Ep. 372 (5/9/25): Special Guest - Michael Santos: Longtime NHL Front Office Executive

In this special episode, Joey has the honor of being joined by Michael Santos, a longtime NHL front office executive. They start off by talking about his love for the game of hockey and his time as a collegiate hockey player at Boston College in the 1980s (1:12). From there, Santos provides a look into his breakthrough into the NHL as an intern for the league office in New York City (15:02), which later led to a full-time job in Special Events for the NHL. Santos mentions his contribution to the inaugural NHL Skills and Hardest Shot competitions during the 1990 All-Star Weekend. Following that, Santos gives insight into his time as the Assistant General Manager and Director of Hockey Operations for the New York Islanders (32:33), Florida Panthers, and Nashville Predators. During this segment, Santos highlights a few of his top acquisitions and points out the difficulties that come with operating under a budget and a salary cap. Santos gives a behind-the-scenes description of a new software that he has developed called "Team 33," which will give hockey fans the chance to be the General Manager of their favorite team (52:44). This leads into Santos discussing some of the qualities he looked for in a player (1:10:05) and his thoughts regarding analytics. At the end, Santos speaks about being a professor for multiple institutions (1:17:28), including Georgetown University and Boston College.