Spittin’ Chiclets Episode 658: Featuring Dave Portnoy

Summary

Spittin’ Chiclets Episode 658: Featuring Dave Portnoy

Date: June 30, 2026
Main Hosts: Ryan Whitney (Wit), Paul Bissonnette (Biz), Rear Admiral (RA), Mike Grinnell (G)
Guest: Dave Portnoy (Barstool Sports President)

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Episode Overview

Episode 658 of Spittin’ Chiclets is a signature blend of biting NHL analysis, irreverent storytelling, and inside industry banter—with a special guest appearance from Barstool founder Dave Portnoy. The show careens through major offseason NHL trades and free agency drama, the World Cup, and Barstool’s business machinations, wrapping up with Portnoy’s new memoir and the wild saga of how he bought his company back for one dollar. This extended episode is loaded with off-the-cuff moments, memorable storytelling, and signature Chiclets humor.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Summer Vibes and World Cup Buzz

• Kickoff and Banter (02:16 – 11:30)

  • The guys celebrate the arrival of summer, hockey’s offseason, and big moments for Canada’s men’s soccer team.
  • Biz hypes up Canada’s first-ever World Cup win and laughs about “bandwagon” fandom:
    “Every time Wayne gets asked to do this now, and of course, he got asked for Team Canada, he's like, all right, let's get biz firing up the boys...” (04:20)
  • Discussion on national pride, viewership statistics, and the surprising growth of soccer interest in North America.

• Hockey’s Growing Female Audience (13:07 – 15:16)

  • G points out a 138% increase in women's NHL viewership:
    “138% from last season. Which is kind of nuts if you think...” (14:02)
  • The crew discusses Pride Nights and the impact of player personalities/pop culture crossovers (e.g., Balenciaga runway cameos).

2. Notable NHL News & Trade Speculation

• Mike Babcock Press Conference Fallout (16:04 – 23:45)

  • In-depth reactions to Babcock’s press conference with the Oilers and mixed legacy as a "hard coach."
  • Stories from former players (both sides of the spectrum) and questions of accountability and redemption:
    “I've had three different people that played for Babs reach out to me and say... I loved playing for them. I just want to say that...” (17:37)
  • Jokes about the Babcock phone controversy and implications for the Oilers' culture.

• Trade Dominoes & Free Agency Buzz (23:59 – 40:01)

  • Jason Robertson’s Contract Saga:

    • Turned down $15.6M/year for 8 years from Seattle, Dallas offers $12M, but trade rumors swirl.
    • Debate over loyalty/disrespect vs. cap realities and the shifting landscape for marquee players.
    • “If they're offering you what Rontanen's making...and you really want to stay and you're not taking it. Am I wrong in saying that?” (26:09, Biz)

  • Zach Werenski Rumors:

    • Columbus defenseman possibly on the move; speculation about fitting pieces (Harley, Larkin) among contenders.

  • Seattle Kraken’s Challenges:

    • High contract offers aren’t attracting signature free agents due to state taxes and ‘unproven’ status.
    • “Washington state does not currently have a traditional state personal income tax on wages or salaries. However…9.9% over $1M coming in 2029.” (29:43, G)

  • St. Louis Blues & Mason McTavish:

    • Blues acquire McTavish; debate on his potential in a new environment, age alignment with core.

  • Rangers Trade for Dorofeyev:

    • Powerplay implications, lack of puck distributors, and whether goal scorers are overvalued.
    • “Who is getting them the puck, though? That is the other side of the argument.” (66:57, Biz)

  • Buffalo/Washington Moves:

    • Major offseason splashes from Capitals (Kyrou, Alex Tuch).
    • Positive trends in Buffalo—multiple players on team-friendly deals, young core depth.

  • Goalie Carousel:

    • Hellebuyck to Buffalo rumors, Kosa trade to Utah, and Detroit’s endorsement of Augustine as “goalie of the future.”

3. 2026 NHL Draft Reactions (121:53 – 130:47)

• Toronto Maple Leafs Draft Gavin McKenna First Overall:

  • The story of a kid from the Yukon, media hype, and Justin Bieber’s viral pick announcement.
  • “Could not be more high in Toronto in one of the meccas of our sport compared to...four months ago when they were gonna not make playoffs.” (126:01, G)

• San Jose Sharks Prospect Pipeline:

  • Star-studded rebuild: Celebrini, Will Smith, Verhoff, Misa, Stenberg, etc.
  • “We're not talking two or three guys like six to eight people that are big time prospects. One is already an MVP type player.” (124:39, Biz)
  • Praise for Mike Greer’s job as GM.

• Unique Draft Stories:

  • Penguins drafting twin brothers, Cayman Islands player making the NHL after starting on roller hockey at 13.

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Featured Interview: Dave Portnoy (82:37 – 116:17)

The Inside Story of Buying Back Barstool for $1

• How the ESPN Deal Almost Killed Barstool

  • Portnoy narrates the surreal moment CEO Jay Snowden told him ESPN required Portnoy’s removal for their “Barstool Sportsbook” deal:
    "There's one part... ESPN said, we will do this deal, provide one thing. Dave Portnoy cannot be part of Barstool Sports anymore.” (89:51, Portnoy)

  • The pressure: Penn owning Barstool, ESPN’s demands, and the threat to PMT, Big Cat, Erika Nardini, and the entire staff.

  • “It was like, they're gonna vest all your stocks, so you're gonna be rich. And it's like, go on. And I was just stunned...” (90:04, Portnoy)

• Negotiation & Redemption

  • Dave used the leverage of his staff’s loyalty and ESPN’s tunnel-vision for gambling to win Barstool back for $1 (plus liabilities/taking on all operating expenses).
  • "We all... decided to keep it, and that was basically how the company got back." (91:57)

• Why Not Cash Out and Walk?

  • Emotional loyalty to Barstool, protecting the staff, and refusal to let ESPN “fire him from his own company.”
  • Aggressive legal NDAs prevented disclosure—until now.

• Behind the Book: “Cancel Me If You Can”

  • Initial plan: Francis Ellis (Harvard comic) to ghost-write. Dave hated the first draft—“wasn’t my voice”—and rewrote it himself.
  • No “grandiose” purpose—main goal is “ego,” a NYT bestseller, and “just a great story."
  • "I think Barstool is a great movie. I mean, the story's insane..." (101:09, Portnoy)

• Power Dynamics at Pardon My Take

  • Candid about past tension with Dan “Big Cat” Katz and PFT Commenter, how ESPN drama rekindled their partnership and trust.
  • "I think they were looking at ways to get out of Barstool. Like, what is our next step? Dave made all this money..." (103:20, Portnoy)

• Handling Cancel Culture & Business Insider Scandal

  • Reveals stress and exhaustion of being the internet’s primary target, his strategy and emotional toll.

• Legacy

  • Portnoy reflects on the unique “luck” of Barstool’s trajectory, the confluence of sports, timing, and digital savvy.
  • Shout out to staffers, inside jokes with Bosco, Pink Whitney, and serendipitous sponsorship deals.

Notable Quotes

• "They tried to fire me from my own company after 20 years. It's still crazy to me..." (95:10, Portnoy)
• "I would have made so much money I could have gone to the sunset. That was a huge part of it... and then it's like ESPN actually fired me." (94:47)
• “If Zuckerberg got a movie, I think you should… be on the list.” (101:17, G)
• “It was the right people, the right time to take advantage, but so many things had to break just perfectly…” (108:21, Portnoy)

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Additional Segments

Pop Culture & Music (143:14 – 146:33)

• RA’s Strokes concert review (“never saw so many women at a rock show”).
• Movie picks: “The Warriors” (1979), “Jaws” July 4th screening, Boston-centric “Friends of Eddie Coyle.”

Offbeat/Classic Chiclets Humor

• RA’s “Skullet” selfie in the doctor’s office.
• “Forgot the Dog” ferry story (148:00+)
• Maradona YouTube clips, cocaine at Caddyshack dinner, and riffing on soccer skills.

Chiclets Shout-Outs & Listener Community

• Congratulations to family and friends, catching up on listener questions.
• Running jokes on “pinky’s up” and “off the wagon” fandom.

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Segment | Timestamp | |---------|-----------| | Summer banter, World Cup | 02:16 – 11:30 | | NHL female viewership, Pride discussion | 13:07 – 15:16 | | Babcock Oilers presser | 16:04 – 23:45 | | Robertson, trades, Seattle’s struggles | 23:59 – 40:01 | | Werenski, Larkin, Dallas saga | 33:10 – 44:44 | | Capitals, Tuch & Kyrou trades | 47:17 – 50:54 | | Buffalo’s offseason | 52:22 – 62:15 | | NHL Draft recap (McKenna, San Jose) | 121:53 – 130:47 | | Dave Portnoy Interview | 82:37 – 116:17 | | Classic RA segment / Music/Movies | 143:14 – 146:33 |

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Memorable Moments & Quotes

• On bandwagon soccer fans:
  “That's what everybody in this tournament is—a bandwagon fan. Especially if you're in North America.” (07:03, Keith)

• Biz on female viewership:
  “138% from last season. Which is kind of nuts if you think all it took was a little sucking…” (14:02, Biz)

• Dave Portnoy on being ousted:
  “There's one part... ESPN said, we will do this deal, provide one thing. Dave Portnoy cannot be part of Barstool Sports anymore.” (89:51)

• On Barstool’s luck:
  “Whenever Barstool has needed something, like, to break our way, it really has.” (108:21, Portnoy)

• On draft-day surprises:
  “I texted nine people who work within teams...Eight of them said, go back. Go back to where everyone’s there.” (129:46, Biz)

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Episode Tone & Style

• Irreverent, spontaneous, and deeply conversational. The crew riff with a blend of deep-dive analysis and locker room humor.
• Storytelling—rich details, willingness to digress, plenty of first-person anecdotes and inside jokes.
• Candid industry insight—from player backchannels to front-office decisions to the business behind Barstool.

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Final Thoughts

This episode encapsulates everything that makes Spittin’ Chiclets a touchstone for hockey fans and sports-media aficionados: unapologetic opinions, rollicking storytelling, inside scoops, and a rare look into the business battles shaping sports and media. Dave Portnoy’s guest appearance—timed to his book release—anchors the episode as a must-listen for anyone interested in modern sports media, high-stakes business drama, or just a wickedly entertaining hockey podcast.

Transcript

[RA]

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

[Biz]

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[G]

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[Biz]

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[Dave Portnoy]

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[Biz]

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[Dave Portnoy]

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[Biz]

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[Dave Portnoy]

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[Biz]

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[Dave Portnoy]

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[Biz]

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[Dave Portnoy]

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[RA]

Me and Ryan have been officially welcomed to the jungle that is Barstool Sports.

[G]

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

[Biz]

Ryan Whitney's got a pink Whitney out there now. The song man is a full time member. My religious gift got an assist from Chris.

[Keith]

Whoa, we're buzzing right now.

[Biz]

What is up folks? Welcome to episode 658 of the Spitting Chickens podcast. Birthday by Pinkies Up. That's right guys. Pink Whitney. Here we go. It is the summer. It is officially the summer. Maybe last week when we recorded was the first of the summer. What is it like June 22nd or something like that. The longest day. That's the day I want to try to play like six Summer solstice.

[G]

Summer solstice is what you're looking for.

[Biz]

Yeah, and Buddy, it's like 8:15. It's the light o. That's just living. That's absolutely living. But right now, we're coming up on the 4th of July and Canada day Biz and shuttle Canada.

[Keith]

Wow.

[Biz]

Pinkies up to the Canadian men's World cup team with that. Which I believe had never won a game until this year.

[G]

They'd never won a World cup game before. The Qatar game.

[Biz]

Okay, okay, so listen, I think there's been a lot of discourse of Canada, the Olympics, the men's hockey Olympics this year really up our relations. And. And I love Canada. I love Canada. I. I love trying to beat Canada. But at the same time, Canada and us, in my mind, we are one. We are one. And to watch, you got. Now, if we somehow met in the World cup, all of a sudden. All of a sudden, it begins again.

[G]

But we're going to be doing separate pods by the time this season hits.

[Keith]

Let's. Let's be honest, though. That's never going to happen.

[Biz]

Yeah. I don't think that either one of our squads are our favorite to go far enough to meet each other. I don't think. I haven't looked at the bracket, but what an electric game. So I guess I'm going pinkies up for the Canadian men's World cup team to win that game in just incredible fashion. Last minute. I think it was late penalty time.

[Keith]

Or.

[G]

Or extra time.

[Biz]

Extra time.

[Unknown Guest 1]

Goal.

[Biz]

And it was in. Where was that game? La, I believe, too.

[G]

Yeah, Stadium. And I guess Canadians, there was a

[Biz]

chance at some point we may chat with the coach. I don't know, like, that you mentioned that There's.

[G]

I got a lot of negative tweets saying, like, oh, yeah, jumping on the soccer bandwagon. Like, I literally sent out a pump up video to their coach because Wayne asked me to. Wayne. Wayne. Like, remember when we went to Edmonton and Wayne got asked to, like, go in and pump up the. The oil kings and you did. And he's like, yeah, where's the. Hey, where's the court jester? Bring him down.

[Biz]

Where's that clown?

[Keith]

Clown nose.

[G]

Yeah, through the nose again. The best part about it is Whit had just finished shaving my. My Peter mans bis the day prior. So I come in and I take my ball cap off and I do a little popup. So every time Wayne gets asked to do this now, y. And of course, he got asked for Team Canada, he's like, all right, let's get. Let's get biz Firing up the boys. I would. I. I guess I'll ask the Coach, when the tournament's over, if we could play it on here, like how I fired him up and hopefully we get him on. He was going to come on. But I think that they had to travel to Mexico now where they're going to be playing their round of 16 game. So pretty crazy that it sucked though, because they, they lost against the Swiss, so they didn't win their division, which would have meant they would have played the round of 32 game in Vancouver, which would have been like the crazy. I think that would have been the biggest ever Canadian sporting event on.

[Biz]

Oh, no, no, you're hockey 2010 Olympics.

[Keith]

I.

[G]

No, listen, I, I'm, I'm saying from a sense of viewership, because, like, no, like, am I crazy here?

[Keith]

I think so. Because the game didn't mean anything, right? It was.

[Biz]

No, but he's saying if they played

[G]

at home, round of 32, just because not only the amount of Canadian eyeballs, but the amount of world eyeballs, like now that you're in the knockout rounds, like, I feel like not just Canadians are watching. So. Yes, yes, the Vancouver Olympics, like if you could pull up the numbers, maybe it would have had out of the, out of the 35 million Canadians, what 15 million Canadians watch. I'm going to need some help from the back here.

[Keith]

Yeah.

[G]

But I would say that if they would have played that on Canadian soil, you might have had. And maybe they still did have half of the televisions can't in Canada watching.

[Unknown Guest 1]

But regardless, the viewership in America was 27.6 million on NBC and on Canada, it was 16.6.

[Biz]

It says on.

[G]

On that round of 30.

[Unknown Guest 1]

No, no, for the Olympics. For the Olympics in 2010, if we

[Biz]

had 27 million Americans watching Canada vers.

[Keith]

Who.

[Biz]

Who they beat the other day, who'd they beat?

[G]

They beat Qatar.

[Biz]

They beat Qatar. Okay, okay. No, that was the first game. Who they beat in the.

[Unknown Guest 1]

South Africa.

[G]

South Africa.

[Biz]

South Africa. If we had 27 million Americans watching that game, I been like, okay, I guess hockey's never sniffing soccer. Not that it ever would.

[G]

Do we have the numbers on that game yet? Go ahead, Yans.

[Keith]

Just for those people calling you a bandwagon fan of this. That's what everybody in this tournament is, a bandwagon fan. Especially if you're in North America. Unless except for Mexico, no one in US And Canada is watching soccer like they are overseas or there are, I

[Biz]

believe there are in the US not going to say an enormous group, but there's some US Soccer fans. Actually our guy PFT is like he doesn't watch soccer unless it's Team usa, like the national team. So I think that in a sense it's getting bigger in the U.S. now, if the U.S. were to go on a run here, that could be in 10, 15 years. That's something that you could actually be like, holy shit, they went on a run in the US I will say this too, considering it's the US Is hosting with Canada and Mexico, any of those teams moving on should have automatically had the at least round of 32 game at home. I guess you can't do it based on like bracking and everything, but they should agree.

[G]

But yeah, no, I, I would have liked to have seen that. But nonetheless, maybe a good thing on short rest they go to Sofi and then you're outside of Canada where, hey, maybe there felt like there was a little less pressure and just focus on the game and, and booyah, man, they execute. And Portnoy had some pretty funny comments like, like, like how, how did Canada all of a sudden become good at soccer? And here we are, man, round, round. One of the best 16 countries going at. I would have only known Alfonso Davies as the only Canadian soccer player before that tournament even began.

[Biz]

Well, that's what I was going to on your pump up video. You know, Wayne Gretzky comes on a Pump up video for the World cup team. They're like, holy shit. How many guys do you think know who you are, buddy?

[G]

I legit say it at the start of the video. I go, boys, what an honor to be here. I said, you I go, 95% of you in that room have no clue who I am right now. But being generous, I go, one guy,

[Biz]

I seen this guy on Ry. He's all over. He stole my girl.

[G]

I, I, So I panned down to this shirt right here, and I said, you guys would know the guy who sent me over and it was from the Gretzky Hockey school jersey. So I, I panned down.

[Biz]

They're like, oh, Drake, what's. Isn't that one of the ovo.

[Keith]

Ovo. Ovo.

[G]

Yeah.

[Biz]

She's saying in the chat, imagine never imagine the coach never showed it to the team. That's what we could find out if we ever interviewed.

[Keith]

Hey, what if the coach never even asked for the video and it was Foals?

[G]

Oh, then that means one of you guys would have stored his number as 99. Under.

[Biz]

Under 99. That would have been diabolical right there. But I, you know, we're going to get into all. We kind of haven't mentioned the action around the NHL. We knew this was gonna happen, but it's electric. We're gonna get into.

[G]

We are blessed, boys.

[Biz]

Yeah, very blessed.

[G]

We're truly blessed. Our sport is continuing to impress. It's on the world stage now and it just keeps getting better and better and better. People are. Are kind of hating the fact that we're somewhat on board with the super team thing. Like, I don't know about you guys, but this shit's exciting and. And I. I do self admittedly have to say this, so. So they beat Qatar. Wasn't able to watch the game. Then they play against Swiss. I dial in. I'm watching. Well, of course they lose, right? Because everything I touch in Canada turns to shit. Right? The Lee I left the Leafs, they got Warrensky and Bobrovsky ready to sign. They got Gavin McKenna fucking, you know, collabing with little Bieber on stage there. Everything Trica's touching turns to gold and they fucking get the Radish signed up for eight years. So. So I don't watch the Swiss game, or I do watch a Swiss game. They lose. So I decide I'm not going to. I'm not going to fuck things up for Canada here. I go on a big long hike during the game. Like literally as soon as it starts, I go on the hike. So obviously when I get service Candler flags. Congratulations. So I guess I am somewhat of a bandwagon fan, but that's okay. Kind of. I think I've taken over for Drake as the curse. So I will. I will not be tuning in to.

[Biz]

You won't watch a minute.

[G]

I will not.

[Biz]

Okay. Okay.

[G]

So if you. If you think I'm not loyal to the soil, I will. I'm gonna be walking around with a blindfold on like that movie that the lady from what's. Who am I thinking of which. She's got the blindfold on and she's like going through the forest. I heard Sandra Bullock.

[Biz]

I got no idea. It's speed. She's on a bus that's getting ke.

[Keith]

Not speed. Not speed.

[Biz]

I don't know.

[Keith]

Look, walk like Blackbird or something. Something.

[G]

I don't know.

[RA]

I don't know.

[Biz]

That's.

[G]

We're gonna need some help.

[Unknown Guest 1]

I will say though, we did do a deal with DraftKings where it's. It's Barstool's doing as a whole. We got Canada as our team. So if Canada does make.

[Biz]

We're in.

[Unknown Guest 1]

We're in that. And we picked.

[Biz]

I saw that and I was like, are we in.

[Unknown Guest 1]

We're in it. So if Canada wins, if Canada makes it to the World cup final, we get a $15,000 free bet courtesy of DraftKings. So we're pulling for Canada, boys, and

[G]

you know the Leafs to win the cup next year.

[Biz]

Oh, yeah. Business hopping right back in.

[G]

No, I mean, and I'll say this. I'm not only loyal to the soil, but you leaves fans should be fucking gargling my nut bag right now for hopping off. Everything has gone your way, literally. Give me the timeline of when I hopped off the number 12 lottery ball. Gavin McKenna Bieber, like, tell me what else has happened.

[Biz]

Well, I'm gonna pump your tires first, buddy, because I thought you'd come out. Guns of lazing at this. A while back, when all the heated rivalry discussion was going on, and I don't know if it was live, recording, or at dinner, you were like, boys, there are so many women that are going to be watching the NHL now. And I was like, what are you talking about? Did you see the ratings?

[G]

Yes.

[Unknown Guest 1]

Did you?

[G]

We talked about this at Penn State when we were in that private room. And all you guys are like, rolling your eyes at me. You guys, you guys think I'm stupid.

[Biz]

No, I think you're a stupid genius. So, yeah, part of it's true, but you're also a genius in ways. So I'm not just thinking you're stupid.

[G]

I was saying at this dinner, I'm saying, like, these guys who were in this hockey show that have all of a sudden attracted all these women that are calling it the Aqu. The boy aquarium. Like, all these, all of a sudden, all these Rockets are at hockey games with guys jerseys on. They're following them on Instagram now. You're seeing this follow page where, like, all these hockey guys are having to start unfollowing some of these. These pages. Guys were all of a sudden on runways with Balenciaga, with Yves Saint Laurent. Like, you could tell the impact it was having on the female community and the draw. So what were the numbers and growth from the female audience?

[Biz]

138% from last season. Which is kind of nuts if you

[G]

think all it took was a little sucking.

[Biz]

Boys, the couple guys stand up 69 in each other.

[G]

That's what I'm saying.

[Biz]

In a fake hockey league. And we got women watching this sport everywhere. So shout out, shout out the women watching.

[Keith]

How can they prove that? I don't understand how they can prove it.

[Biz]

I, I, I, that's way.

[G]

You just trust me for one time. Keith.

[Keith]

Oh, I trust you. Yeah.

[Biz]

No, no, he banged it out of the park. He banged.

[G]

And for those of you saying we're being homopho this or, or what do you mean? No, no, I'm saying about the fact that all it took was a little sucking. We are. We. I, I, I'm going to vote for this right now. And this might be a hot day. We should be doing two pride nights per team next year. I want two pride nights.

[Keith]

Okay.

[Biz]

No G's saying. Also, some are saying it was Jack Hughes and Team usa. They got women into hockey. I, I have no doubt that's part of it. I swear to God.

[G]

Should get some credit.

[Biz]

I'm gonna put that at 15%. I'm gonna put those two guys licking each other up and down in a fake hockey league at 85%. So let's do a poll.

[G]

Let's do a poll.

[Keith]

What's the poll?

[G]

Let's smoke a poll and do a poll.

[Biz]

Shout out. Women watching the amazing game.

[G]

Shout out to the ladies.

[Dave Portnoy]

Hey.

[G]

And since we're on the ladies topic, we are going to have three females attending what Development camp for the Edmonton Oilers.

[Biz]

Yes. We got Abby Murphy. I just read Chloe Prima. Primarano. Primarano. I'm saying that, right? And Caitlin Kramer. So, I mean, I might put my $15,000 free bet, if Canada reaches the World Cup Final, one of those girls to make the Oilers next season. I'm telling you, that's the, that's where we're headed now, boys. We're buzzing around. We got the pwh. Layla Edwards was crushing the draft scene. So we're gonna get into the draft a little bit, but I think we kind of want to start with. We want to start with the players. We know, the players that are established, the guys who are moving around like we haven't seen in a long time because there's action everywhere.

[G]

Am I crazy? Is my CT kicking in? Have we not talked about the Babcock press conference?

[Keith]

I think we, I think we did.

[G]

No, I don't think we didn't know.

[Keith]

I think they did this on purpose.

[G]

After we finished recording last podcast.

[Biz]

Wait.

[G]

In his brain right now.

[Keith]

I think they did it on purpose. No, we didn't. We talked about it on the group chat.

[G]

They thought they could make us miss a news cycle. Those sneaky Oilers.

[Biz]

Are you sure?

[Unknown Guest 1]

Wait, you're confused because you discussed it on game notes with the guys.

[Biz]

I went on game notes. Which, by the way, not to, like, pump my own tires. I went on game notes before I was playing Golf with buddies. We were playing in a one day member guest at Old Sandwich. We were staying over. So then we went back out after we won the. Oh, we won the tournament. And then we went back out and on the nine holes we played, I shot 31. I made five birdies and four pars. So I guess talking about Babs, like, I know I had to throw that in there. Why did I have to throw it in there? People like, shut up and talk about Babs.

[G]

No, no, I want to hear about every shot.

[Biz]

Yeah, no, no.

[G]

We did a podcast for new listeners.

[Biz]

For new listeners. There was an episode where I got into the Mass AM and literally went shot by shot. There had to be people who, like, dogs were kicked, children were yelled at

[G]

like, that's the TV gig. I thought the pod was done. I thought we lost them.

[Biz]

Well, either way, the Babs press conference. I'm going to start off with this

[G]

shout out to his old man.

[Biz]

I've had. I've had three different people that played for Babs reach out to me and say a lot of people are clueless in what they're talking about and that I love playing for them. I just want to say that because

[G]

that is something awesome.

[Keith]

Three out of what, 700 guys that play.

[Biz]

Yeah, granted, granted, no doubt there are obviously more people way out in the open that hate him, but I, I didn't want to, you know, to be.

[G]

No, we're a non biased pod.

[Biz]

Oh, no, I'm pretty biased. I'm pretty biased. But no, I'm not.

[G]

When it comes to real topics like this, like, you're trying to deliver it like down the middle for the same reason I said, buddy, I never experienced it. I have no personal ill will towards the guy. But to counter that, the stories I have heard, and apparently the guys he wasn't down with, I think that he was going out of his way to make their life downright miserable. And that's kind of like a part of the issue that obviously that's why I brought it here. I didn't. I would have never said nothing. I almost forgot to say it. The only reason I said it was because we were doing the Columbus Blue Jacket breakdown and I was like, oh, yeah, I got a call the other day from Tyson Barry nobody.

[Biz]

Buddy, you're misremembering. We were like signing off and I go, yo, wait, Biz, you got to say what you told me on the phone before we record.

[G]

Oh, okay. That's right.

[Biz]

That's how it. And you're like, oh, yeah. And you know the guy's resigning. Well, so. So come to the point of the press conference. But yeah, it was on game notes. That's crazy. We hadn't discussed this. I mean, one of the crazier press conferences I've ever seen, based on the fact that like most people I think thought he'd get up there and he would be asked and shout out Jason Greger, who did say, like, how do you be a hard coach without being a dick? Which is pretty funny because he's straight up calling him a dick. At least he has been a dick. Or so he basically was asked about the Columbus situation and was like, ah, I didn't do anything wrong. And he didn't say that.

[G]

He goes, I didn't bet, I didn't bench anyone.

[Biz]

I didn't take away anyone, I didn't sit anyone. They're like, yeah, but you never, you never coached a game. So I don't think that that was possible. But it was like, when that hit the airwaves, it was pretty funny based on what people thought would come.

[G]

I thought it was an SNL skit.

[Biz]

And the fact that he's like, yeah, like, I don't know. Like I think he said, when you make people feel uncomfortable, you want to maybe look back and see what you could do, could do different. But like, that was it. That was the extent. There was absolutely no apology. There was absolute. No, like, ah, yeah, like, kind of messed up there. But you know what? The Oilers, they know what they're signing up for here. They know exactly what they're signing up for here. And now I'm starting to think based on the text I got and his like, past and his record, this guy might, they might end up being unbelievable with.

[Keith]

Were the guys who texted you, were they stars of their team?

[G]

I was just going to ask that. Yance.

[Biz]

One was, two weren't.

[Keith]

Okay, okay. And he almost, in that press conference, it almost reminded me of someone who just doesn't read the news, doesn't have any social medias. Like, it almost was like it never even happened. He was just like, oh, my. My wife told me to shut it down. I shut it down. I was good at being retired and I went back to being retired.

[Biz]

My wife, my wife here, I don't like the vibe here.

[G]

He's like, he's like. I was, I was golfing every day. I'd speed bagged those losers at Chiclets and a sandbagger. One on three, bringing Anytime, you punk.

[Keith]

He probably doesn't even know who we are.

[G]

No, no, Exactly.

[Biz]

No, no, but I think.

[G]

Texted me about a charity golf tournament one time.

[Biz]

Before or after you got him canned?

[Keith]

Well, I think it was.

[Unknown Guest 1]

Didn't he ask for.

[Keith]

Didn't he ask for signs?

[G]

Thanks for getting paid to do nothing.

[Keith]

Didn't he ask for a signed stick from you one year?

[RA]

No.

[Biz]

Yeah.

[G]

Yeah, that was Wayne.

[Biz]

He asked Wayne for one and Wayne texted biz. But yeah, that was. That was funny. Yeah, I will.

[G]

I'll say this. And. And it goes back to like, the. What you just said. I think that, like, if he's got no problem with you and, and you're of use to him in the lineup and things are going well, I also found. I think it was on. I want to say it was one of the. One of the TSN radio shows. It wasn't on overdrive, but Dan Winick went on and I played with Dan Win a great player, great skater, very useful, like, you know, depth centerman, good at winning, draws, good penalty killer. And he said that the first year he had him, it was fine. And then the second year he was a little bit banged up and he's like, he made me hate hockey. Like, he made my life miserable. Like, he made me not want to come to the rink. And that was the first time that that had ever happened in his career. So, you know, once again, a role guy. I'm really interested, interested to see how this situation shakes out. I will remain the guy who's like, I obviously think he's done stuff to guys in the past that is complete bullshit. But I do believe in rehabilitation and second chances. Now, some of you might say he literally got xed out for that type of behavior and didn't make it to game one of the regular season. And then at a press conference, basically saying like, yeah, my old lady wants us to get the fuck out of here and collect paychecks and go back to being retired. So I respect his ability to remain an asshole and just be who he is. Let's go.

[Biz]

Yep. I mean, there's also.

[Keith]

We could put the 15 grand if we ever win it on if he even coaches a game this year.

[Biz]

No, no, he's. He's. He's coaching this year.

[Keith]

Okay.

[G]

And I guess him trying to get a hold of those three girls phones at the, at the prospects count.

[Biz]

He's got like a. He's got like a handle with him. He's like, don't do it. Don't you do it.

[G]

He's got the airplane, the Jumbotron, just watching the skate. Oh, yeah, this is what you're up to with the ladies. Okay. All right.

[Biz]

Yeah. But I guess my, my brain, the Oilers, PE fans brains of like, wow, you know what? This guy, we got a coach who's going to hold everybody accountable. He's going to figure this whole thing out. Like they still don't have any goaltending really. So I guess that, that, that's the big question mark. But I'm right. I'm glad you brought that up. We had.

[G]

I would have said Bobrovsky, but the Leafs are going to get him. And, and for two guys who hopped off the wagon of their teams, it. We seem to can't. We can't get them out of our heads. You know, Leafs and Oilers talk to start out. Can't wait to hear about this one on Twitter.

[Biz]

No, no, no, no, no. That, that was just. You just brought that up quick. I would say the number one storyline in the past week is the Jason Robertson saga. So it's very funny. I feel like we, you know, Elliot Friedman,

[G]

shout out to Elliot.

[Biz]

How do I word this? It's like every year he's becoming better and better and better at his job. Like, like you have, you have Adam Schefter and I think it's Ian Rapoport, right. In football, like kind of two and then Shams in basketball. I guess he's the one. Elliot. Now it seems as though and, and being an insider, I can't imagine how stressful it is. We've talked about that a lot. There's a lot of different guys in the league. It seems like everybody kind of has a mishap here and there. Not a mishap, but like some they, you know, they get some news, they report it doesn't happen or something goes different. Like, am I crazy? Is Elliott batting a thousand? He's just getting the story first and then he. It's correct every time.

[G]

I think he's. I think in some cases he's the one doing the trades. Like he's the one even calling the shots on some of them.

[Biz]

It's crazy.

[G]

Like he tweets it out and then the GMs like, Ah, I guess we're doing it.

[Biz]

Yeah.

[G]

Elliot Wemba. Miana. Just fucking 7:2. Duncan on the alien.

[Biz]

We gotta start calling the Alien. So the Alien insider, he reports that Jason Robertson turned down. Obviously it would have been a trade to Seattle. It's then come out that it was three first round picks and a younger player. Now in the outline here, G writes the. The younger player was not Jake o', Brien, which is a big time prospect that they have and the offer was 15 million for eight years. So he would have been the second highest paid player in the league. And then actually I did see a report from Sarah Valley that said it was actually 15.6 a year. So it would have been whatever would have made it $125 million. Contract crazy. Now, bunch of different ways we can go with this. Before I throw it to you Biz, I do want to say Jason Robertson, it's also been reported by Elliot, has been offered $12 million a year by Dallas.

[Keith]

If he's trying to turn that down,

[Biz]

if he's trying to say he wants to play and remain in Dallas, that's bullshit. I'm sorry, like you don't. Buddy, if they're offering you what Rontanen's making. Yes, enormous goal, amazing goal scorer, 96 points last year. The kid, he's. He's a sniper. But don't tell me that you're getting offered 12 million bucks a year and you really want to stay and you're not taking it. Am I wrong in saying that?

[G]

So, so here's the put little pushback that I would have with you. Obviously we're talking different salary cap and knowing what we're heading towards more he's signing a year later and I think that his camp and him have probably felt disrespected in a lot of ways to the fact that maybe it's taken till now for them to offer that and. Or the. The conversation of his name around getting traded and and them moving on from him. Like can we agree that like I'm pretty sure that there has been constant rumblings about them trading him and moving off of him.

[Biz]

Yeah, like two years now. I'd say you've been hearing it and

[G]

I don't know, maybe they are rumors but I'm assuming that part of it has to be the truth. And given the fact that he has performed and has performed well for them in playoffs, maybe even more so than ran in, especially this year, maybe not going back to last year with that first round fiasco that that Rotten and had on Rotten's revenge as we know it. So I feel that he's probably thinking like, well now that you want me to stay after you made me wait all this time and essentially prove it down to the goal line and I performed the way I did and this is where the market's at and this is what all these other players are signing for. Capri Soft just signed for 17, I think 13. Thirteen and a half range seems a little bit more realistic as a number for a guy who scored, what, 40 goals how many times now?

[Biz]

And his four, he has 43 times. His high's 46 this year, 45 the other years he didn't. He had 35. He had 29. And his first rookie year, he had 17. I mean, he's got 490 points at 456 games. His goal scor. He's got 23 goals in 62 playoff games.

[G]

I'm just so, so, so, so to play devil's advocate with you, I view it a little bit similar and, and not. Listen, there's a lot of differences, but to the Marner situation in a sense of him feeling disrespected, like they try to move him to Carolina. They try. He's like, I'm just trying to.

[Keith]

Part of the game, man. It's part of the game, though.

[G]

No, I. I get that. But in return, I don't expect him to hold that same loyalty to them. That's all I'm saying. And. And I think that we're a pro for the most part, a pro player podcast. I think there is levels to like him. Like, say, hey man, you're getting offered 8 times 12 to stick around on a winning team. And. And it's pretty good number. That's what Marner just got last year. Look what he just did in playoffs. Like, that's a. Like, like Jack Eiko just took a discount at 13 and a half. I would view him as more valuable. So in this basically this cap era, it's like, hey man, if we want to win here in Dallas, we're hoping that you take this nice deal at the eight years that we're allowed to give you at essentially a bit of this. That's a hometown discount based on what these other guys are signing for.

[Biz]

Well, yeah, based on his numbers.

[G]

So now let's shift the focus to Seattle and what this means for Seattle. And I heard an interesting comment today and it was. I. I believe it was the. The. Oh, God. The morning cup of coffee. I. I'm brutal with the names boys.

[Unknown Guest 1]

Morning cup of coffee.

[Biz]

Johnny Lazarus and.

[G]

And Colby Cohn and Kobe Cohen. And he mentioned how the. It's a shot for the no state tax state. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Washington. Washington state does not currently have a traditional state personal income tax on wages or salaries. However. However, a 9.9 individual income tax, household earnings over $1 million per year was signed into law, scheduled to take effect in 2028 and be collected starting in 2029. So if you don't think that the state now implementing a 10% tax on any dollar earned over a million dollars is going to affect their sports teams, you're out of your fucking mind. Yeah, over to you, Yan's. Over to you, Wit.

[Biz]

Go ahead, Keith.

[Keith]

Um, I get why, honestly he wouldn't want to go to Seattle. I mean, it's, I don't think it's one of those places where guys necessarily want to go right now. They're not proven yet. Once they are proven, guys will want to go there because it's a beautiful state. Like we've been there, it's nice, nice views. They take unreal care of the guys, so. But they're just not there yet. They're a new team. So. I get that. I honestly thought when he didn't sign that deal, a $15 million deal, it was like, you know, you hear Merls talk about it all the time, these guys making too much money. I thought maybe he looked at himself as like, I don't want to make that much money. I just want to kind of go about it. And then you hear that he's signing the 12. So I do not know what's going on with this guy. Personally, I would have stayed in, in Dallas with that team. It's kind of the team you came up with, you know, every year we're talking about them, that they could be cup contenders and if you take a good hometown discount, then you can promise that you're getting better, your team's getting better. So I, I get why he didn't want to go to Seattle. Obviously he has the leverage to be able to do that. He's a proven player, he's going to make huge money no matter what. But man, it's like, at what point does, where does he want to go? He's not.

[Biz]

That's what I wonder.

[G]

I also also wonder that if he is as. I don't want to say, looking at that roster and where they are cap wise because of these contenders we talk about, I would say they're one of those teams that are the most constraint with the cap of guys. They have to re up. I think Maverick Bork is up for a contract. What is he going to command? And if, if, gee, if you could put it up in the, in the chat here, I don't think they have a ton of money to play with. They got the Harley deal kicking in. Obviously, if you're playing rotten. And then Robertson, let's say Robertson does sign for 12. They don't have a ton of money to fill a decent amount of holes that they need to plug and play compared to what I think other teams have. So maybe he's looking at this situation saying, well, if we don't have Larkin and you know, I don't know. Rupe hints they have 9 million in cap space right now, but they have some guys assign here, they got some fucking. So they're going to have to move off of maybe one or two good players even in order to squeeze him in. So I don't. Maybe he's looking at it like, hey, can I maybe end up getting traded and signed to a team that is even more so in win now mode? A team that is also maybe in a no state tax or maybe just an even better environment where he once again thinks it's like, this is the better future for me, I'm going to make a little bit more. And their, their next five year trajectory looks a little bit healthier than Dallas.

[Keith]

But the team, the teams that are in win now right now cannot afford a 12 million dollar player.

[Biz]

I don't know. That's not true because Dallas is win mode Dallas.

[Keith]

That's what I'm saying.

[Biz]

I think part of it is Dallas is like, we got to switch some things up here. It's not working. I'm not just saying Jason Robertson, but look how good these teams are. They haven't, they haven't got over the hump, they haven't even got to a final. So it's like we gotta, something's gotta be moved around and Jim Nil is one of the best in the game. He, he obviously understands like there needs to be changes here.

[Unknown Guest 1]

Imagine if they do Jason Robertson for Dylan Larkin and then they do Thomas Harley and a pick or a prospect to Columbus for Zach Warrenski. Everyone wins there. Everyone.

[G]

I think Zach Warrensky's going to the Leafs, according to Twitter. And, and listen, I'm not, hey, I'm not.

[Biz]

If he does, that's actually great for the game because I don't want to see all these players, American players refusing to play in Canada. I don't think it's great. I, I'd be kind of shocked if that were to happen.

[G]

But, and I said it last pod. So you know, he's going to then sign in Canada.

[Biz]

He's literally gonna.

[G]

Everything I say the opposite happens. So he's going there.

[Biz]

But I do feel, I feel for Seattle a little bit because buddy, they offered, remember they offered Panarin. They offered Panarin huge dough, right? And like they're trying. And it's. And as Keith said, like, yeah, that's just not a spot right now that if guys are really looking to win now, you would say, like, well, you could get anyone if you offer enough money. And that that's not even working for him. So it kind of, you know, that sucks for, like, the fans of that team. Like, but I guess you'd look at the management be like, they're trying. We just can't get anyone to go here. But I'll, I, I'll be steadfast in saying that if a team is very good, it doesn't matter where it is. Guys want to play there. Man, like, when I was on the Oilers, it was a nightmare to get traded to the Oilers. I don't think now if you're traded to the Oilers, you're upset at all. It's just people want to be on good teams. Yes. All this noise about Vegas and Dallas and the Florida teams and Nashville, probably there's still a significant amount of players who just want to be on a good team. Now, Robertson, I do want to throw up the picture of him in the Little Caesars uniform. I don't know if you guys saw this one, because if you got a son and he's really skilled and he's a little chubby at 12 years old, don't give up. Don't ever give up. Because look at that picture of this kid. It's unbelievable. He's just his little chubby, chubby fat kid in a Little Caesar's uniform. And he scores 40 now every year.

[G]

So that was fudge kid deck on Nantucket.

[Biz]

But when you look, you look at

[Keith]

Minnesota's now on all those guys list of where they want to go five, 10 years ago, that wasn't, that wasn't the case. Nobody wanted to go to Minnesota.

[Biz]

So that's a perfect.

[Keith]

You got to build. You got to build it now. Guys want to play for Billy G. Guys want to play for the group of players that they have in there. They're a team that's going out, getting better every year, making big trade, whatever it is. So you got to build it. You got to, you got to have winning seasons. I mean, what, Seattle, you know, one around their first year. Was that their first year? Yeah. So, I mean, it's there. You just got to keep, keep going. It'll come like it's a, it's a, it's a young franchise.

[G]

I think you almost have to stick with the way they did it when they first got in. You just, you have Four seconds.

[Keith]

Yeah.

[G]

And people are, you know, obviously they're taking their fair, fair share of shrapnel online where like people are saying that them and them in Nashville are having a mid off, which, I mean, fuck it, who cares, man? Get, get a bunch of misfits mid offs and in there and, and I just. Don't turn that fucker around.

[Biz]

I just can't imagine like Caprisoft, make it 17 million. It's ridiculous. Obviously, you know, he earned it. If Robertson's on your team making 15 two wingers, like, I'm not spending my money like that, but I'm not doing that.

[G]

As a gm, I agree with you. And I think like, kind of like you guys mentioned too, it's like just like Minnesota. How about Carolina? They just won a Stanley cup this year. Rotten and didn't want to sign there. Marner didn't want to be traded there. Like there were guys were like, ah, so you kind of going back to what you said with as far as Seattle and I think it may have even been you, Yance is like, you essentially have to build it from the ground up. Yeah, you might get rejected at first, but then, you know, the prom queen might come around.

[Keith]

Yeah, exactly.

[Biz]

I mean it's, it's an interesting time though because G brings up Warrensky and God, of all the people that you hear want to be traded, like, this is a guy and we don't even know for sure he wants to be traded. Now there was discussions that they were going to talk after the draft. He has two years remaining on his deal. All these guys seem to have two years remaining. There's a bunch of big dogs move. There's a bunch of, there's a bunch of guys who can be extended this summer. Like McCarr's one, so. But Warrensky, that's kind of crazy because that one just makes Columbus fans want to puke. Right? Like, and you have this season that it's kind of disappointment after disappointment and then they're on an insane run this year. The Olympics happen, they just lose it. Bones goes completely off the handle after the last game of the regular season. But we have a Norris Trophy winner, we have the best defenseman in the league this year at least. And now all of a sudden there's rumblings that like, he's pretty much said he's not going to resign there when his deal's done. And now it's like, holy shit, man. Like, if I'm a T, this is a guy. That's a guy I'm paying 7.

[G]

It's like the Quinn, Quinn Hughes move. Like, he's got you. You got. You basically got him for two years. Well, he got traded, what, like, like a month or two into the season

[Keith]

and November, December, you at least get

[G]

a little bit of time with him to convince him, hey, this is, you know, we're trying to build something here and get it. You get him for at least that. And if not, and he doesn't end up want to sign there, you flip them and you could probably just make, you know, at least get back three quarters of your return, because I would imagine he's going to go somewhere where he wants to sign. So to get a blue chip guy like that to hop in, that is. It's crazy times.

[Unknown Guest 1]

Do you think Larkin would want to stay in Detroit if they go get Zach Orinski? Or is the relationship too. Too far gone?

[Keith]

Well, is. Isn't. Is an Iserman just saying, yeah, sorry, dude, you're okay.

[Biz]

That's another. That's another discussion, this. This Larkin thing. So Eiserman did a brief press conference or interview, wherever it was, and he said, yeah, you know, we were told he wants to be traded. He's got five years left on his deal, and basically, like, we'll see what happens. I'm not trading this guy unless I love the offer. And then it's brought up like, well, what if. What if they don't trade him at this point, dude, like, can you. Can he go back there? Like, think about it, and you're thinking of, like, the team and the room. It's all about the room. So he goes back. He's not captain anymore, right? That's a storyline.

[Keith]

No.

[Biz]

Okay. And then. And then it's.

[G]

Wait, you're, you're. You're. So you're saying automatic SEIZE off the jersey.

[Keith]

I would. I would imagine. Stevie.

[Biz]

Why? What do you think?

[Dave Portnoy]

I don't know.

[G]

Like, buddy, I don't know. I don't know. I can't remember a situation like this.

[Keith]

Remember, remember back in the day, obviously, before everything would get leaked out and. And all that stuff, like, you knew guys in your team that wouldn't wanted to get traded or guys would come and be like, hey, I'm trying to get out of here, whatever. And the players, I don't think, mind as much because it's like, okay, whatever. This guy wants to go do his own thing, whatever it is.

[Biz]

Agree with that a little bit.

[Keith]

It's the fans that you're pissing off, right? And you're the captain of that team. So I I would imagine they'd take this even if he does go back, which for him it's like whatever. It's, it's, it's a letter on New Jersey. I get it. He was a captain of that team.

[G]

The guy they give it to give you a watch. He makes out like a bandit cut the new presidential. And I'm playing in Dallas. No state tag, doesn't have to talk

[Biz]

to the media after every game. He's like, wow, I'll stay here for the rest of this contract. No, but I, I just think that. So g saying if Warinski were to go to Dallas, Detroit, would he want to stay? That's a great question.

[G]

No, I think. But what do you give up? Like, what do you. And, and you know, you got to give something to get something. I don't know what they have in the prospect pool. I also think that you're looking at like the exact same situations handled differently. I think that stayos with Kachuk where they kind of presented to him, they said, we want to do this clean.

[Biz]

You never got public also. Never, never went public.

[G]

It never, never went public. And, and I think that some people might say they were a little underwhelmed with the return. It's like you're not really like you're giving up a. You're giving up your fearless leader and a guy who's a top six guy and you know, brings it, brings it in every situation.

[Keith]

Basically made playoffs two years.

[G]

You're not replacing that in your roster and you're kind of in win now mode where some people, especially Ottawa fans would have liked to have seen stales not maybe bend the knee as much, which Stevie Wise probably hearing this and saying, I don't give a. Yeah, I don't care. So you had a newer rookie GM who's trying to be sensitive because you don't want to. All of a sudden you piss him off. You don't know how other things unravel. Maybe it deters other guys from signing there or not wanting to be a part of Ottawa if kind of management drags that out. Where you also have a guy who's won as many cups as Stevie has, who has as much respect as he, he has saying, I'm not compromising my roster, my lineup, because you don't want to fucking honor what you sign for, for your eight year contract. I would just be. When you listen to Stevie Wise speak when he did that thing, he talks like a lawyer. He doesn't give you anything. I would just love to hear him open raw and honest about his feelings on it. Like, what would you pay for that behind a paywall?

[RA]

Oh.

[Biz]

Oh, I. I'd pay big dough to hear him just actually, like, say how he really feels and. And. And who knows how ownership feels, But I just feel like it's really hard to bring a guy back. I know. Like, it's easy to say, like, hey, if I don't like a trade, I'm bringing them back. But when the captain of the team's like, I want out, it gets public. Like, what's the.

[Dave Portnoy]

What's the.

[Biz]

What's the. What are the fans saying opening night when they announce his name? It's just.

[Keith]

It's just.

[Biz]

It's just headaches. It's just like, they talked about all the headaches in Ottawa because it was rumored that Brady didn't want to be there, and it was. And now, you know, Canada can kind of really run with things maybe a little bit more than United States in the markets and the media. But if you bring Larkin back, it's just. I don't know. I. Maybe I'm completely wrong and that he's right, and the team's like, I don't care. This guy's our boy, is our captain, and we know he's going to play as hard as he can, but it's just kind of a headache for a team who doesn't need a headache. They got to get in the playoffs. So it's like, you're starting the year on this foot of, like, oh, this guy doesn't even want to be here, but he's here now. The fans are pissed off. It would basically be where he'd have to get, like, seven goals in the first seven games, and then the team's winning. It's like, all right, all's forgotten he's here, and we're. And we're buzzing.

[G]

But if I'm being honest, I. I do think that Dallas probably needs him the most up the middle if they want to change one thing about their roster. Like, hints. Like. Like, sometimes it's hard for him to stay healthy. I'm not. Like, it's not a chirp or nothing like that, but even if he is and he's your number one, with him and Larkin as your one two slot, like, that's a different look without Robertson, that I don't mind and still consider them a contender. And then, like you said, if you're able to go get Warrenski and flip off of Harley, I mean, Columbus can't.

[Biz]

Columbus cannot. They can't get picks for Wool ranks.

[Keith]

No, no, no, no.

[Biz]

They need like so I guess G saying Harley, gee Harley just signed that deal. He doesn't have like a no move clause or no.

[Unknown Guest 1]

So it's like now this guy's stuck in Columbus, he can't go anywhere. Right? Like that's the exact type of player you need an Elliot.

[Biz]

Columbus is a shout out Arbar and

[Unknown Guest 1]

Elliot said it on 32 thoughts this morning. He's like they're not gonna get a better offer than Thomas Harley. And. And you're just not gonna agree.

[Biz]

Okay, so that's.

[G]

You already got him locked in. The only thing that sucks is like all of a sudden you're paying him. I believe he'd be making a little bit more or maybe is Warinski making nine and a half on his deal?

[Biz]

Yes, pretty sure.

[G]

So they're making the same amount but I guess moving forward like that's a, that's going to be a, A what your. Your average, you know, top pairing defenseman is going to be making.

[Keith]

How do you know Robo would say yes to go to Detroit?

[Biz]

That. That's, that's. You don't.

[G]

Well that was the little. He had the Little Caesar.

[Unknown Guest 1]

He's from there too. That's.

[Biz]

I think he's from Cali. But he ended up playing like once he got really good. I think they, they went out there.

[Unknown Guest 1]

Years four through eight of Thomas Harley's contract with is the no move clause. So that's why you want to deal him now.

[Biz]

Oh, the old Whitney contract. Nothing. The first three str ship them out and then ship them again and then boom, he's in Russia. So let's hope it doesn't work like that for Thomas Harley. But we got a shout out. Well a couple teams, Washington, Washington went out and made some moves so. So they made great moves. A weird season in Washington. Carberry comes in two years ago. They have this awesome season. They make the playoffs, they win around and then this year, big disappointment. Obviously the, the year they made it was the OB goal chase and then this year it was, it was upsetting to the fans and you know, some people are probably wondering like what's going on with obi? What's this team do? Well, they make a splash. They go out and get Kyru. This is exactly like Robertson on a way lesser level. It's just been rumored for so long that Kyrie was going to get traded. So McMichael goes the other way and I believe some that wasn't just a one for one for Connor McMichael Milton Gastron and the number 16 pick in Friday in the draft. Sorry. So I, I like this a lot. And then at the same time they do the sign and trade or the trade and sign for Alex Tuck. Okay, Alex Tuck gets ten and a half. That's pretty much where we thought it would land. I guess Buffalo didn't want to go there. Buffalo decided that was, that was too much money for them. But all of a sudden Washington gets two guys who could skate, who can score big for. Big for Capital fans. I think they're like, oh, that's, that's a nice, that's a nice move. That's a nice like couple days for Capitals fans. I, I think.

[Keith]

Oh, absolutely.

[G]

Are you kidding me? I would say, like, man, I'm, I'm just, I'm happy for Kyro. You know, I think that he maybe in some cases, if not like a decent amount left a lot more to be desired. If there's one coach that I think that could untap his full potential, it's Carberry. You know, he's been incredible since he stepped in. You could tell he's a players coach and he's able to inspire guys. You saw what he was able to do for, for Pierre Luke Dubois career. I mean, look at how much Strom's taken off since he's been there. Chickren, I mean, the comp. Like, I'm sure the goalie, coach and assistants have a lot to do with. But Logan Thompson, like every guy that went over there in, in these retool moves that they make, they end up panning out. And you talk about size. Like, Dylan Strom's a big guy down the middle. Pierre, Luke, Dubois, you have the Proteus brothers who are absolute monsters.

[Biz]

Wilson like, and then Hudson on D, like, he looked sick at the end of the year. Like, Washington looks pretty nice moving forward.

[G]

Oh, buddy. I think that the retool moves that they've made over the last like four or five year stretch, that is pinkies up all day long. So credit to that management staff and do I think that it's a contract that's maybe not gonna, gonna like age as nice? Yeah, but man, good for him. You have to go fill that slot. I would imagine that always coming back as the dh.

[Biz]

Okay, you think this man, I kind of thought maybe this means he's not coming back.

[G]

I think, I think there's no way that he is not coming back with that roster.

[Keith]

Yeah, I agree.

[G]

I think that if you have a chat with him, you have to say, hey, listen, I Understand, you have to be tapped a certain way mentally to think that you're the greatest in order to eventually be the greatest goal scorer of all time. But if you're playing the type of minutes that you were playing in the prime of your career or even towards the end, I don't really think we have a chance to win a Stanley Cup. If you're willing to maybe kind of inflate the ego in that sense a little bit, I think.

[Biz]

But he can't play third or fourth line because those are energy lines.

[G]

I think you have them playing home games yogurt style.

[Biz]

Honestly, buddy, Gary Bettman needs to step

[G]

in and say, pump him full of whatever drugs he needs to get out there. Come on here, guys. The greatest goal scorer of all time. He needs a little bit of leniency.

[Keith]

They should be able to dress an extra player. And he only plays power play.

[G]

The dh.

[Biz]

Yes. He comes back and he gets a D zone start like he did in, like, game 73 or whatever. It was like, we cannot have a D zone start. We have to have that at least go down. But, wow. So, okay, so I was thinking the exact opposite here. I was thinking, oh, they get some scoring. But now you're saying because the roster looks this much better from last year, that he comes back.

[G]

Did I read.

[Biz]

Did I read something? He's announcing, like, in Russia on a certain day in July if he's coming back or not. Maybe that was a phony tweet or something. I saw that.

[G]

What have they called a LeBron one?

[Biz]

The decision.

[Keith]

The decision, yeah. Do you think Tuck, obviously, with Buffalo. Not.

[G]

I'm gonna call this one the injection.

[Keith]

Do you think Buffalo because of that? I think it was the second round where he wasn't very good. They were just like, hey, listen, we're gonna. We're gonna move on because he's been a nice player for them. He's kind of. When he went there, too, he's from upstate New York. He's kind of the guy that, you know, he wanted to go there. Now, guys, you see more and more guys wanting to go to Buffalo. So, like, you got to give him a little bit of credit for that big time.

[Biz]

And. And he. He. He was awesome there, that the guys loved him. He loved being there. Remember, we saw him at Chicken cup, he was all fired up. But you just brought up something that's wild, and this is something that's awesome for the fans of the Sabers in the city of Buffalo. Apparently, like, they are in major discussions with Winnipeg about Conor Hellebuck, and the fact is that if Hellebuck actually said, like, yeah, I'll go to Buffalo, like that, that the thought of. The thought of him wanting to go to Buffalo or anyone wanting to go to Buffalo and him being like, yeah, Buffalo's a spot, basically Canada.

[Keith]

It's.

[Biz]

Yeah, I mean, yeah, I guess he goes to Buffalo.

[Keith]

You should have to roll Blade from Boston to Buffalo.

[Biz]

I couldn't even make it like 30 yards on the highway, let alone from Boston.

[G]

Well, that's because you were going over the rumble strips.

[Biz]

That's true. But I do like, man, imagine the Sabers with Hellebuck.

[G]

I would love it.

[Biz]

And. And the Sabers, the Sabres with that Byram deal. Right. And then they get the fourth overall pick. They. They draft this. Dax and Rudolph. Now we're kind of getting to the draft.

[G]

Oh, we're all over the place now.

[Biz]

We are. I hope everyone's okay with that. We're just all over the place. That's what the league is right now, though. It's all over the place. And then they go out. When they got Owen Zellweger, I was like, me, Yarmobi, what a dog. Because I really think with the D that they have in Buffalo, I could see Zellweger being exactly like Byram there.

[Keith]

Right.

[Biz]

And. And then you were able to get the fourth overall pick. You grab another defenseman that's supposed to be obviously very good. He's a fourth overall pick. So kind of a masterclass by Yarmo, I think.

[G]

Yeah. I, I feel when you're a player like that, when you're in a situation where you're not overexposed, it's an easier path to development. So let's take Byron, for example, where I felt that was the way in Colorado, obviously they felt like, okay, we have enough guys ahead of him who maybe do what he does and what he's going to command financially. So they moved off of him. Obviously not the best trade for. I think it was Middlestadt at the time. And I like, I love his game. Byron, I think that all of a sudden he's going to a situation, though, where now he's a little bit more exposed because you don't have Owen, you don't have Samuelson, you don't have Darlene. Right.

[Biz]

And I think. And a way worse team. So it's overexposed by the minutes he'll play. And this is not dogging bone by him, I think.

[G]

Not at all. But also,

[Biz]

did you.

[G]

I met him in Jackson. He was here. He just Got married. He's got, I met, I met his, his wife who he just got married to, and then they're having twins. Two, two girls.

[Biz]

Good for.

[G]

Hell yeah, buddy. Nicest guy in the world. Had a great conversation with him. Hey, Davidson, give him 14 million. That's how big, big of a beauty he is.

[Keith]

And for him, it's like he's gonna be the guy there. He's gonna get a ton of power play reps. Like, he's probably looked at himself like, I remember him at world juniors. He was unreal. And like, he's probably like, hey, listen, I'm a power play guy. I, I need to be the number one guy.

[Biz]

You think he's saying, like, I, and

[Keith]

I, I don't know if like number, like not the true Chris Pronger number one, but like a number one power play guy. And he hasn't, he hasn't got that. So he's going to go into Chicago with some good forwards and stuff and be like, I'm betting on myself, hopefully can put up big numbers. I, I, I like the trade for him because he's probably thinking to himself, I need a shot to prove who I am as a player. I haven't done it as much as maybe I thought coming into the league. And, you know, he's betting on himself. I love it.

[Biz]

So when that trade was announced,

[G]

it

[Biz]

seemed like the, the, the social media side and, and I was including this, like, wow, I think Buffalo kind of just flee Chicago.

[G]

So that's a lot, a lot to pay.

[Biz]

And now I think mainly it's because the role that Byron's always played has. But he's behind Makar, right? He's behind the guys in Buffalo you mentioned. So that, that's what everyone thinks of him or thinks of the trade. But if he, but if we're all wrong or incorrect and we haven't seen him have the chance to be the 26 minute a guy, you know, night where number one power play, minute and a half on every power play he could go. And you're like, holy. Like that. That trade was a lot closer than we thought, but right off the hop it's like, wow. And the, the main reason was they included that Crevier.

[RA]

Yeah.

[Biz]

And that. And I was like, what? Like, I feel like that trade would have been completely fine on both sides without Crevier just fourth overall.

[G]

That should have, in my opinion, got it done. Especially at the fact that you, you can't like, obviously during that period, it's a tampering period, so they can't even negotiate what his contract is going to be. So all of a sudden, you not only give all that up, you hand over every bit of leverage to Byram being like, you just gave everything up for me. You're not just going to have me here for one year. 8 times 12.

[RA]

Please.

[G]

That's.

[Biz]

No, I, I've. I've. Yeah, that's. I know, I know, I know.

[Keith]

But I mean, the most paid, and

[G]

now you're going to have to overpay. But that might be the pressure of Chicago's desperate.

[Biz]

Buddy.

[G]

Buddy.

[Keith]

There's a.

[G]

There's a few teams and a few star players being like, okay, we want some help now. I'm not waiting for these fucking draft picks to pan out. And it goes back to some of these players and being the superstars and having the leverage. So I feel like that was something that was essentially forced upon Davidson in order to get better now.

[Keith]

Yeah, and, and I think they did. Like last year, he had 82 games. He had 42 points, 11 goals. That's pretty legit. And he, I think when, when Darlene was gone for a while, he got more power play time, and then when he came back, obviously less. But you get 11 goals next year on Chicago, like, that's a monster year.

[Biz]

Yeah. But, but if he gets 11 goals next year and they're not winning and, you know, say he has 11 goals and 46 points, and they're like the same Chicago Blackhawks.

[G]

Yeah.

[Biz]

Be like, what the.

[G]

I, I.

[Biz]

That's just, that's just how it goes. It's almost gonna be making 12.

[Keith]

Yeah.

[G]

It's almost like this. They got Seth Jones. They paid him.

[Biz]

Yes.

[G]

A lot of money to be that number one guy. And it's like, it's. We, we need a team here. The team's no good. It's hard for a guy like that to. And then, and then what did he end up going over to Florida for? I think he made, what, three quarters of his money.

[RA]

Yeah.

[G]

Now he's perfectly slotted in there, and. And boom. It's all about the money you're making and the minutes you're playing and how good the team you're on. So I feel like they've. They've jammed themselves up that way. I think if, if, if he. They landed at eight times ten. Okay. I'm a lot more. I'm a lot happier with what they gave up and what they locked him in. But if you're looking at eight times, you know, 11 and a half, 12 million, and you. And you Gave up what you did. It's like, I think that reeks a little bit of desperation for right now,

[Keith]

but as a team that not everybody wants to go to right now, I know Chicago is awesome. They've had their history, but to go out and make that trade, you're essentially making your team better. So I think if you're a Blackhawks fan, you got to respect it. You got to try to, you know, go with it. Hopefully he can be that guy that you haven't had for a little while and. And take over.

[Biz]

But it's funny because he was the fourth overall pick. And so they're just saying, all right, well, based on what? Okay, so there's two things we need to get better, right? And possibly we think that he's better now than any of these defensemen that we would take forth overall are going to end up being. And even if they don't think that, it's like, that's three, four years away. We have to figure this out. Like Chicago, buddy, it. It. When was the last time the Blackhawks were in the playoffs? Was it when the Predators swept them?

[Keith]

But they're. They're also. They need to get better. Like, I. I'm sure if you talk to anyone in their management with Truth serm, they know they're not going to win next year. They need to get better, to get guys like Bedard to want to stay for a long time. Like, they gotta just continue to get better and add to their team. Or in three years, four years, he's gonna be like, hey, boys, I'm out. See ya.

[G]

Apparently there's. There's rumblings that they. They're close to a deal for bedard. That was 20.

[Biz]

20 was the last time they made playoffs. But that was the COVID bubble. That doesn't really count. But you're saying, okay, yeah. Cause July 1st, Bedard can resign. Oh, my God, buddy, talk about leverage. He could be like, give me 15 a year for eight years.

[G]

I think that's. That's around the number that came in.

[RA]

Yeah.

[G]

Is 8 times 15.

[Biz]

Okay, well, spe. That's kind of jumping ahead, but Chicago and Buffalo obviously made noise. Let's go back to Buffalo for a second. Another incredible move by Yarmo. So he signs Benson seven times. Seven and a half. And. But when I see that deal, it's like the leagues change so much where you come in and you light it up and you do what Celebrini's done or some of these guys, and all of a sudden it's like max money right after your second year. You can sign before the, the, the third year ends and boom, you're off. Well, you're better off with some of these guys like Jackson, Blake and Benson who don't light it up. Then you get him seven times seven and a half. And, and, and obviously Blake's even less. How that contract is a joke for Buffalo. That's, that's incredible. And it's, it's obviously. Benson grew up in a carnival family. They were traveling around fucking doing the, the Gravitron and now he's got, he's got, he's got 52 million bucks.

[G]

How many basketball shots do you get for that much?

[Biz]

Yeah.

[Keith]

Oh, fuck.

[Biz]

The water in the clown's nose as the horses race across and he's getting 50 million bucks. But what do you imagine that kid in three years and he's making seven the same way Jackson, Blake, potato sack, ride. Do you not know what I'm saying about.

[G]

Yeah, he's three potato sacks.

[Biz]

You want to see, you want to see like, wow, there are some special things about this player. But I want him to get 40 points. I want him to get 45, 50 points. I don't need an 80, 90 point season out of him because I know it's coming at some point and then we save on the dollars when we re up them. So it's, it's incredible how it's worked out for certain teams where you see guys that are going to be unreal, that aren't unreal yet, but are on the cusp. And then now you got, you got Benson making seven and a half.

[G]

Well, look at their deals. Like, let's go through it. Tage Thompson is in a 7 million bubble. Josh Doan, 7 million bubble Carney. 7 million bubble. I would say it's trending the way that power played the second half of the season and playoffs. I would say everybody's fine with him making eight and a half.

[Biz]

Now, eight and a half is not anything now.

[G]

It's not right. He's played into that Sam's league minimum. No, Samuelson's playing for league minimum. Samuelson's locked in another what, six years at four, four sheets. Unbelievable deal, right. Darlene, I think is the highest paid guy making 11 million, but I don't think anybody 11 and a half. He stuck it out for as long as he has. So he, he deserves the, the extra coin. I mean, who, who else do they have that's on an unreal bargun deal?

[Biz]

I gotta look up their team real quick.

[G]

We Just said Tage. We said Thompson for, for in the seven bubble.

[Keith]

I think we said their whole team.

[Biz]

Yeah, I mean, I don't, I don't know, but, but it's maybe Norris.

[Keith]

How much is Norris, how much is Norris making?

[G]

Not. He actually makes like eight and a half, I think.

[Keith]

Yeah. So he's amazing.

[Biz]

Signed it with Ottawa,

[G]

so Buffalo, if they get heli. Oh, man, am I excited for.

[Biz]

Dude, Norris is 7.95, so he's in the seven ball. But it was just. That's, that's a great signing. That's like. I think, you know, Benson's thrilled, the team's thrilled. And, you know, you're hearing like, Robertson's going to get 15 million. He has done things Benson hasn't sniffed yet, but it's like double the money. It's just, it's just crazy time. And it's all about a player and his leverage and where you sit. But that's good work by, by Buffalo. Good work by Yarmo and St. Louis and Alex Steen. They're doing work. They're doing work. Now, Biz, you've chatted with me a couple times about Mason McTavish and maybe what, what he could do to reach that next level. And he, he's traded to the, he's traded to the Blues. You kind of. He fell out. He was a healthy scratch this year and stuff. And I still think there's a special player in there. Right. And now. And you got Monty there and you could figure out what's going to happen now, interestingly enough, Greg, Greg Cronin was just hired as their assistant coach.

[G]

Okay.

[Biz]

And I don't necessarily know if the guys loved him in Anaheim, but, but assistant coaches are way different. It's a completely different ball game. Right. But in with Mace McTavish, what have you said?

[G]

To me, at least, I, I just think that if, maybe. Yeah, 82 games is a lot of games. And I think that, like, I don't think.

[Keith]

Well, now we're playing 84, so.

[G]

84. Oh, Jesus. That's right. That's right. I, I, I think there's more there. I think it was a rough start to the year. I think he needed new, a new scene, kind of like Zegras did. Look what Zegrus did when he, when he got out of there. And I, I think sometimes you could feel, you know, the reciprocation and energy where maybe he wasn't Q's type of player or, or maybe Q, in some cases was sending a message and, or he, he Believed that other guys in the lineup deserved spots as opposed to him in certain games. Right. He was healthy, scratched a few times. Obviously dealt with kind of the contract negotiation where maybe he wasn't also Verbeek's cup of tea. And they're probably looking at. We got all these other young guys to hand over Brink's trucks too.

[Biz]

Yeah.

[G]

Because Senica, Carlson and Gaultier are going to make easily over 10. Like Carlson's going to be looking at Bedard money if he signs. So, you know, give him new life just like Cairo kind of got by going to Washington and he gets to get a new environment where I believe Mason McTavish's age is 25. And I look at St. Louis and the age that they're around in the Snuggeroods, the Brobergs, the Holloway, they're all in that 23.

[Biz]

He's only 23.

[G]

23, 23. But they have a lot of guys in this like, you know, 22, 23 to, to 22, 26, 27 range that are all kind of, I guess, a little bit poised to hit their prime. So from a timing perspective from like, like from, you know, what these guys are locked in for and what they're going to have to pay them and as far as what they have as assets in first round picks to maybe go add and bolster their lineup in real time. I like where the St. Louis Blues are at. Like, do they have.

[Biz]

They don't have a Bedard, but I like them way more than the Blackhawks in the next five years. Yeah, it's like, and, and, and you know what's funny is like, it kind of began a little bit with their offer sheets and we could see some offer sheets this week. I don't know. And I can't believe I haven't mentioned this yet because this was a big, you know, a bigger storyline from the past few days. But is the Dora Fev deal. And I just thought of it because we're talking, you know, I just thought of the offer sheets. Dora Fear is traded to the Rangers and signs an $11 million deal for seven, seven seasons. So where I am at on this one, a young player who's probably gonna guarantee you 30 goals a year. Right. Rangers. I love, I love that for them, they needed goal scoring. Who is getting them the puck, though? That is the other side of the argument. Okay. But I think mainly this happened because there, there was a straight up offer sheet. Like that's an offer sheet Target Dorothy of first off, you get to try to buckle The Vegas Golden Knights, who everyone hates besides their fans and all the players there. And then also, you think this guy's young, he can score and they can't really afford to pay him what we're going to offer sheet him. So instead he's dealt with. I. I just wonder like at his age and how he scores, yes, great deal, but at the same time, no more Eichel. Do you know what I'm saying?

[G]

I agree with you.

[Keith]

I agree with J.T. miller. Like, I would imagine he's going to play with Miller, right? Like, there's a Benajad line was good last year. I, I would imagine he's going to play with J.T. miller, and I played with J.T. mill in the beginning of his career. He was like a pass first guy. And I still think he has that in him. I think he's going to be able to find him the puck as good as anyone. Fox on the power play is an unbelievable puck distributor. I don't think it's one of those things where he's going to come in and his numbers, like those goal scorers, man, they just figure out a way. I know they just know how to.

[G]

Auto.

[Biz]

Auto.

[G]

35 tucks. That is 30 to 35 tuck range.

[Unknown Guest 1]

And you.

[G]

And in this league, especially from a free agency standpoint, you have to pay for goals for. I think Dolan said, if I get shut out one more fucking time at home next season, I'm gonna hang you by the rafters.

[Biz]

And he's coming off a win with the Knicks, so he's a Hugh. Oh, yeah, you better start doing something.

[G]

But, but he's gonna get Brunson playing both teams.

[Biz]

You mentioned earlier, like, for Blackhawks fans, their team got better with Byram. Rangers, they got better with.

[Keith]

They got better 100.

[Biz]

So like, to bring in a sniper like that, it's just. I'm. I'm interested to see. Yeah, you're right. J.T.

[Keith]

who was the last sniper sniper that they had in New York?

[G]

Gabric? I would say maybe Rick Nash.

[Biz]

You know What? Kreider had 51 year. Not a sniper there in front of that, but. Oh, you get 50, you're a sniper. In my Panarin. Panarin.

[Unknown Guest 1]

Yeah.

[Biz]

I mean, I guess he was considered a sniper.

[G]

Well, as a Benedictad. Is he.

[Dave Portnoy]

He.

[Keith]

He's a shooter.

[G]

He's a shooter.

[Biz]

So now I guess if you have Fox with Dorothy of over to the right and Bennett over to the left, you think the PP'd be money. Miller in front or down low.

[Keith]

I Think they're pp.

[G]

We have a lot of dry hair on the wings, but hey, man, if the puck's going in the net, we're all Gucci here.

[Keith]

And I believe that power play was actually pretty good last year. But yeah, I mean, anytime you can add a guy like that. But that would have been. I wonder if somebody would have offer sheeted him from. Because you said it made total sense of a guy that would be offer.

[RA]

She.

[Keith]

I wish there would be a couple this year because I love offer sheets. But yeah, I mean, the Rangers get better. You get a guy, you lock them up too. So I think it's a great deal for them. I think they also need to do a little bit more if they want to, you know, get back into the playoffs and win some series.

[G]

Yeah, it, I guess it's just a situation where it's hard. It's hard when you're seeing guys who contribute in so many areas get where that number is. Like, they're also penalty killing their power play. They're able to, you know, play well defensively. They're not just like a power play opportunistic goal scorer that maybe doesn't touch as many areas. So you're, you're, you're paying the highest premium for, for a sniper. And that's kind of where, where the Rangers are. And once again, when you gotta, you gotta pay for goals, it's kind of like. It's like Boston, they're desperate. They need goals. Well, they're gonna, that's why they traded for Paterka, because you're gonna get your 30 goals.

[RA]

Yeah.

[Biz]

So this Paterka trade that. Yeah, it was, I wouldn't say shocking, but I was like, wow, it's surprised. He was traded for the 23rd overall pick and then the Panthers pick in 20, 28, that's top 10 protected. So my only question here is like, all right, he's a young player who can score, no doubt, but he was traded by Buffalo. Okay. And then a year later, he's traded again. Like, that kind of gets my spice up a little bit. And, and this is coming from somebody who was. I wasn't that young, but I was traded. And then the next year I was traded again. And it's like, I'll give you, I'll

[G]

give you a comp. I think, I think it was a Kyro situation where sometimes there was a lot left to be desired. Kyru's going to get you 30 goals. He's going to get points. He's unbelievable. It's kind of about putting it all together. And I, you know, I think that in some cases certain players lean and you know, there's a, there's a, there's a fine line between cheating and anticipation. And some guys cheat a little bit for their goals and if that's how they get them, that's how they get it. That's the anticipation and how it works. I think it's a brutal, brutal look in how Josh Doane paid out that.

[Keith]

And yes, I think that's why they made the trade is because you see the guy that you traded for you like, oh, we could have had this guy. He was so good. He played every situation. He was edgy.

[Unknown Guest 1]

It also sounds like that Utah was big fish hunting, that they wanted to clear the cap space so that they could go get someone. Obviously it hasn't come to fruition yet, but it sounds like the streets are talking, saying that they're, they're going after something big, maybe down the line like a Larkin or maybe an Austin Matthews.

[Keith]

I don't know.

[G]

Like, I, I'll tell you this. I know that Ryan Smith would legit say max it out and load it like a motherfucker as much as you can to get a guy like that, but it's a lot different than what, you know, Toronto is doing everything they can to build around him, to convince him to stay there as well. So they're, yeah, there's a lot of people going after AM34.

[Biz]

Gee, I've seen a lot of Bruins fans like discussing like trade Zaka, like, why do you want to trade Zaka?

[Unknown Guest 1]

I, I think it's just capitalizing on a high return. I'm not in the camp. I, I don't want to trade Zaka. I don't think he is your, what, your prototypical one C. But this is a team that needs centers. Like we keep talking about how they need center help. They need center help. Why are you going to trade your best center right now? I guess the argument is you want Hagan's, you want Mitten to get some time. But I, I'm keeping Pavlo Zaka, no question.

[Biz]

I think a great year.

[Unknown Guest 1]

The one thing this team needs right now, it's just because people are seeing all the returns that these other guys are getting. But the one thing this Boston Bruins team needs right now is a right handed defenseman. They need help on the back end. That's where they, they need to spend their money here at the, at once free agency starts. But I, I like this deal.

[G]

Rasmus, Anderson, if they get I'm not

[Unknown Guest 1]

a Raspberry Anderson guy. But then the other one.

[Keith]

What about for six and a half or seven million?

[Biz]

No chance, buddy.

[Unknown Guest 1]

Darnell. Darnell's the other name they're throwing out there. So it's like, what the. Here. Like, if. If you take Elias Lindholm off our hands, I'll be honest. I'll take Darnell with open arms.

[Biz]

If Darnell is on your team without you guys paying the full salary, if Darnell's on your team making six, you'd love them, I'm telling you.

[Keith]

Yeah, for sure.

[Unknown Guest 1]

Oh, no question. But I'll. I'll pay Darnell almost a full salary if you take Elias Lindholm at 75 off of our hands. That is a. That is the worst contra. One of the worst contracts in the league.

[Keith]

And then Edmonton's not going to make that deal.

[Unknown Guest 1]

No. Especially because in the end of his year press conference, he starts complaining about his back. He's like, oh, this back problem, it's really heating up. Who knows where this is going to take it. It's like, oh, God, now you can't get traded.

[Biz]

That. That's. That's never ideal.

[G]

I would say that the. The Bruins, there's a lot like, they're. They're. I don't know. I. I don't think it's going to be looking good for them moving forward here. I think.

[Biz]

No, we said that last year, too. Like, and then.

[G]

I know, but then they get in and it was like, look at their division.

[Keith]

I know.

[Unknown Guest 1]

Jeremy Jacobs move, though, at the same time, like, just get into the playoffs. Just get into the playoffs, get the tickets, get the sales. That's all they need. Right?

[G]

For sure.

[Biz]

Utah also did something else. They grabbed a goalie, Sebastian Kosa. Now, we. We'd heard about him and we'd heard about Augustine coming for. From Detroit. Like, they were coming up and I guess the Wings, you know, look at Augustine as their guy more than Kosa. So they got the 23rd pick for him, and then the Wings used that pick. What did they get? J.P. hubert. So American kid playing the WHL.

[Unknown Guest 1]

He's going to Michigan.

[Biz]

Yeah, Michigan next year. So supposed to be very good. I. I kind of think he was one of those kids who left the ntdp, I believe, as well. Yeah, that's correct. That was. You know, you've seen Carter Meyer. Now is. Is in the process of trying to do that. But Kosa, I didn't realize till after that trade happened, and I was watching the draft and Kevin Weeks was Mentioning how much Vamelka plays where now we always talk about the goal.

[Keith]

He's 62 games.

[Biz]

Yeah. He played a shitload. But you got this.

[Keith]

What didn't it, like, with all the talk about how good this course is. And I just would have figured that would have been a trade they would have made to get a good player in to help them right away.

[Biz]

I know. Same here.

[Keith]

Because it was all you taught is like, why are they holding on to both these goals? You got Augustine and Kosa, like, why are they holding onto this? And then to trade to just get a draft pick. I. I don't know. I thought it would have been one of those ones that you could throw in to get a big name guy in there, especially a goalie, because every team needs goalies.

[Biz]

I know. I don't know if he had. Let me see here. Quickly. This year in Grand Rapids, 915 save percentage, 233 goals against.

[Keith]

Yeah.

[Biz]

The team. He was 26. 8 and 4 this year. Yeah. So, I mean, it is kind of weird you'd think that they'd get a player there.

[Keith]

Right.

[Biz]

But it is also interesting to see. All right, Detroit's like, all right, Augustine's our guy. Right. And. But now Utah has some help for Vamelka. It is crazy to think he played that much.

[Keith]

But isn't Augustine. Is. Augustine's going back to school as well? Like, I don't know.

[Unknown Guest 1]

No, he signed. He signed at the end of the year.

[Keith]

Oh, he did?

[RA]

Oh, I thought he's.

[Unknown Guest 1]

He's done at Michigan State.

[Biz]

Okay, so they got. Yeah, they got their goalie. The future Kosa moves out. Yeah. I mean, do you think they should

[Keith]

have got more for Kosa? Like, with all the talks that we've heard?

[G]

I just think it's one of those things is we're thinking like we're talking going into playoffs near the trade deadline, like, hey, is this something that they could package to.

[Keith]

That's what I just said.

[RA]

Yeah.

[G]

Yeah. I. I just went and took a leak. So sorry if I missed what you just thought that you're like, okay, you. You draft him in the first round, you spend a few years developing him. He has success in Grand Rapids. And then it's like, oh, we're trading him for another guy. We got to draft now and then wait. Develop to see the excitement. Well, hey, listen, if Augustine pans out and they made the right decision and all of a sudden he's kicking and he's your next Dominic Hasek or Vernon or whoever you want to mention. I don't think anybody gives a fuck if they see this guy go over to Utah and all of a sudden he's kicking. He's a 6, 7 freak octopus in net, just kicking everything out. I think as a Detroit Red Wings fan, you want to like, you want to rip your hair out.

[Biz]

Yeah. And then he, and then he says it's all because of that pregame speech Biz gave us for the Edmonton Oil Kings that time. That'd be pretty cool. And then like, yeah, Wayne made him come in and all of a sudden that's what it, that's what it did.

[G]

I did have a little bit of my saliva hit him in the face as or as I was announcing his name. So that bad juju just. Yeah, he was fucked. From that minute forward, he was fucked. He was fucked.

[Keith]

I don't like, I obviously I don't know anything about these goalies, but if the coast is that big like Augustine 6:1. I. I don't know a guy that's played pro, I probably would have moved off of Augustine before.

[G]

I was impressed how he moved. When we watched him, I just thought he was very fluid. And it's really a lot about how these goalies move and they're skating. I also think that, you know, you look at a guy like Bobrovsky, I don't think he's the biggest guy in the world.

[Biz]

No. What's his name too in Calgary.

[Keith]

Wolf.

[Biz]

He's not big. He looks great. Yeah, I, that, that's a scary one for Wings fans.

[Unknown Guest 1]

He.

[Biz]

He looks unbelievable. The ABS traded Jack Drury to Nashville. He then signed five years times four and a half. That's a, that's another kind of sign and trade that happened. Colorado then re signed Brett Kulak and Brent Burns. Brent Burns is in, in, in a good spot. Knock on wood to break the iron man streak. He makes 850 next year. He's just like, I just want to keep playing.

[G]

And Kulak gets pay for my coffee and my backpack supplies. Pretty much break up the Drury trade.

[Keith]

The jury trade surprised me a little bit. Like he, I thought he was good in playoffs.

[G]

Like, I know, but he was going to make. He's like, they just got rid of Colton because he makes four and, and I, and you talk about Makar being up. Maybe this is just like a commitment move to him. And maybe this mirror moving forward here, this could be maybe a regression year in a sense of, you know, they gotta, they gotta save a little bit of money in certain areas. Like they're off the chukin. They're off cold. Like they're. They're shedding a lot. I know they're shedding a lot. I actually don't mind the moves that Nashville made. I know we joked about the mid off earlier. Like, I feel like that fits the identity of their team. I think that stamcoast, March and O'Reilly are great leaders and you could see how they trended in the right direction towards the end of the season. Well, you got really good foot soldiers ready to compete and provide depth to your team. Now. I, you know, I don't see a reason why they can't sneak in next year.

[Keith]

You know who I hope signs there is Ryan Shea. I think he would be a great ad for Nashville.

[Biz]

Wow.

[G]

Okay.

[Biz]

Boy. Ryan Shea had over 30 points this year.

[Keith]

He's gonna get 8 million, right?

[G]

Do you guys think that you could see Roman Yosi move given the fact that his deal's coming to an end and maybe he wants to go win now towards the end of his career?

[Biz]

That's what I wonder is how many.

[G]

You also know who's his agent?

[Biz]

Judd, Jud. I. I do wonder how many guys have requested trades that aren't public because a hundred percent are out there. We just don't know. And not saying that, that that's one that, that that's happened. But you never, you never know what's going on.

[Keith]

He seems like a lifer to me in Nashville.

[G]

Okay, boys, we. I know we're bouncing around quite a bit. I did have a special guest planned for this episode. We have interviewed him before, but I know you have no idea who's coming on. He just released a book, A towering book.

[Keith]

Tom Green.

[G]

No. Our. Our fearless boss and leader.

[Biz]

This episode of Spit and Chicklets is brought to you by Body Armor Flash iv. An official partner of the NHL, Flash IV is packed with electrolytes delivering faster, longer lasting hydration without any artificial dyes, flavors or sweeteners. Whether you're training, traveling, or just feeling the heat, work hard, hydrate hard with body armor. Flash IV Tastes great. None of the junk involved in it. Grab yours today at 7:11. Guys, this, this moment and this ad is presented to you by Athletic Brewing Co. Who crafts great tasting award winning non alcoholic beer. No compromises on flavor. They taste amazing and no consequences later for enjoying the celebration. This is a full flavor non alcoholic beer that never feels out of place. With so many different flavors to choose from, there's always a seat at the bar for you if you're not drinking or cutting down on drinking. It doesn't matter Athletic is for you. It's fit for all times. You can drink it anytime, anywhere and still go right back to whatever you were doing. Just like Biz on a long hike where he goes seven miles up a hill, thinks of 7,000 content ideas, has a couple athletics and then does the 7 mile trek back down. There's no hangovers. Great nights don't need awful mornings. Athletic brews a variety of styles. They get the IPAs, the Goldens, the extra dark brews, the sours, hazies and more, many of which are only available online and for a limited time. You can find Athletic Brewing's best selling lineup at grocery or liquor stores near you or try a variety of limited styles exclusively on their website. Go to athleticbrewing.com chiclets to find stores near you or get brews shipped right to you. Use code chiclets to get 15% off your first online order near beer terms and conditions and certain limitations apply. Athletic Brewing company fit for all times.

[G]

Wow, he looks good too.

[Biz]

One of the funniest emails I've read in a while today to the barstool content team in that rich. I felt it was directed directly at Biz.

[G]

I saw a text right away.

[Dave Portnoy]

It wasn't directly, I mean that the. It's just a fact that less mascots was the most prom. Whatever it was, was the most promoted thing that barstool's ever done. It had no advertising, it got no views, it made no money. It took two years to produce. It took all of our talent and people promoted it like the company was on the line and, and it debuted huge. It actually had a lot of numbers.

[Biz]

It was such thanks to biz.

[Dave Portnoy]

Yeah. And it was so awful. It, it's very rare you see something go from like a million views to like 140 from like episode one to two. But that's how bad that was. But everyone put such effort into it.

[Keith]

You know, I thought maybe when does season two start?

[Dave Portnoy]

Yeah, season two ain't coming. Season two we can't afford. Like they had so many people working on that thing. So you know, I thought maybe I get. Throw me a bone and get a couple, couple books out of it. So we got, you know, everyone, everyone promote. And I'm sure that some of the people doing it, like Nikki Smokes, I'm sure is moving a lot of books and, and people like that, but they're, they're hopping to it, they're promoting it.

[G]

My rebuttal to that is a lot of time and energy spent. I don't think they had a huge budget and I respect people who take swings and I thought there were some great moments in it. And I love the guys who did it, like the feidelbergs and. And that whole out of order crew. So. But with that hilarious email, just terrible. You people listening. It was you people listening. Go watch it. And you can. You can make your own call on that. You know, the numbers don't lie.

[Dave Portnoy]

I mean, the numbers do not lie. It had a million people debut and then it. It fell off to the point they had. I think they rented out like the Apollo theater for the opening.

[G]

I think art is about interpretation. And we're going to let the people who go watch it that are listening to side But I thought it was a perfect opportunity to bring you on. I know we've had you on before, but to talk about this book release and why you decided to do it now.

[Dave Portnoy]

Yeah. So the book was pitched to me and it definitely different things I guess get to me, my ego, whatever. But the thought of, like walking by in an airport and seeing like your book in a window, I thought is super cool. Or little bookstores.

[Biz]

Yeah.

[Keith]

You go to a lot of real airports.

[Dave Portnoy]

I used to.

[Biz]

Yeah.

[Dave Portnoy]

So that. And then I. I thought Francis was gonna write it. So it's like, all right, I. I don't have to really spend that much time and it'll be cool. And then Francis wrote the whole book. He wrote a book and I. He spent, I don't know, six, eight months writing the book. And then I got it and I read the first page. I'm like, oh, this is. This, this isn't going to work at all. And I've said it's awful. I shouldn't say it's awful. It just wasn't, you know, it wasn't me. Like, someone read it. Be like, that's not Dave. And he was kind of making up stuff as he went. Like, we had lots of interviews, but where he didn't have the exact story or back. He just make it up and ad lib. It's like, I can't do that. People know the whole thing. So I had to write the whole thing. So it took me another six months. I mean, I was locked in there. I would have never agreed to do it if I knew how much time and effort. I'm glad it's done. I think it's like a pretty good memoir of barstool. But I never would have agreed to do it if I knew how much was going into it.

[G]

And for those of you who Are a little naive. He's talking about Francis Ellis. Unreal comedian. He just was at the Boston Garden. It was sold out. I believe he's a great writer. Great. I mean, I would. I was gonna say probably a real writer. He's probably the highest. Or one of the highest intellects who works for barstool, went to Harvard. So was that obviously the reason and his humor why you chose him to write it?

[Dave Portnoy]

Yeah. And he asked. He's like, I will write a fucking great book. Like, I've never been more confident that I can write in your voice into a book. And he is a great writer. It's just. He's like, in the book. It's probably like a good book or a movie. It's just not mine. So I couldn't, like, read it knowing, oh, that's not true. That didn't happen. Is just a lot of. A lot of, like, bullshit. And he talks in a way. He was still talking in Francis voice. Like, kind of the bougie, like, as I'm eating my, like, sushi with, like, caviar on it for lunch at the. At my friend. What are you talking about? It just was way off, so I had to do it over.

[Keith]

You ever think because you're a guy who loves chaos, dropping both the books at the same time and see which one does better?

[G]

I love that.

[Keith]

Thank you.

[Dave Portnoy]

Me and the Francis edition?

[Keith]

Yeah.

[Dave Portnoy]

You mean saying I wrote the Francis.

[G]

No, no, no.

[Keith]

Like, panning.

[Dave Portnoy]

Yeah, well, yeah. I mean, he had no chance. Just because my audience is so much bigger than his. That wouldn't really be a fair fight.

[Biz]

Okay, well, so I bought the book. I bought it when you.

[Unknown Guest 1]

Thank you.

[Biz]

Pre order. So it'll be. It'll be at my house when I get.

[G]

For my free copy now.

[Biz]

Yeah, he wants a we.

[Dave Portnoy]

I need numbers.

[Biz]

I need numbers. If I ever wrote a book, would you buy it? There's no chance you would. It's a difference between you and I. One thing I'm very interested.

[Dave Portnoy]

I would buy that book.

[Biz]

Thank you, Dave.

[G]

R.A. is gonna write wits.

[Dave Portnoy]

Yeah.

[Biz]

In crayon. But I gotta wonder. I can't wait to read. You were under an NDA for so long on how you got the company back and now you're able to tell it and you tell the story in the book. So kind of like give the, I guess the Cliff Notes of that right now. And. And that's just one reason people should go buy it.

[G]

And for those of you who have been living under a rock, like, can you maybe even get a little Bit more of the backstory as to, like, so you guys.

[Dave Portnoy]

Well, I know Whit. You know the story, right?

[Biz]

Yep.

[G]

I don't know the story well.

[Biz]

Yeah, yeah, I know.

[G]

And even if it was told to me, I probably smoked enough weed to forget the story, so.

[Dave Portnoy]

So, all right. The Cliff Notes version of it is we go, Pen has Barstool, Pen owns Barstool. J. Snowden is the CEO. And I never know how books. You want people to read the book, so. But I guess I tell the story here. There's more in the book. How does that work? Anybody know about books?

[Biz]

Do you give away? No, I think. I think. I think sometimes you go on and tell, like, one part of the book, but there's a million other parts.

[Dave Portnoy]

Okay, so I'm telling the. I'll give the Cliff Notes version. There's more to it. So I own. I own. Barstool is owned by Penn J. Snowden, the CEO of Penn. He's like, hey, I'm gonna be in New York. Let. Let's grab lunch. We haven't caught up in a while. We walk into a little Italian restaurant. I forget the name of it, and New York and Manhattan, and I swear to God walk in. I go, this looks like the. The type of place you get whacked at. Like, I literally. It looked like an old Godfather. We sit in the corner, and he starts telling me. He's like, we made a big move. I'm like, oh, okay. He's like, we're doing a big deal with espn. I'm like, oh, all right. That's. That's crazy. But, like, okay, cool. Is McAfee going to promote it? Is Scott Van Pelt going to promote it? He's like, yeah, they're going to promote on.

[RA]

On.

[Dave Portnoy]

There's one part. There's one part of the deal, though. ESPN said, we will do this deal, provide one thing. Dave Portnoy cannot be part of our soul sports anymore.

[G]

Okay. So that's a hell of a stipulation.

[Dave Portnoy]

Yeah.

[Biz]

I was.

[Dave Portnoy]

He's like, we're gonna vest all your stocks, so you're gonna be rich. And it's like, go on. And I was just stunned, to be totally honest. Like, I. I took it all in, and. And I was kind of like, well, walking. I'm like, what if. If. What if I'm not, like, totally cool with, like, getting fired by ESPN for my own company? He's like, well, you get the stock, you get rich. I walked out, called Rene. I was like, hey, I just got fucking, like, canned.

[Biz]

I got Whacked.

[Dave Portnoy]

Yeah, I got fucking whacked.

[G]

It was worse than a bullet.

[Dave Portnoy]

Yeah. And then I called Jay. I talked. So then Jay met with Dan. He met with Erica and told him the same thing. And we kind of grouped up, like, do you guys want to go to espn? Like, I'd be out. I'd be rich. And it was kind of consensus, like, fuck, no, we don't want to go to espn. So then we negotiated with Penn, and it's like, they want to do this ESPN deal. We have Barstool. Who does not want to go to espn. ESPN won't work with Barstool. So it's like. But the deal's already done. So we negotiated this deal with.

[G]

With Pat that provides you more leverage because they'd already signed that deal knowing they wanted to do that so bad, where you were able to go back to them and, like, yeah, And I think, what was the stock that was vesting? Are you allowed to say, like, how much it would have been financially?

[Dave Portnoy]

Well, I was getting that no matter

[Biz]

what, but, yeah, you already had so much.

[Dave Portnoy]

Yeah, it was, like, tens of millions of dollars. It was a lot. So we all. Jay and I always had a great relationship, and I get what was going on because we were getting hammered by regulators. Barstool has looked so bad. And he's like, all right, we're losing money on Barstool. Anyways. We want to do this ESPN deal because they're seeing it as Barstool's not working. So it's like, what can we do to make all sides happy in this? It's like, let's give Barstool back to Dave. I suggest a buck, and then he takes all the expenses.

[Keith]

All.

[Dave Portnoy]

You know, the Nates of the world are all back in my lap because ESPN would have fired 90% of the company. Like, all these losers like Mincy. See, well, he was already gone. But, like, Nate, see you, like, go down the list. Nikki, Smoke. See you. Like, everybody. Big T, see you. Like, everyone's gone. Pmt you guys. They have use for you. So it's like, we decided to keep it, and that was basically how the company got back. So Whit. And you were going on ESPN with, like, doing your hockey bits, and I wasn't. People have always been like, Dave hates McAfee. It wasn't McAfee. I'm like, fuck this, ESPN. Like, they tried to fire me from my own company. And then the Chicklets guys are going on playing footsie with espn, who I knew tried to fire me.

[G]

I would have Been fired shortly thereafter. I can promise you, I promise you guys that. And to go back to the mincing.

[Dave Portnoy]

And by the way, there was a 10 year NDA where it's like if you say any of this deals off, we can come to you for all the money, everything. The pen ESPN deal fell apart right as this book was ending. So I'm like, am I allowed now? Because I know ESPN and Penn weren't a good relationship. We were much better. So I'm like, am I allowed to say what happened now? So it kind of is the perfect timing for me to end the book and be like, here's actually what happened.

[G]

I think, I think the. One of the more fascinating parts of this is when they bought. When Penn bought Barstool, at what point to when he finally came to you said, hey, this is basically not going to work with the ESPN situation. How much of that original buyout have you had you already collected from them? And what did they buy? Barstool for Penn.

[Dave Portnoy]

Yeah, and that's all in the book. So it was like halfway done, like the Penn deal. And a couple of we have read the book and I'm like pretty frank with the numbers all the way along the rock of how much I was making the. But I. So the original, the entire Pen Bop bar stool for roughly 650 million total. So now Chernin owned half the company. So it's not like I made 650. So it was 650 total. I think I had 30% of the company or something at that point. They bought half of it when they started or 30% because they didn't want to own it all right now and have all the regulators scream like, what are you doing? They wanted to test it out and slowly do it, but it was always after a couple years they would acquire the rest of it.

[G]

And had they already acquired the rest of it before he came?

[Dave Portnoy]

But yes, but we always had to earn. It was always an earn out. Like we had to. Every day that went by, more stock would become vested, but we couldn't sell it or do anything with it yet. So it's like locked up so long.

[Keith]

Did you not want to sell it because all these guys that you said would be fired, all that stuff, you had a soft spot for them and you didn't want to see them get fired.

[Dave Portnoy]

Yeah, that was a huge part of it. And like Dan, Erica, all of it, that was a big part of it. I would have made so much money I could have gone to the sunset. That was a huge part of it. A second part of it was at first I was so stunned, and then, then it's like ESPN actually fired me. That's really what would have happened. It's like ESPN fired me from my own fucking company after 20 years.

[Keith]

Something that you built too?

[Biz]

Yeah, yeah.

[Dave Portnoy]

It's still crazy to me. I don't know why that clause was put in there. Like, I know I butted heads with them, but it's still barstool. That to me was an insane. Because they could have, like, it all could have worked together. There was no reason for this to happen except espn literally all the way up top being like, the one thing is Dave Porter.

[RA]

I can't be part.

[Biz]

Is there one name at espn because Skipper's gone.

[Keith]

That was a champagne bottle.

[Biz]

Yeah, but is there, was there one guy or is that like just a, a, a group, a board decision?

[Dave Portnoy]

I heard it went all the way up through the grapevine. Like Bob Iger. Like, I, I, it was like all it, they, whatever reason, they just, I was the deal breaker. Crazy. It's the second time, and we talk about the second time. Like, ESPN did the biggest favor in the world for us. Like, it was first Barstool Van talk when they blew that up. Like, that's a huge point in Barcelona's history because Dan and pft, like, we were at odds big time. Like PMT and me were at odds. And then ESPN kind of united us and became the villain when they canceled that show. And then all these years later, they come back in out of left field and give me back the fucking company.

[G]

It's crazy in sports entertainment as far as, like, deals like this. Where is this? Is this one of its kind?

[Biz]

Yes.

[G]

Like, ever. Like, is there any other thing remotely close? Because I feel like you are so on top of the business side of, like, everything that's going on and you understand it. What could you compare this to in, in the past?

[Dave Portnoy]

I mean, I've, I don't have a specific example. I've heard people say founders sometimes get back their company again. I just don't know. Like, I don't know if the ESPN Penn deal would have worked if we were still involved because we would have been rowing together with espn. It just was, it was just a, such a slap in the face to me. Like, you, we want to do this deal, but it can't be with Dave.

[Keith]

When you left that lunch, were you like, okay, I'm going to do this, or did you.

[Biz]

I can't believe you didn't flip.

[Keith]

Oh, I know.

[Dave Portnoy]

I was stunned. I was just so caught off guard. And it was really like, there's a part of it, like, we're going to give you all the stock you've been waiting for. You're going to have all this money, and you can just disappear into the sunset. And maybe if it wasn't espn, if it wasn't some company where I'm like, fuck these guys. It's just some third party. Maybe I go in into the sunset. But it sucks that I feel, because I think about it even now, it's like, how am I going to unwind myself from barstool? Like, whether that's in three years, five years, 10 years in the last page of the book is crazy. I say, as I'm writing this, I'm about to turn 50. I've been doing this half my life, 25 years. So that's pretty nuts to be doing something literally half your life. But I don't know what will happen. We just have these morons who work for, like, what happens to these people? What if I make all this money, retire, and then I'm walking down the street and I see, like, Nate mumbling to himself with a little, like, can you give me some change? Like, what?

[G]

Fair Dave? That's the. That's the oxygen that makes it run. And I feel like those characters that you're mentioning, like, they're so relatable to your. Your audience and like, the vulnerability and the goofiness and like, something.

[Dave Portnoy]

Where would they go? Biz without bars?

[G]

No, I. I completely agree. It's just one of those things that just. It works, man. It was just like the universe came together and. And. And I don't want to say it fell on your lap because this is 25 years of very hard work. And it kind of was going to lead me to my next question about. You're like, obviously entrepreneurial mindset, right? 25 years going at it. And this book probably starts at the beginning. I would assume the. The repurchase of the company is around the climax of the book.

[Dave Portnoy]

It is, yeah.

[G]

Like, you're 50. Like, do you see yourself slowing down or are you just one of those guys?

[Biz]

I don't know how you're. I can't see not dropping a video on Twitter when something happens. I. Yeah, right. I don't know.

[Dave Portnoy]

It's hard to be in and out. I mean, I've definitely big time slowed down. Like, I mean, I live in Isle Morata in Nantucket, so I'm not in the office. And I. You guys have probably experienced degree the more Success we've had, we get bigger opportunities thrown at us that like, I never dream of. So, like the being on Big Noon kickoff, you know, it's a great deal for us. And it's never. If you told me 20 years ago, someone's gonna pay you a lot of money to be on like a college football pregame show, I'd be like, sign me up. How do you do it? So we get great deals that keep me involved in a lot of our bigger deals. I need to be in it. Like, DraftKings is like, we're doing a huge deal. It's like, we need Dave. We need Dave. So that keeps me in. And Dan does a lot of the day to day stuff. We had that talk last week. He's like, what's your plan? Because they're looking at office space and he just wants to kind of make sure I'm there for the business side and like keeping things going. So. I don't know. I really don't know. I have an expensive horse habit and I laugh, but it's like, you need money for it, so.

[G]

Oh, yeah, we've seen some, some of the price tags on these grays that you buy.

[Dave Portnoy]

It's crazy.

[G]

As I start to learn a little bit, a little bit about it, like, yeah, my little. My Little Pony. Outside your ego, obviously kidding there. What do you hope that people get out of this book? Like, do you hope that it inspires, like, entrepreneurs of the next generation? Is that what do you.

[Dave Portnoy]

No, there's no inspiration on the ego thing. I wanted to be on like the, the, the New York Times bestseller list or does it like, you know, whether it would. I think Barstool is a great movie. I mean, the story's insane. Like, the whole Barstool story really is a pretty unique, like one in a million. It almost seems built for film because of. We cover sports, entertainment, women, like all the controversies, but I don't know, like, it was, it was pitched to me. I didn't think much about it and now I am proud of it and I'm glad I did it. I don't like having to push the fuck out of people to like buy it, but that's what I'm doing.

[Biz]

So.

[Dave Portnoy]

But I don't have any grandiose, like, oh, I hope some fucking kid in business school is like, I'm gonna do this and this and taking notes.

[G]

I think if Zuckerberg got a movie, I think you should, you should be on the list.

[Biz]

I'm looking forward to the, the aspect of the book with Pardon my take, because you mentioned. Pardon my take is like the engine that's running this all now. And.

[G]

And aside from Mincy Netflix.

[Biz]

Yeah, and Mincy Netflix came in and everyone's like, oh, you guys are on Netflix. Like, yeah, they. They wanted pardon my take. They got us and Rusillo as well. But not a lot of people know and I don't know the backstory of like the true bad blood between you, Dan and PFD for a while. So not to give it away, but that is definitely an aspect of the book. People probably.

[G]

What do you mean, the bad blood? We were.

[Dave Portnoy]

We were at odds, like right around when they went on ESPN for that short lived. Short lived Barcelona one episode. We really like. Dan and I were barely talking. I pft when he came over. It didn't like me to begin with. Like, he. I wasn't a pft. Wasn't like, we weren't. I wasn't his cup of tea. Let's put it that way. He was a Dan guy and I think he saw like, I. So when they, when we get attacked or they get attacked or somebody says something mean during that time especially, they're like, turn the other cheek. Just pretend it didn't happen. Like, let's not. Let's not inflame this. I don't really live by that code. I'm. I'm. Oh, you attacked us. I'm going to attack you and turn this into a fucking gutter war.

[RA]

So.

[Dave Portnoy]

But they're trying to grow in the stink of me. I think they perceive it's holding us down and I kind of look at. It's like, you guys won't even have this opportunity to explode in the first place if I wasn't making all these waves and got us to the point they gave you the platform to explode. So we were really. I think they were looking at ways to get out of Barstool. Like, what is our next step? Dave made all this money. We're fucking huge. We're like the biggest podcast in the history of podcast. And as long as we're attached to Barstool and Dave, we're going to be limited on what we can do. I think that was kind of the Push Pull and espn. Like, they didn't even want to talk to me when they did that deal with Pardon my take. Like, if I came in the room, it looked like a skunk walked in. Like they all.

[Keith]

You.

[Dave Portnoy]

Like, what is that?

[Keith]

What?

[G]

What? What? Like what? Patched up the relationship, the working relationship.

[Dave Portnoy]

Espn. They fucking canceled the show. Like, espn it was on for one episode and they dug up an old quote from Dan and I talking about Sam Ponder, and they canceled the show. So once that got canceled, it reunited us. Dan's like, fuck it, I'm barstool for life. And PFT over the years. I think PFT is an interesting chapter. And it's like, I've said this. I do believe in the book. Like, I honestly think if somebody was talking about me and I was nowhere around and PFT was there, he'd defend me. Be like, you, you don't know what you're talking about. That's about as nicest thing you can say about somebody. We don't maybe see the world exactly the same, but we've become like, I want to say we're like BFFs and hanging out, but we both trust each other and very loyal to each other.

[G]

How. What is like from an energy perspective and a stress level perspective? Obviously there were some years there where, where people were gunning for you. The Business Insider stuff like, like how, how do you get to a situation where you're okay going on the offense with that stuff over and over and over, where I feel like at least now it's kind of, you've kind of came out the other side. What do you think changed that? Was it that Business Insider situation where that was the, the, the, the, the peak of it all?

[Dave Portnoy]

Yeah, that. Oh, that was certainly the worst. Like, I've never been attacked in, in a manner like they did. Really personal and just total, like all lies. That, that was the worst time I've had in the 20 years of Arsenal. I mean, calling your parent. I had to call my parents, be like, heads up, this is the headline of like an article that's about to drop about me tomorrow. And it's basically saying I'm chasing a girl across the room and she's like screaming, no. It's like totally made up. So you know, that sucked. And that was crazy. After that article came out, wasn't even going on the offensive. I knew it was bullshit and I had all the facts. So. All right. It took me 24 hours and I laid it all out and anybody who, who open mind looked as like, oh, this is total. I remember I talked to wit during this. You probably don't even remember.

[Biz]

I remember talking to you and I've never seen you like that. I remember after being like, like just what biz is saying. Like, you were, you were stressing, but. And I, and I was like, this is horrible because you're showing me all the facts. I'm like, holy.

[RA]

Yeah.

[Dave Portnoy]

And you're like, let me get this straight. The girl wanted to hook up with you and you're in trouble? I'm like, yeah, that's pretty much how it fucking went. And then after that was over, the New York Times spent a year and a half trying to do the same exact thing to me. So I went through it and it. There wasn't a day that went by when some random girl that I either knew or didn't know because they went through social media would be like, hey, some reporter called and asking really weird questions about you. And to just the. The business. I was lies. So it's like, I know I didn't do anything, but that doesn't mean somebody can't just make up. And they go with it because they already did. So it was a really depressing time for that. Just. And it changed. It made me more jaded than I already was, if that's possible. And people. Stoolies hate hearing about it. It's like, yeah, I get fired up. Like, I told a reporter about this.

[RA]

My heart.

[Dave Portnoy]

I'm like, my heart's beating faster because you're asking me about something that makes me so fucking mad. And. And there's still no one really.

[Biz]

But it's who.

[Keith]

It's.

[Biz]

It's who I am. It's like, it's not just like you're tripping me for an outfit or a Correct. It's like, this is like my. My life, my.

[RA]

Right.

[Biz]

Yeah, that was.

[Dave Portnoy]

And there's so many facts from that that they just left out. It's like Sophia Franklin from. And it's in the book. Sophia Franklin from Call Her Daddy played a intricate role. She somehow, I don't know how connected Business Insider to one of the accusers. Like, what? Yes. Oh, wow. The accuser went on a podcast and said it. And it's never been messaged like that seems like it should be an important, like, piece of information.

[G]

So that's obviously your. Your. Your gripe right now with. Because sometimes I see the clips pop up and you were kind of going at her because she was doing a tell all book. And then so you're like, it, I'm gonna unload the.

[Dave Portnoy]

Sophia Franklin went through a period of time where on our Instagram story, she would just say, do you have any dirt or. Or mean about Dave Portnoy? And then delete it. And she was with like this guy milf. We're going too dead. But it was like they hated me so much. From Call Her Daddy.

[Keith]

And.

[Dave Portnoy]

And they just made up. So brutal.

[G]

And is that. That's. That's obviously a portion of the book as well.

[Dave Portnoy]

Yeah.

[G]

Is there anything like. Like, what would you say the most positive part of it is? Like, the most. Like, outside of getting the company back, maybe like a life experience. I know famous Miss Peaches kind of blew up, and that must have been.

[Dave Portnoy]

She's not so much in, you know, one of my favorite stories. And again, sometimes Chiclet's fans are like, we hate this guy.

[G]

It's like, I don't care. I don't. Anybody who can't say this, what you've done is a fascinating story is just out of their minds.

[Biz]

They say they hate me and.

[G]

Yeah. Oh, yeah. I've been getting some lately, too, so don't worry about it. Yeah. That's why we got you on. You're our shield.

[Dave Portnoy]

Yeah. It is very strange because whenever Barstool has needed something, like, to break our way, it really has. So whether it's legalized gambling, whether it's finding in the early days of the newspaper, it's just. I mean, I don't think you can have a story like this. And I've said it throughout, like, anybody who creates a business like this and says it didn't take an incredible amount of luck is full of shit. Like, it was the right people, the right time to take advantage, but so many things had to break just perfectly for us to, like, get bigger, expand everything. So there's not one moment. There's a lot of good moments. There's a lot of me in it. Like, a lot of relationships not within Barstool. I have pretty much good relations with everybody, for the most part, who worked here or whatever. But, like, the churning group, I think people find interesting. I don't know. It's a. Yeah.

[Biz]

I mean, you talk about luck, like the. The Boston teams, 100%. Like, you start this thing, and then they win 16 titles. It's just crazy.

[Dave Portnoy]

We were absolute losers. Like, when I started it, like, it was 86. That was the last. And then we start the thing, and it's victory after victory after victory. Not only that, the Internet comes around. So we're, like, at the forefront of being able to document all this Boston. And not by playing, but me and Barstool start becoming the face of the Boston sports fan. And then the Patriots just erupt. And not only do they win all the time, they're in controversy all the time. And it's like everything is just building. The city of Boston, people would leave the City, go somewhere else, tell a buddy. And Boston's one of those cities that's kind of communal like that. It's like, I think I have a line at one point, like if you pretended you were from Boston, you would say like, you, you are Ben Affleck or Matt Damon. But if you're really from Boston, you are reading Barstool. Like, we're just everywhere in the city.

[Biz]

We just, we just interviewed Patrice Bergeron and we were talking about, you know, them winning in 11 and then Marshawn and Sagan after. And you guys were just posting every clip everywhere. And then he said, yeah, actually the, the GM was like, hey boys, you, you guys gotta go home. Yeah, Barstool got. You got them sent home out of Boston. So just posting all the pics. But, but we appreciate you coming. I know you're on a book tour right now, so maybe shout out where you're going to be at the next couple days. Is that start tomorrow?

[Dave Portnoy]

So I'm going to the. Why? Well, no, this is airing tomorrow. So tomorrow we're in Jersey Ridgewood at a place called Books Book Bookends. I'm hoping Bosco doesn't come tonight so bad.

[G]

Would you ever, would you ever come

[Dave Portnoy]

out so I can hold it over them forever?

[G]

Would you ever come out with like a bronzer?

[Dave Portnoy]

A what?

[G]

A bronzer.

[Dave Portnoy]

Why? Because I'm tan.

[G]

Yeah, I just like, dude, he lives in Almorada.

[Keith]

Nantucky.

[Dave Portnoy]

Yeah, I, I rarely. The Wall Street Journal, actually the nicest thing of publication there. Like they want the opening sentence of the articles like, he's living like a rich guy just walking barefoot and tan. So yeah, with my dog shuffling around my 20 something year old girlfriend. I am living the rich guy life.

[Keith]

I got, I got one last one just with like the whole. When the Internet started, like there was no, you know, playbook on how to kind of deal with the Internet and you guys just pumping out like what was kind of your guys's interlog talking, like, how are we going to film everything? How are we going to do this? Because no one else had really done it right.

[G]

And so like social media trends, like jumping. You guys are always ahead of like the tick tock and like algorithm stuff and like posting to YouTube at the same time and like knowing everything.

[Keith]

Yeah.

[Dave Portnoy]

So we're kind of like the first or one of the first true digital media companies. Like we're around when it started and I can't believe I'm going to give like Bald Paul a compliment, but Yaz has been around Just as long as I have doing it. And we really saw how quick and nimble you had to be. So, you know, we were fast on TikTok, fast on average. Blew up Instagram. We were really good at taking advantage as far as blogging. We just took our cameras and took pictures of the tv. Like that's quite literally like what we did. Like Jenny Dell or Heidi Watney on the Red Sox. Every game I'm taking a picture like raiding her outfit. Like just little things. What's his face drink?

[Unknown Guest 1]

Water.

[Dave Portnoy]

Like I'm videoing him leaving the game at the Red Sox. It's just nowhere else. And we're the only ones doing it. It changed so much. Like I could have a fight video or video that was sent to me. Don't post it for a month. No one else posts it. I'm the only one who has it now. If you don't post something in five seconds, it's already all over the Internet. So things have changed totally. But yeah, we were, we were just not on purpose. We were just like one of the first companies around to take advantage of it. And I mean, I didn't even think of it. Some guy built the website, he suggested it and like, all right, yeah, build it and we'll try to use it.

[Keith]

Who was that? Was that Paul?

[Dave Portnoy]

No, Ian Whitehall. Right? Ian White. Ian White was a kid I used to hand the newspaper out to and he loved it. He's like, I'm moving to New York and if I build you a website, will you put the newspaper on? I'm like, sure, if you want to do it for free. He did it and then I'm like, can I write on this? And he just kind of made little changes that let us work on it.

[G]

Oh, so you could post your blogs to it and kind of like. Yeah, evolve it in real time. Yeah, I, I, you, you talked about the luck situation. Outside of the buying it back for a dollar, what was your next favorite deal that you ended up having?

[Keith]

White.

[Dave Portnoy]

Yeah, Ian White was a huge deal. I mean the churning deal was great. There's all, both deals we did were great. There's no way we get to our next steps with.

[G]

I meant more of like a silly one. Like a, like a kind of like you said, like sometimes falls in your lap.

[Dave Portnoy]

I mean we haven't done too many outside.

[G]

Like the High Noon maybe.

[Dave Portnoy]

Yeah, that, that stories in the book, the Pink Whitney. That's an all timer. Yeah, I mean it really is. Like that started as a joke. Yep.

[G]

Okay, another question, small question. If you could pick your, like, top three people at barstool that you just, like, get a kick out of when you see their videos. And, you know, like, who are your three favorites? Like, outside of maybe the obvious?

[Dave Portnoy]

Bosco. Bosco. Bosco.

[Keith]

He's.

[Dave Portnoy]

He's one of the few who can still, like, truly make me laugh. But it's never. It's never with him. It's like when he's trying to be funny, he's awful and hideous. But, like, when he's in terrorist mode and just being Bosco and letting. Letting his true psycho out. Like the video with me and witness the taxes video. They're photos. Dropping me. Afghanistan.

[Biz]

I.

[Dave Portnoy]

Every time that pops up, I have to watch it 10 times. Like, it's.

[Biz]

And then Wit has his glasses on. Oh, my God.

[Dave Portnoy]

It's unbelievable because he's so serious. Like, he was a demented lunatic and he's definitely on meds, but when he loot, like, even from surviving Barstool, like, the clips where he's playing that game, I mean, he's a psychopath. He's a psychopath. Psychopath. So.

[G]

And shout out to your book. And I'm sorry that I promoted the le Mascot, so.

[Dave Portnoy]

No, I was all for it. I was just very curious that it was so much. I knew I was gonna send that tweet, like, three months before. I just. It's like I knew how much people promoted that. And it's like, I wonder if anyone will, like, shout out now. It's all. If you go look at the feed, it's, oh, buddy.

[Biz]

That email came out and it was bing, bing, bang. Ra had one ivory one. I was like, oh, the boss spoke, but we appreciate it.

[G]

Our whole group chat was laughing when we shared the. The email where I'm like, I gotta go above and beyond here. He's getting a. We're dropping a tell all podcast here.

[Dave Portnoy]

Yeah, yeah.

[Biz]

All right, Dave, congrats on the book. We'll talk to you soon.

[Dave Portnoy]

See it. All right, see you.

[Biz]

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[G]

So what other teams did we not talk about though? If we could run over quickly and I will say I know we kind of shit on Ottawa for the return on Brady. I do think that they've made a few nice little moves in order to. I think they got Burakovsky Yep. And then who they get from San Jose who's a smaller skilled forward? Eklund.

[Keith]

Right?

[G]

William Eklund.

[Biz]

Yes, yes. And I like Ecklund.

[G]

They're trying, they're trying to retool on the fly. Kind of like we saw from Washington after a big loss in Brady. So interested to see what else they can do maybe with some of those.

[Biz]

They also signed Jordan Spence to 4 year deal, 5 million per season. He's pretty good. Came over from LA and I like him so we'll see how that works out. But he looked great in his first year. LA resigned Brandt Clark. LA also announced that they won't be resigning Doty before his final year of his deal. Kind of a little bit of a, you know, let's, let's see how this season goes and figure it out then it's it, it is. You know, Doddy's getting older though. I kind of get it.

[Keith]

But I bet he has a monster year.

[Biz]

I, I, I, I could see that. And I think Brant Clark, it's his time. Hey, this is kind of your team now on the back end. 7.4 million for a five year extension. He's.

[Keith]

You think he would be a guy that maybe would get traded at the deadline?

[Biz]

Doty?

[G]

Yeah, I think that they're out of

[Biz]

it a thousand percent.

[G]

They're morons if they don't retain half and send them and they just brought

[Keith]

it and did they not just bring in Ray? Wh the assistant coach. Shout out the coach to have in

[Biz]

there and Lav coached him obviously when they won the Stanley cup with Carolina. So that's pretty cool. But I want to see what Brandt Clark does with more minutes and, and more, you know, options for him. So that, that'll be a good one to watch.

[G]

And then who's the other assistant they got, they got Ray and then somebody else. They announced.

[Biz]

I don't know. I can't think of that.

[G]

I thought this had Ray and someone

[Biz]

else with the Sharks who did acquire Kesselring. They signed him three year deal, 4.5 million. I mean I don't, we still kind of know.

[Keith]

Yeah.

[Biz]

Don't know what happened in Buffalo, but when he went over there it was like, hey, this is a nice piece with Josh Stone. Like this guy's a hell of a player. So now he's in San Jose. He played for Ryan Wasofsky at the Worlds when they won it. So we'll see what he does there. Obviously San Jose needs help on D for the draft. Boys, we got to go into the draft quickly, McKenna. The Bieber, the Bieber thing, it's pretty cool. I think you get Bieber out there. That was awesome. McKenna. You know, I guess there was rumblings maybe wouldn't go first overall as the, as the year went along. And it's, it's, it was a no brainer I think right when you look at it now and the Leafs getting the, the first overall pick. But I do think with Verhoff dropping and San Jose's draft is out of context, control like their prospects. But Verhoff dropped. There was rumors of McKenna maybe not going number one overall. That Tynan Lawrence kid he had dropped from, way, you know, they were, they were mentioning him as a top five pick. The guys who go to college are going to get hurt in the draft

[Keith]

that, because of the numbers.

[Biz]

Yeah. And, and it's, and it's so much harder than major junior. That's just what's going to happen. But I swear to God, it's a good thing Verhoff's now going to San Jose. Okay. Like they're going to be a better team quicker than some of those other teams will be. And just by playing college, I think it hurt him. And same with Tyler Lawrence who left the ushl, went to BU halfway through the year. He dropped because he didn't do much in college. It's that, that much harder of a game, especially up from the ushl. So I just think that that's something to keep an eye out for. And in the end it's not a bad thing because you're going to a better team, if that makes any sense. But I was, I was, I was very surprised Vancouver took Caleb Malhotra. Right. With his dad as the coach. That's, that's just kind of like, oh, I don't even know if, if Manny would have wanted that. But they love his game and they're like, no, we're, we're taking them. We don't, we don't care. I don't know if that surprised either one of you guys at all.

[G]

I just don't. I, I think it's just like when you think of the concept of it, you think of minor hockey. The good news is, is Manny played a long time and I know he's been, he's been coaching now for a few years and he's gotten that experience to where like I think he's self aware enough to where this kid's just like not going to get automatic power play time or playing time or even make the team just because his dad's the coach. Maybe from an organizational standpoint they're going to want to rush this along just because they need something in order to like hype up the fans and get them excited for. Because who knows how they're going to be this year. But then on the flip side I get people who would have been like ah, I mean Phoenix drafted Josh do in the second round. People, people claim nepotism on that and we're, and we're spewing nonsense online and look at how that's panned out. He should have been a first, first rounder. Right?

[Biz]

Yeah.

[Keith]

Do you think, do you think fans in Vancouver are now like oh Jesus, why do we take this guy whose dad's going to be the coach or

[G]

you think to the like the like the noise of how much they talk online and the drama in which is like their social. And that's. I think they're one of. I think if you did a poll they'd probably rank it as one of the five most toxic. I mean you saw what happened through the Patterson JT situation and hey man, it's, you know, it's kind of a miserable place in the, in the winter when it's raining and dark all the time. And maybe that's just the most like the most vocal minority part of their fan base that are on there talking. But I hope people have cooler minds and heads about it going back to San Jose. That is like, like, you know when you say like they're looking like a snack.

[Biz]

Yeah. And they got the Ryan Lynn kid later too.

[G]

Ryan Lynn is apparently a great late first round pick who they stole.

[Biz]

And so they have, they have Celebrini, they got Will Smith, they got Misa, they have. Now they have Verhoff, they have Stenberg, they have Ryan Lynn. It's like Colin Grafts young.

[Keith]

It's.

[Biz]

It's fucking crazy. Like we're not talking two or three guys like six to eight people that are big time prospects. One is already an MVP type player.

[G]

Right.

[Biz]

Yeah. I can't see it not being like it just a combination complete like rise to the top of the league at one point.

[G]

Yeah.

[Keith]

From where they, where they were to like remember how hard it was obviously playing in that building like always packed. They've had their dark days the last few years. But man, you look at this roster, their pipeline of kids coming up. You got a stud Celebrini who's going to be the face of the league when Sid. Sid retires. McDavid's on his, you know, back nine. I guess coming soon. So I, I think Celebrini is going to be the face of the league and if you can have him there. So staying in California, in San Jose, it's huge. Because when that seems good, man, like, it's such a fun building to play in, to watch a game, like, that's huge.

[Biz]

And that's a place that if they're bad, nobody's going to want to go.

[Keith]

Yeah. So you have to build through the draft, which they are doing.

[RA]

Love to go.

[Biz]

And they have Dickinson. I didn't mention him. And we're going to try to get Mike Greer on this summer because Keith and I, I mean, I, I grew up watching him when he was at BU and then became good friends with him and we were all working out together. He's one of the best people in the game. He's an unreal person. I'm very happy for how that organization looks with him at the helm right now. The other thing about the draft that cracked me up, well, I was just

[G]

going to touch quickly on, on Gavin McKenna. The Leafs, like, yes, if you like, pretty cool story, kid from the Yukon, like, just the background. And when you talk about personalities and like stories of guys who are coming in, this is probably at the top of the list. And then all of a sudden, like the hype around him in Junior setting all the records he did in Medicine Hat, him making that transition, all of a sudden the, the, the. The allure of, oh my God, this guy goes out and knocks a guy out who was chirping at his mom. So even more media attention around him. And then the Leafs somehow get that number 12 lottery ball. So going from the, from the, the disappointing season of not making playoffs, them thinking, oh my God, we're going to be. So Matthews is going to ask to leave to them getting that first overall pick. Him walking up there with Joe. Justin Bieber vibes could not be more high in Toronto in one of the meccas of our sport compared to whatever it was three months ago or four months ago when they knew they were going to not make playoffs and potentially be giving their first pick over to the Boston Bruins for Brandon Carlo trade. So this has just been a complete whirlwind. Then all of a sudden you have the biggest pop star on the planet announcing the pick. Like, so cool for him and his family to get to experience that. He goes, flies over to Toronto, he's thrown out the first pitch. Like, it's just a whirlwind experience for this kid in that organization. And listen, as much as, hey, I hopped off him. I'm obviously going to still talk about what they've been able to do and from that change and getting him and probably convincing Matthews to stay, and now Nylander is obviously going to stay. You get one of the biggest free agent defensemen who are going to hit the market, and now all of a sudden you're hearing rumors of Bobrovsky and Warensky. Even the fact that we're talking about that like this right now compared to three months ago, it's only. It's only good for our game, boys. Like, as much as I'm off the fucking wagon, it's good for hockey also.

[Biz]

I. So I reached out. Well, first, I want to say one thing. The draft in the lead up to the draft is crazy. And all these scouts, they work their ass off, but not one time did I see Dax and Rudolph as the first defenseman taken. And so it just shows that, like, you hear all this stuff before, and first it was Verhoff, and then Chase Reed was the guy coming that he could go second overall. And all of a sudden the first defense was taken is Dax and Rudolph, who I had never seen. One thing saying he would be the

[G]

first defense, which is crazy because he scored 28 goals as a D man in the Western League.

[Biz]

And then it's a lot of goals. So then the Rangers have the five pick. All right, yeah, Chase, Renown. No, they go. The Latvian kid, Albert Smith, who apparently is like, like, one of the most ready guys to play in the NHL next year. So Rangers fans like, oh, we could have had Chase Street. It's like, none of you guys have seen any of these people play. How are you rattled right now? Like, at least let it play out a little bit and then complain and then. All right, all of a sudden, Calgary's up. Chase, free time. No, Calgary took a kid who has never before in the history of a draft, fit in more well with the. In this car and Carols. The. The kid stays on his farm for his draft party. He doesn't go. He's got a.

[G]

He was listening on the radio.

[Biz]

His family gave him a belt, one of those, like, you know, farmer, belt buckle things that said the draft on it. He's a complete stallion. I'm like, holy, this guy's a stud. And he's going to Calgary. It's just like, that worked out perfect. And then all of a sudden, Seattle's laughing. They get this Chase Reed kid who was talked about as the number one defenseman for the few months leading up to the Draft. So all the noise for, I guess,

[G]

young kids who are walking around like the grandpa on road trip with the boner when he, when they saw that pick. Yeah, I want to come back and go work.

[Keith]

Coming back.

[Biz]

Get up work. But what up? What A farm boy stallion that's going to Calgary. So that was awesome. But my final thing is that I texted because you saw the decentralized draft. They're all in their home cities. You know, they got the kids now. Or it did look pretty good with all the coach setups on the floor where the teams usually are. So I texted nine people I know that work within teams of the NHL. Eight of them said. And I asked what would you rather. Eight of them said, go back. Go back to where everyone's there really. One guy. One guy's like, no, I think this is better. But eight of them were like, no, it's, it's just a scene in that city for a weekend and then all the teams are there and all the, you see one GM go up to another gm and I just, I think it's way better the old way. And I think a lot of people within the league do too. So I would rather it go back to just everyone's there and then that weekend. It's the center of the hockey universe and I don't know, I, like, I

[G]

know the league's doing well and the money conversation probably shouldn't be one, but you're, you're just burning a lot of resources and for flying everybody out for what you just talk about, I think that they hit a sweet spot. And compared to last year with all the, the audio issues and how they were trying to interview each guy over the air, it was just like awkward interaction. So they've, they improved it. I, I, I didn't mind this way. The only thing that is crazy is they started it at 7 o' clock and ended at midnight. Right. That's five hours. It's a long time.

[Keith]

A long time.

[G]

I think they got to speed up the shot clocks like the MLB.

[Biz]

Yeah.

[G]

Maybe give them like four, like 30 seconds.

[Keith]

Just, just get a fantasy football draft.

[G]

Yeah, just. Let's go here, boys. Next pick, Auto.

[Keith]

Another cool thing at the draft too is how they announced Billy G as GM of the year. So shout out to Billy G on that. That was cool. I was wife surprised and that was a cool. I don't know, like, I think those

[Biz]

guys, they want to go like, they

[Keith]

want to go party and hang out. Like just go to your city and make the draft. Half picks, please. Like, I mean, it's not bothering us either way, but I don't know. I guess if they like it, go back.

[G]

So I'm assuming the. Probably the other biggest story is these twins that were picked up by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first and second round.

[Biz]

Now, they said they wanted to play together.

[Unknown Guest 1]

They've only been apart four days in their life. How crazy is that?

[Biz]

What?

[Unknown Guest 1]

They've only been apart from each other.

[Biz]

I was in the interview after with the family.

[G]

Yeah, they are very sadine. Like, in the sense of looks, like I would not be able to tell one of them. Not that I know their names to begin with, but, like. Like, if I did know their names, I would still them up. If, like, looking at one or the other.

[Keith]

No, even when they were just, like, sitting there, they had the same look on their face. Like, everything was the exact same. It's wild. One of them's supposed to be, like, a passer. One of them's supposed to be a shooter, too, right, G? So, yeah, if you're the Penguins, that's a home run getting those two guys. I wonder if teams were like, hey, listen, Pittsburgh took the first guy. Let's not even mess with it.

[Biz]

I know.

[Unknown Guest 1]

101. Last note. I wanted to make 20, 27 consensus first overall pick likely is Landon Dupont, and he committed this past week. He committed to the University of Michigan. That's a huge commitment for Michigan. So headed into next season, I mean, they got Michael Hayes.

[G]

I don't want to hear about this Michigan team that never wins it.

[Dave Portnoy]

But here's the thing.

[G]

No period about him is how sick they are. They never do.

[Unknown Guest 1]

So every year in college hockey, there's a team that's nasty. They have all these young guys, these freshmen. So. And that's been Michigan for years.

[Biz]

And then Denver. But wins.

[Unknown Guest 1]

And then Denver wins. But if you look at this roster, Michael Hayes Jr. Will Horcuff Jr. Like, they're bringing back these guys that usually leave. Usually they leave after their freshman year. For once, Michigan is the team with the older guys.

[Keith]

So I think those guys are still young. Like, some of those guys at, like, Mankato state are, like, 25 years. I want 18.

[G]

I want punishment. If this team doesn't get to, like, at least the Frozen Four. We have to have something on the line here because all we get is the glazing of the University of Michigan. You must be getting nil money, because that's all you talk about is the Michigan Wolverine hockey team.

[Unknown Guest 1]

If. If Michigan doesn't make the Frozen Four this Year I will go to a Michigan State football game or hockey game in full Michigan gear.

[Biz]

Oh, what a tough weekend.

[Keith]

No, no, no. We have to go full Ohio State.

[Unknown Guest 1]

I'll go to Ohio State and full Michigan gear if you guys want.

[G]

How about we. That's the one for now. But if we think of something better then. Then we can. We can kind of lay that on the line. Maybe we'll do a go to a game. Yeah, you have to go get another Chicklets. You and I get another Louis Vuitton duffel bag full of money. But is there anything else that we miss from the draft? Like a store? Oh, I thought the one, the.

[Biz]

Oh, the kid from the Cayman Islands.

[G]

Cayman Islands. He started playing roller hockey and then

[Biz]

finally skate till he was 13.

[G]

Yeah, what a story.

[Biz]

So like everyone out there, the next can't miss superstar, 12 year old. It's like this kid just went in the first round. He never even skated. And he's from the Cayman Islands. That was. That was. I had never heard that story about him or I. I hadn't heard of him. And that's like, holy. And then I actually saw a clip on Twitter of him playing roller hockey. It was. It was the goal he scored. It was completely outrageous. I think he still plays, but the sens got him. The sens got him with their pick that they lost in that punishment by the NHL that the NHL gave back to them, you know, but it had to remain the last pick in the first round. So that was pretty cool. Say, what's his name again? Yeah, that was awesome. So that's a pretty cool thing.

[Keith]

How about the draft. How about the NBA draft being on a Tuesday or whatever, and then the NHL draft being on a Friday? That's how, you know, the boys are taking over.

[Dave Portnoy]

Yep.

[Biz]

We were buzzing the leaks. Buzzing. All right, bring in RA we gotta talk to RA.

[RA]

Hello, everybody. Welcome to Ari's World here on the Spitting Chiclets podcast. What's up, gang? Hope you're enjoying the summer thus far. Whit, I agree, the draft, a little underwhelming. I wasn't crazy about this format. I like the Gavin McKenna stuff. I. The acknowledgment of his indigenous history, his grandfather being in one of those residential schools. If you're not familiar with that ugly history that's come to light in the last, like 10, 15 years, study up on it. It's. It's insane what went on in Canada. So it was pretty nice to see him acknowledge his history like that. The Bruins, I'm not Going to complain about the Bruins until I need to. It's not even July 1st. Every trade that gets made, no disrespect, G, every Bruins fan thinks they should have made that trade or should have been in on it. So I'm going to wait till I get pissed off about the Bruins. And I don't know, people ask about the captain when they see me. It's like, who gives a shit? It's July. Players in the room don't really give a shit, I don't think, especially right now. So I don't know. I won't get mad till I absolutely need to. You guys are talking about Babcock. I texted this to G. I actually shook his hand after game six when I snuck into the Red Wings thing. And I had already been thrown out of the locker room, so I don't know how he didn't recognize me when he came in the room, but I said that the G, he said, mentioned it here, but either way, we'll see what happens with that.

[Keith]

Wait, I don't mean he didn't recognize.

[RA]

No, he like, he. I shouldn't have been in the room. So when he walked in, there was like 40 people in there. I was like, I stuck my hand out like, congratulations, Coach. He's like, oh, thank you. Like, not like, who's this idiot who has a Bruins hat on and in the attack a T shirt. So like it's just kind of weird with the whole history of, of Babcock in the show that there's a, you know, DNA going way back to the night me and Witwerp down, down the hallway from each other. So. And you guys are talking about captains being stripped of the SEA if they requested a trade. So here's one for you. Back before the 95, 96 season, Big Walt had the sea stripped from his Winnipeg jets uniform. He signed the offer sheet with the Blackhawks. 5 years, $17.2 million offer sheet, 3.44 year, which is big money. At the time. He was a 23 year old RFA. You know, in Winnipeg, they, they were broke. They knew they were going to be moving. It was a spot move. Jets didn't like it though. They matched it. They could have got five first round draft picks if they opted not to match it. You did get the seed back, but I thought that was.

[Biz]

I never knew that he signed an offer sheet and it was matched.

[RA]

Yeah, it was the last season they were going to be in Winnipeg. And I mentioned this before I actually went to.

[Biz]

I don't think signing an Offer sheet deserves to get the C stripped either.

[Keith]

No, that's like.

[G]

Yeah, like, that was. The loyalty aspect in the pressure on players has changed drastically. They were rattled at Fedorov for the same thing in Detroit.

[Biz]

Yeah, that's like. Because, like there's a big difference between, hey, I just got offered this huge deal, you're not going to pay me, and hey, I don't want to be on this team anymore and get in the C strip, you know? You know what I mean?

[G]

Somebody mentioned it about a team doing it for like a not even crazy amount to Maverick Bork just because of how desperate and how. How jammed up the Dallas is with the cap. But that at that time, how much was it per year? RA and like, where would that have been like, in relation to the higher play players?

[RA]

3.44 million a year. I'm not exactly sure. It would have been, you know, pretty nice paycheck back in the day. I don't know who was highest paid at the time, but. And that was the last year they were in Winnipeg. I mentioned this before I went to the Coyotes very first game, which was actually in Hartford, which coincidentally was the Whaler's final season in Hartford too. Yeah, yeah. Like kind of all over the place. World Cup. Just quick checking. The last few games have been awesome. The Canada game, biz, I'm sure you watched it the other night. Oh, you didn't see it?

[Biz]

Oh, he doesn't allow himself to watch. He knows they beat Qatar.

[G]

I didn't watch. I watched the Swiss game so they could lock that up so they'd host around a 32 and it lost. So I said, oh, I'm a mush. Just like everything else. I did not watch the round of 32 game against South Africa. I want a nice long hike. I was checking my phone and when I got service, baby bingo, bango, we won. So I will not be watching any games moving forward.

[RA]

And Brazil, Japan. And you guys see that today. That was an outstanding game.

[Biz]

Show was down one nothing. Tied it up early second half and then scored in like stoppage time, like 92nd minute to win. Yeah, that guy.

[RA]

They.

[Biz]

We almost saw the goal of the tournament that Vinnie Jr. Walked like three people on. Japan and goalie made it ridiculous. Save that and hit the post. But I turned it on and Japan was up. I was like, holy. It said that Brazil's reached the quarterfinals in eight straight World Cups.

[RA]

Wow.

[Biz]

And they almost lost that game.

[Keith]

Did you see the goal by the American guy who kicked it like on the side of his foot? Like, the way that he kicked it was insane.

[Biz]

Okay. So that I. That's what this Vinnie Jr did. When they're running full tilt, dude, and they kick it with this outside of their foot and it's hard and heavy. Like that is.

[Keith]

It's insane.

[Biz]

That's insane. To be able to get that much on it with like the outside of your foot and getting.

[Keith]

Getting it around the defender like crazy to me. Yeah, the that they can do handling a ball like we played a sport that you handle with your stick. The that they do with their feet is incredible speed. Yeah.

[RA]

Yeah. Germany, paraguay, tied at one right now at 82 minutes. And this has been a good game as well. Oh, you guys would just.

[G]

If you're looking to get down a YouTube rabbit hole, go watch Maradona. Or is it Maradona's clips?

[Keith]

Amazing.

[Biz]

Is it AI or is it a real clip where it looks like somebody gives him a line of blow in the huddle on the field?

[RA]

I think he had a celebratory snapper there. I think I've seen that clip years ago. Yeah.

[Biz]

And then there's one where life is. Life is playing. That might be the most aura I've ever seen.

[Keith]

Shoes untied, like.

[G]

Oh, yeah, he's just like shaking him.

[Biz]

But then I saw.

[Keith]

He looks like he's 5 foot 3.

[Biz]

I saw a picture of. It was him and Messi side by side. You know, the two number tens, Argentine legends. And it's like Maradona's 38 in this picture. Messi's 38 right now. I mean, Maradona at 38. He was.

[Keith]

He burnt it from both ends.

[Biz]

Yeah.

[G]

Cool.

[Biz]

Burning the candle.

[G]

I think it's so impressive how he was able to do what he do. Was doing while he was like. Like basically on the wolf 247 doing whatever like that.

[Biz]

I've seen the documentary about him because he played in, like, Napoli, Italy. It's awesome.

[Unknown Guest 1]

I don't know.

[Biz]

I don't know what it was on, but it's a great movie.

[RA]

There's a. There's a. If you watch Caddyshack that you could see a Gaga getting done when they're at that fancy dinner party. The. The writer, Doug Kenny, he's sitting at a table and you can see girl lean over and do a little. Little thing right off the plate. They never edit it out. You can see it if you slow it down a little bit. You guys just mentioned.

[Biz]

How do you know it's not like part of the movie?

[RA]

Who knows? Well, that said, I talked about the book already, who I could have been. They could have just been letting it fly or it could have been a joke to see if it made the movie. I. I would. If I was betting a Batman, I would say it was probably like, you know, real Colombian.

[Biz]

Okay. Okay.

[RA]

Yeah, because they would tear it up down there. You guys just mentioned the kid from the Cayman Islands that got drafted didn't start skating while playing roll hockey. He was 13. It reminds me of Doug Smith, the local guy who was the inspiration for Goon. I. I don't believe he started playing ice hockey until high school. And he got all the way to the ahl, obviously based on his pugilism skills. But it reminded me of Doug Smith. Keith, you know him? He's a Saltua guy.

[Keith]

I don't, I don't know him.

[G]

No.

[Keith]

Yeah, I think I've maybe met him once or twice, but I don't know him.

[Biz]

Yeah, he nails that guy, huh?

[RA]

Yeah, yeah, he's a. I forget what. He's a cop down the south shore somewhere and he reft a couple of the shores. He games. We did the charity ones. He's a. He's a great guy. So just want to give him a shout out. They're pretty cool story. Like I said, high school. Stop playing hockey and get as far as the ahl. I told you guys I was going to that strokes concert at TD God last week. Guys, 90% of the shows I've been to, rock and roll shows, they're usually like, you know, sausage fest. 75% dudes. I swear to God, I never saw this many women at a rock concert. And it's not like yacht rock. It's like in your face. Rock and roll. Not only that, that smokes. Like it was like, like a hot white chick saving rock and roll. I couldn't believe it. They were like head banging Thrasher. It was like good to see like, because, you know, you always had Rock is Dead.

[G]

Singer is a bit of a bad boy, right. Type of guy to like. Sometimes he would just like not show up for shows or he would show up very late for shows. Like true rock star life, right?

[RA]

I'm like, honestly, dude, I hadn't seen him in 20 years. So I, I can't attest that wouldn't surprise me. I mean, yeah, Rockstar Diva.

[G]

Maybe I'm off base here, but I'm pretty sure the Strokes,

[RA]

New York City, they're New York City based. Oh yeah, yeah. Just sort of like that classic sound. But yeah, it was, it was awesome show. And again, like I'd Never seen that many laundry women, but smoke a hot woman taking them maybe.

[G]

Maybe. I'm thinking of a different band here. All right.

[RA]

Yeah, what are we gonna say, Keith?

[Biz]

Do you chat any of them up?

[Keith]

All right.

[G]

Well, actually, you let him rub the skullet.

[Biz]

All right, great. I'm glad you said that. Bitch is. So you posted the picture of the skull and it looks phenomenal out of the hat. Were you in the hospital?

[RA]

Oh, I was at the clinic. When I took, when I took that, I. Just a checkup. I had gotten an endoscopy the other day. Just routine stuff. Nothing, nothing.

[Biz]

It was very funny because I think a couple comments were like, all right, are you in like a doctor's office?

[Keith]

Yeah, a lot of people send selfies from the hospital.

[RA]

So I was, yeah, waiting for the doctor. Some people thought I was on the. I was like, yeah, I mean, I. I'm a little weird, but I don't take selfies from the shitter. So. Yeah, it was from the doctor's office. You guys see that clip? I. I reposted the Tom Cruise. It's like a clip reel of his career. But it's also a trailer for that movie Digger that's coming out later this year. No, I check my feed. It's a three minute clip. And like, whether you know, if you're a huge Tom Cruise fan or not, it's dynamite. And like I said, it leads into the trailer for this, this movie Digger.

[Keith]

That.

[RA]

That's supposed to be a big one coming in the fall. Let's see. Classic recommendation for the week. 1979, quintessential 1970s grimy New York City classic, the warriors, directed by the great Walter Hill. I'm assuming you must have seen that. Yeah, just a classic. Like I said, New York back then you could like, basically film guerrilla style. All the subway shots, basically all over New York City. Classic flick. They used to be like gang violence, waiting in line for it and stuff. But if you've never seen it, man, it's. It's the grimiest, like, like I said, most quintessential NYC flick from back in the day. What else we got here? Oh, I'm going to see jaws this weekend, July 4th. It's coming back to the theater. So little.

[Biz]

Go check that out in the theater. Is it like imax?

[RA]

No, it's at the Brattle Brattle Theater in Calvin Square. Gonna go check it out. Yeah, I mean, I've seen it, you know, 50 times, whatever, but it's always better in the theater. Plus, you know, July 4th action. So give that a whirl and any movie heads in the Boston area. There's a free screening today, Tuesday at the Bridal theater in Harvard Square at 6 o'. Clock. Classic. I mentioned years, years ago, a few episodes back, the Friends of Eddie Coyle. It's a free show and at 6 o' clock tonight, doors open at 5 and they're having like a discussion with a local professor from Emerson College. It's like the quintessential, I keep using that word, Boston gangster movie. So you're looking for something to do. Want to get a free awesome flick? Friends of Eddie Coyle, Bridal Theater, six o', clock, Harvard Square.

[Biz]

Thank you very much to Dave and we will be back to you next week.

[G]

And a friendly, a friendly, friendly reminder to everybody listening, the reason that we're able to do this is because of Dave Portnoy and the company that he started. That's how this all began. Hired R.A. he was blogging for them. He reached out to Wit when he saw his tweet. And the same way we wouldn't be here if RA never shot the tweet out and said, pinky's up to all of us.

[RA]

I got actually one more congrats to my little cousin Kate Foley. Graduated high school last week and going to Sacred Hot in the fall. So sorry, I mean to cut your pinky off again.

[Biz]

Hey, Kate. And he's up to Kate.

[RA]

I ran into Drew o', Connor, Vancouver Canucks forward the other night at the tablet. He. He got engaged. Him and his fiance. A new show. I'm not with them.

[Biz]

Pinkies. Up to Drew and his fiance.

[Keith]

Me and Wit ran into Brock Faber.

[Biz]

Yeah, Faber was getting off the ferry leaving Nantucket. He's a, A unit.

[Keith]

You don't want to go in a corner with him, buddy.

[G]

Or just thick.

[Keith]

He's like that Ray Bork, Bill.

[Biz]

Yeah, he's just a cigarette machine dude. He's just a house. I was like, holy.

[G]

Was he wearing his glasses?

[Keith]

Oh yeah.

[Biz]

Oh yeah. Oh yeah. He was wearing the glasses. So he's kind of.

[G]

He's kind of a silly guy. Hey.

[Biz]

Yeah, well, we were just. We talked for three minutes. But he.

[G]

Did his personality come out that you hear about when they were celebrating the gold medal?

[Biz]

Oh, my kids. I was like, right, this is Brock Favor. He's like, what? Then after, he's like, I just met Brock Faber. I'm like, oh, yeah, But I'm number seven too.

[Keith]

Hey, you want to tell the ferry story?

[Biz]

The ferry? Oh my God.

[G]

Oh, yeah. What happened with Brie this is how we got it.

[Biz]

So I'm driving down the car that's packed, that's going on the car ferry, and I'm driving. Keith and Cal didn't stop talking the whole time.

[Keith]

It was great.

[Biz]

And then we had to pull over. He's yelling, poop, poop. And I gotta rush him into a store. And. And it was. It was madness. And then Breeze leaving with Ryder and Wyatt and Yoshi. And then she's got the luggage that's just going on the ferry. And then I'm dropping the cough. I'm meeting them at the other ferry. Kind of madness, you know, figuring out get away. And Bree pulls up. Cause we got down early. And I was like, hey, what's up? She's like, I forgot Yoshi. I said, what? You were like, Yosh said, I forgot our dog. I immediately was like, if I did this, like.

[G]

Yeah, she told me you have done this. They say not to keep score.

[Biz]

No, no, no, no.

[G]

Don't keep score.

[Biz]

I did it. Not to this extent, but like Yoshi and Bri.

[Dave Portnoy]

That is.

[G]

Oh, that's what I was gonna say. You're probably like, I don't even give a shit. We'll pick him up next time. We're back.

[Biz]

Thank God she doesn't listen. Because if she knew this was on there, I'm a dead man. But so then we. We. She called and got somebody to drive him down. And I took care of that girl. Very nice. Thank you, Nev. Thank you so much. But I then had to wait around with Yoshi. I waited around with Yoshi. And then Keith went on the ferry taking care of my kids and. And. And helping Brie get over the fact that she forgot the dog.

[G]

And you want a boy, Keith takes a village.

[Keith]

No, no, no. I would love to have one of those little guys. But no, I couldn't go back to doing okay.

[G]

So I gotta ask you, how long as a husband to your wife do you drop the. Do you realize if I did this, it would be.

[Biz]

It would be never.

[Keith]

No, no, no.

[Biz]

Don't keep score, biz. You just said it.

[G]

No, I know, but I never. That's why I'm not married. Because I would have the first.

[Biz]

But I knew. No. You know something funny? So then I waited, right? I had to wait for a ferry. I'm just sitting there with the Oshi. I'm waiting. I'm waiting. I'm waiting. And I know that our bags are with her. And I said to myself, I said, there's no way in hell she hasn't unpacked my bag and everything's hung up. And my bag is completely, completely unpacked when I get home because I had to wait around. And it was. I knew.

[RA]

Wow.

[Biz]

With three kids, I knew she. She hadn't unpacked anything but my bag. That was her. That. And that's. And there was no apology or anything. That was the apology and that's the yin and yang, and that's knowing that. Well, actions speak louder. You forgot Yoshi. You're gonna unpack my entire bag. Thank you very much. And we don't keep score, baby.

[G]

And, and, and, and a reason why I'm not married is because if that situation would have happened to me and my wife. You ever seen the movie Half Baked?

[Keith]

Well, she would have just taken your dog, not just left it.

[G]

Exactly. Exactly. Well, that's one. That's one. I would have been Scarface at the, at the burger joint, jumping on the mic of the ferry, being like, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, check out what this just did.

[Biz]

This lady forgot a dog.

[RA]

Oh,

[Biz]

I gotta say that. A week, two weeks from today, Keith and I are on a bird over to London. Cleary, Teddy Purcell, Commodore Ray, Whitney. Just a great crew of guys. Zetterberg. And that coming up has me just like I, you know, I'm super, your best husband. You know what I mean? Like, I'm not going to trip you for forgetting Yoshi. And I'm going for. To London for six. Six days.

[G]

Like she could burn the lasagna. And you're not saying you unpacked her literally.

[Biz]

Not saying a word about anything. About anything. No.

[RA]

Oh, another note here, guys. Staley Cup Final vlog with my tour of Boston. Merles just. Just dropped a little while ago.

[Unknown Guest 1]

So

[G]

the. The highlight of the vlog, you get to watch what RA Is like behind the wheel of a car. Oh, he got his basketball skills or something.

[Keith]

That should be G's punishment. He has to drive with RA From Boston to Michigan for a game.

[Biz]

Not bad. I love that.

[RA]

Bravo, everyone.

[Biz]

We love you all.

[Keith]

He said he's in love, you boys.

[Biz]

He's in love, you guys.

[RA]

See you, boys.

[Biz]

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

[G]

I don't know.

[Biz]

It don't matter. It's going to happen. It's going to happen again.

[G]

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