Dj is not feeling great. He woke up this morning without a voice. He then went to the Gary Bettman press conference. He's here with you right now. So please give a big round of applause for Chris Johnson and Julian McKenzie.

Hello.

What's up, everybody? Hey, hey. Sir. I think Adam just mentioned that CJ wasn't feeling well, so of course, beer is his remedy.

It's my flu game, Julian. It's my flu pod. Are we supposed to sit in these chairs?

We are allowed to sit if We can do whatever we want. We could do whatever we want, really. This is our show. Hey, the carpet. What do you do? When you're Chris Johnston, you do what you want.

Thank you. This is trippy. How are you doing?

How has your day been?

It's been a day. Yeah.

Can you like... There's going to be a lot of hockey topics we'll get to. We'll do questions and stuff. But I saw this man yesterday. I'm not going to say where. Of dumb beverages may have been had. But I was very concerned about your voice.

I'm still concerned about it.

I mean, I'm definitely scared for it. This has happened before the opposite way to me. To see it happen to you, I don't feel sorry. I'm sorry.

I started getting sick four days ago, and I knew I was toast. But let's power through.

We're going to power through this one, all right?

Yeah, guy.

Okay, let's get through today because you were at the Gary Bettman press conference There was a whole... There was the Sean Monahead. Wait, I said Gary Bettman. How do we feel about Gary Bettman?

Good thing I didn't bring him over with me.

Yeah, thank God. Do you want to start there? Do you want to start with the Sean Monahan trade? Where do you want to go? What? We got to get to the Elias led home trade, too. Yes. Hey, I asked C. Oh, then again.

Well, I don't know. What do you guys want us to start with first, then?

C, Jay, you got to pick one.

Dude, well, okay. It's All-Star Weekend, and it's been busy.

It has been busy.

When the Elias Lind Home Trade broke, I was in a bar where they had the media reception. Yes. That was not convenient.

You're saying that for you?

Well, and for anyone else. You know where I was? Singing karaoke, I think.

I was at a karaoke bar.

There you go. There hasn't been much sleep already. Then this morning, what do we have? We have a semi-significant trade with Sean Monahan.

What do you mean semi-significant?

That's pretty significant. Fair enough. It is.

Why did you rank Sean Monahan on your trade board?

I think he was two or three or maybe four. That's pretty sick. Yeah, he's top five for sure.

Considering the trade deadline, which is going to be filled with attractive commodities, he's significant.

Right. So you get that. You have one of the highest paid head coaches in Todd McLean getting fired. Yes. And you have the news breaking that the NHL is going back to the Olympics. I could tell you, I was in Sochi in 2014, the last time NHL players were at the Olympics, and there was no white in this beard at that time. It's been a long time. We are damn overdue. I will wear this on my sleeve. I love international hockey. I don't see anything bad. I get it. If you're an owner or maybe if you cheer for a and your favorite player goes over and gets hurt, that's not ideal. But other than that fact, and that can happen anywhere, to be honest, what's the downside? It gives us something to focus on. We all debate who should be on the team. This stocks up, this stocks down. I just think it's great. Obviously, really what carried the day here is the players themselves wanted it so badly that it's going to happen. That all happens before noon. Then we have that press conference. I'm actually pumped for the skills competition tonight. I don't know how many of you are going, but I'll tell you, I'm all in on this.

I'm going to look like a fool if this sucks because I really think it's going to be awesome. The players definitely care going in, but you get out there. It's like now, I'm nervous being on stage. Maybe those guys are going to be too cool for school when it starts going, but I actually think they're going to try. Someone pretty high up after that press conference came over to me and said, If this doesn't work, we're going to just blow it up. It's like, This is our hale Mary to actually make this thing interesting.

Let me just spend a moment on that topic because you did write a story on, and I think it's titled, How Connor McDavid Saved the Skills Competition. This is a good headline. It's out before the skills.I.

Would click that story. I'd be like, oh.

I did. I get it, SEO and stuff. But it's out before the competition. It's one thing for the league to look at this and be like, Man, if this doesn't work, what does that do for Connor McDavid in his role? It If you can, can you explain exactly what he did to save it?

Well, I don't know. I was in Florida last year. I imagine most people heard something better to do on a Friday night to then watch how bad that skills competition was. But just take my word for it if you didn't watch It literally jumped the shark. It was like, Okay, we have gone so far, and nobody's interested in this. The participants, the media, the fans, what have you. And so about three weeks after that, Gary Bettman traveled to Edmonton as He goes to every city for a day during every season, and he pulled Connor aside and was like, What do we do? I'm not saying that Connor designed the whole competition, but what was important is that he put his weight behind it. He started spreading the word to other players, and you have a pretty good roster of players that have signed up for this. He consulted on the actual skills themselves, and ultimately, he signed off on it. I like that because this is what the All-Star misses. If the performers don't want to perform, what can any of us do? I can sit here and complain about it, but those are the guys that you want to watch.

You don't want to watch me and you out there on skates. That would be terrible.

It'd be like Bambi.

Right. But my point is the individuals that perform for us have to have a reason to. I don't mind the million-dollar prize. I know some people don't like that.

I think-Who doesn't like that? Actually, I haven't seen anyone go against that.

We have one 100%er on our podcast who listens in Sweden, and literally every show, he will send me a list in a WhatsApp chat of everything he disagrees with us on. Oh, my God. My buddy Ristow lives in Solentuna, Sweden, home of Matt Sundin, actually, from the same little town outside Stockholm.

Matt Sandine, that's the guy that was almost a hab once, right? He was a much longer name. He's like a Vancouver Knux legend, right? I know who Matt Sandine is. Do you know what?

Matt Sandine came back when He went in the Hockey Hall Fame, and he said it to the cameras, I regret signing in Vancouver. He said that. On the record, he said if he could go back, he would have just finished as a leave.

That probably would have been the right... That would have been the right thing for him to do, honestly.

I guess. I mean, it's Vancouver, I think, paid him $10 million that year. So he had a lot of reasons to go to Vancouver.

No, expensive as to live in Vancouver, I'd take that money, too.

Yeah, but still, I'm just saying. Sandine wishes... I think Sandine He was upset ultimately because the Leaps tried to trade him. He didn't get the send off. It's like Steven Stamkos. I think, as I mentioned on the pot a few times, I think it's one of the more interesting stories for me in the league because legacy players like him don't usually He had taken down the hard ball road. Here we are in February. I'm not saying he's leaving. In fact, it seems like maybe the wind is shifting there a little bit and that he's going to end up staying ultimately. But just the fact that's a question. Sydney Crosby, I'm guessing, going to get to retire the way he wants to retire. If he wants to stay in Pittsburgh 100%, now, of course, he wants to retire carrying the mug around the rink in Pittsburgh, and that might not be possible just with the way the team's going. Anyway, I'm losing-Are you starting to tap into your what if?

With the new segment that we're starting on Thursdays where you bring in a hypothetical scenario, Sydney Crosby in a completely different uniform. I mentioned that casually on Twitter yesterday, people lost their minds.

I don't like that what-if because Drew or someone will take that clip and they'll run it all over YouTube. Then I got a GM or someone going like, What the hell did you say? Why did you do that? Because nobody listens to the whole show.

How do we feel about producer Drew, everybody.

I love Drew.

I love Drew, too.

He's the anti-hero in our group chat, too. He's always in there just causing chaos.

And on social media, too.

I know, but I I love it. That just is who he is. He's not doing that part-time. That's full-time, Drew.

It's funny. We went on a whole Mat Sun, Dean tangent, and that cut off what you were saying with McDavid. Was there anything else you wanted to finish on that point? Can I get back to Bettman in his presser?

We don't have notes up here, bud. Just ask whatever you want to ask.

Cj will sometimes make the joke that we don't prepare for this. Like, literally, yesterday, he was like, Don't tell me what topics we're going to talk about today.

Honestly, I don't want to think about it. I think it's better. Look, people have come here. Absolutely. I know they're having a drink or some food.

We thank you all for coming, by the way.

I would hate for anyone to leave and think any part of this was scripted. When we turn the questions over later, you can ask me anything you want. I'll answer as honest as I can or what I know. I'll try to tell some stories and be semi-interesting. But I never want to prepare in the way that, Don't ask me this, Julian, because I'm scared that I'm going to say the wrong How many times?

I don't know if that's happened that much.

Well, three years, it's probably happened.

Probably happened, but you're pretty good with me throwing anything. There's been times when I'll remember that I forgot to add something to a rundown, and I'll just bring it up in the middle of the show, and you'll deliver a jam. That's how good you are.

I don't like to think too much, man. Keep it simple.

All right. But I do still want to get to that Gary Bettman presser because it seemed like there was a lot that he covered today. Hockey Canada was mentioned, the Arizona Coyotes were mentioned, the best on Best tournament. What did you make of that whole set up today? And Marty Walsh spoke today to... Can you take us through that part of your afternoon?

Well, it's really weird. I'm trying to imagine if you went back in time five years and I said to you, Julian, there's going to be a day and the NHL is going to announce it's going to two Olympics, and they're going to create this other new tournament. And finally, after all the bitching and complaining and everything that's gone on, they're actually going to to get back to doing this thing that the best players in the world want to do. I would say that would be a momentous day, an exciting day. There'd be hype. Obviously, it ends up being muted for very good reasons, but it was a It was strange. I was young when that press conference began. It went on for two hours. Seriously, that's the reason I showed up. You almost didn't make it. That's why I showed up late here if you saw me running in. It was a A strange day. I'll say this. My gut reaction was that Gary Bettman was forthright with the Hockey Canada questions. He's a lawyer. He's definitely not going to get up there and say the wrong thing because he, from a legal standpoint, is very comfortable in that environment.

He said that the players that have been charged are not likely to play in the league until the judicial process plays out, which is significant because it could be two years or something like this. Robin Robin Doolittle is doing a great job. She's a news reporter from the Globe and Mail. She really challenged him, and I felt... I don't know what he can say in the end. It just was... This is not a normal day, is the best way to put it.

Robin Doolittle part, though. I wasn't at that presser, but just seeing on Twitter, at least reading the way that that back and forth was seen like it was going, it seemed like Gary Bedman was being condescending. Am I wrong? Is that too strong?

Maybe a A little bit. I mean, that's Gary. When he gets challenged, and he's been a commissioner for what? 31 years? Something like that, yeah. My career has been 20 years, I guess, almost.

I'm 29. He's been a commissioner longer than I've been alive.

There you go. I've been covering NHL events, say, for 18 to 20 years. You just see when he gets challenged, that's his way sometimes. He's got that edge to him. I know Alan's surely backstage with lots of opinions. We should just turn the mic back over to him. I don't know if it was sending, and I didn't talk to Robin after. I mean, it's been a bit of a whirlwind, but it was on brand, I'll say. He was a little feisty, but that's what you sign up for with Gary.

What about with the Arizona Coyotes. He seemed like he threw some support to the organization's way as they continue to figure out their home issues.

Well, Marty Walsh, the NHLPA executive director, basically set fire to The Coyotes today. Yes. Openly saying someone in that position that they should be moved, that they got to figure that this is no way to do business. The fact they play in a college rink, and as he mentioned, they're the second tenant in a college rink, so they don't even have all the primo set up there. That's going to be an interesting one. We're only a week removed from the Salt Lake, Utah interest of the league. The clock is ticking in Arizona. I feel like Gary Bettman was half-hearted in his support of the Coyotes, and it's pretty clear where the union lies just in terms of they want the players to have a chance to play in the NHL arena, and right now, it's just not on the horizon there. Okay.

What about the upcoming Four Nations Cup? Are you excited for that Four Nations tournament?

Yeah, man. Okay, you might not be excited today, but think of next February, and it's a Friday. You're out with your friends, and you're like, Canada and US play tonight. It's Austin Matthews against Cyddi Crosby and Mitch Marner.

You guys like Austin Matthews?

It does something in your imagination. You're like, these superstar lineups, the fourth line on these teams would absolutely dummy a normal NHL team. I get it. It's a bit gimmicky. I don't know how it'll go midseason. There's no history to it. I was at that World Cup in 2016 here. It was fun. Certainly the Team North America was really fun. Most people don't remember a whole lot about that, but it beats working for a living.

Team North America. That's the biggest thing I remember from that tournament.

Do you remember who Canada beat in the final?

Team Europe. Okay. I don't want to hear people say that, I don't like these gimmicky teams when team North America is the most memorable team from that tournament and Canada beat team Europe. I hate the fact whenever people look back at that tournament and they say, I I don't want to see another best on best with these gimmicky teams when they made up some of the best parts of that last time we did it.

I know you're a soccer fan. The best part of international competition, even when you're from a smaller nation, is representing your country, right? Absolutely. I'm telling you, even when I went to the Olympics as a journalist, you feel like you did something in your life. This guy from Kauberg, at least he went and he's representing. You're representing Canada in a weird way. I'm not over-dramatizing my role. I get it. I'm there to write about hockey. I'm not splitting at them. I'm not saving anything. But you can't help but feel proud when you're at the Olympics. I bet even as a fan, I've just never gone to an Olympics, but I just think it makes you reflect on where you came from, the people that contributed to you. I imagine, the best I can guess, I can't pretend I'm ever a player who's played in the Olympics, but even players from a smaller nation, like Anze Kopitar from Slovenia, I'm sure he... And he did compete in Sochi, and I can't remember who they beat, but they beat the Czech Chechia. They had one upset win in that tournament. Just how proud that makes you. Well, yes, Team North America was fun and it was cute and they had those jerseys and that weird goal song.

Opposite of Adults by Chitty Bang?

Yeah, for a goal song. It's not a typical goal song.

It was a great song at the time.

I still like it. I'm just saying it was a different... It caught your attention, right? Absolutely. Those players would rather have represented their countries, right?

For sure.

Connor McDavid would rather have been wearing the Team Canada sweat.

I agree with that sentiment, but we all know at the end of the day, all those guys want to play at the Olympics, and we know that looks like that's going to happen. I think for the World Cup, which essentially was created as a way to appease players for not going to the Olympics, we know we're not going to treat it the same way as we're going to treat the Olympics. Even the players won't treat it the same way. Why not lean into it and have fun with it?

But you got to start somewhere. You don't know how you're going to feel in 2026.

They had a starting point in 2016.

Okay, but it's starting now, man. Let's not look back. Let's look ahead. It's not because it can't be instructive, but I just think maybe in 20 years or 30 years, the person on this stage who does our jobs when we're off in retirement.

You mean AI?

Maybe, yeah. I mean, whatever it is.

I'm going to get for you.

Thanks, buddy. I take back everything I ever said about Drew. You can clip me and radio me and use all my comments out Out of-You hear that, producer Drew?

You could do that.

Thanks, Drew.

That's nice service. I should probably put it in order myself.

I was actually thinking, I hope someone sees it. That's almost empty. That's what to say. Drew and I are like...

Could I get A Cider or something? Do we have time for that? No? It's the reason why it's the Chris Johnston show, not the Julia McKenzie show. One day.

It's a CJ show, Chris and Julia. Chris and Julia. How do you guys feel about the CJ show? To be fair, I never wanted it to have my name on that. That's really interesting that you didn't. I have the receipt somewhere. I got to go back to text messages from four years ago, but I was like, this It was Adam Wild. That's his fault.

I think the first bit of album art we had for the podcast, it was just you on the front. It was. The first weekend, the show-It's a miracle if I can turn on my computer.

I don't know how anything-I I used to believe that you're this old, decrepit man who doesn't know how to use anything.

You're not that far off from... You've just entered your 40s.

Do I tell you what the next 10 years are going to look like for you, Julian?

You know what? I would actually like to know that.

Well, son, you're going to see some shit. You're not going to wake up with the same Spritz maybe in the morning. Say what? There's going to be pain in places you've never had pain. What the hell is this? I'm just telling you.

I thought you were going to tell me about my future, about my work and stuff. Not the pains I feel now.

You're 29, right? Correct. Imagine telling a 19-year-old or attempting to what's to come. How do you even put that into words?

It's impossible.

A decade is a long time in life.

I only followed you on Twitter a decade ago, and I never thought I'd be in a room with you and all these great people.

There you go. Steve Dangle was just some random leaves YouTuber a decade ago.

And look at him now.

I wish I had a picture of his setup, like his original setup. It would have been like a webcam, I bet.

Sometimes I'll go back to the old episodes where you guys are... I don't know what room you guys were in. I guess I assume it was at Sportsnet, but you would go in this random gauge-looking room.

Yeah, Blur and Jarvis, I did some hits up there with them back in the day.

That was some good Those were good episodes. You should go through the SDPN archive.

I can't watch that or listen to that.

We want to talk trades.

Sure. Whatever you want, bud.

The Sean Monahan trade. Winnipeg gets him. Montreal gets a first-round pick, a conditional pick. There's a lot of Canadian fans who are very happy on the timeline today. They're all like, Oh, no one thought we were getting a first-round pick. We got two. Congratulations, Canadian fans. You won something.

Well, that's the thing, right? I mean, it's so much easier when your team isn't really trying to win the games on the schedule right now. I'm not picking on the Canadians. It's a fact of where they're at. They're not trying to make the playoffs. It's just nice to get first-round pics. It looks good. But let's look at the first-round pics teams make and how long, generally, it takes for those players to make an impact. I'm not criticizing the trade by any stretch, but it's fairy dust a little bit. It's hope. You can always go through the league and be like, Nikita Chuchara was picked in the in the second round, or Braden Point was picked in the third round.

Karil Kaprizov was a fifth round pick? Fifth or sixth.

Patrick Cornquist was the last player selected in the draft.

Last player in the draft.

He played almost a thousand games and won cups.

The draft is a crapshoot.

My point is, on a day like this, you do feel good if you're probably the Canadians. Obviously, there's some risk for the Jets. You're acquiring a player that's had a lot of injuries. You lost out on Elias to end on him. The Jets certainly We were among the teams that wanted to trade for him, and you're reacting, essentially. I don't want to disincentivize anyone from clicking on the trade list, but there's not a lot of big names on there.

The fact that the Canadian struck while the iron was hot this weekend, I wonder if... Do you think any other GM might do the same thing, maybe with another player? Could you imagine a team like Boston or the Rangers right now? Especially the Rangers, because it seemed as if they were linked to Lindhome, too. I wonder what you do with the remaining of the Trade Board. What players are you looking at to fill out your center at F?

You got Adam Henrich as a center that I think will be moved by Anaheim. Scott Lawton in Philadelphia. I think that the flyers are at a spot where they're at least entertaining offers on him. Now, he doesn't have an expiring contract, so they don't have to trade him, and I think he would need to be compelled to. But you don't have that many centers out there. There could be some trickle down. I mean, Boston, these teams don't have a lot of cap space either. Not everyone can make a deal. In simple terms, for anyone who doesn't follow the data cap projections of their team, the closer you get to March eighth, the easier it is to fit in contracts. That's from a very high level, that's a factual statement. I do think some teams, it's not out of a lack of wanting to do something sooner. They're almost handcuffed by their situation. But certainly, I think these two moves are 100% direct related. When When Lindhome lands in Vancouver… Uh-oh, is this cutting in? No? No, you're good. Okay. When Lindhome lands in Vancouver, Winnipeg is pivoting and ultimately deciding Sean Monahan is the best thing.

I mean, pretty wild that he was traded with a first-round pick and then traded for a first-round pick. I can't think of another example like that one.

I think it's good asset management, but I can't use. It looked like he did well for himself on that trade.

We'll see. We'll have to wait and see. You're right. Look, at some point, Montreal has to win actual games, a meaningful amount of them. I know the question that they're wrestling with internally is, where do you get the game breaker? Where do you get your version of McKinnon or a Matthews, or a center that tilts the world? I mean, look, there's only a handful of those guys, they're all competing for a million dollars down the street tonight in the whole world. But I think for the Canadians, that's what they're grappling with. I mean, certainly, they got nice complementary pieces or second... That's not fair. Nick Suzuki, good player. Cole Caulfield, I think, is going to score a ton of goals, continue to in the NHL. I know they have a great blue line coming up, but eventually you do have to win. Rebuilds stink, man. They do, man. They tend to stink if you're a fan. No, they do.

The thing with rebuilds is no one knows how long they're going to last. I've seen in Calgary, there are fans that are clamoring for a rebuild. They're tired of being in the mushy middle and having a team that's good, but not good. I completely understand where they're coming from. But you might be in a rebuild that might last three years. The Rangers had a little bit of a rebuild thing after the Jeff Gorton letter, and now they're a competitive team. You could be the Buffalo Sabers, where you're rebuilding on top of a rebuild, and it's been over a decade since you've made the playoffs.

Do you want to make a bet?

Sure.

I think Julian and I should each back one of the skaters in tonight's skills competition. Let's do it. But I guess how do we settle the bet if neither of them win? Most points? Steve wins. Steve wins? Steve wins every day he wakes up. Steve does not need another win. I think Steve's got quite enough wins.

Of all three of those guys, who deserves a win the most? Jesse.

Jesse. I love Jesse. I'm good with giving- Has anyone ever said a bad word about Jesse? I feel like he's the patron saint of the network.

I think the The only time producer Jesse gets criticism is for his GM boat up. It's over there on Twitch.

Who are you picking? I'll give you first overall selection.

I need the list of players in front of me. Can we get... No, don't do that. I need the list. I need a list.

Look at the frigging scoring chart and take all the top names. You got McDavid, Bastianack, Matthews.

You're putting me on the spot here. I want a list.

You got Quin Hughes, you got Kael McCart, Willy, JT Miller, Matt Barzell was added. Tom Wilson, unfortunately, is not competing tonight. No, I'm not ready for Tom Wilson. I would love to see Tom out there.

There's a Capitals fan who agrees with me with me not rooting for Tom Wilson.

Hey, Tom, this is in his hometown, man.

Good for him. There's a lot of people are from Toronto.

I'm just saying, don't besmirch Tom Wilson in this house.

Is Nate McKinnon in it? What's that? Is Nate McKinnon in it?

Mckinnon's in it. I'll pick him. What do you mean, boo? Boo.

Boo me all you want. Nate McKinnon is an incredible player who will probably, if it's not him, it's the Kida Kutra who's going to win the Heart Trophy this year. Boo me all you want. You're going to boo a guy who's won a cup before any of your elite fan teams have won it?

Yeah, Boo Me All You Want. Wow, the anti... Well, I'm going to play to the crowd. I'm just going to take Austin Matthews because he's sitting there.

Yeah, pander to the crowd. You would take Austin Matthews.

I can say he's just sitting there.

You would. You would. I'm picking Nate Dogg, you're picking Austin.

When I win tonight, I'm going to make you eat something you don't want to eat because that's one of my favorite things. Is that good? No. Sometimes peanut butter is good with random things, like pickles or... I love peanut butter in all its forms. I have to be honest.

Oh my God. A peanut butter mayonnaise?

I've never tried that. I don't know if that ever was. That was a suggestion from our friend in the front. I'd rather the-Mitch Marner up front here suggested that.

I would so much rather the Poutine hot dog than the whatever the hell that is. That is gross. What do I get it from?

Quit talking about peanut butter because I'm getting hungry. I love peanut butter so much.

So what do I get if I win?

You set the terms. We're making this up in real time, man.

I got to think about this.

You're not going to win.

How do you know I'm not going to win.

Because Because you made a wrong choice.

Okay, no, I disagree with that.

You didn't look around the room at all the jerseys and figure out- No, I did look around the room and looked at all these jerseys.

I don't have anything against your team. You guys are just easy targets. I'm sorry. Yes, I do want all the smoke. I don't know if I could make it a monetary bet. That's probably not worth it.

No, money- Money is no object. No, that's not what I'm saying. Although these beers keep coming for free, maybe it is no object.

Oh, man. But also you giving me a beer, that's too simple.

All right. Well, you can ruminate on this, but I...

We could get a whole new banner.

You know what?

It's just you. You know what?

We rename it to just you. Just a picture of you.

You know what? If Nathan McKinnon wins, we do an episode where we have to... We switch roles.

Where I'm the host? Yeah. I like that.

Then you ask me questions. You can ask me whatever you want. Then I do this.

I like that. It's the Julian McKenzie show. I'm in on that. I like that.Okay.

So if Nate McKinnon wins...

Now I'm weirdly cheering for Nathan McKinnon because I don't want to lose this bet because I think it would be hilarious. It would be hilarious.I'd be so terrible in your role.Exactly.I'd have to think.That's what it be hilarious.I'd have to think of something ahead of time and be like, What are we going to talk about?

In all fairness, it could be a bonus episode or it could be the summer. It could be something like that.

Why are you making me work in the summer, bud?

I mean, we got to put on episodes of the summer anyway.

I know.

I'm just. Anyway, but no. So we'll have that. And if Austin Matthews wins, which will clearly be rigged because he'll be in his home city.

I think he's going to try. That's why I picked-He is going to try. And didn't he win? Anyway, whatever. I remember the LA All-Star Game. I have faint memories of the All-Star Games because if I'm being honest, I don't really love it. But I'm pretty sure he went four I got four on the targets in the shooting one. Oh, man.

So what are you going to make me eat?

I'll tell you when you're older. I'll tell you when it's relevant.

If those two don't win, what does Jessie get? Our undying love and affection. Because this is...

A what?

We both run a marathon?

I love that for me. What? I love that for me.

Oh, God. I don't know if I can get that one.

Have you ever run anywhere?

I don't really run like that.

Could you run to Scotia Bank right now without stopping?

I don't know if I could do that.

That's crazy. It's probably only what? Four or 500 meters. It's not a kilometer.

I mean, maybe that. I don't know. I don't feel like I have good running endurance. I'm not like a good…

Sometimes the short, stocky guys, man, it works for me. He's a low center of gravity. Low center of gravity. Nothing breaks. Yeah. Do you know what I want to do, by the way? What? I want to run with Zdeno O'Chara. Oh, really? I am manifesting that. Yeah, you should. Because he's a huge runner. It's literally… I wanted to see him this weekend because I want to ask him, and I haven't found him yet, but I know he's here.

I mean, he's not that hard to find.

Well, look for the gigantic man walking around Toronto. I know, but I don't know if... They say to do things that make you nervous. That would make me so nervous that I want to do it just to see what happens. Okay. But anyway.

Okay, so if you win or if I win, you don't... Whatever works. There you go.

All we know is when you win, I got to host a show. Yeah, I can't win. We're changing the banner. I don't know who does this.

Oh, we got... Is this nick or is this all up.

This could be nick, this could be producer Drew.

We're going to find a way to make this work. Have we reached the point... Is there any other Is there any other thing we want to bring up before we get to questions?

I don't want to talk about real stuff. Let's just talk about Goofy shit.

All right.

So whatever you want.

Who's down for Goofy shit? All right, we're going to take questions from the audience.

I don't want this to feel like work.

It's your hands. Well, this was never feeling like work.

Sometimes you're asking serious question about serious subject. We have to be. I know, but...

Shout out Maddie, producer Maddie, who's walking around the mic.

All right. Okay, what's your name?

Ellie.

Where are you from?

Thorn Hill.

Yeah, Thorn Hill. Up in this house.

I don't know where that is.

Just north of Toronto. You can get there on the subway. It's not too far. My question is, Julian, you said that you were doing karaoke yesterday. Yes. For both of you, what is your go-to karaoke song?

I have one song. It's more like whatever I'm feeling. There was a time I got really lit one night, and I did Purple Rain. I did Raspberry Beret. I think that seemed… There was another night I did that, but I don't have one. It's just what I'm feeling. At that night, when the Elias Lindhome trade went down, which I realized we never really got to, but who cares? I was writing on my phone the whole time, and then at one point, I sang Mr. Bright Side with someone else there.

That's a good tune. What about you? I am a terrible singer.

But the point is not to be It's really good.

No, I know, but I'm self-conscious about it because I know I cannot hold a tune.

You barely have a voice as it is.

Well, that's extenuating circumstances. But I don't even remember the last time I've done karaoke. Really? I was in a karaoke bar the night before Game 7 of the Bruins Blues Cup final, 2019, and there were some NHL players in there doing karaoke, not playing in the series. I should be very clear. The night before Game 7 of the Cup final, I Brad Barcha is just there just bunting out Don't Stop Believing. Nhl adjacent because they knew people in the series or whatever. Man, what would I sing?

I feel like it's a Taylor Swift song.

Which one, though? How do you choose?

I thought Antihero was your joy. I wouldn't.

I realize what you're doing, but do you think I'd ever get into a bar and sing that song in front of people? No chance.

I know you're going to say, What happens if you have 10 of these beers?

I I really wouldn't do it. I really would not do that.

There's an alternate reality where instead of the Julie McKenzie show, I just send you to a karaoke bar and you sing.

That would be on the top five things I would not want to do. Oh, man. Then we got to record it and put it out?

Yeah. Who wants to hear a CJ sing?

Because the problem with that is the internet doesn't forget. That will just exist forever.

Maybe the internet doesn't forget.

I just think 20 years from now, someone might Google me and that might come up.

That's going to be the worst thing they bring up about you?

Fair. Move on. Next question.

Next question. All right, what's your name? Jd. All right, ask your question.

Where are you from, JD?

I am from Belleville. Not from Coburg. Bell Vegas.

Yeah, not from Coburg. I know where that is. Do you know, did they still have a bar there called Little Texas?

Yes, it just reopened up, actually.

Because that used to be a hotspot when I was lived in Coburg. People would drive from Coburg just to go to Little Texas. It was that much of a hotspot. I don't know why, but- Apparently, it burned down.

I just moved back to Bell.

What are those suspicious ones?

Do you know of Matt and Joe's?

No.

Okay, that's now closed. But yeah, that was apparently a big club.

Thanks for indulging me. I didn't know if Little Texas still existed. It is.

It's reopened actually just this year or last year. Anyways, from 100%er, I have to say, Julian, your sneaker game is on point. I love them, man. I love them. It's looking good.Thank you. Good for a run.How.

Much did those cost?

Too much, yeah. There was a lot of money. I bought these off of stock It's the next. Anyway, a question for you, Siege. Even though you're sick, is the run streak still alive? And follow-up question, is K oberg Papa here today?

I really failed because I I'm going to bring my dad here. It sucks. He was down in Florida with my sister and her family, and he flew back Wednesday, and I didn't even tell him this was happening. Now, he follows absolutely everything. He doesn't know this is happening? He might, but we never communicated about it. Unless he's hidden in the back and I haven't seen him, that's my fail because he would absolutely 100% be here. Oh, absolutely. Yeah, my run streak still going. I got up this morning, went for a little jog, and I'm almost 1400 days.

Proud of you, man. That's amazing. I don't want to indulge this. You're allowed to pat yourself on the back for this.

It sounds weird. When I was at 20 days, I thought it was a bigger deal than now, if that makes sense. Because at one point, I was like, I can't believe I ran 20 straight days. But now, it's like saying I brush my teeth this morning. It's not...

Just casual flex.

Thanks, bud. No, I'm just saying. But yeah, I'm sorry my dad's not here. Dad, you're listening to this. He's a 100%er. He listens to episodes twice because he's a retired guy and he loves me, I guess.

You don't have to guess about that. Yeah, but you don't have to guess that with you. He loves you to death. Do we have any other questions? Who else wants to?

I should say, since you asked the Kovar I have a question. Jd, was it? Every once in a while, at a weird time, I'll get a Twitter thing. It'll pop up with 10 messages. I'm like, What is this? It's my dad just goes and he likes every tweet in burst. Then I'm I don't think he knows what he's doing, but I'm like, What's going on?

Why is this blowing up? He's the show's number one fan.Yeah. He's very supportive that way.

All right, we have another question over here. I'm not sure.

What's your name?

Shayan. Shayan. How are you guys doing? Hey, Shayan. How are you doing? Question regarding the Olympics in 2030. Frank Cervoli on Twitter reported that the IHF announced that the hockey term in 2030 would be in Nice. That's the first time I read it anywhere. I was just wondering if you know if that impacts the Salt Lake City bid, pushing it to 2034, and the whole rearrange the puzzle pieces from there. Before I do, though,, Julian, love you, buddy. Sure you don't want to say more?

No, I don't.

I love that. Yes. So Luc Tardyf, who's the IIHF President, and he's a wild card. He's what you want when you're doing our job Because you ask him and he just might tell you way more. I'd be like, Hey, Luke, what's your social insurance number? He might just say it. He did blurt-Go ask him that next time. Well, it's something… But you know what I mean? He feels like he wants to overshare. He was asked a pretty generic question about the fact that we know the next games are going to this city, that city. He goes, Yeah, it's not out there, but I'm French. It's going to France in 2030. It's a city you're going to like the South called Nice. I'm assuming he's right. I mean, he's a pretty senior person from that country. He said Nice, France for 2030, and I think that leads Salt Lake City for 2034.

Yeah, something Thanks for the question.. Anyone else? You guys want to do one more? Yeah. Okay. Do we have time for... That's all the time we got?

Over here. A couple more. Someone has it. Yeah, come on.

Let's get a couple more in, man. Come on, we got time. Yeah, we can You miss every shot you don't take.

Yes, sir.

Okay, we got Mateo here. Mateo, go away. Cj, what is Jeff Carter's middle name? I knew this was coming.

For those that don't listen to our show regularly, this somehow became a thing. I don't even know where it started, but it has definitely taken on a life of its own. To the point where his wife on Twitter has weighed in on it occasionally. Yes, she has. She gets caught in some weird stream. I can't say.

I mean, doesn't everyone know?

I'm not trying to be a smart ass, but it's like, if this It builds and builds and builds, and it's like, I'm like, His middle name is James. It's not that exciting.

If you say the name, it's not like all these people are going to get up and leave and never listen to this show again.

I know, but I feel like it's a letdown. You're like, Oh, he just has a normal His middle name as his middle name. My middle name is Edward. I didn't know that. Do you want to know the truth? The absolute 100% truth, because I'm not going to lie up here, I don't know his middle name still. I honestly do not know his middle name.

But we will figure this out. We know enough people. We don't know enough people who would figure that out.

Do you think he knows this as a thing on our pod? Has he heard? Probably not. I don't know.

I mean...

It's come up a lot. Three years of this stuff.

Looking at him, if his wife is weighing in on Twitter, he has to have some idea.

Maybe he'll be our first guest.

Oh. The big reveal. I thought this podcast was averse to having guests.

It is.

That's not a bad thing.

That's perfectly fine. Well, it's not averse. It's just we can't compete with the heavy hitters, so why play in the same space? We are our own heavy hitters, CJ. We don't have staffs to contact people and do that stuff.

Guest bookers and all that. Who needs them? Who else? Who else wants to ask us that shit? We got Tyler over here.

Hey, Tyler. What's up, dog? Question for Julian. What is your favorite pair of shoes you own? How many pairs of shoes do you own?

Okay, how many pairs of shoes?

I'm adding on. Roughly. I don't expect you to count, though.

Roughly between 20, 25. Maybe a little bit more. I'm not the biggest shoe junkie, but I am starting to get into these. I've wanted these particular shoes for a a really long time, the Nike Air Max 90 ACGs, the pollen rises. I bought these high top, Syracuse Nike dunks. I bought those, I think, a couple of months after I joined the athletic. That was just a good gift for myself. Every year on my birthday, I wear them. It might be that. It might also be the... There's these Air Max Dawns that are made recyclable material. Those are some of the most comfortable shoes I own. They're these basic black and white ones.

You just do it for the looks.

No, but they're amazing. I didn't wear them this time, but I would normally go on a flight and just wear them.

How do you pack with that many shoes?

It's starting to get more difficult now. I packed these shoes and I packed another Nike Airbag.

Do those work with any other outfits you've brought to Toronto?

I definitely packed it with this in mind. I There's a few other outfits I thought of, but basically, the two pairs of shoes I brought were just these cool Nikes I wanted to wear. They're the two newest shoes I have. I think it's the Nike Syracuse Dunks I have.

It's sweet. I'm glad I didn't get that question.

I think we got time for what? One or two more? Okay.

Until they drag us out of here. Yeah, literally.

Hey, what's your name?

Ryan. Hey, Ryan. This question is for Julian. Okay. Julian, if you were in CJ's position on the NHL on TSN panel with Dregs, Bob McKenzie, James Duffy, and all them, would you succeed in that position or would you shit your pants because it's only a job for CJ and not for you?

Do you think you would succeed in that position? If I'm in that role, I'm giving it 100% and I'm killing it.

Yeah.

I love that. I would think that if I was ever on that panel, I would be in James Duffy's chair, which I would love to be in. But if I was-Manifest. Yeah. But if I was blessed to have even a 16th of Chris Johnston's talent, I'd be okay. So I know I do well in that role.

And to borrow your verbiage, just so you know, I have shit in my pants, not literally. Many times, I remember the first time I was on Hockey Night in Canada, it was the scariest day of my life.

What's scarier, Hockey Night in Canada or NHL on TSA?

Hockey Night was scarier because I was younger. I came to TSN after that. So It's not about even the platform as much as… Just the first time I remember going in the studio and there's Ron McClane, because Ron's done that job. He's like Gary Bettman. He was doing that job when I was a kid. It was a long time. It's just weird when you're like, Oh, my goodness, I work with you now. I was scared. Yeah, scared. But it's good to scare yourself. I'll say that.

All right, we got time for one more. All right, one more. What's your name? Taylor. Taylor. Hey, Taylor. Hi, Taylor.

Kind of a boring work-related question, but- Love it.

Julian, you just put out the article with Drance on the life in home trade.

We did. Always great. Thank you. And Vancouver athletic team has done something like that similarly before. How do you guys and Chris, if you've done collaborative articles that are long form, how does that process go? Do you divide and conquer, or is it like, Yo, I'm at the club. Can you do this first part? And then see where it lands?

So I think it really depends on the person you're working with. A couple of months ago, actually, when I was last in Toronto, Nikita Zdorow, the Trade Request got out. Cj and I, we were actually walking to a bar, and Zdorow's agent, Dan Milstein, got the phone with him, and all of a sudden we're at this bar and we're both just writing up whatever for the newser. But at that point, I guess, it was a little bit simpler because I just had to provide analysis.

But she's asking long-form.

But in terms of long-form It's very… It really depends on who you're working with. I know for Drance, Thomas Drance is the athletics Vancouver writer. This is a guy who loves writing. He'll write these massive 2,000-word stories. We were talking about this yesterday, and he was all like, I have a whole vision in mind. He had a whole lead written. He had all these different things he'd wanted to put in. I got quotes from Lynn Home. I got quotes from other players and stuff. I had other ideas in mind, too. But I realized With what he had and what I wanted to put together, if we found a way to just fuse them, and I think it reads really well. We did it where it was just more of a read as opposed to just having quotes sprayed through everywhere, which It was a little different from what I'm used to, but it was an experience. Drance is very much like... I don't know how to describe it, but he cares for his pieces. He loves those pieces. I'm a team player, so I was just like, You know what? I'm just going to work with what he's got.

But there's been other times where I've worked with other people and I'll open up a WordPress file, I'll put my stuff in, I'll let someone else put their stuff in. I just try to be easy. Wherever I'm needed, wherever you need me to fill in gaps, I'll do it. There's been times I'll take the lead and I have a vision in mind, too, but I work with a lot of great people at the athletic and I don't want to get in people's ways. So a lot of times I'm just like, I have my idea and I'll put it in, but I'm not trying to stifle anyone else's idea, if that makes sense.

It's weird.

It is.

It is a weird thing to do because you have a voice. The way I would describe something, you would describe it would be different. Absolutely. Everybody in the room. We could all witness the same thing, and I said, Hey, type a paragraph on what just happened. They would all be different. Exactly. It's what makes us unique. It can be hard. I don't mean in a bad way. It's not like I don't like working with someone else, but you're almost like it's a little, you get a little nervous. It's like a date, right? You send the first copy their way, and then they massage parts or maybe take something out. Professionally, I've never... Honestly, until I came to the athletic, I've never really done it. Now it's very common there. Anyway, it's weird. It's like going on a date with another writer.

Well, if we ever get to work on another one of those pieces together- See, it would be easy with you because we talk twice a week at minimum. We talk enough, and we have an idea of how our processes go.

But I know, and I take Drance. I actually haven't co-authored a story with him. I know the guy. I've met him. But I haven't talked to him in a couple of months. It's just a little uncomfortable.

But the good thing is that everyone at the athletic, for the most part, is pretty nice and really open to collaboration.

Tell us about who isn't nice. I heard that you opened the door there a little bit. No, no, no.

For the most part, everybody's nice. I don't know everyone at the athletic, so that's why I said most. But everyone I know at the athletic is really great to work with, and they're really open to collaborations and stuff. I know.

Well, tell us who you don't like at the Sdpn then.

That's going to do it for today's podcast. Recard it. Seriously, guys, thank you guys all so much for coming to the rec room. Thank you to the rec room. Just thank you, everybody, man. Appreciate it.

Thank you.

Can we do a selfie thing? Can we do a selfie thing with everybody?

All right, I wanted to to.