32 Thoughts: The Podcast - 31 Lies

Episode Date: May 28, 2021

Back by popular demand, it’s the carcast with Jeff riding shotgun! The guys break down game 5 Leafs-Habs and what we could expect as the series heads back to Montreal where we’ll see fans in the stands (3:00). They also wonder if Pittsburgh (10:20) and Florida (24:30) will make any changes this off-season (10:20), preview […]

Elliot the people have spoken and you know how we can tell the people have spoken because we're doing this in my car yeah because you're in your car and overwhelmingly overwhelmingly people said they like the car casts so here we go again although there were a few people i have to mention that were quite passionate about wanting it in a more traditional setting. And my thought was that they wanted, you know, a cleaner sound, a sweeter bit of audio from our man Amel, which everyone, including myself, really does appreciate. Yes. But I had a couple of people DM, and I think you're on them as well, who said, I'd rather have it a little bit later so you guys have some time to think about what you're going to say instead of just blurting it out after it happens. What's the fun in that? Why would you want us to think of anything? We didn't get into this industry to think about things, people.

Come on. Just like we didn't get into this industry to work. Welcome to the podcast, 31 Thoughts. Hold on one sec. Come on. Just like we didn't get into this industry to work. Welcome to the podcast, 31 Thoughts. Hold on one sec. Hold on one sec. So first of all,

we wanted to say thank you for all your responses because there were a lot of them. True. And secondly, I would just like to say, Jeff, I never realized what a sore loser Amo was until this week.

Lie. Oh, I knew that a long time ago, bud. No, you know what, Jeff, you got to back me on this one. That was awful, by the way. I just said lie. Jeff, he was a sourpuss. Like, you have to side with me on this one.

Okay, so I have a rule. I have a rule on television that I try to be extra, extra, extra nice to all the camera operators because they're the ones framing my shot. And two, when it comes to podcast, I will kiss Amel's butt

every single day because he's responsible for me either sounding good or bad. So if you think for a second, I'm going to take a side swipe at Amel here for being a sore loser, which he might have been a little bit. I'm not going to do it, Elliot Friedman,

but the floor is yours if you want to. I was surprised because I've never seen really that side of him before. I have to say Amal is generally very upbeat and very helpful. And yes, we do love him because he makes the show sound great. But in our group chat,

I actually had to start a secondary group chat. Well, it's not even a group chat because it's only two of us. A secondary chat with Jeff only to say, I've never seen him like this before. 31 lies. 31 lies. 31 lies. 31 lies.

We love you, Amal. Amal's the best, man. He's our MVP. All right, where do you want to go? Where do you want to start? Well, let's just start with the game that you just worked, and then we'll get to a couple of different things, namely the teams that are no longer competing for the Stanley Cup.

Sure. Namely Pittsburgh and Florida here. The Montreal Canadiens force a game six, and what's noteworthy about a game six in Canada is there's going to be fans. Now, mind you, they're going to reach deep, deep, deep, deep into their pockets for these tickets. But there will be fans on Saturday for the first time in this COVID world in Canada. Yes, I'm looking forward to it. I'm looking forward to seeing how loud that few fans can become because as we've seen, like in Nassau Coliseum for those Islanders games,

like what was that? That one last Saturday, 6,000 sounded like 20,000 and then 9,000 sounded like 25,000 fans. Yup. And they were all singing piano man in the parking lot. Oh man. Everything was so good. Everything was so good about,

we're going to get to penguins. We should spend some time with the Islanders here because their fans are fantastic and creative, we should mention as well. But what did you make of the Montreal effort against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday? You know, I thought it was a great effort, obviously. I thought Price was really good. You know, he gave up one kind of rough goal,

but generally I thought he was really good. I thought one of the biggest turning points in the game, actually, Jeff, was Simmons beating Price but not the post early in the game. I think it's a very different game if Simmons scores there, but he doesn't. And Price, I thought, was really good, and the team took advantage. You know, I thought Suzuki was really good. I'm amazed that their defense has no points in this series. I'm completely blown away with that.

But the whole Montreal thing is amazing for me here. You know, Toronto's winning, and Matthews has one goal, and Marner has none. And Montreal stayed alive. They're getting nothing from Tatar, no points from the blue line. You know, it was wild in the first period how they never put Merrill and Gustafson together. They're getting nothing from Tatar, no points from the blue line. You know, it was wild in the first period how they never put Merrill and Gustafson together. One of them was playing with basically everybody but the other guy. Like, it was a total mishmash dog's breakfast game.

But Price was great. Suzuki was great. They did enough to find a way, and I think it's going to do wonders for their confidence, which was totally flat at the end of game number four. You have to understand, Jeff, you and I, we grew up in Toronto. We have circles of Maple Leaf fans around us that we know and we've known all of our lives and they are the biggest pessimists alive and you should have seen the text messages I was getting after that game oh my god are these people they always assume the worst and I think Saturday night game six is going

to be an incredible scene. But that's the truth about Maple Leafs fans now and it's been this way for decades. There's not an 82 game season. There's one how should I say this? There's 82 individual seasons. Every game is

a season for a Maple Leafs fan. That's the way it is when you're trying to Maple Leafs fan. To the Gustafson-Merrill thing, that was interesting because Gustafson goes in the lineup, and your first thought is, why would they do that when they don't have last change? Because I'm sure Sheldon Keefe would look at that and say,

okay, lick my chops. We put the Matthews line out there when Gustafson and Merrill are trapped and then you start to dine out. But to your point, that didn't happen and they mixed up the defense that way. I don't believe in momentum in the playoffs. I think they're individual islands.

All these games and these guys, by the time they get to the NHL, they can wipe out memories pretty quickly. But having said that, I have no idea what to expect in a Game 6 here in Montreal. No clue. No clue whatsoever. You could convince me

of anything. And the one thing that I found interesting is Caulfield and Suzuki, two young players on the ice in overtime. That's a key decision at a key time for Dom Ducharme. But I think it was the right decision because I thought Suzuki in particular

was one of their best players all night. Like the Canadians scored greasy goals, the kind of goals that, you know, Kevin talked at the beginning of the show about how Corey Perry would put a stick in the garbage and say, we've got to score garbage goals. And they did that. Yep. You know, that's, they accomplished what they needed to do. But I thought Suzuki from minute one to minute 61, I thought he was fantastic.

So to me, it's not like it's a surprise that they put him out there. He earned the right to be out there and who else deserved to be out there more than him? I didn't see anyone. I think the next 48 hours, it's going to be very interesting just to see. First of all, I think Toronto's got enough veterans around who can handle this, that they'll keep the group pretty light. I just think the next 48 hours from game five to game six, I bet you there's going to be a lot of talk

about Marner. And, you know, Marner, I think, has been an excellent player. He hasn't scored in a long time in the playoffs, and he doesn't seem to have a lot of confidence around the net. He's holding it and holding it and holding it. And, you know, that did lead to one of the goals. You know, Hyman did score the first Toronto goal off of one of those Marner moves.

But, you know, for me, I think he's such an incredibly smart and confident player. It's like, to me right now, the only place where he doesn't really seem to believe in himself is when he's got that last thing to do to get it in the net. And I just think that this is going to be a narrative right now this is going to be a pretty funky 48 hours in toronto maple leaf land and credit the montreal canadians and thank the montreal canadians in a lot of ways

elliot because now we have toronto montreal on a Saturday night, hockey night in Canada. Yes. Again, with that, welcome to the podcast. 31 Thoughts presented by the GMC Sierra AT4. 15 seconds to go. Islanders with a 5-3 lead. Buckets center. Malkin to Carter. Left wing over the outer line with 10.

Plays it right wing corner. Pellick on it there with 7 seconds to go. Rust hits him. Pellick trying to pin it to the kick plate here with 5. Behind the Islander net. five behind the outer net. Three, two, one. The horn sounds, and the New York Islanders beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-3 in game six. They take the series in six.

They have their first Coliseum clincher in 28 years, and they are on to round two of the Stanley Cup playoffs to battle the Boston Bruins! seasons. This is the season where Jim Rutherford departs. More on him in a couple of moments. Ron Hextall and Brian Burke enter. There were some moves that were made, most notably the Jeff Carter move, which really did pay off for the Pittsburgh Penguins. But the song remains the same. As good as their regular season turned into, it was a first round exit this year at the hands of the New York Islanders. So what happens here now?

See, one of the questions always becomes, OK, if you go out in the first round, things happen. It happens twice and you start to wonder about it. It happens three times. You start to make decisions about the team. What are the decisions facing the Pittsburgh Penguins right now? You see, the thing to me about this series, Jeff, is I thought Pittsburgh was as good as the Islanders were. They got beat by the goaltending. And I don't like to kick people when they're down. Everybody saw what happened with Jari. He just didn't have a good enough series. That's all that needs to be said. Sorokin beat them. I thought that Pittsburgh was pretty good in this series.

They got beaten at the most important position, and they lost the series because of it. I understand that this is Pittsburgh's third loss in a row in the first round. I don't think necessarily the team should overreact or overanalyze any more than what happened in that. Now, that doesn't mean they won't do that, but that means that's how I feel. any more than what happened in that. Now, that doesn't mean they won't do that, but that means that's how I feel.

First of all, on Carter, he has a cap recapture issue if he retires. I don't believe that's going to happen. From what it sounds like, I think they addressed that with him before the trade was even made, and I don't think that Carter's going to be in a situation where he's going to retire. I fully expect he's going to come back and play for them for another season. I think you've got to find someone in goal, whether you say, we believe in Jari and this was a bad stretch,

or you feel you have to go out and get someone else entirely. Last year, they tried to trade for Fleury. I mean, this is just me talking out of my butt but you know would they consider that again is that a reasonable idea you know also nobody knows jonathan quick better than ron hextall would that be someone that they would consider doing but i think you're you're probably looking at a short-term veteran option unless you're changing your goaltenders entirely you're looking at a short-term veteran option with jari to push them a little bit and give you something better and i wouldn't be surprised this is just me talking if a flurry or a quick was something

that they thought about so that's number one you, I don't think ownership there wants to trade, forget Crosby, Malkin or Letang. I don't think that's something they really want to do. I would expect those guys to be back, and they'll look for what they have to fit around them. But I don't think this team was as bad as that series indicated. The Islanders were full marks for the win, but I thought the major reason was they were better at the most important position.

Agree or disagree? I thought you could make the argument that if you look at all the games collectively and just ignore the score, but looked at who controlled play and who was the better team for the majority of the series, you could make the argument it was the Pittsburgh Penguins. But the fact that that happened really does underscore how much the netminding undid all of that work.

I'm not sure you can come back with Tristan Jari. I know he's got term uh still with the with the penguins in his contract yeah but that to me is going to be a real challenging one see that's that to me is the big one i agree with you who is going to be your goaltender the other question i didn't even consider the idea of you know trading malkin or trading chris letang as we've seen there's still a really good team here yeah my question about those two players is at what point do you make a decision about whether you want to extend them or not because there'll be one year out so you can entertain a

contract extension now do they have that conversation with one, both, or neither? There is a feeling, correct me if I'm wrong here, that, and maybe this goes right, this probably goes right to Mario, that the Pittsburgh Penguins want Malkin to retire a Penguin. I will say this. I heard that one of the things that you had to agree to when you were the GM of the Penguins was that you needed ownership approval, and it was in writing. You needed ownership approval to trade either Crosby or Malkin.

That one goes right to the top. And I'm with you. I think they want Malkin and Crosby to retire as Penguins. And I will say this, I don't necessarily believe that the same writing isn't there with LeTang, but I also believe that LeTang is a player that they would like to retire as a Penguin. So how do you work with that? Now, the thing that's most interesting to me about the Penguins is they have a very headstrong organization. Between David Morehouse and Brian Burke and Ron Hextall, that's a lot of people who are not shy of opinions there. And I do think that Hextall has big juice in the hockey department. I think that he basically wanted it and got it when he got in there.

So I think his say is going to be very big, but I do think ownership feels strongly that they would like to keep those players. A couple of other things here. One, and I do want to note this before we sort of wrap up any conversation about the Pittsburgh Penguins. Was this the year that everybody realized how important and how good Brian

Dumoulin is? I think if you waited to this long, you're kind of clueless, really. But I mean, this really was the season where it was really pronounced that as much as the Tang gets the headlines on the blue line, it's tough for the Penguins to win without Brian Dumoulin. Yes, I agree with that. By the way, I have to tell you that I couldn't use it in Game 6, but the shot in the anthem of LeTang with his hair hanging over his head during the national anthem, I tried to find a way to use it, but I just couldn't. Brian Metzger, who's a longtime reporter there and a radio guy in Pittsburgh,

Mesker, who's a long time reporter there and a radio guy in Pittsburgh, he captured it and referred to LeTang, compared him to the villain, the girl in the ring. And I laughed my head off. I thought that was Brian. I got to tell you, I thought that was the best comparison. I thought it was fantastic. Apropos of nothing. But nonetheless, the other thing, like there were a couple of times this season,

and maybe I'm looking too much into this, and it's just from having worked with Brian for the years that we did here at Sportsnet and have a general idea of how he thinks about things. There were a few times this season, and there were a couple of times this series, most notably with Matt Martin,

and that one time specifically when he grabbed Zach Aston Reese. And I remember thinking to myself, right now Berkey's blood is boiling. Yes. Like Berkey hates this. And I would probably say Hextall hates this. And probably saying to themselves, this ends now. Like, that would be one of the things that I would suspect

that Hextall and Berk look to remedy for next season. One of the plays in Game 6 that really stood out to me was Malkin delivered a great hit on Matt Martin and then he got clobbered by Scott Mayfield who got a penalty and you know I'm sitting here and saying Malkin just ran over one of the toughest Islanders and it's like there's more of them than there are Penguins. Like the Island' whole identity is that. And their identity is everybody fills a role. Nobody leaves their role. We always play the same way every time.

I don't like betting against the Islanders in the playoffs because they play the same way every time. They're so consistent. But the other thing they are is you're never going to out-push us around because they're one of the few teams that's really committed to the bit. One of the reasons I think Vegas is in trouble is they played really well in Game 5. They got beaten in Game 6. They don't have McNabb and Reeves right now.

We'll see where this goes for Game 7. But Braden McNabb, I think, you want to think of him as an underrated player. He's not the offensive threat that a Theodore or a Petrangelo is. But I think he's a really good player. And him and Reeves being out really screws around with the Golden Knights identity. But nobody's got that identity more than the Islanders do. You know, I understand what you're saying, Jeff. I'm just not sure you can add enough in today's NHL to compete with

the Islanders. Nobody commits to it at the same level than they do. You're not going to out-Islander the Islanders when it comes to that, but everybody grows when there's a couple of guys in the lineup that are like that. Look at the Maple Leafs, for example. I mean, they haven't added a ton, but the bit

they have has grown everybody. You mentioned Vegas here. Hold on one second. I just want to talk to you about one more thing about Pittsburgh. Okay, shoot. Sullivan's won two cups there. He's got three more years left on his contract.

Do you think there's any reason to wonder here? No. First place. He's a great coach. It's funny because I've heard that. I've seen people discuss it online. I don't know where it comes from. I can't. With the season that they had and they put together and that stretch

and what we all know now about things like aging curves, et cetera, I think he's done a really good job. I agree. I think it's probably the u.s olympic coach with the goaltending that he's that he had that talk to me is foolish talk i can't make any sense would you have made a goalie switch in game six and go to legacy i would have i would have to start the game no No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Oh, okay. So after which goal though, probably the fifth one,

but I don't like to me, that's not a fireable offense or anything like that, but I probably make the change. I think at that point you probably have to, I don't know where this 11 talk comes from. I don't, what do you think? So Jeff,

the only reason I think people are talking about this is there's a lot of circumstantial evidence. And that is that there's new bosses in town and they've lost three times in the first round. To me, the only way that this is happening is if everybody here simply believes that they need a new voice. He's got three more years under contract, and I can guarantee you this, if he was available, there would be a ton of interest in him. The only way I see it is if they're convinced that they need a new voice. That's it.

We have a game seven on the horizon. Vegas and Minnesota. Minnesota sticks it to him in game six. Three bagel. What happens if Minnesota wins? Oh, boy. Like, okay, so, like, put it this way. If Minnesota loses, you might look at this casually.

If you didn't pay attention to the season at all or the playoffs or the personnel, you might just say, well, that's what Minnesota always does. They just get into the playoffs and then they lose in the first round. This is the same old Minnesota Wild. I maintain it's different because of the personnel and, you know, Kaprizov and Erickson Eck and younger players on there.

It is changing there in Minnesota. Yes, it is. That's why this one is different and it feels different. But what happens if Vegas loses in the first round? We know that owner really, like no owner likes losing. That owner, Bill Foley

really doesn't like losing Elliott. Not after doing what he does every year, buying the most expensive hockey players out there. What happens if they lose? Well, then I think that they continue their buying spree. You know, the thing that makes it even more unusual

for what's going on there is this whole COVID situation there, right? And, you know, Peyton Krebs, he's not going to play anyway, but he's on the list. And Ryan Reeves and Braden McNabb are on the list. And, you know, McNabb's missed a couple of games, and now Reeves has missed one. From what I understand here, there's a hope that these are going to be false positives,

and the hope is they'll be okay for game seven. But I don't know, as we car cast this. I don't know what's going to happen, and since the game's going to be played in the Pacific time zone, we probably won't know until well after this podcast comes out if that's going to happen. But I think that's the hope. Because I really do think Vegas' identity changes without McNabb and Reeves in the lineup. I think those guys are very important McNabb and Reeves in the lineup.

I think those guys are very important to the identity of their team. I'm just amazed, Jeff, at some of the problems Vegas has scoring with all that talent they have in their lineup. Doesn't help the Pacioretty's out. That's true. He's a big part of that, no question about it. And don't forget that they went hard after Hall. Yes.

You know, he vetoed a trade there. Okay, we'll see what happens here in Game 7. Back to the teams that have been eliminated. We've gone through the Pittsburgh Penguins. Let's deal with the Florida Panthers. First of all, glad they finally got together. Tampa and Florida. Yep.

So that was a lot of fun. Let's see that more in the future. Thank you very much. Yes. You talked about something before that Bill Zito's number one job when he can is to extend Alexander Barkoff. Yeah. And you look at the Seth Jones situation with Columbus, so much of their future is going

to depend on what Seth Jones's decision is and which way he wants to go with his career. Do we say the same thing about Alex Barkov? The direction of the Panthers will be charted by his decision. I agree that it's a huge thing for him. I know there are some teams out there that couldn't wait for Barkov to hit the market. After this year, I think those teams feel much less confident that he's going to be available. Because the team is good now?

Yeah. The Barkov will be happy with that direction. And they know that they're going to have to pay him, and they will. They've got a really good young goalie who won one game in the playoffs for them where he gave up a goal in his first shot and then stopped 36 in a row. But hang on elliott elliott yeah they also have a very expensive older goalie yes we'll we'll get to that in a second but you know they got like every team they've got difficult decisions

they have to make but i will say this i know that there were teams out there who really were hoping I will say this. I know that there were teams out there who really were hoping, they really believed that they would get a shot at Barkov. They believe it much less right now. And if Florida is going to commit to him, and we all know that Florida will, I think after a year like this one, you've got to feel pretty comfortable if you're the Panthers that you're going to be able to keep him. I'm always, and we'll get to Brofky here in a sec.

I always find it interesting when someone achieves unrestricted free agent status, signs a contract, and then finds themselves an RFA, but DeClaire, not qualified by the Ottawa Senators at the end of last season, became an unrestricted free agent, signed with the Florida Panthers, and now Anthony DeClaire finds himself a restricted free agent. Yeah. That a good fit for you? DeClaire in Florida?

I mean, it depends on what both sides want here. You know, can you work out a deal? But you've got to feel that he's like, he found a home there. They found a place for him. You know, I think the interesting situations there are, number one is Bobrovvsky what are they going to do with that you know they're going to try to incentivize or bribe people to take him is that even going to be possible i mean to me the fact that you know when night played

bobrovsky wasn't even the backup yeah that is such is such a shot across the foul. That is such a cannonball into the side of a building, I think is a better analogy, actually. You can't ignore that. Can they incentivize someone enough to do that? I don't know. And the other one for me, and it's the one that started the season, is Keith Yandel.

We all know how the beginning of the year started. He looked like his streak was going to end. The players went to management and said, don't do that. And, you know, he played. And in the playoffs, they took him out of the lineup a couple of times. And I believe they made sure to check with the league that it wouldn't end his streak. But they didn't. They did it.

And, you know, you've got to look at it and wonder, okay, what are they thinking here? Now, the one thing with Yandel is you need guys who can get you to the playoffs, and Keith Yandel can definitely do that. So I don't know what the plan is there, but I could see them keeping him for the regular season. But Broski, I think we all see that they're going to try to do

whatever they can to move him. I just can't imagine it's going to be easy. That's tough. $50 million is owed still there over the next five years. Flat cap, tight budgets. That's a real tough one you know I have to tell you too Jeff

I had someone say to me this week that based on what their hearing revenues are and what the money that's going to be owed from the players to the league they are not expecting the cap to go up for 5 years oh oh that's a dagger

that's a dagger for deals that's a dagger. That's a dagger for deals. That's a dagger to get out of problems. I do wonder. I still think the outcome would have probably been the same. I mean, Tampa is such a force, and Kucherov comes back, and it's 11 points. Boom. He never went away.

Someone said to me, I have to get the exact number, but someone said to me in game six, because I think Yandel and Bobrowski were out of the lineup that game. It's one of these games where Bobrowski and Yandel didn't play. They said the difference in payrolls was between 30 and 40 million. You know what that is? That's like pre-2005 salary cap. When like Detroit would play Nashville.

And like the swing was like $40 million, maybe even more. And you say like, poor David Poyle is like struggling to hit like $21 million. And the Detroit Red Wings are spending like 70 million dollars that's the that's those days you can't take a penalty against tampa like that's the lesson if you're gonna beat down you cannot take dumb penalties the thing is about tampa is like they are snarly and they are physically tough and they'll push back but their biggest enforcer might be their power play yeah that's their enforcer and the chicken dance of pat maroon oh god that was funny so juvenile so stupid so high school so hockey and i couldn't stop laughing at it elliot and i'm allegedly a grown man you know i will tell you i think they were extremely angry at the way that it got kind of portrayed a little

bit as they're the mean team that got guys suspended. And Tampa's a bunch of, a bunch of angels. Like they, I think they felt that Tampa was, you said it like those guys are not soft. They ditch it out as much as they take it. Big time.

They sure do. at every single position. I do wonder how much things would have been different with a healthy Aaron Eckblad. Of course. I still think Tampa wins. I still think Tampa's the better team. And I always wonder what would Aaron Eckblad have been if he didn't get injured at the World Cup of hockey? Where's his career at? I mean, it took him a long time to get over that.

Looked like he was back. Last season was good. This season was good. And the injury. Again, there's no real question here. It's just more of an observation, just a speculation. I just wonder how different things would be with a healthy Eckblad in that Florida lineup. I just look at

Tampa. I think they're so stacked right now, but I would have loved to have seen it. One more thing, circling back in a way to the Pittsburgh Penguins. PBI Sports is the agency that represents a lot of coaches

and general managers. We've had Neil Glassberg on the program before here on 31 Thoughts. And the day after the Pittsburgh Penguins are eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs, PBI Sports announces that Jim Rutherford has signed on as a client. He is, Elliot, very much in the game. Any thought on where rutherford could end up first of all i'm glad you brought this up because someone called me last week after you know whichever podcast we did where we talked about vancouver and i said vancouver isn't spending five times five to bring in jim rutherford And someone said to me,

does that mean you think that Jim Rutherford's demanding five times five? And I said, it's not really what I meant. It was more like, you know, the Canucks just weren't going to that big ticket president of hockey ops right now. That's not what they're interested in doing. So like if anybody out there thought that I meant that Jim Rutherford's demanding five times five or he's going into hibernation or something, no, that I meant that Jim Rutherford's demanding five times five

or he's going into hibernation or something, no, that's not what I meant. It was more a comment on Vancouver's philosophy than Jim Rutherford's. So here's the thing I'm looking at right now. Are any GMs going to be

out? I don't know that it's a GM position. How many teams are going to be hiring president of hockey ops right now? There's one that sticks out for me. Okay. But it would take some massaging of the owner or owners, Terry and Kim Pagula. Yeah. To me, that's the most obvious team.

And look, I think Jim Rutherford's got a lot to offer. The guy's won three Stanley Cups. I think he's an incredibly knowledgeable person. And the other thing, too, is, and this is no small thing, he enjoys the byplay with his local media. Like, I don't know if there's a more accessible manager in the sport than Jim Rutherford is. And I think in this day and age, that's important.

And, you know, whether you agree with him or disagree with him, he's going to talk to your writers or your broadcast media or whoever to explain what he's thinking. And I think that's incredibly valuable. And I've got to tell you, in Buffalo, I think that could really help them. Like, he would instantaneously get the benefit of the doubt from their fans. So yes, I don't get the sense Buffalo

really wants to do that, but I see how he can help there. Now, they just hired Jason Carmanos and as we know, those guys were really close, but there was a bit of a falling out. I assume all of that could get fixed. Kevin Adams played for him.

Carolina. Won a Stanley Cup together. Yeah, I think it makes a lot of sense to me. I really do. I think if you're an organization that is struggling to get your message across, he is the kind of person you want there. And it makes perfect sense to me. It really does.

And he would be the perfect, I don't know how perfect perfect, I don't know, perfect. Cause I don't know how damaged the relationship is. I just wonder if there's anything that Buffalo can do to change the way Jack Eichel feels about the organization. You know, this year, the sports business journal,

this nevermind this year, this week, it published the local TV ratings and Buffalo was down 30%, i think it was 35 it was a lot and like i can't blame the sabers fans for this it's been a long time i also i don't knock sabers fans because they're some of the best hockey fans around like i get it i do like you know to me like you you could use that. I really think you can. But what am I? I'm just a podcaster. Elliot, there were some people who looked at the Winnipeg Edmonton series and said,

I can see Winnipeg winning this thing. Yeah. And maybe it comes down to depth and maybe it comes down to goaltending. But I don't know anyone that looked at this series, and I did pick Winnipeg and heard it from various people in Edmonton, one of which listens to this podcast. So, hello. I don't know anyone that would have looked at this series

and said Winnipeg in a sweep. No way. No way. Nobody was picking a sweep. What happened? You know, one of the things that I really agreed with was that Winnipeg looked at the way they ended

the season and they said, we can't be like that. We can't do that. You know, after one of the games early in the series, I think it was game one, Connor Hellebach did an interview and the first thing he said with us it was the post-game interview, so I guess it was Gene.

He said it was the details. He said we were great on the details. And there was that whole comment, we learned to play with the same brain. Paul Maurice said it. Like, one of the things I wrote in the blog late in the year is that no matter how bad you're going,

you can set a new narrative in the playoffs. And going, you can set a new narrative in the playoffs. And also, you can use this as a lesson to how we have to play to win. And the Jets did that. I didn't have the guts to pick them like you did. But the Jets did that. They committed to, we have to play a certain way because the way we're going right now, we stink. And we're not going to be anyone like that.

I think they were a deeper team. And I think a lot of guys who hadn't played well, really elevated, especially on defense. I think all their guys really elevated. And I have to tell you that there's one thing there that was a big issue during the year. And I wrote about

it a little bit and Paul Maurice bet on Logan Stanley and his bet came true because all of those defensemen all six of those guys played great they battled and yeah they may have had tough moments at different points during the series but they all battled. Their effort was exceptional. All six of them. And they competed hard and they basically said, if you're going to beat us, you're going to have to beat us after we make it hard on you to beat us. And I thought everybody on that Jets team came to play. And the thing I'd like to say about Stanley is Paul Maurice bet on Logan Stanley. There were people there, they were screaming at him to play Hainola. And, you know, I think this was a very hard year for Sammy Niku.

And I think that even sometimes people in the organization were like, we want to see you try these guys. And this is going to be a big debate going forward in the NHL. You know, in baseball, the managers have basically become an offshoot of the team and they get told what to do. In hockey, it's still very much, no, the coach plays who he wants to play and that's it. And I think there were people who wanted him to play Heinola

and he said, no, I'm betting on Logan Stanley. And, you know, that bet came through because Maurice said, this is the guy we're going to need. And Stanley validated his coach's faith in him. And I don't want to see people sit out. Everybody wants to play. But I'm happy for Paul Maurice, and I'm happy for Logan Stanley because, like, in life,

I'd rather see someone validate that faith than someone not validate that faith. And I think that's a big win in round one for Maurice having faith in a player and the player justifying it. I thought Josh Morrissey was excellent. Yeah, another guy who had a great year. But Edmonton, you know, like when you put Dreisaitl and McDavid on the same line, Jeff, that was like, okay, you got one line,

Winnipeg's got three. They just aren't deep enough to beat them yet. They just aren't. That leads, I mean, that can get off in various tangents, whether you think hockey is a weak link game or a strong link game and this is you know you look at a team like the avalanche they can load up their top line but they're deep enough that they can afford to have

that luxury to that point yeah you know edmonton loads up that top line and then afterwards you know winnipeg says okay well that, but we're going to beat you with lines 2, 3, and 4. And I think that Mike Smith this season gave the Edmonton Oilers really good goaltending. I know he was a fallback plan. We've talked about this before. They

were hot in pursuit of Jacob Markstrom. They thought they had him. And then what, Calgary came in with an extra year? Was that what it was? I think Markstrom changed his mind. Or Markstrom changed his mind and then ended up going with the Calgary Flames. The game on Sunday where Winnipeg had that glorious comeback. Was that Sunday? That was the Sunday game.

The Sunday game with the big glorious comeback. All these days blend together. Oh, I know. I know. You know, you can look at that and say, oh boy, Mike Smith's getting the Edmonton Oilers in trouble. I'm not going to say they lost because of the goaltending. They lost more

because of the depth, and that's going to be issue number one, I would imagine for Ken Holland. So what happens then? I mean, one of the pieces of business you have to figure out what's happening with Ryan Nugent Hopkins. There are some players we know just aren't going to come back. You've talked about a deal that they're close to with Adam Larson

or at least down that path. I think that one's getting done. I do. You think that one's coming? What about a player like Tyson Berry? I don't know. I don't expect to see Berry back. I don't. I think Larson will be back. I thought Ken Holland's answer on Clefbom

was interesting. He said basically he's the big unknown and we don't have to know until July. I think what it sounds like is they're not expecting Clefbom to come back but they're giving him time to hope he changes his mind. I don't do this often

but I re-watched Holland's availability, right? And he said, I don't necessarily think we need to make a big trade. And it caught some of their guys by surprise. So you know what I think? I think what he's saying

is, we have to give our young guys a chance. Evan Bouchard, he has to play. You know who I'll tell you something else too has to play? McLeod. I wanted them to try McLeod in the overtime. And I meant to say it in the intermission, and I didn't. When I was talking about all the guys who weren't playing,

I was actually annoyed at myself because I didn't say McLeod to play more because I just thought maybe he'd give them a burst of energy or something like that. You know, I think their defense has a chance to be pretty good as it plays out. Larson, Nurse, Baer, Bouchard, and they've got a couple other young prospects. I like where that's going to go. I think McLeod is going to play. I wouldn't be surprised if they take a run at someone like Hyman, and they've got to pay Nurse in a year.

And there is some segment of the Oilers fan base that is like, we're going to make a mistake. We're going to give the Bears too much money. You know what? The guy left his guts out on the ice. He wants to be an Oiler. I guarantee to you, if you lose him, you are never going to be able to replace him with a guy who's going to care

as much about that organization. Whatever you have to replace him with, if he walks, is not going to care about the Oilers like Darnell Nurse cares about the Oilers. You obviously have to pay him a big number. You try to get it down to as much as you can get it down to to sell him on it, and you pay him. I'm sorry. That guy played 62 minutes.

I know. And without complaint. Yeah, I don't know how many times I have to say it. You're never going to find anybody that you have to go out and get who's going to care about the Oilers as much as Darnell Nurse is going to care about the Oilers. You have to pay for it.

I'm sorry. Maybe I'll be on old takes exposed in six years. I don't care. I'm giving him the deal. Is there any way they can get out from underneath the weight of the James Neal deal? Well, he said buyouts, right?

You did say buyouts, but that's a big one, man. Well, is it the worst thing if he comes back and plays for you for another year? I don't think so. If you don't want to do that then you have him play for you this is the summer though where edmonton finally does have a little bit of cap space to play with but you've got to deal with nursing here yeah i think they might go after a forward like a hyman if he makes the market i could see him being one of their targets okay i, I'm going to name three goaltenders. Okay. And you're going to tell me which one you could see

playing with the Oilers next year. Okay. Darcy Kemper, Korpisalo, or Merzlikens. See, I've said Merzlikens before, right? Mm-hmm. Kemper's going to cost you a first rounder, right? And he's only got one more year under contract? Yeah, one more year at 4.5.

I don't see Edmonton doing that. I could see them doing it for Merzlikens, but one of my theories is that maybe Merzlikens ends up in Buffalo for Sam Reiner. Ooh.

There's the headline for the podcast. No, the headline for this podcast is 31 lies. Oh, that's right. Yes. That's fantastic. I'm still laughing about that. No, that's one of my theories out there. I don't know if it's going to happen,

but I wonder if that's something that gets discussed. Because Columbus looking for a center, and both those teams can sign the other guy. They can extend Reinhardt if you want to, you can extend Merce Likens if you want to. Uh, we've talked on this podcast before about not cheering for teens, but cheering for people.

And Elliot is a final thought on Edmonton. I'm on team bear. Oh yeah. I was trying to think of something to tweet about it. And then I saw Andrew Ferret's tweet and I just thought that was so good. I was like, nothing I write or say is going to be as good as that. Let me get your thoughts on an ex-Oiler, Wayne Gretzky, the greatest of them all, now with TNT.

We'd heard about it, whispered for a while, close with Turner. I'm kind of surprised. Aren't you? A little bit. A little bit. I think kind of surprised. Aren't you? A little bit. A little bit. I think they made him an offer he couldn't say no to. I know some people who didn't think, who know him that didn't think he was going to do it.

I got to tell you, there's a lot of people who don't think Wayne Gretzky is going to be good at this. I thought his tweet was interesting. You miss 100% of the shots you don't take. You know what that says to me? He knows what everybody's saying about him. He's always been acutely aware. I don't get a chance to spend a lot of time with him.

Obviously, I'm not going to pretend for a second I'm one of Wayne Gretzky's best pals. But I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed the times I have spent with him because he's an incredibly observant person. He watches a lot of hockey. He's still on top of things. He still sees the game at a high level. I don't think he's going to go out there to cut people like the inside the NBA guys can do. But what I tell you what he can do is he can wow you with his knowledge. And I think he will do that. When I saw that tweet go out, that was to me,

I know people out there think I can't do this. I think he's going to surprise us. I think he's going to go out there and he's't do this I think he's gonna surprise us I think he's gonna go out there and he's gonna be observant and I think that's what he will do he will impress people with his knowledge his ability to understand details I'm still annoyed at you because you're costing all of us our jobs by saying only superstars should interview other superstars like but i hope they do that with them i hope i want to see gretzky yeah

and and i'll tell you something like some of the in conversations he did with ron where you know he just talks about details and games like i hope one thing that tnt does is classic hockey with wayne gretzky amen sit him down and walk through like the 87 games of the canada cup final those three games in those that final okay because i i would think the default for a broadcaster would be the nhl games and that's clearly what the nhl will want but i'm with you do all of like the the 77 world junior championship with when we first saw wayne gretzky and you know what i'm sure that wayne gretzky i mean outside of the big games where he's breaking records like smashing records those are all the games we think about i'm sure that there are some games that are just like a Tuesday night in

Buffalo or like a Thursday in Minnesota where a Wayne did something, saw something, was involved in something, had something happen to him that only he'll remember and can bring that back. Yeah. And the other thing that I, the other thing that I think about this Elliot is no matter what he says, there will be gravity attached to it.

Oh, yeah. You know, anytime, a tiny little thing. Like, remember, like, he'll make one comment about Anse Kopitar. It'll be a headline everywhere. Make one comment about Henrik Zetterberg. It's a headline everywhere. Yeah. Just because of who he is.

Honestly, I'm with you. I'm fascinated to see where this goes and how this goes with Gretzky. This could be, and the one thing that we don't see unlike in other sports, we don't see the superstars, the elite, elite, elite players

transition to media. Yes. That's why this one's special. I gotta tell you, you know what happened to me today? What's that? So, this time of year, I don't wear socks, okay? But I wear socks with a suit. It was chilly. It was chilly tonight. What are you doing?

I know, but I think it's late May. I don't think I should have to wear socks. So even though it's chilly, I'm refusing. It's my hunger strike against socks. So I always take a pair, and I throw them into my canvas bag that I use for the playoffs. And, you know, I, I take them, I throw them in there. I put them on after I finished wearing them, I throw them back in and I take them out at home. And today I forgot to take out yesterday's pair. And so I threw my, my pair for tonight into the canvas bag

and I go into my change room at work and I open up my bag and I stick my head in there and oh my God, I almost died. It was so, I had a day old pair of socks in there. I almost croaked. I couldn't do, I had trouble doing the pregame because all I could smell was my day old socks. Tough day. Why'd you bother wearing them no no i know i had the day old socks and the new pair in there oh oh i thought

you meant like you didn't like that was the only pair that you had for television on thursday night jeff that's disgusting i wouldn't like what kind of like heathen do you think i am i wouldn't wear that what not wear socks not wear a day old pair of socks you wouldn't flip them inside out college style no you know what i used to do that i think as a 50 year old man i should be aiming for more or better than that uh aim high elliot friedman aim high by the way speaking speaking of you okay so we've gone through the beard. We had the turtleneck. What's up with the feathers, bud? You can't get a haircut here. I know. My only question is

is this going to be this summer's version of the beard? I will tell you this. My wife likes the hair a lot more than the beard. Listen, man, long hair is making a comeback, according to me. You know, I do think when the hair salons or the barber shops or whatever open up, I'm going to go get my hair cut.

I will say this. There is a guy who cuts my hair here. It's right near the building where we work at the CBC. And these guys, they're getting clobbered, right? They are. So I want to give them the business when they can open up. That's part of it for me. I want to support a small business.

Do they do the traditional shave there too too with the hot towel and the straight blade i haven't asked for it i do like that treat yourself man treat yourself oh it's fantastic okay we'll step away as we think about that lovely image and that lovely feeling those of you that have had that experience 431s here in a moment. Ajo, McGinn and Terravine are up front. We'll be right back. sending the Hurricanes into the second round. We interrupt our regularly scheduled CarCast to present you Elliot Friedman's housecast. He's left the car because we paused recording the podcast to watch the thrilling conclusion, and it was thrilling, of the Nashville Carolina game.

The Carolina Hurricanes eliminating the Nashville Predators, setting up now a Carolina-Tampa best of seven, but can it be more please, please, please, please, please series. I can't believe you told people that I was out of the car. I had sound effects I was going to play in my office here. horns honking honking horns and people yelling at you speaking by yes learn to drive it's the pedal on the right buddy let's go pick it up um okay carolina defeats nashville yeah last four games i mean four overtimes so that's spectacular but even just getting there like every time you flip by because these nights you flip by as many games as you can

or you have screen to screen every time you look over there was never more than a one goal difference in these last four games it was a spectacular this was a wonderful series to watch nashville gave it a lot uh harder a grind than I think a lot of us probably gave them credit for. They made this series very, very difficult on Carolina. There was not much of a margin between those two teams at all. Carolina a little bit better, and that's why they won the series. You know what this series proved? There's always a debate as to how meaningful face-offs are.

And if you look at the game-tying goal and the winning goal, both directly off face-offs. And there's always this debate about, oh, the face-off doesn't matter. There's no proof that face-off percentage has anything to do with wins. To me, it's all about details it's are you good at details and that's what a face-off is all about to me to me it's not so much do you win it or do you lose it but are you a detail-oriented team in those situations and nash Nashville on the third goal, especially they didn't pick up Dougie Hamilton and that's the one that put them into overtime.

Well, just so everyone understands like the, the argument about face-offs and their value, the argument against putting too much value on face-offs is a face-off is just the beginning of a chain of events. And it's one link in a number of possession touches from one player to another. And we shouldn't give primacy to one link in that chain more than the others. I would maintain, generally speaking, I mean, we've talked about this before. Sometimes it's better to lose face-offs deliberately

than to win them. But generally, I think it's better to have the puck. And I know that may sound like a crazy idea. So regardless of how much importance you want to give them, I generally think these things are good to win. And this was proof of it. I felt bad for Saros the game winner. I was actually happy to

hear it was tipped by ajo yeah i know because the way he played and he was unbelievable i'm just glad that there was something that happened at the end of the play that made it harder for him yeah when i when i when it went in i thought well one i'm happy for jacob slavin because he's one of my favorite players love his three and oh with him in the series right Jacob Slavin because he's one of my favorite players. Love his story. 3-0 with him in the series. Right? He comes back and he's the Midas touch. But then, yeah, when you realized it was tipped by Aja, you're like, okay, yeah, that's a trickier save to make. A couple of things in here for this series and what happens next.

One, you always look for sort of pass the torch moments from one to another. Was this season and maybe well no really not just the playoffs but the the entire season was this season pekka renee passing the torch to uc soros it was in nashville i think the biggest question now is is renee going to play again you know that they had that awesome ovation for him yeah at the of the regular season. We had Yossi on our podcast a couple of weeks ago, and he said he was hoping that Rene would play again. Rene was very careful about his future. He left it kind of open-ended.

You know, Chara, the Instagram post he had up the other day sure made it sound like he wasn't going back to Washington. Rene didn't leave us as many clues but definitely soros is the starting goaltender there i mean it's the passing the torch in both nets who's the starter in carolina it's nadelka nadelka yeah they really thought it was going to be marazic no he's the guy and as we've as we pointed out a few podcasts ago this is the further breaking of the mold of every team's goaltender has to be six foot three or six foot four yeah these are smallish goaltenders by nhl standards the toughest thing for me to watch in this game though was and i

didn't get home till after it happened i i had to go back and watch it as the yosi injury i mean this is a guy an incredible incredible talent, a great player. He's great for Nashville. He's great for the league. Just watching him take that hit, you're just hoping it's not another concussion issue for him. That's a heavy guy. That's Jordan Martineau. And I had no problem with the hit.

He hit his body. It was as Yossi was getting rid of the puck. Did you have a problem with the hit? No, I didn't see anything wrong with the hit. I didn't like what happened subsequent to the hit. Yeah, his head going into the glass. But that was tough to watch. That's a great player.

And as a person, you don't want to see any kind of lasting injury or susceptibility to that. Absolutely. So what happens now in Nashville? You can recall very much as I can leading up the trade deadline, we all thought it was fire sale, everything must go. And then fueled by some great play by UC Saros. And I don't know how many people are going to have him on their heart list,

but when you consider the definition of that trophy and what UC Saros was able to do with the nashville predators this year it's kind of outstanding i know one person who had soros on their heart ballot i know one person who did yes i did not but i know one person who did it's a pretty hipster choice but uh but it's a it's a pretty cool it's a pretty cool one to make it's a pretty cool cool one to make. Well, I think one of the biggest questions I think they're going to have is, what's Eckholm's future? Are they going to extend him?

He's got one year left. And I do think that probably around the time of the expansion draft, David Poyle will look into that and where Eckholm's going to be. I mean, I think how we felt about Nashville now is very different than how we felt about them two months ago. Yeah.

You know, there were a lot of guys who weren't playing very well who played a lot better. So I think it could be different. I'm curious to see, do they keep Granlund? Do they find a way to extend him? The expansion draft and who they leave unprotected it's going to be very interesting for them very interesting yeah because really when you look at david poyle's team here there's not a whole lot of business to take care of unless you want to do something

to shake the team up unless you want to move a significant body and bring someone new in i mean everything's kind of set here you're right about grandlin the other significant ufa you want to move a significant body and bring someone new in. I mean, everything's kind of set here. You're right about Granlin, the other significant UFA, Eric Holla. Other than that, there's not really anything to do if you're David Poyle. The team's kind of set, isn't it? Well, I think that's the thing. Now you've got to deal with Ekholm. And the other guy is, you know, Saros.

Saros has Arbright's this year and he's also, he'll be 27 next season. So he's a UFA after this summer. So next summer. So, you know, you got to assign him long-term. He's got the hammer now. So those are probably your two big items of business you've got to deal with those two guys but other than that you see a quiet off season for nashville no because i think he'll try to do things because he's david poyle now we look forward to carolina

and tampa bay oh boy two of the top teams in the nhl two fast skating teams, to offensively minded teams, to really strong teams. Like it's one of those matchups where if this was a Stanley cup final, we'd say, awesome, bring it on. Those are two exciting teams to watch. What do you make of this one? Tampa Carolina. Well, what a series. Oh, come on. Give me seven of it. Right? Tampa Carolina. Well, what a series. Come on. Give me seven of it, right?

So as we said earlier, this is going to come down to discipline. Carolina can't take penalties against these guys. They absolutely cannot take penalties against them. This is a huge test for Nadelkovich. I think that Vasilevsky probably wins the Vesna this year. He was number one on my goalie all-star team list. Saros was third. I had Vasilevsky first, Fleury second, and Saros third in my voting.

Nadelkovich, the story with him was great. He was supposed to be an unrestricted free agent this year, but as he got hot, the hurricanes got him into enough games so that he can't be a UFA this year. He's an RFA. If this guy outduels Vasilevsky in this series, his ticket goes up huge. Like, it's already going up. His number's already going up.

But if he beats Vasilevsky, cha- hey are you getting uh i'm gonna get ahead of myself here are you getting cam ward vibes here too soon i knew you'd say that hey i'll tell you he beats lightning for sure then for sure look forward to this one dig in in. Tampa, Carolina. This one should be great. And thanks for listening today. And thanks to Amel, who's staying up way too late to put it together for you. La première toile comme un Dian Francais, the first star, as we say in French, Amel Delic. Taking us out a track from the Toronto Art Collective Division 88. Their most recent project is a visual mixtape of all 41 goals scored by Austin Matthews this season, backed by 20 pieces of original music.

That's very cool. The full video can be found in our show description from Division 88. Here's the theme song from Poppy, the Austin Matthews mixtape. 31 Thoughts, the Austin Matthews mixtape. 31 thoughts, the podcast. Enjoy. I'm out. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,