32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Everyone Is Sweet For Dallas

Episode Date: March 17, 2025

In this edition of 32 Thoughts, Kyle Bukauskas and Elliotte Friedman delve into Mikko Rantanen's return to the Colorado with the Dallas Stars and talk about how tough the Central Division bracket will be in the playoffs. Next, they highlight how everyone is high on the Ottawa Senators currently (9:00) and Kyle and Elliotte discuss how Toronto reacted to the Leafs loss to the Senators (12:35). They also touch on the Montreal Canadiens and the tight Eastern Conference playoff race (19:02) and on a team that could be handful in the West in the LA Kings and Quinten Byfield who has been "Bringing the Boom" (28:42). That bleeds into a conversation about how tight the Western Conference wild card race is between the Blues, Canucks, Utah, and Calgary (30:18). Elliotte takes a second to talk about Connor Bedard's frustrations after a blowout loss visit to his hometown (36:47) and Kyle and Friedge speculate on Sam Bennett's future (40:40). The Final Thought focuses on our colleague Gene Principe (45:22). Kyle and Elliotte answer your questions and respond to your voicemails in the Thought Line (49:04).In the final segment Kyle and Elliotte talk about the reason why they are in Florida recording this podcast, the NHL GM Meetings (1:14:45).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

Today's podcast is in memory of Jason Brenzel who passed away last week at the age of 40 and in support of his parents, Sandy and Sherry, his brother John, his wife Natalie and their son Levi, all of whom spoke beautifully in his memory on Sunday afternoon. Welcome to 32 Thoughts, the podcast presented by the GMC Sierra AT4X. Dom, Elliott and Kyle back with you once again. Elliott, happy we are back in Florida day for the GM meetings and happy St. Patrick's Day. More importantly for all those who celebrate and wear green today. Have a great day and remember the key is moderation. Mix in a water. Yes, yes that's right. That was the key for you after a long travel day on Sunday. So that was where my first question was going to go in this episode,

Elliot. Speaking of green, what was longer on Saturday? The amount of time you spent sitting on the tarmac at Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International or the length of the goal horn that the Colorado Avalanche game mobs blasted off after Kale McCarr's winter and overtime? That's a great question. Now I have visions about what happened. So Kale McCarr scores an overtime. They have the one horn go off and then I counted. They set it off six more times. So the Avalanche GM Chris McFarland is here so we can't blame him for this, but I have visions of Joe Sackek saying, wait, one is not enough,

and running into the GameFX booth and hammering that button six more times. Bursting through the door. Bursting through the door. That's not enough. That lived up to the billing. That was a great hockey game. And it's a reminder that the online world is not real life. Because if you would have listened to a lot of the online comments, they would have booed the heck out of Miko Rantanen when his tribute video was done on Sunday afternoon.

And yes, there were some boos, but there were a lot of cheers. I heard some moose as well in there. Um, it was, you know, it was, that game had a lot to live up to and in a lot of ways it lived up to it. It was really entertaining hockey. Dallas, I liked them a lot. Colorado looks really good. I still find it very hard to believe that it's likely that one of these two teams will be going out in the first round.

But I really like the way the Avalanche look post-deadline. This is one of the more stunning in-season makeovers and we'll see where it all goes. But the other thing I thought was really interesting was post-gain. Matt Duchenne laying the groundwork for, you know what? We didn't get enough calls. So Matt Duchenne doing a little pre-playoff lobbying for the Dallas Rovers. Deboor to a little bit. A little bit deboor to. YesAvore too a little bit. A little bit D'Avore too. Yes, D'Avore a little bit too, but sometimes I think it's more effective when it comes

from the players instead of the coaches. That's just- Yeah, I hear what you mean. That's not based on any scientific or factual evidence, but because the coaches tend to do it a bit more than the players do. Sometimes I wonder if it's more effective. I thought Dushin's post-game scrum was actually really good for a lot of different reasons, talking about how he felt going back

to some of the places he played and how he thought Rantanen handled it. But I think that's a really good thing for Rantanen because he gets it out of the way now. He doesn't have to think about it before, say, his first playoff game in Colorado, if that's in the first round. It's over, it's done with, it's out of his system. The next time he goes into there, it's not as much about emotion as it's about just business, which is what you're going to want. So the other thing too, Kyle, is we'll see if it comes up in the CBA negotiations, but

people are going to point at a series like this one in the first round and say, this is why we have to go back to one versus eight in each conference. And last, there was a point in the East, I think it was on the weekend, someone was looking at it and showed it to me, where all the matchups would have been the same anyways. But one of the things I really think when it comes to the NHL is,

I don't necessarily look at when you lose, I look at who you lose to like a couple years ago Edmondson loses in the second round to Vegas and People are like all the others lost in the second round. No, no, no, no, no I don't think like that and I think it's the wrong way to think overall. I think you don't look at oh You're out in the first round. What a disaster if say color, you know look at, oh you're out in the first round, what a disaster. If say Colorado, you know, one of Colorado Dallas is likely going out in the first round. One of Tampa, Florida, Toronto is going out in the first round. And people say, oh first round lost. I know Toronto's situation is a little

bit different, we'll get to that later. But I don't look at it that way. I say okay the NHL players have a bit of a unique setup Who do you lose to and I think whoever loses that series Colorado Dallas? While the organizations are going to be disappointed and the fans are going to be disappointed I am NOT going to say that that team had a loser season because they lost in the first round no I'm going to say that that team lost a Stanley Cup final in the first round. And I think it's different. I think it's very different. And if I ran a team, I wouldn't look at it the way that a lot of people do. I would look at it as who did we lose to as opposed to when we lost.

In the moment, though, it's tough to see it through that perspective. My take from my yes, this weekend, though though Elliott, it was a reminder that Dallas' divisional counterparts are ready for them here now when they see them, whether it's again in the regular season or however the playoff matchups shake out. They are the team that took the bulk of the spotlight on trade deadline, they got the big fish, Miko Rantanen locked up to the eight-year deal. Winnipeg was ready for them Friday night and Colorado though, yes, they had some special teams power going their way too but comes out on top as well. It was two great hockey games. I know Dallas came out on the losing end of both but just a glimpse of what that central division is going to look like come just over a month from now.

You know, it's interesting about what you just said, who was the big? Who was suddenly the best looking girl at the dance after free agency? After agency? Yeah, who was everyone drooling over last summer after July 1st? Oh well, Nashville with all the work they did. And look at the year they've had. And you're talking about Dallas at the deadline and look how it's been, and you bring up

what happened last weekend. This is not an easy league to play in when you have a target on your back. Remember last week, Florida in Toronto, what was Barube asked at the morning skate? Is it a big game against Florida? And he's like, forget it. It's always a big game when people play us because people get up to play us. I think there's something to your point there about at the beginning of the year, everybody's like, Oh, Nashville, Nashville, Nashville. And, and, you know, they had some issues of their own, obviously, but other teams are like, Oh, yeah, everybody's in love with

Nashville here. Everyone loves Nashville. And they got everybody's best game. And I think you're on you're on to I don't say this often Kyle But you're on to something here. Dallas is sexy right now Dallas and now they're getting everyone's best game. I think you're on to something Man, I hope that sound bite lives on in 32 thoughts infamy The love in on Dallas. Everyone's sweet for Dallas. And wow, that was great.

So there's a love in on the Stars around the trade deadline. They're still trying to get themselves sorted. There's a love in around Ottawa right now too after a sweep of the Battle of Ontario this season. They are- Four points behind Toronto and Tampa. Yeah. They're 7-0 and 1 since the Hamburglar night.

I saw someone point that out on social over the weekend. Could you hazard a guess? The last time the Senators had points in eight straight games? Would that be the year they won, what, 15 in a row to start the season? I guess that was the year after they went to the cup final is that the one we're talking about no a little more recent than that when was it my first sentence was a clue I was the Hamburglar run oh what I can't believe I didn't get that that was that's an embarrassing miss by me that's terrible of course the Hamburglar so there's

something too they brought him back and they look nearly unbeatable since. So that Saturday night game, my gosh, it was something coming back because I hadn't done a Toronto game in a couple of weeks, but certainly you're keeping tabs on things. Uh, coming into the city on Friday, you've got, you know, our guys Sammy McKee there from Kipper and Bourne who was like foreshadowing doom saying that he's nervous about playing the Senators suddenly and you know his feelings were proven right on Saturday with how they came out and took two points away on the road against the Maple Leafs, their

provincial rival. I mean you could you could feel the angst not only in the building but certainly around around the market then even taking off on Sunday to come down here to Florida. Elliot, I mean are you buying the tension that's rapidly developing around the blue and white? I certainly feel it. It's kind of funny how it goes though. It's that Toronto loses that game to Florida and the Leaf fans are all conceding first place. Well, we just have to go for home ice now against Tampa. We're not going to finish in first place anymore.

And then they lose to Ottawa. And my Leaf fan buddies are all devastated. They're like, oh no, Tampa's caught us. We're going to finish third. Here comes Ottawa. We're going to end up at a wild card spot. And then Florida loses back to back on the weekend. They lose to Montreal.

And then they cough up a lead to the Islanders. They're up two nothing and they lose four two. And all of a sudden they're texting me again, we're only four back with two games in hand. This is not over. Like it's just amazing how people absolutely change. You can't, people, you cannot live your lives like this. You cannot be a roller coaster of emotions. The key to a successful

existence is calm. Just calm. Now, they're not playing very well. There's no question about that. They're, actually, I wouldn't even necessarily disagree with that so much. They're having real trouble scoring. That's the one thing that stands out here. They're really having trouble scoring. New look line Saturday. Yes, new look line's on Saturday and they didn't last very long. They lasted two periods.

The interesting storyline I think here, I see the regular season as peaks and valleys I mean even the playoffs too if you really think about our peaks and valleys and And so I kind of look at the whole situation as you're gonna go through slumps How do you grind your way out of them? You know, I think Carlos been a nice fit for them. I think he's looked. Okay You know, I think Carlo's been a nice fit for them. I think he's looked okay. Lawton is still trying to find his spot, but there's no question now. I think the biggest thing that everybody's looking at in Toronto was Matthews.

And he's missed time this year. Of course, he went overseas, went to Germany to get looked at. He missed that one game during the four nations, the one that didn't matter to the states. I think we're all wondering exactly what he's dealing with here. It was really you who said it. I didn't really think about it too deeply until you mentioned it in Saturday's opening. But just the fact that they had a full day off on Friday and then Craig Barubei gave him the morning off on Saturday and Barubei really wasn't giving much information. He was ready for the question. He goes, just rest.

I can't remember who asked it, but before even the question was finished, he said, just rest. And then, you know, he went on to kind of the next thing but you know you can sense you know Matthews I think is the captain I think he I shouldn't say this this is my guess I don't have as usual I have no insight here this is my guess whatever he's dealing with he wants to show that he can push his way through it or deal with it as best as he can while in the lineup. And I think that's the way he prefers to. I think he sees it as leadership by example,

push his way through. We'll see if that changes at any particular point in time. But it's clear he's bothered by something and he wants to show, he wants to attack at the way he feels a captain should, which is to play his way through it. So we'll see where this develops. I mean, one of the things I'm definitely noticing and I went, you know, I went to the game against Florida on Thursday night and the Maple Leafs do move the puck around the offensive zone, at least on the perimeter pretty well. But how many A1 dangerous scoring chances have you seen him have recently?

And I don't know if that's a function of the way he plays or he's not 100%. But when you really think about it, Kyle, this is one of the league's most dangerous goal scores. If not, well, I think you'd have to say Ovechkin this year has clearly come back as the league's most dangerous goal scorer, but he's right at the top of the list. At worst, he's second. And Kyle, you watch them as much as I do. You haven't seen a lot of dangerous chances from him lately.

And I think that's just a function of the fact he's not feeling right. And the offense, when he dries up, it's a big part of their offense. So when I look at their struggles, I kind of look at him and I'm saying, he's not healthy right now. He's trying to drag his way through it, pull his team through it as he feels a captain should. And let's just see how this develops as we finish the last month of the regular season. And we showed something on Saturday too like Sportlogic sent us some numbers which is kind of interesting for all the things that you point out and I agree with you Elliot but you know they've got in terms of the team ranks heading into Saturday since the Four

Nations Matthews first on the team in scoring chances, first in slot shots, first in inner slot shots, rush chances, first there too, but the Rock just hasn't fallen at any type of level from what we are used to seeing from. Obviously the shooting percentage is way down and right now on pace for the lowest of his career. By a significant amount too, right? Yes, yes. So all that plays a role and as you say, when you're getting the morning off the ice after a full day off for the team the day prior, clearly you're still working through some things so it's all part of dealing with a season that just hasn't gone completely perfect health-wise but trying to find some answers here as we get down into the stretch here of the

regular season and into the playoffs. What's interesting though, what Matthew said post-game was like, we're seeing teams that we're facing here of late that are already kind of in that playoff mode and he was suggesting like, we're not there yet and we've got to get there. And you're seeing in certain parts of the game whether it was against Florida on Thursday or against Ottawa on Saturday it was evident it was evident that there was a different level of compete and execution and just some of the decision-making I know Craig Simpson did a good job I disagree with the thing about compete I you know Barubei kind of stood up to that too I don't think they don't compete. I don't believe that.

I'm not saying that either. Well, you said compete. You said compete. Yes, yes, yes. But it's not about saying that they're not at all, but there's a different level. I think the title of this podcast is, Dom, Bacchus, colon, leaves don't compete. I think that should be the title of this podcast.

I thought it was Freage Dallas kissing emoji. The idea that Toronto doesn't compete, I think that's crazy. And I'm not suggesting that, but sure, make that point, that's good. You know, the one thing I'll say about Ottawa is in years past, they would have folded after that Matthews goal. That fluke misplay with Almarg gifting a goal to Matthews, the old Ottawa Senators, they fold

there and they didn't. And this Ottawa team, they're going to be a handful in the first round because I think when Kachak gets into playoff games as as eventually when they close this out, I think he's going to be an absolute monster in those games and you know who's really starting to come on to David Perron. Oh yes. I was and Perron in the playoffs. He's just he he's a pain in the ass to play against just He's starting to go to and I think he's gonna be a huge player for them Yeah postseason that makes a lot of sense because the game slows down. I was gonna say Jake Sanderson

But Perron Perron's a great Name to bring up as well because the game starts to slow down a little bit and all those parts of the ice that are the most hotly contested, I mean those are typically the areas that he still can excel in and win puck battles in. You know before we wrap up the Eastern Conference we should talk Montreal here. Of course. The Rangers, they play Schusterkin back to back. They go one on one and we've talked about this. They have the best tiebreaker situation. They are miles ahead of anyone around them and regulation wins. So all these teams are going to have to beat them out right. But they got beat on Sunday by the Oilers and the Canadians are a

point behind them after they beat Florida and the Canadians have two games in hand they're ahead of the Rangers on points percentage I think this year maybe the best underrated trader this season might be Carrier from Montreal it is amazing how much better they've played. It just, since Carrier was acquired, it's, see, I think a lot about hockey is roles, right? You have a team of 18 skaters, more on different, more on your bench

that you'd use on different nights. Everybody has to understand where they fit and what their roles are. The best team, everybody understands their role. Like one Colorado guy who had a great week this week was Parker Kelly. And I've always liked, you know Parker Kelly from his days in Ottawa. I've always kind of liked him. But like I watch him in Colorado, he understands what his role is.

He kills himself blocking shots and some nights he gets a couple goals and you can tell if you watch the video of Parker Kelly when he scored two goals and they gave him the player of the game award in Colorado, you could tell how much those guys love him. But ever since Carrier got there, all the defensemen are kind of where they're supposed to be. And also, you know, Dolbash giving them the odd game here and there. But it is amazing when you think of how we were talking about the Canadians a month after the season. That's right. You wanted them to tank.

Yeah, I was like Higgins for Montreal. Like, now the Penguins, by the way, are this team doing this. They looked like they were gonna get a top four pick and now they're beating everybody. It's like the exact same thing as last year that they did. I know. Just Sid refuses to let them fully tank.

But it's amazing when you see the Canadians and I'll say this like You know you want to see guys who don't make Like national teams channel their energy in the right way Suzuki Caulfield You know who's another one Clayton Keller You know who's another one? Clayton Keller.

I heard Clayton Keller was really upset he didn't make the US team. And why shouldn't he be? And he's played really well since then and look at Utah now. They won again on Sunday night. But you know, you have to be looking at this and especially next year with the Olympics, you get to go to 25 instead of 23 right? Like you don't think that every night Cole Caulfield isn't making his statement that he should be on Team USA next time. Like Team USA needed one more goal. You know you're not getting the idea that he could be that guy.

Suzuki, Team Canada, everybody's got to be a dynamite two-way guy. You don't think that Doug Armstrong's looking at Nick Suzuki right now and saying that's one of the best two-way guys in the league. That's what I like about those two guys. They've used that disappointment and they've channeled it to go to an even higher level. But this is going to be a great race. The Islanders got a win out of nowhere the other day. Detroit beat Vegas. Vegas got Aidan Hill done and I think there's a chance they're going to get William Carlson back this week.

And some Columbus fans sent me a DM on Sunday. You talk about Zach Warrensky for MVP. And all of a sudden, the Blue Jackets can't win. Stop talking about him. And they were all over us earlier, saying you're not talking about Columbus what's going on they've been one of the great stories you can't win you start talking about them and then then you then they start losing it stop talking

about us now right right the Islanders are like the ultimate just when they think we're out they pull us back in out of nowhere a couple of wins and you're like well no the math isn't great but you can't say they're dead yet. No they're and Boston came out hot now they've kind of come back to earth a little bit that that Tampa game on on Saturday that was a rough game they got what out shot 19 nothing in the second period like they beat Tampa right after the deadline and then Tampa got them back a week later. But great, great races in the East and in the West.

Oh, I had some Winnipeg fans who were upset about me that I mentioned McKinnon, Dry Settle, Wrenski for the heart, but didn't mention Hellebuck. Yes, that was an oversight. Hellebuck should be in the conversation. So they beat, as you mentioned, they beat Dallas and then they beat Seattle. And I always, whenever a guy plays against his former team, I always notice who they run over and Brandon Tanev just bowled over Shane Wright. And I was like, what did Shane Wright do to Brandon Tanoff? Shouldn't have been standing there. Obviously he was in the wrong

place. I was like I always wonder about that. I always look to see like who does the guy run at? Who does the guy hit? Is he hitting a guy because the opportunity is there and in that case that's what it is or is he looking for someone's like either I really like that guy and I want to run it over because boys will be boys or I really didn really like that guy and I want to run it over because boys will be boys Or I really didn't like that guy and I want to run them over Just because and you know, I'll say this too. We've all been talking about Winnipeg's ufas Like how are they gonna deal with the Elers? How are they gonna deal with Pionk? Who's hurt right now?

But Sandberg scored the overtime winner in Seattle I would bet that the Jets are also looking at Samberg in the middle of all this. He scored the overtime winner and that's a guy you sign him for as long as you can. Big mobile guy, tick-tock star, mobile guy, TikTok star, Jets have great social. Oh, very good. That's gotta be worth an extra 250K a year. Jets will love hearing that. But like big, long defenders, and he keeps getting better.

Like they're doing a really nice job with him and he's doing a really nice job there. I mean, I like the Jets post deadline. I like them a lot. Yes, yes. The new bodies have fit in well so far for sure and the team keeps winning. Have you noticed, Kyle, by the way, that Quinton Bifield's been red hot since he met the We Bring the Boom people. Yes. That's like goal a game, right? Yes. He's streaking and the flex afterwards has been fantastic. So I have a theory now. Like, do you remember when there were rumors about Bifield at the deadline and the Kings were like, don't listen to these people.

They're insane. We are not trading Bifield. Do you want to know what my theory is? Yeah, let's hear it. My theory is that when they were talking to Carolina aboutanen, they were asked about him. Was there any way you would include him in a deal? Hmm. And the king was like... That was a resounding no?

No. No. Now, I think there were two reasons the kings got out of the Rantanen stuff, because number one, I don't think Rantanen was willing to sign there. By the way, I would like to say this about the whole Rantan thing. In 10 years, there's going to be a six-part podcast on this, because every story is changing like every day. So in 10 years, there's going to be a six-part podcast on this, what really happened.

But I think that two things. One, the ask was such that the King said we're not doing that and to Ranton wasn't interested in signing their long term for whatever reason But that's how I think byfields name got out not because the Kings really had him out there, but because they were asked It's similar to the whole Marner thing How Carolina said if we're gonna trade him in Toronto, we'd like to do this ask. So I think, I think that's what it was. I, it is, I really wanted to know because I was curious about how his name got out there.

It, it didn't make any sense. And that's my answer to that question. We talked back in training camp that he could be a guy poised for a breakout season and hasn't totally gone that way for byfield Elliott but yes six straight games with a goal. I'm really going to be interested to see him in the postseason. Yes because that team could be a handful as well in the West. Because you can see that the Kings are really trying to manage Kopitar's minutes, right? They are really trying to save him for the postseason. At points this year, they're like there's no point in burning them out now,

but you're going to need byfield too. So it's going to be a big one for byfield. Speaking about the We Bring the Boom family, did you watch The Rizzler on Jimmy Fallon? No, I missed it. What did I miss? It was wild. I think that kid is hilarious. I really do. But you could tell that Jimmy Fallon was sitting there like, this is a low moment of my career.

He's like, which producer suggested to me that we have to do this? You can tell he thought, he's had so many famous guests on that chair, he's like, I can't believe I've been reduced to this. I thought the kid was hilarious But the whole thing made me look that if the world lasts another 500 years and there are days I definitely think that's not gonna happen But if the world lasts another 500 years the people who are alive then are gonna look back at that and they're gonna say This is the dumbest timeline in world history Yeah, I don't even think you need 500 years to be able to look back

and have that kind of perspective. And what's going on lately? No, I don't think you're wrong in that at all. That's outstanding. And then all of a sudden we wake up on Monday morning and the Blues are tied Yeah after Vancouver led a couple of points slip away against Utah on Sunday the Blues are tied But the team right there with the best points percentage now the Canucks have a game in hand on the Blues

Utah's win there they are two back of Vancouver. They've played the same amount of games, but the team in the best position there right now is Calgary. Calgary's got 71 points. They're two back of Vancouver and St. Louis, but they've played the fewest games. They're at 65. Canucks in the Utahns are at 67, the Blues at 68, Utah's in trouble in the first tiebreaker. Their two back of Vancouver, St. Louis, and Calgary will all have 24. Calgary controls its destiny. Now, the Flames have had some weird ones lately. I looked up in the middle of the game against Colorado and they only had three shots, but

they got a point out of that one. The backland one, the backland injury concerns me for them. And because it's like we talked about before with Carrier and Montreal, it's a role, right? You know, whether Backlund is playing well or he's having a bad night, he fits in that lineup. Now you've got a hole there and you're post deadline so you can't you can't fix it right and it's a big hole because he's sort of like a safety blanket he takes pressure off of other guys now other people are gonna have to do a role that they're not used to or they're not prepared for and you know the guy I look

at a lot because I think he's a better player and he's shown this year, Sharon Govich. He has to get back to another level. They really need him now but you know it's amazing how much it changes. St. Louis has a bad loss the other night that you look at and you say boy you can't cough up games like that one, like against Pittsburgh for example, but they fight their way back in it. They had a lot of emotion,

it was Braden Shen getting on from a thousandth game. Have you looked at the Blues schedule coming up? Let's take a look here. Pounded the Ducks on Sunday night, seven to two. Nashville, Vancouver Vancouver huge game that's in st. Louis Chicago Nashville Montreal Nashville three dates with the predators if they don't get this done they can only look in the mirror by the way one thing about an Anaheim too I just wanted mirror. By the way, one thing about Anaheim 2, I just wanted to throw in there while we're talking about Anaheim coming out of that game. I was on Duck Stream with Alexis Downey.

Oh nice. I have to say she's a better co-host than you are. Oh wow. But... Nice for stating the obvious. Low bar, I know, low bar. But we were talking a bit. She's a great interviewer.

She's excellent at her job. But one of the things I kind of mentioned there about the Ducks is I think one of the things I think Verbeek did really well at the deadline was he cleared a path by trading Dumoulin and he got a really nice return for him. He cleared a path for both Mintchukov and Zellweger to play. Like it was one of those guys was often sitting out. I think both those guys need to play and I think in the long run that will benefit the

Ducks. The other thing I kind of heard there is that I think there's some frustration everywhere, Gibson, Ducks, and the teams that Ducks were dealing with that they couldn't get something done. And I know we've been talking about that. It seems like forever and ever and ever amen. But I had a couple of people tell me that that one's going to come to a head this summer. Like I think there were all different parties,

like the docks, the player, and the teams they were dealing with, they were kind of hoping that this would get sorted out at the deadline. So I'm curious to see. I think that one comes to a head in the off season. It's sort of been there, but now I think it really does. But Utah's done a really nice job clawing their way back into the race. They beat Vancouver. Vancouver wins an emotional game against Chicago and then and they're angry. Like if you saw the quotes from them post game about the injury that Heedle suffered and he's in the concussion protocol about Sherwood talking about how angry he was at Dickinson and then Forbert apparently challenged Dickinson, but the Blackhawks probably wisely

kept him off the ice. You know, I do want to wish the best for Heedle. He's had concussion problems before. It also at times has affected his play. I think people understand that when you've battled that kind of thing, it affects how you play the game. He'd looked very good since he'd gotten to Vancouver. So A, I hope he's healthy and B, I hope it doesn't affect the way he approaches the

game. You know, then they, that emotion doesn't carry over enough into that Utah game and they lose what Dom called and I was traveling at the time, I asked Dom about it. He goes, that was low event hockey. I love the one highlight though, Hughes just demanding the puck. He is going to a really high level the way he's playing right now. He just looks fantastic but that's one if you're the Canucks you're sitting there and you're saying boy I regret that one. That's one of those ones you hope at the end of the year it doesn't hurt us. You know I wanted to mention Chicago too. Twice this year Bedard goes to Vancouver and has tough nights. Twice this week. Saturday night no less. Yeah he's been given game or 10 minute

misconducts and not and kicked out of the game. I didn't like watching that five on two at the end of regulation, the one where he got the misconduct and kicked out of Vancouver. I mean, I know it's been a hard, a hard year in Chicago and losing stocks like I get all that. You can't have that. You can't have the darred in a five on two like that. Like I was looking at that and I was like, I don't know who else was on the ice. And to be honest, I didn't look, but like,

where was everybody? That's your franchise player. And I actually was kind of impressed. Badaard threw his helmet and then he went back and he apologized at the person he threw it at. I was, you know, I mean, that's pretty impressive in the moment to say, oh, you know, I shouldn't have done that considering

it's the second game in a row he's been kicked out of. The team's losing. He's frustrated like anything. But I was sitting there when it was five on two and I was like, what's going on here? You know, I heard that in the first game, the San Jose game, he, you know, everybody said he didn't say anything after the game that was that bad. I looked into it and I heard from a couple different people. It sounds like that one was

about the officials had told Bidard to stop talking and he said some more stuff and they just had it with him that night. I think that's what it was. And, you know, another player's made an interesting point to me. He said it could also be the fact he's still a young guy in his second year and the referees will say there's a limit to how much we're going to take from him. But I kind of heard that was, they said, okay, you've said enough and he kept going and they just said, we're not handling this anymore. I don't

know about that second one. But it was, it was, it's weird to see him get back to back 10 minute misconducts. And I, I understand his frustration. And you know, the, and we mentioned San Jose, the other guy I wanted to shout out was Zach Astapchuk, because I don't know if it was the smartest decision he's ever gonna make in his career, but he took on Tom Wilson the other night. Yes, and you see the lip readers online, were they catching him saying like, hey you want to go again? Like it was almost like he was into round two. Are you nuts? but talking about endearing yourself.

I was actually looking at that and I almost wanted to like tweet out, like somebody tell him to stop because Wilson was furious at him. Like that is not a guy I'd want mad at me. Oh no. And you know, Wilson was, he looked like he wanted to drill him even more. And so, you know, I say good on you. Nothing will impress you on a new or in a new organization more than that. Those players will look at you and they will say, wow, we got somebody here that's very impressive for doing that because that was a that was a really rough performance from San Jose like Washington came out they were on fire they dominated the first period like I was watching that game and it reaches a point where you're

kind of like there's only one thing we're looking for here and that is does Ovi get another one which he eventually did But when I saw that fight and I saw him Stand out to him and then chirp him after after it I was like this guy's gonna make a lot of friends here, but that is not the way I'd want to make friends Doing it the hard way. Okay, Elliot we got to get to Sam Bennett here No, doing it the hard way. Okay, Elliot, we gotta get to Sam Bennett here. So there's a player that had the massive goal for Team Canada in the final of the Four Nations,

tying the game at the time. 10 points in 10 games since the regular season started up again, set to be a UFA this summer. You had the news on Saturday that talks though have kickstarted back up again between team and player on an extension, So what's the latest? So, I want to be careful with this one because earlier in the year, Carter Verhege signed

at the beginning of the season and I think I'd mentioned it that I'd heard that they were getting close and then it happened literally that night whichever night it was that they signed him after the game We said that Verhagy was getting close and he signed that night and I heard at the same time They were talking to Bennett and I really thought they were getting close like I heard from a couple people the same people told me About Verhagy told me that Bennett was getting close and it didn't happen obviously. And someone at the time said, they kind of shook their heads and they said, you wouldn't believe how close this was. Like it was close. And

then the cap story started to come and we got the new cap number. And I think a lot of people had kind of given up hope That it was gonna happen there and there was a lot of talk that you know you take a look at the centers who are available I mean, I think Marner right now is obviously the king of the free agent market if he gets there But if you look at the centers, I think the two guys at the top are Bennett and Brock Nelson Well, someone told me last week that they'd started talking again. I went to the game as I mentioned on Thursday night and someone told me in the press box. They said you might want to work on this but I hear they're talking again.

And again I don't want to guess because I was a little off last time and I don't want to make the same mistake. But there are talking again that is notable and I can see Sam Bennett wanting to stay in Florida. It's worked so well for him. He really fits their identity. As I said on Saturday night, it's been a good marriage for player and team. Sam Bennett's been great for the Florida Panthers and the Florida Panthers have been great for Sam Bennett. So I can see why there's a will to try this. I think we just know now that when it comes to Florida, you sign it their number. But the one thing about Florida is they're willing to do structure. That's one thing about the

Viola ownership. They do structure that really benefits the player. So, you kind of wonder if that's maybe one of the solutions to all this. I honestly don't know. I don't want to handicap it, but they are talking and like I said, it's been a good marriage. I'm really curious to what that number ultimately looks like, whether it does get done with Florida, as you say it seems to be there's some good momentum behind it or if something happens elsewhere because he's never scored 30 goals in a season, he's never hit 50 points before though he is on pace to do it this year, yet we've all seen the value of the game that he plays at

the most important time of the year that he plays at the most important time of the year and you've got the salary cap going up here too. So that's going to be a real interesting one to find kind of where common ground is and the number that works for everybody involved here. I'm really curious. You know who it kind of reminds me of? And I was thinking about this when you mentioned it and he's had some higher point seasons, is Ryan O'Reilly. So Ryan O'Reilly's highest point season is 77.

That's the year the Blues won the Stanley Cup in 2019. And he had a 69 point season last year in Nashville. And other than that, he's usually in the mid 50s to mid 60s. So he's not the biggest point getter. He's obviously got the mid 50s to mid 60s. So he's not the biggest point-getter He's obviously got a higher offensive ceiling than than Bennett has shown But it's to me it's a similar kind of thing that they can play that number one or number two center role But you're not thinking about it for their scoring you're thinking about it for their excellent

Two-way play and the other ways they kind of play about it for their excellent two-way play and the other ways they kind of play. So I think we'd put O'Reilly at a higher level than Bennett because he has shown more offense. But I think the comparison on some level is apt because of the reasons you mentioned. All right, well that'll take us to the final thought which is brought to you by GMC. Okay, Elliot, the Oilers certainly had a better finish to their four-game road trip through the state of New York than they started with wins over the Islanders and then the Rangers on Sunday as we mentioned. But nobody, nobody from that Edmonton Oilers traveling crew had a better road trip than Jean Principe. Did you see, I mean, right from, there was Bill's Mafia in Buffalo coming off the ladder and through the table.

Although I still say again, that has to be a one shot thing. It can't be two shots. I thought the jump cut made it even better. I can kind of understand but for pure dedication to the craft it had to be one shot but I get where you're coming from here. So he starts there then you had the magic tricks going in New Jersey the abracadabra in the opening there in Newark the help desk on Long Island to finally help bust the Oilers out of what had been a difficult road trip to that point and then Sunday in Manhattan they had the New York City half marathon and so they come on the air and it looks like he literally ran from doing that right up the ramp at Madison Square Garden and onto the air to open

the show for Oilers Rangers. He was and the production crew that was there around him. They delivered that entire road trip. It was up and down for the Oilers, but they were top of the line, top drawer, all four games. Just wanted to shout them out. I love when you stand up for our teammates. I love when you stand up for our teammates More teams need to do that Kyle You're the first one in the scrum

Excellent, you know, I have to say this right now. I do not believe sideline reporters Can go in to the Hall of Fame Right Play by play the L the the L. I think it's just play by play an analyst. Mm-hmm. The first two ringside reporters That should go in our gene and okey. Mm-hmm The unanimous selections. unanimous selections. And I hope the speaking of Scott oak, I hope they had a great gala for the Bruce and an oak foundation over the weekend. He was off from his hockey night and after our duties because of

it. And you and I both have been out that way for those events at various times over the years. And hope it was a great night for everybody that was involved there. I hope so, too. Okie is dedicated to that. He does an incredible job. There's a reason that he has been awarded. Order of Canada and that's

excellence his excellence his excellence yes his excellence Scott Oak and you were excellent even laugh about it very deserved yeah and you were excellent that entire road trip Gene so great thank you for bringing the entertainment even when things were tough at times for the Oilers viewers with that that was the final thought brought to you by GMC. We'll take our first break and come back with a Thoughtline. 32 Thoughts from South Florida continues after this. Okay, welcome back.

Once again for the Thought Line. And Elliot, you have opened a Pandora's box when we started the discussion about own goals with the goaltender polled and goalie goals with the goaltender polled on a delayed penalty. Nick Murray wrote to us. I just want to say this. Sometimes I like to cause chaos and do it on purpose. Other times I cause chaos and have no idea I'm even responsible for it. Now you're too young, but do you remember the movie Police Academy? Yes, of course. There's a scene in that movie where a riot starts, and one of the cadets says,

who knows how these things start? And he unwittingly had started it hours earlier. Sometimes I am like that. And how, isn't there like 16 police academies? Wasn't there like a bunch of movies? It lost track of them after a while. The first one was a classic, and then, you know what they say, don't kill the golden goose. They didn't just kill the golden goose, they bludgeoned it many times. Drove over it in reverse, over it again.

No this isn't so much chaotic but I think you just tweaked the memories of certain hockey fans about other similar situations. So Nick Murray wrote to us about a Damian Rhodes goalie goal on a delayed penalty against the New Jersey Devils of January 1999. Oh I forgot about that one. Yes, made a save. I think Lyle Odlein missed Scott Niedemeier with a pass at the blue line and it went into the New Jersey net. And the significant one about that one was that Rhodes got credited with the goal and the shutout that came to oh wow

I completely forgot about this at the time that was the first that had happened I believe in NHL history so Nick thank you for sending that in on to today's submissions mark from Tecumseh Ontario had a question while watching pregame for last week's Leafs and Avalanche game a clip was shown of Scott Lawton and Brandon Carlos bags on carts brought into the rink due to their trades they still had their Philadelphia and Boston bags what happens with those bags after the equipment guys clearly swap their stuff into leaf bags do they send the bag back to the teams that they came from

or do they do a ritual rivalry bag burn? Like I kind of hope because I think hatred is great for the game. Hope you guys can do what you do and find an answer to the questions for us fans to muse about. Thanks for the show, it gets me through plenty of shifts at the Windsor Assembly Plants.

Thank you, Mark. I'm glad to hear hardworking people use this to get through their day. Whatever we can do. Love it. I assume you have an answer on this one, Kyle? Yeah, so this one's kind of fun. So the bags do eventually go back. They take out the equipment that they need, the personal stuff, and what they don't need

any longer along with the bag do go back to the original teams. The other thing that's kind of neat too. So obviously you can't take gloves or helmets with you because of the color coordination of one team's Jersey look to the next. Um, but with things like sticks and skates that players of course can be very particular about, um, you know, teams will forward if they've got a stockpile of that, forward that to where a player was traded to just to give the new team and their equipment guys a bit of a head start so they're not having to suddenly order a bunch of specific line or brands of skates that they may not have a ton in stock or sticks for that matter too, just to allow things to be a bit of a

smoother transition the first few weeks or months as a new player gets settled in a new city. Well, you know, first of all, great on you for of the things that he said was that his skates weren't being sharpened the way he was used to. And these equipment people, they're phenomenal. They figure everything out, they're always on top of their games, they work ridiculous hours, but finally what the Kings did was they shipped his blades, I believe it was to Philadelphia. And they said, can you guys sharpen these because Ronick seems to think that we can't get them sharpened properly. And so the Philadelphia equipment guys sharpened the blades and sent them back to Los Angeles.

Wow. And then when the story I heard, and Ronick kind of laughed about this when I asked him about it once, is that he put them on, he's like so excited, and the Kings were so excited, and finally we'll get this all sorted out. And then he was like, yeah, that's not the problem. Whatever's bothering me,

it wasn't the skate blade show. But it just shows you the lengths that teams will go to and how much these equipment guys help each other out. I wonder if Ronak got the FedEx invoice after that. I would have given it to him. And actually, and on that note, so one of our colleagues who also dubs as a minor hockey referee when he's not working on the production side. So there was a stretch this year where he was very busy on the road lots and had games over the weekend and then also refereeing games too. So he's in a bit of a pinch and put the request in with the equipment team of one of the NHL clubs to see if they could give their his skates a quick rip on the sharpener and they were happy to do it

and he said best skate sharpen he ever had bar none in his life he was he was in heaven with how those things felt the next time he went on the ice so to your point they are the best of the best with that stuff that's a great story. And I know who that is, too. And I know I hope I hope he tipped well. Yes. But I doubt it. No chance. No, but I doubt it. Yes. All right. Reba from Napanee, Ontario. Hi, Kyle, Elliot and Dom.

Reba here from Napanee, Ontario, and I've been a fan of the pod from the beginning, but this is my first time emailing in. Elliot, do you remember me from the 32 Thoughts podcast tour a few years ago? I was so excited to be able to meet him and Jeff that I cut my vacation in the States a couple days short, just so I could drive back and go to the live podcast in Peterborough. Yeah, Reba is a great fan, great fan.

Yes, I do remember this, and I remember thinking I wouldn't even cut my vacation short to wash myself. So Reba is a great fan. Without people like Reba, our podcast does not exist. No question. Okay, so Reba goes on to say, I was recently sorting my hockey card collection, and there are a lot, and I got to Martin Brodeur cards and I saw something that made me pause.

In the 2006-2007 season, Brodeur played in 78 of the 82 games and had a 43-23 record. My question is, has there ever been a goaltender to play in the 82 games and had a 43 23 record My question is has there ever been a goaltender to play in all 82 games? And if so, who was it and when I'm sure the Brodeur is high on the list, but is he on the top? Thanks for answering my question and go sends go so first off when it comes to 82 game seasons Elliott I know no one's played all 82. Do you know who the highest is? Yeah, it's Fuhr.

I don't remember. I don't remember if it was in Edmonton or St. Louis or somewhere else. Oh, it was St. Louis. It was under Kenyon, right? Yes. So Fuhr has the record. I think that's 79, right? Correct.

He got Brodeur by one game in 95-96. Brodeur second and tied for third for that matter. 06-07-78 and then Brodeur the next year went 77. And then of course, Reba I'm sure has heard the name Glenn Hall-Illiot. Yes, well that to me is the most unbreakable record in sports. There's a lot of records out there like people talk about things Yes, well that to me is the most unbreakable record in sports. There's a lot of records out there, like people talk about things like Gretzky's 92 goals

in a season or Joe DiMaggio's 56 game hitting streak or Wilt Chamberlain 100 points in a game. I just think that the most unbreakable record in sports is 502 consecutive games by Glenn Hall. Like that just doesn't exist anymore. Maybe when we have robot AI goalies, Marcus 54692 is going to break Glenn Hall's record, but no human is going to break Glenn Hall's record. Marcus 54692, future Hall of Famer. God, hope we're both gone from here when that day arrives. By the way, I think we will be. At least we'll be gone from working, I can tell you that. You know what? You know what? I was looking. Steve84674 will be hosting the podcast at that point. With Bill9672. You know what, actually I was looking the other night, I think, and you would probably

know if I'm wrong here, but I think if Zetterlin plays every game, he plays 84 games this year. I think I had, now you've struck my memory here I do believe I read that when the trade first went down with Ottawa yes it wouldn't be the first but it's not because the the most games played in the season I is I think it's 84 sorry no he won he won't. It doesn't tie the record. 86 is Jimmy Carson and Bob Kudelsky. And there's a bunch of guys at 85 and then Zetterlin would beat 84. We've had this question on the pod before and now that I remember, but I couldn't remember if the record was 84, but it's not. It's 86. Right. Sean Monahan last year, 83 between Montreal and Winnipeg.

Yes. Yes. Reba, great to hear from you. Thanks for writing in. All right, Russ from BC. Hey, guys. Had a question for you on the roomie situation on the road for players after the Celebrini-Smith-Tofoli sleepover.

That was great. Yes. It got me thinking. If all players have a roomie on the road, do vets like to fully get their own rooms? Usually do new arrivals get assigned with someone after a trade? You guys are good at what you do. Thanks. And go Avs. Yeah. So this is in the collective bargaining agreement. Mark, uh, only entry level players have to have roommates after you're off your entry level contract, you do not need to have a roommate. And if I remember correctly, the first league to go this way

was in one of the baseball ones. It might have been the big one in 94 where the World Series was canceled. But after they came back following that strike, I believe it was Major League Baseball that said that part of the CBA was nobody has to have a roommate anymore. And since then, nobody, everybody got to have their own room. And since then, every league has moved towards that. And you're right, there's some teams who feel that it's not good for the game, that players should have roommates, although I'm sure a lot of people would rather have the privacy. There have been some great roommate stories over the years, like Colby Armstrong tells

great stories about Sid and Kevin Biax it tells great stories about the individuals that he roomed with. I mean, Milan Lučić, I remember he was one of the youngest players to have his own room because in Boston they said he snored so bad that nobody wanted to stay with him. So he got his own room. There are great stories like this, but right now as part of the CBA, only players on their entry level have to have roommates. And I also think that goalies had their own rooms well before everybody else did. We have family friends that their son played

in the Ontario Hockey League and is now playing a pro. And he is notorious for sleepwalking. And so- no kidding. He, uh, in junior, of course he had a roommate at that level. And so like there'd be like a new player would show up and would be put in the same room with him and not be aware. And, uh, you know, there'd be nights where he would be like woken up by this guy that was like sleepwalking. He's like hovering over him like yelling

out of being like, get up, get up, we need to get up. We're late. We're late. Like he would be that kind of sleepwalker that would talk through the night as if he was up and alert. And the teammates. So he's not a sleepwalker. He talks in his sleep. But he would be like up and moving around. Really? Yes. Yeah. Like it's unreal, some of the stories.

So that was the thing. Like it was the story was like, you know, you had to be on alert if you were put in the same room with them because he just didn't know what you were going to get overnight. And he really had no control over. He was just like a very active and talkative sleepwalker. Wow. I mean, I'm a snorer. So if I ever wake up in the morning and Steph's sleeping in one of the other rooms, like I

know what happened. I was really snoring. Oh boy. Oh boy. Poor Steph. But as for a lot of different reasons, but as far as I know, I've never sleptwalked. Like you're not saying this story is a family friend when it's really you, is it?

No, no, I've started to develop a bit of a snore apparently, but to my knowledge, no sleepwalking yet. Wow, that's quite a story, man. As Scott Oak would say, there is still plenty of time to change that. All right. It's pretty funny. Very good. Dane up next. So he says, January 16th, 2016 will forever go down as the greatest hockey game I have

ever personally attended. It was the first game I ever got to go with my now wife. In this game, the Jets won 5-2 at home over the Coyotes, Nick Ehlers as a rookie scored his first NHL hat-trick, and the two other goals came from Big Buff. One a slapper from the red line, the other on a breakaway while down two men. I think about this night often and I recently thought how many defensemen in the modern era have ever scored on a goalie while killing a

two-man advantage. Elliot just know all your movie references are old as hell but good job. I mean I we've said this before I miss buffling around hockey. Oh yeah. I really miss him around the game. Loudest noise I've ever heard in a game was Buffland hitting Mark Stone. Yep. Loudest noise I've ever heard.

That was that same year, right? 15, 16, I believe. Was it? Wow. Okay, so did you search this one out? Yeah, so the good people at Sportsnet stats, they can only go back to 2007-2008. And I know he said modern era, but I'm assuming he didn't think that modern. However, since then, it's the only time it's happened.

Really? Yeah. So, Dane can rest easy at night knowing that in some way he witnessed some history in a couple different ways that evening. I guarantee to you, someone listening to this is going to come up with another example. This is how it starts.

And I look forward to hearing it. Yes, we will get it on. All right, voicemail next. Daniel from Vernon, BC. Hey, Kyle, Elliot, and Dom. and i look forward to hearing it yes we will get it on alright voicemail next daniel from vernon bc they carl elliot and dom my name is daniel calling from british columbia i love the podcast and uh... yet it's what i have a question about the habit uh... so i've been reading a lot online in twitter uh... reddit and things like that

about i've been given off and and i'm just wondering what your take is on him being a have next year obviously the super and talent we take is on him being a Hab next year. Obviously he's a super and talent, we'd love to have him on the team next year and I just wonder what your take is on him actually doing so and what could stop him from being a Hab next year. Thanks a lot, love the podcast. It's a great question.

The thing is with these situations is they're unpredictable, right? Sometimes when it comes to players coming over from Russia, you just have to kind of wait until the players actually here until you're 100% sure. It sure seems like the Canadians are hopeful it's going to work out. And, you know, obviously they've done whatever they can to make it so that it's going to work out. And obviously they've done whatever they can to make it so that it's going to work out. And I know several people who've gone to watch him play this year and they say he's an absolute style. Like he is as good as advertised and he understands why both the Canadians and their fans are excited to have him. I think basically the way it goes is you wait until a contract is up.

He's on an expiring deal, right? And he's on an expiring deal. I think the other thing too with Mishkov in Philadelphia, there was an understanding because of everything he went through that it was the right thing to do and it all worked out. Everybody acted in good faith and it all worked out. So I think that's what you do. You sit there and you act in good faith and you hope it works out. But you're never really 100% sure until the player is there. I remember even with Mishkov, it sounded like

everything was going to work out, but the Flyers were like, we're not counting our chickens until they've hatched. They kind of went through it with the goalies too, right? So, like I said, you do everything you possibly can to make sure it's going to happen. You live up to your end of the deal. You've, uh, fulfill all your promises and then you wait and hope that everything unfolds, uh, as expected. And if it does remember the conversations that we were having when we were together and last week in Toronto for trade deadline with some of our colleagues Elliot, the sentiment

was if you're excited about what Michkov has accomplished to the NHL already, just wait till Demidov gets over here. I think there's a lot of people very, very high on that player. Yes. And the other thing too is generally the NHL and the KHL, they respect each other's contracts. Like if you have a contract with a player, there's always exceptions. There have been some fights here and there, but generally in most cases they respect each other's contracts.

Okay. We will conclude with this Alex from Port home high 32 thoughts crew and more importantly Sportsnet stats all of the Brad Marsh and they're going to Sportsnet stats. Okay, here we go Settle in here all of the Brad Marsh and Hall of Fame talk got me thinking What does the average Hall of Fame season look like for a forward? If we took all of the Hall of Fame forwards and averaged out all of their seasons over an 82 game schedule, what's a Hall of Fame season look like? I'm hoping Sportsnet stats can come up big with an assist on this one. Elliot? Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

You told me that you wanted to do this one without Sportsnet stats. So did you do this yourself? As I was saying, I'm reading this and I said to myself, challenge accepted. Wow. We lean on Sportsnet stats for a lot. I do. And we are very grateful as we've talked about, how good they are at getting information and answers back to us. This one seemed like a bit of a heavy lift, but I felt there was a path.

We'll see here, I could be way off. But I thought there was a path to do it myself and I thought, I don't want to bog them down with this one. So I parked some time on Sunday and made a coffee in the hotel room here in Florida, Elliot, and I started grinding away. So here's what I did. Here's what I'm super impressed with you. Super impressed. Oh, thank you. And here's what I did. So I went through and I believe I found all of the forwards who played in the NHL. Of course, there are forwards and other members of the hockey hall of fame that did not

play in the National Hockey League. And I took what would be their average over an 82 game season. Also keep in mind that not everyone played in an era where there was 82 game seasons. Yep. And also keep in mind, certainly in the early days of the National Hockey League, it was not totally unique for players to, you know, maybe they start their careers as a forward and then in the later years they become a defenseman. Naturally the production.

Like Brad Kelly kind of thing. Exactly. It shifts a bit because of that. You're all looped in. There's no way for myself to make an error adjusted. This is just the straight numbers, all right? Yup. So on average, Hall of Fame forwards,

do you have a guess of what kind of their production would be over an 82 game sample size? Of course you got to guess. I would say point a game. Not quite. Really? Not quite. Point eight six, so roughly 71 points over 82 games. I have to say I'm shocked at that because you think about like the Gretzky's and the Lemus who would have monster numbers.

And you would think about, well, and you would think about like, if and you would think about like if you take a look at the forwards who made it without great offensive numbers like you're thinking Guy Carboneau you're thinking Bob Ganey. I figured there would be a lot more of those guys that were at the top than the great two way or defenders. Now there's something like there are guys who play a long time and they they weigh down their numbers but I have to say I am shocked at that. I was a little bit surprised too. Now again I tried to be as diligent as I could here I could I mean there's always the possibility for human error and if I am

wrong I know I will hear about it and then correct and get the right number out there. But this was multiple hours of work, Elliot. I did try on this one. But that's the number that I came out with. For players that played NHL games. I am incredibly impressed whether if even if people come at you now and say Kyle You cannot do math at a grade three level. I will still say that the effort you made is impressive.

So 71 points,.86 point per game on average of all the forwards. And just for argument sake, as it stands right now, Brad Marchand, his career points per game is.89, which would come out to 73 points over 82 games. I have to tell you, and we're not getting into all of this, but we have touch of nerves here. Oh yeah. I am blown away by some of the reaction to this. Me too, a little bit.

Yeah, not just like, well, not sure. It's like, no, no, no, no. Bit of blowback. But I stick by what we said about him. I am with you. Come get me. Well, thanks for humor me and sticking through that one and Alex from Port Hope, great question.

Thank you for submitting it and sending me on a long adventure, a journey through the years of Hall of Fame inductees in the forward position. So that was great. A reminder, if you want to submit something to the Thoughtline, there's the email to send it in to 32thoughts at sportsnet.ca or you can call 1-833-311-3232 and leave a voicemail. One final break. We'll wrap things up. 32 Thoughts, the podcast continues on after this. All right, Elliot, before we go, we should look ahead to the reason why we are down here in Palm Beach, Florida for the next few days. The latest edition of the NHL GM meetings.

We talked on Friday's pod about some of the NHL GM meetings. We talked on Friday's pod about some of the things to expect in terms of what's going to be on the docket, expanded three-on-three overtime potentially. The NHL, NHLPA wanting to have a say in all the new rule changes to the NCAA eligibility. Beyond that, what else are we keeping an eye on here over the next few days down here in Florida? Well, that's gonna be an interesting one because it really sounds like so far the NHL is kind of saying Tell us what you want and you know We want to hear what everybody wants from all the different stakeholders in there. They're trying not to They're trying not to tell anybody what to do. They're sort of like, what do you want?

What does everybody want? What does everybody need? And how are we going to help put it together? And I've got some questions about that. I want to ask when I'm down there, I'm just gonna wait until I have a chance to ask it first. Because I think one of the things that's kind of happened is that I think some of these leagues are waiting to see,

does it get to a point where the NHL really says, okay, this is what we need and this is what we have to have. Because ultimately they've got the biggest stick. Like they can't technically tell other people what to do, like I'll tell you something, on Saturday night, I talked about how like the Canadian Hockey League was asked just to tone down the expansion rhetoric a little bit and some people from those leagues told me the NHL was like hey dial that back

down and some other people said to me the NHL feels they can't tell anybody to do that but it's the NHL if they really want something people are going to listen so I'm curious to see where all this is going to go because You know the NHL wants to get and the players association want a labor deal if they can't have it done by the Stanley Cup Final they're really hoping to have it done by you know Before next season so at some point in time, they're both going to weigh in here with this is what do we need. So I think we're all kind of waiting for them to go from more of a listener to, okay, this is what we're going to start to put together and we'll see what happens this week.

You know, with the meetings, like there's going to be breakout sessions, what they call breakout sessions, various smaller groups of general managers get together and we'll see what they come out with. And I think that, remember last year, there were a whole bunch of things that came out of this meeting. There were about six or eight different rule changes or slash ideas, and only a couple of them happened, right? So again, you know, the players have their say as part of the competition committee, how do they feel about all this? But I think what we're really going to see is when they get out of these breakout meetings on Monday, what do they push at?

Is there something like the coach's challenge is always a thing. There's always a thing about the coach's challenge. Like what happens there? We've talked a lot about overtime. Are they going to take a look at what happened at the Four Nations and say, hey, we'd like to go to seven or eight minutes of three on three. Obviously, the players have a huge vote in that. I definitely think the schedule is, and the compressed schedule like I know there's some players who started talking about this a bit more and it's a challenge. You know the the buildings are very busy like all these buildings are jammed with events.

They want to make as much money as they can out of them concerts other sporting events. It's hard to find enough days to play with all that scheduling. Now, one of the challenges is that ESPN, while they have the rights, that first week of October is wall-to-wall first round of the baseball playoffs. And ESPN- One more year.

Right. Well, don't they have the rights for three more years? Right, but also too, remember the news not too long ago that they're opting out after the conclusion of this season. Major League Baseball is from ESPN. You know what? I forgot about that. Thanks for reminding me, Kyle. Yeah. So maybe they could move it back because remember it used to start in the first week of October and it got pushed back when ESPN got involved. So the other option is they go even before that. But you know next week's going to be and maybe we start playing in the last week of

September and next year is going to be the Olympics. So again there's going to be some compression there. But I do think you know and I said this on Saturday night, too I had one manager who told me I'd love to get that for nations back in September But it was such a huge success. I don't know how you can do that So, you know, we'll see where it all goes but I Will see and maybe there's something that comes out of here that someone suggests that I don't see coming or we don't see coming But it really sounds like the GM's are gonna have a big voice in What is important to us and we'll find out on Monday morning

All right So we got that to look forward to over the next few days some other things to keep an eye on the network in terms Of hockey from a national perspective Tuesday night on Sportsnet one You can catch a Utah in Edmonton against the Oilers That's 9 Eastern 7 o'clock Mountain Time, Scotia Bank Wednesday night hockey this week Colorado Toronto a few weeks back on hockey night was a tremendous hockey game very great game the return affair in Toronto this time is this Wednesday So 630 Eastern pregame show with David Amber and company. And then at seven Eastern, four Pacific. Shortly after, we'll have puck drop

for the Leafs and the Avs. Couple of big games this week, amongst a whole host of others, as we march on towards the final few weeks of the regular season, with an eye on the Stanley Cup playoffs. What, just about a month away here now, as we sit and record this on Sunday evening.

Elliot, look forward to a few days in the sun with you down here in Florida for everybody else. Have yourselves a great week. I packed my speedo. Oh gosh, get me out of here. Sean Reynolds, you can cover this. I'm going home. Well after that image has been put in your minds, folks, that's your reward for sticking to the end of this episode. Have a great week. We'll talk to you Friday.