Hour 1: Best Of the Panthers Journey to the Stanley Cup
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This is the Dan Levitar Show with the Stugatz Podcast. What do we call the opposite of the parade of gas bags? Celebrating greatness.

No, that's too honest. It's still, I guess, a parade of gas bags, but the gas bags are right. Parade of champions. Parade of champions. What you're about to hear is our best work when it comes to covering the Florida Panthers this year. We want to take us back down a little trip down memory lane. We've had fun with this Panthers team, so you're going to hear a smorgasbord of

of content that we've done around the Panthers. Then you're going to hear one of my favorite interviews that I've ever been a part of. We talked to Kachuk right when he signed with the team. Witty was still with us. Maybe it's why Witty ended up hating Kachuk. I'm convinced it is, having watched back, by the way. You're going to see the seeds of all the Witty stuff in this interview with Kachuk. He should blame you for that, by the way, not Matt Kachuk. Yeah, that's true. Also, best trade in South Florida history. Yep.

other than LeBron. Undoubtable. The best one, though. Yeah, absolutely. So we're going to hear the origins of that. Look at this. This is the parade of gas bags smorgasbord. Enjoy. Enjoy.

You have some hot takes today. Joe Chestnut's a fraud. Oh, he's on fire. He called Connor McDavid overrated before the show. What the hell was that, Greg? Yeah, no. I love it. Roy, let me explain it to you. You know more about hockey than I do. And this is coming from a guy that's watched Connor play six times. Right. If that. No, look, look.

I looked up all his stats. I know how great he is in terms of numbers. My attitude is they're hollow numbers, okay? He's been in the league a long time.

Nine years. This is his ninth year. They haven't won anything with him. If he's going to be the next Wayne Gretzky, how about you should be raising a few cups. Wayne Gretzky took like five years in Edmonton to win four Stanley Cups. This guy comes in as the next Wayne Gretzky. His nicknames include The Chosen One and McJesus. He's a great player. He scores a lot of goals. He scores a ton of assists.

But it hasn't translated to making Edmonton a powerhouse in the league. They're in the final. It's a team sport. If you're going to blame anybody, blame the front office. They don't have good goaltending. Skinner was good during the conference finals. If you're the next Wayne Gretzky, if you're the best player in the world, you should make the Stanley Cup.

Cup. Which he just did. He just did, yes. But to Greg's point, it took him eight or nine years. Yeah, for the first time. And he'd only made the West Finals one time previously in nine years. I think Gretzky's first or second year, Roy, with the Oilers, the Islanders had won four straight. They were, you know, drive for five, going for a fifth straight.

And they lost. So the fourth Stanley Cup, they beat Edmonton. But everyone knew that Gretzky was coming. The next year, the Oilers played the Islanders again. Islanders going for five straight. Oilers beat them. I think they swept them. And then Wayne Gretzky was off and running. That's what Greg is saying. And when I say Conor McDavid is overrated, the only thing I mean is this is a guy with such hype.

that he needs a Stanley Cup win to catch up to that hype. Right now, he hasn't done it. I'm not saying his career has been a disappointment, but he hasn't gotten the Oilers to where they probably expected to be in their ninth year with McJesus. That's all I'm saying. Canada, after Greg wrote this and talked about it on the show, Canada was very upset. Let's play that clip. Is this the most ridiculous hot take ever?

This is Mick Ridiculous. Absolutely. I said, I'm all about clickbait, reader engagement, pandering to the home crowd. I get that. And maybe it's working because here we are talking about it. So it's mission accomplished. But if you know anything about hockey, and I'm assuming Greg might...

You know that one player, no matter how great he is, cannot get it done and win a Stanley Cup on his own. Not McDavid, not anybody. But McDavid clearly is the greatest player in the game. He is generational. He's one of the best offensive players in the history of the game already. He has proven that beyond a shadow of a doubt. So Greg, I'm sorry. This is preposterous.

Outrageous, ridiculous, and just flat out wrong. So I know the Miami crowd might eat it up going up against McDavid, but if you are a hockey writer, at some point you're going to look back at this article, this headline, and say, hmm, that was not my finest journalistic moment because this is just ridiculous and wrong.

Jerry is still out on that. We will find out together whether or not it was your finest journalistic moment. That's right. What has happened since then? Greg. That's my favorite part of it. Greg. Greg.

Well, the Greg Cody Show podcast put out a bee sting. What? Yeah, we call it a bee sting. It's B-E-E stands for bonus emergency episode. Okay, because I couldn't... Does everything mean anything? Does sting mean anything or no? It's a bee sting, you know, that kind of thing. I like it. Now, did you back...

Like, did you back down at all? Did you double down? I'll let you be the judge of that. We do have a clip here. Let's see if my dad doubled down or if he backed off a little bit. Oh, Canada, so sad I riled you up. Sad that Connor McDavid for all his stats has not lived up. Sad that your McJesus has never raised the Stanley Cup.

All right. He doubled down. I'm not going to back down. I mean, come on. It's a one-sided feud. You know, Canada hates me. I love Canada. Right. My name is Cote. It's a popular name in French-speaking Canada. Is it? Yeah. And, you know, I'm one of them. I love Canada. I've visited there. I have French-Canadian ancestry. Right.

That kind of thing. Little St. Catherine Street. My Aunt Arlene used to sing Robert Goulet songs in France when I was growing up in the kitchen. She'd be singing a song in French. I'm like, what are you doing, Auntie Arlene? But now that Canada is being all Judgy McJugstein over Greg Cody, and now that they think they're holier than thou, I hope the Panthers win. Oh, finally. And I hope that Canada

never wins a Stanley Cup again. And these miserable Canucks up there who think that they're better than the rest of us, that they know hockey better than everyone else, get the show. How about you get the cup, which you haven't for 30 years, and you're not going to this year because Connor McOverrated is going to choke and vomit all over himself all over again because he's no Wayne Gretzky who did it all on his own and needed no help ever. Hockey.

Greg Cody, we will go to you now. You have one minute. The floor is entirely yours. At some point, I'll get some production elements for this and we will execute it even better. But the floor is yours on this victory lap. Go ahead. The minute starts now. Yeah, I think one minute will just about do it.

I'm over-medicated right now. I try to take a victory lap every 30 years or so, and I took one in the early 90s for my Dan Trade Marino column. Proved to be accurate because he never won a Super Bowl. Now, 30 years later, Connor McDavid, Connor McOverrated, has never won a Stanley Cup. So I'm taking a victory lap for that, too, because at 2-0 down, doesn't look like he's going to win one this time either.

Also taking a victory lap for the latest Greg Cody show with Greg Cody podcast because it's a killer Wow, I cry talking about my own dad. How embarrassing but anyway enough about me I'm gonna schedule another victory lap for about 30 years when I'm turning a hundred I haven't decided yet what the topics gonna be but I'm gonna figure out how to be right again in about 30 years You'd be right about being alive still

That kind of thing. That's how you stick the landing. All right. Thank you, Greg.

He has learned through reporting, Greg, you can tell the story. He has learned through reporting that McDavid absolutely knows who's insulted him and the nature of the insult because Greg Cody has a take that no one else has, which is that the best player in hockey, three-time MVP, the best player in hockey is overrated. Overrated and underperforming, which may be synonyms. I don't know.

You know, we don't want to split hairs. I think you're going after the wrong star in this series so far. Dreisaitl, not only is he— No, no, no. He has chosen the right star, Chris. I'm just saying, in this series, though, McDavid, even though he hasn't scored yet, McDavid is flying around. Like, McDavid's playing much better than Dreisaitl in this series so far. Well, Dreisaitl, don't get me started on him.

The filthiest player in the history of hockey. Oh, God. He should be deported to Germany. Come on. I don't want to get started on that. Come on. It's just ridiculous, though. Come on. But let me tell you my reporting on how McDavid knows about who I am and what I said. And it's, of course, a reporting of another reporter. Alex Baumgartner from Five Reason Sports was in the elbow room yesterday.

after game one. And he sees somebody else tells him that's Connor McDavid's dad at the bar. So Alex sidles up to him, wants to buy him a drink. They get to chit-chatting. He introduces himself as a local journalist covering the Panthers. And McDavid's dad gives him a side-eye and goes, you're not that Greg Cote, are you?

No way! Wow. So, you know. Are you public enemy number one in Canada right now? Except in little pockets of Calgary where they hate Edmonton. Maybe they like me there, but otherwise...

Yeah, I'm trying not to be Greg Gloaty here. You know, I don't want to gloat. It's two games. McDavid could spin a hat trick in game three and everything changes. But for now, I stand by what I said about him being McOverrated simply because for all his numbers, for all his stats, nine seasons without a Stanley Cup and based on a 2-0 deficit, looks like it might complete that run and still make him cupless.

I gotta tell you, Chris, this has been a superstition masterclass, and you know exactly what I'm talking about. That's why my beard is so long. I am in it to win it, and hopefully...

On Saturday. Because I don't want to do the Monday thing. I don't want to do the Monday thing. And I know Chris has his reasons why he wants to do the... Well, it's Tuesday, right? The game's on Tuesday. Yeah, I don't want to do the Game 5 thing. Chris wants to do the Game 5 thing only because he's rooting against Roy. Yeah, I want Roy to come back here miserable. What? I just think it'd be funny. I'm on that train too. I'm back. Roy wants to be there when they hoist the cup. And he will be.

Unless it's in game six. No, I don't want that. How far are you willing to take this? One game. I just want Roy to come back from Edmonton with his tail between his legs. So that you can be in person with the Cub. I want to be there too. For free. Why won't he be there game six? Because I don't think the budget is... There's only one budget. The budget only has one game to Edmonton for Roy. And he's going up there for game four. That sucked.

That sucked. Yeah, that was bad. That was an ass-kicking. Yeah. I have the score sheet right here, and it's not good. 8-1 is the final, and most importantly on the score sheet is Connor McDavid's night. A goal and three assists. Finally got his first goal of this series, and most, well, not most importantly, but 32 assists.

on these playoffs. That breaks a record. Wayne Gretzky had that. Pretty spectacular for Conor McDavid. Mr. McOverrated setting McRecords. Oh my good God.

I don't mind anyone disagreeing with anything I've written. And I'm used to it, and I have thick skin for it. And I would say if, and I don't read comments, social media comments, if somebody I don't even know calls me an idiot, who cares? When somebody I do know calls me an idiot twice, how about you control your emotions?

No, I'm serious. Oh, that's what I want to hear right now is calm down. Okay. That's what I want to hear. I mean, you're... Your skin is so thick you bumped into a door and started bleeding today. You're... I don't believe you for a second. And no, I'm sorry. I've told you for two weeks now how this has bothered me. And when you did it, I wasn't here to check you either. So no, I will not apologize.

for doing something on air because you've made my entire life performative for everybody else. I care deeply. And if you want to keep running this bit and your jolly friend over there wants to keep ramping things up because you are just a member of the family and you are sitting next to Charles Manson. Whoa.

Jolly. Be careful with jolly. That's coded. My dad does have thin skin, but thick toenails. Am I right, Dad? Yes, you are right about that. No, I'm not going to apologize. I wouldn't expect you to apologize. You're a giant infant. Okay. You have no control over your emotions.

You have no control over your emotions when you're calling someone, you know an idiot. I don't deserve it Okay, I don't deserve it. All right, and you're a fool for saying it. Okay You're a fool. Yeah, I was kind of falling right now. You're locking in on us. Let's drop the gloves pal Thanking me for what every day for what what I've done around this character and the second shit gets real for you You want to come at me and call me a fool?

No, no, no. Seriously. Jeremy just whispered. I've added 10 years to your career. You want to call me a fool? Wait a minute. You'd be toiling away. You'd be Michael Yormark. You owe me everything. You owe me everything. You have added 10 years to my career? Yes, I have. This man has. You haven't. That man. Who the hell are you? Let me tell you.

Who the hell are you? Bullshit. You're a rude young man. You're a fool. You're a fool. I already called you a fool. You can't call me a fool. You're an idiot again. It's a fool wrong. You're an idiot twice. You're an idiot for dismissing how much I've helped you. You are a fool. You're nobody. You are an infant. You have no thick skin. You are nobody to me.

Here's the thing, Greg. And please, I'm going to say this in the nicest way possible. If the Panthers lose this series...

You're going to be remembered for this. People are going to be so angry. They are going to remember you for this. You've had a great career here, a legendary writer for the Miami Herald, and that should be your legacy. That should be what everybody remembers one day. Wow, Greg Cody, amazing writer, represented the Herald and South Florida. But if the Panthers lose, they're going to remember you for this.

I like that. You should have the McDavid is over. Oh, we're having something here. What's happening back there? What just happened? Someone just walked in and handed Mike a manila folder. I've been served. What happened? Yeah. Someone just walked in and handed Mike a manila folder. Who was that person?

I have no idea. It was a random lady. I have no idea. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Mike, hold on a second. Did someone come up to you right now and just say, are you Mike Ryan Ruiz? Or did they identify? Like, did they do that? Were you just legally processed? Yeah, which is weird because we have security here.

Wonset McGillicuddy and McGillicuddy from the offices of Wonset McGillicuddy and McGillicuddy Esquire. Please be advised that our law firm has been retained by Greg Cody. This letter constitutes notice of our clients' complaint against you for your age discrimination and elderly abuse. Wow.

All right, we have made it from Ameren, back to Rainers. Oh, wow. Jeez. Look at him right there. Yes. Oh, yeah. Yes, there is Greg Cody. We wanted to bring him in. He is doing his personal victory lap. You can see that he's outside, and he's doing his personal parade. Where's the people? Where are the fans? Well, they're late arriving. On the plane back to Edmonton. Some of them are sleeping. Some of them flew back to Edmonton. Look at the sound.

There's Greg Cody taking a personal parade. It's a little bit different than the one that the Celtics had slightly, but we are. Well, you know, these things require planning. Word will get out. There's Greg Cody. There you go.

Greg, do you want to say anything to Randy Moeller out there as you take your victory lap today?

Yeah, I was glad to hear Randy say that McDavid probably ought not have won the conspire. You got to give it to Bob, I think, for the reasons Randy said. But, you know, the best news is McDavid didn't get the trophy he wanted. The Panthers stole that one from him. They didn't steal it. They earned it from him. And so it's a happy day down here. Happier day down here in Edmonton. You know, McDavid continues to pile up.

fantastic numbers with nothing to show at the end of it. And so this postseason of his was really a metaphor for his career. And that is what makes him overrated. Oh, no. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey,

You know what? We'll take him any way we can get him. All right, here comes a big fan right now. Yeah, that is not a fan of yours. That's just someone in the crosswalk. Nice to see you, ma'am. That is someone going to work. That is someone who doesn't want to be bothered by you. I got half a dozen fans over there. No, they're not there for you. They're just crossing the street. All right, a waiver. We got a waiver. We got a waiver. Yeah, you got somebody. You've been stared so much. Three people waving.

They're a little sadder than three people waving. Randy, thank you. Congratulations. We are thrilled for you, sir. We're very happy for you. It's been a long, long road, buddy. It's going to be a long week. Thanks for having me on, guys. All right. Much love. Randy Moeller has been around our show for a long time, and we really do love the energy he brings. He once showed up at a poker tournament of ours dressed in a bear costume and never announced that it was him and then just ran out.

That's something he did. Greg, give us all of your other thoughts here as you take this victory lap all over Miami. You've begun the parade before anyone else has begun the parade. Give us some other thoughts from last night. Thank you.

My thoughts from last night, it was a well-earned victory. The two goal scorers were guys who needed to step up, and they did. Barbarofsky played a fantastic game. The last three minutes of that game, I thought they pulled their, I thought Edmonton pulled their goalie at least a minute to the end.

But the last three or four minutes of that game were about as exciting a three or four minutes as I've ever seen covering sports down here for 50 years. It was electric. It was just nerve wracking down to the bone. What a finish to the season.

What a wonderful game seven. I think it's a great, all kidding aside, I think it's a great day for the Florida Panthers, for Panthers fans, for South Florida sports in general. What a wonderful time.

You had someone behind you. It seemed like your parade was gathering momentum. You had a car behind you, but they now made a left turn. That car was trying to get past Greg Cody. Everybody wants to join the parade. There's no one in the parade but you. No one wants to join it. That car that just left did drive through a considerable amount of flooding.

Greg, you feel vindicated? How scared? Hold on a second. Hey, you too. Thank you. Chris, how scared was your father? Do you have any idea how scared he was in the press box? Because he was legitimately fearing harm, that someone would harm him after the game if they lost. He was trying to act, when I talked to him, like he wasn't feeling the pressure of the whole McDavid thing. And I was feeling the pressure of it, so I don't know how he wasn't, but...

This is such a ridiculous shot. Greg, your honest appraisal, you were scared. You were scared last night, right? I just told people that you were telling me, hey, Dan, you might have a liability issue on your hands if I get hurt after the game last night because someone hurts me after the game after they've lost.

He's too engulfed in the celebration. It's hard to hear with the crowd. Thank you. Thank you. Another fan over there. Thank you. Can he no longer hear me? He doesn't care. Must be a coincidence. We'll come back to him in a little bit. Mike, are you enraged that Greg Cody gets to take a victory lap here, that he gets to celebrate as if he was right all along?

No, not at all. I love your back. That's what you do. Thank you. That's what you do after you win. After you win. Another car joined the parade. He is out of control with ego, and he does feel validated, even though Connor McDavid. He won the consmite in a losing effort and set the record for points in a postseason breaking great game. But he did go pointless in games one, six, and seven.

And yeah, they had him in a vice.

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She was on it once and an instructor who was playing Grateful Dead tunes. Let's do that. Okay. Why don't we go for a run outside? Guided run. Peloton. Me and you. That's something we can do together. Okay. Turn on the app. Me and you go outside. Enjoy the summer. Call yourself a runner with Peloton at onepeloton.com slash running. All right.

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Don Levitard. Our Panther group chat, we're confident against the Lightning. This is a different team. You're a Panther group chat, though. No, I think. No, but dude, you're so wrong on that. We've been terrified of this team forever, and I think there's a different energy where the Panthers, they want the Lightning. Stugatz. I want t-shirts made for this Panther run. What could be this Panther run? Our Panther group chat, we're not afraid of the Lightning.

That's a tagline for World Rawr 3. This is the Dan Levitar Show with the Stugats.

All right, we are here with the Panthers' Matthew Kachuk, and we have to start in the obvious place. Have you ever had an awkwardly intimate interview like this before? No. I mean, I just got done practice, but I'm sweating more sitting next to all you guys. You smell great. You smell fantastic. Granted, this facility doesn't smell great, so maybe I'm just, like, numb to it at this point. Do you get used to a hockey locker room smell? I think so, yeah. The worst smell, though, is when you're younger, and I didn't really have an appreciation for, like, how...

poor of a position I put my parents in, but sweaty gear in the back of the trunk and just like sitting there nourishing. It's awful. So hockey parents, uh, they deserve a lot of credit. Lysol, Febreze, little Axe body spray to, to tone it down a little bit. Baking soda. Everything I think. Yeah. Yeah. Especially the longer the game goes by, it smells. It's awful. It's awful.

It's just more like, it's just gross, you know? Yeah. What do you smell now that you're a South Floridian? Yeah. Where do you smell worse and get more sweaty practice or just walking to your car from the facility? Right. Well, I'm, I go to St. Louis in the summer, pretty humid. So I am used to it. Uh,

It competes with down here? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, it does. We pride ourselves on our sweatiness down here. We're very offended by it. It's hot there, but... I saw like three Buffalo Bills just die on the field on Sunday because of how humid it was. Yeah, no, that looked... I like how they put the road team right in the sun. That's a very good tactic. Yeah, we should consider that at the FLA Live. Just like cut a hole in the roof and just like beam the sun down on the opposing bench. It's not a bad idea. Maddie's going to get on that. All right, good.

How are you liking your time here in South Florida? Obviously, this is a hockey market that has some reputation nationally. Small, but passionate and growing. You obviously came into town in a huge blockbuster trade, one of the biggest that we've seen in recent memory. Out goes a club legend in Jonathan Huberdeau. In comes you. How have you navigated filling in those skates and making South Florida your home?

I've absolutely loved it so far and each day it's gotten better. There's something new that happens each day that I'm like, I have to pinch myself. I'm like, do I actually live here? And I play hockey and make money and compete and do everything down here. Like it's, it's a dream location. It's,

visiting all the teams throughout the years. We playing in the West didn't get a ton of time down here in Florida. It'd be like one game out or one day out or back to back. So never really got the appreciation for it, but it's gotta be the best place to play in the NHL. It's not even close. One of the things that makes everyone the most upset is, you know, I don't really do a ton of talking out there. I play physical. I've played the same way my whole entire life. But when you're producing, when you're scoring, when you're winning,

That really pisses everybody off. So we're going to hopefully do a lot of that this year. For the rest of this interview, can we pretend our audio guy, he doesn't have a mic today, so I'm calling you an audio guy. Woody is sitting right here. Can you just pretend he's an opponent? You know how you get under an opponent's skin? Just the rest of this interview, do things you would be doing to an opponent. You know, like a little, just a little, you know, just, yeah, there you go, there you go.

There you go. Exactly. That was good. Charlie horse? Yeah, yeah. Exactly. You don't like this? Yeah, have a go. Have a go. I have no problem. Have a go. Elbows. Bad question. Oh, no, no. That's what I'm talking about. Bad question. Just punch him in the shoulder. A catharsism. You were a big Huberto guy. We're going to get it out of you. You're going to become a Matthew Kachuk guy by the end of this. Matthew. Yes. Oh, yeah.

That would have been great. I would have said go for it. Just kidding. Have you been to a Flanagan's yet? Yeah, it's really the most important place. You're not a local yet. Can we take you to Flanagan's? Of course. Have you had a rockin' rib roll? Yeah. I have not. It's our local, it's like a chain locally of as much

Great place for a beer. Yeah. We're not sponsored by them at all. No, no. We just love us. They just want to sponsor us. We're right. Of course. You get the green cup. It's happy hour, I believe, 18 hours of the day over there. The rock and rib rolls. Oh, you've got to get the black and Philly cheese. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Let's go. We'll get you local. You also got to go to a Highline game with us. We'll get that going, too. I'm not sure if you're familiar with Highline. We actually own a professional sports franchise. We're reigning champions. It says the Cyclones. Anytime you want to come to the owner's box, you're invited. Why is he laughing? I don't know. And I'm going to hold you to that. You didn't answer the Maroon 5 question. I'm going to circle back. Fat Pat. Yeah. It's got to be Fat Pat. How much do you hate Kucherov?

I don't know him. I have... Just say 10. I have hated playing against him. And this year... I mean, he's their best player. So him and their goalie are their best players. So we as a team hate them. Yeah, the goalie has been very frustrating. So I've researched your game. And I understand how you could have maybe changed that series a little bit against Tampa. Obviously...

We got to get through that hurdle. Roy and I are kind of built the same way that we didn't want it if we weren't going through Tampa. That means a lot to us. I have worked up a very healthy dislike for the town. I try to hold my breath the entire time I'm there, except when I'm at Burns Steakhouse. That's a very good place. Good wine selection. Have you been to Burns Steakhouse? I have before. We're not going to make our music Burns. They're all right. But Vasilevsky, no.

They cheated a couple years ago, didn't they? Didn't they cheat a couple years ago with the Kucherov long-term IR situation? They cheated, right? Yeah, we're just leading the witness over here. He's going to pour water on all of us soon. Matthew, you're a strict Matthew. You're not a Matt. I love that. I'm a Christopher, by the way. I'm a Michael, too. I'm a Royal. Yeah, we're all like strict first name guys. I even have two first names, just...

Just for shits and games. But in hockey, everyone just adds a Y to most people's names. So kudos to you for avoiding the Matty trap. Why are you so strict with Matthew? Is that your nickname? What is your nickname? Well, I've always said, like, people call me Matt. Some people...

occasionally call me Matty, but growing up, my mom's always called me Matthew. But my buddies call me Chucky. Really? We call you Chucky? You guys are my buddies. You guys are my buddies. Well, actually, no, everybody I grew up with in St. Louis is still Matthew, but in the hockey world, it's all Chucky. Chucky! I like that. You guys are my friends. Not this guy. I'm not that guy.

We do that. That's how we say hello to him. He is a wet blanket. I hate him so much. What are the chances being in the same division with your brother that we get you guys with the gloves off this year? Zero. Oh, really? No, his mom would be angry about that, right? Yeah.

Cause I saw one. We would never do that. Everybody thinks that, but we would, I don't need, I saw one YouTube clip cause I was trying to find one. I was like, have they fought before? And it was like one where he kind of got you down and you gave him like a stick tap. Like, yo, that's the closest you can find on the internet of you guys. Yeah. We'll never, yeah. We'll never put ourselves in any position like that. We both compete super hard and we'll,

finish checks and everything, but we're not like that. Playing the way you play, getting under opposing players' skins, have you come across a player in your career where you, you know, flat out, I didn't like the guy playing against them, and then you had to be teammates with them? Is there anyone here on the Panthers maybe, like, you had a little something with, but now, because Barkov, I think, was quoted, he's a guy that when you play against him, he pisses you off, and now he's my teammate, so, like, I love having him. So it's, like, have you had those any awkward interactions where you had some stuff happening?

when he was an opponent but then you had to be teammates with him? No, like, every,

I could say nobody. I could say everybody. Like it's, when you're out there, you just see like always the best players too. Like I always had a tough time playing against Bob. Like I could never score on Bob. Um, and I still can't really score on him in practice. Um, like you brought up Radco always played hard on me, but like, I respect that. Like I love that. So it's rare that you take it out off the ice. Like most of the time you're just playing the game. I've never, you've never taken off. You don't have anyone in the league that you're like, I'm not going to name names, but I hate that guy.

Braden Point. Braden Point. Come on, it's gotta be Braden Point. It is for me. It's hard to put me on the spot and think about somebody like that. I mean, I've always... That's a good show. You know, like the past few years, I've hated playing against McDavid, not because he does anything other than scores. He's very fast. He's very, very fast. I'm not telling you anything you don't know, but I've watched him. That guy's good. Yeah. But like playing Florida twice a year...

Barky always played really well against us. He hated playing against him because I never had the puck. Like, it's that type of hatred. It's not like I hate that person as a guy, you know? Yeah. I was watching the playoffs and I saw, obviously, you had such support from your family. Your brother was in the stands. He got a beer sponsorship just out of, man, dude was getting after it out there. Yes, he was. Who's the best chugger in the family? Uh,

Your dad, probably. No, I would put me. I would put me up there. Yeah. Yeah, I would put me up there. Brady, he put on a nice performance, though, at my games last year in Calgary. Like, he was...

He had the Tallboys going, so he did get a little deal out of that. We have a tradition. We feel like we've had a sponsorship with Bud Light our whole lives, but now it was official. I'm more of a Miller Lite guy, but I'll tell you about the Triple Hops brood in a little bit. The Panthers actually have a tradition at their arena that they probably shy away from because the camera cuts have been quicker. They show somebody in the audience, and this is not a new thing in hockey, and you've got to chug. My wife is the champ. Yeah, she's great. I was on camera, not chugging. Roy did it in the press box. That's right.

My wife is insane. And I apologize on the front end of anything she may scream at the ice when we're trailing behind. We were in Washington, D.C. when we won our first series in forever. So I'm just getting it out of the way. If she chugs and screams something in your vicinity, we're trying to be a hockey town here. We're just trying to grow. I'll help with that.

Yeah. She's going to help with that too. Keep doing it. No, she'll run up and bang on the glass. I'm telling you right now, I apologize. I love the passion. She hates Tampa. I love the passion. Oh my God. That's how it should be. She thinks...

Pat Maroon's worse than Maroon 5. We've got to get you. That's a threshold. You went to high school with Jason Tatum. I did. Can you text him right now? Go heat. Go heat. That's how you would dare yourself to sound like him. You don't have your phone? Because I don't have my phone. Chris was at Heat Media Day earlier in the week. He'll get Bam on a bio to...

text, uh, Braden Point. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Go cats. So what is, what's more hatred here for Tampa or for the Celtics? Well, right now, Tampa, because I'm looking at all this Panther stuff. Because I'm looking at you right now in the eyes, Chuckie, it's Tampa. Honestly, honestly, like the Celtics thing goes way back.

But recently it's Tampa. Recently it's Tampa. It's kind of bizarre. Like for the first time in playoff history, outside of maybe one other series, the Celtics finally got one over on the Heat. So now that's like, okay, this is a real rivalry. For us, Tampa always, the banter advantage is, well, you guys never beat us. We've got to go through them and show it. And you're a huge part of that. No pressure or anything. No, but I really want to beat those guys. We will. Every time I go up to Tampa, they're very rude to me.

And they're always teasing me and my wife. My wife is like a little pit bull. I got to always stop her from getting into fights. Usually we're down, and it's just a soul-sucking experience. I need you to make this happen for us, Chuck. Well, hopefully after this year, your wife can go all the way around on them. That'd be nice. This guy gets it. Chucky. On the way out here, what's your favorite hockey movie?

I like Miracle, American kid. Oh, and that's left, Shana. No, he's American. He's probably American. I don't know why I thought, but coming to play in the U.S.,

I don't know why. In Calgary, we had a lot of Canadians on the team. So I'm like, oh, when I come down and play in the U.S., there'll be more Americans. There's three on the team this year. You know, you're the greatest American Florida Panther we've ever had. We were doing the inventory. I think David Booth played for the U.S. Men's National Team. But we haven't really had much of that down here in Florida. I think I can safely say you're the greatest American Florida Panther. Well, I will be having a lot. I mean, let's be honest. I mean, David Booth was a nice player. But, you know.

Is there a difference in style with American hockey and Canadian hockey and European hockey? I'd say there's more difference between how the Europeans play when they're younger. But once they come over to the U.S., it's all...

pretty similar, but I'm excited because now playing in Florida, it's closer to St. Louis where I'm from, so I'll be having everybody down this year. I already got every weekend booked, so it's going to be great. You've got to go work out now. What are you working on today? Chest and tri? Today could be an R&R day. It's been a tough day. Today could be a Flanagan's day. R&R, that means rib rolls. Yes.

Roy, any hockey nerd questions on the way out? Because Roy is like our hockey expert here. He's got to go, but we just... Yeah, you had 12 power play goals in regular season last year, and you're going to provide some net front presence for the team. How is your style of play going to help out the Panthers on power play? Because we knew during the playoffs that power play wasn't exactly great. So I believe that you're going to change some things around here. Well, my thing, and my dad obviously played for a long time and had tons of success and was a

one of the best goal scorers and always told me go to the net. The puck's got to go through you if it's going to go to the net and if you're good hand-eye and good around the net and good quick hands you're going to score lots of goals. So I think if I could help with one thing on the power play it's just be around the net.

cause havoc, always try to bring guys to me, tell my teammates to get up there and we'll put it in. Did you mold your style of game around your dad? I mold some things from him, but when he was playing and when I could remember at the end of his career,

you know, my guys are like Patrick Kane and I'm like, ah, dad, you suck compared to these guys. And then my mom's like, nah, you should have seen your dad when he was younger. He scored 50 goals. I don't know if you know this, but your dad was good. Yeah, he was. But my dad always told me two things like other...

he was my assistant coach like while he was playing so he was around every day we'd watch hockey and he'd we'd talk about stuff but he always just said compete be a good teammate and you'll go very far doesn't the puck hurt though yeah i mean you're gonna be in front of it it looks like it hurts it looks like it really hurts it feels better if it hits your leg and goes in though yeah yeah do you ever just go ah ah yeah i'm not doing that again that would hurt no i mean okay i don't know if it goes in it feels good if not

Yeah, maybe not. We need some ugly goals, but that thing hurts. What's the worst pain you've ever felt in a hockey game? Yeah, probably like a shot right off the toe. Oh, no. Yeah, that one hurt. Toe shot. Yeah, or a slash in the back of the knee or something. Who was responsible for that? Cindy Crosby. Cindy Crosby, right? Cindy Crosby. I can't even remember. Chucky, thanks for joining us, man. Of course. Off to Flannies. Yeah!

- This guy's staying back. - No, no, you're paying. You're paying. - On him.

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