32 Thoughts: The Podcast - A Banner Week for Controversial Calls

Episode Date: January 29, 2024

Jeff and Elliotte revisit three controversial calls from this week in the NHL. First, Tyler Bertuzzi's no-goal due to goalie-interference from William Nylander (1:45). Should NHL referees release explanation videos for game-changing calls? Jeff and Elliotte get into a heated debate about how slashing penalties are called thanks to the Dylan Samberg and John Tavares incident (9:11) and the fellas talk about the boarding penalty that saw Tyler Myers ejected from the game after a questionable video review (21:22). Next, they touch on Brendan Gallagher's 5 game suspension for elbowing Adam Pelech, and how important appeals have become this season (29:05). The guys get into David Jiricek's public frustrations in Columbus surrounding his playing time and demotion to the AHL (34:47), discuss how St. Louis has crawled their way back into the playoff race (44:19), and focus on the slumping LA Kings (47:20). On the trade front, are the New York Rangers  in the market for two centres after previously only needing one (55:03) and could Chris Tanev be traded to the Ottawa Senators (59:27)? The guys answer your questions in the Montana’s Thought Line (1:01:58).Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call the Montana's Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemail.This podcast was produced and mixed by Dominic Sramaty and hosted by Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman.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.

Jeff, this has been your worst podcast ever. You've had terrible points of view and you ruined this segment. No, you've had bad takes. I'm just trying to be honest with the audience and somehow I'm the villain. Somehow I'm the menace here. Welcome once again to 32 Thoughts to Podcast, presented as always by the GMC Sierra, Merrick Friedman and Dom Schramatti along with you. The very latest on the big story that we are following on Sunday, Alex Formanton, who was on the 2018 World Junior Squad for Team Canada, surrendered himself to London police. His attorney saying, quote,

Alex will vigorously defend his innocence and ask that people not rush to judgment without hearing all the evidence. And if you saw and heard Elliot on the weekend on Hockey Night in Canada on Saturday, this is the beginning of what is going to be a very long process. We will very much stay on top of the story here on the podcast and elsewhere on all of our properties at Sportsnet. Elliot, a few things I want to go over with you from the weekend. And, you know, Hockey Night in Canada always bears a lot of fruit. Players get up for Hockey Night in Canada.

There are big performances and at times there are controversial performances and controversial calls and great fodder for roundtable debate, as we saw once again this weekend on Hockey Night. A couple of things to go over here, starting with the Tyler Bertuzzi non-goal. That shot deflected loose and brought, and Bertuzzi scores! Oh, what a wave! Leafs are celebrating, and it's being waved off by referee Cody Beach. Goalie interference is the reason. And I think a lot of people are scratching their heads over this one. What I find really strange is normally when coaches call for video review, they don't miss anymore.

Like it's almost an automatic when coaches call for video. I mean, video departments in the NHL are so finely tuned and it really is a tip of the cap to them but this is one that sheldon keith lost and i think a lot of people are wondering why i honestly think that they should put out a video about this nor when there are suspensions and we're going to get to the suspensions in a few minutes they always put out a video explaining their reasoning this is a case case where I think the NHL, because as a broadcaster, I'm expected to explain what the call is, right? Now, regularly, I'm not on in the first intermission on Saturday nights.

The viewers have spoken. We need Elliot on one last intermission on Saturdays. And also, as you know, Jeff, because you've seen me, I'm usually on the phone and I'm not paying attention. So I really wasn't paying attention in real time when this happened. But the text started coming in immediately. Like, what the heck? And especially since the two Leaf video coaches have been really good this year.

They've got a great record and they have recently saved a couple of games for them so people were really surprised they got it wrong initially when i saw it in slow motion i could see an argument where you could say nylander did not get out of the way as quickly as he could have. But when I watched it at real speed, I said, I don't even know how you can argue that. And if you go back to Edmonton over Columbus, the 3-1 goal earlier in the week, the king of disallowed scores, Zach Hyman, is clearly knocked into Merzlikens by Eric Branson. And that was a goal. The official right there was right in perfect spot.

And he said, that's a goal. He was cross-checked in and it stood. Now that was, I thought, was a much more forceful cross-check. You know, Goodbranson is a little bit stronger than DeMello, I guess. And that was an obvious call. But the more I looked at that Toronto Winnipeg one I had no idea how that wasn't a goal so I really and I'll say this I usually go by how many text messages I get or who text messages me is it one of the regular complainers like PJ stock? He's always complaining about everything.

But more is it like a different group of people? And it was a different group of people. And I really thought by the time the night was over and I, and even on Sunday, when I had a bit more of an opportunity to look at some of it, people expect us to try to explain things to them. They don't often like what we have to say and we'll get there in a second about one specific incident

but they are expecting us to try to explain things to them and i do see that as my role whether people like it or not this is what the league is thinking as i watched that one i was like i don't know I don't see it. And I actually do think they should prepare a video and put it out there and say, this in this particular case is what we were thinking. Because from now on, for the rest of this year, that goal is going to be used as something that didn't count. And what i also will have no doubt is that if they haven't done it already they've sent that goal to a bunch of gms and said what do you guys think so i did maybe what they do is they wait until all the results come back from this informal straw poll they're taking

but i absolutely think they should put out a video and say this is why we didn't count this goal because watching it with one eye i kind of was like maybe ne is why we didn't count this goal because watching it with one eye I kind of was like maybe Nylander didn't get out of the way but then when I really looked at it I was like no no that's that's a goal and as you know Jeff too I also believe there should be a really high standard of taking goals off the board we want goals in this league and we should try to make them count that's a really interesting idea um treating controversial calls on the ice much like the dops does videos for suspensions and you know i even think they should extend that to all controversial calls

or ones that have like not ones that are you know completely you know homer in nature like there's going to be some calls where it's like every new jersey devils fan thinks that's a penalty every philadelphia flyers fan is convinced that is not a penalty and it's sort of divided down fans loyalty lines but i mean for things like this one where you don't have to be a winnipeg jets fan or a toronto maple leafs fan to be really interested in the reasoning behind all of this one. I like that idea. And I would, I would like to subscribe to your newsletter, Elliot, and add this. They should do it for all the big controversial calls. We understand that the NHL officials association does not make themselves available after games. And that's a battle and a conversation

we can have at a later date, but perhaps as a compromise or as a way to bring the temperature down or as a way to explain certain calls to people so there's a greater understanding of how the league works so people aren't just guessing. Maybe you do that with all the big controversial calls, Elliot. What do you think of that? I don't mind it. I think the more transparency, the more you can explain yourself

the better and also the more people will give you the benefit of the doubt we've talked about this on this podcast before that the fact that the nhl is the one league that doesn't make their officials available in any way shape or form hurts them because people won't uh give you the benefit of the doubt because you won't explain yourself. And in some of the other leagues, even if they hate the call, they'll at least say, all right, at least they explain themselves. And the NBA sends out what's called a last two minute report every day, right, where they go over the late calls. And that's not going to stop people from bitching at the officials. Like, that's a tale as old as time.

It's never going to stop people from bitching at the officials. Like, that's a tale as old as time. It's never going to end. But, you know, like I said, they'll always say, okay, well, at least we know. You know, I get rugby fans who send me, and I love rugby. I really love watching rugby on TV. They send me the clips all the time that in that sport, you could actually hear the conversations happening. They do it live and so good that's so good yeah like i don't think hockey's ready for that yet as much as i think it's

a great idea come on but i know i look i'm all for it i just i just know small victories jeff small victories we used to do with the chl package on sportsnet elliot as you'll recall and it was glorious didn't last very long. We used to do it. And look what happened. They took it away from us. Took it away. Simply because we kept showing those things. I would just love to see them put out the video and say, here's what we were thinking,

just like Department of Player Safety. Because right now, that goal is now a standard for the rest of the year. And I can see people watching that and saying, this is not going to be good for where we're going. Okay. Also in that game, and I was of one mind initially until I sent the text, and now I kind of feel differently about it. So this is John Tavares trying to make beliefs.

The main beliefs are on a power play. so it's a five on four he's standing in front of conor hellebuck and his stick gets slashed by dylan sandberg now the stick doesn't break but what he does is he leans on it in order to show the official who's standing in the corner that my stick has been compromised. I can't play with it. And look, it's so flimsy. I can break it. Snap. Just like this. Now, at that point.

Yeah, I hated that call. At the official. Okay, hold on. Hate. Okay. Hate. Hang on. Hang on.

No, I'm just going to repeat the word hate for 62 more minutes. Okay. Thanks, ladies and gentlemen. Our next podcast drops Friday. So I'm with you. I looked at that and I said whoa whoa whoa back it up like not a chance like i i'm with you i hate hate hate 62 times over that call and so i sent a clip and a text over to uh our buddy dave jackson former nhl referee and said, essentially, what's going on here? And I half expected Jackson to text back,

oof, that's a blown call, or oof, that's a bad one. And his point was interesting coming back. He said, wow, great situational refereeing. Dave said it was fine to read this, by the way, FYI. Wow, great situational refereeing dave said it was fine to read this by the way fyi wow great situation it would actually be funnier if he listened to the podcast horrified and said he wasn't supposed to read that yeah exactly i would make it a lot better i would not i would not do that but yeah yeah like we haven't had a temptation like that before um wow great situational refereeing it wasn't overly aggressive or near his hands and didn't

knock it out of his hands. So ref says play on. But once Tavares shows him that he was eliminated because he broke his stick, ref does the right thing. Hang on. Here's what gets interesting. I see that as very similar to a 50-50 trip that possibly is accidental, but results in the other team getting a scoring chance. Ref will hesitate to see if an advantage is gained before raising his arm. I like it. So looking at that with this lens then, consider it a 50-50 play. And on initial slash, if it doesn't appear that Tavares has been taken out of the play with a broken stick, then you say, play on. But once Tavares shows that he has been eliminated from the play with what we now know as a broken stick, he makes the call as if it's a 50-50 trip.

Do you like that explanation? I'm okay with the explanation. I just hate the way it's called. I'm okay with the explanation. I just hate the way it's called. And to be honest, I don't want to say the explanation sucks because I don't want Dave Jackson to refuse to text you because he's going to say Elliot just rips my explanations on the podcast. So I don't want you to lose a valuable aid.

But I don't like it. To me, the thing I don't like is, and i felt this way a long time i don't think a slash should be considered a penalty if the stick breaks and that's the only reason the jets got a penalty there is because the stick broke and that's what i hate some these sticks they've come a long way jeff they're a lot better made than they used to be. But they do have their weak points, right? And to me, you either slash a guy and get a penalty or you don't. And if you slash a guy's stick and you get it on the weak point and the stick breaks,

that should not be the determining factor of whether or not it's a penalty. If you don't call, I've raised that one before and here's what i've gotten back if you don't make that call with the stick breaking upon slash then what do you think is going to happen every single penalty kill players are going to go around slashing each other's stick then say it's a slashing penalty fine it's either a slashing penalty or it isn't it shouldn't come down to if the stick breaks that's all i'm saying the the philosophy like to me i i know what the philosophy is you've eliminated a player from the play and that's a player that doesn't have the puck like at that moment john taveras doesn't have the puck and by slashing and breaking his stick

you've taken him out of that play well to me but the thing is it shouldn't it shouldn't come down to that to me it's either you slashed him or you didn't and it shouldn't come down to the weakness on the stick all it is is evidence that an infraction has occurred you know what it's like it's like drawing blood on a high you don't think you saw the referees no no you hang on You don't think that the referee saw the slash before. He knew he slashed him. Yes, yes. And to Dave Jackson's point, and I'm pretty warm on this,

it's a 50-50 call because if it doesn't force the stick out of his hands and if it doesn't break automatically but it's compromised the stick, the official may not know that Tavares has been taken out of his hands and if it doesn't break automatically but it's compromised the stick the official may not know that Tavares has been taken out of the play no I I but I disagree with this reasoning maybe that's the reasoning like you're you're in the law you're in the hot sauna on this I'm in the cold tub which I have yet to do by the way I don't buy this like tavaris is a smart guy like don't you think it's kind of ridiculous that like i'm watching that play because i'm done i've done my hit so i'm watching the third period actually paying attention to a game for a change don't you think it's ridiculous that that winnipeg like either either winnipeg's going down two men because,

and that was a huge play in the game. Either Winnipeg's going down two men because he slashed him, but instead he goes down two men because Tavares gets slashed, and he's like, oh my God, I better prove it. And he starts like leaning on his stick. Don't you think the visual of that is insane? That's why I said initially i didn't like the call also tavaris is like 220 pounds right like he's a strong guy but what if he was like what what if he was like bobby lalonde and he was five foot six he couldn't break the stick

well then it's no penalty that would be no embarrassing. There's no penalty. Somewhere Bobby Lalonde's going to say, even though I'm 5'6", I could rip Friedman in half. I don't like this. He can still kick your ass. He probably could. But don't you think the visual is that? Like, is that what we want? Hang on a second here.

Because I've seen it before. Hold on. Is that what we want? Like, in the playoffs, big game, slash okay and nathan mckinnon starts leaning on his stick to snap it so he gets the penalty how many times because i don't think a player is programmed to do that unless their stick is actually compromised how many times hang on hang on freedom hold on no no no you hang on park it for one second. How many times have you seen a player do that? Or was that the first time? No, I have seen that before. Anyone who's watched hockey.

Right in front of the referee. Look, I'm going to snap my twig to try to draw another call. You're telling me you've never seen a player do that before. I think players are hardwired to stay in the play. And John Tavares at that moment is hardwired to stay in the play. And what happens is he gets a stick slash and he knows right away the stick is compromised and that's why he leans on it and right away it snaps like a pencil he's he is john tavaris is smart he knows what he's doing he knows what he's doing and why don't we see this all the time we used to see this happen all the time no we used to see this happen when back in like 05 06 no no oh you know you're right actually it was 0304 when

compasses became more i gotta tell you and 0304 is not more recent than 0506 and the integrity of the sticks isn't what they are now. Like stick technology has come a long way. It has come a long way. It has come a long way. I agree with you on that. You look back. Like how many times, how many times did you see like those?

Everybody, you have finally heard it. Friedman and Merrick come to blows. What has finally got us to snap? Broken stick slashing penalties. You cannot tell me you've never seen guys do this before. got us to snap the broken stick slashing penalties. You cannot tell me you've never seen guys do this before. I've seen players lean on it before, but this is to demonstrate that other teams should get another infraction on this.

I think you've never seen it, but hang on. Do you watch hockey? What do you, do you watch hockey? How many times have you seen a player get a stick slash and the, and their first concern is just staying in the game. It's not to,

to moan for a penalty and turn to the official and snap their stick. If guys didn't moan for penalties, there wouldn't be an embellishment call. Not with sticks, Elliot. No, I okay, we're not going to be honest, but I disagree with you. So then, would you have

given John Tavares a penalty for embellishment? I didn't even think of that, but I should have known better to bring it up for you because you would think of that. Would you have given John Tavares a penalty for embellishment? I didn't even think of that, but I should have known better to bring it up for you because you would think of that. Would you have given John Tavares an embellishment call? No, I wouldn't. Look what he's doing. Instead of leaning on it, go get a new stick. He's trying to draw.

He's trying to draw a penalty. All this is embellishment. He's embellishing how broken his stick is. Elliott Friedman says Tavares deserved the penalty on that play. It shouldn't be Dylan Sandberg. Do I have the headline correct? Dom, that's the title of this podcast.

I don't think I actually said that, but in the spirit of the podcast, I would do the same thing to you, so I think it's pretty funny that you're saying that. Okay, let's move on. You either slash him or you don't't it's a penalty or it's not because you know what's going to happen guys are going to start doing that now well we'll see um i am curious about that but i mean i've been wrong about patterns before like

i'm the guy that thought you remember when the puck over the glass rule finally started after the lockout of 0405 previous to that if a goalie threw it over the glass, that was the only way it was going to be an automatic penalty. I thought, like, honestly, I really did believe this. And we're coming off a situation where we've seen a couple of pucks sizzle into the bench and, you know, Lindy Ruff and Nykvist as well. I thought that we were going to see a rash of players, specifically defensemen, under pressure, throw the puck into the bench, knowing that it's essentially a way to throw the puck out of play without getting a penalty. But I was wrong about that. And I wonder if I'll be wrong about this one as well, thinking that a bunch of players are going to start doing this. The one thing that I did wonder

about, and we saw this in junior hockey when everybody started to pick up composite sticks i remember it was greg gilbert who was coaching mississauga um when they were called the mississauga ice dogs i remember gilbert when i went to one of the games i was standing beside the bench it was always before a game and i was i was in the hallway leading to the dressing room and there was a bunch of composite sticks and then a bunch of wooden sticks and i remember asking greg gilbert like what gives with all the wooden sticks here and he said these are our penalty kill sticks i said what he goes yeah these are my penalty kill sticks because we see so many sticks breaking right now if i'm killing a penalty and one of my guys has a stick break we're done so i send out all my penalty

killers with wooden sticks i thought that was that's where the technology was back then. And he was right. Like how many times in a penalty kill, and you saw this in the NHL, did the sticks break? And all of a sudden a five on four is essentially a five on three. I just thought that was interesting.

I thought we might see something like that in the NHL. Obviously it never happened. Jeff's predictions up in flames, comma, again. Dom, we just talked about a slashing penalty for 20 minutes. Yeah, it's really good, too. Don't worry. I could do this all day long.

I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. Welcome to my world. Now I'm dragging you into my deep water, arguing about technology. Before we move on, we should talk about the penalty late in Vancouver, Columbus, because I know the Canucks fans were all over this. And someone had a Cheshire Cats grin on the whole time.

So Ian Cole and Tyler Myers go into the boards with Sean Corrales. Tyler Myers going to the boards with Sean Corrales. And initially, and Corrales goes down, and initially they call Ian Cole for a major, and they go review it. And they review it, and it becomes very clear as we're watching the replay, the offender here is not Ian Cole, it's Tyler Myers. And so they review it, and Myers is sitting on the bench,

and they throw him out of the game. They change the player. And Myers has this look when they call him. He has no idea what is going on. And when we saw it, it was Kelly, Kevin and I were looking at it. I don't know where Ron was. We could not stop laughing at the look on Myers face it was just so funny we were howling so Myers gets kicked out and I call over to the situation room and what I'm told is now you have to understand that there was a game earlier this year between Philadelphia and

Nashville where Trennan hit someone into the boards from the flyers from behind I think it was Morgan Frost but I don't remember and they called him for one penalty and then after viewing it they gave him another penalty and they ejected him from the game I had never seen that before where they did a review and change the penalty and I wasn't working that night so I didn't call but I checked with the Predators and they didn't really have a big problem with it because it was an obvious penalty and the call they got the call right so I kind of just dropped it but it was I'd never seen a situation before where they called someone for a five-minute major and they changed the penalty even though it was

the right call I kind of just forgot about it well I definitely never seen this before where they did the review and they changed the guy who got the penalty and it's not in the rule book so I called the situation room I said look I've I've never seen this before what are you guys thinking about here and they go just get the call right. I'm like, okay. And you have to understand the whole time while I'm talking to the situation room, this adds to the insanity of the whole moment.

BX is standing next to me yelling, when are you guys bringing in the robot referees? So he's not helping the situation. He's just making the whole thing worse. I'm trying to talk to the situation. While you're talking to someone, he's screaming out instructions. Yeah, he's like, I'm like, get out of this room. Just get out of here.

I'm trying to get like he's and he's got that BX a bleeping grin on his face. One of the robot referees coming. bleeping grin on his face one of the robot referees coming so now initially and i think in that situation you have to give myers a major um so initially they weren't sure um our guys kelly and and kevin weren't sure it was actually a major for myers there was a debate as to whether or not he swung his elbow to injure or he was bracing himself to go back into the glass right um but anyway they gave him a major and they threw him out if look if you were going to give anybody a major there it had to be Myers it certainly wasn't Cole and the answer was just get the call right and you know our our situation on Saturday night was a little bit

screwed up because we had two late games, Calgary-Chicago, and we had Vancouver-Columbus. The Vancouver-Columbus game went really late, and the Calgary-Chicago game was where Scott and Eric Francis were based, so they had the after-hours guest, Chris Tanov, and so we had to get off the air quick. We did not have a quick debrief, but Ron wanted me to put out

there what the situation room had told me they said just get the call right and it couldn't have happened and i say this just poking fun at all of you just relax it couldn't have happened with a a more hornet's nest of a fan base than the Vancouver Canucks fans. Cause they were wound up at the penalty to begin with. And then when I had 15 seconds to give the explanation, I did that. Like one of my buddies who lived in Vancouver just goes, go check your Twitter just for a laugh. And they were,

they were furious, but you know, like, look, I'll say this, like it's, it's not in the rule book that you can do that but like so i get why everybody's looking at it weirdly but at the end of the day to me it's do

you get the right call okay so they got the right guy in the penalty myers you can definitely debate whether he got a uh whether it was a major like I said Kevin Kelly and I were like it's tight between he's swinging himself around to defend himself and he's swinging himself around to elbow Corrales in the face but the end of the day they got the right guy with the penalty so we could live with all that. But you know, again, it's new. It's different. We haven't seen it before. So there's going to be, and it's because you, it's like fantasy football.

Like Pierre Lebrun used to be the commissioner in our fantasy football league. And he basically had to elliot proof it because i was doing so many loophole moves that he had to with conjunction of the other guys like basically block everything i was trying to do it's not in the rule book but it's not technically against the rules either at the end of the day i'm like make the right call give me the right call that's the right call so i can live with it but i'm not denying it's weird it's different i've just never seen it before okay sticking with what do you think do you have a problem with them doing that no i don't i i don't and you know me like i like to be stickler i mean a lot of it i just sort of

do it half in jest like you know i'm a stick like to be stickler. I mean, a lot of it, I just sort of do it half in jest. Like, you know, I'm a stickler for, we have a goal versus we have a good goal. Like, I know what I'm doing. Like,

trust me, I know what I'm doing. I know what's up and I'm just having some fun. But I will forever be indebted to referees who do say we have a goal. Thank you to all of you who use that correctly. Put my English degree. We're all doing that because of you. But no,

that's what I have. I, I have no problem with it i i have no problem with that just get the at the end of it just get the call right even if you make a mistake at first it's okay as long as you get it yeah get it right you know kind of listen you you know what it's like it's like when you see a slash stick if it doesn't break you don't make the call but when you see a slash stick, if it doesn't break, you don't make the call. But when you see it's been compromised, you get the call right. You make, we're all found common ground. This is so beautiful. Now, sticking with the crime and punishment vibe here, Brendan Gallagher. So we used a lot of oxygen on the radio talking about the Brendan Gallagher situation, the podcast as well, and what he was going to get. It turns out to be a five-game suspension.

The howls were for more. A lot of people, you know this, Ellie, people that you talk to, people that I talk to and DM and all of it, they're howls for double digits from a lot of different corners. It ends up at five. This is for the high hit on Adam Pellock. Ends up at five. This is for the high hit on Adam Pellock. First of all, what did you think of the five games?

And is there a story within the story? Or maybe conspiracy within the story? How about that on this one? Well, you know, first of all, we talked a little bit about this on your radio show on Friday. But I want to do it for the pod. Number one, the one thing I want to say is this. it for the pot number one the like the one thing i want to say is this like there are people saying oh george peros played with brendan gallagher so he's going easy on him that's stupid and the reason it's stupid is because go back to george peros andrew cogliano andrew cogliano was going to break doug jarvis's consecutive game streak he was going to break Doug Jarvis' consecutive game streak. He was going to

break it before Keith Yandel and Phil Kessel did. He was going to do it. He was the guy. I didn't even think that Cogliano should have been suspended for what broke the streak, but George Peros did it, and it ended a friendship. Like, those guys were roommates in Anaheim. They were very, very close, and Peros ended it. So anybody who thinks he's giving the benefit of the doubt to Gallagher is because they used to be teammates is 1,000% wrong, and it's dumb. And so I have no time for that. So we did also talk about this on your show and,

and Larry Brooks alluded to it in his column in the New York post on Sunday, his slapshots column. And I do believe that this is it. And Larry Brooks talked about how they, they basically stick with precedent. And this year there there have been three appeals, okay? Now, one of them was the kind of appeal we see all the time, the one that goes to the independent arbitrator. And that's for anything that's six games or more. And that's David Perron. So David Perron, he got suspended six games.

He appealed it to Bettman. He lost. And now he's appealed it to the independent arbitrator. Unless the independent arbitrator has invented some kind of new time travel device, Perron is not getting his games back. Okay? Correct. But he could get some money back. However, twice this year, we've seen something a little bit different, which is players under six games who do not get an in-person hearing have appealed.

Two of them, Rasmus Anderson of Calgary, who got four, and Charlie McAvoy of Boston, who got four. Now, when it's five or less, there's no independent arbitrator. You just appeal to Bettman, and you almost always lose almost it's very very rare the only one I can really remember that someone won was Jason Spezza and that was actually a six gamer it went from six games down to four the one that Spezza got for the wild brawl in that game with Winnipeg, which said to me that Bettman was worried that the arbitrator was going to drop it. But for ones under six to go to an appeal, there's no independent arbitrator. So players have told me they have no chance of winning. They honestly think they have no chance of winning they honestly think they have no chance of winning but this year two guys have tried it and i heard that that has made peros even tighter on his

decisions because what he's getting now is more appeals than he's ever seen so he knows everything he does he better make sure there's a great legal reason for it when Gallagher did his play against the Islanders the one thing in retrospect that was weird to me was that they didn't announce the hearing that night because I have seen many cases where a player for an incident like that one which is so obvious the hearing could get announced that night now that happened tends to happen a bit more in the playoffs but it does happen so the fact that it didn't get announced the next day said to me that not only was Perro sleeping on it he does sometimes, but they were really looking hard at what their options were and how they thought it would stand on appeal. And I don't think it's necessarily right,

but I do think that's the way it is. I think Gallagher should have gotten a tougher suspension. I think I'm like most people here, but I 100% believe that the two appeals earlier in the year had them going through all their decisions and saying, what do we really think we can do here? And it said to me that because of whether it was the McAvoy hit or something else, they were worried if they went any more than five they were going to lose an appeal and like i said i don't think i i don't agree with it but i do think that's the factor here and i know a lot

of you are going to listen to this and say that's ridiculous and that's fine it's my job to explain and that's what i think the explanation is excellence elsewhere around the nhl first of all i want to have a quick conversation about the Columbus Blue Jackets. And our first answer with Patrick Laine. It was announced on Sunday. He's entered the Players Assistance Program. We all wish him the very best, as we do anyone who enters the Assistance Program. 100%.

David Juracek. Yep. And the Columbus Blue Jackets. david you're a check yeah and the columbus blue jackets now this is in the uh in the athletic this is aaron portslain's piece in his uh sunday gathering column which is always must read um this is what you're a check told portslain who's playing in the american hockey league now quote i played good hockey in the NHL here check told the Athletic Friday I'm an NHL player right now that's my opinion that I should be in the NHL right now I see guys from the same draft like Nemech New Jersey Korchinski in Chicago they get a chance

on the power play they play a ton of minutes in the NHL those Those are different teams, so different situations, but I can compare with them. I just want a chance to play like that. Boom. Jeff, before I get to him, Fantilli gets hurt Sunday night against Seattle, and when I saw the play

and that he left the game, I was thinking, what's next? The locusts, the frogs, the boils, or the darkness? Columbus he left the game I was thinking what's next the locusts the frogs the boils or the darkness Columbus is in the middle of the plagues here seeing Fantilli leave that game look the Jurisic thing that's that's a problem that's a big problem and and one of the guys that you've been talking about this year has been Cole Perfetti now Perfetti has had a difficult time at different points throughout the year finding his ice time in the lineup but a he's a pro and b the Jets are winning

you can't be complaining as a young player when the team is doing well as well as that team has been doing so and they're committed to him just like Columbus is to Jeroshek but they just have to Perfetti just has to be in a situation where he kind of has to eat it you can't rock the boat you just have to play your way through it and that's what he's doing the difference in this particular case is number number one, Columbus is not winning. And number two, they promised him a spot in the NHL this year. They told him to find a place. And if you ask any team, they'll tell you that's a dicey thing. Because once you tell someone to find a place, it's understood, you know, he's going to stay.

And, you know, Kekalainen has some fair quotes in the piece. And that is that, you know, we're trying to get fair quotes in the piece and that is that you know we're trying to get him to play with still things he's got to learn I think everybody understands that he's a 21 year old defenseman and Columbus is trying to build an accountability culture where you have to earn your spot look at all the benching and moves that have been happened this year but it's harder because this is such a huge part of your franchise future he's obviously very disappointed and you're not winning games so he's looking at it as um i deserve to play based on what's happening here and it's clear to me based on what he's here. And it's clear to me, based on what he's saying, that he's not 100% buying what they're selling. So the challenge is, because he's so important to their future,

they've got to make him buy in to what they're telling him. And it's clear right now that it's not working. So how are you going to solve that problem? How are you going to get him from A to B? Because he's important. In five years, when you're hoping you're in a very different place from where you are now you think he's going to be a big part of that and he should be you know the the one thing i think has been really interesting about this situation is who represents jerichek is this someone who's active on twitter it is it's uh it's it's alan It's Alan Walsh. And have you seen Alan Walsh angrily tweeting about it? No. Not really. Walsh tweeted last week that Juracek had a three-assist game.

But generally, he's left that alone. alone which said to me that the player doesn't really want anything out there because Walsh doesn't do anything unless the player is okay with it so that's a good thing for Columbus. That's a really good thing for Columbus, but you have like, this guy is so important to your future there, especially in a tough year. You have to find a way to make sure that he buys into what you're selling. Cause right now he's not. We'll finish up with this one. And you know, this is another one of Juracek's quotes that has certainly raised some eyebrows and concerned some people this is commenting on the game that you

were just talking about saturday's game um quote it's been most of the month without hockey so i will play after that we'll see yeah You must have had some experience with him. Going into his draft, yes. Yeah. What did you think? I like him. I like him a lot. Like, not only is he a super high-skilled player, I actually, I like him too.

And the brief couple of encounters I had with him. Well, you know what? I'll say this. I am really impressed the fact that he's the one here doing the talking you know honestly like to me he's like he comes across to me in this and i don't know this kid at all i'm just reading this article he comes across to me in this article as a very mature kid. He's laying out his feelings. He doesn't sound like a whiner. He's explaining how he feels.

He showed up to play. I got no problem with anything here. Basically what he has done through Aaron Portsline, he has explained to the fans, this is what I'm thinking. And I got no problem with this. I got no problem with it at all. It's not screaming on the internet. Here's how I feel, and this is what everyone needs to know about what I'm thinking.

And he showed up to play. Like, he came all the way back from Vancouver, and he played. Like, I got no problem with this i i think this kid is handling himself for me however how many kilometers i am away from columbus it seems to me like he's handling it very maturely i like players who when you ask them a question they give you an answer yeah and that's your check yeah um okay i think we still have a lot of answers still or we're looking for a lot of answers around the los angeles kings well how about st louis by the way getting back into the race uh there is that part of sunday's game there's also the la part i want to pick up on st louis

in a second but i'm positive you're negative no man i just want like people want the negativity at this point like it's it's the end of January here. People are feeling it. Let's ride the negativity vibe here. St. Louis is in the playoffs by a point percentage as we record this podcast. Remarkable, hey? You know, the weird thing about it is too, I still wonder like we all do, if Doug Armstrong looks at this team at trade deadline

and says, yeah, we may be in a playoff spot or around it, but I don't like it. I'm making moves. You know what's the worst thing that could happen for all these other NHL teams is that the Blues win the Stanley Cup this year again because that would be two Stanley Cups

where they looked like roadkill and they fired their coach and they won it. And instead of Jordan Bennett. Now everyone's going to be trying. We want you to stink for three months yeah we're going to fire the coach and then we're going to win the stanley cup and in you know what's by the way what sucked today for the blues was perunovic got hurt because that kid started to look a lot better uh he certainly did and uh if they go on this rip like it's 218 219 all of a sudden if it's joel hofer playing the

role of jordan binnington and whether it's someone like jake neighbors uh playing the role of ryan o'reilly the intense hockey player who does not take any penalty minutes elliott's um it really is a remarkable thing how this guy stays out of the penalty box considering how hard he plays. Let's just do St. Louis then. St. Louis has crawled their way back into this thing. And are they getting good goaltending from both Bennington and Hofer? Absolutely. I think a really underrated story is how good Matthew Kessel has been on the back end.

I think that Robert Thomas is having a really nice year. We all know the Jordan Cairo story so far this season. I keep coming back to Braden Shen on this team and what he's been able to do to claw this team back into the playoff conversation. What are your thoughts on St. Louis right now? Well, like I said, I've been really impressed by how they've crawled back into it. Like, you know, you talked about some of the young players we mentioned, Perunovic, like some of them have really started to play well. You know, who I think has been

really good after starting the season, not great at times, Braden Shen um you know like doug armstrong he had a lot of his players out on the market and there was not a lot of interest i think one of the guys that there would have been interest on was buchnevich and first of all i love the canoe celebration as a guy who likes in the summer to go out on a lake in a canoe by himself at twilight and just peacefully paddle around i really like the canoe celebration i think he could trade buchnevich pretty easily if he wanted to obviously he hasn't wanted to but uh you know some of those guys have really started to go. But, like, I give them credit. I did not think they were going to get into this race. I didn't.

I just thought they were too meh. There wasn't enough there. But they've pulled themselves off the mat. And a lot of guys who weren't playing that well are are playing better much better and it's gotten them in there you know like someone was saying to me the other day if canada was playing game one of the world cup right now or whatever they're going to call it next year you know if you were playing today jordan bennington would be in the conversation to be your starter yes absolutely he would yeah um i think you'd look at mackenzie blackwood i wouldn't put blackwood over bennington not saying blackwood over bennington right now your starter for team canada today is jordan bennington hands down can i give you another option joel hofer no i wasn't

he wasn't going to be my option. Oh, okay. Stuart Skinner. He's been excellent. There's no doubt about it. But a couple of things have happened there in Edmonton with him. One, he has played much better. But two, the high danger chances are way down. Way down for Edmonton. Yeah. But he's been really good.

There's no denying it. Right now, it might be Binnington. A year from now, it might be Skinner. We'll see. Okay, other end of the rink. The Los Angeles Kings lose. We'll get to the Oilers in a sec. We'll get to the Oilers in a sec, yeah.

Kings lose again to St. Louis on Sunday. This is after losing to Colorado on Friday. They've now lost 14 of 16, their last 16. They were better against the St. Louis Blues. You know, I kind of expected more out of Los Angeles. I know it's Colorado

at the beginning of the road trip. I understand all of it. But it's the next game after Drew Doughty calls everybody out and wonders about I'm right with you on that. I don't care if it's Colorado. You can't be down 3-0 after that first period. And they come out and nothing.

Zero. Now they have one more game on this road trip and that's against Nashville. And then I think the questions really began. But where are you at as we record this on sunday january 28th 525 eastern where are you at on la you know how i felt about the coach and that is that he stabilized the team and put them into the playoffs with a good structure system and uh and i think rob blake really recognized that um and i still feel that way i still feel that rob blake really likes todd mcclellan

as a coach but i almost wonder if we're getting into woodcroft territory where you it's not fair but you you have to do it um you know like you're gonna have to do something there now they're really hoping to get arvidsson back and hope that changes everything you know the the Kaliev thing is interesting I I do think they would move him now and I and I think the um it's been made pretty clear behind the scenes there that the Kelly has time uh to go somewhere else where he can have a bit more of a role it's probably come I do think the kings would do it if they found um you know maybe like a depth player with some edge that they could replace him with i do think la would do that you know what's you know the other thing too is we talked in the last pod about clark and spence and and putting

them together or playing them both at the same time and england stays in i had someone call me about that and they said if you take england out of that la defense it's not very tough defense like they they think the kings could get pushed around back there like they even though the guy's not a big producer he does bring them a a bit of a physicality that they don't have without him. Like really, like someone said to me, if you take them, if you take him out of there, your most physical guy is probably dowdy and you don't need him running around. He's got enough to worry about. So I thought that was, that was interesting.

You know, I really appreciated the uh that was brought to me about that but i also felt like sooner or later you got to try something different i do think they're hoping that arvidsson can make a difference i think they're looking at a forward with some edge the one thing here i'm really curious about is does raw this is my opinion this is not what anyone is telling me this is my opinion does rob blake go down here or the king's season go down here without him taking a big swing at a goalie like cam talbot did a really nice job for them. He's deserving to be in the all-star game. But does he take a big swing at a goalie? The problem is your dollar for dollar.

Who goes out? Yeah. Kings are right up against it. So like say for argument's sake, you go after Markstrom, right? Or you go after. Oh, that's a huge deal. Like that's six... So you've got to take $6 million out, right?

Who are you taking out? The only way around that is Calgary retains, but then you're going to have to pay more. Yeah, and it's a long retention. It's not a short one. It's a long retention. So that is a that is a really really that's a but but the more i look at this the more like like i was

actually sitting there thinking of that and i was talking about with a couple people um that you know like that's the thing here it It's dollar for dollar. Like Edmonton, everything they do is dollar for dollar. And I'll tell you something right now. I don't even think they want to talk about moves right now. They have won 16 straight games. I cannot believe we've got to wait a week for this game in Vegas. Like this game in Vegas, number one, the Oilers are going to be – forget the fact they they're going to tie,

they could tie the record. The Oilers hate the Golden Knights and the Golden Knights hate the Oilers. Like you don't think that the, the Golden Knights are going to be just as wired to play that game as the Oilers are. Totally. Totally. But like,

here's the thing, because I'll tell you, like someone was saying to me that a guy like Carrie might from Nashville, might be a perfect fit in Edmonton, but Edmonton is the same way. It's dollar in, dollar out. And they don't even want to hear about this stuff right now because they're going so well. And, like, you know, all of a sudden, Campbell's putting up, like,

a 920 save percentage in his last few games. But they're like, I think they're looking at things like this because there were some rumors that Campbell might get a call-up. But, you know, I think think they're looking at things like this because there were some rumors that campbell might get a call up but you know the but i think the oil is looking at like why would we change anything right now and two pickards played well why would they even risk putting them on waivers um so like like that's the like it's different between the oilers and the kings because the the oilers look good and the Kings don't, but it's dollar in, dollar out for both these teams. So what are you fooling around with? Here's the thing.

A team like the Los Angeles Kings right now can't wait to get to this break. So the Los Angeles Kings have one more game. It's against Nashville, and you know, like, to a person on that roster, they can't wait for this break. It can't come soon enough. There's going to be a lot of teams

making some decisions here well and yeah and and like i said on the air i think calgary is gonna go to hannifin and say wherever you're lying on the beach just think about are you are you staying or are you going like i think that's one of the things that they're going to talk about there well i mean you know what's happened here and getting back to edmonton and you're right like they're on the big pause they don't play again until february the 6th and you know tie the record if they beat vegas and they can beat the record against the anaheim ducks on the 9th you know the way that they're playing and by the way i don't think for a second that they want this break right now no like the way that they're playing like can we just do something with the schedule we'll take our break after once we lose a couple here and then we'll take our pause but the way that it's

going right now i don't think edmonton wants a break nonetheless the authority of the schedule um there are so many players that are buying ken holland a lot of decision time here there is no need to rush into anything and i think he looks at it that way like and they play i know people are ripping them for their schedule the bottom line is if they were losing these games people would say i can't believe you're losing these terrible teams so you can't have it both ways but their schedule gets a lot tougher in february so he's got time to watch how this goes and the holloway kid if he's as good as he looks and he's talented, he really changes their lineup.

That solves a lot of problems. Speaking of problems, the Rangers have some problems. Now, I know that was a very big comeback against the Ottawa Senators on Saturday, a disappointing one certainly for the team in the nation's capital. Bad news for Philipilip edel someone that you're all always cheering for to take over injuries um announced on sunday the rangers putting it out that he will be uh missed the remainder of the season with his upper body injury um so from a hockey point of view elliott's we thought the rangers or maybe you knew the rangers were looking for one centerman are

they now looking for two yeah i think so uh they were definitely looking for one uh because they thought helo was coming back and they were definitely looking for one and to me that one was you know a depth center um somebody who you, had some experience or was having a good year. You know, I was, I was looking up and down rosters and just some guys who had some playoff experience or were good depth players. Like I was going to spend a bit more time watching Tyler Johnson in Chicago, for example, like, would he be a guy that would make any sense for Edmonds and I admit I haven't watched him a lot um Adam Henrique especially now that you might be looking for a guy that could play higher like Adam Henrique for example right now like if I was the Rangers and I

was the Devils and I would find it very hard to believe the Devils in particular have not looked into Adam Henrik. And I think there's a lot of teams that have. You could plug Adam Henrik, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Devils, Rangers. You could plug him into a lot of places and he would be a good fit. A guy with a really good rep around the league, yes. But I do think the Rangers could be looking for two now. Now, Monaghan, I think it's really interesting. I think the Canadians are going to trade him.

I do think the option would potentially be open for him to go back next year, but I do think the Canadians are going to trade him. You know, the Rangers, you know, the whole Jeff Gorton Rangers dynamic. You know, Jeff, let's just say they're not on each other's Christmas card list. Let's just go with that. So that complicates the deal there, but that is the kind of player they're going to be looking for. We maybe see that in Toronto and Calgary as well, maybe, Elliot.

That's not unique to the NHL. We've seen that before. Right, but it does mean maybe you have to pay a bit more of a price um i will say this we touched a nerve with our debate on friday about if sean monaghan's uh we're gonna get a first round pick i think it always comes down to how much interest there is in the player um eric angles in his uh blue white and and red pajamas. Thinks he's getting a first-rounder for sure. But we'll find out. We'll see.

Well, here's the thing about the Rangers. But the Rangers make a lot of sense for me, for him. For him, yes. Rangers have a first-rounder. Rangers have a second-rounder, Elliot. Rangers have Stanley Cup aspirations. Just get it out there. Just putting it out there.

Now, Larry Brooks was getting a lot of love on this podcast by the way he had some tweets on sunday where he basically talks about like for a henrik or a monahan does it make sense for the rangers to give up a first and a prospect or one or the other for this year on a rental for either of those kinds of players. And his argument was nothing has happened over the past 25 games that says you should be doing that. Well, I mean, it's very interesting because you know if it comes from him, it's an excellent pulse on what the Rangers are thinking. And no, you shouldn't be giving up a first and a prospect

for either one of those guys. But depending on how much interest there is in them, and especially for Henrique, I think there's quite a bit. Then, yes, you might be moved to one of those two things. Here's the thing, though. I agree with that thinking if Shisterkin's not going to find his game. Shisterkin's not going to find his game. If he can't get back to the level that we know he's at, then you're not going to win the Stanley Cup or really even challenge for it.

But if post-All-Star break, he starts to find himself, I think the pressure on the Rangers to do something is going to intensify. Especially when you think, look at the history of this organization they're not an organization that says yeah not our year no the last few years it's been we want to go for it we want to get there again if Shisterkin can't get back to his level it's immaterial but if over the next month he gets hot again i don't know how the rangers are going to be able to say yeah we're not gonna go all out or maybe not all out but we're not gonna go out and really upgrade at the center position so we've got some time here to figure it out by the way chicago since we mentioned chicago yep that's a team if was them, I'd be looking at Kuzmenko.

It's funny, too, because I always think Kuzmenko, if they're going to move off of him in Vancouver, he's going to end up with the Islanders. I thought Nashville for a while, but Chicago, they cannot score. And Chicago's in a situation now where they're signing guys as long as they don't last longer than two years and he's got only one more year yeah like that you know but like they are they're tough to watch without bedard there um they play hard i'm not going to knock it they they do play hard but they they you know markstrom was having a game on Saturday night. They could have given them 40

breakaways and they weren't going to score on him. But, you know, you got to entertain. You got to try to score some goals. Kuzmenko is a guy I'd be looking at if I was the Blackhawks. And they've already done a deal for Beauvilliers, right? So, you know,

those guys can deal with each other. You know, I mentioned with the Rangers a couple of seconds ago, a big win against the Ottawa Senators, tough one for them. We all know what Ottawa is going through. You had an interesting note about the Senators and a certain defenseman in Calgary on Saturday. Well, first of all,

I would tell people to watch the after hours where they're asking, it was hilarious like i'm getting changed and bx is dying watching after hours because they're asking him like how many teeth he can use to chew an apple and stuff like that like it's just like i was i was waiting for i was having an all-time night oh my god. Is it true you could eat an apple through a fence or a tennis racket? Is that true, Chris Tanner? Oh, my God.

It was. And he just sits there and he laughs. Like, he's got such a good sense of humor. But I should have thought of it earlier. Like, when I heard it on Friday, I was actually surprised. I said to myself, why didn't I think about this sooner? Sanders is looking for good pros. He's a good pro.

He's a right-hand shot. They can use one. And, you know, I think one of the issues was, you know, he's not – they're not going to make the playoffs this year. And I'll tell you this, Ottawa's goal is not, they're not thinking this is a long-term thing, right? They are going right for it again next year. This is not a long rebuild. Next year, we're going to the playoffs and I think what they want to do is they want to convince Chris Tanev that they have a

future there as a playoff team and he could be a very big part of it so I don't think that they are going to get them this year but I don't think they've given up on the idea of getting them so that's one to watch. And as I always say, I think I've said it 40 times this year, Toronto's looking at every defenseman in the league. That's what I just keep hearing. If there's a defenseman that they like, they're going to try to get him.

The Chris Tanev tour through Canada could continue east. On that, we'll hit a break. That was a long A-block. Montana's Thought Line, coming up in moments. Listen to the 32 Thoughts podcast ad-free on Amazon Music, included with Prime. okay time now for the montana's thought line montana's barbecue and bar canada's home for barbecue elliot try the ribs which 32 thoughts dave maloney did oh what's the update so in case

you did not listen to friday's podcast and if you didn't, shame on you. 20 lashes. 20 lashes. The Rangers play at home on Friday night. On Saturday, when they got to Ottawa for their game against the Senators, there was a delivery for the crew from Montana, including the ribs. Dave Maloney writes or texts, Try the ribs, Dave Maloney writes, or texts, try the ribs.

Well, we did, and they were awesome. Thanks a ton. And that's what he wrote. And thanks to Montana's and Ryan Fabro of Sportsnet, who was the facilitator of this delivery. Oh, good job. So we know the Devils broadcast team has tried them this year yeah and now the rangers broadcast team has tried them this year

the rest of you broadcasters what's stopping you you lazy bums i hope everybody with the rangers countered their fingers afterwards to make sure that one wasn't chewed off in the process i've've seen people eat Montana's ribs before. 32thoughts.sportsnet.ca is the email 1-833-311-3232. Let's start, Elliot, with a voicemail. This from the Klein family in Barhead, Alberta. We were wondering if Connor Brown is traded by the Edmonton Oilers this season. Is his $3.2 million bonus for playing 10 games this season prorated with the team that he has traded to?

Or are the Edmonton Oilers on the hook for the full $3.2 million bonus that will occur on next year's cap? More importantly, we have our first Wednesday night off where we can finally go to Montana's to... Charlie! Oh my God. That's fantastic. That was like the old hockey intro where all the kids say your host, Ron McLean.

I wish that my son could be as well-trained as the Klein kids are. I have to say that. The answer is no. Once the bonus hits, the team that has done it has to pay it. And there've been some of those cases, for example, vancouver you

know there were questions about like for example if tyler myers got traded could the bonus be shared or whatever no like he he got it in edmonton so edmonton has to carry it you can't trade it uh away excellent question uh one we're gonna go but thank you for the beautifully coordinated message i am very very impressed klein family thank you very much that was beautiful now uh one thing you have to know about this segment elliot um technically griffin porter curates all of these emails and yes he does all i really do is just sort of sift through them now has to come through either through the email or the thought line yes just like a circuit shaft from the point yes it's told to me by a warren reichel he's got a sifter to sift just kind of sifted through the point um if you are

a university of guelph alum you go to the front of the line. This one I got. The unemployment line? No, the Montana's Thought Line. Oh, excuse me. I thought you were talking about the unemployment line. This one from Lyndon LaMoyer, okay, who is U of G alum living and working in Dublin, a lot of late nights watching the Leafs.

So here's what he submits. He sent me this on Instagram. Hey, Jeff, big listener of the pod. I know over the last few weeks, the conversations of most Hall of Famers in a game and will a goalie ever reach 1,000 games played after Fleury made me think. Obviously, with Lars Eller playing 1,000 games last night,

congratulations, by the way, to Lars Eller. I've always loved this guy. I think you have as well. Great, you know, middle center. If you have someone like Lars Eller as your third line center, you're doing fine. For playing a thousand games last night with the Pens, he's on a team with Sidney Crosby,

Evgeny Malkin, Jeff Carter, and Chris Letang, and assuming a healthy season, inevitably, Eric Carlson. So all these players have played a thousand games for the Penguins, right? So it's Eller, Crosby, Malkin, Carter, Letang and soon Eric Carlson. His question is though, which team has had the most active skaters at once

with over 1000 games played? I asked you this off air. What is wrong with you? We could have faked it on air. I would have done it, honestly, the same way I did it off air. Why would you do that? Well, as I've always said, the key to life is sincerity. Once you learn how to fake that, you got it made.

Jeff, this has been your worst podcast ever. You've had terrible points of view, and you ruined this segment. No, you've had bad takes, and I'm just trying to be honest with the audience. And somehow I'm the villain. Somehow I'm the menace here. The 0304 Maple Leafs. Well, I guessed the Red Wings, by the way, that 2002 Stanley Cup champion. I was wrong.

But you told me it was this Leaf team. And then we guessed, and I guessed everybody but one guy. Yeah, I was impressed. So this is a question. I sent this note to Steve Fallon, Sportsnet stats, the great Steve Fallon. I'm like, can you give me a hand on this one here, Steve? And so this is what Steve came back with. It is the 0-3-0304 maple leafs where there are seven

players and this is not players who played a thousand seven at no time right seven at the time you nailed all of them no i missed one or the seventh one hang on except for the seventh one so i got i got sunday you want to go for it hold on yeah like the ones i got i got sundine i got new and dyke yep i got roberts yep i got hold on hold on hold on hold on i got tom fitzgerald that i thought you might have a hard time with, but good job. No, cause he was there all year. I remembered that. I know.

I got Ron Francis. Yep. Who was acquired late. I got Brian Leach who was acquired late. And at that time, Owen Nolan did not have a thousand games. Robert Reichel did not have a thousand games. And although Reichel never got there.

So Alexander McGilney did not have 1,000 games, but I missed one guy. Now, this is what I want to do here, Jeff. And I have to tell you, you could have had me guess until 2070 when I would be 100 years old, and I don't think I was getting this guy. So this is what we're going to do. We're going to give everybody a chance while we finish this segment to think if they can figure out who the missing guy is. No cheating, no looking it up on the phone,

no looking it up on the internet. Can you remember? How many more letters or voicemails do we have? We got a lot, but we'll probably do three more and and by the way so let people do have the internet people do have the internet they will it is what has killed trivia contests on sports talk radio the presence of the internet and okay people we're trusting you we're going to do three more questions and then we're going to come back to who was the missing guy. Okay, so we'll come back to the missing link a little bit later on

from the 03-04 team that had seven players at 1,000 games. Cal and Vermont, here's one. Elliot, can a player be traded while suspended? Beautiful. Can a player be traded while suspended? Like if a guy is in the middle of a five-game suspension during deadline day, can they still get traded? Or is there some language blocking them for some reason?

No, you can be traded. Like if there's a behavioral suspension or something, that's different. But you can be traded for like if it's like a slashing suspension or something like that, yes, 100%. No problem there. Okay. Justin in Newfoundland submits this one. it's like a slashing suspension or something like that yes 100 no problem there okay justin in newfoundland submits this one hey guys in tuesday's game between montreal and ottawa a large number of scouts who are in attendance despite their log jam at left d the habs scratched jordan harris

with trade season looming sooner than later i hope we begin to see tweets from the media that mentions the scouts in attendance at particular games they got me thinking is this list made public beforehand are general managers of the teams involved in the game aware of who will be scouting that particular night wondering if and how it could affect lineup decisions healthy scratches promotions the top lines and top power plays thanks justin from Newfoundland. Well, all a scout, if you have like a scout's pass or you're a credentialed scout from a team, you can just let a team know that you're going to be there

and they'll put you in and give you a seat. That changes during the playoffs. There are different rules for the playoffs because there tends to be more uh demand and you don't necessarily um you don't necessarily have room left for you there are more stringent policies but generally during the year if you say hey i represent the detroit red wings and i want to come watch this game between vegas and toronto they'll make room for you um you know i think the the one thing that everyone should be aware of is

like on nights where there's only two or three games you'll get 25 people there um because they'll say oh there's there's and also like, and also like, for example, if, you know, sometimes a team plays on a Friday and say the AHL team within driving distance or an AHL team within driving distance or two are around there, you know, if you're doing an AHL game on Thursday and Saturday, you'll go to the nearest NHL game on Friday. So a lot of these things come down to what's the schedule. You always look to see. One of the keys is, and I'm probably giving away some stuff here that's obvious and some stuff I probably shouldn't because teams will get more careful of it.

One of the things I look for is, for know, there's, for example, in Toronto, which is the rink I used to go to the most, you always knew the names, right? Like if Steve Eisenman showed up there, you're like, oh, okay, you know, what's he looking at? I remember there was a game early in my career at hockey night where Scott Housen was the GM in Columbus, and he showed up in Ottawa one night and a couple days later they traded for Antoine Vermette like that happens too but the one thing I always looked for is when quote-unquote like a western guy shows up in an eastern market or something like that when someone who isn't normally there shows up because that says to me in a lot of cases they're getting a second an organization

is getting a second opinion what do they always say we want new eyes on the guy yeah we want fresh eyes on a guy so it's not only sometimes it's if the gm's there that's obvious but sometimes to me is is a team sending someone who isn't normally there, there. Because that's when you wonder, okay, what's going on here? Okay, here's a fun one. This is about you, Elliot. Oh, no. Spencer from the home of Brock Faber.

So that would be Maple Grove, Minnesota. Why on earth is Elliot a Minnesota Vikings fan? Minnesotans were born into this suffering. What's your excuse? Thanks for everything you three do. Elliot, why are you a Vikings fan? Do you go as far back as Fran Tarkenton? Yes, I do, as a matter of fact. Yeah, I was born in 1970.

But what it was is I remember one of the, like I've always loved the color purple. It's not why I went to Western, but it helps. But I remember as a kid, the stupid things that make you a fan. Like, you know, I love, for one thing, I love the CFL. I love the Argos. I used to go to Argos games. But for NFL, I remember, you know, you're a young kid and all of a sudden it's as crazy as this.

Here come the purple peep leaders. And you're a young kid and all of a sudden it's as crazy as this. Here come the Purple People Eaters. And you're like, oh, that's really cool. So the Purple People Eaters were the famous defensive line with the Minnesota Vikings, with the likes of Jim Marshall and Carl Eller and Alan Page. And, you know, I was always really fascinated with Alan Page. He's one of the only defensive players ever to win the NFL MVP award. He won it in the 70s. Another one of my favorites, Lawrence Taylor, won it in the 80s. But Alan Page, I remember when I was younger,

seeing a really fascinating story about him. I'm not a Notre Dame guy, but he went to Notre Dame. But also, like, Alan Page is a judge or was a judge he's uh he's retired and but I remember seeing a feature on him when I was younger so I'm fascinated by the purple people eaters and Alan Page was the MVP of the NFL one year in the 70s and um but I I also remember and that was that was when I was really young I think it was the early 70s remember hearing about it remember seeing a feature on him about how he was going to be a judge or wanted to be a judge after his career so between the purple peep leaders and the color and Alan Page that's why I became a big Vikings fan I can relate

to that I became a huge and I still am to this day, Pittsburgh Pirates fan because of We Are Family and Willie Stargill and Dave Parker. Because I live in Toronto, I'm a Jays fan, but I do remember that. Sister Sledge. Yes. Yes. 100%.

And also, if you go back, I think it was the 1978 All-Star game, Dave Parker throws up, I think it's Brian 1978 All-Star game, Dave Parker throws up. I think it's Brian Downing at the plate, right? It's such a great throw. You can see there's a view from behind Parker that is so incredible. Yeah. And it always gave me, like, I always have had a thing for outfielders

with great arms, like Dave Winfield,field Dwight Evans Vladimir Guerrero Sean Green like those were the best I absolutely loved those and uh I'm with you I love Dave Parker and I was glad to say when I met Dave Parker years later when he was a coach for the St. Louis Cardinals he was phenomenal to deal with it's great the C The Cobra, baby. Still one of my favorite. I'm with you. I remember when the Jays started. I'm going to games at Exhibition Stadium and I used to work for Versa Foods and sold hot dogs and jumbo Cokes at Exhibition Stadium.

But man, I got a special place in my heart for the Pittsburgh Pirates. So I get that, Elliot. Let's finish on this one before we get to mystery player number seven from the Maple Leafs 0304. So here's one uh this from alec uh hi gentlemen and elliot oh i like that all the recent contract extensions in chicago mrastick dickinson and flino i know it's good uh got me thinking if kyle davidson were to find a destination for any of these recently extended players,

could he trade the player only with their expiring contract? The expectation being that player would come back to Chicago the following season when the new contract kicks in. Dickinson would be a great example. Cap hit of 2.65 million this season. He could be a great depth addition for a contender. He gets traded to x contender and comes back to chicago next season once his cap it is 4.25 can this be done it would have to be a trade but yes like you can't like if you're asking me could dickinson be traded and then

technically be a free agent for like 30 seconds where he could resign with chicago no he's he's locked in no i think i mean i think what alec is saying is is is a part of the deal that once his season is over he defaults back to the chicago blackhawks he wouldn't be he wouldn't default back you'd have to trade him back yes exactly that's why i like having these questions out there because yeah i thought he was wondering, like, technically, could you sign him as a free agent, like, and just, but just assume the contract. No, you can't do that.

You could trade him back. Yes. Okay. Let's finish up then with the final member of the seven player 1000 game club with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Okay. The final member of the seven-player 1,000-game club with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Yes. Okay, so we have, so far, Sundin, Newendyke, Roberts, Francis,

Leach, Fitzgerald, and the one that I think will stumble most people on is out there. Who is it? Elliott Friedman. Like I said, I could have played until I was 100, and I wasn't getting it. It was Callie Johansson. It's a beautiful name.

I did a bench interview with him that year after he was acquired, but I never would have remembered it. Never. I can understand people saying Owen Nolan, for example. That was one of my guesses. I guessed Owen Nolan. I guessed McGilney, but none of those guys were there. I completely forgot Callie Johansson played for that team.

Like absolutely forgot. I love the fact that in this universe, there is a show where we can end a segment talking about Callie Johansson. Life is good. And that's the Montana's Thought Line. Montana's barbecue and bar, Canada's home for barbecue. We're back in a moment.

Okay. Welcome back. That was a lot of words, this podcast. That was a lot of words this podcast that was a lot of words in different that was words in different octaves different volumes different expressions of conciliation and anger and at times disgust at times open contempt for one another can i say one thing before we started recording at what 4 30 and you, I have to leave at 6.15. And what did I say? There's no chance we're going to talk for that long. We'll be done quick. It's 6 o'clock. We barely made it.

Barely made it under the wire. But we had to yell and scream about John Tavares and a stick violation. What a dumb argument. There's going to be people listening to this, and they're going to say only two guys could have an argument that dumb. Yeah. Well, I've always made the distinction. There's two kinds of dumb.

There's, like, regular dumb, and then there's hockey dumb. And that, ladies and gentlemen, was hockey dumb, courtesy of yours truly and Elliot Friedman. Throw in dumb, sure, Matty, and we've got the hat trick. was Hockey Dumb, courtesy of yours truly and Elliot Friedman. Throw in Dom Schramatti and we've got the hat trick. And on that, Hockey Dumb will let you go. More Hockey Dumb Friday morning when the next podcast drops. Enjoy the week of hockey.