32 Thoughts: The Podcast - It’s Time to Move On in Vancouver

Episode Date: December 23, 2024

In this episode of 32 Thoughts, Kyle Bukauskas and Elliotte Friedman unpack the Elias Pettersson-J.T. Miller drama in Vancouver and prescribe a solution moving forward. They delve into Ottawa's impressive win over the Canucks and talk about their assentation into playoff contention (15:01). The Winnipeg Jets also get attention as they drubbed Minnesota 5-0 (20:00). Afterwards, they talk about Matt Rempe's 8-game suspension (25:08) before discussing Auston Matthews aggravating an injury (30:51). Kyle and Elliotte give Yaroslav Askarov his flowers after a 41-save effort Saturday (40:50) before discussing John Klingberg's attempt at a NHL comeback (42:27). The Final Thought focuses on the legal strife between the OHL and the USHL as a pair of American teams attempt to make the switch (45:00). Kyle and Elliotte answer your questions and respond to your voicemails in the Thought Line (52:48).In the final segment, Kyle and Elliotte pay tribute to the late Ricky Henderson before announcing and hearing from the winners of our live show ticket contest (1:12:27). Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call the Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemailThis 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

Many Christmases ago, I went to buy a doll for my son. I reached for the last one they had, but so did another man. As I rained blows upon him, I realized there had to be another way! What happened to the doll? It was destroyed. But out of that, a new holiday was born! A festivus for the rest of us! Welcome to 32 Thoughts, the podcast presented by the GMC Sierra AT4X.

Shramadi, Friedman, Bukaskis with you. And a happy Festivus to all who celebrate today, Elliot. I've got a lot of grievances with you people. And now, you're all going to hear about it. This is also, this is a great day for hockey fans too. The final day of games before the holiday break. 13 games on tap here this Monday. So that's one thing to look forward to as you listen to this episode.

Hopefully you can get through it. But as we reflect on what went on over the weekend, Elliot, we're going to start in traumatic country, Vancouver, the J.T. Miller, Elias Patterson file. So as we've talked about on this podcast in the past, Elliot, we're not here to simply shout at the clouds and complain when things aren't going well

or seem to not be going well. We also like to present solutions when possible. I understand you have one here though you had pedersen traded to buffalo so i can only imagine what you've got i'm not doing that again okay yeah i'm definitely like like one thing uh it is christmas or festivus today but we are heading in on Christmas, Kyle. And this should be an optimistic, happy time of year. People should be in great moods. People should be enjoying life.

So I think it's important at this time of year, and there's a trade freeze for a reason. So I think it's important at this time of year to fit the proper mood and the fit the proper attitude and after looking at everything that happened this weekend i am putting myself in the penalty box for how much i am responsible for this discourse i've been given a one month suspension for talking about the canucks i cannot talk about the Canucks for a month till January 23rd. The Department of 32 Thoughts suspends Elliott Friedman one month till January 23rd from discussing any matter related to the Vancouver Canucks. Kyle, that suspension takes effect immediately after I finish this segment on the Canucks. One month, I'm not going to talk about them. Please don't give me

anything to talk about. I wanted to come to this podcast presenting a solution, a solution that works for the Vancouver Canucks and a solution that I think work can work for everybody involved. And I think that it's kind of been forgotten over time, but one of the best managerial moves made in hockey in the 21st century was made by Jay Feaster, who was the general manager of the Tampa Bay Lightning in the early 2000s. And what did he do? Do you remember what he did, young Bukowskis? I believe this was

something to do with John Tortorella and a top player. Was it Marty St. Louis or was it Lecavier? It was Vinnie Lecavier. It was Vinnie Lecavier. And I want nobody critiquing Kyle for guessing St. Louis first because Kyle was barely out of the womb when this happened. So no criticism of young Bukaskis. It was Vinny LeCavalier and John Tortorella. And this is not exactly the same situation, but Vinny LeCavalier and John Tortorella, and they had a big problem. And Jay Fieser, he said it publicly and he said it privately. I think both of these people are elite at their jobs

and I am not moving either one of them. And he didn't. And it wasn't always easy. You know, when we go through what kind of happened out of Vancouver in the past couple of weeks, maybe it would have been different if Tampa Bay was a Canadian market, but it wasn't. And Feaster was able to find a way to eventually create peace and create a situation where the Tampa Bay Lightning won a Stanley Cup and both Tortorella and LeCavalier recognized each other's worth and greatness. And I always think about that.

I always think about in situations that appear to go sideways. And I look at this situation too, and I think there is the opportunity for Jim Rutherford, who is another guy who's not afraid, and Patrick Alveen, who's shown in his brief time, relatively, as a general manager in the NHL, that he's not afraid, that they have the ability to do something like that too. that they have the ability to do something like that too. And I believe this. I believe this first and foremost,

that the Canucks publicly and the Canucks privately, because when Miller took his break, I think there were teams that called the Canucks and said, when he comes back, is he going to stay at Canuck? And I think the Canucks basically said, like, we don't want to trade this guy. And I think that with Pedersen, we all know now last year that they could have traded him, and they didn't.

And they gave him a lot of money. And so that says to me by action that the Vancouver Canucks believe they are a better team with both of those players they are both on four nations rosters they are both excellent players it is very hard to win a trade with either one of them and I I think the Canucks, their preference is to keep them both and try to win with them both. And last year they showed that when everybody was pulling in the same direction, they were a formidable team. It took the Oilers, who went to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final,

every ounce of their power to beat Vancouver in the second round. And so I think if I was in Vancouver, I would say nobody's going anywhere. And I would also say, like, I think the Canucks did an unbelievable job this weekend. Q's went out there and he delivered. Talk it went out there and he delivered. Talkit went out there and he delivered. And this isn't really about them.

And I know some people didn't like what Pedersen did. That's still going on? Yeah, well, it has been. Well, that's the same answer. It's good. I don't know why people still try to make it up. Excuse my language, but yeah, that's my response to it. So it hasn't been distracting you?

Oh my God, next question. Kyle, you and I talked about this last week with Kako. We're both in the school that we can't call hockey players boring and then rip them when they tell us their true feelings or show us their true feelings. So I have no issue with I have no issue with what Patterson did. And I thought Miller on Sunday was right on brand. If I would have predicted how Miller would have come out,

I like we all would have nailed that one because he was Miller. And I actually thought it was a good sign of how Miller kind of came out and said, you guys are nuts. I'm not listening to you guys in a sense of the outer world have created this thing. Like this isn't a thing. So am I bothered? No, but you guys are just wasting your time about hearing of it. I don't care. You guys want to talk about it. You want to ask me, ask me all you want. I can bring up PD and we can do the interview together. If that would make you guys happy. That said to me that he's himself, right?

Like he just took a mental break and he just basically came back for his, I guess, toughest questions for lack of a better phrase since he returned. And he stood right in front of people and said, you guys are nuts. And I would have loved to see that from if I was Vancouver and the last thing I would say Kyle is like the Canucks they did their job last weekend they addressed it and they should say and this is a bad thing for a media member to say so if anybody wants to criticize me for it it's fine I'm talking as if I was on the team here I I would say, we're not talking about this anymore. We did it once and we're not giving any more air to it

and we're going out there to play. That's what I would do if I was Vancouver. I'd say nobody's going anywhere and we're not talking about it anymore. We did it. We addressed it. Goodbye. Right. It does no good to let any of

that stuff linger. But my only point on that is, and as you say, I'm with you in that love the raw authenticity from JT Miller Sunday, how Pedersen handled things the way you thought he would there. But don't you also, when you juxtapose that with what we've heard from the head coach and captain earlier on Saturday, it almost presents like there's a little bit of a disconnect. No, I don't think it's a disconnect. Uh, Kyle, I think that like one of the things we talked about on Saturday is that this whole thing has worn on people. Two of those people are obviously Pedersen and Miller. And I think it's pretty obvious that they don't like this topic and they don't want to add any air to this topic. And if it's true, as I believe it is, that it's worn on the organization,

there's no benefit to them to giving it any more air or letting it have any more days in the news cycle so i don't know that i would have stormed off like peterson did but i understand why he did it i don't i probably would have been more like miller if it was me and I understand why he did it. It doesn't benefit either of those two to give it any more air. And that's why I think they reacted the way they did. But you know whose opinion I'd be most concerned about here if I was the Canucks? Their captain?

Yes. Good guess, Kyle. Good guess. Yeah, you know, I think Hughes, he's going to go down as one of the best players in franchise history. I think he's a really good captain. I think he's really worked behind the scenes to try to help this out and do what's necessary. um if there's anybody that if i was in the front office is there's anybody i just say hey you know what what do you think here um i would i'd be going to hughes i'd just be saying what do you think and you know that you're going to get an answer that's not self-serving in any way you know you're going to get an honest answer about what's going on and i'm sure they've talked to him already i can't imagine this would be what he feels would be a surprise to him but if there's

any i mean obviously you're asking for talk it and the coaching staff's input but i would be making sure i had hughes's input like what what do you really think give us the true pulse and what do we need to do here and um you know it's it is funny like i got a few dms from people like you gotta you gotta lay off this one and i and i do think um and i really would like to um you know i i do think that these are the moments where um like i always say playing in canada the risks are high but the rewards are high like you can see it there's like those fans um like when Miller was away they were chanting his name at the wrestling card there and they love Pedersen too um it doesn't have to be an either or situation I do think this is one

of those moments where players on teams below the 49th Kyle say thank god I'm not up there so you know I I do I do think I do think about that yes it's almost like you know if you've got a riff going on with a friend or a partner and then eventually it all comes out into the open there's something cathartic about that too, and trying to take the next step forward. And then maybe there's a kind of a similar scenario here in Vancouver where it was talked about, it was out in the open. The head coach did that.

The captain did that. The two players involved had no interest, which was their prerogative to do. And maybe that allows everyone to kind of take a deep breath, especially right on the cusp of the holiday break and go, all right, how are we going to be better going forward? Especially because. You know what?

It's funny you said that. It's funny you say that because I did hear that from a couple of people who wondered if that was a strategic play. Like, you know, for example, in one of the games last week, I think it was the Utah game, they had Miller and Pettersson on different power plays. Yep. Someone said to me that they wouldn't be surprised

if that was a talk and attempt to show them, like, isn't this crazy? Oh, I see. Right. Like, do you guys see how ridiculous this all is? Yes. So I don't think you're wrong on this, Kyle. And the one thing is,

is a guy who wants to see the Stanley Cup come back to Canada, like I said at the beginning of the year, I think the Canucks can win the Stanley Cup. And we're only on December 23rd here, right? Like, there's plenty of time to sort themselves out. And I think that's a great point that you bring up, that maybe someone said, if we put this all out there, maybe everybody looks and sees, okay, okay,

now we can start pulling this back together. That game Saturday night was terrific too. It just seemed like it was the perfect main event for a day that featured all seven Canadian teams and you had two of them duking it out in the nightcap on hockey night. That was a fun one to watch. You know, I'll say this about Ottawa. Everybody knows how i feel

about the sanders uh i i picked them to make the playoffs this year i want to believe i want to believe kyle and please don't storm the bakaska's home with tiki torches and other items because Dana's there and I really like her. But I just, I'm waiting. Like they're on an awesome stretch right now. And Saturday night they had a lot of excuses to lose. Maryland in goal. They blew leads, what, three times in that game. And they found a way to win. I just need to see more.

I need to see more. I refuse to proclaim them as arrived after a couple good weeks. I think you need longer a resume than that, but you can see it coming. Like, one thing about Sanderson is, like, he had a great game, and Kevin showed his tremendous pass. He made a really smart play on the game-winning goal. But there was a play he made in the first period

that really stood out to me, Kyle. There was a power play that Ottawa had where they controlled the puck like the Harlem Globetrotters. They had the Canucks just helpless on the penalty kill. And it all started because Sanderson kept a hard rim around in the zone on his backhand. And that's always been a play. Rick Bonas, who was sitting there when I mentioned it, he Ray Bork and Gary Galley who played with Ray Bork said that that is a skill that that is a skill that the elite of the elite have and that when he played in Boston that's what Ray Bork did at the end of every practice he would take hard rims

around the boards and stop them at the blue line on his backhand. And nobody was better at it than Bork was because he practiced it and he worked at it. And when Sanderson made that play, I was like, that is an elite play. It doesn't show up on the score sheet. He didn't get a goal. He didn't get an assist. They didn't score,

but they pressured the Canucks for basically two minutes straight. And I mean, he's so important to them. He's their best defenseman. I think his arrival has made Shabbat better because I think it's taken a lot of the heat off Shabbat and really allowed him to just concentrate on his game. But this Ottawa team, you really see it coming coming I'm not yet ready to proclaim them as

arrived I need more I need more Ottawa and not just from the federal government I need more I was just saying after the week it has been in some parts of this city Elliot a few wins stacked together for the Senators has been a nice reprieve for a lot of the population in the National Capital Region. You know what else Jake Sanderson has gone through this season? What's that? So you know that story you love to tell about Keith Yandel when he got into the playoffs for the first time with the Coyotes? About now you're getting game-planned against?

I think he's feeling that a bit this year for the first time. Interesting. Been around the league a little bit. Obviously, the other teams have taken note of his abilities to move the puck. I know you hear all the time the NHL is a league where you've got no time to move and make plays, but I think for him, part of the adjustment of this season early on has been he's got even less time than than he did before because he's he's been a target for whoever the opposition is most nights I liked your theory and I think

he's going to be better off for it much better off for it of course now I feel like adding a disclaimer here Kyle like one of those medical commercials where the disclaimer lasts as long as the commercial itself. While we're taping this, Allmark left the game after the first period with an upper body injury. Travis Green said post-game it was his back. Everything I say about the Sanders is conditional on all mark being healthy well I do feel that they are much better positioned as players and a team right now to handle the loss of a goaltender and they have showed that at times this year all mark is just too important and if this is anything long term and it looks like by what green is saying that

thankfully they have avoided that if this is anything long term it and it looks like by what green is saying that thankfully they have avoided that if this is anything long-term it voids all my comments about the senators however if it's just a short-term thing and he's fine i remain confident in my senator playoff prediction how about the winnipeg jets elliot though because it feels like you know a couple weeks ago some were wondering well was that red hot start is it starting to taper off was the spark gone was Saturday that five nothing drubbing over the Minnesota Wild of all teams I mean that was that was the lead item for our three early games on on hockey night on Saturday this week was that not a performance that kind of reminded everyone of for the time being who was the

the class of what's a very tough central division that was an impressive win a very very impressive win because Winnipeg you could tell they were not exactly thrilled with the way that they were going and one of the things I've kind of liked that you know Winnipeg has started to do lately is just try some things like on their blue line and some of it is injury related but you have to try some things and some different combinations and give other people an opportunity and you're allowed to do that when you have that big a cushion. Like the one thing that Winnipeg start is allowed is that you don't have to panic when things go sideways or somebody gets hurt. You can look at there and say, all right, we've given ourselves enough of a cushion

that maybe we can try something that we might have been too afraid to try if we were battling for the playoffs. And, you know, they weren't going great lately, but that was an emphatic statement win. Like I realized Wallstead was starting for Minnesota and while he's going to be good, he's not quite ready there. That's a rivalry game. You're at home. Your fans hate the wild. That's a pre-Christmas gift for your fans. And that's a really good performance. A really, really good performance.

Like of all the wins I saw on Saturday, I thought that was the most impressive one. 5-0 over a fierce rival at home, even if they're starting a younger goalie. That's good stuff. That's the good stuff. That makes your fans go home happy. That sells tickets.

I wonder, what is it like in studio when the games are going on? You've got Rick Bonas in there who was just coaching that team not too long ago, so the majority of the players there he would know incredibly well. What's it like sitting next to him watching the Jets? Well, it just reminds me of how much I don't know about hockey. Like he's such a fountain of information in terms of what he sees about the game. He's got such a great technical eye.

And, you know, he loves hockey. Like you can still tell. He loves watching it. He's got a real passion for it and i find passion contagious i think that when you when you're ever you're sitting around someone who's passionate about something i think it rubs off on other people really positively so i'm always amazed like that the sanderson thing off the boards and the first thing he says is ray bork and he starts talking about like like like the smartest guy ever sat next to was adam oats like he would see things that i would absolutely never see never think to see and the way he thought

about the game is an elite elite level and he would just show me stuff out there that i would never think about like bonus is similar like the way way that Ottawa goes in and chases the puck or the way somebody breaks out. He just sees the game at such an elite, elite level. I really love that. I don't, I'll be the first to admit, I don't see it as instinctively as others do because I didn't play to that high a level. So I really enjoy sitting next to people who do because it sort of unlocks things that I wouldn't think to look for, but then in the future, I always do. I know you work with Craig Simpson a lot.

He's also like that too. There are things that Simmer sees out there that when I worked with him, we'd sit and we'd have a Pinot grigio after the game and simmer would say something and i'd be like i'd write it down or make a mental note and i'd go back to my room later and i'd watch it and just say ah that's what he's talking about like he is a real elite mind for the game yes and can see things real time from the booth that most average folks would need about four or five replays to go, oh, okay, now I see that deflection.

He, more often than not, sees things real-time. He's got a gift, has his Rick bonus. That's really cool. Okay, Elliot, news on Sunday. Matt Rempe, game suspension so this is a player who got suspended for four games last year after that elbow to Jonas Siegenthaler in a game against the Devils and you knew something like this would be coming for him after the hit he dished out on Miro Haskett and Friday night in Dallas it just seemed like it checked all of the boxes necessary for a

long-term suspension I imagine none of this surprised you no it didn't and I actually think that Rempe like the Dallas was dominating the Rangers in that game even though the Rangers won it Dallas was dominating them I think in, in terms of possession and chances. But Rempe had a few really good shifts in that game. And obviously, he made a terrible play. I mean, there's no defending it. He made a bad play. He deserved the suspension for it.

And all I can say is I hope he learns his lessons. I do think there is a player there that can help a team. He's just got to learn his lessons. And if he doesn't, then, you know, he's going to keep getting suspended or eventually his NHL dreams will come to an end. But like I said, I still think there is a player there. I think the one thing that really interested me is I started going through the schedule.

Game one of the suspension was Carolina. You know, he was going to be suspended for that game. Game two is Devils. Game three, Tampa. Game four, Florida. Game five, Boston. Game six, Washington. Game seven, Chicago. Care to hazard a guess who game eight is against? Oh, Boston. Game 6, Washington. Game 7, Chicago.

Care to hazard a guess who Game 8 is against? Oh, boy. Is it the Dallas Stars? You are, Kyle, you are hot this podcast. Oh, we're on a roll. You are hot. You are walking in. You've got flames coming out of your fingers.

You're nailing everything. So there you go. So there you go. So there you go. So in the old days, like probably the 80s, that suspension would have stopped at seven. And you would have seen a day where the Dallas Stars were probably going to be allowed to get revenge on their own. But this is the new kinder,ler national hockey league and uh they're not

going to allow that to happen so uh so someone pointed that out to me said you know go look at the schedule and i kind of laughed a bit because it would have been different 30 years ago but um no i don't i don't see how anybody can really argue this one we'll see if he appeals he has the right to appeal to the commissioner and then an independent arbitrator we've seen this before um i i don't think you're expecting the commissioner to drop the sentence and even if you go to an independent arbitrator rampy won't be back before eight games. There just isn't the time for that. But maybe he would get money returned somewhere down the road if the arbitrator agreed with him. But I think there's a bigger picture here. And that is, as I said at the top, I think there is a player here who can be a player. But he simply has to learn that. And I'm sure I have no doubt

that he's trying to make a good impression and he got careless or overexcited or whatever, but you can't do that. And I hope that he works on learning the lesson because if not, like this was a kid who was a real story in a good way last year. The Rangers fans loved him. It was clear the players really liked him he was really easy to deal with I think he was genuinely surprised and happy with the attention and the coverage he got and instead um you know he's in a position now where he's been ejected from four out of 22 games like that can't continue

and hopefully again for his sake he will learn to control the way he plays and his emotions out there because and I'll say it for the third time I think there's a player there I also do think there's a dynamic that we talked about before Kyle when it came to how angry the Wild were about Kaprizov's injuries like those players were accidents I think the Wild didn't like them but they were accidents this was a star Haskinen being injured by a young player who's still finding his way in the league and I think that the I think that teams and players players and the league is very sensitive about that. Very sensitive about that. So almost kind of like you see quarterbacks in the NFL a little bit.

Yes. That similar kind of vibe. You know, some people don't like it when I say this, but you do have to give superstar players a bit more of the benefit of the doubt. The NHL used to be a league where it was like superstars have to fight through it just like anyone else. And I do think there's a lot of people who like that, but I think where we're going in this day and age, the public doesn't want that. And ultimately the public is the one that's buying your

tickets and they're watching your games and they're viewing your highlights and they and they vote with their wallets and i think the public wants a bit more of a benefit of the doubt to the superstars and i think over time the nhl has come to realize that right and wasn't even glenn healy like back in his day, that older generation, he was one of the ones saying to his colleagues going, guys, like Gretzky's our meal ticket here. Let's all keep that in mind. A thousand percent.

A thousand percent. Gretzky is a reason there's teams in like San Jose and Anaheim and other places like that. A hundred percent. Right. Well, keeping with the theme of star players being injured, Austin Matthews in Toronto missed the game Saturday against the Islanders.

He received a cross-check from Dennis Gilbert of the Sabres in the third period of that game Friday night. Craig Berube pointed out over the weekend that that was the one that re-aggravated an injury he had been dealing with cost him nine games back in november can i just say this can i just say this one thing i hate i hate the word re-aggravated it's like i freely admit do you have a university do you have a post-secondary degree you do right i've got a diploma no No, no, no, but that counts.

Like, okay, I want everybody here to understand this. I am not a person who makes fun of diplomas. I think that's awful behavior. So I was not going to make fun of you. I do not have a university degree here. Even though I don't have a university degree, my university attempt was as an English major and re-aggravating is a terrible word. You don't re-aggravate something,

you aggravate it. You aggravate an old injury. God, you sound like your old co-host. I know it's true. It's true. I heard that everywhere this weekend and I was doing a slow burn you do not re-aggravate slow burn in that suit you had going that would have been a tough one that one kept in the heat I was going to say

they needed the the fan with the spray going at the same time but this has been a problem though They needed the fan with the spray going at the same time. But this has been a problem, though, for Toronto this year. I mean, the injury bug is one thing, but certainly to Austin Matthews here. So they had the day off Sunday, didn't hear anything further. They've got an afternoon game here on Monday against the Jets.

Where are you at with where things are going? You mentioned on Saturday you don't sense any panic from those around Matthews about the situation, so maybe there's a bit of solace there. Well, I'll say this. I think a lot of the fans are panicking. I don't. I certainly sense that. Especially because, I mean,

Berube almost shot the warning bow Friday morning saying that yes fighting through it is managing something and you know in hindsight you understand why Leaf fans are going well why the heck did he even play that Buffalo game to begin with yeah there was there was certainly some of that and and I do know that there's been a conversation I mean we'll see they're playing on Monday afternoon We'll see if he plays against Winnipeg, but I do know that there was a thought that why don't we just give him the whole Christmas break off

and not have him play until after. But I had heard that not everything was yet unanimous on that one. Like, for example, I'm not sure initially the plan was to have Murray face Buffalo, but it turned out that way. So you always have to be careful about things change.

What's true yesterday may not be true today. But I know there was some talk about it. The one thing I always look for is panic. And one of the things with the Maple Leafs this year is that, and I know the Maple Leaf leaves are sensitive to it but their fans are getting all over them about the injury diagnoses right and so i mean we'll see but i always i always look for panic kyle like that's the thing i look for are people panicking and i don't sense it now okay before we move on from toronto Elliot, I just have to ask you.

So for those who missed it in the pregame on Saturday, you interviewed Patrick Waugh, head coach of the Islanders. At the very end, you asked about that video clip that made the rounds on social media. I think it was last spring, summer, where he was hanging out with his grandkids. Yes, yes. And was asked about, you know, are you better than Kelly Rudy? And he said, I am better than Kelly Rudy, which was so random, but just a brilliantly

wonderful piece of video that I don't think anyone expected to see. You asked him about it at the end of the interview, which I give you huge kudos for. I don't know if I would have had the stones to ask him about it, but he gave you a great line. Were you nervous at all to bring that up? I guess it helped that Kelly wasn't in on Saturday. Oh, I would have done it if Kelly was there. I was actually disappointed that Kelly wasn't there

because I would have loved to have done it. But I'll be honest with everybody here, transparent. I went to the morning skate and I asked, first of all, the Islanders have one of the best media relations people in the league, Kimber Auerbach. And I asked him if Patrick would do it. And I just wanted him to say, look into the camera and say, yes, I was better than Kelly Rudy.

And Kimber made a really good point. He said, we'll do do it but you have to play the video so people understand what you're talking about so that was good we did that and then we asked why if he would do it because you know what when he's right before a game I find that if you surprise people like that it it could, but it could also go really terribly. So in my experience, if you can warn somebody about a... Mine too. We don't always tell them what we're going to do, but I thought in this case, it would be better if we did. And you know what it was, answer was, which I, again,

it gives you a really unique window into the way these guys think. But you know what his answer was? What was that the answer was is it during the game or is it before the game and because because before the game he was willing to do it but if it was during the game he would have said no and because like a lot of players he's like when i'm in the game my full attention pure attention is on the game like no fooling around then it's game stuff and it was just like i said no or we were taping i think at 5 45 45 minutes before broadcast and he's like since it's before the game i will do do it. And you know what? He did it really well. He set it up with the Islanders. I work for the Islanders now. And secondly, like his line at the end, he goes, sorry, Kelly.

I was like, people were writing to me. There's only like one or two guys that you could even argue were even better than him. So it was good. Yeah. It was nice that he played along. It was really funny. I was thinking that also.

Yeah. It was nice that he played along. It was really funny. But it's a good window into a good media relations person and a guy who's really serious about the game. I got to tell you, though, as good as that was, it wasn't as good as the shot you guys trapped of Lamorello staring at Romanov on the bench. Oh, my gosh.

Credit to our crew, camera crew, production crew for eyeing that. I do love, like, especially, because that's usually, Romanov was on the bench around five o'clock, and that's usually when the production crew comes back from meal break. And sometimes, as you know, you can get some real wonderful stuff with players going through whatever their routines are on the bench or just taking a moment to take in the sights and scenes of it all a few hours before the game and how they get mentally prepared. And as soon as the camera went over to the Islanders general manager, it was very, you know, he sees you in your sleeping vibes.

It was a great, great shot. You know what they say, a picture says a thousand words. That one said about a million words. And the thing about it is if that was an episode of The Sopranos, Romanov would have had one more scene. That's it. Yes. And he wouldn't have looked great in it.

No, no. It would have ended very badly for him. Yeah, yeah. But he was actually good Saturday. I think he was getting up in the play on, I can't remember whether that had been Pajot's goal or Horvat's goal, but, yeah, he had some jump going for the Islanders. That was a big win for them.

And you had the great moment, Isaiah George. Oh, how wonderful was that like he's been their most pleasant surprise this year right a fourth round pick two years ago his first year of pro and he's logging minutes for the NHL club I know after kind of a great start you know the grind starts to set in and there's been some teaching moments here along the way but he j joked when I spoke to him in the morning, I asked, what does the guest list look like for the game tonight? And he said, well, you know, it's not too bad. It's just over 20. And I'm like, over 20? Like, that's not a bad list if you ask me. And so I thought it was neat that he also had his billet parents from London. He organized tickets for them as well. I guess

he'd stayed with the same family all four years that he played there for the knights uh so i think that speaks uh speaks a little bit to kind of what he is about and why that was important there for him and obviously is his family and and friends there and his sister it was her birthday that weekend he made sure to shout that out into the oh he did yes so yeah those are the the moments that that that's hockey night that was a neat one there and and the smile on his face when you know kimber the pr person with

the islanders you referenced earlier when he told him after the interview was done that no you get to keep that hockey night towel uh that was a really neat moment to see those are great moments to be part of those kinds of interviews and see that kind of smile. It's pretty awesome. And it's just a reminder, like Isaiah George is a reminder, that sometimes when you're not expecting it, the spotlight shines on you. Like nobody thought he was going to be playing NHL games this year, and then three guys get hurt, right? And all of a sudden, hey, it's your turn.

Are you going to stand up in the moment, or are you going to shrivel in the corner? And congratulations to the kid. He has stood up in the moment or are you gonna shrivel in the corner and congratulations to the kid he has stood up in the moment how about the kid in the uh san jose crease saturday oh my goodness 41 saves they nearly stole one there in edmonton anybody who wondered about how good that kid could be i felt terrible for him because the moment they scored in the last seconds of regulation and then McDavid and Drysaddle came out for the start of overtime, you're like, oh, I know where this is going. And it's not going in a good way for San Jose.

But that's why so many teams were lined up to get him all summer because he's got that in him, and he was terrific. That San Jose team, you still have to make good decisions um you still have to make sure you surround yourself with the right people um but you can see the path there it's not short like it's still got a while to go but you look at that kid in goal and you look at celebrini out front and you can see it but it's still a long way away and I'm looking forward to seeing Celebrini in Vancouver on Monday night because obviously that's his home and it was a tough return for Bedard this year but Celebrini you know he's

going to be wired for that one it'll be a great game to watch okay john clingberg had his season cut short last year he had hip surgery done only played 14 games with the maple leafs a year ago he's 32 years old now over 600 games you had on headlines with ron that he still wants to play in the nhl so what would a path Klingberg look like in order for him to accomplish that? So he had his hip surgery done by Dr. Sue, the same doctor who in New York,

who did Patrick Kane's surgery. He is skating in Oakville, Ontario, not in Ron McLean's backyard, but with the same individual who skated Patrick Kane as Kane was recovering. So he's basically followed the same path that Kane did to return to the NHL. And after Christmas here, Klingberg is scheduled to join a junior team to skate. And I believe his hope is to sign somewhere towards the end of January. Now, I should have mentioned, I didn't,

but I should have mentioned that he understands that it's not going to be a direct route to the NHL, that he'll probably have to go AHL or somewhere else first, and he's willing to do that. But I think there are teams, I mean, he's a right-hand shot, and he knows how to run a power play and I believe there are teams who are at least looking at him I don't know where it'll end up I don't know what it'll be but I do know there are teams at least who are going to look at him

so he's hoping to get back to the NHL and he's targeting around the end of January and we'll see where that goes but it's Christmas I wanted to shout it out and hopefully he finds a path back because it had been a long road for him his hips had been bothering him for a long time and you could see at the end Kyle last year that his mobility was really impaired so you always want to see whoever's like we looked at Matt Murray last Friday night after 600 days all the work he went through on his hips to get back in and the great emotion of that night as he won you want to see that happen for someone else and Klingberg is the next one in line. Yeah especially because I mean didn't spend a ton of time around him when he was in Toronto of course because it was a short-lived stint there

due to his health but you could tell he's a proud guy and for that to end the way that that it did there I'm with you it would be neat to see for a player like him to have a little bit more control and kind of calling your own shot with whatever the end may look like for him as an NHL player when it gets there. Not everybody can get that, but it would be neat for him to, as he's gone through the work, to try to put himself in a position to get another opportunity to try to have a better ending than how things wrapped up with Toronto. Okay, that'll bring us to our final thought,

which is brought to you by GMC. So another item you had on headlines over the weekend, Elliot, that last week the Ontario Hockey League voted to add two USHL teams to its league as soon as next season, the Muskegon Lumberjacks and the Youngstown Phantoms. But this is a situation where it would need approval from USA Hockey. So for those who aren't familiar about how these types of transactions would work, and let's face it, I am definitely one of those people.

How does all of that work and what is USA Hockey saying about it all? So one of the things I did was I think I sent out a tweet on Sunday night with the link to the Saturday night with the link to the headlines that said that the USA Hockey has yet to approve the move. Like the Ontario Hockey League's Board of Governors have voted to accept Muskegon and Youngstown. They are in and the hope was as soon as next year. But under International Ice Hockey Federation rules, the USA Hockey has the right to approve it. And for a team to leave that league and go

into the Canadian Hockey League, which is run by a different country USA Hockey has to say yes and I said they'd yet to approve it I think my language there was wrong USA Hockey sent a letter last week to the CHL or the OHL I'm not exactly sure which one it was but they said we will not approve it so now it becomes what does this all mean and there's there's a lot of different ways this could go is it going to end up in court um you know some people said to me that they don't think that the ohl or the chl would want to take their chances in a U.S. court. I had some people that said to me that USA Hockey didn't have a problem with it when some Canadian CHL teams moved south of the border. So would that be something that would affect any kind of ruling? And someone else said to me,

what is the IIHF going to do? Ban Canada from events events like that's their golden goose so right now there's a lot of saber rattling out there and the one thing I believe is that nobody ever wants a court of law to determine your fate number one it costs a ton of money and number two at the end of the day if you let it get far enough someone else is making the decision for you, whether it's a judge or a jury or a mediator or whatever it is like you, I would always say, I want myself to make the decision, not leave it up to someone else. But right now there's, there's no question that everybody's drawing their lines in the sand. I can understand USA hockey wanting to protect its house. If I was in charge, I want to do that too.

I just always wonder what you can do if teams want to move. Someone else said to me, wonder if the solution here is the teams fold and then they just go to the CHL under a new name or the OHL under a new name. But I don't know how easy that is. I also don't know what the rink agreements are with teams, like who controls the lease, things like that. And also the players are affected in terms of who their rights belong to and things like that, and all this stuff would get sorted out. I think there's a lot of people here who kind of look at it as eventually both sides

are going to have to reach some kind of agreement. But right now we are where we are, and we'll have to see where this goes. So, you know, I do think, look, like everybody's about to be up in your neck of the woods, Ottawa for the world juniors. You kind of wonder if there may be any conversations up there. I don't know. But, you know, we're in the saber rattling stage. We're in, okay, there's real stuff happening here. And how is everyone going to handle it?

But at least early, the OHL is saying they're in, and USA Hockey is saying, no, they're not. And the question is, how do we get from here to there? Yeah, this is just another piece to what will be an ongoing huge story here now after the initial news that CHL players will be eligible to play NCAA hockey starting next season. Elliot, anything else you want to add on this one? You know, I think one of the things that USA Hockey is concerned about, and for good reason, is their U.S. National Development Team program. And like I have been, I've been told that by a couple of different people

that they believe it's going to be fine, and that is a jewel in their crown, and they will make sure it is put in the best position to succeed, but there's no question that it will make the team's travel schedule harder. You know, like those are some of the closer teams. Like one of the things the reason that it makes sense to some people here for purely hockey reasons is that the travel will be much easier for those two ushl teams in the ohl than in some of the ushl they're just closer

to some of the ohl markets but what it really does is it isolates the national development team. And while USA Hockey seems to be pretty confident in finding a solution to that or supporting that, I think there are other people who are kind of worried about what that could mean to the program. But I have been told that making sure that it survives in a healthy way is very important and very high on their radar. Right. The U.S. program based out of Michigan.

So is this something where, I mean, if USA Hockey receives a big enough check from the Ontario Hockey League, they go, OK, OK, fine. You can have Muskegon, you can have Youngstown, or is it more complex than that? Kyle, you are way too young to view life as cynically as that. Although I have to say that one of the first text messages I got after this segment was about people asking me exactly that. Look, I think there is clearly room for negotiation there always is no like we said

earlier nobody wants to leave this up to a third party to decide on their behalf I think what we have to determine here is what each side really wants to get this done. Is this simple as a payment? Or is there going to be something about who exactly is eligible or a limit on American players? I don't know what it's going to be. But the fact is, I always believe it is better to negotiate

than let a third party decide it for you. That was the final thought brought to you by GMC. Time for our first break. When we come back, the thought line, also a little later on, we've got some winners to announce. Who will be attending the live show in Canmore come next month? More 32 Thoughts to come after this. All right, time now for the thought line,

the place where Elliott's deepest, darkest secrets are unearthed. 1-833-311-3232 is where you can leave a voicemail. 32thoughts at sportsnet.ca is the email for entering submissions. Before we get started, I have a correction from last week. Oh, uh-oh. What'd I do? No, this was me. This was me. This was not you. Oh, okay, good. Yeah, you're off the hook this time.

So you remember one of our listeners asked about how often pucks were exchanged for a fresh one by off-ice officials during a game. And I had said that more often than not, it happens only during a neutral zone face-off. And someone approached me over the last few days, Elliot, and said, it does happen during neutral zone face-offs, but it's not exclusive to that part of the ice. They will do it in the offensive zone, especially if the puck is compromised. They're not going to wait until a neutral zone draw before exchanging for a new one. They'll make the swap right away. The other part that this person told me that I found surprising, and it's one of those, I guess, hiding in plain sight type things. On average, like unless the puck is flipped out of play

or it's taken out because of a milestone or something like that, they'll replace it about every three minutes of game time. That seems more frequent than I ever would have thought, given how often we watch games. I have to say, I didn't realize that. First of all, I'm glad to see for a change that you made a mistake on this pod and not me. But I didn't realize that. First of all, I'm glad to see for a change that you made a mistake on this pod and not me.

But I didn't know that. I was due. I just remembered when, I remember the first time I learned in tennis, when I did some tennis coverage, about one of the things about etiquette in tennis is that you are supposed to tell opponents if a new ball, a new can of balls has been opened and well they do it yeah well at the tour level uh they do it um so at the start of the match i believe it's after the first seven service games because it's the same balls they use for warm-up and then after that i believe it's after every nine service games there's six brand new balls two sleeves of fresh balls well I think obviously sometimes when players

are competing they might forget or sometimes the pattern changes but I remember covering one match I think it was at the Olympics where I guess there was a change in the balls and the one guy serving didn't tell the other guy. And so the next time at the next game, when the other guy was about to serve, he realized that the balls had been changed from the previous ones he'd served with. And he glared at whoever he was playing against and pointed at the ball. I turned to the color commentator and I said, what is that? And he said, oh, he's mad that he wasn't told that the balls had been changed. I was kind of remember that just like a, a funny, different

thing that happened, by the way, by the way, I did get a note from someone. And again, I can't find, I can't remember where I get all these notes from, but it was somewhere on social media where someone wrote and said, when you were talking about hockey players and movies, how they said you should basically be fired for not mentioning the late Peter Zezel and Steve Thomas in Youngblood, which was one of the all-time great movies. I don't know what movies you watch. When the original Roadhouse comes on,

I can never change the channel. I'm trapped. If it comes on at four in the morning, it's like a tractor beam. It just pulls me right in. I cannot change the channel. Youngblood is another movie like that. I guess I just got this thing for Patrick Swayze.

But they said you should be fired from hockey coverage for not remembering those two guys in Youngblood yeah well relax to which I say you I should be fired from hockey coverage for a lot of reasons yeah yeah well no I think we'll keep you around for a little bit longer okay so we're kicking this edition of the Thought Line off with Malcolm from the UK. Hi, folks. Canucks and Great Britain fan heard you talking about

Paul Correa last pod, thought you might like this story. In 1994, Great Britain made it to the top pool of the World Championships for the first time in many, many years. And a group of fans traveled to Bolzano in Italy to watch. Anyway, we had to find a bar in the evening, which appeared to be the only bar open.

And guess who had already found it? Team Canada. We shared a few drinks, best wishes, in exchange for them signing some autographs on bus tickets. Basically, it was the only thing we could find. The names I remember meeting were Mike Ricci, Bill Ranford, and Paul Correa. But the whole team was there. I think it was before they had started playing any games. We'll always remember Bill Ranford shouting to the barman, get the kid a Coke, as Correa was very young.

Yes, he was only 19 back then when he played for Canada in that world championship. A couple days later, Great Britain held Canada goalless for 29 whole seconds, if I remember. And the final score was 8-0. Good memories. Just thought I would pass it along. That's a neat story. That's a great story. And I'm not surprised.

Like, Kelly Rudy always said great things about Bill Ranford. Always said great things about Bill Ranford. That's an outstanding story. Outstanding. Thanks for saying that. I like that stuff. Yeah, great one, Malcolm, and we'll keep the international flavor

going here. Fernando from Mexico. Hey, Griffin, Dom, and the other two. That's pretty good. This is Fernando from Mexico. Hey, Griffin, Dom, and the other two. That's pretty good. This is Fernando from Mexico. With the Hughes, the Robertsons, and other groups of siblings in different conferences, I was wondering if brothers have ever faced off in the Stanley Cup final. If so, how many times has it happened, and if there were any repeats? If not, what's the highest siblings have faced each other in the playoffs love the pod keep up the good work and bashing elliot's ego

well i mean the the biggest one i remember because i covered it was the niedermeyers scott and rob that was the most recent instance that was the most recent one. That was the most recent one, too. And I remember before that series began, Carol Niedermeyer, she said that she wanted Rob to win the Stanley Cup in 2003 because Scott had won two before and Rob hadn't won any yet. And I remember after, that was a tough series. And Michael Ropp was the Game 7 hero.

And after the Devils won Game 7 3-0 over the Ducks, Carol Niedermeyer was in the dressing room and people were interviewing her. And at the beginning we thought, oh, this is a really nice story. We'll interview Carol Niedermeyer. And then she became very emotional to the point where a number of us

just said you know what we're gonna we're gonna stop this like there's you know there's some people you know you interview they get emotional you keep the interview going but you know she's a mother she's not a player and the more we started talking about how i guess unfortunately rob had lost the series the more upset she got. And I do remember everybody just being kind of human and saying, you know, we're not going to continue this. We're going to let you go. And then obviously the great thing for Carol is that Scott obviously came over in 2007 and the two of them won the Stanley Cup together.

But that's the one I remember because of just Mrs. Niedermeyer and how emotional she was after the game. It was one thing. Now that I'm a parent, at that time, I kind of got it, but I didn't fully get it. Now, believe me, I get it. Yeah, and we talked last pod about my affinity for that team. I was an emotional guy after that game seven.

That's right. That was the season before Tampa, just out of the womb, Kyle Bukoskis. Yes, yes. So other ones? To weeping. The Espositos never faced each other in a Stanley Cup final. Like Boston never played Chicago, I don't believe. The Stahl brothers have done it in other series, not the Stanley Cup final.

Conference final they've met. Of course. Leagues. Did the Bentley brothers ever play each other in a Stanley Cup final? Max and Doug in like the 40s? That's a good question. So I'll just say it. So they only gave me the most recent one, Elliot. Oh, okay. I to hound them no no i i totally get it like we we should be paying

those guys at sportsnet stats right now we're asking them for so much stuff you should be paying those guys the listeners you're making them oh my gosh yes i feel bad all the emails that was the only other one i could uh i could really think of off the top of my head was the Bentley Brothers. Max was the MVP of the league, I think, one year in the 40s, and Doug was also a really, really good player. Max is in the Hall of Fame. But that's the only one I can think of off the top of my head.

That's a great one. Because I don't think the Sodders ever played each other in a Stanley Cup final. That's the one thing I was trying to think about. Because no, I mean...

Because Brian would have been in St. Louis. Yeah, Daryl was in Chicago. Brent and Dwayne were in the Islanders at the height of their powers. And Ron and Rich, you know, Philly, when they were at their best. But none of the Sutters went to Edmonton when Ron and Rich would have been in,

or when either one of them would have been in the Stanley Cup final. Yeah, I don't think so. If I'm wrong, someone will tell me. Fernando, thank you for that question. We'll go next to Gavin from Toronto. Hey, Elliot, Kyle, and Dom. Longtime listener.

Thank you for the pod for all these years. Question about the Tyler Johnson situation. So for anyone that missed it, he was initially on a PTO with Boston, signed a contract, and then last week he was put on unconditional waivers for his contract to be terminated. So Gavin asks, why does he have to pass through waivers in order for his contract to be terminated? Can a team claim him off waivers while he's being set down for a mutual termination?

As always, great job. It's a good question. For a mutual termination, player and team have to agree. And so as a result, people are generally not claimed in that situation. I can't think of a case off the top of my head where a player has been claimed when there's been an agreement to terminate right and i think he's also asking too so if both parties are willing in an agreement of what's going on why does the waiver process have to occur why can't the contract just be terminated oh i i just think it's the way that the cba is written because you have to um i i think technically because other teams have to be um able to grab the player if they wanted to. Good question, Gavin. Thank you for that submission.

Up next, a voicemail. Connor from New York. Quick question about the whole e-bug situation. Hearing you guys talk about the recent one in Ottawa and whatnot. You know, the David Ayer story was awesome and got a lot of clicks, still gets remembered today. But what is the actual reasoning the NHL doesn't just allow a third goalie to be ready on the roster in the building with the team? Is there any reason outside of just wanting to keep this e-bug storyline up for grabs each year. I just find it a little ridiculous that we're relying on total amateurs to play in games in these situations

when there's perfectly good professionals out there that would rather be in that situation. Thanks. Have a good one, guys. Connor, you will be surprised to to hear or maybe you won't be that there are a lot there are a number of nhl executives who agree with you they don't like this and for the same reason that you mentioned that it seems crazy that when you could have a third nhl goaltender or nhl capable goaltender, you have to depend on someone who isn't. And they really feel strongly about this should be changed. So you should know the hypothesis of

your question would not be frowned upon by people around hockey. In the playoffs, you are allowed to carry a third goalie. That happens. But one of the reasons that it doesn't happen in the regular season is because teams don't have the roster space or teams don't have the cap room. Like there are teams that carry three goalies occasionally. We saw it quite a bit last year because they didn't want to put somebody on waivers and they could do it. But one of the issues would be if you're given permission to carry a third goalie and you go over the cap, you know, how's everyone going

to feel about that? Then that money comes out of the player's share and it's only a tiny amount of money. But if everybody starts to do it, I guess it could accumulate, right? So that's the reason is that it could violate the roster rules or the salary cap you're allowed to carry three goalies now as long as you're not breaking one of those rules and the people that don't it's because of that reason and there have been discussions at times about a carve out about how that could work but to this point they haven't agreed on it but you should know that there are a significant number of people that do agree with you and they think it's crazy

that they leave crucial points up to someone who is not an NHL goalie. So you're not alone on that thinking. I still remember that David Ayers night and so he finally gets out onto the ice and they're warming him up for a couple of minutes there when he gets into the net and the camera cuts to that the look on Rod Brindamore's face as he's watching all this play out like are you kidding me this like this is the NHL uh you know he was thinking the exact same thing in that moment too so good question from Connor thank you for submitting that you know I remember about that night was somebody was like,

one of the owners in the league was watching that game, and he was like, this is outrageous that a guy who's on Toronto's payroll as a Zamboni driver is in the net for Carolina in a game that Toronto needs to have. And then when Carolina won the game, he texted me back, and he goes, nevermind. Yeah,

that was low hanging fruit for a lot of people for a few days afterwards. Okay. We'll wrap up with this question from Kristen. Hello, Kyle, Elliot, and Dom. Long time listener.

First time writing in. Just finished watching the Rangers and the Sharks game last Friday where the Rangers killed off 17 minutes in penalties. Shesterkin had 21 saves while shorthanded, and it got me wondering, what's the record for the most shorthanded saves in a game? Thanks for taking my question. We're happy to take it, Christian.

Oh, that's a good question. Yes. So there are three goalies this is a unique one but i thought it was kind of fun three goalies that uh share the prestigious honor of having the most shorthanded saves in a single game okay all three occurred in the salary cap era so here's what we're going to do elliot i'm going to give you the teams of these goalies that they played for at the times when they recorded uh this feat and you can guess who they are okay okay yeah all right first team remember this is salary cap era so from 0506 to sunday night okay first team washington all of kolzig wow coming out hot

yeah yes him or holtby that was the first guess all right this one will test you a little more columbus steve mason no I'm going to guess you a little more. Columbus. Steve Mason. No. Pascal Leclerc. Unbelievable. Yeah. That was your second guess. Yeah. You were making up for the Mike Bossy blunder. Oh, that was terrible.

Jared had said to me, he was yelling at the pod. He's like, say Bossy, say Bossy. I know. Jeff Giridat is Kyle's game producer, by the way. Correct. I think he also has Bossy's tattoo on his right shoulder. That's true. He's a big Islanders fan, yes.

And for anyone that may have saw our open on Saturday where I had the old New York newspaper in my hand from May of 1980, that was Jeff's. Yeah, he showed it at the morning skate that's pretty cool pretty cool okay last team colorado varlamov no craig anderson no kemper no oh i'm undoing it all here. Dom submitted Peter Budai, also incorrect. I'm starting to think about who some of these guys were. Oh, well, was Wah in the salary cap era?

No. Okay. He was not. So hold on. Let me think. Calvin Pickard. Good guess, but no. You're on the right path, though.

I don't know if that helps at all, but you're on the right path. You're naming all Avalanche goalies. Okay, what year-ish are we here? Okay, this was in January 2018. French-Canadian. Oh, then it has to be Bernier. Yes, it has to be. So Jonathan Bernier, Pascal Leclerc, Ole Kolzig,

all recorded 25 saves while shorthanded. Wow. That is the most. So Shosturkin wasn't too far off at 21 last week. Wow, that's a great stack. Great question. Really good. Christian, thank you, that's a great stat. Great question. Really good. Christian, thank you for that.

Thank you for everyone who submitted. Thank you to Griffin Porter for once again helping curate it and for the Sportsnet Stats team for lending massive assists because we would be helpless without you. We'll take our final break and come back and unveil the winners as we look forward to the live show in canmore as part of hockey day in canada in january we'll be right back Okay, welcome back. Before we get to unveiling the winners of our Impressions contest

for a pair of tickets to our live show coming up in Canmore next month as part of Hockey Day in Canada, Elliot, you wanted to mention Ricky Henderson, the greatest leadoff hitter, the greatest base dealer baseball has ever seen. We lost him over the weekend, gone at the very young age of just 65 years old. One-time Blue Jay, critical part of them repeating back in 1993. I know you are a big, big baseball fan, Elliot. How do you remember Ricky Henderson?

Well, I love Ricky Henderson as a player. And I was fortunate enough to deal with him a little bit back when I did a bit more baseball. But I became, I mean, I was always really interested in him. But I really remember the second time the Blue Jays ever made the playoffs was 1989. And they played Oakland in the American League Championship Series. It was only one round before the World Series back then. And Henderson dominated that series. Oakland won it in five games. He was the MVP of the series.

He had eight stolen bases, and he hit a ton. Like, it was just every – like, Ernie Witt was the Jays catcher at the time, and Henderson just drove him insane that whole series. Like, if you walked him – and I think he also had seven walks, he was on third before you knew it. Like rarely have you seen one player dominate a baseball series like Henderson dominated that one. But, you know, like I said, there were a couple of times

I got a chance to speak to him when he played. You know, I remember two particular things. Number one, Ben Greve was playing for Oakland. He was an outfielder. His father, Tom, was a former Major League player who was a broadcaster with the Texas Rangers. And so we did a story on him, and I walked up to Henderson and I said, you know, can I ask you a couple questions

about Ben Greve? And he was like, why do you want to talk about Ben Ben Grieve why don't you want to talk about Ricky it was just so funny like it was always talked about himself in third person I was great and then he smiled he gave a great interview but he was uh he was really really funny and you know the other thing too is I always remember like his thighs were just massive like in in in the in the tapered baseball pants like you could just like how strong his legs were um but the one story I remembered and I always thought it was not true until he told the New Yorker that it was true and he he said this story and nobody believed him. But when I, you know, I saw him say there that it was real. It's so incredible. So there was one year when he was

in Oakland that he got a check for a million dollars. And at the end of the year, they were balancing their books and it wasn't cashed. And they were like, what's going on here? How come we're not seeing this million dollars cashed? And they couldn't figure it out. They called the bank and the bank said it had never been brought to them. So they went to Ricky Henderson and he said, oh yeah, I framed it. And they're like, what?

It's a million dollar check he goes oh i i'm gonna make a lot more money than that i just want to keep that one up on the wall and i i was like there's no way this story is true but he did confirm later that it was true guy was one of a kind but one of the great fan stories i remember um the guy was a longtime subscriber to sports illustrated um when the magazine was in its glory years and there was an article when he was traded to toronto um there was a young fan that he was very close to who sat in the left field seats in oakland and she would always uh write signs to him like hi ricky and stuff and he noticed them and he became very friendly with her

and then when he got traded to toronto she was kind of devastated and she wrote a letter to the newspapers there saying like i never got a chance to say goodbye so i think when the blue jays went back to oakland to play after he got dealt like he sought her out and like um and like i think he actually brought her onto the field if i remember this correctly and he got a big standing ovation because obviously everybody there reading the stories knew the kind of what the situation was so and there was also a great story that went around about how he he said that he would vote full shares to you know full playoff shares to players who hadn't played a ton or people like the parking lot attendant I think because he said you could really change people's lives with that money. So, like, he had a lot of bravado.

He said a lot of things that were just crazy. But, like, just in the couple of minutes I ever got a chance to ever deal with him, like, he was hilarious. And obviously he was like a heck of a guy. Like, you could see the tributes this weekend about what a great guy he was. So I loved Ricky Henderson, and I was really sorry to hear about it it's one of those things where you meet someone who you kind of grew up loving and they were just the way that you hope they would be like just hilarious why you want to talk about ben grieve why don't you want to talk

about ricky like it was just it was so good I loved it yeah thanks for giving me the opportunity yeah of course I really like that video that Sid Cicero put out over the weekend of you know bottom of the ninth game six against the Phillies in 93 about how he calls time right as Mitch Williams goes into his wind up for the first pitch of the inning and he just about falls right off the mound and trying to stop himself. He ends up walking Henderson on four pitches. None of them were even close. He was rattled, and what, three batters later,

Joe Carter sends it over the left field wall, and the Jays go back-to-back there. So, yeah, really neat memories, and just unfortunate that he's gone this soon. Great trivia question. Who was on deck? Who was the hitter after Joe Carter? Great trivia question.

Because remember, that was White, Alomar, Mulder, Carter, Olerud, and then Henderson. Well, Henderson moved to the top. They moved guys around, but you know what I mean. Right. So would it have been Olerud? No, they'd pinch hit, and Alfredo Griffin was on deck. Oh, man.

Yeah, I would never have got that one. Walk him, Mitch. Walk him. Too late now. All right. So about a month ago, ago Elliot we put out a challenge to our listeners an opportunity to win a couple of tickets to a live show coming up at Silver Tip in Canmore next month in the lead up to Hockey Day in Canada and we understand our listeners delivered. So Dom Schramatti, our producer,

has put together a mashup of the 10 submissions that stood out the most, the winners of the pairs of tickets. So you and I have not heard this yet. It is, as we said, it was to submit impressions of either myself or Elliot on the pod. so here's the mashup wait so before we hear this Dom is this good is this good Dom no they're terrible

oh geez geez Dom tough crowd no everyone everyone did their best but uh don't quit your day job listeners some of you uh what is what is with you? Why would you insult the listeners like that? By the way, to our winners that we'll announce here momentarily, Dom will be in Cammore. Oh, yeah. Give him a piece of your mind. Yeah, yeah. You can sift him out of the crowd.

So, yeah, Dom, you put together the mashup here, so we'll play this first. Ellie and I haven't heard it yet, and then we'll read out the names of the winners after the fact here we go hey there it's Kyle Bukowskis I spend a lot of time eating breakfast breakfast. Elliot, I'm in the sky so often that flat earthers think I'm a hoax. I love breakfast.

Wow, Elliot. Macklin Salabrini, what a player. Yeah, you're right, Kyle. It's a lot like having a girlfriend. Sometimes going out with a girl is great, and that's similar to Macklin celebrating. What?

Kyle, first of all, you're not strong. Now, you know I hate talking in absolutes like this, because I could be totally wrong, and we wake up tomorrow and he signs an extension for $11 billion. But as we record this at 11.49 p.m. on Sunday night,

that's what I'm hearing. Hi, guys. That's perfect. I'm redoing an insert here for the pod. Steph and Max are sleeping, so I've snuck into the bathtub. I wanted to provide some updates on the Trouba trade. He was quite upset about the fact that he didn't have enough time in Times Square. You know, it could happen.

It also could not happen. The point of it is things could be happening. You may not have heard, but before my days of covering the NHL, I used to cover the NBA back in the day. Now, if you injected me with truth serum, I would tell you that there is nothing that I enjoy more

than ruining your favorite team's abbreviation on Twitter. Well, I'm on the road to Detroit, and the thing everyone always thinks about Detroit

is, of course, the 1933 player Boots McDougal. This is Kyle. If you're leaving thoughts, remember to leave your home address and your postal code. Ain't that right, Frege? Oh, my gosh. Deep cut.

I've got to be honest. I wasn't listening. Elliot, what can we expect of these upcoming contract negotiations? Oh, sorry, guys. I just had to eat something there. That's a great question from Frank from Halifax. It's Steve from Winnipeg. I used to do, you might not know this,

basketball. I used to cover it. might not know this, basketball. I used to cover it. And this last one is Dom. There you go. That's Dom with a glare at Elliot after he says absolutely anything about Vancouver. Oh, man. Dom, I gotta say,

you are wrong. Those are great. They they're so bad they're good no no those are not bad dynamite that that one like a lot of those were fantastic they got the catchphrase i'm glad the breakfast thing got mentioned twice but the one guy who did me saying this is as 11 49 p.m while we're taping this that one was hit out of the park that was an upper deck grand slam i i tip my cap to the listeners that was some great work you are all deserving you're all winners and specifically congratulations to evan bob ste Steve, Doug, Rafiq, Ethan, Soren, Rylan, Michael, and Quinn. You ten are the winners of a pair of tickets to our live show at Silvertip next month. So, Elliot, can't wait to meet all of them there when we get out into the Rockies as part of Hockey Day in Canada.

That's going to be a really fun day. And what a fun exercise this all was. I was, I got to say, I am really impressed. Really impressed. I feel as proud about that as I am about my own children. I hope Max listens to this. That's great. I'll have a way to celebrate the first night of Hanukkah.

Yeah. Oh, my God. Anyway, so we won't have a pod on Friday this week. At least we're not planning to. But we will have the holiday party dropping Tuesday. Right, Kyle? That's right. So we have, what do we have?

We have seven guests lined up. It's going to be a jam-packed party. Look forward to getting to chat with some of our colleagues there. The next time we talk hockey with our listeners, we will be in Chicagoago in the lead up to the 2024 winter classic between the blackhawks and the blues so we're heading back out on the road fridge and dom's coming too i'm not sure how good that is oh it'll be good it'll be good it'll be good so thank you again to everyone who submitted their impressions. That was a lot of fun.

Thank you for the laughs. Thank you for the efforts and clearly your loyal listenership. So as we mentioned, there's 13 games on the schedule here today. So enjoy the hockey, enjoy the holiday break, enjoy our holiday party on Tuesday, and we'll talk to you next week

from the Windy City.