32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Kaprizov Secures the Bag

Episode Date: October 3, 2025

In this edition of 32 Thoughts, Kyle Bukauskas and Elliotte Friedman begin by unpacking the nasty preseason game between the Lightning and the Panthers. The boys then delve into the record setting Kirill Kaprizov contract (10:08). That bleeds into a conversation about Jackson LaCombe's extension with the Anaheim Ducks (26:46). Elliotte also touches on how this impacts Lane Hutson and the Montreal Canadiens (33:35). The fellas talk about the Luke Hughes extension with the New Jersey Devils (37:39). The focus then shifts to Jack Eichel and the Vegas Golden Knights (38:29). Niko Mikkola also gets a spotlight after signing and 8-year extension (43:03). Friedge updates where things stand between the Predators and Luke Evangelista (47:02). The boys talk about Lukas Reichel, whose name has been circulating in trade rumours (50:42). They shift gears to Ryan Huska extending with the Flames (51:39). The Final Thought focuses on Ben McDonald's polarizing on-air comments about the NHL's opening night (55:19). Kyle and Elliotte answer your emails and voicemails in the Thoughtline (1:02:38).In the final segment Friedman provides updates on Carter Hart and Michael McLeod (1:27:23). Today we spotlight Patrick Kordyback and his 2025 single Whisky Like You. Check out his music hereEmail the podcast at [e-mail] or call the Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemail.This podcast was produced and mixed by Dominic Sramaty and hosted by Elliotte Friedman & Kyle Bukauskas.

I can relate to that. Anything east of Vancouver is just east. I live that growing up. Totally. Like when I first moved to Toronto and people talking about, oh, you had to drive west to get to like London, Ontario. I said no,

everything out here is just east. It's matter which direction you're going. Thank you, Kyle. It's east. Welcome to 32 Thoughts, the podcast presented by GMC, Elliot Kyle, Dom Shammata, producer, back With you again, down to the final few days of the preseason calendar.

And, oh, Elliot, one second, we have to pause. Another scrum has just broken out in the Tampa, Florida game from Thursday night. That was-186 PIMS total. In that one? So you know me, I like mean and nasty hockey. The dirtier and the nastier, I like my games. and with one exception, I don't like it as much in preseason with veteran players.

I don't like seeing veterans get hurt in those kinds of situations in preseason. Now, it was pretty obvious. I was watching Toronto, Detroit. We were working that game here at Sportsnet with Carolyn, Nick, and Justin. But quite quickly, we were looking at that because it was impossible to tear your eyes away from that, especially when so much hockey at this point in the season is so uninspiring. But this week, Kyle, we had Ottawa, Montreal. That was a nasty game.

Winnipeg, Minnesota. I didn't see a ton of that, but I heard it was a really nasty game. And then this one. And then what did you say about exhibition hockey? It just feels like it's another reason why they're going to shorten it starting next year because it gets to the point where some guys just get tired of play in the games that don't mean anything in terms of the grand scheme of it. But I got to say, Elliot, typically my eyes glaze over when you hear the whole, well, they're sending a message. Here they come to send a message.

I mean... No, this was a message. Yes. they were the alphas for a lot of years the Tampa Bay Lightning down in Florida they've been the beta the last couple and especially how the last series ended against the two last spring

there was a little reminder I think out on that ice tonight down in Tampa because I was thinking the exact same thing the exact same thing and that is who created these Florida Panthers Julian Breesbois, Tampa Bay Lightning.

100%. They were the bullies. They did the bullying. They pushed them around. They taught Tampa or student. They taught Florida that if you can't match this from us, you will never beat us. And now that the Panthers are the bullies, now that the Panthers are the champions, You could see in that game tonight, Greer and Gajovic, they were out there to say,

hey, you may think we're satisfied. You may think that this is over. It's not over. It is not over. Maybe we weren't here, but everybody here knows how you guys pushed us around and bullied us. It is not over, and it is continuing. I didn't like the Hagle. John Cooper said postgame that everything right now is about making sure that their players are ready for their opener next Thursday.

So I'll take that as they took Hagle out as a precaution. But I don't like seeing guys get hurt like that in preseason games. I just don't think anyone benefits. I'll say this. There's a couple reasons. Number one, you'll remember Hagle got hurt in the playoffs. and he was angry about it. You know, he talked about how, you know, a headshot is different.

You know, when you go back to the playoffs, someone on the Lightning told me they were angry, or I shouldn't say angry, but they didn't like something that you and I said on this podcast. Well, I said on this podcast, I shouldn't drag you into this. And I said that Tampa was intimidated by Florida, and Florida felt it.

Florida felt that they intimidated them. And it bothered the lightning that that perception was out there. But Hagle, I heard, he understood that, hey, it's the playoffs. Mean things happen. Tough stuff happens. People try to bully each other. But he thought the head, with what we know, know now about concussions, he felt the headshot was over the line. And we're recording this

just after the game. We'll see what gets said. We'll see what comes out of it. He left the game early. Lundell and Bennett left that game early. We'll see where this all goes. But I could see Hegel and the Lightning again being upset at that shot that Hegel took tonight. And And, you know, I'll just say this, the, the, the, the Panthers looked like they were perfectly happy to go out there and remind everybody that you pushed us around for a long time. We're the big boys on the block now. And we're not giving that up. You'll have to rip it out of our hands. And I'm okay with that attitude.

I just didn't like seeing the shot to Hagel's head. That's in a preseason game. I don't like that. Did you see, speaking of shots to the head, did you see the puck that Churnack took off of his cheek? No, I didn't see that. I mean, it ramped off the stick off of Bennett and hit him right in the cheek. And he came back to the game. Like, it's the preseason.

No one would have blamed him if, like, in November he took that shot. I'm not surprised by that guy. No, I know. Like, that's totally Eric Chernak. But it's, again, a reminder that some guys, him especially, doesn't matter when the game is, what the stakes are, something like that happens. All right, you're going to be patched up and let me get back out there and keep playing. That guy is going to be 86 years old on a golf course in Slovakia someday, and someone's going to hit him with a golf ball on a drive, and he's just going to put some dirt on it and line up his next shot. golf ball's going to split in half.

They'll be more worried about the golf ball than they will be about churnack. Yes. Okay, well, I mean, it felt like it was for real down in Tampa on Thursday. It wasn't, but we're getting close to the games being for real again. Kyle, while we're here, let's do Vasilevsky.

And so there was a lot, you know, he really hasn't been around. everybody knows that they plucked Phoenix Copley off waivers on Thursday from L.A., and that got everybody wondering, is this worse than they are letting on? Now, Vasilewski is supposed to play Saturday. I wonder if the lightning, knowing they're playing the Panthers again, are going to be like, I don't know if we want to put Vasilevsky in on this,

but he's going to play, and they play their season opener next Thursday against Ottawa, he's supposed to play that game too. So what was indicated to me was, they still believe he's going to go as scheduled, but just in case they made the waiver claim to have Copley there, If everything unfolds according to plan,

I don't think it will be a huge surprise to see Copley back on waivers again. But they've got to get through this the way they're expecting. This was insurance. But the hope for the lightning is that Vasselowski passes his tests okay. And then maybe Copley ends up back in waivers and maybe back in Los Angeles. I just had a curiosity. I mean, this wouldn't be the first time something like this has happened where it's a better safe than sorry type waiver claim. Typically, how quickly would the player be notified going, hey, look, we've grabbed you, we've got you off waivers, but just so you know, this is what we're thinking and this is what we hope the plan is for us.

Judging from the fact that I heard rumors about it today, I wouldn't be surprised if the player is representative knows. okay all right well we got a lot to get to yeah here at this episode Elliot because a whole slew of signings came across central registry since our last pod on Monday I suppose we start with the richest contract in the history of the NHL out of Minnesota how does that sound if you're not first you're last so he should go first. Carill the thrill Ricky Bobby Caprizov.

Eight years, $136 million total. That's a lot of shopping sprees at the Mall of America by the way. It's amazing. All but $8 million paid out in signing bonuses when you look at how the contract is

structured. I mean, that clip at the start of the press conference with him and Bill Garin of what Garin said about, yeah, I better be excited. I don't think that's exactly what he said, Kyle. Oh, what was it, Elliot? I'm so excited.

Better be. Bleeping excited. Yes. Bleeping better be. Bleeping better be. I had perfectly summed up, I'm sure, what it felt like, at least from the Minnesota side, just to get that deal done. But having a few days to reflect and learn a bit more about what all went on to get that

thing across the finish line. What are your thoughts on it now? What I really believe most of all, Kyle, is that Bill Garron and Craig Leopold, the owner of the wild, they wanted an answer before the season. I think initially when the $16 million was turned down, they were like, fine, we'll let this play out. We'll see where it goes. We're not negotiating against our they were pretty angry and then I think what happens is the emotions calm down you start to think again what's our best path let's honestly figure out what is the best way to tackle this and from what I understand Bill Guerin and Craig Leopold informed either Caprizov or the agent Paul Theophanus on Sunday that they were willing to go up to $17 million a year.

That if that's what it took to get it done, they were willing to go there. And on Monday, Theophanas, who's based in New York, apparently he suddenly showed up in Minnesota and told the wild it was time to meet. And when that happened, I think Minnesota knew the deal was going to get done. So there was that. That was the one thing. And, you know, I think the thing that's important to remember about Bill Garon is that Bill Garen once signed a huge contract in the NHL

with the Dallas Stars, five times nine. It was famous, like Tom Hicks. the owner of the stars at the time, he showed up at Bill Garen's house, like just after midnight when Free Agency began and made him a big offer. And if you've ever talked to Bill Garen about that, you know,

Garen has talked in the past about, you know, other players who got big deals at the time and what he got over them and what some of those other players and Bobby Holik was one. He also got a big deal. But Holik got some bonuses in protection that Garen didn't get.

And, you know, I think that's why Garen was prepared to handle this. Is that he's been in that situation before when you're getting a ton of money and you understand how a player feels. that even if you're getting a ton of money, you know, some people will say, when's enough? Like, when is it too much? Well, Garan has admitted that

even though he got that contract, there were some things that say Bobby Halik got bonus-wise or protection-wise that he didn't get. So he understands the player competitive nature, not only on the ice, but in terms of, salaries. And once I was reminded of that, it kind of made me recognize that Garen would be able

to handle that part of it. And I do think Caprizov wants to win. And I do think Caprizov likes Minnesota. But at the end of the day, there's no question he wanted to hit a massive home run. Like one of the guys I remember, Ron Francis, he signed a big contract in Carolina, and I remember asking him an interview, why'd you go there? And he goes, well, the first thing I want to say is, of course, the money matters. I hate it when people say it's not about the money, because it is about the money. And then it's about other things. So obviously, Caprizov, it was about the contract. He wanted the big contract, and he got the big contract and you know people say Minnesota shouldn't go there or people say he's a winger

or people say you're you're not going to win with this guy I think at the end of the day caprisov had a ton of leverage he had the hammer and I think when bill garrin and Craig leopold sat down and thought about it they said worse for us losing him or paying him 17 what do you think the wild fans would answer that to that Kyle what's worse paying him 17 or losing him

so I think business wise there's way more at stake to losing him than not keeping him a billion percent and that's why a billion percent when you go well how can minnesota pay them pay them that much that's why it's different because for 31 other teams if they don't get to sign karil caprisov in free agency there's not a massive hit to their bottom line and their fan base different story in minnie he had the leverage and people and there were a lot of there said

Hey, if Caprizov signs for 17, what's McDavid going to get 20, 25? McDavid's going to get 20 to 25 if he wants it, no matter what Caprizov gets. They are not the same things. And, you know, and the other thing, too, is I know there are a lot of other teams out there and people saying you shouldn't sign them to that, walk away, walk away. It's easy to say when it's not your team. like if you're the Minnesota Wild and you let this guy walk can you honestly look at yourself in the mirror and say

all right we're going to let him walk and we're going to go out there and we're going to get another Caprizov type talent and free agency that is what the kids call delulu nicely done they had to do it if if he was willing to stay they had to do it you are not replacing him and and this is the thing too like i was i was saying before it's easy for other people to say i wouldn't do it until it's your team right until it's you and you know are there

Minnesota wild fans out there gritting their teeth and saying, oh, 17, that's a big number. That's going to be, that's going to be hard. Yeah, there might be some, but you know what I guarantee they're all thinking? We've got Carrel Caprizo for the next nine years. And that is going to be overwhelmingly their number one thought. Now, I think, too, what Garan was able to sell a caprice of on from a team point of view what garen was able to sell a caprice of on is look we've got mad boldy their salary structure is a little bit different than edmonton's like one of the thing that we've talked about with edmonton is that it's likely that if mac david signs he's going to say it'll be a lower number than that below 16 i think

because, hey, we got dry-sidal at 14, we got Bouchard at 10.5, we got Nurse at 9 and a quarter. I can't do that here. I can't go to 17 or 18 or 20. I'm serious about winning. It's not going to work. Now, look at Minnesota. Boldie is signed through 2030 at 7. Erickson Eck is signed for four more years, including this year, at 5 and a quarter. Faber is signed for until 2033 at eight and a half. Now, and I'm sure they're going to re-sign Gustaf. I think Garen could say to Caprizov and he could sell it to his team also that, hey, we will have ability to build around him.

and I think that was part of the conversation. Like I think he told Caprizov, or I heard he told Caprizov, we're going to add. And we are going to be in a position where, because of some of these other contracts we have, we're going to be able to go out there and add some players. Like I had, I'll tell you this, Kyle, I had another manager who told,

me. He said he would be very curious to see. Like, you know, we talked about how the Rangers, they went to Panarin and said, would you be willing to do conceptually what Kopitar did? And Panarin's 33 years old. Would you, and the answer, obviously, that hasn't happened yet. I didn't manage to say to me, because Theophanas also represents Panarin. he wanted if the wild would try for him oh wow now that's just me spitballing that's me just throwing stuff out there

but I think that's one of the things that Minnesota's kind of positioning themselves as even with this deal we might still be able to do some other things I mean, that would be a big other thing for sure. But you're right. Like, the more I think about it and look at their balance sheet, suddenly, like, all those other deals you laid out, Elliot, I mean, talk about great value.

I don't want to go as far as to say bargain. It might be bargains now. Well, I know. I guess I just, ever since you said, like, players and agents hate being on the list of, you know, best bargaining in the NHL. I try to be mindful of that, but just tremendous value there with where things are going. And suddenly it's not a case of, well, 17 for one player, you've got no room to do anything else. That's not going to be the case, at least in Minnesota, because of how they've managed the rest of their cap. Because there's so many years they had to with the dead space they had with the Parisian suitor buyouts.

Yes. But the most important thing for them is this is about credibility in your market. You know, like I guarantee to you, there were teams saying when people saw the deal that Luke Hughes got seven times nine, you know, I guarantee there were people saying New Jersey shouldn't have done that. And then you're looking at New Jersey's situation. It's a big year for them, really important year for them. You want them on time to start the season. There's all of the conspiracy theories about the Hughes family. Devils probably don't want to pick a fight with the Hughes's.

It's always different when it's your situation. It's always easier to say, don't do that, don't do that until it's you. And I have no doubt people were saying about the wild or to the wild. Don't do that. Hold the line. 16's enough. Suddenly you're looking at yourself and you're looking at the alternatives. And you're saying, in our market, what's best for us?

And what was best for the while was to go to 17. So let me ask you this, Elliot, because you mentioned the Luke Hughes deal, and I'm sure we'll, I mean, this touches on the Jackson-Lacom contract, which we'll get to in a minute here as well. If you're a general manager, heck, if you're an owner of a National Hockey League team, I mean, which I could see one day with the money you pull in. Yeah, yeah, sure. I'm really in that tax bracket. sports so much of it there's risk risk of getting hurt risk of a play going awry

risk of making the wrong decision of who starts in your net risk of making the wrong pick of the draft risk of signing the wrong player to the big contract but if you're going to sleep at night like what risk are you more comfortable with a young player that you have had in your system since the draft that you know better than anybody A hundred percent

You're paying for what you project his potential to be Or waiting around for somebody 28, 29 years old Could still have a lot of great hockey Has shown, has seven or eight years worth Of tremendous tremendous results And you're paying them based on what they have done And praying as they get on the other side of 30

and into their mid-30s, that they're still able to play at a level anywhere close to what you had watched the first half of your career. You know what, Kyle, I always think this, what's my best value?

Like, in life, that's the question I always ask. What's the best value? Like, you should never be you should never be afraid to pay a little more for something if you think the value of it will be good. And when I look at a lot of these players, I always say if they're going to be a cornerstone player for your team,

you lock them up for as long as you can, for as soon as you can, because now the price doesn't go down. Right? So I think the most, Of all the contracts that got signed, you know, Caprizov, Hughes, to me, the most interesting one is Jackson Lacombe this week, okay? I heard late Wednesday night that this was potentially coming down, but I couldn't 100%

nail it down until the docs put out the video. And, you know, I watched a lot of LaColme last year because at the back, Back into the season, you know, people were saying, you should watch this guy. He's pretty good. And his underlying numbers are really good. And the thing that really intrigues me most about this deal is because of the team he did it with. Yeah. Anaheim, like, they are stingy negotiators.

like Pat for beak Nope Like I'm drawing a hard line And we've talked about Jeff Solomon I'm drawing a hard line And they Like when you take a look at the deals They've given out in the past

Like those two guys This one is way out there Compared to it And I would bet that Lacombe is like when I was telling people when I was asking around on Thursday and I was checking with a couple people like I think this might be happening

the reaction was not wow that kid doesn't deserve it the reaction was he got that out of them so I think when if Verbeek is willing to do that and Verbeek is a hard guy to impress that tells you a lot about what they think about this player and that's why I say like if you believe that value is good

you do it right especially because there was no pressure point here like he still had a year yeah to me that says the organization's kind of anticipating like this guy's about to really pop well I think also too like so Jackson Lecombe is represented by Paterson who's also did Luke Hughes's deal. So if you take a look at it,

I bet you that Verbeek looks at this and say, okay, this is what he just got for Hughes. And we're going to be buying more UFA time for Lacombe. If we don't do this now, it's only going to get higher. So that to me is the logic here. is that is that Anaheim locks it in because they say we better do this now and it's going to be interesting because I think this kid is you know he's on the U.S. Olympic radar and now because of this contract he's going to be a target in every game he plays like he's now they're he's their number one defenseman he's going to run their power play every other player in the league is going to be saying this guy okay let's see what he's made of because he's still even though he's talented he's relatively new he hasn't played a ton and there's going to be guys out there

really good players who are making less than him are going to be like okay i want to see this guy who just signed this deal who made more than me and you know the best thing that Verbeek said in that video was just play don't worry about this just play because that's the hardest thing like Bill Guerin was on with Kippren born the other day and he was talking last year about

Yakov Trennan who was trying to earn his big contract in his first shift and Dale Tallon once told us about Brian Campbell when he signed a big deal with Florida he tried to earn his entire 50 million in his first month. It doesn't work that way. You just have to be who you are.

And I think this kid's going to do fine, and I think he's going to make this contract worth it. But to me, the fact that Verbeek was willing to step up and do this deal, knowing how he negotiates, that says to me that one of the toughest managers to please, or maybe not please, but one of the toughest managers to impress, especially by a young player,

that's a big compliment for Lacombeek was willing to do this for him. I get more and more excited about watching the ducks kind of with each passing day through the preseason. I know you've talked about wanting to keep an eye on them big time here early on to see what they're all about. But I'm sure there's going to be nights where the inexperience does the minute time. A lot of guys who still haven't done it. They've got some really good veterans,

but a lot of guys who still haven't done it over 82 games. Yeah. I mean, what a week for 148 career games for Lecombe, 155 for Hughes. One goes 7 by 9, the other goes 8 by 9. Good piece of business the last few days for Pat Broussard. You know, Kyle, one thing about Jackson Lecombe, 10 years ago

he was cut from their elite team and he's basically playing I don't know a level or two down he gets to play a lot and they turn him into a defenseman 10 years later he's making 72 million Do you think he did one of those what would you like to be doing

or what do you see yourself doing 10 years from now assignments in school back then? I can only know. And he said, I'll be in the NHL and the teacher probably said F, be realistic. That's right. Incomplete. Try again.

The path is not always linear. It doesn't always go in a straight line. But when I heard this story about this kid, I liked it even more. Good on him. Now, the other thing we have to look at with this, the Canadians fans, have been on a social media freak out about Lane Hudson and what this means for

Lane Hudson. So one of my theories is that the Canadians have been trying to keep this kind of under wraps and that they've been trying to hammer out this deal and get it done. And you know, when Hughes signed for seven times nine and Lecombe signed for, eight times nine you know people were sitting there and saying oh no like hudson he's 10 or he's 11 or he's over dobson and dobson's it just signed for nine and a half i've been thinking about this a lot i don't think the eight times nine for lecombe really hurts Montreal as much as some people think. As a matter of fact, I would guess

that whatever these two teams are talking about or these two sides are talking about, it's not far from there. On an eight-year deal, Hudson is nine-ish. I could see the Canadians trying to come in a little bit lower, I could see Hudson and his camp trying to come in a little bit higher. But I just think that this is one of those deals where I get the sense that, let's just say we're at the five-yard line.

let's just say for argument's sake we're at the five yard line I think Hudson's camp has an idea of where they want to be I think the Canadians have an idea of where they want to be and while I think they're in the same kind of general vicinity

I don't know if those last five yards are going to be easy big cloud of dust to come big cloud of dust to come See the 49ers and the Rams tonight? Rams went forward, fourth and one in overtime. Those last big yards are always the hardest ones to get. So I don't think eight times nine is too far off,

especially for a guy, like Dobson, you know, he was close to unrestricted free agency. Hudson still has a while to go to get there. But I still don't think eight times nine is unrealistic for this player. But I'm thinking the Canadians want the player to give a bit. The player wants the team to give a bit. And somebody's going to have to bend to get this done before the season. But I think they've been working at it more than they want to let on.

Yeah. No, I believe that. I think it may be probably a bend from both sides, I think. A double bend? A double bend. Like those pencils. The ones that were really bendy, no one really could write with them. But everyone had them in their pencil case. They just look cool.

They just look cool. But I'll say that. this. If Hudson ends up signing an eight year deal and happens in the near future, I don't think it's going to look too far off from eight times nine. That's my guess. Okay. Just can they get it there? Fourth and one. It's not a guarantee. No. As we saw on Thursday night. So Hughes, I think what happened there is, I think for nine million, Jersey wanted more term and the representatives

want a little less I would bet that for nine million devils wanted that eight times nine too and I would bet they conceded a bit on that so was that the final hurdle you think was just figuring out the term

the term yeah okay I think it was always long term I think the number I think if the number was going to be nine Hughes won a little less term and the devil's won a little bit more. But, you know, it's a huge year for Jersey. I could see them saying, we have to get this guy here. Now, Ikel. Yeah, speaking of Paterson.

I, and he's back in the cone of silence. But I think they're trying to, I think there's a lot of work getting done on this now. I think that the Golden Knights and the reps are trying to. to get this one done. And I'll tell you what I heard here. And this is what I heard. I'm not telling you what I know. I'm telling you what I heard. I heard that in the summer that when they signed Marner, they knew that Eichl was going to go past them. And I think Vegas was comfortable with that. they recognized Eichel Center number one center

Stanley Cup team hugely valuable player for them that he was going to surpass Marner and I think they were comfortable with that I think they recognized that and they were comfortable with that now I'll tell you that a couple other teams suspected that the Knights wanted Eichl to come in around 13 that they believe the Knights wanted put away like 20

$25 million for Eichel and Marner. And obviously they're not there yet. There's no deal done there yet. You know, it's interesting. I had a, you know, a couple teams talked about the Caprizov and the effect of his deal could have on this one. You know, I think Eichl knows he's not going to get to 17, but where's the sweet spot?

You know, one of the things that Vegas is a no-tax state, Minnesota is a high-tax state. I think that also plays in Vegas's favor. I would suspect that Vegas feels that they're more of a destination than Minnesota, so they would probably think that would play in their favor. But my guess is that Vegas wanted to do this at $25 million. And I just don't know if that's going to get it done. Well, when we were in Vegas just almost a month ago,

I mean, it wasn't the word around then is that things were very, very far apart. So at least you can say progress has been made between then and now. Like, honestly, I'm not even sure of that. I just think that they're, I think they're really working at it. I think Vegas would like to get this done. And you know what? I want to stress, I do think at the end of the day that, Eichael's preference is to be a golden knight.

You know what? You know what a player told me a guy who's not on either team? What's that? He wonders if like the fierce head-to-head rivalry between Edmonton and Vegas has Eichael looking at dry-sidels number. Ah. Yeah. I said, are you reporting that?

And he laughed and he said, no, he said, just like, you know, this is a guy who was interested in how we talked about how players think. Like up and down the roster, guys look at each other and say, I can't believe that guy is making more than me or I'm not the same as that guy. He said that happens a lot and he was just kind of joking. Like he wired about the Oilers rivalry with the Golden Knights and those two teams, legit. legitimately can't stand each other. And he kind of just wondered if Eichel looks at dry-sidal and says, that's where I am. I thought it was interesting. You made the point on the radio the other day.

Please be careful with that aggregators. Please. Thank you. Interesting. You made the point on the radio the other day that maybe one of your favorite rivalries going right now is Vegas Edmonton. That's a pretty good answer. I love watching those two teams play each other.

It's great hockey, so many great players. Yes, and just seems like a lot at stake every time they go at it. So, all right, one of the big RFAs off the board, one not out of nowhere, but there wasn't necessarily a deadline on Jackson-Lacombe, that gets done, the capriza of one, it's done. And then there's Nico Mikala, Elliot, and the Florida Panthers using their job. geographical advantage and flexing it once again, eight years,

five million per, which is very good money. Don't get me wrong, but this is a guy who, man, talk about having a real coming out party of sorts as those playoffs went on last year. I mean,

had some good moments two years ago when they won their first cup, but remember just covering that Eastern Conference final against Carolina and the amount of shifts that he completely took over. Obviously a very popular team, mate. And now he's another guy that Bill Zito and company have locked up long term in South Beach.

Well, credit to him, I'm happy to see people get paid. So I'm happy for him. And it's just another reminder of how situation, how important it is. When he was in St. Louis, you would have never thought that he would be a $40 million player, right? It's like Seth Jones. The way people look at Seth Jones when he was in Chicago and the way people look at Seth Jones, now that he's in Florida, it's just a reminder of some people fit better

and some places and others, and some places are more prepared to make you look good than others. Like they're just better, readier, more together, whatever you want to say. Like Seth Jones comes to Florida, and he's a completely different guy, and Mikola goes to Florida, and he's a completely different guy. And that's another one of those things that's going to be interesting, Kyle.

You take a look at this, and some of these guys are signing for more of the point getters. You know, Hughes is at 9 million, Lecombe is at 9 million, and Michaela is at, what, five? And, you know, and again, someone just texted me on Thursday, and they're like, Florida taxes, Florida taxes. And that one's not going away anytime soon. But it's all the credit to the player, and I'll say this too,

it's just more credit to Florida that they have created a world where they are a team that makes players look better. They are so good right now that players who don't fit or don't work other places, they come to them and immediately they're better.

There's a story out there that even before Mikala got flipped to the Rangers, that whether it was Bill Zito or someone in his brain trust, watched him when he was in St. Louis, and they were like, let's keep this guy on our minds here

because there's something there that they thought could work in their system and they've proven to be right. Lizino knows Fins. He trusts Fins. Don't forget, like when he was an agent, he represented a lot of Fins.

So he's very comfortable with players from that country. Right. So every time, yes, so every time that he trades for one or signs one, I'm always thinking

what does he know about this guy that the rest of us don't. Can be scary, but as he described it, it is no different than getting together with your buddies at a bar and discussing fantasy hockey transactions, though they're just dealing with a slightly bigger budget. All right, so those are a whole slew of deals

that got done this week. One that still is not is Luke Evangelisa and the Nashville Predators. Figured, might as well, check in while we're here, Elliot. Is there anything you can add or update you can provide in Nashville? I just, again, oh, I'm so scared of these because I went on radio on Wednesday morning, on Sirius and I was saying last I heard Luke Hughes still had work to do and an hour and a half later he was signed so these

and apparently late at night Tuesday night it just took a turn so like these are things that you have to be so so careful with but the last I heard there was still, the two sides were still having trouble bridging that gap. And it was still a challenge. Now, like, one thing I did hear is that, now, I don't know if this is an accurate quote. I'm always concerned about this because whenever you read something on social media,

you don't know if it's been taken accurately or someone misheard something or it's out of context. But someone showed me a tweet that said that Nashville's original offer to Evangelista was two times one. I don't think that's correct. I heard actually that it was like two times two-ish. So again, I don't know where the source of that was, but I checked it and I was told that their first offer was two times two-ish and like I've said many times I think the counter was Jack Quinn which was two times three plus and I just all I know is it as of what I was what I was hearing

on Thursday and again it can always change with one phone call is that they were still having trouble bridging that gap on a two-year deal man oh man feels like that's the one that should be the easy one when we looked at kind of all these RFAs that were still to be dealt with as training camp got going and it remains kind of the last outstanding one of the of the top names yeah it's i'm i've been surprised to yeah you know we'll see okay i remember a few weeks we've been we've been reminded kyle this is a deadline league yeah like look at everything that's happened this week deadline spur action and this is a deadline league so a few weeks ago now i seem to recall elliot you through lucas rickle's name out there just as something to keep an eye on and you wanted to mention his name here again this episode yeah i mean there there's definitely talking going on there i think i think chicago is just trying to see what's the the what's out there i i heard there was one team that kind of threw like a later

round draft pick at them and uh we'll see where that goes but that's what uh i had heard that there'd been some later round picks throwing at them and i think the blackhawks were just trying to wait and see what their best opportunity was all right um there was but i don't I don't think there's any short of interest. Now it becomes poker. Okay, Allie, before we get to the final thought, I should also mention Ryan Huska, two-year extension in Calgary,

has to unofficially be the first coach in NHL history to secure a contract extension the day after losing 8-1 as the Flames did to Vancouver in preseason action on Wednesday night. Well, congratulations to Ryan Huska. and getting the extension and a little more security there. And it's interesting because he's growing up with a lot of those players there that just recently signed extensions over the last off season in the summer.

And now they've got more runway to continue to build where they ultimately hope to get to in Calgary. Yeah, so I just want to say this first. One of the great listeners of this podcast, is Taylor Conroy. Taylor, I just want you to realize that the guy taking shots here was Kyle, not me, okay? So make sure that you remember this. Second thing, the thing that I respect the most about Haska is that he's been in that organization

and he's done a bunch of different jobs. And I think that to become a head coach in an organization after you've been an assistant and done some other things, I think that's really hard. I think organizations tend to overlook people in those kinds of roles because they say, oh, especially if you're an assistant coach, you know, you're the good cop. You can't move to the bad cop spot so easy. It's kind of phony So I think that says a lot about The respect that Haska has gained That he can do that

So I agree with you I'm really I'm really happy for him And a couple hours north I'm assuming we'll see one for Chris Knoblock Pretty soon too Taylor just know that Elliot put me up to that first part She said I couldn't continue if I didn't say that.

There's going to be police officers on horseback standing out in front of the saddle down there now waiting for me next time I go down there now because of you. So thanks for that. Well, you deserve it. If anything, it'll be good podcast fodder. All right, go ahead.

One other thing, that'll be like in Edmonton last year when the police dropped me off at the rink and I tried to open up the back door of the car and they're like, you know, you can't do that from the backseat of a police car. You forgot you thought you were in an Uber. That's right.

I just wanted to shout out a couple of agents, David and Michael Kaye, going out on their own, starting Legacy Hockey Agency. They were part of a larger group, splitting off. can be a daunting thing. I've been a lot of people in life who they leave a bigger organization, they go out on their own.

I also think, Kyle, we're headed to a world where we're all going to be independent contractors eventually. That's kind of the way it's all going. Hopefully I'll be retired by then. But, you know, it can be a very daunting thing to go out in the world on your own. So just wish them good luck.

It's not easy. Awesome. Yeah. All the best of those two. Okay, let's get to the final thought, which is brought to you by GMC and Elliot. It's been a great week of wildcard baseball, great drama. At Wrigley Field, the Cubs took three games but knocked off the Padres, so they advanced to the DS against Milwaukee. ESPN, of course, had the coverage for all wildcard games, all four series.

Ben McDonald, pitched nine years in the bigs. And he was an analyst for the big, big guy, 6-7, analyst for the Cubs and Padres series. And at one point, they come out a commercial break, right? They're showing like Bedard and Nazar, Felino, members of the Blackhawks that were there in the crowd cheering on the Cubs. And naturally, ESPN has opening night next Tuesday, the triple header to kick off the NHL regular season. So they're promoting that at a break. and McDonald had no issue sharing with the audience

because he was asked about you think the Panthers are going to three Pete and he didn't have much interest in answering it because as he shared he would not be watching I just I you know naturally there's got a lot to play online Elliot I think you and I are the same way

we're not big like please like our sports kind of guys but at the same time I don't work for ESPN so it's easy for me to sit here and say, well, geez, what's the big deal? But I can understand for others. It may not been the best feeling seeing that the other day. I'm not a big, please, like my sport guy. If someone wants to say that, fine.

I don't, it doesn't really bother me. It's water off my back. The thing I was thinking about, though, is that I always imagine what happens if I do something, right? the thing, I think. And for example, on Thursday night, we're working the Toronto Detroit preseason game and we're running promos for the baseball games, which are airing on our other channels. And for example, one of the things that was airing was Yankees Red Sox game three. And of course, the winner's going to face the Blue Jays and that's going to be airing on our air with our own broadcast team. So I always think about what would happen if, you know, Carolyn read the promo,

don't forget, the winner of this game faces the Blue Jays, game one Saturday afternoon here on Sportsnet. And I was to say, oh my God, could you imagine something worse to watch? And I, you know, you can only, you think of what, you know, Dan Shulman and Buck Martinez and Hazel May and Jamie Campbell, and all those guys would think if I said that during my show. So that was the thing that I reacted to. I'll tell you a story a few years ago when the Raptors won the NBA title, we were on, we were doing the hockey, we were doing the playoffs concurrently, obviously. And if I remember correctly, the Raptors won that game seven against Philly on the Great Kauai

shot on a Sunday. I think it was Sunday. It was Mother's Day Sunday. Okay, there you go. Mother's Day Sunday. So Monday, there's no NBA game, but we're on. And we had game one of the Eastern Conference Final against Milwaukee. We had a promo for it.

And so we're doing our meeting beforehand. We're doing our meet. And they said, okay, here. And, you know, Ron, who was hosting, he likes to watch everything. He wants to see, like, I would rather not watch a thing. I like to go in fresh. Don't spoil the movie. I like to go in fresh.

But Ron wants to watch everything. So I happen to be there. And Ron, they put on the promo. And it was Ron, me, Kelly, and Nick were on the air at the time. And they played, the promo was Kauai Shot and the calls. And I remember most of the promo was the U.S. call. Matt Devlin called it on our air, and it was the U.S. call and it but it was more the U.S. call than Devlin and I remember all of us saying

like we said was Devlin's call not that good and they're like no it was really good and I don't think anybody meant to do anything meanly or badly or it wasn't a shot at Devlin in any way shape or form but the vast majority of it was not Devlin's call and we just said you know what like that's our guy and if it was our choice we would rather have the promo with more of our guy than someone else's call right and to our group's credit they agreed and they kind of redid the promo because you know we felt that if it's going to be a sports net game that most of the promos should be the sports net guys call and some other people can listen to this and they'll say well you guys are just morons but we felt strongly about that we were like back your guys um and

you know so that was the kind of thing i watched like him saying he's not going to watch hockey yeah okay whatever like that doesn't bother me but i always think like when it comes to like the sports net group whether it's you know the baseball or the basketball guys or um or you know, we do UFC, we have the rights to UFC or anything we have, we have the rights to tennis, anything that we have the rights to, you know, you try to promote each other, right? So that was the thing about it. I was like, osh, because I could only imagine, like, if I was John Pucci Gross, or I was Emily Kaplan, or I was Steve Levy or anybody else working hockey, and now they hired T.J.

Oshy, who I think is going to be great, that would really get under my skin. That would really stick under my craw. Yeah, I know. It's easy to get caught up so often. We get into this world where we think this is Elliot's network, and that's where it starts and stops. But there is more to it. There's more to sports debt. There's more than just me. Yes. Yes. Yeah. No, that's good. Well, hey, reminder, Wednesday night, Leafs have flames Oilers. Our first night. We'll have the three U.S. games on Thursday, too, but in terms of our production, it ramps up next Wednesday, double-header of a sports event and Wednesday in hockey.

I think that's Dave Amber, Luke Azdick, and Sam Cosentino that night. Awesome. Yeah. Fun way to start. All right. That was the final thought brought to you by GMC. Let's take our first break. We'll come back with the thought line.

32 thoughts. The podcast continues after this. All right, welcome back. Time once again for the thought line presented by Dauberhockey. Daubberhockey.com. For 20 years, your trusted source for player rankings, line combo, stat reports, and the fantasy hockey guide that serious GMs trust. Dober, I hope you're happy with this.

We've enjoyed having you on board. Really have. So I got a DM the other day from someone on Insta who was listening to the latest pod and his son was in the car with him who wasn't as familiar with our show. He's about six or seven years old, but heard the six, seven reference and asked his dad, is that like the meme that they're talking about? And the father had no idea what that meant. Admittedly, still doesn't. I don't think either you or I do. But anyway, he said we have a new listener in his son, purely for making that reference. So I got a note on Thursday morning from two dedicated podcast listeners who work in the league. And they wrote that one of their sons says 6-7 is done and 41 is the new one. and 41 yeah 41 basically all the kids are angry the adults are on the 6-7 so it's old news now it's gone to mainstream basically i think what they're trying to tell us is that once we discovered it it became uncool and a disaster yeah that tracks that tracks it's so apparently 41 so i asked

what 41 was and 41 apparently refers to some united kingdom drill rap collective called 41 they're big on tic talk and in drill tracks and don't ask me what drill tracks are because i have no idea drill tracks that could be a new title for like saturday headlines it's drill Drillette Friedman. 32 drill tracks. So basically what it comes down to is if you want a meme to become uncool, have me discover it. Yeah.

And if you want a chance at becoming a meme, just be associated with a number. And I wanted to thank David Palmer on Instagram for sending me that video of someone opening up their barbecue and having rats in there. Oh, God. So it's fitting then that we start here with John, who says, hi, guys. My name is John, and I am a St. Louis Blues fan and a middle school science teacher

down here in the States. I want to thank you guys for providing the content and interviews weekly. Anyway, I listened to your Monday and Friday podcast during my plan time as a great assignments, send emails, and prep for classes. On Monday, I opened up my podcast app expecting to see an episode with a witty title related to what is going on in the NHL. When I saw the title, I led out an audible, anguished groan that caught the attention of my coworkers who were passing by. Honestly, the last time I had let out that type of groan was game seven against the Jets last spring. I then had to explain my dramatics. And afterwards, they looked at me,

like I had lobsters crawling out of my ears, but they understood. The discussion of six, seven, made me chuckle. And I would like to tell you that while I hear about it a million times a day, I also have no idea what it means. Thanks again for all you guys do. So teachers must, they must get it the worst with all this stuff. That makes total sense.

John, we have provided you a service. We have made it uncool. It sounds like you won't be hearing much more about this again. Yes. Please don't all thank us all at once. No. You now brush up on your drill tracks. Rod, from Tabor, Alberta, now in Salt Lake City.

Has your dinner plate, Elliot, ever been graced with the side of Tabor corn? No. And you ever had that experience. Oh, it is good. No. Okay. All right. I'm in. Tabor Corn.

I'll try. I'm here out this way. We will treat you. To genuine, authentic Tabor corn. Okay. I'm in. I'm in. Rod.

Tabor now Salt Lake City. I'm a transplanted Albertan and Flames fan now in Utah as a season ticket holder for the mammoth. I appreciate your pod for keeping me up to speed on the rest of the league. There is a lot of discussion about Florida needing to declare whether Barkov is out for the entire season, including playoffs, or whether they want to leave it open for him to return. My question is, when do they need to decide that? And could they leave the door open and then later in the season, say, around the trade deadline, change it to out for the entire year to get the additional cap relief?

The answer is yes. They can declare it when they want to. They don't have to declare it. There is flexibility here. But in order, if you're at the cap, in order to get the full relief of bar, salary, you would have to state with approval of a doctor that he cannot come back all year, including playoffs, and then the full relief would be opened to you. So if you don't want to do it and you say, hey, I want to wait, we want to see in case

there's any chance he can come back, you can do that. But when you want to initiate the process, you have to tell the league, you have to have them checked out by doctors, the Players Association has to sign off, and then the full cap can be unleashed to you. So basically, you have to declare it, get it approved, and it gets opened. I thought it was interesting. Did you see him at the Miami Heat practice the other day? I did, yeah. So he's already walking around with help, obviously, with a castor. and crutches, but, you know, you see they were quoted saying some of the Eric's polster, the heat coach, was said, oh, five, six months. So certainly left me the impression.

See, one of the things I believe, the Panthers announced seven to nine, and, you know, like everybody else, I heard the rumors he could be out for the whole year. I do believe that teams try to aim high. Like, it's always better to beat the timetable. than be late, right? And I think there is something to be said for the mentality, which I understand and respect, that you want to set up something where a player can feel, realistically, I can beat that.

And the key word there is realistically. Like, you know, for example, I can't remember who told me this, but they knew somebody who was dealing with a similar injury, and the biggest challenge they had was trying to push it too early. Like a lot of these athletes, they believe they're superhuman for good reason, but there are times you have to admit defeat or I have to wait or you have to accept that the schedule won't move as quickly as you want it to, right? But if you have a smart doctor and you're willing to be patient with your rehab schedule, you can set a date in of the future.

that you can beat. And when I heard what Spolster said, I wondered about that, as if the Panthers and Barcove were kind of like, okay, we're going to set something in the future that maybe he can come in ahead of. Maybe.

It's too early to say. But I thought that was really interesting that that's what came out of it. You know what I really like to see about that too, Kyle, was... The respect that the heat had for Barkoff. Yes. You could see that those guys, A, knew who he was,

B, what he's accomplished, and the reputation that he has. I like that. I've always liked watching, we did a piece years ago with Jason Bay and Sean Horcoff, and Horcoff came to, because, you know, they know each other. They played sports growing up together in B.C.

And Horcoff came to batting practice. And, you know, obviously those guys knew each other. But you could see, like, some of the other players kind of saw them. And I always like it when, you know, Mitch Album had a column years ago where he took a bunch of other Detroit athletes to a Red Wings game. I think he took John Sally. It might have been, I can't remember who the other players were, but he had three, he had a lion, he had a piston,

and he had a tiger at a Red Wings game, and they sat there and they watched the game together. And it was a great column from guys who maybe didn't know hockey, but watching them talk about each other as athletes. I love that stuff. and I love to see the respect that Barkov got there. Right. Like athletic ability at the highest level,

I mean, it kind of, that is transparent kind of from sport to sport, right? Like they recognize who's at the top. Great recognizes great. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Great recognizes great. Yeah, really good point. Rod, thank you for the question.

Up next, Matt from Long Island. Hi, guys. Newcomer to the show this year. and can't wait for things to get started. Welcome, Matt. Welcome aboard, Matt. Welcome aboard. I have a question about the...

I didn't want to call you welcome, Matt, like Kyle did, because I figured, you know, that would be stupid, but, you know, Kyle did it. What can you do? Only you would go down that road. It was... Dom, you thought of it, too, didn't you?

Yeah, it's... You step on a welcome, Matt, Kyle. But you also welcome somebody... that you want to be part of things. I didn't name him, Matt. Matt, just understand that two of us knew what Kyle was doing was wrong. Welcome to the podcast. I'm not even going to go anywhere near.

I just can't say anything right, apparently. Okay, Matthew from Long Island. You're a Matthew now to save me from any further groups. Welcome Matthew. you. I have a question about the predicted salary cap escalations and how they are projected. Prior to COVID, my understanding was the cap was always a direct formula based on hockey related revenue, which is a 50-50 split between owners and players. However, wouldn't that only be a true 50-50 split if every single team spent to the cap? Since some teams do not spend all the way to the ceiling. Wouldn't it be more like a 55-45-type split? Hope this isn't too much of a mouthful or mind-bender. Thank you for your time. I understand exactly where you're going here, Matt. It's a good question. And there is a formula. It's basically 50-50. However, there are

some costs that get taken out, but to make it easy, it's generally 50-50. That's why the formula is that there's a cap, there's, and there's a floor. And that is the way they basically protect against what you're talking about here. And the other thing also, there's this thing called escrow, where a chunk of the player's paychecks in most years, not every year's, is taken off their paychecks and held in an escrow account. And at the end of it, there's an audit done. And if it doesn't turn out to be 50-50, the players get money back. And if it turns out to be more than 50-50, as it was when there was no crowds during COVID, then money is given back to the owners. So there are formulas in place to protect against exactly what you're talking about. It's good

question. Very good. Thank you, Matthew. And welcome aboard. All right, voicemail. Andy, go ahead. Hey, guys, this is Andy from Roseville, California, Bay Area Transplants. I wanted to call in to you guys as I'm on my way to Boise, Idaho to produce streaming video of the Kings and Mammoth preseason game. Oh, wow. I was listening to the latest pod, and you were talking about helmetless players playing into the 90s. He forgot a notable one, longtime Chicago Blackhawk and San Jose Sharks's original captain, Doug Wilson.

He played all the way through the end of the 92-93 season, the former Norris Trophy winner and Hall of Famer logging 1,024 games. Maybe not quite as many games played as Randy Carlyle, but thought he deserved a mention as one of the last to never wear a helmet. love the pod keep up the great word so Andy we did mention Wilson briefly yep and the reason we didn't go harder in on him is that there are pictures of him wearing a helmet during a game if you go to Google images and you Google Doug Wilson helmet there are some pictures and hockey cards that come up with him wearing a helmet. So the criteria was players who never wore one. There's video evidence of him wearing one.

Or maybe not video evidence, photographic evidence of him wearing one. Yeah, and it wasn't often. It was usually just when recovering from injury, I believe. He was typically a no-helmet guy. Andy is correct in that, but you say, yeah, the question was more entire career, no bucket. And that's why we ended up as Randy Carlisle standing alone in terms of doing it for the longest and the latest into NHL history.

Okay, you'll get a kick out of this one. This is Peca from Espos, Finland. All right. Is it Peca Radicalio? They didn't provide a last name. Oh, okay. Good player when I was going to. I'm still in trouble with Matt, so I'm not going to guess.

I'm not making fun of anyone names. I'm not going to guess which Peca this is. Okay, so he writes, Hi, guys. I love you. I really do. I've listened to every episode for years. I know.

When somebody starts like this, I know it's not going to end well. Okay, yes, here we go. Yeah. I've listened to every episode for years. And Kyle, you're doing fine, but please stop spoiling the Packers games for me. With the time that's left after all the family, work, and hockey fandom responsibilities are done, I've carved out some to watch every Packers game, spoiler-free.

I live in a country where there's barely any media coverage of the end. NFL and I purposely avoid any forays into any NFL social media channels so I've trusted that I'm safe to enjoy the games early in the week. The last thing I expected is to have my favorite hockey podcast to start stealing the games away from me. So Kyle, please stop talking about the Packers on the pod and Dom confiscate his hair products if he does. Thank you.

Now, Peca, I'm not sure what you are talking. Anyone that's listened to this show, know that hockey is one, but a close 1A is NFL analysis, discussion, and opinion. Because, Elliot, this week, and I'm not making this up, this week, we got a voicemail to the thought line, and it sounds like this. It's from Lucas. Go ahead, Tom. This is Lucas out of Ohio, specifically Cincinnati. I think it's about time we maybe reconsider Zach Taylor as the head coach of the Bengals. Maybe it's time to put someone else in that spot.

I don't know if it's front office. I don't know if it's a managerial thing. Something's got to change in Cincinnati. They're coming with football questions in the thought line, Elliot. So maybe we're on to something here. Wow, a tough crowd. Burrow goes down. They want a coaching change.

I don't know. Pecka, I didn't even realize that that would be a problem. But now that you've laid it out the way you have, it makes total sense. So my apologies, I will keep that in mind. However, if you are listening to this on Friday and you're still not aware that the Packers tied the Cowboys last Sunday night, that's on you. Too much time has passed. But I'll keep it in mind going forward. I'd be curious to know in Finland, is there a favorite NFL team?

Of course, the first person in Finland complaining about this would be a Packers fan, the biggest group of winers in the National Football League. maybe second to the Cowboys. Oh, my God. I'm curious, no, in some of these countries, who the favorite teams are. In Finland, are there, is there a big group of Packer fans? I'm sure, just like in the States, you can find bars that are reserved for certain fan bases.

Yeah. It's cool. Yeah. That stuff's cool. Anyway, I had no idea, Pecca. Some of the best times I've had and just are those kind of meetups in strange places. Like I remember a few years ago I was in Copenhagen in the summer. This is probably about 20 years ago, 25 years ago.

And there was, I think, Yankees fans watching a Yankee game there. It was just really cool. You are a fan of the Strange Place meetups. Yes. I've had lots of strange meetups over the years. Yeah, I believe it. I understand, Dom, you've got some trivia for us here to wrap up today? Yes, and you can't even make this up because I didn't know that those submissions were coming in,

but my trivia has to do with the tie on the weekend between the Packers and the Cowboys. Oh, wow. 32 NFL thoughts. Well, so in light of that tie, I wanted to ask you, fellas, which team holds the record for most ties in a single season in the NHL? It's 24, right? Is it like the Blues or something? It is not the Blues.

I remember there was a team that had 24 ties one year and it was the record. Yes, which team? And it's not the Blues? Not the Blues. Am I in the right geography? Yes. Yeah, it was, well, St. Louis is not in the East, Dom. East of Vancouver

Good thing the team wasn't from South Korea Good thing the team wasn't from South Korea because then it would be in the Western conference I can relate to that Anything east of Vancouver is just east I live that growing up Totally Like when I first moved to Toronto

And people were talking about Oh you had to drive west to get to like London, Ontario it didn't i said no it's everything out here is just east doesn't matter which direction you're going thank you car it's east so i get al do you have an inkling um chicago 24 teams you're getting closer i had no idea that it was 24 no i remember i remembered the number i i i got to remember the team i i i got to remember the team think east coast elliot well i mean what have what have i learned on on this call like east coast to you could be Vegas

uh east coast team it's close to st louis the gateway to the midwest that's right oh my god uh i actually thought it was st louis um east coast um east coast All right. Well, I'm not going to do the Florida teams. The Islanders are fourth with 22 ties. All right. Who else are these?

Philadelphia. Philadelphia Flyers, number one, 24 ties, 1969, 1970. It wasn't even, well, I mean, I remember the number. I didn't get the team, but that wasn't even 80 games yet. 76 games played. Yeah. Could you imagine a third of your games ending in ties? my goodness that would drive you nuts yeah so if you're an NFL fan don't complain yeah really oh we still will

apparently oh just fantastic there's nothing better than dipping your toes into the Atlantic ocean and looking off to see the Rockies in the distance that's right I heard they were quite tall mountains. Tom, that was classic, man. That is funny. I got to tell you, that is really funny. I'm still laughing about it. When you live in Vancouver, everything is east.

It's, it is, it is a, who would you put in the Western Conference? Australia, South Korea, Fiji, and Vanuatu. too. And Hawaii. Hawaii, that's right, Hawaii, they're in the Western Conference, too, yeah. Yeah, they play in the Central. That's right, Hawaii's in the Central.

Oh, my God. Until one of the team's moves. That's right. That could apply for realignment. Very good. Okay, 32 Thoughts at Sportsnet.ca, that's the email. If you'd like to send in a submission, or you can leave a voicemail at 1833, 311, 321, 32, 32.

The thought line is presented by Dauber Hockey. We'll take one final break and wrap up this edition of 32 Thoughts. The podcast, after this. All right, welcome back, Elliot. One more thing before we go. It's been an ongoing discussion and something that's going to continue to be talked about in the aftermath of, you know, the five players that were part of the Hockey Canada sexual assault trial and were acquitted back in July and where they ultimately end up or not.

And the National Hockey League, there were multiple reports and plenty of of chatter linking Michael McLeod and Carter Hart to the Carolina Hurricanes, what can you tell us about anything you've heard or believed to know and what's going on there? Kyle, I've always tried to be sensitive about this one. I think it's got to be handled properly and I don't like guessing. I don't believe that Carter Hart was going to sign with Carolina anyway. I think that that's going to be elsewhere should it occur. But I do think the hurricanes did do their due diligence on McLeod. I do think they looked at it.

But ultimately, at the end of the day, they decided to pass. And we'll see if that means McLeod goes overseas or he looks at another NHL home. But ultimately, I believe the hurricanes made the decision after thinking about it that they weren't going to sign McClough. and so that's one of the reasons I don't like to guess because what's true today might not be true tomorrow with a lot of things and particularly with this you want to make sure that you're right okay we'll leave that there for now hey one last thing Elliot blue jays Yankees first two games in Toronto this weekend you going I think I'm going game two oh

I'm jealous, man. That's going to be fun. How you feeling? I don't know. Playoff baseball incredible. I don't know. Blue Jay's bullpen terrifies me. It really does.

And I don't think you can win in the baseball playoffs without a good bullpen. I agree. And if it's the wrong week for, for the Yankee bats to get hot. Yeah, look out. So that's going to be fun. Blue Jays, DS that takes us right into the opening night of and the first week of the regular season in hockey.

So lots of that to look forward to. Have a great weekend, everybody. And taking us out today is a song by Delta Suite. This is the first solo project by Alberta Born artists and Edmonton Oilers fanatic, Pat Cordyback, Originally, bursting onto the scene as the front man of the multi-platform Juno-nominated pop band Stereos, Cordyback made the shift to country music less than a year ago, and he'll be performing at the Rivoli in Toronto on November 21st.

You may even recognize a familiar voice at the end of this track. Here's Delta Suite with his 2025 single, Whiskey Like You, on 32 Thoughts, The Podcast. Have a great weekend, everyone. I know that feeling I'm love drunk again I knew right then I had a brand new vice So give me another round Don't put me on ice Because you're loving

It gets me all lit up You know I love it baby Too much and enough So keep them coming Because you go down smooth I'm tipsy and I want to I wish I had a whiskey like you, whiskey like you. Well, me and that Kentucky had a real good run, but I got a little lucky, yeah, now I'm moving on.

I love it when you talk, you've got sugar on your lips. You give me love on the rocks with a nice little kiss. kick you're loving it gets me all laid up you know I love it baby too much and enough so keep them coming because you go down smooth I'm tipsy and I wish I had a whiskey like you whiskey like you Whiskey like you, yeah. Oh, come on, baby. Come on, baby. It's your loving.

It gets me all lit up. You know I love it, baby. Too much ain't enough, so keep them coming. Yeah, say you love me too. Because, baby, without your love, I'd be Johnny Walker Blue. You're loving. It gets me all laid up. You know, I love it, baby.

Too much and enough. So keep them coming. Because you go down smooth. I'm tipsy, and I wish I had a whiskey like you. You got me tipsy, and I wish I had a whiskey like you. Whiskey like you. Whiskey like you, baby. You got me tipsy and I wish I had a whiskey like you.

Whether your night calls for light-hearted jubilation or heartache medication. Try good old-fashioned Tennessee bourbon whiskey. It always goes down smooth.