um, I would guess up until like two years ago, you probably figured you would spend the rest of your career um in Raleigh um and you know, everyone in their life, regardless of their status gets thrown curveballs and especially in this business you get thrown curveballs and that's kind of what happened to you. Um and dealing with that I'm sure is heavy at first, but I guess it's something that you would gradually get over um talk about navigating that the last couple of years, it wasn't easy and I had a hard time with it at first And it lasted awhile, so right away it did in the summer of 2020 and then I went to the NHL bubble for 72 days and did all of that. And then last season worked independently for NBC, you know, without a team until, you know, I was presented with a couple of opportunities and this one here was an opportunity of a lifetime in a career. So I was able to grab and I thank God that I've been able to get this chance at this stage of my career, there are no guarantees. As you know, in this business, there's no guarantees that um number one, you'll be in a place forever, which I kind of thought that was a possibility. But when that didn't happen, then there's always that thought of we ever land another job. And even though people tell you, hey, you're gonna be just fine, that's a nice thing to say. But the realistic realistic part of that doesn't necessarily always happen, so you can't take it for granted and I didn't and now the time has marched on and I'm here and I feel like this is a second home in, in a new beginning, a new chapter of my professional life, I'm by it, you know, I'm 100% into what we're doing here with the Seattle Kraken. Um I'm happy to still be involved the NHL and some national stuff, which is good. Um and I've I've weaned myself out of there um and I need to, I have to, because you have to look forward, you can't look back, but it's hard, it's hard to not look back at something, you know, two plus decades that you are part of. Um and we raised our family there and we have a lot of friends and our life is there, you know what I mean? So not only do you lose your position, but you kind of lose your life in a way, but life as you say, brings you twists and turns, You have to navigate them, you have to turn it into a positive and I think we have mhm your family, your kids are still in north Carolina. Yeah, well my my oldest Erica is on the staff at Clemson, she works for Clemson University, she got her masters there and she's um she works in the academic department there. Um My son right now works for USa baseball Matthew and the counting arm of that operation, he's aspiring to go to law school and he will next year, he's determining where he's going to go. So he's local in the area and then keras, our youngest and she's a senior friendship high school um soon to be determined where she goes on to college. So that's what we're going through at home. Yeah, I understand all the popular catchphrases that you used here in Carolina, that talking baby and hey, hey, hey understand they're still with you. Um was that, yep, was that something you were dead set on carrying with you or what did you think about that or? Oh yeah, they're in my, in my briefcase. I took them with me and, and you know the, hey, hey, what do you say is very personal. I've been asked about it, I've talked about it. It's, it's a tribute to my, my late father Who passed away at the beginning of my career when I was 22 in 1985. Um and so that's a link between the two of us and I've, I've used that ever since my minor league days. The other one's organically came out over time and some of them work. Uh you know, no matter where you are, some of them are connected to the team, but the one that I've taken here is that's cracking hockey right? And I kind of tag our winds with that. I tag my tweet twitter feed with that because it's not just about the game, it's about our community involvement and things of that nature, which is probably something that most people know of uh from my career there in Raleigh that the community was very much a part of what I like to do. Um your thoughts on like the, the, the NHL tv deal this season, that includes games on TNT and abc and ESPN. Um do you have any strong thoughts or opinions on that? Well, I thought we did an excellent job at NBC, of course I'm biased there, but I thought they did, even before I became more prominent with them, I thought they were doing a great job with the product, had it for a long time. Life changes though. And all of these, all of these entities were looking at the NFL first and what they were going to do and once NBC went all in to retain sunday night football and super bowls and so on, billions of dollars was allocated to that. Um everybody tried to figure out, you know what they would do with the NHL and the NHL coming off the pandemic was in desperate need to take the rights fee annually to a high level and they were hoping to get it even higher than it is, but when you get to over 600 million as opposed to 200 million between ESPN and Turner, that's a home run for the owners and so in a, in a gate driven league where ticket revenues are really the sole power behind every franchise. Um television money is not as large as it is with other sports, you got to grab as much as possible. So I think they've done a nice job, I think they're trying to make it a little bit different. I'm happy I have a small role right now in what we're doing. I hope to get back a little bit more into it as time marches on. But I had to make a decision and I think if NBC had retained the rights, I probably would have been in a more prominent role than I am now. But I'm also happy it worked out this way because I needed to get every ounce of my energy involved in this because we're not only starting a new franchise, we have a new network that they're relying on me for a lot of insight in terms of how we do the games, how the games are produced. I have a brand new partner that I'm breaking in. J. T. Brown has done a remarkable job in a short period of time coming off his playing career. So I'm glad that all of my energy is here. Mhm. And you mentioned your partner J. T. Now, you get your obviously pretty comfortable with Tripp Tracy there for two decades and you know, we we all love a trip for his particular brand of insight and commentary. Um but then, you know, you get a new partner and you have to develop a new rapport and chemistry with him. What's that been like? It's been great. You know, I told him right from the beginning, the first thing we have to do is forge a friendship and that's easy to say and hard to do. And I wasn't sure based on our age difference, how that would work out. We didn't know each other, I had covered him, but I really didn't know Jt at all. We've become really good friends. Um he's a hard worker, he's got natural talent and I see us developing the same way trip and I did over a number of years, you know, we became like brothers there. Um, we fed off of each other our personalities and I told Trip many, many years ago because he was kind of in a similar spot when he was new, he was trying to be somebody else other than himself. I told him just be yourself and I told Jt the same thing, you be you and I'll be me and we'll go places and that's what happened, you know, with Tripp and I and I think that's happening here too, is that, you know, I'm comfortable because I'm allowed to be me, you know, they brought me in here is this veteran broadcaster with a new team, I got a brand new partner in his first year doing this, being a broadcaster. Sometimes that transition is not easy for ex players, but he has really applied himself similar to the way trip did over the years. He just, he just got out of the league right, he's Venus 30s or Yes, he's 32 I believe. And he um played in Sweden last year. So through the pandemic, his last season in the National Hockey League was the bubble season of 20 2021, which is basically 21 because we started in January. Um, he played in Sweden. So he, he did an audition with me from Sweden while he was playing over Zoom as the first time we ever did. We did a full period, oddly enough, it was Carolina Tampa that we did um because they wanted to get him familiar. He played in Tampa for a number of years, played with a lot of those guys. So he was familiar a little bit with them, but he was prepared, did a great job and really we're having, we're having a great time here. We're having a great time with our broadcast? Had you spent a lot of time in Seattle before. It wasn't, it's not an NHL city before, you know, this year. Did you have any experience with Seattle? No great question. No, I've never been here and took the job site unseen because of the pandemic. So in the summer of 20, when I was available, there were two openings in the league, there was the new team in Seattle and there were the Tampa Bay Lightning Rick Peckham had retired and they were looking for a new broadcaster in November of 20, Tampa Bay approached me with an offer that to me just at the time wasn't right. Um it was going to cut into my national work a little bit and I really, you know, I had this conversation going with Seattle, they were great with me from the first day, you know, the first day that it broke down in Carolina and we decided that wasn't gonna work. Um basically they decided that, but when they decided that it wasn't gonna work, Ron Francis called me to see how I was, it had nothing to do with me getting the job, He wanted to know how the family was, how I was doing was really great to hear from him and he said, I'm going to turn you on to Tod Leiweke E the ceo of the crack and talk to him and I did and Todd was fantastic the first month or so. He just was like a friend who I had never met, who talked to me about the market here, but also talked to me about my career and where I was, he had gone through some stuff too, and this is the first time in my career that this had happened to me. So it was kind of different. And then, uh so the november came and went and then we got to december, that's when Seattle became very real. And they presented me with an opportunity of a lifetime, like I said, and a career and it was a very easy decision. And from that day forward, I felt like part of their family and you know what brian, I missed being part of a team. I never realized how much I enjoyed being a team broadcaster. I knew that I kind of evolved in this team broadcaster, national guy and then I thought maybe I would just do national work, but it's not the same. It's great to do that. I hope to do that again at some point and I will do something this year. But being part of a team and a direct connection with a fan base as an announcer. That's a tremendous reward and I missed it. It was like a vacancy in my life. I didn't even realize I had left and because I was just marching on, but now that I have it back again and I could connect with the fans of the Seattle Kraken. Um I realized how lucky I was there for a number of years and now I've got it again. Mhm I was about to ask was remaining your status as a national announcer. Was that important to you keeping that, keeping that work. Yeah, I worked a long time at that and, and and did a lot of extra games and lots of travel and part of it had to do with, you know, basically uh at the end of it at NBC before Doc Emrick retired. It was doc and Kenny Albert and myself and doc was trying to just kind of get himself in a position where you had to ease of travel a little bit At the stage of his career. We would pick up the slack for him and I was doing a lot of it, especially in the Western conference. And then as we got through the bubble, it was the same situation. Um but I was able to do a lot of big games, you know, three rounds of playoffs and you know, I did an outdoor game in Toronto in 2017, you know, I did, I did a lot of stuff there and I didn't want to lose that. But you know, those decisions happen and uh each rights holder ESPN and Turner had an idea where they wanted to go. Um I had some nice conversations with Turner before the season started, knew kind of what they were thinking. They want to know what I was thinking and what I was thinking. So here we are. I'm going to work for them next week in Vegas and colorado on Wednesday night, be a great game, Be good to get back with Eddie Olczyk and keith jones again. Um and then we'll see where it goes, we'll see what happens. You know, moving forward. I'm gonna do the stadium series game on NHL radio from Nashville at the end of the month Tampa Bay and Nashville outdoor game. Um They wanted me to do the Winter classic, but we had a game here in Seattle that I was going to miss. So that's basically where it's at. Speaking of outdoor games, it was recently announced for 2023. There will be a game at Carter Finley Stadium between the hurricanes and an opponent. Is that something with you being such a huge part of the problem? The team for years like is that something that you want to be here for? I'd love to be there for it. I'd love to work it if it's in the cards. Um whether it be on television or radio, who knows where everything is going to be then. Um But yeah, I'd like to come back under those circumstances. Um Again, it was always part of the dream there that we would get a national game in that market and kind of showcase everything that the hurricanes are about so good for them. I'm glad it finally happened. I hope that the weather cooperates. Um I worry that there's always a chance for rain. Uh and that's, you know, everybody says snow and everything, but I saw that the visual they put out with all this snow carter Finley. Now, if it snows as much as the promo, the game will never happen, right? So that's one thing uh, number two, if the, if the realism there is, is rain, you know, and ice and, and that's the one thing if they get it, just a nice cool 40 35 degree day with some sun and it's going to be spectacular. Especially, you know, when the sun goes down and it's just gonna be like a football environment with tailgating and just a celebration of of that franchise. So good for them. Yeah. Do you feel the need, did you feel the need to like reinvent yourself any with the move to a new market and network and new environment or not at all? No. Other than reinvigorate myself. Um you know, that's what's happened here. I I really feel terrific, luckily my health is good. Thank God. Um, but I have energy again. Um that, that situation at the end took a lot out of me. Um I had energy doing national games, but when you do national games, you have nothing vested in it, you know, your other than your career And who you're working for and you want to do a good job and you want to make sure you're prepared on both sides and 5050 the broadcast, but when you're completely vested for a franchise and they treat you with the amount of respect the Kraken have treated me with it's absolutely invigorating. That's the best word I can use to describe it. Um Seattle comes to Raleigh on March six I think, and that's coming up. Is that something you thought much about coming back for that game? Yeah, to be honest, I have, I'm uneasy about it. Um, I'm excited to get back there and and see a game. I have not been in the building, I was in the building over the All star break, I came home and my daughter performed at halftime at the Notre dame ST basketball game And I was in the building and I'm happy that that's the first time I came back into that building since February of 2020. I'm glad that was the kind of the baptism and, and now when I come back to work, I don't walk in for the first time, so I'm going to have a lot of emotion. I don't know how I'm gonna feel that day. Um, I know I have a job to do and that will take over and uh, I'll approach it that way. I think it's the best way, but it'll be good to get back and you know, see my family, it's unfortunate to back to back, we're in Washington the night before. Um, so we won't have an opportunity to get in there, have an off night, see some, see my family first and foremost for some real time, maybe some extended, you know friends and so on. That's not going to be the case, it's going to be come in, I'll probably get home for that that night in the morning and then have to go back to work and then we move on, then we go to Toronto from Raleigh. So it's kind of a quick hit in and out, maybe that's for the best. Mhm. Um you may have heard this little back and forth between ah hurricanes, Vincent Trocheck and brad Marchand of the Bruins, who is the Lamborghini of the Kraken? Who would you say the lamb of the Kraken is they don't have one yet? Yeah, they're still in the lot, they're still in a lot, you know, and, and the Lamborghini, hopefully matty buccaneers career, the first ever draft choices on team usa right now, hopefully his career will take him down that path. I truly believe that what you do get in terms of that is um a Lamborghini, you have to draft and develop it, Vegas has taken a different approach, Vegas had great success in their first year. They're Lambo does have come in the shape of trades and max Pacioretty huge signings with the, with Alex Pietrangelo, other players, they've added a big, huge trade where they mortgaged their future to get Mark Stone. Those are their luxury vehicles and I think Ron wants to do it in a way that he did in Raleigh where he built the foundation for that team, I watched that team play last night in boston and the first line, gets out there and, and you know, Sebastian, aho was drafted by Ronnie Table Tara, vinyl was traded for by Ron Francis marty nature's was drafted by Ron Francis. He had a hand in the contracts of Jacob Slavin and Brett Pesci in the drafting process of those two players. Yes, the new regime has done a nice job augmenting what they have and bringing in some of the players like you know, you've mentioned here and Vincent Trocheck being one of those, but Ron wasn't able to see it through and I think here he's going to be able to see his plan through and that's how they'll get to those high cash items, those players that you speak of, if you do it that way similar to the way florida's built, Carolina's built colorado is built right now, drafting and developing and paying a price to get there. That's what you have to go through. Are you noticing any tendencies yet about Seattle's fans about how they're taking to hockey? They have pro teams obviously. Um is there there is, is there a stage where you feel like some people are they're invested but maybe they're still like educating themselves and learning about the game. Um Well what are you noticing? Well there's some newness, there's obviously people that don't know but here they've had really high end junior hockey. So the western hockey league is here, the Seattle, Thunderbirds, the Everetts, silver tips, Spokane franchise tri cities. So people have followed those players as they marched on in the NHL so and there's, there's a pro hockey history here that dates all the way back to the, the early days of the Pre NHL Stanley Cup, they actually won a Stanley cup here in Seattle Back in and around, oddly enough, the Spanish flu, the for the pandemic of, you know, the right around 1912, right? Yeah, so that's kind of ironic. But anyway, um, so there's newness and there's tradition and you mentioned it's a sports market and it's a big city. And so because of that, you know, in Raleigh, we were the first protein in that market, rich, rich college history as you know, but a pro sport is totally different and that was a learning curve. People didn't get that, you know, they really didn't understand how there wasn't a new crop of freshmen coming in all the time, They didn't understand how that really worked. Um, but over time they have um, here they get it, there's also more pressure here. There's immense pressure on the team to find a niche, but with the Mariners and the Seahawks and you know, it's an area that will support high revenues in terms of the ticket prices and advertising the building right now is maxed out all the way, it's a high generator from a revenue standpoint, which is good for the NHL and that players pot, but they're going to have to work hard at it because I really believe the NBA will come back to Seattle and when that happens and you have to winter sports in the same building, you know, you're going to have to work hard to keep your fans in this honeymoon period. We're in right now. Amazon has naming rights, right? It's called, but amazon bought naming rights and they're pretty, that's right. He, he opted to, to put the climate pledge first and foremost. And when you enter the building you have, you get it right away. As soon as you walk in there are murals and led lighting and there's a, there's a living wall. There's a lot of things here at zero carbon, even the ice is made that way from the rainwater they collect from the roof. Um, it's, it's very interesting and so yes, that's uh, amazon did buy in for that, but elected to go with climate pledge, I'll ask you again since we, since you were kind of breaking up on me earlier. But what, what do you miss most about north Carolina? Well, what I miss most of my family. Right? And yes, the weather can be glorious. It can be a little bit more mild than it is here, especially, you know, some days in the wintertime where it rains consecutive days. Um, but that part of it hasn't gotten to me, I've really enjoyed where I live, I live out on the island Mercer Island right across from downtown Seattle. So it surrounds me and just being on the water kind of whether it's cloudy or not, there's a mystique for me, I love the water and I think that gets me through those dark days of winter. We're starting to get into our spring now, which is good. But the hard part for us and us is my family is that we're bicoastal right now and my daughter is a senior in high school at Apex Friendship and we're getting her through her last year. We didn't want to move her, obviously our entire lives are there. So my wife, Natalie is there and she's in charge of all of that and I'm trying to stay in charge of our professional life out here and it's it's it's difficult and I don't want to say it's a drawback or a negative because I don't view it that way, it's just a challenge to navigate through. And that's what we're doing right now because we were in Raleigh for so long. Um we didn't see this one coming, you know, we we didn't see this change of pace. I'm very happy that it did. I've moved on, Everything's great professionally. Um we're doing well as a family and we're getting through this, but that's the one thing that I really miss. No, I just I want to thank the fans, I've said it, you know, many times. I've tried to get it through various articles that have been written, but fans bring energy to me and that's what I have here now and that's why I feel like I said before, invigorated in in terms of what I'm doing, but I want to thank the fans who have been great to me um and the media who have been very respectful of me and I think we I still have great relationships with everybody there, I'll never forget it, but life takes a turn and where do you go, you go forward. So I'm not looking back at it. I look back with fond memories and I've gotten beyond some of the other feelings I had at first, but right now I think the most important thing is I'd like to leave it at that. I'd like to thank all those candy ax out there for giving me the support and the energy to to try and bring it every single game. I hope I did and I hope I made a difference in the community over time too, because that's a very important part of what I was all about there. I tried to make sure that I did my part to not only promote the team, but also be one with the community there, which is what we're doing here in Seattle and that's why this this situation is so um exciting for me because we have a strong community commitment here. Um it's far beyond whatever happens on the ice and and our messaging and what we stand for and who we reach in and around the community is is vitally important to us.