Latest / NHL Unscripted with Virk and Demers / Elliotte Friedman with the Scoop: Hellebuyck Dealt, Fowler Shines and the Latest on Larkin.

Transcript

Elliotte Friedman with the Scoop: Hellebuyck Dealt, Fowler Shines and the Latest on Larkin. · NHL Unscripted with Virk and Demers

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: NHL Unscripted is a production of the NHL and iHeart Podcast.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: Last dance time here at NHL Unscripted. 104th and final episode.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: We are going to go with a bang. Cinephile in 60,
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: one of the buzziest docs in recent memory. You can
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: see everything from Nathan Fielder, I promise. No spoilers. I
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: know the boys haven't seen it, but we'll talk around
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: it because certainly it's everywhere right now in terms of
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: social media. Talk about it. The Sea of Red as well.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: I just got back from the Battle of Alberta and
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: the hot run that Devin Cooley has been on in
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: terms of returns back to Vancity. Quinn Hughes did that.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: And of course, we'll get into Connor Hellebutt. But it
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: is the final episode. So tough to say goodbye.
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: J.D.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: Putting an emotional post out there on Instagram. J.D., what's
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: it been like seeing the reaction from the fans doing
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: this is it? This is goodbye. 104 episodes. What a
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: run for us.
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: There is a guy. One of the first comments is
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: so funny. And honestly, you know, you know, you don't
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: expect this many people to watch. But I said in
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: the video, I don't believe you. If you say you watch,
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: you'll be like, you're going to do great. But let
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: me let me pull it up.
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: I think I like one of the comments you made.
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: There's lots of great interviews when I go back and
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: listen to them. I know you guys didn't. So now
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: take the time to go back and do it.
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: Now take the time now that it's over. Oh, the
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: guy goes, apparently I was one of the 12 listeners.
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: Sorry to see it go, but also recognize this space
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: is so crowded with talent and enthusiastic people that being
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: good often isn't enough. I hope you keep trying your
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: hand in some form or fashion. Kind of a backhanded compliment.
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: Because you guys just weren't good enough. Virus, I appreciate that.
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: The candor, but a lot of love and outpouring of support.
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: A lot of people messaged me and were like, they're like,
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: you guys aren't continuing? Like, what's going on? And I said,
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: you know, and a lot of people asked me, oh,
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: it's you guys doing it. I said, no, we wanted
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: to keep going. But I said, it is what it is.
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: That's what I liked about it. You didn't make it
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: clear that we were not being renewed. You just said, hey,
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: this is it. This is our last episode. And then
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: people can determine what it might be. And Tal, who
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: has always said to me, is not on social media.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: And then I see Tal Pinch. I'm like, wait a second.
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: Tal all along has been on social media. He's just
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: checking out. You didn't know this? Well, I thought the
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: whole point, because he never reposts it. He always sends
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: the clips and goes, if you guys want to post this,
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: you know, I don't do that stuff. And I'm like, wait,
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: you're there, though. Tal all along. Tal Pinch just lurking
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: in the weeds.
• 2:38
  Speaker 4: Yeah, a friend of mine texted me and said, hey,
• 2:40
  Speaker 4: I want to make sure your kid didn't steal your
• 2:42
  Speaker 4: phone and start posting on social media, because I saw
• 2:45
  Speaker 4: you posted something, and you've never posted something before.
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: Yeah, there was like an Antifa post or something like that.
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: And Nate, by the way, listen, you reposted it as
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: it is. You were the bits of players only. NHL
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: now with Rupert and Boiler, which was fantastic news.
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: It was. It was nice to have you on too, A.B. Yeah,
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: I know.
• 3:08
  Speaker 5: I didn't even, Tal, I didn't know you had an
• 3:10
  Speaker 5: Instagram too. I hashtagged your name on my repost. I
• 3:15
  Speaker 5: just put hashtag Tal.
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you did.
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: You hashtagged Tal.
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: That was pretty funny.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: Tal Pinch. No, because Nate correctly assumed that Tal didn't
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: have an Instagram account. So he just put a hashtag.
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: Tal, we've been friends on Instagram for years now.
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, what?
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: At Tal Pinch. We might as well put it out there.
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: Not that I've posted it. At Tal Pinch. Tal Pinch. Hey,
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: if you need good producing. Right. I'll pinch. Speaking of which,
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: quick note, by the way, quick programming.
• 3:40
  Speaker 4: We will have one last best of episode next week.
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: Oh, okay.
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: If you want to.
• 3:46
  Speaker 4: It'll just be our favorite interview moments over the last
• 3:49
  Speaker 4: two years.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: That's breaking news. I didn't know that.
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: Okay. So we got another. Do we get paid for that?
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: That's a great question.
• 3:54
  Speaker 6: No, no, no.
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: I do, but I don't think you do.
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: It's a great point. Tal will do the work repurposing it,
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: but we will not get credit being the only ones here.
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: But it will be 105 episodes in the books. Okay,
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: we'll get to the hockey now. Connor Hellebug, just before
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: he was poised to return to Winnipeg following a team-imposed suspension,
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: the Jets announced they'd make the move. He goes off
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: to the New Jersey Devils, and you get Dawson Mercer,
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: Nico Dawes, Nick Bukestad, first-round pick Alexander Command, seventh-round pick,
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: and a second-rounder in 2029. The first thought I had, J.D., was, well,
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: he's not going to be playing for a while.
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: What?
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: He's in.
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: 17 saves, 5-1 win in Dallas. Looked pretty good. Let's
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: go first, Hellebuck. What's it mean for my boys Sonny
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: Mehta and the Devils as they're trying to make a
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: little run right now and get back into the playoffs?
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: Well, look out. They're a contender now. They're at the
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: top of the list in terms of, you know, I'd
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: say top five teams in the NHL with Connor Hellebuck.
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: I honestly watched that. I watched that game against Dallas.
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: I really wanted to see I talked to Corey Schneider
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: cause I was like, I was kind of on the
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: side of why are they playing him? Like he needs
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: to get up to speed. And Schneider's was like, listen,
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: you got a goalie like him, put him in the net.
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: He'll be fine. He'll figure it out. The best way
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: to get ready and the best way to get up
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: to speed is games. So he goes against the Dallas team.
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: That's was quite depleted, but that New Jersey devils team,
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: that game, they looked so good. Obviously they got dog
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: walked against Colorado a little bit, but they looked very
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: good against Dallas. Hellebuck was, stout. He made some really
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: big saves, and the funny thing, he was moving the
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: puck more than I've ever seen him move it. It
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: looked like he was working on his stick handling. He
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: was giving leg kicks and going backhand no-lookers. It was
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: a little bit cavalier, but he looked good, so this
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: is immediately a team, and I don't think they're done
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: because they didn't give up any of their first-round picks,
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: so they still have some weapons to bring some pieces in,
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: so I wouldn't be surprised if Sonny Mettat does a
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: little bit more. Yeah.
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: And I think Nate, from the Jets perspective, I mean,
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: Tal basically put in the group to a bit of
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: an underwhelming return, but I feel for it from Chevy's perspective,
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: maybe he could have got more form in the summer,
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: but he wanted to wait out and see what he
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: could get. Now with the suspension being over, Helvick was
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: going to come back. You don't have that happen. So
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: at this point you say, listen, just give me the
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: best offer available and go. if Mercer's good and apparently
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: they're pretty high on Alexander command, who was their first round.
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: He's good. Yeah.
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: I think if command is really good and Mercer plays well,
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: then listen, he was in a tough spot regardless, but
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: Chevy may have done okay from the jets perspective.
• 6:30
  Speaker 5: Yeah. I think Chevy did a pretty good job considering
• 6:33
  Speaker 5: what was, what was held up against him. He had
• 6:36
  Speaker 5: a gun to his head basically. And, and, you know,
• 6:38
  Speaker 5: he had his, he had his franchise goalie wanting to
• 6:42
  Speaker 5: be out. So, I mean, the cards were against him here.
• 6:45
  Speaker 5: So I think getting the return he did, and obviously
• 6:47
  Speaker 5: the big pieces are Dawson Mercer and Alexander command. Cause
• 6:51
  Speaker 5: you know, I think first off Dawson Mercer, uh, you know, they,
• 6:54
  Speaker 5: they get a second line, a second line player that
• 6:56
  Speaker 5: could play center or wing. And I think once he
• 6:58
  Speaker 5: gets acclimated into that group, I think he's going to
• 7:00
  Speaker 5: be a good fit. And then you have Alexander command who,
• 7:04
  Speaker 5: you know, this, this kid is a 12th overall pick.
• 7:06
  Speaker 5: They were already wanting to draft him, had a lot
• 7:09
  Speaker 5: of interest in him. Um, You know, from what Chevy
• 7:12
  Speaker 5: told us, we had him on NHL Now interviewing him,
• 7:14
  Speaker 5: and he said, yeah, he was a guy we were
• 7:16
  Speaker 5: already interested in. So we get him now, and the
• 7:19
  Speaker 5: comparison is Joel Eriksson-Eck. And if you can get a
• 7:23
  Speaker 5: guy that ends up being Joel Eriksson-Eck, and you look
• 7:26
  Speaker 5: at their centers, and, you know, maybe for the future,
• 7:29
  Speaker 5: you got Viggo Bjork, Alexander Command, Shifley.
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: He struggled, though.
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: I mean, that's– yeah, he is. Viggo Bjork is struggling.
• 7:36
  Speaker 5: But I think, though, if you look at their center depth,
• 7:38
  Speaker 5: I mean, if you lose a goalie like– status of
• 7:41
  Speaker 5: Connor Hellebuck you know if you could build your center
• 7:43
  Speaker 5: depth and um you know still be competitive uh you
• 7:47
  Speaker 5: know I think he did a pretty good job considering
• 7:49
  Speaker 5: the situation he was in and and Connor Hellebuck wanted
• 7:52
  Speaker 5: to be out.
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: He he said he had his balls in a vice
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: balls were in a vice at a dominatrix office dominatrix
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: office and No safe word. He had no safe word available. Right.
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: Chevy, a little more pressure? A little more pressure? No, no, please,
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: that's enough.
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: He just had to ride it out.
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: Through his teeth.
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: He's got brass balls, that guy.
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: Oh, yeah, I'm pulling for these Jets.
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: Das and Bukestad were in the lineup Sunday. It was
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: quite a Jets debut, though, for Mercer. Dressed for Winnipeg,
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: the Heritage Classic game against the Habs. More than 32,000
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: fans at Princess Auto Stadium. And once again, it was
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: a goalie getting all the attention. 21-year-old rookie goalie Jacob
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: Fowler stopped in 33 of 34, giving Montreal a 2-1 win.
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: So he follows it up Tuesday night, J.D., in St. Louis.
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: 46 saves shutout, which you just don't get a lot
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: of those games in today's hockey. That cements himself as
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: Montreal's starting goalie. We know Montembo's out three weeks now
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: of the injury. Dobrish has been struggling, and so Fowler, 6-1,
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: won 5-4 goals against a 9-42 save percentage. Tal Pinchewski
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: is hard as we speak. J.D., is he right to
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: do so?
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: There's a little bit dribbling out right now for Tal.
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: Six to pick.
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: Listen, Jacob Fowler is him. And I think there's all,
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: before I get to kind of his game and what
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: I heard, Carey Price came out and said, you know,
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: Jacob Fowler reminds him of him. Yeah. Crazy. You know,
• 9:18
  Speaker 3: we just saw the footage come out of the draft
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: where one of the scouts was fighting for him. Billy Ryan.
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: Like this kid knows how to win. What's his name again?
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: Billy Ryan.
• 9:28
  Speaker 3: Yeah, Billy Ryan. It's a brother of Mike Ryan. Yeah,
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: Billy Ryan, fan of the show. He comes out and
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: just has a great, you know, passionate speech about Jacob Fowler. And, like,
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: this kid wins. He'll find a way to win. He
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: may not be the most developed at that time, but, like,
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: he's a winner. He knows how to do it. And
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: you're seeing him, man. He battles. That 46-save shutout, he
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: was making some 10-bellers. Same thing in the Heritage Classic,
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: some 10-bell saves. And, again... Montreal's in a really good
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: spot right now with... Even though they have all these injuries...
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: they're still winning games. They got this superstar goalie that
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: just came out of nowhere in any time. A lot
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: of the times, this is what you need as a
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: team that wants to make a push for the Stanley
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: cup finals, whether it's this year or next year, because
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: now you've got a guy in a decent contract. So
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: you can make some moves, make some waves. You can
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: maybe trade one of those, those goalies, Montembeau or Dobesh now,
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: and really push your chips in. Because, I mean, if
• 10:29
  Speaker 3: I'm in that room in management, I'm like, we got
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: a goalie. Like, we got to go for it now. Like,
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: we got a goalie.
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: Tal, which one are you trading, Montembeau or Dobesh? I mean,
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: it depends on what the better return is as well.
• 10:42
  Speaker 3: It's tough.
• 10:42
  Speaker 4: They just signed Dobesh to a three-year extension that hasn't
• 10:45
  Speaker 4: even kicked in yet. And Montembeau is on the last
• 10:47
  Speaker 4: year of his contract.
• 10:48
  Speaker 3: So, you know, I think– I'm Montembeau.
• 10:50
  Speaker 4: Probably Montembeau because there's no long-term commitment for whichever team
• 10:54
  Speaker 4: you're trading him to. Although he hasn't played this year,
• 10:55
  Speaker 4: he has no market value. I was just going to
• 10:58
  Speaker 4: go back to the clips. They mentioned the Billy Ryan clip.
• 11:01
  Speaker 4: It's an awesome clip from their draft meeting.
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: It was great. Unbelievable.
• 11:04
  Speaker 4: He's literally going against the whole room saying, we need
• 11:08
  Speaker 4: to draft this guy. At one point in the clip,
• 11:10
  Speaker 4: Jeff Gorton, the president of the team, comes over to
• 11:12
  Speaker 4: Billy Ryan and gives him a little massage just to
• 11:15
  Speaker 4: calm him down a little bit.
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: And there's video of....
• 11:19
  Speaker 4: Of Fowler's interview, like pre-draft interview with the Canadians. Even
• 11:24
  Speaker 4: back then, he was 18 then, so poised. I love
• 11:26
  Speaker 4: these clips that have been circulating. Give Billy Ryan a promotion.
• 11:29
  Speaker 4: He deserves it.
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: I want to piggyback on that and for Nate as well.
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: I tweeted something out yesterday, but I don't think fans
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: realize the evaluation process and how difficult it is to
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: get chosen because to get drafted or be on an
• 11:46
  Speaker 3: NHL team, like you got to, somebody's got to vouch
• 11:49
  Speaker 3: for you. And my guy was Jill Cote back in
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: the day, but like there's, it's, it's not like this, Hey,
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: you're the best. And you get there. Like there is
• 11:58
  Speaker 3: that for the, you know, top 5%, like the rest
• 12:01
  Speaker 3: of us, like you get, somebody's got to go to
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: bat for you that you might not even know. And
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: it's like the evaluation process, it's like, it's war in there.
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: So it's like, you, I don't think fans realize like
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: how much we owe as players to some of those
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: guys that, that stood up for us. I don't know
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: if you had a scout or anything that had your back,
• 12:19
  Speaker 3: but like, there's always one that gets you in. Yeah.
• 12:22
  Speaker 5: And, and, and probably a promotion for those guys too,
• 12:25
  Speaker 5: as well. Right.
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: Like a big guy like Billy Ryan.
• 12:26
  Speaker 5: Cause I know for me it was, it was Don
• 12:28
  Speaker 5: Sweeney and that was, he was player development when I was,
• 12:32
  Speaker 5: when I was in Providence and he was, he was
• 12:34
  Speaker 5: the guy that kind of believed in me. So, I mean,
• 12:36
  Speaker 5: to your point, JD, and talking about, you know, Jacob
• 12:39
  Speaker 5: Fowler and what he means to the Canadians, like it,
• 12:41
  Speaker 5: Just to prove the point of what Billy Ryan said,
• 12:43
  Speaker 5: I went and looked at it, and you look back
• 12:46
  Speaker 5: all the way to his Youngstown, USHL.
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: I'm going to name his save percentage. 927, 921, Boston College.
• 12:52
  Speaker 6: 926, 940.
• 12:52
  Speaker 5: LaValle, 914, 916. You guys must be doing something. 908, 945,
• 12:54
  Speaker 5: and 942.
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: No, I just hockey D beat him, and it's– It's sick.
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: It's crazy.
• 13:08
  Speaker 5: You look at every single season, and he wins. Soiling,
• 13:11
  Speaker 5: to prove Billy Ryan right, he does. He's a winner,
• 13:14
  Speaker 5: and in the biggest games, he shows up, and he's
• 13:17
  Speaker 5: not even– I mean, he's 6'1, right? He's not a
• 13:19
  Speaker 5: huge goalie, but you see the way he plays. Like,
• 13:22
  Speaker 5: when he's moving across, making saves, he's like Gary Price.
• 13:26
  Speaker 5: He's calm, and pucks are hitting him. You know, he's
• 13:28
  Speaker 5: not having to put himself out of position, so.
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: Oh, man.
• 13:32
  Speaker 5: I mean, Montreal, to have a guy like Carey Price
• 13:35
  Speaker 5: and you have this up and coming superstar, I think,
• 13:38
  Speaker 5: in goal is it's a bright spot for them.
• 13:42
  Speaker 4: And I was going to mention quick, he's mentioned a
• 13:44
  Speaker 4: few times undrafted in the OHL and the USHL. So
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: he's got a bit of that chip on his shoulder
• 13:50
  Speaker 4: like nobody wanted me. I'll show them, you know, that
• 13:52
  Speaker 4: Michael Jordan last dance kind of FU energy.
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: Last Dance continues, the final episode of NHL Unscripted. By
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: the way, our special guest today, Elliot Friedman, is going
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: to join us. Freed is coming down. Years from now,
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: they'll say the trivia question, who was the final guest
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: of NHL Unscripted? Was it Ray Ferraro?
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: No.
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: Chicken Parm was the penultimate guest. Elliot Friedman is the
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: guy running the anchor leg here on Unscripted. Just looking
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: forward to Freed's coming up. We go back to Vancity. Nate,
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: this is the opposite of what happened with Brady Kachuk
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: in Ottawa. Quinn Hughes comes back. And now listen, the Canucks...
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: The worst team in the league.
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: Oh, they're bad.
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: They're bad.
• 14:25
  Speaker 3: They're fucking bad.
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: Hughes has been in Minnesota almost a year. He gets
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: booed heavily by the Canucks faithful and goes, OK, I'm
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: going to go and dominate. Goal and assist, including his
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: 500th career point as Minnesota race it to a 4-0
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: third-player lead. Eventually, they win it 4-2 as Hughes and
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: Kaprizov just overwhelm the rebuilding Canucks. They lost their 10th
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: game in a row. Thoughts on a big night, Nate,
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: for Quinn Hughes and a tough one and a tough
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: season right now for Manny Malhotra and the Canucks.
• 14:50
  Speaker 5: Yeah, this is a different return with Quinn Hughes than
• 14:55
  Speaker 5: it is Brady Kachuk, just because I just look at
• 14:57
  Speaker 5: it and, you know, when Quinn left, it was kind
• 15:01
  Speaker 5: of disarray for the organization and management and everything. A
• 15:05
  Speaker 5: lot of things were changing. And then Quinn Hughes, I mean,
• 15:09
  Speaker 5: it's a different player than Brady Kachuk as well. Like,
• 15:12
  Speaker 5: it's Quinn Hughes, arguably the best defenseman in the world,
• 15:15
  Speaker 5: you know, right up there with Makar.
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: So, you know, but what.
• 15:19
  Speaker 5: what Minnesota's doing right now, how they're playing as a team,
• 15:22
  Speaker 5: and what Kirill Kaprizov's doing, I mean, it's pretty impressive,
• 15:26
  Speaker 5: because when you look at their center depth, and you
• 15:31
  Speaker 5: have Michael McCarron as your second line center right now,
• 15:35
  Speaker 5: and then you realize, okay, this is how good and
• 15:38
  Speaker 5: how important Quinn Hughes is to Minnesota Wild, because he's
• 15:42
  Speaker 5: literally on the ice the whole time, and has the
• 15:44
  Speaker 5: puck always, so You know, this Minnesota team is– it's
• 15:49
  Speaker 5: interesting because, you know, they're right up there in the
• 15:52
  Speaker 5: central division. But you look at their roster and you're going, okay,
• 15:57
  Speaker 5: can they get over the hump with what they have? Like,
• 16:00
  Speaker 5: what's going to happen with their team? You know, because
• 16:03
  Speaker 5: they're playing great hockey. They're getting production from their top guys. So–
• 16:09
  Speaker 5: and it all starts with Quinn Hughes.
• 16:12
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't know– I, I'm still on the fence.
• 16:17
  Speaker 3: I'm not on the fence. I'm on the side that
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: I think he signs. I do think so. I think,
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: I think it'll calm down and he'll sign. I mean,
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: look at what he's playing with and look at the
• 16:27
  Speaker 3: fun they're having. This is a good hockey team. A
• 16:30
  Speaker 3: surprise for me because I didn't think that they would
• 16:33
  Speaker 3: really be that great this season. And the guys that
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: came in, the Shabanov's and who's been breath of fresh air,
• 16:40
  Speaker 3: Uroff's taking a step in the right direction and, The
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: only fear is that we're hearing, I was hearing yesterday,
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: Brock Faber, it's not looking good right now. There's whispers
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: that he might not play the year like a fractured skull. That,
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: I think, changes things for Quinn maybe because he probably
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: wants to win now or maybe he looks at him
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: and he's like, we're this good without Faber, we can win.
• 17:07
  Speaker 3: I'm going to come back and sign and see this
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: thing through. Maybe he just takes a two-year deal or
• 17:14
  Speaker 3: something like that. I don't know. It's an interesting one
• 17:18
  Speaker 3: for me, for sure. That and the Larkin situation, I think,
• 17:21
  Speaker 3: are so unique. I think Larkin, as we're recording this,
• 17:26
  Speaker 3: Larkin now has been announced out twice. I don't think
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: he's playing tonight. Horkoff is addressing the situation. What better
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: time when we get free, John?
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: Maybe I'll have some breaking news for us later today.
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: And one more topic before we'll get to Elliott. Lost
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: in all the drama surrounding Conor Hellebuck and Dylan Larkin.
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: Alexander Nikitin, unsigned restricted free agent a month into the year.
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: Plenty of trade rumors around him. The Hurricanes announced Sunday
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: the Russian defenseman has signed a one-year deal worth $ 3 million.
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: So they took their time with him, J.D., despite missing
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: him along with Seth Jarvis and Jordan Stahl. How about
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: the Cup champs? They're 10-2-2, NHL's best record. What does
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: this mean as you get Nikitin in the nick of time?
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it's good. I'm also like, what are
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: you doing, Nikitian? I'm kind of like, I guess he
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: thought there would be more juice out there for him.
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: But I don't think Tulsky saw anything that was worthwhile.
• 18:21
  Speaker 3: And now that Edvinson's on the table, he's number one between,
• 18:25
  Speaker 3: I think he's a better player than Nikitian. So I
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: don't know. He needed to get back out and play.
• 18:30
  Speaker 3: And it's such a weird situation. He's wanted to get
• 18:32
  Speaker 3: traded for like a year and a half. And it
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: feels like they're just like, no. no, you're going to
• 18:37
  Speaker 3: stay here and you're going to like it. And he's just,
• 18:38
  Speaker 3: he's like, okay.
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: I think he wanted a multi-year deal.
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: Yeah, but he's tight.
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 18:45
  Speaker 3: Tell us he's tight on the purse strings. You just
• 18:47
  Speaker 3: want a cup. It's, you know, do I think they
• 18:49
  Speaker 3: should have probably paid him? Yeah. But do I think
• 18:52
  Speaker 3: they're fine without him? I think they could get something
• 18:54
  Speaker 3: for him now. Maybe they're overvaluing them in terms of the,
• 18:58
  Speaker 3: on the trade market, but I think you can get
• 19:00
  Speaker 3: some form, maybe some more center depth, maybe trade them to,
• 19:04
  Speaker 3: in a package deal to Detroit for Edmondson or for
• 19:08
  Speaker 3: maybe swap them out and, you know, add a few
• 19:11
  Speaker 3: pieces and get bringing Edmondson and then be off to
• 19:14
  Speaker 3: the races. So we'll see. But, you know, I don't know.
• 19:17
  Speaker 3: It's an interesting one for me. Nate?
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: I think he's gone.
• 19:22
  Speaker 5: I think that they signed a one-year deal and that
• 19:25
  Speaker 5: he's going to be trade bait and then sign an
• 19:28
  Speaker 5: extension somewhere.
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: Else, wherever he goes.
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: I hope so.
• 19:31
  Speaker 5: I just think that, I just think because they're so
• 19:34
  Speaker 5: good in the start they're on and it's, you know,
• 19:36
  Speaker 5: the Carolina hurricanes, it doesn't matter.
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: It's they haven't, they haven't missed them.
• 19:41
  Speaker 5: And I don't think if they lose him or they
• 19:43
  Speaker 5: trade him, I don't think it's going to change their
• 19:44
  Speaker 5: team that much with the way that they're playing and
• 19:46
  Speaker 5: how they're, how they're orchestrated. So, I mean, I don't know.
• 19:50
  Speaker 5: He's a really good defenseman.
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: He is.
• 19:52
  Speaker 5: I just think the way the Carolina Hurricanes are constructed
• 19:56
  Speaker 5: it doesn't really it's not going to change it's not
• 20:00
  Speaker 5: going to change their ways so I don't know I
• 20:03
  Speaker 5: think he's gone I think he ends up somewhere else.
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: Carolina, unafraid to make some moves, and as I said,
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: they're off to a fantastic start so far. We're off
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: to a good start here on the finale of NHL Unscripted.
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: We come back, we'll talk to our friend Elliot Friedman.
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: He's the best hockey insider around. We'll ask him how
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: much screen time does he spend on his phone trying
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: to break down news, and has he ever been chewed
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: out by anyone after breaking a story? That's coming up
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: next on NHL Unscripted.
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: NHL Unscripted.
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: Our next guest started at the Fan 590 in Toronto,
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: going on to cover the Raptors and the Blue Jays,
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: becoming the most prominent insider in hockey media. It can
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: be on every major outlet in North America, including NHL
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: Network with us, and most notably on the panel of
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: Hockey Night in Canada. as well as his 32 Thoughts
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: column and podcast. Old friend of mine from our days,
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: the scorer, 370 King Street West. That's right, we had
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: a studio inside the Holiday Inn. It's everyone's favorite, Frage.
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: Elliot Fraben. Frage, great to see you, buddy. How you been?
• 21:09
  Speaker 6: You know why I walked by there the other day, Adnan?
• 21:11
  Speaker 6: Brought back so many great memories. Great to chat with
• 21:13
  Speaker 6: you too, guys. Great to chat with you all.
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: We'll get right to the business at hand. The last
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: four months, Brady Kachuk trade, Conor Hallibook suspension and trade,
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: Dylan Larkin trade demand, Marchenko blockbuster trade, and the constant
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: speculation about Quinn Hughes. I know you're always busy working
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: the phones, but this seems to be particularly concentrated in
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: major names making major news.
• 21:35
  Speaker 6: Adnan, I have a great line about this. Well, my
• 21:38
  Speaker 6: wife doesn't think it's so funny. It's like a big
• 21:40
  Speaker 6: couple of months for my wife's boyfriend. That's my line.
• 21:48
  Speaker 6: I was talking about it with one of the managers
• 21:52
  Speaker 6: who's been around a while during the summer, and it
• 21:56
  Speaker 6: used to be that.
• 21:56
  Speaker 7: You had a summer, and you really don't anymore.
• 22:01
  Speaker 6: This year was particularly crazy, but You know, also, by
• 22:05
  Speaker 6: the way, I really think, honestly, the biggest thing that
• 22:08
  Speaker 6: happened this summer was the Leo Carlson offer.
• 22:10
  Speaker 7: Sheet because it changed the league.
• 22:13
  Speaker 6: It really did. Like, you know, obviously, big trades are huge.
• 22:16
  Speaker 6: Big free agent signings are huge. That's all big stuff.
• 22:19
  Speaker 6: But the offer sheet has now changed the way that
• 22:22
  Speaker 6: players are getting paid. And, you know, the best thing
• 22:25
  Speaker 6: about it is even if you're not a star player,
• 22:28
  Speaker 6: you know, as one guy once told me, I may
• 22:30
  Speaker 6: not be worth what that guy is, but I'm not
• 22:33
  Speaker 6: $ 8 million less than what that guy is. So like
• 22:37
  Speaker 6: it has been an absolutely crazy time and the league
• 22:41
  Speaker 6: is just changing in a huge way on a day-to-day basis.
• 22:46
  Speaker 3: I mean, and no more apparent than you mean these
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: past couple of weeks with Hellebuck being traded and Akishan signed.
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: And now, you know, I know you're, you're following this
• 22:56
  Speaker 3: closely and probably got the inside track with the dysfunction
• 22:59
  Speaker 3: in Detroit. So with Edvinson still unsigned, Dylan Larkin, Horkoff's
• 23:03
  Speaker 3: an interim GM trying to do the best he can.
• 23:05
  Speaker 3: What are you hearing and seeing from Chris Illich in
• 23:08
  Speaker 3: the endgame of this Detroit Red Wings?
• 23:11
  Speaker 6: Well, so as we were doing this about, you know,
• 23:14
  Speaker 6: within the last hour of us sitting down to do this,
• 23:18
  Speaker 6: the news got out from the Wings coach Todd McClellan
• 23:21
  Speaker 6: that Larkin won't play tonight and Sean Horkoff. was going
• 23:24
  Speaker 6: to address it. Now, I understand that this is happening
• 23:27
  Speaker 6: in real time as we are doing this. I think
• 23:30
  Speaker 6: the reporters were actually told there that Horkoff would not
• 23:33
  Speaker 6: be talking and someone else told me he might be
• 23:35
  Speaker 6: releasing a statement. But as we do this right now,
• 23:40
  Speaker 6: I don't believe that Larkin is traded and that what
• 23:43
  Speaker 6: instead is happening is that he's going to sit until
• 23:46
  Speaker 6: the trade happens. But again, that's the best intel I have.
• 23:52
  Speaker 6: We're all flying a bit blind, and this is one
• 23:54
  Speaker 6: of these things that might continue to change as the
• 23:57
  Speaker 6: day evolves. The one thing I can tell you, Jason,
• 24:01
  Speaker 6: is that, especially now that this has occurred, you're always
• 24:04
  Speaker 6: careful about what you hear and what you report.
• 24:06
  Speaker 7: You don't want to be.
• 24:07
  Speaker 6: Wrong, but I heard that after Halibut got done last
• 24:10
  Speaker 6: week with Winnipeg and New Jersey, things really ratcheted up
• 24:15
  Speaker 6: with Larkin. It was like, okay, this one's out of
• 24:19
  Speaker 6: the spotlight, but now this one's the big one, and
• 24:22
  Speaker 6: you know, it got done and how can everybody get
• 24:25
  Speaker 6: this one done and let's get this one to go. And,
• 24:28
  Speaker 6: you know, Sean Horkoff has been pretty consistent to other teams.
• 24:31
  Speaker 6: He has a bar. And if you don't jump over
• 24:34
  Speaker 6: that bar, he's not trading Larkin or Edmondson. You know,
• 24:37
  Speaker 6: I think Larkin's gotten a bit more impatient. I think
• 24:40
  Speaker 6: he wants it to happen. He wants it to be
• 24:42
  Speaker 6: over with. I'm sure all the Red Wings fans were
• 24:44
  Speaker 6: sick of us talking about Larkin wanting it.
• 24:46
  Speaker 7: To be over with.
• 24:47
  Speaker 6: And, you know, also, too, he's been hurt. And that's
• 24:51
  Speaker 6: one of the things I worry about for the whole situation.
• 24:54
  Speaker 6: What if it gets worse? Or what if he gets
• 24:57
  Speaker 6: injured again? So it sounds like right now, as we
• 25:00
  Speaker 6: do this, the plan is for Larkin to sit until
• 25:02
  Speaker 6: he's traded. And I'm sure the Red Wings are, you know,
• 25:06
  Speaker 6: trying to trade him.
• 25:08
  Speaker 5: Yeah, Elliot, what does it look like? I mean, I
• 25:11
  Speaker 5: guess I'm glad we caught you on a day like today. Like,
• 25:13
  Speaker 5: what does it look like for you on a day
• 25:15
  Speaker 5: like this, especially with, you know, with trades looming and,
• 25:19
  Speaker 5: you know, you're, you're in the business of breaking stories
• 25:22
  Speaker 5: because you, I mean, whether you like it or not,
• 25:24
  Speaker 5: you are the guy we love. We love that you're
• 25:26
  Speaker 5: the guy. And what does that look for you on
• 25:29
  Speaker 5: an average day? Like today, when the next couple of days.
• 25:33
  Speaker 7: Well, first of all, Nate, I really appreciate that. That's
• 25:35
  Speaker 7: very kind of you to say best hair. Yeah.
• 25:40
  Speaker 6: If you see it right now, that's definitely not true.
• 25:45
  Speaker 6: You know, I mean, The last couple of days have
• 25:47
  Speaker 6: been really crazy. Like, you know, for example, I got
• 25:51
  Speaker 6: home from Winnipeg on Monday from the Heritage Classic, which
• 25:53
  Speaker 6: was a great event. I slept 11 hours on Monday night,
• 25:56
  Speaker 6: which is not a normal occurrence for me during the year.
• 26:01
  Speaker 6: Kyle joked, he said the 11 hours you slept Monday
• 26:03
  Speaker 6: night was more than you slept in four days in Winnipeg.
• 26:07
  Speaker 7: And that's probably true.
• 26:08
  Speaker 6: But, you know, I woke up, you know, and then
• 26:12
  Speaker 6: I was up late writing because I'm trying to work
• 26:14
  Speaker 6: on a written blog. I was up late Tuesday night
• 26:17
  Speaker 6: writing and I woke up, you know, Wednesday at like
• 26:19
  Speaker 6: 10 AM and I had people sending me texts that
• 26:22
  Speaker 6: like Larkin's not practicing. So, you know, like Nate, when you,
• 26:26
  Speaker 6: when you pick that up and you see like 20
• 26:27
  Speaker 6: messages like that in your phone, you're like, Oh my God,
• 26:29
  Speaker 6: I slept in.
• 26:30
  Speaker 7: I missed the Larkin trade.
• 26:31
  Speaker 6: Like I go through like mild panic and you know,
• 26:35
  Speaker 6: you're trying to get your, and then like a day
• 26:37
  Speaker 6: like today, It got up at nine.
• 26:41
  Speaker 7: I'm not an early riser.
• 26:42
  Speaker 6: I worked the Toronto Seattle game late on Wednesday night.
• 26:45
  Speaker 6: So I got up at nine, you know, we were
• 26:47
  Speaker 6: up late doing the pod. I was doing some writing.
• 26:49
  Speaker 6: And then I get this text, like it was Larkin
• 26:53
  Speaker 6: with two exclamation marks.
• 26:55
  Speaker 7: And I'm like, Oh God, what now?
• 26:57
  Speaker 6: And you know, I see the tweets from all the
• 27:00
  Speaker 6: Detroit reporters that Todd McCollins told them he's not playing
• 27:04
  Speaker 6: tonight and Horikop will address.
• 27:06
  Speaker 7: And ever since then, it's been, nonstop.
• 27:09
  Speaker 6: And, you know, Nate, like, it's, it's funny, I had
• 27:12
  Speaker 6: this conversation with somebody once, like, you're texting a million
• 27:15
  Speaker 6: people at once, you're praying, you're not like doing a
• 27:18
  Speaker 6: succession thing where you hit the wrong text to the
• 27:21
  Speaker 6: wrong person, like that famous scene in that show. And,
• 27:26
  Speaker 6: you know, the other thing, too, is people start calling
• 27:28
  Speaker 6: you and, you know, you have to prioritize calls. And
• 27:32
  Speaker 6: the best thing I ever had was I had one
• 27:36
  Speaker 6: guy who was a good source of mine who called
• 27:39
  Speaker 6: me once in the middle of something big. And when
• 27:41
  Speaker 6: I got back to him, he says, I want to
• 27:43
  Speaker 6: know who you didn't answer me for. Like, who's bigger
• 27:48
  Speaker 6: than me on your list? But it's just like it's
• 27:53
  Speaker 6: a whirlwind. And for everybody who does the job I do,
• 27:56
  Speaker 6: you know, we're all competitive. Everybody wants to be first.
• 28:00
  Speaker 6: A lot of people don't want to talk to us
• 28:01
  Speaker 6: right now. Think about the people we're calling and the
• 28:06
  Speaker 6: craziness that they're in the middle.
• 28:07
  Speaker 3: Of, too.
• 28:09
  Speaker 6: It's like everybody who's really involved in this, as opposed
• 28:13
  Speaker 6: to myself, who's just kind of involved on the side,
• 28:16
  Speaker 6: it's a wild.
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: Day, Nate.
• 28:19
  Speaker 7: Again, as we do this, I don't think he's been traded.
• 28:22
  Speaker 7: They're working on it.
• 28:23
  Speaker 6: I don't think he's been traded, but now, what's it
• 28:26
  Speaker 6: going to be like for the next... hours or day
• 28:29
  Speaker 6: or however long it is until he gets dealt.
• 28:32
  Speaker 7: It's going to be nuts.
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: I remember working at ESPN for years for agent and
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: picking the brain of Adam Schefter, obviously NFL agent was
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: your house NBA. And I said, can you ever put
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: the phone down? Like, can you ever have that moment?
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: And Shefty said, because when did we sit and saw
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: a movie with his wife? And I said, so you
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: can do normal things. He said, yeah, but I can't
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: turn the phone off. So it's kind of annoying at times.
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: I've got to check every few minutes. I have to
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: pretend I have to go to the bathroom, get some popcorn,
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: et cetera. What's the strangest place you've received a big
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: phone call from a source that maybe was awkward for
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: you and Stephanie or with your daughter or whoever it was?
• 29:04
  Speaker 7: Well, you know what? Those are, and movies has definitely happened.
• 29:08
  Speaker 7: I've had to step up.
• 29:09
  Speaker 6: I got, someone once told me in a movie theater, look,
• 29:13
  Speaker 6: I know what you do, but your phone's bugging me.
• 29:16
  Speaker 7: Like, can you, so I had to, I had to,
• 29:20
  Speaker 7: I had to step out.
• 29:21
  Speaker 6: So like I, that has happened to me before, you know,
• 29:25
  Speaker 6: like Schefter has told people he carries two phones.
• 29:28
  Speaker 7: I don't do that. Like I just use, I just
• 29:30
  Speaker 7: use the wine.
• 29:31
  Speaker 6: Like I just, I like to me, I think Adnan
• 29:34
  Speaker 6: in moments like this simplicity is, is the most important thing.
• 29:37
  Speaker 7: I think I would not be able to handle two phones.
• 29:40
  Speaker 6: But, you know, I, um, a movie theater is, is
• 29:44
  Speaker 6: definitely one. I, there, there's been, you know, last year
• 29:48
  Speaker 6: I remember when the, or whenever it was the JT
• 29:50
  Speaker 6: Miller trade broke, um, I was, there was like, there
• 29:54
  Speaker 6: was a big nature museum that my wife wanted to
• 29:57
  Speaker 6: go to. And we were at dinner and I was
• 30:00
  Speaker 6: supposed to take my wife and son to this nature museum.
• 30:02
  Speaker 7: And my wife had really looked forward to it. She
• 30:04
  Speaker 7: was really excited.
• 30:05
  Speaker 6: And then someone said to me, you bet. And JT
• 30:08
  Speaker 6: Miller's just waiting for the Rangers. And my phone rang
• 30:11
  Speaker 6: and I got up to take it at the dinner.
• 30:13
  Speaker 6: And I looked at her and she just rolled her eyes.
• 30:16
  Speaker 6: Like she is, she's excellent. She's fantastic. I outkicked my coverage.
• 30:21
  Speaker 6: I could never do any better, but. I just remember
• 30:25
  Speaker 6: when you get that look, you guys all know that look.
• 30:32
  Speaker 6: Family dinners all the time. I was on a boat
• 30:37
  Speaker 6: tour of Croatia this year when I got one. That one,
• 30:40
  Speaker 6: nothing happened. That's happened before. I remember the last time
• 30:47
  Speaker 6: I actually ever really turned off my phone. Obviously, I
• 30:52
  Speaker 6: turned off my phone when my son was born. But
• 30:54
  Speaker 6: I remember the last time I turned off my phone
• 30:57
  Speaker 6: was when Toronto did like the Jason Blake and Dion
• 31:01
  Speaker 6: Phaneuf trades.
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 31:02
  Speaker 6: And that, so I've never like, unless I've had to,
• 31:06
  Speaker 6: for a reason, like the birth of my son, that's
• 31:08
  Speaker 6: the last time I've turned my phone off.
• 31:11
  Speaker 7: Like I missed that one. And I'm like, I'm never
• 31:14
  Speaker 7: doing that again.
• 31:16
  Speaker 3: I mean, that's, it's amazing. You mentioned the competitive nature
• 31:19
  Speaker 3: and now you see like on, you know, there's like
• 31:22
  Speaker 3: a trade tracker for who breaks the most scoops. And
• 31:25
  Speaker 3: we're going to get into the change away from traditional
• 31:27
  Speaker 3: journalism into, you know, breaking stories and the competitive nature.
• 31:32
  Speaker 3: But I wanted to ask you, like, is there any,
• 31:33
  Speaker 3: was there ever a trade you broke that kind of
• 31:37
  Speaker 3: warmed your heart?
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: Do you have a favorite?
• 31:39
  Speaker 3: Was it, was there, is there one that really stands
• 31:41
  Speaker 3: out to you in your mind of like, whether it
• 31:44
  Speaker 3: was a favorite player of yours or just something that
• 31:48
  Speaker 3: your favorite story you broke?
• 31:51
  Speaker 6: You know, Jason, you know, first of all, like I
• 31:53
  Speaker 6: try not to have a long memory about that stuff
• 31:55
  Speaker 6: because I really do believe the best insider is the
• 31:59
  Speaker 6: person that breaks the last big story, right? Like, you know,
• 32:02
  Speaker 6: it's like, I kind of look at it like, you know,
• 32:04
  Speaker 6: Jason and Nate, you guys in particular can look at
• 32:06
  Speaker 6: this like, you know, you guys played, you're only as
• 32:09
  Speaker 6: good as your last game, right? And I really think
• 32:11
  Speaker 6: you're only as good as the last story you broke.
• 32:13
  Speaker 6: I really try to compartmentalize it in that way. And
• 32:17
  Speaker 6: so I tend not to be I mean, there have
• 32:19
  Speaker 6: been times Jason, I'm not going to lie to you where, um,
• 32:22
  Speaker 6: you know, I've reported something or that something could happen
• 32:26
  Speaker 6: and somebody's like dumped all over it and said, that's BS.
• 32:28
  Speaker 7: And then it's happened. And I've been like, I don't do.
• 32:31
  Speaker 6: Anything about it, but I remember, but I always remember
• 32:34
  Speaker 6: the first one I ever broke Jason.
• 32:36
  Speaker 7: It was, um, I was a very young reporter.
• 32:38
  Speaker 6: I was working at the fan radio in Toronto.
• 32:40
  Speaker 7: I was covering the Raptors.
• 32:41
  Speaker 6: I was, I was trying to make a name for
• 32:44
  Speaker 6: myself in the business and be consistent. And I found
• 32:48
  Speaker 6: out that they'd bought the postal building and they were
• 32:51
  Speaker 6: going to make it what is now Scotiabank Arena. And
• 32:55
  Speaker 6: that was a big story at the time. I was
• 32:57
  Speaker 6: young and I was on, I was a radio reporter
• 33:00
  Speaker 6: at the fan and Dan Schulman and Jim Hunt hosted
• 33:02
  Speaker 6: primetime sports. And it was the biggest radio show in
• 33:05
  Speaker 6: the country. And yeah, they called me in and they said,
• 33:08
  Speaker 6: you're going to break the story on the air. And
• 33:10
  Speaker 6: I was so nervous. I was shaking. I was so scared.
• 33:15
  Speaker 6: And at the end of it, they called me, they,
• 33:17
  Speaker 6: they said, they said, great job, great breaking the story.
• 33:21
  Speaker 7: I was so screwed up. I, instead of saying my pleasure,
• 33:24
  Speaker 7: I said.
• 33:24
  Speaker 6: My problem, but, uh, you know, that's, you know, that,
• 33:29
  Speaker 6: that's the one I'll always remember. Cause it was the
• 33:33
  Speaker 6: first one, but like, I really do believe that guys, like,
• 33:36
  Speaker 6: I think you're only as good as like, if, you know,
• 33:38
  Speaker 6: somebody else breaks a Larkin deal. Then they're like, they're
• 33:42
  Speaker 6: the best insider that day. And you got to reclaim
• 33:44
  Speaker 6: your spot.
• 33:45
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 33:47
  Speaker 5: We've kind of seen lately, you know, how big social
• 33:49
  Speaker 5: media is. And was there a moment in your career
• 33:52
  Speaker 5: when you realized, you know, sports media was kind of
• 33:58
  Speaker 5: going away from traditional journalism? And, you know, now it's
• 34:02
  Speaker 5: a little more scoops. Like, was there, like, what was
• 34:05
  Speaker 5: your first scoop? And like, how did it happen when
• 34:09
  Speaker 5: you did give that scoop?
• 34:11
  Speaker 6: Well, obviously the first one was the building one. But Nate,
• 34:15
  Speaker 6: I think you raised a great question about social media now.
• 34:18
  Speaker 6: Because I have a process that I like to do things.
• 34:24
  Speaker 6: So when I get something, let's just say, for example,
• 34:29
  Speaker 6: let's just say for argument's sake, Dylan Larkin's been traded
• 34:31
  Speaker 6: to the Canadians. I have a process. I like to
• 34:34
  Speaker 6: reach out. If I have the player's number, I'll reach
• 34:37
  Speaker 6: out to them. I'll reach out to the agent. I'll
• 34:40
  Speaker 6: reach out to the two teams involved. And, you know,
• 34:42
  Speaker 6: first of all, like some people, their word is gold. Like,
• 34:46
  Speaker 6: you know, we all have people in our lives. If
• 34:48
  Speaker 6: they tell you something, it's gold. It's the word of
• 34:51
  Speaker 6: God and you go with it. But a lot of
• 34:53
  Speaker 6: other times, you know, you double check. You just say, okay,
• 34:56
  Speaker 6: I want to make sure. But the thing I really
• 34:58
  Speaker 6: like to do, Nate, is I like to warn people
• 34:59
  Speaker 6: that stuff's coming if I can. I don't like people
• 35:04
  Speaker 6: to be blindsided if I can avoid it. And I
• 35:08
  Speaker 6: think that what the, what social media has done is
• 35:11
  Speaker 6: it's changed your ability to warn people. And, you know,
• 35:16
  Speaker 6: for example, like again, I told you how I would
• 35:21
  Speaker 6: do it if I could, but if I think somebody
• 35:24
  Speaker 6: else is going to break it, or particularly if it's
• 35:25
  Speaker 6: something like trade deadline or free agency, you just don't
• 35:29
  Speaker 6: often get a chance to warn people. And that's the
• 35:32
  Speaker 6: thing I like the least. I, I really, and I've
• 35:35
  Speaker 6: heard because, one of the reasons I still like to
• 35:37
  Speaker 6: do it. And sometimes I've lost stories because of it,
• 35:40
  Speaker 6: or like I have one person and, you know, I
• 35:43
  Speaker 6: won't ever warn again because I warned them and they
• 35:46
  Speaker 6: told somebody else.
• 35:48
  Speaker 7: And so like, I'll never do that again.
• 35:51
  Speaker 6: But, you know, I think Nate, the biggest challenge is
• 35:54
  Speaker 6: that you can't always warn people.
• 35:56
  Speaker 7: And I like to warn people. The speed is incredible.
• 36:00
  Speaker 6: And, you know, anyone can just put anything out there and,
• 36:05
  Speaker 6: you know, it's just, The best thing about social media
• 36:08
  Speaker 6: is that everybody has a voice.
• 36:10
  Speaker 7: The worst thing about social.
• 36:12
  Speaker 3: Media is that everybody has.
• 36:15
  Speaker 7: A voice.
• 36:17
  Speaker 6: My voice is no better than anyone else's, but crazy
• 36:21
  Speaker 6: stuff goes out there. That's the biggest change, Nate, is
• 36:25
  Speaker 6: that sometimes I have to say, oh man, I do
• 36:29
  Speaker 6: want to be right and I want to be first,
• 36:31
  Speaker 6: but I'd love to give people more of a heads
• 36:34
  Speaker 6: up than I could.
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: What I've always appreciated about you, Fridge, is you've always
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: been very honest. I remember years ago, Michael Vasilevsky, who
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: was a camera guy we worked with at the school,
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: larger than life personality. I was on the road with
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: him doing some baseball stuff. And I just like to
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: pick his brain and get ideas and stuff. He said,
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: you know, one thing about Elliott Friedman you don't know.
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: He said years ago he was working for the Post
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: and he lost his job. And he said, that's never
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: going to happen again. He goes, I didn't deserve to
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: lose my job as a numbers game, but I'm going
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: to outwork everybody no matter what so that they'll never
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: happen again. And, like, I think about that, like, whatever
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: adversity you've overcome, you've just made sure that it's never
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: going to be an issue. One time you and I
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: were waiting in a scrum. You were kind of jangling
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: your keys a little bit. Like, all right, guys, it's
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: just Tourette's. And you said it so casually, I go,
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: I had no idea for you to say Tourette's. Like,
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: it's just, like, whatever it is, whatever you mean.
• 37:21
  Speaker 7: People think I'm joking when I say that. They're like, ha, ha, ha.
• 37:23
  Speaker 7: I don't know how to relate.
• 37:25
  Speaker 3: You have Tourette's.
• 37:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: And so, like, it's amazing to me, like, whatever issue,
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: whatever challenge you've had, you deal with it in such
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: a disarming manner. Where does that stem from?
• 37:36
  Speaker 7: You know what? You know what?
• 37:38
  Speaker 6: Honestly, Adnan, and I think, you know, like I know
• 37:41
  Speaker 6: you're a big tennis fan. You spent like a lot
• 37:43
  Speaker 6: of time around like the best of the best, right?
• 37:46
  Speaker 6: Like I really think, Adnan, for the job we do,
• 37:50
  Speaker 6: we get exposed to a lot of people who are
• 37:52
  Speaker 6: at the best of the best at.
• 37:53
  Speaker 7: What they do, right?
• 37:55
  Speaker 6: And I think that you learn to respect that. Like,
• 37:57
  Speaker 6: for example, if you play one game in the NHL.
• 38:00
  Speaker 7: Just one, you're the elite of the elite, right? And
• 38:04
  Speaker 7: I think that being.
• 38:05
  Speaker 6: Around pro athletes and coaches and managers and the access
• 38:10
  Speaker 6: we get with Hockey Night, I think what you really
• 38:13
  Speaker 6: learn is you learn that, you know, what it's like
• 38:17
  Speaker 6: to have an elite mentality, right? Like I really believe
• 38:20
  Speaker 6: a lot of the athletes and coaches and executives that
• 38:23
  Speaker 6: we cover, you know, even like the support staff, like
• 38:26
  Speaker 6: you watch the work that the equipment staff and the
• 38:29
  Speaker 6: trainers put in. you see how like championship material gets made.
• 38:35
  Speaker 6: And the thing that you realize is that if you're
• 38:38
  Speaker 6: going to try to be the best at something, you
• 38:42
  Speaker 6: see what it takes, like how much you have to work.
• 38:46
  Speaker 7: Like I'm watching....
• 38:50
  Speaker 6: I remember watching Bobrovsky the other night. Obviously, he's going
• 38:53
  Speaker 6: through a couple games now where he's really struggling, but
• 38:56
  Speaker 6: he's like, actually, I thought I played pretty well. You
• 39:00
  Speaker 6: realize that that's his mental shield, the way he throws
• 39:04
  Speaker 6: up things. That's the way he deals with his struggles.
• 39:09
  Speaker 6: First of all, I recognize I've told this story before.
• 39:15
  Speaker 6: I don't really get into it a lot, but For
• 39:17
  Speaker 6: the first 19 years of my life, I was a
• 39:19
  Speaker 6: pretty miserable guy. I just decided that I wasn't going
• 39:23
  Speaker 6: to live like that anymore. That's one thing. I really
• 39:27
  Speaker 6: do think that just being around pros, you see what
• 39:31
  Speaker 6: kind of mentality it takes to be successful. And if
• 39:34
  Speaker 6: you're a whiner or you're a moper or you don't
• 39:38
  Speaker 6: get over things quick, it's not going to work for you.
• 39:42
  Speaker 7: You're not going to be successful.
• 39:45
  Speaker 3: Well, somebody who's a moper and a whiner is Kevin Bieksa.
• 39:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 39:51
  Speaker 3: You know, but before I get to my question, you know,
• 39:54
  Speaker 3: what impresses me is the way, you know, one, you speak,
• 39:57
  Speaker 3: but the way you're always pushing for more. And I find,
• 40:01
  Speaker 3: you know, you on the panel with Juice is just
• 40:05
  Speaker 3: amazing TV. You guys have gotten so good, so much
• 40:07
  Speaker 3: chemistry together. But is there a story with Juice and
• 40:11
  Speaker 3: Kevin Bieksa? because I've spent a little bit of time
• 40:14
  Speaker 3: with both of you having Negronis in Milan.
• 40:16
  Speaker 7: Which was an.
• 40:19
  Speaker 3: Awesome moment for me. But a story that you could
• 40:23
  Speaker 3: tell about Juice that, you know, he won't beat you
• 40:26
  Speaker 3: up for sharing.
• 40:27
  Speaker 6: Well, you know, first of all, as much as he's
• 40:30
  Speaker 6: like a gigantic prick, he's also.
• 40:32
  Speaker 3: A great human being. That's it.
• 40:35
  Speaker 2: He really is. He's your prick.
• 40:36
  Speaker 7: Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's a, he is, he is a
• 40:42
  Speaker 7: great human being.
• 40:44
  Speaker 6: Like he is a, like there's no teammate, like, you know,
• 40:47
  Speaker 6: one of the reasons I'm really glad things worked out
• 40:49
  Speaker 6: for me personally is I love the team, right?
• 40:52
  Speaker 7: Like we have, we have great people we work with and,
• 40:55
  Speaker 7: you know, like when we go out for.
• 40:57
  Speaker 6: Dinner or drinks, there's, there's no shortage of people who
• 40:59
  Speaker 6: want to grab the bill.
• 41:01
  Speaker 7: Right. And, uh, like he's one of them. He's, he's
• 41:04
  Speaker 7: incredibly generous.
• 41:06
  Speaker 6: Um, he, uh, Like, you know, like, you know, there's
• 41:09
  Speaker 6: some people I've worked with, like time on time talking,
• 41:12
  Speaker 6: for example, matters to them. It doesn't matter to him. Uh,
• 41:16
  Speaker 6: you know, he's a very generous guy. Um, he's, you know,
• 41:20
  Speaker 6: he's very caring. Um, you know, the thing that I
• 41:24
  Speaker 6: really like about him was, you know, he created an academy, um,
• 41:27
  Speaker 6: to teach kids and, um, you know, one of them
• 41:31
  Speaker 6: was his own son, but he was so committed to
• 41:34
  Speaker 6: those kids. that you know he'd take the last flight
• 41:37
  Speaker 6: out on Friday night and he'd take the first flight
• 41:40
  Speaker 6: out on Sunday morning like he still came to do
• 41:43
  Speaker 6: his job and like the thing is he was prepared
• 41:45
  Speaker 6: he's watching games all week he's coming with notes about
• 41:48
  Speaker 6: what he wants to talk about but he's also making
• 41:51
  Speaker 6: sure he's up first thing in the morning so he
• 41:53
  Speaker 6: can be on the ice with the kids and a
• 41:55
  Speaker 6: bunch of those guys, like he's not with that cohort anymore.
• 41:58
  Speaker 6: His son, for example, is playing, I think in the BCHL,
• 42:02
  Speaker 6: but like he was up every morning with those kids.
• 42:05
  Speaker 7: He was working on, you know, who's interested in you.
• 42:08
  Speaker 6: How can he say a good word about one of
• 42:10
  Speaker 6: these kids so they can, like, as you guys know,
• 42:13
  Speaker 6: they're not all going to be pros, but it doesn't
• 42:15
  Speaker 6: mean they can't get a scholarship somewhere or further their
• 42:18
  Speaker 6: education somewhere. And he was doing everything he could for
• 42:21
  Speaker 6: them to get the best possible path. And like, you know,
• 42:25
  Speaker 6: like we, you know, when we finished work on Saturday night,
• 42:28
  Speaker 6: it's 1am. We'll go to a, we have a pub here.
• 42:31
  Speaker 6: We'll go for a beer or two. And like, I'm like, okay,
• 42:34
  Speaker 6: you're going, we're all leaving, like going to bed. What
• 42:36
  Speaker 6: time are we getting up? And Kevin would be like, well,
• 42:38
  Speaker 6: I'm going to go back to the hotel. I'm going
• 42:40
  Speaker 6: to work out, work out. I'm going to work out
• 42:42
  Speaker 6: at like two 30 in the morning. And then my
• 42:45
  Speaker 6: flights at eight. So I'm going to the airport at six.
• 42:47
  Speaker 6: And I'm like, Oh my God. Um, he's just, uh,
• 42:51
  Speaker 6: He's an incredibly generous guy. I've also realized with him,
• 42:54
  Speaker 6: like I have a governor there. Like he wants zero.
• 42:58
  Speaker 6: He's got zero governor.
• 42:59
  Speaker 3: Like I, I say on TV after meeting him a
• 43:02
  Speaker 3: couple of times, his TV is like, even that's like
• 43:06
  Speaker 3: reserved for what he, you know, governor off. Yeah.
• 43:09
  Speaker 6: You know what? He, he, uh, like he once told
• 43:12
  Speaker 6: me like, you can make fun of me for losing
• 43:14
  Speaker 6: the Stanley cup final. And I said to him, I
• 43:16
  Speaker 6: will never do that. Like, I, I like, I won't
• 43:20
  Speaker 6: go there. Like, I just, I know how much that hurt.
• 43:24
  Speaker 6: And like, he's still like occasionally, like he'll still, he'll
• 43:28
  Speaker 6: still talk about like on, on one of those goals
• 43:32
  Speaker 6: in game seven, like he got beat and he says,
• 43:35
  Speaker 6: you can joke with me about that. And I said, Kevin,
• 43:38
  Speaker 6: I will never do that. Like I got too much
• 43:40
  Speaker 6: respect for you and how hard that is. And some
• 43:43
  Speaker 6: of the things you said to me before, I don't care.
• 43:45
  Speaker 6: I will never do that.
• 43:47
  Speaker 7: Never, never.
• 43:49
  Speaker 2: You're right about him though.
• 43:50
  Speaker 5: Cause I, I played with, I played with juice in
• 43:52
  Speaker 5: Anaheim and just the ultimate, ultimate pro and, and the best,
• 43:56
  Speaker 5: like one of the best teammates and guys still keep
• 43:58
  Speaker 5: in touch with, um, you know, how, how did you guys,
• 44:01
  Speaker 5: cause you guys had instant chemistry was, did you guys
• 44:04
  Speaker 5: have a relationship beforehand? Like when his time in Vancouver,
• 44:06
  Speaker 5: did you guys have a rapport before that?
• 44:09
  Speaker 6: Well, you know what, uh, he, uh, you know, we,
• 44:12
  Speaker 6: we did chat like, not like, um, like, I do
• 44:16
  Speaker 6: try to keep Nate with guys like a bit of a,
• 44:19
  Speaker 6: I don't know if wall is the right word, but
• 44:22
  Speaker 6: you know, there was a story with me years ago
• 44:24
  Speaker 6: where there was a player I got along with really well. And, um, I,
• 44:29
  Speaker 6: I went into the dressing room to see him. He
• 44:31
  Speaker 6: came to Toronto with one of his teams and he,
• 44:33
  Speaker 6: he like blew me off. And I was like, that's weird. Like,
• 44:37
  Speaker 6: and you know, sometimes Nate, you can't remember what you said.
• 44:40
  Speaker 6: And you're like, what are they like your rack of
• 44:42
  Speaker 6: your brain? And, uh, he texted me later the next
• 44:47
  Speaker 6: day and he said, look, I'm, I'm really sorry about that.
• 44:49
  Speaker 7: Can I call you?
• 44:50
  Speaker 6: And he called me and he, and he pulled, and
• 44:52
  Speaker 6: so he got called into his manager's office and, uh,
• 44:55
  Speaker 6: on his desk were like two stacks of papers or
• 45:00
  Speaker 6: small pieces of paper. And one of them was a
• 45:02
  Speaker 6: column I'd written that quoted the player. And another one,
• 45:06
  Speaker 6: the next one was a column I'd written that quoted
• 45:08
  Speaker 6: the anonymous player on the team. And he was like,
• 45:12
  Speaker 6: and the GM said, well, the player is this you, Obviously,
• 45:15
  Speaker 6: you have some kind of relationship with Elliot. Did you
• 45:17
  Speaker 6: say this? And it wasn't him. But I've always been
• 45:20
  Speaker 6: terrified of that ever since. The number one thing I
• 45:22
  Speaker 6: feel I have to do, Nate, is protect sources. I
• 45:26
  Speaker 6: try to be great at it. So I've always been
• 45:29
  Speaker 6: very careful about the relationships I have with players while
• 45:32
  Speaker 6: they're still playing. But you know, Kevin was always available.
• 45:36
  Speaker 6: He never said no to interviews. um, you know, good,
• 45:39
  Speaker 6: good times or bad times. He always said, yes, he
• 45:42
  Speaker 6: was a great guest and he's so blind. I just
• 45:44
  Speaker 6: said to him at one point, like, if you ever
• 45:47
  Speaker 6: are done, you should consider television. And, um, I remember
• 45:52
  Speaker 6: when he was done. Um, uh, I can't remember if
• 45:55
  Speaker 6: he reached out to me or I reached out to him.
• 45:57
  Speaker 6: I honestly don't remember, but you know, the, the, basically
• 46:00
  Speaker 6: it was, are you serious about what you said? I'd
• 46:03
  Speaker 6: like to try it. And, uh, And that's basically how
• 46:08
  Speaker 6: it all started. And we've been pretty tight ever since.
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: Last one for me, Freed. It's funny how in the business,
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: people view you a certain way. And there's, listen, you're
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: some of the people who say Hockney and Canada's Elliott Friedman.
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: That is the pinnacle. You cannot top that. And yet,
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: for so many of us, there's other passions beyond the
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: sport with which we most are familiar with. One of
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: the great highlights of my life is I rode in
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: a car with Chris Berman, 2013 World Series Red Sox Cardinals.
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: And Boomer's this larger-than-life personality. I'm just in awe of
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: the guy. And he's telling me, even though I'm known
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: for football, how much he loves baseball. He was a
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: San Francisco Giants fan growing up. His dream was to
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: be the voice of the Giants. Peter King, as you know,
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: great NFL voice, huge Boston Red Sox fan. I mention
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: this because when people say one of the best interviews
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: Elliott's done, I always go back to when you did
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: with Carlos Delgado when.
• 46:51
  Speaker 3: You were calling the Jays.
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: And I said, that was a big deal for us
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: to score. We were the number three red-headed stepchild behind
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: TSN and Sportsnet. And Free's going to sit down with Delgado,
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: and he was so candid with you and our dear
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: friend David Amber. I remember talking to Amber about that.
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: I got a free scoop to you. You got Delgado.
• 47:06
  Speaker 2: That was great.
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: Do you remember how good that interview was? Because to me,
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: that felt like a real touchstone moment in your career.
• 47:12
  Speaker 7: Well, that explains why Amber still hates me 20 years on.
• 47:16
  Speaker 7: Now I know.
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: I was needling him and he took it.
• 47:20
  Speaker 7: Now I know.
• 47:21
  Speaker 6: I do remember that interview. You know, I'll tell you,
• 47:25
  Speaker 6: first of all, I love Delgado. He was such a great,
• 47:27
  Speaker 6: great guy. I really love the guy. And I do
• 47:31
  Speaker 6: remember that interview where he basically said that, you know,
• 47:35
  Speaker 6: he was done if it didn't get better. And he
• 47:37
  Speaker 6: ripped some of the reporters like it got really it
• 47:39
  Speaker 6: was it was really something. And but, you know, I
• 47:45
  Speaker 6: always like I'll tell you a story. So my wife
• 47:47
  Speaker 6: is French and Spanish Moroccan.
• 47:50
  Speaker 3: So when you did kick your cover. Yeah, I did.
• 47:54
  Speaker 3: What a fucking mix that is.
• 47:58
  Speaker 7: A lot of tempers there, Jason.
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: Adam Vinatieri right there.
• 48:03
  Speaker 2: He likes some spice.
• 48:06
  Speaker 6: I remember I was looking at my phone once. It
• 48:08
  Speaker 6: was one of those Detroit-Pittsburgh Stanley Cup finals. I don't
• 48:11
  Speaker 6: think we were married yet. I think we were still engaged.
• 48:13
  Speaker 6: But Aaron Downey walked by and saw my phone and
• 48:16
  Speaker 6: the picture was on there and he said, He grabbed
• 48:19
  Speaker 6: the phone and he goes, you must have ripped this
• 48:22
  Speaker 6: off Google Images somewhere. Anyway, so when we got married,
• 48:28
  Speaker 6: I wanted to do something where I said something in
• 48:32
  Speaker 6: both French and Spanish to my wife's family. So I
• 48:37
  Speaker 6: had Delgado's email and I just said, I wrote to him.
• 48:40
  Speaker 6: I hadn't spoken to him in years. And I wrote
• 48:43
  Speaker 6: to him and I said, look, Carlos, I'm marrying someone
• 48:46
  Speaker 6: who's half of her family is Spanish and I want
• 48:50
  Speaker 6: to say something.
• 48:50
  Speaker 7: Can I send you something and you translate it to me?
• 48:54
  Speaker 7: And so he said, sure.
• 48:55
  Speaker 6: And I wrote, I wrote him what I wanted to
• 48:57
  Speaker 6: write back in English and he sent it back to
• 48:59
  Speaker 6: me in Spanish. And so I read it at the
• 49:02
  Speaker 6: wedding and her family was like, Whoa, where'd you learn
• 49:05
  Speaker 6: the Spanish? And so like, I, I do remember the
• 49:09
  Speaker 6: interview and you know what, but I'll tell you this.
• 49:11
  Speaker 7: I always like Delgado.
• 49:14
  Speaker 6: You know what I like most about that story is
• 49:17
  Speaker 6: that you said that you felt as a co-worker and
• 49:21
  Speaker 6: a teammate that you felt that we were elevated because
• 49:24
  Speaker 6: of that. To me, that's what this is all about.
• 49:27
  Speaker 6: It's not about me. It's about us. And anything I
• 49:32
  Speaker 6: do for Sportsnet, I want it to be that it
• 49:35
  Speaker 6: makes us look better.
• 49:37
  Speaker 7: And I'm glad that you felt that way. That's very
• 49:39
  Speaker 7: important to me.
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: 100%.
• 49:41
  Speaker 3: I mean, you've done so many amazing things. My, my
• 49:43
  Speaker 3: last quick one, we talked about your phone and not
• 49:46
  Speaker 3: being able to turn it off. I just have a
• 49:48
  Speaker 3: quick one. What was the max screen time you've had
• 49:51
  Speaker 3: in a day and have you looked at it before?
• 49:53
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 49:54
  Speaker 6: So it was a couple of years ago, the day
• 49:56
  Speaker 6: Ranton was traded to Dallas was the trade deadline. And
• 50:00
  Speaker 6: the NHL followed me around that day, nhl.com. And so
• 50:06
  Speaker 6: what happened was I'm, The news that Rantanen was getting
• 50:11
  Speaker 6: traded to Dallas, I heard at, I think, 1.45 in
• 50:14
  Speaker 6: the morning, Eastern Time. And I wrote a quick story,
• 50:19
  Speaker 6: and I published it, and I went to bed at 3.
• 50:23
  Speaker 6: And then I woke up at 6. And that day,
• 50:29
  Speaker 6: at the end of the day, after I was finished
• 50:32
  Speaker 6: my work, the cameraman who was following me for NHL.com said,
• 50:37
  Speaker 6: can we check your screen time number?
• 50:40
  Speaker 7: And I was like, sure. And it was 20, it
• 50:41
  Speaker 7: was just under 21 hours.
• 50:43
  Speaker 8: Oh, so basically, so basically like I only slept for
• 50:48
  Speaker 8: three hours that day. So basically it was every waking
• 50:53
  Speaker 8: moment I.
• 50:53
  Speaker 7: Had, I was looking at the phone.
• 50:57
  Speaker 3: Elliot, my, my max screen time has been like eight
• 51:01
  Speaker 3: or nine in a day.
• 51:02
  Speaker 2: Which is crazy to fathom that.
• 51:05
  Speaker 7: I wish I was you.
• 51:05
  Speaker 6: That's why like, you have this glowing look, Jason, and
• 51:08
  Speaker 6: I look like a total zombie.
• 51:11
  Speaker 3: I got seven lights in here right now. I got
• 51:13
  Speaker 3: lights everywhere. I got more lights than Speaker City.
• 51:17
  Speaker 2: Oh, it's unbelievable.
• 51:18
  Speaker 1: He's got energy for days. Elliot Freeman, make sure you
• 51:20
  Speaker 1: check him out, of course, on the Hockey Night in Canada,
• 51:23
  Speaker 1: 32 Thoughts, and there's always a welcome presence with us
• 51:25
  Speaker 1: on NHL Network. Fridge, stories for days, man. This was awesome.
• 51:28
  Speaker 1: Great to see you, and as always, thrilled for your success.
• 51:31
  Speaker 3: You know what?
• 51:31
  Speaker 6: Let me just say, guys, you guys have had a
• 51:33
  Speaker 6: hell of a run. Like, there's... Like, this is a
• 51:35
  Speaker 6: really competitive place in the world right now, the podcasting world.
• 51:40
  Speaker 6: And for you guys to do what you've done, you
• 51:42
  Speaker 6: should be proud because there's a lot of places that
• 51:44
  Speaker 6: don't last as long as you guys have.
• 51:46
  Speaker 3: No, that's very kind of you, buddy. Appreciate it.
• 51:49
  Speaker 1: We'll talk to you soon.
• 51:50
  Speaker 3: Thank you, buddy.
• 51:51
  Speaker 7: Take care, bud. See you later. All right.
• 51:59
  Speaker 1: Time now for a little Stunna File in 60. Thank
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: you once again to Elliot Friedman. Fantastic as our final guest.
• 52:04
  Speaker 3: So good. So insightful.
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: The best. I mean, no one's going to top three,
• 52:08
  Speaker 1: so we want to definitely come out with a bang.
• 52:10
  Speaker 1: And we'll get into Devin Cooley, by the way, in
• 52:11
  Speaker 1: a second, just on his injury after being there at
• 52:13
  Speaker 1: the Battle of Alberta. But a little bit of movie
• 52:15
  Speaker 1: talking into Wild Horse 9, which opens this Friday. The
• 52:18
  Speaker 1: new film from Martin McDonough. I already saw the screener.
• 52:21
  Speaker 1: Hopefully everyone goes and checks out in theaters. But it
• 52:23
  Speaker 1: stars John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell. Shades of In Bruges,
• 52:27
  Speaker 1: that great Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson movie.
• 52:28
  Speaker 3: Great movie.
• 52:29
  Speaker 1: And if you like that, J.D., you're going to love
• 52:31
  Speaker 1: Wild Horse 9. Just a couple of dudes hanging out
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: in 1970s Chile. A couple of members of the CIA.
• 52:36
  Speaker 1: And if you know Martin McDonagh's movies, it's profanely funny.
• 52:39
  Speaker 1: It's surprisingly poignant. And it's really exceptionally well acted. John
• 52:43
  Speaker 1: Malkovich has never won an Oscar. Hasn't been nominated for decades.
• 52:46
  Speaker 1: You've got to go back to like In the Line
• 52:47
  Speaker 1: of Fire. But he might actually win for Best Actor.
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: And I've always loved Sam Rockwell. So that's a great two-hander.
• 52:52
  Speaker 1: Those two going head-to-head is going to be a lot
• 52:53
  Speaker 1: of fun. Hopefully people check it out. I mentioned previously
• 52:56
  Speaker 1: because J.D. 's girl Jill was dressing up as John
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: Turturro on The Big Lebowski. His film, The Only Living
• 53:01
  Speaker 1: Pickpocket in New York, opens everywhere this week and makes
• 53:04
  Speaker 1: you check it out. A scant 82 minutes, but a
• 53:07
  Speaker 1: great love letter to New York, and Turturro is always fantastic.
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: But the one I want to talk about, and I'm
• 53:11
  Speaker 1: fearful because I don't want to ruin it for you guys,
• 53:13
  Speaker 1: is You Can See Everything. Now, this is one of
• 53:15
  Speaker 1: the buzziest documentaries in years. it's almost three hours long,
• 53:19
  Speaker 1: and with commercials and Nicole Kidman, that's another 30 minutes.
• 53:22
  Speaker 1: You're talking 320 ass in the chair, bladder and agony,
• 53:26
  Speaker 1: but it's a fantastic documentary from Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim.
• 53:30
  Speaker 1: So Oppenheim directed Primetime, which I reviewed last week, the
• 53:33
  Speaker 1: film starring Robert Pattinson and Nathan Fielder, most people know
• 53:36
  Speaker 1: from the rehearsal on HBO and Nathan For You. Again,
• 53:38
  Speaker 1: fellow Canadian, odd guy, quirky, but very funny. And this
• 53:42
  Speaker 1: story is about Elizabeth Holmes. Most people know that Theranos founder,
• 53:46
  Speaker 1: You know, she tried to combine this new idea in
• 53:49
  Speaker 1: terms of blood and blood work, et cetera, and eventually
• 53:51
  Speaker 1: it was exposed as a fraud. But before going to prison,
• 53:54
  Speaker 1: she says, I want to tell my story. She reaches
• 53:57
  Speaker 1: out to A24, which is, you know, the IT studio
• 53:59
  Speaker 1: when it comes to independent film, groundbreaking cinema. And so
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: Nathan Field and Op Prime meet with her, and they
• 54:04
  Speaker 1: had a great deal with A24, which they said, listen,
• 54:06
  Speaker 1: we're going to go talk to her and interview her,
• 54:07
  Speaker 1: but we don't know what we're going to get. Like,
• 54:09
  Speaker 1: she might just be a quack. And this is a
• 54:10
  Speaker 1: waste of our time. But then I said, OK, fine.
• 54:12
  Speaker 1: If there's nothing to shoot, there's nothing to shoot. Instead,
• 54:14
  Speaker 1: there's lots to shoot as they go there and talk
• 54:16
  Speaker 1: to her. And she has got to be one of
• 54:18
  Speaker 1: the strangest people I've ever seen documented in a film. Tal,
• 54:21
  Speaker 1: this movie, again, for a documentary, nearly three hours, $ 12
• 54:24
  Speaker 1: million right out of the gate. They expanded to more theaters.
• 54:27
  Speaker 1: It's up to $ 18 million. This might break $ 100 million,
• 54:30
  Speaker 1: which is shocking for a documentary in 2026. And I
• 54:32
  Speaker 1: think it's going to be the first documentary ever nominated
• 54:35
  Speaker 1: for Best Picture. You tried to go see it in L.A.
• 54:37
  Speaker 1: opening weekend. Sold out.
• 54:39
  Speaker 3: Packed theater. Yeah, packed theater, opening weekend.
• 54:42
  Speaker 4: I mean, I'm a huge Nathan Fielder fan, and I
• 54:45
  Speaker 4: found there were a lot of people there.
• 54:47
  Speaker 3: Who maybe weren't familiar with his work. Really? Yeah, I
• 54:50
  Speaker 3: think so.
• 54:51
  Speaker 4: There were, like, younger people who would not have seen
• 54:53
  Speaker 4: the Comedy Central show, which is one of my all-time favorites, Nathan,
• 54:56
  Speaker 4: for you. And, you know, I think there's just, it's so,
• 55:00
  Speaker 4: it's so compelling.
• 55:01
  Speaker 3: It's just, it's crazy. Yeah, what, she's in prison now, right?
• 55:09
  Speaker 1: Elizabeth Holmes is in prison, yeah. So this was filmed
• 55:11
  Speaker 1: three years ago. They didn't tell anybody about it. They said,
• 55:13
  Speaker 1: we're going to film you the last month before you
• 55:15
  Speaker 1: go to prison. And I'm not going to reveal anything else,
• 55:18
  Speaker 1: but the story gets really weird when she goes into prison.
• 55:20
  Speaker 1: And Billy Evans, who is her boyfriend and now husband,
• 55:24
  Speaker 1: this guy comes across not particularly strong, but he's very candid.
• 55:27
  Speaker 3: I mean, yeah, but there's access.
• 55:29
  Speaker 4: Like, there's access to your subject in a documentary, and
• 55:32
  Speaker 4: then there's this, where he's, like, living with this family.
• 55:36
  Speaker 4: That's going through this trauma. There's a full frontal of
• 55:38
  Speaker 4: her husband in the shower. Like, they get everything.
• 55:41
  Speaker 3: Really?
• 55:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Oh, yeah.
• 55:43
  Speaker 1: Spoiler alert. Spoiler alert.
• 55:45
  Speaker 3: Three cock?
• 55:46
  Speaker 1: My buddy Jeremy Taxi has seen it three times. And
• 55:49
  Speaker 1: I said three times, just want to see a guy's
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: dick and balls.
• 55:52
  Speaker 2: Is it real or prosthetic?
• 55:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly.
• 55:56
  Speaker 3: Big or tiny?
• 55:57
  Speaker 1: No, it was small. I mean, small to average size.
• 56:00
  Speaker 1: But I mean, it wasn't like he was stroking it.
• 56:02
  Speaker 1: He's just in the shower. And Nathan Field is watching
• 56:03
  Speaker 1: this guy take a shower. And he's the kind of
• 56:05
  Speaker 1: guy who actually likes being filmed naked. You can tell
• 56:08
  Speaker 1: he's an exhibitionist. He's glad to be out there. He's like, yeah,
• 56:11
  Speaker 1: you want to shoot me naked?
• 56:11
  Speaker 2: Go ahead.
• 56:12
  Speaker 1: I don't give a shit.
• 56:12
  Speaker 3: What's going on? Hence the title. You can see everything.
• 56:16
  Speaker 2: Go ahead.
• 56:17
  Speaker 3: I just watched a Nathan Felder clip of when he
• 56:20
  Speaker 3: gets his lawyer to sign a document that he can
• 56:24
  Speaker 3: get sued. You remember that one? Oh, I know that one.
• 56:27
  Speaker 4: They literally get in a wrestling match, like the lawyer
• 56:30
  Speaker 4: tries to grab the contract out of his hands.
• 56:32
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and he jumps on the table and he goes,
• 56:35
  Speaker 3: if I get sued, you're liable.
• 56:36
  Speaker 2: And he goes, no, I'm not.
• 56:37
  Speaker 3: He goes, yeah, you signed it. He goes, I never
• 56:38
  Speaker 3: signed it. He goes, we have you on film signing it. Right,
• 56:41
  Speaker 3: and the lawyer says, yeah.
• 56:42
  Speaker 4: The lawyer goes, I can't imagine I would ever sign
• 56:45
  Speaker 4: something without reading it. And then they go immediately back
• 56:47
  Speaker 4: to a clip of him signing it going, I can't
• 56:49
  Speaker 4: believe I'm signing this without even reading it.
• 56:51
  Speaker 3: And then he goes, it's going to end up bad
• 56:55
  Speaker 3: for you. He goes, it's going to end up bad.
• 56:57
  Speaker 3: He goes, yeah, but he goes, what did he say?
• 56:59
  Speaker 3: He goes, we convinced him to keep filming. Then he goes,
• 57:02
  Speaker 3: can you take it out of your pocket? We just
• 57:04
  Speaker 3: want to take a picture of the claws that you signed.
• 57:07
  Speaker 3: Just for the records. I can't recommend that show enough,
• 57:11
  Speaker 3: by the way. It's on Hulu, I think. It's incredible.
• 57:16
  Speaker 3: He's kind of like from that same vein of Fred Armisen, right?
• 57:19
  Speaker 3: I love Fred Armisen. It's that very dry, but just
• 57:23
  Speaker 3: so witty. You know, and anyway.
• 57:27
  Speaker 1: Would you watch Nathan For You or the rehearsal first?
• 57:31
  Speaker 1: People seem to love the rehearsal.
• 57:32
  Speaker 3: What's the rehearsal again?
• 57:33
  Speaker 1: That's the one on HBO.
• 57:34
  Speaker 3: Tal?
• 57:36
  Speaker 4: I mean, Nathan For You is half an hour, an episode,
• 57:39
  Speaker 4: and the rehearsal is an hour, an episode. So if
• 57:42
  Speaker 4: you want to start something shorter, something a little lighter,
• 57:45
  Speaker 4: like the rehearsal gets a little heavy at times.
• 57:49
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 57:50
  Speaker 4: So, but I mean, he's in, his whole thing is like, he,
• 57:53
  Speaker 4: he finds these strange people and they try to lie
• 57:56
  Speaker 4: to him and he, most people, interviews are like, oh, okay, fine,
• 58:00
  Speaker 4: let's move on.
• 58:00
  Speaker 3: And he refuses to do that.
• 58:02
  Speaker 4: He's always like, wait, that doesn't make sense. And he
• 58:04
  Speaker 4: will break them down until they admit they're lying. So
• 58:07
  Speaker 4: to have three hours with him, with him, with Elizabeth
• 58:10
  Speaker 4: Holmes claiming, oh, I never lied.
• 58:12
  Speaker 3: I never committed fraud. Just burying her. And the whole
• 58:14
  Speaker 3: film is him.
• 58:15
  Speaker 4: Trying to like break, like she's, she's very strong willed mentally.
• 58:19
  Speaker 4: And the whole film is him trying to break her
• 58:21
  Speaker 4: down and figure out, wait, how are you saying you
• 58:24
  Speaker 4: never lied? You're going to prison for fraud. It's totally fascinating.
• 58:29
  Speaker 4: I loved it, and I'll probably see it again.
• 58:31
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I agree. Better than The Odyssey?
• 58:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, much better than The Odyssey.
• 58:36
  Speaker 3: Very different vibe from The Odyssey, that's for sure. That's scary.
• 58:41
  Speaker 1: But to JD's point, I wouldn't watch the Odyssey again.
• 58:43
  Speaker 1: I'm definitely watching You Can See Everything Again.
• 58:45
  Speaker 3: That's your big answer there.
• 58:47
  Speaker 1: All right, we go back to the hockey. And a
• 58:49
  Speaker 1: sea of red. I was there for the Battle of Alberta.
• 58:52
  Speaker 1: It was a real dud for the Calgary Flames. They'd
• 58:53
  Speaker 1: won four straight games in a row, five to six,
• 58:55
  Speaker 1: before losing to the Oilers on Wednesday night. 4-0 loss.
• 58:58
  Speaker 1: But they included big home wins over Carolina, Minnesota, and
• 59:01
  Speaker 1: the Leafs. And spurred by goaltender Devin Cooley, 9.55 save
• 59:05
  Speaker 1: percentage during that personal four-game win streak.
• 59:07
  Speaker 2: However.
• 59:08
  Speaker 1: What's a real disappointment for all of us on Amazon
• 59:09
  Speaker 1: Prime is he leaves the game after stopping eight or
• 59:11
  Speaker 1: nine shots in the first period. Lower body injuries.
• 59:14
  Speaker 2: Here's the update.
• 59:15
  Speaker 1: Here's what Cooley had to say. Injuries suck, but I'm
• 59:18
  Speaker 1: a very fast healer. Can't wait to be back. I
• 59:20
  Speaker 1: want a great opportunity to reset physically, mentally, and find
• 59:23
  Speaker 1: ways to gain an edge in my game off the
• 59:25
  Speaker 1: ice so I can come back even better than before.
• 59:28
  Speaker 1: Sometimes what we don't ever want to happen could end
• 59:30
  Speaker 1: up being exactly what we need! Exclamation point. And why
• 59:33
  Speaker 1: should we feel anger.
• 59:34
  Speaker 2: At the world?
• 59:35
  Speaker 1: As if the world would notice. deep thoughts with Jack Handy.
• 59:39
  Speaker 1: He's definitely a unique thinker here, Nate, and he's been
• 59:41
  Speaker 1: on a good run here for Flames, which, as I
• 59:43
  Speaker 1: saw last night, offensively challenged. They're going to have to
• 59:45
  Speaker 1: win games with great goaltending.
• 59:47
  Speaker 5: What a perspective he has, just on life, and we
• 59:51
  Speaker 5: talked about it before the show. I mean, he was
• 59:54
  Speaker 5: on Joe Rogan, too. He was on, you know, Joe
• 59:56
  Speaker 5: Rogan was talking about him and pulled up in his
• 59:58
  Speaker 5: interviews about, you know, when he's talking about the conscious
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 5: and being unconscious and his saves and how he goes
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 5: about it, but you know, it's, it's unfortunate he gets
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 5: injured because he was on a heater. He was playing
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 5: really well. And I was, we were all looking forward
• 1:00:12
  Speaker 5: to his post-game interviews. And, you know, I will say
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 5: the thing about Calgary too, I mean, they're, you know,
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 5: they're a young team and And Craig Conroy has come
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 5: out and talked about how it's a rebuild year. But
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 5: there are some bright spots for their team. Like, there
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 5: are some young guys. Like, that Montvig Gritton is a
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 5: pretty good player. I mean, they got some good young players.
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 3: Hell of a shot.
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah, hell of a shooter.
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 5: They got some good young players that, you know, I
• 1:00:33
  Speaker 5: think are going to be good for them for a
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 5: long time. So, they're going to take their growing pains. And,
• 1:00:37
  Speaker 5: you know, like you said, it's a rebuild.
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 2: But I think.
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 5: I think for the Flames, having two good goalies. You've
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 5: got Dustin Wolfe who's struggled a little bit, so maybe
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 5: if he can find his game now that Devin Cooley's out.
• 1:00:47
  Speaker 2: He has two good goalies.
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 3: He's struggled.
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 2: He has, big time. Hopefully he can get his game back.
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 5: It's a big loss for them, but I love hearing
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 5: Devin Cooley though, J.D.
• 1:00:59
  Speaker 2: It's entertainment.
• 1:01:01
  Speaker 3: What did he call James Winston? Did you see that
• 1:01:04
  Speaker 3: one when he went on SportsCenter? He called him... He
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 3: went on SportsCenter that he initially went on after his
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 3: game and they brought him back late night and they said,
• 1:01:13
  Speaker 3: we're ranking like other players that have said kind of
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 3: things along your vein. So they played James Winston and
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 3: Devin Cooley goes, that looks like a case of religious psychosis.
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 7: Wow.
• 1:01:24
  Speaker 3: And he said that of James Winston. I was like,
• 1:01:27
  Speaker 3: oh my. Just barbs right away, but he's an interesting cat, man.
• 1:01:33
  Speaker 3: He's San Jose born and bred, right? And he's just I, yeah, I, I,
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 3: I respect guys like that. Uh, I respect cause they're
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 3: very polarizing because there's a lot of the old school
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 3: that's like hates him. You know, you look at like,
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 3: Oh dog. And those guys on the overdrive, they're just,
• 1:01:50
  Speaker 3: you know, he just was like, be careful. It's going
• 1:01:52
  Speaker 3: to come crashing down. And I'm like, yeah, I probably
• 1:01:54
  Speaker 3: will because people, when somebody is that outspoken and that
• 1:01:58
  Speaker 3: kind of open with themselves, some people don't like it. Um,
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 3: cause he's not canned answers. He's pretty, He's pretty off
• 1:02:05
  Speaker 3: the cuff and very unique and authentic. But, yeah, I
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 3: think Calgary's in a rebuild for sure. Dustin Wolfe scares
• 1:02:14
  Speaker 3: me right now, unfortunately. He does. I think it might
• 1:02:17
  Speaker 3: just be the sophomore slump. I don't love small goalies,
• 1:02:20
  Speaker 3: so that's why I think on a bad team where
• 1:02:23
  Speaker 3: you're getting a lot of shots, you need something that's
• 1:02:24
  Speaker 3: maybe a little bit bigger that's more of a blocker. But, yeah,
• 1:02:27
  Speaker 3: they're working through some stuff. Zane Perrex coming into his own.
• 1:02:30
  Speaker 3: That power play, the surprising thing is they've got a
• 1:02:32
  Speaker 3: top 10 power play in the NHL. that's a, that's
• 1:02:35
  Speaker 3: a nice thing to have for a, a rebuild. You
• 1:02:37
  Speaker 3: like to see that in the makings of that, those in,
• 1:02:41
  Speaker 3: at least it can keep you in some games.
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 1: So, but anyway, he goes offensively. I don't teach him anything.
• 1:02:49
  Speaker 1: I love his offensive game defensively, little casual at times
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 1: going back to.
• 1:02:53
  Speaker 3: Get a little Evan Bouchard. Yeah.
• 1:02:57
  Speaker 2: He's Evan.
• 1:02:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah. His aim practice is to tighten things up a
• 1:03:00
  Speaker 1: little bit when it comes to the defensive end. But offensively,
• 1:03:02
  Speaker 1: he's a playmaker, can do some fun things. Calgary's fifth
• 1:03:05
  Speaker 1: in power play, to your point. And since you mentioned
• 1:03:08
  Speaker 1: Evan Bouchard, I thought this was interesting. We've mentioned McDavid.
• 1:03:10
  Speaker 1: He's on pace, 238 points. Gretzky's a record 215. Bouchard's
• 1:03:15
  Speaker 1: on pace for 147. And the record by defenseman is 139. So, like,
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 1: Bouchbaum is also having just a phenomenal year for the Oilers.
• 1:03:23
  Speaker 1: Certainly Mike Babcock's got them rolling, just as Devin Cooley
• 1:03:25
  Speaker 1: and his rabid Tito.
• 1:03:28
  Speaker 3: J.D.
• 1:03:28
  Speaker 1: Caught us off guard. He mentioned last week he didn't
• 1:03:30
  Speaker 1: like Brady Kachuk announcing the jerseys tossed on the ice
• 1:03:32
  Speaker 1: during his return to Ottawa will be donated to local
• 1:03:35
  Speaker 1: Boys and Girls Club. Well, props to Ian Mendez, former
• 1:03:38
  Speaker 1: Sportsnet reporter, Senators Vice President of Communication, who wrote in
• 1:03:41
  Speaker 1: his weekly column that 37 Kachuk jerseys were tossed on
• 1:03:45
  Speaker 1: the ice that night. And for the record, a lot
• 1:03:47
  Speaker 1: of those jerseys were in damaged or unusable condition. So
• 1:03:51
  Speaker 1: we're not going to physically pass them along to BGC Ottawa.
• 1:03:55
  Speaker 1: Should Brady have kept his mouth shut with this one?
• 1:03:58
  Speaker 3: Was Jason right?
• 1:04:00
  Speaker 1: Was Jason right? No should diverge one last time.
• 1:04:03
  Speaker 3: One last time. What do you think? Who do you
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 3: think people are going to be like, oh, here, Brady,
• 1:04:09
  Speaker 3: here's a jersey for the Boys and Girls Club. They
• 1:04:10
  Speaker 3: don't give a shit. They're pissed. They live in Kanata.
• 1:04:14
  Speaker 3: They don't care.
• 1:04:15
  Speaker 1: They live in Kanata.
• 1:04:17
  Speaker 3: The Brook Street Hotel. Respect. I love that downtown there.
• 1:04:20
  Speaker 2: It's the best.
• 1:04:20
  Speaker 3: But yeah, I mean, just keep your mouth shut. It
• 1:04:24
  Speaker 3: just is what it is. But that's the Kachuk boys.
• 1:04:28
  Speaker 3: I don't know. It is what it is. It is
• 1:04:30
  Speaker 3: what it is. No question about it.
• 1:04:31
  Speaker 1: And it is what it is when it comes to
• 1:04:32
  Speaker 1: the final word here at NHL Unscripted. 104 episodes in
• 1:04:35
  Speaker 1: the books. I thought it was the finale, but as
• 1:04:37
  Speaker 1: Tal told us earlier, there will be one more best-of
• 1:04:40
  Speaker 1: episode next week. A clip show, so to speak, 105.
• 1:04:42
  Speaker 1: But honestly, this has been a blast.
• 1:04:44
  Speaker 3: I mean, why don't we do just a watch back?
• 1:04:47
  Speaker 3: Why don't we just get all the... Do you have
• 1:04:49
  Speaker 3: all the raw footage? Let's just come back on YouTube
• 1:04:52
  Speaker 3: and re-watch. Oh, this is like the Seinfeld episode.
• 1:04:56
  Speaker 1: We don't have a video element, though. That's the problem.
• 1:04:58
  Speaker 3: It's the YouTube.
• 1:04:59
  Speaker 1: We don't have a video element.
• 1:04:59
  Speaker 3: But we'll run it ourselves.
• 1:05:01
  Speaker 1: Oh, I got what you're saying.
• 1:05:02
  Speaker 3: But we just have the watch back. It's just the
• 1:05:04
  Speaker 3: watch back. I was going to ask, what's your favorite
• 1:05:08
  Speaker 3: interview you had?
• 1:05:09
  Speaker 1: I thought Robert Smigel was fantastic. I mean, Smigel, SNL guy, Bears,
• 1:05:14
  Speaker 1: very topical. To me, he was fantastic. Funny guy, hockey guy.
• 1:05:17
  Speaker 2: Very good.
• 1:05:18
  Speaker 3: Tal?
• 1:05:20
  Speaker 4: I will say one of my favorite moments, I still
• 1:05:22
  Speaker 4: laugh about it sometimes when we had, um, Sean McDonough
• 1:05:26
  Speaker 4: on and he did it on his phone and he
• 1:05:28
  Speaker 4: raised his hands up and I don't know exactly what happened.
• 1:05:32
  Speaker 2: He raised his hands up.
• 1:05:33
  Speaker 3: It prompted the balloons, the balloons to come up on
• 1:05:36
  Speaker 3: his screen.
• 1:05:37
  Speaker 1: And he thought I made that happen.
• 1:05:39
  Speaker 3: And he started going, Tal, did you do that?
• 1:05:42
  Speaker 2: I don't know.
• 1:05:43
  Speaker 4: It still makes me laugh. I thought that was a
• 1:05:45
  Speaker 4: good one. We've had a lot of really great interviews.
• 1:05:47
  Speaker 4: I loved, uh, Dean Emerson was one I really liked.
• 1:05:50
  Speaker 4: He was in total... He had been fired at that point,
• 1:05:52
  Speaker 4: and he was in total, like, I don't give a
• 1:05:54
  Speaker 4: shit mode after that.
• 1:05:55
  Speaker 2: It was fun.
• 1:05:55
  Speaker 1: That's Whaler's love there for Tell. Go ahead.
• 1:05:57
  Speaker 3: Yes, and there's a Whaler's connection there, of course. Yeah,
• 1:06:00
  Speaker 3: all the Whaler's interviews. There's two. Don Granato is one.
• 1:06:05
  Speaker 1: Oh, my God.
• 1:06:07
  Speaker 3: We had Don Granato. We thought we were getting Tony Granato.
• 1:06:12
  Speaker 3: That is true. We did think we were getting Tony Granato. Nate,
• 1:06:14
  Speaker 3: it was like our first interview. The first... The first
• 1:06:18
  Speaker 3: question we asked him, he went for eight minutes. Yeah.
• 1:06:21
  Speaker 2: He just kept going for eight.
• 1:06:22
  Speaker 1: That's an exaggeration, but it was long.
• 1:06:24
  Speaker 2: It was six. It was eight.
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 1: No, it's not.
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 3: It's not. We were close to 10 minutes in, and
• 1:06:28
  Speaker 3: we had asked one question. And Tal had to stop
• 1:06:32
  Speaker 3: the interview and be like, hey, we got like 10,
• 1:06:36
  Speaker 3: 15 questions for you. Can you speed them up? And
• 1:06:39
  Speaker 3: he was pissed. And he was like, oh, I'll go quicker.
• 1:06:43
  Speaker 3: Kept going along. And my second one was Alex Moffitt.
• 1:06:47
  Speaker 3: We had, uh, we had Alex from SNL. He came,
• 1:06:50
  Speaker 3: he was golfing and on his phone.
• 1:06:53
  Speaker 2: Oh, that's the best.
• 1:06:54
  Speaker 3: And was like, it was the most unhinged. We almost,
• 1:06:57
  Speaker 3: Adnan was so pissed. It was so funny.
• 1:07:00
  Speaker 5: I think my, my most, I mean, I haven't been
• 1:07:02
  Speaker 5: in a lot with you guys, but, uh, the most favorite,
• 1:07:05
  Speaker 5: unfavorite would be Wyatt Russell.
• 1:07:08
  Speaker 2: Wyatt Russell.
• 1:07:10
  Speaker 3: Dude, he went long too. Yeah.
• 1:07:12
  Speaker 2: Remember those answers.
• 1:07:13
  Speaker 1: And I love Wyatt.
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 2: I'm friends with him, but that was, that was unbelievable.
• 1:07:16
  Speaker 7: Yeah.
• 1:07:17
  Speaker 3: We were on, we asked him three questions. It was
• 1:07:19
  Speaker 3: like five hours.
• 1:07:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah, same thing.
• 1:07:21
  Speaker 3: I was like, dude, I get it. I want to
• 1:07:23
  Speaker 3: be here too. But like, they're only clipping us at
• 1:07:26
  Speaker 3: 57 minutes. He was very passionate in his response. He
• 1:07:31
  Speaker 3: was great. He was into it. It was fun, but
• 1:07:33
  Speaker 3: we were with him over an hour.
• 1:07:34
  Speaker 1: But Nate, think of all the interviews you've done in
• 1:07:36
  Speaker 1: your life as an athlete, now as a broadcaster. The
• 1:07:39
  Speaker 1: balls on towel. After Granada answered, he'd go, Don, Don, Don, listen.
• 1:07:44
  Speaker 2: Unbelievable.
• 1:07:45
  Speaker 1: We've got to do this again. You're going way too long.
• 1:07:47
  Speaker 1: I was like, holy shit. I had immediate respect for Talia.
• 1:07:50
  Speaker 3: This guy's awesome.
• 1:07:51
  Speaker 1: I've worked with so many producers that just would have
• 1:07:53
  Speaker 1: been motherfucking him underneath their breath. Group chat, man, this
• 1:07:55
  Speaker 1: guy won't shut the hell up.
• 1:07:57
  Speaker 2: Right to his face.
• 1:07:57
  Speaker 1: Don, it's not going to work. Strat it again. You're
• 1:08:00
  Speaker 1: going too long.
• 1:08:02
  Speaker 3: He dropped his nuts right on Don's forehead.
• 1:08:05
  Speaker 4: They're always like, how much longer we got before we're
• 1:08:08
  Speaker 4: done here?
• 1:08:08
  Speaker 3: So I was like, you know, we got to finish
• 1:08:11
  Speaker 3: this up. We only get five minutes to talk about hockey.
• 1:08:15
  Speaker 3: We got to get it in.
• 1:08:17
  Speaker 1: Listen, this was an absolute blast. Again, Nate, I know
• 1:08:19
  Speaker 1: how hard it is to be the third man in.
• 1:08:21
  Speaker 1: Whether it's a hockey fight or an orgy, it's always
• 1:08:23
  Speaker 1: to be that third guy in. It is. I appreciate
• 1:08:27
  Speaker 1: your effort.
• 1:08:27
  Speaker 2: It's awkward sometimes, you know?
• 1:08:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah. But I hope we get to link up again
• 1:08:32
  Speaker 1: at NHL Network. Flyers game, you, me, and Fridge. We'll
• 1:08:34
  Speaker 1: get it in. That'll be great. Tao, we still have
• 1:08:36
  Speaker 1: not met yet, but hopefully at one point we will.
• 1:08:38
  Speaker 1: Maybe in Montreal, Hab's going to play off right.
• 1:08:40
  Speaker 2: We will. We will.
• 1:08:41
  Speaker 1: But most of all, I want to thank J.D.
• 1:08:42
  Speaker 3: Because J.D.
• 1:08:43
  Speaker 1: And I had not met before doing this podcast, and
• 1:08:46
  Speaker 1: you had instant chemistry out of the gate. And I've
• 1:08:47
  Speaker 1: always said you've got to have two things to really
• 1:08:49
  Speaker 1: be successful in this business, which is have personality and
• 1:08:52
  Speaker 1: have an opinion. And you've got both of them, J.D.
• 1:08:54
  Speaker 1: So this was a pleasure, buddy. I hope we do
• 1:08:56
  Speaker 1: some more NHL Network. At the very least, I will
• 1:08:58
  Speaker 1: see you on the tennis court.
• 1:08:59
  Speaker 3: First NHL, first shift. No, a big appreciation for everybody
• 1:09:04
  Speaker 3: on here. Nate coming in late, helping us out, providing
• 1:09:07
  Speaker 3: some great color. Tal, I mean, the work you've done
• 1:09:10
  Speaker 3: behind the scenes, dealing with us and as hard we
• 1:09:13
  Speaker 3: are on you and stuff like that. Amazing work. Incredible stuff.
• 1:09:16
  Speaker 3: Everybody that listened. And same back to you, Adnan. Having
• 1:09:19
  Speaker 3: chemistry with somebody and a little rat-tat-tat is... is something
• 1:09:23
  Speaker 3: special to find in life and in work because, you know,
• 1:09:27
  Speaker 3: being at the network and being with MLB and Nate's
• 1:09:30
  Speaker 3: learning now as he's coming through, like you've got your
• 1:09:32
  Speaker 3: guys you want to work with. And when you see
• 1:09:35
  Speaker 3: them on the sheet, you're like, oh, let's go. Like
• 1:09:38
  Speaker 3: I can– there's a good bouncing back and forth. So
• 1:09:40
  Speaker 3: that's great. So I appreciate it. Love you guys.
• 1:09:42
  Speaker 7: Of course.
• 1:09:42
  Speaker 2: Love you guys too.
• 1:09:44
  Speaker 5: I just want to give you guys, I just want
• 1:09:45
  Speaker 5: to give you flowers too, AV. Like, I know you're
• 1:09:47
  Speaker 5: giving us all flowers, but you know, the way that you,
• 1:09:49
  Speaker 5: I mean, you're, you're one of the best you are.
• 1:09:51
  Speaker 2: You were literally one of the best.
• 1:09:52
  Speaker 3: In the second best.
• 1:09:53
  Speaker 5: Um, and it's been, this has been great for me
• 1:09:57
  Speaker 5: to join you guys because, you know, at the same
• 1:10:00
  Speaker 5: time we're doing a podcast, we're talking about hockey, but
• 1:10:02
  Speaker 5: once a week we get to, we get to shoot
• 1:10:04
  Speaker 5: the shit.
• 1:10:04
  Speaker 2: We get to check in with each other.
• 1:10:05
  Speaker 5: And like, uh, at the end of the day, this is,
• 1:10:08
  Speaker 5: this is good for my mental health to being with
• 1:10:10
  Speaker 5: you guys. So, it's been great working with you guys
• 1:10:13
  Speaker 5: it's been fun after hockey getting to work with JD
• 1:10:15
  Speaker 5: we never played together but getting to do this has
• 1:10:17
  Speaker 5: been great and Tal getting to know you too so
• 1:10:20
  Speaker 5: I've really enjoyed it and thank you guys and I
• 1:10:22
  Speaker 5: love you too.
• 1:10:24
  Speaker 1: Check on your teammates and the group chat will continue
• 1:10:26
  Speaker 1: at the very least we'll be talking hockey we'll still
• 1:10:28
  Speaker 1: be getting paid $ 5. 50 a shift for it but we'll
• 1:10:30
  Speaker 1: still be talking hockey and cracking jokes and commenting on others.
• 1:10:34
  Speaker 3: Who knows maybe we'll just jump on YouTube live and
• 1:10:37
  Speaker 3: we'll just see Let's start filming. J.D. 's got the
• 1:10:40
  Speaker 3: sub stack going. You got the YouTube page right now.
• 1:10:43
  Speaker 3: I got subs right now. You might have to talk
• 1:10:45
  Speaker 3: a lot about the subs.
• 1:10:46
  Speaker 2: Who wants us? Who wants us? Who wants us?
• 1:10:48
  Speaker 3: What was that? 3,000 subs. Come on now. Cash coming in.
• 1:10:53
  Speaker 3: Hundreds of dollars.
• 1:10:55
  Speaker 1: At the very least, maybe we can do an Enora
• 1:10:58
  Speaker 1: viewing party. That was the one thing J.D. did not
• 1:11:00
  Speaker 1: agree with. Maybe we can do a farewell to the
• 1:11:03
  Speaker 1: fans and an Enora viewing party. That might be a
• 1:11:05
  Speaker 1: good way to go out.
• 1:11:06
  Speaker 3: Tal's favorite full frontal nudity movies with sex. It's not
• 1:11:12
  Speaker 3: the Wedgwood Book Club. It's a long list. It's the
• 1:11:14
  Speaker 3: Tal sex movies.
• 1:11:16
  Speaker 1: Tal Pinchaski, hockey historian, noted author, and just a slight
• 1:11:20
  Speaker 1: wee bit of a pervert with that mustache.
• 1:11:23
  Speaker 3: Chris Hansen is knocking on the door. Hello, I'm Chris Hansen.
• 1:11:28
  Speaker 3: Daylight NBC.
• 1:11:29
  Speaker 1: With that, thank you to Bob Bender. Thanks to iHeartMedia,
• 1:11:32
  Speaker 1: my old buddy Vince Cates, ESPN running mate who first
• 1:11:34
  Speaker 1: reached out to me, all the folks here at the NHL. Again,
• 1:11:37
  Speaker 1: we will continue in our various capacities. And thanks once
• 1:11:39
  Speaker 1: again to all the fans out there. Really appreciate all
• 1:11:41
  Speaker 1: of you guys. And thanks to Elliot Friedman, our final guest.
• 1:11:44
  Speaker 1: This has been NHL Unscripted. NHL Unscripted is a production
• 1:12:04
  Speaker 1: of the NHL and iHeart Podcast. For more podcasts from
• 1:12:08
  Speaker 1: iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or
• 1:12:12
  Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts.