32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Momentum Doesn't Exist Game to Game

Episode Date: May 20, 2024

Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman open the podcast discussing the news that Brock Boeser will miss Game 7 with a blood clotting issue. The guys look back at a dominant 5-1 win from the Edmonton Oilers over the Vancouver Canucks in Game 6 (4:31). Jeff and Elliotte take a moment to talk about the increase in embellishment we have seen in these playoffs (11:58). Then, they preview Game 7 between the two Canadian clubs (20:26).  Jeff and Elliotte dovetail into the news and talk about Rod Brind'Amour's extension in Carolina (29:35). Who might coach Canada during the upcoming Four Nations "Freeze" as Elliotte has named it (33:02)? They also touch on the Kings, Jets, Sharks, Kraken, and Devils coaching vacancies (34:04). They wrap the first segment by discussing the hiring of Craig Berube by the Toronto Maple Leafs as their new Head Coach (42:48). The guys answer your questions in the Montana’s Thought Line (49:00).Jeff and Elliotte wrap the podcast by talk about what's next for the Boston Bruins (1:02:52) and the Colorado Avalanche (1:10:59). Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call the Montana's Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemailThis podcast was produced and mixed by Dominic Sramaty 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.

before we start demko starting tomorrow so actually yeah okay i'm joking it's good get it get it get it out of the way all right sorry kate all right so it's loose the mood is loose we can confirm kate he bit on it kate i did ah hook line and sinker that's embarrassing anyway a big opportunity with game seven tomorrow elliot we've got a game seven but there's issues welcome to 32 thoughts of podcast presented by the gmc sierra elevation elliot let's get right to it i think we were all hoping this thing went game seven it is going game seven but it's going game seven without brock besser with a blood clotting issue he will not play monday night the news is not good freege very disappointed for him personally that's the number one thing i think of uh besser has had a fantastic season right from

the first night against the edmonton oilers his first 40 goal season in the nhl seven goals and 12 points in 12 playoff games. Just a fantastic year. And everybody knows the emotional challenges that Brock Besser has been through over the last couple of years with his father's illness and passing. You know, it just, some things in life, they're just not fair. And this is one of those things that isn't fair, that Besser would suffer this kind of injury that would keep him and prevent him from playing on Monday night.

Now, it's a blood clotting issue. And it was kind of a wild day, Jeff. Just after when I was trying to get a handle on this story and what exactly was going on, nobody really wanted to talk. But a couple people reached out privately saying, look, if this does get reported, people have to understand, because when they hear blood clotting issue, they think, oh boy, this is really serious. People had to understand that this is not serious. So it was important to some people that got put in there, which is obviously the most important thing, but just disappointed for Besser in

particular that he's not going to be able to play game seven. No, I'm with you. You feel awful for Brock Besser. You feel awful for the Vancouver Canucks. And like, look, like you're right. He's been one of the comeback players of the year. It's been a wild ride with Brock Besser and the Vancouver Canucks. He's found a real home there. Finally productive, He's found a real home there, finally. Productive, loved, appreciated. And man, he's a difference maker. This is going to be a tough one for Vancouver to pull off without the services of Brock Besser.

Hope he gets better soon. And that leads to the question then, Elliot, do we have any kind of loose or accurate or any kind of timeline here? No, we really don't. I remember covering the Maple Leafs in one of their playoff series this is about 25 years ago when one of the toughest players i've ever come across jeff dimitri uskevich he came down with a blood clot and he asked the team to play and he was willing to sign a waiver yes yes he did jeff he did offer saying look i'll sign a waiver that you're not responsible for anything if something happens to me but the

doctor at the time dr michael clarefield said we're not doing that like there's just no chance i'm going to even let you do that you'll remember earlier this year f Anderson went on injured reserve on November 2nd because of a blood clotting issue and he was activated on March the 7th so that was four months again I don't know this every case is different so I don't have a good answer on what this means but you know that's just kind of the idea we could be considering although again every case is different now Jeff just moving on to the game itself and what this could mean which of course is secondary I wonder if they put Pedersen on JT Miller's wing that he takes that spot.

Well, the one thing we've seen with Rick Tockett so far is he's tried a lot of things to get Elias Pettersson going and put him in situations where he can be successful. I would not be surprised at all. I don't think he would either. No, he will try anything and we'll probably see a ton of mix and match combinations, but that's one of the looks I'm wondering if we see. Patterson alongside Miller and maybe Suter.

Elliot, we'll keep a close eye on that one. But before we get into Monday's action, your thoughts on game six. A game that was kind of a tilted rank. We saw the return of Stuart Skinner. Not necessarily sure we had a good read on whether he's back or not. Wasn't exactly tested. Shots on goal, 27-15 in favor of Edmonton. What did you make of the Oilers' 5-1 victory

over Vancouver on Saturday? Note to Canucks and Oilers fans, stop arguing about who has momentum in this series there is no such thing especially in this round as momentum carrying over from game to game how many times did Canucks fans think either they were dead or the Oilers were dead how many times did Oilers fans think either they were dead or the Canucks were dead? And it never happened. What happened in game six is completely irrelevant to game seven. This will be a new game, completely different from the other six.

And we are going to see the best that these two teams have to offer. I find it impossible to predict. At the beginning of this series I said this one will go seven and for once I was right about something. I still think Vancouver is the deeper team, the deeper team and generally the deeper teams win these series but the one thing that really concerned me in game number six, recognizing he has 48 hours to figure it out and get back to what he's what he's done in the playoffs, Shelovs gave up a couple goals that had me say hmm is he getting a little tired here the one off the glove the one by Bouchard he makes those saves in these playoffs normally

so to me just like the Oilers had to refocus Skinner the Canucks don't have the luxury of giving him two games off, but they do need to refocus him in the 48 hours because for the first time to me, it looked like he slipped a bit. That doesn't mean, however, it's fatal for game seven. You? Hey, I'm not so sure that I see fatigue. I kind of looked at that as if the entire team was flat

and Shelofs was just one of the players that went along for the ride as well. Did you not get the feeling that at a certain point Vancouver was just saying to themselves, you know what, Game 7's in our barn. Let's just get there. We'll take this. In the third period, maybe, yes.

But not before the third period. Not before midway through because because the thing is vancouver's pulled off big comes backs before remember game four in nashville for example like when it's three one in the third period they're not punting maybe when it's four or five to one they're punting but did you ever get the sense that they were ready to mount one like even even on even on their goal like the Hoaglander goal, like that's great and great effort by Hoaglander, but like how do you let that guy stand there and have a couple of whacks at the puck? Like that was a complete, complete, complete breakdown by Edmonton.

All I'm saying is that goal and full credit to Hoaglander on that one, going to the net hard, banging in his own rebound. Like it's a goal that shouldn't go in. It just kind of, like Elliot, and it happens. It just looked to me like Vancouver was flat. And at no time did it seem like Vancouver was going to threaten in that game. Now, I agree with you. I think Vancouver's a deeper team here.

Like, I am fascinated here at what's going to happen tonight when we see this thing. I can't wait for 9 o'clock Eastern between these two teams. What do we say at the beginning of the series? Please, I don't care who wins, but let's see seven games of this. It's great on the ice. It's great off the ice as well. I just never got a sense

that Vancouver was there to win that game, which is bizarre because I agreed with BX on this one on Saturday. It's a house money game. Just go play. Just go play. You got game seven in your hip pocket in your own barn. All the pressure's on Edmont game. Just go play. Just go play. You got game seven in your hip pocket in your own barn.

All the pressure's on Edmonton. Just go play. All the pressure is off of you. I was stunned at how Vancouver came out and how I was stunned at how Vancouver played for three games. I agree with the X. The thing I would also say, too, is that if the Canucks do lose this series, I think they lost it in the first period of game six if they lose it because they didn't give Skinner more work.

He looked nervous. He was a little flimpy. He lost the net a couple of times. And I have a few friends who are big Canucks fans and they were all texting me and they were saying, why aren't we pressuring this guy? Why aren't we pressuring this guy? He looks nervous, and he did look nervous. And the other thing, too, is then you're sitting there and you're saying, okay, when the pressure eventually comes, he's going to be rusty because he hasn't been allowed to get into a rhythm.

been allowed to get into a rhythm i really thought the biggest play of the game for skinner was he makes a blocker save off queen hughes on a power play oh yeah late in the second period and that was the one but that was the one that said to me that's going to give skinner some life that's going to give him a good feeling but now you've given him a win you know and we'll see you know does the confidence carry over for him that's that if I was talking that's where I would be all over the Canucks is saying why didn't you pressure this guy why did you let him ease his way back into the series and you have to come out hard Vancouver has dictated the early of a lot of these games this was the one where I said Edmonton they weren't tilting the ice like they can with their offensive talent but they didn't let Vancouver get to Skinner and that to me was Edmonton's biggest victory in game six i think we all did the

double take when we looked up halfway through the third period in vancouver had only registered 11 shots i'm staring at this and i make am i seeing things here 11 shots halfway through the the third period it was a it was a bizarre one so a couple of things i want to go over with you here um yeah evan bouchard his goal waved off uh goalie interference called right away a billion percent the right challenge the the the clearest one of the playoffs to me of all the ones we've seen in the playoffs so far that was the most obvious and they nailed it and knobloch it. Great non-challenge by the Edmonton Oilers. The other thing that I really liked in this business... Well, you know, we should also say,

because we have hammered the officials and I really didn't like the call in Colorado, Dallas the night before. That was one the officials called in real time and nailed it. You criticize when they deserve criticism, but you have to praise when they get it right and that one in real time with bodies flailing away was the right call uh the other thing that i want to point

out too and there's uh there's a correlation correlation here between soft calls and what i'm about to talk about here and i really like the embellishment pack you guys did on hockey night on saturday well that's luke just detailing just just just detailing all the players that were going down soft because and all i could think about is if i'm an official all i'm saying to myself is and you know how officials feel about diving or embellishment like don't embarrass us don't embarrass us out there and all i could think about is not only don't embarrass us out there, but don't complain about soft calls if you're going to do that. If you want to create that type of confusion on the ice,

if you want to put that in our head as we're watching the game, don't complain about soft calls. Because if you're going to do that, you're going to get soft calls. You know, that is the, we always talk about the law of unintended consequences no one's thinking this is going to lead to a flirty of soft call elliot at will if you treat the officials like that get ready for a bunch of soft calls so good on gazdik for putting that one together uh full credit there to your entire crew because the producers as well

but that's uh that i thought that was a really important pack. And man, when you put them all together, it's kind of looking like soccer out there for each. The thing that concerns me about it, Jeff, is it's getting worse this year. Like it didn't start that bad in the playoffs,

but it's getting worse and worse. I'm seeing more and more every game. I do believe, as I said on Saturday night, it gets worse every year. Playoffs as opposed to the regular season. I do believe, as I said on Saturday night, it gets worse every year, playoffs as opposed to the regular season. I just think, because I remember last year just texting people, like people who were out of the playoffs, coaches and players and saying, do you think the diving is

really bad? And they're like, it's horrendous. This was last year. And I think I did a pack on it last year, just talking about that. You know, on it last year just talking about that you know in the last podcast you asked you know what or one of the thought lines questioners I think asked how come they call both and the legitimate answer is some of those are trips that are embellished or some of those are holds that are embellished but the honest thing is and I was thinking about it after answering that question and I was thinking about it looking at the pack Luke is, and I was thinking about it after answering that question, and I was thinking about it, looking at the pack Luke put together. And I said, if you're really serious about this, if you want to end this, say from now on it's embellishment only.

Yep. Removes the other call. Remove the other call. It automatically erases the other call. If you dive, it erases the initial infraction. I'm with you on that if you want to get rid of it. Am I correct in saying, like, I believe even with two officials on the ice, the game is too fast to officiate properly.

And that's my opinion. I know it's not a great answer because you want it to be. Even with two officials on the ice, it's too fast to officiate properly. Do you agree or disagree with that statement uh i know what you're trying to say the word properly properly i have a problem with because this game is the hardest game to officiate in general and i think that even approaching a standard of perfection is ridiculous like again like it's funny i went back this weekend here's how bored i was i went back looking at old articles uh whether it's in whether it's online a bunch of sports illustrated articles or in the stack of hockey news magazines that i have here down in my basement

where i record the podcast and you know what the common theme has been in all these articles going back probably to when the NHL was started? Yeah. Officiating. But that's the case in every sport. People complaining about officiating. But it's very specific in hockey. It's always in crisis.

It is always in crisis, Elliot. Here's one. I'll pull this one up right now like this is one that i pulled out um dave anderson in sports illustrated what year is this one this is from 1963 headline officiating mess in the national hockey league i remember from the 80s hockey call it socky i remember that one we were talking about all the fighting. That was a great one. What a great headline. I wish I would have written that.

Now, I know a lot of people might hear that and say, well, that means officiating has always been bad. I would always look at it as officiating is maybe the hardest thing you can do in hockey. Just by the very nature of the game with people on the ice with the players making those calls, it's the hardest thing you can do. Now, I'm willing to have the conversation and listen to the idea of putting an official off the ice. It's going to be one of the thought line questions coming up here in a couple of moments. But calling the game properly, I've always kind of cringed at it a little bit because what does proper mean? Okay, you have taken this, I because what does okay you have taken this i'm stopping you you have taken this like way off track way off track and you're you're wasting everybody's time yeah it was it was a terrible mistake that was a terrible mistake by me i'm never asking your opinion again so while all i'm saying is that this the even with two referees the game is so fast

it's hard to do it properly yes and the only way you stop the diving is if you just start calling the penalties for diving you could i mean with you and look if it's if it's really blatant like really blatant call them both but if if a guy puts a stick on someone and it's not really a trip and the guy goes down just call the embellishment and that will stop the problem right away as they say in french immediate ma well done monsieur bilan bilan um here's my theory on why we're seeing more and more of it okay my theory is there are more and more teams and more and more coaches in the NHL who are willing to say this. Five on five, I'm happy to play 50-50 puck

and take my chances on the power play and do whatever it takes to get to the power play. Five on five, I'm happy to play 50-50. I just want power plays. That's where we're going to win hockey games. Do you agree or do you disagree? I think you're probably right. I'll just say this.

I know there are some coaches out there who really hate diving. I would like to think that most people in hockey hate diving. I would like to think that most people in hockey hate diving and if there are people out there saying dive to get the penalty then I think even more referees just have to start making that one dive call and say if you don't like it tell your guys to stop all it's going to take all it's going to take jeff is one or two teams getting scored on and say a game seven or the western conference final oh man because they get a diving penalty and it's all going to be over. This is a correctable problem. There is one coach who is still involved in the playoffs.

I don't think they should do that. I don't think they should do that in Game 7, Vancouver-Edmonton tonight. Because you haven't been doing it the whole series. Do it in Game 1 of the conference finals. When you mentioned there are a lot of coaches that really hate diving, I've seen firsthand from one coach who's still in the playoffs

how much he hates diving. When I was working with the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League, I remember having various conversations with Paul Maurice, who was the head coach at the time, about a number of different things and one of them was diving and it's something he's very passionate about and whenever you hear a coach say that you say okay well I get it but if it means you're going to be put on the power play I'm sure you're pretty happy about it

I remember watching Paul Maurice tear a strip off of one of his players. Like, we've seen Paul. Everyone's seen Paul Maurice mad by now, everybody. Yeah. I remember him having a go at one of his own players for diving. Like, nasty. Kevin Dineen was another guy. He really hated it. He did not like diving.

That surprised me. Yeah, he told his players, no diving. He was a guy who really couldn't stand it. All right. What are you looking for in game seven here like this one's juicy uh all Canadian matchup uh not exactly any love loss between the teams or the fan bases what are we expecting tonight Elliot well the thing I've really enjoyed the most is that these coaches and Rick Talkett you know you know he's got big brass ones right big ones he's not afraid to do things he threatened his players with lecara Mackey the one thing I really liked about Talkett was he said I'm not going to do it when it came to breaking

up his lines but he changed his mind when he realized it would help Pedersen to me that's what coaching is all about it's taking your biases and challenging them and doing what's best for the team. The thing I think that's been really interesting is the way that Knobloch has shown that despite his what I would say placid demeanor he has brass ones too. Taking out Skinner, putting Pickard back in in then going back to Skinner when I'm not sure every coach would have done that and also taking Corey Perry out that you know you can argue Perry hasn't played well and I agree with that I I think it's true but I don't know how many coaches would have done that so I I look at that as you know Knobloch is not afraid so one of the things I'm looking at for game seven is what is the big brass ones move that one of these

coaches is gonna make talk it already through cold water on Demko so we're not expecting him and we'll talk a little bit more about Demko uh in a minute but I just like I wonder if Knobloch is going to put Perry back in maybe he takes Connor Brown out maybe he takes someone else out but I wonder if Knobloch says and he's not a guy who likes to change a winning lineup but you know Perry's experience do you want that there in a game seven? There's a lot of, I just can't imagine one of these coaches isn't going to do something that says, boy, that's a gutsy, gutsy call. And Jeff, I'm expecting a great game. A great, there are a lot of people on these two teams that compete really hard

really hard and I just don't see one of those teams going down without a huge fight a huge fight a coach said to me he says he thinks what's going to happen is one team is going to get out to a lead and we might see the dam break. And he says it could be a 6-1 game. Now, this is a coach, so he knows a lot more than I do. I said, no way. I said, I think we could see overtime in this one. To me, this has got game seven overtime written all over it. But again, I think a huge key in this game is

the Canucks have to get on Skinner fast. They have to force Skinner to make big saves early. That's their key. Because if he builds up his confidence again, that's big trouble. You mentioned Demko. Have a thought there? Yeah, so talking Kimo, as we mentioned,ko. Have a thought there. Yeah.

So talking to him, as we mentioned, he said he's not going to play. I'm not there. So I'm only hearing things, you know, from a few provinces away. I'm really having a hard time getting a handle on where he really is here like i just remember from the beginning i was told it's a unique injury you can't have surgery so all you can do is you can rest it and then start to have him take shots get a handle on things and then see when he's ready and people keep on talking about setbacks and things like that I don't know that any of that is true I just think that because this injury whatever it is they were so uncertain about it and what it meant I still think a month later they're trying to get a handle on exactly

what the timeline is now one of the biggest debates i have heard is does it matter if he hasn't taken shots in a full practice because he's taken some shots from guys who aren't playing and some of those guys are nhL players and some of those guys are pros and I've had people say to me that's enough and I've had other people say to me no that's not enough you have to take and like a real practice with your top players shooting at you and I think that's one of the sources of disagreement here does that really matter and so again I I find the whole thing very difficult to pin down because I still don't think everybody here 100 knows what the actual timeline is going to be I think there's a hope that he's getting closer and could play but i think there's also a recognition that everybody

here doesn't want the same thing to happen which is what demko comes in and he gets hurt right away again um one more thing and this is just as a a quick aside as you transition got some news coming up here in a couple of seconds um you know one of the common refrains around the league is, oh, this is a league where they just recycle coaches. Oh, these are all a bunch of retreads. We've talked about this. Just shuffling about teams. If the Vancouver Canucks win, who are your four coaches, Elliot?

Well, they're all coaches that have had multiple jobs. DeBoer, this is his fifth team Maurice has coached how many teams uh Carolina Toronto twice Winnipeg Florida Carolina twice okay so if you include that twice that's five teams so lavia let's coach six teams right jeff yes starting with the islands and talk it will be at three if he gets in knob block is a first time coach believe me all of those coaches waiting for their big break they are rooting for chris knobloch to win on monday night they need somebody to point to but you know and the other thing too about talk it is talk it was really picky about his third job remember he was in tampa when the tampa situation was nowhere near as solid as it is right now and he was in Arizona when that situation wasn't very solid obviously so Taka had a chance to go to Dallas he turned

it down because he didn't like the term he had a chance to go to Winnipeg before they hired Rick Bonas and he turned it down and ultimately he chose to go to Vancouver when he got a contract that he was happy with and also he believed that Jim Rutherford would create a situation that he could be successful in and Talk, who was very comfortably in the TV studios, he was able to pick his place based on what he thought it would be the best thing at the time to be set up to win because he knew he might only get one more chance. And we've talked about this and I agree with you. Too often people say retread, retread. It's just, you know what? It's just social media clout. That's what people do it for.

It doesn't, like there are some coaches who get three or four chances that aren't good coaches or can't do the job. That is true. But there are lots of other coaches who learn about, hey, this is why it it worked this is why it didn't work this is where you can succeed this is where you can't succeed and i think the other thing that a lot of coaches will admit to you maybe later but not right away is i think there are coaches in this league who take jobs where they know they can't win and they get told you can't win there because it's not set up to win and they still do it because there's only 32 of

these jobs and I understand that if you if your whole life you've wanted to be a coach and one comes open it's really tough to say no when it's your first time. But that doesn't mean that it doesn't happen. Okay. With that, let's dovetail into the news and talk more about coaches and the big story around coaches this past weekend, Elliot, Rod Brindamore and his staff have been re-upped by the Carolina Hurricanes. Not exactly a surprise. We all thought it was trending this direction. You've been consistent from day one on this one. Your thoughts on Brindamore and his staff returning? Took longer than it should have. And it depends on who you speak to. I think some of the Brindamore

loyalists were very frustrated. And I think that's why some of the reports got out. But I think some people in Carolina always believed it would be would happen and they just felt it was the way negotiations go sometimes that you know one side proposes this some one side proposes that and you know you have to get it to the finish line obviously the key there is that the assistant coaches got some security that was very very important to Brindamore. I heard the assistant coaches got two years plus one, which I assume is a team option. But, you know, that's what I heard.

That's not bad. A lot of assistant coaches would definitely take that. Brindamore, five years. I'm curious to see if this is the last contract that Brenda Moore ever signs. He will be 54 in August. And I had heard that retirement, when it was something that, I don't know if it was in his immediate future, but it was something that he was thinking about at some point. But, you know, five years is a good contract. A lot of coaches don't get that. So that's a really good deal for him.

It's good for the Hurricanes because as we've talked about, he is incredibly important to their culture and success. And, you know, there's always this big debate about what Brindamore gets paid. And the last time he took a lot of heat from other coaches who felt I believe it was 1.8 was was too low for what he deserved well nobody as of Sunday afternoon would tell me the exact number of what he is at the gossip in coaching circles is that he is doing extremely well for a coach who has been successful but hasn't actually won the stanley cup that he's not at a lot of those coaches level but he's just below

that which i think would be fair and would make the coaches who were upset last time much happier should actually compensate coaches that haven't won the Stanley Cup more considering coaches that have won the Stanley Cup with multiple teams is only checks notes three Elliot there's a better job why do you hate capital as a first-timer all I'm saying here Elliot is it's a better chance to be a newbie Stanley Cup winning coach than someone who's done it before. You know, that's, that's good. You should put that into the coaches, uh, association, uh, mission statement. If you've won a Stanley cup, you can't make any more money because odds are you aren't going to do it again. I, I think that'll go over huge. I'm just, I'm just looking

at the numbers, Elliot. It's all the numbers. Don't lie. I'm just looking at the numbers. It's all I'm doing. I'm just like, I'm just doing, doing running the analytics as we like to say, Elliot. Speaking of coaches. So USA hockey choosing Mike Sullivan, head coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins to be the bench boss for the four nations and the Olympics as well. To which we wonder, what about Canada here? we wonder what about canada here so the word at the time was that canada was going to potentially do two coaches one for the four nations freeze or whatever it's called face up face up okay no i like it better no i'm i'm going with four nations freeze i i like it better. I've renamed this tournament the Four

Nations Freeze and the Olympics that there could be two different coaches for it. And the two names I was hearing a lot were Brindamore and John Cooper. Now, John Cooper is overseas. He's at the World Championships. So it's got some people wondering if there's some conversation uh about uh him being one of those coaches which obviously being a two-time stanley cup champion he would deserve it so i'm still i i think he's very much in the mix brendan moore was the other name i'd heard um again sticking with coaches uh vacancies in winnipeg san jose new jersey seattle and los angeles has a decision been made on jim hiller yet not officially but just in asking around after on sunday after a lot of the brindamore stuff was done

there's definitely a sense at least to me that the coaches are conceding that Jim Hiller is likely to be the next head coach of the LA Kings not no longer on an interim basis that he's going to get the head job you know the the Kings have made it very clear during this process that they like a lot of the they like the job that Hiller did and they like the way he thinks and you know like I said nothing is done until it's done. I've used that line a lot this week. But there is definitely a feeling among coaches that Hiller is the big favorite, if not overwhelming favorite, to get that job.

You know, Winnipeg, while they continue to interview some outside candidates, I think a lot of people seem to feel, although it's not the same feeling I'm getting as with Hiller in LA, that Scott Arneal is definitely the clubhouse favorite in Winnipeg, but I'm not comfortable proclaiming anything done as we record this. You know, San Jose, they continue to interview people you know we mentioned Jeff Blashill last week you mentioned Marco Sturm and I agree that that's a name that I think could potentially be floated there Ryan Worsofsky there's this weird situation going on in Abbotsford

of the American Hockey League with Jeremy Culleton, where Rick Dallowall reported last week that Culleton wouldn't be back, potentially, and there seems to be something there, although the Canucks have since made it clear that he's been offered a contract. I have wondered if potentially Culleton's been interviewed in San Jose, too. It's something that a couple of people have mentioned. They wonder if Colton's got some NHL opportunities that he's exploring. So that's another one I've been kind of wondering about. We'll see. Seattle, I stick with the same three names that I mentioned last week, Balsma, McClellan, and Jay Leach, and we'll see what happens there.

And New Jersey, you know, again, I think we've mentioned a lot of the key names. And again, I still think that Sheldon Keefe was one guy they were still waiting for some kind of clarity on as we record this on Sunday. But that's, you know, to me, all of a sudden, the one that it appeared on the weekend had a bit more clarity seemed to be Hiller in LA. Interesting. Quick American Hockey League coaching note. Anything with Wilkes-Barre Scranton, J.D. Forrest not renewed. Yeah, the name that I'm starting to hear there is John Snowden,

who's an assistant coach in lehigh valley and it makes sense because jeff what organization did he work in before joining the flyers american hockey league team toronto with dubas jeff i have often told people that you are a genius and once again you proved it to be true. Oh, yeah. Yes. So brilliant. He worked in the Toronto organization.

He won a Kelly Cup with Newfoundland in 2019 and spent the previous two years before last season in LV as an assistant with the Marlies. So there is a connection with the Penguins GM. Snowden's a relatively young guy. He's 42. The one name that I've wondered about here with that job now, technically he's still employed by Belleville, but I'm not sure how deep Steve Stahels is going to change the coaching staffs of teams like the Belleville Senators with all kinds of rumors

about Jay McKee. But I wonder about Dave Bell, who took over from Troy Mann, who was fired this past season. And I gotta be honest with you, Dave Bell did a really good job with that Belleville Senators team, as much as they may have been

financially challenged at times. This isn't a resource-rich organization, although I have a feeling that is changing I thought Bell did a wonderful job and someone like Jay McKee does end up getting that American Hockey League job and Dave Bell finds himself on the outside I wonder slash hope if there's a another at least American Hockey League position out there for him somewhere because again he did a great job with the Belfill Senators this year um what do you make of the Matvei Michkov rumors on the weekend? Philadelphia Flyers first round draft pick.

That's a great question. It has been a wild few months around the Philadelphia Flyers when it comes to their Russian players. First of all, the Fedotov situation coming to a happy end for the player coming over to North America. coming to a happy end for the player coming over to North America then kolasov coming over and now reports that he's leaving followed by reports now that mishkov is coming and all I can tell you is I was trying to sort through this preparing for the pod. I said to someone, this is like a John le Carre novel. And they said to me, imagine being in the middle of it.

Because it's one of those things where the one thing I can guarantee you is the league and the Flyers, they definitely believe that the easiest way to get these things done is let them happen quietly. The more noise there is around them, the harder it is to get things done because then the external pressure comes in and it's hard enough with some of these prospects when it's just you and the team or you and the player when other people get involved it really becomes complicated the one thing I can say here is it seems pretty clear that Mishkov wants to come over and the news here seems

to indicate to me that there is a path for him to come over and initially when this broke about a month ago somebody said to me everybody he will come, but it won't be for next season. It's probably more likely for 25, 26. And then I checked with a couple of people on Sunday and they said, now we're really not sure. And what that says to me is they're following that rule is less is more. The less is public, the more chance they think it has to happen. But these are always very delicate negotiations because money has to be involved. There's rules about who you can pay and who you can't pay.

Like technically it might have to be the player through his contract that has to pay to buy out his contract to buy out his Russian contractor his KHL contract like it's a these are not easy things that happen and what I'm taking all these reports to mean is there is a path for this to occur but just because there is a path doesn't mean it's going to happen and the worst thing that can happen is it becomes so very public like honestly I deal with people who do not like it when these kinds of negotiations get out there because they say it complicates everything and makes it more difficult and they have to answer questions but they really don't like to give information this is one of the biggest we'll

see what happens because if michkov comes over now elliot what types of changes do the flyers make in the off season this one is one of the juiciest ones to follow. We'll see where it goes. Elliot, and finally to conclude, the biggest one, I suppose, Toronto Maple Leafs, Craig Berube, Stanley Cup champion, 2019 former Toronto Maple Leaf, himself part of the infamous Doug Gilmore trade that saw the Maple Leafs reach some heights back in the early to mid-90s.

Craig Berube, the new coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Your thoughts? I don't think anyone is surprised by the Berube hiring unless John Cooper or Rod Brindamore somehow dropped on their lap, which we didn't think was going to happen. He was the favorite for the job, Jeff. I think I'm not thrilled with

some of the narrative about all this about Sheldon Keefe like I don't think Sheldon Keefe was a soft touch Sheldon Keefe got fired because they said they can't run it back they were simply in a position where they couldn't do the same things over and over again but it didn't mean that Keefe was soft particularly with Nylander I heard he could be really tough really tough I think what when I go back to the 2019 Stanley Cup final and I went through some of my notes just asking some St. Louis players about Berube is that he talked to people in a way that some people had never been talked to before and what they said was there were some players in particular and I don't know if they were treated with the

soft touch or they were given their space to do what they wanted or they'd never really been disciplined in any way before but Berube got there and those players heard things told to them in a way that hadn't happened before and it resonated with the group and obviously there was a short-term jolt and they won the cup with Binnington getting really hot that's what I think is going to happen here now the Leafs the reason I the the Berube stuff gained so much steam so quickly is that they were calling everybody about him. It was impossible to keep this secret. Like one of the things I heard they did

was they called the NHLPA and said, hey, if we hire Craig Berube, are there any problems here that we're going to have to know about? And they were given, and they were told, no, there's nothing here. But that's what this is going to be about. And, you know, I think there were times that Keefe was very tough on the players

and everybody remembers one particular case where they kind of had to walk it back. Like that's not going to happen here. Berube is going to say what he says and he does it in a way that is effective. But the other thing about Berube that's really important is if you buy into him, he buys into you, and he'll put you out there. He'll put you in places to succeed. He's gruff, but he's not unfair,

and I think that's going to be very important for them. We also know they talked to Todd McClellan. We reported last week they talked to Todd McClellan. We reported last week, they talked to Gerard Gallant. You know, I wonder if they asked about, I don't know what ever got the interview stage, but I wonder if they asked about who's a Dale Hunter.

Okay. That is a really interesting name i've because i think he's a great coach but he would want no part of this and specifically i'm talking about you merrick like he would want no part of you oh well yeah no i do understand that um I think the temptation of coaching Mitch Marner once again is, is a tempting one for Dale Hunter. But the thing that I've always, I've always been under the impression that unless it's his brother running an NHL team, I don't know that Dale Hunter would want to go.

And I've always been of the belief and no one has told me otherwise that dale hunter has always wanted to break brian kilray's record for most coaching wins in the ohl right now he's number two and listen he's got a great setup in london you know i get all this owners of the team and can set records and he's got a comfortable lifestyle like His life's in a spot where he's really, really comfortable. So I don't know. And I don't know whether Dale Hunter would be interested. He's 250 wins away from Killray. So he's got work to do.

250, yeah. He does, but London's always a competitive team. Doesn't mean he can't do it. It's not like he's going to it it's it's not it's not like he's gonna get fired i mean who's gonna fire dale hunter his brother you know like not rob simpson like no it's not it's not not gonna happen um so i think it would have to be the absolute perfect scenario and one that would probably see his brother, Mark, running the team that he's with. I also think, well, I was around him that year that he coached Washington as an interim

for the rest of that season. And like I agree with you, I think he is a hell of a coach. Like I think he's a great coach. But I just can't see him putting up with all of us in Toronto on a daily basis. I don't think he would have any desire to do that. Didn't he only bring one tie to Washington? I can't remember, but it sounds right.

I'm going on the road for the Western Conference final. I've got 19 ties with me. Not Dale. I'm going to go coach the Washington Capitals. I am bringing one tie and it's going to be green because I love my London Knights. I love it. Not deal. I'm going to go coach the Washington Capitals. I am bringing one tie and it's going to be green because I love my London Knights. I love it.

All right. Straight ahead here on the podcast, we'll do a full autopsy and a what's next for both the Boston Bruins and the Colorado Avalanche. In the meantime, quick pause when we come back.

The Montana's Thought Line. Don't go anywhere. Listen to the 32 Thoughts podcast ad-free on Amazon Music, included with Prime. Welcome back to the podcast. Time now for the Montana's Thought line montana's barbecue and bar canada's home for barbecue thank you to rick turner the way to get in 32 thoughts at sportsnet.ca 1-833-311-3232. These emails and voicemails curated lovingly by Griffin Porter. We'll start with John Costello from Wichita, Kansas. about what happens on guaranteed win night if the team loses.

In the late 1990s, I was the director of group sales for the Wichita Thunder in the old CHL. We had the contingency of bringing a game ticket to the office for another game. Hope that helps. And further to that one, because this was part of the conversation that we had about Jim Nar nargang who emailed in the program former detroit red wing um uh michigan state uh as well and you know so a wonderful conversation about him also got a note from pete weber who called games for notre dame years ago and would

have called games that jim was involved in when he played at michigan state and we wondered about this game march 31 31st, 1977. Detroit Red Wings, Minnesota North Stars was guaranteed win night. And they lost to the North Stars three to one. So I had wondered about what happens on guaranteed win night if you lose and couldn't find the answer anywhere online or elsewhere.

And whoever runs the OHL history account chimed in and found an article written by Tom Henderson from the Detroit Free Press going back to 1977, who points out that whoever went to that game, saw the loss, would get a game ticket for the next game, which was against the Pittsburgh Penguins. And Tom Henderson in the piece in the Detroit Free Press, writes this, Guarantee, big deal. So you see two losses for the price of one. That's like being promised a broken toaster if the first one you buy doesn't work. Tom Henderson from the Detroit Free Press.

In 98, man, Detroit was a tough team back then. Like, wins were at a premium. You can understand how everyone was a little bit PO'd. So thanks to OHL History for doing the legwork on that one and finding that piece in the Detroit Free Press and John Costello. Really appreciate it. Director of group sales.

We're lucky. We've got great listeners. We're very lucky. And some of them are from Australia. Neil from Sydney. Hey, guys. Oh, boy. I've been a Canucks homer

since growing up across the road from the Canucks coach and general manager and subsequent broadcast legend, Harry Neil. Wow. Can you imagine being Harry Neil's neighbor? That would be awesome.

I would look for every excuse whenever I would see Harry to go up and just go and talk hockey and just listen to him and laugh and laugh and one of the funniest people in the history of the game. Okay. I would like to suggest a resolution to the situation room controversy of recent days drawing upon the current practice of the National Rugby League in Australia. listen to this one, Freach. In the event of video review, the crowd at the stadium and on television gets to see and hear the analysis in real time by the NRL bunker, a.k.a. situation room, and their discussions with the referee.

It makes for excellent viewing, keeps the crowd engaged, and gives the commentators even more to chew on sometimes you even get to see the referee and bunker debate the rules to a level of detail that even jeff would find impressive i think that's a compliment no system is perfect but it's an improvement upon the present oh you love this elliot love the podcast despite its clear anti-canucks bias oh try hang on here's the sign off you ready for this one the great sign off try the kangaroo there you go neil from sydney australia song we've tried the crank yeah try the kangaroo tried the roo let's go come on rick turner uh your thoughts on that one everybody at the event, like at the rink and the TV audience at home can follow along

with the conversation between the war room and the officials. This has been suggested to us before. It's not the first time, but, and I agree with it. I think it would be fantastic. I think it could be a great source of revenue. You could sponsor it. You could pay per view it. You know what, Jeff?

I am more convinced than ever that we will get to this day eventually I don't know how soon it will be but I do think the day will come that this happens because I think it's it's too good not to and I you know can we talk about business a little bit like there were some people who are really angry about what biz said on the weekend about the official having the fan duel account number one i think everybody needs to calm down here a little bit and calm down here a lot it's a joke it's a joke we all know who biz is we know he's joking like people need to relax like he's kidding okay that's that's who he is but the second thing and i i and i won't back down on this one I got challenged on it last week

look I find to broadcasters that the situation room is very helpful after a ruling I will call them and they will tell me exactly what they decided exactly what they decide whether I agree with it or disagree with it they're very helpful they it to me. If I ask them for a picture for the puck in the net, they'll give it to me. But I just think everybody's going to be better off if the transparency is even more full. If a referee can answer a question from a pool reporter after a game or if this thing happened and I just think everybody would be better off if we heard this stuff and I think eventually it will get there and you know why Jeff because you're gonna be able to sell it and that will ultimately

if I wonder what happened if the NHL went out tomorrow and said okay to all the sponsors will sell these conversations with your name on them or yeah a pay-per-view with your name on it do you not think somebody would come running to pay for that I would assume so it would be one of the most compelling parts of the show and it would remove all of the guesswork that everybody does. Now, again, I'll always point this out. And at the end of the day, it will be a win for the league and the officials. It will be.

At the beginning, they won't like it. But at the end, it'll be a win. It'll be uncomfortable at first. And eventually, it'll be like, wow, how come we haven't been doing this all along? Everybody seems to love this. Why weren't we doing this 50 years ago? Well, because we didn't have the technology 50 years ago. Well, we should have been.

We didn't have. Yeah, we should have been ahead of our time. A couple of things here. We used to do this with the CHL package on Sportsnet, as I've pointed out before. It didn't last very long, but it was very compelling. It was really interesting to hear the conversation, the dynamic. And I think it would be even more so in the nhl where the stakes are with all due respect

higher and more people are watching slash listening and then again debating and discussing only creates more interest in your in your property the other thing that i keep coming back to you know who's asked all the time to give access? Players. Players are always being told to open themselves up, allow the cameras here, allow the cameras there. It's growing the game. It's growing the league. You need to, it's all, players need to do this. Players need to do this.

All about the players that need to do the heavy lift here. I would turn around to the league if I'm the players association and say, you know what we think you should do? We think you guys should allow cameras everywhere too starting with these conversations so everybody can understand them why is it only the players that have to shoulder the responsibility of being followed around everywhere with cameras and microphones why not this situation if it's good for the players because it grows the game why not the league as well why is it only the

players that have to shoulder this one that's where i come down on this one and again you're right at first a lot of people in the nhl that will hate it this is too much this is offside fans don't need to see this this is wrong but eventually i would hope that they would realize and understand and understand quickly that this is only good again well what do we always talk about the more information you have around your game player event team the stickier your product becomes and the longer you lengthen someone's attention span as a fan, it is all good. Thank you to our kangaroo eating Canucks fan in Sydney, Australia, former neighbor of the great Harry Neal. Let's get to a voicemail. Let's go to Nova Scotia.

Yeah. Hi guys. Kyle from Nova Scotia calling big fan of the show. I had a question for you about refereeing. Given that it is difficult for the refs to keep up with the action, what do you guys think about having referees actually just sitting and having a look from both sides of the ice? If the ice isn't that big, you could have a good, clear view if there was a good seat on both ends of the rink and kind of see all the action at once without having to be skating around of the ice. If the ice isn't that big, you could have a good, clear view if there was a good seat on both ends of the rink and kind of see all the accident ones

without having to be skating around all the time. Anyway, I thought that might be something that you could do in hockey given the size of the ice surface, but I'd be interested to hear what you guys think. Great. Thanks. Bye. Elliot? I've kind of wondered if that might happen at some point. In the last segment, we had a lengthy discussion about officiating.

I don't know if we need to go into it again. But I mean, ultimately, you're going to need officials on the ice on some level to break up skirmishes and things like that. But the ice rinks aren't going to get any bigger the surfaces and i have wondered if they would take one off just to make it less cluttered um again that's a thing that maybe somewhere down the road i wouldn't be surprised if it happens but i don't know that it's on the front burner at this time no no uh i see i don't i think i've always looked at that idea as being something in addition to the two referees and the two linesmen on the ice at the same time. This would be a fifth official who sits like, I don't know, tennis ump somewhere in the stands or in some other privileged position to attend.

And that person would have the ability to call fouls. I don't necessarily know because i can hear the official association pushing back whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa hold on here let's not take any officials off the ice um but i i do wonder if that could be you can make that case for a fifth well i i i'm pretty sure we'll have that discussion at some point because you can you can probably make the argument as well, Elliot. Maybe the toughest place to make a call is on the ice. When you look at all the bodies and how fast everything moves,

I don't know if you've ever tried officiating before, but it's not easy. I've tried it a few times. No, I would never argue. It's hard. I would never argue it is easy. It's hard. Okay, we'll finish up with this one.

Stephen St. Louis, Elliot. Gentlemen, big fan here from St. Louis. my question is about waiving of no trade clauses does the player have the right to know what the deal entails or only the team they are being asked to waive for for example when the blues tried to ship tory krug to philadelphia last summer would the blues be required to notify krug of all the assets involved i asked ask because my thought was, quote, what if Krug was considering the move to play with Kevin Hayes, only later to find out Hayes was part of the package in return? I'm assuming there's no recourse once the deal goes through.

Thanks for the time, boys. Let's go Blues and try the ribs from Stephen St. Louis. That's an excellent question, actually. I don't think there's a hard and fast rule there, but I could see a player saying who you're trading me for or a team saying, look, we have the ability to get this player and we have to include you, and that's why you're here. If you're trying to sell a player on getting a deal done,

you know what? Again, no rule, but I could see it coming up. I could see it as well. Hey, we need you to waive your no trade clause because we're about to trade for Conor McDavid or Austin Matthews. Yeah. So you don't get to play with Conor McDavid

or Austin Matthews. You're going to the other team who's rebuilding. Enjoy the new zip code. I could also see some GMs being out there. If you don't seek this trade, I'm going to leak it to a reporter that you blocked us from getting Austin Matthews or Connor McDavid. Enjoy playing in this town after that one. Yeah, good luck.

Enjoy showing your face at restaurants downtown. The Montana's Thought Line, Montana's barbecue and bar, Canada's home for barbecue. We discuss Boston, Colorado. What's next? Next. Oh, yeah. teams here welcome back to the podcast everybody it is 32 thoughts the podcast presented as always by our friends at the gmc sierra elevation boston bruins what's next colorado avalanche what's next we'll talk about the team from the atlantic division first um questions here uh what does don sweeney do now he'll have 20 million dollars in cap space to play with there is a Jeremy Swayman contract out there somewhere there is potentially a Lena Solomark trade out there there is the ability to re-sign Brad Marchand out there on July 1st and a whole bunch of questions about your DeBrusques

and your Grizzlicks what happens in Boston Elliot well Swayman extension now all of a sudden becomes the number one thing after the way he played in the playoffs, given the opportunity to become the number one goalie. He took it and ran with it, took them within two wins of the Eastern Conference final and a year where Boston wasn't expected to be that good. I don't think that can be underestimated. A lot of us counted out Boston this year. A lot of people didn't think they would be able to make the playoffs, nevermind win a round and come close to winning a second one. They really overachieved this season based on the way I think a lot of us looked at them. So Swayman is obviously going to be uh the big question here he's going to have our brights that's going to be a big case and you know he's going to look to get paid as a guy who's approaching the age of 26 next november he's going to be looking to cash in at the same range i don't

know whether it'd be the same contract but he's gonna want to be around the hellebucks of the world and he's gonna say that I proved I'm a I'm a number one guy so we'll see where that goes but look they tried to start that one already and they couldn't get it done so they've been you know they've been trying on this one for months but there's no question now the price has gone up so the next question becomes Allmark is he back next year do they try to move him to a team that he will agree to go to Allmark once again really declined to talk about it on getaway day on Sunday he continues to make his point that he makes that

list for a reason and it's a personal reason and that's it and I think that's fair but I have no doubt that some of the teams that I can get them will continue to look and see about possibility and the other thing that happens here is and I don't know the answer to this question, but I'm going to bring it up. When does Allmark get to change his list? Now, some lists change on June 30th or July 1st, corresponding with the end of the NHL calendar year. However, not every contract is like that. Some are submitted upon team's request. Some are other dates. So I think one of the other questions is going to be here. When does Allmark have to submit his list? And the thing is, the list doesn't have to say the same every year. Is Allmark going to look at it and he going to say, look, maybe I've changed how I felt about some of these situations year to year.

Or maybe I know that there might be some teams interested in me that I'm not sure I want to go to. So maybe he'll put them on his list. So all of these things are going to be a factor here. Um, you know, other than that, I think the number one thing that the Bruins are going to continue to look at, and it will probably affect a lot of their decision-making is, is down the middle. You know, Charlie Coyle did a really good job this year. Um, you know, Pavel Zaka did a really nice job and has signed for three more years but I can see them it was still so hard for them to score in the playoffs like the available centers like they were in on

Lynn home before Lynn home was traded from Calgary to Vancouver but they just they were not going to be able to match the volume of what the Flames got and so they were out but there are teams who believe that they have been interested in Lindholm for a long time and you know Lindholm is not a guy in these playoffs was hurt his value either after a really hard regular season so I think they'll be in on that I think they'll be looking at centers and the other one I think you're looking at here is there's a couple of players that they're gonna have to sign who have contracts for next year one is Trent Frederick who is quietly a very important piece of their team and the other is their captain and you know their captain marchand he's going to be he just turned 36 so and you know he's a bruin you know he wants to

be a bruin but it's going to be an interesting negotiation just to see what everybody decides here and that brings us to jake debrask go ahead, bud. Can I pause on Marchand for one second here quickly? Given his age and given everybody knows where he wants to be and how much the organization still values him and wants him and the fans love him, can you not just see Brad Marchand going on evergreen

deals? Just one year, one year, one year, one year. Could you not see that with Brad Marchandand i mean everybody i think where he wants i think that's one of those things where the like i don't know i've never asked him and i don't want to speak for him my history with that is sometimes the player says yes then the agent says hold on a second here yeah yeah but i just don't know it's it's a great question i just don't know the answer i i really don't okay the one thing about jake debrask is i'm really not comfortable speculating on him

because i don't want anyone to think that his dad louis who we work with is speaking out of school i i'm really not comfortable with the whole situation. Clearly this guy wants to be a Bruin. He was hurt for a good chunk of this year. He loves being a Bruin. One of the things I have heard, Jeff, independently of the DeBrusque family, is that there are teams looking for scoring who are going to be interested. I know some other teams have speculated

that Seattle would be the kind of team that would be interested in DeBrusque. So, I think, you know, he said before he wants to be a Bruin. He hasn't always liked how long it's taken to get his contract situations done. So, and it seemed to me the way he was talking on Sunday, he was frustrated about that again. I don't know where this is going to go,

but I do believe that there are teams looking for scoring who are going to be interested in him uh always an interesting time and as we mentioned don sweeney has 20 million dollars worth of cap space to play with in the offseason the colorado avalanche elliott and this is a huge what's next here. And this one's complicated because if you're Chris McFarlane here, you have to park, what is it, about $13 million worth of cap space because at a certain point, Valerian Achushkin is coming back and you wonder about Gabriel Landeskog as well, which complicates a lot of the things you might want to do in the offseason

and we'll think of jonathan druan and we'll think of sean walker and casey middlestat is arb eligible um man this is this one's going to be a tough offseason how do you see it playing out for colorado i think it's going to be a challenge for them now the the number one thing i will say about the avalanches i think they're a really smart organization they have good players there that people want to play with and i think players like playing in denver so there will be an attraction to them because of that and to me that's almost half the battle you will find good players who will want to go there there's one guy you didn't even name and i think it's the biggest one and that is rantanen ranting is one more year one and he's then he's a UFA and so like middle stat you can work on things with him because as you mentioned he's an RFA and you can sort that out but Rantanen you have to get done he is one of your best players he's a key member of your core he's still a pretty young guy he's going to be 28 in october he's already at 925 that's the number

one thing you've got to figure out is what is rantanen's number for years and years to come now when that extension kicks in it'll be a year from now when the cap is around 93 so you'll have a bit more breathing room and then the cap should go up even more so you're not overly worried about it i don't think but you just have to know what the number is going to be after that they middle stat for sure you know drew and the one thing about drew is he found real happiness he's in a good place great spot for him i i gotta think that there's a deal to be made there i absolutely think there's a that guy has been through so much and he acquitted himself so well and he was a valuable player for them at an important time of the year like to me

as long as everyone's reasonable that one gets done. Landis Skog I'll freely admit I don't know I want to see him come back but I just know it's a real challenge that injury is is a huge comeback for him although I want to see him do it. Nijushkin, this is one where they don't have grounds to terminate his contract. There's not much they can do right now. That to me is a conversation about, it's almost like a team player league conversation when everything calms down here. Ideally, what does the team want to do? The team wants to support him personally. I think that's clearly

the way they've spoken is important to him. But also once that gets sorted out and he's not eligible to return until November, does the team want to bring him back? And right now the feelings are very raw and you have to see it once everybody's had some time to think, is that going to change? Is there a willingness from the star players in the organization to say, yes, we'll try this again? And I just don't think you can answer that right now. But if the answer is no, then on some level you've got to sit there and figure out okay what are other options and you know you you can't just unilaterally terminate his deal as we've seen with Evander Kane and Mike Richards you know grievances will force settlements so I think the question I have at some point, will there be a conversation between player and organization

saying we'd like to come to some kind of negotiated settlement so then everybody can move on? But everybody has to agree with that, and I don't think that's going to happen in the short term. Do you think they, and this is my last question for you on Colorado, do you think they do anything or try to do anything with the goaltending? Now, Georgiev

has one more year left on his deal. At 3.4 before he becomes an unrestricted free agent. He's 28 years old. Listen, full credit, after that first game against Winnipeg, he turned things around. But do you think they do anything with the goaltending?

And here's the other one. Do you think they'll even have room to do anything with the goaltending? I think with him, I think they let it play out for another year, unless some option drops on their lap. You know, the one thing someone told me about Georgiev, he proved these playoffs is, he's not the most technically perfect goalie. Like, if you ask the goalie gurus out there how they feel about him,

they'll say he makes them a little bit crazy the way he plays but you know what he is jeff he's a battler like he never loses his confidence he believes that he is going to find a way and he fights and that really resonates with players and teams he's a fighter everybody was was piling on him and after that first game against Winnipeg and he played great and you heard the way they talked about him at the end of that series about how happy they were for him I thought in round two he really battled like that round two series with Dallas was amazing like there were times where the Coloradoado just pounded dallas and there were other times where dallas just pounded colorado and ottinger and yorgiev i thought were both great yorgiev really battled i mean the only

time he didn't really battle was on the the contact and he got the call but for for the most part i really thought he battled and And I think that resonated with the team. And that's why I think they probably go with this for another year. Okay. Again, don't forget game seven tonight, Vancouver Canucks hosting the Colorado Avalanche. Elliot, before we bid everyone good day, I want to share something with you.

So bid everyone adieu. I want to share with you a DM that I got from our good friend, Willie Donick, play-by-play voice of the Nashville Predators, who is a very, as we've seen before, very high thinker of hockey. Okay. So he sends me this note after the last podcast and he says, following up to the thought line question on quote, can you challenge offside on a penalty shot we had a

lot of fun with that one that scenario willie dms me actually happened in a preds game at dallas this year on january 6th mason marchment was awarded a penalty shot in the second period he didn't score a lincoln and save nashville ended up winning four to. Unbeknownst to us at the time, the Preds video coaches had assessed that Marchment was offside before he drew the penalty, which was on Luke Shin. But as you guys pointed out on the pod,

you can only challenge offside for a goal. So there was nothing they could do. The Hockey Ops guys told us about this several days later. We had no idea. I wonder how many times that has happened behind the scenes.

I'm willing to bet, Elliot, it's happened more than a few. Very good. Thank you, Willie. Willie's the best. Please send us more things, Willie, that make us sound like we're smart. In the meantime, again, don't forget tonight, it is Game 7. Man, this is going to be fantastic.

It is the Oilers facing off against the hometown Vancouver Canucks. The game begins at 9 o'clock Eastern. One team goes on to face off against the Dallas Stars starting Thursday. The other team goes home. And we'll talk about what's next for that squad on the

next podcast. Enjoy the game. We'll talk about what's next for that squad on the next podcast. Enjoy the game. We'll talk to you again on Wednesday.