Clearing The Crease Podcast
Hockey’s best podcast featuring Mike Commodore Andrew Raycroft and hosted by James Cybulski.
Clearing The Crease Podcast
Commie and Razor address Celebrini's INSANE new contract... CTC Ep. 92
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On a mini Clearing the Crease episode the boys tackle one of the biggest issues in the NHL today: the massive size of new contracts. The boys will specifically break down Macklin Celebrini's new contract before trading stories of being traded!
I've talked about on the show. The biggest regret is not getting the playoffs. Like I I had 37 wins. Like you look at the amount of guys franchise record. Tied, yeah. And like that's that's what always kills me. Because if we had gone the playoffs and I had 37 wins, I took it really hard not making the playoffs there. Like it really hurt me a lot. And I couldn't I couldn't get out of it in time for the next season. And that affected me the next season. So I should have found a way to get one more point myself. But if as a team we could have found one more point, got into the playoffs and won a few games, pushed it to game seven, just something that year, I think that that would have changed a lot of narratives too. And that would have helped me get through into the next year and become a leaf for a long time. So um while I'm still sitting on this couch here uh going through my therapy session with you guys.
SPEAKER_03Clearing the crease. He's the Calder Trophy winner, Andrew Raycroft, and he's got some stories to tell, especially after last week. Man, you got people talking, Razor, about the room with the wives and the girlfriends. Did your wife react to that at all?
SPEAKER_01No, no, I mean she's like, well, I didn't need to say more. Yeah, well, that too, but yeah. She would have wanted me to say more.
SPEAKER_03Spill the tea. Spill the tea. Alongside your favorite cup winner, Mike Commodore. Commie, how's life? It's hot out there, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00It's very hot out, yeah. It's hot in uh Arizona. It's uh yeah, not much going on. My days are uh pretty simple. Been a lot of waters though lately, which I'm very proud of after that month I put together. So I've been very, very hydrated. Yeah. I've been back in the gym, starting to sweat. Thank you. Yeah, I'm starting to feel a little better now.
SPEAKER_03Zoom well played, commie.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's a well-played. Yeah, thank you. It's good to be able to hit the gas pedal, but every once in a while you gotta hit the brakes just to make sure you still make sure you still can.
SPEAKER_01Sure, yeah, you do it. That is the key to life, just in case. Yep.
SPEAKER_03Doesn't matter if it's dry January or dry March or dry September. Sometimes it's good to just take a few weeks and make sure that you can still do it. Regulation, yes. Yep. Uh okay. Just a quick reminder, everybody. Uh, coming up next week, we have a great guest in one of Commie's longest tenured teammates, Colin.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Is that fair? Yeah, it would be very fair, actually. Colzey would be well, longest tenured two and a half years was the longest that I stayed anywhere. Colzie was there for all of it. I guess the only ones that would be a little longer tenured would be Eric Stahl, Cam Ward, and Chad LaRose, because I played with them the year before in the minors. So that would have been three and a half. But NHL wise, two and a half. That was it. That was it. Okay.
SPEAKER_03There we go. So Eric Cole, Stanley Cup champion, former Montreal Canadian, former Kane, former Wing, former Euler, coming up next week here on the Clearing the Crease podcast. A quick reminder that if you're enjoying the show and the content that we bring you between the podcast and the add-ons through social, be sure to like and subscribe to our YouTube channel. And if you listen in audio form, hey, leave a five-star review on Apple or Spotify. We'd appreciate it. And make sure you're following along on Instagram, X, TikTok, or wherever else you are finding us these days because the Clearing the Crease podcast is powered by our good friends at Ozoon.com. The clearest route to winning big is to play on Ozun because Ozun's got you covered. All the props, game lines, futures, whether it's on the ice, on the pitch, diamond, gridiron, bear down, people. Make your power plays, score big with Ozun well played. Okay, Razor, we got a fan question and it marks an anniversary time for you. I want to get to in just a moment here. But first things first, the economics continue to just be whopper after whopper after whopper. I know you guys are turning into those guys, going, man, when I played, I wish I was playing now. You probably there's no doubt you've turned into those guys because I would totally be that guy too. But Macklin Celebrini re-upping with the Sharks five years, an extension with a cap hit of 18.8 million annually. So the deal will kick in starting next summer. So Leo Carlson gets the one-year run as the NHL's highest paid player. But these are ridiculous numbers, what we've seen from Macklin Celebrini. 45 goals, 115 points as a teenager, almost doubling his point total, uh, top five in scoring, and it's the third highest output from a point standpoint by a teenager in a single season behind only Wayne Gretzky and Sidney Crosby. This is insane. It's a five-year deal. Um, do we uh is there anything to nitpick about? Like, look, Macco Cellebrini to me is the now, the future, the immediate. But uh, is it is there any reason to be nervous that it's only five years, or is this just spur on more paydays here going forward?
SPEAKER_00Commie? It must be so exciting to be like 22. Now, in saying this, look, I think if I were to start a team right now, my first, and there's a lot, you know, you got your Connor McDavids and everything. There's a lot of great players, but I think when you bring age and everything into it, I think Macklin Cellebrini would be my first overall pick. Like, I think he's the guy that I would pick. But it must be, I mean, a the I mean, the kids are running the show these days. 18.8 million a year. I I think it's awesome. I think that's great. Uh, like, I mean, you gotta be sitting, like, if you're like an Adam Fantilli, like his contract's like, he's not getting 18.8, but like he's gotta be sitting there thinking, what, I'm gonna be making 14, 13 for however many years, and you're sitting here now, and I'm like, man, Dry Sidal might be sitting there making 11 or 12, and now he kind of looks maybe a little underpaid, and but I guess that's the price you pay for getting some security in long term. Um, but yeah, I mean, I do think it's great, but yeah, it's I haven't said it yet. I don't want to be that guy being like, man, I would have been well if I was playing now. Uh, but it is kind of hard not to not to at least think it. I will say that.
SPEAKER_01I uh you know why we're not there yet, Kami? Because it isn't an Adam Fantaley or someone like that who ends up getting 15. Like it's been Celebrini, it's been the Dard, their first overall picks. I'm not in that realm, but there is going to be a guy in the next within the next 12 months, there is gonna be a guy. You and I look at each other and say, Jesus Christ, that guy's making nine and a half million dollars, and he is not doing anything that I couldn't have done in that league. That's what that's when we're gonna get to that point. Adrian Kempe.
SPEAKER_03Adrian Kempe's that guy for me in a lot of ways, like good player, but when that when that deal went down a year ago, you're kind of like $10 million player?
SPEAKER_01Okay, yeah, good for him, but you know, there's there'll be there'll be more. It's gonna get worse than even those guys, C-ball. It really will. Um, to the Celebrini point, there's he will be they without I think without question now, he will be the highest paid player in NHL history when he retires. There's pretty much no doubt about that. Because I don't think any of us are shocked at the number or say that he doesn't deserve it. Like, I think we all think he is going to rival Connor McDavid, maybe not with the skill and the speed, but he's going to be in that class um with Sid, with Connor, Team Canada captain, Olympian, all of that stuff. Um what it was funny. I was in the car with my kid, and he's like, he was kind of doing the math. He's saying he's like, he's gonna have a hundred million dollars in the bank before he's 24 years old. Good for him. He's gonna have a hundred million dollars made in the NHL at 24. 30, it's gonna be 250. Like, he is going to be the real, the first real NHL player that made real, real professional money. That's him.
SPEAKER_03Oh, he might be he might finish with a quarter of a billion dollars. Easily which in NHL standards is correct, it's banana change, right?
SPEAKER_01Okay, you can't even like 100 million used to be uh for Sid and Bergeron and Ovi. Now it's like everyone's getting that.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, no, it's I mean, these guys are yeah, go ahead, call me.
SPEAKER_00I was gonna say, if I ever host him on the golf course again, I'll tell you what, I ain't paying for shit, and the rates just went up. Whisper Rock rounds a round of golf went from $200 that I covered Macklin. You're welcome. The rate's now $15,000 around.
SPEAKER_01He owes you big time. Like he's gotta pay everybody back for all of that shit. You gotta get a check in the mail. Cash money in the mail, commie. Wild.
SPEAKER_03Now, these guys, because they're they're substantially older, but Kale McCarr, Quinn Hughes, both eligible to sign extensions now. Be curious if those guys continue to move the goalposts in terms of the highest AAV in the league. Um, Nikita Kutara is a year out from unrestricted free agency. I mean, if he were to hit the open market, like what does he command? Um, if he were to dare leave the Tampa Bay Lightning. So it's, I mean, I guess it's a question of anybody wants to have more of a flexible deal to allow room to win, but uh the the goalposts have moved exponentially. And good for Macklin Cellebrini. I mean, this is the guy you want to root for, right? I mean, he's the face of like every kid loves these are the jerseys that sell. He's on the cover of the upcoming NHL video game. He is on like he is the one that every time you talk to a kid, Razor, you know, you're at the rink a lot with yours. Um, everybody seems to love Macklin Cellebrini. And yes, for all the talk that Connor McDavid is the now the best player in the game. I mean, Macklin Celebrini might be the most popular player. I mean, the smile, you know, backing it up, the energy. There's just he brings that youthful exuberance that people want to root for.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. He's a good-looking kid. He's he gets it, he's figured it out. Um again, it just Connor's done it a different way. Just he, this kid's just more Sid to me. He just like just has that kid look, the the competitiveness, the leadership right out of the gates that everyone and he does interviews and he's out there and he puts himself out there. It's um, you know, again, it's it's it's a lot of money, but but I think he's going to be one of the few guys that we're gonna not worry about what he makes like McDave. Like, well, these guys sign whatever the hell they want. Um, you know, it's it's it's just a different level. But yeah, the guy, the guy that really sitting back, right? Like, Mario's like, Jesus Christ, I know I got a hockey team out of this thing. But like those are the guys that are looking back. Wayner or Wayner just but Wayner's different too because he could, you know, Wayner can kind of print $100 million, whatever he wants. He'll just make a new wine bottle or whiskey bottle, and like there's a hundred million, Wayner. Like, you're you're all set. Um, but yeah, Ray Bork, like I bet I could call Ray and be like, what do you think? He'd be fine. I should have kept playing. He probably thinks he can make 20 million right now, you know. Like, I could still play right now. Um, but yeah, they'll they'll tie in the old guys, man. Oh man, they got pretty crazy, but yeah.
SPEAKER_03I mean, you know, those guys, you know, they they stepped the foundation just as your generation also set the generation for previously to allow everybody to benefit from this and to see the money. It is it is banana land to steal a line from you, Razor. Banana land. And good for Macklin Celebrini because I'd say he's worth every penny. And just to bring it back to here in our neck of the woods here in Metro Vancouver, um, Canucks fans in a little bit of a tizzy, thinking that both Bedard and Celebrini, who are both from the area, are a year away from each other being UFA's in 2031 and 2032. So that's the conversation that I've got.
SPEAKER_01You're in good shape out there, my beloved.
SPEAKER_03You got five years to get this rebuilt set for Bedar to uh celebrity. Okay, I want to hit this one. Um, I want to bring this one top of mind here, Razor, being for this episode. And it's our fan question. Uh, we ask, you know, we take a question from you, the listeners, and really appreciate all the feedback. And thank you so much. The the comments just continue a title wave each and every week, and we thank you so much for it. Um, but remember, use the hashtag ask CTC, and we'll pick a question each and every week, and um, you know, and we'll and we'll fire it at the boys and see what they have to say. So this week, uh, this one's kind of geared towards you. Uh, we are up on the 20th anniversary of uh a momentous moment for you professionally in your career. It was a it was a notable trade in the hockey world at the time when it went down. I could still remember it kind of taking place, but this one comes from Jerry Smithers. And Jerry says, Razor, my question is for you. Do you feel disrespected from the trade to the leaf? Honestly, I would have made it to this day. Rookie of the year, Tuka Rask was just drafted. You never really got a fair chance in Toronto, in my opinion. 20th anniversary of this deal going down here. Razor, your thoughts on Jerry's question and hash of half comment.
SPEAKER_01Well, I I I think first off on the back end, like, no, not disrespectful. I mean, I did get a chance in Toronto. I I played a lot my first year, and I played really shitty my second year. Like it's I had a shitty, terrible year. And when you do that in Toronto, uh anywhere as a starting goalie in the NHL, if you suck the way I did that year and you don't make the playoffs, then and and moves are happening, goalies get moved. It happens all the time. So so from that respect, I get that, and and I I'm assuming a lot of people watching would maybe, maybe some people like I get that all the time. I really do. I get it all the time. I know if you if you ended up if social media was around in 2007, it would probably look different to people, but I've never had anyone come up to me in person in Toronto or Boston or anywhere else and like uh give me a hard time about this thing. Um, so so no, I don't feel disrespected about it. Um how I feel about it was I guess at the time it was the best thing that happened. I mean, I loved Boston, of course. I love Boston. I live here, my wife was from there, like the whole thing. But did you know it was coming? Did you know this was coming? Or was this? That was the year Joe Thornton got traded, Nick Boyne got traded a couple days before me. Like we were they were moving, they were changing everything. It was the year after the walkout when we talked about the 39 million everyone was making as an entire team. Um and and and the Bruins, like we didn't have anybody signed. Like it was just uh it was just chaos. So went from that and went to Toronto is the best thing that that could have happened at the time. I signed a three-year deal, the whole thing. Um, and then the next year went back. Again, it the the problem, I guess the pro if people want to think about it as a problem. The problem for me was the Boston Bruins got Zidane Ochara and Tuka Rask got to play behind Zidane Ochara his entire career, behind Patrice Bergeron and David Craichy. Like that, that for me is like the one that I'm like, oh, it would have been nice to stick around and play behind Zidane O'Cara for 10 more years. That probably would have done my career better. And I I'm buddies with toukes. I play golf with tokes all the time. I hang out, like, and I tell him all the time, like, I saved his career by letting him frustrated. If he had to stay in Toronto playing behind what they had there, it's not the same. So again, I get why people say that, and it's a horrible, but I I'm pretty secure in this in myself 20 years later to understand how goalie's pretty you know, pretty, pretty much dictated with what the circumstances are out in front of him. And I might not have been as good as number 40 here in Boston, but I also know that I didn't employ behind Zidano Char in Toronto.
SPEAKER_03Razor for context, too, with with two garas being expendable in Toronto at the time, you also had Justin Poggy coming off like uh an epic, I mean, epic world junior performance where he gave up no goals and you know again had a blue line with Latang and Mark Stahl and uh Luke Bourdeaux, who was a high touted draft pick as well at the time. Like, but he put on a show with the world juniors in Canada at the time. So it was like, look, we got to pick between one of the two.
SPEAKER_01Well, no, and and to that, so I don't, you know, I usually I try again, it's I just know it's like that's like collateral. Like, I don't want to bring anybody else into this. And Justin does, you know, he was a great kid and is a good kid, a nice guy. He doesn't need to be like brought into this, but I think that's a pretty good example of how to two different organizations were different. I bet Justin Pagey goes to bed some nights wishing he was the one that was in that trade to Boston, right? Like there, and that's how these careers go and these trades and things work. But but I can promise you that Justin Pogey's thought about man, if I had been the one getting traded instead of Tuka Rask, but the Leafs couldn't have given up the golden boy from Canada because then the trade would have been really bad for them. At the time, they would have I would have got roasted, everyone would have got roasted at the time. Instead, they sent the Finnish kid, who ended up being pretty good and then roasting them in the backside. But I think Pogey would have, you know, he's the one really in this whole thing that's like, man, I it would have been good if I had been dealt and and been able to be in that organization in Boston. So um, yeah, it's funny that it's I mean the whole the saddest part of the whole thing, Seball and Kami are probably like it's 20 years ago now. That's the saddest part because man, that 20 years went by pretty quick, and and that was a pretty good time in my life, regardless of what was going on in the ice. Uh life was pretty good back then. And um, but but yeah, it's it's a it'll be I I mean it is hard to imagine it's it's it's quieted down, I guess, from my point of view 20 years later, maybe just because I don't really pay attention as much. But um, you know, 20 years from now, there'll be another trade that that someone forgets about it.
SPEAKER_03Fair enough. But you you played, uh, I mean, in hindsight, do you wish you would have had somebody to play with that first year? Because would you play almost 70 games?
SPEAKER_01I I don't I don't wish I mean the the pro what I miss uh I I've talked about on the show the biggest regret is not getting the playoffs. Like I I had 37 wins. Like you look at the amount of guys franchise record tied, yeah. And like that's that's what always kills me. Because if we had gone the playoffs and I had 37 wins, I think it would have been a lot different that summer. And then there, like this guy doesn't, you know, he is gonna be a starter and the whole, I think I would have had a bit of a different. I took it really hard not making the playoffs there. Like it really hurt me a lot, and I couldn't, I couldn't get out of it in time for the next season, and that affected me the next season. So so I think the big thing is so I guess again, it's it's not fair for me to say one of the other guys should have I should have found a way to get one more point myself. But if as a team we could have found one more point, got into the playoffs and won a few games, pushed it to game seven, just something that year, I think that that would have changed a lot of narratives too, and that would have helped me get through into the next year and become a leaf for a long time. So um, while I'm still sitting on this couch here uh going through my therapy session with you guys, um the the reality is that that was a big part of it because I put a lot into it. I felt like it was pretty close to a successful season, but we didn't make the playoffs, and I wasn't able to really take pride in it at the time.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that's what, yeah, great story. And I love the honesty too, Razor. And you know, obviously the benefit of hindsight, but you know, yeah, I love how modest you are in terms of it's not about pointing fingers, it's just you know, owning the moment. But I do think that first year, you know, that wasn't that bad. Like it's not sustainable. Well, but yeah, but it's just I mean, you see it now with goalies. Like, look at it, you know, almost every team, even in the playoffs now, seems to go with two goalies. Yeah, right. It's just a it's a different game. Comeie, uh I'll throw this to you for your trade from Calgary to Carolina.
SPEAKER_00I was about to say which one.
SPEAKER_03Well, yeah, there was a few. Yeah, fair enough. Uh at least you're getting traded and not waived. But that was I remember covering, I was covering the NHL draft in 2005, and that was they had quickly ratified a deal, and so they did sort of the makeshift draft just to get Sidney Crosby's name up there because obviously he was going to be the generational talent. And I want to say it was day two of the draft. You know, it was a small scale down. There were no fans there. It was in uh, I want to say like a conference room in downtown Ottawa. But I can still remember that. I can still remember that announcement on the podium uh saying that the the Flames have traded Mike Commodore to the Carolina Hurricanes. And I think it was a third round pick at the time, if I'm correct me if I'm wrong. But I remember thinking, wow, that's good value for the Canes who for a guy who just had a whole bunch of experience that I don't know if you can put a premium on in terms of playing in a Stanley Cup and going four rounds and learning how to go through that grind. Where were you when that trade went down? And and what was your did you know it was coming, or was that uh right out of the blue?
SPEAKER_00Uh I never knew any trade was coming. That's none of them. Uh, nobody gave me the heads up. I can't remember that. It was the summer of 2005. I would have been in Calgary. I don't remember exactly where I was, and I don't remember exactly how I found out. Like I do remember when I got traded from New Jersey to Anaheim, I was in. Minnesota at my lake cabin at a bar and I saw it on the ticker.
SPEAKER_03What?
SPEAKER_00Seriously? Yeah. Somebody came up and me and was like, hey, congratulations. I'm like, huh? On on what? Like, oh, you got traded. I'm like, to who? They're like, I think maybe Anaheim. I'm like, what? He's like, come look at the TV. So I'm looking at the TV and there it was. Nobody called me. Nothing. Yeah. Uh the Flames. I I can't remember who called me. Somebody would have called me, though, and I was, I would have been in Calgary for sure. I didn't know it was coming. My initial reaction right away was a little bit was disappointment because I, you know, I really enjoyed Calgary. You know, we we had just finished the lockout year. I just had a really good year in the minors. So I was looking, you know, I was thinking I was a Calgary Flame, and I didn't know anything about the Carolina hurricanes. All I knew is that they were terrible in 2004, and I don't think things were supposed to look that good. But then when I sat there and like thought about it for a minute, I'm like, you know, the biggest thing for me was, you know, I was getting up to, you know, whatever, 25, turning 26 years old. You know, I'd been up and down and traded, traded. Like you can only do that for so long when you're not a goal scorer before you start packing your bags and heading to Europe or looking for something else to do. So when I sat there and thought about it for a minute, I was like, you know what? Like the Flames had, you know, I'm gonna get this a little bit wrong, but it was basically the whole decor from our 04 team was still under contract. They had FNUF coming in, who obviously he's gonna play. So like when I was looking at it, if I was being honest with myself, I was like, I was right back to being the number seven defenseman, maybe, you know, uh the yo-yo going up and down. Right. I'm like, and then I looked at Carolina, and and Carolina had come a lot to watch a lot of our games in Lowell during the lockout, and I had talked to Peter Laviolette, and I had talked to not about like trades or anything, but I had met them and you know, and I did have a really good year there. So I knew they like when I got traded to Carolina, I wasn't when I saw it was Carolina, after the five minutes of disappointment, then seeing it was Carolina, knowing they weren't supposed to be very good, and knowing that I just because we split the farm teams there, flames and hurricanes, then I was again excited. I'm like, okay, like this could be like a legit opportunity for me, and it ended up being that. So no kidding. That's how that one went.
SPEAKER_01I better, I better put this, but like, so just to talk, just to put a ball on my thing, because when I got traded, the best part about the whole trade was I was in Rome when I got traded from Boston to Toronto. And not Rome, New York, I'm assuming Rome, Italy, with my buddy, with my wife, and it was it was 2006 World Cup. So I was out all night, all night. I went to Italy wins 19 BlackBerry messages. Like I think Jeff Gordon, the GM, uh, and Shirelli, they called me like four times each. Fergie called me like five times each, no phone at all. Like, didn't talk to anybody. Finally got a hold of my agent, like, what the hell? He's like, it happened that we pulled it off. You're going to Toronto. Didn't talk to anybody. Literally, like, didn't talk to anybody. Two more days in Italy. Got off the plane in Boston. My agent had to call the Leafs and be like, sorry, he can't like come do the physical for like another week. He's away, right? Like, it was like all this, like proposing he didn't want them to know I was in Italy hanging out. So maybe that was maybe that was foreshadowing things a little bit. But but yeah, that's that's what happened that week I got dealt. That's amazing, though.
SPEAKER_03Like to be able to kind of you're half a world away, you're kind of out of nothing.
SPEAKER_01I didn't see any like nothing in that. Of course, there was no no social media. A nice way to process no Toronto Suns in Italy. Well, unfortunately.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, well, yeah, that's well played there on that one. Uh okay. Uh window on this one. Uh, we got a full length coming up uh next week with Eric Cole, but let's hit don't puck it up. Uh, you know what? Here's my don't puck it up here, guys. Amazon Prime in Canada, it's the new home for Wednesday night hockey for the upcoming season, but that's not all. How about this? Amazon is also getting two first round Stanley Cup playoff series, and they're also getting one second round matchup annually. So look, I get a lot of people already have Prime based on how many Amazon trucks I see booting up and down my neighborhood. But uh you know what? You're asking people to pay more for playoff hockey and pay more for hockey. And sportsnet's already raising prices, and now you can't watch all the playoff action in one place. Fact is you're making people pay more at a time that people are already finding everything being freaking expensive. So, Amazon, congratulations. Just make sure you get it right. Don't puck up this package.
SPEAKER_01I heard you're pretty well.
SPEAKER_03I did work a game last year, but that's what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_01Higher to get you in there.
SPEAKER_03Mike Rupp. I was working with uh Kobe's old team, mate.
SPEAKER_00No rupper. Uh, I'll go. I had uh three written down, but one I'm one I can't really use anymore, so that's fine. I'll stick with a hockey one. I had an Aaron Rodgers one that I was gonna kind of go off, and you know, I got nothing against Aaron Rodgers, and he's got a had an incredible career, but this constant off-season, especially when you're down in the States, this off-season drama about him like, am I gonna play? Am I not? Is there, you know, who's gonna beg? I'm doing this, I'm doing that, now, but I'm just gonna leave that one alone. I will stick with hockey. Uh well played, commie. Chicago Blackhawks. Chicago Blackhawks spent some cash. They went out and got go Bo Byron. Let's see how that works out. I do like him as a player. Big opportunity for him. And they spent some coin. Even Patrick Kane at his age is getting paid big bucks. Good for him. Good eight million points a year for two. Darnell territory there, yeah. Not quite. Darnell makes a little more, but Patrick Kane bringing back, you know, what could be probably considered the best American player ever, and bringing him back home, so to speak, back to Chicago. So I'll say, don't puck this up, Chicago. You're you're spending some money, you're making some moves, which I like. Let's see some progress and at bare minimum be uh making the playoffs right there. And let's uh have a couple sets uh, you know, get Bernard in the playoffs and have Patrick. I'm assuming this is gonna be his last couple years. Let's kind of try and send him out on the right note.
SPEAKER_01All right, I'm gonna go. I'll go to football, commie, because I'm gonna do this now and I'm not gonna talk about them for a while. And that's the Buffalo Bills. Don't puck it up this year, Buffalo Bills. You have the best quarterback in the National Football League. You've got this brand new stadium, and I'm here in New England, and I cannot have the Buffalo Bills not going as far as the New England Patriots for the 25th season in a row, essentially. So do not puck this up, Buffalo Bills. I'm not gonna talk about the Bills again until December, January when we get to the playoff time. I'm gonna do it the first week of training camp, get it out of the way, get prepared, get ready, win the NF AFC East and go on a long run because I can't have Drake May being better than Josh Allen again this year. Don't puck it up, Buffalo. Don't puck it up, Josh Allen. And yes, those Chicago Bears are in the same boat. NFC, though, it's different.
SPEAKER_03Bear down, bear down. How about this? This old 1986 refrigerator Perry G.I. Joe figure. How about that? Is that the nerdiest shit you've ever seen about five times?
SPEAKER_01I thought it was OJ for a second.
SPEAKER_03Save those stories for the next episode. Uh on that note, uh, Razor, thank you. Uh tip of the cap to you for going down memory lane and being so transparent and honest about you know just the complexities of a trade. There's so many layers to it. And I just love how you, you know, with the benefit of perspective and all of it, uh, really well done. And commie obviously always you know loved the stories, and this is why everybody tunes in to hear what you guys bring each and every week. Uh, just a quick reminder, everybody, to like and subscribe on YouTube for more ClearingTheCrease content powered by Ozun.com. Follow along on Apple, Spotify, X, Instagram, TikTok, because the Clearing the Crease podcast is powered by Ozun.com. You want to keep the show is going? Hey, just remember that the clearest way to winning big is to play on Ozun.com because Ozun's got you covered for all the props, game lines, futures, whether it's on the ice, on the gridiron, on the diamond, on the pitch. Make your power play and score big with Ozun. Well played. Don't forget, next week, Eric Cole dropping by here on the show. He's Kami, he's Razor. I'm Stabalski. Shout out to our producers, Too Stone. And we'll see you next time right here on the Clearin' the Crease podcast, powered by Ozun. Well played.