32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Almost There

Episode Date: April 9, 2021

The Vancouver Canucks have re-signed Tanner Pearson. Jeff and Elliotte discuss why contract talks suddenly picked up (2:20), where things stand with Quinn Hughes and Elias Pettersson, why the Canucks might have to play out the regular season even if it means playing into the playoffs, and the general mood around the club as players […]

Hey, Merrick. Yo. I get DMs. At Joel Third, who wins a fight, Jamie Campbell or Jeff Merrick? Jamie Campbell all day. No, I wrote back, Merrick would kill almost anyone. Trained fighter. You have not seen me spar with Sean Pearson.

Yeah, but he's like a real person, right? He's a fighter. Here's the thing though like okay so i trained in martial arts for like years and years and years and years and years and loved it and you know still do some things but not a ton like there's a whole different level of fighter i'm not talking about you getting in the ring with people like shane pearson like that's like me sean pearson please whatever his name is it's not my fault he pronounces his name incorrectly it's like me sean pearson please whatever his name is it's not my fault he pronounces his name incorrectly it's like me getting in the ring with hoist gracie i could do all the training in

the world i'm gonna get destroyed i'm saying like most normal people you are going to crush them no here's the thing like there's always someone tougher than you there's always ask any anyone who who competes in these types there's always always, always, always someone better. That's just the reality of combat sports. That's just the reality of fighting. And so anytime that I start to feel like I'm about something and I can really handle myself, I always have to remember in the back of my mind all those times that Sean has. We'll work out and in between sets you'll be like, we're doing takedowns. not let's do takedowns.

It's we're doing takedowns for each. I have not come close once. Yeah. But he's trained in a very specific way and I'm trained in a very specific, you're being ridiculous. There's, first of all, you are Jamie Campbell.

You're taking Jamie Campbell. Okay. No, no, no, no. Yes. Don't be Campbell. Okay? No, no, no, no. Yes. Don't be ridiculous.

Okay. Is there one person we work with who could beat you in a fight? You know who could? Because he does jits and I haven't done a ton of jits is Drew Ramenda. Yes.

Ramenda is a legit, legit force. Drew, I will always defer to. I would call Drew sometimes. Where are you? I'm just on my way to the dojo. Well, excuse me. Yeah, I'm just going to roll for three hours. Yeah, I know.

Yeah, no, no. Drew's the legit guy. I just fake the funk. Anyway, let's start the pod. Okay. Welcome to 31 Thoughts, the podcast presented by the GMC Sierra AT4. I did not know that was going to be the opening of the podcast, but as they say in the business, Elliot, there it was. The title of this podcast is, All the People Jeff Merrick Can Beat Up.

You can count them on one hand. So today's podcast will just be a sort of midweek snapshot or late week snapshot really where we are in advance of trade deadline there's been a couple of deals in the past couple of days we'll go over those but as of this recording 7 19 eastern on thursday evening a couple of bits of news coming out this afternoon and this evening tanner pearson will start their three-year contract with the Vancouver Canucks AAV of 3.25, to which Elliott Friedman says. My reaction is, Jeff, that if you had asked me about this a week and a half ago, I wouldn't have believed

it was going to happen. Really? Yes, but the Canucks had said they wanted to extend Pearson, but I don't really know if there really was a road to a deal I think would really change this is one thing I think kind of the COVID breakout might have changed things I haven't spoken to Pearson directly so I can't say for 100% certainty that this is the case with him specifically but But one of the things I had heard, Jeff, was that some of the players here made it clear that they didn't want to go away from their families

at the end of this. And whether that was a road trip or even a trade, and we knew that Pearson could potentially be traded, they just felt that it wasn't the time to leave them. This has been a really challenging time and a really difficult time for some of them more than others. And I think the ones that have their families there

were like, I don't know how comfortable I feel about this. So I heard the negotiation really changed during this process. It went from not really making any traction to all of a sudden making a lot of traction in a very short time so i wouldn't be surprised if just this whole situation what it meant for the families involved led to a change in the talks between pearson and the canucks so why specifically did you not think that this was that there was a road to get this thing done i really think that you

know pearson probably saw himself as a toffoli comparable and if you look at what toffoli signed for and what pearson signed for they're not the same things right toffoli was more yeah yeah there's a year less and and the aav is what a million and a half behind so i would just bet that you know that's what changed now i know the canucks and their fans like you know i watched the reaction tonight oh they're not they don't they don't like it no they they certainly don't but i do think this was a situation where the outbreak may have changed the course of the conversation because and like i said i haven't spoken to pearson all i know is that all of a sudden it went from no traction to me getting a tip saying you better get on this because there's a very good chance it's going to happen

and you know it changed after the outbreak seattle protection here so there's not officially a no move clause there but I mean I've heard rumblings that there's a conversation there about he'll be protected for it one of the things I heard in the negotiation with in the last couple of days with Demko and Pearson is that the Canucks felt that they had a block set aside for Peders and hughes okay and i had one person tell me they thought it was 15 million for the two of them and i had another person who said he thought it was 18 million for peterson hughes and demko and that they felt if they got pearson done in this number it wouldn't hurt them to get all of their other business done i mean we'll find out now i was gonna say how much of a big assumption is that 15 million for those two it depends on how

much term we're talking here like what that says to me is that the canucks think assuming that's true is that the canucks think they're not doing six or seven year deals with those two guys right these are all these are all shorter deals like everybody's doing that's what it says to me that they think they're doing bridges okay so we'll see we'll see what they can do we know they've opened up preliminary talks with those guys i don't think they're anywhere far along but from what i understand the canucks felt that as long as they kept a block that they had budgeted for petterson and hughes they could do all their business okay and the vancouver canucks of course and we talked about this on television on wednesday night elliot uh it was a week ago that we were looking forward

to the canucks-Flames game. COVID had different plans. We've been following it day by day and the numbers and the situations have horrified everybody. What's the very latest as we record this podcast with the Canucks? You know, the league has maintained

that they want them to play, right? Yes. I think there's a couple of things here. There was a story i think patrick johnston wrote it that the canucks might play some of their games after the playoffs begin now what i think about that is interesting is that one of the teams that's out of the playoffs told me that one of the reasons they think Vancouver might have to play is the draft lottery odds. Really? Yes.

You know, we've talked about that. If you don't play your 56, you owe your sponsors some money, right? Yes. We also spoke at the beginning of the season, much like Major League Baseball for the make good games. If they don't happen, they just don't happen. It's one of those seasons. Yes. Now I think the make good is a factor.

It's not the biggest factor, but it's a factor. And I do think that, you know, money is at the bottom of all this stuff, but I had someone, one of the teams it's out. He says he thinks that people look at the draft lottery as a big deal yeah and maybe it doesn't get the same attention as the playoffs get but to those teams that are at the bottom i guess it matters now i gotta tell you jeff like if the canucks actually have to play after the playoffs start i can't see an incredible amount of fight being put up in those games by them or Ottawa or Calgary, whoever's playing them. That is going to be Edmonton, Montreal at Commonwealth.

That is what those games are going to be. Without the 75,000 people in the historic venue. Without the 75,000 shivering people, but that will be your proverbial no hithitter because as we've seen before, if you give players a reason not to hit, they won't hit. In a situation like that, I don't want to say it's going to be like

the all-star game, but in that situation, I can understand the lack of motivation because what do players care about lottery odds? Like nobody. None of those players care about the draft. None of those players care about the draft lottery. Those are players that are coming in and take their job.

Like the one thing that's going to be a storyline here is who's going to play. Which players you mean? Or teams? Yes. Which players? Well, like we were talking about this last podcast. Like I can see some players

saying i uh yeah you know what after everything that i've gone through my family has gone through i'm taking a pass on the rest of the season 100 if you don't have a family but you had some of the bad symptoms are you going to want to be up to playing nope Pearson now he was injured he couldn't rehab right and you know now he's signed I wonder if the Canucks say it's not worth it just get healthy let's say you have 10 guys from the AHL who come up those guys might be playing pretty hard because they're playing for jobs now it's a good point too I'll tell you something else too that canuck statement where they very clearly place the blame on basically one person one person outside the group it sounded like yeah what's that going to lead to what's that going to mean well didn't that lead to the memo from the nhl on saturday

yes i am curious about that jeff if basically we're saying that there's one individual is responsible for this is there going to be any fallout there in what sense this has been such an ugly situation where some players have gone through really difficult times are there hard feelings among the players are there hard feelings among the group so someone turns or a couple of people turn on the one person yeah like this is the twilight zone the monsters are due on maple street that's an excellent reference thank you big rod serling fan i just think we're kind of wondering where this is all going i think that's one of the things like i i think it's been a big challenge for the canucks obviously you have some

players who've been sick and some staff who've been sick. The league wants you to play. They had to answer some really tough questions. You talked about the memo and, um, you know, it was, it was pretty stern. And like I said, I heard the league ask some really tough questions. I think we're all just kind of sitting here and

wondering what are the Canucks going to look like when they come back together? Who's going to be there? Who isn't? You know, are there any strong feelings one way or the other about how this happened and how this went down and who got sick and who didn't and the situation that the families were put through?

I think this has been very hard. And I think we said this last time too. No one signs up for this. You know, you understand when you play a season, there's the potential for injury, the potential for good things to happen, the potential for bad things to happen, but no one signed up for this.

And I still think we're not sure yet where it's all going to land. Okay. So let's move off Vancouver and let's move to uh the deal today and the florida panthers and the chicago blackhawks brett connelly riley smith henrik bjorkstrom 2016 draft pick first round yep uh then the florida panthers now the chicago blackhawks in exchange for lucas walmart and luc Lucas Carlson. All of the sudden and last podcast you talked about Florida, maybe taking a big swing here has $4 million in cap space. How do you see this deal?

Chicago had made it clear they were going to be willing to do this and they did. It's interesting. Stillman, I think had wanted a new start where he was going to play, and now he's going to get it. Bjorgstrom, I'd heard rumors when he went back to Finland and he wasn't coming back to the Panthers that he wanted a new start,

and now he's going to get it. I think he's the key to the deal. His performance will, I think, determine how this trade eventually is graded. Now, the second part of that, as you said, is what do they do next? There's a lot of David Savard rumors tonight. Columbus is not playing him. And Bill Zito, who's the GM in Florida, he obviously knows him really well. From Columbus, of course.

I think it's Florida. I think it's Tampa. I don't know about winnipeg i heard that winnipeg wasn't crazy about the price because they've already done a couple of rental things but we'll see but i think there's teams out there looking at them and i think columbus knows plus columbus also had two guys get hurt i think they know that they've got a deal to be made there so we look for something big coming up from the uh from the florida panthers last night Plus Columbus also had two guys get hurt. I think they know that they've got a deal to be made there. So we look for something big coming up from the, from the Florida Panthers.

Last night, a couple of things, the Islanders, New Jersey deal. Yes. So Kyle, Paul, Mary,

Travis, Zajac in exchange for a first, a conditional fourth, AJ Greer and Mason Jopst. How did you see this one? Oh, by the way, New Jersey retains half. We, everyone listens to, by the way, New Jersey retains half.

Everyone listening to this podcast knows this. New Jersey retains half. I go over these things. You're a hardcore hockey fan if you're listening to this podcast, but there it is. New Jersey keeps half the money. One of the things that the Devils let everyone know was they really wanted to get a first rounder out of it. And everybody who talked to them,

they indicated that that was a priority they wanted a first rounder so they got what they wanted but you look at all the things they had to do they had to eat 50 on both players both players had to be included the prospects they gave up the islanders i'm talking about are not high-end prospects so they had to do a lot of work to get that pick, but in the end, they got what they wanted. I think the thing, too, with Lou Lamorello is, like, that deal with Lou Lamorello and the Islanders, there were people earlier in the day

who thought that Hall was going to the Islanders. Well, that'd have been the rumor. Getting back with Jordan Eberle, that'd have been the rumor from, like, that's the obvious one. Yes, but Paul Mary was obvious, too, and so too and so was zajak really if you think about it like nothing about that deal is surprising they're the kind of people that he goes after but i had heard earlier in the day that it was going to be islanders for hall and so i think that lamorello had a situation where he was

kind of playing everything around and keeping everybody involved until he got what he wanted. And I think the other thing too is, so New Jersey gets what they want. And if you know Lamorello, he's probably got like a limit on this. He's going to say, I'm going to do this deal. And then if you say no, or you don't give me an answer in such and such a time,

I'll go and I'll move on to the next thing and if you're jersey and you have any pulse of the market and i think they do they probably knew that lamorello had something else he could do if he really wanted to so i think that's kind of why it got done everybody got what they wanted and lamorello pounced. See, I look at this deal and the one before that was the Eric Stahl deal. And that was for a third and a fifth and Buffalo retained half. So I would look at that and I would say Buffalo bought a third and a fifth

in exchange for $1.6 million. Could we look at this deal and say New Jersey bought a first round pick and it cost him 5.2 million. Yeah, but I don't have a problem with that. That's expensive for a first round pick. Isn't it 5.2 million. But if you didn't do that,

were you getting the pick? No, but I'm saying like to buy a first round pick, does that not seem expensive to you? Like I get all that. Doesn't that seem pretty pricey for to buy a first round pick i think if you're a team in new jersey that is trying to build up assets sometimes that you got to do what you got to do i know you need they need to take off to make all the money work i just

wonder about the price like all of this is sort of under the umbrella and you mentioned taylor hall which is you know how is buffalo going to get their first round pick? Yep. They want a first round pick. The question is, how much is it going to cost them? Well, it's going to cost them at least $4 million, right? Because they're probably going to have to eat half the deal. Right. One of the Berkey rules I really agree with is this whole thing about Mike Camilleri one year. Mike Camilleri was a UFA in Calgary and he didn't trade him.

And I said, why didn't you trade him? He goes, because I was asking a third for him and I didn't he didn't trade him. And I said, why didn't you trade him? He goes, because I was asking a third for him and I didn't want to take a fifth. And I go, why not? And he says, because if I cave and take him for a fifth, then people are going to say that to me all the time. I said, okay, I get that. Now, here's the thing. If you're New Jersey and you're sitting there with Paul Mary

and you're looking at it and saying, we can get our first, but it's kind of cost us 5.2 million. Does the Burke rule, does that Burke rule come into effect? I say no. I say that's acceptable for me. That's acceptable because it's a first round draft pick. Because it's a first round pick. And if you don't make the deal and you don't get the first round pick, you've got Paul Mary. Yeah.

I mean, there could have been another move, but's just say for example it all fell through you've got paul mary you've got zay jack you don't have a first round pick and you're instead of 5.2 million you've got what pro rated 10.4 million or whatever it is and they're walking away the only point that i want to raise on that is with the Taylor Hall situation, if the ask is a first, and there's as many teams as we believe interested in Taylor Hall, should the deal not have been done by now?

Let me add one thing to it. I wonder if, because you're right, they'll probably have to eat $4 million of it unless the other team is attaching a bad contract to that first round pick. Look at everything New Jersey had to do to get the first rounder. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

No, absolutely. I understand it. So that's my point. You're on the right track. So we know Buffalo's going to have to eat half of Hall, right? Yes. Or the other team's going to have to facilitate a move through another team

where they've got to eat a chunk of Hall. Or pick a bad contract on a team that needs Hall, and you attach them to that first-round pick, and you have to eat that bad deal, which would probably be something more than just this season. So that's what it's going to be. It's going to be something like that. Now, I've been sitting here all day racking my brains on Hall.

Who's in? who do you think you want to hear my list okay here's my outsider list and you give me your insider list i want to say you're not as outside as anthony and justin are you're more inside no they're the fire starters though they're the ones that make you chase stuff every day. The five alarmers. Colorado. I don't know, but okay. Toronto. Boston. The romantic story is Edmonton.

I don't know. Minnesota. Florida. Okay, so Colorado. I think Colorado is going to go after a defenseman like alexiak is a guy i could see in in colorado i think colorado's looked at a ford with edge i don't know about i don't know what to make of hall there boston so now chris johnston reported on thursday night is just before we did this that you know hall is open to an extension the thing about me with boston is

i'm not convinced they want to do rentals too much i mean it always depends on the price but i look at boston and I'm not sure they're crazy about paying a high price for a rental this year. You know, I could always be wrong, but if you look at their team, they're really battling. They've got a lot of health issues. He could help them. I'm not convinced they're giving up a first for a rental. Now, could they possibly give up one of their prospects maybe but i don't think they want to give up a first for a rental now if we do our talking an extension here it makes more sense to me but boston's been very careful about

its expenditures this year right oh yeah so i don't know tor? I've heard the rumors about Toronto. I think if Toronto does haul, it's them coming in, swooping in late, and seeing what they can do here. Florida's going to take a big swing somewhere. Yeah. But I wonder if it's more D than forward. You know, the other thing I was wondering is I could still see Florida trying to move someone else,

like Strahlman, trying to move someone else like straw man, trying to sweeten straw man to get a move. I just don't know if that's going to be possible. And who else did you name? The other one is Minnesota. And here's why I like that theory a lot. Here's why I like Minnesota, the reward for the team we talked about last time,

and they have two first round picks. And one of them is Pittsburgh's first rounder. I like that theory a lot. I have to tell you, I really do. I like that theory a lot. The other one that I wonder about, and I know right away, you're going to say, look, they're totally capped out.

They're completely capped out. Like they're going to play with like 16 players. Does Vegas think they can beat Colorado? Yes. Vegas thinks they can beat Colorado right now? Yes. The way Colorado was playing, Vegas think they can beat Colorado? Yes. Vegas thinks they can beat Colorado right now? Yes. The way Colorado is playing, they think they can beat them? As good as Colorado is, I think

Vegas is a really confident team. I think they're confident. I think they're really good. I don't know if they think they can beat Colorado right now. And we know that owner. That to me is the one. And again, there's no reason for me to say this because they have no money left. None.

I just wonder about what Vegas does here and if they're measuring themselves against the Avalanche who look like an absolute beast as we thought they would. What's your list? For Hall? Yeah. I really don't know what to make of Boston.

I know they're rumored in a lot of things. Like this whole Rask thing. Jeremy Swayman's playing tonight, by the way. Yeah, and he's a talented guy who could have a very bright future, but Boston's given up a lot of first-rounders. Again, if it was a prospect that Buffalo was willing to take,

I would be inclined to believe that Boston would be more willing to do that than a first for a rental. Now, if we get an extension here where Hall signs, I could see maybe Boston being more interested in that. But I don't think I buy Boston wanting to give up a first for a rental. I could always be proven wrong, and things do change a lot here.

I don't get the sense that that's what they want. I think they want to make themselves better. I think they do want to do something first for a rental. I just don't see it from them right now. That's what you do when you think you can win the Stanley Cup.

Without Rask, does Boston think they can win the Stanley Cup? To the Maple Leafs. You wrote about Jamie Oleksiak. Yep. I wonder about players outside of Taylor Hall, which would be a whopper of a deal. I wonder about players like Miles Wood

and whether the MDS in New Jersey is open for business. I wonder if that's a fit there. The one thing that the Maple Leafs, whether they're drafting or they're trading, the first question is, can he and miles would can um so a couple of things there he is and he's got a little bit of you know he's got a little bit of snarl too so that never hurts here's my question about the lease okay okay can you take anyone with term i think this is a strict rental no issues with miles what is a player none but if you take a guy with term but it's only 2.7 but think about if you take a guy with term can you sign hyman

well that's the whopper and every game that goes by. And Wednesday was another great performance by Hyman. Yeah, his price isn't going down. What's his number right now? Is he five? Like, I do think that the team and the player here are going to work at it. The team and the player worked at it a bit with Jake Gardner. You know, they talked about long-term, less AAV. They tried some things. They couldn't make it work.

Now, I don't want to insult Jakeake gardner here and it's not my intention because i think the organization really thought incredibly highly of jake gardner as a person but the want to find a way to keep hyman will be greater than the want to keep gardner so i think they will do everything they can yeah to make. However, every dollar you bring in for next year is going to make that more difficult and going to make your surgery a lot more challenging. So when I hear Miles Wood, who I think is a really good player,

I say, does that not make your job to sign Hyman more difficult? I did mention Nylander a couple of seconds ago yeah and there was the uh covet situation not specifically with him but someone around him that led to him being removed from the lineup on wednesday here we are 24 hours later as we record this what's the latest well the latest is that nylander has to be out for at least a week the way the protocols work and i sought clarity on it today is that when you have a close contact you have to be tested for a week and it also makes sense with what chris johnston said on the show last night yeah which is the reason the Leafs were allowed to play

is that when Nylander skated with them on Wednesday morning, the incubation period wasn't far enough along yet that he was contagious. So you know that what we've learned about COVID is sometimes it takes a couple of days to show up. So we probably won't know about Nylander's status till close to the weekend. Well, what am I saying close to the weekend? By the time this drops, it's Friday.

Like that's close to the weekend. So the weekend. Yes. Otherwise known as. What's that Daniel Craig gif? Ladies and gentlemen, the weekend. The weekend. So they're not going to know.

And hopefully all the tests come back negative and he's fine. I mean, good on Toronto. Like, I don't know how many teams do this, but you know, good on Toronto. If,

if you're someone who lives with a player and you, you request it, you can have a COVID test from the team. I don't know how many teams do that, but I know Toronto does does and that's how they caught this one i gotta tell you i could only imagine what was going through some of those players minds in that that day on wednesday oh man like like honestly jeff i didn't even think about it as we were working the game but someone said it to me later you know can you imagine what

those players must have been thinking all day like he he said that he was surprised Montreal didn't win like seven, nothing. Well, obviously it wasn't in Jack Campbell's head, 32 saves. No, or Matthews has scored on the first shift, but I mean,

obviously I hope he's okay, but the protocols say if a close contact of yours test positive, you have to have at least a week of negative tests. And then it depends on if you test positive or you have symptoms. Hopefully he's okay. And so is the other person he knows. The other team we worked in that game,

of course, the Montreal Canadiens, no Brendan Gallagher. And we talked, well, you and CJ discussed what that means now that he's on long-term injury, what that means for the cap situation and the prospect of bringing in new bodies for the Montreal Canadiens. And also, Carey Price with the lower body issue will not return until next week.

Your thoughts on the Habs' issues right now. Would it surprise you at all if they did something? No, of course not. You know, the Montreal Canadiens, you know that scene in Anchorman when all the different news shows show up for the rumble, the riot? The Canadians are going to win because they're going to have more bodies than anyone else. They're simply going to swarm people.

Nothing would surprise me. I think they're going to look for a D. I do. Also around the NHL. By the way, we should have mentioned this, and if I were a better host, I would have. Ty Smith is coming up on the podcast today. We sat down with him a couple of days ago.

Impressive young man, rookie defenseman. I think you'll really enjoy this interview. Some pretty candid stuff from Ty Smith, specifically about one former junior hockey coach. You know, Elliot, if you could give us a sort of snapshot of what the vibe is like out there as we head into the weekend before trade deadline what does it feel like out there right now i mean you're living on your phone all day what's it feel like right now it was

such a nice day in toronto and i spent i spent a chunk of it sitting in my backyard just looking at the phone all the time it It's kind of a weird feeling. You know, we've never had a year. Oh, geez. We've never had a year like this for a lot of reasons. You know, it's not that the cap isn't going to go up a lot next season. It's that the cap might not go up for four years or five years. A couple of seasons.

Yeah. So it's really tight. There's not a lot of buyers. Everybody's kind of squeezing each other a little bit you know i still do believe there's going to be one stunner of a deal that comes out of nowhere i'm trying to figure out where it's going to come from you know i think toronto is kind of sitting there waiting and saying you know what can we kind of get for the best possible deal if we wait and i don't think they're the only ones i think there's other other people like that too you know adams he's got a lot of irons in

the fire dubis zito you know oh sackick armstrong that's doug several day off you put him in there see i think he's i think he's like dubis he's put him in there? See, I think he's like Dubas. He's laying in the weeds. He's waiting. He's waiting. He knows what he wants. See, I like Sheveldayoff's position because I think he knows what he wants. It's a specific thing, and he's patient generally.

Toronto's position is a little different because of the whole goalie thing. But I still don't think they do it unless they feel like they have to do it. Forsberg starting again Thursday night, eh? You think that might be a goaltender of interest for the Toronto Maple Leafs? I just think it's interesting

how this guy is all of a sudden, after not playing all year, he's played three times in five days and so you think that's a uh a showcase opportunity i kind of do and it's a smart like look they've got hobert just came back and murray's coming back to me it's a smart play by ottawa get them out there get them out there uh okay on that we'll uh we'll take a quick pause here on the podcast. Again, Ty Smith coming up after the break.

Also, some of your questions at hashtag ask 31, including this one from Ken McNeil. Did Elliot know in advance he was going to be the star on BX's shelf Saturday night? Also, I'm assuming whatever goes up there has to be vetted by hockey night in Canada producers.

So to your knowledge, have they ever said no to something? If so, what we'll go to break on that question, Elliot. I didn't know. I don't know if he asks the producers or not. Um,

generally when we, we see them and we just start laughing, I'm sure that Kevin gives them some heads up because he's a good team player that way. But as far as I know, they have not vetoed anything, but I didn't know. I just laughed.

I love it. I'm with you. I love it. It is the hockey night version of the Simpson couch gag. It's always different. You know, it's coming and it's always funny. By the way,

we should, before we go to break, we should send everybody to this week's edition of, what's the Stouffville Witch Church paper called? Oh, On the Road. Yeah, it's our community paper. On the Road, the Stouffville Witch Church community paper, page 27. Amal, I'm going to send you the link and you can put it in the show notes. Jim Mason with a Q& a with Jeff Merrick.

There's four really attractive members of this family and Jeff and me. And a lot of the interviews about the littlest hobo. So I saw that. I was laughing. Prepare to be disappointed. I spend a lot of time talking about, uh, about that wonderful dog,

London. Uh, yeah. Thanks to Jim Mason and everyone at, at on the road. I finally made our community dog, London. Yeah, thanks to Jim Mason and everyone at On The Road. I finally made our community paper, Elliot. Now, and I've been here in Sobel since 2012, I've finally arrived. That's awesome.

And now we'll go to break. Ty Smith of the New Jersey Devils next on 31 Thoughts, the podcast. Elliot, we're very pleased to be joined today by Ty Smith, defenseman for the New Jersey Devils, who in my humble opinion, Elliot has the best flow stash combo going in the nhl confirm or deny we'll get you to talk about yourself here ty do you have the best mustache long hair combo in the nhl today i mean i have to do some digging i haven't i haven't looked around too much but i like to think it's pretty good i mean uh the boys uh give it to me a little bit especially jack my roommate but uh he's been on me to shave the mustache for for a little bit here but i think it's it's kind of funny and i kind of

like it don't give in don't give in to peer pressure don't give in just resist it is such a good look do you how often do you hear about it from the other bench? Once in a while, I hear a lot of chirp about the mustache, but that's about it. I'm with Elliot on this one. It's such a great look. One of the questions is why? Is there an inspiration for this look,

or is this just Ty Smith style? Because the last time I spoke to you was at your draft, and it's clean cut button down. I'm ready for the nice pictures. I'm going to say all the right things. So I don't offend anybody, whether it's my NHL team or Hockey Canada or anyone. I mean, you look like you're more yourself right now. Yeah, I mean, for me, I've always been a guy that likes the long hair.

So that's something that I'm kind of just enjoying, being able to let it grow a little bit. And then as far as the mustache goes, I think it would have been my 18-year-old year in junior. I grew it out at one point. I just, I had a beard going and I just shaved it all down to a mustache and kind of just for jokes and the boys loved it. And I think our team got really hot and, uh, started scoring some goals and stuff.

So I kind of, I kind of rolled to the mustache for a while. And then this year or this summer, I guess I just kind of brought it back just, just for fun. I've kind of, kind of like having it. Okay. So as you mentioned, Jack and that's Jack Hughes, who you live with. So you've had a really strong start to the year. What have been the biggest ups and what have been the biggest challenges, the biggest downs? Kind of for our team before we got hit with COVID, we were kind of rolling along pretty well and definitely exceeding expectations for our group. And then kind of afterwards, we got into a bit of a slump and we were losing games. And I mean, that's probably the most obvious ups and downs at the start.

It was exceeding expectations, lots of fun. Winning's always fun and puck was kind of going to the net for everyone. And afterwards, there's a bit of a slump for us and and uh it was a bit tougher to get wins so i think those would probably be the two most obvious i guess ups and ups and downs for this year so far now when it comes to to jack hughes and ty smith who's the messy one who's the neat one be honest um i'd say i'm a little more clean i think when it comes to that his room's actually pretty clean right now he just cleaned it up but uh sometimes it gets sometimes it gets a little bit out of reach for him and it gets a little messy but we've got him doing some laundry now and uh

he's he's starting to clean it up in that area so it's been good. Had to show him how to throw the Tide Pod in the wash to get it going. See, when I was in university and I had roommates, it was okay if my room was messy, but I couldn't leave the kitchen area messy or anything like that. Is that the rule for the two of you? Your room is fine, but nothing outside of it. Yeah, yeah yeah kind of it's he's he actually does a good job at kind of keeping the the main area clean i guess like the living room in the kitchen and he's the take out the trash guy in the house so that's huge that

he's always always doing that when the trash gets full of the recycling and i'm more of like do the dishes and most of the cooking he's he's kind of hangs out in the kitchen and it's kind of like the sous chef like he'll chop up the the stuff and i'll do the cooking so it's uh it's good he'll play the tunes and get to have some fun and relax so it kind of works out well what's your specialty like you said you're the chef like what's your thing well we kind of both have our specialties jacksax is, he does potatoes really well. He chops up like small potatoes, puts some seasoning on. He does a good job.

And mine would probably be making salmon. That's probably one of our go-tos for dinner. Salmon and whatever else, I guess. What's the key there? What's the key to making a good salmon? I mean, for me, I like a little bit uh crispy on the outside so and so does jack so i guess at the end kind of just make sure that get it crispy on the on the outsides that's probably my my key to success pretty good i gotta say that's pretty good so that's the uh that's the the off the ice

ty smith i want to ask about on the ice Ty Smith. And this may sound like a weird question, but are you comfortable yet? And the reason I ask that is it'll take a player, you know, joining a new league a certain amount of time until they're comfortable, that they don't feel overwhelmed. A, are you comfortable? And B, if you are, how many games did it take you to get there?

Yeah, I think I'm pretty comfortable right now. I've been fortunate with the group we have. All the guys have been really good to me, kind of making me feel comfortable. Same thing with our staff. Coaches have been good with me. Obviously, they're continuing to teach things to me and watch video with me to kind of help me learn but at the same time they kind of give me a little bit of freedom when it comes to the offensive side of things and making plays so probably started to

get more comfortable i guess i don't know it would have been maybe around 10 games in was watching video with our d coach naz and he is kind of showing me a clip and then he just said like they're coming at you pretty pretty fast now i guess and pretty aggressively so he said maybe that's a time where you can feel free to beat the guy on the blue line and use your moves and kind of once he said that i think the next game i was able to make a play around the guy at the blue line and create a pretty good chance so ever since that kind of got thrown out there and i had a little bit of freedom and in uh that regard i think that's probably when uh i kind of got fully comfortable

i guess did you find lindy ruff intimidating um maybe a little bit kind of just from seeing him from a distance i guess but i mean when i had conversations with him and things like that early on in the year he was uh he was really good towards me and you could tell he's a good guy that cares about his players so i'm definitely thankful that uh that he's my coach this year when you speaking of coaches when you look back at the history of coaches that you've had, who do you think has had the most influence on you? Who's been able to sort of unlock everything that there is about Ty Smith? For me, I've been really fortunate with the coaches I have had.

I guess minor hockey, my dad is my coach, so that was obviously something I'm grateful for. And, uh, he, he was good for me. It was hard on me, but, uh, helped me a lot. Still helps me kind of learn the game, I guess. And thankful that I've had him when I moved away from home, I had, uh, Yogi Svekovski. Uh, I don't know if he was, yeah, he was, uh, yeah, he was awesome and, uh, taught me a lot about the game and how to be a pro, I guess, at a young age.

So I'm thankful to have had him. Then in the Western League, I played four years and had three coaches. Don Knockbar when I was 16, who was a bit of a different coach in a way that he's more old school, I guess. But he did a great job with me. I definitely learned how to defend. When we were playing Seattle about halfway through the year, I was playing with our captain, Tyson Helgeson, who was my D partner.

Obviously, Barzell was on Seattle at the time, and he dominated our league. was on Seattle at the time, and he dominated our league. And Don kind of told me that he said, you can either play offense and we'll play against the other team's third line or second line or whatever, and you can always be jumping up in the play, or we can play against Barzell and you can learn how to play defense. And I told him I wanted to play against the top lines and learn how to play defense when I was 16. So I kind of had to learn how to defend pretty quick so I was thankful that he kind of taught me that I guess early on and in my junior career and then I had Dan Lambert

17 and 18 year old years and he's probably the coach that I've had the best relationship with, obviously, next to my dad to date. Dan was a great coach. He actually texted me about a week ago, and we still keep in touch, even though he's in Nashville there. But he's one of probably – he's the most passionate coach I've seen, I guess, so far that I've got to know when it comes to just loving the game of hockey.

And he'd stay in his office all day, and I'd get to go in there, and we'd kind of just shoot the shit and watch whatever game was on TV or watch power play clips or things like that. We'd kind of go over things that could help our team or help me, and I'm definitely thankful he taught me a lot about the game offensively and defensively and kind of about leadership and just how to be a good good pro and a good human so I'm thankful to have had him and then I had Manny Viveros my last year and he was another great coach and both of those two manny and dan were obviously amazing

western league defensemen in the sense they could put up points like like it was uh oh yeah it was uh their jobs i guess so there it was crazy that the numbers that they put up and dan was the guy that he'd always make jokes that uh i won't touch his western league points so i know as you're working to try to put up some more points. Let me jump in on that one because I know him a little bit from when he coached the Kelowna Rockets. When you were – because you had a few big seasons with Spokane and a couple of big ones when you were with Dan Lambert.

How often would he come in and say, you know I put up 102 one year, young man like how often would that come out of dan lambert he didn't like to talk about himself too much but we'd be uh i remember one time i practice i was just throwing like passes i guess from kind of one side of the blue line to the top of the circles on the other side of the ice just saucer passes try to put in the as wheelhouse for a one-timer just for power play stuff and i was doing it and like i don't know the guy flubbed one shot and dan stepped in and threw like a perfect sauce right in his wheelhouse and the guy one-timed it under the bar and he he said that's the difference between 102 and whatever you've got. Wow.

So he let me know once in a while. So this year, you're not going to be playing against him, unfortunately, because you're not in the same division. If you ever score against Nashville, are you going to skate by their bench and wink at him? Oh, yeah. I'll let him know for sure. You know, I got to tell you, one story I heard about you from Junior 2, Tyler, that I really

laughed about, was that you would talk to your GM, Scott Carter, who's the GM of Spokane. You would talk to him about trades. Are we interested in this guy? Are we interested in that guy? Do you want me to make a couple calls? What can I do to help make sure this guy will fit into our culture? You were

really aware of the league and you were always talking about how can you help the Chiefs make trades. Is that true? Yeah, yeah, that is. I knew at least one guy, if not multiple guys on every team in the league. And most of the good players in the league are players that I guess they'd ask me about. I would know who they are and kind of know what they're about. So it'd kind of be easy for me to give my input on like if they hear a guy maybe has a bit of issues with the team um where he's at like kind of if we'll be able to handle him and in our culture and i was pretty fortunate that we had a lot of great leaders on the teams in spokane that i played played on so we were able to maybe bring in some of those guys i guess if they wanted to but i mean that was something I was always really interested in. I wanted to win. And Scott would kind of, he came to me to ask some questions.

So I guess I got pretty involved more and more, I guess, as we went on. So I'd be in there talking to him and our coach. So at what point will you go into Tom Fitzgerald's office and say, I've got some ideas? Never. I knew that one was coming. I knew that one was coming, Ty. That was the obvious follow-up.

You know, trade deadline's coming up. If you whisper to Tom Fitzgerald here at all, Ty, about what the Devils may be. Is that, like, I am curious because I think, listen, a lot of us are all, you know, we all grew up and everyone's in hockey pools and you play sort of fantasy general manager have you always been that kind of guy and like here we are in your in your rookie season in the nhl and we're talking about you know future careers but is that something you've always been interested in um yeah i think that's that's a cool aspect of the game i don't know if that's something that I could do. I mean, it seems like those guys have to put in crazy hours and a ton of work. So it seems like a difficult job.

So I don't know if I'd be cut out for that. But I think it's pretty cool at the same time. Tell me about your relationship with Brendan Gallagher and the Delta Hockey Academy. Yes. Yeah, so my second yearher and the Delta Hockey Academy? Yes. Yeah, so my second year of Bantam Hockey, I just kind of finished playing with a really good team and a good staff in Lloydminster, and it kind of turned out that all those guys were moving on

and there'd only be a couple of guys returning and all new coaching staff. And so I was kind of speaking with my agent Jerry Johansson and he has Brendan Gallagher um as well so he kind of threw it out there that the school and in BC like Vancouver Delta um he said they're starting their a hockey academy or they've always had the hockey academy but they're starting um a school league and a bantam team this year for the first time and this yogi swakowski guy is going to be the coach and apparently he's the best skills coach in that area and he'd be good for my development and at first i was kind of

a little hesitant because a they'd never had a team before and b we'd be um playing against teams like poe and oha that are uh i guess big bantam programs that have been around for a long time and always get um the top players and uh jerry took me down there me and my dad brother and sister down there and kind of met ian and ian toured us around um show us the school and kind of explain the program and and whatnot and then they had guys pretty much the full team there's one spot left and I heard some of the names and I my dad kind of knew them and I knew them from spring hockey stuff and there were some good players there so I guess I kind of just went for it and decided to go down there and we ended up having a great team it was a ton of fun it was amazing for my development being able

to move away from home billet down there I billeted with the Stewart family Brody plays in in the Western League for for Kamloops and they're great to me and it's a great experience. Got really close with Ian Gallagher and kind of throughout that, we developed a good relationship and he was obviously hard on me and all the guys there, but he's a good guy and helped me out a lot down there. So I kind of grew tighter with those guys. And then once I started playing in the Western League Ian and Jerry thought it'd be a good idea if I moved out to Vancouver to start training with Ian and I kind of my family just moved to Saskatoon so I didn't really have many buddies in Saskatoon I

wasn't home back in Ludminster anymore and I would have had to find a new place to train and skate and that kind of stuff so Ian said there was a good junior group down there lots of guys that were like 16, 17, 18 year olds in the Western League and I could go train with those guys and the Stewart family said I could move in with them so I did that part of the summer I guess and then about halfway through they moved to Merritt which is a few hours out of Vancouver. And I was kind of in a situation where either I'm going to try to find another place to stay or just move home. And then Brendan kind of just reached out and said that I could stay with him the rest of that summer.

And then for the next summer, I guess we could figure something else out and I could find a place to stay. But I stayed with him, and we started getting along really well and had a lot of fun together and got pretty close with him and him and the rest of their family and then uh ever since then he's been inviting me back out to stay in the summer and now we're we're at a point where I guess we we talk every day FaceTime me yesterday after the game and really? Yeah, we talk all the time. So we're really close, and we have a lot of laughs here, a lot of fun. And obviously, he's a competitive guy,

so a lot of competing around the house or the golf course. So it's a lot of fun. It's been a pretty cool relationship. What is the weirdest thing that you and Brendan Gallagher have competed in that competitive people will understand is not that weird? Oh, I mean, it's actually crazy. Like everything he wants to turn into a competition. Well, we played darts in the garage.

We'll go golfing. We play crib. We go to his parents' place for dinner, believe it or not. His mom cooks dinner for us. So we drive 10 minutes down the road and his mom makes dinner and we sit there and play crib and hang out with his family and have dinner there. But I mean, like even things like he'll pull out a measuring tape, we'll be doing something to do with a measuring tape.

He'll pull it out and he'll just show me the backside of it where I can't see any of the numbers. And he'll be like, Hey, you have three guesses to get it on the nose, you know, and then we'll take turns or like, he always says he's a big fantasy football guy. So he has a couple footballs, I guess,

and lots of sports memorabilia stuff in his place. I remember one of the last nights I was there, me and him were just hanging out. Can't remember, probably watching some sort of college sport or something like that and can't remember how it started but it turned into us competing he'd stand there with the football and it had to be like at shoulder height or whatever and you have to drop it and the other guys start a certain distance away and try to catch it before it hits

the ground and we were doing we were having a competition to see who could who could catch it at the furthest distance away like who's the fastest basically with the best hands and we went we went on and on for probably over an hour so basically so someone's holding it at shoulder length and they drop it you have to run catch it before it hits the ground yeah it's like not even like a run it's like you're like you're ready to just basically like take a couple quick steps and dive you gotta try to get under it who won i think he ended up winning it but he always he always cheats so it's it's not fair you know there's people who are gonna listen to this and think this is crazy i totally get this when i was in university we used to invent the stupidest

games to compete each other. I totally understand where you guys are coming from with this. Just anything to compete. Anything to say you're the winner. What's going to be playing against him? He already said he's going to try to kill me.

He said he's for sure taking a penalty on me. So Brendan Gallagher is coming down your side, tries to go wide on you. What do you do, Ty? For me, I'll probably just poke the puck away and laugh at him and he'll be not too happy about it. I told him that if he takes a penalty on me, I'll score on the power play.

Awesome. I know it's, listen, it's still early in your career and you're, you know, ticketed to have a marvelous moment with the New Jersey Devils. What has been, like, do you have, like, one or two standout moments for you so far? Probably my first goal was pretty cool in my first game. Tennyson across.

Smith pulls up his shot. Score! It's in the back of the net. They score! It was batted out of midair. And we'll have to check. Hoping that's not a high stick, but the referee signals a goal. Now they'll have a discussion.

That's a nifty little play at the blue line if this stands by Ty Smith. As he kind of pulls that puck to the middle to get it through as the Bruins were in the lane. Tennyson to Ty Smith. Here's a little move I was talking about. And that puck's carrying him everywhere. I think that's going to be credited to Ty Smith and his first National Hockey League goal. The Devils tie the game in a be credited to Ty Smith and his first National Hockey League goal. The Devils tie the game in a big moment for Ty Smith.

That would probably be the biggest one, I guess. The rest of it, it's all been great. I've been pretty fortunate for the way things have gone so far. Hopefully, I can keep it going. That would probably be the coolest one so far. Listen, you're a lot of fun to watch and I think you know everybody certainly on this podcast and elsewhere would echo the same. Thanks so much for spending some time with us today much appreciated and best of luck the rest of the way both on the ice and living with Jack Hughes and growing out the stash and the feathers

keep it up you're looking good at every angle. Thanks guys. it up you're you're looking good at every angle thanks guys i really enjoyed that interview with ty smith i really enjoyed sitting down uh with that young man who is you can tell that when this guy gets elliot really comfortable in the nhl and comfortable in his skin and comfortable with everything around him he's going to be a go-to for media. Ty Smith will definitely be a go-to. I didn't know what to expect from him, really, because I just don't know him. I never really met him, but he was a good talker, a really good talker.

I enjoyed it. Really liked it. Yep, impressive defenseman. I got to say, all my questions were great and all yours were terrible. No, mine were awesome because I asked all the good junior ones about playing with Spokane.

You just roll your eyes when I ask awesome because I asked all the good junior ones about playing with Spokane. Like you just roll your eyes when I ask the stuff that gets us to good info about Dan Lambert. Thank you very much. We thank Ty Smith and the New Jersey Devils. Pete Albeetz at the New Jersey Devils for making Ty Smith available. Thank you.

That was a lot of fun. And you know, I wanted to just mention that in this particular case, it was a challenge because uh last week was so crazy that we had to reschedule the interview like two or three times so we appreciate pete and ty and their flexibility they were very gracious and understanding of our goofy schedules and didn't insult us to our faces and we appreciated that a couple of things here uh hashtag ask 31 the first one i'm going to ask you this question to see if you can guess who it is so adrock88 submits in all of your nhl player management

or coach interviews have you found anyone that is as much of a dan carlin fan as you so when i said when i did dan carlin's podcast last year i had two people from the nhl world tweet me saying i'm a huge fan i had no idea that you were as well one of them this one won't surprise you andrew ference yeah not surprised at all right away and the other jason strudwick oh really a huge dan carlin it doesn't surprise me he's kind of a smart guy like if you listen to him talk there's a there's definitely a brain up there they're both intelligent dude so it should come as has no surprise okay sue um adam submits this one elliot what is the most beautiful arena you've been to and the arena you most want to see in person but haven't his is

haven't traveled much but galt arena gardens is the best i've seen i've been there a bunch uh gordy played there and i want to go to the spangler cup of course to see the gorgeous rink that we see uh every year around christmas time elliot most beautiful arena you've been to and the arena you most want to see in person but haven't oh that's a great question i'd have to go back i know it's not beautiful but it's memorable like to me i love maple leaf gardens and maybe it's because i put a lot of childhood memories with it and there was such history there and it wasn't beautiful in the classic sense of the term but there was a stretch there where for probably about 10 games when i was in high school we could buy tickets right at the top of the grays which were the highest level

and i went to more games in two months than i probably had for almost the rest of my childhood. And I love that. It's got a romanticism for me. And that's why I would say that no arena ever evoked as much passion in me as Maple Leaf Gardens did, but the most beautiful arena I've ever been to. Hmm. I have to say this.

The track and field in China at the Bird's Nest, that was an incredible thing. Everything there, though. Like the Cube was great, too, where Phelps smashed all those records. That was gorgeous. But I love the Bird's Nest. Yeah.

And there were some of the best interviews of my career with usain bolt so i would definitely feel that that's probably the most beautiful the arena that i've never been to that i would love to go to i mean the answer is probably it's not really much of an arena but there's two events I've never been to that I would love to go to. And it's Wimbledon and the masters. And those are probably after I retire. Is there a rink that you've always wanted to go to, but never been to? You know, again, a lot of them are old. I never, uh, I never got a chance to go to the forum. It was just not something that I could ever, unfortunately do.

I did get to go to Chicago stadium once the The forum would probably be the answer for me. Current rinks. I don't know. I don't know if there is one. All right. What about you? Where do you want to go? Okay.

I, uh, I've always wanted to go to Yost. Yes. Where the Michigan Wolverines play. My son playing with the triple-A waxers last year. Uh, they had a, uh had a tournament in Ann Arbor and I pulled some strings with some buddies with the Wolverines hockey program and got the kids in to tour the rink.

And so like to this day, there's like a ton of kids in Stouffville that all have like Michigan hats and t-shirts and all that. And I was so jealous. My wife was sending me pictures of my son at Yost. And I'm just like, I've always wanted to go to Yost.

They look so gorgeous. I would love to go. That's one. And the other is, I've always wanted to go to Lushniki, where the 72 series. And I know like I would be fully prepared for it to be an absolute dump.

As a matter of fact, I would expect it. Well, there'll be people who say to me that Maple Leaf Gardens was a dump. Of course it was. And I loved it too. I loved it too i love the listen i went to i don't care i remember my first game going to the montreal forum was montreal canadians quebec nordiques three all tie i remember everything about that experience i remember the seat and how it felt and the cigarette smoke and every shift and the nords tying it in the third, it's at right down the line. And it was,

it wasn't a great rink, but it's like, I don't know. You, you walk in and it's ghosts of the forum, right? It's all those players that have, that have been there that have,

you know, their, their grooves are somewhere in there still in the, still in the ice and your brain. That's, that was such a gorgeous ring. You know, I got to tell you, this story is making me angry because I was supposed to go to the forum once,

and I couldn't go for a disciplinary reason. Uh-oh. I did something stupid, and I wasn't allowed to go. Is this the part of the podcast where I say, what did you do, Elliot? No, no, I'm not telling that. I'm not telling this story. Because I honestly, I deserved it. It was a stupid mistake.

And I was supposed to go as part of a group and I was disciplined for something I did. And it was bad. And it was a big punishment too. I was devastated. That's huge. Yeah. Forum.

It was a great place, man. It was so cool going in there. Okay, from Alex. This is so interesting because I just talked to Kevin Woodley this afternoon about this, and this question comes in. Why is Russia the new top nation for goalies?

Shcherkin, Georgiev, Vasilevsky, Varlamov, Brodsky, Sorokin, Samson. Did they change something in the development system years ago? Why are they so successful? So there's a few things here that Kevin shared with me and Kevin, uh, who now is working with us at sports net.

We should really have on the podcast at some point, Kevin Woodley, uh, runs in goal magazine, one of the world's leading authorities on, on everything netminding. And a couple of things. UC Parkella, who's the Colorado Avalanche goaltending coach, was sort of there when it all happened.

There was an influx of Finnish teachers, specifically goaltending teachers, that went to or were imported into Russia. teachers that went to or were imported into Russia. Also, I think it was the VHL that purchased the Swedish goaltending manual, which was translated into Russian. And a lot of it, hello Vancouver Canucks fans, was based on a lot of the teachings or was similar to the teachings of Ian Clark. teachings or was similar to the teachings of Ian Clark. So a couple of things here. The coaching has improved and it's modernized. Bobrovsky and Vasilevsky, their success has led to a lot of players, much like Patrick Waugh popping the province of Quebec or Mika Kiprasov popping Finland. A lot of kids there now want to play nets.

But the one thing that they do, and this will probably change kevin tells me is when they start they drill them old school style so you don't just start playing net it's like old school like vladislav trechiak drills like you'll skate for two hours until you'll see a puck like there's this investment in this foundation of movement when you start before you actually become a goaltender. So you don't actually start by being a goalie. They'll make the athlete first. You're not locked into a structure.

Compound that with more kids want to be goaltenders. They're not really drilled at a technical age. It's all about movement and the goaltending comes second. age, it's all about movement and the goaltending comes second. So that's the theory why we have this amazing outpouring of Russian net

minders. That is the theory. It's good, better than anything I could give. Amen. Okay. From Clint. What is the craziest rule change you would at least like to see a lower level of hockey try? My personal fave giving more advantage to pulling the goalie like taking out icing and the blue line while pushing to tie the game.

Is there a crazy rule you would like to see a lower level try Elliott? Full two-minute power plays. Oh, yeah. The Montreal Canadiens rule. Change it, change it. They're filling the net. Yeah. Full two-minute power plays is what I want. The Montreal Canadiens rule. Change it, change it. They're filling the net. Yep. Full two-minute power plays is what I want.

One thing that I would like to see, just because I'd like to see if it affects the goal scoring. Opening face-off is where, Elliot? You want it in the offensive zone if it's a penalty, right? No, this is separate, but it sort of hints at that. So opening face-off of every period is at center race, in the middle of the rink, yet the face offs in the offensive and defensive

zone are in the corners. I would have three face off dots, one in front of each net and one at center ice. Bob Clark. Is that Bob Clark's idea? Yeah. He, he thought about that once.

Yes. I believe he brought that up. And how'd that go over? Didn't. That's why we always talk about this R&D camp in the summers for the NHL, just to see what would happen, just to see if that would affect or influence and pop goal scoring in the NHL. Anyway, full podcast this week.

Thanks for sticking with us with the lengthy one, the Freebird podcast with Chris Johnston. And thanks for hanging out on the podcast today. Anything before we leave Elliot as we head into trade deadline weekend. Somebody do something exciting. On Monday. There you go.

Taking us out, a Toronto artist whose honest lyrics give us a look into her life with Throw That Back. Here's DJ SB on 31 Thoughts, the podcast. Not a goddamn thing Throw that pitch, dawg, and watch me swing Don't bench me or try to box me in I don't need you, I got these ends Just sit back there and watch me win They try so hard to make me mad I stay in love and in my bag All this cash for writing my life It make me feel like life ain't bad But I know better than that That's in the trash, stop letting them rap I stay up late night, where let them in at? Masked stripes on the cloth, this is veteran rap

I pay dues when needed Ain't no money in the game, I already know you fools ain't eatin' And you ain't on my level so I know that's fact My girl like an old record, how she throw that back? Throw that back Throw that, throw that, throw that back I said Throw that back

My girl like an old record, how she throw that back? Ayy Throw that, throw that, throw that back, I said Throw that back, my girl like an old record, how she throw that back, ay Throw that back, throw that, throw that, throw that back, I said Throw that back, my girl like an old record, how she throw that back Tryna find a love like BET, throw the track up on the CDG