32 Thoughts: The Podcast - News & Notes plus Anton Forsberg’s Amazing Odyssey

Episode Date: March 22, 2021

Jeff joined the Hockey Night in Canada crew for his first in-arena game in over 14 months. He tells Elliotte about his experience in Montreal (00:00) and what surprised him most about being back in an NHL rink. They also break down what they’ve heard from around the league including teams to keep an eye […]

okay so jeff we're going to begin yes this edition of the 31 thoughts podcast with a question okay in the two hours before the broadcast beginning of saturday night's vancouver montreal game which you worked and did quite well how many coffees did you drink at the rink I had none I think I had two earlier in the day at the rink I just had a bottle of water okay because on Sunday morning there may or may not have been a conversation between the co-host and producer of this podcast of yours yeah wondering why you were so wired during the game you were so supercharged i was excited man i could tell you talked louder than i ever heard you you talked faster than i ever heard the music in there was cranked it was weird there was no big there was mean, the players were just finishing warmup when they got to the 645 hit with me and the music was cranked.

I think it's important for the viewer or the audience that the broadcasters of a game or an event be as invested as they are. If the broadcasters are half asleep, that's bad. So you definitely conveyed an enthusiasm, but I have to confess, Amal and I were like, roasted me. Holy cow. We weren't roasting you because like I said,

I think it's important, but you were wired for that game. Jeff Merrick was more excited to work on Saturday night than anyone who was actually playing in the game. Well, most hockey players don't even like hockey. We've been over this before. It's the job. Honestly, I was super excited. I was saying this to people as soon as I got there.

I was just happy to be in a rink again. I was just happy to be in a rink. I was happy to be at a game the last game that i was at would have been chl nhl top prospects game last year in hamilton which would have been february elliott so it's been over a year and you know what it's like like you get there and even though there weren't any people there there's still an atmosphere and i love warm-up i always love watching warm-up i get a real, you don't get a sense again of how fast the players are, how hard and how accurately they shoot players, little routine. Like I love stuff like that.

Like I can watch warmup all day. I'll be honest with you. I was really sort of reinvigorated about the job. I believe it. Because you know, you, you could, you can get into a routine and like my schedule is very, very set. Like I know what i'm doing monday tuesday wednesday thursday friday saturday sunday like i have it all like i'm on the trolley tracks

right like i've got this hit that hit um the trivia thing that i'm doing for sports net the radio show the podcast the tv like all of that hey berkey hey berkey's when they come along like everything is very regimented and set. And I feel like I'm on the tracks right now. And that was a total change, a total shift, a total curveball. So I was lucky they asked me to do it. I was really grateful and loved it and was invested in it and put together a whole bunch of stuff that didn't make it to the air, but we'll fire it out on the podcast today.

And I was just really excited to be in a rink again around hockey players and a hockey game. I hope that that came out then. Oh, it absolutely did. That's why Amal and I were kind of kidding about it. We could tell how excited you were. I was. And just so you know,

the top prospects game last year was Thursday, January 16th. Oh, it was January. So that's your first game in 14 months. And you're not alone in that. I'm sure there's a lot of people listening to the podcast who are in exactly the same boat. Yeah. I feel the same way.

I haven't been to a game since then. I can't wait till I go. It reminded me of when we had Kerry Kaplan on a couple of weeks ago from the Brampton Beast. Remember what he said, Jeff? He said that everybody's going to remember the first game they ever went to and the first game they go to post-COVID. And you just had your moment.

I won't forget it. I hope all hockey fans get that moment sooner rather than later. You know what it's like as well, Elliot. For what we do at Sports sportsnet we are better the more time we get to spend at the rink i really love my schedule love all the things that i do my only i don't say it's a downside or my only regret or anything is that i don't get enough time to spend at the rink and i know right now of course it's challenging but when the season is on i always say man i need to be at the rink more i need to be at the rink more. I need to be at the rink more talking to people.

Like the only person I really spoke to yesterday, because everyone, like I'd even talked to John and Gary, John Bartlett and Gary Galley, who are working the game. I didn't talk to them other than over text and, you know, over, uh, over headphones. That's it. Like I didn't see them at the game. I just talked to Renaud Lavoie, who was beside me. Our positions were right beside each other. So I caught up with Ren and haven't talked to himaud Lavoie, who was beside me. Our positions were right beside each other. So I caught up with Ren

and haven't talked to him in a while, but that was it. And here's an even weirder thing. So right now, Montreal has a curfew. Yes. It's 9.30. Oh, so it used to be eight. So it's later now, right?

Yeah. Yeah, it's later now. So it's 9.30. So I left the rink there and walked from the rink to the hotel. I think I maybe saw two people and a couple of cars. That's, this is Montreal on a Saturday night. It was a creepy, weird, like a zombie movie feeling.

This is like a 19, early seventies, Charlton Heston movie. Like this is really like Omega man or something. This is bizarre. Soylent green, Soylent green is people. Soylent green. That's right. Soyl is really like Omega man or something. This is bizarre. Soylent green, soylent green is people. Soylent green. That's right. Soylent green is people.

Soylent green is people. So let me just ask you, let me just ask you the Canadian teams. I think all of them have started to reach out about when they can start having fans back. And it doesn't look really good right now because you know, things don't look pretty and where the vaccines are way too slow and

getting rolled out take a couple minutes tell us what was like being in a game there is i've always maintained this the one hockey experience that everybody needs to have is montreal saturday night 701 the lights go down the spotlights are on the rink and cold play fix you comes on oh yeah elliot no one's in the rink and i still got the shivers as i'm standing there in my camera position and i still got the shivers like the minute the lights go down and they hit those opening chords and the on the cold play song like oh this is it's perfect it's it's magical it's it's montreal on a saturday night there's nothing like it it is it really is bizarre though looking around and just seeing tarps and you know pucks flying up into the stands and then they just sit there because you know what it's like a bunch of kids get up and

race for pucks you're just used to it it's like going to a baseball game. Someone hits a foul ball or someone hits a home run. Someone's chasing the ball. One of the things that I first noticed, and this was in warmup, that really jarred me is, yeah, we're used to seeing pucks go into the stands and no one's there to race for them. They just sat there. I want to talk about pucks a little bit later on in the podcast, but the pucks just sat there. It was weird. I don't know why it podcast, but the pucks just sat there. It was weird. I don't know why it was, but it was just such a weird. And I would look over and the puck was still there.

That doesn't happen. I know it's a tiny little thing, but I couldn't stop looking at pucks that were all scattered around. As bizarre as that may seem. First of all, it helped that it was a good game. Yes. Overtime was bizarre. You know, the overtime was like watching soccer. Well, here's what I think.

That was a very coached overtime, it looked like to me. And it looked like two teams that were just playing it safe, waiting for the other team to make a mistake. Like that was chess until the final minute. But that was like a chess overtime. It was almost as if two teams were saying, let's see if we can catch someone missing an assignment, or let's see if we can catch someone out there a little bit too long and win

this thing on a line change with fresher legs. And it didn't happen. Like I got to get a Ducharme and green really did a good job making sure, like, if you want to play that chess match, they did a really good job making sure that A, no one got caught, and there were tons of switches. And how many times did you see the Montreal Canadiens send it back to Carey Price? I think they fired it back from Vancouver's zone to Carey Price like three or four times.

I mean, Gallagher kept firing it back to Price. No surprise, he's probably the best puck handling goaltender in the NHL. But still, it was pretty obvious that these two teams just wanted to play safe hockey. It wasn't a low-scoring, low-event game. It wasn't a blowout game. There were enough goals to keep you entertained, certainly in the second period.

I think that really helped. Well, like I said, Jeff, it's the first time in my career I've probably ever been really jealous of you. But I wanted to say, like Amal and I, like I said, we spoke on Sunday morning. We could tell how wired you were. We could tell how much you enjoyed it. We're really happy for you because you work hard

and you deserve the opportunity. And like I said, I hope every hockey fan, if you haven't had a chance already, we hope you get your Jeff Merrick moment and you get your first game merrick moment and you get your first game soon jeff amen here we go welcome to 31 thoughts the podcast presented by the gmc sierra at4 Welcome to 31 Thoughts, the podcast. Coming up a little bit later on, we'll talk to Anton Forsberg, netminder for the Ottawa Senators.

Third Canadian team this season. Four teams he's been part of this season. He's had one of the more bizarre odysseys in the most bizarre season the NHL has ever seen. Meanwhile, before we get to him and other notables around the NHL, what is happening with Nashville? We've talked about them being the kingmaker come trade deadline time, Elliot. What do you hear? What do you know about the Preds? Well, we're taping this on Sunday early evening, still to go on Sunday night. The Nashville Predators are playing in Dallas to end their road trip. And after the road trip, they go back home. And I think at that point in time, the brain trust of the Predators,

GM David Poyle on down is going to sit down and figure out where they're going to go here. You know, they've been collecting information. You know, it's been known for a while now that they're a seller and they're willing to listen on just about everything. And they're going to go and see what they're going to do. I think they're going to make their decisions. And the one thing is, is that I think we've all kind of looked at Eckholm as the guy. He's got one more year under contract at 3.75 million. He's a heck of a player. And we knew he was out there. Well, the interesting thing to me is I had someone say to me on Sunday that they're beginning to wonder if the Predators are going to be making an Ekholm Ellis decision.

What does that mean, Ekholm? Like one or the other? Could it come down to one or the other? Now, initially, I think that Nashville kind of looked at Ellis as they didn't want to do it, and I'm still not convinced they want to do it. they didn't want to do it and i'm still not convinced they want to do it but when we reported that it was yosi no renee no and ellis no and everyone else they'd think about i had a couple of people ask me are you sure are you sure they wouldn't do ellis and it wasn't like like they were saying anything bad about ellis it's just I think there's teams out there who really like Ellis and the danger about Ekholm is he's only signed for one more year. Now Ellis is signed for six more years at 6.25

million and like Ekholm, he's got a lot of respect. Like both those players are really respected players and I just wonder if some teams have gone to the Predators about Ellis. And I also wonder, because he's signed at a longer term, would people feel more comfortable dealing for him? And I can't see Nashville trading both those guys. I'm just wondering if there's any chance that they look at it and say, well, what if instead of Ekholm, it's Ellis and we try to keep Ekholm long-term? I think clearly Nashville

has some big decisions to make. And I think it's possible that teams have leaned in on them and said, we're not sure about giving all this up for only one more year of Ekholm. How do we feel about giving all this up for six more years of Ellis? I think it's possible that's going on. It wasn't exactly a secret that a lot of Nashville scouts around Lehigh Valley, Philadelphia Flyers, et cetera,

they were interested in whom we believe was Matthias Ekholm. Should we then assume that if they were interested in Ekholm, they would also be interested in Ellis? Or is that a left-right thing? Ekholm can play right side. He has done it before. I know there's a lot of teams out there that aren't crazy about the whole off-wing thing, but he's done it.

At least you know he can do it one of the feelings around that by the way is if you're playing on your off wing you come around the net it's that extra split second to make your outlet pass and in the nhl you're not getting that split second anymore that's why coaches sometimes are weird about it's one of the reasons somewhere right now adam oats is screaming at the radio because he's got a or or the podcast whatever he's listening to this radio because he's got a or or the podcast whatever he's listening to this on because he's got a list of 20 reasons why you shouldn't do that like here's the thing about philly okay and i've reported this now and i do believe it look at what

a disaster a couple weeks it's been for them oh i think they really just think that it's not the time, like not for one and a half years of Ekholm, but let's just say for argument's sakes, it's six years of Ellis. I could see them doing it. I think Philly's sitting here right now saying, whoa, whoa, whoa, let's not make any ridiculous decisions. Let's go into the summer and kind of figure this out. And if you're going to have to give it, like you say, if you're going to have to give up what you have to give up for, to make this deal, are you doing it for one year of at home? Are you doing it for six years of Alice for argument's sake?

I think you much more comfortable with the ladder. Who else should we be looking at right now? You and Chris talked about this on headlines on Saturday night. Who else is intriguing right now in the NHL in advance of trade deadline, which is fastly approaching by the way. It is rapidly approaching. Look, Detroit, you know, one guy I think

Philly was thinking about on D if they didn't go, you know, big was a guy like Mark Stahl, who's obviously a Red Wing. Detroit's got a lot of guys out there as we've talked about. One thing that would be interesting would be Tyler Bertuzzi's health and Jonathan Bernier's health.

I think there's potentially interest in both those players. I think Colorado was interested in Bernier, you know, before he got hurt, they made one goaltending move. Now we've got to see kind of where he is. You know, I mean, the Detroit guys are obvious. The New Jersey guys, Zajac, if he's willing,

you know, he wasn't willing to go last year. Obviously, Paul Mary. That's a big one. And the Anaheim guys, depending on what Anaheim wants to do with Raquel and their guys. Now, I will say this. The whole Conor Garland thing

is really interesting to me. Why is that? Is that just fear of a big contract? I think it's two things. I think, look, he's basically a pointy game player right now, right? Yeah. He's making 775 this year. It's arbitration, arbitration, UFA.

That's a big raise. And I think the way Arizona looks at it, they got to rebuild. They don't have picks. I think they're going to look at it. I do. Now I'm under the impression that teams have asked about him. And I think what it's done is it's forced Arizona to say,

we're going to have to make a decision here. Now, one of the things I would suspect, I don't know this. I want to stress, this is a guess on my part, that one of the teams that it has asked is Boston. It kind of fits with what I think Boston is trying to do, add some scoring.

But one of the things I heard, and someone reached out to me after I reported that, and one of the things I heard was that Arizona's concern is, let's just say a really good team gets Garland, and he's there for a couple years, and they're picking late in every round. That doesn't appeal to Arizona.

So they're not really interested in a late first rounder plus a late second rounder plus, you know, they want picks that are reasonably high and or good prospects. So if you're coming for Connor Garland, basically what I've heard is don't screw around. Like you have to make a really good offer. And I think now that it's kind of out there, I think people are going to i think they're going to be tempted here other teams won't be scared off by our rulings you know i i think

you can do your research right you know you know what your number is going to be for him he's a point of game player like these teams are smart they do this kind of thing. They understand what this is going to cost you. Garland was also once a junior Bruin, I think. He was a junior Bruin. Yep. Don't they have to acquire every junior Bruin in the NHL? Isn't this a rule somewhere? Because it is every player from Massachusetts' dream

to go play for the Boston Bruins. And everyone that becomes available, Boston has to get them. They have a lot of UFA defensemen as well, whether it's Goligoski or Chalmerson or Demers. They have a few there. And what do we always hear come trade deadline time? That defenseman can never have enough defensemen. Got to pick up another defenseman.

Does that put them in a position of strength? A couple of these guys, Chalmerson's got the no move golegoski has a modified no trade i think the other guys are clear i think they go the one thing we should say charlmerson has a family situation which is you know very legit and i don't want to downplay that in any way, shape, or form. So it's probably going to come down to how he feels. Unless you have a situation like John Morrison, guys want to compete, right? So that's kind of the way I always look at it. Okay.

Anything with the Canadian teams? You and CJ sort of whipped right through the Scotia North division on Saturday. Anything you think we should be paying attention to or anything you want to add from Saturday? Well, I just heard that when Vancouver claimed VC, some teams then told me the word was coming out on Tuesday night that Vancouver was going to make some claims, was going to claim them. So they knew the night before they were going to do it. And I think that they were kind of calling around and saying, look, if we add VC, because they're kind of a dollar in dollar out kind of group yeah i think they were starting to ask around on pearson a little bit and now of course pearson got hurt it's just such a tough situation because of covid pearson has to

stay with the team unless they're booking them a private plane from montreal to vancouver he has to stay with them so can't put them on a regular plane, you know, with the public and send them back to Vancouver to be, to get, to see a doctor or a specialist and then begin your rehab because he's breaking protocols. Right. So he has to go into quarantine in that situation. So it kind of slows everything down, but I think they were beginning to ask around a bit about Pearson. I think they were taking some calls on Ben and Hamannik and Edler you know obviously for Tannen it's been on and off you know I think they were really starting to say okay here's what we got here's what where our opportunities are

what's Hamannik want to do Ben has a small no trade what does he want to do and then they started winning they had a really good road trip look i'm not interested in all the arguments in vancouver about what they should do or shouldn't do right now i'm just looking at the way teams look at it and the way the teams look at it is you're trying to sell tickets for next season and every owner in this league will tell you the difference between your tickets for next year, making or missing the playoffs is enormous, enormous, especially coming out of a pandemic. And even though the math is not their friend, the fact that they're making a run without their most talented player in the lineup, they feel that you have to take the opportunity. You can't strip your team in the middle of that while you're still a couple weeks

away from the deadline and people aren't in a hurry to make moves. And I just think that's what the Canucks said. They said, look, we're going to wait a little bit here and then we'll make our decisions. But as hard as they were playing i think they really felt it was a terrible message to send to their team to consider breaking it up without petterson and all their forwards have combined for 69 goals this season and they came on saturday and two players have 28 of them yeah you're not waving the white flag in the middle of that you're just not having said that going into that two games set against the montreal canadians the feeling was considering

montreal has four games in hand and they're in the fourth and final playoff spot although calgary's making noise for it as well that vancouver needed to win both games and they also gave up the point on the in the friday game correct you're I mean, look, Jeff, you're right. The math is bad. Yeah. I'm not going to argue with you, but look, there's the way media and fans look at it, and there's the way organizations who have the financial skin in the game

look at it. And the other thing, too, is, Jeff, you are a guy who's really in tune with players, okay? If you can't wave the white flag with three weeks to go before the deadline when your players are playing their guts out like that you can't unless you get such an offer that you can't say no of course and i don't think anything like that was happening you can't do it you know who's setting it for vancouver right now? And you really get a sense of this when you go and watch him live, JT Miller. Yeah.

I know he's had his issues this year, been frustrated, et cetera, talked about it last night on the show. But holy smokes, every time he's out there, he's invested in every shift. If not doing something, he's physically invested every shift. It's kind of like Gallagher on the other side last night. That line was great, and Gallagher was fantastic. Yeah, it was a hell of a game. You know, I just want to say something.

By the way, we're doing this game while Florida and Tampa Bay are playing each other. Yeah. If I'm distracted, I know, I know, I got it on too. at the same time. It's about time these two teams play each other in a playoff series.

Please. These are great games between them this year. Anyway, I do want to talk about Montreal for a second because I'm deciding how angry I want Mark Bergevin to be at me right now. How much? Everyone listening says, make him really angry at you, Elliot. Well, nobody's buying what he's selling nobody is what that he's gonna that he's that he's gonna sit on his hands now no chance

come on it's mark berger van nobody is buying what this guy is selling in the they're all looking at him like okay he's changed the coach he's changed an assistant coach he's changed the goalie coach he's made all these moves he says i'm not including an asset to open cap room and i'm not adding a defenseman because ben charlotte's coming back before the playoffs nobody believes him nobody and you know i will say this like i don't know what he's going to end up doing i really don't but there are people out there who refuse to believe that he hasn't seriously thought about Ekholm they just don't believe it because he can do it he'd have to move money out but he's got the picks he's got the prospects he can do it I know it's a go for it year for the Montreal

Canadians I go for a year for Bergevin. We saw this starting last year with all the signings in the off season. Saw it with the trades as well. When you look at the prospects that Montreal has put together and that's headlined by Cole Caulfield, who let's just be blunt, is going to win the Hobie Baker. Yeah.

There's no way that Cole Caulfield is not going to win the Hobie Baker this year. And speaking of Wisconsin, by the way, congratulations. And Daryl Watts with the overtime winner, University of Wisconsin over Northeastern over the weekend. Well done.

Canadian Daryl Watts, we should point out. Thank you very much. Cassie was talking her up last night when they were preparing to do the highlights. Cassie was saying really nice things about Daryl Watts. Well, she won the Patty Kazmaier as a freshman, I believe in 2018.

She probably won it again this year. Two Patty Kazmaier's, that's nice. And national championship. I think Montreal Canadiens fans are excited about Cole Caulfield, but you know, like if you're David Poyle and you want a prospect as part of the package, that's who you're asking for. Essentially what I'm asking is how untouchable do you think Cole Caulfield is in a situation

where the Montreal Canadiens are in a, we have to go forward season? I got to think pretty close. And something else is that, you know, I, like I had heard that they were going to try to move to tar and I got real pushback on that. And I have a lot of different theories on here. I think they tried earlier. I don't know how recently I'm talking like earlier, earlier, earlier, like possibly even before the season. So, you know, don't radio me on this one, everyone, but I don't think it's happening anymore. And I don't know if it's because, you know don't radio me on this one everyone but i don't think it's happening anymore and i don't know if it's because you know they had would have had to include something to get

people to take that money or you know tatar scored the winning goal in the shootout the other night real nice you know they just feel he's too talented he can't do it but i do think one of the reasons at a time they were thinking of maybe doing it was to open a spot for caulfield i gotta think if they're doing that like jeff what's it going to take for them to get to move him well what's one what's the hardest thing to do in the nhl win the stanley cup okay from an individual point view, you know how hard it is to score goals? Yeah. You know how hard it is to score goals, like

easy goals like Caulfield does? Yeah. Where you don't have to grab the puck, settle it down, dust it a couple of times and fire it, but just it's on your stick and it's off and a red light goes bing. Like that's what Caulfield does. That's why, that's the one where like I look at it and say, man, goals are hard

to get at every level. Goals are really hard to get at the NHL level. Here's a guy that does it. This is the Alex Debrinkit argument, right? Remember he kept, oh, Debrinkit, oh, there's no way he's going to have the time to get that shot off. Get that. Alex Debrinkit is showing that there's a spot in the game for Cole Caulfield without doubt and without a problem.

Like the guy scores goals. The thing about, the thing about, about Tatar is it seems under Dom Ducharme now with Montreal, that that line gets a ton more responsibility. Like every time I looked up yesterday, it was Tatar, Danone,

Gallagher again, over the boards, over the boards, over the boards, start the boards, over the boards, start the period, all of it. Like they were, like Ducharme leans heavily on that line again. Like that line is front and center

for the Montreal Canadiens now, once again. That's why you mentioned Tatar. I'm like, oh man, they really like him on that line. It's pretty obvious. And there's three guys that do different things on that line that makes it work. And you're right. That shootout move at the end.

Those were some hands on him. Jeff, the other thing I should mention here, and it kind of goes back to our national conversation is all of a sudden columbus is in the race they've caught chicago and the games played they're basically even there's one game difference as we do this chicago's handed that spot over that could be taking david savard out of conversation here now i don't know what col what Columbus is going to do here. It's possible maybe they still do it. I don't know. But now some teams are beginning to wonder.

Columbus pulled back last week. So now you're sitting there and you're thinking, okay, if our choice is a Nashville D or David Savard, now are you worried there's no David Savard if Columbus stays in this? So that increases what Nashville could be thinking. That increases the value of those defensemen. Now, if they're staying in it then, no David Savard, do we also say no Foligno, no Boone Jenner, et cetera? Here's the thing about Foligno.

David Savard, my opinion is he's not coming back to Columbus. And just so everyone knows, he's a UFA at the end of this season. He's a UFA and he's going somewhere else. That's my opinion. I don't think he'll be returning. Things can always change.

I'm just talking about this on March 21st at whatever time it is. 5.54. And I think Columbus knows this too. I think that this is going to be the end of a time there for him. I'm not so sure about Foligno. I think there's a real emotional connection

between that organization and their captain. And I've heard it's not something they're crazy about doing. Now, they still got to reach a deal for him to come back if that's the case. But some people have told me that they're not convinced that's what Columbus wants to do, is trade him. Elliot, there's a lot of smoke around the los angeles kings and the toronto maple leafs over jonathan quick anything to this i don't think so i looked into this uh for saturday headlines people were saying they were hearing rumors about maybe quick to

toronto i don't think that's going to be happening. You know, there's a lot of circumstantial evidence. He's really tight with Jack Campbell. Frederick Anderson had really struggled on Friday night in the game against Calgary. You know, would Toronto look? I just don't believe that the Maple Leafs think it's viable. You know, first of all, nothing against Quick. He's a really competitive guy. Like, I'm a huge Jonathan Quick quick fan boy but i think at the

end of the day my sense is the toronto maple leaves don't believe it's the smartest thing to do to take a 35 year old goalie who's got an injury history have them go through a two-week quarantine ramp them up and throw them into big games i just don't believe that they think that's the right approach. All the intel I could get was that. I don't think that's what Toronto's going to do. By the way, I did a Lou Lamorello. I'm calling it the Lou Lamorello Stealth Watch because you know he wants to find someone

that nobody's thought of, right? Mm-hmm. To replace Anders Lee. Like, we're all talking about Taylor Hall. We're all talking about Kyle Palmieri. Those are the obvious ones. Do you have a mystery candidate? I have to admit, this is obviously an Elliott Friedman made-up guess. Like, I have no intel on this one.

It is purely an Elliott Fried friedman made up guess okay i went through everybody and said who is the guy that lou lamorello could be interested in to replace anders lee and my travis ajak no that's obvious that doesn't count i know it's obvious. That doesn't count. I know it's obvious. Dustin Brown. Dustin Brown. Now, Lee's a left shot. Brown's a right shot. Yeah. I got it.

But this is a guy who's having a heck of a year. He looks like a different player this year. And I don't know whether it's just because he's lost weight, but he does look like a different player. We talked about this before. He's not running around looking for hits anymore. And he's lean weight, but he does look like a different player. We talked about this before. He's not running around looking for hits anymore and he's leaner out there. I think also, you know, the Kings are still in it.

They like the fact that they're playing important games for all their young players. And number two, I'm not convinced the Kings even want to trade them. Like, please understand that this is the Elliott Friedman made up Lou Lamorello stealth watch. Yeah.

And yes, I am referring to myself in the third person. So it's like I said, someone that Lamorello might like that none of us are going to think of. My name is Dustin Brown. Okay. People are thinking Taylor Hall there too. We're all thinking that, right? Yes. All right.

Now, before we get to Anton Forsbergberg i know from being a sideline reporter there's always things you want to get in there that you never get in because guys like bartlett and galley talk too much give give me the best story you had that you couldn't get in so i wanted to do a thing on josh anderson yesterday okay so credit to steve felon and sn stats who put together this list for me based on a question i asked them maybe you can string this together what do these players all have in common tim gleason rayta savannas jay harrison Ray Tisivanans, Jay Harrison, Patrick Maroon, and Joseph Melikar. And now you put Josh Anderson. You told me the answer, so I don't want to, I'm not ruining this.

What I should do is just leave it out there and pick it up on the Thursday podcast. Let's do that. Okay. Yeah. How about this? Well, okay, so I'll leave this one and I'll, and I'll tell the other story. So it's your job to tell me what these players have in common. Gleason, Ivana's, Harrison, Maroon, Malakar, and now Anderson.

Okay. I will reveal it on Thursday, but I wanted to do something like that for, for Josh Anderson. But the other story then would have been, this is until he got injured want to do something on tanner pearson and dale howarchuk and the interesting thing there tanner was with dale howarchuk when he was with the very colts and i was asking how dale worked with tanner and one of the great stories was that after practice dale would get out there and feed tanner pearson passes to the slot okay dale would be in the corner and would throw past it i think shifley might have been on this drill too wouldn't surprise me would throw passes to tanner in the slot he would get the pass settle the puck but before he could shoot he had to close his eyes and they did this over and over

and over again and dale's point to pearson was you can score in junior when you have a lot of time you're going to need to train your body just to get the shot off really quickly and not even think about it and this is going to help you so i talked talked with Dale's son, Eric, last week. And I said, does this ring a bell with you? And he said, it's so interesting you mentioned that because his grandparents, Dale's parents, used to talk about this all the time. Apparently, Dale Howarchuk would go out there by himself and shoot pucks with his eyes closed. And he could tell, this blows my mind,

he could tell the difference in sound that a puck makes if it goes off the post and in, as opposed to off the post and out. That's how finely tuned Dale Howarchuk was to where he was putting pucks. And I guess he would maintain he did it all because he was shooting pucks with his eyes closed. And it was just instinct. And Tanner said, yeah, I remember doing this with Dale.

Not sure if he did it with other players. But I would get the puck, close my eyes, and shoot. And Dale was teaching me how to turn my OHL shot into an NHL shot. I should point out, too, Tanner Pearson used a straight stick until second year junior. His dad, who was a rep at Bauer, who always spiffed him with the great stuff. It's funny you ask around about players,

and the thing that always comes back is, oh, yeah, Pearson always had the best gear because dad was a rep at Bauer. So he came in with all the sweetest stuff. But he always had him use a straight stick to strengthen his wrists. And he wasn't allowed to use a curved stick or didn't use a curved stick and let

the stick do some of the work until second year junior. So there you go. That was one of the things that I wanted to get out there. And then there's the other, the Josh Anderson club. But we'll leave that for next week. So that was it. A couple stories. I wanted to do something on Tyler Toffoli as well and dominating in junior like he's dominated the Vancouver Canucks this year, but it was not to be because of injury.

Good stuff, man. Really good stuff. When we come back, you'll hear from Anton Forsberg of the Ottawa Senators. You will hear from Anton Forsberg of the Ottawa Senators. You know, one of the more interesting stories, Elliot, this season in a bizarre season, as we all know for the NHL, is the story of Anton Forsberg. Whether it is Edmonton, Carolina, Winnipeg, now Ottawa,

this professional goalie slash traveler has made his way around the NHL. Anton Fursberg joins us now of the Ottawa Senators. Anton, first of all, thanks so much for doing this. And before we get into any specifics, I just want to hear it in your own words. How would you describe this season so far for you? Lots of traveling, lots of practices, and lots of quarantine, I guess. Did you have, I mean, goaltenders are so unique every season, but this season specifically, did you have any idea what this season would resemble? I'm sure you didn't think you were going to end up on as many teams as you have.

What did you think the season was going to be like for you well obviously it was my first year as a free agent uh so it was the first time i actually was able to sign whatever team i wanted to and i picked uh edmonton and uh i thought i was obviously going to be there started off great and liked uh working with the goalie coach there and then uh got through training camp and i knew obviously they were going to put me on waivers sooner or later since they had two goalies up there and i wasn't expecting that the goalies overall would be such a hot market as it was or as it is right now uh obviously it's been a lot of claims and uh i wasn't ready to move and didn't think I was going to move four times in so far this year,

but it is what it is and just got to make the best out of it. Now, I didn't realize until this weekend that your family was with you. First of all, tell us who's in your family and how much more of a challenge has it been that your kids are with you? Yeah, I mean, obviously for me me it's being by myself would be easy and i mean you're getting into a new team uh

you're living at the hotel you're by yourself you don't need a lot of space you get into the team right away because you're meeting all the guys every day and you get to meet all the coaches and you're used to that part. And you get to make friends right away. But, like, I have my girlfriend and two kids with me. And obviously my son right now, like, he has a lot of energy. So we want him in preschool. So he started preschool when he got to Winnipeg. And now he had to drop out of that after four weeks, even though he liked it.

And we got to go here. And that's a start all over again. And it's kind of same for jessica she has to start all over all over again and like make new friends and it's harder for them i guess since they're not seeing each other every day but the circumstances right now too it's it's not you're not supposed to see each other it's i guess it's kind of lonely that way so i think it's harder on them than it actually is for me because I go in and do the same thing, and I do what I love to do.

So no matter if I'm traveling or not, it's still a lot of fun, obviously. Now, I have to ask you, was there any point that your girlfriend said to you, Anton, come on, this is ridiculous? I think after the first one there, we kind of realized, especially after Commer got claimed again by Winnipeg, we knew there was a scenario before you even got there or got reclaimed that this might happen again. And we knew about it. So we were kind of discussing because they were back home to Sweden by then when I got claimed by Winnipeg. So they weren't with me by that time and we're discussing back and forth should just stay back and just wait until like I either passed their waivers and like I'm a

set and team I told like oh you're gonna be here but then after a while everything dragged out so we kind of figured okay let's come over and do the two week quarantine and then we'll figure things out afterwards yeah we did that and they're out for three weeks so that was a good call by us and now they're with me the whole time and since since we had an easy travel to get to ottawa now uh we didn't have to do the quarantine either which is nice what's your relationship like with the goalie coaches on these teams knowing that they're brief stops are you naturally sort of suspicious hey i don't want to change anything because I don't know what's going to happen to me. How many goalie coaches this year specifically

have tried to change the way you play? I've been really lucky that way. I got to Edmonton and Swartzy there. He was really good with everything. We were talking and discussing how I wanted to play and all that. So we were on the same page how I wanted to play and all that so we were on the same page and I loved working with him and I got to Winnipeg and I was obviously like I was pissed off that I got picked up on waivers by them because I wanted like I signed with Edmonton

for a reason obviously and then Mike Smith got hurt and that happened I got there but then I met Wade Flaherty and he was really good too. He's the one I spent most time with, and I felt like I got better every day, which was really nice. I really understand why their goaltending is so good because he does a really good job. Now, you finally got a chance to play on Saturday.

You played an AHL game for Belleville against the Toronto Marlies. You won 5-1. That was your first game this year. It must have been the best feeling to get into a real game. Yeah, that's for sure.

I was talking to my family back home and I said, I put in a lot of hours for that game to get ready for that game. I had a lot of fun and it was a good game. So obviously I enjoyed it. I just wondered, Anton, was there any point when you got out there for that game in the warm-up, was any part of you like,

I don't feel good or I don't feel right or it's been so long? I just wondered what was going through your head when the game started. The whole thing, like before the game and all that, I was thinking this could go either way, but at the same time in practice, I've been feeling really good. We put in a lot of hours with Wade Flaherty in Winnipeg, and I told him I feel way better now than I did even last year from when I got there.

I felt prepared, and all the mechanics felt good obviously like it's hard to get like game situations and get every like practice game like so it's all obviously like very different going out playing a game so but it took me about first period i thought i was a little bit behind the plays and then after that kind of picked up all the reads and after that I just felt like normal so that was nice it seems like you have a really good sense of humor about all of this that you can look at this situation say as unfortunate and as uncomfortable as it's been this season for me there's worse things that can happen to people has there been any point though in the past few months uh as your tour through canada specifically has gone on that

you've been miserable or cranky or edgy or anything like that has this affected you in any way because you seem to have like a really good attitude about all this well when i when i got to got to winnipeg there uh i mean i i had no idea what to expect and like first couple two three days i was kind of sad and pissed off i was by myself too at the hotel rooms i didn't have any kids or girlfriend around to hang out with so i was just sitting in my room for a week and thought about it. And, but then once, once I got to the rink and started work,

like practicing and I met Wade and we're working on it, like I had a lot of fun. So that kind of changed the whole thing. And I said that when, when I went on waivers later on, like I told them, I'm staying where you guys, that you guys have to do it. Cause I'm taking up a roster spot right now.

And, but like, even if I would pass the waivers like I would be happy to be here and work because I I had a lot of fun and uh I felt like I got better every day obviously I want to play though but like this year I like I had the mindset that I knew going into the season that I might not play a game the whole year it's just just going to be a bonus, and that's just the way it's going to be. I just have to prepare myself if that chance comes that I'm ready for it. You know, Anton, it's so impressive to me to hear you say that and the way you respond to it because nobody gets to the level that you're at without being an incredible competitor.

You've played almost 50 career NHL games and nobody plays even one NHL game without having a determination to get there. It's hard to get here. And for you to go into this season and say, I know I might not play a game. Like I'm sitting here listening to you say that. I can't even imagine how hard it is to get yourself into that frame of mind. But at the same time, you're going through that and you think about everything else that happens in the world. And, you know, like you get them paid, you're doing what you do, like love to do. And, you know, obviously we're well paid too. And we're still like it would would be like worst

possible scenario would be that it wouldn't be a season this year so like at the end of the day it's even though we're not playing it's we're not in bad situation and that's just like the way I think about it and just try to get better because obviously like you can work a lot of details they wouldn't be able to do in a season that's what I did when I was in Winnipeg. Now I feel like those things feel way better now when I'm out there, even though I only played one game. I felt like it really helped me. Now, obviously, you're probably watching a lot of games.

Did you see what was going on in Ottawa and say that could be next? No. in Ottawa and say that could be next? No. I was actually, I didn't know that both their starting goalies were, like Mr. Matt and Marcus was hurt. I knew Marcus was hurt, but I didn't know that Matt Murray was hurt. And obviously, how do you pronounce him, Dakard?

Joey Decord. Yeah. Obviously, he got hurt after I was picked up. dackard joey decord yeah obviously he got hurt when i after i was picked up and uh but i i didn't know and i i had no idea that they're they were looking for a goalie so i was talking to my agent night before and he said like it could go either way here you could pass flavors you could get picked up you never know and then like obviously the morning after yeah i knew that ottawa picked me up and it was just good to get ready and move right away so do you know other teams that put in claims and would you like to know if you don't know i have no idea what other teams that put in a claim or if they did uh i don't even know if

you can find that out you're technically not supposed to exactly but is that something though that you you would want to know just to sort of give yourself an idea like okay if this happens again i know that this team is interested well obviously that's always always fun to know i mean at the end of the day it's you don't pick up a goalie if you don't, I guess, don't like him. At least not a little bit. Because I feel like, and that's the way I have to think about it too. I mean, there's a reason why I haven't passed the waivers too. So that's how I've been choosing to look at it.

Obviously, sometimes it's not looking good that you're going to have five teams or four teams in a year. But even though I would say still counted on as three since Carolina, that was just a smart move by them. And I didn't even go there. So for me, it's more three teams. And that's how I see it. I just remember talking to Ilya Brzgalov once when he was waived by Anaheim. And that was a promise that was made by his GM, Brian Burke. If there wasn't a spot, he'd waive him and let someone else claim him uh he ended up getting claimed by the coyotes uh but

he found out that Detroit had also put in a claim as well and he always sort of wondered about what his future would be like if he became a Red Wing anyhow Elliot go ahead um what did Ottawa say to you when they picked you up they basically just told me their goal situation that there were guys hurt and, uh, that they were happy that I was there and they tried to get me there as soon as possible. And I'm assuming your, your kids liked the private plane ride, right? Yeah, there were, uh, I think we did at least we don't have to carry all the luggage and, uh, do all the customs with the kids. Cause especially the older one, he older one he's he's all over the place so that was that was for sure nice let me ask you about um about swedish goaltenders and and your background as well now uh jesper waltz that is describe your experience

you know growing up in the swedish system we hear so much of it you know as it relates to forwards and certainly defensemen but what's it like for a goaltender obviously they've been doing pretty good with uh goalies uh last couple years that's uh especially like uh during that time when both me and old mark were in that in moto together and uh i felt like we had a couple of marks from came out a couple years earlier and then uh leonard and then so there was a few guys there so they're doing a good job and uh it was a lot different hockey's different back home and in sweden i feel like it's more defensively and uh bigger eyes so you can play a little bit deeper in that and uh you don't really have to challenge the shooter as much so that way it was different when

i got over here i worked a lot with the goalie coach when i got over uh to columbus springfield that was the affiliated team back then and uh i changed a lot in my game coming over so i just had to do it to be able to manage the play over here among swedish players who were your who are your good friends anton, in the NHL? Well, I spent a lot of time during summer working out with Alex Lemberg and Willem Carlsson and Oskar Dansk. We have a group that works out with a trainer back home. And then Gustav Forsling that I spent time with in Chicago

and in Charlotte and Carolina last year. He's probably one of my closest friends. He's also the godfather of my daughter. And have you been talking to them through this? Have they been reaching out to you for this? Just, you know, hey, how are you doing? Like, I can't believe this. Like, how much conversation is going on between you

and your good buddies throughout this entire situation? Like, when we talk it's more about the kind of joke about it and ask if i'm going to check off all the third one teams on the in the league uh now it's just let's have more fun about it but obviously like it's just fun have you we were asking we were talking about this on the on the last podcast actually anton you came up and um i wondering, do you keep anything from each organization? Well, obviously, I have some training kits and all that. I haven't gotten any jerseys.

Obviously, this year, I haven't played any games. But usually, if I play the games, I've kept the game jersey. Well, hopefully, you found a home now with the Ottawa Senators look forward to seeing you in net in the NHL I hope that this stop in Ottawa is a prosperous one for you

I'll tell you it's one of the more interesting stories around the NHL this season watching you go from team to team to team and I guess in your position you have to look at it and say, all these teams want me. Anton, that is a great spot to be in. Thanks so much for stopping by the podcast today. And we look forward to seeing you, Ned, for the Senators. You earned it, man. Good luck.

100%. Thank you. Appreciate it. I want to thank Anton Forsberg for stopping by the podcast. Interesting conversation with the most well-traveled goalie in the NHL this season, Elliott. I did want to talk about pucks today because it seems as if we are getting closer to getting the data carrying puck back in the nhl what do you hear what do you know i heard a week ago and i was told give us another week just to see where we are and then i was working on some other stuff and i didn't really get a chance to finalize it

but i know we're getting close to having the pucks back in and what i had heard was that there were specific players they were dealing with just to say okay how do you guys feel about this puck before we reintroduce it sydney crosby's been part of that program from pretty much the get-go so i i followed up on this on on saturday was going to do something on the Montreal-Vancouver game about it as well. So Crosby's been with this puck program and been one of the players that's been testing them for a while now. Crosby really liked the World Cup puck. Everybody agreed that the pucks in the bubble were really good. The interesting thing there was those pucks were all made by hand. And the pucks that we just saw at the beginning of this season that got pulled were all, of course, manufactured in a factory.

And what they had found was one of the sides of the puck seemed a little bit too sharp. And that was the issue, especially later in the period when there's a lot of snow on the ice. It became a thing. And players complained right away,

oh, the sharp edge is catching the snow. We got to do something about it. I'm told that they're close too, but I don't think there's any appetite, Elliot, to sign off on these pucks and get them in the NHL right away. Much like we see, whether it's other equipment or rules, I have a feeling the NHL will like another league or leagueza to try the pucks before they do.

So we're still, although we're inching closer, it sounds like we still have a little bit of ways to go here. I can't see them just jumping in with hey the new batch is ready let's get them out there before letting another league test them so i think that's where we're at i think that's probably smart here's another one for you for pucks how often do you think pucks are changed in the nhl you know what i know the i know where you're going with this because I remember at the World Cup, them explaining how they knew when to change the World Cup pucks. Every three to four minutes.

I didn't realize it was that much. Yeah. I was surprised at that too. But this one, it's the way the puck changes color, right? Pucks come out of the freezer in the penalty box. They're not actually black. They're closer to purple. Yes.

And you know on the, I think it's Coors Light has the tins where when it gets warmer the color changes. There's something similar on the pucks and that's an indication that hey,

the puck's getting warm here. Time to change the puck. But they come out looking purple apparently. Not black. Dun, dun, dun, dun. Rattle the game to its foundation.

We're not playing with a purple puck, are we? Man, those things. Okay. What is this disgrace. We're not playing with a purple puck, are we? Man, those things. Okay. What is this disgrace? We're a travesty. I'm a purist, man. That puck can't be purple.

So there you go. There's the update on the pucks. Inching closer. Good podcast this week. I liked your Ryan Ellis bit at the beginning. That's got me intrigued. You know the first person that I thought of when you mentioned ryan

ellis was peter deborah now vegas has already made their moves on the uh on the back end like they're not fitting in ryan ellis here but i was always told that so much of how pete deborah structures his offense around rebounds specifically and he was always told that all of his teams do a lot of work around scoring off of rebounds, off of rebounds, off rebounds, off rebounds, that they would want someone that can bomb it from the point to get rebounds. That was the first place that I went to. Now, I don't think it's going to happen for all the obvious reasons, but that was the first place that my brain went to.

Don't think you'll end up on Vegas, but that seemed philosophically to be a fit. Aggregators, run with it. Merrick says Ellis to Vegas. I just want to point one thing out really quickly as we take this thing off the air. Going back to Saturday, it's always great working with

Gary Gally. That guy is such a thorough pro and so well prepared and has interesting perspectives and breaks down the game really well. It was a real treat to be back with my old booth partner, John Bartlett. John and I were the radio play-by-play crew for the Marlies when the St. John's Maple Leafs moved from St. John's, Newfoundland to Rico Coliseum and started up play in Toronto. And if you would have told me or John in 2005 that essentially me, a host on a local radio station, AM640, and John Bartlett,

who previous to the Marlies gig, was the play-by-play voice of the Barry Colts of the OHL, that one day we'd be working together doing a game on a Saturday night in Montreal on hockey night in Canada I would tell you yeah, not a chance but there it was

don't ever get frustrated with where you're at just keep doing it that's for all young broadcasters maybe you're breaking in, maybe you're at. Just keep doing it. That's for all young broadcasters. Maybe you're breaking in. Maybe you're a junior broadcaster right now and you're thinking,

I'm going nowhere. You never know what the future has in store for you. A real treat for me to work with Bartz on Saturday again. Just like our guest, Anton Forsberg. You got to have the right attitude about everything. And taking us out, Elliot, a band we

featured in episode three of Hey Berkey, Busty and the Bass just released their five-track EP last week, but we're saying goodbye with a track from their 2020 album, Eddie. So, because Amel was two minutes late for our recording today, here's Busty and the Bass with Little Late on 31 Thoughts, the podcast. Enjoy.

Lost another piece of me Thought to make us whole again But it's all a game for us to lose When you want Things that we could never be And I don't want to waste another day Don't want to face what never came Keep all these words you found

It's just a little late, yeah It's just a little late, yeah It's just a little late now Oh, time can't play so well It's just a little late, yeah It's just a little late now.