Paradigm Shift: What's The Problem With NHL Hockey These Days

Rob & Jesse Dive Deep Into The Issues with Today's NHL, From Ref's To Playoff Hockey & Spoiled Young Players Getting Paid before they win.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:01

Welcome back to the paradigm shift. I am, of course, Big Rob back with you. My good buddy Jesse. What's happening, my friend?

SPEAKER_00 0:09

Hey there, buddy. Uh, looking forward to talking about today's podcast. I know we're gonna be getting into all things hockey. Looking to uh smack a couple people into the boards, see what happens.

SPEAKER_02 0:21

Hurt some feelings.

SPEAKER_00 0:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 0:24

Let's smash some chiclets. Yeah. Um, okay, so yes, the NHL. So, first off, I mean, there's been so much change over the last, I'd say, two decades in terms of rules and uh in terms of uh the structure of like the NHL qualifying uh spots and stuff like that. So I really wanted to dive a lot into it. Now, first, the you know how how to qualify for the playoffs. Now, I grew up on the top eight in the east, top eight in the west in terms of points, and there you go, right? You got your you got your playoff contenders, but then they switched things, I can't remember what year, but they switched things up, feels like a while ago now, uh, to you know, the top three from the Metropolitan, the top three from the from the Atlantic, and then two wild card spots where someone can cross over or whatever the case might be, right? Okay, um, and same goes for the West. I hate this structure.

SPEAKER_00 1:31

Come on, right off the top of the episode.

SPEAKER_02 1:34

Yeah, I'm gonna hurt some feelings right off right off the top. I mean, this is one of those Gary Bettman uh bullshit things. You have teams every year who have more points but don't qualify, right? Who and it's just the way that it's structured, and it's just it's not, I mean, I I hate I hate using the word fair because the world is everything, it is a lot of things, but it isn't fair isn't one of them, right? But to see good teams who have enough points to qualify for the playoffs but get bumped out because, like, let's say there's five teams from the metropolitan that get in, but uh let's be honest, there's never five teams from the metropolitan that get in.

SPEAKER_00 2:18

I was about to say, what what hockey are you watching?

SPEAKER_02 2:25

But at the same time, you know, it's it's not I don't think it's structured properly. And I don't know why Gary Bittman holds on to this so strong, so strongly. What do you think?

SPEAKER_00 2:36

So, first off, let me ask let me ask a question back to you, though. I'm gonna volley this one back over the net. So are who's your team? Let me ask you who's your team.

SPEAKER_02 2:48

Well, I mean, I was born in Toronto, so I'm a Leafs guy, right?

SPEAKER_00 2:51

So that could be part of the problem here.

SPEAKER_01 2:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:00

Damn it. Turns out it's the team. I came to bitch about the rules, but it's the team that did it.

SPEAKER_02 3:10

Yeah. Oh, I'll I'll I'll get into the lease. You wait, we'll we'll get into it.

SPEAKER_00 3:14

But um, you know, I I don't I don't know. I guess I don't really have the same gripe on that particular issue of of the the way they have the teams get in. Um you know, I I guess the way I look at like playoff hockey is first off, I absolutely love playoff hockey. Um, I feel like the games are better, they're more competitive, everybody's you know, playing to the last minute. Love it. Um and I feel like it goes on forever. Like the like the hockey playoffs, god, they go on for like, what is it, like four months? I mean, it it just kind of keeps keeps going. I I love it.

SPEAKER_01 3:58

It ends in June.

SPEAKER_00 4:02

So, you know, I don't really have the that that same complaint per se, but I can I can sort of see your your point. You know, I I I can see your point. Um I don't know, you know, I I guess it kind of comes back to the what do you think's more important, wins versus losses or points, you know?

SPEAKER_02 4:21

Well, I mean they do they do you know they do divide that up. I mean, if there's two teams tied, obviously regulation wins uh take it, right? First thing they do is they they get rid of the overtime points, yeah. You know, so on and so forth. But it you said something interesting there that I'd like to kind of unpack a little bit more. Um now you said that you know, you so you don't have an issue with with the way that it's structured. Um, playoff hockey being you love playoff hockey. Why? Now, this is another thing that bothers me. Why is playoff hockey so much different than regular season? And I don't mean in terms of of um you know intensity from the players and stuff like that, right? Because that's obvious. I mean, uh there's gonna be throwaway games on a Tuesday night that you know players just take the night off. It's gonna happen a handful of times a year. They're playing like was it 84 82 games a year now? It's crazy, right? So naturally, teams are gonna, you know, kind of mail a couple games in here and there, pisses the fans off. It's not fair to people who buy tickets, but it is what it is, and it ain't what it ain't, right? Um, what I'm referring to is the structure, the the refing. This drives me absolutely insane. The refs, I don't want to say, like, I don't have an issue when they put their whistles away during the playoffs, but so often, and I'm not just talking about my team, I watch other teams, or I can't watch my team in the playoffs this year, so I'm watching other teams play, and you know you're sorry, you're seeing refs who are clearly, and I hate I hate saying it, but clearly biased against certain teams, right? You're seeing they'll they'll put the whistles away uh for for two periods, right? For example, how often do you see something like this in the playoffs? They'll put the whistles away for two periods, and then in the third period, they'll call like three or four penalties against one team. And those are that's a deciding factor in a game, right? Like these refs, I've heard this a lot. These refs should be, in my opinion, at least in the playoffs, not for a regular season, but at least for the playoffs. The refs should have to come out and talk to the press the same as the players do. Nobody holds the refs accountable.

SPEAKER_00 6:53

Yeah, I you know, I I think when it comes to refs, you you kind of have two views, right? It's like subjective versus objective. You want to believe they're objective, they're paid to be objective, right? What was that? They're human, they're human, yeah. But the reality is, I mean, they're out there on the ice. You probably got, you know, your your goon squad flicking boogers or you know, talking shit as they're skating by, you know, they deal with that stuff, right? I mean, they're the ones that are breaking up the fight, right? They're getting in the middle of that shit constantly. I'm sure there's certain players that they're just like, God, I hate this guy. Here we go. Like, this is gonna be a long three hours, and they go into it, you know, kind of ready to blow the whistle. Now, the other side of that, I would say, and I think about this a lot, right, with all of the pervasive sports gambling today, right? Um, I think it probably applies to the NHL. I usually think about this in terms of like like college football and things like that, but I think it would apply in the NHL as well. Is if you think about how much money is riding on every game in the um like the call she's and the polymarkets, you know, and you know, is somebody gonna get you know three shots or whatever, or over under all these, all these different little stat lines and things, right? These referees, I mean, they're getting paid a regular salary. Who's to say that there isn't somebody somewhere in this whole scheme of things that does a little influencing here or there, right, for a kickback? They have to be doing it. I mean, it you know, it's simple math if you think about it, right? Like, if let's say out of a hundred referees, three of them did this, I could totally see that happening, you know, and and sometimes like you know, like I don't know if it's the same in the NHL, but like in the NFL in particular, there are certain players that are like untouchable, right? And and the refs, uh like one of the ones that they used to do was the Kansas City Chiefs. Uh, their offensive line was never called for holding ever. The whole game, the whole season, ever. And these fucking guys hold every single play. And in every big play that Pat Mahomes gets, it's because somebody's holding, and it's like blatant, like they tackled the guy into the ground, and everybody's going, oh, come on, you know. And so, you know, I think, I think in on the NHL side of things, you you've you've got to have the same thing happening, you know, with kind of the stars and the goons, and there's certain markets that I mean, let's be honest, you know, I mean, you got like a small market team versus like a New York or somebody like that. Who are you gonna push? This is a business at the end of the day. I can kind of see that, you know. I mean, you want to believe it's like collegiate and everything's fair and you know all the whistles are even, but I I don't think so.

SPEAKER_02 10:00

It needs it, it really needs to be like I'll give you, I'll give you an example. Do you remember the Tim Peel situation?

SPEAKER_00 10:06

No.

SPEAKER_02 10:07

So Tim Peel, obviously an NHL referee, he was an NHL referee, right? Uh, he was caught on a hot mic during a game saying he was looking to call a penalty against uh one specific team. Uh on March uh in March of 2021, uh was a regular season game between Nashville and the Detroit Red Wings. Early in the second period, Peel called a tripping penalty on on the predators, uh Arvidson, Victor Arvidson. Uh call many viewed as a soft or questionable call, which don't even get me started on that. Moments later, with his ringside TV microphone still live, Peel was overheard saying, quote, it wasn't much, but I wanted to get an explicit explicitive uh penalty against Nashville early. So he was caught on a hot mic, didn't realize his mic was live, saying to the other refs, it was a soft call, it wasn't much, but I was looking to make a call against Nashville. That's just one example, but that shows you right there that these refs have they do have agendas of their own.

SPEAKER_00 11:18

Yeah, there's bias. But you know, likewise, think about this. Think of Devil's Advocate, right? Like, how many times do you have the player that's sort of like fakes the injury and then they and then they blow the whistle, right? You can have that too, the flip side of it.

SPEAKER_02 11:33

Well, that's the thing, right? So a lot of refs, for example, that there are like um greasy players in the league, but highly skilled greasy players, your your kachuks, your your nazam codris and stuff like that, right? They walk uh they walk the line. Now, you'll go through periods where you know it's kind of just like known that refs will not call anything, uh, they won't call penalties against players that that hit those guys. Like a like, you know, good luck if you're Nazam Kadri or a Kachuk or something like that, sometimes drawing a penalty. Refs just won't call one in your team's favor because it's you, right?

SPEAKER_01 12:12

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:13

And they say, well, it's because these players, you know, the refs feel like these players try to make them look stupid. They're not trying to make you as a person look stupid, they're trying to win a hockey game, they're trying to draw penalties, they're trying to get away with stuff, yes, but that doesn't mean from one game to the next you can carry that over, right? If if you get if if a player gets caught, right, diving or whatever the case might be, um yeah, maybe for the rest of that game you don't allow them to draw any more penalties, but you can't carry that on for six months worth of worth of games for that player, right? And refs do that. It's like, and there are legitimate calls that should go in their favor that just don't because the refs like, yeah, no, it's that guy. It's like, bro, do your job.

SPEAKER_00 12:58

Okay, let me devil's advocate this again, though. So, what about somebody like Marshawn, Brad Marshawn, right? Yeah, I can't see that guy. Hate that guy, everybody hates that. Blow the whistle on him. Hate that guy. He's skating around, he kisses somebody. It's like fuck him, blow the whistle on him.

SPEAKER_02 13:22

100%. But as much as I hate him from from one game to the next, he should be able to draw penalties. Like he should. I'll give you another example. Um, now, as a Leafs fan, okay. Wes Macaulay, you have to know that name, right? He's ref uh, he's been around for a long time. Apparently, there was some sort of an issue with uh him and a personal relationship. Uh he was married to somebody in the Leafs organization's uh sister or something like that, right? Now, this is not a coincidence. In the playoffs, the Leafs have he he has refed in his career 10 from what I'm reading here, 10 playoff games that the Leafs have been in. The Leafs have not won a single one of those games. Not one. Every single time, like I want you to do me a favor, get some homework for you, okay? Next season. Whenever Wes Macaulay is reffing a Leafs game, I'm gonna text you. I'm gonna say, watch this game. The Leafs will not win that hockey game.

SPEAKER_00 14:29

Okay, right?

SPEAKER_02 14:30

And it's too, it's just too much of a ridiculous uh statistic to be real, to to to be like a coincidence, right? They just don't win, they don't get any power plays when he's refing. They haven't won a single playoff game in his entire career refing uh Leafs games in the playoffs, not one.

SPEAKER_00 14:49

So it doesn't matter whether it's a home or away or playoffs or anything.

SPEAKER_02 14:54

Leafs have won zero playoff games out of ten with him reffing the game. Wes Macaulay. It's a very clear bias. And yes, I'm a Leafs fan, but I mean I would say that if it if we were talking about the Rangers or if we were talking about you know Montreal or whoever the case might be. That statistic is just too wild to be accurate, to just be a coincidence.

SPEAKER_00 15:19

Right, right.

SPEAKER_02 15:22

So I don't know. Then again, it it goes back into um so so. Basically, the rumor stems from a long-standing uh rumor that uh tied Macaulay's family connection to David Frost, uh Jim McAuley, um, his brother-in-law. Uh he was it was controversial junior hockey coach against uh sorry, agents, sorry, hockey coach and agent who had highly publicized abusive relationships with players in the so his brother-in-law um was accused of uh abusive relationships with the players or something like that in the minor leagues um in the Leafs organization. And as a result, you know, obviously there was discipline for that, and now the Leafs haven't won a single game that he's reflecting as a loss. Yeah, well, that's just it. As soon as the game starts, as a fan of watching the game, as soon as they you know they read the refs for the game right off the bat, you're like, West McAuley, oh turn the TV off. It's over. Why don't we just mail this one in?

SPEAKER_00 16:33

You know what's funny? Um, I was a longtime uh lightning fan, right? And the lightning would be on like a like a 13-game win streak or just something crazy like that. Every time that I haven't been watching, they're on a streak, I turn them on. That's the game they lose. Guaranteed loss every time.

SPEAKER_02 16:54

I feel like that too sometimes. I feel like that's you know, you're like you turn on that like literally. So this past season, I didn't get to watch any real NHL games because I was just too busy, right? With all the content creation, everything. I just never really had time. But I turned on game one for the Leafs. Game one, I believe it was. When the season started, I was like, I'm gonna I'm gonna watch the game. Leafs were up when I turned the game on, they were up like 3-1. Right? Within like 10 minutes, they were down 4-3. And I was like, Well, not watching hockey this year. There we go. You're welcome. I tuned in and thanks for turning on the TV. It feels like that sometimes, doesn't it?

SPEAKER_00 17:44

Yeah, it does. Yeah, you know, um, because of that, I I kind of stopped watching for a while, and I gotta admit, um, I did watch the this is this is gonna probably uh piss you off. I did watch the USA beat Canada at the Olympics. That was pretty cool. I'm a bitch. I mean, let's be honest, Canada should should kick the USA's ass every year in hockey, and somehow, somehow they pulled it off. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 18:18

It's revenge for uh the golden goal by Crosby, I suppose. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:23

Well, and he he wasn't playing in that game, as I recall. I think he was uh he was injured or something. He wasn't playing.

SPEAKER_01 18:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:31

Um, he he is, I gotta admit though, Crosby is one of those like magical X Factor players that he's just got it. You know, I don't know if McDavid has it in the same way that Crosby has it, or maybe he just doesn't have it yet. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 18:45

Crosby has this weird thing where I've noticed over the years that he's played. He's he is, you know, he's not too too difficult to kind of you know take out of the game. It's when you piss him off. As soon as soon as somebody does something that pisses Crosby off, he just takes control of the game. It's like all of a sudden he's a demon out there. He'll be like next period. He's just and you can see it on his face when he gets angry and you're like, oh, this game's about to turn.

SPEAKER_00 19:17

Yeah, yeah, you know, one of my um favorite moments I saw with him, gosh, it was a long time ago, probably shit, 10, 15 years ago now. I think it was a playoff game, and it was the the penguins were playing the Flyers, right? Their heated rival, right? And they hated the Flyers. And sure enough, it was like, you know, second period kind of almost done. And Crosby got in a fight with somebody, and then that's when uh I don't even know if Letang is still playing, but Letang was there, and he starts beating the crap out of one of the Flyers guys, and Crosby's beating the crap out of him, and then it was like the goalie fight, you know, it was the full-on brawl, it was awesome, loved it.

SPEAKER_02 20:00

See, that's the good, that's good hockey, right?

SPEAKER_00 20:03

This yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:04

Well, what do you what do you think about another another problem? I find in in the NHL today is that, and my team is one of the most guilty of it. Paying these players before they win anything. These kids, they're coming in and they're making this massive amount of money before they've even won anything. Right? And then what do you what happens is they just you know the the effort level, a lot of them just want money, and the effort level just isn't there most of the time now.

SPEAKER_01 20:37

Yeah, right?

SPEAKER_02 20:38

I already got paid, I'm locked in, I got an eight-year contract, I'm making $14 million a year. Right? Screw it, yeah. Right, and I I really feel like we need to get back to in the NHL making players, especially the young ones, win before they get paid. Earn your payday, don't get paid for something you you should do or your potential could lead you to do, right? Get paid to do it, and I think that's a big problem in the NHL, not just with the Leafs, but the Leafs are the are the latest bad example of it. You know, you're paying, and they're like, Well, what if they leave? Trade them if they want to leave, and I know it sucks, but you know what? You gotta draw a line in the sand. You're gonna draft a player, he, you know, whether it's his final year of RFA or he's a UFA, and stop another thing, side note, stop giving out no trade clauses like their tic-tacks, right? Like, you know, Willie Neilander a couple years ago when he was signing his due contract, he sat out like right until the deadline. I think it was like within like 10 minutes of the deadline, or else he had to miss the remainder of the season. He couldn't play at all, right? And so he held out for what he wanted. Let him fucking sit. Fine. We'll see you next season, right? You just lost a whole year of your career. And an NHL career, your prime only lasts so long. You wanna fucking sit out? Go ahead. We'll play without you. Yes, you're a good player, but bad business decision. And if you did that, other players would see that and go, uh maybe I shouldn't be pulling at that thread.

SPEAKER_00 22:15

You know, I I think I I can see different sides of that one. Like I think, yeah, it's definitely on the players, right? Because they're going along with this. But I think it's also like a culture of the agents. Like the agents are trying to get this guaranteed payday, this guaranteed bonus up front, you know, and they're really pushing that. And so it's almost like a like a cultural thing, uh, that you're really driving home this upfront bonus. But like you said, you get paid up front, and well, then what's your incentive? You right? I mean, are you just gonna mail it in most of the time, but occasionally you show up? I don't know. Depends, you know, it depends on the player.

SPEAKER_02 22:59

Well, there's so many of them. I'm seeing it with the younger players, this new generation of players. So many of them, I'm sorry, like they're very talented, but sometimes you watch a game and they're just fucking skating around doing nothing, no back checking, no nothing, because they've already gotten paid, right? Do they now do they want to win a cup? Obviously, right? But you don't get I think when you get paid first, and you kind of you get this ego about things, and I I just think that the players, these young players, start to believe that they can just take half the season off in terms of the games that they play, and they'll just cruise into the playoffs, and you know, it's just gonna be a breeze in the playoffs. And I think a lot of them are learning, especially on on my leafs. A lot of them are learning, hey, yeah, they made the playoffs for nine years in a row, right? And they just figured that they could just coast their way into the playoffs, and every year in the playoffs, what do they do? They figure that they could just lollygag around, not back check, not not play tight defensive hockey, and they get they lose. It's like, hey, playoffs is different. You actually have to put in a hundred percent effort or you're going to lose, right? Because the other team, they're not given 60-70% if they're coming at you.

SPEAKER_00 24:18

That's true, that's true, and especially in the playoffs. I mean, you can usually just feel it who wants to win more. I mean, it's usually pretty obvious.

SPEAKER_02 24:27

Yeah, like one of the teams gets lucky and they'll score a you know a timely goal here and there and stuff, but you're absolutely right. The teams you can see through the play, you know, who's who's aggressive, who wants to puck, who, you know, you can see it. You can cut it with a knife in the air, you know. Yeah. I think that's a big problem with with today's NHL. They gotta, I think they gotta the the teams have to start being harder on the players. You know what the GMs should do? Uh, every year, you know, they have GM meetings. They should make a rule that you have to cap a player for the first like in you know, for the first X amount of years of their and yes, they do in terms of uh RFA status, right? But you got to put some kind of rule in there so that you know these teams aren't playing paying these players like Austin Matthews 14 million dollars. And now I'm watching uh you know all of all the news talk about well, you know, yeah, the Leafs got the first overall pick, and you know, but they want to know where Austin Matthews is, and you know, like does he want to stay? Does he want to go? The guy hasn't fucking won anything. Why do you give a shit what he wants? Yeah. Like he's been in Toronto for 10 years, he's made it out of the first round twice. Right? As the leader of the as the leader of this team. Who gives a shit what he wants? If he you tell him what you're gonna do, and if he says he's got two years left on his contract, and if he says I'm not down with it, I say, give me a list of teams then. Because guess what? We could probably get two firsts and two seconds for you right now, or something, right? So later, buddy, you're not deciding the direction of this entire franchise when you haven't won a single thing, you haven't even made it to this to the cup final, you haven't even played for the cup. Who cares what you want, right?

SPEAKER_00 26:15

Yeah, I I hear you loud and clear. You know what that reminds me of is uh I you see this more prominent in something like uh tennis, for example, right? Like in tennis, over the last let's say 20-ish years, maybe even longer, it's like four men have literally won everything the whole time. Like no one else has a shot. And and and there's I mean, what is that, like a thousand guys, and it's like the same four win it over and over and over and over. And so my point is, is yeah, you got a guy like that that you go, man, he's really talented, but is he top four? Yeah, if if he's not, get rid of him, honestly. I mean, because you're not gonna win either way, you know.

SPEAKER_02 27:00

Well, exactly, and he still has all the hype around him, so the value is still there as a trade piece. I personally would love it if this summer they traded him. I love him as a player. I think he's I I have his jersey framed on my wall in a in a frame, right? But again, he hasn't won anything. He's yeah, there's this sense of entitlement around him. He he scored almost what 69 goals, but that was like two years ago. He hasn't scored more than 40, I don't think, and in going into three seasons now. So he's not that he's not even a top 10 player, in my opinion, in the league in terms of production over the last three seasons.

unknown 27:42

Right?

SPEAKER_00 27:42

How old is he now?

unknown 27:44

Uh I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 27:47

Bear, yeah. What what's roughly what season is he on?

SPEAKER_02 27:51

He's been in the the league. This is his tenth season, I think.

SPEAKER_00 27:54

Okay, so he maybe has one more good peak year, and the rest of them will be mediocre, most likely.

SPEAKER_02 28:00

Yeah. So I say, you know what, you you got the first overall pick this year, right? Um you you could really retool this team, you could rebuild it really fast, in my opinion. You trade Matthews, you like I said, you're probably getting what I would do per this is just me. Now, San Jose said that they're open to trading the second overall pick, right? And Vancouver's open to trading a third overall pick. Right? They've all they've all said, of course, who would say no, we're not open to trade. Well, you're not doing your job then if you're not open, right? But either way, I would go after the the second or third overall pick with Matthews. You probably get two, you probably get two first round picks, maybe a second. I mean, I would imagine the team's gonna pay for a player like that, right? Just on the risk that he could get back to being a 60 goal, 60 plus goal player. But anyway, so you do that, you trade Kneelander, you probably get at least a first and a couple seconds for him or something. He's in the peak of his career. And Kne lander, by the way, side note, has been consistently a playoff performer his whole career. So he's leads the team every year, and despite the fact the guy doesn't back check worth a lick or anything, but I digress. He does produce in the playoffs. So I mean, you could really, you know, you could really bring in a lot of those, uh, a lot of first-round picks, right? And do you have to just use that to draft? No, you could use a couple of them to to you know get some other good players uh that are ready now, kind of thing. Uh, but most people are saying the argument on the other half is well, you know, Philly has Toronto's first round pick next year, and Boston has Toronto's first round pick the year after that. Toronto has uh I want to say Colorado's first round pick next year. Yeah, so they do have a first-round pick next year as well. But uh, so they're like, yeah, but if you if you trade away Matthews and Nylander and you kind of got the team uh for picks and stuff like that, uh, you know, then Philly's gonna get Toronto's pick and it's gonna be a good pick, and the same with Boston. So what? If you load up and you've you've got five, six first-round picks over the next two or three seasons, you've got picks too, bro. Right, right. What's the problem here, right? Like, I don't know. Uh I I think it's an opportunity. Plus, with with Matthews having two years left on his contract, you don't want a Goudreau situation or a Martner situation where they just walk out the door when you could have got, you know, probably a first and and uh great prospect or something in return, right?

SPEAKER_01 30:49

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:50

We saw Goudreau do that in in Calgary as well.

SPEAKER_00 30:55

What do you think about um where the players come from? And let me tell you where I'm going with this. So, you know, I told you I was a lightning fan for quite a while, and really I kind of stopped watching because every time I watch they lose. But outside of that, uh, I remember one of the things that that kind of worked for them was that they specifically went after some of the most talented KHL players from Russia, and at a time when no one else did, and that's when they landed um like Kucherov, uh Vasilavsky, the goalie, you know, like like some of these guys that were just like really, really good, but they're sort of in this like shithole imperialist country that you know has sort of been blacklisted by everybody. Um, what what do you think about going after those kind of guys in terms of the draft? Because you know, like I I remember who was it, Kokovchuk, I think was the guy that went back to the NHL, or he went back to the KHL and left the NHL, and they were all like, dude, really, you know, and he was like one of the best. And uh, and he just let so everybody after that was sort of turned off of the Russian players. But then, you know, it seems like some of the teams that bet on them had have done pretty well. Curious what your think is there.

SPEAKER_02 32:23

A lot of teams, my leafs included, um, they do like to use uh the KHL and the college uh the college leagues as like almost like uh how do I word it? Teams that don't have uh a lot of picks because they've traded them away and they don't have a lot of prospects. A lot of times what you'll see them do is they will go to the KHL in the summertime, they'll go to the college leagues and stuff, and they'll sign a bunch of kids from from those areas, right? Just to kind of fill up their prospect pool uh again and and try to start there and maybe package some of them up. And and it works sometimes. I mean Tyler Bozak, right, was uh he was a college student who never got he went undrafted. You know, Toronto signed him, he ended up building a good career playing alongside Phil Kessel, and then he went on to St. Louis, I believe it was, and had a fairly decent career uh throughout St. Louis as well. So you can find some good players that way for sure. I think it's a great strategy.

SPEAKER_00 33:32

Yeah, it's kind of like a high risk, high reward. So if it if it blows up in your face, yeah, I like it. It's not great. But if it does pan out, maybe it can work out. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 33:45

Here's the thing if it blows up in your face, you can always most of the time just bury the contract in the AHL, right? So that's that's usually what you'll end up seeing, and then these players get fed up being in the K the AHL, and then they just leave and they go back to the KHL or whatever if they don't pan out, right?

SPEAKER_00 34:00

So what do you think about um tax jurisdictions? Because I know sometimes players look into this stuff too, right? And they say, Well, I don't want to play there because you know it's too much taxes, and you know, then they want to play somewhere where there's less taxes or whatever. What do you think about that?

SPEAKER_02 34:18

I think that I I've heard rumors that uh the board of governors or whatever, the uh the GMs are talking about how to counteract that. Uh because it is bullshit, right? If a player comes like Winnipeg is a perfect example of that, they have a hard time uh signing players because the taxes in Manitoba and in Canada are so high. The players give up so much as opposed to going somewhere like Tampa where there's no tax. Right. Right? It's almost like you're you know, it's it's almost like if you're if you're the GM of of Tampa, you have a higher salary cap mark of for for players than other other uh teams, right? And it's it's definitely an advantage um that uh that's been taken advan that's been taken for granted, I believe. But that and another thing that Tampa's guilty of, and another and and a few other, a handful of teams, it that's driving me nuts, is this LTIR bullshit. What's that? Well, long-term injury reserve, right? So what's happening, what's been happening is that and Tampa did this for a few years. This is why they they ended up being a stacked team and they won like three cups in a row, is that they would put like Kucharov, uh, one year Kucharov was on LTIR for the final like month or two of the season, and then once playoffs start, the salary cap goes away. So he comes back and he gets back. Yeah, so they free up his cap space at the deadline, whatever it is, ten million dollars, let's say. They and they end up trading for like you know, one or two more, either one really good player or two decent players, right, to improve their team. And then the playoffs start, oh Kucharov's okay. Mark Stone does it every year too for for uh the Golden Knights, right? They do that. They and that's driving me nuts. Like that is uh that is such bullshit, in my opinion, that that they do, oh it's miraculously he's okay for game one of the playoffs. He's been out since since the the trade deadline, right?

SPEAKER_00 36:31

But well, well, you gotta think though, like in the NHL, I mean that they never really disclose the injury, right? It's usually like yeah, it's lower body, it's upper body. They're very general about it. So, I mean, I think you could almost equally say, like, for let's say the Leafs GM, why the hell aren't you doing that?

SPEAKER_02 36:50

Right? Well, that's that's the thing, is they had opportunities uh over the last year or two, and I'll and I'll say it like you know, as a fan and a lot of other fans are saying, like, do it, yeah, right? Do the same thing. Put put some of your higher paid players on LTIR, trade for some, you know, stack this team and win a cup, but they just they won't do it, they won't participate, right? So certain teams will. Uh, I know, uh, like I said, Las Vegas does it, Tampa does it. Um, I think Florida, yeah, Florida was doing it. I think Kachuk last was it last season or season before? Kachuk was uh right at the deadline, he was out, and then he came back for the playoffs. It's like, you know, like all their like two of their best players, highest paid players, took the last like two months of the season off and then came back for the playoffs. Like, like they had like 20 million dollars in extra caps.

SPEAKER_00 37:41

It's like really they come back energized and ready to go, all healed up, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:48

No, no bumps and bruises, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:50

That's really funny.

SPEAKER_02 37:53

Scam. Uh it's another thing that that here's why I like the NHL. You do have players from all over the world, right? Which is great. It's it's like this open this open league, which I love. Um, they've even talked about you know uh teams over in Sweden and stuff like that, and you know, but like they've tested it, like you've you've noticed they've played the first couple of games out in uh out in Europe and stuff like that, and then they come back, right? Um but the reason I like that is because like and this is why I haven't really watched NFL football. I remember watching um the the Super Bowl. I can't remember what year it was for the life of me. I don't even remember who won. I think it might have been the Steelers or something. Anyway, um, you know, the the commentator comes on when they win uh the Super Bowl, and they're like, you know, the Pittsburgh Steelers are the champions of the world, and I sat there thinking for a second, well, you're the champions of you, but the rest of the world doesn't play in your league, so they're the champions of the United States, they're not the champions of the world.

SPEAKER_00 39:13

Yeah, yeah. Some of them just like those bragging rights, like the one that used to uh the one that always pissed me off was the Cowboys, the Dallas Cowboys, and then they'd go, America's team. I was like, bullshit, they're not America's. I don't care about this team, hate that team, you know. Triggered. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:37

Yeah, it's funny. It's the whole Texas theme, I suppose, eh?

SPEAKER_00 39:42

Hey, so okay, so here's here's a slightly different thing with hockey. So let's talk about uh presentation. Okay. So I I think I've told you this maybe before. I don't know if we covered this on the shift or not. That I do not like watching hockey on ESPN. It's just flat to me. It's like the vibe is bad. The just the present the presentation is not what it was on NBC. It's nowhere near it, right? And MBC just they had the vibe, they had the right people, they had the feel. Um, you know, all of it just just kind of worked for them, I think.

SPEAKER_02 40:23

And let me ask you this. Have you ever watched an NHL game from a Canadian broadcaster?

SPEAKER_00 40:32

No.

SPEAKER_02 40:33

I highly encourage you to.

SPEAKER_00 40:35

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 40:36

You will probably never want to watch an American broadcast of an NHL game ever again. We watch a lot of them. We get them because of the this whole regional restrictions thing is is absurd. I can't watch a Toronto game living in in Winnipeg, but I can watch a Philly versus the Rangers game. What I don't know what that's about, how that works, but I digress. Um the just to go on what you're saying here, the intensity and the the non-biasedness, I suppose, of um Canadian broadcasters. Like I can't say there's no bias, but um, for example, I remember watching the Leafs play Tampa in the playoffs a few years back.

unknown 41:23

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 41:24

And it was a Tampa broadcast I was watching. Right? And the like you were saying, the the complete lack of energy when the opposing team had the puck.

SPEAKER_01 41:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 41:38

Like what do you think you're do you think you're sucking the inner you're sucking the energy out of the people watching on TV? I know they don't affect they don't affect the team on the ice, right? They they the team can't hear you sucking the air out of your television broadcast, the people in the arena can't hear you. What are you doing? Right? It's like you know, like Kucharov will get the puck, and he's he's all up in arms like he's coming in, he's freaking out, and then you know, awesome Matthews is coming back the other way with the puck. So, yeah, here comes awesome Matthews coming across the guy, shoots the puck, goes wide, you know. It's I'm like, bro, really, right? If you watch hockey night in Canada, if it's if it's Tampa Bay versus Toronto, if Kucharov scores, you're gonna get the same energy and excitement out of the broadcaster when Tampa scores as you would when Toronto scores. The whole game is kind of the you have the equilibrium of energy. Yeah, yeah, it's just not like that in the States. It's okay for your commentators to be biased a little bit, but to be completely devoid of charisma and energy when the other team has the puck is just bad TV.

SPEAKER_00 42:47

Well, you you know, I and maybe that's part of it, right? It's it's the charisma and just being a better commentator, right? Like I missed Doc Emmerich, I missed Pierre right down, you know, it's center iced, you know, he's right there. Like I miss that, man. Like they they had that dialed in. You know, if I knew that was coming on, I was like, hell yeah, I'm turning it on, I'm watching it, you know. And now it's like I turn on ESPN, like you said, it's just flat, and there's just no life in it. I don't know, you know, and even going back to the Olympic game, that was on NBC, and it was like it was back, and I was like, holy shit, like this this is what it was like, you know, and it's like, God, can can this contract on ESPN run out already? Like, holy cow, you know.

SPEAKER_02 43:35

Yeah, that was something that happened here in Canada as well. We had uh, I think it was Rogers ended up getting all of the rights for broadcasting or something like that for NHL games in Canada. And they came on at first, people were like, Oh, right, oh no. And then they came out and they said, Don't worry, they promised, they promised they were actually going to get rid of regional restrictions. The quotes was that you know, if you live in Vancouver, you're gonna be able to watch a Montreal game, if you live in Winnipeg, you're gonna be able to watch a Toronto game, and like that, that was the big promise that they boy did they overpromise and under deliver on that again. I still can't watch. I have to have I have an Android box with all the sports packages, uh, so that I can watch any game I want. Yeah, because regional restrictions. Why do regional restrictions apply? Do you know why that is?

SPEAKER_00 44:31

Not really, no, I don't.

SPEAKER_02 44:34

Like, are you not affecting your ratings by limiting the amount of people that can't watch a Montreal game on the west coast of the country? How did how is that work in any benefit to anybody?

SPEAKER_00 44:48

I I don't know if it depends sometimes on who the network is broadcasting the game and what the provider is that you're on, you know, because like sometimes they have those they they have different arrangements, right? Like you'll you'll randomly hear about like, yeah, Frontier is having a battle with ESPN. They're not, you know, ESPN saying they're gonna pull the channel if Frontier doesn't pay, it's it's like a highway ransom, you know? And maybe that's part of it too, that you know, not all things are like created equal on that. And sometimes you get stuck with like a broadcast far away than the one right in your backyard. Like I think about it like when you go to the grocery store. Like if I go to the grocery store right now, I live in Florida, and I want to get peaches that are uh, let's say uh grown and ripe in Georgia, right? Georgia has the best peaches. But if I go to the grocery store, you know where the peaches are from? California. Why the hell is that? I don't want a California peach. I want Georgia peach.

SPEAKER_02 45:50

So I looked it up, and apparently each team sells the rights to their games on TV, but only to one local channel in their own city or area. That local channel pays the team a crap ton of money uh of extra cash for being the only one allowed to broadcast there. Okay, so that makes sense because that was key, right? It said, well, that that network pays for the rights to exclusively be able to broadcast that game in that area, is what it says. So, which makes sense, okay. So let's let's say the whatever channel is paying for the rights in the GTA in Toronto or in all of Ontario, for example, to broadcast the game. Why the hell can't I watch it in Manitoba? They're not competing with the with a broadcast company of Manitoba for ratings.

SPEAKER_00 46:50

Maybe they just have you blocked. They're like that guy, block him. He's our bad luck charm, block him. You're like, hey, come on.

SPEAKER_02 47:01

Oh, Wes Macaulay's co uh ref anyway.

SPEAKER_00 47:07

Hey, he could be listening to this and he'll blow the whistle on you. Block him.

SPEAKER_02 47:11

Oh, the the things I would say if I knew he was listening. Everything on YouTube. Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep.

SPEAKER_00 47:21

That's funny.

SPEAKER_02 47:23

Yeah. But I'm I'm planning on obviously getting back into next season and watching every game. Uh I'm actually starting a uh a YouTube channel for just uh watching the games and kind of reacting to them uh as they go because I figured, you know what, I sit and watch them anyway. I might as well I might as well you know have have a conversation with the chat and stuff like that while it's happening, right? Yeah, get some reactions out of it. Yeah. So yeah, but uh I'm looking forward to next season. We'll see what happens. I I think that Fisher, I don't really care who wins. Uh there's not really any teams that uh that I care about in the playoffs right now. Um who's left? Who hasn't been eliminated yet? I'm looking at the NHL network, but let's give me the standings, uh, the playoffs. Let me see. Who's left in the case? Yeah, who is left?

SPEAKER_00 48:18

I don't even know.

SPEAKER_02 48:19

Colorado is playing Minnesota right now. Not right now, but you know, in general, right now.

SPEAKER_01 48:26

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 48:27

Um you've got Las Vegas is playing Anaheim. Anaheim in the second round of the playoffs. The hell happened. I thought they were terrible. Apparently they're good again. So Dallas, Dallas is eliminated by Minnesota. That's surprising.

SPEAKER_00 48:47

That is surprising.

SPEAKER_02 48:48

You've got wow, wow, dude. So you've got Montreal and Buffalo playing right, uh playing each other in round two. Uh Montreal's leading that series 2-1. Carolina has swept Philly and is already waiting in the conference final for whoever wins the Buffalo Montreal. Carolina swept Ottawa and swept Philly. They've played eight playoff games and they're in the conference final.

SPEAKER_00 49:19

That's surprising.

SPEAKER_02 49:20

Wow. That's crazy, man. Wow, I didn't realize that. Uh well, I mean, it's been a long time since Carolina won a cup, right?

SPEAKER_00 49:30

Yeah, they had uh, what was his name? Eric Eric Stahl. Eric Stahl, was he their good player that they had for a while?

SPEAKER_02 49:37

Yeah, he's from the same, the same my hometown. We're from both from Thunder Bay, the Stahl brothers.

SPEAKER_00 49:42

Yeah. God, there were so many. What was there, like five of them?

SPEAKER_02 49:45

Three. Three in the NHL, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 49:47

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 49:48

Uh Eric Jordan and I can't remember the third one.

unknown 49:54

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 49:57

Uh I you know what? I I think I'm gonna I think I'm gonna pick Colorado for the cup. They're just perennial perennially good. Did I say that right? Like a perennial. Perennially. Yes, perennially. Perennial. Perennial.

unknown 50:14

There you go.

SPEAKER_02 50:15

They're just good every year, okay?

SPEAKER_01 50:17

Let's just say that.

SPEAKER_02 50:18

Yeah. They seem to have it every year. So uh I think I'm gonna have to go with Colorado here. I think they take out Minnesota. They'll probably end up. Wouldn't it be crazy if Anaheim won the cup?

SPEAKER_00 50:29

That would be weird. It's been a while.

SPEAKER_02 50:31

They just haven't even made the playoffs for like how long, and then they've been like a bottom bottom feeder team, and then they just come in and win the cup.

SPEAKER_00 50:38

They've been irrelevant since the Mighty Ducks. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 50:44

That would be that would be crazy. But Carolina sweeping back-to-back series. I can't remember the last time I saw that happen. But Carolina always chokes them.

SPEAKER_00 50:55

That's true. That's true. Yeah, I went to a uh an uh Colorado Avalanche game at one point. I have a buddy of mine that former college roommate that lives in Denver, and uh at one point in time, he had a job working for the Denver soccer team. I don't even know if they're still there or not, but they were the Colorado Rapids, and the same owner owned like all the teams, and he was like, Yeah, I can get into anything. I was like, really? And so we went and visited him. We went to like an avalanche game. I mean, we were like 10 rows up off the ice, you know, like it was crazy. And uh went to like a nuggets game, and it was pretty cool.

SPEAKER_02 51:33

Oh I went, I did go to an NHL game this year. Um I took my father-in-law to the Montreal Winnipeg Jets game. Uh, because he's a he's a Habs fan, so I I bought tickets. He hasn't been to an NHL game since like the 80s. So I was like, I bought tickets, uh right right at glass, right at the glass, too. Oh, cool. Yeah, I'll tell you right now, the seats in the Winnipegs arena, the shits. They heard as so small, dude, right? And the board, the boards, my knees are touching the boards, and I'm crammed in this little seat. My hips are being pressed by the by the seat, it's so small. I'm like leaning forward with my beer and my hot dog because it's so tight, people are on both sides of me here, like this. Yeah, I'm like, dude, I understand you're trying to sell as many seats as possible. I think they have like the the NHL's smallest arena, really. Yeah, well, they gotta do that. Yeah, well, it's they made the mistake of of putting it downtown, right? I mean, why don't they do what Ottawa did? That's what people wanted them to do. Do what Ottawa did, build the arena just outside the city.

SPEAKER_00 52:39

Yeah, yeah, have more room, more space, right? You like if you think about it, you know, sports have advanced so far in terms of like your home experience that going to the actual game, they really gotta, they really gotta step it up or they're gonna lose everybody. Because, you know, like like you see a lot of that in the NFL today, where everyone's redoing their stadiums because they're just not competitive. Like nobody wants to spend all day on their one day off at the game. You know, I you spend like $175 for food and three waters, you know, you spend $50 on parking, all this shit. And then you're sitting in this hard plastic seat, uh, you know, in in this case, getting cooked by the sun. So at least in the NHL, I mean you're you're indoors, but I mean, still, like nobody wants to sit in some uncomfortable chair, slam next to the people all around you. I mean, unless it's like a playoff game, okay, fine, whatever. But but even still, I mean, they they really uh step it up, you know.

SPEAKER_02 53:44

Oh, I agree, I agree. And there, you know what, there needs to be better fandom as well. Um, I know it's not really controllable, but I remember a few years ago I was watching a Rangers game, and you know, they were saying that I can't remember who was in town playing, they were playing in New York, and the Rangers fans were refusing to let people into the bathrooms during uh intermissions and stuff. Really? And it's like I'll I'll whip it out and piss right on your floor in your arena, dude. Right? Like that's how you want to be. But like that's that's really you know, we've we've kind of started to get away from uh the point of being a fan, the the sportsmanship of it, right? Yeah, like I remember we went down to a game in Minnesota. Um, a friend of mine is a big Oilers fan, so uh we went down for that, and we were all wearing Edmonton Oilers jerseys, and Edmonton got destroyed in this game, right? And we were getting booed out of the building, you know, and we were talking smack, whatever, but this was years ago, but it was all in good fun. Nobody was trying to assault anybody else, and like, you know, like none of that stuff. They're like, go back to Canada, and my buddy's like, yeah, yeah, we lost aid, but you'll be fat forever, and you know all this kind of stuff, right? But it's just but it's all in good fun, right?

SPEAKER_00 55:06

Well, well, let's be honest too. I mean, you're in Minnesota, right? I mean, like a battle between a Minnesotan and a Canadian, it's like you know, it's like a battle of who has like the hardest handshake, you know, versus like if if you you know, like what's what's just like a again, like if you went down to like you know, the Florida Panthers or Tampa or something, you know, you're gonna run into a slew of assholes. Yeah, it'd be a little bit different, yeah. Yeah, or like Philadelphia. I mean, that's another one, like, you know, or New Jersey.

SPEAKER_02 55:40

Yeah, the sportsmanship is kind of gone. I'm I'm thinking about going down to Toronto next year for an NA. I was actually, I was gonna come down to your area. I was gonna come down for the Leafs tour in Tampa and uh Florida. Uh they go down and do that that Florida swing twice a year, right? I was gonna go down this year, but I wasn't really tracking hockey or anything this season this past season, so I didn't. And it's a good thing I didn't, because boy, would that have been a waste of money. But I'm thinking, you know, my father is uh he's a Leafs fan as well. And I don't think he's ever been to an NHL game.

SPEAKER_00 56:21

Really?

SPEAKER_02 56:22

Never in his life. That's what I'm thinking. I'm thinking that the this season coming up, uh, I might pick him up in uh in his town there, because it's he lives like halfway between where I am and Toronto. So I think I'll I'll drive down. He's about eight hours away. I'll drive down there and then we'll fly out from where he is, fly down to Toronto and yeah, get get a box or something like that, and take him to an NHL game. I think that's what I'm gonna do next season. Because he he he said something. I never knew he had any desire to go to an NHL game, but I told him that I was taking my father-in-law to the Haves game. He's like, Well, I've never been to an NHL game. Like, oh, I guess that's what's happening next year.

SPEAKER_00 57:06

Yeah, what's going on here? Yeah, he's like, you're my kid, not his kid. What the hell?

SPEAKER_02 57:14

Disowned. So yeah, I think that's my plan. The problem the problem is, like I said, the it could be a waste of money because I I would really hate to pay to fly down to Toronto, you know, get either seats or a box, and it turns out to be one of those games that the leafs decide we're just gonna not play tonight. Yeah. Right? So I paid all this money to to come down there and for tickets and for you know for your jersey and for all this stuff, and you're just gonna do me dirty like that.

SPEAKER_00 57:48

Hey, hey, so what about this? I know we haven't talked about this, but what about minor league hockey? Because I go to I gotta admit that I may like minor league hockey sometimes even better than the NHL.

SPEAKER_02 58:02

Yeah, I I go, I take uh I took my girls to a couple of the Manitoba Moose games.

SPEAKER_00 58:08

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 58:09

Yeah. I mean it's it's still, I think for AHL hockey a little bit pricey, but yeah, uh like I I think I end up spending I I guess not that much. Maybe I spent like 150, 200 bucks for all three of us to go. You know, they had fun, so I guess it wasn't that much compared to like tickets in Toronto or something. But um, I could see that. I I'd like to go to like uh like a Marlies game. I don't I don't I go to the Moose games, but I could give I could give shit, right? I mean, I'm not a Jets fan, even though I live in Winnipeg.

SPEAKER_00 58:40

So hey, I got a funny story. So by us, um, there's a uh ECHL team, it's it's the Icemen is their name, right? And um, and again, like I I really like the minor league stuff because I mean they're fast, but they're not as sharp, right? So you you tend to get more goals, you definitely get a lot of fights, which are awesome, right? Love that part about it. But uh when my son was younger, uh at one point his school did a uh field trip to a hockey game, right? To to the Iceman, right? And uh it was like they randomly just had a game kind of in the middle of the day, and it was for all the kids to go to. You think you've been to an intense game with an adult? Like, holy shit, try to go with like elementary kids to a hockey game. Like it was insane, man. It was like the loudest uh thing that I've like ever like had my head in for you know that amount of time, you know. Like I'm I'm my ears are probably still ringing from it. But the funny thing was, is like, you know, they would they would play like all of their music, all their songs and stuff, you know, but then the team still put on a show. Like at one point they had a full-on brawl and it was like three fights going at once, and the kids were like, ah, you know, like loving it. It was pretty cool. Nice, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:04

Yeah, I mean, when my I'm looking forward to when my son is old enough to take him. I'll start taking him to to AHL games and stuff like that, too. Um, I'm hoping to get him into hockey. Well, we'll see this winter. Every year I plan on teaching him how to skate, but you know, he's he's six now, so I I gotta get on that, right? Time's ticking, and but I just get so busy with with everything, work and I hate the cold. For living in Canada, it's not a good recipe, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:00:33

Yeah, that's that's not a good one for you. No, yeah. My um my son, he um he doesn't really get into sports like at all, like hardly anything. And ironically enough, way back when I we were naming him, um, I I named him Nafert after uh Vinny Le Cavier. So his name's Vincent, you know. So another Canadian. But you know what was cool about him? Um, you know, outside of being like just an epic player for the lightning at the time, um I remember reading about him at one point that he donated something like it, it was insane. It was like he gave like 28 million dollars to the local hospital or something like that, like just a crazy amount of money. I was like, holy cow! Like, wow, like that that's pretty awesome, you know.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:25

Didn't he come back? Is he playing in Chicago or something right now?

SPEAKER_00 1:01:28

No, he doesn't play anymore. He's he's long retired, but uh oh the cave. Sorry, I was thinking uh uh uh Stamcos Taves for some reason. I was thinking oh Taves, yeah. Well he was Chicago, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:44

Yeah, I don't know why I yeah, I I kind of crossed those. Yeah, but yeah, the cavalier. Um him and uh him and St. Louis were like the pair of yeah, the coach of Montreal now, eh?

SPEAKER_00 1:01:58

Yeah, is he the coach of Montreal? I didn't even know that.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:02

Yeah, he is. Oh, that's cool. He's been the head coach, I think, for two two seasons, I think, for Montreal.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:10

So hey, you know what? Uh here's a quick sidebar funny story. So this is years ago. I was I was on this team for work, and we had a trip in Tampa, right? And I kept telling him, like, kind of building up to this this work trip. I was like, we gotta go to a lightning game. You know, we gotta go to a lightning game. That'd be awesome, you know. So we end up going to a lightning game, and two of them are drinking like literally the whole time, and they're drinking doubles. Oh boy, each time. Each time a double, each time a double, each you know, another. I mean, they must uh had 10 doubles, something like that, right? So, so me and the other guy, you know, it's like we're we're having our fair share of like labats or whatever, but not like not like those guys, you know. And I remember um afterwards, you know, we're leaving and they're trying to get another double, and the bars finally just like, no, you're like, leave, like you're done, leave. That's it, you know. And uh, I remember we were walking away and they have a a statue of uh, I think it's uh Dave Andre Chuk, right? So he's the one that got their first cup and he's holding it, you know, in the air, and it's this huge statue of them. And like one of the guys is like grabbing the legs of the statue and he's like rocking it back and forth. I'm like, what are you doing? Like you're you're you're gonna get the crap eat out of your Tampa outside of being wasted on all those doubles, you know.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:34

Crying out loud, man.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:36

I mean, come on, man, what are you doing?

SPEAKER_02 1:03:40

Some people got balls like that.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:42

Oh yeah, I think it went beyond that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:47

Yeah, no kidding. Well, I think we're just about out of time, brother. Uh, I'm gonna try to watch those uh those Daredevil episodes so we can get into that on uh Wednesday. Um and yeah, like I can't believe I just uh I run out of time, right? With with everything going on, and but uh I'll throw them on. Maybe I'll I'll like binge watch like four episodes throughout the next maybe tonight or something. I remember I did watch the first episode, and I do remember like very violent first episode.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:18

Yes, yeah, yeah, and and I should preface it by saying that, right? Like um, you know, whenever you turn on a show and it it shows all the like the icons, it's like you know, sexual situations, violence, drug use, you know, this thing, that thing. Like if it's got like a laundry list of them, I'm like, oh, this is gonna be a good one. You know. So yeah, Daredevil gets uh it gets pretty intense at certain points. And you know, we talked about some of those actors in there. I mean, yeah, it's it's legit, you know.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:49

I'm looking forward to it, man. So uh yeah, so any final thoughts in terms of the NHL?

SPEAKER_00 1:04:57

Okay, I would say I like the NHL. I think they have really cool team names. I really like playoff hockey better than regular season hockey. I really wish ESPN would lose their contract and they'd go back to NBC. Um those are all my my gripes and likes. And um, you know, overall, you know, one thing I would say about hockey versus other sports, and this is one of the things I always really liked about hockey, is hockey is much more of a team game. I like that, you know, whereas in the other sports you have a lot of that me, me, me. Hockey, not so much. I mean, the whole team really has to gel together. And I I really love a good hockey fight, also, you know, especially when it kind of amps everybody up. So that's probably where I'd leave it.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:48

Yeah, I I agree with you. I think that a lot of times when a team is unsuccessful but they have skilled players, it's because those skilled players are playing like individuals, not like team, yep, like a team structure. So I I agree with that. For me, I'd like to see a lot more consistency in terms of the rules and the calling and the refing and stuff like that. And I I like I love I love that there's a difference between regular season hockey and playoff hockey, but the again, the consistency in playoff hockey has to be something that they take as paramount, right? Um you can't put your whistles away for two periods and then start calling everything in the third or whatever, because you you know you're teaching the players how to act in a game and then you rug them, right? You let them get away with everything, and then third, you're like, oh, thought you were getting away with it.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:41

Now we're gonna get you. Yeah. Five on three. Uh whoops, it's the third period. Oh well.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:49

Thought you had a chance to win the game, did you?

SPEAKER_00 1:06:51

And you don't. Yeah. Scam.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:56

Oh man. All right, guys, that concludes our episode. We will see you on Wednesday. And um, God bless. Till then, paradigm shift out.