32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Nashville’s Roman Empire

Episode Date: April 30, 2021

Roman Josi of the Nashville Predators joins the podcast for episode #200! He chats with Jeff and Elliotte (53:00) about the conversations amongst his teammates leading up to the trade deadline, what it’s like playing in front of Pekka Rinne, how meditation has helped him on and off the ice, and what he took away […]

I'm rolling. On that great note, Elliot, put your phone on silent. Done. Thanks, buddy. So on that note, because I was telling Jeff, not many shows gets 200. It's very, very tough to get 200. If you get 200, that means you're doing something right.

So we get the day off. 100%, you get a day off next week. Oh, very good. So I decided to reach out to some folks and just ask them a little bit about you guys and and reaching this milestone oh no i've got quite a few of them but i'm gonna try to play as many as i can today throughout the show throughout the show and this is the start of the podcast this is the start of the podcast here we go enjoy hello jeff merrick and elliot friedman this is sid sixero from Breakfast Television. 200 episodes, 31 thoughts.

Amazing. Congratulations to the both of you and Amal as well. You know, this has become one of the best podcasts in the country, regardless of genre. This is a standard podcast. And it was a journey because when you guys started, you were, this was not good. This is, it took a while to get here but now you're here so that's the good news and uh congratulations to both jeff you're one of the most knowledgeable guys in the business have him fooled uh i it's uh it's an honor to call you a friend you also haven't aged

at all like you have not aged you're benjamin button like you're going in reverse i don't care what your hairline is doing or what you say it's doing. It's great. Congratulations, you don't age, but you should really get that checked by a medical professional because I don't think it's healthy. So that aside, just continue to be you. Elliot, one of the best in the business. You've been a mentor to me.

I don't even think you know this. You've been a mentor for a long time. And nothing but respect and love for you. There have been moments, though, in the last few months where from the neck up, I don't have a clue what you're doing. Like the other night, I swear to God, the other night was a Wednesday night. I said to myself, is that Elliot on the desk or Eddie Money? Take me home tonight, Sid. Obviously, it's not Eddie Money.

He's dead. I know that. But you looked like Eddie Money, like me home tonight, Sid. You know, obviously it's not Eddie money. He's dead. Like I know that, but you looked like Eddie money, like an 80s, 70s rock star anyway. So professionally, you are the standard. Continue to do what you do from the neck up. It looked like you looked in a mirror months ago and said, I'm not even going to try anymore. So just want to get that off my chest as well. And I will continue to do you. You're amazing. I'm not ripping you to try anymore. So just want to get that off my chest as well. And I will continue to do you. You're amazing.

I'm not ripping you. I like you all the best 200 pods, 31 thoughts. You guys already have a legacy. Can't wait to hear 32 thoughts when the crack and show up and God bless. Take care guys. Hey guys, John Cooper with the lightning here.

I'll be honest. I thought I had a better chance of seeing Jeff Merrick get to 200 pounds and you guys get to 200 episodes. It's informative, informational, and it's got intellect. You guys do a heck of a job. Pretty impressive for a couple lawyers turned hockey coaches. Oh, wait, that's me. Anyway, guys, all the best. Well-deserved. And here's to 200 more. it it's run it didn't run its course oh okay you can edit yeah you can edit this out okay i'll try again hey guys it's carolyn cameron i just wanted to congratulate you on 200 episodes i never doubted you i knew you'd get this far so many more to come i was so happy to be a guest a couple times which isn't much when it's 200 episodes but But anyway, congrats. It's great.

So I guess this is going to be the theme. And by the way, two tickets to paradise, you and me, Elliot Friedman. Eddie Money reference there from Sid Sixero. We didn't know that our producer, Amal Delich, was going to lead off with that. I didn't know, Elliot, to be honest with you, not to make this podcast too self-indulgent. Oh, look, there's my

navel. I didn't even know that this was our 200th episode until Amel told me this morning. I didn't know until this week. He said, he said this week it was our 200th and I'm not really big on awards or accolades. I think covering sports, what it's taught me is that you're only as good as your last game or you're only as good as your last show.

But I appreciate the people who did this. We've already heard from Sid and John Cooper and Carolyn. And thanks to everybody else who we'll hear from later on in the show. But it's weird for me. The moment I think, I got to tell you, I'm one of those people in life, Jeff, that the moment that I start to get too impressed with myself, I make a terrible mistake so i'm refusing to let my guard down i'm just not allowing it you know what the thing is like the getting to 200 episodes like

that shouldn't be considered an achievement for you and me because you and i just talk all day long anyhow there just happens to be a microphone in front of us for this time that we're actually doing a podcast. Really, the 200 is a testament to Amal, who is still here after 200. Think about that for a second, Eli. You and I would be here anyway, or on radio, or doing a podcast, or on television, or whatever. We would still be around. Amal has chosen to still be part of this. I don't know if you understand this,

everyone listening right now. We torture Amel with edits. He spends so much time with this podcast. Every time it's quote unquote put to bed, it's never really put to bed. This is a stone that we ask Amel to polish and polish and polish and polish and it's almost like it's an i quit match every time we do one where amel just has to i just imagine amel like when he's done with the podcast finally saying like at the end of every single one okay that's it i'm done with this podcast it's finished it's over and that's after hours and hours of polishing. So. And then he gets the text from us. When's it coming out? Like, where is it coming out?

That's the best word on our group chat in the morning. Hey, when's it coming out? When's it coming out? I don't want to hear how you went about making the sausage. Just give me the sausage. All right. Enough self-indulgence. Let's go.

The guy's got like Louis Vuitton's under his eyes. His eyes are propped up with toothpicks, like clockwork orange at the end of every recording session. And our texts are always like, when's the podcast coming out, bro? Hey, bro, what's up with the podcast? Okay, okay, let's go. Enough with the self-indulgence.

People want to hear hockey. That's a good point. Roman Josik of the Nashville Predators coming up on today's podcast. Amel, thank you. And thanks to everyone that contributed to this podcast. I don't know what's coming, but here it is. 31 Thoughts to Podcast, presented by the GMC Sierra AT4.

Here we go. what's going on guys paul bissonette here and i am popping by to pump two of the best in the industry's tires that's right elliot friedman and je Mayer, 200 episodes of 31 Thoughts. And I just found out recently why it's called 31 Thoughts, and that was a tough one to ask that on a public forum. Thanks for letting me know, though, Jeff. 31 NHL teams, 31 thoughts. Folks, that's like 1,000 games in the NHL, 200 episodes on a pod. So if Sportsnet is not engraving the Rolexes as we speak, I think we riot.

But on a serious note, Jeff, Elliot, thank you guys for all the advice you've ever given me. You guys have always been there when I've had some questions to ask. And also for just all the hockey knowledge that you bring us, because we all know that I ain't reading the f***ing CBA. If it wasn't for these two guys, I don't think I'd know one thing about the NHL. So we love you guys. Keep kicking ass. And that's pretty much it. 200th episode of 31 Thoughts, the podcast. What an incredible run.

Full disclosure, when I heard about the launching of this podcast, I put the over-under at episodes before cancellation at 11. And I did take the under, but hear me out. Listen, I thought it made sense. I just assumed the hockey world was maybe OD'd on Elliott. You know, TV, radio, blogs, Twitter, blah, blah, blah, blah. I just assumed maybe they had said enough is enough. But, you know, listen, it's a head scratcher.

It's mind-numbing, actually, quite inexplicable in many respects. But he has become this ubiquitous force in sports media apparently uh so here we are 200 episodes in and it really gives us a good time to reflect on why there's been such great success for this podcast in what is an incredibly competitive media landscape uh and i thought about it and i came up with a few reasons why i I mean, it makes sense. Of course, you have this world-class producer, smart, creative, a visionary. Then you have a fantastic host in Jeff Merrick, of course, sophisticated hockey mind, inquisitive, knowledgeable, engaging, and funny. And you have Elliot. So there you are. Listen, congratulations,

200 episodes in. I'm sure at least 200 more. I'm putting it at the over this time. Congratulations, guys. I'm happy for all of you. And keep rolling. 31 Thoughts, the podcast. Jeff, Elliot, your good friend CM Punk here.

And I've been commissioned to congratulate you on 200 episodes of 31 Thoughts. So before I do that, I want to let you know that I went back and I listened to all 200 episodes, and I got to say, 199 okay episodes, and one that really stuck out, that was head and shoulders above the rest, exceeded all expectations, was possibly the best podcast I ever listened to. Coincidentally, it was the episode that I helped host. So here's to 200 more gentlemen, 199 okay shows and one

super good one. Good luck, gentlemen. I think you can achieve greatness. I'm just a phone call away. Congratulations. All right. Thank you to three more much appreciated gentlemen let's talk about a real achievement elliot to kick off the podcast today and that is 18 years playing net in the nhl ryan miller calls it a career or has announced that at the end of this season he will be calling it a career. I kind of thought this year would probably be my last year and wanted to take the time to appreciate everything about the game. And, you know, it's been a good year. I'm able to kind of soak it in.

And I thought just, you know know I could have waited to retire but just felt like this would be a good way to say goodbye with some time to appreciate it and tell the guys so that I could kind of enjoy the moment once you're kind of off and into the summer and doing something else it's i didn't i didn't know that it would be as easy to say goodbye in a way uh this this is going to help a lot towards uh talking to all the people i'd like to talk to and really being able to give this part of my relationship with hockey kind of a send-off. When I say that name, what do you think of? Boy, there's a lot. There's a lot that's obvious and there's a lot that isn't. I think about the 2010 Olympics and what a big star he became in the United States after that. I think about the 2010 Olympics and what a big star he became in the United States after that.

I think about a guy who was really blunt and really honest. If you asked him a question, you better be prepared for the answer. You know, obviously he was in Buffalo a lot when I dealt with him. You know, when he went out West to places like Vancouver and Anaheim, I didn't see him as much, which was probably good for him. But I dealt with him a lot when he played for the Sabres and he was in the East and he was fantastic to deal with. And there were so many good stories. After the 2010 Olympics, where he played so well, the Sabres saying that Elton John came to Buffalo for a concert and he asked about Ryan Miller. I remember him telling a story about signing an autograph on

a woman's body part, her leg, and someone telling him that the person had turned it into a tattoo, like he was that big a star in Buffalo. Yeah. I remember during the 2013 work stoppage, Miller was part of the players negotiation team. And he got into it once with Jeremy Jacobs, the owner of the Boston Bruins, who was the chairman of the board of governors. And I heard they had quite an exchange at one point and I emailed him about it. I said, can I talk to you about this? And he, I got to see if I,

I don't have that email anymore because it was on an old account. So I lost it. But, you know, he basically said to him, it wasn't a big deal. It was just two guys passionately arguing their points of view. Hang on, pause on that for one second.

Because for listeners who may not understand the gravity of going at someone like Jeremy Jacobs, Jeremy Jacobs was one of the owners that Gary Bettman did not bring into the NHL. He preceded Gary Bettman. And there's always been a pocket of power around Jeremy Jacobs and the Boston Bruins. So going at someone like Jeremy Jacobs, this isn't like going at an owner who's been around for five or six years, or even someone that Gary has brought in in the last 10 or 15. This is Jeremy Jacobs who has as much stroke as anybody ever has in any of these meetings. The credit Miller deserves is that he did not go after the weak person cowering in the corner.

He picked the biggest guy in the room. Those were some pretty animated conversations. I remember one owner telling me that he could not believe the way that Ron Hainsey was talking to them. Yeah. But that was another one. It was definitely, you know, the exchange between Miller and Jacobs really opened some eyes. And I had to say, I told Miller this later, there would be a lot of people I would meet in life who would love to play up the fact that they gave it to Jeremy Jacobs or got into an argument with Jeremy Jacobs because it basically gives you some tough person bona fides. And he was like, what's the big deal? It's just two people giving their honest opinions. I kind of was impressed about that. There was another time in Buffalo buffalo they told me that there was a big advertiser who wanted to meet ryan miller so they set it up after a practice and miller forgot and

he left and they called him and they were worried they were going to have to beg him to come back and you know they said ryan we brought this this advertisers here and he said without even being prompted he said oh my god i totally forgot he turned around he came back like they didn't have to to beg him to do it i think you just knew that if you ever talked to him now i think sometimes you know he drove the league a bit crazy you know because there's always there's been this battle with goaltender equipment right and he would fight back okay but i love dealing with them whenever okay whenever i read a story or was part of a conversation about goalie equipment and someone would reference one goalie specifically who voted against it or spoke out strongly against

it and i always would say well who was it'd say, well, I can't tell you. I always assumed, and I'm going to keep assuming until someone tells me otherwise, that the person that they were constantly referencing was Ryan Miller in all, and honestly, in all of those conversations, because you're right. Like he was passionate about, about goalie equipment as everybody tried to strip down goaltenders and chop this down and that's too big you know here's a guy who you know was is slight himself and is seriously concerned about the protection yeah to the point where you know people say well oh okay you actually have a piece of equipment called the cheater and ryan miller would fire back and say

well you know the minute you guys stop slashing around the crease uh you know uh then i'll we'll get rid of the cheaters until then i'm trying to protect my wrist it's not there to stop shots like he always had something for everyone that tried to shrink goaltending equipment and it usually always revolved around we need this for protection yes he was big on that and And we should say, like, he was a great goalie. Oh, yeah. Like, just a great goalie. So we should credit him for that, too.

But, you know, there's a lot there, right? Like, the guy had a very interesting legacy. And I'm not surprised that he says he wants to go into, you know, front office work, maybe be a manager someday. You know, the last few years, he's been really tight to California. Of course, his wife has a very successful career that's tied into that part of the country. So I would be curious to see if he even thinks about moving,

whether it's going back to Buffalo or going somewhere else. So I don't know if he'll be anchored there, but he's definitely a guy I could see somewhere in the game, no question about it. Absolutely. Congratulations on a wonderful career. For me, I still maintain that that Buffalo Sabres team, you know, the Breer and Drury and Campbell and Palmer,

like that whole squad, Ryan Miller and Ned, of course, was maybe in this era, although you're going to have to throw a couple of those Ottawa Senators teams in there as well, and San Jose Sharks, the best team to not win a Stanley Cup. That was a great team. Oh, and so much fun. And they were good to cover, too. Really good to cover.

Great personalities. Every single level. Like, Darcy Regeer was great to deal with. Lindy Ruff was great to deal with. Like, at every single level, that Sabres team was just a lot of fun. Congratulations on a wonderful career to Ryan Miller. The American Hockey League. This has been an interesting day

for the American Hockey League. Earlier today, as we record this on Thursday early evening, the American Hockey League had put out a note indicating that the Calder Cup will not be awarded for the second year in a row, that all the divisions are free to choose the method by which they declare a division champion. The Atlantic, the North, the Canadian and the Central all decided that whoever comes out on top first place in the division is a division champion no tournament no playoffs but the Pacific decided that they would now the Professional Hockey Players Association that is the the American Hockey League Union the union representing

American Hockey League players put out a release just before six o'clock Eastern saying how they were disappointed in the decision in the Pacific specifically, and that this was not something that was agreed to. They had concerns about this that were communicated to the AHL, and essentially they were upset at what the Pacific was planning to do, namely hold a playoff tournament. Where are we at here between the AHL and the PHPA? Now, there's one thing that you said there that this was something that the Pacific Division decided to do, right? Mm-hmm. The release itself, and I'm quoting from the release, which is on the PHPA Twitter page,

from Larry Landon, who's the executive director of the PHPA, says, I am disappointed in the AHL's Pacific Division's decision as it disregards the wishes of the vast majority of the players within the Pacific Division. I had heard that there had been votes and the players indicated they didn't want to play. Here's where I think the problem is here. From what I understand, when the players and the AHL made their deal for this year,

the playoffs were included. Basically the way it works, the basically the way it works is the players this year were getting 48 of their salaries or a minimum of 30 000 and we know what the toronto maple east did last week yes they decided to pool some money towards the players because living in toronto was very expensive now I heard the noise you make there, so you're probably going to tell me this is in dispute. All I know is that a couple of weeks ago, when I started to hear that the playoffs likely wouldn't happen, and I think there were some teams, especially the ones who couldn't get fans, were willing to say,

okay, we don't need to do this. I heard there were some teams who said, wait, this was agreed to. Okay. So before the podcast, I spoke with one prominent player, one prominent American hockey league player in the PHPA. And I asked about that issue specifically and he said when they first put together the memorandum of understanding that the agreement was that the playoffs would be discussed at a later point and it would be a group decision what does that mean that we That essentially we're going to kick the can down the road. We're going to figure out playoffs as we get through the season.

That's how I interpreted what this player was saying to me. And votes had been taken to your point. And the figure that this one player gave to me was it was an overwhelming majority. So what is an overwhelming majority? So it's something like 90%. I heard the vast majority of players didn't want to play playoffs. So that jives with what I heard.

Correct. Now he said it was somewhere in the neighborhood of 90%. And some of their issues are, it's very expensive as you know to live in California, leases now need to be extended, et cetera. Essentially the players don't want to do this. And with the announcement of an October start, that means September camps,

which means the players want to be back in time for summer training to be prepared for next season properly. That is what's coming out of the player's side of all of this and i generally do lean pro player i all i can tell you is what i heard and i'm just doing same like there were some teams that told me that we don't really feel the need to have playoffs but we paid for them that is the part that's in dispute yes i mean there's got to be something down on a piece of paper there has to be because i have i have a hard time believing but maybe i

shouldn't that the conversation was simply okay let's all agree to discuss this at a later point and not put something down on paper and not have that discussion documented somewhere but again i don't know if it is or not yeah so here's my other question if the players voted no how can the team say yes great question right because what that does is that lessens their their rate of pay if all of a sudden they're expected to play into the playoffs here based on their compensation. Well, that would seem to indicate that the teams do have reason to believe that. I don't know where this one ends up. I think one of the things that seems to be the case here

is that there's a whole bunch of teams that basically said we're okay with it, and some of the Western teams didn't. That the Pacific Division is acting on their own. And the players are saying, hold on a second here. First of all, we don't want to do this. Second, we were told this was going to be a discussion point, and we haven't had that. And this was going to be a group decision.

I'm sure there will be more clarity over the next little while. But what I'm hearing here between you and me, Jeff, and this news just broke as we're taping the podcast, is that the players don't want to do it. Like reading that PHPA statement, it says to me that we don't like this, but we have to play. I don't know about that.

Like, does it read differently to you? I just read it again, and I don't know if this is a hard no from those players or if we're going to do this, we're being dragged, kicking, and screaming into doing it. I read it as B. We're being dragged, kicking, and screaming into it. Now, if you look at Bakersfield's schedule and they're a playoff team, May 3rd, May 5th, May

7th, May 8th, May 13th, May 15th, May 16th, and then they're done. It says to me that there is still time to figure this out. This doesn't mean this is the last we've heard on this right

oh i don't think it is like right now like this wound just got opened so i don't think we're close like there needs to be a discussion between scott house and larry landon here i don't want to say either way because this is completely new territory well i think that we're in the middle of a it's a moving target but the story is not done like to me this is a moving target now we're posturing right but i read that statement as we don't want to play but we can't say no see i kind of read that statement as we want to open up the discussion based on our earlier conversation. We want clarity based on the idea that we were under the impression that we were going to make

a group decision on this and the players are going to be involved in it. And overwhelmingly, the players have said no. I believe that's true. And what it says to me is that the teams believe the deal said playoffs included. And some teams are holding to that. You know what both these statements say, Elliot? That this story is long from over. It's not over. It's not done yet. All right, Jeff, before we get to our first guest,

like one last thing I wanted to mention, I think Toronto is making some kind of changes in terms of hiring and structure of maybe their player development. I will say that I don't have a full picture of this because the Maple Leafs aren't commenting about it, but Scott Pellerin, who was their director of player development is no longer with the organization i think that happened this week and from what i can tell this really wasn't a performance issue as much as it is i think kyle dubas is looking at making some hires here and the financial realities of the situation mean that instead of just adding,

adding, adding, you have to cut a little bit too. So I don't think this is a performance related issue at all from what I can tell. And I believe it's a situation where Toronto just said, look, if you can go out and find something else, get started on that search. That's the information I'm being given. It's not a job-related cut or a performance-related cut. It's more of, I think Toronto's trying to do some things, move, and they had to balance the budget. So their director of player development, Scott Pellerin,

is a free agent from what I understand. Okay, before we get to more hockey talk here three hours 39 minutes and 45 seconds is a special time for our man chris johnston you've been running every day for a year cj today as we recorded this thursday was your marathon day that first of all congratulations and that's an incredible time, CJ. Did you even surprise yourself? That is a remarkable time. Yeah, for me, that's above what I could have hoped for,

to be honest. So I'm actually kind of floored that that's how it turned out. The coolest part for me was I did the first half in 149.06 and the second half in 150.39. Wow. That's a great split. That's a great split. Wow. To not have that much of a fall off in the second half, I mean, that was a pleasant surprise.

You don't know how it's going to go. Sure. I'll be honest too. The time wasn't really the point of this thing, obviously. But when it got to this morning and even last night, I didn't have a very good sleep. And when I got out there this morning, I started getting nervous because i was like wow this is pretty public like if i have a bad go of it here if i've got if i've got to walk it in for the last 8k or you know like i started having the the what happens if the worst happens thoughts and i was nervous like i i wasn't nervous two weeks ago or even last week i was just excited

but today i was nervous and so i'm just uh thankful that it was a good day for me and i got through it so now we just wait for the drug test results to come in after posting up that split of 149 and 150 is that where we're waiting looks a little cloudy here mr johnston i'm not sure what uh what this is going to read at the end the only thing cloudy is the ipa that's in front of me right now so well i was gonna ask you how how you feeling i'm feeling good and we're about four to five hours since i finished and i didn't do anything this afternoon and i just literally just opened my first beer so i'm feeling a little sore but but very satisfied well you know i gotta say it was an awesome performance now the 2024 summer olympics begin july 26 2024 in paris what color medal in the marathon should we start penciling you in for

okay now you're being ridiculous like you guys have a podcast talking about actual athletes i'm i'm middle-aged joe schmo here i mean this obviously is a nice achievement for me but man who knows? I don't even know if I'll, I mean, I hope I'll run another marathon, but I'm not sure. You know, that's, I was going to ask you actually tomorrow morning, you have run for 365 days in a row. Friday morning, will you get up and run? For sure. There's no doubt in my mind. You know, I don't know how long I'm going to keep the street going, but I'm in no rush to get rid of it. It's brought so much structure to my life, so many

positive things. It's helped me build a lot of positive momentum, confidence, been good for my health. I'm not going to let it go easily. It took a lot of work. And honestly, it was way more work at the start. The first 50 days were probably harder than the next 300 and whatever we're at, but I'm not going to let it go easily. And I'm not saying for anyone out there that they necessarily have to run every day. I realize that's a bit extreme for some people, but for me, that consistency has really been a positive for me. And so it'll be a very short, very slow, very relaxing run on Friday, but I'm definitely doing day 366 and beyond. With you when you ran, I know your dad was there.

Your dad, Ian, was there this morning. And Krista, your wife, was there to run with you at the beginning, and she was on a bike for the later parts. Now, no married person does this alone. So tell us about Krista over the last year and all the help she gave you today. It was huge. You know, everyone who came out, even you, Elliot. And I don't mean that, that's not actually a shot. This isn't the time I'm being serious, but, you know, it meant a lot to me that a few people, you know, took the time out of their day to come down and support me and

help me. And, you know, in this case, my wife, Krista, she, she ran the first, you know, four or five kilometers with me. Um, and then basically peeled back and went to our apartment and got changed and got on her bike. And she spent the rest of the, you know, caught up with me around the halfway point and did the back half on the bike, you know, carrying some water and some Gatorade for me that, that I drank along the way. You know, I had a friend, Lee Hewittwitt, who's actually a really old friend who's a very accomplished runner, much more accomplished than me. And he met me for about 10K in the early part of the run. What's really cool too, a fellow local guy here in Toronto named George, who actually

heard me on with Merrick on Hockey Central eight weeks ago or so, talking about this. And he's a local running coach. And he just reached out and said he'd like to offer some help and you know he helped me with some of my my training and ramping up to be ready for the marathon just some suggestions here and there he actually was the one who designed the course I ran in terms of mapping out the 42.2 kilometers I did and then he ran the last 20k with me today which was pretty awesome I mean I never met him in person until today. And he risked going out there for when I had to meet the dark side of myself. So, you know, it didn't end up being that bad.

But, you know, that's a bit of a risky proposition with someone you don't know, my corner, Elliot, you know, Kathy Broderick, Brian Spear and Suliman Ahmed from the Conquer COVID-19 charity. I mean, it's pretty cool to have all those people out there for me. And honestly, you know, this is kind of what I've taken out of this whole thing. Even when I'm saying I was nervous, you know, I needed all that in a way to push myself to, you know, there's no chance in the world. did all that in a way to push myself too you know there's no chance in in the world if i didn't say any of this out loud if i didn't know it was going to be on twitter if if i didn't have people coming out the way you guys did if i just ran 42 kilometers totally on my own it would not have gone as well as it did so this really was a blessing for me too to to give myself a chance to push to see how far it could go and and honestly i i never would have guessed that time i mean that's that's far and above um I could hope for. And I just feel incredibly lucky, honestly. And listen, CJ, we're all incredibly proud of you. Great job. And you could see the reaction on Twitter today. There were a lot of people

pulling for you. A lot of people, a lot of people. Yes, absolutely. And if I missed anyone's message, I'm sorry. I tried to respond to everyone I could, but it was a bit overwhelming. Enjoy your beer, CJ. It's well-deserved. And enjoy a nice leisurely run, nice flat run tomorrow, right? Nice easy run tomorrow.

And this does not give you an excuse to be lousy on headlines this week. You better bring some good stuff, man. I'm going to be playing guilty tomorrow because I did no work on Thursday. Let the record show. I didn't phone anybody. I've got no ins right now. So Elliot, I'll be working hard tomorrow to make sure Saturday goes okay. That's awesome. And I should say too, and this is very serious. So when I did your guys' Christmas show or holiday show, I think it might've been the first time I talked about my run streak publicly. You guys asked me about it and that helped me

along basically the journey or the, to get used to the fact that maybe if i talked about this out loud that it could be a good thing and and you know i have to thank you for that because it's a little beyond my comfort zone to be discussing all this stuff but but i do know that the conquer co 19 charity was really pleased with the amount of donations they got you know obviously i'm pretty humbled with the support i got and you And just a good reminder. In some ways, it's easier to keep certain things to yourself, but sometimes people want to share in your joy. And so this has been a learning experience for me too, and you guys helped me get there. Cheering you on all the way.

You deserve the support, bud. All right. We'll see you Saturday, Elliot. All right. Take care, my man. Well done, buddy. Now that Chris is gone, I feel it's my responsibility to point out I have a 30-minute low-impact ride scheduled for tonight on the Peloton. So that's when everyone's really going to see an athlete out there. Just a beast on the Peloton. Do you lift when you're on the Peloton? Do you lift weights, too, when you're on the Peloton?

Sometimes, yeah. Do you do some of those? Yeah, I do some of the arms, and I do some of the boot camp, too. Yeah, I do. That's awesome. Tune Day, she just kicks my butt. of those? Yeah, I do some of the arms and I do some of the boot camp too. Yeah, I do. That's awesome. Tune days. She just kicks my butt. The secret of life, keep moving.

Okay, the NHL keep moving on to a new secondary television deal. What did you make of the TNT offering? CJ actually had the scoop that it was getting close on Saturday night and it was a bit of a swerve. He'd heard Fox and Apple. And I, and I do believe those discussions were going on, but I think the Turner thing happened really late.

Jeff Zucker, who runs Warner new media news and sports kind of say heat up in the last couple of weeks. I think it was, it really was late. He said they'd always been interested, but they heated up in the past couple of weeks. And I heard there was a lot done last week.

You know, they basically called the board. Normally there's, everybody knows when a board of governors meeting is going to be on Monday morning. They let everybody know that there was going to be a board of governors meeting that day. And that's also when NBC began letting its staff know that it was out. You know, we've talked about this before, Jeff. I know what it's like to be on both sides of this argument. I've been on the side that's won. I've been on the side that's lost and I don't see any value in kicking NBC while they're down. We've talked a lot about ESPN

and what it means. I think a lot of people are very curious to see what TNT is going to be like because tnt has the top studio show in sports and maybe ever in inside the nba they're given a wide latitude they can basically say whatever they want the nba doesn't interfere with them they let them go they have big big cachet and i think that'll be interesting to see what that's going to mean and jeff zucker did say like we have an approach that we use for the nba and we want that for the nhl and as a viewer and as a consumer i think that's a very good thing and i think we're all very curious to see how all the chips are going to end up here. Who's going to be where and what it's all going to look like. I'm with you.

And I'm really curious, too, how comfortable the – because it's obvious the NBA is quite comfortable completely surrendering their product to TNT. And listen, they get a great return on it. It's wonderful for that league. I'm curious to see how the NHL feels about it like when when the NHL has done it like I think of that original HBO 24-7 series the Caps and the Penguins which was so revolutionary and I know that it made some people uncomfortable just how deep they were able to go in and show, you know, what is happening behind the scenes. I'm just curious to see how comfortable the NHL is.

I hope they are. I hope they just say, look, you know what? Here's the keys. You drive for a while. Let us know what you come up with because I'm with you. I'm real curious to see what this ends up being. Because, you know, the other interesting thing, too, about if you look at ESPN's approach and you look at TNT's approach,

ESPN, they like breaking news. It's very important to them, and they've already talked about it. Mark Gross, who runs the NHL and ESPN, he's already said that that's going to be a big part of what they do, right? Yeah. TNT doesn't have that for inside the NBA. They're the news. What they say is the news and they talk about

the news but they're not as worried about uh breaking trades and things like that their approach is different and i like that in the sense that i think there's room for different approaches like when i was younger jeff i always just say no journalism is done this way this is the way you do and then as you get older you realize no no just because i like it this way. This is the way you do it. And then as you get older, you realize, no, no, no. Just because I like it this way doesn't mean that he or she likes it this way or that person likes it this way. You know, there is room for different approaches. And I also got to think that our deal right now,

the Sportsnet deal with the NHL, will be the last one that's one network. I agree with that. I think the next Canadian deal is going to be multiple. Elliot, something I want to do on the podcast this week, and I know that you do as well, is have a quick talk on the Jonathan Duran situation with the Montreal Canadiens. We talked on the podcast last week about the nature of what we're all going through right now and the ability that we all need to find in ourselves to cut everybody a lot of slack and go out of our way to try to find understanding

as much as we can. What are your thoughts on the Montreal Canadiens and specifically Jonathan Drouin right now? I want to be careful with this. You know, the Canadians asked for privacy. We don't have a full picture. So that's one of the issues there. I want to be careful with this. You know, the Canadians ask for privacy. We don't have a full picture. So that's one of the issues there.

You want to be careful and not jump into it without knowing 100% what you're dealing with. You know, Philippe Deneau basically talked about the challenges of being a French player in Montreal. And this is an issue that the Canadians do deal with. You know, Toronto has talked about it a lot. In an intense market, how do you make your players feel comfortable? I think Winnipeg is a team that generally doesn't get enough credit for how many of their players have stayed when they've had opportunities to leave because Winnipeg tries to create that environment. I think it's a big challenge in today's social media era in intense markets where the rewards are high, but also the challenges are high to create that quote unquote

safe space. And Montreal, I think Montreal is the unique market. I think it's the toughest market. There, a lot of the media are as big stars as the players are in the province. And as a result, you've got these big personalities with big opinions and they drive a lot of the public sentiment. personalities with big opinions and they drive a lot of the public sentiment. You know, in English Canada, I think the only guy who really had that in a lot of ways was Don. Don could really set the agenda in a lot of ways.

In Quebec, I think there's a lot of media, both English and French, who can drive the bus like Don did in English Canada. And I think that creates a lot of pressure. Drouin was having a tough year. He had two goals in 44 games. And I don't think it was because he wasn't trying. I think he really did try to compete. I think the results weren't happening. But I think he's a guy who lives and breathes hockey.

I've heard he watches a lot of games, even when he's not playing. I heard it's not unusual for him to send a note to players on other teams he knows saying, I was watching your game tonight and I want to send you a note. I thought you played really great. And I know it was appreciated. And I just wonder if he couldn't get away from it at all. I think it's hard. I do.

I think it's really hard. And I think the stress is a real challenge for French Canadian players in Quebec. And I just think he needed some time and I hope he gets it. And I hope he gets himself into a good mental place. I don't know what's happening, Elliot, with Jonathan Drouin and it's not my business to know what's happening with Jonathan Drouin. I just know that if Jonathan Drouin is not healthy, I hope that he gets healthy soon. That's very well said. I think a lot of us feel that way.

Wanted to get your thoughts here because I want to get a couple of hashtag ask31s. You wrote about this on 31 thoughts, the blog, a tweet you got from Dominic Tiano. Yeah. He's a big Bruins fan. A bro, Brant Clark.

Now I'll read the tweet for those that haven't seen it. Here's my question for OHL players playing in Europe. Now he phrases it OHL because the OHL had no games this season and some players went overseas for OHL players playing in this season, and some players went overseas. For OHL players playing in Europe,

such as Brant Clark, Brant Clark plays the Barry Colts, for those who don't know, he's one of the top rated defensemen in this year's draft. Will he be immediately eligible for the AHL since he was drafted from Europe? Maybe Fridge knows the answer.

So he went over and played in Slovakia, even though his junior rights were held by the Barry Colts. So who is he drafted from becomes the question, because if he's technically drafted from a European team, he can go to the American League. But due to the NHL-CHL agreement, if he's drafted from the OHL as a 19-year-old old he can't play in the american hockey league so how does this going to work so i did ask somebody about this and the response was that there are still some things that have to be worked out and after i wrote that I got a note from a really good team AGM, a guy who's really on top of things.

And he sent me a note from the Memorandum of Understanding before this season between the league and the players. And there's an item in there called Article 8. And it says, for the purposes of determining where a player who was drafted in the 2021 NHL draft was drafted from basically if a player played during this season the league and team for which he played during this season will be as traditional however if a player played in a league outside of North America during this year, but it never played in a league outside of North America prior to this year, the league in the team for which you played during 2019-20 is what will count. Grant Clark, who played in Slovakia this year,

but it's his first time out of North America. And last year he played in Barry. It reverts to Barry. Now I don't want anybody saying, well, this person you first asked doesn't know what they're doing. I think that this year has been so crazy busy that it probably just wasn't on the front of their plate, but I appreciate that clarification. That is a great question too. And I do wonder, you and I have talked about this before,

I do wonder about the nature of the future of the CHL NHL agreement, given how many players, because their league was inactive, their junior league was inactive this year, played in the American league. And most recently we just saw quentin byfield debut for the los angeles kings after playing with the ontario rain i wonder what the future of that agreement is and will they start to allow younger players in the american league because of

a new arrangement teams have talked about it before so So I was told this a couple of years ago, there was a straw poll done on it. And the straw poll was overwhelmingly, let's rip up this agreement and let the top players play in the AHL after a certain point. And then I think it was about a year ago, they actually voted on it. And some of those votes changed that when it actually came time to do it there were some people and particularly people had long history with the chl right and

because this the ohl in particular is and is still the largest feeder i think there was something to the thought of we could really destroy this league and is it good for us so they kind of held back this year though jeff you know as you said the fact that they've got a chance to see these guys play in the american hockey league i think the most likely situation is the deal gets extended for a year but it's a bit tenuous. It's a conversation for sure. We're going to step away. We're going to come back. You'll hear from Roman Yossi of the Nashville Predators

finish up with some hashtag Ask31. So we'll be right back. When relaying answers to questions just render you angered Oh no The pain of your heart colors is flawed When I see your teeth and your glassy jaw What I'm dreaming of Is a knock that shatters all your shadows

It's the sun that makes you fall apart Stay inside till it's dark, you'll be free If all it takes to break your beating heart Is to go to the start and leave the room I feel the power Hey guys, it's Colby Armstrong. Just want to say congratulations on your 200th episode of 31 Thoughts. I've loved being a guest on this podcast.

Always interesting and obviously very popular. So congrats on all the success and the run that you're on. You know, Jeff, with your nerdy hockey takes and ideas and, uh, well, Elliot with his nerdy ideas as well. Congrats nerds. Hey,

this is Kathy Broderick. I'm a friend of almost, and I want to say congratulations to all of you on your milestone of 200 episodes of 31 thoughts podcast. I know all too well what it's like working with Jeff and Elliot, so congratulations on making it through 200 episodes, and here's to 200 more. Cheers, my friend.

Cheers. I can't believe you guys have had 200 episodes of nonsense that people actually listen to. I've contributed to the nonsense a few times boggles my mind anyways i was told to make a 30 second video i don't have 30 seconds of nice things to say to you too so i'm done about now but love you guys congrats 31 thoughts 200 episodes what a feat what a milestone for you guys congrats Elliot and Jeff I was just thinking about you know hockey coverage during the pandemic it's been great to have 31 thoughts to listen to informative and entertaining as always but also entertaining uh Elliot to watch you grow out your beard

during the initial part of the hockey coverage in the pandemic last year. And that was great to see. But I think if we're talking about Sportsnet Awards in terms of the best beard on Sportsnet, I would still take the cake on that. So you gave it your best shot, and that was great to see. But let's get Jeff on this here. Playoffs are around the corner. Jeff, let's bring out that playoff beard.

Let's see what you got. Anyways, guys, just driving up here on the QE2 to Edmonton from Calgary for another Battle of Alberta. But congratulations again on the 200th episode of 31 Thoughts. Elliot, it's always a good time when a Norris Trophy winner joins us here on the podcast. He is Roman Yossi of the Nashville Predators. He joins us on 31 Thoughts, the podcast. Roman, thanks so much for doing this.

How are you today? Of course, I'm good. Good. How are you? We're doing well. You know, it's been, you know, going into this year, we knew it was going to be a challenging season for everyone. And I don't need to tell an NHL player that but it almost feels like it's been

two maybe three different seasons all together for the Nashville Predators can you describe this season for us that you know aren't involved in it but are watching from afar yeah it kind of has been two different seasons for us I think obviously in the start start of the year we we didn't play well. We didn't get off to a good start. Couldn't really find our consistency. And then we went on this long road trip, had a lot of injuries. And yeah, we found a way to get some wins on a tough road trip. And it kind of turned our season around and started to play a lot better after that. kind of turned our season around and started to play a lot better after that.

What was it like, Roman, the few weeks leading up until trade deadline? Because everybody, and listen, we talked about it plenty here on this podcast as well. Everybody had the Nashville Predators blowing up the team, bodies going out the door. What was it like on the squad when all that conversation was happening? We didn't talk about it too much, to be honest. I mean, obviously, you see some of the articles that are out, some of the rumors. And at the time, we weren't playing well. So I think it's not always easy for players if you see rumors about yourself. But it wasn't much of a topic in the team. And then I think it was like a month or two weeks before we started turning it around and um we started playing a lot better and you could tell there was disbelief in

our team that we can make it to the playoffs we have a chance to make it to the playoffs and like i said before the trade deadline i really like our team i like like our like our group and there's a lot of believe in the room so we we were definitely happy that it didn't go that route. As captain, do you ever go to talk to David Boyle and say, David, I'd like to know what's going on, or some of our players would like to know what's going on? Not much, honestly. I think David has been in the business for so long. He knows what he's doing. He's really good at his job. And I know he does everything he can

to be successful as an organization. And I think especially throughout the season, I think as a player, even as a captain, you're trying to focus on your game. You're trying to focus on the team game. And that's really the main focus. So there's not a lot of talk about that stuff. I want to talk about you and your history with Nashville here a little bit.

When Ryan Suter left to go to Minnesota, almost immediately you end up playing with Shea Weber. And then Shea Weber gets moved and P.K. Subban comes in and everyone thinks, oh, it's going to be Yossi and Subban. And you end up playing with Ryan Ellis can you describe in your words what your experience has been like and and through all of this you become this Norris Trophy defenseman like one of the marquee defensemen in the world describe your experience with Nashville and the roles that you've played on the blue line so far just looking back like one thing obviously Nashville always had some really good defensemen

and when I got drafted it was pretty exciting because they did have Shea Weber, Ryan Suter and all those guys and then Ryan Ellis got drafted, Ekholm got drafted, Seth Jones. There's so many good defensemen that played here and I think my first year you kind of come up and um you play behind guys like shay weber ryan suiter and it's just an unbelievable learning experience for a young kid and then suits left and i got a chance to play webs my my second year and obviously that was for me that was huge playing with a guy like him playing more minutes uh that was huge for me and there's so many things i learned from that and um yeah it's just been a lot of fun there's i think like i said before guys like ellis echo we all went to

development camps together uh 10 11 years ago and now we're all still playing together here so it's it's pretty cool of all the people when you look back at all those guys you start in development camp with and when you look back at like what ekholm was like back then what you were like back then what ellis was like back then who was the funniest one to look back and think this is what you used to be like that's a good question i feel like we haven't changed much it's like we're still pretty much the same person. But I think just like with Ekholm, we both came over from Europe. I think he was drafted fourth round and I was drafted second round. And I think just coming over from Europe, you never really know what to expect, like how guys can adjust to the North American game.

And for us, it was definitely a learning curve. I mean, coming over playing in Milwaukee and stuff so I think me and him definitely had to had to learn a lot of a lot of things and I think that's why it was so good for us to go to Milwaukee and and learn some more about the North American game and and and develop there you know people will always focus on uh defensemen playing with their their partners and in your case, you mentioned Shea Weber and Ryan Ellis, Matias Ekholm, et cetera. I'm always curious about a defenseman's relationship

with his goaltender. And in Nashville, you have two very distinct goaltenders. One is 5'11", and one is 6'5". How are they different to play in front of, and how are they similar to play in front of and how are they similar to play in front of well i think their playing style is a little different they're both unbelievable goalies obviously but um i played most of my career i played in front of pecs and pecs has been i mean he's been unbelievable for this organization i mean there's so many years

in my career where he won countless games for us. And I think we're always a team that made it to the playoffs. He was one of the biggest reasons because he's been playing so well. And the way he moves the puck, I think especially as a defenseman, it's really easy to play in front of a goalie like Peck, who moves the puck so well. It's like a third defenseman out there breaking out for you. And yeah, he's been unbelievable and obviously choose the the last i mean the last couple months he's kind of been doing what we all knew he was going to do um i think if you watch

him in practice and um we see him every day he's he's unbelievable i think he's he's so quick it seems like he's never out of position and and he's always in the right spot. He's been unbelievable for us, and he's a big reason we're still in the playoff push. He has made it very clear that he wants to retire as a Predator. I know it's a tough thing to talk about in the middle of a playoff race, but do you guys ever talk about what could be your last few games together we don't much but like um obviously i heard his comments too and obviously like i think pex is

pex is that guy like that everyone loves in the room he's uh he's the most respected guy in our room and he's one of the nicest people so everybody wants him to do well and like especially in our team like we want him to do well and obviously he's had such a big impact in in nashville and um i mean obviously everybody in nashville would love to see him retire as a predator but yeah i hope he's got got some years left in him i know he does he's been he's playing he's still playing unbelievable so we don't talk about it much but yeah it's I mean a guy like him who has such a big impact it's hopefully can play a couple more years you know I can remember talking to to Nico Heischer in his draft here at the combine

and we talked about specializing in hockey and he said listen I never specialized in hockey until I was, you know, well into my teens, played a lot of tennis, ski, like it was a lot of multi-sport. And a lot of Swiss athletes that I've spoken to, hockey players specifically, tell me the same thing. You know, we didn't focus on just one sport until much later into our teens. What were sports like when you were young? Was it always hockey or was it a was it a mix of a number of sports I played soccer till I was 10 years old those were the two sports hockey and soccer that I played in a on a team so I would sometimes go to hockey practice then to soccer practice and then maybe Saturday I would have a soccer game and Sunday I would have a hockey game

and I did that till I was 10 and. And then it just got too much with everything. And I quit soccer. But I definitely grew up playing a lot of different sports. But those two were definitely my main sports. Now, I wanted to talk to you a little bit about yourself here. And because I know you're really big into taking proper care of yourself, you're really big into taking proper care of yourself meditation the way you eat i'm just curious roman like just what are your rules for taking care of yourself like what are the things that are absolute total rules when you say this is how i take care of my body and this is what i eat i think the the older you get the more you play in league. I think just taking care of your body, like treatment-wise. And I actually got into meditation a couple of years ago,

like two or three years ago. And I feel like it really helps me balance, keeps me more calm. And I think especially in seasons like this, where you play every other day, and in hockey there's always a lot of highs and lows. And just to find and keep that balance i think it really really helped me but um nutrition wise i i do try to take care

of myself and i try to eat healthy but um i think sometimes it's also important to to eat whatever you feel like once in a while but um i think yeah the older you get the longer you play in league you see how important it is to get treatment to to take everybody and just the recovery part now i'm a meditation guy too i used to do 10 minutes a day i've kind of decreased it a bit to five minutes a day but i always do find five to ten minutes a day where I just stop and listen to like, whether it's the calm app or the headspace app, I find five to 10 minutes where I just put my phone away. Don't look at it and just listen. What do you do? Yeah, I actually started with the headspace app too. And, um, I started doing 10 minutes, try to do 10 minutes a day. And then once the pandemic started, I actually, like, you had a lot more time.

You were home all the time. I actually meditated a lot more. I probably did like 30 minutes in the morning, 30 minutes at night. Wow. Which is a lot. And obviously you can't really, like now during the season, we just had a sun too. So it's a little harder right now. But I try to get in, like you said,

like even if you just do five or 10 minutes, I think it helps. And just to sit down and just, like you said, the calm app, where you just sit there and do nothing for 10 minutes. And yeah, it doesn't matter how long it is. I feel like it always, always helps me. You've had some different coaches in your time in Nashville. Mind you, it's, you know, it's Barry Trotz, Peter Laviolette, and now John Hines.

Who was the one coach that was able to unlock the best Roman Yossi or was able to help you take your game to the next level? Who did it for you? Well, I think I had them in different stages. I think Trozzi, that was my first two or three years in the league. And he was an unbelievable coach. I mean, he's one of the nicest guys out there. And he was a great coach. And he was great for me coming into the league.

I felt like he gave me a lot of confidence right away. I mean, we talked about it. I got to play with Shea right away in my second year and he gave me a lot of confidence in that way. And I think Lavi came in in my fourth or fifth year in the league and I think that's when I personally took another step and Lavi was really all about defensemen jumping up into play, being involved in the offense. And he kind of let us play

and he wanted us to be active, which obviously helped my game. And I think he definitely helped me a lot. And now Heinze is a different coach again. There's so many things you learn from different coaches. Heinze is a different coach again like he there's so many things you learn from different coaches Heinze is very detailed and yeah there's so many things I can still work on and I think every coach you have he brings something and and he helps you be more a more complete player and they've all been great so it's been it's been a lot of fun here. One of the reasons I asked that is because I remember talking to someone

who used to play on the Preds and was there during the transition from Trotz to La Violette, and he said it was really hard on the goaltenders. And I said, what do you mean? He said, well, it was hard on Pekka Rinne specifically because Pekka Rinne was a goaltender that liked to feel the puck a lot, give me 15 shots a period, that's great, I can warm up, get used to feel the puck a lot you know give me 15 shots a period that's great i can warm up get used to touching the puck and then laviolette came in and it was okay we're not letting win no more than five shots a period like that's that that's our that's our goal and it was really hard he said for pecorine who was used to you know getting a lot of action and getting into the

game that way i'm curious when the transition from barry tross Peter Laviolette happened, what was that like for you? We know what it was like for the goaltenders. What was it like for the defense? Well, I think as a team with Lavi, we played really, really aggressive. I think there's a lot of pinching, a lot of, we played with a lot of speed, a lot of like hard for checking and stuff so

and for me personally i think as a player i got older more experienced and uh i think as a d-man you always when you come into the league you're kind of trying to find find your game a little bit and and try to to see what makes you successful and and i think under lavi um i just kind of grew more got more experienced and and kind of knew what my game was. And he gave me a lot of freedom to do that. And I think he gave all our defensemen a lot of freedom. Like I said, he wanted us to be involved in the play, to jump up. And yeah, for us, we had a lot of skating defensemen, a lot of guys that wanted to jump up in the play.

And it was definitely perfect for us. Are there any rules that you have now, Roman? There are teams that play against you, they basically say he's a rover, he can go wherever he wants. Are there rules that you have to follow? Yeah, I mean, there's definitely rules. But I think my game is to jump up,

to be involved in the Ozone. And I definitely get a lot of freedom with that now too. I think it's always up to the player to see what's possible and what's not. Obviously, as a defenseman, you've got to play well defensively. But yeah, Heinze wants us to be active in the Ozone. He wants us to jump up. And yeah, he definitely allows me to do that and i think then it's up to the player to to know what's too risky and what's not and um but i

think it's it's a huge part of the of the game now i think every team every team does it it's really hard on defense to to control the the ozone if if the demon is is going down or is cycling down and um it's definitely a huge part of our game too i was wondering on that like last year of course you won the norris trophy uh very deserving winner but there are others who felt that you've been even better this year helping pull the predators back from being in big trouble would you say that's a fair comment or would you disagree? I think it's tough to compare. I think I wasn't happy with the way I started the season this year.

And I think after my injury, I feel like I've been playing a lot better. And I think obviously we've been playing a lot better as a team, which helps. But I didn't like the way I started. But I think it obviously we've been playing a lot better as a team which helps but I didn't like the way I start but it's I think it's hard to compare seasons I think when you look back at a season like last year where I won the Norris you kind of look back because you don't notice you think everything was great but which wasn't the case obviously there was a lot up and downs

and it's the same thing this year and I think it's the same thing every year and that's why it's always hard to compare but I think like I said I wasn't happy with the way I started the season but I think I've been playing better since since I came back from the injury. Roman last one for me for the longest time you know maybe right up until when you won the Norris Trophy whenever people talked about underrated defenseman, your name always came up. Oh, you got to see Yossi in Nashville. Oh,

don't sleep on Yossi. This guy's fantastic. Who do you consider? Maybe he's a teammate. Maybe he's someone you play against. Who do you consider an underrated defenseman in the NHL? I think, you know,

who's, I think is an unbelievable defenseman is Theodore in Vegas. And I think he's more well knownknown too now because he's had really good playoffs and he's having a good year this year. But even before that, I always thought he was an unbelievable skater, great hockey sense, great puck mover. And I think he's more known now, but I think he's a, he's a really good defenseman. I think he's still, he's still a little bit on the radar.

I have just a couple more for you, Roman. First of all, congratulations. You had, uh, you and your wife, Ellie had a baby boy who you mentioned when your son gets older, will you be the strict parent or the parent who lets him do whatever he wants? Probably more the parent who lets him do whatever he wants probably more the parent who lets him do whatever he wants i know no i'm not too good at being strict but um i'm gonna have to find a little bit of a balance but yeah i definitely want to be a fun parent okay no problem

i was told it would be i would not be doing a proper service if i didn't ask you about your dogs that you're a big dog guy you have two of them yeah and tell us about your two dogs yeah i got a rhodesian rich back he's he's pretty big he's like 105 pounds and then we have a german shepherd yeah and we got the rhodesian rich back first and then we got a German Shepherd. Yeah. And we got the Rhodesian Ridgeback first, and then we got the German Shepherd, but they're about the same age, and obviously they got a ton of energy. Our German Shepherd barks all the time.

I think that's what they do, kind of, the German Shepherds. But yeah, they're a lot of fun. They've been great with Luca so far, so it's been a lot of fun just growing our family are you the one the parent no matter what time it is you get home late from a game it's your job to walk the dogs yeah especially now i think my wife is so busy with the with the little guy so i i try to give the dogs some more attention. I go out and play with them in the yard. And yeah, right now it's definitely my job.

As I've gotten older, I've tried to get more into fashion. Do you still dress up for games, even though this year nobody's dressing up that much for games? Yeah, no. I mean, I feel like it's a little different this year. Yes. And it's so many games too. So you're wearing a suit every other day. Yeah.

So honestly, I haven't gotten a new suit in a while. So yeah, I feel like it's a little different this year. You always check with someone's agent, is there a good story that you should know about Roman Yossi about a client and I'm doing this although I know I'm gonna regret it Jud Moldaver what was your first impression of him playing ping pong playing ping pong yes well it was at my house right and he was already talking before like how good he is at ping pong and stuff so I was like I got a ping pong table let's play so he shows up at the house he's wearing all Nike

he's wearing like full on outfit like a ping pong outfit and I don't know if he's wearing a headband or not but he was he was ready to go and he actually surprised me he was pretty good but I used to play a lot of ping pong so i beat him but um he was pretty good but now he says he played a lot during the pandemic and he would beat me now but i doubt it we gotta we gotta play at some point that that sounds exactly roman like judd moldaver like as you're described right right down to the headband that is exactly judd moldaver exactly i can just picture it now. Listen, this has been a lot of fun.

Best of luck the rest of the way and into the playoffs. Fingers crossed for the Nashville Predators. Thanks so much for doing this. Thank you. Appreciate it. Hi, Elliot and Jeff. It's your pal Dallas Green here. I just wanted to say congratulations on 200 episodes.

It's a beautiful accomplishment. And I hope to be able to come back for one of the next 200 and talk about nothing and everything at the same time. Way to go, boys. That's awesome. Hey, guys. Shane Doan here. Congratulations on 200.

It is mind-boggling that you guys have made it this far. Two of the least respected guys probably in the entire league. In all seriousness, congratulations, guys. So cool, so happy for you. Very well deserved. And Elliot, please stay off horses. For your sake and the horses' sake. Thanks, guys.

That's pretty funny. Hello, boys. It's Adam Copeland, a.k.a. Edge, a.k.a. The Raider, our superstar. And I want to congratulate you guys on making 200 podcasts. I mean, considering the talent involved, I'm surprised you made two, let alone 200. But here we are. Although your competition is Steve Dangle, so it's not really saying much, right? Anyway, congratulations on 200, and here's to 200 more

in the midst of which I will be a guest once again so we can talk about old arenas and mildewy jockstraps. All right, guys, have a good one. That's awesome. I saw my old friends out on the weekend And when they saw me I supervised their wandering I'm collecting research, doing their homework

Reaping citations from the ones we share in our life I hope they give you what you're looking for I hope they help you when you ask for more Before our interview with Roman Yossi, you heard The American Standard by Niall from their sophomore record. Now you're hearing Different People from the 2018 EP. Differing people you'll never understand. Differing people you'll never understand. Differing people you'll never understand. No, it's all right. Okay, Elliot, a couple of Ask 31s to wrap things up. And by the way, thanks to Roman Yossi for stopping by

and Kevin Wilson of the Preds for making that happen this comes to us from NHL Wookiee ask 31 what's a Sam Bennett deal look like now he's been great for the cats Elliot as you well know I mean obviously this was a player who needed a fresh start and he has looked great there. You know, we talked about it a couple of weeks ago that Florida has had a couple of bets this year that have really paid off. Carter Verhage before he got hurt, Anthony Duclair fitting in really well there. Kenzie Wieger continues to be a much improved player. Sam Bennett is a career average 10% shooter.

And he was at six in Calgary this year, which was his career worst. And he's at 17 since he got to Florida. So I don't think this is necessarily going to continue. This is a great run, but there's no doubt that he needed a change of scenery and both him and the team needed a fresh start. I still think Calgary got good return for him

considering what was kind of going on. But now all of a sudden you're looking at him in Florida and you're saying, wait a second, is this going to give him a nice little career arc, just the chance to go somewhere else? Great question. This comes to us from Trevor Greaves. I think it's always important to do these

every now and then just so people have an understanding on how this works okay um when a coach or general manager gets fired uh before their contract obligations are fulfilled do they always get paid their full contract what happens when they get another job while still technically under contract is it different for coaches versus GMs versus other front office staff? Elliot. Well, unless you're fired for cause or something like that,

you get your money, right? You get what's owed to you. So for example, say Jeff was an NHL coach. I know this is a far-fetched story, but let's just go with it. And say he got signed to a team three years three million dollars so after year two he gets fired and he's got another year and three million owed to him they owe him that money now there are certain things that do happen if jeff gets a job

somewhere else and for example say he gets paid a million dollars that first team still owes him two and sometimes there are negotiations about this like one thing the league does have is a rule that says look let's just say for example almost fires jeff as his coach and i'm like i want to hire him i know almost very mean he would do that ruthless i can't just say you know what jeff i'm gonna pay you a dollar yeah and almost still to have to pay you $2,999,999. It doesn't work like that. The NHL can be brought in sort of to mediate these things and they can say like, this is his market value and what a team has to pay him. Now, I think there's been breaks here and there.

You know, when John Tortorella went from Vancouver to Columbus, you know, I think that Columbus, because they don't tend to pay as much as Vancouver did for Tortorella at the time, I think that they were given a bit more of a break and Tortorella got raises with new deals he signed. I think the other thing too, is that if you were to, if Jeff was to take the year off and do TV, like any money he gains from doing TV could also come out of what the team owes him. So are there, there are those

kinds of protections in place. Like one thing that was a little different was when Dave Tippett left Phoenix or Arizona, there was a payout there he he wanted to leave and yeah they negotiated a deal where he got a flat fee for and didn't get everything he was owed from the coyotes because he he wanted to leave too didn't the NHL step in when was it Florida tried to sign was it Danilesma? Trying to remember who it was and they thought they could. I don't know about Florida, but I do know in Bilesma's case, after he was out in Buffalo, he obviously went to Detroit to be an assistant under Jeff Blashill.

And there was quite a conversation there between the Sabres and the Red Wings about what Bilesma's value should be. I know that was quite a conversation there between the Sabres and the Red Wings about what Bilesma's value should be. I know that was quite a conversation. I heard a great story not too long ago, and I won't share the name here, but I'm pretty sure you know who I'm talking about, Elliot. There is one ex-general manager who has deliberately stayed, even though I know he's had at least one other offer, not as a GM, but I think as an assistant general manager. But he

has deliberately stayed out because of spite more than anything else. He wants his old team to pay him every single penny. He's deliberately kept himself out of the game. i think you know who i'm talking about is it brian burke no it is not brian burke and i'm not going to tell you who it is but

i think you know who i'm talking about but i just when you're when you're when we're talking about this i'm like oh yeah that story just because he's that vindictive he wants that team to pay i can't wait till the nhl opens up an investigation to some former GM who won't take a job because of what you just said on this podcast. Delete, delete, delete. You know what this is going to be like? This is going to be like the hunt for the video game player that you created. Oh, my goodness. And no one's got it yet.

That was interesting too. Man, that one really blew up. That was when I was in Regina at Memorial Cup and I just dropped it on a show. And then all of a sudden, boom, my phone just exploded. Everybody was guessing who the video game player was. I know. And I had one player, I don't know if I should say his name, who came out and DM me and said, can you publicly say that it's not me?

Because it's not. And I'm like, yeah, sure, of course. And so I, oh, did I put out that it wasn't him? I can't remember now. But there was one player who is a big video game guy and it wasn't him. This guy is actually in the NHL on a consistent basis. Anyway, I'm digressing here. Stuart submits this one. UK listener here, would the NHL consider an overseas game in the UK like the NFL, NBA, MLB have done? The last one was 2007. That would have been King's ducks.

I just think that we're not, we've got to wait till this gets back to normal, right? Of course. I assume all of this is going to come back, but I figure we've got to wait till everything's normal again. I got to think yes, though. I would imagine.

Okay. First of all, I'm going to get to the hashtag here And you're gonna love it This comes to us from At TH3 underscore N3RDSM4 Another bot? With single game betting now an inevitability

Across North America How much change can we expect to the plurality Of officiating, injury reports And announcing of starting Goaltenders etc will the nhl over regulate these for degenerates like myself and elliot friedman hashtag not a bot farm sounds like a bot farm what do you think freach i hope so you can't be taken seriously if you aren't going to do this.

I guess you could always say, well, you can make your bet half an hour before the game, right? Yep. You know, international hockey, you have to declare your lineup an hour before the game. It comes out. But you are entitled to dress extra players there i do have to think that at some point in time they're gonna have to come up with some kind of standard here like to me this whole thing about goaltenders playing a different style it's so ridiculous goaltenders are blockers now there aren't too many that are different i gotta think someday this is gonna happen from alex yates has don granato done enough to get the sabers head coaching job

that's a great question i have asked that and the sabers they're being quiet about this they're better teams that have played against them say that they have a lot more structure and they are much more organized out on the ice now i've got to think it's at least a possibility i mean one of the questions is does granado want to do it i also do think there's going to be a financial situation here because they're paying kruger at least for another year not to coach. And not to say that Don Granato's not valuable, but I think, for example, his salary wouldn't be the same as someone like Gerard Glantz, and that's going to be a factor

when you're still paying Ralph Kruger for another year at least. But at the very least, what he's done is he's put himself in the conversation. And I'm just curious here, does Buffalo feel they need to go out and find someone else? Someone with a bit more of, I don't know, a cachet or a bit more of NHL experience? I don't know. I mean, if you're keeping a lot of this group together, guys having some success with it, does it not make sense? To me, it does.

Absolutely. We'll finish up on this one from Paul Perry. Will the Senators be able to sign Brady Kachuk to a long-term deal this offseason? I don't even know if he wants to do a long-term deal. Well, that's the thing. I would be surprised. It's not an insult to Ottawa.

Simply, if you take a look at what a lot of players are doing while the cap is flat, we're seeing a lot of people sign, even before the pandemic, like his brother signed a three-year deal, which gives him max leverage at the end of his contract, right? Oh, yeah. He'll be one year to unrestricted free agency. So they're represented by the same agent. You know that they come from a really savvy family his parents are are very smart when it comes to the business of

hockey don't you think it would be the same i totally agree i think this is gonna this looks like three-year deal to me yes and the other thing too is is that if you look at it, you can sign a better deal, long-term deal three years from now than you can now. Ottawa's all of a sudden going to have some really interesting business. You know, Batherson has been really good too. His next contract is going to be interesting. And if Tim Stutzla continues the way he's going right now. You've got a bit more time there.

You've got two more years. And you're right. I understand what you're saying, but I do look at it and say, okay, how do you plan your business now? And I think a lot of the top young players, like to me, a guy who might be a little bit different is Quinn Hughes. He doesn't have the same rights that a lot of other players have right now because he's what's called a 10-2C. You can't arbitrate him, can't offer sheet him. So I think that that might be a little different for him, but I think a lot of the other guys, three years is what they're looking at. I think Pedersen's going to come in around three years. We went a whole podcast without mentioning Vancouver. That is remarkable, by the way.

You got it in right at the end. Again, thanks to Roman Yossi for stopping by the podcast today. Thanks again and congratulations to our man Chris Johnston for doing the marathon on Thursday. And thanks to you for listening for the 200th episode of 31 Thoughts to Podcast and for everybody who chimed in thanking us, some of them tongue-in-cheek, others genuine, all of them heartfelt. We know where you're coming from.

So thank you. Taking us out, a great four-piece band you've heard earlier in the podcast. From Peterborough, Ontario, here's Niall with Backburn on 31 Thoughts, the podcast. I've got things to do. I've got things to say. It doesn't matter now, does it anyway? It never mattered anyway. I've got things to do. I've got things to say. It never mattered now, did it anyway?

It never mattered anyway It sure feels like It feels like I've been dreaming Yeah I've been dreaming Yeah I've been sitting on the back of the toilet Hey guys, it's Rick Tockett, head coach of the Arizona Coyotes. I've been on your show.

Great show, by the way, but I'd like to congratulate you. 200 episodes. Incredible. I think you guys are two of the best in the business. Very knowledgeable. Elliot, the only thing I'd like to congratulate you 200 episodes incredible i think it's uh you guys are two of the best in the business very knowledgeable elliot the only thing i'd like to say is uh the hair and the beard's got to go that's the one thing i'd have to say after they go the hockey knowledge is great but the facial hair and the whole makeup stuff no good and jeff loves his junior hockey i think he'd be a hell of a junior coach i think you got to put your hat in there somewhere one of the teams there.

Maybe take over for Dale Hunter in London. Maybe that would be a good transition for you. But once again, boys, great job. 200 episodes, probably many, many more. And enjoy being on the show and actually listening to your show. Take care, boys. So 200 episodes of 31 turds. Who'd have thought?

So Elliot Friedman, Jeff Merrick, congratulations. I can't believe it. You must have pictures of some producer having sex with a farm animal. This thing never should have seen the light of day. But 200 and counting, good for you guys. Good job, boys. Oh, my God, that's awesome. Hey, Jeff. Hey, Elliot. It's Tim McAccallough of tim and friends formerly of tim and said i wanted to come on the show today and congratulate you guys on reaching

200 episodes but i was told that i'm only allowed on the show when things that i've done for near two decades come to an end so i just just figured I would send you a voice memo. You know when I did a podcast. Like 15 years ago. We didn't really count episodes. But whatever hey. Congratulations on 200 guys. Real nice.

Nice. Real nice. Big shout outs to Jeff. As a party. For helping me gather all this audio