Mike Commodore Rings in the New Year: Winter Classic Preview, Macklin Makes Team Canada and 2026 Predictions.

With Adnan Virk back from Winnipeg and Jason Demers heading to Florida, the guys preview the Winter Classic, celebrate Macklin Celebrini heading to the Olympics and speculate about what Buffalo might do at the trade deadline. Then Mike Commodore stops by to discuss his beef with Scott Arniel, his experience at the White House and his favorite Uber driver moments. Finally, Adnan reviews Bradley Cooper's latest and the guys welcome back Tim Saunders after his hot mic mishap.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
NHL Unscripted is a production of the NHL and iHeart podcasts.
Welcome to NHL Unscripted. Coming up, our favorite moment of

(00:24):
twenty and twenty five cent a file and sixty on
a misstep for director of Bradley Cooper now on Netflix.
Plus our man commie that's right, International hockey going right
now World Juniors. We have a commie on the podcast,
Mike Commodore with unbelievable stories about Mike Babcock, Scott O'Neil
and an uber experience which he will not forget. But
first and foremost, happy holidays to all hope. It was

(00:47):
a merry Christmas in Quebec, JD. You're on your way
soon to Florida. Your action pack time right now for
the Demers group.

Speaker 2 (00:54):
Yeah, I was in Canada, Quebec City. See some family
experienced the minus twenty five celsius. That was cold as
absolute dog shit. It was a great time. They'll got
to go skate on the ODR on the outdoor rink.
I still got it. Got to go skate with my
niece who's nine years old almost ten and her hockey team.

(01:15):
So it was a lot of fun because all the
kids were chirping me. It was the girls team, and
they were asking me for my autograph and then saying
my autograph was quote scribbly scrabbly and not a good autograph.
So I was kind of like a little humble pie
with the kids. Kids don't lie to you, so you're
just sitting there and you're like, it's it was tough

(01:36):
to take, but I ended up scoring two and getting
two assists in the little game we played and I dominated.
So at the end of the day, I win, and
I'm the former NHL R So yeah, I serve them
back a plate of justice.

Speaker 3 (01:49):
I like it.

Speaker 1 (01:50):
Let's hope that there's justice for Canada at the Olympics.
We're recording this before the Team Canada roster is going
to be revealed, but we'll wait until the other rosters
are out to review them all together. But you are
wearing a Shark's jersey because Macklin celebrating is gonna be
on the team, which is gonna be unbelievable. Mac do
Let's go.

Speaker 3 (02:05):
Yeah, Yeah, HiT's a mac Daddy. He's a Mac Mac truck.

Speaker 2 (02:10):
HiT's the Mac Daddy's a truck. Canada. They did not
fuck this one up. Team Canada. I mean this kid.
We We've said it, we talked about it. We're Nostrae
Demurz and Verkadomas Erkstra Domas, I'll figure it out, Orkstudromas

(02:30):
Yeah yeah, and Pinchevski Magoo. We all talked about it.
We all watched the Sharks. We all know this kid
is special. I don't say it lightly when I say,
and I've been fighting off the edge to say it generational.
He's a generational player. I know. I tweeted about it.
Some people were like, oh, oh, captain obvious. I'm like,

(02:51):
no one's really went over the line and said this
kid's generational. They said he's a great player. What he's doing,
and the parody between the disparity between him and second
place scoring on his team is astronomical. Will Smith at
twenty nine points and he's at sixty ye like that is.
That's a bigger gap than I think koutrof the year

(03:12):
he got stumped for the heart. But they're in a
playoff spot. He deserves to be there. I cannot wait
to watch him play with Sid McKinnon, McDavid. You know
right now, I'd love to see him. I saw a
projection but I think him on the left wing, sid
in the middle and Nathan McKinnon on the right wing
is just a perfect line. That is just a line

(03:33):
that's got to be rolled out. And then your first
line for Canada, I think you got McDavid because McDavid's
so high end speed. Maybe McDavid with like a Tom
Wilson or even a you know, i'd try. You don't
want to say mark Stone. Mark Ston will probably be
on the third line if they bring him up. But
I'm gonna be interested to see who they put McDavid
with and who who kind of because there's a lot

(03:54):
of talk about who's going to be on his wing.
Butt Going back to macklin celebrity so well deserved, I
think he's going to be a dominant force there. He's
really his evolution from year one to year two. It's
just something that I don't know how many times we've
seen this. He's breaking all these records in NHL history,
and yeah, it couldn't happen to a better kid, and
do a better franchise.

Speaker 1 (04:14):
The Sharks, as you said, third in the league behind
McDavid and McKinnon sixty points right now, tal throwing out
potentially Ryanhart playing with McDavid, but we'll see ultimately when
the roster is revealed and where this is team makeser's decisions. Bottomlized,
this should go only win a Classic, something that Canada,
at least ANHL has never done before. Hockey in southern
Florida for the Winter Classic seventy degrees fahrenheit. That's plus

(04:34):
twenty one celts just after you endured minus twenty six
in Quebec City. NHL's had outdoor games in Raleigh and Dallas,
but this is the furthest south that they have gone.
So they've got the two trucks. Instead of won the
building which has a retractable roof pumping in the air conditioning,
they got the refrigerator going. We don't know, it's gonna
be like gdy. You know what, it's liketed with ice.
If it starts melting with a danger, that can be
safety et cetera. Are you looking for? I mean, listen,

(04:56):
you're going to Miami. How great is that going to be?
But the actual game experience, how do you think it's
gonna turn out?

Speaker 2 (05:01):
I think they're gonna do a good job. They seem
to always pull this together. I think the I've been
to Marlin's Stadium. I've been to It's loan depot. Now
i've been there. I watched the home run derby there.
I watched a couple of games when I was playing
with the Panthers. And it's cold in there, just in
the middle of the summer. Like they they pumped the Yeah,

(05:22):
they crank up the acen and they're bringing another two
trucks there. So even if they open the building up
and the game's gonna puck, drop's gonna be at eight,
so the sun's gonna be gone. They're gonna open the
building like an hour before. I think it's gonna stay
relatively cool. I honestly do. I don't think it's gonna
be anything crazy. I think it's gonna be very cool
conditions and uh, it's gonna be very unique. So I'm

(05:44):
interested to see how they do it. I think they
they always do figure it out. And the guys, you know,
hockey players, they don't complain. They're gonna play. It's not
gonna be you know, I think ice, you know, it's
it gets a little bit hairy if it gets too soft.
But even if it's soft, that just means you change
the way your blades sharpened. And you know, it's not
like there's gonna be holes in the ice, So we're
to get a look at it. We do a practice

(06:05):
stream with YouTube tomorrow. I'm flying there today as we
film that. After we film this, and uh, I'm gonna
be there on New Year's Day. We're doing both the
live streams for practice, so I'm gonna see the ice
firsthand and I'll be able to do you know, Bruce
Almighty reporting live from Lone Depot Park. That's how the

(06:26):
cookie good reference. Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (06:30):
Listen, let's talk about your savers because you guaranteed it
last week. This team is going to playoffs. They have
missed the playoffs fourteen straight years. They've won nine trade games.
They got a chance to get to ten Wednesday night
against Dallas. Their role right now, you've already you've already
drawn a line of the same. They're gonna be a playoffeam.
My question is this could they be buyers? Remember in
twenty nineteen, Yarmo Kakalana was GM of Blue Jackets team
had never won a playoff series.

Speaker 3 (06:50):
He went all in.

Speaker 1 (06:51):
He got MATC DW Shane Ryan to single, Adam McQuaid
Keith kincaid. Do Shane sign with Nashville that summer, but
he helped Columbus get their first and only playoff series
win in the team's history. My question is this, do
you think Yarmo is gonna make it moves the deadline
to make sure this Buffalo team finally gets the playoffs.

Speaker 2 (07:08):
It's so tough because you know, you look at their
roster on paper when they're healthy, and I mean, this
is the team that I don't think needs to add
much other than maybe some depth pieces that you know,
some guys, some extra warm bodies that could come in
if there's an injury, because the one thing we know
is that you know how dominant and how good this
team is and complete this team is when Josh Norris

(07:29):
is healthy. But the fucking poor guy can't stay healthy.
And I think we have to go under the assumption that,
you know, whatever can happen will happen with him, and
there will be an injury at some point, whether it
be the first round of the playoffs, if they make
it in ten games before the end of season. So
I think they need to go get some center depth

(07:50):
to help them out. You know where they get that,
I don't know. You know, there's not a lot of
teams because it's weird because the way the season is
and how tight it is. Other than a couple teams
right now that if you look at the standings that
I feel you could say argue that they're out. You
look at the Winnipeg Jets. Maybe they trade Jonathan Taves.

(08:11):
Maybe you trade Jonathan Taves for a prospect or a Pick's.

Speaker 1 (08:16):
Brutal right now, I gotta be honest, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (08:18):
But you bring in an extra player, like you just
have him to play on the fourth line. Again, I
think Taves is being asked to do too much, you know,
I think Taves is more of a fourth line guy
at this point. So if you can have him on
your fourth line if somebody gets injured, just to help out.
You're looking at you know, you look at the Jets,
who I think they're in a weird point. You look

(08:39):
at the Blackhawks, but you know they're kind of back
and forth. Boston's gonna start falling out of it, I
think soon, and they are, so do they kind of
offload a couple guys, You go get a little bit
of toughness maybe you look at a Tanner Jane, you
look at a Mark Castelick. These guys in Boston that
are that are very well like I, it's tough. It's
because I think they got to get some warm bodies.

(09:00):
But you got to be careful because right now, when
you're on a nine game winning streak, you don't want
to touch anything. A lot of gms will go out
and bring in like, oh, let's bring in an even
bigger player because we can make a splash, and then
that doesn't work out because the chemistry needs to be had,
and you got to think, like they're going into the Olympics,
you have all this, you have this break coming up
in February. You got to do something soon because once

(09:21):
the Olympics happen, it's a sprint. You can't be having
a guy trying to get comfortable playing every other day,
no practices, nothing, no way to get chemistry. So it's
gonna be interesting to see. But yeah, the Savers are hot.
I'm on the wagon. If I said it, I kept
saying it. Another Notster demurz Win, a Verca demurz Win,
and a Pinchewsky magoo Win, I said Josh Norris. If

(09:44):
he's healthy, they will make the playoffs. It's got to
say healthy. This will be your best pressure.

Speaker 1 (09:48):
I'm telling you right now the no because you said
the Ducks in the summer, he said, Duck playff Tame,
which looks pretty good.

Speaker 2 (09:52):
I'm hot right now if you if you.

Speaker 1 (09:53):
Get Ducks and Savers make the playoffs, that's.

Speaker 2 (09:56):
Legit, and said Toronto would miss so if that happens
and Florida would make so I'm kind of cooking right now.

Speaker 1 (10:03):
If this works well, parlay right now, we're talking. It's
a brutal schedule right now. That's the bottom line for
teams that are cooking. It's great news like the Sabers,
if not the good luck and players are starting to
complain about it Devil's Golden or. Jake Allen commented about
it earlier this week, saying, this is definitely the toughest
season I've experienced. This from a guy this fourteenth season.
He continued, it's just as much mental as it is physical.

(10:24):
And obviously we've seen some of the injuries around the league.
Trust me, those two weeks off, the guys that aren't
playing in the Olympics are going to be really appreciated.
There's one month left of this condensed gouge before the
Olympic break. So what's the strategy right now for teams
heading into the break?

Speaker 3 (10:37):
JDA.

Speaker 1 (10:38):
I mean this is pretty exhaust You see guys basically
playing every other day.

Speaker 2 (10:42):
I think if guys are injured, they're going to hang
around the respective city and do rehab. But I think
most guys are going to try to get the fuck
out and go get top sun. My diagnosis and would
be extra sun and go get to your toes in
the sand, go do some yoga, you know, eat a
lot of protein, rehydrate whatever you can to kind of

(11:05):
get your body light stretching. But it's gonna be a
fucking sprint, especially the guys that are playing in the Olympics.
Like you really got to think about that. Like this season,
I you know, I can make a soft prediction that
whoever's got the most players going to the Olympics, Like
I worry that, you know, they won't have enough choose
to win the Cup, you know what I mean, Like

(11:26):
you look at a lot of teams that have a
lot of guys going. You look at Florida will have
a lot of players out there. You're gonna have Colorado,
these big teams Dallas. If listen, if I'm Dallas and
Jason Robertson gets snubbed yet again, which I don't think
he should. But if he gets snubbed again, I'm riding.
But if they get stubbed, I'm if I'm I'm like, great,
he doesn't get to go always healthy. They can go
on a run and potentially win a Cup. I think

(11:47):
it's gonna be interesting to see. I think the catalyst
this year will really be who can come out of
the Olympics the healthiest. That'll be the team that does
the best and potentially can steal a Stanley Cup. I
think over these top teams if if something happens, because
this is the first time they're back at the Olympics
as well in a while. The NHL players, they're gonna

(12:09):
be It's on all their minds. It's all they're all
thinking of. I know they all want to win a
Cup too, but they're all thinking of the Olympics. They
all want to be a part of it. You can
see how guys have elevated their game because they want
to be on that team. They're gonna play their fucking
ass off and it'd be hard pressed. So it's gonna
be interesting to see what happens post Olympic. But this

(12:31):
schedule has been brutal, and it always is. It comes
with the territory. But it's gonna be interesting to see
how guys heal up and how teams look after the break.

Speaker 1 (12:42):
Speaking of Autawa Centers right now, challenge time, right now,
three game losing streak, they're outside looking in for a
playoff spot. I was just in Winnipeg saw speaking of
the Oilers, Oilers Jets and that Winnipeg team right now
limping towards the finish line. Meantime outaway is where I'll
be next week for Amazon Prime, Red Wings and Senators
will not be seeing Linas Ulmerk there. He's taking in

(13:02):
definite lea from the team to attend to matters, and
a statement of the club said Linas has the full
support of our organization during this time private matter. We
won't e speculate, but the nature of olmarks leave. But
this is an Autowa team that made the playoffs last year.

Speaker 3 (13:15):
J D.

Speaker 1 (13:15):
He is an eight to eighty one say percentage, just
back up Levi at Marilina eight sixty nine percent. They
were not getting good goaltending already? Are the sins cooked?

Speaker 2 (13:25):
I mean, all Mark's so streaky and then you get
the health. I man, I don't. I don't know this
Ottawa team, they you know, they had moments there on
that streak they looked great, Brady Kuld Chuck came back.
They kind of skid it a bit, started winning. I man,
it's this is kind of one of those teams that
could benefit from a splash move, like trade a superstar,
maybe find something that works. There's no goalies available, so

(13:48):
you're gonna have to live with Linas Olmark. But Linas Olmark,
you know when he is on is a very good goaltender.

Speaker 1 (13:56):
But how can be gone if this is like a
mental health leave?

Speaker 2 (13:59):
Yeah, I know, And that's the problem is maybe why
he's so streaky is that he's a hard time dealing
with the pressure and anxiety. So you know, do I
think you know where where else can you find a
goalie right now? You look at Philly maybe one of
their teams. You can look at Vegas. You know they
got their three Aiden Hill, Carter Hart, and Akira Schmid.
Once Aiden Hill's back, you know, there's a world in

(14:21):
which you can go get one of those three goalies,
you know, the New Jersey Devils, who you know, after
that lost last night, I think they're fucking done. I
think this team needs they need a high end player
bad and I just don't think they're good enough. And
I didn't think they were good He sure dropping the clubs.
No they got no, they got no nuts right now.

(14:42):
No one's stepping up. It can't be Brendan Dillon all
the time. And you know, it's got to be somebody
else to have a little piss and vinegar. And they're
not looking good right now. And they got two goalies,
Markstrom and Allen. You know you can go poach one
of those guys. So there's some goalies around the league.
It's going to require a player. You know, if I'm Ottawa,
do I look to maybe go get a Mark Strom,

(15:02):
Aura Allen or you go look maybe Buffalo as well.
They got three goalies, so there could be a potential
move there. So it's gonna be it's gonna be interesting.
I think we're at that crux of the season where
a team that's kind of up and down, like Ottawa,
like New Jersey, you're gonna see them make a move
because they need to if they want to make the
playoffs and not fall out of this race completely.

Speaker 1 (15:22):
I'm with you and you want to kind of get
some momentum. I finally made the playoffs last year. For you, Audawa,
it would be frustrated to.

Speaker 2 (15:27):
Take a step back.

Speaker 1 (15:28):
Oh yeah, we'll get to our guest Mike Commodo in
just a second. But one more topic. JJ's payday. The
Lightning signed defenseman Jj Moser eight year extension, average annual
value of six point seventy five million dollars a year,
twenty five years of age. Nice fit in the Lightning
Blue Lines and s arriving at twenty twenty four. Part
the mckel's circuit Jeff trade with Utah Darren Rattis is

(15:49):
obvious having a fantastic year, and Moses been playing with Radish.
Those guys just stepped up obviously with Headmond's injury. What
do you make of Moser? Seems like this is a
good price and a great deal for.

Speaker 2 (15:58):
Him, well deserved, you know, a great pick up, one
of the sneakier pickups in that Surgate you have trade.
I think you know you're starting to see that trade
tilt in favor of Tampa a little bit. You know,
Sergachev obviously is great, but uh, you know, JJ Moser
has really stepped up and all those injury riddled defensive

(16:20):
decors for Tampa Bay Lightning. You know, you're missing Headman,
you're missing McDonough for a large stints, you're missing Chernac
And he comes in and him and him and Radish
just just absolutely kind of carried this team to where
they are right now. You thought they'd be cooked, done
fieni bon soois, but they are alive and well, all
thanks to JJ Moser. You know, opportunity meets timing and

(16:43):
preparation and he was ready to go when he was
called upon to lead this team from the back end,
and he's doing it. He's a great you know, he's
a really under I hate giving Bill Armstrong any kind
of credit ever in my life because Bill Armstrong, you know,
I hit him with my car if I saw him. No,
just kidding, I wouldn't do that for for legal purposes.
I wouldn't do that. I would just but he's uh,

(17:07):
it was a great pick up by him. It was
a great find by him in Arizona. JJ Moser a
great find. I'm you know, I think he and it
was a good deal, good trade going for Sergachev and
making a splash, and I think most are just It's
what I remember Bill Armstrong talking about him and kind
of quickly near the end of my career when I
was around the team and just saying, like, watch out
for this kid. He's a really smart, good player, good responsibly,

(17:30):
can play two ways. So congratulations to him getting that paper.
Boom boo.

Speaker 1 (17:35):
Good stuff for JJ Moser in company. Still to come
here an NHL inscript, we'll talk to a comedy Mike Commodore,
terrific guest. He's really funny, entertaining as an excellent podcast
called Clearing the Crease. He'll tell us the story about
driving an uber and how a teenage girl out at him.
That's coming up after this. Our next guest. Was drafted

(18:06):
in the second round forty second of braw by the
New Jersey Devils in the nineteen ninety nine NHL Draft.
Went on to collect twenty three goals, one hundred and
six points, and six hundred and eighty three Peli mites
in four hundred and eighty four games the Devils, Flames, Hurricanes, Senators, Bluejackets,
Red Wings, and Lightning Stanley Cup winner, one of the
most outspoken voices in the hockey sphere. Also is a

(18:26):
great podcast called Clearing the Crease with my old buddy
from the Score, James Sebalskin Andrew Raycrop.

Speaker 3 (18:31):
That's right, it's Mike Commodore Commy. Good to see you.
What's up guys, Happy New Year. I'm pretty sure I
didn't score twenty three goals either. I think they got
that wrong. I'm pretty sure the number is twenty one,
but nobody cares, so twenty three is close enough.

Speaker 1 (18:45):
Well, it's great to see. I like the fact, as
I said, you're doing a podcast, you're always outspoken. You
believe the NHL missed a big opportunity by not having
games played on Christmas, which they used to do for years.
This year was really cannibalizing in the sports Mark TripleHead
of NFL, quintuppleheader of NBA, and you thought there should
have been hockey games as.

Speaker 3 (19:02):
Well, well, not on Christmas. I think on Christmas eve Day.
I was sitting there Christmas eve Day here in Scottsdale,
and I understand that maybe every year. Andrew Raycroft actually
brought up a good point. Maybe every year isn't a
great idea of let's say if Christmas Eve falls on
like a Sunday or something with football and whatnot. But
I was sitting at Moxie's here in Phoenix after wandering

(19:25):
around the mall in the morning. It's like the last
place I wanted to be, and I'm sitting there. So
I sit down at Moxi's to have a beer. I'm like, ah,
see what's on TV? And it's like football reruns and whatnot,
you old UFC fights. I'm sitting there, I'm like, what's
on today? And so I looked at my phone and
the only thing that was on was at six pm

(19:46):
Mountain time was the Hawaii Bowl California versus Hawaii, which, hey,
look that's great, awesome, good for them, and I'm happy
to watch the Hawaii Bowl. But there's a full day
that's wide open. So I'm sitting there and I'm like,
I wonder, now, I know all this has to be
like collectively bargained, but I'm like, this is like days
like this, this is a massive opportunity. Like I get

(20:08):
it's Christmas eve Day, but at the end of the day,
like and if the players are don't want to do it,
then don't do it. But I don't know. I'm just
thinking from you know, from my playing days, and what
I would think if I was still playing is like, okay,
so let's say I don't get the twenty fourth off,
but I get the twenty seventh off. Like, I don't
really care. That's fine. A day off is a day off.

(20:29):
I get it. I've never had kids or a family either.
I understand Christmas Eve and Sanna and all that stuff.
But you know, let's make the games early. And I
was thinking, you know, two three games with like I mean,
i just fired off up the top of my head.
I'm like, have the Rangers play the Islanders. Maybe the
Devils play the Phillies. I'm thinking like or sorry, the
Devil's play the Flyers. Sorry? Yeah, And like I was thinking,

(20:51):
like no planes, like you can drive to the game
or short like a train ride or something. Have you know?
The game start maybe at twelve Eastern, run them back
to back with the last one being the cut or
the Ducks versus the Kings out west, and then you
got kind of a day day long hockey. It's over
by you know, I guess it'd be over you know
if you have them go at three pm Pacific time

(21:14):
sixth eastern. Yeah, yeah, or something like that. But I
think I think they do that.

Speaker 2 (21:20):
They do that kind of style of distance the day
of the twenty seventh when the guys come back. But
I honestly, when you tweeted that, I was like, you
know what I mean, it's such an open day to
do it in the morning and have morning and afternoon
games and then have the guys on the twenty seventh.
It's just it's like a travel day at night to
go to the game on the twenty eighth, so you

(21:40):
get the twenty seventh, so you get the twenty fourth night,
the twenty fifth, twenty sixth is off instead of doing
it flipped where you get twenty four to twenty five
to twenty six and then the twenty seventh you're traveling
because they do travel the day of the game. I
think it's something that worth talking about on the CBA
because I think the NHL has looked at trying to
find creative ways to like maximize the schedule. That's why

(22:00):
we play later in the year for the the Stanley
Cup Final. It's to be where there's no sports. So
I think it's like it's maximizing the days because I
don't think the guys would mind personally, because you know
not I hate ever quoting Lebron James, but he was
talking about playing on Christmas Day and he's like, it's
part of the part of the deal. We have to
do it. He's like, I actually like it. It's part

(22:22):
of like my tradition and it's a fun thing to do.
I'm like, guys would probably embrace it. Kid, you can
get your kids coming to the game, kids that fly in.
I think it would be a good idea. So actually
CBA had put it on baby, Yeah, Like I don't
think it. Yeah, And if teams maybe you have the
not you could do it however you want. But I'm
thinking maybe it's just like, hey, if it gets going,

(22:43):
it's like, look, you know, if you're playing for the
Ducks or the Kings, that you're going to be playing
on Christmas Eve Day.

Speaker 3 (22:47):
That's that's just how it is. And I fired out
some you know, I know it's just Twitter, but you know,
I fired out, you know. And maybe fans don't want
to go to the games, but I think they are
very interested in going the games as long as they're early,
and you could, you know, if you're running the games,
like make it very kid friendly or you know, have
things going on very christmasy and targeted towards kids and whatnot.

(23:08):
And I don't know. When I was sitting there at
Moxie's crushing a couple of beers, I was just like,
this is this seems like a wasted opportunity to me.
But I don't run the league, so I don't care
what I think.

Speaker 1 (23:19):
You're banging about the fact it was a terrible day
of sport.

Speaker 2 (23:21):
Like awful day of sports, right.

Speaker 1 (23:23):
You looked around like there's no basketball, there's no fun,
and exact, Geny's right, everybody's off. She's like, I just
wanted something on Hawaii. Was the one game eight o'clock
the only thing?

Speaker 2 (23:32):
Yeah, Now kind of shifted into the NHL and and
teams that are doing bad things. I know you briefly
played in Columbus with Scott ar'neil. I mean, what do
you make of the Winnipeg Jets right now and what
the hell they're going through?

Speaker 1 (23:46):
Poor Arnie Kingston guy, poor Arnie.

Speaker 3 (23:48):
Yeah, yeah, well you're not going to get poor Arnie
out of me. I'll tell you that I had him
in Columbus and uh, Scott ar'neil is right next on
my list, right He's he's on par maybe in front
of Mike Babcock. For me, ah, I'm not as much
as I would love to just rip the coaching staff
right now, and I would love to see him get

(24:10):
canned because I think he is an arrogant scumbag. I'm
gonna pump the brakes. I mean, they need to get
just from looking at like, I'm not gonna sit here
and say I've watched a bunch of Jets games, but
it seems like there's they got three four guys there
that are that are producing, and after that there is
a steep dropoff. So if they could find I mean,

(24:31):
the thing is like with these everybody getting you know,
two points one point, and you know the separation is
basically nothing. You know, as long as they have that
Hella buck around, you know, I have a hard time
like writing them off, but they are it is starting
to get to the point here where if they don't
get on a heater, they could be in trouble. And
I like Winnipeg. I've I've went through there a lot.

(24:52):
When I went to school at the University of North Dakota.
I would fly in there or drive through there or whatever.
But man, I'll tell you what, if you're on a
bad Jets team that's a long winner in Winnipeg, I'll
tell you you got nowhere to lie.

Speaker 1 (25:08):
Yeah, stuck in Manitoba. There's only so many earls you
can go to that right, Since you mentioned since you
mentioned Mike, your criticism Mike Bob Babcock back at twenty
nineteen was so notable that year we saw Bill Peters
design his behavior became public. Do you think your criticism
of Babs helped change what we consider inappropriate behavior from coaches?

Speaker 3 (25:28):
Wow, that's a good question. Actually, nobody's ever asked me
that I think it has. Yeah, I'm gonna go before
you go ahead. Yeah, yeah, I mean that's all I had.
I had. I mean, I appreciate that. That was never
my intention, like at all, and a decade long war

(25:49):
on Twitter roasting Babs was never my intention, like at all.
I mean I was having I mean, I hate Mike Babcock,
there's no question about it. But I mean the whole
thing kind of started because I was I was in
Carolina to crank the Horn when Detroit was coming in
to open up the season and I was having a
drink and Chris Chelly O's message me like, hey, Babs

(26:10):
was coming back to Detroit. It was his first year
in Toronto. Anyways, long story short, I'm like, yeah, I
see that, and Chelly, who does not like him at
all either and has way more stories about him than
I do, Shelley was like, you should roast him on Twitter,
and I remember sitting looking at my phone and I'm like,
I mean, i'd like to, but I'm like, you know,
i'd kind of I've been out of the game for

(26:32):
like five years or so, but I'm like looking at
my phone and I'm like, Okay, if I go down
this road, I'm like, I need to be comfortable that
I never want a job in hockey again, because yeah,
there's the people that know me, but you know, most
of the league doesn't know me, and it's not a
good look going off roasting coaches on a public form,
roasting any realty really, But I was like, you know what,

(26:53):
screw it anyways, and that's how it's got started, and
I just stuck with it. I mean, I was taking
grenades from you know, Tron mape leaves to have a
pretty big fan base, and at the beginning there they
thought that I was God. So my mentions in Twitter
was just a bunch of land mines. But yeah, you know,
I guess maybe if nothing else, maybe because I kind

(27:16):
of went and did it, maybe some guys were a
little bit more comfortable going on Twitter, and you know,
if they had some frustrations and stuff like that, maybe
they were a little bit more comfortable doing it. But
like I said, I mean in general, like I don't
want to come up. I loved ninety nine percent of
my coaches. There was two there was Arneil and Babcock

(27:36):
that I didn't enjoy and we touched on both. Yeah,
we touched on both, you know. And it's not because
they were hard on me or anything like that. I
just think they're bad people, well both of them, but
Babs for sure. And you know it's I don't you know.
My intentions wasn't to get well, My intentions was to

(27:57):
get Babs canned. There's no question about that. That was
one of the best days ever when he got canned
in Toronto and then I mean he would pull in Columbus.
Was just pure insanity and gone again insanity. Yeah, and
that day was actually probably better than the Leaf's day,
just because that's probably the end for him. And I
don't feel bad for him at all. Dude, You've had

(28:18):
plenty of chances, You've made plenty of money, You've had
plenty of opportunities. You basically because of your ego and
your arrogance and your you think everybody's coming to watch you,
and you think you're the man and the you know,
it's all about power with him. I mean, he probably
just you know, he probably just screwed himself out of
the Hall of Fame. I don't know who's gonna like

(28:40):
vouch for him. I'm not sure. I mean maybe not
where at the end of the day. It's kind of crazy. Look,
if he gets an opportunity in Columbus, like literally, just
don't be an idiot and like be a decent person.
Just don't be an idiot. And like, you know, he
does no hockey. I can't. I'm not going to say
things that I don't think are true. He does know

(29:00):
the game of hockey and he does run a good practice.
I'll give him that. Just don't be an idiot. You're
gonna win some games. You're young enough where you probably
coach for quite a while longer rack up some wins.
You know, you're not probably not going in front of Bollman,
but you're gonna go up the list. And he's already
up the list decent, like a fair amount, and you're
like a no brainer. And now all of that, in

(29:22):
my opinion, is probably gone.

Speaker 2 (29:25):
And you know, talking about that, like those two coaches,
you said you like ninety nine percent of your coaches
and they were great people, Like was that something that
when you played for them you were vocal about? Because
you know, when I I always had hard times with
certain coaches, seeing things that I didn't necessarily I just
didn't like. I didn't think there was respect behind it,

(29:46):
and it wasn't ever, it wasn't ever towards me, But
I ended up getting myself in trouble because I'd sit
up and say something like you did. And I'm just wondering,
like where that line was for you with coaches and
and what do you look for in a coach because
you said ninety nine percent were great, but you know
what was it about them that kind of just turned

(30:06):
you a little bit because it wasn't directly targeted towards you,
but it still was enough to kind of put.

Speaker 3 (30:11):
A burr up your ass with them. Yeah, I mean
with with Babcock. No, I never did with Babcock. I
mean I had long story short, I had him twice.
Really both times, I really wasn't The first time, I
wasn't around. I was sent straight to Cincinnati, so I
wasn't even there. And then the second time, you know,
I was in Detroit, you know, and I knew I

(30:32):
had just got bought out of Columbus and I was
in and they had a bunch of veteran guys there
that had just won Cups like and so I just
you know, I just mind my bill. I knew this
was my last chance. So I was just kind of
trying to make it work. So I never said anything there.
With Arneil, I did because he was a first year
coach and I was kind of looked upon as being

(30:53):
a leader in Columbus. That's part of the reason why
they signed me. They had a young team and I was,
you know, a veteran at the time. And anyways, he
came in my third year and it was a catastrophe
from the beginning. He was extremely arrogant. Took me a
while to figure it out, but in my opinion, he
came in it. Scott O'Neil had a really good hockey career.
I think he played like seven hundred games of the

(31:15):
Miners and he played like seven hundred games in NHL.
I mean, that is an excellent career by anyone standards,
I think, And but I think in Scott O'Neil's mind,
he came into Columbus. It was his first time being
a head coach, and he didn't think that he got
paid enough when he was playing, and he came in.

(31:37):
He wasn't coming into like, hey, I want to make
this work. He was coming in like it's time to
get even, which is unfortunate because I thought we had
a pretty decent team there. And so who was the
first target. I mean, you got a thirty year old
defenseman that's the highest paid defenseman in your organization. Any's single,
doesn't have kids. This guy's got plenty of money. I

(31:59):
am target numero uno. So I was we had he
would like avoid me, and I basically had to like
force a couple meetings with him, and then by Christmas time,
I was gone zo And that was the beginning of
the end for me, those are the worst, the force meetings.
Oh oh dude, he would have me. I'm like, I

(32:20):
mean it was frustrating, Like I kept getting scratched and
we were losing, and like when I did get an
opportunity to play, I was pretty good. There was a
stretch in the fall and I'd broke my thumb in
a fight over in Sweden with Ryan Close. I missed
some time and then came back play good, then scratched again,
and I'm like, you know, it's we're sitting here, we're losing.

(32:41):
You have your highest paid defenseman in the organization scratched,
and you're not letting him play at all. I'm the
number seven or eight, I'm paired up with a forward
in practice, and basically it like came down to, yeah,
he wouldn't let me. Like so basically it was one
practice my d partner with Derek mackenzie, who was a forward,
and I just told Derek I go, hey, dude, don't

(33:02):
give me the puck today. And He's like, what I said,
don't give me the puck today. He goes, uh, okay,
And so for the first part of practice, every time
I got the puck. I would try a sauce pass,
so I don't care if the pass was across the
ice or if it was like three feet in front
of me the centerman. I was getting some air under it.
So I'm screwing up every drill and Scott Arneil slams

(33:22):
his stick on. He's screaming at me for the other
side of the guys goes off the ice and I
followed him right in, right into his office and we
had it out like I've never really talked to any
coach like that before, which maybe that didn't help me either,
But anyways, that relationship was done, and you could just
see what happened in Columbus. We had a meeting with
I had meeting with Scott Housen, who was the general

(33:43):
manager at the time. It was a fairly new GM
and his first year, Like I said, we made the playoffs.
It was the first time Columbus had ever made the playoffs.
Like things were kind of on the up there a
little bit. And you know, I had a meeting with Scott.
He's like, hey, like, Arneil doesn't want you round. I'm like, yeah,
no shit, I'm like, hey, you know, the moral of
the story was, I'm like, I go, Scott, we're telling

(34:04):
Scott this. I go, Hey, I go, you want to
know who looks bad in this? He's like, you're kind
of looking at me. I go, I do. I go,
you want to know who else looks bad in this?
And he kind of looking at me. I go, you do?
You signed me to this deal? And I'm gone, and
it's halfway through. I go, you look bad as well.
I go, you hired the wrong coach, hired a power
hungry coach who's trying to get even for whatever reason.

(34:27):
I go, your head's on the block. Next, I go,
you made a mistake. And sure enough, within a year
it was I think Arneil was there for a year
and maybe a month. And how everybody was gone. Rick
Nash was the whole organization was all blown up.

Speaker 1 (34:45):
Everybody's gone, by the way, and Housen hasn't been everybody,
no Housing hasn't been an NHL GM since that tells
you where that goes? Yeah, our producer tal by the way, Mike,
he wrote a book called Breakaway, which is excellence all
but from behind the iron curtain, guys defecting, et cetera.
I am curious because you had Fatista as a coach
in New Jersey.

Speaker 3 (35:03):
Yeah, what was he?

Speaker 2 (35:04):
Like?

Speaker 3 (35:05):
I loved him. I thought he was I thought he
was awesome. Uh yeah, I got a couple of stories
about Slava, you know, I had him. He was the
assistant coach in New Jersey. Like my first year. I
was up and down for my two years in New Jersey,
like fifty games up, fifty games down basically. And I
mean the head coach for most of it was Larry
Robinson and the assistant coach was Slavia Fatiga, the condor.

(35:27):
Oh yeah, you're like, you would have had to be
a total bonehead as a d man to like not
learn something like those are two best. He's the best.
Larry Robinson is awesome. He's he's the man like he
he liked me too, like he was the reason why
he even got any opportunity there at all. And anyways,
I think the world of both those guys. But yeah,
Slava was I mean he was an old school Russian,

(35:48):
like you know I was. I was young obviously, and
like you know, when I was up and during training
camps and stuff like that, like and and he liked me,
called meha I Meeshad You know, I go through practice,
and really my practice didn't start until the practice was done,
because like everybody else would go off and now it's
time to work on some like defenseman stuff with Slava

(36:10):
and which I loved. It was awesome and it was
harder than hell. He's got that old school where like
you just keep keep it moving. But he was great.
And I actually saw him again the last time I
seen him, you know, because he was here. I mean,
his career is obviously incredible, and I don't know how
much you know about what he's doing now, but you know,
he went back over to Russia and he was like

(36:31):
the Minister a sport. He was like, yeah, it's incredible. Yeah,
like he's he's boys with Putin, like they are tight.
And when I went over there playing in Russia, he
was like the I don't know if he was the
minister of sport for the country or if he was
like the head politician for lack of a better term,
for the whole region where Vladivostok is, which is the

(36:53):
whole region along the Pacific uh Pacific Ocean that's where
Vladivostok is. So he was kind of like the he
wasn't the owner of the team, but he was basically
like the face of it. So we'd see him once
in a while. And I'll tell you what I you know,
I know him as Slava, you know, my de coach
in New Jersey and obviously a Hockey Hall of Famer,
and I got a ton of respect for him. But

(37:14):
like you know, I talked to him and stuff like that,
and I'll never forget when I got over there. And
then once I was there, I was there a little
bit late and one of the de gates he came
in after one of the games. You know, it's a
bunch of Russians and we I think we had five
or six imports, and he walked in the room, and
I tell you that it was like a noisy room.
He walked in the room and you could hear a

(37:34):
pin drop, like those Russians were looking at him like
Jesus Christ just walked into the room. And he's just
kind of standing there and I'm like, Slava, I'm like,
you know, I'm just yelling how you doing this and that?
And the Russians are looking at me like there's something
wrong with me. But he came over a big smile,
and I got nothing but great things to say about him.
He's a good dude. Fancy that's funny. You just walk in.

(37:57):
Oh yeah, the Russians were like, oh yeah, yeah, I'm
like be asked a good guy.

Speaker 2 (38:05):
Yeah. I mean, that wasn't the only time you were
kind of missed up with a dignitary. You went to
the White House at the Cup as a Cup champion,
You had the President compliment your hair. How was that
whole experience and and going there and being a part
of that whole process and celebration.

Speaker 3 (38:22):
Yeah, it was awesome. I've actually been fortunate enough to
do it twice. So we were won a national title
at the University of North Dakota as well, So a
few of us got to go when Clinton was in
office and then in two thousand and six when Bush
was in office. Clinton was and it was two very
They were both great experiences, but they were two very
different experiences with Clinton just the timing of when we

(38:45):
were there. We were in the Oval office and there
and they're like, the whole team couldn't make it. I
wasn't in school anymore. And the scene basically the guys
that weren't on the team anymore came on the trip
to the White House because the rest of the guys
unfortunately had to go up the Anchorage to play to
play for the weekend, so it was less people. Yeah,
I know, it's a tough I just had a trip.
And some are still pissed off. They're like, that's a

(39:07):
jo I'm like, dude, I didn't make the rules. Like,
I agree, it is a joke. We should have tried
for a different day. But sorry. But since there was
less people, you know, we were in the Oval office.
We were supposed to have fifteen minutes. We ended up
in there for almost an hour, and you know, he
was telling stories and you know, talking about the room
and whatnot. It was really cool. And then yeah, with
Bush it was cool too. We had the whole team,

(39:28):
so we had a lot bunch more bunch more people
who were over in one of the wings. I knew
something was coming because I got a call from a
White House writer and like hey, you know, like you know,
and talking about my hair and this and that or whatever,
and so I was like, I knew something was coming.
And I laughed as it was going on, because you know,
he mentions my name and the hair thing or whatever,

(39:50):
and he turns over, you know, kind of turns around.
There's no chance he had any idea which guy was there, Like,
no clue, no clue. I kind of laughed. I'm like,
this dude has no idea who I am at all,
and so I just I got to laugh to myself.
But it was a cool experience for sure.

Speaker 1 (40:09):
When you got to Detroit, Mike fans petition for you
to wear the number sixty four to honor the class
show Commodore sixty four a video game.

Speaker 3 (40:15):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (40:15):
How much pressure was it to wear it? Why did
you decide against it?

Speaker 3 (40:19):
Yeah? Uh, there was a decent I mean, yeah, in
looking back, I should have wore it. It was dumb
of me not to. Uh, there was a decent amount
of pressure for me to do it. The trainer gave
it the okay to the paper. I was kind of
hoping he would shut it down, but he's like, now
he could wear it if he wants. Oh wow, yeah,
so he got I got the okay. The only reason

(40:39):
why I didn't do it is because, like I said earlier,
you know, I had already had this run in with
Babcock convinced me to come to Detroit and Ken Holland
and I just got bought out, bought out. Sorry he
was better English and this I knew this was my
last chance. If this didn't work in some fashion, I
knew I was done. So going into it, I was like, man,

(41:02):
I'm like, uh it just I don't really want to
be looked at as like a yeah, like like kind
of a party favor, and you know, like I know
this is my last chance, like Commodore sixty four, Like
you know, maybe Babs won't like it, you know, like
I just want to kind of just do my thing. Now,
looking back, it didn't matter what number I wore, It

(41:23):
made no difference. So I apologize. I should have for
the fifteen or sixteen games that I did get out there,
it would have been cool to see Commodore sixty four.
I had like Commodore, like they came back with a
new computer then, like a mini one. They were like
messaging me on Twitter like to like, hey, you know,
maybe I missed out on a sponsorship deal. I don't know,

(41:44):
but yeah, I should have done it. That's my apologies.

Speaker 2 (41:47):
Well, you should have got a sponsorship deal for Uber
because that's one of the more famous comedy stories. And
you know, I think I've talked maybe once in passing
about it, but I've seen stories. But for you, what
was when you did that? Explain how that came to
be number one and the number two was your most
memorable Uber customer. Okay, how it came to be was

(42:10):
I was a couple of years into retirement. I was
sitting down here in Phoenix and in my opinion and
probably I would say, I was drinking a little too much.
But at the same so I was trying to tone
it down. But at the same time, you know, I
was single, and I didn't want to just be sitting
at the house alone. So I look, I was trying

(42:31):
to find a way to stay off the bottle, but
still like you know, go out and be social and whatnot.

Speaker 3 (42:39):
So I thought, well, why don't I just drive for Uber.
Then I can I can meet some people, I get
to go around town a little bit, and obviously I'm
not going to be on the bottle because I don't
want to end up in jail. So that was my
thinking on how I got started my most memorable Well,
and part of it too was like you know, like
I said, I was single, I'm like, well, you know,
maybe I'll meet some of a couple of yeah, maybe

(43:01):
I'll meet some women. So in that regard, my best
opportunities and looking back, were my first night. There were
a couple of opportunities, but like I just started doing this,
and I'm like, I didn't want to be a creep
right on night one, so I'm like, I you know
it just I just did the driving and was very professional.
My most memorable rides, I mean, I actually kind of funny.

(43:23):
I got a picture on my phone I would say
my most memorable bride would be and it kind of
ties in. We had a twenty year reunion just a
couple of weeks ago for our Cup team and Doug
Waite was on our team and we were laughing about it.
His wife sent me the picture. I had never had
it before. One of my rides, one of my nights,
I went, it's you know, it's pitch blackout. I'm going
to pick some people up or whatever over down kind

(43:46):
of wherever down in South Phoenix kind of Arcadia, and
I'm sitting outside and like a younger crew comes out.
It's about younger girls, like if I had to guess,
like fourteen fifteen, and there's like eight of them, you know,
and there's only I'm only supposed to carry like five.
I had like a Cadillac Escalade Hybrid deal or whatever.
And they're like, well, we have a few. I'm like,

(44:06):
just get in. I go, I don't care. We're not
going too far. It's not a big deal. So get in.
And the girl that sits in the front seat, you know, hey,
how you you know what's going on? Somehow hockey came up.
I didn't bring it up. Somehow I'm like, oh, I'm like, well,
how do you know about hockey? Well, my uncle used
to play hockey. Oh no, oh yeah. I'm like, oh,
some why, here's perk up. I'm like, oh, please, I
hope I played with this guy. And she I go,

(44:28):
oh really, I go, well, who's your uncle? He goes,
She's Doug Wait, and I burst out laughing. I go, hey,
I go, can you please text him or call him? However,
I go, tell him, you just got picked up in
an uber by Mike Commodore and let me know what
he says. So she called him, but it was in
the evening and Doug was coaching the Islanders at the time,

(44:49):
so Doug was on the bench, so he didn't answer.
So he took a picture, send it to his wife
and whatnot. And I actually just got the picture a
couple of days ago. It's pretty funny. Yes, yeah, it
was pretty funny. Oh that's so good? Is that is unbelievable?

Speaker 2 (45:03):
About I was because my next question was going to
be what you answered, was like, did you pick anybody up?

Speaker 3 (45:08):
You knew? They were like, holy shit? Called me what
the fuck's going on? There was another There was another one.
Some people from Columbus. Uh, you know, just a couple
of people. It made me laugh. Picked them up. You know,
I'm taking them with a grocery store. I'm waiting for
him to get at some groceries and then they want
to ride back. I'm like, yeah, man, I'll just wait.
Not a big deal. And so I you know there,
where are you from Columbus? I'm like, oh, Columbus, Columbus.

(45:30):
While yeah, yeah, I'm like, oh, I used to live there.

Speaker 1 (45:33):
Oh.

Speaker 3 (45:33):
They're like, oh really, what did you do there? I'm
like wow, I'm like, actually, I used to play for
the Blue Jackets. And they're sitting in the back seat
and I can see them. I look in the rear
view mirror. I could see them looking at each other like, sheah,
right to my uber driver. This guy played for the
Blue Jackets.

Speaker 2 (45:49):
Yeah right.

Speaker 3 (45:49):
So they're like, oh, so you know you know Rick Nash.
Then I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah, I do know Rick.
What about Derek Brossard? And they named off a couple
of names. I'm like, look, I go, I know you
don't believe me. I go, you can just google me.

Speaker 2 (46:02):
I go. I swear I'm not full of shit here.

Speaker 3 (46:05):
And anyways, we had to laugh about that.

Speaker 2 (46:08):
That's so good, so good. Hey, talk about you had
your twenty year reunion for you know, winning the Cup
and you talk about seeing Dougie Waite and all that.
How great was that? I saw you were miked up
some great candid things. But how tight was that team
and still, you know, twenty years later. Just talk about
the reunion and the feelings all being back together.

Speaker 3 (46:29):
Yeah, yeah, it was awesome. I mean, the reunion was great.
You know, it ended up being a three day thing.
The Cup was there, which makes it kind of cool.
Unfortunately I couldn't wait. It's a oh yeah, yeah, guys
were some guys got in there. So the celebration day
was on Tuesday. It was the Canes versus the Blue Jackets,
but there was also a game on Sunday versus the Sharks,
so some guys like Ray Whitney went in there on

(46:51):
like Friday, so you know, you can imagine that goes
right through Tuesday. I didn't get there till Monday morning, unfortunately.
So there was a couple guys that I missed that
were there Sunday but couldn't make Jimmy Rutherford, for instance.
So I'm sad I missed them. But it ended up
being a real good turnout. You know, you never know
you're gonna get everybody. People are busy, there's things going on.
You got guys that are living in Europe, like it's

(47:11):
not convenient. But it was a really good turnout. Yeah,
it was awesome. I mean there was guys that you know,
I guess as as years go by, like Nick Wahaleen
for instance. You know, I hadn't seen him since I
played against him, and he came over. It came for
for the whole thing there and I saw him, and
you know, who knows if I'll ever see him again.
It might not. I mean I don't know if I've

(47:32):
I haven't seen him. I played with them and seen
or heard from him since. Yeah, Yeah, he's he's been,
he's doing good. He's he's remarried. He's he's out in
his hometown there in Sweden, and he's he's he's got
like a trucking company his family. That's so he's doing
some trucking for my front loading. Maybe, I think is
how I understood it. But like, I don't know if
I'm ever going to see him again, unfortunately, and so

(47:55):
it's it's great to catch up. You know, he sit around,
have a few beers and you know, stories that you've
forgotten come up and somebody said him as something which
kick something off in your mind. And so it was great.
The Canes did a great job. It was very nice
to them to do it. They make us play an
alumni game, which I can't say I'm a huge fan
of that. But other than that, it was good.

Speaker 1 (48:18):
Last one for you, Mike, you want a World championship
with Canada. In two thousand and seven, JD spoken to
how nice is to play for your country. Obviously we're
all patriotic as Canadians can't wait for hopefully Canada to
win Italy. But what was that experience like for you?

Speaker 3 (48:29):
Yeah, it was awesome. It was. It was the only
time that you know, I had ever been any kind
of invitation. I think it was with Team Canada. Like
I'm it was probably the only time I was ever
even on their radar. I was lucky in the fact
that the tournament was it happened at a you know,
I was actually for me. I was playing well at

(48:49):
that time of my career. I just come off win
in a Cup in two thousand and six, and I
had a good year in two thousand and seven. I
was lucky because the tournament was in Russia, and if
I'm being honest, a lot of the real good defensemen
didn't want to go, so Steve Eiserman went down the list,
and I still I thank you Ray Whitney. Every once
in a while, Iman called Ray Whitney and was like, hey, look,

(49:12):
I'm picking between Mike Commodore and Andrew ference who should
I take? And nothing against Andrew Ferrence. I played with
him in Calgary, and Andrew is an excellent defenseman and
he would have been a good choice as well. But
raised my boy and raised like, kid me, you got
to get get Mike on the team. And Steve's like, okay,
I'll give him a call. So Steve calls asked me, Hey,
you know, are you interested? I said, yeah, yeah, mister Eiserman.

(49:34):
Of course, while the tournament's in Russia. I'm like, hey, Steve,
I don't care where the tournament is. I'm coming. I
could care less what the venue is, I'll be there.
So yeah, it was fun. It was our team got
ripped on when it was picked because like it wasn't
any it was. There are definitely some big name Gate

(49:55):
guys on it, but the big name guys were like younger.
So the fans were looking at the team and they're like,
Mike commodorees playing on this team, like are you kidding me?
And anyway, so they thought we were gonna get smoked.
I actually played a lot. Eric Brewer and I were partners,
Like our decore was me Eric Brewer. Uh enough was there?

(50:17):
Weber showed up after the first time of the playoffs. Yeah,
but he elbowed. He elbowed some guy and they had
and got some He barely played, honestly, Yeah, I got
kicked out. I think he played like a period. He
elbowed some German and it was done well. Barrett Jackman
was on that team. The thickest decor ever. Oh yeah,
we had. We had a little meatback there for sure,

(50:38):
and uh, you know, as as things would work out,
we ended up going nine to zero and won the
whole thing, and it was awesome. It was a really
good experience for sure.

Speaker 1 (50:47):
This has been a great experience for us clearing the
crease of Mike Commodore's podcast accords you can listen. Fantastic
job with ray Croft and James Seabalski. Mike, these stories
were unbelievable. Wish your great success with the pod and
I uh, I'll never think of Doug Waite the same way.
That was a great story.

Speaker 3 (51:01):
Well, thank you very much, guys, and thanks a lot
for having me happy you new.

Speaker 1 (51:12):
All right? Tom now fore, little centophile in sixty Bradley Cooper.
I'm a big fano because he loves the Philadelphia Eagles,
who have now won the NFC East. He's also a
pretty funny guy. Obviously loved him in The Hangover, and
he's a rather charming guy silverl Lioness playbook who doesn't
love it? Having said that a rare misstep for him
as a director, he was critically acclaimed film A Star
Is Born with Lady Gaga Maestro, which I didn't love,
but he'd appreciate the craftsmanship. Now he makes a film

(51:33):
with our buddy Will Arnett. We're still trying to get
the podcast Is This Thing on? Unfortunately, wish this Thing
was off. The new film is available right now on Netflix,
and it's a big misstep for both. Arnette co wrote
the film and developed the screenplay with Bradley Cooper, but
it's yet another film about middle aged white people and
unnecessary navel gazing. Basically, Will Arnette Laura Dern split up

(51:56):
and he ends up reserving the stand up comedy to
try to deal with his frustrations. Yep, it's about as
bad as it sounds. I've seen this before. I was better.
It was called Punchline, and honestly, I know that Tal
is not a fan of Noah Bomback, but watching the way,
I kept thinking, if Noah Bomback made this, it'd be
a better movie. It'd be something that can to marriage
story because I can see you good divorced movies. This

(52:16):
movie aims to be a marriage story, but it falls
well short. Again. Arnett is a great comedian. He's a
massive Leaves fan. I'll watch arrested development all day. He's
featured in the Cinephile book. But this is a dramatic
turn from him which doesn't quite work. Laura Dern looks
ingnificantly older than him. She gives a group performance. This
one is very predictable and painful. I would skip. Is
this thing on currently available on Netflix? In the meantime,

(52:41):
I do want to recommend a film which was fabulous
called Blue Moon. It stars Ethan Hawk on My Favorite Actress.
He's never been nominated for Best Actor. He's nominated twice
Your Best Supporting Actor Training Day. He's been nominated for screenplay,
of course, the Great Movies. He'd maybe with Richard Linklayter
the Before Sunset Trilogy. But this is his chance, first
ever Best Actor nomination for film called Blue Moon, in
which he plays a five foot two guy with a

(53:01):
bad comb over and he's wearing a fat suit. Actors
love it when they get to play ugly. Ethan Hawk
has been a charming, good looking guy for thirty five
years since Goodwill Hunting. No, I'm gonna go ugly, I'm
gonna go short. I'm gonna play Lorenz Heart, who was
a part of the group. Everyone knows Rogers and Hammerstein,
if you know musical theater. But before that, it was
Loren's Heart. It was Rogers and Heart. And so the
movie takes place. It's basically a wonner. It's just a

(53:24):
one night play. And he's sitting there at the bar
and it's when Oklahoma is premiering. Oklahoma is the new
musical from Rogers and Hammerstein. So he's lamented about his life.
He's talking the bartender play but the great Bobby kind
of Valley, and he's talked with the loves of his life,
et cetera. It's not a film for everybody. But I
gotta tell you Hawk's performance is unbelievable. He basically carries
the film. It's like a one act play. Market qualities
in the film from the substance doesn't show her uff

(53:46):
this time, but she is in the movie.

Speaker 2 (53:47):
But Hawk is just no moth no no.

Speaker 1 (53:50):
No, no, no this time. But I gotta tell you
Ethan Hawk deserves one Best Actor nomination. I hope he
gets to this ship for Blue Moon. He's a brilliant actor.
And again, Jill, with her love of musical theater, you
mentioned Rodgers and Hammerstein. Her ears are gonna perk up.
I'm telling you right now, watch Blue Moon. It's a
great film.

Speaker 2 (54:05):
Two things. Ethan Hawk, Yes, deserves his flowers too. What
does Bradley Cooper do to his face?

Speaker 1 (54:13):
And it's one of those roles like I don't like
when directors then put themselves in the way, like Cooper
gives himself the role.

Speaker 2 (54:19):
No, no, no, but let's let's just talk about his face.

Speaker 1 (54:21):
But let me just finish my thought movie because I
don't like when directors give themselves a cameo role. So
in the movie he plays it the goofy guy smoking weed,
who's like, you know, trying to be goofy and stuff,
trying to get back. I'm like, like, just just direct
the movie.

Speaker 2 (54:33):
In docums, just direct direct either, Yeah, just direct. So
you don't like when Quentin Tarantino does that.

Speaker 1 (54:38):
No, I don't, It's unnecessary.

Speaker 2 (54:39):
We never had that. We never had that conversation about
Quentin Tarantino calling Paul Daniel ruining there will be blood.

Speaker 1 (54:46):
Now he said versions of but never This means spirited
because I know how much he loves Dorbly blood, as
do I. And I have the DVD of Therby Blood
and in it he says he goes, this is one
of the great films last twenty years. And what he's
still in the DVD is he goes. My one quibble
with it is he goes, Dan Lewis is so incredible.
Paul Daniel gets overpowered because it's a little bit like
Alli Quarry. But in the interview you're referring to him

(55:06):
weeks ago. He goes, this guy's the worst actor in Hollywood,
Like he just killed the guy.

Speaker 2 (55:10):
But I thought Paul Dano was fantastic in the movie.

Speaker 1 (55:12):
I agree, sniveling nincompoopy, Like I mean the scene where
he embarrasses and insults playing you when he gets him
to keep.

Speaker 3 (55:19):
It, I abaded my boy a time.

Speaker 1 (55:22):
That's one of the best scenes because he's poking them,
he's getting them going. And at the end again when
when de Lucia's towers over him with I drink your
milkshake speech, I'm with you. You've got to have two
great actors going toe to toe. I disagree with Tarantino's
criticism and the fact he did it publicly.

Speaker 2 (55:36):
Yeah, and then back to Bradley Cooper's face. I know
we're jumping all over the place here, but what's he
doing one are the great looking humans and just decides
to do some face pull fucking Hollywood bullshit.

Speaker 1 (55:48):
Well, one of my friends of you once he goes,
do you think he's good looking? Or is he good
looking just because he's rich?

Speaker 3 (55:52):
What do you mean?

Speaker 1 (55:52):
He goes, if you look at his features? Like, no,
I think he's a good looking guy.

Speaker 2 (55:55):
He goes a big nose.

Speaker 1 (55:56):
I go, know, I think he's a good looking guy,
and I think he happens to be rich and famous
as well. But he's going a little too far now.
He's got the money's gone to his head. He's fifty
years old. I mean at this age, had fifty.

Speaker 2 (56:05):
You don't got to touch your face, maybe seventy if
you want, and you got a vanity play. Just put
some beef talo on and relax. Enjoy the wrinkles. Enjoy
the wrinkles. It's part of life.

Speaker 1 (56:16):
Humphrey Bogart years ago, was being touched up by the
makeup artist and he's like, what are you doing? She said,
I'm trying to get rid of you wrinkles. He pause, goes, no, hey,
I've earned those. Leave them.

Speaker 2 (56:24):
That's part of the right.

Speaker 1 (56:25):
That's how I play a weathered weathered man.

Speaker 2 (56:27):
Of course, like doing this podcast is giving us a
couple of grades, but we wear them proudly. No, not
about no marketing. We wear them proudly.

Speaker 1 (56:34):
We want to just quickly touch on the fact Hot
Mike hijinks. We saw the return of Flyers radio broadcast.

Speaker 2 (56:39):
We're doing this Saunders. Yeah, two game TV three weeks later, Well.

Speaker 1 (56:43):
I agree with you, but then tells get in there like, okay, fine,
it was a cringe moment, but Tim was joking around.
I gotta tell you, being at the Flyers game last week,
this is the best thing for his career.

Speaker 3 (56:53):
JD.

Speaker 1 (56:53):
I saw several T shirts saying free Tim Saunders. Nobody
know this guy was before. Now loves him because he
clearly has a great sense of humor. And he got
suspended for it. I'm sure the Flyers said, listen, we
don't want to suspend you. You're a great guy, you
do a great job, but we just have to do this.
It'll be beneficial to your career. No such thing as
bad publicity, which makes you think of other great Hot
Mike moments including Peyton Manning, Gilling, damn it at Donald

(57:15):
Brown and shot Deshaun Watson saying I masturbated it and
I'm ready to go.

Speaker 2 (57:21):
There's uh, there's that one's I mean, that's that one's funny.
But knowing what Deshaun Watson's done on the table and
how he enjoys the old uh yeah, the old poking stroke,
I think he's just a big rubbin tug out. Well,
he enjoys the tug. No rub that's what he enjoys.
Tug hold the rub no. But I the there is

(57:47):
a great one with Kevin Weeks on the NHL Network
that they show me. It's actually so funny. It's like
I think it's on YouTube somewhere, but it's him. It's
just him talking to I think it's Jamie Hirsch or
Jamison Coyle and he's just they're live and he's sitting
there and he's like whip and he's like he's like,
oh they suck. And they're like and they're like, oh,

(58:07):
we're live. They're like we're live, and he's like, what
we're live. He's like, no, we're not, and like yeah.
He goes, okay, okay, we'll do it live. And then
he just turns out and he goes all right, everybody,
here we go. He just like dives into it, but
it was like ten seconds, like live on air, just
being like wooo, just like messing around and they're like,
we're live. He's like, ah, funny, kind of like Tim
Sunders did. The best part of the Tim Saunders thing

(58:28):
is when they go Tim, we're live and he goes, ah, yeah,
and then he goes, wait, we are that's the realization.
Oh fuck, so.

Speaker 1 (58:38):
Good Tim Sonders.

Speaker 3 (58:39):
It was great.

Speaker 1 (58:40):
As far as our favorite moments of the year, I'm
gonna say listen, Canada winning the four Nations is absolutely unbelievable.
It was a great game, a great tournament.

Speaker 2 (58:47):
Talent.

Speaker 1 (58:47):
Your pick is go ahead, Alexandrovechkin record setting goal.

Speaker 4 (58:50):
Yeah, my favorite moment of twenty twenty five was was Ovechkin.
The Ovechkin train, Ovechkin watch, whatever you want to call it.
Just the anticipation, the celebration, Like I don't think I've
ever seen a game stopped like that in the middle
of the game after someone scores goal. I mean, the
whole team came out, his family came out, they halted everything,
and I mean, I don't know how we're going to

(59:11):
verify this, but I don't think this record is getting
broken ever.

Speaker 2 (59:15):
No, I don't think so. I said stupidly on the network,
it's not gonna get broken for a long long time,
and it was a captain obvious. I'm like, yes, I
know it's gonna be a long time. We've ever does
get broken, but I don't think it ever will be broken.

Speaker 3 (59:28):
There you go, h but no.

Speaker 2 (59:30):
I mean favorite moment has to be just the repeat
of the Florida Panthers. I think the way they did it,
you know, I just think was incredible. I was out
there live watching it, watching them win that I was
able to walk by the dressing room as they when
they won because we had to do some stuff on ice,
and I think i'd Adam Party, who was like a
scout there was like or works for the team, was like,

(59:51):
and I know him a little bit, It's like, hey,
come on in, and I was I had a second
and maybe jump in the room, smoked some cigars and
I was like, nah, I don't want to go in
with the guys. It's their time. But yeah, just it
was amazing to see that a repeat the three years
in the Cup final and you know, being in South
Florida and seeing where they are. I think that's what
was my favorite moment so far of twenty twenty five.

(01:00:12):
And then I mean, Macklin Celebrini's gotta be the other one,
the short one. Macln Celebrini, what he's doing for the
Sharks team right now, can't wait to see it into
twenty twenty six. Happy New Year. Go fuck yourself.

Speaker 1 (01:00:24):
So no, I'm gonna say, make that your prediction. Cele
Briny wins the Heart Trophy.

Speaker 3 (01:00:27):
How about that? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (01:00:28):
I think so if San Jose Sharks make the playoffs,
he wins the Heart Trophy. So me saying he wins
our trophy is saying the Santaose Sharks will make the playoffs.

Speaker 1 (01:00:38):
Tell your prediction for twenty twenty six.

Speaker 4 (01:00:41):
I'm going back to Ovi. I'm saying he comes back.
He will sign either a one or two year deal
this summer. I don't think you know, we've been speculating
he might go for a thousand goals.

Speaker 2 (01:00:49):
I don't think it's about that.

Speaker 4 (01:00:51):
I think this team has enough talent to win another Cup,
and I think he wants to be there win or
if it happens, so he'll be back.

Speaker 3 (01:00:59):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (01:00:59):
I mean that's definitely a bold prediction. You go, maybe
come back. Fiction is Rick Tackett wins to Jack Adams
Coach of the Year. Philadelphia Flyers are gonna right. Talk
was unbelievable.

Speaker 3 (01:01:13):
The kids.

Speaker 1 (01:01:14):
Scarborough guy, he's doing an amazing job of the Flyers.
Rick Talcket, Jack Adams.

Speaker 2 (01:01:19):
He's got He's got everybody fooled you included everybody. He
ain't winning the Jack I mean the Jack Adams.

Speaker 1 (01:01:26):
Was gonna win the playoffs the first time in five
years and Talkeets lead them there.

Speaker 2 (01:01:30):
No, I would There's there's some other teams that could.

Speaker 1 (01:01:33):
John Cooper's never wanted Jack Adams. I'm telling you. Patrick
roy Pa No, Patrick.

Speaker 2 (01:01:40):
Patty tells, Wow, uh No, it's gonna be Bedner.

Speaker 1 (01:01:44):
No, they'll say he's got all the tout in the world.

Speaker 3 (01:01:45):
They'll like it.

Speaker 1 (01:01:47):
They never give it to the best. Phil Jackson doesn't
win it. They give it to the guy who like Oh,
they were expecting.

Speaker 2 (01:01:51):
Much, John Hines.

Speaker 1 (01:01:55):
What about John Hines's Rick talking before its John No,
Joe Quinnville return. That's what they did. They like it
when they got the team wasn't good, then they made
the play So Doc smort good MCLA Flyers not good
make the playoffs. Quen vl versus talking. Thanks so much
for checking out NHL Unscripted. Appreciate you guys. Always happy
to hear everybody.

Speaker 2 (01:02:12):
We'll talk bye, Brad Marshall, all right, Happy New Year guys.

Speaker 1 (01:02:34):
NHL Unscripted is a production of the NHL and iHeart Podcasts.
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