This is Agent Provocateur with Allan Walsh and Adam Wild.

Welcome to Agent Provocateur. I'm Allan Walsh with Adam Wild. How are you, Adam?

Hello, hello. I'm great. How are you?

I'm doing awesome. I want to introduce our guest today. It's a Trade Deadline Primer on Agent Provocator. Our guest played 18 seasons in the National Hockey League. He scored 429 goals, winning two Stanley Cups with the New Jersey Devils and the Pittsburgh Penguins. He scored 20 plus goals with seven different NHL teams. He also played for Team USA in three Winter Olympic Games. As a player, he was traded at the NHL Trade Deadline to the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2009 and went on to be a key player on the Penguins team that won the Stanley Cup that year. Billy, I was on the ice with you in Joe Louis Arena, Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals, when you guys won the Cup. Upon retirement, he went to work for the Pittsburgh Penguins as Director of Player Development. After three years, he was promoted to Assistant General Manager, where he again won two Stanley Cups with the Penguins. And in 2019, he was named the General Manager where he is still working today, of the Minnesota Wild. Let's give a big welcome to Bill Garen.

How about that?

How are you, Bill?

How's it, man? Thank you for the introduction It was a good introduction, Alan. That was the nicest conversation we've ever had.

It probably cost you the least amount of money.

Oh, for sure. You weren't wearing your ski mask this time. Thank you. I'm excited to be on. You mentioned that time being on the ice in 2009. I remember that. I remember that well, like it was yesterday. And just what a great team and great group of guys, where I became very good friends with one of your star clients, Mark-Andre Fleury. And that was just a great moment. And I'll never forget that.

The last 6.4 seconds are immortalized in history of that game. I don't think I I breathed the last five minutes of that game, I was literally in the stands about 13 rows up behind flour, behind the Penguin's net, and my heart was pounding. I had beats of sweat coming down me, and I was surrounded by Red Wing fans all in red.

I still get nauseous because I was on the bench, and The way I remember it is that there was about 12 seconds left, and Zetterberg was one, two face offs. And I'm like, There's 12 seconds left. How are they getting these scoring chances? This can't happen. And then the one with 6.5 seconds, I'm like, I think I said this in the Stanley Cup videos that they make. I'm like, That type of scoring chance, that part of the game, That defenseman. To have nick Lidschirm, of all people, get that score. I'm like, What are the greatest players of all time? And Flauer just comes over with the Secret Service to save like he was jumping in front of a bullet for the President. To this day, I do. I get queezy, I get nauseous just watching that. I'm like, Oh, God. And then we won. And honestly, it was just one of the... I loved that team so much. I was an older guy. And those young players who are now 35, 36, 37, 38, they were so good to me. They were so good for me. And I remember sitting in the locker room with my wife after everybody's celebrating.

We took one minute and we just sat in my stall together and we just washed everything. We Just try it because I knew my career was coming to a close shortly. It's just like, this may never happen again. Let's just soak it in. Just vivid memories of that celebration. It was just such a... Man, I just love it. It makes me emotional. I just love that group.

How much different was it? I'm sorry. Go ahead, Alan. Go ahead.

Go ahead, Adam.

Well, I just wanted to know because you did win it New Jersey earlier on in your career, how much different was the late career Stanley Cup versus winning with Broader and all the legends that were on that team?

Yeah, it was different. That was amazing, too. I was 24. It's amazing. You think you're going to win every year now. Of course we are. We didn't make the playoffs the next year. But it was great because I was so fortunate to be around so so many great players. Not just great players, but great veteran players. There was a Scottie Stevens, Bruce Divers, John McLean, Kenny Danico, Randy McKay, Chris Turreri, guys that really took care of me, Marty, Scott Niedermier, the younger guys, and brought us up. Brian Wilson showed us the way. It was a very It was a different experience just because we were young, or I was young. You're 24 years old. Then I went 14 years in between Stanley Cups. In that time, I'd gotten married. I had four children, been traded a bunch of times, and then got to Pittsburgh, and it all came together. So, yeah, it was a different experience having my family there with me this time. My wife was there in the first one, but we didn't have our children. So being able to share it with the kids and show them what it was all about.

This is why we moved so many times. This is why you've been to so many schools. It's for this. And this is why dad gets up in the morning in the summer to go work out for three or four hours, or he's got black eyes and lose his teeth. And this is why. And they got it, and they understood it now. So two very different experiences, but two really amazing. It's the greatest trophy in all the sports. But what goes into it, what goes into winning is just incredible.

The journey to win it, I've been very blessed and fortunate from my vantage point to be in many dressing rooms with the team that won the Cup after it's been won. I've seen players hugging the Cup and crying, and I've seen family members hugging the cup, cradling the cup in their arms, fathers, mothers, grandparents sobbing. It's just some of those moments are ingrained in my soul. Give me chills, and I'll never, ever forget it.

No. If you watch a video from '95 when we won, you can see. I don't know if you probably remember this, But Mike Peluso couldn't play. On the bench. He couldn't play at the end of the game. He was so emotional. He was crying.

He was sobbing on the bench. He was sobbing. Yeah.

But that's what it is. It's It's everything that you've put into it.

I'm looking at the stats here, by the way, Mike Peluso with 167 penalty minutes in 46 games that year. So tough guy like that, right? That says something.

It does. And it's just the trophy that you really do bleed for it. And you have to put everything that you have into it. And it's It's just an amazing experience. And Alan, with your clients, you've been flowers agent since he's 15. When I did player development, it was such a great feeling to see guys that I had worked with Brian Russ, Scott Wilson, Jake Gensel, all these kids. Now they're Stanley Cup champions, and what they have become, and the professionals, and the men that they've become. I was so proud of them. I mean, that's just a great feeling. It really is.

Yeah. So Billy, you were traded at the NHL Trade Deadline in '09, and you've been an NHL executive now for many years. You've won two cups as an executive. And in every one of those years as Director of Player Development or Assistant GM, and now General Manager of the Wild, there What is a process you go through in preparing for trade deadline? We're seven days from the NHL Trade Deadline right now. When do you start preparing for that day?

You know what, Alan? It's really an ongoing thought process. You're constantly evaluating your team, seeing where you are in the standings, facing reality of where you are as a team. Are you good enough? How far do you have to go? So in my mind, you're constantly thinking about it. But formally, we really start buckling down at our midseason scouting meetings in January, because that's when we really have a good assessment of what our team is, our strengths and weaknesses, where can we get better, where do we have to get better, and start They're addressing those. Who are the players that we think might be available? What's the asking price? All those scenarios we try to go through. And then we dial in on our most important needs. And then we can just start doing the legwork on it, going to see the players at the top of the list. And I start making phone calls, seeing asking price. And the asking price in January is very different what it is in March. So it's fun to see where you start and see where you end. So I would say really dialing in in January.

Walk us through a typical call with another general manager, one of your brother-in, in January, when you're gathering intelligence on who might be available and what the asking price It would be. Open that window into what a call like that is like.

Yeah, it depends. It depends on the guy. Some guys are a little more loose-lipped than the other ones. And I'll tell you exactly where they are. Some guys like to keep things a little more close to them, and they're not ready to get into it, which is fine. But first of all, I enjoy all my conversations with my peers. They're great guys to bounce things off of... It's a fraternity. It's something where I trust each and every one of these guys because we have very confidential conversations that if this stuff ever gets out, it can really affect a player's life, and we don't want to do that. So you can call and ask You can ask what their plans are. What do they think they're doing? Are there specific players they're thinking of moving on? What are they looking for? What do they want to add? Are they buying, selling? And I get the same calls. What are you looking to do? And for me, I'm an open book just because I trust everybody and I tell them. I tell them where we are and where I think we are in the process and the players that could be become available if they aren't already.

And that's that. And you keep your notes on the conversation and the players that you think you could get. But that's the way it starts.

Are there certain GMs, based on maybe a history of playing with them, playing against them, working with them previously in the same organization, that you form, as a GM, better relationships with than others?

Yeah, I'm definitely closer. I'm closer to some guys than others, just because, like you said, I'd either played with them, against them, worked with them. But I don't know. It's just my personality. I like everybody. You know what? Sometimes we have heated conversations and you can get into it with guys, but there's always a respect factor, and I love that because everybody's competitive. We're all just trying to win. But yeah, I have... Craig Conroy was my roommate at the Salt Lake City Olympics. Chris Drury was my roommate at the Tarina Olympics. I worked in Pittsburgh with Tom Fitzgerald, with Patrick Alvine. God, the list goes on. I played against Blakey. I played with Mike Greer in Edmonton for three and a half years. I played against Danny Greer. So I have known all these guys. I worked with Don Wendell in Pittsburgh. So you just get to know everybody more and more each year. I feel privileged to be in the fraternity fraternity.

And how many pro scouts do you typically employ, or does a team employ?

We have our director of player personnel, Chris Kelleher, and then we have three pro scouts under him. And then our good friend, Ray Shero, is the special advisor to the general manager. And Ray's got the freedom to pro scout, amateur scout, however he feels he can help us best at the time, he's got the freedom to do that. So I would say, in essence, we have... But then we have the player development guys are also watching games. But yeah, so we have four Five guys that are really watching pro hockey all the time.

And when you have your meetings in January, are you then focusing more on guys that could be available at the deadline, or do you just have a schedule that's been planned at the beginning of the year and you stick to that schedule?

No, we focus a lot on what could be coming up at the deadline in different scenarios. What if our teams are we in the mix? Are we out of the mix? And we do it at the same time as our amateur scouting meetings. So we have the amateur meetings going on in one room, and then we have the pros going on in another room. I go back and forth. I just believe in a collaborative model. And I allow Jud Bracket, our Director of Amateur Scouting, and Chris Kelleher, our Director of Player Personnel, to run their groups. And I just go back and forth and just see how things are going, and we're staying on track and just going in the right direction. But, yeah, These guys work so hard. They work incredibly hard. They travel all the time. They're planes, trains, automobiles, crappy hotels.

Snowstorms, snowstorms. We're Rains, ice storms. There isn't anything that keeps these guys from making it to the rink to see a game.

No, they're like the mailmen in professional sports. What is it? Nor rain, nor sleet, nor snow will stop, something like that. They just go. And to be honest with you, when I was doing player development as assistant GM, and I was doing that, it's awesome. You're in the trenches. A lot of times guys will... So if guys fly into Toronto, everybody stays at the Marriott at the airport. And you shoot off to, whether it's London or Peterborough or wherever. And then And everybody comes back after their games. And you can go in the lobby bar. There's 25 scouts in there.

On any given night. When I'm there, I could be there to see a Leifs game or a junior game or a Marley's game. You go to the Marriott lobby bar, 11:00 PM, and it's packed with hockey people.

Yeah, and it's awesome. And you know what? You grab a couple of pints and you sit with guys and you talk hockey. And it's awesome. And you know what? That job, too, if you have a certain role. When I was in player development and assistant GM, if we drafted European players, we have to go over there as well. So you find yourself in Sweden, Finland, Czech, Russia. So in that way, too, it's such an awesome business to be in. It's opened up the world to so many of us to be able to go over there and experience that. And it's great when I would go over to Sweden and meet up with Patrick Alvine, who's the GM in Vancouver now, and Him and Tommy Westland would have everything set. And we got the hotels, we got the games, I got to rent a car, we're going, and we're going here and there. And then you're seeing all these small towns in a different country that you've never been in, but you're seeing it like you're in these small ranks. So you're getting a local flavor of where you are. It's fantastic.

It's one of my favorite things about the job. You drive into Karlstad and you go to the rink. You drive into Linkoping and you go into the town and you go to a restaurant and you have a little bite to eat before the game. Then you get to the game in time for the warmup and there's seven or different guys from other teams that are there and you go, Hey, you're here. What are you doing here? Exactly. Yeah. You generally always stay in the same hotels. It's the most incredible, incredible. It's life on the road, but it's a hockey life, and it's a wonderful life.

It really is. I remember one time, I was at the... What do you call it? The Kerala Cup in in Helsinki. And we stayed at the Hotel Lily Roberts, this great little boutique hotel. And it's got an awesome little lobby bar, and sitting in there with Tommy Fitzgerald and Scott Mellonby and Jimmy Clark. And Jimmy and I got to this huge political argument and all this stuff. But it was awesome. You're just hockey guys, just, I don't know, halfway across the world, having genitonics after watching your games and just arguing about life and just talking about everything. It's just awesome.

I met the lobby bar in the Prague Marriott one year. Long, long, long a long time ago with Jimmy Clark. He was one of the greatest guys in this business. He was Assistant GM in Columbus at the time, and he says, Alan, people think I'm the Assistant GM of the Columbus Blue Jackets, but I'm I'm like, You're not? He goes, No, I'm not. I have one job, one purpose in this world. I said, What's that? He goes, It's to keep Doug McClane out of prison.

He's a wonderful guy. I'll never forget that. I was staying, Patrick, Alvien, and I, and we've been everywhere together, right? We had this crazy travel day. We were staying at the Ritz Carlton at Red Square in Moscow, and it was awesome. We just went down to the bar to have a couple of drinks. You know what? Just out of nowhere, Alexey Yashin walks in. I think he was just home visiting people. He wasn't working or anything like that, but I played against Yashin my whole career. He just walks in. You're in Moscow and you're sitting in a hotel bar and a guy comes in and goes, Hey, Billy, how are you doing? Just like it's nothing. That's pretty cool. That's pretty cool. Yeah, it's the best.

So we're right now seven days from the NHL Trade Deadline. What's the level of activity like right now? Walk us through a typical day. How many GMs are you talking to? And do you feel, based on your years of experience, experience doing this, a certain rhythm to when things start happening?

Yes. A typical day right now, it depends where you are with your team. We're on the outside looking in right now. We could be pretty active. Yesterday was a busy day for me. Spoke to multiple general managers. But again, just nobody... I guess it depends who you're talking to. Some guys like to get out in front of it. Some guys like to wait a little while. They try to wait you out. Are they ready to do something? And some teams get very serious very early. So today, I've spoken to one GM. It's 2:35. I've spoken to one GM, and I missed a call from one. So I'll call him back, but not overly busy. But I think as we get closer, it will start ramping up. But I think just the pressure just builds and builds and builds a little bit more.

There's a picture of you on the phone, by the way, Bill, on the bench. I'm not sure if you know this, but there's a picture of you going viral on Twitter right now. You taking a phone call on the bench at opening your morning skate this morning. That's how intense things are from a media side.

Yeah, you were talking to me. You were talking to me. You were talking to me.

You got to pick up the crash. Jesus.

Yeah.

It's funny. But I do have friends. I do have other things going on. Other people do call me. No way.

No way.

Yeah. No, the only people that have my cell number are other GMs and agents. Okay. It was hilarious. Yeah.

I got a question about it just in this particular spot, because obviously you're getting into talking about negotiating, buying, selling, whatever else. Do you have any negotiation? And I guess I can ask you both this question because, Allan, you do a ton of negotiation, too. In every negotiation, I do this, and in every negotiation, I do not do this. What are your rules of engagement?

Alan, you go first because I want to hear this.

I want the inside edge.

I think that every conversation about a player with Anyone in management is a unique conversation. I don't think there's any pattern or there's any rules of engagement. Generally, I'd say 99% of all discussions are very colloquially, very friendly. There's lots of banter back and forth. You get down to business when you need to get down to business. But everybody's part of this, and everybody is going to do their part to, I'm going to do what I can to further my client's interests. Bill has a job to do as a general manager of an organization, doing what's in the organization's best interests. The vast majority of the time, everybody's interests are somewhat aligned. It's very rare when the interests are not aligned, even Even if you're having discussions about maybe a general manager is going to be trading a player. That's not necessarily a bad thing or a negative, or it means that there's dissension or Discord. Sometimes it's in everybody's best interest. Contract's coming to an end. It's time for the player to move on. Everybody knows this. A general manager is working to try to get a player to where he would like to go.

The agent is working hand in hand with that, and everybody's working together on the same cause. And that, to me, is the vast majority of the time. It's very rare that it's actually confrontational. Very rare.

Yeah. Alan, I was just writing that down. Can you spell parochial?

I'll text it to you when we're done.

Thank you. I agree with Alan on all of that. I really do. I think the most important thing to me is the best interest in both parties. There's always a place where we can all be happy. And as a GM, I'm trying to do the best job I can to make things good in Minnesota. And part of that is making sure my players are happy. I don't want to screw them on a deal. I don't want to take advantage of them. What I want to do is be fair. I want to be fair where they're happy and we're happy, and then we can just move along together. I I agree with Alan. There are no written rules, but I like to deal in the real world. I would say my only frustration is when I don't believe in... I just don't believe in that I'm going to come in way up here, you're going to come in way down here, and we're going to grind it out and meet in the middle. We both know where the contract is going to end up. So let's get there.

I like that. And it saves a lot of time.

It saves a lot of time. And I think, honestly, it helps build on the relationship because you avoid a lot of... Like you said, Alan, 95 % of the conversations are on good terms. But there are the times where you do get frustrated with each other. And I think the more realistic you are and not shooting for the moon And this, either way, is important for the club player relationship and the club agent relationship. And I think that's very important.

Yes. And in many ways, Adam, to get back to your question, a general manager and an agent may know each other and have had many conversations with each other, but maybe not necessarily They have done business before. It's only when you start doing business and do deals together and develop a level of trust, and that's very important. I don't care who you are, I don't care what you're doing in this business, trust is not automatic, it's earned. Both ways, both sides. When a general manager is able to do business with an agent and learn that he can trust him, and an agent is to work with a general manager and learn that he can trust him as well, then it's actually a lot. This business is a lot of fun. It's serious. You're dealing with people's lives, and It's a sacred responsibility, but you're allowed to also enjoy it and have passion for it. Those are the best times and conversations and situations when you come away with either a contract or an outcome or a resolution where you're like, You know what? We all really work together, trusting each other, and we all got what we wanted at the same time.

Yeah. I would think, too, Alan, you've been doing this a long time and talking to guys like Ray Sherrill and Don Wendell and even guys who are not in the job anymore, as you go along and you deal with certain general managers and agents deal a lot together. I consider a lot of agents my very good friends. And that relationship builds over the years. And when it's all said and done, there are people that I'll remain in contact with. It's pretty cool.

So can you walk us through your preparation for D-day, Deadline Day? Yeah. What time do you Did you get to the office in the morning?

I always like to be with the team on deadline day. We happen to be on the road this year. So we're going to be in... We have back-to-back games. We have Arizona on the seventh, and then we're in Colorado on the eighth. So we will get together. We have all our Pro Scouts coming in to Arizona. We'll meet that night. We'll get together for dinner, then meet the next morning. Just see what's come. Between now and then, a lot of things are going to have come in and see where we're at and just get organized. So we'll end up going to the game. We'll fly to Colorado after the game, and we'll be up. What are we going to be? A mountain time. So that's two hours. That's It's 2 hours from East Coast time. So I'd say we'll probably be up in Adam going at 7:00 because it's nine o'clock on the East Coast, and maybe even earlier. Depending on what's going on and how busy it could be. But we'll be huddled up in a room at the hotel. Just seeing what happens with all our information.

How many calls do you typically have on deadline day?

Oh, man. So this is funny. Deadline day, three years ago, I had just gotten over COVID, and I was still quarantined. So I did it from my house. I couldn't go anywhere. And I think I got three calls that day because we weren't really doing it. But last year, it was hundreds. My phone just didn't stop. And you're not just getting it from other GMs, you're getting them from agents saying, Hey, look, my guy here is available, or my guy seems to be on the move. Do you have interest in him? Or he's got a no move, but We'd lift to go to you guys or whatever. So it's not just other general managers, it's agents as well. So last year, I think we made five moves. So it was go time. It was really, really busy. And yeah, I rely heavily on my support staff. Sometimes I have to have them pick up another line or call somebody back so we don't miss something. But it's a real team effort.

When a trade gets done, a lot of people may not be aware, there's then a trade call, conference call with the league, with NHL Central Registry. Do you participate yourself on those calls, or do you delegate that to somebody else as you continue making calls and speaking to people on deadline day?

I delegate. I delegate those to somebody Assistant GMs. Because, hey, look, you make one deal, another one's coming right down the pipe, and you've just got to be ready for it. So we have the other guys doing that.

And is that coordinated beforehand? This is what you're going to be doing on deadline day?

Yeah, those are the responsibilities, and the guys know that going into it. It's just part of their role. So we're ready to go. Everybody's got their their responsibilities. And, hey, things change, too. You got to be able to roll with the punches, too. And I remember last year, actually, I was talking to Pat for Beek the other day, and him and I got the John Klingberg deal done. I mean, we literally had 30 seconds to get it in. Somebody were calling each other, we're calling the league, everything's going back. We We honestly barely got it in. It was like getting down on the wire. We were both getting really nervous that we wouldn't be able to get it in. It was crazy.

I wonder, Bill, I was going to ask you something along those lines Because these are major assets, millions of dollars, futures of teams, and either long term futures or short term futures being the playoffs that you're playing with, that you're adjusting, that you're moving. How many deals do come together in the last hour, two hours? Because a lot of these things seem like they happen over weeks and months. But have you ever had to make a really snap decision and go, Yes, I guess I do want to do that, and this wasn't on the table yesterday?

Yeah, John Clingberg.

The John Clingberg, okay.

Yeah. Yeah. Honestly, we didn't know if we were going to have interest in him. Some were in favor of it, some weren't. We didn't know if he was going to become available or go somewhere else. And then that day, it was like, Okay, this is it. He's available. Do we want to do it? And I made the call that I wanted to do it, and So Pat and I had to work very quickly to get it done. And then there are others that take months to do because they might be on a bigger scale. They might be more complicated with the cap or cash. Now you see teams being the middleman on deals, so they can get more complicated But like I said, you got to be able to roll with the punches and be ready for anything because a player could come available with 20 minutes left and it could be a good fit. And the asking price could Do you want to do it? And you've got to be able to make decisions. I love it. I love Deadline Day. Not just that we're going to do anything, but the competitiveness ramping up, your blood gets going.

And it can be pretty wild.

How much dissension or conflict behind the scenes could there be within an organization on deciding whether to make a deal or not or which way to go on a particular situation? Does it ever get heated?

Oh, my God, yes. Yeah. I mean, yeah, really heated. I've seen a few matches. I've seen guys storming out a room. I've seen it all. But You want the passion. You want guys to believe in who they're fighting for. Do you want them or do you not want them? And I don't want guys sitting on I want you to... There's a certain level. I haven't seen it. We haven't done it really in Minnesota. But we do have guys going back and forth. But You need that. You need the passion. I don't want guys agreeing with me on everything. And I don't want guys agreeing with each other on everything. We need to have guys with their own opinions and feel comfortable enough to express what they feel. If you feel a certain way, we want you to say it. Don't feel like you can't say it because you're going to get basher. No, those are your feelings. Say it. We're all working for the same thing here. We got a good working environment. Speak up. I think at certain times there's healthy, respectful conflict. And I think that's important because I think we'll get to the best resolution that way.

As long as we're speaking to each other with respect, you respect the other guy's opinion, and you can easily get past anything, then that's That's really good.

Adam?

Well, you're somebody who's been on both sides of this, so I think your perspective is unique. You're a general manager now. You know what it's like to be traded to a new team at the deadline. How hard is it and what are your expectations when a new player comes in? You've got four or five weeks to the playoffs. You got to find a new system. Everybody else has been playing it for a year. How difficult was for you? And what are your expectations when you bring a new player in to fit in and figure out the system before round one?

So I was traded twice at the deadline, once from St. Louis to San Jose. And that first experience of going at the deadline was really eye-opening. The expectations and the pressure that I put on myself were enormous. The team didn't do it. The management didn't do it. I did it. I thought I had to come in and save the day. And be the guy, be everything. And in all actuality, they just wanted me to come in and be myself and play my game. So that was a real struggle. So a couple of years later, I was traded from Long Island to Pittsburgh, and I had a whole different outlook at it. I had a lot of conversations with myself, and I said, Look, you tried to be Superman last time, and That didn't work. I said, Just go in, be yourself, play your game, be a good teammate. I really learned from my first experience, and it really, really helped me in my second. So when I'm making a deadline deal, I really want to make sure that I lower expectations for the player or players that we get. It's not on you. Just come in and be yourself, play your game.

You don't have to be anything special. Just be yourself. Because it's too much. We're already a good team. You're just here to support and be a part of the guys. You're not here to save We're good. I just really try to lower the pressure that a player puts on himself. And you know what, too? They're leaving their family. You leave your wife and kids behind, you jump on a plane and you go. You have to make sure that... I think it's important that they have opportunity to bring their family in, or if there's a couple of days off, they get to go and see them. Just make sure that they're not just locked in a hotel hotel for a couple of months and just sitting there. So I think it's important to make sure that we treat the players like that when they come in.

How hard is it making that call to a player to tell them he's been traded?

Well, it's hard. It's hard because especially with guys that you You've created a relationship with, they've played hard for you. They're good guys. Maybe they have a family that's really set in the city that you're in. Their kids are in school, their wife's involved, and they're good people. And you got to tell them that they're leaving. That stinks. On the flip side of it, I've been traded. I think I was traded four times in my career. I had four little kids. My wife, we were always involved in sports and stuff like that in school. It's hard, but you know what? They'll come out on the other side will be okay. I think that's important because I have a job to do. I take comfort in my own experiences seeing how we got through it together as a family, and they'll be okay. It's a tough one at first, but they'll be okay. So that's what I think of.

Billy, listen, you've been incredibly generous with your time. I told you around 45 minutes, and as usual, I've gone over my window with you, and you've You've been incredibly patient, and I know you're unbelievably busy. You're on the road. You're in St. Louis right now. Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart for coming on and sharing your thoughts, your reflections, your memories, and just giving everybody a window into what your life is like, what general managers typically go through in preparing for deadline day and what deadline day is all about. I'm really appreciative, and I just feel very fortunate and blessed that you'd come on and share all that with us.

Yeah, Alan, thanks for having me on. Adam, thank you. And Jesse, behind the scenes. This has been great, and I hope your listeners enjoy it. They will. Alan, you'll probably call me later with something, right?

Yeah, I'll call you in about 10 minutes. Okay, yeah. But thanks a lot.

This has been great. I appreciate you having me on.

This has been Agent Provocateur with Alan Walsh and Adam Wild. Follow Alan Walsh on Twitter @Walshay.

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