32 Thoughts: The Podcast

00:00 I was talking to somebody who works in the league the other day who made the point that we need to hear from Dom Moore on this podcast. 00:09 You like me right now. You like me. 00:13 His argument was. There's no way anybody said that. I'm telling you. 00:18 Let him cook. 00:20 They said Dom is the voice of the people. He's the voice of the fans. 00:23 Look at me. Sure. 00:25 Look at me, sure. I'm the captain now. 00:27 Was it a person that does not have hearing? 00:31 Do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth? 00:35 No. Well, when I spoke back to them, they understood what I was saying. So I think their hearing was okay. 00:43 So welcome to 32 Thoughts, the podcast. First edition of the month of November. However, with this new, I don't know what we're calling it, permanent daylight savings in some places, but in others not. I don't know if we're still stuck in October or how this all works. 00:56 I'm stopping you right here. This time thing, it sucks. 01:01 Okay? 01:02 I don't want to tie up the podcast. I've got a lot to get to. Yes. But these provinces and states... 01:09 It's idiotic what is happening. I have no idea what time anything is. I have no idea when games start. 01:16 I have no idea what's happening. But the various governments in North America have completely screwed this up. And please, God, come to your senses and fix this. It is insane what is happening in North America with these time zones. 01:34 Every day, every day, I don't think we can get dumber. And every day I'm proven wrong. 01:40 It's like Robin Williams in Jumanji. What year is it? 01:47 It's crazy. And you actually, you're still living in somewhat degree of normalcy in Toronto. You did wind the clock back an hour on Sunday and the rest of us out here. I'm in Alberta time and Dom's in whatever the new version of Pacific time is. 02:04 I'm going out to Alberta this week. I have no idea what time it's going to be. 02:08 No clue. You've got to fly for four hours and I don't know. I don't know what day of the week it'll be when you land here. 02:19 I can't even give you a guesstimate. But anyway. 02:22 So stupid. 02:23 There's Elliot. Dom's here as well. And all of this leads us to where we begin this edition of The Pod. And Elliot, you know the old saying you hear from general managers all the time, that... Two-time Hart Trophy winners, two-time Ted Lindsay Award winners, three-time Art Ross Trophy winners, and a guy who has also won two Stanley Cups. They just aren't available via trade. Those are ones you have to get in the draft. Now, we will see how available a trade is on this file, but this leads me to this was a stone-cold stunner on the rock level shocker. 03:00 Nikita Kucherov, and your report late on Friday night that not only has he informed the Lightning that he will not be resigning with them as he is due a new contract next summer, he has requested a trade. It has become the biggest story across the National Hockey League. So, Elliot, where would you like to begin? 03:21 Let's start with this. 03:23 You saw that video of Kucherov and Stamkos lining up for the opening face-off in Nashville on Saturday afternoon, the two of them smiling at each other? Yes, I did. We all did. 03:37 How many times this year do you think that Nikita Kucherov has started a game for the Lightning? 03:46 Now, off the top of my head, I would guess about half. But with the way you asked me that, I'm going to guess I'm nowhere close to being right. 03:57 Good stuff, because I would have guessed the same thing as you, but I went and I looked it up. 04:03 Two. 04:06 Two? Two. What was the other one? Seattle. Okay. He played the first shift. He had another game where he came on at four seconds. I assume that Cooper had a matchup he wanted, but he's only started twice, and that was the second time. Kudos. To John Cooper and Andrew Burnett, they knew the assignment. Cooper throwing Kucherov out there first because he's on the road. 04:36 He has to submit the lineup first. And Burnett looking at this and saying, all right, I'm going to counter with Stamkos. And we got a viral moment. Remember, this is the entertainment business. First and foremost, kudos to Cooper and Burnett for getting that done. 04:57 So Kucherov goes out that game and Tampa loses in the shootout, but he has three assists and he has one of his best games of the year. 05:09 And on Sunday, as I was following up and just chatting about all this, I had one manager and he's interested. I mean, who isn't? They're all interested. They all want to know if they've got a chance, right? 05:24 Maybe even not now, but later. 05:28 And he said that aside from the loss, and I do agree with this, that was the best thing that could have happened to the Lightning. 05:37 Because from the outside, you're looking and you're wondering, is this going to turn into a disaster for them? Is this going to go totally off the rails where Brisebois is going to feel a need to say, OK, I've got to deal with this? And the answer appears to be no. He comes out, he gets three assists. So if you're looking at that from the outside, you're saying that Kucherov will keep his word. He will play for the Lightning for as long as he has to if it's the rest of the season. 06:10 And he will compete at his high level. 06:13 If he doesn't get traded this year, it won't affect him. 06:18 That's one thing we learned on Saturday. He's going to be a pro and he is going to play. He's not going to sit out. He's not going to have a work to rule on the ice, letting passes go by him, throwing bad plays, being a drill killer in practice. He's here to play. 06:42 So I have some theories on where this is going to go from here. 06:49 These are two alphas, both very proud, a strong belief in themselves and their philosophies and their moral codes. I'm talking about Kucherov and I'm talking about the vice president and general manager, Julian Brisebois. 07:07 A lot of people are talking about this as if it's Brisebois taking a hard line with an older player. 07:19 I don't believe that. 07:22 I don't. 07:24 I think that he adores the player and recognizes how important he is. I think John Cooper adores the player and recognize how important he is. I think they both understand what he means to the team. 07:42 I do not think this is about the aging curve. 07:49 In Tampa, the top players have always accepted less. 07:55 Always. 07:57 You know, the taxes situation is better there, but also all those guys, Kucherov, Vasilevsky, Hedman, Point, all of them could have made more money on the open market than they did signing in Tampa. But that's what they do. That's their way. 08:15 And, you know, there's an agent I know who in situations like this with Kucherov, he says, if you want to be successful, the message has to be, look, if you want $20 million a year, you deserve $20 million a year. You deserve every penny. But here's why I'm going to ask you to take less so we can win. 08:41 If... 08:42 Brisebois wants to get this back on track and try to re-sign him, he has to restart with that. 08:54 If you look and it's been reported now, I know Dave Paniota had a report. I know Kevin Weeks had a report. 09:01 I know that Chris Johnson had a report about a want for six times 20 weeks reported four times 12 something and then four times 15. And Paniota had that one first. 09:14 You know, I reported that initially his ask was Kaprizov, which was 17 million. To be honest, I don't even know if he asked that, but I was told by a couple people that that's where he was targeting. Kaprizov was the highest paid guy in the league when this started, and that's where he was looking to be in that area. Yeah. Someone pointed out to me that if you look at the initial offer in the $12 to $13 million range, that's about the same percentage of the cap that Kucherov was previously making. 09:52 And... 09:55 So I kind of see why Brisebois did that. That's where his starting point was. 10:01 You know, one of the things I really feel is, especially just after going through a negotiation myself, You can't get mad at starting points. 10:11 I don't get too frustrated with opening offers because a team is always going to come in low, almost always. And a player or a worker, in our case, Kyle, is always going to come in high. You should never negotiate against yourself. 10:29 As I said, the problem here was there was a vacuum. There was no... 10:37 Kucherov felt there wasn't any progress being made. There wasn't enough negotiating being done. 10:44 And I think he was concerned. If you'll remember, the last big one they had was Stamkos. 10:51 And it came right down to the wire, and Stamkos moved on. 10:58 And I think Kucherov thought that was going to happen to him. 11:02 Even though I think the Tampa organization... 11:07 knows how valuable he is, even though I know they want to keep him. 11:16 He got it in his head that for whatever reason, he wasn't a priority. 11:23 And like I said on Saturday night, he's a proud, passionate guy, just like Breesbois is. 11:30 And he said, that's enough. 11:32 I've had enough. 11:35 And Tampa is going to let this breathe? 11:39 And at some point in time, they're going to see if they can get him to change his mind. That's the way this is going to go here. Now, I had some people who loved what Kevin said when I brought up Toronto and Montreal. I said, there's no way he's trading in Toronto and Montreal. And Kevin is probably right. He might not get traded at all. 12:02 Okay? But all these teams, if he doesn't get traded... 12:08 They'll be there in the summer. 12:11 And I had one GM say to me that based on that report of six times 20, whether it's right or it's wrong, in terms of what he actually wants, and I do believe the report was correct this weekend, you know now that if you want to get into this poker game, you're anti- You have to be prepared to have an ante of $120 million. 12:45 So there's a lot of organizations right now who are sitting there and saying, if this guy's available, are we going to offer him? Are we willing to pay $120 million? 12:58 And like I said, maybe that doesn't end up being the number, but... 13:04 you know that that could be on the table. And you know what the answer is going to be for a lot of these teams, Kyle? 13:15 It's going to be bring it on. 13:18 We'll pay it. We'll do it. We'll pay it. 13:22 You know, the funny thing about the Toronto Montreal thing was that, you know, someone said to me, Of course you're throwing it out there. You're a Canadian TV show. It benefits you for this to happen. And I was like, I said to the guy, haven't you been watching what has been happening the last couple of months? It's almost been like the stampede out of Canada. 13:53 The fact that someone might actually want to play here is news. 13:58 And the guy actually started laughing. He goes, you got me on that one. And I think there's a ton of teams that are going to be after him. And, you know, I'll tell you something else. 14:07 I think that Kucherov, if he does, because right now he hasn't submitted a list or anything like that of where he'd extend, like Rantan and Carolina, Rantan gave them four teams, like nothing like that's happened. Tampa's not even entertaining it. 14:23 But I do think if he goes to the market, he's so cerebral that he's going to care about fit as much as anything else. What does your power play look like? 14:38 Someone said to me the other day that he could actually see, from a pure hockey point of view, he could see a Larkin for Kucherov deal. Because he said, if you look at Detroit, You could have Raymond on one side taking the one-timers, and you could have Cider with the shot at the point like Radish did. 15:07 right? 15:09 And he thinks that that's the way that Kucherov will think. Not only about, it's funny, like one guy joked with me when he heard this story on the Friday night, he goes, what, like is Kucherov tired of good weather and great taxes? Like he doesn't want to be there anymore. And I just think that that is the way he's going to think is that if he does go somewhere else, it's going to be about what is the hockey fit for in terms of where he plays, where he'd go on the power play. 15:43 Does their power play set up for what he does? We know where he always sits. We know with Stamkos for years, that tremendous one-timer. 15:55 What does he see out there that's like that for him? 15:59 But Tampa still has him. 16:03 They're going to try to keep him. 16:08 And the biggest question is, is there any chance this guy changes his mind? 16:16 Because right now, he's serious. People asked, is this a negotiation ploy? 16:23 I don't believe it is. I just don't think this guy is wired that way. He knows he's going to get the money from everywhere. 16:36 Man, this is so, so incredible. And it's, again, even having a few days to let all this digest, it's fascinating that this is where we're at, you know, regardless of where this all goes. I mean... 16:55 You mentioned the Samco's comparable, and I remember that first, at the start of training camp that year when he was going into his last season of his deal, I remember when he was taking questions from the media down there in Tampa, he talked about how disappointed he was that the fact there hadn't been much back and forth between his agent and the team. And we all know how that ended up. And I'm not plugged into the story at all to not even say the way that you are, Elliot. 17:26 But one thing I did hear, I don't know if you'd heard similar, but you mentioned like the pace of the negotiations. But on top of that, like when July 1st rolled around, one thing I had heard was that they're It wasn't even necessarily anything, I don't know, tangible is the right word, but a legitimate something on the table from Tampa's side, like the earliest they could. 17:49 to go to Kucherov and say, this is what we're looking at as some kind of starting point. And you talked about how proud of a guy Kucherov is. Could that have been the first incident that stung him a bit and now the dominoes continues to fall to where we are here as the calendar flips to November? I don't know if you heard anything similar, but... 18:11 I haven't heard the exact timing. Now, even though, Kyle, they can't sign him until July 1st, they can talk to him beforehand. So if you heard that there wasn't anything done by July 1st, you could have done it in advance. So the July 1st thing isn't really a good excuse. That's the first day you can sign him, but you can always talk to him before. It's very clear here that something like that occurred. Either he didn't get an offer he liked or he didn't get anything. 18:41 That is the number one thing that I heard all weekend was it's not so much the offer, it's the pace of the negotiation. That's what he's used to being signed early, and he's used to seeing a lot of big Tampa stars getting signed early. Now, that was when he was younger, and... 19:07 You know, maybe there's a fear of Father Time being undefeated, but Kucherov, he is the... Again, you have to understand the mentality of the people you are dealing with. 19:21 Kucherov thinks that he's the one guy who's going to defeat Father Time. 19:27 He's not. Father Time is going to beat him someday, like Father Time beats everybody. But... 19:34 You know, he's a pretty good bet to still be at the top of his game for quite a while. I just think that's what it is. It's that he wanted this, one way or the other, he wanted this solved here. And I think the other thing is the six times 20, I think that became a thing the longer this took. 19:59 Like, at the beginning... 20:02 I don't think it was necessarily six times 20, but I think it got there because of the frustration with how long it was taking. 20:13 Right. And you look at Brisebois' track record as general manager, he's got a pretty good feel over even some of the most beloved and respected guys that were part of that core for a long time that won with the Lightning. He's got a pretty good feel over when I know... 20:32 From a respect factor, we'd love to keep you, but it's time now. 20:39 But as you say, okay, so he's 33 years old now, and if it is six years or whatever, his game isn't necessarily built off pace where you're wondering, okay, what is that? That's an interesting comparison. 20:54 Now, is he going to play as long as Jager does? I guess we'll see. But yes, he's not a burner. It's the brain that does so much of the power and the hands, of course, too. And so, so long as those are able to keep up as he goes deeper into his 30s, which I think are two attributes that can last and keep up at that elite level as the as the calendars keep flipping over, you know, it's going to be a really fascinating one to project. 21:25 And I'm sure why, as you're saying, if it does get to next summer, there would be a number of teams that look at the $120 million ante for argument's sake to go, no problem, bring it on. 21:39 I'm glad you brought that up because since speed is not his game, I remember having a long conversation with Craig Simpson once about Jager, about how, for example, in playoff games when they slowed down or you went into double or triple overtime, he thought that even in his older age, Jager became a more dangerous player because the game slowed to his pace. 22:08 And Kucherov, he dictates. He's not a fast player, but he dictates because of the way he controls the puck. And yes, I do think he has a better chance to last longer or deeper because that's more his game than anything else. It's a really fascinating situation, but I think the fact... that Kucherov has said he will play the rest of the year if he doesn't get traded, and he came out and he started with that game on Saturday, that's a sign that this is going to be a longer story than a shorter one. 22:52 Did you see Marco Stern when he was asked about it on the weekend, head coach of the Bruins? 22:59 Oh, yeah, that was quite a line. Oh, it brought a smile. 23:04 That was excellent. Because, I mean, yeah, of course it did. He said the quiet part out loud. The head coach of another team in the division, he goes, hey, Lightning are a threat for us in the Atlantic, and suddenly they've got some turmoil to deal with. I'm okay with that. 23:19 You know what is interesting about it, too, is that I think that you look at all the top players in the league, okay? Yeah. 23:31 these guys don't become available. How many of the best players in the league do you think, like think about the top, everybody out there, put together your top five list, your top 10 list, your top 20 list, whatever you want. 23:52 Everybody on that list was asking their managers or their agents, what's going on here? 24:00 can we get this guy? Do we have any chance to bring this guy here to play with me? 24:11 You know, he's tight with Kaprizov. Minnesota's got a wild situation going right now. Pardon the pun. I didn't even think what I was doing there. 24:21 But, you know, I mean, how many of these guys... 24:27 or asking around and saying, what are our chances? 24:32 I bet you all of them. 24:35 For sure. And I just, it may take to the summer to be able to act on it because I can't see a, I'd be, I would be even more stunned than I was on Friday if there was, if there was a trade out there that a team was willing to do that Julian Breeswell looked at and said, okay, 24:58 I think it helps, too, for him that he's not somebody who's going to worry what other people think. 25:07 Right. Both parties involved here. Yes. You're right. That's very good. Because it was interesting that they normally Tampa's like, nobody knows our business. We don't give anything away. 25:21 If you call them, say, hey, I'm hearing this. 25:24 Their general response is, we're not going to comment on that. This was such a big deal that they released a statement, which is unusual for them. But I think to both these guys, there'll be a lot of noise out there. 25:43 They'll handle it internally. It's what they've done for many, many years down in Tampa. 25:51 And now a situation I'm sure they didn't envision. 25:55 but one that is only just beginning, it feels like, between Kucherov and the Lightning and whatever the future holds down there. All right, moving on, Elliot. There was a trade on Sunday, and it was one for one. Shane Wright... The era with him and the Seattle Kraken is now officially over. The fourth overall pick in the 2022 draft is now a Nashville Predator. Matthew Wood, a first-rounder from the Preds from a few years back, headed back the other way to Seattle. 26:27 We had talked about it on this podcast in the past. It was no secret that Shane Wright, at least, had been looking for a fresh start somewhere else. He now gets it with Nashville. Chris McFarland continues to make deals as general manager of the Predators. Your thoughts on the transaction here between these two clubs Sunday? 26:48 What a fascinating trade. I think it's a very exciting trade just from a fan media perspective. 27:01 How often do you see trades like this? Shane Wright, 22 years old. He'll be 23 in January. Fourth overall pick gets traded for Matthew Wood, 21 years old, 22 in February, who was a 15th overall pick. 27:21 You don't see this too often. It's very, very rare. 27:27 Um, I, I kind of half joking here, but I think Jason Botterill, the GM of the Kraken makes this deal. So, cause he's sick of seeing the 303 area code come up on his phone. It's like, Oh no, this guy again. And I'm referring Wright's agent, Kurt Overhart is based in Denver. And, you know, it was known that Wright had asked for a change of scenery and sooner or later, Seattle was going to do it. 27:55 Um, You know, I think there'd been some interest in Wright. 28:00 I think a lot of teams had been around on him. A lot of teams, a lot of different situations. Like I think I'd mentioned or I'd written or mentioned in an earlier pod. I heard Edmonton was one of the teams that they were looking for a right shot center and they were around on Wright. 28:17 So he goes to Nashville instead. 28:19 And I thought it was interesting that the release from the Predators and their GM Chris McFarlane talk about pace, you know, that he's a quicker guy and there's nobody better than you can learn from than Ryan O'Reilly. Yeah. 28:35 Hopefully, as long as O'Reilly's there, and I have no reason to believe anything there is imminent, he's a great guy to learn from, to watch him practice every day, watch the way he does things. 28:50 I've talked about Wright many times in the past about how I think the COVID shutdown may have affected him more than any other player or prospect, and now it's a big opportunity for him. 29:04 He has to take advantage of this, and I think it's a really good place for him to do it. You know, Matthew Wood, I think, is a really fascinating guy. 29:16 And like I said, first-round pick, 17 goals last year in 71 games in his first full season. He's not the quickest guy, but he's very smart. Yeah. and he can really shoot the puck. And one of the things I heard that Seattle was looking for was some size on the wing. And this is a big guy. He's 6'1", listed at what, 6'4", 202, something like that. Now he's played some center, but apparently he's going to start out at the wing. in Seattle. 29:48 He played with Berkeley Catten at one of the World Juniors a couple years ago. So he's got at least a tiny bit of history with him. So there's something there. You know, the thing about Matthew Wood that's very interesting is I went through his ice time this year. 30:06 The beginning of the season, he had a 17-22, he had a 16-06, he had a 16-54, he had a 15-22, and then he had a 19-39 on October 15th in a shootout loss to San Jose. 30:22 Right after that 19-39, and he was taking a lot of face-offs too. His percentage wasn't great, but he was taking a lot of face-offs. 30:30 Right after that 19-39, he went to 9-42. And then after that 9-42, he had a 14-18, but he had an 11-24. He had a 10-39. He had a 12-29. And the last game that came against the Lightning, he was 13. So his minutes were dropping. 30:51 The other thing as well was he started the year on the number one power play. 30:55 And I think in like the first six or seven games, he had three minutes of power play time a game. Well, Marcioso got a spot back on that first unit. And in the last two weeks or so, his power, he went to the second unit and his power play time has dropped almost a minute and a half. So you could see it like, He had an opportunity early in the year, and for whatever reason, it just wasn't working out to their liking. Now, one of the things that happened there was they have a lot of D, and I think they were going for 11 and 7 at the time. 31:31 And forgive me, Predators fans, if I'm wrong about this, but I was looking through some of the shift charts, and it just looked like Wood was one of the— There's defensemen who kind of get hurt by it, and there's a forward or two that gets hurt by it. And Wood just looked like he was one of those guys that was getting hurt by it. So I think this is a good gamble for Seattle. They wanted a bigger winger. He can play wing. He can score. And I'll tell you what else I like about it for Seattle. 32:06 Matthew Wood is a Nanaimo guy. 32:11 I don't see anything bad, and he played in the BCHL in Victoria. I don't see anything bad with Seattle, which is trying to attract some guys, saying, here's a BC guy, and we're going to bring him close to home. 32:31 The traffic is bad, I know, so it's a bit of a longer drive. 32:36 But I think I like that part of it too. Get a West Coast guy. What's that? 32:42 Just hop on the Clipper. You take the boat right from Washington State outside Seattle right to Victoria. 32:48 Well, there you go. You could do that too. 32:50 See, I learned something new. Stupid time zone and the Clipper. 32:56 But I like that. To me, that's a small thing, but potentially a big thing for Seattle. Does a guy like that appeal to you a bit more because he's a Pacific Northwest guy? So to me, this is a fascinating, fascinating trade. You don't see this happen. 33:16 very often, both with promise, both with some flaws. 33:23 Now it is about your development. It is about your environment. Can you get right and would to take the next step? And I think both of those kids will be excited to try. Now, Nashville, I still think I mentioned them a couple of weeks ago, and I think a few other guys have too. Um, I still think they're going to be a really fascinating team this year. They continue to look at defense and remodeling their D. You know, someone else pointed out to me on the weekend, Nashville has a couple of really good goalies, and he thinks that teams that have two of them are going to get calls. 34:05 As the season goes on, and some teams that, especially now that Hellebuck is off the board, the number one guy is off the board, if you have two really good goalies, you're going to get calls. What do you think in there? How married are you to the duo? 34:22 So he thinks that Nashville will get called. And the other thing is, and I think McFarland's been pretty open about this in Tennessee, is as long as they're in the race, He's not making calls on his big guys. And they're hanging around right now, so I'm not worrying too much about anything with the big guys. But I still think Nashville's going to be an interesting team, and I think that's a really interesting trade. 34:53 I mean, you know, we talked about it last year on the pod. Luke Evangelista spoke so highly of just being around Ryan O'Reilly every day for a number of reasons beyond just the on-ice stuff. And so now Shane Wright goes right into that situation. And you look at some of the other guys that um, Christmas Farland is brought in, in a short time, Elliot, when you talk about pace, like Ross Colton, Jack Drury, Niels Hoeglander, um, like it's, it all, it all checks out, uh, and a great opportunity for, comes from a team that skated, right? 35:24 Yeah. You know, 35:25 Colorado skates. Yeah, right. And two of those, of course, he had with the Avalanche as well. And then an opportunity for Matthew Wood for a team that, yeah, they can use more scoring. And the guy ripped 17 of them last year, as you say, his first full year in the league. Not a bad way to start there at all. The only kind of recent comparison I can think of of a similar type trade was the Mikhail Sergeyev, Jonathan Drouin deal between Montreal and Tampa all those years ago, right? 35:56 Both young guys. That's a good one. Both first-round picks. I mean, Sergeyev really was just starting his pro career at the time. We know Drouin was struggling to kind of get his footing with Tampa after being taken so high in 2013. But that was the only one that came to mind for me that comes anywhere close to what we saw here Sunday. 36:20 That's a good call. Yeah, you rarely – I remember years ago there was a big one in baseball when Pedro Martinez was traded for Delano DeShields. Pedro Martinez was traded from the Dodgers to the Expos for Delano DeShields, and obviously that turned out to be an unbelievable deal for the Expos. But Peter Gammons, who was one of the biggest baseball writers of all time, I remember hearing a radio interview with him where he was just – gushing about how trades like that never get made anymore. 36:51 Like two good young players for each other. And he was so excited to see the way it turned out. Well, unfortunately for the Dodgers, Martinez turned out to be a hall of famer and one of the greatest pitchers ever. But it kind of reminded me about that radio interview with Gammon's like, how exciting is this? You never see a trade like this. So. 37:15 Sorry, I'm just going off into one of my long-winded side diatribes. 37:19 That's all good. Time change got you just still all at a whack. 37:27 Yeah. Elliot, the Winnipeg Jets, it's nine straight losses now. And that was, I'm sure you saw what the Hurricanes posted to their social account at the end of that one. And one that would have stung our producer, Dom Sramati, a little bit as well. All the same, but 7-0, they beat Winnipeg due to the Hurricanes, and the losing streak continues in Winnipeg. I mean, you saw some of the comments, whether it was from Captain Adam Lowry, from head coach Scott Arneal, and the question naturally now is being asked, do you start to anticipate some major change, whether it's lineup-wise or even deeper than that? 38:05 What's your read on Winnipeg a week after finally getting the Hellebuck stuff settled, the celebration at the outdoor game? 38:13 Problem is, any type of positive results on the ice have not followed. 38:19 So I didn't hear anything on Sunday night. As we record this, and we're recording this part of the pod, after the last game has been played, which was Ottawa-Anhem. And I heard nothing at this point of the night. 38:37 But you're right. You know, I got to say there was one thing that Lowry said I thought that really stood out to me. And I thought it was very captain-y and very smart. 38:55 I wonder if he realized he was doing it. He's smart enough that I think the answer is yes, but I just thought it was interesting. It was one of the first things he said. He said, you know, there's going to be changes, and there are some guys who are playing well down with the moose, right? 39:15 And then he started talking about, hey, the players have to execute the game plan, right? 39:25 But I thought it was really interesting that the first thing he said was there's some guys playing well down there with the moose because it took the heat off the coaches right away. 39:39 And who knows, maybe some of those Jets players want to see Jaeger or something like that and say, okay, we need to give this guy a shot. But it struck me as very captain-like. that the first thing he mentioned was that because it's almost like he's trying to change the discourse a little bit. 40:02 Let's talk about some players down there who might be able to help us as opposed to our coaches who are under siege. Look, I mean, you can see the look. 40:14 I'm not telling anybody they don't know anything that they don't know. You're in this... 40:20 when you win five out of seven, you lose a game seven to nothing. 40:24 It's you, you just shake it off and you say that was a stinker. When you're in a stretch like this one, you lose that game seven to nothing. It's bad. 40:33 And it forces very uncomfortable conversations. Look, Scott Arneal, as he said, he's been around a long time. 40:41 He understands what could happen if this doesn't turn around fast. Um, The Winnipeg Jets are notoriously patient when it comes to coaches. Paul Maurice, when he got let go, he said that if he didn't force their hand, he might have ended up coaching forever there. 41:07 And I always remembered that. I think everybody there sees the writing on the wall if it doesn't change quick. 41:16 I'll say this, too. I would bet that they want to be patient because the hellebuck thing threw them into chaos and they don't want Arneel to wear that. 41:33 If you don't turn around quick, it's going to force you into a decision. 41:39 And I just, well, let's see where it goes. I know, I mean, nine straight is a pretty decent sample size and not a particularly good one. I'm just curious where even bigger picture than, you know, is there something done behind the bench or otherwise? Is there a greater zoom out to look at? 42:02 Do we need to take a long, hard look about where we're going over the next number of years? For all the talk about I need to keep things on the rails for the Corps that I got here now, how much longer until you revisit that conversation at the Winnipeg front office level? 42:25 It's going to be interesting because you don't want to be caught in between in perpetuity. 42:32 We've seen where that goes. 42:32 Remember what Sheveldayoff said when we asked him about that? Was he worried about more players asking out? Those guys are Jets. I'm not worried about that. 42:42 That stuck with me. You know, Morrissey not playing, they are really different without him. 42:53 Really different when he's not there. 42:57 You know, I'm watching Ottawa and they blew that 3-0 lead. I mean, you could make an argument in your own way that Olmark is like the MVP of the league right now. 43:07 Because I think, Kyle, I don't know how you feel. I know now that you don't live in Ottawa, you have no respect for them anymore. But I really like the Sanders as a team. I think that is a really good team. 43:21 But... 43:22 They clearly are not the same without Elmark this year. 43:28 And their guys are battling, but he's just another level from what they have. 43:39 And I don't know what his situation is. 43:44 I wouldn't be surprised if their next game, we see him duct taped to his equipment and just propped up on the net. Just go in there and do what you can do because they're just, that's a good team and they're not the same. I also did want to shout out Laurent Brassois. First game since he played 18 minutes in the playoffs in 2024. That was a big return for Brassois. He's worked hard to get back. 44:12 Yes, certainly settled in. And it was two-pronged for Ottawa on Sunday. The goaltending was one part of this equation for sure, but you can't spend the second half of the game in the box either against a team like Anaheim. 44:25 You're going to live to see another day. Shooting gallery. 44:30 But... 44:32 I mean, Morrissey, when he's not playing, it's a real struggle for them. But look, I mean, it's pretty clear they went to all these guys and said, are you riding with us with whatever we have to do here with Hellebach? And the answer was yes. 44:57 I don't know if those answers change in two weeks. 45:03 But boy, it was really tough to watch on Sunday. And I always remember Brian Burke was going to the Hall of Fame the next week. He always said, I would never fire a coach until I saw no pushback. 45:23 And it couldn't just be for one game. 45:26 Well, it's been a tough road trip for them. Quality of opponent-wise has not been easy and does not change as they go into Montreal on Tuesday. And we know the Canadians have been absolutely rolling over the last week and a bit. So another test for Winnipeg there. 45:43 Arneel had a great line when he says, you control what you control. 45:47 That is the only thing you can do in this situation. You show up to work and you try to find a solution until they tell you not to show up to work anymore. Kyle, things are so rough in Winnipeg that someone sent me a note from the game on Sunday that Mark Shifley... 46:12 is always the last Jet off the ice in warm-up. If you've ever watched a Jets game, you know that. 46:20 He wasn't. They changed it up. 46:23 I don't know who was off last. Really? But he didn't. 46:28 When people are changing that stuff, that's when you know a team is really feeling it. You know who looks really good this year? 46:42 Who's that? 46:44 Jesperi Kotkaniemi. 46:47 Ah, I agree. 46:49 Now, he had the seventh goal. It's obviously not a big deal in that game. 46:55 But he looks like he's rediscovered himself a bit. He's been on the trade block for about a year. Nobody took him. And there was talk that maybe Carolina was going to buy him out because he was a one-third buyout, right? Yeah. 47:13 since he was under 26. They said, nope, we're not doing that. 47:19 And he's looking like he's regained his confidence quite a bit. Quite a bit. He looks like a different player. 47:29 And the Hurricanes benefit, but You know, there were some teams, I don't know if Winnipeg considered him seriously at all in the Hello Buck stuff. 47:41 I heard that the Canucks weren't crazy about him when they were talking Pedersen. 47:47 And I get it. He kind of went through this phase where acquiring him was not seen as a good thing, which is why they really couldn't move him last year. 48:01 But whatever he was going through, and I know it's early, he looks like he's pulled himself through. And I'm happy for a guy to pull himself off the mat like that. 48:10 So the Flyers, Elliot, on Sunday, double up Utah, 6-3. This was the first game since Sean Couturier dropped the S-word, soft. Yep. 48:23 which you don't hear often from the players themselves. And when it is used, it does make the ears and eyebrows perk up. So it felt like, for them, a perfect time to get Travis Konechny back in the lineup to say nothing of Owen Tippett's return as well. It was just a much-needed result for Philly, who still got a long way to go, but I think there was a lot of curiosity to see how they would respond having a few days to sit on the comments from their captain. 48:56 It worked. 48:57 Maybe everybody didn't like it, and I didn't get the sense everyone did like it, but it worked. 49:03 You don't like to be called the S-word. 49:07 Standard time. 49:09 No, no. That's even worse than soft. 49:12 Suddenly, standard time has rocketed up the power rankings for worse S-words. 49:19 You know, Jared Bednar had a really interesting quote last week about Colorado where he said, I can't motivate these guys every day. Like when you get to the NHL, you should be able to motivate yourself. And I agree with Bednar about that. I think he's completely right. 49:36 It's like, Kyle, when I worked ringside reporter and I know you are like this, if you can't be motivated to bring five or six good items to a show every week and you're on the air basically once a week, you should not be in this job, right? 49:52 And I agree with Bednar in that. I know you play 84 games. I know it's a lot. And sometimes a coach has to kick your ass. But if you have to do it on a daily basis, you should not be in the league. 50:05 This thing with... 50:07 This thing with Couturier, you can't do it all the time, but you have to do it once in a while. And the captain is the one that has to do it. And now what the Flyers have to show is it's not a one-game thing. That's great. It worked on Sunday. You beat a really good team. I really like Utah. Now you got to do it again. You got to do it again. 50:30 Maybe he has to put the word soft up in the room somewhere so they can be reminded. Everybody has won one in a row. That's great. You answered the challenge thrown down by your captain. 50:44 You got to keep going. It's like the other day I saw Don Waddell. I watched him. He was on the Columbus went to Dallas. He did an interview and he said that bonus is going to turn down the public commentary. 50:56 You know, I think we've all talked about it. Once in a while, the coach can do it. But generally, you shouldn't be in the NHL if you can't do it yourself 60, 70 times a year in every playoff game. 51:11 By the way, I want to take Rick Tockett off the hook here. 51:15 So his touch comment went viral. 51:19 Even John Boy picked it up, the media company. It was all over the place. Mm-hmm. 51:26 We all know where he got that from, right? 51:30 Well, was it our interview with Martin St. Louis last week? 51:34 It has to be. The timing is too coincidental. I don't believe in coincidences. And Rick Tockett is a guy, you know, he loves to talk hockey. He loves to listen to stuff about hockey. Yeah. 51:49 I would not be surprised at all when he saw Martin, because we know he's not listening to you and me and talk our garbage. No chance. No, gosh. But when he saw Martin Saint-Louis, he said, I'm going to listen to that. And if you listen to the interview he did with us from Winnipeg, he talked about you have a touch with a player. You touch this guy, you touch that guy. As in checking in on guys. That's right. Just so that they know they're appreciated. 52:19 That's what he was doing. 52:22 Exactly. 52:23 Yeah, I'm glad you highlighted that. 52:26 Also, I don't know if it's quietly, but as we sit here at the beginning of November, Matvei Mishkov is just outside the top five in goals in the league. He's got 10 already. 52:37 Impressive. For all the discourse around that, after last year and coming into this year, he's continuing to look much, much better. 52:48 which is not nothing for the Philadelphia Flyers here going forward. Do you have a thought on the San Jose Sharks, Elliot? I mean, they're not in a terrible spot. They're 7-7-1. Obviously, it was a bad result against Ottawa, who, I mean, Unlike Sunday night against Anaheim, they were full value in their win against the Sharks on Saturday afternoon. But you had Ryan Worsofsky talk about 15 games in. They really haven't found the complete version of themselves other than maybe the opening game against Florida. 53:19 But even that feels like a long time ago. A lot of new faces in their lineup this year, as we know. But still a young team that I think a lot of us were... excited for, and maybe even the sexy pick to jump up into a playoff spot this year in the West. But I think understanding that all that is great, you've still got to make it happen as a collective, and they're still finding ways to try to do that on a consistent basis. 53:49 Ryan Worsofsky just got an extension, and there's people out there like, he should be fired. Everybody needs to take a deep breath. 53:57 You have to realize, San Jose last year, people didn't take them seriously. 54:05 They love Celebrini, but they didn't take the rest of the group seriously. 54:10 This year, it's different. 54:12 almost made the playoffs, made a big run, gained a lot of respect. Now people aren't walking into shark land and saying free two points and good sushi. Not only are we getting good sushi on this visit to Northern California, but we're getting a free two points. That doesn't happen anymore. People are bringing their better games, their A games, and the Sharks are also learning that it's a lot easier to be successful when nobody's expecting you to be that way. 54:46 So... 54:48 Yeah, there's going to be hard points this year. And maybe some of us, like myself, who predicted them as a playoff team, might have gotten too far ahead of the game. There's still lots of runway here. But I think the Sharks are learning what it's like when everybody's taking you a lot more seriously. And when everybody takes you a lot more seriously, it's a lot harder to win. Long term, they'll be fine. But this path is never... 55:18 It's never linear. There's always curves and speed bumps like a kid's playing zone. You know, you got to slow down for those speed bumps. They're having speed bumps right now. Eventually, they'll get there, but this is a hard league to win in. 55:37 No question. And doesn't goaltender Matt Tompkins know that for the Edmonton Oilers, Elliot? So I just wanted to shout him out for picking up the win with the Oilers on Sunday in New York. 55:48 Gene didn't even let him get undressed in the postgame. 55:52 No, they get to those quick. 55:54 I was like, Gene, let him take his equipment off. 55:57 Yeah. No, no. Gene waits for no one. And you can tell Matt, like, he had such respect for Gene, too. He's like, I know. I know my role here. Those guys love him. Yeah. Oh, gosh. First win for him. First NHL start since April 2024. Not first career win, but, yeah, first win and first start since just over, well, two and a half years ago. And Connor McDavid, by the way, Elliot, fastest ever. Not fastest since. Fastest ever. to 30 assists in a season. 56:28 And what a goal to kick things off at MSG. 56:31 Those years when Gretzky was getting like 160 assists, he didn't have 30 in the first. Even that year where he had points in the first 51 straight games, the record, he didn't have 30 in the first month. I couldn't believe it. I thought for sure he would have had 30 in the first month. 56:54 Crazy. 30 in the first five games. Yeah, that's right. No, that's been spectacular to watch, and he keeps adding on, adding on. And we were talking about before we were recording, that goal on Sunday night, it was like, obviously he's coming with incredible speed, and Gavrikov, who's a good defender, he just waited as soon as he crossed over towards the middle of the ice, bang. McDavid went wide, and that was it. That's all he needed. 57:22 Well, even Schaefer on Saturday afternoon, and I think I was talking about with Marquesi and Futa about seeing him against Schaefer, and Schaefer kind of stayed with him, but he drew the penalty from him. 57:39 That's one thing I love about it is he sees the number one defenseman on the other team, and he bears down. 57:47 It's another alpha move, right? It's like, oh, there's your number one guy. I'm going to go at him. And sometimes it doesn't work, but I just love the attitude. I absolutely love it. 58:01 It is one of the great things to see in person. If you're a sports fan, I remember covering what was known as the Rogers Cup for a lot of years now, the National Bank Open. But when Nadal was still near the height of his powers, watching and hearing the tennis ball come off his racket, you're like, oh, this is different than everybody else here who's the best in the world at this point. Like watching just McDavid turn up ice, just that initial turn and start to go. 58:33 Seeing that on television is incredible. Watching it in person, it's like, oh, this is, we got a collection of the best people in the world at this sport, but there's a guy that's doing it differently than everybody else. It's spectacular. Yeah. Okay, before we get to final thought, Elliot, I enjoyed the back and forth you and Kevin had on the desk on Saturday night on the goal that was called back in the Montreal-Pittsburgh game where Caden Gooley comes across in front of Murashov and his skate ever so slightly, but does, go into the crease and then body makes contact as Murashov is putting his glove out to try to track the puck. 59:14 And it goes by, I initially was called a goal and upon review was taken away. So your stance was... 59:22 the skate in the crease not necessarily a factor it was more so the contact with the glove like kevin hated the call was taken off the board it's an interesting one and as i was watching it i thought and i know we've hashed out goalie interference reviews a number of times here the last couple years on the show buddy but uh i thought watching that elliot honestly was you have a third of 59:46 I do. You have a third opinion, which I think is the right one. 59:51 I just want to say that there was a referee who texted me during the game and said he thought Kevin was right and I was wrong. But now I think you're right and we're both wrong. Go. 60:03 You're both half right, if my theory is at all down the line. Don't give us credit. 60:08 We're both wrong, and you're right. Go. 60:10 So my thing is, because we know, if you go into the crease willingly, you are asking for trouble. So you highlighted, you're like, the skate isn't necessarily an issue. It's the contact with the glove. I think because he went into the crease ever so slightly with his skate, then you can make the argument that he's impeding his ability, to make the save with the glove, right? 60:37 I think if he had stayed, if his skate had stayed out of the crease the whole time and he's going through as kind of a moving screen and Murshov sticks his glove out to try to make a save and makes incidental contact with Guli's back and the puck goes through him, then I'm with Kevin all the way going, you can't take that off the board. He's not in the crease. It's not incidental or it's not deliberate contact. He's just trying to provide any type of screen, I think it would have been fine there. But even though, you know, where the shot was coming from, where the puck was, Glove not being able to move where Miroshoff wanted to kept him from making the save. 61:15 I think the fact that his skate went in ultimately gave the officials the ability to say, we can't allow that. I like it. That's where I'm at with that one. 61:25 I give you the credit. I think you're right. All right. Congratulations. I think you're right. 61:29 Save that one, Dom. 61:32 Put that to the favorites folder. That's great. 61:35 By the way, before we do a final thought, I did mention Larkin on Saturday night. I heard that there were rumblings that he was going to change his no trade list potentially. 61:48 As we record this late Sunday night, I haven't heard anything yet. 61:53 But Helene St. James has been kicking everybody's ass on these things. So we're all chasing her. 62:03 All right. So that brings us to the final thought. So the timing of this could not be more perfect because, Elliot, I was talking to somebody who works in the league the other day who made the point that we need to hear from Dom Moore on this podcast. His argument was... 62:20 There's no way anybody said that. 62:23 I'm telling you. They said Dom is the voice of the people. He's the voice of the fans that tune in to this podcast. 62:29 Was it a person that does not have hearing? 62:33 Well, when I spoke back to them, they understood what I was saying. So I think their hearing was okay. So all of this lends perfectly to, Dom, what have you got for us for final thought? 62:45 Officially Monday at 10 Eastern, 8 BC time, 9 Alberta time. Jeez. 62:55 And wherever else you live across our beautiful North America. 62:59 The NHL is revealing the hometown remix jerseys for all 32 franchises. 63:05 And so every team is going to get a unique third jersey that has some reflection to do with your city, your culture of each franchise. I think this is a great initiative. I love when the NHL and NHL clubs. And you're a big collector. I am. 63:23 I have like 50 jerseys in the closet. When it comes to this kind of thing, Dom is the guy on this podcast. Now, how many of these have leaked online? 63:33 12, I believe. 63:34 Has the Canucks won? 63:36 No, but they put out a teaser today, so they're doing double blue and maybe some chrome. 63:43 It looks like there's some hints of chrome that might be involved in this, but we'll know Monday morning. 63:50 And whose have you liked so far that you've seen? 63:53 Oh, well, the Capitals one's fantastic. I really like the blue that they've decided to go with. 64:00 There was a fan at the Caps game on Sunday that was wearing one. Yes. Are you serious? Yeah. If that is, in fact, what their hometown remix jersey is. 64:10 That sounds like a plant. Let's put this guy in this to get everyone talking about it. 64:15 That would not shock me, though, if teams do that sort of thing. 64:19 You would think a team owned by Ted Leonsis would think of something like that. And I say that as a compliment. He's ahead of the curve. I could see him saying, I want one fan walking or 10 fans walking through our building in those. 64:32 Yes, but I will say this. The number one jersey, and because it tugs at my heartstrings, and I'm sure it tugs at Kyle's heartstrings, the Anaheim Ducks are wearing the original green jersey from the movie, the original movie, as their hometown remix. It's the first time I believe they're doing this as a franchise, and I couldn't be more excited that that's finally going to be played on NHL ice, that jersey. So that's the one I'm most excited for. 65:00 Yes, it's the original colors. Now, I guess not technically the original logo that they would have wore in the first movie. It's more modern, I guess, D2 and onwards, and the original Disney era of the Mighty Ducks. But yes, I'm with you, Dom. The ones that have leaked, if that is true, that's my winner. I don't even need to see the others that haven't been revealed. 65:22 But like the Fisherman looks to be back for the Islanders, Elliot. Yeah. 65:27 Oh, really, Mr. Fishten? 65:28 Yes, yes. 65:30 So we'll see how well that goes over. 65:33 I think it's similar to the reverse retros that we had for a couple of years when Adidas was still the jersey supplier for the National Hockey League. There were some great ones, one that didn't go over as well. 65:51 But I love that they're mixing it up. with these sorts of things. 65:56 Obviously, it's an easy revenue generator when it comes to merchandise, but some of these are just completely knocked out of the park. 66:06 I liked those ones a couple of years ago. Now, I remember a lot of the... I remember Jack Edwards and Chris Cuthbert saying that some of those were awful to call games with. 66:17 Yeah. The Toronto one that was the blue and gray, it was really hard to pick up numbers. I think they actually had to make some tweaks to the shade of gray that they used on those. So it was a little easier for... 66:30 Guys like Jack and Chris in the booth to see them. 66:33 And looking at some of these, I mean, we'll see what they look like in person. I think there's the possibility for more headaches for the broadcasters. But anyway, they're trying something different. 66:44 Dom, I will ask for a raise so you can buy 36 of these things. 66:51 Oh, wow. Thank you. Yeah, that's great. 66:53 I know that's what you want to do. 66:55 There's only 32 themes, so only buy 32 of them. 66:58 Buy one four times. 67:01 The one you really like. 67:03 Multiple sizes. One for each of us. 67:07 Yeah. Yeah. When do we get our Hometown Remix 32 Thoughts jerseys? 67:14 Yeah, I'm sure those will be hot sellers. 67:16 Yeah, that's right. Right in the pile with my decoding Elliott Friedman hoodie. 67:22 Yeah. 67:24 flying off the shelf uh this has been special guest dom shamati edition of the final thoughts nice way to mix it up i hope whoever asked kyle for more dom feels really satisfied and happy today good all right enough of this let's take our first break the thought line is on the other side you're listening to 32 thoughts the podcast All right, we're rested up and recharged and ready for a brand new edition of The Thought Line presented by BetMGM Make It Legendary. 68:08 Elliot, I had more than a handful of conversations with people around the league over the last few days that in one way or another could only shake their head and go, Elliot and the Rum Hut? They could not wrap their head around... It was like you couldn't have picked a worse way to attack that whole story at the outdoor game in Winnipeg last weekend. And that is just to say, I know you have some shout outs to get to here, but that story is not over. New, fresh information to the thought line. 68:37 Oh, I got something too. Okay. You go ahead. Go ahead, bud. You want me to start? Okay. 68:42 Yeah, you start. Yes. Okay. This is from Brant, who is originally from Morden, Manitoba, which is about an hour and a half outside Winnipeg. Hello, gentlemen, Elliot and Dom. 68:54 I enjoyed Elliot's tale of visiting the Rum Hut in Winnipeg. I immediately contacted my cousin Kim, who works at the Hut, to see if she knew anything about Elliot's triangle. First, she was very thankful for Elliot to stop and take a photo. It's just below the time she met Marshawn Lynch while working at a Jets game. 69:19 No offense. No offense, Kim. But you can say that meeting the author of the famous Beastquake is much, much higher than meeting me. I will not be offended. 69:33 It is 1 and 1A in Kim's eyes here. That's what we're learning. I remember Kim. Very nice lady. 69:39 When you visited her in the first intermission, she had no idea what you were talking about because she had not yet come into possession of the said triangle. What? The aforementioned Aaron Nelson left it at the Rum Hut in the second intermission. Okay. 69:55 I got to tell you, this is... I'm not... 69:59 I'm not buying any of this because I had received DMs or Insta DMs, whatever they call them on Insta, from Aaron before that. 70:12 So I figured that it had to be there already. 70:19 The fact that you're taking anything this Aaron Nelson guy says is gospel further throws your judgment into question. 70:29 Just kidding, Aaron. 70:31 So it goes on here. Now, Kim doesn't know Aaron, but she held onto the triangle for you. until the end of the game, thinking you were returning at some point to collect. The triangle still remains at the Rum Hut. I'm sure someone from the bombers or the jets could get you that triangle if you want. Maybe it can be left there in your honor and it can be rung when anyone visits the Rum Hut with no clue why they're there. I think that's actually a better idea. Anytime they just get blank stares from someone. 71:03 Ding! 71:06 Add another one to the list. 71:09 In all honesty, thank you for the pod. Been a listener since it was six thoughts. Next time you're out in Seattle, love to buy Kyle a coffee and let Elliot buy me an old-fashioned. Dom, can I park at your place the next time I fly home? P.S. I can't remember if I met Elliot while I was working for CBC when Hockey Day in Canada was hosted in Winkler, Manitoba, but everyone was a pleasure to interact with. I brought a hockey bag of winter clothing for the crew because they prepared for cold, just not that cold. One of the best weekends of my life. life. 71:41 That's a great story. Thank you for sending that. I was not in Winkler. I think I was on remote, whatever game I was ringside reporter then. So we did not meet. You met plenty of better Hockey Night in Canada personalities than me that weekend. 71:57 Anyway, that's a great story. This doesn't make any sense, but it's a great story. 72:04 Man, I was hoping this would clear things up, but I think we've only further muddied the waters in your eyes. So what have you got to add to this? 72:11 OK, so I got another DM from Aaron's account from and it writes Celia here from the CRA. I assume that's Aaron's partner or something like that. 72:24 Just listen to the Rum Hut segment. Apologies for sending you on that wild goose chase was not my intention as I know your time is valuable, especially during game times like that. Honestly, Celia, not that valuable. I'm barely working. Although the segment was an entertaining one. Thanks for taking the time to come down there. As I did say, there is a gift for Elliot Friedman, but maybe I should have said instead, Kyle Bacoskis, the co-host. So clearly, Celia and Aaron feel that you could have accomplished this without fumbling like I did. 73:05 If I had known, I would have tried. And the other thing, too, if I remember correctly, the rum hut could not have been further from where the panel set was. 73:13 It was the exact opposite part. And, you know, I say this with no criticism, but just impressed. 73:22 That concourse was rammed all game long, all game long. Those Jets fans and those Canadian fans were up and down, up and down, up and down to the drinks and back because it was hard to get through there. I needed to be, and I know that I'm aging myself, Willard Reeves to get through that crowd. 73:46 And do you think this person's actual name is Celia or is this a reference to remember the Celia joke a couple of years ago? Oh, my God. 73:56 It probably is. I didn't even think of that. I'm forgetting all the old standbys. Celia, the triangle. Oh, my God. It probably is. 74:09 Oh, it's callbacks galore. 74:12 Come on, guys. Trades are breaking. My mind is not where it is. Oh, my goodness. 74:16 Yes. Not where it needs to be. Pause here to deal with the Shane Wright thing that we dealt with in the news block. So we are in real time. Elliot's a bit of a mess here on Sunday. 74:29 Okay, that's good. Do you have any other shout outs? 74:31 Yeah, I have a few I wanted to mention. First of all, I wanted to shout out, I have a Saturday afternoon ritual. When I go into work at the Rogers campus, I like to go to a rooster coffee, get myself a turmeric latte. 74:50 Good spot there. 74:51 Yeah, really good. I like to get one of their chia yogurts. 74:58 usually with raspberry, and I usually get a butter tart. They have the best butter tarts of any coffee shop I've been to. So that's usually my walk-in meal in the afternoon. And I ran into Mia and Tessa there on Saturday. They are big fans, and their dad, they always watch the games with their dad. I couldn't get the dad's name because I was on the phone, but I wanted to shout them out. 75:25 I have a couple of notes that I wanted to recognize. First of all, a number of you have been writing after the Larkin thing broke on Thursday that this is karma for us changing the pod. 75:47 especially after the Kucherov one came down. Not that that would have been affected by the pod, but Richard Fitzwell was one of several people who said something like this. You should probably go back to the Friday pod. It appears the hockey gods have voted and they didn't like your choices. 76:05 Richard. 76:07 I'm going to tell you, you're not the only person that's written something like that, but you can't go and go back. That's bad. We're stuck like this and we'll simply make it better. I have a couple of other notes here. Noah Williams. 76:22 who wrote, please apologize for the Vince Dunn pun. I almost threw up. He said, I appreciate the shout out on the pod. Maybe this will get me a date or two. 76:34 Good luck, Noah. But if you need my help, you've got even bigger problems than I realize. 76:43 There were a couple others I wanted to shout out here. You don't want preachers of hype, man. No, you don't. It's trouble. 76:54 Elliot, this is Caleb Brander. Elliot, my friends and I have been arguing who would last longer in a zombie apocalypse, David Amber or Kevin Bieksa? And I wrote Bieksa because he fights dirtier. 77:11 And Caleb wrote back, usually you are right and I can take you at your word, but I have a feeling you might be wrong on this one. Opinions, Kyle? 77:21 Ooh, no, I'm with you Fridge. Sorry, Dave, even though I know you don't listen to this show. 77:28 No, it would be Kevin. Dave would be like, I need to hire someone to take care of these zombies. 77:35 I can't deal with this on my own. 77:37 Oh, my God. I hope he listens to that. I hope somebody tells him that one. I got a few people who wrote that they love the reference to the road trip scene. I did get a few of those. 77:47 That was great. A great book. Yes. 77:50 Yes. 77:51 And then the final one I wanted to mention... 77:55 was just a note here from a Frank Asher. Hi, Elliot, Kyle, and Dom. Wanted to know if you could mention this on the pod. The hockey world lost a good guy way too young last Sunday. Jeff Turner, former captain of UMass back in the 2000-2001 season, passed away after a battle with brain cancer. Jeff grew up in Saginaw, Michigan with some guys I got to know in college. I got to know Jeff a little bit through these friends. He was a fun guy to be around. He had a couple connections to the NHL. He played with Marco Casper's dad in Innsbruck with the Australian League, and he got to play against Chris Chelios, Darian Hatcher, and Chris Draper during the lockout season back in 2004 and 2005. 78:38 when those guys would skate for the Motor City Mechanics. Jeff played for the Kalamazoo Wings in the UHL that season with his brother, Tim, who also played for UMass as well. Jeff is survived by his wife, Nicole, and two young boys, Jet and Jace. My heart goes out to those young boys and his wife. Thanks, guys. Love the show and what you do with this segment. So, Frank, thank you for bringing this to our attention. We're really sorry to hear about Jeff. Sounds like a great guy. And I just wanted to send our best to his wife and their two sons. 79:13 I also wanted to say I can't find the note, but someone sent me a note about there is some sort of labor dispute in Corner Brook, Newfoundland right now where they can't open the ice rink. And therefore, one of the teams has had its season halted and the young kids can't play. Now, I'm not going to weigh in on this. I don't know who's right and who is wrong. But I just wanted to say it's really unfortunate when these kinds of things affect the seasons of people who love to play hockey. 79:46 Doesn't matter what age they are, what sex they are. what level they play, and I hope that whatever is going on in Corner Brook, they can solve it soon so everybody can get back to work and everybody can play. 80:00 Great, Elliot. Thank you for highlighting that. Okay, a couple here from Thoughtline Proper. Chris writes in, says, Hi, guys. If a team was just over the minimum salary cap floor, and a player said he was no longer playing for the team, wants to be traded, kind of like what Dylan Larkin is doing, would that team still have to pay him to stay over the salary cap floor? This may seem like a unique case, but teams not spending much money could very well be the same teams for which players asked to be traded or are a bit disgruntled. 80:35 P.S. Elliot, your support of autism awareness is exemplary. Even as a 50-year-old who was diagnosed with autism this year, I feel like you have my back. Call me crazy, but it feels that way. Thank you. 80:50 Well, first of all, Chris, that's very kind of you to say. And I hope you're doing really well. 80:58 And I hope that the diagnosis that you got gives you some answers. 81:04 I will say this, Chris, that fatherhood in this particular situation explained a lot of things to me about myself. 81:15 as Kyle will tell you from being around me for a long time, I exhibit a lot of behavior that is not exactly typical. And now I kind of understand why it's happened. So I hope it brings you peace and a good path. 81:31 You know, as for your question, I've never really even thought about it before, aside from the fact that, you know, when Arizona was really a floor team, remember all those players they acquired to make sure they were over the cap? The Players Association was on top of them. And the NHL does make sure on a daily basis and basically a transaction by transaction basis that you are cap compliant. So if there was ever a situation where a team was going below the floor, Both the PA would be all over a team and the league would be all over a team. 82:09 Probably have to call up a player or trade for one. 82:12 All right. Great question, Chris. A voicemail is up next, courtesy of Peter from Cochran. 82:18 My question is related to the start of the season. While I understand and appreciate that there is zero interest in expanding the season, especially from the players, might there be an interest in allowing for an expanded roster for the first four or five games of the year? In theory, this would allow bubble players an opportunity to get into a game or two of meaningful action in the NHL. Also, at the same time, maybe you don't require teams to become cap-compliant until those four or five games are played. Anyways, interested in your thoughts. 82:50 Thanks. Bye-bye. 82:51 Well, Peter, I can tell you the second part would never... 82:58 There would never be a situation where the league would let there be money outside the cap. It just wouldn't happen. 83:06 That happened for compliance buyouts, and they will never do it again. They just don't want it. 83:12 I shouldn't say never. I guess there could be always unusual situations or if you're given some incentive to do it, but I would say it's incredibly unlikely. You know, the expanded roster, I mean, I guess if the League and the Player Association agreed to it, you could have something like that. 83:33 But again, I think everybody would want to make sure it works under cap. I don't think the League would necessarily want to move the cap. And some of these teams are, or even the Players Association might not want to move the cap. And some of these teams are pretty tight to it anyway. So I would say it's unlikely, but never say never. 83:55 Yeah, and you wrote about it in your blog this past week that, I mean, as rough as some of the early games were this season, it's not like, by and large, the players had any issue with it. They were totally okay with the shortened preseason and training camp as a whole and diving right into the regular season, games that matter, even if they weren't the cleanest of games to start. 84:16 Apparently, the only guy who didn't like it was John Tavares. And he went public. He said, I don't like this. But I heard he didn't have a lot of support. And that was actually the reason I looked into it was because Tavares said it. Let's see if if there's other support. And basically, it's like, welcome to the city of legs training camp. Population one. 84:43 John in the cold tub Anyone else? Come on Anybody? 84:49 I like the idea, Peter. It's a really good point to bring up. Creative. Yeah. And coaches are going to dress his best guys right off the hop. 84:59 Okay, Anthony up next. Hi, guys. Jacob Fowler's having a great start in Montreal this year. Yes, he is. Rookie of the month for the month of October. 85:08 That good. So after Lane Hudson and Ivan Demidov, has it happened before that a team had three Calder Trophy finalists in a row? 85:23 I know it's happened in baseball. 85:26 I think the Dodgers have had two stretches in Major League Baseball where they had four consecutive rookies of the year. 85:35 One in the 80s and one in the 90s. 85:45 That's the first thing that jumped into my head, and I'm going to look at it right now. 85:49 Because it's like I'm thinking about it. 85:53 So the Dodgers in the 90s, Todd Hollinsworth, Hideo Nomo, Raul Mondesi, Mike Piazza, Eric Keros. They had five in a row in the 90s. And in the 80s, Steve Sachs, Fernando Valenzuela, Steve Howe. They had three in a row. So I was right. They averaged four, five, and three. 86:14 The one that jumps to me... 86:17 Okay, off the top of my head, the Blackhawks would have had Kane and Taves. 86:23 Now, around them, they had Cam Barker, who wouldn't have been a finalist, but they had Kane and Taves. 86:32 The Nordiques had that Sundin Nolan time, but they didn't have Lindrosh. 86:39 Um, I'm trying to remember off the top. There's gotta be Kyle, some team that did this. There has to be. 86:47 Teams that have done this. Yeah. Yes. It's happened a few times. Okay. And it happened somewhat recently. 86:56 Well, I gotta think too, like the Penguins, Fleury, Crosby, Malkin, like that's gotta be one. 87:04 It was not them. 87:06 Oh, right, because Morgan and Crosby. 87:08 That's right. I have to go back and look. 87:14 I would have thought them for sure off the top of my head. More recently than that? Mm-hmm. 87:21 Hmm. You want the team? 87:24 No, because I feel like I should get this. 87:26 I should get this, right? 87:28 Yeah, it was. So within the three, there was one winner and two finalists. 87:34 I'm trying to think off the top of my head. 87:37 And two of the three players still play for the franchise that they spent the rookie season with. 87:47 I was actually looking back at some of these and wondering how wrong I was about them. You know who I think that could be? Is that the Canucks? It is. I should have got that right away. 87:59 So Besser was runner-up to Matt Barzell in 17-18. Elias Pedersen won it the next year. And Quinn Hughes was runner-up to what would have been Cale McCarr in 19-20. 88:13 See, the other one that jumped into my head, but it was before Vancouver, but they didn't have, I just looked, they didn't have one in the middle. I was thinking about Ovechkin and Backstrom. 88:22 from the Capitals. But Crosby and Malkin went back to back, but they didn't have anyone the year before or the year after. Oh, there's the Canucks. 88:37 And the other one that really jumped into my head was, you know, I was trying to think, because the Canadians, Demidov, Hudson, and I was trying to think if there was anybody the year before, and there wasn't. 88:51 Right. 88:53 Well, the Leafs actually had three instances of three straight years of a Calder Trophy finalist. In fact, from 43 to 45, they had a winner for three straight years, Gay Stewart, Gus Bodnar, and Frank McCool. And Frank McCool. Wow. Mm-hmm. 89:14 And I believe the last instance, because I know we were talking about this around the time when after Pedersen had won and Hughes was obviously having a great first full season with the Canucks, the last team to have back-to-back winners. 89:26 Poor Dom to bring up the Canucks, man. 89:28 Yeah. But the Bruins, Bobby Orr and Derek Sanderson went back-to-back. 89:33 They're the last back-to-back winners? 89:35 Yeah. 89:37 Jeez. 89:39 It's been a while. 89:40 So, yeah, if not for Matthew Schaefer, Montreal may have pulled it off last year with Demidov following up Hudson, but not to be. 89:49 It's hard to do. You know what? I forgot. Kane and Taves debuted same year and then Christopher Stieg the next year. So they had two. Right. Okay. 89:59 Good question. Very good question, Anthony. 90:03 All right, last one here. Tim in Halifax. Hi, Elliot, and to a lesser extent, Kyle and Dom. 90:08 Yes, Tim, that is correct. 90:11 Correct. 90:13 As much as I would love to try and stump you with trivia, I have a question that is a little inside baseball or inside hockey in this case. With Elliot breaking the news on Friday that Nikita Kucherov is requesting a trade, how hard do you take it when something that you have been working on for days, weeks, or months gets broken by somebody else? I can imagine it is tough. How do you personally know something is ready to, quote, break? Where being first to correct breaking news is paramount to your position, but being wrong can cost you credibility. 90:44 I can't imagine the tightrope you would have to walk. 90:49 I mean, you just have to trust yourself and the people you're talking to, Tim. I mean, there are some people in who I deal with, like their word is gold. If they tell me something, it's happening. And there's some other things that are just so unbelievable that you have to triple and quadruple check it like that one with Kucherov. 91:14 On Friday night, that was one of those. 91:18 You know, I was supposed to go on NHL Network at 520 Eastern, and I told them I need some time because I'm working on something. 91:26 And they... 91:28 You know, they said, are you going to break some news on air? And I said, I don't know. And I went on at 530 and I told them I just can't do it. 91:36 Privately, I told them that. And I think that broke like at about 640, 650. And it took that long until I was comfortable. And I think there's a couple of things. Number one, are you really confident in what you're talking about? 91:50 Number two, I really do try. It's harder in the social media era, but I really do try to reach out in that situation. I try to reach out to the team, um, multiple people on the team. Sometimes it's the general manager, sometimes the media relations person, um, You know, I try to reach out to the agent. 92:12 I try to reach out to anybody else who might be tied into it. And the trade on Sunday with Wright and Wood, it's both teams, both agents. And if I have a player's number, I'll text them directly too. And you're hoping that somebody comes through for you. And not everybody does. Sometimes the direct people who are responsible won't talk to you or just ignore you. 92:36 And you have to try to find enough people that tell you it's true that you're confident in it. And I think it just comes down to who's telling you it's true and how much you believe it. And once you go... 92:50 You know, I will say when I press send on that one on Friday night for Kucherov, you're nervous because you're you believe it's 100 percent right. But there's that slight nagging doubt. What if I'm what if I'm wrong here? 93:05 And it's you know, you're right. Like if you get it wrong. 93:11 you feel like a gigantic idiot. Like there's no other way to put it, but you have to trust yourself, the people you talk to. And, you know, I think it's like anything else. If you do something and I've been in the business now, I'm an old man. So I've been in the business now 33 years. 93:29 You start to know when something you have is correct or when something you have smells wrong. And, you know, there have been times I've been beaten because I just wasn't sure. But in that situation, like the other people who there's a lot of quality people that break stories in hockey and they're good and they're going to be like sometimes you're going to catch the bear and sometimes the bear is going to catch you. But, you know, you want to break everything. I was on a podcast this week where I talked about how, you know, Kyle, we were doing an interview. 94:03 with Marty San Luis last Saturday in, in Winnipeg. And I missed the waivers and two guys got claimed on waivers, Jack St. Avani. And I can't remember who the other guy was that day. And we got off the interview. I was furious. I was like, I missed the waivers. 94:18 And, So that's why you stormed off. 94:21 That was something I had said. No, no, no. Everybody's competitive. Everybody is, and you never want to get beat. And sometimes you do, and you just have to say, okay, what did I do wrong, and how can I fix it for next time? 94:35 It is fun being a fly on the wall when you go into that mode, I'll just say. You just get to watch what's coming. 94:44 Your face changes. 94:46 What's wrong with this guy? 94:48 Your posture changes. 94:50 I can only imagine what it looks like. 94:52 Yeah, it's all good. Good question, Tim, and another good round of the thought line. If you would like to partake going forward, please do. Send us an email at 32thoughts at sportsnet.ca or drop us a voicemail at 1-833-311-3232. We'll take another break and come back and wrap up this edition of 32 Thoughts, the podcast after this. 95:28 All right, before we go, I wanted to remind you of this week's edition of Sportsnet Monday Night Hockey comes your way from San Jose. The Calgary Flames continue their road trip there. We're on the air at 8.30 Eastern Time, the pregame show with David Amber and Luke Gazdick and Justin Williams. So that makes it, what is that, 7.30 Eastern Time. 95:46 Alberta time, this whole time change thing and who's doing it and who isn't. Check the ticker for the latest. That's all I'll say. Puck drop a little after. 9 Eastern, 8 Alberta time, 7 BC time. Exclusively streaming on Sportsnet Plus. Should be a great game. Taking us out today, a track from a Taiwanese-Canadian singer-songwriter and artist, Jia, who lures you into the vast, lonely atmosphere of her debut album, Technicolor. She evokes the grit and stillness of an otherworldly desert through a blend of personal storytelling and cinematic drama, using songwriting as she would a journal. 96:24 With the influence of filmmakers such as David Lynch and Quentin Tarantino was integral to her writing process, Gia would often play their films in the background of her Toronto apartment during her sessions. There are echoes of 60s surf and garage rock with reverberating guitars reminiscent of Dick Dale and Link Wray. while a cool, detached femininity stands on the shoulders of giants like Nancy Sinatra and Francois Hardy. Technicolor is out now on Light Organ Records. 96:55 You can hear this song along with all the others we feature here at 32 Thoughts the Podcast and our 32 Thoughts the Music playlist on Spotify. Here is Gia and Let My Baby Go on 32 Thoughts the Podcast. Have a great week. 97:09 I had to let my baby go He was no longer good for me One final kiss before I hit the road toward coastal highway seas My darling, how I loved you so Bitches swallowed me up like Tylenol And now very often you were ill On a comedy cave In a red hot place Spotlight hid my baby's center stage Velvet morning sun Peeking through the blinds Couldn't help but let the words slip from my mind I had to let my baby go He was no longer good for me One final kiss before but you swallowed me up a time my friends don't agree with the life Final kiss before