32 Thoughts: The Podcast - London Calling

Episode Date: September 23, 2022

Live from London, Ontario! Jeff and Elliotte kick off their 32 Tour hosted by Boston Pizza in London and record the podcast in front of an audience. They chat Kyle Dubas (1:30), Rasmus Sandin (10:10), Jason Robertson (11:30), Nils Lundkvist (13:00), bad news out of Philadelphia (17:00), Kevyn Adams extension (20:40), what the Blackhawks might do with Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane (22:10) and they reminisce about a few players that called it a career earlier this week (25:30).Get your tickets at www.32tour.comSeptember 26th - KitchenerSeptember 27th - KingstonSeptember 29th - TrentonOctober 2nd - PeterboroughOctober 6th - HamiltonThis podcast was produced and mixed by Amil Delic, and hosted by Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman. Thanks to on-site engineer Steven Coyle.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.

So who thinks they're good, but they're really not good? I played against Kevin Fiala once. And I think his sister played tennis. Okay. And he told me he was really good because he grew up playing tennis. And he wasn't very good. So you dusted him, is what you said. You dusted him.

I did. That right there was Roman Yossi as part of the NHL players tour. Poor Kevin Fiala. That's a drive-by. Oh, I know. Countryman, right? Just getting totally... You a good tennis player, Preach?

Not at all. You never played tennis? I did play tennis, but not very well. As good as Kevin Fiala, apparently. I think I... Based on what Roman Yossi just said, I think I could beat Kevin Fiala. So a lot of people here live. We're at Boston Pizza in London on Wellington.

People listening right now on the podcast, this is a live taping of the podcast. Friday mornings, we release fresh ones as we do Mondays. So there will be noise, or as we call it in the industry, ambient sound in the background. So the applause, the jeers, the sneers, the boos, and the hisses, courtesy of our friends here at Boston Pizza. We'll essentially run down the news of the week, the news of the day, a little bit later on here on the program. If we can get to some of the hockey dads, we have Mr. Horvat, Mr. Suzuki, Mr. Dowdy, and the star of the show, Christine Simpson, coming up here in a couple of moments.

In the meantime, we'll start off with the news of the day. And it's everybody's favorite team, and it's everybody's favorite topic. Kyle Dubas and the Toronto Maple Leafs. Now, we just saw Kevin Adams get a contract extension with the Buffalo Sabres. Nothing for Dubas in Toronto. Okay, there's a couple of things at play here. Number one is obvious. This is a results-oriented business. One of the things that the Maple Leafs have established under Kyle Dubas

is that they will make the playoffs. And that's something that hasn't always happened in the Toronto Maple Leafs' recent history. That is a significant thing. It's hard to make the playoffs in the NHL. However, nobody needs to be reminded about what happens to the Toronto Maple Leafs when they get into the playoffs. And they haven't won a round, this is a results oriented business. Right now they're at a point where another first round defeat is simply not good enough. After the Leafs got eliminated we had a night off not long after. I went out with some friends for dinner and a couple of Leaf fans said, you know, we're really sorry to interrupt, but we want to ask you a couple of questions about the Leafs.

And I said, OK. And they go, do you think the Leafs should blow it up or they should continue with the same group? And I said, I don't think they should blow it up. I think they obviously need to be a lot better. But you look at Tampa, you look at Washington, eventually look at Colorado. They stuck with it and they won. And in this restaurant in front of my friends, this person yelled at me. He said, you're wrong.

And like other people were eating and they turned to look. And my buddies were like, does this happen to you a lot like they were totally taken away by it but like look like i think they know how their fan base feels i don't think anybody should be surprised the one thing that did kind of surprise me was that dubas came out publicly and said he'd been told in a meeting that there was going to be no extension. I was a little surprised at that. But I don't think anyone's surprised we're at this point. The other thing that I think people need to recognize here is that there's something that happened.

Do you remember what happened in Toronto in November of 2019? See, this is what we do. Jeff and I surprise each other with questions that we don't know the answers to, to make each other look bad. November 2019, Mike Babcock was fired as the head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Before a game against Colorado. Yes. And what had happened was Mike Babcock, when he was signed as coach, he was signed to an eight-year deal at $50 million. So basically, he was paid four years not to coach. And I think that that had huge ramifications in the organization.

Look, I'm sure that everybody in the crowd, everybody listening to this podcast, you're all in business or you run a business or you work for a business. No business is going to like that. Nobody wants to pay someone four years, especially that amount of money, not to work. And I heard that throughout the organization, there was a lot of talk about how that was going to change the way they did business. Like Brandon Shanahan, when he got his new contract to do his job, I always forget what the title is. He got his new deal right at the end of his old deal. I think he knew he was going to get a new deal, but they didn't get it done till right as his old deal was coming to an end. And I think that part of the reason that Dubas is not extended is not only the fact that they haven't won a round, it's

because I think the organization is being a lot more careful with how they give out contracts because of what happened with Babcock. Like the Masai Ujiri negotiation, which was clownish for a lot of reasons. I do think, and I'm a person who believes that they should have given you Jerry, whatever he wanted, he won. But I do think that the Babcock contract was a factor in the fact that those negotiations took longer than they needed to be and work more contentious than they needed to be. And so I really do think that business has changed in Toronto because of that. And that's why they're going to wait to see where this is going to go. No consideration or worry about essentially

a general manager on an expiring contract, hot shotting the year? No, you know, I was asked about this today. I was on JD Bunkus' show today, and he's a better interviewer than Jeff is. And he said to me, do you think that'll happen? And I said, no, I don't think it'll happen. And there's a couple reasons. First of all, I don't think Dubas is wired that way. Number two, if Shanahan really thought that Dubas was doing something to ruin the future of the team, I think he wouldn't let it happen.

And the other thing here is, let's just say this doesn't work for Kyle Dubas this year he's going to want to be a GM somewhere else I saw an interview years ago there was an old GM in the NFL his name was Charlie Casserly he was the GM in Washington and he got fired and I watched him in a TV interview and he said and they asked him do you want Washington to go 0-16 next year? And he said, no, I don't. I want them to win. I want them to win a lot because that's my resume out there. Think of your favorite team and think of the worst trade they ever made.

And you can probably remember who the GM was who made that trade. So Dubas is not going to do that, I don't think. Now, somebody brought up Alex Anthopoulos to me today. Like when Anthopoulos was in his last year with Toronto, he went for it and got them in the playoffs. Two things about that. Number one, that Toronto team statistically was a good team. Even though the record wasn't good when he started going crazy, their run differential was excellent

he had reason to believe it so that's number one so we'll see how they go do this year and number two the other thing too with Anthopolis was he found out they were talking to other teams about his replacement so until that happens I don't think the situations are exactly comparable you know I know that Austin Matthews right away threw the wet towel on it and did not want to discuss it any further than we'll deal with it later. And Toronto is my home. Two more years left on Austin Matthews deal. Now we live in a Nathan McKinnon world now. Yep. 12.6 million. We live in a Nathan McKinnon salary world. And the minute that that was, you know, released by the Colorado Avalanche I think a

lot of our first thoughts went to well if he's that number what's Austin Matthews number when he is up do you have a sense of what Matthews wants what the Maple Leafs want what his representation Wasserman wants and the future of Austin Matthews well first of all I take him at face value yesterday I know some people roll their eyes at that I think this unless the Maple Leafs really go off the rails this year like really go off the rails I think he's staying I think the question is how long like the number is going to be the number if he walks in there and says I want 12.634 they're going to give them 12.634 like it's going to be a massive number and they know it's going to be a massive number to me the question is term when Austin Matthews when that contract kicks in for Matthews he's going to be approaching his 27th birthday

and I think the question is going to be not what makes sense for Toronto but what makes sense for Matthews. Like what if he signs for argument's sake what if he says you know what I'm 27 I want to sign another contract when I'm 31. I think unless they go off the rails I think he stays for at least one more contract the The number is going to be the number. It's going to be massive. One agent I talked to on the way here today, because we were throwing it around and I threw out the number 14. He said, we've been talking about 15. Nathan McKinnon, when we talked to him at Vegas, I heard the number was going to be 13.

And it ended up being 12.6. Like I heard the story with Connor McDavid was when his contract was up the last time at their meeting, because the maximum you can get is 20%. McDavid said, or his agent said, we're not going to ask you for 20%. And the others were like, oh, thank God. Because they were like, we're going to have to give it to you if you really want it.

So I think it's going to come down to what's a big number plus what can work. What happens with Rasmus Sandin? I hate doing these because it could change in two minutes. So we're taping. Emma loves editing at 5 o'clock in the morning. This is one of those where Amal gets a text from me saying, okay, record me in my shower or the hotel shower tonight. It's 7.22 Eastern on Thursday night. You know, last I'd heard today, really wasn't going anywhere.

Could change with one phone call. Initially, one of the comparables they used was Jake Bean. I'm talking about the agent. That's 2.2. The Maple Leafs weren't willing to go there. My guess is they're now now if you look at the deal Sean Dursey just signed Drew Doughty's teammate in LA the average is 1.7 I think Toronto's really trying to hold to 1.4 if it's a one-year deal it's this qualifying offer which is

less right now Sandin's holding out and saying no like I think Toronto's trying to tell him look Timothy Lilligren's hurt. Jake Muzzin's hurt. Although they're not worried right now that that's going to be longer. There's opportunity for you here right at the start of the season. You can grab it. It's moved closer, but I've heard it's still not there. Speaking of not there, we'll move off the Maple Leafs page.

And one of the things, and I'm sorry if we've bored you with this on the podcast, but this is going to be an every podcast update topic so get used to it we're not even sure how long it's going to last like again to your point you look at your watch it may be over by the time this evening is over or it may drag into training camp and dare we say past that and that's Jason Robertson of the Dallas Stars. 40 goal score. He's due a new contract. I think the number's big. Oh yeah. If it's an eight-year deal, it's huge. It's going to be a massive number. And that's why I don't think it's going to be an eight-year deal. Until proven wrong, I don't think it's going to be an eight-year deal. He's not at camp. My guesstimate is three times

7.5. And until I'm proven wrong, I'm'm going with that i do think an eight-year deal is discussed i do think the number is huge i think he looks at the eight times eights that were just handed out in st louis he says i'm more valuable than that and i would agree i don't see a long term deal getting done right now unless dallas does major surgery one of the names to watch for in dallas is riley dimiani who just had a really good camp at Traverse City. This is one of Merrick's nerd moments. I got to have like one or two nerd moments every podcast, folks. Riley Damiani, who's 22 years old now,

been pro for a couple of years, ready for that next step. And I wonder if it's not there this year for him because i know teams are interested i i wonder what the decision is on riley damiani because if he's going to get a chance it's probably going to be now oh you want to talk about the trade this week neil's lundquist you know what's interesting about that one is dallas tried to get him before that would have been actually that draft would have been in dallas yeah uh they took ty delandria with their pick and they're trying to get a second pick in the first round the rangers obviously had three picks that year and they took nils lundquist with their third they took kratsov k andre miller and then nils lundquist with their third pick. But Dallas, as I recall, had a deal with Detroit at 30.

And that if Lundqvist was available, the deal was going to go through and they were going to take him. Obviously, the Rangers took him at 28. The Detroit Red Wings ended up taking Joe Valeno. Someday, folks, I will write a book about draft stories. And that'll be one of them. But that's someone...

Listen, Nils Lundqvist, I know it may not be the biggest deal. That's a first and a fourth. I like stories like that. It's a pretty big deal. That's someone that Dallas has wanted for a while. They were chasing him all the way back in his draft year. Well, normally I think your stories are terrible and not correct,

but I heard that Dallas had been trying to make this deal for seven to eight months. So that verifies what you have to say. So I get the thumbs up from Elliot? You get the thumbs up. That's not fake news. Okay, so while Jeff's talking here, I'm going to grab a handheld mic and I'm just going to walk around a bit.

This is actually going to be a real dream, not having to sit next to Elliot while we record a podcast. one of the nicest things about doing the podcast now because one of the things that the pandemic forced us to do was be creative about recording and doing things like live radio. Nobody goes to the studio anymore. We do everything from home. Elliot's got a home studio. So does Amel.

And so do I. If I never have to go back to the studio, I'll be a happy guy. Would you rather I go back and sit down there or do you want me to actually look at me? Okay. My wife says I look better in the dark. Okay. All right. Let's go to Vegas. Speaking of free agents, Nick Hague, defenseman, and man, you talked about Nolan Patrick, the other podcast, and he's not playing this season. Mild shocker or no? No, it's really unfortunate. As as i said the other day i don't want to editorialize

on this other than say that i hope nolan patrick's doing okay and he makes a full recovery same for robin lanner like there's a guy who's also been through a lot he won't play this year they announced patrick won't play this year they announced and you know they've got a lot of injuries so you're looking at that team and you're saying, you know, Patrick and Leonard are still, you know, young guys. So you kind of hope they make full recoveries and see where we go here. Nick Haig. So Nick Haig, like I think he's a little different than the other guys. I think he's a bit more accomplished.

One of the tough things someone was telling me today, it was one GM looking at it with Dursey. Dursey's only played like 45 games. Yep. So it's a really, even though he had a phenomenal year last year and he looks like he's a hell of a player, it's a very difficult comparable. One GM was saying to me that if he was Haig, he'd be arguing, you know, Dursey got one seven. You know, my guys was a first line guy with Petrangelo for a good chunk of last year. Like, I don't think there's any doubt here Vegas wants the player. I think that one thing is that Vegas, all these injuries, they have a bit of cap room now. So I will say this, you know how Vegas is, they're always trying to do things.

There's a couple of teams wondering if Vegas is up to something. They're giving a hard line with Haig because they said, if you ask them, they clearly like Hague and they don't believe they're BSing people. They really do like them, but they're drawing a pretty hard line with them. So there are a couple of teams wondering if maybe Vegas is up to something. You know, Philadelphia had a big news day today and it wasn't necessarily good. We know about Sean Couturier. We talked about that previous. He's getting a second opinion today. Ryan Ellis, you never want to save the career, but certainly this season. And then I think one of the questions becomes what happens with Travis Sanheim. But what do you make of the

news in Philadelphia today? I have a close friend who really hates the Flyers. And he called me yesterday and he said, for the first time in my life, I actually feel badly for them. They are cursed. You know, the Ellis thing, I remember when he was traded from Nashville to Philly, somebody said to me, I hope this one doesn't bite the flyers. Because there were some worries about what was the injury. And, you know, if you listen to Chuck Fletcher today, he talked about a muscle that I'd never heard of before. As you guys know, I did not graduate from Westernletcher today, he talked about a muscle that I'd never heard of before. As you guys know, I did not graduate from Western.

I do not have a medical degree. But this is a muscle in your abdomen that I never heard of. And so it took them this long to kind of figure it out. And I think they're legitimately concerned, as Fletcher said today, that he won't play. And they really count on a lot for them. The Couturier thing really sucked for them. There's no question. I heard the Flyers were really unhappy that it got out because when I first heard rumors about it the other day, you know, Anthony Sanfilippo in Philly was the first guy to report it. And I was chasing it and I was getting people telling me

two different things. I had people telling me this guy's out for the year. And I had people telling me, don't say that because they don't know what the answer is. They're trying to figure out exactly what the injury is. They're going for a second opinion and they're hopeful he's going to play. But there's real worry about it. There's no question there's real worry. And this is a huge year in Philly. Like we talked at the beginning of the podcast, like in Toronto, like there are jobs on the line. In Philly, there are jobs on the line. And now you're hoping you're going to see Ryan Ellis and you're not. You don't think there's any problem with Couturier. And now that's thrown into doubt and you're sitting there and you're going, uh-oh, bad things happen in threes.

What on earth is going to hit us next? That's a devastating blow for Philly at the start of the year. And I think the heat is really, really on there. I just heard that it's really tense because they knew what they were facing. They thought. And now you get this thing dealt to you before you hit the ice. It's tense, tense, tense there. You know, I know that John Tortorella, you know John Tortorella,

he has about zero desire to be in the Conor Bedard sweepstakes, but the reality is the reality for the Philadelphia Flyers. Like, we expected Philadelphia to go into this offseason, and we looked at names like Provorov. What was the future going to be? Travis Kone Proveroff what was the future going to be Travis Konechny what was the future going to be there one of the players I wonder about now with all of this news he's on an expiring contract is Travis Sanheim what happens there there will be a lineup and I would imagine if I'm Vancouver I'm looking at Sanheim and thinking oh he would look good next to Hughes what What do you make of Travis Sanheim?

Well, I think just to what you were talking about there, Jeff, they made a decision not to go for Johnny Goudreau because they said, does one player fix our problems or do several players fix our problems? And they decided to go with option B. Look, if they get off to a rough start, you're going to hear rumors of all sorts in Philly. But you're right. If Sanheim hits the market, there's going to be a ton of interest.

They got dealt a really, really rough blow. Today was a tough day for the Flyers. All right, let's fly through a quick couple of topics here. Quick thought on Kevin Adams gets re-upped as general manager of the Buffalo Sabres. He's been with the Pagoulas for a long time in a lot of different capacities. They like what they're seeing. Well, when Kevin Adams got the job, a lot of people were surprised. One of the reasons they hired him was they went outside and hired people they didn't know and it didn't work for them. And they said, now we're going to go with someone we know and we trust. As you said, he's worked for them for a long time. They trust him. The Sabres need stability.

And look, I think it's still early. They're still beginning their curve to respectability. But there was hope last year. And I think the last thing they just want is more craziness. It's clear that based on the end of last season, the fans trust Adams and his process. And the group that based on the end of last season, the fans trust Adams in this process and the group that they're putting together. You got to reward that. You got to put faith in that. I'm not surprised. And I know the Pagoulas really trust him.

Ryan McLeod, Edmonton, one-year deal. They had no money left. I think they were talking like a two or three-year deal. I just wonder if like that number he took today, his qualifying offer was 814,000. You got 798. I know a lot of people aren't going to feel bad for a guy making $798,000, but that just doesn't happen in the NHL. Ryan McLeod, he's got to play. It didn't make any sense for him to sit out. I have a feeling if he has any kind of year, Edmonton will be making this up in his next contract absolutely uh patrick kane jonathan taves chicago kane came out and said essentially you know anything new what did i miss what's going on yeah what's the future there 88 19

you know tase has been very clear that it's time for him to go. But Kane has been more reserved about it. Whatever he said privately, he's not said anything publicly. He wants to put the brakes on this. They have the same agent, same agency. I think there's, you know, Pat Brisson works with one, JP Berry works with the other, I think, but same agency. And I believe the advice has been, guys, let's see who's good. There's no sense in doing a trade now. Let's see who's good. You know, I think the Oilers, for example,

I think they legitimately tried to see if Kane was available this summer. That was very real. But I think the players were like, no, I don't think the Blackhawks were ready because I think the Blackhawks want to do this a certain way where the players are at the forefront of saying it's time. But I think their advice was, let's just see who's good, and then we'll make the decisions. I think there'll be a lot of interest in both. I really wonder, this is purely me spitballing and making stuff up, which is always a good idea,

but I do wonder if Taves ends up in Colorado. You know, they lost Kadry. They just signed Evan Rodriguez. They're going to go for the Stanley Cup again this year. I just wonder if there's a fit there. I know that Colorado has also been one of the teams that had interest in Kane in the past. So did the Rangers. Mention the Oilers. I mean, Leafs. I'm sure there's a ton of teams that are interested in both those guys. You know, I will say this, Jeff, I had an interesting conversation with someone today about Chicago. And he said to me, let's just say the Chicago Blackhawks win the lottery next year and they get Conor Bedard. The Edmonton Oilers, it took them how many years with Connor McDavid and Leon Dreisaitl to get to the Western Conference Final.

Like, it just shows you in hockey, you need the superstars, but you need a team. And he said, if you're Chicago and you're pitting your hopes on getting a guy like Connor Bedard, and you're trading Taves and you're trading Kane, what are you surrounding a player like this with? And he said that if he was Chicago, that is a really hard question he'd be asking inside the organization. If we get a super stud player like that, are we going to be putting him in position to succeed if it's Bear around him?

So I'm really curious about Kane. i don't want to put words into his mouth but publicly he hasn't been as adamant as taves is about the direction they're going and i wonder if there's any chance they go to i don't know kane or taves and say if we get conor bedard we're gonna need someone to play with him. Yeah. Here's the thing about those two. No matter where they go, if they go, if they're going to go to a good team,

they're going to need a third team to make that deal happen. That's going to happen. Even if Chicago eats half. I do believe that's going to happen. I shouldn't say it's going to happen, but it could happen. I believe the groundwork has already been laid they'll be traded to someone first and then traded to whoever they go to that's a possibility okay who here wants to see elliot friedman cry who here wants to hear elliot friedman sob like a little baby the day that he was born

day that he was born Zdeno Chara has retired so when I when I first got to Hockey Night in Canada 0-3-0-4 I did a lot of games in Ottawa that was a really good Ottawa team as you'll remember my first year was the season after they lost game seven of the Eastern Final to Jersey so I dealt with a lot of those players and you know people ask me like who are your favorite players ever to deal with? Well, there's a lot, but two of the guys at the top of the list were Alfredson and Chara. They were incredible to deal with. Yes, I have a man crush on Chara. It's true.

I always loved watching him play. I always loved dealing with him. He was not a guy who liked a ton dealing with the media. But when he did it, both of those guys actually, if you asked them a question, you were getting an answer whether you liked it or not. You know, Char retiring this week, I have so many memories, but I wrote about a couple of them this week. You know, the Ottawa players laughing about how they were embarrassed to take off their shirts around them. You know, Brian Murray told a story once about how I was there on a Friday

for a practice of a Saturday game, and, you know, I was talking to him, and he said, Alfredson and Chara are going for a bike ride today. And Chara was a guy who used to do, like, Tour de France stuff. And so he said, I'm curious to see how Alfredson does with Chara. And the next day I asked him, like, how'd it go? And Murray said, Chara told me that Alfredson was a wimp because And the next day I asked him like, how'd it go? And, and Murray said, Chara told me that Alfredson was a wimp because he gave up after five hours. And I went to Alfredson and he rolled his eyes and he goes, that story's, he said, that story is total bullshit.

But, but I choose to believe it was true because it's just funnier. Jeff, like, I should throw this back to you. Like like you remember when he showed up at prince george 1996 stan butler was the coach so and he shows up at pg and everyone was like what do we do with this mutant what do we do with this he's a really awkward skater like he is the complete definition of raw everybody wanted because he looked like such a... Imagine that showing up here in London to play for the Knights. What's your first thought? Can he fight? And if so, how ugly is it going to get?

And people found out fast in PG. I remember talking to Stan Butler, long-time OHL coach, who coached him in Prince George, what it was like. He was like, it was frightening. He was raw. He was gangly. He wasn't the best skater skater looked awkward getting around the ice but you knew something was there and he was tough and wouldn't be outworked at all by anybody he was scary tough and you know that's the thing like if you're tall and big you're gonna get to get a shot at the NHL. But that wasn't good enough for him.

The Bruins as a team are fascinating. Their group, like Chara, Bergeron, Marchand, those are driven, driven guys. And Rask. And he was a huge part of that. But the thing is that I'm a pretty demanding guy, but mostly of myself. But when I'm at work, I try to be demanding of myself and inclusive of others.

Chara was demanding of himself, demanding of others, but also inclusive of others. And I think that's a very difficult line to walk. But I just loved watching him play. I had respect for a guy who could have had a career and just said, just a career is not enough for me. There was a playoff series against Montreal where he missed game one because he had the flu. And he showed up for game two and he blew us off for a pre-tape. A pre-tape is a pre-game interview. He said, no, I

won't do it. That was weird. Like, Charwood's usually very good. So after the game, I'm walking around. I get this pull on the back of my jacket. You turn around, you look, and you're looking at some guy's chest. And I looked up, and it was Chara. And he said in his deep voice, I'm really sorry, but I didn't want to breathe on you. And I said, it was okay to breathe on the Canadians, but not on me? And he goes, exactly. And I said, it was okay to breathe on the Canadians, but not on me. And he goes, exactly.

I said, thanks very much. I love dealing with Jara. A couple of other retirements. Thought on Keith Yandel, who wraps it up. Well, Yandel, I think we kind of all saw this last year. He got to the record, and then, you know, unfortunately, it ended. Just hang on one really quick thought on that yeah i i was talking with someone in philadelphia about that and it wasn't

as if the after he you know got the record they just shut him down right away like he played more after that yeah and this person said that was deliberate we wanted to make sure that phil kessel couldn't catch keith theandle last season we wanted him to have a full year of uh and a summer of being the iron man in the nhl because if we would have shut him down right away kessel would have had a shot at catching him we wanted to give him the season we wanted to give him the summer well you know jeff like sometimes these iron man streaks it's a dirty little secret that teams hate them. Oh, yeah. And it's because of that.

Coaches, Elliot. Because sometimes, like if a player's going gangbusters and he's a 30-goal scorer or he's a legitimate 25-minute defenseman, nobody's got any complaints. But then sometimes you're going to say, well, maybe, you know, someone else deserves to be in the lineup or the player is struggling and you can't take them out because it's going to be a firestorm and it's very delicate like Florida tried to end his streak and the Panthers were furious about it the other players went to management and said no no no that's not happening so it's not an easy situation to walk like I

remember last year when Kessel, he played that one shift and then he jumped on the private plane because his wife was about to give birth. And we know that it's close, but watching your partner give birth is more important than a hockey game. But we were all kind of celebrating that. And I had people calling me and saying, that's a joke that you get to increase your total like that. Anyway, so it's a big debate. But, you know, I mean, Yandel, first of all, hugely popular teaming, like just

beloved teaming. And, you know, the one thing I'll say about these streaks too, is that everybody in this room and everybody listening to this podcast, think about how many of us have gone to work for a thousand straight days and how hard that is sometimes. Like we are, especially now, post-COVID, you got a sniffle and nobody will let you into the office. Everybody in this room has had a time where they haven't felt great and they're going into the office and now that's not going to be allowed to happen anymore. Or, you know, you woke up, you don't feel great, you got a headache, or maybe you were playing pickup hockey and someone shot the puck off your knee and you don't feel like going into it. Name it. All the things that

can go wrong. And the guy showed up and continually showed up to play like to me those are people who are dedicated to their jobs and I have a lot of respect for that I think Yandel hugely popular teammate tremendously skilled offensive player I remember at uh at the all-star game in Ottawa, I think Drake was playing, and he knew the words to all the songs. Show tunes, too. He's a big musical guy. And the other players were like, I remember the other players were watching the concert,

and Yandel's moving around and doing all the words, and guys were looking at him, and they were laughing. They loved it. Just a really talented, really beloved player. And to be honest, that situation happened in Florida where players went to the team and said, no, this isn't happening.

I don't know how many guys that would have happened for. Yeah. One more name I'm going to give you, then we're going to wrap up the podcast and get to the rest of the evening. PK Subban calls it a career. I think people expected that Chara was going to retire. I think people expected that Chara was going to retire. I think people expected that Yandel was going to retire.

I think Subban caught a lot of people by surprise. And we'll see what happens when P.K. talks. Part of me wonders if he just didn't like what was out there in the NHL for him this year, whether it was the teams that were interested or the salary that was going to be commanded. We saw a lot of players get squeezed this offseason. So I wonder if PK kind of said that didn't appeal to him. I had people in my Twitter feed saying, I am not ready for PK Subban to retire. Like, you know what? Like yandel kind of got a goodbye we saw chara kind of get a goodbye like suban that didn't happen and i think people would have liked to have seen that

you know i still remember i did a lot of canadians games when suban was a rookie and like that feeling in montreal when he'd pick up the puck and wheel like there would be a buzz in that building yeah he galloped in montreal he played there, he wasn't only on the ice. He was on a stage. The unfortunate thing about his trade for Montreal was that I think that he was built for that. Now, sometimes it drove his coaches crazy, and sometimes it drove teammates during games crazy.

The guy was such a showman. He was so great on that stage. And he won the Norris Trophy. He was a heck of a player. The thing where it really went sideways for him, unfortunately, was, you know, PK lifted a lot. And I don't like to talk about conditioning because while I've tried to improve my conditioning in the last couple of years, I was not always near the shape of an NHL player. But teams, I know that there were some

teams like I think in Nashville and even some people he played with gently tried to tell him he had a bad back and they felt that some of the working out he was doing wasn't helping the injury. felt that some of the working out he was doing wasn't helping the injury. And he did try to repair it later, but I've always wondered if this had been corrected earlier, would the end of his career or the final trajectory been different? You know, the other thing I would say about PK is he had, one of the reasons he retired, I think, and again, I don't want to speak for him, is if the options in hockey weren't what he wanted, he had other things he could do. I remember he did a talk show once, and it was in a dressing room I was in at the All-Star game. And some players, some people, I don't even know, I shouldn't say players, I can't remember who it was, but they didn't like it.

And I said, you know, like, sometimes we need a little, I mean, sometimes a balance is a tough thing to find, but I always admired his, I'm not afraid to put myself out there. I know a lot of people that would never think of doing a talk show. I have friends who say, you shouldn't even be on television. But, like, here's a guy who was in the middle of his NHL career who was willing to try something a little different. And as long as it didn't get in the way of your participation or your play,

I always admired, you're putting yourself out there doing that. And I don't know what Chara's future is going to be. He can coach or do whatever he wants. Yandel, I know, is going to have a future in broadcasting. But I think when you talk about players who retire and then the next trajectory of their life is going to be really interesting to watch, I think that's going to be him.

I do think, though, that there are a lot of fans of P.K. Subban who wish that there was a way to say goodbye on the ice to P.K. Subban like it happened with Chara and other players. One quick story, and then I want to play this Claude Giroux clip before we get to our guests. I remember talking to Subban. This would have been during the last lockout,

and we were talking about the first contract, and a lot of guys will buy expensive cars and clothes and blow a lot of their money. And I remember asking Subban what he did with his first contract the money from his first contract and he said i took as much money as i could and i bought my parents a house said growing up i always wanted to do one thing and i remember one thing and this is something for the hockey dads here maybe this resonates with you and maybe it doesn't he always said as a player as a professional i always thought my first contract was for my parents my second contract's for me but my first contract is for my parents that's how i'll always remember pk suban saturday on hockey night double header one and seven right for each yes one in seven toronto and ottawa so

elliot and i were in ottawa for the last couple of days and we had a chance to talk to a number of players talk to dj smith talk to pierre dorian and talk to claude geroux who dropped this gem i'm sure you guys are going to use this on saturday but nonetheless this is claude geroux Final one for me Two lines Stutzla Giroux Dobrinket Matthews Marner Bunting Who outscores who?

Outscores? Yeah Plus minus or outscores? That's different You can pick You can pick I guess we'll have to wait and see Oh come on

Give me a pick I'll wait and see What do you think fridge battle of ontario gonna be good this year we'll see it on saturday that is the podcast you will hear that tomorrow morning at your favorite uh well favorite venue to listen to podcasts when we come back quick break load up have a sip have something to eat we're coming back with the hockey dads mr doughty mr suzuki mr horvat and up next christine simpson