I know that some in our audience know the finer points of hockey. The Chris Johnston Show. We are your friends. The biggest stories bringing you inside the game. What did you hear?

The Chris Johnston Show.

What is going on? Here's Chris with your host, Julian McKenzie. Part of the game.

Hey, back. Happy summer, everyone.

Is this thing on?

I think it still works.

Does this still work? It feels so unfamiliar.

Where am What year is it?

Say it ain't so. What's going on? Do we have to be focused and work again?

I don't know. I don't even know what structure we're really supposed to have. I literally wrote down topics for us to talk about last night in the chat. Maybe we'll get to all of them. Maybe we'll get to some of them. The point of this is just to drop in, see how each of us are doing. If we get to some hockey topics, we'll get to hockey topics. But let's just have some fun. For the next however long this podcast last. It's our summer drop in. We try to do these at least once or twice a year.

Yeah, it's nice. I could tell you this has been the fastest summer I remember. Really? I I mean, I've had a great time. Nothing like that's not the comment. It's just I can't believe I woke up and it's August 12th. How did that happen? It feels... Yeah, I'm getting a little bit of like... It's the opposite of the Sunday scaries. I'm getting the summer I'm starting to feel like, holy, I'm going to have to shave and get to presentable again here soon.

Shave?

No.

Look, here's the thing. I love bearded CJ. I think it's a really dope look. I don't know how long you've embodied that look. When you get back, if you ever decide, you know what, I'm going to clean, shave in CJ again, that's going to be jarring for me, bro. I don't know if I'm ready for that. I don't know if I'm ready for you to do that.

I guess I should put it... That's not on the table. I'm not changing it, but I meant more-Thank God. It was just more of a nod towards have to get presentable, have to get serious again, have to get work it again. I mean, it's been a great summer and I hope the same for you, man. I have been pretty unplugged, if I'm going to be honest. This will be a true outsider show today.

Well, I mean, I've been plugged in a little bit. I don't know if I ever really turned myself myself off, but I do go hard. You could tell my voice is not 100% for whatever reason. Just a lot of partying and a lot of good times these last few weeks, as best as I could have. Sorry for the voice breaks that will happen throughout this podcast. Anyway.

No problem. We're just getting back up to speed. This doesn't have to be perfect.

All right. So first thing we're going to talk about on the podcast, Cindy Crosby.

Isn't that the last thing we talked about on the podcast? I feel like four weeks have elapsed, but isn't that about where we left off?

That is exactly where we left off. The very last episode we did before we went to summer break, excuse me, There was a report that went out that the penguins were close to an extension with Sydney Crosby. That was about a month ago. August seventh, his birthday, passed. I was convinced that that would be the day we hear some announcement regarding Sydney Crosby. That day has come and passed. What's going on at this point? At this point, we can at least say it's weird that nothing's been done. I don't think we're being irresponsible. I don't think we're being the typical Canadian media trying to make a story out of nothing. What's going on?

Well, first of all, maybe you can explain me, why did everyone think he was going to sign on his birthday? Because he's superstitious. It's the '87. Yeah, but he's never signed his other deals on his birthday. It was weird to me that that somehow became a storyline. I'm like, why? You know what I mean? He signed other contracts not on August seventh.

Fair, but I guess it's because of the fact that he is a superstitious person. I think there was even a story the weekend before his birthday, I saw Bar down, posted it, where he had gone to a gas station, and obviously, he didn't want anyone to know who he was, but he pumped the dollar amount 87, 87, and someone showed off the receipt inside the gas station. Basically, It's like his insignia, I guess. That made me think, Oh, it's '87. What's going to happen? Is it his birthday? What are we doing with this contract? I think it's just small stuff like that. When you're wondering what could happen, you hang on to any little sign that could be a step in the right direction.

Sure. I think the way to look at this is obviously, Cydney Crosby and his representatives call the shots in this situation. I mean, two parties have to make a deal, but I don't think it's a mystery to know that Fenway Sports Group and the Penguin Senior Management would want to sign Cydney Crosby. It is the summer. I mean, there's not a whole lot happening out there. I think it'll just be a matter of when they get back to talking and finalizing the agreements. The fact he's 37 now, but it's considered an over 35 contract in the CBA, it means that there's fewer mechanisms available in structuring the deal. If he signs a four-year term but only plays three, there's penalties involved in that. I think that it's not a complex negotiation in that they're fighting for every last $100,000 this way and that way. But I think it's more just take a breath, enjoy the summer, go partying with Julian, go traveling with CJ, and get back to it. It reminds me a little bit, last year, Austin Matthews signed extension with the Leifs in late August. I'd say out of nowhere. The reason it was out of nowhere is because basically the talks had been put on pause while everyone enjoyed their summer.

Then I think it was all done in a day at the end, essentially. Austin's agent phoned the Leaps and said, Okay, we're ready to do this, and they hammered it out and announced it at 5:00 or 6:00 PM on a random Wednesday in August. I think you could see something similar happen that way in the Crosby situation. I wouldn't sound any alarm bells on this one. I can understand, though, why people... I mean, look, it was one of the... That was where we started. We weren't actually trying to start any problems, but we were just saying it would be weird, this was back in the start of July, that he didn't sign on July first. What's going on? I don't think this one is a huge issue brewing, but I guess probably the next checkmark, and it's not a deadline, but if he shows up to training camp and they haven't signed extension, Obviously, that becomes a story. Training camp is still more than a month away. I do think that I'm not going to be reading anything to... I have no reason to believe, from what I've heard around this, that there's any reason to think this is going the wrong way.

Then it will only be if we get to September 15th or 16th or 17th, or really close to training camp, but nothing's been done that I think could be some cause for deeper think and all the stuff that drives everyone in Pittsburgh baddy. But all along, I think it's made so much sense for them to stay together. It was only if maybe there was something inside Crosby that he started to think, Well, we just don't have a chance to win here. That's a priority. But I don't have any reason to believe that's the case now.

Well, you just broke producer Drew's heart with that. He was this close to ordering a Crosby Colorado Avalanche jersey. How are you going to break to him the bad news?

Well, hopefully he's listening to the episode. We appreciate to download and listen, Drew. And look, anything's still possible. The way he played last season, he's going to now play a season beyond where Wayne Gretszky played, I believe, in terms of age. I think Wayne Gretszky retired at 36, if I'm not mistaken. We've seen the Joe Pavelski and Joe Thornton and Zdeino Char, a number of players, in recent memory, have played well under their 40s and performed at a pretty high level. I mean, Jarmer Jauger had some pretty impressive seasons when he was already into his 40s. And so I don't know how long Sydney Crosby intends to play. I suspect he doesn't know 100 % either. But I think it'll be his call. He's going to leave this career, I would hope, on his terms. And it could still mean that, yeah, maybe he's down to two or three seasons. But if he keeps feeling healthy, if he keeps performing at the level he's playing, maybe ends up being four or five. And let's see where those four or five are played. I mean, five years is an eternity in pro sports.

I believe, according to hockey reference, I'm just looking through their page really quickly. I think Gretzky got into his age 38 season.

So they're pretty close. Bad math. Look at that. I'm already rusty.

Everything you've explained- But the point is, he's getting close.

He just turned 37 here in the last week. I mean, he's basically getting to the point that we've seen other superstars step away from the Wayne Gretzky did it under his own terms. It wasn't an injury that forced him out. It wasn't like no one wanted to pay him. He just decided that he'd had enough, and he wasn't... I think it was a little bit at that time, Gretzky felt like his skills had diminished to a point. It wasn't as fun for him if he wasn't one of the absolute best players in the league. He actually had a pretty good last season. It wasn't like he was suddenly a 25-point winger playing situational minutes on the Rangers team. But Crosby's coming off 90 point seasons. I think we should savor every one of them because at any point, just given what we know about age and age-related decline, that could slip through his fingers. He might not have that still in him. But I just have a feeling this guy is going to play into the '40s. It's just a guess. I mean, that's a lot. That that would be still three more seasons plus, but he seems to love the game, and he's still one of the absolute best out there.

I literally had a thought that I was going to bring up. You could tell our brains are just getting back into the swing of things here. I was thinking about the Four Nations, and Crosby is going to be on that team. I completely forgot about this tournament that's going to be coming up in February, which will allow us to see international hockey again, which will allow us to see Santee Crosby wear Team Canada's uniform again. Yeah, and- I completely forgot about that.

I think we'll always have reasonable expectations of what this Four Nations tournament is. It's just a reintroduction towards what I think will be the event that gets most hockey fans across the globe excited, which is the return to the Olympics in 2026. I would think somewhere in the back of Cyddi Crosby's mind, that's a carrot, is to remain a player who would presumably captain that team and get a chance to play. I mean, he's going to get that... You're right. In February, he gets to play with the likes of McDavid, McKinnon, and the other greats that have come beyond him in the game. But I think that there's nothing quite like the Olympics, what we're called that Cydney Crosby's played in two Olympics and as a gold medal from each of them, scored the golden goal in 2010, and also scored in the gold medal game against Hendrik Lundquist in 2014. I would think the opportunity potentially to win a third gold medal is strong for him. We're starting to see where Sydney Crosby's legacy is legacy is, no matter where it ends. He still has an ability to climb pretty high up the points chart, certainly into the top five all time, looks reachable and reasonable.

You don't have him there already now?

Sorry, I'm talking about where he might finish on the all time points list. Fair. He's trending towards where a top five finish, I think, if he plays another couple of seasons and you do the math, I think, is something that's reasonable for him. But what's his legacy? His legacy is going to be all those wins. He was the ultimate winner. And getting three Stanley Cups with the Penguins, winning a World Hockey Championship, World Junior Championship, the World Cup in 2016, we'll see if he can add a Four We'll see if he can add a Four Nations. We'll see if he can add a third Olympic gold medal. All those things, each successive victory is just one more huge notch on the pedestal. And so to remain at the level he's been at, you have to be driven. Where does that drive come from? And I think he's always been someone who's placed team championships and playing a certain way to help his teams be winners versus maybe maximizing, I'm thinking early in his career, where he could be in terms of chasing scoring titles and things like that. He's going to go down as one of the ultimate team players ever.

The chance to win one more Olympic gold, it has to be somewhere in the back of his mind when he's... I mean, this guy is a maniac, and I say that in the best way possible. Remember, he came to the All-Star Game in Toronto this year, and And then there was video of him in Montana, like skating the next day. He squeezing in his small vacation after fulfilling his obligations at the All-Star Game, and he's still skating out there. To put himself through that time and time again, year after year, decade after decade now, you have to have those goals. And so for me, that's probably a huge one on his list because the truth be told, that 2014 team for any country, but Canada will look at it. There's Just not many players that will have a chance to have been on that one and this one. Off the top of my head, you have John Tavares potentially could be there in a much lower role now than where he was in Sochi. On the blue line, maybe Drew Dauti, I guess. Number of players have retired in that period of time. Stephen Stamkos, of course, missed the 2014 Olympic tournament when he broke his leg.

He would be in the mix to potentially make it in 2026. But it's a small group of players that have remained at the top of the sport for that long. My affinity, my affection for international hockey is well documented. But I'm pretty excited. I think it'll be interesting is the best way to describe the Four Nations. I don't think it's going to be historically... It doesn't really mean much. I guess it'll be a barometer. Everyone's wondering, is Team USA going to be the dominant team? It'll be a chance to, I guess, get an understanding of that in a very quick tournament with, again, no real stakes. It's an exhibition. But the Olympics are different. The cool thing, Julian, in watching the Paris Olympics these last two weeks, three weeks, how many of the professional athletes were moved by the experience. I'm a big golf fan. You saw Scottie Scheffler who's won absolutely everything, crying on the podium when he won a gold medal for Team USA. Lydia Co on the women's side, the same thing. Obviously, the basketball tournament was played with athletes who have lots of money and lots of Fame and everything, but it clearly meant something to them.

I think that 2026 will be so special because hockey hasn't had anything like it in so long.

Here's something I got crossed my mind, speaking of the Olympics this weekend. 2026, all well and good. It's going to be great to see players back if we can get to that point. What if we had ball hockey as an Olympic sport in 2028? Thinking along the lines of flag football being a thing in 2028 in Los Angeles. I don't know if you saw the promo they did partway through where Jalen Hertz is throwing a football at the LA Coliseum. What if you had a ball hockey Olympic tournament that you could play outside during the summer games. I think that'd be a sick idea.

It would be cool. Look, they have ball hockey World Championships, and sometimes NHL players or recently retired NHL players have been known to compete in those types of tournament. So I'm not here to hate on anyone else's sport or the other sport. Let's say, Well, if this is in, it should be. But I think there's a case for it. You could probably get... The biggest barrier of entry to hockey is skating. Obviously, there's lots of other skills and abilities that go into the sport, but you don't see someone who's a great athlete at 15 take up the game and make the NHL anymore. It's just because you can't learn skating to a degree where you can become one of the best in the league. Whereas we've seen great soccer players transition and become NBA players in three years because they're amazing athletes and they can focus on a different discipline and apply the skills and become great players. I actually think, weird, like, broadly, ball hockey takes the skating out of it. You could probably have countries that aren't what we consider hockey powers, ice hockey powers, actually feel pretty good teams in that if they decided to try to funnel athletes in that direction.

I have no downside about it. Do you know what's funny? Way back when the Olympics first brought on ice hockey, the NHL was pushing to have them be part of the summer games. Because at that time, the thought was, why disrupt the season? Even though it's played in a warm weather place, obviously, it's played indoors. The initial idea, going way, way back when Gary Bettman and the NHL owners were dealing with the ILC was to have it be considered part of the summer games. That didn't happen. Obviously, it's become a marquee event in the winter games where it's been held. But yeah, I have no issue with that. And it seems like the ILC is happy to try all these new sports in terms of... They're not new sports, but allow them into the games. They've taken baseball out of the summer games. I don't fully get that, and softball as well. But I'd be all for a ball hockey championship.

I mean, I don't know if we can... I don't know if it makes me think of the break-in competition, the breakdancing. Do you see that Australian woman do that ridiculous dance that went viral a couple of days We could play around with some of those sports. We could keep breaking. But if we're willing to add stuff like that, I don't see why ball hockey can't make this list.

I'm going to be honest. I only knew breaking was in there because of the memes. I didn't-Yeah, that's it. I didn't watch the competition. I honestly didn't know it was now an Olympic sport. But if you've logged into X in the last 5-6 days, you couldn't help but miss the Australian routine and a few others. I know Canada won a gold medal while I'm breaking.

The Wizards, Shout out to the Wizard for doing his thing in that competition. Yeah, we're going to find a way to make ball hockey a thing in the Olympics, man. I will drive that bus.

Did you watch a lot of Olympic coverage or have you been otherwise busy?

In and out. I was in the States for a couple of days. I watched a little bit of MBC's coverage of some of the gymnastic events. I watched some of the track and field stuff at home, the 4 by 100. That's one of the best things that happened the entire Olympics, just seeing Canada do their thing. Hey, man, look, tough for the United States for them to get DQ, but I don't root for the United States in those competitions. So, yeah, that's my favorite part of the Olympics for me. But there were so many great events, so many great moments that happened over these last few weeks. I got to watch a little bit here and there.

Yeah. I was going to ask you for your highlight. I mean, the 4 by 100 is an easy one to pick because it was so awesome. I happened to catch that live and it was a surprising gold or an under gold Underdog gold for Canada. Summer Macintosh, I was really into the swimming. It was on day after day after day, and she had some amazing races, obviously winning the three gold medals. I thought it was a really cool Olympics. Like you, I was in and out. I was away when the game started, and so I didn't watch the first couple of days in live form. Then when I was back home, I've been glued to it the last couple of weeks. There was a lot of great moments and seemed like a successful game. So hopefully, they carry that energy to 2026 because I'm pretty pumped for that hockey tournament.

How many Olympics have you been at?

Just the two in Vancouver and Sochi.

Okay. I mean, that's like a goal, a dream of mine. I want by the end of the decade to say I've covered at least one Olympics, and hopefully that adds on to two, three, four, five, six, whatever. But yeah, I want to be at an Olympics.

Yeah, it's a cool experience. I mean, I don't know what it'll be like. It's almost so I don't know if it's changed. I haven't talked to any of our colleagues that have been over there in Paris covering it. I had a number of professional friends that worked at. But I felt in 2014 and 2010, you rarely feel like pride, even though you're obviously... You haven't really won your way in. Athletes have to either be selected for national teams or hit certain qualifying standards to get there. But it's hard not to reflect on all the good things that have happened in your life, all the people that have contributed to your success and put you in a position to be there because you feel like you're in the middle of the biggest thing in the world. From the outside, I don't know if it is the biggest thing in the world because as I told you, there was five days there where I didn't even check what was going on. But it's pretty cool. Certainly, when I've gone to the Olympics, I'm trying to remember, I attended a couple of events. I had a media pass.

I just went to a couple of events, but mostly I've covered the the hockey tournaments. In Vancouver, I did just the men's tournament and everything around it, like any of the news. I've probably told the story in the pod, but it's the one and only time because I was there, it didn't start right at the very start of the games. I was being sent to the airport to interview the hockey players, stop the hockey players when their planes landed and get their initial thoughts and write stories about that. In the women's... Sorry, in 2014, I also covered the women's hockey tournament. I was there for Sportsnet, and we I didn't have very many people on the ground. I think it was just me and Arash Medani. I was doing all the women's and the men's as much as you could cover both because sometimes there was some overlap. I basically covered hockey at the Olympics, if that makes sense. I didn't go and cover other sports. But anyway, either way, it's pretty cool. You know that even if you have an amazing career, you're only ever going to cover this. I'm not probably in line given where my career has gone.

I'm not going to be covering summer games, very, very likely. So there's only so many you can ever go to, and I hope to get the chance to do it again.

Okay, one last Olympics question, and then I'll get us back on track with more hockey stuff. Just in thinking of Elliott Friedmann, who was covering rowing at the summer's games, and he's done play by play for swimming before. If there was an Olympic sport you could cover that. It wasn't hockey. That could be winter, that could be summer. And you have to be all over, like writing, broadcasting, whatever. If there was another Olympic sport you could cover, which one would it be? I think I know what the answer is.

I'm torrent. Honestly, I think I could do any of them. And I say that only because to me, what makes the Olympics so great is you get the stories of the athletes, right? And so I don't know that you have to be an expert in any of the disciplines to do a nice job of getting to know people. And that's something like that's part of what we do that I like. If you my writing on hockey, I'm not breaking down power plays. There's so many people that do amazing systems-related stuff. It's just not where my strength is. I like getting to know people and I like telling the human stories. Obviously, we get into what's going on with the business of how the sport works and trades and all that stuff. I think I could do any of it. I would be most interested, probably in the running sports just because I like running. I really loved watching Mohamed, and he had a tough Olympics, unfortunately, because in the 10,000 meter, he was in position in a medal and just got passed at the line after running a great race. And in the 5,000, unfortunately, he was involved in a collision and went down and didn't qualify for the final.

But I really can appreciate. I mean, look, I can't appreciate it. For me, saying it would be like a beer league player saying, I understand what NHL players go through given this. I'm just saying where my running level is and where it's ever been, even at its best to where theirs is. But I can at least appreciate those sports. So I'd love to cover the marathon. I'd love to cover some of the distance track events. Even more, I'd love to witness the 100-metre final. That feels like it's the iconic thing, but I don't know that I need to cover that because I'm not... But I think would gravitate to a sport where you have someone like Mohamed that people maybe don't know a whole lot about, but is pretty accomplished runner in his own right and is doing things no Canadian has done before. That's probably where I'd like to go. I love golf, and I've covered a lot of golf over the years, so that would probably be in the second place. But if I I got to choose probably the distance running events or even just track and field in general. Although I'll be honest, I didn't know much about hammer throwing until Canada went two gold medals in it.

That's the best thing. Everyone becomes an expert for two, three days, however long this event lasts, and then you forget about it until the next four years. But yeah, I didn't know we were that good at hammer throwing until this year. I'm in the same boat as that.

Well, truthfully, you only need two athletes to say you're that good. We had an amazing performance from each athlete that won there. Yeah, it's cool. There's also some heartbreaking stories along the way, like the heptathlon. Anyway, it was awesome. It's renewed. It took some... Because I've literally, in case you're even wondering, I have not watched baseball since we last talked. I have literally... I have kept my promise on that.

I was not going to go there. I purposely did not include any baseball in our rundown.

But I'm saying I have kept my promise on that. My Blue Jay's boycott continues until they clean up their organization and get serious. This This has filled a void because honestly, the chill moments in summer, like when you're just at home or whatever at a cottage, that's one reason I love baseball so much. It's something that gets you through it. But I might go a game, I'll say. There's talk of going to a game before the hockey season boots back up. But I'm definitely not watching the television product or dialing into the radio broadcast. So the Olympics has filled that void is what I'm getting at.

Why not go to another ballpark? I got to go to Camden Yards this summer, and it's beautiful. That's a ballpark.

Yeah, it's cool. I've been there before. It's a great spot.

Yeah. Why not go there? Why not go somewhere else? You don't have to go to Roger Center to watch baseball.

Well, I live in Toronto, so the easy answer is it's easy to get on a subway and go there, versus getting on a plane and go somewhere else. I don't know. I don't have the travel itch. I was in Europe in July for a little bit, and that was great. It was awesome. But knowing that the course of our jobs involves some travel and actually just coming through that June with all the Edmonton, Florida, Vegas stuff, I'm okay. Just rest in easy and I'll probably go down to Roger Center for one game. We'll see. I don't have tickets yet. I haven't committed, but there's been some discussion about it with some friends, and I'll probably just bite the bullet and go.

Probably on Looney Dog, mate, I presume.

I'm up for that. I haven't had a lot of hot dogs this summer, so I feel fresh. I think I could put a dent into the Looneydent, Looneydog combo if we ever get down on one of those nights, Tuesdays, I Okay.

I wrote down a list of just random NHL players and the topic above them, just what's the latest on those guys? Crosby was at the top of that list. If you don't have anything, it's cool if you don't. But there's guys like Leon Dreisaitl and a few RFAs like Jeremy Swayman, Mo Sider, Lucas Raymond, Seth Jarvis. I put Patrick Lané on there because he's been cleared from the player assistance program. But we've talked about the fact that He could be seeking a new suitor, a new team. If there's anything, anyone on that list, you think there is worth, there's a nugget there, there's Intel there, the floor is yours with that. There's no pressure. This is as low stakes of a segment as I can make it.

Okay. Well, I think Line A is likely going to have to play his way out of Columbus. He's still got this year and three more on his contract.

He's still got a few more years, yes.

I mean, four years at 8.7 million is a significant amount of money. There's not many teams, frankly, that could just jam that into their cat picture right now. I think that there's a huge unknown because he's gone through a personal struggle here where he had to enter the NHL player assistance program. I've seen the videos online. He was trading with NFL players. I saw that, too. Looks very fit, looks motivated. That's I mean, that's great. I saw he also got engaged recently, so he's had a busy summer in his own right. But it just feels most likely that he's going to have to come back to the Blue Jackets, translate that work that he's been doing off-ice and show something on ice that compels a team to step up and make a deal that makes sense for the Blue Jackets. Because there's a little bit of it. As much as you say, we'll just get rid of him, it's hard to get rid of a player. Patrick Lina isn't old, he's 26, but he's six years removed from his last 30 goals season. So he entered the league and just filled the net as a teenager for the Winnipeg Jets.

He showed you all that promise. Unfortunately, and there's all kinds of reasons, we've been through a pandemic, he's been through a trade, there's been injuries, there's obviously what led him to the player assistance program. A lot of stuff happened, but he never parlayed that early success and kept growing and growing and growing. I think where the easiest one to point to is his draft year was Austin Matthews. Austin Matthews He scored 40 goals in his first NHL season. And you're like, oh, wow, there's more to come. And look at it, he's followed it up. He had a 69 goal season last year. He's been able to push himself, and we've seen all kinds of players. Unfortunately, Patrick Laine's on ice production and his career has stalled out a little bit. And so there's absolutely teams that are interested and intrigued by him even because the only way you usually get a player of his caliber in a trade is because something hasn't gone right. Generally, if that player is just killing it, that his team is never going to trade him when he's under contract. But this one feels like to me that he's going to be back with the Blue Jackets to start the year.

Obviously, I think the team will remain open to moving him, but he's going to have to do his part there, too. Some of the other guys you mentioned, Cider and Raymond, unique spots with the Red Wings, both restricted free agents. I see these contracts as needing some deadline imposed. And really the first deadline, of course, is the first day training camp for our FAs. And really the true deadline is the start of the season. So I think that those will be negotiations that likely stretch a little while. And Detroit doesn't have unlimited cap space, and they're dealing with two players, and two players... I mean, Lucas Raymond finished last season on a heater for them when they made that push for the playoffs. Those feel like ones that we're going to be talking to right into September. Who else did you mention there?

I mentioned Jeremy Swayman, Seth Jarvis, and Leon Dreis title, who is a pending UFA for next summer.

Yeah, dry cycle is the big one, right? And the oilers played right until the end of June. They replaced their general manager with Stan Bowman's hiring. It's no mystery. This is the biggest organizational decision they're likely to face, I guess, until they have to get Conor McDavid's signature on another contract, which isn't in the too distant future. But I think what will be interesting with dry cycle is if they don't reach the deal, how they manage that. It's not as though... I think it'd be very unusual. I don't think he's going to be traded. You know what I mean? In the next few weeks. It just seems like the window to do that was really almost two days after their season ended, which is why it wasn't the best of timing. I suppose there could be something in season or something. But I think that with how great their year went and how important he is to the foundation of the team, I think you got to let this one play out a little bit. Obviously, they're going to do everything they can to sign them. But it's a big decision for him because it's probably his last big contract, depending.

I guess if he a two-year deal, then he'll probably get one more big contract. But usually, players in the situation go long term. And those discussions just didn't get going at all until into July, even just the initial discussions. And so you've had a team that played the game seven of the Cup final. You have a significant change in the front office. I think we're going to have to let this one breathe. And if you're an oilers fan, you go, Well, David Pasternack, two seasons ago, he played without an extension right until March. Maybe something similar will happen. To me, the oilers are going to be one of the most fascinating teams of this next season. We know how good they are, but to get as close as they did to doing something almost magical, coming back from three nothing down, pulling out of the tailspin in the first month of the season, even going behind in some of the series along the way. They were so close, and you've probably seen the That footage that's come out here in the last week or so, Zack Hyman talking right after that loss about hoping everyone's back and how much he believed in the team, how special they are.

It just feels like there's going to be... This is an all or nothing season in a sense. I'm not saying there's definitely a world where everyone signs extensions and they've got a five or 10-year window to try to keep winning. But if dry cycle isn't signed and you're going into one of the two remaining years on McDavid's deal. There's just a lot of uncertainty in the air. Man, they fell one goal short in the end. I think they're just going to be an absolutely compelling team. And on top of that, they've changed their GM. And so there's going to be a shift, I'm sure, in how the teams operated in a sense, although they did a pretty good job of resigning all those players, and they really did run it back and added Jeff Skinner on top of that. It's a long way of saying. I don't get the sense anything's close. I think that clearly the oilers will do whatever they can to sign dry sidal, and he's got to make that decision, and he might want a little more time. I think that's his right. That's another one. It's not necessarily a big story on August 12th, but becomes a much bigger story on September 20th if nothing's changed.

You just made me realize something. I get this fall, we're going to see that show go around following some players from the past year and all that in the NHL. And I know the Canadians are doing their own documentary style thing. I would love it. I would love it if Amazon followed the Edmondson Oilers throughout this coming season, because you're right, they are a compelling story. You can make an argument, they might be the most compelling team in hockey right now. I mean, maybe the penguins are right up there with their thing with Cyddi Crosby, but it's the oilers, considering what's on the horizon for Connor McDavid, considering what's on the horizon for Leon Dreisid. We haven't gotten to it yet, but they hired Stani Bowen.

And that they were right at the tip of the... They were almost summited the mountain, right? They were right there.

We almost witnessed the most incredible end to a Stanley Cup final ever, and they fell short. If you start the documentary on the Edmondson Oilers, you start with that speech with Zack Hyman in the locker room, and you go from there. You can make an argument. They're going to be the most interesting team this coming season.

Look, I love the Hyman footage, but to me, the most almost chilling part was where everyone's just in silence, and you can hear Gary Bettman announcing that Connor McDavid won the Consumite Trophy. He's awarding the Cup to the Panthers. They're just sitting. Everyone sitting all in their gear looking at each other. That's where I would start it. That was almost stronger than any words. You could feel how heavy that moment was. We all know. You know intuitively when a team... That's a heartbreaking loss, but when you see it, man, they're all just scraggly and beaten down their play off beards. You just show that for a minute and you're going to hook people that didn't... Not everyone's looking at X and seeing all that go around. That was pretty powerful stuff. I'm pumped for the series that's coming out this fall, too. I've heard they got some great stuff. It sounds like the first episode is Nylander and Pasterknack, and I can't remember what I'm supposed to share or not share, so I don't want to get anyone in trouble. But I just heard they got some really interesting footage in the lead up to that first-run series between Toronto and Boston.

But obviously, Nylander was injured for a couple of games of that round one. I think he granted them an unreal amount of access for a player that was injured during the playoffs. Him and Pasternack have a story and a connection. Pasternack scores the overtime winning goal in game seven. I mean, you couldn't... That's what I loved about some of these series. You couldn't script that. You couldn't script Crosby in overtime in the 2010 Olympics. If you did, they'd be like, All right, this is too cheesy. This doesn't work. But yeah, I think... And look, that's the same as we've talked about. That's the same series, a lot of the same people involved that have done the best work in the other pro-sports. I wish they could get on the oilers. I don't know if anything's in the works. And look, if you're the oilers, if someone approached you with that, do you really want to welcome that in? You'd probably I'm really worried about the distraction a little bit. It didn't work out well that one leaf season when they did All or Nothing.

Are the episodes for that series... Actually, is there a title for that series that we're talking about here?

What's it supposed to be called? I can't remember.

I don't remember.

I think it's called... Was it announced? Something Ice Hot. I don't know, actually. I think it has ice in the title. But I think it's like Not Hot Ice or something.

I don't know about Hot Ice.

That's a weird- It's not that. I know. It's like a play on the idea, though. I remember. Anyway. Anyway. I think it's like a play on the intensity of the sport and the fact that it's played on This is something... Anyway.

Well, the real question I wanted to ask, are the episodes going to drop all at once, or is it going to be a weekly thing where we get a new episode? I asked because, and I'm pretty sure the SDP is going to do this, but I want to do this. It would be really cool, say, if they drop them the next eight weeks or something, what if we watch the... Because I know you're going to watch them. I'm going to watch them. What if we just did a segment where we just broke down what we saw? We could turn the low-key, a rewatch pod of that series.

I think they're all going to come at once, but I should check on that.

Okay, if they come out all at once- Is that bad?

I don't think it's bad. Then you just going to binge it.

Yeah, that's fine. But we could do an entire episode or a segment where we just talk about what we saw. I think that'd be a really fun idea.

All right. I'm game.

Let's do it. All right. For whatever the tentative name, the Hot Ice show, we will do some rewatch.

It's not Hot Ice. I know it's not that. Please don't show this clip to anyone who is involved. They're probably like, CJ, you're suing us here.

Hot Ice. You have the better voice for these things, actually.

Hot Ice. The players who play the greatest game on Earth.

Yeah. Hotice.

That's how talented you are. Have you ever seen the Wayne Gretsky? It was a VHS back in the day, so it definitely predates your time, but it's called Above and Beyond.

I have not seen that VHS. Vhs tapes are not... I was in that generation where we used it, but I've never seen that one.

It's available on YouTube, but I would recommend you just watch the first two minutes because it's a legendary A Man Who is soared above and beyond. All that have come to play this game. It's got, honestly, a legendary two-minute intro. I'm going to drop it in the group chat later. I would say watch the whole movie, but it's probably pretty cheesy and it's not that relevant, but watch the first two minutes. You'll know what I'm talking about.

I will watch that for sure.

When I was a kid, I got a Sports Illustrated subscription, and it came with that movie. I watched that movie out, basically. I mean, this is a pre-YouTube era, so you couldn't just go find interesting things everywhere. So I just watched that Gretsky movie over and over and over again.

You just pop that sucker in the VHS tape, you watch that over and over and over.

We had one of the ones, and it flipped up at the top. It's like a top loader. Then you put it in and then you got to slam it down.

That's badass. I just had the shirt up just what you just insert and it just spat out. Anything else hockey related before I get to questions? Because I did I'll put out a call for Ask CJ.

Oh, bring on the questions.

We can delve into the mailbag a little bit. Thank you to everyone who's sending questions on Discord and on Twitter, as per usual. Starting off from Matthew on Discord, what were your favorite? Well, actually, we went through some of this, but if there were any other moments from the Olympics at Paris 2024 that you'd like to mention, Matthew, would very much love to hear you out.

Yeah. For me, it was summer It was the men's 4 by 100 meter race. Try to think of ones I watched live where it was literally jumping around my living room. The swimming was a lot of that. I found swimming is pretty... It's compelling, right? You're watching, you're trying to see the lane, and there was a lot there. Those are my two. And then Mohamed, honestly, the 10,000 meter race was awesome. It's unfortunate he walks without a medal, but he just ran such a strong race and kept up with the best athletes in his profession. Sometimes you got to celebrate. It's not all just the medal, you know what I mean? I thought he really left it out there and was a tough one, but those were my favorite events.

Yeah, the 4 by 100 relay, I think, is going to go down as my favorite from the entire Olympics. Just seeing Canada win, seeing Andre Degrasse get that gold medal, it was looking like a tough Olympics up to that point because he wasn't qualifying for some of the finals of the 100 and the 200 meters Then he's able to redeem himself with that run at the end. I know he was injured, too, the ham string as well. For him to run out that final leg and get the job done, I don't think there was a better moment than that, at least for me, when it comes to Team Canada at these Olympics. That was a really awesome moment.

It was cool, too, how they'd run the women's relay race just before it. So all the women from all the countries were there still watching. I don't know, that added an element for me because it's an individual pursuit, but obviously, that's the team element. That's probably one of the iconic moments of your Canadian watching those games.

Next one from Mostlyleafies. Where would you rank the leaves in your preseason power rankings? Are they tier one contenders again? Favorites. In my opinion, they're definitely the most important team and fairly likely to also be the best. Thoughts?

I don't know that I'd mark them tier one contenders. I probably put them in the next grouping of teams. I guess the debate is how many teams are tier one contenders? To me, there's no reason to expect them not to have a great season. There's nothing to suggest they can't have even a Stanley Cup season. But it's hard for me to put them above the best of the best at this point in time. I mean, you can't get around the fact that the playoffs have ended in a familiar way a lot. I like some of what they've done in trying to reshape the blue We'll see how the goaltending goes. I think a bit of a question mark there. No problems with the Anthony Stollar signing to be your number two guy. But that's a signing made where you're expecting Joseph Wall to play the most important games. Just given Wall's injury history, it's unclear. I think that there's still probably too many question marks or unknowns to put them at the top level. But I still see them as a playoff team, a team that could even maybe get home ice in the Atlantic division in round one, and a team that if everything comes together and maybe if they make some shrewd moves and lead up to the trade deadline, could be playing deep in the next spring.

But it's hard to sit here and say they're a favorite or whatever, the tier one, an absolute cup team, because there's some holes there, and there's just the doubt about the ability of the best players that have been there for a long time to get the job done when it counts most.

Taylor Choma, what movies has CJ watched this summer?

I watched this Simone Biles' docuseries that was on Netflix, which was actually cool. I watched it right before the Olympics, so the timing was nice. I didn't know a lot about her story. I was aware that she's been a great gymnast who, unfortunately, had to drop out of the competition the last go-around in Tokyo. But that set the the bar. I'm trying to remember. I've watched a couple of movies on flights I was on. Man, I'm so bad with movies. I'm so bad. But I've actually watched more this summer, probably than at any time in the last number of years, just more non-sports things. But I haven't been to a theater. Have you?

I have not been to a theater since whenever John Wick 4 was out. I watched Beverly Hills Cop 4 on Netflix. Well, Axel F is the official title earlier this summer. That's the big movie I watch, but I don't watch that many movies.

I'll cheat. Well, see, I haven't watched a lot of movies, but I've watched a lot of Netflix-y type series and stuff.

Producer nick says he watched Dead Pole and Wolverine in theaters. I've been dying to watch that movie.

Did you like it, nick?

Yeah. Producer nick, write us in the chat if you enjoyed watching Deadpool and Wolverine. No, you know what? I'm not a movie... I'm not really a watch movie on flights type of guy. I know those options are available. I just don't do it. I haven't done that in a while. Ryan Reynolds, very good. Hey, maybe he'll be a show guest one day. So says producer nick.

I watched a series called Lover Death.

Never heard of it.

It was a true crime series from something that happened in 1980. It was actually pretty good. It's a little chilling. But if you're looking for something that comes with some edge, I went to a Taylor Swift concert, too.

So that counts. Yes. I forgot to ask you about that. How was that concert?

I don't think I'll ever experience anything quite the same as that. Obviously, I'm aware of how big Taylor Swift is, but when you see that many people that are that devoted to one thing, it was pretty eye-opening. I happened to be in Europe and realized that she was semi-close by having a concert and that you could buy tickets that were much, much, much, much, much It was awesome. Her performance. There's a reason why there's that level of devotion. But what I'll probably remember most more than a moment, more than watching her perform is just what she does to an audience. We came outside. We were at one of the shows in Germany. There was 10,000 people or something outside the stadium, just chilling. It was a Friday night. You get this wristband thing that lights up, so the whole stadium lights up. And this, I don't know, say, teenage girl, 17-year-old girl comes up to me, Can I have your wrist band? I'm like, Yeah, sure. I mean, it's just going to sit in my drawer. You know what I mean? I don't even know what moment it is, but she was so pumped. I mean, it was such a cool experience.

I've been lucky because I've liked some big bands. I went to one of the Tragically Hips last shows in Toronto. I saw Radiohead in their prime, and that was a band I loved. I saw M&M way back in the day when M&M was filled the I'd home. I've been to Bruce Springsteen concerts. I've been to some big acts, but this was almost a level above it. I might like some of the music from those bands at the time more than I like Taylor Swift today, if that makes sense. I'm not saying it's the best show I've ever seen, but it was really good, and the atmosphere made it, I thought. I had to take a train about an hour to the show, and the even hours and hours and hours before the show was just full of Swifties and people trading the bracelets and all that. It was pretty unique.

Do you have a friendship bracelet?

I don't. I actually have a bracelet that my niece made me, but this isn't really Taylor Swift. We just had a family week with the extended family. But it was awesome, man. It's pretty crazy. She played All Too Well, the 10-Minute version. I was just thinking, how many artists could play a 10-Minute song at a concert with 70,000 people and everyone's still into it? I think there's a risk. Ten minutes is a long time. You want to get your audience going. But I just feel like can do no wrong with her fans.

I don't know that song in particular, but is it one of those songs where there's beat changes throughout, or is it the same type of song the whole time?

Yeah, it is. It rises and falls. I think it was... I mean, now Now I'm going to get exposed. If I say what I'm about to say and I'm wrong, my Twitter feed will be full of it. But I'm pretty sure it's a song about her relationship with Jake Gyllenhaal back in the day. But if I mix that up, Swifties, I'm really sorry, but I'm pretty sure. Anyway, it's a lovely song. I just say to play a 10-minute song in concert is risky in a sense, but not there. That was the Church of Taylor that night. I just said everyone who was in there Maybe not everyone, but the vast majority were not just... They were set to 12 out of 10 into it. Loving it. It was hot. I didn't sit the whole show. It was awesome.

Awesome. I'm glad you had fun. Here's this weird one from Totally Offside. If you had the chance to gain complete control over the weather, but in exchange, once per month, your body transformed to look exactly like the Grinch, would you do it? You don't get to pick which day each month. It's completely random.

I think I might do it. Really? Yeah, because I'm a guy who runs every day, and sometimes the weather is annoying. If I could control the weather every day, I could set it to the temperature that I'm I was comfortable in.

Yeah, but there'd be a random day where you'd turn into the Grinch.

I mean, I guess you just call in sick that day. I think I'd still do it.

What if we're about to record a podcast and then all of a sudden, your body just And then you just turn to the Grinch?

I might get fired. That's just the thing. I might get fired because I'd say, well, I just don't do a podcast that day. But if you're not reliable for the people that employ you, if you're just dipping out once a month out of nowhere, maybe that would be bad.

But Controlling the weather. If you were to call, you would call you and be like, Hey, we can't have you turn into the grinch on air.

Controlling the weather. Don't underestimate the power of that. Have you ever gone away somewhere and had your trip? I know you always never say ruined by the weather, but you I feel like control in the weather would be huge.

That's true.

Don't underestimate that. The problem for all of you, I'm just letting you know, on Christmas Day, I'm down in a bunch of snow. Oh, my God. I'm not saying I'm setting the weather to tropical amazing temperatures every day. I'm going to go situationally throughout the year. But yeah, I think I would do it.

Okay. All right. The thought of randomly turning into the Grinch at some point I can't control scares me. So my first hesitation would be no.

If I knew it was going to happen in the morning before I had to leave the house, but you could be covering a game and you just turned into the Grinch. I'm not sure how... Yeah. I don't know where that question came from, but thank you. I can tell you, I've lived a long life. I've never thought of that question. I've never thought like, what would I do between these two things until right now?

I think that is going to go down as the weirdest question we've ever received.

We've had some weird ones. We've had ones I wasn't able to answer. That one I at least had an opinion on because I just think controlling the weather- You were quick with it.

I was surprised.

Controlling the weather for me would be huge because I don't always appreciate the humidity and heat when I've got to get my runs in.

Bleeding Teal asks, If CJ could spend a month during the summer on any populated island, which one would he want to go to and why that one?

Oh, man. Any populated island.

Any populated island.

I don't have a good answer for that. You're thinking about this. Because I don't know... Well, because to couple off the last question, I'm wondering about the weather. Am I going to say a place? And I don't realize in the summer it's 40 degrees and I probably wouldn't be too... I can only handle heat to a point.

Yeah, but if it's like drier conditions or you're by the water, you're by a beach, that helps out that situation. It's not like it's going to be... There's a good chance it might not be as humid compared to being in North America. I don't know.

Well, I'm going to go against the grain and say Iceland. Because I know that's a place that does not have a great climate, but the best climate is in the summer, and it's a really cool place. I'm not a big beach guy. I would not be one to spend a month sitting on the sand or even a day, let alone a week, let alone a month. I'm going to go off the board and pick Iceland, and I'm sure that's not what the questioner was thinking the answer would be.

Probably not.

What about you? Do you have any thoughts? You're going somewhere hot. I know it.

Yeah. I'm going to Jamaica or try to add to bagel for a month and just hanging out there. At least in those islands, I have family on both of them. You know what? That's not even cheating. That's just me being smart.

Yeah. And here I am in Iceland, wearing a winter jacket in July.

Let me get you two quick ones. From Busher Jackson, what is CJ excited about this upcoming season in the NHL? The OV Gretzky chase, Utah, the coaching carousel, potential Panthers repeat, the Oilers chase for the Cup, etc. What are you excited about the most for this upcoming season?

Right now, the oilers thing is top of mind. I'll be interested to see how Utah goes, though. Obviously, Arizona, off ice, we know what's going on with the coyotes. But on ice, they have been building towards something. And then they took a couple of swings, obviously, with the moves they made on their blue line, getting Sergachev in there and then going to a new city. I don't know that they're a playoff team yet, but I'll be broadly fascinated by how the reception goes. We all saw the airplane hangar when the players and staff first came to visit Salt Lake. But I'll be curious to see what mark they make in their market and if that team does, in fact, take the steps forward that I think they should be ready to. To me, they should become a pretty good playoff team within 2-3 years. But sometimes those plans don't materialize, Buffalo, Ottawa. I'm just saying, all these teams that we expect Detroit, I guess, if we're in there, but lots of teams you expect to take that jump. I haven't been able to do it. But I think the Oilers, for me, the most compelling storyline just because there's all the elements starting with the offseason they had, with the McDavid dry cycle stuff, with the fact they were in the Cup final.

A very likable team. I have to say both teams in that Florida Edmonton series were pretty interesting to deal with and really interesting stories. I think the Oilers, for me, sitting here on August 12th is the most interesting, but I really haven't thought too deeply about the upcoming season yet, if I'm being completely honest.

Have you read on The Athletic the NHL front office confident rankings?

No. Who won? Okay.

So the team that won, number one, the Florida Panthers. Would you like to guess where Utah ranks on that list?

Ten.

You think the Utah Hockey Club ranks 10th on that list?

Well, I mean, I I don't know how it was conducted. I don't even know what we're really ranking. I mean, confidence is relative, but...

So just as a small just explainer, Dom did this for us at the FUTIK. They're graded. Each front office is graded in six categories, roster building, cap management, drafting, development, trading, free agency, and vision. Fans voted on this. This year's edition apparently got over 10,000 responses from fans grading their favorite teams at about 250 responses grading each team. And your guess is that Utah finished 10th on that.

I'm guessing you're about to tell me they finished 32nd or something.

No, they finished fourth.

Oh, there you go.

Which is like, that surprised me because you have Florida up there, you have Tampa up there, you have Dallas up there in the top five.

I mean, Vegas should be up there, too.

Vegas is... Let's do a quick control.

Vegas might be victims of... They've had so much success that when you come off a year where you I don't really have... You know what I mean? You almost take for granted how good you've had it.

Yeah, they're 11th on Dom's list. They've fallen, actually. So to see Utah be as high up as fourth, and they haven't played a game in Utah yet, that's a lot of confidence. It's a big deal.

Yeah, I just think they did some interesting things. Obviously, it's easy, and I'll use air quotes, to trade a bunch of players away in a mass draft pick, but they did it in a really aggressive way at the end. I I guess it's a front office we haven't seen operate with a proper ownership group above it, frankly. It's hard to judge, but I just think they have a nice collection of everything. Now, they probably need some difference makers, and that's the hardest thing to get and usually get those through the draft. Now, they're probably moving into a more competitive window, so they're less likely to get a first overall pick or someone that can shift the world. But they also have so much draft capital and prospect capital that if anyone is out there that can make a big trade, I mean, I would think that they would be on that list. They just made pretty significant one with Tampa at the draft. So, yeah. I mean, fourth is probably, obviously, it's higher than I thought, I guess, 10th. But I do think that I understand where the optimism comes from, but they haven't played a game yet.

So that could change. You do that poll midway through the year, and if they have a disappointing campaign, I bet that there's huge swings in how fans feel about their front office and their team.

Last one for you from Sumar Stekeran. Would you have more of off the Barbecue: Burgers or hot dogs? Burgers.

As I mentioned, just off a family week where there was lots of barbecuing and I didn't have one hot dog, and I had more than a couple burgers. It's funny. I like hot dogs, as you know, but I would choose a burger in that situation. I like a gourmet hot dog.

What do you define as a gourmet hot dog?

Anything with poutine on it I had a baseball stadium.

I figured you'd say that. I just need mustard on mine. I don't need all these furls. Just put mustard on a hot dog.

No, diced onions, ketchup and mustard, both.

No, I don't need ketchup and mustard. The diced onions and I forget what is it if it's a cabbage or whatever. But the Montreal-style ones, those are cool. I'll have that. You just put mustard, that's it. But ketchup and mustard mixed together on a hot dog, I don't need it. I'm not five years old anymore. We don't need it.

Well, I'm 40 something going on five.

That was not a shot at your maturity.

No, I know. We haven't seen each other in a month, so I'm not going to come out here firing at you.

Oh, you're going to do that what? Next month in September? When we're through preseason? That's what we're going to think is.

We've been known to have a few food battles on this pod.

Oh, there will be some this season, I'm sure. I'm glad we agree on burgers because burgers are an elite food. Absolutely. Now, I want to know, how do you dress your perfect burger? And then we'll get out of here.

Cheese on it, for sure. And then I'm just thinking back to the cottage. I had mayo, ketchup, mustard, and pickle as well. Okay. And onion, too. But the thing is, we didn't have every... I mean, we had a pretty good array of toppings, as you're hearing. I'm not saying that's the perfect burger, but that's how I just dressed the last burger. I like mayonnaise on a burger, though.

I'm I'm not crazy about mayonnaise. I think it's an overrated condiment.

Oh, wow.

I think I understand people adding mayo on chicken sandwiches or whatever. I don't need mayo.

I have mayo above mustard on the condiment power ranking. Things.

See, does her disagree. What about spicy mayo? Would you mix like, sriracha and mayonnaise together?

Yes. I like mayonnaise in all its forms.

Okay, well, you just built different. But like, spicy mayo is good. Special mayo is a good idea. I'm not down with regular Mayo.

We're down to 10 people that are over an hour into this summer podcast while you and I argue about Mayo.

That's okay. The next time we do-Thanks for hanging in if you hung in.

I know my dad's here. Hey, dad.

Hey, Henry. Hi, Papa. C. J. Thanks for hanging out. I treat this as preseason, so I appreciate everyone hanging out with us however long they choose to hang out with us. Maybe we'll do another one of these summer drop-ins before the summer ends, but we'll be in fine form in time for when the real stuff starts in September and October. We'll be good.

We'll be good. Oh, yeah. I'm not even worried about it. We don't have to peak yet. It would be a shame if this is our best work right now.

Oh, God.

No.

This is our best word. Now, just shut the podcast down. Forget it. Forget it. Subscribe to the podcast, whether on audio or on video, and show some love to the Steve Dangle podcast because I'm sure they need it because no one watches their show.

Anyway. A few people have heard of that one.

Yeah, not that many people. Do you know what's funny?

This is a quick one we can end on, but I was dealing with someone at my bank for a thing I was applying for, and you have to list your employers or whatever, and the person literally goes, What's a Steve Dangle?

What's a Steve Dangle? How do you respond to that?

I didn't know. Then I was like, Well, it's this guy. He started up in his parents' basement. He was doing these videos, and now he's got a whole podcast network.

That's such a weird explainer for... Yeah, this is Steve Dangle guy. This is from his mom's basement.

Well, I did explain that it was a student him, that it's not his actual name, and that he's got a huge hockey following. Anyway, it's just funny. What's a Steve Dangle from my banker?

It's so weird having people come up to you and be like, Yeah, you work with him, or like, Yeah, I listen to your voice every week through the podcast. We lead really interesting lives through this podcast.

I also met more than one podcast listener in Europe, not on purpose. People.

That is dope.

Yeah. We outshed me every week. I hope those people enjoyed their mayo takes today with today's show.

Well, you just break new ground with food takes on every episode. We'll be back when we're back. Thanks for listening, guys.

What does Steve Dangle mean? The Chris Johnson Show, Johnston Show. Inside the game twice a week. Follow Chris on Twitter @reporterchris, and follow Julian McKenzie at JK McKenzie.

The Chris Johnston Show.