32 Thoughts: The Podcast - How About Bob?

Episode Date: May 5, 2023

Is Vezina Bob back? Jeff and Elliotte break down G2 between the Panthers-Maple Leafs (00:00) and Kraken-Stars (13:15), look ahead to Oilers-Golden Knights (18:30) and Devils-Canes (26:00), discuss the Norris Trophy finalists (32:40), what’s happening in Philadelphia (36:00), Snoop Dogg enters the picture in Ottawa (38:50), players to watch out for in Calgary (52:50) and Minnesota (55:25), and they remember the late Petr Klima (47:00).Watch “Defector” by Sportsnet’s Feature team HEREEmail the podcast at [e-mail] or call The Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemailWatch the FULL feature on Mattias Ekholm HEREOutro Music: Gordan Lightfoot - SundownListen to the full track hereThis podcast was produced and mixed by Amil Delic, and hosted by Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman.Audio Credits: CBC, Death Row, ESPN, KJR FM, KKGK, MGM, Polyscope, Sportsnet and WQAM-AM.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.

I don't give a f*** why not? it doesn't matter for me I'm doing my work, he's doing his work never mind what about Bob Elliot it's more like how about Bob welcome to 32 thoughts the podcast

presented by the GMC Canyon AT4X. Friedman Merrick and Delitzsch with you once again. The Florida Panthers grab a 2-0 series lead, win two games on the road, head back to Sunrise, and all of it presented by their sponsor, Sergey Bobrovsky, who made 35 saves. And Elliot, didn't it feel like about 30 of them were amazing chances by the Maple Leafs I didn't look up any of the official deserve-o-meters Jeff but on the unofficial

Elliot Friedman deserve-o-meter I thought Toronto was the team that deserved this game as you said Bobrovsky was brilliant and it wasn't only the saves. It was how he made them. Like that one where he jumped at the Austin Matthews shot and blocked it with his blocker. It was like a 1980s goaltender out there. And there were some wild misses. There were some great chances. And the thing about this is, this is where the schedule really goes. anti-canadian schedule i may add this is where

the anti-canadian schedule really goes in florida's favor because one of the things that they do get concerned about bobrovsky is you know he's not the biggest guy. He takes really good care of himself, but he's not a powerful force. Eight to nine games, he tires. And he got a break at the end of the regular season when he wasn't feeling well, and Lyon played fantastic. And now, as he's played five in a row as a starter and six in a row overall. He's got two days off between games two and three and two days off between games three and four.

And I think that's massive for him and the Panthers in terms of his own recovery. So that's a storyline here as well. I thought Toronto was the better team. Bobrovsky and one bad minute at the start of the second period did them in. And the game is tied. And Kachuk is there. Helping out though is Matthews. Pucked loose. And Harner comes back to take it. Into the middle for Matthews.

Stopped up by Luz Barita. Leaps are in. Here's Kachuk. Off the bench. Lindell. Back to Kachuk. Across. Forslake.

Scores. And the Panthers have the lead. 66 seconds into the period. One other thing I want to add to that to the discussion about broski and a couple of specific saves that save that he made on john taveras in the third period right like normally there's like one or two saves where you say you know what they're not getting anything by him i think i counted like 10 saves where i said to myself they're not getting anything by this guy. save Bobrovsky on Matthews. It's whipped back to the front of the goal. Bobrovsky thought he had a cover.

Kneelander far circle. Works in. Kneelander front of the net. Backhand try to save Bobrovsky with the right pad. And the Panthers get it clear to the line and out of the zone. Here's Matthew Kachuk. Now, as a quick aside, a buddy of mine sent me a text after the game ended. And initially, I kind of brushed it off like, nah. And now that I think about it a little bit more

I might be warming to it his feeling is that a Sergei Bobrovsky is doing incredible things and two he says are you getting a sort of LA Kings 2012 vibe about all of this remember when Jonathan Quick was the best goaltender on the face of the earth, like the command performance by Quick, and they were the guys that barely got into the playoffs and ended up winning the Stanley Cup and just got better as the playoffs

went on and on. I know it's only the beginning of the second round, but the more that I think about what my buddy texted me, the more I'm thinking he might be right. Are you getting a LA Kings 2012 vibe about the cats here, Elliot? I'll tell you in a month. I said it was early, but play along. It's a podcast.

You're allowed to have fun and speculate. No one's going to hot take you. Don't worry. I think one of the most interesting things about it for me is that the two goaltenders who may be the best in the playoffs so far are two guys who didn't have great regular seasons. And that's Bobrovsky and Grubauer.

And it is a reminder that there's a lot of people who think they know how to predict how a goalie is going to be. We have no idea. No idea. I think you can be a lot more consistent in picking out which

skaters are going to be good and which ones aren't going to be good, but goalies, we are clueless. Meanwhile, up front for the Florida Panthers, Sam Bennett. When we talk about wrecking balls, and we're going to get to Matthew Nice here in a couple of seconds, we all

know how the Boston Bruins felt about that line and that player specifically. Before we get to the Nice injury here, do you have a thought on Sam Bennett? There was not just a Nice situation, but also the Michael Bunting deal. Do you have a thought on Sam Bennett after this one? First of all, he has been an enormous difference maker in the playoffs. Kachok gets a lot of the attention, and he deserves it, but Bennett has been an enormous difference maker for Florida. One of the things the Panthers talked about was their team was quote-unquote too nice on the ice.

You know, Barkov, Ekblad, really great people and really good players. But I think they felt they needed an extra level of meanness on the ice. And that's why Gutis was brought there. That's why Bennett was brought there. And now Kachuk this year has kind of been the chocolate sauce of meanness the the thing that really makes it perfect I think this was the player that the Flames always wanted I think this was the player that the Panthers thought they were getting. And I know there's a lot of Leaf fans that are going to listen to this and be nauseated, but the fact is he has been an enormous difference maker

in these playoffs for the Panthers. Correct me if I'm wrong here. I'm just doing this off the top of my head. I think Bill Zito's first move as general manager of the Florida Panthers was to bring in Patrick Hornquist. Like another bit of nastiness. Someone that was just awful and ugly to play against. Like it seemed as if like this was Zito's MO right from the get-go.

We need to get nastier guys in here. Couple of things. The Nyes injury. Tied up with Bennett. Left the game. didn't return. Well, no more on Friday, I would suspect. Your thoughts on the Nyes injury. It's amazing how someone who's been in the NHL for a cozy five minutes

is already such an important loss for the Maple Leafs. Yeah, I give the kid a lot of credit. I thought there was a really good player there, but I thought the hype going on around him this year was kind of ridiculous like people were talking about him and the kind of impact he would have right away and i give the kid total credit he has been everything that's been expected of him and more the thing that worried me about it Jeff, is that if you've studied anything about concussions, and we don't know that it's a concussion, but I think we all kind of suspect it,

it's the cumulative effect. And he took a big one from Kachok, and then he took a big one from Bennett. And that's the kind of thing that I worry about. So an OP is okay. okay look both those plays were penalties that's not going to be supplemental discipline I know the Maple Leaf fans would love it they would want to see it I just don't see either of those plays rising to the level of supplemental discipline I thought in the moment Jeff they might be simply because he was hurt and he left the game.

That's what made me think. But I don't think we're going to get there. I don't. And the cross-checking with Bunting, as I said on the air, I don't have a problem with Bunting wincing after that. That's a hard cross-check. Now, what I think here is i don't think that sheldon keith believes that bennett's gonna get suspended when he brought up the matthews cross check and

that got him two games last year to me what that's about is putting the officials on notice paul maurice did that thing at the end of game one, like the hand signal of the power plays five to one. That was about setting the table for game two. The power plays were three to one. They weren't as lopsided and I don't have any of the problems with the calls that were made. Paul Maurice wanted to make sure he got a message across for game two, and he did. I think Sheldon Keefe sees Maurice do that, and

now he's getting his message across. I don't have an update on his status. Obviously, he didn't complete the game, so that's not positive. In terms of the hit, I'm not going to comment on the league we'll look at look at that you know i'm sure the cross check on bunting is eerily similar to the one that

we saw with austin last year in the outdoor game we know how that one worked out so you know we'll we'll just see the The league will look at all these kind of things. He's frustrated because he lost a player, an important player. And Bennett is having the effect on the series that he's having. He wants more calls on Bennett. And I don't think he believes he's getting Bennett suspended, but he wants to make sure that Bennett gets more calls than he's getting. That's for sure. If you're Sheldon Keefe, are there any adjustments you make?

Is there anything you can do? Or do you just say to yourself, stick to what we're doing because all that's happening here is we're getting goalied. You might have to make one change up front. Right. Are you going Aston Reese? Is there any chance you're going Simmons? He hasn't played in a while.

I also wonder about the defense. Thinking about Mark Giordano? I am. I have to say, I don't like it. I don't like that I'm thinking that. Sometimes we all have impure thoughts, Jeff. We cannot be faulted for that. Are you having impure thoughts about taking Mark Giordano out of the lineup?

Is that what you're trying to say? I'm having impure thoughts about this particular subject. You know, the other thing you could do is you could go 11 and 7. Right. Yeah. Well, you do have the time off, right? You have the extra day. You have two days. You can kind of figure this out it's funny with the maple police for a lot of the first series

tampa bay was the better team and toronto found a way yeah which is what the playoffs are all about i think you could make an argument that for a lot of these two games, Toronto's been the better team, and Florida's found a way, led by Bobrovsky. That's why I think this series is far from over. You know, Ron read a stat that if a team goes up 2-0, they win 83% of the series. Well, in the first round, that number was 86. And why is it down 3 percentage points because new jersey won and they lost the first two games at home so there is recent history i mean the one thing though is that

florida's roster is firing unlike the rangers roster wasn't but the way toronto's played it's not impossible ryan o'reilly said the series is far from over, and I would tend to agree with him on that one. We'll bracket that one. Game three goes Sunday. We wondered before Seattle-Dallas game two if Jay Gottinger would be back, and if game one was just a weird, freaky,

Twilight Zone-type game for Jay Gottinger. Turns out it was, and it turns out he's back. An outstanding performance by Jay Gottinger. Some great goal scoring by players like Wyatt Johnston, Evgeny Dadunov, Joe Pavelski. Man, is he ever... Is that how you do a welcome back or what? And Tyler Sagan as well.

And all of a sudden, the Dallas Stars now even up the series and we're headed to Climate Pledge Arena for game three. First of all, before I ask you about the game, how did you see the Carson Soucy Mason Marchment incident with the double minor interference and slash for Soucy and the embellishment for Mason Marchment. You don't need to ask me how I saw it. You know how I saw it.

Would you like to share how you saw it with everybody? Look, I think everybody who's heard me on this podcast the last couple of weeks knows how I feel about it. I think it should have been evened up. I don't think Susie deserved an extra penalty for that. You didn't see two penalties there? You didn't see the interference and the slash? Or is that too soft a call?

Do you think one even gets called if Marchment doesn't go down? No, I don't think he'd. No, of course not. Not for a minute. That's why I don't like it. That's why I don't like that they got a man advantage out of it. Alright, you have a thought on Jake Ottinger then? He was a lot lot better as i think everybody suspected but seattle sees something there high blocker like the kraken see something that they can attack you know eberly's goal it probably

doesn't happen if hayes can has a stick but it's high blocker thanks to me leaves it he's getting stick breaks chance for the kraken there goes grubauer to the bench extra attacker comes on everly to the goal scores jordan everly puts it under the barn in and with 327 to go in the third seattle's within two so you're saying there's a chance unbelievable they see something there now ottinger i think is so good and so smart that he's gonna figure out whatever that is and just deal with it but they think there's a cheat code somewhere there we'll see how it plays out over the next five games i thought dallas as a whole was much better. I thought the building looked dynamite.

The building was alive. We'll see how – I'm sure it'll be the same way for the home team when they go back to Seattle. I just thought top to bottom that Dallas team was a lot better in game two, and not just because they won. They doubled up on shots. They looked really dangerous. Seattle was really smothered for, I thought, for several moments of that game.

But the other thing too, Jeff, is that the way that Florida went after Nyes, Dallas went after Beneers. Like he took a lot of punishment in this game. And you saw the highlights we showed of Mark Stone in game one of the Edmonton game. Like they went after Stone hard and Dallas clearly decided that they were going to make game two a lot tougher on Matty Beneers. And a night after the Calder came out,

if you didn't realize how important a player he was for the Kraken, the Dallas Stars told you because he was a focal point of their game. Someone who's far away, Elliot, from being in the Calder Trophy race is Tyler Sagan, who don't look now, but is very much back. His fifth goal of the playoffs. Wins the draw.

Here's Harley. Toward the net, a deflected shot. They score. Tyler Sagan in front. And Dallas may have just put this one away. 9-0-1.

Man, he looks fantastic. I still think his signature moment was in Minnesota when Joe Pavelski was out. He fills in on that spot on the top line and he scores the Joe Pavelski tip goal. That's going to be one of the enduring moments that I'll always look back on in these playoffs. Do you have a thought on

and I rejuvenated and uh and playing like he's much younger Tyler Sagan one man's injury is another man's opportunity right sure and unfortunately Pavelski got hurt and nobody likes seeing that but Sagan ran with the opportunity this is one of the reasons why I think Dallas is going to be a really tough out and really tough to beat because they can beat you with their older players they can beat you with their younger players they can beat you with offense they can beat you with defense and they have a great goaltender i think sagan playing the way he has in the playoffs is a real bonus for them. And you know what, Jeff? He just looks healthy.

Yeah. I mean, that's what it comes down to. Like, his body has been through a ton. He just looks healthy. To the action on Wednesday night. And we'll start with the Edmonton Oilers and the Vegas Golden Knights. The Edmonton Oilers have not lost in regulation since March 11th in Toronto. They will lose in regulation today in Vegas.

Golden Knights take game one, six, four, over the Oilers. Lauren Brosseau earns the victory against his own club. In a Knights uniform, he has three wins in three starts against the Oilers. He's won five in a row, the first five wins of his Stanley Cup playoffs career. The Knights get game one against the Oilers on home ice. This one was an interesting one, Elliot, as you well know,

because it was the second game in a row where someone scored four goals. The curse of the four-goal game. Coaches out there, when your player gets three goals, sit him down. The fourth goal is... Dump it in the corner. That's right. He's on a breakaway. Why is he dumping it in the corner? This is the most bizarre thing we've ever seen.

Now Colas are bouncing on that puck. A shot on net. Up to the task was Stuart Skinner. Quick pass ahead. McDavid with Hyman driving to the net. Dreisaitl shoots. Scores! A four-goal game for Leon Dreisaitl has the Oilers within one in the third.

Great quick up here by Matthias Ackholm as he puts this right up the wall. McDavid waiting on the red line to just get his feet moving. Vegas wins. Jack Eichel with the empty netter. 6-4 is the final score. Your thoughts on Vegas and Edmonton game one. Last year, the two goal scoring leaders were Vander Keen and Nathan McKinnon. And they had 13 goals and dry settisaitl's already got 11. It's a joke, like, really. How good he is.

You know, there's a lot of... McDavid is the Gretzky, and Dreisaitl is the Messier. And Messier was the one who had the reputation for really elevating in the playoffs. And it's not like, you know, Dreisaitl is a bowl of soup in the regular season. It's just that that guy goes to another gear in the playoffs. There's something about it that it's like Popeye and spinach. He just goes.

And the thing, though, there is, I don't know how, how, how I feel about this, but I watched some of those goals again and the Oilers, they're like the Maple Leafs. The two of them give up goals at the most inopportune times. But I have to tell you, are we getting concerned at all about Skinner here, Jeff? I think we're concerned. Honestly, I'm always concerned about rookie goaltenders. I know everybody loves the rookie goalie.

Oh, the shooters haven't had a look. They haven't had the book written about the goalie yet. I'm not concerned about young goaltenders physically. I'm concerned about young goaltenders mentally and what happens in super high-pressure situations. Listen, Stuart Skinner's had an amazing season, isn't he? He's nominated for the Calder Trophy. I always, Elliot, almost as a rule, worry about rookie net minors in the playoffs.

Especially on teams that could legitimately win the Stanley Cup. It's one thing if you're a rookie goaltender on a team that just squeaks in and you're just there for some playing time and, hey, isn't this neat? We're in the playoffs. This is fun. But the Oilers could win the Cup. And he's a rookie. And this is all new to him. I think the issue is more mental probably

than physical. That's what I would worry about with Skinner. There have been some times he's shown some really good bounce back. You know, when Campbell came in to play for's shown some really good bounce back. You know, when Campbell came in to play for him against LA, he came back, he won game five and then game six, he had a rough first period and he found a way out, dueled Corpus Salo game one to get the early goal. Vegas comes back, scores a couple Edmonton eventually 3-3 tie game and then of course they score two more I just wonder if the Oilers I mean they're not going to say anything publicly

obviously but I couldn't help but re-watching some of the goals on Thursday and saying geez I wonder if Edmonton's going to get is concerned at all about this so i was talking to another coach and he was saying to me first of all i don't like to overreact to game one there's a lot of series to play it's a feeling out process sometimes your emotional levels are different after you've won another series but what this coach says to me is that if he was ve, he would feel very comfortable after game one, because assuming everybody's healthy, he thinks that Vegas is going to be a lot more comfortable with their depth forwards and their depth D than Edmonton is right now. And I don't think he's wrong about that specifically on defense like that's one thing

about vegas is that they're deep and the thing that scares him the most is stone and when you watch the video of stone going off the ice you know i was talking to a player who's had a history of back problems and he says that's your nightmare because you just never know when your back is going to act up and it's not necessarily because you get cross-checked in the back or you go hard into the boards it can just happen taking a stride it can just happen putting your pants on like it just comes out of nowhere and he said that he's Vegas they're looking at that and they're saying please God let this hold up for another six weeks because you can win the Stanley Cup with that guy he'll take, but you've watched game one. He took a lot of punishment, but he played through it

and he was a factor. One thing Vegas can be really happy about right now, we talked about this at Trade Deadline and those deals that aren't the headline makers, not the Patrick Canes and the Timo Meyers, and I think we both looked at this one and said, you know what? Undercover great move by Kelly McCrimmon,

Ivan Barbashev with a pair. Yeah. Boom. And once again, it's Ivan Barbashev, his second of the game. The go-ahead goal for the Vegas Golden Knights. Deliberate shot by White Cloud looking for the stick.

Just got it to the net knowing that Barbashev was there. And again, it's the four check. Disrupt. Find the puck. And Barbashev plants himself. Big game. Second round. Bam. Ivan Barbashev was there. And again, it's the four check. Disrupt. Find the puck. And Barbashev plants himself. Big game. Second round. Bam. Ivan Barbashev with a pair of goals. When you talk about having depth and guys that can perform,

and not out of nowhere because Barbashev's a really good player, but getting your goal scoring and your production from more unlikely places, man, Barbashehop looks really good there. Do you get this reference? Clickety-click, Barber trick. Oh my God, how old are we all of a sudden now? That's when I was like seven years old, Elliot. Of course I get that reference.

I think even younger. If you ever see somebody change his shape before your eyes, become a square or ball or polygon, or simply alter size, don't worry, you're not going mad or had too much to drink. It's only Barba Papa. You can tell him because he's pink. I think Edmonton will be a lot better in game two,

especially five on five, because they have to be. Can't win this series if they aren't. An absolutely awful first period by the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday night. They muster all of, checks notes, one shot on goal. And it wasn't even really a shot. I know. Akira Schmitz

surrenders three goals on 11 shots. He gets hooked. Vitek Vanocek comes in for the New Jersey Devils. But by then, the game, Elliot game one, was pretty much already over. The Hurricanes win this one by a final score of 5-1. And I don't really think that I'm concerned about the New Jersey Devils at all.

They had one really bad period, and then they kind of righted everything again. I think game two is going to be a completely different game. But what do you make of game one? So there's a lot of talk in the world right now about artificial intelligence. Yes. And how it's going to take over the world.

The hurricanes are Skynet. I need to know how Skynet gets built. Who's responsible? The main most directly responsible is Miles Bennett Dyson. I look at them it's built who's responsible the main most directly responsible is miles bennett dyson like i look at them and i don't think we can give them enough credit for how disciplined they are and how they stick to what they do look we all know about the injuries we all know about you

know the goalie questions that they have the the tandem that they use, and even some injuries there. But it doesn't matter. They play the same way every time. They're committed to what they do, right or wrong. They're like, this is our identity, and we're going to do it. You can stop the Terminators, Jeff, but they're still going to send another one back in time after John and Sarah

Connor. I was going to say, you're determined to make this Skynet thing stick, aren't you? Yes, the Carolina Skynets. Can't help but have a lot of respect for them. Of course. Because they stick to their identity and that's a total mulligan for the Devils.

They absolutely crapped the bed in game one. But don't you think it was just the first? The second and third, I thought New Jersey was okay. They were okay, but it just didn't matter. I know it didn't matter, but I came out of it saying, New Jersey's going to be fine here. I just think that they had one

really clunker of a period. It just happened to be the first period that took them out of the rest of the game. But still, I kind of looked at it and went, New Jersey's going to be fine here. I think we'll see a different New Jersey team in game two. I think you're totally right about that. Look, there was a lot of debate about the Norris because the Norris balloting was announced, the finalists.

This year, the Norris was the Norris balloting was announced the finalists. Yep. This year, the Norris was the toughest. And I know that in June on the 26th or whatever it is, when our ballots all get published, there's going to be a torrent of hate delivered in my direction and your direction and everyone's direction. We're ready for it. I'll have my hazmat suit ready for that day. To me,

the guy who got shafted the most in voting this year, Brent Burns. I don't even know where he's going to finish. I have no clue. But if Carolina wins the Stanley Cup, Brent Burns is going to win the Consmite Trophy. Over Sebastian Ajo?

Yes. That would be the race for my trophy over Sebastian Ajo. Yes. That would be the race for me. I love all. He's a great player, but Burns is their guy. You know, that kind of feels like, uh, I have awarded the cons my five games in.

Hang on. Like five minutes ago, I was saying, Hey, you're getting the LA Kings flavor from 2012 about the Florida Panthers, and you're like, ah, nah, too soon. Jeff. And then five minutes later,

you're giving out the Conn Smythe trophy, Elliot. By now you should know that I'm a total hypocrite. Hypocrisy is the greatest luxury. Hypocrisy is the greatest luxury. If you watched the pregame show on Wednesday night, and if you didn't, shame on you, but if you did watch it, you saw a tremendous feature on Matthias Ekl and his wife, Ida Bjornstad, on their move and trade to Edmonton this season. Ida, by the way, is a broadcaster and will soon be the co-host of this podcast with me and not Jeff. A full link to our YouTube interview with the Ekholm family can be found

on the show notes for this podcast. I actually support that. That's pretty funny. That's pretty funny. I wouldn't say blindsided. I wouldn't say I expected it either. My agent called me earlier in the day and he would never call me on a game day otherwise. I figured something serious was going on. Nashville, it's been a big part of our lives. It was a whirlwind of emotions for us. When we got the phone call that Matthias got traded, I was like, where? Where are we going? Really excited about the new chapter that we're beginning to write here.

Well, Ken Holland and the Edmonton Oilers had a busy trade market as the first of two trades sees Matthias Ekholm become the newest member of the Edmonton Oilers. When you hear it's Edmonton, what's your first reaction? I'm not saying this because I'm trying to get fans to like us or anything like that, but, I mean, my wife is from way north in Sweden. I feel like in Tennessee and Nashville, you kind of took out winter. It was a longer summer and then spring and fall. It was definitely an adjustment for me to come to the Heat in Nashville. I remember the very first night when we were there and he took me to dinner and I was sweating so much

because it was so hot there. And I come from an environment that is so similar to Edmonton. It's a very small village up north in the very north of Sweden, close to the mountains. Listen to the 32 Thoughts podcast free on amazon music included with prime okay so those are the series that are going on right now you mentioned the norris uh and just so uh so everyone's on the same page here uh the three finalists adam Adam Fox of the New York Rangers, Eric Carlson of the San Jose Sharks, and Kale McCarr of the Colorado Avalanche. And I'll be honest with you. I kind of thought

McCarr was a little bit of a surprise, not because I don't think he's a good defenseman. I think he's the best defenseman in the NHL. I just thought that some voters might look at McCarr and say, not enough games, injuries, too much of a factor for his season. Like when he plays and he's healthy, no one touches him. But I just thought that a lot of voters would say, not enough games. All I'll say about this is, these were not my top three. I had someone else in my top three who was not there. But I'm also going to admit that I did have Makar in my top three.

And I know that people aren't going to like it. I know people who left him off their ballot entirely. I don't get upset at other people's voting. I do what I do, and I don't worry about what other people do. Remember Connor McDavid's rookie year? Of course. Jeff, how many games did he play in his rookie year? 50.

Good guess. 45. We were robbed, and I do think robbed. Not just robbed. It was grand larceny. Like, this was not small claims court robbery. This was grand larceny. You were going to federal prison.

Okay. But we were robbed of half of Connor McDavidcdavid's rookie season and it was spectacular yeah where did he finish in the rookie of the year voting third and he still got first place votes 25 first place votes and i think history has shown that's perfectly fine i didn't do that by the way. I didn't vote him first that year. I regret it. I should have. But anyway, that's my feeling. McCarr on defense is kind of like McDavid up front. He's the best defenseman in the NHL. You don't like it? Fine. That's what I did. Here's what I always wonder about, Elliot.

With McDavid, it was towards the end of the season where he had his injury. If you would have had his injury at the beginning of the season and missed 20 games and then started playing in December and had that spectacular season going into the voting, would that have made a difference? Because the actual number would be the same. I just wonder psychologically what that does to a voter. You know what I mean?

Like, oh, Jeff, I'm a big believer in recency bias. I know exactly where you're going for there. Yes. McDavid had missed the first couple of months. He was injured in training camp, for example, and then started and, you know, was chasing Artemi Panarin for points or whatever. I wonder if that would have changed the way people felt about Conor McDavid in the voting.

That's all I wonder about with that one. This year, the Norris was the hardest. Yeah. And if we're all clobbered for anything, it's going to be our Norris votes. But we're all in it together, Elliot. We're all getting roasted. Every single person who voted, I'm getting roasted.

I'm sure we won't all be knifing each other because we're always so good to each other. Yeah, we all we all love each other. We're all going to hold hands when our ballots are all revealed. OK, a couple of more news notes here before we wrap things up. Philadelphia Flyers and their hunt for a team president. What's the latest? Flyers and their hunt for a team president. What's the latest? It sounds to me like there's been some movement in the sense of we're getting down to the last three to five people. Billy King, who was kind of like the person who ran the first part of this search, I believe it was his role to submit the three to five names around now, and they'll go from there. By the way, apropos of nothing, I loved Billy King. He played college basketball at Duke,

and he was the defensive shutdown master. I saw him shut down a lot of really good players over the years. I really liked him as a player. Anyway, that's what he's supposed to do. And I believe they're in the process of doing that right now. I think that Daniel Breer is going to stay the GM. I don't think that's news. We've all talked about it. I wouldn't be surprised if Daniel Breer is involved in the final part of the process to me the biggest question here is Breer is going to have the big say on hockey is it going to be a hockey person in this role or is it going to be somebody who can basically say, you don't need to worry about this. I'll handle it. Managing up other stuff.

You worry about the hockey and I'll handle this stuff. Because if that's the case, I think it bodes well for an Ed Olchek, whose name has surfaced in the past couple of days. Even a Doug Wilson, who's not going to be a day-to-day GM or if it's more of a hockey person you know Scott Mellenby's name has been around there I'm really curious to see if they go hockey person with them or somebody else who's just there to handle everything that Breer doesn't need to worry about. I've also wondered if it's possible, you know, like for example, Cammy Granato's name was around this.

I think it's also possible there's going to be a higher, I don't know if it'll be her specifically or someone with a similar background just to diversify or modernize their front office. And I've had people say to me that we could be, and I said on NHL Network today, I was very careful about this, I think we could be maybe thinking end of next week, but I don't want to say that for sure. Philly continues to be one of the more fascinating stories

around the NHL, but maybe the most fascinating story in the NHL because Snoop Dogg's involved now, Elliot. What's the latest with the Ottawa situation? Snoop Dogg is on!

I had a really funny conversation on Thursday. You will appreciate this. I had a lawyer funny conversation on Thursday. You will appreciate this. I had a lawyer friend of mine call me up, and I didn't know this, but he's kind of timely involved in this whole thing, and he hadn't said anything to me about it before Thursday. And he said to me, about it before Thursday. And he said to me, does anyone in your business understand what an NDA is?

And I laughed and I said, what are you talking about? And he goes, everybody here is supposed to sign a non-disclosure agreement, not to talk. And you've got the Ottawa Sun talking about billion-dollar offers. And Snoop Dogg is writing Instagram posts and giving interviews. He basically said, and first of all, it's not the Ottawa Sun's fault. That's their job to do that. Same with Ian Mendez. I don't have a problem with what these guys are doing.

But he said to me, you look at all the lawyers here. The lawyers aren't talking. He says, you look at the people who have business backgrounds who are involved in this deal, whether it's business or real estate or whatever it is, none of them are talking. But all the entertainers and all the sports media, they can't stop talking. This is supposed to be a private process.

So I got a good laugh out of that. That's good, though. I think this is a great advertisement for the Ottawa Senators and the NHL that Ryan Reynolds and Snoop Dogg are basically coming right out with their interest in doing this. It's never a bad thing to have these people interested in your product. And, you know, I thought that the interview with Snoop Dogg on first take, I thought it was a really good interview. But talk to me about this. So on your IG yesterday, you said amazing what Nico Sparks is trying to do in Ottawa.

I'm looking forward to being a part of that ownership team. I want to bring hockey to our community. So, Snoop, what's your biggest motivation behind this? Well, you know, I've been watching hockey for about 25 years now, and I'm watching more and more, you know, kids that look like me play the game. But I'm not seeing it being offered to the kids over here in america i know how big it is in canada and i've been you know down with the nhl for a long time going to games announcing games being a part of the society so this opportunity came in order to for me to like be a part of the ownership of the uh ottawa senators so i jumped on it and then the

plan that we have is to also go and build a Snoop Youth Hockey League outside of Canada. So kids in urban communities can learn about hockey, can play the sport and find ways to get into this, you know, great thing that's called hockey. Because right now the NBA and the NHL is having some great playoff games. And the kids need to know that there is an option to play hockey if you look like me. option to play hockey if you look like me these are two people they may be entertainers as their quote-unquote jobs but they're both really smart people yeah i had said last saturday that i thought we were going to get some clarity this week on the reynolds remington bid i think after Snoop Dogg came out, I think the plans changed with that. One thing this guy told me when he was finished ranting about how entertainment and sports people don't understand NDAs. And I told him NDAs are stupid anyway, and I'm glad people are choosing to ignore them.

Oh, very good. Yes. It's good legal advice to give people, Elliot. Well done. Well, you know, as a media member, I want people to talk. He said to me, he thinks everybody's trying to get this process quieter. Like we've got basically 10 days before the bids are supposed to be due. He thinks everyone here is trying to get this under control a bit.

And I don't know if they're asking people or they're telling people or people are saying this might have gone too far. But I believe that there was going to be something this week that might have been public from Remington. I don't think it's going to happen anymore. I might be wrong, but I don't think it's going to happen anymore. it's going to happen anymore. I might be wrong, but I don't think it's going to happen anymore. Here's what I wonder about.

Normally in situations like this involving either franchise sale or certainly franchise movement or NHL franchise expansion, the NHL, and by that I mean Gary Bettman, likes everything to be really, really quiet. Yes. How did the Winnipeg group

get the Atlanta Thrashers? They were quiet. Yes, really quiet. Yes. How did the Winnipeg group get the Atlanta Thrashers? They were quiet. Yes, good point. The one thing that we know that really upset the NHL was, you know, Quebec Nordiques fans loading themselves into buses and going to Islanders games with, you know, fleur-de-lis jerseys. That did not go over well with the NHL. But here's the thing that I...

Jim Balsillie with Hamilton. Absolutely. There's another one. But here's what I wonder about here, Elliot. Normally, that's the way the NHL likes to conduct business. But when you consider the star power that is being attracted to the NHL, like you have Ryan Reynolds saying,

I want a piece of this. You have Snoop Dogg saying, I want a piece of this. Do you think we're at a place where the NHL looks at this and says, well, normally we like to keep it quiet when we do this type of business. But is there not a feeling in the NHL that this is actually great for business? Oh, yes. Look at these names that want in here. I know it's noisy. We don't do business like this, but maybe the worst thing is that these guys stop and we go back to normal business because this is great for the NHL. Is there not that feeling in the NHL? I completely agree with you. I do wonder, though, if maybe they think it's going a bit far and they want to rein it in.

We'll find out. If Reynolds Remington do anything public, then I think the answer is, hey, no holds barred, keep going. But if they keep quiet, then it's a sense that maybe it's just better we let this play out for another week and then see where we are. The one thing is, look, there's a lot of excitement about Reynolds and Remington for sure. And now there's some real excitement about Snoop Dogg. I don't know Nico Sparks at all, but I do have some real respect for the fact that he wants to be taken seriously. And everybody out here is talking about ryan reynolds so he's gonna say wait a second i'm gonna fight for my group and you know i i respect

that on on a lot of levels it's the same reason i kind of really respected gerard gallant you know standing up for himself the other day with the Rangers and the media. Yep. If you're not going to stand up for yourself and promote yourself, nobody's going to do it for you. Yeah. The one question I think the NHL has had, and I don't know if this has changed at all, but the one question I think the league has had about the Sparks bid is what is the composition of ownership? I think they're very comfortable about what the Remington Reynolds

group looks like. It is more traditional in terms of you've got a majority partner and you've got a couple of minority partners. Like the one thing about the, the Sparks group is at least the last I'd heard, they just didn't know how it all fit. Maybe they have their answer and they feel a lot better, but I don't know that for sure. And I think that was the biggest question about what he was putting together is, is it as solid in terms of the percentages and stuff? Okay, so Thursday brought with it some sad news, and that was the surprise news that Peter Klima had passed away at the age of 58. Now, you and I are the same vintage, early 50s, and so this is, you know, Peter Klima was, you know, hitting his high spots with the Detroit Red Wings and then the Edmonton

Oilers when we were in our, you know, mid to late teens and into our early 20s. You know, he's most remembered for the 1990 Stanley Cup final, game one, triple overtime. You know, John Muckler had nailed him to the bench, and the rest of the team's got their tongues hanging out. They're exhausted. Klima goes out there and scores at 15-13 of the third overtime period, the longest Stanley Cup final OT of all time.

And it's out over the line. McTavish and Curry. Clema catching up. He's in. She scores. Clema gets the goal for the Edmonton Oilers here in the third overtime at 15-13. And what a win this has got to be for the Edmonton Oilers.

Lima with the goal and the Oilers win it 3-2. Well the Boston Bruins gave up a rare 3-on-2 and when Curry's in on a 3-on-2 you end up usually getting a chance and Peter Klima who was playing only his second shift of ot won the game for the oilers and john muckler i'm absolutely sure was playing a hunch when he put klima out after not using him hardly at all and peter's saying just get me out there john and i'll end the game there goes glenn saylor and the oiler delegation from the press box he had his problems off the ice. Those are well documented. I know a lot of people had to babysit Peter Klima at times,

coaches and other people, but had just wonderful skill, was a brilliant skater. Your thoughts and your memories on Peter Klima, Elliot? I mentioned this to you on your show on Thursday, but there was a Leaf playoff game against Detroit where I was able to get down. I'm pretty sure I sat in like the second or third last row of the building. Graze.

In what was called the Graze at Maple Leaf Gardens. I went to quite a few games and sat up high in the Graze, and I loved it there. Some of my best memories from high school, really. Hang on. Were you the guy that would always chant Argos? Was that you? The guy at Maple Leaf Gardens?

Was that you, Elliot? No. I was so shy as a 17-year-old. I wasn't saying a word. Anyway, and then we snuck down, and we got near the dressing room after a game, and Klima signed an autograph you know he was a very nice guy sometimes you can tell and you know it happens players sometimes they have a night

where i'll do it but they don't want to do it or they just don't want to do it at all but klima he was very friendly chatted for a couple of seconds had the great mullet with the blonde streaks in it. Oh, so great. I would tell everyone one of the best features that Sportsnet has had in its NHL rights era is the one with Jerry Meehan and Don Luce who were with the Buffalo Savers who helped get Alexander McGilney out of Russia. By the way, Amal has informed me he will put the link to that show

Defector in our show notes. And Peter Klima's story is similar. The world was a very different place back then. And I don't think a lot of us, especially now, have any idea of how hard that journey would be and how scary that journey would be for klima and you know he had a lot of challenges when he got to north america with alcohol and and things like that and i just have an understanding of you know what he went through and the change in his life and everything that happened and as you said with muckler he used to drive coaches crazy with how carefree he was and yes i bet like all of that comes from where he came from and how he he went from like a lot less freedom to a lot of freedom so when i think about klima i don't only

think about the player i think about the journey right, right? And I guess you have Jim Lights on your radio show on Friday because Jim Lights was the executive in Detroit who played a big role with Nick Polano, the scout, in getting him out of there. And I'll be looking forward to listening to it because Peter Klima's story is two stories. There's the hockey story and there's the life story. If you get a chance to watch that Jerry Meehan, Don Luce feature with Alexander McGilney and the things they had to do to get

that player out of the Iron Curtain, it's incredible stuff. He wore number 85 because that was the year he, in his mind, earned his freedom in North America. The first Czech-born player to defect to a U.S.-based team. We talked about this on the radio show Thursday, Elliot. There was Václav Nedemansky, who famously defected in the early 70s, but he went to Toronto. There were other Czech hockey players who ended up in Vancouver, but Peter Klima was the first Czech player to defect and go directly to an American-based NHL team.

Our thoughts and condolences to the friends and the family of Peter Klima. Let me ask you about a couple of players. Sure. Specifically. A couple on Minnesota. I want to get there in a second. But I've always found Michael Backlund of the Calgary Flames to be a fascinating player, even going back to when he played junior in the Western League.

I think he's always been an undervalued or underappreciated player. I think he's one of the best defensive forwards in the game period. He's also on an expiring contract here. As we wait and we focus so much energy and attention on who's going to be the general manager and now who's going to be the coach,

player conversation is kind of quieted down. The volume is a little lower about the players and next season. Do you get a sense of what Michael Backlund is all about right now? First of all, I think the Flames are trying to get a handle on, okay, now that they've made the coaching change, what does this mean for some of the players on their roster the two that really got the most attention because of the way they answered the questions were Backlund and Lindholm so Backlund I think it potentially does but one of the things that I have heard before about him and I don't

know where this stands right now so I'm gonna say that this is something that has been out there in the past is that Backlund really wants to be the captain of Calgary Flames he's been there for a long time and I think it's very meaningful for him and I have also heard that the players on the team know that they recognize that and they feel that he would be an excellent choice because he's a guy that I think a lot of those players really think could fit the bill in that role. And as I told you in an earlier podcast, there was definitely a feeling this year that they were missing at least somebody in the captain's role to act as a buffer. So I'm curious to see if with his extension, potentially, that becomes part of the conversation. Lindholm, I've just heard it's probably a bit too soon to know. But I think with Lindholm, yes, obviously, it was very clear at the end of last year,

he was unhappy. I just think that this is someone who needed to decompress a little bit. And I just don't know if a week is enough time for him to, you know, get his head around the way last season went. A couple more players here before I wrap up. And both of them are defensemen. Both of them are on the Minnesota Wild. One is the recently acquired by bill garen john clingberg um and what a 12 months has been for john clingberg and the other is

longtime minnesota wild matt dumba you have a thought on this pair i don't think this is going to surprise anyone but i think it's likely both players will test the market. Obviously, I think Klingberg, after the way last year went, is going to try to hit the biggest home run he can hit. I just don't think that's going to be possible in Minnesota. I think with Dumba, you know, the one thing I heard about him is it's much more likely than not he tests the market. I don't think anybody will be surprised by that. But the one thing I did hear is that the Wild will not close the door on him. They can't sign him right now. I don't think anything that he would get on the open market.

But the one thing I've heard is that there's a ton of respect for him there. He's done a lot of great things there. He's a hugely popular teammate there and member of the organization. And the one thing I was just told to be careful about was the wild will not close the door on him. So while it's likely he tests the market and likely he goes elsewhere, I don't think the wild has said anywhere that he's a hundred percent gone. Cause I think they just have too much respect. And if there was ever a way for it to work out, I think they would try.

Although it's unlikely. There are always players every year where we say, wow, this guy really looks weird in a different uniform. And I know, like you say, Minnesota is not going to close the door 100%, but it's going to be weird, Elliot,

seeing Matt Dumba in another uniform next year. I'm just bracing myself now for what it's going to be like because I'm just so used to seeing Matt Dumba in that Minnesota Wild uniform. Anyhow. We just talked about the Mark Stone injury in the video. Did you see the conversation that we had with Dallas Aikens about it on TV? No.

By the way, Dallas Aikens' stuff about board play was fascinating. That, to me, was like the highlight of the week on television. He was tremendous. Well, you like board games, so I guess you like board play. I like being bored. That's why I work with you. That's right. You know, so we showed Mark Stone's injury footage from Fox in Vegas.

And Dallas and I had a conversation about it. And Dallas said that as a coach, that would really make him angry. And he said, you know, you're not helping your home team. And he said that that is why we don't disclose injuries in the NHL. And when people say they don't like the lack of injury admission, he said it's because of things like that. Because he said, and even Kevin admitted, he would watch that video and he would go after Stone's back.

And the Oilers clearly did in game one. It really bothered him. You know, I disagree with him. You know, if you work for a team, I think that's one thing. I understand that. But if it's an open practice where everybody can see it and the camera catches it, it's news. And that's what it is. And, you know, I'll defend that till the end.

But it was interesting that some of the reaction we got jeff like i had a couple of reporters say to me you shouldn't have allowed dallas to say that on hockey night in canada because you're you're in the media and for this he's a member of the media and my argument that was i don't i don't i don't agree with that i don't i don't agree with that either my argument to agree with that either. My argument to that is, look, Dallas may be a member of the media for this two weeks, but he's a coach, and that's his opinion, and we shouldn't be scared of different opinions. And I think the point that he makes about that's why they're so bad about injury disclosure, I think it's a very legitimate and very fair point.

I don't agree with his feeling that that shouldn't air. And like I said, of course, if it was me, I would air it. But, you know, I just thought the whole thing was really interesting. I know I had a few people reach out and say that they thought it was an interesting conversation about, you know, what to do in that kind of a situation. I appreciate that point of view and understand that point of view. As much as I disagree with it, I understand where it's coming from. Yeah, agreed.

I totally understand where that's coming from for Dallas Aikens. And that's why he was so passionate about it. Okay, Elliot, taking us out today is a Canadian legend who we lost this week. A Canadian genius who wrote songs that were about as close to perfection as we've ever heard. I want to share

something that music critic Bob Lefzitz wrote recently about him. Quote, you see, Gordon Lightfoot was a master who created masterpieces, not songs that were pushed up the chart, but rose because of their insight, their changes, their perfection. Nothing was out of place.

They were completely finished. You almost didn't believe a human being could write them, never mind perform them. End quote. In the summer of 1974, never mind perform them. End quote. In the summer of 1974, this song was everywhere. It was his biggest hits. We close the podcast with Sundown from the album of the same name. Thanks, Gordon.

Thanks for the perfect moments. And thanks for the perfect song. Sundown, you'd better take care If I find you've been creepin' round my back stairs She's been lookin' like a queen in a sailor's dream And she don't always say what she really means Sometimes I think it's a shame When I get feeling better When I'm feeling no pain Sometimes I think it's a shame

When I get feeling better When I'm feeling no pain I can picture every move that a man could make Getting lost in her lovin' is your first mistake Someday you'd better take care If I find you've been creepin' round my back stairs Sometimes I think it's a sin When I feel like I'm winning

When I'm losing again Thank you.