32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Beach Side At All-Star

Episode Date: February 3, 2023

Greetings from Fort Lauderdale! Jeff and Elliotte go down memory lane talking about the Panthers and their history (00:01), All-Star location rotation (12:00), a quick chat with Steve Mayer about Crosby and Ovechkin at the Skills Competition (13:50), the Bo Horvat trade and his chat with Elliotte in Florida (21:00), latest from Vancouver (23:50), Vladimir Tarasenko’s third person comments (24:50) and what’s happening with David Pastrňák (28:00) as well as Dylan Larkin (29:10), the NHLPA narrows down their candidates (30:00), Mark Stone injury (57:45) and where will Timo Meier end up (59:00).Plus, the guys chat with Leon Draisaitl (38:40) and Nazem Kadri (48:40).Music Outro: Tearing Up - Local LegendListen to their latest album HEREThis podcast was produced and mixed by Amil Delic, and hosted by Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman. Video support was provided by Nicholas Andrade.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.

Right there. The wind's coming. You gotta turn it over. Hey, why don't we go to the windiest place possible and do the interview? Right now! Crashing waves! Yeah, he wants a challenge.

Elliot, first of all, we're in our casuals. I'd like to say that you're wearing your Randy Macho Man Savage purple t-shirt in honor of the now late Lanny Poffo. Leaping Lanny Poffo the now late Lanny Poffo. Leaping Lanny Poffo. The professor Lanny Poffo, who was an excellent wrestler, whose father Angelo once did what?

About 6,000 sit-ups. Is that what you told me today? Set a record when he was in the Navy. Anyway, yes, Lanny Poffo passed away and that's why you're wearing the Randy Macho Man Savage t-shirt. I wish I could say that was the case, but you know, to be honest, if I would have known we were doing this on camera, I don't know if I would have worn the Macho Man Savage t-shirt. I wish I could say that was the case, but to be honest, if I would have known

we were doing this on camera, I don't know if I would have worn the Macho Man Savage t-shirt, but my sister gave it to me. It's a perfect summer shirt, and it's summery here. It is. By the way, my wife, I don't know about your wife, but my wife hates me right now

because it's awful weather up where we are, and it is beautiful here in florida it is like a 60 degree swing i really owe claire and you really owe steph when we get back home i look at it this way i will never be able to repay steph what i owe her so i've just completely given up no too bad can't win don't try i'm elliot friedman. Yep. Welcome to 32 Thoughts to Podcast presented by GMC and the new Sierra AT4X. Coming up, Elliot, we're going to play some of our interviews from this afternoon with both Leon Dreisaitl of the Edmonton Oilers. And interestingly enough, he reveals what scares him, what he is afraid of.

And that's really interesting. And also we talked to Nazem Qadri, not just about the Calgary Flames, but his time with the Stanley Cup as well and the celebrations going back to last summer. You will hear from the NHL's chief content officer, Steve Mayer. We had a nice little walk on the beach with Steve. The last time we were with Steve,

we were a little bit chillier. I was on top of the Green Monster at Fenway as we were previewing the Winter Classic. A little warmer now. We got sand in our toes. A nice stroll along the beach with Steve Mayer. That is all coming up. But here we are in Fort Lauderdale.

It is the NHL All-Star Weekend. Skills competition on the horizon. Big weekend. All-Star game on Saturday. You know, when we got here, and I promised Amel I would give out zero clues as to where we went or who we spoke to because Amal's got something up his sleeve. So I am honoring Amal, my promise to you.

But let me just say this. We went somewhere as soon as we got off the plane that really made me think about the history of the Florida Panthers. That made me think of a lot of the key dates. That made me think of names like Mellenby. And made me think of names like Fitzgerald. Scrooge. And Brian, certainly Scrooge. Absolutely.

Brian Scrooge, definitely. And Thomas Focoon. And Brian McCabe. And old Florida Panthers. And the miraculous 1996 run to the Stanley Cup and rats. When I say Florida Panthers, what jumps to your mind right away? You know, the first thing I thought of, because I didn't want to think of the run to the 96 Stanley Cup final

because that's obvious. Yeah, I'm obvious. And you mentioned it was Pavel Bure. Yeah. You know, they traded for Pavel Bure. They gave him a huge contract. I have to remember, but I think it was Pavel Bure. Yeah. You know, they traded for Pavel Bure. They gave him a huge contract. I have to remember, but I think it was the biggest contract in the NHL at the time. So I think of Bure.

One of the things that I thought I loved about the decade of the 2010s is that St. Louis Blues had been in the league 50 years and their fans finally got to celebrate a Stanley Cup. Yep. The Washington Capitals have been in the league 50 years, and their fans finally got to celebrate a Stanley Cup. Yep. The Washington Capitals have been in the league 45 years. Their fans got a chance to finally witness them win a Stanley Cup. LA Kings. The LA Kings have been in the league almost 50 years, 45 when they won the Cup,

and their fans got to see them celebrate and win a Cup twice. The Chicago Blackhawks at the time had the longest drought in the National Hockey League, and their fans got to see them win the Stanley Cup three times. The Vegas Golden Knights had been in the league six months. Their fans got a chance to see them go to the... The Anaheim Ducks. Keep going with this one.

The Carolina Hurricanes wants the Hartford Whalers back to the WHA, tracing the lineage to New England, et cetera. You're right. Even teams like San Jose got to the Stanley cup final for the first time. Nashville got to the Stanley cup final for the first time. And that was a series that changed the NHL because they embraced who they were.

They embraced who they were. Like actually, for example, I heard that one of the things they're talking about was this summer when they have the awards in nashville was doing the awards outside on broadway but they they're worried they can't do it because it's gonna be too hot but yeah i get it but oh it's a great idea like it's really a brilliant idea when i look at the panthers you know they got got their Stanley Cup birth, what, four or five years into their existence,

and they haven't been back. Someone asked me this week, like, what do you think of like the Panthers and the way they're run? The one thing I'll say about them is they put money into this team. Like they gave Barkov a big deal. Yep. They gave Kachok a big deal. They gave Kachok a big deal. They gave Bobrovsky a big deal.

And whatever you... Aaron Eckblad. Aaron Eckblad a big deal. And whatever you think about these deals, you can't look at that ownership and saying they're skimping on getting guys into the NHL or paying guys to be in the NHL. I think it's a market that's got a lot of challenges. It's very spread out.

But I see an ownership here that is trying to do what it takes to be a successful team. And I want to see, I think at some point, every fan in a perfect world, I realize it's far from a perfect world, sees their team succeed. And that's why I thought the last decade was such a great decade of hockey. Yeah.

Because so many fans would wait for success. Got it. When I think of the Florida Panthers, one, and again, I'm not going to say where we went or who we spoke to. That is my honor, my pledge to you, Amal Delage. But it made me think of the older logo, which I loved. I know the new Panther, the West Point Panther, as I like to call this new logo, which is not really new anymore. I know their ownership certainly likes it for some of the obvious reasons.

But I love their thirds. I really do because to the point that you made it- I think they're wearing them, by the way, in the skills. And that's fantastic. For every point that you made it. I think they're wearing them, by the way, in the skills. And that's fantastic. Yeah. For every point that you made about Nashville and embracing who you are, say the same thing about Vegas. And when I see those thirds on the Florida Panthers,

I look at that and I say, that is a jersey of a team that plays in this market. Everything about that screams freedom. The only people who hate the thirds are the broadcasters because they can't they feel they can't see them i get that listen when i was doing ahl games milwaukee was an absolute like they look cool like cool looking jerseys but oh man me and bart's john bartlett like oh no milwaukee's rolling into rico here we go time to squint to see the name plate when i was walking today to the media day there were i walked by two fans who were wearing those jerseys beautiful one of which had a c on it and i was like that is a

that is just a beautiful jersey you know what i thought of as i was at this unnamed location meeting an unnamed person there was a picture that i saw it's a famous picture someone's gonna figure this out because you're giving a lot of clues. No, I'm not. Just off camera, Amal is like dying over here. Amal, this is my vow, my promise to you. But there was a picture that I saw, and you've seen it before too. It's game three of the 1996 Stanley Cup final. And it's Patrick Waugh in his crease surrounded by rats, right? Because I'll remember that was the year of the rats, Scott Mellenby and Panthers

was scored, everyone throw rats on the ice, a great tradition is born with the Florida Panthers. And normally goaltenders, as you'll recall, when that happened, they would retreat inside the net so they wouldn't get hit. Patrick stayed out and he stood in the crease and rat rats came and he was just defiant and you and i have talked about a great patrick waugh larry robinson moment share that one quick before i finish my story do the do the rob it was 86 moment when he comes into him yes in the sauna so patrick was sitting in the sauna and it's still the regular season

and montreal isn't sure who their playoff goalie is going to be. Cause every game, by the way, from that season, Patrick, he's great goaltender, but always let in one bad goal. And Larry Robinson came in and said,

no more bad goals, no more bad goals. We can deal with the good ones. We can't deal with the bad ones. So Patrick walk Colorado avalanche after that game three, after the rats. And he's standing out that that was the last goal that heche after that game three after the rats and he's standing out that that was the last goal that he allowed and he went into the room and he told the guys

much like larry robinson told him no more bad goals and you know when else patrick waugh did that 2001 stanley cup final new jersey and colorado remember i believe it was game five he gave away the puck behind his net. New Jersey scored to go up three to two and New Jersey never won again. I love Watt. We're going way off. I know, I know.

It's one of those days. Listen, we're in our casuals. We're just throwing it around. We had a long day today at the beach. Went for a little walk and talk with Steve Mayer along the sand. But the other thing that I, again, you talk about it not being a perfect world. In my perfect Florida Panther world, there's a place for Doug McClain.

Yeah, I agree with you. There still hasn't been a thaw. We know about the two sides and how Doug has been alienated from this organization, how they feel about him. He was so much a part of that glory era of the Florida Panthers. Just a wonderful guy. I miss working with him. I think you do too. I do too.

He's a wonderful person to have around, a great broadcaster. He's on a list with Kevin and Glenn of people who told me how stupid I was. And Brian. And Brian, yes. And Berkey, that's right too. Berkey's on that list. Berkey has. But he would tell such greatkey, that's right too. Berkey's on that list. Berkey has. But, you know, he would tell,

and such great stories about that Panthers era. Like, I remember asking him about, because the Pittsburgh Penguins at that time were the high-flying pens, as you may recall. And I said, like, what did you do? Like, you hear it come to Pittsburgh Penguins. Well, he told the Zamboni driver to dump extra water on it. So essentially, it turned the rink into a big slushie.

Anything they could do to slow down the Pittsburgh Penguins and come into time, it was extra water in the Zamboni just so they could slow down the puck. That's so funny. Honestly, there is, and I couldn't help but think, this weekend, eyes are on Florida and the NHL, the hockey world, and the Florida Panthers. It would be wonderful if Doug McClain were part of that.

Yeah, somewhere down the road, somebody has to step up and say, okay, we're fixing this. And the thing about Doug is, and you know, he might not like to hear me say this, but I don't care.

The way you have to deal with Doug is just say, Doug, shut the bleep up, come down to Florida. And you have to say to the people in the Panthers too, you guys get over yourself, get over it. Let's sort this out out there's a lot of

big personalities there there's a lot of people who don't like to take steps back sometimes you just have to say to all these people like okay everybody shut the bleep up and let's get into a room we'll pull out well florida's opening up a i think they have a jameson suite they opened up this is the third or fourth time you've mentioned this. I'm looking forward to going to. You've mentioned this on text. You've mentioned this. You've mentioned it on the podcast.

Go sit in the suite and sort this out. By the way, Jeff, I do think that one thing that is kind of being talked about now, and we mentioned this, I think, a couple months ago on the pod. I do think, especially after this right now, I think you're going to see the nhl and the players talk about a shorter rotation for all-star a warm weather slash big city rotation for all-star you know what i thought about last year and we've talked about this before with the awards specifically but what i thought about last year because all

star is a show yeah all star is a show and i thought vegas last year was a great venue for that show yeah i wondered if and we've talked about this with the awards if they just said vegas is the home of the all-star game period that's where you put on the big show i don't think they'll go to that but i think they will because teams want it that's it's a cook it's a cookie it's a cookie i think it's gonna get cut you know like the players they were very happy to be here today in this weather i think you're looking at a warm weather slash montreal new york toronto kind thing. But I think there will be a lot of preference given to warm weather. I think we're going down that road.

They have a lot of trouble getting the players to all-star. And I think one of the ways they're going to fix that is they're going to make it a warm weather thing. You want to describe your day or our day of interviews? Well, we did an interview with Bull Horvath that's going to air on the show on Friday.

You mentioned that we have a couple of interviews coming here. Yep. And Steve Meyer on the beach. Everybody's in a good mood. Except for our producer Amal, who's like just in a foul mood today. That's his default setting though.

That's what's lovable about it. His name is Amal Scowledelic, but everyone else is in a great mood. His name is almost scowledelic, but everyone else is in a great mood. Everybody else is having fun. Okay. So let's throw to our first piece then. So we're going to hear from Nazem Kadri. We're going to hear from Leon Dreisaitl, but you mentioned the Steve Mayer walk and talk along the beach was quite romantic. Thank you so much, Steve. Here's a snippet of our conversation with Steve Mayer, chief content officer of the NHL.

I did want to ask you, I remember a few years ago, we wanted to do Crosby and Ovechkin together at one of the media tours. And people were polite about it, but they said those two were not at the point yet where they're welcome to do that. So you have them going together in the Breakaway Challenge. Was that a difficult sell?

No. So something must have happened in the last few years. No, not at all. I think both of them are at a point now in their careers where they really are taking a step back and realizing, okay, we're not going to be doing this for that much longer. And they appreciate each other. They've fed off each other. Yes, they're ultimate rivals, but they're also so connected, so connected.

And they appreciate each other. And their moment will, I think, really play into that. Their mutual admiration for each other. And I do think, based on what we have planned, it will be the moment of the night. How about that? You know, it is fascinating to have these players at this point in their career finally come together on something. I don't think that can be understated.

I think this is a big deal. We've all heard, oh, behind the scenes, do they really like each other? Is there a legit feud between the two? I think this is a big thing. I really do. And I will say, we simply asked the question and without hesitation got on both sides yeah, let's do it. And what we've got planned is fun and funny and will be like a really nice moment but but i do think as part of it we do want to show that there is a mutual admiration between the two and you know they've gone head to head and you know we all know that story but yet

it's going to end well it feels like feels like it's at a really nice point. And let's face it, two of the greatest players have ever played the game. It's a really nice moment. And given where we are, they're both here. You don't know how many more years are they both going to be all-stars. We definitely wanted them to do something together. Okay, so that's Steve Mayer, Chief Content Officer of the NHL.

For the complete interview, the complete walk and talk on the beach with Steve, visit our Sportsnet YouTube channel. You can go there now. Interesting comments about Sidney Crosby. There's a couple of things I look at here. Number one is that I think with Crosby, anytime you get a buy-in from your top five all-time player.

Yeah. Remember we talked about the dunk tank. And would players want to do it? And you said you would do it. And I said, I wouldn't like, I don't know that I would do that. You see,

you make no sense to me because you've done things like jumped out of planes and grown, grown your beard on national television to ridiculous lengths but you won't go on a dunk tank. Explain. First of all, I jumped out of a plane because I wanted to conquer my own fears. I'm not afraid of going into water. I'm not dry-cidal.

People will get that. We're going to get there. You're an interesting bunch of guys ellie you're an interesting bunch of guys i don't know i just think if i'm gonna do something really stupid i want to be in control of it and that is something that's what it that's what it's about you're that much of a control freak oh yeah you wouldn't you'd be shocked anyway so the thing is though when your superstar mount rushmore all-time player is doing that, nobody has an excuse to say no. And you know what, Jeff?

We're talking a lot about this sport right now, about how it has to... I think there's a lot of things around the sport that need a sense of humor. Oh, yeah. Like a lot of things. Not just one group, but I think there's a lot of people around this sport that need a sense of humor. When your superstar leader is doing that, nobody has an excuse to say no. But that's entirely consistent with Sidney Crosby's entire career as a hockey player. He sets a work rate for everybody on that Pittsburgh Penguins team that if you don't at least try to come close to you

get embarrassed and you realize maybe there's not room at the end here for me this has been from day one with this is not about playing this is about setting a standard this is like colby armstrong would always tell the joke you know when he when he went into pittsburgh penguins uh weight room and there's crosby who's just like lift and lift and squat and squat like working out like nobody's business you know colby went up to crosby and said is there a league higher than the nhl like what am i missing here i thought the nhl you're trying to get to a league that's like higher than the national hockey league but that's always been crosby but he's always embraced it from a hockey point of view like a playing or preparing to play point of view he hasn't always been comfortable with the

preparing to play a point of view. He hasn't always been comfortable with the public side of it. Like ask him to do an interview. Most times he'll do the interview. Ask him to take like a big step into something like this. He hasn't always liked that. And part of it is because he doesn't want to think that he's bigger than anybody else. Right. This is a big deal to me.

Like this is, this is him saying him saying you know what this is a little goofier than i'm used to but i'm doing it we talked about this um after the players tour in vegas about how crosby seems different now yeah he's way more comfortable in his skin he knows his position in the game right now he understands his elder statesman as steven called him all of it yeah like this is a crosby that's really comfortable with himself and he doesn't i don't think he's out he doesn't have to he doesn't have to prove anything to anybody no like i'm sure he still has in his mind i still have to win another cup such as that but i just think that this is consistent with the crosby doesn't have to prove anything anymore i agree that with that. That's him. That's him now.

Listen to 32 Thoughts, the podcast, ad-free on Amazon Music, included with Prime. Hi, Jeff. Hi, Jeff. It's Elliot. I'm looking at almost hairy arms, which are not quite as hairy as mine. Have I told you the story about my leg and the waxing and the home waxing kit and the hair that never came back?

I can see it now. I'm totally distracted. It's crazy, eh? It never came back. Did you hear that story? Amel, it never came back. Was it worth it, Jeff? Was it worth it? I'm telling a story now in 2023. yeah. Okay, so a couple of things here. You referenced Beau Horvat. Yep.

Now, we haven't had a chance to talk about it here. Yep. here you referenced bo horvat yeah now we haven't had a chance to talk about it here yeah we did on the radio show and you've talked about it on just about every other radio property in north america so why not on the podcast first of all how'd the conversation go it was good like it's a whirlwind you know one of the one of the players told me on the canucks i was gonna say one of his teammates told me but it's not it's a canuck it's not a team anymore one of his teammates told me, but it's a Canucks. It's not a team anymore. One of the teammates on the Canucks told me that when they walked off the ice on Friday night, last Friday night, which was Vancouver's last game a week ago, today this podcast airs,

there were guys who were saying, this is it. We might not see this guy again. I said, when did you know you were being traded and he said not until the phone rang like i didn't know until he thought he knew it was coming but not until the phone rang it has been a total whirlwind you're on a disney world vacation i asked him like were you on a ride when the call came and he's like no luckily we've been on a ride all season just gotten back to our airbnb i think the one thing is he's a really grounded guy and he's it struck me as if you're gonna get traded some guys say it's better just to throw yourself right into the new team and just go i actually think this is going to be better for him

because he's with his family. They can process it all together. He's going to be in the All-Star game wearing an Islanders jersey on the Pacific Division. I think they're going to have time to process this as a group. I think that's really going to help him. I'll say something else too. I really get the sense that he feels he got a break by it happening now.

I don't think he wanted to go through another month of this. No. I don't think Bruce Boudreau wanted to go through. I mean, how far do you want to rewind to when Bruce Boudreau wanted it really to end? And I think Horvat was the exact same way. We've talked tons about it elsewhere but a quick thought on the the trade from both sides and i guess we're all waiting if there's going to be one for a bo horvat extension here i'm on record as saying i

believe there will be look like newport who represents bo horvat they represent pejo they represent sezikis they represent matt martin josh bailey they represent Sezikis, they represent Matt Martin, Josh Bailey, they represent five other Islander forwards. They also represented Eberle, who was there until last year. When Pajot got traded, they got the extension done quickly, even though there was some permission

there. I just think there's a lot of people here who know how to deal with each other, and I think it gets done done who do we watch for now in vancouver i mean the obvious one is luke shen yeah expiring contract we've wondered about thatcher demko you got the vancouver corner music for this one uh how would you bring it on the road with you the vancouver corner music i can't remember what did i say i can't remember what i said last what's the voicer? Welcome to Vancouver Corner.

You know, to me, I've just wondered if there's any chance they keep Shen. Like, is there any chance that Rick Talk had asked them to keep Shen? I've also wondered if Calgary would be in on Shen. He's Daryl Sutter's kind of guy. Could you not see a lot of teams in on Shen? Could you not see the Boston Bruins in on Shen?

We've talked, we've wondered about Tampa before. Could you not? I heard. I know, I know, I know. No, listen, I know, I get it. But if you're a playoff team. Yes, of course you want him. Like I heard this week that I heard that Calgary

had talked to Philadelphia about Van Riemsdyk and somebody disputed that. So why not just throw Calgary out there again and see if I get more disputing. But Shen is kind of like Daryl Sutter's kind of player yeah uh a couple of names we're wondering about right now do you see the vladimir tarasenko quotes oh my god where he referred to himself in the third person that's like ricky henderson 100 my favorite baseball player ricky henderson zlatan ibrahimovic was another guy always referred himself in the third person. What a great quote.

Vladi doesn't know where Vladi's going. Vladi's got a lot of control over this. He's got a no trade clause. Yeah. There's two areas I look at with Tarasenko that I say makes some sense. The New York area. And by there, I'm talking like any of those

teams in the New York area. So you can see all, you can make case for all three. Well, maybe not. maybe not Islanders now. I mean, I don't know how they make it work, but, but the other team I wonder about now is going to be Vegas. Well, we're going to get there with the Mark Stone injury and see what they do there.

So maybe park Vegas for a second, but we've talked plenty about St. Louis and who's going to be going and who's going to be staying, whether it's O'Reilly or look at, you look at Mikola, you look at Barbashev. To be blunt, I just found the Tarasenko quotes to be amusing. Oh, phenomenal. Just phenomenal. We need more players in the NHL to refer to themselves in the third person.

Now we just need Brad Marchand to refer to himself in the third person and then off to the races we go. How do you see this Marchand situation? He's gone after our colleague, Steve Dangle. He's gone after Craig Morgan. Well, I have to say like Steve did that first. Like he, this one, you can't say Marchand did it first. Like Dangle went first.

I think stuff like this is good for the sport. And like, you know, I have to tell you i i said you remember i talked about someone from vancouver and i didn't say anyone from the canucks i said someone from vancouver the same player i talked to who said we were wondering if that was it with bow he said to me like you are killing us every saturday every saturday you're coming up with something else is just lighting our team on fire. And the thing is like, I think in our business, my dad always said to me, Jeff, if you're going to dish it out, you have to take it and I'm not somebody who

dishes out a lot in terms of criticism or things like that, but you know, you dish out things that can cause people a lot of aggravation. If someone ever comes back at me, I have to be prepared for it. It's fair game. It's fair game. The way that I look at it, Elliot, is, I'm not sure how you are about this, although I think

you're similar. I've decided in my career, in this position, to stick my head up above a crowd. Yeah. I have to expect that at least one person will throw a rock. Yeah. I think that that is big. And next time I will try not to miss.

Next time you'll try not to miss. No, but, and I've said this before, like everybody gets free shots. Yeah. As far as I'm concerned, like I do not block people. I don't. Very rarely do I block people. I think I've blocked maybe 10. Well, to me, if I'm blocking you, you've got to be either racist or abusive.

Yeah. To me, it comes with the position. You're going to get it. You just got to take it. Yeah. I'm with you on that. Speaking of the Boston Bruins, are we going to wade into the David Pasternak waters here?

Are we moving this one along? I think there are some players here, and Dylan Larkin is one, and David Pasternak's another. I saw a lot of agents today. Oh yeah. And we're going to talk about agents again in another minute, but I saw a lot of agents today and they're here meeting with their players and Pasternak, I think that one is moving towards getting done. I think when this is over, we will find out that David Pasternak pushed the Boston Bruins in a position they

didn't think they would get to and didn't want to be in simply because David Pasternak, like what's the biggest weapon you have in a negotiation is the willingness to say no. And I think David Pasternak had a willingness to say, look, if you guys aren't going to do this, it's going to be a problem. And I think he pushed the Bruins into an area that maybe they aren't going to do this it's going to be a problem and i think he pushed the

bruins into an area that maybe they didn't want to go and i think it's going to get done because they recognized it it has to get done that's my opinion like i asked him he did a scrum in toronto on wednesday i went to the morning skate i said anything to do with the contract he said no and i said okay i i respect that i think we getting there. I think with Larkin and he talked publicly, like there were a few media people talking to him. I think it's a lot tougher with Larkin in Detroit because I think that Steve Eisenman has proven that there's only certain places he's willing to go. And I think he has said he has reached his line or at least he's close to his line and when steve eiserman

as steven stamkos knows reaches his line that's it or there's very very i don't want to say it's it although stamkos it was it there's very very little movement and i think it's tough you know the thing about larkin is like boston not trading Pasternak. Like that's crazy talk. But you know, Larkin has a no trade clause. I don't know what's going to happen here. I really don't. I have always believed that Dylan Larkin was going to be a red wing. And when he says, I want to be a red wing, I

believe him. Like, I think the Bruins have bent to Pasternak. I don't think the red wings are bending to Larkin. And I think it's been harder for them than they thought or realized. You said we're going to talk about agents, so let's do it. Yeah. And this is the National Hockey League Players Association, the name Marty Walsh.

Yep. Who is a U.S. Secretary of Labor. His name has emerged. We've talked about Mike Gillis previous as well. This is a really crucial time right now for the Players Association as they search for and narrow down candidates for their next executive director as we record this on Thursday evening. What's the very latest?

And I don't have this confirmed, so it's always good to throw it out there on the podcast when I don't have 100% concern. We talked about Doug McLean earlier, but what was the great line? Not saying it's the truth, just saying what I heard. Miss you, Doug. But it's possible that they actually

start the voting on Friday. Okay. I'd heard some rumors about it last night. I'd sent out a note. I haven't gotten confirmation. So I'll just go with it's possible they start the voting on Friday. That's usually a 48 to 72 hour process.

And they put forward Marty Walsh's name. I spoke to a number of agents and a couple of players. What most of them said to me was the worst thing we can do right now is look disunited, ununited, deunited, whichever is the proper word here. The worst thing we can look at is that.

And I think they want to present a united voice. As one of the agents said to me, and I'm not convinced this agent is crazy about this, but he said, if this is the player's choice, we have to unite behind it because if we don't, the NHL will eat us alive. And I think there's a lot of people who do feel that way. One of the agents said to me, look, this guy is the labor minister or secretary of labor, whatever it is. He said he was confirmed by the Senate. If the Senate is going to confirm this guy, what are we going to have a problem with here?

That's what this person said to me. And I'll tell you where some of the issues have been. So there's a story of the Boston Globe, and it was sent to me a couple of times that he accepted some money from the Jacobs family. Just sort of listeners, though, the Jacobs family, Jeremy Jacobs owns the Boston Brewers. Yes, and he's the chairman of the Board of Governors

and the NHLPA's number one foe, even maybe more than the commissioner is. And so when Marty Walsh was running for mayor of Boston, he received contributions from the Jacobs. But families like the Jacobs donate to all parties, be they Democratic, Republican. As you know, I have an extreme wariness of politicians of all parties. I know that.

I do not like them. I recognize that there are a lot of people out there, they donate to Republicans and Democrats. In Canada, they will donate to conservatives, liberals, and new Democrats. That's what people do. They walk the line. They straddle the line with everybody. So some people don't think this is a big deal. But I did speak to some people who I think are really calm, rational people who are like,

no, this is a big deal. And I spoke to somebody who used to work at the Players Association who doesn't anymore. And I spoke to somebody who used to work at the Players Association who doesn't anymore. And what he said to me was, the thing that bothered him about it is that, like, are they rushing? Like, how did they fully vet Marty Walsh? Like, that was his biggest question out of it was, did they know this? Were they aware of it? Were they surprised by it?

How much vetting was really done and again jeff i i agree with your overall point that people donate to everybody but because it's jacobs and the position he's in it's a bit of a landmine how big a landmine i don't know a landmine more for the players or for their agents it's like i said i had one really rational person who's an agent say that this really bothered him and i asked a few other people did this really bother them and i got the if this is the player's choice we have to back it so i think we're going to see so how much of a problem this is or isn't? I want to say one other thing. There was also an email that was going around to a lot of agents on Thursday or Wednesday or Thursday, and it was harsh.

Someone sent it to me and, you know, I don't know enough about it to know if it's, if it's true or not, but it was harsh. And I will say it left some bad taste in some of these agents' mouths. They're like, no, this is not what we need right now. But I think it shows you when you have this job and it's a big job and it pays between two and three million a year, people want this job. People want this job. And it shows you like the nastiness that comes out when people are picked for these kinds of jobs and you know one of the things that happened was the first time

that that email was sent out it was sent out and they said well this is why mike gillis is a better candidate and then the second time it went out, that paragraph was gone. And I have no doubt that, you know, Gillis is sitting here saying like, I don't want to be connected to that. Right. But I think it just shows you how much of a challenge it is. There was one person who, how should I frame this, One person who, how should I frame this, has been around NHL slash PA negotiations and all through their various dynamics for a number of years that I communicated with in the last couple of days about this issue specifically. And this person's point was about Marty Walsh.

was about Marty Walsh. If this is indeed the direction the Players Association wants to go, this is where the players want to go, why are they going towards somewhere, leaning towards someone whose main job description is labor dynamics and labor law and labor negotiations would it not be wiser if the nhl players association leaned more into someone with a business background and a marketing background and i think their point was you know you want to bring in someone who's strong labor when it's time to fight i don't know that the players association has an appetite right now to fight. They want to be tough and they want to stand up for what they believe in, but I don't think they have any desire for a fight.

Why are they leaning into someone whose background is labor as opposed to business? It's a fair question. I think, I'll tell you this, I think the biggest thing, and a few people said it to me today, Marty walsh is known to the people who did the search and the people who are on the search committee what's his plan to getting to know all the players if he's the person is he going to spend the next year going around to meet all the players because that's the big challenge because when donald fear got hired like i've had

people say to me well this is a guy who can look betman in the eye and and stare him down people said that about donald fear and that didn't go that way and the other thing too is you can't beat betman or you can't win a negotiation with Bettman if your membership isn't prepared for the consequences of that. Like, is he going to go immediately on tour for the rest of this year? I will say, a few people said to me today, that's the biggest question they would be asking if they were the players. How is he going to go about getting to know us all and understanding it's like herding cats

like any big group and you've got to do it what have we said before cats and laser pointers cats and laser pointers let's get to a couple of interviews here uh yeah we've been talking for a long time poor apples just like groaning we still have vegas to get to and i'm probably going to bring up timo meyer again uh but let's get to a couple interviews here this is leon dry sidle of the edmonton oilers and we start off by talking about fear. Listen. You should see his tan. I hope that tan comes across in the YouTube video

because he got a big sunburn on his forehead. I was going to say, that's not a tan yet. Here's Leon Dreisaitl of the Oilers. With a very well tanned Leon Dreisaitl. Leon, before we get to hockey, what scares you? You're one of the toughest, and we saw this last year in the playoffs. You're one of the toughest players in the league, impervious to pain physically or psychologically,

but what scares you? The ocean. Yeah, you got that right. I don't know what's down there, and I don't trust it one bit. So I love the ocean. I love being by the beach and I'll go in where I can see everything and the water is nice and clear, but the second it gets dark, I'm out. See, I understand this because I love snorkeling and I love scuba diving,

but I think the bottom of the ocean is disgusting. But you won't even snorkel or scuba dive or nothing like that. No, I don't think anyone or anything can ever get me to do that. And I own it too. I'm, I'm soft that way. I don't care. It's just something that I'm not. Is there anything else that terrifies you on the level of the bottom of the ocean? Uh, maybe a one-on-one when you're caught in a bad one-on-one situation with Connor McDavid trying to defend him. That's a scary, that's a scary moment. That is really scary. You got the good tan going. Yeah, really good.

It'll look great in a couple of weeks. It'll look fantastic. You guys were really going when the break came. And, you know, one of the things Leon is that every year there seems to be like two weeks of hysteria around the Oilers. And then you guys seem to kind of figure it out. What were you thinking as we kind of went through that phase this year? Yeah, it almost seemed like it was longer than two weeks there where we just like, we, we had so much excitement and so many expectations going into the year, and we wanted to be one of the best teams. And then we start off kind of shaky and not the way that we wanted to, kind of playing 500 hockey. So I think we're all kind of like, oh, my God, here we go again. We're going to have to grind our way through this again.

But we did eventually, and we've been playing some really good hockey lately. So, yeah, big credit to the group, our coaching staff, staying positive, sticking with us. Our game's coming. This is a really different Oilers group. We saw some of this last season as well. We've seen plenty of Oilers teams that when there's adversity, crumble. Cave, crumble, it's over, disaster, all of it. That's not your team anymore. It's almost as if, okay, we're going to have a bad streak for a couple of weeks

and then we're going to, you know, the plane's going to pull itself out of turbulence and we're going to be fine. Is there very much that mood with the team? Yeah, absolutely. I think that always comes from experience, right? It's kind of in the playoffs, there's so many ups and downs. We, we saw it in 2017. We thought the year after was going to be our

year and it's so hard to do it over and over again in this league. So, um, with experience, you just learn to keep it a little more even keel. It's the cliche that everyone tells you, but yeah, I think we've done a really good job and we've really grown up in that department. We all assume that these right now are the dog days of the season, you know, late January, early February, the season grinds you down. Do you find that that's true or is there

a more difficult part of the season? Essentially what I'm asking is what's the hardest part of the season, Leon? Yeah, the vacation was really hard that I just had. So it was tough. It was a tough couple of days, but no, yeah, for sure. I mean, we play so much. Obviously, every team goes through the same thing. Every team kind of has the same schedule. So these are the dog days.

Lots of teams fighting for playoff spots. Lots of meaningful hockey going on. So, um, yeah, the teams that obviously are resilient and, and, and, and, and feel comfortable in these situations and feel comfortable in these, these games where you're playing a back to back and you're tired, but you find a way to stick to your system.

You win a game, two, one, three, one, these kinds of games, you know, pull your team together as well. Right. So, um, yeah, I think we've done a good job of that lately. You're a pretty honest guy. How good do you think the Oilers are?

I think we're good. I think when we're playing our game, I think when we get to our game early in a game, I think we are hard to beat. I think we have, uh, a lot of speed, a lot of, a lot of skill in our group that, that, um, you know, can come in waves. So I think we're a really good team.

What do you think you need? I mean, we all know what's out there and what we need, what you guys say, what the media. Yeah, but what we say and what you say is very different. Right, right. It is different, but I like our group the way it is. We have people that get paid a lot of money in our organization that that's for them to figure out, and that's their job to figure out what we need and what they think we need. So I'm going to leave it at that. Do they ever ask you your opinion? open with us. I really appreciate that. I think, again, it is his decision.

It is scouting. It's the coaches that make the ultimate decision. But he does like the input from certain players on our team. And I think we all appreciate it. But like I said, it's his final call. Makes it easier when you have players like Ryan Newton Hopkins, Zach Hyman having career seasons. You've seen these players a lot.

What's different about both of them this season? Anything? Because they're both having just like tremendous seasons. Yeah, yeah. Amazing. They're both, I think, and there's a time where, you know, maybe I wasn't going, I think, and those are the guys that pick up those games, right?

And they know that and they sense that and they've done it all year, really. And that really goes back to the playoffs hyams and nudge there's such without those two guys we we're not we're not a team right we're not anywhere nearly as as successful as as we want to so they're a bit of the heartbeat of our team uh in a quiet way very quiet way but love having them they're just amazing hockey players. Has Connor been unselfish enough? Sure seems like it. Yeah, no, he's been obviously having a heck of a year. Like, I mean, what more can you say?

I think he's found his way in terms of knowing when to shoot and when to pass. And it's scary because it was always there, you know, and I even, as crazy as it sounds, but I even think there's another step to him, which is crazy to think, but yeah, it's, it's, it's fun watching him getting better. I wanted to ask you about Campbell.

You know, it was a big adjustment. It always is. It was a big adjustment. Like I know you, you'll never say anything bad about a teammate and I really respect that about you, but were you worried at all at the beginning of the year as he struggled to find his way?

I don't think we were worried about him in terms of his ability. We, we, we all seen what he did in Toronto. We, we know what he did there. He played well for the majority of the two, three years that he was there. I think more so as a person, right? If you get to know Sup, he's just such a good, loving guy, right?

He wants the best for you. He wants the best. He's so brutally honest about his own mistakes at all times, right? So sometimes when you're too hard on yourself, it can weigh on you, and I think maybe that's what happened a little bit. He signed a big deal. He obviously wants to show the city, our team, what he's all about. But he's certainly been amazing for us the last month.

Let me ask you about Evander Kane. When he went out with his injury, did you find that teams played you differently? That they felt, okay, you know what? Kane's not there. Let's really push here. Yeah, for sure. I think Hayner just brings a swagger to the team that maybe at times in our group isn't naturally there as much. We're a very quiet group.

So he brings something on the ice, a little bit of swagger, a little bit of like intimidation. I know no one's intimidated by him, but he brings toughness. He brings hard-nosed hockey that we obviously need in our lineup. And he's a big time factor to our team. Last time we spoke, I think we talked a lot about, I'm fascinated by this. I think a lot of us are.

Your ability to score goals shooting from the goal line, which is just like the hardest skill. Is there anywhere in the offensive zone we'll never see Leon Dreisaitl shoot from? Like, is there one area where you're like, nah, I can't put it in from there? The blue line. I can't.

I can't shoot from there. It's too soft. It would bounce a few times and then goalie makes a save. Yeah, that's a little too far for me. But other than that, I'm pretty, pretty comfortable letting it go from anywhere. Awesome. Thanks so much, Leon. Always great.

Thanks for having me. You know, Elliot, every time we talk to Leon Dreisaitl. He's one of the best in the league. Well, that's what I always say. If the entire league was more like Dreisaitl, what a wonderful league it would be to cover. Like what a great league. If there were more people like Dreisaitl in this game right now,

what a great league it would be to cover. I agree. Okay. And I say the same thing about Nazem Khadri. On the ice, competitive, a little bit nasty. We all know about that. Highly skilled as well. And did something with the Stanley Cup that no one has ever done before in the off season. He took it to a mosque. And that is part of our conversation with Calgary Flames forward, Nazem Khadri on 32 Thoughts. thoughts. Naz, I do want to ask you about the Calgary Flames. That's going to be a lot of this interview and this conversation, but I want to start by talking about one of the most meaningful Stanley Cup celebrations we've ever seen. And, you know, you made the decision to bring the Stanley Cup to a mosque, the way that you handled yourself and your family as well, I think was a

real example. And that was, you know, that's, that's new as far as Stanley Cup celebrations go. What's your life been like since then? You know, we always hear about fans pulling athletes or managers or coaches aside and saying, you know, thank you for winning this for our team or our city, but I'm guessing it might be more profound for you considering what you did with the cup. For sure. Yeah. Well, thank you for that. Um, it's certainly, um, you know, unique and I feel like that's, you know, what hits closest to home. It's just something that, you know, never really has been done before. And, uh, you know, just trying to, trying to set a good example, uh, when I can. And, uh, you know, I know how much that means to the youth down there and just, uh, you

know, the setting that we had, there was, you know, basically it was all kids. It was all kids in the parade and out front. So, uh, you know, it meant a lot for me to see that. And, uh, you know, that's always something my, uh, you know, I, I always like to incorporate my culture somehow. You still getting the thank yous? Uh, of course. Cause you'll get them for a long time. You know that now, right? Well, I mean, you don't really get sick of hearing congratulations, you know, so that's,

you know, it's humbling, man. And just think looking back and just, you know, reminiscing every once in a while, it's something that, you know, you're never going to forget. What's the first thing you think about when you think about last year? A Stanley Cup.

Is there a game that you remember or a moment that you remember? Was there an overtime? Yeah, well, that one, I mean, that's probably the easy one, right? That's the fuck that's going on my wall for sure. But I think just I'm thankful with the time it happened in my career and just because,

you know, I really made sure to, you know, enjoy, really enjoy every single moment and, you know I really made sure to you know enjoy really enjoy every single moment and you know kind of reiterate to myself like man like enjoy this enjoy like the crowd and warm-ups tv timeouts like just the whole everything that came with it I think uh you know just kind of you know at that stage of your career I think you start to really really you know appreciate it whereas if you were to win it in your first, you know, rookie season or second season. So, you know, I'm thankful for that. And, uh, you know, that's something I'm, um, I'm proud of. Do you look at the ring?

Uh, absolutely. Absolutely. It's a piece of jewelry. I have to. Is it an all the time thing? Uh, no, no, it's not. It's not, uh, it's tucked away somewhere safe. So I don't, you know, I don't have a look at it too, too often. But, you know, every once in a while I'll throw it on and have a glance in the mirror and just see what it looks like. You put on a suit and you wear the ring and you're a poet. Yeah, well, you guys know how it is, right?

It's really, you know, you're only going to wear it for a reunion or something. So, yeah, hey, anytime you're feeling a little bit down, you just have a little peek and, you know, it just brings back a lot of great memories. That's awesome. The Calgary experience so far, how has it been for you? Excellent. You know, nothing short of that.

So the people have, you know, embraced me and the fans have welcomed me and, you know, I've adapted pretty well. I think, you know, the cities between Denver and Calgary are very similar. In fact, they call them sister cities. So, you know, that, I think that living situation kind of, you know, eased my transition and I'm happy for that. What did you think it was going to be like? I always expected it to be great. You know, I've been there as a visiting player many, many times and,

you know, got some distant family over there too. And I've always loved the city and, you know, great food, great restaurants. And, you know,

so that's, you know, that's something I can get behind. I wanted to ask you, you know, the team has changed its identity. Last year, they had that big scoring line that

eliminated a lot of their problems. This year, it's a harder bit for the Flames to score. How has that sort of played itself out? Like there've been big changes and sometimes people take time to figure it out. Yeah. How do you think you guys are doing with it?

Well, that's a fair point. I think, I think it's taken us a little longer than we'd hoped but uh you know when there's that much change and it's so significant it happens so quickly it's almost uh you know a bit of a shell shock for everyone involved really so you know you got to go back to the drawing board and start fresh and i think uh we're really starting to to catch on these last couple weeks you know beat some good teams and i had a couple bumps in the road of course, but we're still a team that is more than capable of scoring. We got maybe one of the best goalie tandems in the league, and we have great depth. I think, hopefully, that translates into some playoff success.

What did you think of Calgary when you played against them? When you were with Colorado, what were your thoughts on Calgary? I thought they were a pesky team, tough to play against. It was hard to go into the Saddledome and win. You knew it wasn't going to be an easy night, but I always enjoyed it. That was one of the places to see your head. It's a unique arena. I mean, it's old, but you know, one of the places to see her at. I just, it's a unique arena. It's, I mean, it's old, but maybe do for a new one sometime soon here.

Want to lobby for a new one here? Make some headlines? Yeah, hopefully. I got to start preaching about that to somebody. So, but I mean, it's just the vibe of the rink too, the Saddledome. It's just got a vintage vibe and reminds me of uh you know reminds me of the rinks i used to go to when i was a kid we've talked about this before on the podcast it's kind of a unique hockey player that can thrive in a canadian market because you're a hockey player

24 7 there's no i'm gonna go out to lunch i'm not a hockey player anymore no everyone knows hey look who's having lunch over there you can't go anywhere without being identified as a member of, you know, the, the local hockey team. You've always embraced that. There are some players we know have, you know, a seven team, no trade list. That number seven is very specific for a reason. What is it about playing in Canada that you enjoy? I like how much they appreciate and acknowledge, you know, what we do for a living. It's hard to do, and it's nice to get some respect and have people that admire it. So I think for me, just having them cheer you on.

I mean, of course, there's a lot of scrutiny that comes with it and sometimes maybe not deserving, but at the end of the day, you've got to go out there and you got to do your job no matter where you're playing. But for me, I'm Canadian. I like Canada and I like how knowledgeable the fans are.

Last one, I guess, Nazem. I always wondered, like the thing I loved watching you most about you playing is that there was always a little bit of like, I'm never going to be satisfied. No matter what happens to me, I'm never going to be satisfied.

Yeah. After you won the Stanley Cup, were you worried that was going to be satisfied. No matter what happens to me, I'm never going to be satisfied. Yeah. After you won the Stanley Cup, were you worried that was going to go away at all? Not really, no, because that's just who I am. It's, you know, there's no getting over that. It's just in my blood. And I think it's just, you know, I've always tried to be that type of person. And in doing so, I think it's,'s you know led me on a path of success and gotten me ultimately you know where I want to go so I think that that drive and that motivation

continues to to push yourself forward and you always want to improve you know you don't want to stay stagnant you always want to improve in life and hockey whatever the case may be and you know I think you know that that inner voice voice helps you get there while you're on your Stanley Cup run your dad kind of became a rock star and a real celebrity do you have a word or two about dad yeah yeah Sammy was pumped he was he was almost fired up I've ever seen him I think so uh you know he was proud he was proud of me and uh you could tell how emotional it was for him because you know he, he didn't really, you know, have that opportunity to kind of pursue what I've done and he's kind of given me that chance. And he's always been a great mentor of mine in my corner since day one,

no matter good, bad, ugly, whatever the case may have been. So I wanted to make sure when, you know, when I hoisted that thing, he was, he was getting a shot to do it too. It's awesome. Thanks so much for this. Good luck the rest of the way. Thank you so much.

Now some cadre of the Calgary Flames, Elliot. Prediction, big second half of the season. Dialed in the last 32 games. It wouldn't surprise anybody. A couple of more things here. I hope you enjoyed those,

those interviews, by the way. I said, I'm going to mention Timo Meier. I am going to get there. I may sneak something in, but the last thing I do quick, we're almost going to be up all night and he's crabby today.

He needs sleep. We all need sleep. It's, it's been, you know what it's been? It's been a long life. You know what, Jack?

It's been a long life. This is Florida in January, beginning of February. This is a get out of jail free card. I am. Don't tell Steph. I said that I, I am not going to be sleeping for a couple of days elliot he's one of the best two-way players in the game elliot he's one of the

best players in the game he's one of our favorites to deal with and he's had injury problems for a while and it doesn't look good now for mark stone well the first thing i want to do is you know wish the best for mark stone it's really a shame nobody wants to see this as you said uh the other thing i i'm really trying to be careful with him is you know i was on your show today with matt marchese oh yeah how do you do well he's driving it into the ditch as you would expect you take it into slightly into the ditch he totals the car so i have a job to come back to monday yes yes you do all right good But Matt was asking about the injury. And the one thing I had said to him is Stone has gotten upset in the past over some of the coverage of his injuries. So I really try to be careful when it comes to that. But as we record this, the information I have is that

the Golden Knights are not expecting him to be back in the regular season. I mean, hopefully that changes, but it doesn't look that way. It would be a positive surprise if that happened. So with that theory, that opens up a lot of possibilities with long-term injury for the Golden Knights. And as you know, they're aggressive. I would expect them to be aggressive. And they've been on some depth names achari barbashev now i wonder if we're all right load up the hunting equipment we're looking for big game so we wonder about timo

meyer now and listen when i first i'll be honest with you when i heard the mark stone news and back surgery which is it's another good guess i wonder about vegas and timo meyer like they swing big man like that's the thing about thing about vegas is like they're not buttoned to get on base they're not you know looking at four pitches to get on base like they get on base by taking big rips you know the one thing about that that's interesting is i remember a few years ago when doug wilson was gm of the, they facilitated a trade for Vegas. I can't remember if it was Leonard or who it was. It might have been Leonard.

Like it got facilitated through San Jose to Vegas. And like the San Jose fans and media, they were like, why did you help those guys? Oh, no, it's intense, man. It's hatred. Like that's my thing. Like, you know, can you trade him there if you're the Sharks?

It makes sense. Like, it's not your worst idea. It's a new GM. It's not even your top 50. All right. End up on this one. Are we expecting LA to get frisky soon? I do.

Someone made a good point about that. They said, look at Rob Blake's history. So I went through it. He gets his deals done early. The last deadline deal he did was Jeff Carter, but that was Jeff Carter going out for picks. He doesn't make player for player trades at the deadline. And I've heard that he's starting to decide what he wants to do.

All right. On that, we've got to wrap and let Amel tame this beast. Amel Delic, La Premier 12, the first star. Taking us out today is a Toronto-based band we featured recently on the podcast tearing up just dropped their debut album heavy link to the full album is in our show notes from that record here's tearing up with local legend 32 thoughts the podcast And the glass, it shatters, I sit up and matter Your hands are worn, and callous, from climbing the ladder You found a shot, a shot, then you found another Then a month went by, nothing to discover

Time to end it, find another premise I remember the days when you were such a menace And I saw your face, pacified, you were such a badass And I saw your face Passified You were riding a train Hanging on the side It was last one to read Impatient Indifferent Keynote

For bullshit You have it You have that Try to keep Stoic I'm vital I'm better A book through September Outro Music