32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Nathan MacKinnon, Drew Doughty & Steven Stamkos

Episode Date: September 22, 2021

Nathan Mackinnon (15:00) addresses the Nikita Zadorov comments from the summer, the importance of Gabriel Landeskog to the Avalanche, the process in Colorado, how he overcomes the feeling of being hesitant on the ice, and he tells the guys about an interesting line he played against this summer (that we could potentially see at the […]

Can I move this like further this way? No, I mean for you, okay. Yeah, this is good, I think. Yeah. Okay, Elliot Friedman, our player interviews from the NHL, NHLPA players tour in Chicago continues. We're going to hear from

three players today. We're going to hear from Stephen Stamkos, we're going to hear from Drew Doughty, and we're going to hear from Nathan McKinnon. So, a quick thought on the players and their teams here as we kick off the podcast before we hear the interviews. Starting with Stephen Stamkos. This was an interesting interview.

Covered a lot of ground. Talked obviously a lot about the back-to-back Stanley Cup victories. Talked about the goal that he scored in the first Tampa Stanley Cup victory that he was part of. Talked about how the second one in a lot of ways to him felt more like obviously one that he was part of. Talked about how the second one, in a lot of ways to him, felt more like, obviously, one that he contributed to. Although, man, that goal against Dallas sure was something. Talked about the captaincy.

Talked about the mayor and how she influenced the team. A couple of things here. Do you think, I'll put you on the spot to start the podcast here, and this is with all due respect to your Vincent LeCavaliers and your Martin St. Louise. Do you think what all is said and done? If he's a bolt for life,

he goes down as the greatest Tampa Bay lightning player ever. He'll have the points. He'll have the games play longest serving captain, et cetera. It's an interesting conversation. Like it's an interesting thought exercise. It's an interesting thought exercise because It's an interesting thought exercise. Cause you're deep.

You're deep. My default is always no Marty St. Louis, but then when you really peel it back and think about it, it might just be Stamkos. I wonder if it's going to end up being Kucharov. Well, that's the,

that's, that's the other one, but that's on the horizon. I'm just saying like of the, of the right nows. Boy, it's funny because at the end of the interview you ask him about the power play and he talks about how good kucherov is and we joke that he's going to get a nasty text from

san luis when he hears how much praise he's giving kucherov over him yeah what about headman there's another one you throw in the mix absolutely and the other thing too is and again we're giving away the interview but you know we ask about the three pete and he said the first name he mentions is vasilevsky he goes we've got a chance because of him right yeah boy that's a tough one i i think it's going to be like honestly i wonder if kucherov head Hedman, Point, this generation, Vasilevsky goes down as the greatest players. Yeah. Like Stamkos is definitely in the conversation.

Like he's up there, right? 60 goal season. You know, the other thing too that really stands out for me is how relaxed he is now, right? The three of these guys, one of the reasons I wanted to put them together is they were all good interviews but just how relaxed they were dowdy mckinnon and stamkos i think you know like i joked with you in one of the earlier podcasts about how the players don't hate us

yet this year this tour reminds me a lot of when i used to cover spring training in baseball the weather's great everyone's in a good mood. Everyone's in shape. Nothing hurts. I can wake up. I can get out of bed. I'm not in pain. They haven't been asked the same questions 40 times yet.

And these guys were really open about things. That's one of the things people really have noticed about Stamkos is, and he talks about how much he liked the second win as opposed to the first one again i don't want to give it away people can hear his reasons but after they won the first one and he scored that incredible goal coming back from injury people around the lightning talked about how much weight it took off his shoulders and the fact that you have a championship next to your name and how much it changes you. But the other thing they talk about,

and it's something that we talked about after the Tampa, Florida series last year, is that the Lightning have this reputation as being a genteel bunch of guys when really other teams think they're a bunch of nasty killers. And they get away with murder because everybody thinks that they're you know a bunch of nice guys i really like this interview best lightning ever boy that's a tough

one that's a really tough one that's all subjective like the way that i've always looked at stamkos is and i guess you can make the point that headman might be this guy to some extent as well there have been two great eras for the Tampa Bay Lightning, both eras culminating in Stanley Cup victories and I've always kind of seen Stamkos as the link between the two. You know, the guy that had his foot in

the previous, I don't want to say dynasty because it's just one Stanley Cup, but in that era of Tampa where they won the Stanley Cup and this era of tampa where they're winning now multiple stanley cups that's how i've always seen stamp coast you see i always saw san luis as sort of the the emotional trigger of that team you know some lightning fans might say okay the way he left maybe that changes their vote. But I always saw St. Louis as kind of that guy.

Every team has the emotional heartbeat, and I always thought it was him. But way to start the interview by making me disparage one of our guests by saying he's not the best Lightning ever. Okay, then follow that up with disparage Drew Doughty as we're running through players, because as he pointed out during the interview,'s fuel for him it's funny you know this is the one that's going to drop after the marner one and we talked about you know marner ignoring the world and things like that right

again you know stamkos talks a lot about this too is is what's fuel right and and and i do believe there's something to that you have to find i think in the grind of a season you have to find extra motivation you know there's going to be days you wake up as you said you're not feeling good something hurts you know you wake up in the morning and you feel like crap because you're on a long road trip or you're in three games and four nights and sometimes you have to find that little something extra that gets you through it, right? Or says, okay, that's what's going to drive me today. And I think there's a difference between fuel

and being consumed by things. And, you know, Stamkos and Dowdy, there's no question that they use this stuff as fuel. I mean, Dowdy, I mean, this whole interview, it's just, I was listening to it again yesterday as I was preparing to write the blog, and the guy is just hilarious. I mean, and he'll get to the story about the gold medal game. You know, the whole thing, I was listening to this, and I mean, as the whole interview

was going on, I was almost saying this thing, I can't believe some of this stuff. And, you know, great for him. You know, the sport needs color. The sport needs this kind of thing. And Doughty is a guy, it's like he steps up to the microphone and he knows I'm here to put on a show. And he just delivers. But it's like I always say, like some people out there,

they mistake kindness for weakness because you're a nice person you're soft it's almost like because he can be so funny sometimes that they think that he doesn't care i tell people don't mistake that like just because you're outwardly friendly or you're outwardly kind doesn't mean you can't be cutthroat when it matters and doughty is cutthroat when it matters quick little aside from these last two players that we just talked about so these two guys steven stamkos drew doughty they both go one two in the 2008 nhl draft and i don't think the los angeles kings win their stanley cups without drew doughty that's a pretty obvious statement i don't know that tampa although you can make the point that in the first one, in this era,

they didn't really have Stephen Stamkos, but in the second one, do they win the Stanley Cup without Stephen Stamkos? And this just winks at the point about how much is luck. Because if Tampa takes Drew Doughty first overall in 2008, do the Los Angeles Kings win those two Stanley Cups? There's no answer other than this is the riddle to play with in your head or something to pass the time to think of the alternative universe or the alternative NHL universe. I just think it's interesting that on this podcast, we have these guys one and two, and I'm always fascinated with the what if scenarios. You know, what if, you know, Alex Petrangelo went number two to Los Angeles instead of

Drew Doughty or Drew Doughty went first and Petrangelo went second. And you twist yourself up like a pretzel, even just thinking about these things. But again, in the spirit of sort of thought experiments, what if these two had flipped in 2008? What would the NHL world have looked like? I will say this i understand your point about luck and i and i do think luck is a factor this is a whole other philosophical conversation the thing that i liked least about moneyball which i thought was brilliant and really smart stuff was billy bean explaining his playoff failures by luck.

And he says, the playoffs are all luck. And I would never downplay that you need luck, and I think it's important, Jeff. But now I think it's almost become an excuse. Well, we just had bad luck. Our process was great. We had bad luck. And I think people use that as a crutch.

Yes, everybody has good luck. Everybody has bad luck. Some days fortune smiles on you. Sometimes it doesn't. But I think in a lot of ways, your process and your effort gets you to where you are and you make your own luck sometimes. But sometimes I think that people just use it too much as a crutch. And at the end of the day, yes it is a team sport and sometimes

your team takes you as opposed to you take your team but when someone says oh we never won because we had bad luck oh i think it's such a crutch sometimes what do you make of the los angeles kings this year drew dowdy talks a lot about how rebuild is over. Didn't want to go through it. That was it. And Rob Blake really sped this thing up. And now there's no more talk of rebuild in Los Angeles. The pieces are all there. This is a team that's chasing wins and chasing playoffs, not chasing a rebuild. We'll see where Quentin Byfield ends up in this lineup. We'll see where players like Kupari and Kaliev and Turcotte and Kale Clegg end up with this lineup. But as I look at the Los Angeles Kings, I see, I still see tons of veteran guys, whether it's Kopitar or Doughty, whether it's Brown or Danone, whether it's I follow or Arvidsson. There's still a lot of veteran players on this team,

perhaps more so than you'd expect for a team that just went through a rebuild. It's pretty obvious what happened there. They said, okay, it's enough. Nathan McKinnon. Now, Nathan McKinnon's summer, certainly the end part of it, was dominated by a conversation

around an interview that Nikita Zadorov gave about him and how intense and the expectation level that he has both on and off the ice for Colorado Avalanche players what did you make of our conversation that people will hear in a couple of moments with Nathan McKinnon of the Avs you know first of all I love McKinnon I love the way he carries himself I love his attitude I would have gone full heel and he talks at length about it and I'm sure people have seen some of the quotes and and we talk about it with them but my response the whole thing was yeah I'm demanding because I expect a lot of myself so what that's what I would have done I think, as I thought about it.

And he does kind of come around to that way of thinking after a while. I wouldn't have been defensive. I would have simply said, yeah, I don't care what you think. I'm demanding. And if you don't like it, too bad. Because it's kind of his way, right? He demands a lot of himself. And therefore, he demands a lot of other people i i'm good with that kind of pushback this whole interview again he's really

thoughtful he's really good in this interview he has a lot of good stuff to say grubauer was another guy we interviewed and you know i talked about what another member of the avalanche said that they were so happy landis Scott came back because he's the guy who tells McKinnon to stop when he, when he chews out the rest of us. Who, who told you that? Did, did, did, did Kale sit here and like say that?

And even McKinnon kind of laughs about that and says it's true. I just think to be really successful, you've got to be really driven. And this guy is really driven. I like the way he talked about their loss to Vegas too. He doesn't sugarcoat it. He basically said we got out of who we were. We lost our identity.

And he gave Vegas credit for taking it away from them. And I got a lot of time for him. i got a lot of time for them i have a lot of time for all three of these guys and i think we are very lucky that they were in the moods they were in and they were as reflective as they were and you know i i hope the listeners enjoy it because i really enjoyed these conversations i thought that they were very generous to us and therefore the audience in what they had to say. The one thing, and we'll end on this thought and give way to the first of three, and that is with Nathan McKinnon. The one thing about McKinnon that I find really interesting is that I get the sense strongly in his mind he's achieved nothing.

Yes. I mean, he's one of the best players on the planet. Some make the argument at various times he is the best player on the planet. Very few, if any, come close to playing like him. I've talked about this guy being like a rhinoceros on skates, being able to impose his will, both physically, from a delicate skill point of view like he has it all like when you go into what makes you know the perfect hockey player you know a lot of those attributes are in nathan mckinnon yet elliot in his mind he's achieved nothing and that's still

fuel for him i just like his attitude that's what it is love this conversation hope you enjoy it as well nathan mckinnon kicks it off. 32 Thoughts. Nathan McKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche joins us here on 32 Thoughts. What was the most annoying part of your summer? It wasn't too bad, man. I was out east relaxing, training, skating. It wasn't too bad, honestly.

It was good. I didn't have to get tested every day during the season, so it was relaxing. Are you at the point now where you can just laugh off all the Zador off stuff yeah i didn't really like it at first honestly i was like i take things seriously but that portrayal of me um you know people i feel like nowadays they think the internet is the law you know whatever someone says is true but obviously there's some truth to everything and i definitely take it seriously and i was now I laugh at the memes more than I did back then. But I was telling you guys earlier, my buddies were sending me those memes. I was like,

can you please stop that? And I texted Z. I'm like, I'm like, bro, like, why are you talking about me in Moscow? Like,

like what, how did I come up? Like, you know what I mean? So I love Z, but what's up? What do you say? He's like,

bro, I compare you to mj you're so nasty or something like i'm like what are you talking about like mj i'm like i'm mj without six rings and 10 mvps yeah i'm just like was there not a part of you that just wanted to double down on it and just say like yeah like i'm sorry i demand excellence i demand greatness for sure and i was gonna say something about it but I didn't really even want to give it attention yeah I didn't want to do that at all but it was a big thing I mean it kind of went I don't have Twitter but I have Instagram so I see all like the memes and people talking about Instagram and stuff and I saw some people were like offended

the way I was like they thought I act or something. So people are pretty sensitive. They're offended by it? People are pretty sensitive these days. Yes, they are. I mean, at the end of the day, I think all of us want to be the best. And even if that was true, I mean, who cares?

People need to worry about their own lives, I think. Well, you know, there's something you say here that it's the second time I've heard you say a variation of this thing it's one of the things i i'm really interested the most about you is you just talked about how zadorov compared you to michael jordan and michael jordan has six titles and how many mvps so don't compare me to that and i remember last year at the pause i asked you something similar about crosby and you said that guy has three Stanley Cups,

two Olympic gold medals as MVPs. Like, I won't even put myself in the same sentence. Like, I love that about you. Like, I'll tell you this. When Landis Gogg resigned, one of your teammates said to me, it's a good thing Gabriel's back because we need him to calm down Nate when Nate gets mad at us all the time. But he said it as a compliment in the sense that you're a driver.

You have high standards for yourself and you have high standards for people around you. And I don't think that's ever bad. I don't think that's bad at all. Yeah. I think, honestly, that's why the MJ stuff, it's just like I find that so embarrassing. You know, seeing me compared to someone like that like you said like I mean I've had been up for a couple hearts but like doesn't really matter I don't think you know I just want to you know have my name on the cup one day and I think that's what

I'm really looking to do and I think it'll be a big disappointment if we never get that done in Denver so that's all myself EJ Gabe you know the guys have been there on M Denver. So that's all myself, EJ, Gabe, the guys that have been there, Amico, Kale. That's all we really care about. We want to win very badly, and we're hoping we get that done. But I'm definitely glad Gabe resigned. I don't even want to be captain or anything.

I just want to be who I am, and Gabe is the perfect captain anyways uh very composed such a good person selfless he's a perfect captain so so happy he's around for eight more years i wanted to so while that was going on do you get involved i try not i knew it was going to work out i knew it was going to work out i I knew it was going to work out. I think it gets emotional. People say it's business, but it's not. It's personal, I think. But I know Joe, at the end of the day, really wanted to re-sign Gabe.

And I know Gabe wanted to stay, and I knew they'd figure it out. I think at the end of the day, Joe wasn't letting Gabe leave. And I know Gabe didn't want to leave, but I was definitely supportive of Gabe staying, that's for sure. I was very supportive. He's one of our favorite players to watch. He's spectacular and sneaky tough too, as a lot of people are finding out.

How much does he make? What's that? They're finding out with their face. Yes. I'm sure Braden Shen's going to think twice now. But actually, when I, in junior,

I saw him, because you're a CHL guy, I saw him really as a rookie handed to Jake Muzzin in a Kitchener Soussaint Marie Greyhound. So you ask him about that.

I think he was a rookie. Someone took a run at one of the Rangers players and Landis, it might've been his first fight. I know who's getting asked about that

when the Avalanche played Toronto next year. Yeah. And he went around, Muzzin was like one of the toughest guys in the OHL at that point. And everyone's like, well, Landeskog's going to get it. And he did more than all right. He's a man child.

But how much does he make that line work? You know, like you're a rhinoceros out there. Like you're one of those players in the NHL. Like it must be a nice feeling. Like whatever you want to do, you can do. And you go and do it. But how much does Landeskog make that line work? Yeah, he's huge.

I think just even defensively. A lot of times he'll back check first, and I'll play his wing or whatever, but he's just such a power forward, not just for our line, but, I mean, he's the leader of our team as well. He just kind of makes everything tick. And, you know, for Mikiko, me and Miko kind of has an easier time when Gabe's on the ice. He does a lot of the dirty work, goes to the net. He's always a net presence. I mean, he's always getting hit with pucks and getting cross-checked

in front. He does a lot of the stuff no one wants to do. And Miko does a lot of that too. And gives me a lot of room to kind of, you know, play a little higher, play on the outside a little bit more and chase down pucks that way. Knowing you're very high standards for yourself, what did you think after this year? What did you work on in the summer? Do you ever go back and watch the Vegas series or anything like that? No, I don't need to.

It was more of a mental thing than an actual physical thing, I think. For us and for me too, we got a little hesitant. I think we beat them in game two, but they dominated us in the second and third. And I remember thinking like, oh, like I remember talking to the plane. I'm like, you know, our whole thing is a process. Like be good in the process. Results will take care of themselves our whole year.

That's kind of was our thing. And it still is. And the process that game was so bad. But we still won an OT, Miko. Amazing shot in OT. Miko Rantan and the overtime winner! And the Avalanche take the 2-0 series lead! But it still felt like, ooh, we shouldn't have won that game.

And then in games three and four, they dominated us, and we got hesitant. Our whole thing is being aggressive and making plays and being confident and wanting the puck. And no one really wanted the puck. No one wanted to make mistakes. So I'm really hoping, I know, actually not hoping, I know we'll learn from that. And when things get tough, it's the playoffs. Teams are going to have good games, but we've got to stop the bleeding a little bit quicker than that. When you say the process, what's the avalanches process like how does it work what

do you have to follow like for your team yeah well i think just whether we win or lose i think we're good enough that if we play well we are going to win but if we lose playing well we can't get too down on ourselves but i guess it's just you know for us we like to track all five guys above their five guys that's a huge thing for us. When we do that, we're actually way better offensively. We don't get lazy coming back in our zone. We swarm quick in the D zone. We play a little physical.

We're not the most physical team. We play fast and aggressive, and when we do that, we're a tough team to beat. But we got it under heels a little bit. All credit to Vegas. They were great. They were buzzing against us. But even in game five, we're up 2-0 going into the third period, you know.

Just a couple of mistakes, unfortunate mistakes, and they tie the game and win it in OT. And then in game six, I think we outshot them 40-20 or something. It was just too late, you know. They had all the momentum on their side, I think. And it's too bad because, you know, when you really think you can win, you know, you want it so on their side I think and it's too bad because you know when you really think you can win you know you want it so bad and and then you don't it's frustrating because I've been on some tough teams in my career and where you don't have a even have a chance so

when you do have a chance you want to make it count and hopefully this year we can you know it's interesting you talk about you know guys not wanting the puck and being hesitant. And we've seen teams, maybe the most obvious example is Toronto in game seven against Montreal, just freeze, just freeze. And there's nothing like you can't train to not freeze. Like there's nothing you can do other than just go through it. And it's a bitter pill and it goes down sideways. But is there a part of you and your teammates that just say you know what the only way to get past that is to just go through it yeah i couldn't agree more i mean it's tough i mean when you're then you are freezing and hesitant because you really want it you know that's the thing it's not like you don't want to be there if anything you'd be loose in that situation but i think you kind of have to go through it and when you start to feel that again you know you remember how to get through it i guess and that's not by being hesitant if anything double down on your aggressiveness and your assertiveness you know what i mean and just

i can't let that feeling take over you know because i think hesitating is the worst thing you can do in hockey it's such a a fast sport. When you get the puck, you can't have a negative thought go through your head. You know, it has to be an assertive thought, a confident feeling, and just easier to say that now in an interview in September, but that's what I think our whole team and myself need to pick up from from last year.

But that makes a lot of sense to me. Like, I don't want to get overly philosophical about this, but, you know, the minute you're sort of thinking too much, you can really talk yourself into bad decisions. It's almost as if you want to just turn your brain off and just let all your hockey training and your whole life just sort of take over. And, you know,

I always, and I know we laugh at it sometimes when, you know, you guys are doing a walk-off interview and the interviewer asks you to like, Hey, what happened in that play? And you say, say i don't know like i get that because i would imagine like as a player you're not thinking about it you're just doing it so legitimately you don't know what you just did yeah and i think that's why the you have to go born by feelings than thoughts you know when you're out there you're feeling confident you're feeling aggressive and

that's it and then we've been doing this our whole lives just let your instincts take over from there you'll make plays you'll make the right you have to just trust yourself that you'll make the right decision with the puck or the right play by just feeling good and being confident and being aggressive and i said that word a lot but i think it's important that we didn't do I didn't do it at all in games three four and five or game more games three and four like I was hesitant I didn't want to make mistakes I remember Joe I mean Joe was like just let go you know I was trying to be play the perfect game or you know not take any risks or anything and that's not my style either. So it's hard.

I mean, you don't, it's a lot to figure out in a short amount of time. It's not like you get to the playoffs. It's a short window. You got a lot of learning to do on the fly, so it's challenging. Last one, Olympics. And the players saved this,

and I'm sure you played a role. I heard that Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid did some skating together to try some things. Have you skated with anyone or are you... Did you skate with the other two of them? I wasn't, no. Could we see a super line there? I was against them.

I was against them and it wasn't totally fair. I don't know why they teamed up like that. But I actually was on a line with Marner at the same skates. And I played with Marnes at World Championships in 2017. And yeah, we have some good chem. We have some good chem out there. So I love playing with Marner. He's such a good player, such a good passer.

Okay. You know Marner. He went through the ringer. Yeah, he did. Did you give him any advice? Yeah. I mean, I said some words I probably shouldn't say on here to him about it, you know. Give it to me. Well, I was just like, he, I mean, we were just like, it wasn't like, I hear Marner sit down.

Like, who might have said anything to anybody? But, you know, from the outside, I just think he just can't care you know he just can't care like right I mean it's a hard league you know and what if they win that then he has six goals and seven games in the next series you know it's just you know one series I remember when Pittsburgh won the cup I think it was 16 or 17 cup like Sid had two assists in seven games against Washington they beat and they beat Washington it's a team sport you know and Sid won the consmite that year he didn't score a goal against Washington so for Marins I mean he's just gotta keep going he was of I think people forget

he's like wasn't he like the first team all-star in the NHL this year so it's not too bad um but yeah it sucks the way he was ripped you know people coming after his family and stuff it's not too bad. But yeah, it sucks the way he was ripped. People coming after his family and stuff. It's pretty pathetic, but he's going to bounce back. He's such a positive guy. He's a fun guy to be around and likes to have a good time and such an amazing player. So Toronto's definitely lucky to have him. Okay, last one for me, and I'm going to be totally selfish,

but it was one of the best goals I was ever at a rink to see live. Okay. Team North America, Team Sweden, you score and Henrik Lundqvist will walk us through it. And back come the North Americans with a minute to go. Nathan McKinnon, Johnny Goodrow, great move, shoots,

Lundqvist fought that off, and here they come again. And center Henrik Zidane was all alone, McKinnon's all alone, he shoots, he scores! I probably should have backchecked it before I scored, but I was kind of puck-watching there. I saw Johnny Hockey had a step there,

so I was like, ah, it might come to me. Probably a little tired. Yeah, man, that was my favorite goal I've ever scored, for sure. It didn't mean as much as we all thought it did. We were celebrating, like... So cool. Oh, yeah, we were all so young, and Matthews didn't even play a as we all thought it did. We were celebrating like. So cool. Oh yeah. We were so, all so young. And I mean,

Matthews didn't even play a game in the league yet on that team. So it was great. I saw it was five years ago the other day, which is wild. Yeah. But yeah, that's. Did you know what you're going to do going in?

No, I just started like stick handling quick and then I saw the stick come out. That's what I mean. It says those are instincts. I wasn't thinking about a toe drag, you know? So. That's awesome.

Really cool. Yeah. Thanks so much for for this best of luck to see you at the abs and olympics yeah thank you so much appreciate it guys thanks yeah for sure it's always good elliot when you can talk to drew dowdy of the los angeles kings and here he is joining us in chicago how is life for drew dowdy these days i mean life is good i got two kids now two girls so that's kind of crazy that all how this is all happened for me it seems like i just began my career not long ago and now now I got two kids buzzing around. So I'm having lots of fun with that. I love being a dad.

I absolutely love it. But besides that, I guess hockey's been a little bit tough with our team not being very good the last few years and not getting back to the playoffs and stuff like that. So this summer was a big one for me. Just really worked my butt off to get in the best shape I could and get ready for the season. And things are looking up for us now.

We've got some new players, some young guys coming up, and I'm excited for this season to start. They listened. They heard what you and, you know. Yeah, but it wasn't just me. As usual, Kopitar was a little quieter than you. Kopi's, I mean, he's thinking the same thing. He just isn't going to say it.

He's reserved. Unlike me, I just kind of just talk. But, I mean, everyone was thinking it. Who wouldn't be thinking that? Like, we're not getting any younger. We're running out of time slowly here. So, I mean, it was in their plan anyways. It wasn't because I said anything, I don't think.

It was in their plan. I was going to say, like, the rebuild is over. Like, there are players, this is a team, this is a team competing for a playoff spot. Like that, that's obvious. It felt like from our point of view, this was like a five minute rebuild, but I'm sure it didn't feel like that as a player.

Like how, how are these last couple of seasons felt for you? It's been hard. I mean, I don't want to play the violin or whatever the saying is, but once you're on top for so long and winning cups and like literally for like five years we were so good and then like all of a sudden all your friends start getting traded away now there's only three or four guys left that we won cups with on the team guys have retired yeah it's just hard uh to to go to the

bottom i never i always want to be that guy that was on a team, you know, that never missed the playoffs type thing, like a Lidstrom type thing where he like made the playoffs all of his years. Like that was always my, something I wanted to do. And now here we are, I think I missed the playoffs more than I've made the playoffs. So it was just hard. I mean, everyone starts individually kind of calling you out too, you know, as a top player, a lot of it's on my shoulders is the reason that we had to rebuild. So, I mean, it was tough. I put a lot of that pressure on myself

and now I'm putting a lot of that pressure on myself to rebuild it and to get it back. So, yeah, it wasn't fun losing. It's not fun. You know, Mitch Myers going through a thing in Toronto where they're trying to tell him to block out the noise. Yeah. Like they're telling him, stop listening to all this stuff.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You've been successful even though you are very well aware of what is said about you. Yeah. How do you do that? Because I've seen it drive people crazy. It like kind of does drive me crazy, but like at the same time, you just use it as fuel type thing, right? Like someone's counting you out.

Well, right now the whole thing is count me out of the Olympics. Like, so I'm like, oh, I'm going to get in the best shape ever, work my butt off this summer and then have an absolutely hot start to the season. So I still got to do that part. But I'm very confident that it'll happen. I mean, I honestly played one of my best seasons last year. And then until the last 10 games, we just started, you know, calling guys up and giving guys shots. And we lost a bunch bunch of games but i was having one of my best seasons of my

entire career and uh a lot of that was because of this noise i'm hearing of you know guys don't even have me you know as a top rated defenseman anymore oh you're overpaid this type of stuff so you know it rattles me when i read it but like it doesn't take me over or anything like i can easily just be like use it as motivation be like these guys are idiots but um but yeah as much as you try to like block out the noise it always finds you like i don't go on my like twitter like looking for these things but when i'm back home in canada i'm watching sports night or tsn and all of a sudden in the middle of the highlights they're like like, oh, this guy wants to say who he thinks is going to make the team. And I was like, well, it's right in my face.

I'm not going to shut the TV off. I want to kind of see, you know. But I'm never looking for it. But it does bother me when people, you know, chirp me or leave me off things or say I'm overpaid and stuff like that. It does bother me. But, I mean, all I can do is prove them wrong.

If I was the Kings, I would like that though. Like, I would like to know that after two Stanley Cups and all your successes and your contract, you still take all this stuff very personally. If I was the Kings, that would mean a lot to me. I mean, I know the Kings know this, but I don't play the game to, I play the game because I love competing

and I love the game of hockey and I want to win. I hate losing. So that drive for me will never be gone. It doesn't matter what. I could have won 10 cups already and that drive would not be gone. I just love it. I just love it so much. The Kings all know that about me.

That's why they weren't afraid to give me a big contract. They know that I have such a huge passion for the game and for competing. I just love it. They know how bad I want to win again. So it's's easy and it's nothing to the level that you get as a player but like we get criticism too all the time anytime you put yourself on television you're gonna get criticized and you know one person brought up something really interesting to me uh she said these people that criticize you she said would you go to them for advice and i said no i said why would you go to them for criticism then yeah like if you wouldn't accept one why would you

accept the other why don't you tell me this 20 years ago that really because because i love watching you torture yourself ellie when you get criticized and you know what that like really i don't know if i like flip a switch like it's just like a mindset like why i would never go to you for advice so why am i going to you and accepting your criticism? Yeah. Like that's the one, I know the other like little like defense mechanisms that you have, like read something,

hear something, see something and just go like, shake it off. Because there's something that you do like mentally that you can, so just so you don't wear it and own it for the whole season. I don't know if I consciously do anything. I just kind of put it just whatever. Like you said, usually these – well, I guess not the same

because these guys that are projecting these teams and stuff like that, they have hockey knowledge. They've been working in hockey for how long, right? So I kind of can be like, ah, this guy doesn't know what he's talking about, but he kind of does. I can't really use that one as well. But yeah, I don't know. I just use it as fuel, like I said.

And then like, if that guy goes and asks me for an interview at some point, I'm probably going to give him a dickhead interview. Oh boy, I think I've been on the receiving end of some of those. Okay, so the league and the PA, they weren't crazy about the Olympics, but the players are. Did anyone ask you your opinion? No one asked me for my opinion.

I mean, I told my NHL PA guy, like our rep on our team, like, yeah, let's go. I mean, when you get an opportunity to put on your country's jersey, it's feeling like no other, you know. Since I've already experienced it, it makes you want to go even more again and be on that team. But the players want to compete. I mean, I didn't find the hockey at the last Olympics very entertaining with, you know, non-NHL guys.

Even as a fan, like, let's say I didn't make the team like I would be watching every game that Canada would still be playing and like rooting for them to win and stuff like that so I think it's very important for us to go to the Olympics you have a lot of great Olympic experience I remember having a conversation with one ex-NHL general manager and we were talking about coaches and this is a very short tournament and And I was like, you know, how much of a factor does coaching play in all this? And he said to me, you know, you guys make a lot about coaching in a situation like this. He said, this is a really short tournament.

What it's going to come down to is who has the players on their team that say, all right, get on my back. We're going to win this thing. Yeah. Is that how it is, Drew? Yeah, kind of. I mean, I do think the coaches do play a role.

Like they have to put the system in place. Everyone's going to buy in. You don't got to worry about that. But I definitely do think the coach for sure plays a role. But for the most part, especially when you're on a team, Canada, like every single guy on that team takes their club team on their back and then drives their club team. So I would say it's pretty easy to coach Team Canada at the Olympics.

But at the same time, they still have to put that game plan in play. And they prepare us. They give us scouting reports on the other team. So they still play a big part. But you basically could – I don't want to say that you could throw any coach in there and be all right. No, I know you don't want to be insulting too. But, I mean, this is a tournament that's more about the players than the coaches.

Like, I don't know that anyone's going to coach their... Yeah, and you don't see how the coach actually would be in a two-week tournament. You know what I mean? Like, you don't see his true colors. Like, he's not going to be like losing it on guys and like trying to push guys' buttons like he would throughout a normal season. So they don't have to do as much, but they do still play a part. So in your Olympic experiences then, who were those players that were like, hop on, we're winning this thing?

Well, at my first Olympics, it would have been like Niedermeyer and Pronger. Those were the two guys I thought that were driving the bus. The last Olympics, Crosby, obviously. But I think everyone just kind of drives the bus on Team Canada. I even feel like I kind of was one of those guys at the 14 Olympics. Absolutely you were. Yeah. Drew, your first one, it was like –

Well, first one was good too but – Dowdy's hopping on down here and then by the end – Yeah, I know. I know. I don't know if the stories were more legendary on the ice or off it at the first one in Vancouver. Off it. Oh, man, I can't believe that got released.

Oh, that was a bad one. released Oh that was a bad one Yeah that's a bad one Is there anyone else like you Like that you've played with or that you know Cause you're it's a different mold than what we're used to In hockey Who's the guy who's closest to you Like closest to my personality Honestly

I don't know I don't think there's like too many do you think the next generation will be more like that yes i think that they'll be way more outspoken and stuff yeah i definitely think so but for me my personality like they might be like that and like the media and stuff like that but i don't think they'll be doing the same things i did when i first came in the league like they're all about like the health and all this stuff now, you know what I mean? We weren't like that when we came.

Okay. Okay. So what is the best story you can tell us that won't get us all fired about Drew Doughty coming in that you can't believe you did? Oh man. Well, that gold medal story is crazy. Like being late for the bus.

I wasn't late for the bus actually. The bus left without me let's we have to clarify that and i can have i'm gonna get the guy that was controlling the buses to to clarify this because everyone thinks i was late but i was not late but that story is absolutely insane so should i just tell that story yes okay so the bus left without me i was like trying to ship my gear home because i didn't want my like luggage because i had to go on the road after the olympics to like dallas or something so I was trying to ship my gear home because I didn't want my luggage because I had to go on the road after the Olympics to Dallas or something. So I was trying to ship stuff back to LA.

I was taking the first bus the whole Olympics. Then because I had to ship out this stuff, I decided to take the second bus on the gold medal game. And they thought I was on the first bus, so the bus left without me. But you couldn't just hop in a cab because you're at the village and there's so much security everywhere everywhere so they get me a shuttle they take me as close as they can to the arena which ends up in like the hudson bay company like in a mall so i like go to the bottom i have to like take the elevator up in this mall i end up like walking and then

like the lineup to like go through the metal detector is like 500 people and then like all the people are like drew doughty you got a game in like an hour and 45 minutes what are you doing and i'm like can i please like but you guys my like pitters are like my whole shirt is like all the way down here and i'm like texting flurry on the team uh he was like the third goalie so he wasn't like getting dressed or anything i'm like like, yo, get my gitch, which is like my underclothes. I'm like, get that stuff out in the hallway. And at the same time, the guy that was controlling the bus was like trying to help me sneak in too because like it was his fault that the bus left.

And then so I like get in there, get dressed quickly in like the hallway, just leave my suit and stuff in the hallway and then like walk in and like I'm not even joking you, like one minute into my walk in there the coach's meeting begins like i had gotten my stall on time the only people that knew were like mike richards flurry and this bus guy the only people that knew until mike richards decided to say it on like a podcast like i didn't even tell my parents or nobody because my mom would be like, are you kidding me, Drew? Like you got to be like, oh, yeah. That's a story forever though, that one. And you played unbelievable.

Oh, yeah. Probably because I had no time to think about anything. I was just panicking to get to the game. That's probably why. Yeah. Have you thought about what you want to do post-career? Yeah, I've thought about it. I don't want to think

about it i could like cry thinking i have to retire soon but i still hope i got a good nine eight years in my career i want to play till i'm 40 or yeah until my body allows me i want to play as long as i possibly can but the reason i bring it up because my one of my kids has played in the dowdy invitational which is a great awesome tournament he had like a wonderful experience then he still wears his you know dowdy you know hockey invitational t-shirt with the king's motif on it and all that still around the house is that something you want to get in involved in minor hockey youth hockey i think so my like number one thing i want to do is like honestly is like own a junior team or like work for a junior

team or something like that but at the same time I definitely want to, I'll continue to give back to the youth hockey and the organization I grew up playing for. I'll continue to always have that tournament and help in that aspect. I don't know if I necessarily want to get into coaching young kids. I mean, maybe if one of my kids played hockey, I would maybe do it. But my dream would definitely probably be

to own the London Knights or Guelph Storm or something like that. That would be my dream. All right, last one. I think the fans would like to hear this when you first came into the room we were talking you said you cannot wait to play in front of fans this year so I think the fans should know how much they mean oh it's the best um I mean when you're at home you know they're just driving you to uh play better uh you know, when you score a big goal and you feel the goosebumps, like we haven't had the goosebumps in a long time without the fans there. And then, like, nothing better than, like, getting booed by an entire crowd

on the road city. And then, like, you score and just make them all quiet, you know. That's a good, good feeling. That's a good feeling. So, no no i miss the fans so much it's so much better playing in front of them i think that's obvious uh but yeah fan bases uh they're one of the reasons we're even able to go out there and play because they support us they're there for us uh they pay money to come watch us play and they drive the team for sure

is there one player you can't wait to play against this year one player you can't wait to play against this year? One player I can't wait to play against. I'm looking forward to playing Nick Suzuki. Skate with him in the summer. This guy is a player. He's good, man. He's like so good. That's right. He skates in London.

He's from London too. So I'm looking forward. I've never played against him, only in pickup hockey. So I'm looking forward to, maybe I did. No, I don't think I have. But I'm looking forward to playing against him. Let's, I don't think I had. But I'm looking forward to playing against him. Let's put it that way.

Real good player. Drew, thanks so much. Good luck with the Kings in Hockey Canada this year with Team Canada. I hope, yeah. Thank you, guys. Stephen Stamkos of the Tampa Bay Lightning joining us on 32 Thoughts, the podcast.

And first of all, Stephen, thanks so much for doing this. Hope you're well. And, you know, one of the toughest things to do in all the sports, no matter what the sport is, is defend the title. And you guys did that. Back-to-back Stanley Cup champions. What was Stanley Cup number two like for you?

Is there that extra layer of satisfaction that, hey, we defended this thing? Absolutely. I think if you ask the guys and if you ask me individually, you might get some different answers. For me personally, this one was the one for me obviously being in the bubble and not being able to play coming back for that shift albeit to be able to contribute a little bit was great and it was amazing i mean we all treated it as you know the championship that

it was myself included but there's always that little thought in the back of your head especially as a competitive athlete is you want to be part of it. You want to be there every day. You want to be contributing. I was doing my best as I could away from the rink, but to kind of just justify everything for me personally, and this is only my thought, was that this year was just really special. Under the circumstances, the fans were back in the stands the travel was there you know the packed rinks in in tampa having our family there to celebrate it was just it felt you know amazing to do that obviously we talked to the other guys to go back to back and win i mean it's amazing it's tough to choose between the two they're both amazing feats and

something you dream of as an NHL player. But for me, this year was just kind of justification for the hard work that has gone into my career and to be a part of every single minute was pretty special. You know, it's funny you say that because one of your teammates told me after you won the first one

that they saw a huge change in you. And I know you didn't get a chance to play a ton, but your goal that night was so special and seeing you lift the cup was so special that they said everything that you had gone through in your career was validated after that. And they said they saw a big positive change in you. Like all the stresses of trying to win

and the injuries you'd been through and that you're like you're a really nice person but you're competitive as hell he just said that there were so many people on the team in the organization grateful to see how much you changed after that first cup because it was almost as if everything you'd gone through had been validated. Yeah, for sure. I mean, you start to creep into year 10, 11, 12 of your career and especially hockey, I think, of the major sports, like championships mean everything. For whatever reason, good or bad, everyone is judged on have you won a championship. And like I said, whether that's fair or not, that's the others to judge. But especially after what happened to us against Columbus

after that historic regular season, you know, you're human. You start to have those doubts creep into your head. Like, you know, we've had this amazingly talented team for a couple of years now. We've knocked on the door. Like, is it actually going to be our time? And you don't project those out, but they're in the back of your mind. So again, to go on that run and to have a slight part of it but to actually win there is that sense of relief for sure it's like

okay wow we you know we finally did it we have our cup but the real amazing thing was with with that group was you know that was just the beginning and we did it and we knew how hard it was and how much effort it took, but there was still that hunger. There was still that burn because there were people saying, well, you know, it was in the bubble and there was this and it was that. And I think that kind of pissed some guys off a little bit. So, you know, there was that fuel to try to defend it. We knew how hard it was going to be, but there was just that sense that whatever happened during the regular season, I mean, we didn't have our best player all year. We didn't care where we finished in the standings

as long as we were in the playoffs. We just had that mentality. Let's get back to the playoffs, and we could do it again. And we played some really, really good teams on the way, and it was great, like I said, for me especially. Who was the most pissed off guy because i i think because honestly like i think that's crazy like i think that bubble title was hard to win yeah but who was the most pissed off guy i don't know if there was one specific guy i

know you know talking to some of the veteran guys and and you know cooch and headman and mcdonough and those guys like we didn't view it that way I don't think any player viewed it that way. I mean, being in there under those conditions, you know, where it was just, it was strictly hockey. And again, you all hear that outside stuff. So anything that you can use as fuel as an athlete, you try to do as we all saw in that last dance with MJ there. I don't think we're quite on that level of using every little thing as fuel, but there's little things that you use. And that was something, a small part of us. And it certainly helped.

You know, hearing you talk about that Columbus series and then, you know, the Tampa Bay Lightning winning back-to-back Stanley Cups, you know, I looked at that entire time and your time in the last three years with Tampa. And I kind of think of the Rangers of the early nineties and 92, they had this breakthrough season that were outstanding. 93, a major step back. And there was a lot of talk about blowing up the team. And some of the veteran guys went to Neil Smith, who was the general manager,

and essentially begged, say, look, don't blow this up. Don't break this up. And, you know, after that Columbus series at the draft that year, you know, there was crazy talk about, you know, various of your members of your team getting moved, getting traded. This guy's going here, this guy's going there. And it never happened. Did you guys go to management at all and say, look, I know this wasn't the result we wanted, but everyone in this room believes in this team and you need to as well. Don't blow it up. No, I mean, not to my knowledge anyways. I

think it was just a collective decision from management and ownership saying, listen, hopefully that's a one-off type of deal. It's not like we were just kind of emerging. We had gone to the finals in 15. We had gone to multiple conference finals conference finals it was just when is it going to happen do we need to add some things into the mix absolutely but we didn't need to take away the core and that was kind of the message from management and the ownership and coaching staff was we still believe in you guys and we're not going to do anything we're going to see this out obviously Obviously, we added some pretty great pieces, whether it was through free agency or the aggressive trades that Julian made that not a lot of people probably agreed with at the time.

But you look how it panned out. So we knew the core was there. We knew we had the goaltending. We knew we had the defense. We added some sandpaper and we kind of just changed our mentality a little bit. I mean, everyone saw us as a high flying skilled Tampa Bay Lightning. I don't think we were that team the last two years. We were the team that did the little things right in order to win. We still had the offense. We still had the power play,

but we played the right way. And that mentality changed and it started we talk about that sweden trip a lot internally where we went to sweden and played buffalo and we kind of had a week before the game and it was just the team came together and you could see a change in certain guys you could see a change in cooch you know everyone talks about him yelling at guys to dump the puck in now and play the right way i mean mean, there was just something that clicked, and we've seen the results the last few years. That's true. You know, there are other teams that do get annoyed

because they say everyone thinks that Tampa is this soft, nice team, but they're a bunch of dirty SOBs on the ice. There are other teams that think that you guys get away with things because people think that you're not as nasty as you guys are. Maybe. I mean, I you're that you're not as nasty as you guys are maybe i mean i feel like we get a lot of penalties though too come play off time so i mean

it depends what side you are but i will say for sure for sure and we felt that change as well and it was something that needed to happen especially after you know you win 62 games you tie a record for wins in a season and then you lose four straight. Obviously, there's some alarm bells that are going off that need to be addressed. But they were addressed, and nothing drastic happened, and we were able to redeem ourselves. And I think we did more than that,

but it's been a great last two runs for sure. Stephen, there was a rumor at the end of last year that maybe you were considering retiring. Was that ever a consideration? I've never heard that no not even close I've been through a lot of of injuries in my career but I've always found a way to come back I may not have come back totally stronger than I was before but I think if you look at the production or the ability to get out there and still be, in my mind, a difference maker out there. Certainly maybe not to the level that I was pre some of these injuries in terms of how the body feels. But never, never, never in my wildest dreams have I ever thought about retiring.

I'm always curious when a team feels like they've got the other team beat. Was there a moment or a game or something in that Stanley Cup final against Montreal where you guys said, we got them, we got this? I don't think anyone said that out loud. We are a very, very superstitious bunch in Tampa. It's funny to see new guys come in and be like, you guys are crazy. Like all the stuff that you guys do before games and the routines and superstitions and stuff. But it's funny because I don't know if it's because we have that, you know, Columbus series swept coming in as a heavy favorites mentality where you never take anything for granted again. And maybe we learned our lesson

with that even when we were up three zip against montreal i mean there's still that little fear in your head that propels you to not think about that this series is over it's like we don't want to give them any life and they beat us in game four maybe a blessing in disguise because we got to go back home and win it and friends and family and the fans, and that was the most amazing experience. But we were genuinely pissed that we lost that game. We had a power play going into overtime. It was just eerily silent in the room after,

knowing what we could have done. Now looking back, it would have sucked to win and be stuck in a hotel again. So it worked out. But for me anyways anyways there's always that nervous energy that i think you have to have because then if you lose the next game and you're going back to i'm like you think about all that stuff whether you want to or not you're it's just human nature so we didn't take anything for granted this time we we definitely knew that if

we played our our game that we had a really good chance. But they were there for a reason. They had a great run, and you never know if Kerry got hot or if someone got hot on their team scoring goals. So we just played it like it is, and it worked out. Does it help when local politicians say, hey, you should throw one to come back to Tampa? Here's what we would like. What we would like is for the Lightning to take it a little bit easy,

to give the Canadians just the smallest break, allow them to win one at home, and then bring it back to the Amelie Arena for the final and the winning of the Stanley Cup. But we don't want to get ahead of ourselves. That did not sit well with the guys in our room, that's for sure. And now after, she's like, oh, I told you guys, so aren't you happy I said that? But she actually apologized. We were making fun of her a little bit after she came and said something to the team after we had won and we were giving her some grief. That I would have loved to have heard.

Oh, yeah. I mean, and you can probably guess who was leading the charge, Pat Maroon there. But it worked out and it worked out for the city. It worked out for her. It worked out for us. So she said, okay, I've learned my lesson because they were playing that clip everywhere

in Montreal when we were there and we're like, oh man. Unlike the Canadian media to overreact to something like that. Exactly. Exactly. I wanted to ask you Kucherov. We have Nikita Kucherov.

I can't remember. Were you there when he started going off in the press conference at the end? Yeah, we were. I think it was myself, Killorn, and McDonough were doing our thing. And then Cooch walked in. And whatever, he had no shirt on. He had a couple Bud Lights. He was throwing them to us.

And then he did his thing. I don't know what to say. Back to back. And I couldn't sleep for three nights to be able to win this game is huge, Wessie was outstanding MVP, I was telling him every day Wessie you're MVP, you're the best

player and then they gave it to whatever the guy in Vegas the Vezina and then last year they gave Vezina to somebody else, number one bulls**t. Number one bulls**t. Why is he took both cups? You know, he took MVP and I was keep telling him he's MVP.

He's the guy that f**king... He's the best. You know, he was on his head today and, you know, he kept us in the game. And another shout out by him. Remarkable. Can't even tell more. I'm so happy. I didn't want to go back to Montreal, but the fans in Montreal, come on.

They acted like they won the Stanley Cup last game. Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? You know, it was kind of. I thought it was hilarious. Yeah, it was kind of refreshing at the same time, but I can see how it maybe was misconstrued and, and didn't look great at the time.

I don't know about that. I mean, there's some people I've, I heard there were even some guys on Montreal that weren't too happy about that. So it'll be interesting to see the reaction he gets. Oh, they're going to chase him around the ice this year.

Yeah. But at the same time, we all loved it in the room. You don't get to see that side of cooch too often it happens maybe three times a year maybe it happened on that sweden trip maybe it happened after we won last year and then again after we won this year i mean he's just that's just cooch i mean he tells it like it is whether you like it or not and maybe he doesn't have four or five or however many bud lights in him when he says it most of the time, but that's him.

Again, the media is always asking for guys to show more personality and all that stuff. You got it. So I think it was all harmless fun. Most of it was true. I mean, after we lost game four in Montreal, we couldn't leave the rink for like two and a half hours because there was 30,000 people like partying outside on the streets.

Like we all were pissed. We lost. We got our suits back on. We all went on the bus and the cops were like, the bus cannot leave the rink. You physically can't leave the rink. The streets are packed. So we didn't get back to the hotel until probably 1230 that night.

So guys were pretty upset about that. And I think that's where kind of the comment is that they thought they won the cup or whatever it was. You know what I'm learning in this interview, I have to say, Jeff, is that the Tampa Bay Lightning internally might be the league's angriest team. You guys are mad about everything. Can't leave the rink, the mayor, the loss to Columbus.

Whatever, like I said, maybe MJ was onto something. Use everything you can to fuel you. Three-peat. Repeating is hard. Three in a row. And the one thing is that Gord, Coleman, Goodrow line not being there. And you've made some really interesting signs. Perry, Belmar.

I have no doubt listening to you for the last 15 minutes that you guys are going to give everything you can to win three in a row. How much harder is it going to be? it's going to be tough but we said that all last year and everyone's like oh there's you know there's no way you can win again and and we go out and do it absolutely are we going to miss that line no doubt they were a huge piece of our success and doubt they were a huge piece of our success and two of the guys that we acquired specifically for those playoff runs and goody and coleman both amazing players great guys and got the contracts they probably deserved after those two runs so as a player you're just extremely happy as a friend you're thrilled that they are able to get that and go on and move on with their career

obviously would have loved to keep them you know we knew we were going to lose a really good forward and in the expansion draft after we decided to go the protection package that we did so gordo you know heart and soul guy has been on tampa for forever and those guys just gelled so good as as a line you know how they're going to do individually we'll see but as a line they were huge they played huge minutes for us they were all three amazing penalty killers for us so for sure it's a big loss but at the end of the day you look at the roster and you say okay you know we have vasilevsky and net so we have a chance you know you have headman mcdonough sergachev cernak you have cooch point i mean the list goes on sorelli sorelli i mean we have our top six forwards you know our top 4d and our goaltender coming back so why can't we

do it again it's going to be i think tougher but then we go out and we add a Belmar we add a Perry we add some very you know experienced you know guys that are proven winners in in this league and you know that just goes to show the confidence that the management has in our group to go out and do it again what's it going to be like playing with Corey Perry well by the way what was it like to play against yeah no it's it's a funny story, right? You play against them in Dallas. You play against them in Montreal. It's like, okay, well, come join us and let's get it done this time together.

But I've played with pairs. I've known him for a long time, played with him at different Team Canada events. I mean, he's just, as you've seen the last two playoffs, you can throw the regular seasons away. Look what he's done in the playoffs. He's a gamer. And everyone had kind of written him off i think you know i think he started the year in montreal like on the taxi squad right and then we were saying in our room he was probably one of their best forwards in the series against us and in the playoffs for them so as soon as

you know free agency opened up we're like we want pairs and we try to call them yeah i've talked i know him we were texting him patty knows him really well i mean we were i think we tried to get him last year didn't work out you know cap wise but we knew we didn't have a ton of room this year either but if we could try to find a way to get him that knowing that we were going to lose those other guys that was was going to be huge. So yeah, we had some conversations. Julian got it done, and we're really excited about that addition. Last one for me. One of the things that I was always amazed by, and we still see it.

I mean, there's a Globetrotters element of Tampa, specifically when you guys were on the power play. Like when you guys start firing it around, cue sweet Georgia Brown, because that's what it looks like. And I remember talking to John Cooper once about the frustration of seeing your team as wildly skilled as you guys are, making that one extra pass where you should have taken the shot. I know it still comes out every now and then, but how do you rein that in? When you have five guys out there on a power play who can just throw it around at will,

how do you get the discipline to say okay let's take a shot here power play for sure a little different than five on five and that was maybe our achilles heel and five on five in previous years was always trying to make that extra play you get a little more leash on the power play especially when you're you're on the ice with those guys but i think we've established that chemistry now we've had that same power play group for a while and everyone knows where the next play is going to happen cooch usually knows two plays ahead us maybe one play ahead but we all know when you get the puck in cooch's hands everyone else becomes, you know, available and ready. And we saw that.

I don't think people realize like how amazing he is on the half wall. And I've played with some, you know, I played with Marty St. Louis on the half wall and I've got to play with Cooch on the half wall and two amazing players. But like, I think Cooch could be one of the best all time, like on the half wall. When he has the puck, it's just, it's amazing. And he's more of a playmaker. He's got an amazing shot, but he's more of the playmaker. And you have Point in the hole who plays that position so well. You have Killer down low who plays that position well.

Obviously, I've been on that side for a long time and Heady up top. So it just flows. There's really no, yeah, sure, sometimes do we want to make that extra seam pass sometimes but that's what keeps the penalty kill honest too you know if you're just blasting it then you know that seam is never available and sometimes when you try certain plays it's about puck retrievals that's what the power play is all about you know if you can try certain plays but know you're going to get the puck back

and start tiring out the PK, then those seams become open. So there's little nuances like that that we talk about. And, you know, guys know where each other are going to be if we have a battle, if we have a retrieval, where's the puck going to go next?

So you just kind of feed off that. And it's a fun group to be part of. I think the last thing we should say is we should send a text to Marty San Luis saying that Stamko says he sucks on the half wall compared to Kucharov and see where that goes. Yeah. See where, I think I might get a text after that,

but no, but you know, that's the level that, that Kucharov is on is him and Marty. I mean, and that release, like I'll see it sometimes. I'm like,

did he even roll his wrists? Like it was on the blade and then off it's some crazy stuff listen best of luck going for the three-peat Tampa's gonna be a favorite again and I look very much forward to seeing your first trip to Montreal yeah I'll be a special

game thanks Stephen yeah thanks guys let me go yeah alright taking us out today he is Thanks, Stephen. Yeah, thanks, guys. Let me go. All right, taking us out today, he is a singer and guitarist whose unique brand of surf blues is a hat tip to his roots growing up on the Australian coast. Very nice.

Gab Winterfield, stage name Golf Alpha Bravo, released a pair of records in 2020. He's now back with a new single. Here it is, Destino, Golf Alpha Bravo, on 32 Thoughts, the podcast. Rich And you've Got stuck But it don't mean Shit Thank you.