32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Everybody Ropes Everybody Rides

Episode Date: March 27, 2026

In this episode of 32 Thoughts, Kyle Bukauskas and Elliotte Friedman look at the Oilers showing signs of something sustainable with strong underlying numbers, while the Pacific Division remains wide open. They discuss looming offseason questions around figures like Adam Foote, Auston Matthews, and Brady Tkachuk (10:30), along with the tightening playoff race in the Eastern Conference (13:30) and the growing consensus around Nikita Kucherov as the Hart Trophy favorite (17:09). Elliotte also shares why he’s keeping a close eye on Detroit (20:31), touches on Bruins prospect James Hagens signing an ATO (27:30), and reflects on a recent trip to Buffalo where Lindy Ruff is thriving in his return behind the bench (34:00). The guys also revisit goalie interference discussions following Elliotte's call with the league (51:00), and the Final Thought focuses on newly revealed PWHL player salary details (1:01:50) Kyle and Elliotte answer listener questions in the Thoughtline (1:07:57). In this episode we highlight Edmonton rock band Royal Tusk and their song ARMISTICE. Check their music out here. Listen to all the 32 Thoughts music here. Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call the Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemail. This podcast was produced and mixed by Dominic Sramaty and hosted by Elliotte Friedman & Kyle Bukauskas. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates

So let's finish this discussion. Kyle, how much did you make? You go first. Kyle, my answer to that is, take the under. I'll show you mine if you show me yours. I think that is actually a violation of our contracts. Welcome to 32 thoughts, the podcast, presented by your Canadian Toyota dealers and the 100% electric BZ, available now during.

Red Tag days. Dom Elliott, Kyle, back with you. Elliot, we begin this episode with a question.

Are you ready? Why am I cranky? Oh, we can start there. I haven't been to the gym in three days. I really feel it right now.

I'm cranky. Oh, you need to move. Yes. You need to press something over your head. Yes. You are not the same about your push-up

mountain climber regimen. Okay, here's the question. What does Alex Ovechkin, Michael Jordan, and 5.2 seconds all have to do with one another. Hmm. Hit me.

Okay. So Thursday night, Alex Ovechkin's Hattrick goal. Yep. With 5.2 seconds left. I believe it moves them into fourth all time in career hatrics, slightly ahead of Brett Hall. 5.2 seconds left in the game at the Delta Center in Utah. Is that the 98?

jumper. Bingo. Also, 5.2 seconds left? Very good. Kyle. Excellent work. I just grabbed it. Kyle, if you're not going to take credit for things that you don't do,

you will never go anywhere in this business. That's right. How do you think I ended up here? Very good, sir. Very good. Yeah. So in one way, OV and MJ are forever linked thanks to their heroics in Utah. By the way, do we think, did the Oilers air it out in Utah, like you suggested at the beginning of this week,

because there are two games since against the mammoth and then against Vegas on Thursday night, suggests they are on the path to something a little more sustainable. It's not just the wins, I would say, Kyle. It's the numbers. I was looking at some of the sport logic numbers after the game in Utah. And that was a night where almost everything they did was better than they've done it all season, at least by averages. They normally block about at even strength.

they normally block about 27% of the shots. In that game against the mammoth, they blocked, I think, 47%. And they were much, much better at denying the blue line. The percentage of plays stopped there or entries broken up was much higher than usual. And that's usually a formula for winning, right? And then the game on Thursday,

which I thought was a really good game, really entertaining game and really mean game between Goal of Vegas and Edmonton. Yes. In particular, definitely not a pillow fight. As a matter of fact, they took the padding out of the gloves for that one, if it was true boxing. They were really, really pounding each other. But, you know, I thought the penalty in overtime was a very fair call.

And I thought Jack Michaels really called it well on the broadcast. Not only did Hyman hold Stone, but if Stone turns it over, it's a great opportunity going the other way. I thought it was a fair call. But then their penalty kill, which was 26 in the league against a very good power play, went three for three. They were excellently overtime. Ingram made some big saves.

And Ingram had a great quote in the post game about how you're in a situation where you are starting to play a little bit better, playing simpler, and just basically what he says is, is don't cheat, don't get selfish, don't get caught up in it, play smart and don't give up many chances and you'll be fine. Stubborn, too, that was one of the words. Yeah, stubborn, actually. You're right.

That was a good word. I couldn't remember exactly what it was. And I'm sure I'll get accused of a misquote later today. So thank you for bailing me out. But, you know, I think the thing is, you know, sometimes you have to hit rock bottom. And maybe that's what happened. and maybe that's why they're playing a little bit better. Also, I think not having dry saddle there, you lose one of your nuclear weapons.

You have to be a little bit smarter, even though you still have McDavid who's playing fantastic. I'll say this too. I like that McDavid shot on that three-on-one. Didn't try to pass, just bury it himself. You know, Vegas, this is a big one. That was a big one for Vegas. They get the point. but the amazing thing here is it's now or never for the kings the kings are at 76 points

they're one back of Nashville and they're three back of Vegas Nashville's wild card two Vegas is third in the Pacific division now the kings have an awful awful tiebreaker they're at 19 it's one of the worst in the league nobody they're chasing I mean the closest team to them is the Golden Knights who are five better. So they've got to win out, but the kings have seven in a row at home, two of them against the predators. Like this is it for L.A. And the best news for them is that Byfield,

who's had a disappointing season, I would say, has been on a tear lately. Like he's really, if you're going to arrive, now is the best time to arrive. And he's been fantastic. Yeah, I was at the game when L.A. was in Calgary on Tuesday, which I sure they were... Yes, lamenting a point getting away there. But I was just going to say he was far and away the best looking king on the ice that night. He had the most jump for a team that, at least on that occasion, didn't have a ton of pace. Not that they're the fastest team in the league to begin with, but he had jump and was effective again in their win on.

Thursday in Vancouver as well. It's been, it is amazing. Like, to your point, not only are the Kings, okay, you've got Nashville right there, the two games coming up against them, the stretch at home, but realistically within striking distance of Vegas as well, also a game in hand on the Golden Knights, do the Kings have. And, you know, they were talking about it on, like Marquesian Feudor were talking about it on the radio the other day was that, I mean, goaltending has been one story. for Vegas.

And now they're also having trouble scoring on top of it all. You know, I like Stone was really good though. Very good. Thursday. That was he was, he was very good. The pickpocket on McDavid before the goal, like that was vintage Mark Stone against the game's best right there.

But, you know, it had been a stretch where some of their top dogs had been quiet on top of everything else that's kind of been wonky for Vegas this year. So it just feels like there's a lot to be determined. and yet in that division, though Anaheim's in a very good spot right now. They're in a great spot.

You know, Quenville doesn't get a lot of coach of the year, love, but he should be in that race too. The one thing about Vegas is, now, Hart hadn't played great earlier in the year before he got hurt, but I was told today he's, they are planning on him being back in the regular season. And I didn't think, you know, Hill was the issue tonight, but he has struggled this year.

There's no, there's no question about that. So, I mean, we're now just under three weeks left in the regular season. Do we have like any concrete timeline if Hart's going to be an option for them two weeks away? I just heard they are expecting them back during the regular season. We'll see exactly what that means. Okay. You have a better chance of getting the nuclear codes than Golden Knight injury updates. but you know what like at least in the west right now you know Seattle got a big win they beat Tampa

like I think the kings are obviously the teams that are out the kings are still alive the cracking are still alive I think we can finish off the sharks now lost to St. Louis on Thursday night you never want to say never but it looks really tough for them six points out with a bad tiebreaker And, you know, the Jets, you know, they lost to Colorado. They got to play him again. And that was a big win for you in the in-season Cup, Kyle. Randeep can't win now, right?

He can't win most days. Yeah, he can win team still, but he can't win the most dates. So he is out. This second half of the season has been a disaster of a pool for me too. But, you know, Winnipeg, you know, the one thing I think about the Jets is they've had a couple times where they've gotten close and they're still five. points out. They have a couple times

they've gotten close, Kyle, and they've never really made a run at it. Like, you know, it's the one thing, and I know they feel this way internally, that this was, you know, they were so good last year. President's trophy, wire to wire, Hellebuck MVP, and Helobuck gets hurt this year, and it kind of wipes out a chunk of their season,

and they say, we're better than this. But the one thing I just haven't liked about them, Kyle, is that they've gotten close a couple times, they've never really climbed the mountain. They've never really put the pressure on. And if you think your team is better than it's shown, and this is kind of a bit of a negative year, just fluke-wise,

you think, though, that when you get these moments, you kind of put a bit more pressure on. So I'm not calling them out, but I really don't like their position. You know, I wanted to address something. You know, Dom talked to us before the pod. He came back from that. Vancouver game tonight where they lost to the Kings 4-0 and you know he said you know what have

you heard about Adam foot I think I think there's a lot of stories in the league right now that we just have to wait like people in Toronto want to know what are the changes coming in Toronto well as we sit here recording this late Thursday night slash early Friday morning I don't I don't believe there is a plan in Toronto to announce anything early. I do think changes are coming, but we don't yet know what they are. And, you know, things can always change. I wouldn't say this 100%, but I don't think there's a plan to announce anything early, at least as it stands at this time.

People want to know about Matthews, what's happening? Well, you got to wait. You know, I did Alex Adams podcast in Ottawa the other day, and he's asking me about Brady Kachachai. And I'm like, you know, we're not sorting out Brady Kachuk right now. It's after the trade deadline. They're chasing for a playoff spot. Really tough shootout loss on Thursday night.

Really entertaining game, mind you. Oh, yeah. And, but, you know, nothing about Brady Kachuk's future is getting decided right now. You know, the thing I'll say about foot, and I really do believe this, anytime that you fire a coach after one season, I think that's an organizational failure. And I don't like it. I think it's a bad look.

And, you know, I think the thing, too, is that I think a lot of what went wrong in Vancouver this year was the remnants of what had gone wrong in the last two years. and I think that no matter what the intentions were, I think we all realize now that he inherited an untenable situation. And I think that any judging of his season this year should reflect that. Well, and then you couple that with the Quinn Hughes departure, and that only added to the noise that carried on there.

So I totally see what you're saying. there. There was far greater circumstances beyond the X's and O's and the messaging coming from the coach why Vancouver is sitting where they are right now. Also, you mentioned the Ottawa game should note. Crosby left that game. Yes. Lower body injury. Dan Mews didn't have much of a further update post game, but he was seen walking around afterwards. So take that for what it's worth. I'm glad to hear it was lower body because I was worried it was maybe his head hit the glass. Yeah, especially known his history.

Exactly. So I guess you can't really pick and choose what you like. They're all bad. But when I saw it was kind of his head hit the glass, I was like, oh, God, nobody wants to see this. I mean, okay. So, you know, we look at this and all of a sudden, New Jersey is really hot, but they're just too far out. They're 11 points out. Philly won again.

Tough climb, though, for them. Five points out, bad tiebreaker, and two teams between them and the playoffs. You know, Detroit, big weekend. Ottawa gets a point. They'll be disappointed. You know, what did Olmark say? He wants your 10-minute shootout idea? Yeah.

Well, I only, yeah, I had to chuckle slightly reading that. listening to it. Understandably, you know, you're emotional after a game at Allmark. I mean, battled his bag off in Detroit, battled Thursday night against Pittsburgh, was full value to get two points, only gets one going down in the shootout. Kudos to Ben Kindle, by the way, 18 years old in that spot and delivering to get that thing over the finish line. Ben Kindle at 18 and what I was like at 18, it's not the same species. Two different guys. Like I look at, I'm not even different guys. It's like I'm not even a person at 18 compared to him at 18. Like it's almost an

insult to him that people would think like we're the same. Yeah. I mean, I'm sure he's not the only one that would feel that compared to you in any way. That is not exclusive to the rookie Ben Kindle in Pittsburgh. This is true. Okay. So, because we talked to jokes a couple weeks ago that there was, you know, somebody who pushed back at the idea of when we were discussing, you know, if you have the penalty with less than two minutes left in overtime, that it carries over until the minor penalty, the double minor, whatever it may be, cedes itself through or a goal is scored. You know, push back against that because, well, that hurts, it's another goal against, that hurts the same percentage as opposed to a goal against. and the shootout. It's not recorded the same. So to hear Allmark after the game on Thursday say, I'd much rather have 10 minutes of overtime

and then just call it a tie as opposed to a shootout. Yeah, your other goalie buddy's going to be really mad. Yes, that's right. We got infighting within the union. Oh, dear. Keep it in house. Yes. Don't take it public.

I'll say this to, you know, Jake Sanderson, you know that if that guy could gnaw off his one injured body part and replace it with a healthy one, he would be doing it right now. Oh yeah. I only imagine. For any of those guys that are out, how tough it is, but Sanderson for sure. Yeah, because he's not far. Like, he's, he's not far away, but he's, he's sitting there and he's, this is eating, eating him alive.

Islanders, man, they are just toying with their fans' hearts. They're in, they're out, they win, they lose. They lose that game to the Blackhawks. They come back with a huge win over the stars. Sorokin, just excellent. It's going to be a roller coaster between all these teams. Yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, up and down. You know, I'll say this.

I think we're all pretty much conceding the heart trophy to Kuturov now. Well, you're probably right. But I was wondering the same thing. Like just how many ballots does Sorokin's name appear on? Actually, I wasn't going to say Sorokin, although I would have no problem with that. I was going to say Posternock. Oh, of course. You know, last year he got hurt because they didn't make the playoffs,

but he had a heart trophy level season. and he's having another one this year. They coughed up a hairball against Toronto on Tuesday. One, a big win over the Sabres on Wednesday night. Sorry, Dave, Amber. I know you're my good friend and I love you, but I had a choice between Rangers' Leaves and Bruins' Sabres. You know, I love you, Dave, but not that much.

It's like it's the meme of the guy looking over his shoulder at the other girl. We'll look at it. We'll talk about Hagen's a sec. Montreal stopped the steamroller that is Columbus, beat them in regulation. Mason Marchman, glorious chance at the end of the game. Who's the number one right now, Kyle, Dobish or Fowler? I think I was asked this on Thursday. I mean, three weeks, things can change.

But right now, I think Dobish is my guy. I think so. But you're right. It's a tenuous hold just because I think that Martin Saint-Luille will play the hot hand. And then we'll get Buffalo plays Detroit on Friday night. That is just a massive. Massive game.

Massive game. Can we just go back to Pastronach for two seconds? Yeah, sure, absolutely, man. So don't you find, like, one of the great compliments or one of the greatest qualities a player can have is their ability to elevate those around them? Going into this year, you know, we wondered, okay, who's going to score for Boston beyond the Pastor Nucks of the world?

you know, geeky had a great second half of the year in Boston last year. Is that going to happen again? And who else is going to emerge? And you look at, and he's had a number of different linemates over the season, whether it's geeky, and we talked to him earlier in the year about playing off of Pasternach, minting there now and the education he's getting alongside him, like Hustadinov, how many great nights he's had this year benefiting and learning to play with a guy like Pastronach and the way he's out.

elevated all of those guys. I think it's a great feather in his cap. And as we get deeper into the Hart Trophy conversation and at least figuring out what the whole ballot looks like, because you've got to name five, he's making a really great, great case. Good, good for him. Like, that's, that's a sign of a just not only elite player and what you can do individually, but how do you elevate the guys around you? He's done that phenomenally in Boston this year. He embraces it. He doesn't run from anything. You can, you know, you can really see it. I actually, I want to mention Detroit again quickly. I'm really curious to watch them this weekend. Like I said, they play Buffalo on Friday, and then they play Philly on Saturday. So two teams very much alive and with a lot to play for.

And you could really feel the disappointment. When they lost to Ottawa, when Ottawa had had that decimated blue line. and they lost that game, you could really see the disappointment. I mean, you could read the disappointment on social media, but that's one thing. You could see the disappointment on them as they left the ice. They were sitting there saying, it was almost like, I can't believe we lost to this lineup.

And I think a lot of that was Travis Green, and you know, you've talked about how Greens had a lot of the right notes this year, when they suffered those. two injuries in New York. And, you know, they asked how do you prepare for Detroit? He basically says, I'm getting ready to win. Like, Allmark steals that game for him, them. He owed them a performance like that and he delivered.

And one of the biggest moments of the season, he was fantastic. But I do think a lot of it is mentality. I think if your coach, it goes in mopee, your players go in mopee. Like, I do believe that there are tone-setter. on every team and the coaches, on every team the coach is won. Like on some players, on some teams it's the captain, some teams it's maybe just a guy who's really funny in the room. But I think on every team, the coach does it.

And if the players are seeing and reading quotes from the coach after a game where he's all mopee because he lost two defensemen or he's like, how on earth are we going to win tomorrow or he, and I'll say this, like no coach, looks more miserable in game one of the preseason than Travis Green. But if he looks miserable getting on the bus or on the plane after a game like that, especially where you've held the Rangers to 10 shots, like the players see it.

They're like, oh, this guy doesn't think we can win. This guy's miserable. And, you know, again, the goalie was great,

but the goalie is one of your players. You know, they found a way. And I think that's what you have to do at this time of year. And you could see it in Detroit. it. Like you could see it on McClellan's face. You could see it on the player's face.

You know, you you can feel it on their fans. They're like here again like, oh, another March collapse. And, you know, I always think in moments like these, it's almost like what Edmonton's doing. You have to go back to basics.

You have to trust what you're supposed to do. People have to go out there and say no matter what happens, I'm not coming back in here thinking that I could have done a little bit more. And, you know, it was funny. Like, you know, there were occasional times when I thought, you know, Kyle, maybe I'm not having a run of good shows here. I'm having a bad week or something like that. Or, you know, I would feel my broadcast weren't that good. I would always try to do something different. Like just something

different, like take a different route to the rink, um, try like a different food, something like that. That's risky. Yeah, yeah, it can be. There's no question. I could be like, um, Gustafson having to leave the game the other night in Minnesota. That's, exactly. But further, who is your Danny Sabrin? But the one thing is that it's right, good reference, but the one thing if you're a red wing, you can't just let it happen, right?

You can't just say, ah, it's inevitable like Thanos. No, you're like, we're trying something to change the mojo. On the ice, we trust ourselves and each other. We do what we're supposed to do. And I look in a mirror and I say, no matter what happens, I'm leaving it all out there tonight. but you have to find some way to create some new positive juju. You just have to do. You cannot accept defeat.

And when they were going off the ice the other night, I kind of looked at it like, oh, God, like these guys right now, they're really sagging. Cannot let yourself sag. So I think one of the things when you talk about the coach being one of the voices that sets the tone, I think that Travis Green does, and I'm sure every head coach has their own way of, okay, how do we keep the message fresh, particularly over 82? games, but almost trying to paint

a comparable picture, like just to try to shift the mind a little bit. So like last week, you know, they had that back to back. It was that tough loss in Washington and they were home 24 hours later knowing they needed to beat the Islanders. And I think before that Islanders game, someone said, you know, Green's

message was, okay, you know, it's this is like a playoff series. As you know, sometimes in a playoff series, you don't always win game one. And that's okay. Well, we lost game one against Washington last night. Now you've got to win game two, and that's tonight against the Islanders, right? So I can only imagine knowing how on the outside the cards were stacked against Ottawa going into that Detroit game. You had Carter Yakimchuk and Jory and Donovan making the drive from Belleville to Detroit,

both playing their first games, needing another result against a team right in the race there with you. what the story or what the message would have been there from him. But it worked. It worked. And another point Thursday. You know what, Kyle, I think you have to trick yourself, like the playoffs are underway. And in a lot of ways, the playoffs are underway. That's what Rick Bonas said to those Columbus guys, right?

Remember he pulled them aside in a practice? And he said, guys, the playoffs have started. Right. That's the way I think about it. You say, oh, you want to make the playoffs? You know what? No, you're in the playoffs. congratulations. You've made the playoffs. You're playing them right now. You trick yourself, right?

Yeah, for sure. Manipulating the mind. That's right. The mind can be manipulated and not just by your podcast co-hosts. Yes. It can come in many facets. You just got to be willing to look for it. Okay, you mentioned you wanted to touch on James Hagan's. and the Bruins there earlier. Obviously, he signed the ATO. He's got one game under his belt in Providence. Where do you see things kind of going from here?

It's interesting. You know, I, it was, it was funny. So we said on Monday's pod, we think we'll have a better idea of what's going to happen today. And Pete Blackburn, like, tweeted out, I don't know what time it was. He's like, it's late. It's Monday night.

And I sent him a text. and I said, I think he's going to sign. Like, just, it's okay. And I got a few like that. Like, people were like, it's 10 o'clock. Monday's almost over. And I guess it was around 11 that they announced he signed the ATO. And, you know, obviously it keeps the options open.

You know, I wanted to say this first. When it was initially announced that he was only signing an ATO, there were a lot of really interested people. aside from the Bruins fans or those who would be looking at this for obvious reasons. Because there were some agents and there were some executives not only in the NHL but around the league, around hockey who were like, is he going to take the ATO and go back to Boston College? Because everybody now wants to see what the NCAA, like are they really going to stand up to anything or is it anything goes?

Are the rules completely out the window? Because there are people who know the college world and the rules much better than I do. And they were like, once he's already started his eligibility clock, because he's played for two years, and he's playing with pros, there's no chance the NCAA is going to let them back in. And then there are other people who were like, well, we've seen now HL and ECHL players play professionally for a year, two years. I think it's a year or two years. If I'm off, someone will correct me, but at least a year.

And they've gone back to the NCAA, like they're allowed to play. And people this year are like, holy smokes, like how can this happen? And what someone told me this week, and this is a person who knows much better than I do, he said, I think the difference is that Hagen's had started the, eligibility clock and these other guys hadn't. And but then he said to me, like, none of us know anymore. Like nobody knows anymore what the rules are. So there were people who were kind of hoping that Hagenes would stay on the ATO,

not sign with the Bruins and then try to go back to Boston College next year so they could see what would happen. Now, I'm under the impression that's not occurring. Like the quote I was told and I used it in my in my blog on Thursday night was that returning to Boston College is not a realistic outcome for him. So we're not going to see that happen, I don't think, barring a big change. And when I told people that I heard it was unlikely, very unlikely, they were like, oh, darn, I wanted to see this. I wanted to see actually what. could happen because if you know you can do that, Kyle, how many players do you think in the next

few years will be signing ATOs at the end of their college season just seeing, you know what, I'm ready, I'm not ready, go back. Like, you know that would be happening all over the place, but we're not going to get the test case here. It doesn't look like. Anyway, I wasn't surprised he signed. You know, one of the things I did hear there was that there are signs. players who as they get later into their season, they're willing to sit down and start talking about things with their advisor or someone they know, maybe a development person from their NHL team and say, okay, when your season ends, these will be what's open to you and available to you and in your downtime, you can think about it. I heard Hagen's wasn't really like that. I heard he didn't

really want to talk about that until his season was over. So we kind of waited until the Golden Eagles got knocked out and then he began to think about things more seriously. And that's why I think it took a couple extra days. But I was told that everybody was kind of under the impression that he was going to go. So we'll see how this all plays out. We'll see when or if he gets signed. And we'll see how this goes. But it was a bit of a freak out on Bruin's social media among their fans. And you know, I had a couple people say to me that it didn't need to be one.

Everybody was always pretty confident that he was going to come out and play. And now we're right down to the nitty-gritty of the college hockey national championship, right? because we've already got Michigan State, Wisconsin, North Dakota, Quinnipeake, they've all advanced. I guess the quarterfinals. You know, you've got Michigan, number one ranked team plays today. Penn State plays today. Yep. Denver, Minnesota, you know, Western Michigan, go down the list from there.

But, you know, I think about a guy like Michael Hage with the Montreal Canadiens. How many Canadian fans are? are like Michigan lose. Bentley, go Bentley. Oh my gosh. But this is like we are in that time of the year, eh, where the next couple of weekends, oh, who got knocked out?

All right. What is that player doing? What is that player's plan? There's a busy time for teams, busy time for agents. There's going to be a lot going on over the next couple of weeks. It's going to be very, very busy.

You know what they're saying in my business? Tray Busy That's what they say? Yes. Like a memo goes out. Like attention all insiders. Brace yourselves. Tray Busy is coming.

That's fantastic. Okay, Elliot, amongst everything else you've had going on in your world over the last few weeks. You've also been taking a few trips here and there and starting to compile features that'll be Part of our playoff coverage as we get there come the middle of April this week. You and our SportsNet Features producer, Jeremy McElaney, spent a little time down in Buffalo around the Sabres. How was it?

Who did you get a chance to speak to? What is your impressions of where that organization and that market is at where it feels like on the cusp headed towards the playoff drought finally coming to an end? So we went down on Tuesday, and it was the day. day they presented that gift to George Babcock, right? Oh, yeah. And that was a great gift. The trailer for the snowmobiles. He's a huge snowmobile enthusiast.

And one Sabres fan actually sent me a video when Babcock did his 2000th game. He got a snowmobile from the team. So I don't know what snowmobile-related gift he's going to get if he does 500 more. I really, I don't know where this is going from here. But, you know, it was a really nice thing because they, they pulled it out onto the ice and everyone came, we took a picture on it. And initially, like the training staff and the equipment staff,

they stayed on the bench and he watched and George Babcock yelled at them and said, hey, come out here. We're not taking this picture without you. And then the players all, you know, smack their sticks to call them over. It was really nice. You know, the one thing that was pointed out to me after the practice was that normally you think that would happen and everybody would go off. You know, a bunch of guys stayed out. And this is obviously something that Sabers fans know and the Sabres reporters know.

But you got to watch Daly in practice. Like, he stays out there. He's always one of the last guys to leave. He really works. And you could really see how, like we talked about practice. practicing your craft and and being honest about your craft and not cheating the game, that is not a guy who cheats the game. He is somebody who really, really practices hard and takes real pride in it.

You can just tell by watching. But anyway, we spoke to Dahlene, we spoke to Josh Norris, we spoke to Lindy Ruff, and we did an interview that I don't want to. give away right now. I want to save this one for the playoffs. But it was like they were fantastic. The sabers are great to deal with. You know, one thing about the sabers, good times are bad. They all don't always like it when the phone rings and it's my name on the other side, but they are always extremely professional to deal with. And, and, but now like it's all good, right? Like it's, it's the playoffs. They're going back in. Um, we have a really,

really interesting thought line trivia question about them coming up. Yeah, it's good tease. Yeah, thank you. But, you know, the thing is, Lindy Ruff, like basically my entire professional career, almost, in television at least. Because his first year as the coach of the Sabres was basically my first year in television. So basically my whole television career goes with Ruff's coaching career. So, you know, we've dealt with each other a lot over the years. And, you know, I like talking to him.

You know, one of the things we talked about I didn't write about, but it was really interesting. I said to him, I hear you've got very few rules. basically it's be on time treat others right and business casual and you know business casual is kind of gone away now because the rules are different but he basically said that's true he said that it's right it's beyond time be a good person and um he you know like he basically says like we can we can figure out as coaches if you're committed to the team or not, right? So he says, that's up to me. Baylor says, that's up to me to figure out. Those are the rules I have. And you know what? It's, it's kind of funny. Like, you know, Lindy's 66 years old.

Who knows what the future is. And it just shows you how this business is so results oriented coaching. Because last couple years, there were people being like, how can you hire them? The game is passed them by. And now he looks like, a genius and you can see that all these guys really like playing for them. And you know what the funny thing is. So someone said to me today after I told them I was there, Kyle, they said, did the river hockey thing come up? And I go, no, like I didn't mention it to anyone. Nobody said a word to me. And they said, boy, did that hit a nerve. And they said, really? Yeah, oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. because I've got something to add to that when you're done here.

Yeah. We'll get to that. And so I didn't realize it, but a rough went on to an interview. I think it was with WGR. I think it was with Jeremy White. Forgive me if I'm wrong about this, but I think that's who it was. And the river hockey thing came up and he basically said that's stupid. And it came up in the TNT broadcast on the game.

They were talking about the river hockey thing, about how they're going. And so it was just funny. Like, I didn't even think about it. I had so many things planned I wanted to ask these guys. I didn't even think about it. And now hearing how much it got brought up, I was kind of surprised no one said anything to me about it, but that's okay. Like, it's just fine. But like the one thing about Ruff is, you know, I, he's kind of talked about how, you know, their season turned around and, you know, and, you know, and, you know, and, you know, and I said to him, like you, you're a saber. You know, he's played for the Rangers. He's coached the stars. He's coached the devils, but you're a saber. For most of your life, you've been a saber, and he's still there.

And I said, you must think about, you know, 99 and all the defensive injuries in 06 and puck over glass. You must think like, you know, finally I get my another chance to erase all this. And he basically admitted that when he first talked to Kevin Adams about the job, he didn't think he was going to take it. He didn't think it made sense. So I ask him, like, do you still have the chance to erase all of that? And he says, it's a shot to get done what I haven't been able to get done. In my eyes, I'm not going to quit trying. And I said, does that mean you're back next year?

His coaching is up. And he basically said, he kind of laughed. And he's like, I might have gone a bit too far here. he goes, the thing we've kind of wrapped our arms around as a coaching staff has been, let's just win one more game. We keep saying just one more. That's it. And we get to tomorrow and we'll say just one more.

Then he smiled. And he said, when we get to that, just one more, we'll see if it's just one. And the thing I like about rough success here is that, you know, Kyle, I really believe age is just a number. Like I don't like when people say, oh, he, he's 66 or whatever he is. Like bonus is 71, right? And he's proving he can still coach. Like to me, it's can you adapt with the times.

Can you create a system where your players can thrive? And I think one of the reasons it does work for him is that he doesn't have a lot of rules. Like we talk about this generation right now, this group of young players. it's not like 1970 when the coaches have you in your iron claw and they have a curfew and you can do this and you can't it's not like that anymore. So one of the things I look at is with coaches, we have to remember we only judge them on wins and losses. You can be the same person at 20 below, 20 games below 500 as you are 20 games above 500. it doesn't matter. You're judged on your results.

And you could be doing all the same things at 20 games above 500 that you're doing when you're the other way. It doesn't matter. You're terrible. This reminds me of this. Yeah. Yeah. It's like Quinnville and Anaheim, very young roster there too, like another good example of being able to adapt. Okay, so back to the riverboat hockey.

Because shortly before you put that out there, that was the weekend I was in Buffalo and talking to one of the players there, one of the Sabres players, asking about their play style. And they actually said, like they admitted, they go, look, you see our defensemen who we have, their willingness to get up in the play, and how a lot of times in the offensive zone, it's kind of a controlled chaos where the forward.

aren't totally sure what the defensemen are going to do because of how active they can be, but it just kind of works, right? Like they are able to play off each other. There's forwards that like to cycle high in the zone, which is risky, but it sure has created, you know, a lot of success for the Sabres this year. And I think internally, like they are kind of wondering when the playoffs hit, when the space goes away, when teams are really dialed in and detailed with their stick positioning, their ability to break things up, to anticipate,

you know, what teams are going to do? And now, like, you're sinking your teeth into, okay, what's our opponent? What's their game plan? What do we have to be prepared to play against for potentially seven games? You know, how much of that is going to translate? Are we going to have to, or how much are we going to have to adjust there? I think that's a big part of their conversation going forward, entering, you know, this new world that they haven't been to in a long time is playoff hockey. a lot of their success that has gotten them to this point and how they played,

how much they're going to be able to keep doing when, you know, the game enters playoff mode. As we know it, it looks different than the regular season. It sure does. By the way, one thing that Ruff said, Kyle, was that he tries to coach that the other team's best players don't beat you. Like, that's one of his things. if we lose, we kind of lose to someone else. Don't let the best players beat us.

By the way, I should add too, that is this river hockey thing was going all over the place. I did have one player from another team say, don't back down. You're right. Yeah, and I think deep down internally, like they know it. So I think that's why they're trying to figure out, okay, where do we go from here as the game start to get tougher?

You know, but Kyle, one thing about Buffalo, was you feel the energy there. Like I'm so happy for them. Great fan base. It's been too long for a team to be out of the playoffs. Phenomenal fan base. You know, Philly would always talk about, like they were like the seventh team,

the original seven. Like Buffalo's right there too. There's fewer markets that are more passionate about watching hockey when their team isn't in it than the Sabres are. And you know the thing too, is so like some of those Buffalo reporters, I've known them for a long time. There's some there's some new people there.

Like Rachel Lansy's new. I got a chance to meet her for the first time at the practice this week. But some of those other reporters, I've known them a long time. And you can see how excited they are. Like it is like these people, they are so thrilled about this. Josh Norris told a story at the first game back. which was the game against Vegas, their first home game at the Olympics,

he and Tage Thompson are sitting next to each on the bench and they can't even hear each other talk. It's so loud in there. Like they're laughing so hard. I'll say this too that the respect internally for Dahlene, and they showed his fiancé, has moved to Buffalo now. Like the respect that they have for Dahlene internally,

the way he's carried himself on and off the ice this year, to have the kind of, season he's had, the impact he's had and be a Norris trophy contender, the respect they have for him internally is off the charts. And he is very much their leader. They talk about him in very reverential tones. All right, you want to do the slogans? Yes. Yeah, I do. Big fan of them, particularly. So these are the ones that, you know, Rough is kind of spearheaded, right, that the team adheres to. You wrote in your 32 Thoughts blog. We got everybody ropes, everybody rides.

We know that one. That one's obvious. And by the way, I did ask him, is that you? Because you're an Alberta guy. And he's like, no, that came from Dallas. He said another Western Canadian created that when rough coached Dallas. Nice. Gary Galley's big on the everybody ropes, everybody rides.

Oh, then it's stupid. No, just kidding, Gary. I love it too. Not as much as I love Dave, but I love you, Gary. Yes, yes. So that was a good one. Bleep and giver. Great one.

That's self-explanatory. And my personal favorite, Share the Morning Coffee, which transcends the dressing room. It transcends sport. That can be applied to many different aspects of life. Big believer in that. Yeah.

So share the morning coffee. I knew that one would appeal to you. Talk to your teammates. Get to know. them. When you walk in the building, your teammates sit in there, enjoy something with them. Grab a guy means a lot of things, rough said. Might be something going on the ice. You're going to have to grab a guy. Sabers Lightning, perfect one. Or there might be a guy that's struggling off the ice or with his play. That means just grab the guy, help him out. That can go a lot of different

directions. And a lot of these are stuff the players in our group came up with before the season. Grab a guy always great. And bleeping giver, one of the players we interviewed actually said it, and I'm like, okay, we'll be beeping that out. And when you put your skates on, it's 100% plus. And, you know, I think they've kept these things pretty quiet, but they're starting to filter out now on the TNT broadcast on Wednesday night. I heard the everybody ropes, everybody rides. So I was like, I better sit down and write this before it all gets. out before I finish. But, you know, I, I love this stuff.

I just, I like hearing what works for teams. And again, like, it's one of those things that we talked about with Ruff. If they're 20 games under 500, nobody's talking about any of this, right? But when you're winning, everybody wants to know, is there something we can borrow from you that can help us win too? And I like that stuff. I really I really like that stuff Awesome

It's great vibes in Buffalo I was there a couple weeks ago It's just it's fantastic to see And for those of us who Yeah I haven't been doing this as long as you have Elliot I've only known the Sabres to be Nowhere close to the playoffs Season after season

In terms of covering them So to see this now It's as we've just got Long time coming. Okay, so we've discussed at Nauseum the conversation around goalie interference as we inch closer to the playoffs. You hopped on a Zoom call with members of the NHL Hockey Ops and the Situation Room on Thursday to review two instances in particular, which we discussed on last pod. the goalie interference review in Winnipeg, Pittsburgh last Saturday, and the one in the Columbus New York Islanders game last Sunday.

What were your takeaways from the conversation? Do you feel you got any further clarity? Is there any advice you can apply to the rest of us for trying to see things a little more clearer going forward? Well, I don't like to complain, Kyle, but in this case, I complain them into submission because they agreed to get on a Zoom call with me. And, you know, basically that's just what I said. I said the same thing to them that I say to you.

And that is that, and I said on the pod, like, I'm the guy, like, first of all, it's better when everybody knows. That's number one. It's better when everybody knows and this can be communicated. But secondly, I said, look, I'm the guy, was going to be calling you during the playoffs. I'm the guy that has to explain all this stuff. It's better.

And also, before the playoffs, I like to have a series of plays in the suite so that if we get comparables, I can say, get me that play. And you know our guys in our suites, they're so fast, they're so good, they'll have it ready. It just makes a better broadcast.

It just makes things better for everybody who's watching and listening. But, you know, and I said to them at the end of this, first of all, I have a much clear understanding of what you guys are seeing. And I now have a better idea of what you're looking at, and it will help me look at things better in the future. I said, you guys should be putting these things out. Because what you just did with me, and we got on a few minutes before the game started,

we didn't have a ton of time. They had to work. It was a big night, 13 games. But I was thinking if they took that conversation, or something they did it on their own and they edit it and they put it out with those two plays back to back. Like, not everybody's going to agree. Like some people are going to look at what I wrote and what I'm going to talk about here and they'll say, oh, this is stupid.

It's BS. I don't believe it. That's fine. But at least we have an understanding and some of it I get. Now, there's one thing here that I wasn't so sure about, and we'll get to that. But a lot of it, I kind of understand. And so on the Morgan Barron play, like the, one thing they said we always look at is where's the puck okay and on the Morgan

Barron play it's clear Barron never breaks stride he's going to the net Lambert shoots it the rebound comes to him and he's trying to score like that's all he's trying to do he takes a direct lane to the puck and he doesn't even collide with Sheila The guy I got to shout out is Eric Carlson. I didn't realize it until I watched it from the behind the Shilov's angle, but he makes an absolutely unbelievable effort on this play. He comes from across the ice to at least get his stick in front of Lambert on the shot. And then he actually spins around to get his stick on the puck that,

that Barron shoots. Like it's an incredible defensive play. It's, it may be in a career full of unbelievable stuff. It's one of the best plays Carlton's ever made, especially defensively. And what they point out is, number one, when Barron plays it, the puck is either going to the crease or it's in the crease, right?

Like he never enters the crease without the puck. and the point that they make is, is that does Barron create the contact or does Carlson create the contact by spinning? And they feel the reason they can, even though the penguins distributed the rule, they say that they do not feel that Barron push shoved or fouled Carlson. They feel that Carlson spins into him and Barron just physically overpowers them. That's what they feel. They feel Barron won a battle. He didn't initiate the contact. And the puck, he's never in the crease illegally without the puck.

Now, I have to tell you, and I said this on Monday's pod, Kyle, I have to tell you, I could not believe how many people agreed with this call. I thought when I first saw it was like, no chance there was a goal. And a lot of people disagreed with me. And even some of them were referees and they were like, that's a puck battle. And they feel as, like, I heard, like, they told me in the situation room, and there's a lot of people in there, and they'll often poll everybody.

They said very few, he said most often it ends up 75% one way. They said that this one was pretty clear that this was a goal. So I was really, I was really surprised at that. But, okay, when I, when I saw it, at least I understood what they were. thinking. The second one, which was the Lee disallowed goal, I couldn't believe Columbus even challenged this. Like, I was shocked that they challenged it. And the number one thing, and it's the first thing they showed me, they say, in Barron's case, he's, the puck is always ahead of him at the net or in the crease. Lee gets into the crease and he runs over or he collides with

Greaves and the puck's behind him. Like if you watch that play, Lee makes a great play to get around Olivia. Olivia doesn't really see him and Lee slides around him, but then Olivier makes an even better play. He recovers and he knocks the puck with his stick. And you watch it. When Lee goes into the crease and makes contact with Greaves, the puck is behind him. It's not in the crease.

And it only starts going to the crease because it hits Olivier. and goes in. And I said, okay, but look at Olivier. We know how big and how strong he is. You know, he pushes Lee into it. And they're like, no, he doesn't. They're like, no, he said, like, Lee goes by him, Lee's momentum on his own. And then Olivier falls on him when they're already in the crease. And Greece has no chance to play the puck. And I said to them, that's the one part I look at with you guys here that I could disagree with. But the one thing I will say is, you know, Chris King played in the NHL for a long time. Colin Campbell played the NHL for a long time.

Kay Whitmore was a goalie who played the NHL for a long time. Like Dan O'Halloran, who was the referee, there's almost always one referee in the room. He refereed for 25 years. Rod Pazma was a long time pro. One of the things I hate about the world now is you'll get somebody on the internet who's an expert at something and people will say,

you're a moron. I'm sitting at home in front of my computer and you don't know what you're talking about. And I do like to defer to the people who actually played. Look, I know with that, Olivier one, there's going to be a lot of debate about this one, but that's how they felt. Anyway, the number one thing that was to me,

Kyle was the thing is where's the puck? Where's the puck? And in Barron's case, the puck was in the crease or headed towards the crease or above the crease. In Lee's case, it was behind him. It wasn't in the crease when he ran into grieves. And that's why I think Lee's goal didn't count. Hmm.

What do you think? Yeah. I still, the contact, I don't know, of course, if you can't see. this when you're listening to it. It doesn't help much, but the contact between... It's in the blog. Yeah. Okay, good. Lee and Olivier, before Lee ends up in the crease, like, that's what I still kind of push back against. Well, I thought, you know, it may stand. But the interesting takeaway from that, that, like,

the puck being between the attacking player and the goal, not behind them, is a good kind of note to file away as you're going through the checklist going forward, right? Okay, goalie interference challenge has been called and now you start to see the replays and you're looking for, okay, where's the contact? Is it in the crease? Where is it initiated? Now, certainly in situations where it comes to puck battles or an interpretation of that, where is the puck in relation to the attacking player? Hopefully that helps guide us a little bit. Well, you're right. But the thing is, like, I think they should be publicizing all this stuff. Like, whether you agree or disagree, I really appreciated the conversation.

And there are some things I know that I can look at now and say, I know that's what I have to keep an eye on. Right. Right, right. I don't know. And then the penguins. We have more of these. Yeah. And the penguins had another one.

Though I didn't love that challenge for them on Thursday. You didn't, I was writing. I admit, I haven't really looked at it. I was writing on nights where I write, I'm oblivious to the world. Yeah, no, and I know like the Kelly Rudy line of your goalie stick is like your rudder and without it. You know, it's tough swimming for a goalie. But I was looking at that going, I think that's going to count. And surely enough, it did.

And also, too, if you've ever seen Kelly Rudy Drive, whether or not he has a rudder, it just doesn't matter. That's right. He just keeps going. He gets to his destination. Oh, gosh. All right. Well, we've reached the destination of the final thought, which is presented by the Toyota BZ go all electric and a winter ready Toyota BZ at your local dealer today. So the hockey news, Elliot, has done some reporting in.

disclosing player salaries in the PWH. Now, for those who may not remember, and I certainly had to learn about this later on in my life, but it was in the early 90s, right? When was it under Bob Goodenow? Was he the catalyst? Yes, right. And we discussed to this, of course, earlier

when talking about the impact, he left on the game. But the push to the players in the NHL at the time to disclose salaries. There was a lot of resistance back then among the union to do so, but certainly when they made the decision to release all that information,

it changed things in a lot of ways for the better in terms of what the average take home is for NHL players moving forward. Understandably, similar type things here now with the PWHL and that some of these numbers are being released publicly. There's some discomfort with that. What's been your impressions and kind of how do you feel

about the story and seeing those numbers in the PWH shell being publicized here this week. Well, I was, I'm always careful about weighing in on this kind of stuff because I just don't know a lot about it. I don't cover the league a lot. I watch it on our air. I pay attention to the games, but I'm not really familiar with a lot of the inner workings. Right. And so I saw this and I was reading about it.

I thought it was really interesting. and then I saw that there was controversy about it. And, you know, the one thing I understand is not everybody is comfortable with their salaries being splashed all over the place. And, you know, for example, my salary is not public. And I don't know how I would feel if it was splashed all over the place. So I get that. Like, I do understand that and I do respect it. I was a little bit surprised at some of the journalists who were upset about.

about it. Again, if there's something here I'm missing, I just don't know. This is not something I deal with a lot. But I think that's the kind of thing that a lot of journalists would try to uncover. So I'm not surprised it got out. But the biggest thing I feel is, like, I like to see people be successful. I like to see, you know, I want the league to be successful. I want the players to be successful. I just think it's a good thing for people to be playing hockey, no matter, you know, their background or their sex or anything like that. It's more hockey is good. It equals good things. But, you know, I just remember that, you know, if you want your players to maximize their financial output in the NHL, when they did this, it helped create a salary explosion. And,

That was that suddenly players had comparables. And agents and players could use those comparables. And they would say, oh, well, that guy's making X. I should be making X plus 10 or X plus 50. You guys know what I mean. And, you know, I, again, I understand all the sensitivities here and recognize that. My overall point is that I think this is probably a very good thing for the players. if history is any indication.

Now, I can understand why the teams don't like it. I can understand why the leagues don't like it. You know, I think that, you know, that, you know, I could understand that, for example, at Sportsnet, if we started discussing all of our salaries on air, sportsnet would take a very dim view of the situation. But I generally do think that the more public knowledge there is, the better people can negotiate.

So let's finish this discussion. Kyle, how much do you make? You go first. Kyle, my answer to that is, take the under. I'll show you mine if you show me yours. I think that is actually a violation of our contracts. Probably.

Yeah, I only hope it, for all the great things that came out of it on the NHL side. Hopefully it heads towards that path on the PWHL side as well. I love going to games in Ottawa. It's one of the things I miss about not living there anymore is going to charge games. The takeover tour comes to the Saddle Dome next week. It's Ottawa and Toronto next Wednesday.

Are you going? Yes. Nice. Bring in Danea. Bring in Berkeley. Nice. Yeah. I have a friend who's going in Detroit this weekend.

It's the Sirens and the Victoire. So Winnipeg looked like an absolute scene over the weekend. So it's great when they go to these neutral sites that fans are showing out. There's such great momentum. And can't wait to see them live and in person again next week. Very good. Okay. That was the final thought presented by the Toyota BZ.

Why do we take our first break here on 32 Thoughts, the podcast? When we come back, the latest edition of the thought line after this. All right, welcome back. Clem Slate, fresh edition of the thought line coming your way. Elliot, I can only imagine we've gotten plenty of feedback from urinalgate. Yes, I did get a lot of that. I got a lot of that, no question about it. I'll be honest with everybody.

I didn't really get a chance to go through it. You'll see that there's a blog up, so I was writing most of Thursday and didn't really have the opportunity. But you know what? I also got a lot of feedback on, Kyle. the ticket debate about the senators. Oh, yeah. I had some people who wrote in about circumstances that they personally had been through with their teams, Ottawa and otherwise. I'm going through some of this stuff too and we'll come back to it.

But yes, urinal gate and ticket gate both got their fair share of replies. I'll do that for Sunday. I just, I don't have, I didn't have time for today's pod to do it. So one that came in the actual thought line, Andrew from Boston, Hello 32 Thoughts Crew, or should I say you betas, Kyle and Elliot, you could not be more wrong about the middle urinal. In life, you must establish dominance as the alpha male, not just in big situations, but in every situation.

When you walk in and you see three empty urinals, you take the middle one to let anybody that shows up after you, no, you are the alpha male. you are the one in charge. Same goes for when you walk in and there's one man using the urinal to the left or the right. You take the middle one and you stare straight ahead and handle your business as an alpha would. Andrew, I've got news for you. I am not an alpha.

Elliot, maybe you can pull this off. That does not come naturally to me. Well, put it this way. As you know, by watching me on television every week, I am the alpha of alphas. I am not just an alpha. I am the alpha. And I still going to the outside lane, okay, Andrew? And by the way, let me say this.

I know Renault went to the middle. He's no alpha either. I would just like to say that for the record. Yes, that's right. But Andrew, I do like the way you think. You know, mark your territory. Yes, that is the way the strong go. Actually, remember a couple weeks ago, we got a question about certain things that go on around officials when they hit milestone games?

Okay, I'm curious to see how these two things are connected, but all right. Oh, no, this is completely unrelated. Oh, okay. I'm just, we're going through the recycling phase here. Yeah, okay. So we had some urinal stuff to take care of. Yeah. Yeah.

Well, urinal pox, I guess that would be the only tie-in. I was going to say. What's the tie-in? Those are not handed out to referees when they get to 1,000 or 1,500 games. They do receive, however, a thousand games, I guess they get a silver puck and then a golden one for 1,500. That's good. That's taken care of by the NHL Officials Association.

And apparently, George McPhee, in particular, always wants to make sure if an official is celebrating a milestone during a game that Vegas is playing in, he'll go the extra mile to make sure there's something special done for his part to celebrate the officials. special skate mats too, I think, when they hit a milestone too, for the occasion to have in the dressing room as well as they get ready. So a couple of neat things to go along with everything. I like to hear that stuff. It should be that way. Yep, absolutely. Good stuff.

Thank you to whoever. Does someone reach out to you with that? Yes. Yeah, yeah. Well, as we've talked about the Logan Sports Group that does a lot of the silver sticks and gold sticks for player milestones. Yes. They're hired to do Aaron Logan and company to do the pucks for the officials, too.

So they know the deal. Good to know. All right. Let's get to the heart of the matter now. Mike from Nashville, Tennessee. Hey, Kyle, Elliot, and most importantly, Don. One of my favorite towns.

Okay, Mike, you don't have to kiss up to Dom. He is not the most important. Listen to this, though. Mike here from Nashville, Tennessee, huge fan of the pod. originally started listening because of Dom. Not going to lie. But now I'm all in. That's what it says here.

Dom, you got fans out there. Tom, how did you get this postmarked from Nashville? I have sources. I guess you do. So I've got a Preds question for you guys. With the GM situation, I was thinking about a name that might be a really interesting fit,

Jim McKenzie. He's got a pretty unique resume being a former Nashville predator playing under Barry Trots. He's currently director of pro scouting in Vegas and also VP with the junior pred. So my question is, how realistic is a jump from a role like head of scouting or something similar in the front office straight into a general manager role? Is that a path teams actually consider or do they usually look elsewhere? Appreciate everything. you guys do, keep it up and go Preads. Mike, it's not impossible at all. And I'll say something too about Jim McKenzie as, first of all, he was a really tough player, really tough player. But secondly,

you know, Vegas is really tight-lipped. They keep a lot, raps on a lot of things. But you know, I've heard about him in particular that he has a really good eye. You know, Vegas is a team that has generally done a very good job

of finding players. Look, they've traded a lot of draft picks. If you look up and down their roster, they don't have a lot of the players they've drafted on their roster. And because it's a destination that people want to go to, they have the ability that, you know, players will, because the tax situation or the success of the team, players are interested in going there, and they can find players who can fit their holes. And they've done a very good job from a Scouting point of view of targeting guys who maybe haven't played well other places or haven't fit other places. And I've heard that McKenzie is a very important part of that. So the other thing is he just knows players.

I think that generally though, especially in this day and age for the manager positions, you do want kind of that ability to run an office, run an organization, budgets, negotiating contracts, You know, as you mentioned, I didn't realize that McKenzie had such a role in Nashville Predators like minor hockey. So there's probably some administrative skill that comes with that. I just don't know if you would compare it to a guy who would have to run a billion dollar company, right? So I think that's the question is, does he have enough experience running an organization

or understanding what it takes to run an organization? But it's not a bad question at all. And I'm sure Jim McKenzie, hearing you ask this, Mike, would say, is there anyone in your life who was bothering you? And he would straighten them out very quickly. That's right. You've got him in your corner for the rest of your life. That's a great, great point. I do love how, I mean, it's slowly but surely that the scope is being widened in terms of who are being considered for these positions.

because it's one thing to know hockey. Absolutely that's important. But as you say, Elliot, there's so much more that goes into it and so much money at stake each and every year. It makes total sense that maybe if they're not, I mean, I know Jim's case, of course, he was a player. But in other situations, maybe if it's not somebody that particularly played at a high level, but is familiar enough with a game that has a background in business or just running a department, all of that I think is such an asset here. going forward.

It's one thing like Jim Nill has said before, I don't even think he's joking. I think it's kind of half joking is that, you know, you work your way up and hockey and you love hockey. And when you're general manager of a team, the thing you probably deal about with the least is the actual hockey. Like there's so many other things about running an organization that you have to deal with. So that is, that kind of perspective is very important. Mike, thank you for that. and an autographed 8 by 10 of Dom Shramati should be headed your way within the next couple of weeks.

You send a self-addressed stamp envelope and a money order at 2499 and Don will give you an autograph picture of himself. By the way, Dom, if there is one thing I did want to mention, I was getting texts from people who were like, you know, can you tell your producer that it's really not hard to look up how much these cards are worth?

Like they're like, Why is he refusing to say what the value of these cards are? Like, it's a two-second Google search and they figure it out. God forbid I'd be a little discreet, you know? Oh, poor Dom. Oh, my God. Started with The Lovin. Mike began listening because of Dom and now he's getting just ripped

to shreds about disclosure. Okay, Ron from North Vancouver. Okay. Here is a question for you to end. answer young Elliot. No, just kidding. Yeah, okay. Young Elliot, he specified.

I like that, Ron. I am young. I'm old, but I feel young. When a team travels into town to play a scheduled away game, I would like to know what sort of obligation the home team has in hosting the other team. I would assume that there is the obligatory dressing room space and game day practice ice, but is there more they need to offer, like trainer space for player rehab and those sorts of needs.

I'd be more curious if it is the home team that assists in some of what I would call, quote, concierge services, like when a hometown player comes into town and wants to get tickets for his family and friends to attend that game. Thanks for taking my question, young Elliott, and hey to Dom and Kyle. Well, Ron, again, I thank you for that. So basically, according to the CBA and basic issues that are negotiated, a lot of that stuff is set up. You know, for example, there's, you know, certain amenities that have to be there from equipment that's available to you, whether it be like washing or drying equipment, stuff like that, space.

You know, certainly a couple years ago when the coyotes were playing at the Arizona State Arena, there were things they had to address. You know, in that situation, you couldn't fix everything, but there are. For lack of a better term, minimum standards that every arena has to have for the visiting teams. In terms of tickets, there is something that says, here's how many tickets you get to every game. And there'll be situations like every time you walk into the visiting dressing room in Toronto. And I was there the other day to watch the ranger skate. But there's a list up. Ticket needs for tonight.

And I think you get two for free. And if you need more than two, either you have to pay for them if they're available or you beg, borrow, or steal from your teammates. Hey, are you using your tickets tonight? If not, can I have them? So a lot of that stuff is already negotiated and already set up. You know, so I think that's not even so much on the home team to give it. It's basically just the way the rules work.

But, you know, I certainly have seen situations before. you know, medical. Somebody gets injured during the game. The home team has to have, like no game can be played, for example, without an ambulance in the building. If God forbid you ever have to send the ambulance somewhere, the game cannot resume until another ambulance is there.

But also, you know, I know they kind of hate us talking about this, but in Canada there are teams that have X-ray machines, at their games in their arenas, and if a visiting player is hurt, they get access to that. So I think there are, and if the visiting team ever really needs something, the home team will generally let it happen.

So, like, yes, I think there are standards about that kind of thing that in relatively normal situations that you would find across the NHL, things get done. Yeah, and I mean, equipment staffs, I mean,

there's a pretty good community, amongst them, like between team to team, I think there's a lot of good relationships there. They help each other out if necessary at certain points. There's also locker room attendance that may work out of one building, but are there primarily to help out with the visiting team staff, just as an extra set of hands when they're on the road. And you mentioned equipment, like gym equipment.

I think that's become pretty standard across the league. Like you have to have a minimum of whatever, these sets of dumbbells, resistance bands, go down the list, barbells. um plates even i remember i remember like some buildings they got new a few years ago this is a while ago kyle they got uh they got these new drying machines and some and they and they needed like those super industrial plugs and some teams had to build or insert that kind of power into their building so that those things could plug in oh wow that happened to yes interesting yes yes Yeah. All right, Ron, thank you for that.

Hopefully young Elliot delivered. Okay, Jonathan from Marshfield, Massachusetts, home of Mike Sullivan and Ryan Worsesofsky. Oh, coaching cradle. It's like Ohio has the Woody Hayes coaching cradle, and now they've got the Marshfield coaching cradle. Greetings, Dom Elliott and Kyle. A few episodes ago, you discussed splitting pucks. my father, who worked 30 years in building operations at the old Boston Garden, told me a story about splitting pucks during one of the U.S. Olympic games we were watching with my two-year-old son. Back in the day, there was a strange situation where two to three sheets of glass were breaking each practice, but were not breaking during games.

Typically, one or two pieces of glass would break per month. My dad and a colleague took a game puck and a practice puck to the carpenter's shop in the old garden and cut them open. They first cut open the game puck, which looked normal inside. When they started cutting the practice puck, it started sparking. And when they finally cut it open, they had little pieces of silver in it. It turned out the practice pucks the Bruins were receiving were made overseas from recycled steel belted tires. Really?

Keep up the great work. No raccoons were harmed in the writing of this email. I've never heard of that. Thank you for shedding that. I never knew that. Imagine that. Like I suppose, especially back of the day, it's a little more uniform now in terms of where pucks come from.

I think we talked a bit about that last season on the thought line. But back of the day, I imagine if you could get practice pucks, it may be a cheaper price than the, the ones that had to be used in game. But that's amazing. How often the sheets of glass would be breaking? I don't know why.

Somebody was probably melting down those pucks and selling them after your father discovered that. Thanks for sharing that. That's a great story. Yeah, yeah. Just saw that going through the list that Griffin compiled for us. I thought, holy smokes, I'd never heard of that before. And right from the source, 30 years at the old Boston Garden. Yeah.

He would have. I'm not questioning the background of this source. Yes. This is a good source. Yes. All right. One final in here. Mike from Ridgetown.

Hello, Dom, Kyle, and hail to the Supreme Chancellor of the Raccoons. In light of the looming Stanley Cup play. If I was the Supreme Chancellor of the Raccoons, they might actually listen to me. Yes. Things would be a lot different in your backyard. I am the opposite of the Supreme Chancellor of the Raccoons. Yeah. Court gesture.

In light of the looming Stanley Cup play. with the red hot sabers rolling on after a 14-year playoff drought. Here is the question of the day. Since the dawn of the 16-team playoff format, has a team ever missed the playoffs for three-plus consecutive years and then won the Stanley Cup in the first year of their return? What about five-plus years? Look forward to some good results from the stats team,

and thanks for all their great work. You know, it's not the right answer, but the one that jumps right off the top of my head because they missed the playoffs one year and then won the Stanley Cup is the 94 Rangers. But that's only one year. Like that's the first team that jumped into my head

as we were going into this question. So let me just adjust the parameters. slightly. Okay. Because I don't think anywhere in history beyond the 16 team format, which started in 1980, has there been three plus years of missing the playoffs and the first year back they win the cup. I wouldn't see that in the original six. Like all those teams were generally pretty good. Yeah. And so we've got one instance of just consecutive seasons missing the playoffs and just one yes okay what era are we in we are in the 21st century it's in the 21st century mm-hmm okay does it happen around the lockout season

maybe oh 6 Carolina nice yes okay yeah oh six back Carolina. Right. The era of they either missed the playoffs completely or they were, you know, going to the final or winning. Yes. Going to the third round. It was all or nothing for Carolina back then. But yes, missed after they lost to Detroit in 2002, missed in 03, miss in 2004. Of course, the next season was a total washout and then one in 06. I was fishing. I wanted to know if the lockout season would be a help or a hindrance in this particular case. And, you know, you'll just know that Kyle and I are doing this with video and Kyle has the worst poker face in the history of poker faces. You were fishing like your server at Nobu last week. That's right. Oh, my God.

Yeah, Kyle, so I guess I should tell this story now. And I just went there for dinner last week in Florida. And I made the mistake of answering yes. when the server said, would you like to try some of our premier fish? Yes,

these new options here. We'd wonder if you'd like to try. Oops. Or as my son would say, when he was younger, oops. Oh, my gosh. That's great that he did that.

Oh, man. Very good. Yeah, that's it. Carolina hurricanes, the only one. So if the Sabres were to do it this year, they would lap the field when it comes to this historical question. That is amazing.

What a question. Yeah. Mike, thank you for that. Good place to leave it. 1833-3-3-1-3-1-3-2. If you'd like to call and leave a voicemail or email us at 32thoughts at sportsnet.com. We will take one final break and come back and wrap up this edition of 32 thoughts, the podcast, and some music to take us out as well after this.

All right, welcome back. We should mention if you've been living under Iraq this week, sports-wise, baseball is back. Opening day was, I guess, technically Thursday. The Blue Jays home opener is tonight. Blue Jays Central on Sportsnet 5.30 Eastern, 2.30 Pacific time leading into the Jays and athletics. Another year of Blue Jays baseball appended to defend an unfinished business for Toronto. So now that that's back, oh man, the sporting calendar just gets a little more busier and a lot more intriguing. Back to the hockey stuff, though. So on Saturday afternoon, 3.30 Eastern, 1.30 mountain time. The Anaheim ducks are in Edmonton to take the Oilers. The game is being played on SportsNet West, but there are no regional restrictions for that game.

So if you have the Sports Net West channel, wherever you are in the country, you can watch the Oilers and Ducks on Saturday afternoon. 30 Eastern, as always on Saturday, Hockey Central with Ron, Jennifer, Luke Kelly, and Elliott, the gang all back again, leading into Hockey Night in Canada. Seven Eastern, four Pacific Time, three games in the early window again this weekend, including the Maple Leafs in St. Louis, the Canadians in Nashville. That's suddenly become a very compelling game. The predators are right in the thick of the playoff hunt in the West, and the Winnipeg Jets in Colorado to face the avalanche are late game this Saturday. Canadian clash, the Vancouver Canucks and the Calgary Flames from the Scotia Bank Saddle Dome in the Stampede City. Guests on After Hours this week. Goaltender Devin Cooley, what was the hashtag he had this week on social?

Hashtag let goalies show a little bit of emotion sometimes. There will be plenty to go around when he joined Scott Oak and Eric Francis on After Hours late on Saturday night. But well worth staying up for. Okay, taking us out today a track from Royal Tusk, who have made an impressive mark on the Canadian rock music scene with the success of three internationally acclaimed studio albums. Hailing from Edmonton, Alberta, the heavy-hitting rock quartet are gearing up for an explosive year ahead with new music to kick off 2026 and a coast-to-coast tour in arenas, supporting Three Days Grace and Finger 11. Royal Tusk have performed over 500 live shows across 17 countries, captivating audiences from around the world. There is no denying the bright trajectory ahead

as the band explores a bold new era with LP number four and the promise of their best music yet. Follow at Royal Tusk music to keep up with all they have coming. Here's Royal Tusk and Armistice on 32 Thoughts, The Podcast. Have a great weekend. that you believe in you're hugging you the notion but your story's dead in motion

now waiting on a notion break your story