32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Nashville's "Rebuild" Plan & the Michael Rubin Interview

Episode Date: November 8, 2024

In this edition of the 32 Thoughts podcast, Kyle and Elliotte open by focusing on the 13-1 Winnipeg Jets. Elliotte shouts out Ivan Fedotov in Philadelphia after his big win for Philly (10:30). The fellas then focus on the Tanner Jeannot head hit on Brock Boeser Thursday night (13:44). They also delve into the Senators and their current run of tough losses (15:43). Kyle and Elliotte take time to focus on Barry Trotz "rebuild" comments on Nashville radio this week (23:41) and the fellas then dive into next week's GM meetings in Toronto and the focus on video-replay (37:55). The Final Thought keys in on the NCAA's announcement allowing athletes to be involved with pro teams prior to college enrolment (47:08)Kyle and Elliotte answer your questions in the Thought Line (56:57).This episode wraps with an exclusive interview with Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin and CEO of Fanatics Commerce Andrew Low Ah Kee (1:17:24).Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call the Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemailThis podcast was produced and mixed by Dominic Sramaty and hosted by Elliotte Friedman & Kyle Bukauskas.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.  

If it comes up again and you need someone to back you up on a broadcast to do ringside for you in a broadcast so you can attend the gathering of Kyle's, I will do it. Can you imagine what that phone call looked like? Hey, Sportsnet, I know I'm scheduled to work this Saturday. Hey, there's a gathering of Kyle's. That's right. Have you heard of this place called Kyle's? Can't work Western Conference Game 7. I got to meet up with all the Kyles. That's right.

Hey, priorities. Welcome to 32 Thoughts, the podcast presented by the GMC Sierra AT4X. Shramati, Friedman, Bukaskis all with you. Another jam-packed edition. Later on in the podcast, you're going to hear our interview with Michael Rubin, the CEO and founder of Fanatics, along with Andrew Loeke, the CEO of Fanatics Commerce. Really interesting conversation there.

Stay tuned on that one. The Thought Line, of course, as well, as part of every episode. But Elliot, we would be remiss if we did not start with the lucky 13 in Winnipeg you know before we get to the Jets you know Dom you know you and Kyle have something in common what's that neither one of you is participating in the in-season cup wow you're really coming out with that out of the gate. I just looked at it. I have 14 days. Ailish has 13 days. Matt has Utah, which took the in-season cup from St. Louis on Thursday night, and he's guaranteed four,

and he has the current crown. I didn't realize that you have had only one day with the cup. I didn't realize that you have had only one day with the cup. Yeah, I haven't shown up to that yet. You are the anti-Winnipeg of the 2024-25 season. There was a game a couple of weeks ago when Winnipeg beat Seattle in overtime in Seattle. If the Kraken had found a way to win that game, the whole in-season cup landscape would be different, but woulda, coulda, shoulda. I'll get going. I'll get going, and we'll replay this later on in the year. Don't you worry. You know, Merrick ran away with it that one year. He had half the year, and he could only split it, so that's the way this pool goes. That was a great game with the

Jets and Avalanche. Wild swings, two teams going at it hard, two good teams throwing haymakers at each other. There were moments I thought the Jets were a lock. There were moments I thought the Avalanche were a lock. I don't know if you watched the last minute, but with about seven seconds left, I thought for sure Colorado was going to score. But the Jets battled hard.

They held strong. It was a great – I mean, the biggest news for the Avalanches was Makar played. He wasn't too hurt that he couldn't play. But, you know, one of the things the Jets talked about, and Nino Niederreiter discussed it overseas in Prague before the season, but he said there were times that they absolutely panicked against the Avalanche in the playoffs and forgot what they were supposed to do. And there was none of that in this game. I thought the Jets battled for every inch,

just like the Avalanche did. That game lived up to everything we could have wanted. 13-1, the second team ever to do it. And, you you know the other thing I really liked about the Jets this week is that you know they could have become unglued in that game against Tampa with the controversial goal that was scored by the Lightning and they've they've just really kept their composure they they haven't panicked they They haven't lost their minds. And it was a great game. Great game. 13-1 and a big test too on Saturday, Dallas. You're not in the middle of the weak opponents. Colorado, Dallas, and a great start to it. And you smartly pointed out after the Winnipeg-Colorado game on Thursday

that the Jets, 13-1, they and the 07-08 Ottawa Senators, the only teams to win 13 of their first 14 games out of the gate. Now, unfortunately, that edition of the Senators back in 08, season didn't end great for them. It was a quick exit from the playoffs and a bit of a struggle down the stretch. So hopefully, for Winnipeg's sake, it's not a bad omen for them. If I remember correctly, that Ottawa team started, I think, 15-2. But one of the things that happened there was they burnt out in a real hurry.

Brian Murray had coached them the year before to the Stanley Cup final and he took over as general manager he replaced John Muckler like Murray and Muckler had been having a real battle behind the scenes they weren't getting along and basically they decided that it had to be one or the other and Murray won the power struggles because he just coached them to the Stanley Cup final and he became the general manager and John Paddock was the head coach and the thing I remember about that was they they got off to that great start they looked fantastic but they got burnt out they they had the big line that year of Heatley Spezza and Alfredson and they played them a ton and when that team started the playoffs I remember they were on fumes and as a matter of fact John Paddock actually got fired he didn't he got fired in February and

Murray took over and went back behind the bench as GM and coach now I don't see the same thing happening for the Jets this year I think they're much more balanced you know we've talked about the fact that I wonder if they look for one more big strong physical defenseman although when you're 13 and one you're not complaining too much about how a team is playing but I don't like they don't remind me of that like that's San Artin they burnt out their best players so quickly it caught up to them I don't see the same thing happening with Winnipeg. Like as a matter of fact, there was a time in this game tonight where Arneal actually went to a bit of a blender and changing some of his lines around

because he didn't like the way things were going. So that's the biggest difference I see between those two teams. I'm fascinated by this Jets team. I think the way that they finished last season and they lost a couple players in free agency and the other thing that's going on right now here too Kyle is that they have five players and some of them are very important players who are UFAs at the end of the year. So you have a lot of things that can pull you in a lot of directions but right now they're just focused on what matters and that's winning games and they're doing it better than

anyone else in the league you're right and i go back to your earlier point about what went wrong for them against colorado last year in the playoffs you remember two seasons ago it was kind of early on in the second half of of the year where things started to get rocky and they were never really able to right the ship and lost to Vegas in five games that year so that for me why I'm kind of going it's great to see how they've come out but once that first rough patch hits them, because surely at some point it will, how do they handle it? That'll, I think, go a long way about telling us if this Jets team is a little bit different than the previous versions the last couple of seasons,

even though there's a lot of similar faces in the lineup. When it comes to hockey in Canada right now, there are some teams Toronto's one Winnipeg's one Vancouver they're still on the upswings they're not totally there yet but they're getting there Edmonton's kind of another one even though they're having a really tough start to the season where it's hard to impress your fans during the first 82. Like sure, like that crowd in Winnipeg was bonkers tonight. It was a great atmosphere. It really came through on television but and you enjoy big games and fun games but it's basically show me. It's basically this is an 82 game dress rehearsal until the playoffs start and then we'll see what you're

really made of the problem is you can't you can't convince anybody now now it's like like we said it's the dress rehearsal and that's the thing like I'm watching this Winnipeg game tonight and it's a great game like I said the crowd was spectacular it It was entertaining hockey, but they beat Colorado 1-0. It's a great night for the Jets, and whether it happens right after the game or during the game or it happens half an hour after the game, everybody's saying what you just said, which is, that was nice. Can't wait to see if it happens again in the playoffs the regular season is not a reward for any of these guys for the maple leaves the jets teams like that the oilers teams like that the maple season is sort of like your empty calories your colonel's popcorn before the true meal begins

oh don't drink popcorn into this empty Empty calories, but totally worth it. And just a reminder, you've got to at least... I'm not a big popcorn guy. You're not? No. Oh, okay. You're more chips. Chocolate.

Chocolate. Okay. Chocolate is my weakness. I cannot turn away from chocolate. I am a weak man around chocolate. I know we want to talk about this hit in Vancouver, LA. But I also wanted to quickly shout out, just while we're talking about big wins on Thursday night,

I wanted to quickly shout out Fedotov in Philadelphia. He wasn't even supposed to start today. The other goalie got hurt in the morning skate. Philly, since they were in Tampa, like in the morning, when you're on the road, you're the later team. So you don't skate till 1130. And just think about it. Like Erson's hurt. He's not playing. He's not ready to get back and Fedotov supposed to be your backup and the other goalie gets hurt. Now think about it, your AHL team is in Lehigh Valley. If you're if you notice at noon that your only other option is injured, do you think you're gonna be able to get

someone from Lehigh Valley to Tampa? No. You know seven hours before the game you're using the ebug. So and Fedotov has really struggled and when he gave up that wraparound goal to Kucherov, like people were ripping him. Like go check social. People were ripping him. But to his credit, he held strong. He beat a good team in Tampa on the road. And the other thing with this Mishkov benching, Kyle, you know as well as I do, there's a danger your team goes off the rails in a game like this. You're down to one NHL goalie, you've benched your rookie who's already one of your best offensive players and it's clear that his teammates like this guy. They like

Mitch Goff. So it can go off the rails and when a team plays hard in a game like that where there's a lot of excuses to go wrong, that says to me, regardless of the results, because Philly's near the bottom of the league, you have players who have not quit. You have players who are playing hard. They've got pride. And they're saying, we have every reason to get pounded in this one tonight, but we're going to grind out a victory.

That says a lot about you know despite the results where that team kind of is and how motivated they still are to perform so i have to ask you though with mishkov being a healthy scratch does that taint his eligibility in any way for a calder trophy nomination if it were to come to it at the end of the year. Okay, Philadelphia people, that's Kyle Bukoskis. I'm just asking the question. On social. Don't send any of this patented Philly abuse my way. Go send it to him.

No, of course not. He's totally fine. Lots of runway for Mishkov there. You know, I have to say, you kind of knew that this was going to happen. To me, it was early. Not that Tortorella's going to care about my opinion. And like I said, the team didn't melt down

or give up or anything like that. I will say I was surprised it happened this quickly. I'm with you on the Calder thing. I just wanted to hear what you would say. And you did not disappoint. I threw you under the bus. That's exactly what I've come to expect on this show. Okay, let's get to Besser.

The hit he took from Tanner Jeannot in Los Angeles in the first period. Jeannot assessed a match penalty. And as you say, Besser did not return to the game the rest of the night. That was just a tough one to watch, wasn't it? The number one thing I look at when there's any head contact is, does Besser do anything at the last second that gives Genoa or anybody who hits him an excuse to hit his head? Does he move his head at the last moment? Does he make a sudden movement that a player can't alter their path? And the answer here is no. Like Besser's head does not move.

That responsibility is on Genoa to not make contact with the head or not pick the head and you know sometimes if a player comes back, you can escape a further suspension because they'll say oh he got kicked out with 50 minutes left in the game. It was you know just after 10 minutes into the first period. That's long enough but now that Besser's hurt and he didn't come back that's not going to help Jeannot here so he a match penalty is an automatic review and that obviously was going to get reviewed anyway and Jeannot's got to know he's in danger of more games for this one. You can't do that.

The responsibility is on him. And it's turned into just a bit of an ugly night in LA too, Elliot, just on the injury front because on top of Besser leaving the game, we saw Mikey Anderson take a point shot to the side of the head. Thankfully, he was able to turn his head right at the last second, so it didn't hit him head on, but still cut open wasn't a pretty sight on the ice another thing you just never like to see as he went off in a hurry no and uh unfortunately he didn't come back so i hope he's all right that was really ugly all right you mentioned the ottawa senators 0708 version earlier how about

the current edition of the sands i mean you were on with marchese and fuda on wednesday talking about the bad loss for ottawa in buffalo tuesday follow it up with a tough one against the islanders at home on thursday full credit to the islanders, though. We know how short man they are. And to grind out a win on a road there after beating the Penguins earlier in the week. But that's two regulation losses for the Sens. It's an interesting situation that this team is in because, as you said, what an opportunity against the sabers to send a message not only to buffalo but the rest of the atlantic division and the group of teams

that are trying to emerge and establish themselves in the eastern conference but they didn't and then another loss against the rangers we hear about some good things that they did they still get nothing out of it results wise i'm looking at what's coming their way now. They're in Boston on Saturday, Elliot. Lena Salmark's first game back against the Bruins. And then they go to Toronto at the early part of next week. Two more divisional matchups. It feels, I understand it's early. I'm not here to make things overdramatic, but it just seems like we're going to learn a lot about what this edition of the Ottawa Senators are going to be about

over the next two games and what they show after letting some opportunities slip here over the last few days. Well, this is going to be a big money on the board game. I was listening to you talk about that for a second there and I'd forgotten that they were playing in Boston on Saturday that's going to be a big money on the board game because both Allmark and Swayman are going to be expected to put up good money there because even though like nobody looks at Allmark as a bad guy or anything like that it's still a pride game.

It's a pride game for Allmark. It's a pride game for Swayman. And so there's going to be a big chunk for the postseason party on the wall for both teams. It's a pride game, an absolute pride game. an absolute pride game what we need young Bukowskis is that spider-man meme the the spider-man pointing at each other and we need it for the senators the sabers and the red wings because Ottawa has that great weekend last week where, as you mentioned, they win a game and they lose to the Rangers, even though they played fantastic and they got shisterkened. And then they followed up with two absolute clunkers this week. Buffalo, not only did they beat Ottawa, but they pounded the Rangers on Thursday night. And you know what those fans are saying, like, this is exciting.

But we've seen this before. And Detroit had a big win against Chicago the other night. But again, like all these teams do is they tantalize you. They whet your appetite. They make you think, yes, they finally put it together. They have all this talent. They are seducing us with their potential. And then they can't put it together for more than, what, two or three games, three or four games. One day, one of these teams is going gonna put the run together and

they're gonna get in but it's like you look at them right now and you're afraid to believe because you're waiting for the inevitable trapdoor to fall out and this week it happened to the Sanders. Very, very disappointing week this week and you know the other thing too is you know you mentioned it like Buffalo's a team that's in their division chasing them you can even though it's only November you can deal them a blow like the Islanders tonight they're in the other division but you know that they're going to be in that wild card battle you can deal them a blow and they can't do it so not only are you not winning games but you're allowing the teams that are chasing you and battling with you to

collect points and feel better about themselves like that's the tough thing about these teams is that just the it's like it's it's like Godfather 3 just when I thought I was out they pull me back in and then they knock you out again I do want to mention Isaiah George he's got to play the last two games like I was just up in London and of course he was a London Knight so they all love him up there and they all they all really think highly of him as a player but he's played two games now and he played 24 minutes on he played 24 minutes on Thursday against Ottawa and in both those games these the two wins the Islanders have had this week that he's played, he has been on the ice in big minutes.

He played with Noah Dodson. Yes. Key situations, late in games. And like Patrick Waugh is not saying, okay, end of game now, time to put someone more senior out there. He's like, no, no, no, no, no. He's going out there. And he's played very well

in those two situations like the Islanders look like they have a real find here and it's early and he's going to have some tough nights and there's going to be ups and downs but that kid looks like a player like nothing I've seen in the first two nights of him playing makes me think this guy is out of his depth and you know you don't want to say he's never going back to the American Hockey League because you never know what can happen but the one thing I will say is if he does go back to the American Hockey League it won't be long until we see him again. 20 years old fourth round pick for the islanders back in 2022 you say just finished up his time in london four career games in bridgeport elliott and now two with the new york islanders

not a bad way to start you know what the other thing i noticed too so after the islanders skate on thursday morning patrick was doing his media availability in the hallway at the Canadian Tire Center. And in behind, Brady Kachuk and Keith Kachuk are walking by on their way out of the building. Keith is in town visiting Brady, and I'm sure the grandson is as well. How nasty of bleep you matches between Keith Kachuk and Patrick Waugh would have occurred over their days playing in the NHL together. Like, I'm sure whenever those guys make eye contact. And in how many different languages? Exactly. Like, if you were to give truth serum and think the first thing that would come to each of those guys' minds when they saw one another, that would be fascinating. I couldn't help but think that this morning.

It's too bad they were talking. And also, after a loss, Kachuk probably isn't going to chat up Wah too much. But it would be funny to sit them down together and ask that question. You have given me an idea. Great. I'm sure luckily nobody else listens, and nobody else will ask first. All right, we'll get on that right away. In the meantime, though, we should probably talk a little bit of Nashville.

So earlier this week, Barry Trotz, and it was the quote that that got you know a lot of traction around the league uh interview on 102.5 the game in Nashville where he said that he's trying to do some things but that if the big one if we don't get it going then I'm going to start our rebuild plan they had a close but loss to Washington on Wednesday night and they play hard they played hard in that game like that was a game where they played hard for sure and then got the doors blown off them against Florida on Thursday so I mean Trotz has tried to explain kind of what he really meant by saying it was a rebuild plan so yeah yes he radioed himself unfortunately um he didn't mean the way it was interpreted you know and i'll say this right now

i hope that doesn't mean that trots stops doing these and so it used to be you know Kyle like I grew up in an era where the GM the Toronto Maple Leafs had a radio spot once a week once a week you could turn tune into there was whether it was CKY in Toronto or you know the fan you knew that the GM was coming on once a week and then he'd come on again if something big happened and this happened in every market. The GM would come on once a week and you could ask him this is what I'm thinking and it was it was their way of getting their message out. Now you know Trotz does this hit once a week on that station, as you mentioned,

in 102.5 The Game in Nashville. And, you know, I'm on there every Thursday. And he, and like, I think he's the only one who does it. I don't know if there's another GM who's on radio once a week. And it's good. It's really good. And he gets like the the hockey fans of Nashville are very well served by that interview and the only thing I ever worry about it's nothing that the radio station did wrong like the host did nothing wrong was that he sees a day like this and he's like I don't know if I should do this anymore because it's it's one word rebuild but he didn't say it in that way. Like if you listen to the whole interview, he's not talking about it. And the other thing too is, like look at the roster.

Look who's signed. In goal, Saros is newly signed for a long time. On defense, you're not trading Romagnosi and his defense partner, Brady Shea, just got signed for a long time. On defense, you're not trading Roman Yossi and his defense partner, Brady Shea, just got signed for a long time. You know, Forsberg signed a long time, Stamkos, Marcheseau, you know, Ryan O'Reilly's got a couple more years. These guys have got trade protection, Nashville's a no-tax state, so a lot of guys were happy to go there I mean these are good players and if you wanted to make some of them available I'm sure you could do something for them but you know like how many teams blow it up two months after signing all these guys so you know if you want you could

trade like a Fabbro if you want you could probably trade a Novak if you want you could trade Nyquist who's up at the end of this year but like a lot of the big pieces you have there either you're not trading or they might not allow you to trade them so you're not rebuilding in the traditional sense of the word what he's talking about and he might end up doing it anyway like after a game like that, I'm very curious to see how Barry Trotz reacts. You know does he because what he's talking about is we've got they've got some young players down in Milwaukee and maybe I give them a chance to to make their NHL debuts faster than I thought so. Like, what do we know? We've talked about this a lot. They can't get the second line center situation sorted out.

They can't find the right fit. Shea and Yossi are having trouble getting used to playing with each other. You know, Yossi's a unique guy. He plays a unique way. Now, they asked him to change it a couple years ago, and like a true captain, he did. But I still think he's kind of a unique player. Also, the way that Carolina played is very different from the way that Nashville plays.

And I think Brady Shea is still getting used to, A, a unique partner, and B, a different system. Now, the team's got to play better. They're very perimeter. They've got that hole and at number two and so maybe we all overestimated them and we should have seen all these things coming but like a true rebuild unless one of these guys is going to do what Ryan McDonough did and say look if you can send me here back to Tampa I'd like to go back. If you can send me here back to Tampa, I'd like to go back. You're not getting rid of these guys.

Like, it's just not happening. So, you know, I don't exactly know. Like, all you got to do is look at the roster and say, rebuild. They're not doing a rebuild. There's no rebuild here. They indicated this year they wanted to win you're not throwing it out after two months like i think he's frustrated i think he's trying to light a fire underneath them but this is not he's not talking about a rebuild in the true sense of the word right but that's as you say when that word is presented it's natural to think the one extreme you know

well the thing is but kyle like that's that's not acceptable like the one thing about us like we have to do our jobs and i'm far from perfect like i'm far from perfect i make mistakes all the time but the first thing i did when i heard this was, you know, I made sure I went and listened to it. Because the other thing too about Barry Trotz is he is not known for short answers. Like everything he says has a lot of nuance to it. He thinks he's a thinker. Like, you know, anybody who covers the Predators who has dealt with Barry Trotz before, you should know that almost nothing he says is meant

to be parsed in a single sentence. That's one where sometimes we walk into our own trouble and I'm as guilty of that as anyone is. Sometimes I walk myself into trouble. I don't think he walked himself into trouble. I think this was one where quite simply he maybe used one word that gets interpreted a certain way and instead of people listening to the whole thing it got turned into tear down complete rebuild and that's not what he meant no i agree and for all the reasons

you laid out and though we believe bar Barry Trotz to be a very bold person and not afraid to think outside the box, couldn't see him going down that path this early into things. It just doesn't make sense, as you say. And the thing is, too, is that, like, Yossi's not going anywhere. Saros is not going anywhere. Saros is not going anywhere. Like which of those players would you want to trade? And secondly, how many of those players would have the power to block it

and would be willing to change it? And you've got to give it a bit of time. As frustrating as the start has been. Like what happens? What's my line? When you're struggling, do the other GMs throw you a life preserver? No, they throw you an anvil. Like here's a perfect example.

Look at Buffalo the last couple of weeks. They're out there looking to see what's available for them to help their team. And all of a sudden these rumors come out about Byron. And you know what, how that happened? Because Kevin Adams is out there saying, I want to help my team. And people are saying, oh, well, you want to treat me bull in Byram? I can help you. He's like, come on, I'm trying to make my team better.

I think another guy he got asked about was Dylan Cousins. I heard there were a few teams that were asking about, and Kevin Adams is like, I'm not interested in doing that. Like, how does that make me better? And like, if you're going to show him a trade that makes him better, then he'll think about something. But what kind of trade are you going to make with, like, I know Dylan Cousins had a really tough start to the start of this year,

but he signed, he's still young, he's a talented kid. Like, show me how you're making that deal, and you're going to be better. And that's the way he thinks. Kyle, you know the other thing I was thinking about with Nashville? What's that? The other thing this says to me is, and we'll see if I'm right, or we'll see if I'm right or we'll see if I'm wrong, next game someone notable could be sitting. And the thing that you're weighing about this, if

you're brunette and trots, so I looked at the standings today, both the Jets and the Predators have played 14 games. The Jets are 17 points ahead of the Predators. That's wild after 14 games. So part of you is sitting there saying, I have to do something to get these guys attention. But the other part of you is saying I can't throw two points away. I understand this yin and yang. I can take someone out of my lineup. I can send the shockwaves through the veteran gets scratched because right now who's getting scratched? It's it's Tomasino. It's Evangelista. It's McCarron, it's Novak or Sissons if they're hurt.

But if you really want to send the message, it's someone you're expecting to play. And that gets noticed. But you can't throw games. You need your best lineup every game from here on in you can see why sometimes nhl coaches struggle with sleep at night you know i'll say something else too i just got a note while we were doing this and this person said to me did you see Mike Sullivan after the game they got pounded by Carolina so here's his quote I'm using Josh you always in information here so credit because I don't know how many reporters were there

so I'm using Josh's information. I thought we had a lot of guys who played really hard and didn't get rewarded for their efforts. I think there were a few guys that didn't live up to the expectations and I guess someone, I don't know who, but whoever it was, good on them. Do you believe that some of your players didn't play hard? And he says, I thought a lot of the group tonight played extremely hard. So he's saying, no, some of my players did not play hard, but he's not giving it to you. play hard but he's not giving it to you but you know what that does that means everybody's gonna be guessing all the Penguins fans all the media they're gonna be guessing who's he talking about and Sullivan knows that that's his way

of saying I'm mad at somebody or a couple people. I'm not going to call them out by name. But how I'm going to make your life a little uncomfortable is everybody's going to be able to guess. And I guarantee to you, whoever he's referring to knows exactly who they are. And the other players in Pittsburgh they know exactly who he's talking about same thing you know when when when Pittsburgh plays next is there someone missing and you say okay now I know who he's talking about or does he or is this his way of challenging that player and hope he responds

and that's the one thing about mike sullivan as you know elliot over the course of his time in pittsburgh he really doesn't criticize players publicly in any fashion this would be as close to doing that as mike sullivan would get so you know it's serious if he's even this close to that line. He wants everyone to know he's unhappy with someone, but he's going to stop short of saying who it is. Now, while we were talking here, because I got that text, I was going through and looking at it and I have to say well I'm doing exactly what I just said I was gonna do his plans working

I have fallen into the Mike Sullivan trap I think I if you look at the Pittsburgh first goal, he calls out a play on the first goal and it looks like it's Eric Carlson. Unless I'm missing something that I'm not seeing there, it looks like it's Carlson and you know we'll see how everybody reacts over the next 24 to 48 hours but that is rare as you said he does not do that and even though he doesn't use a specific name people are going to know next week Elliot the GM meetings in Toronto and video review not a surprise expected to be part of the conversation there, especially after what we've seen this past week. How do the general managers go about attacking it this time? This is nothing new that video review would be a topic of conversation for the GMs and executives that are coming to these meetings. How are they going about it this time around? Well, it was a wild week for video review.

about it this time around? Well, it was a wild week for video review. Number one, there was the Tampa goal against Winnipeg. I would have loved to have been, had access to a wiretap of Kevin Sheveldayoff's phone after that one. I really would have loved to have heard his conversations with the league. You know, there was the weird one in Colorado, Colorado, Seattle,

where initially they called it an offside, and then they realized that Seattle had shot the puck. And I heard Josh Manson was the player who actually noticed it and was adamant about it. And then so they had to do the review a second time. It wasn't a Colorado challenge. noticed it and was adamant about it and then so they had to do with the review a second time it wasn't a Colorado challenge it was you know apparently the the referee went on to the headset and said wait a second we better take a look farther back and they determined it

um that was a wild scene I'd never seen that one before and you know there was also the Islander one that Patrick Waugh was mad about with Achari in the Pittsburgh zone and there were two things they were looking at there. Achari skates on the ice and I guess the puck hits Raquel's stick when Raquel's stick is still on side. Like the whole like it was just a crazy, crazy week for stuff. And, you know, it was funny. I got a few calls about some of the stuff we said on the pod and some of the stuff I talked about the radio. I still think that Winnipeg one should have been no goal. I think it should have been taken off.

But one manager said to me, he thinks that the reason it counted was because there was so much carnage in the crease. Like there are so many people in the crease and so many people bumping into Hellebuck that he was like, he thought the league looked at it and was like, you know what? Everybody interfered with Hellebuck here, including his own players. Now, I still disagree with that, but that's what he thought the league was looking at. The other thing I was reminded about this week is that when Bettman brought replay in, he said he only wanted things overruled if they were dead wrong. I reported it then. I was reminded of it this week is that that was the phrase he

used he used dead wrong so that is the standard they're trying to adhere to and you know again people can decide if they agree or disagree I'm just saying I was reminded that this week I also think it's possible like if you go back to when that Colorado Seattle thing happened it was around the same thing as that Dylan Holloway situation around the same time as that Dylan Holloway situation happened in the St. Louis Tampa game so I think it was just a really crazy time it was it was just a really crazy time and that may have been why some you know details got missed and the great news is that Holloway played on Thursday night against Utah it was I

was happy to hear especially when you know you heard his parents were there like that's got to be frightening for the parents and I heard the blue like I heard the blues were great with them and took a made sure to take good care of them but it was great to see Holloway back in the lineup on Thursday night so somebody said to me and this was not anybody with the league this was someone from another team and they just said that they really think that that was one of the reasons it was just Tuesday night it was just a crazy night but nevertheless Kyle as you said it's been a crazy week for replay and I think they want to have a conversation about...

Now this meeting is only a three-hour meeting, like the one that we have in March after the trade deadline is three days, two nights and they really sit down and they have a big conversation. This is just sort of like the mini meeting. There's a lot of reports that are given. But what they do is they start talking about things. They say, okay, what are the big picture conversations we want to have in March? Let's throw them on the table. Let's brainstorm and let's start to lay the groundwork. And I heard that one of the conversations they're going to have is,

what do we want replay to be and so and I don't think anything's going to change this year I think this will be a post this year conversation but like like one guy said to me when there's a scrum and somebody does something that they should get a penalty for do you want the video review room saying to the referees, hey you missed this, you should penalize a guy for that. Do you want less? Do you want more? Do you want other things that are not, like where do you really want this to go? I think they want to have one big conversation about it.

And we kind of have these talks and we've tinkered with the rules and generally I'm the kind of guy who thinks get the call right at the end of the day that's the most important thing but I just think the overall temperature around it they want to have a they want to have a discussion about it and see where it goes and I believe when it comes to video review like this will forever be like the morning ralph morning sam of the nhl where it's like routine every once in a while whether it's something that kind of kickstarts the conversation again or a slow build there will be the need to sit down and discuss in one way or another that very idea of where do we want to go for video

review because you say going back to gary betman's line about only when it comes to something that is dead wrong there's plenty of scenarios over the course of a game where that would apply but there's also some where it's too gray to even allow that ultimate conclusion to come to the forefront like we talk about again that tampa winnipeg goal like you can't you can't i don't think you can arrive to a dead wrong or dead right when it comes to those things like there's too much variation and that's just the nature of of this sport it's not an issue with with one thing over another i believe it's just the nature of this sport. It's not an issue with one thing over another. I believe it's just the nature of how this game is played. It'll never be a perfect science.

I suppose it's more so the idea of the sport evolving with the technology, with the review angles that are available at any given moment. that are available at any given moment. But I think this whole idea of seeing where do we want video review to go will always be a part of the game as we move forward. Don't you think? Yes. But I think the key thing is what the standard is supposed to be. Don't change the call unless it's dead wrong.

I agree. I keep going back to that one, Ottawa-Seattle last Saturday night. In that moment, that was the first Ottawa goal. In that moment, I thought the referee made 100% the right call because he saw that stabbing motion, and he's like, nope, that's no goal. And that has been consistent with the way it's been called. It had been called before that. And then when they looked at the review they saw oh wait the puck was there and Cousins made a legitimate attempt to poke at the puck

and then they overruled the call like to me that's the way it's supposed to work the referee sees what he sees he's perfectly justified in making that call in the moment I thought the same thing the official did then when they looked at it they're like oh you know you couldn't see it but this was there change the call good goal like that's the way it's supposed to work um you know the the thing that scares me about it right now just overall is that like we're having all these crazy calls Kyle in October and November like these games aren't supposed to matter as much. Just wait till it's February, March, April, playoffs.

If this is what we're seeing now, imagine what we're going to see when the intensity is at fever pitch. Yeah, every year. Every year you worry about that, right? Games with major consequences and video review comes into the equation. How is it all going to shake out? I'm with you 100%. So I think they're going to say to them, what are we thinking here? Long term, what's the future of it? are we thinking we'll see where they go all right yes we will and

that will lead us to the final thought which is brought to you by gmc so elliot earlier on thursday the ncaa division one council voted to make canadian hockey league players eligible for Division I hockey, effective August 1st, 2025. This felt more like a formality more than anything else, Elliot, because, I mean, we had talked about it on this podcast a couple of times, the momentum that had been building towards ultimately landing in this space. It seemed like today's news was really a foregone conclusion it was i think we all knew it was going to happen there were some people who got dragged into it kicking and screaming but at the end as thanos says kyle it was inevitable there were a couple things that

really stood out to me here number one coming from the bakacauskas league the Western Hockey League don't call it that well there is a Bacauskas in it so therefore it is the Bacauskas league the Western Hockey League Dan Neer is the commissioner he released a statement and there was one line in the third paragraph that really stood out to me we are thrilled that upon graduation from the WHL, players will have additional options. Now, if I was not a hockey reporter or a media person, I would have gone to law school. I would have been terrible.

I would have been miserable. But that would have been my choice. When you hear that sentence, we are thrilled that upon graduation from the WHL, what does that make you think? Well, is it suggesting that until you fulfill your eligibility in the Western Hockey League at that time, players would be able to go to the NCAA if they so wish to do, but a league can't implement that, can they? Well, first of all, I would say with my law degree

earned online from a nation with no extradition treaty to Canada, that's exactly what it says to me. That the WHL is putting a stake in the ground and saying, you cannot leave until you've finished your contract with us. Now I don't know if that's enforceable. I don't know but I think it's significant because one of the things that we've discussed is that this

is going to be the Wild West. I don't think people here, if you don't follow NCAA sports over the last couple years, you have no idea what we are about to get into players are transferring every year they've got more power than ever Nick Saban the great Alabama football coach admitted that one of the reasons he was done was because he didn't want to deal with this anymore Gino Auriemma who's the great basketball coach very successful women's basketball coach at Connecticut he's mad about this like you can find coaches everywhere who are complaining about this they're saying the players should learn to tough it out if they don't like where they are after one year they're just going somewhere else like to me it's an overcorrection the players used to

have the least power now they've got a lot of power and they're flexing their muscles. So I think that that to me is the WHL saying yeah we know what's been going on and we know this is about to come to hockey, this is our stake in the ground. We're saying you can't do this and we'll find out if that holds water or not. But what it says to me is that these leagues are preparing for chaos. They have no idea what's going to happen. They have no clue how this is going to play out. I was in London this week at a fundraiser for Western's hockey team and they're sitting there saying some of the people there were saying

They're wondering if players are gonna play in the CHL They're gonna go to the NCAA and then if they don't like their situation there They'll come back to Canada and play for a youth sports team. Like is that gonna be allowed you can transfer Like how is it all going to work? transfer, like how is it all going to work? There's all sorts of questions about these USHL teams. How many of them are going to jump to the CHL? There's no question. I was told this by several people today.

The CHL is looking at expanding its footprint into the United States. How would that look for them? What could they do? But they're thinking about it. And maybe the USHL teams are those teams. Maybe they're talking about expansion. Like someone was saying to me today that what he would look at at the map is Massachusetts.

Like could the Quebec League go into there? Like could the Quebec League go into there? You know, someone was saying to me that he's wondering if the CHL awards next year's Memorial Cup to Madison Hat. Now, look, I don't know what Gavin McKenna is thinking. Please don't put any words in this kid's mouth but he said that if he was the Canadian Hockey League he would they would do everything in their power that he wouldn't even think of being tempted of going to the NCAA next year hey you know you're gonna be in the Memorial Cup because Madison's hat it's gonna have it like all of this stuff is gonna be going on and the other thing they're gonna

have to figure out is right now if you're drafted out of the chl they get to the nhl teams get to keep your rights for two years if you're drafted out of the ushl the ncaa they get to keep your rights for four years well what happens if you're drafted into one and then you go to the other remember there was a famous case a few years ago mike van ryan where he went from the ncaa to the canadian hockey league and he got his free agency and so and one thing i'd heard you know someone told me the ncaa had gone to the nhl and they say how do you feel about all this? The NHL was like, we're not getting involved in this.

This is your problem. But the NHL and the Players Association, the one thing that they know they have to sortBA is going to be up after next year, and there seems to be a lot of optimism that it can be done this year. There's no question. They've already started talking about this. Like, how are we going to deal with that? What's going to be our plan? Because I can guarantee you this agents and players, they probably don't want a situation where they give up.

Like right now, like I said, if you're a CHL player and you aren't signed in two years, you're a free agent. Now, most of the players are all signed. Like it's almost never a good player gets there. But if you're a player like in in the league says hey we want to change that to four years on principle do you argue and say why would I want to give up two years like so I don't know what the all the answers are here but they're you know there's a lot to figure out to me though that was the most interesting thing is that near statement possibly written by your younger brother said that that's what stood out to me the

most wouldn't that be something my little brother the brains behind dan near all along would be so proud of him. I am proud of him. I'm going to buy a good steak dinner for the first NHL player that looks at you in an interview and says, is your younger brother trying to make players pass harder to get to the NCAA? Yeah, I'm not going to hold my breath on that one. I'm not going to hold my breath on that one. Well, it's interesting.

They point out that recruiting can begin immediately, but it probably already has begun, knowing that this was coming in some places. And I just think of, I mean, you've been quoting some Marvel lines earlier. I'll go DC and think of the line from the Joker. And here we go. Like it is all about to begin in Oregon.

It's like the development path and model is going to completely change here in North America. A hundred percent. It's, it's like I said, it's going to be, it's going to be carnage. And Heath Ledger deserved the Oscar for that performance. Superhero movies don't often get Oscar consideration. He deserved it for that one. What a great quote. What a great movie.

That'll do it for The Final Thought, presented by GMC. When we come back, it's the Thought Line. You're listening to 32 Thoughts, the podcast. All right. Time now for the Thought Line. 1-833-311-3232. The email, 32thoughts at sportsnet.ca. Elliot, before we can move forward with this,

we have to look back for just a second. Last podcast, you went after me, attacked me for how I begun the interview with Sidney Crosby this past Saturday on Hockey Night in Canada. For those that need a refresher or didn't hear it, Dom, let's refresh the minds of our listeners. Oh, by the way, we were kind of ripping you after the show because you're welcome because you asked Crosby in the post game how many times he'd been first star and I thought you knew the answer like we were like what kind of guy asked the question without knowing the answer

because he didn't know and I thought you were going to pop the number right at him so we were all looking at you and saying if you're going to ask you got to know the answer now I by the way I would like to say for the record I wasn't the only one ripping you i want to gleefully point out that there was an entire team of people ripping you and i'm here to say i am not about to run and hide from any criticism it was warranted it was warranted and so the next day i got an email from bob grove Pittsburgh, who actually is a great follow on X. Bob Grove, great guy. Great guy. Yes. As you know, tracks a lot of historical stuff, stats and other notes about the Pittsburgh Penguins. informed us that Saturday night was the 201st time in Sidney Crosby's career,

both regular season and playoffs, that he was selected the first star of the game. How about that? First of all, Bob, thank you. And I'm trying to decide if 201 is higher or lower than I would have expected. So about 10 a season. And you have to think on the road, even if you're brilliant. He's been playing 20 years.

Such an old man now. Yeah. Well, I guess a little bit higher because he's now entering, this is the 20th season. So a little bit more than 10 a season. You're about right. You're about right.

Wow. So Bob saved me there. Bob by the way I have another one that reminded me that there's there was another note I got from a fan on X which I'm now looking for here we had the conversation last week about Ace Bailey oh yes the the basketball player at right yes the basketball Ace Bailey records who I I've been following now and we're a curse because as you pointed out he got hurt so but have you seen the starting quarterback at the University of Miami? No. Cam Ward.

Oh, wow. So I can't find the tweeter who gave me that information, but I'm just shouting it out that someone reached out to me with the name Cam Ward, and I love it. it out that someone reached out to me with the name Cam Ward and I love it. I think that's great. I will take all of these hockey names playing other sports for $1,000, please. You got it. Yeah. You need great goaltending. You need a great quarterback to win. That's awesome. All right. To this week's thought line, Frej. We will begin across the pond in Brighton, United Kingdom. Brady and Brianna. Hey, Kyle, Elliot, and Dom. We're both originally from Kitchener-Waterloo, but now live overseas. Love the podcast. We're

watching the Jets and Lightning game game and Brianna just mentioned how cool it would be if all seven Canadian teams made the playoffs. That got us wondering, when was the last time every Canadian team made the playoffs in the same season? The amount of Canadian teams has fluctuated throughout the history of the NHL and we're pretty sure

it hasn't happened since the Jets came back in 2011. You're right, it hasn't. It definitely happened back in the original six days, but did it ever happen after that? Thanks for all the awesome work you guys do. Yes, it hasn't happened since 2011. It's been a little while. Can I make a guess?

Of course, this is what we're here for. It happened in the 80s when at some point, when it was Vancouver, the two Alberta teams, Winnipeg, Toronto, Montreal and Quebec. I'm going to guess it was like 84 or 86 or something like that. I remember this happening. You are coming out of the gates hot for each 1986. Yes, I quit. I might as well just retire now that was great and of course that was the year that calgary and montreal met in the final

okay so i you got this i remember 16 years old that was a big year for me for reasons I will not be explaining on this podcast. What? Come on. No, no, I'm not. No, we are not going there. But it was Vancouver played Edmonton the first round. They got hammered. Then there was a battle of Alberta. That was the Perry-Berizan year. So they met in the second round. I think Calgary beat Winnipeg in the first round.

Toronto, well, Montreal, obviously, they won the Stanley Cup. Toronto, that was the year they beat Chicago and lost to St. Louis in seven games. And I think if I remember correctly, Quebec upset Hartford in the first round, and I think they lost to Montreal. Am I right here? You were right about Toronto. Quebec lost to Hartford.

They got swept. Oh, right. So the other way around. Hartford beat, and then Claude, that's right. I'm sorry. Claude Lemieux scored the goal in game seven that knocked out Hartford. That's right.

That's right. That was a great series. Jeez. Am I right about the other stuff? Yes. Let me see here. Yep. Calgary beat Winnipeg, Edmonton over Vancouver,

and then Calgary beats Edmonton in the second round. Montreal, of course, went all the way. They beat the Rangers in the conference final. Yeah, you were all right there. Toronto over Chicago and then fell to St. Louis. Yeah, I think Toronto was something like 40 points behind Chicago and beat them and swept them in the playoffs. Back when that first round was a best of five.

Yes. Yeah, 3-0. Yeah, it was – I remember – again, we're not going there, but I remember those playoffs really well. Clearly you do. Great. Awesome start. Okay, next comes from Anonymous.

Okay. Anonymous from Parts Unknown. Just had a question regarding what player requirements are while injured. I work for a company that will do everything in their power to get an injured worker back to work on a return to work program, or in other words, light duties to keep work safe premiums down. I just wondered if NHL players have any job-related responsibilities while injured or if the main focus is for them to be doing everything possible to rehabilitate the injury and sitting around until they are healthy enough to play again.

Like, I don't know, making them go scout another game or fill the water bottles for the boys. Yes, make work projects while injured. That's actually a really interesting question. You know what? I like the real-world attempt at applications here. I think that's actually that's actually a really interesting question i you know what i think i like i like the real world attempt at applications here i think that's very interesting the answer is they they rehab right and the only other the only time there really becomes issues is if it ever gets to a point where the team and the player like the ryan johansson situation for

example where the team and the player argue about whether or not it there's the players ready to play or the and there's a dispute about whether or not that's the case right so other than that it is it's just rehabbing and you know the one thing that does happen is for example Jake Muzzin with the Maple Leafs he moved back to California and he was doing some scouting for them now they can't force him to do it he has to want to do it but he is a player who has done that now there are cases where they can ask a player do you want to do some scouting like Jake Muzzin his contract ended last year with Toronto but I know that he was doing some player

development slash scouting I wouldn't even know how to properly describe it with for them but the player has to be willing to do it they can't be you can't say to someone hey if you don't do, you're not going to be able to collect your salary. So that's the closest thing I can give you in terms of what you're asking. Great. Great question, whoever you are. Next, Taylor in Leduc. Hi, Elliot. And he stops there.

He just says, hi, Elliot. So this is all you here. Oh, well, well, you know what? There's nobody else to even say hello to. Okay, perfect. I feel the NHL missed an opportunity with this Four Nations Cup to include all of their superstars.

Since the league is hosting the event, they could have been a little more creative with the players from the countries who don't compete on the four teams. Wouldn't it be cool to say each team was allowed to import players just for this tournament? Hypothetically, what if each team was allowed to import players just for this tournament hypothetically

what if each team could draft two players not currently in the four selected countries you would think canada would grab one of the russian superstar goalies would dry side will be the top pick or is that just me being an oilers homer thanks for taking the question and i look forward to hearing about your mock drafts well i i don't think you're being an oilers homer on this one because if there was a draft for players who were not on one of these four countries nobody would be surprised if dry settle was the number one pick like like right now who would beat him maybe like i could see a situation where say for argument's sake if canada had the number one pick they might take shisterkin right like that's the only guy off the top of my head I think you you'd even think

would be taken over Dreisaitl so I don't think you're I don't think you're being an Oilers homer there it's perfectly perfectly reasonable um it's a great idea I know why it's not happening I think it's a great idea the funny thing about this is that I actually really like the idea of them coming back with you know a team Europe or a team like team North America the the younger team that they had but the NHL very quickly rejected those ideas this time around they they don't want it, especially the under 20, the under 23 team, because they're like, those guys want to play for Canada or the US. And we're not doing that again, even though people loved it, even though people really

liked it. And Team Europe, much rather, they didn't initially, but they took everyone's hearts in the tournament. And I'm still mad eight years later that Canada didn't play them they took everyone's hearts in the tournament and I'm still mad eight years later that Canada didn't play them in a playoff round. It would have been an unbelievable game. Those guys would have come out super motivated to try to beat Canada. But I just don't think they ever wanted that again.

They don't like it. It was country or nobody. And you know the thing about Russia is that it's still an issue. However people feel about it here in North America, I can guarantee you that people in Finland or Sweden, the Czechs are not in this tournament, but the Finns and the Swedes, they feel much more passionately about it than the North Americans do. Okay, Taylor, thank you for the question.

We will wrap with Kyle in Nashville. Hello, Elliot, Dom, and Kyle from a fellow Kyle in Nashville. I've been listening to the show for a couple years, and I'm really enjoying all the questions making Elliot think of obscure hockey references and players. I'd like to add my own into the mix. Do you know who is the only player to have won the Kelly Cup in the ECHL, the Calder Cup in the AHL, and Stanley Cup in the NHL? P.S. For Kyle, are you aware that there is a yearly attempt

to break the Guinness World Record? The largest gathering of Kyles in Kyle, Texas. It's aptly named the Gathering of the Kyles. Thanks for all you guys do and keep up the good work. Yes, I am aware. Actually, and when they tried to do that last year, it was, I think it last year was late May. It almost coincided, Frege, when we were down in Dallas

for the Western Conference Final when the Stars were playing. How far is Kyle from Dallas? I looked it up. I think it was about a four-hour drive. So a bit of a hike, but it would have made for a hell of an off day. I got it. I would have taken you. I would have driven. I wanted to see, I wanted to do it. I bet you that is probably the weirdest group of people that anyone will ever see is a whole bunch of Kyle's. So I would have taken you to it. Yes,

we would, we embrace the weird. That would have been phenomenal. Trust me, I looked into it. I promise you I did. Hey, man, I would, too. I think that I actually think that's really good. Like I put it this way. If if it comes up again

and you need someone to back you up on a broadcast to do ringside for you in a broadcast so you can attend the gathering of Kyles, I will do it. Can you imagine what that phone call looked like? Hey, Sportsnet, I know I'm scheduled to work this Saturday. Hey, there's a gathering of Kyles. That's right.

Have you heard of this place called Kyle's? Can't work Western Conference Game 7. I've got to meet up with all the Kyles. That's right. Hey, priorities. You get to be a part of history. I know they fell short last year, so I think they're going to keep trying. I think that's really cool.

I do. I think that's... I love the idea. Okay, what was the question? Back to Kyle's original question. The one player to have won the Kelly Cup, Calder Cup, and Stanley Cup. This one I actually knew. I didn't have to look up.

Was his name Kyle? Is his name Kyle? No, it's not. Good one, Tom. I mean, I know, obviously, I know the coach, Jared Bednar. He was the first coach to do it. Yep. How recent?

Stanley Cup, fairly recent. Within the last 10 years. Give me the team. That he won the Stanley Cup with? Yeah. Washington. One eternity later. I would never have gotten this without the hint.

And this is going, like I'm going deep, deep, deep onto their roster. Like I'm going back and I'm thinking about, like I'm thinking about like a depth defenseman, like a Nick Jensen or a depth forward like like a j beagle bang there it is is it j beagle really it's j beagle i would never have gotten that without the hint kelly cup with idaho in 2007 and uh two back-to-back calder Cups with Hershey in 0-9 and 10. Yeah, I wasn't getting that without the hint.

And then I just started trying to remember all the guys in the roster. But you got there. That's a great question. That's a great question. That doesn't count. I needed the hint. The other one before, the last time all Canadians teams, I had that one. That one I did not have i

needed help okay kyle thank you for that question a great way to to wrap up actually before we wrap up the thought line elliott so earlier this week uh i went and spoke to a group of journalism students ian mendez who right now is the one the main pr guys with the ottawa senators but for years as you know worked as a reporter and a writer in the Ottawa market. He teaches a journalism program in the city. And at the end of the conversation, after I was done boring the students to death, he brought up just a suggestion. His idea was you and I to do, whether it's just a straight in the booth a broadcast of an ottawa

senator's game at some point or manning castile but like a 32 thoughts broadcast of an nhl game i thought i'd bring it up and see what elliot thinks i would do that why not having you was there not a time where you were thrown it you did play play-by-play in a pinch for an NHL game? I did play-by-play of one NHL game, and it was an Ottawa-Philadelphia game. Yes. That is true. I did do an Ottawa-Philadelphia game from Philadelphia. And I also did one women's hockey game at the Olympics out of nowhere

because a commentator who was supposed to call that game got sick like right before the game and they needed that game broadcast and it was I believe it was it was in Italy it was in 2006 and I believe it was a women's quarterfinal between the USA and Finland it was definitely the US and I think the other team from Finland. And whoever was, got sick right before the broadcast. I said, look, if you need me, I can call it. And I called it. So I think I've called two hockey games, one NHL and one Olympics. Got it. And there was a time where when you were working ringside, didn't Shirely Najak put you between the benches for a game?

Yeah, I did terrible. I think I did two games, but he pulled me because I didn't do very well. And I admit that one was on me more than him. I didn't do as well as I could have. I just remember the one line that you had of, there's a lot of bad language down here. Foul language was the phrase I used. That was one of the reasons I did not get another game after that I have to tell you it's it's pretty dangerous down there I there was there was one thing that happened uh between Nathan Horton and Dion Phaneuf and you just realized

like the level of what things you see down there that you don't often see somewhere else and i just saw horton got so mad at funoff and he didn't say anything over the line but i really thought i was going to witness a murder right in front of me oh and i remember just the passion the anger on thornton's face uh when that whatever i didn't see what caused it but I saw the reaction and oh man I was like wow to see Nathan Thornton this charged up right in front of me wow really cool so the potential 32 thoughts cast will keep you posted if there's any developments there down the road but that would be a fun one to do I'm with with you. I'd be all for trying it. Yeah, anytime. Anytime.

Anytime. And people could call in. No problem. Yeah. Intermission thought line. So thank you to everyone who wrote in again. Thanks to Griffin Porter for his efforts always in helping curate the list.

When we come back, our interview with Michael Rubin, the CEO of Fanatics, and Andrew Loakey, the Fanatics Commerce CEO on 32 Thought 32 thoughts the podcast now you may have noticed early on in this season the logo on the back of the jerseys of your favorite player or favorite team it's different this year it's the fanatics logo as this season is the first of a 10-year agreement that has Fanatics as the official uniform outfitter of the National Hockey League. Fanatics is a name that many sports fans are well aware of for good, for maybe not so good.

We had a chance to sit down with Michael Rubin, the CEO and founder of Fanatics, as well as Andrew Loeke, the CEO of Fanatics Commerce. They were very gracious with their time. We got through a whole bunch of different topics, including some of the concerns you may have about Fanatics, the brand. They were great in answering all of it and their continued partnership with the National Hockey League and where they hope to take it.

Here now, our conversation with Michael and Andrew. Gentlemen, first off, we really appreciate you Parkinson time for us here on the podcast today. And why don't we just come and address the elephant in the room right out of the gate. Andrew, you are playing hurt in this

interview. Voice isn't where it normally would be as you're battling through some things. So through all of that, thank you for still gutting out this conversation with us. Well, I'm psyched to be here with you guys. I wouldn't miss it. Like you said, sometimes you got to play hurt. That's what you do. And I'm honored to be here as well. I just want to hear Andrew's raspy voice and kind of be able to be.

This might be a one interview about just asking Andrew all the questions so we can listen to his voice the entire time. Well, we appreciate you still through all of that, gutting it out. So Michael, why don't I start with you? This question, I wonder, I mean, I'm sure there's a lot of listeners out there that when they see or hear fanatics, they think of apparel and jerseys. But of course, the company is so much more than that. There's the commerce side, also the collectibles and memorabilia side as well, and the gaming and betting side too. So how would you describe Fanatics in the year 2024? Yeah, so I feel like an entrepreneurial startup.

Our real vision is to build the greatest digital sports platform in the world. And we're just getting started at it. We're three businesses, as you said. One is the Fanatics Commerce business. That's everything we do with NHL Shop and making the hockey jerseys and operating the Fanatics.com site and all the products that we make.

But then we also have the trading card business and the sports betting business. But really what we want to do is give the sports fan you know a place to go to do anything they want to want to do uh from a um you know you know really from a digital sports perspective so whether you want to buy merchandise whether you want to um you know trade and buy collectibles bet on sports you really do that all in one place and uh the exciting thing for us is we've been at it for you know we've been at it for a minute but we feel like we just get going okay here's my first question and it's for both of you is the nhl cool i mean i grew up in vancouver i'm a lifelong

canucks fan yes definitively the nhl is cool and And what I would say about the NHL is they have the greatest fans in the world. I mean, it's like when you go to, you know, a hockey game, you just see such incredible fandom. Well, I want to keep seeing the hockey base grow and grow and grow like we do in any sport. Hockey fans are like, I mean, these are like cult-like fans. I mean, they just love their sport so much.

And that's one of the things I love about, you know, being such an important, you know, part of the hockey ecosystem. Is there anybody in particular who's in your phone who sent you a note saying, I want this jersey? And you thought, I like that. That's awesome. Travis Scott talks about hockey jerseys all the time. Wow.

Hmm. He'll travel FaceTime me and be like yo we should do this for the hockey jersey we should do that um justin who did the collab last year for all-star game i mean justin's got i just was with him last week and uh we were just doing something together we were talking about hockey here so i think people care about people care about the hockey sort of a lot of ways i think it couldn't be the favorite silhouette of any of the jerseys when you think about people. So I'm constantly surprised by whole young hip-top artists

who care about the hockey sweater. So I was looking at, Michael, it wasn't too long ago that you announced a partnership with a player like Conor Bedardard I think he's not the only hockey player that you guys have under the the fanatics umbrella as kind of the sole distributor of his officially licensed memorabilia I mean is that just the the tip of the iceberg here just under the conversation about kind of growing revenue like the opportunity to do more things with players on the collectible side of things too than maybe ever before? Yeah, look, we've always believed

that without the incredible players in sports, whether hockey or basketball, football, or baseball, whatever it is, without the incredible players that do what they do, do what they do on the ice, on the court, on the field, we don't have a business. So we really try very hard to build direct relationships with each athlete one by one.

And we have today over 3,000 individual athlete partnerships. And they're really important to us because not only can we expand what we do from an apparel perspective, from a memorabilia perspective, from a trading card perspective, but then you can really, you know, help those, you know, incredible athletes,

you know, kind of communicate better to their fans, which is so important to them. So we love that part of the business. Memorabilia is a big and growing part of our business. You know, Connor's a great example of that, but we do that with 3,000 athletes today. And, you know, I think over time, you know, we want to work with, you know,

every athlete in the world that fans care about. And, you know, quite frankly, you know, you know, hockey fans are incredible and sports fans are the best. There's nothing but opportunity for us. Okay, the jerseys. So I spoke to a few people that, you know, are very big in the jersey customization and collector world.

And one of the things on their end that they were thrilled about that you guys did was to bring back, like, the true authentic pros, as you guys name it uh those jerseys just like the players wear to be available at retail because as you know it hasn't been easy for those that love to collect that stuff uh to obtain over the last number of years i know like with those jerseys comes a bigger price tag it's not for everybody uh but my first question on the jerseys was about that and why you chose to make the authentic pro available at retail again. You know, I'll answer that first,

then Andrew may add on in that kind of raspy beat-up hockey whiz. You know, you got to listen to your fans and your customers. And what we heard from hockey fans is, well, it's a small percentage of fans that want to buy that authentic jersey. They're a really critical part of the fan base. And they spoke very loudly and said, like, they didn't like what was going on before. They didn't like they couldn't buy the same thing that hockey players were kind of playing the game in. So, you know, there were tens of thousands of fans that spoke very loudly and said, we want this jersey back.

We don't want, you know, an authentic replica made in Asia. We want like we want the same thing the players are wearing. And, you know, the other thing we heard, you know, from players was, you know, we like most things about our jersey today. And there were a few things they didn't like they were having issues with abrasion on the you know on the sleeves and that you know kind of things that were getting worn through and they didn't like the dimples on the you know the top of the jersey other than that they're like kind of we like this jersey so you know kind of make the same jersey with a few minor tweaks and so what we wanted to do was listen to

the players listen to the fans, and deliver that. And the reaction, as I think you'd say to us, has been really positive. And we've kind of proven it with our execution. I'll tell you, it's fun for me to get to go to hockey games and see people kind of skating around in our hockey sweater. Listening to fans is at the heart of what we do. And fans spoke loud and clear.

They wanted that authentic Made in Canada jersey that has the same craftsmanship, the same artisanry that the players have in the version they wear on the ice. And the factory outside of Montreal and St. Hyacinth, Quebec, has been making these hockey sweaters for 50 years. And there is real craftsmanship that go into it. And there's just some set of fans who really value that and are excited about it. And we want to deliver for everyone.

And so we were excited to bring that back. Okay. And then I'll ask about the premium jerseys too, which I guess, you know, it feels certainly from the material and certainly the way it's priced, very similar to what would have been under the previous supplier. That was their high- have raised the prices. We've certainly seen that happen in the past, but it's about the same. So along with the look of the jerseys in a lot of ways, the prices on the retail side really haven't moved that much as you guys have now come into business. Was that an important thing for you guys as well? Yeah, I think as part of doing the transition well, we didn't want to change things unless the change was really necessary. Right. Michael mentioned some of the abrasion and, you know, sleeve reinforcement that we did.

But beyond that, you know, whether it was the actual jersey template, silhouette, supply chain, the price to consumers, we didn't see a reason to change any of that. So we didn't. And look, I'll say, and I think you guys are probably attuned to this, inflation is a real thing. Obviously, if you look at us not raising that price, that's us kind of taking less margin because we really want to do the right thing by the fans. So I think keeping the prices identical from where they had been over the past period of time for that jersey and and and really having no inflation was something we just thought was the right investment to make in the hockey fan uh andrew i saw an interview with you a while ago where you talked about that every business review starts with a scorecard here's our strategy here

are the things that we feel matter and that determines how successful you are or aren't. I'm curious, can you take us through this process, your scorecard with hockey and the NHL, when you really took it over this year, and what kinds of things you have determined have been a success, and are there any things that you are looking at and saying they have not been a success for us yet? Yeah, absolutely. We you know, we want to be clear on how we want to drive our business.

And the way we want to drive the business here at Fnatic's Commerce is by putting in a fan at the center of everything we do. And when we think about, you know, then going through a business or looking at how it's doing, think about, you know, then going through a business or looking at how it's doing, everything comes through that prism and that filter of how are we doing making the experience of being a fan better? And we think about that through the lens of our products that we sell first and foremost. And so, you know, we look at what's the quality look like how are we doing uh with uh with serving you know the products customers are saying they want how are we doing with products that maybe they haven't even thought about yet like lululemon we launched with the nhl uh last week because we heard loud and clear from female consumers we have a huge opportunity to do better with.

And Lululemon is a brand that built a terrific product, another Vancouver-based company. And we saw a great opportunity to bring that to fans of the NHL. And so, you know, we start by looking at it and saying, you know, how are we doing on product? Then we say, how are we doing on the experience, right? As, you know, we run, whether it's fanatics.com or the NHL shop or club sites, you know, how can we make that the experiential aspect from, you know, what the website marketing looks like all the way through what the shipping and delivery experience is like

through, God forbid, if you need it, the customer support experience, what that looks like. like all the way through what what the shipping and delivery experience is like through god forbid if you need it the customer support experience what that looks like and we want to look at those things end to end we measure them like crazy and we push ourselves on hey what's good what what's bad and then what do we need to go do about it i wanted to ask for either one of you like i remember i mean when i was going through high school and and certainly e-commerce was coming much more of a thing and the ability to order product online with much more ease than ever before. Counterfeit jerseys started to really become prominent. You would go to games and you saw them a lot. anecdotally, I don't have any data on my other things, but I feel over the years, they're becoming less and less so prominent when going to an arena or just walking around when there is a game going on. Is that that market considered any sort of threat or issue on your

front of things? You know, counterfeit is a real issue that the sports properties and teams and players are always going to fight together with us um i just had a pretty incredible experience about one hour ago mayor who runs our pr is sitting here uh in my office with me and i was just i have uh two little kids and i got roped into going out for one hour with them, and they just decided to buy messy jerseys. And I asked how much they were after we bought them. By the way, at the Grove, in one of the nicest shopping areas in LA. And they said they were $45 for each set. And then when I said to my family,

we're going to have to throw those away because you actually just bought counterfeit jerseys. So me, the leader of licensed sports merchandise in the last hour just bought two chachas. Whoa. I was stunned by the experience. It was literally crazy. Like, I'm not paying chachas.

I'm on the phone working and literally, you know, my family picks up two counterfeit tops and bottoms of messies that sold in the Grove in an illegitimate, you know, retail environment. So I think it's more of an issue,es that sold in the grove in an illegitimate you know retail environment so i think it's more of an issue you know in the offline environment than it is in the online environment but it's something we have to forever fight there is look there's also the audience that you know she says they want to buy things and that's certainly our family who's was not not

audience but um you know it's something that I think the players, the leagues, the teams, they take it really seriously. It's still an issue. And it's one that I think we've made more progress online than we have offline of them being completely transparent. Michael, you had a great quote a few years ago about your friendship with Drake. And you said, you got to be built for social media.

You got to be tough. You got to be tough. You got to take shit from people. What I said to Drake, and I honestly believe this is that you can't get to where he's got to and not have people coming for you. You know, a company is big as fanatics. It takes its share of criticism. There's people who, uh, post things online. I'm always curious, how do you decide what criticism matters to you and what you listen to as opposed to what you say? I cannot get distracted or bothered by that.

Yeah, well, look, I have an obsession. So when I wake up every morning at four or five o'clock in the morning before I go to bed late, I'm always looking to see what people are saying andrew's exactly the same way i think we need to be good at is hearing and seeing everything and then figure it out when you think fans are right and look obviously i think more than ever uh social media there is a lot of you know just you know there is a lot of hate in social media just, you know, there is a lot of

hate in social media. And we kind of joke that X should be renamed hate. And I'm sure you guys know it. I mean, you say, well, there's hate everywhere you go, but there's also a lot of really good feedback. And I think, you know, sports fans, like we're so lucky and fortunate that we work in a business where fans are so passionate. This is not like going to Amazon and getting your toilet paper,

your toothpaste. This is about reffering your favorite team, your favorite player. And so for me, I'd say we're probably, we pay attention to it more than you might think. And we really try to figure out all the times that there are things that we can learn, grow from. And by the way, a lot of times

there is good information in social media. And so I think we're pretty good at separating what's real and what's not. And I think acting on it, you know, I'll tell you one of the mistakes we made as a company up until Andrew joined the CEO, you know, we weren't in, you know, we have three businesses today, right? We have the CEO of the collectibles business, which is trading cards, CEO of the gaming business, which is sports betting, and the CEO of the commerce business, which is Andrew. Andrew now, even though we're going to ship, we're going to serve 40 to 50 million customers online this year, another 25 million customers in store and in an arena.

So we're going to serve 70 to 75 million transactions this year. Until Andrew became CEO, we didn't really talk to our detractors who had negative things to say about us now we actually we love doing that i do that all the time andrew does that all all the time and it makes us a better company and often what you hear is just from really good authentic fans that have things they want us to know or maybe they have misinformation maybe they have information that they're seeing things we're not seeing so i think listening to your customers is the most important thing you can do and i think there's a lot you can you know find this really good in it and then we know we got to be good if someone just says

you look if someone says hey you know your stuff's too expensive like look at authentic juries they were talking about that's an expensive jury's it's what the players were if someone says hey lulu lemon is too expensive that's that stuff that bothers us because we know we're pricing where the market is and you know we think we're thoughtful about that you know and you know someone says hey i hate this t-shirt because they're buying a 1999 t-shirt which is the opposite and what i'm talking about i mean look we we sell a couple million products today fanatics so we sell from opening price point t-shirts at 1999 to a really expensive t-shirt that could be $120 because it's some special collab with a designer or an artist and everything in between. So I think

what we try to do is really listen carefully. And whenever we see things that they're right about, use that to improve upon. And by the way, there's a lot of things that we've been pushed on where I think fans have made us better. Well, on that note, Michael, the idea of criticism and fans pushing you to be better. I mean, I'm sure most people have seen some of the stories that have gained traction, the minority stories that have gained traction of order errors, the photos that circulate around on social media. I mean, there was the whole ordeal with the MLB uniforms back in the spring. Of course, we later learned that was a Nike issue, not a Fanatics one. But I just wonder, like, we're on the cusp here now of the holiday season. People are going to be looking for buying gifts for the

hockey fan in their life. What would you say to them that may still be skeptical of the Fanatics brand? So the first thing I'd say is how much we appreciate every fan one by one, how much we really care, how much we obsess and sweat over everything we do. And by the way, if we do make a mistake, we're always going to make it right for the fan. I'll tell you, you know, our error rate has never been lower than it is today. But if you ship, you know, 50 million orders online and you do another 25 million orders in the store, things will go wrong.

And that's where you say, like, you know, I'll give you an example. We sold last year, I think, 5 million units of Eagles apparel and Eagles products. And we had 36 t-shirts that went out with a tilted number for Jalen for jaylen hertz and you know my answer to our organization was guess what that's 36 orders to be screwed up and we got to take that very seriously so you know people expect perfection they're spending their hard-earned

money to get perfection and so it's our job to deliver that doesn't mean nothing's ever going to go wrong absolutely not because that would be living in a fantasy like does it mean time we make it, how are we going to figure out what was the record cause? How do we fix it? And then how do you always make it right for that customer? I can tell you, I don't think you ever see customers saying when we make something, when we screw something up, then we don't immediately fix it. We get all over it. But if someone wants to, you know, kind of give us a hard time, all we can do is act on it, make it right, try to make them happy and do the right thing by then. But I'll tell you, we care about every customer,

every order, we sweat every detail. And look, the baseball issue that you referred to, which, you know, I think, you know, what you stated is accurate, was that, you know, we were kind of, we'd made the jersey for eight years. You know, Nike, who's a very innovative company you know kind of you know innovating something that did work and um you know we were very very fortunate we worked together with nike and together with um baseball to say hey fans don't like this and

players don't like this and we reverted back to the jerseys that we made for the previous eight years that everybody liked because we listened to fans because they were right okay now some companies could go out and say you know what let's just fix the problem that's it we actually used it to make our company substantially better because we literally said we're going to use that to build a brand purpose and kind of and our brand purpose is to relentlessly enhance the fan experience and to do that everywhere we can and so so I think even though, you know, we were, you know, you know, we took a lot of, you know, we took a lot of abuse over something where, you know, we were kind of doing as directed.

Here's the good thing. It made us a better company and I'm proud of that. And, you know, we learned and we got better from that. So you got to take everything that goes wrong. Brother, you're playing on the ice and, you know, you screw something up. You can't go back and mope. You got to go back and say, okay, how are we going to are we better how do i make sure i win the next game that's

the attitude we have them you know even though you were talking about using the internet high school unfortunately for me we didn't have the internet when i was in high school two probably still sounds even though andrew sounds like he's like 90 uh i think he's actually in his early 40s i'm doing this for the rest of my life it's my it's my dream it's my passion and you know we're going to make sure we you know look we want to build the most beloved sports company in the world and anyone who we haven't satisfied you know if we let anyone down on the past i'd say i'm sorry give us a chance we're going to make sure we do everything to make you the happens fan in the world that's awesome stuff andrew I wanted to ask you, the NHL is notoriously conservative.

Is there anything that they have said to you you can't do or anything that you feel you have to push them past to say, hey, if we're involved, we're going to do this, even if initially you're uncomfortable with it? The NHL has been a great partner for us um you know when we look at launching the Jersey back at the draft um we pulled that forward we did some we did some incredible things in partnership with them at the Spear which was which was really exciting when we did Lulu last week we launched that with, but also their significant others, which really hasn't been done before. And the NHL has been a terrific partner for us in really finding new ways to be innovative, to reach new fans, to bring the game to life, because it is such an amazing game.

I think they're really excited to find ways to grow the fan base. I was just going to ask, I was reading about V-commerce, vertical commerce. Try to get a better understanding of that. And that's kind of like you guys adjusting to the ebbs and flows of kind of a given sport. How does that all work? Look, people really don't, you know, if we knew who was going to win each game and lose each game, what players would emerge, what players were going to, you know, do poorly, you know, we probably wouldn't be doing this.

So the reality is the way the business used to work is, you know, retailers have sold licensed sports merchandise or hockey merchandise, tried to predict, you know, nine months in advance, what they want to buy of a jersey, what they want to buy of a t-shirt, a fleece, a hat, nine months in advance what they want to buy, if a jersey, what they want to buy, if a t-shirt, a fleece, a hat. And it never worked out. And so that's why this category is one that's very hard to properly image. What we've really tried to do is, you know, kind of create a supply chain

that can react to the needs of winning and losing teams and players that emerge and do poorly on a daily basis. I think we've made a lot of progress. I think to be, you know, completely blunt, we're much better than anybody else, but we're not near good enough. If that makes sense. Like, if you look at, you know, we operate today, you know, you brought up, you know, kind of that we make all the baseball products for Nike, same thing for football, same thing for college. We've grown those businesses astronomically, but we still run out of things all the time. In football last year, when CJ Strong got really hot, we ran out of CJ Strong jerseys for two months because no one

thought the Houston Texans were going to be good. And by the way, a fan doesn't want to hear that we sold eight times more jerseys this year than last year. They just want to know, well, I want something. I want to be able to get it from you. So I think we've made a lot of progress, but we've got a lot of work still to do. But the whole concept of e-commerce is really all about

how we vertical so we can, you know, really fulfill a fan's needs in real time for whenever they want. And I think we're so much better than we used to be,

but we've got so much work still to do. What is your favorite NHL jersey? Andrew, you first uh i like the vancouver canucks jersey uh but specifically the one with the stick in the ring that makes the c nice well i'm from philly i gotta go with the new fanatics flyers jersey i'm gonna say loyal to my city i'm gonna stay loyal to my company and say, I could have gone to old school with something retro from Mitchell

and Ness, but I'm going to say it's the new Fanatics Flyers jersey. I will tell you, one of the great things about hockey jerseys, they're pretty cool. You asked about being cool before. It's amazing how many of my friends that are big artists in this world are like, I love

the hockey shirt. I love the jersey silhouette. So I think, you know, I feel like, you know, right now hockey jerseys are probably getting cooler than they've ever been. So it's great to kind of take care of that authentic fan, but also have something that's kind of,

you know, get hot and cool. And I think there is a lot of coolness to hockey. That's great to hear. It's great to hear. Now, so the last question I have for you, Michael, is I was talking to an owner in the NHL and he said you did what a lot of them do in reverse they they wait their whole lives to get into the club and they get their ownership whether it's partial or they become majority owner of a

team and they hold on to that forever because it's been their dream you got into the club and you gave it up for this and what he said to me is there are not a lot of people in the world who dream about being sports owners who would do what you did and he was curious to know why did you do it it's a great question i knew exactly where it was going when it started when the first few words came out of your mouth and um look what I'll tell you is I love so much what I do and I do this 17 hours a day seven days a week I probably frustrate and annoy a lot of people around me because it's my it's my work it's my hobby it's my love just, it's like, I'm so passionate about it. I feel really lucky to do it. You know, I think when I bought,

I was the third largest owner of both the Sixers and the Devils. And I did that in 2011. We subsequently bought the Devils in 2013. You know, I did that until Predator's got to a size where the leagues had rules that we couldn't be in compliance with, whether it was, you know, you can't take a bet on your own team. You can't have an individual deal with an individual player. And it just became, you know, where Fanatics in the early days, I think, benefited from my team ownership.

Like my ownership of the Sixth and Devils kind of helped me, you know, a lot of ways, you know, kind of from a business development perspective, bro fanatics in the early days, by a few years ago was in the way. It was, you know, getting in the way. By the way, certain owners would be like, hey, I love you, but like, you know, I don't want you talking to my players.

It's awkward. You know, there was just, there was a lot of complexity. It just, it really got in the way of fanatics so when you say to me what's like the ultimate dream to create fanatics and again you know i watched the movie nike air when it came out about a year or two ago and i remember thinking to myself i remember googling phil knight and saying you know he's 85 i think i was 50 at the time so he's probably got 35 years on me i'm like what i can do with fanatics you know he's 85 i think i was 50 at the time so he's probably got 35 years on me i'm like what i can do with fanatics you know hopefully i live that longer longer what i can do with

fanatics over the next you know you know hopefully you know part of the century is pretty exciting to me and i think that for me is the biggest dream like i love the like when i finish this interview when i go look at my phone there'll be you, 10 messages and six will be good and four will be bad. And that's like that's entrepreneurialism. I like that. I like those challenges. I like, you know, that's how I learn every day. That's how I grow every day. And, you know, whether it's looking at social media at five o'clock in the morning or midnight and you see, you know, good things and bad things, you figure out how to be better. It's like that's what I like doing the best best so i think ultimately owning a team is really interesting and you know i was probably most known for you know my role in the philadelphia 76ers and we never got it done we never won we never got out

of the second round of the championship i consider that to be a failure every year every year that you know we didn't win the championship which was every year i was a part of the team we fell okay make no mistake about that but for me the chance to build this into the most important company in sports over the next, you know, throughout the century to build one of the most important companies in the world, like, that's just dreamy to me. And, you know, I'm a business guy first. I was always, everyone knows this,

I'm like one of the least sporting athletes on planet Earth. I just, two pairs of them are doctor. You know, i wasn't born with good genetics and so like you know like you're gonna win you're good at i'm not i'm not a good athlete you know you know i was never a good student but you know i kind of i love business i love working and you know kind of living out my dream and so you know for me it was an easy decision it wasn't hard it was easy you know sports ownership is in the way of FedEx long-term growth. And, you know, I want to make FedEx into one of the most broke companies in the world.

And, you know, I think, you know, we're in the early part of the first period here. And so I'd say, you know, people are just getting to know us and look to see what we do over the next decade. I think we're going to build a beloved brand and one that sports fans, you know, throughout the world are going to love. And we're just getting started. You know, we've got a lot right. We've got a lot wrong. But, you know, throughout the world are going to love. And we're just getting started. You know, we've got a lot right. We've got a lot wrong. But, you know, we're just getting going. And last one for me quickly. We talked about didn't change much with the jerseys as you now become the official outfitter.

But at some point over the course of this agreement, will Fanatics put their stamp on the look, the design of NHL sweaters? It's a great question. And the answer is, of course, we're going to animate the jersey, but we're going to do it with the players. We're going to do it with fans. And we're going to do it in a very collaborative way. And if there's one thing I think you could say, you know,

that we learned through, you know, being around in the last year, it was you better, when you're changing the jerseys, you better get everybody super involved to make sure they love not liking you doing and you know you can be you can be we could think finax the most incredible company in the world but we better do that partnership with everyone that matters terrific michael andrew andrew appreciate you grinding this one out but both of you thank you so much for your time this was was really really great to hear from you both pleasure thanks for having us we usually laugh at a living age i've got a few questions for you i'd like to follow up with you i've got seven more you gotta stay you got seven more yeah i think guys like can we now do a three on one with andrew and and just like we got this brass where it sounds like he's

about to die on the spice hit in the rib is by a hockey player going very fast and he's now you know ready to be put down or something but no we're honored to be with you we appreciate it we love what you guys do we're huge fans of you guys. And we look forward to speaking to you again in the future. Oh, thanks very much. Really appreciate it. Okay. Yeah. We hope Andrew feels better soon. And yeah, he was a trooper getting through that interview, despite clearly not being at a hundred percent. So thank you again to Andrew and Michael Rubin and Fanatics for helping make that interview happen. Thank you to Dromstrom Maddy for all the work he did on our end of things and making all that come together. That'll do it for this edition of 32 Thoughts, the podcast.

A reminder, this weekend, so the Calgary Flames play in Buffalo on Saturday at 1 o'clock Eastern, 11 a.m. Mountain. That can be seen nationally on Sportsnet. Hockey Night in Canada this weekend. Usual Hockey Central Saturday getting underway at 6.30 Eastern, 3.30 Pacific. Two early games this week. All-Canadian matchup, Montreal in Toronto. And Ottawa is in Boston.

The return of Lena Salmark to Beantown. The nightcap, Edmonton and Vancouver. Their first meeting after that incredible seven-game series this past spring. We hope you enjoy all of it, and we'll talk to you again on Monday.