The Hockey Show: Parade Aftermath
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I don't know if you can hear me, but we're at the Panthers parade right now. We're at Fort Lauderdale Beach, celebrating the Panthers winning the Stanley Cup. Whoa! That's Michael Jackson, by the way.

Welcome to the Hockey Show with David Drucker, the Hockey News. Ethan and Rosie in the other studio in the shipping container. My name is Roy Bellamy. A lot of news has come out from the NHL. Players are on the move. We got a potential deal being struck with the collective bargaining agreement. They are having a meeting, actually. They're going to have a press avail. Yeah. And they're probably going to end up announcing today. And the draft is tonight. We're going to get all...

in depth with that with Anthony Stewart and Greg Ryszynski coming up next. But first... It's an action-packed show today. Yeah, we got a lot to get through. We got to get through it right now. For those of you watching on DraftKings Network, you can watch Anthony and Greg and the rest of the show on YouTube. It's the Levitard and Friends YouTube page. You can...

hit the playlist tab and search for the hockey show folder. You can watch the entire show there. We got all the episodes and everything and it looks good. Great production quality from Rosie and Ethan. Appreciate you guys doing that and the video team back there with Jason and Gino. Thank you very much for helping us out today. Reminder, we have merch. We have Shutdown City shirts and we also have our jerseys and until Monday, come

Coming up on Monday, that is the last day. Proceeds from the sale of the Shurzies will go to a nonprofit by the name of Rescue Paws, who is dedicated in finding forever homes for dogs. You can go to rescuepawsfl.org for more information on that. The Florida Panthers held their championship parade on Sunday.

And as you can tell from the code open there, it was loud. A lot of people there. It looked good. It was great. People were complaining that there weren't a lot of people there. Well, that was a lie. There were a lot of people there. That looks pretty awesome. I mean, how often do you ever see a championship parade where people can also be simultaneously in the ocean? Once before last year. So, yeah, that happened on Sunday. So.

So we saw that the players had super soakers filled with water. That water came from the ice that the Panthers won the Stanley Cup championship on. It was melted down and put in those super soakers. That's pretty cool. Yeah, that's actually...

Really cool until you realize that there's paint. Yeah. And when you think about the players are out there spitting and firing snot rockets into the ice during the game, which is totally normal. Yeah. But hey, part of the game. Celebrate. Yay. Yay. At the parade, me and Rosie were there. We were personally at the writer's table. I was there.

Ethan was also there. He has B-roll, actually. He took some video. I forget. I thought you were doing something else, actually. I didn't realize you were at the race. No, I was there. It was a lot of fun. It was more packed than last year's, I have to say. It was incredible. The turnout was unbelievable this year. And you didn't bother to say hello. Well, you guys were in the media tent. I was all the way over here. I wasn't bothering going down to that end of the beach. It was way too packed. There were too many people. What part of the...

I was at this place right next to Elbow Room. We were really lucky. We have a friend who knew somebody, got us a table. We were right on the street. They came right by us right next to the Elbow Room, saw Chucky come out and go up. It was...

It was unbelievable. The energy was unmatched. I think the coolest part was the chant was, we want three. We want three. Fans want to keep going. They're not satisfied with just two. They want to keep going. Rosie and I got there early. Real early. You kind of have to. Yeah, we had to beat the traffic. We got there at 9 a.m. The parade was at 12. Now, Rosie...

I mean, she was just there to go to the beach. I mean, she came in there with her little sundress. Yeah, you were ready to get in the ocean. Like, you were pretty annoyed at the fact that you got there three hours early. Yeah. It was 8 a.m. We got there at 8 a.m., not 9 a.m. I don't know why you say 9 a.m.,

Because of traffic, you had to. Yeah, but it was 8. You keep saying 9. We were there at 8. Okay, all right, all right. I wanted to get there by 8. It was really 8.30. I was there at 8. The thing is, I was on the street, but yeah. Yeah, so we got there obscenely early to beat the traffic, and it worked. And there were a lot of people there when we got there. Oh, yeah. Yeah, so it was good. It was packed early, and they stayed there.

throughout, obviously, to go to the beach. No lightning this year, right? Huh? No lightning. No lightning, no rain. No scares of life or death situations. No, just heat stroke. That's pretty much it. That's South Florida. Now, I don't want to speak for Rosie, so I'm going to let Rosie speak for herself. It's time for Rosa in un minuto. Take it away, Rosie. Bueno.

Okay. Are we ready? Okay, un minuto. Los Pazes celebraron su segundo campeonato consecutivo con el desfile en Fort Lauderdale Beach y esta vez sin lluvia, pero con un color infernal. Más de 200 mil fans se alinearon en la A1A para ver a los jugadores llegar en buses en dos pisos tirando agua con pistolas cargadas del hielo del rink. Bobby y Tachok no aguantaron el calor y se metieron al mar mientras Barkov, con una camisa de Tachok fumando un puro, lideraba el grito de guerra. Bobby Marchand subió al escenario entre gritos de Thank you, Boston. Y hasta dejó...

Thank you.

I don't know if I'm learning Spanish or not, but I understood a lot more than I usually do in that. Like, there's phrases jumping out at me. I didn't understand a single word. So we are going to do it in English. It's time for Rose in a Minute. Rose, go ahead. Let's take it away in English. Let's do it. Okay, the Panthers celebrate their second straight Stanley Cup as a massive beach parade in Port Lauderdale, this time on No Range is Blue Heat. Over 2,100 fans line up along A1.

A1A. A1A.

Ciro gave a heartfelt thank you. And Coach Marie showed up with a cat shirt again. But this time, the cats were crowned and in front. Pink Pony Club played, yes, the other songs. Followed by the We Are The Champions and the whole team gathered at the front of the stage as the crowd went wild. It was a forgettable party. Though I left with a sunburn, it started exhaustion. It was epic.

All right. That's Rose in a minute. Nice to meet you. That's very good. All right. So let's get to the actual player speeches. Let's start with Alexander Barkov. Let me start with the way it ended last year. Let's do it again. Bobby. Bobby. Bobby. Bobby. Bobby. Bobby. Bobby.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You're welcome. Yeah, so the players joined in in the back. Thank goodness. Because they didn't know what he was doing last year. No. You just let him go. You just let Parkey cook. Yeah, that's your captain right there. Here is Matthew Kachuk. We thought about one of my favorite lines ever, and I would like to apologize to absolutely nobody because I double champed as they were the wads. The double champs. Here is Sam Bennett.

You know, a lot of people have, they don't like the way we play. They don't like, they call us dirty. They call us nasty. They call us bullies. So no, I would like to take this time to apologize. To absolutely, we're the double champs. We do what the, let's go!

Some fancy-ass sunglasses he was wearing there. That was your takeaway from that? Yeah. I mean, not really trying to get the double champs thing off the ground. I like the let's go. Very reminiscent of Jeremy's let's go. Let's go. Here's Aaron Eckblad. It's funny. After 11, my agent called me and he said, make sure you don't say whatever Benny said.

You gotta hold on to that leverage, eh Vinny? All I have to say is thank you. Thank you fans. Thank you my teammates. Thank you Vinny. 11 years you believed in me. Billy, you believed in me. Dale Tallon, all the people that believed in me. Wow. Come in and do what I do and do what we do best. Thank you. Thank you. Wow. You got a Dale Tallon reference at the championship parade. The blueprint.

I do have a, I have a bracelet on. Can anybody guess what it says? Uh-oh. It's beautiful. Organ donor. Beautiful, and Eklab says something beautiful there, but it's not bleeped, so. Next. It's bleep Brooks Koepka. That's what the bracelet said. Here is Sam Reinhardt. In honor of DJ Khaled, we the best. Why did he go to DJ Khaled? And I mean that.

Another one. If I have to give a drunkest Panther award for the last four years,

Fortnite, it's got to go to Sam Reinhardt. I have a five and a half minute video in my phone from 11 of Sam Reinhardt talking. I'm going to tell you something. I lost a little bit of respect of our players because when they disrespect someone else like Conor McDavid, I know we don't like Conor McDavid, but when they start talking like that and disrespecting, I lost respect for them. Rosie, have you not been paying attention to this team for the past three years? They're the double champs. They told you themselves they can do whatever the bleep they want. These are professional trolls. Yeah.

Eh, eh, me no likey. All right, it's time for wins and fails brought to you by Jägermeister, presented by, uh, it's presented by Jägermeister, as I just said. Serve it cold or don't serve it at all. Jägermeister, damn, that's cold. For more, visit Jägermeister.com, drink responsibly. David, what's your win? Uh, my win of the week, we go to Instagram, the account Barkov Memes, very funny account, Panther fans, if you don't follow it, give it a shout. Uh,

Posted a picture. I remember back when Jake Wallman was laughing at Thomas Nosek at the end of game one when he took that delay of game penalty. And that aged like a fine milk in the sun. The Barkov memes account reposted it. And who commented on it? No one other than the great Brad Marchand. He commented, you think he's still laughing? Yeah.

Probably not. Brad Marchand is, I know I just said Sam Reinhart might be the drunkest Panther for the celebrations, but I don't know if anybody's happy. There's a civil medal. Well, Brad Marchand's certainly living his best life right now, and good for him. Speaking of Brad Marchand, my winner of the week is Dairy Queen. Now, it's been a solid run of business for Dairy Queen over the past month and a half, and they've really taken a lot of the Florida Panthers' money, even after they actually won the Stanley Cup, because, according to Panthers reporter Katie Ingleson, a

A group of Panthers who were on a trip to the Bahamas this week found a Dairy Queen store on the island. Those blizzards...

I'm sure melted as soon as they walked out of the shop. But, yeah, Derrick Queen is the big winner this postseason, fueling the Florida Panthers to another Stanley Cup championship. That pitcher had Matthew Kachuk, Brad Marchand, Sam Reinhardt, Aaron Eckblad, among others. That was a star-studded pitcher that they put up there. So, yeah, good job on Derrick Queen. I hope you got a lot of money out of that deal. They're going to have to be an on-ice sponsor next year, right? They better, at least on the boards. Yeah. Ethan.

My win of the week is Big C's, guys. You guys got to know who this guy is. One of the best Panther fans out there. He had a week to remember, and it was all culminated at the parade on Sunday when Reinhardt and Kachuk pulled him out of the crowd, poured some beer on him. They brought him on the stage at 11. He got the mic at 11, gave a speech, trolled Biz in the crowd.

My win of the week goes to the fourth season of Rosario Tejeras. Barbara De Gil did it again. A season that I didn't think she needed. And simply, the name resonates with me, Rosario. I'd say, shut up. Barbara, if you want to do a season 5, let's put a Guatemalan. Perfect.

I don't know. What the hell was that? I don't know. So I'm just giving it to... English. I'm just giving the winter of the week to... I mean, Rosario's very pretty, but what the hell? I'm just giving it to Rosario Tijeras. My brother, he'll do it again. Amazing season. Is she on Love is... Season of what? Love is Blind? Rosario Tijeras. Put that... Is that the name of the show? Yeah, yeah. Rosario Tijeras. I should make that my fellow week. No, that's season four. I don't know what this is. Great. And I want to be on season five. So, Barbra, if you want to... Are you begging for a gig? Yeah.

Dave, Fail of the Week. I think we just saw it. Yeah. I really should change mine, but I got to keep mine. I'll stick with what I had. My Fail of the Week is us, Roy. It's you and I, and I'm going back to a year ago now. What did I do? It's what we did. And looking up right now at this picture, that was our Stanley Cup picture. We spent the entire summer trying to track that mother bleeping trophy down so we could get some kind of a

candid moment with it drinking from it kissing it something and oh you can kiss my ass and we we failed roy we failed we were lucky we're very fortunate that the panthers put this event together on opening night thank you addy thank you very much addy tommy and that crew for doing that for everybody but we never got our you know whatever lame moment that we would have put together that would have been corny and nerdy and awesome so i am saying right here and now

That this summer, we have to make it happen. I've got to call in favors to people who don't owe me favors. I have to try to get us invited to Cup Day parties that we're not invited to. We have to really, we can't fail two summers in a row. They've won the Stanley Cup again. We have another chance. Second chances do not come along very often. So we've got to turn this fail into a win. That's our summer job, our summer goal. Very quickly, my fellow of the week is Vanda Kane.

That's pretty much it. Van de Koon got traded. He was so bad in – I mean, he was good in game one, but he was bad throughout the entire playoff. Stanley Cup final, 32 penalty minutes. 32 penalty minutes, and the misconduct in game six didn't come back out to shake his hand, to shake Matthew Kachuk's hand or the rest of the Panthers' hands. So, yeah, it's just a complete –

fail on evander kane's part and you deserve it sir uh have fun in vancouver coming up next anthony stewart we are going to talk about the 2025 black hockey summit and we got greg russinski coming up after that you can watch that on youtube levitard and friends you can search the playlist tab and search for the hockey show folder we will be there anthony stewart is coming up next on the hockey show

Jeremy, you know something about me, right? You know when I'm grilling outside and it's summertime, you know how I supplement my summertime? Of course I do. I make a Miller Time. Of course. That beautiful white can. Oh, when it's so hot outside, I just put it right to my forehead, right there, and I just roll it sometimes right on the forehead, cool my body down, and then I crack it open and

instant relief. And then that first sip, brother, does that first sip? That is a top five sequence of events that you can possibly go through. I'm just serenity now when I just imagine that first sip of Miller Lite. Just thinking about it, it's making me happy. Dude, the sun is out. It's nice. You have your friends showing up. You got your family there. You just had your first sip of Miller Lite. And you know what? You're happy.

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Hockey Equality presents the 2025 Black Hockey Summit. It's from July 14th to the 18th at Scotiabank Pond Arena in Toronto. They got over 400 kids across North America attending this year, Dave. This is big, man. It's very cool. Yeah. We have the chairman of Hockey Equality. He's our friend. He's a very good person. He is Anthony Stewart. He's a former Panther. And, I mean, what?

What? Like one year? Oh, Stewie? Come on. Oh, man. He played with some great Panthers at a time where it was not great to be a Panther fan. Yeah. They had some fun teams back then. Stewie and Ole. I think Louie was there for a little bit. I was not happy when he left. I was really not happy when he left. But, yeah, he had to go somewhere because that was a bad team back then. Now, yeah.

So the Black Hockey Summit, this is grassroots now. We're starting from the foundation here, trying to grow hockey in cities and towns that don't necessarily...

watch the sport or can't afford to play the sport. So this is big. This is absolutely big. So why don't you talk about the Black Hockey Summit, how it got started and how all this came together? Well, we're going on our third year this year for the Black Hockey Summit. And what we're trying to do is sort of create an affinity space and be unapologetic for the work that we're doing. Yes, we're creating a space for everybody, but we want to be able to highlight

you know, sort of some of the young black athletes and instructors throughout Ontario. And the one thing that people, you know, sort of are amazed by, there's like, well, where did you find, you know, 15 instructors of color? And then we have instructors from, that are South Asian background, black, East Asian, all over, you know, pretty much the entire world coming together to sort of celebrate diversity in hockey. And, you know, we're in a climate now where, you know,

You know, it might be going in a different direction, but for one week, seeing, you know, 400 kids from different backgrounds come together under one roof to play hockey, basketball. It subsidized, I think, 75%. It's $250 for a week. I think the cost is $600 per kid.

but it's great because everything gets a Jersey, they get socks, they get to meet, you know, NHL hockey players, right? You know, Tom Wilson comes out, you know, Eric Branson, Tyler Sagan has supported in years past. So it's just a celebration of hockey for one, one week. And what's great about that is there's a lot of kids that go through, you know, different issues, you know, with racism or, you know,

different barriers in the sport of hockey, but they know for one week I can come together and meet my friends and at least get over some of those other things that they've been going through throughout the year.

Stewie, you said you're getting ready for year three of the Blackhawk Hockey Summit this year. And I'm just curious, in the three years that you've been doing it, how much change have you seen for the better just over the last few years, just because you guys have been putting in so much work? You know, it's crazy, right? We're in an environment where we want to sort of highlight the negatives of everything, especially with the sport. But when I see a kid that gets a brand new stick or a brand new set of equipment and get on the ice for the first time,

And, you know, I'm like, well, you know, be careful, be careful. And within a day, they're playing the game of hockey. I'm like,

that is change, right? Everyone talks about change as if it's a, you know, an adjective, but it's a verb, right? So just seeing these kids get introduced to the sport or seeing kids go from single A level to triple A level or kids getting better and going on to the next level as, you know, there's a couple of kids from our program getting drafted to the NHL today as first round draft picks. That's the change that we're talking about. And for me, I'm just trying to create a space that, you know,

for the needs that I wanted as a player. I grew up in probably poverty. That would be described as poverty. But I had the community go above and beyond to make sure I was clothed, I had equipment, I had rides to the rink. So we're just creating that space. But over three years, it's grown. I think it's come from 250 to 300 to now over 400. So we're going to have to get a new rink if we expand any further, but it's going to be a great week.

You have some alumni in this year's draft. You've got Keyshawn Atchison and Malcolm Spence. Why don't you talk about these prospects going into the draft this year? Well, if you're the Florida Panthers, you better sort of trade up to get one of these players. I'll tell you that. It's great sort of seeing young players that you've known from the age of 10, 11, 12.

and get a little bit of extra mentorship or extra motivation to sort of help them, guide them along the way. I had a lot of help as a youngster getting to the National Hockey League as a first-round draft pick. And it really takes a village. Seeing these kids at 13, 14 years old and being introduced to the NHL and being introduced to Ron McLean from Hockey Night Canada, David Amber, Ben Johnson, and saying, hey, guys, you guys can do it.

And if you need any help, here's your support system and here's your rock or your network. It's great. So both players, um, big part of the program. I'm really, really excited for them. Uh, but at the end of the day, the one thing I can tell you is they can play, they can play. Right. So I know you guys traded, uh, sort of, right. Um, you know, you might have a player in that and off the fence. So I'm excited for those players. Um,

But, you know, seeing it's not about making the NHL, but when you see kids get drafted and have them live out their dreams, it's definitely, definitely fulfilling and rewarding. So that kind of leads me into what I wanted to ask you about just in terms. I know how big family is for you and being a father just in

in terms of growing the game through your own eyes and through your own experiences. How has your work just kind of helping build diversity in the game, how has that kind of influenced you as a father and vice versa? How do you think being a father has influenced your work helping so many young hockey athletes trying to pursue their dreams? Well, you know, when you're a father, right, you do anything for your kids, right?

I bring that thinking into helping these kids. Some of these kids, it's not just underprivileged kids or low income. Some of them just need somebody to talk to after a game. Some of them might just need a stick. Some of them might just need someone to go over some video. So going above and beyond for these young athletes, being a father, that's what it's taught me to do.

You know, my first son, like he plays low level house sleeve hockey. He just likes playing games and goes and social for him, sits on the bench, has a good time and that's it.

But now that I have three other kids, I'm now getting the itch where, you know what, if I'm helping all these different kids, well, I might as well implement that for my own kids. So I have a daughter that's playing high-level hockey. I have a young son that's seven years old, and he's playing with Miguel Grabowski, former NHLer. So he's now got the itch and the bug, and he's ready to go as well soon. So the sense of fulfillment, but the sense of –

giving your all to these kids. That's what you do as a father and that's what I do for these young athletes and I feel that's why we're having success. Since the time of the colored hockey league of the Maritimes around the turn of the 20th century, it's about 130 years from then to now and there's been...

very little progress, some progress in diversifying and including everyone in this sport. Even between the time of you being drafted in 2003 by Florida and the time to now, there have been

very little progress or some progress in diversifying and including everybody in the sport. So how far do you think that we've come so far? And is the current hockey establishment still throwing obstacles in a way in making everybody feel welcome and playing the sport? I think someone from the league's listening. I'll tell you this, right? For me, it's I'll give the political answer. No, I'll give her a real answer. Like,

Yes, you look at the Colorado Hockey League, our history goes back 130 years, the 1800s.

right and the reason why they started that league because you know they wanted to get people into the church and you know just reading the history on that where you know they have to play their games leading in the spring because that's the only time that they'd be able to get their ice and these stuff is canceled championships because of the weather right the ice melted so to go from there to now yeah there's a lot of work to do but you know i tell the nhl the nhl yeah you know with hockey equality we're

We're the barometer, right? We're the weather system, and we're predicting the kids are coming. And it's my job to give them the tools to be successful, right? So I didn't have somebody, hey, maybe wait till you win the Stanley Cup before you go to the elbow room. Don't be going there the night before a game, right? Don't be...

If I won this Stanley Cup, I'd probably be trying to swim to Cuba with it. That's probably why they're not welcome. That's why no one's allowed to live in Fort Lauderdale. But I think just seeing this mentorship and seeing what these

these kids are getting, they are getting a taste of what's to come and they're going to know what to expect before they get there. And, you know, I look at myself and, you know, the Wayne Simmonses and the Chris Stewart's and the Vontae Smith colleagues. We had a lot of bumps in the road. We had a lot of bumps in the road because we didn't necessarily have, you know, I had Anson Carter and some other guys, but no one to really pull us aside and say, hey,

You have to do it like this. You're doing it like that. It has to be like that. So now with these kids now that have the access and we're leveling the playing field, access to training, access to mental health, access to academies, you know, they're going to be catching up really, really quick. And I'll tell you this. It's not just black players, South Asian players. There's going to be a player from China drafted in the first two rounds today as well. So for me, it's yes, the past. There's some work to do, but I'll tell you what the future looks

The players are coming. Anthony, that totally leads me into what I wanted to ask you, just in terms of like a positive spin on what's happened and where we're going, because you mentioned there's players coming from all over the world. We've seen the the the was it the Latam Cup that they have down here where they have teams from like it's nearing a dozen Central and South American countries that come and play ice hockey here in South Florida. Just, you know,

In terms of positivity, how nice has it been, I guess, to see the progress that has come lately that you were just talking about where we're seeing players not just of different backgrounds but from all over the world coming and really showing that they're getting really good at ice hockey? It's definitely great, right? And I follow a little Adam Krupp very closely. My brother was a coach a couple of years ago. And what you see is over the years... Good luck today. Good luck, guys. A couple of the young draft picks wheeling by for him on his own. You got to pick him up.

But every year you see different countries. There's Greece now involved. Pakistan had a team, right? There's India. So seeing all these different teams and countries get involved every single year is definitely very exciting. I mentioned the term grassroots earlier. You know, we're talking about the foundation. We're talking about growing the game in these communities. It's not just having a hockey team in your backyard or somewhere near a

you know, in the tri-county area or something. Like if you live in Miami as opposed to, you know, Sunrise, or if you live in West Palm Beach as opposed to Sunrise, you know, like you're trying to grow the game. And a lot of this, as I said earlier, is can't afford to play the sport. It's expensive, you know? So what can be done in that area? Because I know that this is all based in Ontario, like, but throughout Canada and throughout the United States,

continental here, how can we grow this game in communities that doesn't necessarily

that can't really afford to play this sport? You know, my dad was a Jamaican immigrant and he immigrated to Canada in 1974. And he knew nothing about hockey, right? But he knew to integrate. He found a way to sort of get his sons involved. And he did it through the Montreal Canadiens. And what happened was, you know, me watching the Montreal Canadiens as a youngster growing up, I decided that I wanted to, you know, try the sport. And with that, you know, I started with ball hockey. And then I started with...

rollerblades. And I started with foot hockey. We used to play foot hockey in school where you literally would kick a tennis ball into a net. But once I got to the edge and I got on the ice, my dad found a way. So you have to find a way to introduce kids to the game. And I tell everybody, I'm not a baseball fan, but I am a Toronto Blue Jays fan because when I was a youngster,

Our local church, if you got baptized, it would take you to dinner and you'd bust down and you'd go to a blue jay game. So let's just say when I was younger, I went to five blue jay games. So me going there, so I was baptized five times a week. I don't know if that's good or bad. But my story in that is I became a blue jay fan because they supported me when I was young. So if I'm the Florida Panthers or the Tampa Bay Lightning, get me.

kids to the game, give them the experience, get them introduced to it, and their parents will find a way because the cost of hockey is expensive, but the cost of bail, the cost of low grades, the cost of all these other things and socioeconomic issues, if you do not play the game and you're getting into other stuff, is a lot more deeper. So I think just introducing players to the game, and Florida's done that, and one of the high schools was

donated a rink by Anthony Duclair and the NHLPA and the NHL. Little stuff like that, you'll see the impact economically, but with the game, you know, a lot sooner than later. Jeez, I didn't go to any Marlins games when I got baptized. I mean, that's not fair. Canada's a different breed. Stu, you were on one of my favorite Panther teams as a kid.

the 08-09 team that tied the Montreal Canadiens for 8th and 9th place and just missed the playoffs. That was as close as we used to get down here. Now we've won back-to-back Stanley Cups. What has it been like for you to watch the emergence of this franchise? I'm jealous. I'm jealous. And we had great players, right? But for us, I got sent down nine times one year. And half the games I played...

I had to race. Literally, we're in Rochester. I'm getting in at 4.30, have to race down to get to the rink, and I'm getting there just in time for warm-up. So how prepared was it? So I think management wasn't necessarily in the best place at the time, but could you imagine this team with a Stephen Weiss? Could you imagine this team with a Jay Bollister as your number four? Right? You know, David Booth flying down the wing. So we had some great teams. I just think the... our... you know, we just weren't put together at that time, but

You know, it's great to see hockey in South Florida because it was considered a non-traditional hockey market. But, you know, seeing Bill Zito and the work that he's done putting this group together, it's definitely been nothing short of amazing. So I'm happy for them, but I'm really, really jealous. I'm really, really jealous. So at Great Campbell, like, you know,

Shout out if you need an advising job. I have 20 jobs as it is in Jamaica. But if you need any advising, let me know. I've got some young players for you. We need to bring Stewie home for sure. Yeah. Stewie, tell everybody how we can help Hockey Equality. You can help by just going to our website, www.hockeyequality.org.

We're always accepting donations. The NHL, the PA have been amazing, our primary sponsors. I'd like to shout out, you know, Kim Davis, Rob Konesarik, Jeff Scott from the NHL. They've committed over a million dollars over the last three years. Definitely excited for that. But, you know, it takes a village. It costs money. You know, everyone wants to see the grassroots, the kids with, you know, ankle burning because it's the cheapest way. But these kids need sticks. They need skates. They need resources. They need mental health. They need...

You know, everything that it costs, you know how much it costs to feed these kids to get there. So any, any supports we need volunteers would be greatly appreciated. And I really appreciate you guys having me on this program and this platform to really talk about my cause. The 2025 Black Hockey Summit is July 14th through the 18th at Scotiabank Pond Arena. For more information, log on to hockeyquality.org slash

slash BHS and log on to hockeyequality.org and donate and share your time if you are up there in Ontario. Anthony Stewart, thank you for joining us. Thanks for having me. The Panthers, if you're still partying, go home, please. Your wives miss you, your kids miss you. Go home, get some sleep, and do it next year. You'd be partying too. Stop, Stewie. You'd be out there. Oh, yeah. You don't even know where I'd be right now. I'd be a Spongebob under the ocean. Nice.

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ESPN's NHL coverage continues throughout the offseason. They got the 2025 NHL draft. It begins tonight at 6 o'clock Eastern with The Point on ESPN2 and ESPN+. And that's followed by round one of the NHL draft on ESPN and ESPN+. At 7 o'clock Eastern, the rest of the draft, rounds two through seven, begin tonight.

Begins at noon Eastern on Saturday across ESPN+. And coming up next week, you can catch this guy on Free Agent Frenzy on Tuesday, July 1st, beginning at 11 a.m. Eastern.

ESPN Plus. This guy, we know this guy. He was a guy, been a guy, and will always be a guy. This guy is named Greg Ryszynski. A lot of guys. A lot of guys. We are going to get started. This has been a big time week. A lot of news has flown out. A lot of players have gone crazy.

You know, to a fro, you know, trades and everything. We got a new collective bargaining agreement. Apparently that has just been finalized and will be announced later today. But first, we are going to talk.

about the Florida Panthers. They won the Stanley Cup again. So they are currently on their worldwide troll tour, and it seems like they are going after everybody right now. Greg, are they being bad boys? What say you? Are they showing good form in their trolling right now?

Well, I mean, the, the only downside to me right now is that if there was any inkling of trying to convince Connor McDavid to come to South beach, that's probably out the window based on some of the, the chance I've heard at the club. Um, it's, it's, did we really expect them to change, uh,

uh, the, the manner in which they won the cup after they won the cup, like absolutely not. And, you know, I, I think it's, I think it's par for the course amongst championship celebrations to do a little boasting and do a little bit of a chest puffing and, and, you know, the Panthers do that, but then they also just carry over what it was that made them special. I wrote a big like essay about them, uh, after the, uh, the cup win. Great story. Thank you very much. Um,

And something a current NHL player told me when I asked him, you know, what is it about the Panthers that kind of like sets them apart? Is he said they try to embarrass you. But he said it's not just like embarrassing you with their taunting and their antics and Sam Bennett doing the oopsie doopsie and the gold tenders heads and all that stuff. You know, like.

This player said, they want to embarrass you on the scoreboard. And anyone who watched them in the playoffs understands that because that whole thing of the blood in the water, them scoring one goal and scoring three more after that within the next six minutes...

It's just kind of how they are. And I don't think that you can turn that off if you're the Panthers. I think that, especially after you have the proof of concept of two straight cups and three straight trips to the final, you're the king of the mountain until otherwise thrown off. And I think that what they're doing is...

is awesome. But also, you know, I mentioned McDavid off the top. It's also kind of a recruiting video, man. Like people, people underestimate the messaging and the images that come out of that Panthers locker room and like the camaraderie that they have. And you know, what NHL player wouldn't love to play in a place where you're constantly winning the championship and then also partying by the beach. It's like, it's pretty dope. And Bill Zito has mentioned their GM has mentioned this a few times of like,

oh, gee, what a life. You got to drive around in a golf cart and flip-flops to practice. I mean, it's all part of the thing that's shifted for both the Panthers and, you know, for a while, the Lightning on how much fun it is to win in Florida. We've been hearing the word harmony between the NHL and the Players Association, and they have apparently finalized their collective bargaining agreement, and they are going to formally announce that tomorrow.

in a little bit. Are we looking at an 84-game season? What potential rule changes are we looking at here, Greg?

Well, first of all, the words I would use to describe the labor negotiations as a kid who grew up in a union house, my dad was an electrician in New York City, are fat and happy. Wow. The players have absolutely no desire to rock the boat at this point because everyone is doing pretty good. The revenues are strong for the league. There's going to be even more revenue rolling in through expansion, you know, coming up in the next maybe like, you know, five or six years at the most. Yeah.

uh... and and the smartest thing the gary beth in the commissioner did was he put out uh... projection for what the next three years of the salary cap looks like in you know three years from now the cap is like well over a hundred million dollars if you're a player and you have an inkling of well the cap sucks that we should have a luxury tax all get paid more you look at that you're like or we could do nothing and just be happy with where it is right now and and i think that's kinda where they are so

Couple of the changes in the CBA that are significant that impact people. You mentioned the 84 games myself and my colleague, Kevin Weeks broke the story a couple of days ago that there will be an 84 game season, uh, beginning in 26, 27. Uh, it'll be in the CBA. And the reason for it is obviously like money, but also if you look at the schedule and how it's currently constituted with, with the 32 teams that we have, um,

You don't play everybody in your division the same number of times. There are some years in which the Panthers play the Lightning four times, some years in which they play them three times. So by adding two more games to the schedule, you even that out. And obviously, the more games against your divisional opponents, the better it is for your revenue and interest, right?

To do that, they'll take away two games in the preseason, because who gives a shit about the preseason? And then they'll probably start the season maybe a week earlier at the end of September. The other two things in the CBA worth mentioning...

One is that there will be a reduction in the maximum amount of years you can give a player on a contract. If he is on your team, you can give him seven. If he is a free agent, you can give him six. And that's significant because that will encourage more player movement and also probably fiddle around with how big these cap numbers are because you won't be able to space out players.

the money you give a player through eight years, it'll just be seven. And the other thing, finally, along with the salary cap and the word shenanigans comes to mind, is long-term injured reserve. Now, we have probably talked about that on the show before, about how certain teams have been able to leverage that to their advantage. Evander Kane is out for the entirety of the season, and then, my God, like Christ himself, rises. Yeah.

for the early part of the playoffs. I don't know if Christ would have taken that many penalties. I don't know. We've seen it happen with, you know, every team's, I mean, a lot of very successful teams have done it. And so, yeah,

The way they're going to address this is not by playing around with the long-term injured reserve rules, which are very hard to change because then you're getting into the dicey area of, is this person really hurt? Are the doctors lying? They don't want to get into that area. Slippery slip. But they will get into the area of putting a salary cap

In the playoffs. And by that, I mean the guys that are on the active roster, the active lineup, I should say, not roster, but lineup. The defensemen, forwards, goalies that are active for a playoff game, the total of their cap hits must be under the salary cap. And that's how they're addressing it. So as one agent told me this week, you can have...

a billion dollars in player revenue player salaries like on your roster entering the playoffs but the guys that are actually on the ice have to be cap compliant interesting you get into an 84 game season you uh add divisional games how is that going to affect the tiebreaker in this situation insofar as like the standings yes i mean it'll it'll still be the same stuff i mean it'll still be you know the usual the you know regulation wins overtime plus regulation wins uh

goal differential, all that stuff will still be in place. I don't think it's going to have a huge impact on the standings necessarily. It's an extra six points.

It is, but I mean... Oh, extra four points, I should say. Yeah, or if you want to swing it out to points, lost points game, it's an extra eight points. But I mean, it's just two games. The only difference for me is now the Buffalo Sabres will miss the playoffs by two additional games. It's really the only big change, I think. All right, so you talked about shenanigans among construction of teams, long-term injured reserve, you throw all these very...

technical terms at us. He got me thinking about front offices and I have a very simple question for you. Why isn't Bill Zito the GM of the decade? Why doesn't he get more credit for what he's done? Because I don't think any GM in maybe the history of sports, Greg, has had a run like Zito's first five years in Florida.

It's been fantastic. Now, if you wanted to get kind of like conspiratorial about it, the reason he probably doesn't get it is because other teams are jealous of the advantages that he has. We talked about the climate. We talked about the quality of life. And then we probably have to bring up tax advantages, which other GMs get kind of salty about.

Maybe that's not a reason because Jim Nill in Dallas has the same advantages and manages to win that award a lot. But, I mean, listen, I've been a Bill Zito fan going back to his days as an assistant GM in Columbus. I was one of the first people to put his name out there and say, this guy has got it. You know, there was always a hesitancy about hiring him as a GM position.

He had gotten interviews before, but he had never gotten a gig and part of it might be because of his background as an agent at the time wasn't really in vogue of thinking outside the box. It was like, let's hire the most famous name for the organization to be the GM. But you look at what he's done and now everybody's doing the same thing. I mean, the Sam Bennett trade, when they got him from Calgary,

was the template for, I mean, you could draw a through line from what the Philadelphia Flyers just did with Trevor Zegers to what the Panthers did with Sam Bennett insofar as finding a guy that's young, that a team is very iffy about insofar as do they want to extend that relationship multiple seasons because he's a restricted free agent. In Calgary's case, there was also pressure about potentially losing him to Seattle in the expansion draft. And then anteing up with a bunch of

picks and prospects and getting that guy and then hoping that you bet right. And in the case of Sam Bennett, they extremely bet right because the guy just won the consummate. But those were the kind of moves that Zeta was doing. It was identifying players, buying low, paying a commiserate price, but not overpaying. And then just really smartly building out his team attitudinally, hiring the right coach. I mean, there's absolutely no reason why that guy is the GM of the decade.

I want to ask you about a team that seems like they're going to be really active on draft night here, and it's the New York Islanders. It seems like Noah Dobson could be traded any second. And the reports are coming out now that they have pivoted from looking for players to looking for futures and draft picks. Does this signal that the Islanders are going in more of a rebuild direction than maybe many of us expected heading into this offseason?

I think it's possible, and I'm fine with it. I mean, so as you guys can tell, I'm not in Los Angeles. But I will be on the island tonight at the New York Islanders draft party because I think they are the most interesting team at the draft on day one with holding the first overall pick, with trying to figure out a way to draft local kid James Hagans, and then obviously doing all these trades scenarios to try to reshape the roster. This is a deeper...

dig out of the hole that they're in than maybe they're willing to admit publicly. But, you know, Lula Amarillo had basically doubled, tripled, quadrupled down on the same roster for multiple seasons. It hadn't worked. They're an older team. They're a slower team. They need to get younger. They need to get faster. And frankly, you know, one of the guys that the guy who led the GM search before they hired Matthew Darge was John Collins. John Collins is a co-owner of the team. Before that, he was also the guy who like

helped invent the winter classic for the NHL. The man understands spectacle. The man understands entertainment. The man understands that this is a market that has kind of atrophied under the current style of play and the level of success. And they still got a real new building, man. That thing is beautiful. And they got to fill it. So I'm all for them pivoting to maybe rebuild, retool, whatever, in the hopes that they can...

Build something that's sustainable and exciting and brings fans back to that building on the reg because whatever they're doing right now ain't working. You mentioned Evander Kane, or in this case, Jesus Christ, with a gambling debt problem. He got traded to Vancouver. Edmonton did not get much in return in this trade. What do you think led to this trade? And is this really going to help either team?

I mean, first of all, from what I understand, and again, it's been a while since I read the Bible, but I believe Jesus Christ was on DraftKings of Samaria. And so there's something to be said about that. That trade didn't make any sense to me from a Vancouver standpoint. Like, I get their logic that they put out there insofar as it's hard to find wingers that can score that many goals. They got to get a little bit more physical, you know,

because they don't have JT Miller there anymore and he brings that. And then the biggest gamble, obviously, is that a guy that has been a bit toxic in the stops that he's had, and by the way, no love lost with him at Edmonton, from what I gather, at the end of his time there, that being in his hometown, the place where he played junior hockey, the fact that he's got a young family, all of that adds up to maybe a level of maturity that we have not necessarily seen from Evander Kane.

Physically, his body seems like it's breaking down. I still find it weird that a team that sort of imploded because of some tough locker room drama would then be like, we've got to be in the Evander Kane market. I don't quite understand that. And I also don't understand taking on the full freight of that contract from a division rival without them sending at least some kind of draft pick sweetener the other way. So it was a trade that vexed me.

about the Vancouver Canucks. Just on Edmonton, do you think that Stan Bowman knew that you can re-sign a guy that is on your team and you don't have to give him eight years in the case of Trent Frederick? Well, you know, that's a really weird one because the Oilers used to get hit with that a lot about giving out term to bottom six players. A lot of teams have gotten hit with that, give out term to bottom six players.

And you figure they would have learned that lesson. I didn't see anything from Trent Frederick that really set me up. We've got to be in the Trent Frederick business long term. But I guess when you make that trade, you've committed a certain amount of capital to it and you have to keep him around. Yeah, obviously with the Oilers, the big question is McDavid. And I wrote about that this week on ESPN. There is a non-zero chance that he leaves Edmonton next summer if he doesn't like what he's hearing from a planning standpoint from Stan Bowman and the franchise.

I'd be shocked if he signed on July 1st based on the way that things are trending. He's going to take his time and understand what their plan is. And, you know, when you hear that, I think it greatly reduces the chances that he'll sign a long-term deal like Leon Dreisaitl did. It increases the chances that he might take something on a shorter term. Give Edmonton four more years to get this thing right. And then if they don't get it right, you become the single greatest unrestricted free agent in the history of North American sports since LeBron and the decision.

I think that's kind of where he'll go, but we'll see how it plays out because as I've often said about

impending free agents. His stuff is in Edmonton. And when your stuff is there, you tend to stay. And sometimes you stay for quite a long term. Jonathan Tate signed a one-year deal with the Jets. His hometown is in Winnipeg. He hasn't played since 2023 due to long COVID. What are you making this deal? Kind of an obvious one. I mean, I think it's in Tate's best interests to go to a place that is going to be less pressure packed than say like Toronto would have been for him. Um,

Because he's just getting back into it. Got to see what kind of shape he's in. Hometown Winnipeg. Not a whole lot of pressure cooker there for a guy like Jonathan Taves who returns as a conquering hero. It's an incentive-laden contract, so there's not a lot of risk on the Jets' side. And no one's expecting him to be their second-line center. But if it happens, great. They need one. So I think it was a good gamble for them and a good match for him. And hopefully he can run it back. I mean, he was...

one of the most outstanding players of his era. And then it kind of all fell apart for him health-wise. So hopefully he can come back and make a meaningful contribution to a pretty good team. You can catch Greg on ESPN's coverage of the NHL draft with the points on tonight at 6 o'clock. You got round one at 7 o'clock.

And you got free agent frenzy next week on July 1st. All that is going to be across the ESPN family of networks. Greg Wyshynski, thank you for joining us. Anytime, boys. Thanks for having me. All right. And that's it for this week's hockey show. We are off next week. We will return the week of July 7th.

For everybody in the back, for Gino, for Jason, for everybody in the other room over there with Ethan and Rosie, that's David Druk. My name is Roy Bellamy. We will see you in two weeks. Enjoy the draft. We will see you for free agency.

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instant relief and then that first sip brother does that first sip that is a top five sequence of events that you can possibly go through i'm just serenity now when i just imagine that first sip of miller life just thinking about it's making me happy dude the sun is out it's nice you have your friends showing up you got your family there you just had your first sip of miller light and you know what you're happy

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