32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Canada Tops the Hockey Mountain (Again)

Episode Date: February 21, 2025

In this episode of 32 Thoughts, Kyle Bukauskas and Elliotte Friedman put a wrap on the very successful 4 Nations Face-Off. Elliotte admits he made a mess of his MVP ballot (10:54) and the guys talk about the pressure that was on Jordan Binnington in the Final (14:27). The fellas discuss the lack of penalties (17:17) and get into Canada keeping true to form and finishing a best-on-best tournament strong (19:36). They talk about whose stock rose most in this tournament (23:30) and remark on how hockey really took a W this tournament (30:44). The Final Thought focuses on the resumption of the NHL season and the potential for Mikko Rantanen to be moved again before the trade deadline (36:14).  Kyle and Elliotte answer your questions and respond to your voicemails in the Thought Line (44:01).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

Off the drop, it gave him one forward and nearly got a shot on. McCrary sends it around, Morgan waiting, Carter, David, scores! Carter McDamon for Canada! Welcome to 32 Thoughts, the podcast presented by the GMC Sierra AT4X. Dom Schermati, Elliot Friedman, Kyle Bacosk is with you. It is the wee hours of Friday morning. Elliot and I are still in Boston after just covering the four nations face off championship game, Canada in overtime, Connor McDavid, the hero. Elliot, 15 years

ago, Sidney Crosby was the hero in a 3-2 overtime win Canada versus the US. This was not the Olympics, but boy did the stakes sure feel large as this event built and definitely heading into the final on Thursday night. Did we witness, it had been talked about a bit coming into this tournament, did we witness a passing of the torch 15 years after Crosby has his moment, Connor McDavid has his against the Americans? McDavid had his moment, and your interview post game with Crosby was great, because Crosby said how happy he

was for McDavid. But this was not the official passing of the torch. And McDavid even said that postgame, pointing out, we'll see Sid as the captain of Team Canada in 12 months at the Olympics. The Olympics are 350 days away. So no, we cannot talk about it yet as the passing of the torch.

The people who are going with that, you are premature. Like a baby, you are premature. It's not yet. Now I want to talk to you about something. Tell me about your pregame interview with John Cooper. What did he do before you started rolling? All right. So, cause we did a pregame interview with him before the

Finland game here in Boston on the Monday afternoon. Okay. And we go to do one here before the game Thursday night. But we were set up slightly different. How the interview was shot was a different angle on the hallway. So I opposite sides, opposite sides instead of long way down the hall, it was up against the four nations backdrop that set up for all the rights holders that do interviews there. Okay. Okay. So I put myself in one spot and I usually try to put myself where it's easiest for whoever the interview subject is knowing where they've got to go next, if it's back to their room or whatever, it's a quick exit for them. I position myself to make it easier for them. So I did that here. So he comes over, a little bit of preamble before the interview starts, and he stops

himself. And he goes, wait a sec. And he thinks about it for a moment, and he goes, no, we gotta switch sides. Because when we did the interview before the Finland game, he was on my right side, and he's standing on my left side when he comes to the realization that no, we've gotta switch. And so Cooper comes on the other side of me,

just like we did three days previous, and then the interview began. So the superstitions were out in full force. That was neat, because it's funny, like when we do interviews with him down in Tampa, it's always the same setup. You never have to think about it. A slight adjustment here in Boston this week,

and he was like, no, no, no. We've got to do it how we did it the last time. Canada beat Finland that day, and then they beat the US Thursday night. That's awesome. I heard about this after it happened. Somebody tipped me off, sent me a text saying if Canada wins, you have to ask Kyle on the pod about the Cooper interview.

That's awesome. And you know who's like that too? Cooper's captain. Absolutely. So years ago, I don't know if it's changed now, because I don't do your job anymore. But I used to do your ringside reporting and Crosby hated pre-tapes. He was not thrilled about them. And we interviewed him in a Stanley Cup final. I can't remember if it was the first one or the second

one. And we did a pre tape with him. And the Penguins won the game. And when I saw him post game, I said, you're gonna have to do a pregame interview every time now because you just won your first one and he looked at me and he said that's the only bad thing about this victory so I'm glad to see I'm glad to see that Crosby and Cooper have the same tendencies. Yeah you know actually. No wonder they wonder so successful. You can ask Christine Simpson, she's got a similar story with

Crosby in the playoffs of whether it was a pregame warmup interview or intermission interview or something. It's the same thing. They did it the first time. He didn't love the idea, but the penguins won. And then the routine continued from there. I think that's so good that Cooper's like that too. And he remembered that detail in the moment. Yeah.

What a game. I mean, what a night. Fantastic hockey, fantastic tournament, big win for the sport. Everything that could have happened in this tournament to go right did. Like nothing's ever perfect. There are always things we can pick apart. And the one thing I really do believe is that as we start to recognize the physical toll that this tournament took on players, like one thing right now we're gonna realize is, guys are gonna miss time

and we'll talk about this in a second. Some teams are gonna say, don't like February, don't like February. But for the most part, this was a huge success. The players deserve a ton of credit. They played their hearts out. One of the things that some people were telling me is that If you're a young player and you're watching this you have to realize That it doesn't like offensive skill isn't going to be enough to turn you into a winner.

What this tournament is going to make people realize is that if you're not a committed two-way player and you aren't good with your details on the defensive side of the puck, not just the defensive zone but the defensive side of the puck you will not be able to play this kind of hockey because the two games with the U.S. and Canada and even the other games in the tournament they were brilliant defensive games you think about all of the great players and the offensive talents they had and the amount of great chances were at a minimum considering who was out there. Now the US had Canada reeling at the beginning of overtime and Bennington saved them and

McDavid obviously had some great moments and scored the tournament winner on a big defensive breakdown and a rare one by the USA. But Kyle, that's what stood out to me is that if you aren't a detail oriented two-way player with a real commitment to defend, you will not be good enough to be successful in best on best. Especially when going back to when this roster was first selected, naturally there's the why would you have this player when you've got this guy over here and look how much points they're putting up and I'm not suggesting that those that

weren't selected aren't 200 foot type players. My point only is from a Team Canada management and coaching staff perspective and you can see it also with team USA. That was absolutely the filter that things were running through. There's the personality aspect too, of course, and how you're able to find a lineup of players to gel quickly in such a short event and trying to have the right personalities come together in that sense. But it's also those types of players that can adapt that type of hockey so, so quickly. Mike Sullivan in the morning when he does his rights holders chat

after his regular media on Thursday, he was asked about, you know, who at this time you've been around Team USA here the last week and a half has jumped out and maybe surprised you anyway and the two names he brought up were his top two centers Jack Eichel and Austin Matthews he said I knew they were great players I didn't fully realize until seeing them up close how brilliant and committed they are to the full length of the ice and playing in all three zones. And that's why, a big part of why the Americans were such an absolute handful. And even without Quinn Hughes, even without Charlie McEvoy in the final,

even without Matthew Kachuk for the majority of the game, they gave Team Canada everything they could handle and it took Bennington's brilliance as you said and a hell of a shot by McDavid with the one opportunity, glorious opportunity he got all night because otherwise it was really really tough to generate much of anything. Yeah even a great player like McDavid, a great skater, it was, they were all over him this tournament. He, you know, obviously had the great goal against the US, and like we said, the winning goal tonight,

but he really had to battle for every inch he got. Now, I was one of the voters, I had one of the 12 votes, and this was a really challenging one because we had to submit with 10 minutes to go in the third period and I had my If Canada one and I had my If USA ones and it was, you know that GIF of Charlie Day from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia where of Charlie Day from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Oh, I remember. You know, where he's got all the papers all over his walls and all the lines going everywhere.

The threads connecting. The threads connecting. I felt terrible for the people who had to count the votes because what they allow you to do in that situation is they allow you to say like, if this, okay, here's your one, two and three, and here's your one, two and three, but you to say like if this person okay here's your one two and three and here's your one two and three but you can say like if this player scores the winning goal or if this player has a great overtime like

you can move people right so just so everyone knows if Canada won like with ten minutes ago in the third period my ballot had Crosby one, McKinnon two, and I actually put Bennington third because I thought he was having a really strong game. I just felt if Canada won the way that game was going, he was going to be the guy and I put in brackets, feel free to move Bennington up if he has a great finish to this game. And I actually thought the way overtime went. Yeah, I wrote that. I actually thought.

But how is that? Well, that's the way they allow you to do that. You are allowed to do that. But I understand, like, you know, if this player scores the winner or something, then that changes things. But if he has a great finish, I guess it's up to the decider. I understand like, you know, if this player scores the winner or something, then that changes things. But If he has a great finish, I guess it's well, you know what? Terms great. I mean it was a great finish. Don't get me wrong I you can argue this with me, but I will say that whatever

Whatever your argument is. I think that came qualified. No, I was he was fantastic I'm not pushing against that at all. Like to me, I thought Bittington won the MVP award at the beginning of overtime. Like when I was watching this and then McDavid scored, I was like, Bittington has to be the MVP of this tournament. But the funny thing is, knowing that I did that, so when McKinnon won, I was like, okay, you know, he had a great tournament

and he was second on my ballot. I have no idea. And someday I'll ask them, how did you guys count my ballot in the end? Because I said if Canada won, Crosby won, him too. And I said if McKinnon scores the overtime winner, make him one. If B if bitting has a great finish put him one and I have no idea what they did like probably threw it out. They're like, we don't know what this guy wants. It's too late I'll probably never be allowed to vote again So in case anybody's wondering if us won my ballot had Brady Kachak first, Connor Halobach second and I had Jacob Slavin third. I really felt one of the US defensemen had to be nominated. I felt that Slavin or Faber or Wurensky, all of them were very deserving.

I got to tell you, one NHL player texted me and said that Slavin was the best player of the tournament. Yeah, I believe it. He was incredible. And what a coming out party for Brock Faber, too. Oh my goodness. All these guys were tremendous. They were just fantastic.

But I really thought Bennington, I really thought when they came to announce the term in MVP, I thought it was gonna be Bennington. I was actually kinda surprised it wasn't. Not that I'm gonna argue with McKinnon, but I really thought that Bennington was gonna win there. And I loved how Cooper pulled him aside to tell him. Way to shut grab the authority.

Yeah, way to shut up the haters. Because you had to think to Elliot, I mean, as much as I'm sure all of them tried to block out all that was going on around them in the lead up to that game. He had to know there was the whispers, especially because I mean, he had played a great game against the Finns Monday, and then bang, bang, bang, late in the third, suddenly it's interesting and the game's in the balance again. He had to have known there was the chatter going on. I mean, right from when the roster was announced, that was the one area that it was pegged for

Canada going, it's A, their weak spot, and they didn't make the right decisions there John Cooper mentioned we pick a team that was built to win and Bennington whether it was the good vibes of being back in the building where he won game seven in 2019 are just the ability to put together an incredible performance when his team and by and large this country needed it the most. He was he was phenomenal. I was I was happy for him. And you could see like that little kind of twirl he did amidst the throwing his arms up in the air after McDavid scored the winner.

It was I think like a lot of people across the country of Canada, just some joy and a big exhale all at once. Yeah, I mean, there was so much behind the scenes. It was so much bigger than hockey. You know, I mean, obviously there was a lot made of the Trump call to the US team on Thursday morning. I thought Jack Hughes said it really well.

He said, you shouldn't need that kind of motivation at this point. You should be motivated yourself and to beat Canada because you know, the hate is real, the respect is real, but the hate is real too, right? And you shouldn't need any more motivation to win it. And I would bet you the Canadian players didn't think they needed any more motivation to win it with everything the fans were feeling because of all the stuff that's been said in the last few weeks.

When it's over, you can look at it and say, we're glad to win one for the entire country at this time. But in the moment, I don't think you win like that. I think you're purely focusing as you focus on yourself and you're winning it for your teammates and you're winning it because you despise the idea of losing to that other team and and I would say that that's probably I would say that's exactly how the US players feel too you want to win for your country sure but in that moment you want to win it for your teammates first and because you really despise the other team too and don't want to lose to them I

Did you think that was a too many men in overtime I did it was Really really close. I thought the US had a beef there like these guys did not want to call penalties It was that I'm a one-hole penalties. It was the whole tournament. Yeah, the whole tournament. It was blatant, like they could not call the one on the project. They could not call that one.

But the whole tournament, they did not want to call penalties. Yeah. It was very close. It was not one, but two instances in a brief moment that you could point to and be like, that's too many guys. It was really tight. I yes I understood why the Americans were upset about that one that look there were a lot of great players

who didn't play Morrissey woke up and couldn't play big coming out party for Thomas Harley he played great twice in emergency situations after being plucked off a near beach trip to get there. So that was great for him. Fantastic job. I thought the coaches in game, how many times, the Pittsburgh Penguins they've talked about is Mike Sullivan should he still be the coach there? Now if you want to argue with me it's gotten stale and maybe it's better off for everybody that's fine but you cannot tell me that the Pittsburgh Penguins would easily find a better

coach than Mike Sullivan. At this tournament we were reminded what an elite coach he is. He made a lot of great calls, starting the kachaks apart, then putting them together, some of the defense pairings, the system they played, the way they played. Excellent. John Cooper in the championship game, he had a lot of great calls putting moving Marner up you know Marner had a huge game a huge game I'm sure every Maple Leaf fan is hoping that Marner takes the momentum for this and flies with it but moving Marner up was huge in this game. Some of the other decisions he made throughout the tournament,

obviously sticking with Bennington being the big one, Cooper had a lot of wins, he continued the Canadian tradition of, I don't care how we start, it's how we finish. That's what that's what Canada does when they're at their best. And he did a great job of it. I mean, there's not too much I can find fault with here. I thought Brady Kachak was fantastic. Someone had to lose this. Even if I was a US hockey fan, would I be annoyed? Yes.

Would I be disappointed? Yes. Would I hate to lose to Canada? Absolutely. But what do you really have to complain about? They played great. They played great. They played great. And, you know, in my lifetime, I think there's only been once where I've seen Canada in a game like this. And I was absolutely shocked they lost it.

And that was game three in 96. They were up two one late and they gave up four in a row. I remember watching that game and I said, I cannot believe this happened to a Canadian team. Since then, best on best, when they lost to the Czechs in 98, when they went into that shootout, I was like, 30 Canadians could shoot here on Hasek and they weren't going to win. They just weren't't gonna win. Like they just weren't gonna win. Tonight, I was nervous, but they, oh like I said, they always find ways to win these games. Always, when it's best on best.

Always. And I think it's incredible. Like again, the Americans, I'm sure they're annoyed. I'm sure they're pissed off. I'm sure they're hurt. But they played their hearts out. And they've got to be going into the Olympics next year and saying, we're just as good as these guys are.

No question. No question. And you could tell, you're just leaving the arena there in the aftermath and walking by the US room, you could already hear the whispers of, we'll get him in Milan, we'll get him in Milan. Like that becomes the focus now for Team USA. It's funny, remember when you sat down with Crosby, the 10-year anniversary of his Golden Goal, and he talked about being in the room there after the third period and the first half of that

intermission it was shocked because of the last minute goal that Parise scored a tie it and as Crosby said they had nothing going on really until that point and suddenly boom off we go to overtime and then just the whole idea of okay someone in here can be a hero. I guess in the Canadian dressing room in overtime on Thursday night chatter stayed throughout there wasn't a lot of quiet nervous moments conversations continued and it's one of the players has said to me you know you look around okay there's Connor all right there's McKinnon okay there's Crosby, okay, there's McCarr. The idea of like, I think we've got the best players in the world in our room here. At some point, one of these guys is going to make a play and everything's going to be

fine and sure enough, McDavid ended up being that guy. But just like with a moment of such tension on the outside, in that room, they were like, yeah, no, we'll be all right. We've got the guys to do this. I would feel that way too. If I looked around and I saw those people in there, I would be as calm. I would be calm. I would be like, we're going to find a way.

Yeah. So who's, who's stock really went up in your eyes? Let's go. Let's go Canada first. Whose stock really went up in your eyes? Thomas Harley for one. Yeah. As you say just the emergency situation that he came in. I mean, I thought it was a it must have been a really good feeling tournament for Drew Doughty I know he's been around a while but The nervousness of okay. What's this gonna look like? Am I gonna get a chance to play? Can I still play at this level? I thought he got better as the tournament went on. I

Would say Sam Bennett Yeah impact player In both I was games I would say Marner Yeah, impact player in both US games. I would say Marner, finished strong. Yep. Again, if you're Toronto, you're hoping he soars with this confidence. I would say, even though he's a great player, I would say Devon Taves I thought he was fantastic.

I thought Pereko was really good too. Yeah he battled. He battled. And even a guy, I mean Brendan Hagel's putting together a career year. Yes. But. Yes. I mean namely for the way he handled things the first meeting with USA back on Saturday

and then just, I mean, he was, the line that he was on, like they were, throughout the tournament, capable of generating some really productive shifts. Maybe not always resulting in something on the score sheet, but it was effective. It was the kind of performance that keeps you in the conversation when it comes time to name Team Canada for the Olympics next year. For the US, I'd pick all their defensemen.

For the US, I'd pick a ton of their defensemen. Faber, Hanifin, Slavin, Moranski, McEvoy before he got hurt. Jake Sanderson, nevermind the goal, he was just really composed out there and they put him in a lot of positions to be successful. You know, offensively, Eichel, I thought was really good. I thought Gensel was really good. Dylan Larkin started as the fourth line winger and... Moved up.

Had some incredible moments. Brady Kachacko, he said it on the air. I thought he was fantastic. I thought he was superb. Right, because that's been the conversation around him the last few years. Imagine what he would be like in a playoff type environment. Yeah. And that was all that on steroids. on him the last few years. Imagine what he would be like in a playoff type environment.

And that was all that on steroids. And he was one of the best players on the ice every game that he played in. I would have to say that as long as he's not in any way hurt or anything here, I think he has a monster second half of the season for Ottawa. Cause now he's got a real taste. Yes. Of what those types of games can feel like. And they should get there. They should get there. I thought Jake Gensel was very good too. I thought Gensel was very good and very dangerous. To me the biggest winner of all though was probably Bennington. But those were some players on those teams that I thought really stood out. I'll tell you this, just

on some of the other rosters, I thought Dallas looks, Dallas probably feels very good about trading for Michael Grandland. I thought he was excellent here. I thought Ottawa's defenseman, Matt and Palo, I thought was really good here. Essel and Dale, I thought was really good here. Jesper Bratt for the Swedes, Lucas Raymond for the Swedes. Lucas Raymond was very good. Yes for brat was very good Erickson AK I thought was very good. Yes

He was a handful I thought Jonas Brodean was excellent Yeah, I mean it was only one war sling. Yes Yes, Sam Erson the one game he got. Yes. Like that was a big moment for him. Guys who concerned me a bit. Rantan didn't have as impactful a tournament as I would hope. Soros just really had one nightmare game. You know, a tough one to watch. And you know, I have to say, like this whole Pederson thing. Yeah. Yeah, it was, it was rough for him here. Really rough for him here. And I'll say something too, like, I don't know what to, I know he's battling something. I Don't know. I don't know

There's a lot of pushback on that. I I don't even know what to say about it So I'm just gonna stop there, but there's a lot of pushback on that Yeah, well you look at the two of the names there right ranting and Patterson for two different reasons kind of looked at this event is. Not a fresh start but just something different to get your mind off with this had been going on in your season with your club team and to get some juice back into things and maybe get your energy level and the way you're playing to a different level. Just didn't quite happen. Did not quite happen. Did for some others, not for them.

So we learned Thursday night, Elliot, that you were dead wrong with your prediction about this tournament. Completely wrong. Although I did hedge nicely on the day of the game Thursday morning. Yes. Yes. That's right. You went off the road. The more I saw Crosby here. Yes. And I don't like doing that. I really don't like doing that. I really feel that if you make a prediction, you should stick with it until it can't happen. I just watched Crosby here and I said I cannot pick against this guy. I can't. So I only bring that up because did you see who nailed the prediction for Thursday night? Who? Craig Barube. Yeah, did you say 3-2 in overtime? I don't think he said overtime but he did say I think it was

actually Jesse Fuchs from our shop that asked him prediction for the score. He said three to Canada. Maybe he should start gambling. It's a little concerned that that's where your mind went to immediately. Well, I mean, if you nail it like that, I will say this. There was one GM who will not be named who said 3-2 in overtime. But he predicted the US to win. Well, that doesn't count.

No, but he was right about 3-2 in overtime. What a great tournament this was, though. What a great tournament this was. What's the lasting impact here now? I guess we won't know for some time but even talking to someone with the league just as we were leaving the rink there Thursday night. So in a couple days out in Los Angeles, there's the the charity hockey game to continue to make funds with all

the devastation from the fires out there back in January and he was saying like you know they had done a really good job right out of the gate to get celebrities and people to be involved in that but he said it's been off the charts since this event started because it's hockey and people want to be around that right now particularly down here in the US with how much attention and an interest this whole event garnered you know Mike Sullivan called it this would be the ultimate celebration of the game. It absolutely was that.

And I think the ripple effects are going to be felt here from quite some time. It may not be fair to try to quantify it exactly right now, but this is going to be cool to see kind of where this thing goes. If nothing else, heaven forbid, you know, of course we got the Olympics coming back and I know they plan the World Cup in 2028. No more going nine years without something like this. Yeah, that's got to be over. You know, the number one thing they have to do is they just have to make the game available to more people. Hopefully this gets more people interested in coming into a building, but they have to make sure that more young people get to play. You know, the biggest challenge to hockey is the cost, right?

So what you have to do right now is you have to make sure that kids who want to skate can skate. You have to make sure that kids, I mean, you don't even have to play ice hockey. You can play ball hockey or roller hockey or pick some kind of hockey, but you've got to get, I think it's Andrew Farrens that used to use the line, a stick in every kid's hand, right? There's going to be a whole bunch of kids here who are gonna want to say I want to say I want to try that so we're gonna make sure they're able to try that that's the way you grow and That's you know

That's the only way that we in are going to win and a collective We are going to win from this that more kids are able to play hockey and the biggest hurdle is the opportunity to play it because of the finances or the ice or whatever so how do we make sure that people can play it that's how we win. And we're going to see this again. It's going to be kind of a different game in a year. It's the double IHF game, so it'll be different. But the best players are still going to be able to play.

Yeah. Countdown is on to Milan officially now with the Four Nations faceoff wrapping up. All right. Well, before we get to final thought, Elliot, how about, how about the crowd on fantastic crowd? Fantastic crowd. Yeah. Canadian supporters, US supporters. I met a lot of Canadian fans.

I'm sure you did who came a long way. I believe there were some. Altercations like I know of one that wasn't that far from us, but generally I thought considering the passion of the crowd, it was pretty well behaved. Like at the end of the game, there were a bunch of US fans who stayed to watch the trophy ceremony and the medal handout and the Canadian fans, at least around us, they weren't being jerks to them.

Like they were cheering, but they were being respectful. There was no taunting. Like in a building like that, in an emotionally charged time, you could see a lot of things going wrong. For the most part, I didn't see anything over the line. Did you? No, and I mean you guys probably had a better vantage point than I did But when we went up and tracked down Seth Jarvis's buddies that made the 30-hour trek the five of them from Winnipeg to be here for the game on on Thursday

How did they look? Oh, they just, you could tell it's pure adrenaline and it was a kind of a multi-day thing that they did to get them obviously from driving here and then flying back and they're like no we're driving and the one said yeah somebody's mom and dad are not gonna be very happy if we do not bring this car back to Winnipeg with us but I asked if I just said you know because as we're doing the interview you could hear I'm sure the USA chants going on around us I just said like how was it up in in your section they said no like they're the rabbit fans or passionate fans're grouped in and around a bunch of US fans but they've been respectful and have been you know pretty pretty welcoming too. So that was encouraging to hear and hopefully it

stayed that way as the the night went on because you know up in the 300 levels that's where it can get a little bit testy but it sounded like at least at that end of the rink it was just good banter and competition amongst the fans there, respect above all else. All right, and with that, that'll bring us to the final thought brought to you by GMC. So amazingly, Saturday, the regular season of the NHL resumes. Do not be surprised if some of the players that we saw suit up for Canada and the U.S. on Thursday are not in the lineup for their club teams when things get rolling again. And...

You know, we signed off. Brock Faber was 36 and a half hours away from a game. Connor McDavid was 37 hours away from a game Unbelievable those guys will be playing on Saturday afternoon Don't think so and the oilers have back-to-back afternoon games Saturday and Sunday. I might give him the weekend off. I Think he might get it. Okay, I That wouldn't surprise me in the least. So I have to drag him out of the rink with a Squad of Clydesdales, but I'd give him the weekend off that wouldn't surprise me in the least. So I have to drag him out of the ring with a

squad of Clydesdales, but I'd give him the weekend off. That's right. Put him in a straight jacket. You're not suiting up. You need rest. But with that, rest is one thing. There were some injuries that came out of this event. Elliot, so who should we be keeping an eye on here that could potentially, obviously we know McEvoy. Yeah. Matthew Kachuck didn't play much here. Matthew Kachuck is the one that stands out to me. So one of the things we were hearing in the last day or so

was that when this returns to action, there are going to be players who are gonna be out of their lineups. And that the injuries they had here or got coming into here had either they'd either been hurt here or their injuries had gotten worse and they were going to miss time and I think Matthew Kachak especially after he couldn't go basically in the middle of the second period you could tell he wasn't going to be able to go again.

You've got to think that he's going to miss some time for Florida. And I do wonder about Crosby. He's the ultimate gamer and the ultimate winner. But you could see there were times, especially on Thursday night, that he was really struggling to get anything going. I'm curious to see what his situation is going to be in Pittsburgh. And I think the Penguins were prepared for this. I think, um, you know, what the way their season is gone and with how much they owe Crosby for

everything he's done to them. I think if you would have told them that this might cost him time and we'll see, like, I don't know that I'm just you know saying if it does I think the penguins would have said we'll deal with that you know he we owe this to him so we'll see but I think there's gonna be some other guys too I think I definitely agree with you some guys will get rest but I think there will be others who are hurt. And now they're going to miss some time. And we'll also get to some

regular NHL business. Yeah, so anything we can touch on or look ahead to now, I mean, we're just a few weeks away from the trade deadline, we mentioned Miko Ranton and earlier, is he a name to the he's the he's the guy, I think a lot of a lot of people are kind of looking to see You know where this is gonna go with him. I do believe there were some talks between the hurricanes and rantin and during this

during the foreign Asians and We'll see where this goes You know because I think that if Rantnan is a pure rental, I think the lineup is going to be very long. And I think it opens up, it opens him as a rental. Because don't forget, the thing about Rantnan is that, so the Blackhawks ate 50% of his salary, right? So if you take a look at him in Carolina, his cap hit there with the hurricanes is 4.625. And they the hurricanes have three retention spots.

Like they don't have a retained salary in anyone there. So if they want to flip or end and it comes to that, it's little over 2.3 million. Anybody can do that. So you're telling me there's a very real scenario the hurricanes you know gave up nature's gave up jury to get ranted in the first place and even with the idea of retaining salary to

make it more attractive but there's a scenario where they could do that and then trade him again before the deadline not only trade him but with a rental Type return coming back the other way to them. Well, I think this like we'll see how this all goes I don't want to jump to any conclusions, but I do think him as a rental Like it opens it up for almost anybody to go get them, right? Like you're gonna be able to find a way to handle ranting at 2.3 million. So now obviously if they treat him as a guy who's willing to sign an extension, but if

he's not willing to sign an extension in Carolina, how who else is going to be comfortable doing it? We'll see. I mean, there's a lot of variables here. But I think the thing with Rantanen is, like I said, if he's available, there will be teams that say, we can't sign him, but we'll want to do him as a rental. And I think it could be good teams.

But we'll want to do them as a rental and I think it could be good teams you know like I think You've got to think teams like Vegas Dallas Winnipeg Florida Tampa Toronto I Wonder what you could get from him with that kind of competition Well to your point that would drive the price up yes

Wow like like like we'll see like you're not the first person who said this to me that Considering what Carolina gave up are they were are they really gonna flip him as a rental I? Think the question becomes What can he's not gonna be a typical rental because if Carolina retains Who's not doing what they need to do to get that guy at 2.3 million? so number one we've got to figure out is he available? And number two, we've got to figure out what are teams going to do to get them at that number. It's going to be

interesting. Because all these teams are going to be sitting here and saying if we don't do it, who around us is going to do it? who around us is gonna do it. Yes. The idea of, wait, he could have been had for that much of his cap hit and we didn't inquire? Or we couldn't pull it off? Mm-hmm. Oh boy. Gonna be interesting. All right, well how about that for a finisher? That is the final thought brought to you by GMC. We'll take our first break and come back with the Thought Line. 32 Thoughts, the podcast continues after this. All right, welcome back.

Time now for the Thoughtline. One eight three three three one one thirty two is the phone number to call to leave a voicemail or you can submit an email. Thirty two thoughts at sportsnet.ca. And Elliot, it's been fun as we have taken a break here to focus all of our efforts onto Four Nations for the last week and a half. A lot of our listeners have submitted their entries to the Thoughtline with a Four Nations theme as well.

We're all thinking international here over the last little bit, which has been kind of fun. All right, hit me. OK, here we go. Sam from Ontario. Hi, Kyle, Dom, and the other guy. Ha ha ha ha. I was watching Sweden versus Finland, and I was wondering if the players on each team communicate

in their respective national language on the ice and on the bench. For instance, does the Finnish team yell wheel wheel during play or would they communicate in Finnish and yell Pjora Pjora? What about on the bench? Do the players and coaches communicate in their native language or is everything happening in English like the NHL? Keep up the hard work. Great question. I can speak for the Swedes because I was in their dressing room when they were asked about this. It was actually after the game against Canada before they prepared to face Finland.

They were asked, do you communicate in English or do you communicate in Swedish and they all said Swedish and they all said it was actually pretty nice to play a game under those conditions once in a while and I don't know for sure about Finland but I would expect it's similar because if you heard their coach speak in English you know he was very careful like very short bursts of conversation, like his answers were rarely more than 10 words long. So I'm betting that he spoke and finished too. But I know the Swedes for sure. They spoke in Swedish and they kind of talked about how nice and refreshing it was. Yes. And I think to Sam's point, like with the example that he provided

there of little things on the ice that you would yell at a teammate, like wheel wheel, for example. I bet in those cases where it's happening so quick, I'm sure there's still, or there was some English, right? Yeah, I agree. Because all these players are in the NHL where you would speak English and then those moments of things happening so quickly. those moments of things happening so quickly. I bet it's just instinctively, it's the English word that comes out than the native language for them. So it's a bit of a mix, but the dialogue, to your point,

I would say it would have been Swedish and Finnish for the majority of that event. And I still don't understand what the Finns are saying. A Finnish reporter actually came up to me and had me say a few words in Finnish. I think Arpaon Basu did it too from Montreal. Oh yeah, how'd it go? I would say a word and they said,

that's not how you say it, you say it like this. And I'd be looking at the page and I'd be like, how do you get this from that? That language, I have no idea. No idea. But it was so cool that both of their anthems were performed live. Yes. That it wasn't a recording.

That was a really powerful thing. And the Finnish anthem, I don't know if I'd ever heard it in its entirety before, it was beautiful. Yeah, good anthems. The one I always remember was, there was an Italian swimmer, Pellegr there was an Italian swimmer Pellegrini, I think Federica Pellegrini. She was an Olympic champion. I covered a couple of those. And so there weren't a lot of great Italian swimmers, but she was one of them. And I really first

heard the Italian anthem when she won, and it has got some real pop to it. But I do love hearing, I also remember the Kenyon anthem at the Olympics, it's very haunting. There's been a few times over the years and I would agree with you in this particular case that you mentioned that I have heard an anthem I don't really know at sporting events and I'm like wow that's a that's a great anthem. Very good. All right up next, Adam from the Isle of Mull in Scotland. Wow.

Adam says, Firstly, thanks for the pod. My question is regarding the proposed World Cup in 2028. With eight teams being involved potentially, unless there are some huge changes over the next couple of years, some teams will be required to call on players who do not play in the NHL. So how does this work with the NHL, the NHLPA, and the players, current league? What do these negotiations look like? That's a great question and I can give you some of an answer, but I can't give you all of an answer because that is still 2BD in some ways.

So if you'll notice when the NHL and the Players Association announced the return of the tournament in two years, they also said the International Ice Hockey Federation was not joining them in this tournament. And the reason that is relevant is because if you have the double-ihf You could work with them in terms of scheduling for their club teams that There can be a break So if teams like Switzerland or Germany or Slovakia for example or even Czechia need other players You could say okay There's no league games the players can come and join us because the one thing that they did say was that the tournament

will probably last as long as the Olympics and for the upcoming Olympics that's 17 days so what this says to me and then they were asked like do you think this is going to be a problem and And they kind of said, no, we think we're going to be able to work around this. So what it says to me is either they're going to make a deal with the IHF to sort this out, or they're going to find another workaround. And the NHL gives a lot of money to a lot

of these different federations. I have to believe there's a solution here. That's the way I see it is we don't know the answer. Yes, but I have to believe there's a solution here. Very good. All right. Kevin from Kaladin. This is a timely one. Hello, Dom Griffin and company. These are getting too good. With all with all with all of the recent injuries.

People are hilarious. Yeah. With all of the recent injuries in the four nations face off, it got me wondering who is in charge of diagnosing each injury for each player. Since NHL teams are so protective around keeping their own players injuries private. Does each respective NHL team have their own doctors available? For example, when Kale McCarr, something happened to him with the top brass of Team Canada, which includes Jim Nill, know the full extent of the injury.

Can't see Joe Sackett being thrilled that rivals such as Dallas would know this information. Thanks for all you do. Love the pod. Well, as we've heard here there have been some issues with that. So not every team has their doctor there. You know I think there's a courtesy. Hey if something happens with this your player you have to know about it or tell them about it. But you don't have individual representation. We'll see what happens in the future, but not every player or every team

gets to have a team doctor there. Yeah. When you were on with Kipper and Bourne this week, Kipper had a funny line, like every player is going to have their own individual medical staff here going forward now. Oh, jeez. Yeah, I don't know if that's the answer either.

Yes. All right, Brandon. Oh, it's another. Hi, Dom, Griffin and company. Watching the Sweden-Finland game, Barkov broke his stick. Obviously, you can fly by the bench and have someone hand it to you, but I was thinking, if you're trapped in the defensive zone and your bench is close to you, do you make a dash for it and get within 15 to 20 feet from the bench?

Could someone just throw the stick to you for you to catch or are projectiles illegal? Love the pod and breakfast. I'm glad you like breakfast. The start of the day, it's important to have a good meal. No, you can't throw it. It has to be handed. It is a penalty. Not to the person. No, you can't throw it. It has to be handed. It is a penalty. Not to the person. It is a penalty to throw it. Yes. The javelin toss is legal at Olympic events. It is not legal during NHL games. Yes. And it goes to, if it's a player

that throws it from the bench, that's the person who gets the penalty, not the player on the ice catching it. Or it would be like a bench miner if a trainer were to do it. Not unlike a too many men on the ice type deal. But it's worth the thought, Brandon. Thank you for submitting that one. Absolutely. All questions are good questions.

Yeah. Vincent from the Netherlands. Hi Elliot, Kyle and Dom. Big fan from the Netherlands here who is trying to get all the insights from the NHL through your pod. Oh, you picked the bad place to be. My question is, is a team allowed to extend a players contract which takes them far above the salary cap limit for next year as long as they're under the cap by the time the season starts? If not, what are the rules? Thank you for making me laugh twice a cap by the time the season starts. If not, what are

the rules? Thank you for making me laugh twice a week. Keep up the good work. The answer is yes. It's a great question. It's called tagging and this is a kind of a difficult explanation so I'm gonna try to do it in the simplest possible terms. It used to be the case, it's not the case anymore. So I'm going to use myself as the GM, Kyle as a player, and Dom as a player. Now I know this is already really far-fetched, but just bear with me. We're really going on a limb here. Okay, so let's just say I'm a GM and my team at the end of this season has 3 million dollars of cap room and I want to sign Kyle to a six million dollar extension

The problem is I can't do that because There wasn't enough room Even though the contract didn't take effect this year, technically you didn't have enough room to do it. But, let's just say Dom was on a $4 million a year contract, and I decided I wasn't extending him. Then the NHL would look at it and say, well, because Dom is expiring, you actually have three million in cash base you had before, plus the four million you're not using on Dom next

season. Technically you have seven million dollars available. You can sign Kyle to six. Now I could go ahead and sign Dom again later they would simply look at Dom hasn't expiring contract you haven't extended him yet so you do have the room that's what the NHL used to do to protect against this now that tagging it doesn't exist anymore they took it away but they used to have this rule, yes. Hope that's not too complicated. All right, Jamie from Belleville, Ontario. Hey fellas, long time listener, first time thought liner. With all the talk around international hockey this week, I have a question for you in regards to the World Cup in 2028. If my

info is correct, it sounds like it's going to be an eight team tournament. You are right. I would assume the locks to be Canada, USA, Sweden, Finland, Czechia, Russia being the question mark. But after that, the last two spots could be up for debate. You have Germany with stars like Dry Cytl and Cider and Stutzla and the Swiss team that just seems to be getting better each year at the World Championships with guys like Josie and Heescher. But then you also have a mainstay

in top level competition in Slovakia and up and comers like Latvia and Denmark. So my question is, which other countries do you think will round out the eight teams? Thanks for taking the time, keep up the good work. I have to think there's no way a guy like Leon Dreisaitl is not part of an event like this. Germany has to be in don't you think? Yes I do. Now obviously the Russia question hangs over this too and we'll

see what Russia's situation is in the world in three years. So if they're eligible they're gonna be in it. One of the things I'm not really sure about yet is, is there going to be some sort of qualification tournament? I think I mentioned it on one of the previous pods, but when Donald Fehr ran the Players Association, he came over from baseball, where for the international baseball event, they had qualifying tournaments. The Olympics has qualifying tournaments. You'll remember Simon Nemich of the Devils one of the reasons that it's taken in a bit of time

to get going this year is he got hurt in the Olympic qualifying tournament before this season. So I think that's another question that we know. So there's two kinds of things that we don't have answers to yet. One is Russia's Eligibility and number two is are they going to do some kind of tournaments? All right, let's take a keep an eye on there and we will wrap up this edition of the thought line with a voicemail from anonymous Hey Kyle, Elliot Dom big fan of the podcast. To one of your points on Monday's episode, I had plenty of friends

who are not sports fans texting me about the U.S. Canada Brawls and how invested they were. But to that, I came up with the question, who leads all players in penalty minutes in international play? Whether that's World Cup of hockey, whether that's the old Canada Cup, Olympics, who is the international leader of the Goons? Thank you all so much. Love the pod. Enjoy. Go USA. Wow. Did you look this up? Yeah, well, I had to enlist the good people at Sports Next Steps.

But yes, they've combined Olympics, World Hockey Championships, the World Cup of Hockey iterations and Four Nations for this. And yeah, the name at the top of this list, I would not have gotten. But what came up is career. What country? Germany. Is it like Eric Kuhnhackel? No. Okay.

That's a lovely guess. He played one career game in the NHL with the Minnesota North Stars Oh represented Germany or West Germany at times I'm trying to remember who was five times five times he went to the because Coon when you think of German players around that time, Eric Kuhnhochel was like the big one. I'm trying to remember other German players from that era. There was Uli Hemer. Give me the initials. U-K.

Udo Kiesling? Oh, excellent. Wow. You want to know something? I would love to. Like I did, his name came into my head but I didn't think he was German. Oh yeah. Yeah I doubt it, it's too much self-doubt. Udo Kiesling, that's the UK. Wow. Brilliantly done. 194 pedaling hit. How many? 194. And you said he played in five tournaments? He played in five Olympics. Five Olympics. Okay. Yes. Wow. Over 100 and he had 119 games in the world championships over his lifetime. So, I mean, yeah, the the Pims were, he was pretty well over one a game. So, that checks out. You know who's

second on the list? Ilya Kovalchuk. Really? Yes. Hundred and seventy-six. And they noted Keith Kachuk holds the all-time record for most Pims in World Cup of Hockey events with 72. But his sons are taking a run at that one. Wow. Yeah, you gotta think the Chucks are gonna get up there by the time their careers are done. Yes.

Now they're bringing this back every four years. That's right, under NHL rules. Yes, yes, yeah. Exactly, more room for fireworks. I'm impressed, like, forget giving you the initials. The fact that you got Udo Keesling. Bravo. Alright, that'll do it for the Thoughtline. Thank you, Griffin Porter, once again, for compiling all these for us,

and to all of you for taking the time to write in or call in to keep this thing going each and every week. We'll take one final break and wrap up this edition of 32 Thoughts after this. Alright, welcome back and if you're thinking to yourself after such drama, such intrigue and such emotion and intensity of the four nations face off over the last 10 days, how do we possibly go back to the NHL regular season now? Well, I guess the good thing is you don't have much time to think about that. A brief breather here on this Friday and the regular season schedule picks right back up on Saturday. 14 games in total across

the league on our network. One o'clock Eastern, a day-long hockey again for everybody because I'm sure we'll be hungry for it come Saturday once again. The Edmonton Oilers are in Philadelphia one o'clock Eastern, 11 a.m. Mountain time. That can be seen nationally on Sportsnet. And then Hockey Night in Canada does return with the usual Hockey Central Saturday at 630 Eastern, 330 Pacific, three early games on at 7 Eastern, Carolina in Toronto. By the way, five-year anniversary Saturday of something kind of significant happening between the Hurricanes and the Maple Leafs five years previous. You can look that up.

February 22nd, 2020. What happened on that day between those two teams? Montreal and Ottawa, big game for those two Atlantic division rivals. And Winnipeg is in St. Louis. The Nightcap, the Vancouver Canucks are in Vegas to take on the Golden Knights. Gary Lawless will be part of After Hours this Saturday, along with Scott Oak, of course. There are only so many hours in a day for watching hockey,

for listening to the podcast, and we appreciate you parking some of it here to listen to us. We'll talk to you again on Monday. Enjoy the hockey this weekend.