32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Can You Take the Cap Higher?

Episode Date: October 6, 2025

In this edition of 32 Thoughts, Kyle Bukauskas and Elliotte Friedman begin by updating the Connor McDavid conversation. They discuss the recalibration the league is facing as the salary cap takes massive jumps (7:38). The fellas continue the conversation surrounding Lane Hutson's contract negotiations (11:35). Afterwards, the guys talk about the notable goalies that hit waivers over the weekend and the teams that could be interested (23:05). Kyle and Elliotte talk about the fallout from the Florida-Tampa preseason game. Specifically changes to preseason hockey going forward (31:10). They shift focus to Gavin McKenna's first goal with Penn State (39:11). The Final Thought focuses on which teams they could see swapping in and out of the playoff picture in 2025-26 (45:21). Kyle and Elliotte answer your emails and voicemails in the Thoughtline (1:06:19).Today we spotlight Saskatoon's Softlung and their new single Glass House. Check them out here Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call the Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemail.This podcast was produced and mixed by Dominic Sramaty and hosted by Elliotte Friedman & Kyle Bukauskas.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

Trying to get on the Canucks Broadcast? No. Okay. We've had enough new faces over the last little bit. A lot of turnover on that show. They don't need another. Murph doesn't need any more angst. That's fair.

Dan Merritt, Dan Merritt, Dan's revolving door on the Canox broadcast. He's got cue cards with names. Who am I with tonight? Hello, hello, my name is. That's right. Tyson. Yeah, let's have name text. Welcome to 32 Thoughts, the podcast, presented by GMC,

Elliot Friedman, Kyle Bukascus, Dom Shramati, back with you. Regular season week is upon us. It all begins for real tomorrow. Triple header stateside gets underway in Canada, Wednesday night. Elliot, first off, do you have a voice left after cheering 13 runs across home plate at Rogers Center, downtown Toronto Sunday afternoon as the Jays took a 2-0 series lead in their ALDS.

Great game, great victory, really incredible atmosphere. You savage, incredible, the Guerrero Grand Slam, incredible. I just want to say that there were two Canadians hoping the Blue Jays would lose on Sunday.

And those two Canadians were Kyle Bukascus and Dom Cermal. body. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Yes, it's true, and you know it's true. And the reason is when I didn't go on Saturday and the Blue Jays won, you two said to me, you can't go on Sunday because you're going to jinx it. As a matter of fact, there is a story going around that one of our teammates, Luke Gazdick, went to the first game. Got tickets for the second game, got the exact same seats, and made sure he wore the exact same clothes.

Now, I heard the story secondhand. I don't know if it's true, which is even better. Like, this is the kind of story you do not verify. You go with it, hoping it's actually true. But you two both said, I can't go because they won without me there. and when I said I was still going you both wanted the Jays to lose

so you could rip me on this pod Don't lump me in with our savage producer I was not on that bandwagon for a second Yes you were Yes you were Do not lie to the audience Oh he just wanted to see the world burn around you

But otherwise No I've invested too much much time watching Blue Jays baseball this summer to hope they would lose in the playoffs. Are you kidding me? The only thing I got nervous about is because we were figuring out timing to record this. You're like, yeah, we'll hope for around this time unless there's extra innings. And then at 12-0, you say, yeah, don't got to worry about the extra innings bit.

And then suddenly the Yankee bats come alive. And I'm like, don't even, why would you even say that? They were never catching them. Just undue stress. Dom, am I telling any lies here? No, I was fully, like, everything you said, I did, yes. But I wasn't part of it. Don, was Kyle part of it?

No, Kyle was. You're supposed to say yes. Why is it so hard to get good help on this podcast? You're supposed to say yes. No. I'll tell you this. Mike Grinnell would say yes. We support sensible ideas around here

And you haven't had enough of them lately That's why we're jumping ship You're on your own Okay Okay ready I'll say this I don't like that bullpen day For the Blue Jays in game four

I do not like the look of that Put them away in three Yeah Put them away in three Zero zero Springer said though Going to Yankee Stadium All right so Elliot I mean this has been talked about

towards the end of August, big time leading up to the start of training camp. Naturally, it kind of went quiet for a little bit. But now here we are on the precipice of the regular season, the Connor McDavid conversation. Okay, player that's due a new deal after this season and that whole notion of there's no way, surely he wouldn't go into the start of the regular season

without something decided, right? well what are we at here Kyle I do not purport to speak for Connor McDavid I think he's more than capable of doing it on his own and I don't think he likes when other people purport to speak for him but reading the tea leaves here I do think that McDavid wants to give the author's clarity before the season begins

by either signing or explaining why specifically, he wouldn't sign. So I think we're going to have an idea one way or the other in the next day or two. So you're saying Oilers fans need to be prepared? I just think there's going to be some clarity. I think he wants to give some clarity one way or the other. if he does sign and as I've said many times I believe he's going to extend short term I think there's a real loyalty there to the players that either he's grown up with

the dry sidles the Nugent Hopkins the nurses or the players who have come that he has grown to have a great relationship with the Ekholms and the Hyman's and that's why I believe he's going to sign. I think if he does, it'll be short term. Like, I'm not even convinced it's going to be as long as four years if he signs. I think it could be less than that. And as I've been saying all the way along, I think it's going to be lower than many people expect below 16,

for sure, if he signs. I would be surprised if it's close to that. I think we're going to have some clarity in the next couple days. Oh, boy, suddenly we're here, eh? Has, I mean, Stan Bowman has said conversations continue with Chud Moldaver, Connor McDavid's representative. Is there anything else that you've heard or learned or know that's gone on over the last few weeks that's worth putting out there just to help set the table for whatever happens this week?

You know, McDavid has made this very clear that this is about winning and you've got dry, settle at 14, you've got Bouchard at 10.5, you've got Nurse at 9 and a quarter. I think he's well aware that there's a limit of what he can do with all of those other numbers

and I absolutely believe that that has been a factor in whatever conversations he's having. All right, then we'll move on for now. The league has kind of been, as we've discussed, Elliot, going through the early stages of a recalibration

if you will, with the jump in salary cap 95 and a half this year. Right now we believe it to go to 104 the season after this one. But it's interesting, I remember listening just on a by happenstance this summer, heard a clip of, I think it was Chris Patrick at the end of last season when he was talking about where things were headed salary cap wise. And he goes, we know where it's going to be for the next three years. and it could even be higher than that. Oh, well, that's interesting.

What are you hearing about the likelihood of the numbers we believe it's going, potentially being even greater than that? I'm starting to hear some of it, Kyle, and it's the same people who told me last year that the cap was going to be jumping significantly higher, and they turned out to be right. I've had a couple people mention the number 107 to me. As you mentioned, it's supposed to be 104 next year.

I'm hearing the number 107 come up. I think there are some people who really think even the year after where it's temporarily, well, at least it's in pencil for 113, that that could go even higher. But I don't really have a specific number or not willing to go that far yet. But I started, like I said, I started to hear the number 107 next year. And the fact that you remembered that quote from Chris Patrick, it certainly indicates that people are preparing for that and we'll see where it goes.

We probably won't. I know the commissioner likes to give an update to the board of governors when he meets them in December. There's two meetings before the calendar flips to 2026. One is in the middle of October. It's next week, actually. And the other one is in the beginning of December. that's the one that they usually have in Florida

and it's usually at that one in Florida that he kind of gives more of a salary cap picture so I don't know if we'll have to wait that long but like I said we're hearing the number 107 a bit more wow all right and I mean before everyone runs off and goes oh great this is so exciting more money to play with more money to play with I mean we actually we're going to have a question in the thought line later on in the episode

that kind of pertains to this but I guess we'll just kind of tease it by saying there is a belief out there that yes there's more dollars to play with and you've talked about this in the past maybe not every team is so giddy about spending right to the max as the jumps continue to happen here over the next few years so that's going to be another interesting thing that watches teams navigate all of this as well too yes I definitely think that's a thing and like you said we'll talk about it more in the thought line but there hasn't been much of a difference. Like most of the teams have been pretty bunched near the top together the last few

years. I do think there's a possibility that's going to spread out a bit. All right. You want to continue the Lane Hudson conversation? We talked about him for a while last pod, naturally with the Luke Hughes deal getting done. Then Jackson, Lecombe ponies up for eight times nine in Anaheim. He's a player where it's a little bit unique going into the final year of his entry-level deal. He's not really going to have much by way.

of leverage can't be given an offer sheet doesn't have arbitration rights yet it's the best form of leverage that he has is understanding that the montreal canadians are a much better team when he's in the lineup versus when he is not his play his play is his best leverage right exactly coming off a calder trophy record setting year and uh all intents and purposes the idea to build on it this year you had the line about seeing something around eight times nine ish Kind of be in the thought, a few days more to digest and talk to people around the league. What do you feel about it all? Well, the first thing I think about it is that this negotiation, to me, compares to Karil Kaprisov in one way.

And that is that it got really emotional and everybody needs a timeout because I think this negotiation has gotten very emotional and I think everybody needs a time out. Now the obvious difference, and you kind of alluded to it there, is that they're not in the same place in their careers. Caprizov was headed into unrestricted free agency. Hudson is far from there. And as you mentioned, he's limited in what he can do for the next couple years in terms of leverage. He doesn't really have a lot of it aside from his great play, which is very important. But I do think that in this particular case, Everybody kind of has to step back into their corners and see where it goes. And when Bill Guerin did that, eventually he found a way to get the Caprizov done. So, I mean, we'll see. I'm doubling down on the eight times nine-ish deal. I think that both sides were in this neighborhood, as you can imagine. The Canadians are a bit lower, I think, than eight point times nine in terms of what the hit would be.

And I think Hudson's representatives and the player were above eight times nine. I think that philosophy is a big, is maybe the biggest hurdle here. Like, I don't think the Canadians any problem with structure, bonuses. I don't, I don't think that was the issue. It was interesting. There were some articles by some media who cover the Canadians about the RCA, which is the Canadian tax benefit. And basically that the best way to explain what an RCA is,

is that it was basically created by Revenue Canada for high-saried employees. and you know another way to explain it so and basically while it wasn't necessarily created for athletes it has become used by a lot of athletes who play in Canada whether they be hockey players or baseball players and if you followed some of the news recently the more money that's been put into them the more that Revenue Canada has tried to challenge them they did it with Jose Batista they did it with John Tavares, and so far to this point, the athletes have won those particular cases. But, you know, basically the advantage tax-wise is that you withdraw the funds over time and at your discretion, rather receive them personally all at once.

That is the simplest way to explain the benefit here. and the Canadians have discussed this with Hudson and his representatives. I believe also deferred money came up. And I don't think Hudson's camp was as interested in that. To this point in time, they have not agreed with the philosophy of the RCA. And I think that's the number one reason why the deal hasn't gotten done, is that they do not at this point in time. share the vision that the Canadians have with that set up in the contract.

And, you know, I think as a result, these talks came to a standstill. I think that, you know, I actually was interesting. Somebody disagreed with my idea that they'd come 95 yards and they were at the five yard line and sometimes the last five yards are harder to get, the hardest to get. And that's fine. I think that, you know, every, I could have flaws in what I'm thinking. But I do think the two sides have come a long way here from initial offers, some of the conversations they've had.

Like the base numbers are in the ballpark. And because of the philosophical disagreement here, they have not been able to close the deal. Now, I'll be honest, right now, I have no idea where this is going to go. Somebody is going to have to change their mind at this point in time for this to get done this way. But we'll see.

I do think, like Caprizov, it's going to take everybody kind of going back to their corners and seeing if there's a way that they can break this logjam. But I just, in terms of overall dollars, I think the two sides were pretty close, but there's a philosophical hurdle here that has to get jumped over. And that RCA stuff, I mean, that's, that can't be something that is written into a contract, can it? Like, is that more just something that a player in theory would have to voluntarily go, yeah, I'm going to decide to do it. that way and it's more so just the team suggesting that as a as an option to try to maximize what they ultimately bring in my right on that or that's that you're pretty I mean you're pretty

much right but you know I'll say also this there you know like there are some agents like there's always the talk about the taxes right and I I think it's a a very real thing but some of the agents who are a bit more pro Canada I would say just for lack of better term they talk about this thing the rca as something you can use to mitigate the damage right so it's not only the teams sometimes the agents will say to their client we can do this in order for you to eliminate some of those disadvantages right right okay so as it stands right now in Montreal. Noah Dobson, who, of course, they got in the summer, I mean, he's, he sets the bar right now in terms of cap hit, nine and a half, Zuki Caulfield, Slavkovsky,

all come in under eight. I mean, is there, I guess in theory there, would that be the, the desire for Montreal? I'm sure it was. I mean, of course it is for the team. I mean, the lower you can get a player to sign for, the easier it is to manage, you know, your own salary cap. But Is there anything like we've heard teams in the past where you're going, okay, negotiation, but you're not going past this guy. You're not going past this bar. Look, the fact that they were even in the eight times nine ballpark, they were taking him to number two on the team, at least. Yeah, for sure. Yes.

At least. I just look at where he's going. I mean, he very well could be the new bar. I said he could be because I always leave that open. You know, you never know where the future can take you, Kyle. But it sounds like right now they're in a position where he won't pass Dobson. And at least until last week, it seemed like that was understood overall that he wasn't going to pass him. Okay.

This one to me, it's a little bit emotional. I'm a deal maker, Kyle. I like to make deals. Everybody take a deep breath. We'll see where we go. So you need like the Four Nations commercial break, right? It was like the extra 30 seconds just to catch the breather. That's good reference.

Before trying to get this done. I still think they're going to be a lot of fun to watch this here. that's oh yeah you know i'm really curious to see when it matters what's that power play going to look like yeah so i think we mentioned it on one of the previous pods and somebody called me and said to me they said dobson has to be on the number one power play and i said okay in theory i don't disagree with you but why do you say it has to be and the guy said to me he's going to Going into Montreal, you want to shine them up at the beginning. It's only normal to feel a ton of pressure.

Got to put them on the power play to get his cookies. And I said, okay, do you use 2D? A lot of teams don't use 2D anymore. I think there was only one team last year that used 2D, if I remember correctly. And the guy said, hadn't thought about it that far. I have to look at Montreal's personnel. but if you're using 1D, has to be Dobson. And I know it's only the preseason and everybody overreacts,

but I guess there was some grumbling over Dobson and the preseason, then you really have to start them nicely. I thought that was interesting. Yeah. Yes. Hudson, Dobson, Cawfield, Suzuki, and then depending on how you want to configure everybody, whether it's Sikovsky netfront

or maybe line A there is an option off the left flank for his one-timer. But I can totally see that. Like, I'm good, especially with how Hudson plays the game, like to have him and Dobson out there, that could be really dynamic.

I get it. I get why the new guy making 9.5. needs to be there at least to start. Yeah, I agreed with that. We'll see Wednesday night on SportsNight. Yes, Canadians in Toronto, first of a Wednesday night hockey doubleheader. Okay, so that's the latest on late Hudson in Montreal.

Lots of players, understandably and expectedly, on waivers on Sunday, including the goalies that you had, flagged about a week ago to kind of keep an eye on Michael DiPietro, Clay Stevenson, Nico Dawes, do you expect one or more to get nabbed here before mid-afternoon here on Monday? These teams were smart, Kyle. They waited to the last minute and put all three of them on the same day. What was interesting was I didn't see some of the other claims coming.

I was so focused on those three guys because they were the names I heard the most. Stevenson DiPietro and Dawes that I didn't see the Copley one coming and I didn't see the Brandon Bussey one coming he went from Florida to Carolina so you almost wonder did that take a couple of chess pieces off the board also Edmonton too trading for Connor Ingram right

because that was a team you wondered if they were going to go after one of these goalies I've mentioned before Stevenson the Rangers really liked him when he came out of college they were hoping to get him and he went to Washington instead I mean the Rangers have Shisterkin and quick the only way that works is if you're looking to take three goalies right because I don't think you're getting him to Hartford

I just don't know that he clears so I'm not as certain about that I'll tell you when team people are wondering about is Calgary. You know, Calgary had a, I mean, you saw them, right? Like you watched them. We all know who their number one is, but neither Cooley nor Prosvetov had great pre-seasons.

And I kind of wondered if Calgary might take a shot at somebody here. Copley, by the way, so Vaselowski did play. Interesting game. We'll talk about that in a couple of minutes. So Vasilevsky did play Saturday. I still think if Vasilevsky gets through the start of the season okay, we're either going to see Copley back on waivers. I wouldn't even be surprised that the lightning have a soft deal to send them back to the Kings.

So that wouldn't shock me. But Calgary is one team I wonder about. I know there's teams out there who like these guys. It's just today is the timing right with what they have. And especially, I mean, you kind of saw this coming a little bit, but, you know, Philip Gustafson signs the five-year deal. Congratulations to him. He re-ups in Minnesota.

Yep. Like there's fewer and fewer goalies potentially when you're looking at the UFA class come next June and July. more and more guys are kind of disappearing off the board here. So trying to find some value on the waiver wire or a move like the Oilers did to bring in Connor Ingram seems to be coming that much more imperative where just not a ton of examples around the league where you're like bona fide number one 60-ish games you can count on for one goalie. Well, if you take a look, your your UFA's next summer currently in goal. in alphabetical order, as I see them, are Frederick Anderson, Sergey Bobrovsky, Samuel Erson, Jacob Markstrom, and Stuart Skinner. Okay, Bobrovsky, I don't know, I can't see Florida.

I mean, he's the anchor, right? You've got to think there's a deal to be made there. The Devils in Markstrom, they're already talking to them. I think term is going to be a thing there. Or look, look what they did with Alan. They did five times 1.8. So I see this, a similar kind of thing there in the sense that they will try to do something in their favor at Markstrom's age that gives, that makes the devil's comfortable with an extension. You know, Skinner is the ultimate wild card. You know, Erson, this is a huge year for him. I mean, Anderson, at this point in time in his career, you know what he is.

But there's, especially if Bobrovsky goes off the market, there's a lot of uncertainty out there, right? Like, what are you, if you need someone, how comfortable are you with all of this? So it's, I'm not surprised at all. When they got Caprizo signed, they promised them that they were going to be a contender. I think it was just a matter of time that Gustafin got the deal and it probably took even less time than I thought it was going to.

Yeah, you're right. Bing, bang, boom. He reupts there in Minnesota. You mentioned Calgary a moment ago. So they start their season, Wednesday night they're in Edmonton. The next night, Thursday, they're in Vancouver.

And then Saturday afternoon is their home opener against St. Louis. I wonder if Dustin Wolf sees all three. Oh. Just wonder. That's a lot to ask. I know it's.

That's a lot to ask. I know it is. I just wonder. I don't know anything, but I just wonder. Remember, they had a great start to the year last year and nearly wrote it to an unlikely playoff spot. Schedule isn't easy for them coming out of the gate this season. Three home openers.

Edmontons, Vancouver's, and their own in a week in four days. That's a lot of pregame ceremonies announcing the entire organization. How many pipers do I have to look at? By the way, speaking of pregame, I wanted to mention, you know who blew an opportunity this week? Or last week. Who? Ottawa. Oh, man.

What with the split jerseys? No, no, no. But when they traded for McDermott. Yeah. They shouldn't have announced the trade. Should have just shown up in Montreal? They should have brought them out like Oglethorpe and Slapshot. they should have just said oh wait a sec we've got it like in slap shot when they present a new sheet to the public address announcer and say we've got a different lineup they should have done that oh my oh my this lad has had a trying season

hey and and it ended up being a pretty tame night Saturday in Montreal someone said to me someone said to me that they thought that when the when all hell was breaking loose in Tampa, Florida, they were like, I really thought it was going to be worse in Ottawa, Montreal. Right. Because a year ago, remember, like, things went off the rails between those two teams. Oh, yeah. And it went off the rail a couple nights earlier.

Yes. And Jack I was in the line of Saturday, obviously McDermott, who they had just traded for. Yep. No, all the, uh, the shenanigans was down in Florida. Again. Again. I guess that's what you have when you have. By the way, Ian Mendez doing a lot of great things in Ottawa.

Big swing and a miss there. Like, Judge, with the base is loaded. Oh, man. You can't always hit upper tank shots every time you step into the batters box. That's true. Okay. So, you know, with this Florida-Tampa game, if you want to call it that.

I asked a question during that game that I've never asked before. I asked it to someone of influence. You want to know what that question was? Please. Dying to know. Could they cancel the game after two periods? Could they just send everybody home?

Just Pia Stanley style. We're not doing this. This is out of control. We're not playing the third period. Good night, everyone. Get home safely. And, you know, I don't know if you saw it, but Evan Rodriguez had a great post-game interview with Katie Angelson and Florida's network where, you know, she asked him, I think the first question was, what did you, what did you think about this one? And he goes, I don't even know what to say.

And then he basically appalling, the game was, what, three hours and 10 minutes. And he apologized the fans for keeping them there that long. But I asked someone, could they cancel this game? Could they just say, you know what? That's enough. It's, we don't need this anymore. Goodbye. That's enough.

And I was told that the answer was no. That the fans have paid their tickets and they get their three periods. However long it takes to get through, though. Yes. Yes. It was funny. I was talking about this with some people on Sunday. Like I was asking around, should they have canceled the third period? And a lot of people were like, great idea. They probably should have. But when I explained that, the reason I was told they couldn't, they said, yeah, yeah, I get that.

That's not a can of worms you want to open up. Hmm. 16 ejections. 322 penalty minutes. The shot at the bench at the end. they were out for blood you know they were like there there was there were two things there number one they were obviously mad about hagel getting hurt again like they were clearly clearly mad about that and there's also a bit of like we talked about it in friday's podcast they built the monster that the florida panthers are and they were like you know sometimes you have to kick sand back in the bully's face and they just decided that that that

that's what they were going to do. Like, it was almost as if they, like, to me, it was almost as if, you know what, guys, we used to push this team around. Now they're pushing us the ground. We're getting our pound of flesh tonight. You know, Scott Sabrin, who has a hearing on Monday, the HL doesn't automatically accept NHL suspensions. There's some gray area there.

How gray. You know, basically I was. told is they can, you know, just look at the situation and say, how do we want to handle this? So they don't have to, they could enforce the suspension or they could go, yeah. I don't, like, I asked a couple people, like, what happens here if it gets suspended? And the, and the clearest answer I got was they don't have to, it doesn't, it doesn't automatically carry over. okay um so let's just say for example saverin gets i don't know what five games let's say it gets five

games it isn't automatically suspended five games in the hl but a couple people told me there is some wiggle room there like they could say well that's a pretty serious suspension for a pretty serious to act so we're going to do this or they could hold their own hearing Hmm. Well, I guess the Sabrin one, that's one thing, but then J.J. Mosier as well. I mean, that's a regular defenseman for Tampa that he's got a hearing also. Yep. And he seemed like, I mean, for a guy who seems a little more mild manner, though I understand everyone's competitive,

it was like every time I lifted my head up, both Thursday and Saturday, what that came on, he was right in the middle of everything. Yeah, I mean, look, Florida blew them out in the playoffs last year. They ran all over them on Thursday night. I mean, the lightning guys, I mean, look, I'm not saying anything here that's groundbreaking or the theory of relativity or anything like that. everybody understood what happened they just said this is enough we're getting bullied and we're taking our pound of flesh and the one guy said to me if we have another one like this

there may be no exhibition games in the future yeah it didn't help the fact that they played each other three times in a row to finish up their preseason schedules understands that you know, lineups would have been slightly different each time, but knowing the history, and then Thursday night happens. And another game Saturday that means nothing. Go ahead. Yeah, a couple other things out of that.

Number one, I was wondering if the teams would get fined. Hmm. In addition to whatever penalties the players get, would the teams get fined? And number two, Part of me, honestly, wondered if Batman would say, because next year you're only playing, what, two exhibition games? Yeah, for each player, yeah, yeah.

I wonder if they say you guys can't play each other. Go schedule someone else. Hey, I can see it. I mean, it is, that rivalry is great for the fans. It's great for the league. It's meaningful. it's important it's the best rivalry in the NHL right now I think save it for the regular season and the playoffs

yes right because we know the format had changed it anytime soon no no it most definitely is not it most definitely is not but yeah I said this about Hegel and I'll say this about Eckblatt I I don't like that the preseason like things like that should not happen in the preseason and that's why i wanted if the teams would get fined you know kyle one other thing that someone said to me they they could see changing in the future because of this is that they could see officials ordered to throw guys out of the game sooner like just in the first period if you see a game is getting out of hand just start tossing guys right there and you know what in the first period i think

they threw out four like you can even do more than that like take 10 guys out of the game in the first period just free season you're talking though right you think yeah yeah yeah like just they i i did have a couple people who said to me that that one especially because guys like hegel and i mean you want to see anybody injured but because you saw guys like haigle and eckblad injured, they think we're going to start seeing zero tolerance for exhibition games. That's a good question. And thankfully, now the games start to matter here moving forward. Speaking about games that matter, you want to talk a little Gavin McKenna?

Yeah, that was, I give the kid a lot of credit. Like, they were all over them, those Arizona State fans, and he gave it right back to them. Forks down. Forks down. Power play goal. First in the NCAA for McKenna, who of course on track to be the first overall pick in 2026 and capped off a weekend sweep for Penn State over Arizona State. One goal, two assists for McKenna, and nittany lions look good. And what was really neat is that I remember like Connor Bredd's draft year, Elliot, we were down in Florida for the All-Star game that year.

and it was, I think it was the top prospects game. It was in Calgary. The CHL Top Prospects game was hosted in Calgary that year. And the NHL network down in the States picked up that game. And so you could watch Baderd and thought that was cool that he was getting some exposure and the talk was happening, you know, before the week leading up to the draft about this guy that outside of Canada other markets wouldn't have a chance to see him as much. The fact that that was not only those games on the NHL network,

but you could stream it from virtually anywhere on YouTube over the weekend. That felt like a big deal, didn't it? It did. And look, hockey is always going to have its challenges in terms of exposure and interest, but that doesn't mean you don't do whatever you can, to tell the stories of your future stars. And that's why I think it was so important that that game was televised.

And YouTube, to me, it's the big one. Like, you know, I watched my son. He was 14 now. What does he watch? He watches YouTube. He is addicted to YouTube. He loves it. So when I heard that that game was going to be on YouTube, look, I realize this is

anecdotal evidence. and my son isn't like every other kid. But I see all of these, like I see the NFL migrating to YouTube. I see all these, all the stuff on YouTube. You have to be there. And one of the reasons, you know, the NFL draft, the NBA draft, they're so popular. I mean, the NFL is the NFL, nobody's catching that in North America. But one of the reasons is you already know so much about these kids before they're drafted, right?

And I don't know if hockey will ever be like that, but there's nothing wrong with, I remember last year when Schaefer got taken first overall, by then a lot of us had kind of known his story. And then when people saw the emotion of the moment and Schaefer getting picked, like there were so many more people who were like, oh, why is it like this? Or I really liked this kid. or, you know, the Islanders hit it out of the park with the special jersey that they designed. We have to do a better job of introducing our future to everybody sooner that aren't already hockey fans. And I think putting the game on YouTube and that moment where he gave the forks down to Arizona State, like, I love the fact the Sun Devils fans gave it to him, and I love the fact he gave it to him right back. like that's an introduction and you know what he was a great player in canada last year

um and you know he went to the memorial cup and he's a super talent but again we just have to keep building it and building it and building it and i just felt that that game on youtube was big kyle i i really did i i felt it was big and i would like to see more of that i mean to me like this is going to be like such a huge year with all the changes and you know one thing that's really interesting me Kyle is uh I had a few first of all there were like 60 scouts at that game and I was like of course there were was Arizona all those scouts they weren't blowing a chance to go down to Arizona to get a tan and what golf and watch this kid play but one of the things a number of these guys are telling me is that all of these players who migrated into the

NCAA, they're really curious to see how many of them last because they said some of these teams are really loaded. They've got so many good players. They're just aren't roles for them all. And they're very curious around Christmas. Are there players who say, you know what, it didn't work out for me or this wasn't what I wanted or there's just too many players here? I think that's going to be one of the more fascinating storylines to see if that does happen, as some people are predicting. But, you know, McKenna, like, we have got to lean into our young guys, like hockey fans, Bedard, we knew him, McDavid, we knew him, Matthews, we knew them. But we've got to do a better job of making them available to other fans, casual fans, who maybe don't watch the prospects.

And sometimes just having them on YouTube, a place like that, is what it takes. You know, we need that, and I like that, the fact that that was there. Yeah, it was some breathtaking hockey to watch, a lot, a lot of fun, and to make it easily accessible, I think everybody just comes out, winners in the end, and great for where they ultimately want to get to. So he's off to a great start with Penn State after, yeah, crazy, crazy summer and year proceeding with all the new world changes and the curiosity. already of how it's all going to play out in this new era down south of the border and Division I programs.

All right, that takes us to the final thought, which is brought to you by GMC. So Elliot, last year before the regular season started, we went through the entire league, each team, playoff team, not playoff team. Yes, no, yes, no. We made our way through everybody.

Had some hits, some bad misses. Did both of us have Winnipeg out? Certainly one of us. did. No, I'd want to pay in. Okay. I think I had them out and they won the President's trophy. So you had an idea of doing it a little differently this year. Well, the reason is because I think you and I see it pretty similarly. And I don't like picking all the same teams. So I wanted to come up with something that was a little different so that we didn't pick a lot of the same teams. Okay. Okay. So,

let's let's start this out let's do west first because the west always gets talked about second and as we know everything east of vancouver is east so let's do west first that's very good who who on your west list was not a playoff team to you like 100% i don't see it yeah So I don't have San Jose there yet. Don't have Chicago there. Don't have Seattle. Those are my three teams. Those are my three teams I said.

I feel very comfortable saying not making it. And beyond that, I've got kind of a thicker, I'll call it my on the cusp. Well, before we do on the cusp, okay. I want to do something. So Chicago, Seattle, San Jose, those are my three teams. I don't see them there this year. But here's what I want, okay?

If you had any guts at all, and we know you don't, what team from the West would you pick to make the playoffs? So, of course, and we're not picking from the three teams we've already listed, right? No, no, no, no. Somebody that you think would be like a dark horse. And if you, like, if you were being bold, which we know you're not, Hmm. Who would you pick to make the bottom?

I was trying it out for size one night. Yes. If you were putting on your big boy pants, you would pick Anaheim. That was the same team I picked. Oh, geez. Out of the gate, we've got the same teams already. This is great. Boring.

Yeah, I picked Anaheim too. And there's a lot of people out there, I think, have the ducks as kind of their dark horse team. My one concern about them is, They got a lot of young players in key positions who've never done it over 82 games. Yes. Never. Like that was, because I lived it being in Ottawa for a number of years as they were coming up, right?

And you're like, oh, there's a lot of good players here. At some point, it's all going to come together. Yeah. But it can take some time as well. So that's why, I'll be honest, I, between them and Utah, or I kind of wrestled of who's my if I had guts pick. Utah was in the race last year. Like Utah is not

a big guts pick. They're in the battle. Yeah, that was a better pick. Okay, so sort of, so who are your locks in the West? Vegas.

Like who are your guarantees? Vegas, yes. Yes. Colorado. Yes. Edmonton. Yes. Winnipeg.

Yes. By the way, let me just say about Winnipeg, I think they are getting totally disrespected this year. Why?

Because they got some injuries? Because all the injuries and people are like they're a fluke, they're not that good, total disrespect for the frozen tundra of Manitoba.

I do not like this disrespect to Manitoba. Me neither. To me, they're in. And, I think for like locks. Do you think St. Louis is a lock? No, I think they're my, I think they'll get in group slash on the cusp group. I'm curious about this team.

I think they're pretty good. Me too. But the key word is think. That's always a dangerous. Don't tell me what you think. tell me what you know Bob Cole Yes

I was going to say Minnesota a lock That's a no No but I also I think they're going to be good I'm not asking you If they're going to be good I'm asking you if you've got them as a lock

To make the playoffs Yeah no I stop in at Winnipeg Okay So you got Winnipeg Dallas Colorado Vegas and Edmonton yes you do not have minnesota's a lock well because think about it

three of my locks play in the same division as minnesota i know there are wild card spots that's the only reason why i'm just going they're right there but lock is a strong word what do you got grandmaster frege Grandmaster Friedman has Vegas, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Dallas, Colorado, and St. Louis as my locks.

All right. I have six locks. I really like, because the thing is, I have a rule, whenever I do this, I can't pick the same eight teams as the year before. I always have to change something because it never happens. the same. So Minnesota and L.A., I took off as locks, but, I mean, so I have Minnesota, L.A., and then I've got sort of Utah, Calgary, Vancouver as my mushy middle, and I think Nashville is going to be better than they were last year. I don't know if they're going to be close enough

to making the playoffs better, but I just don't see that team as bad as they were last year. And I have them, I don't think they're an automatic out. I just think there's too much talent there for them to be as bad as they were last year. Yeah, yeah. They were a cusp team for me too. So we're pretty much aligned in our thinking,

in the west. I just wasn't quite ready to give the blues the lock. I like St. Louis. I really, I really, no, you told me you hate them. You were on a roll tonight with just putting words in my mouth. That's the best kind of podcasting. I just invent things that Kyle said. So let's Let's rank them a bit here. So, well, for you, you've got St. Louis, you've got Minnesota, L.A., Utah, Calgary and Vancouver. If you had to, who would you put in? I'm putting Vancouver in.

You think so, eh? Yeah. Yeah. Trying to get on the Canucks Broadcast? No. Okay. We've had enough new faces over the last little bit. A lot of turnover on that show.

They don't need another. Murph doesn't need any more angst. That's fair. Dan Merritt, Dan, Dan's revolving door on the Canox broadcasts. He's got cue cards with names. Who am I with tonight? Hello, hello, my name is. That's right.

Tyson. Yeah, let's have name tank. Hello, my name is Danza. Landon. Yeah. No, but I think a while back

when we kind of had our conversation of teams that missed that last year we think I'll get in, Vancouver has kind of been a consistent pick of mine. So I think we're going to get in.

So that kind of rounds out the three in the Pacific. Yeah, and then I still like L.A. I told you I like Minnesota. You were all over L.A. last year. You were the guy who picked L.A. last year. Oh, that's right.

Yeah. And then, yeah, and then there's just, there's a lot of will Cs here. We talked about Nashville. Calgary, there's a lot of will Cs. Yep. like I know a couple of tough bounces there for Wolf his last preseason game against Winnipeg there on Friday but you see how he plays you're like

he's by accident he's gonna keep them in games this year it feels like you know I just wonder how I kind of want Calgary to start with Perak and Gridden I do I think they might I want them to start with those guys have you heard anything I think it would give them, no, not as of Sunday night. I just think that it would give them a jolt.

Gridden, you can tell he's got some fans already kind of within the room. I don't know if you saw the shootout move. Hold on to Seattle. That's been dubbed the gritty signature. Like guys are giving them a hard time about that. Like you can tell there's growing. admiration of okay hey i think we've got a player here it made you feel part of things which is always neat to see okay where are you at filling out the rest of your your eight

well i had st louis there i would put minnesota there yeah i don't want to go with all the same ones as you uncle calgary i like it all right east okay who do you have out Pittsburgh Yeah Still Buffalo Until I see it I'm just The Lucaninin injury

I don't like that The Kesselring injury I don't know Buffalo had a weird summer Like It just It's strange Like Lukinen got hurt

Kesselring gets injured Um Talk battling something like weird off season I think Tatee Thompson also got hurt in the eye but also he's fine like just weird off season like just weird I don't like it's rare like you see all that

I don't like the way it's starting for them Philly yeah like I put him down there initially and then I'm like we've seen Rick Talk take a now obviously a different group of players are in Vancouver a different situation but maybe just another year before you know what was weird about philly too is you could tell talk it he thought there were a lot of guys who didn't have great pre-seasons you could

especially on the blue line he said it but you could just tell by the look on his face he was he was like what is going on here that was certain guys So I wrote them down too I don't think Detroit It's ready yet It's interesting No chance You're in the or sorry

The confidently not making I just you know They put Hall and Gustafin On waivers which is totally fine But that says to me They're thinking about doing A really young defense To start the year

Like a really young D We talked about this at the year end last year, how Eiserman didn't give out term to veterans because he's like the young guys need to play and I will bet on these young players. I wonder if that bet really starts right now. I just, I know, I don't think that they're ready. Okay.

I loved Larkin wanting to fight in Toronto the other night, though. starting the year with just piss and vinegar. I love that. For Saturday, Toronto's in Detroit. Yeah. So the tone's been set. So we got Buffalo, we got Pittsburgh, we got Philly. I kind of have Detroit there.

You seem to like give you Detroit better chances. Slightly. Who's your gutsy? My gutsy pick. Like if I, any gutsy, I would pick them. Boston. I knew you were going there.

Were you going to pick Boston, too? No, I'm going to take the Islanders. That's a good one also. You know, the reason I'm taking Boston is, I just think, I don't know how much they're going to score, but I think they're going to defend a lot better. They're going to have McAvoy, they're going to have Lynn Hall, Swamen,

all of the craziness is over. I think they're going to be stingier. Yeah. I mean, it's been their hallmark when things were going well for them. I'm just, you said it. The scoring. I think it's a different forward group. A lot of bodies that have been around for a while ain't there anymore. So I'm just not sure. Islanders, Islander's a good pick. That is a gutsy pick. something about the way Barzell was carrying himself when we saw him in Vegas

Oh, super confident guy Had the back-to-back hole in ones this summer A lot of reasons to feel good after, I mean a frustrating year for him personally And the team misses The jolt of Matthew Schaefer coming in That's why if I had any guts, I'd say they're making it You know, one of their strengths I thought was really in goals, Sorokin and Varlamov,

Verlammov hurting. Mm-hmm. I think that hurts them. They're not, you can tell they're not as confident about what's behind Sorokin. I understand. That, that's the same thing that kind of worries me about Toronto a little bit right now,

is that the Stoller's wall, really good combo. You don't have wall name. I don't know for how long weakens them a bit. I think the Islanders is a great gamble, but that's the Roca and Varlamov team, that's one of their strengths that's kind of been taken away from them for now. You know, I really had trouble taking out one of the eight teams

that made the playoffs last year. Like, I think these people, I had someone say to me, I'm not going to say who it was, but it was a prominent sports net on-air person. who said he doesn't think Florida is going to make the playoffs. I don't under, I do not understand this thinking. I do not get it.

There is no way I can understand this. I know Kachuk is hurt. I know Barkov is hurt, but you still cannot tell me that they're going to miss the playoffs. I just do not see it. I agree. They're in my list of, of locks.

See, I see Florida in. I see. Tampa Bay in I see Toronto in although like I said the wool thing makes me nervous because you know first of all all the best to him they just don't know and if Stollers gets hurt all the sudden it's what like Hilda B. Rimer yeah so like and like and Toronto I like their goaltending depth when the two of them were together I like their D I mean, Marner will be a huge loss for them, but I just, I like their pieces that they've got in, but I think they're going to be fine.

I like Ottawa. I like Montreal. I like Washington. I like Carolina. I guess if I had to, and like I said, my rule is I don't pick all eight. So I was sitting there and I was saying, if I have to say somebody who I might be unsure of, I guess it would have to be New Jersey by a process. of elimination because I think

Boston's going to be better I think the Rangers are going to be better you know Columbus

it'll be interesting with them they just missed the playoffs last year they really had something

special showed a lot of character and a lot of heart you know I still think they're going

to be right there right there yeah I agree they're in the cuss

group for me. I don't see any one of those eight teams that was in the playoffs last year. And do I see like flaws that makes me say they might miss the playoffs? And I hate saying that. It's boring. I know. I know. Like you're looking for reasons to take a team out.

Yes. Like I thought that about Washington, right? Kind of a catch lightning in a bottle, the magical OV run to 895 last year. I still think there's a good team there, even though... I think there's a lot of depth there. I think they're deep. I think they got a lot of good players. They got a really good goal tending.

Yeah, like, I don't see... I don't see Washington falling apart. I don't either. But I do think the Rangers are getting in, so... Something's got to give. Yeah. I think the Rangers are going to be a lot better. I agree.

So that's where we kind of leave it. To me, it's easier to pick a team from the West that made it last year to the Miss than the East. Yeah, for no specific reason, but just in trying to decipher

where things will be different. I think it's also because I think there's more good teams in the West. I think if you were to play nine to 12 in the West I think they're better than 9 to 12 in the East Yeah I see what you mean

Expanded playoffs Commissioner Get right on that No we were reminded Not too long ago He has not changed his mind No he hasn't Oh boy God I keep looking at this Elliot

Because I'm with you I don't like the every year conversation of, well, how do you pick a different crop of eight teams? Like, who's... There's always different. Always, there's always different. Right now, it's just hard to see it. Clarity starts Tuesday night.

Maybe. Very excited. I think it's going to be a great season. Great season. Lots to look forward to. All right. That was the final thought brought to you by GMC. Let's take our first break. We'll come back with the thought line. You're listening to 32 Thoughts, the podcast. All right, welcome back.

Time once again for the thought line. Elliot, anything interesting happening in your world over the last few days. I saw you were riding Toronto Transit for a little bit on Saturday. Anything stand out that you would like to share here. This is always the safe space to do so before we dive into today's submissions. I don't think so. I really wasn't beaten up on too much since the last thought line or anything. So we'll see what I can unleash with this edition,

but I escaped the last one relatively unscathed. The world looked at you the last few days and thought, you know what, I'm going to take it easy on him for a little bit here. Give them a chance to bring it. Much appreciated. Okay. Up first, Connor from the West Coast town of Canora, Ontario. That's good.

That's good, Kyle. Very good. Hello, Elliot and Company. Oh. Connor from Canora here. I like this guy. Connor, you're already my favorite. The smallest town to win the Stanley Cup.

The Fisles, Elliot, back in 1907. Yep. I still remember when Hockey Day in Canada was there a few years ago, and Ron's line that weekend was, this will be great. I thought you were going to say, I still remember that parade. I was going to ask if you were a minute. You look pretty young for 140. Okay, Connor says, I'm a Canadian teacher living and working in Indonesia.

Wow. Yeah. My question. By the way, that is a great thing to do. If you're young and you have any interest in teaching and seeing the world, I know a few people who went and taught English places, and they said it was some of the greatest experiences of their lives. So, Connor, hope you're enjoying that part of the world. Beautiful part of the world.

My question is this. Could a player and a team agree to void a contract and then that player resign as a free agent with the same team? The potential scenario I could see this working is in where you have an older player making a lot of money, thus stopping their team from making other acquisitions. If that player voided their deal, re-signed at league minimum, would the remainder of that contract be available to spend? I'm thinking about older players who really want to win a Stanley Cup with their team before they retire. Would this be considered caps or convention? Love the pod and listen to it every Monday here in Indonesia. Keep up the great work.

The answer to that is yes. And the example is, Michael Stone. Back in 2021, the Flames had bought out Michael Stone. They initially had signed him to a three-year deal, and they bought him out of the last year of it, and then they had some injury issues, and they ended up resigning him in September of 2021. And basically, they were paying him his buyout money, and they were paying him the new salary. $700,000 and it wasn't intended to be that way, at least so everybody said, but the flames had

some injury issues. They liked Stone personally. He liked it there. And I know they went to the league and said, can we do this? And they were told, yes, you can. Now, one of the things that did happen was you'll remember there were compliance buyouts back in 2013 after one of the previous lockouts. And in that situation, if you gave a player a compliance buyout, you couldn't sign them for a year. And there are also rules against reacquiring players who have been traded in retained salary trades. You also, there's a limitation on when you can do that. But this was a specific case where a player was bought out under regular rules and they did resign him a few months later when they had injuries. So yes, they did ask, yes, they were told it was okay, and yes, it did happen.

Connor, enjoy the beaches of Bali. Excellent, yes. I feel last year we got a question or two similar along those lines, but it's just it's a good refresher. And the Michael Stone example is kind of the good one in terms of somewhat recent to lay out how that all works. So that's good, Connor. Thanks for the submission. Corey is up next. Gentlemen,

Corey here from latitude 50.550835, longitude minus 19. Longitude. Longitude, sorry. Your grade five geography, who is your grade five geography teacher? Back then, we didn't have specified specific teachers for subject in the fifth grade. I have to say Campbell River. I am doubting the value of a Campbell River education. Longitude.

Oh, coming from Mr. Westert over here. Longitude, sorry. It's not their fault. I don't have my degree. It's early on here in the West. I blame myself. I blame myself. Anyway, go ahead.

Finish it off. Longitude minus 119.13.13.725. You have any idea where this is? No, no, I don't. I'm not good with my last. latitude and longitude. I'm not a seaman by any particular good stretch of the imagination. Believe it's Enderby, B.C. Oh, okay. Where's Enderby? It's a little bit south of Salmon Arm. Okay. Nice.

Not too far from Camloops. Corey, I like the creativity. I like that. Very good. Very good. My question, what is all included in revenue for NHL teams to be included in the 50-50 split? Our concession sales, apparel, 50-50, et cetera, included, or just ticket sales. You say everything. Everything. Well, I'll say this. Franchise sales are not included.

For example, when a team gets sold or a minority part of the team gets sold, that's not included. so that is that is something the players at times have tried to get their hands on and they've been told no that's that's not happening so that's excluded I'll tell you one other place where I believe at one time the players tried to say hey this is this should count as HRR I don't know how far it went but a player told me that it was at least discussed among the players association so for example Toronto has real sports, which is right outside Scotia Bank Arena. And actually, if you've never been there, it's really a great place to eat and watch sports. I really do like going there.

And one of the things they talked about was on game nights. Like on an NHL game night, the players said, oh, the restaurant must make a killing. Maybe that should be considered as part of HRR. And obviously, they didn't win that. but it was something they thought about at one point in time. Glenn Healy and I talked about that when Glenn used to work for the Players Association.

But basically it is everything. When you go to a game, the ticket sales, the sweet sales, the concessions, also, you know, jersey sales, that's part of it. Preseason games, like someone asked me, do preseason games count as HRR.

Like absolutely 100% they do. So basically everything, TV rights, TV rights are HRR, media rights of all kinds. They're HRR. So anything that a team would make revenue on that's directly connected to the games or the players, they get, it's 50-50. Now, some costs are removed, and you'll remember in this most recent CBA, some of those costs were shifted from the players to the owners. But that's how it works.

That's how it goes. If I'm missing anything, someone will tell me, but, you know, that's the kind, any big sponsorships that are due with the NHL, those are split 50-50. Other thing he was wondering, when we talked about escrow for the players last pod, is wondering if the owners have any kind of escrow set up as well as if the balance shifts their way. Yes. So there was a time when, and it was around the time the All-Star game was in Montreal last, where, uh, Like the escrow at that time was like 22%. I remember Paul Kelly was the head of the Players Association at that time. And he announced at the All-Star game that the escrow was going to be going to 22%.

And the players were furious. I remember the league was mad too because they're like, why are you creating that headline at the All-Star game? But, you know, the players were really upset about it. So the escrow there was set really high because at that time, the 50-50 was swinging very far towards the players. So, yes, when you see the escrow number get really high, that's when you know that the players are doing too well for the 50-50,

I guess is the best way to put it. All right. But lately in the last few years, last couple years, that's why you're seeing the cap go up as much as it is, is because if it wouldn't, the owners would owe more money back to the players. Longitude. Longitude. Longitude. Unique New York. Unique New York. Thanks, Corey. A voicemail up next. Mikey from St. Louis. I've got a question. They'll get to, but it needs a little bit of contact. I'll try and keep it quick. The contact here is in St. Louis. If you paid attention to the Cardinal season, and really the last couple of seasons, the general St. Louis fan base has had a very

big problem with management in that group right now. And because of that, one of the most loyal fan bases in baseball is boycotting season ticket sales and regular game, single game ticket sales. And the Cardinals are hurting ports. So that brings me to my question in regards to the NHL. With the rapid rise in the salary cap, are there any teams that are. are not in favor of this rise because they don't have the ticket sales to match or to spend up to the salary cap that makes sense. I'm not worried about it. The blues will always get

ticket sales, but I was curious that there are any small markets that are worried about not being able to keep up with this rise in salary cap. Thank you guys, and shout out Dom, you are my unsung hero of the pod. Now I know why this question ended up on the pod. First of all, it's a good question, but there was insider trading because Dom wanted, Dom wanted that on the pod. I'll back Dom on this one.

He had, he didn't lean into this decision at all. Kyle, it was funnier when I could blame Dom. Thanks for ruining my bit. Well, I should have said, Dom, if you could just, Cut the voicemail five seconds short. It's a really good question. It's a really good question, Mike, or Mikey. And we have talked about this before.

Yes, I do think we're going to see a split. We haven't seen much split in the last few years. As the cap flattened out over to COVID, most teams were at the cap and there wasn't a big difference between, say, haves and have-nots if you want to use those terms. think we're headed there. I do believe that we are in a situation where you're going to see some teams just feel, especially as the cap goes over $100 million in the next two years and possibly much farther. I do think you're going to see situations where some teams get

nervous about it. And we do see some of the financial heavyweights feeling that they are going to have better opportunities to flex their muscles. Now, it's easy to say that. And, it's harder when you're in that position, you face pressures, you want to win, your players want to win, your fans want you to win, and, you know, for example, Minnesota, how many people said they wouldn't do that with Caprizov, 17 million? Well, it's easy to say that until it's your franchise player, and you say, we have to make this work. But I do think that for the first time and a long time, we are looking at the possibility of, tiers where there aren't as many play at teams at the cap and there is some split between various groups in the NHL. And I know some teams are nervous about it. I'm not sure the league is even crazy about it. You know, the whole reason they fought for the cap in the first place was that

there are huge differences between some teams and others. And I don't know that we'll ever get quite back to that. But I do think that there will be some separation between teams. Yes. It's a great question. It really is. Okay. Tom from Zvola in the Netherlands. Oh, wow. Yeah. I like getting these questions from places you're not expecting. Some places you would expect, like Finland, we've gotten a few Finland questions lately, but I also like the questions. Remember, we had one from Saudi Arabia last year, and now we've got this one from Netherlands. I love the questions from places you don't expect. So Tom is actually, he's a Canadian,

but now living over in Holland, he says, and looks forward to the podcast each week to stay on top of things. He goes, I noticed that when the Oilers sent some training cam cuts to Bakersfield, there were multiple categories in which the players were assigned. The categories included, placed on waivers for the purpose of assignment to Bakersfield, loaned to Bakersfield,

and released and will report. to Bakersfield. What is the difference between these three assignments is it related to their contract status go Oilers and Steelers since the NFL is creeping into the podcast? Don't talk about the Packers.

Don't talk about it's funny because as we record this part of the podcast the Vikings are playing and I'm just suffering through this struggle fest against the Browns right now. Basically, Tom, you've answered your own question. Yes, it does have to do with contract status. You know, some players have to clear waivers.

Those are veterans, players who have been around. Like, waivers is determined by your age, the, the, when you sign your contract. Like, you're exempt from waivers, basically for the first couple of years that you're a pro. And so if you're, so it depends. if you're loaned, it means that you don't need to clear waivers. You're just sent down. If you're put on waivers, you're waived, and if you clear, you go to the American Hockey League. And oftentimes, in the other case, it might just depend.

Do you have a PTO? Are you on an HL-only contract? You don't have an NHL deal, so you're sent down there? Basically, that's what it comes down. to they're just fancy ways of saying due to their contract status this is how we can send you to the american hockey league all right excellent and one more here this is another voicemail john the uh the gatekeeper the the almighty master of the in-season cup oh hey boys it's john keeper of the in season cup i'm somewhere in Ontario driving east as a proud

Camer Riverite trying to find my way around here. Just want to check in with you, boys, to see how and if you have gotten with Marquesi and Alice, or Elise, sorry, to see if you have fulfilled your duties as producers for their show and giving them a meal. Thanks, boys. Keep up good work. Have a great year of hockey. Thank you and you, too.

And we have to buy this man. there is no physical in-season cup. We have to get this man a pair of white gloves. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And a 32-thoughts Hall of Fame blazer. Hey, man, if those get made, I'm going to want one myself. It's the only Hall of Fame I might get into. That's right.

Although, if me and Dom are the voters, I may not get in to the 32 Thoughts Hall of Fame. And you need, you need majority. That's right. I'm doomed. I'll buy it. Wherever it's physically built, I'll just buy a ticket and go visit. Oh, God.

Just childhood photos of yourself? You're like, wow. What a run. This is the closest I'm ever going to get into a Hall of Fame. Yeah. It's like your laptop from your first blog. Yes. Alish has texted me

I haven't been able to do it yet I think once the season starts I'll find a night where I go in and I do it What about you, Kyle? So this week I had originally thought I would do it this week But I'm not working the Toronto Montreal game on Wednesday

I'm doing the Edmonton Calgary game So I thought it would have had a little more time In the city of Toronto To kick off the year That's not the case So I got to find I got to find another time here But you have no excuse.

You can walk to the office. Well, it would be a long walk, but yes, yes, I could. But I will do it. We've been pretty busy lately, but I will do it. And we also should say that we are doing the draft later today, I believe. And we will drop it Tuesday. And shall we announce the participants? Why not?

Kyle, why don't you announce the participants with you and me? on this year's in-season cup. Okay, all right, let's do it right now. So we have, you've seen her all summer on the Blue Jays telecasts along with all kinds of great content that pop up on your social channels along the Sportsnet feed. Emily Agarge is going to be along for the ride this year. And also out of the Vancouver Bureau,

Sportsnet 650, Vancouver Canucks telecasts on Sports. Hockey Night in Canada, Punjabi, all of it. Randy Janda is going to be part of the conversation and competition this year as well. The 25-26 edition of the In-Season Cup. Two new entrants to embarrass the two of us for another year. And we've got to cut up on Tuesday. And also, yeah, well, I just said, because when we sent the email, I just said basically you get to pick, what the loser does, right?

So that's basically the way it goes. One of these, if I win, by the way, Kyle, we are going to a waffle house in the States and we are doing the Waffle House challenge. Oh, man, that's outstanding. Yes. I'm in for that. Yes.

So you lose. You're already conceding defeat so you can be the Waffle House contestant. I will take a need. if that's where the journey ends up. I will. Yes. That's my pick this year.

I always see this in fantasy football. The losers have to do the Waffle House challenge. If I win this year, one of the losers is doing the Waffle House challenge. And I will go there as moral support. God, that is good. All right. Looking forward to another year of that. And that'll do, sir.

And also, John, I did want to say, John, thank you very much for all the work you do to track it. And I love how you make it available for, other people who do a pool, that they can go to your spreadsheet and you handle it for them too. It's supposed to be fun, and that makes it more fun. That's right. Well, when you get more people at a Campbell River involved in these things, that's what happens. But you know what the only problem is? They all say longitude. If that's our worst flaw, so be it, all right? Nobody's perfect. We'll take it. Oh, gosh. All right, that's it for another edition of the thought line.

1833, 311, 3232.32, if you'd like to leave a voicemail, or you can email us at 32 Thoughts at Sportsnet.ca. Thanks, as always, to Griffin Porter for assembling these lists each and every week. One final break. 32 thoughts, the podcast will wrap up after this. All right, before we go, wanted to remind you, triple header to kick off the NHL regular season tomorrow, beginning down in Florida,

the defending champions hosting Connor Bardard and the Chicago Blackhawks, five Eastern, two Pacific. Carolyn Cameron, Luke Gazzick, Sam Cossitino will have you covered from studio throughout the intermissions for that one, which is followed then, by the Rangers and the Penguins at 8 Eastern and the nightcap, the Kings and Avalanche from the West Coast.

So that's night one of the regular season. Night number two, we begin up north here in Canada with Scotia Bank Wednesday Night Hockey, a doubleheader of the pregame show on the air at 630 Eastern, David Amber, Luke Gassick, Colby Armstrong, and you, Elliot, kicking off a rare Wednesday night appearance in studio. The audience demands it. Give them what they want. Yes. I heard you just, you haven't spent enough time around Amber lately.

So. Oh, my God. Begging to get a seat of the desk Wednesday night. But a couple of great games to kick things off for our Wednesday night hockey schedule. Toronto, Montreal from Scotia Bank Arena. That's at 7 Eastern. And then the late game, the Battle of Alberta, the Oilers and the Flames for Bedmonton. at 8 Mountain Time. Great way to kick off a brand new season. We are finally here and look forward to the journey with all of you here on 32 Thoughts

and on SportsNet and Hockey Night in Canada. Enjoy the Wednesday night in studio, Friege. Thanks, Biden. See you soon. All right. Taking us out is a track by Soft Lung, which is the Indy Rock Project led by Canadian musician and producer, S.J. Kardash. The project was founded as a personal outlet after parting ways with a longtime collaboration in Rain Wolf, with which Kardashian toured the

world, sharing stages with acts like The Who and Wu-Tang Clan. Since then, Soflung has received acclaim for their top 200 North American College and Communities Chart debut album Second Chances and now have released a brand new single, Glass House, along with the promise of more new music and a sophomore album on the horizon. Here now is Glass House on 32 Thoughts, the podcast. Standing all your time on me No wall standing our way A glass house that never breaks

Even though we stay together Nothing really lasts forever One day when we both surrender Our glasshouse will break Oh, oh. Oh, oh, oh, oh. Now, once upon the time, we didn't know this love. Sure enough, the stars got drunk.

Yeah, we couldn't lose, couldn't lose too much. Just watching all the others rush. Everybody's saying, it's a game, it's a game, it's a dangerous game. dangerous game to play They never thought you'd ever be Expanding all your time on me No one standing our way A glass house and millerbrace

And even though we stay together Nothing really lasts forever One day when we both surrender The wrong last house will break Oh Oh Oh Oh

Oh Oh Oh While I'm rushing I don't rush out Baby Do you hear me

What were we worrying about I I don't want to rush out Baby, do you need me? What are we worrying about? Oh, I have no doubts. Keep spending all your time on me. Oh

No walls Stand in our way The glass house They never braids I'll keep the walls away And our glass house Our glass won't break. Oh, our glass house won't break.

Thank you.