32 Thoughts: The Podcast - No Canada

Episode Date: May 15, 2023

Oh, Canada! Jeff and Elliotte wonder where the Oilers go from here after being knocked out in 6 games by the Golden Knights (00:00), the strong play of Vegas and the performance we saw from Adin Hill. They also get the Panthers-Leafs series (18:50), what the summer might hold for Toronto and the Morgan Reilly disallowed goal in Game 5 (1:10:07).The guys also preview Game 7 between Seattle-Dallas (41:20), the coaching situation in New Jersey (51:00) as well as Columbus (52:10), the GM role in Pittsburgh (54:40), update on Calgary (55:15), deadline time in Ottawa (57:10) as well as Arizona (1:05:40) and then take a listener voicemail.Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call The Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemailOutro Music: Peter Cat Recording Co. - Soulless FriendsListen to the full track hereThis podcast was produced and mixed by Amil Delic, and hosted by Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman.Audio Credits: KJR FM, KKGK and Sportsnet.The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

you're just mad because you lost your over under bed i hope you cashed in early oh no you got it because they scored the empty netter good i'm happy for you william carlson's your new favorite player canada is out welcome to 32 thoughts the podcast presented by the gmc canyon at4x merrick friedman delage with you once again we're going to get to the canadian teams we're going to start with edmont. We're going to get to the Canadian teams. We're going to start with Edmonton. We're going to get to Toronto. Also, news of the weekend. So we're going to go over Columbus, Pittsburgh, Ottawa,

a big week on the horizon for Arizona. And we wonder if an extension for Lindy Ruff in New Jersey is close. In the meantime, we are recording this podcast, Elliot, in the wee hours of Monday morning. On my clock, it says it's stick time, 1.11 a.m., and the Edmonton Oilers have been eliminated. The Maple Leafs were eliminated on Friday. Canada, Elliot, is O-U-T out of the playoffs.

Kenny Holland always talks about at-bats and getting a chance. Third round last year, second round this year. Do you feel like it must be hard to go through this, but is this just part of a process here? Is this a necessary part of it? It feels like every team that wins and goes on a stretch of winning kind of experiences this. Obviously, it's not what you want to do, not what you want to feel.

That being said, you know, I really feel that you've got to go through some of this to win. I think we've seen that all the way through. It's always the last time. Elon, just kind of initial thoughts on the series coming to an end earlier than you had hoped. Yeah, it hurts. I don't know. It's tough to find words right now. Obviously, you know, when you start a season, you're in it to win it, and we're at that stage. you start a season you're you're in it to to win it and we're at that stage if you if you don't complete that then um it just feels like uh uh yeah a failure or a wasted year almost so um

yeah it hurts when you said Canada's out the first time to start the podcast it felt like you were sitting next to me in my car while I was driving and you had stabbed me in the heart. I have like I have an annual routine. Like when when Canada goes out of the Stanley Cup playoffs, I have about 12 hours where I'm mad at the world. Like if you hear bumps while I'm driving home, it's because like i see a mailbox and i just crash into it you deliberately drive into potholes just to punish yourself and your vehicle no no not potholes i'm talking about like objects like mailbox oh great like you know for 12 hours i'm mad at the world when canada goes out like things like that happen but i'm getting mad at

things i have zero control over. I'm Elliot Friedman. Nice to meet you. It's true. I've said this on the pod before. I've said it many times. Before my career ends covering hockey and the way things go, it could be like next week. I'd like to cover

a Canadian team winning the Stanley Cup. I don't care which one. I just want one. This is another year where it happened. And like I said, for 10 hours, 12 hours, I'm going to be mad at the world. Don't anyone approach me. I'm mad at the world. He is cranky.

Were you cranky before we get to the game? Were you cranky about the start time? It seemed a lot of people were. Yeah, we work in TV, Jeff. so we're part of the problem so i have to say we but a thousand percent think that we have to do a better job with this and you know for example if lebron james was in a major playoff game that was the only game of the day on a sunday there's no way it would have been played at 10 o'clock Eastern time. It just wouldn't have happened.

And like earlier in the week, this week, I joked about the draft lottery that a lot of really reasonable people in the NHL were like, this is fixed. This is rigged. Yeah. And I was like laughing at them. I was like, you know, like, come on. And I was laughing at them. I was like, come on.

But a lot of those same people and even more people who I don't normally reach out to were really disappointed about this one. And it was a wide cross-section of people, players, executives, you name it. They were really disappointed about this. Again, we work in TV and we understand what happens sometimes. But at the end of the day, we're all in this together. We want it to be better. And there are things people always get frustrated about. People get frustrated about refereeing.

But sometimes that's based on who you're cheering for or something like that. Or what your biases are this one crossed all sections and you know what i think it is it's like i remember a few years ago i was supposed to participate in an award show and i was co-presenting with someone who is a much, much bigger star than me. And I was going to get embarrassed by that person. And you know me, like Jeff, I have a good sense of humor about things. I don't mind poking fun at myself, but I put a stop to this one. And I was a gigantic pain in the ass to the point where the other person went to the producers and told them to take me off the show because I wasn't cooperating. And the producers came to me because they were going to pick this person over me. And they said, we will throw you off the show if you don't cooperate.

And I said, you go ahead, because i would rather not be here than do what you guys are going to do to me and it got changed it wasn't pretty i think that person really really carved me behind my back to a lot of people because i heard about it later but i said you know what i'm just going to stand up for myself here because I think there's a limit. And like, I always judge these kinds of things by the cross section of people that I hear from. And there were a lot of people in the sport, like I said, across different levels and different positions that were like, this is a really tough day for the NHL. And they were disappointed. Okay. A tough weekend for Canada,

a tough Sunday night for Canadian hockey fans. The last hope, and we're going to get to the Maple Leafs in a second, the last hope of a Canadian-based NHL team making it to a conference final was snuffed out by the Vegas Golden Knights. Vegas wins 5-2. Jonathan Marcheseau with the natural hat trick in the second period. Marcheseau to Petrangelo.

Petrangelo to Marcheseau. Rister, and he scores! A hat trick for Marcheseau in the second period. Has the Vegas Golden Knights up by two. Good look here. Is this power play? Gets moving in the offensive zone. And for Marcheseau, we've seen him score his four goals William Carlson with the empty netter, but the big story coming out of this one, 39 saves on 41 shots.

Aiden Hill was outstanding. Yes. Elliott's. Boilers get it. Fight fight for the puck Eichel loses his stick it's out in front of shot oh and a kick saved by Hill Barbashev on the puck McDavid and Dreisaitl deep on the right up top Bouchard left Nugent Hopkins to the goal line Hyman stopped and the puck is covered by Hill Oilers in on the right side a centering pass and a shot diving saved by Hill stops at home looked like he had half an empty cage Hill got And you know what?

I was really glad that Dallas Aikens at the end of the night mentioned Sean Burke. Yes. Mentioned Sean Burke. Aiden Hill, I thought was outstanding here. Take it away, Elliot. Well, he was. It was 2-1. Edmonton was going.

First of all, I think we all thought that that game was going to end 9-8. I know some people who took the over and were already cashing their bets one of whom may be producing this podcast right now and well you know what elliot you know how i love ball hockey you know i love ball hockey i thought that was going to be a ball hockey final i thought okay here we i was going to tweet i'm like oh ball hockey tonight in edmonton and the guy found his legs and you're right Sean Burke and you know what I have to tell you Jeff you're right Dallas mentioned it and Burke deserves a lot of credit I don't know if he got interviewed or not but someone actually did say to me a couple weeks ago I'm just going

to throw this out now because it's a night where it deserves a lot of credit someone said to me a couple of weeks ago that they would not be surprised if Sean Burke was on Don Maloney's radar for the Calgary Flames as a general manager. Totally believe it. As a GM. Totally believe it. Because Burke has always, I don't know if resented is the right word, but he hasn't always liked the fact that he seems the goalie guy and he wants to do a lot more. Yes. I don't know if it ever happened, but I did hear it.

But Burke did a great job aiden hill stabilized himself and there's one thing i i would say here and i said at the end of the broadcast the way the nhl playoffs work it's not as simple as saying you lost in the first round or you lost in the second round because sometimes who you lost to is more important than when you lost. And when Edmonton is breaking down and dissecting its season, I think it's very important for the Oilers to recognize that this could have been a Stanley Cup final, and they didn't just lose in the second round to some middling team.

They finished sixth in the league, the Oilers, and the Golden Knights finished fifth. And when you're going through your postseason breakdown, that has to be a very big part of where you see yourself. The Oilers have to be better five on five, but and this is a big but, they lost to a great team, and they can't forget that.

That Vegas Golden Knights team, first of all, seemed to get stronger as the series went on. Yep. And second of all, they had energy and they had juice right to the end of that game. Yep.

And as the series rolled along, they just continued to pour it on. And you know what I really thought, Elliot, that last game with Alex Petrangelo suspended, Oilers really squandered their chance. You have one of the best players in the playoffs on suspension and you didn't seize it. To to me that was a absolutely huge

one i want to get to the goaltending here in a second but are you with me on that one that that that the oilers really blew a huge chance here i think that's one of the games that they will look at i was watching the game when it was 2-1 and i was thinking boy you want to get another one here if you're Edmonton. It's the stupidest thing to say. You'd feel a lot more comfortable at 3-1 than 2-1. Thanks, tips. But I really thought if they're up 3-1 after 1,

I don't know if Vegas wins this one. But Hill stabilized, Vegas stabilized. As you said, they got stronger as the series goes on and the one thing about vegas is they're really disciplined they stick to who they are like marcia so talked about it with gene in the second intermission they know edmonton plays man to man around their own net so they felt they knew how to attack it and And that never changed. And the other guy I think deserves a lot of credit here is obviously Marcia So, but Jack Eichel. Eichel had a phenomenal series.

Nine points. And as it went on, but also defensively or dominating the puck, he would go out there against a lot of Edmonton's best players, and he would, at five on five, he would hold them or take control. He didn't lose a ton of shifts in five on five. This was Eichel's coming out party. Yes, he finally made the playoffs, but this was the series where people are going to look at him differently

after this series. He was great. His line was great. One of the big stories, though, coming out of the entire series and in this game, Stuart Skinner pulled for the third time in the series, four goals on 17 shots, the 765 save percentage on the game. You know, there was one cutaway to Stuart Skinner sitting on the bench trying to look, I'm not sure what he was going for,

angry, disappointed, frustrated, but trying to hold it all together and not betray any emotions. Left the camera on him for a couple of seconds. Great shot. Awesome shot. It was just a really, a really tough look at it as Jack Campbell took over in this one. Your thoughts on,

on Stuart Skinner, on Jack Campbell, the goaltending situation with the Edmonds, you know, others, because that's a big one coming out of this series, Elliot. I would have started Skinner in game six.

I said it Saturday night when I was working Seattle, Dallas. When you go to the prom, you dance with the one that brought you. And Skinner brought them here. Now, if they had played a game seven, they were going to have to go to Campbell. I mean, finally, it was at that point. But, you know, I understood the decision to go to Skinner. Unfortunately, it didn't work, but I understood the decision. And I probably would have done the same thing.

The one thing everybody has to remember about Stuart Skinner was he was not supposed to be the number one goalie at this time. It was supposed to be Jack Campbell's team, and Skinner won the job. And I hope when he does his exit meeting and he sits down and he talks, I hope that's what they hammer him with. Don't forget the way the season ended. You should use it to motivate you to be even better, but don't let your whole rookie season. And I think he's going to be one of the top two guys for the Calder. I mean, it's either him or Baneers who's going to win it, I think.

But don't let it pollute your whole year. You know, you are way ahead of what was expected. And I'm going to bet, Jeff, that somewhere down the road, if not as soon as next season, Stuart Skinner is going to be a much better goalie, including in the postseason, because of what he went through. He got beat by a great team. It's that simple. Vegas is a great team. It's that simple.

Vegas is a great team. They'll face off against the winners of the Seattle Crack and Dallas Stars matchup. So decisions in the offseason now for general manager Ken Holland. There's one that sticks out here. And as much as defensively, there were some times where you could

really see some inexperience and still see some pimples, young defenseman. Defensively, there was moments where he left you wanting, but Evan Bouchard has arrived. Yes. Evan Bouchard on the power play has arrived, and he's an RFA, and there's some business to take care of there now that he's a big threat on your power play.

Look, we know the cap isn't going very far. You know my rule rule my rule is if you have a cornerstone player and you believe he's a cornerstone player you lock him up for as long as you can because the price will never go down and the other thing about bouchard is one way players get paid in this league is by getting points and we all know bouchard's going to get points so i would try to lock him up as long as you can. Next year is another all in year. You've got two years left on this dry saddle contract, and you've got three years left on the McDavid contract. So you're all in every year. And especially now, because the clock

is ticking in particular on dry saddle, you know, his next contract is going to be a much bigger number than it is now. So you have to go for it next year. And that's the only thing I'm thinking about for the Oilers, is how can we win next year? And what undid them this time around the playoffs? Five on five. Now, Kane, as we record this, I don't know what his injury status is, but I think he had a couple of things. But Nugent Hopkins had a really rough playoff.

I think that's what you have to look at here is you know you're going to kill people on the power play. I think they've improved in a lot of areas where you have to win. I think they're harder to play against. I think generally they're a lot more committed to playing defensively they beat a really good structured team in the first round what's their weakness jeff to me it's five on five how are you scoring more at five on five and i'm doing everything i can because next year is an all-in year again. The other thing I think about next year too is it's the last year of Ken Holland's current contract, five-year deal. And I think that this could be his final year too. I don't think he's going to push all his

chips in because it's probably going to be his last year. I think he pushes them all in because he recognizes the team is good enough to win. But I also do think, more likely than not, it will be Ken Holland's final season too. And now we'll transition to the Toronto Maple Leafs, this portion of the podcast, and the next portion, the entire thing that you're going to hear, we recorded Sunday afternoon as we crossed our fingers that it wouldn't sound too dated.

Listen to the 32 Thoughts Podcast ad-free on Amazon Music, included with Prime. Here's a charry. Trying to get it to the front, and Gutis knocked that away. And now it's a three-on-two the other way. Cousins with Gutis driving the lane. The Cousins scores! It's a series winner for Nick Cousins. And the Florida Panthers are headed to a Southeastern Conference Final. Elliot, the Toronto Maple Leafs are out.

I'm not sure if you heard the news. The Florida Panthers beat them in five games. It was overtime on Friday night. Nick Cousins ended it. And now the questions about the Maple Leafs, well, really began a long time ago, but have now sort of hit a heightened crescendo, if you will, whether it's Dubas, whether it's Keefe,

whether it's Corfo questions, whether it's free agents coming back or not. Where do we begin with the Maple Leafs? Well, why don't we start at the top and work our way down? Okay. You think that's the easiest one? I do. By top, do you mean Rogers, Bell, and Larry

Tannenbaum? Actually, yes. I think I can start there. Okay. Because as we've mentioned before, we have a belief that earlier this year, whether it was last summer or in the fall or whenever it was, Larry Tannenbaum proposed an extension for Kyle Dubas. He owns 25% of MLSC.

The telecoms are at 75 combined, 37 and a half each. And I believe that Larry Tannenbaum proposed an extension and it was blocked by the two telecoms. And in case you're not aware, Jeff Amel and I work for one of them. And they said, no, they said no extensions at this time. And I believe that after they beat Tampa and maybe it happened before, but I believe that after they beat Tampa, they had committed to the idea of bringing Dubas back. Now I want to make one thing very clear here. they had committed to the idea of bringing Dubas back. Now, I want to make one thing very clear here. This was a tough year on everybody involved.

And I think any time that anyone is kind of put into the last year of this contract and forced to bet on themselves like Kyle Dubas was, there is a certain, oh yeah, well, I'm going to make you pay for this, or I'm not going to make this easy on you. And I know if I was in that situation, I would feel the exact same way. You don't believe in me? Well, I'm going to bet on myself and it's going to cost you. And so I believe they are talking about extending him. I don't know how far down the road it is, but I do believe that they have

agreed that they will try to do it. And now we just have to be in a situation where everybody agrees on the terms. I think at the end of the day, I think Kyle Dubas wants to be the general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, but they've both got to agree on the compensation, the term, and the straight definition of who gets what say over hockey. I think Dubas gets a lot of say, but he doesn't have the ultimate say. And all of that, I think, has to be worked out. Now, the one thing I do believe is everybody wants it worked out quick. Nobody wants this to drag. The Maple Leafs have a lot of decisions they need to make all around their organization.

And if Dubas wants to pursue another opportunity, he's going to need to know that he can go out there and do it if he doesn't like what's on the table here. Like I think Pittsburgh wants to get this done. So if this whole Dubas and Pittsburgh thing is real, then he's going to need to know quick if what is on the table in Toronto is amenable to him. That said, I believe he wants to return. I strongly believe they feel he is the right person to continue. It's just, can everybody work out everything that needs to be worked out? So that's where I think we are at the top, Jeff Merrick.

So that's where I think we are at the top, Jeff Merrick. Okay, so is there a bigger person above Kyle Dubas that we should look at, most notably the president of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Brendan Shanahan? Because the first thought when I hear Dubas looking to negotiate final say on player personnel, that's where I go. Is there anything there? For one thing, Shanahan has two more years under contract. This is not an organization now as wealthy as it is. After paying Mike Babcock $25 million not to coach, I don't think that's what they want to do. And I believe that Shanahan

has been part of these conversations to bring back Dubas. So my inclination is that he's coming back. Let's drop down a level then. Head coach position, Sheldon Keefe. Yeah, that one's going to be a bit tougher. I think what the Maple Leafs are going to do here is say, what are the alternatives? I really do believe that there's going to be a big conversation of, is there a better option out there? One of the things that happens with sometimes these teams is they make a coaching change and then they're like, I don't know if what's out there is much better than what we have.

And I've seen that happen before. And I think the Maple Leafs are going to take a long look into, is there another option better than what they have? Put it this way. I don't think the organization wants to come back the same, but I also don't think they're going to make change simply for the sake of making change. I think if they make change at all, it's going to be about, we conclusively believe that we're going to be better off for doing it. Okay.

Let me ask you about one level lower than the head coach position. Yeah. The assistant coach position. And the person that I'm curious about here is Spencer Carberry. And we know the Washington Capitals are looking for a new head coach.

And I'm not so sure that Washington wants to wait to find out about Carberry. Is he the most interesting assistant coach here? Well, I think so because that decision could be made for them. Okay then, so from the coaching staff, so we've gone over all these different levels. We've talked about ownership, president, general manager, head coach, assistant coach. What about players? And not just the players that are on expiring deals,

whether it's Ryan O'Reilly or Luke Shen or Michael Bunting or Alex Kerfoot or Nola Chari, but also other players who have a term, whether it's the core four or others. When you look at the Maple Leafs feeling they don't want to come back with the same they come back with something similar it all starts with the guy wearing 34 austin matthews is a year away from unrestricted free agency he has a no trade clause that kicks in on July 1st. That is your number one decision because everything that you do is going to flow from there. First of all, I think they want to sign him.

I have said on this podcast before, I believe that what Matthews was going to do was sign not a max term extension. You know, he'll be 26 in September. If he signs for say four or five years, he can sign one more big deal before his career is up. And I do think that idea is on his radar. And there'll be more room under the salary cap. So that's kind of the way I look at it. I start with that default position. If Dubas is not back, it throws a wrench into this because Matthews at least knows Dubas.

He understands how he operates. He understands what the plan is. And I think he's comfortable with that. If Dubas is gone and another general manager comes in, then that other GM is going to have to sell Matthews on the plan in a very short, compressed space. Because, and I ask you this question, Jeff Merrick, podcast partner. If you're the Toronto Maple Leafs, can you allow July 1st to come and Matthews' no-move clause kick in

if they don't know if he's going to sign. No, no, you can't do that to this organization. If you're a Leafs management, you cannot do that to this organization. Other managers have made risks like this before and been burned, but nothing like this. This is franchise altering. If you hand all that power to Austin Matthews and the ability to walk away for nothing. What do you think?

I talked to one manager who went through a really, really tough negotiation and lost the player. And what he said to me was, my red line was, I never want to give the player more power than the owner. And I said, well, what if it's Wayne Gretzky?

And he rolled his eyes and he said, okay, I'll give it to Wayne Gretzky. But I always think about that. Jeff, we both understand leverage sometimes you have leverage sometimes you don't austin matthews regardless of how you feel he played in the playoffs this year and i think there was an injury there but i'm sure we'll get this all cleared out austin matthews has the leverage the The thing that the Toronto Maple Leafs control is how much leverage. And I always remember that quote, you can't give the player more power than the owner.

And if you let Austin Matthews get to July 1st, you don't know if you can keep him, then he is the most powerful person in the organization. I'm with you. I'm not convinced they're going to let it get to that. If we get to the draft and they don't think they can sign Matthews, I'm really curious to see what's going to happen. But again, I say my default is I think he wants to sign for around four to five years, but I think the Maple Leafs know if they're going to do that, he's probably going to be the highest paid player in the league.

And I think they're willing to do it. It just depends on how high that number goes. Yeah. Like I could see them saying, okay, there's a limit, but I think they're going to be prepared to do it. $1 more than Nathan McKinnon. I mean, I don't know. I don't know.

I mean, you know my theory on these things. You're not going to get anything if you don't ask for it. So if they're asking you to throw a goalpost in the ground, throw the goalpost at the extreme of your position and walk it back. Never negotiate against yourself. If I'm negotiating against you for my salary, Jeff, my first offer is $11 billion and I'll see what you come back with. You'll come back with 99 cents and we'll work together from there. But you know- Zero billion dollars. Zero billion dollars.

Someone in the middle there is a contract. I think everything follows Matthews. Now, Marner's got two years left, so you got some time. And Tavares has two years left, and I know he's a lightning rod, but he's a year removed from a 47-goal season, and he scored the series-winning goal against Tampa Bay. Like, sometimes I think the way people talk about Tavares is not grounded in reality.

I think you have to find ways to make him more effective. You may have to ask him to take, I don't know if a lesser role is correct, but different role is probably the better way to do it. And you've got two years left in his contract, and then you can figure some things out. The one that interests me after Matthews is Nylander. He just had the best season of his career. He just scored 40 goals. He got taken off the number one power play. He's going to be getting a raise. So again, it comes down to A, what's that number going to be? And B, and I don't want to put words in his

mouth. So understand that this is me talking, not Nylander talking, but anytime a player like him gets moved from the first power play unit to the second, I think it would bother them. I know it would bother me, especially in a career high year. Part of me just wonders if there's any part of him that just says, I'm always going to be like the fourth guy here. Maybe I'd like to try it somewhere else where I might be a higher guy. I don't know. Plus also, like I said, the contract's not going to be small. A lot of the big moments for the Maple Leafs in these playoffs were Nylander related, but you could also find a lot of plays that would

absolutely drive you crazy. Like, that's just him. He is who he is. That's his personality. That's who he is. I just wonder how everybody's going to feel, particularly him. Brendan Shanahan was hired in April of 2014 to run the Maple Leafs. Ten weeks later, Nylander was the first Toronto draft pick under the Shanahan

administration. And I think he's always, I don't know if soft spot's the right word or he's protective of him is the right word, but there's definitely a positive feeling when it comes to Nylander from Shanahan. Especially if you take a look at that draft and some of the misses that were ahead of him, that was a really good pick for Toronto. And I just think as long as Shanahan's here, he's always liked that that first draft pick turned out well for Toronto. And I think he's got a bit of a strong feeling for hoping that Nylander stays with the Maple Leafs. I'll tell you, if you make William Nylander available, I know a lot of Nylander haters won't like to hear this.

There will be a huge market for William Nylander. Like, are you telling me that a team like, you know, I'll tell you, Elliot, the one that keeps popping out to me when I think about if the Maple Leafs want to go to market with Nylander is Colorado. You telling me the Colorado Avalanche where Gabriel Landeskog is not playing next season and we have a whole bunch of questions about the future of Valery Natchushkin, you're telling me that that couldn't be a home for someone like Nylander and with their structure and with their leadership group and with where

they're at on their winning cycle, that's not a fit. And I don't think they're the only team. I. Again, I think it's very important to point out that he has, he doesn't have as much leverage as Matthews. I mean, look, how many he doesn't have as much leverage as Matthews. I mean, look, how many guys in the league

have more leverage than Matthews? McDavid does, Dreisaitl does, McKinnon does, McCarr does, I'm sure there's some others here and there. There's a guy in Pittsburgh. There's a guy in Pittsburgh, yes, Crosby. That's a very good one too. He doesn't have that leverage, but he does have a lot of say.

Like what number does he want and what role does he want? And like I said, I think that first power play thing this year where he was moved down to the second one, that would have bothered me. You eat it because that's what you have to do as a teammate. You put some mustard on that poop and you eat your poop sandwich, but deep down inside, it bothers you. Other players, and maybe to your previous point, it's a mood conversation until I know

about Austin Matthews, but what of the Buntings and the Camps and the Kerfoot's and the Shens and the O'Reilly's and the Achari's of this Maple Leaf. Well, I think it's going to be almost impossible to keep bunting. Think that what bunting gets, it's going to be hard for the Maple Leafs to keep them. I really do.

You know, the other thing about bunting too is it was a really hard end to the season for him. It's very clear that the referees feel he's an embellishment artist. You know, if there's one thing I disagree with, he took some shots in the playoffs and because he has all those embellishment penalties, people think he isn't hurt. That's crazy. Like I'm trying to imagine myself taking a cross check in the neck from an NHL player oh god I don't care like that's gonna hurt but because he has the reputation people don't give

him the benefit of the doubt he got the suspension and also when he was cleared to play after the suspension they didn't put him right back in the lineup. Now, this is a guy who, as everybody knows by now, is from Toronto. His family loves the Leafs. He loves the Leafs. He took a smaller deal out of Arizona than he could have gotten elsewhere to play for the Leafs. The thing I wonder about for him, and this again, I don't want to speak for him, is does any part of him say, you know what? The way this ended, I just want to go for him is, does any part of him say, you know what, the way this ended,

I just want to go somewhere a little quieter and play. Like now I think if the Leafs came in with a big offer or even close to what he might think is the biggest offer, he probably takes it. But if all things are kind of equal or someone is going to just say, do something the Leafs can't do, part of me wonders if he would want any of that. But again, that's me speaking, not him. I think they will try to bring some of these other guys back. I think they will try to bring Shen back.

I think they will try to bring Kampf back. Achari, to me, is going to be a real tough one. Achari had a, I could see a lot of teams looking at Achari and saying, boy, that guy could really help us. Well, they tried last summer, didn't they? Yes, they did, but they couldn't compete with what else was out there. And I am sure they're going to look at O'Reilly too. I know a lot of people don't like hearing this.

You know, choir boys do not win the Stanley Cup. You can be a really nice and decent person off the ice, but in the Stanley Cup playoffs, you have to have a team full of pricks. Like the Tampa Bay Lightning, they are great players, really good people to deal with, but they're pricks. The Colorado Avalanche, they are great players, really good people to deal with. On the ice, They're pricks.

Oh yeah. I think the Maple Leafs, they have to continue to move towards that. And I think that the Maple Leafs have a lot of really good players and I think they're really good people to deal with. They have to continue their evolution of prick and that's what they have to get to. Now, I think they will let some players go. I think, you know, Hall, Kerfoot, like I said, they'll say we can't run it back. So these are the changes we can make.

And Wold to me now, he may not be their starting goaltender next year, but he's not far away. So what are you doing with Samsonov? I was going to say, what does that do? You have one more year of Matt Murray at 4.6, and Samsonov's are restricted. Well, I think the question is, can you get Samsonov signed? If you can get Samsonov signed,

then you're going to find something to do with Murray. I don't know how much of a marketplace there is. I was going to say, unless you're looking at a buyout, which I don't necessarily think the Maple Leafs want to do. No, I think you're going to have to sweeten it. You're going to call someone up and you're going to say, hey, we're going to give you a three-hour lunch with Jeff Merrick to make this deal. But knowing Merrick, you'll have to pay for it.

But that's the thing. You're not doing anything with Murray until you know if you can sign Samsonov. Because Wolfe, he's on the NHL roster now. Yeah. That guy's not going back to the Marlies next season. He might go back to the Marlies for the AHL playoffs, but he's not going back to the Marlies next season.

Okay, so this is going to be a wild week in Toronto Maple Leaf land. Day-to-day, hour-to-hour, minute-to-minute, second-to-second. Stay tuned for plenty of news coming out of Toronto. Matthew is someone who has spent his entire life around hockey. How will you remember this night? Off to the conference finals. I mean, farthest I've

been, farthest a lot of guys in that room have been. It's just a, it's just going to continue. I know we keep saying it, but like, no one gave us a chance against

Boston. Like, literally nobody except for the guys in the room. Nobody, like those same people are saying the same stuff before this series.

Like, it's just a it. Just put our heads down, work hard, play together. I don't think they want Florida that much anymore. I wasn't hearing many of those after that game and that might be the best part. One to go. Kraken win the faceoff. Carson Soucy will sit on this in his own zone.

The final seconds tick down. The crowd to their feet. The Seattle Kraken have staved off elimination. Do or die. Winner take all. A trip to the Western Conference Final on the line on Monday night in Game 7. Well, you can count them down, but you can't ever count them out. Kraken score six in Game 6.

Game 7, heaven. Elliott Friedman, Seattle and Dallas after a big 6-2 victory by the Seattle Kraken over the Dallas Stars on Saturday night. Great game by Tolvanen. Great game by Eberle. Great game by Eberle. Great game by Philip Grubauer. And a great comeback game for the Seattle Kraken net minder. It started out with Yanni Gord making it 1-0.

It finishes with Jordan Eberle in the empty net goal. What a great effort. His second goal of the game. 6-2 is the final. They chased Jake Ottinger, comma, again. Your thoughts on that game and what we expect in game seven between these two.

I don't know what to expect anymore. Like none of these series, like you think you've got them all figured out and then something happens and they just turn you on their ear. I don't know whether it was that Seattle, because Seattle plays fast. So we should be used to seeing Seattle play fast. I don't know whether it was that Seattle, cause Seattle plays fast. So we should be used to seeing Seattle play fast.

I don't know if it was Seattle was playing fast or Dallas just couldn't get the car out of the garage or maybe both. But how did you see that game on Saturday? Well, first of all, the one Dallas pair is having a lot of trouble. Lindell and Hockenpah. And you can see it that whenever Seattle

sees those guys come over the boards, they are putting them in positions where those players have to get in races. They see something there. They see the kryptonite in Superman. They see the heel in Achilles, whichever tortured analogy you want to use. Oh my.

They just see that they can create mismatches there due to speed. Seattle just to me, they came out, shot out of a cannon. And Jeff, how many games in these playoffs have turned based on saves or missed chances in the first five minutes? Like I think of the one Edmonton game in game three, where like I look at the Edmonton Vegas series in particular in game three dry sidle had a couple of great opportunities early on a couple saves by Brassois hit the post on another and Vegas finds themselves and wins that game

handily then game four they're up two. Skinner makes that save on Stone. They go down the ice. Ekholm scores 3-0. Like I've seen a lot of games in these playoffs like that where one team's going strong, they don't capitalize, and the other team finds their legs and comes back. Well, in this one, Seattle comes out strong. Dallas had one shot early.

Before Dallas got a late power play, the shots in the first period, I think, were 15-2. And Seattle got rewarded. They got goals. And Dallas was just coming up uphill all the way. Now, I think if there was a time there in the third period when that Pavelski-Haskett in combination chance doesn't go in, you know it's just not Dallas' night. But I think Seattle got out early. They got rewarded. Yanni Gord, like Kevin spent all of Saturday night

slobbering all over Yanni Gord. It was disgusting, but he was great. I understand the love of Yanni Gord. I love Yanni Gord too. I think he's a hell of a player. But i heard kevin say if it was just playoffs i'd pay yanni gourd 10 million dollars a year on saturday night i love yanni gourd i don't know i think what kevin thanks for putting me in the position where i actually have to defend bx it's nauseating but i know what he was saying he was trying to say that he's a 10 million

dollar player based on the way he plays in the playoffs yes thanks for making me defend bx i'm never gonna forgive you for this hang on i'm gonna give you a chance here to talk a little bit of someone who i know you really do like and that's jordan eberly and you know the the two goals and listen one of them's an empty netter and that's just a hard-working goal by Jordan Eberle there. But the third period, Seattle's sitting on the lead, the goalie's out, and Jordan Eberle is protecting the puck and essentially lying on the puck as Dallas is trying to dig it out with like 3.30 left and just eating the clock. Just chewing time, chewing seconds, you know, sticks everywhere. He could easily get a stick in the face and a stick in the mouth and stick

in the ribs and, you know, stick another various body parts here. As much as we'll talk about the goals by Jordan Eberle. I just thought that was a great play. Yes. Like that's the thing that I'm going to remember from Jordan Eberle from Saturday night.

Freed your thoughts. You know, he's played incredibly well. McCann to the near side. Tolman in shot. Turn aside. Eber, he's played incredibly well. McCann to the near side. Tolvanen shot turned aside. Eberle floats it in. Scores!

Jordan Eberle finds the rebound at the bottom of the left circle in the slot. He sauces a nifty backhand in. Pass Ottinger to one. Kraken take the lead on the power play. Like, they count on him for a lot. Like, he just findser to one. Kraken take the lead on the power play. Like they count on him for a lot. Like he just finds ways to deliver. You know what expansion has proven to me? That there's a lot of really good players in this league

that aren't the highest paid guys on their team and aren't the lowest paid guys on their team. Like if you could go through a roster, like if I was to hand you an expansion team tomorrow and you were to go through a roster and say, I'm going to take one second or third line player forward off each team, or I'm going to take 16 second or third line forwards. I'm going to take 10 second or third pair defensemen and a few goalies. You can make a really good team in this league. I think there's a lot of people who are starting

to think kind of ruthlessly in the way you got to pay your top players, the top, your bottom players a million, and you've really got to squeeze the middle class. Like that's where you get. I don't disagree with we're going to head there eventually, but there's a lot of mid-paid players in this league that aren't the highest paid guys and aren't the lowest paid guys, but they're really good players. And if you're given an opportunity to pick a team, you can put together a really good team. And that's what Vegas has done, And now that's what Seattle's done.

Just as a quick aside, I'm glad you got us there because the way, and the one thing that this podcast, I think always tries to do is sort of, you know, spotlight trends and where the game is headed right now, more so than ever. The philosophy is trending towards,

if you have a bottom six player amongst your forwards who has a really good season, you don't pay them for that season. You go out and find someone else who can do that because those guys are available. They're available on other NHL teams and they're also available in the American League. There is so much talent that is available right now. No wonder everybody's talking about expansion and, oh, Houston or Salt Lake City. No wonder, because there's never been this much talent internationally in the game, like legitimate NHL talent.

I know we've talked a lot about in various programs, you know, the late sixties, early seventies, where there was a WHA massive expansion in the NHL every year, the league is expanding, you know, 67 by six teams and then two more and two more and two more like that was watered down. Like that was a watered down time. Now there's more great players that don't have nhl teams to play on and that does seem very much like the philosophy and that very much does seem like the trend in

the league would you agree or disagree no i do agree with that and if you're disciplined and you're willing to play with structure you can make up for a lot of things too and i think seattle's like that now again i feel like i've said this every podcast, but I'm going to say it again. The Ottinger factor. Seattle's got something here. They feel very comfortable about whatever they think they can do with him. They can do. And the other thing that's unusual for him, he's played three playoff series in his career. If you go back and you look at from games four on in the Calgary series last year he was almost unbeatable I think he had a goals against average of one and a save percentage of around 965 or sorry I think that was Minnesota excuse me where he had the goals against average of one in games four five and six and the save percentage of 965 but if you look at the series last year against calgary games four to seven i think his save percentage was in the high 940s and his goals against was just over two like the father of the series got the better ottinger got well in games four five and six it hasn't always

been that case here against seattle and in game six the night, he only lasted 24 and a half minutes. So this is the first time, Jeff, where as a series got deep, he hasn't been absolutely go home, you're done, too bad, so sad. So, you know, I believe in the kid. I think he's really talented, but, you know, Seattle's gotten to him here. And in one one game you need your goalie to be your best player Elliot a few car cast inserts here starting with New Jersey and Lindy Ruff it's one of the big questions Lindy Ruff didn't have an extension this year he bet on himself or was put in a position to bet on himself like Kyle Dubas did and he hit it out of the park now i was hearing on sunday that ruff will be back as coach of the devils and i think that is a little bit premature because i think there still has to be some conversations and discussions about a contract but the word i'm getting is that the desire is to work towards it and have rough return as the head coach. And that means what for someone like Andrew Brunette, assistant coach of the New Jersey Devils? Of course. And I think teams will reach out to Brunette and I'm sure he'll be interviewed for some of these jobs and we'll see how that plays out.

I'm sure he'll be interviewed for some of these jobs, and we'll see how that plays out. But like I said, the word on the weekend was pending the two sides sitting down and working this out. The working goal is to have rough return. What is the latest with the Columbus Blue Jackets and their coaching search? So, Jeff, Jarmo Kickenlein has come out and said he would rather do it sooner as opposed to later. And I definitely believe there's a sense that the Blue Jackets are farther ahead on their search than some of the other teams are. We'll see what this week brings. There's been some talk about Pascal Vinson and him deserving the opportunity.

the opportunity. The biggest thing here is that, as you've talked about before, teams tend to go opposite. Last time they hired Brad Larson, unfortunately it didn't work. So you tend to do the opposite thing. And this is a huge hire for Jarmo Kekulainen. He has to get this right. I do think he's been searching out some candidates with experience. I think they've had some pretty deep conversations with some people. One name I've kind of wondered about, and he gets linked to the Ranger job, which I think makes a lot of sense, is Peter LaViolette. But when he first decided that he wasn't going to stay in Washington in that mutual decision with the team, Columbus was actually the first team I thought of because I could see them wanting somebody with that profile. So he's kind of a name I'm wondering about.

And I'm just wondering how close they are because as Kekulainen said, he would like to get it done. And there is a sense the Blue Jackets are ahead of other teams. Let me throw a name out at you because I'm thinking about who the Columbus Blue Jackets are here. And this is, you know, despite the fact that, you know, they brought aboard Johnny Goudreau, this is still a youngish team. This is going to be handed over to a lot of young hockey players. And to your point, if they don't want to hire anybody that doesn't have experience at the NHL coaching level, but you want someone that can relate to kids

and has coached kids, would the name Patrick Waugh resonate in Columbus? You are really trying to get Patrick Waugh hired, eh? I'm his new agent. I'm just wondering. Listen, he's got the Quebec Ramparts in the Q final right now. He tried before to get back in.

I don't know. I'm just, I wondered with the Rangers and I wonder here with Columbus. I think that guy burns for another opportunity. Oh, I agree with that. I think he burns for another opportunity. Okay. So from Columbus, let's head to Pittsburgh. Not too far.

What is happening with their search for a couple of different positions here? GM, president hockey operations. Everybody said if Dubas is not going back to Toronto, he's going here. I don't know. I think Pittsburgh is getting to a point where they want to have some, some clarity.

So I think this could be a big week for the Penguins. They at least want to hire the person at the top of the food chain, and I think they're going to try to get some clarity on that this week. Another team that holds our attention, the Calgary Flames, and their searches, plural. Believe the Flames are headed into phase two

of Operation GM, which is narrowing down the list and bringing some people in for interviews. I think some of the people they've talked to, I've heard Mark Bergevin's name. I've mentioned Mark Hunter before that I thought he was going to at least be on their list. Another person I've wondered about is Ray Whitney. He is a history with Don Maloney, and I've kind of wondered about that. But one thing that a couple people warned me was, actually I shouldn't say warned, but they said made me aware of is don't discount the internal candidates. You know, one of them obviously is Craig Conroy.

I've also wondered about the possibility of Brad Paschal. And just someone said to me, don't discount that possibility. Don't guarantee it either. I don't think the Flames have decided, but don't discount the possibility. So that's kind of where we are with the Flames. Hi, Jeff and Ellie. It's Jerry Corsa here from Chatham. I just wanted to jump in on the Petrangelo issue.

And I think as a person that handed out discipline in his realm, if you're not fair to the players, you're doing them a disservice. And if you compare Petrangelo to Nurse, which we always did in business as well, then the outcome has to be different and a disservice to the other players is not fair. That was done on the ice. The players determined it. And so now you have to follow the rules.

Just my thoughts. Thanks, guys. Great show. Keep it up. A couple of more teams to highlight here who have absolutely monster weeks on the horizon. We'll get to Arizona in a second, but first, time to show the cards, Ottawa Senators. Yeah, so Monday's the deadline for the bids. Boy, I gotta tell you, after Friday's podcast I got a lot of calls

about the whole Reynolds thing with the NHL and people were saying to me, Reynolds is out, he's not back in, he's not coming back. You know what? These people, they could be right. They might be right. But, you know Jeff, like one of the things I've learned over the years is that sometimes people

get mad at each other but it doesn't mean that it stays that way or sometimes cooler heads prevail or someone says that you know what like I understand everybody's pissed off at each other right now but let's get it to a table and let's try to you, kind of figure all of this out. I think there are some real hard feelings over the whole Reynolds thing. I think that there are some hard feelings from Reynolds towards the league, but I believe there are also some hard feelings the other way back because I think there were people around the league who really didn't want Reynolds to pick a side. They wanted to say to

him, look, wait, and then we'll put you with someone when it's all over. First of all, the NHL is not going to win a fight against Ryan Reynolds. If Ryan Reynolds at some point in time says, I'm really upset about the NHL, the NHL is just not winning that argument. I mean, you look at everything he's done with Wrexham, everything that guy touches turns to gold. It's just not a fight you can really win. But I have heard there was some real frustration with him just in terms of they really wished that he wouldn't have picked the side. Because now you're dealing with people here who are big time business people who are very successful at what they do. And if you go against them in business, they like never forget it. Some of the nicest people I know in their businesses, if you cross them, they are never, ever, ever going to forgive you.

Or if they have to forgive you, they're going to make it painful. And I think there are people here, as a matter of fact, I know there are people here because I heard from them. They're like saying, we've got to find a way to bridge this and make it work. And I think there are ways to do that, but I don't think it's going to be easy. So that's why I refuse to say it's over, but it's a challenge. Like there's, there's no question.

It's a challenge. Look, I spoke on the last part of a, why I believe the NHL and the Sanders were, and the bankers were right not to accept a idea for an exclusive window. You can't do that legally, a fiduciary duty. You can't do that. You know, we'll see what we get here on Monday.

You know, there are people who are still laughing at the whole NDA conversation we had where in sports an NDA isn't worth the paper it's printed on like everywhere else in the world. But you know who's the, you know who's the one guy who has remained completely silent in all of this?

It's Mike Adler. And the minority owner of the Montreal Canadians. I think people are curious to see what he does. I think people are curious to see what the Kimmel's are going to do. They're really curious to see what Nico Sparks is going to do.

And there's a lot of wild cards here that have been kind of making noise or been found out, but nobody really knows what is really there. So we know there's going to be a poker game here. Everybody's talking a big game, but we know the truth when everybody sits down at the table. How big are your guts? How big is your bankroll? So one of the names that kind of surfaced late and out of nowhere for the senators was the owner

of the Sacramento Kings, Vivek Ranadive. And Bruce Garriock was the person who reported that he took a look. Now, I'll just say this. I don't know, as we taped this on Sunday, if this guy makes a bid for the Sanders. But what I do know is that when he showed up and his name was mentioned, it perked up a lot of people and made them wonder if there's any way that he's thinking about a team in Sacramento. Now, we reported about Ryan Smith, the owner of the Jazz, and I do believe Salt Lake City is interested in an NHL team somewhere down the road, and they're expected to get a new rink should they win the Olympics in either 2030 or more likely 2034, as a lot of people who know this think they will.

I think there are people who believe the NHL will be in Salt Lake within the next decade. But now people are kind of wondering about Sacramento. They have a new arena there. One of the things about the NHL is, look at US markets. The NBA has 29 out of 30. Major League Baseball has 31 out of 32. Football has 32 out of 32. The NHL is 25. And you'll be able to find plenty of people in business who say that the NHL has room to increase its footprint in the United States. Now, I know some people who say, oh my God, we don't need any more teams. Fine. But look at the on and off ice success of the Golden Knights and the Kraken.

Do not discount the possibility that the NHL, which is at 25 compared to 29, 31, and 32, somewhere down the road, thinks about all this a couple of things mentioned earlier on the podcast about the quality of athlete that is out there the quality of hockey player that is out there that can't find a consistent job in the nhl there are a lot of nhl worthy players that are out there i think two things are conspiring here at the same time. One, the value of teams is sky high right now. This is meant as no disrespect to Ottawa, but when we're starting to hear numbers like $900 million and a billion for Ottawa, that gets people's attention. The other one is what Vegas and Seattle has demonstrated.

The way that the expansion draft goes now, you can ice a competitive team right off the bat. And I think both those things are really attractive. I think these things are really attractive, A, to get people to say to themselves, you know what, this is an equity play, it's my time to sell. And two, for people that want to buy, will say to themselves, you know what, I want in, to your point, there's room for growth here and I can ice a competitive team and don't have to struggle for the first five, six, seven, eight years.

It's a great environment for this fridge. Now we have first, we have to sort out Arizona, which I know you're going to get to. Yeah. But this Renadive thing, it's got people wondering about Sacramento. Quick car cast insert. Interesting piece from Wayne Scanlon at Sportsnet.ca

with the Nico Sparks group in Ottawa. Elliot, what's the latest? Well, yes. One of the storylines here has been First Nations people and Indigenous people and their inclusion in this process, especially since some federal land is involved. Wayne reported on Sunday night that Nico Sparks' group wants to give, I believe the quote, because I'm not reading it while I'm driving,

I am a law-abiding citizen, is to give the First nations peoples a seat at the table. And they're talking about a percentage ownership of the team. And again, I think we're all curious to see how this will work, but on the eve of the deadline, that was a pretty significant and interesting story by Wayne.

So as part of the piece, um, first nations community, how much they're involved is not clear So as part of the piece, First Nations community, how much they're involved is not clear. And here's the quote, but is believed to be more than 10% and includes, quote, real estate, technology,

and entertainment avenues. This is a piece of all of it, Elliot. It's a pretty big piece. It's going to be a fascinating couple of days. There's no question about that. Okay. Yeah. Arizona Tempe votes referendum on the arena and

entertainment district Tuesday by seven o'clock. There's a belief within the Arizona coyotes organization, uh, that this looks positive because of high turnout already. I'm of the belief that Monday afternoon and Monday evening, there's going to be a major push by the organization, door-to-door, phone calls,

all of it, players involved, like that last minute push to push this thing over the finish line here. So we're looking at a new arena, a practice rink, hotels, apartments, sports book, rental shops, theater, et cetera. This isn't just about the arena. Again, it's the entire entertainment district. I cannot underscore nor can you how crucial this week is for the future

of hockey in Arizona. No, I'm not going to argue any of this with you, Jeff. As I said last week, I don't want to handicap this. I think that in this day and age, polling, I'm not convinced it works anymore. I think people have no desire to answer polls. I don't think they answer them honestly. And we've seen some results in elections. I don't think they answer them honestly. And we've seen some results in elections that simply don't match up with what the polls tell you. So I think you're just really smart to wait until the numbers come out and see what we get. To me, the question becomes, what happens if it's yes and what happens if it's no? And if the answer is yes, does the NHL and the Coyotes come out and say, awesome.

Thank you. Great voters. And here's our timeline. Three years we're in. I mean, one of the real great things about building something in Arizona is you don't have to stop for the winter. Like you can build things faster than in other places. But I wonder if they win, they come right out and say, we're going to be playing in this, our brand new arena in three

years. Now, if they lose, here's my question. Does the NHL go to the new owner of the Phoenix Suns, of the Phoenix Suns, Matt Ishbia, and say, can we do something here? Gary Bettman has spent a third of his life now fighting over the Phoenix slash Arizona Coyotes. He is committed to it. And so I wonder if he goes to them and says, yes, we have to redo your arena, but there's big money at the end of it for you.

Do we have a partnership here? Or do we start looking at Houston or Salt Lake City or Sacramento or Kansas City as the new home of the Coyotes? So if the answer is yes, I hope they come out and say, okay, thank you very much. Here's our plans. You know what it is. If it's no, I wonder if it's partnership with sons or we're going somewhere else. But you know what, for the real passionate, hardcore fans of the

Coyotes, and I know you're out there, I hope they win. I just don't know. I've learned that the polls right now are borderline useless. I don't know how much you can believe them. All right, time for another CarCast insert. Elliot, I think we're all waiting to see what happens with Logan Cooley. First round draft pick last year, Arizona Coyotes. He hasn't signed a contract with Arizona quote yet.

Does any of his decision rest on what happens with the Tempe vote? That is what a few people are wondering. You know, for example, Cooley on his Instagram page, put himself in a coyotes cap. So people were saying, Oh,

he's going pro. He's going pro. He's coming to the coyotes. And some people warned me that was a bit premature, but I will say this. He's going pro. He's coming to the Coyotes. And some people warned me that was a bit premature. But I will say this. There is some suspicion, and we'll find out if it's true this week, that if the Coyotes do win this,

that could positively influence Cooley's decision. And maybe he's just waited to see this. Truth or fiction? We could find out as soon as Wednesday. The interactive portion of this podcast has been really weak, I'll be blunt, Elliot, for the last little while. It seems like every podcast or every couple of podcasts, we squeeze

in one phone call. But that's okay, because series are winding down, conference finals are coming, have more time to play with. We're going to get to a lot more, we promise. But one that we thought we'd present today, which had a lot of people talking on Friday, certainly, and

all through the weekend and into the beginning of this week, comes to us from a caller at 1-833-311- 3232. Have a listen. Hey, Jeff. Hey, Elliot. Hey, Amal. Aidan from Langley, BC here. Colin, obviously the big story out of the Leafs game five loss

is going to be the Morgan Rielly no goal call. I'm just wondering, I mean, like in tennis, they have the replay technology that you can have access to as a fan in seconds on the TV, in stadium, in soccer, the referees, where the watch, the goal line technology, and if the ball crosses the line, their watch buzzes. How does the NHL not have anything like this? Obviously, it's going to be the big story coming out of Game 5.

So do you think the NHL could ever implement something like that? Or why don't they already have it? It's just weird how other sports have it, but the NHL does not. Thanks, guys. Love the podcast. Appreciate it. All the best. Well, it's a great question. And if you were watching our broadcast that night that was my opinion exactly like in 2023 how can we not have a better way than what was happening on the ice in that florida toronto game and in the situation room

to make that call i have believed for years that should be one of the NHL's biggest priority is fighting away so that that does not happen. And the thing for me that was so frustrating about that is, well, there were two things. Number one is that they took 10 minutes to look at it, which is fine. But then it came out that the decision was made because the referee determined the play was over well if the referee's determined the play is over why are you taking 10 minutes to review it it just doesn't make any sense to me they couldn't tell if that puck was in or not and it doesn't help when you know there's pictures of well after Bobrovsky's getting up and say oh the puck's in well that's like eight minutes later after Bobrovsky's finally gotten off the, oh, the puck's in. Well, that's like eight minutes later after Bobrovsky's

finally gotten off the ice. Or here's this angle, but that's like the old John Shannon parallax angle where it's an optical illusion and it plays tricks on you. Yeah. I think that's the frustrating thing is that we should be searching for a way. I mean, there's so much on the line, not only for the Leafs,

but the Panthers, because if that goal counts, the Panthers are going to be screaming bloody murder, like prove to us it's in, and they would have a case. So there's so much on the line. There's millions of dollars at stake for these teams. You know, for example, Toronto going to the third round and maybe the finals, does that mean the salary cap gets the the escrow balance gets paid off sooner and the cap goes up probably not but you have a better chance for it plus also like we spent 25 minutes in this pod talking about kyle dubas and the leaf players if they win that game we might not be having this debate today and also so the fate of people. And if you heard me on the air, you know that I feel that way. Now, I did some work on this.

Like the thing with Hawkeye in tennis or the soccer technology, the VAR, is that the ball is uncovered or the tennis ball or the soccer ball, it's uncovered. The cameras can see it. You have a problem with that in hockey because sometimes when the puck goes into the net, for example, it's in the glove or underneath the glove or underneath the pad or underneath the skate or underneath the goalie. And the problem with that is that you can't see it. The camera can't pick it up. So that Hawkeye technology, it's not relevant entirely. It can help you in some ways, but it can't help you in others. There's a chip in the puck, but again, sometimes the puck goes on its side. Sometimes the puck is in the air and because the

puck isn't round and it flips a little bit here and there and isn't always in the same position again that's something that is a little bit different than just the most obvious now I had some people say to me you could put sensors underneath the ice you could put sensors inside the goal post and the crossbar in combination with the puck. And that could work, but there's two things that they said about that. Number one, you have to make sure they're installed properly, including in the ice. Fine, hire and train people to do it properly. But the second thing they told me is that wireless technology isn't always accurate. So while all of these things would be better, they aren't perfect. And I get that, but I also think it should be a priority, Jeff, is that that is something

we should be striving to do is because the referees can't always tell. Like that referee was on the net, but he can't tell. That situation room has great technology in there. They can't tell. Basically, nobody knew. I bet you everybody there thought it was in, but they didn't know for sure. And we should be striving to find a way where we can better know for sure. First of all, I agree.

And when I saw you say that on Friday, I was agreeing as well. The one thing that struck me is, do you remember we had this conversation however long ago and I was of the belief, and I think you were as well, that with the influx of sports wagering and the relationships with betting companies and sports books, like, listen, we just talked about Arizona not too long ago here on this podcast. And one of the big things as part of the proposal is a sport book, like the relationship between sports and wagering is, is cozier than ever.

I thought that would really move the needle on getting this done in the NHL. That because there is so much riding on getting things right. And we're not talking about a zone entry either. We're talking about a goal. Yeah. An actual goal. I thought we'd be farther along

than we are right now. And we thought it would be different for injury disclosure too, right? Yep. And it hasn't changed. taking us out is a band formed just over a decade ago in new delhi peter cat recording company is a group that's evolved over time weaving in and out of genres from gypsy jazz to psychedelic cabaret ballroom waltzes to Epic Space Disco, Bossa Nova to Uneasy Listening. Pretty wild.

Their discography is eclectic, to say the least. From their 2019 record, here's Peter Katt Recording Company with Soulless Friends on 32 Thoughts, the podcast. Go Game 7. Welcome in, my soulless friends. You mean my soulless friends. You are what I need. You always been.

Maybe I know, but I won't dissolve Something sweet Something soft Sometimes When I live it up In time What I feel What I see, I know that it ends. That it is