00:00It's in Reed right now.
00:00Marco's got out of here right now.
00:01Right now.
00:02Right now.
00:02I'm out of here.
00:03Hey, you know what?
00:03This is a special appearance I made here now.
00:05Let's get the important people here.
00:07This is crazy.
00:08What are we doing here?
00:10Like, who lets you in here, dude?
00:14Not you.
00:16Obviously, we want you here, dude.
00:18And please change the name.
00:19I'm talking about him out here.
00:21This guy, how he was able to...
00:23Who let him in the building?
00:25Unbelievable, dude.
00:27There's just no...
00:28Security.
00:28Security.
00:30Unbelievable.
00:30Gardner Hathaway joining us here.
00:31What's up, man?
00:32How are you?
00:33Yeah, doing really well.
00:34We were very excited that you got traded here.
00:37I think people think you're going to fit right in.
00:41I hope so.
00:42And playing against a lot of the guys on the team and just the organization as a whole.
00:49It's been a tough team to play against.
00:51Tough guys to play against.
00:52So, yeah, to be looped into that, it's an honor, but I'm excited.
00:57I can't wait.
00:57When you got the news, though, when you were playing, you were like, yeah, that's going
01:02to fit perfectly.
01:03I like that.
01:04Yeah, it was...
01:05I mean, I'm married.
01:08I have four kids.
01:09It's a big change on my life.
01:12I love Philly.
01:13They were unbelievable to me.
01:16And, you know, on a phone call, after a phone call, it's, hey, you're going to move your
01:20family all the way down to Southern Florida.
01:23And I think the reality of the move kicks in pretty early.
01:26And then once you settle down, you realize really what it means for, you know, my career,
01:33my family as well.
01:34And it's exciting.
01:37It starts to kind of build.
01:38I think it ramps up.
01:39And then you're to a point like today where you're like, can we just get on the ice?
01:42Yeah.
01:43It'd be about time.
01:44You guys turn around quicker than any sport.
01:46Like, this is amazing that in, what, two weeks from first regular season game or like,
01:51yeah, it's amazing.
01:52What do you do knowing that that time frame from the first time you'll put on a sweater
02:02to practice until you play your first game is so quick?
02:07What do you do in the offseason?
02:08Is it like in the back of your mind?
02:09I would always think that I would be nervous that I'm not going to be ready because there's
02:14not a lot of time before you start.
02:16Yeah.
02:17And I think that, right, the onus falls on the players to say, hey, and players to player.
02:22Like, I have to hold my, like, everyone's holding each other responsible.
02:24I've been here for about probably about four weeks now.
02:28And seeing how this organization, the culture within it, holding guys responsible, holding
02:35each other responsible, and then, you know, into it, holding someone else.
02:38Like, hey, I'm going to work this hard because I know how quickly the games are coming.
02:43I want to be ready, and I want to play to the end of June.
02:47Like, you know, I don't want to just feel okay in the beginning of the year.
02:50I want to feel great as I play more and more games and get farther in the season, and I
02:55want to be my freshest and play my best hockey when it's most important.
02:59So, yeah, you're right.
03:01It's a quick turnaround, and it's a shorter one than we've really had ever, I think, after
03:06the new, you know, new bargaining agreement.
03:08So it's new for every team, though.
03:12I had that COVID year where we came in, and I think you had, like, six skates, and then
03:16you went and started playing 56 games.
03:19Yeah.
03:19You know, and that was different, but, you know, you find a way.
03:23How has the family enjoyed it down here so far?
03:25They love it.
03:27Anybody gives that saying?
03:28I don't know.
03:29I'm like, yeah, they're probably at the pool or the beach.
03:32It's tough.
03:33Yeah, it's awful.
03:34It's really bad.
03:35I can, you know, clean the sand out of everything.
03:38Yeah, it's been great.
03:40We found an awesome spot to live.
03:43A little community, and my kids are in a pool or at the beach almost every day.
03:51It's a really great place, I think, for them to be outdoors year-round, and I'm excited
03:57for what that means for them playing sports, them just exploring and getting out rather
04:03than being, you know, cooped up in a winter.
04:04So, I think they're excited, and I am too.
04:07Is there a particular guy in the Panthers that you always either didn't like going against
04:11or really respected going up against, and you're like, I'm really fired up to be that
04:15guy's teammate now?
04:16I think, luckily enough for me, I've gotten to play on the same team as a few of those
04:22guys you just mentioned, and I knew them before I got here, and I already knew playing against
04:27them how much I hated it.
04:28Like, I played with Matthew and I played with Benny in Calgary when we all started, and I
04:35got to see what it was like to play, and then I got to see how much they've grown up
04:40and matured and become better hockey players and great leaders and winners.
04:45You know, like, and that's been really exciting for me to see, you know, to be on the same
04:51side now, to say, hey, like, this is the path, you know, we went different ways, and
04:55now I'm back trying to, you know, learn what they know and find a way to win with these
05:00guys, and it's been awful to play against them.
05:04Absolutely horrible.
05:07And I think that hopefully they feel the same way, so it's nice that we're in the same
05:10room.
05:11Well, I think the guys who make it such a pain in the ass to play.
05:15What is it that makes you tick on that?
05:18Like, to get under an opponent's skin, to do that to also help your team win, but like,
05:22what's the art to that for you?
05:26There's a fine line, and I think, you know, it's tough.
05:31It's that game within the game that people mentioned.
05:33It's finding out what at that moment inside the game is, we need energy, oh, we can't
05:40take a penalty because their power play is doing really well, their skill guys are really
05:44moving the puck well.
05:45You just have to be a little more cautious.
05:48Some guys in a vulnerable position for, to get a clean hit off, like, you need to take
05:53it.
05:54But are you up by a bunch?
05:55And, you know, maybe it's more responsible to make a defensive play instead of something
06:00else.
06:01So it's an art.
06:03I think to nag and kind of get under people's skin is maybe something that comes naturally.
06:12You probably asked Brad that, too.
06:13You know, I don't know.
06:15It's annoying to me.
06:16It was annoying to me when, like, I would get worked up, and it wasn't that it took me
06:21out of my game, but I would just get annoyed and irritated, and I'd look over there, and
06:25the guy's smiling.
06:26I'm like, he's not even serious.
06:29He's just playing.
06:30And I'm like, you know, so as you get older, it doesn't affect you, but, like, I could just
06:36see, like, somebody like you messing with a guy.
06:38He gets annoyed, and then you smile and skate away.
06:41Yeah.
06:42You know, it's exactly what it is.
06:44And, you know, and also on the flip side, when, like, someone's trying to get under
06:49you or get back at you or something, it's like, it doesn't really affect me.
06:52I don't know.
06:53I'm that guy.
06:54You're not saying anything I haven't heard before.
06:56Right.
06:56Or, like, I am not already thinking.
06:57Like, you can't.
06:59There's nothing there.
06:59So, yeah, it's fun.
07:04I enjoy that part, too.
07:06You sound like you enjoy it way too much.
07:08Yeah, probably.
07:09Yeah, yeah, yeah.
07:10You meet my kids, and you'll be like, wow, they got it, too.
07:12I don't know.
07:12All right, whatever it is.
07:14So, y'all just lay around the house.
07:16I just get beat up on for, you know.
07:18What are the boys, girls?
07:20I have a boy who's five, and then I have three girls.
07:24Three and a half, almost two, and almost five months.
07:28Wow.
07:28Yeah, yeah.
07:29Oh, my wife?
07:29No, my wife is a saint.
07:32She is the one to congratulate.
07:34She does an amazing job.
07:35But, yeah, they're great kids, wonderful kids.
07:37What did you think when the Panthers traded for Brady?
07:39Now you've got two Kachucks on this team.
07:41Yeah.
07:42I mean, so that was, what, a couple days before I got traded, and I thought that was the dumbest
07:48thing in hockey.
07:49How can they ever let that happen?
07:50And now I think it's, like, the most phenomenal trade, you know, you could have.
07:55And I'm like, it's just what it is.
07:56It's compiling guys that you hate to play against, that know how to win, that know how to compete, that
08:03push each other, that have that culture built on hard work and skill intertwined in there.
08:12Like, what an addition.
08:15And I think an off-ice fit, a style fit, and now you've got two of them.
08:21Like, what are you doing?
08:23What are you doing?
08:25I think they're going to be thinking, a lot of opponents are going to be thinking about that, about all
08:28of you guys upcoming.
08:29We can't wait for the season, man.
08:30Thanks for giving us some time.
08:31Gardner Hathaway, welcome to Florida, and we're excited to listen to your games down here.
08:34Thanks.
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