32 Thoughts: The Podcast - A Little Too Much Excitement

Episode Date: May 30, 2022

Great way to start the week! Jeff and Elliotte get you set for another Game 7 (between the Rangers and Hurricanes - 00:30), preview the Western Conference final (7:45), and discuss some of the decisions the Flames (13:30) and Blues (22:50) have to make this off-season.They also talk coaches (32:10), Jason Spezza calling it a career but joining the Maple Leafs front office (35:40), what the Toronto might do with Rasmus Sandin (47:10) and Jeff provides us with an update on the latest PHF signing (and it’s a big one) and what we might see in January from the PWHPA.Check out the limited edition 32 Thoughts merchandise line HEREMusic Outro: The Dip - ApolloniaListen to our 32 Tracks playlist on Amazon Music. All the tracks you hear on this podcast during the playoffs are featured there.This podcast was produced and mixed by Amil Delic, and hosted by Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman.Audio Credits: Altitude Sports Radio 92.5 FM and Sportsnet.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 don't know why you didn't put that with it I really gotta say I really like the song Elliot the Western Conference final is set it looks like it's going to be a doozy and we have a game 7 in the East the New York Rangers and the Carolina Hurricanes because of course we have a game 7 in the Homer

series we're going to get to what's next for the St. Louis Blues Elliot we're going to get to what's next for the St. Louis Blues, Elliot. We're going to get to what's next for the Calgary Flames. We're going to get to Jason Spezza and other Toronto Maple Leafs notes as well. But let's start by talking about the series that is going seven games. The Rangers and the Carolina Hurricanes, Saturday on Hockey Night. Rangers 5, Carolina 2, Filip Hito with a pair of goals. Igor Shesturkin was outstanding. He was Vesna Shesturkin.

37 saves, 2 assists, and interference penalty on Seth Jarvis, which was really obvious and blatant and kind of beautiful in its own right. Not a great game from Antti Ranta. Brady Shea, on the other hand, I thought was real good for the Carolina Hurricanes. And we are headed now to PNC Arena again for Game 7.

Your thoughts? First of all, what Shusterkin did, is that the Ron Hextall hat trick or the Billy Smith hat trick? It just would have been great. I was trying to decide which is more fitting. I don't know what would have been cooler if he got in a fight or scored a goal at that point. We had a pair of assists and he had the saves and he got the interference penalty.

What do you think would have topped it off better, a fight or a goal at that point? The fight, no question about it. I guess Hextall, because you know, both Hextall and Smith have credit for scoring goals, right? Although Smith was shot in by Rob Ramage, if I remember correctly. Yes, that was shot in by Ramage. if I remember correctly yes that was shot in by Ramage he just got credit for the goal was the first goaltender to get actual credit for it right and we know they both fought yeah but in this day and age I think you that was so unique what Shisterkin did he deserves some kind of credit like on a Billy Smith Ron Hextall level, a combination of both surliness,

goaltending excellent, and offensive skill that you don't see a lot of. So I think he's the 21st century version of those two. It was an excellent performance. You know what really has surprised me in this series, Jeff, is that the faster the pace has gotten, Carolina's really had trouble keeping up. Like I know Carolina likes to play an aggressive four check game.

And I know they like to dump in the puck a lot, but they don't strike me as a team that would have a lot of trouble with pace. They have a lot of really good skilled players, but they just seem to, whenever the Rangers get to a certain speed, they can't get there, the Hurricanes. And you got to think at home,

because they've dictated everything at home so far in the playoffs. You think they're going to dictate this. But again, in a one-game goalie battle, you're going to take Shusterkin over Ronta. I don't know what else Brendan Moore really could have done. You're not bringing Freddie Anderson back after 44 days away and he hasn't even dressed as the backup yet. But I liked on the off day Sunday, he came right out and said,

like, come on, let's be serious here. Ronta's our guy and I'm not playing any day of game seven games. I mean, wisdom says that this is Carolina's game because, listen, you look at game five. How great did Carolina look in game five? Like I think Rod Brindamore said something along the lines of this is the game we've all been waiting for. Like they look like they're the best team in the NHL. And then the next game, you would swear that this was a completely different team. I understand the pace thing and that does make some sense, but I'm still scratching my head for answers here. We'll see.

I mean, the kids with the Rangers are getting it done. And if Shosturkin plays like that, what do the Rangers need to do? Score? I mean, Rangers could probably win with two goals, no? You would think so. I mean, the thing that was really interesting for me about this one is that the Hurricanes noticeably sagged after the second goal you know the first one was obviously a tough one because it bounced in off ranta and the second

one kind of went through his legs it was a weird one because you know you think he's going to have the stick down there and the puck's not going to go in that way i was wondering if he thought there was a pass coming but if you watch Pesci in particular after the second goal he has a look on his face and you know for me it's a look of either oh no it's the road here we go again we're down to nothing or it's the look of oh boy like we're in trouble here because we've had two really ugly goals go in. And Pesce, unfortunately, was right in the screen when the goal was scored, so you couldn't miss it. But you saw the whole Carolina team sag.

And that's the thing. Like, again, I don't know if it's because it's the goaltending, and it shouldn't be the goaltending because Rons has already won a game seven and got them to this point. I would suspect it's more that oh no here we go again on the road but this whole thing with the hurricanes you know they're a very analytically inclined organization they like to try to find a reason for everything i would love to know when this is either a all over or they're getting ready for tampa what they think is sort of like scientifically the reason for the fact

that this is happening. Because I would bet you there really is no good scientific reason. This is one of these emotional feel reasons, like we're just a lot more comfortable in our own bed kind of reasons than I think you can find a scientific answer for it's very strange you rarely see this anymore the margins between these teams are so so tight in every league you rarely see homer series anymore they just don't really exist and so i i would love to know if Hurricanes think there's any particular reason for this. For example, Jeff, I'm reading right now a book. It's basically about the history of the 1990s New York Knicks with Pat Riley.

I think it's called Blood in the Garden. It's a really good read, actually. And one of the things they talk about was in 1994, they went to game seven of the NBA final and they lost to game seven of the nba final and they lost to houston and between game six and seven they talked about one of the reasons they thought they were really off was they had to stay i think it was two days between games and they were just really out of sorts they had like nothing they could do the rockets could all go to their homes and be comfortable and the Knicks weren't and they don't think that's why they lost but you know they wonder if it contributed to it

sometimes I think that that's a bit overblown in this day and age but you know maybe it's something as simple as the Hurricanes you're just not as comfortable in their own beds I don't know I'm not a psychologist although i did stay at a holiday and express last night these are all questions for taller foreheads than i have yeah anyway regardless we get a game seven and that is always a great thing by the way the record for most game sevens oh yeah i saw that is seven and this will be our sixth. Ready to smash this thing. All right. So we'll park that. Look forward to this game on Monday

night. It is game seven, New York Rangers and the Carolina Hurricanes. This one at PNC Arena. Will the streak continue for Carolina or can the New York Rangers break the spell? We shall see. Okay. So before we get to what's next for St. Louis, what's next for Calgary, we got Edmonton and Colorado.

So this is sort of being framed as Nathan McKinnon versus Conor McDavid. Others have said, hang on a second here. No, this is Conor McDavid versus Kael McCarr. While others have said, no, no, no, no, no. This is Conor McDavid versus Nazem Khadri, who we suspect will try to live in Conor McDavid's hip pocket during this season. How do you see this series, the Western Conference final?

I'm really looking forward to it. As a matter of fact, my nipples are rock hard now thinking about it. Oh my goodness, what a visual. I think this is going to be a great series i haven't looked at the wagering yet but i want to see what the overs are because i think there's going to be a lot of goals scored there's so much elite talent like i think edmonton's best players like if you take a look at the colorado st louis series i think for most of that series, Colorado was the better team, even if all of their best players weren't at the top of their games. Like for example,

I don't think Rantanen for argument's sake was at the top of his game. I think that Edmonton was the better team from the first period of game two of the Calgary series and their best players are really going. They are really going. So I see a series here where I think the Avalanche are a deeper team. Look, they were my Stanley Cup pick. I stay with my Stanley Cup pick until they're knocked out. But I think that Edmonton is going to be an enormous challenge for them because they've got a lot of top players playing great and a lot of other players who may not be their top players, but they're playing smart. They're not making enormous mistakes. They understand what it is their job to do on the ice and that is to play you to a tie and not beat themselves so their best players can beat you.

You know, the only other thing I just worry from Edmonton's point of view is with Mike Smith and not his play. I think Mike Smith has shown that weird stuff is going to happen, but he's going to overcome it. I mean, the fact is that Mike Smith is 41 years old and his body's been through a lot. He's 40 years old and his body's been through a lot or he's 40 years old and his body's been through a lot it's the only thing I wonder you know this is the longest he's gone in a playoffs in 11 years or I guess it's 10 years a decade you know just is he going to be

okay that's the only thing I I worry about for Edmonton in terms of just the overall health and stability of their roster. You know, one of the interesting sidebars to this one is, you know, last series we talked about Jacob Markstrom and how he almost became an Edmonton oiler. I think it was only a few hours before the free agent window opened where everyone thought, including Edmonton, that Jacob Markstrom was going to be the Oilers' goaltender. Now they face Darcy Kemper, and Edmonton was also in the sweepstakes to try to get Darcy Kemper from Arizona

before he ended up going to Colorado. I don't know, maybe you do, I don't know what the sticking point was. First rounder. Was it the first? I believe so. It was a first rounder, Connor Timmons, and a third. It was the first rounder because Ken Holland wasn't sure.

He didn't like the idea. And the same thing happened this year when we were questioning whether they'd go out and get another goalie is. Yeah. He just didn't believe that it made sense to give up a first rounder for a rental and Kempers on a one-year deal. So a second series in a row, it's goaltenders. We're going to call it the Euler goalie revenge tour.

What do you think? I was going to call this the Friedman nipples series. In their two settings, dormant and erect, how does Elliott Friedman see the Colorado Edmonton series? I love the sounds of this one. Like, listen, this is one that you looked at, you know, last round and you said, if only, you know, Conor McDavid, one more series. I mean, Conor McDavid is playing on a completely different planet here. I don't know how much more we can talk about where we're getting out of Conor McDavid right now, but I'm really curious to see what McDavid and the Oilers can do against this avalanche team that is fast,

is skilled, can check, can shut down, has, you know, the most explosive defenseman in the NHL, has a, you know,

really underrated, you know, two way forward and Valeriy Nechushkin to say nothing of Nazem Kadri as well, who's a very effective two-way forward. I think this has the makings of being a fantastic series. I really do. I never cheer for teams, but I'll cheer for matchups. And this was a matchup that going back to last round,

you look at it and you say, okay, what's your dream conference final based on who's left? I think most probably would have said Edmonton, Colorado. And here we are. it's during a commercial or an intermission. Well, no, not during an intermission because I'm on, but in a commercial because you will miss something. There's going to be a lot of people in this series that can make things happen. Absolutely. So we look forward to this one. St. Louis goes home. Calgary goes home. Let's start with the flames uh you talked about this on Saturday on Hockey Night in Canada and the situation with uh Johnny Goudreau with Matthew

Kuchuk Andrew Mangiapane and you mentioned that Brad for Living wants to get some answers quickly here what do we expect out of Calgary well i i think what's going to happen is you saw goudreau said he's going to meet with his agent and i think the flames have been kind of ready for this for some time you know goudreau made it very clear once he showed up for camp that he wasn't going to talk about contract all season. And I believe that held firm. Maybe there were some quick talks here and there, but I don't think anything substantial happened all season long. So now that it's over, I think the flames are ready.

You know, also, I don't want to forget Mangiapane in all this. He's become a very, very important player. And like Kachuk, he's also one year away from unrestricted free agency. But I just think the Flames feel that the numbers for Kachuk and Goudreau are obviously going to be higher. And also, you know, Goudreau obviously is a UFA this summer. Kachuk also has one more year. I think they want to go to those guys first. And I think they want to find out, okay, where does everything stand?

And what number are we doing here? And if Goudreau and Kachuk are coming back, those are both going to be big numbers. What other surgery are we going to have to do to make sure this works? Like this is two thirds of Calgary's top line. I think they recognize that and how much it could potentially cost them to keep them. And they have to know those numbers first and those players plans first before they can do some other things. Like Mangiapane is a big decision.

You know, they still have two years on Backlundiapane is a big decision. Yeah. You know, they still have two years on Backlund. They still have two years on Lindholm. You know, Shillington's an RFA, but I think that's a, you know, a simpler deal. I'm really curious to see what they're going to do with good Branson, Stone, and Zdorov because all of those players found roles there. Like, you know, I had a chance to talk to Mark Stone, uh, about Michael, uh, later in the series. And, you know, one of the things that he was really proud of was,

you know, it's just unfortunate the way it ended with Michael Stone, because when, when Tanev came back, you know, it's really hard to play 7D and, you know, because Tanev was battling injury and things were a little discombobulated, Stone didn't have the same kind of role he had earlier in the playoffs. But, you know, one thing that Mark said about Michael was he was really happy to show that he felt he was an NHL player again, and he was good

enough to play a regular shift. So it'll be interesting to see how he feels. He's been with Tree Living a long time. The two of them have a long history together so i think that they have a lot of decisions to make here but the number one thing that i really do believe is they're going to go to kachok and gudro quickly to find out what the numbers could be and what the interest really is or isn't and i think that's going to happen quick you know the other thing i you know, the flames are going to try to do is, you

know, what's Monahan's future. You know, he's got one more year. One more year. Is he coming back to play for them? They talked about, you know, obviously he was around. You saw that hug with him and Goudreau after Goudreau scored to knock out the stars. You know, is, is he coming back to playing for them or are they going to try to move him elsewhere to open up some cap space?

Like, let's see what happens there as well. Would Brad Treliving already have deals lined up to pull the trigger on to create instant cap space? Like, let's say, you know, they get some traction quickly on Matthew Kachuk's next contract and Johnny Goudreau's contract as well. I'm always curious about sort of what's in the hopper, what the general managers have already lined up, i.e., hey, if we get close on Goudreau, I need to free up some cap space.

Will you do this, Team X? Like how much of that would already be lined up, do you think? Well, he is a bit of a wheeler dealer. He's one of those GMs who's in a lot of calls. Oh, yeah. So I'm sure he's looked at it out there i have no doubt about that but i would think though that you know you can go 10 over the cap in the off season yep i think it's a great question i would bet he knows what the landscape is i think he knows potentially what the landscape is for for some of his players the other thing too is you can't make those moves until you know what the status of the top guys are no that's what i'm saying like i like think would he have all these contingencies already in place bang bang like we

signed johnny goudreau and then this deal happens to give us the room. I'm just curious more than anything else here. How do you look at the Calgary Flames season? Well, I think they're disappointed. Their regular season was outstanding. They got really pushed by Dallas, specifically Jake Ottinger, who became a star in that series, albeit in a losing effort. And then they went out in five games against their provincial rivals, the Edmonton Oilers, in the Battle of Alberta.

But you look at all the 40-go, the 100 point scores, players that really distinguish themselves this year. And we should point out too, they did it without their, you know, longtime captain Mark Giordano. How do you evaluate the flames for each? I think there's the big picture and there's the end of the year, right? They really thought they could beat Edmonton they really thought they were they could they had a shot to beat colorado i know that was a group that you know really liked themselves they liked the way they played they thought they could play lots of different ways i mean they were really happy with their regular season obviously they showed a lot of guts in beating dallas like that was a tough series. They almost got goalied, but they found a way.

I think the toughest thing, and I was, I was just talking to some people there is that just the way that Edmonton series flipped so quickly, you know, you could have won game one, nine to two, and then you're up to nothing in game two and they could never stop them. You know, Markstrom said he's not hurt. I think probably there was something bothering him. But I think the number one thing that happened was, you know, Calgary all year contained teams. And you can never control it all the way in hockey. But generally, they give you certain parts of their zone where they said, we'll let you

shoot from here, but we're not letting you shoot from here, here, and here. And they couldn't contain the Oilers. The Oilers said, screw that. We're going to shoot from wherever we want. And I think that their speed and their danger ability and their elite skill, I think it got to Markstrom and the Flames and threw them off. You know, I think they could handle Tanev being not a hundred percent for, you know for a game and a half against Dallas, but they couldn't handle it for Edmonton. And that did throw off their pairs a little bit. Like, for example, could Branson Zdorov, who had a great year.

They had a great year because Calgary put them into a defining role. You're our third pair, and you're going to run over people. Well, they had to play a little bit higher than, you know, Calgary would have liked. And it kind of threw everything off. And I just think that the, the Oilers took it to the flames in a way that nobody else was consistently able to do this year. And, you know, the other thing too, is there's a

little bit of dry sidle slander here. You know, I mean, we're all talking about mcdavid and we should be the guy who's freaking phenomenal dry saddle at 17 points in five games and he's hurting and he can't move he has to back they need to pull it get a crane out to get him to back check he could he couldn't shoot like there was there were times he couldn't shoot he had he had a phenomenal

series i i just think between the oilers ability to disrupt markstrom's rhythm you know tan of getting hurt and putting people in the blue line out of their regular roles now and you know you know if you look at the winning goal look how many great plays mcdavid makes on it like he he pressures the play and then he goes and gets the puck edmonton beat them it's that simple it's disappointing for the flames you know the next couple of years like you know between who's UFA this year and in two years it's Backlund it's Lindholm it's Toffoli what a really tough playoff it's Noah Hannafin you know the one thing about

Tree Living is he does a really good job on the mid-range deals like there's a lot of good contracts on that team a lot of good contracts on that team and he does that you know very well but now we've got the ufa one so where are we gonna go here you know i'll tell you something else someone else said to me covering that series you know he says one of the biggest challenge that calgary has is that you look at the arenas you know you're in the battle of alberta and and you're going into edmonton and it's the taj mahal and you're in calgary and you know they they thought they had an arena deal and it fell apart this year somebody said to me that was uh that was a really tough one for the flames

that's another level of challenge for them that they didn't need is what someone said to me that was a that was a really tough one for the flames that's another level of challenge for them that they didn't need is what someone said to me st louis blues uh so darren helm ends it it's around his man 10 seconds to go in the third period. Darren has taken the helm, and he's about to take the avalanche into the Western Conference Finals. Kids, hard work pays off. Darren Helm is the example. Finally rewarded is the fourth line for the Avalanche. They've had an unbelievable game all night long. They've been great all night long.

They deserve what they got, and that's a lead with 4.9 left, and this building is clearing the heck out. I thought it was a nice touch, having Darren Helm end this thing the way that he did with only six seconds remaining on the clock as the old medicine hat tiger scores there. So now we ask what's next for the St.

Louis blues and a couple of players that we focus on right away. That are UFAs, David Perron, Vili Huso. You still wonder about Vladimir Tarasenko. He's got one more year left on term. He requested a trade last year. And I think we also wonder about coaches as well,

most specifically Jim Montgomery. Your thoughts on the Blues and what's next? Well, from what I understand, Perron wants to go back. He doesn't want this to be a fourth reacquiring by the Blues somewhere. He'll sign with another team and then be back with St. Louis at trade deadline. From what I understand, Perron wants to re-sign. Until I'm told otherwise, I expect that's going to happen. He loves the Blues and he loves St. Louis.

It's a perfect fit. It's a great fit. Until I'm told otherwise, I'm expecting that you know perron goes back tarasenko we'll see you know the other thing i was kind of wondering about is suddenly ryan o'reilly is one year away from a new deal yep that's going to be an interesting one he's still an incredibly important uh player for them you know i i think in goal, Bennington reestablished himself as their number one guy. Who's so in the playoffs? I thought he was solid. I would be very curious to see how contenders would view him. I thought he showed moments this year in both the regular season and the playoffs where he looked to me that he could be a starter on a good team i just don't know if he did

it enough like i thought game five in denver the fact that he won that game to me that was a huge feather in his cap but i saw also saw other times where i said i'm not convinced that this guy is a full-on number one he might be a 1a so i'm really curious to see and there's no shame in that it's the first time he's really had that opportunity like i wonder if there's more growth there i'm not insulting the guy but i'm just looking at a guy who's a ufa right now jeff are you betting on him being the guy? I have an internal rule about goaltenders. What's that?

It's now about to be external. Everybody's about to hear it. That's right. Yeah. So here, and he already played 40 games this year, probably somewhere in that neighborhood for the St. Louis Blues. My rule is I don't make up my mind about a goaltender until he's played 100 games. Then I start to make up my mind.

Like I want all the shooters to have a couple of looks at the goaltender before I make up my mind. History is full of, you know, goaltenders that when they go around all the shooters the first time look great. And then once the book starts to get written it changes but we make the mistake of thinking oh wow look these first 30 games he's looking like a best in trophy candidate let all the shooters have it like let the book get written and then let's see how the goaltender adapts that doesn't really start for 100 games for each i try to never ever make up my mind about a goalie until they hit the century mark.

And only then do I start to say, okay, I think I have a handle on who this guy is. That's not bad. Do you think that's crazy? No, that's not your dumbest idea. As a matter of fact, that doesn't even go on your top 50 dumb ideas. That's actually a very good idea.

So this year he played 47, including playoffs. Okay. And that gives him 64 for his NHL career. He had 17 last year. So I don't know Vili Huso. I think we all don't. I don't know Vili Huso. We don't.

So to me, the interesting thing is, is A, what's his number? His cap hit this year was uh 750 you know does another team say this is our guy does he want to go somewhere else you know the other thing i wonder about is a guy like corpus solo and i know the situation is not the same you know corpus solos made a lot more money and he took a cut in Columbus where he's clearly comfortable. Like I wonder, is there any chance Huso says, you know, I take a one-year deal in St. Louis at a bit of a raise, but less than I could get elsewhere because I just liked the situation here and I think I can improve playing for the Blues.

Like the Blues are generally a good defensive team, right? They make goalies look good. I don't know. I'm just spitballing here. We have to hear what he wants to say. But that is one thing I thought about when I watched Huso this week. Is anyone going to say, yes, he's our guy. We absolutely have to have him.

Or how does he feel? Like I don't know him well. I don't know what he's thinking. Does he want to be a number one somewhere does he say look i've got a good situation here i'm still young i've got room to get better and i take another shot with the blues on maybe short term the biggest number like he's only 27 and he hasn't played a ton of games like Like this is a guy who if he gets better, he can be good.

You'd think he could be good into his 30s. I just don't know how much the, because let's not forget here. For the longest time, Vili Huso was considered the goaltender of the future for the St. Louis Blues. And correct me if I'm wrong, I have knocking around my brain when St. Louis actually called up Jordan Bennington.

The player that probably would have been, the goaltender that would have been called up was Huso, but he was hurt. So Bennington got called up instead. And then he went on that magnificent run and won a Stanley Cup and put together an impressive resume and has a contract reflecting that now. And you're really Huso saying, hold on a second here. That was supposed to be my spot. I was just injured and I couldn't get called up. I wonder about that in the back of his mind. To your point, does he want to be a starter right now?

And if he stays with St. Louis, he's probably not going to be the number one guy. At times this year, he was. We saw what happened with Jordan Bennington towards the end of the the playoffs certainly he grabbed it back and Bennington was outstanding I always wonder about that you know is there a sour taste in his mouth about he was supposed to be the guy and now complicating all of this I shouldn't say complicating because it's a nice problem to have I mean the St. Louis Blues have Joel Hofer sitting there as well like you're ready for you have another goaltender here ready to slide into that backup role probably as early as next season so i don't know this one to me is fascinating and complicating all of it is

i have no idea how good billy husso is and you're right i think jim montgomery gets an interview in philly and maybe elsewhere you know we'll see but we'll talk about the coaches in a minute i think they have to give perunovic a new deal and you know he's obviously going to be a defenseman of the future there perron is the big one tarasenko what's his future but quietly very quietly'Reilly contract, that one looms very large. I think the Blues are always going to be there. I think they're a well-coached team. I think they're a very disciplined team. I think they've got a lot of really good players.

They finally found a way to let some of their younger players get a bit more of a rope. And generally, I think their front office makes good decisions. In this series, Colorado was the better team. They had better chances. They outshot them, but the Blues had a great power play and they were opportunistic and they kind of played the way that they realized they had to protect the house against Colorado. They couldn't skate with them up the ice. Like, I think they played a way that gave themselves the best chance to win.

And, you know, that to me is the hallmark of a pretty smart team. I think they'll find a way, but they've got some tough choices. Really want to mention as well. It was great seeing Lila Anderson. Oh yeah.

At the game. That was just fantastic. Brought back such wonderful memories and it's so good to see her there. That was just fantastic. Brought back such wonderful memories, and it's so good to see her there. That was outstanding. All right, you mentioned the coaches. We all seem to be on Barry Trotz's watch. I don't know if it's going to be daily updates now

with who Barry Trotz is talking to, but you read out a laundry list on Saturday of teams that are interested and have shown interest and have already interviewed some of these teams, Barry Trotz. What's the latest? Guys tell me that it's quiet until kind of Trotz makes his call here. Is he controlling the market? Like I said, I'll just be blank.

Is Barry Trotz controlling the coaching market right now? I don't know if I would say controlling the coach's market because I did get a call on Sunday from someone who said to me, there are some teams that may not want to wait that long. And I don't know what the timeline is here. And I think Trotz has said exactly what I kind of said there, that he's not rushing to make a decision. If he decides,

you know, for example, if somebody does something this week that makes him say, yes, you know, this is the best for me and my family, then let's go that that could happen. But nobody's necessarily expecting that to happen. You know, I asked someone, you know, who I think would have a good idea, how long is this going to take? And they're said, you know, I'm not really comfortable with that yet because they're not sure that everybody who wants to be part of this has weighed in. And we're still waiting for clarity in Florida, right? Yes. To be honest, like one team that's been really quiet is Seattle.

And I don't know if anybody's expecting a coaching change there, but I think what has happened is that everybody there knows that they can't have a repeat of this year. Right. So I think everybody just kind of wonders like what's their plan going to be in terms of, you know, going and getting at it.

So I think everybody's just careful, right? The thing about trots is, you know, we mentioned all the teams who we believe are involved, Winnipeg, Philadelphia, Vegas, Detroit, and Dallas. And someone said to me, like some of these meetings have been full-on conversations. And some of them, at least one, and I'm not 100% sure which one it was, I think it's possible Vegas, but I don't know, was a phone call or a Zoom call or whatever. So there still could be more to it. I do think Winnipeg is very serious, but I don't think they're the only ones.

And it's just difficult to get a handle on the timeline. And I wouldn't want to say, Jeff, that he controls the market. But I do want to say that I think there are some teams who are prepared to wait to get a better handle on what he's thinking. Okay. The only other thing I want to mention about Winnipeg is there's seems to be some talk that Scott Arneal, who was in Washington the last few years, could end up with the Jets in some role on the bench, even if he's not the head coach. So that's something to watch out for too, to

see if that comes to fruition. We'll pay attention there. News on Sunday. Jason Spezza, after 19 seasons in the NHL, we think of him with the Ottawa Senators, certainly going to the Stanley Cup final in 2007. We think of him with the Ottawa Senators, certainly, going to the Stanley Cup Final in 2007. We think of him with the Dallas Stars and a really nice social media tribute from Jamie Benn for Jason Spezza. And we think of him most recently playing with the Toronto Maple Leafs. He calls it a career.

1,248 games, 995 points. He takes a role as the special assistant to the general manager, Kyle Dubas, of the Toronto Maple Leafs. And the question becomes, is this how the Maple Leafs are going to get veteran players to come in on league minimum salary, the job after the career, Elliot?

That's pretty funny. Technically not circumventing the cap technically not at all no that's uh that's a good one i gotta say so what do you go gotta watch giordano in two years is that what you're saying mark giordano's next yeah wayne simmons too he's got one more year under contract we'll see where all this goes you know i gotta tell i got a lot of laughs today people sending me texts uh spets is gone the dwight shroot route the assistant to the regional manager so i i get a good laugh at those when i see them well i mean this explains why you know spezza has gone into kind of like a uh you know i i was trying i was i'm sure i wasn't

the only reporter but i was you know i was trying to reach him over the past couple of days and he was you know obviously he had a plan. And I thought it was really interesting that one of the things that Dubas said in the media conference was that – I'll begin by saying I appreciate everybody joining us here on a Sunday afternoon. It would be unsurprising to those that know him that one of the key things for Jason was that he wanted to get going on the next phase of his career,

but wanted to be very cognizant of the playoffs ongoing and didn't want to do anything on any game day. And once it was announced that the conference final would begin on Tuesday night, it left today as the only dark day of the playoffs for quite some time. So we appreciate everyone jumping on on a Sunday afternoon here. I think that that probably in a lot of ways explains Spezza best is that he knew that hockey gave him a gift and he wanted to treat it with respect. And I wasn't surprised upon hearing that rationale. It made a lot of sense to me knowing him.

He really loved the game. He really loved being around it. I'm sure that even though he's excited about his new challenge, and I do believe if he wants to be, he will be a GM in this league someday, I think that it's still hard to close the chapter as a player. It's never easy. hard to close the chapter as a player. It's never easy. Like even the best GMs tell you that it's still not the same rush as a player.

And I think that that is, you know, it's a tough challenge for everybody. I completely understand it. There's a lot of things I think about with Spezza. He's one of the first players like I really quote unquote grew up with, you know, I interviewed him as a teenager, like a lot of other reporters did. And now basically I worked through his whole career. It makes me feel very old in a lot of ways. You know, one of the things that I always remember was when Spezza was an Ontario Hockey League player, he asked for a trade and he was such a big star

that we went to go interview him at his house about asking for a trade in the Ontario Hockey League. And then when he got traded, we went to his house to interview him. And, you know, one of the questions I asked him was, you know, now that this has happened, are you happy or is there any chance that this could happened are you happy or is there any chance that this could ever

happen again and watching the interview as i was doing it and i believe it was spetz's living room where his mother and his representative at the time who was darren ferris and uh darren ferris said it stopped the interview and he said we don't want to answer that question. We want to answer, we wanted to do this positively. And I said to them, I said, guys, you know, I understand this. I would just say that, you know, I think people are wondering and I think if the answer is no, I think it would be beneficial to Spezza to say that this was a one-time thing, unfortunately, in a situation that went badly and I'm going to be happy to go to play,

and it's not going to be an issue. And they all looked at each other, and I will say this. His mother, her name is Donna, she was watching me like a hawk. You always say, Jeff, beware the mothers, right? Yes. They are the most protective

hockey moms now that i'm a parent i understand that as i care a lot about my son but god help you if you cross my wife you know donna was why she was watching me like a hawk she was she knew that this was a big challenge for her son and and she was protecting it but you know jason spencer he answered the question and, uh, you know, he can tell you if he didn't like me or anything like that. But I think we had a lot of mutual respect for each other over the years.

There were a lot of guys on that Ottawa team. When I first started at hockey day in Canada, I had a lot of games in Ottawa and I love covering that team because win or lose, no one ran. You know, Alfredson, who was my favorite ever. So good. Win or lose, he answered the questions.

Spezza, win or lose, he answered the questions. Wade Redden, he answered the questions. Zdeno Chara, Chris Phillips, all their best players. Win or lose, they came out. Danny Heatley, win or lose, they came out, Danny Heatley, win or lose, they came out and they answered the questions. I mean, the late Ray Emery was another guy, you know, win or lose, good game, tough game. He came out and he answered the questions. And there's a lot of people on that team I really liked covering. And, you know, Spezza too remember uh brian morris who was the pr guy

for a long time he said to me once you know spets is a guy you should be asking for his opinion about things in the league and i don't like to bug people a lot but i would and uh that's when i realized and this was a while ago like just how in tune he was with things, how much he paid attention to things. He's a really good voice. And the only reason I'm really happy to see him go into being into the Maple Leafs front office is he's not immediately taking my job away from me. Because if he wanted to do TV, he would be great at it. Take all of our gigs.

You know, one of the things that always impressed me about Jason Spetz is funny because you mentioned the OHl trades and there was something that happened to jason spetz that i remember at the time was a pretty big deal with you know scouts that i would talk to you it was after he was already drafted so it wasn't like it it helped his draft stock or anything and he went you know his second overall draft pick to the Ottawa Senators. So he plays for both, you know, at the end of his OHL career, he plays for the Windsor Spitfires and the Belleville Bulls. So he plays on a small rink and he plays on the international size rink in Belleville and is still, and I think he was still number one the whole time in the OHL.

Like when that happens, you say, okay, there's something there. When you're that guy, when you can do it, no matter what size the ice is, there's something there. Like there was no difference in his game whatsoever the thing about spezza as a player like i loved watching spezza like when he was in the height of his powers like honestly free like every couple of nights there was a there was a highlight goal from jason spezza where you know with that reach with that size with that skill set with those wrists he would do things you're like how how did that guy just like this six foot three 215

pound you know giant of a hockey player how did he do that he's like he's he's you know with his hands he's in his in his feet he's like he's he's five foot nine you know 180 pounds he was just so skilled i mean that whole team like i i still maintain of the previous generation and it's an unfortunate tag like they're one of if not maybe the best team to not win the stanley cup like remember how great ottawa was oh yeah that team was fantastic murderers row havlat hosa spezza like to say nothing of the the blue line with you know chara and redden and phillips like it was volchenkov it was so good yeah great team was awesome and spezza he was the highlight machine he was like the one man highlight machine you could always be guaranteed that spezza was going

to do something that brought you out of your seat. He was such a fun hockey player to watch. That's a really nice career. I know you would have loved to have finished it up with a Stanley Cup, but that's a really nice 19-season NHL career. You know, the other thing too, Jeff, I think about when I think about Spezza is that he's the kind of person I like to try to be in the sense that he treats people very respectfully and is very friendly, but that doesn't mean that when it's in the throes of competition

or there's something that he doesn't like that he won't stand up for himself. Remember, he was supposed to go to the World Juniors, I think a fourth time. And he was like, no, I don't think it's the right thing for me. I've played here enough already. You know, he took criticism for that, but he said, no, this is the right thing for me and I'm going to do it. When Jacques Martin said, you know, this is a man's league, he didn't like it, but he dealt with it the way that you have to deal with it.

If your coach isn't going to be on side, you have to make them on side. I really felt when the business called for Spezza to take a stand, for example, when Toronto put him on waivers last year, he made it very clear. If anybody claims me, I'm not going. And, you know, he wasn't a jerk about it. He just said, look, like this is where I am and this is where I stand and I want everyone to know it. I've always liked that way of carrying yourself polite, but firm. And I think that's kind of what he was or is, is polite, but firm.

No, I, I think this is the right way. I remember in the 2007 Stanley Cup final, after the first two games in Anaheim, he went and he got every shift of his first two games and he watched them between games two and three. And, you know, unfortunately it didn't turn out for Ottawa, but I remember some of the coaches and players telling me about that, about Spezza watching every shift. Like, what can I do?

I know this isn't going great. What can I do to get an edge? Competitive and determined and don't let his friendliness and that smile convince you in any way, shape or form otherwise. I always love those Ottawa Senators interviews on the bike after the game too. Just as an aside, I always really appreciated

those. Finish up with a quick note sticking with the Maple Leafs here uh the blue line and Rasmus Sandin what's happening there I don't know where this is going to go but I think it's something just keeping an eye on you know with Mark Giordano being re-signed they now have five lefties now Brody plays the weak side I'm just including him in because I know someone would say hey Brody's a lefty you idiot so I'm I'm just including him in there you know there's there's Muzzin there's Riley there's Giordano and there's Sandin so there's at least four and you know potentially five and the other thing too is Sandin, he needs a new contract

and Toronto doesn't have a lot of space. So I think that they like him as a player and I think that he's enjoyed being a Maple Leaf and I don't believe he's asked for a trade or anything like that. But I've had a couple people just say to me, watch where this goes in terms of you know does toronto feel they have to create room for him is he concerned about his spot and also is there a deal here that makes sense i just had a couple people say to me

you know don't blow it out of proportion which you, you know, we never do on this podcast. Oh, no, no. But it's something you have to keep an eye on. Like, does Toronto have to clear room? Is the player looking for more clarity on what his opportunity is? I don't know exactly, but like I said, I was told there's potentially something there. We shall stay tuned.

And, Jeff, before we wrap up the pod, number one, NHL referees, all is forgiven after watching the end of the gold medal game in the, uh, in the world hockey championships. Yeah. That was, you know, that was really something. Best refs are in the NHL. I know some people don't want to hear it, but best refs are in the NHL. And the other thing too is, you know,

you had a couple of interesting stories on the women's side, one about Brittany Howard. And, you know, I think we should mention you've been on top of this, of the challenge between the two leagues to either make it on their own or make it as one. And,

you know, anytime the name Billie Jean King comes up, that's a, that's a heavy hitter in the sports world. So why don't you take us through Brittany Howard and Billie Jean King comes up, that's a heavy hitter in the sports world. So why don't you take us through Brittany Howard and Billie Jean King? Okay, so Brittany Howard, maybe by the time you're hearing this podcast, the official announcement's already been made, but Brittany Howard has signed with the Toronto Six

of the Premier Hockey Federation. You know, that's probably the biggest name player to have left the PWHPA and joined the Premier Hockey Federation from St. Thomas. So I know you like that because that's nice and close to London where you went to university. Joe Thornton territory. I know. You love that very much. She walks into this league now as someone you look at and you say, okay, that's an MVP candidate right away.

I mean, she is a really skilled hockey player. right away. I mean, she is a really skilled hockey player. Her contract is like Michaela Grant-Mentis. Her deal was 80,000 US. I don't think that this one is there, but it's probably somewhere around this 70,000 US number sort of in that ballpark. One thing that people may find interesting as well through all of this uh with all the phf signings someone uh is sort of emerging as the uh the agent of choice for a lot of these athletes who's really distinguishing himself is that mike gillis's son spencer gillis who is mike mike gillis's son i mean he represents uh britney howard he did that deal uh mckayla grant mentis the landmark deal uh with buffalo he did that one as well so he's becoming a real big player in all this just remember the

name frege spencer he's a smart kid he sure is really is is there a reason and i don't know this so i'm just asking you why she would go phf as opposed to the Jaina Hefford league? Have not spoken to her. So I don't know. Just guess and speculate. I think that's more fun. That's more fun. Just attribute a motive that may not exist.

Well, I think that if you're the, if you're looking at what's happening with the PWHPA, I mean, their league, their league, their proposed league, and we'll get into this in a couple of seconds, isn't going to be starting until January. We'll probably run from January to April, and this is a guaranteed contract for next season. There are a lot of frustrated players out there

that have been wanting something to happen. You know what I'll tell you? One of the things that I'm told is really attractive here is not just the salaries, which is always good for all hockey players to get paid, and specifically female hockey players, but also the benefits package is huge. It's huge for all these athletes. And this is guaranteed. A lot of the money is already being spent by all the PHF teams now. So I don't know if we're going to see any huge blockbuster WHA, NHL jumps

from the PWHPA to the PHF. But now, like we've talked about this before, this is going to feel like, and Elliot, you and I are old enough to remember it, the rivalry that was the WHA and the NHL. And Haley Salvian was first on this story with the Athletic. You mentioned Billie Jean King. The PWHPA has officially entered an agreement with Billie Jean King Enterprises and the Mark Walter Group.

Now, Mark Walter owns the Los Angeles Dodgers. I believe he owns a piece of the lakers as well and this is the group that's going to explore how to launch a new league now you'll recall in at the heritage classic he's also the guy who's buying chelsea correct so at the heritage classic i reported you kind of buried the lead there a little bit. Okay. Thanks for coloring that one in, Dad. In March at the Rivalry Renewed Game in Pittsburgh,

we were at the Heritage Classic in Hamilton, and I reported about the investment that the PWHPA was looking at, which is in the neighborhood of between $52 to $54 million over a 10-year period, this is what the neighborhood of between 52 to $54 million over a 10 year period. This is what I was talking about. And this is the group that's putting it together. And then as I reported in April on hockey night, it sounds like it'll look like this

six team league in both Canada and the United States. It will run from January to April, 23 skaters per team. The minimum salary is $35,000. The average salary, $55,000 plus benefits, a 32-game schedule, and a new name for the league. The PWHPA is, we know, and it's not exactly a secret, they've been working with Deloitte for a long time to try to figure out how to put a deal together and how to launch a league. So that's where the PW is at. The PHF are filling up all their salary cap space,

signing players. They're launching season eight next season. The PWHPA or whatever the entity is going to be called, they're looking at a January start to their league. So that's the snapshot for each right now of where the women's game is at. I do expect there's probably a few more signings in the PHF that'll come this week.

Not exactly sure when, but probably soonish. I would imagine early in the week. But the big marquee name right now is Brittany Howard, who goes from the PWHPA to the PHF. So that's where the women's game is at right now. All righty. And with that, I will let you know, Elliot,

taking us out, a seven-piece band from Seattle that just dropped their third full-length record. The Dip is a group that has a lot of bounce, creative mixing, and a ton of rhythm and blues. Their live shows as well, amazing. During the recording of the latest record, the band embraced anti-perfectionism as a way to put a spotlight

on each band member's musical craft. I like to think that we highlight anti-perfectionism here on the podcast on an almost daily basis here. From sticking with it, here's The Dip with Apollonia on 32 Thoughts, the podcast. Into the misty morning fog And before I had my boots on You were ten miles down the road Avalon, yeah Tell me what you're searching for.

Apollonia, no man could love you more. Apollonia, tell me what you're hoping to find. Cause in the meantime, I am losing my mind without you. Apollonia.