32 Thoughts: The Podcast - A Weekend That Set the Tone

Episode Date: April 20, 2026

In this edition of 32 Thoughts, Kyle Bukauskas and Elliotte Friedman run through all the Stanley Cup Playoff action from Sunday night:  Canadiens vs Lightning (4:36) Sabres vs Bruins (14:20) Mammoth vs Golden Knights (21:25) Kings vs Avalanche (30:06) In this second segment Kyle and Elliotte break down everything they saw from Saturday's action: Senators vs Hurricanes (38:18) Stars vs Wild (46:10) Flyers vs Penguins (52:23) The fellas also touch on the Leafs (57:25), Preds (59:47), and Canucks (59:56) front office vacancies.  In the final segment hear a couple of interviews from Elliotte featuring Cole Caufield (1:08:35) and Brady Tkachuk (1:18:08) 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

That is the appropriate way to approach Elliot at any airport. Did you pack your power cords? Because knowing you, the answer may not always be yes. Welcome to 32 Thoughts, the podcast presented by your Canadian Toyota dealers and the 100% electric BZ. Available now during Red Tag Days, Dom, Elliot, Kyle, back with you once again. Fridge, the first weekend of the Stanley Cup playoffs is in the books. Tremendous start out at the gate. I am down here in Tampa, this series, Montreal and the Lightning.

It felt like going in. There was a lot of chatter that this could be one of the more entertaining, compelling series of the first round. I'm curious your vantage point from where you were. It felt like a great game up close. Sometimes you got the rose-colored glasses on when it's your side. series or your game that you're working, how did it feel where you were watching from? It felt like a great game. We really enjoyed it. And first of all, great coverage from all of you, Kyle. But Kevin has a question for you that he asked me to relay. Oh dear. This ought to be good.

What is going on with your sideburn? With my sideburns? Yes. Well, I'm trying to, I guess, have them not as beef Kevin doesn't think it's working. He said that you have to look at how Dan Murphy shaves his sideburns and take lessons. He said that your sideburn shaving is weak and Murphs is very strong. And he said also when you were interviewing Slavkovsky in the post game, it was noticeable how poor your sideburns were compared to his. geez. First of all, there's a lot of lessons I can take from Dan Murphy,

sideburns included. I'll say that first of all. I just said a text. I didn't want to say anything, but I noticed this too. Well, I'm glad you guys are telling me this now. Like, thanks. We just went through the full game, broadcast overtime, and everything.

Appreciate you giving me the heads up. Well, I'll work on that for, It's this is a series of adjustments. I'll work on that for game two, Kevin. Because I have to, we figured we couldn't tell you during the game. Do you carry a razor with you due to the game during the game? Oh, I do not. Yeah, I couldn't do anything about it.

Some guys do. I know guys bring toothbrushes to the game. Anyway, it was a great game, Kyle. First of all, you're there. What did you notice? Like, what stood out to you? Any great stories you want to tell about working this particular game? Well, I thought it was a good showing from the Montreal faithful that made the trip down.

Hotels are very difficult to come by down here in Tampa, and I can see why. Hey, there's a lot going on here. There was like a Premier League festival here in Tampa over the weekend simultaneously. Do you have a Premier League team? Liverpool. And actually, coincidentally enough, their mascot at a certain point in the game, it was him and Thunderbug were there in the arena. getting the crowd into it together. So that was kind of neat to see.

But I thought it's funny. Like I love doing games down here in Tampa. They have a great game ops. The crowd is into it. But as a road team, if you're playing well, there is a real opportunity to quiet the building. And Montreal did that for a little while here on Sunday night. And it wasn't until the Josh Anderson goal,

was called back and then shortly after that, Tampa got the two quick ones and the building was alive again. But there is the ability as the road team to quiet the crowd. And Montreal was certainly on the path to doing that at certain points here tonight. And then the final day you're with Slavkovsky in overtime and completing the hat trick. And credit, I will say, credit to you, your gang in the studio there for almost setting that up and referencing Eric Desjardan back in 93, the last Canadians player to score a hat trick

with the third goal coming in overtime in the playoffs. And lo and behold, Slavkovsky is the hero in game one. And comes Suzuki in. Good point Hudson. Down low, Slavkopf, overtime, winner for Yerai, Slavkovsky. Kelly Rudy was the goaltender for those goals, but today he arranged. the memory of that bad moment.

Not only is it no longer the answer to that trivia question because Levkovsky is, but also the Rudy family welcomed another grandchild into their family. Nice, yes, congratulations. Super day for the Rudy's.

Congratulations to all. I thought the Montreal power play, you know the funniest thing is, you know when you say something and you're glad it wasn't on TV because it turned out to be really wrong? So Vegas had a power in the third period of their game against Utah.

And I was, and I was said to them other guys, I said, this power play looks so slow compared to the Montreal power play. The Montreal power play today was buzzing. They looked like the globechrotters. The puck movement was elite. It wasn't on anyone's stick for more than it seemed like a second and maybe two seconds. And they were firing it around any way they wanted to. Literally 10 seconds after I said this, the Golden Knight scored the power play goal that won them the game.

So it just goes to show you can do it in different ways. But, you know, that's the thing. Right before Gensel took the penalty at the end of the third period, I said the last thing that Tampa can do here is take a penalty because that's where Montreal was killing them. Now, someone sent me some numbers that said the Canadians were the better team five on. five, I guess, but they didn't strike me as dangerous. I thought five on five was a bit of a standstill. But on the power play, those Montreal guys, they were so confident.

In overtime, Tampa cleared the zone a couple of times. It didn't matter. The Canadians just kept on entering it back in. Okay, you'll clear it out. Fine. But we're going to get it back in and we're going to reset and we're going to come right at you. And that happened three times.

and on the third one they scored. I know John Cooper was talking about the dumb penalties post game and offensive zone penalties. To me, that was the difference. They took a penalty they could not afford to take. And the moment they went into overtime, I really felt Montreal was going to score there because they believed they were confident.

They knew what they wanted to do. Those guys were all whipping the puck around. Not shocked in the least they scored. And by the way, I thought Lane Hudson Kyle was fantastic. He had the one giveaway on the one goal. He got mad, but I thought he played great.

And Tampa came at him hard, not only physically, but they had a game plan. Like the first time he went behind the net, they were all over him in the first two minutes of the game. They chased him. One guy peeled off and then another guy chased him. They did not want to have Hudson.

They had a game plan designed for him specifically. and he battled through it. I was so impressed. You know, it's interesting about that. Like John Cooper is actually saying before the game, as he's watched Hudson, he goes, sometimes he'll see when Hudson gets frustrated, it's only if he's not making plays.

But he goes, in terms of guys taking runs at him, guys being physical on him, he goes, he's never seen him get frustrated from that. Like he'll always, even as a smaller guy, he'll always battle through that stuff. The physicality won't bother him. and it didn't hear in game one. I just thought all week leading up to this series,

the Canadians talked about how we feel different now. This is not a year ago against Washington where we were happy to be there. We got overwhelmed. We never really felt, like as you said, going in, that we were into the series. This is a different group. The mindset's different.

We're not scared of anybody. All that stuff. And, you know, like Tampa certainly wasn't backing down from anything either here. on Sunday night. But Montreal, kind of, they lived up to what they said they were here,

to come out here on the road to begin this series, because they delivered on their opportunities on the power play. They made good when they knew they had to. And on a five-on-five that was a bit of a standstill, I completely agree with you with that. And they were fine with it. I thought they defended well. So too did Tampa.

It sure is fun watching Brandon Hagle play. I have to say. Oh, yeah. Like he's almost, someone made the point to me, and it's a good one. Like, you think about Braden Point at the height of his powers during their back-to-back cup runs. I know Hegel's a winger. But, you know, I got some similarities of that of just the motor that does not stop running. It was a lot of fun to watch tonight.

I thought it was a great game. It's going to be a long series. And, you know, Dobish, I think, was really impressive. The first time he handled the puck, and he almost dropped it in the net. but and you're sitting there and you're saying, oh, this is going to be a nightmare. He's nervous and he was fantastic. Great game.

You've got a lot of travel between Tampa and Montreal to come, Kyle. Yes. Now, did you see him in the post game? No, I didn't. I didn't get a chance. Well, so credit Keeneye, Craig Simpson once again. Did you see the shot when they came out for overtime? Doebusch accidentally went to the wrong crease?

Yes. We were wondering if it was because of Olympic rules, but then I was saying to myself, he's played overtime games since the Olympics. That's kind of, I think I was, that was a bad theory on my part. It was his first overtime in the playoffs, though.

So, I mean, I guess it's the same, like in the regular season, when you go overtime. You would go opposite end, but it's just coming back out from an intermission. Anyway,

he went to the wrong end. And he was so, he felt, so bad about it. Because he knows, like he saw, if that happened to me, he goes, I would be ticked off if the other goalie's carving up my crease before I have a chance to get there. So he was very apologetic, but did it in a very sweet.

It was a funny moment. Yes. Okay, I have one more thing to say about Tampa, by the way, before we move on. Okay. What's that? So if you were down here right now, there is a chocolatier, a short walk from benchmark international arena.

No. called Hamptons. And I think we've talked about this not on the podcast in the past. I don't know if you remember, but at this place, they sell a five pound soft serve ice cream cone. No way. Five pounds?

Yes. Did you do it? No, no, no. And that's the thing. I'm not going to go. That's not a solo job. I like if I'm doing it, I'm dragging you or somebody.

I don't think anyone I'm down here with if you do it. Kyle and Elliot, I would know. We'll have one cone straws. I just say, yeah, don't even need a spoon.

Yeah. There is a, they give you the option if you want to do the challenge. If you can down it in eight minutes, I think it's free. I have no interest in doing that because I think it's impossible,

but it is a sight to behold. So if we ever end up down here, that doesn't seem like a lot, of time. No. I saw one video, I'm not sure who the guy was, but he's like one of the professional leader guys, and he got it with like two seconds to spare. And that's like, that's his wheelhouse. And he just got in under the time. So no chance for any of us. My point is, if you and I ever end up down here in Tampa together again, we've got a date there. I'm putting it out in the universe, so you're being held to it. You got a deal. I may.

I will try it out. I will try anything out. Okay. So it was just dessert for Yerice Levkovsky and the Canadians in Game 1. Great start to that series. And lots till be decided. Meanwhile, in Buffalo, Elliot, to the city of Buffalo, I hope the weight was worth it.

And I'm guessing that it was from the pregame shenan. that was very on brand to the scenes in that building when the players first hit the ice before the game. And obviously the frenatic comeback in the third period led by a couple of Tage Thompson goals, the reaction in the building, the reaction of the watch party outside of the building. I can only, that video that the Sabres put out before the playoffs, it was fantastic. Just incredible. I mean, I've got no personal ties to that city,

but I'm getting emotional watching these fans kind of relive photos from 14 years ago and how long of a wait it's been and now it's all here. Talk about the perfect first game back in Buffalo for the Stanley Cup playoffs. I mean, a tough one for Boston to let slip away, but sensational theater at Keybank Center.

A cloud carries up ice and tosses him. The moment they scored and a bit left end for Hamas Linnle He gets a handoff The moment they scored to make it two to one It was but eight and a bit left to go I said These last eight minutes for the ruins Are gonna feel like eight years

And they couldn't hold it It was as if you know the damn purse one leak and then they all come and there's nothing they can do about it. You know, Swayman, I thought, was great. He was great for 52 minutes. He, like, I thought Buffalo carried a lot of the play, and Swamen was just up to the challenge. And finally, they burst through,

and there was nothing the Bruins could do about it. And that third goal, the winner by Samuelson, you could just see that whole play developing, And if you listen to it and try to listen to it without the commentary, you can see as the puck's headed to him and he's, or he's coming down on the slot and the puck heads to him, there's this low roar coming from the crowd. Like they can see this happening.

He's about to score the winning goal. And he did. You know, the thing I like most about it for the savers is that we've seen teams that have been in that. situation where it's their first playoff game in a while, and for them it certainly is a while, and you get frustrated, you get frustrated, and you're frustrated, and you fall apart. Like, if you look at Vegas, they were down against Utah a couple of times, but their experience and their depth just carried them through.

They never lost it. They never panicked. They eventually found a way to win. Buffalo, to me, looked like a really mature team. They stuck with it. They stuck with it. They stuck with it. and they burst through and they found a way to win.

That third goal, I mean, the crowd was just insane in there. It was a huge win for them. It was a deserved victory for them. And it's interesting, Amber and I were talking about how a guy who deserves Selky Love was Alex Tuck. And, you know, Amber was the one who pointed out, look how often he's on the ice at the end of a game. protecting a one goal lead. And there he was, and he blew the zone, which can go either way. But in this particular way, it worked, and he scored.

And, you know, the guy was really happy for, there's a lot of guys there I'm really happy for, but particularly Tage Thompson, just in the sense there that, you know, in a lot of ways, Tage Thompson was kind of a symbol for how wrong it was in Buffalo, because he's the key part of the trade that sends him. Ron O'Reilly to St. Louis, and O'Reilly wins the Con Smyth as they win the Stanley Cup. And it took a bit longer, but Thompson has now become a stud. And in this first victory, he scores the two goals that get them back into the game so they can win it. I think there's some poetic justice in that.

You know, I really thought, too, in the Montreal game, Marty San Luis used the timeout perfectly in overtime on the power play. so his number one unit could stay out just before he scored. You know, Stern never called a time out in this one. And after the game, he kind of brushed it off. He said, I didn't think about it. I don't know. Watching that one, I thought Boston could have used it just to calm down the building a bit, slow down the game.

It just, I don't know, sometimes I think it's a good thing to just let everyone breathe, breathe. And, you know, in some ways it's second guessing. And it's easier for me to say that because the sabres came back and won. But I did, I just wonder, and especially in a day where Montreal used their timeout so well, if there was a way that Boston could have used that. Maybe they would have lost anyway. But it could have been, I don't know, maybe they could have just killed the momentum a bit.

Second guessing, though. Yeah. So I was just, I was leaving the arena down here in Tampa as Buffalo tied it. And a few of our crew were at a place just a short walk away. So I got so on, I go, oh, this is perfect. Go get over there in time. We'll be able to watch overtime here. It would be a great finish.

And then, yeah, it was the game was over by the time I got over there. You got there? Yes, yeah. There's no overtime to take into watch. But, no, tremendous there. in Buffalo. It was one that I didn't get a chance to see much of Ellie. I'll be honest,

because it's kind of going on around the same time as the one I was at. But, you know, we talked about going in of, okay, Buffalo played a certain way that made them very successful in a regular season and how is it going to translate? And credit to them, as you say, they carried the way by way of shot volume

and possession time and though they were still down to nothing, or trailing for a lot of that game. They didn't get frustrated. They didn't start changing things. They didn't start to panic. They stuck with it. And it paid off in the end and created a wonderful memory for a lot of fans.

They've been waiting a long time to feel and experience something like that again. And not surprisingly, these scenes around Buffalo were exactly as you would have expected them. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Exactly as you would have expected them. It had a Bill's environment at a Sabres game. Yes. Exactly.

The way at the watch party, the gate was just pushed over at the front there with everyone celebrating when Samuison scored the go-ahead goal. It was great. That gate was not really effective. It had a lack of effectiveness that gate. Yes. Yeah, exactly.

It's whoever is your personal tie-straightening assistant. It's about the same level of effectiveness. Yeah, thanks, bud. I really appreciate that. The coughing baby is more effective than that gate. Yeah. Yeah. Great stuff.

Anything else on that one you wanted to chime in on? No, I think we're good on that one. Okay. So Vegas and Utah, boy, that fourth line for Vegas looked like they were a real handful. And just a great heads-up play by Nick Dowd on the redirect there on the go-ahead goal for them in the third period. But as you guys talked about the intermission, like Utah looked faster than Vegas through 40 minutes. They were one step ahead in a lot of instances. But in the end, it was the experience of the Golden Knights that ultimately,

got things done for them in game one here at home against the mammoth. I want to cry to Hannafin too because I really thought that Hannafin made it on that goal by Dowd that you mentioned. He saw it all the way and he put it right on Dowd's tape. When you watch the replay from behind Hannafin, you realize just what an intelligent play he made to lead to that goal. But Barbashev, I thought he was a very different different player tonight. You didn't notice him as much during the regular season. And Tortarillo started that Super Line together for about a period and a half, Eichl between

Marna and Stone. And then he changed that up. But I thought Barbashev was a very different player. You know, Colossar too. I'm always been a big Colossar fan. I remember a couple of years ago, they played Winnipeg in the first round. And the first game in Winnipeg was game three. one of the jets hit Mark Stone really hard

and Colissar came off the bench for his next shift I think it was Adam Lowry and he chased down Lowry said no you're not doing that to our captain and I've always thought he was kind of an emotional heartbeat for them and this year I didn't again he was another guy like Barbashev who I didn't think was at his best

he wasn't always as effective as we've gotten used to seeing him he was very different in this game. And he delivered a big hit to Kerrfoot. The other one he did at the end of the game, when that wild scrum was going, where Dowd was threatening to send Cooley into the ether next game, you know, he was telling Sergeyev, don't do that, don't do that. It was almost as if he was warning him.

I'm going to let you do a little bit here. but if you go too far, you're going to regret it. And it was almost like he was saying, he was kind of recognizing Surgicchev's importance and what time of the year it was. And he was saying, I'm giving you a line here. You're deciding what's going to happen, but you better not cross it.

And to me, that just said, like, here's a physical, tough player, but he's very much in control. And I just thought guys like Barber Shev and, Colissar were different. You know, Vegas, Vegas has never been, what I would say as a fast team. They've always been an intelligent team, a structured team, a really smart team. And this was this one. Like I really felt Utah at times was really skating up and down against them. But as the game got on, like that's one of those nights where their experience and their poise and their understanding of what it takes, it beats you. And that was this game for me, for them. I'm, I'm, I bet you the, the, I bet you the, the mammoth guys are going to regret it, but it's going to be a lesson that against those guys, like you can kind of carry play for 40 minutes, but you better play 60.

40 doesn't beat those guys. It was impressive how mean that game was. I know it's the playoffs. Everything gets ratcheted up, but there was multiple times where it was more than just a scrum. Like there was some clear messages is being sent early on. And inevitably, as a series goes on,

that starts to go away because the game's become a little tighter as you get closer to a clinching scenario. But I was almost, I'm going, I didn't totally see this coming right out of the gate between these two teams for just how nasty it got at times. But it was really good. I also liked.

I wonder if O'Brien, by the way, gets in game two. Yeah. We were watching at the end and we're saying, geez, I wonder if Liam O'Brien, for exactly what you mentioned, he gets another, he gets in, put in. And amidst all the aggression, Elliot, there was Sean Dersey that sure looked like

he went for a headbut on Rasmus Anderson. Anderson certainly reacted as such. And it was a talking point on the panel. What did you think about all of that And could Jersey be in a bit of hot water here? So I checked the last time there was a headbut suspension in the playoffs was Darnell Nurse Who got one game a couple of years ago

And I'll just say that nurses was much more egregious than that Like that was much sharper a shot Than this particular one. Ron thought it was a love tap. He didn't, did you see the one in the NCAA, Danny Hurley and the referee? a couple of weeks ago that's now like kind of a meme all over the internet. I couldn't believe.

I couldn't believe Hurley did that. That was crazy. Never contact officials. Ron kind of thought it was like a love tap. You know, they could have, you know, like, Dersie was lucky. Anderson said head by head, but he immediately was all over. And Dersen was like, no, like you could see his face like, no, that wasn't a head butt. Come on, that wasn't a headbut.

And if you take a look at the rules, like even an attempt is a double minor. And if you actually call a penalty for headbutting, it's a major and a game misconduct. And if there's any injury, it's supposed to be a match penalty. So I'll just go with this. If you compare it to what nurse did, which was one game, it's not as bad. But anytime you do something like this, and again, the referees gave them the benefits. of the doubt and gave him a break in the game. But anytime you do something like that, you risk it.

And, you know, we'll see. But like I said, the one game suspension a couple years ago, this wasn't that. It looked like he got the visor more than anything else. But to your point, even an attempt can result in trouble. Supposed to be a double miner. Yeah. So I also like that Gassie Cabo Pascall helped you out by providing some content to talk about. and yeah, Logan Cooley

switching the knob of his stick over the summer, gone to a much thicker one. And one that he had for many, many, many years that he finally switched. And what was the reason, again, that he said? Cassie said it was the first time

he's ever switched it. But it was because his hand was slipping off when he was either shooting or getting passes. So he decided to make the change. So it's interesting because I think for a lot of these guys, you know, when they get to the NHL, it would be playing in these arenas with 18, 20,000 people. It's like the warmest environments they've played hockey in for the most of their lives.

Like Connor Bedard, for example, he for like his first couple years in Chicago, and presumably for many years prior to that, Like he was not a, I need to change my gloves up all the time guy because I need dry ones. Like he always liked the same pair that were worked in. But now he's gone to, I think, switching through back and forth between two pairs over the course of a game because he goes, it's so warm in a lot of these buildings. He goes, my hands just get too sweaty. It's slipping on trying to grip my stick. I'm not able to stick handle the puck the same way. So I imagine for a guy like Cooley, it's a lot of.

of the similar thinking of it's just a warmer climate that you're playing in in these NHL arenas and having to adjust. It's interesting stuff. And his goal is a beauty to open things for Utah here on game one. Good game. Really good game. And let's see.

Like I said, can Utah go from 40 to 60? The next game out. Okay. First game of Sunday's action was Colorado and Loddy. Angeles from Denver. Great to see Jared Bednar back on the bench, by the way. Yes. I did get a good laugh out of that Guardians cap that Landis God gave him.

Yes. That was funny. Yes. And it was a look. I'll tell you that. Because that's a man that has a great head of hair as is, and you throw that in on top of it, there is a lot of protection there going on for Bednar. But I thought for a series like this one, where you've got the clear favorite and the clear underdog,

seems like it's the great challenge of can you cast a seed of doubt early for a team like the Kings. And, I mean, they certainly hung around in game one. It was Colorado that prevails. But I just wonder for Los Angeles. I don't think you go about casting a seed of doubt here. any chance just yet. But the fact that they were like, we're digging in here and we're going to give you a series,

at least sets them up for an opportunity to try to steal one on the road here at a couple of days. Well, I did. I'm not surprised they played hard. It was exactly what I would have completely expected. And they did play very hard. But I did think for the most part, like I thought, thought the first period, the Kings kind of took it down to, they kept it pretty tight.

But I thought after the first period, even though it was a two-one game, I thought Colorado really owned play. I thought they had real territorial dominance. You know, it's amazing a couple months ago, Kemper is the third goalie for Team Canada, and now Forsberg's won the job. And I thought he was pretty good. And I thought Wedgwood was good for Colorado. and it was funny how Bednar in the pregame was like, they said, oh, it's his first place thought. He's like, it is?

You figure, especially a guy like Bednar, who is generally very aware of things that are very impressive to be aware of in terms of all the stats and the analytics, and plus he's also a really sharp coach, I was actually surprised he didn't know that. But I thought Wedgwood was good, But I thought for the most part, you know, I thought obviously their best players were really good. I thought Nick Waugh was really good.

You know, Lekhinen, I thought, was good. They kind of move the winger around a bit with McKinnon and Natchez. Like, there were a bunch of different guys I saw playing with them. And Lekinen, of course, scored the big goal. But I still did think for the most part. And D.J. Smith, he was positive after the game. and I think he has to be like that. I just thought generally, though,

even though it was a really close game score-wise, I didn't get a sense that, you know, L.A. was, or Colorado was overly threatened. You know, they got to within 2-1 late. All it takes then is one shot to tie the game. But it, I didn't think they, they played them tight, and they do. As we talked about in the series preview,

they defend very well on five on five, but I never thought they had them in any enormous danger. Oh, by the way, Kyle, before we finish this segment and we go to the final thought, I did want to mention a gentleman by the name of Rick. I can't remember if I was flying back from Ottawa or Montreal. Those were the two trips I was on recently. But I walked by Rick, who was seated in one F on my. flight and we were chatting just briefly and he listens to the podcast when he walks his dog

whose dog is happens to be his name happens to be blue which of course was don cherry's dog and he smiled he said there is a correlation but as i was walking by him he asked me hey did you pack your power cords yes yeah you're like ah yeah he's in my my check I got a good laugh out of that, yes. Like a crazy person. Still unbelievable. Well, Doug, Rick. That is the appropriate way to approach Elliot at any airport.

Did you pack your power cords? Because knowing you, the answer may not always be yes. I had them with me. It may be carry on. Oh, crap. Oh, crap. Yeah. All right. Let's get to the final thought that. Presented by the Toyota BZ and Elliot, we've kind of buried the lead here the last few days.

The in-season cup concluded, of course, at the end of the regular season. Congratulations to Randeep Janda, who finishes as the in-season Cup champion, the Vegas Golden Knights, hoisting the trophy at the conclusion. of the regular season marathon, Randeep's into the money. I somehow finished with the most days as the in-season Cup champion. So I get winner slot number two. That's right.

Talk about a one-year turnaround. It was a disaster zone for me last season. Shut up, Dom. He just sends a text, Elliot dead last. You just concentrate on winning softball games, okay? Well, he did win on Sunday. The streak is over for the Kokeneath. Yeah, I'm really ecstatic for them.

Oh, yeah, yeah. So Randy and Emily Agar gave it a great run, finished with 46 days total. I had it with 53, Randap 37, and, yeah, Elliot, you were last as 34. So another year, Elliot, where you will be facing some kind of punishment. Yep. Emily will be facing some kind of punishment.

But good year. Another good season of the end season cup. No, it wasn't. This was the worst season ever of the end season cup. It really sucked for me. Stuff, you never really got into it. No, I really hated it this year. But I will take my punishment.

Randipe, as you said, has first pick on who, to flog and you have second. Great. Great, great, great. That along with, you know, the draft lottery and the draft itself, it's all part of the great offseason intrigue. What happens in the aftermath of the in-season cup? Another great year.

And thanks to Randeep and Emily for playing along this season. It was great to have them as part of the action. All right. That was the final thought presented by the Toyota BZ. We'll take our first break. We won't have a thought line in today's edition. We'll have that back again come Wednesday's episode, as we are back to three a week during the playoffs.

So we'll take our first break. We'll go through the games from on Saturday, some other news from around the league. And Elliot's got a couple of interviews coming up, both with Brady Kachuk of the Ottawa Senators and Cole Coffield of the Canadians. All of that's still to come on 32. Thoughts, the podcast. All right, welcome back.

So, Elliot, why don't we recap the first day of the Stanley Cup playoffs on Saturday? There were three games in total. It began with the Ottawa Senators and the Carolina Hurricanes. Frederick Anderson shut out the Sends, two to nothing. And watching out when it felt like it was completely Carolina Hurricanes hockey to a T. Ottawa just looked a little bit off, not quite maybe as sharp as they've been when they are their best, but credit the hurricanes because a lot of what they were doing, frustrated and kept Ottawa for what I think they were trying to accomplish to open the series.

You know, I agree with you in the sense. It was typical hurricanes hockey. You know, the puck dropped. They had the big fight. Jordan Stahl acquitted himself very well. There's a story I always tell about Jordan Stahl. When he was 19, one of his first or second year with the penguins, we were there doing a gain, and he had a sled attached to his waist, and he was running or as fast as he could up and down the hallway, and he was carrying a lot of weight on that sled. And Mike Kedar, who was the strength and conditioning coach of the penguins at the time, I was watching this, and I was like, holy cow, and he looked at me and he goes, strongest guy on the team. Like even at 19 years old, he was. He was.

was doing more of that than anyone else. He's a horse. And I'm not surprised at all. He had cleared himself very well against Kachuk. So there were like no shots there for the first five minutes, but I love the hockey. Like it was every inch was a fight. You had to work for everything you got. And to me, it was typical playoff hockey. And, you know, if I thought the senators were guilty of anything. It was overpassing a bit. I thought there were a couple of minutes times, particularly on the power play, where they, and I don't think you can do that against Carolina. I think their sticks are too good. They're, you know, they stick, they're well taught, they're well prepared, and they stick to what they do. And you have to attack, you have to go direct. You know, Kevin made an interesting

point in the, watching the game. He says, because the hurricanes play a lot of one-on-one, You have to, you need more subtle interference. Now, you can't make it so blatant that you will get called, but there are little rubouts and things that you can do. And he felt Ottawa didn't do enough of that. And I think Ottawa's coaching staff is good enough that they'll get them to try to do some of that stuff. And I'm sure Brindamore will be all over the referees to expect that. But you're right.

I think Carolina played their game. They absolutely played their game, and the senators who I still think are capable. Like, I think this series is far from over. I think they're going to have to, they were showed that they have to go to another level. They have to be more direct. They have to cause them more problems.

It was a two-nothing game. You know, I thought initially that puck was in, the one that they, but Jennifer was all over it. She was like, no, the glove is in the net, but the puck is at the front of the glove. It's not there. And the other thing, because Anderson wears a glove where it's white, I think if the puck was in, we all would have seen it, right? So I don't know why anybody does that anymore. Ever since that one a couple of years ago, I would be screaming at my goalies not to do that.

But I thought it was the right call. Initially, when they called it in, I thought, oh, boy, that's a goal. But no, I agreed with the call. I just think that Ottawa's got another level, Kyle, and I think they'll get to it. Now, I will say this. I wanted to shout out one member of the Sanders communication staff. We did a bunch of interviews with Ottawa last week. I meant to do this last pod, but I didn't.

The Sanders were incredible to deal with. The players were incredible to deal with, and I'm not sure which one's running in game two. I assume it's going to be Stootslow, which was also a really good piece. but if our guys got there at like 5 a.m. Kyle to start preparing because the first interview was around 8 and Aaron Campbell of the senators was the one who was there to open the door and make sure our guys got in. So it wasn't the other people in the sense. They don't get up that early. They need their beauty sleep. But Aaron Campbell, I wanted to shout that out, was there at 5 a.m. to let our guys in. And I'll say this too.

It's not like I was there at 5 a.m. That was the crew. I did my beauty sleep also. Yes. But I was there closer to 7.30. That's right. I just heard about it. I didn't witness it.

I was there at 7.30. Now, quickly, what did you think of the Brady interview? You know what? I'll say, there's a group of us that went for dinner Saturday night. And anyway, it was an interesting discussion about the interview. I liked it. I think, I guess it's important to, yes, as you said, like that interview was recorded days in advance.

It's not like you would sat down with him that morning in Raleigh and going, hey, what do you think about your future in Ottawa? That's a different set of circumstances. But it was an interesting debate about that. I mean, I thought the fact that he answered, honestly, the fact that he took it on, I mean, we all know what the narrative has been around there. So I understand why you went there and credit to Kachuk for answers. it the way that he did.

But it certainly got a reaction. Well, you know what? To me, I'm not really caring about that. Like, I don't do things for a reaction. I got a lot of it. I read it all. And everyone's entitled to their opinion. We are playing the full interview as part of this podcast.

And I thought, you know what? Like, all those Sanders guys that we were there to do, they were great. They were excellent. And I just wanted to, there was a lot of passion. response on this, good and bad. I think everybody's entitled to their opinion. I read it all. All right.

So we should also point out we don't have any further update on Artem Zube. Yeah, that's not good. But usually when there's nothing further the day after, it's not normally a good sign. They did call up a handful of players from Belleville. Carter Yakumchuk is one of them. So we'll see how things shake out for Ottawa for game number two as they try to earn the split. Anything else in this game? Yeah, I did want to mention that, you know, that big debate that Kevin and I had about defensemen and the Norris Trophy last week, I asked Jake Sanderson about it.

And Jake Sanderson agreed with Kevin. And I used to think Jake Sanderson was smart. Now I think he's about 75% smart. But anyway, he said he actually talked up two of the D in this series, Slavin and Zoo. He said, Slavin. I think Slavin now people recognize how good he is. I think the four nations last year kind of changed everything. But he talked up Zub.

He said Zub gets not enough credit for how good he is. I like that. And it's big. You know, the one I also too wonder about, like if Ottawa still has trouble scoring, Calli have scored 40 in the American Hockey League this year. I wonder if they give him a shot at all. Very fascinating. Yep.

Okay. So game two for them goes. of Monday 730 Eastern. That'll be on SportsNet and CBC. Meanwhile, down in Dallas, Elliot. For the second straight year, the stars, a brutal start to their opening round series. Another 6 to 1 loss.

Last year it was against Colorado. We all know how that series turned out. This year against Minnesota, message sent by the wild getting that result on the road. I'm still thinking about that Caprizo release when he beat Ottinger short side. We were talking about this. Like 15 years ago, are guys able to shoot that way?

Like, accuracy is one thing, but with the ease, seemingly it felt like, it was almost a flick of the wrist, and that thing was labeled, a short side right by the year of Ottinger. What a start for Minnesota, and yet again, the stars are lamenting a tough start to another series. I think Dallas has just say we'll concede the defeat, and let's start game two. Yes, right. We'll see a game two.

So if Dallas wins this series and whoever they play next round, Colorado or L.A, they should just say, you know what, we'll default game one and we'll play game two. We'll start the series 0-1. You know, we're okay with that. We find our way. You know, there's a couple things about this. You know, Caprizov, you know what that remind me of, and normally you say the younger guy reminds you of the older guys, but it kind of remind me a lot of.

Cole Coughfield. Just that, you know, you give them the tiniest slot and they're going to laser it right in there. I, there's a few things I would say about this. And number one, I like the fact that Gulletson didn't pull Ottinger. I think that the way last year ended, I think Gulletson had to stick with him. Yep. And keep him in. And like, it's already rough enough for Ottinger, right?

But if you pull him, it's all of the comparisons to last year the game they got knocked out. And I also think if you're Gulletson and you're the stars, you want to see Ottinger fight. You know, one of the things we talked about in the, in the playoff preview pod is it hadn't been a great year for him. and you have to, you can rewrite your narrative, right? Well, Game 1 was the worst possible narrative, and it's doubly so because of the way last season ended. If I was in gullets and shoes, I'd be sitting there saying there's no way this guy's coming out of the game.

And I would have told him, I don't care how bad this gets, you're staying in there, and we expect you to fight through it. Now, we'll see what happens for the rest of the series. but to me, if I was on the bench, there's no chance I would have taken Oettinger out. I would have left them in there.

And that's ultimately what they did. The other thing I thought, too, was that Hughes and Faber, they did whatever they wanted out there. Like the Dallas stars aren't the bruisers they were. They're a more skilled team now. But you can't, like, those guys were, they were like dancing through the street.

Stars defense. They could do whatever they wanted. And it's pretty obvious a lot of what Minnesota does comes through that pair. Kyle, I think they have to make the game much, much harder on them. If they, if they can do that this series, this is going to be a short, disappointing series for Dallas. No question. I mean, they've got the ability, certainly Dallas does. Like they've, They've got the heaviness to make life hard on anybody. But it's just another year for them where game one it takes a little bit for them to get sorted out. Were you surprised at all that Wollstead was the guy for Minnesota? A little bit.

A little bit. I thought it was a gutsy call by John Hines. But, you know, Garon's a gambler. So he's going to be okay if his coach is a gambler, right? I mean, you know, it's a six-one game. I don't think you're looking at it one way or the other. But, you know, sometimes I like in the playoffs, you know, coaches to put it on the line a little bit and to say, you know what, I'm going to take a chance. And I think teams respect that when their coaches take chances a bit.

So I was a little bit surprised, but, you know, Heinz knows his team, right? He knows his team. You know, I will say this, I love the shot of Hughes and Garen walking in together. Like Hughes looked like, it was like the president walking in with the Secret Service. It was hilarious. What a shot that was. That was great. And Eric Johnson, of course, had the specialty drinks going in both hands, too.

And oh, my gosh, it looked like a party early down there. You know, I have to say this is one thing where the NHL is really improving. Like the specialty cups, Buffalo, Utah, Dallas. Like, that's good. Whatever you want to put in those. Alcoholic, non-alcoholic, make it fun. I love that stuff. I think it's fantastic.

That would also explain some of Eric's commentary yesterday. We were at dinner and had it on mute, so I missed that. But according to Elliot, I didn't miss much. Gale was too busy tearing me in half. He couldn't listen to the game. Yeah, that's right. All right. When I went to Ottawa last week, I got in late the night before.

I asked Galie if he wanted to meet up and he blew me off and now I know why. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, he's got, yeah, the compound there far off the river. He's going on. Was his birthday last week. He came in one of his kids, I think. So they celebrate together.

Very nice. Oh, good. Good. And you didn't get invited to that either, I bet. No, no. Banned. banned from the household. All right. Battle of Pennsylvania.

Flyers take game one on the road. Did you see that post about all the scraps and the stands, the fan injections like 20 minutes before puck drop? Holy smokes. See, I kind of look at it the opposite way. That's it? That's all the ones that we knew about. That's right.

I mean, come on. I thought the Flyers fans and the Penguins fans were tough. That's it? No, just kidding. Don't. don't try to beat that in game number two. It's, I'll say this. When we worked with Stewie,

the thing I liked about Stewie was, you'd play the first night of the playoffs, and he would go, that guy could win the Kahn-Smith trophy. And I'm like, Stewie, it's game one. But I was watching Porter Martone in game one. And I was like, if Stewie was still with us, he'd be like, Porter Martone,

he could win the Konsmite. trophy and I would just be laughing my head off. I used to love that after game one. He's like, con smite's candidate. But this more tone kid, how impressive is he? And I mean, the playing is one thing. And then you listen to him and you're like, you got to double check the birth certificate there. It's, it is unbelievable. The maturity and he has got the game that it's, it is remarkable, how quickly it is translated from a season in NCAA hockey to now driving stuff for the Flyers to begin a playoff series. That was so impressive.

The confidence, you know, he gets dropped into this in a playoff race and he plays his first playoff game. And there's just a real confidence about him. And the other thing, too, is you could really tell that the Flyers, like you can't fool players, right? you can't fool players. They know who's real and who's a fraud. You can tell that those Flyers players, they think he's real.

By the way he gets to the puck, just the way they are around him. I'll say this too. I mean, I don't know if Couture is Ponce de Leon or whatever, but he has been drinking from the fountain of youth. And I will say that, you know, you can't watch everybody all the time and Flyers fans will tell me if I'm off on. on this, but that had to be the best game I've ever seen Sanheim play. Boy, yeah, excellent.

What a move on his goal. Yeah. Not even the goal, but he just, he just controlled the game. Like when he was out there, it all seemed to flow through him. That's a big part of why Team Canada saw a vision with him. And over 23 minutes in game one, And it was excellent. And yeah, the stuff with Crosby at the end.

And just as soon as I saw that, I could hear the Crosby line from 2012 of, I don't like anyone on their team. When they faced the flyers in the playoffs. It was good. It was good. You know, I think Pittsburgh will be a lot better. Like, to me, Mews is a guy who will,

he's got to sharpen off hockey mind that he'll look and say, okay, this is, because they didn't get a lot, right? Kyle, like I didn't think, like for a team that scored as much as they, did in the regular season. I mean, tell me if I'm wrong, but I didn't think they were dangerous as much as they showed during the regular season. So some of it, I'm sure he'll say, look, you guys got to drive through it.

But secondly, I'm sure he'll make, he's smart enough hockey mind. I think he'll make some adjustments where he'll say, okay, this is what they did and this is what we're going to have to do to counter it. There's 17 shots on goal for Pittsburgh. And yeah, if anyone can get to the bottom of what exactly Peter DeBoer told Rick Talked over the Olympics of, you know, have you thought about this defensively with your team? Because it has made a world of a difference. Do you think of the Flyers win the Stanley Cup, DeBoer gets a cup ring?

Yeah. Well, I think, yeah, that would be a consultant. I would be making a call if I was Peter. I would too. Yeah. I would too. Hey, remember, remember what I told you, Rick? Edmont and Anaheim, Kyle, we talked about that on Friday's pod.

so we'll let that one stand and we'll talk about it on the next pod. But I was glad to see Dickinson skating. The way Dry Settle has been going, I'm not too worried about him. Dickinson, to me, is a big one because I think he makes them all fit. So I'm hopeful. I think he's a really good piece of that puzzle. And I thought it was a good sign from Edmonton that he was at least practicing on Sunday. We'll see.

But we'll break it down. We already did our preview of that. that series. Yeah, you bet. And I guess he was centering his own line at practice as well. So another good sign for Dickinson and the Oilers. Okay, just some news bits here before we wrap up, Elliot. So you want to quickly go through the Toronto GM search, Nashville, latest there. And then, of course, we'll get to what's going on in Vancouver. Yeah. So we'll do the quick ones. Toronto, another name I believe they've interviewed is Scott White. who is the assistant GM in Dallas.

And I have thought for some time that eventually he would get a chance. You know, Scott White is not a guy who walks into a room and dominates it. But he's a bright guy. He's obviously been, like Jim Nills the boss in Dallas, but he's his lieutenant. He's one of those guys who is kind of that Jack. of all trade that we've talked about. He's done a whole bunch of different things. He interviewed as part of the

Nashville process. I think they spoke to him twice. I had thought he was going to go in person, but as far as I know, Kyle, he has not. But he is the kind of person who I expected would be on Toronto's radar. And I'm under the impression they did interview him last week. Now, I think Toronto is going to do some in-person follow-ups.

I think we should get a clearer picture of that this week. And I'm not surprised that White fit the profile because he's one of those guys who's been interviewed a few times. And it's almost like you're wondering if someone will he'll finally break through and get that opportunity. But he is somebody who kind of does. when we talk about the silos, Dallas hasn't siloed him. He's done a bunch of things. And also, like he's negotiated, he's run their HL team. There's been times I've seen him and Jim Nill together on the road.

And he was a player too. He was drafted by the Nordic, although he never made the NHL. He had a career in a lot of the North American minor pro leagues. I think he played for about five years. So there's a lot of experience there, and I'm not surprised that he would have been on their radar. We'll see. Nashville, I believe Tom Fichiel goes in this week.

We'll see where that goes as part of it. Now, Vancouver. So it is pretty clear to me that, and I think anybody who watched the media conference from Jim Rutherford on Friday has the same opinion. that whoever wins this job is going to be running the Canucks. Like this is the next hockey operations boss of the Canucks. And Jim Rutherford admitted it.

His time there is getting shorter. It's just a matter of when, not if. So this is an interview for or a process for the next hockey boss of the Vancouver Canucks. You know, the whole thing with Alvin is, I just think it came down to this. If Rutherford was out, then I think Alvin was going to be, the choice was hand him the job or not. And I think ultimately ownership decided not. And, you know, it's the same thing I kind of feel about foot. I think a lot of the problems here, they might have taken it, they might take it.

They might take some people down with them. I don't know that it's entirely fair. I don't know that it was in complete control of everybody who might be sacrificed here. Unfortunately, that's the way this business goes sometimes. The most difficult thing for me to predict is what ownership will do. Because, Kyle, the ownership's history is familiarity. This is the first time in 20 years. where they've made a change and they didn't have someone immediately there to do it.

When they fired Dave Nones, they had Mike Gillis ready. When they fired Mike Gillis, they had Trevor Linden ready. Lyndon left, but when they fired Jim Benning, they had Jim Rutherford ready. This is the first time they've done it without an obvious successor. So there is no basis to completely predict what they're going to do. You know, I think Ryan Johnson, I think if it was up to Rutherford, this is my guess, he would recommend Johnson and say it's his time. Last year, they basically ripped up his contract.

They gave him a new one. They gave him a raise. They said, you're here. I think this whole thing about the predators is weird. but I think the Canucks look at it like we made a deal that he was saying that's it and it's like when Kyle Dubus when the Maple, when Colorado offered the job to Dubus and the Leaf said no, Mike Babcock found out after that story came out and he said to Brandon Shanahan he said you have to make him the next GM that's the way this works and I don't necessarily

think they did it because Babcock said that but Babcock made his made the position perfectly clear and a lot of people agree with that. So I think if it was up to Rutherford, he would promote Ryan Johnson. And, you know, I mentioned the name Sam Ventura. That's another guy that Rutherford knows is young and has been through a rebuild. And I have heard that the Canucks are going to value people

who've kind of been through there because they want to know what to expect and how long it takes. I just don't know that ownership is going to be ready for this. I think ownership likes familiarity. And if you take a look at a lot of these searches, it's a lot of new. And it's leading to a lot of grumbling out there, but it's a lot of new. I just want to see, like, I'm sure ownership knows Ryan Johnson a bit, but they don't know Ventura.

From outside, the biggest question about Vancouver is, is ownership ready to take that kind of leap? Or will they want a more familiar person? Like I look at what's happening in Nashville and I look at what's happening in Toronto. Nashville was looking at new. Now they've got Fitzgerald come in. Toronto's list looks really new, with some exceptions.

This whole thing about the amount of GMs who've won a Stanley Cup with two teams. I was talking about this with someone yesterday. I wonder if that's something that's at play here, Kyle, is that people are, and the last six cups have been won by people in their first job. I was talking about this with a really veteran exec, a guy who's been around a long time.

He wonders if people are looking at that evidence and they're saying, why don't? If that's the trend, why don't we go in that direction? I think it's to me that Knoch 1 is going to be fascinating because, like I said, familiarity is their history

and they're in unfamiliar territory. How they're going to handle this is very hard to predict. But from an ownership perspective, I mean, do you not look at how things have gone the last decade and say, can we really keep doing and thinking the same way we have been? Or like, I know you pointed out, despite how difficult of a year it was on the ice, revenue was good for the organization.

So I think there's still very strong revenue wise. So is that enough to think, well, if we keep going familiar at some point, they believe it's in a turn. I'm glad you asked that, Kyle. That's, in two years, that's the smartest question you've ever asked. because I'm not like I'm being serious. I think that's a great question. I think it is a great question. And I can't sit here and say to you right now I have the answer.

By the way, I think also too, if we're looking for cheat notes for the Canucks, they're going to want to know what you think about the top of the draft. Like if we get pick one, who are you taking? If we get picked two and this and this player's gone, who are you taking? I think that's going to be, I mean, It's the biggest question facing. It's probably even bigger than who the GM is going to be. Right.

So, look, I mean, could you see a scenario where they delay naming somebody until after they know where they're picking? I might. I mean, it's only two weeks, right? Yeah. I know you obviously. The lottery is two weeks tomorrow. So I might. And you know what?

Like New Jersey had their guy and they swooped right in. Like, if you have a guy. and you take them, you swoop right in. But it's not the worst thing to wait and see where you're picking. Yeah, fair point. Because if you end up third and I would like to see Vancouver finally win a lottery, they've had too much bad luck. But let's just say you end up third.

I would be grinding candidates in my interview. Who are we taking? Okay, what if X and Y are gone? Who are we taking and Y? What if A and B are gone? Who are we taking and why? What if C and D are gone? Who are we taking and why?

I would be grinding that. Yes. Now, of course, you've got a whole amateur scouting staff that have been pounding the pavement all year and value their input too. But it's a fascinating equation with this whole process that Vancouver has undertaken here. All right. Why don't we take one final break? When we come back, as Elliot promised,

the full conversation, not only with Brady Kachuk that he did earlier in the week in Ottawa, but also the interview with Cole Caulfield in Montreal shortly after scoring his 50th goal of the season. Both of those audio interviews will have that for you on the other side. You're listening to 32 Thoughts the podcast. Okay, so Cole Caulfield, a couple of assists on Sunday night in game one in the Canadians 4-3 overtime victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning. the day after he scored his 50th goal of the season, also a game against Tampa, coincidentally enough.

He spent some time with Elliot talking about the season, getting to 50, that moment, all of it. In fact, they also, obviously you won't see it, but they did go through the video, Cole watchback, the crowd's reaction when he was called out for the first star, and of course celebrating being in that building when he scored 50 just a couple weeks ago. And so you'll hear him react to that and that interview in its entirety here.

Caulfield and Friedman on 32 Thoughts, the podcast. Have you lost the whole thing? No, I'm going to watch the whole thing. But it's kind of walking through that. Like, what are you thinking? Honestly, not much. Like, they kind of happened pretty fast to in the third. You know, Slav to get that goal was huge, too, just to have that feeling.

You always want to win those games. And, you know, those are the ones you remember. So, honestly, just felt good to get the win. But I think just hearing the crowd, they wouldn't stop, it's pretty special. So Montreal is the cathedral, right? And I think, you know, if you're my age Canadian, you've seen a lot of great players get that ovation after the game. and everybody kind of says the same thing, goosebumps. Was that for you too?

Yeah, you can't really describe the feeling when you're on the ice day after the game. And, you know, people don't leave. Usually, you know, I think other fans get out of the building, find their cars, and try to go home. But these people, they want to embrace that moment and, you know, couldn't be more thankful for those opportunities. Okay, so the story I got told was someone called, me after the game, I'd sent them a note saying that we were about to interview you,

and they said that he has come a long way on the big stage. And I go, can you give me an example, and said that the first time you tried out for the U.S. National Development Program in your tryout, you didn't score at all. Is that true? Yeah, I don't even know if I had a shot. I think that was pretty eye-opening for me. It was all the best kids in your age group, and for me that was kind of the first time. I was a part of that kind of whole crew

and definitely made me realize there's a lot of work that needs to be done. And honestly, I kind of left every game thinking I wasn't going to make that team and I'm very fortunate to end up getting that call and change my life for the best. How did it change your life for the best? Obviously playing with those guys,

the coaches and the trainers that we had there every day, getting to compete with those guys every day, definitely push me. And, you know, I think without that, you know, maybe my mindset's totally different, but, you know, you're hungry every day there and, you know, no next day is guaranteed. So one thing that Marty San Luis says about you is we're talking, he's talked about making you a complete player. And he said that the thing that really works for you is that it's not about I've arrived. It's about how can I consistently get better every day? And you've got that attitude. it's not that I've made it

or even though now you've an incredible accomplishment, 50 goals, you're not going to sit here and you're going to say I've made it. There's still more to do. Where did that attitude come from for you? I would probably say my dad from a young age, his go-to quote is once you're satisfied, it's time to quit.

And I think that kind of stuck with me in pretty much everything that I do. And I think you've got to live your life like that too, not only just with hockey, but with life too. And, you know, for me, I think I'm always trying to get better. I think, you know, with my size and everything growing up, it was never, nothing was ever good enough. So I think not being satisfied in that way, always pushed me.

And I think I bring that energy to the rink and try to, you know, bring people with you, bring your teammates, bring the energy up, and just do what you can to make everybody around you better. There's a lot of follow up with that question. Number one, that's the number one thing that Marta San Luis. You would say you are more happy for other people's successes than you are for your I would say like seeing people succeed. I like seeing people's work pay off and those are the moments that you get to enjoy with the team and that's why you work so hard. So for me, seeing

other guys find ways to get stuff done is, you know, very important for me. Matt Sundeen, they always said that about Matt Sundy. He was happier for teammates to score than he was for himself. That's a good compliment, very good compliment for you. second thing about it is okay so tell me one thing that you've worked at that you're better on the ice and one thing in life that maybe you weren't good at that you've worked at and you're like now on and off the ice i would say on the ice it worked a lot this summer and this year about like keeping my feet moving you know it's scoring opportunities i would say um and that's something that's you know kind of your feet and brain have to kind of go together so that's i struggle with that a bit

the years passed. And I think off the ice, it kind of goes hand in hand, but, you know, not getting frustrated when things are going your way. And, you know, Marty always tells me just to breathe and relax and, you know, find something else to think about even in those moments. I think you can't dwell on anything and just move on and get ready for your next shift. So when the crowd was chanting on you, that was your breathe moment. Just breathe, right?

Exactly. Were your teammates busting you about that when they saw that? They're always busting me. It's just another day. That's good. That's the sign of a close team. Corey Perry asked him last night what he remembered about you, and he said you were a darter,

that you always dart into open ice, and that you're always ready to shoot. Is that a fair way I describe you? I like that he's saying that. That's huge. I would say, yeah. Probably could have said a lot worse. Yeah, for sure.

No, that's pretty cool. But I think, yeah, I've always tried to, you know, find ways to get open and be in the right spots for my teammates to make it easier on them. But I think, yeah, I'm always ready to shoot. There's no really bad shot, I think, in the O zone, in between the dots. And, you know, I think I've gotten better with picking my spots at times. But I think that's the go-to, always trying to get open and make it easier for everybody else. All right. Away from the ice.

Who is the group or the group of people? that really, like Reggie Jackson, the old Yankee, I'm the straw that stirs the drink, off the ice. Who's the straw that stirs the drink of the group of them in Montreal? Of our two, we might have just, we might have a crew of guys. I'd say all the younger guys that kind of we've been doing this, you know, for the past four or five years. Just deal with those guys every day, kind of grinding it out, you know, where we've come from, it's definitely been pretty special to be a part of. And, you know, we push each other every day.

but honestly I'd say Arbor is a huge part of that, Slav. The big guys. Yeah, the big guys. Goals has been huge with that too. But we just honestly, like, away from the ice, we're always hanging out too, which makes us, you know, really close. I think it's a special, you know, thing that we have here. And, you know, nobody really wants to leave.

So that makes it pretty cool. Last one for you. Martens and Luis said that there are events you've done. There was a race once. where I guess everybody was put up into groups and had to build something. Yeah. He wouldn't give it all the way. He said he stacked his team.

He did say that. Yeah, I could tell. What is this story? So we do, before the year, we do like a little team building exercise that has the loser kind of, you know, get owned and have to do something at a team dinner. And it's all, like, kind of fun and whatever. But I don't know if I had, you know, a tough team. worst team but I think my next best player on my team was dobs and he doesn't really do well with kind of these activities that we do it's a good thing he's good at goalie but um like we were stacking

you know like pasta with marshmallows and trying to make a tower out of like yarn and like just random things and Marty had everybody like he had an architect he had all these guys that he hired brought in but um it's just those those fun things that kind of bring you closer it's you know finding ways to get through things and made it a lot of fun but definitely I had to wear a costume to team dinner so that was fun. Did you your team had to do?

Oh, we lost. We didn't even, yeah, ours was like tilted over, falling over. There's always you know nonsense going on but those are fun of that. Dare I ask what the costume was? No. I'm sure you'll find a picture somewhere at some point. Cool. Thanks so much for yourself.

And from Goal-Cafield to Captain Kachuk, Brady of the Ottawa Senators, and Elliot Friedman on 32 thoughts. Crazy year. Like, I can just, you know, I was talking about it with a couple of your teammates already, and especially for you who wears the sea. Like, I think there's a lot of things you know that you're going to deal with, and I would bet that this would be a year where there were a lot of things that sort of came out of left field for you.

For sure. There's a lot of things that, uh, No, usually on a normal year, not really dealing with. And I know individually it's, it's, you know, now starting the podcast, you know, know, know that there's going to be more eyes and more, you know, people, I guess, judging or kind of basing perceptions of, you know, ourselves, you know, how focused are we truly are, but that's more a side thing that we're having fun with. And realize that the more that we put ourselves out there,

the more people have, you know, opinions on. So, now, realize that, that's kind of one piece of it. But, you know, it's, it's been different. You know, of course, this year at the Olympics and, you know, love being a captain here and I've been here for eight years. And it's been amazing and, you know, molded me into who I am. But, you know, when the opportunity comes, I'm an American and I'm going to do absolutely everything I can for the flag

and for the red, white, and blue. And, you know, coming back. after and all the celebrations stuff like that. That was one that kind of caught me off guard too because in my head, I'm like, I just achieved my childhood dream. I had once in a lifetime opportunities of certain things after that. I would never pass up on it in a million years. Just so honored and blessed.

And so, yeah, it was interesting to kind of push back on different, you know, things that, you know, it's all new. But for me, it was nice to be able to, you know, lean on guys in the room, you know, my family, my friends, and not just, you know, individually kind of try to get through that. I was very lucky to have no village to help me get through that. All right. Six weeks since the gold medal and the win, is it something that still bothers you, the aftermath to this day? I wouldn't say it bothers me.

It's, I mean, I guess the only thing is a thing that's always missing in that, that I guess makes me a little sad is that, you know, I achieved a child. out of a dream and that should be the talking point versus all the other stuff. And all those guys in the room, it's been 46 years since the U.S. has won a gold medal. And I mean, we just can't even wrap our heads around what we're able to do. And the amount of people that come up to us, you know, at the ranks, away from the ranks, you know, telling us where they were watching. And like that puts a smile on our faces of how much support that we had and how prideful we were to represent everybody in the U.S.

and not everybody that got us there. So I think, yeah, I mean, I guess it's a little upsetting that, you know, politics got involved. And right at the end of the day, it's now the guys in the room, 25, 26 of us just achieved a childhood dream that has been done in the U.S. for 46 years. All right. I guess there's a question that comes from that, Brady, and that is in any way, will any of that affect your future with the Ottawa Sanders? I mean, all, like, the distractions that have happened this year has been nothing that I can control. And just people have, you know, like anything, have they right to their opinion? I mean, they're not in my head what I'm thinking.

They're not in the team's head and what they're thinking. So, no, for me, my mindset has always been just all that stuff, all that noise, just don't even listen to it. Can't control it because it's just a waste of time for me to get upset or, or, distracted by it because at the other day, all I care about is winning, winning a Stanley Cup and now being in playoffs, having the opportunity to do that. All right. You know, it's last one on this topic. Someone did say that to me recently is that just where we are and, you know, we're in a

situation where this is always going to be a thing, Brady Kachuk and Ottawa and his future until either you sign a long-term deal or something else happens. Do you kind of look at it that way? It's just a thing that we're all going to have to deal with. Yeah, I mean, I think it's, you know, people are always going to be talking about it. And for me, it's important. It's never come from my mouth. I don't think it's ever come from the team's mouth.

It's just people have the right to their opinion and, you know, talk about, no, what could be what might happen. But at the end of the day, it's my sole focus is winning the Stanley Cup, no, one any one here. and given absolutely everything I have to know this team and the guys in the room. All right, this year, there were a lot ups and there were a lot of downs. We kind of talked about it. The one thing that a couple guys have already said

is that the focus in the room was always like, ignore the noise, be calm or a good team. Did you ever doubt that? I've never doubted that we were a good team. I felt that every single night that, you know, we had a good chance to win and if we play the way that we need to play, play to our identity that we're a hard team to beat.

And, of course, there's games where, you know, get the balances or you don't feel, you know, a couple individuals don't feel great or, you know, for myself, I don't feel great. And just trying to grind out. And obviously, sometimes you just don't get the result that run into a hot goalie. But I think that belief never wavered, I think, you know, for us in those times, in the low times,

we're never thinking long term. And we're never thinking, oh, we lose this game while we're not going to make playoffs because of it. It's just drop that game. It's focused on to the next game. We win that game. We tried like we were focusing on the next game. It was always just that, you know, short-term focused about getting what we need when we weren't playing and just being ready to go to play.

And I think that's what got us here. And I think you can get easily distracted of, you know, going back, you're seeing how many points back you are from some teams, how you are from playoffs. You start calculating, okay, what games need to win for us is just. just win the next game and if not reset and win that next game. So I think that in a grand scheme of things really helped us and mold us into who we are. There's a lot of if the Sanders get good goal tending, they're going to be a real problem. You feel that way? I've always had trust in our goalies and it's not just on the goalies.

It's on us, no players in front of them too. There's times that we had terrible changes and it led to a goal. It's never on a position. It's never on a person that it's always the five guys on the ice or, you know, situations, PK, it's on the guys on the PK, and it's on everybody. It's on power play. It's on special teams. It's never one person.

And I think that's what's great about our group is that, no, our jobs are always helping each other. like, no, our goalies, Lainess, rhymes, you know, have made huge saves and bailed me out. And now, there's defense from that, you know, I've helped bailouts, now, forwards, goalies. It's everybody's always on the same direction and the same team. So, you know, for us, we're confident. We're confident in ourselves. We're confident in our abilities as a team and what we can do. But can't look too far ahead.

It's, you know, whatever we have, it's going to be a complete battle, a complete war. And we just got to be ready for it, right from the first shift. Well, I think that's one thing. I really feel it's obvious here that last year, Brady, like, you guys were just happy to be there. This year, we're not just happy to be there. Like, you're almost, there's definitely a feeling that from the moment the puck drops in game one, you're going to be better prepared for this. You understand better now.

I think last year, too, just, you know, kind of reminiscent. It's the Battle of Ontario is hyped up. And first playoff games for a bunch of guys that were just like, all right, let's go crazy. Let's go nuts. Like, what's playoffs all about? and just, I think we just got a little distracted from it, and I think rightfully so was our first time getting to that position that those things were going to happen.

And I was really proud of, you know, games two, three. I know we dropped those games, but I thought we played, you know, really well. And that's the lessons that you learn in playoffs. It's just, you know, one goal games, O-T, anything can happen. And, of course, games, you know, four and five making it a game and making it a series and game six, you know, tying up late.

I don't fortunately lose that, but there's so many lessons along the way that we learned that, now, each game's a new game, new focus, new opportunity in that. And for us, we've been playing playoff hockey since almost Christmas, it feels like, with how this season has gone. So I feel like we're used to it. We're not, it's not going to be a surprise to us what playoffs is all about anymore. We have that experience. We have that understanding and felt like we've been playing playoffs since Christmas.

All right. Travis Green, we've seen the video of him saying, ignore the white noise, ignore the noise. I've heard Steve Steeleis has met with you guys at times and said, we got this, we got this. What was the best message and most important message that you delivered this year? Oh, I mean, I don't know.

I think for me it's just embracing the hard road. I just tried saying that for the last month and especially with all the injuries that, of course, there's key guys out, but we just have everything we need in this locker room. We don't need anything else but our best, and that's what we're going to bring every single night. And, you know, luckily for me, it's not just me saying things in the room. You have so many guys, you know, rhymes a couple weeks ago,

really instilled a lot of faith and belief in the group of, you know, he spoke up, said stuff. And I think that's what's great about our group is that, you know, everybody can say something. Everybody has their own experiences, their own, I guess, perspective on things and can really take a lot of value

and what guys say and what guys think and I guess just made our group of that special. What do you say? It's been around a long time. He's seen a lot. What do you say?

Yeah, it was just like he just said that he has every ounce of faith and belief in every single guy in this room. I think we're playing Buffalo at home and of course those are must-win games and just it says it doesn't matter what happens with this game that, you know, I have every ounce of faith and belief in this group that, you know, we're going to win tonight. We're going to get the job done.

And I know everybody in that room was just, you know, looking at them. And they can really see the excitement and the energy grow within a guy and just see that they're going to give absolutely 100% of what they have. How did the Olympics change you for the better? That was such an incredible, like, you know, as a viewer and Canadian, I loved everything about the Olympics except the last play, but it was phenomenal for you guys. And how did it change you for the better? I think in those high stress environments of those big games, I think the most important thing is just having fun with it. Like just, I mean, it's great to be nervous.

It means you care. It means you, you know, truly want to win. But, you know, in between periods on the bench, like, it's fun. It's fun to be out there. You want to be out there. you want to make a difference. You want to be the guy that brings it home for your team or makes an impact and helps the team win.

And I mean, it was just so much fun just to be around with the guys and truly feel that that team environment, that everybody was going to do whatever it takes and just bringing that back here that, you know, some of these big games, it's not stressful to be in those games. It's fun to be in those opportunities. It's fun to be in those games. Like, those are the games we want to play.

And that's kind of what I brought back, that perspective of just having fun with the hard road and having fun with the challenging, kind of where every, those games where you need everything on the table to win, that those are the games that are the most fun. Matthew, you were there for Matthew. I think he owes you a trip to Ottawa in the playoffs. Will he deliver? Talk with them.

I know for sure he's going to come to a game. No, of course, but with his family. with his young family now that I'm not sure if he's coming up here yet, but I know that everybody's been on him. So he recognizes it. He knows, and now I think he'll be definitely stepping foot and on the road at home, not sure yet, but he'll be in attendance for a couple of those games.

Okay, so you two are two of the most ferocious competitors in the NHL. He's now a father. You're about to be a father for the second time. which of you two tough guys is the bigger pushover dad you or yeah that's tough because my little guy now he's he's a year and a half and he just knows i'll do whatever he he says he wants to play hawk i'm playing hockey wants to go down a slide i'm coming down with so he's got me he's got me pretty good right now but matthew's been texting us just updates and and uh i think she's she's wrapped him around his finger already so she's he's uh diaper duty he's he's he's a diaper duty he's he's

He's getting used to that. So I'm going to go with him. I think he's, I know how great of a dad. He already is a couple days in, but how great of dad he's going to be. It's, it's, I can't wait for all the memories together. All right. No doubt you are too. Thank you, Brady.

Thank you. Our thanks to Brady and to Cole and the senators and the Canadians for making those interviews happen. Okay, Monday night, four more games to satisfy your playoff hunger. A game two, Penguins Flyers, 7.E.C. For viewers in Canada, that can be seen on Sportsnet 360, also at 7 Eastern 4 Pacific. Hockey Central, the pregame show will get you set for game two between Ottawa and Carolina at 730 Eastern. That can be seen on CBC and Sportsnet. A little after 930 E.T.

That's a late one in the central time zone. Game two, the stars looking for a bounce back at home against the Minnesota Wild. And finally, the Edminton Oilers and the Anaheim Ducks begin their season. series. That's the late one on Monday night, 10 Eastern, 8 Mountain Time on CBC and Sportsnet from Rogers Place in Edmonton. More fun to come. And of course, as we mentioned earlier, we are back to three episodes a week now throughout the playoff season. So you don't have to wait until Friday to deal with us again. We'll be back on Wednesday. Talk to you then.