32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Elliotte’s DMs Are Open

Episode Date: January 7, 2022

The Winnipeg Jets surveyed their season seat holders to see if they’d be open to hosting home games in Saskatoon; Saskatchewan currently has no attendance restrictions. Jeff and Elliotte kick off the podcast discussing this news (00:10), how the fans voted, the logistics required to execute such a move, and where the team might go from here.They guys also touch on the struggling Flyers (3:45), the return of Tuukka Rask (9:40), the Maple Leafs placing Nick Ritchie on waivers (15:40), how Edmonton could save their season (17:40), why Sidney Crosby is still fantastic (28:00), new GM candidates around the league (35:20), Jeff presents Elliotte with a different type of skills challenge for the All-Star Game (44:00), and a fun mailbag segment wraps up the podcast (49:30).Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of Grant Gilbertson.We want to hear from you! Leave your thoughts, comments, suggestions and questions via email at [e-mail] or call us toll-free 1-833-311-3232 and leave a message after the beep.Full transcript for the episode can be found here by Medha MonjauryMusic Outro: SLEEPSHAKE - MedicineListen to more music by SLEEPSHAKE on SpotifyThis podcast is produced and mixed by Amil Delic, and hosted by Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman.Audio Credits: Sportsnet and TNT.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.

It was a romantic podcast. Can I just say, like, that is very 2022. I like that. Elliot, right now as we record this part of the podcast, it is just shy of 10 to 11 Eastern on Friday morning. Last night you tweeted this. Earlier tonight, the Winnipeg Jets sent out a survey asking seasoned seat holders their opinion

on the possibility of home games in another jurisdiction. It is believed the Jets are exploring playing some games at Saskatoon's SaskTel Center while there are attendance restrictions in Manitoba. That arena seats 15,000. At this point, Saskatchewan does not have restrictions. Obviously, there is work that needs to be done and approvals to be secured, but the Jets are doing their legwork.

What's the latest? The latest is that here on Friday morning as we update this podcast that it's not going to happen. The Jets and the, I don't know who they really met with. Was it the team? Was it the building? Was it the province? I'm sure all these details will come out.

There was a lot of work being done behind the scenes about what could be done. Would it be possible? How could it occur? And I heard that there were three games that were being discussed initially. The 15th against Ottawa and the 25th and 27th, Florida and Vancouver. And from what I understand, the 15th, they decided they couldn't get that one done on time. And it now sounds as if that Winnipeg Ottawa game is going to be postponed anyway.

And the 25th and 27th, they were looking at, and you know, the way I kind of got this confirmed was that there was a season ticket survey that went out to the jets ticket holders. And I actually thought it was a really good idea for the jets to ask their fans what they thought. And it wasn't overwhelming

in any one particular, uh, way. Like I, someone told me that they think it was about 40% said, no, 30% were indifferent and 30% said they had no problem. But I think for this all to work, it had to be, and I'm sure the Jets will comment at this particular point in time, it had to be overwhelming with everything else that they were doing. Because I don't know how the Players Association felt about it. I had some players tell me they weren't crazy about the idea. And also there's the cost of, okay, for florida's travel who plays for vancouver's travel in addition to any other costs and you know they have to upgrade the sastel center to make it you know in terms of i heard wireless was one issue to nhl standards you know for the

replay and everything to nhl standards it would NHL standards, it would have been a cost. It would have been a production. And I liked the idea. I liked the fact they were thinking about it. It was obviously a big challenge. And I think there were too many things that got in the way. I think the other thing too, is what someone said to me is that if you've been following, and I don't know how you could have missed this, this Djokovic story in Australia.

Yeah. Obviously he got the approval and then when the blowback became so big people who were responsible for the decision kind of ran away from it i also wonder if there was a little bit of you know the province of saskatchewan because i guess the the head doctor came out yesterday and said we shouldn't be gathering uh if we can avoid it you know once that gets out after that said then all then the blowback is going to start and people didn't want to deal with that either so like i said i really like the idea but i just think there was too much against it creative thinking but now jeff are are we done on this topic or you want to continue talking

about this one no i'm all good let good. Let's move on. Okay. This is all your fault. Huh? I know it's going to be bad when I look at my DMs and I just pick a couple to look at. And one of them says, you really have Flyers Twitter talking today, Elliot. And I'm like, oh no. Yeah, man. We talked about the Flyers on the radio today. If you hadn't brought up the Flyers, I wouldn't have said anything.

All I said is, after Christmas, this team always has an unfortunate road trip as the ice show comes in and the Flyers go out and they come back licking their wounds and wonder what happened. And it's got to change next season. And then it doesn't change next season. And they find themselves, as we record this podcast, on Thursday evening, about to face off against the Pittsburgh Penguins who are poised to win 10 games in a row. And this is a Flyers team that has very much taken a knee

at a number of positions and is now kind of left wondering what happens to us for the rest of the season. But I can see the thing that lit Flyers' Twitter ablaze. Perhaps your points about claude geroux no it wasn't geroux's proveroff and i was surprised actually i think i think i'm getting radioed a little bit by doing radio hang on you're getting radioed by doing radio every day radioed by doing radio with you it's like i said this is all your fault like i am completely innocent in this matter okay but you are going to jail for grand larceny, five life terms.

Happens. You asked me about Provorov, and I don't even remember what I said, but I don't think I said that he was on the block. Because when someone said to me, you said. No, no. Someone said to me, you said he's on the block. And I said, I don't think I said that. What we were having a discussion about was essentially the question is, who are we? And are the philadelphia flyers and do they know what they have under the hood here like chuck fletcher went you know uh out the door and around the block trying to solve their

problems in the off season and he identified the problem we can't defend he went about correcting it didn't anticipate you know ryan ellis's you know lengthy injury here but he went about addressing it and things were once Ryan Ellis' lengthy injury here, but he went about addressing it. And things were, once again, supposed to be different with the Philadelphia Flyers, but whether it is injuries, whether it is COVID, it's a lot of indifferent play. I mean, I look at Sean Couturier and I say,

this guy's been injured from day one this season. And we got around to talking about Proveroff, and I think I led you in with something like Proveroff hasn't been the same since niskanen retired i would imagine they must be having a look at and trying to figure out who ivan proveroff is i think that's it and then you took it from there i think what i said was the flyers are going up and down everything they're asking themselves a lot of hard questions who are we where do we go from here? What's our plan? Do we do a soft rebuild?

Do we tear it down? Do we try to add to what we've already got? I think that what I was trying to say was that they're asking those same questions about Provorov. Like, what do we have here? What's our path forward with this? I don't have any information right now that would say that he's getting traded, but I do think the Flyers are asking hard questions about their group and where they go from here. Like I said on the show, Jeff, I do believe it's very possible that they go to Giroux if they haven't already and say, what are you thinking about here?

And go from there. But, you know, the Provorov thing, I don't know that he's getting traded, but I do think they're asking themselves a lot of really hard questions about where they're going to go from here does it feel to you like this whole thing has now slipped away and that road trip out west sort of ended it i mean they came back and you know this is in advance of the the keystone state battle here uh the cut line seems to be in between the pittsburgh penguins and the philadelphia flyers penguins of 43 points fly Flyers with 32. Coming back from those games, Seattle, Anaheim, LA, San Jose, it

seemed as if the Flyers limped back and they look ahead of them and they say, boy, we've got a lot of climbing to do here. That includes a wildcard spot, too. That's not just having a look in the Metro. The math looks awful. The math is really bad where Boston's involved. If you look at their division,

they're already 11 points out of a playoff spot. Yeah. And they're four points out of a playoff spot for that second wild card. But Boston's got games in hand on everybody. Boston's got two games in hand on Columbus. They've got four games in hand on Philadelphia. And they've got five games in hand in Detroit and Jersey.

It's just not pretty. Now, you can get hot and you can change all that, but the math is just bad, particularly because the Bruins have so few games played. Anyway, as I wanted to say, this is all your fault that I got this direct message and I wanted to blame you for it and say that you are basically an arsonist.

I used to say that that was Anthony Stewart and Justin Bourne. Now you are the arsonist. All I did was lead you down a path, and I said, would you like to come down this path with me, Elliot Friedman? And if so, be careful what you say, because Flyers Twitter, much like other hockey Twitters, can be a very vicious place. With that, we'll kick off the podcast. Welcome to a 32 Thoughts to Podcast,

presented by the all-new GMC-84 lineup. Okay, welcome back. I hope you enjoyed that snappy intro. Kind of an old school feel with the old style intro there with the cold open there, Elliot. That really warmed me once again. We've got to get back to doing that. Coming up a little bit later on, some of your emails

and some pretty interesting ones as well at 32thoughts at sportsnet.ca. Meantime, you mentioned the Boston Bruins there a second ago when we were talking about the Philadelphia Flyers and the big story around the Boston Bruins, the impending return of Tuukka Rask. Now, he won't play for Providence Friday against Lehigh. That game has been postponed by the American Hockey League,

but the Boston Bruins, as we've been talking about for a while, inching closer to a reunion with one of their favorite netminders, Tuca Rask. Your thoughts? Of course you think you have this plan. What's the podcast line?

You plan, God laughs. Bruins. That's your grandma's line and i love it bruins yeah you know rath's gonna get his first american hockey league god laughs no no he's not so the other thing i want to say about this is so someone was saying to me that all mark and swayman are going to be upset or this is going to cause problems first of all i think players want to play i'm sure both all mark and swimming are thinking i want to play here no question about it but i find it really hard to believe that everybody here wasn't aware of this being a possibility do you think that

lenis allmark was aware of this when he signed with the Bruins though? On free agent day? I 100% think so. Thought that maybe somewhere that Rask is going to come back here? How could you not? I don't know. I'm just asking. Because I don't know if Linus Allmark knew this or not. No, I find that very hard to believe.

I think that if the team doesn't tell you, you've got to understand the landscape. You know, the Boston Bruins made it very clear last year at the end of the season that Tuka Rask needed time. Rask made it very clear he needed time to get healthy and they were going to give him time to make his decision. And if he wanted to come back, he would be welcome to come back there. I just find it really hard to believe that they didn't think this was a possibility. The other thing too is with Allmark is he got a great deal.

Oh, are you kidding? You got a fantastic deal out of the Boston Bruins. That surprised a lot of people. Because you were looking at the pieces and trying to figure out where they were all coming, right? Yeah. You're looking at the chessboard and you're saying, well, if it's not here, it's got to be here. And I had heard that he was one of the goalies on Seattle's radar. And then Grubauer signs there. So there's not the opportunity there.

And if I'm Allmark, I'm looking at it as I got a great deal and I had to know what the landscape was. I don't know. I mean, I understand players want to play. what the landscape was i don't know i mean i understand players want to play and you know if in swayman's case if he has to go down to the american hockey league i'm sure he'd rather be in the nhl but either you or your agent had to be willing to look at the overall picture and say you know if rast decides it's coming back to play he's coming back here. Okay, so a couple of things here. One, I still don't, and maybe you do, but I don't have an answer as to why Buffalo protected Allmark in the Seattle expansion draft.

That one still boggles my mind. I just think they thought he was coming back. Yeah, or at least they had a chance to bring him back. I just think they had a shot, and I wonder how surprised they were at 1159 Eastern on July 1st when he said, I'm not coming back. And then they went into, I don't know, scramble mode to try to find a goaltender and settled on Craig Anderson. And two, you know what I find really funny? Because I'm like you.

I look at this situation with goaltenders and i always say the same thing we always hear oh it's a great relationship between these two they really support each other and cheer for each stop can we please stop there are very few people that are content being a backup goaltender. These are intensely competitive players at every single position. And if you don't think that backup netminders are cheering for the starting netminders to falter so they get the gig, you're fooling yourself.

So whether it's a three-headed goalie monster or it's a traditional two, or in some cases like we saw this season earlier on with Dallas, four, there is no kumbaya here. They'll always say the same things publicly, but privately, you know, to their families, to their agents, certainly. There's no, we're all a big, happy goalie family here.

It's this idea that, you know, Allmark or Swayman should be upset. This is the reality of goaltenders. This is completely the reality of goaltenders. I don't put much stock in it or weight in the idea that you're going to- So which coworker do you hope flops on the air so that you can get more air time?

You, because I want Saturdays all to myself, just me and Ron. That one week that you're at home and me and Ron were sitting there was great. I agree. I want you to drive it into the ditch, Friedman. Just steer it off the road. Have you seen me drive?

It's very possible. I've been in the car when you were driving. If you were driving in Dealey Plaza, the president would still be alive. Holy smokes, you got the heavy foot on you, Friedman. Yeah, I'm aggressive. But you know what? All of that is true, Jeff. My point is that you have to be aware of what the possibilities are around you.

Sometimes things are going to happen that are going to upset you, piss you off as a player. Maybe some team does something that you look at and you think this is very wrong. But again, if you're in Boston this year, you know that the shadow of what Rask decides to do could affect the organization. And I think you just have to be realistic about that.

You don't have to like it, but you have to be honest and realistic about it when you're going there. Now, the other thing too, is I just want to say on Rask, I'm glad that he's getting to call his shot, that he is getting a chance to say, I'm going to make the decision on coming back or not coming back. Not that he's unable to play because he's too hurt. So, you know, Rask has given a lot to that organization. I really like Rask.

I like dealing with him. I think he's a pretty interesting guy and I'm just happy that he gets to make this call. Elliot, the Maple Leafs make a move. It's always headlines. This one is interesting. Toronto Maple Leafs placing Nick Ritchie on waivers i was a bit surprised when that happened today sometimes you know when teams are going to do something and sometimes you didn't uh i was not aware of that one initially my reaction was did ritchie ask for

it because he was a scratch the other night. Basically, he's the first healthy scratch Toronto's had at forward because now they have their full complement of forwards. And I was told no, that that wasn't the case. This isn't anything he requested. And I wondered if possibly, you know, could he end up in the taxi squad? And I don't think that's their plan right now.

I think he's going to stay on the main roster if he's not claimed. But, you know, it's interesting. That one caught a lot of people off guard. What was your reaction when you saw it? I looked at that and I said, is this a call to attention for Nick Ritchie? I think that to me is what they're doing here. Sending a message.

They signed him to a two-year deal. Like they are determined to try to make this work and there are only so many things you can do to a player to try to make it work you can take away ice time you can scratch waving is a whole other issue so i looked at this one i said you know this is a cup check for nick ritchie this is called to attention this is we're serious here no player obviously likes to be put on waivers at all. That's how I saw this one. I think the first thing you always ask is, did the player request it? And I was told that wasn't the case. Because sometimes,

like I think with James Neal, he was on waivers the other day from St. Louis. And I think St. Louis looked around to try to see, okay, is there somewhere we can send them and then the last thing you do is you do the waiver move so that's what i kind of wondered with if toronto was doing the same thing oh okay they've looked around they found no takers and now they're doing this and i was told that ain't it you know the one of the other big stories this week and it's still not over this is going to bleed into the weekend and and certainly into next week when they finally play a game again and that's the edmonton oilers five losses in a row on the road covid to a number of key players most notably conor mcdavid injury to ryan nugent hopkins none of this is getting easier no um friction between the head coach and the at times starting net minder, Mikko Koskinen, and questions about

what do the Oilers do next? And you've pointed out a couple of different times, Ken Holland doesn't like to make, well, he doesn't. He doesn't change coaches midstream. He doesn't do this. This isn't his MO. And I always, there's an old saying in boxing, hard times make monkeys eat red peppers that when things are tough you do where's that from from boxing from boxing it's a you've never heard that before no you've never heard that boxing reference no hard times make monkeys eat red peppers monkeys hate red peppers but when it's tough times you eat what you got i've heard hard times make strong people well i'm trying to color it up here a little bit on the podcast.

Elliot, give you a little flavor puck to chew on a little bit. Come on, man. Work with me here. I just found it. I'm giving you credit. Yeah, it's an old boxing term. That's where I first heard it, anyhow. Ray Arcel.

There you go. See? Hard times make monkeys eat red peppers. You know, you're right, Jeff. I hand it to you. I'd never heard this saying before. It's my broken clock moment. Welcome to it.

So it's not necessarily something that Ken Holland has ever done before, but that doesn't preclude him from ever doing it, period. Two things. How do you read the Oilers situation right now and get out your Elliott Friedman crystal ball? What happens here? They're losing. It sucks.

The frustration's mounting. You know, the whole thing with Koskinen and Tippett, we all get frustrated. Imagine your office. Imagine our office. Imagine this podcast. You know, there are times, imagine everybody out there,

imagine your office, your home, wherever you are with a lot of people who are the same, your Zoom call, whatever it is. When things are going badly, people, they get frustrated at each other once in a while, and you blow off steam. And the difference between this and where a lot of people work who are listening to this is that this is in public. And I didn't think about it at the time but I thought about it later they lose that game Monday night Koskinen had a really rough start to that game and a finish and it's obvious to me that if Dave Tippett could go back in time he wouldn't have said what he said. I thought we did a lot of things well tonight. Our goaltender wasn't very good, and we didn't find enough pucks at the net to get us back in the game.

When you're a coach in these moments, you really aren't supposed to pour gasoline on the fire unless you want to. I don't think Tippett wanted to, but he did. And sometimes that happened because you're coming right out after a loss like that and you know what's going on out there. It's a monsoon daily on social media about the Oilers and people are calling for your job and you shouldn't say it and you don't want to say it, but you say it. And then the next day Koskinen speaks to a Finnish reporter and he fights back. And I have no problem with someone standing up for themselves. And all of a sudden it's a fiasco. I've always kind of looked at it this way. It shouldn't happen,

but it does happen. And sometimes when things are going very badly, I'll say, all right, I'll give you a break on that one. And that's what I would do if I was Tippett and I was Koskinen and I was the Oilers. They would say, look, guys, you need each other right now. And Koskinen, we need you. And that wasn't't good and it won't happen again but we've got bigger problems to worry about than this so if I'm the Oilers the way I'm managing it is saying Mikko that shouldn't have happened it won't happen again but let's move past this right now that should be over as for what they're going to do, I think Holland's thinking about what options he's got. I really do. I don't think he wants to make a coaching change. It's not his way. I think he is potentially looking for a goalie out

there, but I'm not sure. When things are going going bad they don't throw you life preservers they throw you uh anvils I think he's looking but when McDavid goes down and he's in protocol for however long he's going to be in protocol I think you just know that the only thing you're going to be able to sort out is playing better internally. This is not like the end of Avengers Endgame, where they're fighting Thanos to save the cosmos. And all of a sudden, all the heroes come back from the blip to help Captain America save the day. This isn't happening. And I think what the Oilers are trying to say is we are going to attempt to do some things here or look around to see what we can do. But until that happens, our solutions have to come from within.

See, this is a difficult spot because as we've talked about before, missing the playoffs is not an option for the Edmonton Oilers. But then you risk doing more damage to the future of your team. If you mortgage the future, just trying to get into the playoffs this season. I'm not saying right now the Oilers aren't going to make the playoffs, although right now playoffs are very much a question mark for the Oilers where we thought they'd be up around the top of the division, you know, neck and neck with the Vegas Golden Knights. That's not the reality right now. of the division, neck and neck with the Vegas Golden Knights.

That's not the reality right now. They have things that they're willing to part with, whether it's prospects, whether it's first-round pick. But, and I guess everybody has a different line here, at what point do you say it's not worth it to trade a prospect to bring in some help? At what point do you say it's not worth it to trade the first round pick to bring in somebody for some help yeah that can get us into the playoffs i don't know where that line is i'm guessing ken holland's probably thought about it a lot you know teams have gone through it where you know at what point do you try you know what's the old saying never try

to catch a falling knife sometimes if your team is just going to bottom out you got to let the knife fall that's what montreal has done don't try to catch it just knife. Sometimes if you're a team that's just going to bottom out, you got to let the knife fall. And that's what Montreal has done. Don't try to catch it. Just let that knife, because if you try to catch it along the way, you're just going to cut yourself. Don't. But no one's saying the Oilers season is going that way right now. They're going through a bad stretch and they don't look good.

And some of the problems that have haunted the Oilers are haunting them again. Yeah. But at what point do you say, okay, it's not worth it anymore? I would look at the goaltending if I was them. Big time. And the reason is it's Smith's health, right? Yes. Last year, Mike Smith had a hard trophy level season and they bet on that again and his body is having trouble. So Colton DiStefano, one of our faithful listeners, he was making trade suggestions to me

via DM today. And he's suggesting Jake Allen and our Thierry Lekanen to Edmonton for Koskinen and Turris. I think he said Xavier Bourgeau and a first rounder. Now, let me just say, I know this is going to open

my dms up to a billion trade proposals everybody send your trade proposals to Elliot Freeman no matter how outlandish they are as a matter of fact he likes the really crazy I actually didn't mind this one he likes his his trade proposals with a little dash of crazy attached to them so go for it I actually thought this one was somewhat creative. But when I look at this whole situation, I'm thinking to myself, what goalie's available? Who can you reasonably get? The problem there is I'm not sure Edmonton's going to want

to give up that first rounder, right? But Allen and Lekanen are the kinds of pieces that make sense to me for the oilers the thing about allen is as well he's got one more year on term yes okay you know what the problem with that is to me at least that's an idea that isn't insane here's the problem with this yeah you sign mike smith for two years so if if you make the move for Jake Allen and you move Koskinen out, then next year you've got Jake Allen and Mike Smith and Stuart Skinner needs waivers. That's a very good point. I was going to see if you brought it up yourself and that's the flaw.

Skinner is the flaw. The one thing though is that Holland's going to have time here They now have one game In their next 12 days Yes, yeah they play Ottawa Early next week If he's going to do anything, it makes sense to do it now Okay so Jake Allen's an interesting name

What about another name? Let's do the irresponsible thing You just start throwing names around Because we've all wondered about this one too What about Alexander Georgiev thing you just start throwing names around because because we've all wondered about this one too um what about alexander giorgiev here's the reason i wouldn't do that if i was the rangers thursday night if you're the rangers you're having a really good year you have a chance for something i think we're all kind of figured trying to figure out how good the Rangers really are yeah but what's Bill Parcells old line you are what your results say you are right now their results say they're

pretty good so if I'm the Rangers Thursday night Vegas Shisterkin goes on the COVID list and now you have Georgiev there and I know that Georgiev has made it clear before if you know I'll move if I can get a more of a chance to play. But I think this is a case where if you're the Rangers, you're saying, look, until we have a better alternative than you, if Shosturkin's not in the lineup, I'm not treating him unless you absolutely blow my socks off. You mentioned the Montreal Canadiens in trades there

a couple of seconds ago. And in your notes on 32 Thoughts at our website, you mentioned the Montreal Canadians in trades there a couple of seconds ago and in your notes on 32 Thoughts at our website, you mentioned Ben Chirot. Yeah. And we've talked plenty about Ben Chirot. It's a pretty obvious one. We know he's going somewhere.

He's a valuable guy. Certainly come trade deadline time. And you mentioned the St. Louis Blues. You could see a fit there. Blues are an interesting team. The Blues like tough hockey. They always have since the beginning,

since they came into the NHL in 67. That's one of the ways they've always enjoyed playing. Nico Mikola, did you see his incident with Sidney Crosby on Wednesday night, sir? Yes, I did. Gotta love the way Russ drives hard to the net. Crosby getting into a Mikola. Gloves are still on, but now everybody will get involved oh this may not

be something that the Blues want to do uh waking up the uh the Pittsburgh Penguins and the fans and the place gets alive like this but I've seen Mikula play enough games to know that this young Finn he he doesn't really look at what names on back. He'll give it to anybody in front of the net. He'll battle. And he did just that. He's got a competitive spirit about him. And so does Sidney Crosby, who wasn't going to back off. 25-year-old Finn Nico Mikula going at it with Sidney Crosby.

Crosby got a little gash on the bridge of his nose there. Sidney Crosby got blood dripping down the nose. He's leaking, so he's going to go in for some repairs. Looks like he's going to take four or five stitches on the bridge of that nose. What did you make of that, and what did you think Brian Burke and Ron Hextall made of that? I'm sure that they wanted to climb out of the stands and fight Mikola. Yeah. wanted to climb out of the stands and fight Mikola.

Yeah. Anthony Stewart was working Toronto Edmonton on Wednesday night, and he showed video of Reeves roughing up McDavid. Behind the net. And three years ago, Reeves, as tough as he is, other teams would have sent five guys after him. Yeah. I have to say that that is one of the things about hockey that I don't like now.

What's that? Is that a star player can get roughed up like that and there's no consequence. I did used to like the old, okay, you do that to our star player and we're either going to do it to the guy who did it or we're going to pick one of your star players and we're going to take it out on them. I do miss that. If you ask me about one thing I miss from the 80s or 70s or whatever you want, it's that. What's different to me is a legit battle versus a star player getting roughed up. A legit battle is one thing. If you get two guys battling for a puck or space or whatever, I got no problem with that. But I just don't like when star players get roughed up because there's no fighting anymore

or nobody likes the whole let's get revenge or anything like that. I have to admit, it doesn't leave me with a great feeling. I always thought the more effective way was go after the other team's star. Because if someone roughs up a star player, they're more than willing to take on someone. The fact that they just went out and roughed up a star, that's what they're supposed to do. And they took someone else off the ice with them

and that's just fine. But if they think that they caused their star player to have certain liberties taken with him, that to me is always more effective. You know what the most famous one of all of that is? Is 1993, Los Angeles,onto in the semi-finals where wendell clark kept going at wayne gretzky and mcsorley went by the bench and said anyone touches wayne again he pointed to doug gilmore said he gets it and wendell kept going

at wayne and the next time doug gilmore stepped over the blue line we can all remember because it led to that great wendell clark martin mcsorley fight. What did McSorley meet Gilmore with? Like an elbow from the cellar. The Leafs coasting home to victory here in game one. Anderson comes in. Gilmore was hit inside the line by McSorley. And this is going to draw Clark and McSorley into a racket. They're going, throwing punches. Oh! Clark is nailing McSorley. Now McSorley comes back.

Gilmore was hit inside the line. He's still down. He is a move. Gilmore trying to get up. McSorley was grabbed by Clark, who threw that hit on Gilmore. And Clark and McSorley are flailing away each other. Two of the heavyweights of the league. And no nonsense here.

They're going at it. McSorley has the sweater off. And Clark nails him with another uppercut. Now Clark gets hit. Ducks away from one. McSorley now pounding away at the two linesmen. Just scared to take a chance on getting in there, I guess. Finally they get in.

But Clark came back to McSorley. And they went at it. He wants to take everybody on. Boy, this is nasty feelings now. With 2.34 left in the third period. There's another scrap on in case you're interested. It's Todd Gill and Taylor. They're going at it just inside the L.A. line.

And the officials are having a tough time getting this one under control. McSorley goes to the dressing room. Well, McSorley threw the initial hit on Doug Gilmore as Gilmore came across the blue line. Right across the blue line with his head down. And when Clark saw the hit by McSorley, he ran after him right away and started the battle. Gilmore appears to be all right. He gets up and goes over and wants to take on the LA vent.

And that's what I think you were talking about. There's one of two ways you can go about it. Could have just gone at Clark or he could say, stop it, or he gets it. I remember the year later, 94, when Gino Adjic was all over Gilmore. Yeah. And Clark pointed to Burry and said, if you don't stop, he gets it. Yeah, him.

But I have to say, I loved Crosby on Wednesday night in that St. Louis game. Crosby's been amazing. I still think sometimes we take him for granted. I really do. I think we kind of forget how great he is. This year, it's a lot been about Ovechkin because of the goal scoring,

and he's had a phenomenal heart trophy season. But sometimes because Crosby's such a grinder and isn't there as many highlight reel plays, if that's the right thing to say, we kind of forget how great he is and how much he carries a team too. It's amazing. Ovechkin and Crosby, I don't know if we'll get to 20 years for both guys. Hope so.

I hope we do. But, I mean, they're between 15 and 20 years now, and they're still two of the league's best players. It's great. It's fantastic. just as an aside do you have a thought on what the blues are doing right now like i know they've had their speed wobbles and they went through everything with well most notably covid and the inability to do anything because the teams they're in it to win it it's remarkable what you know this infusion and elevated minutes you mentioned jordan k Cairo in your piece this week.

How much giving those kids a little bit extra ice time has meant for the St. Louis Blues? I think they're in it to win it. I think the Blues think they can win. And I think that Nico Miklasen really found money for them too. Yeah. He's a really nice defenseman. All right, a couple of other things around the NHL.

Wanted to get your thoughts on the Ducks GM search. And I was surprised because I thought he was done. Peace out. Thanks for the Hall of Fame. I'll come to a party here and there, but I want nothing to do with hockey. I'm going to surf. Thank you very much and enjoy my life uncomplicated.

I was surprised to see Paul Correa part of this. Scott Niedermeyer, not so much but paul korea absolutely i had heard that they wanted both of those guys involved with the team the ducks would consider that a coup did they have those players involved everybody considers this one a coup yep i'm surprised they've got paul korea off the beach and back like i've always for the longest time i think you and i have talked about this. I was always a big Paul Correa guy. I think a guy like him, like listen, whatever he wants to do with his life,

that's up to him. But selfishly, I'd like to see Paul Correa in the NHL in some capacity on either a full-time or semi-full-time basis. I think when you have someone who thinks the game like he did

and like he does, it can only make the game better. We all know about the injury history and what happened to him and how he feels about the NHL at times. But I just think that, you know, you look at some players like, we always say this about Gretzky,

it's always better when Gretzky's involved. I think it's better when a player like Paul Correa is involved in the NHL. Even Elliot in this tiny little capacity, part of the GM search for the Anaheim Ducks. I just think it makes the NHL a better place. It's fascinating, Jeff. in this tiny little capacity part of the GM search for the Anaheim Ducks. I just think it makes the NHL a better place. It's fascinating, Jeff. Four teams searching for GMs in the middle of a season.

Yeah, not just searching, but in season. That's the caveat here. I'm very curious to see how many teams are going to allow permission. I'm curious about that too. The other thing is, because we've never seen this before, so we're all looking at this and going like, wow, what a freak this is, and trying to figure out what this all means. One of the things that, and I guess the conversation really began with the salary cap and the idea of the salary cap within the salary cap within the

salary cap, which is essentially what the NHL has has with team cap, player cap, individual player cap, rookie cap. It's a multi-capped league right now. We've talked about the art of the general manager and how it's different. Long gone are the days of Sam Pollock running everything and you talk to the owner at the end of the year, and this is what happened, Mr. Owner. And here's your return. The fact that there are four positions open in season, do you think that is in some ways a reflection that the position itself isn't as important as it used to be? And I don't mean that as any slight to any general manager out there. It depends on what your structure is i mean look at all the layers on top of gms now in vancouver where's the seat of power jim

rutherford in montreal where's the seat of power jeff gordon what we don't know yet is what anaheim and chicago was going to look like correct so i've been trying to figure out maybe who are some of the candidates out there that we don't know about yet. For which team or for all of them? Well, for all of them. Like I do think in Vancouver, Patrick Alveen is the most likely situation. In Montreal, I think a lot of the key names

are kind of out there, although I think there's more. You know, Scott Mellenby's name is one I kind of wonder about for some of these positions, but I think there's more. Scott Mellenby's name is one I kind of wonder about for some of these positions. But I'm also looking out here to say, who else is kind of there that we haven't thought of? And I don't know if they'll get permission

to talk to anybody during the season, but I kind of wonder about two guys in Detroit, Pat Verbeek and Chris Draper. Verbeek's been around a long time now. He's been in Tampa. He's been in Detroit. Draper's been around a long time now in Detroit. Detroit's on the way up. Does that help their candidacy? Is it going to be the Belichick rule where people look and say well Verbeek more than Draper but Draper's been under Iserman for a couple years now that you know people kind of say okay is there something that we can borrow from them that Iserman teaches I think the same thing is kind

of going on in Tampa we know Matthew Darsh has permission in Montreal and he's, I think he's on Anaheim's list too. But I also wonder if they're looking at any of the other people in, in Tampa, you know, in Elmory. Great eyes on Elmory. Oh boy. If you want to develop your team through the draft. And you know, the other guy from Detroit who's not there anymore was Ryan Martin, but he just went to New York, right? People think very highly of Ryan Martin, but he just made a move. So I don't know if another move is that quick. But those are, like I was asking around,

like where are some names that nobody's mentioned yet? And those kind of were some of the names that got mentioned to me. I'm sure there's more, but those were the names that got mentioned. The other one too, a couple of people have said to me is Ross Mah maholy in washington his name's been out there a few times yeah it's been out there but still chris mcfarland's name gets out there i have this um image of joe sackick blocking the door so chris mcfarland can't leave we were talking a couple weeks ago i can't remember

which week it was all All these weeks blend together. What are these weeks you speak of? About how after the Olympics are over, there's going to be a run on retiring players and about where they want to go and what they want to do for a lot of the women players. Right. Yeah.

A couple of people mentioned Haley Moore to me today. I can see that. AHL. Like we talked about Jennifer Botterill on the podcast not too long ago. Gina Hefford's name has been out there for a little while too. I know the teams have talked to Cassie Campbell-Pascal. So I don't think that should surprise anybody.

Emily Castonguay's name is out there too. She's amongst other players, agent for Alexi Lafreniere of the New York Rangers. And Marie-Philippe Poulin. Marie-Philippe Poulin as well. A number of the women from the Canadian team, I believe as well. One of the names that I've always wondered about, I don't even know if he wants to do this,

but every now and then the conversation will turn to someone like Eric Tolsky in Carolina. I think, look at what the Carolina Hurricanes have become. And look at how far this Carolina Hurricanes team has gotten and how they get value out of players. A lot of that goes under the nose of Eric Tulsky. I actually almost have a separate list of people I'm trying to go through from that.

Josh Flynn of Columbus is one of those guys. Columbus is a couple of them. They have Josh Flynn there Columbus is one of those guys. Columbus has a couple of them. They have Josh Flynn there. They have Cam Lawrence there. There's a young guy there in Columbus too. His name is Zach Erbeck. I've heard about him a little bit. So they've got a few.

There's Eric Parnas in Colorado, Tulsky. There's a bunch of them. And I'm going to get notes from people saying, okay, you left this person out and you left this person out. It's not intentional. The only people I really like to insult are my podcast co-host and producer. Other than that, nobody. But there is a whole group.

And I do wonder when some of them are going to come to the forefront too. I just don't know if any of them would be GMs yet. Flynn is probably one of the closest, but again, I just don't know when the timing is going to be. But one thing I think that's definitely going on around the league, Jeff, is when I was talking to someone on this today about who are some of the names that we're not hearing out there? There is definitely a look for that.

Okay. Who are other names? Is there anybody that we're missing? And I think those questions are, are being asked. Honestly, I think a lot of it is those questions that you're asking that teams are saying,

okay, let's just not turn to the usual suspects. Let's leave no stone unturned here, which is why I think GM searches are going to take a lot longer than they have. We've talked about this a couple of different times, but the idea of, you always bring up the idea of Lula Amarillo, if you have the time, take it. Mike Ford talked about this from sportsology when we had him on you know don't just think the regular names think outside of your comfortable hiring zone and even if you're not going to do it at least go through a process with different people to see what you learn I think a lot of teams are probably going through that right now yeah I want to ask

you a question no well I'm anticipating the answer is no but just humor me for a second okay okay have i ever given you an idea that on initial contact you shrug off but then you think about it for a little while and you warm to like it grudgingly grudgingly grudgingly i do think the uh penalty kill thing was one okay so you like that one okay because that happened in a game not too long ago winnipeg st louis i think it was the last game in canada before the freeze two shorthanded goals no no no they scored one winnipeg scored one and st louis scored on the power play right after and i remember thinking merrick's idea works

here. Power play should be over. If you score a shorthand. Done. But I think that's only happened once and the other 5,000 times you've come up with terrible ideas. I have never changed my mind.

Okay. So I tried this on radio with you the other day. I'm going to try it with you now on the podcast. So reading your bit in 32 thoughts about Zidane O'Chara and the hardest shot contest and defrosting. I love that term. defrosting Shea Weber and bringing him back for a couple of shots only, I think is a wonderful idea.

And I submitted to you as an event for the All-Star Game, backwards skating. Who can skate backwards the fastest? I love the idea because I'm legitimately curious. I have no idea who the fastest backwards skater is in the NHL. No, I have a pretty good idea of who can skate fastest forwards. I think we all do. We all know the suspects and it starts with Connor McDavid and goes to Dylan Larkin, Andreas Athanasiou, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

Yeah. But I have no idea about who goes backwards. So anytime you can create an event that answers a question, I think you have a hit. Like whenever I look at new sports or new ideas for an all-star game, somebody say, okay, what is the question that this is trying to answer? And this particular event at an all-star game answers a question. Who skates backwards the fastest? Now, you kind of shrugged it off and that's your default setting with me

because, oh, it's Merrick and here he goes with the mouth again. But now that you've sat with it for a couple of days, have you given it any concert? Have you warmed to it? I'm always interested in something that if fans like it, I'm for it. To me, the All-Star Game is all about fans. Yeah. And if the fans wanted it, I'm for it.

Do you have that curiosity? I know you're always like, oh, Merrick, only you would think about that. But I don't believe that with this one specific. I think you would generally be curious. No, judging from some of the reaction I got, people liked it. I think you would be curious about it. I think that would be a well-viewed moment at the All-Star game. I think it would be too.

Just lobbing it up there. Anyone in the NHL listening? I mean, how many people take a run at the fastest skater? There's six people, right? Yeah. I don't know if I want to see that six times. I want it to be a race. Like a lap.

No, I don't think I want it to be a lap. I think what I want it to do is- You want red line to red line? No, I think what I want is I almost want the defenseman to be at the offensive blue line, someone to flip a puck over their heads, they turn around and charge back, and then they have to turn around at a certain point and skate backwards to the goal line.

No. No? I like the lap because I want to see two things here. No, that is so terrible. A lap of backwards skating? Correct. That is so boring. No, because here's why.

I want to see crossovers, and I want to see C-cuts. But nobody does that. Nobody crosses over? Nobody does C-cuts? Well, no, no, no. I'm not saying that, but nobody skates backwards in a circle around the rink. Like you skate around the rink skating forward, but you don't do that backwards. So what?

I want to do it in game circumstances. I came close, but it's obvious, folks. I am still amongst the heathens here on this podcast. Actually, it grew on me. I have to say it grew on me. But this is a lap of backwards skating. It's pointless. Yes, that's brilliant.

Only one way to determine this one. Elliot's DMs start flooding him with how good an idea this is. I'm going to be getting a lot of crap in my DMs after this podcast. It's good times. Let's hit a pause, come back, and answer some emails. Welcome back to the podcast. Elliot, before we get to some emails here, I wanted to take a little bit of time and offer our condolences to the family

and the friends of Grant Gilbertson. Grant was an 18-year-old hockey player with the Peninsula Panthers. The Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League was on his way to practice on monday when his car crashed and he was killed again we offer our condolences it's just been a really really challenging time in the bc area in addition to everything we're all dealing with with covid they've had so many challenges and difficulties in there. And then to hear about this one, just really feel for everybody out there. And also condolences to Grant's teammates.

I know they're going through a really tough time as well. Okay, Elliot, the email address, 32thoughts at sportsnet.ca. A few of them here, and some are pretty neat, like this one. From Al, Merrick mentioned how Brad Park couldn't get paid what he was worth by the Red Wings at some point. That was early in the Illich ownership. I was thinking they had to offer cars to get people into the rink. So they gave him a couple of little Caesars franchises. Does this and can this still happen?

Could a player get a stake in a business or some stocks as well as their salary could off the top of my head. Evgeny Malikin asked for a in liverpool to stay with the penguins and a five million dollar a year contract the short answer is no right elliot not legally not according to the cba not according to the cba the nba won a few years ago i think that if I remember correctly Dennis Rodman was living at Mark Cuban's guest house and they made him leave said you can't do that listen you know I always wondered about and I've never had a satisfactory answer on this either is how was Crosby allowed to live at Lemieux's house those first few seasons with the Pittsburgh Penguins and how did that not

contravene the salary cap I don't get that one at all. Must've been paying a pretty high rent. Maybe Lemieux was extorting him on rent. Okay. That, that must've been it. No, uh, to Al, you can only be compensated. You can't get compensated outside of your contract as well. And they're again, not legally, not legally.

Um, this one comes from Chris, who is a lifelong Wings fan. I'm just wondering what it would take for a scout to make the Hall of Fame. Obviously, me as a Wings fan, I say Hocken Anderson should be first ballot, given his track record as a scout. Do you think there'll be a scout ever in the Hockey Hall of Fame? It's a great question. Glenn Healy made the point about allowing trainers in the Hall of Fame as well. It's also a good one.

What they do. Honestly, this sort of winks at an even bigger question, which is, you know, the term builder is pretty vague and pretty wide brush. There's a lot of elements that go into making a successful hockey team you know and you know chris mentions scouts heels would talk about trainers there are like huge categories of people whose work goes unrecognized throughout the years that you know on second glance you might look at

you say you know what that was a hall of Fame career from person X. It's a really interesting question. Right now, the Hall of Fame is what? Players and builders, officials? Of course, broadcasters because they're basically not- Those are honored members. 95% of the Hall of Fame should be broadcasters. Media is honored members. Yeah, we're not official.

We're sort of- Honored members. Honored members, right. But I agree that there are people out there who probably don't get considered enough. Scouts would be one of them. Scouts would be one, but there's a limit

to how many people get in every year, right? And the toughest thing is who should be most of the Hall of Fame inductees, players? And broadcasters. And broadcasters. From Dave and Barryry colts country if the leafs ever make that cup run what impact would that have on hockey related revenue and the cap brackets

assuming full stands and how much does the tarp advertising help well think about i don't think the tarp advertising helps at all they'd rather rather have the building full. Look, how much is a Leaf game worth a night? Three and a half million. Yeah. So now imagine you're in the playoffs. Imagine you're in the second round of the playoffs. Imagine you're in the third round of the playoffs. Imagine you're playing a Stanley Cup final.

How much do you think all that's worth? Oh. Printing press, making money. Scrooge McDuck diving into a room full of, a basement full of coins. That's what that would be, Elliot. It's enormous. Like that would have a significant impact

on the salary cap, would it not? Oh yeah. Like I've always maintained this. If you're a player, if your team goes out early or if your team doesn't make the playoffs, if you're concerned about your escrow, you're concerned about your finances, you want long run from Toronto, you want a long run from the New York Rangers, these are the teams you cheer for.

I know it may be distasteful to some hockey players to cheer for some of these teams, but if you're concerned about your bottom line, you cheer for the big money makers. Well, I remember Paul Kelly, when he ran the Players Association, he got in trouble for that. concerned about your bottom line it's here for the big money makers well i remember paul kelly when he ran the players association he got in trouble for that he basically said the quiet part out loud once oh so he said the truth yes he said the truth yeah and i didn't have a problem with it but some people did he said i want to have long series and i don't mind seeing the big markets do well and of course because that's what we do we turn it into a fiasco but he was being honest i guess you have to be a bit more impartial i think of winston churchill who once said in wartime the truth is so precious

that she must be protected by a bodyguard of lies from spencer i have a question about conditional draft picks. The Oilers traded a conditional third to Chicago for Duncan Keith, and the condition is, if the Oilers make the cup final, the third becomes a second. Could the Oilers still trade that second round pick

this year with a condition that if they make the cup final, the second gets deferred to next year? There are ways. I don't know exactly what the way the rule works, but there are things that you can do for that. The central registry has told that comes up and I wish I had some examples for you

off the top of my head, but I don't remember them. But there have been deals where something like that has happened and the team has said, look, if we don't have this pick available, we'll move it to say next year's third round pick or next year's second round pick.

And as long as the team that you're trading with agrees with that, you can make that deal. Bingo. All right. And that wraps us up. Taking us out, Elliot, a Victoria,

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