32 Thoughts: The Podcast - It Kind of Says That We’re a Better Team Than Them

Episode Date: December 22, 2025

In this edition of 32 Thoughts, Kyle Bukauskas and Elliotte Friedman break down the Minnesota Wild being humbled by Colorado for their first loss since the Quinn Hughes trade, including the Avalanche���s not-so-subtle social media response. The guys touch on Buffalo’s win over New Jersey on Jack Hughes’ return night and Jarmo Kekäläinen reshaping the Sabres’ front office (11:10). They talk Nashville’s push to “win the week” while still valuing Ryan O’Reilly (19:51), and the on-bench spat between Philly's Michkov and Tocchet (30:01). They also cover a busy league-wide mix of injuries, and milestones like Sidney Crosby passing Mario Lemieux (33:40), Danault returning to Montreal (35:46), and growing confidence around Ottawa (44:31). Elliotte and Kyle weigh in on concerns around Toronto’s scoring drought (51:46), more changes to the NHL Draft (57:20) and looming ECHL labor unrest (1:03:09). The Final Thought features Kyle’s travel misadventures in Grand Junction, Colorado (1:11:38).Kyle and Elliotte answer your emails and voicemails in the Thoughtline (1:21:55).Today we highlight Canadian rockers The Sheepdogs out of Saskatoon and their new single Nobody But You. Check them out 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

And those thoughts are going through my head over the speaker, Paul McCartney's Wonderful Christmas Time is playing. So imagine like you're trying to think. And all you hear is simply having a wonderful Christmas. I'm like, it's not that simple right now, Paul. Welcome to 32 Thoughts, the podcast, fresh off the busiest Sunday in the NHL calendar to date this season. 10 games on Sunday. You don't see that very often.

We got a lot to get to there. Elliot, Kyle, Dom, back with you. How are you supposed to get any shopping done with all of that going on on the weekend, plus football, plus holiday movies, plus everything else? You have... Three days off, as a result, you get extra games. You had the green jacket going on hockey night over the weekend. And not because you were... Pardon me?

Great jacket. It is a beauty. It reminds me of Will Ferrell-inspirited. okay that's obscure that's obscure that's obscure but it reminded me on the on the movie poster him and ryan reynolds that's what it reminded me of but the green was not symbolizing you being in a grinchy mood you've got a quota to hit you only ruin so many people's Christmases you have hit that you're like I'm not doing any more now the holiday roster freezes in effect we're not going to disrupt anything over the next few days.

We got our holiday party. Can I explain that story? Yes. So a few years ago, we went after New Year's, I went on the road to do a piece on someone. And it was a penguin. And I went to go say hi to another player. And I said, hey, how you doing? And he goes, you ruined my crazy.

Christmas. I said, what? And it wasn't even me. It was someone else that I worked with, but it wasn't even me who said that he was someone on his team's trade block. And he said our whole Christmas, we were at dinner, we were staring at each other saying, is this going to be our last Christmas in this city? So, every I was like, oh, and I wasn't even responsible for this one. You couldn't even blame me for this one. And so I said to myself, from now on during the freeze, none of this. I am letting people have Christmas. So kind of you. You are in the business of making people feel good. You know who else is in the business of feeling good right now?

Who's that? The Colorado Avalanche. What a statement. Yeah. What a statement. You know, so I will get into, I was in Nashville over the weekend. Barry Trots has a line going that the avalanche are in the Champions League while everyone else is in the Premier League right now. Yeah.

So what about their game in Minnesota, five to one on Sunday evening? You could tell they were jacked up for that game. game. The wild of won seven straight. They're unbeaten since they got Hughes. They feel great about themselves. The avalanche were like, that's nice. That's really nice. We're happy that you're feeling really good about yourselves. We're happy that you consider yourself part of the cream of the NHL, the elitists of the Central Division. We've been doing this all year. It was tough to tell who was more jacked up, McKinnon or McCar.

One of the things we talked about, Kyle, was when this trade happened, the three best defensemen in the league were going to be in the same division. And I do believe that Hughes, once he got convinced that he could win in Minnesota, he was like, yes, I'm going to love challenging myself against McCar and Hayeskinen. I'm going to love taking those guys on.

Tell you who else loved the idea. You could tell Cal McCar really love the idea. Oh, yeah. Coming for my throne? You're going to end up like Ned Stark. Wow. Well, that was game one.

There's going to be plenty more of this we're going to see a lot more of this in the future but it was i was reminded after the game that the last time they played remember there was that stuff with wallstead like i had no i had no problem with wallstead so someone after the game sent me a text saying oh the the avalanche they wanted to get to wallstead and i'm like because of the fist pump seriously like are we that soft that the fist pump is a problem the guy just won a huge game and he can't fist pump because he's excited and the guy goes no no no not the fist pump i said did you hear what he said after that game i said no i i missed that one and he said something like

it kind of says that we're a better team than them that was the quote i was like he said that I said, yeah, he said that. And I said, is there any chance like this is like one of those And look, people, I know Swedes speak English, I do. But sometimes there's like syntax things. Guys like, no, he said it. And I go, well, I could see the avalanche pinning that one up on their wall

as they walked out. But that's, I can't wait to watch all of this in the playoffs. whoever ends up 2-3 whichever team wins that if Colorado wins the first round I cannot wait to see all this but we're all excited about the wild last week

and for good reason they made a huge trade and they played great but the avalanche reminded everybody that the big bully on the block is in Denver and the only bad thing in Colorado right now is that the airport is too far away from the city. Other than that, everything is perfect.

Oh, I've got a story about the Denver airport. We'll get to later on in the pod, Elliot. Oh, yes, yes, yes. I remember this, yes, yes. So you mentioned Wollstett's line of a kind of says. were a better team than them about pinning it on the wall. Yeah. Yeah, but to take a gander of the Colorado Avalanche X account

and what is pinned to the top of their feed? No, you know what? We're going to talk about the sabers. The sabers have been struggling for so long that now that they've won six in a row, and I know we're going to get to them, their social media team has been pulling out everything they've been saving for the last 15.

years they are savage right now let me check the avalanche i've been i've been so busy laughing at the sabers going into their bag of day we can use this i didn't notice anybody else yeah force of nature versus everyone no but pinned their top post oh it's right there so it's a avalanche win graphic with the quote it kind of says we're a better team than them oh boy not only was it pinned on their physical wall it was pinned on their social media wall as well elliott so how many times do you think after the avalanche played on friday was like walking up to McKinnon. Remember what Walstead said after the last game? Or Lannisog or Natchez or Macar? Bednar's not beyond that.

He knows how to rile up his guys. That's great stuff. League needs more of that stuff, man. I've got no problem with Walshatt saying it. I got no problem with the Avalent. using it that give the people what they want beef and i'm not talking about the stuff you're buying the butcher shop yeah i just love too that at colorado he e e f beef kyle they want beef where's the beef we found it we found it i love that i mean obviously for minnesota

it's a big game for them as well but I love the avalanche came in there and it was like this this matters like watching McKinnon's post game going we had a good meeting this morning we were all like we were excited about playing especially at a time where we're in this was the shortest day of the year

we're in the depths of winter almost at the holiday break perhaps guys would have one eye on the game one eye on okay where am I flying first thing Christmas Eve to get some family family time in, uh-uh, not with the abs. This is the time where the way McKinnon is wired makes a huge difference because if there

were guys on that team who were kind of looking at it like Christmas dinner is in four days, he would say, if you don't play today, you're going to be my Christmas dinner. Or you would take it away You're not eating on Christmas dinner You're looking forward to Christmas dinner Too bad you're going to starve Because you just lost it We're going on a huddnger strike

And I'm doing it too Oh my gosh So as impressive as that Colorado win was over Minnesota And it was impressive How about the Buffalo Sabres another W, but not only did the savers beat New Jersey, they beat the cumulative star power of Tate McCrae, Paul Skeins,

Livy Dunn on Jack Hughes' return, and he scored. Incredible. No wonder they couldn't wait to start getting the guns out of the holsters after 15 years of not having much ammo to clap back with online. That's right. That's not only good hockey. That is cosmic power.

That is Dr. Strange manipulating the time stream. That is when you are on a roll that's bigger than just what's happening on the ice. The devils were wired. You could tell the players were excited. You could tell the fans were geeked up for that one. And like I said, it was it was Star Power Night in Newark. Hughes scored a beautiful goal, but that's the difference right now. Like when you feel it, when you're confident, like you watch right now, Kyle,

it is stark right now to see the teams in this league that are confident versus the teams that aren't. Buffalo, they look like they believe in themselves more than they have in maybe a decade. Vancouver makes this trade we all think they're going to have trouble winning the Calder Cup and they're on fire and they're back in the playoff race Calgary we'd completely written them off at the beginning of the year and they're like they're back in the race and not only that but they embarrassed Vegas on Saturday night oh my gosh I know Vegas is in a bit of a bad place right now

is Theodore's not playing and Eichel's not playing, but they don't get embarrassed like that. Like Calgary skated rings around them in that game. San Jose at the beginning of the year, they couldn't stop a puck. And now they're right there. And on the other hand, you have teams like Toronto where, I mean, I don't know if he saw Nealander's quotes

after Sunday's game, but he's like, I've never felt like, this before. And the thing that's so amazing to me about that is that I didn't know I would ever see anything that would ever affect Nealander's confidence. Like, I would think that guy could go without a goal in 38 games and still feel super confident, just because of the way he's wired. He had a play on Sunday night, Kyle, where he went one-on-one with a, with a skating back Sam Steele a Ford like Willie Nealander is a guy who is undressed some of the NHL's best defenseman and Sam Steele knocked the puck off him I mean he and they

they just look so lost right now but I just I do want to get back to the Sabres it's an incredible run and I'm really happy for the fans of Buffalo. They deserve it. And you've got to keep it going. That's the key. There's lots of teams in the league. We just talked about a whole bunch of them.

They have a hot two weeks, or they have a bad two weeks, and you feel like Superman. And other days you feel like super dud. But it's great for the Sabres that they're doing this right now. And it's interesting because it comes at a time where I think Keckleinen is looking at it like, don't muck up the dressing room like these guys feel great about themselves right now let them go

but he's starting to reshape the front office mark bergervin's now there josh flin's now there like we talked when he took over that there's almost everybody there is in the last year of their contracts and someone who knows kekelein and told me that he'll be fair he'll go in there like his history is he generally doesn't like people being in the last year of his deals so he's either going to extend these guys or he's going to give them plenty of time to say sorry it's not going to work out for you here the one thing he doesn't do is he doesn't wait until the last minute like i've seen situations before in the NHL the calendar year ends June 30th like some people they don't find out they're not coming back until like June 30th, and then it's almost impossible

to find a job somewhere else. That's not his way. He'll, if he's letting go of you or you're not staying, he'll tell you well in advance so that you have time to go out there. And, you know, we saw last week he let someone go, tough time of year, but he lets someone go Jason Carmanos. And it kind of fits with what this person told me about Keckleinen. If you're not part of his viewpoint, he will let you go early so that you have a chance to go somewhere else. But it's interesting. He's remaking the off ice while he's letting these guys go on the ice. And, you know, the other thing I heard was it's not going to be automatic these cleaning

house. There are some people there. He's either met and likes or he's heard good things about and he's going to give them some runway but you know one of the things i was i was watching buffalo last couple days kyle josh norris yeah i know he is so much the linchpin of a lot of this stuff here because if it's thompson norris mccloud you can win with that you can win with that but it's important he stays healthy if if he does they are so much of a different team yeah that was my thinking like i don't think it's a total coincidence that he comes back into

the lineup and suddenly the results have been what they have been for buffalo it's it does make a difference there's no question and you just hope for his sake and everybody else there that it can become a bit of a run here. And we hear the idea of coach bump. Like they've got the GM bump here. Yes. Now in Buffalo. I just go back to some of the quotes that Dahlene had last week after the change was made.

You could just tell there is respect there of like this guy's been around a long time. I trust whatever he said to the team internally, however he's conducted himself and the time he's been around. like, okay, I'm curious to see where he's going to take us from from here. And now, like, an important start for UPL too. I know, not right now at some point, that three goalie situation is going to get sorted. Sabers fans, I don't want you all over me again. I'm not talking about your goalies.

It's the trade freeze. Yeah. And especially if we go back to their admin waiting for a run like this, remember the start of last season. It was Buffalo and New Jersey overseas. And remember the 0-2? O-N-2 graphic that the devil's put out? Can't tell me the Sabres haven't forgot about that.

Oh, yeah. A lot of these young admin social media people, they have long memories. They keep the receipts, man. They keep the receipts. Remember you said this thing about me five years ago? Revenge. Yeah.

It's good. It's so good. It's great entertainment. So Buffalo's rolling. Colorado continues to roll. Boy. Natural won twice on the weekend. Yeah.

Their whole thing now. Win the week. Win the week? That's the mantra. See where it gets you. They've got a lot of climbing still to do. But they won. They were over 500 each of the first three weeks of December.

They won the weekend, this weekend. They won twice. So what were all those guys telling you about Ryan O'Reilly while you were down there? Well, so Luke Evangelista, by the way, kind of a late entrant for goal of the year. Oh, yeah. In the third period against Toronto, that was gorgeous. I was talking to him earlier in the morning, and I just asked because he's been, he's played a lot with O'Reilly on his line and asked about kind of influence he's had on him and he's like, man, I could go for hours. One of the most interesting

thing he said was, because, you know, Evangeloisa went through the whole contract stuff during the summer into training camp and he said, O'Reilly was one of the guys that was just constantly checking in, not overbearing, but just that calm reassurance from someone who's been through his own share of contract stuff and the business side of hockey over his career. He's like, I can't thank the guy enough for the impact he's had there to say nothing of the hockey stuff. But it's funny, Elliot. Who knows where this all goes with Nashville and if they keep this up, you know, maybe the narrative changes. But with O'Reilly in particular, everybody still loves Ryan O'Reilly there, teammates, Andrew Burnett was joking. He's like, I need two more

of him just to keep all the forwards happy because everybody wants to be on his line because the theory is when you're on a line with Ryan O'Reilly, your production goes up. And then And when someone gets taken off, they're upset going, well, why am I not on O'Reilly's line anymore? You know, so regardless of what his production numbers are, anything along those lines, internally, he is still a big, big part of what they're doing in Nashville. Yeah, those guys all want to play with them, eh? They all love them. They don't want him to go anywhere. Yeah.

It's just funny. Let's see to Vernette. Oh, yeah, I go, I put him with Forbesbury. and then make some change at some point. Forrest was going, why am I not playing with O'Reilly anymore? You could just tell it's a constant conversation because everybody wants to be on his line.

So by the way, there's a press conference on Monday in Nashville. It's going to be Bill Haslam, the owner, and it's Nick Saban, who has joined the ownership team. And I was kind of wondering about this because Bill Haslam hasn't really spoken to the media yet in quite some time. and I was asking around, what's he going to say? What's you going to say?

And some of the people told me it's actually not so much a press conference about Haslam. It's more of a press conference about Sabin, because after it was announced, there were so many requests to speak to him because he's a god down there, an absolute god. Even though he's Alabama and that's Tennessee and their big college football rivals, I mean, Sabin. as a big star in that part of the United States. There were so many requests that he's going to talk. So I don't know if I'm expecting any grand pronouncements from Haslam, although I figure if he's there, some of the hockey media is going to say, hey, what are your plans? Like, there were some questions if Haslam was going to make changes.

I've heard that Barry Trott still has runway there. And I'm really curious about where all of this is going to go. because there's a lot of different ways that Nashville could go here. I still do think they're definitely going to try to get younger. I don't think there's any doubt about that. And I still think they're going to listen to ideas people may have. But I've heard that Trots has a runway there. So, you know, we'll see what they have to say on Monday.

Sabins met with the predators on a couple of occasions. He did it once in training camp. I think he did it once last year around the trade deadline. At the 2017 Stanley Cup final, Kyle, in our box where we were hosting from at the games in Nashville, Sabin was in the next box over. Like he was right next to us. Oh, wow. Yeah, so I had a chance to briefly talk to him once. And, you know, I didn't want to bother him.

He was watching the game, but, you know, we kind of made eye contact. and he's like, where are you guys from? And we chad for a couple of seconds. But he's got a presence. Like, whatever it is, he definitely has it. And it'll be interesting. You know, I was wondering when I heard he was doing the press conference, like, is he going to offer them advice?

Like, are they going to ask? And I think from a coaching and a team building point of view, the answer to that is yes. I don't think you're going to be offering too many opinions on players. but I just think it's kind of interesting once he got named apparently there were a lot of requests like we want to talk to this guy so I'm probably going to watch it online I'm curious to see it apparently he's got a line that Barry Trotz likes about high achievers and low achievers said high achievers don't like low achievers and low achievers don't like high achievers I think that's very interesting very very interesting. I wonder if him being in the box next to you at the cup final all those years ago, was that the first spark of him potentially leading to a career in television that we see

him now on college game day and all that, looking at the set, looking at the panel. He would have seen genius in action with, you know, Ron and Kelly there. Not so much with myself, but. Yeah. But him for sure. So on those two guys, I won't be able to touch. But that guy in the end there. I could be better than him.

Why is he the one I locked eyes with and had to talk to? That's right. He was probably looking around you to try to get to Ron. Oh, no, not that one. Not that one. By the way, I heard Barry Trots busted you for lack of hair gel on Saturday morning. It, oh, I know, it was a, well, yeah, Friday leading into Saturday, and again, we'll get to that later. but I was trying to make a dash to a great coffee spot in Nashville, Elliot, called Kremah.

Like, it is, people in Nashville know, like, if you're going for a good cup of coffee, that is the spot. And it's a bit of a walk, nothing too crazy from the hotel, past kind of where the arena is to get to. And then I was hustling back to get to the availability because it started even a little earlier than they initially had said. So I was a little dishevelled. It was actually a mild morning. in Nashville, sun was out. So nature kind of took its course there. And yeah, things weren't holding together up top as well as I otherwise would have liked. And I happened to bump into Barry at the rink in the morning. We were talking for a bit. And then I see him after the game just by

happenstance. And he goes, yeah, I like you better when you got hair product in. And I said, oh, I do have it in. He goes, I know you have it in now, but you didn't this morning. I said, I know, I was a mess, Barry. You're right. I typically don't like to show. up to the rink like that, but it was one of those mornings on Saturday. Worth it, great latte, but it came at a bit of a cost. It came at a bit of a cost. We'll see, like Sabin's an interesting guy to come into that fold, don't you think? Just because you say his background, and I know Trots has talked about publicly, like

how he's met with the coaches before, just to talk philosophy. Like I know you've always told the story of Claude Julian when he was there in Boston and some of the other coaches, whether it was Bill Belichick or Terry Francona and go down the list from there, like picking their brains. Bruce Cassidy was big into that too when he was in Boston later on. Great opportunity to learn. Like, what a cool resource. I'd listen to him.

I've read a couple books about him. He's pretty fascinating guy. Yeah. There's a great story I read about him. The one place where it didn't work for Sabin was in Miami. with the Dolphins, obviously. It was after he was won national championships with LSU, he went to the Dolphins and eventually he went back to Alabama.

But one of the great stories I read about him at Miami was he was in the bathroom at a urinal and like a wide receiver walked in and saw and went to do his business. And the guy said, hey, coach, how you doing? He goes, I'd feel better if he could make a catch or two. The guy said, he was busting me even at the urinal. Well, I love the one story about when he was in Alabama, and the rule was, like, if you were a lineman, in between plays, you don't put your hands on your knees, you don't put your hands on your hips, no signs to the guys across the line of scrimmage that you're at all fatigued or wearing down or anything like that. That was a rule.

And they got themselves in shape in the summer work. workouts and into camp before the season to make sure that never happened was uh quite the program that he was running there oh yeah i'm a big tennessee football guy i love the volunteers i still it's on my bucket list of places to go in neeland stadium i have to do that but uh so i wasn't the biggest saving fan when he coached alabama and ls u he beat them plenty but i'm going to watch that on monday i'm going to be really interested to see what he has to say Okay, a few other things. Let's talk Mishkov a little bit here.

Yeah. Him and Rick Tockech on the bench on Saturday. So last year it was Mishkov and Tortorella. And the issue was that Mishkoff said something on the bench to Torderella. He was snarky. And Tortorella didn't like it. this one it was more with miskov and yogi sverskovsky and it looked to you that Tuckett was trying to stop it right well it was almost like he knew the likelihood of the cameras being on them like just the constant hand on the shoulder going okay okay like trying to de-escalate of like don't need everybody looking at this and it becomes. becoming a thing, it felt like that was a big part of the messaging to.

Of course, I'm not there. I can't hear it, but just trying to read the body language, that was what Tocke was trying to accomplish also, don't you think? Yes, I think you're right. When I heard your theory on that, I agree. Now, what I think happened was if you go back and you watch the play and you sort of watch the hand motions that are happening on the bench between. Sveshkov and Mishkov, I think that Svskosky was telling him Mitzkhov was in the wrong place,

either supporting the play, and Mishkhov was trying to tell him, I think I was in the right place. That is the vibe I got from that exchange, that he's trying to tell him, you're supposed to be over here, and he's like, no, I did the right thing. And you're right. Tuckett is trying to calm it all down. That's what it looks like to me. Yeah, you can be totally right. I mean, if there's one thing we've learned about the guy,

skilled player can make a lot of great things happen, but he can run hot. Yeah. He can run hot. And whether that's continual coaching to try to get him to a point where there's times where you can let it out and other times you've got to keep it a little more to the median or is it just become something

that the team has to live with to some extent but it just could get the sense like that was the old thing with Ken Hitchcock right like he would know when the cameras were on him so during a stoppage he did it during play of gameplay that's right stop it he would do it during game play wouldn't say a word soon as the puck was dropped cameras were elsewhere, then he would land

based into his guys. And you could just see talk, it's like, okay, all right, okay, settle. I'm not going to overreact to this. I'm not going to overreact to this. He's still young. He's in his second year in North America. I'm just not going to overreact to it.

I don't think that's necessary. Sure. But that's what that was. I'm pretty sure after looking at it I would be surprised if it wasn't something like that an argument over whether he was in the right space or not and the coaches told him no and I think he was saying yes All right, Sidney Crosby

not in Montreal but against Montreal no less ties Mario Lemieux for the all-time franchise record and points and then surpasses a few moments later on Sunday night. Sid stands alone. He took over Mario's assist record last year. This season, he takes down the point total 1724 and counting. For the player that had unbelievably, you thought impossible expectations to try to meet back in the spring of 2005, and he has shattered all of them. I kind of got the impression he was getting sick and tired of talking about it

as they were losing and especially since they were not scoring but if you watched him in the aftermath of the game you could tell he was a little bit emotional about it like it was a big deal you could tell that Crosby was kind of like I wish this would have happened five games ago so that it wasn't constantly hanging over our head and I'll be honest with you I wish it would have happened

in Montreal. It's great for the Pittsburgh fans. Like the Pittsburgh fans should get that moment with him. You could tell Justin Bourne, I don't know if it's Posternak's 400th goal from earlier this year. When we showed the highlights in our Dallas Toronto broadcast, he's like, now that's something you should come off the bench for.

I was like, oh, you're still upset about that Boston one, eh, Justin? And, but so it's, it's good that the Penguins fans get that moment. I wanted Montreal, I wanted to be selfish, grew up a Canadians fan,

would have been on a hockey night and Saturday night, probably worked out for the better. But the thing that struck me was that guy he doesn't really care a lot about personal stuff, that one meant a lot to him. That's a massive game on Tuesday, Pittsburgh at Toronto, 4 o'clock Eastern. And, you know, Montreal is going to have Philip Dono joining them on Tuesday night, in Boston I got to tell you

I think that exit between De No and the Kings was was not pretty I think there were a lot of hard feelings there a lot of hard on both sides

on both sides yeah how did it deteriorate so quickly in the end I don't know that was that was so they're in year five of a six year deal

and you'll remember like he left Montreal because he didn't you know, they, they weren't offering him what he felt was right. And L.A. went hard at him. Like, they really targeted him that year. They really wanted him. And it was a good marriage.

Like, he was a good player for them. And even though they couldn't beat the Oilers, he was very competitive in those series. He played hard. I thought it, I thought it would look like it worked out great. But I guess at the beginning of this year and, you know, obviously they made Byfield like, okay, we're committing to him full-time center and Kopitar he was down to the third line and the first three years in

LA he had the three best shooting percentages of his career and he fell down to six and a half last year and he was obviously at zero this year because he hasn't scored and I don't know if he felt that the system was limiting him like he's never been overly fast so some people are like he really slowed down this year I'm not sure that I think that I don't know but maybe there's some data that says he did but he never seen And he always seemed to me like just really intelligent, really smart more than he was quick. But this year, he dropped down on the third line center. It wasn't working.

He had no goals in five points and 30 games. And I just heard it got really intense, really intense and really off the rails. And, you know, as we'd said and we talked about, they wanted to trade him for another center. And they ended up doing it for a second round draft pick. I don't think this is something that Ken Holland wanted to do, but I think it was something that he was like, you know what, we have to do this. Because I just heard like there were a lot of hard feelings there on both sides.

And, you know, last week he missed the game with illness and Byfield showed up on the trip and he didn't. And look, I'm not accusing anyone of anything. I'm sticking to the facts, and the facts are that I just think that he was, he really wanted to move on. And I think by the end, they were like, this has to be, this has to end. This is too distracting. And you got to think that this is going to lead to something else L.A. does down the line. Obviously, they can't for the next little while, but that now becomes a hole for the team that expects to be in the playoffs.

So it didn't get the player back in this deal, but they got to think it's somewhere out there. But, you know, but the thing is, Kyle, it's like, I think it just shows you, like someone was saying to me on Sunday that it just showed, or Saturday, it just shows you how bad that relationship got that, yeah, it's hard to find centers and they traded one.

Right. Like, even though he was struggling this year, Dano can play. Like, he's a good player. So people were surprised they did it. It just shows. that it went sideways. I think there was something similar with that

to the Marchman thing, too. Just wasn't a good fit. And, you know, Don Waddell, as I wrote on Saturday morning, he had him a couple, he thought he had him a couple years ago and he was in Carolina when Marshman was a free agent. And the last minute he went to Dallas, which turned out to be really good for him. so I'm not surprised at all that Waddell would do that.

And I think everybody, again, Marshman, Seattle, I think they just realized it hadn't worked. No. So those were the two deals right before the midnight deadline back on Friday. You want to run through all the injury stuff because, man, a whole whack more over the last few days. Starting with Tristan Jari and Edmonton? Yeah, so they said a couple weeks, and that's good news.

I think they were worried about the possibility it could be longer. Connor Ingram played his first game since February, played really well, beat Vegas. By the way, Vegas, they're not worried about Theodore and Eichel for the Olympic teams either, nothing like that. But Jari, Seth Jarvis, I think we'll get an update on Monday. and Jarvis, it sounds like they're hopeful it won't be something that cost them the Olympics

but they wanted to have their doctors see them for sure. I have to tell you after I mentioned it on Saturday night about Carolina being mad about the lack of a tripping call on the play with Jarvis. I got a lot of people

around the league who were agreeing You know, I'll tell you something else, too, that people said to me is they were disappointed, but they understood that Carolina didn't challenge that one where Marchand speared Bussy in a very uncomfortable location because they wanted to know what the ruling would have been. Yeah. Yeah. They wanted to know how it would have been ruled because that would have been of all the different reviews we've seen since that rule got brought in. I think that would have been a first. Because what someone said to me was he thinks they would have lost because they could have made an argument that he had time to reset. But they wanted to know for sure.

Right. Especially because they're like they're now that they got a. away with it one time. This one, what one coach said to me was, now that this has worked once, other people are going to start doing it. Oh, God. I mean, there's only so many situations where you can kind of try to make it look like you're not doing it.

A lot of the time, you would really have to go out of your way. But the thing about he's got time to reset is, you know, Elliot, we've talked about it. Like, it's all arbitrary. There isn't a hard and fast. well, he's got two seconds, and then we consider him able to reset. So when you consider where he got hit, I would have been really curious to see how the situation room would have viewed, okay, how much time is appropriate for Bussie to reset when that happens. I know. I'll tell you, you know what, if I would, that would have happened to me on Saturday, you know, and I would have been able to reset.

boxing day at the Olympics yeah oh my gosh the first week of February you know middle school sack tap yeah so they were they were furious about that one um so someone was asking me why did you call Tyler Cleven Rocky Cleven they're like what was that did you just give him a nickname and I said did you Google it I did yeah because I I'm going, surely you're thinking of, there was just another name in your mind? And I'm like, Rocky Cleaver. Yes. Okay, that makes sense.

But Steve Fellon, who was one of the brains behind SportsNet stats, when I got off the air, he said to me, you were thinking of Rocky Cleaver. I was like, felon, I've never been so happy to see you because one person knows what I was doing. Rocky Cleaver was an old tight end for the New York Jets in the 80s, a very good one. and for some reason, and it's not the first time I've called him that, but I've only done it privately, not on the air. So we'll see, obviously, he didn't play on Sunday against Boston. Ottawa, they're starting to go.

Like the one thing I think about Ottawa is they should be able to score. Yeah, and now they're starting to. Yeah, I'm not a heck of a year. Yes. Stozo, what, seven-game point streak now? Six against, she. Chicago, six against Boston, and I know it's Corpusallo and it's not Swainman, but still, like, the Bruins have been a much improved team. To me, Ottawa should be able to score against

anybody. Yeah. And here's another big key to this, too. Like, Zetterland's starting to become part of the conversation. Yes. He had a really rough start. I've always thought, I've always thought that Zetterland is a better player than he'd shown there earlier on. And I'm glad to see that I'm might be actually right about that yeah i mean me too but it was just as time got on you're like oh man is this going to ultimately be one of those it just doesn't fit here but he's starting to to get warm as well and playing a big role in what ottawa's doing as they climbed their way back up things um there was a lot of concern late on saturday night watching zach wrenski after he scored a beautiful goal to tie the game in Anaheim in the third period, crawling off the ice.

And then really heartless, too many men penalty. Salt in the wound, too many men. Initially, you think they're blowing it down because the players hurt. Nope, benchminer Columbus, too many men already down a goal. But Aaron Porcelain put up when x-rays came back negative, no broken bones. so it looks like the worst avoided for not only Columbus but Team USA as well we've gotten to that point of the season a for if when it comes to the certain types of players if they're in the Olympic conversation and there's an injury it's okay how long are

they out and what does this mean for February and mark my words Kyle this is going to be a thing there's going to be fights between some of these players and some of these teams no doubt about it no doubt about it last year it was Quinn Hughes and Vancouver like I even remember Hughes he didn't even really want to get into what happened right yes and he said he said he understood their point of view but there's going to be something this year where either the league or the PA is going to have to step in and adjudicate it that's my prediction right now because these guys want to go so badly

and who can blame them it's what they fought for in the CBA and the teams are going to be like you've got to be kidding because we're getting into that timeline where it's close we're six weeks right we're six weeks do you have any

further intel on J.T. Miller on that front again they're just saying he's going to be back beforehand it won't be an issue. All right But, wait, can we talk about Mo Cider a bit? Do you have any other injuries you want to talk about? Just going to mention Frank Nazar.

Great guests on the pod. Tough to see four weeks for him. That was just bad luck on Saturday in Ottawa. I got a text from one of the great Chicago Blackhawks broadcasters, Pat Boyle, is like 32 thoughts curse. Pat, don't put that out there. No one's going to come on our show anymore. We line up Bedard and Nasar, Bedard gets hurt, and then Nazar gets hurt. This is like being on the cover of Madden.

Except much less of an honor. Yes. But yeah, honor or no honor, it all ends bad, the injuries. It all ends bad. Oh, gosh, I hope that's not the case. Can we talk about Moritz cider a bit? Absolutely. I don't think they were upset in Detroit with him.

Cup in his ear in overtime on Sunday. No. Can I just say that, first of all, a guy's great. We're talking about the best defenseman in the league. We've got three of them in the one division, McCar Hayeskin and Hughes. Zach Werenski, I think everybody would include him too. Where's cider in this conversation now?

He's getting up there. Jake Sanderson is having something to say he's making breakout passes with wrong-handed sticks but cider's really coming on man and that's going to be and that was a big fight that contract too was a big fight that's going to be one of the best

contracts in the league it's going to age extremely well for Detroit I'll tell you this though I'm watching watching him, and I'm getting a little bit annoyed. And you know why I'm getting a little bit annoyed? Because I would have loved to have seen what a Quinn Hughes-Mort's cider pair would have looked like. Lefty, righty.

But it sounds like, as you wrote, they kind of went on the conservative side, eh? They did. They definitely did. they definitely did but I don't care about that right now okay I like don't don't bring that stuff up I'm just saying like imagine what those guys could have looked like next to each other red wings are in first place in the Atlantic division just imagine what those guys would have looked like together and think about remember after the first game of the year at home Montreal went in there and crushed him

and those Todd McClellan quotes afterwards he thought holy smokes is there season over before it even began very impressive the other thing too about Sider great player proud guy and I think he plays a style that earns a lot of respect in the room like remember he got into it with Mark Castileck

like Sider's a big guy but Castellick's like a big guy and is not uncomfortable in those situations. Yeah. But cider stood in there and took it. And like he said afterwards of going, well, I'm not going to back down.

You know, it was that sort of thing. Those sorts of things go a long way too. And when you play the way that he does, it's really impressive to watch. He's mean. I like his meanness. He can control the game and hell of a shot

when he gets room to let it fly. Before we go on to a couple of other topics here, as I was working Dallas, Toronto on Sunday night, one of my friends sent me a note. He said, you've interviewed Glenn Gulletson before, right? And I'm like, oh, yeah, many times. He goes, do you feel less of a man when you stand next to Glenn Gulletson? I was like, what?

He goes, that guy with the swagger and the way he looks, you guys shouldn't be in the same room. That's actually what he texted me. You guys shouldn't be in the same room. I don't know what you want me. I don't know what you want me to say to that, really. He is slick, Rick. There's no question.

Him behind the next thing there. Alain Nazarene Nazarene is another specimen next to him, too. But, like, it was just, it was really funny. Just texted me out of nowhere. Like, do you feel like a man when you stand next to Glenn Gulletson? These are the idiots I surround myself with. That's right. That's right.

Stay tuned next week. Most handsome coaching staff in the NHL, a full breakdown with Elliot Friedman and his buddies and their group chat. Boy, I have to say this. Like, did anything out of Toronto that really stuck to you? I think it's just, we have got. to the point now where the expectations have shifted it's we're in the moral victory era in Toronto I don't you know what I disagree with that I think that it doesn't even help like I thought they played pretty hard I didn't say it helped but like that's no that's where we

are I don't even think I don't even think that works I like I said like I said like I said like I wrote on for on Saturday and I said post game I think they're asking themselves questions like really? We didn't think we'd be asking this, this year. And, you know, I thought some of their guys played really hard, Michelli, Robertson. Robertson knocked over Ranton once. You know, I thought Lawton plays really hard, but the one thing I never felt would be an issue with them was their top end scoring. And Matthews and Nylander, and we talked about Neelander briefly early.

they they can't score and you can just see it's like the the confidence on that team is is completely gone and we'll see what happens coming out of the break but you know the other team I was watching Winnipeg and they were down three nothing to Utah and they at least came back and they got a point out of it they got something and that's something you have to hold on to right now you can see like that's a really close team that dressing room is is is pretty close you can see the strains of it on them too like you you you really can you can you can see the strain that that's that's putting on the players there and everybody there was there was such a great year last year even though they lost in the second round um you know we've talked about how

the same way that losing one big player like Marner as good as he is, it's tough to find those players, but they shouldn't result in the downfall of your roster. Like this thing with Eilers in Winnipeg, and he's a really good player, but it shouldn't result in the downfall of your roster. And they just, they have not been able to get it going there.

And I don't know, I just, I watched some of the interviews and, when they got when they lost to colorado a couple years ago like in the playoffs you could see they had like no answers and they were totally befuddled i've seen a little bit of that not to that level but in some of the post games i've started to see a bit of that like how do we stop the bleeding here and hello bucks back and that helps um if they wouldn't have had that comeback against Utah, I would have been, at least to get the point, I would have been very curious to see what that postgame looked like. It was a tough week for Winnipeg, no question.

Because they're going in the same direction Toronto is right now. Uh-huh. And they've got a much tougher division. Tougher division, tougher conference. Yes. oof I will say I have thought a lot about

what you put in your blog about that second round against Florida last year for Toronto and how much that could still potentially be playing a role in what's going on now it's just it's a fascinating discussion that

well we'll see how the next little while goes for them but we could be getting deeper and deeper into that conversation here before too long All right. A couple of things before final thought here. So you talked about the future of the NHL draft on Saturday. First of all, I was shocked that, as you say, for all the complaints about last year in Los Angeles, this is your line.

The league has heard you. But the idea that they're even considering trying to do the first and second round on the Friday night blew me away. But anyway, what all have you learned about what they're considering? Well, it sounds like it's going through an overhaul. You know, I still don't like that they changed it. The NHL had something that was unique and its own, and it's not anymore. Now it's cookie cutter, just like a lot of the other ones.

And to me, that's a loss. And I don't even really think it's for the right reasons, to be honest. It's just like, we don't want people looking at me. Okay. Obviously, I'm not crazy about that. But, you know, the way it went last year, it was too long, and they've recognized it. They listened. And, you know, the interview room where each team got to welcome their player, that's going away.

And I did have one team reach out to me and say they didn't. like that they you know because that's the team's advertising right they get to say hey we're here like for example it was a great ad for the islanders last year um you know it was such an emotional moment when shafer got drafted uh you know they hit it out of the park with the special jersey and they're like we need that moment like if we have our pick sorry it wasn't the islanders that said that it was this team i was speaking to and you know my answer to them was like the teams that voted no to these to the old draft they're the ones who cost you this like if you're not going to be there and you vote not to be there you can't complain that you're not part of it

and so that's one thing that's going away you know as you know kyle you know last year we had a doing our interviews. ESPN is Emily Kaplan doing the interviews. TVA is Renault LaVois doing the interviews. And I heard that they're cutting that down too. Like there might just be one reporter who does it for all three. Some of the TV stations will like that more than others, but I see why it's on the chopping block.

The other thing I heard was they're thinking of changing the configurations. So the walk is not as long. You know, the NFL announced this week that they're cutting it from the first picks, first round picks from 10 minutes to 8, I don't think that the NHL is doing that because I think right now it's already three minutes. I don't think that they believe they can make it any shorter, but what I do believe is they're trying to see can they get the first two rounds done in one night. can they plan for that? I actually had someone tell me on Sunday after I reported it that one of the things they talked about was that could they do it all in one night, all seven rounds?

But I don't think they believe they can. So it could be one and two and then three to seven the next day. But they are definitely going to be squeezing it into a tighter window. There's no question about that. Now, I've heard there's three cities going for it, and the one Canadian one is Montreal. And Montreal loves doing it. They always want it.

I think there is some concern about not wanting to always go to the same places. They want to go to some new places. So I don't know if Montreal is going to get it. But if you tell me I'm going to Montreal on late June, I'll be like, what time's my flight? I'm always happy to go to Montreal in late June. I just think, like, prove that you can do one round in a sufficient amount of time before you try to jam two in one night, walk before you can run. That would be my feeling on that, first of all, Elliot.

And as you kind of touched on, like, it just sounds, again, they're taking all the special things that make that draft unique. The biggest one, of course, was having everybody there on the floor, each team's table set up. for everybody to see. But some of the other stuff here now, whether it's reconfiguring the walk. Like, I really like that when it was still the arena set up, like the catwalk that they would have and the lettering along as they made their way up to the stage.

Yeah, I really liked that look. And did it add an extra 20 seconds? Okay. But also on the television side, while they're doing that walk, you know, for fans of that certain team to go, okay, what do I need to know about this player we just picked? Like, it's during that time when the analyst

whether you're watching SportsCent or TV or ESPN, that's when they have time to talk about, you know, the analysts that are there, okay, this is what this player is about. This is how, this is his style. This is what I know about them. A, B, C, and D to go, okay, to get a sense. Like, you need time to fit that in as well. And I just, all the specialness of what the draft is,

it seems that's what they're stripping away at here. And it's kind of sad to hear. I got to be honest, Elliot. Yeah, I agree with you. It was a unique NHL thing, but I do think if we, are going to do it this way, let's do it properly. Elliot, with that news, you have ruined my Christmas. Sorry, at least you're not getting traded.

Okay, another thing here. So the East Coast hockey league, the players have voted for the option to strike that happened a couple of days ago, and you're hearing it could become a fruition. here. So this is something I want to be very careful about because I had a few people who sent me notes about it and I wanted to look into it. But I haven't, you know, when I've covered some of the NHL strikes and lockouts and God help us hope we never get another one, those were issues I knew a lot about. I covered them quite a bit. I felt that I was in a position where I could comment on what the key issues were and how I felt about them.

This is something that really only got onto my radar last Friday or Saturday, and I'm starting to learn more about what the issues are, but I still don't feel I have spent enough time on it to be fair to anybody involved here. I do know that yes, the players voted to give their leadership and the opportunity to strike if they want to. So basically what happened is their CBA ended last summer. And there's no agreement in it that you go under the previous rules until you have a new agreement.

Like, for example, the, so it's the professional hockey players association represents the players. They represent the ECHL players and they represent the AHL. players. But the AHL agreement, which also ran out last summer, there was something in there that said that if the CBA ever expires, we both agree to not have a strike or a lockout and we operate under the previous CBA until we have a new deal. And I heard that face-to-face both sides shook hands this summer and said, we're both going to honor that, right? And they said, the players didn't strike and the league didn't lock them out.

And I understand that they have basically finished a new CBA and it's going to be sent out to the players this week to begin their voting process. So there's nothing going on here with the HL. They're working out a deal and basically have already. But the ECHL one that hasn't happened and there is the option to strike or lock out if they wanted. and last week the players voted to give the option. Now, I understand there was a lot of bandwidth spent over the past couple days on both sides about what's going to happen here.

However, they have not made a lot of progress. And all I've heard is that the negotiations have been very fierce. And there have been accusations of unfair practices, and it's been pretty nasty. And in the last couple of days, I had a couple of players indicate to me that they were sent some notes directly. And so when that happens, you know, you know it's off the rails. So I think what's going to happen is the players are going to have a meeting, I assume by Zoom, on Monday, and then I guess they're going to talk to everybody. And I had one agent say to me that there could be a strike on Tuesday.

now they finish playing their pre-Christmas schedule on Sunday the next games aren't until boxing day so it's probably a smart play to do it while there's no games to see if that forces things to move and ultimately the players will make the choice if they want to do it you know I've been through work stoppages myself in my career, I recognize they happen sometimes. It's very hard to win. It leaves a lot of hard feelings. I saw relationships get destroyed. You know, there are some teams in that league that are very successful. Savannah's a very successful team. You know, the Hoffman's who only Everglades, who just bought the Penguins, their team is very successful. But I have no doubt that there are some teams that really battle to make money or survive.

And all I ever say to anybody in these things is make sure you leave no question unasked, make sure you know and demand the truth, whether you're a team or you're a player, know, know what you're getting into because, you know, you've got to know what leverage you have and what leverage you don't have. I hate to see this stuff happen in any business, not just hockey. But, you know, I always say to people, like I've been through these situations before.

Ask every question you can think of. Ask about any scenario you can think of. And the thing you've really got to know most of all is what you believe, the honest outcomes are. Like I talk about it on the pod. No, in a negotiation, do you have the hammer or not? And understand what your leverage is going in.

Understand what the other person's leverage is going in. Like one thing I didn't know about the ECHL until this weekend, Kyle, is that not only do you get paid a salary, but the ECHL teams also pay the players housing. So I didn't know that. So, you know, imagine it this time of year, I'm sure some of these teams are like, okay, well, if you strike, we don't have to pay your housing, right? And, you know, that's, that's tough. So, I mean, the bottom line is, I hope cooler heads prevail.

I hope the ECHL, the teams, and the players work this out. Because work stoppages are not good for anybody. And secondly, I don't want to see at this time of year people facing uncertainty. This is the time of the year that's supposed to be good for everyone, right? Totally, totally. And it's so great that even all these years later that the ECHL not only still exists, but is still such an integral part of the hockey ecosystem at the pro level in North America. Like how many great stories do we see down there?

Players that either have great careers throughout the East Coast League and maybe the American League or that even make their way all the way up to the NHL and it's all part of the journey. Not only players, but coaches too. Like you think about in South Carolina, the run of Jared Bednar to Cail McLean, to Spencer Carberry, to Ryan Warsowski, right? Like, that's a excellent, excellent training ground for a lot of people to say nothing. That's a lot of people who love hockey, right? Like, really love hockey. Totally.

Totally. Really love hockey. Yeah. So, yeah, just thinking of everyone and hopefully it gets sorted. I'm echoing you there, Fridge. Fans too. You probably got a ticket for a boxing day game or around Christmas game. You're looking forward.

Sort it out, people. Sort it out. all right get to the final thought can i ask you a question yeah tell me about colorado junction okay so i travel on friday going to nashville got to connect through denver was on a six 15 a m out of calgary and we recorded fairly late on thursday not the latest we've done but it was a quick turnaround left the house at 4.30, no problem, onto the plane, we're off the ground at a reasonable time, but the eyes were heavy.

So I was kind of drifting in and out of sleep. Most of that's like heads bobbing around. Like you're asleep, but you're not really resting. You know that one? Yes. Anyway, I start to come to. As you know, I am a gross sleeper. Oh, yeah.

I've seen it. Yeah. Head back and forth. Disgusting. Oh, yeah. It's like, get away. So I'm kind of half asleep. They hear over the PA,

folks, is your captain speaking. I have some news. Now, when the captain has news while you're in the air, Elliot, it is never good. The news is never good while you're in the air. He goes on to tell us, never. There are really bad winds in Denver.

The airport's been closed. He said, we, along with about 18 other aircraft, have been circling, waiting to get the green light to land. It's not coming anytime soon. We need more fuel. We're going to be diverted. Elliot, you ever been to Grand Junction, Colorado before? No, but I heard you were.

Yeah, I got to be honest with you. Up until Friday, I don't think I was aware that a place called Grand Junction existed. Me neither. They told me about it, and I was like, I'm sorry. I don't know what that is. So it's about a four-hour drive west from Denver. a short flight, and it's where we were being diverted. So we touched down in Grand Junction, and they say, look, we've got to wait to get some fuel.

Not sure how long that's going to take. Not sure when we're going to get the green light to fly back to Denver. Everyone sit tight. No problem. So I start chipping away at some work. An hour goes by, two hours go by. At two and a half hours, they say, okay, we're just about fueled up here, still waiting. word from Denver, but now there's this maintenance thing that we need to have someone take a

quick look at. Oh, man. I don't know what happened between what was a safe flight from Calgary to Grand Junction and just sitting on the tarmac, but now there's something else needs to be looked at. So at the three-hour mark, we're told, unfortunately, there is an issue with the aircraft and it's not getting up in the air. again today. It's taken out of service. So everyone needs to get off the plane, all right? So Grand Junction Airport, it's a regional airport, not a big one. So you've got, and we're not the only plane that's been diverted there.

So, like, there's no jetway coming to meet the door of the plane. Like, you got to roll the stairs up and you get off the plane and I'm walking along the tarmac to go into the terminal. And I look over. was like two fighter jets sitting on the tarmac. So I don't know if it's a training area for the U.S. Air Force. But anyway, I thought, well, that looks kind of cool. We walk into the terminal.

And of course, at this point, I'm going, obviously, my connection is gone. I was looking at even the next flight to Nashville. I'm like, there's no way I'm getting there. And after they said this plane isn't going anywhere, I'm like, I don't think I'm getting to Nashville today. Hopefully I can get there in time for the game Saturday night the next day because as I looked around, not surprisingly, there wasn't a big united hangar off in the distance was a bunch of aircraft kicking around to just roll out. I were worried you weren't going to get to the game. I did hear that later.

So I walk into the terminal alley and, you know, I've been sitting there on that plane for now we're going on almost six hours. So into the washroom I go. And so as I'm standing there and all the thoughts going through my head going, okay, what am I going to do? Am I going to have to rent a car? What's the plan B? How can I still get to Nashville and not completely have this weekend be a non-event? And those thoughts are going through my head over the speaker, Paul McCartney's wonderful Christmas time is playing. So imagine like you're trying to think and all you hear is simply having a wonderful Christmas.

I'm like, it's not that simple right now, Paul. So, you know, naturally all the thoughts go through your head of how can we kind of salvage what's gone on here? And I'm like, do I get a rental car? I go, still if I drive, I'm not going to make the last flight to Nashville. I'll just sit tight. They eventually announce amazingly there's been a plane. We've found a rescue plane from West Palm, Florida that's coming to Grand Junction to bring us all back to Denver. Wow.

and I still was like a little skeptical, but it's like, you're going to be here in a couple hours. So I got some food. I'm sitting around. It's this tight little terminal. There's a lot of people there, as you can imagine. And I was FaceTiming my family just for a little bit to say hi.

And I get out the phone, I lift my head up, and standing there right in front of me is the big man himself. Santa Claus is at Grand Junction Regional Airport Terminal. And he's walking around. saying hi to all the kids, handheld candy canes. I'm like, oh, my God. I thought if Grand Junction's good enough for Santa,

it's good enough for anybody. Maybe I had this place all wrong. So he made an appearance. Anyway, we eventually get on this plane, and we take off, and there's like all this turbulence as we're in our ascent. So we're like bobbling around, and like the timing of it was perfect.

Because as right as the turbulence ends, there's the pre-recorded message of Welcome to the Friendly Skies. I'm like, I feel like I'm in a Wes Anderson movie at this point. So the only way I made it to Nashville on Friday night was because the last flight out of Denver was delayed by an hour. That gave me enough time with the rescue plane that took us back there and a run from Terminal A to Terminal B, which you know is a bit of a hike in Denver International because that's a big, big terminal. Oh, my God. It's a nightmare. I think I was like the third, I was the third last person on that plane to Nashville.

I finally, instead of getting to my hotel at 1.30 in the afternoon, I got there at 10.30 at night. And, you know, you always ripped me for not going anywhere or doing anything Friday night. We actually, there was a group kind of holiday dinner we planned for everybody. Well, no, I missed it. Everyone else went out for dinner. It's 10.30 in Nashville. You still could have gone out. Oh, I know.

But it had been a day. and so yeah you're you're excused for that one that's yeah yeah yeah but we finally made it and much of the chagrin of chris cuthbert through all of this he was the one guy openly cheering for me to not get to nashville in time so i would miss the burning skate Saturday well i have to tell you i got a i i got a morning skate picture from cuthbert in washington and i got another one from him in nashville yeah you could tell he was he was he was not a pleased and don't drag me into this. That was all your idea. Yeah. I think we'll have to check the tape to see which voice it was to brought that up. But just, so anyway, it was, it was all good. And I will say for as kind of a wonky of a day that was, I was impressed of how civil, like, as we often joke, airports and airplanes is where human decency goes to die. Yes. Everyone was incredibly patient and understanding through all that. including the two people who were sitting next to me.

They were the parents of Connor Blake, one-time captain of the Grand Prairie Storm at the AJHL, played University of Hockey at Mount Royal, now playing professionally over in Germany. Those parents, Stephen Kelly, were sitting next to me. They were flying to Denver to meet their daughter in Denver, and then all three of them were flying over to Germany to watch Connor play.

I guess he had a bunch of games in and around the Christmas break and to obviously celebrate the holidays together of the family. But imagine for them, though, they took a 6.15 a.m. flight out of Calgary. Their connector to Germany from Denver wasn't until after 4 p.m. that afternoon. And they still miss the connection with all the nonsense. You're probably laughing. Like, there's no way we're going to miss our connection. All of a sudden, you're like, we're going to miss our connection.

Well, they said they were joking going, do we really need that long of a layover in between? They're like, well, you know, we'll just get there. and didn't give yourself long enough. Oh my gosh. But they were pleasant to chat with during all that time we had sitting around waiting. But as we've said, it's what you sign up for. Sometimes those travel days happen. And I was just glad managed to get there in time for the game.

Wow, what a mess. It was a good one. So I appreciate you humoring me to share that story there. And I hope for everyone that's traveling to see the loved ones or to go on a trip, whatever over this next coming week. You don't have an unwanted stop in Grand Junction, Colorado, or anywhere else. Hope it goes smooth for you. Okay, now's the final thought.

Why don't we take our first break? And we'll come back with the thought line. You're listening to 32 Thoughts, the podcast. All right, welcome back. Time now for the joyous occasion. That is the thought line, Elliot. So on Saturday night after the game between Nashville and Toronto, I'm in like our little studio green room area in the arena,

packing up my things, and this man appears in the doorway. He's kind of looking at me with a serious look. And he's like, hey. And I go, hey. He goes, just want to check. make sure you're not wearing brown shoes with the blue suit. I started laughing.

It was Luke Rossin-Mair, who is the director for the home show for the Predators broadcast. And anyway, he, fan of the pod and had to, he's like, I had to track you down and just throw that line at you. So that was very funny. Did he bust you or were you wearing blue shoes? I actually, were you wearing brown shoes with a blue suit? No, I actually had. blue shoes with a kind of a dark green suit this weekend, so I mixed it up. By the way, I love that shot in the Maple Leaf's final score tweet of you standing behind the net.

Yeah. I'll tell you this, someone in the league sent that to me. I said, thank you very much for sending that to me. He's like, I thought you. like it. He wrote Kyle's watching very closely back there. He's on top of things. If you're wondering what we're talking about, you look at the final score tweet from the Maple Leafs from Saturday's game in Nashville. They have John Tavares battling in front of the Nashville net and standing behind the goal is Kyle Bacoskas looking like a Secret Service agent, protecting

the president. That's right. I had the earpiece going and everything. But there was, I think there was a couple, at least once, like, during the broadcasts, I think our handheld that was between the benches, there was a replay that of a chance at that end of the ice and just kind of the last couple of frames I saw my face there as I was watching play by the glass. I'm like, oh, oh, got to back up a little bit.

Don't want to ruin the shot, but I couldn't get out of the way of that one. Oh, actually one other thing Before I get to your thoughts on the thought line Trivia question for you From someone at the rink Saturday morning Who is the only team in NHL history To say they were undefeated at Maple Leaf Gardens Ooh

Cleveland Barons No Is this like a trick question? Kind of. But also true. Is it a legit team? Oh, yeah. Like, oh, it's not like the, like the Moscow Red Army that came and played an exhibition game.

No, this is a national hockey league franchise. Oh, okay. So it's, that's why I guess the Cleveland Barron. Like some team that only came in like once or twice and was it, is it like the Kansas City Scouts or something like that? No. There's more recent. Who is it?

The Nashville. Oh, more readers. So Nashville's, they only played once and they won? They tied. Oh, my God. That's even better. What a great question. I mean, I probably should guess Nashville.

The question came from Nashville. I was like, no, that's too easy. The great Pete Weber came in, Guns of Blaze, and Saturday. morning with that one. And you know, he always has something for you. And that was that was yet on Saturday. Stumped me on it. That is great. Nice job, Pete. Yeah. You got us both. We should have guessed it though. Okay. So I've got a few, a few things here before we get the actual thought line. When I talked about the Oxley, I forgot to mention Mike and Rishi, who were sitting at the table next to me and my guest.

and they were joking at the end. They're like, we wanted to hear what you guys were talking about. But they gave us our privacy, and they were really good guys. And then I got a social media post, a tweet from Alex Grunig, who wrote, Meet Oxley. And he's a picture of a beautiful dog, beautiful dog. Oh, nice. And she was named 13 years ago after my wife and I went to the Oxley for her birthday. day. So that was, I wanted to mention that. And also, and I wanted to thank you for dealing with

this, but there was someone who wrote in Garrett Fodor who said the guy who was there for 0.1 in 1,000 and he thought it was Martam Broder and Patrick Elias. And that made me think, did we miss them? And you said, that's not the case. Broder was gone before Eliech got to 1,000? Yeah, because his last year in New Jersey was 1314. I think it was January of 2015. Eliash got 1,000. So Broder just missed it. But it was a great thought because when I saw that, I'm like, oh, man, that makes a lot of sense. Months away. When I first saw it, I was like, we must have missed it. So I was glad to see that we didn't. You know, I wanted to shout out all the raccoon people who keep sending me stuff. I got

a story, a video this week about dogs that rescued a lone baby raccoon that was being attacked. I got a story this week about a raccoon who got tasered. You know that drunk raccoon story from a couple weeks ago? Yeah. I got sent the report about it in Arabic. Oh, wow. I got a story

that that a raccoon fell through the roof of the Grand Geneva Hotel and bit a guest. I just want everyone to know, I'm watching all this stuff. Like, it is hilarious. So I appreciate you all sending me the raccoon stuff. And I did want to shout out one note about it from a guy named Devin who lives in Virginia. He's a Red Wings fan who's now moved. into an area where he's sworn by Capitals fans.

He said that there is a listener of the pod who plays for, and this is all ties in to the raccoons. They play volleyball in a Catholic Social League in Northern Virginia. Their team name is, I exist out of Spike. Our mascot is a raccoon, and we affectionately refer to ourselves as the trash pandas.

Her name, I only got her name as Captain T. She's a big Washington Capitals fan who's having back surgery this week. So between the raccoon tie-in and everything, I just wanted to wish Captain T all the best with her surgery. And I wanted to shout out one other listener, Tip O'9,

Greetings from the pro shop in Eusha, Argentina, the last stop before Antarctica, southern-most hockey pro shop on the planet, southernmost city on the planet, near the southernmost ice rink in the planet. Just wanted to let you know your podcast is regularly playing here while I sharpen skates. Holy smokes. And he's a big Sabres fan. So I wanted to shout that one out, too. That is great. That's so cool. Yeah.

All right. Actually, one other, this one hot off the press. Oh, oh, sorry, Kyle. One more about the shoes. Deb Berman agreed with me that it was her fault because she should know that I would not be able to know the difference between brown and tan. She said I was right to say that. Oh, you bullied her into saying it. That's totally unfair.

It is possible that is true that I bullied her into saying that. Okay, hot off the press. One more Nashville note here. So Brooks Bratton, who covers the team for the Predators, after Sunday's game. Who you ignored on Saturday, right? Oh, I did not. Like, you are only including this question because you blew him off on Saturday morning. I would never blow him or anybody off.

Well, you admitted that you basically did, right? I just, it was one of those where I saw him in the rink in the morning going, oh, I got to catch up with him at some point. And then next thing you know, it's like the end of the night. And it was what the hell happened? So you've felt bad about that. Yeah. He's a good blow him off.

I did not. I just, anyway, my priorities were out of whack. I didn't have hair product. Submit the thought line. If Kyle sees someone in the morning and says, I want to meet this, I got to talk to this guy and never does. Does that qualify as a blow off? I say yes, submit your answers to the thought line.

Oh, gosh. I, you know what? I don't want to bury you, but the amount of text I get from people going, why isn't Elliot responding to me? So don't even go there. This is true, actually. I have some big, you know what, I'm not going to lie to you. I have some big apologies I have to make over the next week.

Okay, good. So, you know what, I deserve this. I deserve that. So Brooks posts it after Nashville beat the Rangers on Sunday, Stephen Stamco scored what proved to be the game-winning goal in both of their games this weekend against the Rangers and the Leafs, and both were into an empty net. I'd love to know if that's ever happened in back-to-back games before in NHL history.

Well, that is a great trivia question, Brooks. Great. Totally. And apparently, the answer is no. That was a first. Never happened before? We have history. Wow. Stamcoast, back-to-back empty netters.

That were game-winning goals on back-to-back nights. Wow. Never been done before. You know what? I have to say this, Brooks. I'm glad you submitted that question so that we could answer for you. That is incredible. So the fact that we could get this content on our podcast, I'm glad that Kyle blew you off in person.

Yes. The guilty mind is a determined one. Okay. Thank you, Brooks. Very good. If I had seen you, I would have come over and said hello. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, Dave in Berlin.

Hello, Dom and those other guys you babysit. Yeah, especially today. That is true. Yeah. As a fan of the Panthers born outside of Detroit, living in Berlin, Germany, with the Winter Classic just around the corner, in the past, goalies would wear tukes or beanies on their helmets, and I feel like that doesn't fit the theme of an outdoor game in Florida. So I was wondering if there is a rule that would keep Sergey Bobrovsky from sporting, say,

a classic Florida bucket hat or possibly a Straussie. sun hat over his mask instead. Secondly, will the refs be dressed as lifeguards? Thanks for your guys' time and love the pod and the blog. Keep up the good work, Dom. Oh, Dave. Do you know the answer to this? No.

Yes, I do. I had to come prepared. So something like that, Elliot, whether it's a took in other instances or Yeah, if Sergei Bavrovsky wanted to fasten a bucket hat to his mask on January of the 2nd, you have to submit a request to hockey ops. They determine A, is it safe? And B, does it provide a competitive advantage in any way? And on a case-by-case basis, they either approve it or deny it. Okay.

Good stuff. My knowledge he hasn't put forth something like this, but that's the process that it would go through. Okay, Easton. Hello, Kyle and crew. I started watching hockey in college when my buddy Josh from Aurora, Colorado. We stopped at Lost Coffee in Aurora a couple of weeks ago, Elliot. Oh, that's right, yes.

That's right. It was very good. Josh introduced me to the sport in the 2016-17 season. I've been immersing myself more and more into the sport every year since then, and I don't really understand the playoff format for two years in a row oh man here we go join the club for two years in a row it's shaping up for three of the top five teams to play each other in the rounds one and two and i'm sure this has happened before could you guys go into more detail and explain when this format came into play and why it did i can tell you who did not submit this letter the commissioner

it was definitely not commissioner who submitted this letter so this format what year did it come in Kyle do you do you know 13 14 so yeah it was recently they changed that 13, 14. And they wanted to change the divisions.

They realigned at that point in time. And before that, the playoff format was a situation where it could be sort of changed after the first round. So after the first round, the eight teams that played, the highest. eight in the conference. Yes. But the way they did it was the highest seed remaining played the lowest seed remaining, and then the two middle would face each other. And I was told by the league that at that time, the U.S. rights holder, which was NBC, didn't like that.

They wanted a bracket. And I remember asking somebody NBC once if that was true. and they kind of didn't want to talk about it, but they didn't deny it. And either it was better for their television schedule, or they just thought fans understood that better. They were into a bracket. I know that this is true because I remember asking, we were still at CBC at the time,

and they told me that that's what they were told too. Now, they also wanted to build up divisional rivalries. They wanted to have more opportunities where teams like the Rangers, the Islanders, and the Devils could play each other, or, you know, the Battle of Alberta, the Battle of Ontario, Toronto, Montreal. It didn't always work out that way, but they wanted more of that in the postseason. They said postseason creates rivals, battles of California. There were some epic ones, particularly between some of those California teams. They wanted more and more of that. and they wanted a bracket.

That's the reason. Now, it hasn't always worked out great, and I agree with what you say that you don't want to have the top three teams like in the same division and two of them going out the first two rounds. But this is where we are and Bettman doesn't want to change it.

And to be perfectly honest, if the players really wanted to change it, they could have brought it up in the CBA negotiations in the last like this time around they could have said we want to change it and seen if that could have been a thing but it didn't come up really it wasn't a big deal so we have this for at least another five years you know the other thing about it was they did discuss the possibility of when we got to this initially when they did this change in the playoff format and the divisions they had it so that

that the Stanley Cup semi-final would be the highest versus lowest, like one versus four, two versus three, but the union didn't want that. And the reason they don't want that is they don't want the mega travel before the Stanley Cup final. And I know the players really thought about that, and eventually the league agreed to it. You don't want a first round with like New York, L.A.

like when I was a kid the NHL playoff format was one versus 16 two versus 15 I remember in the first round you would get I remember one year it was Philadelphia Vancouver I remember that match up as a kid and they just don't want that in the first round and I understand it so that's why we are where we are with all of its flaws you know me I would like to see an expanded playoffs a seven versus 10 eight versus nine. Betman hates that too. And I hope that answers all your questions. Yeah.

Even like more recently before they realigned the conferences, like think about those years, Detroit Anaheim in early rounds of the playoffs, like that's big travel too when the wings were part of the West, Columbus part of the West too for a time. Yes. So travel, I understand. But yeah, now we've got, when you get super divisions,

it tends to look a little wonky. So, Easton, great that you're getting more and more into the game, and hopefully that answer helps. A voicemail up next year. Let's have a listen. Hey, guys. Hope you have a great holiday and a happy new year. But with Elliot's little comment about the Bruins,

still looking for a scoring winger and it's blowing up the local drive home radio station I listen to. I do have a question about the Bruins' four first round draftics coming up in the next two years. Can they get somebody's RFA with somebody else's draft pick?

Like, for example, can they say here take Florida's first round draft pick we got from Marshand for your RFA? Keep up the great work, guys. Thanks. The answer is no. the way it was written was it has to be your own draft pick and so if you've traded it you can always get it back

and one thing you'll remember is when St. Louis did the double offer sheets last summer or two summers ago with Holloway and Broberg right before they did it they traded to get their second round pick back from Pittsburgh so they were able to do it. So you are allowed to trade back for your pick, but you can't use anyone else's pick. It has to be your original pick. There you go. Okay, Malcolm in Vancouver. Hi, guys. Has there ever been an NHL to get the same number of points four seasons in a row?

Ryan Strom registered 41 points in each of the last three seasons. No way. He only has six points in 16 games. It's true. He only has six points in 16 games this season. so we need them to heat up. As a Vancouverite, I remember Garth Butcher being the model of consistency. Check out these consecutive years.

Starting in 86, 87, 20 points, 23 points, 20 points, 20 points, 22 points, 20 points, 20 points. And if you're still reading, Garth Butcher amazingly registered 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 goals in order in his first 7 seasons. Hockey is fun, numbers are fun. That's crazy. I didn't realize that about Garth Butcher. Wow. But, Malcolm, that is some elite research. Yeah.

So players with the same point totals in four straight seasons. And we qualified this for, you had to have three or more points as a total. I was going to say you could probably get some. zeros or ones from guys who are called up and stuff like that. Yes. There's two answers to this, Elliot, and I'm just going to say, I'm not sure it does us any good to sit here

and see if you can try to guess the names. Okay. What eras? One answer from the 30s, the other one from the 2000s. Okay. Would I have heard of the one from the 30s? Maybe.

It's kind of a... I'm not as familiar with this name. There's a few I am from that era. This isn't one of them. What's the name from the 30s? Pep Kelly. Yeah, I wasn't getting that. We had 19 points in four straight seasons.

And... the other guy okay two thousands yeah again it's it's an obscure name give me a team st louis alexander havanov wow love that you went there not the correct answer he was their first round pick in 1998 defenseman okay hold on no that's two that's two early for Barrett Jackman. Played 302 games total in the National Hockey League. So it's, it's, yeah, I mean, it's somebody who played. He did play.

I'm trying to think, I guess Jackman, we already know it's not him. Because Jackman was drafted in 99, right? So that's not him. I guessed Havanaugh, not him. all right i i tried that was my havinov was my guess yeah i love to even through that name out there christian backman oh i wouldn't i didn't even remember he was a first rounder sorry christian 18 points in four straight years so wow only twice what a question has it happened yeah okay one final one here for each from brian yeah hi guys big fan of the pod so keep it up with it be in the

holiday season, my kids who are seven and ten are fully immersed in Christmas movies. He writes, better than watching The Leafs. Last weekend, his words, last weekend we ran through all of the Home Alone movies. He goes, I had no idea there were more than two. Anyway, in the second home alone, which I had never seen before, Kevin checks into the Park Plaza Hotel in New York. When he gets to the front desk, the concierge who was played by, by an actor named Tim Curry, checks him in.

As soon as Tim Curry came on the screen, Lucy, my seven-year-old daughter yelled out, oh my gosh, it's Elliot. No way. He says, we don't have any Elliot's in our life other than you, Friege. Welcome to the family. So we all knew who she meant. I think she is on to something here. My non-hockey related question for the thought line is,

has anybody ever made this comparison before? Keep up the great work and happy holidays. I never would have thought that. No, first of all, I'm really flattered and your daughter sounds both adorable and a genius. But I've never been compared to Tim Curry, although plenty of people think I'm a clown. I have never been compared to Tim Curry. And if you don't understand that reference, Tim Curry is plays Pennywise the Clown. in the original it.

Yeah, does a good job there. He's a great actor. I'm a big Tim Curry fan, but I don't see that one. I have to tell you. You? I had never thought of it before. I have to be honest,

but I just love the idea of you playing a concierge's role and feebly trying to catch a young guy. Call the Colkin? Yes. Checked. into the hotel under the guys that he's there with his dad and really he's all alone i would love to be

a concierge at a hotel when you check in as a titanium platinum member expecting your three bedroom suite and i put you into a two of i give you a murphy bed Oh, gosh, that's true. I'm really flattered, though. It's very nice that your daughter would say that. Yeah, that's great. Great story, Brian. Good way to wrap up the thought line.

So, like Brian, you can submit an email to the thought line of 32thoughts at Sportsnet.com, or you can leave a voicemail at 1-833-3-1-3-1-3-2. One final break, and we'll wrap up this edition of 32 Thoughts of the podcast after this. All right. All right. Just a couple more days of NHL action before the holiday break takes effect. No Scotia Bank Wednesday night hockey this week with it being Christmas Eve. But Tuesday night, the Battle of Alberta. and Oilers can be seen nationally on SportsNet 360 as well as on SportsNet West from Edmonton,

nine eastern seven mountain time. Also, should have mentioned this maybe a week ago, but I know a few people have been asking, Scotia Bank Hockey Day in Canada this year in Moncton, New Brunswick, what's going on with the 32 Thoughts live show? It is happening Thursday, January the 15th, and we do have five. pairs of tickets to give away to that show. We're really looking forward to it and stay tuned. We'll have more information on how those tickets will be divvied out over the next couple of weeks.

Taking us out today, a track from The Sheep Dogs, Canada's leaders in rock and roll entertainment. Four-time Juno Award winners from Saskatoon with multiple gold and platinum records to their name. They blend their killer harmonies, dual guitar wizardry and a stage presence that, turns audiences into true believers. The sheep dogs deliver the real goods. Rock music that's loud, loose, and full of soul. They've taken their unmistakable sound from bars and roadhouses to festival fields and arenas around the world, earning a well-deserved reputation as one of the most electrifying live

bands today. Their new single, Nobody But You, is the first taste from their upcoming album, Keep Out of the Storm, set to be released on February 27th, and is proof. The sheepdogs are charging full steam ahead into 2026 and beyond. They will be touring across Canada in March and April of next year. Details can be found on their website, the sheepdogs.com. We should also say, over the holiday break, the 32 Thoughts Holiday Spectacular will be dropping on Christmas Day

and the regularly scheduled podcast will be back a week from now. The Sheep Dogs and their new single, Nobody But You, on 32 Thoughts, The Podcast. No matter where I go, I drive my car and I drive real slow, no matter where you say, I keep rolling the same old way. And I can understand how I got so damn far without much of the plan. Nobody but you is gonna see me through. Nobody but me is how it's supposed to be. Every time I see your face, I get a smile that I can erase. Every time I feel this way

I know I need you in every day And I can Understand How I got something for Without much of a plan Yeah Nobody but you Is gonna see me through

Nobody but me It's how it's supposed to be Nobody but you is going to see me through Nobody but me is how it's supposed to be At the end of the day, I'm tired alone I'm picking you up, I'm bringing you home We'll lock all the doors and silence and bones Together again, we'll build them alone

Oh, understand how I've got so damn all without much a plan yeah

nobody but you is gonna see me through nobody but me is how it's supposed to be nobody but you is going to see me through Nobody but me is how it's supposed to be