32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Manic Monday Montreal

Episode Date: November 29, 2021

Major shake-up in Montreal! Jeff and Elliotte discuss how everything unravelled this weekend in Montreal (2:30), when Jeff Gorton entered the picture, what’s next for the Canadiens hockey operation department, and possible locations for Marc Bergevin as well as Scott Mellanby as they exit the organization after almost a decade.They also touch on the struggling Flyers (21:30), wonder if this is the week Vancouver make a move (24:00), Ottawa placing Matt Murray on waivers and what this says about the Senators (30:00), greater concerns over the All-Star Game and how it could impact the Olympics (35:00), Evander Kane finds new representation as he is put on waivers by the Sharks (39:00) and they wrap up the podcast talking about the bite heard round the hockey world, Brendan Lemieux biting Brady Tkachuk (39:45).Full transcript of this episode can be found here by Medha MonjauryThis podcast is produced and mixed by Amil Delic, and hosted by Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman.Audio Credits: John Cougar Colleencamp (@BillTouspille on Twitter)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.

this is so hilarious welcome once again to 32 thoughts the podcast starring jeff merrick presented as always by the all-new gmc at4 lineup sorry the radio show has gone right to my head elliot's i you know i was listening to that and i wasn't even bothered by it starring jeff merrick okay i didn't think you'd let that one fly by, but you just looked at that one to take a strike. To be honest, I'm a little disappointed that you didn't cut me off there.

It's one of those things when maybe someone says something to you and you're kind of a second behind because you're thinking to yourself, did I hear what I just heard? I want to make sure that I heard what I just heard. And then the other thing is, I know people out there think I have an enormous ego.

And in some cases I do, but I really don't have a big ego that I would worry about that. If he wants to say the podcast stars, Jeff Merrick, you know what? Yeah. I got to tell you, that's not something I'm going to pick a fight over.

To be honest. You know why I said that Elliot? Why is that? We'll get on with Montreal here. I just wanted to see if you're paying attention or if you're like sorting out your sock drawer or counting loose change. You know, funny i was actually going to lead with i got a call from amal on uh friday night demanding he didn't even ask he demanded i pay more attention during the podcast and he said that the reason he was so upset was that when we taped on thursday

night i was watching the u.s thanksgiving football football game and Dallas and Raiders were playing at the same time. So I had Greg Zuerlein, the Dallas kicker, and Derek Carr, the Vegas quarterback on my fantasy football team. And I was reacting to everything they were doing. And he said it took him longer to edit the podcast because of all the reacting I was doing. So to me, that's legitimate. Like if he's saying that my lack of an attention span, my cat-like attention span is making it harder to edit the podcast, I have to listen to this. So I asked Amal about your focus, specifically when I speak here on the podcast. And he said that if you're going to be expected to pay attention while I speak, you're going to need more money. Is that true?

Oh, well, I would leave that kind of negotiation off camera or off mic. Right. But the answer is yes. Okay, very good. I'll tell you this. I have no problem with you saying this podcast stars you, but that will cost them money also. Oh, good Lord.

Pull some money off the tree in the backyard, everybody. Welcome to 32 Thoughts, the podcast. We'll lead with a big story and that is Montreal. We talked about it Saturday night and it segues into Sunday and we'll see what the week brings now. Jeff Gorton, new executive VP of Hockey Operations with Montreal

Canadians. Mark Bergevin, Trevor Timmons, Paul Wilson, all dismissed from the Habs organization. The search on for a general manager who can communicate both in French and in English as well. Before we get to the future, let's go to the past. How did this all come together, Elliot? First of all, I think the most amazing thing about it, Jeff, is that it happened almost without being detected. For example, if it hadn't gotten out on Saturday,

it might not have been announced until Monday morning. And I don't know if anyone would have figured it out. Basically, Jeff Molson got within 48 hours of an announcement, even closer than that, I think, before it was kind of detected that something was going on. So here's what I think kind of happened. There had been a lot of rumors last year before the playoffs that Marc Bergevin's future in Montreal was in doubt. And it wasn't necessarily the Canadians making a choice. It was Marc Bergevin saying after a decade in Montreal, It was Mark Bergevin saying after a decade in Montreal, he'd finally burned out. You know, he'd had enough.

It was time. The stress and the intensity of the shadow. He was on fumes in Montreal. Plus, like I think like a lot of people, the last two years, the era of COVID, it's basically taken a lot of your stresses and made them worse. And so last year before the playoffs, Jeff, we reported that the Canadians were in a conversation with Bergevin about his future heading into the last year of his contract. And I believe that Jeff Molson had an extension on the table for Bergevin, but I don't think Bergevin had decided to take it.

I think he was thinking it was just time. And they go on their run, they make the final, and Chris Drury gets hired in New York. And Chris Drury, from what we understand, he's getting paid somewhere around four and a half million a year. And Marc Bergevin hears this, and the offer from the Canadians is nowhere close to that. And he says, look, I think I should be closer to that. And the Canadians aren't in that ballpark. And plus, as I said, Bergevin is tired.

He's exhausted from his decade in Montreal, and he's thinking, it's time for me if i really believe that if he wasn't going to be paid closer to what the four four and a half number he was ready to go now i also think molson was upset by bergevin's post stanley cup press conference last year like this to me is one of the real parts of this story. I know I'm going off in tangents and I'm sorry. I'm trying to keep it straight. The thing about this that's most interesting to me is for a long time, Bergevin and Molson were simpatico.

Molson really believed in Bergevin. Bergevin had the owner's backing and there were times canadian fans were like this can't continue with bergevin and molson always stuck with him he gave an extent him an extension early and he refused to fire him he said no i believe in mark bergevin's vision and if you go back to bergevin's presser after the Stanley Cup final he's non-committal about staying after this season except in the right circumstances and I just think Molson didn't like that and I think their relationship started to deteriorate and I think this year at training camp everybody knew it was going to be the last year. So we know that we're in the

last year and this is going to be it. Now, among the staff, there were a lot of staff who were in the last year of their deals too. And one of them was Scott Mellenby, the assistant GM. Now, Scott Mellenby has been Bergevin's right-hand man for a long time. And Bergevin really trusts him. And Mellenby's interviewed for a couple of situations. But I think Mellenby always hoped that he was going to be a GM in this league. And he might still be a GM in this league. And there was a chance that it was going to be in Montreal after Bergevin. And I think Bergevin recommended him to Molson.

I think he said, this should be my successor. And I do believe that there were conversations and negotiations between Mellenby and Molson about the job. Negotiations for the position? It was either going to be the executive job that Gorton eventually got or the GM job. Wow. Like there were reports today that Mellenby was

told he was promised that he'd be the next GM of the Canadians and ownership changed its mind. I don't know if I would go that far. I don't know if he was promised anything, but I do know that they had definitely talked about him, both of those roles. He'd met face-to-face with ownership about those roles. I believe there were contract negotiations about those roles. The only reason I don't want to say the term promised was because I think sometimes, you know, people always warn me, nothing is done until it's done.

And it wasn't done. But at the very least, they'd gone the long road down in negotiation in the process. And Mellenby had reason to believe he was in their plans. That was definitely true. And it's one of two things happened. Number one, like if you look at it, once they made Gorton the executive vice president, they made it very clear, as you said, Jeff, that whoever the general manager was going to be, was going to be someone who could speak in French and English.

So Gorton and Mellonby together became impossible. The second possibility is that Molson just looked at the way this year was going and said I don't want anyone tied to it that this is so bad that we're breaking fresh so I think it's got to be one of those two things and basically Jeff that changed in the last couple of weeks from what I understand it went from Mellenby being involved in the conversations to Mellenby kind of being in the dark. And then on Friday, I believe they informed him that they were going in another direction and he was out. And after the report came out that they were talking to Gorton, Mellenby resigned on on saturday night now then we come to the other

part of this story i'm told that when we reported gorton on saturday night bergevin had no idea that was happening that he was completely blindsided by it wait a minute so this is during hockey central 6 30 eastern saturday night at that point mark bergevin did not know i was told that when the tweet went out uh reporting that they were talking to gorton for a role that was not the gm role and we'll see bergevin had no idea like from what i heard on saturday night as members of the canadians organization started to find out about it they were caught completely by shock molson and whoever knew in addition to him they kept it quiet from a lot of people until yesterday afternoon and then obviously it got reported and it got around and

melon beer's resignation got in the public and we started to hear about it like they claimed they were totally blindsided it's a tough thing in particular for bergevin because he's got covid right so yeah you know it's not an easy thing but it was a big deal um i didn't realize when i first reported it how close we were to an actual announcement, but it's become clear to me that they were going to announce it probably Monday morning. So it got within less than 48 hours, Jeff, of being announced to it finally got out. They did an unbelievable job of keeping it quiet. Now, you know, Bergevin, I think, I really thought his resignation letter or letter to the fans, I guess, was excellent. that played a factor in the deterioration of the relationship between gm and owner and how much that changed things not only that they made the pick but the reaction to the pick

how everything was handled i can't help but wonder how much of a factor that was because again to me the most fascinating thing about all this was bergevin and molson were joined at the hip they believed in each other they supported each other you know right up until last year end of last season and only in the last few months does it really seem that their relationship deteriorated to the point that you know bergevin felt he was totally blindsided by this there's a couple of questions here too specifically when you mentioned the logan may you pick and what that could have done to the relationship between jeff molson and mark bergevin i wonder now with a new group coming in and who knows we'll wait to find out the answer if they

end up renouncing the pick i don't know i want to get to what's next for Marc Bergevin here in a second, but the obvious question is who becomes then the next general manager? Are they in a hurry to do this? There's a lot of names obviously floating around that have experience, who can communicate in both English and French as well. As we record this podcast, the Montreal Canadians have not reached out to Patrick Waugh.

I just checked before the pod. There are no shortage of candidates that are out there from Daniel Brière to Pat Brisson. I mean, there's a lot. Which direction do you think they go in here? Do you have a feeling either way? If you remember Jeff Gorton in New York, Jeff Gorton does not like a lot of attention he's happy to quietly he had the perfect guy with him in new york john davidson right he likes to put his head down and do the job and john davidson

would talk and he'd handle all like you know obviously he talked when he had to but he had davidson to handle a lot of the media heavy lifting if it was necessary so i think that jeff gorton sees this as he's going to do the same thing he's going to handle a lot of the decision making process but the new general manager whoever it is is going to do a lot of the talking and be the face in both English and French. And Gorton's going to sort of train them and handle the key part of the business. So I understand the way that the Canadians are doing this year.

I'll tell you this. I think Daniel Breer, who you mentioned, is an excellent name. I do think he's going to be one of the people who is considered. He's learned the business side in the ECHL. Obviously, he's going to be one of the people who is considered he's learned the business side in the echl he's obviously he's french you know he wants to be a gm in the nhl someday arizona interviewed him as part of their assistant gm search that went to john ferguson i could see briere being you know one of the names that they talk about i think some other names you're going to hear.

I think Martin Madden from Anaheim. We don't know what's going to happen in Anaheim, but I've had a lot of people suggest to me he'd be the kind of person, you know, Matthew Darsh, Tampa Bay. You know, someone suggested to me, and you would know this name better than I would in terms of the job he's done in the Quebec League. But I've had a couple of people say Jocelyn Thibault and Stéphane Robida. Thibault's been heavily involved in juniors.

Robida owns a team in juniors and worked briefly for the Maple Leafs. You know, a lot of people are talking Briere Madden. And I think if they're interested, I think they will be factors. But I heard some of those other names as well. I think there are another of a number of young French executives who are just working their way up the ladder. If the Canadians want someone to learn in that scenario, there's going to be the opportunity for some of them there.

Patrick Waugh, that name has been out there going back to when we first started here that perhaps Bergevin may not go back Here's the thing about Waugh is would he want to be the number two to Gordon? Would Gordon want that? I don't know the answer to that Well that's all I'm saying I mean Martin Madden's an interesting choice specifically if this is going to be a Martin Listen they're heading into a draft where I mean who knows how many first round draft picks by the time here in the draft, the Montreal Canadians are going to be able to accumulate. That might be a really interesting name if they're going to go the draft develop route

with the Montreal Canadians. It is an interesting one. I mean, the thing is he's in Anaheim right now and we don't know what's going to happen there. You know, I've had people mention his name to me. I just don't know. happen there you know i've had people mention his name to me i just don't know is basically it's that's two situations that he's in a situation where it's uncertain and he could be going to a situation where he probably would have more power but still wouldn't be the number one guy

i mean i just don't know how he'd feel about that how is dom du charme feel these days i don't know i mean he was burge's guy i don't know i like the one thing is gordon's gonna come in there's gonna have a half a season to figure this all out yeah when you have a season like this i can't imagine anyone feels incredibly comfortable and when you take a look at how this weekend unfolded you're not looking at it and you're you're saying okay our general manager is claiming he was completely blindsided by this and had no idea it was coming.

Would anybody feel settled at this point in time? No. So what's next then for Marc Bergevin, do you think? That's a great question. People have connected him to LA. Maybe he's going to want to do the same thing Gorton just did, go into the big executive position,

have somebody else do a lot of the day-to-day work. I don't know. Like I said, he was done in Montreal. It was time for him. He just had enough. I've had people say to me that they think the Canucks would have interest in him. If you want a calmer situation than Montreal, well, I think anything is a calmer situation than Montreal, well, I think anything is a calmer situation than Montreal,

but not by much. The other end of the country, Elliot. Not by much. You know, Mellenby used to work in Vancouver, right? He worked for Mike Gillis there. So I'm actually curious to see if he ends up on Vancouver's radar because they know him a little bit. But I think Bergevin's going to be a GM again.

I think he's going to want something a little quieter than Montreal and maybe Vancouver. Before we wrap up with Montreal, your thoughts on Marc Bergevin? I mean, he took the job in 2012 and had it up until today as we record this podcast at 8.34 Eastern on Sunday evening. How do you look at his time as general manager of the Montreal Canadiens? I mean, what a wild ride. Yes.

What a wild ride he had. In that lockout year, he had more success than a lot of people were expecting, I think. And then, you know, the challenges that the moves he made pk suban that's probably goes down as the biggest one and the one that angered the fan base the most swung for the fences on the patch already deal a stunning stanley cup run kind of out of nowhere you know the thing that i think that he did best and I think this is no small thing in Montreal is that he had the courage of his convictions that he said if I decide that this is what I'm going to do I'm going to do it and I don't care what anyone else thinks and I think that stressed

him out and burned him out at the end because I think there's always a lot of oppositions to things you do but that to me was the best thing about Bergevin was that he said if I believe in something I'm going to do it and I will deal with the noise and I thought that was his best skill I think every GM's resume is incomplete until two to three years after they're gone. But the development of players like Suzuki, Romanov. Cole Caulfield. Cole Caulfield. That is going to be critical

to ultimately how Bergevin is remembered. The one thing that I wonder about, and there's no answer unless he wants to tell us the answer. If Montreal didn't go on the run that they did last year, and if all of this came crashing down around Bergevin last year, is Philip Deneau still a Hab? I don't know the answer to that. Only Philip Deneau knows. But that's one of the questions that I have about Bergevin and the Montreal Canadiens.

So one of the other things here, Jeff, that is really interesting to me is that I think in Chicago and Anaheim and whatever jobs also come open, Jeff Gordon was going to be a very high candidate. He was going to be in a good opportunity to get one of these jobs. very high candidate. He was going to be in a good opportunity to get one of these jobs. And Montreal, which is probably the place we would have least picked him to go, steps up and gets him now. That's a fascinating part of this story for me. Yeah, so much for his career as an analyst on NHL Network, I suppose.

I'm sure he's really crushed about that. Wait a second. Sorry, sorry. I've got to turn down the Montreal Canadiens. Yeah. Because I'm too good at television. I'm sure that if you're the NHL network,

you know going in that you have Jeff Gorton, but you may not have him for the whole season. I'm with you. It's a surprise. He could have had a lot of these jobs

and more jobs that come available. We'll see if Jeff Molson addresses that in this presser Monday at 11 Eastern. And Elliot, sticking with the positive stories, let's talk about the Philadelphia Flyers. Sunday, Andreas Janssen sticks it to them. Two goals, two assists.

The New Jersey Devils beat the Philadelphia Flyers 5-2 in a... I don't know. How would you describe the game that we just saw? It's tough for Philly. You can feel it mounting. I think Fletcher's looked around at some things, but he's really tight on the cap. He's got to go dollar in, dollar out, basically, right?

I have wondered if you look at a former flyer like Rick Tockett, Vino still has term on his deal. I don't know, but you just get the sense the pressure on there has got to be to do something. This is a big year for that team. They went out. they made some changes Atkinson Ristolainen Ryan Ellis who's been hurt and can't get healthy that's a team that and an organization that they're very proactive right I just think the pressure's on the the weird thing for me and all of us normally when we see Philadelphia go through

something like this we point to the goaltending and say well the goaltending is sinking them they're getting good goaltending from martin jones and carter hart like they're getting really good goaltending from these two to me right now depending on price hart's starting game one for the canadian olympic team i believe so but whenever i say that people in st louis send me angry dms about jordan binnington well that's because you hate the blues and everything they stand for so that's why people are saying that to you well look like i understand binnington for sure because doug armstrong was loyal to him and he started off great this year but to me on merit no i'm with you carter hart's

been fantastic he's getting game one yeah and And even Jones has been really improved from what we've seen him the past couple of years. Yeah. But right now, that is just a team. You're looking at them and it screams something is coming. Let me ask you something. Is not, though, the mitigating factor here, and you already winked at it, Ryan Ellis injury, and let's throw Kevin Hayes in there as well. Yes. Hayes is a big big loss those are two big injuries those are two big losses for them to start the season like i know this has been disappointing right now and i know that there

are people asking a lot of questions and demanding change but do you not get a little bit more rope when you say look i don't think so kevin hayes is out ryan ellis is out i don't think so i don't sense it philly not known for its patience organizational or city-wise chuck fletcher's a very patient guy i think he always tries to be but i think the desperation there is really starting to grow right now anyone in vanc, specifically Canucks fans, are saying to themselves, when are they going to start talking about the Canucks? We're used to everybody talking about the Canucks.

What is the latest with the Canucks, Elliot? Well, as we record this, I'm not watching the game because Amal told me to pay attention. But as I quickly look at the app, I see they're up 2-1 over Boston late in the second period. Jake Dabrowski's a healthy on this one.

Yeah. They've kind of been lost in everything, but I think pretty soon we're going to be talking about Boston. I think so too. If this doesn't get better. But Vancouver, the best thing that someone told me right now is that it feels like every game that Vancouver plays is a referendum on their franchise and that is a really brutal space to be in

and I know that there are Canucks fans who do not like that changes haven't been made and on some level I'm surprised that interim changes haven't been made. But I do think that saying, hold on, we're not doing anything permanent until we're absolutely sure we have the right people. I think that's the right thing to do here. You know, you could make interim changes. No question about that. But the playoffs, they're gone this year. It's not happening.

And I just think that that's the way they've decided to do it. Why do anything until we know exactly what we want to do? And I think that's really tough on Travis Green. I think it's really tough on some of their players. I think it's really tough on the organization their players. I think it's really tough on the organization because I'll give you a perfect example. So on Saturday night, we mentioned that they considered Scott Walker for their head coaching job.

Now, I think they also considered Claude Julien, and they decided that they weren't going to do Claude Julien, and they also looked at Scott Walker, but they decided they weren't going to do that. And Scott Walker, former NHLer, had a really good career involved with the Guelph Storm. He worked in player development for the Canucks for four years. And he worked for Arizona after he worked for Vancouver. Well, I had someone call me on Sunday and say, there's no way your Scott Walker report is

accurate. There's no way they approached him about coaching the team. And I said, I'm telling you, it's accurate. And he said, how do you know? And I said, you're never going to know that. And I gave them my standard answer that you have to know if you tell me things in confidence, I won't tell people that you told me that. And he says, well, I don't believe you. I don't think that report's accurate. And I said, that's fine. You can choose to believe me or not, but I'm telling you, they talked to him. And a couple hours later, they called me back and they're like, I think you're right. And we kind of had a good laugh about it. He was apologizing to me. I'm like, you don't're right. And we kind of had a good laugh about it. You know, he was like apologizing to me. I'm like, you don't have to apologize to me.

Like, it's really not necessary. We all hear conflicting information in this business, and sometimes we hear the same story from two different angles that gives you two different perspectives. So I was good with it. But what it said to me is that, you know, inside that organization, the Canucks right now, not everybody has the same information.

We talked a week ago about, you know, factions and things like that. I kind of think that's what goes on. I think there's some people that know this and there's some people that know that. And there's some people that know this other thing. And it gives you an idea of what life is like there right now. And I think that's a very hard way to go. But I think what ownership has decided is if we're going to do this, we're going to do this right.

And the thing that's part of that is what we have talked about is that anytime you're hiring someone, even if it's someone you think you know, you have to be careful about it because you have to make sure. and i think all of these are factors i think the other thing too is now bergevin's available now melonby's available and i'm not saying that those guys are going to get the job but now all of a sudden you're sitting here and saying wait a second who else is going to become available yeah there's a lot of stress around the league right now jeff there really is there's a lot of stress around the league right now, Jeff. There really is.

There's a lot of stress. Nerves are close to the skin everywhere. You can sense it. And I want to circle back to that point you made about how every game seems like it's a referendum when it comes to the Vancouver Canucks. We've seen this before with hockey teams, specifically Canadian hockey teams that spiral,

to your point, because the pressure in these markets is just immense, especially when you have a start like Vancouver does. I think we've talked about this before. Sometimes it feels like you're not playing 82 games, but you're playing 82 one game seasons. Every game feels like it's an entire season. That has to be an incredibly difficult way to either coach, to play, to manage all of that. I can only think about, and we talked last podcast about, you know, you wear it on your face. Travis Green is wearing this on his face. So coaches faces during this can't lie.

I just can't imagine the stress that everybody's going through here. I know fans are frustrated. Everybody's stressed. and the stress that everybody's going through here. I know fans are frustrated. Everybody's stressed. It's just like if you said, point at the most unhealthy situation for everybody in the NHL,

I'd point at Vancouver. And I'd say, not a single person is enjoying this. That a single person doesn't feel some discomfort here at some level. Some more so than others, but everybody's feeling it. Like at every single level. It's got to be awful being there.

You can really sense it. And I think that's going to grow around the league, especially, you know, places that aren't doing really well. Another place I kind of see it growing right now is Ottawa with the whole Matt Murray situation. So let's get there. So, uh, Matt Murray waved, Matt Murray clears, Matt Murray sent to belleville of the american hockey league what happened here so jeff i think this thing is was very complicated and i think there were very hurt feelings on both sides i think the senators you know they traded for him they signed him to a big

contract and they feel they simply haven't gotten the production and to the senators that's the bottom line matt murray he feels there are extenuating circumstances particularly this year he was sick at the beginning of the year with flu-like symptoms he was injured in the crider play and then while the senators had their covet outbreak I think he had a mix of positive and negative tests. So I don't know what to say exactly, but he definitely was sick again and he had symptoms. And his point was, I haven't really had a chance this year. And he apparently told them that I think you're using me as a scapegoat.

And he was very upset about it so you've got one side saying murray that i'm being treated unfairly and blamed for what's happening and you've got another side the senator's saying you know the bottom line is you simply haven't been good enough and we've got to put goalies in there who are look the stress is building they're having a really hard year they wanted to at least take a step forward this season it's not happening right now they feel in net there's better opportunities for them to win and the bottom line is they got to try to win some games you know the situation blew up but you know to me that perfectly identifies the fact that what Ottawa expected and what's going on, it's not the same thing and the stresses are growing.

And I do think they wanted to send a jolt through their lineup. I do think they did that. I think they wanted to say, look, our players are going to be shocked by this and it's a sign that we're going to do something to change things up and nobody should feel solid if you're not performing were you surprised nobody uh claimed him because you were talking about it a bit no there were two that i thought might for a couple of different reasons so i thought that buffalo might just because of the unknown factor around craig and Anderson right now.

Craig Anderson is now listed week to week by the Buffalo Sabres. I don't think they want to continue much longer with Del and Takarski as their pair. This is a year where a lot of young players are getting a lot of ice time and they want them to be in games that last three periods, not one. And they want them to have a season that doesn't end before Christmas. And it doesn't matter in a lot of ways what you do. Like, you know, you look at Tage Thompson, who's been a revelation at center so far. You don't want, you know, good work by young players

undone by questionable goaltending. Because all that Buffalo probably wants right now is just someone that's better than those two. I thought they might at least have a conversation about Matt Murray, and maybe they did, and I'm sure they did, but of course, ultimately, they didn't. The other team was Arizona, as Arizona is going to be unloading as many veteran pricey contracts as they can, Phil Kessel being Exhibit A. They still need to make the salary cap floor.

And Matt Murray would go a ways to achieving that if they get rid of veteran players on big tickets and still need to make the floor. The problem with that for Arizona is, in the last two years of this deal, the money paid out is actually larger than the salary cap hit. So that's a no fly for the Arizona Coyotes. Those are the two, like I prefaced it with like, look, we all expect him to clear.

But if there's a couple of teams that would have some motivation to at least pause and think about it, Buffalo and Arizona would probably be the two obvious ones. Are there any other ones for you that you could have seen taking a, at least having a conversation about matt murray well the other thing too is i don't get the sense that there's been a lot of trade talks with murray prior to this and now i wonder if there will be because the better chance is that how do i eat money yeah i mean they wouldn't want to or they they have to attach a sweetener to get it to happen right so i really wonder if that now becomes part of the question.

We'll see. Do we talk about a deal where money is retained or a sweetener is included? That's what I wonder here. And the thing too, sending him to AHL Belleville, I mean, what does that do for Matt Sogard, Kevin Mandelizzi? Like now all of a sudden you've got that issue at the American League level as you're trying to develop younger players.

A couple of more things here, Frej. The New York Islanders and the postponed games. I don't think we're at the point where we say this means the Olympics are in jeopardy, but are we getting warmer here now, Frej? You and I have been talking about this for a couple of weeks now. I don't think this jeopardizes the Olympics, but I do think the worry's gone up. As we've talked about, Jeff, the teams are starting up as we've talked about jeff the teams are starting to really have big issues about this for the first time they're complaining emily kaplan had a tweet

on the weekend about players being really scared of what the quarantine would look like if they test positive in beijing if they test positive in beijing you know i've also had players say to me like i don't care i want to play in play in the Olympics. One player told me that. I was like, are you serious? Do you understand what this could be? He goes, I want to play in the Olympics. But that's your choice. I hear the protocols for Vegas.

If this happens and they're at the All-Star game, like there might not even be a media day, I heard, in Vegas now. Wow. Because they just don't want anybody talking to the players who could be going anywhere. And the event on the strip? I don't know. That I haven't heard. But someone said to me, you think you're going to have media day in Vegas at the All-Star

game? You might not. So it's going to be really something. Like we've said, we have about 40 days until this has to be decided. I don't like where this is trending. I really don't. You know, the other thing too, Jeff, is let's just say, knock on wood, and hopefully it doesn't happen. until this has to be decided. I don't like where this is trending. I really don't. You know, the other thing too, Jeff, is let's just say,

knock on wood, and hopefully it doesn't happen, you test positive in China, it's not like you can hop on a plane and go back to your NHL city. No, you stay. There aren't flights going in and out of there. You stay in China. That's what's happening. So in November, someone sent me this story from november 17th

a polish luge athlete who was injured during a winter olympics training event near beijing was flown out of china on a cargo plane this week after coronavirus restrictions prevented him from taking a commercial flight according to the head of poland's luge association wow when organizers tried to arrange and the loser's name was matthias soczowicz to travel back to poland on a commercial flight they were told that covid regulations prevented him from doing so for another two weeks so he traveled on an air china cargo plane from beijing to milan before taking another flight to warsaw the cargo plane's interior was just like that of a passenger jet adding that mr sochowitz had described his journey from beijing as very

comfortable oh i should credit this was in the uh by raymond jong of the new york times wow so you can fly in a cargo plane you can fly fly with livestock on the way back like i don't know like i said like emily's tweeted that she spoke to somebody who said that they thought that was really scary and i have have no doubt that a number of players, but I had a player tell me that we're like, yeah, we still want to go. I was like, okay. Neither of those things surprised me. No, I know.

I understand both completely. As somebody who was a completely reckless 20 something and made ridiculous life choices, I could totally see someone saying i still want to go i get it like at that point in my life i made ridiculously stupid life choices so i get it but if this was like up on top of your list of things to do in your life and it's your one chance to do it you take more risks than just you and i would going like, hey, you want to go see the Great Wall and maybe take a side trip to go see the Terracotta Warriors?

Like, no, like we're being frivolous. This is what they've worked for their entire lives. We talked about this last week. A couple more things here before I wrap up. Evander Kane waived by the San Jose Sharks. As we also find out, he has changed representation. Yeah.

Now being represented by Dan Milstein. Well, it should be mentioned that his previous agents were Newport, and they're mentioned in the lawsuit. They feel he owes them commission. So I don't think it's any surprise that he's not still being represented by them. Kane was put on waivers, as you mentioned. I would be surprised if he was claimed. I think he's going

to go to the American Hockey League he's going to report Milstein released in a statement and then we'll see what happens we had to do those annoying burning questions that Amber makes us do in Lee's broadcast and he asked Stewie and I do you think Kane plays again for San Jose and Stewie said yes and my answer was what if someone says to san jose we're considering training for kane but we want to see him in nhl games first then he's gonna play and finally do you have a thought on brendan lemieux brady kachuk he can't do it right and kachuk to say what he said that's rare from an NHL player. Yeah.

And I think it's probably two things. I think he's mad about being bitten because he thinks it's BS. And it's also that he's mad about the losing, right? I thought about that more as I was driving home last night. His explosion was about two things. He's furious at that, and he's mad about the way ottawa season's going and he takes it all out yeah you know what are you going to do like in that situation who's going to criticize brady kachuk for saying what he said nobody not at all and the fact he's been offered

an in-person hearing yeah one of the things that we're talking about now and is hygiene right of course and someone said to me do not underestimate the role that that plays in all of this well and that's interesting because previous i mean we haven't seen suspensions for biting two games two games here in 2009 yarko rutu 2008 or 2000 and that was on andrew peters yes yeah but it's like one game for mark savard two games for yarko root two and now all of a sudden yeah we're offering an in person yeah imagine right now if marshan licked callahan uh can you imagine for one second that would be the nhl's first licking suspension that would be a 10 million game suspension do you know the marty McSorley, Eric Lindros biting story?

What's that one? So I confirmed this with Berkey because he would have been the sheriff at that point for the NHL. It was just a different time. Marty is a different person, but this is back when McSorley was playing with the San Jose Sharks and Eric Lindros was playing with the Philadelphia Flyers. So Marty tells me this story one day after we had worked together at Sportsnet.

And we were talking about, you know, guys, I remember I asked him, who's the one guy you always wanted to fight and just wouldn't fight you? And he said, Eric Lindros. And I said, but one time I got real close because I had always said I would always go at Lindros, try and draw at Lindros trying to draw him in trying to draw him in and he would never do it never do it except one time it might have been like after a goal or something Eric finally was frustrated and went for it and we got real close and he bit me and I went what he goes yeah and Eric bit me And he said the next day, because the papers went nuts with it, right?

Like Eric Lindros bites Marty McSorley. We got to throw this guy out of the league. This has to be a 10 game suspension. The NHL can't stand for this. And Marty says, you got to call the next day from Brian Burke. I mentioned it was, you know, essentially in the George Peros role now,

back then. And Burke,key said, look, like, we're real close to suspending Lindros, and it's going to be a big one. I just need you to confirm to me because you can't really tell on the video, and you can go watch the video on YouTube, you can't really tell in the video whether he really bit you or not. And Marty says, ah, geez, Berkey, I don't know. Things happen in a fight.

And Berkey's like, Marty, I can't do anything unless you tell me. Like, did he bite you or not? Ah, geez, Berkey, you know, I can't really remember. I don't know. I'm not sure. And Brian says, I'm going to ask you one more time, Marty, because I'm ready to throw the book at him. I just need you to tell me that he bit you.

And Marty says, Brian, he didn't bite me. Now you go and tell Bobby Clark he owes me one. Wow. What a story. Just a different guy, a different time. This sounds like a Hey Berkey. That would be a great Hey Berkey. Hey Amel, let's get the Eric Lendros biting story

in one of the Hey Berkeys next time we sit down to do an animation. It is one of my favorite stories. And you can see Marty doing it. Brian, he didn't bite me. Now go tell Bobby Clark he owes me one. It was a different time, Preach. It was a different time. Well, that's the second best biting

story I heard this weekend, but a better one for Hey Berkey because BXA mentioned that David Amber once bit his sister. What? Yeah, when they were kids. He mentioned it on the air. I don't think Amber was very happy, so it's a good thing we didn't mention it on this

podcast. Okay, you know what? Let's end with something light then, Elliot, coming on the heels of a Brendan Lemieux biting story here. Someone, a gentleman by the name of Bill Tuspile, I hope I'm pronouncing your name right there, Bill, goes by the Twitter handle JohnCougarColleenCamp, actually paid, via Cameo, Gilbert Gottfried

to read the Brady Kachuk post-game statement in only the way that Gilbert Gottfried can. Let's end the podcast. This is awesome. I never thought I would say this, Elliot Namill. Let's end the podcast with Gilbert Gottfried. Tuck Chuck was furious. This is the one time I'm going to answer this, said Tuck Chuck was furious. This is the one time I'm going to answer this, said Tuck Chuck.

It was the most gutless thing somebody could ever do. This guy, you can ask any one of his own teammates, nobody ever wants to play with him. This guy is a bad guy and a bad teammate. He focuses on himself all the time. The guy's just a joke. He shouldn't be in the league. The guy's gutless. No other team wants him. He's going to keep begging to be in the NHL. No other team is going to want him. He's an absolute joke. I can't even wrap my head around it. People don't even do this. He's just a bad guy. Tkachuk didn't stop there either. It's outrageous. Kids don't even do that anymore. Babies do that. And I don't even know when he was thinking. He's just a complete brickhead. He's got nothing up there. complete brickhead. He's got nothing up there. Bad guy, bad player. What a joke he is to Karchuk.