32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Hughes Trade Deep Dive

Episode Date: December 15, 2025

In this edition of 32 Thoughts, Kyle Bukauskas and Elliotte Friedman revisit the blockbuster Quinn Hughes trade between Vancouver and Minnesota, breaking down how Bill Guerin pulled it off (10:00). They break down this whole situation from Vancouver's perspective (15:32), They discuss the implications for the Wild (26:44), and why New Jersey couldn't get the trade across the finish line and Elliotte’s discomfort with teams pressuring players to waive no-move clauses (37:51), while downplaying concerns about Tom Fitzgerald’s job security (44:15). The fellas also touch on the offers made by Detroit and Carolina (45:57). Kyle and Elliotte cover the Oilers and Penguins swapping goaltenders (49:27), Celebrini cementing his spot on Canada’s roster (59:09), key matchups from the weekend including Leafs-Oilers (1:01:49), and Connor Hellebuyck’s return stabilizing the Jets (1:10:22). The Final Thought focuses on Kevin Adams and growing questions around his future in Buffalo (1:14:37).Kyle and Elliotte answer your emails and voicemails in the Thoughtline (1:20:29).In the final segment, hear from Tom Wilson who sat down with Elliotte for an exclusive interview (1:46:35).Today we highlight Alberta's KAY BRETTE and her single Way She Goes. Check out her music here.Listen to all the 32 Thoughts music here.Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call the Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemail.This podcast was produced and mixed by Dominic Sramaty and hosted by Elliotte Friedman & Kyle Bukauskas.The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates

By the way, the guys at my gym today were like, can you do the podcast from the sauna? And I said, no, it's not technically possible. And they're like, could you do the radio hit for the sauna? And I was like, you know what? I actually think I could do that. And they're like all over me to do the radio hit in the sauna. Why not?

I think I will. I mean, other than the fact it would be disgusting, knowing you're in there. But I say, do it. Welcome to 32 Thoughts, the podcast, Dom, Elliot, Kyle, back with you. Before we go any further, Elliot, happy Hanukkah. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

The beginning of what's going to be a phenomenal holiday season for everyone, I hope. Excellent. Love to your community. I look back at this weekend, Elliot, and the theme of it kind of was end of an era. Okay. Okay. John's seen his final match in the WWE Saturday night. The Kansas City Chiefs.

Can we stop right there? sure I think it says a lot about him as a person that he agreed to tap out good on him for having that kind of humility to do it if I was in charge somebody with his career would never be allowed to go out that way you go out with a W well I mean you think of some of the greats that also went out by putting somebody else over Rick Flair Sean Michaels Kurt Engel they went out with a loss so you know what i i understand that i understand that and if it was me i probably would do it too and maybe it's wrestling tradition but if i was in charge and you're that kind of a legend i'm not letting you make the decision i'm letting you go out with a W. But I still think, I bet you probably some of those guys going, it's a passing of the torch kind of fear.

Fair enough. You know? Fair enough. I didn't realize it was going to get a reaction to you mentioning that. I'm glad you're passionate about it. Yeah, I saw the highlights last night. Obviously, we were on the air at the time and I saw the highlights as they were happening. That's the way I feel.

And I'll concede, Kyle, that I haven't followed wrestling as much as I did in the 80s when I was really into it. So maybe that is the way. But if I was in charge, you go out with a W. All right. I'm not going to push back with you on that. So that happens Saturday. On Sunday, Kansas City Chiefs, not making the playoffs this year in the NFL.

Is the era over in KC? That's a big storyline. And then, of course, in the National Hockey League, the Stu Skinner with honorable mention of Brett Kool. era is over in Edmonton, the Tristan Jari, era in Pittsburgh is over, and the big one, the Quinn Hughes era, is over in Vancouver. And before we go any further there, we need to play a piece of audio afterwards, you will have some splainant to do. You had that scoop? He's got all the scoops.

Oh. So for those who haven't seen it, haven't had the ability to see. don't have access to the Sportsnet family of channels. There was a promo shot back in September promoting the Sportsnet app, and it's Ivanka Ozmak, one of the central anchors, scrolling through the app on our phone, eventually revealing you saying that there was breaking news in Vancouver of all places, and then it's Quinn Hughes of all people,

saying you had that scoop, and then there's some fill-in actor that says he has all the scoops, to reveal you holding a, a large ice cream. Yeah. Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I guess credit to the producer, Paul Sadoo, he came up with that idea.

But you shouldn't, shouldn't celebrate this stuff. Sometimes you win. Sometimes you eat the bear. Sometimes the bear eats you. No, and it wasn't about to sell. It's just the irony and the coincidence of how I ended up all playing out. I mean, relatively so soon afterwards. Here we are, middle of December.

yeah Quinn Hughes is no longer in Vancouver so how did we get here after one of the wilder weekends I'm sure you've had number one Kyle I don't believe anybody thought this trade was going to happen in season that is the thing I'm most sure about in all of this that everybody believed that if Quinn Hughes was going to be traded by the Vancouver Canucks it was going to be a draft day or thereabouts 2026 deal that's when it was going to occur the fact that it happened

right here and right now was you go back even two months nobody would have predicted this now one of the most confusing things about all of this has been pinpointing sort of the exact moment

that everybody knew it was over. We all have relationships, right? Everybody out there listening to this podcast, you have your relationships. There is a moment that both of you realize it is over. When was that moment here? I started to hear over the summer that there were rumors Hughes had told the Canucks he would not resign. People swore to to me up and down that that was not true. We've heard Jim Rutherford and the Canucks speculated times that he would want to play with his brothers. And that also kind of put this into the open a couple of years ago. And so we were always kind of on a clock

that if the closer he got to free agency or if the Canucks didn't look like they were in a good place. It's tick talk, tick talk. The clock is moving. I had heard last week that he had asked for a trade. And even after the Minnesota deal happened, that was denied to me. But if you saw Hugh's talk, it was very clear that we're dealing in some level of semantics. As Hugh's said after the Minnesota game on Sunday night, both he and the Canucks realized it was time. I mean, they were first class with everything that was going on, and obviously it was a tough situation, but it felt like it was time, and I think Jim did too. And I believe that the real true countdown clock began sometime before U.S. Thanksgiving,

Quinn Hughes finally informed the Canucks, he was not going to be resigning. And I think at that time, his agent Pat Brousan and the Vancouver Canucks said, this is going to get out, it's time to move. So did he make a formal trade request? People swear no. That did not happen. However, once he said he was not resigning, everybody worried that that would get out and it was time to move.

The other thing here is that, look, if you're a Canucks fan or you're a Canucks watcher, you saw Hughes Body English was not so much when he was playing. I still think he competed very hard, and he played a lot of minutes. Like even in the last game he played as the Canucks, he played like 30 minutes. But when he was talking to the media,

when he was answering questions, you could see how much he was struck. And I think there were a couple of occasions. I'd mentioned one. I think there might have been another where the Canucks said, hey, you're the captain, we know it's hard, we're 32nd in the league, but you set the tone. And I just think they didn't want the news to get out because it would make things worse. And they realized it was just time.

And that's why, Kyle, I think we ended up where we are, Hughes being a member of the Minnesota Wild and playing his first game on Sunday. All right. And then it's the fact that it's the wild of all teams that end up nabbing them. I mean, as you said, kind of of this news was all coming out on Friday and into Saturday. You should have saw this coming. You should have saw this coming. It's Bill Guerin.

He's unafraid to do something like this. But it's still caught all of us by surprise. Yeah. How did Garen pull this off? Well, number one, this is why I hate the insider term and I don't refer to myself that way. Like, there's a lot of things that happen out there that I don't know about. And this is a perfect example. I didn't see Minnesota until basically it happened.

So as you've heard kind of Bill Garen explain, he knows Jim Rutherford. Okay. he knows when Jim Rutherford signals he's ready to deal, you don't fool around. You do not fool around. You go for it. And I remember one time I was talking to Bill Guerin about his philosophy, and he said to me, for me, I'm not about creating a market so much as I am. Like he says, sometimes you have to do that.

you have to create a market but generally my gut is if i see something i want how do i go about getting it how do i get it and you know as he said his staff talked to him about how hughes doesn't look happy what's going on here and when rutherford said to him yes we're willing to talk he went in hot hot and you know sometimes kyle it's the nature of the business, right? You make a trade and sometimes people come out and say, oh, I could have given them a better deal. I could have done better than that. They didn't take the best deal out there. Like one situation that absolutely happened with was Joe Thornton when he got traded from Boston to San Jose. Boston didn't want that to get out. They basically

targeted San Jose and made a deal. And Brian Burke and a whole bunch of other GMs were like, wait a I could have done better than that, and it made the Bruins fans even angrier about that trade. This is not a deal where that's happening. There aren't people coming out here and saying we could have done a better deal than that. So, you know, some people said to me, well, he took their first offer. And I said, do you really think that the Canucks just took the first offer and said, oh, we're doing this? No. like other teams I've spoken to have admitted that they weren't going to beat that.

They couldn't beat that with what they were willing to put on the table. And one of the reasons they weren't willing to beat that is because they weren't willing to do it without assurances. And Bill Guerin's not wired that way. And it's a good thing for people in media. he's not wired that way because he went out and he's like, I don't care if I don't have a guarantee right now, I'm doing it. I am going out there and I am doing it.

And good for him. He's taking his shot. As if you watch the office, you know you always miss 100% of the shots you don't take, Michael Scott. Yes, and nobody else. And the thing is, like, Garen and Rutherford, they work together, but also they're kind of cut from the same claw. They think the way the other guy thinks. If you want something, go for it.

You're at a dance or you're in a bar or you're out a social event and there's the prettiest girl in the room. Are you going up to them and saying hello? Or are you slinking in the corner? Jim Rutherford and Bill Garon, those guys are going right up to them. And Kyle, you want to know something else? Don, why don't you play the clip here of Hughes saying he noticed how much Bill Garen put in the deal? And then obviously I got a lot of time for Billy for, you know, quote unquote, you know, sacking up and making the deal like he did. and just, you know, how he valued me

and, you know, there are other teams that probably could have thrown in, you know, certain packages like that too, but at the end of the day, they didn't, you know, they didn't want to do that or they didn't want to trade two or three assets from their team like Billy did. And so I'll remember that, and that means a lot to me that Billy did that.

So I heard that that part of his post-game press conference is not to be underestimated. And he's not blowing smoke when he says that. Like looking big picture, it shouldn't be underestimated? Like, Hugh's signing there, not underestimated. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, I don't, I don't know where this is going to go. Who knows?

As Phileasemezino once said, we could all be hit by buses tomorrow. But I was told not to underestimate that. That's real. That's real. that Hughes feels that way. And it was interesting him pointing out, I mean, just the relationship going back to Four Nations last year. I remember Hughes, of course, was hurt, tried to do everything he could to be able to play

and how Garron handled all of that. That stuck with him. And as he said on Sunday night after his first game and with the Wild that the GM was a big reason why he wanted to come to Minnesota. So all of that checks out. Okay, from the Vancouver angle of this, you've got, as you've said, probably, or if not most definitely, the best they could have done in this situation in terms of what came back the other way. And you saw a glimpse of it right away Sunday afternoon in New Jersey. But the fact that you've got a captain prime of his career, not even two years removed from winning a Norris trophy,

moving on from him because you knew he wasn't going to be stick around from the long term. How do you view this whole situation from Vancouver's perspective? I understand the Canucks fans' disappointment at seeing Hughes get traded. I don't think anybody can argue with any of them. He's, in my eyes, the number two defensemen in the NHL, and to see a player like that go, that's really disappointing. It hurts. Like, I'm not going to argue with any of you.

my basic entire life philosophy is to try not to dwell on the past or negativity to me it's like like I have a rule if I'm mad about something or upset about something I do everything I can when I wake up the next morning okay today's the next day of the rest of your life so what are you going to do about it and how you're going to make it better I think like that a lot so like if I was a Canucks fan I would be disappointed I would be like okay today's a new day and that's the new reality, and I just have to move on. That's just the way I live. You know, I think overall, looking back,

just because, you know, for the podcast, you kind of have to, is, and I've said this before, and I'll say it again, two playoffs ago, they took Edmonton to game seven of the second round. They were one goal worse than the Oilers, one goal. And, you know, Demko didn't even play that series, but you still had Demko and goal. You had Quinn Hughes, Philip Brunach, leading year defense. You had Miller, you had Pedersen, you had Besser, you had Garland, you had good support players.

You know, at that time they had Zedorov and Linholm. You didn't know if they were going to keep them, but, you know, they had a core there that you looked at. Like, I thought that was a great core. And I think they thought that was a great core. and you know you can go back and you can relitigate everything you can always make better decisions 100% right but the bottom line is the main reason that that core had to be dismantled was personality clashes and I know that not only into the organization but among the players of that team they will look back at that and they will say man that's a tough way to lose a good team. And that's the number one reason that that group didn't last together longer. It ripped apart their team and they were never the same.

And it's tough. Like, you know, I've worked, you know, Kyle, I've worked on shows where people got along and I've worked on shows where people didn't get along. but there were times producers said you guys better figure this out because we're not getting rid of anybody so you know i i kind of think that's the way it should be it's disappointing if you're a conuck fan i totally get it however like as hughes said himself it was time they had to do it i thought it was interesting how hughes shouted out jim rutherford at the end I mean, there's, you know, some talks a little bit this summer and, you know, I love the guys there and, you know, some of those guys are my best friends and you want to be successful.

And so it came into the year open-minded and, you know, wanted to make it work and obviously wanted to, you know, have a great year. But I just think, you know, with the injuries and the direction it was going, it wasn't happening. And I think Jim knew where my head was out of the way. little bit and we got the talking on our gym and pack got the talking and um a couple weeks going on it kind of went from there last saturday when i reported that the devils and the canucks had had conversations about quinn hughes the canucks went pretty quiet which i understood completely because it was already noisy enough and obviously they were much closer to getting a deal done than any of us realized to a place that very few of us guessed.

When I reached out to them on Saturday to clarify a few things, they were basically like, we're not talking about this. And I think there were two things there. Number one, they didn't want to slander hues on the way out. This was already a challenging enough divorce. that they didn't want to make it worse. And I respect that about them because these things aren't always so easy. But they were like, no, we're not giving any more information on the record or off about this.

We're done. And secondly, I think they wanted to start. Let's move forward. And as I said earlier, I think that's hard for some people to do, but I understand it. So I thought that was really interesting that Hughes went out of his way to praise Rutherford because I think at the end of the day, the Canucks realized two, it was time. Let's try to do this in the easiest way possible and we're not clobbering him off the record on the way out. I'll say this.

I had a couple people reach out to me about Booiam and they said that the best thing he will do immediately and we saw it happen right away on Sunday afternoon is they said he is like the Tasmanian devil of energy he will come in there and he will be so wired and so excited um and he knows that this is going to be a great opportunity for him because they're going to hand him a big role right away like when you're where they are in the standings you can you can do that you know know, Boim's going to make mistakes. That's normal. But he's got such raw talent and he's so driven and he's so competitive.

He's going to rise quick. And they told me that his energy will eclipse a lot of the negativity because he just doesn't allow it around him. He's kind of like, whatever the energy is in the room today, I'm bringing mine and his puts jolt into people. Like, you could see that with the Canucks on Sunday. I think a couple of those guys were in a daze, but, you know, he gets a goal and assist pretty early,

and he's dragging them into the fight. Like, the thing about Vancouver is they're really struggling, but the issue with them is not their competitiveness. You know, Thatcher Demko had some really good quotes this weekend about, you know what, this sucks, but I got to play. I was talking to Ian McIntyre on Sunday night. Brock Bester said, yeah, this is tough, but I got to play. And that's the right attitude.

And he'll drag you into the fight. He'll be a great player for them a long time. This is a really good opportunity for Rossi. He's going to get a chance to be a top two center here. Like I think Marco Rossi is going to be a consistent 60 to 70 point guy for his career. Now the question is, can he be more than that? Can he be, and I'm not talking about more points. I'm talking about a two-way force.

Can he be a two-way force? In Minnesota, they began to doubt that. Now he gets a chance to say, I can prove you wrong. He's got to take advantage of that. O'Grane, he's a really interesting guy to me because when he was a 20-year-old, he was a point-of-game player in the American hockey league. And, you know, normally that's a good sign

for you're going to be able to score. He hasn't scored. I'll tell you this, Kyle. You know what a couple of guys compared him to? They said that he's going to play. He's good enough to play. The challenge here is if he scores, that's a huge benefit for Vancouver. If he doesn't score, he's going to be like a Pontus Holmberg type, who does a lot of things, doesn't hurt you, responsible. You just wish he'd score more. Now, they're going to give Ogren the operating. opportunity. This guy was a first round talent a couple years ago. If he scores, it's a huge bonus for Vancouver. If he doesn't, at the very least, he's going to play and be a useful serviceable player for a long time. The other thing I think about Vancouver right now is they're starting to talk the way that Calgary is, which is whatever happens this year, we'll take it. We'll take it. If it means first pick, we'll take it. If it means first pick, we'll take.

take it and then we'll see in the summer. And I think that's exactly what Vancouver is going to do. I don't think they're done. We all know they've still got other players out there. But the number one way I think they're going to get changed positively after this is that the energy is going to be different because Hughes was at his end. And Bouillon in particular is going to bring an energy in there that is hopefully contagious because that's the thing that he gets the most credit for in addition to his drive

and his talent is he's like a wrecking ball of energy. He brings it every day. Yeah. And you have to think for those that are still remaining in Vancouver, that feeling of, okay, it's done now. Because as much as we were going, oh, we're a little surprised that this all came to a head the other night, surely internally, they knew, okay, it's getting there, it's getting there, when is it going to happen, when is it going to happen? Now all that's gone now. And you've got some new life in your room and it could do wonders just for the whole mindset of the group. How many wins that translates to? Okay, let's see. But mentally, that could go a long way for the Canucks as it's been for a whole host of other reasons compared to last

season, another heavy first couple of months this fall and now into the winter. So Minnesota now, I guess it's incredible, Elliot, like top three teams in the Western Conference, all in the Central. You know what one of the GMs called the Central to me this week? What? Death Valley Division. Yeah, yes. It is.

It's Death Valley, Group of Death, whichever one you want to use. And it had kind of looked that way. at times in the past couple of years here because of Colorado, because of Dallas, but now Minnesota there too, who have been in and around the playoffs recent years as we know. But suddenly, with the way they came on in November, they're getting saves now, we knew this was a group that could score.

Add Quinn Hughes to the mix, and it's a different conversation in Minnesota, who had been known for decades, as kind of play in one way and another addition to break that mold with Hughes now in the fold. So we all got a chance to watch Minnesota

twice on the weekend because they were on Saturday afternoon against Ottawa and then they were on our station nationally Sunday against Boston. Happy to create some more work for David Amber. He doesn't really do enough. Like Dave's like two days a week.

Dave works like two days a week. Yeah, so this is what happened. So we're meeting on Saturday morning at the game. And, you know, Kyle was there. Craig Simpson was there. One of our fearless leaders, Eddie Hall was there. The game producer, Jeff Giridat, was there. Who wasn't there at the Saturday morning skate, Kyle?

Oh, let me see here with my glasses on. He claims he's always. there, but I could not see our play-by-play man, Chris Cutford, anywhere. Is he coded an invisible ink? Like, I've never seen him at a morning skate. Yeah, it's always the running joke when we meet before the game, like a couple hours before. They'll say, well, I, surely I missed you at the skate this morning. I was looking at the same thing you were. Saw that Nylander and Joshua weren't out there, but I must have been at the other side of the rink at that time. It's like John Sina. You can't see me. He's honoring John Sina.

That's right. that's right so cuthbert wasn't there but the rest of us were and we were talking about so we knew the hughes wasn't playing against ottawa on uh on saturday and then on sunday we had the national rights so i'm like we should go big with this uh show the game do it like normally it would be what's called a plug and play so you'd show one of the either the boston feeder or the minnesota feed and i know we show the boston feeds a lot um i think it was the minnesota feed i watched on sports net plus on Sunday and then usually you just take that feeds intermissions and I said well you know it's Quinn Hughes there's going to be a lot of interest we should show the intermissions and Eddie was like well you know Dave's going to be around so I can give him something to do and I said I'm sure Luke would be happy to do it but you know Dave probably just wants to sit on the couch and eat subs he probably doesn't want to work too much get his B12 shot in the afternoon but they put them to work. It was good. It was a good show. I watched it. They did a really good job.

Really good job. How about Hughes for getting his bag? Yeah. And Jack's car and they had to fly it on Sunday morning. One of my friends said that is such a space cadet move, you would do that. And I couldn't disagree. That would be something I would do too. I mean, I understand Quinn Hughes or any NHL or for that matter. You've got a lot of years now where somebody else has always taken care of making sure your equipment on the bus, on the plane, hung up at the stall, et cetera. So that part I get. But, I mean, that's nightmare fuel for any hockey mom or hockey dad out there that, oh, my

gosh, my son forgot his gear. Oh, my gosh. He forgot to pack his skates. And we just drove 45 minutes to the game. Wait a sec, too. You know, Bill Guerin played regular season in playoffs, played 1,400 NHL games. You know, I think that he would look and say. say, hey, is your hockey bag here?

He was preoccupied with the meatballs. That's right. Wait a sec. Who's taking care of the meatballs now that I'm not here? Yeah, that's right. He was, yeah, on FaceTime, getting that squared away. And that's how the equipment slipped through the cracks. Now, suddenly it all makes sense.

Incredibly, it made it in time. So you watching those games this weekend, the crowd was a lot. alive and the team was alive. Like Minnesota fans, we all know that they're great hockey fans to begin with, but that building, like, it was, you could see how Jack those fans were. Like, even though Hughes wasn't there on Saturday and, you know, they didn't have them on Saturday. Like those players, it's always a thing about, you know, it's tough. Rossi's a teammate, Booiam's a teammate, Ogren's a teammate, and you want to say, yeah, it's tough to see those guys go.

but when your GM drops Quinn Hughes on your lap, you are so excited. You cannot control it. It's like, wow, we're getting one of the best players in the league on our team. And not only that, but our GM and our owner believe that we're good enough that they're going to do this. Like, I guarantee to you, if Quinn Hughes says, wow, that's a lot they gave up, those players, know that too. Like they gave up those guys to get them to win now.

And the other thing too is they're looking at the standings just like you are, Kyle, and they're seeing Dallas and Colorado. And Colorado was barely lost in regulation this year. And Dallas is right behind them. And they're like every year we've got to go through these teams. And sometimes you never admit it, but sometimes you're looking at it and you're saying, You know, we're not going in there with the same roster that they are. You think we've got to play the game of our lives, the games of our lives for two weeks,

and maybe a month if you've got to play both of them, and maybe we'll beat them. You don't admit it, but you know it, right? Now you're looking at this and you've got Hughes there and you're feeling, you know what, suddenly our roster looks pretty good, pretty good compared to them. you're looking at and you're saying, hey, Dallas is one of the best defensemen in the league, Mero Heiskenen, Colorado has the best defenseman in the league, Cal McCar. Well, now we've got Quinn Hughes. We can look them in the eyes.

And that makes a team, that makes every player on your team a foot taller, a foot taller. And you can see that. Like, Boston's been pretty good this year. They just, they're, Boston. had no chance in that game on Sunday. Like the moment Hughes showed up on the ice, they had no chance in that game. They were getting steamrolled out of that building no matter what.

And I think it's going to be phenomenal to watch. It changes your team. It energizes your fan base. It gives you reason to believe. And I don't think he's done. You know, he might not be able to. to do big stuff anymore because he's traded some of that. But I would think with Rossi out, he'll continue to look at center,

maybe what he can do with a less pricey option there, potentially. But now he's letting Dallas and Colorado know it's on. And those two teams will say, all right, bring it. We like our teams. We'll take your challenge. But Minnesota can look those teams in the eye and say, we're right there with you. So I asked Garen on Saturday,

do you tell your players that this is happening? And he's like, no. I don't think that's something that they should know about. I don't tell them. And I said, who was the first player to reach out to you after the news broke? And he said it was Caprizov. Texted him.

I said, what do you text you? He goes, wow. And Garen says, you like it? He goes, yeah, I love it. The story I remember about that was when the Blue Jays traded for David Price, I think it was 2015. Yep. News broke and Alex Anthopoulos told a story that Jose Bautista texted him and said, is it true? And he said, yeah, and Batista was like, jacked.

And that's the exact same feel I got for what. And Garen told that story. The wild now, I think in the past you'd play those teams and you'd be like, I think we can beat them. I think we can beat them. Now you're going to be going in there saying, we can look you guys right in the eyes. Right in the eyes. It's amazing how quickly, I had three months ago, the talk in that market was Capriza

have turned down how much money? Yep. Then he gets signed. And now you got. Quinn Hughes in the stables, too. Enjoy it, Minnesota. Yeah, enjoy it. Enjoy the ride. And we'll see how long it is. Like, I think there were teams out there that were looking at

Hughes and they were thinking, what if we get them, can we tie them up to the end of Jack's deal? So Jack, after this year, has four more years. And, you know, Quinn obviously has one more year under contract. after this one. So I think there were teams out there were kind of saying, okay, what if we say to Quinn

will give you a three-year extension, then you and Jack go UFA at the same time? You know, Quinn with a three-year extension, I believe he'd be 29 in that summer. turning 30 in October, his birthday's in October. So you could still sign a massive deal. Mm-hmm. And, you know, I'm curious to see does, I mean, it's Garen, so he'll go for the home run.

And as of September 15th, you remember, the rules change. You can't offer eight years anymore. They go to seven, seven and six. The bonus structures that you can offer change. So Garen will have that advantage to. Um, so at the very, and you know it's since it's Garen, I said, he'll, you'll offer him as much as he can, but I'd be curious if anyone's going to say to him, I know there were other teams who were thinking about that. If we get them, we do this. Um, you know, I wonder if that ends up being the case. We'll see. All right. So how about the New Jersey part of this conversation? Like you had reported on Saturday that, because understandably, they were along with some other teams in the East.

talked about way more than Minnesota was in the lead up to this deal getting done. You talked about on Saturday that ultimately Tom Fitzgerald and company couldn't clear the cap space to make it work. And understandably, in the New Jersey market, there was some reaction to that. So anything else you can add on that front? Well, first of all, I didn't see the stories. Like Sunday is kind of like my brain dead day. It's the day I try to turn my brain off if I can.

Just because Saturday is such an intense day for me, I really try to do a bit more family time and just not think. I generally don't think at all in life, but I really try not to think on Sunday. So I wasn't aware what was going on. Then some people started sending me some articles and stuff. And one of the things someone said to me is how can whenever you talk about no trade clauses or no move clauses, you use the phrase bargained in good faith or negotiated in fair and honest conversation? And I said, the reason I say that is I don't like it when no trade clauses and no move clauses are brought up against the players who ask for them and receive them.

like to me if you if i sign a contract with you or you sign a contract with me i expect two things i expect you to live up to your end of the deal and me to live up to my end of the deal that's the way i see a contract so if i sign something in good faith and you say i want to change this now and i say no hey we negotiated this deal in good faith so I don't it's hard for me like to me a player if a player's going out there and is like actively sabotaging your team with their play and attitude okay that's something else I think in that particular case you can say you know what this isn't the spirit of what we signed to but other than that you sign the deal in good faith and if a player says no to a trade that's

they're right that's the way I feel so that's why I'm I say that. I do believe the devils have had a couple of deals vetoed. Okay? I do believe that. I don't know who. I don't know what, but I do believe that's happened.

There's too much noise out there for that not to have occurred. You know, I heard some people on Sunday were criticizing Tom Fitzgerald because of that. Like, to me, it goes both ways. Sometimes you give up a no-trader or no-move clause, because a player has so much leverage that you have no choice but to give it to them and other times you give a no move no trade clause

because the player picks you and they want that and sometimes you get a concession out of it for them maybe they take a little less money maybe they take a little less bonus structure so I always try to look at the whole history of good or bad because maybe the team got a benefit out of giving the no move clause First thing I'd like to say is some people were wondering if Fitzgerald was in trouble. I don't believe that.

Like, I don't believe that right now. I mean, God only knows what could happen in the future. But if you're saying to me that the New Jersey Devils are on the cusp of a GM change, no, I don't believe that. I don't believe that's the case at all. Secondly, I had a very interesting call on Sunday afternoon from another team. And they think what has happened with the Devils is that. that yes, they agree that there might have been some deals vetoed, but they also think that the devils reached a point

where they knew they weren't going to get Hughes here because they could not beat the Minnesota offer. I think they kind of knew what was on the table, and they weren't going to be able to beat that. So let's just play a game, Kyle. Let's make a deal with Monty. Hall or Howie Mandel, whichever particular version you like. Let's just say for argument's sake, for argument's sake, the New Jersey offer was

Nemich and Mercer. And I don't know that I was, but I think that's probably the best that they could offer. And maybe there's a few frills on the side there. If you know it's Boeem, Rossi, Ogren, and. Anna first versus say Nemich Mercer Plus, which one do you take? Well, yeah, because I look at Booion to me is the best player of everything you just mentioned there. So I'm, that's where my focus goes.

Okay. To Minnesota. So again, I want to stress, I don't know exactly what New Jersey had offered. I think to me that's the best they could offer. And this other. manager told me that he doesn't believe New Jersey could have beaten Vancouver's offer. And he said, as a result, and this is what he said to me, keep an eye on the devils over the next little while up to the deadline. And he said, what he thinks will happen is the devils may make

one of these moves when they're ready to get someone or when they think they can get someone. that's what he said he thinks is going on he says if they make a move now to move somebody out with all their injuries if they're not bringing help in right away and they weren't getting Quinn Hughes now then they'd even be more short-handed than they are so that's what he thinks is going on there and we'll let it all play out but I understand there was a bit of noise around Fitzgerald today. I don't believe he's in any trouble now. I just, I don't believe that.

I just, that's one thing and obviously got a lot of reaction, but the team itself, there's the injury aspect to it all, but, you know, after going down to Vancouver on Sunday, like they've won two times in their last nine. I know there's a lot of fluctuation in the Eastern Conference. One day you're at the top of your division. next day, you're 13th. What direction you think they're headed? I mean, I imagine the mindset is to still be in a position where you're successful this year

and you're a playoff team this year. But it's looked off there for more than just a short period now. Yeah, they've been ravaged by injuries. And you know what, Marstrom's got to be better. There's just no way around that. I mean, Namwich gets hurt at practice the other day. What an absolute nightmare that is. I know New Jersey has liked Ryan O'Reilly for some time.

Let's see whether it's him or someone else because I thought it was interesting. I got that call on Sunday for someone who said they backed away from some other things once they knew they weren't getting Hughes. So we'll see. We'll see where this goes. All right.

So it wasn't Hughes in the end for the devils, but they're still looking at all right and naturally when something like this happens the question of okay who else was out there is there anybody of that group that you wanted to touch on here yeah a couple of the teams first of all Detroit and you know as I'd said I think there was there was always a match there if the two teams wanted to do it you know it takes two to tango you've got to get it done But you looked up and down to Troy's roster and you said they could do this. I heard that really didn't get far because there was something Vancouver wanted from Detroit that the Red Wings would not include. And I don't know this, but I have wondered if that was Edvenson. I don't know it though. But I just heard there was something.

that Vancouver said would have to be in the trade with Detroit that the Red Wings were not willing to do. And so I don't think it ever got as close as I thought it could. My suspicion is Edvinson. I just don't know that. The other team I'm kind of wondering about here is Carolina. As I wrote on Thursday night slash Friday morning, I think Carolina is a team that went a star player. like they've got that philosophy

when a star player is available they're in it they want a star and also they recognize that when a guy like Quinn Hughes becomes available how often does that happen so we better get in there that's kind of their philosophy which I think is a good one

I don't know what it all was but I heard they gave it a real shot I don't know how close they got but I think they gave it a real shot I heard Carolina was legit like legit put an offer on the table yeah and

is Vancouver clear you know obviously liked Minnesota's better but they they went that far eh okay I just I just heard they were legit that was the phrase I got told legit okay well they've become more and more as you say certainly under Tom Dunn

And now Eric Tulski, we all remember what happened with Randon last year. Yep. They are unafraid. Fits the DNA. Mm-hmm. Okay. Anything else in this saga that we've missed? I don't think so.

If we did, someone will tell us. If we did, too bad. Okay. I really do want to put myself on another Vancouver time out, though. You tried. I really tried. They didn't let you. How did that work last time?

Don, shut your mic off. I'm trying, man. I'm trying. Okay. How about the goalie shakeup between Edmonton and Pittsburgh? Stuart Skinner, the homegrown boy, that chapter is now closed. He's a penguin, Tristan Jari, comes to Edmonton, also mentioned Brett Kulak going to the pens as well. So this one had been out there as a possibility for a little while before the trade was actually consummated.

So because of that, I don't know if it's a great deal, surprise, but when you said it would have been a week prior, that Pittsburgh was not in a position. They had no interest in retaining salary on Jari. I thought, okay, this isn't going to happen with Edmonton. So clearly, philosophy, determination to get it done changed on behalf of the Oilers. Yes. I think one of the big things that happened was Kulak was in it. I don't think Edmonton wanted to do it.

I was on NHL Network on Friday night, and we'll talk about my experience on NHL Network in the thought line. Oh, okay. But I was on NHL Network on Friday night, and I sat in along the lines of initially Pittsburgh didn't want Kulak, and then they agreed to take him. I think I got that a bit wrong. I will concede that.

I think what happened was, I don't think the Oilers wanted to trade Kulak. I think they had other things potentially in the deal that would make the money work that Pittsburgh wasn't interested in. And, but I do think they had Kulak out there and other teams were asking, I, actually, I think the best way to phrase it would be this. people knew that Edmonton wanted to get jari and they also knew that Pittsburgh wasn't going to retain

so the Oilers had to make money so people were looking at them and saying what do they be willing to move and it started to talk about Kulak because he wasn't signed and I don't think the olders wanted to do it He's been really good for them in the playoffs. Like he's one of those guys. We've talked about him, Kyle. They keep on saying third pair, third pair. And then by the time they get into the final, he's one of their most important defensemen.

He always just rises the more games get going. So I think they were trying to find maybe if they could do something else, get more in return, and we'll see what happens with Pittsburgh. But ultimately they agreed to put him in the deal. and it got done. And that was it, because if you look at the money, it lines up. We'll see what Pittsburgh does here. Remember last year, Pittsburgh got Luke Shen from Nashville,

and they flipped them for two picks, right? So we'll see what Pittsburgh does here with Kulak. We'll see what Pittsburgh does here with Skinner. But that's kind of what happened. And that's why this got done. You know what was interesting was I think the Oilers really liked those guys. They were a bit shaken up. Like I saw two things from the Oilers at their skate on Saturday morning.

I saw a team that was kind of rocked a bit the fact that these guys got traded. Because I think them like us had kind of thought maybe this deal wasn't going to happen. and then all of a sudden it did. But I also saw a team like, I don't know about you, Cal, but they look really relaxed, really calm, very Alfred E. Newman,

what me worry here. Like, just not panicked at all by the way this season started. They lost on Sunday night, but they didn't look that panic to me about everything that was going on. Like that homestand, just before heading east,

I think played a big role. and how they felt about things Saturday morning, too, and going into the game Saturday night. They're starting to, as Connor said, controlling the game a little more, and it's not so much they're defending better, they're just, they've got the puck of the other end more often than they were early on in the season and keeping the puck out of their half of the ice that way.

I think that's been a big driver behind all of it as well. But it was clear, like, you know, McDavid said, it's, he said, ain't disappointing. It's just, it's an interesting, when you look at Adelaide, like the Edmonton Oilers just traded their goalie of record the last two years when they punched their ticket to the Stanley Cup final. And they're not in a position where they're rebuilding, you know, and I know there's more nuance to it than that because of how it's all unfolded. you just don't see that often. It's pretty fascinating. How many times do you see a goalie who took a team to two Stanley Cup funnels in a row kind of get run out of town?

Yeah. You know where it happened? And it wasn't even the same goalie twice in a row, like Detroit. When they won with their great teams, well, I mean, one of them they had Hoshick. I mean, what are you going to do? But they had Osgood, and Osgood never got the respect he deserved, super competitive guy never got the respect he deserved and Vernon when he was there took a heck of a lot of heat too but this is the same guy who did it twice and what clearly happened Kyle you were

there for some of the conversations I had it was like if Skinner played 80 great games in a row and had one bad one it sunk them Skinner felt it like I basically got the impression that Skinner and the players and the organization were like in fear of the one bad game he had because you could pour like, okay, here's our fears and we're going to bury them in a hole. And okay, we're going to pour some good game, pour some dirt on the fears. Another good game, pour some dirt on the fears. Skinner was in a good stretch when they were, when they traded him another good game pour some dirt on the fears then all of a sudden one bad game up the fears have thrown off all the dirt and they're back out yeah yeah i think i think everybody just was

waiting for it and was on edge about it and like hughes it was just time and the thing about jari is jari has made noise for some time privately i heard i heard this after the trade privately jari kind of knew look when you're on waivers the year before you know you don't have a long term run in an organization right and I think jari knew that whether it was then or when it was now

he was not going to be a long-term penguin I heard he was proactive and I heard like in the penguin's organization they kind of knew that if they could send him somewhere he would love to go to Edmonton like he kind of indicated that everybody now knows all his ties and you know the interesting thing is he doesn't have a lot of playoff experience it's kind of funny you know you sit here and say well he doesn't have a lot of playoff experience well stewart skinner does have a lot of playoff experience but they didn't want him anymore so

the only way you can get it is to go through it and we'll see what happens but he's really excited to be there, and I got the sense that this group is really excited to try something a little different, to see if it works. You know, the other thing there, too, is I thought Stan Bowman had a really interesting quote in his press conference about moving side to side. That was the thing that caught me and had me very interested, because I think if you've watched Skinner, you would see one of his weaknesses is that he has trouble sometimes moving side to side. So the fact that Bowman said that was a real tell to me that they knew that if they were going to get a goalie, that was going to be one thing he was better at.

I've said this about Skinner. I'll say it again. I think he handled himself incredibly well. uh stand up all the time i hope it works out great for him in pittsburgh or wherever else he may end up it is kind of crazy that in the weekend they trade jari they blow two games two big leads and lose i mean if you include the anaheim game early in the week it wasn't as big of the lead but just an incredible way to lose it's just it's just insane that you know and they and the murashev kid looks like he's going to be a real player, and they really liked the Blunkfist guy, too.

But it was nuts to see that back to back when the weekend, they traded their number one goalie. Just not something you're expecting. And by the way, Salabrini, I don't even think there's a debate about him on Team Canada anymore. To me, he's a lock. He's on the roster. Seeing him stand up for Will Smith.

The fact that Crosby after the game called him one of the best players in the league. You know, we've been debating about Bedard. We've been debating about Tom Wilson. There's no debate about Celebrity. I will be in shock if that guy is not on the team. Of all the guys we're debating, to me, he's the lock. The lock. Disagree?

No, not at all. I mean, even last year talking to some players about him, And they weren't even, it wasn't even the first thing you're saying of, oh, unreal skill, great shot. Like, that's all there. But they were like, that guy defends hard. Like, he's very smart in terms of reading things when he doesn't have the plaque. Like, that's where their minds went initially and going for a guy in his first year in the league. Obviously, that's noteworthy.

So for all those reasons. And then as he's continuing to deliver in different spots, that about John Klingberg? Like, tying the game against Toronto on Thursday, he scored. the winner and the unbelievable comeback on Saturday. Oh, what a goal to, man. What a move. Yes, around Crosby of all people in overtime. And the give and go with Celebrini there.

And then Randy Hahn, incredible call on the goal. Like, it's, uh, yes. Pass for Clingbird. Could have been a two-on-one if they connected cleanly. Celebrity's back on. What a play by Clingbird. Over to Celebrity. A!

Score! One of the most amazing. Offbacks in franchise history. Sharks win! Good time. I was worried Randy was going to have a heart attack there. Yeah. It all would have been worth it if he did. If, uh, anyway, just incredible, incredible. I tell you, Randy and Drew, Remenda, and Dan Ruzanowski, those guys have aged well. I was looking at them. I was like, when I'm their age, I'm going to look like a.

shriveled garbage bag those guys look good yeah well I mean I walked around Toronto on Sunday and knowing where they they're climbing in San Jose all those years like I can see why there's going to be the great drastic difference

in how they age versus how you age that is true all right we talk about the game Saturday in Toronto yeah sure first of all I just want to tell you I love how you try to do something different with McDavid and he just shuts you down like Wembenyama Oh here's my layup

I'm going in against the spurs for a layup Wembeniana into the 28th row Wack This is one of my favorite things Okay Kyle's gonna try something different This is the way I used to think too Try something different you'll get them thinking Try something different

Kyle get this crap out of here Yeah it was very much It's always good to see your family Kyle. Don't you know that? It's the whole point of it. That's when you do it. That's great. That's great. Just a sitting duck there, honestly. Oh, it's so great. You know, like, you know the feeling you're like and you, how can you

blame him or anybody? Like you come off the ice from warm up. It's like 10 minutes before the actual game starts. At the best of times, who among them would want to to spend 45 seconds dealing with this, Yahoo. Okay, I got to tell you a story about him. About him. So as you know, I always play in the Zach Hyman golf tournament, right? Yes. So he's played before.

And he didn't this time because he had an event the weekend. But he showed up to play like three or four holes. It was a nice thing of him to do. And a year ago, I played like one of the rounds of my life with those two guys. I really played well. I was really happy with myself. But so I'm playing with Hyman and Fred Wax,

who's a longtime friend of the Hyman family, and Jake Wallman is our fourth this time. And Walman was incredible. He had an unbelievable round. And we were at like nine holes in, we were minus six. And we were having a day. and I'll be honest, it was almost all Walman. So McDavid comes up in the golf cart

and he says, how are you guys doing? We're going minus six and he looks surprised. He looks at me and he looks at Hyman and he goes, oh, Walman must be playing great. He knew. That reminded me of his answer to you the other night. Oh, hey, I saw you at crowbrush back in September. Like, you, you made, you can make some shots.

Yeah, the moment calls for it. We talked about this. Anyway, let's talk about lease oilers. Yeah, okay. So I just want to say, I'm standing in my broadcast position during the game in the corner at ice level. McDavid scores that incredible goal to make it one-nothing. Surely thereafter, the Oilers are on the power play.

They didn't score, but the way he and the other. four guys are snapping it around. So there's like a group of people in that corner to waiting for a whistle so they can all go to their seats. And I just looked around and I said, everybody, I don't care who you're cheering for tonight, but you're going to want to pay attention to this one because 97 and White looks like he's ready to have a night. And you're going to want to remember that you were here to watch it.

It was, you could just from the first shift, Elliot, it's a really cool every now and then when you're in that type of environment where you've got. one of the greatest or the greatest of that time of any sport in front of you that you're able to watch and they're like at a different level than what they typically are you're like wow this is very cool that we're all just here watching it all it was it was spectacular like the sounds of the crowd there when he picked up the puck in the neutral zone was like oh boy i remember like with you know covering tennis for a number of years doing the it was rogers cup now national bank open and talking with like Arashmadani who would work corkside for many of those tournaments

for a lot of years when Raf and Adal was still at the kind of height of his powers we'd say like the ball sounded different coming off of his racket compared to everybody else on tour there you know it was just it was different when he stepped up to the service line and it's similar when you know the puck is on his stick and like I just thought with With everything going on, the trade that had just happened, processing all of that, yes, it's Toronto, it's Saturday night. He is well aware of the stage and the audience of that game. Like, he just, he played that game like that was the most important game of his career. It's just impressive.

It was very impressive and very entertaining. That first goal, that brings you out of your seat. yeah brings you out of your seat if you don't like that you have no soul but the thing that was big too was it gives them a win in jari's first game so immediately it makes you feel great right like it's not like minnesota with hues you're supercharged it's the jari's there you're a little bit uncertain you know what do we have here but you get the win in the first game and that was a game that was close for a little bit, and one team held strong, and one team wilted.

Did they ever? So you're sitting there and you're saying, were the team that held strong, that builds you up. Builds you up. Baby steps. Although they weren't very good on Sunday. Pickard, Bickard made that game, prevented that game from being worse. What do you give up? Four breakaways?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And it was a back-to-back for both teams. Yeah, but not like Montreal was waiting for you either. They had to come back in from New York. By the way, I got an angry text from a Montrealer who said that, it said to me, Elliot, you have ruined this league. I said, what do you mean? And he goes, ever since you went on your rant, it called, called the penalty shot.

They've had three horrible penalty shots this week. Oh, I didn't think they were horrible. Thomas Cabrillet, who I text with back and forth, great guy, the one that Toronto got called on them against San Jose. He's like, that's not even a penalty. I don't know. I'm like, keep calling him. You're not backing down from this one.

You know, I'll say this. The interesting thing about the Toronto game was Barubei post game critiquing his leadership group. Because he's kind of big. been on Nielander, and this time he didn't say Nielander, he said leadership group. So now the captain gets brought into that. Now Matthews gets brought into it, yes. Because, yeah, it was, I mean, it was noteworthy, like for how many years when that, those two teams would face off against each other.

And it was Matthews, McDavid, and a lot of the times, both would have compelling. nights you know like both had something to say in the outcome and on saturday it was uh it was very one-sided now maybe just an off night for matthews but um with the way this season is gone for toronto i think the reaction to that you don't really look at it as a as a one-off and maybe leads to why berube had the comments that he did after the game it's just not the first time that it's been that type of result particularly in the third period I mean, Thursday against San Jose for them was similar in a sense where they let the sharks off the hook. And Saturday, it started with the tough turnover with less than a middle left in the second period

and then completely unravels in the third. But it was, yeah, it's a stark contrast at the top of the food chain there on Saturday night. We'll see where it goes. I thought that was interesting he brought in the whole umbrella. A couple other things just want to go over. Winnipeg. Talk about standing strong, standing tall. Winnipeg.

Connor Hallibuck comes back. It's like a big bottle of Aleve. My back hurts. My elbow hurts. I generally don't like taking medication at all. Pop a couple of leave. Everything better. Connor Hallibuck.

all of the Jets problems went away they tuned Washington everything was better for one night with him back and way way way ahead of pace way ahead of pace yeah that was impressive way ahead of pace like that to me is a guy saying I see it I see what's going on and I'm not going to do anything that's ridiculous, but I'm going to do everything to get back as quick as I can. He was the antidote to what ails them. And I'll say this too.

If anybody questioned Hallibuck winning MVP of the league last year, this should have ended it. Both what happened while he was out and what happened when he got back? Big time. They're just better and calmer with him there. He's the human eraser covers up their mistakes. Connor Bedard, he's not, now somebody said to me, a Black Hawk fan said, you said he won't be coming at the beginning of the trip.

Does that mean he could come later? No, it just means I'm careful. I believe Jeff Blashell said after the game on Saturday night, he won't make the Canada trip. That's terrible. His only trip to Canada, well, that part of Canada this year. Toronto, Montreal, and Ottawa, he can't be there. that really stinks for a lot of different reasons but we'll see what they have to say here what

the timeline is they were very careful about it on the weekend and you know what there were some people confused about the injury like first of all I don't have any issue with Braden Shen here that's your job as a center do anything you can to prevent the other center from doing anything with the puck in that situation plus two he doesn't get injured on the cross check. If you look at sort of like the face off drop, their arms and sticks lock as they drop the puck. It looks like that's where it happened.

His arm kind of gets jerked a bit. Yeah. And it wasn't the cross check where he gets hurt. Yeah. Because you can just imagine like all that, like the way he was leveraging his stick, all that downward force to try to snap it back. And then all of a sudden,

Shen comes in and he's going up. And so just the contrasting forces there. And unfortunately, it ended up in the wrong spot for Bedard, like 0.8 left. Terrible. So we'll see what happens here, but hopefully it's not that bad. And, you know, we'll get to Buffalo in a second. But December 31st, New Year's Eve, Kyle. Yes.

New Year's Eve plans, cancel them. Cancel them. They're over. Team Canada. Now, what's interesting about this is I heard on Sunday, the International Ice Hockey Federation kind of wants teams to do it after the world juniors, which is they want teams to do it from January 6 to 8th, but I do not blame hockey Canada for this. There is no chance, no chance that that team is staying silent for a week.

No chance. And the fact that the due date is that day, I do not blame hockey Canada at all for saying we're doing it right away. I've heard also USA hockey is wants to do it. before that 6th to 8th window too. I kind of wondered if it would be around the outdoor classic, which is on January 2nd in Florida. It might not be at the classic itself,

but I kind of an announcement around that time. I don't know that for sure, but I really understand that Canada and USA are like, that is too long. Our list will get out. Countdown is on. Team Canada roster unveiling for the Milan Olympics on New Year's Eve.

All right, that'll get us to the final thought. And Elliot, there was a report in the athletic a couple of days ago. So Matthew Fairbrun, who covers the Buffalo Sabres, and Tim Graham was in on the piece as well. But looking at the future of Kevin Adams as general manager of the Sabres and potentially changes that could be coming as soon as today, Monday. what else can you add to this conversation and what potentially could be coming down the pike in Buffalo? You know, Kyle, there's definitely noise here.

And we should get clarity. You know, the Sabres played 8 o'clock Eastern time on Sunday in Seattle. They won third in a game in a row. So they actually, a road trip that started pretty poorly. They lost in Philly. They lost in Winnipeg. They lost in Calgary. they beat Edmonton they finally won on the road in regulation in Vancouver then they beat Seattle to win three in a row to end it

but it's a late night right you're flying home overnight so I don't know if we'll get clarity Monday or do they wait till Tuesday they don't play again until Thursday but there's definitely noise here there's there's no question about that there's there's subtle ways that teams put out fires when they're happening and that's not really happening here you know the other thing too I've known Kevin Adams a long time

I really like covering him as a player very thoughtful always was one of the best if I asked him why a team does this or why did this happen always really good at explaining it I always loved dealing with Kevin. When he became a GM, it was a little more at arm's length.

He wanted it to be that way, and that's fine. Everybody's different. But I heard even when they were winning on this road trip, his mood wasn't great. And either he knew that story was coming, or he knows that there's something going on behind the scenes. so as we tape this and it's Monday morning at 1237 Eastern as we talk about this I just wonder if the people around that organization know that something's coming what it is we'll see I could be totally wrong but all of the everything that's going on there doesn't add up right now it's their first three game winning streak of

this season it's been a bizarre year in the east as we've talked about but I mean, this is nothing new, at least on the outside, wondering if a change was coming at that level at some point because it had been another poor start in Buffalo. I think I would say this too about the Savers. There's a lot of cooks in that kitchen, I've heard. well a lot of cooks in that kitchen and brought in another and yarmokikilainen before this year i have heard that at least early in the season he really tried to stay out of the way okay because when you go in there when you go in there is sort of like oh he's the next guy

that's tough because everyone's looking at you like oh yeah he's here to take over right and that's not an easy way to come in and I heard he tried to legitimately just watch see not make judgment

you know I think over as time developed and time evolved he started to offer more opinions and look into what was going on I think that problem of the too many Cook's predated Yarmo. I don't think this is fair to solely blame this or that on him. No, and I wasn't.

But just the fact is you say, like- I think you totally were. Yeah, yeah. But whether he's kind of staying out of things and just observing or not, the fact is that he's there. Yeah. Everyone knows his resume. Like, it can't be ignored.

Can't be ignored. all right so we'll see what happens but it's it's definitely got that feel around there okay we'll leave it there that was the final thought why don't we take our first break oh we should also say that later on in the podcast because you did a wonderful interview with tom wilson that a bit of it the shortened version of the feature ran in the pregame show on saturday before the hockey night in canada early games we will play that conversation in its entirety later on in the podcast. But before that, it's the thought line. That'll be on the other side of the break. 32 thoughts of the podcast continues after this.

all right welcome back we have reached the point of the podcast time for the thought line elliot after everything this weekend do you have anything left any thoughts left for this endeavor yes i got a few notes and and the first thing i have to do is i will not accept oxley office slander kyle are you aware of this no bring me up to Okay. So on Friday night, as the trade broke, I was supposed to go and meet someone for a beer, downtown in the Yorkville area of Toronto. And then the Quinn Hughes deal broke, and I was tied up a bit. I had to get as much information as I could. I had to do some radio hits, some TV hits. Martine Geyer ripped me for not predicting Minnesota as the team that would actually get Quinn Hughes, someone I've worked with for 30 years. an old friend just took me to the woodshed on national television. And then I went to meet someone for a beer at the Oxley. And the Oxley, if you're not familiar with it, is a great pub restaurant in Toronto.

One of my favorite places in the city. And NHL Network reached out and they said, look, I've already been on twice. It's a bit of crazy day. Like, we need you again. The huge deal. I was like, no problem. Totally understand. And they said, they were in the Colorado game, and they said, can we tape it at 11 o'clock Eastern?

And I'm like, okay, where are we going to do this? So I get into the Oxley and I tell them what I got to do. And I said, is there an office space here? And I want to shout out the manager, James, another server, James. Two, I think they were both hostesses, I think, Jules. and Jennifer, and the manager James said, we only hire people whose names begin with Jay here. It was actually kind of funny.

But they all worked there, James, James, Jennifer, and Jules. So they got me into the Oxley office so I could do my NHL network hit. Okay. Now I know where this is going. It was a little tight, and they weren't. And then some people were like, does Friedman live in a shack? And Eric Francis actually sent me a note saying,

like, are you okay? Are you being held against your will? Ladies and gentlemen, like I said, I am not accepting any Oxley office slander. They helped me out in a pinch. I didn't care what it looked like. It just had to get done. It's one of those nights. You have to get it done.

And I would all recommend for you go to the Oxley. It's a great place. Did they have any pens in the office for you to take as a momento? You know, it's funny you said that. I was like, don't look for pants. Don't look for pants. You can't steal from someone who just helped you out. You cannot do that.

Don't look for pens. Oh, man. Our office is being eviscerated all over social media. And what happened to the pen that was just here? It was fun. know that people were doing it on social, but Eric, I woke up to a text from Eric Francis. So I guess was in L.A. right? Because the flames were there. And I woke up to a text from him asking if I was like, if I was being held against my will. It was pretty funny. I just went,

it went from there. Oh, well done, Oxley House. Oh, well, thank you so much, Oxley House. So I have a couple more notes here I wanted to get to. When the Skinner and the Stasdi trades broke, I had to drive to a meeting so I couldn't type right away what the full deals were and I couldn't look at X or social media because I am a responsible driver, Kyle. I obey all rules of the road. So when I got to the parking spot, I turned off the car, I tweeted out, you know, here's the full deal. I don't know what's out there. Sorry, it was driving. And somebody tweeted at me, where were you going?

So I wrote a meeting. And I got a couple of good responses to that. One, heard from Dom that you were 20 minutes late again. Might as well have just pulled out to the side of the road. You were late anyways. Second Tinder meetup. It's funny, but I assure you that's not true. No.

And number three, he's going to drop a bunch of raccoons 80 kilometers away from his home. I have to tell you, every week I get 10 DMs on either Instagram or X about raccoon stories. And I see them all and I laugh at every single one of them. It was, it's really hilarious what you guys send me about the raccoons. So I got two more. First of all, on a DM from Instagram from Jake Deemer, who used to be a sports reporter at a paper in Northwestern, Pennsylvania. And I'm going to ask Kyle for your opinion, Dom for your opinion, and anyone else's

opinion out there, you are free to let us know how you feel. L on Wheels, that's how he sent this to me. I'm a regular listener of Kyle and Dom's podcast that you periodically interrupt. But I wanted to share that in the beginning of November, I got my wife a Tristan Jerry jersey for Christmas. She wasn't a huge hockey fan when we first met nearly five years ago, but I am a big penguins fan so she naturally had to start following it. Fast forward, we're married with a three-year-old son named Crosby. Wow.

From the start, though, her favorite player had been Tristan Jari, and despite my reservations, finally pulled the trigger this year to get her a Jari jersey in their new yellow alternates for weeks now i've been holding my breath that the rumors with the oilers would die down and everything would be fine but as we know the trade happened and i need your advice do i still give her the jari jersey or do i seek alternative options thought i'd check with you because you're reportedly a great gift giver i asked is it okay if i do this in the pod don't want to possibly ruin the gift without permission and he says funnily enough yes I don't think she'll hear it so obviously not a big

listener of the pod so my thought Kyle and Dom was you absolutely give her the gift because it's the thought that counts you got her something that she would have wanted and you let your wife make the call does she want to keep it or does she want to exchange it that's my answer Kyle, what do you say? All right, I will say if you can return it, you do so, and find an alternative penguin's sweater. Maybe it's blank. Maybe it's got a name on the back.

And then you explain to her, look, I had the Tristan Jari one, but it pained me knowing he was elsewhere to present it to you as Jari and Penguin's colors. And I made the switch. If she loves you, she'll understand. Yeah, I think that's terrible. But okay, Dom, what's your, what's your ruling on this? I don't know. He's right. That is the correct answer. That's exactly. Really? Yes, that is the correct answer.

I think you guys are both nuts. I think you guys are completely wrong. Yes, what a great gift. A jersey of someone that no longer plays there anymore. I'm, how thoughtful is that? Remember this guy, honey? No, you sent a discount rack for 60%? Yeah, right. Yeah, that would be, if I was the wife, you're like, you get that 60% off? Actually, I got to tell you, I didn't even think of that. I didn't even think of that. No, you show, you have a gift receipt, right?

You say, look, I bought it here. Here's the proof. I bought it before he was traded. And now it's up to you. Why is that worse? You never show somebody how much you spent? on a gift it's a it's called a gift receipt dom maybe because you've never bought a gift for anyone in your life you don't know what a gift receipt is okay too shay too shay oh my god this is the

greatest thing that's ever happened on this podcast dom has never bought a gift okay anyway feel free to weigh in so he's got options yeah Feel free to weigh in. Let us know what you think. Jake would love to know. I think it's a great gift, the thought that counts, and you leave it to her. Finally. Finally.

Last one. This came in last night, Kyle. And it was directed to you. Okay? It's from Tyson Gorman. Please tell Kyle, brown shoes do not go with a blue suit. It's like wearing Oilers gear with a penguin's.

helmet. Since when? Since when does that not go? How often have you done brown shoes and blue suit? You know what? The funniest thing about this is I did it last night and Deb, our great stylist, said, that doesn't work. Are you serious?

Yeah, they were taking pictures of us. They had a photographer last night taking pictures of us and she's like, are we going to see his shoes? And I go, what's wrong with the shoes? And that suit I was wearing on Saturday night is one of my favorites. It's a beautiful double-breasted jacket suit. And she's like, those shoes, they were browns. Those shoes don't go with that suit.

And I was like, since when? I said the exact same thing. She said, nope. So Deb and Tyson versus me and you. And apparently we're wrong. Well, any team that has Deb Berman on it in this case wins. But I was shocked, Kyle, when I saw that because you normally, to me, have a really good fashion sense. You're normally on top of things.

You actually know what you're doing. I don't. But I, but I've, I guess the myth is busted there because I've been doing brown shoes with blue suits for years. Like, since I've started doing this thing. First time I've been told it doesn't go. So what, what do you wear instead? I think it's black. Ah, that to me doesn't make sense, but all right.

So I got to go shopping. Deb, since you and Tyler, or since you and Tyson have told me I'm wrong, you owe me a new pair of shoes. Use this to your advantage. All right. All right. Let's go. Okay.

What do we got? Toby from Christchurch, New Zealand. Wow. Hey guys, another listener from New Zealand here. You don't have to pretend to be global. You are global. That's nice of you, Toby. With the Big Trades Friday night got me thinking about all the extracurricular things

that go into these trades. More specifically, players and their families having to relocate to a new city. As a kid who moved around a lot, I know what an upheaval it can be. So it got me wondering for guys like Tristan Jari and Stuart Skinner, who are a bit older now and have a family, why not just swap houses

to make the transition a little bit smoother? And are there any examples of something like this actually happening following a trade? Love the pod. P.S. Dom, as a Flames fan who watched Johnny Good and Matthew Kachukh, Flea, I know how you feel. At least your team can admit the rebuilding while the flames prefer to stay mid. Oh, my God.

All the way from New Zealand. That's a great question. If you go through the CBA, and I'm not going to go through it right now, but if you're interested, you go through the CBA, there are sections in there about what players are entitled to when they move. So what kind of finances are available to them? You know, teams are really good about this now. They have people on staff.

When Scott Housen was the GM of the Columbus Blue Jackets, his wife, who was a very successful lawyer, she put together a whole handbook for how to handle these kinds of things. And if you move to Columbus, this is what you need to know. And these are the areas that you might be interested in. And now teams as a whole are very proactive about, hey, you come here and you play hockey. if you have a wife or you have a partner or you have kids whoever and you're going to

we're going to have someone who's going to call them and take care of them teams are on the ball now as for houses yes that does happen and the one that i remember off the top of my head is tyson barry and nasm cadry when they were traded from each other from Toronto to Colorado i believe they rented each other's houses one definitely rented one of the others and i think it might have been both in that first year. That's not unusual. Like I was actually talking to a player yesterday who lives in a certain area and plays somewhere else.

And he's rented, uh, his house to both the NHL player and NBA players in the city where he has his permanent residence. So yes, this does happen quite a bit where players rent other players homes and sometimes each other's. Right. Great question. Yeah, very good. If a player was playing somewhere for a while had bought a house and then ends up getting traded or signs elsewhere, like, yeah, to your point, like there's, you know, a different teammate, somebody else comes aboard in where they were previous and they rent that house during the season because the timing is perfect.

They're elsewhere during that time. And then the swap in the off season. So it is not not unlikely in the lease there. Thank you, Toby. But it's a good question. It's a really good question. All right, Curtis. Hello, Dom, Kyle, and the Raccoon man.

With the Jari for Skinner Trade Dunn, I noticed Tristan Jari has Oilers themed gear already. And I wondered, how is it possible he got it that fast? Don't goalies take time to break in new gear. So I doubt it's brand new. Is he using Skinner's old gear? What gives? Thanks, love the pod, and keep up. the great work.

Yes, a lot of chatter about that of the morning skate Saturday morning in Toronto. So I don't know what you heard, Elliot, but I was asking around because a lot of us saw that video that Vaughn hockey put out there on Friday after the trade was done, showing Jari's oilers equipment. Jari, of course, uses von Goley pads. And that was kind of the first question. Like, how was that ready already? And so I wondered, you know, does Vaughn just have pads kicking around with color schemes of different teams in the NHL just in case something like this happens and they can spring to hatch and stitch the goalie's name on and the way they go?

No. Apparently, like they knew or at least had a good idea that something like this was coming because it needed time to make those pads. So they knew or at least had a hunch. And it was like more than just a few days before the trade these were being worked on. I can't remember off the top of my head if I've ever talked about this. So I don't want to give specifics. I may have, but sometimes I don't remember what I've said privately and what I've said publicly. But there was a trade a couple of years ago where I heard that, and it can happen,

especially when a player has trade protection, which this particular player, player did. And if you're knowing that you could be traded somewhere and you have the control over it, you can say to your equipment company, hey, I am going to end up here. And you can have them ready for you with the color scheme. And some of these companies are very proactive. They will say to their, because that's, he's Vaughn, right, Jari? He's a Vaughn guy. You were asking both him and you were asking Calvin Pickard about that yesterday. Yeah, both fun guys.

Like that's good for Vaughn that they were on top of things. It looks impressive. So sometimes companies will hear rumors and they'll be like, how real is this? And they'll reach out so they can be ready. And also in Jari's case

where I, we obviously now know it was pretty well known that Jari would have been very happy to go to Edmonton that and Edmonton was trying, you know, he might say this could happen or someone would say this could happen. And, you know, I bet you, I wouldn't wonder how many times out of 10 it doesn't happen. But the one time out of 10 it does, it was great for him and the company. Like, it just looks good. So that was a situation. And like I said, there have been situations before.

Like, I'll tell you, in the case of this particular player, I reached out to the company and I said, I heard you're making equipment for this guy in this team's colors. And they didn't reach out back to me, but I heard behind the scenes, they freaked. They did not want it out there that they knew about this. Like, they didn't want to be seen as violating anybody's trust. now after the trade happened they reached out to me and they said yes it was true but we just didn't want to say it and so i do think these some of these equipment manufacturers they kind of know as you said and we're just in a day and age now you know Curtis asking about breaking him in i mean he wore him in

the morning skate saturday and then right into the game and i asked him about it afterwards and he goes nowadays they're pretty much ready to go he goes a little different obviously it's new gear but not to the point where he was going, I wasn't comfortable playing an NHL game in them. The big thing Saturday was just, okay, Kay Whitmore from the league needed to come down and approve the gear. I mean, it was all just a formality.

It's all the same specs that he would have had, same brand of pads, same model of pads they would have had in Pittsburgh, just different colors, but you still needed the stamp of approval from Kay before I could use him in the game. And the fact that the game was in Toronto, that was ultimately a rather easy task to get done. So well done Vaughn being on top of it there for their guy.

I got asked that question a lot yesterday actually on social too. Like is that how normal is that? So it's just a reminder with like with the McDavid stick and stuff like that. People are really into this. They really like it. Yeah. And then like the flip side of that like Caden Primo, the short time he was in Toronto, I don't think he ever got new equipment done.

Like he just had blue tape covering up the red of his pads from. his time in Montreal. So I don't know for him, he's going, I like my gear, how it is right now. I don't want to get new ones. They just use tape over top to match the color of the leafs. So there's both sides of it. Okay, Tom from the Island. Hey, guys, after listening to the most recent podcast and hearing how Elliot would be the Tiger Williams of coaching penalty minutes,

I had a thought regarding coaches challenges and subsequent served penalties. Instead of a third or fourth liner who would normally serve the penalty for a failed coach's challenge, you have the head coach served the minor penalty. Accountability in hockey is always preached by a bench boss. It would be awfully hypocritical for said coach to not serve his time for a poor judgment call. It would make for excellent TV watching the head coach cross the ice and enter the box, take a seat on the bench and wait out the two minutes. imagining some of the league

certain coaches sitting in the sin bin being heckled by surrounding fans for his poor choice of the challenge is quite the thought once the minor has been served a player can join the play as per usual and the coach would be allowed back on his bench during the next stop

just a thought thanks for all you guys do and keep up the good work Kyle Dom and Coach Elliot You know Tom I love the visual I was thinking about it as Kyle was reading it could you imagine some of the coaches in there Oh, that would be, it would be awesome. Like Craig Baroube, Rick Tocke, they'd be like, oh, I'm quite comfortable in here.

This doesn't bother me at all. I'm quite used to this. And you could get, you know, Travis Green, another guy. I spent a bit of time in here. I'm not uncomfortable with this. And then, you know, you could get, like imagine John Tortorella ever came back and coached again. Imagine him in the penalty box. Yes.

And how many buildings. Like for a visiting coach getting at, you know, darks go, the lights go dim. It's like a spotlight on the coach, we follow them across the ice and it becomes a whole spectacle. That would be great. I love the idea. Probably never happens, but I love it. I love it. Okay, one final one here.

Joe from Orlando. Kyle, Elliott, and Dom. This was submitted last month, I want to say, but wanted to get it in here. I love the show. Listen to every episode. My name is Joe. and this one is coming to you from Orlando, Florida, home of the solar bears,

who should be elevated to the NHL. Big solar bears guy. Nice. I was going to wait until Lou announced his retirement to share this, Lou Lamarillo, but I have a feeling that may never happen. So here it goes. Back in 2009, my pop pop wrote a letter,

and he did attach it for proof to Lou Lamarillo and then Devils head coach Brent Sutter. He included local newspaper clippings about my Missouri high school hockey He triumphs. Here's what he wrote. Hello, I was the former owner of Tom's restaurant in Newark. It had a capacity of 1,400 persons for banquets and a dining room of 80. It was the largest restaurant banquet facility in Newark from 1957 to 1986. Joe is one of my 11 grandchildren. He has proven himself to be a great athlete and an asset to any team or school he's played with. Joe is 19 years

old, 5'10, approximately 180 pounds, with a good sense of humor and is well-liked by all of his fellow players and coaches. He loves the devils and would like a tryout with them. And then Lou responded, and he wrote, Dear Tom, thank you for your letter. I am most appreciative of the information you provided on your grandson. I have sent it to our scouts who, if they see fit to invite Joe to our training camp, will contact him. I do not want to mislead you in any way. because I'm sure you realize that we have many, many players who are more qualified and have more experience. Sincerely, Lou Lamarillo. And he finishes by saying, I feel this perfectly captures Lou, classy enough to respond to a

well-meaning pop, go in the extra mile for someone he doesn't know, but also direct and honest about his reality. He says he framed the letters and he goes, he's still waiting for the training camp invite. So a reason I mentioned this here, because we saw Mr. Lamarillo, Colorado Springs at the board of governors meetings last week. And I asked him about the submission that we got. And amazingly, he said he always did what he could to write back to people who submitted letters, the good and the bad, as he joked. I believe that. I, a hundred percent believe that he would have done that. Absolutely. Not surprised in the least. And I bet you he would

have loved reading that letter and thinking about how he was going to respond to it, would have loved it. Yes. It was funny how he goes, even those that wrote into him, being quite critical of decisions he was making or how the team was playing, he would even write back to them saying, thank you for your passion and your dedication to being a devil's fan. You got to appreciate that. Yeah, I wrote the letter back, New Jersey Devil's Letterhead and everything.

Nice touch. Nice touch. So Joe never got the tryout, but that's a pretty cool memory of nothing else. That's fantastic. That's something you remember the rest of your life, that somebody did that for you. All right. It's a good place to end this edition of the thought line. A reminder, if you would like to leave a voicemail, 1833, 311, 321, 32, or you can email us at 32th thoughts at sportsnet.ca. We'll take one more break and come back with Elliot's conversation with Tom Wilson on 32 thoughts, the podcast. All right. Welcome back. As we talked about earlier, New Year's Eve, December 31st, Hockey Canada will announce their roster for the Milano Cortina, Winter,

Olympic games this February, will Tom Wilson be part of it? The momentum is certainly rolling in his favor with how he has played this season. As promised, here's Elliott's conversation with Tom Wilson from last week. Enjoy. You know, one of the questions I was asking some of your teammates was tell us one story about Tom Wilson that nobody knows. It's dangerous. It wasn't as bad as you could fear. but the one funny one was we got the rookie party okay what happened at your rookie party um well i ended up getting a couple stitches is that where they were going like that i think so yeah it was in phoenix

um they hadn't had a rookie party in a few years so it was a big group of us and uh a lot of energy and um good times and i think i don't know if it was like the old like middle school trick where you tabletop the guy and push them over but somebody kind of pushed me over and there was a a wine bottle that hadn't been uh cleaned up so i kind of fell back and put my arm in there and one of our trainers put a napkin on it and said you're good to go and then the head trainer came over a few minutes later and is like let's go um so finish the night in the in the hospital getting a couple stitches but wasn't anything too crazy miss no games though no games no it was in that it was my elbow and got the meat. So it was just a couple of stitches and get back, get back at it.

So that's the thing. Like people kind of talk about you and your growth and they talk about Tom Wilson then and Tom Wilson now. In your eyes, what's the biggest difference between Tom Wilson then and now? Oh, I don't know. It's a tough question. I think, you know, I've changed a lot. I think if you ask anybody throughout there, if they're lucky enough to play a long career, everybody's you know motivation changes they change you know as a person you have different ages and stages you know i was a young um kid just in this life you're thrown into this lifestyle that's just a whirlwind you know you go into a new city every night you're eating at all the best restaurants in the in the country and um you're just taking it all in and you don't have

many responsibilities um you're just kind of focusing on hockey and you go home have a nap throw on a movie and play some video games so it was a lot of fun and then And, you know, as you grow up, now I've got a family and a kid, and, you know, they're my motivation now. And, you know, life is always good in the NHL. It's always an amazing job and very lucky. But, you know, you change a little bit throughout your years. Okay, so was there anyone who sat you down at any point? Was there any particular conversation at any point where someone said to you, Tom, it's got to be this way for here on in.

Who was that person? I think maybe not one person, but I think I had a great support group of people around me that really truly cared. Off the Ice, my family, older brother, great mentor. Both my brothers were just so genuinely happy and proud and supportive of me. And my parents were awesome too. So that was kind of first and foremost. and then, you know, there's trainers and, you know, chiropractors and people that just

you meet throughout your journey, coaches, teammates that I was just lucky that people were there for me and supported me and wanted to see me do well. And one of those things where if you build a really solid group of people around you, I think it can really help you navigate this life. What was the best piece of advice you got? From a young age, my mom and dad always said keep a balance, you know, in life, in school, in hockey, in social. They never really wanted me to put all my eggs in one basket. So growing up, I played a bunch of different sports.

And, you know, as you get older, people get so focused on one thing. And, you know, they always wanted me to have time for my friends. They always wanted me to have good grades. and a balance to them was important. And I think when I got to the NHL, it was the same way. Like, I wanted to have fun and enjoy it and go out for dinner. But, you know, you wake up in the morning and it's time to put your big boy shoes on and go to work.

And, you know, I was going to do whatever it took to try and stick around in this league. And, you know, you got to be a little bit lucky, but I think there was a lot of conversations over the years and stuff just helping me get to where I wanted to be. You know, what's interesting about that is one of the things John Carlson said about you is that you went from a guy who was playing 8 to 10 minutes a night and you were so wired to play those minutes to a guy who's now playing 20 minutes a night and you don't have to do some of the things that you did before to try to make a name for yourself.

Yeah, I think 8 to 10 is generous. My first year, I was maybe 5 or 6. But I was so happy and so excited to be in the NHL, right? like every day in practice I was just like I was a little kid but I was just so pumped to be there and it was such a great team and I tried to learn everything I could so um you know you know you've a little bit more energy back then you're sitting on the bench and you can look around and all that now I get back after a shift and I'm like you know get your air and get back out there um but my mentality never really changed I always just I wanted to do whatever I could

you know with those minutes or more minutes as my responsibility grew just to be very you know near focused on what I needed to do to help the team win and that's kind of always been my mentality and that's changed over the years a little bit but that's something I always try and remind myself is it's a team game and there's always a way that you can have an impact on the on the game but you have changed on the ice too and like one of the things I understand you do now is you warn people that you're coming you say hey like i'm here or you should have your head up or something like that when did that develop uh i think it's partially for the other guy and it's partially for me to keep me out of trouble a little bit um you know as the game changed you know i came into a different

n-h-l than it is now and that always happens every decade or every couple years it just slowly changes. I found that people without the puck were becoming very, very less aware of what's going on around them. So when I came in into junior and I came into the NHL, you had to just know who was on the ice. You had to know, you know, situations that were going to get ugly. Now I found, you know, as it transitioned, guys were putting themselves in positions that I necessarily wasn't used to that were ending up in big, big hits and messy hits. Um, so I kind of, tried to learn and change and sometimes just yelling at the guy when it's going to be a high speed hockey so fast when it's going to be a high speed collision sometimes just a quick

get your heads up or whatever can guys are smart enough that if they get a little warning they can they can adapt and I'm not always going to do I don't always do it but in certain areas of the ice I just it helps me and it helps me stay on the ice and it helps them so So, give me an example you say in certain areas, like where would you do it? Like, where would someone see or hear you? There was a play a couple games ago where a young kid came down. The left side came right across the blue line into the middle of the ice. I was back checking and came the other way to meet them, the old school trolley tracks.

And we're both going full speed. And it's, you know, it's going to be a big hit. But at some points, it's just, it's tough to execute the hit clean. and that would be a point where I would just say a heads up and then maybe bump into them but it makes you look bad if they put it through your feet and go in and go in and score. So you've got to be smart about it.

So I was calling around telling people I was doing this piece and I was asking and someone said to me, you let McDavid off the hook in a game a couple weeks ago. Is that true? He's, I mean. That's a yes, by the way, that smile. he some of the you know the best players in the world are so smart that it's very rare that they don't see me coming or they aren't aware of when i'm close to them um you know it's one of those

guys i didn't let him off the hook entirely you know he still could have probably made a good play but some of those you know i mean i like the guys he's uh he's great for the game and um you know sometimes he just don't need to make the hit but I won't either deny and or confirm that. Okay. How much do you think about Team Canada, Tom? Every once in a while, I think you kind of stop and you think about it a little bit. But, you know, as the season started, there's so many things to distract you and so much to keep you focused on, you know, this team in Washington, D.C.

And I try, I try to take care of what's in front of me. try not to just get too distracted by it. I heard that after one of the games where you played Tampa this year, John Cooper asked to meet with you. Can you tell us about that conversation? Yeah, we got into it a little bit during the game. That's the next question. You know, it's great.

He's an amazing coach, and, you know, I'm a passionate player, and I think afterwards we just had a, it was great to get to know him this summer. We just had a quick conversation to, chat a little bit and I just said hey sorry for yelling at you at the bench and it was kind of all good okay I was wondering if he was asking you about team Canada stuff there was a little bit of that okay yeah what does he ask you um I think usually with him um it's just more like little tidbits that he can leave me with that might help me I mean I think he's probably a big part of

flecting the team but there's also six or seven great general managers that are doing that so I think he's a big fan of his players and he wants the best for his players and, you know, being under that umbrella this summer and stuff, I think he just, he gave me a couple things of advice just to lead me with to, you know, try and help me, I think. Care to share or am I being too nosy? Yeah, I can share it. I think he kind of said, like, you know, you can impact the game in so many different ways. So don't get too focused on points or goals or you have.

the ability to go out and change a game, change the momentum of a game in so many different ways. And that's one of the things we love about you. So keep doing that and keep playing smart and just doing your thing type of thing. Okay. Someone laughed and they said the one thing they couldn't believe from that, I guess Cooper is known for having that great whistle. Yeah. Is it true that you went and you whistled right back at him? Yeah. Yeah, he whistles when he wants to change up the lines. So I just went over. was kind of just messing with them and was whistling on them

and I think it's part of what makes the game of hockey so great is you can do that and it can be superheated and emotional and both sides want to win and then you have a combo and shake hands after and move on and there's a huge respect for each other.

That's bold though to whistle at the team Canada coach, I have to say. Yeah, I mean, I think he knows it's coming from a place of you know, fun and, you know, heat of the moment. And it was one of those things. where maybe in that game that's kind of what was needed maybe maybe there's some some gamesmanship

behind it from both sides so um he's uh he's a well respected coach he's been a lot around a long time i don't think i'm going to hurt his feelings that easily is this the best hockey you've ever played oh i don't know um it's i've been lucky to i think playing consistent in the nch l is one of the hardest things to do every single year you got to show up and you got to play well or you'll be out and next guy will be in so you know every year you have to come in motivated you have to come in detailed um my mentality is i'm going to do whatever it takes to to win and play hard and i've had some amazing players around me to help me get there and you know in the last few years the puck's going the net you take it it's a it's a hard hard league to score in and um

You know, when the team's playing well and when you're playing well, it's a lot of fun. So you just try and ride the high. Okay, two more for you. First one is the Olympics themselves, it's different. Like, the rules are different. And I think the, like, I think a lot of people look at you and say, that guy deserves to be on the Olympic team. The question they have is, the way the rules are different, is that going to hurt Canada? What do you say to people who wonder that?

Yeah, I'd say it's still hockey. it's the fastest most physical sport on the planet and it's a team sport and I would love to be part of that group to go out there and do whatever it takes to get a win and I've been around long enough that you know I hope that I can adapt to kind of whatever game is going on in the Olympics you could be playing Sweden

or Slovakia or whoever you could be playing the Americans and it could be fast and heavy and physical. And I've always tried to be a well-rounded player. That's something that I've focused on my whole life. So whatever's happening in that game, you know, I hope that I could help. And at the end of the day, I hope that the team would want me going in to play USA

or, you know, one of those big, heavy, fast teams. You know, I hope my teammates, some of the other Canadian guys would want me there with them. And if I'm lucky enough to be there, they don't have their back and do whatever I can. So that's all I can control and that's kind of been my mentality. And I mean, you put hockey Canada up there with rugby with the New Zealand all blacks or, you know, Team USA basketball. It's one of the hardest teams in any sport in the world to make.

So just to be in the conversation is pretty cool and we'll see. All right. I have something else I wanted to show you. So I was asking for some things about you And I heard a fantastic story I know you were very close with your grandfather I'm going to show you two pictures And I want you to tell me about them

There's that one Yeah and there's that one Yeah he was He was probably my biggest fan Like from it didn't matter what it was It didn't matter it was a Stanley Cup final game Or cross country in grade four in the pouring rain he was there for all his grandkids and he was so involved and just always

genuinely proud and supportive so actually a funny story i remember when i was sitting at home when i was 10 or 11 world juniors was on at christmas and he said hey it would be a dream of mine if you could play in that tournament one day and you know i made a speech when i brought the stanley cup to his house i said i never played in world juniors but hopefully this is a this is a run up that you'd be proud of and he laughed and it's uh he was just one of those guys that was so proud of his family and we've had we had so many great moments um walking down the runway in Vegas with his duffel bag getting off the team charter in the in the finals and on the party bus uh we had the party at his house so he was on the party bus with all my best buddies drinking

beers and having a good time and just an amazing person and lucky to lucky to have him in my corner my whole career and um so many good stories that could be a completely separate interview talking about uh the legend of grampy well the story i was told was i guess he was a member of toronto golf club yeah very strict dress code but the summer after you won the stanley cup he was allowed to wear your jersey while he golfed on the course they made a special rule for him yeah i think he actually got an official letter of uh an official warning letter from the board saying you've violated the dress code um and obviously a lot of leaf fans at the at the course and that's just who he was i think he was a lifetime member at that point had probably been there for 50 years so they let

him off the hook easy but um just uh just a fun guy and so proud of his his grandkids and the list goes on and on of of great grampy stories so that one photo we're at the golf the golf club and he really he said hey you know i'll let you have the party at my house in oakville ontario but i want you to go to the the golf club for 20 minutes just to see some of my pals um and obviously that was a cool moment and then um you know there was another we on the way to his house from the golf club he asked another favor to stop by one of his his buddy's house at the gym um his gym buddy and i was like okay you know who's who's his gym buddy so he pulled up to the house and it was a kid who was having some challenges in life.

And it was just off the cuff, spur of the moment. We stopped the party bus. We went in and in his living room and let him hold the Stanley Cup and no cameras and none of that. And that's just who Grandpa was. He was always thinking of how to brighten people's days. Well, you have an unbelievable reputation for that too, you know.

You got it from him, right? Yeah. I hope I got some of that from him and I hope I pass it on to my little guy. I think with a guy like that, it's generational, hopefully, and good smile and a good guy and lots of good times. Awesome. Okay, our thanks once again to Tom and the Washington Capitals for making that interview happen. Really great stuff.

There are some things to keep an eye on the network over the next few days. On Tuesday night, the Edmonton Oilers are in Pittsburgh. Those that are outside the Euler viewing region can watch that game on Sportsnet East in Ontario, as well as West, of course, at 7.30 Eastern, 530 Mountain Time. Also, the flames later that night are in San Jose. The dad's trip continues at 10 Eastern, 8 Mountain. That can be seen nationally on Sportsnet 360, also on Pacific, and on West, once the Oeler game is through.

Scotia Bank Wednesday night hockey this week. The Winnipeg Jets are in St. Louis, pregame show on the air with David Amber and Co. at 7.30 Eastern. Puck drop a little after 8 E.T. 7 Central from St. Louis. And a reminder, all these games can also be streamed on Sportsnet Plus. Okay, taking us out today a track from K. Brett, who is a compelling singer-songwriter, whose Alberta Prairie Roots echo through the music she now creates from her home in Vancouver, blending folk and rock with effortless depth. Her sound is melancholic, soulful, and stretching. strikingly raw. Before stepping into her solo career, Kay toured as a vocalist and percussionist

with the Juno-nominated band Yukon Blonde, sharing stages with Modest Mouse and the Arkells. Way she goes is her second single and gives a cheeky nod to the understanding we gain as we get older. But sometimes things go our way and sometimes they don't. It's a reminder that what rises also falls and what falls will rise again. And for those that live in the Vancouver area, Kay actually plays regularly at Moto Yoga in East Vancouver during their live music yoga classes. Also, on December the 20th, she'll have an acoustic set live at Bimini's in Vancouver as well. This track, along with all of the others we've featured so far this season, can be found on our Spotify playlist, 32 Thoughts, The Music. Way She Goes by Kay Brett on 32 Thoughts, the podcast. Have a great week, everyone.

Just when you think you for a card, It comes around the end Just when you think you've got it all figured out There goes the ground again Shifting and waving, rock and roll and rearranging And it is just the way she goes Just the way she goes Just the way she goes

Yeah sometimes you win and sometimes To lose By now I am well equipped Picked up my strength a bit I've seen my fish as Just learn to deal with it Top tags on your shoulder you'll see it when you're older that it's Just the way she goes

Just the way she goes Just the way she goes Yeah sometimes you win it sometimes you lose Yeah, sometimes you win it, sometimes you lose I'm doing it, sometimes you lose and it's the law, it's the rule, it's kind and it's cool, I promised to ride with you, we can let it die with you Making it slow, then it's hard to control, that's the way she goes.

Just the way she goes, just the way she goes, just the way she goes. Just the way is she going Oh Just the way is the wind I need to go Just the way I'm never right Just the way

It's nice I'm out of control Just the way she goes Just the way she go You know,