Last Minute Blues Podcast | Barret Jackman Interview

Big time episode of the Last Minute Blues Podcast as we’re joined by the new Blues Director of Alumni and former Blues defenseman Barret Jackman! We talk to Barret about his new role and what he learned from LONG time alumni Director Bruce Affleck, stories of his playing days (including a KILLER story about Matthew and Brady Tkachuk as kids) and what he thinks of how the Blues look going into the 25-26 season.

The Last Minute Blues Podcast is presented by Blue Note Roofing!

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This is the Last Minute Blues podcast with Donny Alex, Jeremy and Jeff Burton. Well, welcome, everybody. It is a special edition today of the Last Minute Blues podcast, which is brought to you by Blue Note Roofing, roofing, siding and gutters. Your St. Louis roofing experts visit blue note roofing STL dot com for a free inspection. We got to get the business right out of the way. All right. But we are absolutely stoked to have a guest with us today here in the studio. Listen, he was an NHL rookie of the year. He is a member of the British Columbia Hockey Hall of Fame. Number five in your hearts. And now he is the director of the alumni for your St. Louis Blues. So excited to welcome Barrett Jackman to the Last Minute Blues podcast. There we go. And you know what? I completely, completely forgot to introduce my co-host and my son. Who cares? That tag threw me off. And it threw me off. The new sponsor. You got a good guest. You don’t need the co-hosts. Barrett, welcome. It is really great to see you. We we originally and we talked about this before we went on. And back in 2020, Jeff Burton and I had you on the podcast way, way, way back when. So it’s wonderful to have you again, man. Thank you for your time. Yeah, it’s good to be back. Glad you made it this long. You and me both. So lots of things here to talk about, guys, not only, you know, with Barrett’s new position, but also the team is in a really exciting sort of place. But, you know, one of the things I think that I kind of wanted to start with with you, Barrett, and talking about this job as director of alumni is to talk about what Bruce Affleck has meant to the Blues and to the alumni, you know, over the course of the history, because from what I understand and you can fill us in on that from talking to Jamie, you know, the Blues alumni is sort of a unique thing in how many people are involved and how big of a deal it is. So can you kind of talk about, you know, what you saw Bruce doing, all of these kinds of things that led you to this position? Yeah, Bruce is basically the the godfather of the Blues alumni. He helped, you know, start the alumni in 1988, I believe. And but he’s been with the Blues in a different in so many different capacities, you know, obviously as a player in the broadcasting sales, corporate sponsorship, vice president, he’s done everything. But, you know, he’s always kind of made a focus to keep the alumni, you know, a part of things. And, you know, he’s done an amazing job of raising funds and opening the the alumni locker room out at Centene, which is a great place for us to kind of gather and still pretend like we’re part of a team, get in the locker room and, you know, make fun of each other and, you know, don’t have to worry about H.R. You know, getting on you about what you said, but I have a beer or two, I would assume. Yeah. Yeah. AB has been very, very generous with their sponsorship of the of the beer, too. So but yeah, but Bruce done so much over the years. There’s a lot of guys that are struggling with with, you know, mental health, you know, mental health issues. You leave the game, you leave a family and you just feel like you don’t fit. So, you know, Bruce has done a great job of keeping guys together, keeping events going, keeping just, you know, just a casual spot at the room to be a part of the team still and part of that family. So Bruce has done a great, a great amount of work to do that. And I just got to continue and not drop the ball. Bruce, the godfather of the alumni, it would not be what it is today without Bruce. I feel like, as you said, but as I heard a few months ago, that you might be taken on this position, I couldn’t help but think about your relationship with Mr. Bobby Plager and obviously him being around every single day for all these years and what him and kind of carrying that torch and being a big part of that alumni meant to you. And perhaps maybe one of the reasons why you took the job. Yeah, the culture has been, you know, kind of handed down and, you know, maybe the original godfather would be Bobby. And but, you know, just all the guys before him, you know, the the Sutter’s, you know, the Plaggers, you know, Rhett Berenson and Al Arbor and all these guys that kind of founded the team really instilled to the next generation. The generation after that is is how you conduct yourself. You be part of the community. You be a good person. You be a great teammate. And, you know, success will come. You know, you’ll have some ups and downs. But if you stay consistent with with your attitude and, you know, how you you kind of carry yourself, you’ll have success in the long run. And, you know, Bobby had that down and, you know, Bruce has done that. And, you know, Big Walt, you know, did that for me with with Al and Prongs and Dougie and Melonby, all these guys. And then I was just, you know, basically just to carry on that to guys like Petro and, you know, and Vlady. And and now there’s, you know, the next crop of Snuggeroo and Dvorsky. And, you know, all these young guys are coming in that have to learn, you know, the right way to conduct yourself and to wear that blue note. Jax, did you recognize when you were playing? Because you said the alumni started in 88 with Bruce Affleck. Did you recognize how big that was when you were a player versus how big it is today for the players? You saw the guys and I always enjoyed hanging out with the older guys. Like, you know, you walk into a room and you meet Perry Turnbull and all sudden like you’re, you know, your gut wrenching, laughing the entire time. I was going to say. Yeah. And, you know, there’s so many guys that you’re around, you know, Larry Petey, that, you know, big smile on his face, but you get them on the ice, you might get a stick in the eye. You know, Rob Ramage, his personality, Jeff Brown, just guys that were always around that, you know, you enjoyed, you know, when you saw them. And we used to have lunches with the alumni and, you know, Steiner and Army have, you know, done a really good job since COVID, trying to bring that back. And but just just to learn the history and see guys that have played before, you see some old highlights of, you know, the grainy video. And then all of a sudden you get to, you know, see John Wentzicks, big, big mustache in a room. That’s fun for me. That’s the history of the game. And, you know, as a player, you kind of you get it. But when you retire and you start to learn more about these guys, too, it’s it’s pretty cool to be a part of. And now, you know, I have to do a really good job of bringing those stories out and, you know, continue the legacy of the guys that built this franchise. I go back to really quick to one thing he said. That’s no joke. Those alumni games are those just games that you guys play. You’d think that it’s just guys going out there having a fun time playing ponhagi. It is intense. Like I’ve been there before hearing the yelling on the bench or seeing some of the the wax that take place. There’s no jokes with the Blues alumni when they hit the ice together. No, there’s there’s two teams out there. One is the the blue team and our alumni skates. And the other one is the the gray team. And the blue team is always going to win. We don’t always. But if we lose, we’re coming for you the next one. So there’s a competitive nature. You know, it’s all fun and games. It’s just, you know, going on the ice and and staying in shape. But after a while, you know, you can’t can’t help but resort back to your your plane days and try and get that puck. OK, I have a question now. Who is on this gray team? Because that doesn’t sound the roster. Either it sounds like a really good team or a really not good time. I’m not sure which one. Maybe it’s both. You’ll find out when you hear the names. So who is this? It’s on the team that you play. Are these just like college guys or what is it? You know, I’ve actually Scott Rupp. Give him a shout. He’s done. He’s been a friend of the alumni for, geez, probably 150 years. He’s not old like that. Yeah. But he comes out. He skates, he organizes a lot of the the alumni skates and helps make sure there’s goalies and people that are there. But he’s been out there forever and he’s always been on the gray team. And he’s taken a lot of losses over the years. But he enjoys it. Not all the gray team enjoy losing as much as they do. But it is a chance to stay in shape and have some fun. So this is like the Globetrotters and the Generals, right? Every time the great team shows up, it’s like, we got to lose again. And I wanted to know, like when Paul Stassney comes back to town, does somebody have to sign them? Like you recruit them? Oh, we have. Yeah, no, no, no. Yeah, we just submitted another signing on, I think it was September 2nd. Robert Bortuzo. Oh, he’s now back. So we were our blue team is continuing to get better and better. People on the gray teams like if another blue retires. Well, we there is. I mean, we’re a couple of weeks away here from this upcoming hockey season, training camp getting started. You know, Barrett, I would love to know what you think about this team going into the season and specifically as a player. What is it like to have have to have spent the last two or three months knowing that you lost game seven the way that you did to the Jets in a series that you absolutely could have won? How is that percolating over the summer as well? So kind of a two parter there. Yeah, I love the look of the blues right now, the mix of young and old. And like you said, the percolating of what happened, I’m sure for the first three weeks after that happened, there was a lot of pissed off guys and, you know, why looking at video and kind of seeing what went wrong and and being bad. And then there’s kind of that period where, you know, you’re training, you’re not really thinking about it, you’re just focused on the next year. And then you kind of get back into town and every podcast radio station TV is talking and asking that question of, you know, you guys were so close. How are you going to be better? So it’s right back into their mind. And I’m sure they’re going to be pissed off going into camp. And the coaching staff, I know they’re looking at every every angle, every every inch to to get the competitive edge and get better. And the players are going to come in with that mentality to their spots up for grabs. There’s guys competing for playing time. And I think it’s going to be a very competitive year. You know, we call the players out to the locker room, just a few of them to talk after each game. Jack’s told me one time he only got pulled out after loss. It was never, hey, how about that win? Right? Every time. Yeah, no. Yeah, they would go to all the the goal scorers, all the big name guys. And I don’t want to talk. I didn’t play very well. And so or or Richie or Dan would come up and be like, hey, Jack, I’m sorry, you got to do it again. Yeah, of course. You have to figure out the record, the amount of time to put your pants on and get your clothes on and get out of that locker room before they find you after a loss, because you know they’re coming towards you, right? There’s there’s a lot of hidden rooms in there. Yeah. Every time you see it open, you see guys like, oh, sure. You know, we talked to we talked to Jake neighbors a couple of podcasts ago and he told us that he started his media training when I think he was like 14 years old or something along those lines. Barrett, was it tough for you to learn sort of the media aspect of what was required of you or hoped of you as a player? Yeah, obviously, when I started, there wasn’t much. You know, there’s no social media. There’s a couple of cameras and the relationships with a couple of the just the the sports guys in town was very good. They, you know, they ask you the kind of the softball question and, you know, dig a little bit and then they would say, all right, we’ll see you tomorrow. And that was that was it. You go back to that. No kidding. But yeah, so, you know, I went to Regina, I was playing junior hockey at 16. So the media kind of started there for me. You know, be a writer and a camera in your face every once in a while. And then, you know, you get to the draft and you’re doing some more media stuff. And then, yeah, when you get to St. Louis, you know, as a young guy, you didn’t really get talked to. So you just kind of watch the older guys and what they did and try to, you know, not say anything stupid and, you know, getting shit the next day. So but yeah, no, these kids now there’s so many different avenues. There’s, you know, AI that can generate, you know, your voice. And make it look like you’re doing an interview. So I don’t envy what these kids have today. They have a lot more platforms to show their personalities. But there’s going to be a lot of stuff that, you know, can get them in trouble, too. So I came into the game at the right time and I left at the right time. I was going to say, you saw that starting to trend like as the seasons went on for you. Social media started to pick up and you saw a lot different coverage of teams than what it was when you first got into the league because you retired. What was it? 2016 or 17? Yeah. So it was like that was like that that was the peak of social media covering sports. Yeah. And it all came in just one big wave. It didn’t seem like it gradually came in. Twitter was kind of the first thing. And I got, you know, Bissonnette that kind of ran with it. But he got in trouble for the first probably year and a half that he did it. And so nobody really knew what was going on. And then all of a sudden they embraced it. And then this huge wave of, you know, all these podcasts and behind the scenes and TikTok trends and all these things that my kids have been showing me that I still don’t understand. Did you see some of the younger players that were getting into the league towards the end of your career? Did you see start like them, their personality starting to change a little bit around the game? Yeah, a little bit. You know, you kind of, you know, you had Ocean Berglund that were kind of those guys on our team that had that personality that, you know, as an older grumpy guy, you kind of sit there like, “Ah, they’re a little bit too out there.” But, you know, when they bring that energy every day, it was so much fun to be around. And they were just awesome people. And then now everybody’s kind of starting to get that, you know, freewheeling personality that, you know, it’s fun to see. It’s better for the game. It’s better to drive the product and get the young kids involved. Yeah, where I saw it change. It used to be walking to the locker room and Big Walt would say, “Ratherford, when are you going to write a story about me in the post-dispatch?” You know, it was a newspaper. And then, you know, it seemed like five years later you got guys, “Well, I said everything I wanted to say in my Instagram story today, so I don’t really need you to write a story about me.” Oh, sorry. What I always loved about it, too, just going back to what Jackman said of, you know, when you’re young, nobody wants to talk to you. And then the more you’re in the league, the more people are surrounding you. I always thought it was funny, those last couple of years in St. Louis, it was everybody’s going to the younger guys, right? The Oshis, the Berglins, the Perons. And then it would always just be Jack sitting in his locker. And like there’d be one person, like Bernie would be talking to him or Curbs would be talking to him. And me, this was like two years into it. I’m like, “Well, hell, if nobody’s going to go talk to Barrett Jackman, I’m going to go talk to Barrett Jackman.” So it gave you the opportunity to sit and like just talk hockey with those players. And what I found over the years, and J.R., I know you this as well, those guys love talking without the cameras in their face. They love talking without the recorders in their face because you don’t have to worry about all that stuff, right? You could actually have a conversation. Yeah, it’s the best thing about having a relationship with people in media is, you know, if you’re good to the people in media, they will never, you know, never hurt you. Even if you say something that, you know, may be controversial, they’ll be like, “I’m not going to write that down. I’m not going to, you know, put it in social media.” But, you know, there’s those people that kind of come in every once in a while just looking for the shock factor and looking to burn somebody and, you know, trend for the next 24 hours. So, you know, you always tell the young guys, it’s like, “Get the relationships, be a good person, you know, be accessible.” But, you know, you still got to watch what’s going on. All right. So this is what we’re going to do. This is the first time that we’ve ever done this. We’re actually going to pause the Last Minute Blues podcast, say, “Hey, we’re going to be back with more of a podcast in just a second, like a professional podcast.” We’re back with Barrett Jackman and the Last Minute Blues podcast. You know, one of the things that I find fascinating, and we’ve been talking about social media here for the last couple of minutes, but there is a really fine line, I would assume, with the team and with the players where it comes to, “All right, we want to give the fans what they want, but also we need some privacy here too.” And it seems like we’re still kind of trying to find the best mix. You know, when we do see, like, behind-the-scenes stuff, like when Prime did that video series a couple of years ago during the finals and you got to see Connor McDavid friggin’ lose his mind. You know, I think to myself, I love seeing that, but as a Blues fan, I don’t think I’m going to see that because I just don’t think that Doug Armstrong is going to let a camera into the Blues locker room for better or for worse. Guys, what, you know, how do you see this breaking down? The fans, they want more. They want to be in there. But obviously there needs to be some sort of privacy here. How do we find kind of the perfect world where, you know, the fans get the access that they want, but the teams also get the privacy that they deserve and also need because there is a plan. There are things that, you know, don’t need to get out there. Well, now what I always love too, just to add on to that, Jax, hockey is such a respected sport that the guys, it’s such a close-knit group that they don’t want everything out there, right? Like it’s a bond, whereas like in the NFL, everything’s out there 24-7, whether it’s hard knocks or things that are following them in the middle of the season, hockey just has that to where it’s like it’s a close-knit bond that we have this and then the fans can see this. Yeah, it is. Like you look at the story of Joe Buu, you know, I think it was more intriguing that they didn’t say anything, but everybody in the locker room knew exactly why he was there, where he came from, but that was their thing and I love that. In the NFL, a guy gets hurt in the field and right away, the reporter’s right there, he’s like, “Okay, well, he has a broken toe. He might be back. He might not be.” But it’s just up to the second. In the locker room, you break your ribs, you go into the room, you come back out and you play and the only ones that know about are the guys that are in the battle beside you and you have the respect for that. And it’s not a big thing where, “Oh, it’s a side show because so-and-so is playing hurt because everybody’s playing hurt.” So it’s just more about that, being in the locker room, knowing what guys are going through to play and to get up and to help the team. I like that. I like the inside jokes. The stories within the locker room that people will never know, and those are the stories that you’ll bring up 30 years down the road. I remember when you played that game with this or that and nobody knew about it. And maybe 30 years from now, you’re sitting on a panel at a golf tournament and you bring it up and people are like, “Oh, yeah, I kind of remember that 30 years ago.” Or you could bring them up now on a podcast. If you went away from the game long enough, almost 10 years, Jack’s not the time to do it, right? I’m getting close to that. He brings it up though, he’s right, like the herd of cattle, the media, we will go into the locker room after the game. “Oh, you lost so-and-so tonight. He might be a… Yeah, we don’t know yet.” When they have the smirk on their face where it’s like, or you talk to the guy that was injured. And it was something because it kept him up for a period and the guy’s like, “No, I’m good.” And it’s like everyone else around there is like, “Yeah, he wasn’t good. He was barely hanging out by a thread.” Yeah, his finger was going the wrong way. Yeah. But he was good. I know listening back to that Walt story of when Oshi hit him in the mouth, it cracks me up every single time because he’s talking about how much pain he was in and then he talks about how he’s in the back with the doctors and then Jansen comes in and he’s like, “Hey, let me see it.” And then he reacts the way you’re not supposed to react. It’s like, “Oh, that’s hockey players for you right there.” So, Barrett, with this season coming on, with your new role as the director of alumni, what are you doing? What’s the day-to-day like for the position in which that you have? I wake up, you decide if you’re going to go to the office or not. God, what a gig. That’s a great gig. Donnie’s gig. I wish, man. I wish. So, I’ve decided when I go down to the office that I get to carry on Bobby Plager’s tradition of going in and bothering Mike Caruso for at least an hour. Every day I’m in the office. But yeah, just helping. Maddie Nash is working with me with the alumni and she’s the true… Tyson’s daughter. Yeah, it’s Tyson Nash’s daughter and she’s the true cattle wrangler of trying to get the alumni where they’re supposed to be and help organize all this. But yeah, just trying to raise funds to help different charities. We try and advance some elite hockey players and get scholarships. The cost of hockey is through the roof and we’re trying to ease that burden on some families. Help out with first responders, police, firefighters, just different charities around. There’s a lot of people that need help quietly and so we do a lot of that. So, raising money, managing our alumni suite, just different appearances that we’re asked of. So, there’s a lot of stuff that’s very meticulous and just scheduling, but it’s been good so far. What are those games like, Jackson, the alumni suite? Every time I go in there, you see somebody you haven’t seen for a while. It’s always a fun group of people, but I have to imagine it’s an open door policy for former players for alumni that want to come in and hang out with everyone, right? Yeah, it’s funny. In between periods, you see probably about 30 people you haven’t seen before. There’s a lot of different players from around the league that aren’t just Blues alumni, but NHL alumni that are either scouts or in media and that. So, they always float over in between periods when they’re not scouting and checking it out. And I think everybody’s just amazed at how big our alumni association is in St. Louis, how involved we are, and with our alumni suite, which the Blues have been amazing, helping us out with that. Yeah, they’re just amazed at what we have access to and how we utilize it. Jack, a couple of Blues questions. One, you’re as close to Alexstine as anybody. When he was hired, there was some reaction, not a lot, but some, that said he doesn’t have any GM experience. I think Tom Stillman even said it at the podium. He said that when Doug came to me, my first reaction was he doesn’t have any experience. My response to anybody who said that was this guy just drips hockey knowledge. I mean, it doesn’t matter. This guy will figure it out. He has the knowledge in every single category you need. Can you see Alexstine, you see him at practice every day, he’s preparing for this job, it’s nobody’s business. Why is he going to be ready for it in a year and why do you think he’s going to be successful at this? Just the conversations we’ve had over the years of being teammates, we spent a lot of time on bad teams, on good teams, and just sitting there late night in a hotel room, him and I just having conversations. He gets every aspect of the game. He gets the guys in the minors that are important of filling holes. He gets the training staff, just how the family is in the locker room. He gets the coaches dynamic. He gets all the resources, the chef, the meals in the rooms, the travel, and he sees the game better than anybody I’ve met. He picks out little things. Stick position, he sees skating ability, and then he sees hockey IQ. He’s got the formula of if your feet aren’t very fast, but your hockey IQ is here, so this is where you fit. Like he said, he drips hockey knowledge. He drips GM. When he does take over, he’s going to do an amazing job. It’s amazing to me that you just said, and I don’t know if you guys caught this. I’m sure you did because you’re a journalist, but Barrett, you said of Alexstine, best hockey knowledge anyone you’ve ever met. Yeah, he’s, he’s, I mean, I would assume Barrett, you’ve met a lot of freaking guys with a lot of freaking hockey knowledge, so that’s why that freaking blows me away. That’s incredible. Yeah, he’s, you know, he’s right up there. He really does. He sees so much. He doesn’t let it all out and he could see, he’s always thinking, he’s always observing, and that’s what good, you know, managers do. And, you know, an army’s the same way. Army sees things and he thinks three or four different steps ahead of most people. And it’s just, and I know Steener has been learning so much from army and Tim Taylor and Dave Taylor, all these guys that work around and Al McInnes and Melanby, you know, Steener is just a sponge. Like he’s not afraid to ask questions and learn from, you know, the amazing hockey minds that are around them too. Absolutely. Let’s take a second break. Come back with more of the Last Minute Blues podcast and our guest, Barret Jackman. Question for you here, Barrett, one of the biggest keys of this season is going to be the play of a very young defenseman in Logan Mayhew. Can you sort of talk about what is in store for this young man because I mean It’s a situation as a fan the way that I see it. Bubba, we’re not looking for you to come in here and and apply our hope to be the sixth guy. We’re here for you to come in and look like a player like almost right away. Is that sort of an unfair thing for us to think of the young defenseman? What’s going to be the learning curve for him? You know kind of what do you see for this guy that’s got all of this potential and is really now going to get a chance to fully put it on display. Yeah, it is a little unfair. We don’t do that in St. Louis, right? Perrico, Pronger. Yeah, that’s not us. With the beauty of, you know, Kessel and Tucker and you know some of these guys that have already kind of proven themselves, he doesn’t have to step in and be a savior. He’s not, you know, if he’s not, you know, five or six, there’s guys that will take those roles. So, you know, and that’s nice for him. He has the luxury of coming in and learning a new system, learning, you know, new new D partners, new teammates, new coaching staff. He’s probably going to be uncomfortable for a little bit and that’s just the way it is. And I don’t know the kid. I’ve never been around him. I’ve heard great things about him. Yeah. So if he comes in and he, you know, he takes that, you know, workers mentality of coming in, putting in the work, he has the opportunity of being a five, six, or maybe even a top four by the end of the year. But he doesn’t have to be and that’s the beauty of, you know, of the construction of the team is we have guys that have proven themselves that maybe haven’t had a lot of experience, but have taken advantage when they have been in the lineup and Tucker and Kessel. So we’ll, you know, we’ll see what Mayu is, but we don’t have to, you know, be the savior. I’m going to temper my expectations. I’m settling down. I got it. I remember that two weeks from now. We won’t forget that along those lines, Jax. I had to put together a story this past week where you project the blues line. I know you love these gimmicky stories. You had to project the blues lineup in 2028 29. Now where you going? Well, I was going to say, I thought you were going to have like six year olds on this lineup. I got a youth hockey question here in a minute, but I had to project the line about three years from now. And it’s so hard because the blues have some good young defensemen coming in with a Lucas Fisher and Adam Yuracek and and also Linstein, Theo Linstein came in too. You know, those guys even in three years, they’re only going to be 21, 22 years. Like is it fair for us to think that those guys could be part of this lineup in a couple years? It’s so tough and that’s why the draft is such a crapshoot. You’re almost guaranteed like your first second rounders are going to play a few games at least. And then after that, you never really know. It’s hard to judge a kid at 18 and project them at 23. Where their life takes them, what roadblocks they’ve had, what injuries they’ve had. So that’s kind of a tough job of a lot of people. And that’s why you might hit on two years from now, you might be in a rebuild. So it’s pretty good. I talked about it before, like Army is always looking to improve. And these guys, they’re not afraid to trade a pick or a couple of these guys that you think are in the lineup to get somebody that’s right now. And hoping you win. So yeah, it’s, you know, I think Bortuzo was the last guy I played with on the Blues and, you know, it was nine years ago. So, yeah, it’s ever changing and it always will be. Was there a age or amount of games where you felt comfortable in the league, Jax? Because I mean, they say defensemen take longer to develop than forwards at the NHL level. But I mean, you come in, you’re playing with Al McEnnis and Chris Pronger, you win Rookie of the Year. But did you still feel comfortable that Rookie or did it take you some time? Yeah, you know, when I was 18, I thought I had a chance to make the team and I came in and, you know, things didn’t work out. And, yeah, back then, you didn’t take an 18-hole defenseman. You let him grow and you let him develop. And then the next year I came in and, you know, I had a broken finger in training camp and, you know, I thought maybe I had a chance. And, you know, even when I was 20 years old, I thought maybe I was there, but I realized I wasn’t. And, you know, when it came up at the end of my 20-year-old year, played one game and then one game in the playoffs, you know, I felt I was close and then playing with Al for a full year. Like, that’s a pretty good development year. Al who? But that’s, yeah, I think he was my dad. But, yeah, I know you have that year of learning and being, you know, next to, you know, one of the best defenseman ever play the game. That got me developed. That made me, you know, comfortable and, you know, continued on. So, you know, sometimes a young guy just needs the right mentor to bring you along. And I was lucky enough to have that. I saw this little article here the other day, not even an article. It was a post and it was talking about best players from a quote unquote non traditional hockey markets. And the Kachuk boys were up there with St. Louis mentioned. Here’s my question to the panel, including Barrett Jackman. How many friggin guys do we need to get into the NHL and be good players in the NHL before we are considered a legit hockey market and not a non traditional hockey market? Because the way that I see it and I’ve lived here my entire life, this sport has boomed in this town and it continues to get bigger and bigger and bigger every year. There’s somebody from St. Louis going into the NHL. What do we got to do? What do we got to do to get a little respect that post much benefit? Non traditional itself. I mean, you think you put it on the map when what was it? Six kids in the first round that were all drafted from St. Louis or it might have been seven. You think it was five. First round in the goalie in the second. And the goalie in the second round. That’s right. You’d think that would be the moment that they take the non traditional hockey market off of the label. I could also see this as being something that only gets me mad as the fan and it really doesn’t even really matter at all. I could see that too. Well, we should ask the guy who is a former NHL player who has a stud son who plays hockey and also baseball. He’s like a Bo Jackson. Tell us what you’re talking about. Son, is he going to play in one of the leagues? Yeah, that would be nice. A long, long road ahead. But, you know, he enjoys playing both sports right now. He plays a high school ball at Kirkwood. Keaton. Yeah, Keaton. Yeah. And then he plays in his club team during the summer of the US Nationals and then the triple A blues and, you know, a little high school hockey in there as well. So, yeah, he went to a NHL camp a few weeks ago. So, you got a taste of the next level. You know, if he keeps working hard, he might be on that path. Yeah, I was going to ask you. We were in Nashville this past weekend for a tournament for my son, 12 years old, and we played the Nashville Junior Predators triple A team. And on the other team is Marchessot. It’s Jonathan’s kid. And so we have a situation where our defenseman puts his hand on the puck in the crease and they word the penalty shot. And there goes a Marchessot number 81 to center ice. And Andy Deeks, our goalie made a great effort, but he scores the goal and Jonathan’s in the crowd. So I just wanted to ask you, what’s that like to be an NHL guy, see your son out on the ice playing well, and you just obviously you’ve been there every step of the way for him and just to see him succeed. Yeah, it’s fine. Like every one of those kids, you know, I’d say probably about 65 percent of them I’ve been with for probably the last six years. And it’s awesome just to see, you know, the success. We have a really good team again this year and we have a good chance of finishing pretty high in the national rankings and go to nationals. So but just the work that they put in, we’ve we practice hard. We aim in its sheets, you know, practices three days a week and then, you know, games on weekends. And, you know, they’ve had Jim Montgomery as a coach. They’ve had Alex Steen come and talk to him in the locker room. The Kachuk boys and Big Walt devolved. You know, I’ve seen them play multiple times. And David Perron came in Detroit and said hi to him. You know, Shenner O’Reilly, all these guys, they are kind of around this hockey thing. I don’t know if they understand how cool it is to have some influences around them. But now they they work their their butts off and they’re they’re very dedicated and just, you know, along for the ride right now. That goes back to the question that Donnie asked in terms of just the market itself. Like you’ve seen the boom of youth hockey in St. Louis. And a lot of that circling it back to talking about the alumni. Absolutely. Is because of that when you’ve got Jackman or you’ve got Jeff Brown or you’ve got Jamal Mayers and Joe Vitale that are coaching these guys. Like these kids are getting to work with these NHL former players and get to be around the atmosphere more so than other kids get that opportunity. Yeah, we get Alex Brooks is the head scout of the Chicago Blackhawks. He’s got a couple of kids that have been through the system and he’s in a room all the time watching these kids. And you know, and you had Neil Komodowski is a scout with Vancouver and he’s you know, he’s around these kids. And I think everybody in St. Louis and especially in the hockey community realize that this is this is a traditional town. Hockey has been staples in sixty seven. And I don’t know how long traditions are. Take it to, you know, kind of to warrant a traditional thing. So but yeah, Hawkins and Lewis is thriving and it’s fun to be a part of. Take 70 years. We got 73 Jack. That’s the number is you got to wait till you get there before you call yourself traditional. Well, gentlemen, I think it’s probably about time that we we wrapped this up. Mr. Jackman carry on with the media tour today. Absolutely. So do we miss anything? Anything we know, you know, the one that we’ve since we’re talking about youth sports and local sports and kind of where it went. Did you always know that the Kachuk brothers were going to dominate the national hockey league the way that they have? I thought they were going to be the bash brothers playing on the scene. Watching them play shitty hockey in the clubhouse after after a game, you assumed. Yeah, I was a black ace and me and Matt Walker were standing there after a playoff game and the boys came flying in that I don’t even know if they could talk at this point. And they came in and they had gloves on and had their mini sticks flying into the change room. And they looked at each other, they dropped their their gloves and they started punching each other in the face. Hard as they could. And me and walks were just sitting there like, are we supposed to do something about this? Like, we’re not parents. We don’t know. That’s pretty sure that’s Keith Kachuk’s kids. They both got sevens on their jersey. And then all of a sudden, Walt walks around the corner in his robe and he goes, hey, knock it off. My kids stopped and they picked up their gloves, went back in and started playing. So I would have thought they were going to be fighters. But seeing those two grow up, they were on the ice for warm up with us before practices and see them after. And I don’t know how they made it without going to school. But now they’re just and just great people. Chantel has raised two amazing boys and Taryn with their daughter to so much fun to be around. They’re so caring. They give time for everything. Whether it’s a hospital visit, talking to kids, and they’re generally interested and excited, asking about my boy and asking about our whole team. It’s not just my boy. It’s like, hey, how was that kid? I remember this kid and that. They really care about everybody around them. And it’s just cool to be a part of that. So what Jax was saying was he and Matt Walker saw what everyone saw in the Four Nations Face Off game. Yes. With those guys just dropped the miss from Face Off. Hey, and speaking of great people, I don’t know if Jax wants me to tell the story, but it’s one of my favorites. Twenty one years covering the blues. So look at Jax. I was like, wait a minute, which one is this? So, you know, one of the tough parts of the job is writing about contracts and contract negotiations and things like that. And I think he had a contract due and I put a few paragraphs in the post dispatch at the time and he just kind of grabbed me and took me off to the side and he said, hey, listen, you know, I know you got a job to do. It’s tough because hockey money is what it is. And everybody knows these guys get paid. But there are auto mechanics and guys who work in cubicles and teachers and women teaching and they’re making X and they’re paying a good portion of that salary to come sit up in the 300 level and watch us play. And I just hope that, you know, the less we can talk about the numbers, the newspaper, when we have these hardcore blues fans coming to games, paying their good, hard earned money to watch us play. Make me feel a little better. So you owe me one. I took it out. No, you already printed it. I already printed it. Yeah, already printed. But anyway, that’s the kind of person you’re dealing with here in the new alumni director, a guy who is very, very mindful. Yeah. Well, when I saw the blues tweet out that you were taking over and we kind of had the idea of it, I tweeted out that I truly meant it. Like you were a gem of a human being. You were an incredible person to be around covering the team. And I love the fact that we get to see you around. Not that we haven’t before, but now you’re going to be around with all these alumni and all these events, which is fantastic. Well, just as a fan, if I could from a fan Barrett, I just always loved it when you were on the ice. You always look like the meanest son of a bitch out there. And also, too, you were just another one of those St. Louis lunch pail guys, man. You worked hard. We saw you do it and we appreciated it so much. I think I’ve told you this before, but if not, my dad and I used to always have a internal joke between us to where anytime somebody would have, you know, in the scrums, post whistle, something would happen. You’d see a glove in another team’s face. My dad always would be like, that’s Jackman. That’s Jackman’s glove. Like he was stinky. But he would always make sure that if he’s not in the middle of the scrum, somebody was going to smell his hockey men. And I loved it about it. And now we can interview you after losses. Yeah. Yeah, I can’t wait. I’ll get you for post game on only losses. I’ll come find you or I’ll get Caruso to find you. Make it like old times. Yeah, that’d be perfect. Jacks, thanks again, man. This is great. An absolute blast of a podcast. Barrett Jackman, your new director of alumni for the St. Louis Blues for Alex Ferrari from 101 ESPN, Jeremy Rutherford from the athletic. I’m Donnie Fandango from one of five seven. The point you do not have to boo yourself. This is the last minute blues podcast brought to you by Blue Note Roofing roofing, citing and gutters, your St. Louis roofing experts, Blue Note Roofing, STL dot com for a free inspection. Thanks as always for listening. And let’s go, Blues. 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