32 Thoughts: The Podcast - A Frigid Homecoming in Toronto

Episode Date: January 23, 2026

In this episode of 32 Thoughts, Kyle Bukauskas and Elliotte Friedman set up Mitch Marner’s return to Toronto and how online discourse shaped his time with the Maple Leafs. They recap Thursday night���s action around the league, including Sabres–Canadiens (22:00) and the guys discuss Josh Doan’s new deal (25:00), why teams should be careful not to disrupt good chemistry, and Steven Stamkos finding his form after a difficult start (36:00). They also get into Ottawa’s loss to Nashville and the Predators’ continued playoff push, (37:00) Lukas Dostal’s rising international profile (38:30), Shane Wright’s availability in Seattle (43:00), lingering questions around Elias Pettersson’s no-trade clause (49:00), and speculation linking the Kings to Artemi Panarin (53:00). Final Thought focuses on Seth Jones withdrawing from Team Canada and Jackson LaCombe earning the call (1:00:00).Kyle and Elliotte answer crowd questions in the Thoughtline (1:12:12). Today we highlight Toronto-born hip-hop artist Lex Leosis and her song sayso. Check her out here.Listen to all the 32 Thoughts music here.Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call the Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemail.This podcast was produced and mixed by Dominic Sramaty and hosted by Elliotte Friedman & 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

Hey, Kyle, listening to the pod and hearing Elliot talk about Hinge. Yes, he's happily married, but he uses Hinge to meet raccoons. Have a great day and keep up the great work. Confirm or deny that one? They don't need Hinge to find me, but it's possibly true. Welcome to 32 Thoughts, the podcast. Kyle Bacoskis, John Schramatti, Elliot Coddswallop Friedman,

back with you for a Friday edition. That was your word of the night. Was I the only one who got my mystery word on the air? No, like you didn't see the video that Sportsnet put out there? No, I didn't. Okay. Yeah, no, everyone had a word to put out on the panel there Saturday, and everyone got it in.

You included with Cod Swallum. So that was good. Okay, Elliot, are you familiar with the rule of thirds, of course, when it comes to film photography. Everything happens in threes. Well, there's that too. But just in terms of aligning the perfect photograph, where the eyes are drawn to. Anyway, what I'm getting at is on Thursday night, we had three goals in 54 seconds. We had three goals in 37 seconds. We had a three goal lead blown. We had a three goal game, also known as a hat trick, courtesy of Stephen Stamco's. We had Roman Yossi

and Charlie Coyle joined Alex Coulorne, three players to hit a thousand games in the last couple of days. All of that will get to it a little bit. It was another great night of hockey on Thursday, but... Can I just say, first of all, I am sick of winter? Well, that was getting to my next point. Okay. Because it's going to get a little bit worse this weekend in the GTA, as you know.

Oh. according to Environment Canada, it could feel as low as minus 32 this weekend. 32. I don't know if Mother Nature. I always hated the number 32. I have for years. No idea why, but I just hate it. Yeah.

My disdain started about 18 months ago. I don't know if Mother Nature has. a sick sense of humor. But this massive cold swell that seems to be headed towards the GTA this weekend aligning perfectly with Mitch Marner's return to

Toronto. His first game as a visitor, as an NHL player in Scotia Bank Arena, goes tonight. It'll be nationally on Sportsnet. You'll be in studio for it. I'll be ringside for it. On Thursday, I'llet, you put out a piece it was as

thorough as I have seen, outlined the history for where it all began at the draft in 2015, the highs, the eventual lows, and what felt like, in hindsight, inevitable divorce between player and team. So for those that haven't read it, it's there on Sportsnet.ca. Elliot, it's clear you did a lot of work on this one

before putting it out on Thursday. What was the most revealing, surprising thing you learned as he tried to piece together this entire timeline of Marner and the Leafs. Honestly, the most surprising thing I learned actually had nothing to do with Marner. The most surprising thing I learned was that Matthews had promised a year before he signed that as long as things didn't go completely off the rails, he was going to sign with Toronto. And I heard a little bit more about it. It's funny how this goes, Kyle, from time to time.

you don't know something and I'll freely admit I had no idea that had even occurred, but after it ends up written or posted or talked about, more information comes out. And basically, the year before he extended, so he extended in August 2023, he was eligible for free agency in July of 2024. Obviously, we never got there. He extended for four years. but the summer of 2022, a may believe contingent, you know, Kyle Dubus was obviously one of the people. I don't know who else was with them. But they flew down to Arizona during the summer.

They met with Matthews, Matthews representative, Jud Moldaver, and I'm not sure who else was there. And they basically hammered it out. And they said, we want to know, the Maple Leafs did, are we going to have a problem resigning you? Is there anything that we need to solve now so that we don't have to worry? And there was a long philosophical conversation or conversations about where they were and where they were going.

And the Maple Leafs, obviously at the time, saw a future that it was Matthews, Marner, and Nylander together for a long time. and at that conversation at the end of it, Matthew said, as long as this doesn't go off the rails, I'm extending. And he did that. And so as much as the piece was about Marner,

the question you asked me, the thing that surprised me the most was that Matthews is like the CIA. You know, we don't know what is going on. He keeps a lot of details very private. Beginning of this year, we're all wondering, is he healthy? We have no idea what's going on. But that's the thing that surprised me the most.

I would just say that, you know, I'll say this. There were some stories I did not tell because I was worried they would out sources. They wouldn't have changed the overall piece. they would have just been more detailed. But the one thing I care about the most is protecting the people who talk to me. I know with a piece like this in particular, it's tense, there's a lot of emotion attached to it. You know, people have got to know that if they tell me something, it's their names aren't going to get out. But, you know, there were, like, there were some stories I heard.

It's, I think obviously one of the key pieces is that, You know, Marner, the things that could get under Marner's skin, they really tried to get them away from it. And actually, someone called me after this piece ran today, Kyle, and they were, they listened to the pod and they were, they were talking about the conversation we had about Lina Sallmark a couple weeks ago and the one I had on air with Ron. And then they read that piece and they said, there's a book you should read. And it's by an author named Jonathan Haight, and it's called The Anxious Generation. And he said, you should read this book because that when people throw out or disregard or make fun of those who are bothered by social media, what they're discounting is that the younger people than say Allmark and Marner, they're even more into social media reward than those two are.

Like Marner is a star, one of the best players in the NHL. Allmark is a Vesna Trophy winner. And they have trouble dealing with all of them. that. And he said to me, the younger generation, it's even harder. And the actual point he made to me was reading that piece about Marner was that he hopes that there are parents who read that and say, I better start looking harder at my kids if you're not already. Like, I'm getting way off on a tangent here, Kyle, but we're seeing more and more schools starting to ban smartphones from the classroom and there's some early data that says the quality of work is getting better without it.

But I thought the most interesting thing to me was just that person who called who said, you should read that book. And he said that I hope that people read this and they say, boy, is that my kid and what can I do to make it better? Because I think both you and I would agree that it's a shame that that that that, that, is one of the things that divorced the relationship between Marner and the Maple Leafies. Like, obviously there were some other issues, but that was a big part of it, how he reacted to the online world. Right, right.

And because that's, there's nothing that the organization or really anyone around them can do about it. And you can try to educate and encourage all you want of saying, don't listen to it. don't look at it, don't go searching for it. But if you're wired to be that way, it can be inescapable and I can only imagine in that role, especially when things aren't going great. And when you're used to run into your certain vices when things are rolling and then it turns

and suddenly the narrative changes, yeah, it is sad in a way. It is sad. So my general feeling is when I put out an article like that, I've written what I've written, it's out there and people can have their say. And most of the responses Kyle I got were really professional, whether they disagreed with it or not. There's always going to be some people that have issues, more serious issues, and that's completely fine. I think the thing that I find amazing about some of these stories is that the, the confirmation

bias of people. And I, again, I'm getting pretty esoteric here. I really try to work on my own confirmation bias. Don't assume things because I think that's the way they should be or they should go. But it's interesting how you get two people who read a paragraph or a story and they see them completely differently. I'll get a comment or a call from someone and they'll say, you wrote this and you're an idiot for this reason and somebody will say, well, you wrote this paragraph and you're an idiot for the exact opposite reason. It's really amazing. Like I'll give you an example.

At the beginning part of the story, it was about Marner's excitement for joining the Maple Leaf's his enthusiasm. And, you know, I talked about how it really meant a lot of. lot to him when people credited his play early. He wanted to make a good impact. He wanted to be good for the team. He was trying to fit in. And I had people who wrote that and said, oh, I love that about him. I was a young person at a job once, or you're a young player in the NHL. You love to read. I was just like anybody else. He's a great player, but he wants to be wanted. And you get other people to say, there's an example right there. He's immediately soft. And then you get other people who say,

you're taking a bias towards a martyr, you're trying to show what a great person he is. Well, he proved like it, Kyle, like the reactions to this stuff is, is bananas. It really, um, it just shows that I think a lot of people have their entrenched position on him and nothing you say, uh, is going to change their minds. And they see everything that is written or said about him, uh, through that lens.

And I think people have established where they feel and nobody's changing their mind. Yeah, that's also, I mean, yeah, not to get further into the weeds of the year for each, but that's also a microcosm of just where we're at as a society, right? We've got certain views where we've made up our minds

and regardless of what you say, we're going to see it through that lens. But it is worth pointing out only because, yeah, how quickly you forget how the organization was viewed and just the, state of affairs in 2015 when he was drafted back then. I mean, you know, the idea of drafting in Austin Matthews a year later was only that at the time, an idea. You had William Nealander as a young prospect.

What was he going to become at the NHL level? Not sure yet. And it was the season that costs Randy Carlisle his job. Brendan Shanahan had just come aboard. It was his first year and there was still a lot of, okay, where is he ultimately going to take this. It's almost like worth pointing out that for sure, like some fresh perspective and just some fresh blood that a young local kid had in drafting him forth overall.

I'm glad you highlighted it because regardless of where you sit on this whole story, it was a big part of it at the time. Yeah, I would say this, the one professional critique I got and I I got it from nobody who was directly involved, and I got it from somebody who was an executive at the time. He said the only thing that he disagreed with was that I wrote that Shanahan allowed Marner's no trade to come in because he believed that that team would.

figure it out just like the 90s red wings. And while it was true that Shanahan believed they would eventually figure it out, they also said that in their conversations with him, he said that he would not imagine a trade with Marner or any of the other ones until something was on his plate that he believed actually made them better. like he wasn't making a trade just for the sake of making a trade it had to be we're going to make this trade and we'll be better off for it and that's why they really pushed marner into the try to do the rantan in one because they believed that was a deal that could actually make them better

they could say all right we'd lose marner but we'd still have rantan and we would be okay and i think that's why they really pressured Marner at that time. Because A, then you needed a decision one way or the other, and B, I don't think they believe that they would ever get another offer potentially as good as that one. Okay.

Anything else from the piece you want to dissect a little further before? I mean, look, I watched, as you said, there was a lot of great hockey on Thursday night, like a bunch of great games. Vegas, they classic trap game, classic trap game. They had their eyes on Toronto. They went in, they fell behind Boston.

They almost came back, but they're going to arrive in Toronto in a bad mood for three reasons. Number one, it's freezing. Number two, they are going to want to play great for Marner. And number three, they coughed up a hairball in Boston. And last week's game between Toronto and Vegas was a great game. We talked about it a week ago on the pod about how it was, it showed both teams are a team. They both went out for what they had to go out there for,

Vegas coming back to win the game. They'll be in a nasty, angry, gnarly mood because they know what they're stepping into and they were, they were bad on Thursday night. I just want to say one quick thing before I move on from Vegas or that game. We don't talk about David Pasternak enough. Holy cow, is that guy a great player? Like, just a great player. There are so many great players in this league,

and there are generational players in this league, like McDavid, like McKinnon. And that's why the MVP talk gets completely overshadowed at times. but Posternak is an incredible player. And I loved watching him on the final faceoff, just jumping to make, like there were times that he would never have been on the ice for that. And now he's out there.

And not only is he out there, but he's so wired up to get to his route. Like I just, I love watching Posternak. That was a great game. You know, this will obviously be a huge game for Toronto. You know, they have some injuries. Ekman Larson and Carlo got hurt in the loss to Detroit on Wednesday, which was another great game. We'll see what they look like at the morning skate on Friday.

I don't think there is some of the initial reports sounded pretty bad. I don't think it's as bad. I think one, if not both may end up playing. We'll see. But this will be a huge game, particularly since Kyle, they lost the one last week. So they'll be in a mood too. Everybody here is going to be in a mood. And, you know, there was a big money on the board night tonight in Edmonton, too.

Pittsburgh Edmonton, although after about three minutes, everybody could have gone to the ATM because that one ended pretty quick. That's right. Wipe the numbers off the whiteboard. Now, okay, speaking of money on the board, before we move on, a week ago, you told me to remind you of the biggest money on the board game that you knew about. It was a listener hook back then. Now we need the payoff. What's the story? Yeah, so that's like the one.

The biggest one I know about is October 9th, 2015. That was Toronto at Detroit. And that was Mike Babcock's first game in Detroit, regular season as the head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Now, the week earlier, he had been there for an exhibition game, but that doesn't count, obviously. And this time he went back for regular. season game. And I know someone who saw the board. He has never told me what the exact number was

in Detroit, but he said it was huge. And what he also said was that there were players who were no longer Red Wings who were phoning in that night to say, put this up there for me. And so the Maple Leafs kind of heard, either heard about it or knew about it. and one of the leave players told me that someone on their team said, this is our coach and we're standing up for him, and they put a big number on the board too. Like we have to show pride in ourselves. We have to show pride in our new coach.

We know what's going on over there, and we're putting up this number over here. I have, I will say this. I have suspected it was Dionne Finov, but I don't know that to be true. whatever the case is between those two rooms, that's the biggest. People said that was the biggest one that they ever saw.

And Detroit won that game for nothing. I think, if I remember correctly, Abdelicator scored on their first shot of the game. Lees played hard, but they were outgunned. They were just not going to win that game. So that's the one I know of. And this will be a big,

money on the board one too, because as frigid as the city is going to be, the atmosphere in that building is going to be white hot. And I, I always say it. Fans are fans. I don't like to lecture fans. Without them, we don't have a job. Don't go over the line. But, you know, have your fun. It should be fun. One way or another, two nights at Scotia Bank Arena. Not a lot of of times during the regular season, especially during the week. Are you like, all right, Toronto Maple Leaf home game? Like there's some juice going into this one. The crowd should be really into it.

But Friday night is certainly an exception. To that, Mitch Martiner's first game back in the city as a member of the Vegas Golden Night. So yeah, Thursday night, a number of good games across the board. I don't know if you want to, where you want to go. Hit me. You're the host. You leave the pod. All right.

I'm here. I am at your service. Okay. All right. Let's start with Buffalo. Divisional game in Montreal. The Josh Jones signing day earlier. And they go in.

It got a little tight there at the end. But been one of the best teams over the last six weeks and kept it rolling on the road against the Canadians. We talk about how Montreal and Ottawa hate each other. It's getting there between the Sabres and the Canadians, too. Like, you know, one of the most fun things, Kyle, about watching hockey in the Eastern Conference this year, and particularly the Atlantic Division, and we'll get to Ottawa in a minute, is you can see things starting to pay off for the Canadians, the senators, and thank God, finally, the Sabres. And these teams, they could have great hate-filled games against each other for years. and now that Buffalo was a team that you have to worry about it, like that was a mean game,

like a mean game. I loved it. I loved every second of it. And Luchanan was big and the Canadians were down three nothing and they charged back as you kind of expected that they would. But that was just a great, great, great hockey game.

And, you know, they're going to, I wonder, like, I look at this now, and I wonder if this is one of the solutions to the schedule, Kyle. And it's probably easier to do in the east. You know, if you look at Montreal and Buffalo, they have a bunch of

games in a really short span. They've got another one next week. It's like three and 17 days or something. Yeah, I like that. I wonder if that's one of the solutions here to make things a little, bit better. Someone will tell me, you know, we saw a couple situations out on the West Coast where teams played in Anaheim or L.A. twice in a row. Like the Wild did that. And maybe that's

another solution too. But this thing with Montreal, Buffalo, I mean, it helps that they're both on a run right now. But those games got better and better and more hate-filled as they got along. I really like that. You know, the Sabres had the Josh Stone signing this week. when Kekeleinen was doing his interviews, everybody focused on Tuck because he's kind of the big, he's kind of the big UFA. But if you, if you listen to his interviews and heard what he had to say,

he talked a big game about Don, like for a guy who just came into the organization at the beginning of the year, both of them, Don and Keck Alinen, it was pretty clear that Donne made an impression not only in his teammates, but the new general manager as well.

So I'm not hugely surprised that he's the first one to go down. Now, the Sabers have, and Adams, this was still the case. Actually, before we get to this, can I just talk about Adams for a second? Yeah. What if the Sabers make the playoffs? Does he get GM of the year votes? It's, well, I guess he was. There for the first start of the initial winning streak.

Three first three games. He made this Don Kesselring deal. He did. And Peturka scored the other night. He's a talented player. But those guys have both been good for Buffalo. This to me is one of the, there's no logical explanation for this, Kyle.

Like, it's one of the weirdest phenomenon ever. Like, are you going to tell me that the Sabres turned around their season? Because they changed the general manager? Well, I don't know what's more bizarre, like that or to which the light, the sabres are shining under right now versus their NFL counterparts and how it was the complete opposite for a number of years in that market? You know what that is? I've decided that is the law of matter and antimatter. You never have more energy or less energy. You always have the same amount of energy, right?

So if the Buffalo bills suddenly become incompetent for a day, that the competence has to go somewhere else. So obviously, it must go to the Sabres. It's like the Mon Stars and Space Jam. That's right. You just suck the talent out. Went from the football into a hockey puck. And suddenly they were rolling.

It is wild. I laughed at all the Sabers fans saying this. What happened here? You would think it was Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis and Freaky Friday. Oh, nice. The personality is switched into each other's bodies. But, you know, you can't sit here and say to me that everything changed because they went from one GM to another. That makes, Kyle, that makes no sense.

No sense. I know, but a lot of this year hasn't made sense. I don't know. I don't know. It's, but this is this is the team that Kevin Adams more or less has built. And now Kekelein is trying to take to the next level and a good piece of business this week with that Josh Stone contract. There's no question. As he said, why wait?

When he was asked, why now? Kekeleinen said, why wait? He was a priority. So, but the thing is with Buffalo, too, is, they have a big number next year on Skinner. Yeah, and why is that again? Why does the buyout number spike for one year? Basically, to make it easy, they have a formula for a buyout.

Now, when you're older than 26, which Skinner was, it's two-thirds of the salary over double the time remaining. but there are seasons where maybe the, because it's not by AAV, it's by salary per year, right? And sometimes players have signing bonuses and all signing bonuses have to be honored in full. They can't be cut. So if you get a signing bonus, you get all of it. And it's only the actual per year salary that is subject to that two-third formula over double the time.

So sometimes if you have a, by the formula, if you have a big bonus or a larger payout, then it jumps. It doesn't stay the same. So by that formula, next year, Skinner's number jumps to six and a half million. It's, and then, so this year it's 4.4. Next year, it's 6.44.

And then after that, next three years, it goes down to 2.44. So the two biggest numbers are this year and next. And there's a $2 million jump next year. When Adams was the GM, he factored this into his decisions. We talked about this. He's like, what do I do? If I give talk what I want to give him,

then I can't do what I want to do for Don, or I can't do what I want to do for Benson, or I can't do what I want to do for Kesselring, who's also due a raise, you know, there's, and obviously talks the big one. And I heard it affected the negotiations. Now, I have a theory, and my theory is this. Yarmou Kekalainen, since he's taken over,

it has been almost entirely good news for this team. Almost entirely. The players are winning. they're playing great they've moved into playoff contention they're like it's all coming up millhouse for the buffalo savers okay what is the worst thing that he can do start to tinker with the roster start to tinker now that doesn't like you know kekeleana went in there and he warned those guys if it doesn't get better there's going to be big changes well it's a lot better so So why would he go in there and throw a stink bomb into his room?

Now, eventually, like the thing about a guy like Benson, he can punt Benson till after the season, right? A guy like Kesselring, he can punt Kessel Ring till after the season. He can't really do that with Tuck. So he's, that one is where the clock is going to force him to make a decision. And he's got six weeks to do it. but I wouldn't be surprised if he had some preconceived notions from watching the game, watching the team as long as he did at the beginning of the year,

and said, this is the guy I could move or this is the guy all considered to open up some space. But why are you doing that now? You wouldn't. So I think he's just going to wait. until he feels it's the right moment. And then if he absolutely has to do surgery, he'll do it. Like the other thing you could do is if you wanted to sign Tuck, you could sign him now and punt all everything to the summer.

And if I was in his shoes, that's what I'd be thinking. If the team kept going the way it was going and I wanted to sign Tuck, I'd come out and say, hey, guys, congratulations. congratulations. We've got Alex Tuck signed. He's staying to be a Buffalo Sabre. I know you're going to ask me, how do we make this fit?

You know when you can ask me in June? Hmm. Yeah, the vibes are too good right now. That's what I would do if I was then. Right. It's been impressive. The role that they've been on and the timing is,

call it a coincidence, call it something else. But as Sabers fans know, when it comes to time, it's well beyond time for a moment like this. Do not fool around with this. Let the players have their run. Let the fans have their run.

Don't, as I was once told, don't bleep with happy. Mm-hmm. Yes. They're happy in Buffalo. How about a happy 21st birthday for Oliver Moore, who we learned from Frank Nazar and Conradard. What would he be doing?

Like he would be doing burpees in the bathroom in the morning, get his day started that way? He's a really outgoing, friendly guy. Yeah. And the line I heard, Steve Levy said it on the ESPN broadcast. And someone else I know said it to me in a text on, Thursday night, I made a lot of bad decisions the night I turned 21.

And Oliver Moore, I don't know if I would call it a bad decision, although I love the line. He was going out there to stand up for his teammate, and he just picked the wrong dance partner. And that Nekishan, man, he's a big man. Oh, yeah. He wanted to fight both those guys. Oh, yeah, yeah. Do you remember in Prime Hulk Hogan when Hogan was getting double teamed and then he'd get up and he'd do the blowfish?

That's what we used to call it, the blowfish. And then he'd beat up both guys. Like Hulk out? Yeah. Yeah, he'd Hulk out do the. That's what Nekisham was like. He was like, I'll take you both on. He was glad to take them both on.

And then, of course, one of them goes and it's more and more took a couple, but just awesome. It's too bad the shootout goal doesn't count or doesn't count. Are we making a ruling that the shootout goal counts for the Gordial Hatrick or no? What are we doing with this? No. It's his birthday. Yes, I have ruled. Hold on.

I'm willing to do a carve out for this particular instance. Yes, because it's also his birthday. And he had the great line after the game. I guess he had, I don't know if it must have been the penalty box or something that him and Nikisha were both saying that it was their first fights and Moore was gone. There's no way that's your first fight. He didn't believe it.

Yeah. But that shootout, I was like, man, get your popcorn, settle in, find yourself a comfy chair, because it didn't seem like that was ready to end anytime soon until Moore stepped up to end. Like, Keondre Miller went early for Carolina. Like he scored in the past. So I understand why I think he went fourth for the hurricanes.

And anyways, it was. It looked like it could have gone for a little while longer until more tucked it up and under Frederick Anderson for the winner. Very friendly, talkative guy. I was very happy for him. That was a great moment. I got to talk about Ottawa and Nashville. So the Ottawa Sanders fans, they were depressed after this one. They were like seasons over too soon.

Okay. That was a bad one. that was a really rough one. I felt bad for Rimer because he's come out of nowhere to stabilize them and save some points for them. That was a really tough one. I'm not going with the season's over yet, even though that one really hurt. The guy who I'm really impressed with is Stamco's. Do you remember how we were talking about Stamco's at the beginning of the season?

Yeah, he's got 24 goals now. Who's going to want this guy? Like that's the way is his career like basically over is Stamco's washed and he has seen Stamco's Have you seen Stamcox like at the beginning? All credit in the world to him. O'Reilly's on a big tear too. And that that winning goal, uh, the one that Stamco's batted on the air that was just such a vintage O'Reilly play. Like pinning his man on the boards, winning the puck battle. sending it out there.

Big night there, Yossi. It was funny seeing Saros with the C on his jersey. He's a net wearing the Yosee jersey in the warm-up for the 1,000th game. He's got the C on his jersey. That was a really tough loss for Ottawa. I'm not going with season over, though.

But I am amazed at Stamco's how he's re-energized his game, gone harder to the net. like, you know, that's Brady Kachuk he's in front of the net battling with right there and he scores the winning goal. Nashville is a point out of the playoffs. And, you know, the other one I wanted to mention

is actually from the night before, Colorado and Anaheim, the best thing that could happen at Canada at the Olympics is they get Chequia in the round robin. That's their first game. Lucas Dostle is going to beat somebody in the quarterfinals.

Yep. And we already just done pastronach. Yeah. That game against Colorado Anaham the other night was one of the best games I've seen all year. And I was watching Dostle make saves that had no understanding by the laws of physics, how he was doing what he was doing. And I was thinking there's going to be a team that gets him in the quarterfinal or

farther. And he's going to beat them. If I was facing Dostle in a one-game playoff in the Olympics, I would not allow him to get to the arena. Sorry, you can't come in here. Your credential is no good. I got to give Anaheim some credit to here, Friege. Like, there was a long stretch there because we talked about early in the year

when it was exciting, they were winning games, surprising everybody. It was a young group that for a lot of them hadn't been through it over the 82 grind, right? And when was that going to catch up to them? Well, it did towards the end of December, into January. Man, it was like a free fall. Well, now they've turned around and won five in a row. So credit to them for finding a way to stop that runaway train and to dig back in here.

Dostle, of course, being a big, big part of it. You know, they've seemingly righted the ship here for now and have the potential to put themselves in a great spot, a spot not many would have envisioned going into the Olympic break about two weeks from now. Minnesota, Detroit was a great game. I always feel bad. I always feel bad for those Midwestern teams when they play so late. Well, they just, they're in the tweener window. Yes, in the tweener window. It's a tough one for the fans.

and Mike Russo, he needs like warm milk to stay awake or something like that while he's, because with those 9 o'clock starts locally. That was a great hockey game. The Red Wings, man, cider does not get enough attention either. We talked about Posternak, cider doesn't either. That was a great hockey game. And you know what? So was Florida and Winnipeg.

It started a bit slow, but got really intense and really nasty as it continued. And I wanted to shout out Ken Weber wrote a really good story about Paul Maurice's daughter still teaches in Winnipeg. Remember the first time they won the Stanley Cup how Sidney, how hard it was for her to get to Florida to see him win the Stanley Cup? So Sydney is a teacher and she's also the hockey coach at St. Mary's Academy. me and Ken wrote a really good story about how Maris got a chance to see her coach and watch the game. I wonder if like Maris goes up to her and said, that was a great game, but your one two, two, four check is just a disaster.

Like how do you, I'm embarrassed that you think you would say you learned that for me. That's right. And like the typical Maurice monotone delivery, that would be. be just outstanding. There was a great story when Bob Knight. Leap the plays. Pound their bleep and D. You know, him screaming that from the crowd.

There was, there was a great story. Bob Knight and Mike Chescheseke had a falling out, but Bob Knight was famous for never playing zone. He always played man to man. And he stayed up late one night. Night, Shosheski was coaching Duke, and I think they were playing any of their Alaska or Hawaii. So you watch them play. And so we called him the next morning at the hotel.

And he said, Mike, it's Bob. And, you know, Soshevsky's all groggy. And he says, and I says, Hey, how did your game go last night? And he goes, oh, we won. He goes, oh, you won. That's great. And what was the score? And he goes and tells him the score. And he goes, who was your high scores? And Cysseus, he's like, don't you get like a newspaper out there? Don't you get like the morning news? You can, you have to call me so early. And he goes, oh, I'm really sorry. I was very excited.

And by the way, I'm glad your stupid zone didn't work. And then Cessacea wakes up and realized I didn't watch the entire game. It's just setting them up. Oh, that's, that's good. Couple of competitors, hey, all-time competitors. That's awesome. All right. All right.

So let's take a look at some other things that are happening out there. Shane Wright, Seattle Cracken. Yeah, the Shane Wright stuff that he's available and out there and the Cracken are considering moving him, that's real. Dave Panyoda, I think, was the first guy to report that it's the first person I saw it from. And, you know, Seattle's been kind of an interesting situation. they were a bit down and they were thinking, okay, we're going to move some of our guys, we're going to trade some of our guys. And then they got hot and they kind of stepped back and they said,

we're going to wait to see where this is going to go here. And then they started struggling again and now they've, I mean, they're in a playoff position and they've kind of righted the ship a little bit. But Wright is averaging 1344. a game, which is 10th among Seattle forwards. And he had a game the other night where he only played nine minutes. And I initially, you kind of wonder, okay, is the, is the agent rattling cages here or something like that?

And I was told, no, like, this is real. And so I think what they're looking for is, is a score. And that's one thing that Seattle has always looked at is trying to find a dynamic offensive player. That's kind of one of the things that they've never really had. They have Baneers, who's a talented guy, but they've never had that kind of young dynamic score or a dynamic score. And I think what they're hoping is that maybe Wright can get them that.

and see where it goes. Like, you know, I was talking to some people on Thursday and they said, like, could you do right in a deal for, say, Panarin? And I said, I'm not sure that that's feasible. I'm not sure that Panarin would go to Seattle. And they go, okay. And they heard us talking about LaFrenier on the last pod about how you want a young player.

And could you see them doing something like that, like right for Lafranier. And I don't know how both teams would feel about that. Would they feel that we deserve a little more? No, we deserve a little more. No, we deserve a little more. But I have to tell you, Kyle, when I thought about that, I was kind of like, that's not the worst idea I've ever heard.

You know, we kind of talked about how the Rangers won't want to sell him a former number one overall pick for 50 cents on the dollar. And I agree with them. I think they're right about that. But how would you feel about moving him for a fourth overall pick who's a center, slightly more valuable position, and both players could probably use a change of scenery? Like, I don't remember where I saw it, so I apologize. I won't credit.

I don't know if all of the New York reporters had this story or just one or two of them. So I don't want to give false credit. But Lefrenier said that he wasn't one of the players that the Rangers met with. And some people, like individually, and some people were surprised by that. Peter Bond did write about it for sure. Okay. Okay. So Peter had, I don't know if any of the other ones had it.

I know there's a bunch of media traveling with them. So I wasn't surprised by that. And the reason I wasn't surprised by that is because I think the guys they met with were their leadership group individually, the rest of the team as a whole. He's not part of their leadership group. And so I'm not as surprised that that didn't happen. but the whole right for LaFrenier thing, what do you think? I think, I don't know if it happens,

and I don't know how the teams feel, but I don't think that's, like sometimes people come to you with proposals and you're like, no, that's stupid. I don't think that's stupid. I think there's logic behind it. Yeah, I agree. I don't know.

Is Lafranier, like, I still think there's, there's a really good player there and better than what we've seen this year. But is he the kind of offensive pop that, as you're describing, the Cracken are looking for and haven't really had since they came into the NHL? Not so sure about that. But that's one reason to give it a little bit of pause. But in terms of given, you know, two players and in two different situations,

both are kind of under club control here for a while. Yeah. Like there's there's an advantageous side to that for sure. I just wonder through all of this, what are they called? They called it the retool in the letter. Yeah. But as they look for where they're headed next,

like where would a player like Shane Wright fit into that? Like if they're going, okay, if we're bringing him in, what do we view him as long term? He played some second line center, a lot of second line center in Seattle. Like is he that in New York? I think that's probably the issue

that he didn't play enough second line center in Seattle. Right. By his minutes. Right. Right. And part of the reason why you think you'd be looking for a new opportunity here, could he get that in New York?

Yeah, potentially. So it's all worth considering is what I'm saying here, Elliot. I'm just not sure. Well, if you look at the Rangers, you've got Trochik and Zabinajad as your top two centers, right? Mm-hmm. I think a lot of that depends on what goes on with Trocheck. That's what I mean, right?

Like, as they... Yeah. Who's still sticking around by the time the Dutch? settles. And you have Miller who can also play center. Zabinajad, if you wanted to, he could play wing. There's some flexibility there. It's not the worst idea I've ever heard.

Yeah, I still like the potential of both those players. No one hasn't gone great on both fronts. Shane Wright had a good start to the year and then, you know, I think as the team cooled off, And as they've kind of come back, he hasn't really bounced back with everyone else. But I like the idea. Some other things here, Petterson, Kanox. I'm still not convinced he's waving.

I still think it's going to be a matter of here. You're going to have to give him a reason to do this. J.P. Berry was on with Dallowall on 13. Thursday, that's what that said to me. Give us a reason. Why would we agree? So that's for all the talk about who's interested or where he could be going, you've got to show me that there's something he's going to want to say yes to.

That's not nothing that he said that. Yeah, but I think, I think that's, well, he didn't really even go that far. That's the way I read it. I see. but that's that's the way I always see these things I don't people say oh he's going to know trade clause yeah he's going to know trade clause so he has the power but sometimes you reach a point where you say all right there's diminishing returns here or how much do I want to listen to myself being trade rumors here or enough's enough here it happens to everybody right it happened to marner at the top of the show

we talked about here but you to me you've got to give him a reason to say yes. You know, Robert Thomas, that's an interesting one. I spent a few days looking into that. He's 26 years old. He'll be 27 in July. What it sounds like, if the blues really want to do this, it's something that you say to them, you make them say there's no way we can say no.

So it's either a huge package that makes them say, we can't say no to this. Or the other thing I've heard is they're looking for like a stud top six forward who's slightly younger than Thomas. And like I said, he's 26 or 27. So they're probably looking at somebody, I don't know, 22 to 24 years old. It's like leasing a Toyota, Kyle. you finish with one model, you trade it in for a slightly younger model. That's what it sounds like the blues are up to here.

It's like you come to us with like a younger Robert Thomas or a big package we can't say no to, and then we're talking. Other than that, not happening. And the last one I want to talk about here is Panarin. I have a Panarin theory. Do you want to hear my Panarin theory? Always, yes.

What do you got? Kings. Ah. So first of all, I think Panarin would love to play in Florida, but I just don't know that that's going to be possible. I really don't know that that's going to be able to happen with Bobrovsky. I just, I'm not sure. I mean, I would never count out the Panthers doing,

doing what they have to do to get the player they want. but that's going to be a hard one. I also think Panarin would consider L.A. This one, to me, is interesting for the Kings. They like stars. They need a fresh coat of paint. Copatars retiring after this year. It's been a hard season for them.

Like, I think one of the things that's kind of being discussed inside L.A. is are we really throwing all our chips in this year? Are we looking at where we are and where we're going and throwing our chips in for this season? Now, if suddenly Canaran is presented to you with an extension, are you saying, hey, this is the kind of offensive talent we could use, It wouldn't be a short-term thing. He takes us into the post-Copatar and potentially post-Dowdy era.

Another top player for Kempi and Fial to have a round probably plays with Byfield. Maybe that helps Byfield too. like there's from a purely game theory building type of way I could see both player and team kind of eyeing each other this makes sense now one of the interesting narratives that's come out the last few days panarin's going to be 34 is that he thinks he can play for five more years he is 34 oh he is 34 I thought it's going to be 34

I got to write down birthdays better. But there's talk now about, I've heard it in a couple places. He thinks he can play until he's like 38, 39. So you know what that says to me, Kyle? We're talking about a four-year deal or a five-year deal. We're talking about, this is a guess. This is purely a guess. We're talking four times 12 and a half, five times 10.

All right. So he's looking for something around 50. That's my guess. It's just, it's my guess. Okay. You're the Kings, would you do that? Oh, let me add one more variable here. Sharks on the rise.

Ducks on the rise. Yes. Driven by some good offensive weapons. If you were Ken Holland and Luke Robatai, would you do that? And you don't have to be both of them. You can only be one of them. Right.

I think you've got to look at, okay, so, you know, what are you, what are you projecting? Like, he could, in a tough year in New York, he could still potentially be a 30-goal guy this year. 37 the year before. A year before that, obviously he goes crazy, almost gets 50. But as the age continues to trickle up and you're trying to project who you're playing them with, like how much production can you realistically look at if you're plugging them into that program there in Los Angeles? What is he? And if you're looking at five years, 10 mil, and I look at who else in the league right now is being paid around 10 million per?

and with where the caps headed. Like, it's not as big of a digestion as maybe you would think or we've grown accustomed to thinking. It just comes down to, yeah, do you believe the fit is there for that long? You're taking a bet on term. A big bet on term. Right. Because I don't think he's looking for two or three years. When I hear people saying, oh, he thinks he can play until he's 39.

He's talking about four or five years. So how much in theory, how many of those five years are you going, yeah, production matches what we're paying them? Or you just say, we need this right now and we'll take our chances. Oh, but that number, that's a big chance. Yeah, it's scary. You can walk yourself into real trouble with that. Right. But someone said to me this week, they think that he would consider L.A., and that was, that was the, that really made me think.

I don't know if I would call it a danger zone situation for L.A. I think you walk into it with your eyes wide open. But you asked a great question there. Let's just say you do, if you do four years, I think you're really hopeful you get three and then we'll see. But if it's three and then we'll see, it's kind of scary to do five years. Right.

Especially at the numbers we're guessing with or just kind of playing with here now. But also, too, if you're a team like LA, I think you have to consider for Panarin. I don't know at all, but just kind of what you're laying out here, like location does matter a bit. So it's not like you're worried about 31 other teams potentially bidding against you.

Right. Where you are plays a role. But. Contract matters here. Contract matters here. Yeah. Because if it didn't matter, he'd still be a ranger.

Right. Right. As we've talked about, the Copat's our model wasn't of interest to him. Yeah. So now where does it go? Yeah.

interesting stuff. All right. Well, why do we get to the final thought here then? And some Olympic news this week. Seth Jones, unfortunately, man, that was a really great story that he had made. Initially, it was not that serious. Unfortunately, it changed. Yeah. So Jones can't go. Young Jackson Lecombe, who just a few months ago signed the richest contract in Anaheim Ducks franchise history. Bit of a late bloomer there has now burst. onto the scene as one of their go-to guys in the back end, and he's now an Olympian, joining the rest of the gang with Team USA in Milan. The only thing interesting for me, we talked about it a little bit before we recorded here, Elliot. I'm not shocked that it wasn't

Elaine Hudson that came in, for example, but the handedness, a left shot for Lecombe, replacing a right shot in Jones. That was the only part of all this where I thought, that's a bit of a surprise. I was surprised too about the left, right thing because I just feel that on a tight, on a tight surface with the speed these guys are going to be going at each other,

a bobble on your offhand, like a bobble can happen anywhere, but there's more of a chance it happens on an offhand, it can cost you a gold medal. I remember, we talked about Babcock earlier, Babcock went to the Stanley Cup final in Anaheim was six left-shot defensemen. And then he became a handedness freak,

for lack of a better word. And I remember asking him once, why does it matter to you now when you went to the Stanley Cup final with six left handie, and he said the game wasn't as fast then. That was 2003. Ducks Devils. He said it wasn't as fast.

Now it's different. And Adam Oates is another guy who always believe that. He is fanatical about handedness. So I always look for this thing, and I always wonder about this thing. So I'm with you. The only reason I was surprised about Lacombe is because, I thought they'd want a righty shot for a righty shot.

The whole thing with Hudson, actually I'll get to that in a second. You have a good theory about Hudson about why you would take him. You should mention that first. Hudson is one thing, but also, you know, we all saw the posts of the Canadians put out there when, you know, Coffield scores,

the late dagger against the wild of all teams, tagging USA hockey is his late team. I thought that was funny. It was great. like I got everybody going and you know or another guy Jason Robertson as we've all talked about not making Team USA and this isn't just a team USA thing here. I don't know if maybe it has been talked about a lot here, Elliot, and I just haven't seen the discourse around it. But just reminder everybody at these Olympics, the metal rounds too, along with the preliminary rounds. But when you get into the metal round and if you end up in overtime, it's three on three.

If a gold medal game, if the gold medal game goes to overtime, it's three on three until a goal is scored. Metal round, it's 10 minutes than a shootout. Yep. But it's three on three the whole way through. Vancouver 2010, Crosby Golden Goal, four on four. McDavid, the Four Nations, winner in overtime, that was five on five. It's going to be three on three at the Olympics.

Now I understand you can't simply bring a guy for, okay, if we get to that point, now we're putting them into the game. That's not the way the rosters work, but the fact that all the way through, if you go beyond regulation, that's the format you're going to be playing in. I mean, those are the moments that make a difference between getting a metal or the metal of the color you're gunning for. It's another fascinating wrinkle in all of this decision-making too. And only, again, highlights where you're looking at some of the top scores around the league that won't be going. And it's like, hmm, because right now, I mean, geez, don't even. Still got Quinn Hughes.

Still got Quinn Hughes. But I'm like, don't even throw the caveat of American borns. Like just flat out NHL players, period. If you're looking at who you want, if you're building a team, who you want on the ice in a three three scenario. Like it's a pretty short list of guys you would put ahead of Cole Coffield right now. He is that good, that automatic and dangerous. Yeah.

In that environment. You know, I think it's a great point. I'm glad you brought it up because we actually had a Zoom call this week for the Olympics, and they said, make sure you know the rules. And first of all, rules are overrated. I just want to say that, just in general. That's when you left the call. Like, I'm out of year.

That's when I left the call. But it's true. And I started to look at them, but I'll really look at them more before I get there. But, Kyle, like, you're totally right. Like three on three in the gold medal game, that's a big deal. And you know Canada, for example, they're going to have McDavid. They're going to have Marner. You know, they're going to have Crosby.

They're going to have McKinnon. They're going to have Macar. They're going to have Celebrity. It's, you know, I think it's a very fair argument. You know, the one thing is, I'll just say this. I'm not even going to go against you so much because I think you're so right about this. I think part of this discourse is because Hudson plays in Montreal and he gets seen and Lacombe plays in Anaheim and he does not. Yeah.

Like Jackson Lecombe is a hell of a player. And the thing is, great players are getting. left off these Olympic teams. Like, if you told me Lane Hudson was on this Olympic team, like, I'm like, I totally understand, excellent, I think he's a great pick, and I love watching him play. But the one thing I don't agree with is this whole, like, Jackson Lacombe is a joke. It's because people just haven't watched him, haven't watched them play. Right.

Like, he is a very deserving Olympian, very deserving Olympian. and that's what just moderately annoys me about the discourse is that a lot of people saying like Jackson Lecombe just haven't seen them. Right, right. I think it's fair because you saw it, all right, well, let's compare the offensive numbers this year between Lecombe and Hudson. I'm going, I don't know if that's not the conversation because I don't think they brought Seth Jones there because, well, we think he can generate a lot from the back end.

Like I think they brought him there as a reliable, defender and I think they see even though opposite hand a lot of similar qualities there in Lecombe, because he's relied on to do a lot of that heavy lifting for a young team in Anaheim. Pat Verbeek gave that guy the contract he gave him after grinding everybody else. That's right. He was like, he's a good player. Yeah, yeah. And that's a great point.

Point, too. That spoke volumes. Yeah. And Verbeek, of all guys, was like, no problem, sure. You got it. Congratulations. And yes, congrats to Jackson LaColme, an Olympian. Great for him.

And we wish Seth Jones all the best. A bummer to be missing. Oh, that sucks. I feel bad for the Swedes, too. Like, they're getting hammered here. No Brodine, probably no Carlson. We still don't know about Landisog. Kneelander or like, I don't know.

I don't know that Neelander is going to play on Friday night in the Marner Bowl here, but I'm not worried about him. This is not the way this is supposed to go. I want to see the best players there. For sure. Oh, and Kyle, as we wrapped this up, it was brought to my attention that I missed a wicked, wicked joy. by you on last Friday's pod.

Which one was that? So we were sitting in the lobby of our hotel in Moncton at 2.30 of the morning and you said Dom's shorts patterns are very complicated. Now, I am not and I think you should leave guy. I've seen all the memes. I've watched some short skits online, but I don't. know it that well and someone said to me I took that fastball looking I have to tell you Elliot and because I know that you're you are peripheral when it comes to that show there's a lot of lines from from that sketch series I worked in just subtly over our time doing this okay I'll tell you about I missed it someone who was a fan

one of them said you completely whiffed on that one. Yeah, I got a couple being like, are you referencing Tim Robertson with the complicated patterns? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. That's how they value the shorts. How many times the lines crossed the patterns overlap? Dan Fas has got a new shirt in two day. That's $450.

What? Because the pattern's so complicated, you idiot. Oh, it costs more because of the pattern. Yeah. And rightfully so. So were Dom's shorts valuable then? Yes, yeah. Those are the shorts you find in a store like Dan flashes.

It's a very aggressive store. No, and you're going to get me going here. So you haven't seen that sketch? No. Oh, okay. I'm going to sit you down and say, I completely missed it. Okay. Yeah.

Can I set the record straight? Yeah, sure, Dom. They are Lulu Lemon shorts. I got them off the discount rack for like 10. bucks. Really? Hey, there's nothing wrong with that. That's good value.

Good value, yes. That's what I always try to teach my son. Good value. If it costs a little more, but it's good value, that's a winner. And if it costs a little less and it's good value, Dom, for the first time in your life, you're a real winner. Or you're a sucker. No, no. $10 shorts?

Sounds like they were good. They were great shorts. All right, that was the final thought. And with that, we'll take our first break. When we come back, the latest edition of the Thoughtline. 32 thoughts, the podcast continues after this. All right, welcome back. We've reached another edition of the Thoughtline, Elliot.

Before I hand things off to you and your thoughts on the thought line, I got one DM on Instagram recently at the start of the week. Hey, Kyle, listening to the pod and hearing Elliot talk about Hinge. Yes, he's happily married, but he uses Hinge to meet Raccoons. Have a great day and keep up the great work. Confirm or deny that one. They don't need hinge to find me, but it's possibly true.

Yes. Yes. There's a chance. As usual, another great few days of raccoon memes. There's a person, I don't even know if they're male or female, on Instagram, Biffy Miffy 26. could go either way, really. And that person sends me constant raccoon memes.

Nobody is more relentless sending me this information, so I figured I better shout them out. I'm now starting at a lot of drum memes, too, Kyle. Those are coming fast in feelings. We've evolved from the triangle to the drum. This is great. That's right. I wanted to shout out a listener named Kane O'Connor.

I know you saw this one too. Elliot and Kyle, Kyle, your Uber driver in Toronto is incorrect. Not only Canadians visit Winnipeg in January. Australians do too. And twice, 22, 23, and 24, 25 seasons.

He has gone to visit. There's a picture with him. I assume that's his partner. They've gone to go see the Jets. And Kane says that he's met other Aussies there too. So it's not only some, Canadians who will go to Winnipeg in January, the Australians who are a tough species.

Let's be honest, they go there too. Wow. I got a couple other ones I wanted to mention here. First of all, Aaron Nelson, you guys forgot to mention Drew Dowdy, World Junior Gold, Stanley Cup, Olympic gold, World Cup champion. So Aaron would not stand for this Drew Doughty Slander. Thanks to Dom's... But does he won a world championship? Oh, you know what?

That's a good question. And actually, we will be revisiting the botch trivia at the end of the thought line. Oh, really? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Great. Someone's attempted. Well, no, Dom, someone's attempted to come to your defense.

And you know what? I believe he has not won a world championship. He has won silver medals twice. But okay. So, Aaron, I appreciate your desire to stand up for one of the NHL's best interviews, but he does not qualify. Never mind. Pretty good resume.

A couple. This actually came up a lot this week, and I figured we should mention it. People might know the answer to this by now. but as many of you will recognize, Alex Nadelcovic gotten a goalie fight this week with Sergey Bobrovsky and had the career Gordy Howl Hatrick, because he's got a goal and an assist. So Travis Messal was one of several listeners who asked,

it was kind of like a live in-game thought line, how many goalies have done this? And in case you didn't hear, because the answer was out there, Nadelcovic was the sixth, joining the Smiths, Mike and Billy, Ron Hextall, Chris Osgood, and Jose Theodore were the previous five to have the career Gordy Howe Hat Trick. There were a couple more that came in I wanted to mention. One of them was from a Kyle Villers who said he's found my new favorite baseball team. The AA affiliate of the Anaheim Angels are known as the Rocket City Trash Pandas.

They are actually at Trash Pandas on X. Wow. Kyle, I hate to disappoint you, but they're now my least favorite baseball team. Not my most favorite, least favorite. The raccoons are my mortal enemies. And finally, I'm not going to mention this. person's name. But I got a DM this week at 1147 AM on Tuesday. And you know what this person asked me? Kyle, I understand this was 1147 a.m. on Tuesday. Hmm. What do they ask you?

quote is Quinn Hughes traded to Minnesota. What? This Tuesday? Yes. Did you write back still trying to determine? I haven't figured out how to answer this yet. I am looking at it right now. The morning after they go into Toronto,

and beat up on the Leafs. And he's wondering if Hughes has been dealt to the wild. Yeah, you should write back on... I hear they're working on it. It was a one-game loan. Yeah. Well, it further proof. No question is a bad one.

That news does travel fast, but not everywhere, clearly. The Pony Express still does not reach certain corners of the world. Yes. Morse code, maybe, is how... Morse code gets there pretty quick. If you understand it, it's pretty fast. Well, I guess that's maybe the problem. He got the info and he's still trying to decode.

Just did not understand Morse code. Yeah. So I'm glad you brought up Nadelcovic. We actually had a voicemail. Calvin from San Jose. He was asking about that exact question, the career Gordiahow Hatrick, So that's already been covered.

Thank you. Why don't we go to another voice? Thank you for sending it in, Calvin. Because there were a lot of people who asked. Yes. And he was fired up. Like he called in right after the game. Really?

Should we just play it anyway? Because the guy was so excited? It's great energy. Sure, Tom. Okay, let's do it. Let's do it. How you doing, fellas? Calvin from San Jose here.

I am watching the Sharks of Panthers game in the third period right now. And I just watched my Alex Adelkevich absolutely rocked from paper Brodsky in a goalie fight. made it be wonder, is Alex Ndilkevich the only goalie to have a career Gordie Howell Hattrick? He now has a fight. He got a goal last year, and I can only assume he's gotten an assist at some point in his career. So I'll ask one more time, is Alex Didelcovich the only goalie in NHL history to record a Gordy Howe Hattrick stat line in their career? Thanks, fellas.

So we answered that earlier, but Calvin, I love that. you filed this right after the game. That is the great passion of hockey fans. No matter where you're from, no matter who you cheer for, no matter your background, that is hockey passion. So I'm glad, Kyle, you played it. You've got your answer. I'll also say this.

Randy Hahn and Drew Remenda are a great team. Calvin, your enthusiasm match theirs. Step it up, Randy. The Sharks fans are coming for your job. Yes. They feed off of him, I think. Like, it's, it has been banner shows for that crew. Like, it's, uh, the, the energy levels have been high most nights there. And Calvin.

I'm not going to say anyone, I'm not going to say anyone's taking Drew Ramenda's job because he spends his half his day in the octagon. So like, I'm not fighting that guy. No, good call. And Calvin, six career assists for Alex Nadelcovic. You assume he least had one. He's got six of them. Um, okay, why don't we keep this rolling here?

This is from Jeff and Lance, aka his dog. Hi, guys. Let me start up by saying I'm a Tampa fan, had been a whaler's season ticket holder, but moved to Tampa a few years ago and became a lightning fan. It's ironic that the last whalers game was against Tampa, but that's another story. So an unusual penalty was called during the Bolts game versus San Jose.

Earlier this week, at 1257 of the second period, the team was assessed a bench minor penalty for interference. In this case, assistant coach Dan Hinoed jumped and caught a puck that was flipped into the bench area.

The team was penalized for him interfering with play. Two things. How common is this penalty? In all my years following hockey, I have never seen or heard of such a call. Have you?

And secondly, how is this interference when the puck is clearly out of play? Thanks for the enjoyable podcast you guys put together. I listen to every show while walking my dog, a Newfoundland, nominally here in Florida each morning.

I look forward to hearing your take on this unusual penalty. It was an unusual one. It was. Now, the reason they got called for a penalty, what High Note was doing. It was actually really funny when I saw it. I wasn't watching that game live and someone sent it to me and I looked at and I said, did I just see what I think I saw? It was hilarious.

I laughed my head off. So the reason that High Note got a penalty is, when you shoot the puck into the crowd from your own zone, if you put it over the glass, it's a penalty. But if you shoot it from your own zone and it goes over the glass anywhere on the ice, it's a penalty. Some people think it has to go over the glass in your own end. That's not true.

If it goes over the glass anywhere, it's a penalty. Now you'll say, well, wait a sec. there's no glass in front of the player's bench, and if the puck goes in there, it's no penalty. True. But if it goes over the glass in the players bench or behind the players bench, it is a penalty. And that's what High Note was trying to do was kind of prevent it from going over the glass so it wouldn't be a penalty. That's why he got one. As for interference from the bench, I don't, off the top of my head, I don't remember anything, Kyle.

I've seen penalties before when players have gotten involved in altercations from the bench, like punching someone for the bench, like that, it can be supplemental discipline. But I couldn't remember one off the top of my head like that. Do you? No, I did some dig in. I asked around. I couldn't find, like, with a coach in this particular scenario. And it's right there in the rulebook, like 56.3. It's got wording that completely speaks to what they thought they saw with Hino.

My only thing was like, and I know Cooper was certainly trying to make the point that that puck was not going over the glass. Like, High notes got good vert, but not that good vert. But I understand why in the moment they thought they were going to make the penalty call as unusual as it was. I think like sometimes you see players maybe put the sticks up to try to knock the puck down from the bench. But in terms of the coach in a per se like that where, yes, if it was from any other point of the ice, you think nothing of it because there isn't the potential for a delay of game penalty to be called. But in that particular one, then the additional, or I shouldn't say additional,

but the interference call to the bench was made. That was a bizarre one. You know, the thing too about what Cooper said, and I understood what he said, like it wasn't going out. What the penalty does is now that everybody's seen it, if you're a coach and you think it's close, you probably don't do it now. Like the worst thing you get is you don't call that penalty on high note because it's not going out. And then in the playoffs or a huge game, you get one that's a little closer to the top and the guy deflects it. And you're saying, wait a second, you can call the one on high notes. So why are calling on me?

It wasn't going out. And then it becomes a judgment call wasn't going out. Better to just stick to it. Cooper, man, he's a hell of a coach. We're learning this year, he would have been a great lawyer. Yes, that's right. This whole coaching thing didn't work out. It could have been a decent fallback option.

Could have been a decent fallback option. All right, we've got another voicemail here. Also, officiating related. This is Fred in Montreal. Oh, I know what this one's going to be about. Yeah. Hello, guys. Hello, Elliot, Carl, and Dom. Fred here in Montreal. I was just watching the Havs and Wild Game yesterday and have questions on referees. And how does it work for them at the intermission? I'm sure you've seen the phantom call on Lenton and last night team where the other player, Hartman, I believe, fell on its own. So there shouldn't have been any penalty.

and we saw when they came back for the next period, Ferlath, the referee went to Hudson to apologize. So obviously he knew he made a wrong call. So do they watch the reviews themselves during the intermission? Did they review every penalty that they gave during that period? Or do they have a supervisor that waits for them? How does it work? And also, do you see in the not-so-distance future a time where the league could say,

when they call these kind of penalty, they get across, hey, nobody around, that call, overturn, no penalty. It's like they're doing

the NFL with those quick reviews. Thanks, guys. Love the pod. Thank you. Thank you, Fred. Lots of great questions there. Great questions there. So let's start small.

I like that Furlat went and apologized. You know, we all make mistakes. I have said before, I mixed up two swimmers once. You don't like being that guy. I like that Furlat went and he owned it. During the intermission, there's no doubt the referees will get calls.

Either if there's a supervisor at the game or somebody can call their room and say, hey, what did you see there? What didn't you see there? Like, I have no doubt in that particular situation, either Furlat, like, I don't know what the rules are. Are they allowed to pick up their smartphones during? games. I would assume they can do it. I don't know what the rules are, but there's no doubt in my mind. They get calls. They check things. They compare notes. They look at replays. I know they watch

the intermissions if there's a big call. I've had referees call me right after a game saying I saw what you said during the intermission and either you were right or you were wrong. They watch like anyone else. They want to know if their calls were right. They want to know if their calls were wrong. And I like the fact that Furlat apologized. I can't find the exact penalty, but I know it happened. I think it was a Penguins game about a decade ago. And I want to say it was Chris LaTang, but somebody will tell me if it's wrong. But he was called for tripping. And then the video came up on the Jumbotron, which technically you're not supposed to do, but it was good that they did it this time. And the officials on the ice saw that the player, I believe, had tripped on someone else's

stick, not LaTang, and they let them out of the box. And some teams went crazy about that. They were like, that is not supposed to happen. But my answer was, at the end of the day, you get the play right, right? So, and I do think there have been times where either the situation room or somebody has called down to the penalty box during a penalty and said, are you really sure you want to do this? Or you might be missing something here. Like I just wish that someone had said to Furlat, if there was time, again someone had called down like that's one of those situations where I was I was watching it and I said I really wish somebody would call down to the penalty box and say hey don't call this or reverse this or while people were debating it somehow it could have been changed that was the one thing I saw

watching it because look it was a bad call we all know it was a bad call um I would love to save somebody the embarrassment because now that goes viral and everybody's piling on them. Like we all realize it's a bad call, but then it becomes Kyle the internet pile drive, right? Oh, yeah. Yeah. So that was a situation where, like I said, I'm glad for that apologized. I just wish in the moment there was some way that there was a long enough of a delay that somebody could have called down and said, Eric, he fell, take him out of the penalty box.

I shouldn't say no, but I suspect that has happened before and it could have helped the situation. As for the intermission, no doubt, either saw the replay or someone called him or he was watching television and saw it. But yes, there is communication between officials and, um, Either they're supervisors or the game supervisor or even the situation room during intermissions. They're as hyper aware as the rest of us are. Yeah.

They don't have, I mean, on the player's bench, you see the tablets. Like there's nothing like that set up where they can call up. All right. We'll go back to that penalty I called last period. It's not like that, but to your point, yes. Line of the situation room in the event that there's certain things, whether it's goalie interference or something, where the four. phone call is made and hey, just want to get a further clarification what you saw there or, hey, maybe there's something that we saw that you didn't when that is warranted.

Other things, too, like it's, you know, typically the referees kind of make their tour and how their schedules are laid out. It is not rare that if you do a game and see a team early on in the week that you see them again later on in the same week or in a short period of time. So if there's something where they're not happy with a call you made, maybe after that game, an off day, you review it. And then when you see them in the next day, you know, early on or before the game, you go by their bench and say, look, I look back, the icing, whatever, saw what you were saying. I understand why you felt the way that you did just to try to.

I mean, there was the great mic'd up. I'm sure you saw the video this week of linesmen and McDavid talking, right, about face-offs and dry-sidal and all that. like that communication, I think, is so, so important. And I think when there is opportunity to do so to clear the air and to try to find common ground and understanding both ways, the attempt from from the officials will be made. Dryside caught some strays. Poor guy, not even involved.

Catch the strays. You know, we did talk about reviewing penalties last pod. We were talking about that Carolina Red Wings one. Uh-huh. I think it's, it's, people either really like it the idea or they really hate it. There's no, no middle ground, either really like the idea or really can't stand it. Elliot, you have perfectly set up the next submission to the thought line. Oh.

This is courtesy of Ian from Maine. Go Red Wings. Hello, Dom Elliott and Kyle. listening to your discussion about video review on Monday's podcast gave me an idea that is perhaps crazy enough for Elliot to go on a several-minute rant about how much he loves out-of-the-box thinking. At the beginning of each season, every team would get a set number of video reviews that they can use throughout the year, including playoffs. For example, let's say everyone gets 42 or won every other game for the soon-to-be 84-year. game schedule. There would be no limit on how many a coach could use during a single game, and they can use them to challenge anything, offside, penalties, goal interference, etc. But once

they're used, they're gone for good regardless of the result. The fun part is that these would be a tradable asset, much like draft picks. If your team is a playoff contender, what would you give up for an extra 10 challenges? A mid-round pick? Is there a GM crazy enough to trade all of their challenges at the beginning of the season, if they don't think their season is going to go well, maybe there would be a mid-game trade because a team is running low on challenges. Think of the excitement. It will never happen, but it's an interesting thought experiment. Love the pod. Thanks for giving us a peek behind the curtain of the NHL. I love out-of-the-box thinking. And now I'm going to talk about it for seven minutes. What's funny about that, Ian, is that earlier this year, when we were

having one of these conversations, there was a coach who made that suggestion. You get X number of challenges per year, and if you get it right, you keep it. But if you get it wrong, you lose it. And you had the maximum number of challenges depending on how many you get right. And I had a referee who texted me and said, that's a gimmick. No gimmicks. So the referee didn't like that one. But I do wonder if someday we're going to get down to that kind of a rule.

I don't see trades. Man, audiences, they love the trades. I don't see trades. To me, at the end of the day, you just want to get the call right. And I don't think it should be up to, you know, if you've used eight challenges and they're legit challenges, and you only have two left, and there's 25 games to go,

and you get a call that's clearly wrong, and you're like, oh, I'm worried about only having one left with 20 games to go. That's not the way that this should work. The way it should work is get the challenge right. Like one of the things I didn't like last week in the aftermath of that controversial bills call with Josh Allen is that one of the officials on TV, I think it's Gene Sterator, he did a poll.

Like, do you think they got it right or got it wrong? Like, that's not what we should be doing here. You should be simply about is the call right or wrong, not polls. on who got right or wrong or how many challenges you have left. I love the outside the box thinking, but to me, the goal of replay should be only one thing. Get the call right. That's it. And if you run out of challenges and you can't challenge a call that's clearly wrong, that's

that's NFG. You don't want that. Right. Well, and that's, and that again where the issue lies too, because, yes, there are a lot of scenarios where it's, you look at the video and it's black and white. Is that right? Is that wrong? But not every review, not every situation comes to that same conclusion. There's still a lot of nuance. We know goalie interference. We don't have to go down that road again. Still a lot of nuance out there where, oh boy, all the angles in the world, Super Moes, you name it, and you're still left. scratching your head of what was the correct call or what should the correct call be. But I love the idea of just sliding that into a trade, you know, and four additional challenges to go along with the rest of the deal. Yeah, that was clearly offside. Yeah.

But sorry, you're out of challenges. That's right. Your season is over. Yeah. Okay. One final one here. Glenn from track. Good outcome.

Not a good outcome. Okay. Glenn from Trenton, Ontario, but currently living in Rockville, Maryland. Hi, Dom and Associates. Go Terps. Ah, nice. Dom and Associates. Dom and Associates.

Dead piling up in your home. Yeah. Call Dom and Associates. Do you need to ask incomplete and inaccurate trivia questions? Please call Dom and Associates. Have you ever heard of a gift receipt? We can help you with that. No, we can't help you with that.

That's right. What to ruin a trivia night? Call Dom and Associates. You don't pay unless you win or lose in this case. Okay. After hearing Dom fumble his trivia question on Monday's pod, two does not equal nine, I think I know what he was trying to get at.

I believe that Scott Needamire and Corey Perry are the first two recipients of something even more special than the triple gold plus one club that he was referring to. Both players have won the Stanley Cup, Olympic Gold, World Championship, World Cup, Memorial Cup, and World Juniors, which I would like to dub the Golden Hexagon. Does that sound a little more familiar, Dom? I do like the Golden Hex. It sounds like a movie. Yes. Yes, this was bang on. This is exactly where I was going with this. Yeah, whatever. Sure. Sure. Misunderstood. Harry Potter and the golden hexagon.

My question for you all is this. Has anyone else completed this hexagon? Is anyone else able to join this club this year? I know that McKinnon did not win a gold at World Juniors. Crosby and McDavid did not win a Memorial Cup, but is there anyone within striking distance of joining this very exclusive club. No matter what, please help me make Golden Hexagon a thing. Happy to make it a thing, but they are the only two. And because of all the different boxes you've got to check, even the best of the best in this edition of the Winter Olympics and hockey,

none of them are in line to join those two. I'm still stuck on the Golden Hexagon. Great research. Great idea, Glenn. Golden Hexagon Courtesy of Dom and Associates. He's our first employee. We'll pay you in maple syrup shots.

After all that we took home with us from Moncton over the weekend. Very good. All right. We'll end it there. The latest edition of the thought line. If you would like to write in, phone in, you can do so. You can call 1833-3-3-1-3-21-3-3-2-3-3. or you can send an email at 32 Thoughts at Sportsnet.ca.

We'll take one final break and wrap up this edition of 32 Thoughts, the podcast, after this. All right, for your viewing information, some big games on the network this weekend. We wanted to keep you informed of before we wrap up here, beginning tonight. Mitch Marner returning to Toronto the first time as a visitor, the Golden Knights and the Leafs. That will be seen nationally, coast to coast on Sportsnet, 630 Eastern pregame. Ron McClain will be on the desk. Elliot Friedman's going to be in for studio.

Luke Gazdick, Kevin B.X as well. We'll have the game a little after 7 ET from Scotia Bank Arena. That will be an emotionally charged night in downtown T.O. Little later on in the evening on Sportsnet 1, if you wish, the Calgary Flames are hosting OV and the Caps at 9 Eastern 7 Mountain Time and a busy Saturday night on hockey night in Canada. Three early games after Ron and the game kickoff the night with Hockey Central Saturday at 630E. The Canadians are in Boston for original six clash.

The hurricanes are in Ottawa. Detroit is in Winnipeg. All of those at 7eastern 4 Pacific Time. The late game this weekend, the Washington Capitals in Edmonton to face the Oilers. So a double dip of the caps on our network Friday and Saturday. Logan Thompson, Olympian, this week's guest on After Hours with Scott Oak and Louis DeBrusk. Looking forward to that conversation there.

All right. Taking us out today. A track from Lex Leosis, who is a decorated hip-hop artist that weaves slick lyricism with a range of converging musical genres from hip-hop to jazz, funk, and pop. She is a writer, rapper, multi-instrumentalist, and producer that brings a jack-of-all-trades approach to her music. Before going solo, Lex teamed up with Toronto MC's Havia Mighty, Kisha Fresh, and Phoenix Pagliachi to create rap supergroup, The Sorority, that according to Explain Magazine, was one of Canada's greatest rap groups of all time.

She has an upcoming album due in March, her first in six years, and we'll be heading out on tour at various festivals across North America. This is also, as Dom pointed out, the 32nd edition to the 32 Thoughts, the music playlist you can find on Spotify. Here's Lex Leosis and Say So on 32 Thoughts, the podcast. Have a great weekend.

If you say so, I got you. If you need me to talk to, if you add that true, if you need me to talk to, if you ask me that it's a full service relationship, I got the bills and the gas in the mail I set. I'm your right hand and your fair pissed and your motivation when you ain't feeling it. I put my dreams down for you even though you ain't asked. But your action's so loud, I can see where you lack. And I always carry all this slack. I have a hard time letting go with trace from the past.

Of course, you can still ask anything for me. All this year strategizing how the people please I deliver with a smile and the guarantee Because deep there to the grave Until I f*** around and get betrayed I ain't never met a problem that I can't work So the problem was me I was putting you first If you say so, I got truth

If you need me I am in it coming a surplus Confused at my friends and my bullack purpose But I play a cool on the surface God forbid I'd admit that I feel worthless Playing crash and I'm getting your mess I don't even think twice That's just how I'll react

Den I have no shame in that Yeah I shouldn't be surprised when I get burned All these takers in my... To the grave Until I f*** around and get betrayed I ain't never met a problem That I can't work So the problem was me

I was putting you first If you say so If you say so If you need me If you need me If you say so I said so, say so Anything you want

You could give for me Anything you want you could give for me If you say so I've got true If you need me to talk to If you ask me