But, um, what, what is the toughest part, do you think, in your mind, like surviving and succeeding in the NHL as long as you did?

You know, I think, I think it was just adjusting to the new league.

Um, you know, I've talked about this for- before, when that, that lockout in tw- 2013 hit, a lot of those guys who were playing, you know, one, two minutes, going out, you know, just banging bodies and trying to fight three times, they were basically kicked out of the league.

And so after that it's like, okay, well, if I'm not fighting as much and the league's getting faster, okay, well, I gotta, I gotta get a little faster too.

I gotta work on the hands.

So just kinda adapting to everything.

You know, when I was going back to Winnipeg, I was hitting good life up and I was just throwing around, you know, 400 pounds and, you know, trying to get jacked, getting ready for these, you know, monsters I was gonna have to fight.

Right.

Mm

... happened to, you know, come out when I was shaking hands.

And um, I ended up getting drafted by the Brandon Wheat Kings, and Kelly McCrimmon called me, and he said, "Look, if you, uh, if you wanna play hockey, you're gonna have to make a decision.

You, you can't play both now.

Like, you know, you gotta kinda dedicate your time to one sport." And I just w- I wasn't willing to sit out a full year of both sports.

I, I would've missed football.

You know, then I would've had to not play hockey if I had to make a decision.

But I'm also curious is, like, things change so rapidly now, right? Again, it's, like, pretty common discourse is just like, are things getting worse? Are things getting better? What is getting worse? What's getting better? And from your standpoint, you know, what is something about the league that you think has improved over your tenure? And then conversely, what's something that you think we might be losing?

Yeah.

Um, you know, I, I think the vibes change when you have a guy like Mack, right? You just, you think he can do anything and he can carry the team anywhere.

And when you see a guy doing stuff like that, it's like, you know what? Everybody else just has to chip in and, and do your job and, and we can really take a run at this.

And, you know, we were in and out of the playoffs, we were out of the playoffs, and we were taking a run, and then, you know, at the end we just kinda stumbled a little dude.

You know, we lost some big games to Nashville.

That really hurt us.

But, you know, vibes were high there.

You're gonna be all over the place.

What are you, what are you planning on doing here?

You know what? I think, uh, this year I'm gonna, I'm gonna dabble a little bit into some media stuff.

I'm gonna do a little bit of social media stuff with NHL.

Hope- hopefully to get on, uh, hopeful to get on some panels.

Um, but to be honest, I'm just gonna hang out with the family a little bit.

I'm coaching my son hockey.

Uh, my daughter just, um, got bumped up in her gymnastics, so she's got a little bit more than, uh, she did a month ago.

Yeah

So was it just a matter of your body just couldn't hold up to keep up to the pace of play?

I, I think so.

I think it was a lot of, you know, I, I changed my off-ice training a lot.

It was a lot more sprints, you know, those 10 80s I really like to do.

And, you know, the, the hamstring injury happened when I, on my third sprint on a 10 80 that I'd been doing all summer and just pulled up and, you know, it nagged me for almost two weeks.

So that was, you know, those are important two weeks when you're 39 years old to, that you can't really be missing.

And, um, you know, couldn't do any, any speed training, couldn't really s- I could skate a little bit but couldn't do, you know, the sprints to, to keep up with the speed.

So now that we've talked about the superstars and these elite mutant aliens, uh, at the top of the league, who were the guys by the end who were, you were fighting where you were like, "Oh, man." Like, Olivier, obviously, is a top dog.

And, you know, we talked about, you know, in New York we talked about, uh, you know, Matthew Olivier and how much of a good player he is and his toughness and, you know, how much respect you have for him and, you know, talk about the evolution of the quote unquote tough guy role and where it's at now.

Yeah, I mean, when I came into the league, you had guys that were 6'5", you know, 260 pounds, 270 pounds that, you know, could barely skate.

Looked like Bambi on ice, but they were, they were crazy tough, right? They were ...

That's what they did.

They went on the ice for, played three minutes, four minutes.

You know, sometimes two, three fights a game and they got, you know, most of them couldn't catch guys 'cause they were, they, you know, they weren't good enough on their edges to, to hit anybody, so they were just going out there to fight.

And, um, you know, I think after the lockout, the league kind of started getting rid of those kind of guys.

But just talk a little bit about that run and, and the group of guys, and any special moments that kinda stand out.

Is that on your radar? Assuming you stay healthy and play every game, do you know what date that could be that you could hit

1,000? That date will be next year.

I need one more contract.

I think I'm going to need...

I want to say it's in the low teens next year, something around that.

Not very many.

No, it's definitely on my radar.

It's always refreshing for a dinosaur like me when I see that still in this game.

Like, could you see yourself putting yourself out there like that more and more?

(sighs) You know, like, uh, I- I bounce back and forth of what I wanna do.

I think, I think I'd have a hard time not being part of a team.

Um, you know, like getting into coaching, management, uh, is something that I- I guess would be at the top, but, you know, at the same time, I have a f- a lot of fun doing, you know, like these kind of interviews.

Um, but I- I wouldn't wanna be on like a panel, right? It's gotta be like, "Oh, you know, they gotta get the pucks in deep and, you know, they gotta loo- get a little more net front pres-" like, uh, that's not me.

Like, I need to, I need to be able to talk freely and, uh, I gotta be able to swear a little bit.

Like, uh, th- that's more me.

That's awesome.