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00:00He had heard that Artemi was even contemplating going back to Russia after this season if things
00:06didn't work out. Welcome back to Up in the Blue Seats, your favorite Rangers podcast from the New
00:15York Post. We sincerely apologize for the hiatus, but as always, it's Molly Walker and former Ranger
00:23Brian Boyle, and we are finally back. Now, Up in the Blue Seats may be back, but unfortunately,
00:31we'll never be the same. Almost three weeks ago now, we had to say goodbye to our friend
00:36and colleague, Larry Brooks, who passed away at the age of 75 after a brief battle with cancer.
00:45Bear with me here, friends.
00:47Larry obviously missed a few weeks of the show, so you all were aware something was
00:56going on. It all happened very, very fast. But he had every intention of coming back to
01:06work, coming back to this podcast, and continuing his Hall of Fame career. When him and I spoke,
01:15it was always about when you come back. Because to us, especially to me, there was zero doubt
01:24that he was. But as I learned, cancer is an SOB, as they say. And I went through him quite quickly.
01:36It was horrible. It was really unfair. And it was shocking. But I know Larry was beyond
01:45quite honored to see the turnout at his funeral and the reaction around the NHL and New York sports
01:50world in general. I mean, the funeral was like a parade of some of hockey's biggest names and
01:58legends, which is fitting for Larry, considering he was one of them. Everyone from Lou Lamorello,
02:06Adam Graves, Henrik Lundqvist, Billy Guerin, Rangers PR staff members, every single one of our post-sports
02:16colleagues were there, too. And even our competitors, like Newsday and the Daily News. But it wasn't
02:23surprising in the slightest, because Larry touched every single one of those people in some way.
02:30Well, I'll give you a sec here and just tell
02:44whomever's listening.
02:47It's a full life that Larry Brooks led, even though he was taken rather suddenly. And cancer is
02:58something that has never been fair. And what it's done to families and communities and the Rangers
03:08community and the hockey world, someone was taken from us. And I think the respect that Larry earned,
03:20none of it was given to him, the respect that he earned and the toughness he showed throughout his
03:26Hall of Fame career.
03:28I'll never forget just how poor he felt the last time I saw him. And that was at, that was at the dinner
03:45that the post had for us prior to the season to kick off the season, which was, you know, lovely. I had to work.
03:52So I had to leave a little bit early. But yeah, he, you know, he gutted it out, man. That's what he did with
04:00everything. He earned every single thing that he accomplished. And his, the outpouring of love and the
04:11people that showed up is just a true sign of a life worth living. He accomplished something. He can't take
04:21much with you. Well, you can't take anything with you when you go, but you can leave a mark.
04:26You can be thought of in a certain way. And he certainly did that. And it's not,
04:33it's not what you accomplish. It's how you make people feel. And just seeing,
04:41trying to put myself in, in, in your shoes, just seeing what he's done for you and how he's
04:51brought you along and helped you. That's, that's what living life is about. How you make people feel.
05:00Because we're all, you know, we all have an expiration date and you can teach your kids
05:07and grandkids lessons as he did, which was, he was so proud showing me videos of his grandson,
05:16Scott, playing hockey. I would follow along and ask him about it. You know, we were very much
05:22aligned in that and youth hockey and just the game itself. I, I couldn't believe it. I was,
05:28I was shocked. I, maybe because we just know how tough Larry is. He, yeah, he's, he's, he's going
05:39to be missed and he is missed, but he left an indelible mark. That's, it's a high standard for
05:48you, Molly. And you're going to work your ass off every day to try and get up to that standard. I know
05:53it. Yeah, I definitely will. Yeah. I always, I always wanted to ask a player how the Rangers
06:02prepared the team for Larry. I know you guys go through media training and I'm sure they make a
06:10point to tell the players who the beat writers are and you know who they're going to be around
06:15every day. But I always envisioned Rangers PR putting Larry's picture up on a projector board
06:22and being like, this, this is the guy you need to know. What do you remember about not only what the
06:30organization told you about him before you dealt with him, but what his reputation was in the locker
06:36room when you first got there? Uh, it's, you know, it can be like going into the lion's den because
06:44think, think, think about it. And this is always, this is, this is a huge compliment to him, but
06:53Larry's not a physically imposing man and he's in an NHL locker room. And so there's some,
07:04there's some big tough men in this room and, you know, it might be a little archaic or, or neandrosal,
07:12whatever you want to call it, but that's what we did. It's, it's, that's the locker room, not in our
07:17regular lives, but we come to the locker room and it's, you know, it's caveman type stuff. And, uh,
07:23he's in there, but his little corner of the locker room when he's there, that's the lion's den.
07:28Like, you want to go in there? You're going to the corner with Chris Pronger. All right. You want
07:34to go to the corner of the locker room with Larry? It's the lion's den. So you better be, you know,
07:39head on a swivel. And he's not trying to gotcha. It wasn't any of that, but he would, he's, he was just
07:46a brilliant man. And I was warned by my agent before I got to New York and I had to remind my agent,
07:54like, I don't read dude. Like I don't read the paper. I don't read anything. I'm going to read
07:59the forecheck and the video. I'm not reading words on a page. I got older. I started, I do read a
08:05little bit more now, but 23 years old. Like what, why do I need to know about this guy? And my agent
08:12made a point to tell me that. And my agent knew me since I was 16. Like he, he knows I don't read,
08:17but he's like, dude, listen, this guy, this guy will like chew you up and spit you out. If you're,
08:24you don't have your head on a swivel. So, and it was, man, right to the point, no fear
08:29there every single day. And my memories of him, cause you know, I was an afterthought
08:37my first year, my second year started coming on. And I think I earned his respect in a way
08:43and we would talk more. My memories of him were him and Torch going toe to toe. And it was
08:51like, and you heard what Torch said about him after his passing as well. He, he had
08:56so much respect for Larry and you can, if you can earn that guy's respect, you earned
09:04everybody's respect. He was, he was difficult. We did have that media training. We sat down,
09:09they're going to lead you on with questions. They're going to make a comment and put the
09:12mic in your face. They taught us well, like, don't, don't finish a reporter sentence, all these
09:19different things. And that's why you finished a reporter sentence. You've seen some of these
09:26clips where they're like, yeah, you on somewhere. I won't ask you really a question and put the
09:30mic in your face. And some of the, it didn't always make us look great. Cause you'd be looking
09:34at them on camera and be like, is there a question there? And then you look like the
09:37ass, but that's what we were taught. And I thought it was a very good lesson. He would
09:42figure out a way around that and get an answer because he's, he's like, you know, this brilliant
09:49man in here with a bunch of dummies. And he's like, I'm going to figure out a way to get an
09:52answer there. And, um, you know, we all, we all had a lot, we all had a lot of respect for him.
09:58Cause again, he didn't miss a day. He was there every day and he would write something. He could
10:04write a scathing article. He was there. He could write a nice article and he'd be there the next day
10:10after a bad game, ripping you apart again. What happened there? He expected, I think he expected
10:16from the national hockey league players, a consistency that he actually brought. And again,
10:23like you can't ask somebody to do something you're not doing. And he did it every day. So he was fair
10:28in that assessment. And there were others that came and went that I wasn't as fond of, um, every year
10:36after every year, since the first year, I gained a new respect for Larry, I guess, which was,
10:42I mean, the best compliment I can give him. Yeah. That's so awesome. Yeah. I mean, I, I also just
10:51want to take a second to just thank everyone who's probably listening to this podcast right now.
10:56Everyone who reads the New York post reads Larry reads me, um, just for all the unbelievable
11:04messages, the outpouring of love and support, um, even on a health site like Twitter. I mean,
11:12people have just been so nice and so kind and, um, the support is so much appreciated and, um,
11:21it's really nice to hear how much he meant to people who've read the New York post as well. Um,
11:28and the people who listened to our podcast. So he meant the world to me, obviously I've been a wreck
11:36for three weeks. As you can see, this right here has been basically, uh, an intermittent
11:43state that I've been in. So, um, it means so much to his family too. Um, I know that and just,
11:53um, I can't thank everybody enough. So really tough time, um, for us over here at the New York post,
12:01but, um, everybody's support has made it a lot easier than it would have been. So thank you to
12:09everybody for that. Alrighty. Should we try to transition to the New York Rangers?
12:16Yeah, we can do that. We can. Game goes on. Larry would yell at us if we didn't. We have a job to do.
12:28Oh my God. He would actually be like, Molly, Adam Fox is on LPIR. Why aren't you speaking about that?
12:35I know. Let's start there, huh? Yeah. Adam Fox, long-term injured, injured reserve.
12:41Doesn't seem like he's going to play until after the Christmas break, which is, I think, 11 games
12:50at minimum. So that is a huge chunk of time. It looks like an apparent shoulder, left shoulder injury
13:02from the injury, from the, from the play that it happened on. Um, just a huge loss. I mean, Brian,
13:10how do you see where the Rangers go from here without Fox for this good chunk of time here?
13:17Man, he's been playing well, huh? He's been, uh, he's back, right? He was back. I liked, uh,
13:24I love the pairing. Gavrikov, who, man, what a signing. The early returns on that signing
13:32have been very, very good. And then look, there's no perfect player, but sometimes you put guys in
13:37spots where the best can kind of come out of them. Um, so a couple of things, right? They
13:44have, they have the five man forward unit. Power play was the first thing I thought of. And I'm,
13:51I was, I was actually doing the game with Kenny, uh, when Fox got hurt. I was watching that game and
13:59that game was, look, you're going to have to figure out a way to compete like the Tampa Bay
14:07Lightning. If you want to have playoff success, because that's the best team in the East.
14:11And I know that Tampa lost to the Islanders, but Tampa's Tampa has no Victor Hedman, no Ryan
14:19McDonough and no Eric Chernak. And that's like, including playoffs, like 3000 games of experience
14:27and a bunch of, a bunch of, yeah, right. A bunch of trophies. Um, so you looked at,
14:37I was looking at it after Fox went down and it's, it was, it was interesting that he went down in a
14:43game against Tampa. Uh, how can, how can Tampa do this? And we talked about it all game and I watched
14:50how they competed and they, the Rangers lost that game. Tampa was a little quicker, um, to make plays
14:59quicker to get on pucks. And they won every single battle. There's a, there's a standard down there that
15:04I think Mike Sullivan is also trying to bring to New York. And let's listen, I'm not comparing the
15:12two teams right now. As of today, I think Tampa's, uh, clearly above where the Rangers are, but I look
15:20at the personnel and the makeup of the team, like the goaltending. It's funny. I mean, you get two
15:25world-class goalies, both Russian, um, that can steal you games. You have two world-class wingers that
15:32are controlling the game, like center Iceman and Panarin and Kucherov, both Russian that are sort of
15:38allowed a little bit of freedom. Um, and then you got some hard-nosed guys and you have Sorelli and
15:46you have Miller or Trocek. I mean, a lot of these there's parallels a lot of along the way, just play
15:52with a certain standard. So when you're missing a guy like Fox, the Tampa is missing three of these
15:58guys. How do you, how do you endure? And I think it just comes down to that, the battle and they could
16:05have chalked up that Dallas game. And especially after that tough turnover from JT Miller and they
16:11didn't. So that, that game showed me a lot. The game last night showed me a lot and like enough
16:19was enough, especially at home ice. So it's a good step. It's going to be difficult. The power play
16:24might not be beautiful at all times, but if they get out to leads, they have that five man unit. They
16:30could switch, put a defenseman on it. If they have a lead, I don't think you need to really look at the
16:36power play numbers, but if there's moments in time when they need a power play goal, those five fours
16:41are going to have to pick themselves up by their bootstraps and get something done. But it's not a
16:46good thing that Adam Fox is out for at least a month. Yeah. Yeah. It's a, it's a huge blow. I mean,
16:52we'll definitely get into the, the abysmal home record that the Rangers have, but going back to
16:59the loss of not, not great, not great, not great, Bob. Um, uh, but I think that two things, two players
17:10that we need to discuss in the wake of this Adam Fox news is Braden Schneider who gets elevated to
17:16the top pair with Vladislav Gavrikov. And I mean, what, I mean, the time is now to find out what the
17:24Rangers have in Braden Schneider. This is going to be, if he's able to stay in this spot next to
17:30Gavrikov and, and get these top pair minutes and, uh, face opponents, top lines, I think we're really
17:39going to see what we have, what they have in Braden Schneider. But I think the toolbox he's got,
17:46he's got everything in there. And I think putting him again with a Gavrikov now, it's not just the
17:54minutes and the minutes do help. Like you, you're, you're not allowed to dwell on something that
17:58doesn't go perfect in a shift when, you know, you have an assignment that night and that top pair
18:05means, okay, there's your top line, go shut them down. Um, if you can, I think as it goes,
18:14he'll get better because Gavrikov is, is that guy that can help him communicate with him. He's such
18:20a pro and he's, and he's very good at doing his job and he's polished. Yeah. He's, he's predictable.
18:29He's got a great stick. And if you have a predictable guy, that's a huge benefit to Braden
18:37Schneider. He, he's going to have an opportunity with him. I think there's a confidence thing
18:41there. I think he's a humble kid who works really hard. He needs a little bit of, he needs a little
18:46bit of arrogance and you don't have to be arrogant. You just need to be like, I'm, I'm, I'm him. I'm that
18:53dude now. And I'm going to show everybody I'm, I'm that dude because he, he can make those big hits,
18:59but it's really funny because you look at, you talk to Braden Schneider, you talk, you look at him
19:03and he doesn't have a mean bone in his body. He's so strong. Like I remember playing against him. He
19:08just came up. I'm like, I can't knock this guy down. And it's starting to make me a little angry
19:12here. I should be able to knock this clown over. I remember just one of those playoffs here. I'm just
19:17like, I'm coming for you. I'm going to get you. And he would just like smile back. Right, man.
19:22I was like, it's just how he is. He just plays. Like he's tough, man. He's a tough kid.
19:27So I root for him always. I always root for that guy. I want him to like, I don't think
19:34he knows how good he is. And you think the Rangers would be upset if, you know, Adam Fox
19:39comes back and Braden Schneider is like, all right, you're the second pair. We got Borgen
19:43on the third now. Do you think that's bad? No, that makes them all better because he's
19:46earned that ice time. And that's not a slight of Will Borgen. It's like, this is, that's how
19:52you improve as a team. So it's an opportunity for him. And I, you know, I think the Rangers
19:57for sure are like, we really need him to kind of grab this thing and run it, run with
20:02it.
20:03Right. The other guy though, that became just as important as Gavrikov himself. I mean,
20:10he has been, he has been after I would say a few games where he settled in at the very
20:17beginning. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, since then, straightforward, incredibly polished, incredibly
20:25effective. Um, and the offensive contributions have been a very, very pleasant and welcome
20:34surprise for the Rangers. I mean, Mike Sullivan was asked about it after the stars game, after
20:40Gavrikov had the overtime winner. And he admitted that he did not think that he would have five
20:45goals, 20 something games into the season. Cause that's not necessarily his game. He's
20:51a defense first guy, but he's got that great stick. He's got an even better stick in front
20:59of the net that I think anybody expected him to have. He's had a couple of really, really
21:04impressive tip-ins right in front there. Um, and I, I mean, it's going to be so important
21:13for him to continue on this, on this street that he's on right now without him Fox out
21:18because Fox is obviously the production that he brings. I mean, him and Artemi are just those
21:24guys that just, they rack up the points. They just, everything that they touch, you know,
21:29goes into the back of the net, uh, eventually. So losing that kind of production at Adam Fox
21:36is going to be a huge blow. So if Gavrikov could chip in a couple of goals here and there,
21:42it's just going to be, I mean, so important for them.
21:47Yeah. I think he's Mike Sullivan talked about it a couple of weeks ago. We want to get our
21:51D more involved and you see them down a cycle low into the zone and the forwards have been
21:59coming up and they don't just peel right out. They're, they're supporting the play. It's not,
22:03it's not like a risky, we're down two goals. Let's, let's take a chance. It's a, you know,
22:11it's, it's a concerted effort to try and just stay involved. And they've all done it. The D have
22:17tried to do it. It was clearly talked about and he's just been the best at it. He had a little
22:22backhand one touch dish to Edstrom, you know, a few games ago. That was a thing of beauty
22:28because he's down there and that's the play to be made. So it's not like going
22:33away from the structure of the team and how you're supposed to play to create
22:37offense. It's within the team's sort of structure. Everybody's on the same page
22:41and he's contributing. They're going in the net and that, that's like Gavrikov can't
22:48be Adam Fox. It's not like, Hey, go be him now because he's out. I don't think, you know,
22:53nobody can. There's no one in the organization. There's not many people in
22:56the world that if any, that play like Adam Fox, he's the most cerebral
23:00defenseman, I think in the league, just how effective he is with the gifts he
23:05has. He's not Kel McCarr, but he's second to him in points amongst defensemen and
23:11the whole entire league. So he's, he's got some superpowers of his own that are
23:15very unique to him. Gavrikov can't be that. He can be him. No, he's done that very
23:21well. It's going to be interesting how they platoon the rest. How do you, how do
23:26you use Scott Morrow without giving him too much? You don't, you know, you don't
23:31necessarily want to overload him with certain things. I think they did a good
23:34job of that because look, you got to play today. And this is Dallas who is, you
23:40know, eight, one in one or nine Oh, and one or something. It was in the West and they
23:47scored six goals a game. It's like, all right, have fun. No, they, they protected
23:52him, played around 13 minutes. Like that, look, this is, this is what it is. So this
23:57is where you need to get to. And I thought they did a good job with that. It's one
24:01game, but it's on home ice against a really good team.
24:05Count it.
24:06And they did. Yeah. You got a six on five goal quickly.
24:11Yeah.
24:11You know, it's those guys too. Like the Will Cooley's like, you're going to have
24:16opportunity because we need you to. It was, it was a good, it was a good
24:23win. It was entertaining for sure.
24:25It was, it was. All right. We'll, we'll get to that soon, but more injury news
24:31that we should touch on. Adam Edstrom is now day to day with a lower body injury.
24:37Uh, he missed the stars game on Tuesday night.
24:42Is that morning ski?
24:45I was not, no, it was the day before it was practice. Um, I wasn't there, but he
24:51left early, um, from practice. So something must've happened there. Um, they're
24:59saying day to day. So, you know, it could just be a one game thing. You know, I guess
25:04we'll see, um, in Ottawa, which I am heading to later today. Um, Matt Rempey and be the
25:12beautiful, I'm going to, I'm going to go skating on the canal. Nice. It's like, it's
25:19like really cold there right now. Oh God. I'm sorry. That's okay. Um, Matt Rempey. I
25:27know it's sitting on my desk. I'm the type. I need to look at my passport six times before
25:32I leave the airport. I'm glad I'm not alone. Yeah. Opening it. Okay. Oh God. All right.
25:42Anyway, Matt Rempey has missed 19 straight games with an upper body injury, probably a
25:48hand injury from the, uh, Ryan Reeves fight. Sullivan said it's not worth discussing him
25:55yet because he's not exactly close just yet. He hasn't skated with the team, but I
26:02did hear that he was on schedule with the original timeline. He was given maybe even
26:07a bit ahead. So that is a positive development. Um, and I think Jonathan Quick will be back
26:15this week from a lower body injury. He was not able to back up Schuster again Tuesday night
26:20against the stars. They had Spencer Martin up who they just signed to a two-year deal
26:25this season. Um, so yeah, that's the injury report and man, it has been extensive this season.
26:34Has it not? Well, around the league. There's so many games. It is around the league. Yeah.
26:41It's too many games. Yeah. Too close together. Condensed schedule. Yeah. It's hard asking these
26:47guys. It's not, uh, the eighties anymore. Guys come in, guys don't get out of shape
26:54anymore. It's crazy. So, um, these young bucks, they all come in at 6% body fat. You're
26:59going to get hurt. Got to have a little corner weight boys. 10% is fine. It was always the
27:06guy that lost, uh, lost a little bit of weight, body fat during the year. There were guys that
27:10gained it. I was blown away by that. That's crazy. Let me ask you a question. Um, off a little
27:17bit off topic. Sure. You're Bill Guerin. Hmm. You have these goalies like Swayman's
27:23playing pretty good. Oh, this is a great question. I know exactly what you're going
27:27to ask. Hellebuck, uh, you know, he has the knee right now, but you expect him, the
27:32heart trophy winner in there. Ottinger's obviously a great goalie. I think. Yeah. Um, Spencer
27:38Knight, Chicago is like, yeah, but there's so many. That's the only thing. Right. But if you
27:44win three and you need a guy who's like been lights out and been in big moments and can
27:51play just like randomly once in two weeks, do you not think about Jonathan Quick? Like
27:59do you not? Look, this is my, this is my pitch to put Jonathan Quick on team USA. So to
28:09say, you're going to have a third goalie, probably not going to play Jonathan Quick is a winner.
28:21Every single person that I have spoken to about him who have crossed paths with it with him
28:29in their hockey careers. He is, he embodies the presence of being a winner. He brings things to
28:39a locker room that you can't quantify. You can't measure the presence, the things that he does
28:49to foster team camaraderie, morale in the locker room. That is him that he is Jonathan Quick. Like
29:00that is what he has become over the course of his career. And I think settling into this backup role
29:07in New York has only made him even better at it, I think, and more accustomed to that kind of role.
29:14So, I mean, I'm biased because I would just love to cover more ragers at the Olympics, obviously, but
29:24I do see a very genuine argument for why Jonathan Quick should at least be considered to be the third
29:33goalie because he, I mean, I also just think bringing a guy like that into a room, I mean,
29:39it's obviously a stacked room no matter what, but Jonathan Quick is still that guy. Like he's still,
29:46he is still that guy. And how awesome would that be to have Jonathan Quick on Team USA's Olympic
29:54roster at age 40?
29:58I mean, like he won two cups. One of them was a great, one of the best performances I've ever seen.
30:05And technically three. And then he was in that same role. Yeah. Like, yeah, you know, I'm getting
30:11there. So he's like, he doesn't give up any goals anymore. Like he's been unbelievable this year.
30:18He's like 950, 940. What is it? 944. Yeah. Save percentage. And it's not like,
30:26it's not like the 95 devils are in front of them, just giving up 10 shots a game. Yeah,
30:31yeah. I think he's, he's sub two goals against he's 944 this year
30:39in a limited role. Like he's sharp. Yeah. 944, 169 goals against. Oh man. That's a,
30:46that's unbelievable. And he's a, he's three and three. Yeah. Imagine three. Um,
30:52he, uh, yeah, I just think he's just, it's we, not me with him. And that's when you go,
31:01that's what you want. You want that in an NHL room, but when it's best on best, you need it even
31:07more. Right. Right. I think the USA team, I mean, Canada, these teams have done that. They've been
31:12able to, they did it. It's four nations, you know, egos checked at the door without being like,
31:18you still are that dude. Everyone has to walk in there being like, I can, I can die. Right.
31:23That's what they all do. But you have to, in that team concept, he's, he's that guy to do it. And
31:28yeah, I think, I think he definitely deserves a consideration. I just was. Yeah. I mean,
31:35listen, no, it's, it's so, it's so on topic. It's on topic because I've thought about it too.
31:42And I listen, you can call me sappy or whatever, but I, especially as a, when it comes to something
31:50like the Olympics, something as special as the Olympics, I think about the things that can't
31:57be measured, like miracle on ice level things. And Jonathan quick falls into that category for me,
32:04like the magic, truly the magic of the sport that is JQ. And yeah. So, Hey, Billy, if you want to add
32:15another Ranger, we wouldn't be opposed over here and up in the blue seats. My second favorite,
32:20my second favorite goalie to come out of UMass. Number two. Yeah. Well, my dad was a goalie at UMass,
32:27so he's my number one. Wait, why did I never know that? It was very brief. It was
32:34like a year and a half. And then, uh, he started his large family. But how was that not the first
32:41thing that you said to me? I don't, I thought I might've at one point my dad, maybe not.
32:48I don't think you did. I would have made a much bigger deal of that.
32:51Yeah. I already boil. Wow. I'm gonna have to look at that.
32:55The man. Hmm. Where did he live on campus? Can you ask him?
33:00I can't. He doesn't. He doesn't. Yeah. He's.
33:06I'd love to know. He's a funny fellow. I'll ask him. I'll find out.
33:11That's great. Wow. So you do have the UMass blood in you. I knew it. I knew it.
33:16A little bit. A little bit of the zoo. Um, all right. So another, another positive topic of
33:23conversation, uh, coming on the heels of a, of a nice one at home. Artemi Panarin.
33:30Another multi-point effort for him Tuesday night against the stars. Two assists, 21 points in his
33:38last 14 games, six goals, 15 assists. I'm not a hundred percent sure if that's
33:45during the exact time that he shaved his head. Honestly, I think it was because the first game
33:52after he shaved his head. I think it was too. Yeah. It's, it's unbelievable. I actually was cracking
33:58up. I was watching, um, Trocek's interview with TNT and Biz was asking him if he has thought
34:08about shaving his head because of what watching Artemi Panarin has done after he does it.
34:14And he said, yes, but I think the funniest part of it was, uh, Biz asked if Artemi announces
34:22this to the locker room, tells them that he's going to do is, and Trocek said that he woke up at 3am
34:27middle of the night and did it. He didn't even know he was going to do it. And he just woke up and
34:32did it. And that is so on brand for Artemi. That's just, that's so, uh, so believable.
34:39And so Artemi Panarin, I can't, I can't even explain it. Um, but on the flip side of all this
34:46positiveness, I mean, it's self-explanatory, but it just has got me thinking about how big of a problem
34:54replacing him and his production is going to be if he's not back in New York next season.
34:59Yeah. Um, I think Trocek said his wife didn't even know her. She spoke up and was like,
35:05yeah, who's this guy?
35:06Um, and she hates it by the way. She, he told me that, yeah, he told me that when she, when he first
35:14did it, you know, a couple of years ago, he did it in the summer and that she would beg him not to do
35:22it. Please don't desperate times. It was not a good start. Um, um, yeah, look, it's, uh, you never,
35:35it's hard to predict. Uh, he's obviously a unique talent and that skill level and the offensive
35:45production he can bring it's, you can't really replace it. You'd have to, you know,
35:53dig into the new fabric of what Mike Sullivan's doing and to, to, so that would take multiple
36:00guys and a buy-in from even everybody else still there. So it's, it just changed, it changes the
36:06DNA of your team if he's not there. Um, but at the same time, there's smart guys running the room.
36:15They know, or they're going to set themselves up for, you know, plan a, and then there's
36:22contingencies after that. I think they're going to, they want him back. I believe that heard there
36:27there was an offer made, um, Panarin probably was like, well, I'm still a point of game guy.
36:36I can be a hundred point guy. So I'm worth this. It's, it's now December, you know, it's not July 1st.
36:44So there's, there's, there's time, but I wonder too, like, I feel like now in the league, there's a lot
36:52more, I don't want to say tampering because that's a, but there might be a little bit of
36:58tampering. Soft tampering. So there's some teams like, well, we would probably do this talking to
37:04maybe not even the agent, but a friend of the agents. Then it gets back, there's rumors. So,
37:10you know, for the Rangers sake, hopefully something can get done. That's, uh, fair for both sides,
37:16I think. And then I think they're going to try. They could be creative. They can do a number of
37:22different things to try and get that done. Yeah. I don't know. I don't know anything. I haven't
37:29talked to anybody with the Rangers. Speculation, pure speculation. Um, no, I mean, it's, it's
37:39Brian, not an insider boil. Um, no, it's, it's, it's a huge topic of conversation as it pertains
37:50to this Rangers team and their future, I think as well. That's like why it's such a big deal. But,
37:57um, I did actually ask him because I had a article sent to me, um, from rg.org, which is a website in
38:08Russia. Um, there was a interview with Alexei Kovalev and he was talking about how he had heard
38:15that Artemi was even contemplating going back to Russia after this season, if things didn't work out.
38:22So I of course asked him about it and he did not shoot the notion down. He did not say absolutely
38:32not. Um, he left it quite open-ended actually. He told me, I mean, you never know. Hard to say
38:40right now. It's a very hard question to be honest. And then he basically said that he can't comment on
38:47life and what might happen and, you know, things that might change circumstances and things like
38:52that. But I mean, for one of the biggest stars in the NHL, not to completely shoot down the idea of
38:59returning to Russia, playing in the KHL was pretty notable. I mean, what do you think about that,
39:06Brian? Uh, okay. There's, um, geez, how do I say this without? Yeah. All right. So look, here's the,
39:21there's been a lot of reports out of Europe in general that have parts of it have potentially
39:28been lost in translation. Um, the fact that you hadn't asked him and he didn't shoot it down
39:33is another thing when it's contract time or your deal is up, you know, you want to make
39:43as much as you can make as an athlete. And that's, you separate like, that's your time where you're
39:48just thinking about you and then 300 and every other day of the year or every other day of your
39:52contract, it's what's team, team, team, right? You have to think about you as a pro athlete.
39:58Cause it ends fast. And even if you have a long career, you know, I'd finished playing at 37,
40:04which is, uh, you know, great. I was very thankful and blessed. Uh, that's a long time
40:09to live and provide. And some of us might've had a bunch more kids after we were done playing.
40:17Some of us had a starting five. Great blessings. Uh, my financial advisors wouldn't like recommend it,
40:26but it's like the greatest thing in my life. So anyways, long story long, you never know
40:32exactly what's happening. I think there are some, there are some interesting, uh, politics in Russia.
40:44Uh, there's some leadership over there that loves their hockey.
40:50So I just got, I hope it's nothing to do like that. Um, but if it's an option for him to earn a
40:56living, that's better than, I think he wants to stay here. I think he wants to stay in New York.
41:03I think he wants to definitely stay in the NHL. I think he wants to try to, I also have zero doubt
41:07that if the Rangers aren't going to pay him what he wants, somebody else will, because I mean, maybe
41:13not exactly what he wants, but I mean, there were so many teams, the Avalanche, the Islanders,
41:20he left money on the table on Long Island to come to Manhattan. You know, like there are,
41:25there are teams that I think will keep him in the national hockey.
41:29I mean, yeah, there's not, there's a lot of teams. So yeah, is it a, is it a, I guess,
41:36is it a negotiating tactic? His response anyway? Yeah. And he is not a dumb guy. He is a smart
41:45fella. Very, very, very. So kudos to you for getting in there and asking him to RG.org.
41:53Yeah. I, I thank RG.org for the assist. Um, but yeah, I, I, we were, we were kind of giggling
42:02cause you know, I caught him a little off guard. It was after a game, but it was after a four point
42:06game and I'm writing a column about how, geez, the Rangers are going to be in trouble if they don't
42:13have this guy next year. Um, so yeah, it had to be asked and you know, no stone left unturned over
42:22here at the New York post. There you go. Good on you. He's got, what's he one of three guys who
42:29have over 400 points in his 400 games, the Rangers. That was a Cadillac trivia last night.
42:33Yeah. He, I mean, we could go on and on about how he has been everything that the Rangers,
42:40I mean, you can argue that he hasn't been at his best in the playoffs and, and hasn't,
42:47you know, been as dominant as some people would have liked him to be in the post season. And that's
42:51fair, but there is no doubt that the Rangers don't even come close to the playoffs without him
42:59in general. So, and I've been saying that exact line since 2019, 20, I feel like people seem to
43:07forget about that all the time that he plays such a crucial role in getting them to the playoffs to
43:14begin with. His worst season minus the COVID shortened season in terms of point production,
43:21because it wasn't, it wasn't bad. The COVID season, it was just, it was shorter 42 games. It was last
43:27season at 89 points. Like he's just, he creates goals. And he has led, he's led the team every single
43:39year since he's been in New York, you know, every like that, that deserves its flowers. It deserves
43:46its acknowledgement. Um, and he has every right to hold out until he gets what he feels like he's
43:54worth, especially with the cap going out. Um, so, but that is definitely something to monitor
44:02going forward. And, you know, hopefully for the Rangers, he keeps on this,
44:06on this tear that he's on right now, because it's going to be crucial, especially with Adam Fox out.
44:13Um, yeah. All right. Let's cap it off with a big W on home ice.
44:19Big, big, big W on home ice. I think that, I think that the
44:26most encouraging thing that came out of that game was the six on five goal.
44:31Yeah. Uh, Rangers have not had one of those in, in a bit. Um, it's felt like,
44:38or at least one of consequence like that. So, um, Will Cooley gets it late in the third,
44:45with the extra man on. Um, yeah, just, just a really important game for them, especially with
44:54the way things that have been going on home ice. And I could see it in the way that they were playing
45:00last night about how badly they wanted and needed that one. They were going for it.
45:06Yeah. I mean, Dallas is, Dallas is the jet, like three years in a row, Western Conference finals in the
45:12West. I don't know if people really understand how hard the gauntlet because of how, I mean,
45:21they're doing time zones and flights are just forever. It's really hard to recover. You can't.
45:26And like, yes, we are spoiled. It's private flights. You just hop on the plane and the foods,
45:32right? Waiting for you, but you can't recover at altitude. You get more dehydrated. It's
45:38look at it's, it's more than what the other teams are doing, especially specifically in the East. So,
45:43uh, there's, there's some heavy hitters out West and they gotta, they've competed,
45:49especially in that central the last few years, maybe not as much this year, but that Dallas team is
45:53legit. And JT has a tough play, like has to handle a puck in his feet with three and a half left.
46:00This is a grinding type game against a really potent Dallas team. And you just, you look at
46:07social media after, uh, Ratton scores that goal. And I'm like, people are like, I'm done. This is
46:18lost again. And I'm like, there's three minutes left. There's three minutes left in the game.
46:24So they get at six on five, they pull Igor. And how, how, how long after the faceoff was that goal
46:30scored? I mean, they, they attacked. They're like, enough is enough. Yeah.
46:34Even if that doesn't go in, I think they'd eventually tie it. Cause they were just,
46:37they were like, we're, they were hunting. We're not doing this again. Yeah.
46:41Yeah. And then Vladi Gavrikov just getting her done.
46:45What a play. What a play. Seriously. I mean, going back to what we were talking about him,
46:52I mean, he really.
46:55That's the play. Drive the middle. Yeah. Cause it's a three on three.
46:58He's in a major.
47:00Yeah. I'm not going to hang back. Cause I'm the defenseman. Like, no, they have full possession.
47:04I'm going to drive through, try to create space. And then Mika gets it over to Artemi.
47:08And he could have passed the Gavrikov, but like, if I'm Artemi and I'm between the hash marks,
47:13I'm shooting all day. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. And he's there for the rebound. Now this,
47:17I'll say this, talk about team USA. Jason Robertson's been on fire.
47:23I know he didn't make the four nations last year. Back check and the effort shown and the overtime
47:30is what's going to give Billy. He's going to have questions about like, what just,
47:34it was pretty just pedestrian, which allowed the range to come up through the ice. And
47:40that's how hard it is to win. This guy's been on fire. I know he was a little effort on Mika.
47:47You can maybe get that puck back. And, and I liked the kid play with him at world championships.
47:54They took full advantage of the Rangers. You got to give them credit. They were,
47:56they willed themselves to a win against a very good team on home ice. Positive things.
48:01Brian, you got me so excited for the Olympics. I can't freaking wait.
48:06I literally can't wait. I need everybody to comment on this YouTube video and tell my editor
48:15that he needs to send me to Milan. Go ahead, everybody down below. Just say, Molly has to go to Milan. She does.
48:24She has to be there. What happens if, what happens if you get there and the ring's still not finished?
48:30Possibility. I was just thinking, I'm like, Oh,
48:37I can't wait to write that story about the size of the rink and smaller. And I can't wait to ask all
48:44the players about what they're, how are they going to adjust? You know, how is that going to work for
48:49them? Are they going to be able to notice when it's, what is it? It's only like, it's not even that much
48:54smaller, but it is smaller. Four feet's a lot. Four feet's a lot. Four feet? Yeah.
48:58Wait, I didn't know it was four feet. Yeah, 196. How did that happen?
49:03Well, listen, you get a, you get an Olympic bid and then you only have like eight years to build a
49:07rink and everybody knows rings take at least 45 years to build.
49:11I don't know. It's ridiculous. Um,
49:15I'm really curious how in the world that happens, but I mean,
49:20hopefully I'll get to measure it myself in Milan for all of our loyal listeners.
49:26There'll be more goals. There'll be ugly goals, but more goals. Like when you shrink it,
49:30when you shrink it, things happen faster.
49:32Like the Olympic sheet, everyone just stays to the outside and you can't get inside and
49:38it's almost like a soccer game. I think you shrink the rink and turn it into just a complete gong
49:43show. Chaos.
49:45Logic. Chaos. Yeah. Honestly, bring it on. Let's make it a few feet here.
49:50Imagine Tom Wilson coming down to the four check. He only has to go like 58 feet instead of 60.
49:56God help. God help them. God help the people in front of him.
50:00I had on a swivel. All right. On that note, let's wrap it up. Thank you so much for listening
50:08to up in the blue seats. As always, give us a thumbs up. Comment down below. What do you think's
50:13going to happen with Artemi Panarin? Are you still freaking out about the Rangers home record?
50:19How big was that overtime win against the stars? Is Molly going to go to Milan? Let us know down below.
50:27All right. Thanks. Then we'll talk to you guys again next week.
50:39What's up, Giants fans? This is Brendan London. And every week I'm here with Paul Schwartz bringing
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