Spittin Chiclets
Spittin’ Chiclets Episode 650: Featuring Bruce Cassidy & Justin Williams
28 May 2026
Chapter 1: What is discussed at the start of this section?
Hey, Spittin' Chicklets listeners. You can find every episode on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. Me and Ryan have been officially welcomed to the jungle that is Bosco Sports.
I brought it towards the Coyotes, and I asked them if it was okay if I joined the Spit Chicklets podcast full-time. Ryan Whitney's got a pink Whitney out there now.
He's a full-time member. Marley just got an assist from Chris Bates. Whoa, we're buzzing right now. Sonk. What is up everyone? Welcome to episode 650. of the Spitting Chickens podcast, and you see it right now. Pinky's up. Murr's drinking out of the bottle. Yans is going double Pinky's up. Biz just has one. I don't know if there's anything on his pinky. Shout out Pink Whitney.
Shout out Pinky's up. Carolina's a spot where Pinky's up could just be ripping and roaring because I know at the outdoor game a few years ago, Murr was smothered off the Pink Whitney at the tailgate. They got a chance to move on to the Stanley Cup final for the first time in a long time. tomorrow night, and pinkies up. Pink Whitney will be representing at the tailgate. We know that.
Guys, a lot to catch up on. A lot's happened. The Stanley Cup final is set. Hey, hey. Oh, wait. Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry. Sorry, you're right. There's another game to be played in the East. There's another game to be played in the East.
I wonder what the win-a-meter is going to be on that one.
Well, yeah. So we're going to save that a little bit because we're going to go over one of the most shocking –
sweeps the league's ever seen i would say it's not quite as much as tampa columbus few years back but right under that in terms of nobody saw sweep even the people who picked vegas which i believe was very few when you see you know espn and all these different media outlets will pick winners i know we're not they're not a lot of vegas golden i feel like we all took vegas
I don't remember what I did. I can't even remember yesterday. Check the tape. But I do know, for the most part, people were picking Colorado. And we've gone to the fans and thinking this isn't even a series and blah, blah, blah. But Colorado's done. And the way it went down, I actually think a little bit of the Brindamore, like,
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Chapter 2: What led to the recent Vegas Golden Knights success?
I'm not saying buddy to Bednar. You just did. I love Bednar. I love that guy.
No, you didn't do it to him.
I'm just more saying buddy as in buddy, buddy.
But at the end of the day, though, man, like you saw in the fourth game, like did it really matter?
No, Blackwood was phenomenal. And Blackwood was good. He was really good.
It was all about what Vegas was bringing, boys.
Nate had two assists all series. Makar, zero assists in two games. Landis Kog had three goals, no assists. Nelson, zero points. Kadri, one goal, two assists. And Neches, two assists. If you're big dogs, and those are big dogs. Those are legitimate players. Half of them... Half of them were on Olympic team. Besides Kadri, all those guys were on Olympic team. Like those are your big dogs.
They need to show up. They didn't, but it's almost like you got to give the credit to Vegas. You got to give the credit to the Jack Eichels of the world, guys that are able to shut down big time players. And I don't know if it's more that Colorado didn't play well, which obviously they didn't, but I think Vegas is just at a different level right now.
I got a direct message from Bob Stauffer this morning. Did he text you, Whit, to tell you that he was sending this? Because you just had a grimace on your face.
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Chapter 3: How does the coaching change impact the team dynamics?
Like after they lost game three, the way they did, it was over. They were defeated, like put the fucking house on, on them losing game four. So I don't know. I don't know what more criticism that we can give them outside of their, some of their top guys, as Yan mentioned, like just didn't show up. They dealt with injuries at the worst possible time. They didn't get the timely save.
You'd go back to the Eichel goal and the Barbashev goal. It all kind of just came to a bottleneck in two games, and at the blink of an eye, their season was over. So I think that we kind of knew that about Edmonton as you kind of watched that series, where this one, it was just like, oh, fuck, it was all of a sudden done, it felt like.
Yeah. So you don't think like Colorado is going into these meetings the next couple of days, like Sackick seems to be a guy that's obviously level headed where they're not going and being like, we got to blow things up. We got to make major changes.
I don't know if the coach is back. I have never seen an emotional reaction unless I just haven't scoured the Internet enough. Quite like I did in game two from Joe Sackick as they panned up to the GM box. I've never seen him mouth a swear word in my life as they panned up. And he was like, I don't know. I'm pretty sure he dropped an F-bomb in there and walked off of screen.
I think Bednar is a great coach. Who the fuck are you going to replace him with? Are you going to try this Carl thing out if it was even a possibility? Yeah. what if it doesn't work out?
No, I agree. I just think the way EJ put it the other day, I think it was Eric Johnson. It was like, they tried the shakeup of the core and that didn't work. Well, they don't have any first round picks for the next three seasons either. So they're not in a good place. Draft wise. They don't have a loaded prospect. Yeah, but that's not to me.
That doesn't really like matter for next year in the year after, like obviously to gain assets, like to make a trade this off season, you're going to need first round picks. Yeah. I don't even know if they need to make that many trades. I think their guy's going to play better.
I think if they play better and they're healthy, you're looking at a juggernaut battle series, and then somebody's coming out of it, man. You built a team in order to win. They ran into an absolute wagon at the perfect time, and that's what it is. I think that there's been teams in the past where they've made drastic moves, and they look back, and they're probably like, oh...
Maybe we hit the panic button a little too much. You just used Tampa as the example. You don't think Koop was nervous? And keep in mind, this isn't getting swept in the first round against Columbus. You don't think Koop was nervous going into that offseason? He probably thought he was done for sure. They stuck with everybody.
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Chapter 4: What are the implications of coaching contracts in the NHL?
They fucking regrouped. They looked themselves in the mirror. Sometimes you have to work through things. And let's not forget ourselves. This is a coach in most of that core who has won one with them. So they've won one. They've proven that they can do it. I know.
They've already won one. Now, that Florida President's Cup team was swept by Tampa. So that was factual. Which one? 4-0 in 2022. Oh, in the first round.
Okay. Sorry.
So that's my thing. I don't think the roster needs an overall. They've got to get lucky. It's all luck. It's not all luck. It's so much luck now. To stay healthy. Do you think the Minnesota series took too much out of them too? Like Colorado, like that's a grind of a series.
Well, yeah, it took Makar.
Yeah. He was already banged up, but that took him to the other, you know, to an even further extent.
When you say he was already banged up, you're telling me when he, I forget who he went shoulder to shoulder with. And then he grimaced and like, you're telling me his shoulder was already banged up.
Yeah, it was from that hit against Calgary in the regular season. At the end of the year. He was banged up, and you could tell even before the innocent one, Johansson or whoever it was, it was like he wasn't really producing the way he usually does. I know he had some goals, not many points.
That guy, like if you're looking at defensemen right now and the way that people, you know, you saw Quinn Hughes and you see guys point per game. Lane Hudson, obviously that's switched the past few games. That was Kael McCarr getting a point per game and over a point per game in the playoffs. So, yeah, we could kind of put the... I think they hurt Leckanen. They hurt Malinsky.
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Chapter 5: What factors contributed to the Colorado Avalanche's playoff performance?
And I'm sure everyone was surprised by that. Not so much that Vegas won, but I think that it was a sweep, right, that Colorado didn't. They never seemed to get any traction there. So I'm sure they'll look at why. And some of it's simple as injuries, right? Some of their top guys, I don't know if they're 100%. And sometimes that's all it takes to get an edge.
But, yeah, I mean, I understand the firing. I mean, I got a job. way back when, cause a good man got fired in front of me, right? That's kind of the way it works. We know that part of the business.
Chapter 6: How have coaching salaries changed in the NHL over the years?
Um, that's kind of what you sign up for. And, and, uh, Yeah. That's it on that front.
Did you ever think that like the, the, the coaches salaries, just the way the NHL is now, whatever, get to the place it is like looking back when maybe when you retired, even just starting to get into coaching, like it's kind of gone crazy.
Listen, I made 39,000 to go to the East coast league and coach in Jacksonville, Florida, my first gig. So, you know, I, I, I went into it with my eyes open, see where it lead me and had a lot of ups and downs. And, it's worked out well, but I think Mike Babcock drove that with Toronto a long time ago. He signed there, he signed to cut more term and more money than anybody ever had.
So that started the process. So you have to thank Toronto and Babs for that to sort of push it forward. You know, um, you know, there, he, he, he did get a, you know, and then Sully just got one in New York that, you know, drove it up a little bit. So there's usually guys out there that have to push for it.
Chapter 7: What does Bruce Cassidy think about the future of the Carolina Hurricanes?
Um, We always try to help each other because the young guy behind me, he'll be in this position a few years down the road and we wouldn't want to set him back. But I think it's a good thing because I'm in this industry, so I'm glad they went up. I'd probably do it anyway, whatever the market asks for. But yeah, that's how it's played out.
And I still think we're well behind the other sports in general, but so are the players, right, when it comes to basketball and football. So hopefully it goes up for everybody. You're seeing that with the players. The Caps made a nice jump here. in the next three or four years, and hopefully the revenues keep growing so everybody benefits.
I appreciate you coming on, Bruce. I know you're playing, and I respect your honesty.
You know you're hard on your players.
Your honesty and kind of sticking up for yourself a little bit. Like, I want to coach, and I think that's what most people are thinking as well.
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Chapter 8: What insights does Justin Williams provide about the playoffs?
Like, all right, you fired him.
And also, to be fair, my favorite coaches I ever had were the ones that were the most hard on me, too. Like, I talk about Mike Stothers all the time, too, and it's tough love, and that's what drives people to be better, and I hope I didn't piss you off with that question earlier.
No, listen, I don't think I'm disrespectful to the players. I challenge them sometimes too much, maybe pick a better way. Of course, you're always looking at that. But I got a ton of respect for everyone in the room, including the Vegas guys. I mean, they're a great group of guys, good family guys. There's a whole bunch of young kids in that locker room that, you know, would be great.
You know, Sundays, we're able to bring them in and get them together. I mean, I love that part of the game. So you try to, you know, you know, make sure that you have relationships with them and I just got to try harder.
Um, and, and, and the MLB, if you play one game or, or coach one game for a team, you end up getting a ring. Like, is that stupid to think about if they win it? Like you get any, like you get, do you get a ring?
Uh, I, I doubt it.
It's a good question, but I mean, you go the whole year and all the fucking, the doldrums of the year. And then,
What about a bonus? Did you have a bonus for a couple?
Yeah, but those get eliminated once you're terminated.
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