32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Does Something Need to Give in Columbus?

Episode Date: November 20, 2023

Jeff and Elliotte dive into the benching of Patrik Laine by Pascal Vincent and the Columbus Blue Jackets. Elliotte talks about the issues he has with the decision, and they debate whether Columbus is putting Laine in the best position to succeed. They also talk about the potential impact this is having on star prospect Adam Fantilli (15:07). Jeff and Elliotte move on to the thriving Philadelphia Flyers, and Elliotte highlights how important Philadelphia is to the NHL (21:00). Elliotte also provides some World Cup of Hockey (30:07) and 2024 NHL All Star Game (33:00) updates. The guys then dive into the Edmonton Oilers' hunt for a goaltender (40:10) and wrap the pod by discussing the success of the NHL's Global Series in Stockholm (1:04:44). The guys answer your questions and Jeff has a mind blowing story in the Montana’s Thought Line (58:12). Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call the Montana's Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemail.This podcast was produced and mixed by Dominic Sramaty and hosted by Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman.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.

When, when's the next time you're going into the studio? Not sure, but will there be an Oreo cookie in a box for me? Yes. Now people are complaining about Oreos. They're saying they're inflation. They're cutting back on the creamy filling, but I will make sure the next time you're in the studio, you let me know and I will have an Oreo waiting for you.

But that was actually. But only, only Elliot send me one because I promised myself a bikini next summer and damn it, I'm going to wear a bikini this summer. So just one. I'm going to send you five because that's not what I want to see. Three, two thoughts. Welcome to it once again.

Brought to you by the GMC Sierra HD, Merrick Friedman and Old Dom Schramatti. I don't know what nickname is going to stick here eventually, Elliot. But for right now, for the next five minutes, I'm going with Old Dom. We've got a lot to get to today. We've got to put a wrap on the Global Series in Stockholm. It's Thanksgiving this week, and Elliot, you know what that means. It means not eat the ribs.

We're going to talk about a number of different teams. It's not try the ribs. It means are you in or are you out? It's try the turkey. So we'll get there. We'll talk about... Try the turducken. We'll get to the Calgary Flames

and specifically Michael Backlund. We'll get to a goalie hunt that continues in Edmonton. And we'll get to issues involving the All-Star Weekend, the World Cup as well. But we should probably begin with the Columbus Blue Jackets, who are now winless in nine. Patrick Lyon, a Sunday, scratched against the Philadelphia Flyers. We'll get to the Flyers in a couple of seconds here.

Damon Severson left that game, by the way, with an upper body injury. They went 11-7, so they were okay. On the back end, there was a pretty good scrap between nick deloria and matthew olivier but the headline coming out of columbus's 5-2 loss at the hands of the philadelphia flyers is patrick linea scratched does something need to give here so i went back and i watched a few of his shifts on sunday because after the news got out that he was not going to play I sent a couple of notes and someone said to me just before you make any comment watch some of his shifts from the last couple of games and you know there was one definitely on one of the on the 4-2 goal against Washington where he had a giveaway that led to the goal and you know he's struggling I'm not gonna argue that I'm not gonna defend that

I'm not gonna say that Columbus is wrong for feeling that Patrick Lani is struggling the thing I don't like about this one is I really think a benching should be the last resort and if you're going to bench a player, and we have made this very clear, and Columbus has made this very clear, Pascal Vincent has the blessing of the organization to do this. We've seen it happen with players not being dressed. We've seen it happen with players sat during games,

and you can't accuse them of picking on people who can't fight back. They've benched Laine and they've benched Goudreau. during games, and you can't accuse them of picking on people who can't fight back. They've benched Laine and they've benched Goudreau. They have gone after their best players. The issue I had with the Laine one is not that he wasn't deserving of sitting, but the question I have for a team is, are you putting a player in the best position to succeed? And the one question I ask about line A here is, should you have put him for a few games on the wing before you benched him? Or took him out of, not benched, because they've in-game benched him before you took him out of the lineup.

Now, you know, Pascal Vincent said all the right things. We want to get him to clear his head. It's a reset. He'll be back in the lineup and they lost again. So you assume he'll be back in the lineup. And look, I don't think they're trying to humiliate Laine. I don't believe that. But there's a difference between not trying to do it

and the fact that the player is going to be humiliated. You know, Patrick Laine is a sensitive guy it's going to hurt like it would hurt anybody who would be sat out a game everybody knows you can spin it the best way you can but anybody knows and the the critique I would have of this and the thing I would say is wouldn't they have been better off to play them on the wing for a few games and then see hey now we have to sit them and that is the question I have about the whole situation how do you feel uh I just wonder where this whole thing is heading here with line a because I I'm with you on the scratching. And even though it might not be the intention, look, we're leading with this story. Any property that covers the NHL as opposed

to a specific market is covering this story as probably their lead on Monday. It is all the talk around Columbus. This is a tough weekend for Columbus. They lose on Sunday. They lose on Saturday to the Washington Capitals as well. There was a brief glimmer of hope when Johnny Goudreau scored in that game against the Washington Capitals, and then the Caps came back, hung on, and won 4-3. I've seen this one so many different times though with scratchings of star players after benchings of star players this isn't like we've lost a couple of games and the coach is angry and says we're going to do something about this and they they shuffle out a couple of guys from the fourth line and that ought to do the trick like this is significant this is an indication

that we're not getting anywhere close to what we want for from you and i just wonder where this one is headed. And I don't know that this is as much an issue between the player and the coach as it is something that just got rolled into the general manager's office. Like benching is one thing. That's a coach issue.

I've always felt that scratches like this are a manager issue. I don't know if I agree with that. I don't, in this day and age, I don't know if I agree with that. In this day and age, I don't know if I agree with that. You don't think that it feels like, I've gone as far as I can with this player. Now what are we going to do? No, I don't.

After everything that Lainey's been through in Columbus. I don't. Not even Lainey specifically? No, you know what? Here's the thing I would say to that. And I would love to hear, if people who are coaches and managers actually listen to this podcast and i would be shocked if anybody with half a brain sometimes listens to this podcast but if anybody who's a coach or a manager listens to this So most relationships are the coach gets the choice of what ingredients to pick to put in the cake.

But the manager gets to pick the ingredients. It's like chopped. Jeff, do you ever watch chopped? I have watched chopped. Yes. So Gordon Ramsey and the other chefs. I'm sorry. I don't know what their names are have you watched chop they give you the ingredients i've watched it my wife watches it so i've watched i actually

think it's a really good show yeah um they give you the ingredients and you've got to make whatever out of them right and i think that's the way it works in most cases now the one thing I will concede that is a flaw in my argument is that I believe the most highly functional best organizations the coach does not embarrass the general manager and the general manager does not embarrass the coach that if it's something like this I I would hope and I think think a good organization, the coach and the GM, the coach would go to the GM and say, I'm thinking of doing this, and they work on it together. Okay? But I do think at the end of the day, in most functional organizations, the coach decides who plays. organizations the coach decides who plays and that's the way I generally tend to hear it with an understanding that the the best organizations work through it together

the NHL is littered with coaches that have tried to do that before you can well recall Steve Casper and Cam Neely and how all that worked out for the Boston Bruins I know that's from generation upon generation ago that I'm drawing that example but this one just feels to me like this is the like this is Pascal Vincent with the nuclear option like we're out of ideas the only idea we have is to put him in a suit that feels like the nuclear option to me and it's almost like just lobbing the decision over to the general manager not as if to say i can't do anything here but right now we need something we need something different because this this isn't working and i think we're a better team

i agree with you on that we're a better team tonight without him in the lineup that's harsh that's harsh here's where i veer from you again i don't think it's wrong for a coach to say you need a night off okay because i believe if i was really bad at my job and a producer came to me and said, we're taking you off this, if I deserve it and I'm not performing, I am not immune from that kind of punishment. However, my issue with this is, would it not be better to say to Patrick Laine, this center scenario doesn't work, we're putting you back to the wing.

Now, if this was something of Laine wasn't trying, or there's something Laine was doing behind the scenes where his attitude was bad, that's a different thing. If your attitude is contributing to the problem, that's on you. But the one thing I give the credit to, to the reporters who were working on this, Jeff Swoboda, Aaron Porchline, they were kind of the people here. They put out Vincent's entire answer on social media.

Like, they provided the proper context. And I didn't get the impression that this is line a with a terrible attitude unless they're hiding it and not saying it i got the impression that this is a player who's struggling and we need a reset and okay fine but i i think at the very least now it's time to make Lonnie a winger again. You have to put players in position to succeed. At the end of the day, I think that's your responsibility as an organization. The player has to be put into position to succeed.

You can never be looked at as an organization that say that you didn't try everything to make it work, that say that you didn't try everything to make it work, especially a player that you've invested as much in in terms of a trade and a salary as Patrick Laine. Unless the decision to put him at center was that final Hail Mary pass, as if to say it's not really working on the wing, much like, and I know there's a lot of revision, not revisionism, but people have short-term memories about Tage Thompson playing on the wing much like, and I know there's a lot of revision, not revisionism, but people have short-term memories of Tate Thompson playing on the wing and

how it was greeted when they moved him to center a training camp. We all thought, wow, this is a complete Hail Mary pass to try to make it work with Tate Thompson. And it did. And it worked spectacularly. It was a great move, but make no mistake about it.

It was a Hail Mary pass. Did you not get the same vibe when they move patrick liney to the middle that this was much like buffalo with tage thompson this was hail mary pass for patrick liney with columbus yeah i don't disagree with you on this but what's also columbus looking for they're looking for centers right so sometimes you try the unconventional i don't think you should ever be penalized for trying the unconventional. No. All I'm saying is if the thought process went, okay, it's not working on the wing, so we're going to try it in the middle here. And coincidentally, we're also looking for centers, so we're going to try this thing.

And then it doesn't work at the center position. Maybe we shouldn't be surprised that the next move is have a seat and watch the game as opposed to this well we'll flip them back to the wing where it wasn't working already and we were having our challenges that's all i'm saying all i'm saying is it feels like yeah this is the end i don't know i don't want to say it's the end of the road for patrick linea in columbus but it's the end of a road numerous roads people right now when they're in a job it's not the end but it's a end of patrick linea in columbus does that make sense that's how i feel yes i i i look i i'm not going to argue with your opinion that's your opinion and i and you're definitely in a point right now where something can't stay the same yeah but you know i'll tell you this like columbus right now how many are

they lost in a row eight nine oh seven and two you know it's tough this has been a really hard season for columbus already we already knew there was a lot on the line coming in that's why they made the gamble for Babcock. That doesn't work. Doesn't even get to training camp. They've now lost nine in a row. Goudreau has two points in those games. He's been benched.

People have been benched. You know, the organization, Tough Love, is clearly a big part of who they are right now. And it's not a problem if it works. But, you know, we talked about this on your radio show Friday, and I've thought about it really all weekend. One of the concerns with all the benching they've been doing is it doesn't seem to work. You know, you're hoping that players are going to get the message. The idea of benching someone is not to be punitive. The idea of benching someone is that they get the message and say,

okay, I've got to be better. But we're not getting that impression. What we're getting the impression is there's just more and more benching. So now, I think Columbus, I mean, they've been looking for a center for a while. I was making a few calls on Sunday, and I think they've really stepped it up. I think they're really trying hard to find the center, but you can see that this is an organization that's coming to a crossroads. And I don't know what that's going to mean, what changes it's going to mean, especially in season, but you can see it coming that this is an organization where one way or another changes are going to come.

You know, one of the things that I've wondered about through all of this, through all the line A stuff and while previous the Mike Babcock situation and the Johnny Goudreau and all the losing and the question marks and the noise and the fire and all of it. There's one person that I think about through all of that on Columbus, and that's Adam Fantilli. Now, he's a really, like, he's a tough guy. I mean, he's mentally strong. Like, he's a really impressive young athlete. And I'm not going to go as far as to say, well, what kind of damage is being done to young Adam Fantilli,

putting him through this? but there are organizations that until they sort out their own situation with their roster they want to keep their star prospects away until they until they settle their team until they settle their bench and I'm not suggesting that I think Columbus is going to do anything to to try to find a a place other than Columbus for Adam Fantilli to play. I just wonder about Fantilli through all of it. You know, I'll tell you this. I don't wonder about that kid at all. I don't.

I think he's got an incredible attitude, an absolutely incredible attitude. I think that kid is wired the right way. Look, losing sucks. absolutely incredible attitude i think that kid is wired the right way um i look losing socks he's doing more losing now than he's done in a long time in michigan this this goes back to my first year covering sports on a day-to-day basis and jeff you may have heard i covered the nba do you remember do you remember who the rookie of the year was in the NBA and the Raptors first season? Damon Stoudemire. It was Damon.

Yes. Excellent. Excellent. What do I win? Like, I want to say, they get a cookie. Okay.

I'm going to send you an Oreo on Monday. Oh, they're vegan on Monday on radio. Are you, are you doing this show from your house or you're doing it from the studio i'm doing it from the broadcast empire that is my basement when when's the next time you're going into the studio um not sure but will there be an oreo cookie in a box for me yes now people are complaining about oreos they're saying they're

inflation they're cutting back on the creamy filling, but I will make sure the next time you're in the studio, you let me know and I will have an Oreo waiting for you. But that was excellent. But only, only Elliot send me one because I promised myself a bikini next summer and damn it, I'm going to wear a bikini this summer.

So just one. I'm going to send you five because that's not what I want to see. Anyway. So Damon Stoudemire was the rookie of the year, the first year the Raptors were in the NBA. I will never forget this. This was one of the days I really learned a lot about covering sports. So the Raptors' early season schedule that year,

to give the team some momentum, they brought in a lot of really good teams in early. You know, the Houston Rockets were the defending champions. They brought them in early. They brought in Seattle early. Gary Payton, a Dream Team player, was the point guard. They brought in Utah early. John Stockton, a Dream Team player.

Payton and Stockton, both Hall of Famers. They came in early. And they lost to Utah. They gave Utah a really good game. But Stoudemire got his ass kicked by John Stockton and there was no shame in that Stoudemire was a rookie and and Stockton was a decade into a hall of fame career and I remember at the end of the game I went to interview Stoudemire in the dressing room and he was crushed he was crushed and the media finished talking to him and he sat

there just like devastated and there was a veteran player on the Raptors a guy named Willie Anderson like just like a like just a great guy to deal with he was he was really somebody who taught me a lot about the NBA early and he walked over to Stoudemire and I was still around to see it and he goes what's wrong with you and he goes I have never had my ass kicked like that in my life I have never had my ass kicked like that and I'll never forget like Willie Anderson sat down next to him and he told him about all the times in his rookie year like hall of famers kicked his ass and he said that the best thing about it was he knew, he realized, he told Stoudemire, you will be a better player for this. And there's times you're going to look back at this

and you're going to think what a great thing it was to face this guy at this level of his career because it's going to turn you into an all-star. And I think about that all the time when I think about young players Ken Hitchcock who just went into the hall of fame he talked about remember Philly had a really horrible year before they went to the Stanley Cup final in 2010 Mike Richards was getting his ass kicked by every good center in the eastern conference like Matt Sundin, Saku Koivu. He talked about it, how every night he was getting his ass kicked by these guys. And Ken Hitchcock said to him, you will be a better player because this is happening to you now. And I think Fantilli, even though this sucks,

I think he will be the same way. I think that kid has a great attitude and I think that in the long run, he will be better off for this and they shouldn't send him anywhere and they won't send him anywhere. I don't think that's going to happen, but the long run, just everything I've heard about Fantilli and I've heard some things about him privately, about the way he's handled things over the first couple of months, that is the last guy the Columbus Blue Jackets have to worry about, the last guy. And he's going to be just fine. I think the bigger concern, if it is a concern to Columbus, is how some of their veterans are going to handle this.

Because, you know, Fantilli's still got 15 years ahead of him. Some of their veterans don't. And maybe that's what part of this is, to maybe get some of their veterans to say, you know, what part of this is to maybe get some of their veterans to say you know maybe i should be somewhere else i don't know i'm just throwing that out there but fantilly jeff is the last guy i'm worried about last guy okay so columbus has now is now winless in 907 and two as you point out meanwhile the team that just played the philadelphia flyers as we approach the thanksgiving break

find themselves in a playoff position five wins in metropolitan division champions 2024 philadelphia flyers who called it hold on pick that uh well i said that they i i wondered if they were going to be better than we thought and you know you weren't very nice to me when i said that so i'll just yeah i know i'm looking at you know what i'm looking at freezing cold takes right now and i am laughing my head off because montreal just won the gray cup yeah and who freezing cold takes uh just if you don't follow this account you have to follow this it's so good yeah it's got it's got 650 000 followers guess who is right at the top of their page right now just guess someone we work with no you no no it's not me although i should

be for my flyers take at the beginning of the year i don't know who is someone we work with arash madani oh noted cfl reporter absolutely because because he's because he because he tweeted today that cody fajardo who's the starting quarterback for the alouettes is he does not buy into him being a championship quarterback if montreal wins today it'll have to be because of everyone else and the guy just drove them down the field at the end of regulation and won the Grey Cup with 13 seconds left. So, you know, I'm glad it's not me, and I'm just really laughing that it's a rash. Like, I think it's very funny.

Well, the Flyers now have won five games in a row and find themselves in a real nice spot in the still jump ball, as I call it, metropolitan division in the Eastern Conference. Yeah, I really like the Rangers, man. It's hard not to like them. It is hard not to like what they've done. You see what's going on with Panarin. You see what's – Shusterkin is back now.

It's – oh, boy. That was a great game, by the way, on Saturday. That Rangers-Devils game was a fantastic hockey game. Just great hockey. I want to get there because I want to ask you about Jack Hughes too. Let's bracket that conversation for a second. Just a thought on, I'm not here to rub your nose. I'm just curious what you think about Philly right now

and what we're seeing and how they're doing this. I think at the beginning of the season, I think we're all wondering, okay, how is Sean Couturier going to be? Was Joel Farabee going to have a better season than last year? What was going to happen with Travis Konechny, who, by the way, scored an absolutely gorgeous goal? When you talk about having nothing to shoot at but finding it, scored a gorgeous goal against Columbus on Sunday as well. Do you just have a quick thought on what Philly's doing here? Because, Elliot, the rebuild is over.

They're buying come deadline, baby. Metro champions 2024. You know who I'm happy for? I'm happy for the Philly fans. That's number one. Philly's an important market. It's an important market it's an important important market you want the flyers to be relevant they it's the nhl is better when the flyers matter right same as you know they're same as rangers a thousand percent The NHL is better when the Rangers matter.

And you know what? I mean, they're playing hard. Everybody's getting roles. You know, they just look really good. They look really good. You know, one of the real good stories of the season, I think you mentioned Konechny, you mentioned Couturier. I think Sanheim has quietly been one of the really good stories of the season i think you mentioned connect me you mentioned couturier i think sanheim has quietly been one of the the really good stories of the season a guy who they try

like he's a saint louis blue of tory crocker i'll get to sean i'm gonna get to sean walker in a second because that's a special case um but travis sanheim is a St. Louis Blue if Torrey Krug says yes. Yeah. So he's not even there. And Torrey Krug says no. So Travis Sanheim is given a new lease on life. But one of the things I heard at the end of last year was Sanheim was kind of challenged a bit. You know, he said, I think they kind of told him, know you got the big deal so we believe in you like you earn this contract and so are you gonna come

back next year and be and I want to be very careful about how I say this I don't think you have to justify the contract like you've you're given the contract but what i think you have to do is justify the role that the contract means you have to take and that's what they challenged sanheim with i heard and to his credit you know he's he's been really good really good and so i think he deserves a lot of credit and walk Walker is an interesting one because for the first time on Saturday, Jeff, I heard his name. And in a sense of what do you think Philly is going to do there? So I think he surprised Philly a little bit. I think they were hoping he could fill a role for them.

I think they were hoping he could fill a role for them. He surprised them a bit with, I don't like to say how much better he is than they realize because it's almost like an insult. It's kind of a backhanded compliment. But I think he's done that. I think they've kind of recognized, wow, we didn't realize what we had here. And now the question is going to be,

do you keep him or do you move him? He's a UFA. And because teams are starting to watch him a bit and say, okay, if we're looking to add something, we better take a look at what we're getting here. But I also wonder if Philly is going to say, you know what? This might be a guy we want to keep. So, I mean, it's still time to figure this out you we don't have to go crazy with it but for the first time on saturday and just making my calls for the show there was a little bit of do you have you heard what philly's doing with this

guy okay real quick let's do that ranger devils game just a couple of notes on this one um jack hughes returns one goal one assist um panera with a pair of goals 15 this one. Jack Hughes returns one goal, one assist. Panera with a pair of goals, 15 game point streak. Sorry, Roger Bear, leaving me in the dust at 14. Igor Shosturkin returns 30 saves.

Jack Hughes, by the way, jumps right back into the mix over 22 minutes of ice, 2240 worth of ice time. The Rangers five, the Devils three, the first meetup since the playoffs last season and another truba hit looking good truba on no check knocks him out of the game like clean that guy you and kevin you and kevin were talking about this on hockey night it's uh

he's a unique player there are not many guys that do this on a consistent basis true but does and don't look now but the rangers not only they on top of the division but they are 10 0 and 1 in their last 11 games so first of all the thing i like the most about the rangers and the devils is they don't like each other now like you you can feel the hate growing what causes hate playoffs and so they had that series last year and and what did shisterkin say well did they win the stanley cup no you don't think every devil is aware of what shisterkin said there of course but you know good on him for saying it rangers devils, great for the NHL. Great for the NHL.

And there's franchise players here on both sides. Hughes is a franchise player. Shisterkin is a franchise player. Panarin is a franchise player. And there are really good pieces around them. And there are really good pieces around them. Those teams are going to be two, like two Rams in the wild banging heads for a decade.

And you know, who's the winner fans, the fans. I'll tell you this. The Rangers have sent word that, you know, are you one of those guys who keeps a list of who can win the Stanley cup? If there's any doubt that the Rangers could win the Stanley Cup, it's over. They can win the Stanley Cup.

Now, they might have some holes they have to deal with, depending on what the situation here is with Hedl. You know, Larry Brooks wrote last week that there's some concern about him. And, you know, first of all, I hope he's all right. He's been through a lot with head injuries. So the number one thing I care about is his health. But if that's a hole they're going to have to plug, they will. But, you know, the Rangers can win the Stanley Cup.

Let's get to some news. A couple of things, starting with your report on Saturday about the World Cup. And we'll dovetail this with some all-star weekend news on the horizon. But World Cup first first how many teams i think that's the big question remaining jeff it sounds like it's going to be a week-long event um 2025 february um i i think there's still a hope that they can play some games overseas i don't know how likely it is but I've heard they haven't given up on the idea. Look, big success. Big success this past week.

The games in Sweden. All credit to the Swedish fans. All credit to the players. And I think that they want to continue that momentum. And the thing is, Jeff, is that I think the biggest question now is four teams or six Russia due to geopolitics they're not going to be there I think the NHL hoped to hold on as long as they could to see if that could work out it's not going to work out now so I heard the big debate is four or six if it it's four, I think it's Canada, USA, and Sweden, Finland.

And what I don't know, but I suspect here, is you have Canada and the USA play here in North America, probably in the States, and you have Sweden, Finland. You try to work it out where they play in Sweden. Maybe, I don't know if you're doing two games, total goals, or if you're doing a best of three, I don't know what they're doing here. But you play overseas and then you bring everybody to the Eastern United States for a championship game or whatever the format's going to be. Now, my personal preference, game or whatever the format's going to be. Now, my personal preference, I think you leave out too many players. You know, for example, I think it's important to have the Czechs there,

you know, name the country, the Czech Republic, Germany, you know, the one real challenge here is Slovakia, obviously, Denmark, Switzerland. I'm inclusive. I don't want to leave anybody out. I'm just an inclusive guy, Jeff. I want everybody to feel welcome and involved. You know, I think this, they don't want to have the mishmash teams again. They don't want to have the team Europe, and they don't want to have the team North America for the young players.

I just worry if you don't do something like that are you leaving too many players out now one week just to get this ball rolling and get it started they might say hey we're doing four and we're just going to build some momentum I just worry about leaving like Leon Dreisaitl Roman Yossi these kinds of players not there I want them to be involved in a best-on-best, but this might be bigger than that. So I don't know what the answer is, but I heard that's one of the things that they're talking about.

All-Star. This year in Toronto, more details coming out soon, we believe? I think there's going to be some details this week. I believe there's going to be, like all-stars friday and saturday i think they're going to add a third night i i you know obviously what don't we know about yet women's participation you know there's going to be women's participation so i i think that that still is to be determined and i have heard rumors that the draft is coming back now i don't think it's going to be one guy left until the end but i do think come on i think i've heard there's some sort of way to sort this out at the end i don't know what it is but i

did hear the draft is coming back so it's not going to be buckled hockey players taking pictures of uh the last man on the stage hanging like the last turkey at the shop i i it could be buckled broadcasters like i'm all for that if you know if i'm allowed to do that show with a good glass a single malt one ice cube i think it could be great uh i think that would add a little bit of spice absolutely um and oh i want to ask you about calgary uh you had an interesting note about Michael Backlund, captain of the Calgary Flames, trying to turn the volume down on things. Yeah, so I don't know exactly what the details were, but so everybody knows that Friday night,

Zadoro's agent, Dan Milstein, goes public with the trade request right after they play in Toronto, and it was a pretty chaotic few hours. So they play Friday in Toronto, they lose in overtime, they play Saturday Toronto and it was a pretty chaotic few hours so they play Friday in Toronto they lose in overtime they play Saturday in Ottawa they lose and they went to Montreal they had a couple days off before they played now I had been told that some of my details were not correct not what I said on the air but as I was working on the story like I'd heard they'd had

a team meeting and Back backland had said while they were in montreal and backland had said guys like no more of this like we have to play no more noise if you don't want to be here let the gm know and other than that keep it quiet and let's focus i'm not sure it was a full team meeting it might have been a private uh kind of thing, one-on-one conversations. I'm not really sure, but I know it happened. He definitely made it very clear. You know, one of the things we talked about before the season was the feeling in Calgary that Backlund should have been the captain last year. And there was no captain, but now that he's been given the letter, you know, some people have told me he's really embraced it.

And it doesn't mean that you become a jerk or you become heavy handed. It just means you try to stop things before they happen, especially, you know, with a first year head coach. And, you know, I just heard that, you know, he he he took the responsibility. He dealt with the players. He said more noise and what did they do they beat Montreal they beat Vancouver and they lose in a shootout to Islanders they got five out of a possible six points and you know is it is that all because Backlund does it no but I think a lot of it is because Backlund's just like calm the noise so you know I think that's what he's that's what he tried to do you know the flames i i think they got a lot going on there i i do i think between zadorov between tanev between

hannifin uh i and someone said to me you didn't mention lynn holm but you should have lynn holm in there like i think there's some teams at least talking to them about the possibility of Lindholm, who've been really struggling until he exploded against Vancouver. But, you know, I do think there are some teams trying to push Calgary along here. And, you know, one of the things another GM said to me is that one of the challenges when you get a trade request, particularly when you're a new GM like Craig Conroy is, when you get a trade request particularly when you're a new gm like craig conroy is you have to send a message that we're not just going to do things because a player is going to ask for it because sometimes if that happens you become the team where agents can run roughshod over you that you you don't uh you want to get out let's make a trade request and they'll get

you out like there's there's it's it's a really yeah i had a really good conversation with one manager about it about you know just what a challenge that can be for you because you want number one you have to take the emotion out of it because number one you're pissed off and you're like let's get this freaking guy out of here or you're pissed off and you're like, let's get this freaking guy out of here. Or you're pissed off and you say, you're going to play here for an extra month after I thought I was going to trade you to make you feel bad for doing that. So first of all, you have to get to a point where you can take the emotion out of it. And second of all, you can't rush your judgment. And also you have to send a message that you're not going to let that happen

all the time and people are going to be able to do it and get what they want so I think there's all of that as part of it I definitely think they have teams trying to move this along and the other thing too is I think also you know all these players the four of, Hannafin, Tanev, Zdorov, and Lindholm, I bet you they could get better returns if extensions are involved. And I don't have the sense that as of Saturday when I reported it that they'd given anyone permission, but I did get the sense that some of these teams were saying, you know, we'd really like at least a window.

Like sometimes you give the team a 24 to 48 hour window. Can you get a deal done? And I got the sense that some teams were talking about it. Like one thing I'm curious about, Toronto had a great weekend, four points in Sweden. They're going to come home and like they're going to be a player in this. I think Dallas is. I think they're looking for the best defenseman they can find. I don't know if this is going to happen with Vancouver,

though I think they like a couple of these players. I do think the Islanders are around this. I've mentioned Arizona for Hannafin. Like, I think there's a few teams around this. Toronto's going to come home. I still think they'd like to get their hands on one if not two of them so i think there are gonna be options for calgary here jeff i just don't know the timetable uh busy week for the calgary flames this week monday a

game against seattle wednesday nashville then friday saturday How do you like this one, Elliot? Dallas and Colorado. So it's a challenging week. No problem. Yeah, easy. How about the schedule the rest of the month for the Edmonds and Oilers? And I want to swing back to Tampa here in a second in that 6-4 game. But the remainder of their schedule this month, Florida, Carolina, Washington this week, Anaheeim vegas and winnipeg next that is a killer

couple of weeks for the oilers swinging back to tampa on the weekend six to four loss um no shame there tampa's an excellent team but as you reported saturday the hunt for a goaltender continues but edmonton wants to make sure that when they shake someone's hand on a deal, they don't miss a finger or two. So Montreal had a few games at home and someone told me the Oilers were there to see all three Montreal goalies play. They saw them all.

They saw Primo, they saw Montembeau, and they saw Allen. So now a couple people warned me, don't assume it's going to happen, but everybody noticed that they were watching them. And I think Allen is the least likely of the three. Montreal with Montembeau and Primo, I think they would like some clarity on Montembeau. We reported last week that they'd begun contract conversations with him uh montembeau admitted that when he was asked about a post game there seemed to be optimism that it was going to get done but i don't know where it stands like someone always reminds me

these things are not linear they brought up the hannifin again everybody thought it was done and then it wasn't done but the one thing i always wonder about here and this is what you know i was talking about with a few people is when you have three goalies like this and i do think the canadians are getting to a point where they want to have this end i i think how long are you willing to wait to see if those negotiations work out? Like, is it a month? Like, I don't think the Canadians want to let this hang for three months until the trade deadline. So I think the question becomes here is how long are the Canadians willing

to wait for a yay or nay decision on Montembeau, or can we reach a deal here? But I do think that those are two of the guys that Edmonton's looking at. I have been told again, just a reminder, there's one person who always says it to me and I appreciate him for doing it. He says, remember, there are no trade clauses here and Edmonton isn't winning right now. That makes their job much, much more difficult, that makes their job much much more difficult much more difficult and so I think there's a situation there where like I really think the plan for the for the Oilers what they hoped is that Campbell would rediscover his game in the American Hockey League. That he would go down there, he'd play well,

and they could bring him back up. That's not happening right now. And so the question becomes, you know, Skinner won three games in a row. You know, he didn't play great. That was a winnable game on Saturday. I wonder if the plan's going to become, we may not be able to go out and get, say, a John Gibson or a Jordan Binnington or someone like

that but is there someone we can get that can really help skinner and that's why i wonder about this montembeau primo conversation or who else might ever be out there oh and by the way jeff one other thing i just wanted to mention we talked about toronto briefly yep i i would expect this week we might get some clarity on john klingberg and and what his future is going to be all right you mentioned that on saturday we will stand by to see what happens this week uh the maple leafs uh one of four teams involved in this year's edition of the global series um a big success i want to park that conversation for a little bit later on in the podcast after we get to the montana's thought line but before we get to our first break elliot

i want to get your thoughts on the colorado avalanche like that game against the dallas stars was it was wild it was three nothing dallas tigers tyler say again pops into um and then all of a sudden he was having a conversation with someone this afternoon about that game who said the minute that colorado got their stanley cup for check going it was over for the dallas stars now you mentioned that dallas is looking uh for the best available defenseman out there that's no surprise what could colorado be looking for i think jeff they're looking for depth scoring now when i told you that before the pod you said they look pretty good to you on saturday night it is six goals isn't enough geez elliot but i i think they are looking for it you know leckanen's father i'm told to finish

paper it looks like a a pretty significant injury so and you know he's obviously a very very critical and important player for them I think they're looking for depth scoring I do and I think they're I think they're just a little worried right now you know you take a look at what you have to go through in the Western Conference and I know Vegas just had a really rough weekend losing to the state of Pennsylvania but they're still the best team top to bottom in terms of their depth. And I just think Colorado looks at them right now and says in a seven-game series,

we're going to have trouble matching up with them. So that's what they're looking for. And I wouldn't be surprised. They make good deals, so I wouldn't be surprised if they go out to find it. We also should mention Patrick Kane here. I think Patrick Kane had eight to 10 Zoom calls. I believe one of them was with Toronto.

I know there was a crazy week this week about Kane and Toronto. I do believe eventually they did talk, even though the Maple Leafs are stone silent on this one. I don't think it's what they need, but I think they wanted to talk to him and he wanted to talk to them. I think we're getting closer here. And, you know, I think it's going to be really interesting. I wondered if it might be like a one times one kind of deal, but I'm not seeing that. I think there are some teams trying to convince Kane

to do one-year deals and then see where it is especially when the cap goes up next year i'm just not convinced that he wants to do that but what this was all about was fit uh conversation um you know where do i go up and down the roster what's the power play look like you know things like that um you know someone told me that um it was much more likely east than west um but you know again i mentioned the same few teams that go at him pretty hard florida's gone after him really hard and you know to their credit florida this year has has achieved much more than we thought but their cap situation is really tight um you know there's still a lot of talk about detroit and buffalo i mean we'll see but um i i think the list of teams that talk to him is much deeper than you know we kind of realize to me,

like you talk about Colorado wanting depth or like, it makes sense. I just don't know if he thinks the Western conference is best for him. Like we just saw Klingberg go overseas and have a real tough time adjusting to a long flight. Right. Yeah. So I,

I, I think people wonder about that with keen too. And I think he does also. All right. We'll we'll hit a break on that. Still to come, So I think people wonder about that with Kane too, and I think he does also. All right, we'll hit a break on that. Still to come, we'll put a wrap on the NHL's Global Series in Stockholm. But coming up next as part of the Montana's Thought Line, Elliot, I had one of the most Jeff Merrick afternoons I've had in a long time.

I'll explain what that means in a moment. 32 Thoughts continues. Can I take the next segment off? I just want to blow your mind. Listen to the 32 Thoughts podcast ad-free on Amazon Music, included with Prime. Okay, welcome back to the program. I've been looking forward to this moment pretty much all day, Elliot. So let's get to it. The Montana's Thought Line. Is this the Philadelphia-Columbus game?

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. This one's weirder. I had a really weird day. I had a really weird experience. I had a really weird text, voicemail, 32 thoughts, Montana's thought line thing happened to me today. And I've been waiting all day to share it with you and Dom. So here we go. Time now for the Montana's thought line. Montana's barbecue and bar, Canada's home for barbecue. try the ribs that was a very bob mccowan-esque pause by the way you really let the gravity of the silence really sink in there uh 32 i figured i had to mix it up a bit like greg maddox and his

prime 32 thoughts at sportsnet.ca is the email uh by phone [phone]. Last week, Elliot, you remember you and I had a conversation about Gaston Gingras? Yes. So he of the incredibly hard slap shot. So let's start here. We got a voicemail from someone in Montreal, Patrick, as a matter of fact, talking about Gaston Gingras. That's where this story begins.

Let's hear it. Hey, Dom. Hey, Jeff. Hey, Elliot. Pat from Montreal here. So you guys were talking about Gaston Gingras last episode, and I had a quick story about him. So he coached hockey at my high school many years ago. And one of the first practices, he's coaching seven, eight graders, so about 13 years old.

And one of the goalies challenges him to take a slap shot on him as hard as he can. So at first, Jean-Claude is saying, no, no, I can't do that. I don't want to hurt you, this and that. The goalie says, no, no, go ahead. I got my equipment. So Jean-Claay lines up a plug at the blue line hammers a slap shot into the kid's glove broken wrist without many weeks with

with a broken wrist so the stories are true he does have a bomb anyways just thought i'd share thanks a lot keep up the good work enjoy the okay okay so i heard that this afternoon okay so uh you know at some point of the day i'll sort of screen what we have for for emails and for for phoners and i got that one i'm like oh we got to play that one pat in montreal with a with an interesting story about gaston gingras slap shot so no joke elliot maybe maybe maybe 10 minutes after i listen to that voicemail, I get a text. I'm listening to 32 thoughts right now. Hang on.

I'm getting there. Here's the text. I'm listening to 32 thoughts right now, and you're talking about Gaston Gingras. I used to skate with him when I was a kid, and I made him take a slap shot on me once. a kid and I made him take a slap shot on me once. And I'm thinking, oh man, could it have been the same goaltender that

Pat in Montreal is talking about? No way. Now the goaltender I'm talking about is Cassidy Sauvé, who was a standout at Ohio State, at Clarkson, played with the PWHPA, the PHF, she's on the played with the PWHPA, the PHF. She's on the training camp roster for New York in the PWHL.

U18 gold medalist, first female to play net in the OHL Cup with the Whitby Wildcats. And she is, for a little bit of historical cred here, a distant relative of George Vesna, of the Vesna Trophy, Elliot. Of the Vesna Vesnas. the so that's the vesna vesnas and i said hold the second here like we just got a phone message from someone saying that there was a kid that made gaston gingra take a slap shot on them and i went over the story and sent her the voice message from pat she said oh yeah that's totally me she said that her dad grew up with gaston holy smokes her dad hang on dad grew up with gaston gingra so her and her dad were buddies they each knew each other through hockey kind of a small town quebec vibe and when she was younger, she said she lived in Saint-Lazare, Quebec, and Gingras would come out

to practice and work with the team. And he asked to take a slap shot on me as hard as he could. And I made the glove save. It was totally Elliot. Cassidy Sauvé. And it was one of those weird days, Elliot, 10 minutes after

I listened to that, I got a text from Sauvé. Like this was fated to happen to me. It was the most Jeff Merrick day of all time. Cassidy Sauvé, Pat, that's who you're talking about. I feel like I'm in an episode of Doctor Strange. Anyway, I've been waiting all day to drop that on

you and Dom. I've just been buzzing about it, like, all afternoon and all the other days. Okay, just got to get through the news part of of the podcast we'll get to the Montana's thought line I'll drop the story and their brains will go boom and safe to say that that is incredible I love that story that is I you know first of all Merrick I have to tell you my mind like my brain is like Kramer said in Seinfeld my brain is, like Kramer said in Seinfeld, my brain is spinning like a top. I am blown. Because when you told us you had a wild story for us today,

I actually thought it was going to be about Gore Dwyer, the referee in the Philadelphia Columbus game, saying we have a goal. Yeah, he is. He didn't say we have a good goal we have a goal and i had to tell you i had a i had a an official send me a note after you tweeted at me and said that's the way it's supposed to be called and i just rolled my eyes at it i had an official who said to me, it is not inconceivable that an official heard you say that a referee or linesman heard you say that and said,

we have to call it that way for Merrick. I don't know about that. I'm not saying it. I'm not saying it did happen, but someone told me it could have happened. Just trying to clean up the language, clean up the grammar a little bit around the intro, try to class the place up. And listen, Gord Dwyer is, comme on dit en français, le premier étoile, the first star

of Sunday's action for calling it a goal. Not a good goal, a goal. This podcast right now is like the marvel universe there are too many different dimensions and timelines to understand people are wondering why all these marvel movies are now tanking it's because they are too hard to understand my pea brain cannot comprehend what is happening okay okay let's move on then let's just acknowledge that all those things just happened whether it was cassidy sovey and gaston jingra i swear to god my head's gonna explode and gourd wire and all of it culminating here on the pod and let's move on. So Jim in Vancouver submits this one.

Hey guys, love the pod. This week, the Canucks played the Islanders and then departed after the game to Calgary, arriving late or early local time. They went on to lose the back-to-back games and look tired doing so. My question is, is it mandatory in the CBA for teams to arrive the quote unquote night before, check into a hotel, et cetera,

versus flying in at some point in the morning in other words could the Canucks have gone home to their own beds after the Islanders game and then flown to Calgary in the morning is that a team or league decision thanks Jim in Vancouver the only times I know of where it can happen the other way is if you can bus. I know the Leafs have had situations before where they were playing in Buffalo where they bust in the morning. I don't think, unless you got special permission, I don't think you're allowed to do that. You for example the rangers and the islanders and the devils it's pretty simple but for example toronto which is easy travel the only time i remember them not going in the day the night before the game was when they could drive to buffalo and it's like two hours

gotcha uh jim in vancouver thanks for that one. A couple more I want to fly through here. Ethan. Hey, fellas. The recent retirement, or what appears to be retirement, of Nicholas Baxstrom got me thinking. If a team was barely above the cap floor and a player with a large enough cap hit retired midseason, what would the team have to do?

Would they have to sign a free agent to keep an equivalent contract or would an exemption be made? Keep up the good work, Jeff, old Dom and new Dom. Pretty sure I'm not forgetting anyone. That's a great, that's a great question. It's a great question, but why would the person retire? They're just like leaving money on the table. You're right. I would assume retire they're just like leaving money on the table you're right i i would assume that they would just not play look i would just for the purely theoretic answer

i would say you would have to sign someone you can't be under the cap so what i what i've always wondered about as well you know going along the the same lines here of what Ethan just wrote. What if a player has a max contract of 20%? 20% of the salary cap is a max you can take, and you take it. And then the following season, or any season while you're under contract, the salary cap goes down. And now the number that you earn is actually higher than the 20%. Does your contract shrink?

Oh, you get a carve out. Yager, no, Yager had a carve out. That's right. Remember, first year of the salary cap. He was over 20%. You get a carve out. Michael from London, England. salary cap he was over 20 you get a carve out uh michael from london england oh i'm gonna see if you like this or not hello jelly dom all the way from england i've combined all of your names into one jelly dom so my first question is what do you give my new nickname out of 10 my second negative six my second question comes off the back of a discussion i had with a friend

in which i stated that my height of five feet eight inches killed my athletic potential so along a similar theme who is the smallest ever net minder to have success at the NHL level and how, how tall were they? Jeff definitely knows this. This is an easy one. Thanks for all the amazing information for someone far away. Who's trying to grow their knowledge of the game. Thanks to you. Trying the ribs at Montana's is literally on my to-do list upon my next trip

to Toronto, Michael in London, England, the smallest was Roy. Welcome to hockey. Yes. Yes. And. Yes, yes. And the smallest goalkeeper. You know what his nickname was?

Shrimp. That's right. And there's a good reason. You cannot call that false advertising. No. Five foot three. Although 66 shutouts played 12 seasons with the Montreal Canadiens, the Pittsburgh Pirates, and the New York Americans. When they were run by someone from the, how shall we say, legitimate businessmen's association, Nelliot's.

He was also the first goaltender to win the Hart Trophy. And he also won the Vesna. Yes. He's a Hall of Famer. And he was also the first goaltender to win the Hart Trophy. And he also won the Vesna. Yes. He's a Hall of Famer. And he was a captain. Years before Vancouver tried to do it with Roberto Luongo, they did it with Roy Shrimp Waters. Although when we talk about small netminders, Elliot,

you know I have a soft spot in my heart for Gump Worsley. 5'7", four Stanley Cups, Vesna. First goaltender to win 300 and lose 300. And for my money is penned the best hockey book I've ever read called They Called Me Gump. Honorable mentions, Darren Pang, certainly Charlie Hodge. He of the two Vesnas as well. Those are some of the ones that come to mind. But I know that there is the exceptions and the obvious one is UC Saros. And listen, Alex Nadelkovich is playing pretty well right now for the Pittsburgh Penguins. But one of the things that I was told by a longtime goalie instructor about why the default to big goaltenders is, he said, look, it's simple.

When you have a big goaltender, they can make accidental saves. When you're a small goaltender, you have to make real saves on every shot. Sometimes a big goalie just makes a save because he's big and it's a luxury having a goalie that can make accidental saves and although there are the ucs rs's out there i don't know that the tide is turning back to small goaltenders anytime soon for each no no i i agree with you on that. I agree with you. Okay, voicemail time. We'll finish up with Dan from Long Island, Elliot. Quick question about your opinions on the flat caps impact on the firing of coaches. Obviously, teams are faced with a choice, much like the Oilers and probably the Islanders pretty soon,

in terms of either getting rid of some core players or firing a coach. And with some immovable contracts and teams not able to take them on, I wonder if more coaches are getting axed because of that. Thanks for all your hard work. Great question. Great question. Great question. Elliot?

I don't know if I'm buying that so much. Look, there's been one coach fired this year. We could see more. i think that coach was fired because of a unique circumstance where they just could not afford not to turn around the season just because of keeping dry sidle and mcdavid happy they they could not afford a losing season i i think if if mcdav and Dreisaitl still had years left in their contracts then I'm not sure that this would have occurred but that doesn't really answer the question what I do think has happened and again it doesn't really answer the question but I think

it's relevant to the topic I think you are seeing teams go really hard on term for coaches. So Todd McClellan, I think, has done a real nice job in L.A. He was headed into the last year, and I think he got a one-year extension. Chris Knobloch, who was just hired in Edmonton, he got this year plus two more. Look, there were a lot of coaches who were getting hired. They got five. Lindy Ruff was headed into the last year of his contract.

He got an extension. Ruff doesn't like those details being out there, but I don't think it was a long extension like i i i don't know this for sure but i i i don't think it was very long and i think it might have included an option year at the end so what i do think has happened is teams have said we're going tougher on term for these head coaches okay on that we'll take a pause uh thanks to everyone who played along with the montana's thought line on this episode and once again montana's barbecue and bar canada's home for barbecue the email 32 thoughts at sportsnet.ca the voicemail 1-833-311-3232. When we come back, we'll put a wrap on the NHL's Global Series from Stockholm.

Why did this one feel different? Why did this one feel bigger? Why did this one feel more important? Why did this one feel like it really has some momentum now, this Global Series? That's next on 32 Thoughts. Okay, welcome back to the podcast. Elliot, just wrapping things up here and putting a ribbon around the NHL's global series from Stockholm. And it concluded with William Nylander with the overtime winner against Marc-Andre Fleury and the Minnesota Wild. William Nylander was a star attraction the entire time he was back home.

Great seeing his family. Was he ever. Great seeing Marco Rossi's family there, too. That was really special. Loved seeing all the ex-Swedish NHLers who were in attendance. Love to see Matt Sundin with his kids dropping the puck. That was real special. The maple leaf patches with salming on them is gorgeous. Is it just me or did this one seem bigger? Like we've seen the NHL Global Series before, but did this one seem to have something that the other ones didn't?

And if so, what was that? I think one of the things that made a huge difference, Jeff, was just having more teams there. It seemed bigger because it was four days in a row. I really liked it. I know they were concerned about it,

just about is that too much to ask the fans? And I would say the answer was no. I think they really did a nice job having four days of games instead of two able to mix up the teams like just some of the pictures of the players mingling with the audience with the fans they looked big it looked like a big time tour it looked like the players were having a great time and it looked like the fans were having a great time you know Nylander in particular hit it out of the park um you know he went on to some Swedish show in his undershirt oh I know and uh like like I I have no idea what

was happening on this show but it looked hilarious like it just looked really funny and he looked like he was having a great time the players had a great time and i think one of the things and all the new lander discourse that's that's coming up here i think one of the things that cannot be cut out here is i believe there is a premium that should be paid to players who could seem completely unbothered by playing in Canadian markets and Nylander Toronto's Toronto should look at that very carefully this guy seems completely unbothered by a contract year in the in a Canadian market and that is worth a lot it was worth a lot for the Sedins it's it's worth a lot for other players.

And it's going to be worth something for him. And so I thought it was a great event. I thought it was a big success. And I think all the players involved in the league and the fans of Sweden deserve a lot of credit because it was a lot of fun. credit because, you know, it was, it was a lot of fun. One of the things that I thought about after watching that Toronto, Minnesota game on Sunday morning was how much, you know, and this is previously true of Borea Salming, and this is previously true of Matt Sundin.

This is previously true of Nicholas Lidstrom. I could run down a bunch, Peter Forsberg, et cetera. But for the purposes of this conversation, we've talked a lot about Nylander recently Peter Forsberg, et cetera. But for the purposes of this conversation, we've talked a lot about Nylander recently and the contract, et cetera. And we focus so much on the contract and the Toronto Maple Leafs, Nylander and that hockey team.

What I really wondered about was when you look at the popularity of the Maple Leafs in Sweden, a lot of it was built on as i mentioned borya salming and matt sundin um and seeing how william nylander was received in sweden how much does that player now mean to the maple leafs brand in sweden like i know if if you're lewis gross the agent agent for William Nylander you're looking at this and you're saying my client's really important for you internationally my client's performance is

really important for your brand when did you start working for Louis Gross's firm I just thought of it this morning as I'm watching this like all of a sudden he's become a really important player for the Maple Leafs brand internationally. You saw how he received? I don't, I'm not going to argue with you on that one. I think it's valuable. I don't think there's any question about it. I don't know if that means that he makes more money. I think he's already going to make a ton of money.

But I think the other thing you can argue if you're the Leafs is if it matters to Nylander, you could say you're going to make a lot more money because you're a Leaf. Look, like this guy, like I think there was a time the Leafs were trying to get this guy signed for eight and a half million. What's he going to hit now? You know, we're at the point now where they're probably going to him.

Willie, you know, you've earned what you've earned, but we got to make this work somehow. Like, you know how I feel about all of this and i have said this from the beginning that nylander is not going to take like matthews is at 13.25 and yes you can absolutely make an argument he could earn more but nylander is going to say look if he's up there i deserve to be up somewhere close. Now it's going to be about, okay, what's a number that works for everybody? That's what they're going to get to. And I expect they're going to take a run at this again soon. I don't think there have been a ton of conversations recently.

I think there's been one meeting maybe, but I would expect they're going to try to take a run at this again soon. I think now it simply becomes a conversation of what's fair that we can make this whole thing work because the kid has earned what he's going to get. There was one GM saying to me last week that, you know, Nylander is before there were things you could say to him or you could convince yourself, okay, we don't have to pay him top dollar,

we don't have to pay him top dollar, we don't have to pay him top dollar. Well, now in his contract year, he's erasing all of those arguments. And I know what some people are going to say, wait till the playoffs, wait till the playoffs, wait till the playoffs. You may not be able to wait till the playoffs to make that decision he's forcing you to make it now so I think that's kind of you know where we are you know I like I said I give the kid a lot of credit you know the thing that was really special about the whole thing is that it happened over there and his whole family was there to enjoy it. Like it was a, you know, the Nylanders had their Thanksgiving family weekend one week early. And it was spectacular for them.

William Nylander concluded the NHL's Global Series and he concludes this edition of the podcast. On behalf of Elliot and Dom, Merrick signing off. Enjoy your week's worth of NHL action. We'll talk to you again on U.S. Thanksgiving, one day after Decision Day. Are we in or are we out of the playoffs? Enjoy your week. We'll talk again Friday morning.