32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Bob Hartley: A KHL Champion

Episode Date: May 5, 2021

He has won a championship in the NHL, AHL, NLA, QMJHL, and now the KHL. Avangard Omsk head coach, Bob Hartley, joins Jeff and Elliotte to talk about winning the Gagarin Cup, how Ilya Kovalchuk has changed since their days together in Atlanta, memories from his time with the Thrashers, if Kovalchuk wants to return […]

next time they draft a Russian, I'm free up to charge. Thanks so much, Bob. Really appreciate it. All right. Welcome to 31 Thoughts, the podcast presented by the GMC Sierra AT4. Jeff Merrick alongside Elliot Friedman.

Friedge, today on the podcast, we are going to speak to one of the more decorated coaches we've ever spoken to and one of the more successful ones we've ever spoken to. He was a more successful ones we've ever spoken to. He was a coach of a championship team in the Quebec League, the American Hockey League, the NHL, and now most recently, the KHL.

Our guest this week on 31 Thoughts, the podcast, Elliot Bob Hartley. When you hear that name, what jumps to your mind? Jeff, when you asked me what I think about Bob Hartley, I would have had two answers. Are you talking about before we recorded the interview or after we recorded the interview? Because we're taping this part after we record the interview. So yeah, we've already sat down. I think you'd enjoy this interview. There's some really good stuff on the championship in the KHL, the Atlanta Thrashers, Ilya Kovalchuk, etc. Before this interview, what was your impression of Bob Hartley?

I really enjoyed my interactions with him. And he's another one of those people who's really blunt. If you ask him a question, you're going to get an honest answer. And I remembered a story. I actually just remembered it. I forgot to ask him about it because there were other things to talk to him. There was a time when they brought in the replay system into the NHL that the NHL thought that Hartley was the best or worst,

depending on your opinion, of manipulating those challenges into longer timeouts for his team. And I mentioned it once on a broadcast. because kelly rudy was part of the flames broadcast team and hartley and him had a great reputation he once said to kelly hey what did your buddy say about me on tv about me cheating during timeouts and i forgot to mention this so i i just remembered that story because I knew that, and Kelly said he was just explaining what you were doing

and apparently Hartley was okay with that, but I was laughing because I knew if he called me, I was going to get it. So I always thought about him as a really blunt and honest guy who told you exactly what he thought, which I don't mind.

But after this interview, I really think of two things. Number one, the fun exchange we had Jeff about the Chinnikov pick from Columbus last year and the fact that he saw what happened to us. But the second thing is, you know, the stuff he talks about, about Dan Snyder and the Snyder family. It's very emotional listening to it. And all these years later, it's still so very raw. It was a very powerful segment of the interview. Yeah. Very glad that he was able to make time for us. And we hope you enjoy it. We love talking to Bob Hartley. Some really interesting, touching at times, informative and funny things will be

talked about here on this interview so without further ado he is Bob Hartley Gagarin Cup Champion in the KHL Bob Hartley joins us on 31 Thoughts, the podcast. And Bob, we should start by congratulating you on winning the KHL Championship, the Gagarin Cup. You have been a successful coach all along the way. QIMJ HL Championship, American Hockey League Championship, NHL Stanley Cup, and now this. When you look at what you've done in hockey, where do you put this championship?

You know, it's very high because, you know, for a few years, I had, you know, like, different offers from KHL teams and I told the the Russians that you know like are in my organization that I was scared of Russia like I was scared because of different reasons a little bit now you know like we're being like taught about you know like how our life is in Russia like about the KHl you know several players from north america coming back with not very good stories but after talking to elia kovalchuk like four years ago oh like he called me one night and he said ohm's avant-garde they want to hire you they want to meet you they they want to hire you. You are their coach and you need to go there. And like I've always stayed in touch. I've always been very close with Kovy.

And he told me, he said, this is a great organization. You're going to have fun. You're going to be well treated. And I went there with Jacques Cloutier, who has been my partner forever. And we got beat out in the first year in the finals against CSK, the team that we beat this year. Last year, we got beat out in the first round.

And this year, it was just a magical season. Obviously, like any hockey leagues or any people listening to us, with the coronavirus, it has been a nightmare. Like two weeks in camp, our two equipment managers were sick. We had two doctors. We had three masseuse. We went from basically 50, 55 players down to five, six players, I'm sorry, and two coaches, myself and an assistant coach. So we went through hell and we just kept building our game.

We had some great imports. We had some very good Russian players. Ilya Kovalchuk came to join us towards the end of this season. He had very good playoffs. He was such a great leader for us. So, you know, like, just to show you what it means, this championship, the day after we came back from Olmst, because we went to visit our fans over there,

like I told my coaches, I said, we might never relive this. I said, we need to go to the Red Square. We need to go to the Kremlin with the Gagarin Cup, and we need to take some pictures. So it was a magical moment. I'm curious, Bob, of all the wild stories you heard about Russia, which ones turned out to be true and which ones turned out to be false?

You know what? Like I've been treated the same way as in the NHL with avant-garde, like, uh, the travel, the weather, the planes, uh, like, let's remember on September 7th, the day of my birthday, I was in Switzerland, like what, uh, 2011. And my son called me from Canada and he said, there's a plane with a hockey team from Russia that just crashed. And that was my former partner, Brad McCrimmon.

And that kind of put a dent, you know, like in my, maybe in my thinking of going to Russia and, you know, like the medical staff, like I've said, the way we travel, the three years that I've been here. I don't have one negative word to say about the KHL. It has been a real fun league. There's many North Americans, former NHLers that are in the league. I can't judge other teams because I'm not there. I can only judge my own organization. It's first class all the way. You mentioned Ilya Kovachuk there a second ago. Of course, you had him when you

coached the Atlanta Thrashers and have him this year with Omsk and winning the championship. How has he changed from what he was like when you had him with the Thrashers to now? the Thrashers to now. Kovy is my Russian boy. And I remember going to the Atlanta Braves games with him. I remember the night that I will always remember this. It's probably one of my worst nightmares in hockey. A Mrs. Snyder, Dan Snyder's mom, called me. I was just at the hospital and she was telling me that Dan was doing a little better, that the doctors

were very optimistic. And I'm with Covey a few hours later. And suddenly the phone rings and it was Mrs. Snyder crying. She says, Dan just passed away. And I remember I went back to the hospital and I told Covey, you need to come with me. I said, I don't know if I can do this by myself. And Mrs. Snyder took me and Covey in Dan's room. And he was obviously dead on his hospital bed. All the machines were all gone out of his room. And we cried and everything. of his room and we we cried and everything and at one point mrs snyder took the bracelet out of her pocket that was the bracelet that the cops gave her when dan went out went out of the car like his watch broke in pieces and they gave her the pieces and she gave me the full bracelet but she gave one little part of the bracelet to kobe she

says you're a part of the team and you bob you're the coach you always keep the bracelet because every piece of the bracelet is a player on the team and to this day i've always coach every game and whether in in switzerland in calgary in russia i have that bracelet in my pocket so like you know we we went we went through kovy and i some magical moments and he came in and i said kovy i said we have such a great story but i said we have nothing to show for i said we only have one playoff appearance in at. I said, now it's time to win. And he was an unbelievable leader. He's always been a great kid.

He's still that great kid. You know, a 37-year-old kid. You know, he has a great family. He has such passion for the game. Like I was telling him, Kovy, don't go on the ice in between games. I said, rest. And he was saying, no, no., no, I need to go and skate. So the same passionate kid, obviously much wiser, much older, like all of us.

But what a thrill to coach Ilya Kovalchuk again. You know, that story is, I mean, I'm listening to it, Bob, and I get a lump in my throat as I listen to you tell it. I've always had incredible admiration for the Snyders. I freely admit that I don't have the strength they have, and I don't have the character that they have, the forgiveness they showed, the strength they showed. Have you kept in touch with them much? Is there still any relationship between you and the family yeah well

there was a great relationship and you know it still is but you know like we've you know like i've been traveling yeah you know i would say that it's i i met mr snyder in florida like maybe two three years ago and you know like you're so right they They are the strongest people. We were crying and Mrs. Snyder was hugging us and her son was dead a few feet away from us. And I got back in my car and I was ashamed of myself. I said, here I was crying and the mom who just lost her son, she's taking care of me.

Like, they're unbelievable people. Like Graham, Luan, I love them. Like, gosh, what a great family. I was in their house for the funeral. Like, you know, such unbelievable, unbelievable people in the worst nightmare of my career. Wow. That is, That's an incredible story. And like Elliot, I echo all of that. They are phenomenal people. The power to forgive in a situation like that and the power to move on and keep their son's memory alive in all the ways that they have is is is remarkable and you know that atlanta thrashers team

i know there was only one the only one playoff appearance i mean there's a real book to be written there uh about what happened with the the thrashers but bob i've always wanted to ask you one question about that one series against the new york r, you know, Atlanta getting there was like, wow, the thrashers have made the playoffs. This is great. And just, you know, watching the games, it seemed as if, and Kovalchuk was part of this too. It seemed as if a large part of every single game was players from the Atlanta thrashers

chasing Sean Avery around. What was it like to coach that series? And how many times did you have to tell your team, leave him alone? Yeah, and gosh, I have great, not great memories, but I remember everything. You know, like the first game, we played, you know, like just so-so. The second game in Atlanta, we played very well.

They scored a goal off a dump in, you know, like just so-so. The second game in Atlanta, we played very well. They scored a goal off a dump in, you know, that hit the partition right at the blue line and went right in the net. And that was really the kicker. Like that killed us. You know, like we had a great, great young team. We had some great veterans. But then we went in Madison Square square garden and gosh like they killed

us like that third game i can't remember like nine one or something like this we had carrie litnan in net like a young goalie played the first game i came back with him in a third game and it didn't go very well we didn't give him much support offensively. First career playoff shutout for Henrik Lundqvist, who's now 3-0 in this year's playoffs. First home playoff win for the Rangers and shutout since May 8, 1997, when they shut out the Devils 3-0 behind Mike Richter. But tonight, the story was a great team effort again from beginning to end. In the first minute, Michael Nylander scored and the Rangers never stopped. This ties the team record for the largest playoff win margin. Salute to the crowd.

And the crowd salutes back. Dan, this was as dominating a performance as I can remember in a playoff game. And then on the fourth game, I went with Johan Hedberg, and he played very well. And again, their winning goal, they had to go to video review. I believe it's Matt Cullen that took a shot at the crossbar and just basically when the, the puck went and touched the ice, it just took a few centimeters past the red line and it backspin out of the net.

So the plate kept going and suddenly bang, they blow the whistle and we were out of the playoffs. So we didn't play very well. We to be honest we we were okay we were okay uh you know like obviously sean avery you're right was sean avery and we didn't really have no one on the team to whether matches intensity or to go and you know like uh the coveys and those guys you know like they had kind of trouble adjusting it, but it's hockey, you know, like it's hockey and it's really sad. I'll be honest with you. I thought that Atlanta was a market that could survive in the NHL. I do want to come back to Kovalchuk again for a quick second.

You obviously know him as well as anyone else. He terminated his contract with Omsk, and that's led to rumors that he might be coming back. Do you think he wants to come back to the NHL again? No doubt. He wants to play in the NHL. He wants to win a Stanley Cup. All that is he told me.

There's no secrets between me and Kobe. And, you know, I called him. I said, come and play. I said, you're not going to sign right now in the NHL. I said, show the NHL you can still play. Come and play with us. And he did an unbelievable job. I can tell you what he did on the ice. Everybody could see this. What I can tell you also, and nobody could see this, is what he did in the room. We had some very young, great players. Igor Chinnikov, first-run pick of Columbus this year. Klim Kustin, a first-run pick of St. Louis that had a hard time with his first years in North America, came back with us.

He's a power forward. He's a force out there. Kovy was a huge help for me. You know, like dealing with those young kids, dealing with the pressure. So like his dream is to win a Stanley Cup. You mentioned Chinnikov. He was the other guy.

And Bob, if you never saw the clip, so we were working the NHL draft last year, Jeff and myself, along with Sam Cosentino. Yeah, so you've seen the clip. The Columbus Blue Jackets are proud to select from Avant Garde Omsk of the Continental Hockey League, Yegor Chinnikov. Right winger from the KHL, Yegor Chinnikov, goes to the Columbus Blue Jackets at 21. Well, I'm sweating. That's completely off the board for me, I got to tell you.

I had not done a lot of work on this guy, to be completely honest with you. I read something recently where he was starting to make some headway and really starting to make a lot of noise. But Feuts, we're going to have to defer to you on that one because Chinnikov is not a guy I expected to go here. That is for sure. I think he's a Russian winger. Right side or left side?

He can play both. Mike Fita, do you have anything else to add? No, I got to tell you, this is the best because I saw Sam looking through his papers, I saw Mike going through his papers, and I said, we are off the board. Yes, I was...

Yes, I'm going with Berkey. He's a winger. Not right winger, but I tell you. So tell us about this guy that nobody's ever heard of. Hey, I never seen you basically call a timeout on a TV show, Elliot. I said, poor Elliot, please give me a call. I'll help you. I said, poor Elliot, please give me a call.

I'll help you. Igor Chinnikov, like I had heard about him because, you know, like for the listeners, we're called the Omsk Avangard. But in my first year there, we get in there for maybe two weeks of camp. They're doing renovation in our locker room because we have a new boss and he wants kind of an NHL locker room. They take drywall off the building and suddenly they find that the cement is kind of all breaking up in pieces. So they condemn our arena in the middle of training camp and we have no more place to play. So our bosses travel around Russia

to find an open rink that would be suitable for KHL requirements. And then bang, we go. So I never saw your kids in Omsk. We were in Balashika. It's a suburb of Moscow and Omsk is 36 hour drive. So with three hour time zone difference. So like we don't see our junior kids very often. So this kid shows up and the first drill I'm watching him and suddenly he takes a shot. And I said, my God, I said, I just saw like a Russian Joe Sackick. The kid has Joe Sackick wrist shot. Like, you remember, Elliot, how quick Joe would snap that puck off his stick.

He shoots the puck a ton. He's accurate. So obviously, right now, this is his main strength for the NHL, his shot. Like, it's unbelievable. He's a great kid. He's made some unbelievable progress in reading the game. He got stronger. He's confident.

You know, maybe two months ago, I sat with him. I said, Igor, I said, I would like to advise you that maybe you should stay another year, another two years. I said, look at Keprizov in Minnesota, look at Ilya Mikheyev that was with me in our first year. And I told Mikheyev, go to the NHL, you're ready. Because it's one thing to score goals in the NHL, but if you don't score goals in the NHL, how are you going't score goals in the NHL, how are you going to survive in the NHL? And Ilya Mikheyev has been able to keep his spot with the Leafs because

he's a reliable player. He can play penalty killing. And that was my message to Igor. Him and his agent a few days ago decided to go along. And I even talked to his agent the night that we won the cup. I said, I would like Igor. I said, I'm not saying that Chena's not ready for the NHL. But I said, I think that I could get him even more ready, more reliable to his only 20-year-old kid. But he's very mature. He's an unbelievable young man.

It was a surprise pick, but I really believe that it was a great pick. Well, I don't profess to know more than Jarmo Kekulainen, so I will definitely defer to that. And I do, and Vili Siren too, who has a great reputation. But I just have to say, Bob, I'm laughing. I love the fact that you were laughing at our uncomfortable nature

as we scrambled to try to figure out who this player was. Not very often I saw you with no answers. I'm curious, how many players off your roster, like the championship roster, and it's an interesting one as well, and there are names that you mentioned, Kostin and Chinnikov two two first round picks and everyone knows uh Ilya Kovalchuk's name some will know Reid Boucher's name and Sergei Tolchinsky um Alexander Koklachev like how many players on your championship roster do you think could play in the NHL I I have a young kid. I have a Chistikov, the draft pick of Nashville, I think third or fourth round pick, maybe two years ago. He is a, how can I describe him? A small Darius

Kasperaitis. Like he's a small tank. He hits, he means business. I can tell you, I don't know how big he's going to get. Like he's maybe 5'10". But he's a gutsy young defenseman. I really believe that he has a shot because he's fearless. He's fearless. In training camp, he was taking runs at our veterans. I went to him and he couldn't speak english and i said whoa whoa whoa i said kaput i said i said just just stop i i grabbed alexi emlin

and i told him i said hey tell this kid we're in training camp i said we're gonna play plenty of exhibition games he can take runs at other teams, not at our players. So, you know, like he's pretty good. We also have Arseny Gritsuk, that he's a draft pick of New Jersey. He didn't play very much this year with us. We already had Kostin Chinakov and Chistikov in the lineup playing regular. So, you know, it might take him a little longer, but again, very skilled, very skilled, great shot, offensive-minded.

He needs to learn about the game a little bit. You know, after this, I have Oliver Kasky that was in Grand Rapids and in the Carolina Hurricanes farm team last year. He had a big year with us. I have quite a few guys. Reid Boucher was phenomenal this year for us. I heard he might be coming back to North America next year. Yeah, no, like, hey, I told Reid.

I said, Reid, he has two young babies in Michigan with his wife. You know, like myself, I left at life 14 to come to Russia. I didn't see my wife once yet. Thank God for FaceTime to, you know, to communicate with my two granddaughters and everything. He's a young dad and credit to his wife. And, you know, I know he's not the only one. But, you know, it was not an easy year for no one. And Reid Boucher kept progressing, improved his defensive game. He was one of my top penalty killers with Corbin Knight that I had in Calgary. Those two guys were instrumental in our success. They played PP. They played PK, they played five on five.

They played on the same line. We offered a great deal to Reid. Reid told me, Bob, he said, it might be my last shot to play in the NHL. I said, go. I fully understand. If it doesn't work, the door will always open for you, my friend. I want to go back to, in the moments we have left with you here, I want to go back to Laval. And I want to ask you about players that go on to become coaches.

And I look at that team, won the Q championship. Eric Fayou is on that team. Well, that's the thing. Like, I'm wondering, like Eric Fayou, who I thought was a wonderful coach in the Q, and he's an assistant with the Syracuse squad in the American Hockey League. And there's like, there's always sort of been big things ticketed for him. Along the way, did you have an ability that when a player was playing to look at that player and say, I think this guy can be a coach one day. And if so, who were some of those guys?

Well, I had Pascal Vincent. I had Eric Vayu. I had Eric Veilleux. I had Philippe Boucher. And you know what I did in junior and the American League in games where, you know, towards the end of the year, we had a little break in the schedule. I would get some of those players and I would tell them, you're going to do the pregame meeting today. You're going to do the video. you're going to do the pregame meeting today. You're going to do the video.

You're going to do the presentation. I'm going to do the plan, but I'll communicate the plan with you this morning and you're going to present it to the players. And I can tell you, some guys were really struggling. You know, like to stand up in front of your teammate and say, come on, boys, let's have a big period. It's normal. And those guys were all great leaders. But at the same time,

it was kind of funny. I was doing this, obviously, to show them a little bit what's the role of a coach and how do you prepare. But at the same time, I saw the leadership in those kids and we had an unbelievable team in la vallée gosh like i was so fortunate as a junior coach marty lapointe and manny fernandez and and those guys but you're right at one point i had maybe six seven of my former players patrick y eric veyu eric messi pascal vincent philip boucher and they were all coaching against each former players, Patrick Wye, Eric Veilleux, Eric Messi, Pascal Vincent, Philippe Boucher, and they were all coaching against each other. And they were calling me and saying, what should I do? And please don't talk to the other guy. And I was telling them, hey, you're all my kids.

And so, you know, like it's a big wheel. Gosh, I've been coaching since 1987. So like, you know, like I have quite a few boys that are coaching and that makes me very proud because I'm still in touch with them. Dominique Ducharme was one of my former players. We won a championship together in Hawkesbury. And my son played for him after. My son was an assistant coach with Dominic, with Nathan McKinnon and Drew Wang, with the Moosehead. So, you know, like coaching is not only about winning games. It's about developing relationship.

And, you know, like those relationships in juniors, like they become your kids. You know, you see them grow. You see them mature. Suddenly, bang, they get married. They have kids. And you look at them and you say, wow, I have those kids in the junior locker room. You know, it makes it pretty special.

One of the questions I wanted to ask you, Bob, is that I've had players and coaches come who've coached in both the NHL and in the KHL. And they say the way you can talk to players is different in North America and in Canada. I've learned about you and is that you're a very honest person. If I ask you a question, I'm going to get the answer and I better be ready for it. Is there a different way you can talk to or coach players here and there? You know, obviously there's a difference in culture. There's a difference in culture. Like right here in the OMS Academy, the Avangard Academy,

there have been two or three coaches that have been fired, you know, and I've been sitting on some kind of, you know, like emergency committees to see what do we do with this? You know, like coaches hitting kids and stuff like this. It's definitely not the same culture. And I was standing up and obviously I'm a demanding coach. And I believe that's the only way that you can get results. But there's also a line. There's also a line that you can't cross. And over here, like, you know, I told my bosses, I said, if you want to build, like, you should see the academy that they built in Omsk for the kids. Gosh, you don't know how much I would pay

to be 10 years old again. Like it is state-of-the-art. You talk about the lodging, you talk about the two rinks, the gyms, like everything. You're passionate about hockey. You go to this academy and Gazprom, they pay for everything, everything.

The medical part, the education part they you know like it's kind of a full full scholarship they you know like the running shoes everything so like uh but you know like i see a difference in culture but on my side i i tell the guys i run the same program as i was running in the nhL. It's the same ways of doing things. I had Mike Pelino in my first year with me. I have Jacques Cloutier for the past three years. I have an American conditioning coach with me. I have three Russian coaches.

I try to mix the cultures to make sure that kids who want to move to the United States, it's a smooth transition. Plus at the same time, Russians, they're very religious people, very religious people. Yes, there's a huge difference, but I think that we're all human beings and I don't buy that stuff that, you know, like we're in Russia, we're in Canada and this. Yes, there's a difference, but for me, everyone is equal. The other one I had for you, Bob, is you're still a young man. You're 60.

You're in great shape. You can obviously still coach. Do you want one more shot at the NHL? You know, like I, that's a very good question. It would depend where, it would depend with who. You know, like especially this year, you know, like on the same day, I lost one of the owners of the Laval Titans, Josley Morissette. I lost Pierre Lacroix and I lost the dad of my assistant captain.

You know, it's not a very good hat trick. I remember we were playing Koonloon, I believe it's either December 12 or December 18. I finished the game, we win. And I look at my phone, my wife leaves me a message, Pierre Lacroix is dead. I, whoop, there's another message from my wife. Jocelyne Morissette is dead. I called her. I said, hey, I said, don't.

And I had talked to Pierre Lacroix just a few weeks before because I work on Montreal radio. And for me, I told my listeners in Montreal, I said, it's time that Pierre Lacroix enters the Hall of Fame as a builder. Look at what he did as an agent. You look at what he did with the Quebec Nordiques and the Colorado Avalanche. And I know what he did with that organization because I worked for him nine years. And I had talked to him and he told me I don't feel very good. And then I talked to his son, Eric. And I was texting him and he told me I don't feel very good. And then I talked to his son, Eric. He wasn't, I, and I was texting him and he wouldn't answer. And that's very odd for Pierre because Pierre had that 24 hour rule that he would always get back to you and bang,

he's in the hospital with COVID. Then Eric says in a few days, he's going home and bang, I get the, a few days he's going home and bang i get the so you know yes i'm very young like but i i'm still 60 and i saw lots of my friends go down this year and so you know i have one year left in my in my contract with avant-garde i'm a grandpa two beautiful little girls that unfortunately i didn't see very much uh since're born. My son has been coaching as a head coach in Drummondville for the past three years. I never saw him coach a game. Obviously, I'm passionate about coaching. I always tell my friends who don't believe me, I said, I would probably need to go to a rehab for coaches to kind of try to find a way to stay away from a rink. I don't know if I'll be able to. So I don't know. It's a very good question. You had no answers

when Columbus picked Igor Chinnikov. You know, I have to say right now that you've cornered me. I have to say right now that you've cornered me. I really don't know, Elliot. You know, I'm sometimes too honest and I'm very honest with you. I don't know. I don't know. I really didn't like the way it ended in Calgary, but you know, like that's the way things go sometimes. I understand.

Let's finish then on a coach's question. Personally, I've always been fascinated. And the more that I read about the man, the more fascinated I get with Anatoly Tarasov. I'm also very fascinated by Fred Shiro and what he was able to do in the 70s with the Flyers and the Rangers. Which coaches, either current or past, interest Bob Hartley? Well, in my office, I have two pictures. Vladislav Tretyak. And I had dinner with Vlad on Saturday night. And when there was Alexey Morozov and Tretyak handing the gold medals when we won.

And I went to Alexey Morozov and I said, no disrespect to you, Mr. President, but I want my medal from Vladislav Tretyak. I said, at 12 years old, sitting in the gym in a little school in Hawkesbury, I watched that 72 series. I was a forward. I converted to a goalie because of Tretyak. And a few years later, watching Tikhanov coach in front of the bench, I don't know why. I was a kid. I had zero interest in coaching. But just to see a coach,

to coach in front of his players, that was always a big intrigue for me. So I never met. I know Tsikhanov's grandson and i told him i said i have a picture of your grandpa in my in my office and then scotty bowman you know like my montreal canadians like i've won so many stanley cups at hawksbury whether in the street or on the pond or the outdoor rink uh being kenden. I would lean on my, on his stick like Ken Dryden would do or Guy Lefleur or Jacques Lemaire or Serge Savard and to see Scotty Bowman chew his gum behind the bench.

And my first year in Colorado, second round, I'm coaching against my idol. You know, like that was kind of the end of the rivalry. You know, like I kind of smoked the peace pipe, you know, with, with Scotty, you know, because, you know, like I got kicked out of a gym in Detroit because the manager, I was playing with John Kelly, the play by play of the St. Louis Blues. You can ask him. We were playing lackeyball in the morning of a game at six o'clock. And just when we entered the gym, I could see a few members look at us. And I told John Kelly, I said, it's not the nicest welcome in the gym that I've got. And 10 minutes in our game, the manager comes to us and he said i'm very sorry he said

like we need to kick you guys out because there's going to be a riot here so you know like i really understood what it was but you know like to coach against scotty bowman like wow like we we met three times in the playoffs and you know i can't tell you how much admiration that I have for Scotty. Like, I was at the draft and the Detroit Red Wings had eliminated us and they had won the Stanley Cup. And I went to Scotty at the steakhouse after the draft. I said, Scotty, I said, can I please take a picture with you and the Stanley Cup? And I can tell you that's in my basement. That will never move.

Like my house would be on fire. And I think that would be the first thing that I would try to save. Thank you, Scotty Bowman, for all what you did, for coaches, for hockey. Gosh, he's a monument. He is the legend. Those are some heavyweights you chose right there, Bob. We should mention, you're coaching Latvia at the Worlds now, right?

Yes, I am in Riga right now. We're in training camp. No rest. I love it. And we love having you. Bob, this has been a lot of fun. Thanks for spending a lot of time with us today. We really appreciate it. Good luck at the World Championships and good luck in the future. We'll

keep in touch. Thanks for stopping by the podcast. That was perhaps more time than he bargained for when he said, sure, I'll come on your podcast, but we're grateful for it. A couple of newsy bits there, specifically, Elliot. Ilya Kovalchuk and an impending return to the nhl should anyone want his services will anyone want his services i think so um i think it's going to be interesting to see how this all works in the off season but the last i heard was that there were some balls in the air and we'd see where it all landed.

Hartley gave him quite a push there, eh? He really did. I mean, listen, he noted that he goes back with Kovalchuk to the Atlanta Thrashers days and they've always been close and he helped bring him to Omsk in the first place. I always thought that it was, I don't know, going to kind of be a layup that Kovalchuk went back to montreal this season they seem to

love him the market seemed to love him the players seemed to love him he was producing in montreal i kind of thought unless mark bergevin went a different direction with all of his signings and trades but i kind of thought he was going to end up back in montreal do you think that door might still be open i don't know i, I think that for a team like Montreal, it probably depends on where the playoffs go, right? You know, Montreal's got a lot of players, but a lot of them are veterans. We kind of don't know where this is all going to go.

You know, he loved it there and they loved it with him there, but I think the playoffs probably decide all things Canadians. Absolutely. Um, a couple of other things there. I thought his comment about him saying that he thought Atlanta could be a market that worked in the NHL. And listen,

you and I both grew up with a different Atlanta team in the NHL and that was the flames and they ended up going to Calgary. And then, uh, the thrashers, uh, came in as an expansion outfit. I understand why it had to go.

There was no one that was there interested in, in owning that team. And that's the end of, of any organization. But I always wonder what would have happened to Atlanta, the thrashers, if they had any type of playoff success, because they're only in the playoffs at one time and they got steamrolled by the New York Rangers.

I always wonder what would have happened. Like at least Atlanta flames team had a couple of playoff appearances for Atlanta thrashers. It was only the one and they flamed out against the New York Rangers. You ever thought on the old, well, one of these days we'll do a sort of look back maybe at the Atlanta thrashers do a themed podcast.

But when I say thrashers, what says Elliott Friedman? That's the team that put Dustin Bufflin back on the blue line. That's right, because he had been made a forward by the Chicago Blackhawks. That's one of the things I really remember about them was Rick Dudley was the GM at the time. Dustin Bufflin's a defenseman. I think more about the Flames because that was the team that I grew up with.

And what were we talking about last week, Jeff? A Toronto Atlanta playoff series in the late 70s that turned into an absolute gong show. It did too, yeah. Yeah, there were some tough Atlanta Flames teams, there's certainly no doubt. And that's where, you know, people like Cliff Fletcher really became a household name in the NHL. One day we'll do the Atlanta show, somewhere down the road. Final thought on Bob Hartley, Elliot? Just thank you for being such a great interview.

That really was a wonderful time. Hope you enjoyed it. And on that, we'll wrap. Thanks for joining us on 31 Thoughts, the podcast. you