32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Luck, Leverage, and What Comes Next

Episode Date: May 6, 2026

In this edition of 32 Thoughts, Kyle Bukauskas and Elliotte Friedman open the podcast by reacting to the Toronto Maple Leafs winning the NHL Draft Lottery with only 8.5% odds. They also talk about the San Jose Sharks winning 2nd overall and their outlook after moving up in the draft (12:11). They also talk about Vancouver moving down two spots and Jim Rutherford announcing he will step aside after their incoming GM hire (14:38). The guys circle back to Toronto to discuss the aftermath of the Chayka/Sundin introductory press conference (22:40). Elliotte adds notes on Seattle's and Florida's picks being in play and a possible extension for Hedman in Tampa Bay (33:00). The Final Thought focuses on Game 2 between the Avalanche and Wild (37:10). In this second segment, Kyle and Elliotte react to Monday night's action between the Flyers and Hurricanes (44:26), and the Ducks and Golden Knights (49:54). In the final segment the guys look ahead to Habs-Sabres (56:02). Listen to all the 32 Thoughts music here. Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call the Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemail. This podcast was produced and mixed by Dominic Sramaty and hosted by Elliotte Friedman & Kyle Bukauskas. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates

Who gets the first pick of the draft? Drop 12. Wow. The number 12. The number 12. The Toronto Maple Leafs have won the NHL Draft Lottery, and Matt Sundeen is smiling ear to ear. One day after the official announcement, it appears,

but now to make it official, Pam Kelleher and Deputy Commissioner Bill Daley. I can confirm it as official. Toronto has won the first draw in the 2026 draft lottery, and as a result of winning the draw, they have the number one overall selection in the 2026 draft. Welcome to 32 Thoughts, the podcast, presented by your Canadian Toyota dealers

and the 100% electric BZ, available now during red tag days. Bukascus, Butterfingers Friedman, and Tupat Sharmati. with you on this Wednesday. From the way, Dom, it was talking, it was three-pud-ch-Chimani. Honestly, two-pud-four-pud. Four-punch for Madi today.

I'm trying to protect you here, Dom. So just before we get all to the news and Boucha Gross text me saying, get to it already, Kyle is referring to me as Butterfingers because we went for wings tonight in Buffalo, as you do. And I dropped one all over my freshly cleaned jeans. And Kyle took a picture of it. Yes, I will keep it in house, but yeah, it was a lot of honey garlic everywhere.

You've been like you've been in the city for three hours and you're already a disaster. I will say this. I showed it to Kyle and Eric Engels and cameraman Dan Slater, who we were with for dinner tonight. And the sauce was literally a soup in the basket. Yeah, it was Lake Ontario in the basket. Yes. So the wings were slipping through your fingers, just like the first overall pick slipped through the fingers

of the Vancouver Canucks as they felt two spots. And yet again, Vancouver goes through a draft lottery process where they move down and do not move up. And Andre Vasselowski may have no time for hockey gods, Elliot, but suddenly fans in Toronto do again. was like a Chinook blew through the city of Toronto. If you don't like the weather, just wait 10 minutes. On Monday, it was the awkward, kind of clunky introduction to the John Chica,

Matt Sadeen era, the press conference and all the fallout of that. Just over 24 hours later, the Maple Leafs in their grasp have the first overall pick in the 2026 NHL draft. 10 years after, they selected Austin Matthews first overall in 2016. They have the opportunity to pick first again. A fortuitous bounce falls on the lap of Cheka's office, day two of the job, Elliot. So the number one text I was getting after Toronto won the lottery was, I'll give you one guess, what most people were saying. Are you bleeping kidding?

Rigged. Oh, yes. But you're not far off. You're not far off. So like everybody else, I was watching the lottery, and you could tell Bucigros, who was hosting it, he paused for a second. It was almost like Toronto One.

You can even, without even seeing him on camera, I could tell by his reaction. It was the same reaction. reaction everybody else had. You know what the number two text was I got? What? I told you, Cheka, was a great choice. Yes, all is good again.

We knew all along this was the right call. Goodness. obviously this is a huge deal and there are so many implications out of this. You know, Kyle Davidson and the Blackhawks will pick fourth, he was asked about trading the fourth overall pick and he made a comment along the lines of we'd be interested in it, but these picks don't get dealt very often. And he's right about that. And you go back to the famous one from 2003 where,

Carolina, not Carolina, it was Florida, moved down two spots, let Pittsburgh moved up to get Mark Andre Fleury and when Eric Stahl 2 and Nathan Horton 3 and Florida got the guy they wanted. But other than that, treating out of that spot, it really doesn't happen. And, you know, the thing about, one of the things I've heard about McKenna, if you believe McKenna goes number one, and it should be mentioned that Jason Bucola went on Hockey Night in Canada after the lottery and said if he was the leaves, he would take Stenberg. But if McKenna's your guy, I think there were some teams I heard that were nervous about taking them first if they didn't have a center.

Toronto's got that. Or, you know, what did we hear from Cheka at the opening media conference? We need a more mobile defense. Well, there's a guy Chase Reed is shooting up the draft. and maybe you do that. Or maybe you do try to do something where you move it for, and I don't even know if I would do it for current players unless it was a super stud, like a real legit stud,

but maybe you try to turn into multiple first rounders. Although if you follow the charts, there is a legitimate belief and reason to follow. follow it that the draft really drops after number two. That, you know, there's a drop from pick one to pick two, and there's an even bigger drop from pick two to pick three. The famous one I always remember is the year that Nathan McKinnon was up, Calgary had three picks in the first round, six, 22, and 28, and they offered all three of them to Colorado

for the number one pick, and Colorado was like, nope, we're not doing that. And it wasn't even a thought because they felt those three picks together weren't even worth number one. So I'm sure Toronto will entertain all options here. But in the NHL history shows, if you have these picks, it is extremely rare that you move far away from them, almost a zero. So as we sit here right now and John Chaker said, we haven't even had a scouting meeting yet, I think you should expect that Toronto's going to make that pick. Well, certainly when you consider,

I mean, we know where their prospect pool and what assets they do have, and now that we know it's locked in, that their first round pick from 27 and 28 will be going unprotected, one to Philadelphia and one to Boston. So you're out on that going forward. Can I just set that?

up because there's been a lot of confusion about what it is. So I asked, and this is what I was told, they're under the understanding of. So they've kept this year's pick, the 2026 pick. If the 2027 pick is in the top 10, Toronto chooses. They can give it to, if they give it to Boston, Philly gets a 28. unprotected. If they give it to Philly, Boston gets the 28

unprotected. And if it does not go in the top 10, Philly gets the 27 pick and Boston gets 28 unprotected. Because there's been a lot of confusion. That's what I've been told the situation is. Yes. Okay. Good. Thank you for clearing that up.

So this changes a lot now for them in terms of having a real legitimate asset, the opportunity to pick at the top of the draft, and as we move along here to Elliot, there remains the Austin Matthews question and how he feels about everything. Chaco was asked about meeting with Austin and kind of the plan there

and ultimately trying to get a sense of how he feels of where the organization is going with now the new regime selected and them coming in and laying out their vision and most importantly the actions that are ultimately going to come from all of this. You know, I think now it's just, it's one extra piece that they're armed with

that the odds were suggesting they weren't going to have going into Tuesday evening, not likely. It just, it changes things and possibly allows, for a little more flexibility if you do got to make some hard decisions when it comes to whether it be your captain or other members of your roster, ultimately how they want to move forward, now that they've got the new regime in charge.

Going to be fascinating. It definitely changes the dynamic. You know, people are going to ask, does this change anything for Matthews? I don't think it does at this point in time. You know, here's my belief on Matthews. I've said this before. and I'll say it again. I believe that Austin Matthews is going to ask the Maple Leafs to sit down with them when they do and say, okay, not only what is your plan, but how are you actually going to execute the plan? You have to prove to him not only that you say you're going to be able to do this, but how you're actually going to be able to go out and do this.

If they can do that to him, I think everything works out. if he is, even if he likes the plan, Kyle, if he's not actually convinced they can act on it, that's where the problem is going to be. He, from what I understand, has to be convinced that there isn't, it's not just the plan. Because he believe they can actually execute the plan. That is the key here. But this is a step. There's no question about that.

a very big step. But, you know, we'll see, I still think there's going to have to be some convincing done here. Because this player alone is not going to completely change the fortunes of the franchise, although it will help. Well, and with that, I just point out too. And naturally, at least the initial knee-jerk reaction, it gets lost a little bit in the shuffle because, oh, my gosh, Toronto won the lottery. You know, they just hired a new GM.

and now they get to pick first overall. I really think, like, the real winner here on Tuesday night could be the San Jose Sharks. Like, we know all about who they already have in house, the warning shot that was kind of sent across the rest of the league this past season. They didn't get into the playoffs, but you could see where it's all headed there. And now they've got another second overall pick to either pick a player there

or use that one to bring in some more immediate. help and somebody and something you can actually grab and feel and go, I know what this player is or players are and how they can help us. I think that was an unbelievable turn of events for Mike Greer and company too Tuesday. Someone who works in the Pacific Division said to me that he saw Mike Greer on TV and he was confused because he said, Mike Greer looked as miserable as the rest of us realizing they were getting another talk to pick. I know. It's almost like he thought they had fallen to 84th. Mike, you can smile when you win the lottery.

That's right. I think Bucigros said as much. He did. It was a great line. But this guy said to me in our organization, we were like, again, they're getting another one. this is absolutely not what we needed. And he looked more miserable than we did. Yeah.

So I think that's a huge one for San Jose, depending on how they go about utilizing that pick at number two. But that was another shocker as they went through the whole lottery odds again. Okay. You know, Kyle, I think you should never draft for need. I think you should always draft for the best player. What San Jose does here will be very interesting putting that to the test. Because we know they don't have a lot of D.

They have a lot of forwards, but they don't have a lot of D. It would think that one of the D at number two would be easy for them to say, ah, we need a D, let's take them. But I don't think you should ever lock yourself in like that. I think you always take the best player and go from there. It's another team. If you told me that San Jose moved down a little bit so somebody could move up, I would believe it.

Yes, absolutely. All right. I want to get to Vancouver? Sure. Okay. So they moved down two spots, which is not the end of the world, but you all know. Oh, yes.

Yeah, you all know what's going. Well, I always think about Colorado and the Kail McCar example, though I'm not sure there's a Kail McCar sitting there somewhere in the top five to be pick of this year's draft. I just wonder how you're feeling. Like, again, you know, Toronto, it's like this is what's all going on here and now everything is fine. Vancouver, it was, we're in a great position to draft first overall. Now, seemingly, there's a lot of stuff being put out publicly of the GM search. Jim Rutherford announces Tuesday now that after the draft is done, he's going to be stepping aside.

Yeah. Got a timeline there now and they fell not one spot, but two to third overall in this year's draft. The Rutherford thing didn't surprise me, just only the timing of the announcement. I think we all realized that it was coming soon for him. I didn't know if we expected either an announcement or a specific timeline. But clarity's good. I'm never going to knock that. They basically told us what's going on and I'll never complain about that.

I mean, they're still going to get a really good player or have the opportunity to get a really good player. I know the Canucks fans are disappointed. The organization is disappointed. And I said in a couple of radio hits on Tuesday that I was kind of rooting for them just because they'd had such terrible lottery luck. But, you know, the point is they're going to be picking third overall. Do you know off the top of their head when they picked that high? Um, I mean, was that? Pretty famous draft. I was going to say, was that the Siddines?

Yes, two, three. They haven't. Tom said, you cheat notes. Yes, the Siddins, two, three. Well, I was honestly thinking, I was thinking Pedersen where they got him, but yeah, it was a little bit later. Yeah, but also, and before that,

you take a look for top three. They had Peter Nedved second overall in 1990, and Trevor Linden, second overall in 1988. So it's been a long time, like basically a generation since they got to pick this high. I know it's disappointing, but overall you have to take, you have to take some solace in the fact you are getting a really good pick. And, you know, I made a point of asking our draft gurus, Bucola and Sam Cousentino, they both have the number three pick in their top tier. You know, Sam's top tier is about six players.

Buccas is four or five, he said, depending on the. team. Some teams might feel differently, but he's at four, maybe five. So in terms of our draft gurus, you're still getting one of the top players. And I think that's a good thing for them. Now, I found out this week that one of the people the Canucks interviewed, and I don't know yet if it was in person. I think it was definitely a Zoom one, but I don't know if you, you, you know, He's made their cut of five, as Rutherford mentioned, is Martin Madden of the Anaheim Ducks. Martin Madden, I don't know him very well, but I know of him, and a lot of people do. He is incredibly highly regarded as a talent evaluator.

And again, I don't know if Madden's a finalist for this job. I do know they talk to him. extremely interesting to me. You know, he keeps a very low profile when I was speaking to somebody today, a couple people today saying I'd heard he'd interviewed. The thing that they said to me was they didn't know if he would want something that high profile,

but when you are trying to collect players and you have a pick as high as Vancouver's is, especially now since it's not one, they said that would be the kind of person you would want in your organization. So it was an intriguing name. I also believe the Canucks now have Scott White in their mix, although I don't know if he's been there in person. I think they've indicated that they want to talk to him.

And I think that's one of the reasons Rutherford said it might be next week until the GM is hired. I heard White entered this process late, probably because of the Toronto stuff. and they may still want to talk to them. You know, in person, they've done Evan Gold in person, they've done Ryan Bonas in person, they have Ryan Johnson there, Pierre Dorian in person.

You know, I don't know what to make of what was going on on Tuesday. You know, Dorian was obviously a serious candidate. You're not bringing somebody to Vancouver if he isn't a legitimate candidate. I don't think it was as close as it had been portrayed. Nothing was imminent. They weren't at a point where they were about to hire anybody. As Rutherford said, this might go into next week,

and I suspect one of the reasons is because White entered this late after he didn't get Toronto. But I just don't think they're that close yet. But I don't know how anybody can't say he wasn't a legitimate candidate. they brought them there. Anyway, I just don't think they're ready to name anybody yet. But you know what? When I heard about Madden, that's an interesting guy. Like, that is the kind of guy when you're rebuilding, you want him in your organization.

I just don't know how he, and some other people wondered, would he want to be the front-facing guy in a market like Vancouver? Hoover. He might be the kind of person you need a president of hockey operations with, somebody who can handle the public. So, and for those that aren't aware, Martin Madden has been with the Anaheim Ducks, Director of Amateur Scouting since 2008. He's also taken on the role of assistant general manager in the last five, six years also. I mean, that's a long time to spend in one organization. and if all the things you say about him in terms of his reputation, especially with around finding talent, are true, and we can only imagine that they are, you would have to think that this would be a guy

that would have had interest from other organizations long before now. I mean, is this somebody that Pat Verbeek keeps a tight grasp on that doesn't want to lose, or you have any insight into that? I just think that if it's a promotion, you grant permission, right? I think it's that simple. You know, Eric Engels was saying that

in at least one of these recent Canadian's GM searches, he was a candidate. So teams have talked to him before, and I don't know him. I'll be honest, I know of his reputation, but I don't know him. And the one concern anybody said was, What do you want the attention that comes with that job?

Hmm. Okay. So the search appears to still be going on in Vancouver. San Jose had a great night, though Mike Greer's face may suggest otherwise. And Toronto, a complete 180 from Monday to Tuesday. Can we talk about Toronto a little bit? Yeah. What did you think when you watched all that?

Well, it felt a little. little clunky. I have to say. Yeah. It's, uh, gee willickers, Dom, that press conference felt clunky. Yeah, yeah. It, uh, it was one of the, it, it just felt very clear that, you know, and it wasn't even,

I'm not even solely just referencing, you know, the, the question that, that Steve Simmons put forth. Um, but it's, it's very clear that there were people. around the league that reacting negatively to the higher, that had dealt with Chica in the past when he was in Arizona, and some were out for blood right away. And I thought, you know, again, like the question you asked him about having, almost like, are you playing from behind a little bit because of what's been out there

already, how certain people feel about it, and now trying to, to navigate those waters as a general manager in the league again. It just, it was, it was an odd one. I was, I was watching it from 35,000 feet flying back from Tampa on Monday. And anyway, not much felt natural, but, you know, as I suppose, it's not the press conference you're trying to win. It's everything that follows it. But it was, it was an odd start. I'll say that.

Okay, Kyle, just some thoughts of my own about the presser. I mean, obviously the biggest thing, even bigger news than Chica Sundin and being hired was Steve Simmons question. Like that completely overshadowed the entire media conference. I'm a sticks and stones person. And the advice I give a lot of people starting out in this business is sticks and stones. Sticks and Stones may break my bones, but words cannot hurt me. I think in this day and age, especially the social media era, you have to be extremely thick skin to things.

We get exposed to a lot of opinions. We get exposed to a lot of harmful things. People, I always tell, especially young people now, you know, people are going to say things about you that you're not going to believe and they're going to believe things about you that you can't imagine people will think are true about you. And sometimes it's not right and sometimes it's not fair, but that is the world that we have created for ourselves and we're not ever going to be able to walk it back. This is where we are now.

And I just tell people if you let, if you start getting angry at every perceived slight, or start getting mad at anybody who makes fun of you, or start getting mad or trying to respond to everything that's said about you, you'll go, A, you'll go insane, and B, people will do it even more because they can get onto your skin. They know it gets to you. So I think if you're going to be the general manager, the Toronto Maple Leafs, or any Canadian NHL team,

or any big team, like Dallas Cowboys, you name your team, York Yankees, you are going to have days where you're going to face questions like that. It's going to happen. And, you know, I think that, you know, people were saying the least responses were terrible. I don't think they look at it that way. I think they look at it as that question was asked, but we didn't make it worse by making our responses viral. they obviously had a plan of what they were going to say, and they weren't varying from that plan.

And I think if I was in their shoes, I would have done the exact same thing. If you fire back or you get into an exchange in that situation, you're the one who's going to look worse. Because people are going to say, people won't be talking about the question. They'll be talking about how badly you lost your temper in response. So I think in that situation,

if you're going to be an executive of a team like the Toronto Maple Leafs, you're going to have days where you're going to have to take that, you're going to have to eat that, and you're going to have to say, I'm putting my big boy or big girl pants on, and I'm just moving on. Now, they got handed a gift, on Tuesday, the lottery.

They got handed a magic box, Kyle. What's in this magic box? It could be another magic box. They got handed a gift and it'll allow things to move on a little bit. But it's very clear that if you listen to Cheka in either the interview I did with him or the other questions that were asked, he's not looking back. he's looking forward. And ultimately, you know, there clearly are people out there who are rooting him for him to fail.

There are clearly people out there who don't believe he can do the job. But right now, he's the guy in the chair. The only thing he can be concerned about is doing the job. And ultimately, you know, we can sit here today and we can say this is going to work or this isn't going to work. but we're all going to find it together. And ultimately, he will determine if this is a success or not. And so, you know, people say the press conference was a disaster. Hey, everyone's entitled to their own opinion.

But I don't think they poured gasoline on the fire. I think that press conference could have been a lot worse, a lot worse. and right now that draft lottery gives them a gift or they have a chance to prove that they can make this better. If I was in John Chaker's shoes, I would be thinking only one thing, one thing. And that is that I have been handed the greatest gift I could ever receive aside from my wife's and children. And that is I get a chance on the biggest stage. Okay?

Whether you like his hiring or not, this is fact now. This is where we are and this is where we are going. And I wouldn't waste any energy worrying about tough questions or what other people might think. you have one goal and that goal is to try and win and if you do that that opening press conference

is not going to matter and that's the way I look at the world you know in my career I've had great moments in my career I've had some very depressing moments I understand that when I signed up for this job everything I did that was good would happen in public

and everything that I did was bad would happen in public and you have to look at every day as a chance as we talk about in the playoffs Kyle 2 rewrite your own narrative and no matter what happened he has a gift here

and the gift is he gets to rewrite write his own narrative on the biggest stage. And if I was in his shoes, that's the only thing I would care about and not whatever people might feel or media might feel or fans might feel. Because obviously it can't get any worse, but it could get a whole lot better. Oh, we should also, Dom had something he wanted to add to. the Vancouver State of Affairs Tuesday. Okay, what's that, Tom?

So we love ourselves a good quote from a movie or TV show as you guys just did with Family Guy in the Magic Park. Well, there's no better quote to sum up how the Canucks fans are feeling today than this one from Shawshank Redemption.

Let me tell you something, my friend. Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can grab up. I have a man insane. It's got no use on the inside. I'm better get used to that idea. Hope can kill a man, boys. Hope can kill a man.

You're still going to get a good player. No, and absolutely. I had this conversation with Bucolet tonight. He said Caleb Malhotra will be great at third overall, but it's just the fact that the team has not won a first overall pick in franchise history. It would have just been nice to get the monkey off the back. That's all. I understand.

I was rooting for you guys. I root for teams that have bad lottery luck. I was rooting for you, but fate is a fickle mistress. All right. So we move to the action on the ice Tuesday? A couple more things. I think out of this, Kyle, some of the more interesting storylines are going to be

two of the particular picks. Number seven, Seattle. Number nine, Florida. Yes, very much in play. Those are going to be some of the more interesting selections. A couple of the notes. I did want to mention a couple things. Tampa Bay, we heard from Victor Headman,

and he revealed the full nature of his absence. You know, I think it shows the goal. great respect that people have for Hedman, this kind of been whispered and everybody kind of stayed out of the way and let Hedman explain it himself. Hedman's, I'm told

is a thousand percent going to play next year because that was one of the questions, Kyle. There was a rumor going around he wasn't going to play that this was potentially it. So I'm glad for him that he feels better and I'm glad for him that he's going to come back and play because I think we all

love had been around. Yes, I will say quickly, like, as great as that series was between those two teams, it did not feel right, like going to the rink in the morning, and you saw him out on the ice, and then didn't see him suit up in a game all series long. It's just, it's, the game's better when, when he's out there as the captain of the lightning. So I'm glad to hear that. Also with Tampa Bay, you know, we talked about would they try to do something at center? It's a lot to ask for a person who's a very young player.

But, you know, I know a couple people have seen in the O HL playoffs, Kitchener's about to play Barry. Sam O'Reilly, who was traded to Tampa and the Isaac Howard deal. I've heard great things about how he's looked, particularly in the playoffs. And Luke Gazdick has said he's been out for a couple games to watch him play, and he's a big fan. I'm curious to see if Tampa, which likes their prospects to marinate in Syracuse a bit, if they think he can play for them next year,

because he looks fantastic. And also, you heard Julian Breezeba wax poetic about Kuturov. There's a few teams who think that Tampa will do what they've done a lot over the past couple years, and when they say whenever Breezeboat talks like that about a guy, they're going to try to take care of him early. I wouldn't be surprised at all if we get a Kutjarov extension this off season. Now, the other thing I wanted to mention before we go to games is that someone said to me,

I am sick and tired of you getting Eric Carlson's bonus wrong all the time. So Eric Carlson, as we mentioned, next year, salary is one and a half million and then there's a six million dollar bonus so he gets seven and a half million in cash i have repeatedly said he gets all of that bonus on july first i am told that is not correct someone listened to this pod and said enough of this garbage already that bonus is apparently split into three equal parts the first is july first and the others come later in the season during play. So it's still not a lot,

but it's not as, he's not one and a half million after July 1st. He's five and a half after July 1st, and it drops at two other points during the year. Very interesting. Okay, thanks for clearing that up. Had no idea. That's great.

Okay, let's get to the final thought then, which is brought to you by the Toyota, to BZ and the final thought will be, we're flipping, we're flipping our first block than what we've been doing. The news first and now we've got the lone playoff game on Tuesday night. It was game two, Elliott,

the Colorado Avalanche and Minnesota Wild. The Aves now have a two to nothing series lead in that heavyweight bout, five to the final from ball arena. So Eric Johnson is on a rapid assent of hockey broadcasting startum. He's doing a tremendous job. Yes.

ESPN. He was between the benches there on Tuesday night. He had, from what I've heard so far, and also should shout out, Ryan Strom looked phenomenal on our panel on Tuesday night too. Great to see Ryan as part of our coverage. Is it all this round he's doing games? That was the first of three nights for him. I heard he was excellent, not surprised in the least. Always been a great talker. And there's another NHL or current NHLer who's coming in on the weekend, but I don't know if we've announced it. And let's just say I'm in enough trouble this week that I better not do it. Okay.

Look at you exercising caution. It's so unlike you. Yeah, you know, there's, there's times, you know, one of the skills in life, Kyle, is knowing how much you can push a button. And I think I have pushed it pretty good this week. Okay, so back to the Eric Chauds the line. So he said, I don't know if you caught it early, maybe even just before a puck drop on Tuesday.

He was talking about the Colorado Avalanche, and he said, if you are even, they are leaving. As in if you're not above the puck, forget it, because they're blowing by you. They play that quick. And the first couple of minutes in, I thought we were going to have, and I'm sure a lot of people did,

another 9-6-type score line on our hands, with goals, what, six seconds apart? And then not long after 2 to 1, Colorado, it buttoned down a little bit after that. But Minnesota, they go to Gustafin here in game number two. Still not enough to earn a split in Denver. So as great of a team that Minnesota is, how much trouble are they in you think?

You know what someone texted me tonight, Kyle? I've been horrible with these guesses so far, so I don't want to try. There is nothing you can do about it, Carolina, Colorado. Ah, that'll be, that's, they're telling you that's the cup final. That's what they were telling me. So I would assume we'll see Walsett back in game number three.

Yeah, he had to play in a lot between games two and three. Yeah, that's right. We are going to see Haley's Comet twice in between games two and three. the tough thing is that that first goal right you know we you have to get a save there um you have to get a save there you i remember in the last round there was a forsburg had been really good for the kings but he gave up one bad goal and you were like oh god like the way colorado's going especially with the way the kings played conservatively you're like we can't make up for that goal and i just saw that one that nature scored to open the game, which was a really rough one for Gustafson.

And again, like, there's no margin for, even if a team as good as Minnesota, there's no margin for error against Colorado right now. There's such a steamroller. And eventually they're going to, like, let's like Carolina, like eventually these teams are going to have some degree of challenge. Like things are, you assume are going to go wrong for them at some point. But the way Colorado is going right now, you just can't give that one up. And, you know, I think it's very obvious that they're going hard at Hughes.

They're going to, they really took the body on him. They gave him some big hits in game number two. You have to make life rough on the other team stars. But the other thing is that do you think that McKinnon remembers that Boldie and Hughes played for Team USA at the Olympics? Yes. he's he's saying he's he's in his mind he is turning them into the stuffy he received along with his silver metal that's exactly that I was thinking of he was treating them like they were the stuffed animal yes yeah that was uh do you have an issue with the hit

there at the end I thought it was just it was a battle that was just in a tough part of the ice so Kyle initially I thought it was a battle and I still think it's a battle. Like I like a tough physical game and I think the two of them are battling there. I'll say this. It was closer to the numbers than I would like, but it's still a battle. And, you know, like I said, and this game had a little bit of it too. The embellishment has really screwed up these officials. Yeah, I was too. I thought it was a battle that just was in an area of the ice that the result, though, thankfully far from worst case it was just in a tough area is all because they were both engaged there and anyway just two two good players

locking heads or locking shoulders there I mean you know Minnesota got themselves into penalty trouble that didn't help their cause Colorado made him pay a couple times here miss and Joel Erickson Eck again we talked about how much value he has and wild fans know all too well

what he brings to the to the table there for Minnesota. It's just, it's tough. I totally understand, you know, the old cliche, if you're never in trouble until you lose it home, but the idea of any team

to say nothing of one of Minnesota's caliber of beating Colorado four out of the next five, it is a very, very tall task. Beating them four out of five right now sounds borderline impossible. So, They've got not just one, not two, but three days now for the wild to collect themselves and try to come up with a plan to dig their way out of an O2 hole here in the second round

against the juggernaut avalanche in this Central Division clash. That was the final thought to brought you by the Toyota BZ. We'll take our first break. Come back and talk about the two games from Monday night and also look ahead to Montreal Buffalo, Game 1. Later tonight. 32 thoughts, the podcast, continues after this. Okay, welcome back.

So Monday night, two games were on the slate, including game number two between Carolina and Philadelphia and Alley. And I couldn't help but feel for the Flyers on Monday, the same way I was feeling about Ottawa, game two, against Carolina, one that they were much better in, much more competitive in. In fact, the Flyers had a 2-0 lead early. It was the first time the hurricanes had trailed in these playoffs. but another game two that goes into overtime

and an opportunity to even the series you had some glorious chances, Travis Kinectney, among them, to take a split out of Raleigh and head back home, but alas, in a hole, 02. Yeah. It feels like a very large one for the Flyers, not unlike Ottawa around previous,

against the Carolina machine that keeps on churning. The thing about Carolinas, Carolina, too, is that they finally trailed fast and they still found a way to get back in it. I really thought that goal that made it two to one, the Eeler's goal in the first period, when I saw that go in, I was thinking, oh, that is bad for the flyers. You know, you're sitting there. You're up to nothing. The hurricanes are finally feeling a little bit of trouble.

You're up to nothing under five minutes in. like you've almost got to get out of that first period in control. And they didn't. The hurricanes came back and they got that goal. And I have to say this, I'm sure he's played other great games in his career, but that was one of the best games I've ever seen Kandre Miller play. Like he was the guy who forced the turnover on Ristolinan

that led to that critical first goal. Kevin actually made a great point because I was wondering, you know, Philly should never have been in trouble there. They should have been able to get that puck out. And I'm not blaming the referee for this one. I think it's kind of an unfortunate fluke play. But Kevin says that Ristolian can't rim the puck because the referee is in position in the corner.

He doesn't want to hit him with the puck and have the puck either injure him or go down, get knocked down in the corner. So he kind of makes a bad giveaway that leads to Carolina's first goal. You know, it's all you can do is forget about it and move on and say we're going home and hopefully we can change the series. But that had to be such a deflating defeat for the Flyers because you get that early lead, you give one up, you do a lot of things right, and you lose it in overtime. And, you know, Hall continues to be excellent these playoffs. but that Miller, it's like just that game, and it's not only because he had that one play, though that was a big play,

I just thought he was constantly all over the ice. You've probably seen the video that the hurricanes talk about when they trade for him, when they threaten the Rangers with the offer sheet and then traded for him, and that is that we think he's the kind of skater who can fit with what we do. And I'm sure there's been other games this year where he's looked good, but boy, he was tremendous that game.

Very, very deflating for the Flyers. I was happy for Taylor Hall. It's been interesting kind of watching, I guess you call it, the back nine of his career here now, Elliot. You know, barring anything unforeseen, he'll hit 1,000 games next season. And, you know, you think about where he first came into the league, a high draft pick, number one overall to Edmonton, part of that group that the team was struggling.

They all got long-term deals right away with him and Eberle and Nugent Hopkins and all that. And then as his career has gone on and the last few years where he's kind of bounced around, you're thinking, okay, what's the right role for Taylor? He was on a good Boston team. He went to Chicago that was in a rebuild, helping some younger guys. And now you find him here in Carolina. Like, it's neat to hear him in interviews and just see the way he's conducting himself. like it just looks like a guy that's that's very appreciative of the spot that he's in.

A, he's with a team that's got a chance to win. And like the way he's embraced, you know, playing with two young players in Jackson, Blake and Logan Stankov. And it's like it's really worked there. It's been, it's been awesome to see. So it was happy for him that he was the hero here in game two and like was a good, good patented, ugly playoff overtime goal. Blake, just enough to get his stick.

on the puck so that Vladar couldn't grab it with his glove and that was all that Hall needed to do the rest. And now going forward for Philadelphia Fridge, I mean, no tippet was a blow for the flyers. And you mentioned it on the panel, like just you know how much a guy like that would help them against a team of Carolina's caliber and how they play. And then it looks like Noah Kate's status going forward is in question now too for Philadelphia. So not only are they down two games to none, they've got injury troubles to guys that, you know, could be important players for them too to worry about. Nothing you said there was wrong.

I can't always say that, Kyle, but nothing you said there was wrong. Okay. So that was the, we're called the early game on Monday. Late game was game one, Golden Knights and Ducks. And I still cannot believe that that was not called icing moments before the Knights made it two to one in the third period. What were you thinking watching that whole thing play out? First of all, somebody told me that the league was unhappy with Quenville's reaction.

I don't know what you expect in that situation. How can you expect him not to be? Any coach in that situation would have had the exact same reaction. I think you have to understand that these are competitive, humans and if you saw that call in that moment, any coach would have been up in arms. So let's dial that back a little bit. I'm with you and, you know, people, people do forget that it's not a race to the dot. It's when the skaters, when the first skater is at the dot, who do you think is going to win the race?

And when I saw that, I was really surprised. I said, boy, it sure looks like the ducks are going to win the race there. And I'll, exactly, that was the other thing too. Like, sometimes a player gets the benefit of the doubt. And I'll tell you that someone actually said that to me, they wonder if Eichel got the call. That because it was Eichol, that he got the respect call. from the officials that he was going to win that race. But don't get to cut you up, but would you not say like when you were watching that there,

not only in real time, but the replay too, Ikel looked like a guy that was expecting the like he stopped skating. He was thinking the whistle was coming. Yeah, I'm with you. I, to me, look, I thought it should have been icing. 100% I thought it should have been icing. I will say this, though. One in a jeller said to me that.

he could buy where the official was standing that maybe he thought at high speed, Eichl could win that race. I don't agree, but because of this individual stature as an active NHL player, I said, I would put it on the pod. He goes, I want to hear this story on the pod. I said, okay, there's the story. I said, I disagree with you, but since you are so adamant that your perspective be heard, here it is. Don't say, I am not a friendly dictator, Kyle. I am definitely a friendly dictator, but I still think it was icing. And I agree with you, Lacombe, the way he's played, maybe he doesn't have Eichel's experience, but he deserved the call.

It should have been icing. But I'll say this, I thought it was a great game. Anaheim didn't look intimidated, not that you would expect them to, you went around, you shouldn't be intimidated. It's going to be another long fight of a series. There was nothing I saw in game one

that made me think that this wasn't going to be a long, tremendous series, like we all think. The one thing I thought was interesting was I did hear people say that the goal of the knights will be more physical on Anaheim than Edmonton-wise. And they say that's the biggest difference the ducks will face in round two.

Not only does every round get harder and nobody disrespects the ducks. We all see how good they are. They say that in addition to Vegas's better structure, they will be more physical with them. And that is the challenge. That is one of the, that is a different challenge that they will get from the knights that they didn't get from the Oilers. I just felt for Lecombe a few times there on Monday night. It was just one of those nights where bounces, things just aren't going his way,

no matter how hard he tries. So I think he'll have a monster game two in response. I think the ducks will in tow, too. I'm with you. It was entertaining hockey and Anaheim again getting a sense of, all right, we lost game one, but nothing about that should we feel we're really in trouble here yet. So we'll see how they handle things going forward against Vegas. I also wanted to say too, like Brett Howden scores again.

He opened the scoring here on Monday. It was a heck of a pass by Mitch Marner through traffic. But again, it is like a great example that the whole idea of, well, anybody can play with great players. Like, no, the awareness that he had there about knowing what Marner was thinking and just finding an area, stick on the ice, and knowing that the puck was going to get through, like that was high-intelligence stuff.

It was, they've got something cooking there between those two. We've seen it a few times already these playoffs. I do agree with you on one critical point, and that is that not everybody can play with great players. It is a skill to be able to do it. Okay, exciting stuff out of Vegas and anticipate a long series still to come there. Why do we take one final break?

When we come back, we will tee up the series that you and I are covering in person, the Sabres and the Canadians. And look ahead to what else is on tap for Wednesday night in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Back in a moment. All right, one final series to get here of the second round. It begins in Buffalo later tonight, the Sabres and the Canadians. You know it's a big series because not only is Elliott Friedman in town, David Amber is in town to

double the fun allegedly, not for me but you made the drive in We are going to drag you out on the town Okay, you do realize the main reason why I don't go out often is because we're recording

this bloody show to the wee hours of the morning That's like Santa Claus ripping his elves for not taking time off around Christmas Don't blame it on me I know the truth, you're soft Dave and I are here together to solve this problem. Thank you. Yes, my therapists, Friedman and Amber, goodness.

Okay, so you drove up. I don't get paid enough for that. Yes, and I will pay you nothing. You drove up here on Tuesday. You got in town just in time for the Sabres practice. That's a great room to Walker. There's a lot of good. personalities, good talkers in there.

It's no surprise the team has come together the way they have. We've seen the on ice abilities. But your thoughts on this series here as we are about to get it going. I think this is going to be a great series. And one of the interesting things, Kyle, is that you were in the room, in the Buffalo Room. Montreal wasn't here yet on Tuesday. They were flying in Tuesday afternoon.

And what were they all saying that Boston was not going to run and gun with them, but Montreal will. And they said they think this is going to be a very different series, that Boston was not going to try rush chances. They were going to play it more cautiously. They were going to play it carefully. I can't remember which Sabre it was, but they initially said that Boston,

I think it was, I can't remember if it was Alex Lyon or not. I don't want to misquote anybody, but one of them said like Boston almost looks at it like a sense of pride, that there's a certain way they play and that they're not going to give up rush chances to you. Like they like that they have a reputation as a team that is detail-oriented, is disciplined, and doesn't play kind of like river hockey against you. And I love that the river hockey phrase came up again today. Yes, Sam Carrick.

Yes, but Montreal, and again, I don't think it's because Montreal is undisciplined or anything, I think far from it. But I just believe that they think that Montreal is less afraid to trade chances with them and that those moments will happen. Like Montreal will rush you. They will take more risks than Boston did. You know, the best thing about this series, though, Kyle, is we are going into two of the most. phenomenal buildings in the National Hockey League when their teams are good. Yes.

It is hard to find places better than Buffalo and better than Montreal when their teams are soaring. And I just think this is going to be Montreal fans just went through a seven-game roller coaster against Tampa, and they're about to go through another seven-game roller coaster against the Sabres.

But I think it's going to be different hockey. And I wanted to shut out the last. Lions, Tim and Deb. Alex Lion says that his parents get most of their hockey information from this broadcast. So let me congratulate you, Tim and Deb Lyon, for being the most uninformed hockey fans in all of the world. That's like putting too much money into one stock. Seriously, the key is diversification. That's what my financial analyst told me.

But, Tim and Deb, we thank you very much for your loyal listenership. We don't have jobs without people like you. There's many of you, but thank you to the lion. We're a big fan of your son. I don't know what, you know, Sam Carrick back. That's a difference maker. You know, Sam Carrick was a great fit in Buffalo, and that's going to be another challenge for Montreal.

I was really impressed with Noah Dobson. We talked about it last pod. These teams are coming in closer to full, as far as we know, this is going to be a great series, and I cannot wait for it to get started. When I checked into the hotel that we're staying at today, the young man who was behind the counter, I think his name was Andrew. He was wired for the series. He couldn't stop talking about it.

And I have no doubt that all the Sabre Nation is the same way. And when we get to, Montreal, La Belle Provance will be the exact, same way too. I think it was so critical for both teams in their first round. You mentioned Buffalo. Like they had to get to the realization and prove to themselves that they could adapt to how Boston played and they did that. Montreal, how do we handle a veteran team when games get tight?

Do we shrink? Do we panic? They didn't do any of that. Slavkovsky said it on Tuesday. after that series against the lightning. He feels like we're all better hockey players now because of it. I think we've talked about it in the past, like when you don't really have much playoff experience,

it's like every game is almost like dog ears, that type of effect versus the regular season. So for all those guys that now have six games more experience, seven games more, it is a world of a difference. Martin Say Louis got out of his comfort zone in terms of the ability to adapt and change things on the fly

with different lines and combinations he put out. out there. That, I think, was a big hurdle for himself as a coach. You've got the veteran man and Lindy Ruff who's been doing this forever and ever and ever and ever and has seen just about everything. And now it's like, okay, who blinks first? Two teams that are confident of like, however they want to play across the ice, we're fine with it. And at some point, you know, it in a lot of ways feels like Tampa, Montreal. It's just like two, I don't want to say unstoppable forces, but very confident forces now budding heads for potentially seven games,

and we wouldn't be surprised at all if it went to the distance. If nothing else, this will be the loudest of the second round series, given the two buildings we were going into. Can't wait. Two things, as you mentioned. I came in on Tuesday, my partner, David Amber,

not showing up until Wednesday. So if you see a marked difference in preparation on the air, during coverage of the series. You will understand why. And secondly, Renaud-Lavois, we mentioned that he was under the weather. Renoa went public with his information that he suffered two strokes last Friday

before game six of the series between the Lightning and the Canadians. I believe he wrote in the article about how he took an aspirin beforehand. And that helped him. And also the care of the Canadians. Someone said to me, did you have to bring up the urinal stuff, knowing that Renault had suffered two strokes? And I said, you know how guys are.

When you're recovering, there's nothing better than humor. And I was glad to hear that Renault laughed about it when he heard it. Good. Yes. And we keep here that he's, you know, each day is getting better for him and that's wonderful. So we miss him here in Buffalo. Yes, we do. But we know it's for all the right reasons as he's taking care of himself and making sure he's getting better. So look forward to seeing you at the rink when we do see you. Renaud. Two games tonight, Elliot. It begins with Hockey Central at 630 Eastern 3.30 Pacific Times. Setting up game number one as we just talked about Canadians and Save. from the Key Bank Center, a little after 7 E.T on SportsNet and CBC. That'll make way for game two between Vegas and Anaheim.

That one's at 9.30 Eastern or a little after that, 3.30 Pacific time. That'll start over on Sportsnet 360 and we'll shift to the Sportsnet main channels when the Canadians and Sabres are all wrapped up. Game number one there. Two more great games on a Wednesday night. We hope you enjoy them. We appreciate you once again following along throughout the playoffs with us. We will talk to you again Friday morning.