32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Barba$hev

Episode Date: June 16, 2023

Welcome to the off-season! Jeff and Elliotte discuss one of the most sought-after players this summer --- Ivan Barbashev (01:00), wonder what we’ll see from the Panthers as they have some work to do over the coming months (10:20) and Elliotte talks about the Golden Knights Stanley Cup parade down the strip (8:20).They also go into the Jesper Bratt contract (15:10), Alex DeBrincat (19:00), lots of interest in Pierre-Luc Dubois (20:30), some rumblings out of Edmonton (22:20), Tom Wilson (23:20), Leafs begin talks with players including Auston Matthews (24:30), Kyle Dubas continues to build out his staff (29:30) as do the Flyers (30:30), intrigue with Matvei Michkov as the draft approaches (31:15) and they take your questions + voicemails (36:30).Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call The Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemailMusic Outro: Mudrigo - TouchéListen to the full track HEREThis podcast was produced and mixed by Amil Delic, and hosted by Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman.The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

I'm Uber, sports Uber tomorrow. Yeah, I'm golfing. Actually, I'm golfing around you, by the way. Come on, bud. Swing by. Grab Amel's meat. Good call, actually. Swing by.

Grab Amel's meat. That's really funny, actually. The last time we heard from Elliot Friedman, he was wandering through the streets of Vegas with a cigar in his mouth alongside Kevin Bieksa. Let's find out where he is now. Welcome to 32 Thoughts, the podcast presented by the GMC Canyon AT4X. Elliot, you've arrived home safe and sound.

Any stories to tell from Vegas? I had a lot of questions, Jeff, from people asking how much sleep did I get after game five? And the answer was none. Good boy. None. Zero. Understood the assignment. I hope my wife doesn't listen to this podcast.

Okay, everyone, feel free if you have her number to text or DM Elliot's wife. Let's do a quick little wrap on one thing specifically from Vegas, and then I want to transition to what's next for the Florida Panthers. We have a lot of news to get to. We're going to talk about Pierre-Luc Dubois, Matvei Michkov, Tom Wilson,

New Jersey Devils situation, the Toronto Maple Leafs. All these things will come up over the course of this podcast. But first let's start with a Vegas issue and a pretty big one because it was a big part of the top line. Ivan Barbashev, what is going to happen here? He is a pending unrestricted free agent. It's going to be tough to keep him if you're Vegas, but you know they probably want to. anybody's specifics about it, but one of the things I heard at the cup final was that Vegas had some contract talks and, and tried to sign him before the playoffs began. And I don't think it ever got close. It was too far apart. You know, Vegas has a lot of things that they have to juggle, but they tried and I have no doubt they're going to try again before this is over. The thing with this is I was talking with someone after the game,

and he said to me that Barbashev is probably the number one guy on the market now. His AAV this year was 2.25, and he actually made 2.6 in salary. He's getting paid. He's getting paid. Yeah, there was a time you looked at it and you said all right he's gonna double it now i think he's more than gonna double it as a matter of fact that same person said to me they won't be surprised if someone tries to do to him

what the avalanche did with Nachushkin. They didn't think that there was a chance Baryshev was going to get eight years, but now they think that there's a possibility. And Nachushkin got 6.125 million when he signed after the Stanley Cup final last year. I don't know that Baryshev's getting that high, but I do think now he could get eight years. And I didn't think that was going to be happening three weeks ago.

So we're in a position now where this guy is the number one guy on the market, and the offers are going to come pouring in once you are legally allowed to do it. He can play up and down the lineup. He is a skilled player with snarl and the performance in the playoffs. And even before that, like right

after trade deadline, Barbashev fit in with this Vegas group so well. And the one thing I think that grabbed everybody's attention, even though we've seen him do this before, the hit on Gutis added how many zeros to his contract, you think, Elliot? Because that got everybody's attention.

It was like the hit that got him paid. It's not only that. He scored, and he played with Marcia Soen Eichel. I don't know what everyone's going to argue is Vegas' top line. Some people say it's the stone line. Some people say it's that line. Whatever the case is, he played on the, what do you want to call it, the quasi number one line on a Stanley Cup

champion, the pseudo number one line. It was number one line, Elliot, Elliot, Elliot. Two players were like one and two for the consummate. That was the top line. Okay, so he played on the number one line of the Stanley Cup champion. He was not out of place. Barbashev's the target now, and

the other thing that this guy said to me was, and he works for a team he said there's going to be teams that wouldn't have had any interest or didn't think they could do it who are now going to be in it like i think this is going to be a really fascinating off season for vegas you know for a lot of different reasons first of all they're a team that is tight to the cap yep Yep. And so that's an issue. But also, you take a look. They've got to deal with Barbashev, who's a very important part here

that they've tried to keep. Who knows if they're going to be able to do it? And they've also got to deal with their goalie situation. They do have Thompson signed for two more years at a great number, basically the league minimum. But they've got Bressois and Hill who are unrestricted and Hill was on a lot of consmith ballots and Bressois had a really

good season. So they have a lot of decisions to make. You know, the one thing that someone said to me is Vegas did what Tampa did. They use the LTIR to their advantage and Stone came back for the first game of the playoffs. And what someone said to me is that one of the things that's kind of being talked about around the league is that

this is going to be a constant juggle with Stone. That he may never be able to fix this. Nobody really knows. He's had surgery before that. He's proclaimed himself. Okay. And then he's gotten hurt again. And what they're being told is that these injuries are very legitimate.

People may not like the fact he comes back for the first game of the playoffs, but I don't know how anyone's going to fix this. People have been saying this for years and it always happened from Patrick Kane to Nikita Kucherov to Mark Stone, come on down. I don't know how they're going to fix it. But one of the things that this executive told me is that he was complaining about it this year. And one of the things was that he was kind of told was this could be stone's nhl life now in and out because it's a back problem that nobody knows is ever going to be able to get fixed so i mean it's a tough thing for vegas to manage sometimes because you never know when it's going to happen and you'd rather

have mark stone than not have them these playoffs proved but it's going to be one of these things that a at times is going to surprise vegas and at other times is going to help vegas so this whole ride is going to be fascinating look they'll max their cap as best they can but they have some big decisions to make it does have to be tough too if you're kelly mccrimmon if you're the vegas golden knights and you try to do a budget knowing that this guy's back could go at any time and you don't know how long he's going to be out. I know it looks really

convenient and looks a little bit wink wink, a la Kucherov and Kane as you mentioned, but I have no doubt this is a legitimate injury. I have no reason to believe otherwise. And if you're Kelly McCrimrimmon how do you plan around that like budgets have to be so tough and free agency has to be so tough also don't forget

last year like everyone's talking about this year how it worked out for them they won the stanley cup and they could add at the deadline well last year we saw the exact reverse and part of the reason was all the injuries and the way their cap got destroyed so you know you run a tightrope and that's the way it is sometimes it goes your way and sometimes it doesn't but you know here we are like the whole barbershop thing now like i said jeff it's really interesting because i think they want to keep him and i think they've tried to keep him but now he's pushed himself into a stratosphere that I don't think anyone expected. Not at all.

He's done a great bit of business for himself and picked up a Stanley Cup in the process. And everybody should be happy no matter what happens with Ivan Barbashev. Before we switch to the next bit of business. Yes. This Stanley Cup parade, I am going to see with my family, the cure in Montreal on Saturday night. It's my Father's Day weekend. Oh, nice.

This will not be a hip reference to the young fans, but we are going to see The Cure. That's all right. One of the true bands of my teenage years still going, so I probably won't be able to watch the parade. But I think this thing is going to be dynamite. Look, we talked in one of the previous pods during the Stanley Cup final. When Vegas played in the 2018 Stanley Cup final,

they had a meeting about what a parade would look like, and they lost the series. So there was a point when they were up 2-0 after the first two games where I asked somebody where the parade would be and they said Vegas won't participate in these conversations. And it was because from what I was told, they did it in 2018 and they lost.

So as we know, they touched the trophy after the Western Conference final in 2018 and they lost. So they didn't do it this time. It was kind of like they were doing the opposite. Like George Costanza saying I'm bald and I have no prospects. But so I don't know when they finally did it, but I do know one of the things when the aces, when the WNBA title, they had a stationary stage on the strip, but nobody moved. What the league wanted this time was they wanted

to move up and down the strip. And they're going to get to do it. And I think this is going to be spectacular. Let's just hope for, we were just talking about Ivan Barbashev, that he doesn't fall off. Was it a float last time or a little car or truck that he fell off? Let's try to take care of yourself here,

Mr. Barbashev. You have a big payday on the horizon bubble wrap that man for the parade uh and aiden hill as well if you're his agent uh you're going to want to bubble wrap your client that's jerry johansson by the way bubble wrap your client for the parade okay one of the traditions is when teams get eliminated we wonder what happens next and prognosticate into next season. So I don't know that there's going to be a profoundly different looking Florida Panthers team that we see next season. Sure, there are some decisions to make, but, you know, most everyone is already wrapped up for next season.

Like Radko Gudis isn't. Mark Stahl isn't. Eric Stahl isn't. There are some decisions. Brandon Montour and Gustav Forsling are one year out. But basically, are we looking at pretty much the same Florida Panthers team coming back next year? One of the things I was told is that the Panthers will try to take runs at Montour and Forsling. And they consider those very important players. And I would understand exactly why.

Montour had a breakthrough season. He was great. And an excellent playoffs despite a pretty significant injury. And Forsling is just a really steady, good player who's a top four defenseman on this team. So I wouldn't be surprised if their most important bit of business was not anybody this year. It's about trying to get ahead of those two guys before next year. They're going to have some cap room. They're going to be able to do some things.

We also know they won't be healthy. Like Ekblad will not be healthy at the start of next season. You know, they're going to have to go out and, and they're going to have to get some depth. And, you know, I had a chance to have a text exchange with one of the panthers players and one of the things they were all talking about was that they really thought the biggest difference between them and them in vegas was just how deep vegas was that was the difference that like vegas had health problems in the regular season that allowed them to add. Florida's health problems were all in the playoffs.

And they really felt that that was the difference, that they just had depth that Florida didn't have. So I wonder if that's what the Panthers decide to do is see, now that they've got some cap room opened up, is there depth that they can find. Goodis to me will be a real fascinating one, Jeff, because I think Goodis, even though he's, he's just turned 33, like I can still see him getting a three or a four year deal because I think there's going to be a lot of interest in him. I think there was a team

that could have had him at the deadline. They didn't do it. And I think they may regret it. And I'm sure there's other teams. If there was one, maybe there were others. But the way Gouda's played in the postseason, like if you want him, it's probably going to mean three or four years. You know, four years, maybe you stretch the term and take down the AAV a bit.

But I think, Jeff, someone out there is going to do that. Real quick thought. Sam Reinhardt is one year out, and Anthony DeClaire is one year out. I know that you say you strongly suspect there'll be a full-court press on Brandon Montour and Gustav Forsling, but anything with the forwards you suspect? I don't want to say yes or no, because I don't know. Like I said, the rumors were that the priorities were the defense.

Right. And I could see that. I mean, look, I have no doubt they'll go to those two players too. Like they traded a lot to get Reinhardt and they really believe in Duclair. I just heard that it was likely defense was going to be taken care of first. Hey guys, this is Andy over here in Brunswick, Maine. First time, long time. So first of all, Jeff, I really appreciated your interview

with Jeremy Swayman over the summer, but let's pump the brakes on the Alex Petrangelo Hall of Fame lock there. He was absolutely a lock for us arguing about him for the RU Hall of Fame for a. Like, he's absolutely a lock for us arguing about him for the RU Hall of Fame for a decade or so now, but I think that's about it. Like, gotta have that conversation. Oh yeah, and what is it with

Canadian hockey guys and cigars? If you ask me, you guys can keep your fancy, handcrafted Cuban whatevers. I'll stick to my backwoods. Thanks. Listen to the 32 Thoughts Podcast ad-free on Amazon Music, included with Prime.

Hey guys, this is Andy in Brunswick again. I have a retraction to issue. I just saw that story about Alex Petrangelo and his daughter. Yeah, that dude's going to the Hall of Fame. Maybe not first ballot, but he's getting there. Anyway, that is the only retraction still. Ugh, smoking cigars with actual tobacco in them? Yeah, no thanks.

meanwhile around the nhl uh jasper bratt signs the contract eight-year deal 63 million dollars nice touch uh 7.875 is the aav on this one and timo meyer the team filing for arbitration. Your thoughts on this situation? It was a long process. There were times the Devils were hopeful this was going to get done. I think there were times they were exasperated. They couldn't get it done. I think there were times they worried that it would have to be a lesser term. And I think that very recently they told Bratton's people that if they did not get a commitment, they were going to put them on the market. Oh boy. Sometimes deadlines spur action. Like sometimes the most frustrating people to negotiate with are the people who

are willing to wait. What is the biggest strength in negotiation? It's the ability to walk away. Right. You know it. But the second biggest strength might be the willingness to wait. And that was one of the biggest things I had to learn in negotiating. I was kind of a person who, when I started negotiation, I just wanted to get it done. And I really learned how that was so disadvantageous for me. And you have to learn to be able to be patient and wait because the other side will often use that strategy against you. And so I think at times it was frustrating for the Devils,

but the deadline spurred action and they got it done. And you know what happened here? They got it underneath Jack Hughes' $8 million, which was very important to them. You know, Brad gets, as you said, $63 million. He gets a lot of it up front. He gets a lot of it in signing bonus. So he gets very good structure and he gets a lot of money, but the Devils keep an important player and they keep them at a number that was important to them. So I see this whole situation as a win-win. Now, the Devils, I think, are still going to be pretty fascinating.

They filed for club-elected arbitration with Timo Meier, just as Ottawa did with Debrinket. And basically what that does is that means that unless the player actually begins an arbitration hearing, you can continue negotiating with them. And the arbitration schedules aren't out yet. Those don't come out until early July and the hearings are held in July and August. But the rule is once an arbitration hearing starts, there can be no more negotiation. I call that the PK Subban rule because I think he was the last big one where this happened.

Yeah. A day later, like the next day, there was the whopper. Yes. They got the $72 million deal. So now they've bought time. If they go to arbitration, Debrinket and Meyer could get as low as 85% of this year's contracts, which was $9 million for Debrinkett and 10 for meyer but basically you know what you do it is to protect your rights to your player yep and it doesn't

prevent anyone from trading him it doesn't prevent anyone from signing him it just protects your rights to the player and that's basically what the devils did here i you know i don't know how to handicap this someone just said to me and i think it's someone't know how to handicap this. Someone just said to me, and I think it's someone in the position to know, this is not going to be easy for the Devils to do. They thought it was a bigger challenge than Bratt. But again, I don't think that this is anything that should prevent anyone from thinking it could happen. They just said to me, it's going to be harder for it to happen. And the other player, by the way, I'm wondering here for the devils is sharon govich i've heard there's been some talks picked up around him and someone told me don't be surprised if you see something here okay um you mentioned alex to bring it there

a second ago uh does it seem like this thing is headed towards the inevitable trade? I mean, last year at the draft in Montreal, that was the big one, right? There was Pierre Dorian, who had a good strut on, and for good reason. He was getting it done at the draft, and Alex Debrinket was one of his big showpiece deals. Do we see another Alex Debrinket headline on draft day? I think it's very possible. I think the Senators are aggressively looking at this. I think they see where this is likely going. And, you know, that is Debrinkit playing somewhere else.

The thing that's really interesting to me is I see, you know, people praising the Golden Knights for how bold they are. And people criticizing Pierre Dorian for making this move. Like, I don't know what the Venn diagram is of people doing this, but there can't be overlap here. Like you can't praise the Golden Knights for being bold and rip Dorian for doing the same thing. Like he tried, I, you know, I, I, I think it was absolutely worth the try at the time. And it was a move that was almost universally praised at the time. You know, sometimes when you're bold, it's going to work, and sometimes when you're bold, it isn't. I still think it was the right move. It didn't work, unfortunately, as much as Ottawa would have liked, but, you know, we'll see where they go here and again from what i understand ottawa is saying you've you've got to make the trade with us or a trade that we're happy with before we'll let you speak to the player um speaking of trades uh what do you hear what do you know what's the latest last time we spoke was all about the kings pierre luc dubois so i have thought for a lot that dubois was going to end up in Montreal.

Well, we all do. And I don't think I'm alone here, but I know I've been very bold about it. My feeling on this. And this is the thing I'm always careful with because as Isaiah Thomas once told me when I was starting out in the business around the draft, everybody lies.

Everybody has an agenda. And I'm always careful about this. But I think the Kings have made this interesting. One of the more recent podcasts, they said, I think they're in this. I think they've leaned in very hard. And I think that they've made it very clear to Winnipeg. If they haven't made an offer, they have basically let Winnipeg know, we're in and we're willing to make this work.

We'll see. Initially, you talked about Rangers, Minnesota. Yeah. And I don't think you're wrong. I'm not like trashing my co-host. I don't like that. But I think the Kings are very much in this now. I also put Tampa and Dallas in there too.

You want to trash those two while you're at it, Elliot? No. But you also mentioned Colorado on a one-year play. Yeah. I don't think that's impossible, but I think we're going to let the Kings exhaust their possibilities here. Yeah.

I think this is very real. I was, what I was doing there was talking about teams that I believe Dubois would be amenable to going to. One other thing I just wanted to talk about was Edmonton because people about was Edmonton. Because people listen from Edmonton on here. The Oilers, if they can't move Yamamoto,

I think they're a little concerned they might have to move Fogle. And he had a good playoff. I don't think that's what they want to do. But I've heard that when other teams are talking to Edmonton, I think that there's been some teams that have said, you know, we saw the way Fogle played in the playoffs because he was available at

times last year. Oh yeah. You know, the way he played in the playoffs, he scored some big goals. I think there's some teams saying, what are you thinking there? Interesting.

You have a thought on Evan Bouchard while we're talking about the Oilers here? I just think they're going to have to do a one-year deal there. I just don't see how you, I think you have to do one year and then a year the cap goes up and you deal with it there.

And a weight of the races. Yep. Okay, here's a name then where the juice is always worth the squeeze, or is it Tom Wilson? During the final, I really didn't get a chance to look into it too much. I heard the reports. I'll be honest, I didn't hear any of the information myself,

but I heard the reports. So finally I looked into it now that the Stanley Cup final is over, and Jeffff i got rejected swatted down like dennis rodman style swat well i was gonna i was gonna use a more current analogy after after mentioning 1980s big band the cure i figured i'd come back into the 21st century and say i was rejected like bam at aayo was defending me from the miami heat no i i was told it's not happening i was told that uh the capitals want to keep him and they consider him a big part of their future so someone said to me uh make up other stuff like you normally do don't

make up that one okay here's one that's always fun to make up stuff about the Toronto Maple Leafs Elliot what's going on here so there's a couple things interesting here they're having their pro meetings right now and I think their plans are going to come out of this I heard they had a really short meeting or conversation with Bunting and I think everybody knows here that it's going to be very hard to do, but I don't think they've specifically said no yet. I think they're going to get through this week and kind of have a better idea. You know, Brad tree living did go to Arizona last week and he met with Austin Matthews and look, I have been convinced he's signing. Now I'm even more convinced he's signing. Like,'m even more convinced he's signing. Like, I don't know how much they talk contract.

But the one thing I remember is, when was the last time that Brad Tree Living had dinner with someone? Probably with Brendan Shanahan, I would imagine. I'll have to say, Jeff, that's actually a really good answer. It's not the answer I was going for, but it's a really good answer. It's kind of one of was going for, but it's a really good answer.

It's kind of one of those Cliff Clavin people who have not been in my kitchen, Alex. Anybody at this podcast who's screaming at it saying he's probably eating dinner with his wife, you're disqualified. I know he's eating dinner with his wife. I'm talking about a player. Was it Huberto?

Yes, it was Jonathan Huberto in Montreal. Was it Huberto? Yes, it was Jonathan Huberto in Montreal. So three days after Huberto ate that chocolate souffle, he signed the extension with Calgary, the eight-year $84 million extension. It's already been longer than three days since Tree Living met with Matthews, so we're not going to

beat that. But I still am convinced that Austin Matthews is going to sign in Toronto. I've been consistent about that. I still believe it. And the thing I'm hearing right now is even people who said that I was delusional, and there's one of them in particular who will laugh when he hears this. He's been telling me for months that I'm delusional that Matthews will say in Toronto, even he's conceding that an extension is the most likely thing here. And I do believe that. I think he's signing. Now, again, both the Leafs and the people around Matthews, his agents, Judd Moldaver,

they're being really quiet. Nobody wants to ruin the confidentiality here. But in the gossipy world of the National Hockey League, this is what I think. Look, I think Matthews, and especially the people around him, they look at there's been two more big contracts in his future. I think the Maple Leafs are going to try to get a max term deal out of this. I don't know what the likelihood is, but I think they're going to try. And I don't know if they bring in Shane Doan as the Mariano Rivera style closer here, if that's what they try.

I don't have a good answer for you. I don't know what the likelihood of it is, but I think they're going to try. And the second thing is, I think that both sides understand here that this isn't a decision that can wait a long time. The Maple Leafs, they're doing their scouting meetings right now. They have to know kind of what this is going to look like so they can make a number of long-term decisions. You know, the one thing that everybody here is well aware of is that this is going to look like so they can make a number of long-term decisions. You know, the one thing that everybody here is well aware of is that this is not something that can wait a long time. If nobody was sure that Matthews wanted to stay, I think we'd have a real problem here. But I think everybody, including Matthews' people, recognize that he wants to stay. So I think now becomes the question of how quickly can this get done and what

are we looking at? So Toronto can do their other business. Interesting time for them. You're making a lot of Maple Leafs fans really happy with, with that one right there. Something else I heard really interesting about Toronto is. So I got a call from someone who works another organization and we were chatting and they go, one of the things that Toronto did was apparently they went to a number of their people and they said, look, if you're not comfortable here after the GM change, let us know. If you want to stay and be part of it,

great. But if you're not comfortable here after the change from Dubas to Tree Living, and there was a lot of reporting about that, they said, tell us now. I don't think any changes are going to be made now. I think if there's going to be any changes, it'll likely be after the draft. Right. But they wanted to know. So we'll see where all this goes.

Well, I mean, I think we wonder about a few people there. I think we wonder about whether it's Wes Clark. I think we wonder about Brandon Pridham as well. Actually, let me ask you about the Jason Spezza news then. So Jason Spezza, not surprisingly, ends up getting hired by the Pittsburgh Penguins as assistant general manager. Now, Kyle Dubas with the two hats right now,

not just hockey operations president, but also general manager interim until they establish a new GM. Because I think one of the things that people wondered about is, okay, so they've hired an assistant general manager, but who is he an assistant to? You have a thought on this one, Frege? Not really.

I mean, I think we knew that Spezza was going there in some role and it would be with the Penguins themselves of Toronto that it happened, which they obviously did. I don't think Spezza has any desire to be a full-time GM yet. So I'm not surprised about this in the least. And we know that Dubas has said they won't hire their person until July. Spezza obviously trusts Dubas. It's not like he's looking at this and saying, my goodness, if I

pull off the mask, who is Mr. X? I don't think... Or Mrs. X. I don't think he's worried about this at all. I think Toronto's going to do everything they can to keep Pritam. I think they're hopeful he wants to stay there, but I wouldn't be surprised if in July

Dubas at least has to talk to him or anyone else he's interested in for that position. Elliot, Philadelphia Flyers seem to always be making headlines and this week they brought on two new advisors in the Hockey Operations Department, Patrick Sharp and John LeClair and I think we're still wondering

what this roster is going to look like next season. And will it include Kevin Hayes? I was told this week that there was a chance that Columbus could be going in a different direction here. That maybe they're looking elsewhere for centers. I know a lot of us thought that this could potentially happen. That was back at trade deadline. We were having those conversations.

A couple of people said to me this week that they weren't so convinced that that was going to happen now. And maybe Columbus looks elsewhere. Okay. Really quick before we get to some phone calls and emails here and a quick break. Matvei Michkov is one of the most interesting

names at the draft. We all know about Conor Bedard, and we know a lot more now about Adam Fantilli and Leo Carlson, but maybe the most intriguing name here is Matvei Michkov. What is the latest there? You follow this a lot more closely than I do. I think we're all just wondering where the line is. Will he get past five at Montreal?

Is there any chance he gets past Arizona at six? I think a lot of people are wondering, is there any chance he gets down to Washington specifically at eight? Everyone's got a different theory. Everyone's got a different idea. Mind changes depending on the time of day you ask me. Well, you mentioned Montreal,

and Montreal makes a lot of sense to people because Nick Bobrov, who runs their scouting, has deep, deep connections into Russia. Yes. But everybody's talking about Will Smith in Montreal now too because of the Ken Hughes family connection. So it's this time of year. I'll tell you this.

So we know that Mishkov is coming to the draft. I think the true storyline here before the draft itself is, who does he meet with? Because, and it's really difficult to confirm this right now, but a number of teams are indicating that they can't get an assurance he'll talk to them before the draft. Like he obviously wasn't at the combine. The Russian players who are based in Russia couldn't be there.

He's a talented guy. Oh boy. It's had a really traumatic year, unfortunately. And there's a lot of mystery about him and teams want to get to know who they're dealing with here. And one of the things I heard too was in Russia this year, the teams that could get there to meet him, it wasn't easy to get to talk to him.

You would try to talk to him, set up appointments, and he just wasn't interested. Like someone said to me, the only way you could really get to talk to him was if you physically got to him right after a game and talked to him for a couple minutes so there's a number of teams hearing he's coming in they want the opportunity to meet with them and like i said some of these teams aren't haven't gotten a commitment yet so what everybody's

kind of wondering here is does mishkov have a preference Is there a team or teams that he wants to go to and he's kind of maneuvering it so that that happens? Now, I think that's still a little bit premature. We still have a couple of weeks to kind of figure this out. The draft is, well, this is dropping on Friday, so it'll be 12 days. But there's definitely an air of mystery right now and like i said there are teams that want to talk to him who haven't

been given any confirmation that they're going to be able to talk to him so the intrigue around him continues as we get closer to it you know one of my favorite things that the draft is Elliot, the first gasp. And we got it early last year in Montreal, um, with Uri Slavkovsky getting selected first overall, that was the first gasp because you remember how much Montreal Canadiens fans were, were chummed for Shane Wright. So that was the first gasp.

And I wonder if, I mean, I think that there'll be some gasps in the top five anyhow certainly in the top 10 but you can be rest assured the biggest gasp is going to be when the team whoever it is takes matt fay mitchkoff that's going to be the whopper at the draft in nashville like i'm not holding you to this to this but what's your early prediction listen if he's free and clear and available to go to anyone in his playing next year, he goes number two to Anaheim. I don't think that's going to happen. Okay. My pick is he slides to Washington. At eight?

Yeah. And they get a future star player that just falls into the lap specifically if he's trying to maneuver himself to one place very specific and we all know about um you know the the ties that that team has has had with ted leone's to russian athletes most notably alex ovechkin who chases wayne gretzky's record here i don't know i i have a hard time again i just may be looking at this from a from a poetic point of view or from a storyline point of view, but to me, Washington makes a ton of sense. But if you're Arizona, how do you not take Mishkoff,

regardless of whether you have communication with him or not? You just pick up an incredible asset, and that's six. That's a good theory. We'll see. Emails, phone calls, next. I like that theory. We'll see. Emails, phone calls next. I like that theory. I like stories. Okay, we'll finish up here with some emails and some phone calls.

32thoughts at sportsnet.ca. 1-833-311-3232. No need to rewind. I'll say it again. 1-833-311-3232 is the thought line. Shep from New Jersey. In 1978, Randy White and Harvey Martin were voted co-MVPs for the Super Bowl.

I believe that's the only time in the history of the four major sports more than one player has been honored. Is there a rule that would prevent more than one individual to be named Conn Smythe Trophy winner? First of all, there was one other occasion I can remember of. It was the 1981 World Series. That's a great memory, by the way, because you're right about Harvey Martin and Randy White. But the 1981 World Series where the Dodgers beat the Yankees, there were three Dodgers who were named co-MVPs or tri-MVPs,

whichever you want to call them. And that was Steve Yeager, Ron Say, and Pedro Guerrero, who was a criminally underrated baseball player. So it has happened periodically. There's no rule against it. I'm just not sure it could happen. I mean, in terms of voting, if you got the exact same number of votes,

it could happen. But I think we have a tiebreaker. Someone will tell me if I'm wrong about this, but I think in our voting, if you have more first place votes, that person would win. But since we have 18 voters for the conspire, they were the same number of votes.

Both had nine first place votes. I guess it's a tie. Maybe there could be. Someone will tell us. Stephen Philly, on the most recent podcast, you discussed Atlanta and Utah as possible locations for expansion teams. It seems inevitable that two more teams will be added to the league,

but where do we eventually see the league stopping? 36, 38, 40. And when the league does expand again, do you believe they will reconsider how many teams make the playoffs? Here's where you might get your play in, Elliot. Will they try to keep it at half? I don't know the answer to the playoffs thing. I would think yes,

because I just don't think it makes any sense to have 34 teams and only 16 of them make the playoffs. That's ridiculous. Now, Bettman hates the expanded playoff. He's on record about it, but at some point, if you have 34 teams, I mean, it just can't be like this. It can't be this ridiculous.

Remember when we were kids and there was 21 teams and 16 made the playoffs? I mean, come on. It's time already. The reason I think they're talking about expanding is that A, it's working. B, there's people who want to do it. I think there are enough players now.

And the other thing also is that, you know, in the United States, there's only 25 teams. And we've talked about this on previous pods. You know, every other league in North America has a minimum of 30 teams in the U.S. So the NHL sees spots for this. And that's why they're going to do it. So I do hope the playoffs get increased.

I mean, it would be insane if they didn't, but I think we have to all be prepared for this. This is coming. From Andrew in Wilmington, North Carolina. I had a question about the American Hockey League and the Chicago Wolves becoming an unaffiliated independent franchise. That's true. What would something like this mean for the development of Hurricanes prospects?

And how could it change the landscape of the league if more teams try it as well? I think that Andrew's hit on something that's real interesting here. Carolina, and I don't know that I've seen a position from them specifically yet. Elliot, maybe you have. I mean, they're going to have to find a place to put their players next year. Yes, they will have to do that. Chicago Wolves are signing players. I'd heard that they tried to take a run at solving this,

and I guess it just didn't happen. Someone had told me they thought it was close, and I guess that just didn't happen, unfortunately. Carolina will have to find a spot for their guys to go. Now, the one thing about Carolina is they have a lot of European prospects, so they can keep them over there for the time being. But I don't think more teams are going to want to do this. I really don't.

You like to control your own situation, especially when it comes to goalies. If you don't have control over your goalie prospects playing, it's a really bad thing for you. If you generally don't have control about your prospects playing, it's a really bad thing for you. I think most of these teams see it as essential, and this is a unique situation. Okay, speaking of European prospects then,

here's an interesting one. Ryan from Kansas City. I'm a Sharks fan. Sharks fan and KC. I love it. I'm a Sharks fan and saw the signing of Philip Eastad. Can you explain the, quote, European assignment clause in his entry-level contract? Is he expected to stay in Sweden all of next season because of this?

How common is this clause overall? Leon Bixel, by the way, Dallas Stars first rounder, he just signed a deal. He has the European assignment clause as well. A lot of players do. Well, it's just different. It depends on the person. Some of the European assignment clauses are

if the player gets caught in training camp, they can go back to Europe. However, there's been some teams that have been pushed. Give us a date in the season. Sometimes it can be November 15th. Sometimes it can be January 1st. Sometimes it can be December 1st. That can all be negotiated.

But what the teams will say is, look, if he doesn't make the team, have him play in the AHL for a little bit, and then we'll all see. Because if he goes back to Europe, you're not bringing him back, right? But if he goes to the AHL and plays well, it gives him a better chance of getting called up. So what a European assignment clause is, it gives a deadline or flexibility for a player who wants to go back to Europe that he can

if things aren't working out in North America. Let's get to a caller. This one from Santa Ana. Hey, Jeff and Elliot. Been listening for a long time. I had a question that's a little bit behind the playoffs. Jimmy Ben got his two-game suspension, and if Dallas had then been swept in four games, he would have only served one game of the suspension.

So where and when would the second game of the suspension have been served? Thanks for the great podcast, guys. Good job, Amel. Just Amel. Oh, boy. No wonder Amel picked this call. Just a big shocker. By the way, Santa Ana is gorgeous.

I spent some time there after high school thumbing up and down the coast of California and parked it in Santa Ana for a long time. I love it there it's real nice anyway nice yeah it would have been the first game next year yeah that's an easy one to knock so it carries over a good question but the answer was it would have been the first game next year okay let's finish up with something i think we've talked about this before but for you know newer people in the podcast let's do it one more time this one comes from josh Quick question with the upcoming draft and the start of free agency. Does a team need to physically trade a player in order for cap to be retained? For example, could Florida trade $5 million of Bobrovsky's cap hit to a team without sending him over?

Could a team get around this by sending the player back and have the receiving team retain cap in a second trade yes elliot we're talking about something i think you and i may have had a conversation about this as far back as you ready for it the 0405 lockout yes we're talking about cap cash we're talking about cap cash. We're talking about cap cash, Elliot. Something that's always been shot down. Yeah, no, you can't do that. You have to trade the player too. I love it though.

It's very creative. It's a great idea. I love the cap cash idea. I think we've talked about it a few different times here. I love it. I think it's a fun idea. But to Elliot's point, you can't do that not in this cba maybe one day in our fantasy cba somewhere down the road when elliot and i are you know no longer

barking out stories here on the uh podcast all right and uh on the cap cash question we will exit uh taking us out is a hip-hop artist from New Jersey who recently came onto the scene. Mudrago's musical journey began on SoundCloud, creating freestyles that caught the ear of many in his neighborhood. With his sixth single, here's Mudrago with Touche on 32 Thoughts the Podcast. Enjoy this one.

Yeah, look. Slut out a dime in a telly. She bagging up dimes in a telly. I let her neck me. She want to Gretzky. I see bling bling only for wifey. Not a one night piece. What's the podcast? Enjoy this one. Outro Music