32 Thoughts: The Podcast - McDavid and the Oilers Continue to Stumble

Episode Date: November 10, 2023

Jeff and Elliotte react to the latest Edmonton Oilers loss, this time at the hands of the lowly San Jose Sharks. Where do the Oilers go from here? Next, the guys give their input on the latest out of Vancouver, where former Canucks President Trevor Linden spoke about his tenure with the franchise and the disagreements that took place between his scouting staff and Jim Benning (17:00). They also dive into the Jonathan Huberdeau situation in Calgary who was sat for an entire 3rd period (28:10). Jeff and Elliotte move on to their thoughts on John Klingberg's struggles with the Toronto Maple Leafs this season (38:17), comment on the resurgent form of Artemi Panarin (47:30), and give the Kings and Golden Knights their flowers for an amazing hockey game on Wednesday night (56:20). Jeff and Elliotte answer your questions on the Montana’s Thought Line (1:04:00).Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call the Montana's Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemail.This podcast was produced and mixed by Dominic Sramaty and Cam Barra and hosted by Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman.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.

You know, there's alcohol involved and I threw on the black pants and I just assumed that they were the black pants that were for me. Oh, no. But Jeff, they were not. Oh, no. These are the pants that are so tight you can see what religion you are? Pretty much, yeah. Okay. So, what now welcome to 32 thoughts the podcast brought to you by the all-new gmc sierra hd

elliott so what now edmonton loses to san jose 3-2 for that brief moment after ryan nugent hopkins cut the lead to one we thought maybe there was a glimmer of hope only to watch it extinguished on Thursday night. The Oilers now are 2-9-1, 31st in the NHL. It's a lot to get into here, whether it's Connor, whether it's Ekblad, whether it's the goalies, whether it's Woodcraft, whether it's Holland. Where would you like to start? You know, Jeff, I'm looking at the trending topics on x i think i just named them mcdavid and dry sidle oilers woodcroft that's never good

that's just never good i was in shock watching that game the other thing you could mention too if you really wanted to, is that the San Jose Sharks won their first game on Tuesday night and 48 hours later, they are tied in the standings with the Edmonton Oilers. It's absolutely unbelievable to think about. There's nobody, nobody who thought that Edmonton would be in this position this year. And, you know, when they got, when that second goal got that big bounce for a hurdle to score and put them ahead, I looked at the screen and I just said, this is not going to be Edmonton's night that's a bounce that was not happening for the

Sharks the first month of the season and that's about and that's just a sign that the hockey gods are not in line with Edmonton right now and that is a team that is waiting for something to happen. Jack Campbell happened, him going on waivers on Tuesday, but now they are waiting for something else. You can tell it, you can see it, and they're going to force the hands of the organization to do something. You know, earlier this week, it was two days ago, I wrote in my notes that they recognize Woodcroft's record. He's got the best winning percentage coming into this season in Oilers history.

He's only coached one full season, and they don't want to make the change. But if this keeps going, you're going to be forced into position to do something and i think the others are in that position now look there's all the lip readers out there who saw woodcroft and dave manson walking across the ice at the end of the game i got in big trouble once i'm not doing it i'm not doing it. I'm not doing it, Elliot. I got in big trouble once for lip reading. Once. But,

look, everybody watching this knows something is going to happen. Whether it's a trade, whether it's a coaching change, the Edmonds and Oilers are going to have to do

something. And now one thing I'll say is, there are people in the league who believe the Oilers were on the precipice of a big move on Wednesday. I don't know what happened. I don't know where it is. But I had people saying to me,

watch the Oilers and goal. They're up to something. And they weren't talking about Campbell. I don't know if that was part of it or what else was going to happen, but there were people who believed they were working on something in that, something significant, and it fell through or it hasn't happened. I don't know where we are. But I do think that is a team that is actively at work

trying to make something happen. You have your November 1st stat. Yep. For those that may not be familiar with it, you want to go over that quickly before I ask you something bluntly here? Sure. So in 82 game seasons in the salary cap era, there are 66 teams that have been four points out after games on November 1st. Nine have made the playoffs. If you do not get off to a good start in this league,

it is extremely hard to make the playoffs. That's about 14%. Edmonton was one of four teams this year that was in that spot. The others were Calgary, Pittsburgh, and San Jose. So the odds are really against them, and they're only getting worse as that game last night happens. Last year's teams were 0 for 4. Now, I think you'd look at a team like one that has McDavid and Dreissel,

and you'd say if anyone can do it, it's this. You know, the one thing here that's pretty clear is McDavid is far from 100%. And at some point in time, they may have to make a decision here. Like, honestly, Jeff, I can't imagine punting it and saying we've got to take Connor out. But, and you know how he's going to react.

Oh, yeah. You're going to say, Connor, you're not going to play. And, you know, he's going to throw you out a yeah. You're going to say, Conor, you're not going to play. And he's going to throw you out a window. But I wonder if we're getting to a point where they might have to do it. This whole conversation just seems unbelievable to me. Like I'm watching Ryan Whitney implode on Twitter. Oh, yeah.

I just can't believe what has happened here. I just can't believe what has happened here. It's shocking to me how much, how this first month of the season has gone for the Oilers. Yeah, I think it's safe to say we're all stunned. To the Conor McDavid point, look, it looks very much like he rushed himself back for the Heritage Classic and is nowhere close to the Conor McDavid that we're used to.

But I say the same thing about Matthias Ekholm as well. That's not the Matthias Ekholm we saw down the stretch last season after the deadline, not the same guy we saw in the playoffs at all. But here's my question here to all of it. So you have your November 1st stat. Generally, most general managers, and this is what they say publicly, and that's what we have to go on, talk about U.S. Thanksgiving,

and that's when you make your decision. Ken Holland, by the way, is a big Thanksgiving guy. He's told me that before. We're two weeks away from U.S. Thanksgiving right now. The Edmonton Oilers have five points, and they're looking upwards at the Pacific, and they see the Los Angeles Kings with 19 and the Vancouver Canucks with 21 and the Vegas

Golden Knights with 23. Even though they finally lost the game, the Anaheim ducks with 14. Yup. I don't know that anyone is talking about Macklin Celebrini in Edmonton or as I like to call him now Macklin Celebration that's good

we'll see if it sticks you want to know something? I had people texting me I woke up to text this morning with people saying with the first pick in the NHL draft the Edmonton Oilers select Macklin Celebrini one thing about people out there, they are ruthless and they are relentless.

Well, okay, so here's the thing. Just as a quick aside, how many people were watching last night and you listening right now, you put your hand up if you're a guilty party. How many people were watching last night just for the car crash? There were definitely people watching

and listening last night for that. I saw people out there doing that. That heat daddy guy was doing live streams. Oh yeah. It was weird, Jeff. Like, you know, like I'm all for hockey fans having fun. I think it's really important. Last night.

It's a weird kind of thing because but last night was an event there were a lot of hockey fans and i mean good real hockey fans who wanted san jose to lose to philadelphia so that oh yeah they could play edmonton with no wins oh yeah that was this that was setting up the chaos game yes Yes. I mean, it turned out to be a chaos game, but that would have put it over the top if that were San Jose's first win. Now, I am anti-human suffering. I really am.

I don't like to see people go through the meat grinder, but it was really wild to see how many people wanted to watch Ultimate Carnage last night. And however you enjoy the sport, that's a good thing. I can't knock fans for wanting to enjoy the sport

the way they like to enjoy the sport. It was very interesting in the online hockey community world as this game was unfolding. I'm like a lot of people. I watch the game on one screen, and I have my social going on another screen so I can see what people are talking about. And there was a community of fans

that was having a great time watching that game. It was kind of a weird... As you said, it's like people who watch auto racing for the crashes it really was one of those nights you know the other thing the other thing you've got to be sitting here in edmonton is you everybody's like the orders organization is saying you're going from saying what are we going to have to do this year to add to win the Stanley Cup to where are we and what are we going to do now? You basically have to call a timeout to your entire plan and say, thank God we've got time to the deadline because we might have to come up with a completely new plan and vision for where we are.

Well, that's one of the things to all of us, too, is with the record of 2-9-1 to kick off the season, I don't think anyone's talking about Stanley Cup right now. I think that you're talking about, okay, what's the way to get back in? Just win a game. Win a game. And let's start getting into a type of playoff picture here. But the thing is, at some point, to your point about

making plans based on the new reality, you know, I'm of the firm belief, and I think a lot of people were, that this year, you know, Ken Holland was prepared to trade futures, like first round picks, prospects, this could be a cup year, we need to really go for a top of the winning cycle, prospects, this could be a cup year, we need to really go for a top of the winning cycle, all of it. I just wonder if all of that now goes out the window until this team gets anywhere close to being in a playoff conversation. There is no point in throwing away futures to get to the middle. Nope. You know what I mean? there's no point in throwing any of those things away if it just means, well, we're going to make the record a little more respectable.

No, your trades have to be based on we're having a cup run. A hundred percent, unless now you're going to start to redo your team, which is something that has to be discussed. You know, the other thing, too, here, this is widely believed to be Ken Holland's final year as GM. That, you know, this is the final year of his contract, and while he hasn't confirmed anything, it has been suggested, and we've all heard the rumors,

that he will finish this season and walk off into the sunset and now instead of him trying to put the final touches on a stanley cup team is it a completely new philosophical decision and what does that mean for holland do you leave him in charge and say ken let's set a self up for the future or take serious hard looks? Or do you say, if you're thinking of bringing in someone else, and I have to believe that one of the things that Jeff Jackson has talked about when he was interviewed to run this team was a succession plan. Do you start to say, okay, now because we might be doing future deals instead of 2023, 24 deals, do we start talking about

the succession plan? Like you have to start talking about things right now in a real day to day way that you were thinking, we don't have to worry about this until next offseason. Now you're doing that. All right. The Oilers next in action Saturday against the Seattle Kraken as they look to try to make up some ground in the Pacific. One other Oilers note, and that's Jack Campbell. Playing in Bakersfield against Abbotsford on Thursday,

surrenders four goals on 20 shots. Again, it's only his first game in the American Hockey League, but first game down, problems still exist. Well, I don't think anybody was necessarily expecting him to come out and you know look like the second coming in his first game there it's a big shock to the system you know there's one goal he gave up against abbotsford the third one where i had to watch it several times to try to figure out how did it go what goal well yeah like what was going on there you what's your

theory on that goal for anyone who's seen i don't know i'm thinking about it was he was he trying to ramp it up to his glove i don't know like i always i i'm not a goalie expert um so i always sort of defer to the the woodleys and the valicats of the uh of the world on these ones but is that the one off to the side where it looks like he's almost trying to ramp it up to his ramp the puck up to his glove now that you said that i could kind of see it i didn't even think about that, to be honest. But watching it, you know, someone sent me a note, said you should go check out this goal on Campbell because it took me a few viewings to figure out how it went in.

And I was like, what? And I went and I looked at it and I saw that. I wonder, is the answer here keep playing him or is the answer that he needs a mental break? Like watching some of those highlights last night and as you said uh four goals on 20 shots i i was looking at it and saying does you know does he does he need a timeout like some people are different some people like to work through it some people need a break i don't know the answer here but but I was watching. I understand Jack Campbell and Ken Holland met when they put him on waivers,

and Ken Holland told him, the goal is for you to go back down to the American Hockey League, find your game, and come back up. Now, whether or not the Oilers really think that, that's the right message to send them. That's what you have to tell him. For sure. Is that you are still part, you're on your contract for three and a half more years. Go find your game.

You can come back and you can help us. You know, that's only one game, as you said, but it looks like we're a long way away from that. And everybody's different. Like I said, some people try to play through it. Some people need a break. But, you know, I'll say this. The Vancouver Canucks fans who do not like Edmonton, they were in their glory last night.

They're winning. They're now 16. They're on one of the biggest shooting percentage and save percentage PDO heaters of all time. They're 16 points ahead of the Oilers. They win again last night in Ottawa, and their American Hockey League team beats the Oilers team, too. They are in their glory right now.

But it left me wondering, what's the right route to do with Campbell at this time? Okay, let's get to Vancouver then. And the one thing that I love, love, love about Vancouver and Vancouver hockey and Vancouver hockey Twitter is no matter how good things are. And as you mentioned, things aren't good. Things are great. No, wait a minute. Things are really great. They can always find some drama. Trevor Linden on was sat and Dan the other day on 650 in Vancouver, you know, intimating that, you know what what back in the 2017 draft in chicago for up to jim benning he might have taken another player and not selected elias peterson and i really pushed hard in our management group to have judd and his guys make the pick and judd and give ronnie lorne a lot

of credit as well they love this guy and so um you know jim wasn't sold and, you know, Jim had his choice. He probably would have taken a different player. And but I really pushed to have these guys that were they were banging their fists on them on the table. And that's what I wanted them to do. I want it like, you know, like, let's let's have these conversations. And let's put every because I didn't feel we did a good job in 2016. And I think it cost us. Benning denies that claim by Trevor Linden and fight is on. Elliot, how do you see this one?

Jeff, 1974. Oh. Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway. Do you know the movie? Chinatown. Excellent. I had faith he would know that. I love Faye Dunaway. Great in Network

by the way. I thought that was her best performance. I love Faye Dunaway. Great in Network, by the way. I thought that was her best performance, but still. I love Faye Dunaway, too. I'm a huge fan. Great movie. A little twisted. I think people in this day and age might not be able to handle some of the twists, but it's a fantastic movie. What is the line said, the famous line said at the end of this movie it's chinatown forget it jake it's chinatown now for those of you who have not seen the film so it's basically them telling jack

nicholson's main character that's the way this place is and there's nothing you can do to change it crazy stuff happens so when this story came up on wednesday night and i started hearing about it and reading it you know what i said to myself jeff what's that elliot forget it elliot it's vancouver this story could only happen in Vancouver. Only there would this still be a thing. Vancouver, where grievances never die and old feuds are exhumed on a monthly basis. But hang on, pause on that. I love hockey markets like that.

I love hockey markets that continue to go back and relitigate key moments. Don't you love that, Elliot? What do we do here on this podcast? We go back and relitigate all the time. I'm not saying I have a problem with it. I just said that when I heard it, I just laughed and said, Vancouver. That's Vancouver. Now, I have a couple things I'd like to say about this whole situation.

So Jeff is talking about the 2017 draft. And the reason that I believe this is a thing is not so much because of Pedersen and whether they're gonna take him or Cody Glass but I think internally in the Vancouver organization it all goes back to the 2014 draft the 2014 draft was Trevor Linden's first and Jim Benning's first running the Vancouver Canucks. That was the Philadelphia draft, Aaron Ekblad. Yes. In that draft, the Canucks had three picks in the top 36 where they selected jake for tannin sixth overall jared mccann 24th overall and thatcher demko 36th overall and demko turned out to be a phenomenal pick in the second round for the Canucks. Home run. But legend has it, young Jeffrey, legend has it that there was chaos at the Vancouver table in that draft because players they were interested in got taken ahead of where they wanted to go and the list was not followed.

Now, some people may listen to this and believe that list following changes all the time, that there are huge fights at the draft table where different scouts or executives chew on nails or get in each other's faces to argue in favor of one person over the other and I generally think those happen beforehand. In most cases I believe in the panic of the draft particularly if some player you want is taken right before you you follow the list that is why the list is created it's like homework before an exam the reason you do the work is that when the draft goes in ways you do not expect, you look at the list and go with your name. That's next. In the panic of that draft, the story goes that the Vancouver Canucks

did not follow their list. And as a result, they didn't have the best possible draft. Demko was a great pick, but other picks did not pan out as they hoped. So when this thing happened in 2017, Linden, I do think, made it very clear that whenever this was, the night before the draft, that the list was to be followed. They were not going to move off the list because of what happened in 2014.

So I believe that, you know, whether who was going to take Pettersson, who wasn't going to take Pettersson, whatever, I do believe that Lyndon made it very clear that the Canucks were going to be following their list because three years earlier they didn't and that hurt them. That was an interesting draft and if we want to talk about things getting changed at drafts when this whole saga started earlier this week between Trevor Linden and Jim

Benning over at Elias Pettersson the first thing that I thought of was that 2017 draft and how there was a switch that was made. And that was the Buffalo Sabres at eight, where it was supposed to be. Remember this one, Elliot? It was supposed to be Martin Natchez. Yes. That they took. And then instead, there was an audible called and they went with Casey Mittelstadt. It was started to come on.

It's taken a lot longer than anyone thought, but he is coming on. He's more than a point-of-game player right now for the Buffalo Sabres, and I'm sure Sabres fans are thrilled to see it from Casey Middlestad. But that was a switch right there. And just as a side note, by the way, I know you're going to say either McDavid or Leon Dreisaitl, but is there a better three-on-three player in the NHl than martin natchez discuss amongst yourselves discuss amongst yourself yeah but in that well how about uh sebastian ajo alongside martin natchez you want that battery

or you want your edmonton pair i would still take my edmonton pair. Okay. So there was a switch in that draft. You can have anyone you want. I will take my Edmonton pair. I don't know, man. Natchez and Aho are as close to automatic and OT as you're going to find these days. The other day against Buffalo, interestingly enough, where Natchez scored the goal and Casey Middlestat was caught out. Edmonton.

Tired on that shift. Oilers. It was a great play by Jacob Slavin. Middlestat was on the ice with his tongue hanging out. So was Owen Powers. So was Alex Tuck and Nate just tucks it in.

McDavid. Nice play by Sebastian Ajo. Brady Shea picks up an assist on it too. But really, Jacob Slavin made the whole play but didn't show up on the game sheet afterwards. Anyhow, I digress. So, I mean, it does happen to your previous point.

And I think it's just interesting that at that Chicago draft, which I think we're going to go back and continue to you know re-litigate over and over depending on what team you are like that's the draft where uh the toronto maple leafs um said no to robert thomas who was playing for mark hunter's london knights and took timothy lilligren oh my god instead like it honestly you can go back and do it and do it and do it and do it. But as you thought about that great Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway movie, I thought about Casey Middlestat and Martin H.S., which really does speak volumes about the difference between you and me, I think.

You went to Faye Dunaway and I went to Martin H.S. and Casey Middlestat. You know, I know I talk for a long time and talk in circles but you just wasted a lot of people's lives you know the the other thing i the other thing i would really like to say about that that story coming out yeah there's a lot of reasons that particular canuck regime was not successful but the fact that six and a half years later this is still being litigated is another reason that that canuck regime was not successful successful regimes do not do this two points on this two points on what you just brought up one um judging by the reaction you can tell how vancouver canucks fans still want trevor linden involved in capacity, how much he is loved there.

We talk about, you know, Alfredson and Ottawa. It seems like everyone in Vancouver is dying for Linden to, you know, be part of the mix again. And number two, this is, again, you've heard me bang this drum before. This is, again, why I feel that general managers, sorry GMs, owe it to hockey to write books about their time managing teams so stories like this can get out there and there can be more information out there for hockey fans that you on and become even deeper and better fans of their teams because of it those are my

final two points on that do you have any more points on this one? You know, the only thing is, I think history has shown that Lyndon benefited from being let go because he's not tainted with the rest of what happened there. True. That is true. Okay, so we kind of spent a lot of time on that one and used up a lot of oxygen. Let's all take a deep breath. And let's talk about the Jonathan Huberto situation. Sitting down in the third period against the Nashville Predators, the visuals are tough to see. He's a proud athlete. He's a very well-compensated proud athlete, but nonetheless, he's a very proud athlete with the head down on the bench. That's a tough one. I think that's the one visual everyone takes away from that game there were the players that rallied around him we heard things like oh it's just

one period out of his entire career let's all get over it but when you consider this is the first year of a multi-year you know 10.5 million dollar a season contract it feels as if the calgary flames can't do anything other than continue to double down and try to make this work. Agree or disagree? Yes. I don't think there's any other option. There is, like, as you said it, Jeff, what are you going to do? Throw up your hands and say, I give up? You can't do that. Now, some of that is on Hubert O. He's got to play better like like someone was saying to me today that like it's almost like you've got to do clockwork orange i'm really going to the old movies here oh lovely lovely ludwig von oh okay here we go i love elliot yeah you know you in one level it's almost

like deprogramming him and teaching him a new way of playing like we interviewed chris tan of tonight for a interview that's going to air a bit later and and one of the things he talked about was it's a year in and huberdo is still recognizing how much different it is to play in the west like some of the stuff he does in the eastern conference he can't do hang on can you can't can you pause on that for one second i apologize i just want to I'm so glad you mentioned that. Do you remember about- Well, thank Tanev.

Don't thank me because I'm not smart enough to think of that. Okay, but thanks for bringing it up though, because there was a thing, geez, I want to say, Elliot, it's like 15 years ago. I think you and I probably discussed it on air somewhere. There was this weird phenomenon where every time a defenseman would get traded from the Eastern Conference to the Western Conference, they would struggle. Like not just struggle for a couple of

games, but like struggle for a while. You know, the forecheck was quicker. The bodies were heavier. You didn't have that extra half second to make a decision, to make your move. Like it was really a weird thing. Everybody, every blue liner who went east to west really had a hard time now that's sort of leveled out as the years have gone on but hearing you reference tan of talking about that that's all i can think about right now like is it that profoundly different for players i mean it was once upon a time for defensemen is it that way for forwards uh tan of didn't say this but someone else said it to me you know you've talked about the spinoramas he likes and and things like that and he likes

an east-west game how does Edmonton play oh north-south fast how does Vegas play oh yeah no it's it's no one was as table hockey as the kings when they won the stanley cup big strong heavy table hockey possession monster didn't have to be fast but they were straight line get your face up against the glass how does seattle play i know i know i know i know where you're going i know where you're going which is which is which is by the way if i can swing it back to vancouver which is what made the Sedins freaks. Because in a North-Southwestern conference, they went East-West better than anybody. Yeah. And Vancouver is trying to pump up their tempo. They have some really talented guys who can go East-West

if they want to, like Hughes and Pettersson. But Tockett's trying to push them up the ice too. So you're in a division, a really tough division with some great teams. And you're in a division, a really tough division with some great teams and you're trying to go east-west. It's really hard, if not impossible to do. flames are going to go out and they are going to say that we have to find, identify players who we think can play with Huberto. And that's Calgary's challenge right now. Now you're hoping that your $84 million guy is going to be able to create stuff on his own. Look, it's just not working out that way. So you can mope about it or you can try to do something about it. And I think what Calgary is trying to do is say, who can we identify that can play with Huberto and help him?

And can we go get that player or those players? I think that's very much part of this. But a lot of the thing with Huberto is you know like a lot of it's on him he's gonna have to try to find ways uh maybe to break out of his own um constriction his own thought process his own way of playing to find ways where he can do things a little bit different okay uh I referenced the Calgary Flames traveling to Toronto on Friday. Toronto has their own issues. And it seems as if now there's another defenseman who's joined a long list of defensemen

that when the crowd gets on you, good luck. And that includes Larry Murphy and Corey Cross and Jake Gardner and Brian McCabe and Justin Hall and Ackie Berg and, and, and, and, and. And that player is John Klingberg. How do you read this situation? I had a long conversation today with, you know, someone who's been in the Western Conference for a long time. And he said, I was right about something. And he said that, you know, there's another factor that he thinks that

he's seeing now the thing he said that I was right about is that for the first time ever Klingberg is going through the meat grinder he's not in Dallas he's not in Anaheim and he's not in Minnesota and I know Minnesota and the fans there love their hockey, but it's not the same heat spotlight. He said he sees a guy who, for the first time ever, is getting everything picked apart, and if you're not ready for it or you can't handle it, it can absolutely crush you. So he thinks that is happening.

Number two, he said that Klingberg has battled some injuries and he thinks those injuries have really caught up with him that he's not the confident skater that he used to be that whether it's hips or legs or whatever it is and you know he thought it was hips um that klingberg is not like he was never a great defensive player i think everybody always understood that but he was always in a position where he could skate himself out of trouble or use his skating skills to cover up for trouble and what he sees right now is a guy whose number one defense mechanism, which was his excellent skating ability, is not where it once was. And when you add that to the fact he knows he's struggling,

he's battling his confidence, everything's bad. Everything's bad. Now, it looks like he's not going to play on friday it looks like also possible that ryan reeves is not going to play on friday but this person said the biggest challenge he sees for klingberg is if this is just more than a one month blip with his skating and his legs and his hips it's a really hard thing to get out of a really hard thing to get out of so he says that's what he's going to be watching the next little while is does klingberg regain his confidence in that skill here's my question and you know maple leafs fans

you know that marketplace i had a conversation with someone years ago who brought up a really good point. And this revolved around Brian McCabe. And Brian McCabe was an interesting phenomenon in Toronto because it almost seemed as if there was a love-hate relationship with Toronto Maple Leaf fans. And he said the reason... The McCabe rule.

Do you know what the McCabe rule was in television? The McCabe rule? In television. Did that have something to do with the can opener, which he was in television? The McCabe rule? In television. Did that have something to do with the can opener, which he was famous for? No. The McCabe rule was whenever the Leafs gave up a goal, the camera had to cut to McCabe.

Oh, because he was great visual? Like even if he was sitting in the crowd, they had to, like it was somehow his fault. Every goal, like I would joke with the producers. If we were doing like a Montreal-Ottawa game and Daniel Alfredson scored, I would say cut to McCabe. I would joke with the hockey head because it always seemed like whenever Toronto gave up a goal, the first cut was Brian McCabe.

Even if he had nothing to do with it. Doesn't matter. Just go right to cut to Brian McCabe, even if he had nothing to do with it. Doesn't matter. Just go right to cut to Brian McCabe. Oh, that's funny. But this person said to me something that's really interesting. He said that Maple Leafs fans, as much as they wanted to stay on Brian McCabe, he always had something that could get the fans back, and that was the shot. Caberle would feed him just like a gorgeous pass because he did his whole career.

Would feed him just a beautiful pass. And Brian McCabe would one time it as good as and probably better than anybody else in the NHL at that point. And the fans would love him again. He had the shot. The shot could get the fans back on his side. And he said the problem was you look at some of these other defensemen, whether it's, you know, Ackie Berg or Jake Gardner or Corey Cross, most recently Justin Hall. They never had anything that could get the fans back on their side. You know, there wasn't anything big.

Like, none of these guys are big and tough. None of these guys have back-scratching slap shots. Right? Like, Jake Gardner is skating, right? But no one's going to be like, oh, wow, I'm back with Jake Gardner because he's such a glorious skater. McCabe could get them back. And this is what I think about with John Klingberg.

Is there one thing that he does that can get fans back? Because, you know, the one thing about Maple Leafs fans is, and it's always a defenseman for whatever reason they pick one defenseman on every single team larry murphy was the beginning of all of it then he went to detroit won stanley cups and was the best decoy of all time in 1987 on that gretzky de la mugle in the canada cup um but they make up their mind about a defenseman and there's no getting them back unless they can do something spectacular and that's not john clingberg's game that's why when you say he's gone through the meat grinder if he runs a big

power play then it changes i i guess i don't know like we've seen so many defensemen wilt in toronto under the pressure of what the fans can do to them like i'm with you on this one 100 it takes a and this is why and i know that dion funaf has a lot of detractors but that's why i really do respect dion funaf he took it all went in front of every camera embraced the role had the shot didn't always win fights but answered bells like i got a lot of respect for how he handled himself in Toronto and fans got on him and he did not wilt. It takes a special kind of D to do that.

Also, don't forget that FNUF started in Calgary. Yes. So it's not early. It's not Toronto. And I know everybody in Alberta will love to hear that. Calgary is not Toronto. Way to go,

Elliot. Way to make friends in Alberta. It's still intense. It's still very intense. So he at least could handle it I Klingberg I you know I don't I do not like to kick people when they're down I hate to see people struggle publicly same that that is that is tough to watch like you know Kelly Rudy had a tough time watching Huberto on Wednesday night. I actually thought Klingberg was tougher to watch in Toronto. Another case where Toronto was better than Calgary. Oh, the love in you in Alberta.

Elliot is available for autograph signings. Everyone wants to book him in Alberta. Okay, so the good and the bad. Le bien et le mal, comme on dit en français. From the heights of beating the Toronto Maple Leafs, doubling them up in Toronto, and the coach gets a hug from the owner. Everything's great with the Sens, right? Enter the Vancouver Canucks in a 5-2 final.

And now everything is, once again, bad, bad, bad with the Ottawa Senators. What's Gord Stelic's old line? If you're going to stink, stink on the road. Actually, Ottawa didn't play that badly at all. bad with the Ottawa Senators. What's Gord Stelic's old line? If you're going to stink, stink on the road. They, you know, actually, Ottawa didn't play that badly at all. They, you know, they outshot them two to one. This is the Canucks' magic formula this year. Our goal, because DeSmith has been very good.

Like, you know, Demko has obviously been the big superstar and he deserves all the accolades he's getting. But DeSm Smith has been really good he's given them good opportunities and once again it was one of those games where the Canucks were outshot two to one their goalie keeps him in the game and then when their guys get going they just stampede you they absolutely stampede you up and down the ice and that's exactly what what happened again it's a good recipe for them so far um you know the the senators that was a huge win in toronto considering

look it was funny i was talking with someone and they said you know what the worst thing for ottawa was with the brady kachuk outburst on on sat last sat I said, what's that? And he goes, that there were three days off. Because you're looking at that, if you're a media relations person or you're someone else in the organization, you said, okay, Brady, don't mind you standing up for your coach. Excellent job. I really wish there was a game tomorrow or on Monday. Because now you know that that dominates the news cycle for three days yeah and and and

they go out into their credit you know they they fell behind early they tied it they were up twice they blew the leads and they found a way to one like that was a good win uh over Toronto on Wednesday then they come home and they lose Thursday um they have to be worried about Forsberg at this point he's just you know like the Corpus Ello hasn't been great but it's it's pretty clear that Ottawa doesn't trust Forsberg a ton right now and that's a problem. But, you know, the other thing, too, is that just talking to Ottawa, I really do believe that the number one thing behind the scenes is that the players told and Lauer Steos that it's been, there's been too much chaos here.

And I'm not just talking about this year. I'm talking about going back under the Melnick ownership, the sale, changes, trades, players in, players out. They just said, you need to create an environment where we don't have to answer questions about other things. We can just play. And I believe Steve Stahels heard that message loud and clear. And he wants to build the stability,

and he wants to build the confidence of the team. And he, as a former player who played almost 1,000 games, he will do what he can to do that. The thing is, the players have to live up to their end of the bargain they did on Wednesday which was critical because they spoke out big and they you have to do that when you talk a big game you have to deliver but unless you really build a streak of two out of three three out of four two in a row things that, eventually you're going to force the team to act. So I think Steyos is sitting there,

and he addressed the team on Monday morning. I think he has told them he will do everything he can to create that environment for them. And I don't know if he said it or it was unspoken or Alfredson said it because he was there but it was basically said if you need us to do this you have to hold up your end of the bargain I don't even think you need to say it Jeff I think the players understand it but the way you play on ice determines if your front office can keep down the noise. And so that's the side of the game that Ottawa has to step into.

I know Ottawa was looking around for defensemen, like depth guys, but they're so capped out, it was really hard for them to do. Okay, let's get a palate cleanser in here. We're going to talk about a lot of negative stuff here on this podcast. It's a doom and gloom, clouds and lightning bolts and thunder in the sky podcast so far. On a scale of 1 to 10, how much did you enjoy seeing Vinny Latteri score his first career NHL goal while grandfather Lou Nanny helped call the game on television? On a scale of 1 to 10, the number would be $11 billion.

It's your favorite number. Yes, and Lou Nanny, I give him credit. He was a lot more reserved than I would have been. If that was me, I would have gone all Dave Mishkin in the broadcast booth, where they wouldn't have needed a microphone to hear me in Thailand. They would have been able to hear me if my grandchild scored in his first goal in an NHL game I was watching. You know, the other thing I really liked this week

was Charlie Coyle's first career hat trick. That was nice on Thursday night. Real nice. Very nice. Against the Islanders. That was a good game. And Louis Domingue gets his first win in almost two years. Spicy pork.

Spicy pork, Louis Domingue. Spicy pork and broccoli. And the thing about the Rangers too is, look at what they're doing. No Fox. No Heetle. No Heetle. Shisterkin and Quick out.

And Quick's giving them some good games and they're winning games they're winning games with important players out that's a that's a confident team right now you know like to me it's really amazing Laviolette goes from Washington to the Rangers. He leaves Washington. It's stale. By his admission, it's stale. By the player's admission, it's stale. And he goes to the Rangers, and they look a little bit rejuvenated. Again, it's the Larry Bird rule.

Three years, and then go which shows it even more amazing that john cooper is is there going strong after a decade although he's probably sick of seeing conor bedard right now and still no coach of the year award in any of those seasons uh for john cooper uh real quick it was about five minutes ago that as I did my NHL award balloting, I had Artemi Panarin winning the Hart Trophy. And Elliot, I don't know about you, but I'm starting to get that soap and warm water feeling again for Artemi Panarin, who is capital B back to kick off this season.

This is the Panarin that we all love. You have a thought on him right now is the anti-Sampson they should all shave their head you cut his hair and he regains his powers yes yes everyone if you want to get you what you want your slump buster follow Panarin shave your head he's been fantastic what I would say about Panarin is like you talk about how they're winning games, missing important people. That's when your best players have to be at their best. And he has done that. Vancouver, to me, is the team this year where the best players

have been consistently at the top level every game this year. I think no team has done that better than the Canucks. But I would say that Panarin on an individual basis has been consistently great and even more now than that guy's been hurt. We talked about this, I think, a couple of pods ago. You talk about empty calories. In the NHL, there are no such thing as empty calories.

In the NHL, there are no such thing as empty calories. Every win is like a delicious five-star Michelin meal. I don't care if the team has one point or if the team has 20 points right now. Every win is a five-star Michelin meal and the Rangers gained their confidence beating some teams that were really struggling Calgary Edmonton and now they feel it you know people might say oh it doesn't matter those teams aren't very good it matters let me guess you went out for dinner tonight I did go out for dinner tonight I had a great Branzino. I have the weirdest new routine, by the way, in the morning. In the morning? I don't do it every day.

I don't do it every day, but I do it a bit. So I live not far from a great mall, Yorkdale. It's a great mall. I love it. And do you know the store Aritzia? Of course I do, yeah. Okay, I'm making sure. Like you dress in felt.

I have been in a mall before, Elliot. Okay. I don't know. Like, Jeff, like you do weird things. I don't profess to know what you know. So the Aritzia at Yorkdale Mall now has like a coffee shop in it. And they make great Americanos and they have very comfortable chairs. So my, one of my morning routines when I'm reading or I'm,

I'm scrolling the phone is I go and I sit down and, you know, have an Americana with a Ritzia. And I have to say, some of my friends are really incredulous about this. And they're like, wait a sec, are you watching women shop for clothing? Don't you think that's a little bit creepy? And I just say, guys, the Americano is delicious. And that's where I do like a lot of my early morning work or just to make some notes. So Jeff, you know what I was thinking about when I was drinking my coffee at a women's clothing store? How when we first met each other, you were wearing like Arthur Ashes and track pants and Beaver Canoe sweatshirts. And now you're wearing the height of fashion at Yorkdale Mall.

No, I was not thinking about that. I was thinking about Patrick Kane. Oh, okay. And we're talking about where he could end up. I'm wondering if Caroline is in this. But they're sneaking in on everybody though, right? Aren't they one of those teams that anytime a big name is out there, Dundon's like, Donnie, get that guy.

Yeah, I think there's truth to that but I also think in this particular case I think Kane is going by who can he pick that he thinks is going to has a great

chance to win the cup. And I know Carolina's goaltending has not been great this year but I generally think they're a contender.

Like, that's a good team. It's a really good team. They're just really good on the right side right now too, though. That's the only thing that I keep coming back to. Okay, who needs the big help on the right side? But I could see Carolina because, like we've talked about previous, they're in on a lot of big players that we never end up associating them with. Before we go to break here, let me swing back on Minnesota.

The Caelan Addison trade to San Jose and the subsequent deal for Zach Bogosian, who I will always point out when any one of these three move there are three remaining thrashers in the NHL Zach Bogosian is one of them so we pay attention to our thrashers how did you see that entire scenario um I I think I knew since the summer and I think I'm not just me I think a lot of people kind of realized since the summer that it wasn't, it was rocky waters between Addison and the Wild. Like it was pretty clear that they weren't crazy on him and he wasn't crazy on them.

And I think they tried to move him in the summer, but they just didn't find anything that made sense for them. And, you know, Michael Rus russo who covers them a lot closer than i do he talked about how they're going to a five-person power play five four five person that's good five person power play they're going to a five forward power play five people with skates on and it really stripped addison's role with the team so when i heard he was getting traded i wasn't hugely surprised. I think that's a great move for San Jose.

That's the kind of gamble they should be making. And especially since it's a fifth round pick, like you're not, you know, you're not really giving away anything that you look at and saying, well, that's nothing that a rebuilding team should be giving away. I like that gamble for the Sharks.

You know, Bogosian's interesting. Minnesota really likes him. He fits the wild's identity like that when i when i look at bogosian i look at him and i say that's a wild doesn't really work like that's a red wing or that's a flame that's a wild or that's a ranger like it just doesn't roll off the tongue just say we know what you mean yeah he's he's a wild and you know he wasn't playing I I think they'd been trying to trade him for some time they put him on waivers I think if Minnesota had more cap room at the time they might have taken Bogosian on waivers but I I look it, if there's a team that's going to look at Zach Bogosian and say he fits with what we do, it's Minnesota.

So I see it. You know, the guy who I'm concerned about there is Gustafson. I know they don't lean on him 100% of the time. They've got a combo, Gustafson and Fleury. But obviously at this point in time, Gustafson's the guy who's got to carry the mail and he had a big breakthrough year last year and uh he's he's really struggled so far this year they need to they they need him to get back to where he was last season because he was such a huge part of their success on that we'll take a break. Back with the Montana's Thought Line. A couple of more notes from around the NHL.

And I'm going to quiz Elliot on Swiss hockey players. Put your head back, Elliot. Here comes the drill. Oh, boy. 32 Thoughts continues. Listen to the 32 Thoughts podcast ad-free on Amazon Music, included with Prime. All right, Elliot, before we get to the Montanaana's thought line and your tag is really catching on it's in all the tweets it's in all the the texts and the phone calls and the dms etc etc etc

it's amazing at the beginning you guys are great listeners great yes 100 you play along it's awesome um the beginning of the week uh i always look at the schedule and say, okay, what could be the game of the week? Look at the schedule, which looks really interesting. And the one that I circled didn't disappoint. And that was Wednesday's Los Angeles-Vegas game. 3-1 the Los Angeles Kings

over the Vegas Golden Knights. Cam Talbot, outstanding 37 saves on Jake Kopitar with career goal number 400. Let's give it up for Adrian Kempe. Can we a little bit here? One of the unsung guys around the NHL. 14 points in 12 games. Kevin Fiala plays in game number 500.

He is number five amongst all Swiss-born players. You see where I'm going here. That's coming up in a moment. You have a thought of what we saw between the kings of the night the the game of the week so far in the nhl i'd love to see a seven game series between those two teams amen do you remember when vegas and the kings played uh that series a few years ago and it was like 1930s football okay Okay. Hand it to the running back. Three yards. Second down and seven.

Hand it to the running back. Three yards. Now we go the other way. Third down and four. Hand it to the running back. Oh, did he get the first down? Yes. Let's do it again.

Same plays. No. Pine. It was three yards in a cloud of dust. I think seven games between these two teams would be incredible. It's going to take a heck of a team to beat Vegas. Hang on. What would the attrition rate be?

What would the attrition rate be amongst players in that series? You'd better hope your AHL teams were out because you would need everybody. I just think that it'll be interesting to see what the Kings ultimately decide to do in goal. I agree. Talbot's played great though. He's played great. He's played very well. I'm just saying,

we'll see where this goes. I know, I know. But the Kings, like the Kings are designed to play up and down structure, grind, and they're more, they're more talented now than they were the last few years with some of

the guys they've added. Some of the guys maturing, but some of the guys they've obviously added, they're more talented than they were. I'd love to see it in seven games because I think they're one of the few teams built, not counting goaltending right now, because we'll see, I got to let it play out, but they're one of the few teams I think counting goaltending right now because we'll see I gotta gotta let it play out but they're one of the few teams I think that's really built to face a team like Vegas now the one thing that's gonna be interesting to me is Kopitar last year really slowed as the year went on not just because you know he's there's a lot of mileage there. Now they go out and they get Dubois.

In exchange, they should have a fresher Kopitar at the start of the playoffs. That was what I thought was the difference between LA and Edmonton last year. One of the differences is that Kopitar had such a tremendous year, but when the playoffs started, I just think he was worn down. If you can get a fresher Kopitar or a more rested Kopitar

for the start of the postseason, I think he's a difference maker. I do. Kevin Fiala can be a difference maker as well. He's played good. They have a few players that can be difference makers. A second ago, I mentioned Adrian Kempe. Quentin Byfield's having a really nice season, let me swing back to kevin fiala here so uh plays in game number 500 he is now fifth amongst all swiss born hockey players and like elliot you and i are the

same vintage i think we all grew up wondering know, considering how much of a hockey culture there has always been going back to the 20s and probably previous to that as well. How much of a great hockey culture there's been in Switzerland? How come they've had such a hard time graduating players to the NHL? Like in any capacity, fourth liners to superstars. Well, we're seeing it consistently now, finally. So Fiala is at game number 500. He's fifth all-time amongst Swiss foreign players. You want to have a swing at who the other four are

as far as games played amongst Swiss players? Yossi. Number one. Okay, you're off to a great start. Roman Yossi, number one, 839. You know, one guy who comes to my head, but he started later, so I'm not sure if he would be there, would be Mark Streit. His third, very good one.

He got there? He's third. So Streit, I love Streit because he was both, remember he was both a winger and a defenseman. Versatile guy. He could play remember, he was both a winger and a defenseman. Versatile guy. He could play up, he could play back. Yes, he's third with 786 games. I was just wondering if he made it

because he started a bit later. Good job. Well, Niederreiter, he has to be up there. Number two. Number two, Niederreiter. 8-22. So, who's number four? I can give you a major hint and you'll get it in a a major no no no i don't i don't want the hint okay let me give you okay let me give you an obscure no i

don't no no no hint the hang on i don't know i do not want a hint all right all right i want to see if i can get this on my own okay boring okay so it's obviously not timo meyer no no not not nico he sure either or jonas hill no no i meyer's been around longer than he sure he's gonna beat all of them by the way my boy my boy nico is gonna beat them all is it yannick weber no great guess he is he's six at 499 he's the guy kevin jumped over welled, you're so close. I was looking at this three days ago. I was thinking three days ago. That's good. Oh, wow.

Let me know when you want the clue. No, I'm thinking, I'm thinking, I'm thinking. Take the clue. No, not yet. You're thinking the first time. Elliot's thinking the first time is always the worst. Is it somebody who was not born in Switzerland but is Swiss? Technically, this player was not born in Switzerland.

Okay. All right. But he is Swiss. Oh, okay. All right. Give me the non-obvious hint. Here, Elliot. Here's your hint.

Ready for it? Yeah. Okay. This is the non-obvious hint, non-obvious hint okay Joe Sorella I'm having fun your hint is Joe Sorella that that doesn't this player this player and Joe Sorella have something very much in common that is completely unique in hockey. Yeah. Give me the easy hint.

He's a defenseman. These are the worst hints I've ever heard. Okay. All right. He's a defenseman that was drafted by the Flyers, but was traded to the Anaheim Ducks. In the Chris Pronger deal. There you go. There's your easy one.

Oh, Smead. Ladislav. No, no, no. Oh, Lucas Spiza. deal. There you go. There's your easy one. Oh, Smead. Ladislau. No, no, no. Oh, Lucas Pisa. Yes, Lucas Pisa. Oh, my goodness. Yes, Lucas Pisa. Oh, you know, he's one of the nicest guys around.

I feel terrible. It took me so long to get it. And you know what he has in common with Joe Sorella? Their names both end in A? Oh, my God. Okay, Cliff Clavin. Neither have been in my kitchen. No, they both played

a year in the NHL and then went back to junior. That's the worst hint ever. You know how rare that is? By the way, Lucas Spiza was not born in Switzerland. That's what I said.

He wasn't born in Switzerland. He was born in Italy, but he's Swiss. I forgot about Lucas Spiza. I feel shame. I should have got that said. He wasn't born in Switzerland. He was born in Italy, but he's Swiss. I forgot about Lucas Viza. I feel shame. I should have got that one. You go to box two minutes, you feel shame, then you get free. You know what? You can make up for it now with a great tagline.

Time for the Montana's Thought Line, Montana's Barbecue and Bar, Canada's home for barbecue, Elliot. Try the ribs. 32thoughts at sportsnet.ca is the email. 1-833-311-3232 is the phone number. Matt. Hello, Jeff and Elliot. Hope you're both having great days.

Are the Sens allowed to trade a first-round pick within the next three years before deciding which of the three years they want to lose as a result of the suspension? For example, can they decide to trade their 2024 first rounder before deciding if they want to lose their 25 or 26 pick? You can always punt it. Yeah. Yes.

Like the thing is, you have to decide one of the three picks, but it doesn't mean you can't trade one of the picks beforehand. It just limits your options on what you can accept as the punishment okay let's get to a voicemail from elliot in crow's nest pass i like this guy i just got a quick question for you i had my in-laws ask me uh who are oilers fans i a flames fan so you can

imagine how that goes uh every night um but jack Jack Campbell's soup was just placed on waivers. And one of my moms asked me, what exactly does that mean? So from my understanding, it's putting the NHL players' contracting rights up for grabs. Now, I guess I'm wondering if there's any sort of repercussions to doing so. Like, are there any fees to the team or the organization? And I guess just what comes of it after the fact, whether he's claimed or cleared, how does that work? So I did my best to explain to them,

but I think you guys could do a much better job. So hopefully they hear this and hopefully you guys get this. Jeff, awesome job as always dom great job seamless transition uh into the into the pod and elliot it's in the name thank you guys that's very good hope you have a great day yeah that's good it's all in the name uh you want to explain waivers to our friend, Jack Snotes, Elliot? Yes, Elliot, from Elliot. Basically what happens is if a team claims Jack Campbell,

they get all his salary. You accept his entire contract. So everything that's remaining from here to there, you have to pay it. That's how it goes. If Campbell stays in the minor leagues, the Oilers or whoever would take him would get $1.15 million in cap space.

You lose $1.15 million off the cap with any player who makes more than that amount of money. So that's pretty much how it goes. Am I missing anything there, Jeff? No, and he has to be made available, as Elliot from Crow's Nest Pass mentioned, to all 31 other teams. Yes, and the way it works is points percentage.

Yeah, if you're going to send him down to the American Hockey League, you have to make them available to other nhl teams who may have a job for him in the nhl this is something that the nhl players association worked on years and years and years and years and years ago to ensure players don't get buried in the minors you know once upon a time oh i'm gonna send you to springfield and eddie shore is gonna bury you and you're never gonna to come back up to the NHL, waivers is one of the ways around that. So, okay, if you want to try to send him to the minors, let's see if there's another team in the league that might be able to use him and

keep him in the NHL. Excellent. That's a little history of waivers. Okay. This from Matt, Jeff Elliott, Dom, love the pod, long time listener. Got to get that in there to make it sound better than everyone else. If you think you can get on this podcast by complimenting us, Matt, you're exactly right. Basic question, but I've never seen it before. Can refs who call a penalty swap arms? Yes, Elliot, swap arms if the delayed penalty goes on for a while. Let's say it's delayed for minutes and their arm goes numb. Can it be swapped to the other arm hope this basic question gives you a chuckle it did as it does with me writing it haha cheers guys so it's one thing for you and i to pontificate on this one elliot so i reached out today to dave jackson

former nhl referee now works oh my first of all of all, first of all, first of all, you know what the first thing I thought of when I heard this question was? Is this a relative of yours? No, it's not. This is Matt. I even know where Matt is from, but it is kind of. Because only a relative of yours would ask this kind of a question. Well, my brother-in-law is an official. But here's what Dave Jackson writes back to me today,

and he's cool with me using this this is dave jackson's answer he's busy he's got a double header on espn so uh from dave jackson ha ha absolutely however you try to keep your non whistle arm in the air so that when you blow the whistle the fans know why it was blown because they see the ref's arm in the air if it was an exceedingly long delayed penalty i see no reason why you couldn't uh try to send him along to my twitter account those are questions i answer daily lol i hope you will say hi to the guys his twitter account by the way is at espn ref nhl that is him on twitter thanks for the celebrity answer for that one dave jackson Did you ever think about that? No. An official's arm getting numb, being

up in the air for so long on a delayed penalty? I am proud to say I've never even considered that. Okay. Now maybe that makes me a terrible and selfish human being, but I have never thought about that. Again, you think more about F on away than you think

about referees arms in the air and i am not wrong for that opinion connor dear jeff elliott and dom just wanted to know which stanley cup final was your favorite since you started covering hockey it could be your favorite because of the quality of play the storylines the teams you name it love the pod let's go wild i'm guessing connor's from minnesota your favorite stanley cup final elliott's oh you know i'm gonna hate to do this to people i really am i i want people to know that when i say this i'm really not trying to hurt anyone i'm talking about it because of a the quality of play and b um just the amount of fun that we had on the trip. And that was 2011 Vancouver, Boston. It was, sorry Canucks fans, I know it wasn't the result you wanted.

As a matter of fact, during the interview we taped with Chris Tanev, we were talking about BXA and I said it's the one thing I will never make fun of on BXA. And I said, it's the one thing I will never make fun of on BXA is that final. Because I know how hard it is to go that far and not get it done. But, you know, the people we hung around with, the quality of the games, the drama of the series. It was by far and away the best one I've ever personally been a part of. And so that's my pick. And, you know, have I ever told the Lululemon story on this podcast before? I've told it once, but I don't think it was on this pod.

Is this the one that PJ blasted you for? Well, yeah. So we went to Lululemon in in vancouver a bunch of us and um you know we we got some gear and you know one thing i did was i bought a pair of black lululemon pants for myself and i bought a pair of black lululemon pants for my wife and so uh we were traveling from Vancouver to Boston one off day and we went out the night before it was after you know because they play the games in Vancouver at five o'clock local so we worked the game Vancouver wins we're going back to Boston and we go out first and it and it was a good night. It was a really, really fun night.

And, you know, unfortunately, you get home from the bar, it's like 4.30 in the morning, and the buses are picking us up to go to the airport at like 6. So you got to pack. You don't get a lot of sleep. You know, there's alcohol involved, And I threw on the black pants. And I just assumed that they were the black pants that were for me. Oh, no.

But, Jeff, they were not. Oh, no. These are the pants that are so tight you can see what religion you are? Pretty much, yeah. Okay. And then in the security, it was either in the, I can't remember if it was in the security line or it was in the customs line one of our travelers recognized and said elliot you're not wearing your

oh that's awesome you are wearing steph's lululemon pants oh and needless to say this spread like wildfire oh ell, Elliot, that's glorious. Yes. Oh, that's so good. Please tell me. Everybody who took that flight with me saw a lot more of me than they wanted to. The part of you that is most a man. On that, we'll wrap.

There's a couple of other ones I wanted to get to, but no one's going to top that story on this podcast. So let's hit a break. But before we do, remind everyone, that was the Montana's Thought Line, Montana's Barbecue and Bar, Canada's home for barbecue. We'll finish this hockey podcast up in a moment. Okay, Elliot, wrapping up another edition of 32 Thoughts to Podcasts here.

And here's one of the things I wonder about, as I think it's sort of sharpened focus on this now, so people may stop doing it. I know full well that they probably won't, but nonetheless, here I go. When will people stop thinking for one second that Garyary betman is going to rule against george peros charlie mcavoy's four-game suspension upheld by gary betman i guess you always try right but nobody nobody was surprised i guess they wondered if they would get the benefit of the doubt because ekman larson played and didn't miss games like line a but I you said

from the beginning Bettman's not going to undercut one of his vice presidents and I I completely agree with you okay uh before I wrap up here's what I want to ask you because I'm at um Lake Placid right now uh earlier was at the Brooks Arena that's really cool really cool it's it's it's such a thrill I have never been here before. This is fantastic. My 13-year-old son is in a hockey tournament here. It's great. I've always wanted to come here.

Now this is a great excuse for it. I'll be honest with you, at the opening ceremony, there was a moment where your boy Jeffy had to take a little pause when he saw his son on the ice at Herb Brooks Arena, considering how historic this rink, that facility is, this place is, and how near and dear it is to hockey fans' hearts. But I do wonder, like, this was a bucket list moment for me.

I always wanted to go to Lake Placid and always wanted to get to this rink. The home of both. I've always felt about one thing about the Miracle on Ice and that is, and this is all outside of all the players and a lot of them are wonderful. There's been the

heights of glory. There's been a lot of tragedy with a lot of these players and their subsequent lives. There's been some tradition started tragedy with a lot of these players and their subsequent lives. There's been some tradition started Ken Morrow, Olympic gold, Stanley cup with the New York Islanders. And then I believe it was him. I don't know if it was him himself or just the Islanders team that started the beard tradition in the playoffs,

but we talked about a great couple of months for someone Olympic gold and one of the biggest hockey games, maybe the biggest hockey game of all time. And then helps the New York Islanders win a stanley cup but i digress it's the home of both the best coaching and the worst coaching maybe the sport has ever seen it was her brooks at the same time at the same time inspiring these athletes like never before and then it was victor tikhanov who and he subsequently regretted it um pulled Tretiak after the first period and then didn't pull a Michigan for the extra attacker as uh as the Soviets were about to lose to these upstart college kids um and I think a lot of those you know Soviet players

afterwards essentially if I can paraphrase a few just said yeah dumb coaching um anyhow this this has always been a bucket list rink for me to go to a bucket list place to go to uh lujniki is another one for me not that i'm overly nostalgic about 72 because i didn't see it live i was three years old so that one doesn't resonate for me as much as it does for other people but i still would like to go um yeah do you have i went to moscow and i didn't go there and i regret it i i do oh you didn't go to lishnikia wow that's like when i was when i was in beijing i did everything except the terracotta warriors and i still kick myself for it because i

wanted to go see terracotta warriors anyhow uh bucket lists for rinks for you elliot you know unfortunately a lot of them are some of the old ones that really aren't around anymore. I never had the opportunity to go to Boston Garden. You know, I went to Chicago Stadium. I went to the Montreal Forum. Obviously, I knew Maple Leaf Gardens. Some of the old, old arenas that I saw NHL teams play in would be the ones that I thought, you know, I'll tell you this, Jeff, the arena where I played in Toronto growing up as a very lousy hockey player was Woodbine Arena in Toronto, right next to the Peanut Plaza. And I remember I walked in there to see a see a visit a friend his kid was playing and I went in to go see it and when I walked in there a few years ago it was like it all came flying back to me that's so cool that's awesome that was probably the one where I like it really hit me because you know I hadn't played in a long time and uh I just I just

brought back memories of myself like learning to skate and being a real chicken like that was my biggest problem as a young hockey player was I was I was very soft but so I think that unfortunately for me a lot of the arenas that I'd like to see, they're gone now. And, uh, you know, that's, you know, that's kind of too bad. Uh, I really liked going to at hockey day in Canada when it was in Stratford, the William Allman arena, when you talk about history and uninterrupted streaks of continuous play. And then a few years ago, my, one of my kids was in a tournament in, uh, at the Galt Arena. Legendary. And Gordie Howe played there for a little bit as well.

So those were a couple that I was happy to check off. But there's still more. And I know what you mean about going back to your first rink. Whenever I go back to Lampton Arena in the west end of Toronto, playing for Warren Park, it all comes back to me. All of it, Freed. I know what you're talking about. Anyhow, so signing off here from Lake Placid,

Elliot in Toronto and Dom in Vancouver. Thanks for joining us once again on 32 Thoughts to Podcast. We return Monday morning on your favorite podcast platform. Enjoy a weekend's worth of hockey. Talk to you next week.