32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Jaywalking In Stockholm

Episode Date: August 24, 2023

We’re in Sweden! Jeff and Elliotte attend the NHL European Media Tour in Stockholm (34:00) and catch up with a number of players including William Nylander (14:00) and Rasmus Andersson (1:06:10). But before that, they get into the news of the summer — Auston Matthews signs a 4-year extension with the Maple Leafs (1:00).The guys also get to other news including — the comments by Elias Pettersson (26:10), Brandon Hagel getting an extension with the Lightning (43:20), Jonathan Toews taking time away from hockey (46:30), Tom Wilson, Patrice Bergeron retiring (50:15), Alexis Lafrenière (57:10), Evan Bouchard stays in Edmonton (56:00), and they get to your questions on the Montana’s Thought Line (1:31:00).Jeff and Elliotte take time to remember Rodion Amirov, Bobby Baun and Rick Jeanneret (1:21:00).Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call the Montana's Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemailMusic Outro: Lucky Lo - Peak/ValleyListen to the full track HEREThis podcast was produced and mixed by Amil Delic, and hosted by Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman.Audio Credits: Cam and Strick Podcast, Da Beauty League, Jake’s Takes and MSG.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.

Hey, it's William Nylander. Welcome to Stockholm, home of the NHL media tour, European media tour. There we go. That's actually a lot of ways. Let's do that. Let's use that one. Well, thank you, William Nylander. We'll hear more from you in a couple of moments and we'll talk plenty about you in a couple of moments. But Elliot, as we bring everybody aboard once again to 32 Thoughts, the podcast in Stockholm, by the way, Sweden, for the NHL European Players Tour. The big news happens back in Canada as Austin Matthews signs an extension. Four years, 13.25 is the AAV. There is a new top salary dog in the NHL.

By $625,000 a year. Congratulations to Austin Matthews on finally being able to afford a house in Toronto. He can move out of his rental property. He can move out of his one-bedroom condo with a stand-up shower and a toilet right next to it and actually afford a home in Toronto. I think a couple of things here.

Number one, I had heard that the Maple Leafs were trying to push for as much term as they could get. You had wondered about five. I think they were hoping to get to five. Now, if you've listened to this pod over the last few months, you know that my feeling has been it was going to be a three to five year deal. I didn't know it was going to be four, but I thought it was going to be three to five. And I think the thing was going to be is could the Maple Leafs convince Matthews to sign for five years?

But this was the term that I really believed was going to be the answer. Three to five years, we end up at four. The other thing I heard was if it was a four or five-year deal, I always believed this was going to be the new highest AV in the NHL, which it is. Over at Nathan McKinnon, by the way,

for those that don't know, 12.6. But the thing i'd also heard jeff is that from the beginning it wasn't going to pass nathan mckinnon by the skin of an onion like it wasn't going to be 12.634 so conor mcdavid is 12.5 nathan mckinnon 12.6 this wasn't going to be 12.7 or 12.634 like it wasn't going to be 12.7. Or 12.634. Like it wasn't going to be something like that. It was going to be a significantly larger number. The 34 is a Judd Moldaver touch.

Very, very, very nice. Very nice. But 13.25 is the number. So it's the highest AV. You know, one of the things about Matthews, and I do think Matthews is figuring it out, no question about it. I think he consistently becomes a better player.

I'm a Matthews fan, and I think he will only get better and better as he ages. But one of the things I think Matthews will go down for, in addition to whatever he does on the ice, is he is going to change the way contracts are done in the nhl this is normal in the nba short term big number lebron james has done it many many many times he is going to change the way this is done in the nhl i'm glad you got us there as early as it did because what i wonder is, I wonder if there are some big name players that have locked into longer term deals and guaranteed money, albeit high, who now look at the Matthews strategy for contracts and say, hmm, maybe

I should have done that. I was talking to a player in July, a good NHL player, and he asked me, what did I think Matthews was going to sign for? And I said, the same thing I said on this podcast all the time, three to five years between 13 and 14 million. And his comment, he thought about it for a while. And then later on, he said to me in his position, he didn't think that he was in a spot to do that, but he thinks more players will. Now, we're in a situation now, Jeff, where everyone thinks the cap is going up next year.

So we're going to talk about the Hagel deal and what... There's a pretty good indication that the cap is going up. And what everybody thinks that means, look, they're expecting the cap to go up by $4 million next year and maybe $5 million the year after. I think there's going to be some players who look at it and say, all right, do I still go short? Because I think it's going to be even more than that.

Like Matthews did this because I think he wants to sign one more deal when he's 30 years old and figures out again where he feels at that point in time. I just think that more and more players are going to start looking at this and saying, yeah, I like that. The thing though is you're talking about the top top players like i look at someone like troy terry for anaheim and i say okay that one was really close to going to

arbitration anaheim all of a sudden showed up with that seven times seven yeah like i think the troy terry can make more than that eventually. And Troy Terry probably feels, with the cap going up, that he could make more than that eventually. He probably looks at it and says, you know what? If I get injured and I've turned down seven times seven, am I doing right for my family? I'm not at that Austin Matthews, Connor McDavid, Nathan McKinnon level. So I'm going to lock in for term. Like what I'm wondering about here, Elliot, more than anything else is, are we just talking about the top guys?

Because I can still see that tier beneath the top guys looking for term. Those seven to $9 million players that are saying, listen, if I can get that and I can set my family up for the rest of our lives, I owe it to them to take it. I can't do that three-year deal, four-year deal gamble where Austin Matthews, maybe Nathan McKinnon, Conor McDavid, all these guys can. Does that make sense to you? Yeah, absolutely it does. And I think you have to be comfortable gambling on yourself like if somebody's going to hand you is like you said a 50 million dollar contract it takes a lot to say you know what i'm going to take a little bit less and not have security of that and then gamble again i think the other thing too and i should

have mentioned this the slight difference between the nb and the NHL is I think the risk of injury in the NHL is going to be greater always. Even though it's not as physical a game as it used to be. It doesn't matter. It's still running around in a very confined space. So I think that's the other thing. You know, like I will say this. I had a couple people who said to me,

you look at Matthewthews has never been seriously injured but he's had some things the wrists uh the shoulder the concussion um that he's had before like i don't think there's anything here that anybody worries about long term with austin matthews but when you've had like this kind of history it takes real fortitude not to go for the most security i think the other thing here is about toronto you're going to hear our interview with kneelander in a second and for a few hours there kneelander dominated the news cycle until the lease said enough of this we're we're weer dominated the news cycle until the Leafs said, enough of this. We're dominating the news cycle. Like I said, I think they

were trying to get Matthews signed for as long as they could do it. That was their goal. Their number one goal was sign Matthews for as long as they could. They wanted at least five. They got four. But I think the rest of it, they're ready to play this year out. Monter's a year away from being eligible for an extension.

Tavares has two more years. Nylander, as we all know, is going into his last year. They've got Domi on a year. They've got Bertuzzi on a year. They got Giordano going into his last year, like Riley's sign. Their longest sign forward now is Matthews, but second is Yarncroke. There's a lot of flexibility there. So I think the Maple Leafs have basically said,

we are going to punt a lot of our decisions to later in the season or after this season, and play is going to determine where we go. And I don't think this changes any of that. They were always going to lock up Matthews. I was confident that he was going to sign, and I think they were confident he was going to sign. And I think they were confident he was going to sign. But I think around the rest of them,

they're not afraid of the uncertainty of saying, we're going to see where we are here. So here's the annoying question. Is this the number then that if you're William Nylander, you're negotiating off of? You know what I've had to say about Nylander. And we'll hear what he has to say like and i ask him about it directly and that is you know about the idea that he doesn't want to take a haircut

of nobody else is to me the bigger question is not new lander on this one it is marner what is marner's next number now because he was the closest one to matthews when matthews signed for 11 6 3 4 all of a sudden marner became close to an 11 million dollar player so now matthews number is 13 2 5 what's marner's number is it 13 2 4 9 9 9 9 like what is it i actually think that becomes the biggest question and then again you know what happens here jeff if newlander scores another 40 goals like i don't want to give away the interview but newlander seems pretty confident in himself i mean if there's one thing that guy is it's confident in his own skin but i think what the maple lease are saying is you can debate what

marner's next number is going to be you can can debate what Marner's next number is going to be. You can debate what Nylander's next number is going to be. We're going to wait to see how everything goes this year, and then we'll make our decisions. I think one thing that's for sure for me is that their defense as it starts the season, it won't be the same as it finishes the season. That's going to be something they continue to think about all year long but i think what they've said now is matthews is our guy we've locked him up that's what we wanted to do

everybody else let's see how this plays out uh thought on brad tree living here this is his first major swing with the maples well you know he's made some signings but this one's the whopper this one's the whopper the whopper you whopper. This is the whopper. Who has the leverage here? Matthews has the leverage. Matthews is the guy who's got the hammer. The closer you get to UFA, the more you have the hammer. I think he got the best deal he could get, both in term and number, that could work for Toronto.

And this is what Matthews wanted, and this is what Matthews gets. Okay, so Elliot, with that, the conversation turns to William Nylander. We sat down with him earlier here in Stockholm. Here's William Nylander on 32 Thoughts to Podcast. Just say that again so I figure out what you're talking about. William Nylander. William first of all thanks so much for joining us and for all the Swedish players that we talked to here in Stockholm we're asking the same question to begin and that is

what is the best thing about Sweden for you probably the the food the swedish food the third or fourth person to say that yeah what's your dish i mean there's so many dishes but i mean i gotta this was i don't know if it's swedish pizza but pizza's place like close to where i live and that's where when i get home i hit it up maybe four or five times the first couple weeks should pineapple be on pizza that's the big question well that's an order we usually go with me and my buddies we go pineapple on the pizza so you have solved the question so that is a strong yes from william neil after before we get into what's next a quick look back at last season uh there was the big hump the big hurdle the first round um the maple east beat the tampa bay lightning and then lose to florida in the second round how do you and your teammates

look at what happened last season yeah i think that we i mean look at it as being i wouldn't say happy but to step in the right direction i think with getting past the first round getting over that hurdle because i do think that that was was maybe weighing a little bit heavy on us, not getting past that in previous years where we've been up 3-2 and stuff like that happens. So that was great to get that off our shoulders. And I think going into the second round, I just think we maybe didn't have our foot on the gas as much as we should have.

And now we know we won the first round. I mean, the second round is just going to get that much harder and you're going to have to give that much more. So I think that's probably what we could take from last year. Have you seen this Morgan Riley appearance on a podcast called Jake's Takes? No. Okay, so Morgan Riley did a podcast. He's a young fan.

He's very talented. And it's a podcast on, he's a young fan, he's very talented, and it's a podcast called Jake's Takes. And he said that in game three against Tampa, the face-off, just before he scored the overtime winner, he went up to you and said... Nylander had told me, or I asked him what he wanted to do off the face-off, what kind of step play he wanted to run. And he said, just stay out.

He's like, just stay at the top. Don't worry about coming down, blah, blah, blah. And so we had a good laugh about that afterwards a step play he wanted to run and he said just just stay out he's like just stay at the top don't worry about coming down blah blah and uh so we had a good laugh about that afterwards because we had tried a bunch of different things that hadn't really been working but um he said just stay out of it okay like i'm gonna you know do this blah blah but he essentially told me just not worry about it uh but the puck came right to me and that was the end of it. So I, again, all I really need. So you basically said that you called the winning goal because you told him not basically.

I just told him to shoot it. Don't worry about me because nothing's working. So just shoot it. Is that true? Yeah, I think that that's kind of what I went down to because I was like, none of these face-off plays have been trying to do nothing, all series series so i just said just just shoot it and then he did his thing that's it's that's hilarious he was giving you credit just so you know well i

don't deserve any credit there that's all him for sure all right where do things stand as you know everybody like and i'm just as guilty as anyone else we're all talking you're the source where does everything stand well uh look right now um i'm just getting ready for for the season and um my agent and uh brad can do whatever talking they want to do uh for uh to try to get a contract done. Obviously, there's no other place I want to play at, so my mind's only in Toronto. Is any part of you concerned that this won't work out? That's for a later day after next season,

so I'm not worried about that right now. This is where I want to be at, and I'm just focusing right now and getting ready to have the best year of my career and helping the team to reach our goal that we all want to achieve. So that's for another day for me to focus on because I still have one more year left, and that's the place I want to be at. So there's lots of time to get something focus on because I still have one more year left, and that's the place I want to be at. So there's lots of time to get something done.

And I'll ask one more. Was there any point at all this summer where you thought you were going to be traded? Not really. I didn't think so. I wasn't too worried. Yeah, not too worried about it. Does anything worry you you're the most calm chill person i think i've ever seen play in toronto i don't know

my dogs maybe worry me um but no like i said i i still have one more year and i know how much i love it there and i mean it would take a lot for me to want to leave Toronto like there's like that's a place I want to be at and that's where my mind's at for for the coming uh year and for the future I'm not thinking about being anywhere else so and the contract stuff that's not for me to figure out that's between Brad and my agent and uh when and hopefully they get that done uh soon to be good what is it about Toronto then? Like, what is it about the city, the team, the organization, all of it that does it for you? So you'll say like, look, this is where I want to play.

Well, like you got the organization. They take care of you better than any other team in the league. And the staff, the trainers and equipment staff and all the people around, they just make sure that you're given the best stuff to succeed and have success. And then you've got the fans that are incredible. And then the city, I mean, just basically this is where I've spent the most time in my life.

So this is home for me. So, I mean, with just my daily life in Toronto, I mean, that's just, yeah, consider it home. I do want to ask you one more. And, you know, again, this is your opportunity to say, to clear anything. Like I've said, like I've heard that you don't want to take a discount if other players aren't going to take a discount.

There's been reports that you're asking for a minimum of $10 million. Do you want to address any of this? The contract stuff, that's just for Brad and my agent to dig into. I mean, both sides, I think, know where each other are at. And right now, we'll just see what happens. I mean, I still have one more year left. So I don't really understand what the big rush is either to get a deal done. I mean, got one more year left.

We have a great team, and we go from there. How do you and your teammates talk about this team right now? I think everybody's excited. I mean, we had a great offseason, signed some big players coming in. And obviously, we lost some really good players too that were close friends as well. A lot of guys, so that was tough. But I think that we're all excited in knowing what we've done last year.

Jobs one quarter of the way to finish, but we're building towards that angle. You know, from our perch we talk a lot about windows and how long the window is open for certain teams and when it closes do players talk the same way like do you guys talk about okay we have x amount of years to do this together well i mean for the most part in toronto i mean we're still pretty young i would think as a group of guys. So, I mean, you look at other teams around the league,

how long they've battled with their core group of guys to win a cup. I think of Washington. Yeah, like I don't think that there's like a big rush in that aspect. I think that it's going to take time, too. It's not the easiest thing to go out there and just win a cup. It takes time and a lot of stuff to learn, I think. I mean, we're all so young, so now getting a little older. And that's one of the things I wanted to ask you is,

like Marner got married this summer and a lot of you guys were there. You guys are still pretty young, but if you think about it, you've been together five, six, seven years now. And when you look at some of the guys you started with, how have you seen everybody change in the last few years? Well, I mean, I think that everybody gets older, maybe a little bit more mature, but everybody's still like, from when you first met them to now they're still the same way like nobody has made like a huge huge 180 or whatever

so i mean everybody's still their young selves just maybe a little bit more mature probably um i wanted to ask you about rasmus sending and uh he was here a little while ago and uh we asked him about the day he got traded and we asked him about the conversation you had and he said you know first of all that it's he said the two of you said it's weird not to talk to each other or see each other every day he said that you told him the cameras are on you don't lose your composure but he actually said that he almost got emotional remembering the conversation being asked about it. Because in that moment where he was going through a whirlwind, you made sure you were there for him.

Yeah, it looked like that practice was kind of crazy. I mean, he lived with me for quite some time in Toronto and stuff like that. And, I mean, working out and skating in the summers together and stuff. So, I mean, we've become really close friends. So seeing him skate off the ice there, he just knew what was going on. So, I mean, as soon as practice was over, I went straight over to the locker room and made sure he was doing okay. And obviously it's tough to see a friend like that go but

um that's just the business side of it anything you in particular you've worked on this summer i i'm just working on getting better at the things i'm really good at and then obviously trying to think uh about i mean small areas that uh that i could help uh that need improvement too so not just focusing on the stuff that I'm really good at and getting better, but small aspects to help the other side of the game too. You look, I could be totally wrong on this, but you look thicker. Yeah. I don't know.

It could be. Maybe I'm just wearing some baggy clothes. So you think I'm not. I don't know. The shoulders, maybe it's broad. You look stronger, I have to say. I don't know. I could be totally wrong. Yeah. I don't know i could be totally wrong yeah i

um i don't know maybe hopefully the summer workouts have been paying off um i'm curious about a couple of players that um brad tree living has brought in here and the two are tyler bertuzzi and max domi You've played against both. What is your team getting with these two players? Yeah, competitors, guys that compete and, I mean, obviously do anything to win and been successful in wherever they played. So I think they'll fit in with our team perfectly. At the end of the season, would that have been one area where are you having a conversation with someone from your team and you'd circle like, OK, we need players like Tyler Bertuzzi, Max Domi, these types of players?

Yeah, look, I mean, after the season, everything was also such a whirlwind. So, I mean, with everything going on and whether you didn't know what was going on with the staff or anything. So, I mean, you weren't really thinking about, like, who we should acquire, really. I mean, plus you're upset about the loss at the end of the day. So, but, yeah, I think it was a great offseason for us, and we also had another Swede, Klingberg, so that'll be fun for the Swede group. Some of the guys were skating with him.

They said he looks really good. Yeah, yeah. I mean, he's a tremendous player, and, I mean, I think he'll have a great year this year. What is the best thing about being a toronto maple leaf i mean i think it's honestly the fan base i mean you could go anywhere and you got fans in the stands i think that's uh that's the coolest thing about it i mean i was actually i've been on vacation i mean here in europe there are people walking around with toronto stuff on and you're like that's insane.

Does anyone ever come up to you or say anything? I was with five guys in Barcelona, just standing there waiting for the burger. And just some guy comes up to me and is like, hey, huge fan. Me and my wife are here. We're just – yeah, so it's pretty crazy take a picture yeah oh yeah good on you uh we're in sweden now and you'll be coming back to sweden in november as part of the global series uh the minnesota wild the detroit red wings the ottawa senators

and your toronto maple leaves personally i love it watching nhl games in other countries um every hockey country has its own hockey culture um what's that going to mean to you to play nhl games in sweden no i think it'll be a lot of fun i mean bringing nhl hockey here i think it's good for growing the game too i mean kids around the city could come and watch an nhl game i mean usually games are on at 1 a.m 2 a a.m., 3 a.m. here, so they don't really watch any. So I think that would be great. And obviously family and everybody that's in town would be fun,

but it will be expensive. But it will be fun for them to see some hockey too. Do you know that that's what every Swedish player has said so far is that I'm either going to be playing that game for free or I'm going to be playing it at a loss. Probably a loss. Like I got so much family, both my sides or my parent, my mom and dad's side are huge. So we'll see. Good on you. I think that's awesome. Listen, we'll see how things go with the contract. We'll keep talking about it. I know you don't want to, and that's cool.

You be well. Good luck next season with the Maple Leafs. Thank you. Thanks so much. Thank you, guys. Thank you. Okay, so Elliot, that's William Nylander in his own words, in his own dodges, deflections, however you want to describe it,

talking about his contract situation. He was not buying what I was selling. He was not picking up what you were putting down, Elliot Fried selling. He was not picking up what you were putting down, Elliot Friedman. He was not picking up what you were putting down. And let's now get to another elite level forward, highly skilled Swede in the NHL. A couple of days ago,

you took Elias Pettersson out on a boat. And I've seen a lot of gangster movies. And I know that if you want to get the truth out of someone, you take him out for a canoe ride or you take him out on a boat. you did that with who comes back does he come back or not come back this sounds like sounds like jeff hitman merrick that's what you did i'm taking you out on the boat and if i don't like the answers you don't come back two go out one come back to shore and he was pretty upfront about not wanting to rush things around the contract.

One more bit of business. Extension. You're eligible to sign. Where do things stand? Yeah. I'm not in a rush to sign. I mean, I got one more year left over there. And I don't want to rush into anything because I still don't know

myself if it's gonna be a short term or a long term but it's gonna be probably my biggest contract so far so I don't want to stress anything. Just going to get off to a good start focus on that? Yeah that's been the main goal I mean the whole summer I'm just trying to prepare myself as much as possible with training trying to gain a little bit of weight, some muscles, and especially get off to a good start with the team. Now, it's Vancouver, and I say this with love. Everything there is a five-alarm blaze.

Those are passionate, passionate hockey fans. The thing I'll say about Pedersen is he didn't want to, those two questions were the only two he would answer about his contract. He didn't want to say anything else besides that. But the thing is like someone called me from out there and said, okay, what else did you get from his mood? Is there a reason to panic here? Like he's closing the door on the Canucks. No, I don't believe that. I think that, you think that he knows his next contract is going to be a big one, wherever it is. And I don't think he's worried about that. I just think he wants to make sure that he feels everything is going in the right direction. And I got the sense that he is

confident in what they have. He just wants to see the results. And as long as the Canucks do what he believes and what they're selling him they can do, I don't think this is going to be an issue. They know they're going to have to pay him. I think they are prepared to pay him. They're prepared to pay him long term. I think the guy just wants to win and he wants to make sure that it's going to be there.

But I'll tell you one thing, Jeff. He is upholding his end of the bargain. win and he wants to make sure that it's going to be there but i'll tell you one thing jeff yeah he is upholding his end of the bargain you can see he's stronger you can see he's serious you know he moved into stockholm he's closer to his trainer you know one of the things he did on the trip and when the piece airs people will see it he brought a lunch onto the boat with him because he's only eating what he's supposed to eat. He's working on everything. The other thing that's interesting about it is he knows he's got a good shot. He wants to score more.

I think that's one of the things that he's kind of talked about is he's unselfish. It's like McDavid. We talked about Dreissel unselfish it's like mcdavid we talked about dry solid mcdavid last year dry sidles said that mcdavid has to be more selfish and mcdavid scored 60 goals i think petterson saw that he watches that and he feels he can be an even more dangerous player if he's a little more selfish like if it doesn't go well for the canucks pedersen is determined that he's not the reason for that so i think he's gonna fulfill his end of the bargain you know what the problem with that is what's that it's been a change in the

balance of power in the western conference all of a sudden the pac Division, where, by the way, the Stanley Cup resides. Yes. Pacific Division is excellent. The Central has the questions. All these teams around the Vancouver Canucks, you have the defending Stanley Cup champions. You have a team in Edmonton that could win the Stanley Cup. You have a team in the Los Angeles Kings

that have taken the next step to getting to the Stanley Cup. You look at the seattle kraken who are now and then you have the wild card you know i don't know there's any more of a wild card who knows what's going to happen than this team and that's the calgary flames anaheim is anaheim we know what the score is in san jose as well all of a sudden the pacific got really really good fast and if elias pedersen is looking around saying i'm going to see how the season goes i All of a sudden, the Pacific got really, really good fast. And if Elias Pedersen is looking around saying, I'm going to see how the season goes,

I want to see if we're competitive or not, before he signs a contract, it just got harder, Elliot. It did, but you know what? It's hard to win in this league. I get that. All I'm saying is all these teams around him are better, and not even by a little bit. la is a lot better yeah you know jeff here's my feeling on that i get what you're saying and i understand that all you can do is take care of your own business like no matter where you go it's going

to be hard to win so to me it's not even about who's good around you. It's about, are you good? Are you going the right way? You know, one of the things that, you know, we talked about is he likes the way last season ended. He thinks that Talk It was pushing them in a right direction. He believes in what Talk It was selling him on. You know, recently Miller, JT Miller, he went on the Cam and Strick podcast

and he called Vancouver last year a bleep show. I mean, you could write a book about last season. I mean, about everything from our start to, you know, Travis getting fired two years ago, I guess, to Bruce coming in and then the whole shit show with Bruce at the end of his tenure. I don't even know what to say. It was just so bad.

It's just another season I want to just kind of erase. I mean, I'm glad that, I mean, up until the point where Rick, I mean, everything just changed when Rick got there. So, I mean, up until then, I mean, it's amazing how things, I mean, you write one article and then all of a sudden the city believes one thing and then it becomes healthy again. So it's, I don't know. I'm definitely excited that

we're kind of turned the page and move on and can put some things in the past i mean with the deadline and all the rumors about people getting traded and i was just it's just a shit show to say the least petterson's not going to say that but me looking at him and listening to him yesterday he's kind of thinking that to me it's not necessarily about going out and going 60 and 20 it's going out and saying we have a plan we're going in the proper direction and it's not crazy town like you know again this is all going to air later and people are going to see it but we talk about some of his big moments in vancouver and he talks about the crowd when he was having some of his big games. And he talks very positively and passionately about it.

So I don't think it's about who's around them. I think it's about them. All I'm saying is it's become more challenging to be a good Vancouver Canucks hockey team with this many good teams. I don't understand why you have to be so naked. Hi guys, Anton here, calling from Sweden. I'm a musician, big hockey fan, big fan of your pod. Just wanted to say love the interview with Dallas, especially, you know, the feel in his face,

total recognition. Also talking about the venues, Rage Against the Machine. Saw them live, just amazing. Just wanted to share my thoughts. Great stuff, guys. Bye. Listen to the 32 Thoughts podcast ad-free on Amazon Music, included with Prime. We're in Stockholm, part of the european nhl players tour i've always wanted to come here from a hockey point of view there's a couple of things that i continue to be fascinated about

one we've talked about extensively on the podcast i want to get to that in a second but when you look at the history of hockey stock Stockholm is a really important place. And not just for Swedish hockey. But it was the World Championships in 1954, March 7th. Was that the one where the Soviets first beat Canada? Elliot. 7-2 or something like that? Elliot 4-0 after the first period. You're out of roll.

Keep going. It was East York Lindhursts representing Canada at that point. For those of you wondering if Jeff prepared me for this, the answer is no. No, I did not. Jeff would rather embarrass me than make me look smart. But I remember reading a story. I was punished once in school and forced to do a project on that game. Really? Yeah. I think I was 10 or 11 years old. It's funny too because we always talk about every time Canada loses internationally, there's a big summit. And after that loss, Lionel Conacher, legendary athlete named Canada's athlete of the half century, he was a member of parliament at that point and he called the game a catastrophe.

I don't know if he ever came fully in support of a full sort of audit of Canadian hockey, but this was like a great source of shame for Canadian hockey. Consummate said the Maple East will show up tomorrow to face off against the Soviet Union to

reclaim the flag or something like that, reclaim the glory. My report must not have been that thorough because I don't remember that anyway lionel konica member of parliament made a big deal of it but something that i was really looking forward to uh and i've always wanted to come here and i've always wanted to come here and stay here and be able to travel around a little bit i've always wanted to be here in hockey season 1969 world championships Was that the famous Czechoslovakia-Soviet Union game? It was after the tanks rolled into Prague. Yeah.

That was after that one. And now the Soviet Union ended up winning gold. Czechoslovakia won bronze. But there were two games between those two teams that were, for my money, and you look back and you look at the historical situation happening at that time the most the two most intense hockey games ever played and if you listen to anyone who was involved in those games specifically from the Czechoslovakian side they'll tell you it was

either a win or death there was no losing to the Soviets and they won the first game two nothing Jan Suchi who scored the first goal they won the first game 2-0. Jan Suci, who scored the first goal, they won the second game 4-3. And, you know, after the wins in Prague, you know, people hit the streets. It was massive celebrations. And a key piece of graffiti in Czechoslovakia at that time, people spray painted on walls and buildings all over Prague, 2-0 and 4-3. It became a symbol of Czechoslovakian dissent against the invading Soviet forces. Bobby Holik's dad played on that team. I mentioned Jan Suci. Vladimir Zorilla would have been the goaltender. Vladislav Nedimansky would have been on that team

as well. Those were the most intense hockey games ever played. One where there's no such thing as a metaphor. Everything that the Czechs said they wanted to do to the Soviets, they tried to do. And it was physical from the outset. It was intense. It was raging hot. The Czechoslovakians would not shake hands after the games.

They put black tape on the Russian star that were mandatory on the Czechoslovakians would not shake hands after the games. They put black tape on the Russian star that were mandatory on the Czechoslovakian jerseys at that point. It was legendarily intense. And that happened here in Stockholm. There is actually a new book, Freedom to Win. I've heard about this book. Ethan Shiner. Yeah, I've heard about this book.

I'm dying to read this. I've got to get a copy when I get back. It's called Freedom to Win. And it's all about those games. win i've heard about this ethan shiner yeah i've heard about this i'm dying to read this i gotta get a copy when i get back it's called freedom to win uh and it's all about those games and and that event but just coming here and thinking about hockey those are a couple of things that jumped to mind but this is the european nhl players tour your thoughts on maybe some of the players that we spoke to today we're going to get to the news in a second we're going to get to rasmus anderson and william neilander and some of your emails as well but just thoughts on stockholm hockey we're going to get to the news in a second we're going to get to rasmus anderson and william neilander and some of your emails as well but just thoughts on stockholm hockey we're going to get to you lighting vancouver on fire in a couple of seconds here with elias petterson

but thoughts on being here for the last couple of days well the first thing i would just say is uh i love this country it's my second time here i came here i traveled here i believe the summer before i started hockey night in can, I think it was 2003. I went to Sweden and Gothenburg and Copenhagen at the time. And this time I'm just here for four or five days. We've got a couple of pieces we're working on. First of all, I'm a big proponent that a country is truly a good country if it believes in jaywalking.

You told me that today as we were jaywalking to get to the hotel. And the Swedes are pro-jaywalking. I've noticed that in Stockholm. So first of all, the one thing I think about here is you come here, like everybody's in good shape. They have a dedication to casual fitness, to hardcore and casual fitness that is unrivaled. I've lost a lot of weight lately.

I'm in probably better shape than I've been in a long time yeah you look good but i still feel grossly gross compared to the swedes but uh the food's great uh i've got a place we're trying tonight i'm really excited about it's called lucy's flower shop yeah you know the players are in great moods they don't hate us yet because it's not the middle of the season. And, you know, the one thing I kind of liked about this one in particular where there's a lot of players like, you know, one moment last year that happened to me

that I thought about a lot was I went to Vancouver for the telethon that I do every year and Ethan Baer saw me and he said, I never knew you left the studio. And that was like a bolt of lightning to me because as you know,

I used to always be work ringside and i loved it and you don't get the chance to talk to players as much anymore there's a little bit of steve buscemi uh hello fellow kids to me now because skateboard backwards baseball hat i'm about to turn 53 and i really don't know like i remember when i started older reporters would tell me you will get to a day where you've really feel out of touch with some of these players. And I admitted that I've started to feel that a little bit. So it was nice to meet people like Felix Sandstrom.

What a polite guy, by the way, JJ Moser, just guys that I don't really know. You're going to hear an interview in this pod with Rasmus Andersen. I've never really had a chance to talk to him for a long time. And to me, he was a revelation. That was the thing I really enjoyed about this.

And I'm going to offend some people because I'm not going to mention them. But JJ Paterka. Just the chance to talk to some players face-to-face that I've never met, I really enjoy that. Yeah, the guys were great, really relaxed. Excellent. And like we mentioned on the last time we did this type of podcast, last year was in Paris, this year Stockholm, European hockey players feel really comfortable

doing interviews in Europe. Yep. And you can see that and you can hear that, and that's coming up here on the podcast. And I wanted to, there's a couple other things, just before we get to the news, a few people I want to thank. I want to thank our crew.

So it's Amal Delic. Mark Utley was shooting it. We had a couple of local people. There was Martin and Kale, and there's Paul Sadu, who's producing too. The NHL and the NHLPA, they make all the players available. Fantastic. And the other thing I just wanted to thank was red sightseeing.

I wanted to point out red sightseeing. The Royal Bridges and Canal Tour, because that's where we went with Pedersen on Tuesday, and we held up the boat for 20 minutes the tour was 20 minutes late why it wasn't me i'm not going to throw the person under the bus i'm not going to say who it was but i do want everyone to know it wasn't me i take responsibility when it's my mistakes i'm up you know what you are you're the guy who when you're on the ice and a goal is scored you come back to the bench you say well i had my man no no no you're the guy who when you're on the ice and a goal is scored you come

back to the bench and say well i had my man no no no i touched it when i went in that's what i say because everybody thinks i'm always late which i am and i would be the reason the tour was 20 minutes late no it was not me and i also want to thank for a feature we did soul plus a running shoe store you want to talk? Hello, fellow kids. This is a truly hello, fellow kids segment. I went, uh,

did you get hello, fellow kids shoes, Elliot, basically with Tim Stutzler. It was great seeing Stutzler again, too. It was really good after the season that he just had. Holy smokes.

So the players are great. I thought Martin nature's was great. Yes. We're going to hear a clip from him. We're going to hear a clip from him and coming up in to hear a clip from him coming up in a couple of moments. Okay. A couple of more things here. And you're going to hear in a couple of minutes from Rasmus Anderson of the Calgary Flames.

And not to bias the jury here, but when you're listening, just think to yourself, could this guy be the next captain? Because I think you and I both thought that and have thought that. Brandon Hagel signs with the Tampa Bay Lightning. It is an eight-year million dollar contract aav is 6.5 million dollars brandon hagel coming off a spectacular season 30 goals 64 points and we know that the um this is a team that has had to shed salary because of the salary cap after being successful for as long as they have most recently alex calorn just thinking of forwards and we think of andre palat last

season as well this is a bit of business by julian briseois locking up long term a 24 year old whose prime years tampa is going to enjoy for 6.5 million dollars how do you? Well, first of all, I'm happy to see a guy get paid. I think two years ago, if you would have said that Brandon Hagel would be signing a $52 million contract, I don't know who would have believed it. But credit to him, he earned it. It was interesting, the reaction to that deal. I had a couple guys tell me that it's a sign of where we're going here.

There's no way that Tampa would have been able to do that kind's a sign of where we're going here there's no way that tampa would have been able to do that kind of a thing like if you look at the players who got squeezed out it was a lot of their brandon hagel type players who play who are older too by the way who are older i think one of the keys here is the number 24 and that's how old brandon hagel is yes the age is is a big deal but also the guys who played that kind of role. They were like Yanni Gord in the expansion draft. If you took a look at their guys, like a lot of guys they were keeping were signing like Nick Paul deals, like seven times three, that kind of a thing.

So they took it as a sign that, hey, like everybody else, Tampa believes the cap is going to go up and you're going to have some flexibility. And they just didn't believe that not only them but other teams would have been able to sign hagel to that deal a year ago or two years ago so i i thought that was an interesting perspective um you know it's pretty obvious they think he's a big big part of their team for years to come. That's what Tampa does. They decide who their top players are and they lock them up. And now I think the one that's going to be interesting is going to be Stamkos.

One more year. One more year. Remember a few years ago, we all wondered, is this guy done? And all he's done since then is win cups and been a huge force. He's kind of gotten better. He's gotten better he's gotten healthier he's doing a tremendous job i don't want to speak for stamkos but i think this is going to be his 16th 17th season i could see him wanting to play 20 years in tampa i could see

that i think he's the kind of guy he loves hockey hockey, he loves the game, he's been rejuvenated. I could see him being a guy who would be like, I would love to be a member of the Lightning for 20 years. You would wonder about what the number would be. We're going to talk about Stamkos this year a ton because he's got one year left and I don't know what the right number is. But it's not league minimum.

Pretty sure it's not going to be league minimum for Stephen Stamkos. So there's part of the Tampa story. Elliot, Jonathan Taves saying he is taking some time away from hockey. I know we always combine Jonathan Taves and Patrick Kane, and Kane's going to join the NHL when he's ready to go again and start your rumor mill when that happens. But your thoughts on Jonathan Taves,

first of all, with the thank you to Chicago, and then saying, I'm taking a break. It was pretty funny talking to Felix Sandstrom here because Sandstrom ruined that last game with the overtime save. He was kind of laughing about that, too. Yeah, it was close too. Pac almost slipped under me and

yeah, it was almost too good to be true there for him in Chicago. I heard there was at least one team that was calling a ton on Taves. That was really interesting. Did that team just lose two centers? No, it was not Boston as far as I know.

But I heard there was one team that was calling a ton on him and uh was really interested um by the way that hosa game looked so good i wish i was there that was that that should have been televised in north america totally but you know peter holland and that's a guy yeah like i'm i'm rooting for that guy same how can you not? Yeah, like just signing a PTO. He's PTO at the Colorado Avalanche. Like to me, it seems,

like I understand to a lot of people, it seems kind of far-fetched that in a year from now, Jonathan Taves is going to want to play. But don't forget this. He didn't play the COVID year because of his long COVID situation, which obviously he says still bothers him.

But I wouldn't put it by him. I wouldn't put it by him in a year from now. He says, I'd like to try this again. We've learned not to count them out in that way, but I heard there were teams, at least one and probably more. Why not? They were really serious about him this year. I think 10 years after his his career is done he could have

a really fascinating book to write i've told you before to me he's one of the most interesting players in the game i'm waiting for the day that he's not this is going to sound harsh but bound by the shackles of being a pro athlete playing in a in a league but when he's retired and has some maybe to your point about some some time and space and some greater perspective and expanded vision uh on the career i think that's going to be either one dynamite book or one dynamite interview or one dynamite podcast or one dynamite whatever because i think that he's one of the most endlessly fascinating athletes in the game i'm with you 100%. Tom Wilson signs a seven-year contract.

I'm not surprised about that one in the least. $45.5 million, 6.5. There were times this year, I don't know if I heard a team bite back as hard on trade rumors as the Capitals did about Tom Wilson. Because they would say, we're not trading Tom Wilson, and there'd be more Tom Wilson rumors. And I think it drove them absolutely bananas. So I'm not surprised about that one in the least. And they consider him to be a really huge part of their team.

I was not surprised that one got there. I know not everybody likes it. Again, I'm not unhappy to see people get paid and I'm not the least bit surprised that that's the way it went. We keep talking about muscle going from west to the east. And what did we most recently see? Ryan Reeves goes to the Toronto Maple Leafs, and Milan Lucic go to the Boston Bruins.

We've seen muscle going that way for a long time. So no shock that Washington locks up someone who's not just tough but can also skate and play um which is a good combination obviously just about every player that we asked about patrice bergeron had a great story to tell or had an interesting thought patrice bergeron retires after 19 seasons and a stanley cup and Selkies. So if you're Nico, he sure, if you're Anthony Sorelli, if you're whomever looking for Barkov,

say my, my face off percentage is about to go up. Uh, first thing came to mind was that my face off percentage will probably go up like what? 1% or two. Uh, he was one of those guys who,

who dropped my percentage very low uh but yeah he's like his definition of a selkie type of player and stutzley liked that line too everyone's face-off percentage is going to get better and now the selkie is legit up for grabs because the guy who's pretty much owned it is now retired i want to get to david kreitchy in a second is calls it a career after 16 seasons just your thought on patrice bergeron 19 seasons in the nhl i mean the the body of work is staggering hall of fame right away three years i don't think he's going to be made to wait. First of all, we did an interview with him last year. It was a real highlight for me.

Like everybody else, I just like the way he carries himself. Hampus Lindholm, who's here, told us a story about he hadn't even gotten called by the GM yet. When he got traded to Boston, he got a call from Bergeron. Well, I can just speak for myself. I would say maybe, not that I've been traded a lot, but when I get traded, before even any GM has time to call me almost,

I get a phone from Patrice on my phone. He takes time to call me and everyone that was around me, include everyone. It's not like he calls me, hey, welcome to Boston Hampus. You can tell it's very genuine and it's not like you just get that phone call. It like when you arrive it's like every little thing like he wants

you to to make it easy to come over to the new team and like he's so aware of all those little things and to make sure that everyone's happy and satisfied and you can tell that he does it from a genuine way which is i think it's very very special and my first practice I come to Boston I think he he had done some kind of stuff with his wrist so he wasn't playing with the team I come there we're skating he's I feel like I'm 50 years old because he never gets tired that guy I'm skating around to try to impress him it's it was a really fun skate and then we end it and then before I even like have time to look down he's there picking up the pucks and coming up and knuckle fist me great great practice and goes off

and he's just such a polite nice man and I think a lot of people can learn from him and I feel sorry for those people that didn't have a chance to play with him yeah I just remember you know the Trent Frederick story which Bergeron confirmed that his 1000th game was Frederick's fifth NHL game and he made sure that Frederick got the gift that he gave to all his teammates like there's there's so many stories he just treated people the right way a great player like the perfect human like Nicholas Lidstrom when he played his nickname was the perfect human I think Bergeron although you know lidstrom was winning a gazillion norris trophies i think bergeron to me is the closest that we've seen since lidstrom

to the way that they were perceived as people since lidstrom retired and it's such a high standard you know creche you know there's another guy I love talking to Krejci just because he processed the game really well and he always taught me something I love dealing with Krejci too I think we're all wondering what the Bruins are going to be like I was interested by Linholm said that like the players know that everybody is saying they're not going to be the same and they're motivated to show that they are going to be greater than and a lot of those players are going to be counted on to be take on bigger roles are going to deliver like you know as i said to him are we ready for captain brad

marchand now i have no information i assume it's going to be marchand I think that could be really fascinating because it's always been they pass the mantle char to Bergeron and now is Marchand going to take that mantle and I think like first of all I think he's up to it I think it could be really fascinating I kind of hope it's Marchand because it makes sense he's kind of the next guy in line it just as far as the Marchand story goes it would just be a cool it's just be a cool chapter i think it would be really interesting to watch him as the cat go and talk to referees i think i think it would be i think he would really accept and love that role yeah and responsibility you know i think a lot of people look at this and like look you're not gonna come back as the same team you lose patrice

bergeron and david krejci you're not coming back to being close uh to the same you were i'm just not prepared to write off the boston bruins like some are and say like oh man this is awful that's the team that no way if detroit or buffalo or ottawa are jumping up they always figure things out they always do now i know it's tough charlie coyle and pavel zaka are your one two centers and you wonder what happens to other players that have played with most specifically patrice bergeron what happens to their production now that they're gone but there's still so much talent there that blue line those goalies dave pasternak like there's still a ton of talent. They're not going to stop looking. I think we all wonder if there's a deal for a center in either Winnipeg or Calgary for the Boston Bruins.

I just don't know that they have the assets to make those deals. That's the only thing that I wonder about. I don't disagree. Look, Lindholm, and we've talked about it before. We talked about it again with him today. One of the reasons he signed their site on seeing, it's his agent, Claude Lemieux, told him, the Bruins always figure things out.

They'll find a way to figure things out. Other news, Evan Bouchard, two-year contract, AAV $3.9 million. I've been wondering why this one has kind of taken so long. Someone told me before Carlson was traded, someone said to me, it's going to be two times 3.9. And I don't know why it took this amount of time to get there. They didn't have room to do longer term.

I think the Oilers know that they're going to be paying more in a couple of years, as long as he keeps going the way he's going to be going. But I just think their cap situation forced them into a place where this was all they could do. And I think this one's kind of been cooking for a few months. Maybe Jeff Jackson, the former agent, was busy preparing for some other things and couldn't close the deal. Jackson now takes over as the CEO of Hockey Operations for the Edmonds and Oilers.

Okay, another bit of business we've been waiting for. It involves the New York Rangers and former number one overall draft pick, Alexi Lafreniere. Elliott's two-year deal, 2.325, is the AAV. Chris Drury getting one of the final pieces done, one of the final touches on this year's edition of the Rangers. I was wondering what this one was going to look like at the end of the summer, the end of the day.

I'm not hugely surprised about the number. I heard that it was going to be in this range. And basically what Lafreniere signs is a prove it contract and i didn't think he was going to get traded i just felt that the rangers felt there was a lot more here and there was a lot more to work with here they wanted to see what a new coach was going to be able to do and i also just felt that you weren't going to be able to trade. It's like right now in the NFL, there's a situation with the Colts and a running back named Jonathan Taylor, and they're not going to pay him and he wants to be traded. It's like

this old situation. They don't want to pay him as much as the kid wants, but they want to trade him for what they really think he's worth. And it's the same kind of thing with Lafreniere. They don't want to trade him. They want to keep him, you know, because if they are going to trade him at some point, they want to get the worth of a number one overall pick. And it's just not right there right now.

I understand what everybody's doing here. Everybody's kind of in a position where they're saying, look, we're going to try this under a new coach, see where it goes, see if we can make this all work out. And then I have to tell you in the summer, if it's good, everybody's happy. If it's not good next summer, then I think you can move him at a number that teams can handle because I just think if it's another year like this, they're probably going to have to move on.

because it gives him a bridge to get to where he thinks he can be. If it doesn't work, it puts everybody in a situation where it's not going to be hard to move him at the number he's going to be making. To me, this is a two-year deal, but it's a one-year deal in New York, and then we'll see. I want to get to this Martin Natchez thing. Yeah. I knew you were going to ask this, by the way.

So I am fascinated by one fight in the nhl from last season and that is stephan nason and eric who are yelling a lot of each other in the previous game in carolina look the subtle things here in Newark. Rob Grendemore barking at the official right in front of the bench. Very animated for the last 25 seconds. Power play for the New Jersey Devils. And this has become a thing on social with the fans of the two teams.

Absolutely. So I went to Taylor taylor swift's eras tour and i had a bunch of like stuff left over so i made bracelets for like players and stuff because i was going to a minnesota wild event so then i gave them to some of the players and eric holla was there and i really like the New Jersey Devils so I was giving him a bracelet and he was like do you have one that says canes suck I was like no but I'll make one you made a bracelet that said canes suck yeah and people were not happy about it did he wear the bracelet after you gave it to him yeah someone posted it on instagram just like on their story i guess he

was like golfing and he just said like a peace sign and it's just like when the camera pans to the bench after you know all the players usually do the stick tap on the on the boards congratulate their guy but it seemed as if there was just like some extra spice in the chili for for nascent after after the fight against hall and i think we all all sort of wonder, okay, what is there? What is there between Hall and his ex-team? And so we asked Natchez about that one. Answer was pretty interesting. I don't know.

I feel like every time he plays against us, he tries to play hard, obviously. He plays gritty, uh you know there was people always booing him in Carolina once he touches the puck so because that was actually the first year when he left I think he played for Nashville if I'm right the next season we played we played him in the playoffs it was after bubble and I don't know me and him we were kind of I don't know having something against each other in the first playoffs. And then since then, people are somehow booing him.

And then there was just something that he didn't beat us yet. And he played in, I don't know, four different teams. So that was a thing. But, you know, after last year, we talked and he was just like, you know, he has to do that. That's the way he plays. And, you know, after a series, he was just like you know he has to do that that's that's the way he plays and uh you know after a series he was fine but i just saw he had some uh bracelet with something cane

socks or something like that so uh so uh yeah i mean uh excited to play against him again that bracelet thing i can't stop laughing like I don't know who was found it, the Hurricanes fans, the Devils fans. It's unbelievable. I knew when NHS sat down, if someone would have said to me, give me odds on Merrick asking that question. Oh, yeah. A billion percent. No, I know.

I am that obvious. I've become that obvious. I've become a cliche in a cartoon of myself i i understand that um we'll drop the nature's interview coming up in next couple of weeks but i was just really impressed with the guy yeah you know and i was really happy you know we talk about it's funny we've spent last year at the european players tour well you did specifically a lot of time with Tim Stutzla. Yeah.

This year, again, more with Stutzla. I'm not going to say what the feature is because it's really cool. But also we interviewed him here as part of the Euro Players Tour. And he had just an insanely good season last year from a personal production point of view. Last year was a year that Stutzla popped. Last year was also the year that Martin Natchez popped. There are some other players that were sort of waiting, like, okay, they're close, they're going to pop. Last year was a year that Stutzla popped. Last year was also the year that Martin Natchez popped. Like there are some other players that were sort of waiting,

like, okay, they're close, they're going to pop. Natchez popped big for the Carolina Hurricanes. We've always known about the skill, and he seemed to all put it together last year for Carolina. There's a couple of things that came out of this for me. First of all, Natchez was on a podcast. I apologize, I don't know which one. But Natchez was on a podcast. I apologize. I don't know which one. But Natchez was on a podcast where he talked about the fact he knew he could be going to Calgary and a Kachuk deal.

And we talked about that a little bit in our interview. But the other thing that Natchez talked about, and sort of Jesper Bratt, was about mental preparation. So have you watched the quarterback series on Netflix? I have not. All my friends keep telling me about it. I feel like I don't have to watch it because everyone tells me about it yeah there's too much that's pretty funny actually there's too many sports documentaries now but that's a good one and in the first episode kirk

cousins that this actually surprised me they showed it that he's in a room with a psychologist because normally that stuff is no like you cannot show that kind of a thing but i guess cousins just said agreed to show like just a couple seconds of him talking with the psychologist. And Natchez said that he has a mental coach that really worked on his mental preparation and Brad was excellent talking about it. And we'll find another time to play all these. But Brad also talked about how he journals.

And I have to tell you, I had someone say to me, Elliot, you should be journaling a lot more. Like what I do is when I think of something, I write it on notes. But someone said to me, like who knows me, says you should be journaling. And it's actually true. I bought a few notebooks.

I'm going to journal. But to me, the fact that a lot of these players are more open about talking uh about that kind of the part of the game and clearly natchez was in a much better place mentally last year than where he was the year before and i am a huge believer that confidence is 75 to 80 percent of the game If you don't believe in yourself, nobody's going to believe in you. So you better find a way to believe in yourself.

Pedersen, by the way, talked a lot about Kobe Bryant and Lionel Messi and what he's learned from them. I don't care who it's from, who gives you your confidence, but you've got to have it. And Nate Chaston, Brad, and Pedersen on this trip, we're all really good talking about it.

All right, Elliot, Rasmus Anderson. One more interview here. He was fantastic. He's a tremendous interview, a big piece of the Calgary Flames. And when I say the Calgary Flames, I say to myself, who are the Calgary Flames? What are the Calgary Flames going to look like? We've seen Tyler Toffoli move to the New Jersey Devils, Yegor Sharongovich coming back the other way, but there's

still a lot of question marks about the Calgary Flames, and Anderson discusses that, discusses his own personal situation, the year that was, and, you know, as I mentioned I mentioned it, this team to me is the ultimate wild card in the NHL. I don't know what to expect from the Calgary Flames, Elliot, mainly because I don't know what the Calgary Flames are going to look like. I don't even think they completely know yet either, but I really thought Anderson was dynamite in this interview. And we, the three of us, made the choice to play this today

because it was so good. Yeah, he's excellent. And he's blunt and he's honest. I've never really had a huge chance to talk to him before. And when people talked about Anderson this year, unfortunately the thing they talked about most was the accident, which he opened up about to a Swedish paper last month. But that's the thing we talked about most was the accident, which he opened up about to a Swedish paper last month. But that's the thing we talked about with him least

because he had some time to talk about some of the other things that happened. And I thought it was fantastic. And I'll tell you one thing. I know that whatever they decide to do with some of the guys in the last year of their deals, he is going to play a very big role for them and he is ready to play a very big role for them absolutely here's rasmus anderson on 32 thoughts uh rasmus first of all thanks so much for joining us um nice to be in sweden what's the best part of it malmo southern part uh uh close to copenhagen

that's the best part about it the best part about malmo is uh you're close to copenhagen but ferry yeah no you just take the bridge 20 minutes you're downtown no but uh stockholm is a beautiful city especially you know i never, I never really liked Stockholm before, but the last two, three years, my wife has always loved it. And so we come up here and, you know, spend at least two weekends a summer here. And, you know, a lot of people move up here to study. And so we got a few friends here that we hang out with when we're here.

Nice. That's going to be the headline, Rasmus Andersson, colon, Stockholm sucks. Yeah, exactly. Clickbait. Clickbait. Here we go. Yeah, another one.

Thanks for the easy headline, Raz. Thanks for the easy headline. I think a lot of people, and I would imagine someone on the team as well, are looking at the Calgary Flames and wondering what's going to happen and what the team is going to look like and who's staying and who's going, etc. New GM, new coach, Toffoli is now with the New Jersey Devils.

What questions, as a member of the Flames, do you have about your team? Honestly, not too much. I trust the direction we're heading in and I've known Conroy since 2015 when I got drafted. I know Conny, how much he loves the Flames. He wants what's best for the team. It's not something I question. I trust Conny. I worked with Ryan Huska since my first year in Stockton.

He was my head coach for two years now my assistant coach for five years so um I know how good of a coach Ryan is and um I'm excited to you know get to work with Husker as the head coach because uh I know how much he has developed me personally uh over the last seven eight years and um so I got full confidence in both of them and uh you guys know it's a business with all the contracts and uh you know when people have one year left in the deal you know i think it's i think it's so it's so different right with uh if you compare lindholm to backland for example you know backs has been in calgary for what 15 years and uh and you know if you're michael you're what what, 34, 35 years old.

You haven't won. And he said it himself. He said it in the media. He's like, you know what, as of right now, I'm not going to resign. But, you know, if the team is doing well and we got a chance to win, I'm going to resign. But I'm going to wait and see how this year plays out. I want to win.

Every player wants to win the Stanley Cup, and he hasn't done it. And with Lindy, it's business. It's got to work for both sides of it. out i want to win every player wants to win the stanley cup and he hasn't done it so and with lindy it's business it's got to work for both sides of uh both sides of it and uh and with that you know you don't pay too much attention to it because you hear from everyone else uh you know i had personally i've been in the situation but hear from everyone that you know when it's business it's business you know it's got to work for both sides of it. And so with Lindy, that part, you know, you're staying out of it. With Bax, you understand. And, you know, I think Tanny is in a similar situation.

You know, if we're good, they love the city. You know, Bax has lived there for 15 years. And I know Chris loves the city too. And so, you know, it's two different worlds. And it's hard to compare and uh but you know uh you know i think the guys are just excited to head back because i they know what happened last year and we we want to prove everyone wrong that we are a good team we you know we lost 17 games in overtime it's like that hasn't happened before and it's if we win five of those we're in a playoff by three four

points so it's uh i think we all got that chip on our shoulder this year and um we want to prove the doubt that was wrong you see that's why i think the calgary flames are the ultimate wild card yeah this year in the nhl because listen we all know how good this team can be and we all know what we saw last season where it was false start after false start after false start do you have a sense of how good this team can be well it's funny about last season too the one game that really sticks out for me is we play boston at home the best team in the season right and you know win the show it's like 50 to 15 we outplay them by a margin and we lose in overtime like that's how our year felt like you know we we had what 50 games one goal games and it's like we

didn't win those games like so how do we you know get that extra point and win the game maybe in regulation instead of overtime you know we we can't be scared of losing a game we gotta you know go out and win it in the third and not just oh you know we take one point here you know we we can't be scared of losing a game we gotta you know go out and win it in the third and not just oh you know we take one point here you know we go out and win it in the third and you know not be scared of losing go out and win the game instead and i think that was a different between two years ago and last year where you know we had johnny and matthew and lindy you know when they were really connecting you know we didn't lose a game. They, you know, they have four, three, four points each a night. And, you know, when you don't have those players, you got to win as a collective, you got to win as a team. And it felt like we were

just, we were scared of taking the chance towards the end of the games to go out and really win the game instead of, you know what, let's go out and win it. Let's not play for the tie. Let's not, you know, and in overtime, let's, you know, let's keep the puck. Let's make plays. Let's, you know, score when we got to score. And it was like, it just felt like, you know, at times we're scared of winning the games.

You know, one of your teammates, I talked after the season, you know, he said to me, last year, from the moment the Kachuk trade happened, it's just like everything that could have gone wrong went wrong. It was shock for everybody involved. The Goodrow thing was a shock in one way. The Kachuk trade was a shock for another way, including the players we traded at Calgary.

Then he said there was just so much noise. He said to me, you know what we need? We need boredom. Yeah. And just quiet and play. Yeah. He said it's hard because if you mentioned the business side of the contracts, it would have to get done. But he said if we can just have a quiet year,

everything here is going to be fine. Yeah. It feels like it's never a quiet year, though, with the Canadian market, right? It's a Canadian market. And you know, I,

we kind of laughed about that, but he, he just said like, we just don't need drama. Like that's what he said last year. There was too much drama. Yeah, no,

I agree with you. And it's, it's so hard to, right. Because the fans are so passionate, you know, they make, you know, they talk about every player, they every player you know it's so it's like it's so hard to have a quiet year

but it's like if you play in a Canadian market you got to embrace the chaos I feel like that's the one thing about you got to embrace the chaos and I felt like we were you know with a shock you said about the chucky trade even though i i woke up i was in sweden and obviously with the time difference and i i woke up i had like 80 texts on my phone you know i and i wake up with my son at like 6 30 a.m and i had like 80 texts and i was like what the hell is going on and i you know you open twitter you're like jesus and then you're like jesus we got weeks he and hubie and the first hour and the prospect you're like you know your head was going and going and going and then you know you want to make everyone feel welcome into the team and you know for them it was probably a shock too because

you know they will only play in florida right and you know going from a small market to a big market it's probably a shock for everyone and and you know that's why i'm excited for this year it's like you know johnny's got to get his feet under him he's gonna he has something to prove this year you know everyone talked about you know the biggest downfall from a year from another with him you know point wise and it's like well you know how good of a player he is he's a really good player and he's he has everything you need to succeed and i feel like he's going to come in with the chip on his shoulder this year and and be one of the best players again i have no doubt about that and you know with weeks he everyone was like well he didn't have the same, but he was like one of the best defensive defensemen in the whole league.

And like every statistic category, he was one of the best. The points came after the All-Star break. That's when the points came for him. So like after the All-Star break, he was arguably one of the best defensemen in the league. So it's like if we just come together and as you say maybe quiet we can't have quiet in the canadian market because everyone always writes something about the team so it's like embrace the chaos and let's just play let's have the swagger let's have the chip on our shoulders go and prove everyone that how good of a team we are and let you know let's have some fun along the

way not just like the business side of it or you know we got to win the game let's have fun let's you know it felt like we had fun in the group but we didn't have that much fun at the rink yes you know like we just gotta have fun at the rink have fun in practices you know when we practice we practice but have fun before and after i feel like that's going to be a really big change this year when you know the guys are going to come in and have a chip on my shoulder i'm going to have a chip on my shoulder you know i got to be better everyone's going to be better and that's the way it is in the canadian market there's no you can't hide anywhere you know everyone knows in calgary who you are and who you represent and who you're playing for so it's like let's embrace it let's play let's have fun let's win games let's not be

scared of losing and i feel like that's the mentality we got to have in the middle of all that chaos last year you had a great year you played really well and it also came at a time where you suffered a pretty traumatic injury and you know i saw you spoke to one of the swedish newspapers about it and what someone said to me is that you played well serious injury very hard year and the way you're talking right now about embracing the chaos, you could be the captain of this team. Like, does that appeal to you? I mean, you know, with social media these days, you know, there's been a lot of talk about it, but, you know, it's,

let's put it this way, it's something you would never turn down, and no player in the league would ever turn it down. And I would obviously love to be the captain of the Calgary Flames, but I feel like we have a lot of good leaders in our team and, you know, whoever Connie and Husk, because they're such a smart persons, whoever they pick, it's going to be the right pick.

And I would obviously embrace the challenge, as I just said, embrace the challenge and embrace the opportunity. But, you know, if it's me, it's me. If it's not me, it's someone else. And whoever they pick, it's going to be the right call because I have so much trust in Husk and Connie and the owners in Calgary that they're going to make the right call. And I feel like that's something we've missed last few years. we've missed last few years you know in canadian market you need someone to step up towards the media towards the coaches towards the owners because there's so much pressure on the players

that you know when we had geo you know he would he would embrace that and he would i'm the captain and i'll take this one you know backs did it to a point last year but even he he said to me he's like i'm like backs you to me, he's like, I'm like, Bax, you are the captain. He's like, no, I know ish,

but you know, I don't have the C's. I can't do everything I want to. And it's such a fine line with that because in our room, we also Bax as the captain, right? But for him, it's hard,

right? When we see him as the captain, but he's not the captain. And I feel like in a Canadian market, you really do need one. And you know, if it's me, if it's weeks, if he's not the captain. And I feel like in a Canadian market, you really do need one. And you know, if it's me, if it's weeks,

if it's backs, Johnny, whatever, whoever it is, it's, it's going to be the right call and it's going to be the right step for our franchise to take the next step. Okay.

Last one for me. How are you doing? Like just physically after everything. I'm good. I took, um, I took five weeks off after a season i just honestly didn't really do anything we me and the family went to to spain just to get away

from everything from all the chaos and stuff and uh and so i'm doing well now it's just um you know it's kind of the talking point of the summer, right? When I see my friends and family, everyone always asks me how I'm doing, but I'm, I'm doing okay. I'm fine now. And I'm, I'm ready to embrace the chaos.

Never a dull moment at any Canadian hockey market. Exactly. You wear it well and you're very well cut out for it. Best of luck with the Flames this year. I think it's going to be one of the more interesting teams to follow thanks so much me too thank you thanks for having me welcome back elliot some sad notes around the hockey world uh i want to talk about rick jenner at want to talk about bobby bond and also want to talk about Rick Jenneret. I want to talk about Bobby Bond. And I also want to talk about the passing at the age of 21 of Rodion Amiroff. I mean, that one's so heartbreaking. I really don't know what to say about it.

You know, I had a chance to interview him right after the diagnosis. And he was so positive. His whole life. Yeah, very positive. I know that there were some people in the toronto organization whenever a report would come out that amarov was doing well it was not easy for them because they just knew what the challenge was i think anyone who's been through it or has had a family member through it they just knew what a challenge it was and um the agent dan milston

has talked a little bit about it and revealed some stories about it and they are just so so awful to read i really don't know what to say other than it's a real damn shame yeah such a really is skilled player and just a wonderful young man. Just a wonderful. Shouldn't be allowed to have. Great young man. Bobby Bond passed his way at the age of 86. Bobby Bond, who will forever be linked with scoring a Stanley Cup winner on a broken foot in 1964, being let off the ice on a stretcher, the skate's not coming off,

you come back in overtime and score the OT winner. I got a chance to talk to him a bunch of times. And as tough as he was when he played, and make no mistake about it, this was the era when the Montreal Canadiens had the policeman, John Ferguson Sr., making sure that no one touched their guys. And the one guy that almost went out of his way to make sure that the Maple Leafs had some toughness to stand up to Ferguson was Bobby Bond. Like there are account,

you know how fight collections at home on old VHS tapes and stuff. And so many of those old ones with the Maple Leafs, it was always bonded Ferguson, bonded Ferguson, bonded Ferguson. And such enough. You had a chance to, to,

to meet him or talk but like such a nice man very nice man oh my goodness what a nice gentleman i hosted a golf tournament with him one year and uh the the one thing that they said to me was can you find something else to talk about besides the one goal and so i I did. And actually he said, you know, he really, he really appreciated it. Very nice man. You know, I would tell people to read net worth.

Oh yeah. Uh, the book about, you know, the business side of the NHL, the way it used to be, you know, I reread it not too long ago and bond as great a player as he was.

And he was a great player. And some of the legendary things he did, which we talked about and, and you talked about is his toughness standing up to the, maybe the toughest player of the era. The other thing that he was very tough about was standing up for individual rights and player rights and the stuff about how he went to, like he challenged Gordie Howe on Gordie Howe's salary.

One of the stories there was, you know, Gordie Howe, he asked Gordie Howe on Gordie Howe's salary. One of the stories there was Gordie Howe, he asked Gordie Howe how much his contract was and what he got for a signing bonus. I think Howe said, I got a Detroit Red Wings jacket. And Bobby Bond was like, are you kidding me? I think the story actually was, and maybe you're right, but I think that if I remember correctly, it was Gordie Howe said, there's no way you know how much I make. And people listening to this, you will recognize how these are delicate conversations because gordie howe's salary they could argue nobody should make more than gordie howe and if i was playing at the same time and you would and

gordie howe makes this oh well i yeah it shouldn't be making more. And that kind of happened. Not kind of happened. It did happen. And Bobby Bond almost guessed it. And apparently, Gordie Howe was like, how did you guess that? And Bobby Bond said, because Gordie Howe, in that book, Bobby Bond is one of the guys who opens up Gordie Howe's eyes. And it's interesting for me because I think it's such a tough balance because if somebody's happy where they are with what they're making,

it's no one else's business. But I have also learned the responsibility of, because guys told me, if you can, you have the responsibility to raise the bar for your fellow worker, your coworkers. How can you help them benefit? And I remember reading that book and rereading that book taught me a lot about that. Rick Jenneret passes away at the age of 81. I can recall doing the Leafs Lunch radio show with Bo Waters years ago.

Was that when you used to call the Canadians those stinking habs? Me and Jim Koshon. Yeah, I remember listening to you when you were doing that. I would just be driving and laughing my head off. It was. And we had Rick Jenneret on. And something that's always stuck with me, I introduced him as Rick Jenneret on, and something that's always stuck with me, I introduced him as, you know, Rick Jenneret, the voice of the Buffalo Sabres.

And he stopped and he said, Ted Darling is the voice of the Buffalo Sabres. As great a broadcaster as Rick Jenneret was, and he was, and as loved as Rick Jennernerette was and he was yeah and as loved as rick jennerette was and he was loved he never lost a sense of the broadcasters that came before him and who were the voices and who were the shoulders he was on now everyone's on everyone else's shoulders we all know how this works but i just thought that like right away he wanted to go out of his way and he was the voice of the same like there's so many sabers fans you're gonna and it's not just the Mayday Gold or La La La La La Fontaine all of it you're gonna associate big Sabres moments with that voice I'll do it with

Ted Darling because I grew up watching Sabres and Ted Darling to Rick Gennaro's point to me is the voice of the Buffalo Sabres but I just thought that that was always a nice touch the way that Rick Gennaro at as great as he was, would go out of his way to point out Ted Darling. Like you, I think about Ted Darling with the Sabres because that's my age. But I don't think about it anymore. I think they're equals.

Now, I'm sure there's people who say, I like Jenner at more than Darling or personal preference. But the one thing I always say to people is I don't like when people say, and I've seen it happen in our business. I don't know if I want to broadcast this team because this team is associated with X person as a broadcaster. I had one guy say to me, he had a chance to work as a play-by-play guy on a team. And he goes, well goes well everybody i don't

want to say it's obviously what i'm talking about but he said to me like everybody like i'm not going to be ever seen as the voice of this team it'll always be that guy and my answer to them was you will never be as successful as you can be if that's your attitude like there's always going to be someone better than you there's always going to be especially in. Like there's always going to be someone better than you. There's always going to be, especially in our business, there's always going to be someone that other people, that some people like more than you. Because our business is a subjective business. What one person likes about me, another person's going to hate about me. So I always said that's a stupid way to think.

And the thing about Janet is, you're right. Ted Darling was a legend in Buffalo, but now Rick Janet Rhett is a legend in Buffalo too. The other thing too is there were a lot of stories about how, and I saw this firsthand, if Rick Janet Rhett was sitting eating, it's not like you couldn't go near him. He was perfectly approachable. If you wanted to sit down at his table and maybe you weren't a big star

in Buffalo like Janet Rhett was was but he was very friendly he always came over to say hi like he didn't carry himself with an air but man he had great calls the sabers loved him the fans loved him i thought his stuff was hilarious and you know that game last year they had the big celebration for him and at the end of the game like it was magic it was magical magical stuff you know who else loved him who's that the players yes because i thought about this when i heard the news that jenner had passed away i thought about brad may and i thought about how that, as great a moment as it was by Brad, you know, deking out those Boston Bruins players and scoring that goal. It was a great moment. It's forever going to have Rick Jenner's voice attached to it.

Like he gave Brad that moment. Right. It's the fans. Absolutely. Players loved him. I've always thought about that like whose voice do you want attached to your big moments bob cole's voice has been attached to a lot of great moments and if you're a hockey player you love that paul henderson 72 has foster hewitt's call attached to that moment forever. I always think about that.

You know, your great moments, whose voice is attached to it? And I thought of Brad. That's fantastic. I agree with you. Condolences to the friends and the family of Rick Jenneret, Bobby Bond, and Rodion Amirov. with David Oldman-Farrell! Brad Farrell! With the Browns! The Browns! The Browns! The Browns!

The Browns! The Browns! The Browns! The Browns! The Browns! The Browns! The Browns! The Browns!

The Browns! The Browns! The Browns! The Browns! The Browns! The Browns! The Browns! The Browns!

The Browns! The Browns! The Browns! The Browns! The Browns! The Browns! The Browns! The Browns!

The Browns! The Browns! The Browns! The Browns! The Browns! The Browns! The Browns! The Browns! The Browns! The Browns! The Browns! The Browns! The Browns! The Browns! The Browns! The Browns! The Browns! The Browns! The Browns! The Browns! The Browns! The Browns! The Browns! The Browns! The Browns! The Browns! The Browns! The Browns! The Browns! The Browns! The Browns! The Browns! The Browns! The Browns! The Browns! The Browns! The Browns! The Browns! The Browns! the Browns! The Browns! Browns! the Browns! the Browns Okay, Elliot, proud to announce we have a new partner with us this year. It is Montana's. They are all over the ThoughtLine, or as we're calling it now, the Montana's ThoughtLine, Montana's Barbecue. Welcome aboard.

Welcome aboard, indeed. Glad to have you. Montana's Barbecue and bar canada's home for barbecue and we'll be doing uh more interactive features every podcast um thanks to our friends at montana's and in that spirit we'll start with mark and st louis so he writes just curious what jeff's best puck doku score was over the summer I could see him destroying that game in the morning like those crazy kids finishing a Rubik's cube in three seconds hope the summer was great fellas and if you wouldn't mind a special shout out to my father-in-law Joe

hello Joe a blue season ticket holder dig this Elliot since the inaugural season of 1967 father-in-law joe take a bow so for those that don't know puck doku is sudoku but for hockey and you know what i've never played what i know it sounds so bizarre you would think that i would be all over this thing i've kind of unplugged i'm the loser still on twitter every day last last season right x sorry yeah i have not played pakdoku i probably should but then i whenever i think about playing i say to myself if i get on this thing there goes like an hour a day so you haven't played eh i haven't i will eventually have you played oh yeah i've played not every day i've played a few times but the way I do it is this, is you get a percentage score of how many people pick the player you pick. Like the other day,

I think it was New Jersey and Buffalo and I picked Phil Russell and it was 0.1%. And I was so happy. Like that keeps me going. But if I'm playing and i pick a guy who gets over 10 percent yeah i just quit if i can't get someone completely random i have no desire to keep playing i throw a temper tantrum and i stop we have a new hockey hipster on the podcast now i have a fiction i've officially transferred the mantle to you if anybody comes in over 10 i throw a temper tantrum and stop playing the game ah you've had the beard to be the hipster why not just go the full uh from steve hey jeff elliott hope you guys are well love the show my name is steve i'm a canadian expat living in france at the moment and pass the time by listening to your podcast i'm a card carry oh i like this i'm a card carrying member

of the don't bang on the glass you idiot club and also the backwards skating defenseman club so it's the off season so i'd like to ask you a hypothetical question this is interesting elliot if you were to build your very own nhl team from scratch and you had the choice between a centerman that would give you 150 points keeping it simple 75 goals 75 assists that's a of goals. Or a defenseman that scores zero points, but whenever this player is on the ice, no goals are scored. Who are you taking to build a team around?

For me, give me the defenseman all day. Thanks, Steve. Steve, I really appreciate that you listen to us overseas. And I hope that this answer does not alienate you as a listener. But I think you're nuts give me the guy who gets 150 points all day long you're gonna get a better chance to win with a player like that eventually and the other thing is steve you gotta consider this you gotta be able to sell tickets and the 150 point center is gonna sell you tickets more than

the zero point nothing happens defenseman if i'm give me 150 point center i'll put a team around if i'm starting a team if i'm running a team and i have a chance to put a player on the ice for 30 minutes that'll guarantee that no goals are scored i'll take that yeah but you're not scoring any goals either my default well you have other players it's not as if like that one center is you know oh you know so every game every game is going to be zero zero and we're going to go to a shootout sure sounds like it no not all it's like which one would you rather have yeah you know what i default defense so i will i will go with the you know what this is and we're ending the pot on this but i'm exciting and you're boring i just have a defense default you know this about me whether it's drafts whether it's trades whether it's you know emails from steve boring and with that we'll

wrap from stockholm and we'll leave you with a swedish musician that defines her solo project as a combination of her songwriting together with the sound of the band she's played with since 2019. Actually, all the music on today's podcast is by Swedish artists. Check out the show notes to find information. But back to our outro track here. Lucky Lowe's style of music sways between genres and always finds melodic pockets to share her carefully crafted lyrics with her latest single here's lucky low with peak valley 32 thoughts the podcast enjoy even if i blush to say it i am sure to live this life with you We're going up, up again, to the top, higher, higher

And when I drop, you stop and wait Then I get up, rub my face, and we go canyon, canyon For a while, and that's okay. Cause life is like this. Valley. Valley we go. Valley. Valley.

Valley we go. Valley. Bali, Bali we go