32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Michael Andlauer Doesn't Hold Back

Episode Date: November 3, 2023

Jeff and Elliotte react to Michael Andlauer's very honest press conference from Wednesday and give their thoughts on the way he spoke about the punishments levied against his hockey club (3:40), the intricacies of no-trade-clauses (13:40), and how they'll remember the Dorion Era in Ottawa (22:00). Next, they dive into neck protection in the NHL and how some players are choosing to embrace change (40:00). Elliotte proclaims that the Canucks are Canada's best team (53:00), Jeff and Elliotte look back at the career of Paul Stastny as he announces his retirement from the NHL (1:05:37), and they dive into the Nicklas Backstrom's decision to step away from the team and how the Capitals are managing the club legend (1:08:55). They close the pod by touching on the Calgary Flames' decision to put a pause on extension talks with players (1:14:55).Jeff and Elliotte answer your questions in the Montana’s Thought Line (38:04).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 Jordan McRae 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.

I think a lot of fans are wondering why you should have to this organization have to pay for something that happened 18 months ago Not even on your watch. What would you say? I totally agree with you I haven't you that's an that's a question you have to ask the NHL why it took a whole year since the hearing granted It was a two-day hearing 73 page reports. It's not something that just slam dunk I know on the Commissioner had a lot of time to deliberate on and think about it But why I inherited this is is beyond me uh i know the commissioner had a lot of time to deliberate on it and and think about it but why i inherited this is is beyond me like there's no reason for it to last that long

we have a lot to get to today and a lot of it revolves around michael and lauer welcome to 32 thoughts the podcast presented by the new gmc sierra hd elliott one of the things that i've been wondering about this is going to be a really good podcast today. Oh, don't set the bar. Don't set the bar. I am in a foul, pissed off mood. Why? Why are you so sour? There was something I wrote that got twisted and it actually has real world consequences. And some people were told things that I never said. So I'm in, I'm in a foul mood today. Did you find out that it was me? Or am I still safe from the wrath of Elliot Friedman?

Put it this way. Not even you would do this. That's how bad it was. Whoa. Okay. So he is sour. So let's get going. I'm very sour. i don't get sour a lot but i'm sour today okay elliot friedman sucking a lemon on today's 32 thoughts podcast here's one of the

things because we're going to talk a lot about this ottawa situation but let me open up by framing it this way you know along the way of this ottawa senator's sale we saw peaks and valleys and turns and swerves and And this is the favorite. That's the favorite. We don't know which way this thing is going to end up. Michael Ann Lauer ends up with the Ottawa senators $950 million later. One of the things I wondered about after that press conference on Wednesday was if the Ryan Reynolds group were successful or the Steve Apostolopoulos group was successful or the Kimmel bid was successful or the Nico Sparks bid was successful, would we have seen a press conference

the likes of which we saw on Wednesday? Snoop Dogg might have been good. Snoop Dogg would have been great. He may have lit one up too while he did it. kiprios could have been good kiprios would have been spectacular no doubt as well you know what jeff that is a great question who of all the potential sanders owners who would have been more pointed and who would have been less pointed than and lauer snoop dog more pointed i wonder could ryan reynolds have had a press conference like that because that was because you know what that was a great question that was the passionate hockey guy i looked at all the candidates to buy the ottawa senators and i don't know that any of them would have pulled off what we saw and lauer off on Wednesday it's a great great question would they

have even done it like that's the thing like that was a really ballsy bold move by Michael and lower not just to do it but the way that he spoke on your radio show on Thursday you wondered if he was going to be like the Mark Cuban of the NHL. And I don't believe that because I don't think that Ann Lauer really craves that attention. Cuban loves it. He loves being in the middle of it. He loves being the flashpoint. Ann Lauer does not.

There are many times, especially during the sale process, where I reached out to him only to get ignored. As a matter of fact, I thought I was married to him because that's the way my wife treats me she just doesn't respond to any of my texts so he doesn't seek that out obviously he felt that he had to be face front because they were making the change at the gm level but i don't think you're going to see him come right out and do this a lot but if you go back to his introductory press conference you know the one thing about the building right he didn't come right out and say

yeah we're going to get the building done no problem this is going to be beautiful he basically said have you ever dealt with politicians never mind three levels of politicians like this thing's gonna have its challenges to get done so he's not afraid but he doesn't like it but jeff i sat there i watched that press conference three times i watched it live and i watched it twice more on youtube to make sure i had all the quotes right and i wasn't misinterpreting anything because I do think one thing got misinterpreted. There were people who were left with the impression that he did not know about the Dodonov investigation. And he did. He just wasn't told about the severity of it. That he felt was misrepresented to him.

But it's very rare that you have a press conference that you have to watch three times because A, you want to make sure what was said. And B, you're almost laughing because you can't believe it. That was, when was the last time you saw an owner have a press conference like that in the NHL? I was going to say the caveat there being NHL, we've seen it in other sports. We've seen owners take center stage. And I think we're all, you know, wondering about, you know, when it's like in the nfl jerry jones all the time yep jim ursay the owner of the colts all the time like he jim ursay

is the guy who walked out of the last one of the last owners meetings and said it's time to get rid of daniel snyder who was owning the commanders at the time you don't see that in the nhl like i didn't think and lauer was going to get fined i think you understand that sometimes people need to blow off steam i don't even think and lauer like someone said to me you think and lauer went over the line i said no not even close but we're just not used to that in the nhl so people wonder how is the league going to handle it? And again, there's nothing I thought that Ann Lauer said that I thought was, should be censured or was punishable.

You know, he was frustrated and I don't blame him for being frustrated. And let's talk about the two things he's frustrated about Jeff. Cause I got to admit, if I was in his shoes, I would be annoyed and pissed off too yeah we talked a little bit about this the last podcast on what the punishment might be and speculated about the kolvachuk situation could there be similarities uh oh boy um but before we get to the donoff let's talk about the shane pinto situation michael and Lauer believes he was brought into this situation too late.

And I do understand that because they could have traded players to make cap space for someone who wouldn't have been eligible to play for half the season. So you're right. All of this is right. I was talking to someone about it this morning.

And that is that, number one, when you're buying a house, you can hire someone who's an investigator to look at things. One of the houses I bought, I had no idea. The people I bought it from didn't tell me, but you hire a lawyer and they said, you know, there's been a lien on this house. And immediately you're sitting there and you're saying, okay, what is that? And does it affect my purchase of it? Like in any way, could this become my problem? And also then you begin to feel, okay, if this person isn't telling me this, what else aren't they telling me?

And so the Pinto thing is tough. Like when that deal got done, the suspension, everybody involved, I heard signed confidentiality agreements. That's why it's been so hard to find out what exactly occurred because everybody signed papers that said they wouldn't talk about it. And Lauer alluded to in the media conference on Wednesday that Pinto was getting help. And that's something else that you're not supposed to talk about. So in that particular case, I kind of wonder if there was just, this is private. Even he alluded to it. It's a personal thing. You can't really discuss it. So if you understand that somebody going through something, you can understand how a, like both things can be true.

You've got to keep it private, but Ann Lauer can be mad about not being aware of it. I think we live in a world where those things are not mutually exclusive and both can be true. those things are not mutually exclusive and both can be true the second one that the donov one like i had a manager tell me yesterday how could anybody not be aware of it like everybody knew how vegas felt the other thing too was central registry in this league they're supposed to be sacrosanct right that is the place that is supposed to clean up all the mistakes you can't believe that central registry like those are the people you call and you say am i making a mistake here and you need the confidence to know that they are your sober second thought that they're gonna say to you don't do that or you're clear and that's one of

the reasons i think that the punishment was as heavy as it was because it had people around the league saying can we not trust central registry here like is there another step we have to do are we sure about this and the nhl wanted to make it very clear this one was not on them. But he was mad at the league about that one because it took so long. But I think he's also mad at whoever. And I don't know if it was the family. I don't know if it was the people handling the sale. I don't know if it was the people who are already working for the team.

I don't know who it was, but it's very clear that he knew about it and he said, is this a big deal? And he was told no. And all of a sudden, you get a first round draft pick and you're furious. On this one, I completely get it. If you told me something was not a big deal and I lost a first rounder,

Shane Pinto was the 32nd pick he's a good player yeah Ridley Greg was the 28th pick he went into the Wednesday's games leading all rookies in scoring like he looks like a good player that's a big loss and I think there are and and you know what here I think we've talked a lot about Vegas's role in all of this and how angry they were. One thing we really missed was how angry Anaheim was. Is that about the pick? Yeah, we wanted that pick. We wanted that pick.

I'm still wondering here if this is going to get rescinded somewhere down the road. We'll see. But someone texted me, I wish there was like a spy camera in the league office as they watch that press conference to see what all the reactions were i just hope that there's cameras on the next time that there's an owner's meeting and we see bill foley henry samueli and michael andlauer all in the same room or their handshake like when they first walk into each other the next board of governors

meeting is in seattle yeah someone in the nhl should set up the elevator that all three organizations walk into it at the same time oh jesus give like an anchorman brawl like what are you doing elliot what are you trying to what are you trying to set up here um i'll tell you by the way in a lot of owner fights i'll take michael and lauer that guy looks lean and mean and ready to go is verbique going he's not an owner i'm talking about owners well he's still still a governor a governor too but i'm talking about owners you know we've talked about who's got the toughest front office before who's got the toughest owner well the thing about ottawa's front office is they're a little lean right now like they don't have the numbers that other people have right but you know vegas could walk in there with

mcphee who's in unbelievable shape and he was raw bone tough when he played man well go look at those pocket fights who jeez anaheim has for beak yeah tough guy but you know what jeff the last thing when this initially happened and it's almost two years ago now they talked about a clearinghouse for no trade clauses and the players association don't want it don't want it they were against it now hang on just so our listeners know the reason they don't want it is they don't want no trade list flying around how many times has brian burke talked to us elliot and said you know when he was you know with the maple leafs for example he said you would be surprised at how many canadian hockey players have all the canadian teams on their no trade list players don't want this no they don't want who they don't want anyone to know who's

on their no trade list because a lot of times it's their hometown elliot and they don't want that known here's why i disagree with this okay first of all if there's going to be first round draft picks as punishments you have to have better guardrails in place listen i agree with you i'm just saying that's the reason that's why players't want, they don't want these lists out there. I'm going to tell you why I disagree with that as a reason. Okay. Okay. Call someone now. Do it now so we can hear who you're calling.

Call someone now, whether an agent or a team and say, pick a player who's on their no trade list. Let's do a mock phone call right now. Okay. Okay. Am I an agent or am I a GM right now? You are, well, the agents will be more protective.

Maybe a general manager because he might be looking to move the asset. This is real fictional role-playing people because I am never going to be a general manager. So this is true fiction. Okay. Okay, let's go. This is Elliot Friedman, general manager of Team 33 in the NHL. So Utah. Okay.

Yeah, I'm talking to Ryan Smith. Hello, General Manager Friedman. How are you today? Boy, can you believe that Ottawa press conference? Hey, just curious, that starting goaltender of yours, he's an impending unrestricted free agent. Can you tell me which teams he has on his no trade list? Why would I do that?

Give me one good reason why I would do that. I'm just curious and we're pals. Well, has he asked for a trade? You tell me. You're the general manager no he hasn't are we looking to trade him no we're not i know what you're getting at but you also know players they don't want these lists out there but i agree with you but my point point is, and I'm annoying. I annoy people for a living, okay? I annoy people for a living. And this is what I do.

It's not just for a living. I call, that's right. I call people and I ask them these. Do you know how often people volunteer no trade lists when it's not relevant? Never. no trade list when it's not relevant never and even when it's relevant people are very careful about things very careful the only way they ever talk about it is and even sometimes they don't admit it even after it's happened like i think there was a trade a few years ago between two teams i'll just make it easy and not say who it was.

That was blocked because a player had a no trade to one of the teams. And I had it cold and they still wouldn't tell me. And I understand what the Players Association is doing. They have to protect their players. I get it. I get it. Before I get a call, I get it. But they do not throw around these no trade lists people make it sound like

anybody can call someone and like all these great sites cap friendly puckpedia do they know the teams no they don't know the teams like teams are very clearly and agents are very clearly helping these sites get this information out there which i think is a great thing because it's great to have in the public sphere. But they're not giving them the details of no trade lists. Now, could it change? Yeah. Could something happen? Yeah.

That's the thing. The potential for it is still there. The potential is there now. It's there now. How many more people are going to know who's on a list again i'm i disagree again i'm agreeing with you i'm agreeing with you all i'm saying is from the player's point of view they don't want to act in their minds frivolously and have their no trade list thrown around i don't think it's thrown around.

Look, maybe I'm just in a really ornery mood today because I'm really angry at the world, but I don't think it would be thrown around. I don't. I think one thing in the years I've been doing this as a quote unquote insider, I believe that people are very protective of these lists and they understand exactly that i just think like if

i was a player on ottawa and i knew we lost a first round pick because of this i would be looking at it and going is there a better way because now if i'm signed for seven or eight years, like Kachuk is or Norris is or Stootsley is or, or Shabbat is or Sanderson is I'm looking at that. And I'm saying, we've just lost something that could help us, whether it's a player or a trade chip. You are, we just lost something big.

And I would be asking, is there a better way to do this? Okay. You would be fine. If you were a player on the Ottawa Senators or any team submitting your no trade list to Central Registry. I would. You'd say, Agent X, send over my list. No problem.

How much? Yeah, because Central Registry, they don't talk to anybody. How much information have you ever got out of central registry in your career? They don't. That's no zero, zero there. I think it's a firing offense to talk to media. If you're in central registry. It's not like these guys are careless and they throw things all around the place.

Like, look, if they were careless and stuff got out that happened there, I understand a thousand percent but you know you take a look at the people who run central registry and the people in the players association who run like a lot of that stuff they're vaults but then every now and then it does get out like you look at let me give you just another ottawa example like danny heatley when the late brian murray had the deal worked out with the edmonton Oilers for Danny Heatley to become an oiler, and he blocked it. But you know what, Jeff? In that situation, the no trade list is going to get out anyway.

That is not the same. It's the senators that made that public. I understood. But how many times has that happened? No, I know. I understand. It's seldom. But it has happened.

Yeah. You remember how mad Brian Murray was? Brian Murray was livid. I want to trade. Okay, we'll move you to Edmonton. Yeah, I'm not waiving my no trade. What? And all of a sudden, then that no trade list wasn't as shaded as the player would like it to be.

And I think the Players Association, as rare as they may be, looks at examples like that and says, okay, don't tell me that it's never happened because it has. And I don't want that to happen again. I'm not saying it's never happened. I would never say it's never happened. I would just say that those things are generally very protected. Agreed. That teams and agents are generally extremely protective of that. And I think that people tend to be more protective of no trade lists than a lot of other things. Like there are people who will talk about moves they're hearing about or might happen, but no trade lists, very rare.

And I know I've asked, like I've heard about players asking to be traded. I've heard about players or teams asking you to do something. And I'll say, well, what's the no trade list? And people will stop at that on both sides of the aisle. Okay, let's move this conversation along here. Pierre Dorian out as general manager of the Ottawa Senators. Before I get to what's next or who's next for the Ottawa Senators, how do you look back at the Dorian era with Ottawa?

Well, I'll be honest with you. Let me prejudice this a little bit. I know that there's a lot of daggers out for Pierre Dorian in Ottawa. I get that. But there's someone who's going to get a general manager job out there in Ottawa who's walking into a really good situation. Because normally, you don't get to join a team at that level, like as a general manager, when they're good. You only get a GM job when the

team is bad. That's why you get the GM job. You're getting a really good job here on a team that's ready to win for a long time. Yeah, there's going to be a ton of interest in this job. I'm completely with you on this, Jeff. The Senators are going in the right direction. A lot of their key players are locked up long-term. Ann Lauer has a great reputation and so does Steyos, who's going to be the boss here. These are people that I think a lot of people would be very, very happy to work for. There's always a lot of interest in these jobs because there's only one of 32, but there will be even more in this one because you believe there's a chance you can win. I don't like to kick people when they're down,

so this is probably going to be rosier than maybe some other people might feel. I always say when someone gets fired or someone is out or whatever you want to call it in this case, you want the team to do well because that's your resume pierre dorian's resume in ottawa has a chance to look very good because of what this team could do it was a dysfunctional organization for a long time there were a lot of people who left this organization unhappy when you have a high position in that, you wear some of the blame. Like the higher you go, the more you are responsible. But we all know that the dysfunction was at the top primarily.

They didn't win when he was there. That's not all on him. A lot of it was around him and above him. But the one thing I had several people say to me, that if Pierre Dorian ever a manager somewhere else or in a position of authority somewhere else, the one thing that a number of people said to me was, one of the reasons the Ottawa Senators blew this Dodonov thing was because the front office was very siloed. There was not a ton of trust in each other. If a team is going to win the Stanley Cup,

they have to be a great team of players, but you also have to have a great team of executives. Everybody has to be pulling in the same direction. You have to be honest and blunt. Like one of the great stories I heard about St. Louis' cop is someone said to me, if you could put a microphone in a meeting between Doug Armstrong, Larry Plow, Keith Kachok, Al McInnes, Craig Berube, anyone you ever want to include in those conversations. They said those guys would tear into each other's ideas, but at the end of the day,

it was all about what's best for us. Ottawa did not have that. Ottawa had a very splintered and siloed front office, and you cannot win like that. And there were a lot of people who left, not only executives, but you remember when some of the alumni left um you know people left really angry and unhappy and felt they were mistreated and again that is not all

on pierre dorian a lot of that is on the melnick ownership and the absolute craziness that was created there. But they said at the end of the day, that bit them in this case. So when he gets his next opportunity, he has to make sure he does not allow that to happen. But I think the way he's going to look in three to five years is going to be very different than now because at the end of the day your results speak if Ottawa goes where we all think they're going to go they're going to look at the long-term deal for Kachok the long-term deal for Norris the long-term deal for Stutesley the long-term deal for Shabbat the long-term deal for Sanderson which may turn out to be the best one of them all and they're going to say boy this guy put together a heck of a team so then the question becomes what do you think who's next I mean I like what Pierre this is

going to sound yeah I don't like talking about the dead like this, but I think that Pierre Dorian did a really good job given the chaos that was around him. I mean, how many times did you hear about ownership interference and Eugene Melnick making a decision that Pierre Dorian had to execute and justify publicly? that Pierre Dorian had to execute and justify publicly. The stories of, you know, the draft where they took Sanderson and Stutzla, where they really, you know, tiptoed around and got, they had picks three and five, and they got arguably the two best players in the draft. You know, there was a lot of talk about how Eugene Malnick at various points of the year pressured Pierre Dorian

to take Yaroslav Iskarov, the net miner that Nashville ended up taking. That was it. We're taking one of these players and Pierre pushed back. We have three and five. We're not taking a goaltender there. And I don't think that those stories were rare. I think that he did a really nice job navigating a really difficult situation one where interference was an issue money was an issue to your previous point player loyalty was an issue and a lot of it was frustrated by a fan base that was really frustrated with their ownership it's a tough gig yeah like we talk about how the the toughest general manager position in the nhl is winnipeg with kevin cheville day off for the longest time it was

pierre dorian with the ottawa senators one general manager said to me do you know what the number one thing he said if i had a choice of the 32 jobs in the nhl he said me, if I could rank the jobs I take from one to 32, you know what would be the number one criteria? Can I win with this owner? How many times have we talked about managing upwards? It's not about managing up. I actually disagree with that. What he said to me was, if you don't think you can win under your owner

that he or she isn't all about winning creating the best environment for winning pouring resources into winning and not about distractions he said you have no chance it's like he said it all flows downhill he said you might be able to think that you can create the best culture you can but if your owner isn't there you can't eventually you have to go to them and say i need this or i want this and sometimes your owner has to say no to you. It can't be 100% yes all the time. But is it yes more often than not? And if it's no, is it no for a good reason? And he said he bet that a lot of the GMs would tell you the same thing.

Says that sometimes you take a job because you just want a job and you have to take it. And that's your chance. But if everybody could pick a job, they'd rank take it and that's your chance but if everybody could pick a job they'd rank the owners from 1 to 31 they'd take out the cities they'd take out the markets they'd take out you know places you could live they'd all be important but they wouldn't be number one number one is can you win with that owner so the question then becomes who is next we know this is a plum position this is a team that is primed and ready to win for a long time a very desired general manager position with as we've seen a very passionate hockey owner who goes in well it's

a great question um you know first of all i don't think otto was planning for this like people were like well dorian won't last and maybe that was going to be true but it wasn't going to be now you know until this dark cloud came over the horizon he was going to finish out the year at least, I think. So when they made the change this week, I don't think they have a list. I know there's people they're interested in, but I don't think they have a set list. And the other thing right now is I'm just not convinced that a lot of teams are going to let good candidates go during the season.

It's rare. It can happen, but it's rare. So I think in the short term, it'll be Steve Staios, Ryan Bonas, who will be a general manager someday, whether it's in Ottawa or somewhere else. And if Staios wants to bring someone else in who's got a bit of experience I could see him being allowed to do that just to help them but I think it'll be his choice but the question is going to be are they going to be able to get people during the season like you know Peter Sorelli's name has been out there you know Matthew Darsh his name has been out there and

Darsh was interviewed in Montreal when Anlauer was still there he was part of those interviews someone else reminded me today that Darsh was the captain of Hamilton in the American Hockey League when Anlauer owned that team so there's another connection between the two of them and Julian Brisebois was in charge of the Hamilton team at that time who's now Darsh's boss in in Tampa so there's you know there's a lot of connections there and I think you're going to hear his name a lot but it helps them to look around like you know I it's like I as i wrote with the lure of bringing jason spezza to ottawa spezza is going to be a gm in this league someday i think the question is when does he want to do it and is it okay for his family um but he's going to be a gm in this league someday if he wants to be

but again like i had someone who said to me like a person like john ferguson would be very good because he's been a manager before just get in that organization and help them out but as you said jeff there's going to be a ton of people who want this job a ton they're going to have a really good opportunity to pick from the candidate pool I think the question is when, because they weren't expecting to do this now. Let me throw a wild card out at you. Okay. This is just you and me just shooting the breeze about the Ottawa Senator's general manager position. Okay, I know you've talked to someone about this,

so I can't wait to see which name you're going to throw at me. I may or may not have. You did. The last time Michael Adler was part of a general manager search, they settled on an agent, Kent Hughes. I don't think it was settled. I think he was the favorite all the way through.

I don't want Kent Hughes calling you and saying, Jeff, you think anyone really settled on me? He's going to be... They decided, okay. He's going to be. They decided. Okay. He's going to come bearing at you like the puck is loose in the corner. They decided that Kent Hughes was the best candidate with all due respect. My new nickname for Kent Hughes is the settled Kent Hughes.

Okay. What do you think of another agent going in there? Which agent are you talking about oh i don't know someone maybe french canadian who has a long client list we've heard pat brisson's name out there before i've always wondered about brisson in the gm position i don't see it i just think that if he wanted to be a GM, it would have happened a long time ago. Okay. What's next for the Ottawa Senators now? Let's finish up this conversation and get to other things. they're down on the blue line they need to get healthy they need to get going um look like it's been a seismic month new owner pinto suspension now this eventually get to a point where you just say oh god let me just play enough with this other stuff and don't forget stales was a player he

understands that yep you know he supported dj smith and sometimes I hear the vote of confidence and I'm like whatever. This was not that. I thought this was a very legitimate, let's stop the boiling pot of water here. I think he recognizes and understands that the best thing that could happen right now is just it's

quiet and you play hockey. I think that's what he's going to want to do. I think someone said to me, the only thing that he thought that Ottawa might do is depending on how serious these injuries are or what their health is back there, does Ottawa go out and get it like a depth defenseman, but that's hardly like a big deal. I think generally they just want to tone it down and play the games.

One quick thought, Daniel Alfredson in all of this, now that the dust is starting to settle, do we start to see more of what his position is going to be with the Ottawa Senators? I would think so. You know they want him and you know he wants to be there. So I think that's definitely true. Looks very much like he wants to do something with players. We saw him on the ice. That's where he's happy. We'll see what happens with Alpherson. You know, Elliot, we should point out, too, the Ottawa Senators were in action on Thursday night, losing 3-2 to

the road juggernauts, the Los Angeles Kings. Philip Deneau, Carl Gunstrom, and Anse Kopitar doing the damage here. The Kings unbeatable on the road, Elliot. Going to be tough to catch Vegas and the pacific they're already far ahead they've done a real nice job gaining control that division early but i i really

like this king's team down the middle excellent excellent excellent down the middle good d byfield's getting points hey elliot here's the story by like finally we cross our fingers this is the byfield we were hoping we'd get this season. Sometimes people just take a longer time to get there. But you're right. He looks really good. The other thing here, too, is I'm curious to see. One of the other teams was telling me that they think the Kings are simply just going to wait this out.

If they play this well, they gonna take their time they're gonna look at what they've got in goal with Talbot and Copley and then around they think somewhere around the deadline they'll make their decision on what they want to do they'll see what's available they'll see who they're like and they'll make their call but I really like the way this team plays there they can play faster they They can play stronger. They're well-structured. We talked about them at the beginning of the season kind of saying, you know what, we can't wait for the rebuild anymore.

So they went out and they added some veterans. And boy, I really like what they've plugged into their team. And not only Byfield, but kaliev looks like he's taken a big step this year one quick note on kaliev you know we're always fascinated with players that score from distance patrick line a austin matthews kaliev is in that discussion kaliev's shot is hard and he scores from distance this is also a's got a good shot. You remember like five minutes ago when the Los Angeles Kings were the slowest team in the NHL? They're no longer the slowest team in the NHL, Elliot.

But this was just like a couple of years ago. We're talking about how slow LA was. Man, they got quick fast. No more plotters. Nope. The only thing I don't like about the Kings is that it's not until February 29th, I think, that we see them take on Canada's best team, the Vancouver Canucks.

Okay, okay, okay. Pause on that one. That sounds like a natural break or a natural tease. So we are going to pause. We have the Montana's Thought Line still to come. And I'm going to tell you why Elliot and I just got really old this week. Like really, really old this week. The Are the Vancouver Canucks Canada's Best Team question is coming up in a couple of moments here on 32 Thoughts.

Don't go anywhere. listen to the 32 thoughts podcast ad free on amazon music included with prime We have a lot to get to today. We'll answer the question why Elliot and I got really old this week. Also, we'll talk about the Calgary Flames. They've now lost five in a row. We know all about the contract situations with expiring deals and those players. We'll talk about Nick Backstrom and the Washington Capitals. Kent Johnson as well with the Columbus Blue Jackets.

So still plenty to get to. But right now, Elliot, it's time for the Montana's Thought Line. Montana's barbecue and bar. Canada's home for barbecue. Try the ribs. There you go. 32 thoughts at sportsnet.ca. 1-833-311-3232.

32 thoughts at sportsnet.ca. 1-8 3 1 1 32 32 32 thoughts at sportsnet.ca 1 8 3 3 3 1 1 32 32 we begin with luke i gotta tell you by the way when i got off the plane coming back from edmonton this monday someone said try the ribs somebody walked by me and said try the ribs tell you man it's catching on pretty soon i'm gonna be like bart simpson in that gif. Say it. Say the thing. The I didn't do it kid. You're going to be the try the ribs kid. This comes to us from Lucas. Okay. Hi, guys. Love the podcast.

I think you do a great job, even you, Elliot. Oh, I like a good Elliot Friedman shot. Okay, serious time. Don't get me out of my bad mood. Serious time here. Unfortunately, I was in attendance at the game between Sheffield steelers and nottingham panthers where every hockey observer's worst fears came true in all

seriousness hope you're doing okay and everybody in that crowd is doing okay everybody that saw that um i certainly didn't want to make my first interaction with you guys to be about something as tragic as this but do you think it's time to reignite the discussion of making cut proof slash resistant neck and wrist guards mandatory while i understand it's an incident that is thankfully exceedingly rare no one's life should be down to a case of what if i'd love to hear your thoughts on this one well i think you can see it if you if you take a look jeff you know, Eric Carlson's wearing, trying them out now. Yeah, Penguins guys. Yeah.

Tom Wilson trying it out in practice the other day for the Capitals. And I think, you know, Tom Wilson, who's one of the toughest players in the league doing that, that's huge. There's going to be a lot of people who look at that and say, hey, if Tom Wilson's okay with it, what excuse do I have not to do it? Because as you know, remember when visors came in, a lot of the fighters were like, I don't think I should be wearing a visor. I remember that at the time. I'm sure a lot of fans my age do. So, you know, Wilson doing that, I think, sends a real message.

Ty Domi put one on, by the way, just as an aside. That was a big move. That was big for tough guys. That was big. When Ty Domi did that, it wasn't easy for him. And I remember I asked to interview Domi. It was a Saturday night. He wore it for the first time.

And I asked to interview Domi about putting it on after the game because he actually had a decent game. And the Leafs really pushed back. They said, we don't want you interviewing him about putting on the visor. This is too big a story, and we don't want to do any more with it. You're right, it was a big deal at the time. So I think I just bothered Matt Sundin instead. But actually, I remember he went into the Hockey Night studios.

He was worried what Don Cherry was going to say about him that night. He went into the studios with Cherry and they just, they talked it out. It was, I stayed outside because, you know, it's not something I should be in the middle of. But I remember some of the people who were kind of in around the room said it was one of the most amazing conversations they ever heard in a good way about the two guys. We know you, you're listening. Yeah, I had a glass up against the wall. No, I, but they said it was, it was really interesting watching them you're listening. Yeah, I had a glass up against the wall. No, but they said it was really interesting watching them talk about it.

Anyway, I digress. You know, the fact is, you know, as we talked about, you can't, the NHL can't mandate this to the players, but there's a lot of, we need to lead on this one from League Players Association and Players 2. And I'm actually pleasantly surprised by it.

Look, the skates are sharper than ever they're more honed than ever the game's faster than ever the blades are you know more dangerous than ever and everybody i think sees that and it's wild how we went from uh jacob lauco from boston kind of joking about it to where sadly we got on the weekend. And one of the biggest problems, Jeff, is that there just isn't a ton of supply. There's a lot more of the cut-resistant sock now. I think there's 15 brands, and I've heard about 90% of the league wears the sock.

There's about 10 different versions of the wrist protector, the cut-resistant, and the number's lower from that. It's below 50, but I think that'll change. You know, the fact is that, and also the way those neck guards work right now, there's not a single standalone neck guard. They all have to be sewed in. So I believe there is a rush to get a standalone neck guard done. I think there's a rush to get, I think there's only about three or four kinds. I think now there's a rush to get more of them. The equipment companies are saying, like one said, they're getting orders every 20 seconds

and they've never seen anything like this. I think once the supply becomes more available, you'll see the number of players wearing it go up. And I think guys like the Four Kids and the providence bruins wearing it um you know the ahl teams the players don't have the same power to block and now the socks and the wrists are mandatory but the more you see the eric carlson's wearing it the tom wilson's wearing it tj o Oshie obviously has a company that does it. And I'll tell you this too, I've heard, and I'm going to reach out to them. I've heard there's a couple of really big time NHLers who quietly behind the scenes have been trying to get people to wear it

more. I'm reaching out to talk to them. So I think as long as as that happens you'll see it go down everywhere in hockey and but the one thing i would like to say is jeff you know the nhl one thing they're very good at is and it's proven with evander keen and other situations now if anything happens on the ice the trainers are dynamite they know exactly what to do the doctors are in. They know exactly what to do. The doctors are in position. They know exactly what to do. You can't start a game without a couple of ambulances at the rink. They know what to do.

They've really worked at, and the medical staffs, they're so good, the EMTs. If you're playing in a kids league or a beer league or a fun league or anything, the chances are you do not have an infrastructure like that i would bet 99 you don't have an wear it it's it's just not worth it that's an excellent point those are all excellent points uh the other one we're seeing

the equipment manufacturers themselves try to take a lead on this too um i know that you know bauer put out a press release the other day talking about how they're going to work with their athletes, both the men and the women, like they outfit a lot of, you know, elite level athletes who are highly influential. I know they're going to work with their athletes to try to encourage them to start wearing neck guards too. So it seems as if from every corner, Elliot, of the hockey world, everybody is screaming for this because nobody wants to see this. We talked about this last podcast. Nobody, and we just had a note from Lucas about it.

Nobody wants to be in attendance to watch this thing. From every single corner of hockey, everybody is screaming for this change. Please put on neck guards. We want you to be safe. The families want the athletes to be safe. The owners, the leagues, the fans all want it. The only place where there is pushback is from the NHL players themselves. But I think, but Jeff, it's much less than I thought.

I was encouraged to see those Pittsburgh Penguins play. Again, it's just practice and Tom Wilson ditto for the Washington Capitals. It's small, but you know what happens when these things start to get rolling. So we'll see where this one ends up. Elliot, we should point out one thing as well. On Thursday night, TJ Oshie, Nick Ehlers, and Neil Pionk all wore neck guards.

Lucas, to Elliot's point, I hope you're okay, man. No one needs to see that as a fan. And thanks so much. Thanks so much for sending that one along. Let's get to Travis in Richmond, BC. Jeff, Elliot, and Dom, I was browsing CapFriendly for fun, as most hockey fans with too much time on their hands do. And notice something odd. The Philadelphia Flyers have an extra second round pick for the upcoming 2024 draft given to them by the NHL. The reasoning, as listed on CapFriendly, is that they received the pick for not signing 2018 first round pick Jay O'Brien. I've done some Google searches,

but can't seem to find out why they received this pick as I've never heard of it happening before. I'm sure there's some obscure rule that explains it I was wondering if you knew keep up the great work 32 thoughts crew keeps me company during my long commutes to and from work yes this is a thing Elliot Friedman if you don't sign you get the pick yes so this is it's a great question um i really like these questions because again sometimes i think that because i know something or jeff knows something everybody should know something and we're losers who follow this way too much and you guys have lives no don't know you know what no don't let them off the hook people should know don't let them off so there are things we're going to know that you guys don't so basically the way it works is if you have a first round

draft pick and you don't sign them by the time you have to do so basically the way it works is if you have a first round draft pick and you don't sign them by the time you have to do it and you know it depends for players who come out of the chl it's two years yeah for players who come out of j o'brien like the ncaa or or u.s junior hockey it's four years or europe it's four years a first round pick, not later picks, but first round pick, if you don't sign them, you get what's called a compensatory pick. And it's 32 picks after you initially took them. So if you draft someone 20th overall, you don't sign them, you get the 52nd pick of the draft the first time after your eligibility window to sign them closed. And people say, well, what happens to the team that's already 52nd? Everybody just moves down one spot.

So you go after whoever's 51 and 52 becomes 53 and here on down. That's how it works. Only first rounders, only. Travis, thank you. Voicemail time. Let's hear from Josh. I was just doing a bit of a deep dive into the situation with Evgeny Dodonov and the back and forth between Ottawa and Vegas regarding his no trade list.

And it made me think of something. Let's say there's a player who just signed a new contract. And in that contract, it comes with a 10-team no trade list. And let's say one of those teams is the Minnesota Wild. Once the player submits that trade list, is he allowed to, a couple months down the road, decide, you know what, I'm actually okay with playing for the Minnesota Wild, but I don't want to play for the New York Rangers.

Is he allowed to go back in and take the Wild off his no-trade list and put the Rangers on it? If that's the case, is there a deadline that this has to be done by? What's the process like with that? Thanks, guys. Always appreciate your time. Take care. Another great question.

Really good question. Wow, that's a really good one. And so these no trade lists, there's a couple ways they can be done. In a lot of cases, you have to have them submitted by a certain day. Like, for example, the end of year in the league is June 30th. So I think in most cases, not all, but most cases, you have to submit them by June 30th or they expire. And if you're late with your list, the team can do whatever it wants and there have been situations before and the biggest one of course was the Ryan O'Reilly deal between Buffalo and St. Louis Patrick Berglund

did not get his in on time and St. Louis did the trade so a lot of the times I think it's June 30th however there are some teams that have different dates so that can be worked on and there are players and one I remember was Christian Ehrhoff his no trade request only had to be submitted if the team asked for it so he could wait up until the team wanted to trade him to decide where he was willing to go or not go and i think there are cases like that i don't know how many there are but i know some players have that position generally and again there could be exceptions but generally if a trader list is due on say june 30, it's good for a year. So then again, the next year, you have to submit your list if it's partial.

Now, there are always situations where a team can say, and they usually go to the agent first, and they should go to the agent first. There's another team that's not on your list that wants you. Would you have interest? And sometimes that team is given a window to talk to a player. So sometimes people joke that no trade lists aren't worth the paper they're printed on because these kinds of conversations can happen but there are the hardliners and kelly rudy is one of them who feels that a player who has a no trade shouldn't

even be asked but there's always a chance you never know like for example maybe you pick a team and you think they're going to be garbage and all of a sudden you're like oh they're they're not bad and you might want to go there. So there always are ways around it. If people are willing to talk and compromise. Excellent. Some great questions this week. That's the Montana's thought line,

Montana's barbecue and bar Canada's home for barbecue. When we come back, Elliot and I got old and we'll talk about Nick Backstrom and we'll discuss the Calgary flames. And could Kent Johnson be making his way out of Columbus? Elliot and I got old. And we'll talk about Nick Backstrom. And we'll discuss the Calgary Flames. And could Kent Johnson be making his way out of Columbus? Don't go anywhere. Are they Canada's best team thursday night the vancouver canucks ran it up against san jose jeff i i think that is i gotta say that is a weak introduction to this segment we're not going we're

not going with the passive aggressive this segment is called the vancouver canucks, Canada's best team. Oh my goodness. Okay. The Vancouver Canucks. No, no, no. Okay. Keep going. Don't, don't erase it. Keep going.

Okay, good. Good, good. The Vancouver Canucks, Canada's best team, Elliot. You can do two things about that. Nothing and like it. How's that? Is that a snappier intro? You see, I haven't been trending in vancouver for a

while and i want to see if i've still got it out there i i want to see have i lost my ability all right to get traction in vancouver do i still have it or not throw some firecrackers in bc here we go elliot what do you got they they pouted san jose on th night. And I was thinking about this as I was driving home and listening to the game on the radio. I'm thinking about this right now. It's not Calgary. It's not Edmonton right now who lost again. It's not Winnipeg.

It's not Toronto. It's not Ottawa. It's not Montreal. And not only do they look like Canada's best team right now but they're the only team where their best players are carrying them every night you could say there's a little bit of that going around in Toronto because if Matthews and Marner don't score they don't score but when you look at the record they have and the way they're winning games, at every position, their best players are their best players every night. So I now proclaim them the Vancouver Canucks, Canada's best team.

What did you think this week of Rick Tockett coming out after that Nashville game and blasting his team? I mean, throw the old idea of never critique a win out the window. Taka came out. This is after Elias Pedersen gets a hat trick and he says, yeah, but he turned the puck over too much. Like I understand the idea of staying on a team and,

you know, don't let the highs get too high or the lows get too low, but there's something about allowing your team to enjoy a win. I mean, clearly it worked because they came out and just smashed the san jose sharks the next game here on thursday night but do you have a thought on tocket having a good old-fashioned run at his team after a win like we saw him take a run at his team after the philadelphia flyers loss and then this week we saw him take a

run at his team after a win against the preds. And a night where he benched JT Miller, and then Miller responded by scoring a huge goal. I think Tockett knows the pulse of his team. I think he does. You know, the one thing about Tockett is he's a popular guy because he understands people. And it can be different type of people. You know, everybody talked about him being the

Kessel Whisperer when he was in Pittsburgh so if you're not a quote-unquote regular straight laced hockey personality he can get along with you too so I think he's really smart I think he understands when he can do that you know the other thing too is you know the the Pettersons in a lot of ways set the tone for the season by saying if we're not winning or i don't think we're on the path to winning i'm not going to resign i think a guy like talk it's going to look at that and say all right well we're going to win if you're playing our best chance to win and be successful is if you're playing well so if i don't think you're playing well, I'm going to call it out.

And what are you going to say? Like, no, or I disagree. You know, we need you. So I think in a lot of ways, I think Patterson understands that too. You know, Jeff, I always remember the two guys who loved Al Arbor that we worked with were Kelly Rudy and Glenn Healy.

And they always talked about how Arbor was the nastiest to them when they were on a great streak. When they were winning, he was at his toughest. When they were losing, he was at his easiest. And that's kind of what I thought about with Talk It. But look at this team. Demko has played great. Even the Knights to Smith has played. He's played really well. We all know how well their number one defense pair is, Hughes and Roenick. Pedersen's at the top of the league scoring list. He's right there.

Miller's played great. Besser's scored. We've all talked about maybe they need a little bit more depth, and they're going to work to do that, especially now that they're winning. I think they're really going to work to do that. But the bottom line is, you're if you're like dave amber who who basically goes to bed every night for canadian teams to win your best hope right now is in is in the lower mainland of british columbia okay elliot on thursday night quinn hughes took a good run at two players paul coffee and tom bladen who hold the record for most points by a defenseman with eight.

Your thoughts on Quinn Hughes? How many points do you think he's going to get this year? A bajillion. What do you always say? $11 billion? Is that your favorite pet number? Yes, but I wasn't going to use it this time because I used it with Pedersen's next salary.

I don't know. He's kind of like Jack Hughes. Every time you grab the game sheet it's like oh there's a casual four points there's a casual three points he's like his brother it's like insane like every game it's like oh there's a couple oh there's three more so honestly i have no idea is he gonna tickle a hundred elliot i don't see why he can't Elliot? I don't see why he can't.

At this pace? It's insane. I mean, it's fantastic, and he's playing great hockey. It's remarkable what both brothers are doing. But for the purpose of this conversation, man, Quinn's on a different planet right now. He really is. And again, it goes back to what we just said. The top players on this team are carrying the team.

If you're Vancouver, you you got to look at all your best players including hughes and he makes them look even better for them naming him captain right yep because you're going out and you're saying our our captain's defenseman who's on pace for like 115 points like nobody can have a problem with that. Everybody's looking and saying, holy smokes, our captain's our best player. I think he's incredible. I really do.

Amber does this awful segment, Burning Questions on the Leafs broadcast. And the question tonight was, who's the biggest reason for Vancouver's great start. And Bourne said Demko and Nick said, talk it. And I said, Pedersen, none of us picked Hughes.

He's on pace for 180 points. It's ridiculous. No, you people in the East. I swear. No wonder. No, at least we're awake watching them.

No wonder me. No wonder me and my buddies in the West hate guys like you in the East so much. Yeah, okay. Whatever. Hey, man. Vancouver Canucks, Canada's best team. Who proclaimed them right now? Oh, by the way, you know who I owe an apology to?

Who's that? Dylan Sandberg. Why? Because I wrote in this week's blog that he had the most minutes of any player in the league five on five without being scored on and he got scored on oh you jinxed them oh way to go way to go so tomorrow if like sammy urson's rocking the shutout against the sabers in the second period make sure to tweet that out too everybody, come watch the Flyers goaltender. He's working on a shutout.

And there were three guys over 100, Evan Rodriguez, Sean Monahan, and Sandberg. And Sandberg had played the most, almost 114 minutes. And unfortunately, I jinxed him. I do feel legitimately, moderately terrible about it. How many times have we said this? Blame Elliott, Dylan. Blame Elliott. Okay, Elliott,

let's shift focus here. The Maple Leafs lose to the Boston Bruins 3-2 in a shootout and in the middle of everything, surprise, surprise, Brad Marchand, and we should also talk about Tyler Bertuzzi here getting demoted to the first line. But first, your thoughts on Brad Marchand and specifically,

I guess it's an old school can opener. It is not again, a slew foot. It's an old school can opener. The offense not called against Timothy Lilligren. Well, first of all, I feel terribly for Lilligren because they said he's going to be out for

some time. He's had a rough, nobody likes to see that a rough few games, man. Well, you know, yeah, he got hurt in

the game against nashville a big hit from trennan and he got hit hard by matt roy against the kings and now this one like it's it's brutal you don't need to see that there were some people online who were upset i i said it wasn't a slew foot for me the can openers with the stick and the slew foots with your foot hang on hang on whoa whoa whoa can we pause on that i'm a stickler for this one technically for a slew foot it has to be the sweep of the foot and the arm across the chest pushing down it has to be the foot going one way and the chest going the other that is by nhl definition a sle. Otherwise, it's just a trip with the feet. Oh, okay. I always thought slew foot was just if...

I didn't even think about the arm. Whatever the case is. It's got to be the arm. The arm has to be there. That's a slew foot. Stick, can opener. You know, Nick and Justin were wondering if it should be a suspension.

Like, to me, people don't get suspended for that play. I know people don't like it. I think it's a penalty, and I can't believe it was missed it was it was a bad miss unfortunately but it's that's not a suspension um you know I saw some people online saying it wasn't even a penalty I disagree with that I think it's it's a penalty but real shame for Lilligren. I can't believe the Bruins, though, Jeff. They're 9-0-1. And they had three AHL defensemen, including a kid, Lorai, who was playing his NHL debut.

And they had him on the ice in overtime. He looked terrific. The Bruins, man, they're like a robot factory. Robot RR2 breaks down, or in this case retires and robot rr7 is plugged in and they just keep going and i still think they're going to look around for a center um i i don't have any doubt in my mind that they're still going to do that but you know they they're not missing a thing i give them a lot of credit the way they played on Thursday night you know Toronto right now if it's not Matthews and Marner they're not scoring

and this Bertuzzi thing you know he he didn't play the last eight and a half minutes of regulation plus the overtime he was demoted to the fourth line it's happened a few times this year where he's kind of been they're really having trouble making him fit and I think he's a really good player but he is completely out of sorts right now and so are a bunch of those of the other guys who've brought in like you can see a lot of the players that Toronto brought in are really struggling finding their place in the team. One other thing I want to add about that Bruins game really quickly from

the Bruins point of view, Jeremy Swayman was excellent Thursday. Jeremy Swayman has been excellent all season long. And this Boston Bruins tandem might just be the best in the NHL. Like I know the Islanders with Sorokin and Varlamov have been incredible.

And Varlamov again in a game that, you know, the Islanders probably didn't have much business in winning. Varlamov just stuck it to the Washington Capitals. That's a great battery there. But that Boston combination is money, Elliot. And not only that jeff but you know in the summer when they had their cap issues there were a lot of rumors around all mark oh yeah i think there were some teams who called and asked them about swayman

would they do it and i think boston considered it in the way that you just listen on everything when you have to make tough decisions. I don't know that it was ever close or, like, I don't know how much traction it did or didn't get, but I know teams called them and they said, look, if you can't do Allmark, would you do Swayman? And it was while Boston was figuring out how much they were going to have to pay Swayman.

I know teams tried. And sometimes the best trades are the ones you don't make. And on Thursday, I was thinking pretty good that they didn't make that one. Elliot, I know the suspense is killing you now that you're like me in your advanced years. We are old and we got older this week because after 1145 NHL games, 17 seasons, 38 year old Paul Stastny retired. Why does it make me feel old?

Probably the same reason it should make you feel old. We watched and covered dad and the uncles and we watched and covered the son's career as well. Mm-hmm. Yeah, that is old. Dude. I still remember Peter Stasny defecting. I still remember him playing in the Canada Cup. I still remember him in some of those battles

against Montreal. Yeah, thanks a lot. Now I feel like I'm a billion years old. Thanks, Jeff. But didn't that hit you when you saw the news about Stasny? Like, oh man, I watched watched and covered dad and now i've watched and covered so we've watched two generations go through their careers and here we are barking out nonsense on a podcast you and me yeah it's it's wild man it is it is it is wild thanks a lot jeff yeah no

problem just here to help you you've ruined my i'm just gonna curl up in the fetal position and start crying um you started out sour and now you're now you're just sad this is the evolution of elliot through this podcast it's interesting like you take a look at some of the guys who've retired over the past couple of weeks joe thornton and paul stasny and not only were they great players but they were really good talkers yes if there was a question i had about the game i mean thornton could just talk about anything he was absolutely a hilarious guy stasny was more like undercover he didn't like to talk a ton he wasn't obviously as boisterous as uh thornton is but if i had a question about the game or why someone doing this or he was always great at that he had a question about the game or why someone doing this, or he was always great at that.

He had a really good analytical mind. I, you know, I really think too, the, one of the things that Canadian hockey fans will appreciate about him is that, you know, he was a guy who accepted a trade to Winnipeg.

And on some level, I think the Winnipeg stuff has kind of proven to be, if the team is going well, people will stay. Like they've gotten a lot of people to sign extensions there before, but he was a guy who accepted a trade to go there at a big time. And I know some Canadian hockey fans

really appreciate about that to him. But the thing with me is he was always just smart, smart. Can I jump in on the Winnipeg point? He talked about, he's talked openly about how that experience in winnipeg was a shot in the arm for his career almost like he found it again it helped rejuvenate his career like it was like it was great for certainly winnipeg hockey fans like hey this guy's cool to come here but secondly it was also i mean stastny's talked about this how good that was for his career himself. Jeff, I'm not arguing with you 100%. He was a really good player for them.

Just a really, really, really smart, analytical guy. I have huge admiration for his dad, and I always loved talking to Paul. Just a really good talker. Came on the podcast a couple of times and always delivered most recently last year when Carolina was playing Ottawa. We had that, uh,

nice sit down with, uh, with Paul Stastny. Um, okay. Nicholas Backstrom. This one's tough. Cause I really liked this player and I think you really liked this player

and he was, you know, a very low key undercover Selkie trophy candidate for a number of years, although he never got the nod. Living and skating in the Bergeron era will do that for players like Nicholas Backstrom. 2006 draft class, he was the highest scorer from that draft class as it stands right now. And he's decided to take a step away from the team right now the hip resurfacing situation hasn't gotten any better for him it's become obvious as he's found his way lower and

lower and lower down the lineup that the nick backstrom that we're used to seeing elliot isn't there anymore your thoughts on the nick backstrom situation i think this one has been really tough on both backstrom and the organization the more i hear about it you know the tough thing about is okay nick backstrom he's gonna get his number retired in washington he's gonna be a capital forever he's gonna have a shot at the Hall of Fame. You know, he's, I think you could argue, he's the second most important player in Capitals history. Who do you think is number one?

No, but I think you could argue. Ben Custafson. That's a good pick. I liked him. He was funny when he was the Swedish coach too. Like, boy, was he blunt. You know, I mean, Capitals fans, you can tell me if I'm wrong about this, but I think he's the second most important player

in Capitals history. Langway. And well, you know what? Dom's sending me notes. Rod Langway, great player. I'm going to argue not more important to the Capitals ever than Nick Backstrom. Peter Bondra,, great player. I'm going to argue not more important to the Capitals ever than Nick Backstrom. Peter Bondra, another great player, great goal scorer,

but not more important to the Capitals' history, I don't think, than Nick Backstrom. Keep them coming, Don. The podcast will be two and a half hours long because you keep throwing me names. I say Backstrom. And so here's this guy. He goes and has this operation.

Chances are when you're in your mid-30s and you do this, you're not, the odds are so stacked against you. But Backstrom, you don't become the player he is without having incredible pride in what you do and incredible belief in what you do. And the other thing that happens, Jeff, is that you think about everything you've done for the organization and he has done everything for that organization. And now the challenge becomes you think that you've earned a certain way and a right to be treated. And you start to think,

well, everything I've done, I'm kind of owed this. And it's not selfish. Like I was talking about this with someone and they were saying, well, you're saying he's selfish. No, I don't think it's selfish. It's father time, right? Father time is undefeated he comes for everybody and nick backstrom he wants to be nick backstrom he wants to be 25 year old nick backstrom he wants to be 28 year old nick backstrom nobody wants to leave the game and the capitals the capitals are looking at this feels like forrest berg to me it's bringing up bad memories and the capitals are looking at this. Feels like Forsberg to me. It's bringing up bad memories. And the Capitals are looking at this and saying, you know what? You've slowed down.

We're a slow team. You know, they had to take him off the first power play. Connor McMichael's playing the wing. They want him to play center. That's true. And, you know, I bet you Brian McClellan, and Brian McClellan is paid to make really tough decisions. And I bet you he's sitting there and saying this, you know what, Nick, like, we need to make some changes here.

Like, ultimately, this is Backstrom's decision. But I think behind the scenes, this has been very hard for both player and organization because they know how much he cares. They know how much he wants to play, but they're like, we have to make a change here. And those are the hardest. If people do it willingly, it's easy. But I think this has been hard because on one hand the capitals are like we owe everything to this guy but on the other hand they're like it might be time like i think in five years

everybody's gonna be fine but right now in the moment it is hard really hard what's uh what's that great line your grandmother used to always use that I love so much? You plan God laughs? Wasn't the plan always for Ovechkin and Backstrom to retire at the same time, for their contracts to finish at the same time? I think so. Yeah, I think so. You know, it's tough.

You know, like that guy Backstrom, man, whenever I see him, he's always smiling. He's always happy. But that doesn't mean that underneath there isn't a guy that will do what it takes to win. Like he's, he's a great player. Like I said, it's hard. He wants to be Nick Backstrom and they're like, I get it. Oh, it's tough. Like it's, it's not Nick Backstrom anymore.

I do not envy those situations. I'll tell you this. I remember, I want to say who it was, but I remember someone in the business and I, and I've always thought about when this day is going to happen to me, but someone in the business went to like a legend and said, you can't do it anymore. You know, it's, it's time. And I, You can't do it anymore. You know, it's time. And I, oh, that was tough, man. That was really tough.

All right. Speaking of tough, tough situation in Calgary. Albeit the Flames played better against the Dallas Stars on Wednesday night, firing 46 pucks at Jay Gottinger. Dallas is a really good team, obvious statement. Calgary Flames end up losing their fifth in a row. Big night for Connor Zeri. First game, first goal, looked really good. Second star, fantastic.

But, you know, the story around the Calgary Flames is what's happening to some of their impending free agents. We all read Eric Francis's piece on Tuesday about ceasing discussions. You've written about Noah Hannafin taking a pause in his decision here with the Calgary Flames. What is the latest with the Flames? Look, I think they're going to wait and see. I think they're going to give it a couple more weeks. Like, you know, my November 1st number,

four points out after November 1st on the games. You make the playoffs between 10 and 15% of the time. The four teams this year, Edmonton, I'll take my chances with that one. Calgary, San Jose, and Pittsburgh. That's going to be an interesting one. Look, I think they're going to let it play out over the next couple of weeks I think the Hannafin one was someday I'd like to know how close that one actually was because I I think it was pretty close I think it was a big extension I think all of a sudden the Calgary's pulling back. Hannafin was like, you know what?

I'm not here for a rebuild. I think they're going to just try to work this out. And I wouldn't be surprised if more kids get a chance to play. I am wondering if Dustin Wolfe is going to get a shot here somewhere. But it's probably the right thing to do. It's not an easy thing to do, but it's probably the right thing to do it's not an easy thing to do but it's probably the right thing to do and but to me the biggest question is huberto and he's not blameless like he has to give them everything he's got but i have heard that a lot of the conversation has been about

what do we have to do to get this guy going and to make him comfortable and what kind of player do we need to get? How do we make this work? Because in year one of eight, you can't just throw up your hands and say, I'm done here. You know, last night or on Wednesday night, he didn't play the last 90 seconds with them down a goal. You don't have to award him ice time that he may not deserve,

but you do have to work on creating an environment where he can be successful. All right, we'll finish up with Kent Johnson. So Kent Johnson is now represented by CAA. You've talked about this before. When a player jumps to a new agency, sometimes that means they're looking for a change of scenery, hoping the new agency can get them out of their current situation.

Do you read that the same way with Kent Johnson? Not yet. I don't believe that's the case here. You know, I had some Blue Jackets fans who were a little annoyed at me who were filling up my DMs with, you know, he represents Fantilli too, and that guy's not going anywhere. I said, yes, yes would i will concede that i will i will take uh i will take your uh point on that one point made look you know kent johnson he got scratched uh twice

i don't necessarily think it was unfair or unwarranted um he's a really good player and he's going to be a good player for a long time, but there's still an adjustment and it's okay. It doesn't mean that he's a boss or anything stupid like that. It means he's still learning and still growing and he's going to be a good player. But the thing is here, sometimes, and we talked about this with Garland, sometimes an agent gets let go because they made a mistake or they did something wrong. That's not the case here. His previous agent did absolutely nothing wrong. But Kent Johnson makes the change.

And I just think that Columbus, there's no need to panic. But I think you do have to plan and say, okay okay he could have picked any agent in the league including some agents who have players who are still in Columbus and happy in Columbus but he chose someone who in the past has worked with the team to get their players elsewhere so I think if you're in Columbus it's just in the back of your mind it's not DEFCON 5 it's not anything to panic about but it's in your mind you have to think about that and so what I still think is that it's still on Johnson to learn and listen and and follow Columbus's plan because I don't think Columbus is giving up on this guy at all.

They see the talent. You still have to, it's like Huberto, you have to do what they're asking of you to make yourself better. But I think if you're the Blue Jackets, you're looking at this and saying, maybe we're being sent a little bit of a message. Okay, let's wrap there.

But before we do, are you feeling any better after talking to me for an hour and a half a little bit the water's calmer now you feel you're okay you know i just think jeff in this business you get used to people saying things about you like you have to have a really thick skin um yeah and i do i don't get upset about uh stuff that's said about me very, very rarely. I mean, I work with BX, so you better have a thick skin. That's true.

But sometimes I report something and people twist it. And something was just blatantly made up, blatantly made up. And it panicked a player's family. That is the stuff that makes me crazy like just crazy the thing is it's like sometimes i'll deal with that on my own privately but this was a case where the person wouldn't tell me who said it to them because they knew i might go to jail for 25 years based on my reaction you can't be hang on you can't be upset as someone not giving up a source. Like, I'm sorry. I know.

It's true. You're right. And that's why my own words got used against me. So I was triply upset. You know what I always tell people about you, Elliot? What's that? You're a nice bunch of guys. You're a nice bunch of guys, Elliot. With that, we'll wrap on behalf of Dom and the many people that are Elliot Friedman.

Merrick signing off. We'll talk to you again Monday morning. Have a great weekend.