32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Goodbye Draft, Hello Free Agency

Episode Date: June 30, 2023

Thank you Music City! Jeff and Elliotte wrap up the NHL Draft from Nashville (1:00), break down the Flyers pick (15:00), go over the Oilers-Red Wings trade (26:45), the latest on Tyler Bertuzzi (28:00) and Brett Pesce (32:30),  wonder what the Jets will do next (33:00), and Jeff explains the situation between the PWHPA and the PHF (40:20).Then, Elliotte and Jason Bukala review some of the biggest storylines from the NHL Draft (47:00) and look ahead to next season's prospects.Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call The Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemailMusic Outro: Mike Floss - Local SatisfactionListen to the full track HEREThis podcast was produced and mixed by Amil Delic, and hosted by Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman.Audio Credits: CBC, Fox News, NHL Network 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.

My favorite part of the day was when I saw you, Amal. My favorite part of the day was getting in the cab with Sammy for the ride to the rink. It's 372 meters away. Elevation. And we were walking downhill. Okay, so it's the post-draft edition of 32 Thoughts to Podcast, presented by the GMC Canyon AT4X. American Stouffville.

Emil Delic and Elliot Friedman still in Nashville. They were there for day two. But really quickly, let me rewind to day one. And one of my highlights was after the draft, talked to someone at one of the teams at a table who said, I hope Elliot didn't get too close to the Arizona table or they might have asked him to make a pick. Nice purple suit, Elliot.

Oh, it was too close. I saw them come in. I was like, oh no. Too close. I almost changed. You know how it is when two people wear the same dress to the prom? Yeah. I wanted to run up and change.

Anyway, I thought that was funny. We're going to do a lot on the draft. Elliot recorded a one-on-one with Jason Bukla. You'll hear that towards the end of today's podcast. That was funny. We're going to do a lot on the draft. Elliot recorded a one-on-one with Jason Bukla. You'll hear that towards the end of today's podcast. We have news with a free agency on the horizon. We'll talk about Tyler Bertuzzi. We'll talk about Yamamoto and Koston to Detroit.

We'll talk about Debrinkit. We'll talk about Pesci. But really first, let's talk about the draft and maybe most specifically day one, Elliot, where we thought there was going to be a lot of trades and quite the opposite happened. There were no trades. Big fat zero. First time in 16 years.

Although we did get some on day two. Look, I think it was weird. There were some big trades obviously leading up, the Dubois deal, the Taylor Hall deal with Nick Foligno. I thought that was going to mean, okay, we're going to get more. Ross Colton, Alex Newhook, here we go. There's a lot of players available. Players traded not for free, but for cap space, Jeff.

Not for free, but for cap space. And it absolutely ground to a halt. Like the one thing I heard that was really interesting was that, so I heard that Boston out of nowhere asked for an interview on Wednesday, the day of the draft with Oliver Moore. So Oliver Moore was taken 19th overall by the Chicago Blackhawks. I think I'd written in my notes leading up like that.

I wrote a day of game blog on day one. And I said, I think Boston has one more move on them to clear space. And it was because I'd heard about that, that they had asked for a quick last second interview with a prospect that was going in the first round. I found out later it was Oliver Moore.

And so I really thought, and I would bet if Boston did that, they thought they had something going too. Obviously it didn't happen. I heard the Bruins did try really hard to get into the first round. I know what you're going to say. You're going to ask me what was going out to get the Bruins first rounder. I don't know that. I really don't.

Obviously, I think they're very sensitive to some of their players. They already know there's been enough rumors. And now we know, as we reported on Thursday night, that Tyler Bertuzzi is headed to the market on Saturday. But I thought more was going to happen. And I apologize for the false advertising that i gave that the first round of the draft would be a lot more active this time of year smoke mirrors and sometimes the truth yes false advertising better business bureau but that bureau is useless anyway they can't do anything

first of all let's just get one thing out of the way here because we've talked so much about them already and everyone's had a chance to to have their thoughts on him but what did you make of the conor bedard phenomenon in nashville with chicago and with the first overall selection in the 2023 nhl draft the chicago blackhawks are very proud to select from the regina pats Hockey League, Conor Bedard. Look, everybody knew he was going to be the number one pick. That guy is so much more of an adult than I was when I was 18 years old. 100%.

You know, it is embarrassing for me. When I think back, and I think of myself at that age, and I look at him at that age, it is embarrassing of how less of a person I was in terms of maturity, emotional behavior at that age than he is. It really is incredible. Okay. Let me pause on that because one thing that I want to make sure that I get in this podcast, maybe you've had the same experience and this goes to not just Conor bedard but most specifically the family i don't know how many

people that i've spoken to this year who have had some type of minor hockey involvement with maybe it's a friend played with bedard at a tournament or on a team or they shared some hockey situation and the bedard family always kept in touch or at least dropped a note or every now and then picked up the phone and made a call. Like it can be like they played together on the brick team once upon a time in Edmonton and mom still calls, you know, Conor Bedard's mom or dad will still call or drop a note, you know, at least once a year. Like, it just seems like this guy is from like the most healthy family and like

generous and kind. You can see it in the kid. Like he's from like a really kind, thoughtful family that really cherishes important things. Like when he was on the set and he was talking about his grandpa and he pulled out the chip. Yeah, the poker chip. Yeah.

Very nice. Come on, man. Like, to your point about maturity? Connor, such a special moment for you and your family. I know they've made so many sacrifices to get you here. You're such a humble young man. How much are you thinking about your grandfather, you know, at this time, this special moment for you?

Yeah, I got the little chip here. I don't know if I've shown you guys, if you want to see it. Oh, sure. We'd love to see it. Yeah, but I think that's obviously tough for me, my family not having him here. guys if you want to see him. Sure, we'd love to see him. Yeah, but I think that's obviously tough for me. I'm probably not having him here, but that's the little thing I got.

We love to play cards and stuff, and I got him on here, so I'm just kind of having him with me on this day, and I'm sure he's watching. Mark is looking down at you. He's proud. We're all proud of you. Yeah, I was nowhere close

to that mature when I was his age, and I don't think anybody listening to this podcast was quite as mature. Anyway, I just wanted to make sure that I get that out. that mature when I was his age. And I don't think anybody listening to this podcast was quite as mature. Anyway, I just wanted to make sure that I get that out. Like, he comes from a very decent family. Very decent person himself. Anyway, I think the top four of the draft unfolded exactly the way I thought it was going to in terms of the players picked.

Maybe it didn't happen in the order that we all thought. didn't happen in the order that we all thought. So we had said that it was very possible that Fantilli was not going to go second to the Ducks, that Verbeek might throw a bit of a curveball. And he did. And after the draft was over, somebody told me that the moment that Anaheim finished second in the lottery, that the word around the league was that Verbeek preferred

Carlson. Now, I don't think there was any confirmation bias there. I think he went through the process. They interviewed everybody. I don't think it was Carlson 100% right there, but I think from what I heard later, his initial instinct people believed was Carlson, what I heard later, his initial instinct people believed was Carlson and there was nothing there that got him to change his mind. And so Carlson goes to Fantilli goes three, you know, sometimes you wonder, is a player going to be upset? They quote unquote dropped one spot, but after round one, I was walking back to our suite to get changed. I happened to run into the Fantilli family and they were beaming. Yeah. Same. This was not a person or a family that was disappointed where they ended up. And I have to say, I really liked the picture of Fantilli's tuxedo where he put the names of, I think, 150 people that had helped him get there.

Like, that's dynamite. But Fantilli was happy and San Jose got their center. You know, we're going to talk a little bit about Mark Scheifele here in a few minutes and watching the four centers go one, two, three, four and knowing how important that position is. I don't think anybody's surprised it went that way. And then things started to veer a little bit. Yeah, it really did.

And it really veered with pick number six with Dmitry Shemyshev. And we'll get there in a second. One thing I want to say about Fantilli because I spoke to the family and both Adam and his brother afterwards and we were, you'll love this Elliot, we were talking about the OHL Cup. Yes, we were talking about minor midget hockey when Fantilli was playing with the Toronto Red Wings and they're playing in the final at Matt Fantilli was playing with the Toronto Red Wings. They're playing in the final at Mattamy Athletic Center against the Don Mills Flyers.

And this is a team with Shane Wright and Brennan Offman and Brant Clark stacked team. And Fantilli was like a one-man wrecking crew. He almost single-handedly won that game. And his dad mentioned, yeah, do you remember it was overtime and the puck was laying in the Don Mills net and Adam dove at it and it just went wide or hit the post or something like that Adam's like he still talks about that play even on my draft day dad still brings it up it is a great family not only is he a wonderful kid Fantilli but we talk about right now the opening of personalities in the NHL and encouraging more personalities in the NHL. You know, there used to be a, an old dojo saying that really rang true for hockey, which is the protruding nail gets hammered down. And that's the way it used to

be in hockey for the longest time. But now in the era where players are encouraged, you know, not just to have their personality, but feel comfortable showing it as well. I think this guy's going to be great for the Columbus Blue Jackets. I really do. Really outgoing, enthusiastic, all of it. I think this is a great pick for Columbus. Well, I don't have a lot of old dojo sayings, Jeff, but I would agree with you on that.

I think you're right. The protruding nail gets hammered down. And then there were two places where the draft kind of changed a bit, I thought, early. Or actually, I should say three. Okay. One was Anaheim because they had the slight

swerve. The second was Montreal and the third was Arizona. And we'll talk about that with Jason Bukala in the interview you mentioned. You know, I just wanted to talk about Carey Price for a second. Yeah.

If there's one thing about media I don't like, and I want to stress this, I don't think I'm any better than anybody else. I recognize I'm not perfect and I make a lot of mistakes myself, but if there's one thing I don't like about media as a whole is how much we contribute to pylons. I really don't like it.

I've been there. I've been in the eye of that storm. And I'm not just talking about hockey media. It's everywhere. I think we as an industry are very guilty of that. We make pylons worse. And I don't know why. I don't know if people feel pressure to join in, to add their opinion to something.

I don't like it. And like I said, it's not just hockey or sports media. I think it's media in general. You know, Carey Price. We planned it that way. David Reinbacher. Reinbacher. Like, I saw him coming off the stage.

He walked off right next to me because that was the way people had to go. Yeah. And he was really shaken. And, you know, the one thing I'll say about this was when he walked off the stage and he was really shaken, there was a young girl who walked down the stairs because I was, my spot was right next to the Ottawa table on Wednesday night, which was right by where the boards would be. So I was basically right next to the stands. And there was a set of stairs coming down from the stands to the ice level. And a young girl walked down and she goes, uh, Carrie, can I take a picture? And his mind was not in a good place in that moment. And he absolutely did it. And I thought it was really

something that in a moment where he was really down, he saw this young fan who wanted a picture with him and there was never a question in his mind that he was going to take that picture. He did. And, you know, he, he looked at me and he just said, like, I don't know what happened to me up there. I, I just froze. And I said, look, Carrie, like I blew a swim race once and it crushed me for years, but other

people got over it and moved past it a lot faster than I did. So just remember that like people will move on. This will be a thing for 15 minutes and then people will move on. But you know, like I saw a lot of the tweets and if there's one thing I could really change about the world, it's like, actually there's

going to be a lot of things I would change about the world. But, you know, if there's, if there's one thing. I was going to say, there'd probably be more than this one, Elliot. I just wish we weren't as an industry so quick to pile on people.

In my job, sometimes I have to deliver criticism. I always don't like it, but I try to be measured because I've been on the receiving end of it. And I was actually treated pretty well by a lot of people when that happened. But the people who treated me the worst were like media members who didn't know me, like

international media and things like that. And I've always been very mindful of that. And I don't know, I didn't like that in the moment. My ex, you know, messed up an anthem at a sporting event once as well. And she heard it and it was gross and I really hated it too and felt awful for her. I know exactly what you mean. Then I went on the stage and Carey Price came to me. He's like, I'm so sorry.

He got nervous too. I was like, yeah, no problem, I guess. You got to look up to such a great guy. It was stunning to shake his hand. Yeah, I'm very thankful for that. I feel the same way. I felt so awful for Price watching him. And my only thought was like, I feel so bad for this guy.

I want him to get through it. I was just like, can someone like just yell the name to him, like just help him through this? Well, I think what happens is that it starts to happen and then even if people help you, you sometimes freeze and it just, that happens sometimes. Yeah.

So let's just move on. Let's get to the next thing. So Montreal makes the pick, which I thought was a very defensible pick. Hang on. They needed a right shot defense hang on they needed a right shot defenseman everybody needs a right shot defenseman you look at a lot of their blue line prospects like starts with Lane Hudson like there's a lot of left shots there like they they really needed a a strong right hand shot in the pipeline and and they got it like we went in the draft thinking okay they need centers they need goal, and they need a right shot D. And right away, Ken Hughes took care of the right shot D.

Yes, he sure did. And then Arizona makes their pick, and again, Pukula will let him talk about it. And now I want to talk about Matvei Mishkov, because I had a chance to find out a lot more about this. With the seventh selection of the draft, the Flyers are proud to select from St. Petersburg in the KHL, Matvei Mishkov.

So after Mishkov went to the Flyers, people started sending me a tweet from Sunday where the Flyers closed their practice facility. And it also got out that the flyers met with Mishkov face-to-face in Philadelphia. So people started sending me, and this is even people in the business. Even after I tweeted this on Wednesday night,

some people on Thursday at the draft said they heard the same thing. And I said, well, I'm angry that you don't follow me on my Twitter feed because you would know this is not true. I'm very hurt. But basically it was closed on Sunday. So people are like, oh, that's when Mishkov met privately.

And I asked Daniel Breyer actually on camera. He kind of laughed. He said, that's a complete coincidence. It wasn't that way. It was a couple days before. So last Friday, Mishkov was already in North America. So basically, what happened was we talked about in a podcast a week and a half ago about how Mishkov had preferred teams in mind,

and he wanted to go to one of those preferred teams. And that we can now say is true. It was absolutely 100% true. And what he'd indicated is he wanted to go to a team or a market where the team mattered. And it was a market where the team was popular and he felt they had a chance to win. And a lot of us were talking about Washington and that would certainly qualify. But another one he had identified was Philadelphia because it's the Flyers. They're popular in the market. I know people there haven't been happy with their ownership, but he saw it as very stable ownership that always spends money and they're committed to winning. So he was

intrigued by the Flyers. They were on his list. So because Philadelphia is not far from New York, where he came into North America, he agreed to make a side trip into Philadelphia on the Friday. And he met with a smaller group of Flyers management. The meeting went really well. And one of the interesting things I heard from the flyers was like, is this too good to be true? I think they wondered about it for a second. So they scheduled another meeting in Nashville where more flyer staff could attend.

And they asked the people who came to that second meeting for the first time, are we misreading this? Is this kid putting us on, or does he want to play for the Flyers? And apparently the people who were at the second meeting but not the first one said, you know what? This is for real. This kid wants to play here. So I think the Flyers were convinced,

and I think the kid was very honest about them. He was happy to go there. He wanted to go there. They're the kind of team he wanted to play for. Like Bill Armstrong of Arizona made it very clear that Mishkov didn't seem too interested in playing there. The reverse was the case in Philadelphia. Now, I think the Flyers tried to trade up,

but at the end of the day, they didn't need to. Now, Jeff, you will appreciate this, but when I told this story to a couple of people, you know what I got asked? They said, Mishkov loves the Flyers. Does he ever see the highlights of the famous game? They're going home. Bob Cole. They are leaving the ice.

They're going to go. The Soviets are leaving. They're going to go. The Soviets are leaving. They're going home. They're going home. Yeah, they're going home. Can you imagine? Danny, it's been a short afternoon. Oh, it's terrible. They're acting like a very frustrated hockey club,

and I think they're displaying poor sportsmanship. Can you believe it, Dennis? I certainly can't believe it. I thought they'd have a little more pride in to play the game. In 72 in Moscow, we stayed and we took it all. And in 74, and now the Philadelphia Flyers groom around a little bit and they're going home. I like it.

Who is it? Ed Van Im. Yes, and they leave the ice. Wow. And I actually asked someone who knows him. I said, has he seen this video? And they said they didn't know, and they promised to ask when they got a chance to do it.

But I think the Flyers in the beginning were very surprised. Apparently he walked in there and he was like, yes, I want to play. Like nothing scared him. Not Philadelphia, not Tortorella, not the fact they're rebuilding. Like he wanted to play in a place where it matters. Really quick, just for our listeners know the reference.

Ed Van Imposita was a defenseman with the Philadelphia Flyers. And in a game in 1976 in early january this was the soviets facing off against the defending stanley cup champions and like the prestige of the nhl was on the line the flyers were going to do whatever it took to win that game and van imp was in the penalty. I can't remember what the infraction was, but when he was released, he just charged at Valeri Harlamov and leveled him. And that's when Red Army said,

yeah, you know what? That's it. We're leaving. We're taking off. Now they came back and played, I think after they were reminded that they wouldn't be paid if they didn't play that game, but the Flyers ended up winning it.

And that is one of the most historic moments of hockey in the seventies. Ed Van Em taking that run in Valeri Harlem off was a. I'm sorry, Jeff. I consider it a failure that I could not answer this question for you and the other people who asked me.

I think Gord Stelic was one of the people, and I think Bob Stauffer was another because I did radio hits with them on Thursday. That's interesting. Yeah. You know, the interesting thing about this, Elliot, is the Flyers got the player I thought Washington needed, and the Capitals got the player that I thought the Flyers needed,

and Ryan Leonard. Like, I could not have been more wrong on this one, Elliot. It is kind of funny because you would think of Ryan Leonard and you would think Flyers. And the Capitals were ecstatic to get him. Flyers. Very happy to get him. But I think the Flyers were really blown away by this guy.

And I'll tell you this, the other thing too I think the Flyers are really excited about is in the moment, like I was talking with them after the draft and Joe Civil, their PR guy extraordinaire, like he knows the reaction online, right? But, you know, Breer doesn't know and his stat and McCauley and those other guys, Brent Flaher, they don't know. And when I mentioned their fans were like ecstatic and Civil said, yeah, they are. Like they were pumped and the other thing too is i think philly has been disappointed by how much of their business has gotten out the fact that they kept this one under wraps that was big for them but the fact that their fans were ecstatic

with the pick that was very meaningful to them yeah Are there any other players or prospects on either day go that you want to talk about that aren't covered in the Jason Bucala interview a little bit later on? When the Nashville Predators made the pick at 24 for Tanner Mollendijk, that was right after the Rangers took Gabe Perrault. I think Nashville really was hoping that Gabe Perrault was going to be their form.

I think that they love Mollendijk. Why not? There's Duncan Keith comparisons out there, but I think they really wanted Gabe Perot was going to be there for him. I think that they love Mollendijk. Why not? There's Duncan Keith comparisons out there, but I think they really wanted Gabe Perot. Is there anything like that that you want to talk about? Not really. I don't like doing winners and losers of the draft because I don't really know these players.

I hate those because who knows? Yeah. I mean, the vast majority of people that say a team won or lost a draft have no idea. Like the Sam Cosentinos and the Buclos of the world, they have an idea because they see all or lost a draft have no idea like the sam cosentino's and the buccalos of the world they have an idea because they see all these guys i have no idea and a lot of people out there don't either so you know i there were a couple moments i thought that you know tom fitzgerald the first captain of the predators trading that pick to david poyle so

poyle could make one last pick as the gm of theators and the, and the standing ovation, uh, happened. I thought that was a really great moment. And the other one I like too, it happens every year, like Dustin Wolf was one of those guys. Yeah. Waited all day long and got taken late and got that celebration. But the very last pick, Tyler Peddle,

it was a Vegas pick, traded to Columbus, and Tyler Peddle sat in the crowd for two days. Two days. And he gets taken with the last pick. From Quebec Major Junior League, Drummondville, Tyler Peddle. That's a good pick. That is a good thing. I'm so happy for that guy. And he's here.

How cool is that? Oh, yeah. He was a projected guy early on in the year. I mean, he started with eight goals in his first nine games with Drummondville a couple of years ago, and then really had some difficulty finding that touch after that. You see his dad, Brad, to his left there, head coach of CIS hockey in the Atlantic Canada.

And man, that has got to be such a relief to be sitting there. That's a long two days with your family. And to get that moment, I'm glad someone got that moment. Listen to the 32 Thoughts Podcast free on amazon music included with prime it is a historic announcement tennessee state university adding club level hockey to its athletic program starting next year news channel 5's kelsey gibbs found that fans are ready to cheer on the Tigers when they hit the ice. All right Nathan, we'll skate for two more minutes. Eleven-year-old Nathan loves being on the ice.

All right, getting ready to go back out there. It's important to rest so you don't injure yourself. His father Ron Jackson says Nathan, who's autistic, enjoys figure skating. Representation is important and he's already excited about ice skating so if he saw people that looked like him playing hockey, then the sky is the limit. He might get that opportunity sooner rather than later. Tennessee State University is making history by becoming the first HBCU to offer men's ice hockey at the collegiate level.

That's amazing. I'm very proud of my alma mater. I graduated from Tennessee State University. Big blue! And they're just doing big things from the ALB, the aristocratic bands, now hockey, so I couldn't be more proud and I know they'll do great things. The team will begin as a club-level program, but aspires to achieve NCAA Division I status in the near future. Great job, Nathan. Hockey players and fans say this is an exciting opportunity. As we carry on here, and I do want to talk about the PWHPA-PHF situation

here in a couple of moments, we did have some activity by way of trade. Kyler Yamamoto and Clem Koston go to the Detroit Red Wings for future considerations. Do you have a quick thought on this one? The Oilers are tight to the cap. Like one thing they confirmed what I believed in that is that Broberg is not getting traded.

They said that Bouchard is a bridge deal and, and, and they have to sign McLeod too. You know, I still think they're looking at the potential of Connor Brown. I think all things being equal, unless somebody really comes out with a great offer, I think, like, I look at the favorites for Connor Brown

as being Edmonton and Toronto, and somebody's going to have to beat that. But they needed cap room, and, you know, Koston, it was interesting hearing Steve Eisenman talk about it because he talked about a role for Koston, and then when he talked about Yamamoto, he said, you know,

we'll see, we have to talk to the agent. Now, Friday is the last day to put people on waivers for buyouts or let people know you're buying them out. Yep. So we'll see like the one thing that was really interesting. You reported on the,

on Wednesday was Nashville has nine RFAs and they're only qualifying to, I think there's like, I mentioned Max Comtois earlier in the week. I've been told there's going to be a lot more free agents than we realized that there's going to be a bunch of guys who don't get QO'd. So I think this is going to be the, one of

the interesting storylines on Friday. Okay. A few more storylines that we're continuing to follow here. You want to have an expanded thought on Tyler Bertuzzi and the Boston Bruins? Have you said everything that you want to say about that situation?

I think they wanted to keep him. I think they really did. But I just heard as of Thursday night, he was going to the market. Like I said, you know, Boston was trying to get a first round pick and they couldn't. And, you know, like, you know, we'll see.

I mean, we'll see what the, but again, Sweeney post-draft, he didn't sound optimistic on signing any of his guys. You know, the two situations I want to talk about, you know, I've mentioned Ryan Reeves now. I think if he hits the market, I think Toronto is very much in the picture here. Do you think one way or another that the Maple Leafs are going to get a slugger?

Oh yeah. I think they're going to get beefier and I don't think there's any doubt about that. I've heard the possibility of Jonathan Quick being the Rangers backup behind Shusterkin. You know, George McPhee said on the NHL network coverage that they're close on getting the Aiden Hill done.

You know, there's a lot of goalies out there. Some people said to me they wouldn't be surprised if Quick is a Ranger. I wanted to talk about Debrinkit. We talked about Debrinkit and our default that it was Detroit. I don't think so anymore. There was a lot.

As I was leaving the draft on Thursday, I was getting a lot of people telling me that they don't think it's going to work in Detroit. Is that because the term? Someone just said like, you know what we talked about, that Iserman just gets to a point where he says, I'm not going any further.

That's the sense I got, that he's hit that point and Ottawa just doesn't think it's a good enough deal. Like unless something changes, definitely. And it wasn't just me. There are a few other people saying they don't think it's Detroit. That's stunning to me. Yeah.

That is completely stunning to me. Yeah. It just doesn't appear to be a match. Now I think Anaheim had looked in, but I was told not likely. I heard Anaheim was interested though. I know the Islanders had checked in and they've got room now. Like the Islanders have room for a Tarasenko

or a Debrinkit or whatever they want to do there. After the Josh Bailey. Although I think they're still trying to get Mayfield signed too. So I think that's an interesting one. The Islanders do have some room now. I've wondered about Washington too.

Can Debrinkit and Ovechkin both work together on the power play? I mean, Ovechkin kind of has earned his spot in Washington there, and it's kind of tough to displace him. Did I miss a rule change, by the way? Are they going to have two pucks on the ice for power plays now? Is that how we're doing it? People started to say to me, start looking in some new directions for Debrinkit.

I mean, I know about Dallas, but Dallas doesn't have a lot of room. But if somebody said to me, like, Jim Nill is a creative guy. If Jim Nill wants and the Dallas Stars want the brinket, they're going to find out a way to do that. So that's one thing I wanted to mention. You know, Toronto, we mentioned Reeves. Brad Tree Living said the price on some of their current free agents was a little high. O'Reilly, Shen.

I think there's competition for Shen. I think there's competition for O'Reilly. I'm really curious to see what Nashville is going to do down the middle. I think they have some interest potentially in a guy like Comfort, too. Like, I think Nashville's going to get centers, whether it's trade or free agency. I think they're going to get centers. Whether it's trade or free agency, I think they're going to do something. You know, the Leafs, Matthews,

I don't think is signing this week, but I do think he'll be signed before the start of next season. The Willie Nylander thing. I just don't think it's close right now. I really don't. And I think the Leafs are comfortable with Matthews.

They know he's signing and they know he'll be signed before next season. Like the Nylander one, I don't know. And, you know, like we saw, the kid took it right to the deadline last time. And obviously it's not going to be out. He's got a contract. Yeah.

But he took it right to the deadline last time. Like this is not. Down to the minutes, man. This is not a guy who has a history of backing down. Neither does his family nor his agent. So, and the Leafs, same way, like this is tree living and Shane Doan and there's not a

lot of shrinking violets in this one. When I left the draft on Thursday, all the only words I was hearing was not even close. So we'll see. You know, the other one too, that people were talking about was, uh, was Brett Pesci. The one thing people forget is that Pesci has, I think a 15 team, no trade. And someone was telling me that some of the teams that are being guests, they need his permission to do it.

So I don't know where that stands, but I heard the contract talks weren't close. And I think the player was prepared to say, I'll play out the year and we'll see how everybody feels about that. Winnipeg Jets, Mark Shifley. This will be the last one we talk about before we get to your story here, because Alma's got a 6 a.m. flight and he wants us to hurry up.

He's giving me the hand motions. Almo, we're trying to entertain and inform the people here. I'm getting the death stare from Almo right now. I want to say this was a big week for the Jets. I love their pick, by the way. Yeah, I know you love Barlow. Colby Barlow is a really good player. I'm really happy for that.

And a lot of people seem to really like that kid. From what I saw of him, really popular, nice kid. Yeah. And, but I thought that trade they made, it was just a couple of months ago that the Winnipeg Jets put out a video about their ticket sales. Average attendance for the Jets at Canada Life Centre is just over 14,000 fans per game this year. Down from a pre-pandemic average of more than 15,000, which was close to a nightly sellout. This is a big change for the Jets. When the NHL came back to Winnipeg in 2011, season tickets sold out in 17 minutes. Now the Jets are doing this.

From across the prairies down to Portage Avenue, polar blue is our lifeblood. For the first time in 12 years, we are actively and publicly launching a broader-based campaign to re-establish our season ticket membership base. True North Sports and Entertainment says it lost 2,000 season ticket holders during the pandemic. True North says Winnipeg does have enough money to support an NHL team, but its new promotional video questions that without more paying fans. Was Winnipeg an NHL city? You better believe it, but it takes all of us.

Join us. It wasn't very subtle. It was kind of like, it tried to be subtle. It was not subtle, Elliot. But it had a bit of a sledgehammer feel to it. Like, we've lost the team once. If you don't sell tickets, you know,

who knows what could happen. So I think the franchise is in a bit of a nervous place. I thought they had a really good week, the Barlow pick, and they made a really good trade for Dubois. When someone holds the hammer against you, I think there were a lot of people out there who were kind of saying, you know what,

we couldn't have made as good a deal in that situation. They were smart. They took advantage of the King's own cap situation and they got good players and they'll have to negotiate an extension with Velarde, who's in a really good place in terms of, hey, you just traded for me. Now you got to take care of me. And I think there's a bit to work over there with Ayafollah, who was very happy in Los Angeles.

But I think they did as well as they could. And I was asking some people I know in Winnipeg, what's the mood, what's the mood? And they said, surprisingly good. They thought they were going to get their clock. I'm not talking about the Jets, I'm talking about the fans. I think the fans thought they were going to get their clocks. I'm not talking about the Jets. I'm talking about the fans. I think the fans thought they were going to get their clocks cleaned in that deal. And they didn't.

They made a good deal. And the Barlow pick was really popular. And I think this has been a really tough stretch for the Jets and their organization. And I don't know how they feel. But the people I was talking to there, I was asking them, how does the city feel? Like I said, they said not bad. So it's a good week for them. I think the other thing to hear Jeff is the

hellebuck thing. There's a lot of goalie movement that's going to happen here a lot. So the hellebuck thing, I think that's kind of on the back burner right now. And the Shifley thing, you know,

I have to say this. I got a lot of mixed responses this week i got some they're gonna trade them i got some there's nothing going on i got some they're gonna try and convince him to stay hellebuck said he wants to win like i wonder if they go back to him now and they say connor look we made this. It doesn't make us worse. We think this is a good trade for us. How do you feel? And does it make Hellebuck change his mind at all? You know, the Shifley one to me is really interesting.

Like I was sitting with a couple of guys from a couple of teams having a couple of beers and we were having this big debate about Shifley. And what we were talking about is like, if you're Winnipeg, you had a one, two punch about Shifley. And what we were talking about is, like, if you're Winnipeg, you had a one-two punch of Shifley-Dubois. That's a really good one-two punch. Well, now Dubois is gone.

And yes, you've got, you know, Kupar, you can play center, but he's more down the lineup. Well, now if you trade Shifley, like, look at this draft we just had. The first four players were all centers. Like, one-two centers are hard guys to find. if you trade Shifley, like look at this draft we just had. The first four players were all centers. Like one, two centers are hard guys to find.

So if you're Winnipeg, you've traded Dubois and now you're thinking about trading Shifley, all of a sudden you've just traded two top two centers. How are you replacing that? And I know there's a big debate there like does Shifley need a change of scenery? The Jets need a change of scenery? Everything that's happened, is it better for everybody they move on but these guys were fighting and it was

a really good debate about like after making a good trade do you go to Shifley and say hey if we make you the captain do you feel better about this can we get the full buy-in from you and they'll have to sign them. So I am curious to see if they go to Hellebuck and Scheifele at all and say, does this Dubois trade change your feeling? Or has everybody here already made their decision? But I just wanted to mention this fascinating argument over beers, because all of the world's problems can be solved over a scotch or a beer. And if those of you who don't drink like Jeffrey, you're welcome to have a seltzer water and join us.

You know what? It's so funny. You know, one of the things a pet peeve of mine is, or one that I really don't understand the reference, is when people say, yeah, you know what? I like hearing your show. It's just like, you know, you listen to a conversation at a bar. I can count on one hand the amount of like entertaining conversations I've ever heard at a bar, I can count on one hand the amount of like entertaining

conversations I've ever heard at a bar. Like when have you been part of like a really entertaining sports conversation? That's because you're a terrible conversationalist. Yeah, that might be true too. That's a fair point. That's a fair point. Okay. So let me.

Oh, there is one other thing I wanted to mention. Okay. And first of all, great time in Nashville, great hosts, but also I wanted to shout out the Anaheim Ducks for one reason. So earlier this week, one of our previous podcast guests, Sudzi Maharaj, who was their goalie coach, they announced that he has pancreatic cancer. He's undergoing treatment.

But, you know, they're hopeful and that he will continue to work. You know, the one thing I wanted to say was just in the process of making a few phone calls just to hear what was going on, I heard the docs were unbelievably good in the way that you're supposed to be good. Yep. Like his contract was up and the diagnosis came in

and they called him and they said, you don't have anything to worry about. Like we're going to take care of this. And that is the way the world is supposed to work. And I was really happy to hear that. Good on the Ducks.

Absolutely. And we're all in Sudsy's corner. He's one of the best. We've had him on the pod. So you've heard him here. If you've heard that podcast, he is hands down flat out, full stop. One of the best people

you will meet in hockey period elliot and it's not just you and me saying that ask anybody about suds the great universally loved and the whole hockey world is in his corner okay jeff so the story about the phf and the PWHPA. So this one picked up steam really quickly. And this one was really kept secret by the Mark Walter Group, Billie Jean King Enterprises, and the Premier Hockey Federation. So I got off the plane from Nashville, and I got a text from someone saying,

get your ears to the ground, something is happening tonight. And so I started making phone calls and sending out texts. And there were two calls made, one by the PWHPA union, and the other was hosted by Regan Carey, the commissioner of the Premier Hockey Federation, and her athletes. Both of them took place at 8 o'clock Eastern. And it was told to both groups by their leadership on the PWHPA side, Stan Kasten, and on the side of the PHF, the aforementioned Reagan Carey. And the

upswing is that Billie Jean King Enterprises and the Mark Walter Group have purchased the Premier Hockey Federation. I don't know what the numbers involved here are. Perhaps by the time we get to the next podcast, after doing some digging, I can find out. But as was stressed to me, this is not a voided. The contracts all have an at-will clause attached to them, and they were dissolved. Now, I do understand that there is some HR involved here that can provide some assistance to extend benefits and help them gain some sort of financial consideration. consideration. I don't know the specifics of it, but I do think, Elliot, that there are some things in places here that'll help some of the athletes. I guess it'll lighten the blow a little bit, but as you can imagine, there are a lot of athletes that are really confused and really upset about what has happened here, and there are going to be plenty that are, just to be blunt, that are out of jobs because of this. Now, what will happen is those players will go into the player draft pool. When we get to the draft for this new league, the name believed to be, I've reported,

the Professional Women's Hockey League, the PWHL. When they have their draft, these athletes will be part of the PWHPA, which will be the name of the players union. And again, once again, I clarified this on Twitter. This is not a merger between the PWHPA or Mark Walter Group, Billie Jean King Enterprises and the PHF. This is one side buying the other, clearing way for one league. Now, when will we get more information on this? One of the dates that I was told today, don't be surprised if we hear something around July 6th.

I don't know if that's going to be a situation where we get the full compliment and the full breadth of what this new league is going to look like with key dates and what the draft is going to look like, etc. for all this or the markets. And it's believed that it'll be a six-team league, as I've reported before on Hockey Night, three Canadian teams and three American teams.

I don't know that all those locations have been finalized, but I think we're looking at November training camps and a January start for this league but this was like I'll be blunt Elliot this was a monumental day for women's hockey and as much as it is very upsetting for a lot of women on the PHF side and I understand it and one of the things that I put out as well you know agent Spencer Gillis you know was one of the key people that was looking to put together a group of athletes that would go on strike before the next PHF season to try to get rid of the at-will clauses in the

contract. Obviously, that's been scuttled with the dissolving of the PHF. But this thing is now headed towards the one league that we've wondered about for a long time. This is what everybody on the PWHPA side of things has wanted. This is why a lot of the elite level athletes didn't join the premier hockey federation and continue to do, you know, showcases and, you know, put together their events. This was, you know, as one person told me today, you know, one of the women I talked to said, you know, when they were told about this, they started crying right away because this has been so long that they've wanted this solution and this pathway

cleared. And the other thing, because I know, I know what you're thinking here, Elliot, what does this mean now that there's one league and how does this relate to the NHL? The National Hockey League has always said, we're not going to get involved. We're not going to choose between one league or another, you know, get together or, you know, figure something out here at that point. We'd be interested in getting involved now that that hurdle has been cleared. I'm guessing it'll be up to people like Stan Kasten, Mark Walter to work out any type of arrangement if there's going to be one between this new league and the National Hockey League. So that's what we know on this Thursday at 1045 Eastern as we record this right now. By the time we get to another podcast,

I'm sure I'll have more to share. All right, good work, Ben. This is definitely something you know better than I do, and you were all over it. We're getting there. It's getting there, slowly but surely. I know it's frustrating for a lot of people along the way, and it's, as I mentioned, really disappointing for a lot of athletes that are going to be out of work, and I think frustrating for a lot of people along the way. And it's, as I mentioned, really disappointing for a lot of athletes

that are going to be out of work. And I think disappointing for a lot of athletes that signed very large contracts with the PHF and now those contracts have been voided. But when you look at the future of women's hockey, it's hard not to see this as a very positive day. We're going to hit a pause. When we come back, Elliot's conversation at the draft

with Jason Bukala. Keep it here. Hey, you guys. I had an idea for a segment. One thing I really want to see is... Ah, shit. of our draft coverage again. Had a great time with the entire crew. I thought Chuck Fletcher did a wonderful job. Sam Cosentino is always Sammy. More words per square second than anybody else in hockey.

Carolyn Cameron handling the interviews. Kyle Bukaskas doing some great work with storytelling about a lot of the players. And David Amber, just an outstanding host in conducting and controlling everything and directing everything in a very chaotic situation, draftster like that, and our producer Scott Lennox, who's really got

this thing nailed and has for a long time. Great job, Scotty. Bukla, as always, our man Buk is a big part of our coverage. On Thursday, Elliot sat down with Jason Bukla for a review of what we all saw in the past couple of days in Nashville. Jason, before we talk at all about anything that you reacted to from the draft, I have to ask you

about an event that occurred this morning on day two of the draft. Yes. Our hotel is literally a four-minute walk from Bridgestone Arena and you and Sam Cosentino had a car sent to the hotel to drive you to the arena. Listen. Please explain. Listen, it's 372 meters, according to my phone app. It's downhill on the way down, but it was 105 degrees this morning.

So I know where you're going with this, that it's just a bad look for us Svelte Media members, especially when I stretched and stuff in the morning before I left the hotel. But yes, we got in a car service ordered by Sam Cosentino. I just tag along. I do have to say, I heard Sam was responsible for this. 100%.

You should point out you were in your suits. Yes. I was dressed like this. It was You should point out you were in your suits. Yes. I was dressed like this. It was too hot. People who work in production and tech, they call us poodles on air. That encourages them calling us poodles. Yeah, well, I would have been a puddle if I had to walk this morning. All right.

So two days the draft is done. When someone says to you, 2023 draft, what's going to grab you? What's the first thing you're going to think of? First thing what's going to grab you what's the first thing you're going to think of first thing's going to come to mind reflection no trades in the first round i can't i can't recall for as long as i've been in the game that they're 2007 first time in 16 years so first time in 16 years yeah so that's the first thing so i made the statement last night on air that the depth of the the first 45 kids let's say on team's lists it was almost like a round and a half like it wasn't just the first round if you will it's like a first round and a half that's how deep the quality went so i didn't think people saw the value in making too many trades because they valued the list so much that

was my first takeaway my second takeaway was talking about trades and they valued the list so much. That was my first takeaway. My second takeaway was talking about trades, and they're not going to be happy with me when I bring it up, but having Simashev go to Arizona at six, I believe that that pick could have been made somewhere else in the first round for sure. Call it Nashville's pick. Okay, 15. Okay, so Trotsky, as you know,

and David were trying to trade up in the first round. And Arizona could have been a target. I'm speculating here. I'm sure they called everybody in the top 10, you know what I'm saying. So that could have been a deal that could have been made there. But conversely, Arizona stuck to their guns. They went off their list. And their timeline, Elliot, is different, right?

They've got so many prospects coming through. They don't really need more draft capital. Like, sooner than later, Arizona's going to have all these guys drop on their lap. They're not going to have room to sign them all. Arizona, to me, is really interesting because they did something that a lot of people aren't doing right now. One is Russians. Like, everybody they drafted was over six feet tall.

I think San Jose did the same thing. I think everyone they drafted was over six feet tall i think san jose did the same thing i think everyone they drafted was over six foot one you know to me that's the vegas effect the colorado effect but they went for height and they went for russians at a time a lot of people are nervous about taking russians so my theory on that is that they felt given their circumstance with how flush they are with the prospect pool that they could get out ahead of some of these other teams that maybe we're going to sit on a guy later and they might have valued them as much as as arizona did but they're like you know what we've already got all these prospects coming we're going to take a run at all these guys because we can't yep because we can. Yep. Because we can.

But it's fascinating to me. They go to Daniel Boot at 12, and so you've got a 6'5 guy who's on projection. He could be a 1 in the NHL. He actually could be a 1. I think he leans more 2, 2F centerman, but he's got all kinds of skill. But there's a lot of projection there compared to the other people drafted around him. So, yeah, that was fascinating. I don't think they drafted a North American until they took the goalie from the U.S. team, Musser. I don't have it in front of me, but.

It feels like that. Yeah, they had a very unique draft. Yeah, European heavy. And for our listeners, the timeline, as you know, is four years on those guys. Yes, you get them for four years. CHL players, two years.

USHL or NCAA players, four years or until their class is done. And overseas, four years. The great story about that is the last time the CBA was done, the full one, in 2013, the players who were negotiating told me that right before they got the deal done, one of the last time the CBA was done, the full one, in 2013. The players who were negotiating told me that right before they got the deal done, one of the last things the NHL asked for was European players. It was two years at the time they asked for four.

That's interesting. Did they give you the reason why they? I don't know why they waited on that until the last minute, but that was one of the things that definitely happened. Well, they get to play in those pro leagues over there and earn a pro earning in Europe, a lot of them, before they come over here. Even the young guys that get drafted, like the Axel Sandin Pelicas, that kid played 114

hockey games this year. That's a lot of hockey, man. You could go on a full NHL run, win the Stanley Cup. You're not, you could go seven games and each round of the Stanley Cup, you're not even going to get that many games. No, you're at 110. So.

82 and 28. You know, he played the Holinka. He played the World Juniors. He played four nations, five nations, World Under-18s, SHL games. Like, it's crazy. It's interesting. So, I mean, maybe they, I'm just spitballing here,

but they've got so many things going on in Europe, they might want to own those guys a little longer. Okay, so let's look at this. Let's go through the first round, okay? Leo Carlson, two, from Anaheim. Initial reaction. Not shocked. Not the least bit shocked. I was splitting hairs on Fantilli and Carlson 2 from Anaheim. Initial reaction? Not shocked. Not the least bit shocked.

I was splitting hairs on Fantilli and Carlson at 2. Listening to Pat Verbeek talk to you about it, it made perfectly good sense to me anyways. Pat, you had us all guessing. What tipped the scales for Carlson? Well, we were really excited about his creativity, his hockey sense. I think there's a potential for him to really be a dominant player at both ends of the ice.

We liked him, especially seeing him at the World Championships play center, and so it kind of became a tipping point for him. Do we pencil him in for next season? Do we pencil him in next season? Well, you know what? We're going to kind of go through the process with him. We'll have to see. He's different than Fantilli.

Fantilli plays more of a quick and fast game. Carlson is moving quicker than people believe he's moving. He's actually going, but he's more cerebral with it. You know, kind of like Barkoff in Florida. You don't know that he's moving as fast as he is, but he is. Where McKinnon, you know he's darting. Somebody told me that Verbeek had a really visceral reaction when it was brought up internally that Carlson wasn't a good skater.

He got really upset about that. I can see that. He's a good skater. There's no problem with a skater. He's agile. He's big. So, not surprised. Fantastic kid.

Great character. So is Fantelli, so I'm splitting hairs there. But just a different player. That's all. He slows the game down a little bit more. Fantilli will drive people off their blue line, off the rush, where Carlson might take on a check, absorb contact to make a play. So one guy's driving the play off because they have to respect the speed a little bit more.

So he'll catch Gavin Brindley at Michigan coming late. Carlson will bring people to him, absorb contact, and make a play. They're just a little different. Did you think there was any chance some combination of Bedard, Carlson, Fantilli-Smith wasn't going 1, 2, 3, 4? No. I thought that that was going to be it. I'll throw Leonard in that mix because I'll go down to 5.

I think that if Smith was available at 5, I think Montreal would have pivoted there and maybe went Smith instead of Reinbacher. And then we might be even having a different conversation in that regard when it came to 6 with Simashev in Arizona. See, I'll be the first one to admit, I don't like giving draft grades. I don't see these kids. I know what a cement head I was at 18, and you can really change between 18 and 23.

People say to me, who's your winner and loser of the draft? And I'm like, I haven't seen these guys play. And you know what? 95% of the people that argue about it on twitter they have no clue about it either but you know in montreal i saw the canadians fans they were upset like did that pick surprise you at all no it didn't surprise me at all again i mean so look what they did in the build-up to the draft they made the deal with colorado um if you look at what they have coming through the prospect pool, so Newhook's coming in.

You know, you've got Owen Beck on the horizon. You've got, obviously, what they already have there with Suzuki and Doc. They've got all these other pieces. So you and I both know because we'll do a trade deadline next year, and we'll do it three, four years from now, and a guy like Reinbacher's name comes up, he's so valuable. Those big right shot six foot four defensemen who can produce better than secondary offense there's some projection

involved here i'm not shocked by that pick i'm not shocked at all by that pick it fits it still fits a need was he the best player on my list available at that slot no i had i would have went leonard after smith was gone like if i'm running the table for Sportsnet, I go to my next best player. I'm not deviating from our list. It was Leonard for me. But Reinbacher was not far behind there. I love Leonard. I think that's a great pick

for Washington. I think they're going to be really happy for a long time. We've talked about him a lot, so I don't want to talk about him anymore. Now that you know what you know about Mishkov in Philadelphia. Yeah.

So he comes to Philly. They hide it. They meet him him here i don't think initially they believed he really wanted to play for them but he convinced them that kind of subterfuge when you hear it like what do you think well the whole season was stealth on him wasn't it i think there's a lot of things that there's probably a documentary in the making somewhere down the line because i i believe now knowing what I know after that meeting especially, they shut down the facility. That didn't actually happen? I actually did that on Twitter because I had two people who sent me that tweet on Friday night.

And they said to me that they shut down the facility so Mishkov could get in there. And I asked Breer that on air and he laughed and he said, that's not true. It's actually a wild coincidence. That was on the Sunday, but it actually happened that they did sneak him in on the Friday where nobody could see him. But there was a conspiracy theory

that they shut it down that day to get him in there. It's a well-earned conspiracy theory, I'll tell you that. Yeah, because a lot of people heard it. Yeah, a lot of people heard it, and there's been so many moving parts with the prospect, that wouldn't surprise us, right? So the whole thing there with Philly or any team that might come out of the woodwork later and say that they had a meeting off-site with him, none of it surprises me with that whole scenario there. I think the whole thing has been a finely tuned journey,

well orchestrated by his management team. And I do believe this, though, Elliot, that they can tell me whatever they want to tell me. I think he only wanted to play for certain teams. I think he only wanted to go to certain cities. Philly's obviously one. Yeah, I agree with you. There's no question in my mind they did that

and you know what some people don't like that you know the one thing i'll say is when you're an agent and your client tells you to do something sometimes you got to do things that people won't like but that's your job like i'm curious when you were working for teams how often did you have an agent say to your team, don't draft this guy, he doesn't want to come here? More than a handful of times. So it happens a bit. It happens. Now, would your GM ever say, screw it, I'm taking the key?

Because I know some people are like, they don't dictate to us, we dictate to them. Like, what were your GMs like? Dependent on the slot. Dependent on the draft slot. In this scenario here, let me preface it by saying this. Depending on where you are in the cycle of your big team, okay, and then depending on where you are with your depth chart, okay,

now your GM might be in that mode. It's like, honestly, it's the NHL. You're not going to tell me what to do. Your GM has two years left on his deal. You've got middling depth. You're sort of a playoff team. That changes the scope of that conversation altogether. Strategy has to change.

He's not going to be happy about it, or she. They're not going to be happy about it. There's nobody at that highest level in the world of this game wants any 18-year-old kid and his management team to dictate. 100%. Come on. You should just be foaming at the mouth to come and play. Right. But it happens.

It happens. I find that it happens more with even over here with North Americans, but kids are going to college. Really? Yeah. They're lukewarm about the selection process that, you know, I'm happy to be drafted, but you get the feeling pretty early in the process, if you will, that, yeah, you're

happy, but I can tell you're not totally happy. We went through that with Hyman. When Hyman had that great year in Michigan, his senior year, he walked us to water right till March saying he was going to be a Florida Panther. And at the end of the day, he had no intentions of being a Florida Panther. On this podcast, you're not allowed to say anything negative about Zach Hyman, just so you know. Well, I like Zach Hyman as a player.

I'm just giving you an example. You set it up. I'm just following the lead. The other thing I wanted to ask you was, I really like something you said in the NHL Network on day two, and you talked about Carolina. Teams have a type. And you said Carolina was drafting to type.

Was there any team that you saw a thought of over these two days who you said they did not draft to type? Honestly, I thought that Toronto kind of were in the muddy middle compared to what they've done in the past. Well, I think Tree Living wants... Some more size there, I think. Well, not only size, but they want to be meaner. I think he thinks they're too docile so i'm not surprised to

hear you say that so that was one but full disclosure i was kind of curious anyway so you're you're monitoring it a little bit differently right i was a little bit surprised so trotsky's coming into nashville and if you start to look at who they selected they selected a lot of guys 511 like three or four guys 5'11", or shorter, that are burners, or like Caelan Lynn type guys that are, you know, they play like their hair's on fire, they're really hard to play against, and I thought that was a little bit interesting, you know, because their division specifically seems to be, you know, you have to have some beef in that division to come out of it, it seems, but clearly there's a little bit of a changing of the guard there with size and speed that obviously Barry

wants to have that in the group. Okay. Couple more for you. Number one, player who went late that you said, actually, I know late in the first round, you liked the Blues pick who went 25th, the captain of the Swedish team. Oh, I love him.

Stenberg. Stenberg. I remember you were talking with him, but maybe somebody who went late that you said, boy, what a great late pick. Can I check my notes for a sec here? Yeah, absolutely. So I want to talk about Stenberg a little for a sec here.

Yeah, yeah, go ahead. I had him as a top 10 guy for me, and I got the next guy after this. But Stenberg, I had him as a top 10 guy. He's been the captain of that Swedish team. Great weekend for the country of Sweden. I thought they had a really good night. For a great couple days, right?

But this kid rips pucks from all over the place, plays the game the right way, three-zone heavy. He's kind of built like a fire hydrant. He's really hard to play against. He's quick to small areas, and he's just hard to knock off pucks. I thought Nick Lardis was going to go a lot sooner. So I remember he went 67th, I think, to Chicago. Yeah.

And I think it was Sam who said, wait a sec, like people are looking at this going, Nick Lardis was still available? So when you say his name, I think of that. So Chicago, obviously Bedard. But then they went Oliver Moore out of the program. He's a burner. And then you go to Nick Lardis, who's an elite skater. Like his, honestly, he's the Elvis Stoico of this draft class.

He's a beautiful skater. But he's a perimeter guy for the most part, plays the wing. But if you put him with somebody who's a play driver in the middle, can extend plays, he's going to go to work. So Lardis, I had him as like between 28 and 34 in my mind. So that's a guy that stands out for me. All right, next year. We're talking about guy that stands out for me. All right. Next year.

We're talking about next year. Yeah. Macklin Celebrini. So this year was the year of Bedard. Next year is the year of Celebrini. The Iserman kid's really good too out of the U.S. You know who's going to like that even though he never listens to this podcast is Dave Amber. Really?

Yeah. Dave Amber never listens to the podcast because he tells me, I hear too much of you normally, so I can't listen to the podcast. But he saw Cole Iserman play probably about six, seven years ago, and he talks about Cole Iserman more than he talks about his own wife and kids. He says, watch out for this Iserman kid. He's really good. Yeah, he wants to puck all the time. He's an alpha dog.

He wants it. Sometimes he had the beaver tail going a little bit at the under-18s. You know one of those guys that really wants it all the time. But he's elite. Macklin Celebrini would have been a top-ten pick in this draft. Like, he's that good. And this was a great draft. And where does Eiserman play?

So he is at the 17s this year, but played for the 18s at the Worlds. So he's at the U.S. National Team Development Program. And Celebrini was at the Chicago Steel this year. Is he there next year? As far as I know, as I sit here right now, that's where he's going to be, yes. Okay. The other kid that's on the horizon, though, the Hudson draft pick in Montreal. He's got a brother, right?

He's got a brother, and he's a heck of a player, too. And where is he playing? He's at the program, U.S. National Team, so he's going to be at the U18s. But I believe he's also going to be U when he's done there. Now, his brother will be in Montreal by then,

but he's another one. All right. Thanks very much, Iman. How do you feel? Well, I feel like I've been talking to you too much this week, so I'm glad

to get out of here. You got a car taking you back to the hotel? Yeah, it's uphill all the way. Okay, that's Elliot alongside Jason Bukala. It's been an amazing week in Music City. And a big thank you to the Nashville Predators, to Kevin Wilson. I mean, this Nashville Predators organization,

from a hospitality point of view and ease of working with point of view, I mean, Nashville's a gold standard. Great people there, and they have since they joined the Nashville Hockey League. That's been a constant with the Nashville Predators. So it's been a great week in Music City. So we're going to leave you with another local artist. Mike Floss was born in Chicago,

but his family moved to Nashville soon after he was born. Floss was surrounded by music from an early age, thanks to his father, a respected jazz trumpeter. From his 2021 record Oasis, here's Mike shit, I don't like it, but I will Keep some Saint Laurent cologne on top of ink, I like the smell Dressing like a track coach, on the drums, I'm Max Roach Trying to milk the game for everything, these asses in toast Zoning out to Mad Max, Kroger's wife of cash back

If you doing drugs, make sure you ain't got no bad back