Mike Francesa on The Mike Francesa Podcast Photo credit: The Mike Francesa Podcast

Mike Francesa is infamous for his disinterest in the NHL.

His career highlights abound with comments showing his hockey apathy. Here’s a snippet from an exchange with a listener a few years back on Francesa’s former WFAN show.

Listener: “Can I get your take on the Rangers-Ducks game tonight?”

Francesa: “No. No you can’t. Because no one cares.”

So it came as a surprise to many fans Monday when The Mike Francesa Podcast host gave a Stanley Cup playoffs preview. Well, Francesa didn’t share his thoughts on the sport — he passed along some notes and predictions a couple of his golf buddies gave him.

“Now, it’s funny, I didn’t do anything on hockey because I hadn’t really watched any hockey yet,” Francesa said. “I did play golf last week with a couple of my hockey guys that I rely on, and I’ll just give you a couple of things they gave me before Game 1.”

His friends told him the New York Rangers would have no trouble with the Washington Capitals in their series.

“They said Washington shouldn’t even be in the playoffs,” Francesa said.

“They loved the (Carolina) Hurricanes. They thought the (New York) Islanders had very little chance against the Hurricanes.

“They also like the Florida Panthers a lot. And in the West they liked Edmonton a lot.”

Francesa later defended his golf-friends-talk-NHL segment, likely after seeing some negative feedback on social media.

“For those of you dumb enough to think I gave you some businessman’s hockey views. Those words of wisdom came from about 30-plus years of NHL experience,” he wrote on X/Twitter.

 

Maybe Francesa could turn this into a regular segment on his podcast, something like “Mike Francesa’s golf buddies talk hockey.” It might work, even if past attempts to bring in other people to talk about the NHL have sometimes backfired, as they did in this weird 2022 exchange with former hockey player turned broadcaster Joe Micheletti.

Some fans seemed amused at Francesa’s odd Stanley Cup preview Monday.

 

[Funhouse]

About Arthur Weinstein

Arthur spends his free time traveling around the U.S. to sporting events, state and national parks, and in search of great restaurants off the beaten path.