32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Deadline Sunday

Episode Date: February 27, 2023

Here’s our 32-team deadline preview special! We recorded this on one of the craziest hockey days of the year as teams were making moves and we were dropping in updates!Jeff and Elliotte discuss each division (with updates) — Atlantic (00:30), Metropolitan (24:00), Central (51:00) and the Pacific (1:21:00).BOSTON (00:35), BUFFALO (3:15), DETROIT (6:30), FLORIDA (9:10), MONTREAL (11:50), OTTAWA (15:30), TAMPA BAY (18:20), TORONTO (21:00)CAROLINA (23:35), COLUMBUS (25:15), NEW JERSEY (29:50), ISLANDERS (33:00), RANGERS (36:15), PHILADELPHIA (41:00), PITTSBURGH (45:20), WASHINGTON (48:00)ARIZONA (51:00), CHICAGO (52:40), COLORADO (57:20), DALLAS (1:00:40), MINNESOTA (1:04:00), NASHVILLE (1:06:35), ST. LOUIS (1:15:20), WINNIPEG (1:17:20)ANAHEIM (1:21:00), CALGARY (1:24:00), EDMONTON (1:26:45), L.A. (1:30:05), SAN JOSE (1:32:50), SEATTLE (1:37:50), VANCOUVER (1:39:25), VEGAS (1:41:30)Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call The Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemailMusic Outro: Best People - Dreamin’Listen to the full track HEREGET YOUR 32 THOUGHTS MERCH HEREThis podcast was produced and mixed by Amil Delic, and hosted by Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman.Audio Credits: Bally Sports Sun, Columbus Blue Jackets Radio Network, KKSE-FM, Sportsnet, WBZ-FM Boston, WFAN, WRHU 88.7 FM and WQAM-AM.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.

Holy geez, we give you a beast, bud. Get some vitamin C in you. Coming down in three, two, and... Elliot, today on 32 Thoughts, the podcast, we will roll through all 32 teams and where they are in advance of the trade deadline. We will start with the buyers' conference, the East, and then transition to the sellers' conference, the West.

Once again... Eastern octagon, yes. 32 Thoughts, the podcast is presented by GMC and the new Sierra AT4X. And we are off and running. Let's get through this as quickly and efficiently and profoundly to some as we can. We'll start in the Atlantic with the Boston Bruins. Where are they at, sir? They're at the top of the NHL.

Why do you ask? They are the owners of the most recent goalie goal in the National Hockey League. Oh, that was so great. Oh, that was awesome. Pumps it ahead. It's deflected to the left. Olmark's going to try it.

He shoots up the middle, all the way down. He scores! Linus Olmark grabbed that puck, took a look, settled it, and then sizzled it up the middle and down. A goalie goal. Bruins 3, Canucks 1 with 47 seconds left. Allmark's going to skate by the bench and give everybody high fives. The bench is going nuts.

Perfect shot, too. Like, absolutely a perfect shot. By the way, I thought about Jake Allen, because I know that Jake Allen wants to check that box before he's done. When he shot that, I could see Jake Allen going, oh, another one. I got to be next. Anyway, Bruins. Somebody told me last night

too that they, I can't remember which one of them it was, but they talked about the Allen interview about how he said that he couldn't do it with a one goal lead. Right. And that was the thing about all my, anyway, we're digressed. Yes.

I can hear John Bucciaco screaming, get to the point already. So Boston has already made its big move, obviously Orlov and Hathaway. Yeah. I can't believe how many people in particular thought that Hathaway was such a perfect fit for the Boston Bruins.

It was almost unanimous. Like that guy's a Bruin. He's a perfect fit for the Boston Bruins. It was almost unanimous. Like that guy's a Bruin. He's a perfect fit for them. Orlov, obviously a really good player too. The one thing I thought was interesting, Jeff, about Orlov was, you know, the Bruins talked about how he could play both sides. And initially against Vancouver on Saturday night,

he lined up on the right side with Derek Forboard, even though he's a left-hand shot. I did have some people dispute that to me that said that, you know, while Orlov can do it, he's a talented player, they don't think that Boston, in a real tough series against a real good team, would want that. Because, you know, like a lot of people

who tries to play their offside, especially defensively, if you're forced into turning, it can be really awkward. He can do it in a pinch they felt, but it's not what the Bruins would want as a plan in a huge game against a really good team. Whatever the case is, I think we could always be surprised here, but unless the Bruins are tinkering around the margins of their lineup,

it looks like this is pretty much the roster, and it's a good one. They could easily win the Stanley Cup. Okay, it looks like this is, is pretty much the roster and it's a good one. They could easily win the Stanley Cup. Okay. So here's the question, reward for performance or stick to the plan, the Buffalo Sabres? I think you can do both. The thing that's amazing about Buffalo and

Detroit this week is that they're showing the killer instinct, right? You know, Buffalo goes in florida uh a team that's in the race sabers have games in hand and they win the game as jeff skinner didn't beat the horn on the empty net but that's going to do it here and now over on the far side kachuk had a word for skinner and dylan cousins just came in and took a run at matthew kuk. And we've got a real Donnybrook developing now down to our left inside the Buffalo zone. Everybody's getting a dance partner down here.

Kachuk seems to be public enemy number one for the Buffalo Sabres right now. Well, the final horn is sounded. Buffalo's won this game by a 3-1 score. Montour and Peyton Krebs are having words, and Krebs was under the skin of the Panthers from the get-go here tonight, going back to period number one. And to me,

when you have a team like that and you're playing big games at this time of year for the first time in a long time, especially with a lot of this group of players, and you go and you win that game, that's special. And Craig Anderson obviously had a huge night, and the NHL of this group of players and you go and you win that game that's special and craig anderson obviously had a huge night and the nhl lacking positive emotions took what four saves off his

total i mean come on they should have given them four more saves not taking them off the total yeah well you know whatever the case is anderson continues to be an incredible story. The team found a way to win the game, and I get it. And I've said this many times. Kevin Adams wants to stick to the plan. I think it's the right play. However, that doesn't mean you can't look to make small moves, like a tiny move, a mid- to late-round draft pick for a player you can plug into a hole or can help you.

As we talked about, they're 32nd in the league in face-offs. Can you find a center that can help you with that or someone who can help you with that? The other thing, too, is they just lost Alex Tuck. He got hurt, and Vinny Henestros is getting called up for the games. You know, Henestros is a guy who's had permission to look for another deal out there. This is a huge moment for him.

You get an opportunity in this situation that maybe you weren't expecting, but you're hoping for, you have to take advantage. But if I'm the Buffalo Sabres, what I'm doing is I'm looking for someone who won't cost me a ton. A mid to late round draft pick just to come in and plug a hole help. I think it's important. And, you know, we have talked about this, Jeff, how periodically the players make requests about the roster.

Like this year, they asked them to keep three goalies up, not send Lukanen down because they thought they gave them their best chance to win. Kevin Adams did it. I think you have to say to your players okay you guys have proven that you deserve to be helped it doesn't have to be big you don't have to trade your first round draft pick you don't have to trade any prospect that doesn't make sense to you to trade but there's gonna be some UFAs out there defense forwards who can go out there and say, I can give you a little bit of help, and that's what I'm doing if I'm the Sabres.

Okay, file this team under. Check us out now, the Detroit Red Wings. You know, similar kind of thing that we just talked about with Buffalo, Jeff, is that, you know, what do they do? They put themselves in the race. Like they lost to Tampa Bay on Saturday night, but the ice was tilted in their favor it was interesting hearing John Cooper talk about Vasilevsky after

the game he's an outstanding goalie in this league so it's you know we've seen that uh on a number of occasions probably not to that extent just because usually we don't play that poor but you know goalie's part of the game and he uh you know know, as he said, he wanted to get back in the net because he didn't like his performance the night before. And, boy, that's, you know, shows you the character of Vassie. And to, however you want to say he played the other night, for him to come in and just stand on his head like he did, it was a marvelous performance.

Vasilevski was really upset by the Lubushkin overtime winner in the game they lost in Buffalo and he goes out and he stones Detroit and that's what great players do. That's why Vasilevsky is arguably the greatest goaltender of his generation and I don't even think we should really be arguing it. But look, they've taken Bertuzzi off the market.

Yeah. You know, in any other situation, like a guy like've taken Bertuzzi off the market. Yeah. You know, in any other situation, like a guy like Jake Wallman might be on the market too, but he's not. And I think they're trying to sign him. They're in the race and they deserve the reward. Now, I don't know if they're going to add anything. I'll say this.

I did have someone who said to me, and like, again, I don't know that this is true. I don't know if it makes sense for them, but I did have someone who said to me, and like, again, I don't know that this is true. I don't know if it makes sense for them, but I did have someone who said to me that their wonder of one of the stealth teams for Meyer is the Red Wings. I don't know if Steve Eiserman would do that considering what I think it's going to take to give up, but I understand why people were asking. Whatever the case is, I think the Red Wings have said to their players, look, the reward is we're not selling. You guys have proven your math is good. You're in the race and they've shown the killer instinct too. They beat Washington this week on the road in a game Larkin got tossed out of. They had every reason to beat Tampa the other night if it wasn't for the goalie, as we mentioned. And they've got back-to-back against Ottawa coming up. And it's a situation where they can end the Senators' playoff hopes.

Yep. So I look at them and Jeff and I say, they're not selling. I'm not sure they're adding, but they're in the race and I think they're going to let it play out. I'm with you. I talked to someone Saturday before hockey night and asked about the wings specifically. And it was, it's going to be status quo. Yeah. They're taking guys off the market.

They're going to go with their group. All right. The Florida Panthers, one of the most difficult teams to figure out this season. Welcome back to Claire, by the way. Yes. That was, that was nice to see him back. It's interesting you, the point you made about declare he has the achilles injury and he makes the comeback but when patch already injured his

achilles i know there were some people that wondered about what's the effect going to be on declare is he going to look at that and be even more cautious is he going to wait longer is he going to say hold on on, I'm not sure. Well, the case is he came back on Friday and he seemed fine. So you just hope it continues that way. But a few people were thinking about that. You know, Florida, as we wake up on Sunday, they're one point out and only the Islanders

among those teams has played more games. I think this is going to be a big off season for Florida. I think they've got some ability to do a few more things. And I do believe long-term that they are going to look at fixing their defense. I think they really have interest in Chikrin. I just don't think they can do it. Not right now, but in the summer. But the thing is, they don't have the assets, Jeff. I don't even think with the cap space that they have the assets to be in this. So I just don't believe it's possible. A couple of players I think will be interesting there.

Sam Reinhardt, I've heard his name off and on throughout the year. So I'm wondering what his future will be down there. Sam Bennett. I haven't heard his name as much. Don't forget, Sam Bennett lost both his line mates this year, Huberto and Duclair. So sometimes, you know, obviously Huberto's not coming back, but sometimes I wonder if a

team looks at that and says, okay, how does that affect the player? And do we reserve judgment a bit on more? But the other guy I wonder about here is, is Gudis. As I said last week, it wasn't trending well in the direction of him resigning. Teams don't often make this kind of trade when

they're in the race, but Gudis is a guy I think would have interest. So that's a situation I'm watching this week. And of course he sent all the best to Spencer Knight. Yes. Who entered the league's player and the players association's player assistance program and, and you hope he's okay. And he gets

the help he needs. Uh, Bobrovsky had pretty much won the job anyway. But when I look at the Panthers, I look at them and I say, what decisions are they going to make? That's going to open up their ability to make some changes long-term. Cause I think that's what they want to do, especially on the blue line. Okay. Elliot, the Montreal Canadians and early Sunday morning, they make a deal with the Dallas stars. Uh, the Donoff goes for Gurianoff.

Personally, I think this is a really smart gamble by the Montreal Canadians, because if Gurianoff hits and there's no disputing the skill, you watch how fast this guy is. You see how quick the hands are. I know there's been concerns about decision-making, et cetera, in his past. This one has the potential to be an absolute tape measure home run for the Habs. And to Donoff, we know Dallas is going for it. We're going to get to them in a second. Your thoughts on Kent Hughes's deal here. I think, for example, I think Philadelphia was in on Gurionov and I'm sure they weren't the only ones like that makes sense.

Like look at this, some of the success that Montreal has had this year with Kirby Doc. They're looking for reclamation projects, guys who struggled maybe in their first place and they're trying to get the fresh start under Marty San Luis. Like I said, I think Philadelphia was one of the teams there and some others too. I have no doubt. Dallas was a bit shy on this one in the sense that, you know, they saw what happened.

Nachushkin goes somewhere else. He blossoms into a critical player on a Stanley Cup champion. And I think they were always careful about that because of what they went through with Natchushkin, which I think is smart. Like you have to learn your lessons. You know, this is an interesting one. They were looking for someone to play with Tyler Sagan who can score. Jeff, you'd reported that a couple of times.

I wonder if Dodonov gets that kind of a shot to be that particular player. And I remember last year when his trade with Vegas got knocked down and he felt pressure to say yes and he said no, he had a couple weeks there where he was Vegas' best player and basically put Vegas' offense on his back. So there's no questioning this guy's talent. There's no questioning his ability.

I wonder what that does for Dallas because Dallas was definitely looking for that kind of player. We'll talk about them more in a minute, but this to me is the kind of gamble that Montreal's taking with Doc, and I don't think they were the only team in the league that was willing to do this

with Gurionov. I think Carolina may have been interested there as well. Not sure how far that goes. Makes sense. It makes sense. You've said it's going to be a quiet deadline, and there might be a couple of moves, but I'm not expecting anything major.

Quiet compared to last season, which was all eyes on Montreal. Which was all eyes on Montreal. So they announced on Saturday night after their game that Arbor Jack-E Jack guys season is over. He's going to get some surgery. They announced that Joel Edmondson is going with them on their road trip. I've just heard though, that the activity on Edmondson is down just because he's been, his body's been through so much and he, you know, he really hasn't played.

I think they would be surprised if anything happened with him here. The other player that everybody has been wondering about is Monaghan. I think we're going to get clarity on that this week. I think it possibly could be out for a while. It might not knock him out for the entire season, but it could knock him out for a little bit, and then it could be one of those situations potentially where a team has to decide if they want to add him

and hope that he can get healthy sometime around the playoffs. I think we're going to get clarity on that soon, but it doesn't appear as if he's going to be able to play anytime soon. So, you know, that takes a couple of their bigger pieces off the board. Ottawa Senators, sale is on the horizon, new ownership coming in, but before we get there, Pierre Dorian has some decisions. Where are we at at the nation's capital?

Well, obviously huge games, as we talked about with Detroit on Monday and Tuesday. This could determine a lot of things. That was a good win on Saturday night. They looked like they were in trouble and they found a way to do it after a really tough loss in Carolina. He's knocked down. Ottawa back on the attack. Scores! What a shot! Julian Gauthier with his first goal as an Ottawa Senator.

And it's 5-2. Obviously, you've talked about Austin Watson. Yep. A lot of eyes on Cam Talbot. I think the goalie market has been very, very quiet. How many teams are really looking for goalies right now? I mean, LA, I think is the one a lot of people are looking at, but how many teams are really looking for rental goalies right now, Jeff? It doesn't appear that there are a lot. So it'll be interesting to see what that market is for him, aside for the Kings. The other thing

too is the Sanders have been looking for a defenseman, as everybody knows, a right shot. And at various times I've heard there's been things that have been close. They just haven't happened. And I use the line again, if there's a defenseman out there, they've looked at it. I do think they've called the Capitals about Jensen and Van Riemsdyk.

We'll get to Washington in a couple of minutes and what they're thinking. I do believe there was potentially some re-engagement with Minnesota on Dumba, but that obviously hasn't happened either. But I don't think those are the only ones. I think they called Arizona again on Chikrin, but I just don't think there's anything there because I just don't think they like the price.

But they continue to look around. I think they'd like to add, you know, one of the things I did hear about them is that when it comes to term, there is some flexibility for next year in terms of they kind of know, you know, what they're allowed to do for next year in terms of they kind of know what they're allowed to do for next year. Now, I don't know about Pareko and like an eight-year deal or anything like that. I just don't know. But I think if they wanted to acquire a player that had at least a contract for next year, I think they could do that potentially. I don't think that's impossible. So I know that we all have this question about term. What can the Senators do with term? I don't know long, long term, but I do think there is something in place

where if they wanted to do like next year, I think they could do that if they liked it. Okay, Elliot, this one's a whopper. The Tampa Bay Lightning. that if they liked it okay elliot this one's a whopper the tampa bay lightning now before we talk about their sunday i was texting with a manager uh who said when he saw the deal we would never pay that much for this player sure we'd be interested in him but we would never pay that much but it makes sense for the tampa bay. And I said, why? And he said, because they're really close to winning the Stanley Cup. If you get this close to winning the Stanley Cup, it's okay to overpay.

Everybody understands that. What did you think of the Tanner Jeannot deal? Cal foot, a first, a second, a fourth, and a fifth. Well, haven't we seen this for years? 100%. Barkley Goodrow, Brandon Hagel, Blake Coleman. Like why are we surprised anymore? The Tampa Bay Lightning have shown when they are in this window and they're still in it, they're going all out. They're

sacrificing the future for the present. They want cops. They've got cops. They want more. That's where they are And the moment the Maple Leafs Went out and made their move And they're looking to make another one This is a team that said We are coming right back At them

And we should have seen it And the reason we should have seen it Jeff Is the moment you went on air on Saturday night And said that everyone was available Except for Yossi, Saros, and Forsberg. Yep. We should have seen that those teams right at the cap were going hard at Tanner Jeannot. And when initially I mentioned on Twitter that I heard the lightning had made a pitch for him,

one player in the NHL texted me and he said, Tanner Jeannot is Tampa. That is exactly the guy that they're going to go get. And people looked at the return and I admit it. When I first saw it, I was like, what really? Because a couple of teams had told me the price was really high. They thought it was a couple of first routers, but nobody was expecting that. But that is the lightning's DNA. This is what they do. And we're going to talk about Toronto in a second, Jeff,

and how they're going to go for a defenseman. They're going to have to go for a certain kind of defenseman now because who's Tanner Genoa going to see a lot of? Toronto's third pair. Yeah, they really are. You know, this deal has a certain, like when I saw it, it has a certain Bobby Clark element to it in that what Bobby Clark used to always say,

it doesn't matter. We got the player. That's a Tampa Bay Lightning and that's Tanner Jeannot. Never a quiet day in the hockey capital, the hockey Mecca of the world, the home of the Hockey Hall of Fame and the Toronto Maple Leafs, Kyle Dubas' squad, Elliot. Are you saying that world, the home of the hockey hall of fame and the Toronto Maple Leafs, Kyle Dubas' squad, Elliot.

Are you saying that Toronto is the center of the university? You just want everyone to hate you? It's the, oh, look, there's my naval center of hockey. So they've already made a huge move, obviously with O'Reilly and Achari. And now I think they're really looking hard at

defense. You know, one of the things that's interesting is Arizona had the choice about the draft pick from the Nick Ritchie deal. They took a second rounder in 2025, which means that Toronto now has their third rounder this year. And I'm curious to see how that gets used.

You know, the teams that are looking for D really do feel like the forwards are moving. The big forwards are going, there's a lot of D out there and it's poker time. They're playing cards, they're bluffing. And these teams that are looking for defensemen, they really feel that there's a surplus, not a glut, but a surplus. And-

Pause. Very well done, Elliot. Thank you. Go back and watch our hit from Saturday to get that that joke i couldn't remember which one was which but they really feel that there's just not enough dance partners for all the available defensemen i think toronto was one of the teams that feels that way they're prepared to be patient you know i always assumed it was going to be a right shot d for the maple east but another team told me that's not necessarily true. Remember they have Brody.

Brody can play on either side and he's comfortable there. He's one of the best at it, if not the best. And that's why they said don't automatically assume Toronto's looking for a righty. It could be a lefty depending on how they feel their pairs would work. I don't think anyone's going to be surprised here If Toronto ends up with another defenseman Now the one interesting thing about this Jeff is that

Dubas paid an extra pick to Minnesota To keep his roster Together And if he makes another move He has to subtract someone from it Now he put Jordy Baird on waivers Which adds to their cap flexibility, so maybe that's the clue,

but they are in a situation where someone has to come off the roster if they make this move. And that's the Atlantic. Listen to 32 Thoughts, the podcast, ad-free on Amazon Music, included with Prime. Now to the other division in the Buyers Conference,

the Metropolitan. And we'll start with the Carolina Hurricanes, who we've talked about before, are at least inquiring about all the big players that are on the market, whether it's a trade deadline

or in the off-season or whenever. What's happening with Don Waddell? I assume that they were going to be looking for a right shot D, but they've been really happy with Chatfield. And I think it's possible they look more towards a left shot D. We had talked about if Nick Schmaltz was available, and we do think he is, that screamed hurricanes. There are some teams who believe that that was 100% true, but there are other teams, and I think the hurricanes have sent out signals also that that's not true, that Schmaltz is

not their target. And I think one of the reasons is if you look at their cap situation, Carolina's cap situation is excellent for this year and next year. And then it starts to get a little more complicated, especially up front. You take a look at it this summer, Jordan Stahl's non-restricted free agent. They've made it very clear they'd like to sign

him. But if you take a look at it, Ajo is up after next season, and he's a UFA. Tara Vinen is up after next season, and he's a UFA. Natchez is up after next season, and he's a restricted free agent with arbitration rights. And Seth Jarvis is up after next season season and he'll be a restricted free agent. I would expect the Hurricanes are going to try to get an HS and Jarvis sign this summer. That's kind of their way. I don't know if it'll work, but I think they're going to do that. And obviously Ajo is a hugely important player to that team. Plus you've also got Shea and Pesci on defense.

that team. Plus you've also got Shea and Pesci on defense. They have a lot of work to do after next year. And I think there's concern that while Schmaltz would fit now and next year, they don't think that they would necessarily fit after that. So that's why I'm no longer thinking that he's on their radar. Look, I think they're going to do something. I think they're going to look around. One thing I will say, we'll talk about Calgary. It's going to be interesting to see what happens there, but we'll talk about that. I want to save it for when we get to the Flames. It does look like they're out on Meyer.

I'm not thinking it's them on Schmaltz, which means they're going to start looking around. And the other thing I do believe is that as this Meyer trade dragged on at the end of last week, I do believe the hurricanes were starting to put together their plans B and C. Columbus Blue Jackets, off-season brought Johnny Gaudreau and a lot of optimism. They didn't expect to be in the spot, but here they are. And a lot of this conversation i suspect elliot will revolve around vladislav gavrikov so the gavrikov situation we detailed

down on friday's podcast uh columbus feeling that uh they were uh not treated fairly uh by the bruins and they thought they had a deal obviously the bruins feel differently but columbus feels quite honestly that they were misled. And that's led to a big problem. First of all, I don't think the player is very happy. Oh yeah. You know, we wondered if he would return to the lineup on Saturday against Edmonton. He did not.

There's no indication he's going to play before the deadline on Friday. Like Chikrin has accepted this because I think he knows it's important for him to get dealt. If there's going to be an issue about this between the league and the players association, I think Gavrikov is going to be at the center of this because I don't think he accepts this. I think he wants to play. As we do this on Sunday morning, Columbus is in tough. You know, they were expecting a big price for Gavrikov. And if you look at what Boston paid for Orlov and Hathaway,

you're kind of looking at it like, okay, some of that was for Orlov and some of that was for Hathaway, and the bigger parts were Orlov. So you're thinking that Columbus thinks they're getting that, and now they have to scramble, and it's going to be a real battle for them to get that. I think they got a bunch of calls on Gavrikov, i think teams were trying to squeeze them so they got a dance like there's no question about that this is going to be real real work for them you know gavrikov i've heard it's been really interesting with him i think there are teams that really want him but

they want him with an extension like i think la's had real interest in Gavrikov, but they don't want him as a rental. They want him signed. And at this point, I don't know that he's shown too much inclination to get signed there. Like this can always change. I think there are other teams too. I don't think the Kings are the only one who are happy to trade for him as long as he's got an extension and he seems very particular about where he's going to extend I don't know what's going on fully with him but I think this one could be an interesting week where Columbus navigates both okay we want to get the best possible package to trade him and the player kind of says is there anywhere here I want to go with

term so I think this could be a really interesting one. I've heard behind the scenes, it's been really interesting, that whole situation. Someone said there's a good book to be written about this. The other thing too with Columbus is I do think there are teams out there who like Jenner. And, you know, the contract isn't easy. There's a lot of teams that are squeezed.

Also, don't forget, he's their captain, and I don't think Columbus is in this for a long rebuild. The fact they're even interested in Chikrin tells me it's like we're getting going again next year. I don't know how likely it would be that they would consider Jenner, but Chikrin, I think he's still on their radar. It's not where he wants to go, but I still think Columbus is looking at next year is we're not doing this again.

We want to be in the race next year and they've got a lot of assets. They don't have as many as they wanted because of the Boston situation, but they've got a lot of assets and Jeff, I think they want to show their fans that their goal is to get better fast. We saw that last summer and we've seen that with Patrick Laine. We've seen that a couple of different times from this Columbus Blue Jackets organization. Okay, the New Jersey Devils.

So we'll talk a little bit about San Jose as well. The New Jersey Devils pick up Timo Meyers, Scott Harrington as well, four prospects. This is a deal that's nine players, four picks. Fabian Zetterlin goes the other way Andreas Janssen Shakir Mukamadoulin left-hand shot defenseman from her first round pick Nikita Ohochuk who's a left-hand defenseman as well playing at Utica 2023 first round draft pick a conditional second in 2024 and a seventh in 24 as well. So nine players, Elliot, four picks later,

Timo Meier is a New Jersey devil. Later we'll talk about San Jose, but let's focus on the New Jersey side of this one. Look, from the beginning, if you asked people who was going to get Timo Meier, most people would have said the team that was getting him were the Devils. And we're not often all right. And there's a lot of us in this, a lot of people, a lot of fans, a lot of media, a lot of people in the NHL picked them.

We're not often right, but in this case, we were. So everybody, give yourself a big pat on the back. Everybody take a bow. Because there were a lot of you out there that were right about this one. And some of us just based it on, well, they have Siegenthaler and they have Heischer, so let's add another Swiss-born hockey player. Hey, look,

there's reasons for everything, right? There's reasons for everything. New Jersey gets the best player in the deal. They give a real big jolt to their fan base. Very excited. I really hope the Rangers and Devils meet in the first round. That series is going to be unbelievable on and off the ice if they do. It's a big win for them for all the reasons we just mentioned.

I think it's also a great win for them stylistically. And the fact is that they needed some bulk. They're a really talented team. I'm looking at Jack Hughes, and he might be on my heart ballot this year. I think he's been that good. I think they're a really talented team, but they need some elbow grease there, and Meyer gives it to them. I think he's exactly the kind of player, not only because he's talented,

but also because he's a big, strong guy where he can really make a difference on that team. I think it's the perfect player stylistically for them. As you have said, they didn't have to give up their best prospects. They didn't have to give up Nemech. They didn't have to give up Luke Hughes. They didn't have to give up Mercer. So for New Jersey, that's a win.

I think the only thing here that they'll look at and say we would have liked is an extension in place. Now we'll see where that goes. I think it's going to be a bit of a challenge but the fact is if that's the only negative you've got on Sunday night you're pretty happy with it and you can punt this out to the offseason and see how it all goes but you know I think it's a big win for the Devils he's the player they needed and I'm really curious to see what else they're going to do. Like Fitzgerald in his conference call, you know, basically said we might not be done here.

So now you've got this great momentum. What else are you thinking about adding? Okay. Lou Lamorello, well out in advance of the trade deadline, making the move for Bo Horvat, fortuitous for a few reasons. One, because Matthew Barzell is out now. Two, well, Bo Horvat's just a really good hockey player. What do you see the Islanders

doing here this week? I think there's some interesting stuff going around about the Islanders. I wouldn't be hugely surprised, Jeff, if they either thought about or made a waiver claim on Kapanen. They were not as high in the priority list as the Blues,

which is why they would have lost it to them. And also, you can work on it. It takes usually a bit of time, although Lou Amorello generally doesn't tell you anything. The league is very careful. It's actually, I think, part of the CBA that if you don't get a player on waivers, they're not supposed to say who made a claim on him but it wouldn't surprise me at all if they did make a claim on Kapanen because obviously

he knows him from their time in Toronto and it would have been a free player like it doesn't cost the Islanders an asset to go get him yes there's the money but you can always try to deal with that again in the summer or maybe you keep them into next year if you find it works out. It's a free player, and the Islanders have paid a lot of their best assets to go out and get Bo Horvat, which everybody thinks was a good idea. So I'm interested in that. I think there's a few teams that suspect Lamorello was around Kapanen. The other thing is, I do think the Islanders were also around Barbashev. Now, obviously, they were outbid by the Golden Knights in St. Louis' eyes,

but what this tells me, without getting any hints from the general manager, is this is a big run for the Islanders. In their second year in this building, they want to make the playoffs. They want to be competitive. The idea of giving up while they're in this race is nowheresville. And you know what? They've won a couple of games this week when it

looks like they were really in trouble. So this says to me that they're at least trying things and seeing what's out there in order to stay in the race and make the playoffs. One quickie, because it's always an interesting conversation. Semyon Varlamov is on an expiring contract. Yes. What do you think? Like I said, how many teams are looking for a goalie? I think that there will be a couple that are looking for

depth or insurance. I'll be honest with you. I wonder about the Carolina Hurricanes with a goaltender. And I know Kachetkov's in the wings. Kachetkov was there with you. I wonder about the Carolina Hurricanes with a goaltender and I know Kachetkov's in the wings and Kachetkov was there last year. I just wonder about those goalies and the hospital bracelet. I understand that. I think it's a fair question. I wonder if in the back of their head,

they're saying, do we need some insurance here? I think that's a very reasonable point. I'm not going to argue that with you. I think Varlamov is a good goalie. Yeah. My only question is like the Islanders want to make the playoffs. Are you making yourself weaker?

Well, you are. There's no, there's no doubt you are making yourself weak. Exactly. I just, I just think it's an interesting conversation because when we talk about goaltenders that are available and on expiring deals, we think it's Hal, but you mentioned

earlier, Jonas Korpisalo as well with Columbus. Yep. Barlamov technically is in that camp too. All right. And you know what the other thing is too, Jeff? What's up? With a minimal amount of teams looking for goalies, you just named three of them. Yeah. That's a buyer's market. Elliot,

Sunday was an interesting one for the New York Rangers. I don't know that we want to say the clouds parted, but it kind of felt that way in some sense because the Patrick Kane picture became less fuzzy and more clear. I think if there was any doubt that this was the direction that we were moving in, I think that ended on Sunday because no team would enter into a theater of the absurd like this unless there was a real reason for doing it like you simply do not do this to your hockey team unless you're doing what we all now think unless you're getting pat kane you simply do not do this to your hockey team unless you know you're getting patrick kane like there's there's no good

like you know I have to say Jeff like there are some people I know who watch that game I had one agent he's a very passionate guy yeah he was really mad watching that game on Sunday. The Kings game the Ranger Kings game? Yeah because of what the Rangers were doing right yeah and I kind of laughed it off I said look they're doing it to get patrick kane like i totally understand it like i understand he goes i know but i just hate seeing players treated like that like you know like one guy has a 13 second shift and another guy doesn't play at all and you know people are asking me if you don't get on the ice does that mean your cap hit doesn't count and i'm like no that's not the issue what it is is they don't want those players to get injured

so they can't send them down again and screw up their cap situation. And if I dedicated my life to representing these players as this agent does, I understand why it bothered him to see that. I look at it as, look, the Rangers are trying to get Patrick Kane to win a Stanley Cup.

I get what they're doing. And Gerard Gallant said it's not that bad for Lindgren, thankfully, because I don't like to see players injured. Yeah. So it doesn't look like it's LTIR. So depending on whose math you believe, it's going to be at the earliest Wednesday. But the Rangers are doing a dance here.

We all know what's going on. And, you know, Schneider got sent down after the game. He's not going to play in Hartford. He's going to be back up soon. And I can't fault them. And what's the end result of this, Jeff? Yeah. The end result is Patrick Kane on Broadway.

I don't care if people out there hate the Rangers. That is great for the game. It's the kind of attention that we all need to see. It's great when people hate the Rangers. It's great when people hate the Maple Leafs. It's great when people hate the Yankees. We can keep going on and on. It's great when you have teams like this in the big centers, in the big cities that everybody hates.

And at the end of it, get superstar players. Like, did you see the Pat Kane jerseys on Sunday? Yes. You saw the videos of people with 88 Kane already? Well, I wondered if any of them had like 88 Lindros jerseys and they just took, they covered up the name bar with Kane. But that's what you want, right?

You want your fans engaged like that. It's passion. I'm looking forward to it this week. It's, you know, the other thing too I really wonder is, and I don't know if we'll ever get an answer, and I'm not the only one asking this question is, how much the owner, James Dolan, what the role he played in all this? Because after Kane came out and said, I really want to go to the Rangers. I know you just did Teresanko, but. How can you not, if you're him, look at that and say, well, can we still do this? Like, is there's like, you know, the way he is.

He loves the headlines. He loves the big stage. New York. You don't think that he said, oh, can we not do this? You don't think that he said, oh, can we not do this? Like look at all the, the shiny new toys that his teams have chased after over the years. Like you have to think he played a role in this. Absolutely. But people were asking me if Keandre Miller gets suspended, does it come off the cap?

No, it doesn't. Like that doesn't. Yeah. That doesn't happen. And I'm glad to hear that everybody is sort of seeing it as an accident right now yep because you know you don't need that like spitting on someone is disgusting it's really low behavior and uh if drew dowdy accepts that and the kings accept that i'm glad to hear that because you know the first of, the kid looks like an unbelievable player.

And you just don't want him to be associated with doing anything like that. And your sport to be associated with doing anything like that. So I'm glad to hear that it sounds like everybody accepts this as an accident. All right, the Philadelphia Flyers, Elliot. I think we all expect James Van Riemsdyk to move between now and Friday. Your thoughts on what else could be on the horizon for Philly and where is John Tortorella's team at? Well, they're in a tough place after some

rough losses this week to Montreal and New Jersey. Look, I think they're in on Gurionov. I think they're in on Kravtsov. So I think they're looking for young players who they can maybe give a shot to, like Montreal looking for those kinds of reclamation projects. And I think those are the kinds of things that Philly should be doing. You know, I don't think they're moving Konechny even before he was heard.

I was under the impression it would take an enormous offer for them to consider that. You know, Kevin Hayes is obviously out there. Justin Braun is obviously out there. I think those are the kinds of players they're looking at moving. Obviously Provarov's been out there. I wonder about Tony D'Angelo too.

The tough thing for D'Angelo is it's not working this year, but they gave up a lot to get him. And I think they've had interest in D'Angelo. Like one of the teams I kind of wondered about, I should just mention for D'Angelo was Carolina possibly reacquiring him, but I don't know that's going to happen.

I do think some teams have asked about him since comments of a couple of weeks ago, but it's a tough one. The Flyers invested a lot in him and I think you want to try to see if you can make that work. So I'm curious to see where that one's going to go. They've had Felix Sandstrom out there. They didn't put him on waivers.

They've got a lot of pieces they could do things with and a lot of directions they could go here. But I think the thing that they're really looking at is if James Van Riemsdyk had gone to Dallas, I think Gurianov could have been the piece in return. So I think that that's the kind of thing they're looking for. Are there guys out there who have underperformed

that Philadelphia can kind of acquire and get done under Tortorella? Like look at Owen Tippett. Owen Tippett, when that trade was made, people were like, ah, Owen Tippett, he's not that good. And he looks like a player. He's really worked well under Tortorella there. So like forget all the noise.

Like some players really thrive under him. Tippett so far has won. And I think they're looking for more of that. And one thing that Jeff, we should mention about Philadelphia is they made a small deal on Sunday night, they traded Isaac Ratcliffe. What of Nick Suzuki's best friends growing up? They played hockey together.

This is why I need you here. This is why I need you here. This is why I need you here because you're good at this stuff. To distract you before you make your point. No, but that's good. That's good flavor. That's good flavor. Okay. So what that did was they traded him to Nashville.

It opened up a contract spot. It took Philadelphia from 48 to 47. And as I was reminded after that deal came down, those kinds of things at this type of year are not insignificant. Sometimes they happen for a reason. Yeah. So we'll see if there's a particular reason.

A couple of bright spots for Philadelphia, and I know it's tough right now for a Philadelphia Flyers fan, but man, it really looks like they have one in Sammy Erson, the net minder, who looks real good. And we had our first peek at Elliott DeNya on Saturday against the New Jersey Devils. And he's a mid-round draft pick that they really think that they hit on.

And I know you've talked about Nick Seeler before, but how'd you like that performance on Saturday night with Michael McLeod? Checked on the play by Nick Seeler. Now they go at it again in the corner. And now they're going to drop the gloves. Seeler and McLeod in the near corner. They've got each other tied up. Let's see if they can free themselves for a punch. Overhead left by Seeler.

Missed, but now he's connected with a couple to the back of the head of McLeod. Now Michael comes back with a couple of rights. Oh yeah! Rock them, sock them sock them robots on throwback saturday whoa that was that was really something oh sealer continues to throw punches misses with an up cut connects with the right hand mcleod comes back with the right i really like that sealer and uh you're trying to build a culture there in Philly. I could see why teams like Seeler.

I could just see Tortorella loving Seeler. And you want people who sort of identify as flyers. Like to me, that guy Seeler, like he's a flyer. If you had any doubts, see Saturday. All right. The Pittsburgh Penguins. So it was, when was the last time we saw the Pittsburgh Penguins behave like the Pittsburgh Penguins we want them to be?

Well, we saw that on Sunday. 7-3 final. They beat the Tampa Bay Lightning. Malkin and Crosby doing damage. Jeff Carter, Jason Zucker, Brian Dumoulin scores. That's nice to see his first goal of the season. Your thoughts on the Penguins right now, Elliot? Are they starting to pull out of this tailspin?

Well, I think you can't help but respect how they get embarrassed on home ice on Thursday night by Edmonton, like really embarrassed. And they come back with those wins against St. Louis and Tampa. It's like Rudy Tomjanovich, never underestimate the heart of a champion, right? And those Penguins sure showed it. Jeff, I have said this now for a few days. I would still be really careful. I would still be very, very careful about

burning my futures on this year. What's happening with the pens right now? Well, they got a real break with Kapanen. Yeah. It was funny. Like there's another GM who called me and he's like, I got, I got to think there's going to be a weird Pittsburgh trade where St.

Louis gets a draft pick or something like that for that favor they did them. But it was kind of funny. He was, he was, he was very surprised. You know, Kapanen, that opens up a little bit of flexibility for them. Like I know they've been linked to Chikorin and I can see why a lot of teams would be

linked to Chikrin, but I think a lot of people would tell you that Pittsburgh's biggest problem this year is they just don't have enough juice on their bottom six. And especially in the playoffs, you have to have juice in your bottom six. Those lines have to play hard. You can have skill and you need skill up and down your lineup, but you've got to have people that run over others and, and make life very difficult. You know, the Penguins aren't a team.

And even when they were winning Stanley Cups, they were a nasty team in both the Mario era and the Sid and Malkin era. They were nasty. Like they had guys like that. They're not nasty. They're a bit docile. And I think that's something they really want to change. So I wouldn't be surprised if that's the

kind of thing they look at is can they add some edge to the margins of their lineup as much as anything else? I'm still though of the opinion, if you're Pittsburgh, you're not blowing your best options right now. Like I think you wait to the summer. If you're not selling your best options right now like I think you wait to the summer if you're not selling and I don't get any impression they're selling you're not shooting out your best assets on one player unless it's an absolute game changer franchise player I think you wait to the summer and you see what's out there so what you're talking about there is the Washington capitals model. Let's get there now. Orlov, Hathaway, we know there will be others between now and Friday. What's Brian McClellan have up his sleeve? It's pretty clear that what he's doing right now is he's talking to all of his UFAs and saying, can I sign you or will I trade you? And it became

very clear they were not going to be able to sign Orlov. Orlov wanted, I think, seven years and they were not willing to go past three or four. And it became impossible. I definitely think there's interest in Jensen, but I still think they're trying to sign him. I think that goes the same with their other UFAs. I think there's definitely interest in Eller.

I mean, before this Dallas trade, I heard them with him. I heard New Jersey with him. Jensen, I think there's quite a few teams. I think potentially Toronto and Ottawa among the two of them. I think there's more. So I think what McClellan's doing right now

is he's, like the decision was made on Orlov and he moved on. And now I think he's making a decision and everybody else, is there a deal to be made here or am I moving on? Look, like he sent out an email, apparently, I want to say it was last Sunday on Orlov and the deal was done in a couple of days. I think he sent out another email. I might have my days slightly off here about some of his other UFAs. So Brian McClellan sent a message. He's open for business and these teams know he means it. And I think they're all calling him. So I think what he's doing is he's playing both hands, the sign hand and the trade

hand. And he's deciding what he's going to do based on what these players want. Chikrin, I do think they've inquired about Chikrin. But again, even though they're making moves, it's not like they have a ton of assets. It's going to cost them most of their future assets or a good chunk of their future assets. And I've heard they're weighing that too, Jeff. Same thing as Pittsburgh. Do we trade most of our assets that we have for one player? And I think that's something that they are considering. So your Connor McMichaels, your Hendricks Lapierre, these types of players.

Yeah. So when I said that they're considering, not necessarily considering doing it, but considering is that the right decision for them at this time? And Hendricks Lapierre, he was scratched for a game in the American Hockey League. So, you know, they're trying to go through some process with him. So what I see there, Jeff, is it's not only considering Chikrin, it's considering,

is this the best use of our resources at this time? Okay, quick pause. Eastern Conference done. When we come back, the West or the Sellers so far. Okay, from the Eastern Conference to the Western Conference, the West has so far played the role of the Seller. Here we go. The Central, we'll start there with the Arizona Coyotes. So much revolves around Jacob Chikrin. You've mentioned Nick Schmaltz. I think we wonder about other players, whether it's Shane Gostisbare,

maybe, you know, net minder, Karel Vemelka, et cetera. What's happening with the Coyotes? I think it's true that they can't really take money or don't want to take money. Chikrin, LA's been in it. Columbus has been in it. Although I know that doesn't make Chikrin happy, LA's been in it. Columbus has been in it. Although I know that doesn't make

Chikrin happy. Pittsburgh's been in it. Washington's there. I think St. Louis is there. And there's always teams that are there that you don't recognize or realize, right? Like I said before, I think Florida would love to be there. I just don't think they can't. I think Ottawa's looked into it again. I don't think they want to pay the price I just don't think they can't. I think Ottawa's looked into it again. I don't think they want to pay the price. I don't think Toronto's there. Like, Edmonton's a really interesting one. Like, I've heard that there are people in the organization who like it, and I've heard there are people in the organization who don't like it.

But one of the problems is, you know, Arizona doesn't want to take money. And so that makes it more difficult, more challenging. You know, Schmaltz's name has come up and you know i i've definitely heard teams have talked to them about schmaltz i mean they're not moving their great young players and their good young prospects and things like that and they're looking to accrue all the assets they can to build themselves up in a couple of years assets they can to build themselves up in a couple of years. Jeff, other than that, I think there could be a lot going on here. I really do.

I know we're all focused on Chikrin and please God, let it happen this week for the sake of everybody involved. Oh boy. But I think there's a lot bubbling under the surface here. I really do. All right. The Chicago Blackhawks elliott and before we get to patrick kane because he's the big story do you want to mention a trade on sunday andreas england goes from the colorado avalanche to the chicago blackhawks in exchange for jack johnson we'll do

the abs a little bit later on uh but the big story in chicago what's the deal with Patrick Kane? The deal with Patrick Kane is going to be announced later this week, it looks like. Probably Wednesday, Thursday, somewhere around there. I don't necessarily think we need to wait till Friday. I think from the Chicago point of view of this, there's a couple of things that you look at. Number one, it's the end. And, you know, I have to say something to you that there was someone last week who predicted to me that Kane would not wave, that he thought that Kane would say, you know what, I'll play one more game. Maybe they have one more game before the deadline. It's at home, it's against Dallas. And he thought that maybe

Kane would consider skating off the ice at the end of that night and saying, you know what, this is good enough for me. And obviously he got hot and, you know, the Rangers got involved and we all have a feeling about where this is going to go. But, you know, what this person said, and I think this is very fair. He said, it doesn't matter if you've been told you're not going to resign. It doesn't matter if you've decided to walk away or ask for a trade or the team tells you they're going to trade you or they want to trade you. They said, when you've been around a situation as long as Patrick Kane's been, and you've been as successful as long as Patrick Kane's been, and you only imagine yourself in that uniform as Patrick Kane did. Even if you realize it's all coming to an end and you kind of think you've been preparing for it, the moment it happens, it's really, really hard to process.

Even if you think you're ready for it, it's still very difficult in that moment. And I think Kane had to get over that. And, you know, the Rangers coming forward for him I think it helped him get through it but I don't think we understand how difficult this was for him and so he had to come to grips with it and now he moves on and if you kind of look at some of the reports out there, and I've heard similar, it doesn't sound like the return is going to be overwhelming. And when I see reporters tweeting, Blackhawk fans better be prepared for an underwhelming return, you know what that says to me, Jeff? They're being prepared to really get an underwhelming return.

Yeah. And the thing that makes me feel bad is I feel bad for the players who might be involved in that because if it's what people are expecting or kind of preparing everybody for, that's going to be really hard. You know, I've told the story before about interviewing Tony Armas Jr. and Carl Pavano in Montreal Expo's spring training after they were traded for Pedro Martinez, and it spring training after they were traded for Pedro Martinez. And it was February and they were already tired of answering the question.

So I think this is going to be a big thing for everybody to get used to, whether for the Blackhawks, their fans, the players that are going to be coming in. I think when this gets announced, I think it's going to be a deep breath and okay, how do we, how do we deal with this? Remember Hawks fans, it's not those players' fault. Yeah. It's not their fault.

Now, Jeff, there's some other things here. Sam Lafferty. Yep. Is still sitting out for trade related reasons. Some people have kind of wondered if he might be included with the Rangers, but the cap line seems so tight. You don't know how they could do that. I think he was on Tampa's radar.

Now they've done their guy and Tampa with what draft picks? Are they doing anything now? And, you know, but I wonder about edmonton yeah initially i i think i mentioned a couple weeks ago or written a couple weeks ago that edmonton turned down a big ask for lafferty i think that was for both lafferty and mccabe so i think there's potentially a path to something there bob stoffer has been trying to will this trade into existence for a few weeks now yes and bob has greatpower, so we'll see if it happens. I think the other guys to watch are obviously guys like Murphy and McCabe,

and Blackhawks have a lot of capital. They have a lot of capital, and they're going to start using that to try to turn around the ship, and we'll see if they can add any more. Okay, the Colorado Avalanche, Elliot, lots to get to here. Do want to mention once again, the trade that brings them Jack Johnson, Andreas Englund goes the other way to Chicago. Jack Johnson returns,

Freedj, we're going to get to the rest of the Avalanche here in a second, but from a Colorado point of view, thoughts on this deal? Well, I think Jack Johnson is a really popular guy in that room. i heard that that their players were really happy to get him back there eric johnson got hurt um you know he's a player they know and i think the group was happy to have him back you know to me the biggest question the

avalanche have is landis kog he started skating last week is there any question that he's going to be okay or or he's going to recover or is there any concern because with every injury they've had they've always prepared for that player to be back this year now if there's any reason that landis cog might not be able to play in the regular season or at all then i think their math changes substantially and it opens up things that they can do. But they've got to know this week. Because all year long, the answer's been that Landis Gog is going to play for us this year, so we better make sure

we have $7 million in cap space to bring him on. I think the only way that changes, Jeff, is if they find out he's not going to play, at least in the regular season. And then we'll see what they decide to do. You know, there have been a couple of people that have wondered, that I've talked to who have wondered if they would be able to do something. How should I say this? Nick Schmaltzy?

That's an interesting player. There's no question that there's people talking about this player. Like again, if forever, whatever reason they believe that Landis Gog can't come back, that everything I've just said goes out the window and they've got a bigger cap spot to go out and do something. Yep. So they could in theory do that, but until

they know, like he's a $7 million cap hit, I would say until they know they don't have to worry about him coming back in the regular season, I don't know that that's feasible. You know what was scary, Jeff, is how fast they looked and there was no Makar. They looked blazing fast against the Flames on Saturday.

I know, I don't know whether that was because the Calgary Flames aren't exactly the biggest burners in the league, but Colorado looked like the roadrunner out there. I really like Byram. I like his confidence and his skillset. Oh yeah. And you remember how they always used to say

that when Crosby was out, Malkin, he got a little bit more excited because it was, you know, it was his time kind of thing. Yeah. Like I wonder if Byram, I'm not saying he's selfish or anything like that, but I think when you're a great player, like, so like in the interview coming up with Bill Guerin, he mentioned to us that he thinks

that Makar is the second best player in the league. And I don't think that Guerin is alone in that. So he's out and all of a sudden Byram's like, the opportunity is mine to show I can be that guy too. And I think he's one of those guys that really relishes it. Like last year in the playoffs as the stage got bigger yeah i think he got better and i had a chance to meet byron's dad last year also really confident confident guy i think he is wired a certain way and i think the

bigger the stage gets or the more opportunity he gets he just embraces it and loves it. All right. This next team, I kind of want to file under in on everything, or at least curious about everything. I think they're looking for a forward. I think they're looking for a defenseman. And I think they're in and around a lot of the players that you're hearing, the Dallas Stars. So they made the one move with Dodonov. As you have mentioned, he's a player that Peter DeBoer knows very well. Do you get the suspicion that this is not

necessarily over for the stars? Oh, I think that they're going to be frisky all week long. I don't think that, first of all, they're going through a little bit of a tailspin. They've hit some turbulence and they're trying to pull out of it. And one of the things that makes the Dallas

Stars fascinating to me, Elliot, is they're close to winning the Stanley Cup. We all believe that. They have a lot of the pieces that you need to win the Stanley Cup. And they also have really good prospects on the horizon, which Jim Nill has always, you know, when anyone's ever asked about Maverick Bork or Logan Stankov, and it's always been, no, we're not doing that. No, we're not doing that.

I wonder this week, if they're presented with a scenario for a player or players that can really put them over the top in a Western Conference where as much as teams may be afraid of Colorado, no one's really loading up here like they are in the East.

I really wonder if Jim Nill softens on the, we're not moving Bork, we're not moving Stankoven stance. I'm really curious about that. I think we're going to find out. I would suspect it's probably going to be for someone more with term than a rental, but I, you know, I think that you have opportunities, right?

And there's, there's times that you think you can win. I mean, it was a hell of a game Saturday night against Vegas. Yeah. Like that was a hell of a game Saturday night against Vegas. Yeah. Like that was just great, great hockey. And there's sometimes that things are shaping up to give you a real chance.

And, you know, I, I know how teams think they're like, we want to make sure there's only as Berkey always says, there's only one cup every year. So you want to make sure you're in position to win it more than one year. But I don't know if I'm Dallas, I'm really thinking about it.

It doesn't mean you have to do it, but I think that you're thinking about it. Like Dodonov they did on Sunday. I think they were looking in multiple directions for Gurianov. As we said earlier, I think they were looking at Philly. So that's probably Van Riemsdyk.

That might be why Van Riemsdyk was held out on Saturday night for the Flyers against the Devils. But that's one thing they could do. Now we see, but that wasn't like a deep, deep cut. It was time for Gurianov to get another chance somewhere else. I don't know if they're going to do anything major, but I think they're going to think about it.

I think they want to get tougher to play against too. I think they're one of those teams, like everybody, we keep finding out more and more teams that were in on Garnett Hathaway. I don't think it would be a surprise if eventually we find out that Dallas was one of those teams. We've talked about Dallas as being one of the teams that were interested in Tyler Bertuzzi before Detroit got one point away from the playoffs interested in Tyler Bertuzzi, you know, before Detroit got one point away from the playoffs and Eisenman said, yeah, no chance.

He's our guy and we're trying to march to the playoffs here. I think that they're looking for players that make it harder to play against Dallas. I really think that that's what they're after here. Makes sense to me. Okay, from the Dallas Stars, we'll head to the Minnesota Wild. You mentioned Bill Guerin a couple of seconds ago. This is where I plug a podcast coming up later on this week. makes sense to me okay from the Dallas Stars we'll head to the Minnesota Wild you mentioned Bill Guerin a couple of seconds ago this is where I plug a podcast coming up later on this week on

Wednesday we'll drop the podcast that we did with Bill Guerin last Friday sitting down with the GM of the Minnesota Wild in the meantime uh right now we know Minnesota as the bankers they hold money for other teams to facilitate trades how How aggressive do you think Garen gets this week, though, in trying to help his own team? I should say, first of all, Jeff, we didn't talk a lot about trades with Garen because we did the interview on Friday and it's going to be on Wednesday. And if you spend too much time on that, it could be a potential disaster. We didn't talk a lot about that, but he has indicated that he's very serious, that he's in a situation where he thinks the

team deserves the opportunity to go out and get help. And he's got a lot of flexibility, even for all of his cap issues. He has a lot of things that he could do here. Dumba was quiet. I think it picked up for a little bit. Like I did wonder about Ottawa, but Guerin has come out in defense of Dumba and the way he's played lately. Obviously Greenway's name has been out there. And I do think there's a good chance that Greenway gets moved before his partial protection

kicks in on july 1st like i've believed he's looking for a score either a center or a score like he wants to help his offense and the besser thing is everybody's wish besser would love it i think on some level the wild would love it yeah but it's just so hard to do. Like you look at all the players out there who are still rentals that are still available. I just wonder if they try to find a really good value player. Like Guerin has big guts.

He'll go out there and try to make the big move. Yep. I'm just wondering who's the big move with no term. Like I'm looking at those forwards out there. There's Connor Sherry, who I think is a really good fit and has shown he's a really good playoff player with good players before.

This is one of the things, Jeff, that you have to be careful about at this time of year. I heard like about a week or two ago that Minnesota wasn't that interested in James Van Reemstuyck, but now someone said to me today they thought that was incorrect and Minnesota was interested in James Van Reiemsdyk, but now someone said to me today, they thought that was incorrect and Minnesota was interested in James Van Riemsdyk. You know, we'll see, but it just shows you how

tricky it is at this time of year. Elliot, what a day for the Nashville Predators. Not just the team, but the entire organization. David Poyle, who's been the general manager from day one of the Predators' existence, announces he is resigning, he is retiring. Barry Trotz will take over as the general manager. That does not become official until when?

That becomes official on July 1st. Poyle's last day is the 30th. Trotz's official first day is the 1st. But stillle's last day is the 30th. Trotz's official first day is the first. But still, both of them are working and worked out the Tanner Jeannot deal. We suspect there are more to come as well. Before we get into the Tanner Jeannot deal from the Nashville side of things, just your thoughts on David Poyle and the legacy., I heard you talking on television with, with David and Anthony about, you know, how much he helped to grow the NHL in Nashville and how much he helped to

grow hockey at the grassroots level, the youth hockey level in Nashville to the point where it's become a destination that all hockey fans have to go to. Listen, I think a lot of that is because of David Poyle. Your thoughts on the soon-to-be ex-general manager? Well, you know, the first thing I would say about David Poyle is one thing that happened with David Poyle and Barry Trotz in Nashville

was they took care of some players who had some real challenges. Brian McRatton, Jordan Tutu, Connor Ingram was a guy who was in the program for different reasons that was obsessive compulsive challenges and there were a couple people who reached out after the news got out and they said privately that you know that's one of the things that David Poyle should be remembered for is that you knew in Nashville, if you really needed help, they would help you get it. And so that's the kind of legacy that you should want to leave. You know, I remember, Jeff, I was working at the score when Nashville came into the league.

And the first time Nashville came to Toronto, you know, we're asking, you know, all of us like the big shot Toronto hockey media, let's talk to the Predators players about what it's like to play hockey in Tennessee and make jokes about it. And I remember one of the players just rolling his eyes and saying, man, we get the same questions in every city. It's so boring.

And they went from what really was a curiosity and to some people a joke to one of the league's bellwether franchises. Like, you know, you talk about Stanley Cup finals one of the league's bellwether franchises like you know you talk about stanley cup finals that changed the league i think the 2017 stanley cup final between the predators and the penguins changed the league because they saw the possibilities of what you could do with the city the concerts on broadway oh that was one of that was one of the times where the NHL really looked and realized we have to do a better job of using our environment.

Like I remember the first couple of games in Nashville, what those were like. And then we went back there for game six and what that was like, because people looked at what was going on outside on Broadway and said, we have to capitalize on this. And, you know, this year, for example, Nashville's hosting both the draft and the awards. And they wanted to do it outside a little bit. It was too unpredictable, so they're not. I think there will be elements of it.

The fact that they were doing that in Nashville, that's a lot of people in the Predators and Tennessee and Nashville, front and behind the scenes scenes doing an incredible job. But, you know, when you're at the top, if it goes well, you get the credit. If it goes bad, you get the blame. That's the way it goes. But David Pohl was the constant 26 years since 1997, the only general manager they've ever had. And a lot of this growth came under him. I, I know people talk about, you know, he didn't win a Stanley Cup as general manager. Yeah, I'm sure he absolutely wanted to.

But I think what he did do was he built a franchise from the ashes and he was a major player, not the only player, but a major player into turning it into one of the stronger franchises in the league. And players want to play there. If you're single, you like Nashville. If you've got a family you like nashville as you said it's a destination and i think it's a great a great legacy and is there a franchise that made more news this weekend like the whole franchise changed in a 24-hour phase and coming in is barry trotz who obviously was a huge part of that too.

You know, the only thing I wonder about Jeff is I wonder how some of the players feel like they must be like, it just must be like a whirlwind for them right now. Yeah. Well, I mean, there was a Nino Niederreiter trade on Saturday. He goes to the Winnipeg Jets and the

Tanner Jeannot deal, which is being heralded as you know we understand why tampa did it and they bring in that type of player and it makes them that much harder to play against and they could win the stanley cup but this one is being looked at as a pretty big win by david poyle like if he's exiting he's still setting this franchise up for the future because of this deal you know just one other thing about David Poyle, Jeff, if he's going out, in a lot of ways, what someone said to me was, it was kind of fitting. He went out on a trade where he had a player that a lot of people wanted, and he probably drove a lot of those GMs crazy, just pulling more and more and more out of it as he got for Tanner

Jeannot. They said it was kind of fitting that one of Poyle's last deals would be one like that, where he could push everybody as far as he could go. And, you know, the other thing I would say too, is that on Jeannot, I think they talked about a long-term extension for him. I'd reported that in the past couple of days. I would suspect it was something along the lines of a Colton Sissons signed a seven-year deal a few years ago that has a cap hit of about 2.9 million.

A few years ago, they also had one with Kelly Yarncroke where they signed him in Nashville and that was a six year deal at 2 million. I would suspect it was something along those lines, probably just didn't work. And then all of a sudden he gets those options out there from other teams and he just couldn't pass it up. But that's what i'm guessing happened with as you know in nashville talk about an extension along those two players lines and it

just didn't work in this particular case you know why the tanner's you know deal must have been kind of tough for david poyle the nashville predators elliot what's that he's a homegrown guy he's a drafted and developed forward now we've seen've seen Nashville do that with defensemen. We've seen them do that with goaltenders. But if you have a look at the forward group of the Nashville Predators, it's trades and signings. In a lot of ways, Tanner Jeannot was a Nashville Predators, you know, scout and development group success story

because they don't have a lot of those in the forward ranks in Nashville. That's what had to make make this one tough and that's a good point i i understand that we talked about players that are available we'll see what happens with matias at home you know we'll see what happens with you know other players i mentioned dante fabro as well um as we talked about saturday if your name's yosi no problem if your name's soros Saturday, if your name's Yossi, no problem. If your name's Saros, no problem. If your name's Forsberg, no problem. Everybody else, there might be a problem, but we'll see how it, uh, it all plays out. But you're right.

It's been the spotlight this weekend has definitely been on the Nashville Predators. You know, I also wonder about a guy like Ryan McDonough. You know, he's got three more years at 6.75 million. You know, somehow Tampa's bringing them back, right? Yeah. You know, somehow. Yes. And he, I don't know if there are any draft picks left to do it.

Um, you know, he's got a no trade clause, but you wonder about his situation. You know, I'm curious to see what the plan is. Is this a restart, a complete restart, or do they, they simply use this, these picks to restock the team or do they use these picks to do some other things i'm i'm curious to see what the plan is because they're potentially giving themselves a blank canvas they've still got some contracts that need two or three more years to go through but but you know, now they've, they've given themselves a chance to do some different things.

And I'm curious to see what the plan is. There's no question about that. Like, uh, they've become one of the most fascinating teams in the NHL because it looks like they want to give themselves a restart and they're on the way to doing that. From the national predators, we head to the St. Louis blues, uh, who today moved Ivan Barbashev

to the Vegas Golden Knights. Zach Dean comes back the other way. So Vegas trades another first round pick. They're used to that. Thank you very much. And they're also used to being a team that's always in go for it mode. You know, one person that I talked to said today,

this is the perfect fit for Vegas. Barbashev is what they need. Physical guy can be nasty, et cetera. But the St. Louis Blues are clearly right now as we speak in tear it down mode, but we expect that to change and them to go back into rebuilding quickly. Could that be as early as this week?

Well, I don't think they're going to get Meyer if that's what you're asking me. I wonder about Chikrin. Yeah, Chikrin's a fair're asking me. I wonder about Chikrin. Yeah. Chikrin's a fair one. Like we've wondered about that. I definitely think that that's a player that is on their radar and has been on their radar before the blues. I think are,

they're fascinating to watch. First of all, the player Dean, it's interesting. I had a lot of people who watch prospects say they really liked that kid yeah and they weren't surprised at all that that's the kind of player that st louis would want like a he's a throwback to what they were uh like a nasty he's not a guy who's going to score you 40 goals but he's going to play for a long time he's going to drive a lot of people crazy and that's the kind of player that the blues really like and you know to be honest he's probably

like a barbachev who's not going to score 60 points so nobody was surprised at that i think he could do anything this week i don't think he's getting meyer i do think he's going to try on chikrin if he hasn't already i do think he's going to try to move one of his defensemen and i think st louis wants to reshape itself and they have absolutely zero desire to go out and have any kind of long rebuild. You know, he's got a lot of draft picks. He tried to use them to get Meyer.

He's got some extra assets now that he didn't have before. And I don't think he's going to be afraid to use them. All right. Elliot, the Winnipeg Jets. Now they dropped a tough one to the Islanders on Sunday. Did I ask you a question?

4-0. Yeah, sure. Are you a little bit worried here? Because the Winnipeg Jets have hit a speed wobble? Yes. Islanders go down on it. Palmieri tops it to center. The horn sounds on the New York Islanders.

Beat the Winnipeg Jets by the final score of 2-1. They run their winning streak over the Jets to 6, and they mob Ilya Sorokin, who has his 20th win of the season. Blues rain down from the fans in Winnipeg, but the Avalanche win in the peg. Mustang, this is Ghost Rider, your final score from canada life center colorado five and the jets one everybody goes through it it's just kind of the way it's gone lately i don't disagree and i wonder if this is one of the reasons why kevin shovel day off now

first of all i think the nita rider deal is a great one for the Winnipeg Jets. I agree. But I wonder if the Niederreiter deal is Kevin Chevaldeoff saying, I need to do something a little bit bigger than maybe I normally do or would normally be comfortable doing because this team is good. We're getting command performances

from Connor Hellebuck and Josh Morrissey, etc. Cole Perfetti is hurt right now. That stinks. And we need to do something. I don't know. How do you describe it, Frege? To jolt the team right now? I wonder if that's part of the motivation here.

Well, I think it was, but I think it's also, you know, you have to show that a team that deserves help. And for the most part this year, the Jets have shown they deserve help by the way they've played, gets help. But like, I don't like to overreact to things because every team goes through bad slumps and this year the Jets have shown they deserve help by the way they've played gets help but like I don't like to overreact to things because every team goes through bad slumps and and things like

that it's been weird to watch them because bonus is generally very good about pushing buttons and you know even if his Dallas team's lost they generally competed and it seems as if he's having one of those rare moments where he can't seem to get through his group right now to get them going. I assume that'll change, but I don't like seeing good teams go through these kinds of stretches right before the trade deadline. Cause they kind of confuse you about sometimes about what you are and where

you're going. And it's the wrong time of year for a team to go through something like this. And I agree with you, need a writer for a second rounder with one more year of term. That's a great pickup. So like, I think they really were interested in Meyer. And I think if Meyer had shown any willingness to sign Winnipeg, we might be having a different conversation on where Timo Meyer is going to end up. But they can't do that.

I understand that. I think Sheveldayoff has the hardest GM job in the NHL because the pool of players that is available to him is lower than almost everywhere else because of players who say they aren't interested long-term there or they don't want to play there. It's tough.

It's unfair, but it's the way it is. It's reality. And so I think he tries to navigate the situation as best he can. He got a really good player at a really good price. And I wouldn't be surprised if this is it. I think he's going to look at their defense. I'll tell you this. We'll, we'll get to Calgary in a couple minutes, but you know, I just wonder about if the flames say here, okay, we were not so sure about this. Like some of those guys who have a year, like I wonder if the jets go looking at that too.

I'm, I'm ruining the whole Calgary conversation, but you can see what shovel day off is trying to do. I understand. Let's get to the Pacific. Uh, we'll, we'll get to Calgary here in a second, but first alphabetically the Anaheim Ducks. I think it's pretty safe to say they're sellers.

Oh, yeah. Their prize comes up in June. I think this when it comes to the Ducks. We've talked about Comtois. I think they're going to try to move him. Gibson is having an unbelievable month. When he beat the Hurricanes on Saturday night, the Ducks put out the stat.

It's the first time in, what, 60 years? The 70 years? That a goalie has had three 50-save games in a month since Gump Worsley? I mean... I feel great about Gibson for that. I cheer for this guy, man. I really do.

PR maven Alex Gilchrist is really pumping up Gibson. You know, I'm sure he'd love a trade. I'm sure they'd love to move him. And this Lucas Dostal, he's ready to play. Oh yeah. So I think one of these two goalies, they're going to try to move. Again, Gibson's a much harder move than Stoller's is, but look, I think those lines are in the water.

On defense, Klingberg, obviously obviously Kulikov you mentioned him Boliu they I mean they have defensemen with no term so if you look at them they don't have a ton of defensemen signed for next year they've got Fowler obviously they've got Colton White yep John Moore you know he's probably not going to play Jamie Drysdale will obviously sign and they have Vakanen. You know, I've wondered if like a guy like Shattenkirk, they just say, hey, one year extension at a lower amount of money and you stay here and play. Like I've wondered if that's a possibility

because you do need some veterans. But, you know, Henrik, before Henrik got hurt, I think there was some talk about him. I know that teams like him. Again, a guy with money next year, that's a guy I wonder about for a team like Carolina. And I don't know, like, is he really married to anybody aside from the obvious kids? I don't think so. And let me throw one other name out at you.

And this is a bottom six name, but we keep hearing about teams that want to get tougher to play against and have some snarl in their lineup, et cetera. Wouldn't take a lot. And if Anaheim is as open for business as we think they are, and this player wouldn't be a rental, he still has one more year of term,

albeit at a very team-friendly $850,000 price tag. What about Sam Carrick? I wonder about all that, but don't forget, as we saw last year, they do need someone to, if you even look at Zgris and McTavish the wrong way, you need somebody there. But, you know, like, look, like I think it's obvious

there who's not getting traded, but I think there are some things that they're trying to do. And also, you know, he could be used as a third party, although apparently like he's a real grinder when it comes to the retaining stuff. I wonder where he gets that from. All right. Let's get to it.

The Calgary Flames. I don't know how recent a lot of this stuff is. I think they've looked at Shen. I've wondered about them looking at Duclair to play with Huberto Like I think they've looked around At a lot of things Now I just think they've

Kind of paused to say What really Makes sense for us And I think the way they've Played recently They've pumped the brakes and thought about big picture I do think and I don't think and I want to make this very clear I don't think this is them making calls necessarily as I think other teams are going to start to call them if they

haven't already and said what are you thinking because if you look at the flames, they have a lot of interesting players that have one more year left on their contract. Like they have Backland one more year. They have Lindholm one more year. They have to fully one more year. They've got Dubay, uh, one more year. Foley one more year. They've got Dubé one more year. Hannafin, Tanev, Zdorov, all these guys one more year. And I'm not saying that Calgary is going to do any of this, but I do think that teams are going to ask them what they think. So I'm not convinced yet this is Calgary saying

we're going in a different direction. I think at the very least they've paused. I think another guy they've thought about is Besser, to be honest, but I think they've paused and said, what really makes sense? Calgary's in a position they didn't want to be in, didn't think they were going to be in, but now they're in. So other teams start coming at you and it challenges you to sort of adapt on the fly. And that's where I think we kind of are here.

Let me ask you this one then about Calgary. What happens if a team calls and says, and I know he hasn't even started his, you know, his eight year contract extension. What do you think happens if someone calls for McKenzie Wieger? There's been a lot of rumors about that. Like, I don't think Ottawa has done that, but I don't think it's impossible that maybe when they get some clarity about the future of the team, they might consider doing that. Put it this way.

When you have a season as disappointing as Calgary looks like they're going to have this year, I think a lot of options are on the table. I think you listen to a lot of things and probably things that you didn't think you would be listening to. So if somebody calls on them, I think they're going to listen. No question about it. Edmonton Oilers, the other Alberta team. We've been watching Ken Holland now for a while, not just this season, last season as well. Where are the Oilers at? I think the Oilers took some big swings.

I absolutely think they pitched on Patrick Kane. I absolutely think they looked at Eric Carlson. I believe that. I think both of those things, I think they tried. Like they have had some really ugly defensive performances recently.

And, you know, you look at the Colorado game, you look at the and you know you look at the Colorado game uh you look at the Ranger game you look at the Columbus game that's the most recent one that was really ugly short hops the end boards in the blue jagged zone right to the stick of Gavin Bayreuther Bayreuther ahead for Roslevic up the left side he comes he shoots and he scores! Give him two on the day! Jack Roslevic makes it 6-4! And I just think you're looking at it and saying, all right, how do we deal with this? I do believe that after those big swings,

and they didn't work out, I think Ken Holland's plan is, I think it's similar to Kyle Dubas's. There are some teams here who are going to get stuck and can we take advantage of them? You know, first of all, they're dollar in, dollar out. Yep. So they have to be careful. I think he's playing cards.

I think he's saying who gets desperate here to move the player and we can try to take advantage of that. to take advantage of that. Now, I think that the way some of these games have gone recently, especially that one on Saturday against the Blue Jackets, has sent some shivers up and down the organization, but they've also had some real unbelievable performances like the one in Pittsburgh. You know, you don't want to be on that much

of a roller coaster, but I do think it's Holland's plan to try to take advantage of teams that are stuck. You know, who do I look at? I look at Jensen. I look at Gavrikov. They've looked at Klingberg before. But again, I don't know that's what they need.

They want a puck mover. Like, they want a defenseman that can move the puck to the neutral zone. Like, even with the best puck-moving defenseman alive, you still don't have the puck, what 47 percent of the time one of the analytics people can tell me this but you still don't have the puck like 47 percent of the time right you have to be able to defend and in the playoffs you have to be able to check it's so important it's you have to be able to check and to me they need somebody like that somebody who can knock someone off a puck

or win a battle for the puck or go and get the puck. Yes, I understand the value of passing, but you also have to be able to stop people and they're not doing that consistently enough. You know who I wonder about? Who? Then with the Edmonton Oilers,

and we're going to get to this theme here in a couple of seconds, I wonder about Carson Soucy. Soucy, I think think is a great name. I think he's somebody, again, both Alberta teams have been interested in. I think that's a perfect, perfect name. You know, the one I wanted to mention was

Chikrin. All the Oilers fans ask about Chikrin and I get it. I've just heard there's some in the organization who like him and there's some who don't. And I just don't think there's ever been any real consensus on that's the move that makes sense for them. Maybe it changes this week.

Who knows? Is there another defenseman in Arizona whose name maybe rhymes with Shane Gostisbear? Yeah, but again, I'm beginning to wonder, like, is that who you need? No offense to Gostisbear, but is that who you need? All right. Let's get to the Kings. Los Angeles. A couple of weeks ago, we thought they were going to be the team

that we all talked about with a shiny new left shot defenseman on the point by the name of Jacob Chikrin. But then, Elliot, something happened on the way to the forum. Oh, wait, that was the last rink in Los Angeles. Come on, I got to do the waka waka fray at least once in the podcast, Elliot.

But here we are with the Los Angeles Kings wondering what's Rob Blake's move. I still think it's a lefty. Maybe the Chikrin thing works out. But again, like it sounds like there were parts there that they really couldn't agree on. Who knows? Like deadline spur action, right? I don't want to say it's impossible.

You know, I look at guys with term because again, I heard they were interested in Gavrikov, but they couldn't get him to sign. So could happen, but it's not what they want to do. McCabe is one who makes sense to me. I think they're going to do that. I think we're all wondering about the goalie and who have we talked about?

We've talked about Korpisalo. We've talked about Talbot. Yeah. Like I think they have some interest in Demko, but I can't see them doing that now. As of Saturday, he still hasn't played. I don't think you can do that right now in the summer. I'd be curious to see if they revisit it.

Also with LA Jeff, I think one of the things that they've really tried to do is be careful, not get drawn into bidding wars. You know, we have a plan in terms of what we're willing to do and move remember they told byfield not going anywhere they told clark not going anywhere i think they have a plan and they want to stick to it they've been disciplined in sticking to it and that's why you know they don't have chikrin this is what we're doing and we're going to stay within those parameters. The one guy I wonder if they take a run at here,

just because this is all new in Nashville, is Saros. Now, this is my opinion, and I'm not saying it's going to happen, but that's the one position the Kings 2, aside from lefty, they have to address, and for argument's sake, if you traded for him now you could get three playoffs out of him at least and that fits with their window so it's more an educated guess as opposed to anything else but with this way the situation has changed in nashville so quickly and la's obvious need for a goalie, their ability to give futures,

which is what Nashville wants. I might be talking myself into it, but it makes sense. But this is uncharted territory for Blake. He doesn't like doing this. He likes his business done early. He doesn't like to make big moves to add at the deadline.

But, you know, I think he's going to try. I think he wants a lefty D with term. Like I said, I think we all see what they're trying to do. We'll see what they end up with. All right, Timo Meier is now ex of the San Jose Sharks. Let's do Mike Greer's team here now, the team in teal, as a welcome in Zetterland and Johansson and a couple of defensemen, a couple of prospects

in Michael Madulan and Johansson and a couple of defensemen, a couple of prospects in Makamadoulin and Ohuchuk, a couple of left shot D there, a first round draft pick in 2023, a conditional second in 24, a seventh as well. They move out a lot of prospects as they try to make room for new prospects in the organization. Your thoughts on what Mike Greer has done and what he still might do. I think this, I tried to look through what I believe was out there. And I think there were some other trades that were as big in terms of the number of players that might've been involved.

This one had nine, but the one thing that this trade had that I heard that other one I just mentioned didn't have was the potential for two first rounders. So that's one thing. Like I think St. Louis offered two first rounders, but I don't think they had this many prospects available to them. So I think as one of the reasons San Jose took this trade, like we've talked Jeff about how San Jose wasn't crazy about their prospect pool. Yeah.

Well, this gives them a real chance to restock their prospect pool, both in terms of draft picks that they'll get and also some of the young players that they'll get. I don't think San Jose, and we heard Mike Greer say this in his availability on Sunday night, I don't think they're interested in a full rebuild. And I think that goes above Greer.

I heard when the people who were interviewed by the owner in the search, it was made pretty clear to them that the Sharks don't want a full rebuild. So, you know, when he gets players like Zetterlund and Andreas Janssen, who, you know, has had a couple of really rough years, it was because they just didn't want to completely tear it down. And so I think this trade gave them the most of everything that was important to them. Restock the cupboard, get some young players

who are a bit closer than draft picks, and get some guys who can play in the NHL now. I think that did all of it. Now, as you've said, Fabro is probably on their radar too. So that's something else and we'll see what else they do. Now, Greer did say it looks like Eric Carlson

stays the rest of the season. The other thing too is Timo Meier didn't sign an extension. And what I think that it probably prevented them from getting maybe one more guaranteed first round pick but he didn't do that at this point in time I think there's going to be a lot of debate about whether or not this was a good trade for San Jose and the honest truth is we'll probably find no in about three or four years. But what I do think it did was it accomplished everything they wanted

in terms of the most pieces of things they wanted. And that was ultimately what they decided to do. We wonder about other players now at this trade deadline. I do wonder about Nick Bonino, Elliot, if they move him. He's on the expiring deal. I know Kevin LeBanc's name is out there as well. So there's still a couple of players here,

Elliot, that I wonder about because I kind of get the feeling that Mike Greer's not done this year yet. No, I would agree with that. He's shown no fear of making trades. There's no- That's true. There's no question about that. Like, you you know like i'll say this like he really grinded teams here not uh i

don't think everybody was so happy with it yeah but they had the biggest diamond of the deadline yeah and they could wield a little bit of power with it and not everybody liked it but greer's like i don't care i i have to do what I think is best and initially when we first heard that the deal was done and Meyer was going to New Jersey it took a long time for the return to come out and what I think happened is there was a player on the Barracuda and I think it was Max Verano he was supposed to be in the deal because if you look at it San Jose had to include some AHL contracts or else they would have gone over 50. And I believe Verano was in the deal and it turned out he was injured.

So they kind of had to redo it. That's why I think it took as long as it did. All of these deals, they're so complicated. And then this one thing happens and you're like, what? Like that, like this is the thing that's slowing. Because when I first heard there was an injured player, like potentially holding up the deal, I was wondering if it was Meyer because he's missed a couple games due to injury, right?

And then someone said to me, no, no, no, it's not him. And I eventually figured out who this was. But it just shows you the challenge and the complex nature of putting all these deals together. It's amazing what can cause you roadblocks. All right. The Seattle Kraken. I don't know that there are any obvious candidates to be traded.

Perhaps Carson Soucy, and we talked about him when we talked about Edmonton, but what do you think Ron Francis has up his sleeve here this is a much different Seattle Kraken team than the one we saw last season you know maybe a squad here that could use a shot in the arm a little reward for where the team has gotten even though they're not playing at the same clip that they had been earlier on this season what do you think Ron Francis does here the one thing I look at with Ron Francis, Jeff, is he's got three second round picks. He's got his, he's got Winnipeg's,

and he's got Toronto's. And I wonder about moving around with those. I agree with you on Soucy. I think he could get dealt. I think he's looking for a defenseman. Maybe he can move the puck a little bit. Or, you know, if he has to replace Soucy, that gives him that option.

We talked about Buffalo earlier on, one of the worst teams in the league in face-offs. And so is Seattle. They've been looking for a center for a while. You know, Ron Francis has got a very different trade resume. He doesn't make player-for-player trades. It's very rare for him. He doesn't make player for player trades. It's very rare for him.

He went last year at the deadline, but otherwise it's a lot of players for draft picks and he's got three second round picks. And those are the ones I look at and say, you know what? That could be what he uses to improve his team. We'll see where Seattle goes. All right.

They've been a story all season long and will continue to be a story long after this year's edition of Trade Deadline has come and gone. The Vancouver Canucks. First of all, Demko. I want to start there. He hasn't played yet.

I can't imagine anything's going on with him right now. Shen, I really feel for Shen. It's been so up and down. There have been times I've heard it's close. There have been times I heard it's dry. You know, obviously, I feel really bad for him and his family. His wife's here. She's basically nine months pregnant.

And, you know, he's been going up and down yes no yes no for the past few weeks i just really hope it works out for him because it's it's been really tough on him and his family i i think he's on a few different radars here but as we've talked about there's a surplus not a glut but a surplus of defensemen and you know and he's one of them so i think they'll try to move him i think they'll try to move besser the interesting one will be hoaglander like i think there have been calls on hoaglander i i think it's been out this weekend i don't know someone mentioned it to me but i don't know where it was like i do think at one time when the rangers were talking about kravtsov

they asked for hoaglander and the Canucks said no. And then it got to a situation where, you know, obviously the Rangers couldn't take anybody back because they need to clear room and they traded Kravtsov for the pick and Will Lockwood. So I think Vancouver's got a few things that

they can do here, but it sounds like their heaviest moves are already done. Unless like a Miller deal comes here out of nowhere. Wow. I think a lot of their moves, their biggest moves are already done. For Demko, I wonder about the Los Angeles Kings in the off season. California guy, they'll need a goaltender there. That's the one that I wonder about there, Frej.

Yeah, I just don't think like it's now. He just hasn't played and you want to see him just get back and play. guy they'll need a goaltender there that's the one that i wonder about there for each yeah i just don't think like it's now like he just hasn't played and you want to see him just get back and play you do the vegas golden knights uh never a quiet moment there uh whether it's you know moving out shea weber's contract for one whether it's bringing in ivan barbachev for two and no one really thinks for a second that Kelly McCrimmon is done yet. No, and it'll be interesting. I don't think they've had any conversations.

Actually, McCrimmon had said they hadn't had any conversations about an extension, but I don't think anybody will be surprised if eventually they do. They do talk about an extension. I would expect them to do some more. I don't think they're done at all. I completely agree with you. I think they're going to look for some more. I don't think they're done at all. I completely agree with you.

I think they're going to look for some more players up front. People expected that the Golden Knights would try to make one big move and one small one. I really like Barbashev. I think he's a great fit for them. They're a team that plays hard. He plays hard. I don't know if that really fits in the one big move, one small move conversation. What it means to these, they have more moves

and probably be wingers. I don't think they really need D. I don't know how many centers they really need. I just think they need wingers. You know, Jeff, one of the conversations here is like how wide open it is. This Eastern Conference, like I saw Paul Bissonnette called it hell in the cell.

You're talking at the Eastern Octagon. Yeah. Like who's the team in the West that's going to grab it? You know, we've had a couple of small moves, but who's the team in the West that's going to rake the really big move that tips the scales? And this to me is that team. It's in their DNA. Unfortunately, with Mark Stone's injury, they have a bit more flexibility.

This is the team to me to watch them in Edmonton. Like, I don't know what Edmonton's big move is left, but I do think Edmonton, as we talked about, has talked about big moves. I just wonder what these two teams are

thinking. Okay. As we conclude here, one final question. Did Sunday kind of feel like maybe the real trade deadline day? It sure did. Sunday was fantastic.

Sunday was a grind. Sunday was exciting. Sunday was this waterfall of trades and news. Kind of felt like trade deadline day. It did. It was really crazy. My son does swimming on sunday and uh i was watching my phone a lot more than swimming unfortunately bad lifeguard bad lifeguard i am a

really lousy lifeguard the insurance rates would be very high with me and then you know i was working the regional game seattle toronto i don't think i watched the second of the game every time you came back on camera you're on your laptop or on your phone. Like I really have to thank Dave Amber and Anthony Stewart because they, like they talked about the game while I, and watched the game while I was doing other stuff. Those guys really carried me on Sunday night. But you know what? It's fun.

I think at the end of the day, it's hard on players. Like, you know, like Janot was in the warmup and they pulled them and you know, the rumors are going around. I guess they pulled them off the bus at the end of the night. Like those are really tough on the players, but for fans, like that was a huge night. Like hockey fans, they were really engaged. It was wild. It was entertaining.

It was, you know, it is, someone said to me, you remember the, the big day a few years ago where, and then the, the, the 25 minutes that changed hockey with oh boy stamko sang in tampa and suban weber and hall larson like there's a story to be written about today and everything that happened so it was it was wild taking us out as a band that didn't produce much music but were able to get one of their songs featured on a pretty legendary compilation album in the 1950s. Teen Expo was a landing pad for upstart teen combos from the greater Madison, Wisconsin area, and the band Best People found one of their tracks on the record. With Dreamin', here's Best People on 32 Thoughts, the podcast.

Dreamin' on a Sunday afternoon. Sunday morning flowers bloom. Sunday morning sun shows through. Now a dreamer, on a Sunday afternoon. Dreamer, on a Sunday afternoon Got my baby by my side She's the reason for all of my pride Now I'm dreamin' on a Sunday afternoon Dreamin' on a Sunday afternoon Afternoon