32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Hot Starts and Culture Questions

Episode Date: October 20, 2025

In this edition of 32 Thoughts, Kyle Bukauskas and Elliotte Friedman begin the podcast with a question, who has had the more impressive start to the season? Matthew Schaefer, Shane Pinto, or Seth Jarvis? The boys then move onto the Calgary Flames. Do they have a culture issue? (16:00) Kyle and Elliotte give the Vancouver Canucks their flowers after their 4-2-0 start, along with Pettersson's return to form (26:31). The fellas talk about Stolarz's frustrated post game reactions from Saturday night (32:36). Elliotte provides an update on the future of the Heritage Classic (42:31). He also talks about the Buffalo Sabres and Josh Doan's massive game against Florida (45:36). They also discuss how difficult it is to coach for a team that is going through a rebuild like the Sharks (48:58). The Final Thought focuses on Brad Marchand, his helmet antics against the Buffalo Sabres, and his upcoming return to Boston (56:18). Kyle and Elliotte answer your emails and voicemails in the Thoughtline (1:00:35).Elliotte sits down with Jonathan Toews of the Winnipeg Jets for an exclusive one on one interview (1:25:00).Today we highlight Montreal based artist, producer and singer KOLA and his single Hypnotized. Check out his music here.Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call the Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemail.This podcast was produced and mixed by Dominic Sramaty and hosted by Elliotte Friedman & Kyle Bukauskas.The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates

Well, first of all, we, hold on one sec. You and I both are like, ugh. Yeah, and I didn't, I swear to God, I wasn't even doing a time. I really wasn't cheering, if anything, I was just clapping. Welcome to 32 Thoughts, the podcast, Kyle, Elliot, Dom back with you, Elliot. I have just one question for you before we get started. All right. Are you ready for this podcast?

I was born ready. Correct answer, sir, just like Vladia is for game seven tonight. If you haven't been watching Hazel May's interviews post-game at these Blue Jays playoffs or her interviews during the celebrations, you are really missing out. I am reminded how untalented you and I are compared to Hazel. She has been doing a phenomenal job, phenomenal. Yeah, the whole crew. Now, I would just like to say something. Both Kyle and I were at the game, Game 6 on Sunday night.

Great game, great entertainment, great building, looking forward to Game 7 tonight, nervously but confidently. If the Seattle Mariners lose and Seattle sports fans are looking for someone to blame, I have a name for you. The National Hockey League and the media that covered it are blessed with some great media relations members out there who sometimes they battle us. Sometimes they help us open doors. Sometimes they allow us access to players when we ask for it specially. but there are other times that they pick fights, that they shouldn't pick and tempt the sporting gods

in ways the sporting gods should not be tempted. And last weekend, one of those people was Kyle Shahara, the media relations maven extraordinaire for the Seattle Cracken. On Friday night, as the Blue Jays bullpen coughed up a air ball, he was in downtown Toronto, having dinner decked out in Mariners' gear in front of a legion of despondent Blue Jays fans. On Saturday morning at the Cracken's morning skate, in Toronto, he was gleefully showing pictures of Toronto-born Josh Naylor wearing a

crack in jersey in their celebration when they knocked out Detroit in the ALDS. On Saturday night, he had the Cracken players, even the Toronto borns, Shane Wright and Vince Dunn, wearing Mariners jerseys to their game in Toronto against the Maple Leafs. And then, of course, the Cracken One. Now, if Seattle and Toronto are going to play all these nights in a row, logic dictates that you're not going to, one team or one city is not going to win all of them. So if the Mariners lose game seven, it's all because Kyle Shahara taunted Toronto for 24 straight hours. and taunted the sports gods

There was a lot of Oh my Hey man I'm glad you went there There was a lot of torn players in that crack and dressing room Saturday morning You mentioned the Toronto Borenz There's 15 Canadians on the roster

nine from Ontario and asking a few of them boy they were afraid to give the wrong answer I'll say that we asked Shane Wright about it in our post game interview Saturday night Yeah he he's he stick handled it quite well What a politician Shane Wright is

He has been taught well What a politician He goes it's a win win Well I can't push back on that one So it's just setting up to be an incredible scene Monday night, and it's been a fun week between the Toronto and Seattle sports extravaganza. I have a question for you, Elliot.

Another one? Not the are you ready one. Yeah, this is a different one now. Okay. Okay. In your mind, most impressive individual start to the season so far. All right. Hit me.

Matthew Schaefer, five-game point street to begin his first season in the National Hockey League. contract year, Shane Pinto, seven goals in six games out of the gate for the Ottawa Senators, or Seth Jarvis, who has four game-winning goals in the first five games of the hurricane season. And let me just say that the hurricanes will not end the road trip at 500, like you predicted. It's amazing. Over a year we've been at this, and the simple, simple things you fail to understand. But go on. I would have to pick Schaefer. And the reason, now, understand this, for the flow of the pod, the way we scripted this, the better answer would be Pinto. But, Kyle, I cannot lie to the audience. It has to be Schaefer. Pinto's a veteran. He's scoring at an incredible

pace, but he is a veteran and a really good player. Jarvis, as you mentioned, is Captain Clutch to start the year, but this is a gold medalist at the four nations and could be on the Olympic team. It's almost expected from Jarvis now. The reason I'm going with Schaefer is that 18-year-old or 19-year-old defensemen are not supposed to do what he is done right now. And, you know, they started off, they didn't win, they won a couple games, and he's not. He's not. He's not their best player, but he has made an immediate impact and he has breathed life into the franchise. So he's at five points, five games with points to start his career that ties Cala McCar for second place all time. Anytime that someone says ties to Cala McCar, that's pretty good for your

resume. But I, you know, he's right behind Marrake's at Litsky. He's at six, so I have a chance to tie it next game. But I go with Schaefer because he's the youngest. He's a defenseman. Really what he's done is bring a bright ray of sunshine to the New York Islanders. Thought a lot of what you said on Saturday. Just he is a presence, which sounds kind of odd for a guy five games into his NHL career. But I think you're bang on. So cap tip to him, there's been a lot of real.

Whatever it is, he's got it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's been a number of impressive starts to the season. across the league. But, as you said, Shane Pinto, that was your lead item on headlines on Saturday with Ron that the senators had offered him an eight-year deal this past week. Where do things stand between Pinto,

who's in the final year of his deal, and the senators? So, as I said on Saturday night, and I was trying to get more detail on this, I don't think it means a deal is close. I don't think it means that we're on the track to get it done. But what I do think is that this was a realization from the Ottawa Senators that whatever talks they were having before, it wasn't going to get it done.

And they had to get more serious. And like I said, I don't think whatever this was that the number it was at, it was going to do it, but I think it is at least a movement in a better direction. Now, the reaction I had to this was really interesting. I had one executive from another team who bet me that this is going to still be a short-term deal. And the reason he thinks it's going to be a short-term deal, as I mentioned, is that even though Pinto's contract, is up this year, he still has two more seasons until he's an unrestricted free agent. There's a lot that could happen between now and even two years from now about where the

cap is and where it's going. And that's number one on a lot of people's mind about why they think it's going to be hard for, I mean, look, Ottawa could throw all of the money at him. him. And that could get it done. But I just don't get the, on a team with, you know, Brady Kachuk on a team with other contracts, they're going to have to deal with over the next few seasons. I think they recognize they can't do that. They are going to have to, like, Shane Pino is going to make a lot of money. He's a center in a league that is craving for centers. He's showing a scoring touch. Like, he's a top two center in the NHL. He is. And those players, everybody covets them and they get paid.

So Otto was going to have to step up at some point. I just, I really understood this guy's logic that he thinks it's going to be so much harder for them to do a long-term deal because essentially if you're doing eight years, you're doing two RFA years and six UFA years. And even at that point, we don't know where we're going. So I liked his logic that it ends up being a shorter term deal. But I still think it'll be a reasonably big number, even on a short-term deal. I'll tell you what someone else said to me.

I thought it was really interesting. He's represented Pindo by Lewis Gross. The last really big contract he did was Nielander. And it's a little bit different because Nielander was going into unrestricted free agency. But basically, as Nielander started his UFA year strong, they just waited and waited. waited and waited until Toronto was in a position where they had to give Nielander what they wanted. And what a couple people were saying to me was if Pinto, like nobody expects that he's going to score 90 goals this year. But if he keeps going the way he's going, the hammer is going to tip

farther in his direction, even if he's not a UFA for a little bit. So, you know, they said that unless the player gets what he wants, it benefits them to wait. So we'll see. I think at the very least, Ottawa moved into a better direction of where it has to go here. It's interesting where over the course of Pinto's time in Ottawa, it seems like negotiations have been, say, rugged, there's been some friction there along the way. I know there was the one year, the gambling issue came to the forefront. Obviously, that changed a lot of things. He was in the middle of getting a contract done then. I'm not taking that into consideration here,

but it seems like it's never been easy between Pinto and the Sends for some strange reason because he's their most trusted two-way center. He maybe doesn't have to be. He maybe doesn't have the offensive numbers as a Stutzla or a Kachuk, but he's got 20 goals twice. Seems rather as a locker room guy, pretty low maintenance and a popular teammate. It's just interesting how, I mean, understanding if you're looking at, okay, where's the cap going, team wants to do eight years, naturally there's going to be some time to get something over the finish line. But I thought about that a little bit, why there seems to be.

with Pinto in particular in the Sands. It's just, it's never been easy to get something done between the two sides. It's a good question. It's a really good question. And honestly, Kyle, part of me wonders is, I don't necessarily think that Pinto is disrespected, but that's a team with a lot of young star power, right? Mm-hmm.

So when you look at the senators, how many of those guys do you name before you get to Pinto. Yeah, I mean, nowadays. They're your favorite team. So, like, tell me how many, how many, how many guys do you name on, like, for example, let's just say before this year, okay, how many guys on, and, and I want to understand that I'm not disrespecting Pinto.

I think this is part of the problem. Everybody knows that that guy is a really talented player, but let's look at the senators and say who do you name before you get to him right so you're probably saying stutzla kachuk jake sanderson i mean shabbat's been around there a while of course maybe drake batherson but even then like i probably mentioned shame pinto because of the different areas of the game that he touches what about almark would you would you probably name allmark right I guess he would be in there too, sure. Okay, so you just...

And I think that's fair. Like, maybe you don't name... I mean, Giroux's got the name power, but he's not part of your young core, so I understand why you may not name him. So you've got Stutzla who's in the 8th, you've got Kachuk who's in the 8th, you've got Shabbat who's at 8,

you've got Sanderson who's in the 8th, and you've got Olmark who's in the 8th. So you just named a bunch of guys before him. And I'm sure Otto was sitting there and saying, you know what like as good as pinto is you know we don't want to go there too and what have we all talked about if pinto pushes past there you're wondering okay how's our room going to handle all that that's then you're like winnipeg you're going to your players and you're saying okay are we going to be okay the jets were okay like shifley said do it hellobuck said do it are you got to make sure all your

players going to do it say do it but you know i i think too that you're probably looking at it and saying, well, we want to keep them under those guys, and I just don't know that you're going to be able to unless you go short term. Right, right. And you can, as you laid out, can see why that would be an attractive option on the player's side. Yeah. Interesting.

Okay. So we'll continue to monitor that between Pinto and the Senators. So they played Saturday afternoon, a tough one losing in regulation, a late goal. What a play by Anders Lee. big win for the islanders. And as we say, the point street continues for Matthew Schaefer. The late game on hockey night in Canada, Elliot. It was a tough one for Calgary. Six to one, they get blown out in Vegas. I know we're still early in the year. Calgary has scored 11 goals in six games. That's the lowest in the league. They're goal differential, worst in the league.

and they sit at the bottom of the standings with a 1 and 5 record. Kevin B.XA had some very pointed comments, but one play in particular involving Igor Sharon Govich towards the end of the game on Saturday. The concern is if you're losing games and guys are not giving it thorough, that's what I wouldn't be worried about, you know, the culture of the team. Like, it's one thing to lose, but it's the way you lose. So, like, this is a 6-1 game.

I'm going to pick on Sharon Govich. Watch this effort right here. Down 6-1. I think he apologized. I literally think he apologized for almost running into Carlson there. Like, I would absolutely lose my mind on the bench. If I saw that, and I don't even know

if the coaches saw that because there's so much going on, you watch that in the video. That's a culture thing for me. So I would show that clip in practice, and I would say, where are my guys that care? Where are my guys that care about losing? I'll play Longbird. I'll double shift Longbird the rest of the game.

If that's the way guys are going to compete, Klapka. Like, play the guys that care. If you're going to get an effort like that from a guy, get rid of them. You know what I mean? You're disgracing the NHL with an effort like that. Down 6-1, be a little mad. Like, as Brian Burke used to say, give a guy a dirty look. Like, hate to lose.

Like, I hate to lose more than I like to win. And that guy doesn't hate to lose. And I wouldn't want a guy like that. And I'm picking on one thing, and I don't know how long your shift was. I don't really care. But that's a pretty glaring problem for me. me if I'm anyone in that team. Just curious what your feelings were amongst the group in studio watching that Saturday

and your thoughts on Calgary overall and how they've come out of the gate. You know, first of all, Vegas should mention Mark Stone got hurt at the end of that game and nobody expected him to come back because it was over, but he didn't do his skate as the star of the game and Bruce Cassidy said should know a bit more by Monday. So that's something to keep an eye on. That Vegas power play, the first week of the season, Dora Fiev is scoring from everywhere. And this game, they didn't really look for him, but the power play was still lethal between Eichel and Stone and all those other guys they got out there. And Dorofiev, it's insane that power play.

like basically what you try to do is a penalty kill team is you say this is the other team's number one thing that we want to take away and this is if we can we'll take away this number two thing and then it's basically up to the goalie like Vegas has got about four or five different looks that they can just kill you with that power play is going to as long as everybody stays healthy on it and already we'll see what happens with stone that power play is absolutely lethal And it shredded Calgary early in that game. Flames. You know, they got pounded. They were, you know, Huberto coming back. For all the guff Hubert O takes about his contract and stuff, the bottom line is they have nobody like him. He created some things for them before that game got out of hand.

The goal, obviously, a couple more chances, you know, that they couldn't bury that when they still had a chance, but it was important to have Hubert O back there. As I said after the game, this to me is a really careful time for Calgary. And I think it's going to take some strength to go against the grain of what they normally like to do. The flames do not like to throw in the towel.

You know, I think they're trying to time it here with their new building coming in a couple of years, you know, keep some veterans, don't go full tank, have the kids be ready, and they have some really good young players. Like that grid in, you can see a player, even though it was just sent back down to the American Hockey League.

You can see a player there. Perak, you can see a player there. So they're kind of trying to bridge until the new building comes in. The thing that I can see that could be real danger for Calgary is stay away from a short-term fix. I think this is an organization that in the past would say, I don't like where this is going. Let's see if we can do something to keep our heads above water. Now, I think there's a big difference between that and being

offered a great slam dunk trade that you've got to take. Now, those don't use the come that easily what's my old line when you're drowning they don't throw you a life preserver they throw you an anvil um but if there's something you have to take you take it but i don't i think the calgary flames the best thing they can do is if this is the year where they say all right do we have to feel some pain this is a really good draft it's going to take somebody inside the organization standing up and saying people aren't going to like this but this is what we need to do and if it doesn't get better with the group of guys we have

if they can't dig their way out of it we cannot do a short-term fix we if anyone comes us with a short-term fix we either have to hang up the phone or tackle each other so nobody can call Central Registry and they just have to grin and bear it because if it really goes off the rails and you get a high pick when I look at the flames

what do I think they need Kyle you talked about it off the top if you can get a McKenna or a high skilled player at the top of the draft that's what you need that's what you need and it and it may look like

it's six to eight months into the future but you don't think you'll be able to sell tickets to the new building with somebody like that there on your roster I know what they're saying

in that organization are you kidding us there are 75 games to go and yes maybe they're the team that gets hot after the way this started but I would be demanding if our group turns it around

they turn it around we are not doing quick fixes no way and I mean to give Craig Conroy credit I would say that's been a hallmark of his going about business since he took over GM

like he hasn't I wouldn't say he's particularly chased a lot of those or in terms of going out and overpaying for the aging free agent to think that they can help you're right in the here and now. He has prioritized youth. I think a lot of ways that's helped set them up down the road. Yeah. Clearly there's still just some growing pains to go through. But as you say, there's McKenna. There's a very deep draft that appears coming up next June. And there's also that Landon DuPont fella the year after. And I see. Now, now,

Now you've gone and ruined it for me. Now you've destroyed it because the flames are going to say, wait a sec, you want us to completely do this for two years? I didn't say two years. I'm just laying it out. You brought up the guy a year from now. Kyle, like, you know what the flames fans just did? They all drove off the road.

You just made all those people in your new city say, where does Bacoskas live? I'm going to dump my garbage on his front line because they are. they are that's a great W. KRAP in Cincinnati episode Dr. Johnny Fever says to dump all the garbage on the mayor's lawn and everybody does it

I'm no mayor no you're definitely not which is good but two years in a row is not going to work there there's there's too much scar tissue from too many years where Calgary wasn't competitive I'm trying to get them

to accept one, Kyle, don't bring the second year into it. Actually, we should point out, what a month into last year did a whole pot around you pleading with the Canadians to go into tank mode. And then they ended up making the playoffs. So really, what we should be telling Flames fans after this conversation, pony up and get your playoff tickets ahead of time now while you still can. Because of last year is anything like this year. After this conversation, they'll turn things around. My whole point is, if they pull themselves out of it, great. But they can't chase the short-term fix.

And they've got a busy schedule this week. They're back at home. They host Winnipeg later on tonight. And will be the feature matchup on Scotia Bank Wednesday night hockey against Montreal on Wednesday. Actually, we should also mention, too, with the comment of the Winnipeg Jets, your conversation with Jonathan Taves. Part of it aired during the Hockey Central Pre-game show on Saturday night. We'll have the whole interview for you later on in this edition of 32 thoughts. The Vancouver Canucks

Elliot in less than 70 hours. They went out on the road. They beat Dallas, come from behind, came from behind to beat Chicago, and then on Sunday afternoon they hang on to a lead against Washington, but it was not without some casualties along the way most notably, Philip Heedle, that was a heavy, heavy hit that he took from Tom Wilson. There's been plenty of discourse about the timing on the hit, and naturally a big part of it is Heedle's concussion history. We spent some time with him in Milan while we were over there for the media tour, seemed to be in great spirits then.

So regardless of how you feel of if it was clean or not, that just isn't great to see. so some love to Vancouver for grinding out three impressive wins to kick off this road trip and then you can offer by way of update on Heedle or any of the other bodies that they lost on Sunday. No, I assume we'll get more at Adam Foote's next availability. But remember at the beginning of the year, Kyle, what did Quinn Hughes say? I'd like to see us get off to maybe like a seven and three start in our first 10 games. They're now four and two after six. right so and you're right like down to nothing win down to nothing win let's make this one

exciting the other way up for nothing hang on and win so and you know i think we should shut out peterson too because they were all over him and you know what to be fair like i don't always care about numbers are you impactful and he was not impactful uh early in the season he was very good against Washington, including the two shot blocks. And they were two of the ugliest shot blocks I think anyone's ever seen. But the point is not how, it's how many. They want to see you make the effort, your teammates especially, and Pedersen made the effort.

So all credit to him. As you said, Heidel, wishing him the best. There will be no supplemental discipline for, Wilson. I believe everybody was informed that on Sunday. You know, I look at that hit and I think the only issue you can take, like, I will not watch anything in slow motion. I think that is one of the worst things that people can do is watch it in slow motion. I mean, unless you're checking for contact to the head, which there wasn't, or anything like that, you cannot say, somebody was late by looking at it in slow motion because in slow motion it looks late to me was it possibly a touch late possibly yes but that was not dirty the elbow was tucked in he didn't hit the head and what people sometimes forget is that blindside is no longer in the rulebook it was for a time it's not there um so i mean i understand people who say it might have been a touch late

might have been it depends like i think that's one of those things that it's kind of in the eye of the beholder um but i'm not surprised at all there's no supplemental discipline for that one you know ian mcintyre had an interesting tweet later in that game he said he heard from the press box that when Wilson was on the ice later, he could hear Philibronick yelling at Queen Hughes that Wilson was out there. So in that moment, on that hit, there's two things I wonder. One, you know, Heedle obviously wasn't aware of him. You've got to know when Wilson's out there. But I also wondered, did anyone warn him, you know, heads up or anything like that? But I'm not surprised there was no supplemental discipline on that one.

You, like, do you disagree? No, no, I don't. Like, I'm in the same boat as you where the slow mo doesn't do you any help. The freeze frame to show the distance when Heidel got rid of the puck doesn't provide the proper context because it's a fast game. It's not a stop and start game. The gap closed very quickly. Could it have been a bit late?

Same thing. Maybe. But Adam Foote's comments after the game, he felt it was clean, just very heavy, and kind of said, I've got to go look at it again to have a better understanding. But, I mean, there was a coach, of course, who played. And, I mean, would have dished out a few of those back in the day,

different time back then in terms of what was acceptable and what wasn't, in terms of timing, but Heel's coach is going, it did look clean at first glance. So it's just tough to see again, knowing his history. That's where my mind goes mainly when you see something like that. But those ones stick out because, again, there's not a lot of guys in the league that step up in those moments. So when they do happen, it's jarring, obviously, for the players at times.

at times and of course for a lot of us watching because it's just not as frequent as it once was. I agree with that. When he's out there, you've got to know. You've got to know. You have got to know. Okay, so productive weekend for Vancouver.

We talked about Toronto, Seattle, off the top, a little bit, Elliot. So I'm there Saturday night, Josh Mahura, who hadn't scored, I think, since January of 2023. On the ice in overtime, they didn't have Brandon Montour, so he saw a few shifts at three-on-three. Makes a heck of a play. I mean, didn't look like a guy who had gone over two years without finding the back of the net in overtime.

Stolars smashes the stick on the post. We take off for the Seattle hallway, of course, to do our post-game interview with Shane Wright who's off to a wonderful start this season just seems to be in a really great place like happy for that guy everyone's developmental path isn't always the same

and if it's not linear it doesn't mean it's the wrong path he seems to be in a really great place anyways so we do the interview and then I go back into the Toronto dressing room to help our camera gather the post-game leaf sound and I come in there as Stolars is finishing as scrum like I catch the last answer and a half of what he said, and I'm going, oh, wow, like, I don't, that was different in terms

of tone, just the emotion in his face, because he's always been a pretty relaxed, easy going after a win, after a loss, all kind of the same. But that was much different on Saturday night. And you could tell the other media that we're in there that are in there every day, we're like, whoa, we haven't seen that from him before. And then after we finished gathering, everything. Dean Garrapey, who is our camera operator there that night, says, you may want to listen back to Stolars in its entirety. Like, it was quite something. And it was. And it was. And your conversation with Kelly, with Kevin, with Ron, later on on hockey night's Saturday, was a fascinating one too, particularly Kelly's take on it all as a former goalie of,

yeah, you're frustrated with what happened and how the game ended. But it was a culmination of, of the contact that he had taken, not just on Saturday night. It's felt like at least once a game, there's something considerable. And this all comes after what happened with Sam Bennett in the playoffs last year. And I think that was a guy that just had enough. And he was letting it all air out there. What were your thoughts on it all? First of all, I agree with Kelly.

I think he was mad that he's been run over. a lot this year he has been hit a lot this season going back into the preseason too kyle he's been hit a couple of times he got hit in the first preseason game against ottawa and he got hit against montreal too and i just think that he was angry about that first and foremost and then his anger spilled out into everything else um you that that's where that's what that's the way I see it. Do you disagree? I don't. No. Like, again, I'm not going to try to speak for how he's thinking or what he's thinking, but it certainly felt that way. It's certainly like when Marchman goes crashing into

him late in the second period, I thought Brandon Carlo may have saved Marchman's life by jumping on top of him before Stolars could get at him. It was unbelievable how he jumped up and bang goes back the net a la Henrikin Lundquist from a few years ago. And the fact that Carlo got to him first, and they may have helped Marchman's well-being in the grand scheme of things. Holy smokes. The one thing that really stood out to me about this is Kyle, when's the last time you heard a Toronto player talk like that?

Yeah, it's been a while. It's been a while. I remember like Freddie Anderson years ago, like it was early in this era of Toronto Maple Leafs hockey. And it wasn't to this level. but that's really only one I can think of. It was a long time ago. Remember in 2023 when they lost to Florida,

Morgan Riley was a little bit upset. I went back and I looked at his quotes, but it wasn't anything like this. I am really trying to remember the last time of Maple Leaf really went to that level on his teammates. And especially considering, like, it had been a decent week

for the group like they outshot detroit by a billion on monday talbot was excellent they beat nashville they beat the rangers in overtime and then they get one point against seattle but it's clear results aside whatever the process has been out of the gate like stolars hasn't loved it the contact and how much he's getting run is one thing of course but even some of the stuff about hey maybe we take a page out of the other team's book and start doing that to their guy a little bit like he goes we love to go low to high in the offensive zone but for their goalie it's like playing catch in the yard

they can see everything not making it hard enough like I was like whoa whoa whoa whoa that was the one I bet like he called out Nylander right he called out Nealander without saying his name without but everybody knew he was talking about so ultimately Neelander will decide how much he's annoyed about that. Okay?

That's between the two of them. Now, somebody may say to him, you don't let that out of our dressing room, but ultimately that's between him and Nylander. Like, nobody's going to disagree with him on that. He simply made a bad back check, whether he was tired or not. Probably was.

The one about throwing the puck back and forth that was the one I agree with you that that I would be very curious to hear how that one gets handled because I could see a lot of the players potentially being upset about that I could see the coaches being upset about that now if I was Stollers I would say hey I was furious about being hit and everything came pouring up And I think everybody's allowed one like that. Like I said this on the air, we always say that hockey players are boring,

so we can't rip them when they tell us exactly what's on their mind. So I'm not ripping stoleers. That would be completely hypocritical with me. I think the Leafs have two choices here. They can say, look, he's right. We weren't defending him. And he's earned the right to blow off steam. And it can happen one time, but that's it.

or, you know, they could come, they could fire back against them, which is kind of not their way to do. But I bet internally that line about throwing the pucks back and forth, that one will, that one could raise someire. That could raise someire. I can see, depending on whether it's coaches or players, say, you know what you stop the puck

we'll handle the way we play in front of you what would be really interesting and somebody will keep track of this because there's good people out there do it to see if you know when they start playing again after that Kyle their shot rate goes up

like does anyone say be quiet don't talk like that but he's right right and yeah How much more traffic is there in front of the other team's net going forward? Like, the one thing we don't know is in the immediate aftermath of that game, did he go off on guys in the room before the media got in there?

Like, did he go at them first and then conveyed his messaging publicly? Like, that's one thing. So I know that's a big thing that Kevin was big on too, right? like, oh, and some stuff can just stay internally. If you're only running to the media to talk about it, that could be a problem. But we just don't know. Did he air it out with his teammates beforehand or not? It wouldn't be surprising if he did.

He seems like a guy that when it's necessary, he doesn't have too much of an issue with confrontation. But we just don't know. I have to say that. I don't blame him for being mad about the contact. And I'll say this too. I think about, I meant to say this earlier,

I think the only reason that the Maple Leafs had any hesitancy, any hesitancy to extend Stollers was because of his injury history. He's had a lot of them. So if you're concerned about that, you should be worried about how much punishment he's taking. That should be a,

focus. I mean, if it was the 80s, they'd be dressing Oglethorpe and running over the other goalies. But that is one thing I would look at it from an organizational point of view. Hey, this guy's been hurt a lot. We can't have this. Didn't take long for things to get interesting in Toronto again. And they certainly are after things got fiery on the heels of They're lost to Seattle on Saturday night. Another item you had on headlines, Elliot, the future of the heritage classic plans to come back next season and it looks like we could be headed west again? Yeah, I'm hearing a lot of Winnipeg, a lot of Winnipeg. And don't know who the opponent is, but I'm hearing a lot of Winnipeg.

So it's not done. Nothing is done until it's done. but they are talking about the Jets and they are talking about bringing it back next year. Last one was Battle of Alberta, 2023. I like those games. I realize that not everybody likes them on TV. I think they're more for the people there.

I have a great time at them. I love them and I would love to go to more of them. And quickly, Team Canada plans to meet a couple of times in person, the management side at least before the deadline to submit the roster? Yeah, once in November and once in December, face-to-face. The December one will probably cut the team

pretty close to its roster with maybe a couple of extras. The rosters are due to December 31st. One of the things that's kind of interesting is I heard that Team Canada and some of these other teams, okay, submit the roster December 31st, do you ruin someone's new year or do you wait until the new year to announce it i think the women's i think the women's list is due december 23rd like what do you do do you wait over

christmas do you tell them before christmas it's a tough one boy let me ask you kyle if you knew you could make a team on december 23rd would you want to know before christmas Or would you want to wait until after Christmas? It's like on Christmas Eve being handed a one-year membership to the jelly of the month club. Or socks, nine-pair. Yeah. Nine pair. Right.

Would you want to know or not? Yeah, because if you know, if the players know that's the deadline, like, God, wouldn't it just be killing you? Yes. I'm with you. Just tell me. Just tell me. I wouldn't blame you for ruining Christmas with my family because I can ruin that on my own. I don't need anybody else's help. Exactly. That will have no bearing on the damage I will do. If I'm going to ruin it, it's just going to be me. It's not because anybody told me something. Oh my gosh. That's good.

I'm with you. Just tell me. Just tell me. Just tell me. It's like when my bosses say, Elliot, we'd like to meet with you tomorrow. Okay, just tell me what it is now. Like, just, I don't want to wait until tomorrow. Just tell me right now. Yeah, yeah. Oh, gosh. All right, a couple other things. A couple other things I just wanted to mention here.

Josh Stone. First of all, we spent last week ragging on Buffalo because of the way the year started. They get a huge win, and then they get another huge win over Florida. And, you know, the thing that was, it's not only the. victories. I give a lot of credit to Tage Thompson, a lot of credit to Tage Thompson. When Deline was getting mauled there, Thompson went to his teammates aid. And I love that. I thought that was great, great on Thompson. But the other thing I liked for Buffalo, and this was big too. Josh Stone has a massive game in that victory over Florida. So they make a big deal in the

offseason. Peturca gets traded. Kesselring hasn't played yet. And he's He's the guy they kind of got the key part of the deal, the guy was supposed to help settle down Owen power. Well, you can't even show what he is yet. But the other guy in that deal, Josh Done, saves your bacon. You need that as an organization. Because now the players look at it and say,

you know what? We got something here out of this trade. And the fans feel it too. So that is such a lift for your team. I also want to shout out Alex Lyon. you cannot play lion 20 games in a row but how many times in the last few years has lion come in in a short-term situation and just done great there's a limit to how much you can use him but he is a great pinch hitter great pinch hitter comes in five or six games gives you what you need stabilizes things and then help him and he did it again Did it again. He's been phenomenal to start this season.

He is a great soldier, great personality. Yeah. And the guy just battles. Maybe he doesn't win every night, maybe along the way, but he battles. The other one I wanted to mention is, did you see David Worsovsky's comment at the end of the game the other night? Yeah, I mean, I thought nothing top family, but apparently in some cases, wins do. Would you trade Berkeley for a victory? Sometimes on this podcast, I consider it.

But dang, no, he's got a cute face right now. Like, I can't. I couldn't do it. I couldn't do it. Would you deal Max in a trade? Only if I wanted to get divorced. And it's too expensive, so no. So no.

You know, this, to me, is why coaching is so hard, okay? You go through what you go through in San Jose last year. You see the hope. You see Celebrini. You see some of the young talent. Smith has a great finish to last year. you add Mesa you've got good young players you're still so far away like so far away right like Chicago is starting to turn it around how much pounding did they have to take

anaheim is trying to get there how much pounding did they have to take andaheim is trying to get there how much pounding did they have to take and you know the owner or platinum what does he say i don't want to be picking Gavin mckenna this year so as the coach you're probably sitting there saying uh-oh but you know like nobody expects anything of the sharks like like we said they're fun to watch i really do enjoy watching them nobody expects them to contend yet but that doesn't mean it doesn't eat you alive as a head coach. It's sort of like what we just said with Stollers. You can't go to that too often.

You can't do that. But when I saw him say that, it's just a reminder that these guys are super competitive and losing sucks. Even if you know and feel the future is bright, it stinks. Now, I thought it was interesting because Drew or Amanda did an interview with Will Smith where he talked about, he said, you know, Worsowski asked, we need more from you.

And he said, what does that mean to you? And Smith just basically shrugged it off and said, I'm just trying to do my thing. You know, you've got to be careful with that kind of stuff. I'm not there. So I don't want to jump to any incredible conclusions without really, knowing the situation but like that's that's one thing that just as a viewer

I looked at and I kind of said all right don't jump to any conclusions let's just see where this one goes because I guarantee to you Remenda thinks he's John Stockton passing a layup to Smith

and he didn't get the answer he was expecting so you always kind of All right. What is that? And where does it go five to ten games from now? And you can't tell me that that Vegas game still isn't in the mind somewhere there. Like if they just hang on that night and there isn't the crazy finish that there was,

that gives them a win early and it's the whole butterfly effect. How does that impact everything going forward? They could still feel a bit of that in Warsaw. going, yeah, I'd give up one of my kids for a bleep and win. Good movie, Butterfly Effect. You know what it is? Like the sharks, like right now, like everything around them, like, they're doing a lot of really good things in terms of building like the personality of the players, right?

Like they're a fun group, you know, Celebrity and Smith did that interview last week on Spit and Chicklets that was a really good interview, both of them together in their hotel room. But sooner or later, you can't keep doing that, right? It has to become actionable. You have to be able to turn that into Ws and on the ice success. What do we talk about? They're fun to watch. Like, nobody's leaving that arena saying, oh, I didn't get my money's worth.

But eventually, people start to say, okay, this is nice, but we'd like to see some Ws. And I don't think it's, they're not ready for that yet. But again, it just shows you, like, it's tough to tell you. I'll coach that. It's hard. Oh, yeah. Because they are judged on one thing, their record. Their record.

I totally understand. I know some people who didn't like that quote. I was like, I totally get it. I totally get it. You spend that much time at the rink going through that much video coming up with all the different practice plans and looking at your lineup board and your depth chart over and over again. Yeah, it all makes sense. It all makes sense, regardless of where the organization is at in their process.

It's all the same for coaching. It's all the same. And Elliot, just one more thing on San Jose. You discussed it a little bit on headlines, too, towards the end. Just in terms of what their plans are from some of their defense, a little lower in the depth chart. I know Detroit's another team you're looking at, too, with some excess at a couple different, positions. Should we be keeping an eye on the waiver wire a little bit here over the next few days? Not only waiver wire, but potentially deals as well, like maybe some small deals.

Detroit has extra players now. They have Eric Gustafin in the American Hockey League. He's not an HL player. They've also got Justin Hull, who they've been trying to move for a bit, but he's there too. Like that's Sandin-Polika. He looks like a player. So it'd be interesting to see like what Iserman decides to do there. Does he keep him there? Detroit, and I've also heard, you know, with Finney, who had his first NHL goal and they tried to get him a hat trick on Sunday. Yeah, they tried to get him a hat trick on Sunday. Like some of these guys are making such an impact that I think other guys like Berger and 2 could be available. Like I think I think Izerman's got some players. He's trying to move just because suddenly he's got too many of them or a lot of

the same of them. But these new guys, remember if you go back to last season in the final pod where we did every team in the summer, we talked about Eisenman saying that I'm not signing anybody long term or I'm not going out to get veterans to block my guys because I believe in the young group. Well, look at them all of a sudden after that bad first game, they're unbeaten, they keep winning, and some of these young players are starting to make an impact. And it's still early, but I think what it does have is, I think it's got him recognizing that he has extras or a few of the same.

And I think just generally in Gustafin's case, I think there's a recognition that that's not an HL player. So can he find him a new home? As you said, San Jose is now up to eight defensemen. And I don't know if there's one he's particularly willing to move, but he is looking to move a D. He's had a few injuries, though, but I think he's willing to move a D. Like, I think Edmonton, they've got some injuries on the blue line, too, when Regula is healthy and Wallman's now coming back. They've got eight or nine guys, including the guys in the H. L. Kyle. So I think eventually Edmonton could be looking at that, too.

I think Nick Robertson in Toronto, that's another one that I think the Maple Leafs are trying to solve. I think people kind of recognize it's time and so we'll see if they can find something there. I think there's a lot of things going on that maybe aren't big things, but they're things. So that's all happening out there worth watching. All right. And that'll take us to the final thought.

So Brad Marshaun, boy, was that entertaining to watch? I mean, Dahlane does a good job getting under his skin and he decided he had enough but that scene in the penalty box with Dahline's helmet not only taking it with him

but ripping the chin straps out of it as well before tossing it back onto the ice was great comedy but frustrating night for Marchand and the Panthers there in Buffalo and now back to Boston

first time he'll have a chance to play there as a member of the Panthers on Tuesday night. And you are going to be there, Elliot. Yeah, I'm going in on Monday morning. The Panthers are practicing there. So, you know, he did a good interview with Emily Benjamin that was published on Sunday on NHL.com. You know, I was thinking about some of the more recent ones. The one I really think about a lot, though, is Matt Sundeen. I reread Sundeen's book, or at least the chapters about, his return on Sunday, Sunday's book Home and Away is excellent. It's really good book. And I'd recommend it. But just talking about, he says, one of his teammates says, everyone will be happy to

see you. They love you here. And he says, I'm not so sure about that. And remember the emotion that he had on the ice when the ovation came. I don't think there's any doubt about how Marchand is going to be recognized. I think that thing that's really interesting is that there was a chance that this could have not been a celebration. In terms of maybe some

bitterness or anger that he might have had, and we'll hear what he has to say on Monday, maybe bitterness or anger towards the Bruins. But it turned out so well for him, going to Florida, winning a Stanley Cup, signing there for

six more years, that I think you sit there and you realize this was the best thing that could have happened to me, even if I didn't believe it at the time. And I have no doubt it's going to be spectacular for him. You know, I was looking at Zadano Chara. Zadano Chara came back. It was COVID, and there was like nobody there.

And it was unfortunate because it deserved to be so much bigger than it was, but just world events, you know, prevented it from being that way. I have a feeling this is just going to be massive. And I could see him reacting the same way that Sundeen did, that just having trouble holding it in a bit because he's nothing, if not an emotional guy. We saw that in a different way on Saturday. I'll tell you, like the first thing I thought Kyle was when he did it was,

Could he get suspended for that? Like, is it possible that he could get suspended for his return to Boston? Oh, geez. Could you imagine? But obviously that didn't occur. He just got a fine. It was, I think it's going to be really special there on Tuesday night. Yeah, should be great.

He embodied everything that Boston sports fans love to celebrate. A bit of a shocker and how it all ended last spring of the trade deadline. But that crowd's going to be ready for them. And I think he'll be ready to give it right back. That should be a great, great, great spectacle there for you to have a firsthand look at for each. So happy you're going to do that. That's great. All right, that was the final thought.

We'll take our first break. Come back with the thought line. 32 Thoughts the podcast continues after this. Okay, back again with another edition of the thought line, Ellie. You remember last pod, we were talking a little bit about Tuske, the new mascot in Utah. Yes. And trying to will into existence something to replicate Harvey the Hound and Craig McTavish years ago in Calgary. Yep.

Yanking on the trunk. So Spencer and Chicago wrote in to tell us about his time when he played the role of Echo the Elephant. He says, shut. What to use that? Not a team. Okay. He goes shout out to seven mile fare family fund center in. Caledonia, Wisconsin for giving me the experience. My job was to promote the new arcade and kids

area. I would walk the aisles of the indoor market buildings taking photos with a caretaker. Yes, people would grab my trunk all the time, but that was not the worst experience. As a solid piece of foam, the head mask was heavy and well attached with shoulder straps. That meant people touching my trunk wasn't all that bad of an experience. It was the smallest anatomy that caused the most issue, my tail. People pulled on it so often it was starting to tear off. I should also point out that the visibility was awful with a blind spot that extended almost five feet or one and a half meters in front of me. It meant I couldn't see small children who would so often come in for a hug and or picture, spent lots of time seeing with my hands like someone

looking for their glasses, would easily have trampled someone if I wasn't sure footage, or slow moving. So hopefully technology has evolved enough that Tuske does not have the same kind of problems as Spencer did as Echo the Elephant. Oh my God. That is a great story.

Great story. He attached a photo too of his get-up and it was phenomenal. This is one of the few times I wish we had video on this pod because everyone did see it. This is one of, there was a time when people told me that the Raptor, the guy who was the Raptor, was one of the highest paid non-executive, non-basketball players in the organization.

When I hear stories like this, I understand why that's the case. Right. That's good. Any thing you got to clear the decks for here before we get into it? I don't think so. I don't really have anything that that jumped out at me this week. The usual amount of

interesting notes and letters and funny comments and stuff like that. But let me just check and see if I liked anything on X that well, there was one guy Shark Week. Looks like

his year's off to a huge start to the season, eh? Yeah. As he dropped and give everyone 20. And other than that, not really. Most of the stuff this week was not thought line worthy.

Okay. All right. Plenty of time to change that. Yes. Back again on Friday. So as you can imagine, there was a lot of reaction and engagement with all this international hockey talk.

Okay. We've been having. Okay, and our listeners have come from all over with ideas for international reach-out concepts, all right? So I picked a couple for today. Our first one is a voicemail. Eves from Sudbury. Go ahead. Hey, three amigos.

I'm Eve here from Sudbury. I'm listening to your podcast this morning. All we do, but the one about the how to move on to the, the, uh, the, uh, series bigger. With the extra two games, let's get rid of the All-Star game. All 16, or sorry, all 32 teams, 16 games, spread them out all over the world.

Pay those guys the trip. They get to play with, bring their families. You get to spend the global expansion here. And you're not taking some money out of the owner's pockets, using those two games that are going to be added to the schedule. I would love to see your thoughts. I'm on my way to hunt camp, and enjoy your weekend, boys. So we're moving the All-Star.

Did Eve say that he's on the way to hunt? Sounded like it. Yeah, well, hope the hunt went well. First of all, I would like to change one thing about Eve's voicemail that I think needs to be corrected before I address the All-Star game. And that is, he called us the three amigos. The truth is, we can barely stand one another. So I think the first inaccuracy is calling us the three amigos.

Am I right, Kyle, or am I right? Stooges, maybe. Amigos. Okay. Here's the thing with the All-Star. I bet you, Eve's suggestion, will be popular with a lot of people. I can see a lot of individuals listening to this and saying, darn right, get rid of the All-Star game. And especially last year after the Four Nations,

I think it's going to end the fact that we're going to have now a World Cup every other year. So you're going to have best on best every other year. The All-Star game is going to pale in comparison. And I thought it would disappear, but going right back to Bill Daly's comments, from the European media tour this year in Milan, it sounds like they're going to keep it. Now, here's the thing, Eve, and this is the big challenge that you have with this. Teams do want to host this.

And sponsors like it. And the reason is, is that sponsors see it as a reward for their sponsorship. They go to the game. They have a good weekend. They have fun. They watch the players. You know, some of them get meet and greets.

They bring their kids. Their kids get pictures with the players, selfies. Like for some of the most hardcore sponsors, that is an important date on their calendar. So I'm not saying it's impossible, but the fact that you have those people who like it and also that you still have cities that want to host it, they like being the host of the All-Star game,

it's a challenge. I'm not convinced this thing is going away. I think, as I said, I think you'll have a lot of fans and listeners of this pod who will support your idea, but I have always been told it's tougher in practice than in theory.

And the idea of doing 16 games, different parts of the world, conceptually brilliant, that would be a big, bill i think too to make it all that's why i think you should you could do like eight pods of four or four pods of eight or whatever you wanted to do well that okay just listen to this all right all right we got another one okay here we go this is eric from calgary all right is it eric francis this is eric francis from calgary you know eric you could just text me or call you don't have to i won't only communicate

with you through the thought line no he You don't like rules. Eric understands them. He knows this is the way to get into this thing. Good day, Elliot, Kyle, and Dom. The thought mentioned on the pod on Friday, October 17th, regarding growing the U.S. internationally, grab my imagination, and I wanted to develop the idea a little bit more.

Concept, a nine-day regular season showcase the week before U.S. Thanksgiving, with all 32 teams playing round-robin games in eight international cities. So four per city, then returning for a Wednesday night rivalry game before a three-day Thanksgiving break. And he's laid it all out here. So here's his itinerary. You fly out Tuesday, nine days before U.S. Thanksgiving, six days on location, three round-robin games per team. You return to North America the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. And then you have one game in an east or west coast city on the Wednesday to ease the jet lag upon return.

and with a three-day break for Thanksgiving with return to play on Sunday. And, I mean, boy, he goes into grave detail about prize money for the team that has the best record or total points from each Hub City or maybe it's one big grand prize for the team that does the best of all 32. He's got different locations listed and where teams could go based on star power and connections to different countries. We had a lot out here. but to your thought of eight hub cities this is exactly what eric is thinking i well first of all i know this isn't eric francis because unlike eric's work it is detailed and well thought out so it's definitely not eric francis now i'm going to have to face them at the saddle dome oh that's right you guys live in the same city now i'm going to pile on some more that is not just

not Eric Francis, but it's literally the son to Pluto from Eric Francis. Oh, my gosh. I can go longer. Yeah, yeah. I can go longer. Eric, Kyle went to the J's on Sunday night, but he'll be back Monday or Tuesday. I don't know. First of all, let me just say, Eric, it's extremely well thought out. It's very well done. I respect the work. I really do. I just, I don't. I don't. I don't know if it's practical. Like that sounds a lot like the in-season tournament that the NBA is, is trying to do. And I know the NHL kind of looked at that idea, and they just decided it didn't make sense for them. I also don't know if it makes sense to do it all at the same time. Like just with building availability and stuff like that, you know, one of the things about it is if you go away and everybody goes, away at the same time, you lose all those dates. So I'm just not sure in your home arena. I'm not sure that can work. I love the idea. I think you might just have to mix it around. Like if you're going to do hubs, there might just be one a year, or if there's more than one a year, they might

have to be done at different times. It's a great idea, Eric. Like, I just don't think it's practical. Okay. Raining on the parade goes Elliot again. Yeah, sorry. But I'll tell you, it did give me, it did give me the opportunity to set up a Texas death match between Kyle and Eric in Calgary. That's right.

He's got his pizza pig out this week in Calgary, by the way. Oh, really? Eric does a great job with that. Really great job with that. Yeah. Okay. Staying with the Alberta theme. Bert from Grand Prairie.

Hey, Kyle, Dom, and Elliot on the loose. Just wanted to ask a question in regards to the... He moves on the loose. Very good. Yeah, yeah. Just wanted to ask a question in regards to the Kings receiving Phoenix Copley in a trade from Tampa Bay for, quote, future considerations. Given the Tampa Bay had just picked him up on waivers from the Kings, can you clarify how this trade isn't reacquiring a player that should have been placed on waivers instead?

We all remember the back and forth claims that Vegas and Ebbiton made on Raft-Lavois, and this King's trade seems to be a loophole if the Kings don't have to put Copley on waivers again. Right. Work, work, fellas. Thanks for your time. Yeah, there's a couple of things there. It's a good question. Number one, I think that the issue is there's no retained salary there, right? So it really only becomes an issue if it's a retained salary transaction.

So, for example, if a team trades someone and another team keeps money on them, they couldn't be sent back that quickly. So that's kind of the one area where that thing's an issue. We'd reported that quite a couple times, actually, that Tampa had only taken Copley off waivers as assurance that Vasselowski was healthy and that the moment they determined he was healthy, he was likely either to go back on waivers or get traded back to L.A. And what this says to me is that Tampa traded them there just to make sure that nobody else claimed them. So I don't think the league would have an issue with this one at all because there's no retained salary there. All right. Very good. Up next to another voicemail we got here. This is Moe from Hamilton. Regarding back-to-backs, is there a league mandated maximum distance a team can travel? For example, Edmonton has a back-to-back in New Jersey and Detroit.

That seems like a reasonable distance. However, if there were a scheduling quirk that resulted in a team having to play one night in, say, Carolina and another night in Calgary, would the team just have to deal with it? Or is there something in the CBA that says no team can travel beyond such a distance for back-to-back. Enjoy the pod. Keep up the good work. That's a good question, Mo.

Kyle, I'll say what I, I don't believe there's anything specifically in the CBA, but from what I understand, it's basically under two hours. Like, you couldn't do a Calgary from Carolina back-to-back unless there were extreme and unusual circumstances. And I'll say this,

I know where this becomes an issue, Mo, at times, is right after the Christmas break. There have been teams that have been asked to travel right after Christmas, two and a half hours. When Patrick Waugh coached the Colorado Avalanche, they played the day after the Christmas break in Chicago, and he was furious about that. That's like a two and a half hour flight. Let me just check the distance. Maybe I'm just going to double check this mode. before I answer it because I want to make sure I'm talking about this. So you'll remember, the Maple Leafs got fined a few years ago

because out of the Christmas break, they had a game in St. Louis. The flight, according to the interwebs, is two hours and five minutes. And they left early with the approval of the players. asked their leadership group if they could leave early, and they still got fined because the Mapleys didn't like that they had to take a two-hour flight right after Christmas, and they thought if they asked their players, they'd be okay. But the union said, no, we negotiate for these benefits, and just because one team wants to change them doesn't mean we're going to accept it. And so the league fined the Mapleies for it. So, you know, I would say this, that, um,

those are the situations where I hear the most complaints about, and it's not even really a back-to-back, but it's sort of like a home-to-back. I'll say this. It's interesting you pick Carolina, because Carolina is kind of remote compared to a lot of other teams, and I have seen situations before where teams have played in Carolina one night

and in Toronto or Montreal. Like that's happened on Hockey Night in Canada before where a team has played like on the Friday in Carolina and the Saturday in Toronto or Montreal and they aren't crazy about it and it's also we've seen situations Kyle we're like yeah we're the that's right where the maples have played at home on a Saturday night and played in Carolina on a Sunday at like 5 p.m. And that's not an easy task either. But I haven't seen it like if there's anybody who could say that shouldn't happen or give a conquest reason why that should be blocked from happening.

Obviously, the league approves those. Yeah, even just this past week, right, Vancouver going from Dallas to Chicago, that's almost a two and a half hour flight. So that's not nothing either. It does come up throughout the year, but feels like two and a half seems to be the max. It seems based on purely anecdotal evidence here, Mo, that it's about two and a half. a half hours. I can't remember a situation where a team played three hours back to back. The only time I could even think it would be a consideration in this day and ages, sometimes

you get postponements, you know, snow, something like that. Maybe that happens. But other than that, I'm not familiar with it. All right. One final one here. This is from Paul. Hey, guys, congratulations to Elliot on earning the in-season cup from a great Jets road win in Philadelphia this past week. By the way, Kyle, you know how you were saying I get the benefit of the back of the head-to-head matchups? I get another one Monday night. What are you talking about?

I have Calgary. Oh, don't they play Montreal on Monday? No. They play them on, like, I think they play them Thursday. Well, after they beat Calgary, then they'll play Montreal. Yes, yes, yes, yes. Never mind. Never mind.

So Paul was excited to be attending the Jets Predators game this Saturday. Oh, good game. And even more so excited because the in-season cup was on the line that night as well. I hope we see a day that this gets big enough, that like in the World Cup of Soccer, that in season cup there's a physical trophy that makes its way around the league that's there presented as the teams come on the ice each game just as a reminder of what's at stake over the course of a long year that's the world I have to live in what if the end season cup had a trophy what do you think it would look like or be of somehow

I envisioned like a lost single sock that you couldn't find in the dryer with lint with lint it would be curious to see what an in-season cup trophy could look like yeah but I don't think we have to

worry about it anytime soon no well you just wait crazier things have happened with this program so Paul goes on to say on another Jets related note could Logan Stanley be

an obscure NHL record holder, as on Monday afternoon on Long Island, the 6'7 defensemen, scored his first and if history continues to repeat, only goal of the season. In this his sixth NHL season, Logan Stanley has scored precisely one goal each year. Surely, this must be an NHL record for most consecutive seasons for a player scoring only one goal, hoping he gets a second this year to finally break the six-way tie and set a new career high. Now, it was as if Paul spoke this into existence. Because as he was watching the Jets and Predators on Saturday night, he would have seen Logan Stanley score his second goal of the season and thus setting a new career high. But I thought, as unique as that was, I would ask the question anyway.

the fact that he went the first five years of his career only scoring one goal each season where does that stack up amongst NHL history consecutive seasons with only one goal that has to be the only thing i can think of kiles there's somebody in the like forties who did it like that can't be anyone who's done it really recently. So he has tied atop the list with five seasons. How many other players? Three. Mike Weber. Oh, the defenseman. Good interview.

Good talker. Mike Weber. Yep. Scott Parker. Oh, tough guy. Scott Parker, tough. And Rich P.Lont. Another tough guy.

Now, Stanley's the only one to do it, the five, first years of his career and the NHL record for total seasons, regardless of it's in a row or not, of scoring exactly one goal. Jason Cullimore had eight seasons in his career where he only had one. Did sports and stats give you all this? Of course they did. That's phenomenal. That is a great question. I am really impressed you got the answer to it. But Logan Stanley is the only one ever to do it in the first five years of his career, correct? Yep. Yep. Wow. Stans alone there.

That's great stuff. Yeah. That's got to be like hitting your number and roulette, not five straight times, but maybe like maybe three straight times. Right. And how coincidental it was that Paul was at the game that he saw Stanley set a new career high in goals. You know what Paul should do?

He should send in a thought line question about Stanley's goal total before every game. And the way I see this, the Jets have 77 games remaining. Logan Stanley will have 79 goals this year. Yes. Or he writes in the question like, hey, do you guys ever think like Sittler's 10 points and one game record is going to be broken? I just so happen to be going to the Jets.

game on Saturday and then Kyle Conner rips off 11 or something. The man has a magic mutant power. Very good. All right, that was the thought line 1833-3-3-1-3-1-3-2.

If you'd like to leave a voicemail or you can email us at 32 thoughts at sportsnet.ca. We'll take another break and come back with Elliot's interview with Jonathan Taves of the Winnipeg Jets. 32 thoughts continues after this. Okay, welcome back.

So, Elliot, just as the regular season was getting going, you had a chance to spend some time in Winnipeg with Jonathan Taves to talk to him about a number of different things. but of course his path to healing, finding inner peace once again, and really we learned a lot more about what was going on deep down during the height of what was considered the Captain Serious era during his time in Chicago and how he was really feeling through it all, all the greatness, all the championships, all the winning. What did you take away from the conversation?

And then you want to lay out before we get to hear it in full? So obviously a lot of people learned about Tave's root back with that GQ article where he talked about the Iyerveda, which is, or the Poncha Karma, whichever one you prefer to call it, which is sort of like the extreme treatment he had, the body detoxification, where he talked about, you know, being induced vomiting and the, the, the, the, the, the massages he would have that were not relaxing. massages, but basically grind your body into dust massages. Basically, you're resetting your entire system. It was quite the read, and people were really fascinated by it. And when I knew that we were getting taves, I basically Googled, Kyle, Iyerveda, Toronto, and I looked up some places, and I emailed them. I sent them the link to the GQ article.

and I emailed them, and I said, you know, can I try this? Like in the televised interview, Taze goes, you did your research. It was, I tried to make it even more than that. I wanted to see, could I do some of these things just to understand what he went through? And if you read the article, you know that some of it was really, it was a lot. Basically, you were cleaning your entire system. And, you know, a couple, not every one of them wrote back to me, but a couple did, and they said, look, you're not going to find that kind of experience here. And one of them wrote back, if you really want to do what he did, you probably have to go to India itself.

Like, they didn't know of anybody that would do that process. And I was like, okay, I don't see a trip to India in my immediate future. Hockey puck's season drops in a couple of days. I don't think sports net's going to understand how I apply for that one. And one guy actually called me. He was a hockey fan, so, you know, he was familiar with me. And he said, you know, even if we could do that, he said, doesn't the season start soon? And I said, yeah, we're doing the interview on the Monday, which was the day before the season began.

And he kind of laughed and he said, if you actually did this, there's no. no way you could work for like a month like what you would put your body through wow it would be impossible so i i kind of said okay thanks and um and to be honest i thought that we would spend a lot of time talking about that because it's just so different and so unusual and it's the detail of tate's recovery that really captivated a lot of readers but kyle we spent almost no time on that. And people are aware if you've read his history that he was battling long COVID

in another condition which really sapped his strength and really changed his body. And it was pretty clear after our conversation that as much it was about that, it was also about the mental game. Like he simply wasn't

at peace with himself. And that, you know, the one thing that really resonated with me, Kyle, is that I'm a guy who keeps a lot internal. I really do internalize things. I'm like anyone else. There's things out there, whether it's my job or just in the world or in my life, that really bother me.

And I'm a big believer in stoicism. My family is depending on me and my work is depending on me. And I have a job to do and I have to go out to do it. and I don't know that there's been too often that I've kept it bottled up like Taves did but I won't say who it was but there was one person who we work with who was really blown away by him saying I don't think that it's a good idea for somebody to be captain at 21 like he was because everybody thought he was kind of the perfect captain was you know before we throw to it from what you've seen so far was there

anything that really stood out to you? Well, it was mainly that. Like, again, when we saw on the outside, and as I alluded to, like, he kind of had that from the public perspective, the Captain Serious moniker, and you thought, oh, that's what drives him to be great. That's what makes them so great. That's what allows him to be a captain at such a young age, to win at such a young age, and continue to play it at a high level.

But to hear him discuss about what was really going on and how he was really feeling on the inside, it really made me pause in terms of how we should look at certain things like that moving forward. And I guess just a great reminder that as much as you think you know something when looking at it on the surface, you really don't know. That's true. That's an excellent reminder. You know, physically he looks great. I remember the last time we saw him when he was in Chicago, he looked really big. Like he was just a lot heavier than he is now. but physically he looks fantastic his legs in particular like they look like machines so i'm not surprised he's kind of even though he hasn't scored yet kyle he's off to a better start and i think a lot of us

expected and that would play a big role in it um i guess what i would also say is just i really appreciate his honesty uh you never know when you do these pieces you know sometimes nobody texts you sometimes you get a lot of people who text you and I had a lot of people text and just say that it really resonated with them so I would just say thanks to Taze for being so honest about what he was feeling All right, let's waste no more time and get to it.

Taves and Friedman on 32 Thoughts, the podcast. Okay, so first of all, we just want to start about Patrick. A couple of big milestones this year. I assume you're going to be rooting for him and what will it be like to watch him get there? Yeah, I mean, I'll say the one nice thing about being away from hockey these last two years is people stop asking me about Caner's milestones and then the second I come back to hockey,

then that's the first thing that seems to come up. But those are two big ones, so I'm super happy for him. And it's almost, I feel like a bad friend sometimes that those seem to sneak up and half the time I forget or I wasn't paying attention because there's always something that he's up to and a new level he's reaching. So, you know, 500 goals is a huge one.

And what's the other one? Most points by American. That's huge. So pretty cool to look at what he's done, you know, as far as points on the board. But I always say that, you know, I watch the young generation of players coming up and, you know,

I think of any superstar in the game in the last 20 years, I think he's probably had the most impact on the young players. So that's, let's leave it at that. It's the most thing to say about him, but, you know,

he's had an incredible, left an incredible impression on the game for sure. I'm sure this would be hard to pick, but is there a favorite memory of him for you? That's a good question. I guess on the ice, I would say one of the cooler moments, well, obviously, his Stanley Cup winning goal, that was a special one. But I think the game winner, I think he completed the hat trick,

and I put it right in his wheelhouse there, and he finished a job against L.A. Out of conference final at one time. And I'd say off the ice, it's probably the opposite. Probably a few more least favorite moments. I can think of a few. Maybe I can't mention we were roommates. But a lot of great memories we share together.

Okay. All right. Start the interview now. Okay. So, you know, I've only been in town less than 24 hours. But, you know, a couple of people, they say, what are you doing here? And I said, I'm coming to talk to Jonathan Taves. And they all get serious for a second.

And they say, I'm so proud he's here. I'm so proud he came back. What does that mean to you? I mean, that's nice to hear. I think there's, you know, once in a while I'll think about it. And, you know, you get that really positive encouragement and feedback from people around Winnipeg. And it's added incentive to keep digging deep and giving more, especially when it gets tough. And maybe things aren't quite going your way.

and uh you know i'm i'm excited to play a game get back at it this week because it's it's been such a long time coming and and obviously it's it's been a long journey to get back to this point and sometimes you you know you got to really remind yourself why you're doing this because it's easy to to get discouraged at least there were moments for me where i got discouraged and and that self-doubt kind of crept in and but as i get closer and closer to it like i really it feels nice to feel that sense of pride just for myself too that aside from all that i've been a part of and lucky to accomplish in this game throughout my career i'd say i'd put this right at the top just a you know a whole new level of difficulty and challenge and and really

having to get to a place of of truly understanding myself and uh being a little bit wiser because of it And as hard as it's been, I'm very thankful for what I've been through these last couple years. And then now I get the opportunity to play the game that I love at the highest level for the team that I grew up watching. So I think it's a whole new level of dream come true once again. So it's nice to be able to relive that at my age. And like I said, have that added excitement and incentive. and inspiration that comes from that. There's so many places,

so many places we could go from there from that great answer. And, you know, the first thing I think of, Jonathan, is that, you know, when you first arrived, everybody always talked about you as mature beyond your years. You were 19, 20 years old,

but, you know, you were a captain at a young age. Everybody always said, like, that's a guy who really has it together. And, you know, for you to talk about how much you've changed and how much you've learned. It's interesting to me to hear that because so many of us thought

that when you were that age and you were just arriving, you knew yourself better than anybody else and you had it together more than anybody that age. And I guess we just didn't really know how much you really felt you still had to learn about yourself and life.

Yeah, I mean, I think there's two sides to that. And a lot of people ask me, what was it like to be a captain at such a young age? I often think about it. I'm like, well, I don't think it's really fair to put a 21 or a 22-year-old kid or whatever it was in that situation

because you're trying to find yourself too as your hockey career is taken off and it's not a normal life for anyone, let alone a 20-year-old kid. But I think the other side of it was that perfectionist mentality has kind of a negative side where you know you're not maybe allowing yourself to just grow and mature at your own pace you're putting a I mean I put a lot of pressure on myself and

whatever criticism or uh shortcoming or just any sort of weakness that maybe someone else would expose in me I would really feel that and be very sensitive to it and I would absorb that and kind of take it personally and then try to better myself from it as opposed to just like kind of just letting it like you know kind of rub off on your or just you know deflect it a little bit and just be patient and you know kind of accept your own your own flaws your own humanness as you're growing as a young man so um i think that pressure and uh that uh that pressure I put on myself was, was a lot, and I just got to the point where, like, I just wanted to shake it off in a sense.

When did you learn to let it go? I would say these last couple years, that's pretty much what it came down to. I think my body just finally quit on me because, like I said, I was carrying so much just around every day, and that inner critic was so strong, and it finally got to a point where, like, I just had to, had to let go. And I think that's what, get away from hockey and get away from all those aspects of the game that kind of gave me that sense of self and that structure for my own identity. I just really had to get away from it all and just kind of go listen to myself and listen to my body

and wake up in the morning and just, you know, I just wanted to feel the freedom to be able to choose what I wanted to do. and just kind of honor that inner process, I think was really healthy for me. And I get into the point where when you could come full circle and then you can kind of look back and get back to a place where you truly appreciate how special this game is and how big a part is played in my life, but at the same time it's not everything to, like I said,

allow some your own humanness to come in and to allow yourself to have a life away from the game and to make mistakes and to just enjoy life and you walk away from the ring to just like let the air out of the tires so to speak um all that was was extremely necessary for me so now when you go away from the ring how do you let the air out of the tires like what do you do what do you do to get away from it well i think it's it's not necessarily uh carrying the stress around like I used to to begin with. You know, I was just going out there and playing a little bit more free, just allowing myself to make mistakes and just being patient with myself.

I think I wouldn't be here right now if I didn't have a whole new level of patience and awareness when it comes to just even this season. Like I really feel good about where I'm at now and how far I've come these last few years. but I know that this season is going to be a process for me too. And I know if I stay patient, things are just going to keep getting better too. You know, that's one of the things I wanted about. We did a podcast last week and we did it in front of a live audience.

And one of the questions was, like, what do you expect from Jonathan Taves this year? And my answer was, I think everybody's rooting for them, but I almost don't want to set the bar so high so quickly. So, like, what do you expect from yourself? Like your first game is going to be Thursday night, home opener, Dallas, really tough team, really great atmosphere. What do you expect from yourself?

I mean, I'm just really trying to, it's, yeah, it's a weird thing to not have any expectations at all, but also just, you know, you've got to visualize what, what you know you can do and how you want to contribute and how you want to help your team. But at the same time, time, like just not put in a cart before the horse and going out there and really trying to just connect to the moment, be present, clear your mind, and just have as much fun as possible.

I think that's a huge thing for me is being in that place really helps the gas tank stay full as opposed to just, I think the way I used to operate was more geared towards make yourself as miserable or not necessarily make yourself miserable but but just deal with whatever misery you have to until you accomplish the goal and that gets tedious after a while um so now i know the goals and the assists will come and all that stuff if uh you know where i'm just kind of like letting that go completely and not thinking about it and just going out there and making plays and letting the play develop But I think all the great players, you know, understand that. And we all have moments where we maybe grip the stick a little bit too tight.

But, yeah, just trying to play free and just, I think, just be a good team and have fun and be that energy in the room and on the bench that's really uplifting, especially when other guys are maybe kind of being hard on themselves in some sense. So a couple of your teammates were here on the judge. They were kind of laughing. I guess the first inters squad game you said you were kind of nervous and they were saying, wait a second,

Jonathan Taves is really nervous before an inter squad game. They almost couldn't believe it. Yeah, I mean, it's been a while. You know, some things were like riding a bike and other things, maybe not so much. I definitely felt like my timing was off and I think maybe when, you know, camp is tough

they skated us a lot and then you get to the games your legs are already a little bit tired so it's easy to be a little bit jumpy or you're working too hard or you know you're a little bit slower or a little bit too fast in certain situations so a lot of that is just

getting the reps and like I said going out there allowing allowing yourself the freedom to make mistakes that things will slowly kind of fall into place so you know like it's natural and it's a good thing to feel some nerve Yes.

It means you have standards. Do you think any of the younger players or even some of the veterans kind of looked at you like that's Jonathan Taves? I bet you some of them were never expecting that they would be in the same dressing room as you. Yeah, I don't know. It's funny. Like, you know, when I was in my early 20s and I looked at guys that were in their mid to late 30s, you always think that, you know, they're, they're so. much older than you and there's just such a huge gap in a lot of ways and I guess I don't know it happens fast and when you're kind of in that situation where you're the old the old guy on the team I don't know if it's denial or what it is but I haven't allowed I haven't really wrapped my head around that yet but I think there's a few things that stand out especially when you look at lineups and you don't recognize half the players out there and you got to check a few hockey DBs you're in there um so that that's something that

definitely stands out. Did you watch much while you were away? Yeah, definitely later in the last two seasons, I watched a lot of late in the season, a lot of playoff hockey as well. What did you notice? Like, what stood out to you? Who stood out to you? Well, I'll say one thing. The game is always easier when you're quite removed from it, and it's easy to point out from the cheap seats. I think the game becomes kind of easy sitting there and being a critic but yeah coming back to hockey

and playing with some of the top players especially on our team here in Winnipeg you start to notice the details to their games and you know their special kind of unique attributes to whether that's how they move or how they prepare and how they handle the pock, how they skate, how they shoot all those things.

You definitely remember how much goes into being a, not only to play at this level, be one of the top guys. You know, I guess I'd say the other thing is like just the talent across the board. Like even playing three on three in the zone in Summer Ice, you know, I always thought I was a player that was good at stealing pox and had a good stick and I could take pucks off guys and I'd feel like that's gotten a lot harder because everyone,

everyone can handle the puck. Everyone's got their head up. Everyone knows how to make plays and they come in to the league now and they have just such an incredible skill set. So I think the average player, the talent's definitely through the roof compared to when I was a young player.

As I was, I knew I was going to do this interview and you want to try to learn everything you can. I got a copy of the GQ article and I emailed it to a bunch of, I googled Ayurveda Toronto where I live and I emailed a bunch of places. I said, I'm going to be interviewing this guy. Can I do it?

And a couple of places called me and they were kind of laughing and they said, I don't think you would get that experience in Toronto. Like if you really wanted to do that, you would have to go to India and one guy he knew who I was and he said you could not go on hockey night in Canada at the start of this year if you got that treatment done like you would be out and so I agree and so I want you to know that I wanted to do it and someday I'm probably going to do it for anybody who read this and is thinking about it what would you say to them like who wants

who's thinking about doing something like that yeah Yeah, I don't really know where to start. I think, you know, I'm always a little bit apprehensive to kind of nudge people in that direction. I think, you know, I always, I think that sort of thing really popped up in my life when I was kind of ready for it and at my wits end. so I think if someone's willing to try something like that and good for them that you know obviously means they're very open-minded and or desperate which is not a fun place to be but yeah if that's obviously if the latter's not the case and then that's great I think it's definitely very challenging

but if I look back on my experience I would definitely recommend to go somewhere reputable and even just going all the way to, you know, the other side of the world to, you know, the southwest coast of India, you don't realize till you're maybe halfway through after the fact and you're really steeped kind of in the culture and the energy of, you know, a place that's very foreign to where we live and how we think and how we approach things. And I think that was equally as therapeutic as any of the other detoxes or other practices that I was a part of. And I think just being able to have a different lens and a different perspective to look back on my life and kind of reassess some of the patterns that I think played a huge role in me

kind of hitting the wall as well. All that was very necessary for me. You know, that was the question that one of our producers, Michael, had for you. And that was that, you know, what did Eastern medicine do for you that maybe Western medicine couldn't? Well, I mean, for starters, I think, and maybe this is not a fair assessment, but I think in our part of the world, we're always looking for some sort of secret formula that exists outside of us that can fix any sort of ailment. or sensation or feeling that we might have within. Whereas their mindset over there is it starts in here and everything outside starts to reflect your inner environment.

And I think, you know, I definitely really started to take responsibility for everything that was happening in my life and truly having an understanding. And also I kind of got to the point where I stopped looking for, something else to like fix what I was dealing with and that kind of goes with just you know it could be anything our attitudes um how we approach everything in our day what we do um just even allowing ourselves to be still and quiet and not constantly being bombarded with information or activity or things that we need to do and when you allow yourself to have

some of that space in your life then you can kind of see what comes to the surface too and I think ultimately it's just taking responsibility for what's happening in your life and kind of flips things around for you. Is there one piece of advice because there are going to be people who watch this or listen to this who've heard your story and they're going to say that sounds like me. I need to quiet myself down. I need to find something within me. And you said you don't like to give a a lot of, or push people in certain directions. But is there one thing you would say to people? This really helped me find my peace, and I would say, maybe try this.

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, there's a lot of different ways to do that, ultimately. You know, I think even not to get into politics or what's happening in the world, anything like that, but I think to me it's a lesson in that too, that we're never, I don't know if I believe that we're ever going to find a perfect system to rearrange everything so that everyone's happy. And I think that, you know, that joy and peace kind of starts with us as individuals

and working on ourselves and starting from within, you know. And I think it goes with anything in life, really. There's no perfect situation that's going to make you feel completely at peace all the time. Like I said, there's no magic pill or there's no magic formula. I think you really need to work for that sometimes instead of, you know, over that responsibility to something or someone else. And that's not the most convenient information for most of us. And it wasn't for me either.

But it's true. But I do believe it is true. Yeah. And once we start taking that responsibility, we kind of turn into this attitude that the things happen in our lives. It's not happening to us. It's happening for us. And then the rest is history.

Obviously, it's a daily practice too. you know it's not it's never going to be perfect you have a saying now that you talk about don't throw the baby out with the bath water right what does that mean uh well i think in my case um i think it's a huge reason why i wanted to come back to play hockey was you know obviously for the next little walk to live a comfortable life and and find other things to do or have many interests that away from hockey and have time away from hockey would allow me to kind of pursue. But at the same time,

I think these lessons that I've kind of learned through this whole process and this whole journey kind of reminded me that it doesn't really matter what you're doing and it's how you do it. And I was really able to get an up distance from the game of hockey to just remember how much I love the game and how much I appreciated it. And so not throwing the

baby out with a bath, the water would be not walking away from the game of hockey quite yet. No one I do have unfinished business and there's a, I think, a new sense of self and a new kind of approach to just how I deal with life and how I deal with anything really and bringing that to the game of hockey and just enjoying every last minute that I get to play the game at this level. And it's a pretty special thing. It's a privilege. And I just, wanted to remind myself not to take that for granted in any way. Can I ask you, what was the hardest thing you went through or the hardest moment? I think there was just many, you know, and I think it's, it was easy to always get, you know,

I always, I've been saying that after the season's over, whether you, you don't make the playoffs or you lose, you know, you lose out in the playoffs, I was always kind of, whether I was conscious of it or not on some sort of a timeline where I was just kind of mapping out my summer and give myself a week or two, start training here, get back on the ice there. And then you kind of fall that natural progression. You kind of know where you stand and how your preparation is going for the next season. And when I decided that I think after my last game in Chicago that season, I was going to take some time away from hockey and just completely like just focus on, you know,

let my body heal and just enjoy life and slow things down a little bit. There was still that ticking clock in the back of my mind thinking like, okay, I can, you know, do this and that and the other thing for the next six months to a year. And then some of that plan on getting back on the ice. And there was always moments where I felt like I was taking steps forward only to just hit another wall and feel like, okay, I need to like really learn a new level of surrender and patience in this.

And so one year turned into two years and then even this past summer, there's always moments that a little bit of doubt creeps in and you just got to stay with it and slowly climb, climb that mountain again. And so I wouldn't say there was one moment that stood out. It was a lot of little ones though. Do you look at this as a one-year thing, or are you thinking I could play for a while? I'm honestly not looking too far ahead.

I'm looking at this year, and that's it. And we'll go from there. What was the best text message or call you got? From a friend, a teammate, someone you know, when it was becoming common knowledge that you were coming back? I have to think about that one. Yeah, but definitely a lot of really nice heartfelt messages from guys that, you know, good friends that were more used to chirping each other

than really saying heartfelt things. So that meant a lot to kind of feel that love and feel that support. from some of my closest friends and buddies that I played a lot of a lot of hockey with over the years, so yeah. Did Crosby reach out at all or anything like that? I think you did at one point, yeah, a little while ago.

Okay. Because I figured there were probably some guys... I'd have been last summer or something with that, yeah. I figured there were some guys who used to rip you pretty good who were, somebody must have taken a shot at you. Yeah, yeah. Well, I know, you know, Andrew Shaw and I, I've kept in touch quite a bit

and, you know, he's that kind of guy that was so quick to sacrifice himself for the team and it's been through a lot with head injuries and, you know, and I think, yeah, just hearing it from him too, it just, it meant a lot. You know, I think he was proud and he would put himself through anything for the team

and to play the game again too. I think he missed the game a lot as well, too. So, yeah, it was definitely reassuring to hear from him once in a long. Okay. And I guess the last one is what will make you happy when this is all over? What is going to make you say, you know what? I accomplish this on my own terms and I'm happy with where it went. Well, Stanley Cup and what if I?

but no i mean that's a good answer yeah i mean it's it's definitely on my mind um but either way you know i think i can appreciate the small things and and the big things as well but uh um i'll say that it feels really good to be a part of a of a group like this that there's so much communication there's so much connection a lot of chemistry uh amongst these guys in this room and they play at a high level they play a great team game and it uh i think it fits my game and um i feel confident i can add a lot to it and uh it's a long season it's a long journey to to get there um but i think you know that uh especially what they accomplished in the first round last year it's moments like that that you know everyone thinks you're down and out and

things are over and you just find ways to win games. And, you know, I always say that one of the best qualities we had as a team in Chicago was that we were tough to put away late in the series. And it's, you know, I think we got a lot of resilience in this locker room. And that I experienced from last year was going to help a lot. And I'll be exciting to see where we can take it. Okay, our thanks again to Jonathan Taves. and stick taps free for stick handling that conversation.

Just a reminder this week, Scotia Bank Wednesday night hockey and all Canadian matchup from the Stampede City, the Flames and the Canadians. Hockey Central on the air, eight eastern, six mountain time. Puck drop a little after 630 local from Scotia Bank Saddle Dome. Taking us out today is a track from Cola, who is a Montreal-based artist, producer, and singer blending soul funk and electronic music. into a sound that feels both nostalgic and futuristic. Influenced by daft punk, DeAngelo, and Jay Dilla.

He fuses smooth vocals, live instrumentation, and rich grooves into high-energy performances and timeless, feel-good tracks. This is Cola with Hypnotized on 32 Thoughts, the podcast. Have a great week, everyone. Why are you playing? You got me feeling something. It's not right.

The way you're doing it tonight. You got me praying. You got me feeling something. It must be the way to move. There must be the things you do. Hey. Come on. You've got me hypnotize.

It's not like I'm in love. It feels like we should feel less. We should be saying It must be the way to move And it must be the things you do Hey Come on You got me

And hit my face Come on Come on And it must be the way to move And it must be the things I do. Come on. I said you got me. Hypnotize.

Oh, yeah. Oh. Oh. I'll be a lonely place. Oh, yeah. I'm sure we're far away. Oh. Oh, yeah, it's not nice the way you dance with me tonight.

It's like I'm dreaming. Dreaming. You got me feeling something, oh. And it must be the way you move, oh. And it must be the things you do. Sugar! Come on. You got me

hypnotized. Uh-huh. Yeah. Uh-huh. And it must be the baby move. Uh-huh. It must be the days of death. Uh-huh.

You got me. A hypnotize. Okay, y' Yeah. You got me in the chest. You're going to be in the chest. You're going to be in the time. Yeah.

And the try. I don't know how much I'm standing for a bit of Biltup Dye Oh I'm trying

Oh Oh Oh Yeah Oh Oh Oh I

Mipat B Bail Thank you.