So Greg Mishinsky, I'm very glad to be talking to you today because I have to admit that my preparation for this NHL season has mostly just been humming the NHL ESPN theme song on repeat to myself as I walk through my neighborhood.

It's so good. It's Pavlovian for you, I imagine, too.

Yeah, because I'm a Gen Xer, and I grew up watching The Deuce and watching Bucci Gras on NHL tonight.

Because the thing about the NHL's return to ESPN that I didn't anticipate until it happened

was this incredible groundswell of nostalgic joy that bubbled up in hockey fans.

Hockey fans are like, this feels right.

I also didn't anticipate how exciting it would be for me to have so many new friends.

Like all of a sudden, the people that I'm working with on a daily basis have expanded exponentially.

And I have to tell you, I was speaking with my new coworker, Mark Messier, the other day.

Oh, here we go.

I was going to say, when is VIP Wyshinsky going to show up to this podcast?

And we were having a laugh because when we all sat down in Chicago for this big all hands-on deck,

let's meet the NHL crew meeting.

You know, there's all of these presentations from us and from the league and the whole thing.

And I said to Messier, I'm like, I couldn't help but notice that you and Chris Cellios were just sitting in the back of the room, like the two cool kids in class.

And he's like, well, you're the cool kids in class. And I'm like, well, are the cool kids in class?

And I'm not going to disagree with whatchamese.

Yes, the NHL is finally returning to ESPN tonight after 16 long years apart,

which means that we now turn to our in-house expert,

Greg Wyshinsky, to catch you up on everything you need to know before Pucks drop about the two-time champion Lightning, the newly released Seattle Cracken,

and Ovechkin and Crosby and the one-time cool kids, who have since aged into grizzled, possibly record-setting vets.

I'm Pablo Torre. It's Tuesday, October 12th. This is ESPN Daily.

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