32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Aaron Sorkin Couldn't Have Written a Better Ending

Episode Date: May 24, 2024

In this edition of 32 Thoughts, Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman revisit an incredible double overtime game between the Edmonton Oilers and Dallas Stars. Afterwards, the fellas delve into the latest NHL news. They begin by talking about 'Canes GM Don Waddell being given permission to speak to other teams (13:17). Then, they park some time to chat about some of Carolina's players that could be on the move, including Martin Necas (19:06).  Jeff and Elliotte talk about the Boston Bruins potentially targeting Elias Lindholm this offseason (23:28), and they unpack what was said at the Canucks' end of season media conference (25:09). The fellas discuss Rick Tocchet winning the Jack Adams (32:05), before weighing in on the nominees for the Jim Gregory Award (34:25). That makes way for a conversation about Sheldon Keefe being announced as the New Jersey Devils next head coach (36:00). They also talk about Jim Hiller getting the interim tag removed in LA (41:13). The guys wrap A block by talking about Gabriel Landeskog's future (45:24). Jeff and Elliotte wrap the podcast by previewing Friday's Eastern Conference Final tilt between the Panthers and Rangers (50:32). Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call the Montana's Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemailThis podcast was produced and mixed by Dominic Sramaty and hosted by Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman.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.

what was it like sitting in the box while that penalty was being killed obviously what you think you guys after a song long really long really really long um miserable um i hate it every second of it you've heard of the car cast well meet the walk cast welcome to 32 thoughts the podcast presented by the gmc sierra elevation elliot friedman on his way back to the hotel from the american airline center where connor mcdavid almost ended it in the first overtime and then did in the second overtime edmonton draws first blood in this best of seven against the dallas stars three two is the final score and geez i don't even know where to point to to begin to tell the story of this game elliot this one was up and down and around and over and out the door

and around the block. Where do you begin with this one? What a great game. Fantastic game and a great atmosphere. The building in Dallas was tremendous. It was really a great night of just watching hockey. I guess you got to start with McDavid, right? Aaron Sorkin couldn't have written a better ending than this one.

McDavid having the first overtime he did, getting the double minor for high sticking, having the one chance that, you know, like I said on the air, Jeff, there isn't anyone on God's green earth who didn't think he wasn't going to score there. Everybody thought wasn't going to score there. Everybody thought he was going to score. Ottinger made a hell of a play, but so did Tanev. I think

it's... I'm just still watching the highlight and it's been almost an hour since that play happened. I still can't believe he didn't score. And then, of course, he finds a way to score the overtime winner on a great play by Evan Bouchard. So, I mean, it was really an incredible night.

You know, the 10 of Lindell pair gave up two goals at even strength in the first 13 games of the playoffs. And McDavid and the Oilers got them three times tonight. And I don't think it's fair to say they stole the game. I think they were the better team for most of the game. And again, they grinded one out. But that's a great win for the Oilers. It really is.

Now, sticking with McDavid, was there not a part of you, and I know it was towards the end of kind of McDavid's shift, but when Esselindel caught him on that breakaway, did part of you say, what's going on? Is that a Fox 40? Is that the call in the background there, Elliot? That's his direct traffic.

When Esa Lindell caught him on that breakaway, did part of you say, uh-oh, what's up with McDavid? You know what, Jeff? There's the old line, nobody's 100% at this point in the playoffs. But yes, I think people, Vancouver defended him really well. Really well. The Canucks deserve a lot of credit for the game plan that they put together. And I'm sure Dallas is copying some of that. But I think it's fair to ask if there is something a little bit deeper here. Now,

McDavid had been on the ice for a minute before that happened, but we're so used to him being superhuman, Jeff, that while we would accept that about most players, we don't accept that about Connor McDavid. So, yeah, I think there's a lot of people wondering if something is going on here, but it's not like he's going to make excuses about it. And if we ask him, you know, he's going to give us that McDavid glare that can literally melt skin off your body. Hmm. Yes. A couple of things here, the goaltending. Stuart Skinner stops the Donoff on the breakaway in the first period.

Ottinger stops Warren Fogle on the breakaway in the first period. It's nothing, nothing after the first period. And the thing about this game like the goalies were both really good but also the one thing about Edmonton that I was really impressed by is how much they pushed it like they're on the road um and they really push you know dry sidle scores uh hyman scores I know Sagan comes back to tie this thing he scores a pair of goals but right after Tyler Sagan scores that goal that makes it 2-2, what happens?

Dylan Holloway, breakaway, speed, Oilers pressing, Oilers pushing. And they were, Elliot, the entire game. Like, I don't want to take anything away from Dallas. Like, that's an excellent team. I was just super impressed with Edmonton. After going seven games with the Vancouver Canucks, it feels like the Game 7 just wrapped up about 10 minutes ago. And there were the Oilers pushing, pushing, pushing all game long.

Yeah, I completely agree with you. Dallas was the rested team. And I didn't even think they were dopey. Like sometimes teams get off for a week and they look dopey. I don't think that was the case. I think Edmonton just wrestled this one away from them for a good chunk. Now, do you buy my theory that Ottinger knew the Holloway move

on his breakaway attempt? Yeah, I saw you based on what happened previous. I believe that goaltenders have a breakaway and shootout book, at least goaltending instructors do and goalie coaches do, have a breakaway book and a shootout book on everybody in the NHL. I really do. So I believe that theory. I think every goalie knows everyone else's tendencies.

I think that's your job as an NHL goaltender. I know the goalie coaches are very specific about it too. Yeah, and so I thought that one there. But to me, the heroes of the night were Edmonton's penalty killers. The penalties were 5-1. The four-minute kill in overtime. The whole building thought Robertson scored on that one that hit the post. It was like the penalty killers did an incredible job.

Those must have seemed like the longest four minutes of McDavid's life. But, you know, like there were no passengers for Edmonton in this one. No passengers at all. That was a full team win. And, you know, again, they, you know, Darnell Nurse in the morning was asked about 2022. And he talked about how they really didn't understand what they were getting into when they reached the Western Final against Colorado. He said it was over basically before it started. They never knew what hit them.

And we're different now. And they're showing that like the Oilers are winning games in these playoffs that you don't think of typical Oilers hockey. You think of typical Oilers hockey is run and gun, beautiful goals, McDavid and Dreisaitle scoring to get them out of any trouble. And in this series and last series, they're grinding. You know, they're not getting a ton of different people scoring, but at the very least, they're battling everyone to a standstill. And, you know, that's what you do in the playoffs. This team has come a long way in a very short time and they grind out victories more consistently than they did. Now that all of

that said, this series is far from over. I have a theory on, I have a theory on Hintz. I think he's a game or two away. I think Dallas was kind of thinking if they won game one, you could rest him until game three. If you remember when Colorado won the cup, you know, Cadry, and I think it's a hand thing for hints. I don't know exactly what, like a hand wrist thing. You remember Cadry got hurt and broke his thumb or whatever he did. Like they kept him out and they brought him back when they thought they were in

trouble in the final. But because they don't. Yes. He scored. Because they dominated Edmonton. They didn't have to rush and they could hold on for a little bit in the final. I think it was like 17 days before Kadri came back. Now, I don't know what Hintz's injury is, so I don't know how it compares.

But one of the things I remember Colorado talking about them was the good position they were in. They could buy time. So, you know, DeBoer says Hintz is close. He said hopefully game two. Now that they've lost game one, I wonder if Dallas is going to say, all right,

Rupe time. Wouldn't surprise me at all to bring their number one center back. You know, I probably should have asked you this off the start of our conversation, but, you know, being a bad host and all. How is Dallas? Like, give us a scene set here.

Like, set up, like, what this game meant, what the vibe is, the hockey team in the city, the atmosphere, all of it. Stick to the thermometer in Dallas right now for us. Well, it's a great time for Dallas sports. The Mavericks are in the Western Conference Final of the NBA. And so it was it was interesting on Thursday. So I took an early flight from Toronto, 840 a.m. landing at 1110 local, and we got in.

And in the afternoon, it was like a monsoonsoon here and a whole bunch of people who were flying in they got rerouted to like houston or austin because there were some big storms so it was a tough travel day for some people um we were out for dinner on wednesday night and they were watching in the restaurant they were watching the mavericks game, which they won. And like people were yelling Mavericks tonight, stars tomorrow. Mavericks tonight, stars tomorrow. Like they are in a sports frenzy here right now. And the building tonight was fantastic.

I mean, there were a few Oilers jerseys there. I saw probably about 10, but I saw a Patrick Sharp jersey tonight. I saw a Joe Neuendijk. I saw a Medano. But everyone here wears jerseys. And it was electric in that building. It's going to be 36 on Saturday, Jeff. It's going to be 36 on Saturday, Jeff.

Now, we have a 15-minute walk from the Hotel of the Rink. It's a nice little walk. I did it today. It was like 28 in my suit, and I was okay. Don't do that again. People are saying to me, there is no way you are walking on Saturday. And you know what I'm going to do, Jeff? You know I'm going to walk it. Don't, man. You're going to be dripping. You're going to get to the rink.

They're going to get you onto the set with a soup spoon. You're going to be just leaking. By the way, that was, by the way, that will only be the second stupidest thing I do on this trip. If I'm lucky. How about this game one? I didn't even notice my suit was blue and the tie was orange until I put it on. And BX is like, in our rehearsal,

which is 90 minutes before we're on air, BX is like, you can't wear that. He said even the Oilers wouldn't wear suits looking like that into the game tonight. So to balance it, I have a Dallas Stars pen. I use my Dallas Stars pen to make notes to prove that I am

purely unbiased. This is what happens when you don't listen to Deb Berman. Stop freestyling. She dressed you in Oilers colors? She didn't realize it either. Do you think I argue with Deb Berman?

No one should. If she told me to wear a toga, I'd wear a toga. So she gave me this and I don't think we realized it. We get to a game seven in the cup final. You're going toga. You're going Belushi style. Okay, I have a job for you I've just discovered. As you're running down the Dallas

Stars jerseys you saw in the crowd, I have a job for you for the next podcast. I want you game two, Saturday night, to find the most obscure Dallas Stars jersey in the crowd. Okay. I'll see what I can do. I want you to have a quick little peek, hunt around,

take a couple of pictures if you have to, find the most obscure Dallas Stars name. That is my job for you. Game two, Elliot, Saturday, Hockey Night in Canada. Can't wait for this one. Game one was a beauty. Okay, as we like to say, news on the march, Elliot. Let's get to a new segment a little bit later on. We will talk about the Florida Panthers and the New York Rangers, but time for, as we call it, the latest. And the latest involves the general manager of the Carolina Hurricanes, Don Waddell, and the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Elliot, what do you hear? What do you know? So I was working on this all day. And Pierre Lebrun, to his credit and my great consternation, LeBron, to his credit and my great consternation, got it out before I did that Waddell had permission to talk to other teams. There's a couple of things to note here. This is not unusual behavior by the Hurricanes. Waddell's in the last year of his contract. You'll remember when Dougie Hamilton was an unrestricted free agent, they allowed him to talk to teams well before July 1st because they knew they weren't going to resign him for what he wanted,

and they just said, you're free to talk to other people. So this is standard procedure for the Hurricanes. Now, one Hurricane fan I know whose work I really like is Corey Schneider, whose Twitter handle is ShutdownLine. And he made a very fair point that this has kind of happened with Waddell and the Hurricanes before where they weren't sure he was going to come back and he's met with other teams. It happened with Minnesota a few years ago before they hired Bill Guerin.

And he was kind of thinking, is this kind of thing again, or is it more serious? And I'll say this. I believe this is different. I believe this is more serious. is different. I believe this is more serious. I believe there is a very good chance that Waddell will not be back with the hurricanes. And the reason I believe that is because I'm hearing that the organization is sending out signals that they will have a GM search. signals that they will have a GM search.

You know, in the past, it was always like, you know, we'll see, we'll see what happens. We know he might be back. This feels different. Now, maybe that'll change, but it's definitely more of a level I've heard than I've heard in the past that Waddell could be leaving. Now, as I reported, he interviewed in Columbus on Thursday. He wouldn't confirm that. The Blue Jackets wouldn't confirm that. But enough people seem to know about it that it happened.

And I do think he's a legitimate contender there. And one of the reasons I think he's a legitimate contender is because Columbus is looking for somebody with experience. He certainly has it. Columbus is looking for potentially a top hockey person, which he's been. And also, I think they could be making business hires, too. And Waddell is a very sharp businessman. business hires too. And Waddell is a very sharp businessman. So, you know, I don't know exactly what this is going to end up being if he ends up there, because we're still waiting on the possibility. The Blue Jackets couldn't talk to other people, but I do believe he's a serious

contender for a job there, a big job there. And I think the Hurricanes know it. So I think the Hurricanes are preparing to do either a search, like to me, they should just promote Eric Tulsky. He's a big decision maker there anyway. And, you know, I think everybody knows how the Hurricanes work internally. You know, I think everybody knows how the Hurricanes work internally. Waddell had the GM position there, but everybody knows that Tulsky has a big influence on decisions they make. And Tom Dunn didn't really trust him. So to me, it seems obvious. And I wonder who now recognizing there's only 32 of these jobs available and they are coveted.

I wonder how some people would feel like if Eric Tulsky is there and everybody knows he has a big voice. Why would you bring in somebody over top of him? But I've heard at the very least, the hurricanes are considering doing an external search. I don't know how this is all going to end, but it's definite to me that the Hurricanes are preparing for a new regime. To me, it would make the most sense to give him that position. He's been there a long time. He understands how the organization works. I don't think many, if any, moves get made without him at least weighing in on it. One thing to remember, too, he's

already interviewed and gone deep in the process for both the Chicago general manager job that went to Kyle Davidson and the Pittsburgh Penguins job, which inevitably went to Kyle Dubas. So eyes on that situation, Greg. I would also say went to Kyle Dubas. So eyes on that situation. I would also say this, Jeff, and I was talking about this

with someone from another organization on Thursday, is that if Dundon values Tulsky, and I believe he does, does he worry that he will upset Tulsky if he doesn't promote him? I don't know. I don't know that it would for Eric Tulsky if he doesn't promote him.

I don't know that it would for Eric Tulsky, but I could see that. I could definitely see that. I think human nature, you know, I can't speak for Tulsky. I don't know him well enough to speak for him, but human nature being what it is, I know a lot of people who would be upset by that. Okay. This concludes the walk cast part of the podcast. What you're about to hear next is the remainder of the news segment.

We recorded this earlier on Thursday afternoon. Enjoy. You know, we're, we're all wondering as well, what the changes are going to be on the ice for the Carolina Hurricanes. One of the players who is a restricted free agent, has arbitration rights, Martin Natchez. I think we wonder about his future.

You've talked about him probably being in another market next season. Could there be a fit in Boston there? Are you talking about an Allmark move or something like that goalie for winger sir goalie for winger so i can't remember what we said after the deadline although i'm pretty sure we talked about it um all mark there was something going on with the bruins and another eastern conference team a contender about all Mark. And I can't remember what we said exactly. So it's really good to dive into the shallow end here without remembering

what we did. Very responsible of us. Yes. But, but I do believe the Bruins and the hurricanes talked about an all Mark deal. Now I don't know if it involved nature, but I do think they talked about something.

And I can't remember if we specifically mentioned the Bruins at the time or not, but we definitely talked about something with Allmark and an Eastern Conference team. Now, number one, it has to be recognized that Allmark would have to be able to go there. And I don't know where Carolina is or is not on his list but I do believe it's something these two teams talked about you know the whole nature's thing you know Don Waddell poured a little bit of cold water on it at the season ending media conference but this is why I don't let my family do interviews because I'm afraid of what they all say. Natchez's dad went out in a Czech interview and basically said, yeah, it's time, which is something that I think a few people have suspected for a while.

I do think it's likely he gets moved. I just think that him and the Hurricanes don't see each other in the same value, but we'll see how it all works out. You know, I mean, on paper, that makes sense to me, Jeff, but just talking on paper, I think there's a lot of teams that are going to be looking at Natchez and trying to find out what he wants, and he's a good player, and, you know, Carolina's going to have some options here.

I did have someone say to me that they were willing to bet me a nice steak dinner that there's no way that carolina buys out kakunyemi they think that they've got a player there and they've just got to figure out how to make it work but you know we'll see we brought it up in the in the last pod we'll see where it goes Jeff one more thing about nature's yep do you remember when all that Pedersen drama hit about whether he was going to sign and not sign and Vancouver talked with Carolina oh of course yeah yeah that was yeah that was an interesting time Elliot natchez was in that deal yeah okay and and petterson in our interview with him said he never thought he was going to get dealt but natchez was in that deal and i just wonder if there's something there still if one of the ways that vancouver

and you know if natchez is going to be moved and I don't it's not for Pedersen obviously let's not go down that road it's not for Pedersen but I wonder if there's a NHS deal to be made there with Vancouver like let's just say like like Carolina's got a lot of D that they need to sign like you know what if they look at someone like ronick is making more sense for them like that's that's the kind of thing i'm i'm wondering about now and jeff i had someone who bet me a steak dinner they heard us talking about cock and yemi in a buyout and he said to me out and he said to me, Elliot, I will bet you a delicious steak dinner that cock and Yemi does not get bought out because the hurricanes is an organization like him and he said, you know what other organizations do too, and the Canucks

might be one of them. So, you know, we'll see, we'll see what see what what happens here but there'll be a lot to talk about that's for sure okay since we mentioned lena solomark a couple of seconds ago ellie let's transition to boston and uh all the heavyweights were out there front and center um and it's pretty clear the message is first everyone's staying and second of all they're going to be aggressive trying to try to change up this team yeah we talked about Boston a lot, but just a couple things I wanted to address after that media conference. I don't think it's a surprise that everyone's staying there. Boston overachieved based on what a lot of us expected this season.

They might not have been overly satisfied with losing in the second round, but I don't know too many people who picked them to go there. In the last podcast we did, we talked about Elias Lindholm and how he's a player they liked before he got traded to Vancouver. So I'm expecting them to be in on him if he hits the market. Someone else said to me, throw Chandler Stevenson's name in there. I think there's a lot of people expecting that Stevenson will be on Boston's radar. People definitely believe Boston's going to get a center. When the Bruins say they're going to do something, they tend to do it, and they tend to attract good players to them

because they're generally a very well-run organization. So I think there's, you know, whether it's Lindholm or Stevenson or somebody we're missing right now, there's you know whether it's lindholm or stevenson or somebody we're missing right now there there's definitely a belief boston is going to do something here down the middle as they have promised now right lindholm let's let's tie this into vancouver we talk again i don't want to go too much into vancouver because we talked about them at length on on Monday but you know Lindholm there was a pretty funny uh interaction uh between Lindholm and and JT Miller when Lindholm was asked about it and he played it smart he wasn't pouring any gasoline on the fire he said

I really haven't thought about it and Miller kind of made a joke about i'd like to hear what you have to say here and i think be specific it's no secret that you're a free agent heading into the summer here what are you looking for in a deal and did you have enough fun to return to vancouver be really specific yeah years in salary and mill Miller had that line, be specific, which I thought was pretty good. I have heard there's been a bit of a full-court press by, I don't know if it's one Canuck player or a couple on Lindholm.

You know, what's it going to take to keep you here, Elias? So I think the Canuck players, look, there's a lot of choices they're going to have to make there. And it was very clear from the end of season media conference that those guys really like playing with each other, which is always a good sign. But I do think a couple of guys have tried to sell Lynn Holm on trying to find a way to make it work they saw his

value in the postseason so we'll see we'll see where that goes like Zdorov was pretty funny I think he's planning on touring with Shane Gillis this summer and Zdorov opening for Shane Gillis the way he's going in these media conferences now, joking about the Edmonton media. That was great. You know, it's really funny. One of the things I've learned about all these kinds of media conferences, when you have a team like Vancouver that had a really good year, so you're talking 48 hours after a really emotional defeat to end your year,

and everybody loves playing with everybody else. And they look at each other and they say, boy, I really love playing with this group. And I really love playing with these guys. And as I've always said, in a Canadian city, the risks are high, but the rewards are high. And those players are seeing the rewards right now about how good it is to be in vancouver when you're a good team and they're all sitting there saying oh i'd like to find a way to make it work and i'd love to stay um and and they do mean it like they're not lying they'd love to make it work but then the agents get involved they're like hey okay we've got to think about the business here that's what my job is to take the emotion out of it and think about the business and they'll present options like

they'll say hey well this is what we can do to stay but you have to be aware uh about you know these are the options you're going to have out here and this is what you can get and this is what you are going to be leaving on the table like jeff i remember years ago remember sandy alomar the catcher from the from course yeah so i i was in a scrum once when cleveland came to play toronto and he was talking about re-signing with the team and uh you know he said he fired his agent who kept on telling him, you know, you can sign for more, you can sign for more, you can sign for more elsewhere. Yeah. And I said to him, like, out of curiosity, like, isn't that his job to warn you about that kind of thing?

And he said, yes, but he wouldn't shut up about it. And finally, I just said enough because I wanted to stay. But, you know know that's what the that's what the agent's job is then now so we're gonna go from well the emotion of it to the business of it here well you'll notice the first thing that Lindholm did was he said well I'm going to talk to my agent like right away it was deferred to the agent stop asking me questions and you JT Miller, you be quiet too. That's your Demko. Stop laughing. No, it was fun.

I would bet Miller is one of the guys saying to Lynn Holm, hey, what's it going to take here? Yeah. But why not? Easy guy to say no to. But why not? Like they just had a wonderful season. Like Rick Talkett, their head coach just won the Jack Adams and Patrick Alvin is up for GM of the year. And they made it deep into the second round, got to a game seven.

The market was energized again. Like it's been a, like, just think about what someone like JT Miller has gone through in Vancouver and to come out right now. Like, how would he not want to keep the band together? Like, that's what I always think of. Like the players that went through the really, really lean dark years and we're almost jettisoned themselves. Like once they get a taste of success, they want to keep everybody together.

So would it surprise me at all? If JT Miller was leading the charge to keep everyone together? No, not for a second, but then think about where he's been with this team. Totally makes sense. Totally makes sense. I thought it was interesting how some of those guys refused to point out their injuries you know ronick um it's been suspected

that there's some sort of elbow thing he was like no i mean he just hates talking to us anyway so i'm not hugely surprised but er um ian cole you know there was another guy you know like that guy played his heart out for them this year was a really good player had a really tough playoff would have been very easy for him to blame the injuries nope I really respected that uh about Cole in that situation Patterson was very interesting because you know he he said something he talked about this being quite a year and we talked about it in the last pod.

And I do believe it. I think this summer when he doesn't have to think about the contract, when he doesn't have to think about anything else, he can just burn some incense and relax. I think he'll come back in a much better place next year. You know, it's interesting. He talked about the injury,

but you know, clearly talk had felt there was more uh to give there but again you know they'll go away this summer and i i think he's going to be in the long run so much better off for it and same for hughes the the challenge will be this year you know vancouver's got the tent poles they've got they've got a norris trophy winning defenseman who's going to get that i believe is going to get the trophy in june in vegas they've got peterson signed they've got miller signed you know like you're starting there well demko's got a couple more years um but you're starting there you've got your tent poles built and now they know they've got to figure out what to do around them. And this year they made several moves and a lot of them really worked.

So like I said, I think they're going to take a run at Lindholm and see what they can do. And I think they're going to take a run at Zdorov and they're going to see what they can do. And then they're going to sit out there and say, okay, what else do we need to do around this? Okay. Mentioned Brick Talkit winning the Jack Adams. Congratulations there. And then they're going to sit out there and say, okay, what else do we need to do around this? Okay. Mentioned Rick Tockett winning the Jack Adams. Congratulations there. 483 points.

Andrew Burnett, second, 145. This thing, Elliot, was never, like never in doubt for Tockett. Well, it's always in doubt because you never know who people are going to vote for. And because I'm not a member of the Broadcasters Association, I really don't know what a lot of the people there think. But as you said, it ended up being lopsided. And I think he's very deserving. He had a great year. You know, he talked about, I watched his interview with Ron that he did after it was announced. And one of the things that some people there in Vancouver told me was one of the things that Talkett mentioned is that he used to get really upset with mistakes on the bench and the players could really see it. And that is when people who played for Talkett say they hear that the biggest thing about him that's changed is that he's not like that anymore or not like that as much you know he's much calmer he doesn't get mad at players on the bench um i think that having a good staff around him has really helped him with that too but that's one of the biggest changes he made is that he much calmer on the bench. It just in terms of when, when players make mistakes and we all evolve, right.

We all have to, we all have to get better. And he did it that, and, you know, he was very deserving. He built a structure there. You know, guys had a really good year there. It's, it's going to be really interesting to see you know he's in year two of four um you know uh i i'm gonna be curious i mean obviously you know you could see if talkett wants it you know he could be with vancouver for a long long time a long long time i think that's one of the reasons that Jeremy

Culleton is also looking around because because you know sometimes the AHL coach you kind of wonder okay if it am I the next guy here well if you're in Vancouver right now you're looking at Rick talking and you're saying that guy isn't going anywhere anytime soon um patrick galvin one of the three nominees for the jim gregory award the general manager of the year alongside jim nill and bill zito so uh more vancouver canucks names attached to hardware elliot how do you handicap this i think i all all very deserving um i i I don't have any issue with any of the three. I will say this. I think that Alvin is interesting because like I had a vote and I won't say at this time where I went with. And one of the things that I looked at in this particular case is it's not that Alvin is incapable. I think he's proven to be very capable. It's just that he's not necessarily the main decision maker in the organization,

right? So, you know, that was one of the things I talked about as I was compiling information is, you know, Jim Nill, he's the main decision maker in his organization. Bill Zito, he's the main decision maker in his organization. Technically, Jim Rutherford is above Alvin in the organization. And not that Alvin, like I said, it's not like he's incapable, but it's just that it was a challenge for me to me to say okay like should alvin be on the ballot when he's technically not the number one decision maker in the organization but obviously he got there so enough people felt he did um a few more things some coaching news uh sheldon keith the new jersey devils it official. There'll be a press conference next Tuesday. He is the new head coach of the New Jersey Devils.

Thoughts on this one? Not surprised. I think the biggest question was going to be, would he take it? I think, you know, once he was available, I think New Jersey, well, Fitzgerald kind of said it in his statement that they were very interested, and he jumped to the top of their process the biggest question was if Keefe was going to take it you know he he has a son who's a really good player and he had indicated I think to quite a

few people that he might just decide to take the year and watch his son play like we all want to be great parents right and uh i can't blame anyone who has the ability to do that from doing it like if i if i could if i could take some time and do that and be around my son a lot more i mean i don't know how he'd vote he might say daddy go away, go away. But I like doing it. So I totally would have understood if that was his decision. We'll hear what he has to say on Tuesday. But my sense is that, number one, I think you always were. There's only so many of these jobs available. And if you pass them up, then you worry that maybe things will pass you by.

And that doesn't always happen, but it can happen. So I think that was part of it. But number two, and I've said this, I think people see New Jersey as possibly the best job that was available. And, you know, they, as you take a look at them, they have good young players. Keefe is definitely used to good young players. Two years ago, they were a second-round team. They had some weaknesses this year that they know they've got to fix. And the other thing about it is, and a couple of people said this to me, you know, David Blitzer, who owns the Devils, is now on the NHL Executive Committee.

the devils is now on the nhl executive committee you're not on you know that committee if uh you know the nhl thinks you're a bad owner or you don't run the kind of organization that people want so that says to me like one one one coach once told me that there are owners that you know you can win with and owners that you worry you can't win with. I think Blitzer running the Devils, people see him as an owner they think they can win with. So that would be another thing that I think would really appeal to Keefe. He's going to an organization that people believe has a chance to win. And I think that would have played a huge factor in his decision.

And like I've said to you many times, I don't believe Sheldon, Brad Trulia even kind of talked about this at Berube's media conference. Sheldon Keefe wasn't fired because he was a bad coach. Sheldon Keefe was fired fired because he was a bad coach Sheldon Keefe was fired because they couldn't run it back they could not come back under the same combination in Toronto that's why

he was fired not because he's a bad coach and I'll tell you like those Toronto Jersey games they'll have a little bit of edge to them. Oh, yeah. Those games will be really, really fun. And Keefe will challenge those players. And I think it's going to be good for everyone there. Are you already hyping up a Curtis McDermott, Ryan Reeves encounter, Elliot? Is that what I'm to read into this one? I don't even think it's going to be that so much. I just think that Keefe's going to want to stick it to him, and they're going to want to read into this one. I don't even think it's going to be that so much. I just think that, you know,

Keith's going to want to stick it to him and they're going to want to stick it to him. It's going to be fantastic. The thing about Keith and the New Jersey Devils, I was making this point on the radio show on Thursday, is New Jersey is one of the teams that prides themselves on being, to be blunt, a really smart organization.

And it's a very information-based organization, an information-based team and the one thing that i think we all know by now about sheldon keith and i first saw this when he was coaching with the sault ste marie greyhounds and they had someone from either business ops or who ran the ticketing for the sault ste marie greyhounds go on the road with with the greyhounds and would count things like zone injuries and where shots came from like really really basic like very prime you know very prime raw analytic data because there wasn't any sort of sophisticated technology for it in the ohl at that point and that's what sheldon

keith wanted in order to prepare himself the one thing that we know about sheldon keith is he's one of the most prepared coaches in the nhl which is why I kind of look at this situation and say, Sheldon Keefe's never going to be the coach that says, okay, this is too much information. I'm overloaded. If anything, it's the opposites. He will gobble up all of this from the analytics department and spit it back out to the players and form strategy around it that's why i look at this one and say this one's a really good fit speaking of coaches jim hiller los angeles interim tag removed as we've discussed here for the past few weeks yeah it is so it's good to see the one thing that we predicted and said that was going to happen uh it actually came true that is

the one this year for the podcast congrats so nothing else that we say about everybody take a bow everyone well nothing else is going to come true um so a three-year deal with the chance for the fourth to be guaranteed uh rob blake said that i thought it was a very interesting media conference you know rob blake was one of my favorite players when he played and he did not get enough credit i think for how mean he was ask anyone he hit elliott how mean he was yes but he was you know he was such a nice person to deal with that yeah not on the ice but yeah not on the ice no i really i i went back you know so i'm i'm here in dallas so i was at the morning skate for dallas edmonton but i went after

i watched the colorado press conference which i know we're going to talk about and then i also went and i watched the la media conference later and you could really tell that blake was he thought his team was too easy to play against you know he he really did and i know all year long there was a lot of talk about england the defenseman continually being in the lineup and the reason i felt he was there was because he was one of the few mean kings and if they didn't have him they really didn't have anything and i could tell watching blake talk it really bothered him that his he thought his team got pushed around too easily and so we'll see where that goes i would expect them to address that le ferrier i should mention too for the kings because i i think he was a guy who really made an impact trying to be a

little nasty for them and was very good at times and I wanted to shout him out too but they didn't have a lot of that so that's one thing I think will change you know Hiller a couple of things about him first of all I do think they're going to change the way they play. I really believe Blake wanted to hear what Hiller had to say about it first. I think he has a lot of ideas. You know, one of the challenges is, you know, LA, West Coast, lots of travel, not a lot of practice time. They really couldn't change much.

Now I think they're going to. And so that's number one. Number two, I heard a couple of really interesting things about Hiller that I think the Kings liked about him number one they liked his practices uh I never really got to see any of them but I heard when they did practice they really liked the way he coaches practice so I thought that was very interesting. And secondly, I heard that he behind closed doors, like Berube just came in and talked about how he, and everybody knows how tough he can be behind closed doors. I heard Hiller behind closed doors is a lot tougher than we kind of realize. He keeps it out of the public, but someone said to me that there was a little bit of surprise there

because when you move from assistant to head on the same team, you go from good cop to bad cop, and that's not easy. Oh, yes. I heard that there was a bit of surprise about how well he could do it and but he did it he said honest things in a blunt but fair way so i was i was really curious about that and they said that you know he it was and he and they said he said some tough things to important players and it was noticed. So, and there's definitely, like I said, there's definitely a feeling Blake felt that they need more of that.

All right. You mentioned the Colorado Press Conference. I want to get your thoughts on this one. Gabriel Landeskog, Chris McFarlane as well, commenting on Landeskog's future. Landeskog said he is not retiring. I know that was a question as soon as we saw the announcement that there was going to be a press conference. And it's kind of the first place your brain goes sometimes.

And talked about the challenges in his rehab and trying to come back. Also, some interesting comments about the future if there is one for Valery Nechushkin and the Avalanche, Elliot. Yeah, so they got the Landkog thing out right away, and I'm glad to hear he's still going to try. I think the organization is loyal to him, and obviously he's loyal to them. And in a perfect world, he'll come back. You know, everything I've heard about this injury is that people are impressed he's even tried this long.

You know, it's a pretty serious injury. It's a pretty tough surgery to recover from. And, you know, there are a lot of people in this league who play hurt, Jeff, but at least they can get in the lineup to play hurt. Like I remember with Shea Weber in Montreal, how many Cavs players were like, I cannot believe what this guy is going through to even play. But he was playing. But I think there are a lot of players,

and not to say that they're weak or anything, because I don't think they are, but they would have given up long before Landeskog has. And I just respect that about him, that he wants to continue to try. It just shows you how these players, they just love hockey. And so I'm happy that he's at least continue to try it just shows you how these players they just love hockey and so i'm i'm happy that he's at least continuing to try because that's obviously what he wants to do you know nachushkin they said it's very plausible he's back he confirmed what we'd reported which is that there's no grounds to terminate him right now um you know the the one thing that someone said to me about this situation is,

is that it's fluid because, you know, when you're in the program at this level, you have to make sure you stay on a proper path. Someone from another team told me that that's one of the things that becomes very important right now is that the player has to stay on the path or else that can change but i i think it's pretty clear here that you know the avalanche are looking at it from the two ways you have to look at it there's the there's the disappointment of he couldn't play but there's the person. And, you know, obviously they want, they want the person to do well, but they want to know, obviously they want the person to do well. That's the most important thing. And, but they also want to know from the business and hockey point of view, is he going to

be dependable? And we're just not going to have that answer in the short term. So I think one of the biggest things that the Avalanche have to decide is, you know, how are they going to have that answer in the short term so i think one of the biggest things that the avalanche have to decide is you know how are they going to approach the summer and that is do they go over the cap in the summer do they and do they deal with the overages in the season next year like do you just wait to see can landis kog play at the beginning of the year you know you don't have to Like, do you just wait to see, can Landeskog play at the beginning of the year? You know, you don't have to, you know, you know, the Natchuzhkin is out of the lineup until November. So you just say, okay, we'll do what we need to do.

And we'll deal with anything we have to deal with in terms of the salary cap, when Natchuzhkin is available, when Landeskog is available, or do we plan for the summer as if we're going to have them both and we have to be careful. And, you know, I think that's kind of what they have to decide. You know, they have some contracts they have to get done. We mentioned Rantanen. You know, the Drouin thing is really interesting to me because I think there's a real sense there is a deal to be made there just because he's in a situation where he's happy but you have to sit down you have to figure out what everybody wants and you have to work from

there but I I know like one of my friends who's an avalanche fan you know he came out of that he watched that media conference and he's like I don't think they're going to be able to afford Drouin to stay and my reaction to that is I I just think that Jonathan Drouin has to know how good this was and the Avalanche have to know how good this was. And I really believe that there's got to be a path there. And I do believe there's a path there as long as both sides can work together. I mean, he has to know, Drouin does, how many people, most notably Nathan McKinnon, stuck their neck out to give him this chance. Now, he made the most of it, full marks for that as well. But, I mean, rewind to last summer.

There wasn't a whole lot of people screaming about, you need to sign Jonathan Drouin. Like, Colorado believed in him, gave him this chance. Again, he made the most of it. But this was Colorado really giving this guy another opportunity. And some would say maybe his last opportunity. I agree, Jeff, and I'm glad it worked out so well. Yeah, you and me both.

Okay, that's the news. Quick pause. We come back. Rangers, Panthers up for grabs to finish off the podcast. Listen to the 32 Thoughts Podcast ad-free on Amazon Music, included with Prime. Welcome back to 32 Thoughts, the podcast presented by the GMC Sierra Elevation.

Elliot, later on tonight, 8 o'clock Eastern, we can see game two. You can watch it on Sportsnet. It's a Hockey Night in Canada presentation. It is the Florida Panthers and the New York Rangers. Panthers, should I say one game one handily, maybe

played a smart road game. We're able to keep the New York Rangers from having any significant energy bursts except that time that Jacob truba caught Kevin Stenland and the place went crazy uh or Sergey Bobrovsky out outdueled Igor shishturkin how do you want to describe game one in advance of game two tonight I just thought the Panthers were excellent. They really smothered New York. And in the moments where they let the Rangers

gain some momentum, Bobrovsky was there to clean up the mess. There were some great chances. There were a couple breakaways. There was the one opportunity where they had two or three chances, but Bobrovsky was excellent. He out-dueled Shosturkin in this one.

You know, someone said to me it was really a 1-0 game. The Lafreniere knocked the puck into his own net, and then there was an empty netter. There was really only one goal of consequence, and Shosturkin, he'd probably want that one back. So this was a game where Bobrovsky out-dueled Shisterkin, and that was one reason the Panthers won. But I just thought they were in control for most of the game.

They played a technically perfect game most of the night. Their forecheck, what do the Panthers do? They forecheck you into oblivion, and they did that most of the night and matthew kachok who doesn't make as many signature plays maybe as he used to he has embraced the grind he grinds you every single night you know one thing i'll say about kachok is the players who are critical of him or people who are critical of him said he would have big time highlight plays, whether it was a goal or a hit or whatever he would do. But he wasn't always consistent. And the biggest criticism came in that playoff series, the Flames lost to the Oilers a couple of years ago.

Now, I think he just grinds it and brings it every single night like he doesn't have the highlight plays maybe as many and he still can because he's that good but i just think he consistently wears you down and the game the other night i thought was a perfect example of it oh yeah i think that whole team just wears you down like isn't that the florida panthers like they they just chisel yes well at the end of the game when micola hit heidel wasn't that just such a florida panthers play okay i'm glad you got there early because to me it wasn't just that hit but right before that ryan lomberg is running around.

Yes, he was. And no one's stopping him. And then Hedl, and there's only like three seconds left in the game, right? So if you're Nico Mikula on that play, you might say to yourself, bah, there's three seconds left here, whatever, we're up 3-0, this game is over. But to me, that's the message that we are going to play hard right until the final buzzer. And Mikula hammers him into the boards.

And we all know about the injury and specifically concussion history with Filip Hedl. Did you notice what Mikula did as soon as he hit Hedl? So he hits him like he's a smudge into the boards. And Mikula stands up and turns to look at the Rangers to see who's coming. In his mind, someone's coming. And nobody does. No one.

The buzzer goes and he skates to Bobrovsky. But I thought that was so interesting. If you go back and watch the hit, he hammers Hedl, turns around to face the play behind him, expecting someone to be there, and no one was there. Because if he was playing against the Panthers, he knows that 10 guys could be coming after him. Exactly. Or if he's playing against Tampa, there'd be guys swarming him all over. Yes, that's true, too.

They would be also. be like guys swarming them all over yes but that's true too they would be also if it you know i thought it was really interesting and he caught himself and said well i'm not trying to second guess the coach here when really you are or i'm trying to tell the coach what to do here but you are or mark messi the intermission in the intermission said um something along the lines of you know wondering about or speculating on or however he phrased it seeing matt rempe in game two that's coming from mark messier well about matt remember him too i mean messier you know i i have to say when i watch messier on tv he is consistent with himself he still believes that matters remember when he hated the one cross-check penalty in the last round? He said, that's not really a cross-check.

Like, he, you know, Messier believes in a certain code, and that hasn't changed. Not at all. He is true to himself. Now, Jeff, as you can imagine, the whole Rampy debate has led to some complete craziness on social media. I said before the series, and I'll say it again, I think there is a role for him in this series and not just as somebody who's there to fight people, but I just think that you need against a team like Florida, you need people who can grind like he can grind that is i i like i don't think you're

dressing him as a sideshow and i don't think the rangers would do that anyway i think you're putting him in there because you think that he has a role to play in the flow of the game and i would bet you that the rangers are at the very least considering it the other guy I still wonder about here too is Wheeler and Wheeler is not a speedster but he knows how to play a down low kind of cycle game and I just wonder too if they give him a shot but you know it's early it's game one they need a spark they like I said they had some short bursts but i never really felt the panthers were threatened i thought for the most part the panthers really controlled that game and like i said bobrovsky outdueled shisterkin but that one's going to swing the other way at points too there was though that one moment and this is where the conversation,

this is for the pro-Renpy camp. There was that one, like the best cluster of action that the Rangers had was after Jacob Truba flattened Kevin Stenland. And the place went crazy. Fans went nuts. It was like an instant jolt of energy

to the Rangers. Marched down the ice, had a bunch of shots at Sergei Bobrovsky. Florida's running around. They're confused. And they end up taking a too-many-minute-on-the-ice penalty because of it. Just because it started with that Jacob Truba hit. And then all of a sudden, bam, the Rangers are on. It was like you know undertaker rising right it was like you know uh

it was it was like you know you suddenly turn into the incredible hulk it was amazing and that's where i go to i mean that rink at times was pretty quiet and that shouldn't be msg and the rangers were pretty quiet and that's not the new york rangers and i'm with you like you don't dress them to be a sideshow. But you dress him because every time he's on the ice, even just his presence to those fans creates an energy in the arena. It's one of the weirdest things in the NHL. Make no mistake about it.

People, Rangers fans, go nuts for this guy. The minute he touches the ice, there's a buzz and there's an energy. That's where I see Matt Rempe being really valuable. Because what's the one thing that the Rangers didn't create in game one? Energy and bursts, energy bursts. They didn't create that. I just wonder if LaViolette is saying to himself, we need that. We need that spark that we got from Trouba on Stanlund.

Rempe gives us that spark. That's what I wonder about. I think that's all very fair. The other thing that I want to get to with you here in this game, and you've talked about this before, we've opined on it and right away I got the tweets about it. I'm sure you did as well. On the goalie interference call on the Oliver Ekman-Larsen goal, goal which was called back on goal interference ryan lomberg goes in the crease

i thought that was an easy call it was easy call yes the thing about it was dan o'rourke took the extra time to explain why that call was made he just didn't say upon further review uh we determined there was goaltender interference no goal he stood there and explained how uh ryan longberg went in the crease etc he took like the extra five six seven eight nine ten seconds and explained it and i'm watching this and i'm like this is what we've been talking about. Whether you like the call or not, that's fine. But at least explain how you got there. So fans can understand.

I know you're with us on this one, Elliot. That was great by Dan O'Rourke. I'm completely with you. A hundred percent, a hundred percent. Explain what happened. But I,

to me, when I saw that play, Lomber goes right into the crease oh yeah that was an obvious one for me obvious yeah the the only question was going to be did shister can have enough time to reset obviously the answer is no but you're right he goes he goes right in the crease um okay you can watch game two tonight florida panthers lead the series one nothing game two at MSG this evening. It is the Panthers.

It is a Rangers puck drops just after eight o'clock. Enjoy it. The podcast returns Monday morning. Enjoy the entire weekend's worth of action. We'll talk to you again Monday morning.