32 Thoughts: The Podcast - A Sweep And Some Tension

Episode Date: May 25, 2022

Jeff and Elliotte are still in the studio! Jeff still doesn't have power, so the guys are still recording in person following Game 4 in the Battle of Alberta. Jeff and Elliotte discuss ‘the goal’ on Mike Smith (0:30), and the boys recall some historic comparables. Next up, the Carolina and NYR series: they discuss the Canes' struggles on the road in the playoffs, some great play from Andrew Copp and Alexis Lafreniere (6:00) and another huge hit from Jacob Trouba on Max Domi in Game 4 (9:00). There is a preview of the possible series-clinching Game 5 between St Louis and Colorado, as well Kadri’s response to the brutal online and on-ice hate he has received since his collision with Jordan Binnington (11:45).The guys also give their reactions to Tampa Bay sweeping Florida and the quietly brilliant coaching of Jon Cooper, as well as the grit + skill combo that makes TB so successful (15:20). After their Presidents' Trophy season was followed by a quick exit, what’s next for the Panthers? What is the future of Bobrovsky and Joe Thornton? How are Florida going to pay Barkov, Huberdeau and everyone else moving forward…and where the heck were they the night before Game 4?Get your limited edition 32 Thoughts merchandise line HEREMusic Outro: Blood Wizard  - Breaking EvenListen 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 recorded by Shoaib Alli, mixed by Mike Rogerson, and hosted by Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman.Audio Credits: SportsnetThe 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 want to get into all of that. No, no, no, I'm going to leave all that alone. Why? Light it back on fire. Coming down in 3, 2, and 1. Here we are, Elliot, once again, ruining the gimmick. You're supposed to be driving home, yet here we are face-to-face once again, because I am still without power at home.

Welcome to 32 Thoughts to Podcast, presented by the all-new GMC AT4 lineup. We will begin with games, but we will get to news. We'll talk about the Flyers coaching search. I want to get your thoughts on Kirk Muller as well. Yes. And a couple of other news items towards the end of the podcast here today. Let's start with the BOA Game 4. This one had a whole lot of intrigue and head spinning and neck twisting along with it. The opening goal, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins,

whether it was the Rasmus Andersen shorthanded long-distance goal on Mike Smith. This one had a whole lot of everything. And at the end of it, 5-3 is the final. Evander Kane with a pair of goals, and the Oilers have the Flames on the brink of elimination. I thought it was a great game. I really loved it.

I think we all thought that maybe the Oilers were going to blow the Flames out of the building in the first period. I actually thought the Flames played not too bad in the first period, but they gave up a power play goal and two really opportunistic goals, and in that moment, it doesn't matter

how well you're playing. You think you could lose 8-0, but they recovered. They tied it. Let's be honest. How many people thought that when Anderson scored that, what was measured as a 132-foot goal, that Edmonton was going to win that game?

Not many because momentum was on Calgary's side. And normally when a goaltender lets a goal in like that, it shakes them mentally and it leads to another goal. See, I think of three goals like that. Cloutier. Dan Cloutier, 2002 and, you know, for those of you who

don't remember... Oh, it skipped past Cloutier in the first shake in the armor of the Vancouver goaltender. And I think it just eludes Cloutier. It looks like he goes to catch it. Lindstrom, right at center ice, folks. He's dumping it in.

We'll dump it in on net. There'll be a rebound. We can get a four-check established here. And that just goes right through the glove hand of Dan Cloutier. Detroit was a powerhouse that year. Vancouver won the first two games on the road. They shocked the Red Wings. It was 1-1 late in the second period of Game 3 in Vancouver,

and Nicholas Lidstrom scored that long goal, and the Red Wings won four in a row. The second one I think of is Tommy Salo. Same year, 2002, Olympic quarterfinals. Sweden and Belarus tied at three with two and a half minutes left. Belarus scores from outside the blue line. Sweden loses. The thing I'll never forget about that one is,

one of the Swedish newspapers, I don't know if it was Aftonbladet or a different one, they put all of the Swedish players' faces on the front page of the newspaper. And what they were making in the NHL. It was so bad. And the third one, Ron

reminded, and I was watching it on my computer as the game counted down. Game 7 of the 1971 Stanley Cup Final. Chicago, which hadn't won a Stanley Cup at that point in a decade, was up 2-0 on Montreal. And Jacques Lemaire scored from center ice. Then Henri Richard scored twice, and the Canadians won Game 7 3-2. So generally, you don't win if that happens. And I'm really happy for Ryan Nugent Hopkins.

And I love the interview at the end of the game with Oki because he's trying to contain his excitement and he just can't about the idea of going to the Stanley Cup semifinal. I thought it was a great game. I'll say this. I have had people in my mentions and my direct messages accusing me of pro-Calgary bias.

I've had people in my mentions and in my direct messages accusing me of pro-Edmonton bias. Specifically McDavid. I had people sending me some hilarious gifs of giving me the impression that I'm slobbering over McDavid a little bit too much.

Even the producer, Brian Spears, said that once. I think this has been a great series and I am, like, sometimes he gets to 3-1 and you think it's over. I don't think this one's over. And I don't know if Chris Tanev is going to play Game 5

and he was clearly hurting. I just wanted to shout him out because he showed big brass once. He was hurting. When you saw him go to the bench, did you not think to yourself, this guy is in a world of pain right now? I thought that on the second goal. I thought maybe he wasn't going to be able to play because he lost the puck battle in front of the net,

and I thought maybe he won't be able to play. Do you remember what I said to you and Kevin on the way to intermission, the second intermission, what the turning point was? Yes, that's right. Zach Kassian trying to Peter Forsberg. The hockey gods did not smile upon Zach Kassian trying to Forsberg. Zach Kassian, for the second time this year, also wiped out one of his own teammates.

Oh, what a hit behind the net. Oh, man. First of all, all credit to Zdorov for sensing that was coming because he would have been clobbered by Kassian and Archibald. But earlier this year, Kassian had a game where he ran over William Lagason. Yep. What a great game. Great hockey.

Great series. Like I said, Calgary on the ropes. But this is one of those three ones where I don't think it's over. It wouldn't surprise me if we came back to Edmonton on Saturday night. I was going to say, flames are up against it right now, but are you calling this done? No, no, no. I don't think this one's done.

I think Calgary's got something left. Not even close. Okay, the other game, the New York Rangers and the Carolina Hurricanes, and fitting with form, as we've seen from the Hurricanes so far this season, they lose on the road. The Rangers win. We have a 2-2 series. You know who was great in this game?

Who's that? Andrew Kopp. Yeah. We know about the sweepstakes, trade deadline, all of it. He's been bonanza for the Rangers. And that goal, by the way, someone who doesn't get enough credit, and it's tough, man. You've got like Zbatecad and Kreider and Panarin

and all that. On that Kop goal, the play by Ryan Strom to feed the puck to him, gorgeous. Gorgeous play by Strom. But I thought Kop was outstanding tonight. Well, I thought he was great, and I think he's like a lot of players who are nowhere near 100% at this time of year. I think it's really affected him.

He was a great player on a night they absolutely had to do it. I thought, what did we talk about going in? Was Shostakhin going to be tired? You know, he got tired last year, and his game kind of fell apart a bit. He had a busy workload in Game 3. He held it. He was very good. You know, the guy who's really starting to come to me, Jeff, is Lafreniere.

What did you think of him and Svechnikov? What's wrong with it? No, I thought it was awesome. This whole thing had a bite, and we focus a lot on Domi when it comes to the bite in this series, but Svechnikov going at him hard, Lafreniere no problem with any of it. Svechnikov the only guy going off on a penalty. Yeah, I had to say I wasn't crazy

about that one. I understood why Brindamore was mad about that one. I understood it. Svechnikov, he's shown it. He fought Ovechkin a couple years ago. He had the big hit on the Boston defense, Lindholm, earlier this year. He's shown in the playoffs

he is going to do things physically and engage himself. I just think that Lafreniere, and it's so hard when you're the number one pick because he's not the unique talent like some other number ones have been, but he's a really good player. And I see a guy who's really rising to the occasion of this postseason. He's one of those guys who clearly loves the playoffs. He loves the big stage.

He loves what's expected of him here. I think he's getting better. I'm curious to see what he does next year because I could see this guy saying, I feel so much better about myself as a player now that I've had this kind of a run. He is freakishly strong, too. I remember watching him with the very Colts

and thinking, this guy, A, he looks like he's 25. And physically, Jacob Trickwin was this way as well. When he played in junior, he looked like he was 25. Sveshnikov is the same way. That guy is torn up. The other guy for me coming out of the playoffs so far, and we'll focus on this series, obviously,

that's really, I think, getting on people's radars more so than before. Ryan Lindgren. He had another strong game with a couple of assists. He was... Ryan Lindgren's really distinguished himself. And you know that, listen, we've talked about it before, he's gutting it out right now. He's nowhere close to 100%. He's still in there swinging. That's a...

That's someone I think that's, you know, on a team full of stars, really starting to pop. See, I think the guy who's sort of become the key, or a key, a major key, whatever kind of key you want to call it, is Trouba. A huge penalty, an enormous hit by Jacob Trouba. Ooh, as he goes right through Max Domi. Domi was falling as the hit was made. So he's about waist high.

Watch where Domi's body is. I think there's going to be a conversation among the players after this year. Like, how do we feel about all this? Like, there's nothing wrong with that hit. If the player who's getting hit, their body or head materially changes right before a hit,

it's on them. As long as the hitter doesn't change as well, as long as the hitter goes, continues the same trajectory. And by those rules, that's a clean hit. I do think there's still going to be a conversation after this season. I've heard there's a lot going on. I don't know if I would say a lot, but I know there is an effort going on behind the scenes from some people who are saying we have to do a better job of protecting the head. Now, I don't know what that's going to mean, but I do think there's going to be a conversation about it. More of a European standard? It's funny you mention that because in the World Championships the other day,

with a game that Canada lost to Denmark, Max Comtois was ejected for a major. And there were people who did not like that he was ejected for that because they felt it was kind of embellished. I didn't see it directly, but I was told even on the broadcast, people were saying, wait a second, that's not a five-minute major. So I don't think going to the European standard or the International Ice Hockey Federation standard is going to work here, but I do think it's being talked about.

Whatever the case, I didn't think that Trouba hit was illegal, but I do think that he continues to gain even more of a reputation of somebody you really have to be aware about on the ice. And I think he had an excellent season all around playing with Miller. And I just think that Ranger team with Lindgren and Truba on the blue line, there aren't a lot of teams like that anymore. And they punish people. And that's one of the reasons.

I can't figure out Carolina. I don't think Rant is playing poorly. I look at them at 0-5 on the road, and I just don't get it. I think that team is too good to be 0-5 on the road. It's something I really can't explain. I can't figure it out either. I don't know that anyone can. I don't know that Rod Brindamore can.

I'm not sure that the players can. I'm just willing to chalk it up as one of those freakish things to start off playoffs. I do. They're struggling a lot more to score than I thought they were going to. Like some guys on that team I really thought were going to score. They're not scoring. I still think

they should win this series, but they're in a lot more trouble than I thought they would be. Quick preview of game five, St. Louis and Colorado. This is an emotional one. This one is heated, and it could be the end of the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday. Well, I think number one is, can they regain their composure? I'm surprised St. Louis lost their composure as much as they did in game number four. They handed that game to Colorado because they couldn't control themselves. I was very shocked at that.

I think they're generally too mature a team for that. I think that's the number one thing. A lot's been said about Cadry. We talked about it the other day about how embarrassing it was. The one thing I'd like to add to it is that it sounds like there were some real consequences for the people who got exposed. And that's not a bad thing. It's a lesson to them and it's a lesson to other people that if you think you're going to get away unscathed, you might not get away unscathed.

And you shouldn't if you're going to do something like that. And I hope if there's a lesson to some people that comes out of this, it's that there are consequences for you if you're stupid enough to do that. You learn a lot about people in the playoffs, and Huso had a great regular season. This is new. And I still think that guy's a really talented goalie, but I think he's in a situation now where he's learning to understand how much different this is. He's never had to be in a position where he had to make the big save. Yes. That is enormous.

And I was also very happy for Bo and Byram the other night. Two assists. Guys had a really hard, tough year. And, you know, obviously that was Cadry's night. I think it was the biggest performance and the best performance of his NHL career, considering everything that was going on around him. I just wanted to say that I was happy for Byram, too, considering everything he's been through.

Look, I mean, there's a chance it could be Colorado Edmonton. We'll see. McKinnon versus McDavid? Don't want to see that. Yeah, who's not going to want to see that? Not interested, no thanks. But the Blues and the Flames are going to try to find a way to spoil it. I just think the biggest thing is, one,

can the Blues keep their composure? And number two, you know, who so? He's got to find that level, and it's hard. It's really hard if you've never experienced it before. Tampa Bay Lightning sweep the Florida Panthers. Before we get to the Panthers and what's next, do you have a

thought on Tampa specifically? We've talked a lot about Vasilevsky. We've talked a lot about Stamkos, Kucherov, Hedman. Specifically, John Cooper. You know, I think that John Cooper has a really good pulse on that team. The players there in Cooper have battled a lot more than I think we're aware of. But I think everybody there understands each other now. I think Cooper knows

that he's got a team that gets it and he probably doesn't have to push their buttons as much as he used to. If I was coaching that team, first of all, they wouldn't have two Stanley Cups, but if I was coaching that team and I saw the way they played...

More swept in the first round in the Cubs. I don't even know if they would have gotten that far. If I would have watched the way they played game two, I would have been like, you know what? This team doesn't need a lot of prodding. They know what to do. Look, I think everybody there understands their role. I think everybody there understands what it takes to win.

They were vulnerable when Vasilevsky wasn't there yet. That game four, Jeff, we could have played that in front of the week, and they weren't scoring on Vasilevsky. It's funny. I look at Tampa. The point that I was trying to make on radio today, I think I made it with you as well, that I'm getting these 1983 Islanders vibes from them

with a skilled team who's putting the accent on sacrifice and stitches and bruises. And we've talked a lot about this over the past couple of podcasts as well. But it's an interesting point that you make about John Cooper and his relationship with his players. And you know there have been battles. Because I get the feeling that this team is kind of like a marriage. And Cooper knows where the wins can be and he can push there and he knows when to just let someone be.

They've been together for a long time. They've had a lot of success. They've had some failures. Some of it's spectacular. The lows have been low and the highs have been really high. I look at this relationship that this coach has with these players and it is

comfortable. but not like everything's everything's great and he approves of everything i get the impression that there are some things that john cooper can put up with because he knows it leads to greatness even if he doesn't like it but he knows that these players can perform for him in this circumstance, in this situation, rather. I look at this team right now because I'm fascinated with Tampa, just like I was with that Islanders early 80s team. And the relationship, Kelly has talked a lot about Al Arbor

and relationship with the players and how we talk to the players and knew when to push. And, you know, the pat on the back is close to a kick in the butt. And you have to know when to use what. And I really get the sense that it seems like this coach has been married to these players for a while. And he's not angry, frustrated, and doesn't want out. He understands how to make the whole thing work. He knows where to push.

He knows where to concede. He knows where to, quote, unquote, lose a battle to win a war later on. That's how I see Cooper with the Tampa Bay Lightning. I think there's a lot of truth to that. It'll be interesting because when Arbor was being honored by the Islanders, we did an interview with him, and both Healy and Rudy said his skill was knowing when to step on the gas or step on them and when to let go. If they'd lost 10 in a row, Arbor was not too hard on them. When they won 10 in a row, that's when he really grinded them. That's when he was really on them. So Kelly Rudy said to me

that I had a father, but my second father was Al Arbor. And when I relayed that to Arbor, he started crying and asked us to turn off the camera. Because he said later he didn't realize his players felt like that about him. I'm curious to know is when all is said and done, is that the way the Lightning are going to talk about John Cooper? I don't know. I don't know. I think, you know, and I don't know the answer, but to me the most unbreakable record in hockey is Glenn Hall 502 straight starts. That's not going to get time.

That never gets time. We're never seeing that again. No. But the place where Tampa is right now is the Islanders set the record with 19 straight series won, which I don't think will ever get broken. However, if you look at the last decade or in the salary cap era, Chicago won three cups. Nine in a row. But never repeated. The Kings won two cups.

Never repeated. The Penguins went back-to-back. They got to nine. They lost the 10th. Nobody's done this, what Tampa's doing. To even get to half of what the Islanders did, to me it's unbelievable. And they're the favorite against no matter who they play

in the Eastern Conference Final. That's the one thing that I've wondered to myself right now, trying to compare eras and great teams. Because I keep going back to the Islanders with this Tampa team for whatever reason. And what's the value of four Stanley Cups in the early 80s to hockey right now? What's the correlation or what's a direct comparable to four Stanley Cups in the early 80s to hockey right now, what's the correlation or what's a direct comparable to four Stanley Cups in the early 80s? Is it back-to-back Stanley Cups?

Is three Stanley Cups right now worth four Stanley Cups in the 80s? In your mind? Boy, that's a great question, Jeff. I'd be really curious to know what the audience would say about that. I have no idea. My gut tells me we're there right now getting to three, and three would cement it. Really, maybe the answer is two, but three really cements it.

Three Stanley Cups right now is worth four Stanley Cups in the early 80s. See, I think the goalies are better now. I think the overall player skill is much better now. The game's much faster now. And the game is hard now. But, Jeff, in those days, players took pieces out of each other. Oh, yeah.

I think you pay a physical price now, but not like then. Back then, fighting was much more prevalent. And hang on, and the way they fought was different. And the way they hit each other. Hang on. Eye gouging,

hair pulling, biting, like all of it. It was just, well, that's a fight. That's a fight. Whoa,

really? And what they did to each other on the ice with their sticks and things like that. That's the thing I would look at and say is different is I think you still have to pay a huge, like these guys are hurt. And in the playoffs, you and I talk about this, they do things to each other they will not do in the regular season. I just don't know if it's anywhere close to what those guys used to do to each other in the 70s and early 80s.

Okay, so that's a conversation for another day. The other side of the Tampa Bay conversation right now are the Florida Panthers. Yeah. And they get swept by the Tampa Bay Lightning in spectacular fashion. No Braden Point in the entire series, which is spectacular. Florida, this juggernaut offensive team all season long, they're putting up seven, eight, nine spots on the regular. Muster only three goals in this series.

Yeah, you know, it's really interesting. A lot of the reaction that I've kind of dealt with from there. I didn't think that Bobrovsky was the reason they lost. I wonder how the organization feels about him.

Statistically in the playoffs, his numbers weren't great. I think it's really crazy to blame him when you only score three goals. And I suspect that they tried hard to trade him this year or at least lay the groundwork to do it. I don't know if it's possible, but I think they really worked. I've heard they really worked on it. Like they really tried to see if it was possible. And that might also just be a function of the salary cap. As you've talked about, they've got some big ones that hit next year.

Oh, boy. And so that might have been a function as much as anything else. I didn't think this was on Bobrovsky. But I have heard that they're just generally like they still don't feel it was as good as it could have been. I think there's an expectation when you're making that much money that you steal games. Yes, I think that's fair. I think that's totally fair.

And they probably want Knight to play more. I liked what happened with them in the first round. Washington had a good blueprint and pushed them, and they were down, and they found a way to win the series. But they got wiped out here. And it's going to be interesting to see what they think internally about this. Because I definitely think there's a feeling of, once again, we couldn't get to a level of the lightning. That they pushed them around.

That they go to a level that Florida is not capable of at this time. And I think that even though Florida outshot them in a lot of games, I also heard they felt that their quality of chances were not that great. Like they got shots, but how many great chances did they get more than Tampa? That last, that game four, they were all over Tampa. They were all over them. They were all over them. But I just think they look at their group and they say,

you know, unless you're crossing over, you're in that division, you've got to get through Tampa at some point. Tampa can check. As good as Kucherov and all those guys are, they can check. They play tough. These are all the same questions we're asking about Toronto, right? Tampa just gets to a level

that nobody else can get to right now. So how does Florida get there? I do think that Florida's going to ask some of their players that you have to become angrier. I could see them saying to some of their top players, like, you've got to have the mentality of a Kucherov, the mentality of a headman. You've got to have more of that. But I'll tell you this. I think there's some other things. Number one, and I can't believe

we're actually discussing this on this podcast, is what happened between games three and four. Like, was there a trip to somewhere they shouldn't have been after that game? Now, I think some players were asked about it, and I heard some of the players said, that's BS, and it didn't happen. And I've heard some of the players have argued that it did not happen. I mean, it was so crazy, Jeff. I'm reading tweets from people saying, I have really good sources in that industry,

and they're telling me it did happen. Okay. Like, I'm not here to argue with anyone. It was just a hilarious tweet. I've heard that some of the players were, like I said, some of the players were questioned. They fought back against it. And I guess it comes down to what does the organization believe?

Do they believe it happened or they didn't? And if they believe it happened, what does that mean? But I've heard some of the players push back against that. But if the organization believes it at all, and I know Burnett denied it, you know, what does that mean? And then

finally, you've got Andrew Burnett. Is he back? I do believe there was at least one and probably more conversations about an extension. But now, how does everybody feel? Okay, so a couple of

things there. One, to what may or may not have happened between games three and four, the night before game four. My thought on it is that it doesn't matter, considering how well they played in game four. Where they were the night before, allegedly, did not show up on the ice. They played an excellent game. They got Vasilevskied. They could not score. Let's assume that the story

is true. Do you see any evidence of that on the ice the next game? All over Tampa the whole game, free. To me, it's not about that. I think the reason it's not about that, Jeff, is it's because it's clear to me that it didn't cast the organization in a very good light. What do your fans think?

That's what you're worried about if you're the Panthers. You've just had your most successful season in 26 years, right? Yeah, sorry, my math is terrible. Sorry, I was told there would be no math. You just had your most successful season in 26 years, right? Yeah, sorry, my math is terrible. Sorry, I was told there would be no math. You just had your most successful season. Just say, since 96. Yeah, you just had your most successful season in 26 years. And, you know, it's painful the way this season ended.

But you're trying to build something, right? You're trying to build something. And there's a lot to like there. Like, you can look at your core and say, we have a chance to be good for a long time. You don't need that. It's not good for your organization. It's not. Now, if you were to tell me for some reason that if this happened, it was a sanctioned thing, maybe I could buy an argument with that but the problem is

you're sitting here as a panther and you're saying really? this is what we have to deal with as we're trying to save our season against the Tampa Bay Lightning you don't want that, you don't need that in your market I just didn't see any evidence of it

to me it's whatever you do on the ice what you did the night before as long as it doesn't hurt what you do while the game is on, I don't think it's anyone's business. I got to tell you, I don't think you'd find too many people that would agree with you on that. Not for a playoff game.

Anyway, we're probably spending more time talking about this than we should because we don't know if it's true. I just wanted to bring it up because it's a thing, but there are people who are saying it didn't happen. I can see how people in the organization will look at it and get miffed about it. My whole

point is from the player's point of view, they showed up the next day and they performed, man. They played their hearts out. So what now? And the big question is, and you mentioned Andrew Burnett, the big question is also Claude Giroux and what happens there. And this is a team that's going to face a salary cap situation

again. Barkoff goes to 10. Verhege goes to just over 4. So you're already in a salary cap situation, and now it gets a little bit tighter. What happens here? Well, I think the thing is that, again, it's probably like a lot of other situations.

I think you have to take a deep breath and breathe. My question is for Giroux. You're tight to the cap. Do you think that your money is best spent on Giroux or a player or two? They're good bargain hunters. They've been very good bargain hunters, Florida. That's one of the reasons they've been successful. Or is your money best spent going in bargain hunting?

Or bargain trading. Or bargain trading. Now listen, you know I'm going to bring up Jacob Chikrin. Because that was the one team that was married to Jacob Chikrin. The problem now with Florida as well. They don't have a first rounder for three years. They don't have the picks. But the thing is, I don't have a problem with that. I problem now with Florida as well... They don't have a first-rounder for three years. They don't have the picks. But the thing is, I don't have a problem with that.

I think that that's who they... This was their year to shoot their shot. Yeah, it was. So I don't have a problem with that. Look, Tampa Bay... Look what they gave up for Hagel. But you have to have good scouts. You have to be able to hit your home runs later

in the draft. So I understand what Florida did, but I'm looking at Giroux right now. Unless you're moving something else out, I think that's a luxury you can't afford. That's the one thing we said about it when the trade did happen. You're getting a luxury item. Yeah. You're getting

a luxury item there. But it was worth a shot for me. This was the all-in year for the Florida Panthers. Yep. To me, I see them a little bit like Toronto in the sense that I think they're going to have to get some guys. Suddenly, you're in a division where you have to find people who can grind and check. You have to

find your Nick Pauls. You have to find your Brandon Hagels. The problem is, you know what? Everybody else is trying to find those guys, too. But in this division, you really need them. Yes, you do. One of the other things now with the Florida Panthers, as we talk about Barkoff, his number going up,

and Verhage's number going up, Jonathan Huberto is one year away from free agency. That's going to be another big ticket. It is, and I'm sure that they will. I wouldn't be surprised if they've had conversations about that already. I think the people involved would probably start doing that. He's going to be in a lot of hard ballots this year. I'm sure it's going to be a big number.

I think at the end of the day, you've got to say to him, look, we recognize it's a big number, but we've also got to win here. You've got to find that sweet spot. Big decisions for Bill Zito on the horizon. News and notes from around the NHL. John Tortorella in Philadelphia. I thought it was interesting that Chuck Fletcher came out with a statement that we're not going to be doing this.

You know, I understood what Tortorella did talking about it. I think he's walking the fine line between I want to be private about this and I'm being paid probably pretty handsomely from a media company. talking about it. I think he's walking the fine line between I want to be private about this and I'm being paid probably pretty handsomely from a media company, so I have to say something to the media company. I do think there are people in the Philadelphia organization, and I would not be surprised if Bob Clark was one of them, who's big on the John Tortorella train. I still do think they're a potential for trots, and I still think Rick Tockett's going to interview there. You know, the guy I'd like to mention is Kirk Muller. I've heard that Philly

is interested in Muller. I think also Winnipeg is interested in Kirk Muller. You know, Kirk Muller has been a head coach once before. People would like to hear, you know, what he learned from that experience, but I'll say this about Kirk Muller too. People have looked at Calgary this year, and particularly the improved play of players like Lindholm down the middle, and they think that Muller has a lot to do with that, and some of the improvement of some of their forwards, particularly his two-way players, and I think that Kirk Muller is going to be in a few of these situations, and I think Philly is going to be one, and I think that Kirk Muller is going to be in a few of these situations. And I think Philly is going to be one. And I think Winnipeg is going to be another.

I think for Philadelphia, it is going to be crucial to have a coach that can take a young player to the next level. Because it sounds like there's going to be a lot of young players around the Philadelphia Flyers the next couple of seasons. Well, I think with Philly, it's going to come down to what they think they can do this offseason. And Mueller's a really smart guy. Yeah.

At the end of it, too. So, you know, we didn't do this when we talked about Florida, but we should. Joe Thornton, I was happy to see he got back in. Don't know what his plans are. He has said to me before that he would like to play in Switzerland

for a year or two after his NHL career was done. You know, his wife's from there and he'd like his kids to get the full experience. That was several years ago. I don't know if the plan is still the same. You know, I'd like to see him win a couple puck battles and make a couple nice passes. I don't know if this is it, but I love the fact that we got a chance to watch him in one more playoff game. I'm glad that we got to watch him. It would have been awful to see Joe Thornton,

if this is indeed it for Joe Thornton, to retire as a scratch. I'm just glad that he got on there. He was one of my favorite players. I'm talking about him like he's already retired. He is and has been one of my favorite players from day one in the NHL when he first started with the Boston Bruins.

A really fun hockey player. He was both laid back and intense when he needed to be. I still think about him fighting Lindros when he was a Boston Bruin. I think about him fighting Getzlaff off the draw, as we all can recall from that San Jose-Anaheim series. And that generation of players, there's two guys who were the sublime passers, Joe Thornton and Marc Savard. Those two, I don't know that I ever saw anyone consistently make better passes

than Joe Thornton. And he loved the game, obviously, and loves the game. Because you don't last as long as he is and battle to keep playing as long as he is if you don't love it. Joe Thornton, media. Oh, he'll do whatever he wants to do. Whatever he wants.

He's one of those guys. Remember when it was it for Pronger and we all said the minute he wants a media gig, it's his? Joe Thornton. Same way. Good call. Same way. Was it for Pronger? We all said the minute he wants a media gig, it's his. Joe Thornton. Same way. Good call.

Same way. Anything else to add before we wrap up and hop in our vehicles and head home? I don't think so. You look tired. I want you to get home. I got to spin back here and do radio tomorrow. So let's wrap this one up. Taking us out, Elliot is a Nottingham-based musician who we featured last season and is now on our 32 Tracks Amazon Music Playoff playlist.

On his debut album, Blood Wizard, wasn't afraid to explore all types of sounds from rural folk to urban post-punk. From Western Spaghetti, here's Blood Wizard with Breaking Even on 32 Thoughts, the podcast. Enjoy. I'm an early riser, didn't think I'd see you here Running away You know something but you won't tell Could you think my body will crumble under the weight

And I'm all covered in bruises and I got my teeth in a bag, well, I cut out the rest of them and give you the entire set, so I'll break even my fingers bend so far back I'll never go straight again well, you said it was an accident

and I guess it's a pretty good party trick, so I'm