32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Let the Goalies Fight

Episode Date: March 24, 2025

In this edition of 32 Thoughts, Kyle Bukauskas and Elliotte Friedman delve into the 7-2 blowout LA Kings win over the Boston Bruins. That turns into a conversation about the Vegas Golden Knights losing Tomáš Hertl on Sunday night (4:41). Kyle and Elliotte talk about Thatcher Demko being set to make his return for the Canucks soon, possibly Monday (12:10) and discuss Sheldon Keefe's pointed comments on Saturday Night (20:00). They talk about the Oilers players that are stepping up in the lineup with their plethora of injuries (30:56) and check in on the Atlantic Division race (36:52). Next, the fellas touch on Pat Maroon announcing he will retire after the season (46:29) and Elliotte unveils that it's status quo for the anthems before games in the NHL (55:35). The guys talk about expansion in the WHL (58:21) and The Final Thought focuses on the NHL's new ideas for their annual awards (1:02:15).  Kyle and Elliotte answer your questions and respond to your voicemails in the Thought Line (1:07:12).In the final segment the guys focus on U-Sports hockey and their championships (1:22:22)Email 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.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

Welcome to 32 Thoughts of the Podcast presented by the GMC Sierra AT4X. Dom, Elliot and Kyle back with you. I'm in Ottawa. Dom's in Vancouver. Elliot is in Edmonton on assignment for a few days this week. Another busy weekend. Plenty of impactful games with regards to the standings in both the Western and the Eastern Conference. playoff implications as we are less than a month from the Stanley Cup playoffs. Boo! Sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss I think everyone was in agreement. Give us the scrap. They both wanted to go, they were ready to go. They were willing combatants. Yes. You see Kemper saw Swamen near center ice

and he was charging down there. The only difference is Swamen had the mask off, Kemper didn't, but it didn't look as if anybody here was being dragged against their will to compete in this. It was Swamen who called them and Kemper wasn't backing down. I think the only real negative for the Bruins here is that it threw Swamen off his game. It was 3-2 at the time and they lost 7-2. So they're probably looking like, don't worry about the fighting, stop the puck. But why are you ruining our entertainment?

Don't take nice things away from us. It's not often we get these opportunities. I've been good. I've been good all week. Yes, that's right. Rare week where no one is mad at me that I know of. Yes. We'll see what we can do about it on this podcast. But rare week where no one's mad at me, so I figured I and the rest of the hockey world deserve this.

You know, something someone pointed out to me, it's pretty funny. The Kings had two massive wins on the weekend. 7-2 over the Bruins and same score over the Hurricanes. 7-2. And the funny thing about that is that they played the game against the Hurricanes on Saturday afternoon, California time. I don't know if the Hurricanes were still dizzy from riding the Ferris wheel at Santa Monica Pier, but they were not ready to play that game. And then the Bruins actually played late Saturday night in San Jose. And I'm just wondering if the Kings looked at this and said hey we can schedule this also a little bit earlier on Sunday San Jose LA not that far but not ideal not ideal for the Bruins and they said hey the NHL is not telling us

no we're scheduling it we'll pound these guys too. Very creative scheduling by the Kings. You're always looking for an advantage and it looks like they got back-to-back advantages on the weekend. Still, if they want to go, let them go. Let them go. That kind of reminds me of the Raptors back in the day, right? They always had the Sunday afternoon tip-offs and that was the advantage for them with the road team coming in, enjoying a Saturday night in the big city and a quick turnaround time for opening tip. And the Raptors who weren't great back then, uh, were able to jump on some teams that maybe otherwise wouldn't have a chance, but that's not an issue.

I covered a lot of those games. That's right. They all said they called Toronto Cape fear on Sunday afternoons because you feared you were going to get embarrassed. Very good, Kyle. Yes. And I mean, the Kings don't necessarily need to be trying to work the schedule in their favour right now.

They look like a handful, regardless of the time of day that they're playing. And they got a shot here. I mean, obviously they're a playoff team team but putting a scare into the Oilers here for at least taking the whole mice advantage away for the opening round of the playoffs. If we assume it's gonna be a fourth consecutive meeting between those two. So another beatdown in Los Angeles on Sunday. How about what we saw in Las Vegas Elliot, the hit on Tomas Hurdle from Emil Lilleberg of the Tampa Bay Lightning. So Hurdle's been just unbelievable the last little bit.

Bruce Cassie's saying maybe some of the best hockey of his career. He has been really good. Two hat tricks in seven games. He has the breakaway there towards the end of the third period on Sunday night. And first chance saved by Vasilevsky going for the rebound and Lilleberg on the back check hands into the lower back of Hurdle and tumbling into the boards. What was interesting Elliot is that initially it was called a five-minute major the officials reviewed it and they rescinded it to a two-minute

minor but Hurdle left the game you know Cassidy saying we'll have more of an idea Monday what things look like. What's your read on what we saw at the fortress? So as you mentioned, I was traveling to Edmonton on Sunday where I am and I did not get a chance to watch that game live. I heard the the Golden Knights and you can tell me if I'm wrong, but I heard they dominated. I heard if Vasilevsky hadn't been great, that game could have been much worse than a 4-2 final. So am I right about that? Is that an accurate portrayal? Yes absolutely and then I mean the Lightning did get one with what just under two seconds left to make it a little bit closer but Vegas was all over them all over them. Tough

weekend for Tampa. Very tough weekend. Lost in Utah, too. We're going to get to that Atlantic division. Depending on where the standings finish in the Atlantic, there's going to be a few teams in that division kicking themselves this weekend for things that happened. But the specific play, I didn't get a chance to watch it.

You sent me the clip, and I looked at it. And one of the things I always do is I check the rule book first, Kyle, because sometimes there's certain penalties that if you give more than a minor, they can lead to automatic game misconducts and things like that. So sometimes I look at it and I say, okay, maybe there's a reason they didn't give that penalty. Now looking at the rule book here, boarding is rule number 41, minor penalty is basic, and if you get a major penalty, which they initially gave to Lilberg, a major is an automatic

game misconduct. And the one thing that it says here is that when a major penalty is imposed under this rule for an infraction resulting in injury to the face or head of an opponent a game misconduct shall be imposed and So You know I always take a look at this So hurdle it's the shoulder You know, I always take a look at this. So hurdle, it's the shoulder.

So they didn't have to give them a game misconduct there since it wasn't the face or head. I'd like to know more about this. This is, we're doing this just after that game got done. But especially on the eve of the playoffs, I look at a play like that in the playoffs, everyone's going to be back checking hard. And I would look at a play like that and I would say, in this case, I want the major. I think my only concern with this play is that coaches are going to be showing it to

their players and they're saying, look, this play happened, it was a hard back check, minor penalty. If you come back that hard and that play happens, we'll kill that penalty. We want our guys to back check hard. And at this point in the season, especially in meaningful games, you don't really need to convince players they need to do that. So I think that's the only thing I look at it. You didn't have to give him a game misconduct, but you could have given him a major. I would have stayed with the

major in this particular case simply because like I don't necessarily think that he's like, I don't think he's trying to injure him. I don't necessarily think that the push is violent, but what I do think is that he's got so much speed and Hurdle is kind of defenseless that this is what can happen now Bruce Castee said postgame That they were hoping for good news. I didn't like what I was hearing on Sunday night But I'm hoping that is wrong like initially the word wasn't great. I'm'm hoping that is wrong. Like initially the word wasn't great. I'm just hoping that's wrong. Um, as, as Cassidy said, and you pointed out hurdles been playing great lately and the golden nights look really good.

That would be a major, major loss. They just got Carlson back. We always believe Theodore's timeline was right around the playoffs. I don't know what to say here except that I heard they were a little bit concerned about it. So we'll see what comes on Monday but I thought that should have stayed a major. Like we had a we had a goaltender interference review in Edmonton Seattle on Saturday night and I was sitting there thinking like John Hayden he pushes Skinner and I said on the I always think right now

Every call you make on the eve of the playoffs is magnified because everyone's looking at it, right? They're looking at it and saying this is the way the playoffs are gonna be played and I looked at that Hayden play And I said you can't have that in the playoffs if that if players think that that play is okay then we're gonna have complete chaos and carnage in the playoffs I look at this one and I say I would have liked to have seen on the eve of the playoffs that stay a major you yes because I think that was another example of why having some sort of further explanation from the officiating crew working that game, public, can do a real good service to everybody.

I mean, we were just down at the GM meetings when they let us through that exercise of watching back goalie interference calls and is it good goal, not a good goal. Just going through that for us it helps in some way because it's further explanation and understanding and seeing it and I think that could have been another reason because as you say watching that back live or the replay you know from Lilleberg's perspective he sees an attacking player with a chance at a rebound he's trying to make a play to push him off the puck. Like there's no ill intent beyond that and because of the speed of what both were traveling and then the

result and the gap between Hurdle and the boards, you've got a real violent collision and as you were referencing the rule book itself, when it comes to a major penalty, it is based on the degree of violence of the impact with the boards and watching that video you absolutely can make a case that was a very high degree of violence with hurdle going into the boards there. So I agree with you that a major could have been suitable and having an opportunity to get some sort of further explanation, whether it's a pool reporter, whether it's something that the league puts out later on in the night or the next morning, this close to the playoffs as well, they could do a real benefit for everybody trying to understand how this is

going to be called as the implications for each game ratchet up here as we move along to the postseason. Demko. Yes, you reported on Sunday night that it's a chance he starts Monday against New Jersey. I think it's a little bit more than that. I mean you know me. You never know what could happen. It sounds like the plan plan I mean the plan is for him to play you just hope that there's gonna be nothing that prevents it from happening but you know the game on Saturday afternoon it would that was a really tough one for Vancouver I shoes had one of the yeah I like that word perplexing

like Hughes had one of the best plays of the year, like prime Allen Iverson, the killer crossover, undressing Rempy, and they outshot them 39 to 12. And you know, Lankanen, Tauke kind of took Lankanen off the hook a little bit, said we almost pulled him because he wasn't feeling great. I guess Demko's been doing a lot of work behind the scenes. He came to practice with them on Sunday. Ian McIntyre wrote a good story about it and for all intents

and purposes they need him and he knows it and he's gonna he's gonna try to play barring anything unforeseen happening he he's going to start against the devils. I really thought that Demko had some good quotes to Ian on Sunday. Yes. He talked about the Lankton extension. He understood. He said the right things. He said, I'm very happy for him. He deserves it.

If you're Thatcher Demko, you can see what's going on here. Kevin Lankton and that extension is an insurance policy for the Vancouver Canucks now Maybe you keep both of them long term, but you know Demko's not dumb He can see what's going on here, but he's put in the work, and I think the other thing is He knows they need him like this is also. This is not only about Demko need them. Like this is also, this is not only about Demko, this is about Demko showing the Canucks, I know you need me right now. Our season is on the line. You know the Blues to their credit, they are taking advantage of the schedule. They are winning their games. Calgary is on just a run here that is, it's just

hilarious. They're losing players they're finding ways to win Hubert Oh is Benjamin Button he's aging in reverse the comebacks for a team that doesn't do them they hadn't had a come back since the first game of the season and now they're coming back and beating everybody you know Vancouver is reeling here. And this is, you know, you can say, like, this is what I understand about what Demko's thinking. You can talk all about, you know, his health, his injuries, everything. And like I said, I've heard today he's been doing a lot of work behind the scenes. But at some point in time, you have to dive into the deep end with your teammates.

You have to look and you see the way they're battling. And like if you're a ranger event on Saturday afternoon, you're like, okay, everybody throw away the masks and start laundering the money we just stole because we got this, we did not deserve this victory. And if you're a Canucks fan, you're really like that team played its heart out. Hughes was great. Everyone there was great. And they lost. And the worst thing about it for the Canucks and their fans is it's Miller who puts in the dagger with the empty netter right so you're feeling terrible and Demko just says like I have to show these guys I'm in the deep water with them I I have no doubt that's part of this it's

the he's looking at this he sees how tired and lanky it is he's like they need me and you know whether I'm a hundred percent or I'm working my way back. There are times you just have to show your teammates You're in the deep water with them. And this is that your Demko's time Yeah among the good quotes. He gave Ian McIntyre on Sunday You're part of the team. You have a roster spot and you get paid to play in big games That's the part of you that just wants to contribute. So we'll see what happens Monday night. I remember, I'll never forget this, and this is probably not a politically correct way to describe this whole thing, but I will

never forget this conversation. So when I was a university student, I was at Western, I covered football. Western goes out to play. In my first year, Western won the Vanier Cup. They beat St. Mary's in the Canadian semifinal and they won the Vanier Cup. They beat the University of Saskatchewan. And the next year, they go back to St. Mary's and St. Mary's had a quarterback named Chris Flynn and he was an incredible quarterback. But Western had a great team top to bottom. They had a better team, but Flynn, he was a phenomenal player. He just did did it all himself in a lot of ways. He made everybody around him dangerous and they all knew how to play with him.

And in that game, St. Mary's went ahead and Western started to come back. And then Western went ahead and St. Mary's Flynn led a game winning drive in the last minutes. But there was a guy from Western who had like a thigh bruise. Okay. And he was on the sideline. He was a linebacker, a really good player.

He was on the sideline. He was a linebacker, a really good player. He was on the sideline. He was doing some sprints. I could see, even 19-year-old me could see they were not accepting this, the teammates. And they were like, come on, you can play, right? And finally, one of them grabbed him by his jersey, quietly, and he said... They were sitting on the bench, he grabbed him by his jersey quietly and he said they were sitting on the bench He grabbed him by his jersey and he said Man, are you hurt or are you injured? I? Saw this all like right in front of me. He's like the guys like why he goes. Are you hurt or are you injured and He goes I'm injured and he just looked at him with disgust because hurt means you can play

and injured means you can't play. Still wasn't buying it. Yeah. He wasn't buying it. But I remember I asked the guy who asked the question. I pulled like, I pulled him aside. I called him like a couple of days later. And I just said, like, tell me about this. And he goes, this and he goes you gonna write about it and I said I guess not. Unfortunately he says no you're not gonna write about it because I don't want this whole school thinking that this guy's a coward because I don't believe that. It was a moment thing but he said that you know that's a big deal.

Everybody's banged up. Are you hurt or are you injured? If you're injured you can't play, you're hurt you can and I'm not questioning Demko at all. He's legitimately been injured, but I understand the way elite athletes think and Demko knows he crosses into a threshold where he thinks he can really help them and the doctors may not be saying You know whatever the doctors are saying the trainers saying whatever saying, whatever percentage he's at, whether he's at 80, 90, 95, 100, maybe he's at 100. But you get into this point where you say, yeah, I can play and they need help. And that's what this is right now. Kyle, when you do this pod, are you hurt or are you injured? Yes, there's some nights where I feel it's both. But we're still sitting here, dang it!

Yes, we're not giving up. No, we're not giving up. So Demko's a story for Vancouver, a big one. I guess we'll see about Pedersen and Hoaglander, they didn't practice on Sunday, but Taka didn't seem to be ruling them out entirely against the Devils. Another thing to keep an eye on already, we know they're without Philip Heidel. While we're on the topic of the Devils, do you want to discuss Sheldon Keefe Saturday night? Oh yeah, so the producer, Brian Spear, we're sitting there in the second period, we're watching Edmonton, Seattle, and Brian Spear, the producer, pipes in and says,

you guys gotta see this. And so he plays the Jonathan Kovacevic quote, and then he plays the Keefe, and it's Ron, myself, Biz, and BX. And we were like, what just happened here? Like, what just happened here? What just happened here? And we couldn't believe it. We had to watch it again and it started going viral on social. The best answer, I really thought that Biz and Kevin nailed it. I think that shows the stress at this time of year. I will say

this, I want to say this first. I had someone call me on Sunday and really defend Keef to me because he saw what we said on Saturday night and he saw where this was going and he's like, you know, he's like, you're doing your pot on this. And I said, oh yeah, we'll be talking about this. And he said that all you guys in Toronto would rip key for not being hard enough on the players. And like, there were times, like remember once he criticized Marner and then he walked it back, right?

So he said like, all you guys say he's not tough on the players and now he's tough on the players and everyone's jumping all over him. And I will say this, I don't think Sheldon Keefe was weak on the players. I heard behind the scenes, he could really grind guys and really challenge guys, which a coach has to do. I have no problem with that. As long as it's done and meant in the right way, I don't have a problem with coaches leaning on players and grinding on players. That's what they're supposed to do. Um, uh, but like, I don't know what you thought about this, Kyle, but I was looking at this and

I'm thinking, you know, it's like, so when it happened, did you ever see Les Mis, Kyle, have you ever watched Les Mis, like movie or play for him before? No, my brother's going to be mad at me for saying that answer because he loves the theater and the fine arts he loves a good play or musical so he'll be well i do too that i say no i love why i just haven't seen that one i love Les Mis and there's a line in one of the songs i was a gog i was aghast and when i saw that was my reaction i mean i i couldn't believe it and like like I said, I think the stress thing wired tight. And someone is going to have to tell me I'm wrong about this.

But so they lose the game, they lose to the Senators, they almost tie it in the last second. You know, Zub makes a great play to keep the puck out of the net. And you know how it is, like someone has to go out and talk to the media. I'm sure that, you know, Kovacevic from my dealings with him, he seems like a pretty decent guy. He just got a big extension there. And he probably said, John, can you go out and talk to everyone?

And he, you know, he probably is sitting there thinking, you know, he's saying the right thing. Like we have to get playoff mentality. We have to think this is like a playoff game. I guarantee to you that he's thinking he's doing absolutely nothing wrong. It's like, this is exactly what I should be saying in this situation. And, you know, like, Biaxa, he started going on about how the reporter says, like, the poor is like, he said this, he wants to get the coach's reaction. He's trying to bury the player I'm like no that is not what's happening here I've been in this situation before I would guarantee to you

and again someone can tell me if I'm wrong here I would guarantee to you I would bet a billion dollars a billion of Kyle's dollars I should say not mine well but I would I would bet a billion of Kyle's dollars that the reporter thinks, oh he just gave us a good quote, this is an easy one for me to write my story. I'll just get Keith, I'll ask Keith and he'll back it up. He'll say yeah we got to play like it's the playoffs. There is no way that reporter thought Keith was going to react like that. So, you know, it was like, I have to say, like when Kevin was like, oh, the reporter was baiting Keith, not a chance. Like I have seen, I've baited people before. I've seen reporters bait people before. That was not a bait. Anyway, it was, you know, honestly, like we talked on Friday's pod, Andrew Burnett was really tough on the Predators, and I guess on

Saturday morning he kind of walked it back and then stopped and kept going, right? Is that what happened? Yeah, I mean, he just, he was like, it's not a, an attitude thing. It was kind of his big thing on Saturday after, I mean, he called his team soft twice Thursday night. Soft is the killer. Healy always told me that's the worst thing you can say on air about a team. That is the four letter word in hockey, soft. He said, you better know what you're doing if you call it team soft when I first started out. Right, and I know you have talked about that before, so when I heard Brunette say it twice at the postgame,

I was like, holy smokes. But it was just, no, he didn't totally walk it back, what was almost just kind of clarifying a few things, but I think the message was very much there still for Brunette and the Predators. But going back to Keith. One second, and DeBoer did it this week too, after one of the Dallas games.

He spoke for what, a minute and a half? And what did he say? Everybody sucks except the death guys? Like basically. That's what he said. Well he was like, nobody was any good other than our goalie. And then a fourth line guy was brought up.

He goes, well he was actually pretty good. But other than that, then it was like, what about that guy? Well he was actually okay too. But if it's that and I was like what about that guy well he was actually okay too but if it's the bottom six guys that are okay and nobody else is that you know it's it's not been a good night. So the coaches are getting really blunt right now but yeah that anyway I'm I'm curious to see you know like we said I see we've seen times before where keeps kind of walked it back and and like I

said like this one guy called me and said, you guys in Toronto said he was too publicly soft on the players. Well, he can't have it both ways. But I still can't believe that I got to think he thought that maybe Kova Sevick thought he didn't have him prepared. I don't know, this, this one just didn't add up to me, Kyle, one just didn't add up to me Kyle. It just didn't add up. Yeah, I I agree because and As we have seen so many times as you mentioned from his time in Toronto

He can run hot postgame from time to time if he's not like and where things are at and There are times when he's in that mode and he's not the only head coach that gets them Oh, we just talked about a few other examples, but you can just tell like he's done with the presser. He's still standing there, but you know, like he's like, I'm ready to be done answering questions. I've got out what I wanted to get out and I'm ready to move on with my night. And I just thought he had got to that point where he saw an opportunity to like exit stage left. And unfortunately, Jonathan Kovacevich was the guy that got caught in the crosshairs here. Cause I think it was like, I don't know if it mattered which player was that was brought up

that say, you know, whoever it could have been that talking about being in a playoff mentality, I wonder if that would have been just the similar response anyway. He was like, I'm done standing here. I'm ready to leave the podium here at this point. Because if you really listen to what Kovačević said, his answer about all of that, and you go back to earlier in Keef's presser for what he's talking about, the group and the mindset for the team to approach this final stretch of games where he's like this is gonna suck it's gonna be difficult but we've got to find a way to enjoy it and come out on the right side of things we just haven't done it enough like it's very much aligned in terms of what they're talking about so i imagine after cooler heads and looking things over here on sunday it'll be a understanding that, okay, yeah,

I think we're still all on the same page here. It was just another frustrating night for the Devils after letting one get away against Calgary and then a bad second period against Ottawa on Saturday. You know they're feeling it. They sure are. And you know, the other thing I've heard too, like, like, Lindy Roth, Lindy Roth can be

a really pointed guy. But I think the thing about Roth I've heard is like when he was with the devils, like someone told me he basically had like three rules. Like aside from hockey, his basically three rules were like, be on time, don't be a jerk, and if you're going to dress, dress business casual. One of the players told me that. That's kind of the way he was. Keefe is a grinder. And again, I'm going to say this again, I think in Toronto, I don't think he either people didn't recognize it or he didn't get enough credit

I think for how much he grinded some of those guys behind the scenes and I've heard it's been an adjustment for some of those New Jersey guys and it's and again, I would never call Lindy rough a soft mark or anything like that But I think Keef's intensity is at a much higher level. Like Ruff, he's seen everything, right? Like he's still competitive, but he's seen it all. He's been coaching for, you know, 30 years in the NHL.

I think Keef's got another level of edge to him. And I've heard that some of those Devils guys have had a bit of a challenge getting used to it. Yeah, I understand. But I like that he's continuing to push things, even though they've had some real tough injuries to their lineup throughout this year, but still trying to get through to a different level. Oh yeah, he won't accept that. He'll demand it, he'll demand it.

He always will. So injuries have been a story there in New Jersey. You wanna talk about the Oilers here too after Saturday night? Amazing reading Mark Spector's column. Just the third time that both Dry-Seidel and McDavid have missed the same game in their entire careers was Saturday night against Seattle.

Gosh, it's amazing that the number is that low, but I guess it makes sense because two guys that have been relatively durable over the course of their careers, but Ryan Nugent Hopkins was the big star, a hat trick, nine points in four games for him. Jeff Skinner finds the back of the net. What was most impressive to you about how Edmonton handled Seattle Saturday night? So I don't know. You were in Nashville, right? Were you like out on Broadway after the game or did you watch any of our coverage?

I went and listened to some live music with some of our. By the way, I am not. I do not think that is wrong. I think if you were in Nashville and you went back to your hotel room on a Saturday night, I would rip you. I would give you a game misconduct for lameness. A match penalty?

You have given a match penalty for lameness and you will be at Kevin and Biz's hearing for a further suspension. That's going to be a tough hearing. That would be a tough, tough hearing. No, because I locked myself in the room Friday night to have my mind right for the game day. And then once the work was done, myself and a number of the crew members went and listened to some tunes. It was a good time. Nice. I'm glad you had a good time. So I love Nashville. Don't get there enough. So at the end of the game, when the orders came off the ice, do you ever watch any of those superhero movies? None of the more recent ones, but I know where they exist.

But you have watched them before. You have watched them. Okay. So you know how you get to the end credits and then everybody sits there and waits because after the credits there's a scene from the next movie? Yes. So the Oilers are celebrating. We're about to go to commercial at the end of the game and the door opens in the Euler room and

Standing there are Leon Dreisaitl Trent Frederick Connor McDavid and a Vanderkeen. Oh Nice and first of all Trent Frederick He can't breathe in those shirts. Those shirts are really tight. And I wanna say- From the Amber catalog? Oh my, Amber wouldn't even wear those.

And I wanna say, I'm going at this from a position of, I'm not lobbing mortars from miles away. Like I'm here so if anyone in Edmonton actually listens to this, I actually said it on air. I said that the Frederick shirt is too loose. But you know what it was like? It was like one of those scenes. Like you're looking there and you realize like those four guys They're all coming back soon and who's coming out of the lineup like, you know, we talked about it during the game Kyle You know Skinner in the first period played 643. That was the most of in any period. He's played all season but for the night Skinner played

1838 Yanmark played 1722, Brown played 1715, Arvidsson played 1816 and he's been dying to play more, Podkoulsen played 1516. So like that's the thing, you know, there's a line like, you know, one person's injury is another person's opportunity, right? There's a line like, you know, one person's injury is another person's opportunity, right? And all these guys who probably want more of a role, it got handed to them. There's no Leon, there's no Connor, and then you realize, hey, there's no Trent and there's no Evander. Like, that's four jobs that could be coming out of the lineup when they're ready. And if you're the orders as an organization,

you're like, this is a good problem to have. But if you're a player, like one of those guys in the line, no, no, no, this is not a good problem. Because you're looking around and you're saying, one, two, three, four, and you're counting. And you're saying, are there four other guys in this lineup that are going out at forward for ahead of me? I really thought all

those guys responded well. They played hard. They took advantage of their minutes. But the one thing that the coach really has on the players is ice time. And I guarantee to you, some of those guys were looking at this like, I better show up because when those guys start coming back, I am on the cut line. It's like rounders. If you look around the table at a card game and you don't recognize who the sucker is, you're the sucker. So if you're looking around and saying, if this guy's not getting scratched,

if this guy's getting scratched, uh-oh. Like we're still, so I thought those Oilers guys really played hard. I thought they did a they did a great job You know Kyle one thing we should say is that the Oilers are not concerned that these are long-term Injuries with dry sidler McDavid that will threaten their playoffs in any way shape or form I think it could end up being the knowing that as long as it stays like that I think it could end up being the best thing for the orders

Especially McDavid he could use some rest Right now I understand that or at least as of Saturday I was told dry settles timeline is ahead of McDavid's although as I said on air McDavid has ignored Recover or blown through recovery timelines before. So right now he's behind dry saddle but nobody said is they I was told like don't say that a hundred percent. All right let's do the latest trip through the Atlantic

Division. Man it was so the Maple Leafs had a real impressive week after what we were dissecting about them seven days previous to now, but oh my gosh, did it feel like an opportunity missed Saturday night in Nashville. So shortly after that game gets started, we've got the final scorers from Florida, Washington and Tampa, Utah. The two Florida teams lose in regulation. So the door is wide open, a win for Toronto, and they have sole possession of first in the division. And I don't know what you guys were thinking

watching back in the studio, but when it looked like Scott Lawton had made it three to nothing in the first, I thought that was gonna end 20 to nothing with the way that game had started for the Maple Leafs and just not a lot of life for Nashville at that point. But that goal gets peeled off the board because of the high stick and the game completely shifted. I really felt when Tavares, that 2-0 with Nylander,

decides to pass instead of shoot, and that's a guy who's been red hot of late, defers and then it just felt like the game really started to tilt Nashville's way after the fact. They go on to win. Barube said after the game, like there was just a level of mental mistakes. They hadn't seen them make in a long while. Uh, so as much as that Toronto team made some strides after losing to Ottawa and the Panthers the week before, it was kind of a sense

of, as Tavara said, they should feel ticked off after letting two points slip away, given what's at stake. Tampa, two losses on the weekend, as you mentioned Florida, Florida loss, but then, you know, they showed the guts of a champion on Sunday, they got jumped on pretty quick by Pittsburgh. And then even with everybody they're missing, they just took over that game, just took it over. And they got the win. Luster Reinens' pass to Lindell on the tying goal,

just incredible. Like, if that's again, those are your third line players making those plays. Anyway, that was spectacular It was and you know, that's a game like this weekend As we said you're gonna look back at the end of the year And if you don't like where you are, you're gonna look at this weekend if you're Tampa or Toronto And and you're gonna say man, we we coughed up a hairball And in Florida if they like where they are, they're going to look at that game on Sunday where they could have just said, oh, not our day again.

And they found a way to grind it out. It was kind of interesting. Luke Fox asked Matthews about the faceoff play that worked, and he's like, who cares? We lost. Poor Luke. Poor Luke. Yeah, that was a tough, that was a really bad one for Toronto. I could see that grinding on them. Now, you said Luke Evangelista was pretty happy post-game? Yeah, so he's a Southern Ontario guy from Oakville. He had a great night,

three points, factored into the big part of the win for Nashville. His mom was in town, he had some good home cooking the night before the game. And so yeah, with all of those things considered, he was our postgame interview after the game and so Nick Barnowski with the PR with the Predators, does a great job with them. We're coordinating and kind of figuring out logistics. Okay, he's gonna be one of the three stars, who does a great job with them. We're coordinating and kind of figuring out logistics. Okay, he's going to be one of the three stars, go to the dressing room, the coach will do his, address the team, and then come out for the interview. So he goes in there to tell Evangelista initially that Hockey Night would like to interview him. And so

Nick comes back around the corner and he goes, Luke is very excited about this. He is thrilled to get a towel. So I'm like, well, I hope I don't screw this up for him. And anyway, so he comes out and he's just at Laura, our floor manager there, who was great to work with that night. So she goes to put the towel around his neck and he's like, oh, how am I supposed to wear this? I'm like, oh, however you like,

you can put it over one shoulder, over both. But he was just very much into the whole deal. And what was the coolest part of the interview is that I referenced the fact I just, I read a little while ago that, you know, when he was growing up, the first Jersey that he owned, Leafs Jersey was a Luke Shen Jersey as a kid. No way. So they of course were teammates in Nashville before Shen got flipped to Pittsburgh and now in Winnipeg. So I brought that up, ironically, right? And just kind of the whole idea of putting up three points against his boyhood team on the Saturday night. And Evangelista

says, he goes, yeah, actually, I just checked my phone. Luke's already texted me, congrats on the night. So again, speaks to how plugged in Luke Shen is. So that was kind of a neat wrinkle into the whole evening. But yeah, it's especially for him as a younger guy, like as I've spent a little bit of time doing this, you know, certainly the older players, there's still that tie and connection to hockey night in Canada and growing up watching it and be a staple of things Saturday night. But as you know, Elliot, like we live in a world now where there's so much choice to consume content or to consume your mind and attention span any night of the week. And you just wonder for the younger players coming into the league now, even though, even the ones that did grow up in Canada, you know, okay,

how much did they, were they every Saturday night watching hockey night in Canada? Like is it still that same connection? And certainly for Evangelista, he was thrilled to receive the towel, obviously have a big game and at the end of the interview when he was told he could keep it, I think that was the cherry on top for him. You know, I have to say this too, Saturday was a night for good interviews. I don't know if he saw the one with Brady Kachak in the pregame where he talked about, he's still addicted to the big moment from the Four Nations and how much that drives him.

He had a great interview pregame with Kevin and Ron and Biz and Jennifer. You know who I heard from on Sunday morning? Who? John Bartlett. Oh! Sunday morning. Who? John Bartlett. Oh. So, John Bartlett, it was Sunday morning, it was 12 hours after he finished calling Montreal, Colorado, and he was still in the clouds from that broadcast. Oh, yes. So, I never hear from Bartlett unless he needs a check to be picked up. So it's very rare I hear from Bartlett unless he needs a check to be picked up. So it's very rare I hear

from Johnny, but he sent me a text right out of the blue talking about Canadian's avalanche and he was still, like you could tell he was wired. He was still excited. He talked about how full that building is of energy. Like even from the start of the warmup, the place is buzzing. It's going crazy. You can tell the team feeds off and he says, I'm not sure I'm doing it justice in the way that I'm describing it. He talked about that. He said that game reminded him of there was a famous game against the Rangers years ago where the Rangers led five nothing and the Canadians came back and won it six to five. He said like, even though they lost this one, he said it had the same feeling when they came back from four, one and the third to tie it.

Now he said that there is a decibel record for that building that goes back to when the year where Hallak stoned the Capitals and the Penguins. And he said that he couldn't get the exact total But he said that Saturday night they became they came within one or two decibels of the record They were close and he said that when they beat Florida a week ago During the last commercial break in the third period and the fans were doing their Ole Ole Ole Ole that doing their Ole Ole Ole Ole that the game ops, they didn't do anything, any scoreboard promos, they didn't do any music, they just let the crowd sing that through the commercial

break in the building, let them run with it. So I think Bartlett is lobbying for Canadian's games in the playoffs if they get there and he was still was excited hours later, the morning after, like sleep could not calm John Bartlett. He was so ecstatic and so excited to be part of that broadcast on Saturday night. Right, and he's the guy who, I mean he did radio for the Canadians for a number of years before coming over to Sportsnet to work on the TV side. So he's seen plenty of good atmospheres in that building over the years. So through all of that, if he's still buzzing Sunday morning after what we saw there Saturday night Habs Avalanche, it tells you what kind of special crowd it's become in Montreal. We got a

taste of it. It was a bit of a different set of circumstances of four nations and feel like the last week has been a reminder of just how great it is when Montreal's in the thick of things and that city is all part of it. Yes. Very cool. Very, very cool. Yes. Six Canadian teams in the playoffs. That's what I'm going for. Very realistic. Like it's not a stretch. St. Louis is there, you know, it's St. Louis is making it hard. They are taking advantage. Yes, of what is in front of them. One of their backing in not backing in. They are doing exactly what you said

they needed to do. They win both games over the weekend, the one on Saturday, beating up on Chicago Chicago though, but the sidebar story to that game of course was Pat Maroon announcing that at the end of the season this is this is going to be it for him. Over 800 games, three Stanley Cups, the St. Louis product is going to call it a career. Well obviously it was set up, you know Darren Pang knew what was coming. That's obviously broadcaster player respect. Darren Pang was a St. Louis Blues analyst when Pat Maroon was there and won a Stanley

Cup and now they're together in Chicago. So there's a history. That is the value of relationships and since it was in St. Louis, I don't know if it was Maroon's idea or it was Pang's idea, but it was a great pregame interview and, you know, great on the ice postgame. Got the big ovation after he fought Tyler Tucker. You know, the thing about Pat Maroon is there was a time where he looked like it wasn't going to work for him. And to his credit, he found a way. He righted himself.

He won the three Stanley Cups in a row, and I saw Stephen Stamkos quote his saying on Saturday night after the Nashville game that he was asked about Maroon, he said he heard about it during the day and made sure to send a note and reach out to him, said he was a big part of what they did in Tampa, teaching them how to ride the ups and downs, and the journey isn't always easy, but you never lose sight of the prize and get there. And that's the thing, I think there would be a time earlier

in Pat Maroon's career, Kyle, where nobody would have seen him as sort of like the grizzled, wise and veteran, the deliverer of wisdom, and he became that. And what that says to me is it's a reminder to people you can always rewrite your narrative. You know, we all have good days, we all have bad days, and you can rewrite your narrative.

And Maroon did in his particular case. All right, just a couple other pieces of news here as we move along, Elliot. Coming out on Sunday that Brad Berry is out as head coach of the University of North Dakota. Ten years he was there as the bench boss. National Championship, his first season there as head coach in Grand Forks. What was your initial reaction? I believe he still had one year left on his deal, Elliot, but what was your first reaction at this news? Well, I was surprised just

because, you know, it's a big program and I don't follow it as closely as other people would, but it wasn't necessarily something that was on my radar. So I was like, okay, that shocked me a bit. I did see Jordan Schmalz on Twitter the other night, who's obviously got a big North Dakota background kind of talking about, hey, like, we've got to get back to who we are. North Dakota is used to pushing people around. They are the pusher. They are not the push-ee.

And when your alumni start talking like that, hey, you can see that there's not a great feeling around the team I'll say this this is I'm not close enough to this to follow it to cover it But one of the things I immediately wondered about was a guy like Dave Haxdell, you know, Dave Haxdell was there He was extremely successful And you know, he left of course to coach the Philadelphia Flyers. He's been in the NHL coach Seattle I think he still has term on his contract He left of course to coach the Philadelphia Flyers. He's been in the NHL, coached Seattle. I think he still has term on his contract.

I think he has one more year, but that was the first name that jumped to my head. Is there any chance that we could see a Dave Haxdell reunion there? It would make a lot of sense, but I admit I'm talking about this one from 35,000 feet. It is, as usual, it is done done with no research just purely me blurting it out there.

And Kyle, just a couple of things NCAA wise. You know, obviously we're all going to be watching players. Ryan Leonard, you know, the NCAAs are starting Ryan Leonard. When does he end up in Washington? Everybody's watching that. I saw Isaac Howard had the game-winning goal for Michigan State the other day and you know is he gonna end up in Tampa at the end of this year. I know the Canadians fans are wondering about Demidov

whenever I know that's not the same thing but they're wondering about him joining them but there's a couple NCAA things I'm keeping an eye on. I did mention in my notes last week, so there is one Isaac Howard's line made at Michigan State is Carson Dorwart and he was their second leading scorer this year behind Howard. He's not drafted. Last year it looked like he was gonna go to Toronto but something happened and it didn't end up happening. So he's back and he's a free agent and I joked in my notes last week that the Flyers are lusting after him like a Angelo's cheesesteak. And I had a couple of Philadelphians actually write to me saying, thank you for recognizing the cheesesteak that actual Philadelphians would want you to recognize.

So I'm glad I delivered that way. It's been a rough time for the Flyers right now. They've lost 11 in a row. But, you know, Dorward is a guy who I think a lot of teams think that when his season's over, Philly has the inside track on. Obviously nothing's going to happen while he's playing, but they're looking at him. There's about four or five teams trying to talk to Luke Haynes. Toronto's one of them, but they're not the

only ones. And I think we might get some clarity on him pretty soon. Maine, another pretty good team. They have McCarr's brother at Maine. And I watched some highlights of him, Taylor. Boy, he looks like a really talented player. Just what the Avalanche need, another talented McCarr. But he's got a teammate there. The leading scorer on the team is a kid by the name of Harrison Scott. He's a little bit older. He's going to be 24 this year. But he's a kid that, he had 18 goals this year. He's a kid

he's from California, some interesting birth locations here door word is from Oregon, Harrison Scott's from San Jose. I he's a free agent to like I say, he's a little bit older. I wonder if the sharks are looking at that. But I heard also Winnipeg might be kind of around him taking a look. But there's a few teams taking a look at him, so here's another guy I'll be looking at. So, you know, like this week, as, sorry, over the next couple weeks as some of these games are played, these are some of the names that we're going to be looking at.

of the names that we're going to be looking at. OK. Terry Pagula, the owner of the Sabres, with the team in Minnesota over the weekend. And we know earlier in the year he made that trip to Montreal. Should we read into anything with the fact that he went to Mini? You know what another owner said to me? Because I asked, I said, what do you think of this? And he

laughed and he said, yeah, I got to tell you, Utah, mini Winnipeg, not the road trip I'd be picking. You know, I thought one thing was a little bit unfair, like the picture of, the more I thought about it, like someone sent me the picture of Adams and Pagula sitting like away from each other in the box and I saw it first thing in the morning and I had just woken up and I was like, yeah, that doesn't really look good. And then the more I thought about it, I was kind of like, I'd have to see the context. Did they sit there like that all night? Or was that just the moment someone happened

to take a picture, the camera caught them? I'm always very wary of jumping to conclusions about that. Was that the proper context? But I think the short answer to your question, Kyle, is that I think he wants to see what's going on. I don't think he's very happy. And you remember at the beginning of the year, we've talked about how Kevin Adams basically

told his staff, guys, we have to have a good year. And if not, there's going to be consequences. So I think that Pagul is there getting a firsthand look before he makes any decisions. And you know what makes it really tough is this Norris situation, just the injury right away. That was the one concern about him. Like it's not like there weren't teams interested in him. There were a lot of teams looking at him but when you make the deal and he gets hurt right away it's just just another thing that you're sitting there saying God we don't need to deal with this. All right National Anthems performed before the

games what's been the conversation internally around the league given the political climate that remains between Canada and the US? Well so I heard this in the aftermath of the GM meetings. I heard that one manager brought it up, I don't know who, but then I heard even before the GM meetings there were some teams that had asked the league about it. You know there's obviously there's booing going on right now. And, you know, I think it ranged from, do we stop doing it to, to I think some teams were worried about the effect

it was having on the singers. Like doesn't Ottawa now do a recorded version of the US Anthem, Kyle? Yeah, so it's interesting. A couple of weeks ago, that afternoon game when they played against the Rangers, that was their kids takeover game. And apparently there was a lot of discussion internally. And at one point they had planned they were going to have a kid sing both the Star

Spangled Banner and Oh Canada. And thankfully, the thought prevailed of of going we don't need to put a young child in that spot just unknowing how the crowd was going to react but also understanding how the crowd had been reacting to when the US anthem had been performed so that day they went to just a recorded instrumental version of the song and then someone comes out to do O'Canada and I believe they have stuck with that for every game since. And the games that I've attended there, it's actually been impactful.

If you're trying to curb the booing, it hasn't been prevalent when it's just a pre-recorded instrumental version of it. So yes, the senators have gone to that. I'm not sure if any other team has to this point. I don't know off the top of my head, but I do know that there was concern about how it affected the singers. Anyway, I heard the league just said, you know, we're gonna, we're just going to keep the status quo. Just, you know, there have been times it's happened before and they've,

their history has always been just status quo and that's what they're going to do. And I've told this story before. I know there's some people who feel the anthems don't need to be there, but I remember at CBC, there was a time we went away from showing the anthems, especially before playoff games. And we got a lot of viewer complaints to the point where we made it policy that we were going back to do it. So I know that was a while ago I'm not sure if it was different but that was what we did at the time and the NHL has the same belief. Okay, expansion in the Western Hockey League. You had the news, it's been rumored for a while now, but the news on headlines over the weekend, Elliott,

Penticton's coming next season, the V's going from the BCHL to the WHL. The announcement is expected to come today. Chilliwack, the other market, but the plan for them is to arrive a season later, 26-27. What can you tell us about what's all gone on there and the process for bringing Chilliwack into the fold? Well what I can tell you is I did an absolute butcher job on Saturday night. The name of the individual who's going to be the majority owner of the Penticton V's is Graham Fraser. And I don't know why, but on air on Saturday night I think I called him either Graham Feeser

or Graham Freezer I'm not really sure but Mr. Freeze Mr. Freeze Arnold Schwarzenegger Mr. Freeze or if you're a Batman fan you know his real name is Victor Freeze but yes Mr. well, it's funny because He reached out to me on Sunday and said do you have my name wrong in your contact book? And I go, what do you mean? And he said you called me Graham freezer. Oh, he called you. Is it yes. Oh my gosh, so I So I was like I did and I haven haven't watched it yet but I guess I did. He said his buddies are calling him Freezer now. So I don't know why I did that. So it's Graham

Fraser who's going to be the owner. He is the owner of the Penticton team now and he's taking it to the WHL. And I did mention, so I didn't realize Mike Richter's son played there. Thomas, he'd been a very good player for the Vs in the BCHL. So Mike Richter is going to have a minority share. And so was Mark Shieffley. And Graham Fraser, when was Mark Shieffley's billet And was Mark Shifely's Billet family when Shifely played for the Barry Colts as a junior. So Shifely is going to join, and I think there's others, but those were the two I heard. So yes, they're going to join next season. They're leaving the BCHL. They're coming back into hockey Canada.

And as you can imagine, that is a whole other conversation I realized on Sunday, but I'm not getting into that right now. But they're coming in next season. Chilliwack. So on Friday night, I guess, to make a long story very short, the city of Chilliwack had a public-private partnership with the team for the arena and that ended this year. Going into next season that deal was ending and as of Friday they announced the the city did that they're taking back ownership of the arena and so that will allow the WHL to start soliciting bids to who will own this team. And the WHL expansion team could come in as soon as 26, 27.

Now, there's a lot of rumors out there about the Canucks potentially being interested. I don't know. We'll see how this plays itself out. but there will be an opening for ownership and I've also heard since I reported it that the arena is going to have some upgrades to get to WHL standard. So that's where it all stands and you know there were meetings last week between the NHL, I think USA hockey was there, the USHL was there, and the various CHL leagues, and I don't know if we have any answers yet, but there were more meetings.

All right, good to know. With all of that, why don't we now get to the final thought, which is brought to you by GMC and Elliott as the league continues to try to find different innovative ways to present the NHL Awards. You talked about this over the weekend, the element of surprise is one thing they are looking at and how to unveil them this season. So explain what all that could look like. Yes, so as someone texted me right after they were looking for the element of surprise, now that you've reported it there's no more surprise, I said don't worry they're gonna figure some things out. So as we know there's no NHL award

show as we've come to know it, that's not happening this year, and they thought about some some ideas and one of the ones they thought about was the way the NBA does it, which is award it during the playoffs, like maybe in an off day in a series and then before the team's next home game, you sort of give the player a chance to hold it in front of the crowd and get a big ovation. That's the way the NBA does it and I do like it. But the NHL looked at some other ideas and You know, I showed the Josh Allen video when Josh Allen was named NFL MVP This year there were some children from the Children's Hospital. He visits and supports that

made him a congratulations video and They kind of looked at that I heard that was a big one and they were like well Why don't we do something like that? But instead of a congratulations video, maybe If there's a player who supports a bunch of children and something or helps a bunch of children something They could be the ones to tell him that he won an award. And so they talked about that and then maybe having like a mentor or a family member or a friend show up at your house or the rink or whatever and present you with the trophy, that could work. And then came the idea of a punked kind of thing, where they play a practical joke on someone and at the end they say, well, we put you all through this to say, congratulations, you've won the heart trophy.

And you know they're thinking about Nathan McKinnon if he wins the heart, like how angry can they make him and then give him the heart? Of course, not realizing that McKinnon will probably beat someone over the head with it. But that's the kind of thing that they're looking for, those kind of viral moments. And then they would release some in the playoffs, and then they would hold some. And I think their goal is on one of the off nights of the Stanley Cup final to pre-package it into like a one hour show, where there would be the viral moments you've already seen and then the new ones to reveal some of the biggest awards. And I think that's what they're going to do this year. That's what they've kind of decided.

Now I did get one text from someone and I laughed pretty hard when I saw it. He was like, you know what the best prank would be? And I said, what's that? He goes, you prank them. And so that they think at the end, maybe they're getting an award, but the prank is you didn't get an award. We're just doing this to drive you crazy. You just leave. Bye. My idea was if it comes to Leon Dreisaitl, if he ends up winning like the Hart Trophy,

have Connor McDavid call him and tell him he's not resigning in Edmonton. Oh man. That could be the prank. You're gonna get me killed here. You're not even here, I'm here. No, but it's the prank. It's not actually happening.

And then at the end of the call of it, she say, no, you've actually won the Hart Trophy. And by the way, here's my eight year extension. Yes. That would be the best way to do it. Both things in one video. That would be viral. Yes.

Yes, it would. Kyle, you are an evil man. An evil man. Well, again, it's all under the guise of prank. That's where the fun's at. Somebody's gonna get murdered as part of this show this year. We can't have that. Especially with you at Edmonton.

That's right. Just wait till I'm out of town. Look both ways before you leave the hotel. Just wait till I'm out of town. Don't want to get a ticket for jaywalking. No, add to your collection. Okay, final thought brought to you by GMC. There it was.

We'll take our first break and come back with a thought line. You're listening to 32 Thoughts, the podcast. All right, welcome back. Time for the segment best known as Griffin Porter's Playground, the thought line, the intersection of chaos and curiosity with this podcast, Elliot. And we have another submission. Great memories of our listeners as we've gone through. Open the Pandora's box of defensemen scoring while two men down short-handed. October 15, 2002, the late Carlos Skrastich scores while the Predators were two men short early in the second period in a game against the New York Islanders at NASA Coliseum

Add it to the list You guys are great can I talk to some about something here for a second? Yes, of course Did you see that picture of Connor Bedard at? Whole Foods. Yeah, yes. You can send it to me. So I want to crowdsource something here. I looked at him wearing socks and sandals and I said he's not 85 years old. And I said, he's not 85 years old. He is a very cool, cutting edge, 20-year-old. He should not be wearing socks with sandals.

But Elliot, here's the thing. He's not even 20 years old. False, false, false, false. Well, wait a second. Hold on. Time out, time out, time out. I got told that. I got told I was wrong. That it is okay to wear socks with sandals. Is that true? Gen Z, it is a very big thing. Crew socks especially. Because there's now, there's like the sock war between Gen Z and the Millennials crew sock no wonder Jen Z is hopeless Ankle socks this is okay ankle socks are called chuggy by the way

Are called what? Chuggy, that's what that's what they call millennial socks because they think it looks old on people so they call it chuggy See it's just honestly. It's the cycle of Fashion right because when I Ellie I don't know about you, when I was in elementary school. This generation is doomed. When I was in elementary school, I remember they got to a point where like if you got caught wearing crew socks or anything other than ankle socks, like if they caught you with socks creeping up your shins, like you might as well switch schools.

The ridicule would have been that bad. But that's you know I don't mind ankle socks but you shouldn't be wearing socks with sandals. No but that's I'm sorry that's wrong. I hear you and again that's my point of just how we go in this rotation of what's in and what's not because ankle socks was like the only acceptable standard when I was young and now you've got the Gen Z crowd that is like grossed out by ankle socks and it's crew socks are bust. So I wasn't surprised in the least when I saw that. I think he is very much on brand for his demographic doing that.

Well, you know what? They're not gonna care about me. I'm 54. They will care about his demographic. But you know that meme of one guy yelling at a billion people? That look sucks. You see it at like airports now.

People are going on like a five hour transatlantic flight. Socks and sandals. That's how I travel, boy. Socks and slides. You travel in socks and sandals? Yes. Case in point. You know what? You're lucky you're really good at this editing bit.

That's all I'm going to say. Okay. All right. Let's get going. Let's get to this week's batch. It is late. It's 1.07. Kyle's time right now.

Oh my God. Okay. All right. So with all that in mind, we will begin with a voicemail with this edition of the Thoughtline. Mikey from New Hampshire. Generally, my question is, do all the draft picks need to be from the same draft here or can they be from different years? Specifically, as a Penguin fan, I'd love for them to target Matthew Knives. And I imagine they'd have to be in somewhere in the $8 to $9

million range. And at that rate, the payment is a first, second, and third. My question, the Penguins only have their first and third from 25. Could they add a 2026 second round pick to that to fulfill it? Or do they need to go out to Montreal and get their second round pick from 25 to make it legit? Once I get the answer from you guys, I'll call Dubis and we'll get nice fit. Thanks for everything you do. Appreciate it. Learn a lot. Love listening. Thanks. Bye.

Well, thank you very much. We appreciate it too. And the answer is B. You have to have all your picks necessary the next year, and they have to be your picks. They can't be someone else's as you mentioned. And you'll remember that last year and I have asked about this as a matter of fact remember last year st. Louis made a last-minute trade with Pittsburgh to get one of their to get one of their picks back so they could do the double offer sheets for Holloway and Broberg. So they would have to call Montreal and they would have to get their pick back. The only way it isn't an immediate pick like if if it is as you said one two three then it they have to be your first

second and third the next draft year. If you do something where say you have to give up four first round picks, it's your next four in a row. So that's how it works. It's very strict and they have to be your own picks. You know, one of the stories I heard from that St. Louis Edmonton thing was that initially, I think St. Louis kind of, I don't know if they gave up, but there was a point where they were like, we're not going to be able to do this. And then apparently Doug Armstrong pulled it off and said, we're going to, we can do it, we're going to make it work.

We're going to pull it off. So, it does have to be your own and it has to be the next available year or years. Right. So to that point, because Mikey brought up it's this year's second round pick that Pittsburgh doesn't own but that wouldn't qualify because of course the 2025 draft is happening before 2025 free agency starts it would be the 2026 draft picks and Pittsburgh has their first their second and their own third at this juncture. So thank you for reminding me

of that. There is hope for you Mikey. Good job Kyle. That's really good because someone would have pointed that out to me that you should have pointed that out so I'm glad that you did it. Bailing me out. Thank you. Secondary assist Bukaskis strikes again. Still on the score sheet. No, that was a primary assist. That was a primary assist. All right, Brandon from Shelton, Connecticut. Good day, Elliot, young Kyle, and Dashing Dom. Greetings.

What? From, ugh, after the socks and sandals on the plane comment. Brandon's walking this one back. Definitely not dashing. No. The opposite of dashing Dom. Okay, yes. Greetings from Shelton, Connecticut. I may or may not be nursing bruised ribs after taking part in my first adult learn-to-play session last week. Wow, good for you. Never too late to start.

Never. I'm not sure if this has been asked before, but would the league ever consider implementing technology like in tennis or soccer to determine if the puck was in or offside to speed up the review process, or do the powers at B at 9th Avenue think this would just be opening a Pandora's box? Appreciate the work you guys do PS spot on about the police academy take on the last pod I really don't consider any movie after the first one is actually existing kind of like the Godfather part three Yes, that ruined a great franchise and I am with you on this, 100%. The answer is yes, they are looking at it.

They have tried things, they have looked at things, but the one thing that they've always kind of said to me is they won't do it unless it's perfect. They don't want to introduce something that doesn't work and everything they've looked at so far has some kind of fatal flaw. So that's the reason that they haven't done it. I think we all want it. I think they would love it. They just never found a foolproof option.

All right. And we will wrap this edition of the Thoughtline with another voicemail. Jack from Winnipeg. I was just watching the Jets vs. Canucks game the other day with my parents, and it looked like Connor Hellebuck might have gotten pulled from the game based on how the game was going, but he didn't. And it brought up the conversation that we couldn't remember the last time he'd actually been pulled in a game. So I tried to Google it and couldn't find the answer, but if you guys could look up

the answer for me, that'd be great. And what is the longest streak that a goaltender has gone without being pulled? Thanks guys, love the pod. All right. I assume you looked up this one. Yes. We'll do Hellebuck here first. So we actually just, just hit the one year anniversary anniversary the last time he was pulled in a regular season

game March 23rd 2024 against the Islanders but if you include the playoffs remember game four against Colorado last year he got the hook after two periods but to Jack's point he has not been pulled yet this season the record, do you have a guess on this one? Most concerned, does it has to be one of the old goalies? Yes, yes. I mean, it's the Glenn Hall 502. Is that anywhere near it? It's not the record. No.

No, but is it Glenn Hall? Because I got to think in those 502, he wasn't pulled too often. No, I know. Glenn Hall is not the guy. Oh, but it's one of those guys, right? It's like Sawchuck, Gore, Bauer, Jacques Plante, Gump Worsley. Getting more and more. Who am I missing from that era? Gumpers, Lee's Jacques

Blonde, Terry Satchuk, Johnny Bauer, Glenn Hall, Dennis to Jordy, George Hainsworth, Bill Dernan. Like, who am I missing? Al Rollins, Harry Lumley. And Jim Edgiocham in Eddie Jockeman? No. Who am I? What team am I missing here? Turk Brota?

Bingo. Oh my god, Chad Walker's gonna kill me. According to friend of the pod Steve Fellin. Yeah? friend of the pod, Steve Fellin. Yeah. He began his career making 559 straight starts before finally getting polled. The first time he was polled, Christmas Eve 1949 in a game versus Boston. And Steve went the extra mile to include a newspaper excerpt

to provide the story as to why Broda was pulled on this night, okay? Okay. It reads as follows. At the end of the first period with the score 4-1 against the Leafs, Con Smythe cascaded down from his green seat nest to yank Turk Broda from the net and replace him with Al Rollins. His explanation? The Turk is getting no help at all from his defenseman, and I don't want to see him humiliated in front of all these

warshiping kids. The move made no difference. The Bruins made it 7-2 by the end of the second and then coasted. That's brilliant writing and brilliant quotation. Chad Walker, by the way, I used to work with him at both The Score and at Sportsnet, and he is Turk Brota's grandson. He's a producer now at Woodbine Entertainment, and he loves his horse racing. So he's gonna hear this and realize I named about 30 goalies before Broda and I'm gonna be getting an angry message at some point on Monday. Man oh man but you got there you got there. Eventually. Much greater success. Too long too long. Are you kidding me? Compared to some others here that was lickety-split. I was thinking about the

other day like how many gigabytes have been downloaded over this year purely just of you going ah. If you did me trying to figure out the Chris Draper one in real time that would have wasted a lot of people's lives. Yes, yes exactly. Oh gosh think about Ron making the drive-in on Saturdays. It would be end of the playoffs by the time you get to the end of it. Oh, yes. All right, that wraps another edition of the Thought Line. 32thoughts atsportsnet.ca is where you can submit them or you can leave a voicemail 1-833-311-3232. We're going to

wrap this sucker up on the other side of the break. 32 Thoughts, the podcast continues after this. All right, welcome back. Before we go, Elliot, we are entering championship season because we've got the CHL playoffs that start a little later on this week. We are a few weeks away from the men's frozen four. Congrats to Wisconsin, a thriller over Ohio State capturing the women's frozen four on Sunday. Also this weekend, Elliot, U-sports hockey reaching its conclusion. Some dynamite endings on both the men's and the women's sides. Yes, so on the men's side, you know, a few years ago when COVID hit, I was looking for

some stuff to write and I kind of crowd sourced, asked people to send me some ideas for some good stories to write about hockey. And one of the stories, I got a lot of feedback, I really appreciated it. And one of the stories I got was about Ottawa's men's hockey team so they shut down their program for a couple years in around 2014 and Patrick Grometra was the individual who came back to coach them when they came back two years later So Grometra was the was the person who started them back up and they had some success, but it

was brought back to my attention this week that I had written about them when they won on Sunday. And they had quite the run in this tournament. They were the number eight seed, the lowest seed. They beat number 1 UNB and anyone who knows anything about Canadian University Hockey knows that New Brunswick is the powerhouse of the country. They beat them in double overtime to win their first game. Then they beat that Toronto Metropolitan team that had won the longest game ever in five

overtimes. They beat them and then they they won beat Concordia to win the championship. So it's pretty amazing when you look back at it. Here's this program starting up again 10 years ago after it was shut down, and they go and they win the championship. So I wanted to mention them, and I guess

Bishops, which won the women's championship beating Waterloo three nothing Kyle someone was telling me they didn't even have a team a couple years ago. Yes. This is program. So this is a 2021 like it's a totally brand new thing, correct? Exactly and they win for the first time the school's history and the GGs on the men's side first one in the school's history Gabrielle Santar had a goal and two assists for bishops in The championship the gold medal game so congratulations, and you know who went to bishops the

Arash Madani. That's right. That's the only reason I'm disappointed they won. Yes. Yes. Have you covered one of those tournaments before? Oh yeah. Back in your day?

Yeah. I did one of them back when Sportsnet would air those, the University Cup. Blown away by the caliber of hockey. So good. So good. So good. So need to see, just seem like successful weekends on both sides there for the national titles at stake. So bravo to the athletes and everyone that put that on. Okay, a couple things to keep an eye on the network this week. We got kind of a double header on

Wednesday night nationally. Scotiabank Wednesday night hockey. The Vancouver Canucks continue their road trip on to Long Island. 7 Eastern, 4 Pacific pregame show. Puck drop a little after 730. David Amber and company have you covered there. Then at 10 o'clock Eastern, 8 Mountain. The Edmonton Oilers are home to the Dallas Stars. That's one that can be caught nationally on Sportsnet as well. And Sportsnet one, if the Vancouver New York game is running just a little bit late. Elliott, have a good week on assignment where you are on the road.

Yeah, I'm going to be for that. I'll be watching those games at five to nine. One of my best road dinner places in Winnipeg. Excellent site of the last supper. That's right. That's right. One of my best road dinner places in Winnipeg. Excellent. The site of the Last Supper. That's right. That's right. That's exactly where it was.

Awesome. Have a good week everybody. We'll talk to you again on Friday.