32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Meltdown in Steel Town

Episode Date: March 14, 2022

Welcome to episode #300. Jeff and Elliotte recap the Heritage Classic (4:35), discuss the elephant in the room — Toronto’s goaltending (7:20), give credit to the Buffalo Sabres (16:40) and talk about the atmosphere in Hamilton over the weekend.They also touch on — troubles in Vegas (23:30), Dallas not moving John Klingberg and their push for the playoffs, what the latest on Claude Giroux and Colorado (32:20), update on Tomas Hertl (35:55), Vancouver’s interest in John Marino (37:05), if Jakob Chychrun’s injury complicates Arizona’s deadline (40:30), and Jeff’s provides us with some pretty big news from the PWHPA (42:45).Lastly, the guys take your emails and voicemails to wrap things up (51;30).Special thanks to Stephanie, Max, Claire, TJ, Brody, Jojo, Joanna and Noah for being so supportive.Music Outro: Holy Hive - RunawaysListen to their self-titled sophomore album on SpotifyThis podcast is produced and mixed by Amil Delic, and hosted by Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman.Audio Credits: ESPN, Sportsnet, Vegas Golden Knights, WBNS-FM and WXDX-FM.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.

Hi, Elliot. It's Steph and Max. Hi, Dad. We wanted to congratulate you, Jeff and Amal, on 300 episodes of your podcast, or what I'd like to call the 300 times you've been able to use the excuse, I can't, I have to record my podcast. And Elliot, let's face it, you've used that excuse to get out of family gatherings or dinners with my crazy friends, and you know exactly who I'm talking about. All joking aside, I see how

much time, effort, and pride you put into your work. Elliot, you pull all-nighters when you're writing the 32 Thoughts blog. And when you get a hot tip, even if it's at 1am, the three of you are back on your microphones making the necessary changes to the podcast so you can put on the best and most accurate content possible for your audience. The three of you make a really great team. So congratulations, and here's to 300 more episodes. Congratulations, Seth. I love you. Oh, buddy, that's amazing.

Wow. Jeffrey, just wanted to say a huge congrats on 300 episodes of the podcast. We know how hard you, Elliot, and Em will work. 300 is a fantastic accomplishment and after keeping tj brody and jojo quiet for most of those recordings i thought it was time they finally got a word in congrats dad on 300 episodes great job dad on reaching 300 episodes Wow. Oh, Emil.

Judge is the best. You're making an old guy cry. We should tell a story here. It's my job not to be at a loss for words, but Elliot, I'm at a loss for words. That was real nice. Yeah, me too. So that's your wife, Steph, your son, Max,

my wife, Claire, our three kids, TJ, Brody. Yes, I have two kids named TJ and Brody and Jojo as well. That's spectacular. First of all- We should say though that TJ Brody was into his NHL career before your kids were named. Oh no, my two kids were not named after.

Okay. I just figured we should. Maple Leafs defenseman. We should say that. When he was in Calgary or Toronto, that didn't happen. No, it didn't happen when he was with the OHL. Although when he, it was funny too, when TJ Brody started playing with the Calgary Flames,

when he started his pro career, you know, be up, my wife's an artist. And so she'd be drawing and I'd be watching, you know, Calgary Vancouver game or Calgary against whomever. And whenever anyone on the broadcast mentioned TJ Brody, then I would just hear like snickering off into the corner from Claire as she recognized that her two kids or two kids, are named after an NHL defenseman. And, well, that was very cool. Thank you very much for that.

Very nice of you all. That made my day. And one thing I am very envious of, Elliot, and that is your wife has an amazing broadcast voice. Better than mine? Certainly better than yours. No question about it. You know who should be doing this podcast?

Steph should be doing this podcast. Well, first of all, same Amal. That's very nice of you that you did that. I don't like to bring Max out publicly, and I very rarely do it with Steph because I like to keep my family behind the scenes, but this was very nice of you, Amal, and very nice of them to

do you know it's funny Jeff like we've talked about this one of our podcast ideas was you interview Steph and I interview Claire yeah and we do a podcast about what it's like to be married to me and you and you know Steph eventually agreed to do it Claire is very reserved about it so I'm not sure it's ever going to happen but it was nice to hear them on the podcast although I have not given up hope that someday we will get to do that because I will bet that that will be the most downloaded podcast we ever do it would just just be Claire saying, she'd say, Jeff, yeah, he's born to be mild. It's a very, very boring life I lead, Elliot.

Trust me. I watch hockey games and then I talk about them and I drive kids to hockey and I do a rink in the winter. 300 ain't no joke, guys. 300 is a lot of episodes. 300 episodes is a lot, considering I thought this would last a cozy season and then at least i'd run out of stuff to say and many people who listen to this

podcast would say like yeah merrick you run out of stuff to say back in season one but elliot are you thought out yet now you're back from hamilton i had a hot shower i made myself a hot tea i'm ready to go right, then let's begin with the heritage classic, uh, the game itself five, two Buffalo, but so much revolving around the game, uh, that we should get to as well. But, you know, on your drive home, okay. Going down the QEW, what were you thinking

about as you left Hamilton? I was thinking about, uh, another, uh, meltdown for Toronto, uh, especially in the third period. I was thinking about the Matthews cross-check and what the result would be from that. I was thinking about how in two weeks, we're all thinking of Buffalo very differently than we were before. It's that quick. It's kind of changed around them. I was thinking about just, it was a great weekend. It was a lot of fun and Ontario is opening up again and it was the right event at the right time. And you could tell that there were people in the crowd there who love the opportunity to

get together in a sporting event with 26,000 people outside and just have fun trying to have fun at a sporting event. And we've missed that for too long. That made it even better, I think, at least for me. I was there on Saturday for Hockey Night. It was frigid, but you can tell that still there was a charge about there being an outdoor game in Hamilton. And that's the thing about a lot of these. The local crowd loves it, digs it right into it. It's fun.

You know, I thought it was really interesting at the beginning of the broadcast, Kelly Rudy today talking about how as a ex-NHLer, even though he did participate in one, you know, now infamous outdoor game, he's, I think the words he used were, I kind of feel cheated that I was never part of one of these things as an athlete.

And I always wonder about this as a, as a hockey player, you have a number of boxes to check, whether it's a scoring your first goal, playing in your first game, getting your first shutout, getting in your first fight, getting your, you know, first star and whatever it is first, all-star or not all these different things, different boxes that you check. I'm beginning to think over the last few seasons that more and more, this has become a box on every hockey player's checklist.

That at the end of the career, you want to make sure you did a lot of firsts and you did a lot of things. And I'm guessing outdoor games now for a lot of these guys is one of those things. Yes, I think that's true. And I hope every market gets one too, because they are fun.

They're fun to go to. They're for, you know, people say, oh, it's not the same deal on television anymore that's fine but i think it's a great time for the people who go and that's what it's about absolutely but jeff that's not what anybody's going to be talking about coming out of here oh no there's a few things they'll be talking about they'll be talking while leafs fans will be talking about goaltenders they'll be talking about a collapse they'll be talking about goaltenders. They'll be talking about a collapse. They'll be talking about a cross check. Buffalo Sabres fans will be talking about the Krebs-Sinistrosa-Cousins line. And they'll be talking about Rasmus Dallin and

Craig Anderson picking up win number 301. Nice interview with Cal Bukowskis after the game as well. Do you want to do Buffalo side of things, which is the happy story or Toronto, which is the negative cloudy story? You got to start with Toronto. All right. And there's two things here first of all there's matthews and he's getting a hearing by giving him a hearing you can up the fine okay and i'm interested to see if this becomes a max

fine or there's any chance that this is a one game suspension the thing about the matthews cross check that said to me immediately that he was in trouble was that it wasn't one of those situations that he hit someone on the shoulder and it rose up to the head or the neck. He made direct contact with the head or the neck. And I've known for my history of dealing with this, that is a factor. Is it something that rides up or does it make direct contact and the answer is b the moment it happened in the moment i saw the replays i thought there was a possibility of a

suspension here at least a hearing i don't know that he will get suspended i think it's possible it's a fine but we'll see how this all goes you know know, Matthews, they're losing in incredibly frustrating ways for those players. You know, they won't admit it publicly, but they think they should be getting saves. They're not. And plus also Matthews was just pissed off after the last game, the game on Thursday night where he thought there should have been a penalty called an overtime. So his frustration level is rising as much as the rest of the teams is rising but it's probably even more because he doesn't think he gets any calls against him

and you know in that situation there he's exchanging cross checks with dalene and you know he usually keeps his cool but this time he lost it so i think there's the way of looking at it which is he's in danger of getting suspended here. But I think it's also a sign in his particular case that it's very rare the frustration gets to him. It's getting to him. It's getting to him. And as you mentioned, the goaltending is getting to everybody on this team right now. The cutaway shots, everybody on this team right now, you know, the cutaway shots,

you know, we've seen cutaways to people like Wayne Simmons and it tells a story cutaways to Kyle Dubas and Brendan Shanahan on Sunday. They tell a story as well. There's no way around it. Toronto has a serious goaltending issue and it was so Toronto. There was one sequence where Peter M marazic made a great glove save on casey mittelstad only to cough one up in not so great fashion right away you talked to

dubas on saturday yep and and asked about the goaltending situation a week ago you were here for an introductory media conference and you were asked about goaltending and said that is not our priority right has it changed with what's happened since then well i think the reality is that um you know we still i mean obviously we've had an injury uh in the meantime to jack campbell and uh and with regards to peter he didn't have a good night on thursday night but he's played nearly 300 games the nhl and been a 9-10 goaltender over 300 games It's not as though he's played a year or two and now he's struggling for the first time. He's a veteran guy that's been able to overcome this in the past. And we believe that he will. And then we'll get Jack back and healthy.

At the same time, I think our fans and everybody saw the other night that Eric Shelgren can come in and play as well. And Joe Wall has already played this year and played well for us. So we feel we have four guys that can all come in and play as well. And Joe Wall has already played this year and played well for us. So we feel we have four guys that can all come in and play. Jack and Peter are obviously the two proven NHL guys, and that's what our focus is on. Has Jake Muzzin's timeline become any clearer? This is a huge week for the Toronto Maple Leafs. What do you think is going through Kyle Dubas' mind?

What can Kyle Dubas do this week? If anything, we've talked about the goaltending market and where it's at right now. You're Dubas,as do this week? If anything, we've talked about the goaltending market and where it's at right now. You're Dubas, what do you do? You have a goalie crisis on your hands in Toronto that no matter what the players do, the goaltending can undo all of it. I think basically what you're asking Kyle Dubas is,

are you betting your season on what you have right now? Do you believe it can get figured out? And there's the other part of this, which is what's the situation with Campbell's injury? Do you believe that a rib injury for a goalie, which sounds pretty significant, is something that can sort its way out? We can all look at this publicly

and see what's going on and make our own opinions. There's one bit of information that Dubas has that the rest of us don't really know. We can all look at this publicly and see what's going on and make our own opinions. There's one bit of information that Dubas has that the rest of us don't really know, and that is what is the status of Campbell's injury? Do they believe he can get back and get healthy and then rediscover his early season form? Right now with me, this is the same thing that Edmonton went through, which is we got to get another goalie,

but we don't like it, what it's going to cost us. And I think if you're Toronto right now, you're asking yourself, is it worth paying the price for Marc-Andre Fleury? But even with that though, Elliot, there's no guarantee that Marc-Andre Fleury wants the wave to that though, Elliot, there's no guarantee that Marc-Andre Fleury

wants the wave to go to Toronto. I don't think it's impossible. I think it simply comes down to does he think that they can win there? I don't know the answer to that. I think only Fleury can answer that. Does Fleury look in a mirror and say, I can make the difference here?

Listen, I think the healthy ego of most elite level hockey players say that. I can go in there and help. I'm the firm belief, Elliot, you don't get to that level of any sport without having that confidence that you can go in and make a difference. Like, do you believe that anyone in the NHL

doesn't go to a new market without saying, I think I can really help here. Like, I don't believe that you can get to the top level of any sport without having that confidence and without having that attitude. Do you agree? Yes, I would think so.

I would tend to believe that. I'm also wondering if there's anybody else they're looking at out there and saying, yeah, that player can make a difference here. Player or goaltender? Goalie goalie like how good do they think varlamov is how good do they think george is i wonder if right now the maple leafs are thinking we don't need the ghost of terry sawchuck we need someone better than we have right now. We need someone who can give us a save and not let in the bad goal. You know the goal that I'm talking about,

the one from the impossible angle or the one that just doesn't get squeezed or the one that goes through the goalie or you know that one. And I have to say, I know a lot of people didn't like that call with the net off yeah that was the right call by rule that was a hundred percent the right call yep that was a goal that was i think if you're the maple leafs that's what you're thinking right now we just need something better than this like we've tugged at a thread here that's unraveling the whole sweater and the other thing too jeff is that you already took one from razik after the game against arizona you came right out the next day and said he's starting the outdoor game yeah how many times you willing at the year you keep doing that

dubas told you on saturday that this isn't like these are two young goaltenders that have you know don't have any track record but the ones that we have have track record and going through something right now. Dubas has to say that. Yeah. I get that. And Keefe has to support his guy. After the soft comment this year, he's being very careful. You got to do it.

I understand it. That's part of the function of the manager and of the coach as well, but there's no way. Somebody told me they wouldn't be surprised if, and they've done deals before, if Colorado and Toronto were talking about something. I just have no idea what that could be. Wow. I always think there's deals out there

that we don't see coming, right? A couple of years ago, ago was that veranamantha deal yeah or was that last season that was last season okay so it feels like a million years i know i can't remember what year it is like that's an example that that veranamantha deal i don't know if anybody saw that one coming so i always sit here and say you know what's the deal that we don't see coming someone told me they they heard, you know, Toronto, Colorado, we're talking about something. And I was saying like, okay, what's the deal that we don't see coming? Don't know.

Is there another goalie out there who's available that we, we don't see coming? I don't know. We've gone through the list of, we've all gone through the list of goaltenders so many different times, up and down and sideways. I think you said it right. Are you betting your season on what you have?

And I just don't think you can anymore. Big week coming up. Okay, to the Buffalo Sabres side of things. A couple of things. The Cousins-Sinistrosa-Krebs line was excellent. Yeah. I thought that Craig Anderson was real good too. I'm really, because I've been cheering for the guy

since he got drafted, I'm really liking what I'm seeing right now out of Rasmus Darlene. Like the last, what do you figure, like a month or so? Elliot? Like they're going to add Owen power to this mix yeah as well but to me the big story on the blue line because i know everyone be excited about here comes owen

power for sorvodra is the development of rasmus dalene to me he looks real good he does look real good and you know they beat toronto five to one a couple weeks ago and someone said to me, watch Deline in that third period. And I actually went back and I watched some of his stuff in the third, and that was when Buffalo went from up 3-1 after two to winning the game 5-1. You know, he's got 37 points this year in 58 games, so he's going to get a 40-point season. And his career high is 44 in his rookie year.

He has a chance to beat it but someone was saying look how well he played defensively in the third period that night and yoko harju his regular partner wasn't playing and they said that's the biggest change they've noticed in delene and then like you know his challenge with matthews at the end of that game see obviously you can't cross-check someone in the head, but aside from that, and I know that's a big aside from, but aside from that, I just loved watching two number one picks take pieces of flesh out of each other in a big moment of a game. I love Matthews doing it, except for the one, obviously.

And I love Darlene doing it. And as someone who's watched Buffalo a lot more than I have this year said that that is the biggest difference is that we all knew that Darlene could get points, but now we're seeing how he can defend. And he's on the ice against really good players in big moments. And he's really improving. You know, I was talking to a couple of Buffalo's veteran guys and, you know, sometimes I think you can tell when people are just playing you or talking stuff and just saying things, this isn't talking the veterans here. They like these young players in terms of, they think that they're really

talented and, you know, everybody has their moments, but of they think that they're really talented and you know everybody has their moments but generally they think that they have their heads screwed on straight and they're getting better now one of the things a couple of them said to me was they don't know how long this is going to take because the way that buffalo is finishing this season assuming it keeps going this way there's going to be some expectation on them next year. Not to make the playoffs so much, but just to be better, right? And it's a lot more of a challenge

when there's expectation on you. You know, right now, nobody's expecting a lot from Buffalo, and sometimes it's easier to kind of grow in those situations. It's going to be different next year. And they said it'll be interesting to see how some of these guys handle it but they really genuinely think that this year has been a good year in terms of getting better understanding what it takes and you know they said they're they're veterans they're like Anderson in his own way is pretty demanding guy Opozo in his own way, is a pretty demanding guy. Opozo, in his own way, pretty demanding guy. We've mentioned how they're talking about whose powers partner are going to be.

Some of those veterans told me they have hope that this group is going to figure it out. The question is just, are they going to figure it out while some of these veterans are still playing? It's interesting with Craig Anderson too, because you know, that was one of the reasons why he was brought in. Like there were a couple of options once Lena Solmark, I think surprised Buffalo by signing with the Boston Bruins. You know, they scrambled, okay, what are we going to do? Where's our goaltender? And they didn't have many options. They had a couple, Devin Dubnik was one of them and they went with Craig Anderson. And one of the feelings I believe was he's going to be great with the younger players.

And, you know, what was one of the first things that he talked about in that interview with Bukowskis right after the game? I think it's just the kids. You know, you see these young guys come up and they're striving, they're working hard, and you just want to give back to them. And, you know, I think as far as I can remember, every time I put on the pads with these guys, I'm having fun, I'm enjoying coming to the rink. So as long as I'm, you know, having fun and enjoying the game, there's no reason for me not to keep coming. Last one for you then.

You mentioned the young group in front of you this year. How have you seen them grow? So far, it's been a great process. It is a process at the end of the day. You're not going to be overnight successes. We're going to work through some bumps and bruises. for the most part we've got the right mindset we got the right guys in the room and you know they're all pulling on the rope in the right direction we're all looking for team success over individual success like that's one of the reasons why

that guy is in listen i we all wish he didn't have the injury this year and could have played more games but right now cra, Craig Anderson is looking great. And I think that's a really good player to have around a lot of these young kids. And even though it's the goaltender and generally all the goaltenders are on their own program, I think it's great for a guy like Peyton Krebs or Casey Middlestad or Rasmus Dahlien or Matthias Samuelsson, whomever, to be around someone like Craig Anderson. I think he's great for the kids. That was a really good move by the Buffalo Sabres. And it was probably in his own mind thinking, well, I wonder if that's it.

I wonder if I'm done. Well, the one thing about Anderson is I have asked Kevin Adams, have you talked to him about playing next year? And he said, we haven't gotten to that point yet. So we'll see where that goes after the Matthews Darlene thing, you know, Dylan cousins, it looked worse than he really was.

Oh, the head. Yeah. It looked worse than it really was. Like, you know, it wasn't a run. Matthews was a little bit off balance,

but I thought it was instructive that another saber made a point of it after the whole darlene matthews thing and then mckeah charged at cousins right yeah and both of those teams were showing that they were standing up for each other i thought it was interesting that cousins did that did that because to me, it kind of showed, well, you know, Rasmus, you're not alone. And I thought it was important. Mikheyev did it because then it said like, you can't hit our guy and get away with it. But that's probably as important for Buffalo right now as it is for Toronto. It's important for each other.

I mean, we're all looking at Buffalo very differently than we were even a couple of weeks ago. Are we looking at Vegas differently than we were a couple of weeks ago as well? If we can, you know, use Peyton Krebs to pivot here, they lose a tough one to Columbus. I know you were working there, played the blue jackets and Cole Sillinger looked fantastic, had the hat trick, and Columbus handed it to the Vegas Golden Knights. Afterward, Pete DeBoer says... We're four games into this trip, and I could argue we could have won every one of the games, but we found ways to lose, and that's troubling. And like I said, we've got to stop the bleeding.

Listen, right now, the Vegas Golden Knights, you know, they lost four games in a row. They're on the second wildcard spot. Dallas is one point back with three games in hand. Edmonton's third in the Pacific. We didn't expect to be talking this positively about the Buffalo Sabres on, as we record this, March 13th. And I don't think we expected to be talking this negatively about the Vegas Golden Knights on March 13th, Elliot. No, no, we certainly weren't.

And it's the way it's happening too, right? Yeah. Three goals in the third period against Pittsburgh. Goes hard. Here's Friedman in the attacking zone. Right circle. Wrist shot. He scores!

Mark Friedman goes top shelf to break the deadlock. His first of the year makes it 3-2 Penguins. The Buffalo game, which we alluded to the other night. They've struggled of late. They're on the bubble in the Western Conference. Sabres, they've lost 8 of 10. They're trying to get going. Pass it.

Scores! What a goal! Peyton Krebs, the youngster involved in the Jack Eichel trade with the beautiful redirection goal. Columbus, 6-4. Now it's the Golden Knights with a giveaway. Bjorkstrand bounces the pass ahead to Max Domi. Domi's got a man going to the net in Sillinger.

And he scores! First career hat trick in the National Hockey League for Cole Sillinger! Look at how much money you've got on injured reserve or long-term injured reserve right now. You've got McNabb at two and a half. You've got Yenmark at two. You've got McNabb at two and a half. You've got Yanmark at two. You've got Howden at just under a million. So there's almost five and a half right there. Then on your long-term, you've got Stone at nine and a half.

You've got Martinez at five, two and a half. You know, that's $20 million right there. And then you have Pacioretty, who is a $7 million player who was out of the lineup against Columbus. And you have Leonard, who's a $5 million player who's out of the lineup right now. So between all of those guys, you're over $30 million out of the lineup. Yeah. Now the question is, is Vegas front office wise and ownership wise going to say this is simply a matter of we've got guys out and we have to wait until they come back. You know, patch already tried to play and then he was out again, or are they going to

say that's irrelevant? We don't care that there's guys out of the lineup. We have to play better. and that's where you start to wonder what does that mean exactly so my feeling on that would be people in management would understand the situation and look down the the laundry list of injuries and say that's why we're here but then above them i could see the owner saying, that's irrelevant. We're here to win. Like we've talked about this singular nasty focus that Vegas has.

Oh, you're the face of the franchise? Now you're in Chicago. Oh, hey, you're happy to be here and people love you? Yeah, Nate Schmidt, now you're in Vancouver. Like this is the ruthless pursuit of the Stanley Cup. You know, someone can help us. Great. We'll throw someone else over the side of the boat to bring you in.

I don't think for a second that ownership looks at this and says, yeah, this is the reason why we're losing. I think ownership probably looks at this and says, why are we losing? The thing about we talk about with Vegas. We do talk about Vegas and some of the things that they've done. And then this year, like Detroit put a guy on waivers on his birthday. Yeah. Danny DeKaiser. You know, I mean. Happy birthday. You're cleared.

And someone brought up to me the Patrick Berglund trade with St. Louis and Buffalo. So it was interesting. Like someone said to me, there are a lot of ruthless things done in this league and they're not convinced Vegas is any different than anybody else. But I think you get into certain situations where you start to get into DEFCON one, right? And, you know, we're talking about Toronto.

I think Kyle Dubas tries to react more calmly than others. He's not always successful, but I think he tries to react that way. I think when that comes in Vegas, I think they are more apt to say, okay. And I think they've been pretty patient here because I do think they recognize what they're dealing with. But if you were to look at an organization and say, they might throw a real curveball at us here, like a shocker that we're not seeing, Vegas would be one of those teams. Yes, I agree with that.

That's why, to your point, this is a big week for the Toronto Maple Leafs. This is a huge week for the Vegas Golden Knights. They're falling out of this thing, Elliot. That don't work well for Vegas. They don't do that. You know, this is not the way Vegas operates. There's no like understanding that, oh, well, we've got a couple of key injuries here.

And, you know, Jack Eichel is just, you know, getting his legs underneath them here after, you know, being out and getting the ADR surgery. There's none of that with Vegas. Vegas isn't fond about making excuses. We look at a team like Dallas who's chasing them right now. Dallas is a hardworking team. Dallas now, you know, has, you know, uh, the situation with Miro Haskin and with Fonda nucleosis and you think Klingberg's by the way, is staying there now. I do.

Don't you make sense? I think he's become too valuable to that team right now with hayeskin and out it it would take a whopper of a deal i think if you're jim nill to say yeah we'll we'll let go of john klingberg considering you know the the mantra around there is still we're getting to the playoffs and we're going to try to damage here and listen you had jo Joe Pavelski give the team the shot in the arm, signing the one-year contract extension. But, you know, the one thing about the Dallas Stars in the last few years, Elliot, what have we talked about?

How many guys play hurt? How many guys play injured in Dallas? Remember the bubble? A lot. Remember? And was like, okay, we're going to find out at the end just how bad it is. You know, these guys walking down the highway back home with bandages

all over them. That's been the story of the Dallas Stars for the last few seasons. I don't know if that's still there, if there's still guys that are banged up, but that's a team

that has a lot of guts. The players on that team, they play hurt, man. There's a lot of tough players on the Dallas Stars, and that's a no-excuse team, and that's the one that's creeping up on the Vegas Golden Knights. Again, they're not one that's going to use the, oh, we're banged up excuse. Oh, we're hurt excuse. And I look at Vegas and I say, you know, maybe management would look at it and say,

look, man, we've got $30 million worth of players that are wearing suits. But I don't know what the owner looks at it that way. Right? What was his line? We're winning the Stanley Cup within five years. In the first year, they almost did it. Yep. Three games within it. And ever since, it's been this ruthless pursuit. But yeah, if we can dovetail the Dallas,

I don't think Klingberg's getting moved. So funny. You've been chasing that one all year long. All year long. And there have been times where it heated up. There were discussions with Carolina no I you know I'm gonna say I'm gonna say you were just wrong the whole season just wrong just wrong

just wrong the whole season about about John Klingberg I think he's just become too valuable to that organization although here's one for you Vegas for a couple of years there really chased Radek Faxa. Yeah, but are you treating him now? No, I'm not.

I'm just throwing it as an aside since we're talking about Vegas and Dallas here. My lifelong pursuit to get as much information out for the history record books as possible. There always was interest with Radek Faxa from the Vegas Golden Knights. Okay, when we talk about huge weeks coming up, we discussed Claude Giroux on Saturday. And right now... I'll say this. I think this whole Colorado thing is about to become a big deal. So there was a rumor last week.

I heard that, that Colorado had an LTIR situation and it was coming, you know, then they announced it. Gerard was going to be out. And someone said to me, not him. I was like,

what else is going on here? And then they announced Landanniscaug. And I said, him? And they go, yeah. I thought Kevin BX made a great point. He said that Gabriel Lanniscaug, this is their year to win the Stanley Cup. They said he is not having surgery if he can't play.

In Kevin's eyes, he said he is having surgery knowing that he's going to be able to come back and play. So now the question is when. But I'll say this. That's a really smart group there. Would not surprise me in the least bit if they plan this. They're in. They're safe.

They're comfortable. They know they're going to be in the playoffs. They know they're going to have a good seating. And now, can they add? And someone else who says to me, like've had different opinions on jeru you know i think i don't remember if i said on the podcast here i said it's somewhere else there's so many of these interviews i can't remember what i say where but someone said to me it was 60 40 jeru stays east slight advantage nothing too crazy but now i mean, Giroux is a righty shot.

Landeskog is a lefty shot. But there's options there to open up your top six, and there's options there now on your power play. You know, I have a couple people said to me that they're wondering if that is going to be the spot that opens up. Because you said it was slow moving. It's pretty quiet around the man.

Yeah. Now I wonder if that's going to pick up. Yeah. You know, I could be totally wrong. Like you were on Klingberg. I could be totally wrong. I'm not wrong on Klingberg. I'm just busting you.

I could be totally wrong. And this is all circumstantial evidence. But I was talking about it with a couple of people I think are really smart. Yeah. And they all see it playing out that particular way.

Like there's certainly been conversations. I don't think there's been any like big offers here. Like for a couple of reasons. One, like, you know, someone told me a couple of weeks ago, cause we were discussing the nature of, you know, what it's like out there and how quiet it is

right now. And someone brought up the point is that like, look, like all these teams are like right up against the cap. Like they need more so than anything else, the necessity of leaving this to the last minute, the economic necessity, because they need as much cap space as they can get. Because normally it's, you know, we can make moves beforehand, bring someone in, you know, six weeks before deadline, get them used to our program, our players, and all that. Man, when you're in a league where everybody's capped out, you need to accrue as much cap space as you can before making your deals. And maybe that accounts for why it's relatively quiet around Claude Giroux right now. Although, I'm with you. I think Colorado became really interesting on Saturday

with these moves. And I look at what you mentioned about Gabriel Landeskog, and to me, I look at it and say it's probably something that he would have had done in the offseason, whatever it is. But it made more sense now to do it before the playoffs and get him out of the lineup for however many weeks this is going to take clean something up clean i want to put a couple of things quick i want to talk about jacob chickren and john marino well you know i should mention hurdle the one thing i'm

trying to figure out is is san jose given hurdle a deadline here we We've got to know by X. And as of Saturday, I didn't have any evidence of that. But you think they're inching closer here. I know they're really trying. I know they're really trying. Like I've heard there's two parts to this deal. One is the terms and people seem to think they will get there. But the other thing I've heard is,

is San Jose saying we're going to rebuild a couple of years here. Is it going to be a couple of years until we're ready? And you know, how does hurdle feel about that? I would imagine that any conversation with hurdle about a long-term contract extension revolves around, okay, what are we doing here the next few years?

Well, I think that has a lot to do with it. So I think they filled him in and now he's going to make his decision. People say to me that San Jose is painting a really league-wide, a really positive picture that we believe we're going to get this done. But until it's done, it's not done. Want to expand on your John Marino thought from Saturday? So Pittsburgh played earlier Sunday afternoon. Carolina carried the play. I think they outshot them 2-1, but the Penguins won the game.

Marcus Pedersen was a healthy scratch, first time since he was traded to the Penguins. You know, him and John Mar marino they've had tough years i think both of those players have been on vancouver's radar but i heard marino and i think vancouver really tried to make a run at him i had a couple people tell me they were really surprised that pittsburgh would even consider it because even though he's had a rough year, they know how the Penguins think of him as a player. But I've just heard that they've had a really difficult time making a match Vancouver with Pittsburgh. Whatever they're offering, it's not only, I think, the mix of

players, but I think what the contract situations could potentially be. And I think that that is a thing. Like someone who's not affiliated with either one of these teams said to me that one of the problems with dealing with Vancouver is, look, like they're trying to solve their cap problems, which is perfectly sensible. Everybody would want to do that. I think everybody gets that. But the thing is that the other teams are saying, why would we want the same cap problem that you're dealing with?

So if we're talking about, say, Besser, you know that Vancouver is nervous about the QO until the other team knows that they can solve that problem. Why are they going to deal for that? Unless they want to extend Besser at that number. The thing about Miller too is if you're talking about extending Miller, you know what first line centers in this league get. I really think too.

And again, this is my opinion, but it kind of makes sense from what I'm hearing Vancouver's looking at. I don't know if it's Mikasa Benijad or whatever it is, but they know what a number one center makes in the NHL. I think they're trying to see if they could move other players to keep Miller. Can they create the cap room to sign Miller this summer? So I think all of these things are going on and I think they do like Marino.

I just hear it's really tough for them to make a match. You know, the, uh, the point about Miller is an interesting one too. And I can't help with thinking about there's the number and there's the term. Now you might turn around to say,

well, hang on longer term. We'll bring down, you know, the AAV, like you brought up John Klingberg a couple of seconds ago. I think Dallas would have gone shorter term on him, but that would have been a higher number.

Klingberg would have wanted something longer term, which would have got the number a little friendlier for the Dallas Stars. Do you think Vancouver is thinking the same thing? That aging curves are real? Like this is not a dumb organization. They understand the reality of things like aging curves are real. Like this is not a dumb organization. They understand the reality of things like aging curves. Do you think Vancouver's approach is,

look, we know how old he is. We know what happens to players in their thirties and how when they fall off, it's hard and steep. Do you think it's, we're willing to go to this number, but not for this term with Miller? The best I can tell is that it's too early to say that. Maybe. I mean, it makes sense, Jeff.

It absolutely makes sense. I just don't know if that's true. Jacob Trickwin, the story is we're waiting to find out. Probably no Tuesday. MRI. Everybody is holding their breath now. Certainly Arizona. And you know what?

It doesn't look as if, or it doesn't sound as if Arizona has softened at all on their ask. Like the three big pieces that they want for Jacob Chikrin. It sounds to me, I don't know if it sounds to you, like they're not budging from it. They want a really good young prospect. They want a really good young player who's in the league and they want a first round pick. It sounds like they're not budging off of that.

And I guess considering there's terms still attached to Jacob Trickrun, you could say they're in no hurry. I mean, now they may have no choice. They may have no choice. I mean, the decision may be taken away from them. And I will say this, Jeff. I have heard that Arizona wanted to do this for this exact reason. You know, Chikrin gets hurt, and that's a fluke.

Yeah. You can't really blame him for that one. He got folded up. Just a fluke play. But, you know, someone said to me, when this happened, somebody reached out to me and said i guarantee you and i know he said the arizona's like oh we were worried about this montreal same way ben charade they were worried about that was a scary but what are you gonna do not let a guy play like i mean you know the league will let you get away with that if you're about to trade a guy, but they won't let you get away with that if you're saying we're putting him in bubble wrap until he gets traded.

You can't do it. You can't. You can either wrap the world in rubber or go buy a good pair of shoes. So before we go to viewer notes. Elliot, no one can see us. Did I just call them viewers again? No one can see us, Elliot. And good for them. As hard as you squint right now, gentle listener, you can't see

me, Elliot, and Amal right now. These are listeners. 300 episodes, man. 300 episodes. You're still calling them viewers? Oh, Amal, go away. Like, seriously, who let you talk? So the listener emails and voicemails, we'll get to those in a sec, but I did want to ask you, you've been on top of this story. You know this better than me.

Do you think two leagues is a good idea? In a perfect world, it's not. Okay. We all know that this is an imperfect world. Okay. I'd look at this from outside. I was talking about this with a couple of people at the game today, and we were all sitting there saying, what is so hard that they can't work together? What's happened? And I will say this, there were people who understood

that with the previous leadership, there was a lot of bad blood and it was never going to happen on both sides. But now the whole reason that leadership was changed was to eliminate this problem. And I have to tell you, there's people saying to me, and I said, look, like Jeff knows this more than I do. And if he reports it, he knows it. People are saying this was supposed to be solved. This wasn't supposed to be the case. And they don't understand why the two different sides in the women's game can't make a deal.

The two sides have spoken previously. Jaina Heffer's PWHPA and Tyler Timinia's PHF. Now Timinia is exiting, I believe, at the end of the playoffs from her role as commissioner. But the two sides have spoken before. commissioner but the two sides have spoken before uh the nhl has been involved in those meetings and sleeping kept uh you know abreast of the communications between the two and they have not been able yet to find any common ground which i know frustrates people like i understand exactly what you're saying elliot because i think most sane people look at this and say, look, you have two groups that have the exact same goal.

Like you have two groups that have the exact same target. How come they can't get together on a deal? Because I think to your point, if you have two separate leagues, again, two competing entities, what it does is it creates a market confusion and it continues to fragment women's hockey. My thought on this one right now is from the PWHPA's point of view, that's Jaina Hefford, who's the operations manager of the PW, that's her group with, for lack of a better term, all the Olympians. Okay. They've worked at this now for three years to get to this place where it sounds like, like Elliot, it sounds like the financing is really close.

Like they either have it or they're almost right there. Now there's still a lot of other things that need to be worked out. I know the PW is working with Deloitte on putting something like this together. But as someone told me recently, do you really think the PW would go this far after all they fought for to get this to the finish line and then turn around and say, oh yeah, maybe we shouldn't go on our own. Let's see if we can do something with the PHF. Like they've done this and they've gotten this there. They've fought for this. They've played for this countless, you know, interviews and presentations. And they're right there at the finish line right now. I don't get the feeling that anyone in that group is saying, now let's see if we can do a deal.

And from the PHF's point of view, you know, what you're seeing is Alon Sprinkler of Press Police is right now about new ownership and big names attached to teams. And I think there'll be more. You know, we just saw Willie O'Ree, you know, his name attached to the Boston Pride. You know, Anthony Stewart, who's a colleague at Sportsnet. Angela James, Bernice Carnegie, Ted Nolan. And I think there's going to be more big names attached to a lot of these teams. Like we know there's an interest from sponsors. As one person told me recently, part of the market hesitation for some of the sponsors is we need to see business plans and we need to see how this is going to work. And until we perhaps see it in action, theoretically, we would like to get into this, involved in the women's game. Philosophically, we're right there.

We just want to see how this would work. I think the PW is right there with it right now. Like the PHF is an existing league. And I think the PWHPA are right there at putting together the structure for a new one. You know, there were calls on Friday and Saturday where players were caught up on what the scenario could look like. There was a meeting with the pwhpa in the nhl early last week where there was a presentation i don't have any details on what happened in that presentation but the one thing that the pwhpa has been consistent on you know what i gotta tell you something like when you talk about like phf here like i just i know my eyes gloss over because the alphabet like it just it's so confusing i just confusing i just hope everybody here knows what they're doing i really do i hope

they know what they're doing put it this way i think for the good of not just for the good of the women's game for the but for the good of capital h hockey that this works and i keep i've explained this as so many friends and colleagues as well. The more successful the women's game is, the more successful the men's game is. And why is that? Because you're helping to build the industry. You're not just building the women's game, but if more women play hockey and there are more successful women's leagues, there are things like more rinks that are being built. Equipment manufacturers do better as well. Trainers do better.

The whole industry gets built. You know what it is, Jeff? Who gets hurt? The players get hurt. What do you mean the players get hurt? The players get hurt because they don't get sustainable leagues out of it. The only way this is going to grow is a sustainable league. And if we're splitting up all the money all the time, are we ever going to get there?

Listen, I think that it gets there eventually. I know you don't like to hear this. I think that this gets there eventually. But unfortunately, I think these two sides are going to compete against each other first. I know I keep bringing up the WHA-NHL example. It's a different scenario. What's the old saying that I always quote? The old Mark Twain line, history doesn't repeat itself, but sometimes it rhymes.

And there's a lot of rhyming here between what happened in the NHL and the WHA in the 70s. It is my belief that if I'm trying to forecast this thing, there are two leagues that are established. They compete and beat each other up for however long and then realize at a certain point, there needs to be a coming together. That's what it feels like to me.

All right. You know better than me. We'll see where it goes. We cross our fingers. Shall we do some emails and calls? You're right. Let's do that. Quick break, Elliot. Back with some of your emails, some of your phone calls

for all you kind viewers. Now, Jeff, I understand there's one more very important woman that we need to hear from. Yes, there is. Hey, Amal, Elliot, and Jeff. I just want to congratulate you on 300 episodes of 32 Thoughts. I know how much time you all put into this podcast and the level of perfection you guys strive for. you all put into this podcast and the level of perfection you guys strive for.

I will say, I was worried when we found out I was pregnant with Noah and how Amal would adjust his hours with the baby, but it seems as though 32 Thoughts was actually training him for the late nights and early mornings with a newborn, so thanks for that. Again, congratulations

and here's to many more to come. Elliot, Amal wants to know, where is our pie? I still have it. I got an apple pie for Amal. What's that story? It was the apple picking farm. I still have those pies. Oh, is that Chudley's?

Yes. I've never been able to deliver them because of uh the pandemic but i still have them you'll get them i have to say noah makes more sense than you do amal that's there's no question about that that's great thanks that's really good that's fantastic okay that was great stuff that was really excellent love hearing uh hey noah made his debut on the podcast. That's awesome. Okay, let's get to some emails and some phone calls here.

The email address, 32thoughts.sportsnet.ca. The thought line, 1-866-311-3232, 1-866-311-3232. A quick note about the inbox, by the way. It has now surpassed 2 2 000 plus emails in four months and over 250 voicemails in three so thank you everybody for participating try to get to as many as possible it's challenging let's start with dan hey guys love the talk of testing new rules do you think the nhl could add a third tier of minor league below the ECHL where they could test these rules out in real competitive games

or basically just run an independent league like MLB does? Great job, Jeff. Great job, Amel. This is really catching on. It's good. I like that. Somewhere Berkey is smiling and he has no idea why.

I don't know if that's ever going to be the case. You know, we've talked about maybe doing it at All-Star. That's our idea. That's not necessarily the league's idea. We've also talked about, you know, do you do the summer development camp?

There's so little time for people to recharge during the summer. I don't know if that's going to happen, but there has to be something. I would like to try these things. I like the idea of maybe doing it at the All-Star game. I really do. Yeah, that'd be kind of cool. That really would be kind of cool.

That would add a whole new flavor to it. Doug in Calgary, Elliot. I'm a longtime lacrosse guy from Calgary. Here's my list of what I believe are slash were the best lacrosse players that played in the NHL. Dunk Wilson, hey, the goalie, may not have been the best lacrosse player, but he did play for both the Canucks and the Vancouver Berards in the same season, 1971. I also think Sean Monaghan was a top player and may have been able to play in the NLL. One name you don't hear about these crossover players is Colin Patterson. He was tough.

He was in wicked shape too. I played lacrosse with Colin a few years back and he's very good. Some other notable names include Jack Bionda, two-time Man Cup MVP, Joe Neuendijk, Adam Oates, Gary Roberts, and Brandon Montour. I think it's the best crossover sport. I do. I think it's, honestly, Elliot, I think it's the best complimentary sport I do I think it's honestly Elliot I think it's the best complimentary sport for hockey for a number of reasons I think Adam Foote was another good one too you know

what all those Whitby guys yeah from Whitby the New and Dyke Roberts connection all those Whitby guys were all great and the Peterborough crew too here's why I think that lacrosse is the best crossover sport one it's great for your cardio two it's great for your cardio. Two,

it's great for toughness. Three, it's great for hand-eye coordination. And you know what it's great for as well? And this really helped my kids. My kids, when they first started playing hockey, also played lacrosse for a couple of years. And you know where it helped, Elliot? And I really encourage all beginner hockey players to at least try lacrosse for one very specific reason. And they still do it to this day. And I swear it's because of lacrosse. When they skate, when they shoot, when they make plays, when they pass, their head is up. And it's because of lacrosse. Hockey, you're encouraged to put your head down because the object of play is on the ice, where lacrosse, the ball is in the air.

Wait a second. Who encourages you to put your head down in hockey? No. When you first start playing hockey, naturally, your head goes down to watch the puck. Wait a second. But I disagree with that, though. I was playing minor hockey 40-something years ago,

but I was always told, keep your head up. Oh, no. No, you're told to keep your head up. Yeah. But your natural inclination as you play- I thought you said you taught to keep your head down. No, no, no keep no no no no no when when you play okay maybe i misheard you no you're inclined naturally to put your head down pay attention to me please for the first time in your life please i was trying to pay attention i snapped out of my trance like state when i heard that

you're like peppermint patty and i'm like the teacher i swear charlie brown really in your mind i'm just in the background you're just uh yes yes yes so in hockey like you're naturally looking at the ground like you're naturally looking on the ice what i found is when my kids started to play lacrosse because all passing is you know the ball is is in the air they had to keep their heads up while they were running and then the next season I started to play hockey and all of a sudden their heads were up on all the plays. And I'm like, oh man, thank God I got these kids into lacrosse early. Cause I really think it helped their hockey career. Smart.

Oh, by the way, how'd you like that lacrosse play that you, uh, that you wrote about in 32 thoughts with the, uh, Ricard Raquel, Dallas Aikens play with the Anaheim ducks and then Mason McTavish in Hamilton. By the way. I just remember it from the Olympics. Ted Nolan, Latvia, Canada. There's one other thing that I wanted to add, because you wrote about it in 32 Thoughts last week.

I'm 99% sure. I should go back and check before just blasting off on the podcast. That Mason McTavish play that you put in the Hamilton. I think it was Nathan Steyos, Steve Steyos' son. Yeah, it was. That made the pass. Did he throw the pass? Yes, it was.

Nathan Steyos to Mason McTavish. All right. From Dylan in New York. Hey, guys. Love the show. Had a question about no move, no trade clauses. Assuming a player waives their no move clause for a trade and has a few years left on their deal, what happens if they're traded again? Do they resubmit a list of teams they're willing to go to, or is the clause voided from the initial wave to be moved in the first place? Do any examples come to mind? Thank you, Jeff and Amal, for all that you do. mind. Thank you, Jeff and Amal for all that you do. P.S. When is Amal replacing Elliot since he asked the best interview questions? Nice of you to leave that one out for a second, Jeff,

but I was putting that in. I was going to get that after. Dylan, this is a good question because it's changed a couple of times. Initially, if you were traded and you waived your no-move clause to be traded, you didn't get it back. It was gone. The team that acquired you had the choice of whether or not they wanted to pick it up. And one of the cases was P.K. Subban. He was traded from Montreal to Nashville, and Nashville had the choice of whether or not to pick up P.K.

Subban's no trade, and and they didn't and he was eventually traded to new jersey now it has changed with a more recent cba negotiation now if a player is traded and agrees to waive his no move clause then when they are sent to their new team it comes back so the player has control. Good one. Let's get to a voicemail. Hey, Jeff, Elliot, and Amal. Love the show.

This is Kunji Ikeda calling you from Calgary, Alberta. I noticed an interesting signing. It's a debt signing, but Billy Sweezy was signed to a contract by the Blue Jackets for the next two years, starting in 22-23. He's currently an unrestricted free agent, and he is not under contract for 21-22. Is there anything stopping a team from signing him for a one-year contract for the rest of this year if they wanted a depth option, and then he would be under contract for the jacket the following year. Is that possible? Well, first of all, thank you for the question.

I love the name Billy Sweezy. When this player signed last week, I said, what a fantastic name. Great name. Your premise isn't exactly correct, Kunji. He is under contract now this year on an AHL contract with Cleveland and the American Hockey League. And sometimes this will happen where teams don't have the cap room to sign a

player for the rest of this year, or they don't want to put the player in the NHL the rest of this year. So they sign him to an AHL deal for this season. And then what Sweezy has is a two-way deal, two years beginning next year. So this year he's AHL only. He gets to play. And next year he's on the NHL-AHL deal. That happens sometimes, yes. Billy Sweezy, by the way, old school defenseman, Elliot. This guy loves the hitting.

You know, there are some guys that'll do it but don't love it. That's not this guy. This guy hits for keeps. Played at Chicago Steel, then at Yale, and now, as Elliot mentions, he's on the American Hockey League deal with the Cleveland Monsters. Let's get to another phone call, this one from Calgary as well. Hey, guys. This is Mark from Calgary calling.

Thanks for the pod. You guys are like my go-to for my dog walks now. I really appreciate it. Elliot, you took a beating about the whole bald spot thing, and I thought you took it like a champ. It was some good humor, but even with all that, I think actually Jeff is a little bit funnier. Anyways, here's my question. With the trade deadline coming up soon,

you guys talk about different types of contracts, but I'm not entirely clear. Could you explain what the difference between a one-way contract is, a two-way contract, and a three-way contract? I'm not crystal clear on that. So if you guys had a second to walk through that, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks, guys. Sure.

No problem, Mark. Well, first of all, three-way contracts don't exist anymore, but Mark Giordano was one of the last players to have one. When he first signed in North America after being in the KHL, he signed a contract that gave him one salary in the NHL, one salary in the AHL, and one salary in the ECHL. So that's what's called a three-way contract because he had three different salaries

depending on what league he was playing in. Do you remember the AHL team that he played on at that point no who was it it was the axar ben knights the ax that's right i totally forgot about that they sound like a khl team i know the axar ben knights nebraska backwards baby sorry go ahead totally forgot about them that's a good call jeff so now if you're in the ahl or the echl you get you get the same number. So it's a two-way contract. You get one salary in the NHL and one salary in the minor league. So that's a two-way deal. A one-way deal means you just have an NHL contract,

which means even if you are sent down to the minors, you still get your salary at the NHL level. So that basically means how many different salaries that you have. One way is purely NHL, no matter where you play. Two ways is one salary in the NHL and one salary in the minors. And three-way no longer exists. It was one in the NHL, one in the AHL, and one in the ECHL. You know why I love that question? Because I always have to remind myself that we assume a lot when we do this podcast, and we assume that everybody knows what the difference is or what a one-way is or even something like what the term qo means

and i always remind myself you're never going to bring more people under the tent unless you you know spell out what it is exactly you're talking about and there's no such thing for anyone that wants to send in questions like that there's no such thing don't be embarrassed to send it because like i don't know what this means sometimes that's totally totally fine because i'm guilty of this elliot assuming too much you know so don't think that there's you know anything oh i don't know if i should send this pretty basic question no go ahead and send it's like my mom used to always say to me don't make fun of people who mispronounce things because that means they read it from a book and we should be encouraging more people to read. Stephanie in New Jersey submits this one. A big assist, by the way, from her dad, Steve.

Hi, guys. Oh, I love this line. Big 32 Thoughts fan. Jeff is insightful. Amal is the glue. Elliot is there. My question is the glue. Elliot is there. My question is related to something my dad keeps bringing up. We're longtime Dallas Stars fans, and like a lot of fans, we've been frustrated with the coaching staff and would be in favor of a change. My dad's idea is for the Stars to bring Jim Montgomery back now that he's had time to recover from the issues that originally caused him to lose his job in Dallas

and has had time as an assistant coach in St. Louis to get back in the game. I was wondering if there's any historical precedence for a coach returning to a former team under those kind of circumstances or if my dad's thought starter is just an interesting, if unrealistic, idea. Well, first of all, I think Jim Montgomery's getting a head coaching job again, Elliot. I think he probably will too. I think a lot of people thought it was going to be in Montreal. Kent Hughes, I believe, represented Jim Montgomery when Jim Montgomery was a player. But this is going so well with Martin Saint-Louis.

As long as he wants it, I'm just assuming he's going to get the job. So that one's out. Look, it's not like it hasn't happened before. Daryl Sutter went back to LA first and then he went back to Calgary. So you can't say it's never occurred. Look at Montreal. You know, they've had Claude Julian go back before. So it's not like it's impossible. I had reported earlier this year that Dallas considered a coaching change around the all-star break, decided not to do it. I'm curious to see if Rick Bonas is going to want to continue to come back after this year.

It's not impossible. It's just these circumstances were so unique. I'm sure they'd all have to sit down there and figure out, okay, is it good for everybody to do this again? I think that would kind of be the biggest question. Uh, Stephanie, line of the podcast, Elliot is there. I am.

Okay, Elliot, let's finish off with one more voicemail. Hey, Jeff and Elliot, love the show. My name is Ryan and I'm calling from Kingston, Ontario. I had a quick thought while watching the Habs Oilers game on Saturday night. During the game, the Habs scored two goals that were both challenged and disallowed due to offside. One was scored by Nick Suzuki and the other by Laurent Dauphin. The big difference was that the Dauphin goal was scored directly after the zone entry, but the Suzuki one was scored after being in the zone for about 30 seconds. I was wondering if you think the NHL should implement a rule where after a certain

amount of time goes by after the zone entry, a goal can no longer be challenged for offside. Let me know what you think and keep up the great work. Go Habs go. It's a good question because when the rule was first brought in on the offside challenge, this was asked. And some of the hockey people, I believe Colin Campbell was one of these people. He said, look, if the puck goes into a zone

and the team keeps pressure for two minutes isn't that the defensive team's fault and you can't let a team off the hook if they can't carry the puck for two minutes but the league i think it was daily actually he made the argument to me once it's offside it's offside and the whole thing is tainted. And he said, you can't make it subjective. It's either offside or it's not. Because if you make it subjective, you open up a whole can of worms that just leads to the worst possible outcome at the worst possible time. And I get it.

From a lawyer point of view, I get why they think it that way. So there's your answer. It did come up. And they were like, no, once it that way. So there's your answer. It did come up and they were like, no, once it's offside, it's offside. And that feeling carried the day. You know what I always thought would happen, Elliot? Because we always should consider the law of unintended consequences when there's any type of new rule, even if it's just the massaging of a rule. You know where I thought this would really lead to? And maybe it will one day, but it hasn't so far. What's that?

I hate to say it, but here we go. Video review on dump-ins. So right now it's kind of like, if you're close enough to center ice, when you dump the puck in, we won't call it icing. But what's the difference? If you shoot the puck into the zone from behind the red line, it should be icing, but it's not always called. It's like the officials have this idea that if it's close enough, generally it's fine. But if it leads to a goal, I know there hasn't been the Matt DeShane moment for it, and that's what led to the offside challenge. I thought from day one, Elliot, that that's where this was going to lead.

Video review on dump-ins from behind center. Do you think we ever get there, or does that thought terrify you as we slow the game down even more? It doesn't terrify me. It's just like, who else thinks of this stuff? You know what? I bet you somebody probably did I would imagine someone in the NHL at one of these

meetings must have brought it up and got screamed down and said look don't ever bring that up again it's bad enough for doing this with the offsides let's not do it for icings as

well great question by the way Ryan all right that's the end of the podcast and thanks to our families for taking part this week. That was a really nice touch. And Amel, thanks for putting together

300 tasty episodes. Yeah, thanks Amel. You do amazing work. Nothing I've ever done has ever been confused or called art until this podcast. So thank you, Amel. Much appreciated.

Taking us out is a Brooklyn-based band who played music for other artists until they decided to create their own tunes. Homer Steinweiss, Paul Spring, appreciated. Taking us out is a Brooklyn-based band who played music for other artists until they decided to create their own tunes. Homer Steinweiss, Paul Spring, and Joe Harrison make up Holy Hive. That's a group that doesn't shy away from creating a sound that's sort of a folk soul, overlaying both genres while working with Homer's thickly-pocketed drumming, Joe on bass, and Paul's calming vocals. From their sophomore album, here's Holy Hive with Runaways on 32 Thoughts, the podcast. The kitchen cyclone So he climbed out his window And he ran to mine too

Loved up a pebble Said put on your shoes Put on your shoes Run away, tie the line, know the road, walk over the bough Bye.