32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Here’s What Didn’t Happen

Episode Date: March 6, 2023

Imagine Timo Meier on the Oilers! Jeff and Elliotte kick things off by talking about some of the trades that didn’t happen but were in the works (00:10) including Erik Karlsson to Toronto, Timo Meier to Edmonton and a few others. They’re still enjoying the Ritchie brothers trade (15:15), discuss a trade deadline issue that may be brought up at the GM meetings next week (17:30), wonder if the Lightning are playing games with us (22:10), David Quinn loses it on the bench (26:55), Arizona fights back (29:45), Jakob Chychrun shines in his Ottawa debut (49:47), a few notes on Vancouver (1:00:10), the potential for more teams in the U.S. (56:26) and Elliotte talks about the Jonathan Quick trade (55:15).They guys also do a DEEP dive into the Flyers (30:50) and discuss the current state of the club, take your voicemails + emails (1:03:50), and say a few words about Mike Stothers who was diagnosed with stage 3 melanoma of the lymph node (1:14:00)Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call The Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemailGET YOUR 32 THOUGHTS MERCH HEREThis podcast was produced and mixed by Amil Delic, and hosted by Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman.Audio Credits: -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.

it's dynamite animal oh my god that was awful elliot i want to open up today's podcast with an idea but before we get there the business 32 thoughts the podcast presented by gmc and the new Sierra AT4X. So on the last podcast, you talked about perhaps changing or massaging trade deadlines. Some teams may have had some issue with how three-way trades were made. For those that weren't with us on the last episode, a quick refresher, please, before I lead into this. Shame on you for not listening.

What else are you doing? Yes. So basically what I was talking about was I heard there were some issues with three-way trades that the process was too complicated because three-way trades mean multiple phone calls with the league. And for example, if part one gets approved and

then a new team comes in and says, well, no, no, no, that's not what we agreed to. The league's kind of like too bad. It's already been approved and we're not going backwards. And I think that happened. Nobody would tell me what the trade was, but apparently that happened with one of the three ways this year. And everybody kind of threw their hands up and said,

you know what? We need a better process. Okay. So with that, I was thinking what to do on saturday's 32 thoughts second intermission feature and i sent a bunch of texts out to managers agents and coaches about 12 or 15 of them so it's a very very small sample size but i just wanted to get their thoughts on if you could change anything about deadline what would you do?

Now, didn't have a chance because of the authority of time during intermissions to do it on Saturday. But basically the one recurring theme that came back was no games on trade deadline day. That was a constant for pretty much everybody. But there was one manager who kind of went above and beyond and sent something really interesting. And I'll paraphrase his idea here in a couple of seconds. Now, he prefaced it by saying, I'm guessing you're writing this to me not because you want a boring idea, but something wild that you can read on the air. So here's one. So I was going to do this on Saturday. I'll do it here instead. This was this one manager's idea.

Players who have been on your team's roster for more than three seasons would agrees, can be loaned starting on deadline day with no retention allowed. That's the key in this one. So what it does is it incentivizes teams to keep their good players when they hit UFA. You know, if he's a $6 million player, but you can move them at $3 million on deadline day, you have room to add via loan. And increases the number of good players that are in the playoffs. Also, it discourages teams from really tanking hard. If you can get draft pick value from loaning out your good players, then you do have an incentive to have enough good players to loan out. Now, it's an idea that I'm sure will go nowhere.

But to anyone who suggests that there aren't creative thinkers in the NHL, I submit that idea from one manager. The problem is the creative thinkers are not in charge. Like that's the issue here. It's funny too, because, you know, I said to this person, like, wow, this is wonderful. And you said back to me, it doesn't matter if I have this idea. It's, you know, it's, it's at the commissioner's office where change really happens. So it needs to go above the general manager's level.

But I thought that was a creative one to send in for in the spirit of, if you could change anything on deadline day, what would you do? I love the creativity. I do anything that's different or makes you think I'm completely in support of it. I don't think it would ever happen. No.

But just think about it now, Jeff, you're a big junior hockey guy, Memorial Cup guy. Yeah. Remember 50, 60 years ago, the champion of each league, the Western Hockey League, the Quebec League and the Ontario League, they could take two players from another team and go to the Memorial Cup with them.

Could you imagine if that was the case now, just the insanity that that would create in hockey and on social media? Okay, we're the Toronto Maple Leafs. We've made the playoffs. The Calgary Flames, unfortunately, not going to make it this year. We'd love Noah Hannafin and Nazem Khadri for the playoffs.

Well, you know what would usually happen is they would end up taking goaltenders. John Garrett. Yes. Mike Vernon was another one. And this would obviously enrage people, but nonetheless, you're right. I know what came back from this manager was very soccer, but it's not as if, and I'm glad you pointed out, it's not as if there isn't a history of this in hockey. Because you correctly point out that you used to be able to pick up players along the way.

Or you could pick and choose, Jeff. Yeah. If we're the Maple Leafs, we'll take John Gibson from Anaheim. Yeah. And you know what? We'll take Matthew Kachuk from the Panthers. Those are our picks. Yep.

Could you just imagine the insanity that would come out of that? I'm smiling thinking about it. I know. The outrage machine on Twitter would get fired up rather quickly. Okay, so there's the idea to kick off the podcast. Welcome to it once again. We wish you all the best heading into this week where we will not talk about trades. Well, that's not exactly true.

We'll talk about trades that didn't happen, Elliot. And you touched on this on Saturday. We had a lot to get through today, including emails and voicemails were negligent last week because we had a lot to plow through. We'll clean that up today. Timo Meyer and the Edmonton Oilers. Now the Sharks were pretty frisky come trade deadline time. I reported about Jordan Greenway and their interest there, but you had the big headline story on Saturday, Timo Meier and the Edmonton Oilers. After the deadline, one of the things you really

try to do is call around and say what didn't happen or what was discussed came close. Just ideas out there that teams tried or thought about and it just didn't occur. And one of the ones that dropped on my lap was Edmonton and Timo Mayer. And, you know, one of the things I think there were teams thinking about, and I think Toronto was another one of them, and I'm sure there were more, there were teams out there who were saying,

what if we add Mayer for the stretch run and then punted our major decisions until the summer. Figured it all out from there. Wow. I don't know if that was Edmonton's plan initially, but I think it became an idea that they tossed around. I heard the offer they made to San Jose was legit. Obviously, it didn't win the deal.

New Jersey was the one that won the deal, but I heard it was legit. It wasn't just, would you do this or would you do that? It was an actual offer and there was an exchange between the Sharks and the Oilers. San Jose just didn't pick them. And the thing that I thought was most interesting was someone said to me, here's Edmonton's gamble. Okay. Let's just say you bring Meyer in, you put them with one of the two guys or both of them. Maybe you create, try to create some kind of super line. Yes. And then if, if Meyer does anything with those two guys, as you would assume he will, you can trade them at the draft. That is a situation where you could see Meyer's value being X at the deadline and after a playoff with McDavid and Dreisaitl,

it's X plus Y. And I think that's the way Edmonton was thinking. You recoup as much as, or maybe even more so, than you traded to get him in the first place. That could be the beauty of this deal. You could recoup all of it and maybe more. And you give teams permission to talk to them when you make the deal. I think it's a good idea.

I think it's a creative deal. I think it's a very creative way to think. Now, we'll never know because it didn't happen, but that was one of the ones that I think the Oilers looked at. And you mentioned they looked at Zach McEwen, who was a guy they kind of flirted with at different times during the year. You know, there were a couple of people in and around the team that mentioned that name to me. And that's why I put it out on Saturday that they had these conversations. I know there were some people around the team that were interested and wanted it to happen.

Ultimately, and obviously, they decided not to do it. And Philly ended up sending him to Los Angeles in exchange for Brenda Lemieux and a fifth. But they did have those conversations, which would lead one to believe that maybe they were looking to get tougher down the stretch. That probably shouldn't surprise anybody.

But yes, they had conversations about Zach McEwen as well. And then Toronto was another team. The Carlson thing, I think, happened before they made the O'Reilly deal. But I absolutely think the Ekholm questions were after they made the O'Reilly deal. And I think in those two cases, what the Sharks were willing to retain and the fact the Predators weren't really willing to retain much. They only kept 4% on the deal with Edmonton. I think between both price they would have had

to pay and ability to make it all work around the salary cap, I think it would have been impossible for Toronto. But both of those players were people that the Leafs looked at and had conversations about. It just didn't work. I think they felt that the McCabe-Lafferty move in terms of getting guys who had more time left on their contracts, the acquisition cost, the salary cap situation,

I think they just felt it was better to make those moves than really trying to do something with a Carlson or an Ekholm, which would fundamentally change their salary cap situation. I think there was one team out there that made a run at Mario Ferraro from the Sharks. I don't know who that is at this point in time. You know why that seems weird to me? Why is that? I'm very much of the belief that the San Jose Sharks are in the business of acquiring as many young defensemen and young goaltenders as possible.

That seems to be a target for them. Yes. I think what Mike Greer did was, I think he got a call, he was told we have interest in Ferraro and he set his price. And I heard it was a very high price as you would imagine and if you met it he was gonna look at it so i guess what happened was the team in question didn't reach the price or san jose looked at it and said you know what after really thinking about

it we're not gonna do this one or the happened, but I heard there was a team that made a real legit offer for him. Another guy I heard there was some traction on was Gutis. Oh yeah. I can believe that. And I think there were multiple teams. You know, one of the teams I kind of wonder about is Tampa Bay. of the teams i kind of wonder about is tampa bay and i would really be curious about the idea of florida and tampa bay dealing with each other especially with a player like that like i know there are just some teams that just can't make moves with one another like i know they have but

like edmonton calgary the old montreal quebec rivalry I'd kind of throw Tampa and Florida in that mix. Even ones that we hadn't considered for a long time. I've made this point before on this show with you. Look how long it took Buffalo and Boston. And I know that Peter McNabb was a deal with Andre Savard, but that was a free agent situation. Look how long it took Boston

and Buffalo, who were in the same division for a long time, to make a deal. It wasn't until the Danny pie trade. There are just some teams that just because of geography, rivalry, all of it, just don't make deals with one another. I kind of put Florida and Tampa in that category, especially now more so than ever, specifically how Gutis plays. Yes.

Like you want to face that guy again? Oof. Like I heard there were three or four teams that took a look at gutas a legit look at gutas and ultimately if you heard bill zito talking to the florida reporters after the deadline he said we started talking a little bit um to radco and we'll continue um you know we'd like to keep them if we can. And it's a process now. We want to focus on these games. We want to make the playoffs. And we'll evaluate at the end of the year.

They got a big win on Saturday against Pittsburgh. Out the line, long drive, and Petrie's attempt to flex wide. That's it for this one. Panthers take care of business tonight at home. A big response game. They get the win here on home ice. 4-1 the final. Which was on a winning streak, a game they absolutely had to have.

But, like, I heard there were several teams talking to the Panthers about Gutis, and it was suggested to me one of them was the Lightning, which would make sense. You know, the other thing, too, that's funny about that is you remember when Tortorella was still coaching Tampa, there was one year when the lightning weren't very good and they had a huge win over Florida, basically cost them a playoff spot. And Tortorella came out with that speech, like nothing made me happier than knocking those guys out of the playoffs. Like that's very real. The Panthers and the lightning don't like each other.

I had always been under the impression, and who knows, it might still happen. Who knows what's going to happen in the future. I had always wondered about Radko Gudis in Toronto. I suspect the Maple Leafs called on him. I absolutely do because basically I think they called on just about every defenseman, but that wasn't one of the teams I heard.

It wouldn't surprise me. And again, I have no confirmation of it, but it wouldn't surprise me if one of the teams I heard. Like, it wouldn't surprise me. And again, I have no confirmation of it, but it wouldn't surprise me if one of the other teams was Pittsburgh. It just makes sense. Hey, just while we're there, Florida Panthers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Saturday night, a little bit of old school. Well, a lot of old school. Oh, yeah.

You know, one of the things you've heard, and again, here I go stumping again for it, and your eyes are going to roll back, but what Barkoff did to Letang. I don't like it. I've referred to it as the cowbell before, and it gets the giggles. But what we're talking about is the stick motion upwards between the leg that hits a player in the part of the body where a player is most a man. The call technically is slashing.

I've always felt that they need to carve out a special spot for that. Cause that's not like a, you know, chop a guy on the shin pad or whack him on the hip. Like that's a slash. The cowbell man, I've always kind of felt like that needs to be its own penalty. I thought you were going to say carve out

a special place in hell for people to do that. That's where I thought you were going. It's a bad one, man. I thought you were going to say carve out a special place in hell for people who do that. That's where I thought you were going. It's a bad one, man. I just hate it. Well, if you've ever been hit there, you know how much that hurts. I'm with you. I'm not crazy about that play.

Not fun. Okay. Back to things in and around trade deadline. I know that Connor Mackey and Troy Stetcher were also involved in this deal, but we've had a couple of days to think about Brett for Nick here. What do you think now about the Ritchie story? As I said in the last pod, I heard both of

them wanted a change of scenery. Yes. I just didn't put two and two together that it could have been for each other. Yeah. So this one, I mentioned this on Saturday. So there were rumors in the summer about Brett Ritchie and the Los Angeles Kings.

It's like we could kind of see this one coming for a while. Nick Ritchie had been covered by the Calgary Flames for a long time. Back when Ritchie signed with the Maple Leafs, there were six teams that were interested. I believe that Calgary was in the final three. And the interest goes back to when Daryl Sutter was working with the Anaheim Ducks and Nick Ritchie was there. So maybe, again, hindsight is 20-20, maybe we should have considered to a conclusion, the brothers hadn't discussed swapping houses, but one of them did say it kind of feels like a no-brainer. Same with housing? I haven't figured that out yet, but that could be a possibility too, yeah. You say, is it just as simple as exchanging car and house keys at this point?

Basically, I mean, all the guys have said that already, so it's kind of getting old. We'll see how it goes. Basically, I mean, all the guys have said that already, so it's kind of getting old. We'll see how it goes. I just love the story. You know, I'm a hockey history guy. It's the first time it's ever happened in the NHL. I think this one's still a lot of fun. And, you know, as one of the brothers said, well, at least I know I'm going for a quality guy,

which is a really nice touch as well. Anyway, the Ritchie story was a fun one. It would be funnier if the answer was the opposite. I can't believe I'm being traded for a person of questionable character. That's all they got for me. That would have been great if we're- The other thing too is it's smarter just to exchange places because interest rates are very high. You don't need a new mortgage right now. Yes, absolutely.

Something else I wanted to mention earlier, Jeff, but I forgot when you were talking about fallout from trades, like the three-way issue. Yeah. So next week, not this coming week, but a week today are the GM meetings in Florida. And one of the managers was saying to me yesterday that there might be some real stink eyes in that get together.

He told me that it does involve him. He said he never had anything he thought was close, but he said there's a Columbus, Boston, the Blue Jackets certainly felt there was more than a verbal agreement there on Gavrikov and they were able to get their first round pick somewhere else. But someone said to me, there were a few of these. There were some teams upset about the Chikrin process. There were some teams upset about the Meyer process. There was the Gavrikov process. And again, I don't know who's right and who's wrong. I've heard various bits of information on both sides,

but the noise, Jeff, is definitely there. It'll be interesting to hear or see when some of these people get together and see each other face-to-face, are there any conversations about that you know the league is has a very simple rule and this reared its head again with the whole dadanoff thing a couple years ago between vegas and anaheim and ottawa hey it's not a trade until we have it in central registry it just does not exist but I said, one manager said to me that there are certainly a group of people out there

that feel that the way conversations happen this year was not the way that they should have happened. And again, I'm not saying they're right. Only the people involved know who's right. But there are definitely hard feelings around the league and it involves more than one trade. It involves two or three. Do you think it will be as bad as we saw in the early nineties with Gary Bettman in one of his first meetings as commissioner with the managers where Bob Ganey and Serge Savard rolled up the sleeves and we're going to have a fist

fight over the signing of a player and what that did to another manager's ability to sign another player where chairs and tables were being pushed off to the side to watch these old two teammates from the Montreal Canadians fight on the floor. Do you think it will be that bad?

Will NDB be packing boxing gloves next week? I'm not expecting that to occur but you look at that group and you would definitely have odds on who would win some of those fights like who would be the favorite there there's definite contenders a ranking system an a-list a b-list a c-list and maybe less than a c list not that i would be very high on such a list if i was ever there all of a sudden anaheim's tough there's a few there would be a few but i also want to mention that uh the nhl and the board of governors meet they have an executive committee uh that meets actually the day before the board ofors talk, the whole Board of Governors meet, and it's 10 teams. The 10 teams on the executive committee are Boston, of course, Jeremy Jacobs is the chairman,

Toronto, Larry Tannenbaum, Jeff Vinnick, Tampa Bay, Ted Leonsis, Washington, Jeff Molson, Montreal, Craig Leopold, Minnesota, Mark Chipman, Winnipeg, Murray Edwards, Calgary, Henry Samwelly, Anaheim, and Rocky Wurtz, Chicago. So that's the executive committee. They meet the day before the whole board of governors meet. Well, they're creating something for the general managers. It's, I don't know, the GM executive committee, Collins Angels, whatever you want to call them in alphabetical order doug armstrong ken holland lou lamorello david poyle don waddell steve eiserman so i think they're going to meet the day before the rest of the general managers

do and i guess what they'll be responsible for is helping set the agenda and what the big topics are so i'm interested in that. I'm curious about that. Do they already have to make one swap out at the end of the season with David Poyle stepping down? I'll ask. I only found out about this later on Saturday. So I'm sure they'll get through it this year and

then they'll figure it out. Clearly it's something they were working on before Poyle announced he was stepping down and you know, he's still staying on as a consultant. Maybe you just keep him there. Experience is valuable, right? True. I don't know, but I don't have an answer for you.

Okay, Elliot, the Tampa Bay Lightning was a tough weekend for the Bolts, was a tough couple of games. Actually, it's been a tough five games for the Tampa Bay Lightning. They've now lost to Nickel. They lose Saturday, just to refresh the story, they lose to Buffalo on Saturday, 5-3. In the process, John Cooper sits down, Stephen Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov, and Braden Point. Fast forward to Sunday afternoon, Tampa faces off against the Carolina Hurricanes. Those three are back in. Svechnikov to Burns. Burns will score! On the power play, 5-on-3. Carolina with the deflection out in front.

And what a day for Jesperi Kotkaniemi. And no celebrating this goal. They're just going right back to the face-off circle. 6-0 Carolina. Kotkaniemi with a five spot. Terravainen with a hat trick. Tampa musters only 14 shots in the game to Carolina's 38. And one period of zero.

First team to do that all year. One period of the bagel. And Victor Hedman gets hit by Andrei Svechnikov. And it's not looking good for the big man. Your thoughts on Tampa this weekend. Do you remember last year there was someone who was texting me and saying, they're exhausted. I think they're done.

And then they all got angry when we talked about that on the podcast. Well, that person texted me again on Sunday. Actually, he did it on Saturday and then he did it again on Sunday. Yeah. And I said, didn't you learn your lesson last year? Oh, that's hilarious. This was an exceedingly bad weekend for the Lightning.

Yep. You know, the benching, John Cooper was trying to make a point. Coaches will do that from time to time with their best players. But the thing on Sunday really stood out to me. You know, Buffalo is a good team now. There's no embarrassment in losing to them.

And there certainly is no embarrassment in losing to Carolina, but there is an embarrassment in losing that way. They didn't just lose. They got absolutely dominated. I think the thing that really makes you wonder is the injury to Hedman.

He's not a player they can afford to lose. But the one thing I look at and say is if he's healthy and it's a big qualifier, he's got to be healthy. Haven't we all just learned not to write off the Tampa Bay lightning too early? Like this was an awful weekend and they're going through a bad stretch, but these things happen to

everybody. And I think we would be wise, I would say very wise, not to prematurely pronounce them dead. So I just wait. Now, you know, we mentioned earlier in the pod, I think they looked at Gudis. I think they were interested in Joel Edmondson. I'm sure there were others. I just think they ran interested in Joel Edmondson. I'm sure there were others. I just think they ran out of assets. Like one of the things we talked about early in the pod was the Maple Leafs

and just eyeing Carlson and eyeing Eckholm. You know, you make the one deal for O'Reilly and you have two problems. You're running out of assets and you're also running out of cap space. And I think in Tampa's case, the cap space wasn't as much of a problem as I think they might've run out of assets. And I know Julian Brisebois, who is unafraid to make bold proclamations in defense of his team and his process said that he would put his defense core up against anyone. I really think they wanted one more defenseman. I do.

And if I look at them and I see where there's maybe a little bit of a weakness that they didn't have before, it's defensive depth, but only a fool writes off the lightning and we should know that by now. So what you're saying is now they're going to go on a 13 game rip now that you've put it public that they're tired and they've hit a

wall and they're a defenseman short. That's basically what I'm saying. Yes, we can expect it to happen because I remember this last year, there were people like they look tired. Yeah. They've played too much hockey. And again, I know people still think that, but

this one guy who was the most adamant guy about it texted me, I think three or four times about it this weekend. And I swear to God, I picked up the phone and I called him and I said, don't you ever learn your lesson? And he just laughed and he's like, no, I'm, I'm convinced about it this time.

Keep saying it. Eventually it's going to be true. It's like, it's like all the people who predicted the housing bubble. Eventually they were right. They predicted it for 20 years and eventually they were right. Yes. Told you it was going to happen. Pay attention.

You should listen to me more often. David Quinn ejected from Saturday's game against the Washington Capitals. David Quinn, of course, San Jose Sharks head coach for having a good go. Don't read lips, ladies and gentlemen, at referee Gord Dwyer. So this puts Washington on their third power play of the afternoon. He just kicked him out of the game here, David Quinn. And they'd had some words earlier over the Logan Couture misty sticking them out from doubt off the faceoff.

And that's it for David Quinn. He's been ejected. And just when you thought that he was summing up, no, David Quinn was still adding up. He's absolutely had enough, David Quinn, as we can see here. He keeps his cool. I haven't seen him blow a top all season long. No, this is the first time. Don't count them, but there were a lot of expletives in that outburst from David Quinn. What do you expect now?

Well, as we record this on Sunday night, this part of the podcast, there still has been no announcement of any penalty. I mean, I've got to think there's going to be one. Of all the things that happened there, like number one, it's been a really tough year in San Jose. And that was a really ugly loss.

They got pounded by the Capitals, a team that also basically waved the white flag on this season, right? Like you looked at the blue line they addressed that night. It was Sandinian in his first game, but they basically had two guys that hadn't been there. And they were really banged up and they had an awful day. And I asked somebody is this been percolating and they said to me no like he's been really calm all year and so on one level like look there has to be a penalty here I think we all understand that you can't do that I think on some level it's Quinn just finally snapping at everything he's dealt with this year you know

that happens what he did he can't do and he's going to get penalized for it but I think it's not just the official it's just the overall frustration of the year in San Jose and you know the other thing too Jeff is that if you look at you know, the referee is Gordie Dwyer there, and it's clear that there's something between them, right? Because at one point, if you watch it, Quinn says something along the lines of, you've had it for me for a long time.

So it's obvious that there's a bit of a personal thing between those two guys that somebody's going to have to deal with. But to me, the bigger thing is there's going to be a punishment. There has to be a punishment on some level based on, you know, what the NHL deems is acceptable or not. But I get it. You're having a losing season.

You're getting killed 8-3 by the Capitals, a team that you really shouldn't be beating you that badly. Sometimes you just lose your mind and Quinn lost his mind. Okay. And by the way, Jeff, we should point out again that in all of the craziness, 4-2 down to the Devils in the third period, a night the Devils are debuting Timo Meier.

Mm-hmm. The Coyotes fought back again. And I can't say it enough, full credit to those players, full credit to that coaching staff. In the middle of a crazy year, those guys are battling their guts out. Yusuf Alamaki, excellent in the third period with a pair of helpers. Nick Schmaltz, Jack McBain. Despite all odds and all efforts to tear down this team.

Those players are playing hard, man. Listen to 32 Thoughts, the podcast, ad-free on Amazon Music, included with Prime. Elliot, we should talk about the Philadelphia Flyers. One, because they are newsworthy. And two, we had a lot of emails, voicemails about the Philadelphia Flyers. Like over the past few weeks, overwhelmingly, it's been a lot about the Flyers. We understand the anger we understand the rage sports is emotional sports is best when it's emotional good or bad chuck fletcher had a

tough trade deadline heard about it certainly online by a lot of philadelphia flyers fans saturday afternoon there was a philadelphia flyers town hall Philadelphia Flyers Town Hall. Got beaten up there as well. John Tortorella jumped to his defense as you would imagine John Tortorella would. I want it to be, for me, I want it to be legitimate criticism for you to come out and criticize Chuck for not moving JVR.

And I guess that's what's out there. I don't get it because he tried like hell. And why wouldn't we? First of all, out of respect to JVR, that's the bottom line with Chuck. He's such a good man. He wants him and Bronner playing. But I get it. I haven't been here the whole time.

I think Chuck's been kind of run over and Chuck darts at for quite a bit here. For me, Chuck darts at me when I think I deserve it. I shouldn't say when I think, when you guys think I deserve it. I just don't want you to manufacture criticism of Chuck at this point in time, at the deadline, because something sexy didn't happen. And Flyers right now are leading slash bleeding with their hearts right now over the team that they love. So let's talk a little bit about the Philadelphia Flyers right now are leading slash bleeding with their hearts right now over the team that they love. So let's talk a little bit about the Philadelphia Flyers. Well, first of all, I think you should talk about the news first. Like you think the draft is going to be their time.

Like, first of all, there were a lot of players that Philadelphia Flyers would probably be interested in trading, but they have a lot of term attached to them. Those deals don't necessarily happen around trade deadline. They happen more around the draft. So we know there were conversations between the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Philadelphia Flyers around Kevin Hayes. I talked about that last podcast. I think we all wonder about the future of Ivan Provorov with the Philadelphia Flyers. There are other names. There were some names that teams might have called on, but since they were having poor seasons,

if you're Philadelphia, there's no sense in trading because you're trading pennies on the dollar. Like Joel Farabee's had a really, really tough season and he's coming off ADR surgery, something we've talked about in and around Jack Eichel and how long it can take a player to return. Travis Sanheim hasn't had the best of all possible seasons. I would have imagined teams would call there.

But if you're Philadelphia, why would you want to trade him when he's having a tough season? So a lot of things really didn't align for the Philadelphia Flyers at this trade deadline. We talked about the JVR situation on Friday. I think that the draft is when we're looking at the Philadelphia Flyers. If slash when they make their moves, that's probably the time for them. I think if there's anything the Flyers were disappointed about, and it was reflected

in their fans' anger, was that the players they thought they were going to trade, there just wasn't a market for them. And as an organization, I would be concerned about that because it says something about the players on our roster, right? The other thing too, I think about in the aftermath is Van Riemsdyk.

And we talked about this briefly on Friday. Yeah. Another player said to me, if I had all those comments said about me on Friday, I don't know if I'd sweat for the rest of the season. That's tough for a guy to hear. It really is. You know, first of all, I have no problem with fans.

No problem at all with fans. We don't have a job if it wasn't for the passion of hockey fans, and that is their right to feel the way they feel. As long as it doesn't cross the line and is abusive, and I've personally seen nothing that's abusive at all in all the videos and all the stuff I've seen, that's their right. I got no problem with it at all.

And, you know, Jeff, I'm sure you got this video in your DMs like I did, but the reaction of the Ranger fans in Philadelphia when the Rangers won in overtime on Wednesday night. It's played by Hedl to Tarasenko. Between the circles, Tarasenko fires and scores! Vladimir Tarasenko! His third goal as a Ranger lights the lamp for the Blue Shirts. 3-2 victory in overtime.

And it's his third point of the night. Two assists and a goal. The game winner here in overtime. And we talked about getting, wishing he would shoot the puck he snipes it in overtime and the rangers with a third period goal to get one point and an overtime goal to get the second point have two points on the night ranger victory that's sacrilege when have you ever seen that in philly? That is sacrilege. That's like Terrell Owens scoring a touchdown and dancing on the star in the middle of Texas Stadium. Where's he going?

Right to the center of the stadium. Right to the Dallas Cowboys logo. He looks skyward through the opening of the roof. Like, that's what that is. That is not in our house. And I understand the Philly fans being mad about that. Again, I do not blame fans. The guy who I thought really handled it well this week

was Ron Hextall. Like, those Pittsburgh fans are chanting for him to be fired. Fire Hextall! Fire Hextall! Fire Hextall! Fire Hextall! Fire Hextall! He gets up in front of the podium and says, fans are fans, can't let it bother me. When you're in charge, that is exactly the way you have to handle it.

You say, our fans love us, right now they don't like us, and I better have a thick skin. That is exactly the way to do it the way hextall did it the thing that interested me were tortorella's comments you know tortorella he jumped to the defense of his gm and i don't think anybody should be surprised about that and he talked about piling on were you surprised that james wasn't moved Do you not think he tried to move him? Are you guys kidding me? He tried like hell to move him.

But sometimes other teams are interested. There's so many different scenarios that went on. And I just don't get the criticism of James still being here. It's like Chuck held on to him. $7 million, we've got to eat some of the money probably half of it so many different as I'm sure you guys know so it just Chuck tried and but everybody wants to pile on. And I've had this conversation with, um, with, uh, with young reporters, like young reporters ask great questions. They, they, they want to talk about what it's like and the good things and the bad

things. And I had one young reporter and he told me, he said, one of his biggest fears is ending up being that guy on the internet for a day. And he said it was something that really scared him because he didn't think he would be able to handle it. And, you know, I said to him, I had a class. I said, I understand. I completely get why you think that and why anybody else here would feel that. I said, it is a scary

place to be and that's part of the risk like when you take this job you accept the risk that that could happen to you because everything that you do good or bad happens publicly like it used to be like years ago jeff when you know players say to you, you don't know what it's like to do your job and get booed by 20,000 people. And that was true. We didn't have that 20, 30 years ago, but now you can't use that excuse anymore because as a reporter, you're out on social, the good things and the bad things you do, everybody sees it. So I don't think you can use that excuse anymore. And I totally understand it when some young person says that, because it's a scary place to be. And, you know, I said to them, A, those are the rules.

Like you have to know the rules going in and it can happen. I said, secondly, as you get older and get more experience in life and in the field, you will learn to better handle it. And C, I say to them, if it does happen to you, the one thing that can occur, because I've been there, I've been that guy on the internet for a day, is that you realize that when you get through it, you actually become stronger as a person. You just learn to deal with it. It's not fun, but you learn to deal with it. Yep. And I'm not ashamed to admit that when I see somebody who is that person, I tend to back

away from them because I know what it's like to be like, I had some flyer fans and send me some DMS saying you were too easy on Chuck Fletcher on Friday. And I said, and you know, I didn't respond because I'm, I'm trying to respond to a few less DMS and just relax right now. But you know, it's probably true because I'm trying to respond to a few less DMs and just relax right now. But, you know, it's probably true because I've been there.

I know what that's like. I've got no problem with the Flyer fans. But there was one situation, Jeff, on our podcast last year, and I don't want to revisit it, where I went after somebody really hard, really hard. And people said to me, called me and said, you know, wow, you went after that person really hard and they're going through a tough time. And I said, I know, I get it. But this one, I thought was over the line and had to be commented on. But I really do try when somebody is going through the maelstrom, I really do try not to add to it because I know what that's like.

And one of the things that I talk about with young students too, and I do see this, like I think only 25% of people have a Twitter account, but 95% of those 25%, Jeff, are in media. Like Twitter is very big in media. I can't tell you how many people I know, like my close group of friends, for example, from high school, none of them are in media. All of them are another business. Some of them don't even have Twitter accounts. Some of them barely check it. Like Twitter is not in their world. Well, it's a communication tool. So it just makes sense that everybody would use it. Yes. And I tell people this, there's a big difference between reporting how you feel and feeling the pressure to not come across as weak or soft. And where I would disagree with

Tortorella is that I think that it's fair to look at that situation as a reporter and say, I disagree with this. And I think this wasn't handled well by the Flyers. I don't think any reporter should get criticized for that. What I do think happens in some cases, though, and not necessarily in this one, but again, young reporters have talked to me about it, is you feel the pressure when the fans are mad and they're all tweeting at you because you're kind of like

the conduit is the media person, that they want you to go after the team or you feel the pressure to go after the team because that Twitter community of the team's fans are angry. Yeah. And so you don't want them coming after you for being soft or weak or easy and you feel the pressure to add to the pile on. When I see this whole thing with Tortorella Philadelphia, I'm really fascinated in this thing because I think fair criticism is absolutely fair. I think fans are absolutely entitled to react the way they react.

But somebody called me about this on Saturday after Tortorella said what he said. He said, what do you think? I think the Flyers reporters are totally right to say I don't think this was handled very well. That's fine. I got no problem with that. But what I think Tortorella is totally right about

and 100% right about is that there's no doubt that people feel pressure because the fans are mad. All of a sudden, you feel that pressure that if they're going to read what you write or say, you want to be on their side. You want them to support you. You don't want them coming after you. It's a really tight walk, and I see it all the time. I go through it all the time, and young students talk to me about that all the time,

about what twitter does and what social media does and the pressures it put on like for example like that that dom capers the carolina coach who had the bad yeah the bad hairdo a couple weeks ago comes on and then for a little bit it's funny but then it turns to me and i think that happens a lot. And boy, that line is thin and watching that whole Tortorella thing kind of unfold that way. It really stuck in my head. Let me relate that to this podcast in a little bit. One, um, the older I get, the less I really give a shit about being called soft. I really don't, you know, um, I don't think I'm going to lie on my deathbed one day and say, wow, I really wish I would have been mean to more people or angry at more people.

The older I get, I don't care. I really don't care if people call me soft. I don't care. But the one thing about, because I get those same tweets and DMs and texts as well, specifically around Philadelphia. And I understand that Philadelphia Flyers fans are really angry. Like they're livid. And you brought up that game against the Rangers, man, that is just like over the top. Like for them, that is like never in this building, not in this house.

I get it. And I think the Flyers fans want to have their rage articulated everywhere. Flyers fans right now want to hear their opinions in other people's voices. I get it. It's emotional. And you want to hear other people echo what you're saying. And you want other people to agree with you. It needs to be like this waterfall right now. But for the purposes of this podcast, I've always looked at this pod and I've been consistent about this. And I've been consistent with this about you and Amal as well. I don't look at this podcast or approach this podcast with the idea that we need to help articulate an emotion

as much as what this podcast does is ask the question, how does this work? Like I'm much more interested on this podcast in finding out not about, you know, is Chuck Fletcher a bad general manager, but I'm more interested in the question, well, what's Chuck Fletcher going through and how many hands are on the wheel right now in Philadelphia? And are these all of Chuck Fletcher's decisions and what pressures are being placed on Chuck Fletcher to make decisions from people above him, people that remain invisible. That to me is a much more interesting question. And I think it's a question that this podcast aims to try to discover or at least discuss.

For this pod, when has this ever been a pod about articulating rage? It's not. Honestly, I'm not trying to defend the podcast because I'm going to do what I want to do. Other people can do what they want to do. I'm going to do what I want to do, and you're going to do what you want to do, and Amal's going to ignore us both. That's just the way it works, right? I'm not defending the podcast as much as I'm saying what Tortorella said yesterday really hit home with me because it's a conversation I've had with a lot of young reporters. Hey, Jeff, I am not perfect. I am far from it. But if a young reporter asked me a

question, I try to help them. And the thing that Tortorella said, it really resonated with me because I don't think there's anything wrong with fair criticism of maybe how the flyers did things or what happened at the deadline. But I know how the pressure gets to some people in the business. And you know what? It's not even young people. I think it's people our age, like old geezers,

like you and me, Jeff. Hey, hey. It's not so much about defending the pod. It's just more about, like, I think Tortorella has a point about it becomes a pile on because people feel the need to join the crowd. And again, I use the Dom Capers thing as the example. It goes from, oh my God, this is funny to everybody trying to top the previous insults so they can get the most likes on it. But you know what they need before the next Flyers game?

They need Chelsea Ross, the actor, as Dan Devine, the Notre Dame football coach. This is our house from Rudy. The Flyers need to reestablish this as our house. And I'll tell you something. I loved that I had those things in my DM. Because if I was a Flyers fan, that would piss me off too.

Okay. Yes, absolutely. I was just stunned. I just never thought I would see that in Philadelphia. Because as we've seen Rangers fans in New Jersey, we've seen them at Islanders games. We've seen them. Like when they travel and they go somewhere, like, wow, Rangers fans.

I just never thought I would see it in Philly. Stunned, jaw drop. And you know what, Jeff, the truth is like whatever happens, like it's a big summer for them. It is. I think there's real fire on Hayes to Columbus. I don't know how it's all going to work. I think there's real smoke there.

I think you're right. I think there's going to be some serious talk about Provorov this summer. I don't know where it's going to go with Konechny. I don't suspect that he'll be traded. You know, they really seem to like Erson. What does that mean in goal? I think they're going to have some big decisions to make.

But ultimately, the thing that matters the most is, do you win games? Are you a competitive team? I don't even know if it means, we'll close the loop on this one we should spend a lot of time here on philadelphia there's more we want to get to but i don't even know if it means a lot just to win games i think if there was whether it's you know a jeff gorton new york rangers letter and some movement i think flyers fans just want to want

a direction here because listen i'm with you and i've tried to follow the flyers story really closely this year because i think it is a fascinating one and i've come to the conclusion that all flyers fans want is a clear direction and i was wrong on this because i always used to say you know flyers fans won't stand for it i don't know if i feel that way anymore i think they just want a direction and a purpose like i don't know how long feel that way anymore. I think they just want a direction and a purpose. I don't know how long they're going to have a stomach for it. That's a whole other. Everyone says, yeah, I'm down with the rebuild.

But then, you know, a certain point you stop buying tickets and management says, oh, we need to do something here. I think they just want a direction here. Next on Flyers Daily with Jason Mertedis. Flyers Daily with Jason Martinez. Let's do a good news story here. Yeah. Ottawa Senators fans, if they haven't already, are going to completely be in love with Jacob Chikrin.

Every time he's on camera, every time he's behind a microphone, the guy just delivers. And he delivers on the ice. A goal and an assist in his first home game as a member of the Ottawa Senators. The interview that he did on hockey night. And Jacob, finally, I don't know if you listened to 32 Thoughts the podcast, but you've been their number one topic for the last month. So I'm glad that that's all over with, but coming from Arizona in the arena there in the small market, going to a Canadian market now, and you're playing tonight in front of your grandfather and your sister,

Taylor recently moved back there. How, how fun and how exciting is it going to be? Is there going to a Canadian market now and you're playing tonight in front of your grandfather and your sister Taylor recently moved back there. How fun and how exciting is it going to be? Is there going to be too many fans in the stands? Are you gonna be too nervous with all those fans? Yeah, yeah, maybe. Yeah, I haven't seen this many fans in warm-ups even in my career, honestly, so it's pretty cool. You know, just a ton of people here, a lot of excitement. Obviously, the city's just buzzing with this group here. So, yeah, I'm excited. Obviously, a lot of family here. My grandpa, that morning skate, he walked in like he owned the place.

He went and got himself a coffee. So just to see him on the glass was so special. A great interview with Kyle Bukoskis. You were saying before the game your grandpa John came in here this morning like he owned the place. We've got a great reaction to when you scored here tonight. Up in the crowd amongst the masses. Let's roll this here if we can, gentlemen. Here he is. He's crushing Tim's.

What do you think watching this? Oh, man. You guys are going to make me tear up. That's pretty cool. Last one for you. Clearly this means much more than just finding a new hockey destination for you. As all the time you went through waiting for a new home,

the fact that this was the outcome, Jacob, has it sunk in yet? Have you made sense of it? No, honestly. You know, I think it's still going to take a little bit to settle in here, but I'm not too

worried about it. I just want to, you know, cherish every day. I'm still going to take a little bit to settle in here but I'm not too worried about it I just want to cherish every day here see my family as much as I can and win hockey games so it's a good start tonight

alright we'll let you go see him, congrats on the night the goal, the assist in the game, they love him there already but it was his grandfather at the end of it who completely stole the show. The line that I'm going to take away from this weekend in the Bukowskis

interview was when Chikrin just said, I'm going to cherish every day here and see my family as much as I can. That's the first thing after a wonderful game by Jacob Trickman. Good luck not loving this guy, Ottawa.

Well, he's playing really well too. Like that's the other thing. It's provided a huge lift, a huge lift for the group. Like the pregame interview, we were joking later. Like he was like, can I tell a story here? And it was like, it was almost as if, you know,

if we wanted him for 25 minutes, he would have stayed there. Like, oh, I missed the warmup. Sorry, I'm just talking to these guys. As the Zamboni comes around and around, they're asking him to get off the ice. DJ Smith is reading the starting lineup. Where's Chicker? And he's still talking to Hockey Night on the bench.

Pretty funny. This has been hanging over his head for a year and a half. Yeah. You know, he didn't know where he was going and then the Coyotes were making noise about the possibility he wasn't going to be traded. So there's the relief of it being over plus

the relief of it being to a place he was happy to go to. So I can only imagine, you know, how good this is for him and how happy he is. And plus the team's making a run. You could divide the league into two sides right now. Side A is the teams that are going for it. And side B is the teams that are done.

And they're just playing out the string. And playing out the string in March, it stinks and it's brutal, but being in a race and going for it, and all of a sudden the math is starting to look a lot better for the Ottawa Senators. You know, they don't have any room for error. They can't afford any terrible performances, but, you know, they're in it.

You know, this week, for example, bids open up on the Senators. You can start submitting bids from what I understand this week. And it doesn't hurt the value of the team if they go on a run right now. Uh, no. And remember, remember like a week ago or two weeks ago, people were like, what the hell is Pierre Dorian talking about where we may still be a buyer. Yeah.

Doesn't look so stupid now. Not at all. Quite the opposite. Oh, and by the way, just casually, yeah, Tim Stutzla, two more goals, 30 and 31st of the season, just casually having this like awesome breakout season. It's gotta be fun to be a Sens fan right now.

Really does. Two really nice moves by Columbus. I just wanted to mention like that's an organization that a couple of years ago were getting really questioned about how player friendly they were. Number one, Quick. They dealt with him in a way that Quick was really happy with. Yep.

And number two, right at the beginning of the show on Saturday night at 630 Eastern, Todd Chirac, who's been there a long time, their VP of media relations. Yep. of media relations. Yeah. They showed this shot of him giving a really nice bottle to a clearly appreciative Derek Broussard, who of course started his career in Columbus. Like small things, but big things. Actually, Jeff, there's one thing I just wanted to mention about the quick thing. There was an insinuation made that the Kings

had to do what they did because I broke the story and they had no choice. I don't want to make a big deal out of this, but I would just like to say that that's not true. I had warned everybody involved that I was working on that and I was prepared to wait because it was quick. And I thought that there should have been a way that that process got handled. And I think he was told because people knew I'd found out, but it was not reported until after Quick was told. And I would just like to politely point that out. Let me ask about a couple of people, John Bucciaross and Kevin Weeks.

Now they've both been hinting at, intimating, winking towards, I don't know how we want to frame this, hockey returning to Atlanta and hockey in Houston. Now, when I first saw this, my initial instinct was, well, start the countdown

for an entire province in Canada erupting if a team returns to Atlanta. Yeah. But what do you hear? What do you know about Atlanta and Houston? Well, first, Jeff, I think it's very important to say that the NHL indicates nothing is going on with this right now. But John Butcher Gross, I find, is a very interesting tweeter. He's got a unique style.

And whenever he does something like this, it makes me think, you know, what's going on here? What does he know? What is the message he's trying to get across? And, you know, you start to have some ideas and thoughts about what he may be referring to. And I have some thoughts on the overall idea, and I want to stress that when we discuss this, we're discussing it in purely an ideological way. At this point in time, I think it's too early to say that definitely something is coming, but particularly when it comes to Houston, I feel this is on the radar at least. So again, let me just stress discussing this in a purely conceptual way.

I've always liked the idea of Atlanta having a team. I remember when I was doing the old Hockey Night in Canada radio show and the commissioner was on with me and we were talking about franchises. And I think we were talking about Arizona at that point. And I said, you know, when is it over for a franchise? When is it over in your mind for a franchise? And I've never forgotten this. And he said, it's over for the NHL

when nobody wants to own the team. And that's what happened in Atlanta last time. And that's what happened in Atlanta. There were a handful of owners, might have been six, I want to say, and they couldn't come to an arrangement. And I think quite literally it was just throw the keys on the table. And then it was the hard pivot and off to Winnipeg.

I always liked, and now that hockey has a deeper root in the South now than ever before, the idea of a team being in Atlanta, and I can hear the groans right now from everybody. Merrick, the Flames didn't work. The Thrashers didn't work. I get that. I just think that hockey's in a different place now. Even from when there was a Southeast division,

hockey is still stronger down there. Will it work? I mean, the only reason that they quit last time is because nobody wanted to own that thing. I still need to be convinced. I know, but here's the thing. I'm looking at it from the NHL's perspective. If there is an owner or owners who want to put a team there,

they'll listen. And I do share the same thing about Houston as you do. To be honest with you, when you consider part of the conversation, and I don't know that it was ever made official, but when the Minnesota North Stars migrated to Dallas, turned into the Dallas Stars, there were the conversations about them eventually getting their own state rival. And that was believed to be Houston. So I've always felt that Houston was going to get a team as well. And I know I'm in the minority on this and I get it.

And I can hear people screaming at me in the entire province of Quebec is about to hate me here. But I've always thought that despite all evidence to the contrary, that Atlanta could have worked in the NHL. You know, the other thing too, you shouldn't discount about Atlanta. What's based in Atlanta? Three letters. Freedj TNT.

Yes, that is three letters. I had to double check. Such a reporter. I got to confirm all facts. If your mother says she loves you, get confirmation. I'm a reporter. I got to confirm all facts. If your mother says she loves you, get confirmation. I'm a reporter. I can't imagine that that's a coincidence.

One more thing here before we get to a couple of emails and phone calls as well. Quinn Hughes, Vancouver Canucks. I know you got a couple of thoughts on Vancouver. The fastest to 200 points, 263 games, breaks Brian Leach's record of 264. Your thoughts on Quinn Hughes and the Vancouver Canucks, Elliot? A great player.

And I have a few buddies who live in Vancouver and they were at the game on Saturday night. And they said that building, is it nothing to resuscitate a building that's been too quiet this year than the Toronto Maple Leafs coming to town. Like there was one point like late in the game when Vancouver was winning, the organist or whoever just kept on playing.

I can't remember what song it was, but every time they finished, you know, a couple of bars, the Canucks fans would yell Leafs suck. And I was just laughing because the organist just kept egging them on and because they were winning, the fans were into it. Leafs suck! Leafs suck! Leafs suck! Like that's the way a building should be, right?

Yeah. So he said to remind him of 94, like the Leafs and the Canucks in the playoffs and just the hate in the building. We'll find out about Ryan O'Reilly today and everybody held their breath when Austin Matthews got hit with the shot, but it was really good, really good hockey.

Hughes is a hell of a player. Oh yeah. A couple of things about Vancouver. There's no question in my mind that at the end of the season, Vancouver is going to do whatever they can to move a contract. I don't know which one that's going to be. Look, we talked at length about Miller on the weekend.

We'll see where it goes, but I think a contract will be moved. That's one thing. And secondly, you know, Roenick, you know, there's been a lot of talk about that deal. I think the Canucks, you look at their right side of their D, they're trying to sign Baer, but you know, there's been a lot of talk about that deal. I think the Canucks, you look at their right side of their D, they're trying to sign Baer, but, you know, Myers has got one year left and they don't really have, aside from Baer, a top four right shot D, especially after Myers' contract is up. And I think they felt that was really important.

I talked to a couple of people about it, and that's the explanation I got, that Roenick is a really good player, and it's hard to find right-hand D, and they placed a premium on getting one. And they obviously gave up a big, big, big asset. And when Steve Iserman saw that that asset was available, it does not surprise me in the least that he made that deal. The one challenge here for the Canucks will be,

Roenick is one year, his contract is one more year, and he's a restricted free agent at the end of that season. But he'll be getting close to UFA status. And the only challenge here for the Canucks will be that when an agent hears this and sees a team trade what it traded to get him, you know, he's going to have our rights. Put it this way. I don't think Ronit will be taking a pay reduction. The two words that raise fear in every general manager's mind.

Arbitration rights. All right, quick pause back with your emails and phone calls. And there's some intriguing ones, including, is there a limit on how far you can trade draft picks? The answer is no. Okay, your email is 32thoughts at sportsnet.ca. Phone calls, 1-833-311-3232. Say it slower, dummy. 1-833-311-3232.

We'll start with Alex in Baltimore. Actually, a gentleman by the name of Tyler asked the almost identical question, so we'll nail two here. Elliot, is there a limit on how far out a team can trade its draft picks? For example, could someone give up a first round pick in 2035 for a player today,

or can you only trade picks that are in a window of years into the future? You know, this is a very like OHL kind of question. I remember talking to one manager at OHL trade deadline and he made this like incredible deal and there was like second rounders going like 10 years deep or something like that.

And I was talking to him and said, well, how was your day? And he said, well, I had to come home and tell my wife that I just traded a nine-year-old. How far out can teams trade their draft pick, Elliot? Is there any limit? I actually don't think there is.

As a matter of fact, I guess there was a 2026 one traded this year and someone said to me, what ninth grader do you think that team likes? The NBA used to be really notorious for that. Yeah. Because they only have two rounds now, right? So you really get long waits. But I would love to see it though if someone

submitted a list to Central Register that says we're trading a 2035 first rounder and just see what they would do. I wonder what would happen if that happened and then they stopped doing the draft. What would the compensation be? Only you would think of something like that. That's why you love me,

Elliot from CJ in Scotland. Hey bud, has there ever been a trade for a player mid game between the two teams playing each other? I don't know. Elliot, there's ever been a trade involving the two teams playing each other. I don't know, Elliot, there's ever been a trade involving the two teams playing each other involving a player.

So then that player would just jump on the other team's bench. But there have been players that have been traded mid game, just not to the team that his now former team was playing. Do you remember any specific examples? Matt DeShane. That was a big one.

Colorado to Ottawa. Dion Phaneuf. That was a big one. Colorado to Ottawa. Dion Phaneuf. Yes. Another Ottawa one. And then Mike Camilleri, Montreal, Calgary. I can't think of one where the team was traded to the other team. Either can I. This needs deeper research.

And I put that out there knowing that you and I are too busy to do it. So someone listening might just do it and come up with an aha moment and email it into us. Okay, here's one from Travis Brackets who cheers for chaos. I was curious if it is possible for a player to be hired by their own team to perform another job aside from, quote, hockey player and thereby earn a salary outside the cap. For instance, could the Bruins pay Pasternak $9 million to play hockey and then, say, an extra $2.25 million in the offseason to fill out Excel files

and pretend to be an accountant? That's a great question. The answer is no. Could you imagine? The NHL watches stuff like this closely. Well, there was a famous one in the NBA when Dennis Rodman was signed by the Dallas Mavericks. Mark Cuban put him up in the guest house, right?

Yeah. And the NBA said, you can't do that. As a matter of fact, there were teams complaining when Sidney Crosby, you can't do that. As a matter of fact, there were teams complaining when Sidney Crosby. Yes. Yeah, exactly. When Sidney Crosby lived on Mary Lemieux's property, there were people who whined about that. They said that should not be allowed.

There's a book. I read it when I was a teenager. It's by a basketball player named Connie Hawkins. It's called Foul. ager, it's by a basketball player named Connie Hawkins. It's called Fowl. And he told a story about, he played his college basketball at Iowa.

And he said one year, his summer job at Iowa was cleaning seaweed out of the football stadium. Name me a body of water close to Iowa. You know, one of the things that I'm always curious about too is not just, you know, hiring a player to do a, essentially have a side hustle with the team. That doesn't happen. But family members getting jobs.

All of a sudden someone in your family gets a scouting job. That's also a big one in college basketball. Danny Manning, I know I'm doing too much basketball here, but what the hell? Danny Manning, when he was recruited to play college at Kansas, his father was hired as an assistant coach, Ed. Ed was a good player, but everybody knew what

was going on there. Okay, Elliot, we have both a voicemail and an email that are almost identical in their question. We'll get to the email in a second because we have a celebrity answer for it. But here's the voicemail. Colby in North Carolina, take it away. Hey, guys, this is Colby from North Carolina. I had a real quick question that I think that Jeff would really like because it's strange. So, Sebastian Ajo and Sebastian Ajo, Carolina Hurricanes and the New York Islanders,

what happens if they're on the same team? What jersey happens? I know a lot of times they put the first name and, uh, or the initial and then the last name, but, uh, what if they were on the same team? How would the jerseys look? Thanks guys. Great one. First of all, uh, so this morning over a cup of coffee, I thought about two players that had the same names playing in the league at the same time. And here's what I came up with. I'm sure there's more. And I know I'm going to get the DMs and the emails saying, Hey dummy, you missed out on

these six players as well. So here's what I came up with. And the big obvious one is Greg Adams with the Vancouver Canucks. Like that's the one that I think we all, we all think about right away. Great call. Great poll.

Bob Murray. There were two Bob Murrays. There were two Ron Wilsons. two ron wilson's two ron wilson's that's right i didn't have him on my list good for you thank you for reminding me there were two bob murdochs uh one who played with montreal and la the other played with the cleveland barons and i think the california seals but don't hold me to that um there were two bob kellys uh both in pennsy one Battleship who played with the Pens and Hound Dog who played with the Flyers.

You'll probably remember the two Stéphane Riches, one with Montreal and New Jersey, the other with Boston and Philadelphia. And the last one that I came up with, and maybe you have more, there were two Alain Cotes, one with the Nordiques and Capitals, the other played briefly with the Montreal Canadians. That's the list that I could come up with this morning. But again, I wasn't fully caffeinated when I

thought about it. Do you think I'm missing? You mentioned Ron Wilson, the two Ron Wilsons. That's really good too. Oh, oh, oh, I know. There was one. Okay.

You want the Merrick pull of all time? Okay. Remember Uri Mikas? Oh my God. There were two of them. Oh my God. Neither played in the NHL. I think they both played in the American League at the same time though.

That name is probably like John Smith in their native language. Slovakia, yeah. Jure Mikas. Okay. So further to that, what would the jersey look like? I would imagine they would use the middle initial for one of them, but that winks at the question from Max in Montreal. How would the color commentators handle it if both Sebastian Ajos played for the same team?

With an answer, Chris Cuthbert. Yeah, as if it isn't hard enough being a play-by-play guy. Well, we've had plenty of brothers play on the same teams. a play-by-play guy. Well, we've had plenty of brothers play on the same teams. We've had the Stassneys in Quebec, and of course the Sedins, the Sutter twins playing in Philadelphia, and it was always easy to defer to their first names. What would happen if you had a couple of Ajos on the same team? Well, we actually have precedence because back in the late 80s for a short time with the Vancouver Canucks there were two Greg Adams and one became Gus and the other whose middle name was Charles became Greg C Adams and and for at least 12 games when they played on the same team that was the way

those two were identified what if a couple of Ajos played on the same team? I'm guessing that one might go by Seb, or we might find out a middle initial, and it might be Sebastian C, or the defenseman Ajo, and the forward Ajo. Just enough to make our lives a little bit more difficult, but again, we've been through this before that's a great answer and first of all thank you Amal for doing that I know that's a creative idea that would be from you and thank you to Chris for doing that because I was thinking that one would be Sabat if I was calling a game or I was the analyst I would say one is Sebastian and the other is Ajo. That's how I would do it. Now, in football, the Los Angeles Rams in the 70s had the Youngblood brothers, Jack and Jim,

and it said on their nameplates on their jerseys, Youngblood and then above Jack, who I think is in the Hall of Fame, it said Jack. The word Jack was in smaller letters on top of Youngblood and the word Jim was on smaller letters on top of young blood. And the word Jim was on smaller letters on top of his young blood. I do remember the Adams, but there was one team in the NFL that had two guys with the same initials. And I can't remember who it was, but they didn't want to put the full names because they thought it looked stupid.

They didn't want to put the first initial because they both had the same first initial but i remember what they said was look you can see one of them is wearing number 78 and the other number one's wearing number 72 you guys figure it out but i would do exactly this is why chris is a hall of favor and i'm not because he thought of exactly what i would do And that is one guy gets one name and the other guy gets with the other name and you don't change it. Maybe you just go XFL style nickname. He, he hate me.

He hate me. That's the, uh, the beginning of the nicknames in the NHL on the, uh, on the, on the nameplates on the back of the jerseys. Um, thanks for all the emails. Thanks for all the phone calls. Um, wanted to catch up on a few because we missed them last week during the full

trade deadline preview want to end with Mike Stothers on the show today we cannot do a show today without talking about Mike Stothers diagnosed with stage 3 melanoma of the lymph node if you know anything about Mike Stothers he is a fighter

he is tough and is planning on fighting this and in true Mike Stothers. He is a fighter. He is tough and is planning on fighting this and in true Mike Stothers fashion wants to help other people along the way. Here's Mike Stothers Saturday. Got some news last Tuesday before the Tampa game. I've had a lump, nodule, whatever in my groin. Had it checked. Was hoping it was just a hernia, but it wasn't. My oncologist called me on Tuesday before the game in Tampa to say I have melanoma of the lymph node. I guess my message to everybody would be, if you notice something that doesn't look right, if you're not feeling right, make sure you get yourself checked. And if you don't like the answer you get, there's nothing wrong with getting a second

opinion, you know. And I told the players, I said, nobody knows your body better than you do. I mean, obviously doctors and whatnot are very educated in the fields that they're in. But again, if you're not feeling good or again, something concerns you, don't wait. You know, the mentality of the hockey world is we play through anything and we're invincible.

Nothing can happen to us. Well, it's true. But unfortunately, it does happen to us. Look, Jeff, it's true, but unfortunately it does happen to us. Look, Jeff, it's such an important message and I want everyone to hear it. Over the last couple of weeks, the two times I've had COVID, I've had the cough for a really long time after. And as this one continued into the deadline, I coughed up a lung on your radio show several times,

I would have people DMing me like, are you okay? So like the Stothers message, I'm going to go get this thing looked at just to make sure it isn't anything serious. I know how a lot of people are. We are stubborn. There is nothing wrong with us. We can power through it. I'm going to get this checked out partially because of Stothers message. And I just hope we all listen through it. I'm going to get this checked out, partially because of Stother's message, and I just hope we all listen to it. It's just another battle, and we'll get through it.