32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Andlauer Officially Owns the Senators

Episode Date: September 25, 2023

The Ottawa Senators make it official. Michael Andlauer is the new owner of the NHL franchise. Jeff and Elliotte react to his journey to ownership and give their thoughts on his opening press conference (6:00). They weigh in on a number of NHL young stars, including Logan Cooley, Connor Bedard, and Juraj Slafkovsky (16:33) as the NHL Pre-Season gets underway. They also react to Evgeny Kuznetsov speaking out against former Capitals coach Peter Laviolette (25:23).The guys answer your questions in the Montana’s Thought Line (41:17) and sit down with LA Kings President Luc Robitaille (54:12) and Edmonton Oilers CEO Jeff Jackson (1:04:51).Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call the Montana's Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemail.This podcast was produced and mixed by Dominic Sramaty and Jordan McRae, and hosted by Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman.Audio Credits: The Ottawa Senators, Sportsnet, & NBC Sports ChicagoThe 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.

Our two friends from Australia, thank you. 1-833-311-3232, although Elliot is skeptical about Steve. Is he really Australian? That's what I'm wondering. And is his name really Steve? Let's get to the bottom of this, journalists. Right now, it seems as if everyone is in a good mood. Welcome to 32 Thoughts, the podcast, Jeff Merrick alongside Elliot Friedman.

Elliot, hockey is getting going again. We're going to talk about Australia here in a couple of seconds the pre-season is upon us line combinations everybody tweeting them out right now everyone is full of optimism and happiness saturday afternoon walked into uh pro hockey life my buddy uh brooksie there is the manager first thing he says is coots is back and yeah we're all excited that Sean Couturier is back in the mix with the Philadelphia Flyers. Everybody's happy everywhere, right Elliot? Everybody is happy everywhere,

except I didn't even make it to puck drop of the exhibition season to get my first angry phone call. Okay, what happened? At least I made it through the prospect games this year jeff so obviously uh we spent a lot of time talking about steven stamkos's situation on friday's pod and you know friday i went golfing actually with ron mclean and joel darling uh and i was horrible it was probably my worst round of the year, which this person said I deserved.

But I didn't realize because I wasn't online really on Friday that one of the particular comments I made in the Stamkos conversation went viral. So I wasn't aware of this until later. And at issue is a comment I made that the lightning wouldn't be crushed if Stamkos left. And this person called me and was very upset about that line. The one thing I'll say is when I was referring to that, I was referring to the negotiation in 2016. That there were people who thought that at that time, there was just a general feeling around Stamkos that the Lightning weren't budging on that offer. And if he went, so be it. If he was going to take it, he was going to take it on their terms. And I fully believe that. I have kind of said that before, and say, okay, I said, what did you think?

Do you think I was referring to 2016 or do you think I was a little too nebulous? And I had several people say to me, no, it was part of the 2016 conversation. I understand exactly what you meant. But I did have a couple of people said to me, it was nebulous, which is one of my favorite words in the English language. So you've already used it twice we know so let me just say anyone who was confused i was referring to 2016 and not now other than that i i feel everything else i said there i i stand by the other interesting phone call i got about this jeff and i thought this would really appeal to you is we were talking about Stamkos going public and he said he found it interesting

that Stamkos did that in the same week where players worked behind the scenes along with Paul Bissonette to have Mike Babcock removed as coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets. And what he said to me, and this is a team executive, he said that when he saw what Stamkos did, who's a quiet guy who doesn't say a lot, he wondered if we are moving into a new era of player empowerment here. And he said, look, it's only two things, and it's over a short period of time, so can't jump to any conclusions but he said that's

what his organization was talking about our players about to become more vocal and we'll see where this goes uh it's about to be three we're going to talk about Yevgeny Kuznetsov in a couple of moments but uh like you I do wonder if this will now be a trend where players do feel empowered to speak out more, no more just sort of, you know, head down and walk past the coach's office or walk past the general manager. I do wonder, like that person who called you, I do wonder if this will be more of a thing around the NHL. around the NHL. How do you see, just as an aside, since you started us off here with Stamkos, because when we talked about this on the podcast,

a lot of people, specifically, I'm not sure what your either timeline or cell phone text messages looked like, but mine were a lot of Stamkos to Toronto. Does Toronto have a shot? Do you think Stamkos will go to Toronto? And I just kept saying, pump the brakes. I can see Stamkos negotiating go to Toronto and I just kept saying pump the brakes I can see Stamkos negotiating with Tampa all season long do you have a feeling or a sense of maybe how this

plays itself out with uh with one of the top teams in the NHL and their captain look I think I've used this line before the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior last time Stephen Stamkos and the Tampa Bay Lightning walked it down to days before July 1st we were within a week I think it was four days so that says to me that his first option is to stay and I think by what by him coming public the way he did it reminds you his first option is to stay. And I think he will try to do that until that option is no longer there. That's the way I look at it. Okay.

To some of the headlines around the NHL on the weekend, I do want to get to Australia. As I mentioned, I do want to get to Kuznetsov here in a couple of moments. But what a 12 months it's been for Michael Andlauer. What a 12 months it's been for Michael and Lauer. He goes, Elliot, last October 7th from sitting with you and me as part of our 2022 32 Thoughts tour. He goes from that low point in his life to becoming the officially the owner of the Ottawa Senators, all inside of 12 months. And man, was he ever charming on Friday. Your thoughts on Michael Landlauer, now the official new owner of the Ottawa Senators.

Well, I think I would have to look back at his appearance on our podcast in person in Hamilton as the turning point in his life. I don't think there's any other way on our podcast in person in Hamilton as the turning point in his life. I don't think there's, I don't think there is any other way to look at this. You know, Ben Lauer was going through some tough times.

You know, he wasn't very successful. We turned it around. He appears with us and success. So I think what this is proof, if you want to have a successful year, you have to come on the podcast. Well, Ryan Smith in Salt Lake City is hoping that's true as well. It's not even a debate.

This is proven. It is science. I love the line about the inheritance. To my beautiful children, Matthew, Michael Jr., and Lexi, thank you for allowing me to spend their inheritance to pursue my passion. First of all, if you're a Seinfeld fan, there's an episode where George Costanza is complaining his parents are spending his inheritance.

And I think we all know some people who've grown up in wealthy families and they make jokes that if their parents spend any money they're spending their inheritances so i i i laughed at that line i thought it was i thought it was really funny look i thought he had i thought he made a great first impression um you know the one thing that kind of surprised me was everybody always talks about in your first uh your first press conference you know you you give people wins and and you don't say anything remotely controversial to me the most interesting thing he did was when he talked about the building and he said the smart thing we're going to do right by the fans we want to hear what the fans have to say. The thing is, like my dad used to be a developer.

He's not anymore. He's retired from that business. But he hated dealing with politicians because he said that they move at a different speed than you. And, you know, you really have to scratch their back to get things done that you need to get done. And so there were times he'd be furious at them like I remember coming home from school one day and he was screaming at a politician on the phone and my dad is not like that and that really stood out with me but he always said the most frustrating thing was you have to play by their rules

because they ultimately have the hammer and you know Michael Andelauer came out and he said you know hey we're gonna do what's best for the fans but he basically said we're at the politicians mercy here he kind of threw it in there you know in their court he said what we're gonna do here is up to these guys and I thought that was really interesting he didn't make a big deal out of it, but he said it. So it says to me that there's still a lot of conversation that has to be done here. You know, the other interesting thing is

he really didn't clarify what's going to happen in the hockey department. There's no Daniel Alfredson yet. And I think there still has to be some work that's going to happen here with Steve Stahels. He's not on the Oilers website anymore, but Ken Holland did say this week he's still a member of the organization. So there's some things to work out here. But generally, he hit all the right notes.

And the one thing about Ann Lauer is he's a quiet guy. He's a publicly friendly guy, and he is is very friendly but he's in it to win it he's gonna burn to win and he's gonna do what it takes to make that team a winner people in Ottawa were ecstatic and I completely understand why a couple of things there one uh I think there were some angry developers having animated conversations with certain politicians in Ontario this week. So that tradition is still alive and well in the province of Ontario, Elliot. Two, I think that that was, to your point, I really, like, he really hit this one out of the park. He was really charming and engaging.

The inheritance line was great. The cleaning out the house. That was a good one, too. The closet was another great line was great. The cleaning out the house from the closet was another great line too. And then, you know, we talked about last week coming in with good news stories. And I think we're still all wondering about Shane Pinto and how that one is going to get done is now, you know, training camp has begun. And here come the exhibition games and Ottawa's playing Toronto on Sunday afternoon, et cetera. Is there any more movement there?

Or is there anything new there with Shane Pinto in the sense? Well, you know, there was a report on the weekend from Anthony DiMarco about what it would take that if they want to move Matthew Joseph, it's going to cost a first-round pick or a similar style of prospect. I don't think he's necessarily wrong about that you know the one thing I do think about Philly and we've talked about Philly a bit and

I think they've been going back and forth with Otto about Matthew Joseph for one thing I do think that Philly likes the player I do I've heard that Philly actually sees a role and a use for Joseph there that he can play for them. So that's good news for both Joseph and the Senators. But Philly's, as you know, Jeff, this is not a league of charity. This is a league of when you're drowning, they don't throw you the life preserver, they throw you the anvil. And I do think Philly had targeted a specific prospect. I don't have it confirmed, so I'm not going to say it is, but I do think that Philly targeted a specific prospect,

and Ottawa said no to that. And I think if the team is Philadelphia, that's what Philly has said. They said, look, if you want to do business here, the price is going to be high. So we'll see what Ottawa does you know the other thing here with Pinto is and like I said I don't think Ottawa wants to trade them I think they see a future of I've said this a million times I think they see a future of Stutzla Norris and and Pinto and with Norris hurting to start the year even though they don't seem to be too concerned with this,

it's another situation where I think it drives home Pinto's value. You know, I think this, like the worst case scenario for Ottawa is they could put Joseph on waivers and they could send him to the minors if they had to. But the way I look at that, I think they can pay Pinto just under 2.1. I'm still not sure if that's going to get it done here. So, I mean, look, I think there's still work to do here. Oh, and Jeff, also just back to the ownership group, you know, they named or they kind of

figured out who the other members of the ownership group are there was some really interesting names there i mean you you know rocco tulio yeah a lot of a lot of his son plays for uh the edmonton oilers organization had a real tie at a really good year last year um you know he's wanted to be an nhl owner for a long time but there's two other names there that are are particularly interesting to me one of them is the Paletta family we've talked about the Palettas before they met with the NHL at some point in time and they wanted to put an NHL team in Burlington and they own the land they were going to build their own arena and put a team there. And they first arrived on the NHL scene, I want to say, about six, seven years ago. They met with the league and they talked about it.

Now, obviously, that didn't happen. But the fact that they're there said to me, I could see them going the Ann Lauer route. As in, now they're in as a minority, and eventually they become a full owner. I was not surprised to see them there. That will be a name to watch for years to come. The other one are the owners of Guelph, the Feldberg family. I think this gives me another example of how much I have failed at life. Joel Feldberg, I think he's four years younger than me.

I think he went to high school with my youngest sister and an author by the name of David Besmogas. And I think the three of them, my sister and these two guys, they were friends in high school. And now he's four years younger than me, and now he's the minority partner of an NHL team. And look what I'm doing. Like, absolutely nothing of value.

You're talking to me. Yes, I of value. You're talking to me. Nothing of value, Jeff. Nothing of value. And they paid a pretty penny for the Gulf Storm, by the way, of the OHL. There's some Saginaw ownership here as well. So there's a sort of strong OHL minority ownership background here to all of it.

To your original point about Rocco Tullio as well, he's the owner of the Oshawa Generals of the Ontario Hockey League. And you're right, he's been in and around various NHL teams and it's always been speculated that somewhere down the road, Tullio is going to be involved in some type of ownership capacity.

So I don't think we should be surprised here. I do believe he was initially aligned with one of the other ownership groups and then jumped to and lower at which point in the process that happened that I don't know. But I think he was with originally another group and then left to join and lower. So that's a little update there. Want to remind everybody as well. Coming up a little bit later on, Jeff Jackson, the CEO of the Edmonton Oilers.

You'll hear from him on the podcast coming up in a little while here. Elliot and I were in Edmonton last week. That's an interesting conversation. The agent turned CEO, Jeff Jackson coming up here in a little bit. Also Luke Robitaille, who's a president of the Los Angeles Kings.

Elliot sat down with Robitaille in Australia, Melbourne specifically. You'll hear that conversation in a couple of moments. And speaking of Australia, refresh off the two games, the Los Angeles Kings and the Arizona Coyotes. And here's my question. Can you have a goal of the year in the second period of the first exhibition game in Australia, Elliot? Logan Cooley. We submit Logan Cooley for your consideration.

That's the biggest win of the offseason for the Coyotes. And it might be the biggest win of the year for them that they got Cooley to come out of school and join the team. Initially, the word at the draft was he wouldn't be coming. And maybe there was some talk that he would play all four years and then walk or ask for a trade. And obviously, the reverse happened. The one thing I remember, I remember talking to Bill Armstrong, the Coyotes GM, briefly about it at the draft.

And I said, look, this is the stuff we're hearing. And he said, don't jump to conclusions. We're going to work at this. And obviously it was a big win for him to get it done and the organization to get it done. I think this year the Calder race is going to be incredible. It's going to take a lot to beat Bedard. You know, I think, by the way way how about bedard the other day saying yeah i i just thought of something to tell you guys but don't press me on it because there's no depth to this answer about cooking for myself how's the cooking going because you said your mom was instrumental you know early on in your career so how are you doing it solo or yeah i just kind of

facetime her put her on the counter and and that's what I'm up to do. She's making it easy on me, but yeah, maybe try to be a lot more independent at some point. What are you cooking? What's your cooking? Just whatever. I haven't cooked that much. It's just kind of something to help me sit here.

Bettering boo. I've done it a couple times. Rice, chicken, a couple times some rice chicken a couple tacos I thought that was so good I thought that was I thought that was really funny you know between him and Fantilli

and Cooley I think this is going to be a hang on Luke Hughes yes Levi I can't name them all I don't know dave you're a

brandt clark brandt clark will probably be in that conversation i know there's a lot of toronto people that wonder about matthew nye's uh i don't know man there's a lot of there's a lot of great rookies out there a lot of of them. I think it's going to be fascinating. You know, the one thing I always say is like there's some – I said this on the pod before. I remember when Cooley got picked, I had someone say to me, that guy should have gone first overall. Like Cooley should have been the number one pick. Hey, listen.

I want to – really quickly, I want to big up Jason Bukala from our group because he said from, you know, when the finalists were all being done, Bukala said he should be the number one pick. He was always team Cooley. He said that privately. He said that publicly. I will defer to Jason Bukala on this one.

Well, you know, and I don't disagree. Like, as you know me me i don't see the prospects a ton i leave that to the experts but i had a few people saying that the one thing i really feel is i feel bad for the kids slavkovsky because i already see it like all over social uh bust bust bust bust i mean i know i mean like everybody like one of like one of the real unfortunate things about life now in the digital age is that nobody's got any patience for anything. You know, the kid's 19 years old. He won't be 20 until March. There's still a lot of time here.

And the thing I think about is in the Leafs development camp in July, Ronnie Hervinen, who was a second round pick in 2020 he got smoked like he got absolutely Nolan no Nolan Dillingham with the uh Sarnia Sting there was this whole big debate about you know whether or not that hit is clean look Dillingham's trying to make a name for himself and he's got to play his game I don don't have a problem with it. The thing that I think everybody has to remember here is there is no league in the world, not the NBA, not soccer, not baseball, not, well, nobody else plays American football aside from us really so that's it but where the game is so different when you come to North America and like I Slavkovsky I saw a guy last year who's never been hit as much as he was getting hit who's now getting clobbered all the time because he hasn't

had the opportunity somewhere to navigate it when I saw saw Hirvonen get hit, I said the exact same thing. Here's a guy who's played in the Finnish Elite League. He's not getting hunted like that. Now he's playing on a smaller North American ice. And for people who are going out to hit you sometimes, and he gets clocked. And the thing I think about Slikowski is, once he gets used to

that and understands how to adapt to it he's going to be fine he's playing for the right coach who's going to bring him along the right way and I think before anybody starts proclaiming Slavkovsky as a bust just remember there's a learning curve that exists in the transition to north american hockey that does not exist in any other sport coming here and once those guys figure it out they're going to be just fine yeah you know there's one person in hockey that i talk to on a regular basis and we talked last year a lot about slavkovsky and he got caught as you know elliot we talked about it plenty here on the show, a number of different times. And whenever it happened, I would get the exact same text. The NHL is not a developmental league. There's nothing wrong with going back to junior.

There's nothing wrong with playing in the American Hockey League. There's nothing wrong with, as a young player that's already been drafted, playing somewhere else before you come to the NHL. Because, as this person likes to remind me, the NHL is not a developmental league. There's nothing wrong. There would be nothing wrong with Sofkoski going to Laval or Shane Wright going to Coachella Valley or whomever going to the

American League or back to junior. This idea that if they get sent back or they don't make it to the NHL until they're 21, that somehow he's a fraud, he's a bust, he's a phony, wasted pick, to me boggles my mind, Elliot. It completely does. I'm completely with you. Again, the NHL is not a developmental league. What did you make of the Logan Cooley goal? Three to one, Coyotes dancing.

Cooley scores! What a goal by the youngster. Oh, it was incredible. It was incredible. So this is how much of a loser I am. I stayed up to watch the game. I was sitting on my couch down in the, on the main floor of my house and I was watching the game and I saw the goal

and I was like, Oh my goodness. And not long after, cause it was, you know, two in the morning, I fell asleep and Steph woke me up in the same position at seven two in the morning i fell asleep and steph woke me up in the same position at 7 30 in the morning sitting on my couch tv on whatever was on sports night at the time

why did you sleep down here we've all it was my choice it was it was nhl's fault for scheduling a game in Australia. That's what I blamed. Yeah, blame them. I'll tell you what. Again, these are just two exhibition games, not to make too much of them or extrapolate too much from them. Maybe I'm just trying to will this to existence because I like the player, but J.J. Mosier looks really good already.

That central division, it's going to be Dallas and Colorado at the top, Minnesota right below them, I think. And then it's going to be Chicago at the bottom, even with Bedard. And then there are four teams there. St. Louis, Nashville, Arizona, Winnipeg. Could go either way. Okay. You have Gennie Kuznetsov. So

none of this should really be a surprise. You've reported on things like trade requests and Washington trying to accommodate and what the future of Kuznetsov is going to be in Washington. Can they get him back? Do they need to move him? Is there a marketplace, etc.? So he recently told a property called Slippery Ice, which by the way, is a great, great name for a property. Kuznetsov talks about a meeting with Brian McClellan, the general manager of the Washington Capitals about now former Washington coach, now New York Rangers coach, Peter LaViolette. I'll read them to you. There were many moments there in the meeting. I say, you brought a coach who almost didn't fit the style we had to rebuild.

Such moments as it were, quote, you paid me this money for something right I say for what I did well and now he arrived they tell me listen you don't need to do this throw the puck into the zone run and screen the goalie this is where everything went wrong in general because we should each have our own role everyone should fulfill the role and everyone will be in demand from this role and when you carry a piano and then they say to you, no, no, let's play the piano today. And the person has never played the piano and they say to him, come on, play. Okay. So essentially what Kuznetsov is saying is from his point of view, Peter Laviolette was not a fit either for the team or for him personally.

As the old saying goes, fiddlers fiddle and dancers dance, or cows don't make ham, or insert your own cliche here. In Kuznetsov's mind, he was asked to do something that he doesn't do, or sorry, expected to do something that he doesn't do. He does say that he is optimistic that spencer carberry the new head

coach can get this all back on track but your thoughts on you know in the spirit of uh we just talked about stephen stamkos and you know previous you know paul bassinet with mike babcock in the spirit of players speaking their mind your thoughts on this one well also first of all we should credit russian machine never breaks which has done a lot of the Google translate with this. But it's more than that, Jeff. There's several different comments there. Not only that, but he rips the Players Association for not standing up for him when the NHL called him in over the videos of drug usage. He says that Bill Daly wanted a 20-game suspension

and the Players Association didn't offer defense for him when they promised him to. He also laughs at one of his teammates, Alexander Alexeyev, for signing a multi-year extension with the Capitals when he said they're going to bring in other defensemen and you're going to get buried. Alexander Alexeyev for signing a multi-year extension with the Capitals when you know he said they're going to bring in other defensemen and you're going to get buried and now there are a couple of other defensemen there so Alexeyev is going to have to battle for a top six spot they brought in Sandin obviously on the left side and they brought in Joel Edmondson on the left

side so he kind of like there were a whole bunch of different things here. It wasn't just the comments about La Violette. And, you know, first of all, I'll say this. I do not like ripping guys for being honest interviews. We complain that hockey players are boring. If we're going to complain they're boring, we cannot rip them when they decide, okay, I'm dropping the veneer and I'm telling you all. I'm drinking the true serum and it's all coming out. And, you know, that obviously is what's happened here. And sometimes with this stuff, I always wonder, and players should know better now,

is you go back to your home country wherever it is and you think nobody in north america is going to hear this and that doesn't doesn't work that way anymore there's there's this thing called the internet and there's cable lines at the bottom of the oceans like these things go places um you know i'll say this i don don't think Washington is very happy at all. I think that they don't like the comments about Alexiev. They don't think the comments about Laviolette needed to be made. The one thing I'll say here is that if you are going to talk like this, you have to have a big year like Kuznetsov

has to deliver right now he has to go out and he has to have a massive season in 2018 when they won the Stanley Cup Ovechkin deserved the con smith but if you would have told me that Kuznetsov would have gotten it I would have had no problem with that he was the he was an elite player the you could argue the second best player on their team that year when they won the stanley cup in the playoffs he has to be that player now if you are going to talk like this you have to deliver it i think the other thing the capitals feel here is that they don't like the fact he did this because he creates a firestorm or a controversy when they have tried to be supportive of him. And I think that that's one of the things that's going to bother them about it, too. But at the end of the day, I just think that kuznetsov he has to deliver now if you're going to do this

you have to come out and you have to have a massive massive season but isn't isn't this already on the list like you're spencer carver you're coming in you're taking this position you look at your roster and you say to yourself one cross your fingers that john carlson stays healthy all season long i don't think any team was hampered by one injury more so than the way that Washington was completely stung by the John Carlson injury last season. But two, I'll probably look at this and say, I need to get Kuznetsov back.

I need to get Kuznetsov playing. Like it seems as if as much as, you know, the team might be miffed about the whole thing and some noses are out of joint. This is a huge, huge issue for Spencer Carberry. Like Ovechkin is going to be Ovechkin. Backstrom, given where he's at and where his health is at, we'll see.

But one of the big goals here for Carberry has to be getting Kuznetsov back. And if you get Kuznetsov back, to your point, to that level or close to the level he was at when the Washington Capitals won the Stanley Cup, holy smokes, we're talking about, we're probably talking about the Capitals being back in the playoff hunt. You would think so. The other thing, too, is I was talking

to a couple other teams is, like, Kuznetsov is very nebulous about what exactly happened with this trade request. Like he admits that there were conversations about it, but there's no clarity on, you know, where it was and where it stands. You know, the thing here is that if he wants to be traded, this doesn't make it easier to trade him. I think that, don't you think that ship is already,

the trade ship has already sailed though, Elliot? Yeah, probably. It's been a couple of years of trying to move him. But still, like I'm just saying, you know, you never know what happens. I think this makes it harder. And the other point that someone made to me was that it's a really interesting debate about style of play right and that is that the style that laviolette wanted washington to play

like one coach said to me there are good teams who play that. Listen, it is a simpler style. A lot of it is predicated on defense. You remember when he took over Nashville, one of the first things that I heard was, this is really upsetting Pecorine. And I said, why? And this person told me that, well, with LaViolette,

his whole thing is like, we don't want shots to go on net. It's all shot suppression, defense, keep the pucks away from the net. And Pekka Rinne was a goaltender that liked to feel the puck, needed to get a lot of shots early to get into the game. But with LaViolette's defensive structure, he wasn't getting that. And he didn't feel like he was getting into the game the same way he was with Barry Trotz. that's interesting one that's an that's very interesting i i think more with kuznetsov though i think it's about like he's talking about he wants to carry the puck more right and the and the best coaches what they do is they say look if you see a play and it's a legit play, go for it.

But if you don't have a play, don't get us into trouble at the other blue line. Because if you do, that's where the puck comes back the other way and it's bad for you. Now, Kuznetsov is a high-skilled guy. And when he's playing at his best, he can make plays that other people can't. But when he's not at his best, which unfortunately hasn't been a bit in the past couple of years, then it's trouble. And I think what some coaches will look at and say that is, is he unwilling to play a style that can win in this league?

that can win in this league. And that is a gamble that some teams won't want to take. So I just wonder if he's made it even harder for himself to get traded. Like I said, because Natsov, I have loved dealing with him over the years. He is one of the most honest, blunt guys. I remember at the World Cup of Hockey, before he signed his big extension, he was talking about a situation in the NHL where a contract talk was going badly between a player and the team. And he said, if that happened with me, I would go right back home

and I would play there. And please understand, this is 2016. This is not now. But he said, I'd go right back and I'd play there. And please understand this is 2016. This is not now. But he said, this is, I go right back and I'd play there. And, you know, the message got received loud and clear. He got a big deal and he was really honest and blunt about it. It's just that the parameters have changed around him. He hasn't been as good as he could be. There's been a lot of controversy around him. I think the Capitals are really disappointed because they feel that they have tried to always support him like like the

the trade conversations didn't become public until years after they happened so I don't think they they liked this at all. But I think now, like I said, I put myself in people's shoes. If I delivered this interview, I would know it's on me now to have a massive season. And I think that's what the end of the result is here. Kuznetsov has to have a big year. Speaking of people that are wonderful to deal with and interesting to deal with and people you look forward to dealing with. You have a thought on Jacob Voracek to Yager's class. I think it's fantastic. As an assistant,

as, as an assistant coach, we should say he's not playing. I will, I will miss Voracek as a talker, just a hilarious guy. And you know what i i think it's really good that all these retired players are finding ways to stay in hockey you know the one thing that

i hope here why does jogger play jogger plays because he's worried the team will go under if he doesn't play. I hope there is a way to solve this. You know, I really do. I think that if there's anything Yager deserves from all of this, it is a way, like he loves hockey and if he wants to play until he's 70, let him play until he's 70. But I really hope he's not playing in his 70s because he's worried the team won't survive like there's got to be a way to solve this problem you know how i feel about all this i'm not a big fan of the saying as it relates to sports anyhow and for the purposes of this podcast hockey leave the stage while they're still clapping i love the thought of the player that just refuses to stop playing

because he loves playing or she loves playing and just wants to continue to do so. I hope, like you, that that's a big part of Jager's motivation here. I understand save the franchise, keep it afloat, whatever I can do to keep this thing going and keep the lights on, I'm going to do it. But I really do hope that the lion's share of this is Jager just loves playing hockey and

wants to continue to do so and wants to stay in the game. That's why I've used this example before when Peter Forsberg was trying on every single boot in North America to try to make it work so he could get through an NHL season. And everyone talked about, oh, he's ruining the legacy, and oh, it's got to stop, and he's not in his prime. I don't care.

I like the guy that's just refusing to quit until he's exhausted every last possible avenue. I really do hope that Jagager's the same for each. I really do. Okay. Before we go to break, I do want to mention a tragedy that happened over the weekend around the NHL. Nick Cordelius passes away at the age of 29, a motorcycle accident early Saturday morning in Nashville. Was the first player from Orange County to play in Anaheim. The Ducks were

founded and started in 1993. It took until 2012 to get someone from the area onto that team. So 28 years it took for that to happen. Dallas Aikens tweeted quite beautifully about how crushed he was at Nick's passing as well. First of all, our thoughts to his family and all of his friends. And we understand there are many. And you see the tributes online. Elliot, that's our first thought. Dallas Akins had a beautiful one.

Yeah, just gorgeous. To the family and friends, condolences to the Codillas family. There's one family that knew Nick quite well that I want to go out of my way to mention here and that is the coolest family uh Oren and Miles um Oren's the father who we all know is you know former owner of the Tampa Bay Lightning uh played hockey himself he uh he coached his on miles and Nick in LA youth hockey, uh, for a number of years, I think like five years, uh, he would have coached that team. Um, miles coolest, uh, new Nick. Well, grew up playing hockey with him. He's lost a close friend as well. And, uh, the Cordelia's family is

certainly reeling from this and all of our thoughts are there. I do want to mention Miles Koulis as well, who's gone through a lot of tragedy in his young life as well. He just lost his good friend, Nick. He also played with both Colby Cave and Matisse Kivlenics. He's lost three friends, all under the age of 30. And the Koulis family is really hurting right now as well. I just want to make special mention of them that's beautiful jeff welcome back to the podcast uh want to get to your thoughts on the montana's thought line here montana's barbecue and bar canada's home for barbecue elliot your line is try the ribs and the deep fried pickles 32 thoughts at sportsnet.ca 1-833-311-3232 the line again 1-833-311-3232 want to get to a couple of voicemails

here from australia um elliot but up first here is a couple of interesting questions austin from rhode island submits this hey fellas austin from rhode island here my question is do you think we will ever see the nhl use the american hockey league as sort of a test market for new rules that the league may want to implement in the future something along the lines of how minor league baseball has rules now that are being tested there for mlb's benefit to see if it may work in their game the next season. Love the pod. Great job, Elliot and Jeff. This is the way it used to be.

Elliot, this was the way it used to be, specifically under Dave Andrews. Yes, and they did lots of things like overtime rules, thicker blue lines. Remember that one? Hybridizing, yes. Hybridizing was a mandatory visor. Yes. remember that one uh hybridizing was it was a mandatory visors remember that one that was american hockey league um they did the four on four which led to the three on three in the overtime nhl just went right to the three on three but the um there's a couple of things here i had a conversation with someone someone who works in the American League, and this is not a shot at Scott Housen at all,

but this person was saying, I kind of wish we were sort of back in that we're a developmental league and we're here to experiment with ideas as well, not just players and officials and coaches, et cetera, that can graduate to the next level, but also ideas that can graduate to the next level. But you know what complicates a lot of it, Elliot,

is if you make the American Hockey League game too different from the NHL game, it's hard to call guys up and have them join your roster when they're playing one style of game with one set of rules in one league and then a different set of rules applies at the NHL level. That is one of the concerns. If it's too different at the American League level,

when you call a guy up, how much of a change is that? Or how much of a shock is it when you're playing with something different? That's why I don't think he can get too goofy with the American League. The goofier the better, I always say. No, no, no. You're totally right. You're totally right. Ryan in Corona, California.

I have a question about young drafted players that aren't AHL eligible, which I heard plenty about lately because of Shane Wright. My thought is if there's a player who's not eligible but is too good for junior and not quite ready for the NHL, could their team loan them to a European league? As a player who's not eligible but is too good for junior and not quite ready for the NHL, could their team loan them to a European league? My example would be as a Ducks fan, Tristan Leno is not AHL eligible,

and the Ducks have an abundance of deep prospects, that's true, and players at the moment, but he dominated junior last year and probably doesn't gain much going back to the queue. Could the Ducks loan him to Switzerland or another European pro league to help him develop against bigger and better competition? Thank you, love listening. You know what takes precedent here, Elliot? What's that? The NHL-CHL agreement. Well, it's also where you're drafted from, right?

Because where you're drafted from sets the rules on where you can go. So that's a CHL player. They have rules on where you can go. So that's a CHL player. They have rules on where he can go. So there's not a lot of flexibility here. Not at all. Right. The CHL NHL document takes precedent on this one.

Real quick, before we get to the two voicemails. From Chris and Tommy, my brother and I were watching the NFL and talking hockey this weekend. Wanted to pitch a franchise tag system for the NHL. Each team can choose to franchise tag up to three players. These players are automatically given no trade, no move clauses, and only half their salary counts against the cap. We think this would free up cap space league-wide and bring back that middle-class player making $2-6 million who has to take haircuts or short-term deals while the Matthews and McDavids justifiably get paid.

The league wouldn't have to change their expected cap raise, but big market teams could pay out pocket to create artificial growth league-wide with a slightly softer hard cap. Would love to hear your thoughts. That from Chris and Tommy. Chris and Tommy, you are preaching to the converted i have advocated this since dinosaurs roam the earth in the paleozoic era while i was avoiding brontosauruses i was saying the nhl needs either a luxury tax or a tag system that will help do this a couple

years ago there was an agent kurt overhart who proposed the same thing it's not going to happen because it's quote unquote money outside the system betman is against this he fights it with all every fiber of his being he doesn't agree with it unfortunately he's got all the votes i would love it i think's better. I think it creates a better system for fans and players and the sport, but I'm not the one at the top of the food chain. So I don't win this argument. I'm shocked that an agent proposed something to bring money outside the system into the system. I am stunned, Elliot, that Cordova would come up with that. All right, let's get to a couple of voicemails here. I just want to introduce this.

I think you're on the same page as a little bit of what the weekend flavor was around the NHL, where all eyes were on Melbourne hockey in Australia. You're going to hear from Steve, but first let's hear from Connor. G'day fellas, Connor from Sydney here. Just flown down to Melbourne and I'm currently

walking over to Rod Laver Arena for the Yotes Open practice this morning. I said that you guys couldn't make it down here so instead of that I'm going to give you my three wild predictions for the year. So this year I've got Bedard with 78 to 82 points with at least 40 goals, Jay Woodcroft for the Jack Adams and a Oilers Devils final. Last year I had Boston missing playoffs, Demko for Vezina and an Oilers Leafs final so here's hoping we turn that energy around this year anyway great job Jeff and Elliot and good luck to new Amel whoever that

poor poor person is yeah thanks fellas keep up the good work cheers that's a great one hang on pause before we get to Steve lovely voicemail with some bold predictions 78 to 82 points for Conor Bedard including 40 goals I know that he's skating with Taylor Hall and they're gonna try to surround him with some quality players but

do they have enough around him so he gets 78 to 82 points including 40 goals i would love to see it but elliot count me as skeptical i just laughed at the demko one because i picked demko to win the vesna last year too uh stewie god bless his heart he had he had jack campbell and i had thatcher demko and we predicted them both on the same show and they both went sideways uh there's there's some great stuff there uh i i got a great laugh out of it and i'm glad the people in australia are having a a great time i'll tell you this i i'm i think bedard's gonna score i do i think he's gonna score in this league right away uh i'm with you on jay woodcroft specifically because i want to hear the speech um from one of the most thoughtful coaches if he wins

the uh the jack adams and Edmonton, New Jersey. I mean, New Jersey's right there with the next step. And Edmonton, as we all know, expectations are high, namely Stanley Cup or bust. Okay, another voicemail from Australia. Here is Steve on the Montana's Thought Line. Hey guys, Steve from sunny Australia calling. It's Saturday the 23rd and I just wanted to get on the pod

and go to bat for Australia. There's been a lot of, you know, bad takes on Twitter about the quality of ice in Victoria lately. I just want to say that, you know, it has been unseasonably hot here the last couple of weeks, and I think if they tried to make this ice three weeks ago, it would have been totally fine. I play hockey in South Australia winter and summer, and ice is actually pretty good. So, you know, I just wanted to say we should all be happy hockey is here in Australia and not bash the ice surface.

By the way, Elliot, try the ribs. A little promo tag there. Okay, very good. It's catching on. Steve going about for the ice. Well, first of all, he didn't sound as Australian as the last guy did. The last guy sounded more Australian, I have to say.

I'm not saying that's a faker. Are we playing the authenticity card here with callers now? I'm not saying he's a faker, but the last guy sounded more Australian. Look, I would say to Steve, don't worry about bad takes on Twitter. There are always going to be bad takes on Twitter. I tell the young kids now all the time if you come into the business or you go on social media that is the price that you pay is that you're going to hear things that you hate and the only way not to avoid things that you hate is to not go

on it at all I'm glad people they are having a great time. I really am. You'll hear Luke Robitaille talk about it in a few minutes. You know, unfortunately, Luke was in a tough place, so some of the audio got a bit tough, and we had to cut down a bit of the interview. But there's one point he makes in there that, Jeff, I completely agree with. You cannot go there once and not go again.

It must be australia now the nhl has to make it so that australia gets hockey a lot and it's not an easy thing to do but going once and not staying that's the loser's way the yeah i couldn't agree more bill daly deputy commissioner of the nhl has talked about that before the one and dones have to be done that it can't just be you know uh flying quick quick couple of games uh you know grab a bag of cash and we're gone like this has to be part of a long-term strategy so that's something that's you know on the table in theL. I agree with Robitaille on that wholeheartedly. You'll hear, as Elliot mentions, from Robitaille here in a couple of moments. Thanks to everybody who either emailed

32thoughts at sportsnet.ca or called in our two friends from Australia. Thank you. 1-833-311-3232. Although Elliot is skeptical about Steve. Is he really Australian? That's what I'm wondering. And is his name really Steve?

Let's get to the bottom of this, journalists. 1-833-311-3232. The Montana's Thought Line, Montana's barbecue and bar, Canada's home for barbecue. Quick pause. We come back with Jeff Jackson, CEO of the Edmonton Oilers,

Luke Robitaille, president of the LA Kings from Melbourne. Listen to the 32 Thoughts podcast ad-free on Amazon Music, included with Prime. Welcome back to the program. In a couple of moments, you'll hear from Jeff Jackson. He's the CEO of the Edmonton Oilers. You know, that was sort of a news flash that caught a lot of people by surprise as I, and you'll hear in the interview the conversation to get him into that position was a little bit of a surprise as well in the meantime uh this weekend well specifically Friday Elliot had a chance to sit down and talk to Luke Robitaille now we've talked to Robitaille before I've gone over the history of him as a player and you don't need me to run

down the credentials on the ice or off the ice for that matter uh for luke robitaille but the los angeles kings and robitaille always interested in a challenge and doing something different case in point this past weekend the global series kicks off with games in melbourne and rod laver arena between his los angeles kings and the arizona coyotes uh the interview is about seven or eight minutes long. Enjoy it. Luke Robitaille in conversation with Elliot Friedman. Hockey in Australia, up for grabs as the topic.

Enjoy. So, Luke, set the scene for us. What time is it in Australia as we tape this? And where are you? Well, it's 7 7 20 a.m and Stacia and I, my wife, were driving back. We spent the last couple nights a little bit off grid. We decided to take advantage of this trip and yeah she, Stacia found an Airbnb, and it was actually like these pods, like up in the mountains all alone, and we were kind of off-grid. It was pretty amazing.

We could oversee the ocean, and as we got there, it's like a reserve, and there was all these wild kangaroos just running around. We were really overwhelmed. Wow, that sounds incredible. Yeah, it was we were really overwhelmed wow that sounds incredible yeah it was amazing i mean it was i would think there was like about a hundred of them just running everywhere it's pretty amazing now are you allowed to have any interaction with them can you go near them what are the rules well there was no one there so we just kind of would stop station got out of her car and she got pretty close and took some pictures but uh we we were careful because we don't know but they were just looking at us like you know when you're they're just like looking at you and then they just stop

hopping around and hopping away from you a little bit gently it's pretty wild that's pretty did you see any other like wildlife or anything like that as we were driving in we were looking up up the trees and we saw four koala bears one with a baby just hanging in a tree that was pretty amazing too now do you guys have an instagram or all these pictures going to be seen everywhere? Yeah. Okay. I think Stacia is going to be posting them on her Instagram. Yeah. Okay.

What's Stacia's Instagram account? What's your Instagram account, honey? Stacia Robitaille. It's pretty easy. Oh, yeah. Hopefully we're going to get you a few more followers. Hopefully no crazy ones. I want to see these pictures. Okay. Elliot wants to see your pictures honey luke kind of take us back to the beginning how did it start and the kings and the coyotes in

australia because we all knew it was supposed to be the bruins initially but you guys were always there how was this proposed to you and why was it important be the Bruins initially, but you guys were always there. How was this proposed to you, and why was it important for the Kings to go? Well, I think the first thing is we're doing construction at Crypto.com Arena for us, so we knew we had to get out early during training camp, not be home. So we told the league that we'd be willing

to do an overseas trip. And then when Australia came about, we thought it would be a great experience. And at the same time, having the opportunity to kind of expand our brand here, especially being on the West Coast. And we know, I think they broadcast two games a week now. And we just jumped at the opportunity. Now, one of the things I heard was you went to China, the Kings did in 2017. You played Vancouver there.

And one of the things I heard at that time, Luke, was that some of the players felt there was kind of not enough activation. They weren't doing a lot. They were in their hotel rooms a lot aside from when they played. And I've heard that one of the lessons the NHL learned from that is you have to activate the players more. Have you seen a difference of that in this particular trip? Yeah, there's been a big difference. I would say every day we've had something where players were involved.

We obviously are trying to share amongst each player, but guys were on different sports stations. They were involved with the government. They've been going around town doing different events. We were at a store where they had a bunch of new merch with the NHL and so forth. So there's definitely been a lot more activation i think what made it hard last time in china is we played in two different cities yes and and when you do that it's hard because then it was traveling in between and shanghai between and in beijing is

not that close so i think it was still like a two and a half hour flight. On this time around, like we're here in one city. We spend like six, seven, eight days like in one town. And I think that's the biggest difference. And so what kinds of things do you think are going to be done here that when the Coyotes and Kings leave are going to make a difference for hockey in Australia and the interest in hockey in Australia? Well, I think what's important is to go back. You know, you got to make sure you go back, make sure like we emphasize the broadcasting,

you know, if we can have some more games here, like and at the same time, you get involved with the people over here. Like for us, there's a big exchange between the LA tourism. We were aware of it and Australia. So they want to work and they want to keep working on promoting the game. We've had the opportunity to work with some teams, some big AFL team here that are interested in exchanging, whether it's a player performance or something to do with their jerseys

and our jersey and so forth. We just got to make sure we don't want to just come in, play two games, leave and then don't get involved again. I think the more important is continuity. You know, Luke, one of the other things we're talking about now is the international calendar. Now you played internationally three times. You won a silver medal at the World Juniors. You won a gold medal at the World Championships. You won a gold medal with the Canada Cup. You know, do you ever say, because I know the players really feel strongly about going back to the Olympics

and having a World Cup. Do you ever, from a league perspective, say, we have to be better with this? Yes, always. As an example, I was a big believer that if we're going to do a World Cup, it should be in February. And the reason is

when you're trying to do a World Cup in September, everyone in Canada loves it and really enjoys watching it. But around the world, like it's really hard around their scheduling, especially even in the U.S. It's really hard to say, okay, we're going to do a World Cup in September and watch it when you're competing with everybody else.

But when you're in February, there's like a pocket there. There's a big hole. And I think if we build it over two, three tournaments, it doesn't happen overnight. You got to do it over three, four tournaments. I really believe this could be a big difference maker for hockey. Are there any other countries, Luke, that you feel the NHL should be going to? Like when you look at the, at the map, say,

we have to go here and we have to do the same things here that we're going to try to do in australia well i love years ago we went to london and we had a tremendous success i'm not going to tell you london's a mecca of hockey but we never we never went back and i still do believe that it's important to go back because it is kind of like the main cities like New York or Toronto those are the cities when you go you have success there you have to keep going and I think the other

leagues have gone there and they keep going back and I do think it's important if we have an opportunity in the future to go back there I think it can make a big difference because it's like everyone in Europe seem to go back there. I think it can make a big difference because it's like everyone in Europe seemed to gather in London. Okay, I have a couple other questions for you.

First of all, you have been involved now on the business side of the game for quite some time. Ever since you retired, you always had that idea. What are the biggest changes you've seen and what are the most important changes we need to see in hockey and the NHL? The biggest change we've seen is obviously the business has grown tremendously. It's two, two and a half times the size it was even 15 years ago.

So it's a lot bigger. There's a lot more around it. Some of the biggest changes I think we need to do is a little bit more like of the same, like as far as like what we're doing TV wise, things have changed tremendously. doing TV wise things have changed tremendously and I think we're on the right path nationally in the US

and I know what you guys do in Canada it's always like a great show I think that probably the biggest thing coming up is going to be the local broadcasting no one seems to know exactly the route it's going to go it's going to go direct to consumer

yes we got to make sure that it's done it's done right you know like there's going to be a lot of a lot of work behind the scenes to make sure that in the next five to seven years this is done right that hockey is accessible for anyone that wants to watch it. I hear players say that they're worried about MLS, MLS catching and passing the NHL. Do you worry about that at all? I don't worry about it. I always think, what can we do to keep growing what we're doing? You don't look in the mirror you you look in the

front who you can catch instead and i think it's it's up to us to to make a difference and to keep promoting the game and keep keep doing things a little bit out of uh the ordinary i mean you look at what vegas has done even of their game entertainment is so different that everybody wants to see it. Now, you know, teams are all going to build their own, you know, their own type of game entertainment and so forth. But they definitely push the boundaries and it's going to force everyone else to get better. And I think from that standpoint, one of the things I get is the way you get better as a leader. CEO of the Edmonton Oilers Jeff Jackson when did that title first enter your universe as a possibility? I mean, you ran your own agency.

You were part of Wasserman, impressive client list. At what part in your life did you start thinking about something like this? I've said before I wasn't thinking about it, to be honest. I was really happy doing what I was doing at the agency. I had a great group of colleagues. Like you said, I had a very good client list that I loved working with. I was learning a lot at Wasserman as a general agency with lots of different sports and colleagues in other sports and someone like Casey Wasserman leading it. So I wasn't looking to move,

and this opportunity sort of came out of nowhere probably two, three weeks before the draft, and I've said this before. I had initial discussion with Daryl Cates, and then I said, I've got to park this because I've got lots going on in the agent business through the draft, free agency. But I'm willing to think about it and we can chat, you know, when all that's done.

So that's sort of mid-July is when I got everything done. And then we moved forward from there. How's it been so far? It's been great. I mean, I was just telling Sam Gandhi, it's a totally different gig than being an agent, which is when you're an agent, you're on your own a lot. You do things at your own pace. You're working on contract negotiations and research, or you're just on the phone.

With this, it's like my calendar's full every day with meetings. So there's been a bit of an adjustment, but it's been great. So the team would seem to kind of run itself. You've got experience management. You've got two of the best players in the game. You know there's a chance you could win a Stanley Cup this year. So I'm wondering, we're taping this on September 19th at 9 in the morning, Edmonton time. What is the number one item on the CEO's agenda? What is your big thing that you have to do right now?

An interview with you two guys. Yeah, I know that's a lie. I could see your mind turning as you were listening to that question. I think that the team's in a great spot um we're we're going to be competitive we got two of the best players in the league and a lot of really great other players who are gonna um contribute tons and i don't have to do anything with that like kenny holland hall of fame gm he's put this team in a good spot the culture's great i think that because of covid and some other things there's some organizational things that we have to

work on and that's what i'm going to work on like player development scouting we're all all of the stuff that's sort of simmering below the surface that keeps an organization having longevity and success and some of that needs work and so pretty much every day that's what I'm I'm working on I'm looking at different opportunities to bring in sports science and things like that so it's sort of a daily thing where all of those elements I gotta I gotta bring them together. When you say needs work, what do you want to do here? What's your goal? I would like to have this organization be competitive for the Stanley Cup for the next 10 years, minimum.

And you can do that if you do it the right way. We've got two of the best players. We've got a lot of young guys who are in the prime of their career or coming into it. We've got to start to draft really well and then develop the players. So I think one thing here is the organization has done a good job, but we can be better. And my goal is to be better incrementally in everything. And that'll give us an opportunity to compete every year.

So what are you going to be adding? We're going to look at sports science as a real tool to help us with injury prevention and recovery. We're going to look at player development as a key thing for me. We spend a lot of time at the agency recognizing that if you're going to recruit kids young and then take them through their draft year at 18, you got to prepare them the best you can ahead of time when they're 14, 15, 16. Well, it's similar with us when we draft a kid at 18. We need to know their development arc and then we have to really

dig in day one after the draft and get them with individual player development plans so that they can become the best player that they can be before they get to the American League. The days of waiting until a kid gets to the American League to develop them are gone, and we have to do a better job of day one after they're an Edmonton Oiler is help them, give them the tools to succeed sorry Jeff I don't mean to completely monopolize this it's I'm interested in what you say there because I have heard that from agents before is that NHL teams don't have a handle on these kids so they're 18, 19, 20 years old.

So if we're going to turn them into the best players possible, it's not up to their junior teams or their minor hockey teams to develop them. It's up to us to develop them. So what did you see as an agent that you can bring to the Oilers? I think I said this in my media availability the day that I was announced as the CEO, that you get a chance to see 32 organizations, and you get to see teams that do it really well, and some teams that you think they could do a better job. And you sort of take the nuggets of goodness and you put them together.

That's what I would see. take the nuggets of goodness and you put them together. That's what I would see. And I had the pleasure and the privilege of working with Dave Garnier very closely for years. He was the director of player development for Vancouver. He's a very progressive thinker. He's coached. He coached Sam and John Tavares when they were kids.

Then he went on to London. Obviously, he had a playing career that was long, and his son Sam's going into his 17th season. So he was amazing at player development, and him and I would talk a lot about it. He would sort of run it, but, you know, we would identify not only the weaknesses in players, but their strengths and build on those. But then Dave's big thing was we need to give them the skills to actually implement in games.

Stick handling through cones and everything is fine, but how does it apply to a game? So that was Dave's big push, and we saw tremendous results with kids like Jordan Cairo and Evan Bouchard here. They worked with Dave early on when he was 14, 15, 16 and just improved so much. Which teams are terrible?

Who will you not be copying? I can't tell you that. I knew you were going to ask that. When you talk about being incrementally better at every single level, I do have a couple of questions about Connor McDavid. How much better can this guy still be? I don't know.

I mean, it's sort of crazy that he gets better every year. But having worked closely with him for all those years, he's always looking for just little things to improve on. And when he went through the bad knee injury a few years ago, part of his rehab he integrated things like pilates and aldoa stretching and things like that which people know what's aldoa stretching well it's you know elongation of your muscles and it gives you flexibility and it helps with injury prevention so connor's always working on on ice stuff, but he's also looking at giving his body like every opportunity for maximum recovery and rest and all those sorts of things.

So I don't know. I mean, he always amazes me and he just wants to continue to get better. So I don't I don't think he's going to stop. OK, one more question about conor mcdavid take us back to the jeff jackson who started his own agency would have had sam gagne and ben harper as the two key clients and he was pursuing conor mcdavid in the uh the marlies in the gthl take us through those days before you ended up getting them with or group yeah and Wasserman and now here we are. Yeah, no, I was a fledgling agent. I had, like you said, I had Sam Garnie as a client and Ben Harper and a kid named Justin Scott. And so I was just starting and I was by myself and I

didn't know what I was doing. I mean, I had the hockey experience as a player and worked with the Leafs and the lawyer thing, I I didn't really realize what I was getting into in the agent business until I got into it but I was talking to Sam one day and he said I was on the ice in Oakville and this kid came on the ice today and he's like a little little short kid he's like 12 years old. What were you about to say? A little shrimp. Okay what did you think I was gonna say? I was gonna say something else. A little shrimp and he said okay. What did you think I was going to say? I thought you were going to say something else. No, a little shrimp. And he said, hey, Mr. Gagne, can I come on the ice with you? So Sam said, sure.

He came on, and he was messing around with the puck, and they were doing some stuff together. And then Sam called me and said, this kid's unreal. Like, I've been in the league for five years in the NHL. I can't do some of the stuff he's doing. I think his name's David O'Connor. You should try to find out who his dad is and talk to him. He plays for the Marlies.

I know that. So I called. I just said David O'Connor. David O'Connor. So I called Mike Sharaba, who was running the Marlies then, the organization. So I called Mike and I said, who's this David O'Connor kid? He started laughing. He goes, no, it's Connor McDavid.

He plays for the Bantam team. And he goes, would you like me to connect you with Brian? So he connected Brian McDavid, the dad. So Brian and I met for coffee at Tim Hortons near the airport and had a nice long chat. And we talked a couple other times. I was trying to recruit him. I was by myself. I didn't have any infrastructure. Brian said, listen, like you have your resume is great, but like, I think my kid's going to

need a little bit more than what you're offering. And so that was fine. They made a decision. They went with Oro Hockey. And then I joined Oro Hockey a couple months later, basically, very fortuitously for me. And started working with Connor right away. And, you know, we worked together since the time he was 15. So how did that conversation go when you told him, I am switching from your loyal servant to your boss? Well, it didn't go like that. I actually just when Darryl reached out through Paul Coffee, we had several discussions and

after the second one I called Connor and I said listen I I got to tell you I got a call from Darrell wanted to talk to me about this job I wanted to tell you about it I'm not sure what you know sort of get his input and I said Darrell would like me to meet with him at some point he goes I think you should meet with him so i said you sure he goes yeah like i think you'd be great at the job but then like who would be my agent and uh i said well don't get ahead of yourself like this is sort of just very preliminary so um he said just keep me in the loop and so i did i went and met with daryl and we chatted. And then I, like I said earlier, like I went about my business,

sort of parked that, did what I had to do with my clients. And then I reengaged with Connor a little bit more. I said, I'm going to talk to him a little bit more. He goes, okay, cool. And when I made the decision, I went and met with him and Lauren at their house. And I told him what I wanted to do. And he gave me a big hug said let's go sort of thing so I mean um we sort of looked at it as like a unique opportunity to continue

working together but in a different way and it for me it's like I feel very fortunate that you know we can pursue a Stanley Cup together on the same team. Very similar to having the agent relationship, it's just a little different now. Do you think it, like, you know what all the Oilers fans are thinking, Connor's staying because you're here. Is that fair or right? Like, what do you think when you hear that?

I mean, everybody wants him to stay. Everybody wants Leon to stay. I mean, that's obvious. I think that fans, like, assume it's a done deal. I think that the thing that we have to do here is show those two guys and other players that we're going to be super competitive and be competing for a cup every year. And if we do that, we have a really good opportunity to keep everybody here. year um and if we do that we have a really good opportunity to keep everybody here though leon and connor are both um obviously like i'm stating the obvious but they're like pillars of

this team but they're pillars in the community they're embedded in charitable stuff they're they love edmonton and their fans um so as long as we're competing at the highest level, um, I'm optimistic that there, we're going to be able to keep everybody. Um, but it's not a done deal. Um, just cause I was his agent. I mean, they're free to make decisions on their own when they're free agents. Um, I'm going to try my best to avoid that. Eight times 96, eight times 97, excuse me, eight times 96. 8 times 97.

Excuse me. 8 times 97. I'm not sure how much you cheered for teams when you were working agency side. What does it feel like cheering for a team now? I didn't really think about it until I was here a couple of weeks ago and sat with Ken Holland and the coaches. They had some meetings, and it really got me back to when I was working with the Leafs, spending time with the coaches and seeing how passionate they are and how much time they put in.

And it got my juices flowing again. It's, okay, now I'm with one group, and I'm going to be, like, living and breathing and sort of like the day-to-day. Because on the agent side, you do cheer for your clients and by extension their team. But you're not emotionally like involved. Yeah. They lose. Your guy gets a couple points, played well. It's like, oh, whatever, you know.

But here, I care about the result. So I think it'll be fun to be back into that sort of mindset again. Last one for me, Jeff. I always like when agents go to management or vice versa, management go to agent, because every argument that you've used, you now have to do it in reverse. Like you basically have to change sides. Yeah.

You know, just because you've done it. You've been management, you've been agent, now you're back to management. I've got to remember what side I'm on. I know. But, like, it must be funny. Like, I've talked about it with a couple of guys, and they kind of laugh about it. It's just the nature of life. You switch teams.

But what's that like for you? Like, just knowing that your whole philosophy has to change in terms of the way you see things. Yeah. you see things yeah i mean i as an agent i i i wasn't one of those uh types of agents that was always trying to like kill for the biggest dollar like i always wanted to do good deals for the guys and and it was um the way i negotiated was always um getting to the number like quickly without like a lot of dawdling around about like high loan stuff like that. So for me, being on this side, I still feel like you've got to have a really good relationship with agents. And there's going to be times where somebody is being unreasonable and you've got to dig

in a little bit. But I think I've learned a lot on being on both sides and coming back here. And in this job, I'm not going to be directly involved in the day-to-day negotiations of contracts. I'm sure that I'll sit in meetings and have an opinion about things, but that's Ken Holland and Bill Scott's role here, and they'll continue to do that, and I'll support them. Last one here.

What are you going to miss now that you're no longer an agent? Free time. you gonna miss now you're no longer free time no I think probably like there's a sort of an adjustment going on right now like I've had a in the agent business like I said you have lots of you control your own schedule when you're with the team you've got NHL schedule American League schedule you got all kinds of different things you got to attend. Sort of adjusting my family life with teenage boys who I've been around a lot. Trying to be super careful that that doesn't change too much because it's been an important

part of my life. And when I worked for the Leafs back in 2006 to 2010, I didn't really realize it, but I was missing a lot of stuff with sports and things. And I'm just going to be cognizant of that. That's the one thing that I think is going to change. Because I'm in Edmonton a lot and my family's in Burlington and I'm going to be back and forth. But that part of it, I got to watch.

Good luck this year. Thanks, guys. Thanks, Jeff. Okay, that's Jeff Jackson, the CEO of the Edmonton Oilers. Previous to hearing from him, you heard from Luke Robitaille in conversation with Elliott Friedman from Australia, the site of the Global Series, the kickoff of the Global Series this year in games between the Los Angeles Kings and the Arizona Coyotes. Okay, to wrap up the week ahead, is it all about the Ottawa Senators

and Shane Pinto and can they get this thing done? What do you have your eyeballs on? And you're finally actually getting back to work, Elliot. You have to comb your hair and drag a razor across your face. No, I don't,

but we'll see what happens if I don't. It's Ottawa, Toronto on Monday night, seven o'clock Eastern. It's my first game of the year, another exhibition game. You know, the one thing I always tell fans, first week of exhibition play, don't get too excited. The veterans don't care yet.

You have to wait till the veterans care, and that's usually in the second week when they try to tune their way up to the season. There's also Anaheim, you know, Zegers and Drysdale. You know, Renaud Lavoie had a report the other day that they were between 3 and 4 million on Zegers and Drysdale, you know, Renaud, Renaud Lavoie had a report, uh, the other day that, um, they haven't, they were between three and 4 million on Zegers. Um, I think when it was, I heard at one point they were talking about a two year deal. And I do think that's true when they were talking about a two year deal. I think it was in there. Now I think I've heard rumors they might be going three. So I just don't know how the Ducks can do three years

and expect it to be under $4 million. So I think it's got to be a little bit higher than that. But Zegers and Drysdale, those ones were not in any good place the last I checked. So we'll see if that's changed at all. What Elliot said is wrong. Get ahead of yourselves. Believe everything you see in exhibition hockey is legitimate

and an accurate predictor of the future of the game, both immediate and long-term. On behalf of everyone here, Merrick signing off. Thanks for joining us. This pod returns usual time. These are Monday drops you're listening to right now. The Friday drops continue. Yes, we are back and so is hockey. Enjoy it. We'll talk to you again on Friday