32 Thoughts: The Podcast - 1 Game

Episode Date: May 12, 2023

One series down! Jeff and Elliotte discuss the Devils (21:15) as they are eliminated by the Hurricanes (12:30), Panthers-Leafs (38:46), Oilers-Golden Knights (43:30), and they get into the Alex Pietrangelo suspension (00:01).Plus, they go around the league with some of the latest news including the sale of the Senators (48:30), a new hire in Philadelphia (56:10), chatter around the Islanders (1:06:10), the search for a coach in the Big Apple continues (1:07:30), an update on Pittsburgh (1:08:45) and the guys take a question, sort of (1:10:45).Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call The Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemailOutro Music: Frank Mighty - Unattainable (Keep Me Close)All music heard in this episode was by Frank Mighty (including the instrumental of the song "The Coast")Listen to the full track hereThis podcast was produced and mixed by Amil Delic, and hosted by Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman.Audio Credits: Carolina Hurricanes, KJR FM, KTCK-AM, MSG, Sportsnet, Tennesse Titans, Toronto Maple Leafs Radio Network, WCMC and WTMM-FM.The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

I'm the biggest Batman geek alive. One game suspension. Welcome to 32 Thoughts presented by the GMC Canyon AT4X. Merrick Friedman and Delitzsch with you once again. A one game suspension. I'm not sure if you heard the news, Elliot, it was kind of quiet on Thursday night and hockey Twitter didn't go hysterical

with the news that Alex Petrangelo got a one-game suspension. Should also point out that Darnell Nurse's one-game suspension was upheld for instigating the fight with Nick Hague. The two are awash as we look to the series shifting venues to Vegas, and it's now a best two out of three.

But one-game suspension, Elliot, for Alex Petrangelo. Yeah, I got to tell you, I'm with all the people who think this just doesn't look good. Eichel reverses Theodore Petrangelo. Shooting. The Oilers get their sticks in the way. Puck not cleared.

Second opportunity. Dreisaitl moving to the gaping open net backhander, and he misses on the far side. He took a high stick afterwards, and I think it was from Petrangelo. But David comes right after him, and they're going at it now in the corner. And Petrangelo has taken a lot of checks,

high sticks, cross checks, you name it, throughout this series, and he dished one out here on dry saddle late. And it was late after the backhand attempt by dry saddle as he tried to put it into the open net. McDavid didn't like it and came right in there and they go at it a little bit as everybody converges back. Obviously six players

on the ice for the Vegas Golden Knights and Petrangelo is going to get the gate for that one with 127 on the clock but here it is here now it's late. This is gone gone gone and he comes down aggressively I mean that's a hard slash up into the high area arms of Dreisaitl. Really undisciplined for Alex Petrangelo, who usually is composed,

but he's just had enough. And, I mean, that was – that definitely comes down. They called it a major. They're going to review it. I don't see them taking that back from not being a major. And then McDavid gets in there, coming to the aid of his good friend and teammate when i was younger and i was being taught does a sentence work the truest answer was your ear does it sound good to your ear if the answer is yes your sentence works if your is no, your sentence doesn't work. So this one,

I'm using my eyes. Does this look good? If it looks good, it works. If it doesn't look good, it doesn't work. It doesn't look good. You can't look at what happened with Darnell Nurse and what happened with Alex Petrangelo and say, those two players should be punished the same way. You can't look at that. My brain does not see those two players punished equally. So I really feel that if Nurse's instigator was upheld, which it was, Petrangelo should have gotten two. If Nurse's instigator suspension wasn't upheld, I would have been fine with Petrangelo getting one. But I don't think they're equal. If Nurse's instigator suspension wasn't upheld,

I would have been fine with Petrangelo getting one. But I don't think they're equal. I don't blame the Oilers for being upset. I bet I know exactly what happened. They didn't want to take Petrangelo out for two games this late in the series. They just didn't want to do it. But sometimes you're put in a position where you have to do things. Petrangelo's very fortunate for two reasons. He has no history and Dreisaitl wasn't injured, but still you have to send a message that you can't be taking those kinds of

shots on superstar players at the ends of games. You just can't. You know, Petrangelo is not on a dry side of level, but he's the next group. He's a star defenseman who's had a great playoffs. And I understand he's mad and being targeted. Like I get all that, but we can't have this happening. It's not good for the game. And number two, I just don't think the two of them should have been punished equally. Let me try to introduce another line of thinking in on this one, because I don't think that, and again, I'm trying to put my mind in the mind of George Peros here, and I may be way off,

but I try to do this. Okay. If I'm George Peros, what do I do? Or if I'm in the brain of George Peros, how do I react here? And this is what I imagine. I imagine George Peros and the Department of Player Safety not looking at these two things as if they're joined or they should be measured off against each other. They look at them as separate entities. One, look at the Darnell Nurse instigator under five minutes. It's an instigator. It's automatic. Yes, you can rescind it, but it's an instigator. Okay automatic yes you can rescind it but it's an instigator okay so that one is the automatic i don't think for a second that they keep that in their hip pocket and say

okay the alex petrangelo suspension whatever it's end up going to be is going to be a reflection or going to be measured off based on what we just did with darnell nurse i think they look at that completely separate. Again, I'm getting myself in Peros' mind here. I'm guessing he looks at it totally separate and says essentially what you just did, no injury, no history. If it's Alex Petrangelo or if it's Shea Theodore

or if it's Alec Martinez or other Vegas Golden Knights defensemen that don't have a history, I'm guessing he weighs in the exact same way. The Department of Player Safety doesn't look at two incidents that are separate. One is instigating a fight. One is a slash and say, these two need to reflect one another somehow because they're coming out at the exact same time. Like that's just a thing. Like they're coming out at the same time. And I understand like, okay, it's easy way.

You just got to wash one defenseman for another and it's a nice tidy bit of work and we really haven't put anyone at a disadvantage here. I just don't think that the Department of Player Safety says, well, we've done this to nurse, so therefore we should do this Petrangelo. I don't think that that department does or maybe even should take that leap in logic. There's a lot about what you say there that I think is very legitimate

because the analytical mind in me sees it the exact same way you just explained it. This is one play. This is another play. We judge the one play on the merit, and play we judge the one play on the merit and then we judge the other play on the merit i think you're totally right when human emotion is completely removed from the equation and i understand that you are an automaton you do not have human feeling okay like i get that i've known you for a long time i completely understand that you're basically a decepticon like i totally get it okay i think that is the

hardcore analytic base feeling way it would work yeah but jeff we are humans and human thought gets involved here and human motion gets involved here. On Wednesday night, when this all happened, I did the late night hit with Ken and Ivanka from the studio. Yep. And as I'm walking over there, I'm texting people. You may have seen Kevin and I with our jackets off at the end of the show. Oh, yes. And I'm texting people, what do you think?

What do you think? What do you think? And you know what the overwhelming action came back to me was? They're going to split it. They're going to take out both guys. Because that is, in a lot of ways, and I'm not saying that the people who run the Department of Player Safety are afraid. That's not what I'm saying here. What I'm saying here is that they don't want to decide the series.

Okay. They don't want to do it. Now I know what people out there are going to say. They're going to say by, by not acting, you decide the series in this particular situation. That's not necessarily the case because nobody's injured. Okay. Like when Bunting got suspended, you know, Chernak was injured.

They had an injury there and they acted based on it. And so what I really believe this comes down to is it's 2-2 and they know if they take Petrangelo out for more than one game, they are really, really potentially tipping the series towards Edmonton. And like I said, if Nurse gets one game, I think Petrangelo should have gotten two. I just don't think they want to do that. A lot of the players who play, they want to decide it on the ice. Not everybody. In my experience, and maybe I'll hear from players and say it's changed or it's different now, but in my experience is the players want

to decide it on the ice and not have the decision made for them about who's in the lineup and who's not. And I think that's the player mentality. And any player listening to this podcast is free to send me a private message and tell me I'm wrong. But in my experience, Jeff, and you can tell

me if you think I'm wrong, that's what the players prefer. And I think the players who are in department of player safety, and there's a few of them, they feel very strongly about that. Do you disagree? No, I don't, but I keep coming back to the same thing and I hate to keep plucking

the same note here as we're trying to make this podcast somewhat interesting to kick it off today. But I just think they look at it and say, there's no history, it's a slash, there's no injury, it doesn't matter where the series is at, tied up at twos or Vegas is down to, or Edmonton is up to, I don't think they look at that. I think they just take a cold, hard look at it and say, if this were any other player

in any other situation here in the playoffs, what would it be? And that's the number they arrive at based on the information, which is slash no history, no injury. It doesn't feel right. I'm with you on that one. I look at that and I say, when we're measuring things up, like what's fair here? And then you know what I do, Elliot? I catch myself when I say that word and I stop myself.

Sometimes life's not fair. And I always say to myself, Jeff, what do you tell your children? And you know what I tell my children? Go to the dictionary, children. Take out the word fair because believing in that word is going to do a lot of damage to you in your life because that word does not exist. And I agree with you. I'm a great

dad. I'm on the cover of today's Modern Parent Magazine, as a matter of fact, for that one. Honestly, I think that it doesn't feel right, but I don't think the Department of Player Safety should be making decisions based on what feels right. Like to me, what feels right is exactly what you're saying.

Either you rescind nurse and give Petrangelo one, or you uphold nurse and you give Petrangelo two. That's what feels right to me, but I don't make those decisions. And I'll tell you what, you know what? And again, I'm going to come back to one very specific example because I know George

Peros is really hearing it online. I don't know that he's online and following all of it or reading it or whatever, but he's. You know, you know what the general feeling is. He's getting pounded out there. The one thing that I always come back to about George Peros is the Andrew Cogliano. Yes.

Suspension. Suspension and non-suspension for Eberle in these playoffs. And Eberle in these playoffs. But the Cogliano one was where I really said, wow, that is completely taking the emotion out of it because there's a hockey player in George Peros who if you're playing hockey would probably say, man, that's BS.

Let him play. But that's not his job. I do agree with you there. I have to say this, that when he did that with Cogliano, which basically, unfortunately, and I don't take that lightly, basically cost him a friendship. It's the same thing as when Steve Eiserman initially left Martin San Luis off the 2014 Olympic team,

something that eventually cost him the player. Yeah. Like those are people who take their job very seriously. The easy thing to do was the other thing. I agree with you there, Jeff. I just feel that players always want to leave it up to players.

Yeah. And I think they looked at this situation and they said the best way to leave it up to players. And I think they looked at this situation and they said the best way to leave it up to the players is do this. And people may think I'm wrong, but that's my opinion. Back for Drury, back to Gostin's there at the left point. Now Cote

Kniemi, top of the right circle. He's shot! They score! Yes for Foss! And it's in! Carolina going to the conference finals. The Canes win it 3-2 in overtime. Canes advance! Well, the storm surge is all over Jesper Voss.

And I'll think he'll take it. He will take it. What a moment. Overtime goals are special, but one to end a series and send your team to the conference finals, that's one you won't forget. And I think at the end of the day, certainly, I think the more qualified team, the better team, won this series.

And they will be an extremely hard out in the next round. Here's Ryan now with Brent Burns. Thanks very much Brent. First of all how about this atmosphere. You guys gave them a lot to

cheer about this crowd and this group. What can you say about it. Oh I mean we talk about it during the game how unbelievable it is and the energy you get from them coming in the tailgating.

I mean it's a special place. It's really incredible. So many opportunities going both ways for both New Jersey and yourself. Just did you wonder how this thing was going to unfold? Did you kind of have a sense of how this flow and momentum may change throughout this? Yeah, I think we, obviously we watch a lot of hockey too, so you usually see the overtime goals that go in. You're chucking them at the net.

That fits right into our game. We love to chuck a good biscuit on net, and we've got the guys that go there. So you kind of figure that's how it was going to go. It was a close game, and yeah, I think you just, we talked about just throwing everything we had at the net and going there. You beat the Islanders in six. You beat the Islanders in six.

You beat the Devils in five. Tell me just what you've learned about this group as you go through this journey together. I think there's no quit. I think we've seen that all year. Guys just keep going. Somebody goes down, next guy up. A lot of depth. Everybody works.

It's been a really, really fun group to be a part of. It's Rallywood, man. It's been a really, really fun group to be a part of, and it's Rallywood, man. It's fun. Congratulations. Thanks. Thank you. John. Thank you, Ryan.

Carolina is halfway there. It's a hurricane season in North Carolina. Now will the storm move south to Florida or north to Toronto? Okay, Elliot, the Carolina Hurricanes are through to the Eastern Conference Final. They defeat the New Jersey Devils in Game 5 by a final score of 3-2. It took overtime. It took a tip.

It was Jesper Fast. Congratulations. You are the hero. Cut Kanyemi with the shot. Nice tip. Fifth goal for Jesper Fast. And now the Carolina Hurricanes move on. And we bid good day to the

New Jersey Devils before we do a quick little what's next and recap of New Jersey your thoughts on Carolina moving forward and was it just me or did it seem as if as these playoffs have gone on this team has kind of turned into a machine Elliot these, these Carolina Hurricanes. They are a machine. Like we talk about automatons and Decepticons and the good transformers, the autobots, and they are the autobots. They are the good transformers. Who would be Optimus Prime?

Would it be Burns or would it be Aho? It could be. Burns, Burns. Yeah, I think you're probably right. And he's bigger. Tied it up to put Carolina in a position to get this thing into overtime. And he's been so great in these playoffs. I go Burns on that one.

Trying to get that back for Drury. Still loose stall to Drury. Back to hand chance. Mid with a save. Rebound. Thrown into the corner. Comes out to the right point. Burns a shot.

They score! Brent Burns! Feel the burn! We're tied at two! They're a high IQ team Brindamore, he's a hell of a coach Like he's just the guy who makes it all go People have said to me That if he ever leaves

They wonder just how much the organization would change They think it would be significant If Brindamore ever left that area, but they know who they are. I think their defense is the best blue line remaining in the playoffs. That's who controls the game. Their blue line controls games and they're

disciplined. They know how to play. They punish you physically. They make it hard to get through them. New Jersey gave it everything they had. They just weren't good enough to beat these guys. And there's no shame in that because there aren't going to be a lot of teams in this league that aren't good enough to beat these guys,

even with three talented offensive players missing from their lineup. It's exceptional. Full marks to the Hurricanes, full marks to the organization, and whoever they play in the Eastern Conference Final, they're going to be the favorite and they deserve it. Okay. Now, the other thing we should talk about when it comes to this Carolina-Jersey game, Jeff, is this video that the Hurricanes put out at the end of the game. Now, you have to understand that Thursday was NFL schedule reveal day and the NFL and their teams have gotten really good at this.

Like the Chargers always put out an anime version that is very good. And they did it again this year. I don't know if you've seen what the Tennessee Titans did this year, but they had a bunch of fans, I guess they showed the logos of the teams they were playing to a bunch of fans. I guess they showed the logos of the teams they were playing to a bunch of people walking down Broadway

and these people had no clue who the logo was. Like one of them was the Jacksonville Jaguars on a certain day and so the guy looked at it and said, oh, that's Captain Cheeto. And so they put Captain Cheeto to the NFL music on this date. It is so good. Chester Cheeto. They play the Colts twice and people are like, Texas, that's the Cowboys. That's the Cowboys, Texas. Got that. I would advise you all to go see it. It's easily findable. It's really good.

But on a night where the NFL does this and does it really well, the Hurricanes top them all with their video of Jersey's celebrities congratulating Carolina on their win. Congrats, Hurricanes. Carolina, how are you? Hey, Carolina, this is Mauro from Carlos Bakery, home of the kickballs. There was Johnny Sack from the Sopranos. There was Fireman Ed, the big Jets fan. There was the Situation from Jersey Shore. It is happening,

guys. Big Daddy Sitch. Ciao, Carolina. This is Federico Castelluccio. How are you? Hey, Carolina, congratulations. Great round. Best of luck in your quest for the cup. You advance to the next stage. Big shout out to you. It's so good. It's so funny. So listen, congratulations. I'm moving on. Good luck in the future with love from the Jersey Shore.

Now that right there is an awesome situation. I think you're going to win. I'm looking at this and I'm saying, do any of these people have any idea what they were signing up for? Did they just take the cameo money and go? I mean, what a setup. It was brilliant. One of the best things we've seen all year.

Elliot, hands down, whoever came up with that idea, the Carolina Hurricanes, two scoops of ice cream for you and a corner office. Well done. You know what, you know, what's interesting about this Jeff is I've, I've started to have

more of these conversations with teams. Like some teams are really active on this, on social media and some teams don't do it. One team told me that their rule is that, and it's from right at the top of their hockey operations but one of the teams told me says if the other team that we beat we think someone's going to get fired or someone's going to lose their job because of you know a loss to us or what could happen after this game the rule is you don't do anything. Like that's, apparently that's what the GM said

to the people in charge. I never want to see us kicking someone and then seeing that, oh, this coach got fired on this day or something like that. They told me that's their only rule. When the other team is in danger of people losing jobs, you cannot make fun of them. So I thought that was pretty interesting.

Outstanding season and it continues for the Carolina Hurricanes. Meanwhile, the season comes to an end for the New Jersey Devils and what an interesting and emotional ride it's been for this New Jersey team and what an improvement over last season. Although I think, you know, you know, Elliot, how many times did we say on this podcast

last season, you know, man, if only the New Jersey Devils could get a save, this is a team that's right there. And this season they got the saves and they got the win streaks early. It was all about fire Lindy. Then it was about sorry, Lindy. And everybody had a good chuckle about that. How do you see the New Jersey Devils season and what are the decisions on the horizon here? And how much of it just revolves around Jesper Bratz?

Before we get to Bratz, can I just say I feel terrible for Jonas Siegenthaler. Boy, that Slavin had a great shift here, Matty. Well, he's been their best defender. Has one of their goals tonight as the puck is cleared by Siegenthaler. They're pointing at him, but... Yeah, he's going to go to the penalty box. It's a delay again.

Oh, boy, Matty. New Jersey 71. Minor penalty. Delay again. You know, and what do you do? You got the puck just around the top of the circle, and Siegent you do? You got the puck just around the top of the circle. And Siegenthaler, like so many players tonight, trying to flip it out, right, Matt? Flip it out and live again.

But here, and you know what's interesting, Matt? The puck is on its end, but it's in the neutral zone. And Thomas Tatar throws it back to him. And then he's under pressure on the forecheck and fires it out well i don't know it's an automatic i know i feel bad too but it's an automatic call i agree with the penalty i think you should force players to make a play i agree with the rule i I hate to see that. You know, like he put it into the crowd. He knew it right away.

The Carolina guys were all calling for it. It is an awful, awful feeling. My heart bleeds for Siegenthaler. It really does. But that said, Jeff, I agree with the call. We need less whistles. You have to force people to make a play. I just, as a human being, I didn't like to see that.

But it's not really a call. Like it's not a decision. It's an automatic. Like there's no. Why, why are you, why are you arguing with me here? Sorry, go ahead. And nobody's blaming anybody for making the call. Like we all know they got to make the call.

I just feel terrible for the guy. I hear you. I get it i know he sucks i can only imagine sitting there watching that all unfold to be honest with you elliot and it wouldn't be a prima donna thing it would just be my legs would feel like they had concrete in their boots i don't know how i'd'd be able to get up and leave the box. I would feel that awful. I might just sit there until somebody came and got me. Just like, you know, I'll turn the lights out on the way out, guys. I'll catch up to you later.

I'll turn the lights out and lock the doors. I'm just going to stay here for a while. That Lindy Ruff quote, I completely forgot about puck over glass in 2006. Two good teams. You get a bounce one way or the other, we you know, puck goes over the glass. That's the second time in this building I've lost a playoff series with a puck over the glass.

I know this is hard. I'm going to actually ask him to make the glass a little bit tall. Oh yeah, so I know this is hard. I'm going to actually ask him to make the glass a little bit tall. This is another hard one right after this. Oh, yeah. So Stan Narodka sent me the note about it reminding me. The player in question who fired the puck over the glass was Brian Campbell, the defenseman, June 6, 2006.

It's a 2-2 game. Carolina goes on the power play play and the goal is scored by rod brindamore oh man salt on an open wound elliot salt on an open wound you know when i when i read that quote on twitter initially my reaction was you know that's pretty funny good for him and having a sense of humor about it and then when i I saw the clip, he wasn't saying it as funny. He was saying it sort of mournfully. You know, Lindy Ruff, he's 63 years old. He's been coaching in the NHL for 30 years to have two of those.

I don't mean this to sound funny. I mean this seriously. As bad as I feel for Siegenthaler I feel even worse for Ruff oh guy first thing I want to talk about before we get to Brad is is Jack Hughes because I think he was very close to not playing in game five Lindy was Jack physically okay tonight um First of all, I didn't think, I'm going to give him a lot of credit. I didn't think he was even going to play tonight. And for him to put the skates on and play just says a lot about his character and

fact he didn't want to be out of the lineup tonight. In fact, he didn't want to be out of the lineup tonight. I can't get any light on what the injury is now that the season's over. I'll just say right now, you'll get details later, but it was an upper body injury. I had heard during the day he wasn't going to play, and as you know, people are really careful about this. Nobody is going to admit that Jack Hughes is not going to play game five before the game.

And he took warmup and he didn't take line rushes. And, you know, I was thinking, oh my goodness, he's actually not going to play. And then he went out and played. And that kid is such a gamer. I'm such a huge, I'm a huge Jack Hughes fan, a huge Jack Hughes fan. And I just wanted to say that I think it was close in game five. I heard it was 50, 50 and he went out there. So, I mean, if that guy is your marquee player and he is like, I know how important he sure is, I do, but Jack Hughes is the guy who makes them go. And when your number one player has that

attitude, you're in really good hands we saw him become a superstar i agree with that elliot jack hughes became a superstar this year okay decisions brat yeah so i think they've been talking to brat for some time they have made it very clear that brat he's not going far away from what hughes is at now the thing you have to understand here is I think a lot of people look at and they say well Jack Hughes your number one guy eight million guy nobody should make much more than him and a lot of people go yeah yeah that makes sense that makes sense that makes sense in a bar or in your basement arguing with your friends it doesn't always work in the real world because they'll say, well,

that was then, this is now. Or they'll say, look, Hughes was restricted for a lot of those years and Bratt is unrestricted soon, so it's different. The devils are perfectly within their rights to argue, yeah, that may be all true, but this is our salary structure and we're staying to it. And it's been a long, long grind. I think it hasn't been easy for both sides. I think it's been frustrating for both sides. I think there were times people thought it was going to get done and there were other times that people thought it was never going to get done. But now, to other times that people thought it was never going to get done. But now, you know, the clock ticks.

Like everybody has a decision to make here, and sometime over the next few weeks, it's going to have to be made. But all I know is that the two sides have been grinding away for this one in a long time. It hasn't been an easy process, but we're almost there now. And one way or another, we're going to get our answer. Meyer, you know the thing? If Meyer didn't sign long-term, which to this point he hasn't, a lot of people suspected that what was going to happen was the Devils were going to take Meyer to cut rate arbitration. And what that'll do is it'll make him a one-year player at eight and a

half million dollars, because you can take off 15% from what he was making this year, which was 10. And a lot of teams and a lot of agents have said that's what the Devils will do. I think everybody understands that if they can't get an extension, that's probably what's going to happen if they decide to keep him. So then the Devils will have a choice. Do they do that and keep them or do they flip them or let them talk to other teams like they have a decision to make on brat and they have a decision to make on meyer and it doesn't become as simple as who signs first but the players have a lot of

say here like they are a year away from unrestricted free agency, they control a lot too. So obviously there are two big decisions there. Ruff is another one. Is he coming back to coach next year? I think everybody knows that when Andrew Burnett was brought in, that he was going to be the long-term guy if it didn't work out with Ruff. Well, Ruff just had a great year. And the other thing too is,

I think other teams are going to want to talk to Burnett. So what complicates this, the Devils are looking at a head coach who they weren't sure about initially, who just had a marvelous season. And we know that Jack Hughes really likes playing for him. Yep. And they have an assistant coach who's going

to be in demand, who's a guy you wanted. Yep. So they have big decisions to make all over the place. We talked about, just as a quick aside, we talked about Andrew Burnett with Calgary and the association with Jonathan Huberto not too long ago. Like that does make a lot of sense to the point where I would at least expect Calgary to have a conversation. Unless they lock them up first, right?

Unless they just say you're not going anywhere. Like I think as a whole, I think the Devils are in a really good place. I think they had a fun year. Their fans were really engaged. They played hard. They're fun to watch. They play a fun style. You look at their guys.

Heischer's locked up a long time. Hughes is locked up a long time. Hamilton's locked up a long time. And I think you've got your goalie in the future in Akira Schmid. You know, Severson, I can see it where it's going to be too expensive for them to keep. You know, there's not a lot of D out there

and Severson's played a lot of minutes, important minutes for years. So, you know, he's an experienced guy. You know, one thing that Devils have done is they've found some good bargains here and there. Like Seekenthaler was a really good find for them. I'm sure that that's what's going to be their MO. Like what really good bargains can we find out there and do it? So even though they have some big decisions to make of some pretty important players,

I generally think they're moving in the right direction. I think this is a team that we thought was going to be there last season based on how they played again, and I think this was the year they planted the flag. And I think this is going to be a lot of years in a row, the New Jersey Devils, in the postseason, as Hughes and Heischer and everybody else. Well, not just Hughes-Jack, but also Hughes-Luke continue to grow.

I just thought this was a, you know what? This was a wildly fun season for the New Jersey Devils. This was a really fun team to watch, Elliot. Yeah. The one thing about New Jersey this year, I didn't watch every single game. I don't watch every single game for any team, but every time I watched Devils games,

there was something in every single Devils game that I watched that I really liked. Yeah. Every time I watched Devils,, there was something in every single Devils game that I watched that I really liked. Yeah. You know, like every time I watched Devils, there was something where I was like, oh, you know what? That was awesome. You know, like there's something about New Jersey every time I watched a game that I really, really liked. And I don't think I'm in the minority on that one. So chin up, New Jersey.

The future is bright for you. Excellent. Hey, Carolina. I love it. I love it. What is happening, guys? Big Daddy Sitch. I love it. I love it. What is happening, guys? Big Daddy sitch. I love it. Carolina, how are you? Listen to the 32 Thoughts podcast ad-free on Amazon Music, included with Prime.

I love it. Elliot also the Dallas Stars are now one win away from advancing to the Western Conference final they take care of the Seattle Kraken five to two is the final score game six in Seattle Saturday seven o'clock eastern this one was a lot about Rupe Hintz, who now with 18 points is tied with Leon Dreisaitl for the playoff lead. Two goals, one assist for the speedy first-line center. He will move it to Harley. Thomas Harley, impressive. Had a goal and a helper the other night. Walks it in, feeds it to Hintz.

He scores! Rupe Hintz beat Grubauer glove side. It's an early combo landed by Dallas. I know Hintz had a big night, but honestly, the thing I'm going to take from this night is that like the undertaker coming out of the coffin, Jason Robertson is back going. Robertson had three assists,

and as great as Hintz was, and he was great, the one play on the fourth goal, it's just such an incredible play, like pulling the puck away from Grubauer and then lifting it over him. Robertson ties it up, trying to throw it in front, and it's batted in! No, it's not! It's off!

Ropey Hintz thought he scored. The red light came on, and we're going to play on here. This was a puck that just spilled to the front of the net, and Hintz had a moment to elevate it. Looked like it went off the shoulder of Grubauer, maybe off the crossbar. The referee was right there. They're blowing the horn, though, which is never a good sign.

Yeah, so they are going to blow the horn and go back and look at this. Oh, yeah. Oh, that's it. It'll be a 4-2. But I think the Stars will be much more excited that Jason Robertson, although he hasn't scored, he had a big offensive game. They absolutely needed that.

We're going to talk in this podcast about Ryan Nugent Hopkins and how excited the Oilers were to see him score. Robertson didn't score. He got three assists, but I guarantee to you, the Stars were just as excited for that. You else was exciting what's that joe pavelski scored again pavelski the second effort dallas got two quick ones in the first they get an even quicker one 35 seconds into the second it is three nothing ho hum joe pavelski just scores again his seventh goal of the playoffs what's the saying too slow too old too good too

good joe pavelski elliott just keeps on producing too good and another good performance from ottinger they get going he's starting to look like he's getting on his path again. It'll be tough in Seattle. It's a loud building. They've proven you should not count them out. And I just wonder if Dallas is really starting to go here. I don't know what this is with the Stars. They start series slow.

They're down 2-1 to Minnesota. They win three in a row. They're down 2-1 to Seattle. They've now won two in a row, trying for three. They feel for whatever reason that that's kind of who they are. They get going later in series. Maybe it's because they just grind you.

I don't know exactly what it is, but the longer a series goes, the more comfortable the stars seem to feel. And you really saw a lot of that in game five. You know, one thing I was happy for on the Seattle side of things, and congratulations, Jared McCann, first career NHL playoff goal. Now McCann right side, turns away from Domi. McCann toward the net, scores!

Jared McCann from the right side may have tipped off of someone or something, but the Seattle Kraken. Congratulations, Jared McCann. That's great recognition, Jeff. Really happy for him considering he was out with a concussion and is now back. You can't help but be happy that he got this moment. It'll be interesting to me. I thought the shot counter was really lopsided early in that game.

I think it was 13-5 after the first period. But did you really feel that Seattle had enormously good chances? I thought, you know, I hate games like that where you get a lot of shots, but it's almost like you're warming up the other team's goalie because they're not great chances. I kind of thought that that was that kind of game for Seattle. I never thought even earlier as they had a higher shot counter they were particularly dangerous.

Well, they're warming up the course. Meanwhile, the Dallas Stars scored two goals in their first three shots. Wyatt Johnson and Rupe Hinn. So it seemed like everything that Dallas was touching early was going in. Yes. And guys from Seattle that kind of concerned me a little bit. I thought it was a rough night for Bjorkstrand. I thought he was absolutely not himself.

It was a rough night for Wenberg, who I think has been really good in this series at times. And you know what? I'll say this. I'll tip my cap to you, Jeff. Seattle's missing your guy. He only plays 10, 11 minutes a night,

but he scores. Not having Sprong there, you can feel it kind of, it throws off night, but he scores. Not having Sprong there, you can feel it. It kind of throws off the balance a little bit. I just want to let that breathe a little bit. I'm smiling deeply. I didn't want to try to interrupt you there while you were on a roll about our boy Sprong.

All eyes on Saturday for Game 6 where the Dallas Stars look to close out. 10 seconds left. Barkov working back through center. Six, five, four, into the corner. Swallow it up, Morgan. He does. The game is over.

Okay, Elliot, we're going to get to that Vegas Golden Knights game. I know we've already had the discussion about Alex Petrangelo and Darnell Nurse. We're going to get to that Golden Knights Oilers game here in a couple of moments where Edmonton remembered how to play five on five and did it quite well. Thank you very much. But let's rewind to Wednesday a little bit longer and talk about the Toronto

Maple Leafs staving off elimination. Two to one is the final. A lot was made about the core four going into this one. Nylander scores a power play goal. Mitch Marner scores a goal that turns into the game winner. Headed for a game five. That's tonight. The disaster scenario of losing at home in five

games is still very much out there. So get your marshmallows and your sticks and your fire ready for that one. But what do you make of the Maple Leafs pushing this one to a game five? Well, I thought they played as well as I've seen them play. They played the kind of game that you have to win in the playoffs.

They grinded. They protected the house. Here's Joseph Wall, who I think is a really talented kid, and I'm really impressed by his mental preparation and how calm he is. But it's his first career playoff start. And they played tight. They didn't give up many great chances I really liked the way they played Marner played one of his best games of the year and if you're going to be defiant

I've got no problem with that however you have to be able to back it up in the positive way on the ice and he sure did you know Toronto played extremely well now they've got to do it again and again and again, just to get this to a victory for them. It's still a big task, but that's the blueprint. A couple of things for Florida. Number one, I thought Kachuk was really quiet in game four. I'm betting that's not going to continue to be the case. Until the end where he headlocked and noogied his former line mate

with the London Knights, someone he won the Memorial Cup with in Red Deer. You could tell Barner wasn't in the least bit bothered by that. He was like, whatever. I know exactly what he's going to try to do. So just stay poised and don't really give a fly in what the next word is. The one thing I think about Bobrovsky and how the schedule was, it benefited him earlier in the series because it allowed him to get his rest and hydration.

Extra day. If Toronto can get this deeper into the series, all of a sudden it is game, day off, game, day off, game, day off. Bobrovsky's extra rest goes away and we are now at seven straight starts and we know Florida worries if he gets to eight or nine now Alex Lyon has proven he is more than capable I was gonna say pause on that for a sec oh that's wonderful yeah let's get to the guy who saved the panthers season elliot i know i know believe me i understand that there is a flaw in this plan and a quite obvious one but bobrovsky has been the major difference so far in this series he's been great so that's the one thing i keep an eye on here look toronto was near perfect defensively in game four they have

to continue that on friday but I'm remembering one thing you said, which is it would be very Toronto to win in Florida and lose at home, but they know the blueprint. One of the things too, and you know, I know you wrestle with this one and I'm, I'm not going to ask you again, but I'm going to tell you what my answer is.

My answer is seven games. Like at what point is, point is are all the contingency plans off you know all the the pink paper uh when does that get tucked away and put back in the drawer it feels to me like it's got to go seven games or the uh the plan as discussed after game three might still go into effect that's what it feels like to me, Elliot. Is that, are you simpatico with that? The Leafs need to get this thing to seven to keep the wolves away from the door. It's like the Jim Hunt's old line on pornography.

I don't know how to describe it, but I know it when I see it. I think that's kind of the way I look at this. I won't know until I see it, if this is going to be okay. I can't believe we've gone how many seasons without you making one Jim shaky hunt reference on this podcast.

Tomorrow, our early fan day is good for you. Okay. So that's the Maple Leafs and the Florida Panthers story. Let's get to that Edmonton Vegas game four to one. And, you know, going into this one on Wednesday, we wondered, you know, were the Edmonton Oilers

going to figure it out five on five or, or were they again, just going to have to dine out on this insane power play well they figured it out five on five and I don't know who is smiling more when Ryan Nugent Hopkins finally scored Ryan Nugent Hopkins or his entire team Elliot CeCe takes a look over to Nurse Nurse shoots wide of the net it's Mc who picks it up. To Nugent Hopkins and he scores finally! McDavid was pretty close. The monkeys off his back. Ryan Nugent Hopkins with his first of the playoffs.

Right in the wheelhouse. He had a great chance earlier on. And it was an excellent save by Hill with the blocker. Are we going to get a game where both teams show up? Hasn't happened yet, bud. I would be surprised if one of the best players in game five isn't Shea Theodore. You know, he had a really rough game four, a really rough game four,

and he's a much, much better player than he showed on that night, and they're going to need him to be great with Petrangelo out of the lineup. You know, one of the things I'm really curious about is how is this game refereed? Look, we just saw a game get completely out of control, and I have no doubt that the Golden Knights,

who are trying to protect Petrangelo, are all over the officials and the series supervisor about the way Petrangelo's been treated. And I have no doubt they're all over him about Stone and some of the abuse he's getting. And you know that the Oilers are lobbying back with, okay, there's this, there's this, there's this and this. And we feel aggrieved about the suspension situation. we feel aggrieved about the suspension situation.

I'm really, really curious to see how game five is called. I mean, we all know the more penalties are called, the better it is for the Oilers because their power play is spectacular. But to me, that's one of the biggest questions about this game is how tight is it? I thought it was interesting, Jeff, that they didn't put Jonathan Quick in at all in game four. That says to me that Hill is their guy. He hasn't played a lot.

By leaving him in, you're just getting him work and getting him comfortable and getting him used to being back out there. Like this Skinner-Hill battle comes down to who can make one more save if you're Edmonton you'd feel very good about Skinner he's been as I said very roller coastery he was more teacupish in game four like to me the biggest moment of the game was when he made that save on Stone when it was two to nothing Stones all. Skinner shutting the door.

And they went down the ice and Ekholm scored. And the Oilers fans loving that. Here's Dreisaitl to Ekholm shooting. And he zipped that one wide. Didn't miss by much. Dreisaitl to Ekholm again. He tees one up. He scores!

Like that's a major swing from 2-1 to 3-0. I thought that was huge by Skinner. But who's the team that's going to get the more consistent goaltending here? Because it's been up and down at an injury situation for the Golden Knights. I also want to say this because some of you Golden Knights fans have been tweeting it at me. Yes, I did see the video where the Golden Knights were locked out of the room in Edmonton. We all saw it.

We played it on the air. And I know about some of the issues they faced in their hotel in Winnipeg. The Golden Knights have handled all of these distractions very well. Their fans demanded I recognize this. I see you in my DMs. There you go.

I thought Stuart Skinner was really good in that game four as well, turning aside 25. I thought that was great for him. You referenced teacup-ish there a second ago, and I thought a couple of really nice moments on the broadcast on Wednesday night where Ron McLean presented steak knives to you and also a teacup, which is in reference to a conversation we had where you referenced the Glengarry Glen Ross and the second prize being steak knives. And then you talked about being more teacup-ish

and not rollercoaster-y because that was a ride that you liked in the amusement park. Kelly Rudy said that he doesn't like the teacup ride because he spins too much. I think that's pathetic. When Max was like two months old, he was on the teacup ride. Come on. I was never much of a teacup guy, but I like the swings more than roundabout. I like the swings more than roundabout. I like the swings more than roundabout. All right, news on the March, Elliot,

and we'll start with Ottawa and the Senators and eyes on the sale, which now will not include, as Emily Kaplan from ESPN reported, Ryan Reynolds or the Remington Group. They are three strikes out. Emily Kaplan first had the story and then Bruce Geriak provided some more detail. And one of the things that Bruce reported was that Remington and Reynolds wanted an

exclusive window to make the sale. And they were told we're not comfortable with that. And let's just we're not comfortable with that. And let's just see all the bids that come in next week because the bids are due on May 15th. So essentially to put it in hockey terms, they were asking for a power play. That's good.

Okay. And didn't get it. A power play where nobody was allowed to try and kill it. Like you were just allowed to go in and score. Gotcha. I had a banker friend who I reached out to and I asked him to try and kill it. Like you were just allowed to go in and score. Gotcha. I had a banker friend who, who I reached out to and, and I asked him to explain this to me. And he said that he agrees with the decision not to give them the exclusive

window. Like this is one of those things. It's like when we talk about before the suspension, it doesn't look good because Ryan Reynolds, he's got all the emotion behind him. People want him in the league. Even he charmed the pants off the NHL a couple of months ago. Everybody wants him in there.

But this financial friend of mine, he says, you can't do that. He says, you have a fiduciary duty to take the highest bid for the team. And if you give him the exclusive window and therefore bypass where everyone can bid, you don't know that you're taking the highest bid for the team. It's been reported they were prepared to offer a billion dollars, and I have no reason to believe there was anything wrong with that report. But you don't know what anyone else is going to bid. If you give them the exclusive window, you don't know that anyone else is going to come close, beat it. Where are you going to be? And as a lawyer or someone handling the estate or making a sale, your duty is to get the most money you can. Now, if you have only one bid, that's something else.

If next week passes and they're the only people bidding, then hey, you get your exclusive window. If next week passes and they're the highest bidder or close enough that you want to enter with them, then hey, you can talk about an exclusive window. But you can't do it now unless the only way they can do it is if they offer a piece of money that is so enormous that you can't say no to it. It's like the buy now button on eBay. You've got the regular price, the auction's still open for another week, or you can buy it now for this inflated number. And unless they knew that they were coming in with a number that nobody was going to be close to, and it would have to be a significant money, my friend said, you can't do

that. You have to know what the landscape is across the board. So even though this isn't something that people like to hear from a legal and fiduciary duty responsibility, he thinks that was the right decision. So here becomes my question then. Is this a deke? Is this a head fake by the Reynolds slash Remington group? Boy, that is a great question. Jeff, I remember as a kid reading the comic books and what question would Batman ask? Well, I'm Batman isn't a question.

No, that's a statement. You're a bigger, I love Batman. I was more of a Spider-Man guy myself, but what resonates with you from Batman? Who benefits? And so whenever I hear a story like this one my question is who benefits and there's a couple ways you can look at it the other bidders benefit because they know that reynolds is out potentially the other bids benefit because they might think now,

oh, there's one less competitor, so the price is going to be lower, but I'm not sure that that's going to be the case here. We'll see. But why would this story get out three or four days before the bids are due? I like where you're going with this, continue. And the suspicion among a couple

of people is yeah that if remington is truly out then maybe reynolds goes somewhere else or maybe somebody calls them and says either do you want to join with us or how do we fix this? And I don't know if any of this is going, I don't know if any of that's going to happen, but there were definitely some people wondering today about the timing. Does this just mean that Reynolds and Remington are gone or do we have two or three days here to figure out an alternate reality i don't know but this has been the week of conspiracy theories the draft lottery and now this we'll see how it plays out and the petrangelo suspension and why he only got one game yeah it

continues well you know what to your point about timing too i mean what this does now is you know what? To your point about timing too, I mean, what this does now is, you know, there's a few days where everybody has to sit, whether it's Ottawa Senators fans, whether it's the NHL, to your previous point about how, you know, the charm offensive by Ryan Reynolds had the NHL going right along with it, the mayor of Ottawa, everybody's selfies with everybody at the rink. Like, we all know what Ryan Reynolds has done here. And now everyone's got to kind of sit with this idea that what we thought was going to be a great thing for Ottawa is now gone.

And what happens in this period of time? Like this didn't just happen suddenly, like the morning before the bids were supposed to go in, all of a sudden Remington pulls out. Now there's a few days here where your emotions can play with you and your disappointment in all of it can perhaps influence things i i'm very much with you on this one like this time before the bids are supposed to go in i do wonder if there's something to that. I really do.

Cause I don't think this is something that things don't happen. This doesn't happen by accident. Yeah. And anyone who's involved in this, whether it's Eugene Melnick's daughters, whether it's the NHL, I'm not so sure that this necessarily sits well with anybody right now. Someone as high profile as Ryan Reynolds pulling out here.

This just got more interesting. I agree with you. Now, the other thing I was going to say about this, Jeff, is should this hold, it is the second time the Remington group has pulled out of a purchase of a franchise with the ball in the red zone. Let's put it that way. First was Arizona and now Ottawa. You know, you've got to think, is anyone going to get fooled here again?

And I've talked a lot about what I know about Remington, like really sharp, sharp people. Oh yeah. Who get what they want. The family dynasty in the, in the real estate world, really. But you're, if you're the NHL, you're looking at them. Okay. That's twice. All right.

We'll, uh, we'll see where this thing goes. Um, the other big headline earlier on Thursday, Elliot, you talked about this on the weekend speculating that the, the Philadelphia decision was, was coming to its zenith here and was going to, was going to happen at some point this week, last podcast, I believe we did discuss Keith Jones. Specifically, he's named president of hockey operations officially, and Daniel Breer has the interim tag removed from his business card as we thought would happen about a cozy five minutes

after he was named interim general manager in the first place. Your thoughts on both these moves? One less surprising than the other. They did a really good job of keeping Keith Jones' name out of the public eye. And I think the same kind of thing has happened in some of these searches. Now, I had a long talk with a recruiter who reached out to me through DMs, Jeff, and he was interested in what we talked about, about, okay, were people getting interviewed or were they getting talked to and how all these names were getting out? And he said, that's kind of the way it works is like these groups or whoever's put in charge

of the search, they'll start asking around, who should I be talking to? And then they'll reach out to people and, you know, they won't necessarily ask for permission because they won't ask for permission because they won't ask for permission if they don't think you're interested. So sometimes, and you know, you could argue whether this is against the rules or not, but they'll reach out to someone or they'll have a third party reach out to someone and they'll say, look, like, tell us a little, like, I just want to talk to you a little bit with this interest you, I've read this, this, and this about you.

Is there anything else to know? Like, it's a short conversation and technically you can say it's not an interview, but you are gauging their interest. And this kind of thing happens a lot. Hang on. Can I pause for a second? Cause we already introduced Glenn, Gary Glenn, Ross, or Lou in the podcast. This is like that Alan Arkin scene where he says, are we talking about this?

Or are we just talking about this? What are we, what are we talking about here? Are we talking about this? What are we talking about? You and we just talking about this? What are we talking about here? Are we talking about this? What are we talking about? You and I have to watch some different movies. Anyway, so that happens quite a bit. And one of the reasons I think, and I don't know this yet, that they were able to keep Jones's name so quiet is that it's not like they had to hire a search firm to talk to

Keith Jones, right? Yeah. had to hire a search firm to talk to keith jones right yeah so the amount of the amount of certain people in the circle who knew about him it kept quiet until basically when we talked about it on this pod on wednesday morning and then it really started to take off so one of the things here that was talked about jeff was the flyers have to get away from the old Flyers. And then people look at it and they're saying, wait a sec, they hired Keith Jones. Here's the way I would explain that. A year ago, the Philadelphia Flyers did not recognize Ed Snyder's birthday on January 6th, and their fans were furious. And they know that, and they've really

tried to make amends, and some of their alumni felt disengaged, and now the alumni feel a lot better about where things are going. They heard that criticism, and they made a difference. I think the thing that you recognize here is that maybe they needed a new voice in terms of which Flyer alumni were camera front or making decisions. But the Philadelphia Flyers fans do not want the Flyers to forget their identity and forget their history. I think that's a big distinction here. It's not about forget the old Flyers. It was never about that. It was find a new group to have influence. The thing about Keith Jones is you and I have known him for a long time. I think people underestimate guys like Keith Jones. And the reason is because he's friendly, because he's nice.

He laughs a lot. I think when you're not serious all the time and you've got a really sunny disposition, I think people underestimate you. I think they forget that to play almost 500 games in the NHL like he did, you have to be competitive. You have to be willing to run over your grandmother to get the last crispy crunch in the drawer. If it's you and her, she's going down. Okay.

Wow. I think people like him sometimes really get underestimated for how competitive they are, how much they care and how smart they are. Keith Jones, he could have been in media for 20 more years. Oh, going away. He didn't need this job. He actually moved to Florida and now he's going to move back. What job is going

to be more aggravation that job or this one that says to me that he's a tremendously competitive and serious guy and he's taking this job for the right reasons you know briere they believe in briere and i think briere has a plan i think he's going to strip it down and i think he's going to be committed and we all know that tortorella is going to have a big voice i think jones is there partially to be the face of the franchise i think he's also there partially to give people advice and give information and give his opinion. I do think as well, though, John Tortorella is going to have a lot of input here. I know that the buck stops with Daniel Breer.

He's going to make the lion's share of all the decisions. I just think that John Tortorella has a big voice here too. I think he does, but I think that's what Jones's role is, is to challenge both of them. Danny, are you sure about that? John, are you sure about that? Danny, do we really want to do this? Okay, John, you've already peeled enough paint off the wall. Stop.

And we're going to figure out, figure out our pattern here. I think that's what Jones's job is to be, is to be the guy who challenges Breer and Tortorella in a good way and says, this thing that you believe, is it really true? Is it really our right path? And the other thing I think here that's important is they made it very clear. I think there's at least one candidate who walked away from it because he wasn't going to get enough power. They made it very clear Breer was the guy. Keith Jones' ego is such, he's not going to have a problem with that.

And you know, one thing I am wondering is, are they going to add some more people to the front office? One of the things I know Breer talked about, and I think Doug Wilson went pretty far in this process. I know it was reported Jones and Enzo were the finalists. I think Wilson was very deep in the process too. They wanted somebody who'd been around and seen a lot of things in our front office. So he or she could say to them, you know, Hey, this is what I've seen, or this is what

I've seen, and this is what we should keep an eye on. I'm still curious to see if that's going to be part of it, But it would have been very easy for Keith Jones not to want this job. And the fact that he took it, I'm curious to see it. And I think you're nuts if you underestimate him. There's one thing for me that stands out about this hiring. And I think what it reflects on the Philadelphia Flyers and the direction that they're going in, Elliot. And that is, like you mentioned, Keith Jones could have worked in hockey broadcasting for as long as he wanted.

Stay in the booth and he's done so many tremendous things in hockey broadcasting. I think that's part of the attraction here. Part of bringing Keith Jones is you want to have him because of his communication skills. And the one thing that I believe about the Philadelphia Flyers now, as they rebuild this team, new orange, right? Elliot,

new orange is, I think they want to be more transparent and have greater communication. You know, you mentioned the, you know, the, the association with the alumni. And I know that's important,

but I think they want to extend that as well to the fan base, to season ticket holders, to sponsors. And I think they want to do it with someone who's polished. Put it this way. When you see Keith Jones or you say his name, like, do you not smile? Part of that is what comes along with Keith Jones. Great communication skills,

a very positive and highly intelligent and knowledgeable and connected person. And I think a lot of this too is this is going to fit right in with a new communication strategy. I think Keith Jones is going to be everywhere explaining what exactly it is New Orange, the Philadelphia Flyers are doing. I think there's going to be a lot of new players in orange. I think Hart, I think Provorov, Hayes. We've talked about that quite at length. Yeah.

I wonder about Konechny. I know at the deadline last year, one team told me they asked the Flyers about Konechny and they said, look, we still need good players here. He loves being a Flyer and he's exactly what we like. They weren't prepared to do it. I mean, that's going to be up to Breer, but I know that was the feeling at the deadline this year. Now Breer's in the seat. Does that change? I don't know. Too early to say, but I don't think briere is going to be

afraid to take some players and say okay these players need changes of scenery or by the time we're going to be good these players will be past their prime i'm really curious to see what he's going to do here but i don't think they're going to be afraid to be bold. Elliot, a couple of thoughts on a couple of New York teams. Going to get to the Rangers and that coaching situation here in a couple of seconds, but have you heard anything? And I know whispers are very faint because word doesn't get out from UBS Arena with the New York Islanders, but have you heard anything about the Islanders lately? Slight edit to the pod.

We were going to talk about New York Islanders here and what I think they may be up to this offseason. Not always easy because the Sultan of Silence, Lou Lamorello, is in charge and it's hard to figure out exactly what he's up to. I do think John Collins, who used to work for the NHL and had a lot of really interesting ideas, is going to potentially join the organization on the business side. However, I'm not hearing of much in terms of changes in the front office on the hockey operations side. I know the Islanders fans have been wondering for some updates and some intel into what's going on.

I'd heard rumors of maybe adding to the hockey operations, but the intel I'm getting have a very high position in the business of the NHL, potentially joining the organization. The Rangers coaching search. I think Chris Drury believes that NHL coaching experience is going to be a huge part of this search. I always think that there is a chance anything can change if you get blown away by someone. So I always keep that door open, but I do think NHL coaching experiences is high on their list.

Now, one name that got sent to me, which I thought was interesting, who would not fit that criteria, but it was interesting enough that I checked is Jay Pendolfo, who played 899 NHL games and was a very useful forward for a lot of years and a two-time Stanley Cup champion. He is coaching now at Boston University. They just had a really good year and they have, as you have mentioned, a hell of a team next year. Oh yeah. I kind of wondered if Pandolfo would be on the radar,

but I'm told that he is not pursuing NHL coaching opportunities at this time. So I would like to strike that name. The other thing I wanted to mention was Pittsburgh. I think Pittsburgh is beginning their second round soon. I think they want to get this done in the next couple of weeks. I think over the next few days, we might start to hear about some of the names that are really serious like they just went

through phase one like they talked to a lot of people and i think the penguins are going to do this in tiers there's going to be a top hockey person there's going to be a gm and then there might be some other things that they do but i think they finished phase one and they're onto the next round. And it wouldn't surprise me if we're like a week to two weeks away from Pittsburgh getting this done. And if the Maple Leafs end up having a miracle comeback against the Florida Panthers, they will move on if the Maple Leafs continue. I said this 13 days ago after they beat Tampa, there's no way Kyle Dubas is leaving.

And then look where we ended up. Yeah, I know. But if they win two rounds, can you see any way that Kyle Dubas? This is what's going to happen. They're going to come back and give a miracle comeback. They're going to go down 3-0 to Carolina Eastern Conference Final. We'll have everybody fired again. Yeah.

I don't know. I have always believed that somehow this was going to work out. But there's no question that this week threw a giant wrench into everything. Yeah. Calgary. Frank Cervelli mentioned on Thursday what we talked about on Monday's pod, which is that

the belief that Bradtree Living may not be able to talk to anyone until June 30th. Remember, we'd mentioned we'd heard that. I'd sent a note to the Flames. I have not gotten a response. I just want to reiterate, I don't like that. If someone's leaving and you know they're leaving, I think you should allow them to chase employment.

I do. Especially someone that's done as much as Brad Treliving did for the Calgary Flames organization. Yes. I'm with you 100 hundred percent on this one. You know, one of these days, Elliot,

we're going to have to get around to doing some emails and some voicemails as well. We've been so busy doing playoff stuff and the news keeps happening. We're going to get, we're going to get back to it. But one thing I thought we should probably get out there is a voicemail, a caller on the thought line, 1-833-311-3232. And this is an idea that was

also echoed by someone else by the name of Peter from Belfast. Let's have a listen. Hey guys, Nick from London, Ontario. Love the podcast. Just a quick what if question. As a Leaf fan who was kind of bummed with how things were going before last night, still got a bit of hope here, but I couldn't help but think if, what if, the Coyotes won the first overall pick in a draft lottery

and the Leafs got swept, this is just a fun what if, would the Leafs trade Austin Matthews to the Arizona Coyotes for the first overall pick and get Connor Bedard. Kind of a fun idea. What do you guys think? We'd be curious to hear. Anyways, thanks again for your show.

Love it. Take care, guys. Thank you, Nick. Elliot. You know what? I understand the question. Yeah. Are you conor bedard for anybody no not a chance not right now no way no how no way no how i don't think you do i'll tell you a story

and i i told it on your radio show and if people didn't hear it i'll tell you again. And now I can tell a bit more. It was the 2016 draft, the Austin Matthews draft. And apparently somebody called the Leafs table five minutes before the pick, wanting to see if the Leafs would trade the pick. And Lou Lamorello told them to get lost. He picked up the phone because he could see who it was, was calling. He was like, get lost. And that was the end of that conversation. That must have been Arizona at seven. to get lost. He picked up the phone because he could see who it was was calling. He was like, get lost. And that was the end of that conversation.

That must've been Arizona at seven, right to the bitter end. They ended up taking Clayton Keller, but that must've been Arizona. I don't know who it was. Coming in right under the, right under the wire. You know what? That was the ultimate draft of what ifs, right? There was the Rangers Oilers.

There was Subban to Vancouver. There was all kinds of stuff going on in that draft that never ended up happening, but not a surprise. But I don't think it's happening. been producing music since 2019. Frank Mighty just dropped a few new tracks and is getting set to release his Never Homesick EP on June the 8th. Catch him live June 16th at the Tall Pines Music Festival in Gravenhurst, Ontario. With Unattainable, here's Frank Mighty on 32 Thoughts to the Podcast. Enjoy it. Unattainable, I'll be better off alone Roaming coast to coast, did I leave it all at home? Now my neck is broke, I'm not sweet no rose Need a lot to meet, if you'd keep me close

Wondering is that all, if I'm gone tomorrow Can I still expect your face at the door? If I'm gone tomorrow, can I still expect your face at the door? When did I lose myself? Wanna go everywhere Suddenly there's no space, no news I can bear Running up and down the peak, aiming at the sun for a while Unattainable, are we better off alone? Roaming coast to coast

Did I leave it all at home? Now my neck is broke I'm not sweet, no rules Ain't a lot to me If you'd keep me close Wondering is that all? If I'm gone tomorrow Can I still expect your face at the door?