32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Lightning Strikes

Episode Date: June 8, 2022

We’ve seen this movie before! Jeff and Elliotte recap Bolts-Rangers (00:10), discuss the fight between Brandon Hagel & Frank Vatrano and give credit to Ondřej Palát for his impressive performance in game 4.They also spend a lot of time talking about the Oilers (15:30) and where they might go from here, wonder if we’ll see Nazem Kadri in the Stanley Cup Finals (38:00), Boston parting ways with head coach Bruce Cassidy (41:25), David Pastrňák and his future with the club (44:05), the coaching search in Dallas (50:30), the injury to Chris Driedger (55:10), Montreal hiring Marie-Philip Poulin (55:50) and the latest on the Hockey Canada story (58:15).Check out the limited edition 32 Thoughts merchandise line HEREThis podcast was produced and mixed by Amil Delic, and hosted by Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman.Audio Credits: AM 970 WFLA and Sportsnet.The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

All righty. We got both, both of them. Y'all set, Freed? Oh, yeah, all good. The Tampa Bay Lightning are back, and so are the CarCasts. Welcome to 32 Thoughts, the pod slash CarCast, Merrick alongside Friedman and Amal Delich. The Tampa Bay Lightning jump right back into this one.

We're going to get to the bullets. We're going to talk about what's next for the Oilers, some coaching discussion as well a little bit later on. We'll talk about Boston. We'll talk about Dallas. But for the Oilers some coaching discussion as well a little bit later on we'll talk about Boston we'll talk about Dallas but up first four to one is the final a big game by the Tampa Bay Lightning a huge game from Andre Palat and now some questions about the New York Rangers specifically around injuries to a couple of key centers but I don't want to bias the jury here Elliot your thoughts Your thoughts, wide brush, tabla rasa, blank slate. Your thoughts on this game? My thoughts on this game are that we have seen

this movie before. Think of a movie, whenever it's on TV, Jeff, you have to watch it. I have many of those movies. So pick one. Robocop. I can never turn off Robocop. That is a great choice. I have to say Robocop. I can never turn off Robocop. That is a great choice. I have to say Robocop. We're talking about the original, not the remake, right? Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah. The original Robocop. Whenever I see Robocop, that's it.

I'm sticking with it. Speed bump. See, one of those movies for me is Roadhouse. Oh, yeah. Roadhouse, for those of you who aren't familiar, it's the late, great Patrick Swayze and Sam Elliott as bouncers with the late, great Ben Gazzara as one of the all-time bad guys. Whenever that movie is on, I have to watch it.

And Jeff Healy performs in that one, too. I was a big Jeff Healy fan back in the day. Yes, Jeff Healy performed there, too. Anyway, to me, this is a movie I've seen before many, many, many times. Early in a series, the Lightning don't look great. They look vulnerable. And then eventually their experience and their default to playing smart hockey takes over. I thought they smothered the rangers in this game they gave new york very

little almost nothing until third period slash late in the game and that was the kind of game we have seen the lightning play over and over and over again en route to two stanley cups it was you know like i said i i've seen that movie before many times. The thing is, I couldn't help, and Kevin talked about this in the postgame briefly, I can't help but thinking, you're the New York Rangers, after this game, you've just lost 4-1,

the series is tied, and how much are you thinking, man, game three, we had this team down two to nothing. We had all the momentum. Calls were going our way. We were scoring power play goals. What just happened? There is a discipline that Tampa has,

and when it takes over, good luck. But here's the thing about the game too. You know, after 40 minutes of play, I mean, I agree, Tampa smothered them, but it wasn't as if they were peppering Igor Shcherkin. It wasn't as if it was a million shots and it was, you know, they dragged him into deep water. Wasn't like game three.

Shots on goal were 22-15 in favor of the Rangers. After 40 minutes of play, and I come away from the second period going, I feel like Tampa's in charge here, but I'm not exactly sure why when I look at something like the shots on goal. What happened here, Freed? here but i'm not exactly sure why when i look at something like the shots on goal what happened here for each i don't see with tampa i don't look at shots on goal i look at quality of chances i look at what are they allowing you to have the opening of the series the first two games of the series those were played at the rangers pace in game two, to me, John Cooper looked really worried.

He was sitting there saying, we're in trouble here. We're in big trouble here because the tempo was at the pace, the Rangers. To me, it's not about shot counts. It's about the tempo. It's about the pace of play. And I thought the first two games were Rangers. To be honest, even when Tampa had 50 something shots in game three, I looked at it and said, I don't think the Rangers have too

much of a problem playing that pace of a game. This was the first one tonight in this series, game four, where I looked at it and said, this is the pace of play and the type of play that tampa likes you may get your shots you may look at the count and say okay it's close but they're allowing you only the chances that they want to allow you they're suffocating the middle they're cutting off your entries and exits this to me was was a Tampa dictated game. And it's the first one in the series. Yes, I know Tampa outshot them in game three, but I thought the Rangers could handle that speed of game.

This is the first time I saw a true trudging fest. And that's the way Tampa likes it. So this one was a lot about Andre Palat. I want to get to the Rangers injuries in a second, but I want to get your thoughts on Andre Palat. So the first goal, Patrick Maroon scores, the third of the playoffs, making it 1-0 Tampa. That's fourth line versus fourth line.

You know, not the best look for Rooney, Reeves, and Braun on that play. Great play by Zach Bogosian going to the net. Maroon taps it in. Zach Bogosian across the New York line to the right circle. Knifing in front! Shots ain't made! Rebound score!. Maroon taps it in. Across a Zach Bogosian, across the New York line to the right circle. Knifing in front! Shot saved made! Rebound score! And Maroon! Well, there was one of those rebounds

we were talking about, Phil, and Maroon. Like, that's just fourth line versus fourth line and Maroon goes to the net hard, as does Zach Bogosian. And then it seemed as if Andre Palat went to work. The great pass to Kucherov that you guys highlighted. And Palat will make a steal.

Two on two across the blue line left circle. Feet stamp goes. High slot. Holds. Put it in front. Save made on Kucherov by Shosturkin. Sprawling out his belly. Goodrow the other way.

Bounces it to the lightning line. A quick up ruda for Palat. Up the middle. Kucherov maybe a step in front. Holds. Shoots. Score! Kucherov! Kucherorow has made it 2-0! The great work on the Stamkos goal.

Palat fumbles the puck a bit stays with it Palat right circle Palat shoots a made rebound SCORE! At the side of the net Stamkos! Then Palat puts in the empty netter. Miller right point shoots blocked by Palat back the other way toward the empty netter. Shoots, blocked by Pallott. Back the other way toward the open net. Score! Andre Pallott scores the empty netter. His third point tonight in the Lightning go up 4-1.

I look at him as Hossa Light or Mini Hossa. They stole that tonight. Did you notice that? They called him Hossa Light. Oh, did they? Well, listen, greatness borrows, but genius steals. I don't mind surrendering that tonight. Did you notice that? They called him Hose of Light. Oh, did they? Well, listen, greatness borrows, but genius steals. I don't mind surrendering that one. How did you feel about Palat's game tonight?

Because to me, this whole thing was about him. So the great Stan Fishler, I remember one of his books, he wrote about Bob Ganey and he called him invisible until he kills you. And I always liked that phrase. I thought it was an excellent turn of words and i just thought that when i saw palat tonight it reminded me of that invisible until he kills you and uh he certainly did that to the rangers tonight this whole thing palat is amazing to to me we've all sat here and wondered

how can the Lightning keep all these guys and yes, there are players that you have to lose at certain times like they lost their entire third line but they've always found a way to keep him and they've always found a way to keep Killorn, and I always look at Palat and I say

until he's gone, I'm always going to believe they're going to find a way to keep him I could be totally wrong about it this time, but until he's gone, I'm always going to believe they're going to find a way to keep him. I could be totally wrong about it this time, but until he's gone, I always think they find a way. You know, there's a great book that I read a couple of years ago by Annie Jacobson called Surprise, Kill, Vanish, the secret history of the CIA's paramilitary efforts. And when you're talking about Stan Fischler's great line, I couldn't help but think about that one right away. Surprise, kill, vanish. Anyhow, Palat's work, again, we've talked about this with other players,

but it's really subtle and it's really sudden as well. Like he's just such a supremely skilled player. The Rangers injuries. We started off the game with no Ryanyan strome and then throughout the game we saw after the victor headman hit on philip hedel he exited the game did not return upper body injury there listen we saw you know cop fill in on center uh rooney goes up a little bit higher in the lineup than maybe he's he's used to and it just wasn't there like the cohesion for the rangers you could tell you know right away wasn't there you know if these two injuries are lengthy this one's i don't want to say it's a dagger for the rangers but this will be a tough one to

overcome no question about it we were watching the strom injury before the show tonight and we were trying to guess what it was i thought it might have been his knee but i think kevin and kelly were right they saw the way they bent over they think it's a groin and i would tend to believe that's what it is now we ran it in the post game hit that ran overnight on sports net but our cameras caught a shot of Stroman, the warmup, and you could see him grimacing. He looked like me after 17 minutes on the Peloton that, and he'd only been out there for a couple of minutes and, you know, he tried to play and you could tell he really wanted to play, but it just wasn't allowing him to go. And, you know, at this time of year, that's sometimes it's easier to have a broken bone as opposed to some kind of muscle injury.

And that is certainly the case here for Strom, at least. And so I don't know where this goes. You know, one thing I forgot, Jeff, is that if this series goes to game seven, there's a two day break. You know, game six is Saturday and game seven is Tuesday. So if the Rangers, you know, get it to that point, maybe it helps some of these guys. Heedle, it's kind of an innocent play. It's a big man hitting them though. That's the thing.

Hedman is big, dude. Oh, of course. And when we watched the replay, Kelly wondered actually if it was his wrist and he jammed it into the boards. But you're right. It's a big man hitting them. And all of a sudden you lose two centers. And as you said, you're completely out of whack. You're sitting here and you're saying our lines are all mixed up. The kid line, which has been really good at energy for us, it's now broken up. People are not in the roles they've done very well with in the playoffs.

And I just don't think you can afford to lose too many centers. And now if you're the Rangers, all of a sudden, you're down too. It's a huge problem. And the other problem, obviously was tampa was disciplined and didn't give them much power play time and if tampa is going to be like that the rangers are going to have to find a way to be much more successful five on five jeff now let me ask you a question sure ron's looking at them 18 games in 35 days that's a lot i heard that yeah he thinks the exhaustion is finally getting to them buy that or no uh i don't know i i tend to think at this point of the

playoffs everyone's just going on adrenaline but i could see that that's a lot of hockey um for a team and let's not forget too you know uh you always want a gift along the way like it's hard to take series right to the ends right and what do we just see the new york rangers coming off a seven game series against the carolina hurricanes they rode that momentum into the first game into the second game as well and then inevitably you do get that crash and the fact that tampa has had what was tampa's rest like nine days for each? Yeah. You wonder if that starts to play off like the first game. Okay.

You know, it's going to be a little bit rusty. You understand the outcome there, but then the fact that the one team was a little more rested, I'd never felt that it showed up in the first game because rust is a factor. I always felt that rest when it's the other teams in a, in a groove of one day on one day off, you know know that catches up to you midway through a series and the rest for the seven to nine days shows up later in the series so maybe there is something to what ron was talking about and i heard that and that's the first place that my brain went to rangers seven game series against carolina and as we all know tampa took care of the

florida panthers in four. It makes sense. Cause I've never believed that rest shows up in game one. I've always felt that it shows up midway through a series. So maybe he's onto something and we're seeing that now. I still think we have at least one big, at least one big Shisterkin performance for us in this series. Oh yeah. He's not done with the lightning.

No, he's not. But we's not done with the lightning. No, he's not. But we're almost done with this conversation. But not before I ask you about Frank Vetrano versus Brandon Hagel. Not just the fight, but the beaking that wouldn't stop in the penalty box as well. And all of this, by the way,

right in front of Ric Flair, which we just have to point out on the podcast. Who loved every minute of it. He loved it. He thought it was great. Vetrano attempting. That's over the glass. They're going to fight.

Here we go. Didn't expect that. Vetrano and Hagel dropping the gloves here. Big rights coming in from Hagel. Hagel scrappy. That was right on cue with the Ric Flair mention. There you go. Big rights coming in from Hagel. Hagel scrappy. That was right on cue with the Ric Flair mention. There you go.

You don't see that too often. Vetrano gives him a little shot. Hagel gives him one back, and Hagel trying to get the home crowd into it here. We know he's dealing with an injury. And seems to be skating better. There he is right there. Ric Flair likes that a lot.

What'd you make of the scrap? Hagel had a good interview with Dave where he basically said that's hockey, which is the answer you're all kind of wanting here. It was a pretty snoozy second period until you and Vetrano dropped the gloves. What was in that? What led to that? Because that every player come off the ice

and say way to go, Hags, on their way to the dressing room. Yeah, I don't know. I think obviously we could have cleaned it up a little bit better I think they kind of took over momentum I cross-checked him a little bit after the whistle and he said let's go so uh say less I thought he was making fun of Vetrano's lack of a beard yeah which was pretty funny to me this is the entertainment business right and it was entertaining it looked to me like hagel was going at vatrano about his lack of his wolfman style beard and vatrano was going at him for doing the pump up the crowd

showboat thing after a 50 50 fight that kind of looked like the dynamic to me i wouldn't say you're wrong i've got no problem with either guy doing that and that was a fun moment but tonight was all about and Palat. Just an outstanding performance. The other story, which goes back to Monday, is the Colorado sweep of the Edmonton Oilers. Arturi Lekkonen, the overtime hero. We will spend more

time talking about Colorado, but as you're driving home, let's park some time here to talk about what's next for the Edmonton Oilers. So you're the Oilers. And I don't even want to say Ken Holland. Maybe I'll take it all the way up to Daryl Cates, but you're quote unquote, the Oilers. What's the most pressing issue right now?

You know, as you wake up Tuesday morning and say, we don't have to go to the rink for anything. Well, the first thing to me, Jeff, is sorting out Jay Woodcroft and Dave Manson. Ken Holland always said, I'll deal with this at the end of the season. Well, unfortunately for Edmonton, it's the end of the season and now you've got to deal with this. So I think that's the first thing. Is there any chance he's not the coach? Is Edmonton going to lock this down as I would assume they want to? I understand that, you know, the top players on the Oilers, they like Woodcroft a lot.

Generally, I think if your best players are buying into what you're selling, you're in a good spot. It's clear that McDavid liked playing for him spot it's clear that mcdavid like playing for him it's clear that dry sidle like playing for him i think if you've got those two guys on side and i've got no reason to believe that they don't then woodcroft is going to be your coach and that's question number one you sort that You know, one of the things I'm curious about here, and we talked about it during the season. Paul Coffey has been around the team for a little bit. And I'm just wondering where this is all going to shake out. I think the owner, Daryl Cates, when things were going very poorly, coffee showed up on a trip

to Florida and he kind of stuck around. And I think Daryl Cates really trust Paul coffee. He believes in Paul coffee's intuition and he listened to what he had to say. So now that this is all over and coffee kind of stuck around, even as things turn for the better, my only question is, is there anything to all this? You know, is there any question that, hey, about the direction? I assume it's everything is still Ken Holland's call. I've got no reason to believe anything different than that. But just the fact that coffee's been around, you know, just where does this all sit? Is he going to continue to stay around? Is he still part of the decision-making group?

Is this in Holland's hands? I'm just wondering for clarity's sake, is there any reason to believe that Kate feels there has to be a different decision-making process? I don't have any indication right now it does, but this is one thing that's been kind of in my head since he first arrived, and where is this going, if anywhere? So that's my next question. Well, I would imagine that we'll get that answer, Frege, within a couple of weeks as teams now, as they bow out of the playoffs, turn their attention fully and completely to the NHL draft, which comes up in early July in Montreal. So I would imagine that we would have some type of clarity on what's next, probably within the next couple of weeks, wouldn't you say? Like, this will probably be pretty obvious soon, no? That's what I would assume.

I would think so. I would, yes. I agree. Okay, so to a few players. First of all, Leon Dreisaitl. Now, he came shy of saying exactly what the injury was, choosing rather to say... I'm sure everyone or a lot of people saw the video, saw the clip, what happened.

Um, I'm sure you can figure out what type of injury it was by watching the clip. Now, I've never had a high ankle sprain. I have. So could you imagine playing on one? Because that's what, again, I'm not a doctor and he's asked us to throw darts and figure it out ourselves my guess is that's what it is if he's saying you can see it on tv that's what it is i was curious jeff if there was more than one injury yeah you know sometimes when you're playing like he is you overcompensate for the injury which is perfectly normal and you hurt something else or he was taking so much abuse and anything else get hurt you know he had 32 points in 16 games when i had a high ankle sprain i could barely make it from

the bed to the couch well there is a little bit of a discrepancy in athleticism between yourself and leon dry cell to say yes i know i'm a I'm a better athlete than he is. In full disclosure, the same discrepancy exists between myself and Leon Dreissel. So I'm not putting myself on a pedestal here. But honestly, that was a performance for the ages. Watching him get back to the bench after shifts, Elliot, was painful. You could see, although it's funny too, whenever they cut to him on the bench, you could tell he was in agony, but it almost seemed as if he wanted to cover it up the whole time. Like everybody knows what the score is.

Everybody knows this guy is in immense pain here and, you know, Calgary's not making it easier tapping the ankle and, you know, Josh Manson isn't making it any easier chopping the ankle when he went down either, but still like everybody knows that this guy is hurting but he's really doing his best even though it's really obvious to still try to hide it you know i talked to louis de brusque on the radio show on tuesday and he brought up a great point he said you know there's not a better stationary passer in the nhl than leon dry settle like just feed him the puck and he can find a pass.

Like he, first of all, he's got that big canoe paddle of a blade. And the interesting thing, remember when I first saw it, I was in Quebec City for the Memorial Cup and I was with Todd Warner and we were looking at his stick and Todd was bringing up the point, you know, I've seen other players with, you know, big, long, long blades. But the interesting thing about Dreisaitl is, can use the puck at different points in the blade as well, which is such a unique skill. He can play with it, pass with it in tight on the heel, down to the toe, in the middle. He can play with the puck all up and down the blade.

That's one of the unique things that Leon Dreisaitl possesses that other people, you know, if they have a big blade, just can't. And we really saw that on display. Like how many times did someone throw Leon Dreisaitl a pass? You knew he wasn't going to start to sprint, but he made a beautiful bullet pass tape to tape from a standing position. It's like, at times it looked like Leon Dreisaitl was doing elevator practice, just standing there, but feeding amazing passes. I thought that was a great line by Louis. He's a great stationary passer. We saw that on display. That's all great stuff.

I will say I got a good laugh out of a buddy of mine sent me a picture of a bubble hockey player and said, that is Dreisaitl's stick. It is.l's stick. It is. It's true. I remember seeing it when he played Kelowna at Memorial Cup. I'm like, look at the size of this thing. This thing is insane. Look, you know what it was? You can always tell when the trainer comes over,

does the player look at the trainer? And Dreisaitl wouldn't even look at him. He was like, get out of my face. I'm not even listening to you. look at the trainer and dry saddle wouldn't even look at him he was like get out of my face like i'm not even listening to you you know i made the comparison briefly on tuesday night in the ranger game to ryan lindgren lindgren and dry saddle are the faces of these playoffs how many times has lindgren had to go back to the room and you're like we're never gonna see him again and he's back out on the next shift.

And Dreissel was like, you can't even take me off the bench. I'm not even looking at you. It's like from Beverly Hills Cop, Eddie Murphy, blah, blah, blah, blah. I am not listening to Jeff. I am not listening to Jeff. He was great. McDavid was great. If you're an Oiler fan, it took longer than you would have liked.

But this was everything you dreamed about when mcdavid got drafted and it became pretty clear that dry cycle was a really special player this is this is what everything that you dreamed about so then here becomes the question what do you need for finishing touches now that we've seen this team go to the conference final and you know remarkable if you go back to those uh Oilers Brass had in California, if we would have said, hey, this is a team that's going to be in the conference final, you know, you'd probably be laughed out of the room. But here the Oilers were.

And one of the big questions revolves around the future of Mike Smith. And Mike Smith and his media availability, you know, didn't exactly come out and emphatically state that he's coming back and sort of leaves it open to the possibility that he might. How do you see the Oilers' goaltending situation playing out? I know we've talked about the Oilers and goaltending all season long, and it might annoy people, but here we are. It's still an issue. The thing with Smith I look at is that's the emotion of a defeat, right? And the next day, I'm not saying it's still an issue. The thing with Smith I look at is that's the emotion of a defeat, right?

And the next day, I'm not saying it's impossible he retires, but I think Mike Smith is a really emotional guy. He's wired that way. And I'm sure he looks at the giveaway and says, even though he was mad at the referee about the puck hitting that i would guess that mike smith knowing him the way i've gotten to know him a little bit at least is that that's a very emotional thing for him and just the overall situation of the way that series went i think the emotions of it that he would feel he he wasn't as good as he could have been had to be better for

the team you know it's not all his fault but i think he takes a lot of blame for it and i wouldn't be surprised if that has him at a very low point mentally and saying you know this hurts too much and i'm not sure i can go through that again now i did speak to someone who knows him a bit today i said is this serious and they said look we're a day after they got knocked out. Let it breathe and we'll see where we are. Is it possible? Yes. But nobody's going to let Mike Smith make a decision when he's emotional. So when it comes to his retirement, I guess it's possible, but I think it's too soon to really know one way or the other, unless his body tells him he can't play anymore. I think the Oilers have some really interesting decisions to make. Kane's a big one, and there still has to be a hearing here to figure out his whole contract situation. situation. We don't know where this is going to go. And I assume now this is going to be put back on the front burner because the others are out and everybody has to know here by the start of

free agency, what Kane's situation is. So a, the sharks can need to know how much cap room they have. And also Kane needs to know what his contract situation is. Is he a free agent or not? And also Kane needs to know what his contract situation is. Is he a free agent or not? And so all of this stuff has to be sorted out. But I think too, can they clear cap room? I think that's going to be a conversation for them too. How do they go about it? You know, the Poole Yarby thing is really interesting.

You know, today Dallas signed Gurionov and he was one of the players that people were wondering what would his situation be with a qualifying offer and he signed a one-year deal at the qualifying offer number what's Pugliavi going to do what's Edmonton going to think about Pugliavi because you know I've been talking to a couple people about him his arm case is good his arm case is very good. You know, how do the Oilers feel about that? How does Poole Yarvey feel about that? I think that's going to be a really interesting decision in terms of where everybody feels the right path is here.

I think the other thing, too, is the Oilers have to be deeper up front. You know, there's no question about that. I thought that was a huge difference between them and the avalanche is the depth in their forwards and they have to be able to find some good bargains who can play in their bottom six that's going to be a huge huge thing for them because unless you think i'm wrong jeff i really thought forward depth became a big issue in this particular series it became pretty obvious like a few things became pretty obvious too. One, Colorado was able to do what we all thought Calgary was going to be able to do. And that was slow down the Oilers in the neutral zone. And two, we knew that the offense was going to be on

display, but defense was on display for the Colorado Avalanche. And also, and I think a lot of this is led by JT Comfer, who had a tremendous series. Their bottom six was just flat out better. Like now, they had some veteran guys, and Cogliano and Darren Helm and stuff, and guys that you look at and you say, okay, these players are going to show up come playoff time.

But still, their bottom six was better. One of the things I wonder about here with the Oilers, with the Oilers, with the emergence of Evan Bouchard, and you might tell me that it's too soon to make this decision, but I wonder with the emergence of Evan Bouchard and his ability on the power play to be a shooting threat unlike Tyson Berry, because I'm thinking of ways that Ken Holland can make cap space here like

we all are. Does that make Tyson Berry expendable? If you have someone that can take that power play spot. Now, can he distribute like Tyson Berry? No. But he can move the puck and he can shoot. You have McDavid and Dreisaitl on your power play. I know.

And he's a shooting threat. Not that he's got the big bomb that you need, but he gets pucks through. And you might say it's too early to make that decision right now. I don't think it is. But I think it's on the horizon. I wonder if Bouchard forces Edmonton's hand on Tyson Berry here. I think it's possible.

It's one of the things I've looked at. I do think you're at a point next year where you want Evan Bouchard to be your top power play quarterback. I do think you're at a point next year where you want Evan Bouchard to be your top power play quarterback. I do think that. And to me, just, this is off the top of my head, Jeff, we've talked all year long about Seattle's going to be looking to create offense. Yep. Tyson Berry, to me, you know, he doesn't have a long-term deal.

To me, he's the kind of player that Seattle could really use. I see a fit there. If that's what the cracker and the oilers want to do i agree with you completely i think you you have to start next season i believe looking at it right now with bouchard is number one on your power play okay again we'll get to the abs in the uh the podcast to come okay so i have to tell you, Jeff, I got a funny call from someone at the NHL. Okay. I want to talk to the Oilers fans here for a couple seconds on the podcast,

because I know a lot of them are not very pleased these days. So I got a call from someone at the NHL today and he was kind of laughing. And he said, you know, he was, he was looking online and he was looking at social and he was said, you know, he was, he was looking online and he was looking at social and he was saying, you know, boy, the Oilers fans are unhappy with you guys right now.

And I said, yes, I know. And he said to me, do you remember 2017? And I go, what specifically about 2017? And he said, when Anaheim complained about you, and I had totally, totally forgotten about this. So in 2017, you'll remember that the Oilers beat San Jose in the first round. And they played the Docs in a superb seven game series in the second round. Like really a great series in the history of, like really a great series in, in the history of my time at hockey night in Canada.

And I had forgotten about this, but in the comeback on Catella, there was the play where Kessler held Cam Talbot's pad. And the Oilers fans will tell me if I'm wrong about the details, but I know the general situation here. But I believe that was the goal that tied the game and sent it into overtime. But remember, there's still a challenge left on both benches, and there may have been goaltender interference. Well, you've got the last minute, so this one will get looked at, but the officials right now haven't even necessarily made their ruling all kinds of traffic the bouncing puck that the

test is not able to get out the traffic in front you got Kessler on one side Talbot gets knocked down and through the five hole on his birthday Ricard Raquel with time ticking down let's have a look look. Where is Corey Perry? Where is Kessler? Perry ended up knocking him further down, and wouldn't you believe that, of course, Corey Perry in the thick of it. And Ryan Kessler basically at this point all over the top of the pad of Cam Talbot,

pushed there to an extent by Darnell Nurse, but happy to stay. And during the intermission, like initially we missed it, and I'm not blaming anybody. That happens from time to time, the craziness of a game like that. But in the intermission, someone sent me a note saying, check and see if there's an angle that shows Kessler holding Talbot's pad. There was someone who was at the game.

We told Brian Spear to look for it, the producer, and he found it. And so I came on the air and I said, Kessler, like, I don't remember what I said, but it was basically something like this. Kessler gets away with murder on this play. He holds Talbot's pad and Anaheim scores to send it into overtime. And of course they won the game. Anaheim scores to send it into overtime. And of course they won the game. Well, like a day or two later, somebody called me from the league and said, oh man, are the ducks steaming at you? And I said, I said, what, what's the issue?

And they go, well, they say that you're on the air on hockey night in Canada and you are openly rooting for them to lose. You are biased because you're a hockey night in Canada commentator and you are openly rooting for them to lose. You are biased because you're a Hockey Night in Canada commentator and you are finding plays that will prejudice the referees against the Ducks. And I just started laughing. I said he held his leg. He held his leg. And the guy said, I know, but I just wanted you to know that, you know, this was out there.

I didn't really care one way or the other. I felt very secure. And this happens from time to time. People accuse you of being biased. You know, I just said, I don't really care. Like they held his leg. They got away with it. They won the game.

What are they complaining about? You know, he called me up to laugh about it because this is a really tough series for Edmonton like Colorado's the better team whenever you sweep I think we all know it and we all see how special this Colorado team has the potential to be but the one thing I do understand from the older's perspective is it just seemed like every 50-50 call went against them. Like from the offside to the cane play, which I don't think you can really complain about, but the offside, non-offside with McCarr. The one call I really disagreed with in game four

was the Ryan slew foot that led to a power play goal late for Colorado. I didn't like that one. But generally, as you saw, I agreed with most of the calls that were made and it all went against the oilers and i know it sucks i know it sucks or their fans i don't know i don't know what to tell you i called them honestly and as i felt and it was just funny because other fans were upset this guy called me today to remind me of you know the time when the docs came at me hard from the other side saying you know you want the Oilers to win and and your blatant favoritism

is unacceptable it just shows you like it's funny how things change and what's true one day isn't true the other it's just wild times I guess I I do feel bad for the oldest fans because that was a tough way to lose but um you know i don't think there's this grand conspiracy against them i really don't when things go wrong for your team as a fan listen you can't i i've thought a lot about this i mean as a fan you're powerless to control anything uh you're in a very vulnerable position because your emotions are being controlled by a hockey team that you're at more than arm's length away. And it can be really frustrating and you need outlets to vent towards. And if that means you want to send an angry tweet to me over something that I tweeted or said, I think that's a lot healthier.

And if it gives you a chance to blow off steam, then that's fine. I agree. To me, what's it, what's the phrase you always use for each occupational hazard. Yes, that's fine. If it helps you blow off steam,

it's a very safe way to do it. Vent at me. If you think I'm biased, that's fine. Get your flame tweet, your whatever tweet at me, go for it. If it makes you feel better as a fan,

I don't mind Elliotiot i think you're you're probably the same way i whenever i get them i say to myself i hope this made that person feel better i don't care i can take it i understand that if i stick my head up above a crowd i should expect someone will throw a rock i just hope that that is that person getting it out and going on with their day. I'm fine with it. I'm glad you brought that up because I always do say that occupational hazard. I think there's a line that nobody needs to cross.

But hey, these people are why we're employed and they pay our salaries. We love you watching and we love you listening and we know you're pissed off. And if you have to send an angry, non-over-the-line tweet or DM that makes you feel better. Well, I got those too. I got those too, yeah. That's okay. It's tough.

The longer, like we talked about the other day, the longer you go, the more it sucks to lose. Totally. By the way, I loved McDavid on the breakaway day saying, Yeah, I mean, those lessons only really matter if you put yourself back in those situations um you know so obviously that's our focus uh is to put ourselves back in uh in that position um and use the lessons that uh that uh you know we learned throughout our little run here and you know put those two uh to good work next year that says to me he's going to take

about two days off and he's going to be training. You watch. It'll be like, stay off the ice. Okay, I'll just practice face-offs. And he'll just practice face-offs for a week. He might get 200 points next year. Yeah. Come back angry and possessed. Look at Gretzky records and go, whatever. Before we go to news, there's one thing on

Colorado. Yes. Cadry. Yes. So he had the surgery on Monday. Yep Monday and the final is either going to start the 15th or the 18th. Yeah. I think they're hopeful he's going to play. And I think he's hopeful he's going to play. I think it just comes down to how quickly, how much recovery is made in the next week or so. Yes.

And my thought about this one is because like you, I'm looking at if I'm Colorado, if I'm Nazem Kadri, A, I want New York and Tampa to beat each other up for seven games. So A, they're softened up, whomever wins and B, I get as much time to heal as possible. I just wonder about the, with that injury. I just wonder about the ability to shoot. Like, I think if he does come back,

I think the passing will be fine. Obviously the skating and all that, that's all going to be fine. I just wonder if like, if you're either New York or Tampa facing off facing off against colorado and cadre's on the ice are you thinking the back of your head this guy's not going to shoot this guy's not going to be able to shoot and you can play him more effectively again i don't know this but this is just how i feel like if i'm playing against cadre i'm like give this guy the shot all day because

with that injury i just wonder how effective that could be. That's the only thing that I wonder about. And nobody will go after the injury like no one went after Dreisaitl too. No, no, no. It's a bunch of Boy Scouts out there. By the way, Jeff, I don't know if you heard, but there's like, I'm on my street. I stepped out of the car.

I'm walking around. There's a raccoon somewhere near me. I heard it squealing. I think it was warning me. I was getting too close. Oh, yeah? So if you hear me like running, screaming in a couple of seconds, it's because a raccoon is chasing me. I heard it squealing. I think it was warning me I was getting too close. So if you hear me running screaming in a couple of seconds,

it's because a raccoon is chasing me. I do not like raccoons. Do you know what my wife and 12-year-old son saw today? What's that? And took a picture of it right down the street from us. A coyote? Oh, no, no. We see those all. They come up right beside the house. We see and hear them almost every day.

A black bear. You've got to be kidding me. You took a picture of it? Yeah, Claire took it from the car. Oh, okay. From the house. We see and hear them almost every day. A black bear. You've got to be kidding me. You took a picture of it? Yeah, Claire took it from the car. Yeah. Oh, okay, from the car. Yeah, and they're just like wandering up. Hey, TJ, stand next to the bear.

No smile, thumbs up, kiddo. Yeah, a black bear. So that's the difference between where you live and where I live. You're getting all freaked out about a raccoon, Frej. Come on up here, pal. Come on. We have coyotes in our area,

and we've gotten the warnings lately. Do not go anywhere near them. Because if they show up during the day, which they have been lately. During the day? Hey, really? Yes. We hear them at night. No, we've been getting some during the day. One of my favorite things about living up here is hearing

the coyotes barking chain. Which I believe is the mother of the pack barking out to check to see how many barks she gets back. And if she doesn't get the right number back, it's an indication they need to start mating because they've lost one. So that's why you're not supposed to kill coyotes.

That's what I've read. That if they don't get the right number back, uh-oh, it's mating mating time we've lost one or two anyhow how did we get sidetracked to this Mutual of Omaha's Wild Marlin Perkins I love living up here Freed come on it's the best Bruce Cassidy fired by the Boston Bruins the hunt for a new coach has begun your thoughts on on what

we saw this goes back to monday and into tuesday's press conference by uh by don sweeney the general manager the thing that surprised me the most about it is that you know cam neely had mentioned when they got knocked out by carolina that this a possibility. But I think we kind of figured that as we got to this point in the playoffs, that it was going to be okay, that Cassidy was going to stay. I think one of the most interesting things about this is that the news came out that they agreed that they were going to replace at least one assistant coach. So it sounded like they were making to replace at least one assistant coach so it sounded like they were making plans to do things together right and i heard it caught cassidy totally by surprise and you know maybe we'll find out that he didn't feel that way but i know that there were people in the organization that were caught a little bit by surprise because they were kind

of under the impression that they were going to be moving forward as if he was staying as coach you know the other thing too is you talk to other coaches and people who are around the business you know they know when someone's really in trouble they can always sense it and it just appeared around the league as if that window on Cassidy had closed that he was in trouble so I think it really caught people by surprise you know it's interesting there were a lot of rumors there's been a lot of rumors that have come out about this number one that Patrice Bergeron said he wouldn't come back if Cassidy was the head coach and Sweeney denied that he said that's not true I do think there was

a battle between Cassidy and some of the younger players. And, you know, the one thing I do think, and I mentioned this to you on your show earlier on Tuesday, is the Larry Bird rule. And I've said this before. He quit his coach of the Indiana Pacers after three years, even though the players wanted him to stay because he said the message gets lost after three years. him to stay because he said the message gets lost after three years. And I think that it strikes me as clear that the organization felt that the message was getting lost. And whether it's fair or not, that to me is the reason the Bruins did this. Now, I think there's a couple other things.

Number one, I think Cassidy has rocketed very high in a lot of these other lists. I don't think he's going to have trouble if he wants to work, getting a job and getting a job fairly quickly. Who knows what Steve Eiserman is going to do, but there are a lot of people who seem to think that Cassidy will be a very serious contender in Detroit, for example, if not elsewhere. will be a very serious contender in Detroit, for example, if not elsewhere. And this is the power of a good reporter like Fluto Shinzawa, the athletic, who's a great reporter, has had some stories that have really got Boston fans nervous about the future of David Pasternak. Fluto wrote a story last night.

It was a really interesting story about how, according to one individual, Pasternak is upset that Torrey Krug and David Krejci, who he was close with, were allowed to leave. And Pasternak didn't like that. And here's the quote. 88 had seen how Don has treated his two best friends. No chance he comes back with Sweens as GM. So, you know, that's a big deal. I was under the impression that the Bruins were going to try to sign Pasternak to an extension and that was their plan. And so I reached out to JP Berry, who represents Pasternak and said, you know, this is a huge story. Like what's the deal here?

And he said that he called Sweeney this morning and he called Pasternak this morning and just to try to get to the bottom of everything and he said that the plan is for everyone to sit down and discuss an extension early July and see where it goes he said it would be premature to jump to conclusions uh before then but i mean it's obvious this is a huge story and fluto is a good reporter now the funny thing about our conversation is i said are you the kind of guy who calls don sweeney sweenes are you the source for this and jp laughed and he said i played hockey against sweeney because they're both from the same area of the country out east. And I definitely did not call him Sweeney's.

I called him Donnie. So I'm not the source for this story. So we can knock that one down, I guess. Anyway, I think the Bruins want to sign them. I think they want to sign them long term. If they can't, I think they're going to have to trade them. I think they want to sign him long-term. If they can't, I think they're going to have to trade him.

But right now, I think JP just tried to put cold water on that and said, just don't jump to any conclusions. But obviously, it's a story worth watching. And I'll tell you a couple other things. I don't necessarily think this is about a rebuild. They know they're going to be missing players like Marchand and McAvoy and Gryzly and potentially Riley into next season. But I don't think that means that sees them like throwing away the year. And depending on what happens with them down the middle, you know, who's a guy I wonder who could be on their radar, Jeff?

Vincent Trocek. See, I was going to say Nazem Kadri. Well, there's another one. Trocek makes some sense too. I can see that. I look at Boston and I say, again, you know my rule about 100 games for goaltenders, but I think Jeremy Swayman's a good goaltender.

Yep. And by the end of the season, Linus Ulmark really had a good year with the Boston Bruins. I like their defense a lot. You mentioned McAvoy and Gryzlik injured, but the Lindholm deal, I really like. My questions about the Boston Bruins. I like their defense a lot. You mentioned McAvoy and Gryzlik injured, but the Lindholm deal, I really like. My questions about the Boston Bruins, much like a lot of other people, are the forwards. And a lot of that is just being led by the Patrice Bergeron decision. And if he decides to go, then I wonder what the decision of this organization is.

You can bring in, Trochak is an unrestricted, Nazem Kadri is an unrestricted, Claude Giroux is an unrestricted. There are options for you here. But I think the rest of the team kind of looks okay. They're just not going to be around for the first couple of months of the season.

And I think that that's the way they look at it. If they believe all these players can come back, if they can keep their head above water, they believe that they could have a strong finish to the year i completely agree with you and you know the other thing too is like i re-watched on sweeney's press conference and to me sweeney was kind of just saying the basics and there were a lot of people who were critical of them for just saying the basics new voice yeah i kind of got an impression just watching that that i just think and i could totally be wrong on this i just look at a press conference like that and i'll say

i don't think that this was an easy one for the bruins. I would love to know internally, like sometimes the Bruins do that behind the B show and it's really good. And I like they do. We'll never see it, but I would love to see a behind the B of the conversations about this. Cause I'm betting not everybody agreed. It sounds to me like this was one that had a lot of pulling and pushing internally before they decided on this direction. fire Julian and brought in Bruce Cassidy. And I know it caught a lot of people by surprise. One, that they were getting rid of Claude Julian, you know, longtime coach and Stanley Cup coach. But two, you know, going with someone who many thought might not ever be a head coach in the NHL again, that was going to be, you know, resigned to, oh, he's going to be a career AHL guy, or maybe he'll be an assistant coach in the NHL, but that's about it for Bruce

Cassidy. And, you know, the talk around the Bruins at that time was the team was kind of, what was the phrase playing stale at that point that it needed something. And Bruce Cassidy brought that something and the Boston Bruins became a more dynamic team again. And under Bruce Cassidy, they never missed the playoffs. Like I'm with you. Like when you look at the resume and I can understand, you know, friction with players and these things happen. I get that's, that's the story of every team. I cannot imagine.

But again, I'm not there. Guys like Flutist and Zawa, Kevin Paul, DePaul, these guys are there. I can't imagine that it would have been unanimous i don't believe it was there's no way like to me like sweeney was just trying to get through that press conference he knew that no matter what he said people weren't going to like it and he was just like i'm just going to get through this. I'll tell you, one of the teams that I wonder about with Bruce Cassidy is the Dallas Stars. Now, you and I talked earlier today on the radio about Peter DeBoer and the Dallas Stars. What's your latest thinking on what's happening with that coaching search there?

Well, I do think DeBoer is on their radar, and I do think he's someone they have legit interest in. But the whole Cassidy thing, it's just thrown everything into, I don't know, chaos again, right? First Trotz and now Cassidy, right? Trotz, now there's two coaches that might be sort of halting the progress of teams signing coaches. Right, and Cassidy has to get his head around what he wants to do. Now there's two coaches that might be sort of halting the progress of teams signing coaches. Right. And Cassidy has to get his head around what he wants to do. Yeah. Like I said, I didn't get a chance to really work at it Tuesday night because I was working the game.

But I had several people tell me that they think DeBoer is a legit candidate of interest in Dallas. And now we'll see what this means. It's fascinating. I mean, I could see chicago being interested in cassidy too i could see vegas like who wouldn't be like look at his record he you know i i could see vegas being interested in cassidy i mean we've got to wait to see how this all sorts out this is throwing a wrench that a lot of people didn't really expect you know i think that one of the things that kind of happened here was

everything was kind of settling down. Everybody knew who was kind of on Trott's watch, and they were starting to interview other candidates. Like one of the things I agree with you about is that I think Winnipeg waited a long time. I think they were Trott's only. And I'm just wondering if Winnipeg is beginning to suspect

that it may not work out for them. And they started looking at some other candidates. Now you mentioned Talkett. Yeah. You mentioned Darneil. You know, we talked about Montgomery and I do think Montgomery

has a shot there and we'll see where that goes. Philly, you know, John Butchergross and Butchergross has a shot there and we'll see where that goes philly you know john butcher gross and butcher gross has a style when he's on to something and i first saw it last year i don't know if he's done it before but with the taylor hall trade when hall got traded from buffalo to boston he tweeted out i think it was a picture of taylor hall and ain. And they tweeted a picture of Bjork and the number two. I think it was actually Tupac Shakur that he tweeted out. And so that's the way he does it.

I kind of like the style. It's cool. And the other day he tweeted out Tortorella and Gritty. And so because he's done that in the past, is that code for Tortorella's going to Philly and what I've basically heard there is he's a very serious contender and it may happen but that's premature at least from the day he tweeted it and so what I think is happening now Jeff is that I think in all these situations it was tr watch, but now start to interview your other people in case, you know, he takes the year off or you're not a team.

I think that's what teams were starting to do. And now all of a sudden Cassidy's dropped on everybody. It might reset this process a bit. And through all of it as well, we're still waiting to see what happens with the Florida Panthers. That one's still very much out there. I'm surprised it's taken this long. I mean, I guess I shouldn't be

because the Cassidy one's only two days ago, but I'm still surprised this one has taken as long as it can. I mean, whatever issues you might have with Andrew Burnett, maybe. I mean, he was dropped in a difficult situation and he took you to the president's trophy, right? Okay. Maybe,

maybe you felt he got out coached by John Cooper in the second round of the playoffs, but he's not the first guy that's happened to him. And it's his first year as head coach to me. I think there's a lot to work with here. Chicago, Derek King, I think is going to get interviewed there. We mentioned Todd Reardon in the last podcast. I think there's a few more people on their list.

I will say this for Boston. I know there's a lot of people wondering about Jay Leach. Jay Leach was their coach in Providence. He left to Seattle this past year. I had more than one person text me saying that that's someone to watch in this particular case.

Not necessarily the favorite but i think a person of interest it's intense out there you know travis green i've heard his name for three or four of these spots you know i i had someone say that if there's a change in florida you know watch for jeff blasio there's so many names flying around right now i don't know what to make of it, really. Let's send them a couple of quick notes then. And you brought these both up on Hockey Night on Tuesday. Tough news for Chris Drieger of the Seattle Kraken.

Seven to nine months, torn right ACL, going back to the Canadian gold medal game against Finland. Like this was just a real drag, certainly for the player who you really feel for. And now for the Seattle Kraken, Joey Decord now becomes the number two in that organization. Do you have a quick thought on either the Kraken or Chris Drieger here? Well, first of all, as you said, you feel terrible for Drieger, who was playing so well for Canada, getting injured in the gold medal game. But seven to nine months, That's a, that's a significant injury,

significant, significant injury. Marie-Philippe Poulin. Listen, we've talked about her pre Olympics and her future. Now she's still very much has a future on the ice. She wants to do one more Olympic cycle and compete for Canada, but also as we found out on Tuesday morning,

has been hired to work in the player development department as a consultant by the Montreal Canadiens, something we had discussed going back a couple of months where Montreal essentially said, whenever you're ready, Marie-Philippe Poulin, we're doors open wide. We'll figure out what you want to do, how you want to do it. We just want you part of the Montreal Canadiens.

And now her beak is in that fountain. Yes. Well, that was the player they wanted. And I think the Canadians knew that if Marie-Philippe Poulin was going to be on the roster of any NHL team in any kind of management position, they felt it had to be them. And I understand why they felt that way, because they're probably right about that. Marie-Philippe Poulin should be, if she's going to work

in the National Hockey League, a member of the Montreal Canadiens organization simply because of a frontman. It feels right to be that way standpoint. And it was always going to be about this. She made it very clear. After Canada won the Olympics, I definitely believe she knew she had a path to work for the Canadians on a full-time basis

if she wished. And she made it clear that she wanted to play some more. So I think the Canadians said, how can we make this work? It took some time, but they got it done. And I'm happy for them and for her. You know, it's interesting. Tim McAuliffe had her on his show, Tim and friends, and he asked her about, can you coach

the clutch jeep? I think it's such a great question. I think it's such a, can you coach that? And, uh, I look forward to seeing her try because I would like to know the answer to that question. I think in some places it can be taught. And I think in other ways, I think people are wired the way they're wired and some of them are difficult to change, but I'm happy for her and I'm happy for them because Marie-Philippe Poulin, the Montreal Canadiens is the way it should be. And I don't believe, Jeff, that that will be the last high profile female hockey star signing

of the season. I think there will be more. I agree very much so. Congratulations to the Habs and congratulations to Marie-Philippe Poulin. Elliot I want to end on the latest from Rick Westhead at TSN. Hockey Canada

executives may be asked to testify before a parliamentary subcommittee about the decision to settle the lawsuit with eight CHL players accused of sexually assaulting a woman in London. Yeah, so Rick's report on Tuesday, as you said, the parliamentary subcommittee on Canadian heritage, which is made up of MPs from several different parties, they could vote as early as Wednesday to begin

asking hockey Canada officials to testify about the now settled lawsuit, as you mentioned, that's a huge development. And if it happens, it's a really huge development uh we have a reporter at sports net who was working on this story and i and i've been in communication with them and it's pretty clear from some of the information that he has collected and some of the information that we've been working on that there's two real things here that are really going to potentially move it along one was can Canadian government intervention, which we've known since last week that could potentially happen. And now, judging from some of the quotes I read in Rick's story,

it appears likely to happen. So that's one. And the other is, you know, an NHL, NHLPA investigation. And there have been some conversations between the league and players about how this is going to be handled. The league has let the players know they intend to do one, but I still think they're working on

how this is all going to work. You know, it's going to happen at some point in time. So, you know, I think that, you know, because the report to this point is private and, you private and Hockey Canada officials have not said anything aside from the original statements that were made, it's a difficult story to get a handle on. So what were we all wondering could move it along here? Were these two things, and it looks as if both of these things are going to happen and one of them potentially sooner rather than later. So these are huge developments and we'll continue to monitor them as they occur. The story is far from over. Thanks for joining us once again on 32 Thoughts, the podcast.