32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Game Of The Year

Episode Date: June 25, 2022

The series moves back to Tampa! Jeff and Elliotte break down game 5 (00:10) and the impressive performance from Andrei Vasilevskiy, players battling through injuries, and wonder if DJ Triple T should have played “All the Small Things” by Blink 182.They also discuss Barry Trotz’s decision to not pursue a coaching job this season (18:30), who the Jets might be looking at for their head coach position (22:40), reports that Luke Richardson will be the new head coach in Chicago (25:50), Sean Burke’s new role in Vegas (28:15), Patrice Bergeron returning to Boston (28:40), and Vancouver listening to trade offers for J.T. Miller (30:00).Check out the limited edition 32 Thoughts merchandise line HEREMusic Outro: OMBIIGIZI - Cherry CokeListen to our 32 Tracks playlist on Amazon Music. All the tracks you hear on this podcast during the playoffs are featured there.This podcast was produced and mixed by Amil Delic, and hosted by Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman. Production support by Mike Rogerson.Audio Credits: Altitude Sports Radio 92.5 FM, AM 970 WFLA and Sportsnet.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.

Tampa Bay staves off elimination again, and Andre Vasilevsky remains perfect going back to 2020. He's now 4-0 when facing elimination with the Tampa Bay Lightning, and Colorado has two more chances to get that fourth win in the best-of-seven series final score from Game 5, Lightning 3, and the Avalanche 2. So, Elliot, as we welcome everybody in once again final score from game five, Lightning 3 and the Avalanche 2. So Elliot, as we welcome everybody in once again to another edition of 32 Thoughts America alongside Friedman and Delitzsch, here's my question to you right away as we start this

podcast. How injured is your arm from patting yourself on the back? No, how dented are my mentions? And my phone's been abused a little bit as well, but we'll get to that. Don't worry. That's on the list of topics. I'm sure it is. By the way, just as a quick aside, I'm kind of expecting a phone call from Cabby or Andy

to see if they want me to join their betting segment on Hockey. I'm a little disappointed I don't have the call here now that I'm the master of the prop bet. Here's my question to you, Elliot. Did we just watch the game of the year? That's a great question. question to you, Elliot. Did we just watch the game of the year? That's a great question. When you factor in the drama, the excitement, the stakes, the controversy, comebacks, the crowd, everything around it, the presentation, did we just watch the game of the year?

Jeff, I think that's a great question. And obviously I would have recency bias on this one, but I can't think of any that was better. It was phenomenal. And I think to the anticipation of the home crowd, they're sitting here hoping and thinking they're going to win a Stanley Cup and they're going to witness it. The other thing about it also is we joke on this podcast. We have the phrase, you got Tampa'd.

And the other night tampa got tampa right yes and i think everybody in the building including i will admit myself was sitting there believing that that was going to happen again that when colorado tied it 2-2 they were just going to be too good and they were going to tamp the Lightning a second time in a row. That, I would say, contributed to it. I won't argue. I can't think of an alternate right now, but I'm not going to say no. I think you might have something good there. And here's why I bring it up, because I don't think it has to be the best played game to be the game of the year. Certainly that helps. There has to be a high level of skill. But to me, what makes a great game are certainly the quality of play. I think the crowd plays a huge part in

what goes into what the game of the year might be. And this thing had all of it. It had bad goals. It had good goals. It had magical plays. It had goofy, ugly goals, the likes of which that I delight in. Like it had a little bit of everything. And I'm telling you, man, the crowd made it because there were so many different emotions that that crowd went through. The more that I think about it, and I'm talking myself into it more as I talk to you here,

I think we just saw the game of the year. I really do. Now, Avalanche fans aren't thrilled by it, but if you just pull yourself back, you're trying not to have a dog in the fight, and you just look at the game and the whole event of this Friday night. I really think that was the game of the year for you.

I really do. I'll give it to you, Eric. Like I said, I use this when sometimes your ideas are decent. It's not as terrible as some of your other things. I want to give big credit to the Colorado crowd. So Dave and I in Tampa were in the bowl, but it's a bit more locked off from the crowd. This here in Denver,

we're right at the top of one of the sections. So we're kind of in the crowd and there's some standing room immediately next to me. That was the cutest baby stayed up the whole game. No way. It was right next to us tonight. They're fantastic here. They're really It was right next to us tonight. They're fantastic here. They're really good.

They were really hilarious tonight. And you could see it was one of those games where the intensity and the emotion was rising and falling with each puck that entered the Tampa zone or each puck that entered the Colorado zone. They were really into it and it just added to it. And I have to just take a brief time out and say one thing. Matthew Cogliano is a grade 5-6 general studies teacher at a school in Woodbridge, Ontario. And that's Andrew's brother.

I think it's Immaculate Conception. He told me, but I might be butchering that slightly. I think it's immaculate conception in woodbridge ontario actually i saw him at the end of the game with kevin and dave amber and his father was there too and we said are you guys going to tampa and andrew's dad is but matthew is not because school ends next week and he's like the school's been really understanding he's missed three days but he can't push it i say to the administration of this fine institution of our children to see andrew play 1100 games and get this shot at the stanley cup yeah you have to excuse matthew from being at

school this week he has to be able to continue this journey. And I would like to say that goes for any parent or relative who's getting a chance to see their child win a Stanley Cup. You have to excuse them from work. Those are my rules. Here becomes

the question then. We all know what an institution Hockey Night in Canada is and has always been in this country an institution Hockey Night in Canada is and has always been in this country. Does Hockey Night in Canada have the power to excuse someone from work next week? Yes. Regardless of whether they're in charge of instructing children or they're construction workers or they're doctors

or they're any field of work, does Hockey Night in Canada have that stroke? Let's test that, Elliot. Please send me a form letter, and I will sign it for you. That's fantastic. The crowd was great from the get-go, but the game was great from the get-go. And the first thing that I noticed,

and I think you mentioned this with David in the second intermission, every time the Avalanche left their zone, there was like a little pop. Yeah. There was a pop in the crowd every time they got possession of the puck and scrambled into Tampa's zone. Like the minute they left their own zone, there was an excitement.

Man, they were with it all three periods. I mean, it's tough not to when a game is that good. Here's what I thought was going to happen. This was going to be open the floodgates for the first 10 minutes for Colorado, and Tampa was going to have to just hold. But it wasn't that way. for the first 10 minutes for Colorado and Tampa was going to have to just hold. But it wasn't that way. Like right away, these were like two Rams that were just going at each other in game five and saying, we're just, we're going to do this for three periods.

I thought for the first time all playoffs, Colorado looked nervous. Really, eh? Yes. You can disagree if you wish. I just thought it was going to be the same thing. I thought they were going to be the same thing i thought they were going to come out like a house on fire they were going to pummel the lightning with pucks and vasilevsky was going to have to stand on his head for them to win the game i didn't think that

happened you know i texted a couple people that i knew were in the building i said do they look nervous to you and they go they said i don't know if nervous is the right answer, but they're not themselves. And they took two penalties early and Vasilevsky settled. And, you know, eventually they got going, but I haven't seen too many games this year where the Avalanche started that slowly, at least not since I've really been paying attention to them. I don't think they'll repeat that on Sunday in Tampa, even though the lightning will be the home team. I think the Avalanche are going to come in Tampa. Even though the Lightning will be the home team, I think the Avalanche are going to come out flying. If there's one thing they're going to regret for tonight,

it's that they didn't start and just bombard Tampa like they could have. Let me run through the goals here quickly. I want to know which one that you're most interested in. Yeah. Jan Ruda slap shot goes through Darcy Kemper. 1-0 Tampa. Now Jan Ruda joins the rush. Devontae is trying to get in his way. Ruda, slap shot goes through Darcy Kemper. 1-0 Tampa. Valery Nachushkin scores to make it 1-1. This is

after Andrzej Wasilewski bobbled the puck after a Cale McCarr shot. Shoot! Cale Wasilewski!bbled the puck after a Cael McCarr shot. Shoot, C. Wasilewski scored the rebound to Truskin. Because of that icing, the Avalanches tie the game. Nikita Kucherov scores on a power play, an absolute howitzer of a shot. Makes it 2-1 Tampa. Kucherov, Stamkos faked it again, back for Kucherov, lets it go, he scores. Kucherov, his first goal of the series.

It's a power play goal, and the fans will let you know how they feel. At that point, the power play with that goal was 2 for 17. We know that Tampa has struggled. Cale McCarr ties it up. Originally, we thought it was Valerian Nishushkin's 10th. Instead, it was given to McCarr. It goes off Chernak's skate, and we're all tied up at twos. Left circle.

Left point, Taves. Right circle, Makar. Makar. Shoot! Saved by Vasilevsky! Score in the rebound! It's in! And it's Nachushkin again! Andre Palat then scores, and puts it again through Darcy Kemper. Passes on the shot, now gets it back from Hedman. Sergachev, back for Hedman. Slides it in front. And they score. Boy, it's Palat.

Kemper got a piece of it. And it barely trickled across the goal line. 3-2 Tampa with 6.22 to go in the third period. 3-2. And that's the final. Which of these goals interested you the most tonight? To me, it's more of a trend, Jeff. Vasilevsky started this series poorly.

He's made 69 saves, nice, in the last two games. And the only goal that beat him cleanly was Cadres. Four of the five goals he's given up in the last two games have been greasy goals that only Jeff Merrick could win.

Oh, they're so beautiful. Goals that bounced in off two skates or three skates or whatever it is. I love those goals, Elliot, because that's what life is. That's exactly what life is. That's why I love those goals, but that's for another podcast.

I really don't like the sound you're making while I'm talking to you. That's why I love those goals. But that's for another podcast. I really don't like this sound you're making while I'm talking to you. It's really creepy. Hey, every time there's a nice goal, I can't tell how many people tweet me saying, are Elliot's nipples hard? So this is something that you've started here. I saw that tonight. I was laughing about

that. I'm looking at this and I'm saying the Avalanche, for all their great skill and talent, they had best Cholesky in the ropes earlier in the series yeah you remember the big debate we had at the end of game two do you take Vasilevsky out do you put in Brian Elliott and let him play yeah well with 20-20 hindsight right now he made a couple of huge saves at the end of that game when it was 6-0, 7-0. And I think that that got him going. It just got him back into his mojo, his better frame of mind.

And now they're not beating him clean. So when I look at the overall trend in this series, I see a goalie who is starting to be late-series Vasilevsky. And that's the most concerning thing for me for Colorado. There's one thing I want to say about Kemper. First of all, overall, I don't think he got enough credit in retrospect for the play he made on the winning goal in game four. Like that whole too many men controversy

was because Kemper made a great play that nobody was expecting. But tonight, he had a weird night. He made some really brilliant saves, and he gave up some freaking weird goals. You know what it reminded me of, to be quite honest? At the end of the game, I kind of said to myself, did we just see a Mike Smith game from Darcy Kemper? You know, Smith will make those saves that are incredible, and then every now and then a puck will just squeak by

him. A routine shot. That's what I thought at the end of it. I really hate calling it a Mike Smith game. I have a bias towards Smith. I'm not. No, hang on. I'm not saying it as a negative thing. You told me you hate Mike Smith and you have something personal against him. No, what I'm saying is, but this is the Mike Smith story though.

Like he can make these amazing incredible saves. And then for whatever reason, weird ones go in. Like that Jan Rudigold, that doesn't go in on Darcy Kemper. And I'm watching Kelly and Jennifer and Ron and Kevin have a big argument about that, about whether or not it hit the stick. And my reaction is, that thing is so far away, it shouldn't matter. And the third one, the winner winner was a weird one too because his stick kind of gets caught in his pads yeah which gives

palat room to score it was very weird so you know how much i like andre palat yeah and that andre palat goal that one looked to me like a brett goal. Brett Hall used to have a saying, sometimes the best way to be in the play is to be out of the play. And how Andre Palat was in a quiet area away from the play until he was in it. And then boom, suddenly the puck's in the back of the net. That's Andre Palat. That is an Andre Palat goal. It's I'm out of the play and then I'm in it and it's in the net. I just thought that it reminded me of a Brett Hall goal. Fade out, fade in score. That's how that goal went. It reminded me of Brett Hall. Okay, before we get to the Merrick prediction here, I would just like

to say one final thing about this game. Number one, we'll keep an eye on Chushkin. A couple of reporters said they saw him in a cart with ice on his knee. So we'll see if that's anything. Number two, I don't care what anybody says, the Lightning are a dynasty.

Win or lose this series, they're a dynasty. I'm sorry, they just are. Two cups, 11 series in a row tonight. And you watch right at the end of the game, McDonough slams his stick on the ice. And it was like, don't tell me that this doesn't mean anything to those guys to win this one. The look on the Lightning's face

the end of the game, like, watch Sorelli tonight. There's no way that guy can lift his arm over his head. He was struggling hard. He can't take face-offs. They took him off the power play. Stamkos and Paul took all their face-offs tonight. Just what an effort from

those two guys. I'm not taking this argument. The Lightning are a dynasty, and I don't care anybody who argues differently. You're just wrong. What was the prop bet I gave you on the radio show today? Too many men, Bentley. What did you think when it was called? I laughed my head

off. So did I. But you know, I told you I thought it was going. So did I. But you know, I told you, I thought it was going to be against Tampa. I thought they were going to say, okay, you wanted too many men. Bentley, here we go. Here you go, John. Here's your too many men on the ice for your lawyer press conference. Take that. Yeah.

It's like the opposite of old takes exposed, cold takes. I get one right every however many years. I'll just. It's a good call. I get one right every however many years. I'll just... It's a good call. I saw people tweeting it. It was right away and the mentions are getting dented pretty good. Jeff, I have one controversial take about the game tonight. Okay.

The Avalanche have excellent game day presentation, but I do think it's possible they lost tonight because all the small things was not played ah so you think they should do it regardless of whether they're winning or losing dj triple t did an article uh he's the dj obviously dj triple t he's the dj from the department of redundancy department i did an interview with Greg Wyshynski this week of ESPN

where he said it's not winning or losing. It depends on feel. And even though late in the game there were a couple of TV timeouts when the avalanche were down, I was sitting there with Dave Amber and I was expecting it during the commercial break because I thought with a crowd that wanted to have a civic orgasm,

it needed to be played tonight. It wasn't played. I don't like to criticize DJ Triple T because he does an unbelievable job there. So please accept this as only mild critique. I really thought it might have pushed the avalanche over the edge tonight. That's interesting because he obviously sees the song as more of a reflection as opposed to a direction and i think you get the crowd going by playing the tune and that gets the team going it can only help

and you know what it gets part of the assumed game day presentation too like who am i to critique game day presentations but here i go like i was critique game day presentations? But here I go. Like I was disappointed. I actually didn't hear it. But that's the thing. If you go to a Jimmy Buffett concert, what do you want to hear? Margaritaville. Jimmy Buffett knows that.

And sometimes he plays it twice during the show. He'll play it once. He'll play a bunch of other songs and then he'll play Margaritaville again. Because you know what, Elliot, the crowd wants to hear it. Give the people what they want. And I am people. Give me what I want. Can I give you something that I learned about media and entertainment really early in my career?

It's actually started even before my career began. It was when I was at University of Guelph. And I'll never forget my literary theory teacher, Miss Donna Penny Palmatier. She was an outstanding literary theorist and wonderful teacher. I can't remember the nature of the conversation, but she brought up this star-kissed tuna commercial. This taught me everything I needed to know about entertainment and media. There's, you know, the big fish and the little fish, the star-kissed tuna. Charlie is sitting there reading a book of Shakespeare. And the big fish comes by and says, Charlie, what are you doing? He says, I'm reading Shakespeare. If people think that I read Shakespeare, they'll think that I'm a

lot smarter and they'll like me more. The big fish looks at Charlie and says, Yeah, man, but Stockist doesn't want tunas with good taste. Stockist wants tunas that taste good. Elliot, as you're telling me this story about the music at Ball Arena, I'm thinking, people don't want tuna with great taste. They want tuna that tastes great. At the end of it, just play the song. It's what the people want oh i love the song and again i am not here to take a shot at a group that works extremely hard and extremely well i want to hear the song i didn't get to hear the song by the way you know what i thought you learned at guelph oh here we go what spell guelph g-w-e-L-F. Very nice, Elliot. Very nice. You know, Elliot, a lot of the news on Friday revolved around coaches.

I want to get to Luke Richardson here in a couple of moments, but up first, Barry Trotz and the decision that he is a no-go for coaching this season. As told to Tim Campbell at NHL.com, we know this about Barry Trotz. He's very much of the mind that if you're in for a penny, you're in for a pound. And if you can't do it 100%, you don't do it. And he's not 100% there. So, Elliot, he's not going to do it next season.

I still wonder if there's any chance that midway through the year, somebody tries to tempt him. Around Christmas or something after Christmas, does he have a change of heart in any way, shape or form? But I'm not surprised that that was his decision right now. I was talking to another coach today and he said to me, you know, if your heart's in it or not. Bruce Cassidy got about, you know, in the neighborhood of 20 million from Vegas. John Tortorella got around 16 to 18 million from Philadelphia. Those were the two teams that were really in on Trotz. I don't think money was going to be an issue in Winnipeg either.

I think they were quite prepared to do very well by Barry Trotz. And I think he could have done even better than those cases. But if you're being tempted with that kind of money and you can't say yes by June 23rd or whatever day this is, you're not in the right frame of mind to coach. And there's nothing wrong with that, it helps he's going to be paid this year by the islanders but he made the right decision for himself and his family which is number one on the list but he also did the right thing by the jets it's like when you drive are you speeding or are you not you're not half speeding right or of speeding. You're either in the game or you're not. And Barry Trotz was clearly not in the game. And one coach said to me today that among his peers,

as every day went by, they were more convinced he wasn't going to coach this year. If you can't say yes by now with all these teams chasing you, you're not in it. You're not in it. You're not in it. You know what my first thought was? What's that? I hadn't read the Tim Campbell piece at NHL.com before I heard the news. So my first thought was,

he's not going to coach, he's going to go into management. If he wants to do it, there's room for it in Nashville. And I do think some of these conversations were about a transition to management eventually. Look, the most money he was going to get, the biggest decision he had to make was coaching or not. The one I remember all the time is John Tortorella in Vancouver. John Tortorella thought he was coming back to the Rangers. The Rangers thought he was coming back to the Rangers. And then the exit interviews went

poorly and Tortorella was out. And that was a year in Vancouver where Vancouver was surprised at how hard it was to find their next coach. They interviewed Dallas Eakins. He chose Edmonton. They interviewed Lindy Ruff. He chose Dallas. They were having trouble finding a marriage. It eventually ended up on Tortorella. And I remember at the time thinking, this is not going to work because he's in shock and this is like a rebound relationship. And it didn't work. And it's not because John Tortorella is a bad coach. No one's going to say that. I think it's because he just was in shock and it wasn't in the right frame of mind. And I've always thought about that.

And Barry Trotz did a lot of teams, especially the Jets, a favor here. Because it wouldn't have worked. He wasn't in the right place. And I know there's going to be Jets fans who aren't happy about this. It's the right thing for now. 100%. I want to ask you about the Jets,

the team here in a couple of seconds, but now I think we all wonder who's going to be the coach then. It's not going to be Barry Trotz, Jim Montgomery, Scott O'Neill, Rick Talkett has talked to the team. Which way is the wind blowing now with the Winnipeg Jets?

Well, I heard a lot of very interesting things today. I think the Jets have done a lot of work on plan B. As in, if plan A doesn't work, what's plan B? I think Arneal has a legit chance. I think Pascal Vincent is in there. I've heard Tockett's name in there. I've heard Talkett's name too, and I've heard Montgomery's. I've heard the four of them.

Now, I believe they interviewed Kirk Muller as well, but I don't know if he'll be in their next round of interviews. Talkett is the only one there that doesn't have the Winnipeg connection. Arneal does, Vincent does montgomery does i've had a lot of conversations we talked on the pod i don't remember which one it was about why winnipeg thinks a connection to them is so important i was having some big debates today from people who were like it's time to break the mold and i don't. I still think Winnipeg feels you have to understand the city you're in.

And I think those guys with history, the Arneals of the world, that's going to be big for them. Do you think we can read anything into what the Winnipeg Jets plan to do this summer by way of player personnel based on who they hire as a coach? If they hire someone who's good working with kids, do we say, okay, some of the high-priced help is going to be on its way out? Do you think we read anything into this coach decision? No, I think that is potentially happening anyway. This is purely my opinion based on some of the stuff I've been hearing.

And it is that they felt that Shifley, Wheeler, Dubois were not all coming back. Now, Winnipeg would have control in a lot of those situations because those players have contracts or are restricted free agents like Dubois. But my sense was that all three of those guys were not coming back. And I don't think that's changed based on who is or isn't going to be the coach. As we talked last pod, I think there have been conversations about Wheeler, between him and the team, about its time. I think they always thought it was important because it's so hard to find centers. You know, Cobb is gone. One of Shifley and Dubois, if not both of them, were going to be staying. And now we know that Dubois

is kind of in a bit of no man's land although the jets have control in that situation you know i heard after shifley's media conference the jets worked really hard to sell him on the fact that we can make this work and shifley did not make a trade request so like i just look at it and say if you're the jets you can't go from having Shifley and Dubois to not having either of them. I don't think that that has anything to do with coaching. I think that just makes sense from a team building point of view. One of the more intriguing teams to follow around the NHL. Let me get to Luke Richardson.

And although nothing is official and nothing is completely done, set, put away, taken to bed, all of it. and nothing is completely done, set, put away, taken to bed, all of it. We expect the Chicago Blackhawks at some point to announce that Luke Richardson will be their next head coach. The question that I've had about Luke is the same one that you've had about Luke, and that's what took so long to get Luke behind a bench in a head coaching capacity? His name has been around for a while. He's been talking about, like, Luke Richardson's ready to take that next step.

I don't know if you have a thought on what took so long, circumstance, opportunity, who knows, but your thoughts on Luke Richardson now installed behind the bench, head coach of the Chicago Blackhawks. It's heading that direction. Well, there's a lot of happy people in the NHL because there's a lot of people who really love Richardson and family. You know, there are a lot of people who really think highly of him. He was a very popular teammate. He played well over a thousand games. He's just always been a guy that people have liked to have around.

And, you know, I really thought last year when he took over in the playoffs, when Ducharme was in COVID protocol, but that would bump him higher again. And it just really didn't happen. Chicago is going to lose a lot of games. They're rebuilding. They're going to need a teacher, somebody who is patient and will bolster the confidence of kids. That's Luke Richardson.

He's patient. He's calm. He's a teacher. Those have been his strengths. I'm not surprised in the least bit that that's what they're looking for. Not surprised at all. Do you have a thought on how deep this rebuild goes? How deep some of the decisions go with Chicago?

Deep, deep, deep undercover. Oh, that's a great pull from Beverly Hills Cop. Let's say you wonder what Luke Richardson's team is going to look like next year. Look, we know everybody's available, except the guys who have no trade clauses. It's going to be a long-term thing. Gary Galley, who we both work with the galleys and the Richardson's are tight. I texted Gary today. He didn't have a chance to talk to him,

but I know it was an emotional day for him and his family i'm happy for the galleys too because i know gary has wanted to see luke richardson get this chance for a long time absolutely that's part of this wonderful story and on a quick note sean burke news there frege yeah sean burke is going to head into um vegas i'm not sure if he's the goalie coach or he's going to run their goalie department, but I've heard that he's going into Vegas and Burke certainly knows his goalies and he's got a long attachment to that area of the country, having been in Arizona for a long time. So he'll make them better. There's no question about that. He knows his goalies.

Patrice Bergeron and the Boston Bruins, Elliot, as Joe McDonald reported, it sounds like it will be a one-year deal for Patrice Bergeron's return. And I would imagine that is the cause of much rejoicing around the Boston Bruins organization and certainly their fans. What can you tell us? Well, first of all, Joe McDonald, he knows his Bruins. And if he reports something, I believe it. The Bruins have not confirmed it yet, and neither have Bergeron's representatives. I think it shows the great respect people have for Bergeron that no one's going to say anything until he's good and ready

and he's on vacation this week. So from what I understand, they're going to meet next week when he comes back from vacation, ostensibly to finalize this. But that's a big W for the Bruins, who've had a really difficult offseason, to say the least. That's a big, big win for Boston. And it's great for all of us because we want to see Bergeron play. And what that says to me is that this whole idea that the Bruins are rebuilding,

they're not rebuilding. They're going to try to hold their heads above water while everyone gets healthy, but they're going to compete. Bergeron's not coming back if they're rebuilding. And so that's a good sign. I assume we'll get more clarity next week. The other one I wanted to mention was JT Miller in Vancouver. The other one I wanted to mention was JT Miller in Vancouver. And Nick had a story today that they're fielding offers. I just don't understand why there were some people who were kind of surprised. I don't understand how anybody could think it isn't going that way.

It's going to be a hard deal to get done. I think there's going to be a lot of interest, whether a team wants to sign Miller or not he's coming off a hell of a year and I think we're all pretty much under the opinion is if Miller continues to ask for as big a possible contract and why shouldn't yeah after the season he just had it's probably not going to be in Vancouver now I mentioned earlier this week about Washington. I think Washington's going to be fascinating now that, you know, Backstrom is out here and what that's going to mean for them and their plan. I think there's quite a few teams kicking around Miller

and I just don't understand why at this point anyone would be surprised that Vancouver's talking to other teams about them. Because barring a change in philosophy either way, I think most of us right now don't think there will be. It just doesn't seem that what was a really good marriage is going to be able to last. I share the same view as you do, which is I refuse to believe that this team or any team for that matter wouldn't have a backup plan should they be unable to sign a player. Especially right now when the Vancouver Canucks,

I mean, what have we been saying from day one about Vancouver? What's job number one for Jim Rutherford and Patrick Alvin? Cap space. Yeah. Job number one, get space, get flexibility so they can start to put together what this next version of the Vancouver Canucks is going to look like. I don't know why people reacted to it the way that they did.

Listen, this name was out there and teams were talking and inquiring about JT Miller trade deadline. Why should now be any different? Yeah. Okay. So you have to get your sleep and then get on a plane

because you're going back to Tampa, Elliot. And taking us out today is Ambigaze, collaboration between Zune, that's Daniel Monkman, and status non-status Adam Sturgeon, who explore their cultural histories through sound. They recently released their debut album, Sewn Back Together, a record produced by Kevin Drew,

a broken social scene, and recorded in the iconic Bathhouse studio. That's the, for lack of a better term, the tragically hip studio, folks. They're also on tour this summer from their Polaris Music Prize-nominated album. Here's Ambigazi with Cherry Coke on 32 Thoughts, the podcast. Still I wonder where you go

Still I wonder Where I go Hills I roam Still I wonder Where you'll be Still I wonder Where you'll find Stay beside The cherry core

The cherry core The Cherry Cone. The Cherry Cone. The Dario.