32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Keith Yandle Scored While We Were Recording

Episode Date: January 18, 2021

Hockey is back and so is the drama. Jeff and Elliotte discuss the situation in Florida between Keith Yandle and the Panthers (00:00), if Pierre-Luc Dubois will be a Blue Jacket by season’s end (16:30), Jakub Voracek’s post-game comments on Friday (27:30), the impressive Minnesota Wild (49:30) and much more. Music Outro: Ten Kills the […]

You were not first. I was already there and then had to go tell the kids to be quiet downstairs playing Fortnite, by the way. All right, so this will be a quickie pod to get your week started right or get your week started with information. And get your week started, Elliot Friedman, with a soap opera update. As we record this podcast right now, it is timestamp 738 Eastern on Sunday evening. In the background of my office here, the Chicago Blackhawks and Florida Panthers are tied at bagels. But in so far, what has been the move of the night has been also the cheeky smile of the night

as Keith Yandel had this Voltarian smile on his face as he was introduced as a Florida Panther. What is, to the best of your knowledge, Elliot, the latest on Panthers Coronation Street? Wow, that's quite a reference. Excellent reference, Coronation Street. I married into a British family, what can I say? So what I think happened is I think the players got involved.

This is me kind of unspooling how all of this happened in my view. Let's go back to the return to play. Florida opened up against the Islanders and they got their butts kicked. Yep. And they were terribly, terribly disappointed in the way they played there. And there's been a general feeling that it's too easy for those guys in Florida and they had to make it harder on the team,

increase the pressure on the team internally because there isn't as much pressure playing hockey in Sunrise in the area. And I think even the players themselves, like I heard the exit meetings from the players were pretty honest, you know, we're not good enough and they weren't just talking like we have to be better. We have to be tougher to play against. We have to be better defensively.

We're simply not good enough. And I think that even some players, and I don't think they ripped Yandel or anything like that, but I think they said that they felt that he was one of the guys who had to be better all around game. They recognized his tremendous ability. He's a 45 point guy last year, but they just felt that he had to be a better defensive player. And so, you know, I think the new regime came in, Bill Zito, and they were going to make life uncomfortable on the players. And, you know, there was a wild rumor going around that the Panthers might not even invite Yandel to camp, which obviously didn't happen. But well before this happened, I know I wasn't the only reporter calling and asking, is something up with Yandel? Like even before this became

public that he wasn't part of the main group, there were rumors going around that the Panthers were going to make an example out of Yandel and say that he's the first guy we're going after to change the culture. Now, obviously they didn't uninvite him to camp. I don't even think you could do that anyway, but pretty quickly he wasn't practicing with the main group. And because he's got the fourth longest consecutive games played streak of all time, it's a story. It's the longest active one. He can't catch Doug Jarvis this year, but he's within 90 games of them. And so it's a story. And then, you know, once one reporter starts it, other reporters start chasing it. And the Panthers are adamant. They have never asked Yandel to waive his no move clause. And to George Richards, who covers them for Florida Hockey Now, Yandel did say that.

He said, I've never been asked to waive my no move. But there's always this feeling like maybe you haven't asked, but if a player's not going to play, maybe they're going to come and say, all right, I'm going to do this. I'm going to give you a list of teams. And everybody assumes with Yandel that team that he would go to is Boston. And I'm just not convinced that Boston's willing to do that. If you look at what the Bruins have done this off season, they're not a team looking for long-term commitments. So I don't think that's a match.

I have told you that I think that they talked with the Islanders, that maybe with the Islanders take Yandel and Florida take some of their short-term cap issues in exchange and maybe keep some of Yandel's money. But, you know, that didn't go anywhere. So they're kind of stuck. I think also, and this is just me, I always wonder how does the message get taken? And I heard Yandel was really hurt. I heard that he felt like his character as a person was called into question. I think that,

and I don't know who said it to him. I don't know who was the individuals responsible for this, but I heard that he felt that he was told he wasn't a good teammate and he was upset about that. And I think it just got really ugly in the last week. And I believe Jeff, at some point, his teammates spoke up. So I think some of the players went to, I don't know if it was Joel Quenville. I don't know if it was Bill Zito and said he should be in the lineup. And then all of a sudden out of nowhere on Saturday, he's called into the main group to practice the power play and then he plays. So I'm sure that some people will dispute some of these facts, but from speaking to as many people as I can speak to, that is the best picture I can paint. Okay. So again, as we mentioned off the top, this is Sunday right now, as we record

this podcast, you're probably hearing it on Monday. If the games against Dallas hadn't been postponed, would we be having a conversation like this or would we be having a conversation like this, or would we be having a conversation about how Keith Yandel's Iron Man streak came to an end with a healthy scratch? Like how much did this extra time, because it seemed as if, like to your point, there was building pressure, whether it was players, it was a lot of media people too, specifically media members that have been around the game for a longer time. Some senior media people

were kind of ticked off that this would happen, that the streak would end based on a healthy scratch. If those games against Dallas, which were scheduled for last week, hadn't been scrubbed or postponed or pushed, what would the conversation around Yandel be today? Boy, that's a great question. I can't answer that for sure, but I do believe that things intensified because we had so many days to talk about it. Yeah. And three or four of them were with no games, right? Yeah. If you look at the Panthers, they've made three

additions on defense on the blue line in the last like week. Yeah. They claimed Noah Juleson on waivers, Forsling on waivers. They signed Kevin Connaughton and had to clear him through waivers. I mean, that's all you need to know about how they feel about their defense.

And they got rid of Matheson in the off season. They brought in Radko Gudis. Like they've gone about redoing this blue line, like from pretty much the get go with the new general manager. It's been operation redo blue line. Like someone said, sent me a text and they said, well, the Panthers backed down, right? Mm-hmm. And someone else said to me, well, yes, but now they've thrown it all on the players.

If the players are the ones who stepped forward and did this, then if it doesn't work, the Panthers have the opportunity to say, well, we gave you guys a chance and it didn't work. And now we're going to do it our way. All right, Elliot. So is there a sense then that as we see Keith Yandel playing on this Sunday against the Chicago Blackhawks, that all that Florida has done is kick this can down the road. There's a game on Tuesday against Chicago. Then there's a game later on this week, well, there's two games, against the Carolina Hurricanes.

Like, now that this is out there, what's the sense around Keith Yandel? Well, I think it's determined by how they play, right? Mm-hmm. You know, what the players have done here is if they truly are the ones who, you know, step up and said no more, it's on them. If they play well and Yandel plays well, no problem. And you could even use it as we united ourselves. But, you know, if they don't play well and they're leaky,

you know, the day's going to come. The one thing I heard is Yandel was terribly disappointed. He felt it was painted to him that he wasn't a great teammate. And I just heard that he was really hurt about that. I had a couple people reach out to me about that and i think that's why some of the players got involved because they didn't want that to be the case they didn't want him to think that they said he wasn't a great teammate the one thing that i needed to be reminded of,

and I was reminded of it with Andrew Cogliano, and now I'm reminded of it with Keith Yandel, is how much players value the Ironman streak and place a lot more value on it than I did. I have always, and this is not going to sound nice to a lot of people, and I apologize if I'm offending many, some, whomever. I've always looked at hockey and said, I don't think that this is a game where you should

be able to play every single game. I think it's a remarkable feat if you can. But whether it's nature of play, whether it's luck, whatever, I always look at players that play for a certain amount of seasons as injuries are baked into the pie when you play this game. Players don't feel that way. Players have much more respect for an Ironman streak than I have. And I was reminded about that this past week around Keith Yandel and just the outrage from players and the outrage from senior people in the game, most of whom were ex-players.

The idea that an Ironman streak could be ended with a healthy scratch instead of an injury really bothered people. What do you think about that? We had George Peros on the podcast. His friendship with Andrew Cogliano ended basically. On the suspension. Because of the suspension that ended the streak. I think he probably won't ever be happy with my decision,

nor would I blame him. But I'm fine with him. I think he's found me. It's not like, uh, I don't know. I won't get a Christmas card. Maybe. I don't know, but I, but I never did. So it's fine. It's just, uh, you know, the moment has passed and hopefully, uh, you know, at some point he understands that, you know, I was doing my job to the best of my ability at the time. And we go on from there. doing my job to the best of my ability at the time. And we go on from there. It depends. Like, do you have pride in showing up for work?

If you do, and I think most people do, it bothers you if you can't go a day. Like I had a friend, I grew up with a friend. His father was a vice principal. And I don't remember how long it was because it's been 30 years, but he had a very long streak of not using a sick day. And that was 1988, which was a different time. I think now you'd be, he probably went to school in some situations that now you'd be encouraged not to go to school. But that was a big deal for him. It was a source of pride that he went to work.

I think most people are like that. I know players are in the NHL. I realized that with Cogliano, and I'm realizing that now with Yandel. See, the one thing that the more you talk to players about, one of the questions they ask, or actually a better phrase, one of the points they always bring up is how many games someone played. Points are one thing, goals are another thing. What's the one thing the players always point out?

Oh, man, this guy played 15 years. Oh, man, this guy played 1,000 games. Like the volume of games like how long you stayed in the league how many games you played in the league man that is such a source of pride for these guys that i don't know i mean i undervalued it i think collectively we undervalue it you know the guys i feel terrible for, Jeff? Who's that? Guys like Martin Lapointe, 991. Craig Reveille, 925. That's still a season, right?

Andrew Ferentz, 907. And I remember Ferentz saying, I was lucky enough to play 120 games in the playoffs, so I'm over. I'm at, you know, technically 1,027, but those don't count. I remember when Marty LaPointe retired at that number and I just remember looking at that and saying,

oh, that's brutal. Like if only someone could just sign him for nine games, the way he played. Yeah. Although having guys, this is going to sound weird, but having guys get that close and fail makes that number 1000 that much more remarkable though. Hey, Marty, it makes the number more remarkable because you missed it by nine. For other people, you've made it more distinctive for other people, but I've hit a thousand.

Remember when Joe had a thousand points in a thousand games? Wasn't that great for Jumbo? Question joel quenville and all of this joel quenville is an old school guy yeah how much influence would quenville have had on on this decision i think ultimately the coach decides who plays right and i think he's got huge juice in that organization but i think it went, from everybody I spoke to, it started with the player comments in the exit meetings and it became an organizational philosophy. But you're telling me that Joel Quenville doesn't want to win and put his best players out there? If he thinks that Yandel's one of his best players, he's going to play him. If he thinks Yandel isn't one of his best players, he's going to play him. If he thinks Leandl isn't one of his best players, he's not going to play him.

The story continues. Tuesday, against the Chicago Blackhawks. We'll do it all again. Welcome to 31 Thoughts, the podcast brought to you by the GMC Sierra AT4. And again, that domey at, well, here come the Predators in with another chance, and they score again. Boy, a bouncing puck, and Colton Sissons comes in and gets it. He's able to dangle and make a move in front of Elvis Verslaken and easily tucks it behind him.

And now it's a 5-2 Nashville lead. It's breasty time in Tennessee. Well, how about a fifth goal? John, your teams have gone games full weeks without allowing odd man rushes. They've seen quite a few of those here in the first couple of games tonight. Tentative play, bad reads. Is there a commonality there you can find with them? You know what?

That's not what's on my mind. I'm looking at some of the encouraging stuff we did tonight. And we developed 25 scoring chances. Do we need to clean up some stuff? Sure. But I'm encouraged by a lot of different things with our hockey club tonight. Okay, so now officially welcome to the podcast. Thanks as always for joining us here on the pod.

I want to get to Minnesota because, and we should preface everything that we say when it comes to games and teams with, it's early and it's only been a couple of games but Minnesota's been fun I want to get there in a second but first Columbus I know it's early but Pierre-Luc Dubois already says he wants out I know it's early but they've dropped two against Nashville three to one and five to two I know that John Tortorella is trying to open things up he doesn't want to play as

buttoned down as he has the past couple of seasons. And that may all change against Detroit this week, the team they face off against next. But is there concern in Columbus right now? And if there's not, Elliot, should there be? I think there has to be. I think Columbus got some really legit offers. I think there were some teams that even we haven't found out about yet that kind of waded into this and said, you know, if you're willing to do this, we're considering that. And like I said, I've heard that Yarmul was pleasantly surprised at what people were willing to do or consider. And, you know, he thought about it and filed it away. I'm sitting here, I'm looking at this and I'm like, it's only two games, but I'm looking at those two games.

And I paid a lot of attention to Columbus as much as I could in their first two games. And it didn't go great. You know, he played Dubois. I think that's the first thing you're looking at. And I don't know that I would have suspected anything different. You know, Tortorella said he'd have a short leash with Dubois, but if you take a look at him after two games, he's averaging 40 seconds more ice time a game than any other forward.

He's at 1757. Bjorkstrand's at 1718. So you don't look at this and say, oh, he's not playing him. He's playing him. But you take a look at it. Let's look at some of their forwards. Max Domi's at 14 minutes in two games. He was down to 12 in the first one.

Cam Atkinson is under 15 minutes, and that line's already been broken up. I mean, it's two games in. You don't want to overreact, and I think Kekelein is prepared to be patient and see how this goes, but I think when you're starting this season with as big a question as Columbus is with Dubois here, a weekend like that,

you need a really strong hand on the rudder, not to start thinking about going in different directions already. You see the thing about Columbus, and by the way, you mentioned Max Domi and you have a quick thought on, uh, you talked about short leashes with Pierre-Luc Dubois. How about a short leash for Max Domi getting sat down for that final five or six minutes against Nashville in game one? But this is a team that's trying to play a little bit different, though.

It might not be the best season to do this considering it's 56 games, and they might turn right back around and go back to the bubble blue jackets, that team that we saw just suffocating squads. They may just turn around and do that against you know Detroit here in the next couple of games we don't know but against Nashville I mean they surrendered you know odd man rushes plenty of them not used to seeing that with the

Columbus Blue Jackets and they tried to play a more offensive style and a costume they got you know outscored eight to three in two games, but they're trying to do something different. Like John Tortorella is trying to get this team to play a little bit differently. I don't know if they stick with it, but it looks as if the accent is going to be a little bit more on offense now.

To me, Jeff, the biggest question I have about them is, and this is the thing that Kekelaulainen knows better than any of us, what's the temperature internally? Does the Dubois situation threaten to take them off? Like, I know one of the things, and I'm not talking about Columbus specifically. I'm talking about the league as a whole. specifically i'm talking about the league as a whole one of the biggest concerns that some teams have this year is if they start poorly will their players just knowing the stresses of playing this

year with covid and the virus ramping through north america will their players lose their fire will they lose their fire or will they just become miserable players? Well, I think that's all the same thing, right? I think it's part of it. But this is a conversation that I wanted to have with you at some point this season. We might as well have it now. of the condensed schedule, the very legitimate fears about coronavirus, the nature of every game being meaning so much. And we talk, oh, it's playoff hockey every single night.

That exerts a strain on players. I mean, these are now hockey players that are being pushed to a regular season extreme that we have never seen before. We saw what happened in the Philadelphia press conference with Jacob Voracek. I don't have any reason to believe that we won't see other eruptions from players as I think that frustration and grumpy athletes

is going to be a byproduct of all of this. Well, we're all grumpy as society, right? But this squeezes it even more. Well, that's what I'm saying. Why would the hockey players and the people around them be any different? I think they would be worse, honestly. And I think specifically in the Canadian division, the Scotia North. Maybe.

Honestly, and I think specifically in the Canadian division, the Scotia North. Maybe. All I'm just saying is that I think that's the one thing that Kekelyan really has to weigh is, okay, you've already got this Dubois situation hanging over them. And I think some of his teammates are really unhappy with him. And I'm sure some say, okay, it's a business, but I think some of them are unhappy. It's like any other room. Jeff, if you were to go into work and say, I don't want to be here at Sports Night anymore, I think about 95% of us would say, thank God it should have happened already, but there will be 5% that are honestly pissed off at you.

But no, like I'm joking, but you know what I mean. It splits your room. I get it. Pause on that. Do you feel the same way about players that sign offer sheets because that's them trying to get somewhere else too yeah i think everybody's different i think if you go into a room of 23 like okay so this year with the taxi squad it's 30 people if you told me that 20 players in that group agree with Dubois, but 10 are really angry about it, would you be surprised?

No, not at all. No. I mean, and we don't know the breakdown. I think some of the guys are unhappy about it, but that's what I'm saying. So you've already got the stress of the season. You've got some players agree with them,, you know, some players agree with them and you've got some players disagree with them.

You've lost two games to start the year. Like that to me is the biggest challenge for Kekalainen. We actually said that last week it might be the easiest time to deal with this because you have no fans there who are angry at him. But if you start losing, it's the hardest time to deal with this because you have no fans there who are angry at him. But if you start losing, it's the hardest time to deal with this. That to me is Kekelein's biggest challenges. You have a rough weekend.

Can you keep a strong hand on the rudder? Or does that just exacerbate your situation? This could be a tricky week for the Columbus Blue Jackets further to the point that you're making about them right now. And they've got a pair of games against the Detroit Red Wings. Yeah. Monday, they play Detroit at noon Eastern. Then they spin right back Tuesday and play them again. Later on in the week, they have a pair of games

divided by a day against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Man, Detroit just beat Carolina. And there's some real good stories early with that Detroit Red Wings squad. And I'm not saying they're going to run the table on the Columbus Blue Jackets. But what if Columbus is 0-4 going into those two games on the 21st and 23rd against Tampa? I know. That's the added challenge of this year. And it's week two.

Yeah, I know. It's almost like the NFL, right? You lose week one, and then you lose week two, and it's a disaster. Who goes 0-2 and makes the playoffs in the NFL? Not many people. Yeah. It does feel like that. It does feel like

it's quick. Oh, hold on a second. Keith Yandel just scored. I'm actually annoyed now. I'm not watching the game, so I can't see his reaction. As this Panthers forward trio wreaking havoc inside the Blackhawks zone. The Worcester Rhinand. Now it's Huberto

takes a pass from Yandel and fruit! And the puck goes off to the far wall. Turnaround shot. And they score. Keith Yandel from over along the far board. Tinu DiLeo is out of position. And Yandel has given the Panthers a 2-0 lead. I mean, at the end of the day, we talked about this before. That's such a great moment, Frej.

I'm just watching the highlight. That's such a great moment. Good for him. Again, what do you say? You don't cheer for teams, you cheer for people. This is turning into a great story. Again, it's early. It's game one of the Florida Panthers, but it's been drama fest around Yandel. I just saw the

highlight. You know what stands out to me is the players on the bench. Well, did you see them when he came out? When he first came out, how happy they all were like this. I mean, everyone's going to do the courtesy stick tap when everybody comes out. When Yandel came out, like you could see as they did that camera pullback and everyone's in the circle around the face off dot, like everybody is thrilled that this guy is on the ice with them.

The player's reaction doesn't surprise me as well well based on just what we saw in the intro to Keith Yandel tonight. That's a huge moment. That's a fantastic moment. That's the way it's supposed to be. That was his first of the season and 100th NHL goal scored by

number three Keith Yandel. And now he's not coming out of the lineup. You're not taking a guy out of the lineup who scores. No, he's in. He just bought himself another game. The streak continues. Now he's going to go to 868.

Is it going to be like this every single game? I don't know. Who cares? Good on Yandel on this Sunday night. You know what? You brought it up. We should talk about Voracek. Yeah.

Let's do the Philadelphia Flyers and the Voracek presser. Amel can play the video. Play the clip, Elliot. Sorry, Mr. Podcast Expert. Let me rephrase that. Hang on. Elliot thinks everything is television. Play the video.

Play the audio. Mike Sielski, you're on. Go ahead. Yeah, this question is for Jake. Two games in, Jake. How different does the season feel, if at all, given the circumstances of the offseason and the condensed schedule and everything?

Doesn't matter what I say, Mike. You're going to write every time. It doesn't matter what you say. Yeah, it feels different. I say, Mike. You're going to write f*** every time. It doesn't matter what you say. Yeah, it feels different. I mean, we got four points after the first two games. I wasn't even going to answer your question because you are such a weasel. It's not even funny. Next question.

Charlie O'Connor, you're on with Jake and Travis. Go ahead. Okay, Elliot, you talked about this on Hockey Night Saturday. Your thoughts on this one for those that didn't tune in. So I see it as an occupational hazard. It's going to happen to you from time to time. People are going to get mad at you, and you're going to have confrontations,

and angry words are going to be exchanged. Even some of the people you get along with the best, it happens. And the difference is because there's no dressing room encounters this year it happened on zoom so everyone saw it and you know social media now we see it happening more and more than ever players are controlling their own narratives which is fine. Like I don't have any problem with that. Everybody should control their own narrative.

Like last week, I'm on Twitter and someone saying that Chris Evans is in negotiation to return to the Marvel universe as captain America in a sort of a cameo role. And Chris Evans tweets out news to me, you know, you see that kind of stuff happening more and more. So he does that. The only difference is it used to be more private.

I remember my father always said to me, if you dish it out, you better be able to take it. And in our business, we dish it out. So you better be able to take it when a player says, you know what? I don't think that's right. You know, I've had people call me up before for stuff I've said on this podcast, stuff I've written in 31 Thoughts, stuff I've said on Hockey Night in Canada, well before any of those things started earlier in my career. And all you do is you deal with it. And if you can back it up with facts, you back it up with facts. If you can't, you know, sometimes you just got

to eat it, but you know, that's life. And the thing about this one is in the non dressing room world, it's public. We just have to deal with it. You know who the, uh, the sneaky star of that entire sequence was? Konechny? Travis Konechny.

Oh, yeah. His reaction was comedic gold. He didn't know what to do. I think he was more stunned than everybody else on the Zoom call. Well, obviously, he had no idea that. That was common. That was common. You think we see more of that?

For the reasons that I pointed out earlier about grouchy hockey players, people being cranky, nerves close to the skin this season, more than any other time that we can remember from recent history. I think we see more of that. Specifically as players, to your point, control their story and control their narrative and have their own media pipeline. I think people understand that when you're going to be in public, and it's not just a player anymore.

Jeff, if people don't like what we say on this podcast, they can tweet it right at us, right? And they do. And they do. There's people who call me from time to time and they're mad. And I listen and I go, you know what? You got a point. Okay.

And there's people that I think it's total BS and it's wrong. And there's people that I think it's way over the line. And the fact is that if people believe you're way over the line now, they're going to tell you, and they're going to tell you publicly. And the only defense you have, and I really don't know about the relationship between Voracek and Mike Sielski. I heard it strained, but I'm not around there enough to know. Like all you can do is say, hey, look, I treated you fairly, or you're right, I didn't.

But the bottom line is in this business, you have to prepare for it. I see it as an occupational hazard. Sometimes people are going to get mad at you and they are going to come at you. Like I'll tell you a funny story going to come at you. Like, I'll tell you a funny story. Like a couple of years ago, I reported that the docs didn't know if Ryan Kessler was going to play one year. His injuries were so serious and so severe that they were preparing for the possibility that he wasn't going to play. And Eric Stevens of the Athletic went up to Bob Murray at the draft

and he said, is this true? And Murray called it BS. And he said, he actually used the word and it got printed. And Murray said to me, like he said later, and I laughed when I saw it. I just laughed because that's the way he talks, right? That's the way he talks. And I didn't care. I had no problem with that.

And he saw me on the draft floor and he said like, you know, Elliot, like, I just want to tell you, I disagreed. I think Kessler could play, but I didn't like the fact that it was like that strong. And I go like, seriously, don't worry about it. There's no problem here. I laughed it off. I wasn't upset about it at all. And then at the end of the day, Kessler played, right?

He actually told me that seeing that even made him more determined to come back because he made him realize that people were doubting him. So he was determined to come back. I just think that most of the times you laugh these things off, but sometimes people have legitimate gripes with you and you just have to deal with it. How would you handle that? I think that's a great question because I think you always have a plan,

but you don't know until you go through it. Right? Like my reaction to things like that is don't pour gasoline on the fire. Don't do it. Don't make it worse. Especially if you've dished it out and now the guy's coming back at you. That happened on a Friday night. I might just say, you know what?

I'm going to take my time and I'm going to deal with it on a hockey night in Canada tomorrow. That might be one way I do it. But if I really feel the need to defend myself because it's unfair, I would take my time and think about how I would do it. But generally, my feeling always is don't pour gasoline on the fire. That's the way i look at things and i also believe you save your bullets for when you absolutely need them see in in that situation because as soon as i saw it my initial thought was okay if this were me what would i do and my initial instinct in that situation would have been to ask a follow-up, what have I written that is untrue?

Like if he's willing to engage and go down that street, if Voracek is willing to take the bait and go down there, my instinct probably would have been, what did I write or what did I say that was untrue? I think the problem with that is, is that because it's Zoom, like if you're face to face, like I've had guys pull me aside.

I didn't say, I didn't like that. And my first reaction is, okay, let's talk about it. What don't you like? You know, in most cases that disarms people and you figure it out i've only had a couple i'm not saying like in a hostile way i'm just like asking you in a curious way like well i'm surprised you would feel that way jake what did i write that was inaccurate i think that's a good approach jeff i think the problem is like with zoom you can't really do that like when it's face to face, you can do that.

Like I've had that. A guy said to me, I didn't like that. And I go, okay, let's sort it out. But in a Zoom, you know, the reporter couldn't do that. That's not possible. Now, I guess it was some column that was written two years ago and they'd never hashed

it out. Voracek's been in a mood lately. Well, he got into it with his, well, I don't know if he got into it with his coach, but his coach got into it with him. January 9th, some guy tweeted at him. It was a reply. I'm looking at it right now. It was an exchange about the Flyers and some guy

said, not to mention two players on the Flyers team taking up a huge salary cap space who suck. And this guy said, who might they be? And this guy, his handle is Mike from South Jersey, said, and Voracek has his best year in a Flyers uniform last year, and he is still way overpaid and has a five cent head. And Voracek on January 9th tweets out better than five cent body of yours. And he does that from time to time. Like he'll come after people. Kessler,

we also talked about used to do that occasionally on Twitter too. And I tell you this, like Voracek is one of the best players in the league to deal with. I think as a reporter, you have an idea when a guy's got to burr up his butt about you. You know when guys like you and guys don't like you. And some people will eat it and they'll just be, you know what, I'll answer the question, but I don't have to talk to this guy any more than I have to. Right. And other guys are like, no, like I don't like you and I'm going to give it to you. Like to me, working in this

business is like life, right? It's all about relationships. You try to treat people well, and they'll try to treat you well. It's like life. You just have to navigate it. But I think in this business, because we, for lack of a better term, judge people on their personality or performance, it increases the chance. And, you know, people read this stuff and it creates value on people. You know, there's more of a chance that someone's going to lash back, especially in this day and age. I think more now than ever because of social

media, I just think you have to be prepared that if you're going to go after someone, they're going to come back after you. And if the general public really likes that someone, their fans could pile on you. It's so it's double what it ever really used to be. Let me circle back to something here. I'm just watching more and thinking more because I can't get it out of my head. And I know you can't either. I'm watching the Keith Yandel highlight over and over again here as we're talking. I'm fixated on the goal and I keep watching it and I can't help but think into myself.

Has Florida made a folk hero here now? I don't want to get too far ahead of myself here and turn Keith Yandel into something he might not be. But isn't that this, that sort of perfect us versus them storm players versus management? Well, I think that's the way you can spin it. If you're Florida,

right? Like, I don't think it's anything that management cares to embrace, but has this now happened? It's social media is crazy about Keith Yandel right now. Fans who might not have ever been engaged with the Florida Panthers are engaged with this story. The Florida Panthers players are engaged with this story.

Tomorrow, this is going to be a story on every single hockey show. Have they created the us versus them story internally? Well, yes, but I think you have to use that. Maybe it's like Major League where they put up a thing of the owner and they take like a piece of clothing off every time they win. Yeah. I'm going to be real curious to hear Panthers players

and Yandel himself after this game. Maybe there'll be more Yandel as this podcast continues. But so far, this has been the Yandel podcast. And again, good for him. Let's hit a quick break. When we come back, I want to talk about the Minnesota Wild with you. It doesn't matter what I say, Jeff. You're going to write bleep and bleep anyway.

We're talking wild after this. Obviously, anytime I score, I'm pretty excited, and it was definitely a special one. You know, getting the win, getting, you know, I think, if I'm correct, I think that got us up 2-0. So it was one of the things, always excited to score. And, you know, seeing the guys, how excited they were for me was, you know, definitely meant a lot. For me, it was just being ready to go and, you know, just waiting for my time to get the chance. And I think, you know, scoring that goal kind of helped solidify the work that I put in and being ready to go.

And, you know, I think a lot of it was seeing the guys, seeing their reaction to it and, you know, getting real fired up for me. okay welcome back to the keith yandel podcast um thoughts on the uh the scotia north division after one weekend worth of play elliot what's standing out to you about the canadian division to me one of the early stories is it's as close as we thought it would be. That's the number one thing that jumps out at me. Does anyone look great? Some individual players look great so far. I don't know that any team looks dominant though.

Well, that's my point. I said before the season that I thought there were potential for good teams, but they all had flaws. Like, I think you could make an argument that the team that I thought there were potential for good teams but they all had flaws like I think you could make an argument that the team that looked the best of all the Canadian teams in the first week was Montreal was yes Montreal would be number one on my list but Ottawa would be number two now is that because of how they've played or the bar was low I was going to say that's based on expectations isn't it yes but I thought they played really well actually more so the first game in the second game i mean the second game they got cave but

i'll tell you and listen matt murray played real good yes uh in uh in that game like there were i think nick paul played two really good games back to back i'm really happy for him as someone who's followed him uh closely going back to his OHL days. I'm really happy for Nick Paul. I think that, you know, on the Montreal end of things, I think Nick Suzuki's shaping up to be a good story. Did you see that move he made when Dominic Cahoon tried to run him over on Saturday night as he was coming around the net? And then he was just ice water in his veins, a quick little pivot, and he was off to the races, and Cahoon was crashing into the boards. He looks like a 10-year pro.

He looks like nothing is phasing this guy at all. And I don't want to say that this guy is an ex-Patrice Bergeron, even though that was his favorite player, and that's why he wore number 37 in Owen Sound playing junior hockey. But this guy, I know it's early, but between this and what we saw in the bubble like we're seeing the emergence of a real special player here for the montreal canadians and same as alexander romanoff on the blue line does he look like he hasn't played five games in the nhl yet do you elliot i knew when berkey was praising a russian that the guy was pretty good i know you know i i think montreal looks really good

i do i thought ottawa was that first night in particular i agree with you they looked really good i think everybody else is kind of like okay they had their good moments but they also had their rough moments and everything that you worried about from some of those teams kind of came through in that first week. You know, JT Miller, really interesting. They were trying to get Miller in a shorter protocol than 14 days, and they've succeeded. He took a private plane to Calgary on Sunday.

He's there. He's going to monday night against the flames they really need him like i gotta tell you the most perplexing thing the first week for me was petterson he did not look right maybe miller is what he needs to get going i'll tell you what the passing like his passing on the power play on saturday night just looked off like it's like he's passing to left-hand shots like they're right-hand shots. It's not Pedersen. It's just freaky to see. And I don't know. Again, it's early.

But I don't know how. And I understand. Listen, Brock Bester's got this insane release. But I don't know how many times you have to shrug off a Pedersen one time. If I have Pedersen on my team on the power play, aren't you just feeding him one-time passes non-stop?

Isn't it just steady diet of one-time passes for Elias Pedersen? I don't know. Vancouver just looks... Vancouver looks off. We thought they would take a little step back because of the net mining, but even just offensively, Vancouver looks a little bit dinged to me. And Edmonton's got the goalie issue.

And we'll see. We may have to do a tag, but now there's Dell on waivers and I think there's going to be multiple claims on them. And I think Edmonton's going to be one. you know they asked they called Jimmy Howard Ken Holland knows Jimmy Howard Jimmy Howard said you know what I'm happy with my family I'm not going to do it if they don't claim someone on waivers that they can get into their roster and the thing about Dell is like they could have a situation where they say you stay in Toronto and he could

start for them on Wednesday night against the Leafs like it's almost comical it's so funny but it could happen and because he's already a part of the protocol and passing tests yeah he can join them go go play at that point so I mean it's just such a weird 2020 2021 pandemic thing but if they don't get a goalie on waivers they're gonna have to sign someone to an ato who's already in quarantine in both toronto and winnipeg until the 27th you know grossnick was supposed to drive up to edmonton after he was claimed and now i think he's kind of waiting to see how this all shakes out. Anyone know if Wayne Cowley is in quarantine? That's a good one.

He's in Toronto. I just throw that out to about two, maybe three people who are going to get that. I know that you would get it right away. Yeah. Wayne Cowley, he owns the bar. I think the pint right across the street from the cbc and you say he owns the one the bottom line bottom line right beside right beside the hockey

hall of fame that's uh that's wayne cowley wayne cowley hopefully this information that we're claiming is accurate is a uh is a former net minder who played one game. He's in that infamous cup of coffee, one game club with the Edmontons back in 93, 94. And I can recall when I was doing Marley's games with John Bartlett, there was one day where they brought him in as an emergency backup. I can't remember which team.

I can't remember what one squad brought him in as a backup. He hadn't played in, I can't remember, however many years. But they brought in Cowley, and that's why I dropped that reference today. Elliot, to see Wayne Cowley make his return, how old would Cowley be now? Probably 55 years old. Anyway, it's one of those seasons, Elliot. It's one of those seasons.

I never thought I'd be saying this, but after an almost full week of this season, as we kick off the 2021 campaign, I never thought I would say these words. The most interesting team for me to watch right now are the Minnesota Wild. Kaprizov has kind of made the must-watch TV. There's a couple of things that I love. Kaprizov has kind of made the must watch TV. There's a couple of things that I love. Kaprizov is number one.

He is. You talked about him a while ago. I remember when we talked, when we first started talking about your next season, things you're looking forward to, you mentioned his name out of the gate. He's looked fantastic. The other thing.

And again, I know it's only two games and they've won both of them against the los angeles kings but both of them are come from behind victories great stories to them but outside of the greenaway at felino line do you have any idea who dean everson's putting on the ice because every line that comes out it seems like it's a different combination of players yeah he's got the real blender going oh like every single tag and and for a while there he's settled on uh caprizov and fiala and marcus johansson and that met with some success but it took a while to get there like it's fast it's like honestly elliot it's like watching a coach do a rubik's cube as the game is going on like i just love it i have no clue

who everson's gonna put out there like it Like it's fun. Well, that's the whole, no practice, no exhibition games. Completely. And, and that's one of the things that's the other thing I was talking about with someone this year is there. You're never going to see a year where people don't practice like this.

There's going to be no practices. Yeah. So it's going to be like that all the time. Who's going tonight. Let's go. Players have dreamed about this, uh, for, uh like that all the time. Who's going tonight. Let's go. Players have dreamed about this, uh, for,

uh, for a long time. Kaprizov is, you know, a lot of guys come from overseas or, and they don't, you know, they don't,

you don't buy the hype. This guy is, everything is advertised and he's breathed new life into that team. He sure has. On that, we're going to wrap up the podcast. We'll do another one a little bit later on this week, and we'll get more information to you. Who knows?

Like Keith Yandel may just go on a scoring bender here, and we'll do another podcast just for Keith Yandel. He's been the story so far on this pod. Taking us out, as we thank our producer, Amal Delich, is an artist you'll probably hear a lot more of in the coming months. Sean Sroka, stage name 10 Kills the Pack, is getting set to release

his sophomore album, Life, Death, and Afterwards. From that album, here's a single, Body, by 10 Kills the Pack, on 31 Thoughts, the podcast. Thanks for joining us. I've seen it here, I've lost before My memory's sharp, I know that there's no more My body's stunned, I have a doubt My brain is telling me to stop, give out

Hopes are hot so I don't feel hurt When I'm let down Oh, but I'll wear you down, I'll wear you down And your thoughts of me will go Come on, body, come on, body, wake up Come on, body, come on, body, wake up Come on, body, come on, body, wake up I need you alive

This craziness, craziness reminding us to leave those thoughts behind Oh, but my body knows that this won't go Further than the thoughts we had tonight Still it strives for The lessons, the lessons in my life Oh, but I'll weigh you down. I'll weigh you down. And my thoughts of you won't go.