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00:02Hey all, it's time for a new episode of Up in the Blue Seats, your favorite Rangers podcast
00:08from the New York Post. As always, it's Molly Walker and former Ranger Brian Boyle. Sorry
00:14we're a little late with this episode, some scheduling conflicts, but here we are and
00:18the Rangers are back to their early season form. A 2-1 loss to the Senators on Monday
00:24made it a five-game losing streak, which ties a season high. But before we get into more
00:31Rangers, I just wanted to take a second to pass our sincerest condolences to the family,
00:36friends, and colleagues of Jessie Pierce, who incomprehensibly passed away in a house fire
00:42with her three children this past weekend. I was just telling Brian before we started recording,
00:48I had literally just seen Jessie in Minnesota last week. We're just talking with her. Always
00:54the brightest light in the room. Loved what she did and everyone loved her right back and
00:59just absolutely unfathomable. Our thoughts are with the Minnesota Wild, the Wild Media Beat,
01:06and all her friends and family, obviously. So transitioning to the top Rangers news of the
01:15week, and that's Drew Fortescue is in town. Pearl River Boy, Don Bosco Boy, and for Brian,
01:22I guess we'll say Boston College Boy.
01:25Fuck off.
01:26Fuck off.
01:28No, we love the local angle. We love a new face to talk to and a new player to add
01:32to the mix.
01:33He signed his three-year entry-level contract and reported straight to New York.
01:38The plan is for him to play after he gets a couple practices under his belt. I'm guessing that could
01:44be Friday against the Blackhawks, but we'll see. The Rangers were willing to burn a year of his ELC in
01:51order to get him some NHL experience now in preparation for a full pro season next year.
01:57They liked how it worked with Gabe Perreault, even though he didn't end up playing every game he was
02:03up here for at the end of last season. This sets Fortescue up to be an RFA in summer of
02:082028, too.
02:09So what's your scouting report on him, Brian? And what do you know about, what do you think of the
02:15signing?
02:16Well, I think it's if he can get to where he projects, that's a need. You know, they need some
02:24middle-pairing defense, I think. They're thin back there.
02:27Yeah. And, you know, it's interesting how, you know, when the CBA changed, right? I was a senior,
02:37I had an opportunity to sign after my junior season, and then I was a senior, and there was
02:43a new CBA, so like my bonuses would have been cut into like a fifth of what I potentially could
02:49have gotten. So LA at the time wasn't really necessarily that worried about me going UFA.
02:56I was grandfathered into the old CBA. Now we've seen with Kevin Hayes and Jimmy Vesey, we've seen
03:02with Adam Fox, you know, players that are willing to wait, play their fourth season after they're
03:08drafted, and decide maybe I'll sign anywhere because the bonuses would line up the same.
03:16So there's a certain leverage that these players have now.
03:20Yes.
03:22I don't think there's, I mean, and they're within their rights. If you are drafted and developed,
03:29and you go to development camp, and there's some communication, I think most times, you should
03:35probably sign with the team that put assets into you and use capital to get you. As a player that
03:42did that, there's some loyalty there. But as we've seen in pro sports, if you have leverage,
03:48use it, because that's what teams do, that's what management does, and players should do it too.
03:53So the fact that, you know, he's going to burn a year, that's just, that's part of, that's part
03:58of the deal now. That is what teams have to do to entice players to sign, to get them in
04:04their
04:04system, to get their control. And then you can do what you think is best for player and team at
04:09that
04:09point, as long as you get that player to sign. So it'll be interesting. I like the fact that
04:14they're going to let them practice a little bit. I remember signing an ATO after I signed my entry
04:21level that was starting the following season. And like, I showed up at 730 in the morning in
04:27New Hampshire, driving from school where I was at the bar the day before. And the coach was like,
04:33well, do you want to play tonight? All new gear, all new stuff. Didn't know I know.
04:36Oh boy.
04:37Made a game. I was like, I can't, I was the worst player on the ice. I couldn't do anything.
04:41I didn't know.
04:42But of course you couldn't say no.
04:43No, you can't say no.
04:44Yeah, exactly.
04:46Yeah, I can play. The fact that they understand that, and it's kind of like, why would you
04:51do that? Just wreck a guy. But it ended up working out for me. It made me better in the
04:56long run too, but it's, it's a good way to start. I mean, the league's hard enough. So it's
05:00exciting. It should be exciting. And, you know, he's going to make mistakes. Everybody's going
05:06to make mistakes, no matter how long he played. But it'd be cool just to see. It's a new look.
05:11He'll have some adrenaline. And that, you know, that spot, I think in that position on the Rangers
05:17in terms of the depth needs to be added to. So it's a good signing.
05:23You're mentioning of the contract structure made me want to take a peek at the way that his is.
05:28And per Pugpedia, his average annual value is $950,000, base of $775,000, at least in 2025-26.
05:39And he's got $80,000 in performance bonuses if he plays 10 games. So that's in there. He's got a
05:48signing, he's got, that's the performance, but he's got signing bonus $95,000 in each year.
05:55Or, yeah. And like I said, it has him projected to be a RFA.
06:00Is there any B bonuses in there? Do they list that?
06:05I don't see anything.
06:08So it's interesting. There's certain ways where you could add to the AAV with other bonuses if you add
06:16certain bonuses now that aren't even attainable. It just opens the door for it.
06:20It's a higher, I mean, that's usually for first-rounders and high first-rounders.
06:26Yeah.
06:27Yeah.
06:28Yeah, I mean, he'll have an opportunity. So if he can hang around, it's down to the wire, though,
06:34if he can play 10 games.
06:36Yeah. I think, what did I say, Friday?
06:39I think Friday, if he plays every game past Friday, like Friday and out, I think he would
06:43hit it. Because I think there's 12 games left. 11? I don't even know. Might be 11 now. Yeah.
06:53Yeah, the one thing that I have heard about Drew is that it's the breakout passes. The breakout passes
07:00are crisp, they're clean, they're effective, and I think that the Rangers could definitely
07:05use a little bit of help in that department as well. So, yeah, should be really exciting
07:11to see another guy make his NHL debut this season. The Rangers have had so many, which
07:17definitely signifies a bit of a changing of the guard here. Speaking of, in other kid news,
07:22Dylan Garand made his NHL debut this weekend against the Jets. Jonathan Quick is day-to-day
07:29with an upper body injury, so that's why that happened.
07:33And Dylan got a nice taste of what 60 minutes of regulation feels like behind the Rangers
07:37and three-on-three overtime and a shootout in his first NHL game. I wrote in my column,
07:43can you imagine your first shootout opponent as perennial 30-goal scorer Kyle Connors?
07:48I mean, there's a lot of other players that, like, it could be even crazier, but chances
07:53are, I mean, that's still pretty wild, though.
07:56Yeah, and, you know, good on him. It's not easy, and I appreciate, I just appreciate, like,
08:08certain organizations still make it, you gotta earn it. Like, if you're not developing how
08:12they want you to, it's not like a, you're not being punished. You know, if you earn your
08:18spot, you as a player, as an individual, yeah, you're still going to be nervous. I talked about
08:23this with Corey Schneider a lot. He was, like, the best goalie in the American League for three
08:28straight years, and we see it, if you want to go current, you know, Dustin Wolf in Calgary
08:33was the best goalie in the American League two years in a row, and then he had a great first
08:37year,
08:38and, like, we saw the beginning of this year, and he wasn't as good. It's not, it's, you want to
08:42build that foundation of, like, your own confidence and your own mechanisms to get yourself out of
08:47things when it doesn't go great. You don't want to destroy a kid either, so getting through that
08:52grind a little bit, not being handed to you, I think there's something to be said on that, and
08:58then, like, then when you do get your chance, I don't think anybody would want to see him fail
09:03after you got through, you know, they were thin at the position, and everyone was kind of asking
09:07questions, why, why not him? You know, he's kind of younger and part of us, and, and, you know,
09:14it was Martin, it was Spencer Martin instead, it was, that was the guy who earned it, so
09:19it's a meritocracy, I like that, even especially in the fact that, you know, the season's gone
09:24the way it's gone, and then he can feel better about a solid performance, you can't, I mean,
09:30he can't go out and score any goals, that's for sure, so you just do what you do.
09:34Don't tell Igor that.
09:38He'd try, I'm sure, but he also said he doesn't score goals, what was that, two years ago?
09:43It's so funny, Colin Stevenson of Newsday, that's like his worst nightmare, is like a
09:487-30 game, like a one goal game in the third period, and Igor scores a goalie goal, because
09:54like to him, the whole story goes out the window, and that's the biggest story of the
09:58day, it's the funniest thing, he like has anxiety about it, it's, it's truly, truly one
10:03of a kind, but yeah, I mean, Dylan had 35 saves on 37 shots, he was the first star of
10:10the
10:10game, and yeah, obviously couldn't make the stops on the two shootout goals, but like
10:17you said, he had been playing really well in Hartford, and I don't think that that was
10:22the case, when Spencer Martin was recalled earlier this season.
10:25No, it wasn't, it wasn't, yeah, no, it is, no, 100%, but Hartford has struggled a lot for
10:33the most part of the season, so I definitely think that it's just kind of been, you know,
10:37a team thing, and at the end of the day, in that sort of situation, from what we've seen
10:42from the Rangers, they're usually going to go with the more experienced option, even
10:46if, you know, everybody's not, not doing too hot, yeah, they, but he, I felt like he
10:55was more than ready for this, for this opportunity, I thought he looked good, I mean, can you imagine
11:01what learning behind Jonathan Quick and Igor Shister can, can do for a young goalie like
11:06Dylan? Yeah, I, well, it's, it doesn't even have to be the goalie, I, I've mentioned many
11:11times, just going out and doing the shooting drills, and watching Hank, how fast he operated,
11:17how focused and dialed in, he was, and like the pre, we called it pre-practice, so we haven't
11:23even started, right, and so before he puts his gear on, he needed to get to a level of,
11:28like, in his head and physically, like, warming up, you get on the ice, and you try and warm
11:34him up, and he's, like, moving around, he's violent, beautiful movement, I can't get anything
11:38by him, and. Violent, beautiful movement. Yeah, they were, though, it was like, it was
11:43incredible, explosive, and then the next goalie comes in, whoever, who's a great goalie, and
11:47you're like, this is, you're in a different league. Yeah, wow, that's insane. Well, if we're
11:54keeping with the positive news, Mika Zibanejad skated in his 1,000th career NHL game on Monday,
12:02coincidentally, against the only other team he's played for in the Ottawa Senators, what
12:06a beautiful ceremony. I wasn't there, I wasn't feeling too great last night, but I watched
12:12from home, just a beautiful ceremony for such a deserving player. The tribute video was narrated
12:18by his wife, Irma, his parents, and his daughter, Ella, were there. Oh, yeah, you didn't know
12:23that? You didn't hear that I was there? I saw that after the fact, that was just, that
12:28was great. Yeah, so nice. Yeah. I mean, little Ella sporting her custom 1,000 sweat
12:35set. The Rangers gifted them a trip to Greece, a mini silver stick for Ella, a full-size
12:40custom engraved silver stick for Mika. To commemorate the occasion, it was engraved
12:46at the bottom with his accomplishment. I'm wondering, Brian, how is an accomplishment like
12:531,000 games viewed amongst players in the league? Very highly. It's impressive. And
13:00we had, we've had guys who've been traded and they were close and then they go to the
13:06new team and then you watch the new team kind of roll out the red carpet. You could play
13:1135 games for a team, but once you hit 1,000, it's like you just played 1,000 games in
13:15the
13:15NHL. You know, I was sort of eyeing, you get to 500 and you're kind of like, well, if I
13:22could do that, that would be pretty cool. And then it's, you know, a certain level of
13:26commitment that you try to, you know, you try to do a number of different things. I
13:30know Matt Martin on the island, that was something that he thought about early in
13:33his career because of, I don't know if it's the role you play. You see certain guys play
13:391,500. I don't know why 1,500 isn't more celebrated. It's like insane. Like Brent Burns
13:45is incredible.
13:48Yeah. The Ironman streaks also are, they blow my mind every time they come up and you see
13:53that you're like, this guy hasn't taken a single game off in 555 straight games. You're
13:59like, what do you mean? Like, what do you mean?
14:02I remember playing through a lot of crap, you know, with the Rangers, with Tampa and
14:09like, I think I got a couple hundred in or something at one point and just, and just
14:14being like, all right, you know, you do the right things forever. And then like, you'd
14:18get a random oblique thing where like for a week, I can't cough or do anything. I'm
14:22like, I can't play. I'll make the teamwork.
14:26Those guys are incredible. It really, it takes a certain element of luck, but you are
14:29certainly committed. So a thousand games, it's just like everyone else kind of celebrates
14:35the body of work for those guys because that's an everyday thing. That's a, you know, in the
14:43shadows, no one's watching. You're taking care of yourself. You're doing the right
14:48things. You're obviously a good player. You wanted to burn out like you wanted by teams
14:54or a team. You're well, every night player for multiple years. Right. And so it's, you
15:03know, he, and credit to him too, for how this season's gone and how it started. He was playing
15:08really good hockey and wasn't going in the net for him. And then he just kept playing
15:14really good hockey. He didn't, he didn't cheat the game at all. And you look, he's almost
15:18at a point of game now where he was probably 12 or 13 points behind that pace early in the
15:23season. He's just really kind of caught fire. He's bringing like, look what Lafreniere
15:28has done. Look at what Perot has done recently playing with him. So like, man, celebrate that
15:34guy. He's been unreal Ranger.
15:37Yeah. Easiest guy on the team to celebrate. I think, especially this season coming off of
15:42last season too. But as I wrote my article last night, the Rangers really hit the mark on
15:49the Zibanejad celebration. But once the puck was dropped, they struggled to hit the mark on just
15:54about anything. Two to one.
15:57They hit a mark on.
15:58Yeah. Two to one loss to the Senators. Sounds a lot better than it actually looked to me.
16:04Ottawa had a goal and hit two posts before the Rangers even got a single shot on net with like
16:10six 11 left in the first period. They only had four shots through two. That was the fewest for the
16:18Rangers since 1965, 66 when they first started tracking shots per period. And they finished
16:27with just nine shots on the entire night, which tied a franchise low that dates back over 70 years.
16:35They're up to 10 now because there's so much gambling going on with shots on net.
16:39So it's, it's, it's, they added, they added, when, I honestly think in the last like hour and a half,
16:46because I looked at it this morning.
16:47No, that's not, that's not true. Like it had to have been overnight then. I'm being so serious.
16:52I looked at it.
16:54I know. I mean, I looked at it, I thought I looked at it this morning. It was still nine
16:58and now it's
16:5810.
16:59Oh, that's such, that's such BS. I'm sorry. You want to talk about no BS? That's BS.
17:03Yes. Sorry. That's the league. That's gambling. That's not on you, Molly.
17:08No, I hate that. Like I, but like, especially when you say that it is gambling, because of
17:13course it is, but that's ridiculous. Like that's silly. I got a lot of thoughts on that, but
17:18double digits.
17:20I'll contain it. That's really annoying. It's like all over everybody's coverage this morning
17:25that it was a friend. That's don't like that. I don't like that.
17:29No, that's, you know what? It's crap. Oh, whatever. I mean, you also have to think about
17:36how the senators didn't even have Jake Sanderson or Nick Jensen, and then they lost two more
17:42defensemen during the game. So they were down to four for a good portion of the game.
17:47Yeah. I mean, that was.
17:49Yeah. What do you, what were you thinking while watching that one?
17:52Yeah. I mean, cause Shabbat's been unbelievable. Honestly, and this is like no disrespect to the
17:58Rangers. I love the Rangers. You know, the MSG employs me and I love it. I'm watching
18:03Ottawa because Ottawa is like, they're an interesting one. They've been on an absolute
18:09tear.
18:10They're making a push.
18:11Five out of their last 23 games, they've, they've, they failed to win. I think they're
18:16like 18, two and three or something before that. And like, and you look at where they're
18:20at. I was like, I kind of thought they were dead and buried. They're like, they're a plus.
18:25I don't know. I was looking at it. I was like 23 and forgive me now because I'm, I'm looking
18:30it up, but it, they're, they couldn't get saves.
18:34Yeah.
18:35That was the only thing wrong with them. And they just like, they're plus 22. They're
18:40plus 22. Like that's a legit playoff team.
18:45Yeah.
18:45And they couldn't get saves. And now they're kind of getting saves. Like Reimer comes in
18:50and like not a ton of work, but what it done, they're really good, really good hockey team.
18:57Their forward group is really good. They're very thin on D right now. They're two best
19:02D are out.
19:02Yeah.
19:03Seems like it's going to be long-term with Shabbat because he was unbelievable since
19:07San, in the last like seven games.
19:09Yeah.
19:10And you hope he's back soon, but it seems.
19:13It's a crushing blow for them. For sure.
19:15But they, I think they, you know, they play again tonight. There's some big ones coming
19:18up for them. It's not an easy schedule for them, but they are a good frigging team.
19:22Yeah.
19:23And they showed it last night at the garden.
19:27Yeah. Wasn't, wasn't the greatest reflection of the Rangers. They were definitely disappointed
19:31not to be able to put forth a better effort, especially on a night where they were honoring
19:36Mika Zibanejad the way that they were. So.
19:40I'll tell you what.
19:40Listen.
19:41The wigs were cool.
19:42Oh my God. Hysterical. Absolutely hilarious. Love that. I think I, my favorite, well, my
19:50favorite wig, I think was Igor's. I think it looked like it belonged on his head. I don't
19:55know why I can't explain it, but it just looked like it really fit him.
19:59Him and Vladdy coming in with the, I was like.
20:02With the extra long ones.
20:04Yeah. Like the movie Airheads. I might be dating myself, but you know, the movie Airheads.
20:10This is, I'm like, this, this is a clown show. It's hilarious.
20:13Yeah, it was good. It was good. I loved it. Very funny.
20:17So some housekeeping. Noah Laba and Urho Vakenainen are both week to week with injuries. Laba's
20:24his lower body and Urho's his upper. Losing Laba especially kind of forced Mike Sullivan
20:31to explore with his center options. And the coaching staff landed on giving Adam Edstrom
20:37a try at the position he was actually drafted at, but had not played a single game in since
20:43starting his NHL career. I saw him practicing face-offs very intently with Sabanajad, I think
20:49in Minnesota, and that should have been my indication, but it was somewhat short-lived.
20:55They took Brodzinski out last night and brought Parson in back in and put him in his natural
20:59spot at center, which bumped Edstrom back to the wing, but he spent five games in the middle.
21:06And before that, he, I mean, he had only taken like seven face-offs in the NHL before the move.
21:10So it was certainly new to him, but what's it like about having a player like Edstrom in
21:16the middle there?
21:17Well, unbiased. It's like the kid can skate. He's so long and you can just disrupt anything.
21:25If, if he learns that position, which is the hardest position, I mean, I, and I played them
21:30all so people can be, Oh, defense is harder. It's not to be an elite defenseman to be, is
21:36hard to be a number one center is really, really, really hard. Cause you're playing
21:40basically the same amount of minutes. It's you're skating more, you're more physical,
21:43you're more involved and you have to drive offense. But for him, if he can learn how to
21:48shut players down and really learn the D zone and how to support and how to exit, you know,
21:54pretty cleanly at what is he? Six, eight. And he can move. Yeah. Six, seven, I think.
22:01And he can move like throw them over the boards all the time. You can shut them down against top
22:07lines. You can cause mismatches for your top lines. I think as a, I just, I just, I see
22:13it as being so disruptive and being such a pain to play against. And then like, I just looked
22:21at the future and I'm looking, if he can figure that out and win draws, and then you have
22:25right behind the other side and it's just like, go ahead, try and get through that forest.
22:28Maybe Hemalash on the other, on the other way. That would be a fun line.
22:34Big boys that can move. I love it. Yeah.
22:37Yeah. That's an identity. That's a thing that like, and I think, I think we'll probably get
22:42into this a little bit, or maybe that was a mailbag question that we're not going to hit today. But
22:46if you can bring in an attitude of physicality, especially on your bottom six, that gets,
22:51it's a little bit more contagious. You can turn, you can change games. You can kill team spirits.
22:55You're going to win a lot more hockey games that way. Yeah. Speaking of Rempe, actually,
23:00I probably should have mentioned him in the house keeping, but Sullivan actually said that
23:04he would be surprised if, if we'd seen that Rempe again this season, which is disappointing,
23:10obviously, but clearly he's been having a lot of problems with that thumb procedure. He's had two
23:17of them now on the broken thumb. So, I mean, when he came back from the first one, we were
23:22all,
23:22he was very forthcoming about how he could barely even grip his stick. So, I mean, it kind of felt
23:28a little silly that he was out there to begin with, honestly, but yeah. So probably won't see
23:34Matt Rempe for the rest of the season, but hopefully they get the, yeah, but it's good. It's good for
23:41the, for the other young guys to come in and get some, get some reps. He's definitely gotten some reps
23:46and I think that they know what they have in him and he's still improving his game. So, I guess
23:51we'll
23:52have to see how that plays out next season. That'll be interesting. Yeah.
23:59I wrote a story, a fun story the other day. I interviewed Vincent Ioreo about his involvement
24:04with a new Amazon Prime series coming up. And when I mentioned it to you, you had some news of
24:11your
24:11own. I'll turn the floor over to you. Well, so it's really funny, but one of the executive
24:17producers is a big part of this project for off-campus, this show that's going to premiere
24:22on Amazon. I think it's the middle of May. Yeah, May 17th, I think. So, yeah, so we, you know,
24:29he's a
24:30close friend of mine. He has a son who's my son's age. They play, you know, play hockey and he
24:36helped
24:36me actually get my camp off the ground. Just a real, real awesome dude who, you know, he's, he's been
24:44in Hollywood. He's done stuff. He's done movies. He's written things. He's, he's, he's, he's a pretty
24:50impressive guy. I actually don't know all the stuff he's done. Cause I don't want to like bug
24:53him and ask him. And he's just a good dude. Uh, but he's like, we got this project and he
25:00hands
25:00me this book and it's Al Kennedy who writes the book. Uh, and I believe the name of the book
25:07is
25:07different than the TV show. Yeah. The deal I think is the deal. That's the, um, that's what the first
25:14season is modeled after. Right. So he gives me the book and I'm like, listen, I rarely
25:21read books. Shocking. I know. I'm not a big reader. I'm not going to read this. I'm a big
25:28reader, but it's not about, I don't read like big novels that are especially like for, I
25:33don't know. You're not into the hockey smut? High school, college. I don't know. So I put
25:40the book in my, in my driver's side door and, uh, my wife takes the car one day and she
25:45grabs
25:46the book and she's like, what the hell is this book? I'm like, Oh yeah. What are you
25:52reading in your spare time? Like, uh, I did this thing at NHL network for Neil. I had to
25:59hold this book and just take a photo with the NHL stuff behind me to sort of like throw
26:06out a post about to promote this future TV show. This was like the beginning of last
26:12season. Yeah. You know, the end of last season starts coming in and I get the call from my
26:17buddy, Neil. He's like, Hey, I'm sending you something right now. When are you, when
26:22are you at work in Secaucus again? I'm like, I'm here. I'm here next week. Like I'll be
26:26there next week. He's like, all right, I'm coming. And I was like, what? He goes, send
26:29that to Rupp. So he's like, is Rupp working with you? I said, yes. So me and Mike Rupp get
26:34this script and we go on the NHL network in the studio. We had to like change some
26:39of the graphics behind us for, for copyright stuff. And we had to do like three or four
26:44lines each. Took like 45 minutes. We're like, we can't even keep us doing what
26:51we're supposed to say. And it was like hysterical. So we're like an insert talking
26:55about Graham. Yeah. The, the hockey player in the, in the TV show. So it'll be in
27:02there. And apparently we're like greenlit to be in season two. We
27:05haven't done anything for it, but yeah. Oh my God. All like the last year
27:09and a half, I'm getting updates on the show. He's telling me about like
27:12these actors who are trying to learn how to skate. And I like, some of them
27:16are, we're athletes. So they're like, I'll figure it out. And then they're
27:19like, we can't skate at all. This is so hard. And I'm like, yeah, hockey's
27:22the hardest sport. Yeah. Um, it was, but I've been like day one following
27:27this thing. And then you write this article and I'm like, I didn't know who's
27:29that guy. I'm in that show. Um, so yeah, I just thought that was kind of
27:34hilarious. Brian was actually like me too. You're never going to believe it.
27:39But then the other, the other show that's out there and listen, I've
27:43never. He did rivalry. Yeah. Yeah. I'm not, uh, I'm not as big a fan as
27:49Gary Bettman maybe, but I've never seen one thing that came out that like
27:54jumped the gun on us. I was kind of, I was kind of pissed. I was like, what the
27:57heck? I thought we were going to be, and Neil's pissed too. But anyways, this
28:00looks like it'll be, it'll be fine. Well, I think, I think that it'll be, if
28:05anything, I mean, I, I was kind of reading into it and like, there's a lot of,
28:10there's a whole sub, you know, genre of, of people that, and women, especially
28:17that, that read these types of books. Um, and this one that you're now part of
28:21apparently redefined the genre. Like it was the first like hockey romance novel.
28:29So yeah, it was out of control. So yeah. And heated rivalry came after the fact, but
28:37I think, I don't know if it was necessarily bigger, like the book wise, but
28:43obviously when they, they were able to throw it together as a TV show, um, a
28:48limited series or whatever, and it, it went global. Like there's no other way to
28:52describe it. I mean, it's, it's one of the biggest things in mainstream media, um,
28:56and has been for such a long time, um, since it came out in what the summer. Um,
29:03I don't even remember. Um, it feels like it's been around for so long at this
29:07point, but yeah, I mean, I think that the success of heated rivalry, if anything,
29:12will put even more eyeballs on this new show. Cause it's the same type of genre. So
29:17you could be like, you could be too big for us in like a couple of months.
29:22I'm rooting for the show for my buddy. Cause they're just, I guess I saw the sweat
29:25equity that he's put into it.
29:28You and Sullivan with that sweat equity phrase. Did you learn that from him?
29:34Uh, no, I actually learned that like in
29:38probably younger real estate stuff. Yeah, no, that was different.
29:41That's Sullivan's favorite phrase.
29:43Sweat equity.
29:44Sweat equity.
29:45He probably learned it from me.
29:48Maybe you could ask him next time.
29:50Um, but yeah, I, I, I, I was reading a, uh,
29:55teen Vogue came out with like, they got like a special look at it.
29:59I'm sure they got to see the whole thing before it even comes out.
30:02So they wrote a very in-depth piece, just about every aspect of it, honestly.
30:07And I was reading it and I just see, you know, Graham, who's stunt double is New York Rangers
30:17defenseman, Vincent Iorio. And I was like, I'm sorry. Did I read that correctly? Hang on one sec.
30:23Yeah. And, uh, I waited, uh, like an hour after practice, after his morning skate in Columbus.
30:31Um, which I just want everyone to know, like morning skate ends in your, it's the extras. Yeah.
30:38You want to get out of there and get yourself some lunch. So you wanted to get that.
30:42Thank you, Brian. Thank you. I did. I did. I did. Um, yeah, they obviously were, were, did a full
30:49practice, uh, for the extras that weren't playing that night. So I waited around to get ahold of him
30:55and just be like, um, did I read that correctly? You're the stunt double in this new Amazon Friday.
31:01And he was like, yeah, like, can you believe it? Like talk about the best possible kid on the team
31:07for it to be. I think he was so excited to talk about it. If you haven't read it yet,
31:12please do.
31:13Um, he was an absolute light to talk to about it. Uh, it was kind of funny the way that
31:19it came up.
31:19He had his skating, uh, instructor who he has worked with for years, put him up for the position.
31:25And then the, you know, he's from British Columbia. So I guess he's got ties to some of the Canucks
31:32people and, and Dave Tomlinson, um, the Canucks broadcaster, I guess is loosely involved with it
31:38or, or had some connection with it. I was looking him up and I, he did like hockey coordinator
31:43choreography for the D three mighty ducks movie, the newest one. Yeah. Yeah.
31:49So I, he must be involved with this new one. I tried to reach out to him to ask, but
31:53he didn't
31:53get back to me in time. Um, so he is the one that reached out to Iorio and was like,
31:59are
32:00you willing to be at some assistance this summer? And it, it just kind of all came to be shot
32:05for like 10, 10, like a week to 10 days. Um, and all the shots that you're going to see
32:11of this main character, Graham without his face on the ice is Vincent Iorio, which is just
32:18so great. Um, yeah, it was, it was a really fun conversation and I think it's going to
32:24be really cool, uh, to see him perform in that. So definitely make sure you're tuning
32:28into that. It comes out May 17th. Um, he is super excited about it. He said that some
32:34of the actors and first of all, he's like, I never thought that I'd be friends with actors
32:38and actresses. And, uh, he said that some of them live in New York and he's been hanging
32:45out with them. They've come, some of them have come to games. So very cool experience
32:49for him. Um, I'm sure that's, that was really awesome. And it was a very fun story to write
32:54about. So definitely go, uh, to take a peek at that.
32:57Yeah. Watch the show. Everyone.
33:00I can't wait to see you. I just like that. Also just thinking of you and Rob trying to
33:06get through one single line together. I mean, what were you like, what was the issue? Were
33:10you laughing or couldn't, couldn't read it?
33:14No, we're like, I don't know, like stolen value. Like we're not actors. We cannot do this.
33:21I'm like, it's just trying to keep it together. Just pretend like you're saying it, like it's
33:25a real player. I'm like, it's not a real player.
33:28You're like, I can't, I can't break down anything. Cause I've never, I don't even, I can't even
33:32picture, you know, they're filming. And I'm like, he's like, well, here's a picture of
33:37the guy. How's that? I was like, that doesn't help hockey player. He's like, what the hell's
33:41wrong with you? Neil is not a big deal. Then he starts to try and go, he goes, I can't,
33:47I can't. We're like, we did it before a live show. And we're like, we're like, uh, we
33:55gotta hurry up. My God. That's so funny. Oh my God. I can't wait to see that. That's
34:01so fabulous. All right. Yeah. We, uh, we got some, um, mailbag questions in the comment
34:09section last week. We definitely want some more and I think we're going to dedicate the
34:14next episode entirely to mailbags. So we're going to stop there and everybody give us a
34:21thumbs up, like, and subscribe and comment down below your most pressing questions that
34:26you have about the Rangers to finish off this season, going into the off season and into
34:32next season. And Brian and I will try to answer as many as we can next week. Um, and we
34:38appreciate
34:39it. So thanks so much for tuning in and we'll chat again next week.
34:44Bye.
34:51Bye.
34:52Bye.
34:52Bye.
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