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

Episode Date: November 18, 2024

In this edition of 32 Thoughts, Kyle Bukauskas and Elliotte Friedman begin the podcast by unpacking the latest developments surrounding league revenues and the potential ramifications for the salary cap. Afterwards, the guys delve into Oilers-Leafs on Saturday night (18:30) and look forward to Jets-Panthers on Tuesday (23:41). Kyle and Elliotte talk about Connor Bedard's homecoming on Saturday in Vancouver and the difficulties of rebuilding a franchise, and the pressure it puts on a star like Bedard (30:00). The guys run through some "quickies" from Headlines on Saturday, including what the Preds are shopping for, the future of Jiricek in Columbus, and the state of the Boston Bruins (42:00). Kyle and Elliotte talk about the suspension to Ryan Reaves for his hit to the head of Darnell Nurse (45:00). The fellas finish the opening block of the pod by focusing on some goaltending. First, they touch on the return of Jack Campbell from the player assistance program (49:00). They make sense of the Hurricanes goaltending rotation (53:00). In the Final Thought, they talk about Logan Thompson's return to Las Vegas after being traded to the Washington Capitals this offseason (58:00).Kyle and Elliotte answer your questions in the Thought Line (1:02:04).In the final segment Kyle congratulates the Toronto Argonauts for winning the 111th Grey Cup (1:18:25).Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call the Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemailThis 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.  

As Vegas will attack, Protus, they turn it over to him, ahead to Ovechkin, he's got the empty net and he's got it! It's a hat trick for Alex Ovechkin! Into the empty net and a feed from Alexey Protus! Oh, the celebration, Protus all smiles and coming to Ovechkin, the smiles on the bench as well the Capitals are gonna take down the Golden Knights and hats coming onto the ice for the great age here at T-Mobile Arena. Welcome to 32 Thoughts the podcast presented by the GMC Sierra AT4X Shramati Bukaskis and Jake Paul's confirmed next opponent Elliot Friedman. I'm the right age. I'm 54.

Yes. Just make sure you wear a towel for any pre-fight interviews. Oh, my God. I know what I'm doing for Halloween next year. You know, I have to say this. I know there's been a lot written and a lot said, and we'll get to our news, but'm impressed that tyson did that 58 years old hats off to him as far as i'm concerned hey you had a knockout of a story on headlines saturday

with ron so let's just set the scene here for each salary cap this year 88 million and for a long while it's been expected to jump the five% next season to 92.5%. But as you reported, there seems to be a lot of momentum behind the cap going up even higher next year. So explain this to me like I'm five. What does it all mean? How does it all work? I don't do a lot of prep for this podcast, Kyle, as everybody can tell by listening to me on it. Kyle as everybody can tell by listening to me on it but I wrote out some stuff today because I wanted to make this as simple as possible. As Kyle says explain it like you're five because there is a lot of jargon and so hopefully what I came up with will make this work.

Prior to COVID it was 50-50. Revenue split, 50-50 league players. Yes, there are some carve-outs, but let's keep it simple. 50-50 league and players. Then COVID hit. We had no clue what the world was going to look like. No idea what was going to happen. Clueless. There was real worry about not only the future of the NHL but the future of all the sports leagues. Everything. Remember transport your memories back into what it was like when COVID hit. We had no idea what we were heading into.

no idea what we were heading into. One thing we did know is that games were going to be played with no fans. Therefore, the 50-50 was going to tilt heavily towards the players. They were going to be making a lot more in salary than the league and the owners were going to be making in revenue. So the mechanism to handle this is called escrow. Some of you know what escrow is. You've dealt business before with an escrow account. Some of you don't. And basically what escrow is, is a certain percentage of your salary is held up in an account. And at the end of each fiscal year, which is June 30th in the NHL, they do an audit

and they say, okay, how close were we to 50-50? And that determines how much the players would get back of that money. And there were times when the player escrow was very high. There were times when 20 to 22%, I think 22 is the highest. That's the highest number I could find on my notes. If there's a higher number than that, I don't have it in my notes, but it would be around there. I think think 22 23 was as high as it ever got but you can imagine if you're out there earning a living and 22 or 23 percent of your paycheck was held up there's a pretty funny story about Alexander Ovechkin about how he got on one

players association union call and just complained about escrow for like three minutes straight and he wasn't the only one a lot of guys felt that it was it was a nasty word to the players they hate escrow with the passion of 1 000 sons kyle they would like to kill escrow with fire so when this happened basically the players had a choice they could put a really high escrow on their salaries in 2020 when they were redoing the CBA and they could pay back the debt faster, or they would take a lower escrow, and it would take them longer to pay it back. And I do think at the time, Bettman argued that they should take a higher one, and I've been told that some people in the Players Association argued they should take a higher one and get it paid back.

But they hate escrow so much, they voted against that. They took lower percentages last year, this year, and next year, which is the last year of the current CBA. It's at 6%. And they just said, that's what we want. they voted for it and as a result when people wonder why the cap hasn't gone up that's the reason there's a bit more we'll get to that in a second but basically right there they put guardrails in place in case the revenues did not come back. It was no longer 50-50. The cap was de-linked from 50-50. They put guardrails in place just in case the revenues didn't come back. The cap wouldn't rise as fast. Well, fortunately for the NHL and everybody in it, revenues have done extremely well. They have done very well. I think they've done better than people expected just because at that COVID time we had no

clue and they've done very well, very well. So the revenues have grown faster than the guardrails that were held on the cap. The cap right now, depending on who you talk to, but the cap right now probably should be in the $100 million range. I think that's, some people kind of dispute that number, say it's a little bit high, but a few people said if you go with a hundred million dollar range you're not wrong so that's kind of where we are right now that debt is paid off what the players owed to the league it's gone the revenues were good enough that they paid it off however as long as this CBA is in place, those guardrails about the cap are still there. It could only go up 5% this year, and it could only go up 5% next year. It's supposed to be around 92.5.

Now, there is a provision that if both sides agree, they could raise it higher. For example, this season, it was supposed to be 87.7. And the league said, you know what? Let's bump it another 300,000. The players proposed raising it higher. The league rounded it up to 88. There have been times in the past couple of years where the players have said, look, the cap should be higher

let's raise it higher and first the league said no not until it was all paid off this year they were willing to do a little bit but not a lot and now it sounds like everybody's in position to go a little bit higher. Here's why I think that is. I'm assuming, and everyone's assuming, that in the next CBA, which is up after next season, we're going back to 50-50. If that's the case, and again, it depends on who you talk to. There are some estimates and these are probably the most positive estimates that think in two years, a 50 50 cap will

be close to 110. Again, I had some people who would say that might be a little too optimistic. Like, you know, with the regional TV deals, you know, there's individuals out there say you should be a bit more careful. There's others who say that's just a small thing. The revenues are really good. But I'm just going to use the number close to 110, The revenues are really good. But I'm just going to use the number close to 110 just to give you an idea. So if next year's cap stays at 92.5, that's a $17.5 million bump in a year. I don't know that anybody wants that.

I don't know. I mean, it's great for the players. But that one year of players, I guess, is the best way way to put it but i don't know if anybody wants that also as i mentioned the escrow was six percent last year the players are looking like they're gonna get all that money back this year the projections the players have been told over the last couple of weeks in their meetings that they could get more than 100% back potentially, that they could get the 6% back plus. I think that's happened twice. Again, I don't have all the numbers, but from the numbers I have, I think it happened twice. and it was early in the cap era where the revenue split went over 50 50 towards the owners and

The players ended up getting Technically more than a hundred percent of their salaries, but it hasn't happened in a long time at least 15 years So I think the Commissioner knows the owners are not going to want to write a check to the players after this year and I think also you get a situation where instead of just having one group of players benefit from a big raise you can have two groups of players at least benefit from this big raise the players who are eligible to sign extensions now or on July 1st they would get a bump it would be great for them so the players like what they're hearing and the other thing about this is the league is trying to get a CBA done and this is a peacetime CBA.

There's nothing big that's going to derail this. Bettman wants to get it done. The players want to get it done. Like the players want the revenue to grow. They want more of a say in how to grow revenue, but they're not interested in missing games. This is going to get done. And one of the ways you can make the players happy is say, you know what?

The current deal says 92 and a half. Like I said, there's people thinking between 95 and 97. I think 97 is the high end. Let's get the cap to 97. None of the players are going to be unhappy with that. So I think that's where we're going like like I said I don't know if all the teams are 100% aware of this but I'll tell you one thing I learned the last couple days Kyle the players sure are like they're having their fall tour right now with the players association and they're this is what they're telling them and and i do believe this league of the players know this conversation is coming

it hasn't happened yet and it's going to be critical to pushing through a new cba so unless something really goes off the rail here and you know how careful i like to be unless something really goes off the rail here I think we're going to see a 95 to 97 cap this year as long as the CBA gets done as part of it so you mentioned the players being well aware of what's going on here I mean there's a handful of guys that are in line for some considerable paydays with their contracts expiring next July 1st. So how much is this part of the thinking from player side too of let's see where the dust settles with all of this before we really get serious about what a new contract could look like?

It's a great question, Kyle. I would say that if the players are aware of this, their agents sure are too. So I think it's a factor i i think it's a factor in some of the like like kaprizov can't sign an extension yet mcdavid can't sign an extension yet um you know those are both going to be big numbers but i wonder about guys like shisterkin and shisterkin is also a philosophical debate uh you know how much the rangers want to pay a goalie um uh but a guy like ranton you know you wonder about that one still had like i've said this before there were last summer i had teams

telling me that they were taking dry sidlel and Rantanen off their free agent list, right? And Dreisaitl's done. He got done. Rantanen's not done yet. And I do think that this is a factor in his negotiation. You know, the Rangers are also going to have Panarin too in a year. So on one hand, it's good for a team like the Rangers. On the other hand, now you're wondering, okay, what is this number going to be for these two guys? So, I think there are lots of cases. So, it's like Marner. I think Marner is another one too.

It's going to be a conversation about what does this mean for his number. And he's playing great and you did a great interview with him the other day. So I think, yes, we are seeing the adjustment. Like, you know, I had one guy say to me, and it wasn't a guy who's talking about one of the major players, but he has a good player who's going to be up for a contract. And he said, look, you just want to make sure you know the full landscape before you sign. You don't want to sign your guy to a contract where in two years he's saying,

I didn't have all the information when I signed this deal. And so I do think it's a factor. Absolutely. Because, and this is the last one I'll ask on this point. There's been a lot of good information here for each like so much over the years here more recently hasn't the argument in the negotiation table from the the player agent side more and more certainly for the higher end guys it's not so much about the dollar amount it's percentage of the cap right so regardless of what the total number is for money you have to spend, some are angling more towards, well, it's the percentage of the cap that they're making the case that the player should be eligible to receive as opposed to a set dollar amount.

You're right. When you're right, you're right, Kyle. And you are right. Percentage of the cap is becoming a big argument. And I wonder, again, if the teams now now if they're going to push back on that and just say you know come on it's still a big number does it really need to be percentage of the cap and you know we'll see where this this kind of thing goes like you know the other thing it's going to do Kyle is that you know if the cap goes up because it it's at 88 now, let's just say it goes to 97 next year, you've got hold-the-line contracts in certain situations. Austin Matthews in Toronto, Nathan McKinnon in Colorado. Right, right.

Although they're going to have Makara come up in the not-too-distant future, and that's going to be a massive number, too. You know, if the cap is that much bigger, like let's just say for argument's sake we go to 97 and 100 and something like between 105 and 110 the players who are going to be at the top of the food chain the franchise cornerstones the stars they're going to start to say hey like i know matthews is a great player i know mckinnon's a great player but or i know dry saddle is a great player but

I'm sorry the number's bigger now and I'm I'm going past that like I think teams kind of looked at those deals as nobody's making more than those guys and some of the players are going to argue and you can argue whatever you want ultimately you decide do i want to make a deal or not but there's certainly going to be arguments that oh well those guys were signed under the old cba or when it was done a different way this is being done a new way and therefore there are new rules you and i are going to be down at the board of governors meetings next month, December 9th and 10th down in Florida. That will be a big part, surely, of the conversation over those two days. Try to get a pre-tan, by the way, Kyle.

You look too pasty at these things, I have to say. I can't argue with that. It's my Lithuanian roots, Elliot. I don't know what you want me to say. You are a super pasty guy, I got to tell you. I got no comeback. I have no comeback there, Elliot. You are bang on.

I've got no argument. Hey, it was a busy day, busy night on Saturday, especially for you all in studio. It was four early games, and then Vancouver and Chicago was the night. Well, let's do your game first because, first of all, it was a great game. Oilers, Leafs, Kyle, like, what was it like in the building? Because it was a great game to watch. Well, Chris and Craig said it early on in the game, Elliot,

there was a playoff-type pace right out of the gate. I mean, there was a good buzz in the building. I'll tell you, so, I mean, we stayed at a different hotel than we usually would in toronto so did the oilers so did the oilers i think a lot of people were going taylor swift kicking everybody out of the downtown core right i took i take the up express from pearson into downtown and it was like as soon as i got on the train there friday afternoon you knew you were entering a swifty world,

making your way into Toronto. So I took the subway into the game, and it was unbelievable because you had people going to the hockey game, people going to the concert, of course, and the Marlies played in the afternoon at Scotiabank Arena. So you had another crowd of hockey fans leaving from that. It was chaos down at Union Station,

but really neat to just soak in and take it all for what it was. And the game was great. I mean, as we discussed, the energy did come out for a bit after the Reeves hit on Nurse, but a really thrilling finish. I thought, you know, you mentioned Mitch Marner in our post-game interview. The one thing that stuck out to me was, you know, we showed him as his first career goal because his overtime winner, that was the 200th goal of his career.

And they were almost carbon copies of each other, like off the rush, going low blocker on the goalie. And he just talked about, you know, like when he sees the first goal that he scored back in 2016, like just a reminder of the joy and the fun that he was playing with back then. And there seems to be a conscious effort to get back to that as someone who is in line for a contract that can sign one and who a year ago would have watched William Nylander go through a similar situation. And we all remember how he handled it and how that ended up for player and team. I've been impressed with how he's come out of the gate.

I thought right from the first day of training camp, where he sat down in front of all the media and said, look, I know everyone wants to know questions about my contract. I'm not here to talk about it. And with how he's played by and large here to begin this season uh he's kept all of those questions and any type of distraction at bay so for a guy that i mean hey we've spent a lot of time a lot of different places kind of discussing how the market and the pressure and all the chatter can impact the player at,

at times. I think he's handled things really well. And this is all coming as they've now won what five of six with Austin Matthews out with injury. He saw he's the problem. David, he's the problem, right?

Just like when McDavid was hurt for a bit for Edmonton. Yeah. I thought it was just quite impressive how he's handled, certainly the assignment on Saturday night playing against 97 and just what a play there in overtime, breaking up the two-on-one and then the winner shortly thereafter. That ended up being what could have been a three-game losing streak for Toronto. They find a way to scrape out a win against Washington

and turn the tables on Edmonton Saturday. And now they're in a much better spot than where they could have been. Yeah, one of the things that our features people shot at the media tour, which I really like, and you see them during some of these games, they showed it Saturday night in the Winnipeg Florida game one of Nick Ehler's great goals like they gave him a tablet and he breaks it down and they also have other players talking about players great plays and it reminds me that I nerd out when I listen to these things I think if I would have a criticism of myself and

I have a lot of criticisms of myself but one of them is I don't act I don't ask these players enough about their craft and I love hearing them talk about their craft and we you had a bit of that in your interview with Marner like he's really good at explaining what he's thinking and what he's seeing and I think there's a lot of players like that and so I kind of geeked out a bit in that interview hearing him talk about some of those things you know um like that was a great game and you know the one thing I had a chance to speak to McDavid just briefly on Saturday morning and I was asking him about how happy he was when he got his 1,000th point in that game against the Predators.

And, you know, I said, like, I'm not used to you being excited in that moment when it's about you. And he said it wasn't the 1,000 points. He says that's just a number to me. But what he said was the reaction reaction of the players the reaction of the fans in the building in edmondson that night he got caught up in the emotion of it he he really loved it but that was that was a great game on saturday night and you know i'm really looking forward to watching winnipeg florida on tuesday from winnipeg um Hey, look, the Jets got their butts kicked.

The Panthers, to me, so they lost twice to the Devils. You know, they've handled the Bruins this year. To me, they just do enough to say, we'll see you all in April. We'll be ready for April. You know, once in a while and still like there there's overall place is very good. Like they're high in the standings, but they, they've got a bit of that. Okay. You know, we'll be once in a while, we just like to remind you we're there and we'll, we'll see you all in April. You know, very mature team.

They know what they're doing. You know, they've got, you know, I don't think they're as deep as they were last year, but they're still very, very good. You know they're going to see if they can add. And, you know, the other thing too is, you know, I loved the Panthers fans coming at the Jets with the overrated because this year the Jets fans have been among the best at taunting other players

McGrory Ottinger now the Jets have to do their end of the business on Tuesday. They have to play a lot better. And the fans will be ready. But you know that, hey, the Florida fans threw the gauntlet down on the Jets fans. They'll come up with something. But they've got to be in position to come up with something. Yes.

I just thought it was so not Florida, which was awesome. I mean, it's been a couple of years now where we're seeing that building's a lot more full, on a lot more regular basis. But the fact that they recognized the opportunity there and took it, just not used to seeing it as much down there. But it was really great. just not used to seeing it as much down there, but it was really great.

Well, you know, I have to tell you, like that Florida crowd, like the last couple of years in the Stanley Cup final, there's some areas there that have a kind of an edge to it. So like Dave and I, where do you stand during Florida games, like in the cup final? Are you in the Zamboni? I'm down at ice level in one corner.

Yeah, okay. So Dave and I were in a section, like in the cup final you in the the zamboni i'm down at ice level in one corner yeah okay so dave and i were in a section and what they had to do was they had to move a few seats uh away uh that were normally in our section so dave and i could do our hits like they moved them down about 10 feet yes they moved them down about 10 feet and like i didn't know that i just you know i just go wherever i'm supposed to go like i'm an soldier yeah i may no but like you know david shows up like i walk in all normal hey how's everybody doing amber gets you know carried in like a 15th century king like he's got scantily clad handlers like carrying him on his throne and you know he's like

please plebes don't don't touch me don't even look at me yeah like that's the way that's the way amber arrives so um so there was i gotta tell you like there were there was one guy he was furious at us he was pointing at the chair we were sitting he goes those are my regular chairs you are sitting in my regular chairs i'm like hey man sorry like i i think we even offered like to buy the guy a beer but he was not taking any kind of deal and like some of the other people there were starting to get into it they were like hey you took his spot. He's there all year. He's a regular. You guys are just vacuum salesmen who show up trying to steal from us during the Stanley Cup final. You're not here all year.

It was a bit of an edgy section. It was kind of funny. And it was partially my fault. I will say this. But there was a near confrontation at one point and one guy said to me says what this is this is not the section of fans that you want to start a fight with i said i said i'm not interested in fighting i am not interested in fighting i just think the guy went way too far over the top and over the line but like it like the guy said like these fans in this section they will get physical with you so you just have to be careful so i gotta say this the fact that

the panthers fans came up with the overrated chant uh not surprising to me because evidently there's a section of them that will not back down to canadian reporters who invade their space yeah and there i've seen photo evidence before a game in edmonton last year during the playoffs you and david going to town on the sweet buffet in the back halls of Rogers place. You get all treatment. Both of you do. Don't just put that all on Amber. I got to say this.

Like when the, when the whole panel showed up there, I could not believe after BX awaited in line, there was any food left. You would have thought it was his last meal. Anyway, respect to the Panthers fans they threw down the gauntlet and you know the jets fans you know there's the other thing too are going to be ready

like scheifele and ekblad like those guys shared the same billet they lived in the same house and their golfing buddies and they went at it yeah and you know i'm sure Ekblad probably doesn't like to do a lot of fighting because of his history. And it looks to me like Scheifele was well aware of that. But it was like, I know the billet there. And I can only imagine what he was thinking as he was watching the two of them fight each other. So that'll be great on Tuesday.

The nightcap on Saturday, Elliot, Chicago and Vancouver. It was the Conor Bedard homecoming and really great buildup. And he was fantastic on After Hours with Scott Oak after the fight. Yeah, that was excellent. Especially when you consider

it was another tough night for him and the Blackhawks and tough situation on Saturday for Taylor Hall, who did not even dress. He was a healthy scratch against the Canucks. And this is a player who's coming back from a torn ACL last year, had surgery to repair it, has two goals, six points in 17 games coming in. Luke Richardson, the head coach, cited not enough practice time.

They want to get Hall a little more work here before getting him back into a game. What's your read on this whole situation with the Hawks? Well, it's tough. And we talked about it a bit on Saturday Night, Kyle. I am convinced that rebuilding in hockey is as hard as it is. I think there's statistical evidence to it. Like, look, there are some success stories. The Penguins, Malkin crosby flurry

obviously three cups you know the the blackhawks cane tase at the top top of the draft three cups and the other thing too is you know you forget that they had another top three pick that didn't work out for them and they still won three cups but there's also a lot of situations and particularly now like it seems as if we talk about detroit and ottawa and buffalo on every podcast they've got good young players they've had high picks and they're still trying to get out of it you look where san jose is now you look where anaheim is now you look where chicago is now um it take when you really tear it down in this league it takes a long time a long time and I understand completely why there are some teams that don't want to do it you know that can lead you into more problems if you make poor decisions but I

I understand it I see how long it takes and so does everybody else you know biz and Luke were talking about Bedard in the face-off circle he went over eight you know should he play center like the thing is like you I mean you could always move him to wing if you wanted to but they don't have enough centers like if you look at them they had Bedard at center they had Foligno at center they had Dickinson at center and they had Reichel at center and but it's it's not enough like they've tried Kurashev at center this year I mean he had what a 50 point season on the wing they tried him. Athanasiu, who's in Rockford right now, they tried him at center.

I'm just... I understand what Biz and Luke are saying there, but I don't know if he's going to get any better or the Blackhawks are going to be better served by putting him on the wing. Their roster is just too thin.

And that was a tough shot to watch at the end of the game last night when he had his head down on the bench. You could see how disappointed he was. And, you know, some people said, look at his numbers the past few games. Like, I think the kid really cares. We talked about this. I think the kid really cares and he really tries and he really competes.

He wants to win. I just, I don't think you can put this all on him. Like they're just they're they're just a long way away. And it's a lot of their offense is on him. Like if he doesn't go, how much do they go? The whole thing is, look, teams have a right. If they want to scratch somebody they can scratch somebody like I don't think Luke Richardson is a punitive guy I think that you know he played he

played a long time he understood he was a first round pick he battled to keep his job like he understands how players feel the one thing I think about in situations like that is Wayne when you have a guy who's in the last year of their deal you have a responsibility I think as a team to decide is this a player for us or is this a player for somewhere else like you know like like last year with Tyson Berry for example Nashville realized it wasn't going to work they tried to deal him for months and unfortunately his number was just so big it didn't work like I look at a guy like Morgan geeky wasn't playing in Boston for a bit this year I think a

team like the Bruins would understand if he's not gonna play for us we have to find him somewhere else like Christian Dvorak in Montreal he's in the last year of his deal and one of the biggest issues is they got him a contract where he's making 5.7 million in cash this year that scares teams away but I think the Canadians understand if Dvorak's not going to play if he wants to get another contract they have to find him somewhere else to go and I think that's going to be the case with Taylor Hall now again you have to have a partner but if he's not going to play I think the Blackhawks have to find him somewhere else to go.

And it was just between that and watching a bit of Bedard there with Scott after the game, he was almost at a loss for answers going, I put in a lot of work this summer. You could just tell he was like, I did not see anything like this coming in terms of personally trying to have the production that he wants and the team trying to have the production that he wants it and the team trying to have success it's all just a reminder to your point about the scares of going into a rebuild how difficult it really is in this league to be a true driver as a singular player even the great players even some of the the really good players in this league it's a struggle to do if you're not surrounded by the right line mates and the right roster construction to have success individually and as a team.

Yeah, it's hard. Like, you know, you think about it as a player every year, you think you're going to get better, right? Like you always think we're going to get better every year. I'm going to commit to getting better every year and my team is gonna get better every year and then you realize wait a sec that doesn't always happen and wait a sec we're a long way away like but darts number one pick last year he knows he's going to one of the worst teams in the NHL he knows last year is gonna be long what

did he say to us the beginning of season? I want to be playing meaningful games at the end of the year. And here we are. We're not even two months in. And, you know, he sees it. Like, it's hard. You think you're going to get better because you're going to get better. But you realize, holy smokes. And then you see, the other thing, too, is you see who you're up against.

Like, you look at Dallas. Man, they're going to be good for a long time a long time you look at Colorado you're like oh man they're they're going to be good for a long time like they're these are the teams in your division you look at Winnipeg and you're like they look like they're going to be good for a long time like Hellebuck is locked in he's their he's their best player you say like they're not on the same level as you know dallas and uh colorado yet but you know they winnipeg makes good decisions they're generally a very consistent smart team like that's your division And then you look at your conference, Vegas, they're going to be good for a long time. Oilers, well, Drysaddle just committed to eight

years and you know, McDavid's not far behind, like yikes, they're going to be good for a long time. I mean, you, you know, like you're suddenly looking at this and you're saying, wow, like what a mountain it's,'s it's hard by the way uh peterson looks like he's really coming on i thought it was really interesting he told gunner norse from the this the swedish reporter social media is gone kyle you finally bullied him off you know you really tried i did i i hope you're patting yourself on the back for the bullying you've done here. I'll everyone make note of that slander. Don't let Elliot forget it.

What did you think elsewhere around the league over the weekend of the Jamie Oleksiak, what turned out to be winning goal for Seattle against the Islanders? Brandon Tanev. He was in the crease, but the goal stood. Yeah, I knew this the moment I saw this happen. So I wasn't watching the game because it was right around the start of our pregame show. So I wasn't watching, but immediately I got a text from an Islander fan and said, explain this one, genius.

So I went and I watched it and I was like, oh, I know. And then I saw Waz quotes. Like, it was so funny. Like, the reporter was trying to tiptoe around it. And Waz was like, I'm not having any of this. We were robbed. Don't tiptoe around with Waz. He'll give you the answer you need to know.

Yeah, here's the thing. And, uh, that's not, that's the second time I've seen this call this year. If you want to see the other one, remember on Canadian Thanksgiving, early in October, the Kings and the. Uh, well, Sanders had a seven, six game. It was a Monday afternoon and one of the Ottawa goals, the Ottawa player was in the crease and there was tiny contact and they just said, Kemper could have made the save.

So I look at that play with Tanev and I understand where the league is coming from. Like Sorokin probably should have made that save. But this is why I'm not crazy about this call. Because people like myself are coming on and saying, don't go through the crease. Don't go through the crease. Don't go through the crease. Don't go through the crease. And Waugh and his video coaches are looking at the vast majority of these calls,

and they're like, don't go in the crease. If you go in the crease, you're doomed. And then when you make that call and you don't get it called against you, I think it is a defensible call sorokin should have made that save i feel i don't think he was blocked for he might have been distracted by tanner's presence but i think he could have made that save however if you're a coach or you're a video coach or you're an islanders fan you think that is total is total BS. And the one place where I do agree with them is if you're trying to draw a hard line about players going into the crease

voluntarily, anytime you kind of erase that line or move that line a bit, you make it harder for people to buy into what you're selling so when i saw it i was like yeah i i get why the islanders fans are not happy with this by the way i wanted to shout out the islanders for they're honoring brent sutter brent sutter does not get enough recognition for how good a player he was like i there are people who watched hockey in the 80s like smart credible people not like me who thought that he was one of the five best centers in the nhl in the 80s and and maybe even not even maybe even higher than five like i remember i can't remember who it was but i remember one coach told me he thought that Sutter was like the third best center of the 80s. He deserves it.

He was a hell of a player. 1,111 career games played for Brent Sutter. I think he won two Stanley Cups because I think Dwayne was older. Yeah, I think he won two Stanley Cups and two Canada Cups. He won three Canada Cups, 84, 87, and 91. He won three of them? Won 84, 87, and 91. He won three of them? Won three of them.

Wow. I mean, he was a great player. Okay, Elliot, you had a few additional items you wanted to add on from headlines on Saturday? We call them quickies, Kyle. You can call them quickies, okay? Oh, okay. I think, yes, Nashville, we know that they're looking for a center I think they're also looking for a D like a top four guy if they could find one and not necessarily a rental I wouldn't be surprised that someone with a little bit of term there Don Waddell told the Columbus broadcast

that he hopes to sort out Eurocheckcek in the next couple of days. So we'll see what happens with that. You know, the Bruins, Cam Neely, I think it was the Boston Globe it was in, he had some interesting comments there about he just thinks the team has been unsettled since training camp. And it was interesting to hear him say that because that is definitely one of the things that's being said about them is that um you know the whole swayman thing um i think there's some lingering hard feelings uh about that i i just think that um you know the bruins aren't used

to having their business all over the world like that. And I think it's led to some hard feelings. And I do think that that kind of affected the overall situation. You know, I heard that one of the things the players have talked about is, look, guys, there's a lot of noise around our team right now and we just have to stick together and you know the tough thing is is it looked like they were out of it with that double shutout weekend a little bit ago but they haven't righted themselves but i've heard that's been the message like ignore the noise pull together and i think they've been

active you know talking about things out there so um you know boston's obviously a team to watch but i i just was really interested in neely's comments because i do think that's a real feeling there that this has been a terribly unsettled season right from the beginning of training camp uh the Bruins. And you know what, too? I also wanted to recognize Dustin Wolfe. First NHL shout-out. You know, it was kind of a bit lost because, like I said, I was watching Tyson Paul, or I was watching buffering of Tyson Paul. And the Dustin Wolfe shout-out was secondary on my TV at the moment.

But I'm sure a lot of you, especially Flames fans, you know the story about how he fell to very late in the draft in front of like 50 friends and family. And I still remember the cheer that went out in the building when he was picked. I was one of the reporters that was there, and you're like, holy cow, they've been waiting forever and also like the kind of anti-non-goliath goalie prejudice um a lot of things have gone right for him and a lot of that's his own work but you know i was i

was happy to see it and on that a belated congratulations to andre vasilevsky career win number 300 late last week and the golden stick he was presented with on Saturday night in Tampa, too. I thought you had a great quote, too, about how they gave me nice gifts and they gave me an even better gift by playing great in front of me. I thought that was really well said. All right, Ryan Reeves. So on Sunday, Elliot, the Department of Player Safety announced that he has been suspended for five games for the hit he laid

on Darnell Nurse Saturday night in Toronto. In the video explanation, they noted, Reeves, that he picked the head of nurse instead of coming at an angle where the contract was be through his shoulder or his core. This combined with the fact that he has been suspended three times previously in his career, should it be at all surprised that it ended up being five games the most it could be without it being an in-person hearing? To me, that was the only question, Kyle, was, was he going to be offered the in-person hearing or not? If you want to suspend for at least six, have the option to do it,

you have to offer the in-person hearing. And that was the thing I was wondering. The way this works and it's it's worked with uh the people who've run player safety for quite some time at least as long as i've covered it is first of all they decide is it a suspension and once you're offered a hearing 99.9 of the time it's a suspension there's very very few exceptions to that it's a suspension there's very very few exceptions to that but once they've decided it is then they take your history into question the way that's the way they kind of do it they don't say oh this is a guy who's got a history so no benefit of the doubt it's more like let's just determine if it is a

suspension and then if you've got a history we're going going to add to it. And, you know, the thing here, and I said the same thing with Tanner, you know, and Brock Besser, it is your onus to not hit the head. And the only thing that even gives you a chance to escape punishment for it or mitigate punishment for it is if the player you hit moves their head really quickly at the last second and you've got no choice but to do it that didn't happen with Besser and that didn't happen with Nurse and I thought that the contact was a lot more violent with Reeves than it was with Jeannot like neither case is good Besser's hurt and he hasn't come back and you don't like to see that. And Nurse is hurt and they just said they needed a couple days to figure out how serious, although he was walking around after the game.

You don't like to see that either. But the only thing to me that was a question about this was was it going to be in person or not? And then when they said no, I think everybody realized it was going to be in person or not and then when they said no I think everybody realized it was going to be five I thought there was a chance it might be four but then you remember the history and I I don't think is anyone is surprised um it was going to be five and you know Reeves obviously felt terrible about it um he went down the hallway to the Edmonton room during the third period to apologize to Nurse face to face which was the right thing to do

obviously but you still have to face the punishment and I don't think anybody is surprised at the punishment no especially when you consider even when the Leafs players were asked about it after the game. And though they did note that Reeves isn't a guy that would be necessarily going and looking for that type of hit, they all conceded it was not a situation you want or like to see regardless of what side you're on. And when you hear that from the Toronto side, you knew, yeah yeah that was just flat out a bad hit and some further discipline would be coming something like five games seems to fit here yes I think that's I think Toronto was hoping for four but again the history in question that's what got

us up to five all right Jack Campbell put put on waivers on sunday which means he's been cleared from the player assistance program which he entered back on october the fourth so where do things go from here with campbell well i would expect that he's going to clear and that means he will go to the american hockey league grand rapids and and play there it's kind of wild right now if you really think about it. Grand Rapids goalies, they have they have Billy Huso there and now they're about to have Jack Campbell there. Number one, obviously the first thing you think about is Campbell's health. I didn't realize he'd been cleared to return until I was told that he was put on waivers because you're not allowed to

do that while he's not cleared. So you just hope that he's in a goodvers because you're not allowed to do that while he's not cleared. So you just hope that he's in a good place and you hope he stays on the proper path. These things are never easy. They are challenging and you wish him the best. I don't know what his future is in terms of playing for Detroit or being part of the organization, but that's secondary to Campbell just being in a really good place. And that's all you can say. And in keeping with the goalie theme, Elliot, what's going on with Carolina?

By the way, what a neat moment with Spencer Martin, his first career shutout Saturday. Did you see at the end of the interview he did? The towel? Yeah, he's going, do I'm allowed to keep this? Do I give it back? Really neat moment for the oakville product but anything you've had that happen to you before right as a player ever said

that too yeah like i remember the first time it happened with me was the year marty san luis won the heart trophy that was my first year at hockey night 0304 and he had a six-point night in Calgary I and I interviewed him there and he said to me can I keep this and I'm like oh yeah that's yours and he was so excited he later made he told me later that he had all the souvenirs he had from that game including the score sheet framed and the towel was in the frame but I always remember that was the first time that someone said to me, can I keep the towel? Is there any story that you remember in that?

I remember Ilya Samsonov, when he was in Toronto, he was like, oh, I'm allowed to keep this? That was a neat thing for him, especially for non-Canadians, when they kind of recognize that. Yes, good point. It's kind of a cool thing to be a part of. And not so much a can I keep it moment, but I remember, I think it was Tavares' first year.

It would have had to have been his first year in Toronto. A couple of months in, we had him for a post-game interview and he said, he goes, this is my first hockey night towel. And I looked at him, I'm like, are you serious? Like how long he had been in the league at that time. And I guess the way it makes sense, because the Islanders wouldn't have played a ton on hockey night over his years there, but it took that long for him to get one.

And he was almost the sense of finally, I got a kick out of that and remember that one since. You know, what's funny about that is I remember a game when of that and remember that one since. You know what's funny about that is I remember a game when Tavares was in Toronto, and I asked for him in between periods, and Kimber Auerbach, who's the great PR guy on Long Island, he said, can you do us a favor? Casey Sezikis is a Toronto area guy.

Can you interview him? He would Sezikis is a Toronto area guy can you interview him like he he would love to do an interview in Toronto so I was like sure no problem like if it's if it's that meaningful I would be happy to do it um just you know Tavares but Tavares could have got his towel earlier if Kimber hadn't given you the Heisman on him it's all Kimber Auerbach's fault that Tavares didn't get a towel sooner. I'm glad that comes out. Actually, that happened the final weekend of the Joe Lewis Arena in Detroit. The Saturday game there, Montreal was in town at the end of the year. I was working sidelines.

Similar situation with Danny DeKaiser. He hadn't ever received a hockey night towel. And Todd Beam, the PR guy there was said hey would you consider that and it was a first intermission interview and it's not like anyone had popped off for three points early where you're going well we've got to interview that guy so I thought yeah bring Danny on that was neat yeah you know what so it's those PR people they're looking out they know who it matters to they they know that's a good little thing to put in the pot anyway so one of the things I was wondering on the weekend was you know Kachetkov was hurt and he obviously played on Sunday when they beat the Blues and then uh

Rod Brindamore pointed out that Freddie Anderson was going to be out for a while so I was checking around to see if Carolina was looking for a goalie. And I think the answer is not right now. Like they obviously with Chekhov healthy again and Martin putting up his first career shutout, they do have enough to get by if they need to. And we'll see about Anderson. And the one thing that I kind of forgot is that you have to remember the Rod Brindamore injury decoder, which is, oh, a limb fell off your body well you shouldn't be anything more than day to day like he's one of those guys when it comes to injuries

the black knight from uh yes the black knight from body python i could still bite you look you stupid bastard you've got no arms left yes i have. Just a flesh wound. You know, he was like that when he played, and he kind of thinks like that now. And I don't know what the timeline is going to be here with Anderson, but I was reminded that it's always tough to take Brendan Moore's word on injuries because he's just like, ah, player available, great. Player not available, he just doesn't think about it.

So the sense I really got is until the Hurricanes absolutely know what's going on here with Anderson they'll wait and sort this out they can they're good enough that they can get by with Kachetkov and Martin uh and you know I think as the season goes on they'll figure out what they need to do there and they won again uh on sunday um you know nature's is unbelievable right now 13 point streak and you know i don't know if it'll ever turn out like this and this might not be the right comparison but you know one of the great sayings i've been told there's there's a friend of mine who always uses this saying there's two ways you can solve your problem you can either do it yourself

or you can trade to solve your problem and it's always preferable to do it yourself and there was a time last summer and they just admitted it where he thought he was going to be traded ultimately he didn't find anything he liked they didn't find anything they liked and he stayed and him and brindamore sat down man to man and said okay um this is what i want and this is what i like they said to each other this is what i want and brindamore said okay if you want that this is what you got to give me and they've both delivered you know brindamore's giving him the time and nature's the way he's playing shows he's really deserves the time it reminds me a bit of tortorella and Vincent LeCavalier 20 years ago,

how Jay Feaster said, you know, you guys better get used to each other because neither of you is going anywhere. And that didn't quite happen here. They did look into moving him, but ultimately it's two people who sat down and sorted out their issues. And, you know, Carolina at this point in time,

they've solved their problem by not trading him. And Natchez has solved his problem by doing what he needs to do. And it's unbelievable right now how good he is. Very impressive. And hopefully Anderson turns out okay. He's had a lot of injuries. But I was just told from calling around that it's premature to see if Carolina is going to go hard after a goalie here. The way Natchez is going right now, you could be between the pipes for the Hurricanes,

and they'd still be okay putting up wins. Well, let's not get carried away here. Although, Kyle, I have to tell you, if I could do it over again, I would play goal. Really? Why? Yes. I played goal in university and in beer league for a couple buddies I had some friends who were on a team and they were going to get kicked out because like this was before like rent a goalie and dial a goalie and stuff like this and they were told they're going to get kicked out of a league at Western if I didn't play net for them and if they didn't find a goalie

so they asked me can you do it so we don't even care how good you are we just don't want to get thrown out of the league so i played like four games and i loved it if i could do it over again i would play net for sure i loved every second of it even though i had no lateral movement yeah i would have loved to have seen that oh i was loved like i i was not afraid like i did not i got hit but i but like if you deked me you had to miss because i was not stopping you there's a scouting report on freedom and write it down folks yeah all right keeping the goalie theme going here for one more the final thought which is brought to you by GMC. Logan Thompson, his first game back in Vegas after he was traded to Washington in the offseason.

We later learned it was something he had desired, in a sense, looking for a fresh start, the opportunity to play a little more. How about the moment where the building welcomed him back, and what did you think of the look on his face taking all that in? He didn't know what to expect, eh, Kyle? He was worried. That's what I thought. Yes, 100%.

First of all, I did a great tribute. It was a really nice tribute. And you could see how much it meant to Thompson. When Logan Thompson played in Vegas, they were always a little bit in fear of what he could say. Because, you know, he was so brash and he was so unafraid that they were always like is he going to say something that we're going to be like oh my god I can't believe he said that and you know there's two types of people I think first of all you don't

get to the NHL and be at a level where Logan Thompson is like nobody's going to be surprised here if he's on Team Canada but you don't get to a level where Logan Thompson is. Like, nobody's going to be surprised here if he's on Team Canada. But you don't get to a level where Logan Thompson is without being confident. But because of the route he took, you know, he didn't get drafted. He went from Brandon of the Western Hockey League to Brock University, which isn't the route that a lot of players take, and he gets signed as a free agent by Vegas there's probably also a little bit of a chip on the shoulder nobody believes in me I don't

know if insecurity is the right word but there's always that that you know what like I really had to fight and scratch and claw for this and I'm not sure why I really fit in the universe. And, you know, it's pretty clear to me that that's never left him. That, you know, like I would think that Vegas would probably say the idea that we didn't believe in Logan Thompson is crazy. But he wanted more of a role. He's getting more of a role in Washington. He's, you know, he's obviously like Washington's got some interesting decisions to make this year. They've got both Lindgren and Thompson unsigned and I'll say this like I don't know what the Capitals are going to do here but I've had teams who told me that they

don't think it's impossible as long as the two goalies are okay with it that the capitals keep both of them now i don't know that it can happen but they said they could see the capitals trying like it's working for them but the two of them have to want to do it and like thompson to me is just one of those guys he He's brash. He's confident. But there's also a little bit of a layer of people don't believe in me. I'll show you. And I think that's what that reaction was. It's like it reminds me a little bit of Sundin in Toronto. He wasn't sure how the reaction was going to be.

And it was emotional. And you learn in that moment which what you should have probably known years before is that everybody if you put out an effort for people they'll always thank you for it and you could see how meaningful that was for thompson it was it was a great moment it really was a nice moment on sunday night in vegas and you know what you can't mention this game without mentioning ovechkin too. Three more. 13 this year. Right atop the league lead. Made

a great defensive play on Barbashev too to prevent one. I don't know. I mean, I never would have thought we'd be talking about this this season. But here we are. That was the final thought brought to you by GMC. When we come back it's the

thought line you're listening to 32 thoughts the podcast time now for the thought line a reminder the phone number to call 1-833-311-3232 if you prefer to email 32thoughts at sportsnet.ca is the way to do that elliot you remember uh the last thought line we kicked off uh with pete the old play-by-play voice of the Plymouth Whalers. Yes. So Griffin Porter, who helps curate the emails and the voicemails each and every episode, did you know that he is the play-by-play voice of the York University Lions men's hockey team? I did not know that. Shout out anybody whose background is university hockey. That's where I started too. So he wanted to let us know that when he calls Lions games, he's got to deal with a Jaden McCarthy, a Brandon McCartney,

a Brendan McCarthy, and a Brian McAndrews. And he says, he says, one of the mccarthy's mccartney and mcandrews all wear numbers 25 26 and 27 so when he does his roster sheets of prep beforehand they're all next to each other i gotta say this griffin when you make the nhl it'll be easy for you nothing will be harder than this he should go to the coach and say, you got to bench two of those guys at night to make this easier on me. Wow. That's great prep. All right. So we'll begin this thought line, Elliot. And then also remember the great story from Jacob from Long Island. His dad gets hit with the puck, still watches his Devils win.

And he was asking about the puck. Were they listening? Were they tracking what they were doing at home? Yeah. So Peter from Chanahan, Illinois writes in, hey Elliot and Kyle, I'm an off-ice official. I can only imagine where this is going to go. Okay. All right. Yeah. I'm an off-ice official in the AHL and a couple of guys on our crew also work for the NHL club. The NHL tracks the pucks from the time they leave the freezer pregame until they go out of play.

Every puck is logged, whether it is used or not. Every unused puck goes back in the freezer after the game. When a puck goes out of play, the time of game, the time of day, and where it went, section, player milestone, et cetera, is logged and that puck is deactivated. Sorry, the NHL is not tracking anyone in their home. So thank you to Peter for clearing that up. Well, Peter, I really appreciate you sending that in, but I have to say it would be funnier

if you would have said the opposite. They are watching every move you're making. They know where you are and where you are at this exact second. This was a great answer, Peter. We really appreciate it, but it was not that funny. Can we improve on that next time, please? You got to match our level of humor. Not that it's a very high bar,

but we've got a bit of an officiating theme here out of the gate fridge so hang on to your hats carl from newfoundland hey elliot and kyle with the number of reviewable calls in the nhl on a nightly basis i was wondering if any teams have hired retired officials to work in their video room i would think that having an official in the room with their knowledge of the rule book would help a team determine whether to challenge a call or not. I'd just like to get your thoughts.

You know what? I'll say this, I don't know. And the only reason I don't know is I know there was a team that talked about it. Oh yeah. Yes, you know what? I'll check this. There was a team told me last year that either they did it

or they were thinking about it. That's a great question. You know, teams have like one of the famous things did when they really cut down on the hooking and holding after 2004-5 when they came back after the year-long lockout lindy ruff brought in some nhl officials he was coaching buffalo at the time some things that are old or new again um but he was coaching buffalo time he brought in nhl referees to training camp and said we are calling these camps under any the new nhl rules and the players went bananas they're like there's no way

we're actually going to play like this and they did and um you know that was so i've seen things like that it's a great question i know someone was considering it i'm gonna try to find out um if they did it great question That makes a ton of sense too. Yes, it does. A voicemail now, Ashley from Calgary. I'm a relatively new fan and I'm trying to make full sense of the roles of the linesman versus the referee and like, what can each of them do? What can't they do do do their roles ever overlap

and do the people who fill these roles do they do one or both or does it change over a career love the program thanks so much guys go Leafs go you're in Calgary you're saying go Leafs go they're going to throw you out of Alberta well first of all uh welcome aboard glad you're saying go Leafs go, they're going to throw you out of Alberta. Well, first of all, welcome aboard. Glad you're a new fan of hockey. We are welcoming all new fans, the more the merrier. And thanks for the question. It's an excellent question. Generally, once you're in the NHL, you stay either a referee or a linesman. There's really not much crossover there. You're one or the other. The basic rules are, like the easiest way for us to tell you this is that the referees call penalties and the linesmen handle things like icing and offsides and breaking up fights. That's another one the linesmen are responsible for.

But that's the easiest way to explain it and the best way to look. Now, the crossover duties question is a good question because there are situations in a game where if the referees miss something, the linesmen can say, hey, I saw it. Like an injury or a high stick or situations like that you will see a glass puck out of glass like did it go out directly or was it tipped basically is it a penalty or not so you will see situations where all four of them huddle and they're asking each other what did you see like tell me what you saw here help me out so those are um the you know

the situations where there is uh the crossover I do remember occasions where maybe if there was an injury or two particularly when it was because it used to be it hasn't been this way for a long time Ashley but it used to be there was only one referee and two linesmen and I remember going to a game as a kid where the Leafs I can't remember who they were playing but the referee got hurt and had to leave the game and Sweet Knox who was a famous linesman big guy he had to become the referee for the game and it was very clear even to like like 14-year-old me watching, he wanted no part of calling penalties. And the game turned into a gong show. So there are, like now, that there's two of each.

And in the playoffs, when there's a backup in the building, that doesn't happen. But it used to happen that occasionally, one would have to take the responsibilities of the other. It's a great question. James from Linden michigan cheers guys number zero has become a popular number in the nfl and is also used in the nba and mlb has an nhl player ever worn zero is it even allowed thank you for the question

um there have been nhl players who've worn zero. Well, one, Neil Sheehy. Yeah, I remember him doing it, who's now a player agent. Neil Sheehy was the guy who wore zero. He was also the guy who openly loved to take runs at Wayne Gretzky. He was the guy. And the idea that you shouldn't touch Gretzky if you went to him with that, he would be like, get out of here. He's on the ice. I can hit him.

John Davidson, who ran the Columbus Blue Jackets for a long time and also was a Hall of Fame broadcaster, he wore 00. So there's been a zero and there's been a 00. Yes. Martin Buran also for a brief window. Oh, I forgot about that. Emergency call up from the Quebec major. Well, at the time was the Quebec major junior league.

I forgot about that. Or double zero. And also you can't do it anymore, right? They banned it, right? Well, and the reason is because when they went to a digital database for statistics in the 90s, having players input as number

zero, it confused the technology. So they outlawed any player from wearing zero. That's the reason why. It's like Y2K. We're going to hit the year 2000 and the world is going to explode that's right it's like something out of office space did you borrow my stapler um so the three

numbers that can't be worn anymore are zero double zero and of course 99 for Wayne Gretzky. Thank you, James, for the question. Up next, Ted, a Flames fan living in Edmonton because I married the love of my life here 30 years ago. Oh man, the things we do for love will be a Flames fan move to Edmonton because of love.

Hi Elliot, Kyle, and Dom. Love the podcast. Was thinking about how much, though, I dislike shootouts, especially when the player skates in slowly or doing a crazy zigzag-type motion. Because Netsaw's out of the league now. You don't have to worry about that anymore. Great point.

I don't know if it actually helps the score, but some players seem to like to do it. My thought about how to fix this is to allow the opposing team to have a chaser. Just like a team has to put out a new shooter each time, the opposing team would put out a new chaser that would start at a standstill at the defensive zone blue line. Once the shooter touches the puck at center ice, the chaser can try to catch the shooter. It makes it more like a breakaway this at least feels more like hockey and it would be more exciting for me would love

to hear your thoughts on this idea see the reason i'm saying oh my god is not because i have a problem with this question it's because like this is how merrick is sneaking back into the pod because this was his idea so anytime that someone comes up with like one of the Merrick ideas in the podcast I'm assuming it's him just submitting it to see if he can get it through I'll tell you why I don't agree with that remember what happened this year between Stutzler and Barkov yes so that's a no for me I like I understand it it's not the first time I've heard it you're not the only person to suggest it I don't want someone chasing someone else at full speed with a board there it's just a bad bad bad idea and the other thing too you have

to think if you were to put that wrinkle into the shootout the percentage of a goal being scored would go down a little bit and so would like 15 round shootouts become more commonplace therefore dragging on the game and the night and all of it too love the thought you know what you you were mentioning there was an hl game uh before the oilers leaves game on saturday didn't they have like a 12-round shootout in that game? 12-rounders. Zach Lestopchuk scored the winner for Belleville. I could only imagine like Chris Knobloch and Craig Berube chasing all those guys off the ice.

Like, are you guys kidding us? Get out of here. Well, apparently they, like, because it was an afternoon game, knowing the Leafs played at night, they had one less commercial break each period. The intermissions were a bit shorter just to get the game over a little bit quicker and allow time for everything to flip over before the Leafs and Oilers at 7 o'clock. So they tried, but the players were having none of it. Oh, yeah?

You think that was their rebellion? Oh, yeah? Yes. You're going to screw us a TV timeout in the intermissions? We'll get you back. You know what? Become ungovernable. I like this open rebellion by the Sanders and the Marlies.

All right, lastly, Wally from Kentucky. Hey, Kyle and Elliot. My name is Wally, and I'm a hockey fan in Kentucky. Love the show. Appreciate the great work y'all do. On Thursday night against the Panthers, Jesper Bratt got a power play goal, a shorthanded goal, and an even strength goal.

Hat tricks are rare, but ones with this variety have to be much, much rarer. Who is the first player to complete this trifecta and who has completed the most? Thanks again, and go Cincinnati Cyclones. Nice. Cincinnati's in Ohio, not even in Kentucky. But I guess they don't have the –

I wonder if they still have the Kentucky team. First of all, Wally, thank you for the question. Before we get to that, the one thing that should always be mentioned when people talk about that situation with Brad is New Year's Eve 1988 Mario Lemieux the great Lemieux scored an even strength goal a power play goal a shorthanded goal all in the first period and he had a penalty shot goal in the second and i believe his empty netter came with like one second left

so he scored five goals in five different ways one of the most incredible things we'll ever witness in a hockey game absolutely so here's the thing elliot since power play goals and shorthanded goals were first tracked in 1933-34 this is is kind of surprising. Do you have any guess how many times this has happened? Didn't we have a guess last week that was like way off? I'll say 25. There have been 170 instances. Not even close. I was just off a tad.

Wow. 137 different players have scored an even strength goal a power play goal and a shorthanded goal in the same game do you have a guess of who's done it the most here's your one uh okay don't overthink it oh i was gonna was going to say Gretzky. That was the first guy that came to my head. No. You overthought it. No, I definitely didn't overthink it. That's the easiest guess. Mark Messier? No.

All right, just give it to me already. I guessed twice. You've already said his name, Mario Lemieux. He's done it seven times. Oh, really? Yeah. Oh, I figured he wouldn't be the answer to two things i don't know why i figured that it's completely illogical i was like all right let's talk to all of you i'm not gonna talk about him again

as many remember he had one good season and didn't do much other than the 88 89 year that's right that's pretty funny. The Pittsburgh people are going to kill you for this. You are never going to be able to set foot. Well, you'll be able to go to Philadelphia, but you won't be able to go to the rest of Pennsylvania. Yeah. All right, Wally.

Great question. Great submissions once again. 176. I never would have guessed. Griffin Porter, thank you for your work as always. And once again, 1-833-311-3232, 32thoughts at sportsnet.ca. Back to wrap 32 Thoughts, the podcast. Before we wrap, wanted to take a brief moment and just congratulate the Toronto Argonauts

for capturing the 111th Grey Cup. What a story with Nick Arbuckle coming in and getting the job done for them. Okay, some hockey to look forward to on the network this week. Tuesday night, the Calgary Flames continuing their four-game homestand. The New York Islanders are in town.

That one can be seen on Sportsnet 1, 9 Eastern, 7 o'clock Mountain Time. Scotiabank Wednesday night hockey this week. The Vegas Golden Knights are in Toronto to face the Maple Leafs. Toronto enjoying a lighter portion of their schedule. David Amber and company come on the air. 7 Eastern, 4 Pacific.

Puck drop getting underway a little after 7.30, 4.30 Pacific time. You could have listened to anything, anyone. We appreciate you taking the time to listen to Elliot and I. For the two of us and Dom Schrammati, have yourselves a great week, and we'll talk to you again on Friday.