32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Knights Hit The Jackpot

Episode Date: June 14, 2023

Vegas celebrates! Elliotte does the podcast walking down the Vegas strip as Jeff navigates us through some of the stories we’ve seen from the Golden Knights this season (01:00). They also discuss Michael Andlauer purchasing the Ottawa Senators (24:00) and the Rangers hiring Peter Laviolette (36:10).Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call The Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemailMusic Outro: LUUKHANYO - Hii RollerListen to the full track HEREThis podcast was produced and mixed by Amil Delic, and hosted by Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman.Audio Credits: FilmNation Entertainment & Sportsnet.The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Stanley Cup! Hey guys, miss you guys. So we're going to be walking, we're just leaving. I'm going to actually do this while I'm smoking a cigar. And I walk the strip. Good luck with this podcast. Gary Lawless, come get your trophy. Welcome to 32 Thoughts, the podcast presented by the GMC Canyon AT4X.

Marek Delic and walking through Vegas while I believe he may or may not be smoking a cigar is Elliot Friedman. Welcome to 32 Thoughts and congratulations to the Vegas Golden Knights. Welcome to 32 Thoughts and congratulations to the Vegas Golden Knights. Mark Stone, our tradition for this 130-year-old trophy is to present it to the captain. This one, we've promised Amel, will be a quick one. Because as we record this right now, it is in the wee hours of the morning on Wednesday, and we wanted to get it out as early as possible. He has to sleep, folks. I know you might not

think that Amel sleeps, but indeed he does. This one's going to be a quick one. We'll talk about the Stanley Cup final. We'll talk about the Ottawa Senators sale. We'll talk about the New York Rangers and Peter Lavillette. But, Elliot, what was it like being there? Give us the time, the temp, the 555-1212, the 411.

Give us all the info. First, credit where credit is due. Who picked Vegas to win this series in five? Oh, come on. No, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Where credit is due, Merritt. All right, all right, all right.

Basically, as everyone understands, we're just leaving the rink right now after the interviews. A bunch of us are walking along the strip. Ron's here. Dave Amber's here. Jen Botterill's here. Kathy Broderick, the producer, is here. And Kevin Bieksa and I are here. And yet, there is some cigar smoking going on.

Okay, very good. And yet, there is some cigar smoking going on. Okay, very good. Well, as I mentioned, congratulations to the Vegas Golden Knights with a very convincing victory, both in the series, as you mentioned, in five games, and in the closeout game as well, 9-3. There just became a time after that initial push by the Florida Panthers early in that game five where Stone scores shorthanded, Nick Hague makes it 2-0.

We're heading to the first intermission, and you're kind of getting the feeling that, you know, even though Aaron Ekblad scores that seeing-eye goal early in the second, that Florida is running out of gas and out of energy, and no surprise after the big reveal by Paul Maurice of all the injuries, starting with Matthew Kachuk, who didn't play in this one, broken sternum. He played game four with that broken sternum. But how did you see the game itself to close out? I thought Vegas was really nervous early. They were uncharacteristically sloppy and Aiden Hill bailed them out. You know, Florida had some glorious chances. bailed them out you know florida had some glorious chances if one of those goes in early i wonder if this is a different result and a different game but i just thought he made the big saves they got

calm and the one thing i think a lot of us were talking about like just a lot of the media around the game is if vegas got the first goal reasonably early in the first period, was that going to start the onslaught? And as you said, Florida got within 2-1, but they were out of gas. I mean, Kachuk, the word was yesterday that he wasn't going to play. But of course, you can't confirm it, right? And that's not something that you can be wrong about. So, you know, all of us were kind of couching it.

Like, you know, we're talking about Dennis Sanko and Smith practicing and maybe he wasn't going to play. Let's see what the health update is. But I think we all knew Kachuk wasn't going to play. And I just think without him, it was too hard for Florida to score. And Florida had an incredible run, an incredible run. And one of the things I've heard is that they've done great business for next year. Basically, there is going to be a positive effect for the business of the Florida Panthers. I heard they had big ticket sales for next year.

They did, I heard, half a million in merchandise in games three and four. Like, that's big for them. They will have a very positive effect locally. They ran out of gas, and they were really beaten up. Like that Eckblad stuff that Haris revealed. Aaron Eckblad broke his foot in the Boston Series. He popped his shoulder out twice, passed a concussion cane test, tore his oblique, then went up the ice the other night, drove the

puck into the offense. It was only we tied the game and he scored tonight. So I don't know. We have four broken bones. We've got three shoulders that are going to have to get taken care of for good oblique tears. It's not an excuse. So we don't need one. These guys earned the right they gave. Everything they had. I mean, what an absolute beast that guy is to play for that. So Aaron Eckblad played with a broken foot that he suffered against the Boston Bruins,

a shoulder dislocation, and a torn oblique. Bennett injured himself against Toronto, and Radko Gudis played with a high ankle sprain. This in addition, as you mentioned, with Matthew Kuchuk with the broken sternum. He played in Game 4, but not in Game 5. Listen, it was a wonderful, not just playoffs for the Florida Panthers, but let's not forget, too, a really successful all-star event

that the Florida Panthers hosted this year. This was a really good year, Elliot, for the Florida Panthers. So no shame in losing in the Stanley Cup final. And they gave us a lot of great highlights. You know, the one thing I wonder about Florida, and we talked about this a couple of different times. One, it's really hard to be an underdog for the entire duration of the Stanley Cup playoffs eventually that catches up to you

it's really hard to win four series as an underdog some teams have done it I mean to me that's kind of what makes that St. Louis Blues run in 2019 so spectacular but, when you play a physical brand of hockey, you can play it for one round, you can play it for two rounds, you might be able to play it for three rounds by the time the Stanley Cup final shows up. If you want to play that same physical style, good luck still finding a little bit of charge in your engine. That's really hard.

I mean, it just underscores how hard this thing is to win for each chap you're totally right and the thing is as kelly mccrimmon said in the post game well i really like their team i i thought the you know the makeup of our team we were four lines we were 6d and uh we saw so many situations through playoffs where you know a different night would be a different line and i really was always comfortable when I looked at our team that we could play any way you wanted to play because we had good size, we had good balance, we had good D, and then the goaltending has just been exceptional. Yep. Every team says we want to be able to play any way we need to play. Vegas can do it. And that's why they won the Stanley Cup. It's kind of interesting.

The reaction to a team winning six years in, I remember when Vegas made the Stanley Cup final in their first season, there were people who said, this is bad. This is bad for hockey. And I'm like, what? Why? And they said their expansion team, expansion

teams didn't make the Stanley Cup final. And I completely disagree with that. Like, nobody gets there by accident. You earn your way there. And this, like, there's some people that are making jokes about, oh, they suffered for six years. I think they're a team to be admired. They made bold decisions.

Big, bold decisions. They identified players that they wanted and they got and you know did all of them go right no but that never happens but at the end of the day they were bold just the brashness of the owner coming right out bill foley and saying we're going to win a stanley cup in the first six years you know what i think this is going to do, Jeff? They had one draft pick on their roster. Yeah. And I was talking post-game with one GM, and he said to me, he's very curious to see

if this is going to lead to more teams saying, we have to be more willing to make hard decisions, and two, we identify talent we want want and we go out and get it. But the thing you have to have is you have to be a place where people want to play and people want to play in Vegas. And he said, there's some of this that you can copy. And there's some of this you can't because if you're a place that people don't want to play, you can't do this listen i've said this to you a couple of different times in a couple of different places and i'm

so firmly convinced of this that when the book is written on this era of the nhl one of the main things because we see the success of the vegas golden knights we see the success of the seattle kraken listen we're all talking about ryan smith and salt lake city and we're wondering about of the Vegas Golden Knights. We see the success of the Seattle Kraken. Listen, we're all talking about Ryan Smith and Salt Lake City, and we're wondering about Atlanta and Houston and, and, and, and, and. One of the things that's proven to be a huge revenue driver for the NHL

is when they change the expansion draft rules because you didn't have to suffer for five or 10 years until you were respectable. Vegas showed you could do it right away. And now this year, Seattle showed the exact same thing that gets the attention of people. If you're going to sell a franchise for now, and we think it can see what just happened with Ottawa expansion franchises are going to go for the rumored one B you better be able to have a competitive team. And the way that they've changed the expansion draft rules gives you a much better shot of being competitive

and seeing some ROI on your $1 billion that you put down. I think that is a humongous story in all of this, Elliot. I agree with that. And I think the other thing I was reminded that when the Raptors and the Grizzlies came into the NBA, they weren't allowed to have the full cap for the first couple of seasons.

Yeah. And someone will tell me if I'm wrong, but I think it was 50% the first year and 75% the second. Vegas got the full cap right away. And that allowed them to do a lot of things too. It's really an amazing story.

I disagree with people who say this is bad or it's not the same or anything like that. They were put into the league fair and square and they did a great job. I think it's something that should be celebrated instead of criticized look the other

thing too is like i'm walking right now on the strip and the nhl came here first and jeff everybody wondered would they have their own fan base would the people here just be bigger high rollers at the casino was giving free tickets yeah and you know they have one of these things here on the scoreboard. If you've been to a game, you know what this is. They tell you to cheer. Okay, men cheer. Women cheer. Section whatever cheer.

Upper level cheer. Lower level cheer. And then they put up locals cheer. Like people from here. And that always gets the biggest cheer. And this is a loud building. Our audio staff tell us there's no building like this in the league. If you don't have your microphone near your mouth,

they won't hear you. And look, the Raiders are here now. The NBA is going to come here and major league baseball is trying to come here too. It's an incredible success story. And you know, the, the Golden Knights and their fans, they should be really proud.

Yeah, they should. And great job by George McPhee. Great job by Kelly McCrimmon. I mean, go right down the entire lineup, the entire organization. I want to get to Bruce Cassidy here. But before I get there, Carlson, Smith, Marcheseau, McNabb, Theodore,

all start the game. A great touch by Bruce Cassidy almost to the day where he got fired by the Boston Bruins. One class move, great move, smart move. Yes. Really smart piece of history that he respected, putting those players for the opening face off and i'm just happy for bruce cassidy i'm happy for anyone who was you know not wanted on the

voyage punted to the curb cast aside listen this team is made up of these players that's what expansion teams are yeah even george mcphee you know punted from washington like the whole organization sort of had this glue of we weren't wanted there. And now this is our home, but your thoughts on, on Bruce Cassidy, the starting five, uh, and then Bruce Cassidy's job with the Vegas golden Knights this season.

When the audience began to realize what was going on, they went berserk. Yeah, it's good. They loved it. You know, Cassie said on the ice in the post game, he apologized to William Carrier.

Yeah. Cause he said, I can only play one left winger at a time. So Carrier was laughing about it. I thought it was a great move. This night is one of the highlights for me, the interviews at the end of the season. And Kelly McCrimmon actually said.

But I was not aware. And just as managers do, you critique everything that goes on. I thought, geez, game six against Dallas. we started Wah Carrier and Colasar, and they took the game over right away. So that was my quick thoughts, but really classy of Bruce to do it. And if you're around our team, those six players just have a lot of respect. They've obviously played well and been such a part of everything that we've done here. So it was really classy of Bruce to do that.

And I know that the players would have appreciated it. But he recognized the symbolism of it. And he saw the Stanley Cup. Who got it first? The six Misfits. So it started that way. And it ended that way. You know, Cassidy, I'll tell you an interesting story.

So I met some of his family there including his brother and one of the things is they were just talking about the last year and the ups and the downs and you know somebody told me that when Cassidy got fired in Boston his phone started ringing off the hook right away like everybody wanted to talk to him and I think Florida was one of the teams that did too, because they were going through their decision on whether or not to keep Andrew Burnett. But apparently like five or six teams called him right away. So he knew and his family knew he was going to land on his feet.

But one of the interesting things that I heard was George McPhee, of course, was the first person to hire Bruce Cassidy in the NHL as a head coach with the Washington Capitals. And that stint didn't go well. And apparently, and if I'm getting this story wrong, I apologize in advance, but I was told it tonight by a couple of people. One of the things that George McPhee said to Bruce Cassidy, I don't know if it was tonight or it was recently, was I just hired you too early the first time. And I just thought that was a great line. Wow. That's a really great line.

But let's not forget too, like for all those years, like after he coached those couple of seasons in Washington and then a brief stint behind the bench as an assistant with the Blackhawks, he was in the American Hockey League. And there was never much of any talk about Bruce Cassidy getting back to the NHL. Like we thought and suspected like Bruce Cassidy, AHL coach. And then, you know, Boston had their situation with Claude Julien. Cassidy came in as an interim coach and did some wonderful things with the Boston Bruins.

Took him to a Stanley Cup final against the St. Louis Blues. I love that story. I love the story of a lot of players on this team. I love the Jack Eichel story. One thing I do want to mention too, and I don't want this to get lost on this podcast because you mentioned Kelly McCrimmon. One of the highlights I'm going to take away from this one

was him talking about his late brother, Brad, and then talking about mom and dad and running down family names and having to pause for a couple of seconds to collect himself. That's going to be one of the big ones that I take away from this one. The very emotional, and rightfully so,

Kelly McCrimmon, who's had a tough time getting there as well. So you'll remember, Jeff, that when we did the interview with Kelly McCrimmon for the podcast, the two of us were here in Toronto when Vegas was there. I asked in advance, I don't often do that. Like people tell you, ask you sometimes, how often do you hear the questions in advance? And, you know, I will admit that they want to know topics a lot more often now than they ever did before, but you won't get specific questions most of the time but i did

this one i said nate ewell who does media relations for the golden knight i said i'd like to ask him about brad just ask if that's okay because it's deeply personal yeah and he did it then and so i went over to bring him to the interview tonight and i said to him on the way over you know i'd like to ask you about it again but only if you're okay with it. And, you know, he just said, yes, I was prepared to be asked it. And I think it's a good question to ask because it's so great for their family. It's just hard. Like you never know how someone's going to react.

But, you know, Kelly did an unbelievable job answering the question. Brad's name's on the cup. Your name's going on the cup. Yeah, it's an honor. It's really surreal. It's overwhelming. I talked to my... You asked me before we went on if you could ask me about this.

I said, I think so. I talked to my dad this morning. My mom and dad are still alive. Just give me a sec. This will be that i know uh is important to them and uh brad son liam brad marine son liam is here uh with us for uh for the championship game so that part's uh special as well and these things uh elliot are only special if you have the right people to share them with like i don't know how i would have handled that question i I thought he did great. But there was a lot of that tonight.

You know, Jack Eichel was very emotional. What a journey. What a journey. Put it into words. It's hard to now. It's hard to come up with something. I mean, it's the best feeling in the world. Alex Petrangelo was very emotional talking about his daughters.

I mean, the first one feels special, but this one feels pretty damn special too. I mean, it's just, it's a hell of a team. I'm telling you, it was a lot of fun coming to work every day with these guys. It's a hell of a year for us, too. I mean, seeing my baby girls and being able to sit in that cup again, it's pretty special. Alex Martinez was very emotional talking about his surgery and injury last year. You're going to make me cry. Yeah, I mean, last year was the hardest year of my career, possibly my life. You know, I couldn't have done it without a lot of people,

one of them being my wife. It was right over there, by the way. Our training staff, our organization, the way that they had my back and the things and the lengths that they went to to help me get better. All the doctors and specialists, they know their names.

There's one in particular. He's probably watching right now, but it's Chad Prusmak. And he's certainly going to get an invite to my cup party. But a lot of people to thank. And I truly believe that if I were part of some other organizations, I think that, you know, maybe I'd be looking at the end last year.

But this particular group did everything they could to help me feel as close to normal again as possible. And, you know, it is for them. This one is the most emotional night of the year because either you have the greatest feeling or you have the lowest feeling. And you can feel it all pouring out. Everything that everybody's been holding in or carrying for weeks and months,

it all comes pouring out. Now, if I had a vote, I would have voted for Jack Eichel for the Conn Smythe Trophy. But I had about zero problem with Jonathan Marcheseau winning it. The Conn Smythe Trophy goes to the most valuable player in the playoffs. This player, second in scoring in the playoffs, tied for first for goals, and an original Golden Knight, Jonathan Marcheseau.

And not only did I have zero problem with Jonathan Marcheseau winning it, I kind of liked that he won it because it was, you know, he's, he's an undrafted player and he won it against the team that exposed him in the expansion draft for Vegas. I think that is a beautiful ribbon around this great story of Jonathan Marsh's.

So here, so I'll put you on the spot. Was he your choice? I voted in second. In the end, as I said on the podcast the other day, I was leaning towards Eichel. As I said in the intermission with Dave, I was leaning towards Marcheseau.

I took a couple of minutes and I thought about it. Eichel had a huge night. He ended up, I believe, leading the playoffs in scoring. He's a center. At the end, I voted for Eichel. The ballots are coming out. Frank Cervelli, he puts them out there. I voted Eichel won, Mark Stone won, and Aiden Hill three.

And I got to tell you, it was tough leaving Mark Stone off the ballot. It was tough leaving Chandler Stevenson off the ballot. It was tough leaving Alex Petrangelo off the ballot. I don't think there's been a year, Jeff, where there were more good choices than this year. Oh, not even close. Elliot, not even close. I can't think of one.

Usually there's one, maybe two, and that's it. Not like this year. There were so many players on Vegas you could have chosen from. I couldn't agree more. I've never seen a season like this for Conn Smythe. One final thought here and listen, in subsequent podcasts, we're going to talk more about the Vegas Golden Knights and the Florida Panthers.

We just want to make sure that we have something for you right after the game here as Elliot wanders through Vegas. We went into the Stanley Cup final wondering if Sergey Bobrovsky was a candidate for the Hall of Fame. And we come out of it and one question that I'm wondering about is,

if he wasn't a lock already, is Alex Petrangelo now a lock for the Hall of Fame? Jeff, he was already a Hall of Famer. Like his resume, gold medal, Stanley Cup. Oh, yeah. Now he's got two. He's in the Hall of Fame. No question.

My only question is, does it make it a no doubter now like is the conversation is it no longer even a conversation like he's going to the hockey hall of fame you picked a magazine five and a family cup so i'll say yes it's a no doubter all right jeff this is your night yours and the golden nights last one for you, Chad. Your brother, Colton, I mean, his career ended prematurely because of concussions. I know he's been a huge influence in your life.

Where does he factor in all of this for you? Yeah, I mean, he's, you know, been my idols growing up. Always wanted to be like my older brother. And, yeah, I mean, he's here. He, you know, happier than anybody to see me win one again. And yeah, I mean, he's really special.

Special to me. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it. Listen to the 32 Thoughts Podcast ad-free on Amazon Music, included with Prime. Well, there are two big winners today. Well, now it's split into Wednesday, but Tuesday to Wednesday,

there are two big winners. The big winner, the Vegas Golden Knights, they win the Stanley Cup. But as we transition to our other topic on the podcast today, the other big winner is Michael Ann Lauer. Yes. And let's get there. So Michael Ann Lauer emerges victorious and he's the new owner of the Ottawa Senators pending approval from the NHL. There is a board of governors meeting on June 22nd. I'm not sure if it gets done by then. I wonder if it carries on for a couple of months here because he still has to divest his percentage of the Montreal Canadiens. Well, you can always put that in trust and punt that a little bit so they can do that. That's what someone said to me.

They can do that if they want. Gotcha. So, Andlauer emerges victorious here. There's a lot to get into here about Andlaauer and the Ottawa Senators. One, were you surprised? Did this sort of go according to plan? Normally it's the first, like we've, we've talked about this when it comes to coaches, when it comes to general managers. I didn't know that it applied to owners as well, but here we go. Sometimes it's the first name you hear. And one of, if not the first name that we heard attached to the Ottawa Senator's sale going back over 200 days, was Michael Andlauer. Your thoughts on this one? I think that's right, Jeff. There's a lot of people who look at this process and they say that they really felt that if Michael Andlauer was close, he was going to be the guy.

You weren't going to have to edge him. You were going to have to beat him. And someone called me today and said, you know, you're in Vegas. Here's an analogy for you. And he said, Michael Anlauer is going into the slow play Hall of Fame. And I laughed.

And, you know, the reason is because the first bid, I think he was the lowest bidder. And it was non-binding, but I think he was the lowest bidder. At least some of the groups suspect that. In the second bid, of the four that came in, people also believe he was the lowest bidder. And one of the things that Ann Lauer did here, and someday he'll tell us if this is right or wrong, but this is what the other big groups suspect, is that he just wasn't going to bid against himself. And he was going to know, figure out what was real and what wasn't, and what was the number he needed to get to. And I think that's exactly what he did.

and I think that's exactly what he did while some people were racing out with $925 million bids the first time around or billion dollar bids the second time around, and Lauer was like where do I have to get to and that's what he did now, I have to say

there were people who thought on Monday that the Kimmel's were right there with them, and their number was the same or close to it. But like I said, it became pretty clear that you were going to have to blow and lower out of the water to beat them. And that's the way he played it.

You know, I think also too, we saw groups get fed up with the process and, and lower put his block on it too. He said, if I don't know i'm dropping out too and that kind of took everybody to the end it was uh jeff there's a great book oh or a great movie yeah to be written about this one yeah how do you look at this one elliot i mean you've been through it from day one and the ups and the downs and the confusion and the certainty and the shifting goalposts

and the rug pulled under and the Charlie Brown football and everything, all of it. How would you describe this process? This is like the wildest. We've seen teams sold before, but it doesn't happen like this and not as publicly with as many bizarre twists and turns. I mean, I guess that a lot of it was, you know,

the celebrity factor of Ryan Reynolds and Snoop Dogg and the weekend, et cetera. But how would you describe this one for each? Oh, it was crazy. Someone said to me again today that there'll never be, they will never allow a sale process to be this public again. Like initially they got caught up in the excitement of Ryan Reynolds being interested,

and then it got to be too much. I don't know how many times I've said this throughout this process. There's a reason that these things are private. This process was the perfect illustration of that reason, Jeff. You know what I think is also interesting is Ann Lauer was the one group Jeff. And you know what I think is also interesting is Ann Lauer was the one group that never had a celebrity. And I heard that he told people, the way I'm going to market this team is by having a good

organization. That is the right way to market the team. He stood by that. Now, there's a lot of rumors about changes and things like that. I think they're going to have to wait until they actually get control. One of the things that's really interesting here is that ottawa is a team going in the right direction and i heard

that one of the things that was talked about was and i don't know if the nhl said this to people or someone else said it but i heard this was discussed one of the biggest problems with ottawa over the last decade is it's been one step forward two steps back you know how many Sanders fans are looking at this tonight and they're saying oh man Mark Stone raising the Stanley Cup and having a huge game five like one Saturday I know he's like he texted me because it's painful to watch this and the Ottawa Sanders are going the right way and I think you're going to be very careful here if If you're the new owner of the Sanders, you like,

you don't want to hit the ground and start doing things that affect the trajectory of where this team has been going. And I heard that that was part of the conversations. Like we're all talking about, okay, who's going to be the new management group. If this owner takes over or who's this new owner going to bring in? Well,

I'm saying like, you know what? Be careful here. You're building something. Don't blow it up because you'll lose your trust very quickly. Here's one of the questions that I think we all have. And eventually, you know,

the, the answer will come out here. What is Michael and Lauer buying? And I want to couch it to you in one very specific way uh so i was texting with someone today who said i've got a i've got an analogy you can use on friedman when you do your next podcast and i said okay what is it and he said this is an analogy from the car business okay this is a saying they have in the car business he says use this on Friedman.

Think what, see what he says. Okay. And here's the quote. We aren't actually in the car business. We're in the real estate business. The cars just fund the real money, which is the dirt.

What is Michael and Lauer buying here for his $950 million? Well, first of all, whoever told you that, watch the McDonald's movie about Ray Kroc. That's one of the famous lines in that movie. Oh, is it? Yes. Ray Kroc gets asked, what are you? What kind of company are you? And forgive me if I'm not quoting it exactly.

And he says, well, I'm a burger company. And he says, no. You're not in the burger business. You're in the real estate business. It's the line I remember the most from that movie. So whoever said that to you has good taste in movies. You know, what I would say is this, Jeff. There's a lot of real estate at play here.

Another thing we've talked about is the question about if it got announced as a billion or a billion two or whatever, was it really a billion or a billion two? I think this is a real 950. It's a legit 950. You will need the real estate to make money out of this. This is a huge success for everybody involved to get that number. That number in Ottawa, which is not one of the biggest markets in the league, you're going to have to be very sharp, very creative, and very thoughtful to make that a financial success as quickly as possible. But the one thing I think about with Anlauer is he wants to own an NHL team. I think there were

some people that this was more of a real estate play than it was about the hockey team. Like Remington would be the perfect example of that. I think for Ann Lauer, this is just as much about the hockey team as it is about the real estate. I have to tell you something. When Scott Moore was running Sportsnet, he told me, and this would have to be about,

I think it was when the NHL all-star game was in Nashville, whatever year that was. He said to me that Michael Anlauer was going to be the next owner of the Ottawa Sanders. That's almost as good a prediction as Vegas in five. Vegas in five? No, Moore's got me on that one. It's going back to the Nashville All-Star Game

dominated by the John Scott story, and he was saying, watch Anlauer, he's going to own Ottawa. That's a great call by Scott Moore. Good for him. That is better than Vegas in five. One final thing here before we get to a quick thought on the Rangers situation. Through all of this, the NHL has gotten to know a couple of different groups

and meet a whole bunch of new people in the process. The Nico Sparks group is a new one. Steve Apostolopoulos is someone new who's in the mix here, who's been in the mix in the NFL and has now acquainted himself with the NHL. Do you think that part of this, like anytime that there's a team available, there are new people that are attracted to it? And now listen, we just had a conversation with Ryan Smith not too long ago, and now he's having conversations with Gary Bettman and Bill Daley.

Do you think part of this is, look, this may not work for you in Ottawa, but I've got a shiny new toy in Atlanta, and maybe there's a shiny new toy in Salt Lake City and a shiny new toy in Houston. Can I interest you in one of these, sir? Do you think there's that element in this process? I do. I always think that Bettman thinks like that. I will say this. I think that this process and the way it happened, I think there'll be hard

feelings. I was told directly that there would be. So if he cares about mending fences, he's going to have to do that. Now, I think the expansion map over the next few years is going to be fascinating. I think Atlanta is very real, as I've said to you. Obviously, Salt Lake City is very real because we have an owner coming right on the podcast and saying it is. I think if they leave Arizona, eventually they will go back. It's not a market they will leave open. Houston, I've heard there are some challenges just someone said to me you're gonna have to do your own work on that but they just said there are some challenges there if

it's not with the rockets if it's not with pertina the owner of the rockets and i've told you that before that you know the nhl didn't feel he was as enthusiastic as they hoped that it's not an easy process but you know almost sent us the tweet today you know stan kronke who's on an unbelievable tear yeah with the rams winning a super bowl the avalanche winning the stanley cup and now the nuggets winning the nba title he wants to create something in san diego that'll be interesting to watch because I do know that one of the things that Arizona had looked at in the past or was looked at in the past with Arizona was the feasibility of San Diego. So, you know, it's something you got to keep an eye on. It's always been a good hockey market in a lower key. It's always been a good hockey market. Okay. So I

really believe if they get a team, that's where I want to go. Amen, brother. I am with you there. Real quick, in the podcast to come, we'll talk more about the Vegas Golden Knights and what's next for them, the Florida Panthers and what's next for them, more on the Ottawa situation. But I want to close here with a quick thought on the New York Rangers and the hiring of Peter Laviolette, Elliot.

You've talked about this for a number of weeks. It seemed as if for a while there was some warmth. There was, you know, a little campfire for John Hines. What happened here? Like, we heard Laviolette early, and I know this is his, you know, his tour through the Metropolitan Division, but what happened?

How did the Rangers end up at Peter Laviolette? They met with him fast. They met with him a couple of times. I think one of the things about Peter Laviolette is I was very interested in the term three years. Like that's a good term for Laviolette. That's a really good term for him. Because if you look at his history, that's what he does.

He turns you around fast and he puts a jolt in your organization and then he moves on that's his history and they have to win now one of the things i was kind of told too is that you know galant jury always didn't see eye to eye and i think jury wanted to make sure that he could see eye to eye with laviolette like he knew he could see eye to eye with heinz that wasn't the problem but i think he had to make sure it was going to be okay with laviolette obviously he's comfortable with that now there's a lot of talk about retreads okay i understand all this stuff like you know what i think i think it's too simple

like i really do think it's too simple i think saying like we go with the retread or we don't go with the retread it's too simple it's too easy to say look the stanley cup final this year bruce casti third job paul maurice i i don't know i can can't count that high. How many jobs has Paul Maurice had? Plenty. But they did incredible jobs. They really did. And that's the thing. Do I want to see new people get chances?

Absolutely, I do. But I think it's really lazy to say right away, retread. Because you look at Peter Laviolette, he got to the Islanders. He made them better. He got to the Hurricanes. He won aolette, he got to the Islanders, he made them better. He got to the Hurricanes, he won a Stanley Cup. He got to the Flyers, he got within two wins of a Stanley Cup.

That's what he does. He turns teams around fast. Do I think Drury was a little bit unsure? Yeah, I do. I think he knows this is a big hire. He knows that if this doesn't work, it could be a problem for him but he's never been afraid to wait i think he asked a lot of people they weren't getting sullivan he

wanted to make sure i don't think he's going to be an option it sounds like they weren't going to do quenville he just wanted to make sure he was sure this may work this may not and if you're the rangers that's what you need. Like the idea of taking a step backwards or this not working, it's not an option. It just isn't. Not with this roster. Now with these players,

no chance, not in this part of the cycle for the New York Rangers, not an option at all. Okay. On that, we're going to lose you to Vegas. Um, you have a cigar to smoke and I think Amber's waiting for you at one of

the casinos. So, uh, enjoy the rest of your night. Great job. Please pass along all of our best to the crew. Enjoy your night in Vegas, and I hope that you don't even see your bed tonight. You go right from the casino to the airport, because I know you have a very early flight, Elliot. 7.15 a.m. local, yeah.

Just go right from the casino to the airport. I'm sure your bags are packed. Taking us out is a multi-skilled vocal artist who possesses a unique songwriting style. Lucanio expressed himself through sounds that are effortless while charming and melodic. With his latest single, here's Lucanio with High Roller

on 32 Thoughts, the podcast. Hey, that's you free high roller check it out see i made a joke cigarettes cigarettes cigarettes all my damn clothes smell like cigarette smoke i admitted i was broken way before we met but i've been picking up the pieces ever since you left all the memories of your face and i was silhouette i'm moving up and on to the next tell a way to check please blowing on my text saying you're my best yet you must be hurting your head trying to forget me Wake up every morning, brush my teeth and text my host

Say my prayers, count my money, stack it up, then make some more I keep going, cause what's already broken can't be broke I can't be stressing by me and you like I got something to prove Can't get enough of Anabu, I'm finna buy my mama a coupe I still got the blues, hey Spend my late nights in the summer All right, and we have Zach Whitecloud. Sioux Valley, Dakota Nation. We'll be very proud, and this must be just a special moment. You must be thinking of them right now.

Yeah, I said in the last interview i said it it's it's not there's so many people that help all of us get to this point in our lives right and um you know obviously first and foremost our parents for the money the effort the sacrifices and the days when they didn't want to take us to the rink and and uh and as you said my grandma my grandma was one of the ones my auntie taking me to the rink my dad and um it's unbelievable uh yeah Peace, but I'm from the streets and I wave a peace to protect My peace, whoa, lately my bed frame Rocking, my cell phone popping, but I'm Still caught up in my blues, yeah Spend my late nights in The summer bumping R&B

Knowing who dreams, yeah Still ain't got no Blues, yeah