32 Thoughts: The Podcast - A Bevy of Extensions as Training Camps Begin

Episode Date: September 20, 2024

In this episode of 32 Thoughts with Kyle Bukauskas and Elliotte Friedman, the fellas unpack all the latest news and notes from the various training camps from across the league. They start in Detroit where their big RFA's are all locked up. Most importantly, Moritz Seider has signed a 7 year extension (3:11). They transition to other major RFA's from around the league, including; Jeremy Swayman, Cole Perfetti, Dawson Mercer and Nikita Alexandrov (7:15). Elliotte also weighs in on the extensions for Philip Tomasino & Peyton Krebs (14:10). Kyle and Elliotte then delve into the contract extension for Sidney Crosby (17:14). The fellas move onto the future of Mitch Marner with the Toronto Maple Leafs (27:28) and then Elliotte expands on the health status of Thatcher Demko (35:35) and Brock Boeser (39:13) as Canucks camp begins. Afterwards, Elliotte talks about the health of Ilya Sorokin (44:21) and the future of  (44:56). Kyle and Elliotte discuss the retirements of Jaromir Jagr (49:52) and Kyle Okposo (51:34) before ending the first segment discussing Rogers' acquisition of Bell's portion of MLSE (53:31). Kyle and Elliotte answer your questions in the Thought Line (1:02:25) and end the podcast talking about Adrian Wojnarowski retiring from the insider business (1:10:28). Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call the Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemailThis podcast was produced and mixed by Dominic Sramaty and hosted by Elliotte Friedman and Kyle Bukauskas.The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.  

I just keep thinking about Fire Marshal Bill now after you said that. You've got paper and you've got paint. A deadly combination. All right. What's behind that wall? The chemistry lab. Uh-oh. Contract talks, contract signings, the best shape of their lives,

new captains, renewed ambition, injury updates, the whites of Brandon Tanev's eyes, team social media captions that read we are so back skating tests and john tortorella's rope all the indicators that training camp has begun as we welcome you to 32 thoughts presented by gmc dom shimadi elliot friedman kyle bakosk is with you elliot did you see that video that the Flyers posted? The rope. I loved it. I thought it was a great video. One thing this league is finally getting better at is social media. Yes, fine. Actually, they were good off the hop and then they started actually higher for the positions. Well, a lot of these teams, they went hard at the beginning. And then remember

the Kings saying, you're welcome Canada. When they beat the Canucks, it was almost as if everybody came charging out of the gate, like the fastest horse. And then the jockeys fell off because people started to calm down and people started to dial it back. I don't know if they're just hiring younger people, more creative people, fearless people, but you can see that these teams are starting to push the lines again and starting to become a bit more creative again. And I know not everybody likes it

and not everybody is comfortable with it. And to be fair, it's not me all the times. I see some things I go, Everybody is comfortable with it. And to be fair, it's not me all the times. I see some things I go, but this is what the people want. You have to give people what they want and this is what they want. The online world, they love their drama and it sounds like we're moving in that direction. And even if old geezers like myself have to be dragged, kicking and screaming into it,

it has to happen because that's what this generation wants. Can you do that sound again? That was great. And what I love too, I mean, it's, it's like almost in a way, like the players that you see, you know, those that work in the social media departments of different teams they'll see other teams do certain things online creatively and there's like the competitive juices to be like well we've got to be better than that and i think in most cases

fans us the viewers all benefit from it so they have been busy here the last couple days with training camp getting going we got a busy show here. Yeah, let's get to the news. Lots of stuff. Lots of stuff going on. True test of you as a host. Where are you starting? Oh man, I'm just trying to keep my head above water here after the last 24, 48 hours. But why don't we start in Detroit, Elliot? Just because we've talked about it for a few episodes now. They had a couple of big names to get taken care of. Samara Faze and Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider. Both of them are done. Jonathan Bergeron as well.

But Raymond and Seider were the big tickets. Earlier in the week, it was Raymond that signed an eight-year deal just a little bit north of $8 million per. just a little bit north of $8 million per. And then earlier on Thursday, Cider, it was confirmed, seven years, $8.55 million AAV. So as we discussed, they wanted to keep those numbers under the Dylan Larkin 8.7 cap. They were able to do that, and two of their more important players

are back in Detroit, most importantly, Elliot. Yes, and the Detroit Free Press were the ones that reported that on the weekend and they turned out to be correct I don't think that was ever a concern with Raymond his comparables weren't getting him up there to Larkin but the fact that Sider signed for seven years that was the issue and it turned out the way we kind of thought it did that that Sider was probably looking if there was an issue and it turned out the way we kind of thought it did that that cider was probably looking if there was an eighth year it was gonna go over larkin's number so the way they sorted this out the agreement that both sides made to get it done was to take it down to seven

what it says to me is that if it was an eight-year deal for Sider, it was going to start with a nine. Whether it was nine flat or a little higher, it was going to start with a nine. And Steve Eiserman obviously wasn't comfortable with that, so this is what they work out. Look, you know my philosophy, Kyle. When you have a cornerstone player, Sider is a cornerstone player. Raymond is a cornerstone player. is a cornerstone player. Raymond is a cornerstone player. You sign them for as long as you can, as quickly as you can, because the price never goes down. And he got them done. He got them done long-term and it's the win, win, win outcome. It's best for the team. It's best for the players.

They're going to make a lot of money. They're locked in. The Red Wings don't have to worry about negotiating with either of these guys for a long time. They're both locked in. This is W's all around. W's. Well, I was thinking the same thing because, as you know, Elliot, like in the business world, the best recipe for sustained success is that win-win type model you've got

two young players making life-changing money they've got security for the next seven to eight years and it ultimately comes in at a number where if they keep projecting the way many anticipate them to numbers that the team will have no issue continuing to take care of over the course of the term as well and and also both sides kind of bent here right like eiserman as i've said he does not like term he does not like term he gave up term but eiserman also said i'm not going above larkin and the cider side in particular bent a little bit to get that in under Larkin. So Gord Kirk, who used to represent me, who he always told me that the best negotiations are when both sides feel they won something and they lost something because nobody's better than

if you, if you, if you rarely have a negotiation where every or someone feels they lost everything there's always a lingering there's always that they got me this time i'm gonna get them next time or i lost everything and if you're competitive you are bitter in both of these negotiations everybody's a winner the red wings, the players win, Iserman wins, but everybody gave up a little something. But the biggest winners are the organization because those players are in and they're in for a long time. All right, so the big business in Detroit is done.

Handful of contracts taken care of across the league the last few days, but still four remaining RFfas as training camp gets underway jeremy swayman colper fetty dawson mercer and nikita alexandrov in st louis any updates you can i forgot about that one somebody said to me you have to stop shortchanging nikita alexandrov he is an rfa as well and we should explain that he as you mentioned he's with the Blues he had a really tough year last year a lot of injuries and but he's at even though he's not signed he's in their camp on a PTO so we'll see what the Blues and Alexandrov decide to do here because he's an RFA the Blues do maintain right of first refusal on his contract rights

but you know Dawson Mercer Tom Fitzgerald said on Thursday that they're getting close so we'll see what that means they've been talking two and three year deals another team reminded me when we were talking about this one of the things the Devils have now is they could have some injury issues, right? Like Luke Hughes is out. So one of the big things we've seen in the offseason so far, Kyle, is teams are really battling not to go into LTIR. Edmonton did it. One of the reasons they didn't match the offer sheets is because with Evander Kane, they didn't want to go into LTIR. Jim Rutherford, Patrick Alvin, and the Canucks have made it very clear that they don't want to go into LTIR.

So I'm sure the Devils are sitting here thinking the exact same thing, especially now with Luke Hughes' injury and he won't start the season. They probably want to avoid the same thing. So I think that the injury situation has added another wrinkle to the Mercer contract talks, and we'll see where that goes. You know, Perfetti, it was interesting. We had talked about how I think a lot of agents and teams kind of looked at it and said that Pinto was the player comparable, not the team comparable. The team would probably want to avoid that.

But Pinto was kind of the agent comparable for and the player comparable for Perfetti because they've played the same number of games. comparable for Perfetti because they've played the same number of games they've basically got the same number of points and he just got that two-year extension from Ottawa in the fives you know the Jets kind of indicated today they don't see it the same way and I get that like if I was a team and I didn't like that contract I would say no no we're not going there we're doing this one the one thing about Pinto is I saw someone mention that Pinto was arbitration eligible he wasn't he did not reach the thresholds of being arbitration eligible so you kind of have to put that one away but I still understand what the team is trying to do here I'm not sure everyone's going to see it the same way but I understand why the Jets are saying that they don't like that Pinto

contract they don't want to go there for Perfetti so their point is saying no no no we don't see it the same way again there's still a gap and we'll see where this goes Swayman again it was a crazy day the other day and I'm not ripping any other reporters. I've been right. I've been wrong. And I will be right and I will be wrong again. So I don't like to kick other people when they're down because I know what it's like to be wrong. I just don't think, I just think that there's still, i think there's still a gap on an eight-year term it can always change with one phone call but there's still a gap on an eight-year term now the one thing i do want to say about swayman is this i had some people asking me do you think the

bruins will will will pivot and consider trading Swayman. Just give up and go. I haven't spoken to Don Sweeney. He's trying to keep a low profile aside from making it clear that he's not always happy with all of the reporting here. But my impressions are that the Red Sox, can you believe I just called them the Red Sox? My impressions are that the Bruins do not want to trade Swayman.

They had Swayman all mark. They felt they had to make one move. I don't believe they want to make two. I really do believe when they say that when Sweeney came out the other day and said, we want to sign Swayman, I believe that. I believe there is their goal, and trading him is not what they are considering or want to sign swayman i believe that i i believe there is their goal and trading him is is not what they are considering or want to do yeah that would be which of course means two minutes after this

podcast drops there's going to be a blockbuster but no since i get on thursday yeah they they don't want to do it that would be all kinds of goofy what about when sweeney mentioned the december 1st deadline so soon what did you think of that um i initially was like uh-oh my first reaction was fire marshal jim uh-oh fire marshal bill fire marshal bill red socks bruins, Fire Marshal Jim, Fire Marshal Bill. Jim Carrey. So you're forgiven there. I am like, I am way off at the start of this year. I am struggling at the start of this podcast.

I, when I first heard that, I thought what that was, was, you know, just an acknowledgement that Lewis Gross, who represents Swaymanman also represents william neilander and he did this a few years ago december 1st and they got him signed like minutes before the deadline i don't believe after thinking about it and asking around that that was what sweeney was doing in this particular case what i think he was doing was saying if i mention and i know this is like there are people who talk about this so I think it's true the moment you mention a deadline like the start of the season it hangs over everything the fans point at it the media points at it the agent points at it everyone

points at it so I think what Sweeney was doing, and he's a pretty smart guy, is he was sitting back there and saying, I'm going to mention December 1st so that there's no other date or deadline that anyone can use as a leverage or pressure point against us. That's what I think that was. I just keep thinking about Fire marshal bill. Now, after you said that you've got paper and you've got paint, a deadly combination. All right. What's behind that wall. The chemistry lab. Oh,

Hey, Phil Tomasino, one year, eight 25 K Peyton Cribs, two years, a 1.45 million. You wanted to touch on both of those players as well. Yeah, both of those were really tough negotiations

where the teams drew really hard lines. You know, Peyton Krebs took the two years, as you mentioned, in Buffalo. This is a huge year for him. I think the Sabres took a really, really hard line in this negotiation in the sense of, we're starting here and we're not moving too much. Big, big year for Krebs. And, you know, the difference between the Sabres and the Predators is the Sabres have cap room.

And everybody's waiting to see eventually what they're going to do with this. I know some of their fans are not happy that they didn't use it now I don't necessarily agree with that I I think they're but look if they go out and whichever way it goes if they go out and they have a great start their fans are going to be like okay okay this team's terrible raid them like just go after them and get their best player or it'll be like if it doesn't start very well okay add now add now add now and I don't fault the Sabres for saying we're gonna wait a bit here the Predators had no room whatsoever they went out they spent big they're gonna be one of the teams everybody's gonna be watching the most at the start of the year

they made their fans happy and they didn't have like if you look they parsing in they said sorry we don't have a lot of room he came in at 775 delgaizo another rfa said sorry we don't have a lot of room 775 and i think with tomasino they did the They said, sorry, we don't have a lot of room. And he got up to 825. But I just think Nashville, they said it's going to be this way. And it's a big prove it year two for Tomasino, just like it is for Krebs. And so I think those were situations where the teams took the hard line. And ultimately, if you're a player at the end, it doesn't benefit you in any way, shape or form to sit out. So you say, OK, what's the best deal I can get? And ultimately, the players, Krebs and Tomasino, made the smart moves.

They said, look, like, you know, I'll tell you this. A couple of days ago, I had heard that Krebs might be traded. Krebs might be traded. And it was pointed out to me that Krebs was not in that frame of mind. He was like, I don't want anything out there that makes it indicate that I want to be traded or I want to go away from Buffalo. And ultimately, the deal got done. So I did hear some rumors about that. But I also heard that Krebs was not in a frame of mind where he wanted anyone to think he didn't want to be in Buffalo.

So he and by the contract he took at the end, it clearly indicates that. OK, so a few hours after our Monday podcast dropped, what we were all expecting became official the penguins announcing they had signed sydney crosby to that extension two years after this one and he keeps that same 8.7 million dollar cap hit the same number he has had since 2008 and i learned i learned a very valuable lesson through all of this elliot because as we were discussing this over the last number of weeks, in the back of my mind, I wondered to myself, would he keep that same 8.7 number? But I was too sheepish to say it. And then when you went out and guessed 10.875, I thought, oh man, I must be way off. There's no reason why I should, I'm going to look like an idiot saying that he would stay at

the same number. But I learned through all of this to trust my instincts and not whatever the hell you think well you know what you'll you'll do really well in this podcast if you keep that rule i was shocked um i didn't think well the thing that made me laugh the most were the amount of people and once again we are amaya you know we're very lucky we have very loyal listeners and very funny listeners so we're very lucky about that a number of them were kind of laughing about how we asked Sid if the contract would have an 8-7 in it and he kind of poo-pooed it when obviously at the moment he knew exactly what he was going to be signing for. Yeah. Like he, he's like, oh, I don't know.

And he just went on to the next part of the question, right? Like he totally discounted it and threw it away and then said, okay, I'm signing for 8.7. So I was shocked because I really thought that he was going to, I thought, I really thought the number was going to be around like 10.875. Like I really did. Like I said, it was a personal guess. And I wouldn't be surprised if we find out somewhere down the road that the Penguins had more money on the table, that their actual offer to Sid was higher than this. And as a matter of fact, I would be shocked if it wasn't higher. And Pat Bresson actually did a really good interview with Justin and Eilish. And I really enjoyed listening to it. And I would be really curious to know someday, and maybe someday when

we're all in the old folks home eating matzo ball soup with no teeth somebody will come out and they will say this is what Pittsburgh actually offered because I would bet it's much higher and Crosby did what he wanted to do and everybody has weighed in on this talking about how unselfish he is and they're completely right and that's one of the reasons he's right up on the Mount Rushmore of hockey players three Stanley Cups two Olympic gold medals and you know we'll see what World Cup championship and we'll see what the next few years bring with the return of international hockey it's it's a really fascinating thing because it creates an incredible discourse about what other players should do

and I think on one level I don't think Crosby would like it at all if he's kind of used as the example to what other players should do because you know now look what's going to happen is is people are going to wave it in some of these other UFAs' face. You aren't as accomplished as Sidney Crosby. I mean, who is? Nobody is. But look at what he'd take and look at what all these other guys are going to end up taking. And I, like I said, I would bet he would hate that.

I remember years ago, Kyle, like I don't know, like technically in our our contracts we're not supposed to talk about our negotiations but I remember before I even got to Rogers I had someone who said to me a guy I worked with and he'll listen to this and he'll laugh he'll say I hope you aren't borking us because where I was I was one of the Ray Bork like remember oh sorry yeah that makes sense well you're like you're 12 years old maybe you don't get this reference but he would always say to me don't Bork us don't Bork us because you know people used to like of what happened with Ray Bork in Boston and I would always say to him like shut your shut your freaking mouth. Like it's none of your business. You know what I make or don't make. And, but I always felt a responsibility if I could, and I still do, if I could do something to help out other people where I work,

then I'm going to do it. Like if I can move the line a little bit. And I remember as I got older and I started working at some other places, some of the people who'd been around a long time always said that to me, you don't have to be a pig, but you have to try to move the line. And I've always kind of felt that way. But I also understood that other people for whatever reasons whether they were happy where they were or they had a family situation they might not look at things the same way and so when I look at what Crosby did here and remember we talked about it on the podcast a week ago that he wasn't going to do anything that was going to hurt the penguins. And he certainly didn't do that. But I always look at it like that's their business. That's not anyone else's business. Sidney Crosby is happy.

He did what he wanted to do. He's earned the right to do what he wants to do. But I don't like it when people wave that in the face of other people, because it's just it's everybody's business is different and you know one of the things I've talked about is a book I read years ago by David Falk who represented Michael Jordan Patrick Ewing and others it's called the bald truth and it was really a book that taught me a lot about negotiations and that is when something like that gets waved in your face the right answer is that's his situation or her situation that's not

this situation and that's what I believe people have to say like everybody has to do what they are comfortable with and yes I guess that's a sound I get that it's a salary cap and it's a very divisive document because if somebody makes a dollar somebody else can't make a dollar but to me at the end of the day that's still it people have to decide what makes them happy and there's always going to be outliers right and Crosby is the ultimate outlier what makes him happy winning so he created a setup that allows his gives his team the best possible chance to win but it shouldn't be rubbed in anyone's face like i'll

tell you this if i signed a contract at sportsnet that sportsnet used against everybody else i would say don't do that i would say my situation was unique. It made me happy, but you should go in there and say, that's Elliot's situation. That's not anyone else's. And I just wanted to mention that because since Kyle, we're in a cap world, a lot of us are going to be talking about that for the next little while. Like when the next big free agent signs their deal, they're going to say oh why didn't he do what sid did and i don't i don't think that's right so i'm putting my argument out there right now agree or disagree i agree he is his own unique case and he has been

for quite some time and how he's gone about dealing with things i marvel ellie i mean he will be as you say he will be remembered once his playing days do come to an end he'll be in the echelon of gretzky lemieux and or on the mount rushmore as a player but also with the reverence of a john beliveau i mean he comes into the nhl at a time coming out of the lockout in the internet era where the ability to access things were becoming so much more easily than they ever were before the hype because of all that was greater and he's never been caught up in any real controversy maybe he didn't have the greatest reputation with the referees in the early parts of his career but he's said to you in the years since on this podcast when you've interviewed him

that he's worked to rebuild some of those relationships. But other than that, he has kept himself out of any controversy and has just gone out and win. And he's just gone out and won and he did it his way. And also he's the ultimate pro. Like he's 37 years old.

He's still a 90-point player. He's still a number one center. He has set a standard for himself that is very high. And he just continues to grind to it. We'll talk about Marner in a bit. And there's an interview with him running on Sunday that we taped on on the first day of camp and you know when he talked about skating with Crosby you can see the reverence that he has in his eyes for him like he's just universally respected and that's what happens when you grind as hard as he does for 20 years you you earn that respect. And, you know, I think it's incredible.

I think it's an incredible thing he did. I just don't think it should be waved in anyone else's face. And I would bet, although I don't like to speak to him, I don't think he would want it waved in anyone else's face. All good points. And you mentioned the Maple Leafs, so let's go to Toronto then next, Elliot. And you talk about some situations being unique to a certain player or a certain team, the Maple Leafs and Mitch Marner. So Wednesday, they trotted out a number of personnel to the podium to kick off their training camp and was one of the people that spoke, but got ahead of things before he took questions from anyone said, I'm not here to talk about my contract situation. I'm here to talk about the season. As you said, you sat down with him and got some time with them on Wednesday for an interview that will run Sunday. What were your takeaways

from your conversation with Mitch Marner? First of all, I think he's doing the right thing. And I think they're doing the right thing. Like, honestly, Kyle, whenever I go into a production meeting at hockey night for whichever game we're doing or a Leaf regional or whatever, and I hear that Marner contract is on the rundown, I sigh deeply. Like, all of our listeners,

I know you guys hate hearing about this. I hate talking about it because I think that his negotiations in particular, and they're not all his fault, but his negotiations in particular have been so toxic and discussed for so long that I just think it's bad for him and again he's not the one talking about it sometimes it's us talking about it like

I sometimes I think it's too easy to blame the media for things it's a crutch but I do think in this case the discussion and discourse around him in the city which i contribute to is is a big part of the problem and the best thing for him is that he just plays i know he kind of punted the nylander comparison the other day but it's true like Nylander came out in his overalls with nothing underneath and had a marvelous year and they had to sign him and that's the best thing that Marner can do too and I think he's really focused on that I wrote about this briefly today but I've been working a little bit on like you see all the players who've talked so glowingly about Marner I've started asking some players about him and they like to a man

they all say the public perception of him and the way that his teammates feel about him are completely different. And, you know, we'll see a bit of the interview and you'll see him talk about, like, Jake McKeon said a really interesting thing about him and he had a good story. And I'll leave it and we can talk about another day if you want to. I think they all admit that sometimes he gets frazzled.

I think they all admit that he has the same frustrations about the playoffs as all of the Leaf fans do, but they all say he's a great teammate who really cares and wants to be great and wants to be great in the city. And I think that one of the ways he can go about that is by turning down the noise. And that's what he wants to do now the key thing I got out of him is that he isn't against negotiations during the season because I think there are some players who are UFAs this year who won't let it happen that will shut it down and I'm trying to nail down some of those cases but the key thing here is that Marner said, look, if Tree Living and my agent, Darren Ferris, want to talk, just don't bug me with it. And the

only time you bug him with it is when you're at the end. That's what happened with Nylander last year. The agent and the GM, Lewis Gross and Tree Living, they got it done. And then they went to Nylander and said, are you good with this and eventually he said yeah I'll sign it and it got done that's the way everyone kind of wants this to happen here should it happen but I thought it was very important that he said they can talk just leave me alone until I need to know and to me that's the smart play if I was to me, that's the smart play. If I was in that situation, that's the way I would do it. But I think it's also smart for him to shut down the conversation because it hurts him. It really, really hurts him. Well, you talked about how toxic it can be. My question is,

why does it always seem to be when it comes to this player is it just the perfect storm Elliot that the market that Toronto is the attention that it gets the fact that Mitch is from the area he's a homegrown talent and the Leafs have struggled to get on a real playoff run over the Marner Matthews Nylander era why do you think this constantly seems to be a talking point when a contract or the future of mitch marner is brought up well it's canada right like petterson last year um before he signed he wasn't even a ufa but it was everywhere it's gonna it's always gonna be like that in in canada like dry sidle knew if he didn't sign before the season, it was going to be bananas this year. And now we know it was never serious that he wasn't.

So go to Ottawa, like name a big UFA in Ottawa where you live. Like you're half a war running them out of town. Like that's what you do. That's the way it goes in the in the canadian markets like you know one of the things i i sent it i i sent a note like jim nill he did some business really privately he got i mean we knew they were talking to harley and we knew that one was going to get done and it did but he got essa lindell done basically out of nowhere. And he came out the other day and he said, Jamie Benn is going to be a Dallas star as long as I'm the GM here.

But generally, he gets a lot of things done privately. And I don't like it because I don't like missing anything. But, you know, it helps that the media is a little quieter there. It's not the same thing. The thing with Marner is it's it's just such a perfect storm sometimes it's a Toronto guy it's the Maple Leafs it's big money it's they haven't won yet it's that he really cares um he it's like he should go down as the greatest um Maple Leaf of all time from Toronto and also you know there are people in his camp who don't help him.

And I know that some people get really offended when I say that, but it's the truth. And the other thing, too, is this is what a couple players said to me. Like, there have been times that they see the same clips that we see from him where we're all going oh no and they're like they say oh no but they they say it happens because like the fans and the leaf fans they get so frustrated when it doesn't go well nobody's more frustrated than he is. And they say that he wears it as much as anyone. And like,

like Nylander, that guy doesn't care about anything. Matthews turns it into rocket fuel. Marner, he would like to channel it as well as those guys do, but it grinds them down. And that's why he says some of the things he says like i have really like i'll say this like when he told the media not to come like tsn and sports

net not to come to his golf tournament this year i was like okay like you know it's his event it's his right doesn't bother me he is perfectly within his rights to do um you know what what he wants to do especially for charity because he is very charitable i just but i said to myself people speak so glowingly of him i'm going to spend like some time this summer just reaching out to people and say what am i missing and i got a lot of that like that's that's what I got a lot of like it's a like when things go badly maybe it's because he's from Toronto he wears it more than anybody else and some of his most frustrated quotes have come when the playoffs aren't going well because he suffers along with it as probably more than any player on that team does all right from one white hot market

to another vancouver and thatcher demko the biggest story around the canucks after a great season a year ago but it's the health status of their number one net miner he did speak to the media on thursday said that he does expect to be at 100 again at some point but not necessarily a timeline laid out yet for his return what jumped out to you and what you heard out of i guess penticton specifically where the canucks are kicking off their training camp you know i i think the key thing with demko is if you read the quotes this is one of those situations where you have to listen to the quotes as opposed to read the quotes because when i when i tweeted out the some of the quotes i had some people saying uh this is good

this is good he's gonna take his time gonna come back and i had other people saying oh my god he hit a wall in the summer and we have no timeline like this is still a disaster and if you watch it you can tell that demko is very optimistic so i first of all i think demko deserves a lot of credit for going up there and saying look guys i'm gonna i'm gonna talk about this myself like he he told the front office let me handle it and they respected his wishes. I thought that was really good. Secondly, he was optimistic. He sounded positive. Yes, he hit a wall in the summer.

And he admitted something that I think was very important and part of the problem last year. So when they said, I think it was Ian McIntyre who asked, could you have played the third round? He said, I probably bit off a bit more than I could chew. I was probably over eager and not really ready. And I think that happened before the playoffs, too. You know, the Canucks said, we need to know what kind of condition you're in before the playoffs start. We've reported this before, Kyle. You have to play twice before the playoffs begin.

We've reported this before, Kyle. You have to play twice before the playoffs begin. And like any player, especially a young player, he raced back and, you know, he probably aggravated his injury or he overcompensated for what was bothering him and maybe hurt something else. So, you know, he recognizes now it's not, the important thing is not being ready for game number one. It's being ready for game number 83. And he's, and the Canucks are good enough that they should be able to go, whether whoever else is their starting goaltender for the start of the season or their platoon for the start of the season that they should be good enough that they could handle Demko missing a bit of time to me this is a team taking a long view and it's the right thing they have told Demko no more racing back at least not at the start of the year you have to do this properly and so that's what I saw today I saw a guy who's like okay I'm gonna make sure I'm ready I'm gonna get used to this I'm gonna understand what I'm dealing with here

and we'll be ready when I'm ready and that's the way you should do it and he struck me as a guy who was optimistic like I had one buddy of mine lives in Vancouver. He's like, this is going to be a disaster. Demco wants to talk to us themselves. He's going to be out for six years. And I'm like, just wait, just wait, just wait. To me, that was the message Demco delivered was as good as you could have hoped for. And we'll see how it all plays out. Dare I ask about Brock Besser, who's entering the final year of his deal, or is it too early for that you know it's interesting like again this was an Ian McIntyre piece with Patrick Alvin they said that you know we're gonna we're gonna see how this plays out and I Dom just sent a message that level of doom

and gloom can only be Jason broth. I know he listens. I, I can't imagine. I can't wait to hear what his reaction to that is. It's not Jason broth Dom, but it is a Jason broth like personality. Who's not in media. So it's a friend of mine out there.

That's pretty funny though, because that is the kind of person that you would think of. You know, I think the thing about Besser is, you know, they're challenging him I'll say this something too about Patrick Alvin I don't know him as well as I know Jim Rutherford and it's not like Jim Rutherford and I are great friends or anything it's just that he's been around for a long time so you deal with them like Patrick Alvin one thing I'm learning about him is he's not afraid to be blunt like he basically said to

Besser give us another level and we're gonna take care of you and so now the challenge is on Besser to go to the next level and I I think that he will respond to that you know very very well you know I I think Besser has a huge year because I think the best athletes like to be challenged you know sometimes in life we want to be comfortable and sometimes in life we want to be challenged and I don't think the Vancouver Canucks would do this if they didn't think besser was up to it um you don't give that quote to ian mcintyre in a canadian market with because you know everything that entails without recognizing that you think besser can deliver so i think he has a huge year and it gets done.

I got a lot of time for Brock. 40 goals last year and just good to see him healthy again after the blood clot kept him from playing game seven against Edmonton in the second round last year. Just pop over to Edmonton quickly here, Elliot, and Evander Kane, who spoke to the media this week, going to have some procedures done for some injuries that stems back to last season and kept him out of the latter stages of the Stanley Cup final against Florida.

Yeah, and it was definitely work that needed to get done. And as he explained, you know, sometimes you want a second opinion. You want to make sure you're seeing the right doctor. You want to get some advice. He talked about that entire process and kind of explained it you know i think people are wondering if this is going to be an ltir for the whole thing like kane shows up game one of the playoffs and meanwhile the others go out and trade for matthews petterson and roman yosi during the season i don't think i i i said earlier that in the summer and i still thinki during the season. I don't think, I said earlier in the summer, and I still think this is the case now,

I don't believe that the Oilers think that this is a season-long injury. I just don't think it's this case. Now, you can always go in there and find, oh, this is worse than we thought, and I hope for Kane that isn't the case. Nobody wants that. But again again at this

point in time I don't believe the Oilers are thinking that this is going to be a season-long injury I also wanted to mention Robin Leonard you know he did not report and everybody's kind of going through the Vegas the NHL the NHLPA about how this is all going to work. You know, technically a player has to have a physical before and you basically get declared that you can't play. You know, Chris Pronger when his contract was in Arizona,

he had to do that at the beginning of every year. When Shea Weber didn't play after Montreal reached the Stanley Cup Final in 2021, the NHL was very aggressive with Weber. They made him, you know, go to, he didn't necessarily have to go to Montreal. He went to Seattle because he was living in BC. There were times they sent him to other places and said,

we just want to make sure you can't play. So you at least have to have one. You know, Robin Leonard's been through a lot. I want to be sensitive to that i just hope he's okay as we wait to see how they sort this out all right the new york islanders elliot you had the big news a couple weeks ago i always love patrick waugh i loved him as a player he was one of my favorite players i loved dealing with him as a coach. He was one of my favorite players. I loved dealing with him as a coach. He was just one of my favorite to deal with.

I love him even more now because he spilled the beans on the surgery. I suspected it was something like that. I didn't know for sure. But Patrick, thank you very much because Lou Lamorello can't be as mad at me anymore so that's good and that's what the health status of Ilya Sorokin we should mention that too yes and you reported on that a couple of weeks ago yeah and I still don't know what the timeline is here like Lou Lamorello doesn't appear to be concerned I don't think there's a lot in life that concerns him very much but i i just don't know what the end is uh is is going to what the timeline is going to be here

they don't seem worried um so i'm going to go with that and we'll just let it play out all right then so from long island to manhattan then the new york rangers last year's president trophy winners elia shusterkin one year remaining on his contract jacob truba the captain there were a lot of rumors swirling around him about possible trades in the off season he seemed to handle all of that incredibly well and professionally and he had some interesting comments this week elliot So he basically said this is the last ride. And I have a few thoughts on that. Number one, the number one thing I think that is, and every Rangers fan and every hockey fan will get this,

it's because of the cap and there's only so much what they can do. Rangers fan and every hockey fan will get this. It's because of the cap and there's only so much what they can do. The number one thing it tells me is that the Rangers have made the decision that they are going to sign Igor Shostakhin. And the fact that it isn't done already, like to me, the Rangers would have loved to have had this done on July 1st. He's eligible to sign anytime. As I said several times now, I believe that Shesurkin's going to be the number one goalie paid in the NHL. The only debate for me is, what is that number going to be? And the truth is, I don't know.

I don't know what the number is going to be. The number one paid goalie right now is at $10.5 million. number is going to be the number one paid goalie right now is at ten and a half million dollars i suspect that what the rangers did was they haggled a bit um obviously it didn't get done and that's what teams do you negotiate and you try to get the number down as low as you can what i believe is going gonna happen is that they will say we need them we have to have them and we're gonna sign them and I don't know when that's going to be I don't have a target date for this but I do believe the Rangers are going to make that decision if they haven't already

and they are going to sign Shusterkin to a big big deal and because they have to he has all the leverage in this case and they know how important he is so that's going to affect everything else that they're going to do Jacob Trua obviously didn't get traded this offseason. I think the details of that will still continue to come out over time about how close or not close anything came. But the other thing I do believe, and this is again my opinion based on what Trouba said is that the Rangers and him had a conversation and I think everybody understands that this is going to be his last year there that he came out and he said what he said because I like he's their captain he's played hard for them he's done good things for them. And I think ultimately everybody wanted this.

Everybody wanted to put their cards on the table in a respectful and honest way and say, this is where things are. Trouba had family reasons why he didn't want to go this year. And the Rangers have business reasons why they have to explore moving him and I think ultimately everybody came to peace and said okay we're going to go at it this year but everybody has to understand that this is going to be the last year and I think he understands that and I think they understand that and I think one of the reasons everybody knows it is because the Rangers are going to are going to sign Shusterkin to whatever they have to sign them to to get this done i think ultimately they'll sign lafreniere too but because he's not a ufa i just don't know if it's going to be now or later but i have no

doubt they're going to try as early as possible to get it done but that's what i look at here so i think the rangers are going to be plus also they have an extension with keandra miller they have to do so there's a lot of business that has to get done here capocaco it's a fat capocaco it's a fascinating time i think they're going to be a fascinating year for them because that can be a really powerfully motivating thing. It's the last dance as this group, especially for the captain. And it can be a very, very powerful thing. But the Trouba comments on Thursday told me two things. Number one, they have been honest with him and told him that this is it. And number two, that the Rangersangers no matter what they say publicly

they have made the decision that they are signing shisterkin and now they just have to figure out what the number is that's the way i look at this okay elliot that takes us to yarmir yager 52 years young just begun another season playing over in the Czech Pro League but news coming out the other day that this coming season will finally finally be his last would anybody be surprised if in the middle of the year he comes out and says okay wait I'm gonna play some more no not at all i didn't know if we'd ever see this day because as we know he is playing to help keep his hometown team going um on one level i think it's really sad i kind of wanted to see him go longer and longer and longer than ever. I feel very strongly that he should be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame right away. I know there's a three-year waiting period. I know very

few players like Wayne Gretzky and Mary Lou Mewitt's happened for. To me, there is nothing that shows more dedication to the sport and more of a desire to see the sport be successful than basically keeping your career alive so that your hometown hockey team can still keep going. And I think he should be inducted. If this is indeed his final season, I think he should be inducted next year. I know I'm howling at the wind. I know I'm not going to win this argument. I don't care. He should be in the Hockey Hall of Fame next year. Gordie Howe was 52 when he played that final year in Hartford, was he not?

Yes. Yes. And now Jager, 52, playing for his hometown back in Czechia. Well, then he's got to go one more year. Got to one-up Gordie. Got to one-up the great ones.

So he's going for one more, kyle oposo at 36 years old announced on thursday that he's calling it a career and what a way to go out capturing the stanley cup with florida last june came over from buffalo at the deadline over a thousand career games 600 career points and largely regarded as as one of the better personalities and friendlier people to deal with in the NHL during his time. Do you have a thought on the career of Kyle Ocpozo? Dream ending, the dream ending, phenomenal finish for him. To me, it's more about what's next. So as a member of the Players Association, he was part of the search committee that hired Marty Walsh.

So that's number one. But I have also wondered if he will go into the front office of an NHL team. There's a few different ways I could see it going here for him. I don't think we've seen the end of him. So when I think about the career, I obviously think about the Stanley Cup because that's the best way to end it. But I'm also thinking that the career is not over. There are more chapters to be written here, and I'm curious to see where it's going to be. So we wish Kyle Ipposo all the best in what comes next in his career following his days as a player and that leads us

to the final thought which is presented by gmc and huge news in canadian business on wednesday rogers communications which is our parent company uh announcing that they have acquired bell's portion of maple leaf sports and entertainment for $4.7 billion. Rodgers and Bell had gone in in 2012 to buy equal 37.5% stakes in MLSE, with Rodgers now buying out Bell's portion of that, 75% ownership of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment. Your takeaway from all of this, and I guess if you're a hockey fan tuning in and wondering what all of this means,

what would your answer be to that? Well, first of all, my takeaway, I always believed from the moment I came over to Sportsnet, people who'd been here for a long time told me that this was eventually going to happen, that it was Ed Rogersgers goal to own it all and be in the exact position he's in now now so i wasn't surprised it occurred i was surprised about the

timing because as recently as this summer there are people who are really connected who were convinced that bell was too competitive to let it happen and what was interesting was i watched the interview that ed rogers and anthony staffieri did with uh ron mclean and anthony said that bell came to them and so that really blew me away because it flew in the face of everything that I had been hearing. And I guess it started for real in mid-August. And I only heard about the possibility of it the night before it happened. And people were super quiet. Like you could tell, like the NHL, I understand, only found out about 12 hours or so before it was announced.

And like it's not on the board of governors docket. Their BOG meeting is October the 1st. It's not there. It's going to take longer. And so it was a quick process and they kept it really, really secret. So I'm surprised at the timing. I am not surprised at all that this eventually happened. This is what he wanted to do. And this was something that people who know him better than I do said it was going to happen at some point in his lifetime because he wouldn't give up until it occurred. The other thing that's really interesting about all of this, Kyle, is that when Leaf players were asked about it the other thing that's really interesting about all of this kyle is that when you ask the leaf players were asked about it the other day like they all think that larry tannenbaum's the owner they all mention him because he's the face he's the one that goes into the dressing room

uh he's the one that invites them to his house like the night before the season i don't know if he still does it but he used to do a big party with the Leafs needs to do a big party with the Raptors and all those players really liked him and they knew him and he was the face and he owns 25 percent of the team or now 20. but I think it's going to be interesting to see does you know in two years they have the option to start buying him out or to go to a process to buy him out and i wonder if in any way because the valuation on what he paid is 12 and a half billion canadian and part of me wonders is if larry tannerbaum is going to say all right um come to me too it's time or does he just let it play out over the next couple of years? So it's a massive, massive story.

I don't know from a broadcast point of view if it's going to change anything. Like one of the things I heard about, you know, TSN is they were basically saying it's not going to change our programming business at all. You know, as part of the deal, it was announced that they're going to keep the Raptors and leave rights for another 20 years. The one thing about that is that the NHL and the NBA, they have a rule that says you've got to pay a market rate for it. Like an example in Major League Baseball rogers owns the jays we televise the jays you can't just say oh we're gonna pay a dollar for the rights no you the major league

baseball basically sets this is what you have to pay yourself to keep the rights so bell will still have to do that and the nhl and the nba will have a big say in that to make sure they pay a market rate but I don't think from a programming point of view I'm not sure I mean what TSN is saying is that it's not going to change anything so I mean we'll see like one thing we've all learned about Ed Rogers is he's super competitive he wants he wanted this he got it and when he wants something he's gonna go get it so we'll have to see where this takes us well in two years from now there's the national rights package up for the national hockey league in canada is this news can you see it having any impact or does it give you any indications of where that can go when it's time to deal with that business no I think I think we want to be in the

game I assume that you know TSN is gonna want to be in the game I think that decision is also as much about the NHL what does the NHL want do they want another partner do they want to split it three ways you know the one thing I do know is they're gonna want more than what we're paying now. Nobody goes backwards, right? The NFL just got big jumps. The NBA just got big jumps. The NHL is going to want no different.

So how do they maximize that number? But I believe we want to be back in it and, you know, we'll see how they split it all up. Or does someone make a big massive bid again is Amazon a big part of this you know they're dipping their toe in the water it's I mean what I think is that Gary Bateman hit a home run last time financially and he wants to do it again I have no doubt that is the case I'll tell you a funny story. Someone said to me, are you upset you got beat? It's your own company.

And I said, well, I hate to get beat on anything, but I'm not surprised at this one at all. And he said, why not? And I said, you know, people think that we just go upstairs to our bosses and we say, what's going on? And they just tell us. I remember a story years ago just after I started Sportsnet when Josh Donaldson got traded to the Blue Jays I was doing a round table with Shai Davidi and Shai and I used to live right around the corner from each other and then you

know finally I put on our straining order on him because he's a really creepy neighbor and good lord I drove I drove him home and he said I think the Blue Jays are trading for Josh Donaldson tonight. And I go, you couldn't have said this on the radio. And he goes, Elliot, I can't confirm it. Like nobody will give it to me. And I said, he says, I can't get the second source. And I said, why don't you just call the, like the guys upstairs at Sportsnet and like I know you can't do it all the time but maybe for something this big they might help you and he said they won't respond to me they won't they won't tell me so the next day someone else broke the story it got she got traded in the next day and it was broken I think in the States I can't remember who did it. And I remember calling our guys and I said, like, can you not help Shai there? Like, you know, I don't think I would have done this for myself. Like, I would never do that.

But I called on Shai's behalf and I said, you know, can you not help Shai there? Like, you know, we can make a teammate look good. He had it. You knew he had it. You weren't telling him anything he didn't already know and i remember scott moore he said to me elliot you gotta understand there are gonna be things i know that i can't tell you and if i can't tell you you have to don't call me and you have to respect that and i said okay all right i get it if that's the way it is that's the way it is, that's the way it is. And to be honest, if I was working on something, I wouldn't call Scott.

Like I, I did respect that separation of church and state, but you know, people were like, how come you didn't break that? And I'll go, I tell them about the shy Davidi story. And it's like, if you guys think these guys are helping us, they are not helping us because they do believe that there's been, there's a difference between the stuff we report on and what they consider business. And they don't cross that line. I always remember when that happened to Shy because I felt terrible for him. He could have had a big scoop and he just couldn't he couldn't nail it down.

And he had it. He was right. As I was driving home, it bothered me. Bothered me. Shai Davidi, great reporter, creepy neighbor. That was the final thought

presented by GMC. Okay, that was a busy news block, but we've still got more to come. When we come back, we're bringing the thought line back. Our first edition of that this season and more to come on 32 Thoughts, the podcast.

Stay tuned. Listen to the 32 thoughts the podcast stay tuned listen to the 32 thoughts podcast ad free on amazon music included with prime okay we're back time for the thought line. I should have mentioned on Monday as we were teasing and promoting that it was coming back. When you do send in your submissions, make sure to include both your name and where you're writing or calling us into from so we can give you the proper shout out. Wait, why do they have to do this? So if Mr. X leaves an excellent uh leaves an excellent question we're not going to air it i just think no that's not it at all i think if because they put in so much time and thought into what they submit to us we want to give them a proper shout out let them know this is what happens kyle joins the podcast and he starts making rules and they're terrible rules. This is what I would say. This was a rule before I got here.

No, it wasn't. This is what we're going to say. We would love it if you left your name so we could properly shout you out. But if you are not comfortable leaving your name, you don't have to leave your name. If it's a really good question. This is going to be the segment is going to be called don't listen to kyle okay oh my gosh well of course if you're not comfortable doing it you don't well you just told them that they have to do it i think no this is this there's been a number of slanderous points from from your side of the table here first shy davidi is a neighbor

i'm sure he's great no you're telling me that i'm i i'm forcing people to include their personal information when they submit something to the thought line not the case at all you said it okay let's go if you want to do your name great if not who cares okay elliot ryan submits this question hi guys congrats on the new partnership. Really looking forward to the new season and you two are off to a great start. I know it isn't an easy thing to look into, but with the passing of Johnny Goudreau, the jackets are now below the cap floor. I was curious as to whether the NHL was providing them with some sort of exemption or if that was even a possibility. It seems like any signing to get them to the floor at this point would just feel off, and I'm sure some players may feel awkward about considering Columbus knowing the circumstances that led to any signing. This is something, Elliot, that feels like the furthest thing

from important given the circumstances, of course, still, but it is an issue that the Blue Jackets have to sort through. So what's the answer here? I think the point you make that's really good, Kyle, is that you almost feel bad asking a question about it. In our job, you know that people are going to ask. We're going to do interviews like radio interviews and stuff and people are going to ask. like radio interviews and stuff and people are going to ask and so the one thing the one time I did look into it I think the best answer I was given was we're going to need a little bit of time we're going to sort this out and we're going to aim to do right by everyone so I think that's the

goal of the league the players association and the team here just to figure it out in a way that makes sense for everyone and works for everyone. And I just believe that that's ultimately what's going to happen, that when they come down and announce whatever they announce, it's going to make, the goal is to make it make sense and everyone can see it would make sense. So I think that's where we are. We're, we still have time here. You know, you don't have to be cap compliant until the eve of the season so my guess is that everybody just works to have a solution by then okay riley from saskatchewan hello kyle and elliot big fan of the podcast and i always make sure to include it in my playlist rotation at work been a hockey fan since i was very young and grew up in the music booth watching

my uncle play music for our local Junior A team between whistles penalties face-offs Etc very cool my question to both of you is when was music first incorporated into the fan experience and who was the first professional hockey team to do so so Elliot i had to reach out to the hockey hall of fame for some help on this one good i had no idea i had no idea a hard concrete answer is kind of elusive on this one so in the early 1900s they told me there was orchestras advertised in montreal particularly during like the winter carnival actually mutualual Street Arena in Toronto which was the predecessor to Maple Leaf Gardens it had an orchestra at games in the 1920s for pre-game intermissions and post game but we're not sure about did they do anything during stoppages in game but it is

believed that the old Chicago Stadium had the first full-time organ in the arena back in 1929. They were the first. Boy, it's nice to have someone on this podcast who does research. Good job, Kyle. Well done. And Riley, thank you for putting us on your regular rotation. We do not take it lightly. No, we do not.

So we'll finish then, Elliot, with a question from Dave. Hey, Kyle and Elliot, This is a fun one. I'd like your thoughts and an idea I have regarding player compensation. So, Elliot, Dave's a big fan of the players that spend their entire careers in one place. The Steve Isermans, the Joe Sackicks. The Sidney Crosbys. Sidney Crosby. So here we go. My proposal is an NHL homegrown exemption policy.

is an nhl homegrown exemption policy if a team drafts a player and that player plays a set number of games during their rfa years teams could label that player homegrown sign them to a contract all the same rules apply nothing longer than eight years can't go over 20 of the salary cap but the cap hit the dollar amount does not count towards the cap you could even limit to one or two players per team this would allow teams to keep their stars assuming the stars want to stay around while also allowing teams with star players a little more flexibility to keep a competitive window open keep up the great work love the pod so i mean major league soccer elliott has something similar it's not so much homegrown but they have designated player assignments i believe three slots per team it

was brought in when david beckham came over to the la galaxy a lot of them pay the bigger money that's required for some of those international player transfer fees what do you think about that idea i kind of like it i love it i've loved it for a long time. Also, it's basically the whole idea of Larry Bird rights that the NBA helped create when Larry Bird needed a new contract from the Boston Celtics. I'm all for it. There was a player agent, Kurt Overhart, who came up with a plan like this a few years ago. And when I linked to it, it crashed his company's website which I always

thought was very funny. You know Gary Bettman has always been absolutely one billion percent against this. He does not want money outside the cap. So this is a complete non-starter with him. I love it. I wish they would do something like this I think Dynasties are good for sports but barring a fundamental change in position from Gary Bettman or whoever the next commissioner is I don't I don't see it happening unfortunately so great thank you for the submissions that was the thought line a reminder the phone number 1-833-311-3232. Or you can email us at 32thoughts at sportsnet.ca. A thank you to Griffin Porter for helping curate the thoughts that we read out on the show today.

And a reminder for future versions of the Thought Line, you can put your name and where you're from, but it's not a requirement. You don't have to, Elliot i will just to make you happy uh more 32 thoughts to come after this okay elliot uh so before we go more big news in this time in the media world this week Adrian Wojnarowski one of the senior NBA insiders at ESPN he announced this week that he is stepping away from the insider role and this is somebody who was the go-to guy certainly in the basketball world for the first to know a lot of what was going on. I mean, heck, he had the verb named after him, the Woj bomb.

You know you're doing something right when you've got those sort of names following you around. I mean, this would be somebody that would be, in a lot of ways, considered a peer of yours, Elliot. So I know you had some thoughts on the career and the insider role that Woj had in the game of basketball. Well, first of all, he was great at what he did. Just a huge, as you said, just a huge figure in the basketball world, not just the basketball media world, but a huge figure.

I met him a few years ago. but a huge figure. I met him a few years ago. He was actually, before he was a great basketball insider, he was a columnist and he used to be around some of the Leafs Devils playoff series because he worked in New Jersey. And I met him briefly. I remember what someone told me about him. They said that he was one of the most competitive guys around. And I don't think that ever left him, Kyle. I really got to think that that played a big role in this. And I think a lot of us who do this kind of work were very competitive. I mean, I hate getting beaten on anything, even the smallest thing. But from what I understand, he was like the extreme. He was the most competitive guy in a field of very competitive people. And I think that probably

contributed to all of it. A couple of things really surprised me. Number one, the timing. Just right before the season, I figured if you're going to retire in this job, you do it at the end of the previous year. And number two, I understand that even it took ESPN by surprise. Like they had no idea he was thinking about this. And, you know, I had a few people just ask me, like, do you ever think about it? I said, you know, my answer is I'm about to turn 54. So my end is coming near near anyway I'm closer to the end of my career in the beginning the one thing I really do feel is that like a lot of

the athletes we cover we don't in our in this business we don't often get to write our endings and the thing I admire the most about what he did was it's his call it's not someone else's call it's his call a lot of us in media don't get to do that you know the one thing is like i understood the rules of this before i signed up i loved being a sideline reporter and i'm jealous of you that you still get to do it but it was scott moore who made the decision no you're doing this full time now And he took me off the sideline and I really miss it. But I also knew what it meant that there was going to do more of this. And I knew what comes with it.

Like Adam Schefter had a quote where he said he was tired of showering with the phone near the shower door so he could see it. Or, you know, taking a call while he was at the urinal or things like that like i've done all that stuff and it's it's funny like that's that's the way it is like there's a lot of people who want to do it and i always encourage everyone to follow your dreams and do what you do but understand it it's not nine to five it's it's a lot more than that I get a lot of stink eyes and and side eyes for my wife you know first of all I get the obvious ones which I deserve but I get the other ones that come from how much you have to have your phone from doing this so you know I understand the burnout I really do but

like it like it's funny like I was saying to you and Dom before, um, I once took a call from someone and I was in the bathroom and we had the conversation and, and, and after a couple of minutes, the guy said, wait a sec, what are you doing right now? So I told him and he said, you never answer a call from me again while you're in the bathroom. Like he said, that is too much. And I laughed so now whenever this guy calls me if I'm in the bathroom I sent him a text I said do you want me to answer and and that's how he knows that I'm predisposed and he can decide if he wants me to take the call

but you know it's not just the insiders like i think a lot of like there's a lot of managers there's a lot of agents like there's a lot of people around the sport even in different jobs like team services people media relations people um that's that's the way it goes if you want to get to be the top of your field uh not a lot of us work nine to five and even outside of sports it's no different from the biggest lawyers politicians everybody so probably a bit more in this particular role and some of the other ones but not all of them and I just respect the fact that he could make his own call like he didn't wait for it to end for him he ended it it'll be

interesting for me because he's such a competitive guy um will working at st bonaventure basketball will it seat that like you know like that'll be the interesting one because he loved he loved to win and i kind of admired that about him We appreciate all the stories that you are comfortable sharing on this podcast, but Elliot, please never share anyone that involve you in the bathroom going forward. Unless you're doing the shower insert. That's right. I was going to say, does that mean the shower insert is done? No, those are still fine.

Those are still fine. Does that mean the shower insert is done? No, those are still fine. Those are still fine. Now, we wish Woj all the best and hats off to people like him and you and the amount of work that you put in. No, no, no. Don't say that. Like, seriously. I don't like, honestly, Kyle, like, I don't like that.

I'm not, it's not like we're, like, doing important work here. It's time consuming, but what we do is fun. So, I don't really think that, you think that I deserve any credit or anything like that. If I wasn't doing this, there would be a thousand people who would be qualified enough to do it for me. Okay, fine. Then we'll leave it at that. Well, hey, that was a lot of info to get in. So we thank you for those that stuck through it.

Long podcast. Long podcast. Long, long podcast. We'll try not to make too much of a habit of it, but a lot going on to kick off training camp. So we appreciate you sticking it out with us. So this weekend, preseason hockey is already underway. We're back at it, Elliot. Hockey is back.

Yeah, game on Sunday. Game on Sunday. There's games on Saturday Elliot. Hockey is back. Yeah, game on Sunday. Game on Sunday. There's games on Saturday, too. So away we go. We'll talk to you on Monday, the next edition of this podcast. In the meantime, have a great weekend. Thank you.