Boomer & Gio
Hour 4 - NHL Toughness Compared To MLB, NHL, Plus A Look Ahead To Knicks-Cavs
23 Feb 2026
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
It's the Boomer in Geo podcast from WFAN. The Jack Hughes overtime goal, the gold winning gold. Golden goal. Golden goal that Kenny Albert described.
Chapter 2: What was the significance of Jack Hughes' overtime goal?
And it was an amazing moment for all of us who are watching. I think we were all collectively together as one for at least for about what? Three or four hours? Yeah, and then everybody started yelling at each other again. Yes.
You know, I'm not in any way defending the NBA player, but one thing that needs to be discussed in this, so any time that someone in the NHL does what Jack Hughes does where they take a stick to the mouth and they're spitting out half of their teeth and then they go and finish a game and score a game-winning goal, people will compare that, and it's generally compared to NBA players. The flopping.
The flopping of this or that or the injury. I mean, you see some of these guys who... Like, you know, whether it's Anthony Davis or whomever, you know, injuries and they're out all the time and, you know, how are they not fighting through these injuries and the load management, which is true. But the baseball players need to be brought into this discussion as well. They really do.
They never get criticized the way that the NBA players do when it comes to toughness. I mean, how many times do we see this? Every single year. What do you think would happen if Kodai Senga got two teeth knocked out of his face? He'd retire. Well, they'd bring in a therapist. I mean, my God.
I mean, you think about the frickin' soft tissue injuries, and this guy's got this, and this guy's got that, and Stam's got two elbows, and I mean, Jesus Christ. And by the way, all the NHL players that did participate in the Olympics, I guarantee you all have something. I mean, blocking shots, taking hits. I mean, Tom Wilson almost took Dylan Larkin's head off.
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Chapter 3: How does NHL toughness compare to NBA and MLB?
I think Dylan saw him right at the end and just kind of got out of the way a little bit. And so Wilson fell, but he got hit pretty hard, Dylan Larkin. Yeah, so that's just – nobody is – I mean, the NFL players are very, very tough. We know that. The NHL players are tough.
But, I mean, I feel like the baseball players need to be in this conversation more when it comes to the softness because I've never seen anything like it. I mean, the game of hockey, you've got to skate. You've got to stick in your hand. You've got somebody coming down your throat. You've got to be able to pass a puck, chip a puck. You know, make a shot, make a block.
You know, I mean, there's so many different things that you have to do in the game of hockey. But the one thing I will say, Matt and I were talking to this, and Matt obviously was a – Matt Martin was a very physical player. And, you know, he would hit a lot of guys. But I said, you know, Matt, I don't know, maybe you'd have five or six hits a game.
And, you know, you'd be going up against the boards, and it wasn't like you were a shouldered shoulder every time. Yeah. The NFL football game has about 150 hits. Yeah. Yeah. And it's shoulder to shoulder, head to head. You know, it's shoulder to thigh. I mean, twisting knees. I mean, it's a little bit different. That's why there's only 17 NFL games. Sure. Well, right.
But probably 18 on its way, you would think. Right? I would think so, yes. I mean, though, the players are probably going to be like, ah, hell no, and then they'll see, like, oh, you get two bye weeks, and then this is how much more money per player you're going to get. Well, what you've got to think about is, like, what are the next quarterback contracts going to look like?
Like, what is Drake Mays' contract going to look like? What is Jackson, Smith, and Jigba? What is his contract going to look like for Seattle? I mean, these are the top-end players that are going to be up for contracts relatively soon, and it's going to be interesting to see what their average value of their contract is.
You know, I want to go back to something that you said earlier when we were talking about the Knicks and how it's about the playoffs with them, and if they have a bad game, you're not going to freak out as much anymore.
You know, I do think, though, to be fair, and you tell me if I'm off base on this, we know that you're a bigger Ranger fan that's your number one team than you are – you're a big Knicks fan, but you're a bigger Ranger fan. If the Rangers were in the Knicks position – and they played one of the better teams in the league and got their asses handed to them, you'd be pissed off, wouldn't you?
I would. But that's why I came in pissed off after the Detroit game. Yeah. I was. But now you're saying you're not going to anymore because they played two games in a row. I know, but I'm just thinking that I think this team is a – Bronson is a great player. He's a playoff player. Bridges is a playoff player. Hart is a playoff player. OG's a playoff player.
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Chapter 4: What are the implications of upcoming quarterback contracts?
It was calming us down to the point that we were about to pass out. Let's go to Kevin in Pittsburgh. What's going on, Kevin? Hey, Gio. What's up, Boomer? Long time. First time. Gio or Boomer, you guys come here. I belong to a nice private place. I'll take you to golf. But... That caller got it wrong. And I'm a BU guy, hockey royalty, USA.
John Cooper was more than gracious in defeat and dissuaded the Canadian journalist that was complaining about the three on three. He said, everybody knew the rules. We agreed to them. We won by those rules in the quarterfinals. were not complaining. They won fair and square.
Oh, good for John Cooper.
Good for John Cooper. And he's a solid guy. Yes. Yeah, I know. I just didn't want him getting kicked on national TV because you guys play it straight.
Chapter 5: What changes are being discussed for the Knicks' coaching system?
And he was more than gracious. And so I just wanted to try to set the record straight. Yeah, I did see one quote from him that, I mean, obviously it's just taken from the news conference and they don't have the entire thing where it sounded like he was bitching about it. You know, we know John Cooper pretty well. He went to Hofstra. Yeah, and he's a lacrosse player. Yeah, and he's right, exactly.
And he's good friends with Frankie Borelli. But here we go. He did say something. He did. All right, what did he say? So I want to get the full quote. He blasts. So here it is. Canada coach John Cooper blasts TV-driven rules. Why can't I watch anything ever on a website without a video popping up in my face? God, son of a bitch. I mean, look at this. I can't even close the video.
I don't want to see a Joe Mazzulla press conference. I want to read the quotes. And then I try to scroll, and I can't do it. All right, here we go. You take four players off the ice. Now hockey's not hockey anymore, Cooper said. There's a reason overtime and shootouts are in play. It's all TV-driven to end games, so it's not a long time.
There's a reason why it's not in the Stanley Cup final or playoffs. So he did say something. I mean, he might have been gracious, but he said something else about it, too. Yeah. Whatever. I do like John Cooper, though. And he's a, seems like a good guy, but, you know, when it comes to this, zip it.
Yeah.
The point being is that they did win three on three in one of these games. Yeah. Right. So, didn't hear him bitching about that afterwards. Franco, Staten Island. What's going on, Franco? Hello there.
Uh, I just wanted to call in cause I heard the conversation, um, that the gentlemen caller called into Pete Hoffman.
My recollection was that it was about nine days ago, maybe like a Saturday overnight, two or three in the morning, three or four in the morning. And, uh, Hoffman did an unbelievable job when the, when the person called in, he says, yeah, uh, it,
I couldn't sleep and I'm not doing well. And, and, and it wasn't like a whining.
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