Transcript

Mayday in Milan? - Game Notes ft. Chris Johnston - 01.14.26

From Spittin' Chiclets · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 1 h 41 min · 22,706 words · 353 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "Mayday in Milan? - Game Notes ft. Chris Johnston - 01.14.26", an episode of Spittin' Chiclets published January 14, 2026 (1 h 41 min, about 22,706 words). It mentions 45 people, works and ideas, including Olympics, Chris Johnston, NHL, Milan, NHL Trade Deadline.

What this episode is about

The discussion centers around a lively analysis of recent sports events and highlights, particularly focusing on the excitement surrounding the Bills' impending Super Bowl appearance and reflections on a recent game experience featuring a notable jersey retirement in Detroit. The hosts share personal anecdotes, chemistry, and enthusiasm while promoting a hydration product, contributing to the vibrant atmosphere of the conversation.

Key takeaways

  • Celebrate the Bills' Super Bowl dreams with Body Armor: hydration that’s more dependable than some players' performance.
  • Federov's style is timeless; even beer league heroes channel his under-the-stick move, proving legends live on.
  • From the rink to the bar, networking never stops; even in a suit, post-game strategizing thrives.
  • Detroit may have been tired, but their historic moments are fueled by legends, echoing through empty rinks.
  • In sports, the only constant is change; from jersey retirements to wedding gigs, life’s a nonstop game.

Who speaks in this episode?

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 10:00: Bruins, Empty Netters, Federov, Heated Rivalry
  2. – 20:00: Moscow, Chris Johnston, Olympics, The Athletic
  3. – 30:00: Olympics, Milan, Soccer World Cup, 2030 Olympics
  4. – 40:00: Olympics, Braden Point, Bruins, Tom Wilson
  5. – 50:00: Olympics, Bruins, NHL Trade Deadline, Steven Stamkos
  6. – 1:00:00: Yarmo, Bruins, The Athletic, SDPN
  7. – 1:10:00: Olympics
  8. – 1:20:00: Bruins, Federov
  9. – 1:30:00: Philly
  10. – 1:41:12: Olympics, Body Armor Flash IV, Mindsy

Notable quotes from "Mayday in Milan? - Game Notes ft. Chris Johnston - 01.14.26"

  • Sportsnet. So got to know him really well over the years. covers everything. Major insider Chris Johnston with TSN, The Athletic, SDPN sports podcast. He has his own show as…
    about Chris Johnston · at
  • Showered with champagne and yeah, I mean it's it's been a cool career. I got to tell you this is this assignment to Milan was a first. I'm not a construction reporter but I felt like one for the last few days.
    about Milan · at
  • Where would we practice if they don't finish that practice ring, like it's we're talking about the Olympics here, guys. Like it's not, it's not a Kobe's not taking like this kid for a hockey tournament, somewhere, like this.
    about Olympics · at
  • Braden Point. nothing decided this point in time, but certainly there's serious concern about whether he's going to be able to go for the Olympics. We know what kind of competitor he is. I'm I'm not saying he can't do it, but I think.
    about Braden Point · at
  • Could be impacted by things like health of players. And so, this is why Gary Bman is not fully embracing the Olympics as an idea because the NHL gives up a lot in terms of the assets. we're talking about like half a billion.
    about NHL · at
  • On that same idea, what is it what's it going to mean for the trade deadline? Are teams going to try to move players before this in case there are injuries while they're over there or will they just wait for.
    about NHL Trade Deadline · at
  • Overperformed. They're in the playoff race as of now. I think they're in the second wild card spot. How do you see the Boston Bruins handling this trade deadline? Are they going to be buyers?
    about Bruins · at
  • Time, it was a gutsy trade. I think if you look at his history closely, this is a GM who's completely unafraid to make a bold move. And this is the beauty at times of bringing…
    about Yarmo · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • Chris Johnston — Person · Main guest · 2 mentions · first at
    He provides first-hand reporting from Milan on the Olympic hockey venue construction status and shares insider information on injuries and trade deadline dynamics.
  • Braden Point — Person · Referenced injured player / Olympic availability · 1 mention · first at
    Central injury update affecting Team Canada planning; CJ indicates serious concern about his Olympic availability.
  • Gary Bettman — Person · Referenced decision-maker · 3 mentions
    Discussed as a key NHL figure expressing hesitation about Olympic participation due to risk and logistics.
    Could be impacted by things like health of players. And so, this is why Gary Bman is not fully embracing the Olympics as an idea because the NHL gives up a lot in terms of the assets. we're talking about like half a billion.
  • Yarmo — Person · Referenced executive · 2 mentions · first at
    Discussed as the bold decision-maker in Buffalo capable of making big trades based on past GM history.
  • Steven Stamkos — Person · Trade rumor subject · 1 mention · first at
    Discussed as a rumored target (Devils) and as a player whose performance and situation may reduce trade likelihood.
    All, is the Predators have gotten right back into their own race, and he's had a great turnaround. scored 12 goals in December and has kept scoring here into January. So, maybe…
  • Federov — Person · Referenced hockey legend · 3 mentions · first at
    Discussed in relation to Detroit jersey retirement night and his signature move/style.
    Yeah. Yeah. It's It's a go-to. He invented it. That's a federal off move.
  • Doug Hamilton — Person · Trade rumor subject · 3 mentions
    Named by the Devils fan as a frequently discussed trade/cap-clearing candidate for New Jersey.
    Obviously Douggee Hamilton is the name that's been, talked about a lot with the Devils, but a name I'm hearing a lot lately is Palot, and I know the official word is they have, as.
  • Dominik Hasek — Person · Historical example · 2 mentions
    Used as another example of Olympic injury affecting an NHL team's season (Senators, 2006 Olympics).
    Dominic Hassich... got injured and it doomed the Senator season.
  • John Tavares — Person · Historical example · 2 mentions
    Referenced as an example of Olympic injury risk impacting an NHL season (2014 Sochi injury).
    John Tvaris... done for the season... at Sochi.
  • Bill Daly — Person · Referenced NHL executive · 1 mention · first at
    Cited as discussing Italy/Olympic challenges at an owners meeting, prompting CJ's trip.
    You recall, there was an owners meeting at that time. And there was a lot of discussion from Bill Daly and Gary Bman and others about the challenges in Italy and some of the concerns the league had.
  • Nazem Kadri — Person · Trade rumor subject · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned as another potential target but constrained by no-movement clause, illustrating trade friction.
    Cap space. If there's one name you think that they'll use that cap space on, is it a Stamco, a Cadri, or maybe a name that we haven't heard? Who do you think?
  • Danny Rouion — Person · Referenced local player/source · 1 mention · first at
    Cited by CJ as an American player in Italy who noticed rink dimension differences; provides local perspective.
    And he's played four years in Italy and he said he really noticed the dimensions of the rink. Now, it's it's almost not a fair comment entirely because they normally play on the Olympic size ice anyway. So, that's that's 13.
  • Tom Wilson — Person · Referenced injured player · 1 mention · first at
    Used as an example of Olympic-relevant injury monitoring; CJ says he is close to returning.
    It's it's going to be tough for him to get back in time to play. Tom Wilson is close to return for the Capitals, so I don't think that one looked pretty bad if you remember the moment. It looked like one of those ones that you might be.
  • Mindsy — Person · Host/producer personality (referenced) · 2 mentions · first at
    Referenced at the start as part of show banter ('Show Mindsy's time').
    Show Mindsy's time. Army show start us off. What an opportunity. Another idea by me.
  • Zdeno Chara — Person · Referenced player · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned due to an upcoming jersey retirement event at Boston's arena.
    It's a crazy week. It's a crazy week cuz now Thursday we got the Zado Charara jersey retirement. So I'm back to the Garden tomorrow night and then I head to Jersey for two weddings. Jersey Friday night. Saturday I'm heading to Philly.
  • Pete Blackburn — Person · Referenced media personality · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned due to a humorous New York Times description; hosts discuss texting him about it.
    Love seeing those guys. The New York The New York Times wrote about what chaos talking about it and they called Pete Blackburn painfully straight. I thought that was painfully straight.
  • Victor Arvidsson — Person · Referenced roster/trade piece · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned by the Bruins fan as a player on the Bruins roster who could be part of deadline decisions.
    I think Jonas Corposalo is getting hot at a really, really good time when a lot of teams need goalies. You guys, you got guys like Victor Arvdson and Casey Middlestat. Andrew…
  • Casey Mittelstadt — Person · Referenced roster/trade piece · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned by the Bruins fan as another player potentially involved in Bruins deadline strategy.
    At a really, really good time when a lot of teams need goalies. You guys, you got guys like Victor Arvdson and Casey Middlestat. Andrew Peaks still hasn't signed his contract.…
  • Andrew Peeke — Person · Referenced contract situation · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned as not having signed his contract, part of Bruins roster/asset discussion.
    Of teams need goalies. You guys, you got guys like Victor Arvdson and Casey Middlestat. Andrew Peaks still hasn't signed his contract. So, personally, like the way I look at it…
  • Mike Rousion — Person · Referenced relation · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned only to identify Danny Rouion as his nephew.
    Yeah, I did speak to one guy, American guy named Danny Rouion is actually the nephew of Mike Rousion.

Companies & orgs

  • NHL — Company · Core topic · 18 mentions
    Discussed in relation to Olympic participation, schedule compression, injury risk, and trade deadline behavior.
  • Bruins — Company · Referenced team / trade deadline topic · 9 mentions · first at
    Used as a case study for trade deadline strategy (buy/sell flexibility) and referenced via game coverage and jersey retirement.
  • The Athletic — Company · Guest affiliation / reporting driver · 3 mentions · first at
    CJ attributes the Milan reporting trip to his boss at The Athletic and references it as his written-work home.
    Well over the years. covers everything. Major insider Chris Johnston with TSN, The Athletic, SDPN sports podcast. He has his own show as well. I'm sure everyone knows him and follows him and just super detailed professional hockey guy. So.
  • NHLPA — Company · Referenced stakeholder · 1 mention · first at
    Discussed regarding statements about being 'fine with conditions' and expectations that work continues to meet standards.
    Ice? Yeah, they were saying that they were pleased they had that event. but they also said, We have faith. I'm I don't have it in front of me, but they also said something to…
  • SDPN — Company · Guest affiliation · 2 mentions · first at
    Mentioned as part of CJ's media network presence (Steve Dangle Podcast Network).
    Sportsnet. So got to know him really well over the years. covers everything. Major insider Chris Johnston with TSN, The Athletic, SDPN sports podcast. He has his own show as…
  • TSN — Company · Guest affiliation · 2 mentions · first at
    Listed as one of CJ's platforms, reinforcing his credibility and reach.
    Sportsnet. So got to know him really well over the years. covers everything. Major insider Chris Johnston with TSN, The Athletic, SDPN sports podcast. He has his own show as…
  • Olympic Committee — Company · Referenced stakeholder · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned as part of the multi-party complexity (Olympic Committee, IIHF, etc.) affecting venue decisions.
    Let's be honest. I'll I'll I wonder if it's like you know the Olympic Committee with the double IHF and you know trying to pull from that side just the hockey side but I'm like thinking in.
  • TNT — Company · Work context · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned as the network where a host is working a double header, explaining schedule constraints.
    I'm kind of like I'm like tired cuz I'm in studio tonight here for TNT double header so in late so I'm like I don't know if I should go out. G text me twist my rubber arm. I'm like all right [ __ ] it. So as soon as I get off I.
  • Pats — Company · Sports/travel reference · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned as part of weekend plans ('Pats game').
    Jersey for two weddings. Jersey Friday night. Saturday I'm heading to Philly for a wedding. Sunday we got the Pats game. So it's just a it's a bender of a week for this guy over here.

Concepts & topics

  • NHL08 — Concept · Banter reference · 1 mention · first at
    Used as a humorous callback about scoring goals in a video game.
    And Josie, every [ __ ] two minutes, he'd be Dude, in NHL08, I used to score so many goals.

Places & events

  • Olympics — Event · Core topic · 26 mentions · first at
    The episode centers on preparations for the Milan Winter Olympics hockey tournament, including venue readiness, logistics, and NHL participation risks.
  • Milan — Place · Core topic location · 3 mentions · first at
    Primary setting for the Olympic venue discussion; CJ reports from Milan on arena construction and city context.
  • NHL Trade Deadline — Event · Core topic · 1 mention · first at
    Discussed extensively: timing around Olympic roster freeze, pre-freeze trade bump, and team strategies (Devils, Bruins, Buffalo).
  • 2030 Olympics — Event · Forward-looking comparison · 1 mention · first at
    Used to illustrate that similar venue issues may recur, including plans to place rinks in a soccer stadium in France.
    Need those stadiums. And, I don't want to get ahead of ourselves here, but the 2030 Olympics are another beautiful part of the world in South France, but, they don't have these…
  • Sochi — Place · Comparison point · 1 mention · first at
    Used to contrast Olympic host experiences: venues ready but little to do; also referenced in injury history (Tavares).
    Place to go. I was in Sochi for the Olympics there. Like it was an awesome tournament, but there wasn't much happening in that city. So, this is the opposite of that.
  • World Championships — Event · Referenced event · 2 mentions · first at
    Provides background on CJ's career and the hosts' international hockey experience (Canada beating Finland).
    There. you got to get him dialed in. But CJ has some like wild stories. Like he used to cover like I went to world championships in Moscow one year and he was there and when we…
  • Moscow — Place · Referenced travel story · 3 mentions · first at
    Used in a World Championships anecdote about CJ being in the dressing room after Canada won gold.
    Dialed in. But CJ has some like wild stories. Like he used to cover like I went to world championships in Moscow one year and he was there and when we won like they let like…
  • Soccer World Cup — Event · Analogy event · 2 mentions · first at
    Used as an analogy about host infrastructure mismatch (Toronto stadium vs Italian soccer stadium expectations).
    Part of the problem to be honest. This is the other way I look at it. the soccer men's World Cup is coming up this summer. Some of those games are going to be played in Toronto…
  • Duomo — Place · Landmark reference · 1 mention · first at
    Discussed as a central Milan landmark near an Olympic store; used to convey Milan's appeal.
    It's it's beautiful. It's a it's a big old Gothic church right in the city center and all the fancy stores are around that area, shopping district a little bit. So, it's it's.
  • French Alps — Place · Future host region · 1 mention · first at
    Referenced as the 2030 Olympics region where arena availability may be an issue.
    CJ originally mentioned that, this could potentially happen down the line in 2030 at the French Alps when they do it in France, I started looking into it here and it sounds…
  • Philly — Place · Travel reference · 2 mentions · first at
    Mentioned as a destination for a wedding during a busy travel week.
    Garden tomorrow night and then I head to Jersey for two weddings. Jersey Friday night. Saturday I'm heading to Philly for a wedding. Sunday we got the Pats game. So it's just a it's a bender of a week for this guy over here.

Media & podcasts

  • Empty Netters — Media · Referenced media · 2 mentions · first at
    Shouted out for covering the show Heated Rivalry and appearing on the Today Show segment.
    Show, and they were talking how everybody's like blown up this show, and how the Emptter guys are the ones that first covered every episode and went crazy. So, I just wanted to…
  • Heated Rivalry — Media · Referenced media · 2 mentions · first at
    Discussed as a viral show being recapped by Empty Netters and covered by major media.
    I see the Powers brothers faces pop up on the Today's Show, Our Boys, the Empty Netters, cuz they're talking about the show, The Heated Rivalry, and the way Yeah. So, they were having one of the actors come on into the Today's.
  • The New York Times — Media · Referenced media outlet · 1 mention · first at
    Cited for writing about Heated Rivalry discourse and describing Pete Blackburn as 'painfully straight'.
    Love seeing those guys. The New York The New York Times wrote about what chaos talking about it and they called Pete Blackburn painfully straight. I thought that was painfully straight.

Sponsors

  • Body Armor Flash IV — Product · Sponsor / ad read · 3 mentions · first at
    Episode sponsor; hosts discuss using it for hydration and caffeine during long days.
    Special night last night. And first, I got to tell you though about Body Armor Flash IV. This episode is brought to you by New Body Armor Flash IV. Caffeine Zero Sugar. If…

Full transcript with timestamps

Time to check the game notes. I think we're going to have the show of the year here. We're almost having magical moments here. Show Mindsy's time. Army show start us off. What an opportunity. Another idea by me.

Everything's Bro's idea. Summer. Welcome. Welcome. It's time to check the game notes. You see the arm dog over there? And I'm going to get to where he is. He's on the road, but he had a special night last night. And first, I got to tell you though about Body Armor Flash IV. This episode is brought to you by New Body Armor Flash IV. Caffeine Zero Sugar. If you're dragon, but also be dehydrated, this is the move. It's hydration with a caffeine boost and zero sugar. I keep one around for long days and early mornings. Work hard and hydrate hard with Body Armor Flash IV.

Grab it at 711 today. arm dog. I was living on these things Monday morning, Monday afternoon because I was celebrating the Bills win. The Bills are going to the Super Bowl. Don't even worry about it. But first game I had to celebrate. Had to get the team across the finish line. And the body armor flash IVs saved my life.

Saved your life. Yeah, you've been going hard, buddy. You've been going hard. And you know what I noticed? You're probably living on those cuz you've been going Oh, here he is. Look at him. Look at this guy just getting it once it hits your lips. Beautiful.

Beautiful. Ready to go for another week. Merles, we get you through the week. We got the hump day Wednesday game note show live. Thanks for working with us too, chat. Everybody uh bumping it back. I was in Boston last night. Merles between the benches. Um pretty decent game. I was hoping it would be better, but like the schedule's crazy. Detroit was gassed, man. They were so tired. played the night before against the Canes big Federov jersey retirement night which was sick. Wasn't that sick?

Yeah, that that's a letown spot for sure after a night like that. And seeing all those legends like in the rink and everything is just I don't know like brought me back to my childhood just how good those teams were to see all those guys together and some of the highlights of like Feds. Feds highlights are unreal. Like Fedsy invented the under the stick drive wide the D. He turns, he reaches in, he go, you stick handle under the stick, go around him, and then shoot. You know,

my favorite I do it I do it at least twice a night in beer league. You do? I love it. I absolutely love it. Never score on it. I have not scored on it once, but I try it every single time.

Yeah. Yeah. It's It's a go-to. He invented it. That's a federal off move. But just like so much style, so sick. like that this the way he had the jersey, the way he looked, like his wide base, like bold legs, white skates, like sick hands, like the whole operation was just so vintage Detroit for that era. And that was so cool to see. But I wanted like Detroit's been rolling, you know, like they came in last night, four wins in a row, top of the division, and um yeah, they they've been running pretty hot right now. So, they just look so tired last night. But you know who's at the game? You know who wasn't tired?

or boy G at the game in the stands while I was between the benches. It was sick.

Boots on the ground. Boots on the ground. I gota apologize again too for my buddies last night. Just just one of those things where I'm like, "Oh god, I it's going to be a few hours of drinking with my buddies. By the time we see Army, they could be in bad shape." And and

Josie, every [ __ ] two minutes, he'd be like, "Dude, in NHL08, I used to score so many goals. Army so many goals. I can't believe you played with Crosby. I can't believe

like every second it was either that or or or G's dad taught me how to skate. G's dad taught me how to skate. You know, my dad couldn't skate. So G's dad taught me how to skate.

Good guy though. Means well. He means well. Where'd you see these guys? Before the game.

No. So after the game I'm like working. I'm kind of like I'm like tired cuz I'm in studio tonight here for TNT double header so in late so I'm like I don't know if I should go out. G text me twist my rubber arm. I'm like all right [ __ ] it. So as soon as I get off I like I have to interview Swayman postgame.

I wait for him. He comes out. Swayman's a beauty. Great personality. Awesome. Easy interview. Dynamite guy. Got his first shut out of the year to match Corposalos from the game before. So the Bruins are rolling. He gets the interview. I literally take off my [ __ ] like IFBB little earpiece thing, microphone, put it down, pack up my bag, walk out of the rink somehow with this guy like showing me how to get out and now I'm walking with the people fans getting out of the rink. I'm in my suit. I go right across the street to meet G on the third floor at the greatest bar.

Like what a spot. How many people did you stop and talk to on the way out? Oh, he was in the Merl, I'm telling you.

Never seen it before. He almost beat me there. It was crazy how quick he got out of there.

Yeah, I was like I was like so fast. Like people were still just leaving the rink and I was with them like walking out. It was a chaos. They shut down the streets out there in Boston. So and then I went in G's like third floor, ripped the stairs all the way up. Got there. I think you were just sitting down like you just got like maybe one beer, right?

Yeah. I hadn't even taken a sip of my beer yet before you got like I was right there. So pretty good night last night. Glad I made it out. met some of G's local buddies as he's now back in Boston being a total legend hometown mix.

It's a crazy week. It's a crazy week cuz now Thursday we got the Zado Charara jersey retirement. So I'm back to the Garden tomorrow night and then I head to Jersey for two weddings. Jersey Friday night. Saturday I'm heading to Philly for a wedding. Sunday we got the Pats game. So it's just a it's a bender of a week for this guy over here.

And then you were the case for the week. I'm like, "Hey, I gotta get back. I gotta go to bed. I gotta catch this flight in the morning and get going." So, like mature night, just hanging out. Took off out of there. But she's like, "I got a 6 a.m. workout with my trainer." Like, "Oh my god."

Did you make it? I did. I did. And when I say this trainer was disgusted with me when I showed up this morning, he saw it right in my eyes. He could just see it. He's like, "You have a late night last night?" I was like, "Yeah, I went to the Bruins." He's like, "Probably didn't get into too many drinks, though." I was like, "No, I got into a few. I got

You see your Instagram? It's like a giant pizza wheel that you you put on there and then a video of me."

And then at like So, it's supposed to be an hour workout at like the 42 43 minute mark. He's like, "Yeah, you're done. Get out of here. I'm not doing this anymore." I was just halfassing it. I was so bad. He's like, "Yeah, you're done. You got to go home. This is not good." So,

and so you're doing this for what? Like just personal health? Like a lot of things coming up. You got

for what? Army, I showed you. I took my shirt off at the bar last night to show I took my shirt. He's like, "Why are you getting Why do you got to be there at 6:00 a.m.?" I crank my shirt off at the bar to show them how bad my gut has got. Got a mud gut going.

It is so bad, right? It is so bad, boys, where it's like like I can't even look at myself with my shirt off right now. It's it's it's awful. And I have I have my I got my tarp off at the greatest bar showing everyone my stomach. like jiggling it and stuff.

Dude, he pulled it up and he flopped it on the bar. I rested it right on top of the bar.

Hey, that's the holidays, G. It's all right. We get through it now. I did the same thing. I I finally joined the gym.

So, I got a new routine. Drive the kid to school, drop her off 7:35, straight to this gym, and like I'm exhausted. I feel terrible. But just get on that treadmill, start moving, and then hit the sauna. Couple rips in the sauna and I'm feeling a lot better.

Wow. You're better routine, buddy. It's not the new year that makes the new guy. It's the new routines. You got to put yourself into it, right? Like that's

You guys won't believe this. So, I'm on this treadmill today and you know it's all old people in there. It's the YMCA. It's all old people. So, they have that they had the Today Show up on the TV and I'm sitting there. I'm listening to Chicklets on there. But all of a sudden, I see the Powers brothers faces pop up on on the Today's Show, Our Boys, the Empty Netters, cuz they're talking about the show, The Heated Rivalry, and the way

Yeah. So, they they were having one of the actors come on into the Today's Show, and they were talking how everybody's like blown up this show, and how the Emptter guys are are the ones that first covered every episode and went crazy. So, I just wanted to shout out those guys. Those guys support us all the time. They're the best.

Well, that's rally. So, Alana Alana has her office like right next to the kitchen. And the other day I hear, "No, no, no, it can't be. It can't be." I'm like, "What is Chris Powers like in my f is is she in Alana's room right now?" Like, what is going on? And I walk in there and she's got Empty Netters playing and she's watching she's watching Heated Rivalry while they're watching Heating Rivalry and she's in a group chat texting the Powers, buddy. Boys, they're talking about the cottage and I'm like, "What the [ __ ] is going on right now? This is crazy."

Yeah, the Powers. That's up their alley with like like movie writing, screenwriting characters in-depth character looks. Like that's so up their alley to do. You can't get better guys if there's like a hot thing right now, which that show seems to be like really viral with everybody right now. And like there couldn't be better guys to like break it down really because that's like that's like their bread and butter. They're so passionate about that stuff.

It's literally their two niches. It's like they have two niches, screenwriting and hockey. It's like crazy.

No, they just like clip them up there. And I was just reading the stuff and it's like, "Oh, the even the Hockey Bro podcasts are into this doing daily watch shows and recaps and all this stuff." But I was that was awesome to see. I love seeing those guys. The New York The New York Times wrote about what chaos talking about it and they called Pete Blackburn painfully straight. I thought that was

painfully straight. Painfully straight. I thought that was a funny one. Is that racist?

I don't know. I don't know. Or discriminatory. I don't know. But I thought it was hilarious. I texted Pete right away. I'm like painfully straight. Interesting. Interesting way to describe you.

What did he say? What did he say? He's pretty funny. Oh, he's he was he was loving it. Just love.

Yeah, he laughing. Yeah, he's a good guy. He's a good sport. He's got he's hilarious guy. Oh, that's great. That's awesome. Good for you guys, man. I I I got to start doing that, too. I did start in the summer doing the workout routines, but fell off once the season kicked in here and just rolling every day, man. Rolling every day. I just have one goal and I want to rip my shirt off when I'm on the dance floor at my wedding. When I'm like when it hits that like 11, 1050, 10:55 mark, it's the end of the night. I just want to crank it open and I want people to be like, "Whoa, gee, you have like a flat stomach.

You got some abs. You look pretty good, buddy." That's That's all I want. That's all.

You might want to run that one by Alana first. You might She's approved. She's approved. She said, she's like, "You got to get jacked so you can rip your shirt off at a wedding."

He wants a full wedding experience. That's what you got to do on the D floor. Once you get all sweaty and it gets hot, you know, you start dancing, everyone gets ripping. You got to get tarps off.

She knows the shirt's coming off either way. So, she's like, "Is can you please just look good when you rip it off?"

Yeah. You can't have the mud gut flopping around throwing it on the table. Can I just say real quick, speaking of looking good, a lot of people are asking about the hat I'm wearing, the sweatshirt that Merles is wearing. We got some Penn State merch coming out. It drops tomorrow. Hockey Valley Spit and Chicklets collab. We'll be selling it at the outdoor game at Beaver Stadium. So, tune in tomorrow. We're going to be selling all that.

Yeah. I got my little care package from you. It's awesome. The stuff looks awesome. Yeah. So, keep keep track of that. Merles, you should have seen. I was like, I'm going to go back to my hotel last night. So, Merles's buddy went to the hockey game with, but then like another random guy like he had like a blazer on, very professional. He like shows up though like later it seemed like he might have been somewhere else and just kind of came to say hi but he he he just got there so he's like oh I got my car no worries I'll give you a ride home with this other guy. Joe C's like, "Oh yeah, I'm He's talking about like video games. Me and video games, how dominant I was in a video game."

I want to clarify, too. I said, "I don't think you should get in the car with these guys." I'm like, "Don't go. These guys are these guys are maniacs. Get an Uber." But I'm like, "No, no, no. It's okay. The guy's like, "Guy, I'm I'm fine." Like, let's go. I know the city. Like, whatever. These guys are city rats, you know. So, we we leave. He puts pulls up my hotel the GPS. It was unbelievable. We go. It's like having us go around because there's like oneway streets and there's like this little like we have to go all the way around but anyways like this little gap but he like turns down this one road. I'm like whoa whoa whoa. I'm like are we on a oneway? He's like yeah don't worry about it. He's like just shaved off eight minutes.

Boston most corrupt city in the world. Yeah. I was just like this is insane. It was like a two second street. Otherwise we would had to go all the way around this area. But and then they were ripping through cones too, like an exit was blocked off too, right? And you said he just went right up the exit that was blocked.

There was random cones at this one area like blocking off this one exit. So it was like detouring us around to come up this other exit. And I go, "Oh, there's cones here at this exit." He's like, "This is where we got to go." He goes, "Watch this." And he like cuts between the cones, just goes up there. And he's like, "See, I know this city. I know this city. This guy and then my hotel is like right there." I was like, "Oh my god." He just shaved off. It was like a 12minute ride. It took two minutes.

Unbelievable. Unbelievable. Well, G talked about our Penn State. We're going to talk a lot more college hockey later, but uh first we got a real insider arm dog.

This isn't this isn't a rumor, boys like we we normally have on the show and he's your friend. So, I'm going to let you do the introduction because he's here. He's ready to give us some some scoops.

Yeah, this guy's done it all. Been in the business a really long time. um uh good friend of mine and and and co-orker at one point as well up in Canada at Sportsnet. So got to know him really well over the years. Uh covers everything. Major insider Chris Johnston with TSN, The Athletic, SDPN um sports podcast. He has his own show as well. I'm sure everyone knows him and follows him and um just super detailed professional professional hockey guy. So welcome CJ. Welcome to the show. game notes. Proud to have you on. And we got questions buddy.

Because you've been on a little adventure already on top of your other adventures already.

He's muted. He's muted. So, I I know CJ and I and if if people at home aren't aren't aware of this, he's been killing the social media with the updates on the rink. You know, we heard about this like the rink being smaller. We said we need somebody boots on the ground. So, CJ is taking care of that. We're working on his sound here right now. He's maybe he's still in Milano. I don't know.

No internet over there yet. He might still be in Milano. Posasha's got to dial him in on the back stage there. You know, you got to get him dialed in. But CJ has some like wild stories. Like he used to cover like I went to world championships in Moscow one year and he was there and when we won like they let like Canadian fans and other people like come into our room that like were there celebrating. So, we're like in in Moscow in this rink. We won gold. We beat Finland in the final. Arm dog got the game-winning goal. Not a big deal. But anyways, CJ was like in the room when like our coach Andy Murray was like giving the postgame speech and to to like we had fans in there, Merles.

It was crazy. It was actually kind of cool. It was like very patriotic and cool. Um, but yeah, he's like traveled the world covering all these things and doing all this stuff and is obviously where he was on Hockey Night in Canada too when I was working with him. So, um, climbed up big time on the Leafs beat, uh, covering Toronto, but also leaguewide stuff, too. But to be able to cover and like go overseas like that, I think that's I think that's like unbelievable. There we got him.

There we go. Siege, you got me, guys. Can you hear me? There you are. There he is. There's the beauty right there. We dialed you in. I was just telling like uh world championship stories when you were like covering our team and you were like in the room for the Andy Murray postgame gold medal speech and everything with like fans and stuff. That was crazy.

That was one of the coolest things actually I've ever got to do. Like being I don't know what like they shouldn't be letting a mut like me in the dressing room. Let's be honest. But uh it was pretty neat to be over there in Russia and hear a speech to you guys and get showered with champagne and yeah, I mean it's it's been a cool career. I got to tell you this is this assignment to Milan was a first. I'm not a construction reporter but I felt like one for the last few days.

So how hold did that come about? Obviously, there's intrigue, but you know how it is with like spending and companies and covering stuff and like sending you on over there to do that. No better guy cuz you have like good rapport with people. You get in there like like you did in Moscow back in the day in those tournaments, but meeting locals and everything. But it's like how how did that come about? Like what was the intrigue to send you over there and and kind of how was that experience in in trying to get to the bottom and ask questions? Yeah, I mean credit to my boss of the athletic where I do my written work. They they had the idea that we should make that investment to go. It it really came up in December. If you recall, there was an owners meeting at that time. And there was a lot of discussion from Bill Daly and Gary Bman and others about the challenges in Italy and some of the concerns the league had.

And I think at that point, you know, my boss has just decided we have to get some boots on the ground and and get a feel for what's happening, what isn't happening. sort of try to separate fact from fiction. You know, some things get lost in translation a little bit. I don't mean from Italian to English, but just, you know, if you're not there yourself, it's just hard to know exactly what's going on. And so, yeah, they they asked me to go and it was a pretty whirlwind trip. Was over and back in four days and uh you know, was there for the the games they played last weekend and you know, s basically got a feel for for what's going on. You can see some of the photos there. Um you know, some of it isn't as bad as it might come across.

I mean, I I actually think like when you're in the rink as a fan in this picture, it looks like a rink. Correct.

Yeah, it looks like a rink. I mean, some people note the space between the boards and where the stands are.

Uh, and obviously that scoreboard's tiny. They did tell me it's that the one they're going to install a new one before the Olympics. I mean, we'll see if that happens or not. I mean, if it doesn't, you know, one of the players actually told me he was in a close game. Like, the games they played there were Italian Pro League games, but they they actually mattered. They were cup games, so like the teams were trying hard and one game was 2-1 in the last minute and the guy said he couldn't see how much time was left because the scoreboard was too high. So like I mean if we you know you can imagine let's say we get to the gold medal game and it's Canada US and 2-1 in the final minute. I mean I think you're going to want the players to be able to know what time's left and all those things.

You got Coupe He's like what time's on the clock? I gotta pull the goalie, you know,

right? Like but you know so but it's not you're right. it. I think the rink itself will be a rink, you know, and so most of the things that that aren't working like might be more for those that are on the ground there, but let's face it, most of our listeners here in North America are just going to watch these games on TV. And and you know, the good news is I I think there's going to be a tournament unless something really strange happens in the next three weeks. Um, and you know, they are working round the clock right now to get this thing finished and done. But you know what you're seeing there is where the teams will have their dressing rooms. And that that was on Friday night. I took that video. There's supposed to be 14 dressing rooms. Only three were kind of done. And the other 11 either didn't exist or looked like like the ones you're seeing there.

Does that concern you or the obviously the NHL the NHL PA was like, "Yeah, we're we're fine with this." Like

no, they'll rush to get it done. Didn't they put out a statement? They're like, "Hey, like we're we're good with the conditions." Or was that just about the ice? Yeah, they were saying that they were pleased they had that event. Um, but they also said, "We have faith." I I mean, I'm I don't have it in front of me, but they also said something to the effect of we we basically expect these guys to work around the clock to get everything finished. Um, you know, there's no way around the fact that with this little time from the start of the Olympics, everyone would feel better if all those things were done. Um, you know, it's it's kind of like what happens if like I know some teams have had to get over there and think like where would we practice if they don't finish that practice ring,

you know, like it's we're talking about the Olympics here, guys. Like it's not, you know, it's not a Kobe's not taking like this kid for a hockey tournament, you know, somewhere, you know, like this is this is supposed to be the absolute pinnacle of international hockey in our sport. It's been so long since we had NHL players there. So, you know, I think that's where all this is like, okay, they might get this done, but it's going to be the last minute. Uh they're probably just going to be painting over dust and sweeping things into a corner.

Like, it's not going to be finished, but it might be done enough for everything to go ahead.

Like, I I feel like it all started, it went viral when the the dimensions of the ice came out. And and that's when I said I said, "This could be fake news. We need somebody with a tape measure over there, boots on the ground." Next thing you know, you're over there. and and that's how this whole thing started with the construction and the ice. But when you talked to those players, did they notice anything that it was a smaller rink or anything like that? Did they mention that to you?

Yeah, I did speak to one guy, American guy named Danny Rouion is actually the nephew of Mike Rousion.

Yeah, that's right. And he's played four years in Italy and he said he really noticed the dimensions of the rink. Now, it's it's almost not a fair comment entirely because they normally play on the Olympic size ice anyway. So, you know, that's that's 13 ft wider than what we're used to in the NHL. You know, it's a significant amount, but he said like I I don't know what it's going to look like when all the NHL guys are out there because he just felt like the zones were really small. You know, myself, I think that that was more of a that the dimensions thing being off a little bit is it's just more telling about how this isn't working the way everybody would like it to. You know, I don't know that it's actually going to affect the hockey that much. You know, I'm I'm old enough to remember the the Boston Garden and the Odden Buffalo and Chicago Stadium. Like the old stadiums in the NHL certainly

didn't have all standardized sheets and the game was still great. Lots of great games played in those buildings. I I still think that will be the case even though this isn't perfect, but it's kind of a symptom of a larger problem, right? Like if you can't build the NHL spec Ice

and and I don't even think this is to be honest, the International Ice Hockey Federation signed off on the dimensions that are there. So, this isn't just on the Italians that are building that rink. I just think that not everybody has been pulling on the same sort of rope. There's a lot of different parties at the table when it comes to hosting an Olympics and and I don't think they all have been on the same page. And now that everything's going wrong, you can see everyone backing off saying, "Hey, it's not our job to do this, it's these guys' job to do that." So,

anyway, it's uh it was a bit of a mess. Let's be honest. I'll I'll uh I wonder if it's like you know the Olympic Committee with the double IHF and you know trying to pull from that side just the hockey side but I'm like thinking in Italy like what's huge over there like skiing for the Olympics. I bet you the ski slopes are manicured perfectly wherever they're doing that event. just hockey is like in their eyes maybe in the in the building category of like hey we need to get this prepped maybe it's like they look at it like not a big deal where to us it's like massively huge that our our event space is like a monster did you sense that at all or do they care or

Well they definitely care now I mean they they understood like they understood when a Canadian showing up for an event like this that there's a lot of that there's a lot of eyes on it right and no one wants to embarass their country. Obviously, they want to host a successful Olympics. I still think they can do that. But, you know, it's it's telling Kobe like there's no reason to have an arena this size already in Italy, right? Because, you know, the the pro game there doesn't demand it. I mean, some of those teams that were playing in those those test games they had on the weekend. I looked up their buildings. They have like 1500 as a capacity, not you know, something closer to 15,000 that you'd want. So, you're having to build brand new venues in a place where they don't really need them. This actually won't be a rink after the Olympics. They're going to turn it into like a basically a concert

venue, an event space, but it's not this isn't meant to be a long-term ice hockey arena because they just don't need one of this size. And I So, I think that's part of the problem to be honest. This is the other way I look at it. You know, the soccer men's World Cup is coming up this summer. Some of those games are going to be played in Toronto where I live here. And the stadium where we're going to host those games, it's nothing like an Italian soccer stadium, right? There's a building here called Beimo Field. It looks like it's built with popsicle sticks, honestly. Like, compared to a 75,000 seat soccer stadium you'd find in Italy. And I can imagine some of the Italian journalists or fans that come over to that World Cup are going to look at this and be like, "What? You're having a World Cup here?"

Like, this is kind of a joke. I mean, it's it's basically the same thing in reverse because they don't they don't need those stadiums. And, you know, I don't want to get ahead of ourselves here, but the 2030 Olympics are another beautiful part of the world in South France, but, you know, they don't have these kind of arenas either. So it you could run into some of the same issues potentially down the road. So you I think this is, you know, one of many reasons why the NHL has some hesitation about participating in Olympics when it's not in, you know, Russia even, which is obviously the hockey country or Vancouver in 2010, uh, you know, where you're using an NHL building. I mean, when you go to these other nations, I just think more you're you're you're more likely to run into these kind of hurdles.

Yeah. Yeah. And I I think that maybe the attendance is going to look bad in this big rank that same thing we just went through with the world juniors. But talking more about the other sports and stuff, did you get to check out the village? Are the dorms ready? Are the restaurants all set and the dining hall or is that stuff a mess, too?

I don't know that it's a mess. It looked like it was more finished to me. I wasn't able to go into the village, but I did uh walk by it and and sort of, you know, looked looked from the street like there's certainly apartment buildings there. They had curtains on the windows like everything looked okay. I still think there was some work left. You know what's going to be great I think about Milan uh for an Olympic host is that it's like that village is really close to the city center so it's it's near all kinds of restaurants like if the athletes want to leave the village. Uh it's going to be convenient for their friends and family to stay in various hotels around the city. It's a cool old European city. I mean who who doesn't want to go to Italy? I mean I I feel like there's not a person on earth who doesn't like Italian food. There might be one out there but not very many. I mean, it's it's going to be, I think, a

great venue and host um for the Olympic Games itself. And I think even the NHL guys are going to have a great time just because, you know, when they're not playing hockey, they can walk around the kind of the twisting old streets and find a good meal and

maybe a nice glass of wine or something if it's an off day. So, you know, I think I I do think by and large that you're not going to hear a lot of complaints once the games themselves get going just cuz, you know, this is a cool place to go. I was I was in Sochi for for the Olympics there. Like it was an awesome tournament, but you know, there wasn't much happening in that city. So, this is this is the opposite of that. They had the arena done there early. Like the the venues were dialed in, but there wasn't a whole lot to do when they weren't playing.

Well, they love hockey. Like Russians love hockey, too. So, like they would take that highly serious with that venue, you know, per se. is being in Italy, maybe it's a little bit different on the checklist of of popularity with locals or on the planning list.

But but in all seriousness, Kobe, I don't know if it's changed since. There was like no restaurants in Sochi. Like I'm not kidding. There was like no there was like no town there. It was like a it was sort of a weird place. It was on the the sea. Like it was pretty, but there wasn't much to do. Whereas in Milan, there's there's going to be endless things for the guys to do when they're not competing.

I had the best I played in Soji after that. I played in Sochi after the Olympics. It was a complete ghost town. Like the restaurants, we went and stayed at the hotel. We were the only people in there besides Whitney. There was 20 of us from our team and Whitney was living there while he was playing. And we had dinner in this restaurant. We were the only two people in there for the whole night. It was brutal.

Eerie. That's so eerie. Yeah. Eerie is a great word for it. Yeah. Like I in Milan, CJ, I was there um just touring after Worlds one time with with with my girlfriend, my wife now. I had the best piece of pizza ever in Milan. And we went there. We we wanted to go there just because we heard about it because it's like the fashion capital of the world. So, I was expecting this like glitzy, glamorous city, but it's like this cute little Italian city. It's like this little you can walk around everywhere. It's like high-end shopping and stuff. So, yeah, there'll be there'll be lots to do. Did you see the Duomo?

Oh, yeah. I saw the Duomo. In fact, there's a huge Olympic store right in front of the Duomo right now that's popped up and I went in there and bought a little bit of merch too before I came home. So,

yeah, cuz it's like a big square in that little area where that is right there. I actually found out my family

What is the D? Tell us what the Duomo is armed. Was it like it's like a giant church that looks like Gothic almost in a sense with like the peaks and like artistry on the outside. When I was there several years ago, they had scaffolding all up. I think they were like cleaning it or doing something to it. I'm not unsure how old it is, but it's like the main focal point of Milan kind of of the town and the city. Am I correct, CJ?

You've nailed it. Actually, I'm impressed with your memory and your architectural uh expertise here. But yeah, it but there's no scaffolding now. It's it's beautiful. It's a it's a big old Gothic church right in the city center and and all the the the fancy stores are around that area, shopping district a little bit. So, um it's it's a good spot.

Guys, can I chime in here? So when when CJ originally mentioned that, you know, this could potentially happen down the line in 2030 at the French Alps when they do it in France, I started looking into it here and it sounds like in 2030 they're going to put two hockey rinks in a soccer stadium.

Correct. At at the Ela Riviera right in Nice, France. Come after my outdoor goal record.

They're coming for your outdoor goal record army. It sounds like they're going to put two rinks in a soccer stadium so you can play parallel at once. Kind of crazy to me. That's ridiculous.

And Grenellian, like not to go too deep into this, but there's currently some kind of election going on in that area. And one of the candidates running has said if they win, they're going to cancel that whole soccer stadium plan. So that's the plan right now, but there's even a chance there's a change in the government and then they have to make a new plan.

This is this is going to happen again. I mean, 100%. And I'll say and just right away like you can't have two games. The whistles will screw the kids up or the guys up.

It makes no sense. Maybe it's practice ranks. Like maybe they want to do practice ice, but

God, I don't know. Oh, boy. Crazy. Siege, were you um were they like, "Oh, hey, welcome. I I heard you say a story on maybe it was on your show um that some guy just wheeled in there, put on a construction helmet, and started walking around like getting video and stuff." Were they kind of on on edge when you were wheeling around? Did they know who you were? Like maybe some of the higher up people that would wear suits with their construction helmet or you're poking around asking questions. They think you're kind of trying to stir some things up or how how are how did they take you being over there early like this kind of stooping around?

Yeah, they were friend. They were definitely friendly enough. I think once I started, you know, putting out some videos and publishing stories, you know, it it got their attention a little bit and and you know, they they didn't like the the very first game that was played there. They played seven games in that that test event. The first game there was a stoppage for a hole in the ice.

Yeah. And you know, I I tweeted that and I called it a giant hole and they disputed that it was giant. I mean, I have a picture. I don't know if you saw it. you giant is a characterization like it was a subjective you know basically it was my own subjective view of what it

was bigger than normal chunk out of the ice right and and I wasn't saying they'll never be able to play hockey here or that this you know like I just was reporting what was happening I was there to watch but they weren't they you know that got their attention and so I had I had some words with a few of the PR people after that but I mean everyone was was mostly fine like I I don't want to o overstate that I I did get the feeling like imagine Then you went over to your friend's house for a party and you were like pointing out all the things wrong with his renovation or something like I did feel I did feel a little, you know, unwelcome in general because I was they knew why I was there.

I was there to see what what hadn't been done basically. I mean, did they have to give you like a credential to wheel around and everything too? So they were like so they were aware you were boots on the ground, right? Like you weren't just coming in like, "Hey, can I come in?" No, it was like a full setup operation. Hey.

Exactly. And I told them two or 3 weeks out ahead of time that I wanted to come and I followed up like they knew I was they they definitely knew I was was going there and and like I didn't get any sense that they were trying to hide anything from me. I mean they once once you're once you're on the ground I mean you can see all the construction, you know what I mean? Like they it they wasn't like I don't want to overstate that part of it but but definitely they they didn't love it because

Sorry. Go ahead. They knew they knew that there's they know that there's a lot of us back here in North America wondering about this arena. And I was able to take some of those pictures and videos and it tells a story that they probably don't want told right now.

Those dressing room shots of just like, you know, it's just like, okay, in your heart of hearts and mind of mind, you're not a contractor. You're you're a writer, reporter, podcaster, hockey guy. Like how do you feel like one out of 10? 10 being like we're it's gonna go off without a hitch that like those rooms that you showed are going to be done come Olympics here.

I would say nine out of 10 just because I I look it I I think they're already going crazy there. I actually got sent another video today from someone who's who's there and it's they've already done quite a bit of work since the weekend. So I I think that they're on high alert right now. And so look what this is going to be the truth in my eyes. They're going to finish it enough certainly to have the tournament. If you talk honestly to some of the players that are there, they're probably going to say, "Hey, look, this is below the standard we're used to basically anywhere." You know, like some of this might not even be like AHL sort of standard just for like locker room setups and everything, but like we know how badly these guys want to play. And at the end of the day, they're going to be at the Olympics and they're going to be playing for an Olympic gold medal. I mean, this is I I think the players will

put up with a lot. It's a pretty short tournament, too, right? It goes February 11th to 22nd, the men's side. So, you're not even talking two full weeks. I I just think everyone's going to go over there. They're going to have great meals, do a little bit of shopping, and and make the best of some of, you know,

the showers and stuff not being what you normally find, right? Like, so in the end, in the end, I do believe it's going to be okay. And we won't even be talking about this once the games start, but I mean, if you're being like you, you would like to think the Olympics gets a little higher shine than this in the future. That's all.

Yeah, it's good they know about it now so they can prepare and those teams can fly over the cold tubs and the sauners or whatever the heck they want. But I got a question for you. Would you have done the same trip if it was in Russia?

I would have. Yeah, you would have been scared. Well, CJ's got people on the ground, man. He's got he's got connects. He's got connections in Russia from his time back there.

I really like traveling. I like going to to some foreign places. I've been to Russia five or six times and and a few times on my own when I was younger in a world where we didn't have cell phones like we do now, like when it was a little diceier getting around and everything. So, I I would have done the same no matter where this this was.

I feel like they would have been as happy showing you around to their place that's not finished and they got to hide all that stuff. And then another question like get back to your real stuff, the insider. You're the insider. you know, everything that's going on. What about some of the guys with injuries? You know, Point just went down, Wilson, Slavven for us. Um, I know Carlson's out for Sweden. What other stuff you hearing?

Yeah, I mean, doesn't sound too good on Braden Point. Uh, you know, nothing decided this point in time, but but certainly there's serious concern about whether he's going to be able to to go for the Olympics. We know what kind of competitor he is. You know, I'm I'm not saying he can't do it, but I I think it's it's going to be tough for him to to get back in time to play. Um, you know, Tom Wilson is is close to return for the Capitals, so I I don't think that one looked pretty bad if you remember the moment. It looked like one of those ones that you you might be thinking, oh, does this jeopardize things for him? But I think he's he's got enough of a window here to get back up and running where that's not going to be an issue. Slavven seems close as well, too. So, I mean, it's it's tough.

The guys have waited so long. Very few of these players have been to an Olympics before. There's obviously a handful, but you know, you know, they're going to do anything they can to play. Um, unfortunately for Carlson didn't even get named to the Swedish team uh because of the ongoing health health troubles he's had. So, um, you know, if you look back at the Four Nations, almost I think every team had to make at least one injury replacement between when those teams were announced in December when they played the tournament. I mean, history kind of suggests we'll probably deal with the same again, but um, you know, we'll see.

I hope I hope Point's able to get back. Obviously, John Cooper said he's weak to, but it was described to me by someone who would know as it's not a good situation in terms of his availability for team Canada.

How concerned are coaches and teams around the league with this Olympics as well? Cuz, you know, I did the Bruins uh Detroit game last night. Detroit uh went to overtime the night before, fly into Boston, play. They look so tired like like there's teams in some of these games right now that look just exhausted. And then you've got your big boys going over time travel the whole thing and um playing like guys came back I think remember yeah for nations guys were getting dinged up siege. So how concerned with this schedule the compressed schedule uh and then the Olympics are are a lot of these teams with these guys I know it's the Olympics so we're like okay let's get the boys there. I love it. Um, but there's got to be like major concern here a little bit with some of these the health.

If you're a general manager of a team or an owner of a team, maybe a head coach of a team, like you're definitely concerned. You know, some of these teams are going to send eight to 10 guys and you start doing the math, you just know even if they come back healthy, meaning they play all the games, you know, they're they're just going to be a little little less juice on the battery when they get back over to North America. And then the worst case scenario is, you know, you had John Tvaris, you know, in 2014, you know, he was done for the season after an injury he suffered at Sochi playing for team Canada. Way back in the day, if you remember Dominic Hassich, the Senators were having an awesome season. He was their goalie. I think that was the ' 06 Olympics. Like, he got injured and it doomed the Senator season. Look how close the standings are right now. This is this this has to be the craziest

season I can ever remember in the 20 odd years I've been a reporter. Um, you know, just looking like it seems like a team loses three in a row, they're it's everything the sky is falling, they win three in a row, like we're back in it. We're so back, guys. That I mean, with it that compressed and with, you know, it's not defined beyond a couple teams at the very top of the league, it's hard to say who's good or not in the middle uh of of these standings. You know, it could be impacted by things like health of players. And so,

you know, this is why Gary Bman is not fully embracing the the Olympics as an idea because the NHL gives up a lot in terms of the the assets. You know, we're talking about like half a billion dollars worth of players going over and, you know, they they do get some exposure on the international level they wouldn't get. But, yeah, you know, there's a lot of there's a lot of risk to the owners, right, with with their players playing over there. And so, you know, the guys want to play though. At the end of the day, who who am I? Who are any of us to question it because the players themselves are what made the Four Nations so awesome last year? Those guys got out there and they cared, right?

That was such an awesome tournament. I remember going to Montreal and people were like, "Are these guys even going to care? Is this just going to be like an all-star game?" And like right away, Canada Sweden, the first game, you know, wasn't the most emotional game, but it was still like hits and like they were playing. And I I just think these guys want to play for their countries. they want to play in the Olympics and so they're willing to risk whatever comes with that.

On that same um idea, what is it what's it going to mean for the the trade deadline? Are teams going to try to move players before this in case there are injuries while they're over there or will they just wait for afterwards and and let all the chips play out?

My sense is we're going to see a little bump of trade activity before that freeze kicks in February 5th, February 4th. Um you know, there's

who's going to be the first? Who's going to be the first? It's like you just talk we just showed the standings like everyone everyone's like

well Vancouver is a good place to start. They're the only ones I think out. Yeah.

And you know Jim Rutherford's never been afraid to make moves whether he's acquiring players or selling them early. Um you know the issue is I sense there's a lot of desire right now to make trades. I think there's a lot of teams looking to fill holes or have needs and but they're having trouble finding dance partners because everybody's sort of on the fence. I don't know, are we buying, selling, somewhere in the middle, but I just think that that that first deadline will be a soft deadline that forces some action. And then the flip side of that is you have the the freeze over the Olympics and then we come back and it's two weeks till March 6, the real trade deadline. So that two weeks could be pretty dynamic, too. So I I actually think if you enjoy seeing trades that we're this year could be interesting. I think we could get a small surge now and then, you know, a bunch of activity in early March.

Yeah. I I I know that for yourself in your job, like is it all hands on deck preparing for the Olympics with like a pulse on like what's going on in the NHL still or um like what's your kind of daytoday year like this year in an Olympic year with all the craziness as well like just being an insider and a guy boots on the ground working the phones getting it all going. You're highly active Siege.

Well, the Olympics is a big thing right now. I mean there's no way around I mean, even when you see Brainpoint leave the game on Monday for Tampa, like it's not just like, hey, this is one of Lightning's best players. This is one of Team Canada's more trusted forwards. I mean, so I think it takes on a little more urgency, at least right now, just seeing things through that Olympic frame. Um, you know, and then we the trade deadlines all mixed into it. I mean, I love this season to be honest. I like that it's a little different. You know, like a lot of the this the years if you do this job enough, it's almost feels the same like there's like a kind of a rhythm or a pattern to the season.

This year it's disrupted and I and I kind of welcome that disruption. I think we have a lot more fans that are interested to be honest. You know, January can be a tough month in in the NHL. Could just be a little bit of a dead month in in a normal year, but I think that there's more focus on what's happening in the league because of the Olympics. Um maybe because of these playoff races, too, because so many teams are still in it. Um, so this is this is a cool season, but right now I'm probably 80% Olympics, 20% sort of focus on trades and and you know the kind of movement we might see around the league.

And I guess I have to leave 2% too, Colobby, because uh I'm due to have a baby in four weeks. So I'm also uh I've also got a a focus on the home front too that I don't normally have.

A real game changer. You're like Taves off Colorado. like just oh yeah by the way like I'm having a baby at the

only difference is I'm not going to Olympics either way I had to step out because uh my my my boys due February 11th which is just happens to be the first day of the men's tournament of the Olympics. So um anyway hopefully everything goes well there and I'll just be watching from home and not sleeping.

Smart play for you there. But I want I got Milano Johnston. I gota stay the trade route here. We need to have our guy our guy Pasha the New Jersey Devils. They're they're a team that's, you know, they got to make some moves. And uh I don't know if you're aware of this guy, but uh

I'm very aware. I see him all over the place. I'll let the disclaimer do the talking for us.

Warning. Warning. The following statements are about to be made by a deranged Devils fan. The views expressed are his and his only. Take everything you hear with a grain of salt because remember, he is a deranged Devil's fan.

There you go. What's up, CJ? How you doing? Thanks for joining the show. Good brother. Good to see you.

Yeah, you as well. Uh question for you. You know, obviously Douggee Hamilton is the name that's been, you know, talked about a lot with the Devils, but a name I'm hearing a lot lately is Palot, and I know the official word is they have, as of probably a week ago, they had not asked him to wave, but it seems like there's more noise in the last few days about Palot. Do you see him getting traded, and if so, where do you see him ending up?

Oh, I don't know the second part yet. I I certainly think that they're they're quite focused on clearing out that cap space, and you know, it's been in the background for a while now, right? both both with Hamilton and Plata, it just feels like it's coming more to to a a head at this point in time. Obviously, with the team struggles of late with their desire to make some other moves, you know, kind of being tied to having to clear up some cap space. Um I I do think that more likely than not, one or both of those players are going to be moved out. I think Plot is a little easier to move just because he doesn't have quite the same um capit as as does as does Douggee Hamilton. Um but, you know, where he ends up, it's it's tough to say. I mean, Unfortunately, he hasn't played that well, right? I mean, that's that's the other side of this is if he if he was playing better, I think with his resume and his history in Tampa,

especially that that this would be a guy teams would be a little more anxious to add is in kind of a depth role because he can bring a certain element. But right now, you're not you're not selling the uh you're not selling your wares when they look their their shiniest or look their best. So, you know, it's it's a real tough spot for Tom Fitzgerald to be in. I know he spoke today with some of the local media there and and you know trying to weather some of that storm. Um you know when you're selling pieces and it's and it's money in this this league, it can be tough, especially when you're losing. No one's lining up to do you favors. So I think that the Devils are going to have to be creative, but but certainly it seems like all their focus really is on first clearing out some cap space and then we can talk about who they're going to bring in to to use that cap space and try to improve the team.

Yeah, that was going to be my next question. if they are able to move that cap space. If there's one name you think that they'll use that cap space on, is it a Stamco, a Cadri, or maybe a name that we haven't heard? Who do you think?

You know, I wonder about the Stam Coast Rumors. Those have been out there a while. Um, you know, I I think he'd be a nice fit. You know, he's got a say in it, too, though, right? And and the the great thing for Steven Stamos, first of all, is the Predators have gotten right back into their own race, and he he's had a great turnaround. You know, scored 12 goals in December and has kept scoring here into January. So, you know, maybe the the calculation on his end of things could change too in terms of, you know, maybe maybe Nashville staying there a little longer makes sense.

Obviously, it's where his his family is and he's comfortable right now. So, you know, we'll have to see. I mean, Cadre is the same thing. He's also got a no movement clause. I think that's that's part of the NHL that I mean, they're not making me commissioner for a day, but if they did, I I would I wish we could restrict some of the trade protection that players have. I know players earn that right and and I'm certainly not an anti-player guy by any means, but it just feels like that really holds up a lot of this this kind of movement, whereas I think in the NBA there might be like five guys with a no movement clause or something like that. So, you know, a lot of the the the players you see listed on the trade boards or the trade lists around the league, I mean, a lot of them have a say in what's going to happen and sometimes they don't want to move. And so, I could see a world where both Stamco and Kadri stay where

they are um because it's usually easier to to stay where your stuff is. Anything else?

Uh, no. That's it for me. I think maybe G had a Bruins question. Yeah. From our Devil's Delusional fan to our Bruins super fan. We don't have a disclaimer. I don't for G, but

do we? I think we do. Do we have one? Warning. The following statements are about to be made by a deranged Bruins fan. The views expressed are his and his only. Take everything you hear with a grain of salt because remember, he is a deranged Bruins fan.

I swear that nose gets bigger every time they play it. I THINK THEY did dirty with that nose. What is so dirty? So dirty.

Snout on the kid. But uh I I think the Bruins are actually one of like the most interesting teams heading into the trade deadline this year. You know, a team that everyone really thought was going to be retooling, kind of rebuilding this year. Obviously, right now, they've overperformed. They're in the playoff race as of now. I think they're in the second wild card spot. How do you see the Boston Bruins handling this trade deadline? Are they going to be buyers? Are they going to be sellers? You know, I think Jonas Corposalo is getting hot at a really, really good time when a lot of teams need goalies. You guys, you got guys like Victor Arvdson and Casey Middlestat. Andrew Peaks still hasn't signed his contract. So, personally, like the way I look at it is I would like to see them sell off some pieces and prioritize the future. You do have James Hagen coming in probably around, you know, end of March. What are you

hearing about the Bruins right now? And where do you think they're going to be uh or what do you think they're going to do with the deadline here? It seems like they're open to being both buyers and sellers. I I think that they still want to improve their team, but they're just not going to do anything stupid. Like they're not going to be trading away a first or second round pick for a rental player that's that's not likely to stay there. I mean, I think that they understand they still have some work to do bigger picture with, you know, augmenting the the younger players on the team in the core. Um, but I I know that they have looked around at guys like a Kefir Sherwood or some other players that they feel could maybe fit an identity and be long longer term members of the team. I'm not saying they're going to trade for him, but you know, and the prices, frankly, there might just be too high for them because

there's other teams that are probably more incentivized to get a guy like that, but I guess that the point is with the Bruins is they're not locked into exactly one path. It's not it's not pure selling all the guys you mentioned. It's not that we have to buy an expensive veteran just to try to get in by one point to satisfy ownership. I think that they're really in a sweet spot. Honestly, if you look back to last year, they've set themselves up great. I mean, that was a that was a disaster a disastrous season in a lot of ways. It just never went right. They ended up having to sell a lot of players. I don't think that they started the season thinking it would go that way. But when you look what they got back, you know, they got a guy like Fraser Minton already playing for their team got for Carlo.

How about Zeer? It was a throwin. There you go. And and they've, you know, they got the Leafs first round pick in 2026 as long as it's not a top five. Like they're set up really well to to sort of rebuild on the fly and they're still competitive. So I I think that they're that's that's the best spot to be in if you're,

you know, I think sometimes when you're one or the other, it's hard to maximize your spot. I think that they are very open-minded about where they can go, but ultimately I don't see them doing anything dumb. I think it's going to be if they can make trades, it's them bringing in other young guys, 25 year olds in a deal or something like that. That's a longer term play rather than just trying to surge into the playoffs this year.

And I got to ask another one. Our guy Biz, he's got boots on the ground in Buffalo today. Buffalo, that city is just buzzing right now. I'd love to see them go big fish hunting at the deadline. Go get a guy like I mean Art Tammy Paneran. I don't know if he'll wave his no trade to go there, but I would just love to see them go get a big fish. Do you see Buffalo doing anything at the deadline? And if so, what are you predicting?

Yarmo's cooking in there now. Yarmo's cooking. Well, it got lost a little bit, but look at look at Yarmmo's past, man. Like, he's done that before, right? He went out and got Duchine in the past. I mean, he traded for Paneran. It was the offseason when he was in Columbus. He traded for Brandon Sod back in the day. like, you know, he made the deal for Seth Jones and and Ryan Johansson was a top pick of the Blue Jackets at the time, it was it was a gutsy trade. Like, I think if you look at his history closely, this is a GM who's completely unafraid to make a bold move. And this is the beauty at times of bringing in a new voice or or a new person to look at your thing. He's not tied to anybody, right? He he's not responsible for any player really being there at this point.

I know he joined the organization in May and obviously would have had a say in some of what happened last summer for them, but you know, he he can look at this fresh and I think he he will not be afraid to ship players out that he doesn't think are part of the long-term fit. And and similarly, you know, he he understands how important it would be for them to make a run and get in the playoffs. And they've done a great job of of playing well really since his hiring. I think it some of that might be coincidental, but he he's he's the players have shown him, hey, we we could be good enough to do it anyway on our own at this point. So, I I'm with you. I think it's an exciting time in Buffalo.

You're seeing the enthusiasm come back into the building around the city. Uh I'm sure with Biz in town, they're they're all losing their minds. You know, he probably needs a security detail in that city right now with with uh you cruising in on the bus there. But uh

any names though, CJ? Like any names that Sabres fans can start to like, you know, when you're going into a trade deadline as a diehard fan, like as a Bruins fan every year, you know, I'm always looking up the elite prospects of guys that they're, you know, rumored to be trading for. Who can who's a name right now that Sabres fans can be like, "Oh [ __ ] he could be playing for us in a couple months."

I don't have it for you. I'm just gonna be honest, but I'm curious. So, like Alex Tuck, right? What are they going to do there?

Yeah. I I think I think that that will dictate it because there's a world where obviously if they they just if they don't get anywhere with the contract, I'm not saying that's going to happen. I think that both sides genuinely want to get something done. But, you know, Tuck has a lot of leverage. You know, he's he's probably going to be the biggest UFA if he goes to to the market on July 1. So, you know, if they can't get a deal there, imagine if they're trading him out the door, they it might not just be in like for a futures package. It might be to get a player back, right?

And I think that's where it could get exciting for the Savers. Not that you want to see him go, but, you know, I I I think that they are pretty well positioned to to go after some bigger names. I mean, look, I don't I don't know what's going to happen with Paneran. He's probably actually the biggest name truly sort of semi in play at this deadline, at least right now, unless, you know, a surprise comes along. But would he go I don't know where he wants to play. I mean it's it's just tough to to say yet. And I don't get the sense that Yarmmo has that all figured out either. I mean I the other part about taking over a team is you got you got to really he's making all these hirings, right? And they're going to have their meetings and figure it out.

But like I don't think they've entirely figured out what their path is yet. That's a team that will really benefit from this Olympic break just because it gives them a chance to catch their breath and really look hard at what they're going to do. So, I I don't think in Buffalo you're going to see anything happen short term, but you know, if they keep winning into the Olympic break, they're they're probably one of the top teams to watch, you know, in that runup to March 6.

I want to ask you CJ, I guess, what's the most intriguing team to you? Because if I look down like the list of teams, like just in the chatter that you're hearing, like obviously Calgary is a team that's there. When you look at some of the guys that they got and like what are they, where are they going, what are they going to be? Um, you go down like Edmonton made a trade for Jarry already. We've seen the Quinn Hughes trade. Detroit is rumored that they tried to get Hughes, but they didn't couldn't like that's stuff's all coming out with Stevie Y. He's been fairly patient, but there was some stink from Larkin at the end of the year last year. Like, why didn't we get a guy? So, like of these teams are some that are kind of pushing a little bit this year. You know, Buffalo's now come on to your point of what you just talked about. Is there a team out there, Montreal? Um, you know, if you look out west, any of those

teams, like anything jump out to you really? Like who is intriguing you of what they're going to do? Maybe on a better trajectory like they're getting good or they're finally popping this year that they're like, "Okay, [ __ ] Maybe this is it."

Well, I'll give you two. Detroit that you mentioned to me is one to watch. I mean, they haven't been down and out as long as Buffalo, but it's been a long time there, right, for Hockey Town USA. I mean, they are in great position now, but it's still the standings are tight and and so I think that given how long and how patient they've been, Steve Eisman is going to be aggressive, I think, at this deadline. I mean, it to me, they have to do everything they can from a management standpoint to back up what their players have done this point to give themselves a chance to get in and end their playoff drought. A sneaky one that that maybe doesn't get a lot of attention though is Utah Mammoth. And you know, you you might go like, why Utah? But remember, they they were born out of the Arizona Coyotes and that team was rebuilding for a long time. They have so many draft picks. They have so many prospects and I think they have an

owner that really wants them to take another step. And so, especially, you know, they've won a couple games here late. As long as they stay in like truly where they feel that they're in the race, I think that they're a team that could be well positioned to make a deal just because they have a lot to trade uh and and it's draft capital, but it's prospects. They would have a lot of things other teams want. I could see them going out and trying to make a move to to really solidify their blue line, you know, a top four kind of bigger trade for a defenseman if that that is out there for them. You know, I just think that you look for you kind of look for like who who can you line up the incentives for. I think the incentives are high there and then they have they've been so patient. If you go back to the Coyotes days like like Bill Armstrong, their general manager has been there a long freaking time waiting

for this and and you know it's been an up and down year. They surged out of the gates, had a great start, then they were down and out, it felt like for months, but they're they're still knocking there. And so I I could see that being a team that takes a big swing between now and March 6th.

One last night, 6-1 [ __ ] kicking who of the Leafs, right? 63 and one in their last 10. Yeah. And they they've kind of been a team for me I've been like, "Oh, these guys are going to make the playoffs." Like they got s they got they made some deals like they've been fairly exciting and aggressive with, you know, ownership and and Armstrong there as well at like trying to really make their team better. So, great call on that team. They're kind of exciting. They look cool. Like, they got a kind of cool vibe.

The jerseys. I was watching a bit of the game last night. I'm like, those jerseys look sick to me.

They look sick. They've been like everybody else, up and down. They're in the playoffs, then. Oh, they're done. They're out. Now, all of a sudden, they're back in it. Same with the Seattle Kraken. I see in the chat they're wondering if the Kraken are are going to be buyers or sellers. Can they keep this run going?

If anyone in the chat finds out, I'd love to know. I can't figure out what they're going to do in Seattle. I mean, they have so many pending UFAs. like they if they wanted to be sellers, they could be intriguing sellers because there's a lot of players there on expiring deals that I think other teams would want. But also, I mean, I I don't think they want to be sellers every year. So, I don't know that they've committed to their path, but please if if someone hears from Jason Ball, please pass along what he's thinking.

Yeah, they're they're just a wild story. Uh I I'm I'm all set here with with him, what about yourself? We taken so much your time.

I've I've I've gained so much information from this 45 minutes. It's incredible. Thank you so much, CJ.

I I almost learned as much with you in that bar in Stockholm two years ago. Well, I was going to I was going to send you off with that. I was going to say I look forward to seeing you on the streets of Stockholm again some night.

He's like, take take uh take taller in the Alpenskin League at two and a half. Hey, hey, I'm sure we we were talking about Leo Carlson and Ivor Stenberg that night at some point. I'm positive of it.

Yeah, you you had I mean, you knew it all. You still know it all, but uh that was it was a fun night.

He invented it, bud. He invented it. Siege boots on the ground at Milano already. Thanks for your great work as always. Uh truly trusted guy in our industry and one of the best. So appreciate the time today, buddy. Good luck uh with the new baby coming up. That's so exciting. Good for you.

Holy [ __ ] I'm scared, but uh we'll figure it out. I'm proud of you, buddy. Send us send me some pictures when it happens. But

it's gonna It might work out for you with the time change. You're going to be up all hour so you won't miss any Olympic games.

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. It's funny, Kobe. I saw Brian Burke the other day. He goes, "You're having a kid. Have you thought of the name Brian?"

By Yeah. B R Y an or how are we going to do that one? That's interesting. Well, congrats, buddy. Great work as always. Thanks for the time. And uh you guys can follow him over at The Athletic on TSN and uh what is it? The Steve Dangle podcast network. Is that what that stands for?

It is, buddy. Work with your friends. It's the most fun. That's what you guys look like you're doing.

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Congrats on everything, though. You're one of the best man.

Cheers. There he goes. Thanks, CJ. There he is. What a pick up by you, Arm Dog. That was That's insider. That's a real insider. We joke about the rumor, boys. That's real stuff that you can believe in. He does the work for it.

Incredible. I just thought that was so interesting, those tweets, though, like when he he actually went over there, you know?

Well, that's what I didn't know. I was like, maybe he just got he hired a little minion to go over and video, which would have been a play, you know? I was just, hey, I'll I'll Venmo you a couple hundred bucks. Take some videos of this rink for me and send them to me.

Yeah. Yeah. So, pretty incredible to get that information cuz up until that point, it' just been like,

okay, like there was a picture of the rink. Somebody took a random one, but he actually went there and got all the stuff for everybody. So, I thought it'd be good leading in and just get his insights on what he saw on there, who he talked to, what's going on and no one better than him to get that information from. No question. Great work by him to go do that. And thanks for coming on, Siege. Awesome stuff. Where are we going?

We went a lot longer than I thought with him because he just kept giving us info. So, down to riding the bus,

rip through some of the NHL quickly from last night. You know, Tampa wins. They got 11 straight.

Wow. Uh the Blue Jackets won their first game with the new coach. bonus 53 flames. A lot of people were gambling on that. The new coach bump. Uh the first question I have for you about the NHL arm dog. It's your team. You called them out last show. You were not happy with them. It's the Winnipeg Jets. They've won three in a row. Are they back?

I don't I don't know. [ __ ] They I don't think they're back. I don't know what's going to go on there. I don't think they're back. I think they dug too big of a hole.

You know what I mean? I don't and everybody else is so good. But I mean, look at what the Sabres have done. I I could see Winnipeg winning 10 in a row and all of a sudden they're back in there.

Did they find their game all of a sudden? Like are other guys on the team willing to score except for the top three guys? Is the sting of not making the Olympics for shifley gone and he can just roll like what what's I don't know the feel. I Winnipeg has lost me a little bit. They just went in such a deep dungeon of a hole. I don't know what to do. And we talked about Stamos. Yes, he O Pred's win in OT. Uh Stamco 20 goals. He just mentioned that CJ the season he's having and how he's playing right now. Um yeah, and I know Posasha I don't know if he wants Stam Coast on New Jersey or if he doesn't. I forget what he said in our

Yeah, he didn't want him, which we was just absurd. And then the Chicklets guys have just kept bringing it up to him and I love it every time I get to hear them give it to Pasha.

Yeah, they beat the Oilers, man. Wow. Yeah, Oilers though. But McDavid 20ame point streak again. He had what? Um 29th birthday. The stats are most most points over a 20 game span since Mariel Lemieux, our ex- teammate. 9697.

Crazy. That's insane. Crazy. 19 goals, 46 points on a 20game point streak. He just turned 29 yesterday, I believe, also, which I was like, "Wow, he's getting up there now." Hey, like he's still in his prime.

That's Look at that. Sydney Crosby, former teammate of mine. Wayne Gretzky, my former coach. Danny Heatley, a former teammate. Adam Oats, RPI alum. You know, I'm just all over this list. Arm dog,

do you like how far into the 2,000 point mark is he going to get in his career? Like, is he going to come close to Gretz?

I I I'm telling I I'm telling you, I said Crosby's not might not stop till he gets to Gretzky's record. And the way McDavid's scoring, he might just get them before he's even 40 years old.

That's crazy. 1,164 career points for McDavid. That's insane. What's What's Gretz have? 2,800 or something. He's like way up there. It's crazy. Like you you have to blow.

Well, you're going to find out when you have to do that much on the ice when you lose the 99 trophy.

So, you you'll know the answer to that very soon. Yes, I know that's true. And um yeah, that anything else from the NHL arm dog? Well, Ducks finally won last night. Beat Dallas. What's going on? Dallas a little bit sneaky.

3-1. Senaki. How about that kid? Nice goal. Game-winning goal. Held up 2-1. Goalie pulled. Trouba empty netter all the way down last night late night. I was watching that. So, they get out of a little funk that they're in. Can't play defense. Now they decide to beat the Dallas Stars 3 to one. I mean, what's going on?

I think that was tough. Dallas was on a backtoback. Where were they? Weren't they somewhere? Gretzky 2,856.

Yeah. Okay. That's crazy. That is crazy. But yeah, you'll be you'll be you'll be a little sore after that day, arm dog. Um but let's move on. I want to get to the to riding the bus. You know, we got to talk CHL, college hockey. They're both heating up. Those seasons are they're coming down to it now.

Yeah, they are. It's it's it's it's rolling along. World Juniors is done. Some of these players getting back to their regular club teams. Holidays are over. kind of the sprint to the playoffs I guess for a lot of these clubs and the road to Colona for the Memorial Cup this year. How do you say that? Shakudami, Seguanis in the queue. Number one team buddy.

You trying that? I want you to try it. Yeah, I don't want you trying that. Jacudami, Everett, Brford, Edmonton, Prince Albert locked in there. There's some big trade that Braden Coots got traded from Seattle uh first round pick of Vancouver Conucks this past year to Prince Albert. So he'll help pump them up. Monton, Medicine Hat, which is crazy to me. Ottawa, Flint, and Pentictton. Wow, Pentictton. Way to go. Getting in there.

I don't even know. Are they Have they been a WHL team the whole time? I think they're like I think they're like brand new,

which is crazy. I could be smoking something, but I'm pretty sure. Me, too. I feel like they were I feel like that's where uh the two kids that went to Maine played. I think they're BCHL team or something and then they moved into a Western League team. I think I think they're brand new. Pretty cool place to play though, Pentictton. Beautiful spot out there in BC. Absolutely beautiful. There's your top 10 CHL power rankings from the old armdog. You want to get over to Oh, and just to touch on OHL prospects game in Peterborough tonight. That'll be tonight. And to stay in the junior theme, a little USHL action as well.

Prospects game in Plymouth tomorrow night. So, all the stuff leading up, we're gonna have to get on some uh draft insiders coming up here in the second half of the season, Merles, as we

tinker into these seasons. We got Zack Boychuk in the chat. Pentictton came from the BCHL. So, I had that.

There you go. And that's where uh the two guys that played at Maine, the brothers. I can't think of the one he plays in Carolina now.

The Nado Brothers. Nidau brothers. That's where AR that's where Benny Bar got the Nado brothers from.

Oh, yeah. They had like 300 points each every season out there. They were just little studs wheeling and dealing. So now we got G on here. Let's get the get get your guys' uh college hockey.

Here we go, boys. So Merles, I think I think the most interesting thing here is uh I feel like Jack Ivanovic got hurt.

That's the Michigan goalie. He's kind of uh I don't want to say he's put the team on his back this year, but he has been a catalyst for that team. They finally got the goalie that they needed. He's hurt. Nado said it's not season ending, but it it seems like he's going to be out here for a bit. That breaks things open here. I mean, that that for a team like Wisconsin for Michigan State to jump back up to one. So, uh keep an eye on the Michigan Wolverines because they don't have their uh their stud goalie right now,

but the coach got a new contract. So, we we had to keep them up there. Friend of the show.

One thing I got to admit, you know, I I did these rankings before I saw the North Dakota video with with Coach Gruden. Coach Gruden on boxing. If you haven't seen that video, get over there. And after seeing that video, I think I got to move North Dakota up to number five at least.

Fair. Definitely fair. Coach Dane Jackson, he's a friend of mine. I've known him for a long time. Uh just a what a move by him. I don't know why I didn't think of that sooner. We should have had the RBI box to get out to coach Gruden. But you do see RPI in the honorable mention.

Out outplayed Quinnipiac on the road Saturday. Coach Coach Petnel even said it like they were just completely outplayed. He wasn't happy with his guys, but they had a they they had a great game against Quinnipak, so that's a good sign. They're home this weekend, Friday night vers Yale. I'll be going to that game. And then Austinana in the honor.

Augustana, South Dakota, baby. The first division one hockey team in South Dakota. They uh 146 and three on the year. Nine and one, 91 and three, I believe, at home. Uh they only became a division one team, I believe, in 2023. So, this is uh it's a pretty cool story. Them along with St. Thomas, St. Thomas and Minnesota, they just built that beautiful, beautiful new facility. I think they spent $183 million on it. So, that is it's absolutely gorgeous. Uh so, two teams uh they're not top 10 yet, but it's you got to give these two programs a shout out, Augustana and St. Thomas, cuz they're uh they're rising the ranks.

They're riding the bus, boys. Yeah. And then I'm I'm gonna do my sales now because uh that Penn State game's getting close and you talked a little bit about the merch, but I you didn't get to see this shirt. Look at this shirt I got sent in the mail, boys.

I was wondering when we were going to see some of that action. We got Gavin McKenna.

H. Yep. Yep. Yep. No, we don't. We don't have that shirt yet. Uh Merles, that that shirt has not been released yet. I should have probably told you that before the show. So, I'm going to put you back in, Merles. Please do not show that shirt again.

About this What about this gray hoodie I got? Gray hoodie is good. As long as it doesn't have anyone's name on it.

Oh, there we go. There we go. I I asked him I asked him pre-show. Do we have the merch?

What do you got there, G? What is that? State shirt here. Oh, yeah. We're taking Penn State.

We're taking Penn State by storm, boys. Penn State. We will be there. What is that? January 31st.

January 31st out outdoor game. We're going to be at the game at Pagoula the night before as well. All the whole Chicklets team is going to be there. Uh part of the broadcast. It's going to be it's going to be a lot of fun.

Yeah. Big stuff coming there. I'm pumped for that, boys. That'll be unbelievable. Like just like the energy, the action, like a real college environment. I' I've never really done that. So to be there sharing that with you guys will be awesome. And Benny Bulma, I was seeing him last night. He'll be there. He's loving it. He's looking forward to it, too. Just loves Penn State, that guy. Well, but this this could line up for a great Frozen 4, though. Imagine you get Michigan, Wisconsin, Penn State. You get a bunch of these big schools out there. We could have a good time with that and just bring tons of eyes onto the college hockey.

Um I I was talking to you guys in the chat about the top 10 scores. I don't know if we got the graphic for it, but I found it very interesting was uh you see the little NHL logos there. Three of the top 10 scores in NCA right now are Pittsburgh Penguin prospects. Arm dog that's got to [ __ ] you up.

Plant who? What? Cruz Lucius. Keep going down. Who do we got? Who else do we got there? Who else?

See, I made this point to the guys the other day. I the other day I said to the guys, I'm like, "Oh, like the Bruins are the only team in NCAA hockey that has four prospects that have 10 or more goals." And Biz and Wit basically told me that like scoring in college doesn't matter. And that's not a good way to evaluate prospects. But like what other way are we evaluating prospects if if goals don't count? Like

that's probably just them thinking about me G. You know, true. That's all they have very small brains that can only think like, oh, I know a college guy that scored and he stunk in the NHL.

True. I wonder too like they're all at the ages of develop. Like I wonder if they look at their game and like they just look at it differently. Some of these guys that look at it and they're like, "Okay, but like what will he be?" Like that will come. you know, these things will happen and change and be different, but generally like I think guys that score score like you know what I mean?

Like that number 10 right there is Justin Puyer. He's the kid at Maine. I that's the guy I called for the hattick cuz I saw him shoot the puck in warm-ups. It was totally different than any other player I've seen. If he gets a chance, he's going to be able to score goals. Michael Hayes on there. We all saw him at World Juniors. He's going to be an NHLer.

He's sick. He is sick. That's what the conversation was about like trades for Montreal. They know they have that kid coming next year. They're like, "Do you do something or do you just wait?" I don't know.

Ba Bera was texting me about an inch because Bura, our guy, our social guy, Berta, he's a Calgary fan and uh or he's a Pittsburgh fan, but he lives in Calgary.

Calgary. Yeah. And he was uh he was suggesting he that Michael like doing a a a trade like Michael Hayes for Cadri. So, so it's like H and you know a top prospect, top pick.

They would do that in a heartbeat. Calgary. Yeah, because I mean it gives both teams what they want. It's like Calgary's rebuilding. You got Ha and Perk. You can basically build around those two. You give Montreal the center they need. I don't know.

I don't know if you give up on a guy like that for that move. I don't know. I don't think that

But Montreal could win now. Get Cadri. You can go win now. This it's wide open this year.

Yeah. Yeah. But can you beat Colorado? That's the That's the whole thing. That's what kills everybody's thoughts. They're like, "Let's do it. Let's win. We're the best team in the East. We can do it." And then it's just like zoom out a bit and you just see Colorado. I go, "Oh shit."

All right. All right. Where we going, Mr. It is time for the show. Minds your favorite part. And again, I held out for the graphic. I think that's a couple shows in a row. I You know,

I think so, too. We've been dominating at that, buddy. Getting better at that. You want me to go?

You're up first with the show, buddy. My show is like not hockey related at all. It's puppy related. It's our new dog. Puppy related. Is there anything more show for dog owner that just gets a new dog that when you're trying to house train this dog and you take it outside, you're constantly on edge? Like you hear his caller. This is me. You hear his call. Where is he? What's he doing? Keep an eye on him. You got to get him. Does he have to go out? Does he have to go out? You're trying to train him to go outside to go to the bathroom. And then when you take him out there and you get him to go number one and number two outside, there's nothing more show than the celebration you give that little puppy for doing that outside. The whole family is jacked up, hugging them, kissing them, petting them, squeezing them, cheering like it's like a human being or something that took their first steps. There's nothing

more show if you're a dog owner than getting your dog to go outside and go both things seeing it outside, not on your house floor. Not on your house floor. When you get them out there and you get it dialed in and you get it done as a dog owner and you're training that show, baby. That show. And I I've had that feeling and it's just amazing when you take them out and it just happens. It's the greatest feeling in the world. Greatest.

That's good to hear. I got a two-year-old that I'm going to start doing that with

outside. Not outside, not on a little potty. But yeah, we need to get that going here once things settle down around here. But uh G, why don't we get you back on quickly for a show?

Yeah. So, I'm gonna uh I'm going to call the Detroit Red Wings equipment managers to the show. Uh Sergey Federoff retirement ceremony happened this past week and what they did the shells on the skates. Posasha, you want to pull those skates up? Uh the skates that they had, I mean, they put these shells on every player skates. Sergey Federov wore the iconic Nike Nike white Nike skates. So, uh, it was so so cool when like they posted the video of the team coming out of the tunnel and it was like, wait, are they all wearing white Nikes? And then you look closer and it's like the equipment managers put shells over each one of these guys skate. That had to take hours, hours and hours. These guys are already

Yeah. And they work so hard as it is. So, it's like equipment managers to the show. This was just an awesome move.

Yeah. I got a funny story at RBI my freshman year. I ordered a pair of white Nikes and they came and they wouldn't the guys wouldn't let me wear them.

No. Murf right next to me. He's like, "Dude, you're not wearing those." He's like, "I had these mic."

You had those other ones. You had those silver Nikes when Well, I got those later on in the in my last two years. But my first year, I had a pair of the exact white ones like that. Murf guy dead deads me. He's like, "You're not wearing those." He's like, "Get another pair of your microns you're wearing now." And I was doing I was doing good. So, I was like, "All right, just I'll just listen to this guy."

I wore those uh silver eastn ultral lights. You guys remember those? Just like bright silver.

Yeah. Yeah. That's what his Nikes look like. They look like cinder blocks. They're huge. Girls had huge

moon boots. Moon boots. That was awesome. G. Yeah. Great moment. Yeah, that was sick.

Yeah, that was that was an awesome night. Pasha show. Uh Army, you know, just sticking with your thing in the puppy training. Got to give a shout out to uh Yeah, this is my girlfriend's dog. She's out of town for work, so I'm dogsitting. And like you said, he's a very good boy. He knows exactly where to potty and where not to potty. So, had to give Ben a little air time.

Good boy, Daddy. You good boy. You good boy. And I wasn't planning on doing a show. I've been very grumpy lately. I hate hockey. I hate everything going on. But, you know, I I figured with the news this morning, got to give our boy Busy Boy a little shout out here. Multi-year extension with TNT. uh the hardest working man in hockey. Just uh you know, so well-deserved contract for him. So um busy boy to the show.

Yeah, that's awesome. B celebrating in Buffalo. He'll be on Chipoa tonight buying drinks if anyone wants to see him.

Yeah, you'll see him. He's huge, too. Tall, just ripping down Chipoa with his stride just going to town. How how how uh how much fun do you think uh memesy Dale is gonna have with a dog sitting thing for Pasha? That's the first thing I thought of. I was like, "Oh no. Oh no. Dale's going to love this."

Yeah. Uh Pasha's picking up his girlfriend's dogs and Biz just keeps losing dogs to girlfriends. But uh we'll we'll move on to my show and I'm I'm back. Two weeks in a row I'm on the show. I'm on the St. Louis Blues. I know they're not having a great season, but we were out there for chasing goals. We're out there for the NCAA, so be become a Blues guy. But, um, Jackman and Steen went in and there they are with their blue jackets. It It looked like a great night. There was a great speech by I can't think of his name right now. I can't believe I'm forgetting him. Who's the big fighter? Righty.

Cam Jansen, man. Cam Jansen gave a great speech how uh, you know, Jackman helped all these guys become Stanley Cup champion. He's an NHL. And he's like, "You did good. you did five out of six. He's like, I'm still a

Yeah, that was a good speech. That was so good. They got a great alumni there. And I I forget the award that Kelly Chase was awarded, too, which was another great ceremony with with for him, like the True Blue Award. Uh, and I know he was on last week's pod with the boys popping in. Um, they do it right there with their guys. They they got a close-knit, tight-knit group. And I know even TJ Oshi was on the broadcast light uh last night. Merles, I think he was between the benches, too. So cool to have him down there.

Yeah, they brought him in for that game. That was sweet. Can I uh can I do my mindsies now? Because it kind of works with this. So I'm I'm calling anyone to the Minesies who isn't calling the St. Louis Blues right now. It's been reported that the St. Louis Blues are open for business. Everybody except the real young guys are on the table. Doug Armstrong, I believe he said something along the lines of, you know, there's no way we compete with Colorado, so you know, everyone is available. If you're a playoff team and you are not calling about Robert Robert Thomas mindsies mindsies mindsies mindsies, Robert Thomas is a guy that you win with in the playoff. That's a guy that can set your team over the edge like Carolina. A team like Carolina, Toronto, these teams that just need that mean bully to come in and play that hard-nosed old school type of hockey.

Robert Thomas can do that. So any team, any GM that New Jersey Devils, you're telling me they couldn't use Robert Thomas? Any team to the Minesies.

I would love Robert Thomas. Love that. Oh, surprise. Surprise. He actually wants

He can dish, too. He's sick. Robert Thomas. He can do it all. And and he's been hurt this year, so his numbers are pretty low. So maybe you can get him for a bit cheaper than in a in a normal year where he's lighting it up. But mines 1,000% if you are not calling the St. Louis Blues for Robert. Uh, one more thing to think about, G, on that path. If you think they're going to be sellers and start the tank, they have Oto Stenberg on their on their team already. Brother of Ivar Stenberg. Can you imagine if they can drop into the top three and assemble the brothers?

Cuz they got the Swedish GM now and Alex Steen, right? Like, they could become the new Swedish hub in the NHL.

There we go. There we go. The faces are coming. The signs. The signs. Yeah, about that.

Yeah, that's so good. That's good, buddy. Arm dog, what do you got for the minds?

Well, minesies for me, I'm traveling a lot, right? Like I'm a big Delta guy. Like I I love like I love Delta. Like they're pretty like reliable, like on time all the time, generally pretty good. I noticed now since like I started out of the break here.

Um they they must have got emails sent out where they're like crack down on this and it's the three bag like carry-on policy. So, I have my bag, like my little rolly bag. It's small little carry-on. Then I have my backpack for work. I have like my podcasting stuff and like my notepads and all my [ __ ] being a nerd. And then I have a a a suit little suit bag, a little carrier for my suits. Like a little what do they call that? Garment bag.

Mhm. So, like, no big deal. So, when I get in there, I usually put my garment bag. I check it in that little closet. Hey, can I hang this?

That's a veteran move, by the way. Yeah. Hey, can I hang this in here? They're like, yeah, no problem. So, forever it's been not a big deal. This is my kit. This is my setup. This is how I roll. Now, the last two flights I've been on, they're like three bags. Like, they're going crazy on me at the thing Delta. Like, what the hell is going on? You're close to going on like Air Canada status in my books with this attitude. And you must have got an email and now they got like people there like just like counting and getting in my FA. I'm like, I just need to I don't want to wait for 25 minutes, 30 minutes for my little shitty carry-on bag. I got to come up with another system, but Deltaies right now.

Are they charging you for it or they just won't even let you on with it? They're

gate won't let me. They make you gate check it. We can't let you even come on with that. I'm like, come on. Like, I've been doing this for like three years, buddy. Like, what are you doing?

Yeah, you're just I think they're going to have to go less wardrobe and just put it all in the in the put all the

pockets. Fold it all up in there. They they like consolidate. I was going to wrap my garment bag around my backpack

or or do what I've been fighting for, which I had to listen to RA and those guys talk about it. Wear the suit on the plane. Look like a pro.

That's actually true. I could but I had two suits cuz it was on last night and then I'm on tonight. So, I I can't go back to back.

I did a 30-day road trip in the mines in the miners in San Antonio in one suit.

One suit, two shirts. We got new socks and underwear and we got to Harford. Yeah,

there's there there's a simple plan. They got to take better care of you. Exactly, Matthew in the chat.

And to continue on this because it was driving me nuts because I thought we were through all this, but those guys were talking about and G was on there and you're not doing it for the airline. You're doing it for the other people. They're like, "Oh, the airlines are treating us like crap. Why do I got to dress up it?" No, you're doing it to be like a citizen of the world.

You're not doing it for Delta. You're doing it for me. You're doing it for the guy next to you. Look like a We wore masks during COVID. You did it for the guy next to you. Like, dress nice for the guy next to you. Be a citizen. Be a good citizen.

Nothing to do with the airlines. God, can't. This is going to be a fight I'm going to take to my deathbed.

You will. You'll take it. I love it. What do you got, bud? I don't know. Where we at? Did we get everybody?

Just me, huh? Well, mine, of course, is about the Buffalo Bills, and they're getting completely screwed this weekend with this NFL schedule. They played on Sunday. And now they got to play the first game on Saturday against a team that's had the buy. So I don't see why they're not. All the teams that were on buy should at least be playing Sunday. So the Bills get the full seven days. Instead, the teams that played Saturday night last weekend are playing on the Sunday. So they're getting eight days. So the Bills have gone from seven normal, they only get six against a team that had 13. And then these other teams are getting eight. It's just it's it's garbage.

They're coming for us. They don't want us to win because we got the best player in the world, but it will not stop us. Even though the NFL and Gadell to the Minesies, Buffalo Bills, money line, take it again.

He hates Gadell. He hates schedules. Oh, I need you in that good organizational brain. It's a little

Yes. Operations management. Operations. I I don't think we went to Posasha. Did we go to Posasha?

Minesies. No, not yet. Uh, my mindsies is the New Jersey Devils. We don't need to get into the reasons why. It's been well documented. You know why? But until they turn this [ __ ] ship around, my mindsies will be the Devils ownership, management, some of the players, everything. All the devils just minds. I would like to do another show here real quick. You're done. I got I got one more. I got one more. And I would like to call I think accountability is a huge thing, right? anyone who is accountable. I'm going to call Tom Fitzgerald to the show because Tom Fitzgerald started his press conference today saying this is on me.

This whole roster, this team, all the issues, it falls on me. So that's a guy unlike unlike Mr. Basha up there who takes no accountability for anything in his life. Tom Fitzgerald stood up, faced the music, and said, "This one's on me, guys." So Tom Fitzgerald is getting called to the

What's he supposed to say? Yeah. No, it's on ownership for not wanting to buy out contracts or not letting me fire Ke. What is he supposed to just bury ownership? What's he supposed to say?

He could give a political answer. You know, we're working hard. That is That was a political answer.

He put all the He put it all on him. He put it all on That's what you wanted, didn't you?

Well, of course, but what if he went up there and was like, "No, it's not on me. It's all on the players." People would like shred him. So, of course, he's going to go up there and take the bullet. Like, come on, Je.

And and that's and that's why he's getting and that's why he's getting called to the show. He took the bullet. Something you know nothing about. Taking a little

Oh, so he's getting called to the show for doing the bare minimum of his job for first time showing his face in [ __ ] four months. No, that's I'm

I do notice that you are you're you're beyond like angry. You're like really down now. I do notice that about you today. Even when you came on with CJ, you were just like, oh, you know, like how's it going? Like the Devils and I'm like

this next 10 days is is make or break. They they looked really good in Minnesota. They played fast. best I've seen them look since October. If they can keep that going and rattle off some wins the next 10 days, I'll have hope. But if if this next 10 days doesn't produce at least a few W's, then I think the season is is curtain. So very very big 10 days here.

Keep holding out hope, Posh. Good job, buddy. Holding up. All right. Um let's move on. Let's move on. We talked a little bit about it earlier. The 99 trophy arm dog. I was chirping you that you're you're probably doing it. Let's make sure. Let's Let's do the weekly checkup and see where we're at. Yep. 193 for Armdog. 218 for me.

You're actually still within you can you're striking range of me. 28 228 for Grenell. 252 for Posasha. He's safe safely running away with this

clip. All these chirps. If my guys just all of a sudden go on Fuego. Misa comes out of nowhere. or they call him up from Junzies or I don't know where he is like or like Suzuki just goes on a

him and Howard are in the KHL or Swedish second league right now. Suzuki goes on a McDavid 20ame run. I'll be laughing.

I think Posasha is going to even create some more separation here. Matthews is just starting to get hot like only at 37 points. Like I think Posasha is gonna start running away.

Let him run. I want to catch you guys. That's all I care about. That's all I need.

Just don't come in last. Just don't go last. I don't need my back breaking or getting blisters on my hands.

Libby MS is not wrong. This is the only thing that's making Posha smile right now. You're not wrong, Libby. You're not wrong.

You call me Blippy Merles. Libby. Oh, Libby. I've been I've been watching a lot of Blippy here.

All right, let's get to 90. What do we got next? And I'm right back to frowning.

There we go. There we go. Oh, yeah. I'm going to look at that. I'm okay with that.

Merl's 448, Grenell 425, Armdog 398, Pasha 387. Yeah, I think Blues and Jets wake up. I'm in good spot. Blues and Jets wake up. Likely not going to happen. But

what do I have? The two best teams in the league. Three best teams in the league. Nice.

Nice. All right, we'll keep track of this all year long, folks. Let's get to tonight's games. Merles, four games.

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Before we do the picks, we buried the lead here. Merles,

what? We let off chicklets with a crazy story about you c potentially winning a $60,000 bet, you know, calling wit, cashing out 15 grand. You got to tell this story. This was electric. It had me on the edge of my seat.

Yeah. Gam gambling hour here with Merles. Yeah. So, I don't know. I don't even know who this was on online, but you know, if I see a Jersey Jerry parlay, I'll put something on it. If I see a big cap parlay on DraftKings, I'll put a hundred on it. And I had a lot of money in my account from from chasing goals with Mr. Ice down in Philly. We we hit that. So, I had a little extra money in my account. And I'm just scrolling Twitter and I see this fiveman TD parlay 100 to win 58 grand. I don't even know who it was. I don't follow them. And I and I kind of lost track. I don't know how I could find out who it was. But it had it had Parkinson from LA who I like who I've bet on before. Kinc Kade obviously Bills I always take and then Goddard from the Eagles who I always take and I liked it so I said ah screw it I got a lot of money in there I'll put a hundred bucks on it not even really thinking about it I'm watching

the game Saturday the first game Parkinson goes in in the fourth quarter I'm like oh that was crazy and the next one up is DJ Moore for the Bears so I'm watching that game and it was just pathetic and I said I'm done I'm just going to go to bed I didn't even watch the end of that game I wake up In the morning, I see the score. I'm like, "Holy [ __ ] the Bears came back 31 points." I go, "Maybe Moore got one." Do I do the the slow squirrel uh scroll through uh through the thing and boom, Moore? I'm like, "Yes, DJ Moore got it."

And I know Concade's getting one. So, I'm all fired up watching the Bills and Concade's not out there. Cancade I played one snap in the first half. I'm like, "Oh my god, he's he's too hurt to play. They're not even using him in the red zone. This thing's dead. This stinks. So, I'm just cheering for the Bills. Lo and behold, he pops onto the field in the fourth quarter. Bang. Scores. So, now I got three of them. And the pay the cash out was I think 5200 now for $100 bet. I'm like, "Wow, that's pretty good. I could that could go towards a couple couches."

So, then we're going we're going and I'm like, "Man, I love GD. I I I take him every week. I I like him a lot in this kind of game. big body. I I I like this a safe play. I'm going to let it ride. And as I'm I'm I'm I'm w like walking into a bar. I see it on the TV. It goes in. Boom. He scores right in there. Win that. So now the cash out goes up to 14,000. And it was just the decision of a lifetime. Do I let it ride? Do I let it ride? And thank God my buddies there talked me into it. Whit helped me out. Migs hit that cash out button, got out and just sweat out the Patriots game that Diggs didn't score, too. So, it all worked out. Good win. Good win.

Wow. Why wasn't that on our chat? I would have told you. I almost like I almost forgot about it.

I would have told you the same thing to cash out, too. So, I'm glad that you had some good guys around you.

Yeah, it was crazy. Crazy time. I'm NFL guy and I had the Bills. I told everybody take the Bills. I've been telling everybody take the Bills the whole year.

This guy knows ball. No ball and no ball. All right, Merles, you got four games tonight, buddy. There's the story from Chicklets. I love it. Four games tonight. Here we go.

What are you looking at? What do you got? Easy to keep track of for you tonight. Not crazy. You lose track of your your action.

No. Yeah, that's what the the Wednesday nights. It's a big TNT night. We talked about Biz being there. But first, I got to go with Posh's Devils. I know Seattle's been winning, but the way posh has been complaining, I think the Devils might go on a run here. So, I'll take them minus 148.

Wow. Yep. Got to ride them. Got to ride them. Uh, next up, I love this one. This is my play because this is the game I want to watch because I want to hear Biz between the benches. Sabres Money Line and Thompson Point. You get it at plus 108. You know, Biz is boots on the ground. He's got the new contract. He's going to be full of life there. So, I'm really excited for that game. And then the late game, you know, Vegas, I'm a Vegas guy. I may even pull the jacket out for this one. Vegas money line minus 118.

You got to get the jackets out. Yeah, you got to get that thing out, buddy. I love it. I'll be in studio for all those too Merl.

But we we also I don't know if we got the graphic yet, but we have a Chicklets parlay coming in. Oh, there it is. There it is. Look at these guys behind the scenes. They're the best in the business. There it is. Bitten Chicklets on DraftKings Sportsbook. You got me and Wit's head there. It's the Vegas Golden Knights to win. Jack Eel two points, Sabres to win. Thompson two points plus 1110. Just hit a nice parlay. This could be another nice little parlay for us. It's the Americans, the Olympians. We had Olympic talk on here. I think it's just a lot of good stuff going on. Buffalo, Vegas, two of my favorite cities in the world. So, here we go. There it is.

That's built up. There's your Wednesday night tonight. Uh Merles will put that out on socials and everything. You follow along, play and ride with the game notes. Uh Thursday night, 10 games. Merles, lot of action from four to 10. Fill your boots here. Lot of action. Again, stick with Buffalo. I'm going I'm going Montreal and Buffalo over six and a half. Both these teams love to score. They always seem to go over when they play each other. And then my next one up, I really like this game. Vancouver's lost 10 out of 11. I think it's eight in a row going into Columbus. Columbus with the new coach bump. They already won their first game with Bones behind the bench, so I think they get the second one. Take the Columbus Blue Jackets there. And then going out west late game, Islanders, Edmonton over six and a half. Edmonton. I mean, McDavid's going to get a point. They're going to get their goals and they can't keep it out

of the net right now. And the Islanders, they can score. So I think that's I think that's a four 43 54 game out there.

Goals. Merles chasing goals that one. I love it. I love it, buddy. Good picks. Follow along. Check out the socials. Keep track of those. And then if you're going to do old Merles Cash Out, there you go.

I'm on a heater. I'm on a heater right now. This is the time to jump on and ride. I'm on a little bit of a heater. There's a guy at the greatest bar last night that was like, "Fuck, every time I bet on Merles's like Euro hockey plays, I'm like, "What am I doing betting on a game in Germany at 10 in the morning?" He's like, "But every time I do it, they lose. And when I don't do it, they win."

They win. Yeah. Yeah. I hit this I hit that Sunday morning, too. I hit my German German bankroll builder Sunday morning. I'll have some Maybe I'll have a Swedish game tomorrow. I got to dig back in. and a lot my my Swedish insiders were all over at the World Junior, so I wasn't really dialed in the last few weeks on the SHL like I should be.

It's okay, buddy. That's okay, though. You're like the NHL season. You ride the waves, ups and downs.

Yeah, there it is. Um Yeah. I mean, players go through ups and downs all year long, arm dog, and that's why you're here. When a guy's down in the dumps,

who are they going to call? Put it. You're in a slump and you need a bump. Who you going to call? Slump busters.

I got lots of people. Recap. Recap. Last week. You tried. You tried the tier 2 junior team that was 0 and31.

Sarnia Legionnaires boys. My heart goes out to you guys. I mean 42. I was getting messages. The rink was packed. Like a lot of support for the boys there. Hang in there. Stay with it. We're going to get this. Slump Dog's not going anywhere. Still thinking of you boys. Get one and then you get on a roll. Might take more than you usually think too, Sarnia. So, just stay with it. You might block shots. It's going to take more than just like, oh well. No, not oh well. We're going to go. Okay. So, I'm still hanging in there with you guys. But Merles, the phone's been buzzing. The phone's been buzzing. We're searching. There's a lot of buzz. We had CJ on. A lot of trade talk, right? Well, what's going on? I'm taking it out west.

And I already did a guy off this team early in the year and busted him. I busted him hard. Unbelievable. So I'm taking it to Calgary again.

Calgary, you are on trade watch. Are your guys going? Are they staying? Who are you? What are you doing? And one of those main players in that is Cadri,

the CAD daddy, my old teammate in Toronto when he was a rookie. 11 games, no goals. Merles, one assist. That that doesn't even seem possible.

Oh, look how chilly that guy is. He is ice cold. The cat daddy. He's on the power play. Slick mitties. He's in a funk right now. And he needs the old arm dog. Give his back a rub. And I'm here for you, Nazzy boy. I got you. You're getting out of it. The sun will shine and melt that frost off you, big boy. Love you, Nazzy. Love the good people of Calgary out west. And that was a better picture of them there. Totally defrosted. It's going to happen soon, buddy. get out of this thing. 11 games, no goals, one assist. We got you.

So, next three games, Calgary at Chicago on Thursday. Then, then they're at home. Wait, versus Wait, let me see here. No, home. Home verse Chicago. Home verse the Islanders. Home verse New Jersey. Little threeame home stand against some teams that can give up goals right there. Arm dog, I like it.

The slump buster for him right there. And the arm dog's in his back pocket. Here we go. Can't be denied. Cadry, let's go. Get out of this thing. I got Hubedo at the start of the year. He needed it bad and he got to the mixer. Nazzy, maybe the mixer's your play. Get on the inside, baby. You're an inside guy. You get to the inside. You a little sandpaper. We all know this. Love the way you play.

Yeah, that's I I don't understand. I can't believe he's that cold. That's crazy. But I see Laura having him in fantasy has been a little rough, but Laura made me think of her parlay she put in the chat there. I don't know if everybody could see it. Three shot Hughes, two shots here. What Hughes though?

Yeah, that's a good question. Two Meyer, four shots Kachchuck, three shots, Canaran, two shots, Ma, three shots, Ta Thompson. I need a point or two from him. Plus 2067 with a 30% DraftKings profit boost. Look at her company girl.

Plus, 1589 without it. All right, we I'm glad we got that in at the end here, bro.

Yeah, I would assume it's Jack Hughes. Three, three shots, Jack Hughes. It's got to be Jack. So, keep an eye on Kadri. Keep an eye on the Laura. Keep an eye on Merles's picks tonight and tomorrow night. Merles. Great job, you beauty.

Yeah. Thank you to the chat. Thank you to Chris Johnson coming on and just just spitting knowledge to us. Just giving us all the insight on the Olympics, on the trades. Just just an amazing resource for us to have. Shout out to our sponsor right here, Body Armor. Body Armor Flash IV. We talked about me getting through the Bills game with him. G's got a week of weddings. Perfect for that hydration. If it's sports, if it's weddings, if it's school, stay hydrated, body.

And remember, you can always find us on audio and Apple, Spotify, and Amazon. Subscribe and like and comment on the YouTube channel, of course. Get those up for us. Looks good on us with the chicklets YouTube. So, thank you everybody. Uh, thanks for hanging in there with the two o'clock time change with the travel as well, people. Love you guys.

Love you guys. See you next week. Under. Under. No goals. No goals. It's time to check the game notes. I think we're going to have the show of the year here. We're almost having magical moments here.

Show Mindsy's time. Army show start us off. What an opportunity. Another idea by me. Everything's Mos's idea.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "Mayday in Milan? - Game Notes ft. Chris Johnston - 01.14.26"?

G (Host), Merles (Host), Chris Johnston (Guest), Posasha (Guest).

What is "Mayday in Milan? - Game Notes ft. Chris Johnston - 01.14.26" about?

The discussion centers around a lively analysis of recent sports events and highlights, particularly focusing on the excitement surrounding the Bills' impending Super Bowl appearance and reflections on a recent game experience featuring a notable jersey retirement in Detroit. The hosts share personal anecdotes, chemistry, and enthusiasm while promoting a hydration product, contributing to the…

What is mentioned in this Spittin' Chiclets episode?

45 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Olympics, Chris Johnston, NHL, Milan, NHL Trade Deadline, Bruins. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Mayday in Milan? - Game Notes ft. Chris Johnston - 01.14.26"?

The episode runs 1 h 41 min; the transcript is about 22,706 words in 353 timestamped sections.

More from Spittin' Chiclets

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated January 24, 2026.