32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Let’s Make A Deal : The NHL And (Our Interview Guest) Anthony Duclair

Episode Date: December 21, 2020

Mark your calendars! The NHL season begins January 13 with a 56-game regular season that concludes May 8. Jeff and Elliotte discuss all the details, including unlimited goalies at training camp, possible locations for teams and more. The guys also chat with newly signed Florida Panther Anthony Duclair about why he chose not to have […]

whoa i'm sorry that's just okay so here's how you know we're all getting back to work elliot can you repeat for the podcast audience what you just said to me and amal a couple of seconds before we started recording this podcast i just just did a Peloton, took a great hot shower. I've got my feet on the foot massager. I am ready to go. Is this like training camp for you now? Yes, I guess it is. Okay, so here's the news, folks.

Oh, by the way, you know what the funniest thing about this is? The best joke I was having with some players that one of the biggest victories for them is the limit on training camp. They're under the impression that, for example, that on-ice testing, short sprints, or anaerobic testing, no longer than 90 seconds. So John Tortorella, this is an open challenge. I'm going to call this the Tortorella rule.

This is an open challenge. He had that brutal skate that he always used to start with. And I believe this now is under the threshold. So how in Columbus, it's almost like they're challenging him they're saying you can't do what you regularly like to do yeah what are you gonna come up with so if you're let's say nick felino if i played for the blue jackets i'd be terrified of what he's gonna come up with if he's banned from doing his two-minute skate. If you're Nick Foligno, then, captain of the Columbus Blue Jackets,

do you have a stopwatch with you telling the guys to stop at 90 seconds? You might. So he has a sprint skating test and usually a three-mile run. I think that's what it was. Well, congratulations. That is one of many wins here for the players and it's a win for the nhl they're uh they're getting their season started and you know who the big winners are if you're

a goalie come on down how many new jobs are up for grabs here elliot friedman unlimited goalies in training camp you have to take three on your roster with you during the year there were a lot of tweets back at me about where do i sign or i'm available and things like that you know if you're a goaltender that didn't have a job yet like a ryan miller or jimmy howard i wonder if this is going to mean you get a call a lot of people are wondering about what washington's going to do now that lundqvist, unfortunately, couldn't play and wanted to send my best to Lundqvist. You know, last week we saw that video and it was so heartbreaking to watch.

Yep. And then I saw it again. They replayed it again when I was doing a hit on the NHL network a few hours later, and it wasn't any easier the second time. So I think there's a lot of curiosity about what the capitals are going to do. They, they seem to say they're going to start with their top two goaltenders being Samsonov and Vanacek,

who was with them in the bubble last year, but we'll see, like, we'll see what they, how, how they decide to look at things. There's going to be a lot of availability out there. Okay.

So here it is 56 games, the North, the West, the Central, the East. But what do we know about the Canadian division? Is this a 100% lock, Elliot? So the thing I'm worried about is we're taping this on Sunday night and almost going to edit it and release it first thing Monday morning.

Things could change quick. This is what I've heard there was a call i would have loved to have been a fly on the wall for this one i heard it wasn't always easy bc like they were with the bubble when the bubble was supposed to go there and ended up not going there they are the most stringent province. I believe the Canucks are aware of the possibility that they're either going to have to start potentially with a long road trip or maybe play in Edmonton. Some players have told me that all that stuff is being floated around. is being floated around. But I've also heard that Ontario and Quebec have also not given their approval yet.

Ontario is now announcing it's going into a lockdown on Christmas Eve. I mean, we'll see. I think they're more confident about Ontario and Quebec than they are about BC, but nothing is done until it's done. And I've heard that the Canucks players in Quebec than they are about BC, but nothing is done until it's done. And I've heard that the Canucks players have been at least made aware of the possibility

they're either going to start with a long road trip or a road trip or the possibility of potentially playing in Edmonton. You can't go to Calgary, I don't think, because Edmonton is just a better arena. So if you're going to have a choice, you're going to play there. Do we know if the Leafs, the Sens, the Habs have a contingency?

One of the Montreal players told me that there was a rumor going around that they might play in Toronto, but if Ontario's not, if they had to, not for sure, but if they had to to don't everybody go crazy about this but i just got this sense that while nothing's done they're more confident about the possibility in ontario and quebec than they are about bc i think they realize that bc is going to be the toughest province you know the other thing that could happen here, Jeff, is could there be an Edmonton hub in Canada? What happens, for example, if like BC and Ontario and Quebec put up a united front and none of those four teams can play there? Well, then does everybody start in Edmonton?

You know, could that possibly happen? Or four teams start in Edmonton? I mean, all of this stuff, we've got a couple weeks to figure this out. Oh, well, training camps, we'll see. Montreal is the one team that doesn't have permission to do training camp yet, but we'll see. Like, all this stuff is in the air. Now, while we were doing this, San Jose announced that they're beginning

their training camp in Arizona, but did not commit to regular season in arizona this is just me wondering but i'm wondering if there's any chance the sharks could end up playing in kansas city why kansas city we've seen exhibition games there before when the penguins were going through their ownership situation and rumors of we're taking this thing to kansas city we'll see you later the nhl had to go around with kansas city in the 70s with the scouts it's owned by aeg owner of the la kings you always look for that okay maybe it's a kind of trial run like i, I don't know. It just makes sense. And also don't forget you have two teams in the central time zone in that division, the

St. Louis and Minnesota. It balances out the travel a little bit. Is that rink ready for hockey? Oh yeah. That rink could host hockey. And I want to shout out friend of the pod, Paul McGannon. Nobody in Kansas city loves hockey more than paul mcgannon and uh i hope it happens for him because he'd be very excited but you know i'm just saying that i could

see their league at least looking at the possibility of that because it's an aeg rank and i bet you aeg would love to have a team in there. Why do you say that? I'm just thinking about this. They've got two central time zone teams there in St. Louis and Minnesota. So it adds a third one, balances out the travel a bit, and maybe it gives the NHL a trial run there.

So what changed, Elliotiot late last week at the beginning of the week there was some skepticism about the january 13th start date which has been the target from the league for quite some time uh it was looking like or trending towards something in february and then that seemed to change suddenly on Friday. What happened last week? I just think they decided we have to come up with a plan and we have to go. We have to play. So this is the go and adapt model that we've talked about.

This is the baseball, but just get started. Don't overthink it. Just get started and figure it out as you go along. What I've heard is that on the Board of Governors call on Sunday, they voted to support it. I mean, what else were they going to do? They're going to support the plan. But they understand there's a lot of hurdles.

Like right now, they want to open up in their buildings with fans, and that is the goal. And at the time that we taped this, both Dallas and Florida said they're going to try to have fans in their building. I know that other teams expected that Vegas would try to have fans in their building too, if they're allowed to, but there's no guarantees with anything.

I think everyone recognizes this. They're going to try. There's going to be a lot of obstacles. I mean, look at what's going on in the world around us i mean you have to be a complete ignoramus not to see what the challenges are but at some point you have to say this is our plan and we're going to try and i think they realized if they didn't get it done before the holidays it was going to grind to a halt. And instead of just moving everybody back a week,

it could be longer. I think the players wanted to vote on it. I just think that we got to a point, Jeff, where everyone said, screw it, let's go, let's approve it, and let's see where we go from there. I think we all have a number of questions here and not all of us have read the, what is it, 62-page document.

Yeah. I'm not sure how deep you've got into it. I know you like to take things like this to the beach and read them poolside. That's just how you roll in the summertime. But what is the biggest question that you have about this thing? Well, I haven't seen the schedule yet. The only game that I really know about

is I've heard Anaheim's opening up in vegas i don't know why i know that but that's one of the ones i've heard okay someone told me that the schedule is supposed to come later in the week you know we know what the divisions are now i think that's what we're all waiting for now is the schedule is to see what exactly it's going to look like you know we have all the dates and now i think the other thing we're going to have to wait for is let's see the moves start coming i think the moves could start coming anytime now so your hoffman's and your sammy vatnin's etc here comes zidano chara here come the signings i checked on chara and they still

think they have a little bit of time. Obviously, there's still time. Well, now we know how the cap is going to work. And I actually think it's pretty interesting how they did this. They've basically said that you're going to be able to bank cap space by keeping your roster at 20 and putting guys on your taxi squad. and putting guys on your taxi squad. So on days where you're not playing, you're going to see a lot of paper moves to put guys on the taxi squad. And if they're making,

either you can take off 1.075 million, or if they're making under that, you save their cap space, right? So you'll see a lot of paper moves and things like that. Like this guy's on the cap. So I think that's a smart move by the Players Association to agree with that too. So I think you'll see your Barzal signing.

I think you'll see your Dubois signing. And you'll see your UFAs, your Grandlins, your Hollas, your Vatnins, your Hoffmans. Probably see a couple more goalies get signed. All this stuff. How quickly does Tampa undo the knot? Well, Tampa has until obviously puck drop, which right now is scheduled for the 13th. I know that some people have credited me with this.

It wasn't my scoop. It was in, and we don't even know if it's true yet, but it was in a year. I saw it in a European, someone sent it to me from Europe where somebody, I think in either Russia or the Czech Republic reported that Tyler Johnson might get traded for Detroit for the LTIR of Henrik Zetterberg, which actually makes a lot of sense. And we'll see if that's actually true. But I do think you'll see Tampa and the Islanders and all these teams kind of make their moves. Somebody told me too, that Montreal might not be done. That Bergevin still wants to make his team better.

Yeah. And it fits his MO, right? Like he's not afraid. And he's made the moves to say, we're going back to the playoffs. I have a few questions about the status of players. You mentioned the taxi squad and there were a couple of things that I wonder about here. One is if a player tests positive, what is his status and what happens to his cap hit? I haven't read the document yet. Do you know?

Okay. So there's, there's a couple of things one thing i did notice here is that if a player tests positive teams are allowed to put him on ltir right away normally you need the approval of a doctor and a player is entitled to a second opinion if you want to go into onto ltir because if you're on there the team can go over the cap by your hit normally you need doctor's approval to do that for this year you're allowed to immediately put the player on ltir so you can use their cap space however if you put the player on ltir he has to stay on it for 10 games or 24 days.

Right. Okay. The one thing about this year is, Jeff, is that you could play 10 games in a lot fewer than 24 days. Even though we haven't seen the final schedule yet, it's going to be pretty compressed. But that's the workaround that they've created. You don't need permission from a doctor to put someone who tests positive on LTIR. You can do it right away. You just know you lose them for the minimum amount of time.

The other thing that I wonder about here, Elliot, is what happens with trades? Now, the deadline is April 12th. And given the reality of the Canadian teams and the US-based teams, what happens to a player that gets traded from the Rangers to the Habs? Or do we see minimal movement because of what that would entail?

I've been told that there's no restrictions on trades but you have to follow all quarantine rules so if a player has to come into canada so let's say the sharks and the canadians make a trade yep if the player has to cross the border he has to follow all quarantine rule rules before he can play for the canadians same for the sharks really right so what happens to that cap hit while the player is quarantined that i cannot answer as we do this because all this brings up a lot of questions about status of players like what are you during quarantine what are you vis-a-vis the cap during quarantine? It's funny, when the Vancouver issue popped up over the weekend,

I texted someone with the Kraken and said, Canucks to Seattle, and they texted back, would make scouting a lot easier. The expansion draft, July 21st. So here's the other complication to all this. Not only do general managers need to stick handle essentially an entire new cba try to fit in games try to keep everybody as healthy as possible but also do so knowing that there is an expansion draft on the horizon does the expansion draft

complicate a lot of things now for a lot of teams well i think what it does is and we've talked about this it is a huge huge advantage for the seattle kraken this is a big big win for them and everybody knows it they're in a situation where people were saying we're not going to make the same mistakes we did with Vegas. And now they're going to have a lot of opportunities to do things. It's a big win for the Kraken. And what people should know now also is that if you had a no move clause that meant that your team had to protect you for the expansion draft, unless you gave them written permission for otherwise,

it now extends through July 21st. So because normally these contracts end on June 30th. So if you had a no move clause for this year only, it extends through July 21st. And also the thresholds for, because you know there are certain players you have to make available in terms of experience, in terms of games played

over this year and last year, those thresholds have been adjusted to count for the smaller schedule. Elliot, players have already received the paycheck, correct? Yes, they received a paycheck at the end of October. What happens to that money if a

player opts out that money was agreed to if you were on a reserve list at the end of last year at the trade deadline you were getting that money okay and the tolling issue as well a big part of all this well basically what happens is this if you have like a legitimate medical reason for not playing this year you will be paid you know otherwise the teams have the right to decide are we keeping your contract or are we letting it run for the year gotcha okay uh a couple more things quickly uh some dates trade deadline of april the 12th uh the schedule runs january 13th to may the 8th we mentioned the expansion draft july 21st uh nhl draft july 23rd and 24th the night of the opening ceremonies the night of the opening ceremonies as well uh very good can i tell

you a funny story about this yeah shoot i heard about this the the opening ceremonies i had a buddy once was in a bar in new york on the night of the opening ceremonies in atlanta and they had like the mets on or something and he was like what like what are you doing put the opening ceremonies on and the bartender looked at him and said, only if you know how to bet on a parade. Just as a quick aside, I've only been to one opening ceremony before at the Olympics. Beijing in 2008 was spectacular. Do you have a favorite? My first Olympics, I didn't get to go to the opening ceremonies. It was Salt Lake City. But the first Olympics I worked was Athens. And I wasn't there, but I was around there.

I always remember that because it was my first one. So my answer is kind of lame. That's all right. But you were at Beijing, weren't you? Opening ceremonies? Yes, I was. But you know what I did in Beijing? I was the emergency on the desk.

So if something had happened in the stadium where they lost the ability to broadcast from there, I was sitting in the studio prepared to back it up. So secretly you were hoping that someone was going to mess up. No, believe me, I did not want anyone to mess up. Like the backup goaltender that wants to start her to get shelled.

No, no, early in the first. There's a pretty funny story about this. So when I worked at the fan, when I started, Ken Daniels was the radio voice of the Maple Leafs on the fan. He would call the games. And there was one night he showed up and his throat was a bit sore.

And do you remember Tim Haffey? Of course. Haffey and Dunleavy used to do national sports radio. So they were joking that Tim Haffey was pointing a fan at him so Daniels would get sick and Haffey could call the game. Was it true? Yes, it probably was.

But I would, no, no, believe me. I was like, Brian Williams was hosting. I think Peter Mansbridge was hosting with him. And I was like, nothing go wrong. Nobody wants to see me tonight. I'll be the most hated man in Canada if people have to look at me tonight they want to watch the pageantry let the pageantry go okay so here we go season getting underway january the 13th i didn't even ask you what you thought about this i mean you've been sort of in the woods on this one you know deep in the forest

from day one uh mining out whatever information you can how do you feel about all this like just editorially how do you feel about all this you know the number one reason i'd want the everything to play is that the damage it would cause to a lot of people's lives financially if you didn't play like we all know a lot of these teams are going to get hammered financially this year, but the more you get hit, the more people's jobs get lost. And, you know, these are people who are,

you know, work in the ranks. They work for a team, you know, it's, it's a job. And, you know,

I, I look at a lot about this and of course, number one, I worry about people's health. Number one thing you do is you worry about health and this is risky. There's course, number one, I worry about people's health. Number one thing you do is you worry about health. And this is risky. There's no question about that. But I've said this many times, Jeff, is that you always worry about taking care of your family. And if you're somebody who was worried about taking care of relatives or children or a parent who's elderly or anything like that, and you need the finances to do it,

I just want people to be able to work. That's what I think of. And also, I do want people's lives to try to get back to normal as soon as they possibly can, of course, with health being the number one thing. I know there's a lot of people who work with us, Jeff. They worry about, you know, if this season doesn't get played, what happens to my job, things like that. Those are the people I root for. So I'm hoping that this works, and I hope it works safely so that people can get back to their jobs and get back to their lives. That's the way I think about it.

Amen. We wish them all, the NHL, the Players Association, everyone associated with the game, that this thing can not only get started, but get concluded successfully as well with everyone's health intact. All right, we're going to hit a quick pause. When we come back, you will hear from

Anthony DeClaire of the Florida Panthers. So how did this all come together? In his own words, Anthony DeClaire tells the story on 31 Thoughts, the Hawks get the puck. Duncan Keith looking for his first goal. Now to the slot, Duclair shoots and scores! His first goal as a Blackhawk. Anthony Duclair taking a feed from the corner from Alex DeBrickett.

And the hat trick by Anthony Duclair has won the game in overtime here in Ottawa this afternoon. Across to Duclair. He takes a shot and he scores! Anthony Duclair with a power play goal. And he makes it a 3-3 game. Oh, coffee doesn't quench my thirst. To the middle a little more for Duclair. Scores! My favorite part of the interview you're about to hear with Anthony DeClaire of the Florida Panthers

is Elliott Friedman trying to coax information out of Anthony DeClaire about which other teams he may have spoken to before signing with Florida it went nowhere so Elliott's backup plan was well does one of them rhyme with Smashville Elliott well done we're going to hear from Anthony DeClaire here in a second uh what did you make of his offseason and ultimately his landing spot in Florida? Well, first of all, I just wanted to say that I appreciate Anthony joining us. It gets lost in everything else that's happening. I think this is low key. One of the most fascinating stories about this NHL off season. And I just wanted to hear what he had to say.

You know, I was on your show with Brian and Stewie on Friday. And Stewie asked, what do you think about what Declare did? And you know what my answer was? I just want to hear what he has to say. And I listened. I'm happy I got to hear it in his words. And I really enjoyed listening to him talk about it. And I have to say, Jeff, I roll my eyes when you ask people about their junior days

and he loved it like he was right into it so but i i really have to say i just enjoyed hearing what he had to say and a lot of us have talked on his behalf this was his opportunity to get it out unfiltered and almost running this interview unedited basically except for yours and my mistakes so it's it's it's his ability to speak yeah like i said i've done this once before i started my last negotiations at sports net without a lawyer or an agent and i didn't like it i was getting mad i just realized it was a point where i had to call someone in and just handle this for me because I cannot do this. I respect his willingness to try. It's a brave move.

And this is how we started off the interview by asking him about it. We've seen players do this before. Backstrom, Washington, Dowdy, Los Angeles. But those are longstanding relationships with those organizations that the player has. There's a familiarity there. relationships with those organizations that the player has. Like there's a familiarity there. I think the fascinating thing about Declare further to your point, Elliot, is this guy went out into the wild, wild west on his own.

If this wasn't like I'm renegotiating, I'm negotiating a new contract with this team that I've been with for seven or eight years. with this team that I've been with for seven or eight years. This is, I'm going to market with, you know, nothing other than, you know, my services and my cell phone to offer. That to me makes it so fast, makes the Declare story so fascinating,

regardless of what happened and did he leave money on the table? Like, and he mentioned this in the interview too, about, you know, learning about things and life lessons. And how do you put a price tag? How do you put a price tag on what Anthony DeClaire? Leave the money aside. Elliot, how do you put a price tag on what that guy learned? A lot of players will never have those types of conversations with general managers in the NHL while they are playing.

That doesn't happen. But DeClaire's had those conversations and done it now. That's what makes this thing so fascinating. You know, I would be surprised if he did this again. And I'll tell you this, I think there's going to be a race to represent him. One of the things he said was that he talked to some agents and I was talking to some people about the interview.

I mentioned that we talked to him, was dropping an interview tomorrow. And I think there's going to be a lot of interest in him you know it sure sounds like he's going to be in position in florida to score some more goals right like they've they've obviously said to him you're going to be in a really good spot i think there's going to be a lot of interest in him i don't know if he'll do this again it certainly sounds like he isn't but you're. I think there's a lot of institutional knowledge there. The more I think about it though, Jeff,

the more I wondered about the one question he ducked. There was one question in this interview he ducked and he kind of laughed about it. Yeah. And that's the one I'd like to ask him again in the future. All right. That's when he makes his second appearance, but here is the first.

This is Anthony DeClaire of the Florida Panthers. And yes, for all you junior hockey fans amongst the 31 thoughts podcast listenership, there's some good stuff here about his time with the Quebec ramparts, Patrick Wai and Philippe Boucher as well. Here is Anthony DeClaire on 31 thoughts, the podcast.

Anthony DeClaire of the Florida Panthers. First of all, thanks so much for doing this. And second of all, I think a lot of people are curious, we certainly are, about the bold decision to represent yourself. And we've seen this before, most recently with players, Nicholas Backstrom with the Washington Capitals, Drew Doughty with the Los Angeles Kings. But those were players that were negotiating with teams

that they were already on and had relationships with the team, the general manager, et cetera. You went to market on your own. Take us back to the origins of that idea. Yeah, I mean, honestly, I just want to take ownership of my own life and my career. You know, I want to learn the business side of the game. And it's just always something I wanted to do. And to be honest with you, it was a great experience.

Just having the opportunity to reach out to the GMs across the league and not only just negotiate a contract, but just talk about you know myself and my game and how I've overcome these past few years here and just just tell my story and my side of the story you know um you know when you have an agent sometimes they shield you from the truth a little bit nothing wrong with that but you know I just wanted to hear from GM see what the they had to say about me and I think to to be honest, that's going to help me become a better player and a better person for the future.

What was the most eye-opening thing? I'm really curious because that does sound fascinating. So many players never have that experience. What did you learn? I learned a lot, especially in the COVID off-season. Pretty unusual off offseason.

Obviously, the market is much different than it would be in normal times. But just having the opportunity to see them dissect my game, things I need to improve on, constructive criticism is definitely what I needed to hear the GMs. And you sort of hear it from agents and different people like that. But, uh, just hearing it from, you know, a GM from himself was, it was really eyeopening.

And, you know, I, I definitely enjoyed the experience. I'm curious. What was the most eyeopening thing you heard, whether true or not true? Hmm.

Oh, that's a good question. Huh? I mean, I, I have to get back to you on that one. When I get an answer, I'll get back to you on that one. That's a good question. All right. Well, cause you know, Anthony, I tried this once too, with my last contract here at Sportsnet, I started off negotiating

with myself and a little while in, I just said, I'm not going to do this. I'm taking it way too personally and I need to put a buffer between me and them. So you signed a one-year deal. The next one you do, are you going to do it yourself or are you going to hire someone? I think so. For now, that's just what I believe in. That's just my mentality. I'm not doing it completely by myself. I do have some people surrounding me, helping me that I, you know, I trust and that know hockey. I had many conversations with, you know, other agents during this process too. And at the end of the day, it's the player's decision what you want to do and agent or not. So for myself, you know, I was hearing a lot of talk from a lot of different directions,

but at the same time, I just wanted, when it came down to making a decision, it was myself and I went with my gut feeling. So Anthony, when free agency started, how many text messages did you have that day? Oh man, so many and my phone blew up from every which way uh you know agents reporters stuff like that i i kind of feel bad not answering everybody just because uh you know it's not the type of guy i am i usually pretty quick to get back to people but um yeah it was probably overwhelming amount of text messages and phone calls, but at the same time I just had to lock in focus, you know, reach out to the people that I needed to reach out to at the time. And,

and yeah, I need definitely to change my number after this for sure. So, so I'm, I'm curious what did you hear that you liked from bill zito gm of the panthers bill zito's uh first gm i talked to um on the first day of free uh free agency and uh the gm i talked to the most out of any gm and uh for we've been you know on and off talks for months talks weren't really about you know negotiating contract it was more about myself about the team about the the vision that he sees for this hockey club you know I got the chance to to be with him in Columbus and I know how he operates I know how how happy he is to be in florida and i know that he's gonna do everything possible to to make this a winning franchise so um i've had the you know great talks with him since day one um i know he's very excited i'm very excited to be playing for him and be playing for

coach q again i just feel like this is a great opportunity for myself now was there anyone else that you almost signed with? I would say, yeah. I don't want to name the teams, but I want to say 4-5 team area that was heating up here in the past couple weeks and sort of fit. It's not really about the money at this point in my career. Obviously, in a 56-game season, was always uh around a one or two year deal but for myself it was more finding the right fit just because you know obviously been bouncing a lot in the past few years and i just want to find a home and i think i'm still pretty young so i i'm trying to you know find build a home here in florida hopefully i want things to work out here

i'm gonna do everything possible for it to work out. But in terms of fit, I think Florida was the best option for myself. I'll try it this way. Does one of them rhyme with Smashville? You're good at it. You're really good. I'll say you're really hot on that one. I'll say you're really hot on that one.

You know, the one thing I'll say you're really hot on that one. Okay. You know, the one thing I wanted to ask you, Matthew, there was a wild report that you turned down like a three-year, four and a quarter million dollar deal per year with Ottawa. I don't think that's true. But I did hear they had a two-year deal on the table. I just wanted to ask you, just to clear the air, just your feelings towards Ottawa

and what kind of negotiations you had with them. Yeah. I mean, obviously that, uh, report is you, like you mentioned, that's pretty wild. I'm not, uh, I'm not no idiot. Um, no, that's obviously not true, but, uh, yeah, I respect Ottawa for their decision. I honestly, you know, when they didn't qualify me, I was as shocked as anyone. I really thought that we were going to come into agreement with Arb or even without Arb. I, you know, I just thought that, you know, that was a great fit there.

I played well there the past year and a half. I had a great relationship with the coach. Everybody, you know, liked me. I liked the city. If you knew me personally, you know, I was speaking highly of Ottawa. You know, it sucks, I like the city. If you knew me personally, you know, I was speaking highly of Ottawa. You know, it sucks the way it turned out. But no, it was actually only offered a one-year deal.

Pierre did give me the option after agreeing to a one-year deal to move along to a two-year deal. But there was never a two-year deal on the table. It was always leading to a one-year deal. And it's, you know I've obviously refused the offer because I thought I would have got more in ARB. So I'll just leave it at that. But I respect their decision moving forward. Obviously, I think Pierre has done a lot of great moves

after free agency, signing Dadnov and adding key pieces. So they're again better as an organization. And I wish them the best of luck. You mentioned getting back together with Joel Quenville. Uh, you were of course, together with the Chicago Blackhawks. What is it that you like about Quenville? I mean, we've talked to so many different players who, who speak glowingly about Quenville. What does he do that lets a player like you say, I want to get back with this guy? What's so special about Quenville?

Just the freedom in the offensive zone. I mean, he's obviously such a great coach. I had the pleasure of working with him in Chicago and just seeing him work with high-skill forwards like Kaner and Taze and guys like that, just letting them, you know, ride in the offensive zone at the same time being very, you know, very defensively, you know, sound. You know, that's really a big reason why, you know,

I chose to sign in Florida, just that familiarity with Coach Q. I know that he was very happy with me signing there. We talked yesterday for a little bit, and I just can't wait to get down there and lay out a plan for us for the season. You mentioned that you wanted to create a situation that was good for you. When you talked to Florida, what was important to you?

What did you tell Bill Zito and Joel Quenville that mattered to you for you to commit to them? I wanted them to believe in me. And, uh, you know, uh, like I said, we had really, uh, a lot of conversations with Bill and, um, you can just see that, uh, you know, he really puts stress in me. He wants me to be a leader right away in this hockey club. That was something that, uh, that was huge to me.

Um, if I had the opportunity to go back to Ottawa, that's what I would tell Pierre too. I'd be ready to step into a leadership role. I'm not talking about having a letter on my jersey, but just being a bigger voice in the locker room. I'm starting to get a little more years under my belt in this league and obviously bounce around a lot. So I have a lot of experience in that.

You know, I just that and you know i i just want uh you know a coach and a gm and organization that that believes in me and it's gonna have my back and um i think that was very important for me and this stage my career did you say like i'm not coming unless i get to play with barkov like don't even bother me besides that no i i did not but he did uh he did mention he'd love to see us play together with Hubert O and guys like that. So obviously that sparked a lot of interest in me in coming down.

I mean, it's not on every team that you get two A-plus centers, you know, on the same team. And those guys are obviously very special players playing against those guys. It's very hard to defend. So maybe just having the opportunity to play with these guys or even if I'm not playing with these guys, just being around them every day in practice,

I think it's going to make me better. It's going to push me and elevate my game to another level. Who from the Panthers has reached out to you? Not the organization, not the coaching staff. Who from the team itself? Which players have reached out to you? Not the organization, you know, not the coaching staff. Who from the team itself, which players have reached out to you? A couple of guys.

Barkov, he reached out like a minute after the news broke out. Yandel, Connelly, I know Vinny Henestrosa

from Chicago. Right. Who else? Wenberg, Nudavara, a couple of guys. So it's nice to see going to a locker room with some it's nice to go into a locker room

with some familiar faces instead of going to a locker room where I haven't met anybody before. So it's going to be fun for sure. Now, Jeff has about 30 questions about playing for the Quebec Ramparts. It's true. It's true.

I'm going to ask this one first. You were down in Arizona where you live and you were there for the Matthews, McDavid and Jonathan Taze was their skate. What were those like? What was it like to be part of those workouts? Those were the best skates I ever had in my life. And to be honest with you, I hope we do that again at some point, you know, that just elevates your training to a different level you know guys are going hard out there and you know we didn't have a season and guys are you know

playing like it's game seven we're very all competitive obviously and when the games get after the flow drills for half an hour and the four and fours and the three on three end zone start going it's actually pretty special to see these guys work. And at the same time, it kind of sucks that there was no cameras or anything like that because there was some highlight reel goals that people never get to see on an empty rink. So no, but for sure, like I said, that was an unreal experience. I really hope that we do that stuff again

because that really elevates your training to a whole different level. What was the most impressive thing you saw? Oh, man, I want to say a backhand one-hander from McDavid, sauce bar down. Wow. Yeah, like going with a guy on his back. A guy on his back. I don't know.

I don't remember who, but he had a guy on his back so he was forced to take the puck on on his one hand and sort of like that crosby goal where he scored in buffalo yeah but it was like a a perfect sauce bar down on the one hand going full speed of the guy on his back i've never seen that before wow now i'm even angrier that there's no video yeah and we all sort of like paused and looked at each other and like, what just happened kind of thing. I mean, Matthew's too, like he's, yeah, this guy gets on a breakaway. You can just look the other way.

You know what's going on. It's kind of frustrating because we're always playing against those two guys. Those two guys are on the same team. So you can imagine the kind of plays they were drawing up there. And in the little three-on-three end zone, it was kind of really special to see. And when you're seeing that stuff, you know, that just pushes you to, you know, make something happen

the next shift you get out there and stuff like that. So, like I said, those are some highlight reel goals from pretty much everybody out there. Okay, you ready for some junior hockey questions now? Sure do. Okay, here we go. So one of my most memorable experiences was Memorial Cup 2015. It was at Legendary Coliseum.

It didn't work out great for your ramparts, but it was the final event at one of the great hockey arenas of all time. I'm curious about a couple of things. One, the game against Kelowna, and you know where I'm going with this one, the semifinal game, I think they're winning four to one, maybe five to one.

Madison Bowie, can't remember what he did, but there was no penalty called. You guys had a bunch of penalties called against you, and all of the sudden, and I remember this specifically because you just mentioned McDavid. So McDavid was there.

He was up in the booth with me and Todd Warner. We're going to do a second intermission interview with him. He was going to win the CHL Player of the Year the next day at the CHL Awards. And all of a sudden, the garbage starts to hit the ice. And it wasn't just like one or two tin cans. Like, Ellie, you should have seen. It was littered.

That's it. And Barrier took a run at Cowley. Now he took Barrier down. They continue to scrum behind the play. Stop being thrown on the ice. Bob's going nuts right now. The ice is littered with debris, and it's continuing. It's cans.

They're going to have to stop this thing. This is dangerous. Play continues, and Bkele stops it. And there's all kinds of cans and cups, mini hockey sticks, whatever the fans can find, they're throwing them on the ice. And McDavid's like, what is going on? Like he's never, what have you ever seen anything like this before? It was what was going

through your mind? I mean, the officials, Olivier Gouin and Jonathan Allaire who had to duck for cover. What were you thinking as that was going on?

Oh man, it's tough to see, but I know those two arrests weren't public, probably public enemy number one in Quebec City

and have been for a couple of years. Quebec fans are just very passionate fans, obviously. That's what you love to play for. And, you know, it was just unfortunate that a lot of calls didn't go our way. And, you know, the fans, you know, reacted that way. But, yeah, I haven't seen that ever in a while. And, yeah, it was just not the best thing to that ever or in a while and yeah it was just uh

not the best thing to see especially in the memorial cup setting passionate fans though and we saw that every night didn't matter what the game was and i'll tell you what some of the most passionate games in that tournament and you guys had a great final uh with them one for the ages really ramparts versus ramuski uh the oceanic what do you remember from that uh not just that rivalry but whether it's, you know, the playoffs or the Memorial Cup, those were two teams that you just wanted to see play, you know, like a best of 27. Yeah.

Because the style matchup was so great. Yeah, that was unbelievable. We had some really good battles during the season too. And I can really tell that us, the Ramparts, and Rimouski were the two top teams in that league all year and uh yeah that's a seven game series in the finals which and then losing uh you know in overtime was definitely heartbreaking I still think about it to this day and if you go back to actually the first round of that playoff you know know, we took it to game seven. Yep. And I remember Philippe Boucher

coming in the locker room with the owner and almost threatening us to not lose this game if we don't want to do suicides for a month. So the guys definitely locked it in the rest of the playoffs. And it was actually smooth, pretty smooth sailing until the finals. And then, yeah, Rimouski was such a tough team to beat they would just had um a lot of depth players that

were playing very well and um yeah that was a really good battle right to the end let me ask you about a couple of players that people uh will know because plenty of players in that team that i'm kind of surprised never really caught on in the nhl later i mean vladimir kachev i thought was a remarkably skilled player. But I want to ask you about one player specifically, and that's Ryan Graves, who played, you know, as a defenseman on the ramparts with you, and over the past couple

of seasons, this year specifically, really came into his own with the Colorado Avalanche, and just a bullet of a shot, like, just a bomb from the point. What are your memories of playing with ryan graves like because this is this is a guy that now is really starting to hit his stride in pro yeah i mean he was uh he was our number one guy uh you know we really relied on him heavily

he played heavy minutes every single night um if we didn't have him in the lineup we'd be we'd be lost without him and um yeah i'm just uh really happy that he came to his own this year took a little bit of time but uh you know he's he's in a great situation there in colorado he's playing heavy minutes as playing an unbelievable team so um no and when he was with us in quebec uh yeah he was he was a big rock out there and blocked every shot uh played the all situations uh, PK and power play. Yeah, I mean, he's worked very hard to get to where he is.

He grinded in the A for a couple years, and it's nice to see a guy like that finally flourish in the NHL. One final question about your time with the Ramparts. After that final game against Kelowna, and that was it for the Ramparts, and there was going to be one more game at the Coliseum After that final game against Kelowna,

and that was it for the Ramparts, and there was going to be one more game with the Colise, Oshawa against Kelowna. Oshawa won the Memorial Cup, Anthony Sorelli with the Heroics. I remember after that game, all the guys were leaving, and I wanted to go back just to see

if any of your teammates went out on the ice. And I got a picture somewhere of kurt echegary standing out there at center ice of the colise and i followed up with him afterwards and he just wanted to you know take in the moment you know this hockey cathedral is is coming down giving way to la centre video tron and uh i wondered you know anytime i get a chance to talk to anyone from that ramparts team was there anything that you did at the end of that night i mean you're a quebec-born hockey player collie say is a legendary uh hockey arena etch a gary's you know emotional at center ice after uh getting changed with the guys uh after the loss to colonna was there anything that

you did um yeah i i kept my gear on for for the longest time you know that was obviously very emotional um and i and i know for for him for everything he's been through um i know he's had a couple heart surgeries and stuff like that for him the battle and um throughout his career and then uh to go out you know that was probably his last hockey game you know it's pretty sad but uh at the same time, you know, it's another chapter you got to move on to. And, you know, he's living a happy life. I know that right now in Newfoundland.

And after I got put my suit on, I took a last look at the college they had on the bench. And just to soak it all in, I spent a great three and a half years there. I'm always going to remember my time in Quebec City. I've gone back in the summer a couple of times the past few few years and it's always going to hold a special place in my heart and i'm sure it's going to do the same thing for kurt also for sure there's very few places that would be better to play junior at than quebec i can't imagine there's much better yeah fantastic honestly yeah like i was planning to go college um A lot of people would never believe me, but, you know,

I was pretty set on going to like Boston University or Boston College. I think it was down to those two. I visited them, I think, twice and just loved the atmosphere, watched a couple of games, watched how, you know, the studio section would lit up and stuff like that. And I was pretty much set at 15 years old. And I told, you know, my family advisor at the time to let the Q teams know that I wasn't coming to the Q.

And, you know, Patrick still took a dabble on me in the third round. And I even went to visit him, went to talk to him, and I saw a facility and right away that changed my mind. And, yeah, I was just really happy that i made that decision and will never regret it yeah you know what that's that's an interesting point because everybody thought you were going to the ushl i think was it omaha was it lancers that had your rights no dubuque fighting states dubuque right yeah everyone thought you were going to ushl yeah i mean i i was set on it i was set on going there and sort of taking the same route mikey matheson did

on it i was set on going there and sort of taking the same route mikey matheson did um going there for one or two years and then he went to bc that was taking the same route um i know jim montgomery was a coach at the time and um he just had coach johnny johnny goudreau and you know i studied the team i i looked at the city i was almost sick um and then they drafted me in the second round and i was pumped to go so that was all set up to go there. And then, like I said, got drafted by Quebec after and that totally switched my mind. What's your favorite Patrick Waugh moment? Oh, man.

Oh, let's hear this. Probably him doing a video session screaming at the boys in his boxers once. Like just boxer shorts, nothing else? Just boxer shorts. And it's like kind of like hilarious because like he's like getting all mad, getting all red and he's screaming at some of the guys and he's wearing boxers. And it's like kind of tough to like take him off serious. But like, but yeah and he's wearing boxers, and it's kind of tough to take him all serious.

But yeah, he's a character. He was really fun to play for. That was a really good experience, especially as a 16- and 17-year-old. I definitely learned a lot from him. Okay, hang on. Let me follow that up with another one. For those that know the coach will appreciate it. What's your favorite Philippe Boucher moment?

Philippe Boucher. Oh, probably him. Coach will appreciate it. What's your favorite Philippe Boucher moment? Philippe Boucher. Oh, um, probably him, um, chirping me when I came back from New York, uh, chirping me in front of the whole team,

probably tell the team to, to take the whole organization out for dinner. Just cause I, I made so much money after two paychecks. Um, I guess the last question I have for you, Anthony, just looking back over the past couple of months, anything you regret, anything you would change? Oh, I mean, uh, regret. No.

Um, I just feel like I can keep learning from this experience and keep growing as a person, as a player. Um, like I said, this experience is experience is only going to make me stronger mentally. And in the future, I really see myself learning more about the business of hockey and see how things work. And I did see a little bit of that this offseason. And, you know, I would have loved that it wouldn't be a COVID offseason. Things, I think, would have been a little bit more smoother.

But I'm really happy where I am right now um I'm really happy at this stage I am in my life right now um I can't ask for more than being 25 years old you know playing in uh in Florida for the Panthers with uh you know a great a great organization and uh I'm just gonna take it from here and learn from my experiences and, you know, try to be better every single day. This has been a lot of fun. Listen, I know, Anthony, this podcast sort of turned into 31 Junior Hockey Thoughts. We appreciate you sticking with us through all of it and being very generous with your time on a Saturday evening. Thanks so much for stopping by today.

Best of luck with the Cats. I appreciate that, guys. Thank you very much for having me. I really hope, Elliot, that everybody who listened to that Anthony Duclair interview enjoyed listening to it as much as we did conducting it with DeClaire. I wish that guy the best. I really do. It's been a really interesting and educational and maybe

bizarre offseason for Anthony DeClaire coming off a 23 goal season, a successful campaign with the Ottawa Senators. Always been loaded with skill. Always been loaded with potential. Going back to Always been loaded with skill. Always been loaded with potential. Going back to playing minor hockey in Quebec. I hope he finds a home

and I hope he's really successful there. I always have time for people who bet on themselves. So I want people to succeed. At the end of the day, I just want people to do well, especially now. So yeah, I'm with you on this. Okay, as we head into a new week uh one that's full of optimism uh what do the daoists say backs to the shade bellies to the sun new week

is upon us elliot what are you looking for well the schedule i think that's what everybody's kind of wondering right now is what's it going to look like and you know what are our games going to be what's you know is it going to be baseball-y how often are teams going to play are we going to have those back-to-backs we're all expecting it and i'm really curious to see it okay so still plenty of questions uh but the big hurdle has been jumped over right now there is a commitment from the nhl and players association to get a season underway. January 13th, 56 games, the North, the West, the Central, and the East. Although they might be changed. You notice they put an asterisk. We reserve the rights.

Are you surprised they didn't go with historical names? If they're just going to do it for one time? No, I'm not surprised because I'm sure they have to figure out what the names are going to be because like let's just say for example you do gretzky lemieux how and richard people are going to bitch so you just kind of have to make sure you get the right ones right oh you get the snub conversations listen i live in talk radio i need. The snub conversation is easy. You just go to the phones.

I can't believe they snubbed player X. Fill in the blank. It's two weeks of content. That's why I'm sure they're sitting there saying, all right, if we're going to do this, this is how we're going to do it. All right. Listen, everyone, thanks for joining us today.

I hope you enjoyed the piece with Anthony DeClaire again. Thought he was fantastic. We will have, Elliot, true or false, one more podcast this week. Yes, we're going to do one more. I think we're going to drop it on Christmas Eve. Is that right? Yep. There's our producer.

That's Amal. Thanks, Amal, for your great input on this podcast. We're going to drop this on Christmas Eve. So we've got one more. We'll give you our Christmas wishes then. All right, perfect. All right, everybody. Optimistic week.

Fingers crossed. Be well. Be good. We'll talk to you on Christmas Eve. Dancing in my room Swaying my feet Trying to get you love And a kiss on the cheek Caught in candy skies like I'm stuck in a dream

And I've been feeling blue, you're the one that I need Dancing in my room, swaying my feet Trying to get you love and a kiss on the cheek Caught in candy skies like I'm stuck in a dream And I've been feeling blue, you're the one that I need And baby, how you get me reasons Just to fight all of my demons And I love it when you speak it

Cause you silence all my feelings I'm feeling that I'm not okay And everyone gon' run away And leave me in my room Alone for just another day I'm sippin' on some lemonade I wonder if you'll ever change I don't even care

Baby, just come out my way Dancing in my room Swaying my feet Tryna get you lovin' And a kiss on your cheek Maybe just come out my way.