32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Hyman & Reinhart Hit 50 Goals

Episode Date: March 25, 2024

In this edition of 32 Thoughts, Jeff and Elliotte pay tribute to Zach Hyman and Sam Reinhart, who both reached the magical hockey mark of 50 goals. Now that Reinhart has reached 50, the fellas ponder how the Florida Panthers fit him in their future plans (15:00). Next, Jeff and Elliotte focus on the Edmonton Oilers after Evander Kane didn't play on Sunday night (17:20) and the guys also highlight how important Gabe Vilardi has been to the Winnipeg Jets (23:20). Elliotte then provides his takeaways from Carolina-Toronto on Sunday (28:00), and that is then contrasted with the Columbus Blue Jackets who were officially eliminated from playoff contention this weekend (30:55). Elliotte provides an update on Elias Lindholm and the Canucks, and the guys highlight the fan ovation for JT Miller on Saturday night (36:14). They give credit to the Nashville Predators who have turned their season around and sit in the first wild card spot in the West (40:19) and close out the A block by commenting on the relationship between the CHL and NCAA (43:19).  The guys answer your questions in the Montana’s Thought Line (51:26).  Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call the Montana's Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemailThis podcast was produced and mixed by Dominic Sramaty and hosted by Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman.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.

here we go coming down you're all set you ready to uh to fire up the theme there dom yeah we're good okay you know my cue here we go coming down in trois deux un time again now for the montana's thought line montana's barbecue and bar canada's home for barbecue try the ribs no no no no no i know, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, for a second and he can't do that properly welcome to 32 thoughts the podcast once again presented as always by the gmc sierra elevation jeff merrick elliott friedman and dom schramatti along with you today elliott it is uh two different paths for two different players getting to the magical hockey number of 50. zach hyman 2010 drafted, drafted in the fifth round by the Florida Panthers. Sam Reinhart, playing with the Florida Panthers,

drafted second overall in 2014 by the Buffalo Sabres. And on Sunday, both of them hit the century mark. One of them even with a goalie in net. Let's focus initially here on Zach Hyman your thoughts on the 50 for Hyman before we start talking about these two individual players I want everybody to recognize that before the season when you asked me who the second and third players to score 50 goals would be after Austin Matthews Iews i said zach hyman and sam reinhardt and not only did i say that yes i did you did not only did i say it but i also said they would be an hour apart

you did not say any of this and you just know that i'm too lazy to go back and you cannot prove that i did not say it not at this time right now. No, that is very true. And I'm deeply skeptical that you predicted this because nobody predicted this. I'm happy for both of them. I think it's a wonderful achievement. I think it's going to lead into a major payday for Sam Reinhardt and good for him. Zach Hyman's already secured the bag and he keeps producing. I love both stories.

Let's start with the Oilers forward, Zach Hyman here, before we get a little bit more into the Edmonton Oilers, where it was a troublesome weekend, let's just say. And we'll mention the Panthers here in a second too. Zach Hyman, 50 goals. Elliott Friedman, your thoughts. I remember when he was drafted, people were saying things like they just want his family to invest in the

Panthers. Like that's the kind of stuff that was being talked about back then. I remember somebody actually said that to me. Wow. And you know what? He played at Michigan with Dylan Larkin and people would say things like he's only getting drafted because he played with Dylan Larkin and Dylan Larkin made him look good. Some things haven't changed, Jeff. But he got traded to Toronto. And I remember at that time, there were still a lot of people who didn't necessarily believe he could be an NHL player. But I remember when he did get traded, I had a couple people who said,

wait, if he has a coach who believes in him, he is going to thrive. And there were Leaf players who used to joke, they called Mike Babcock, when they were talking to Zach Hyman, they would say that Mike Babcock was his Uncle Mike because Babcock did believe in Zach Hyman. He really felt that Zach Hyman was good enough to play and good enough to play with good players. And it's sort of like, to me, Chris Kunitz going to Pittsburgh and then ending up on

the Canadian Olympic team because he knew how to play with Sidney Crosby well they put Zach Hyman with good players and he knew how to play with them and obviously he turned himself into an NHL-er and you'll remember when his contract came up, there was the big debate. You know, Edmonton went to seven times five and a half. And the Maple Leafs, I have always heard, got reasonably close. But the issue was the no move clause. Toronto, if I remember correctly, and I believe I do, they didn't want to give it after one season.

It was the first year of that deal. They were willing to give it, and then after, they were not. And that was what changed it for Hyman. If he was going somewhere, he wanted as much control as he could get, which any player would want to do, and he got more of it in Edmonton. And he's been a great fit there you can always tell how people react after a big goal like that how does the team react and those players were ecstatic for him and you know i know what everybody's gonna say you know he's a tap-in merchant or whatever people want to say the bottom line, if it was easy to score 50 goals in this league,

even if you were next to one of the greatest players of all time, everyone would do it. Hang on. He does it. And you know what? He'd have 60 if he wasn't standing on top of the goalies all the time. You know who else is a tap-in merchant? Phil Esposito.

You know who else is a tap-in merchant? Dino Cicerelli. Dino Cicerelli. You know who else is a tap-in merchant? Dino Cicerelli. Dino Cicerelli. You know who else is a tap-in? Dave Andrzejczyk. Like, there's nothing wrong with two foot combs. People say that's an insult. You know what?

I'd be happy to be in the NHL and be seen as a tap-in merchant. I would put it on my jersey instead of my last name. Tap-in merchant. You know what still astounds me about Zach Hyman? And I hate to be that guy, but here I am being that guy. I remember watching him in the OJHL with Hamilton and, you know, leading scorer on that junior A team.

And the one thing that we always said about Zach Hyman, yeah, you know, dominating in the OJ, looks great on Hamilton, but his skating is always going to hold him back. And you know what no one talks about anymore with Zach Hyman? Like nobody, his skating. always going to hold him back. And you know what no one talks about anymore with Zach Hyman? Like nobody, his skating. Somewhere along the way, that all got corrected. That all got fixed.

Like to me, Zach Hyman is this incredible story of, you know, perseverance and constantly improving yourself. Now, I know that you may say, okay, well, he's had the benefit of playing with Austin Matthews and now Connor McDavid. But, you know, ask a lot of players. Sometimes the greats aren't exactly easy to play with. Oh, put your stick down and go to the net. I don't think it's that simple.

The thing is, like, he's played with two of the elite of, you know, in the history of the game. And specifically with Connor McDavid, you want to tap in merchant. He's playing with a speed merchant. And he doesn't look out of place. No, like Elliot, when's the last time anyone said anything to you about Zach Hyman skating? Because that used to dominate the conversation. Now, it's not a conversation at all. He's really done a miraculous job here, turning himself into a player who's now got himself into a position and has scored 50 goals in the nhl holy smokes zach hyman elliott is a 50 goal scorer in the nhl i think you know the

other thing i'll say about that is jeff is that people say that hard work isn't a skill i think that's complete and total bs because i've met a lot of very talented people that don't work that hard and they get blown by the people who might not be that talented, but they work hard. And Hyman is an example of that. You take a look at how many people were drafted before him. You take a look at how many people were given opportunities ahead of him, and he blew by all of these people because he put in the work. He wasn't as talented as them.

He put in the work. So when people say to me hard work isn't a skill, I think that's a complete joke. I mean, the only thing, and we'll get to this in a second, that is bad for Hyman is that it happened on a weekend that was a bad weekend for the Oilers. But let's get to Reinhardt. Let's get to Reinhardt first.

We're going to get there. I just want to make one quick point. It's going to sound like a minor slash youth hockey PSA here, but I've always felt this way, and I don't think I'm in the minority here. When Elliot is talking about hard work being a skill, let me give you a minor hockey, youth hockey example of it. If you're a hockey youth hockey example of it if you're a hockey if you're a hockey parent you've grown up watching um other kids around your kid probably excel early they are the fastest

they are the biggest um you know going back to when they're really young they were the first to be able to raise the puck things like that here's the issue with that. And I always tell parents this. If those same players don't have a strong work ethic or don't work hard, they're skating with an advantage that is eventually going to go away because the skating levels out and everybody turns into a good skater. The size, that all levels out and everybody at that high end becomes a big hockey player at that point if you don't have a work ethic to go along with that skill which you just naturally have you will be frustrated you will be you know you'll you'll turn yourself into a different type of player you'll be angry you won't know what's happened hang on a second ago i used to be able

to burn everybody with these fast feet. Now everybody can skate. And those players that didn't skate as fast or didn't shoot as hard or weren't as big, those are the ones that in order to stay, develop the work ethic. And when everything starts to become more similar than different, as players start to get older and they start to mature, it's the ones that have the work ethic are the ones that excel, not the ones that initially have all the skill

that they were just born with. Look at me, I'm so fast. Look at me, I'm so big. That's all going away. I tell parents this, they're skating with an advantage that vanishes. And once that advantage vanishes, what do you have? Hard work. And that's what Hyman's always had. And he's the one example that I always point to. Look at this guy. He was never the fastest, was never the hardest shooter, was never the biggest, none of it, but he worked hard. And look what it's got him. And that's why I love his 50 goal story more than a lot of other 50 goal stories that we've seen in the NHL over the past few years. Anyway, that's my thing about Zach Hyman and minor slash youth hockey.

Now, Sam Reinhardt, a pair of goals, 49 and 50. Sam Reinhardt, as you accurately predicted at the beginning of the season, was going to score 50 goals. Elliott Friedman, the second overall draft pick back in 2014. That would have been the Philadelphia draft where Tim Murray went up there and said, Buffalo Sabres select Sam Reinhardt. And there was no pomp and circumstance whatsoever. One of my favorite picks of all time by Tim Murray.

Sam Reinhardt gets 50, Elliott. Well, look, I remember there's a couple things I remember about Reinhardt. First of all, he's an incredibly talented player, as you mentioned. A guy who was at the top of the draft. Big time hockey family.

His father, his brothers. Somebody who was bred. If you would have thought from the moment he came into the NHL, you would have looked at it and said, this is a guy who was bred to score 50 goals in the National Hockey League. If you would have bet who would have scored 50 goals in this league, Reinhardt or Hyman, you would have picked Reinhardt, and nobody would have picked Hyman.

But he had to earn it um it was a rocky road you know one of the things i really remember about reinhardt was his last year in buffalo his his end of season interviews and do you remember how down he was like there were a lot of guys in Buffalo who were down at that time. They were losing. They had such hope. The relationships were getting fractured between a couple of players, the organization.

But I always remember the Reinhardt's end-of-season interview was last year there. He looked devastated. He had no answers. He was frustrated. He was disappointed disappointed like so many other people were there and then he got traded at the draft of Florida and all of a sudden it just connected for him and I don't know if I ever saw him scoring 50 but I think we always knew he had

the talent to do it like this is a guy who was good enough to be an elite player in this league. And so if I was to go back to myself the year he was drafted, I don't think anybody would have been too shocked to hear he was going to take a run at this. But I think there was a point in his career that you would have written him off. And you might have written him off

not only to be a 50-goal scorer, but to be a guy who could make a difference in the league because it hadn't happened in Buffalo but sometimes it just goes to show you you get a fresh start you you go somewhere else where it just clicks you need a new chance and everything aligned perfect for him and he plays with great players like hyman he plays with great players and everything has gone his way this year and the one thing i think about reinhardt and i've said this many times about him there is a deal to be made in florida with him and if i'm sam reinhardt i'm particularly aware of i know what it's like when you're not in the right place i know the difference between a good setup and a not good setup and that's why

i am trying to do what i can to get this deal done because obviously that's a perfect place for him yeah uh that's the big question about sam reinhardt like the moment he scored 50 you know you saw all the tweets about next contract and ring the bell next contract and secure the bag you know i i think like i'm with you i think this is a perfect fit for sam reinhardt but at the end of it too this is a perfect fit for Sam Reinhardt. But at the end of it, too, this is a business for everybody. Yeah. How do they do this? Like, I'm sure Florida wants to keep him. I'm sure he wants to stay.

But given the commits they already have, big tickets like Barkoff and kachok are big tickets and aaron ekblad is a big ticket like where sergey bobrovsky obviously uh is a is a huge ticket how can florida do this one i still like i said i believe there's a deal to be made. If you looked at the deal that Forsling took, it's less than his market value. Now, Forsling is not obviously a point producer like Reinhardt is, but I think it's clear that Reinhardt's going to have to take less than what he could get elsewhere. And it comes down to what's the cutoff for that? What do you think is acceptable to take, quote unquote, less? And I think that's where we're going to go here.

That's where we're going to figure this out. You know, they got Forsling done, but it's been quiet around Montour. Say this, if Montour hits the market, there's going to be a lot of interest in him. And it's been very quiet around Montour this year. You know, it's the one thing I'm always careful about anything can change with one phone call but either the conversations are going to pick up and Montour is going to stay or it's going to stay pretty quiet and and Montour is going to go and if he does go then he'll he'll have a ton of interest in the free agent market

there'll be a lot of teams interested in him, but right around the trade deadline, I admit that was the last time I checked, it had been pretty quiet around him. I'm new to hockey, Elliot. Our right-hand shot, offensive-oriented defenseman, very much in demand in free agency. I'm new.

No, nobody likes them. I'm just trying to learn as this goes. Nobody likes them. Might be tough then for Montour. Well, we wish him luck. Circling back to Edmonton, we talked about Zach Hyman. You referenced the weekend that was for the Edmonton Oilers. A tough one against the Toronto Maple Leafs,

although they made it a game in the third period on hockey night in Canada and then lose to the Ottawa Senators 5-3. I think a lot of us are wondering about a lot of players here. I think we're wondering about the goaltenders. I personally wonder about Jack Campbell and Bakersfield. I think we're wondering about Evander Kane. What are you wondering about as it relates to the Oilers after this weekend? Well, look, there was a lot of conspiracy theory floating around the Oilers on Sunday night

when Kane didn't play. There was the scene of him on the bench with Dreisaitl. I have to say, everybody's opinion is different. To me, that didn't look that bad. I have worse arguments with BXA on Saturday night. That did not look as bad to me, but I freely admit that people may not have liked that. What I didn't like on Saturday night was, you know,

McDavid and Dreisaitl really got pushed around. And, you know, one of the things that Toronto's talked about this year is we can't be like that. If you push around our best players, we got to come at you with the pack mentality. Like the two Florida teams are very much like that. The Panthers are definitely like that. And the Lightning are like that. If, you know, someone brushes their goalie, if Stamkos and Hedman are the closest guys,

you know, they're going after people, and everyone else does too. It's like five of them come at people. And there's a lot of teams in the league with that mentality. I, you know, I just thought it was, if I was the Oilers organization, I would not like how McDavid and Dreisaitl were treated in Toronto. There's nothing wrong with what the Maple Leafs did to them. They should try and rough them up. But it's on your, it's on yourselves to protect them.

So when Chris Knoblauch came out before the Ottawa game on Sunday night and said Kane was out for maintenance, and you could see in some of the tweets, it was like they're calling it maintenance. You could tell the reporters who were there didn't believe it. They cast doubt over it. And, you know, I had to say, I wondered about it too. Is this a healthy scratch here that they're keeping quiet, seeing all the craziness that came out of Couturier last week? I wondered if the Oilers were just saying, you know what?

We want to do something here but we don't want to pour gasoline on the fire now I think there is an injury for Kane too potentially that maybe he could play through but on back-to-back they just said you know what we'd we'd rather rest it but there's no question that that scratch the day after McDavid and Dreisaitl getting roughed up a bit and Kane being a guy who can definitely do something about it, it had people wondering. We'll see how that all plays out.

Look, they got goalied in Ottawa. They completely dominated the Senators, and Corpus Allo just beat them. But the game in Toronto was really ugly. They had a good start Samsonov held and then they got their butts kicked and that's a showcase game that's that's a big game on a big stage and you never want to get your ass kicked like that especially too it's a home game for McDavid it's some of the best players in the league. You never want to get embarrassed like that. And then, you know, even though they did get goalied against Ottawa,

they had a 3-1 lead. And you've got to win that game. You cannot take your foot off the gas pedal and lose that game. And we'll see where this goes over the next few days. You know, you wonder, okay, okay we're gonna put a stop to this we'll clamp down we'll get our wins um but uh all of a sudden you're looking at them after this weekend and saying okay good teams stop this good teams end this quick let's see if it ends or we see if it goes somewhere uh what did you make of the game that you worked on Sunday by the way you think Campbell could be

coming up here I don't know he's played well in Bakersfield I just wonder about you know this close to the playoffs and maybe a quick little jolt of the team after a really disappointing weekend maybe part of this is I'm just cheering for a really good story so I want to see Jack Campbell come back and

have a lot of success in the nhl but he's looked great in the american hockey league from all the reports that i've received um i've heard i just do wonder but i'll take your word for it i've heard i just wonder i just wonder but the one thing i do believe it was always a plan to bring him back okay you know it was never the plan to have him in Bakersfield this long. Now, you know, results speak and performance speaks, but if you have people telling you he's playing well, then it wouldn't surprise me if he gets the call up. But I've heard mixed, so I'm curious to see. You've put this in my head.

Now I'm wondering what exactly are they going to do here? As we like to say, we'll see where it goes. Let me ask you about your game on Sunday. I'll say this, I'm also more concerned about Winnipeg than I am about Edmonton. Well, let's get there then. I was going to transition to the game that you worked on Sunday, but let's get to Winnipeg. So three losses in a row now for the Winnipeg Jets.

And this one, the Jets loss against the Washington Capitals, who, by the way, congratulations. I know this might be just like the fish on the beach and flip flop, flip flop back and forth. But as of you hearing this podcast right now on Monday, the Washington Capitals are back second place in the wildcard position in the East. They beat the Winnipepeg jets by a final score of three to nothing things are not going swimmingly for winnipeg and these last three games have been tough to watch the new jersey four to one loss and the islanders six to three double up it's been tough sledding for the winnipeg jets i i did enjoy watching ovechkin steal that goal

from connor mcmichael chiseled is what they call is it chiseled colby used to always say oh man watching Ovechkin steal that goal from Connor McMichael. Chiseled is what they call it. He's a chiseler. Colby used to always say, oh, man, this guy's a chiseler. I'm like, what do you mean? He goes, oh, he's stealing goals. This guy's a chiseler. That guy's a chiseler.

Hate those guys. How are you going to call Ovechkin a chiseler, though? He's chasing down the Gretzky record. Take him any way you can get him. Well, I mean, the one thing that we've really noticed is how important Velarde was to this team. When I see the Jets, I see two teams. And maybe you can say you could see this about a lot of teams, but I really see it with the Jets. I see a team that is very good when it sticks to its structure and a team that is very bad when it breaks down.

And maybe you could say that about everybody, but I really noticed that about Winnipeg. Like, they had a nightmare game against the Islanders. What was it, 26-4 the shots in the middle of the second period? And that's the thing. There were so many times in that game where I looked at them and I said, I don't even recognize what they're doing out there. That's how crazy it was.

So that's one thing I think with them. I think when their structure breaks down, I think with them i think when their structure breaks down like i think there's some teams when their structure breaks down they can kind of get away with it a little bit because they're high skilled or they find their way back the jets when their structure breaks down it really seems sometimes i watch them they can't overcome it or they really can't get back so that's one thing but number two the you know, the Velarde situation since he's been out, like that was a great trade they made this year for Dubois. They did a lot better than a lot of other teams have done in situations

where they were, you know, put in a position where they had no leverage. They made a great trade. But like Velarde being out, I think it's really affected them on the power play. It's even with Toffoli coming in, at times I think it's really affected their offense. He's obviously become a really important player for them. And, you know, the one thing I think, and Perfetti scored at the end of the game the other night against the Islanders. He got a late goal to kind of get off the schneid, which was important for him.

But his main line mates on the weekend were Barron and Ayafalo and nothing against those guys. But I do wonder if you've got to give him a shot up high again. I know, as you say, they don't like to do it, but I just want something to give them a bit of a jolt. Like that Ranger game this week where they played really well, that was a high-structure Jets game. And one of the things that I sit there and I watch with them is

when it breaks down like it did against the Islanders, and they were mostly good against Washington. Like, I just, like, against the Islanders on Saturday, they were getting killed and they mixed some of their lines up. Like, they broke up the Shifley-Connor pair. But then they went back to them on Sunday. Reifle-Connor pair. But then they went back to them on Sunday. And I almost wish that they were willing to, like,

be a little more flexible when things go badly and stick with it for a bit longer. Because, I mean, that other game was over. It was 6-1 or whatever it was when they broke them up. They did score twice. But next game, new start, they do the same thing. And again, they didn't give Washington much, but sometimes I wonder if they tried something different for a little bit longer, it might help them.

I don't know. It's just my theory watching them that when they break down they really break down and maybe there's something they can do to get themselves back into it because they they stick with what they know and for the most part they've been really good this year so i confess that this might not be the best argument but but I've been watching them the last few days after that great performance against the Rangers, and that's kind of what I wonder. Like I said, they're Jekyll and Hyde.

When they stay in their structure, they're great. When they don't, they really go sideways. I'm with you. Let's see it. Cole Perfetti, higher in the lineup. By the way, Winnipeg's road trip is over. They'll now be at home.

They kick off the homestand Tuesday against another team that's hit a speed wobble, the Edmonton Oilers. Okay, let me ask you just quickly, just a couple of thoughts. I'm always curious when you're doing studio for one of the games, just your takeaways on it.

Carolina-Toronto, you worked that Sunday evening 2-1 win for the Carolina Hurricanes. To me, this is a goalie duel. This is Anderson versus Joseph Wall. Both of them were outstanding. If this is one of your first times, anyone out there watching the Carolina Hurricanes, you quickly begin to realize that Brady Shea is due for a big payday from the

Carolina Hurricanes he's been a such a great defenseman for them for a long time and specifically this season what did you take away from that one well I just thought they started slowly like Toronto like the thing that's disappointing for Toronto is that they were in a situation where they could they could have moved within four points of Boston with two games in hand. They could have made it really interesting. And it took them 20 minutes to get going. They had an awful first period, a really awful first period,

and that cost them the game. They played much better in the second. They played much better in the second. They played much better in the third. But the first 20 minutes cost them the game because they made mistakes. They ended up in their own net. So that's the way I look at that. You know, Wool was really good. You know, Samsonov got hurt again, although it doesn't look like it's that serious. It was going to be an interesting last couple of weeks because, you know, Wool and Samsonov are going to battle it out for the number one spot, and look out, here comes Matt Murray.

Like, Matt Murray is probably going to be cleared in early April, early to mid-April. Now, I don't think that's going to mean he's going to play in the NHL. I think he ends up in the American Hockey League on a conditioning stint so they can avoid, like, cap disaster or anything here. But, you know, Wool and Samsonov, they've got to figure out who their number one goalie is going into the playoffs. And especially Samsonov can't stay healthy.

Wool hasn't always been able to stay healthy, but they've both given them good starts. Like, I thought they were good enough to win. That Carolina team, man, they are dangerous. They have a lot of talent. Seth Jarvis is getting to a new level. You can really see the confidence in what he's doing. You can see how that roster is filled out.

They check. They play hard. I thought that was a really, really good game. But, you know, Toronto, they're basically locked into third, and it's kind of where we expected they would be in their division. But I don't know. I thought that they started poorly, and it cost them a chance to potentially move up.

All right. A few more things here. We got a lot to get to here, and Montana's thought line is still to come as well. The Columbus Blue Jackets this weekend. Now, they're officially eliminated from the playoffs. So the fourth team. So they joined San Jose, Chicago, and Anaheim,

the first team in the East to be eliminated. Not the way the season was supposed to go, but we all know about the landmines all season long with the Columbus Blue Jackets. In my blog on Sunday, I referenced a conversation that I had with Rick Nash on Friday. Rick Nash will be the general manager for Team Canada at the World Championships.

He's the director of player development for the Columbus Blue Jackets. And, you know, coming off of a conversation before Nash, and that was with Brian Burke, who was on the show right before him. Burke, he talked a lot about mentorship and he mentioned people like Harry Sinden and Lou Lamorello.

We had a lovely conversation about that. And so I asked Nash on the radio show who he considered to be his mentors when it came to managers. And he cited, you know, the managers that he's played under. The first name was Jarmo Kekulainen. He also mentioned Jeff Gorton

and Don Sweeney and Steve Iserman, who would have been his general manager at Sochi at the Olympics. And he also included Mark Hunter in that mix. Now, Mark Hunter, Rick Nash was Mark and Dale Hunter's first pick after they bought the London Knights back in 2000, May of 2000 specifically.

And he was a wonderful London Knight for the Hunter brothers as well. But I know what I'm doing when I throw this in there. I'm not naive here. It's not exactly innocent. I just wonder with all the talk and speculation about who the next manager is going to be in Columbus and a lot of the whispers and the rumors and the hot goss about Mark Hunter. I just thought it was interesting that Rick Nash went to Hunter. And one of the things that he talked about

was that Mark Hunter, he considers someone that he turns to and looks up to and turns to specifically, in his words, turns to for knowledge. Am I reading too much into this, Elliot Friedman? Well, look, from the moment that the GM job opened up, we mentioned Mark Hunter and Columbus. And the reason is very simple. It's not only Rick Nash, but it's Basil McRae.

it's not only Rick Nash but it's Basil McRae and Basil McRae who's also an assistant GM in Columbus owns part of the London Knights with the Hunter brothers and as you know and you are much much closer connected to this than I am there has been buzz around the Ontario Hockey League for some time now that Mark Hunter will be leaving for an NHL team this offseason. And there's been some guesstimate it's Columbus, and there's other people who have guesstimated it could be Edmonton, assuming that Ken Holland is not back. Now, the thing about Columbus, as I mentioned,

after the GM meetings, John Davidson, who's the interim manager with the Blue Jackets, he made it very clear that the process has not begun yet and that any speculation of anyone anyone is premature but as you said you just cannot escape the speculation so I think it's fair to say and you know the thing is Columbus has made it very clear this is going to be an experienced person it's you know even though Rick Nash is going to be GM of Team Canada at the World Hockey Championships he is not going to be the next manager of the Blue Jackets. It's a much bigger job than the World Championship job. You know, the World Championship job, you pick a team, and you sit there and you eat nachos while the team plays.

It's not like an NHL job. Just kidding. You know, I don't want anyone to take offense, get too upset at this. Hey, Rick Nash. Hey, Shane Do upset at this. Hey, Rick Nash. Hey, Shane Doan before you. Hey, everyone else is running. That's going to go over really well. Well done.

But, you know, the NHL job is obviously much, much deeper than that. And, you know, the thing is, like, they want experience. And Hunter, although he's not a GM in his NHL history, he's been around a long time. He is an experienced executive. So I don't think the fact that he hasn't been a GM before is going to be a big issue in this particular case if he is one of their candidates.

So I would just say this, Jeff, that I think there's a lot of people who believe he's going to be on their radar if he wants to be they believe he's one of the contenders that they're going to interview but i would say that the idea it's slam dunk lock mark hunter there is premature and there are other people who have believed he's ticketed for somewhere else over Columbus. So we'll see. We'll see where it all plays out. Let me ask you about Vancouver.

You mentioned Elias Lindholm's name on Saturday headlines on Hockey Night in Canada. What's the latest? So Elias Lindholm did not practice on Sunday with the Canucks. The good news for Lindholm is that on Saturday night, he had a goal. And everybody in Vancouver land wanted to see that badly. Lindholm gets some confidence and score.

But as we said, he did not practice on Sunday. He also did not practice on Friday. Now, the word that I've gotten is they are managing him and evaluating him with whatever is bothering him on a day-to-day basis. Day-to-day. But it's been bothering him, and clearly the fact he isn't practicing is everything you need to know about the fact that there is something bothering him. I'm under the impression he's going to have an appointment this week.

If it's not Sunday, it's going to be early in the week, and that will tell us what route we're going. But I think everybody here is searching for clarity because obviously it's something that they feel he can play through, but it's also something that is clearly bothering him. So somewhere, some way, it's also something that is clearly bothering him so somewhere some way it's got to give do you just decide you're playing through it and not practicing or is this something more serious than that and i think everybody's trying to determine it and you know what i wanted to say

something else too about vancouver did you see the uh the instagram story from uh JT Miller's wife about his daughter great and see that was awesome so that was fantastic that was really nice to yeah see but that to me is is is the positive side about playing in a market like Vancouver like so JT Miller had a great line about how I was the worst player on the ice. I couldn't believe they were cheering for me. But you talk about all the pressures and challenges about playing in Canada. That is the reward. That if you play hard and those fans see that you're playing hard,

you will forever be a god to them and so when people say i don't want to play in canada it's too hard to play in canada to me that is why if i was good enough and we all know i'm not but if i was good enough that's why i would want it because i know if i gave an honest effort and i competed, then that would be the reward. That was a beautiful video. Yeah, I like that. That was a highlight for everybody this weekend. That was fantastic.

Now, one thing that I learned this weekend, Elliot, maybe it's one thing that we all learned this week, Elliot, and that is Moritz Seider is a lefty. Oh, my goodness. Holy jeez. Throwing bombs, him and Philip Forsberg. That was a great line from Forsberg, too, about how, oh, I started off really well, and then suddenly I wasn't doing very well. But he came back to score the winning goal.

We have a race, Jeff. We have races. We have races. Absolutely want to throw one more thing about Forsberg. He's now on a five-game goal streak as well. To me, that's toughness, by the way, Jeff, is that you lose the fight, you get pounded a bit, but you find a way to score the winning goal of the game.

That's toughness. Toughness is not throwing and taking punches only toughness is okay you get in the fight you take a little bit of a beating and then you shrug it off and you come back and you score the winning goal that's tough and you deliver a great line and this is a team that's on a 17 game point streak right now 15 0 and 2 they've won five games in a row we've talked about roman yosi here uh as well and don't look now but i don't know that anybody wants to face off against nashville in the playoffs they're running it was funny i think for a time people were like saying i'll take them i'll I'll take them. And now they're like, yeah, I don't know if I want to take them. You know, and all credit to them.

Like, those guys are pros. They turned a low point into a great point. And I really like them. And like I said, the last show, last podcast, Yossi's going to get MVP votes, and he might sneak into being a finalist. It's not out of the realm of possibility. But all of a sudden, too, Jeff, we have a huge game on Monday night.

It's St. Louis-Vegas and no Aiden Hill. Aiden Hill did not make the road trip, at least the start of it. So that says to me either they already know he's hurt for an amount of time and it didn't seem clear on Sunday, or they're getting him tested, whether it's an MRI or something else. They're getting him looked at on Sunday or Monday to figure out exactly what they're dealing with here. But that's potentially huge. You know, Logan Thompson.

Now, I do think that around the deadline, the Golden Knights considered the possibility of, do we need to deal with ourself in goal? And, you know, they stayed with the team that won in the Stanley Cup last year. They also got Mantha and they got Hannafin. So it probably put them in a place where they say, we got two other things we really needed.

We don't know we can really do this anymore. So those things were ahead of goaltending. But, you know, now you're sitting there and you're saying, okay, bad luck. Because injuries can hit you at any time. And that team knows it better than anyone else. But you've got to sit here and wonder, okay, huge trip. Going through a bunch of teams that are around them in the standings.

Plus Winnipeg. And now you're down your Stanley Cup winning goalie for last year. Great opportunity for Logan Thompson, but I will say this. It's been a little more fragile for the Golden Knights than I thought it was going to be. I still think they're going to be fine, but they poured it on against Columbus. Where did they out-shoot them? By 22-3 in the second period the other night. But it's still been a lot more of a challenge for them than I thought it was going to be a lot more.

Yes. I'm with you. Ultimately. I think that Vegas is, is still going to be fine. I don't think it's going to be as rough as watching someone roller skate down a gravel road, but I still do think it is going to be a little bit turbulent for the Vegas

golden Knights down the stretch. But again, like I'm with you, like this is a team, the course corrects. I'm not worried about the Vegas golden Knights down the stretch. But again, like I'm with you, like this is a team that course corrects. I'm not worried about the Vegas Golden Knights, comma, that much. Let me conclude this one

before we get to the Montana's thought line and we'll see where this conversation takes us. Let me start it this way. What was the reaction to you on Saturday headlines talking about the relationship between the CHL and the NCAA as recently as last week when the NHL general managers were briefed on the situation by the NHL yeah so this is an interesting one because Jeff um you and I talked about this a while ago and there were a lot of people who kind of rushed to deny it and you know I here's the thing and and I I understand this particularly people who cover

NCAA hockey the reason I found out about this is because a couple people said to me you know you were mentioning this earlier in the year and it came came up. So you should know it came up. And I think with people who cover NCAA hockey, who are the people they deal with the most is the coaches. And as you have kind of uncovered, there's some coaches of very big teams that tend to get the most coverage who are not in favor of this. They see the NCAA as winning the battle against the CHL.

And it's like, why would we concede right now when we are winning? And, you know, I think the thing, so I, and I understand why, you know, people who talk to these coaches would have got the impression that this is not going to happen. Well, the one thing that you kind of have to realize is the most powerful coach in all of college sports was Nick Saban, who just retired as the head football coach at Alabama, and he couldn't stop it. He couldn't stop the change.

And after he resigned, he basically said it wasn't fun anymore. You know, the players only care about the name, image, likeness stuff and the money. And if they're not happy, they just transfer somewhere else. And look, there has been a huge imbalance toward coaches, administrators, and against players in the NCAA for 100 years. And I can't fault the players for turning that world on its axis and saying, now that we can get ours, we're going to do it just like the coaches and the administrators have. But all the people who had the power before, they're really having huge trouble with it, led by Saban. But the other thing that's happened is that the NCAA is losing everywhere in court. You look at every case that's fighting in court, they are losing.

And when the NHL comes and says, look, we have to be prepared for this world, and we have to be prepared to deal with this world because the college administrators are seriously thinking about it it's not going to matter here what the coaches think if the college administrators are going to say we're doing it and according to the nhl they are considering it they're going to have to do it like that's just going to be the case so you know i understand the coaches not all of them made before this, but it's not their decision. This is not going to come down to them. Yes.

And if anyone isn't familiar with this story, what Elliot is referencing here is the conversation around NCAA hockey, allowing players into Division One, Division Three who have already played in the chl that is as of right now still not allowed now to the point about coaches the way it was described to me you know you look at some of the big division one programs that you refer to, and we all know who they are, but that's not all of division one. There are 64 coaches of NCAA division one programs. And as it was described to me, there's about 14 of them who disagree with this. The rest of them like it.

And the reason is, is what this will do is it'll help level the playing field between the super programs and the other programs in Division I. It'll create more of a competitive balance throughout NCAA Division I hockey. there is a American Hockey Coaches Association meeting May 1st to 4th in Naples, where I believe the NCAA will, I think, ask coaches what they think of all of this. I wouldn't be surprised if, you know, the NCAA legal team comes along to remind them

of what it is exactly you just spoke about, Elliot, that we're interested in your feedback. But at the end of this, it's probably, again, to your previous point, it's probably going to be the lawyers call here more than the coaches and certainly not just the coaches of all the big programs here. This one is huge. And speaking as a Canadian, this one would completely change the hockey development model. It would take a complete re-education of the development of hockey players in Canada. It would place NCAA Division I college hockey on top of the pyramid. one college hockey on top of the pyramid.

I think we wonder what would happen to leagues like the USHL. I threw in the blog this week that I wondered if perhaps the USHL would merge, get absorbed, however you want to describe it, by the CHL. These are all things that would need to be worked on. But at the end of it, I think that it at least feels to a lot of people and again nothing is certain in this case right now but it feels very much like this is trending this direction elliot that this is sort of marching towards what we see as an inevitability given as you've pointed out what's happened with other sports here again this would be massive you cited one thing that i thought was um was particularly salient on saturday and that is what does the

nhl do with players who may have been drafted from the chl but then move to division one if you're i believe i have to say jeff like that's one of the things the nhl has indicated is that they want to seat at the table yes to help so so pat lafontaine had a plan years ago that basically what was going to happen was they were going to talk about things like making the draft a 19 year old draft 18 year olds in the first round maybe the ushl uh competes for the memorial cup um chl players get that ncaa eligibility like this was something that was discussed a few years ago and but it just never got enough steam to where it could happen the fact this came up at the gm and basically the way the NHL presented it,

they are prepared for the possibility, if not likelihood, that this is going to occur. So we all better be ready for it. Be ready. It's a massive story. This isn't the last you will hear of it. And you'll hear plenty of it here on this podcast on Saturday headlines on both of our blogs and Twitter X feeds as well. Okay. Hit pause, take a quick break. We're back with the Montana's Thought Line and your favorite new jingle next.

Listen to the 32 Thoughts Podcast ad- the montana's thought line montana's barbecue and bar canada's home for barbecue Try the ribs. You've got to try the ribs. And as always, a big thank you to Rick Turner. Elliot, once again, you have the day off. Rick is handling the try the ribs portion of the podcast. 32 thoughts at sportsnet.ca. 1-833-311-3232. I want to start off by saying I don't know what to do with something.

So ever since we've started telling stories about gaston gingra breaking hands various people started off by talking about cassidy sovey uh we've been getting gaston gingra emails and i don't know if they're if they're real or if they're not at this point how much of this is just folklore what do you think we should do with it elliot i think what we should do is just lean into it understand that it's a bit and we'll just keep repeating them and just lean into it and have fun okay as wild as they may get yes i'm with you we are testing the creative abilities of our audience just has to be a story about gaston gingra and his slap shot So in that spirit, Matt submits this one. Again, I don't want to laugh if it's true,

but I just don't know at this point because we get so many. We all know you guys out there, you're twisted. We know that you would make some of this stuff up just to get on the podcast. And we respect it. Yeah, pretzels, all of you i was chatting with a colleague whose son is a novice goalie and was at practice with gas yeah yeah when gingra went to demonstrate a shot off the glass my colleague's son carter thought he was supposed to stop the puck so he jumped in the way and it took off his mask fortunately carter

is all right but the puck broke and now carter has a great story and an autograph broken puck thought you would appreciate that one and give a shout out to carter now this may just be a thinly veiled way to give a shout out to carter so wait let me get this story straight. Gaston Gingras is taking a slap shot at the glass. Carter. Novice goalie. For no reason, jumps in front of it and smashes his mask. Breaks the puck too. Don't forget about that.

Perfectly believable to me. No holes in this story. Way to go, Carter. Your most outrageous Gaston Gingras take or story. Welcome here at the podcast. All right. Here's one for you. Get your math hat on early, Elliot.

Okay, this comes to us from Josh. We taped this part of the podcast Sunday morning. Saturday is a long day. Okay, you're giving me math on Sunday? Okay, let's go. Yeah, okay. Here we go. Okay, from Josh.

Long-time listener, love the podcast, all the insight, especially Merrick's rabbit holes and weird equipment and rules. Josh, you are welcome. I love it hearing Elliot. Whenever I bust out. Okay, when Gary Bettman announced at the GM meetings that HRR was forecast to be $6.2 billion for the next year, it got me wondering. Okay. How is the salary cap actually calculated?

Per the CBA, players get a 50% share of revenue, correct? Well, doing the math on 6.2 billion estimate, 50% of 6.2B is 3.1B divided by 13 teams gets you to a salary cap for next year of 96.875 million, well ahead of the 87.7 million projected cap, even with a 5% margin of safety applied, HRR 5.89 billion, the cap would be 92 million. So how does the NHL and Players Association come up with 87.7 million? Thanks for your hard work on the pod. Great job, Elliot. Great job, Dom. Jeff, you're okay, I guess. Shrug. Oh, wow. Okay, thanks for that one, Josh. Shrug. I got shrugged. That's awesome.

So how did they do it? Well, it's a good question. And basic logic, your calculations in theory is correct. However, one of the things that happened is that during COVID, as the players took their full salaries, for the most part, there was one brief rollback that was repaid. There was the escrow balance is supposed to be 50-50. And because the money paid in salaries was much higher than the revenue gained by the league because of things like no fans in the building there was an imbalance and it had to be paid back to the league and it was finally completed this year so because COVID disrupted everything not only in hockey but worldwide the escrow imbalance had to be repaid before the cap could start going back up.

Now it's going up 5% next season. And there's something in the CBA that says it can go up 5% the year after. So next year, we're going to be at 87.7. The year after that, 5%. We're just going to be around 92. That's kind of where the cap is going to be. And then in three years, when we have a new CBA, it's going to be very interesting to see where that is going to go. Because at one point, Bettman did offer the players the chance to pay back the deficit

quicker, but this generation of players feeling they'd already lost enough money to escrow and things like that said no, which meant that the cap was flatter for longer. So that's the major reason is that there was a shortfall that had to be repaid. And also what was negotiated in that spring of 2020, as we were headed into COVID, that suppressed the cap for a few years. I will say this, there are some pretty aggressive projections that some teams and agents have over the next few years after this CBA is done, but nobody knows for sure. So I will say this, there are some teams and agents who have made some pretty aggressive predictions about where the cap could go after the 2025-26

season when this CBA ends. But nobody's certain, but they are hopeful that it won't be too long until the cap is up and over $100 million. So we'll see, but that's the major reason. Your math and your logic is fundamentally sound the issue however is the shortfall to the league or owners that happened during covid times uh elliot friedman talks cba the podcast equivalent of careless whisper ah elliot let's get to a voicemail uh tobias in edmonton hi my name is tobias i'm 12 years old and Tobias in Edmonton. Hi, my name is Tobias. I'm 12 years old and I'm from Edmonton. I have a question.

So say you get a penalty and the penalty is over. Can you stay in the penalty box and another person from the bench come on to take your spot? Thank you. Aha, so the idea that the player stays in the box but someone comes off the bench, Elliot, to take that player's place. No, as far as I understand,

you have to come out of the penalty box. The player in the penalty box has to come out. I've never heard of a situation where that would be allowed. Have you? Nope, never. You have to actually physically leave the box and get to the bench.

I think it does. If you want to take it one step further, if the player does stay in the box and we've seen this before like mike pecca famously on ty domey waited in the penalty box a couple of seconds late so he could time a hit when it was a buffalo toronto game so he waited in the penalty box for i think it's like a second and a half or maybe two seconds and as the maple leafs were skating through the neutral zone pecca emerged late penalty was over and caught taidomi unaware i believe he's done that or he did that rather boy that is times i don't like that that is well you hang on you're allowed to like for for a couple of seconds there won't be an extra penalty charge i think if you stay in there too

long there will be an extra penalty charge. But to take it one step further, the team, like once the penalty is expired, whether that player is on the ice or not, it is still considered full strength. Yeah. So the team can't ice the puck. Yeah. Because I think that's taking Tobias' question

about replacement players and turning it into a question about five-on-five versus power play. And that's a sort of, I think, natural extension of that one. Yeah. Pekka was Pekka was fierce, man.

Remember how it came from, like he wasn't a giant of a guy, but man could peck a hit. And he was smart. And that was he real tough player. And that's the one that I think everyone looks at and says that was a combination of toughness and guts at the same time. Like of all people,

he steps out on Ty Domi in the neutral zone. You see that video of Domi the other night when the fan was trying to. When his son was fighting. Yeah. He's fighting Janmark. And the fan was trying to tap him. Having no part of it. Domi.

Yeah. I probably would have stopped after the first one. Yeah. Just give him the stare, like beat it. Okay. Good question. Kevin in Toronto. Really good question.

Thank you for that, Tobias. And great name, by the way. I really do like Tobias. Kevin in Toronto. Question here from a Sens fan trapped in Toronto. Is there any provision for players who go on LTIR and have been acquired in a trade with retained salary? I saw that Matt Murray is skating again for the Leafs.

And while he's not back on the roster yet, I wondered if the Sens were provided cap relief in the same way the Leafs are. If not, why? If you're looking for great ribs and wings and brisket and this is what Kevin adds. Great ribs and wings and brisket. And this is what Kevin adds. It's well worth the trip to Syracuse to get some dino barbecue locations also in Rochester and Buffalo. Good job, Jeff. Good job, Dom.

All right, Kevin. I know you like the barbecue suggestions all around the United States. So dino barbecue in Syracuse. I'll put that one on your try the ribs map. Okay. But anyway, salary cap relief for the Sens with Matt Murray. So the best way to explain this is use Oliver Ekman Larson. So remember when Oliver Ekman Larson was traded from Arizona to Vancouver, the Coyotes retained 12% of his salary.

And then Ekman Larson was bought out. Okay. So when the Canucks bought him out, how did that affect the Coyotes? And basically, it's the same for the Coyotes as it is the Canucks. It is double the time, two-thirds of the money owed. If the Maple Leafs had bought out Matt Murray, anything that Ottawa owed to Murray would have the same formula. They would owe two-thirds of the salary over double the time. The other thing about that, though,

is that one thing that hurt Arizona about the Ekman-Larsen situation is that it meant that because Ekman-Larsen's contract had four years remaining on it, the Coyotes lost one of their three salary-retained spots for eight years. That's things, especially a team like the like the coyotes so that would be the thing that could hurt the sanders if the maple leaves had bought marie out it it was that ottawa would lose one of its retained salary spots for double the time remaining on the contract so if they

bought them out last summer instead of having one more year of it it would be two yes uh okay from there let's go to san diego uh this one starts off with a bang chris uh in sunny san diego esteemed hockey pundits i've never been i've always gone i've heard just great things i know i know i've heard it's amazing greetings from sunny san diego just so you know i'm out in my backyard picking tangerines and oranges as I listen to the pod. No, it doesn't suck here. Enjoy, Chris. We had a snowstorm on Friday afternoon. Enjoy picking tangerines and oranges.

A buddy turned me on to the NHL about six years ago, and now I'm a fiend. So hearing you guys talk about the nuts and bolts of the game is a godsend. For me, I can't learn fast enough. My question, during the game, why do players wait until after the puck drops to toss the gloves off and throw hands? Is this because scrapping when the clock is stopped is a bigger penalty? It might be a silly question, so maybe Jeff could field this one. Yeah. Oh, my God. The Department of...

You know what? I really like that. This is my favorite letter of all time. This is really stupid. So, Elliot, you take a break and let Jeff handle it. I really like this. Elliot gets, like, all the intricacies of the CBA. Like, you have to actually pore over documents and understand the ins and outs of the machinations of the NHL, the Players Association document.

And I get, it's a goofball question. So Merrick, why don't you do this one? I like that. I'm a big fan. So actually fighting before the drop of the puck is allowed in the NHL. There's two times that it's not. Now, if it's just like middle of a period and they decide to fight before a face-off, the referee does have the discretion to add a 10-minute misconduct. And I would imagine, Elliot, if you fight before a face-off, they probably would. So you're running

that risk. The only time that a game misconduct applies for fighting before a face-off is the opening face-off of the start of period two and the start of period three. If you do that, then you're issued a game misconduct. That's when you can't do it. There is your answer to your silly question. So Jeff should feel this one. Email. Thank you, Chris, in sunny San Diego. Let's finish up with a voicemail here. Elliot, this is Nick in Chicago.

I'm calling with maybe a basic question, but with the general manager meetings going on this week in Florida and everybody talking about them, it made me wonder, why do the general managers have a say in the rules? I guess I don't know who I thought that would be, but it's kind of surprising to me that it's the general managers.

And I don't know. I mean, I guess the commissioner or other people, executives and people in the league that might have more insight. So I was just wondering if you guys could explain why the general managers are in charge of the rules like that. Thanks. That's a great question i just think it's because the general managers are the ones who are kind of for at the forefront or the vice president of president of hockey operations they're at the forefront of the hockey side of the conversation from an executive point of view

so basically the way it goes is that anything that is recommended from the general manager's meeting has to go through the competition committee. And the competition committee has one owner on it. That's Craig Leopold from Minnesota, or it was. It had four GMs on it. It was Ken Hall and Steve Iserman and two that need to be replaced because Doug Wilson and David Paul are no longer GMs and there were also five players last time around it was Connor Hellebach it was James Van Riemsdyk it was John Tavares and I can't remember the last two I think one of them was Morgan Riley and it's co-chaired by Colin Campbell from the league and Ron Hainsey from the Players Association. So the managers, because they're sort of the forefront, I guess they are the forefront of hockey ops, they get to propose the rules.

That group, which has player and one owner input, is the next step. one owner input is the next step. And then if it goes through the competition committee, the board of governors votes on it and they basically rubber stamp everything. So that goes back a long way. Rules changes have generally always come out of there. Now, you know, the way the general managers are starting to look in this league is changing. General managers used to almost always be former players and long-time players. Now there's a different mix. And also, the competition committee is a relatively new thing where the players had a say. It used to be the managers just approved stuff. And then in the lockout CBAba the competition committee was created so the players

could have more of a voice as they should so that's kind of the way it works like the managers have always had a big say over the rules going back to the days when more and more former players with longer careers were the managers uh interesting side note on that too as much as we talk about players getting younger as well when you have a look at the the composition of either coaching or managing in the nhl friedman once upon a time and when you and i grew up like all you know all general managers were generally to your point ex-players but also people in their 60s and that sort of evolved now to people in their 50s and in some cases 40s as well managers are getting younger see dubas see davidson um and also and also coaches once upon

a time that was the uh the domain of the of the 40 year olds and now it's very much the domain of the 30 year olds so hockey's sort of getting younger at sort of every turn here and now the other thing even from ownership uh ownership's point of view, what are we talking about? Ryan Smith in Utah and new ideas, fresh blood, younger people owning teams. So I think as much as we talk about, it's a lot younger on the ice, ditto off the ice. This is a game that's getting younger at seemingly every single level.

Nick in Chicago. Thanks for the, for the voicemail on that one. Thanks to all the emails and voicemails. 32thoughts at sportsnet.ca. 1-833-311-3232. Your thoughts, your statements, and your stories about Gaston Gingras. Wrap up the podcast in a moment. Welcome back to the program. 32 Thoughts, the podcast presented by the GMC Sierra Elevation. And Elliot wrapping up another podcast here.

Looking forward to the week, but not before we have one more quick look back at Sunday. Elliot, it all started so swimmingly for the Pittsburgh Penguins against the Colorado Avalanche. Highlighted by an absolute highlight redirection goal by Sidney Crosby. Even surprising long time Sidney Crosby watchers. But then cue the comeback down for nothing. It's Walker who finds the back of the net. That's been a good pickup. Yakov Trennan, he scores.

He's been a good pickup. Jonathan Drouin scores. He was a good pickup for the Colorado Avalanche and Nathan McKinnon scores to tie things up he's always been good for the Colorado Avalanche and then Drouin ends it in overtime going wide on Chris Letang and I don't know what it is but ever since ever since they traded Jake Gensel it seems to me the one player who seems most affected by it, and again, this is only what my eyeballs are telling me, seems to be Chris Letang.

Druin burned him fast in that game on Sunday. Yeah, that was quite a goal. That was quite a comeback. I'm not going to lie to you, Jeff. When it was 4-0, I kind of turned away from it. Yeah, it was looking great for the Pens. It was looking great. But then, you know what?

When Walker scored, you're like, hmm, I wonder here. I told that to someone, and someone said to me, did you not listen to your own interview with McKinnon? How much does he love Sid? How much he hates to lose to him. Oh, yeah. That game was not over, and clearly it wasn't. I mean, Drew has one of the great stories of this season.

It's going to be interesting to see what happens with him contract-wise. Well, he's found it again, and he's happy there. Yes. He's found a really good place. We talked in the area of the podcast about Reinhardt. Yeah, like that's the thing. He's found a place where he's happy. He's back with his old Halifax Moosehead line mate.

Don't bleep with happy. Back with his Halifax Moosehead line mate, Nathan McKinnon. You know, visions of Memorial Cup still in the back of their heads and we'll see what happens this year but maybe a Stanley Cup as well I don't know if I'm Drouin I'm finding any way that I can to stay there

and don't forget too like there's people there are people I'll say this there are people that stuck their neck out and Nathan McKinnon was one of them to bring in Jonathan Drouin. And I don't know. I'm just thinking if I'm Jonathan Drouin, anything I can do to stay there, I'm staying there.

And it's worked for him. It's clicked. You're there. You've arrived. It's been great. And you need to look no further than Sunday's game against the Penguins to see how effective Jonathan Drouin can be.

It's fun to watch because he's a hell of a hockey player. Really good hockey player. Yes, excellent hockey player, and it's glad to see. Now, did you see John Tortorella post-game on Sunday? We have a new couturier. Is that what you're going for here? Well, you remember what you said last week about how Tortorella wasn't talking because he didn't want to pour gasoline on the fire.

Nothing good can come from me being honest with you right now. So I'm not going to say anything. Yes, that John Tortorella. Well, that's exactly what he did. He was asked about Felix Sandstrom after the game against Florida, and he didn't say a word. He sort of shrugged his shoulder twice and then left. Which some might say is even worse than

saying anything but i don't know i mean look it's tortorella so it's going to get a reaction yes one way or the other but it made me think even more about what you said nothing good can come of me talking so i'm not going to talk advice that i've never taken advice that i've never taken elliot it's a good thing you're a co-host of a podcast i always felt i could talk my way out of so I'm not going to talk. Advice that I've never taken. Advice that I've never taken, Elliot. It's a good thing you're a co-host of a podcast. Always felt I could talk my way out of anything and always failed miserably. On that, we'll wrap up. Thanks for listening once again.

Always appreciate the downloads. Always appreciate the attention. I always appreciate saying this, knowing that there's still going to be some of you that have hung in all the way at the end of the pod. On behalf of Elliot and Dom, we thank you for it. Have an enjoyable week. We will rejoin Friday morning.