32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Colonel Sanderson

Episode Date: September 8, 2023

Lots of rumours in the air! Jeff and Elliotte discuss the latest around the Jets and Connor Hellebuyck (3:00), they wonder if we’ll see anything from the Flames (8:00), the Senators lock in Jake Sanderson for 8 years (13:10), news around Rasmus Dahlia (20:10), Morgan Frost extends with Philadelphia (25:10), Bill Armstrong signs an extension in Arizona (27:30), the latest on Shane Wright (32:50) and we might see the “C” handed out in Vancouver (34:30).The guys also chat with Alexander Barkov (37:20), Pierre Engvall (50:00), Tim Stutzle (1:01:00) and JJ Peterka (1:13:45) while they were in Stockholm from the European Media Tour.Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call the Montana's Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemailMusic Outro: Cold Weather Captains - Royal PurpleListen to the full track HERE*Additional tracks heard in this episode were performed by OMA.This podcast was produced and mixed by Amil Delic, and hosted by Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman.Audio Credits: After The Whistle.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.

Emil, are you rolling? I'm rolling, Elliot. Are you rolling? I am rolling now. Welcome once again to 32 Thoughts to the Podcast. We are kind of back, and by us, we mean your favorite law firm of Merrick Friedman and Delich. Welcome once again to the podcast. Before we get into talking about the Jake Sanderson contract, and we'll talk about Quinn Hughes, and maybe you heard about Bruce Boudreau to the OHL,

and Morgan Frost, etc. You will hear, by the way, from Tim Stutzla. You will hear from JJ Paterka. You will hear from Alexander Barkov. You will hear from Pierre Engvall. Those were four of the many interviews we did in Stockholm at the European NHL Players Tour. But before we get to all of that, Elliot,

I'm going to have to wonder here. We're recording this podcast the middle of the afternoon, Thursday, September 7th. Where's trade talk at? People are starting to get a little frisky about trades. Want some trade catnip here. What's going on? All right, Jeff.

So there is some. Everybody had their chance to refresh, restart, recharge their batteries, the three re's, as we all all call them but some people have told me that they've started to hear some things pick up and where it seems to be happening is in cases where teams have too many players too many centers although i don't know if you can too many wingers or you're really tight to the cap and you're trying to see if you can figure out if there's a move you can make.

I just heard the talk has been picking up. And the coaches and GMs are going to be meeting in Chicago on Friday, a new mandatory thing with the league. And so I think that there is a chance that there could be some more conversations there. Some of the things I'm hearing about a little bit, one is Ottawa. They've got to get Shane Pinto signed, and they've got not enough room there. And I think the senators have looked around to see what they could do to open up some space.

Another one some people are kind of wondering about a bit is Vancouver. I mean, it's good news to see Tanner Pearson skating and back because last year there was a real fear that his career was going to be over after the wrist surgeries and some of the issues that popped up there. But if Pearson is healthy enough to play, and I really hope he is for a lot of different reasons, then the Canucks have a lot of wingers and it's another cap thing that they have to deal with so I think there's a few teams like that and all you have to do is just look and see okay who's got too many players at a certain position or who's really tight to the cap and I think they're starting to look around and see okay what are our options out there what are the

possibilities out there? Okay. I want to circle back to something you dropped in there, which is this, uh, this new mandatory coaches and GMs getting together before the, uh, the season begins before training camps open here. But before we get there, I think a lot of us

expected this was going to be the summer of Craig Conroy and Kevin Shevelday off. This was going to be the big summer where the Calgary Flames did a lot of business. They did some with Tyler Toffoli. Diego Sharangovich comes in. But we thought there were going to be, once again, big things coming from the Winnipeg Jets.

Now, we don't need to go back over the Pierre-Luc Dubois situation. So there was something from Winnipeg. But we expected more. Maybe Shifley. Maybe Connor Halibut. Is there any uh fire smoke anything with these two canadian teams the one thing i've heard interesting about halibut is i've heard that there's going to be a conversation between halibut and the jets whenever he gets there and

the one thing somebody told me is as the summer has progressed, there seems to be some thought that it's not impossible Hellebuck could stay there. And I don't want people to get carried away too late probably. I don't want people to go on absurd social media runs with this, which we all know is going to happen anyway. You can't put it. You cannot put that. You cannot do that. You cannot put that out.

It's like there's a great line. There's a college basketball coach. His name was Abe Lemons. He said, never tell people not to think about something because they'll think about it. And the people were like, what do you mean? He says, don't think about a brown cow. What are you all thinking about now? You're all thinking about a brown cow. Yeah, of course. Anyway, pink elephant, you know, I don't want to say anything

with any finality there, but I do think there's going to be a conversation there about, okay, now that's been a few months and everybody's had a summer to think about things, where are we and what is everybody thinking? And I've just been told that the word on Hellebuck is he has an open mind and he's prepared to just listen to what they're thinking. I will tell you this, I had a player and he was a jet he's not a jet anymore dustin bufflin i like when you play my guessing game against me i can assure you the answer is not dustin bufflin i don't know the last time that guy returned a phone call and what this player told me is he said and he he's an interesting guy because he says, look, I recognize that teams can't tell you everything.

And, you know, there are things that teams feel and say about players that they've got to keep to themselves. But he said if there was one thing he would change about the Jets, it's for their key players or their players who are coming to the ends of their contracts he wishes that the Jets gave them more information about what they were thinking the Jets are really quiet about things now some teams they go to their star players and they say are their cornerstone players of their leadership group and say, look, we're thinking about doing this. They don't give them a lot of information, but there are times they will go there and give them information. What this player said to me is the Jets are really quiet about that stuff. And he thinks that when it comes to players like Hellebuck and Shifley and some of the other players there, they really feel that they don't get a lot of

information about what the organization is thinking or what the plans are to make things better. And it doesn't mean that the Jets are a bad organization. I want to be really careful about that. It's just that they're really secretive and the players have indicated they wish they let them in on a little bit more. So I have heard that Halobuck has not closed the door on the Jets. Now, you still have to have a negotiation. He still has to be willing to be happy with what their plans are at some point but i just had a couple guys say to me don't assume anything yet here shifley i don't know i i'm not as sure about that one again you know the one thing i would just say about shifley is i think the jets know internally that centers are hard to find.

They thought and they hoped that Shifley and Dubois would be their center duo for a long time. Oh, yeah. Dubois is gone. And I think this is a very fair question for the organization to ask. I have heard that they have kind of indicated if they go from Dubois and Shifley to no Dubois and Shifley, they better make sure if they're making that trade,

they get a replacement. So, you know, I think that's a very fair thing for them to think of. And Calgary, I mean, it's been quiet. We know they made the deal, as you said, with Toffoli. Hannafin has indicated he's not going to resign. The Flames fans are well aware of what Lynn Holmes said, which is that he's willing to stay.

I think that's important. But I think this is going to be a number that is going to have to be somewhere between 8-5 and 9. But you know what? I'll tell you this. You know what I feel very strongly about here with the Flames? Someone made a good point to me. Jonathan Huberto's extension kicks in this year

10.5 if you're trading elias lindholm what is the plan that makes huberto better yeah i thought that was a great question i agree if i'm the cal listen i think the calgary flames might be one of and maybe are well certainly for me the most interesting team heading into this season. Because to me, they're the ultimate wild card, specifically in the West, because I don't think they're as bad as we saw last season. There's new management, there's new coaching, there's at least one new player. There'll be some players coming up from the American Hockey League as well. And we all wonder about, you know,

the Dustin Wolfs of the world. And we seem curious what Matthew Coronado is going to look like at the NHL level here and more Jacob Pelletier. Thank you very much. To me, they're a fascinating team. And the one player who had a tough season last year, you spent time with him in Sweden

that I'm really curious about is Jacob Markstrom, who with a good season can turn this all around in Calgary. There's a really good team there for each. And I think they feel that way. I think the question is, how do you optimize it? And I thought that was a great point that someone made to me about Huberto.

You can look at it in a vacuum and say, argue the value of Lindholm's eight-year deal. And let's say it's eight times 8.75 or eight times nine. You can argue the merits of that contract for Lindholm. But I think the way you have to look at it is what are the merits of that contract, not only for Lindholm, but for Huberto. Does Lindholm sign for eight more years, put Huberto in a situation to be better and to get back to who he was? I think there's a very good argument to be made for that. And it's like we said about Shifley, Jeff, if it's not going to be Lindholm,

well, show me what the plan is to help Huberto. Okay. Back to this idea of the, well, not an idea. It's a thing. It's happening. It's happening on Friday in Chicago, the coaches and the general managers getting together. This is mandatory as we understand a new NHL initiative.

What's going on here? Well, Eric Engels will be covering this for us. So my condolences to all the people in attendance. But Eric will be going down. And I heard initially when it came up, like some coaches and GMs are like, this is a really bad time. But the league said, we don't care.

We want to do this. One of the things that I think some of the coaches were kind of laughing about, they think that they're going to get scolded about the way they talk to referees and the way they yell at officials. But I also think there is going to be an overarching thing about, okay, this is how we want business to be conducted. And I wouldn't be surprised if on some level, there are conversations about, you know, what is acceptable in a dressing room, what is not acceptable in a dressing room. If things go wrong or something happens that shouldn't happen, this is what your responsibilities

are. You know, I think there's going to be obvious things about this is what we feel are important calls this year like is there going to be a particular emphasis on something like it's been on slashing or cross-checking or anything like that like i said conduct about talking with officials but i've also heard there are going to be conversations about you know just what is acceptable inside a dressing room and if something isn't this is how we want you to deal with it. You know, in this day and age, things get out, Jeff. There are very few secrets anymore. And it used to be in a lot of places, you could do something and maybe that wasn't, and I'm not just saying, I'm not saying the coaches are bad people. You know, just there are differences now in every generation, it changes what is acceptable in a dressing room and what isn't. And the difference now is more of the disagreements,

no matter which side you're on in those disagreements, they get out there and they become things that people have to deal with. The time this used to be private, that's not the case anymore. This is the public generation. So I think the league is going to go out of their way to make sure that the coaches are aware of that. And if something happens in the dressing room that needs to be dealt with or reported, this is how we want it done. Excellent. Okay. Let's get to the big story

of the day and this one's a whopper it's jake sanderson defenseman ottawa senators uh new contract eight-year deal 64.4 million dollars so the aav is 8.05 million that's a big jump from the 925 uh that he was making to which right away we'll jump to the brand new 32 thoughts montana's thought line montana's barbecue and bar canada's home for barbecue eat the ribs email 32 thoughts at sportsnet.ca you can call us leave a question a comment uh at 1-833-311-3232 so in in that spirit, I thought we'd do it a little bit early here. This is from Eric. Hi, guys.

Love the show. As a Senators fan, I was excited to see Jake Sanderson's eight-year $64.4 million extension, and so was he, Eric, get announced. But it got me wondering, in the cap era,

has any player gotten a bigger extension with a smaller, I think he means fewer, number of games played i'd love to hear if anyone comes to mind my first thought was karel kaprizov it depends on what you consider a bigger deal is it aav or is it cash i just looked at aV because he jumped to $9 million. You are right. Kirill Kaprizov is the answer. After 55 games, Kirill Kaprizov signed for a $9 million AAV in September of 2021.

He signed for five years at $45 million, a $9 million AAV after he'd played 55 games. So in terms of average annual value, Kaprizov is the answer. Now, Matt Boldy, and we're noticing a theme here, big brass Billy Guerin. Big checkbook Bill Guerin. Everyone's buddy, Bill Guerin. He doesn't have the checkbook.

The owner has the checkbook. Guerin's just spending the money. Matt Boldy signed for $49 million. Yeah. A $7 million AAV. It was seven times seven after 89 games. So that's another one that came up. But in terms of the actual dollars, $64.4 million after 77 games yeah that's the highest number and i think the

thing that even makes it more unique is that kaprizov and boldy i mean kaprizov especially was immediately a stud those are offensive players those guys have big counting stats you can look at that and you can see how those would happen. Sanderson doesn't have the counting stats. People believe they'll come. So it's more unique in Sanderson's case. Now, I have a lot of thoughts about this, Jeff, and we'll get to yours too. But I look at this, you know one of my philosophies. If you judge a player to be a cornerstone player, sign them up for as long as you can, as quickly as you can, because the price never goes down. So if you really believe that Jake Sanderson is that important to your team,

get it done. And I agree with that always. So my initial response to this is, if Ottawa feels that strongly about him and they know him the best, do it. I support that kind of thinking. I think there's a couple of other things here too. Number one, there's new ownership coming in. Like Ottawa has really tried to lock up their young core.

They've done it now in a lot of ways with one exception that we will talk about in a couple minutes. But they've tried to lock up their guys so this fits their philosophy i also think whenever there's new ownership coming in and the hope is that mike and laura can take over next week and he was actually at uh an event today where they were showing some of the changes in the building whenever there's a new owner comes in i really think they try to do something that makes it look like yeah like we're not going to be like counting nickels in between couch cushions here we're going to be spending some money on stuff and i think the other thing too is and we talked about this in the middle of ottawa's crazy bid the one group that didn't go after the celebrity factor was Andlauer's. And I was told

that Andlauer didn't believe in that because he thinks the truest way to win over your fans is smart, stable ownership. And if you saw the reaction of the Ottawa fans after this got announced on Wednesday night in the middle of one of my fantasy football drafts, by the way, how dare they? Like, I don't have time to worry about Jake Sanderson extensions. I'm trying to draft Christian McCaffrey and Josh Jacobs.

Okay. Anyway, if you saw the reaction of the Ottawa fans, they were ecstatic with this. So I'm not surprised that on the eve of the Anlauer era in Ottawa, that he would say, I'm okay with this if we believe it's right, because he thinks that kind of move is what really scores big in your market.

A couple of things. So this fits Pierre Dorian's MO and it's worked for him. It really has worked for him. Like I know Josh Norris has had the injury woes, but that was an eight year deal, 63 million dollars. Everyone would sign all those guys to those contracts. Brady Kachuk, same thing. Great deal. Thomas Chabot, same thing.

Tim Stutzela. And when you look at the season he had last year, it's a good thing they signed him to that whopper because if he were doing the deal now, it would be more than $66.8 million over eight years for the German center. So, I mean, this is how Pierre Dorian has done business with the Ottawa Senators, so we shouldn't be surprised. You know, sometimes there are deals, Elliot, that give you an indication of where the salary cap is going. My first thought when I saw this is the salary cap is going up and it's going up big time. Jake Sanderson goes from $925 to $8.05 million.

They've been planning on that for the last two summers, about four and a half next year and five the year after i mean we'll see but that's what they're telling people yes the reminder more than anything else okay so what does this mean that i do want to get to shane pinto in a second yes what does this mean then for other defensemen that are due contracts and we think of own power yeah uh with the buffalo sabers we can throw in rasmus dalene as. I'm probably sure you have a thought or two on him. Moritz Seider of the Detroit Red Wings. What does this do now to the marketplace,

the cascading effect here, Elliot? What's interesting to me is that Pat Brisson, who negotiated this deal for Sanderson, he also represents Owen Power. I always look for connections, right? Now, you know,ene and andrew peters and craig revay talked that the rumor is it's eight times ten and a half or in that area yeah you know andrew and craig those guys are really plugged in and plugged in 10.5 10.5 we just went up 500

grand well did it i mean i guess the reports were in and around 10 million about months ago that that was the deal that was apparently a done deal. Back three months ago, we were all talking about this. Many outlets were talking about this. We talked about 9.5. Remember that? Then you hear a $10 million salary come out for eight years. And, you know, it did not bother me whatsoever. Now you're telling me here today that it's 10 and a half.

It's going to be 10 and a half. I've heard from a, from a reliable source that maybe for some reason, hasn't been announced yet. Things that we've discussed, probably a training camp surprise or- I still don't know why it's not announced. I don't see the reasoning for it. If you can explain that to me, then- I don't have an answer for that.

I'll tell you this. I did have some people say there's a little bit to be done there. So don't go with those numbers yet hard and fast. But put it this way. I'm told that everybody believes that there is a Dallin extension coming. What exactly it is, I don't have the exact numbers, but most people believe it's coming. And everybody seems to be very optimistic about it. Do it now before he starts to win Norris trophies. Yes.

And they're going to do it. You know, the other thing too is, is you mentioned cider. You know, the other ones that are going to be interesting is Devon Taves. Yep. And although he's a UFA. He's a UFA though.

That's, that's different. What's McCarr's next deal going to look like? And I'll say this, like I go back to what I said at the beginning. If Ottawa really believes he's a cornerstone player and i thought that guy had a hell of a year last year yeah you do it you get it done you do it i will say this i think a lot of other agents especially now like counting stats because sanderson doesn't have a lot they were very happy with that deal because as you said, Sanderson will be used as a comparable and other people will be able to say,

Hey, my number's bigger than theirs. I'm sure there's some teams gritting their teeth at this one, but auto has got to do what it thinks is right. But what it's done is it's a shot right at two competitors to jump into playoff spots, the Buffalo Sabres and the Detroit Red Wings. We talk about that next three.

You have to take care of your own business, though. Oh, no, no. I totally get it. I'm just saying, like, the cascading effect here goes to two teams you're competing with to take that next step and get into the playoffs. I don't disagree. I don't think you're wrong at all,

but you take care of your own business and that's what you do, but it will have a cascading effect. Speaking of taking care of business, can they take care of business? And if so, how and get Shane Pinto under contract? Well, I think they're going to have to move somebody.

And I think they've been exploring that. You know, it's funny. I had someone say to me, another manager, say, look at the left side of their defense now. They've got Shabbat, they've got Chikrin, and they've got Sanderson there now. And all these guys are signed. That's a position of strength for them. I don't think they're doing anything with that. But I do think they are looking to create some room to sign pinto like they know they're not getting pinto signed for 895 000 you know you know what's interesting we had yarmulke on either last year or two years ago and we talked about how people say columbus negotiates really

hard when people don't have the power of the cBA. And Kekalani defended himself. He said, look, when the players have the power, they don't give us a break. So why should we give them a break when we don't have the power? And I remember when that interview came out, a manager called me and the first words I heard on my phone were, Jarmo was bleeping right. Like, that's what we have to do.

I get it. And so Ottawa has the power of the CBA here with Pinto. He can't sign an offer sheet. He can't do anything like that. He's not arbitration eligible. I think this, I think the kid really wants to stay in Ottawa. Mm-hmm. And I assume at the end of the day, they're going to find a way to get this done. That's my assumption. This is the danger that Glenn Healy would always say to me. This is the divisiveness of the salary cap because everybody's getting taken care of around you, but you're not. And you don't want to be jealous. You don't want to be a bad guy because you're happy for your teammates and you want the team to do well it's hard to be in that case and i think

ottawa is really trying to clear some room to get pinto done we'll see where this one goes speaking of business though as well uh the philadelphia flyers morgan frost signs a bridge deal, two years, $4.2 million, AAV 2.1, 19 goals, 46 points. Real nice season for Morgan Frost last season. I got to tell you, I like this for both. I like it for Morgan Frost. I like it for the Philadelphia Flyers and what the Flyers have now. I've always drawn the distinction between being bad but smart and being bad but dumb. And right now, the Philadelphia Flyers have enough cap space

to be bad and smart. They're not in a position to be bad and dumb here. Anyway, your thoughts on the Morgan Frost deal? I think you're right about that. If you take a look at a lot of their players, they assign them to bridge deals. To me, with Frost, it says to me, deal i think you're you're right about that like if you take a look at a lot of their players they you know they sign them to bridge deals to me with frost it says to me look he just wanted to be in camp he had a really good finish the year to the year end of the year last year and he's like i'm

not missing time remember last year we talked about how tortorella sent out a letter and basically said he wanted everybody there by September 1st. And even though you're not supposed to do that and players can say no, he was trying to set a mentality. I think that something similar happened again this year. These guys know. Thing is, when you're going to have the year that Philly is going to have, Philly, I don't think they want to do this, but you can always take the attitude, you know, we could finish 32nd even with you. So I think you have to know that there, especially when you're a young player, still building yourself up. Like I like to fight for everything in a negotiation like I can, but I look, I could see Morgan Frost saying, you know what? I'm building myself up here.

Tortorella's a demanding guy. I can't be behind. If he's closer to UFA status and is a bit more established, maybe it's different. But I could see Frost saying, just get this over with. I don't want any distractions. I want to build. And that's a case where a team does have a bit of leverage.

The Arizona coyotes, Bill Armstrong gets a contract extension as general manager of the Arizona coyotes. You know what I'll tell you, I know it's been said before that, you know, the easy part is tearing things down. It's the building up. That's difficult. That's an obvious statement. But if you look at the the Arizona coyotes here and what Bill Armstrong is doing, and part of it is,

yeah, tearing it down and picking up, you know, volume, a volume of draft picks. What was that? What was that line that I dropped on, on Dallas green in our interview?

It was always attributed to Napoleon, which is quantity has a quality all of its own. You look at like all the quantity of picks that arizona has but also you look at their contracts they're not getting stung like there are there's no like wow they're getting really hosed on these two deals like well a lot of those actually came in were before him remember when keller signed yep like people murdered john chayka for that contract and it's turned out to be a heck of a contract john chayka deals that contract and it's turned out to be a heck of a contract john chayka deals no doubt but i just look at the arizona coyotes as a team right now

as well and say you know it's not as if they're getting strangled by contracts got a volume of picks what are picks their lottery tickets they're in the lottery a lot here logan cooley we're all expecting big things out of and in the middle of of all of this, there's Bill Armstrong both tearing it down and building it up. Because I still think that there's business to be done there. Listen, I don't think Arizona is going to be as bad as some people think. I don't think they're going to be a playoff team. I think that division is wide open after the first two teams, Jeff. I think there's Colorado and there's Dallas.

And then I think Minnesota is like the next tier. And then, you know, we'll see. I think it's wide open. And I'll say this, you know, right around the beginning, start of the summer, there were people who believed that Clayton Keller was going to ask for a trade. And there was no way that Logan Cooley was going to show up there. And Keller didn't. And Cooley showed up. On that alone, Armstrong probably deserves an extension.

I agree with you. I think this is a fascinating year, but the biggest question there is not in Armstrong's control. The shadow of Salt Lake City looms large over Arizona. And I'm really curious to see how it all turns out. A story we'll follow. A couple of things quickly before we get to some of our interviews here. Bruce Boudreaux signs on as a senior advisor with the Niagara Ice Dogs of the OHL.

Now his son, Ben, is an associate coach there already. So the Boudreaux show in Niagara. Listen, as soon as this happened, I'll tell you, Elliot, the rumors of, oh, Bruce Boudreaux is going to buy the Niagara Ice Dogs. He's going in there to buy a junior team. Oh, really? It was crazy with the rumors. First of all, it's not, it's not happening.

Everybody calmed because I know people have asked, like, is he buying the team? I got a couple of times. Is he buying the team? Not buying the team? I got a couple of times. Is he buying the team? Not buying the team. He's going in as a senior advisor. And I believe he shows up next week to report for duty. But yeah, Bruce Boudreaux signs on with the Niagara Ice Dogs. If you're a senior advisor, do you actually have to show up? Although I could see Boudreaux wanting to be one.

You know Bruce. He loves hockey. Come on. You don't think that Boudreaux is going to go to St. Cath and hang around some junior hockey and his son's an associate coach and all of it? 100%. Anyway, Bruce Boudreaux, back with the team,

the Niagara Ice Dogs of the OHL. You have a quick thought on that one? Just that I know he loves hockey, I'm not surprised. Someone said to me, why would Brian Burke lead the union for the new women's league? And I said, because the guy loves being around hockey. He just does. So people like Burke and people like boudreaux they want to be around and if somebody wants to have them like i don't think they look at that's too small for me or i'm not

interested in that they want to help and i'm not surprised in the least doug wilson hired as speaking of senior advisors senior advisor to hockey operations for the Pittsburgh Penguins. We all thought he was going to land somewhere. Elliot, he lands in Pittsburgh. Well, I'm happy for him because it shows he's healthy enough to get back in. That, to me, is the biggest thing. I know he was hoping to see if there was a bigger role for him that was available at this time.

I think the Leafs talked to him before they hired Tree Living, but I think this is a perfect way for him to get back in. I know Dubas and him, they did deals together. I think they got along really well, obviously. So I'm just happy his health is enough that he can get back in and do this. Absolutely. And a note about the PWHL as well, as the teams are getting populated with their first free agent signings.

And the general managers are, of course, all in place. And September 18th is the draft. So that'll be a story as well that we'll cover as the season unfolds. Training camp there, by the way, starts November the 15th. And we'll wait to see what some of these teams look like. Sounds like Taylor Heisey is probably going to go first overall in that. And do you think the goalie is going second at Toronto? Kristen Campbell?

It would make a lot of sense to me. Put it this way. If I'm New York, though, I'm looking for an elite defender or an elite goaltender. She would fit that bill. I don't know if maybe she's been approached or maybe she's been asked to sign and is holding on for toronto but it does make sense for kristin campbell to to go second to toronto

in that draft we'll see all right a couple more things before we wrap up here first of all there's been a lot of talk about uh shane wright and what's the situation here technically he's one game away okay so the way it works is right now as per the nhl chl agreement technically shane wright would have to go back to junior hockey the windsor spitfires own his rights because he didn't play the minimum amount of games last year in the ohl that would be 25 shane wright played 24 Now he was up with Seattle. He was at Coachella Valley. He was playing with the World Juniors.

I mean, it was trains, trains, and automobiles. Not unlike, by the way, Brant Clark. Brant Clark and Shane Wright kind of had similar seasons last year in a lot of ways, the way that they bounced around. But nonetheless, he's one game short. And if you want to be someone who's a stickler for the rules, technically, yeah, he didn't play the 25 games in the OHL. But it sounds, Elliot, like in this situation,

wiser heads will prevail. Like, Shane Wright should be able to go to the American Hockey League here. Yeah, I'm under the impression that this has been sorted out. I don't know if there's going to be any formal announcement or anything like that, but if Shane Wright does not make the Kraken and obviously his first goal is to make the team. And I have no doubt he's worked hard this summer towards that.

If he does not make the Kraken, I'm under the impression that the CHL is in agreement that it doesn't make any sense for him to go back there and Wright will go to the American League if he doesn't make the Kraken. And the other thing I just wanted to mention is we were talking about Elias Pettersson's interview with us in Stockholm. And I got to tell you, the money is on Quinn Hughes as captain of the Vancouver Canucks.

I think there are a lot of people like to see that. Certainly Quinn Hughes. That's an interesting one. And I like it. Let's say you. I like it. I think Hughes really cares. Like to me, your captain has to care, like really care.

And I think that guy really cares. This is the Hughes's NHL now. And now that, you know that Luke is going to step in and be a big part of that New Jersey Devils blue line as well, this is the Hughes family's NHL. I got a kick out of that clip that was all over social media about him driving the boat and trying to knock his mother out of it. That's something I would do, so I really like that.

All right, on that, we'll hit a pause. We'll come back. You'll hear from Alexander Barkoff of the Florida Panthers, Pierre Engvall of the New York Islanders, also still to come, Tim Stutzla and J.J. Paterka.

We'll be right back. Hey, boys. It's Alex calling from the University of Waterloo. Just calling because I have a solution to the video replay situation. Here's the thought. When one team challenges a play for, let's say, offside or goaltender interference, the refs go to the other team immediately and ask them if they'd like to concede that challenge. If they concede it, then the call gets overturned and the game moves on. If they don't concede it and the refs rule that it was a fairly obvious play

to the point where they could make a decision, then the other team that did not concede gets penalized for not conceding it. Anyways, thanks guys. Thanks to Pod. Hope to see you soon. gets penalized for not conceding it. Anyways, thanks guys. Thanks for the pod. Hope to see you soon. Listen to the 32 Thoughts podcast ad-free on Amazon Music,

included with Prime. So that Nelson, man, he's a hell of a player. He's great. He's so underrated yeah and i remember i don't know if you saw but the all-star game he won the accurate shooting and cosby called it he said people are sleeping on brock nelson for this and he went out yeah so to open up alexander we have to talk about the stanley cup run which was incredible and there's a lot of questions that are going to come out of it but there's one moment and it happened

in the first series against the boston bruins bruins are up three to one in the series it's a tie game it's about to go into overtime brad marchand has a breakaway, can end your season, and Sergei Bobrovsky makes the most clutch pad save to save your season. What went through your mind as you're watching Brad Marchand with a puck on his stick looking to end your season? For some reason, I was really confident it's not going to go in. There was an offensive zone face-off for us seven seconds to go you would have never thought that in five seconds Marchand's gonna be a

breakaway in our own and but for some reason I knew Bob was gonna save that and then ever since it was just our time to roll okay now did you know because you were hoping that he was going to make the save, or did you see something on the breakaway that said to you that Bob was going to make the save? First of all, I thought there's not enough time, and maybe Brad knew there's not enough time to try and make any dig, and then he tried to shoot, and Bob is one of the best in the

league to save the breakaways like he's been in practice there's no one can really score on him in those and for some reason I just had like that confidence in him and that it's not gonna go in he's gonna save that and we're going there over time during that run you beat Boston who had an incredible season you beat Toronto and everybody likes beating Toronto and then you beat Carolina which gets you into the Stanley Cup final was there one of those three series wins in particular that you love the most like it's hard to say like Boston 3-1 down coming back like couple overtimes uh coming back and winning in game seven overtime that was incredible like that's once in a lifetime thing Toronto also in overtime last game Carolina also like two seconds before the end of the regulation Chucky scores that goal

like all of those either overtime or like two seconds like yeah so it was like all of those were we'll never forget that feeling like where I was like either on the bench or on the ice like it was just remember being really excited I can tell like you're sitting here like you're thinking about it you still got the big smile on your face yeah that's like one of the first times I'm thinking about it again. Oh, really, eh? Do you ever go back and watch any of this stuff? I saw some goals, of course, from the playoffs, but I've been trying to take a full break from hockey for this summer.

And for sure, I'll see them again. I'm sure Paul is going to show a lot of those goals in the training camp. Let me ask you about Paul, because that was a fascinating experience for everybody. And it almost seemed as if that was, you know, Paul Maurice's personal revenge tour, you know, take down the Maple Leafs, take down the Carolina Hurricanes. The cherry on top would have been if he would have faced the Winnipeg Jets

in the Stanley Cup final, then the revenge tour would have been complete. How was Paul Maurice through all of this as a first year coach with the Cats? Oh yeah, amazing. Like I have to say, we went pretty much through everything during that season. We started well, we were like four and one starting the season and then pretty much like nothing went our way. We didn't play well. I guess we didn't play as good as we could have. And like in January or something like that, we were 13 points out from the playoffs. And of course, nobody had a great time during that time.

And the way he treated us and the way he got us out of that slump and got us to play the way we played all the way to the end, like it's a lot of credit to him how he got us ready for every game and how he changed our mindset that we're not a 13 points out of kind of team like we're a playoff team we gotta be in the playoffs and actually that helped us because we started our playoffs in January already that night in Toronto what did he say on the bench when he called that time out to yell at everybody? Give me a word

by word breakdown of what he said. 2023, I don't think it's allowed to give you that. But for sure, it got us going. For sure. I can understand why you don't want to say it. During the playoffs, we've heard now,

Ekblad, he was really hurt like Ekblad he was really hurt Montour he was really hurt Kachok got hurt I mean I couldn't believe he played a final game like that like that's one of the things I remember when Shea Weber retired or said he wasn't going to play again the Montreal players told me and even before they said they said you would not believe what that guy goes through to play and i'm just wondering if there was stuff you saw during those playoffs where you said wow like i cannot believe what this guy is doing to play especially during finals those guys like maybe four or five more guys that like would not play in regular season or even like maybe maybe first

run they would not be able to play like there's a line to the medical room before the game to go and get something done to be able to play and that just like tells how bad we wanted how bad we we battle like whole regular season to get to that point and everyone wants to play and contribute. And yeah, sometimes it's going to be like that. And of course, it would have been nice to see them all healthy, but I don't think any team in the playoffs are fully healthy. So everyone goes through something. Was there one of those players or a couple of those players?

And Elliot mentioned Ekblad and we all know about Kachuk at the end. Was there anyone that you looked at before a game and said that there's no way this guy can play yeah you mentioned those names mantour uh yeah gudas gudas was one he's a like true warrior and like he went through a lot and the way he plays too is not the... He's not soft. He's not soft. Like, he's not going to skate by you, or he's not going to not block the shot. He still played every game. Like, just unbelievable.

You know, that's the thing. Like, some of these guys, well, obviously, Gutis signed elsewhere, but, you know, you're not going to have Montour, you're not going to have Ekblad to start the season. And in some ways, I think it's almost cruel in a way you go all you go all the way to the final you do everything you need to do to get there and then the next year there's no break you have to start to make the playoffs and you're not

gonna have these guys there like the challenge is it's big it's very big it's almost not fair it's very big yeah for sure like you're missing those type of guys it's like core of the team and leaders of the team and of course that means like everyone else have to step up and play even better and uh i know we got a lot of good players uh coming in, we're missing two top defensemen. So we have, I think, four new defensemen coming in. Yeah. So I think we'll be fine for sure. As you're watching all this, I don't know how much, like,

they tell you about what they're thinking. Do they tell you much about what they're thinking? They're not asking me to press the button. But, yeah, like we we talk sometimes about some stuff but i'm not the gm and right uh they make all the decisions but if they ask me about like any opinions i'm very happy to share my thoughts was there one of the players you looked at you said i i like that one in particular i like that one. Everyone who's coming in. Oh, true captain. Yeah, everyone who comes in.

I see a C on the shirt there. But that is a very captain's answer. Good for you. Yeah, I mean, all those guys, like, you know, they've been in the NHL for a while, and some of them even more experienced. And Kulikov is coming back. He played for three years when I came to the league. He helped me.

Good guy. Yeah, he helped me a lot to get to adjust to NHL, to the Panthers. And then, unfortunately, he got traded. But now he's back and feels like he never left. So it's great. And then all the other guys, too. You're in a really interesting spot here with the Florida Panthers who are heading into their 30th season.

This is going to be a big celebration year for the Florida Panthers. And you look at the roster, and it's not as if it's the lion's share of players were drafted and developed. You were, Lundell, Aaron Ekblad. But after that, there's a lot of traded and free agents and waiver wire claims. This is a really unique way to put a team together. I mean, I like it because I don't like the idea that there's only one way to build a winning team.

And I think the Florida Panthers sort of proved that last season that there's a lot of ways to make a winning team. What are you looking forward to what are you expecting as you head into what's going to be a celebration season I mean 30 years of Florida Panthers hockey well that's one thing like to get excited about of course there's going to be some badges on the on the jerseys and on the ice and some kind of like celebrations throughout the year for that i know we have some guys who were drafted by panthers four or five guys and other guys come in from trades or free agency and i mean we have people in the organization starting from bill zero who knows

what they're doing and they do really well they know how to build a build a team that plays the way we want to play and leaves leaves hockey as a professional hockey player so I think it's great spot to be right now and like the the standards every year they're going like higher and higher to come to the rink. And no matter like if your next game is in two weeks, you have to work really hard on that day as well. So now with, just on an individual basis, now with Patrice Bergeron retired, do you say to yourself, that sulky trophy is mine? yourself that selkie trophy is mine uh first thing came to mind was that my face off percentage will probably go up like what one percent or two uh he was one of those guys who who dropped my

percentage very low like his definition of a selkie type of player and he was one of those guys who you hate to play against like always you touch the puck he's always there on you not giving you any space or time face-offs huge part he's always there to take the face off and like 70 of them he he's gonna win and their team knows that they're confident with him game of hockey will miss him for sure last one wimbledon i thought jokovic was gonna win that i thought he was gonna find a way to win that you agree i was shocked yeah i agree too he's whatever like 10 years not losing on the center court in wimbledon but obviously alcaraz is something special again Again, they had a great final in Cincinnati.

Those two guys, I feel like they're in their own league. I know you're a heck of a player. If you played Djokovic, how many points do you think you could get off him? Probably zero. You don't think you could get one? Well, maybe on my serve. Maybe one. Like if he makes some stupid mistake. Then I don't think I'll be able to hit a winner on him.

I mean, I know how hard that is and I know how great he is, but I've heard you're a really good player. I figured you could get one or two. I don't really think. You don't? I think if he just keeps returning the ball to me, I'll eventually make the mistake. I admire your honesty.

Sometimes it's not fun to be honest. Well, you gave us a lot of fun last year, and I look forward to more this season. Alexander, thanks so much for this. Thank you, guys. Pierre, I'm going to turn it over to Elliot to ask the obvious first question. Well, I have to say

when I saw you walk in the room with a beard, I said, how long is that thing going to stay before you go back to Long Island? Probably the day I fly back, it's going right off. I was used to having a beard before, but now it's no beard. But it's good.

I think I look younger with no beard. You look good no matter what. Thank you. Lose rules. Lose rules. And congratulations on the deal. Thank you. Seven-year deal.

Why has it been such a good fit for you with the Islanders? Why has it clicked? You know, I think when I got traded and coming over, I think right away I felt pretty comfortable with the system, I like how they play. And also, you know, I get a lot of help from the teammates coming in and, you know, I got to play with great players. And I think Nelson and Palmieri there was, I don't know,

I felt that we had some chemistry going in there. I feel like I'm finding them nice and they're finding me. And they're easy players to play with, if I say like that. What did you learn about Nelson in particular that you didn't know? Because I think he's one of the most underrated, unknown guys out there. Yeah, he is definitely one of the most underrated in the league. I think even like, you know, he's pretty fast.

You know, he has a great shot. Before I felt like, you know, he was more, you know, really good, you know, playmaking, you know, things like that. But, you know, his speed is underrated and his shot is really underrated. He's a good player. Yeah, he's a great player.

But even Palmieri, too, like, he's, you know, he's strong on the puck. You know, he's not that tall as the biggest player, but, like, you know, I remember, you know, he's, like, one-on-one in the corner. Yes. And he, almost every time, he's, like, somehow he, like like gets by the guy

and he gets you on a two-on-one or a three-on-two somehow. So, you know, great players. Smart guys. Yeah. The one thing we know about Lula Amarillo is for the players that he likes, he is loyal and players don't leave.

And you're another in that long list. What does that do to the room? Like you look at a lot of players on this Islander squad and there's a lot of term attached to these guys what does that do to the room like I'm curious like from a player's point of view because you know there's nothing no new shiny toy coming into the Islanders organization this this offseason it's a lot of we're re-signing what we have you know I mean i think you know uh players know what they can expect from each other and i think you know coming in there you can feel like they had a really strong group of guys that were like you can feel in the games you're playing like they

they have your back and like you know everyone is fighting for each other and um you know maybe we have a more routine guys you know They have older guys on the team. But I think it builds faith in each other and things like that. So I'm really happy to come back there to play for the Islanders. I know when you did your exit interview, you said it was a toss-up on whether or not it would come back. What were you thinking that day, and when did you realize it was going to happen?

When the season ended there i knew they had a lot of guys to sign also you know it was coming up you know mayfield uh sorokin um varmalov so you know they have some guys they needed to sign so i just uh i didn't know if they going to be able to fit me in with a team, but, you know, they offered me a good deal. So I think that was the best fit for me. And I really liked my time there. So you see, one of the things I'm curious about here is, because it's Lou Lamorello, we never know when any of this happens. He announces it when he announces it, but we never know.

Like, I remember the night before somebody told me you'll never be able to prove it but scott mayfield is signed like it's done he's not going to the market okay how soon before july 1st did you know you were staying you know i think um we had a good conversations all the way through you know i think i had a pretty good um idea i was gonna stay and you know i wanted to stay and i think i told you also you know if we have something good here like a good deal and you know you feel good about me like i would like to stay in new york and play for you guys uh and you know we had a good conversation all the way through and um and when july 1st came there, I signed the deal.

So it felt really good. We were talking to Rasmus Sandin earlier on. We were talking about Toronto. Yeah. Now that you've had some time to think about leaving and going to the island, what do you remember about Toronto? What did Toronto teach you about life in the NHL? Obviously, it can be a hard market to play in you know especially with the media

but i think you can have it to your advantage too you know if you're and for me i think they were for me the media was always good to me and everyone was really good so i have nothing bad to say about that you can feel that it's it's more more pressure i think you can feel it's in the air somehow but uh you know I think I think it was a you know great to play for Toronto and I think um you know it really gets you um you know ready for what's coming next I think yes but I had a great time there and I think I developed good playing for Toronto from an individual point of I mean, team success is obviously measured by, you know, how far you go in the playoffs,

when making the playoffs, how far you go, Stanley Cup, et cetera. From an individual point of view, what'll be a successful season for Pierre Ingvall? You know, I think I would like to go back to New York with the same way I ended the season. You know, I think I took my offensive game a little bit better. I started to make more plays.

I started holding on to the puck more. You know, I think playing with Nelson and Paul Murray, I think we have some chemistry. So if I play with them, I would be really happy. But, you know, we have a good team. So if I play with somewhere else, you know, I'm happy with that too, of course. How much in the offseason do you follow what teams around you are doing? And, you know I'm happy with that too of course how much in the

offseason do you follow what teams around you are doing and you know the obvious one is all the Pittsburgh Penguins added Eric Carlson I mean how much do you watch what's going on around the division in the offseason or do you just try to unplug you have a little bit of look you know even if you have Instagram Twitter of course it's kind of come up you know. Even if you have Instagram, Twitter, of course, it's going to come up. You see what player goes to what teams. But, yeah, you know, Eric Olsen going to Pittsburgh there was a – That's a big one. That's a big one.

Yeah. I have a pretty good look of where the players go. You told me something once, and I've always remembered it. And that was, you know, you were a seventh-round pick. And I asked you if you thought, you know, you would have a chance. And you said that it didn't bother you because you saw Patrick Hornquist make it as a seventh rounder. And that it didn't matter to you that you were taken late, that you knew you'd have a chance. I always tell young players about that now.

I just always wonder, Pierre, like when was the moment that you said, this is going to work for me, I'm going to make this? Like you said before, I think you shouldn't compare yourself to other players, but if I saw someone else make it from like the seven on Sederberg, Lundqvist, if they could make it, why not me? If you do the job and you have? If you do, you know, do the job and, you know,

you have someone else you can look up to, you know, follow that path, I think it's possible, you know? I think also, like, there's even players, you know, they don't even get drafted and somehow they end up

being the best scoring players in the NHL, so... I don't know. I think my first year coming over to the Marlies, I think it was a learning process, you know, living don't know. I think my first year coming over to the Marlies, I think it was a learning process, you know,

living, you know, on the other side from long way from home. I think it was a big adjustment. Yeah, adjustment.

Yeah. And then I think I didn't have a good season that year and then the season after I kind of lowered my expectations and,

you know, I got to play out more of my game and it went really well in the NH know, I got to play out more of my game. And it went really well in the AHL and I got called up. And I think when Keith came in, he knew what I could do in the AHL. And he kind of believed that I could do it in the NHL too. And I think after the first game there, I got my goal. And I think from then I understand like what I did in the AHL,

maybe I can do it in the in the nhl one of your leaf teammates said to me he said that sometimes the conversations between you and keith could be pretty intense like he said like he said it was he said it was amazing he said he could tell that keith really believed in you yeah but at times he was like i've got to get more out of this guy yeah yeah yeah you know uh like if i felt like he believed in me but also he could uh tell me you know i needed to play better so uh yeah you know we had a pretty good relationship i think uh but yeah he told me when i didn't play good i could tell you you that. You need the honesty. Yeah, yeah. He was honest about that.

Any type of run to a championship is great for a player's development. What did winning the Calder Cup do for you? Yeah, I mean, I think that was, I came from Sweden. I came over until the playoffs there. I think I played a few regular games before the playoffs.

I think winning gets you the feeling that you want to win more. And I think people tell you like winning in the AHL, it's good, but you know, the feeling about winning the Stanley Cup, it's obviously even better and even bigger. But yeah, I think it gets you the feeling that you want to win. You want to win the big thing, the Stanley Cup, you know? And that's probably everyone's dream, but I think if you get a little touch of winning, I think that helps you get the extra motivation,

I think. That's awesome. Pierre, thanks so much for this. Thank you very much. You're welcome. Pierre Engvall, Alexander Barkov, thank you so much for taking time out of your schedule to sit with me and Elliot in Stockholm.

When we come back, you'll hear from Tim Stutzler and JJ Perturka. Also caught up with them at the NHL European Players Tour as well in Stockholm. Two Germans are next. Who? Tim? Three. From ten? In German. Tim, first of all, thanks for joining us.

You know, one of the great things from our chairs is watching young athletes hit their stride. And that was you last season. 39 goals, 90 points. We talked to you last year at the European Players Tour as well. And you talked about mixing up your workouts and changing things. And I remember coming home and talking to Elliot and saying, you know, it feels like Tim Stutzla is going to have a big things. And I remember coming home and talking to Elliot and saying, you know,

it feels like Tim Stutzler is going to have a big season. And you did describe last year for us. Yeah. Thanks for, for having me again. It's always great to be here for us all. It's just, I think it was a lot of fun at the group we had. We had unreal group and coming to work every day was just so much fun and i was fortunate enough to play with brady and g and i think those two guys are unbelievable players and especially having g there and who's been around for so long who's been a captain so long

helped me a whole lot and just staying consistent and come to work every day and yeah getting the job kind of done and And since I switched my workouts and everything, I think that was a big part too. And I did a lot of stuff to get better and hopefully continue to get better. The NHL, it's the best league in the world. And it's really hard. I mean, everybody knows that.

Young players, they join the NHL, their rookie seasons can seem like scrambly, trying to figure everything out and then after a while you know the elite players will tell you the game sort of slows down a little bit once you get used to it did that happen like you looked so comfortable playing last season and you'll carry that into this season and subsequent but did it feel like the game slowed down for you yeah as long as you're comfortable, I think you're playing way better.

I had a lot of confidence in my game and I think I got that from playing with those two guys. I mean, they kind of let me do my thing. And if you play with G, I think everybody would say he slows the game down and he's so smart and kind of finding areas and creating space for the guy who's coming down the middle and i think us we build a lot of chemistry together uh last year

and i think that helped my game a lot and like you said i think i was really confident and i'm still really confident my game i think it can be even better and then hopefully in the next years okay a couple follow-ups here when you say say even better, what are we talking about here? What are you looking at to say this is going to make me even better? I think being able to play in every situation, even playing when the game's on the line, if we are down a goal, if we're up a goal, getting better at my two-way game,

I think that's going to be a really important part of our team. Right now with Josh and Pinto and Castle League, we are really strong down the middle. And I think that's going to be really important for us winning games. Just getting better in every kind of aspect in the game. And I think I'm still so young, so I can get way stronger, getting quicker, faster, and trying to understand the game and the game even more, kind of trying to pre-scout the other players, doing more about the goalies. And I think there's

still a lot of upside. Your GM last year, Pierre Dorian, he said you're going to be a top five, top 10 player in this league. How close do you think you are to that? I think there's still a big gap. I mean, if you see all those guys doing it consistent year after year, I haven't done it yet. So I don't think you can compare me already to those guys. But in the end, I would say I'm a really confident guy. And I think I know what I can do. But in the end, you don't want to put too much expectations on yourself. And I just want to have a good year again. And as a team team i think that's the most important to have a good year there and then i think that the personal success is going to come by itself if we have a strong year as a group and i'm really

confident in our group and i think that's the most important i really believe in this team i think we we're going to be really really good in the next years that. That's, for me, the biggest key of being successful is winning as a group and getting better every year. I also just wanted to ask you a quick one about Giroux. One of the former Flyers told me, Giroux, underrated, demanding guy. Like, he is a really demanding guy. And he told me the first time he got the stink eye

from Claude Giroux, he's like, I couldn't sleep for a week. Okay, so when did you get your first stink eye from Claude Giroux, and what did you do to deserve it? I mean, I have sometimes I think we just look at each other, and he's like, let's go, man. You got to be better. And I can't do that to him yet, but he wants me to.

And so he's so crazy on the bench like it's insane like you just like look at you and would be like mad and like five seconds later he would start dying laughing you know he would just act like he's mad and then he's fine like what makes him mad though like what what do you do that makes him mad he always said he gets bad anxiety when I turn back with the puck and just kind of slow the game down a little bit. And he just gets anxiety, but he kind of wants me to do it too. But then he's like, just give me the puck, let's go. And then I kind of want to keep the puck and stuff and go for a change. And that's what makes him mad.

But no, he's been awesome, I think, for the whole group. And just having him around has been unbelievable. Yeah, hopefully we can have him for a little bit longer than he signed for. You know, you're really demanding of yourself and tough on yourself as well. You know, there are a couple of times this past season where, you know, you'll have like a three-point game and I'll listen to you after the game and you'll be like, yeah, I didn't play well. I'm like, didn't play well.

When I'm one of the three stars, you got three points or whatever it was what is a good tim stutzler game like what at the end of it do you look at and say okay that was a good game what do you need to do yeah i think dominating dominating offensively creating way more chances than the team you play against or when you're on the ice i think don't give them anything kind of i had some games where i played really really good our line had like 15 shots in their line at like three or four and you don't make any points and i think that's still a really good game if the team wins and in the end if you play against the best players every night, it's going to be hard to keep that going. But my face-offs got to be better.

So if I go 0 for 7, that's definitely not a great game. You have some games you're just fighting the puck. Things aren't going right. You just have too many turnovers. And then you still go out and have three points. So that's, like, not a great game for me. It's just playing, winning hockey. I think that's the biggest part.

Barkov said that everybody's face-off percentage is going up because Bergeron retired. So that's... Hopefully, yeah. Hopefully. That's good news. Like, just, I remember a year ago, you talked about how excited you were because you believed this group was going to get there.

Well, last year was a step, and now Tarasenko's in. Like, how do you feel going into this year compared to how you felt last year about the group? Really confident in the group. I've been confident since I got here in the group. I think the guys we have, we are so young, and you just got to believe every year I think you get there.

I mean, for me, it was really hard when I first got there. We lost so many games, and I wasn't used to that when I first got there. So I still hate losing. We lost a lot, but I think now it's really a time for us to get better every season, get stronger, make a push for the playoffs, and then just try our best. I mean, you could tell with Florida, they got in like four points ahead of us and made a push for the playoffs and then just try our best i mean you could tell with florida they got in like four points ahead of us and made a run to the final so it's just i think the group you have in the room i think that's the biggest part that everybody believes in it

and if you don't then that's fine to us but um we want to have a group of guys who want to be there who want to be with the team and just enjoy being around. I think with Tarasenko signing, I think he really believes in the group too. And that's awesome to see that we are making strides every year. And guys like him, guys like G saw what we have in the team and came and joined us in free agency. Do you participate in the recruiting? Like when it was guys trying to get Dabrinkit to stay or get Tarasenko to come,

how much are you personally involved in that? I don't think you can, really. Dabrinkit to stay, it's his choice. You can say whatever you want. If he doesn't want to be there, then I don't want to make him have to be there. That's fine to us. I think the whole group, we've been saying it. We want him to stay we

want him to be part of this group and he's a great guy great player but in the end if you don't want to be there then good luck on your way but we're going to believe in our group and we are going to be strong about our opinion that we want to have this group of guys in the room and i think you can just tell those guys who signed long term they really want to be here and that's the biggest part for us uh the sale of the ottawa senators how does that affect you personally i don't know yet i have no idea i haven't really uh seen any changes or something happened so i think we're really fortunate enough that we have all our kind of core guys right now signed long term. And I think they've done a really good job to do that. And now adding those pieces, I think, is going to help us getting better.

And I think they've done everything they could to make us a better team, especially this offseason. And yeah, everything they said, I mean, adding Chikrin, he's been great. Great guy, comes from around the area, does a lot for the community already. So it's great what they do and see how it goes when the new guys come. Because that's what I was trying to get at. The idea that there was that one uncertainty since the passing of Eugene Melnick. We all know, what do you build your house on? Sand or stone?

You need a strong foundation. And I think we were all waiting to find out. And the sale probably took longer than everybody wanted to. And I'm sure there were moments that as players, you wondered in the dressing room and had conversations about, okay, where is this going? When is this going to end? Is there now that sense of, okay, that's done. And there's our foundation yeah 100 i think especially like in the media like there's so much stuff going around and you had no idea what's kind of going on

but now i think yeah having having a new owner coming in who has been around who's been in the league and knows all that stuff i think it's going to be huge for our group and he has our backs in every kind of situation. And you could really tell, I think, that he believes in the group too, which is great to see. And otherwise, he wouldn't have bought it for that much money. I have a last non-hockey question. Can Brady Kachuk sing anything besides Mr. Brightside?

No, no, he can't. He can't. That's all he does every time. Every time when we go somewhere, he wants to put that song on. And yeah, I can't listen to it anymore. It's every time. It's a great song. It's completely rooted for you.

Do you do karaoke? No. I just stay in the background a little bit, see him put his shirt off and go to work. Yeah, I'm not doing that. That's not for you. No. Expectations this year.

You know, we were having a conversation with Lucas Raymond a couple of moments ago, and we talked about this group that exists in the Atlantic here, and it's the Ottawa Senators, it's the Red Wings, and it's the Buffalo Sabres. And we're all waiting to see which one is going to pull out of the pack first and take that next step. How close are the Ottawa Senators to being that team? Yeah, I think really close. Our goal last year was to get closer to the players,

be able to play some meaningful games at the end of the year, and I think that's what we did. We were in the race almost the whole time, and I think that was good for our group. The guys who played really good at the beginning or at the end were just not there in the middle to win those games. And that was us. But in the end, I think that's what we have to work on this year

to stay consistent, especially in those meaningful games where we got to be there to win those games. And I think we're really close to making a push here. And in the end, I think the expectations are really high. But we just got to go day by day, game by game, and see how it goes. This has been great. Tim, thanks so much for this. Good luck this season.

Thanks for having me. Awesome. JJ, first of all, thanks for doing this second of all i know it's some months ago but great job with the world championships i don't want to talk about the nhl plenty and all that but um you know top forward at the tournament a great showing for germany the silver medal like on the sort of scale of important things that you've already done in your career? Where's that one? First of all, thanks. Thanks for that.

No, I think it's up there with like playing my first, first NHL game, getting drafted. It's right up there. And I mean, with such a young, young team there, it was so exciting to play with all the guys. And I mean, we had a lot of fun. So it was good. That moment where you hear top forward and your name gets called,

what goes through your head when that happens? To be honest, not too much. I was kind of disappointed after the final. Yeah, I get it. I was like, just leave me alone at that moment, please. But, no, later it was a good feeling. I was like, yeah, I think I had a good tournament there. I mean, I played my balls off for all the guys.

And just to get rewarded like that is kind of like a good feeling, yeah. You know, I wonder about it because, you know, you beat the Americans, you lost the Canadians. But I wonder if there's a country, as a German player, like, you know, there's the Finns and the Swedes. Like, they don't like each other and it's a bit a candidate in the U.S. it's a it's a huge rivalry who's the country that Germany likes to beat the most definitely Switzerland it is and it felt unreal to be honest we did that two years

ago as well also in in Riga Latvia and yeah I think beating them because they have like all the media we're like the underdogs going in there they had all the media for like winning the the waltz this year and i think just beating them felt so good oh so that's like the the european gold medal for germany is beating absolutely i can see by the smile wow you know silver i've always found that silver is fascinating because you don't appreciate it when you get it nobody wins silver so when you get the silver medal right away it's like okay that's not the one that i wanted and there's that like you mentioned you know top four yeah i really wasn't feeling it because we had just lost silver is always something you appreciate months sometimes

years later when you look back at the moment i don't think you appreciate it do you appreciate that silver medal now i do yeah and that's so true what you just said because i think just in the moment it's i mean you still want silver but it's so hard like think about it but i think i realized it like i would say two days after that okay yeah i mean we all flew with our medals like afterwards because it's it's it's just so special for Germany. I think it was the first medal since 1930, 1950, something like that. And having something, going back with something

just felt so good. I believe that. Now, who is the Canadian player that you're least looking forward to seeing because you know that they're going to tell you about it oh it's going to be Jack Quinn 100% 100% he's maybe showing up with his medal there I don't know and he's your roommate too he's supposed to go easy on you no but uh we we always have have a lot of fun and uh yeah I mean they played a heck of the tournament he played so good well. So yeah, good for him in that regard.

Have you spoken to him? Like, how's he doing? He's doing better now. Yeah. I mean, first of all, when I heard that, I was like texting right away. It's obviously sucks because we had, I think, so much chemistry also on the line with Dylan there.

And having him out, yeah, it's not the best thing to hear. That's for sure. Mm-hmm. Sort of non-hockeyish question for you i was watching an interview with alex tuck last year where he said you're like the messiest player on the buffalo sabres that is not true i have to say like i'm a messy guy so i can appreciate this that's not true i mean i would say i'm a guy between periods or whatever i might need like a little bit more space just like to chill and and relax kind of like and he's kind of like picky sometimes but he's just he's just kidding but i would say like after practice and

like that there's no way like like as soon as he said that i was like there's no way if somebody's messy then it's got to be him i can see you're you're upset about this you feel that you've been unfairly labeled that's so true yeah 100 and they obviously they trust him more because he's older so i'm just standing there and no one believes me that's you weren't winning that battle unfortunately oh someday jeff skinner's gonna have to do one of those interviews where he and no one believes me. You weren't winning that battle, unfortunately. Someday, Jeff Skinner's going to have to do one of those interviews where he clears up this whole thing. Yeah, that'll be good, yeah. First season for any player is full of teaching moments,

learning moments, special moments. What did your first full season teach you? I mean, a lot of ups and downs. I think there were like games where i think i played really good and then games were like i wasn't feeling it at all but i think just overall like yeah traveling with all the guys they're like just being on the ice practices getting to the hotel late i think it's just learning how to be a pro in that regard what's the biggest thing you learned?

I think how to get ready for games, getting my body ready, especially when you play back-to-backs in different cities or stuff like that. Yeah, just to prepare yourself the best way you can. Because you played AHL, and you get the 3-3s occasionally. What's the difference between a 3-3 in the AHL and a back-to-back in the NHL? I would say just the distance, how much you travel. I think riding the bus is not as bad as flying with a plane for muscle regards. I think that and then, yeah, I think just the time difference sometimes you have.

Because in the AHL, you don't travel. Obviously, you drive the bus, but you don't have the problem with time zones and not that bad so i think that's like one of the biggest difference and when you have a tough night like don granato seems to me like a guy who's like he's demanding but he's trying to make it as positive as he can so when you have a tough night how does he handle that with you? Yeah, like you said, he's really positive. We watched some video maybe the next day and just shows me the clips he didn't like.

But then on the other hand, he shows me like some good stuff I did in the game, which kind of feels good when you get that from a coach and like teaching points. But then on the other hand, he makes you feel good as well. I was going to ask you about Don Granato as well. Very much a players type coach.

I know a lot of you guys really enjoy having him behind the bench. When it comes to leadership on the ice, you already mentioned Alex talking, we think of Kyle Ocposo as well. As a young kid coming into the Buffalo sabers like who do you look towards i think a post was like the first guy when i had like a question or whatever i always went to him and ask him but i would say guys like doleen and thompson are like guys i really look up to because they're not even like good in the eyes they're like so good guys and you can always ask about and i think yeah i think

they have like already with their young of age such a big leadership group you know as as a player i am curious as well like uh when you look at tage thompson that size being able to handle the puck and shoot the puck and do things at his i mean mean, he's enormous, but do things that like a 5'11 or a six-foot hockey player normally does. Like what goes through your mind as a player when you watch him? I feel like his hands are the craziest thing because he's so big and he plays like such a short stick and just like dangling around guys, like spinning, whatever. It's just like, I think it's mind-blowing sitting on a bench,

watching that all of a sudden he digs on around another guy so many highlights he does like every night and it's it's just so much fun to watch do you ever do keep away with him in practice or anything like that have you ever tried um yeah sometimes but i mean his body's huge yeah he must be good it's kind of it's kind of tough to get to the puck there but i wonder what that stick as you mentioned it's so tiny of like there's something you thought you could do like just to leverage it or something you think you get on the puck but all of a sudden you get like a little elbow like in the back so it's cheating is what you're saying it's like he can't beat you legitimately so he's got to cheat the the the two guys that come to mind for that game in practice,

Pavel Datsuk and Alex Kovalev, were always the two that you couldn't lift the stick, you couldn't get the puck. Who was the toughest player you've ever played keep away with? I would say a guy like Caliposo. Because he knows exactly where to put the puck. He knows I put it there and there's no way he can reach that puck. With the knowledge he has and the many years he played in the league he just knows it you know I'm always curious about

you took a huge step last year and one of the young young players once told me said the toughest thing to do is you think you've made it but you've got to remember you haven't like do you kind of go through that mental process in your head i would say like i'm a really competitive person so it's hard to like to be like happy i wouldn't say happy but like content yeah like i i always want to get better every day every day so i think um yeah i don't know if i will ever like be at the point where i'm like i made it because i always think like next day i can be better next day i can be better so I think I'm more on on on that part so that probably helped me a lot is it true that you're the first person in your family to play hockey yes so you started for like you've started

from zero like there was no one like oh my uncle played my dad yeah my dad started actually after me so it's it's kind of fun to play right now with him. Do you school him? Sometimes, yeah. Thanks for everything, Dad. Not going to make you look terrible. When we go play and we play some, I don't know, like hobby league or whatever, we have the goal that he scores a goal that day.

And my brother plays as well. He's 14 right now. And me and my brother, we just pass him every puck in right now and me and my brother we just like pass him every puck in front of the net and just hope he scores one time but i couldn't manage it this summer maybe next one uh that's like he makes the effort uh enjoy the rest of your summer good luck with the same thank you guys thanks to jj paturka for sitting down with elliot nyan and what's almost become an annual tradition when When we go to Europe, we sit down and we talk to,

or in cases like last year, workout with, or maybe go shopping with Tim Stutzler. So thanks to Tim for making himself available as always. I think we all expect another monster season out of this guy. Okay. So that's it for the podcast. Thanks so much for listening.

We are almost back to a regular schedule, so don't worry. It's going to be similar, if not identical, to last season. Monday drops, Friday drops, all of it. Taking us out today, a band that was requested by one of our listeners. The Cold Weather Captains is a Toronto-based rock band

that originally founded in 2018 as an instrumental trio. After the release of their 2021 EP City Limits, the band recruited two new members, including a vocalist, Justin DiDonato. Their upcoming Selfies album is set for release September 22nd. With their latest single, here's Cold Weather Captains

with Royal Purple on 32 Thoughts The Podcast. thoughts to find. La la The world's not so close Take shots Even fail is fun Break loose When there's head up in your nation Do your every best The rest will come with will and patience

Letting the wind and trains Are even when we feel like we're close In this world of ours It's okay to be a turtle Outro Music