32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Gear We Go Again

Episode Date: December 1, 2025

In this episode of 32 Thoughts: The Podcast, Kyle Bukauskas and Elliotte Friedman begins with dedications to Kevin Dineen and Carla MacLeod following their cancer diagnoses. Kyle unpacks Matthews and McDavid’s surprising equipment switches (5:00). They break down Auston Matthews snapping his goal drought in a 7–2 win over the Penguins (10:00) and debate who should claim the final two spots on Canada’s Olympic roster (23:27). The guys revisit the growing Ducks–Blackhawks rivalry (25:59), the questionable calls involving Bedard and Quinn Hughes, and why younger NHL stars need more leeway from officials (28:41). They hit on Mike Matheson’s new five-year deal in Montreal and the shrinking defence UFA class (34:13), Edmonton’s stance on upgrading from Stuart Skinner (43:03), Doug Armstrong’s aggressive work in St. Louis (47:22), and an incredible play from Kyle Palmieri (49:18). Plus, thoughts on Dan Vladar’s strong run in Philadelphia (56:18), Vancouver’s roster questions (57:12). The final thought focuses on how this year’s condensed schedule is grinding players down (1:02:06).Kyle and Elliotte answer your emails and voicemails in the Thoughtline (1:09:25).Today we highlight Calgary based band BETABOYS and their track Alone in Paradise. Check them out here.Listen to all the 32 Thoughts music here.Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call the Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemail.This podcast was produced and mixed by Dominic Sramaty and hosted by Elliotte Friedman & Kyle Bukauskas.The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates

So McDavid, his last game, first one, with the Bauer stick, one goal, one assist, shut out victory. What do you think the chances are he changes that stick after that performance? I would say there was a greater chance of your Vikings putting up points on Sunday. Welcome to 32 Thoughts, the podcast. Dom, Elliot and Kyle with you. It's a new month. It's a new episode. And before we get any further, Elliot, two people in particular, we wanted to shout out off the top.

Yes, first of all, Kevin Deneen, November is hockey fights cancer month through the NHL and the NHLPA, 27th season of doing it. and there are a lot of great stories and there are a lot of sad ones that we hear over the past month and really love how the entire league rallies around people like nobody is untouched by this no player no executive no staff member no coach no fan nobody and i think it's really special how people rally around those who need support. And on Sunday, Kevin Deneen, who played 1,188 games, 355 goals. I remember him most on those Hartford-Waler teams. Weir had a couple of 40-goals seasons playing with Ron Francis, later the head coach of the Florida Panthers and a longtime American Hockey League head coach

announced that a few months ago he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. One of the things I liked most about Kevin as a coach is that in one of his first meetings when he was running the Florida Panthers, he basically told them we are never going to dive. He was anti-diving and we are not going to be a team that has a reputation for diving.

I think I mentioned this every time, Evan Deneen's name is brought up. So I always like that about him because if there was less diving, I think the NHL would be a better place. So Kevin, who spent his entire life in hockey and his dad, Bill, was a player and coach. Just want to wish him all the best as he goes public with his diagnosis. Kyle? Yeah. Also, Carla McLeod, who's the head coach of the Ottawa charge of the PWHL.

She's also going to be the head coach of Chequia, the women's national. team of the upcoming Milan Olympics, she also happened to share on Sunday afternoon that she's been diagnosed with breast cancer. Fortunately, she won't have to miss much time behind the bench as she goes through treatment to take care of everything there. I think she's doing some media after the charges practice on Monday. So yeah, we're thinking of her. We're thinking at Kevin. And Carla, of course, whenever she speaks, whatever she's talking about, she's got your because there's so much behind anything she's putting out into the world. You can't turn away when she's at the microphone.

She's got that kind of pull. So we're thinking of both of them and wanted to mention the two of them and everyone else. As we wrap up Hockey Fight's Cancer Month and turn the page here to December. Okay, Elliot, December the 1st, 29 years ago today, Wayne Gretzky became the The first, and only, player to record 3,000 points, regular season and playoff combined. And, of course, when you think of at least the second half of Gretzzi's career, it's Wayne and that Easton aluminum two-piece stick. That was the calling card of the Gretzky aesthetic along with the tuck and the helmet and everything else. Move into the next generation.

Joe Sackick, the Easton Synergy, the Sackettuk, the most iconic one of the bunch. being used by young hockey players today, though it's under a different name. And now into this new generation, though there's a lot more interchanging with equipment we see among players because the accessibility is there, when the biggest names in the game change something, it is news. So. And Matthews, people have been all over Matthews in the last couple of weeks. They've noticed he's made changes, right?

Yes. because his deal, he's been a long-time CCM athlete. That came to an end in the summer. And now he's been playing around. He's got Bauer Gear now. He had been playing around with a couple of different brands. I think even in the off-season, there were some images during training camp

with some other equipment he was testing out. But since coming back from injury, it's like the old days when he first came into the league the first couple of years. He's an all Bauer guy again. Skates, though we quietly use the game. those last season. The gloves, the helmet, the stick. He scores on Saturday.

So that was one thing. It was news, but we're going, we've seen Matthews go all Bauer before. Meanwhile, earlier that day, Connor McDavid, Mr. C-CM, busts out a Bauer stick in the game against Seattle. He also scores and talk about a guy

that's a creature of habit. He would be near the top of that conversation among players around the league. So the Matthews one was one thing, but seeing Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers using something other than a CCM stick in a game on Saturday. Now, there is a belief that years ago, he briefly toyed with Bauer stick-wise. Anyway, it was still something to see over the weekend. I give you a lot of credit for this because you're a real gear geek.

You really notice these things and you're very into it. I don't see them. I got to say, I've got a buddy, too, that I go to, he sees them like a hawk. And I go to to verify a lot of things. So he's the operations in behind the curtain. I just need to put that out there. Okay. Well, that's good of you to share credit.

So who deserves the credit for noticing McDavid? Is it you or your buddy? So it's funny. I was in Edmonton last week, right, as we talked about. Yep. And they practiced. I went into the dresser, Matthews to talk to a couple of players.

On my way out, I couldn't help but stare at the stick stalls. Be nosy? Yeah, naturally. Of course. I stand there with Tony Brar, and we noticed in McDavid's stall, there was like an old Bauer 1X light stick. Like that's an old model, Elliot. Like, it may as well be an Eastern ultralight at this point. It is an antique.

Yeah. Like the fact that it was still, so I was like, well, that's kind of interesting. but he didn't practice with it that day and then a few days later my buddy Connor sends me a note to say he's got a bower stick in practice

and then we saw it in the game and he flagged that for me again and he goes he's using it it uh so congratulations friend of Kyle and thank you for the tip yeah so I don't know what this all means

I don't know if he's going to continue to use it but I just thought it was it was noteworthy. And as I've said before, there was a large section of the hockey fan base that live and breed this stuff. So I thought it was worth pointing out off the hop here today. Friedman. First of all, good eyes, great pickup.

So McDavid, his last game, first one, with the Bauer stick, one goal, one assist shut out victory what do you think the chances are he changes that stick after that performance i would say there was a greater chance of your vikings putting up points on sunday very good very good hey mccarthy's getting slandered i'm team mccarthy first full year I'm not giving up too soon. I do admire you're sticking with it with him. Yep. Absolutely.

Very interesting. Very interesting that. Great catch there. As everybody was looking at Matthews, you saw McDavid. They're two of the game's biggest players. Everything they do equipment-wise makes news. Okay, you were in Pittsburgh.

You had nightmare travel home. How long was your travel? day, 16 hours, 17 hours? Yeah, something like that. It's all good. As you know, it's what we sign up for. Yes. Some days it goes beautifully. We knew the rules going in.

So you flew Calgary, Denver, Pittsburgh, right? On Friday, yes. And you were supposed to go home the same route? I was coming back through Chicago. And you ended up going Pittsburgh, Chicago, Toronto, Calgary, right? Yes. End up having an extra stop after Mississippi. the connection through everything out of whack.

That's okay. Tough break. But a rare laugher for the Maple Leafs, they needed that. They needed that. They needed an easy W. What did you see around the rink on Saturday? So it was just interesting listening because neither team skated in the morning. There was a few extra guys for Toronto, Nylander being one of them.

And we were wondering if he was going to play because he was sick. the day before. Of course, he does play. But they just did a little bit of media in the afternoon, a couple hours before the game. And just listening to the Toronto guys, both players and coach, to a man, it was they had acknowledged that the confidence level was not there. And that's always something because it's something for us to look from the outside and say they don't look like a confident group.

it's not too often the players themselves share that, admit it, to say, yeah, we're just not a very confident group right now. So when you hear that, you're like, well, what is that all going to mean for tonight? And I thought they were an opportunistic team on Saturday. I'm sure Arthur Shilov would have loved a couple of doovers on some of the chances, a couple of breakdowns for Pittsburgh. but you know Toronto capitalized and to your point like it was a second half of the game that didn't really feel in doubt for the Maple Leafs and they haven't had many games maybe one or two others this year that felt anywhere close to that so Matthews post game he wasn't looking at it as a sire relief or any cathartic release for the group but it was just something you could tell that that was needed. because as you talked about on headlines on Saturday, too, it had become a very heavy week around Toronto. And depending on what happens down in Florida later this week,

I mean, the narrative can all change again, but at least for that group, a brief reprieve with that result on Saturday. Were you the guy who asked Nylander about his illness and he said nothing you need to be concerned about? Because you are kind of nosy. Yes. I can be nosy with some things, but that one, that one I left alone. So we've established that, wasn't you? We spent a bit of time on Friday talking about

Nylander and Baroube and their relationship as it is. And you said that Baroube was really good talking about that on Saturday in the pregame. So what did you learn? Well, I think he still thinks very highly of the player and the person, right? And he's talked about, he goes, I lean on him for a lot of stuff. Hockey-wise, he suggests, like, they talk life stuff. Like, it's not like the only time the interactions between the two are on the bench during the game. I think there's a much deeper relationship there, judging by what he's saying. that for him, I think just the issue is players that maybe give up on certain plays

and certain situations, you can imagine a guy like Craig Berube, that drives him nuts. He won't accept that. He drives him crazy. So as brilliant as Neelander can be in certain times, and I think even the coaches said, he's one of if not the most talented player he's ever coached before and he's coached a lot of guys over his time but he cannot stand the idea of a player given up on a play in certain situations so I think when we've seen those instances multiple times this year where he's getting pretty heated towards Nielander on the

bench in between shifts I oftentimes that's the root of the problem and that's what he's trying to break him out of. All right. I don't want to talk about this too much more because we talked a lot of Lees recently and I do want to talk about some other teams. That play he made the setup count. And that was just an all world play. It was incredible.

So on Friday, it's just funny. Like I say this to people all the time. You never know in this day and age what you say and where it's going to go and what's going to go viral and what isn't. It's very much social media is very. much the mob and you don't control the mob, especially when it grabs onto. But I got a couple

calls about it, Kyle, about the whole Amazon thing with Nealander and the Leaves and the NHLPA and the agent a couple years ago. And those of you who missed it, in the all or nothing show,

I mentioned that there was an argument where the Leaves, Neelander's agent, and the PA fought to get something removed because they felt it made them look bad. And a couple of people called me to say, you have most of the story right, but there's a couple of things that you should correct. And I said, okay, what is it?

And they said, it wasn't quite that. Apparently there was a battle between William Nealander and Sheldon Keefe over a play, a reed that Nealander made. And Keefe was telling him that he did it wrong, and Neelander was arguing, no, I did it right. And it was in this particular case, the Leaves didn't want Neelander fighting back against Keefe. They were trying to protect Keefe in this particular case. And Neelander apparently was okay with it as long as it showed both sides, like the Keefe dressing down and, and and the Nielander snap back, and there was a debate over whether or not it would all be included. And at the end of the day, it was decided if all of it wasn't going to be included, none of it was

going to be included. And that was the decision at the end. So I don't know if this is going to go viral again, but since I brought it up, a couple people reached out and saying there was one thing that you had that was not correct, and you should probably changed the record. So I figured I would. I do think generally though the Maple Leafs have been very protective of Nylander, but this was a case where it was more like they were being more protective of Keefe. So there you go. It was wild to me how viral it went because we've discussed this before, but it just shows you you never know what people are going to pick up on.

Okay, one more thing about the weekend in Pittsburgh. So I'm walking around the city a bit on Saturday and a thought popped into my head. When the time comes... Yeah, I was like, what is this? When the time comes that inevitably a statue of Sidney Crosby is erected out front of that building, what pose do you think they go with? The easy one is him with the cup over his head. But he's got like, you think of the Sid's stance or the walk down the tunnel.

it's different from many but even like just how he is on the ice like his stride is unique I thought about remember his rookie year when they went into Philadelphia and like Darian Hatcher

roughed him up a bit and then he scores the winner and overtime and there's blood coming down his mouth and he's got his arms up with the game on his stick yes

like a great call Mike Emmerich really good anyway what's what's the pose going to be cup over the head is the easy one yeah can't go wrong with that is there here's something for you would you ever want to see them put up a statue of Crosby and Malkin together

like is there a moment for both of from both their careers together where you would say let's put them up at the same time I wouldn't have a problem with that. I mean, there's a great picture of them, I think after 2016, no, 17, when they won the back-to-back Stanley Cup. And they're both kissing either side of it. They're holding the cup together. I think that is a great statue. A great statue. You'd also like to see Sid as a standalone, too.

Nothing against Evgeny Malkin, but I like, I would just say if it was me and I did as much together, like to me, Crosby is the 1A, right? He's slightly above Malkin simply because, you know, he was the standard bear. He was the one who had to answer all the questions. He was the one who was always visible. You know, there were times Malkin, he wasn't as visible. He didn't need to be because Crosby took all that responsibility, right? Mm-hmm. But if I was Crosby, and he might not feel this way, I don't know.

But if I was Crosby and you came to me, I would say, let's do it together. We did this together. Hmm. You could also do, you think of right at the end before they walk out, right? Because Malcolm goes last, like the little handshake and. head tap like that a little think of a freeze frame

of that would look pretty cool you could do something really creative you could do them walking out onto the ice them that little head tap them kissing the side of the Stanley Cup that's why you got options that's why I was thinking a little bit about

See the way I look at it we have just solved a problem for the penguins we have told them how they're going to honor their guys. Now they just have to pay for someone to do it. So I think we deserve a quarter of the fee. Yeah. And who do we call for that? GM Kyle Dubus or new mayor, Corey O'Connor? You're going to call them on one phone. I'm going to call them on another phone and you're going to stand up there and hold two phones together. Whoever thought of that, that was a great idea. So good. Excellent delivery.

All right. Who do you think has more power in Pittsburgh? Kyle Dubus or the mayor? Dubus is a better contract. Yes. Yes. Yeah, I don't, I don't know my U.S. municipal politics fall in that. They don't make what Dubis is making.

I can tell you that. No, no, no. Anyway, that was a lot of fun. So that was the story in Pittsburgh. And again, we spent a lot of time also on Oilers the goaltending situation last pod, so we don't need to rehash all of it. But is there anything you would like... Before we get there, I did want to mention we're talking about sort of like equipment

and gear and stuff like that. Oh, yes. Did you see the Dallas Stars Star 99 jersey? Oh, it's been everywhere. Yes. Just making sure, you know, you're busy. Tough travel day. You're busy.

My Ottawa senators were playing them Sunday night, so I had to watch. That's right. Right. Boy, that was a beatdown. You could tell that was the end of Ottawa's road trip. They were, they had one eye. They had one eye on their beds. They had a couple of rough giveaways and they had a bit of a rough night. And Dallas's power plays number one in the league.

Wyatt Johnson's got a thousand power play goals already. And they took advantage of them. But that star, 99 jersey. I heard that on Friday, when it first became available and they had lineups outside their team store, apparently that was the best-selling one-day Jersey day in the NHL history. League history. Yeah. Not like Starz's franchise history.

League history. They set a record. Wow. Yeah. Wow And I watch that game pretty closely on Sunday Good TV That jersey pops

Yes It is very Play-by-play friendly Mm-hmm Not all of them are unfortunately No one is Yeah I'm really glad they brought that logo back

I've always loved that one So are their fans, obviously, because they gobbled them up. Well, I mean. Like smarties. Speaking from experience? Yes. Like right before the podcast experience. So the way I look at it, and we just mentioned Wyatt Johnston.

Wyatt Johnston, Bo Horvett, Mark Schifley, Nick Suzuki, Macklin Celebrity, Conor Bedard, Tom Wilson, for two spots. That's kind of the way I see it. It's crazy. Wilson, two goals on Sunday, a force. You know who else I think is on the long list, Kyle, is Jacob Chikrin. You think? Yep.

Like, I mean, he's played well enough. I just... Winning goal against him. Toronto on Friday I think he's on the long list the tough thing for me is is that I think Canada really liked their D right they really like their D they had injuries those guys played well we know Schaefer got added to the list but I was watching Chickren and I said he's got to be in the conversation and apparently he is these are going to be tough decisions but

think about that four group Wilson Johnston Horvats Shifley Suzuki Celebrini Bedard for probably two spots maybe three maybe and do you think

there's just not a big enough resume for a guy like Morgan Geeky yet I don't think so like he's playing great great 20 goals friend of the pod

John Davis I think He said nine of Geeky's goals are Boston's first of a game. Oh, wow. Yep. He opens scoring for them. He gets them going. But look at that group. Like, look who's going to be, look who's not going to, listen to that in those names and realize who's not going to make the team.

I don't envy them. And that was the 13th forward was the last decision of the four nations roster for Canada. That was their last pick. Last decision. So does that mean the 14th is going to be the toughest one this time? Yeah. It feels that way. So you didn't get a chance to see much of Chicago Anaheim on Sunday, eh?

Thankfully, I had the live TV going on the plane. So I saw a lot of it. And I'm sitting there, Elliot, thinking, is this, do we get this like for the next decade like is this what this is going to be now when these teams play that is exactly what i was thinking to do we get a decade of this and they don't like each other very much they were going after badard and badard was given it right back to them at the end of the game he's saying oh mason mctavish and i we're good buddies we used to be roommates hey man i like to poke my friends and i like to make my friends crazy

but they didn't look too close at the end of that game No, I mean, that's when you know you've got competitors when you've got the history but in the moment none of it matters that was thrilling to watch

It was great hockey It was Anaheim will be annoyed They'll be mad about blowing that one I have to say one thing though about Bedard I heard was pretty interesting A couple people who who know Bedard better than I do, who kind of were around his orbit when he was growing up

and coming through the ranks in Vancouver, they saw that game on Sunday, and they said he never used to really talk too much. Like he was a quiet, he was quiet. Hmm. And they said that it's really fascinating to watch him more, Mothy is a negative connotation. I don't mean it that way, but more, they say that he's more verbal than they ever saw him now.

And I wonder if it's just, you know, his whole level of play has changed with the workouts he took this year. Like he's obviously a much different and much better player now. I wonder if it's just an overall attitude change from him. Last year, some of the shots he took, things like that. Yeah, because he's never been questioned like that, I would imagine, at any other point, and certainly not to that degree publicly, where it was everywhere. I got some texts on Sunday from people saying that that was a step for him. They hadn't always seen the way that he fought back and barked back. And it was interesting because, as I mentioned on Saturday night,

I got a call from a player after the penalty that Quinn Hughes took. So Quinn Hughes got a penalty against San Jose on Friday. And this is a guy who doesn't play for Vancouver. And he said it really bothered him, really bothered him. And he said the Bedard won a week ago where he got like hooked on the breakaway and got a and got an unsportsman like conduct penalty. He called and said, you guys have to talk about these plays. This is not right. And I really agree with him on the Hughes one, and I mostly agree with him on the Bedard one.

The Hughes one, for those of you who see it, he gets the pocket. He tries to cut to the slot against San Jose, and he gets hooked or held or whatever you want to call it. And apparently he said bleeping hold or bleeping slash or whatever he said, and the arm went up and the play went all the way down to the other end of the ice, and he got the penalty. And, you know, I asked around, and a lot of people didn't like that penalty. Like just did not like that penalty. They felt that like a star player who is the captain of his team and one of the best players in the league deserves a much wider birth than that. And the one thing I tried to do was call around and ask, did Hughes say something else that was over the line?

And I found no evidence that he did that. So I didn't like that he got that call. I don't like that at all. The Bedard one, I didn't like either. I did have some people who say to me, and I did ask one referee about it, and he said that if you watch the end of that Bedard play, he could have peeled off,

but he goes right to the ref. There is some contact, and he stands there and looks right at him. And he said, there are some officials. If you were to pull like every referee, you would get a closer to 50-50 split on who would call that, and who wouldn't because there is some contact and he gets right in his face. I mean, I was like, eh, I still don't know that I buy it, Kyle. I look at it like it's a breakaway, it's late in a tie game.

The next day after that happened, there was another game, exact scene play, and we got a penalty shot out of it. And if I had seen, if I was badarden, I'd seen the next day, I'd be throwing my hands up and saying, are you kidding me? Like, that's the exact same play that I didn't get a call on. So I disagree with this. I think, but I understand why Bedard reacted the way he did. But, again, I will say just equal time, that there was a referee who pointed out that

the way he made some contact, it was going to be a problem for some guys. I just think overall in general, you know, BX made a good point. He said that young guys have to work hard to get that respect. But he said the whole league is young now, and the young players are stars quicker than ever, and the officials might have to adjust to this. I just think that these games are so competitive and this season is so compressed. And we're going to talk about the schedule in a little bit that these guys are going out night after night in already hugely critical games in a tight schedule.

They have to be given more slack than that. especially the best players if they say something that's over the line give them the penalty you should not have to face abuse or anything like that but i don't know hughes from what i could tell no chance he deserved a penalty there and i'm still not convinced that badar did either we shouldn't be penalizing these guys for for being hyper competitive and saying come on or bleep this about and miss calls. Like, it's not worth the penalty. And then that, unfortunately, that whole Vancouver San Jose game, like, devolved after that

because you could tell, like, I don't know if it was because, oh, we feel we owe them a makeup call or whatever, but it just kept going back and forth and back and forth and threw the whole game off. You got to have a long leash with these guys. No abuse, but not soft on sportsmen like penalties either. And in the Bedard case, it was a younger referee, less experience in that spot. So you wonder if that plays a role in his decision making. And also, too, like I remember, I know I'm not comparing the two levels here.

But as a kid, I went to like an umpire clinic. It's like umpire minor baseball. I remember the umpire telling everybody, like no matter what, under no circumstances, do you let a coach or do you let a player show you up? like there's zero tolerance for that and so that's why I wonder the Boudard one though I don't love it I wish there was a penalty called on the breakaway attempt to begin with the fact that as you say there's the stop

contact I don't think it was really on purpose but the fact that there was the stop there it was like I can understand as a younger referee you're going this guy's showing me up he stopping looking at me going you didn't make that call and I don't love the whole situation I'm with you on that too Elliot but In trying to understand the psychology of it all, my mind went to that a little bit. Don't disagree.

All right. Another thing, Elliot, just to rewind a couple of days, shortly after our Friday pod dropped, the news came out that the Canadians and Mike Matheson had come to an agreement on a five-year deal, $6 million per. Good number for the teen, good number for the player. Matheson will be 32 years old when that deal kicks in. So there's another guy for the Canadians locked up over the. the next little while. Their defense is really coming together in terms of the outlook for the

future, by the way. Everywhere else, when you consider the UFA class, we've talked about some of the big forwards that have already come off the board, and now for those looking at UFA potentially to add on their blue line come next summer, fewer and fewer options available, at least those a little bit younger, Elliot. Yeah, I was looking at this. So Matheson, I'm not surprised at all that he got re-signed. Montreal kind of had to say to him, it's similar to Adam Lowry, right? Adam Lowry wanted to stay a jet. The Jets wanted Adam Lauer to stay, but they had to go through a process first,

and Kyle Connor had to go ahead of him, just the way the puzzle pieces were all going to fit. Montreal, once Noah Dobson dropped on their lap, he was going first, and Lane Hudson was going second, and then they could get to Matheson. And I don't think that's always easy. I think you want to feel like you're the top guy or your high priority, but sometimes you have to get told, hey, we've got to fit this, this, and this in before we can do you. And I think this was a case where it really helped with Matheson that Kent Hughes used to be his agent. because Ken Hughes could say, hey, I've been with you a long time.

I've always taken care of you. You've gotten a big deal and you just have to trust me. And ultimately, Matheson did that. He trusted him and it came through. And one of the things I think the Canadians wanted was, I think the Canadians wanted to do deferral with Matheson, but obviously it didn't happen in time. So that was taken off the table. But once they got Hudson done, I think Keynes took a bit of a break, took a deep breath after the intensity of that negotiation, and obviously got this done rather quickly.

It's a great deal for him. It's a great deal for them. It's a bad thing for everybody else who was looking for a defenseman this summer without trading for them. Like, I'm looking at the free agent class. Like a lot of these guys are in their mid to late 30s. Like, look at this group. So John Carlson is 36. I think people are kind of wondering,

is he even going to want to leave Washington? And so we'll see how this will play out. Ryan McDonough is 36. And I'll say this, I would not be surprised at all if Ryan McDonough is extending in Tampa Bay. Like I think he wanted to go back there after Nashville. I've heard he wants to play.

and to me, I would not be surprised at all if he ends up staying there. Ben Chirot is 36, Radco Gudis is 36, Trevor Van Rimsdyke is 35, Jacob Trubas having a great year is 33, Conor Murphy is 34, Jamie Alexiak is 34, Brett Kulak, who's had a rough year, but I think is a very good player. and I'll say this with Kulak, I do wonder if the contract is playing havoc with his head. I haven't spoken to him, and I admit that I'm saying this from three provinces away, and I don't know for sure, but there's, like, he's not, the way he's played this year is not Brett Kulak.

He's a really good player, and I can't help but wonder if that's affected him. He's 33, Carson Sousy is 32. Like, there's a lot of guys here that you're looking at, looking at and you're saying some of these guys are really good players who can help us you're maybe a bit nervous about giving them term right so if you're looking for a short stopgap kind of situation one of those players could be your guy if you want someone for a bit longer you're not so sure now rasmus anderson he's 30 then you've got jeremy lozahn is 29 Logan Stanley is 29.

And there's a couple really interesting ones at 28. Mario Ferraro, Andrew Peek, and right now the only thing that can stop Andrew Peake is boards and glass snatching his helmet. Did you see that highlight? Yes. That was the weirdest thing. In warm-up? Yes. But that was in warm-up.

Like, geez, that was in the game. How does that happen in the game? It's just a wild highlight. you know how someone sent me that and said you have to show this on hockey night so we did that is crazy and i'll tell you who's a really interesting player too and we mentioned him briefly in the last pod is sam malinski but i could see colorado locking him up at least trying to uh sam malinski is a pretty good young player. He's, well, he's a little bit older now.

He's going to be 28, but he's relatively inexperienced by NHL standards, but I really like his game. But I'll tell you, watching Matheson coming off the board, if you're looking, if you're somebody with a defenseman to trade this off-season,

I think you're going to be in great shape. Great shape. There's not a lot out there. No, there's not. And I mean, you're seeing some more examples you mentioned McDonough Brent Burns is still doing it in Colorado this year

guys playing well into their 30s and still being effective players but it's just obviously the term is not going to be there so for teams trying to project out four or five years down the line the UFA class may not be the place to do it

when looking at their defense this is where I would love to be an agent because part of your job is gingerly walking the line without tampering to see like I'm just going to pick one of these guys let's let's pick Jamie Alexiak okay 34 years old your job out there is to figure out what can he get on the market what's Seattle offering and what can you get out there what's the market for him at age 34.

There's a scarcity that helps. There's definite NHL ageism that hurts. Like that's your job right now. What's my guy's market? What am I preparing him for? There's a whole bunch of guys here like that. Right.

Like, like Radco Gutus, captain of the Anaheim Ducks. Like, I thought it was really interesting last week. He had some good quotes. He really protected Mintukov. He said, hey, that's out there. This is, this is in here. Like, that's a leader.

That's a good leader. What's Gudd's market? Maybe he doesn't want to go anywhere. Maybe it just says, make the deal in Anaheim for whatever. But it's your job now to figure out. 36 years old, still plays hard, lot of mileage on that body. What's the market?

Because that's part of the equation for a lot of guys at this stage of their lives, too, right? For a lot of guys now under their 30s, good number of them. They've got young families. Maybe they've been somewhere for a long time. Do we really want to uproot at this stage? Why would you want to leave Anaheim right now if you didn't have to? Great place to live. Totally.

Team going in the right direction. You're going to be playing meaningful games for years. It makes the market shrink a little bit. Like my shirts after I put them in the laundry. Cold wash, not hot, Elliot. How many times I have to tell you? All right. Sorry, Edmonton, Elliot.

Yes. Just because, not to rehash at all, but you had talked about it a little bit again on headlines on Saturday, Stuart Skinner, big shout out in Seattle, anything to add in the Edmonton goalie conversation. Yeah, I just think. that they, they disagree with our hypothesis, Kyle, and their actions indicate that.

Like we said, and I talked about, you know, maybe it's just time. It's time for Skinner. It's time for everyone just to move on. Now, the one thing I didn't talk about on Saturday night, because I just didn't have the time, is I had some people who said to me, do not be surprised that they would not be surprised if Edmonton does not make any. decisions like in goal or major decisions until the end of the year. They get through the year and then they make major decisions based on how everything's going. And I'll tell you this. I had some teams that said to me they don't believe that is true. They think that Edmonton

will continue to look and as something they like comes, they will do it. They won't just punt on the season or say, we can't do this now. but they do agree that their stance didn't change, which is no lateral move. Like I just think, and we kind of talked about this, they are not, even with everything that happened last week, they are not going to trade Skinner for a guy

who they feel has the same questions as Skinner. They don't believe with their limited assets that that makes any sense for them, and they won't. do it. And the other thing I was reminded, too, is Skinner's cap number is smaller than a lot of goalies. With Edmonton's situation, you have to probably take on money if you're doing this. And that's going to force other difficult decisions. So I really believe that the Oilers look at it like, we are staying with our plan, but if we get something better, we'll do it.

And the key thing to understand here, Kyle, is that Skinner has not said, I want out or I need to leave. Like, he went and did that autograph session last week. As I joked, if I was going through what he was going through right now, I would be in the witness protection program. I have so much respect for him that he went out and did that but I think the I think the others are holding fast they are

they are holding fast to what to what they believe the other thing that was interesting to me is we talked about brossoa and I think he might be going on his conditioning stint starting today Kyle will see how the day develops

and how we now know the teams have permission to talk to him I had someone who said to me that they would be surprised if the Oilers go after Bresois because last year they had Klingberg who went through like a long-term injury

hadn't played in a while and it took him a while to get going. So he said it doesn't mean you're wrong, it doesn't mean they won't be interested or look but Klingberg actually started to play a lot better once the playoffs got got but it took a while.

And I'm just not sure the Oilers feel they have months to wait for Brasois to get up to speed. I could see other teams trying it, he said, but he was wondering if their experience with Klingberg would prevent the Oilers from doing it. And to your point, Braswe's 3.3 is greater than Skinner's 2.6. Yes. You know, like that, I can see why that. That plays a factor and everything, too, for Edmonton as they try to sort out, though. And paying to eat money means you give up a higher draft pick or something, right? So that's a factor, that's a factor too.

All right. St. Louis, won a couple games this weekend. Still not in a great spot in the West, having to dig their way out if they're going to. Feels like it's about time for another Doug Armstrong check-in. So what are you hearing with the blues? I think he's looking pretty hard. I do. I mean, I had a couple people on the weekend who were like,

checking on St. Louis. Check in on St. Louis. So he's really working it out there. I didn't, you know, one of the things you always look at is, obviously, does somebody miss a game or something like that? And I didn't see anything like that. But Kyle, people are telling me he is certainly trying, absolutely trying. So we'll see.

We'll see what he comes up with. Would you think there are many untouchables within that organization at this point? I don't think too many. He's got a lot of no moves and no trades, right? Yeah. So he has to navigate those. but I don't think there's too many untouchables, no. I mean, there's some that are obvious,

but I don't think there's, I don't think there's many of them. Okay, all right. Injury updates. I mean, there was more added to the list over the last few days. First of all, I mean, talk about what a way to go out for Kyle Paul Mary, like a hero's exit,

and then the unfortunate news we learn after the fact to torn ACL out six to eight months, so effectively done for the year. But to earn an assist on the way off the ice, I don't know if we've seen anything like that before or will for a long time. So there were some people who saw the highlight. You know, I was like one of a billion reporters to retweet the highlight with the injury. And they were saying too many men, too many men. I just want to tell all of you something.

I don't care if the entire Spartan army was on. the ice when that happened. You have to celebrate that play. Save me the too many men. I don't care about the too many men. It was an incredible play. Celebrate it. Don't be party poopers.

That was what hockey is supposed to be about. Injured guy making an incredible play. I will say too, one of my favorite players in the NHL to deal with. and I'm not going to name him because I was booing him basically, too. He didn't like that play. And I was like, why didn't you like it? He goes because Andrade, the defenseman for Philadelphia,

he forgets he's there because he's injured. And he says, if you're an injured player going off the ice, you shouldn't be allowed to do that. And I was like, boo-hoo. Where's your gigantic box of tissues? And please understand this is one of my favorite people in the NHL. But I said to him, that is so soft. That is a terrible take.

And then he finally came clean. He said something like that happened to him once. So he hates the play. And I was like. So he's got scarring. Yes, he's got scarring. He's got scarring. and I just said

I don't care that's a terrible take it's a great play he was like if you're injured and going off the ice you shouldn't be allowed to make a play I said man this is the entertainment business

that was phenomenal Paul Mary what a player what a player big challenges for the Islanders now and the one thing it seems pretty clear is that Darsh is not he's not going to do something stupid

short term. If he does something, it's, it's, it's, it's, that's short term, it's not going to be a big price. It's going to be, it makes sense for us. He, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he's not a guy who wants to make a bad long-term move right now, but it's tough for the islanders, like their, they're, Paul Mary is a huge part of their team, uh, Pajot's out now, too, um, you know, obviously Romano's out, uh, the injuries are piling up for those guys right now and uh like i always wonder you know do you make do you try to make like a trade where you trade like a fourth or fifth round pick for maybe a guy who isn't playing somewhere like that's something can you plug a hole for a cheap price i could see them trying that but nothing that you look at and say oh boy in five

years am i going to regret that one for a short-term fix All right. Logan Cooley in Utah, it looks like worst avoided. Anything else you've learned there? Yeah, we'll see. We should get more clarity on Monday morning. Like, we're going to get more clarity on Monday morning on Adam Fox. And it doesn't sound like it's as fully bad as it looked. Same with Cooley. It doesn't look. It's as fully bad as it looked. I don't like knee out plays. I really don't.

Like, I don't think with Tore Pchenko, there was any deliberate attempt to injure or anything like that. But I do think plays like that are reckless. I think at the speed that guys play at right now, you're risking that or worse. So I generally don't like those kinds of plays. You know, speaking of scarring, when I was a kid, I caused an injury on a play like that. You know, I wasn't the best skater and some guy went around me

and I kind of stuck my knee out and I clobbered someone and he was hurt. So I have always hated that play since. So when I saw Toropchenko, like there were some people who said that's not a penalty. He shouldn't have gotten a penalty at all. The reason I like the call in that case is because I think it should remind people don't stick out the knee. Like don't do that because that's what we risk. But I don't think he was dirty or had any intent to injure or anything like that. But yes, they were hopeful.

They were hopeful that when they did all their imaging on Sunday, that it wasn't as bad as it could be. I also did want to shout out, speaking of Utah, thank you for reminding me. I wanted to shout out Taylor Baird, who is a media member in Dallas, has covered the stars for a long time, and the blues. You know, Utah's on the road, very, very hard few days for Clayton Keller and his family. and Taylor Baird, who was picking the stars for the game in Dallas, even though the stars won, she named Clayton Keller, the first star after his father had passed. And then the blues, and Keller obviously has the big St. Louis connection,

the blues holding the moment of silence, that was extremely well done. And all the best to the Keller family. I mean, that's just a terrible thing to go through. Yeah. But it does look like, you know, they weren't willing to confirm it 100%. but they were hopeful that Cooley had avoided the worst damage. If you ever had a Charlie Horse, though, it hurts.

Like, Kyle, we went through a phase. This is how stupid me and my friends were. We went through a phase in junior high where we'd give each other dead legs. And you know what a dead leg is? I think I've got an idea, yeah. You walk up behind the guy and you, like, just crunch your knee into the guy's leg. And then we had to stop because, of course, course injuries became a problem so if you've ever had a dead leg given to you before it hurts

like that you know anybody said oh he just had a charlie horse man if you ever gotten a real serious charlie horse you're going off the ice just like he did geez it makes so much sense now how you've turned a lot of a lot of things make a lot of sense it all dates back to Charlie horses, junior high, dead legs. Yeah. Oh, my goodness. Hey, did you have something? You wanted to talk Philly a little bit here too?

Three straight wins on the road. They're hanging in in that metro division. Well, Vladar, every year we always talk about, like, who are the big acquisitions in the off season. Vlodar has been one of the best moves of the summer. Philly's signing him. He has been great for them.

Everybody talks about Zegris, and it makes sense. He's been really good for them. But Vlodar has been one of the shrewdest, smartest moves of the offseason. Now, you look at the waiver move they made on Sunday. Rasmus Ristelan can't be too far away back. And it's been a long time since he's played. I think the other thing about Philly, too, is, first of all, I think they've played really hard.

They've got a big game against Monday on Monday against Pittsburgh. The Penguins will be licking their wounds. I think Philly has played really hard. Like, to me, they have an obvious hole in their lineup still at center, and I think they're looking. The other thing, too, is, so we talked a bit about Vancouver, how there was nothing imminent on the weekend with them ever since they made some of their players available.

Like, I'd heard, I mean, a few people had reported, Boston for sure would. A few people had reported Minnesota for sure would I think someone reported San Jose too. I had a couple people tell me that Vancouver's got players

that Rick Talkett likes and I don't know if it's Sherwood, it would fit but nobody knows the Vancouver players better than Talket does, right? And so a couple of people

said to me, you better keep an eye on Philly when it comes to Vancouver's players. And we're not even talking about Hughes. Like everyone likes Hughes. That's just crazy talk. And I don't think there's anything going on there right now. But as the Canucks talk about some of their veterans, the question you should be asking is, what veterans there does talk it like? And so that's one thing I've kind of spent a little bit of time.

going over but you know I'll say this about the Flyers number one Vladar I think that's been a big pickup for them but if you take a look at them at even strength one one of the things they do right now is they do a better job on giving up shots like they're a top they're not like a top five team in anything according to sport logic numbers but they're generally

top half top ten and they do a much better job. One of the things they're very good at is if teams dump the puck in, they do a good job of getting it out. And offensively, like it's kind of like what you would expect from Tucket,

when they dump the puck in to the offensive zone, they win. They're 10th best in the league in that. And when teams dumped the puck in, against them they get it out their eighth best in the league at that and they're very good at breaking the puck out of their zone so there's some things that they've done this year that they're actually pretty good at i looked at the sport logic numbers and i kind of looked at them and they have some flaws and they're far from the best team around but there's some things that you would expect

talk of teams to be good at and they're pretty good at them and Vladar has given them saves. The other thing there, though, I would say is, I would bet you that one of the teams most disappointed that some of these guys have come off the market is Philly.

I think they will really Yeah. Yeah. Like, there's still Panarin. You know, he's still out there. But I think Philly is a team that really wanted to take a swing. Like if Caprizov had gotten to the market, I would have loved to have seen what they would have thrown on the table. Ooh. But you know what, Kyle, we will never know. And all the

things you mentioned about Philadelphia, I mean, duly important because these don't score a ton either. So how they take care of things their own end has been impressive. And credit to their pro scouting, go back to Vlodar. I mean, you look at his numbers on the surface last year in Calgary, not overly sparkling, but you remember much of last season. Like they did a lot of work in protecting Dustin Wolf when he started and all of that. So Vlodar got a lot of the second half of back to back, a lot of the less than ideal dates on the schedule and had to try to keep himself above water there and a bit of a different situation of course now in Philadelphia obviously the travel's different in Philly compared to a place like Calgary

and a couple that with as you say how Tocke's got them playing it's been it's been a really nice marriage here so far really always like to see a happy marriage all right well let's get the final thought then with that Elliot so you mentioned it earlier the schedule demands of this season last one of 82 games we've got the Olympics to think about so that makes everything a little more truncated and off we go to 84 next year world cup of hockey two years from now and on and on and on i'd tell you being around the rinks in the early part of the season i mean every year you hear it's the old adage oh we don't get enough practice time don't get enough practice time it seems even more so that

narrative has been a part of things we've talked at length about all the injuries that have piled up what are you hearing in terms of the reality setting in of this new world order by way of tight schedules and starting next year two more games for everybody i i don't know if anything can be done about this kyle but i think people are starting to ask are we just demanding too much here and this year is the olympics and I don't know, it's too late, but, you know, people were saying to me, if you think it's bad now, wait until after the Olympic break. Like, there's teams going to be playing 20 games and 35 nights.

And it's going to be a lot. And next year we're starting in September, and there's no big break. But in two years, there's the World Cup. And it's not going to be as long a break as the Olympics is, but it still is going to compress the schedule. like I think people are starting to ask are we demanding too much here and at the very least I wonder if there starts to be a conversation about are there ways we can change this or are there things that we can do because you know the injuries are a lot the travel is a lot

I think the two the one thing that people talk about is the lack of the ability of a recovery, right? If you're traveling so quickly, you don't get a lot of days off, even if you get like one of those like, oh, you block a shot and you're sore, right? Or you take a big hit and you're sore. You're not injured. It's one thing I learned, athletes, are you hurt or are you injured? Like you're hurt, you're not injured.

You don't get the chance to recover properly and it piles up. And practice time matters. Like if you're in the east, it's a lot easier to practice for a lot of these teams because you can, because you're shorter travel distances and things like that, but for some of these Western teams that are a bit more remote, you don't get that practice time. I don't know that there's anything you can do about this now, but next season is not as big a problem,

but I wonder if in two years for the World Cup, we start to see some conversations about what solutions are there. Now, Don, by text, asked a good question. why not start the season earlier? Next year they are starting the regular season in September. We're going fewer exhibition games, but 84 regular season games, and we are starting in September. You know, why can't you go earlier than that?

Well, number one, there's a CBA that, you know, the off-season has to be a certain amount of time. Training camp has to be a certain amount of time. And to be honest, some of these teams, they want, especially the ones in the United States where there's major football competition, like not just the NFL, but also college football, high school football, football's king. Football's a big deal. We all worship at the altar of football, and that's not a complaint.

I respect it. They've built up a big edge on the other North American sports, but you don't want games against that. You know, Friday's high school night and Saturdays, college. night or day and Sunday is the NFL, you don't want to deal with that too much in the fall. Now, you can't do much about season has to start sometimes to do October, but a lot of these U.S. teams, they like to try to push their home games later in the year when there's less football to deal with. So that's why the season doesn't start any earlier than it does.

But, you know, as I'm sitting here, Kyle, I don't know if I have an answer to this question. It's something I'm going to try to think about. but I do believe more and more people are starting to ask is there something we can do here because it's just too much it's too much on the players and you know it should be pointed out

the players could have brought this up more in the CBA and they really didn't so it's incumbent on them too to stand up and say this might be too much what can we bring to the table to be a solution. And you're starting to see, we've talked about Florida in the past

like a couple years ago, they started to stay over a lot more rather than heading right for the plane when they're on the road and getting to the next city to maximize as you say recovery because that time's at a premium as is. I know Calgary's doing that a little bit more this year.

I'm not sure if there's other teams that are exploring that on a more... But that cuts down. your practice time too like it might be a smarter thing to do but it cuts down your practice time for sure like there's no yes you take one away from one side you lose it the other way i just hope we don't get to a point where like the idea of some sort of load management is accepted right so long as guys feel healthy enough to play like you want your big names in the lineup every night especially with it continuing to be a gate driven league if you're

paying a ticket to go to a game there like you want to see the big names 100% that's why the schedule changed remember there was time about 10 15 years ago where one out of every three years you wouldn't get ovechkin or you wouldn't get crosbie and the team said we hate that we can't we can't have that we want them every year yeah actually i remember because it would have been I think it was Ovechkin's second year when he came to Vancouver for the first time and that was like, it was as if the queen was coming to town and it was like, oh my gosh, Oveccians coming to Vancouver

like he's bigger than the queen, bigger than the queen. Yeah, more goals. More goals than the queen. The queen never scored a one-timer. Yeah. Oh, gosh. Take your loonies. He's got over 900 goals. All right, that was the final thought.

Why don't we take our first break? And we'll come back with the thought line. You're listening to 32 Thoughts the podcast, and it continues after this. Okay, welcome back. Time once again for the thought line. This is where we save all the good stuff for, Elias. Actually, did you see on Friday, so Toronto played in Washington, and in the first period, the way the game flow went, there was zero times to get any of the three commercial breaks in. There's no TV timeouts. Did you ever work a sideline when that happened? No. The closest I ever came is we had one, one year. and it was a Hall of Fame game where the Canadians were in Toronto when we went 17 and a half minutes

of the first period without a commercial break. But that's the closest I ever saw. I've never seen that before. That was crazy. The big losers are the intermission guys. You don't get to talk

because they make it all up in the intermission. Yes, right. That's right. They slide in the extra commercial breaks. Yeah, those are typically of the better intermission segments anyways. All right. What do you got?

Thoughts on the thought line? Okay, first of all, Cam Reed 11. You will like this, Kyle. You owe Kyle a ton of credit for shielding you from the Fury of Us Blue Jackets fans by reminding you that Zach Warensky exists. It took every ounce of self-control I possess to prevent myself from driving my car off the freeway and into a tree while listening to the Glazeathon soliloquy. You delivered on the pod about Haskinim only for Kyle to remind you.

mind you, just in time of my goat Werenski. He saves you yet again. Wow. Well, you saved me plenty here, Elliot, so it's nice to return the favor. Well, it's nice of you to return the favor, Kyle. Thank you very much.

And just remember, Cam, who was the guy who was all over Warnski last year? Not only for Norris, but for Hart. Yes, that was me. That's true. You'll remember last week, we got a note from New Zealand, a listener in New Zealand. Well, a Spencer Barry, Elliot, as a Canadian who has worked in New Zealand,

your pronunciation of Kiora was a little off. It's one word, not Kiaora, it's Kiora, one word. However, he adds, keep up the great work. I have to work on my Maori dialects. but I tried, Spencer, I tried. Spencer, this is the guy that says Detroit. Like, what else did you expect here? That's right.

And Toronto, that's another one. Right, and you're from Toronto. I know, and I can't even pronounce it properly. A couple of other notes on from X Sky Panapac. Just enjoying the pod when Charlie Connaker's name popped up. He gave my maternal grandfather his first pair of skates. used and so big he had to stuff the toes to fit. He smiled every time he told me the story.

I have to say that if one of my great stories was Charlie Conacher gave me my first pair of skates, I'd tell everybody about that too. Conacher, a Hall of Famer. I thank Staggered Lee for sending me a link to a news story from NBC10 Philadelphia. In case you missed it, to help fans leave the Lincoln Financial Field parking lots more quickly after Friday's Eagles game, the city is testing a new traffic pattern. Staggerly sent that to me and wrote, maybe you can forward this to Hamilton. Yes, I already have. Thank you.

You're going to have a freeway named after you and the hammer after this. I should. And, you know, one of the great friends of the pod and one of the great people who covers hockey is Pierre Bierman, the Swedish reporter. And he wanted me to help him out with this. He has a new nickname for Leo Carlson. It's the Pope. The one in Rome is actually named Leo the 14th. And if Swedish hockey had a king, we deserve a Pope as well. I am working hard with this. you shouldn't be sending me a note, Pierre. You should be sending a note to the great media maven of the Anaheim Mighty Ducks, Alex Gilchrist. Now, I've done my part here, but if anybody can get the Pope trending for Leo Carlson, it is Alex Gilchrist.

And finally, a shrewd savant of the N.A. World, not the one who told us about Ilius Sorokin last week, but another one, Kyle, there are two of them, said that there is a player who was once on waivers for the purposes of termination, but was claimed. Are you seen if I know who it is? No, like, I don't expect you to know this, because I didn't even remember. I had to look it up.

On January 10th, 2022, the Vegas Golden Knights placed Lucas Elvenis on unconditional waivers for the purposes of contract termination. The next day, he was claimed by Anaheim. So this is the only player I'm aware of where this happened. And he played the rest of that season for the American Hockey League San Diego Gulls. He had 33 points in 43 games and one point in two playoff games. And the next year he went back to Sweden where he still is. Jeez, yeah, zero recollection of that.

Now, I think this, first of all, I think it's pure genius that this person remembered this, but I also know he was fishing for a compliment. I think he was jealous of the other guy who got called a savant and a shrewd hockey mind, and he wanted to make sure he got in there, too. But wow, Lucas Alvenas, that is a pull. Gas up the eagles. That's good. It's a new week. All right, good thoughts on Thoughtline, Elliot. And now to the main event.

We begin with Mike from Chilliwack. I'm sitting in my car listening to the pot as I do every Monday and Friday. And as Elliot was struggling with the trivia question about oldest heart trophy winners, I couldn't help but yell out the obvious correct answer, Herb Gardner. Herb was my great, great uncle. And I've often boasted to people about having a relative who holds. and NHL record. So, of course, the answer came to me immediately.

I now have a new claim to fame since I have bested both Kyle and Elliott and hockey trivia, and I will be sure to brag about this to whoever will listen. Thank you for all the great work you do, love the podcast, and go Flyers. Wow, that's impressive. I don't care if you're related.

I bet you there's other people related to Herb Gardner that didn't know he was the answer to that trivia question. Nice job, Mike. Yes. I had to go to ancestry to find that out. They didn't even know. Very good, Mike.

That's great. Okay, Ben, hi Dom, love your pod. Oh, God. Ben. I have a question. The Canadians claimed Sammy Blay on waivers last week, but then sent him directly to LaValle in the American League. How is that possible?

I thought if a team claimed a player on waivers, they had to keep him on the NHL roster. Thanks very much and keep up the great work. You're mostly right. There is one exception, Ben. And the exception is that if you put a player on waivers and lose him and that player gets put back on waivers and you are the only team to claim him, you make a claim. no one else does, you can send him directly down to the minors. You are the one team who can do it. And that's what they did with Sammy Blay.

I got off to a hot start with LaValle, too. Two goals in his first game? Yeah. So we'll see if he becomes an option for them later on if they need them. Thank you for that, Ben. Tyler, this is a good one here. Hi, Kyle, Elliot, and Dom. listening to your Monday pod and it got me thinking about the salary retention deadline, which I feel isn't getting enough attention.

As you know, this past summer, there was a change and how double retention works going forward. With the Olympics this year, correct me if I'm wrong, I believe this adds an additional 20 days since the NHL is paused, correct? Here is a 20 day break over the course of the Olympic Games, meaning the first retention would have to happen by December 1st to be eligible for a second retention by the deadline on March the 6th. Do you think we'll see any rental trades happen before this date to allow for double retention or is double retention in season one dead? And yes, we are reading this question on December the 1st, Elliot. First of all, Tyler, that is a great pickup, great pickup.

Nobody else thought of this. and I suspect even the league didn't think of it. But when I asked the question, it came back to me with the Olympic dates would count towards the 75. That if someone raised an issue of it, that the league would decide that the Olympic dates would count so the deadline is not Monday. But Tyler, just like Matt Marquesi

was kind of the only one to figure out last, year that Canada could play Joey Decord, I think you're the first one who thought of this one. Yeah, really good. So, even with those 20 days factored in, I mean, it takes us to the 21st just prior to the holiday break later on this month, Elliot. So time is getting on regardless for those that are thinking maybe, maybe that could be an option to set themselves up the best way possible before the deadline. Okay, Brian from New Jersey. Hello, people, and Elliot. I wonder what species he thinks I am.

Brian from New Jersey, and yes, go devils. As an insider and or a media platform reporting on news headlines, I wonder how much chaos you envision AI creating regarding rumors, thinking about what AI generated content that is out there, now and it is just going to get better, more believable. Will your position be more about dispelling content versus potential rumor or truth? Moreover, how much erosion of working relationships between GMs, agents, media, PR staff, and players, could there be by reacting to rumors that are started by AI? Enjoy the relative piece now. I wonder if there will be any

left in the coming years. Great job and thank you for your efforts with the pod. you know Brian that's a great question I have to say a really thoughtful question I wonder if he thinks based on the way he introduced if I am already AI and just not a person AI freege AI freege it's it's hard to think about it being even more crazy or challenging than where we are now in the social media era but it's it could always get crazier I think right now that I mean all you control is yourself, Brian, and I really try to be careful. Like, there's people who think I'm too cautious.

There's people who think I'm not cautious enough. But I really think that people decide based on what they think of your work. And there's some people out there who really like my work. And there's some people out there who really don't like it. So I think that's what it comes down to. When something is attached to your name, then do they trust? it or do they not trust it? I think the one thing that's really changed is I like to have a process.

When I'm working on something, I like to call the team. I like to call a representative. I like to call a player and say, hey, I've got this story and it's coming. In the social media age, it's not always possible to do that. There are things sometimes you have to put out because you know that either there's other people looking at them or there's. You just don't know how fast it is to someone's going to announce it, and you have to put it out there, and you can't tell everybody it's coming. And I really don't like that, but that is one thing that's really changed with social media is the speed at which some of these things get reported.

The other thing, I think, too, is that, you know, there's fake accounts right now or there's aggregator accounts right now, and they say Elliot Friedman said this. some of which are either totally wrong and made up or it's not proper context. And that does cause a headache because people will say, did you say this? And I'll say, no, I never said that or that's not really what I said. And you have to, and people can get annoyed at you about that. So you kind of have to work your way through. So it's hard to see me feeling that anything could get more chaotic, but it certainly could. There's no question there are many less guardrails in the social media era than there were before.

It's just faster. It's crazier. And like we talked about before at the beginning of the pod with the Nylander thing I talked about, you never know what's going to go viral. Like there's some days I say, oh, I said this. It's going to go crazy. And nothing happens. And there's other days I say, no one's going to care.

I said this. And it goes viral and it causes everybody a fever. like you just you just never know in this day and age what's going to become a thing and it really keeps you on your toes it's it's a great question though i i hope it doesn't get crazier brian but we know the possibility there is yeah oh i think more nonsense is coming as much as i don't want to think about it i think more is coming thank you for that brian okay one more here a little trivia to wrap up for each jaret from grand ben ontario oh grand bend One of my favorite places. Perhaps he's neighbors with Rob Faults. Oh, nice. Hello, 32, or soon to be 34 thoughts, crew? God, sure to think.

Yeah. I'm a longtime fan and listener of the show every week. I haven't got it and sick of Elliot yet. Great. With Elliot jinksing Dustin Wolf in the Flames last week, I am wondering. Yes. What goalie has had the highest say percentage on a team last in the standings?

Thanks and keep up the good work. Ooh. So a team that finishes dead last in the NHL at the end of the season. And to weed out some of the outliers, you had to have played at least 20 games for said team in that season. I'm trying to think. there are two goalies tied at the top one was fairly recent

the other was a long time ago I seem to remember there was a goalie pretty recently who had a great year on a really bad team and I'm trying to remember who it was would John Gibson would John Gibson be it

No. Okay, yeah, give me a year. Yes. It was the shortened 56 games season in 2021. Who went first overall that year in the draft? That's what I'm going back to think about. Big defensemen. Canadian played in the USHL,

then went the college route. I'm trying to remember who Bob. Buffalo's goalie was that year. That's my issue. Okay, so you got to the team. You've got the team. Yeah, once you said a big defenseman, I started going, okay, who were defensemen recently drafted, number one?

I'm trying to remember who Buffalo's goalie was that year. Was it Allmark? Yes, it was. Wow. Linus Allmark had a 917 save percentage that year. Played 20 games, so, I mean, a little less than half. but a 9-17. So he's tied to the top with Al Rawlins

with the Chicago Blackhawks in the 55-56 season. Al Rawlins, I believe, won the Heart Trophy one year. Oh, yeah? I think so. I'm going to double-check that. I would not have gotten that answer, but I believe he won a Hart Trophy. And I'm looking it up.

And he did win a heart trophy in 1954, so the year before that season. Wow, I got to tell you, without your hint, I wouldn't have gotten that. It just was, because I was just trying to remember, was that Lanner? Was it Allmark? Was it Luchanan? I couldn't remember who it was. And then he was on a Boston from there. That's a great question.

And right now it's Devin Cooley in Calgary. That's put out the sparkling numbers, too. which is, I mean, feel a good story for him, considering where things were a couple of months ago. But great question, Jared. Thank you for that. And good way to wrap up this edition of the thought line. And if you would like to submit a question, trivia, anything, you can do so.

32 thoughts at sportsnet.com. Call to leave a voicemail. 1-833-3-1-3-1-3-2. One final break, and we'll wrap up this edition of 32-thoughts of the podcast after this. All right, before we wrap up, a couple of games to keep an eye on nationally on the SportsNet family of channels over the next couple of days. Tuesday night, the Edmonton Oilers are coast to coast on Sportsnet 1, their next big game to try to build on the effort in Seattle over the weekend. Nine Eastern, seven Pacific.

They host the Minnesota Wild. We'll have that one for you on Tuesday. Scotia Bank Wednesday at Hockey this week on the air at 7 Eastern 4 Pacific, David Amber and Company. All Canadian clash this Wednesday. The Winnipeg Jets are in Montreal to face the Canadians. That should be a lot of fun. Puck drop a little after 730 ET on Wednesday.

All right. Taking us out today. A track from Beta Boys. out of Calgary, Alberta, who grasped at mid-80s synth-pop nostalgia with open arms and full hearts, composed of five long-standing contributors to the city's music community. The band was formed in 2016 with the aim of celebrating 1980s new wave and synth-pop music. The best of this music fosters a message of diversity, inclusion, and hope for a better world. Beta Boys is passionate about channeling and honoring this music,

which still carries an important message. today with the help of internationally acclaimed producer russell broom their first full-length album great pretenders is ready for release this saturday in fact this saturday is their album release party at commonwealth bar and stage in calgary this song along with all the others we've featured this season can be found on the 32 thoughts the music playlist on spotify here's beta boys and alone in paradise on 32 thoughts the podcast and asked what's your name i never heard it before crashing out stayed out way too late knew when i stepped through the door this is the house i was hunted i only needed one good friend

if i imagine the whole world burning it's you and me in the end we're all alone in paradise we're all alone in paradise. The waves crash, I don't think it twice. Are we alone in paradise? This is apps that was hunted. I can tell you now that we're hunted. I can tell you now that we're good I never listen to rumors all that much, but we're with you to know it. We're all alone in paradise. We're all alone in paradise. The wage crash hot I'm thinking twice. Are we alone in paradise? lone in paradise This is a house that was hunted

I can tell you now that we're good friends I never listened to rumors all that much But we're with you to know it We're all alone in paradise We're all alone in paradise The waves crash hot I'm thinking twice Are we alone in paradise We're all alone in paradise

We're all alone in paradise The waves crash hot I'm thinking twice Are we alone in paradise Yeah we're all alone in paradise We are alone. We are alone. We are alone. We are alone.

We are alone.