Biz Nuge]

I told you.

[Ryan G]

Well, it, it, yeah, it's just no Florida. I just can't get that out of my head. And. And people are disgusted that they get to play the Metro in the first two rounds. Like, that's like what you see around the league. Like, they got the Metro the first two rounds. All right, all right, fair enough.

[Biz Nuge]

And if. As if they weren't likable enough, do you know who they called up for a black, black Ace?

[Ryan G]

I do not know Doyle. Doyle's coming up.

[Keith]

Good.

[Ryan G]

G's asking in the chat, will I sound the siren? I'd love to. I don't think, like, that was a trip, Tracy. Just throw it out there. But he has no say. I. I'm think I haven't heard from them. I would love to do the siren. I'll.

[Biz Nuge]

I'll get to.

[G]

They let me do it for a playoff game. I. I assume they're gonna allow Ryan Whitney to do it.

[Biz Nuge]

I think it would be awesome.

[Ryan G]

I appreciate you saying Ryan Whitney like. Like I'm a big time guy there. Thank you.

[Keith]

How did you do, G. How did they do that?

[Ryan G]

His wrist broke.

[G]

They lost five nothing. I think.

[Biz Nuge]

I think they got blown out.

[Keith]

Hey, they had a bad start, too. I think that was their only ever bad start.

[Biz Nuge]

Well, okay, so let me ask you this wit. Would you rather redemption in Buffalo? I think that they would have you back.

[Ryan G]

Oh, yeah.

[Biz Nuge]

Or would you choose the cane skate, chug into the siren ring?

[Ryan G]

I would. I would choose redemption in Buffalo over that. Yeah. I mean, Buffalo. Here's the thing, though, is. Does redemption count if I don't bring the sword out there?

[Biz Nuge]

I think you got to go back to the sword, and you got to practice and know how to do the sword.

[Keith]

You got to get in the lab with the sword, dude.

[Ryan G]

All right, hold on.

[G]

Yeah.

[Merles]

Those kids before the game, they showed us how to do it correctly.

[Ryan G]

Yeah. A video came out after, but. But I. I mean, I even had videos of little kids trying to chug out of the sword like.

[Biz Nuge]

Like.

[Ryan G]

Like cranberry juice. And they couldn't do it.

[Keith]

Well, it was Buffalo. Might have been.

[Gary Lawless]

All right.

[Keith]

Is he doing this with water for those?

[Ryan G]

I'm gonna at least see?

[Keith]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like the dos boot, where you have to turn it at the right time.

[Ryan G]

That's what somebody else said to me, that at the very right moment, you have to turn the boot, but there's no area where there'd be a bubble, like an air bubble in this.

[Keith]

Make sure you don't have your hand.

[Biz Nuge]

That's the other thing, too.

[Merles]

That was.

[Keith]

That was.

[Biz Nuge]

It has to be kind of like a progressive.

[Ryan G]

All right.

[Biz Nuge]

It's all about your timing. Let's see. And grab it there. Yes.

[Keith]

Oh, no.

[Ryan G]

Oh, no, no.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, no.

[Merles]

Why does he do this?

[Ryan G]

I think it goes back. I think I. I think I. I think I have some sort of, like, blocking my brain with this.

[Keith]

Fill it up again and go two handed.

[Merles]

Did you never. Do you ever do the funnel in college on Spring Break.

[Biz Nuge]

Looks like me after a nap.

[Ryan G]

So Horkoff called me. Horkoff called me, and he's like, dude, what was that? They're thinking about kicking me off the trip to England this summer.

[Biz Nuge]

What?

[Gary Lawless]

He can't.

[Biz Nuge]

Golf trip.

[Ryan G]

No, but I got myself back in. But he brought up a good point. I've never, ever been able to chug a beer.

[Biz Nuge]

I'm not a chugger. I'm not.

[Ryan G]

I'm. And it is that. Is that. Is that not a manly thing? Is, am I. Am I never went to college? Am I missing, like, some tea in my life? I don't know. I can't chug beers. He's like, open up your goddamn throat. Now, Horkoff, that guy, I'd put him up against anyone. It's crazy, but you just witnessed water there, boys. That is. We got serious problems.

[Biz Nuge]

Yeah, maybe. Maybe you should go and you should be the one hyping up the crowd with the zero point.

[Ryan G]

It.

[Biz Nuge]

I was gonna say that. Bring that guy from barstool. The guy who does, like, he could do, like. He could chug a chocolate milk.

[Keith]

Yeah.

[Biz Nuge]

In like, 20 seconds.

[Keith]

Yeah.

[Ryan G]

Not a bad idea. He is a chug master, that Deutsch guy.

[Biz Nuge]

I mean, obviously, Merles will be there too. Merles, how are you at chugging in it?

[Merles]

I'm okay. I'm not. I'm not as bad as Whitney, obviously, but it wasn't easy. We met these guys before the thing that showed us the correct way to. To spin it, kind of. But I. I think we need wit there to do the hype to the crowd and then get, like, a sabers.

[Ryan G]

I didn't even hype them, though. I was doing, like, the. The. Keith, can you chug?

[Keith]

Oh, God, no. Not even a little. I don't even try.

[Ryan G]

See that? That's. It's knowing your strengths and weaknesses. But once again, I put myself out there, guys. Ridicule, embarrassment, or once in a while, being on the right side, I put myself out there. And that's man in the arena.

[Biz Nuge]

If I. If I worked for Buffalo Sabres admin, I would have you and Josh Allen there to bang the drum. And then. Then you wouldn't have to do it out of the sword. You could just chug a beer and the two negatives will offset and become a positive. That would be the way that I handled it. And maybe not for game one. Just see how game one goes. But I'm thinking game five would be the time to do it.

[Ryan G]

Much like I did have. I did have somebody reach out from The Anaheim Ducks that were like, they sent me another package and they said, wit, we need you out here in the second round. I said, I don't know. I don't know if I can.

[Biz Nuge]

You're just, you're. You're a team come guzzler at this point.

[Ryan G]

No, what. I, I'm, I'm. I'm the brick. Like, I'm the butt of the joke, though. It's not like, hey, bring this guy in. It's just like, hey, this loser, we can all make fun of him. Throw on the big screen, laughing at your body. It's. It's not exactly like, you know, Tom Brady getting paid for appearances. It's like, hey, the big eared guy that was a complete disappointment. His career that's turned into a podcaster. We'll bring that guy and tell. Tell him he's one of our favorite Ducks ever. But no, he was actually a loser and traded the next deadline after he's brought in.

[Biz Nuge]

You're the body of podcasting such as,

[Ryan G]

like, I, I don't appreciate that because then that means.

[Biz Nuge]

That means you're talking about.

[Ryan G]

That means you are.

[Biz Nuge]

That means that Carolina, you're talking about Buffalo, you're talking about quacking biz.

[Ryan G]

You.

[Biz Nuge]

I.

[Ryan G]

Let's be honest, I think you got a lot of teams in the mix too. You got, you got the mass for Utah, then you show up with the Vegas jersey today.

[Biz Nuge]

And, and like mine is just being.

[Ryan G]

I was a member of the Docs organization.

[Biz Nuge]

I know, but I'm not, buddy. I'm not showing up and like, trying to ruin their season here.

[Keith]

You got your ass banked at center right in Buffalo.

[Biz Nuge]

That's true. I did.

[Ryan G]

All right, well, let's. One more thing before we bring on.

[Biz Nuge]

I like that.

[Ryan G]

One more thing before we bring on RA they didn't even have.

[Biz Nuge]

I think RA Needs to bring back his choke collar is what needs to happen.

[Ryan G]

I think. I think that that thing was hopefully thrown in a fight. Burned after that game.

[Keith]

Oh, he's going to get it.

[Ryan G]

I don't know. Have you done your research? We can, we can address this later, but it is official. John Chaika.

[Biz Nuge]

Yeah.

[Ryan G]

And Matt Sundin, they are running the Toronto Maple Leafs.

[Biz Nuge]

Yeah.

[Ryan G]

I gotta be honest. As. As a total outsider, a Leafs hater. John Chaika being hired by the Toronto Maple Leafs. To me, I want to say they are not a serious organization.

[Keith]

Exactly.

[Ryan G]

That's just based on, like, what his past and like not being in the league now. Maybe, maybe this guy turns it all around. It's Great. But the, the, the original thought of the hiring is like, what the. We can address this later if you,

[Biz Nuge]

if you haven't done your address it right now. I don't need long.

[Ryan G]

Okay.

[Biz Nuge]

I'm out.

[Keith]

All right, good.

[Biz Nuge]

I'm out.

[Keith]

I. I was hoping you back.

[Biz Nuge]

I'll just try to say yes quickly. Is like I would literally take a bullet for Shane Doane, right? Shane Doan was stabbed in the back and I'm out.

[Ryan G]

That's it.

[Keith]

Love to hear that from you, Biz. The fact that they hired this guy, I think this is going to go down in history as one of the worst hires in the history of the NHL.

[Biz Nuge]

I have no opinion, I have no opinion on that side of it. I, like, I, I have no ill will to. I just, I, I think that he was young. I think he made a really, really stupid mistake and shouldn't have even been in that situation he was in. And you know, when you're young and you make stupid mistakes, you make stupid mistakes and I'm not going to, like, I'm not going to hang the guy, you know, for the rest of his life on it, but I just can't. I just can't. I can't fucking root for him.

[Ryan G]

And if people are confused, when John Chaika took over the Phoenix Coyotes, he had a true legend of that organization and one of the all time best people in the game, Shane Doane, willing to be there, willing to be a part of it, help do whatever he can. He pigeon tossed him. That is the backstory here. I just wanted to let anyone.

[Biz Nuge]

There's a lot, like, I'm not gonna dive into it because there's a lot. And, and like people would be like, oh, just like the way that certain things shook out. And it's not just one, not just two. There's like multiple things. And like I said, I just, I'm not gonna divulge them, but I'm just making my. Just kind of, just like giving you my, my kind of my situation here. I'm out.

[Ryan G]

That's what you do. And I respect the hell out of you for it. Crazy. It's going to be a big offseason. You know what guys, they say there's no UFAs available. There's one big one now.

[Ryan Whitney]

Paul.

[Biz Nuge]

I was going to save this. I. I think what my decision is going to be is I'm going to go where McKenna goes.

[Keith]

Okay.

[Biz Nuge]

I'm going to hitch my wagon in McKenna.

[Ryan G]

Now what's going to happen is tomorrow night the Leafs are Going to somehow win this fucking lottery and then you're really in one.

[Biz Nuge]

Well, then I can.

[Ryan G]

With Gavin. What they. What do you mean?

[Biz Nuge]

Well, I'm saying, well then I can't. Then I can't go with where McKenna goes. My, my. To be honest, I'm hoping for Vancouver, which makes sense. I spend my summers in bc, but I would really like to see him go to Calgary. I would want to go back with Calgary. That's my, that would be my dreams. That would be my dream.

[Keith]

He's just thinking of what's that big thing they have? That's all he's thinking.

[Biz Nuge]

I'll hitch my saw my cock.

[Ryan G]

I'll have the red carpet treatment of the stampede the next 20.

[Biz Nuge]

I'll be riding the, the, the, the horse in the parade.

[Keith]

But my thing is with like, who else was in the mix for this job?

[Ryan G]

How do, how did this happen? I don't, I don't know. It's. I, I saw a tweet. I saw a tweet. I think it was Saravali saying there's already been some like, accusations of tampering against him. And I think it was announced officially.

[Keith]

Now, didn't he get in trouble for something in Jersey?

[Ryan G]

Yeah, he had a meeting with Bettman and everything. He had to get like reinstated into the league.

[Biz Nuge]

What happened was is he signed a four year extension with the Arizona Coyotes. And I think, yeah, maybe it wasn't for crazy amounts of dole, but keep in mind you're a young, inexperienced GM and this organization who's trying to get back on their feet, who maybe doesn't have the most money, is giving you, you know, a four year deal, like they're, they're showing confidence in you. So obviously his analytics company is a big component of what he brings to the table. And I, it, it was apparently New Jersey and the, the bubble of their organizations. I think it maybe involved the New Jersey Nets.

[Ryan G]

Yeah. And maybe a Red, I think, or the, the commanders.

[Biz Nuge]

Yeah, three teams, whatever. So he asked for permission to go to like talk to them. And I think it was presented to the Murillos as, oh, I'm just going there to exchange information and it's not to get a job. So they gave him the green light. Okay, you can go. And he went talk to them. And I think that he was being offered the position and came back to the Coyotes and says, hey, I'm leaving. I'm going to go work with the Devils. And they're like, well, no you're not. Like, you have a non Compete and we just signed you to a four year deal. And he's like, yeah, you have like, he's like fire me. And they're like well no, we're not firing you. You're our guy. We just fucking signed you to a four year deal. And this was literally right before the bubble. And he refused to go to the bubble with the team that had advance to make the bubble. And then they won their first. They ended up going and playing in the first round. Did they get swept by the Colorado Avalanche I believe?

[Keith]

Yeah, I think so. It was a five game series. Right.

[Biz Nuge]

So you have a team that just gave you a four year deal as a young, the youngest gm, I think. Is he the youngest GM in NHL history? Yeah, yeah. And then your team's ready to go fight for playoff position and you're going into the bubble and he's like no, I'm not going. And then, and then that it ended up kind of all raveling out. The other thing which is common knowledge was the, the, the, what do you call it? The, the pro.

[Ryan G]

The, the, the, the, the testing of the draft process.

[Biz Nuge]

The reason that they created the testing was so every team had a fair chance to evaluate. Yeah. Combine body composition, strength, you know, what are we, what are we looking at? And a chance to interview them and talk to these kids. So apparently they ended up hiring a third party and doing it to, to players that were coming up. So getting private time with them, which is illegal. So then when they were busted with the first one, the excuse was is oh, we did it with him because he wasn't in the top prospects game and we weren't going to get a chance because he wasn't going to go to a chance to evaluate him. Well, they, they went and did it with this kid in October. The team for the top prospects hadn't even been selected yet. So then they got busted lying about it which apparently opened up a whole another investigation in which they uncovered more players that they had been doing it to. And obviously when you got guys like Lou Lamarillo, Steve Iserman and these other high end GMs being like, oh yeah, this young rookie is going to come in and cheat. And so that's why they slapped them with taking away a first, second and third rounder. So that's just the stuff that like is common knowledge where everybody knows and once again, young guy, but when, sometimes when you think you're the smartest guy in the room, these things end up coming out to fruition. And here we go. And I, I was, I Don't know how the league or, or like that they ended up clearing at the fact that he can be GM with the Leafs after that being his track record. But hey, I'm not here to hold people to mistakes they've made in the past. I'm only here to make decisions on, on, on what I know and stay loyal to the people that were loyal to me. And that's why I'm out.

[Keith]

How if you're, if you're a UFA gonna sign there, how are you going to trust a guy like that that is going to tell you hey yeah, we want you for seven years. Look what he did to a guy like Shane. D's been out of the league now for what probably seven years. But like his name and what he did to them and if Donor even knew we were even talking about he'd be like hey, what are we doing here? Like that's in the past. But like the loyalty and in like the respect that you should have for certain players needs to be there and it has been in the history of the NHL and I just don't see it with a guy like that and I don't see guys wanting to go there and play for him.

[Ryan G]

Steve Simmons just asked Keith Pelly in the presser. I talked to 20 people in and around the NHL and 19 of the 20 said this Chaika hiring was a sham. Used words like con artists, liar and salesman and Keith Pelly was rattled. This is according to Pasha. It's. And then Frank Salvary's tweet was. Prior to Sunday the NHL looked at the tampering concern raised as New Bay Police GM John Chaika began to hire his staff. The claim was abstance of substantiated but underline the suspicion some counterparts have for Chaika as he resurfaces. So I think it's, it's pretty obvious that people around the league. League cannot stand him. And for me that's why I said not a serious organization. This is the Toronto Maple Leafs, dude. Like and all the young minds in the game that you could. But buddy is there.

[Gary Lawless]

I'm not.

[Ryan G]

And as a Leafs hater is is that not the biggest job in hockey? The GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs now they have Sundin so that is at least some goodwill with the fans.

[Keith]

That's why they brought them.

[Biz Nuge]

No, that, that to me was, was the donor of Arizona.

[Ryan G]

Yeah.

[Biz Nuge]

And that's that that to me so that's him learning. He would have kept him around. Donor would have been like no, don't do that. That's not how you handle things. Because I've been around for 21 years and I've seen it all and been there, done that. So that, that is an important piece for him to have in order to be successful, in my opinion. So maybe he does end up going to have success because when you're doing a job like that, the same reason when we had Jim Nil on, he talks about the people around him. It's not just the gm. The GM is as a delegator of. You need strong people in every single role.

[Ryan G]

And when he was a challenge, right

[Biz Nuge]

when he was in Arizona, he had 25 year olds at his round table that had never played a game in the NHL, that had never been in an NHL locker room doing helicopter and piss bumps. That you need that, that you need that you need the pistol.

[Ryan G]

Helicopter, no doubt. That's the game right there.

[Biz Nuge]

That's the game.

[Merles]

How do you think the players are going to react to this? Because that. That came out. That was the biggest problem in Buffalo. That. That GM never deserved his job. And that's why the players.

[Biz Nuge]

What, Kevin Adams.

[Merles]

Yeah. They could never get her over it. That, that he didn't deserve that job.

[Biz Nuge]

I mean looking. I mean, Kevin Adams had a long NHL career. Like he, he was, he spent time doing.

[Merles]

He was coaching peewee hockey the year before.

[Biz Nuge]

Yeah, but so is Martin. St. Louis was coaching peewee hockey. Like.

[Merles]

Yeah, but St. Louis wasn't up in Montreal hanging out with the owner the whole time.

[Biz Nuge]

But buddy, I think that we could say that looking at the body of work, Kevin Adams did a pretty good job.

[Ryan G]

Like.

[Merles]

But the players didn't want to play for him because they didn't respect them. I don't think the Leafs are going to want to play for this guy.

[Biz Nuge]

I think that that is an agreement egregious. If, if the reason the Buffalo Sabers weren't having success was because they were like, I don't want to play for Kevin Adams. I think that that is maybe the. I've said a lot of dumb things here. I think that that's not very. That's the. That's crazy.

[Merles]

Well, I'm telling you, that's. That's the inside scoop.

[Ryan G]

That's the scoop from Mer. It is bizarre that they told you that. Well, you can't release your sources, Sabres

[Merles]

alumni, it's on the Internet if you want to find it.

[Ryan G]

It.

[Biz Nuge]

So. So does he deserve no praise in, in what he did to help them get to the situation they're in?

[Ryan G]

I disagree with that.

[Keith]

So he does. He does.

[Ryan G]

Yeah.

[Merles]

I didn't ask that. I just said are. The Leaf's gonna want to play for this guy?

[Keith]

No, that's why I think they have Sa Dean around, is to basically be like, all right. He can kind of be the face if go. I don't know. I think it puts him in a bad situation too.

[Ryan G]

Sundin's just the guy going up to the players like, this guy's a clown. Don't worry. I got your back. All right, let's bring it already.

[Merles]

Let's bring it on before I take off. I got it. I can. I can break it now. I can. I. I alluded. I alluded to it. I believe is the right word. William Carlson will play tonight.

[Gary Lawless]

Wow.

[Biz Nuge]

You Gary.

[Ryan G]

Gary's unbelievable.

[Gary Lawless]

You.

[Biz Nuge]

You lied to me. Gary.

[Ryan G]

I don't know if he's playing tonight. Gary was the one who tweeted it.

[Merles]

He said he doesn't know if he's playing in the series.

[Biz Nuge]

Gary on. Gary might be the best troll in. In the NHL right now, but I

[Ryan G]

think he's so Vegas Golden Knights delusional. I don't even think he's being a troll, man. I think he's one of those. He's like Pasha. He's like Gary's Pasha for the Devils, so. All right.

[Merles]

I'm told he's gonna play center. Hurdle will be on the left wing. I think Smith on the right wing. That drops closer out of the lineup.

[Ryan G]

Oh, that's what Woman's wanted.

[Merles]

Hurdle hasn't scored in 40 games or something. Something. So I watch him get them going.

[Biz Nuge]

3 since February.

[Ryan G]

All right, Murr. Thank you so much. Let's talk.

[Biz Nuge]

We love you, Mer.

[Ryan Whitney]

Hello, everybody. Welcome to Ari's World, here with the Spitting Chickens podcast boys. I've been edging like Biz on one of those riot days for three days, waiting to shut up and get over to this stuff. How about me? Six and two on my first round predictions. Bruins home. Obviously, I lost that one. I went out on a limb, picked la. Probably didn't think they were gonna win, but I wiped you boys to the mat. All you guys played in the league. I didn't.

[Biz Nuge]

I was six and two. Two. All right.

[Ryan Whitney]

All right.

[Ryan G]

What an idiot you are, RA. Even in a moment of, like, having a great first round, you can't even get that right, you dumb. Six and two. I wiped all you guys, and you had. You tied Biz.

[Ryan Whitney]

Wait, biz played the NHL? I didn't know that. What was I?

[Ryan G]

Was I 2 and 6 or 3 and 5. I think I was 2 and 6.

[Ryan Whitney]

Brutal. I know that.

[Biz Nuge]

I would have taken 1 and 7 one year.

[Ryan G]

I went 8 for 8. I can't believe that was a different planet I was on.

[Biz Nuge]

What I listen with, I just like seeing RA this happy.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah. I mean, hey, my team lost, but like I've said a million times on the show, sports is. It's not life. It's like I. When the game was over, I was done with guts out. The minute I got Keith. Did you actually make a dos Boot reference reference a few minutes ago?

[Keith]

Yeah, Beer league.

[Ryan Whitney]

Like, do you know that you know the movie or is that just a.

[Biz Nuge]

I never saw that.

[Keith]

The movie, Beer league.

[Biz Nuge]

I never saw it. Is it good?

[Ryan Whitney]

Okay, I. I tell you a reference in the actual movie. Das Boot, like the German submarine movie. We've had a lot of submarines like, this season. All right, so we can move right along from that. G. By the way, thank you so much for the hookup. The greatest bar Friday night. I. Like I said a couple weeks ago, I typically stay home or lock in for the province playoff games. But one of my good pals, one of my castmates on Shozzy, Andrew, plays Goodly. Goody, good leaf on the show. He was in town, one of his boys, so I had to show him around. Took him to Antonio's over at Beacon Hill. Had a fantastic dinner. G. VIP service. We had the best seats at the Greatest.

[Biz Nuge]

Did you pay or was it.

[Ryan G]

What was his tab? G?

[G]

I haven't asked yet, but I was told RA treated the staff incredibly, taking pictures with fans all night. Basically did a meet and greet on the second floor. So I. I think he killed it.

[Ryan Whitney]

Nothing else, G. No. Nothing about the rockets, though. Okay.

[G]

Oh, yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yes.

[Ryan G]

What?

[G]

RA Was swimming in chicks. Chicks everywhere, all around.

[Ryan G]

All right. You were telling about that first round record, weren't you? All right.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah. I don't know if I'm moving on to the second round, that department, but. No, no, it was awesome. My buddy Goody, like you said, you know, I've talked about choices before. Like, I have a. Like, minuscule pot on that, but, like, it truly is a family when you. When you take part in a show like that and he was in town, it was like, it dropped everything. I'm like, all right, let's. Let's get at it. And had an awesome time. He brought his buddy down. Chris said, well, he don't. He don't care if I use his name. This kid was an animal. Like, just. Just, like, sat like savage. Just an absolute animal. I Won't throw him under the bus here. And then we went out the next night over to Fenway. Then I hit JJ fully. So just an awesome weekend. Had a great time. I usually lay low going on the nights, whatever, but I had a fun weekend. And, yeah, the fancy you just mentioned, like, Like, I. I mean, everywhere we go, like, people show the love, but I don't go out a lot, guys. I go part in town once, you know, once a month, maybe twice. And, you know, I went out. I had friends in town, so I went out a little bit this week. And, man, the love. The. The locals, man, I, I, I. It just, like, sounds corny. It warms my heart, man. It's just the. The. The fans that come up and say, hello, whatever, and, like, oh, geez, man. Someone says they've been listening since, like, the salty couch days, I'm like, hey, that gets you a hug, man. Because it's like when someone tells you you've actually listened to my voice voluntarily for eight to 10 years, man, you deserve a hug, if not a.

[Biz Nuge]

You have a very distinguished voice too. People hear it a couple blocks away and be like, all right.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. So. So I. I want to appreciate that. And going back to Gary Lawless, you had on a few minutes ago in the same vein, you know, because actually, you kind of sounded like the way Gary is from Vegas. You kind of sound like that for Join Shaker a few minutes ago. Just if it was like an SAT question, Exact opposite.

[Ryan G]

You mean?

[Ryan Whitney]

I don't know. I thought he sounded like his defense lawyer for a couple minutes ago. Now he just.

[Biz Nuge]

I'm done. I'm out on the leaf.

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, yeah. Well, maybe. Maybe I heard it the wrong way, but either way, Gary, I was going through my.

[Merles]

The.

[Keith]

That you were doing.

[Ryan G]

That was a legit thing I said.

[Ryan Whitney]

I thought you got. I thought, like, you and Keith were kind of, like, all over it. I thought biz sort of. I don't know. I thought he was a little bit.

[Biz Nuge]

I think I defended him a little bit. No, I think that I'm not gonna bash a guy on. On mistakes he made, but, like, the facts are the facts. I gave you the facts. And. And I. I'm literally hang. My childhood team. I'm saying I'm no longer a fan of. I'm out. I'm a free agent, baby.

[Ryan Whitney]

All right, well, the fact is this, that when. When I was going through my. A couple years ago, we all know that Gary was. Was one of those people who. I mean, I. I only met him at the. The Winter Classic in Seattle. And he reached out to me a couple times and you know, gave me words of encouragement and very nice words. So I just want to. Hey, shout out guy.

[Ryan G]

He's.

[Ryan Whitney]

He's a great like, whatever. If you don't like his Vegas coverage, who. Who cares? But he's a great person, a great human being.

[Biz Nuge]

Oh, his Vegas coverage is awesome. I thought beautiful. He was probably reaching out to you to. To like wish you well, but you wanna. You wanna jump on the Vegas train. I got a text from. I got a text from Bill Foley. He wants you on the Vegas.

[Ryan Whitney]

Do you want to hang out with Chance? The. The.

[Biz Nuge]

He.

[Ryan Whitney]

The Monster, you know, the logo you came up with, but they won't give you credit for that one.

[Biz Nuge]

What else do you got, Ari? What's at the top of your mind for. For what happened in the first round?

[Ryan G]

What are you most probably I'd like to ask you. All right, quickly. I want to know Montreal, Buffalo. I want to know your pick. I'm very sure you're picking that Buffalo and seven. Okay.

[Ryan Whitney]

And I. I do have a future on Montreal, but. And that series is unbelievable. But yeah, I got. I think Buffalo, man. It seems like a lot of these guys are like peaking career wise. I mean Tate Thompson's been there for a bit, but like what we've seen out of Bo Byron and Power and what Josh do has done is incredible. Like that. What an unbelievable trade that has been. The goaltending. I know UPL kind of faulted a bit. Lions stepped in like. Like he talked about before, like fill the role admirably. Yeah, man, Montreal is going to be a tough out but. And I financially opponent for him. But yeah, I think Buffalo is just kind of have. Has that whatever. Jenny sais quoi, no pun intended. But I just love the old Adams division rivalry too. Like, it's just great to have all these old teams back. So might as well keep going with the picks, I guess. Well, I throw out Philly and seven the other night. I know they got dummied in the first game. Minigen 6, sixth in the same vein. That was a wild game. Anaheim, Vegas with same point. I said in the first round I could not believe that Anaheim was a plus 180 underdog. And if you know, I didn't just get no spit, no lube, Bob wire finish my divorce. I would have had a bundle on him, but I couldn't. I couldn't spring it this time. And I. I can't believe Vegas is a minus 210 over and I'm plus 170. Like, like, like throw. If I had a mortgage I put it on Anaheim the series. I think they're gonna beat Vegas.

[Ryan G]

I think Gary's never calling you to wish you well.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah. Hey area in fact he might be

[Biz Nuge]

dating your ex wife.

[Ryan Whitney]

He can have her. No but, but seriously like I, I and I said to you with like I thought that that line should have been closer to a pick him and I think we you know we saw what happened and you know I was like proven right even I have some, some dough.

[Biz Nuge]

I want to go back. Let's go to Buffalo, Montreal. I thought Yan's brough we might see four goalies in this series. Do you agree that there's a possibility that that could happen? I think a lot, a lot is going to come down to goaltending I think in that series.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, that's a great you3 and a half would be a great line to post for that.

[Ryan G]

I know saying like I, I don't see the dovish coming out now.

[Ryan Whitney]

But, but, but if he, I mean but you gotta like struggles. You gotta put in the fact that like what if he yeah, he has a bad game and they, they gotta yank him in a blow like which by the way Minnesota should have done the other night. I don't know how they didn't pull fucking wallstead after. I think it was the seventh goal there man. I was just like it was the bad, the real bad one and then you know they were still in the game. But either way is there a bet

[Biz Nuge]

where you can bet that you'll see four goalies in a series?

[Ryan Whitney]

You think I, I would be involved?

[Ryan G]

That would be like the DraftKings future prediction market.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah. Yeah. You gotta go to one of those shady places I think but I mean I'm the same guy better than the spelling bee and the Sopranos in it. So yeah, I probably should know that

[Ryan G]

but

[Ryan Whitney]

by the way I had was it. I had a girl would win plus 110 and the winner would have glasses minus 115. So I had a split on that one. Oh. Anyway, speaking again would do the derby. I, I tweeted this out. I put on my Instagram honestly that clip of the, of the, the trainer the first female trainer to everyone that the Kentucky Derby watching her with, you know with the, the split screen with the race. Like I don't know if you guys. Have you seen it? Have you guys?

[Biz Nuge]

Yeah, I actually saw it. Yeah.

[Ryan Whitney]

Like honestly like, like pan like whatever like just not even on A sports level. Just one of the most. Like, I don't know how you can watch that video and not have, like. Like, stir your emotions to watch, like, the emotion. The finish. Yeah. In the history, like, you know, 100, what, 20 years of the Derby that has been a woman trader. And, like, I watched it probably 17 times, and then I looked in the comments and someone said, hey, look at her friend next to her on her right. And like, she. She hasn't. She's not. You don't hear it. She goes. She goes, get outside. Get outside, Jose. And she nods her head, and right as she says it, the. The jockey makes the move, and you see her face light up, and it's like. Like, I get goosebumps even talking about. It's like you, like, it's because you're focusing on the. On the trainer, and, you know, she's yelling as she should be. But, like, watch her friend. And she gives, like, that head. Done. And right when she says it, he makes his move. It comes on, man. I. I can't watch that video enough. So if you haven't seen it, it's on my.

[Biz Nuge]

Yeah, I saw that. That. I didn't realize she was the trainer. I just assumed she was maybe like, a part owner, like. Like Viola as well. But that. They did mention that that was the route it would take in prior races, so they probably knew that going in, like, that's the move, and was waiting for it. And then. Wow, that's cool, man.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, man. I. I didn't, like, I didn't notice it. I mean, I watch it because it's just, you know, just to see some of that passionate and like, the. I mean, one of the greatest derbies ever. And. But her friends, just so nonchalant. And, you know, she. You don't even hear it. She's like. You could read her mouth. Get outside, Jose. It does, like, a headcock and, like, right after he moves, man, and then you see your face light up. It's just. I don't. It's one of those moments of sports life, whatever, that just. Man, it just stirs something in you, man. So I hope people can check that out. Tampa Bay, Montreal, you know, again, Montreal. I got donut, but I felt. I felt for Cool, man. I sent him a Texas spawn, and, like, you know, my heart was broken from that team. Did everything they could. Like, he did nothing wrong. I says, but, you know, like, you and your boys got to be proud. It's just two goals, one off your defense, and that basically David Copperfield trick For the second one. So heads held high. It's just another team that they could have been a Stanley cup champion, but tough sled in there. So what else? Oh, by the way, I had a. Okay, we gotta get to Kucherov. I had a World War 4 run about Kucherov on Twitter last night. All right. This guy beating the bookie. Hey, buddy, this is not personal. I have no this, this is just content stuff he put out. Nikita Kucherov has never scored a single point in seven career game sevens. Kind of incredible. But then he brings in great regular season point merchant fails to show up in the toughest games of them all. Okay, definitely got triggered. Now I have no personal connection.

[Biz Nuge]

Yeah, yeah, I saw your response.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Biz Nuge]

Where he like, he's like one of the most active leaders in playoff.

[Ryan Whitney]

Okay, okay. He's got 177 playoff points on 159 games. 16 all time playoff points per game. Okay. I do, I, I mad enough I stayed upon like digging these stats. Okay. 159 playoff games. He's had seven game sevens. That's like 4.4%. So one of every 20 games he's played has been a game seven. Yeah. He has no points in those games and those seven games, Tampa Bay scored nine goals, 1.28 goals per game. Like, okay, like he's the 16th lead playoff point guy of all time. He led the league in playoff points the two years they won the cup. He didn't, it wasn't like, oh, he hasn't done that recently. He said, this guy has done nothing to Gabe Sevens. It's like, bro, would you agree you can play balls off in a game seven, not have a point and still be a factor?

[Biz Nuge]

Yeah, yeah, no, definitely recency bias and a stupid comment. I would also ask like, what are his, what are his points in like closeout games for him, for him, his team? Right. Like he might have a way better point per game percentage. Like, yeah. And like, like it's not just one game. Like he put us, put his team in, in, in a position to have success in those years past. Did he not win one of the con smice of those two years?

[Ryan Whitney]

Actually, no, I don't. Somehow he didn't.

[Biz Nuge]

Well, he, he led the league in playoff points the one year where he didn't play a regular season game.

[Ryan Whitney]

No, but the two years they won the cup, he, he led, he led points, but he didn't win the client smite.

[Ryan G]

But his playoff stats in the last few years though are little questionable.

[Ryan Whitney]

No, absolutely. And this is My other point, this is where we're like where, like where it's mattering. I know it's Twitter, social media, whatever, like, like. But you know, that wasn't the point the guy made. He, he brought like the regular season. I, I got a barrage. Like everyone's like well what's he done lately? It's like, well bro, he didn't talk about lately. He said, he said he doesn't get it done on the biggest games. I'm like, yeah, he has a point in game sevens, but those are like a minuscule pot basically of his like playoff crab man.

[Biz Nuge]

I think, I think that like separating the two. I, if you said like when I heard the stat, I was shocked that he hadn't had a point in the six prior game Sevens. Like, I was just surprised. I'm like oh, a guy with that many points per game in playoffs. So yeah, you can hold it against him that he can't perform in games like offensively in game Sevens. But to say he's not a, a playoff performer and he's just a regular season merchant, that's just crazy. And somebody who obviously wasn't paying attention. Like what like eight, eight years. Like that eight to five year ago window.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, exactly.

[Biz Nuge]

Like let's keep in mind here, it's the first time since 2019 that a Florida team is not in the Stanley cup final channel.

[Ryan Whitney]

This whole like covert cup stuff that you your ass. Like bro, I don't care if there was drunk fans in the room or not. If you beat four other NHL teams in seven game series, like regardless of how many people in the room, you're a ceiling come champion like circumstances be damned.

[Ryan G]

Like what do you say to all the people today saying that that Tampa when they're not 20 million over the cap happened. The playoffs isn't the same.

[Ryan Whitney]

I would say that, you know, they played by the rules that the NHL allowed them to play by the same thing that the Blackhawks did. And I, I believe Pitts Penguins fans hate me already, but I think Vegas did.

[Biz Nuge]

Florida.

[Ryan Whitney]

Sorry, Penguins. Yeah, Vegas. Florida. So like, you know what? Like bro, they, they, they did what everybody else did. Like you could call it cheap. Any team would have done exactly. They, they played by the rules. That that was it. So yeah, whatever. Like I, that that's not a, I

[Biz Nuge]

don't consider a little bit of this is. Is you sucking up the coupe because you picked against them in the first

[Ryan G]

saying how much is paying this guy in the chat you went against him

[Biz Nuge]

in the round one here, bro, I

[Ryan Whitney]

Ain't going back to the greatest buyer again. No, it's not at all, though. This was like, totally, like, a coach. A coach thing. Like, literally, like. Like, why would I. Like, how does me defend the cooch?

[Biz Nuge]

Like, I think. Oh, it's just like more of a distraction.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, no, no, I. I just was, like, triggered by this guy. Like. Like, he dragged it like cooches regular season. But no, I'm like. Like, I. I would say this about the NBA as well. Like, to say, like.

[Biz Nuge]

Texted Coop yet?

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, listen. Yeah, I. Listen, I text him this morning. I said a little while ago. Yeah. And. Yeah, you know, like, what? I just. You know, he's a buddy and you feel bad for him and whatever, but. Yeah, it's not. I'm not doing this because of Coop. Yeah, he's gonna give me.

[Biz Nuge]

I was just kind of half around and. But anyway, we can move on.

[Ryan Whitney]

No, we can't move on. We got. Okay. Our local team, the Boston Fleet and the Professional Women's league, they're tied 1:1 right now. And this is. I guess maybe. I don't know if I'm craggy today or what, but I. I was looking for the score Saturday night. I got a text from a friend to ask him if I was at the game. And I said, oh, I went to the ESPN app, right? I was like, oh, where's the PWHL score? I. I found tgl, which is fake golf, guys hitting into a screen. Savannah Bananas. Fake baseball, gaming, cricket, rugby. Love my ruggers. But chess, badminton, Some sport I can't pronounce. Couldn't find the PWHL score on the ESPN app.

[Keith]

And that's Savannah Banana game.

[Ryan Whitney]

I don't do to the seven backflips.

[Biz Nuge]

Why won't you just go to the pwhl?

[Ryan G]

That's great.

[Keith]

Too easy. Something to be mad about.

[Ryan G]

Great question.

[Ryan Whitney]

That's not the point, Paul. Of course I can do that. But, like. Like, I'm calling out ESPN for not having a professional woman's hockey.

[Biz Nuge]

They had. They had the Savannah Bananas on as opposed to the NHL. They punted the NHL game to a different channel. They don't give up.

[Ryan Whitney]

They were offered cricket. Chess scores, bro.

[Biz Nuge]

Cricket's the biggest game in the world.

[Ryan Whitney]

Chess, Okay.

[Biz Nuge]

I think cricket is.

[Ryan Whitney]

If you.

[Biz Nuge]

It's the biggest game in India.

[Ryan Whitney]

I'm practicing what we preach here. We talk about growing the game, the women's game, whatever. I got friends on that team. And the fact that they've not scores on ESPN. I know I can go to 17 other sites and find it. So ESPN for not having it.

[Ryan G]

That's all this guy's put Your tweet sent this guy off the handle.

[Keith]

Holy.

[Biz Nuge]

Yeah, just like.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Biz Nuge]

I would just. I would think if I wanted the scores, I would just go to the PWHL website.

[Ryan Whitney]

Boom.

[Biz Nuge]

Type it in.

[Ryan Whitney]

No, Doyle. Right, right. But. But the worldwide leader in sports isn't showing scores for the. The only professional women's hockey league. And you get chess goes from India,

[Biz Nuge]

so that's once again going to cricket. It's the number two sport in the world that has 2.5 billion fans.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Ryan G]

No, no, I just knew soccer.

[Keith]

You know what number one is?

[Ryan G]

Yeah.

[Keith]

Football.

[Ryan Whitney]

What is it Most gambles in the world.

[Biz Nuge]

Oh, okay.

[Ryan Whitney]

All right. Let's talk about something joyous. Paul, hit me up.

[Biz Nuge]

Let's do that.

[Ryan Whitney]

Let's do it. I'm really not angry. I just get fired up, you know? I love you.

[Biz Nuge]

And I think. I don't think there's any denying here the growth of women's even, like, women's sport. Like, look at where the. The WNBA is, the salaries, where they've gotten to, the fact that PWHL is going to have expansion coming again, so.

[Ryan Whitney]

And I'm just in a good place Conglomerate.

[Biz Nuge]

ESPN wants to jump on board and make sure the. The bar tabs are up there.

[Ryan Whitney]

Let's go show the schools. How's the social life? What do you been up to, buddy?

[Biz Nuge]

I've been in my hotel room or at the studio just consuming hockey. That's it, buddy.

[Ryan Whitney]

I know.

[Biz Nuge]

Same zone, zoned in.

[Ryan Whitney]

All right. What else, Keith? What you been up to, bro?

[Keith]

Not much. Same thing. Just watching hockey. Enjoying these playoffs. They've been a blast so far and.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, they have been. They have been awesome. I think I gave a F all my picks up. G, by the way, once again, buddy, thanks again for the hospitality. The greatest buy. Don't go there too often, but it was. Was an awesome time. So, boys, I don't know if we got anything else. I know it's been.

[Biz Nuge]

No, that was a good, great show.

[Ryan Whitney]

Like. Yeah.

[Biz Nuge]

Love it.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah.

[Biz Nuge]

It's been three hours.

[Keith]

Holy.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Creeping up on it. Oh, yeah. Actually, no. G just said my thoughts on the Bruins. Like, gee, honestly, buddy, I thought you got in my stash earlier. You come out firing guns, ablazing earlier, your points were. I could basically echo them again, this is a gravy yet. This is a team people thought was going to be in the gutter. A lottery pick. We got six games out of it. I think the experience is good for the coach, for the players. And it's like, okay, this is what we need to clean up. Yeah, we need some top six scoring. Obviously the Lindholm twins. Yeah. Not the best signs. I don't think I move one of those guys, but you got to work around that. Another defenseman, but the future, it's not like, shining bright, but you don't fucking blow up. When you have a number one goalie, number one defenseman, and a superstar like forward, you don't blow the up the team up. You try to build around on the fly. It can be done. We see it with other teams, and hopefully the Bruins do that.

[Ryan G]

All right. Is there anything else on your mind you want to get off your chest?

[Ryan Whitney]

You know, I feel like there is,

[Ryan G]

boys, don't you guys?

[Keith]

Let's hear it.

[Ryan Whitney]

You know what, dude? I. And I. Maybe this is probably, like, subconscious. Yeah. Yeah. You got.

[Ryan G]

I can tell we known you a long time. I could.

[Ryan Whitney]

When you get a mailbox and there's. And you get a letter, there's not a stamp on it or return address. That's not a good. A good thing.

[Biz Nuge]

What is that?

[Ryan G]

Are you talking about.

[Biz Nuge]

What does that mean?

[Ryan Whitney]

Oh, the. The local legal jurisdiction is. Is looking for you. No, no, I didn't. Thought I didn't do a score or nothing like that. I'm not selling on the side. No.

[Ryan G]

Are you wanted right now?

[Ryan Whitney]

No, I'm not. No. No, I'm not. Not wanted yet. No. No. Basically tied to the divorce stuff. And I know I said I was gonna bring it up as a segment, but I like, it's the playoffs. It's fun. I don't want to talk about this depression, but. Yeah, man, like I said earlier, you know, like, this. A poor guy got bent over.

[Merles]

It's.

[Ryan Whitney]

It's laws. It's. It's an agenda thing. The way the laws are set up, they. They certain individuals over and they can be manipulated and played to. To people's strengths or whatever. And, you know, you know, like my finances. Yeah. Like, you. We have no kids. We didn't. Like, everything was 50, 50. But it's like all of a sudden I got to support a person who. Who can work but, like, can live off, you know, my dying part time, basically. And it's like, it's tough to make up what I have to make up, and I have no money because of that particular person. And like. Okay, like now, like, oh, you want to. You're. You're behind. You bring the court. It's like, well, I'm behind because you blew all the dough. Now I'm giving you what I can. You don't need it. And it's like, okay, you ought to drag my ass to court because like, what you don't have enough? Like, yeah, I'm. You're living off me. You're living on my tit right now. And like, I'm getting dragged back. I gotta get a lawyer. It's just. Yeah. So I honestly. What I wasn't even thinking about it, but I guess that was bubbling underneath that, like just, it's just, man, listen, like, I don't. People old guys used to say, oh, people don't get married. Don't get married. Whatever, dude. No fault states of again. It ain't a guy girl thing agenda. They you over, bro. The laws are what they are. I could have had Johnny Cochrane and like Dershowitz and on all those guys behind me don't matter. It's like, this is what they have to do it. And it's just it. It you over. I think in a bad way.

[Biz Nuge]

It's an important conversation. Like, obviously we're at the end of the episode. It's Ra's world, by the way.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, I know.

[Biz Nuge]

If you're not. This can go anywhere. Anywhere the RA wants it to go. And that's what we kind of love about it. I think that it's a good conversation and it's something that our younger audience, even female audience, if you're making more than your significant other and you guys want to get married, I would just protect what you think that you deserve, that you're gonna need and what you deserve in the end. If you're getting in a relationship with someone, if they have a different change of feelings like that, protect. Protect what you think you deserve. And I guess that's really the only. Get a prenup. I ironclad prenup if you want to project that.

[Ryan Whitney]

You know, when I was. I was. I mean, I was unemployed. Like maybe had some side gigs at the time, but I was unemployed. But I got, I had no, like, you know, this was years before chicklets. It was. There was, there was even a thought in my mind. I knew we weren't having kids, but. And as far as like the, you know, no fault divorce, listen, it came about in the 70s and you know, my, my parents divorced younger. My mother got remarried and I had a stepdad and he was a great guy. Wasn't. And so I, I, I understand why, why those laws came to be, you know, like you know, you know, sorry, you know, you don't want to worry about your mom. But I know, I know why those laws came. But this, this has nothing to do with that. Now it's like, that was whole. Women can get out of like, shitty situations. But like, this ain't that, man. Like, you're not woman, like male, female. It's a, It's a protect way, a marriage thing. When. And someone like, okay, you play the long gone, the long game. Okay, I ain't gonna make a sent for the next couple years. And so that, the income disparities like this. And then like, like, I'm gonna take you to cleaners because these are the laws. Like I have. You've been married this long, you have to give this X amount. Even though we have no kids, no real estate, no nothing.

[Biz Nuge]

Right.

[Ryan Whitney]

And whatever. And the same poor woe is me. It's just like. Yeah, it, it becomes that because, like, it's just, it's not fair, man. You get taken to the cleaner, you

[Biz Nuge]

feel like you took care of that person for, for 10 years and you supported a grown adult and then.

[Ryan G]

Yeah.

[Biz Nuge]

And then all of a sudden that person wants to leave and it's their decision and it's like, oh, no, not only did you support me for 10 years, I'm gonna keep taking half of what you're making.

[Ryan Whitney]

And not, not to mention, you know, divorces don't happen in a bubble or overnight. And with someone for decades, you know, there's, there's, there's that aspect of, of it as well. So it's just like.

[Ryan G]

Yeah, I, I've been talking to you, you know, throughout this. Remember, chatting about this. I was driving one time. I'm sorry you're going through this.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah, no, and I've been great. I, I, like, like, literally, I feel like who I was like, even before checkers, I. And I even, I said tell people like, like, even in the chicken started with like, you know, things weren't great back then even. It's like. So I, I always said, like, that was probably 90 of who I was, and I felt like who I actually am like the last year or so. And, And I don't, I don't bring this up. I don't dwell on it, but like I said, I, you know, it's a shitty way to like, go to your mailbox and, and you know, you're doing the right thing and it's like, I don't know.

[Ryan G]

And you just keep getting bent over.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah. And. And again, the laws out there, I Got a great lawyer, but, you know, there's only so much you could do. And so I, I, I don't mean

[Ryan G]

if I, I didn't mean to. I, I just. I could tell knowing you. I could tell knowing you that something was there. And I. And I hope you don't mind me, you know, saying. All right, get something off your chest. Maybe it helps you to talk about this.

[Biz Nuge]

Boys, this is big.

[Gary Lawless]

Let's.

[Biz Nuge]

Let's be honest. We have a strong male demographic traffic. Right. And once again, this doesn't come down to sex. If you're a woman listening to this and you're. And you're earning, you know, a quarter of a million dollars a year and you have a partner who's a. They're not really motivated. They just kind of want to mope around.

[Ryan G]

Just.

[Biz Nuge]

Just protect yourself if you're getting into something. And, and because if, if you don't want to be let down in 15 years, if they decide they want to up and leave, and all of a sudden you're. You're on. You're on the hook for paying for. It's. It's a, It's a great life. Life advice for anybody listening who might be going through this or making a decision very soon about embarking on a journey with someone.

[Ryan Whitney]

Yeah. Like, oh, yeah, think about. Obviously it's a major life decision, but, like, you know, it's whatever like, happens in life. And like I've been saying, it's not like one of my best friends, one of my oldest pals. Like, I've been friends with her for. Since we've been diapers and like, say literally the same thing happened to her, like, way worse than my thing. So like this I just want to emphasize this ain't like, oh, divorce guy about whatever. Like.

[Biz Nuge]

No, no.

[Ryan Whitney]

Know, I've had women, the laws, people over if they're. They're very easily manipulated to like, to. To pork someone, like. And so, so whatever. I appreciate you guys, like, now let me vent. I didn't had no idea we were gonna go this route. But Whitney, great recognizing that, you know, maybe it was something bubbling underneath and I maybe had to get a shot my chest hopefully maybe other people. I'm not telling you, like call lawyers, blah, blah. But happens, man. I'm dealing with it. And I love you guys.

[Biz Nuge]

We love you too.

[Ryan G]

I love you as well.

[Biz Nuge]

Appreciate you being vulnerable.

[Ryan G]

Yeah. Ducks. All right. Ducks.

[Ryan Whitney]

Can you whack? Whack.

[Ryan G]

You're on the duck. Yeah, I got it. 1 I think I owe through a quack.

[Ryan Whitney]

And I would have had it. I would have had 80 to one ticket if it wasn't for you to hold too.

[Ryan G]

I know.

[Biz Nuge]

I know.

[Ryan G]

Everyone love you long.

[Biz Nuge]

She ain't getting the Tesla.

[Ryan G]

There it is, everyone. Thank you for watching. We'll be back Thursday. Thank you so much. We love you all. Ra. Feel better, buddy. And we will talk to you all soon.

[Biz Nuge]

Love it.

[Ryan G]

Won't happen again. Again. A bad habit worth breaking but it's taking time.

[Biz Nuge]

I don't know.

[Ryan G]

Don't let it. It's going to happen. It's going to happen again. Wanna wall.