32 Thoughts: The Podcast - One Point Six Seconds Left

Episode Date: May 5, 2025

In this edition of 32 Thoughts, Kyle Bukauskas and Elliotte Friedman begin the podcast by delving into that crazy Game 7 between the Winnipeg Jets and St Louis Blues. They also deep dive the other Game 7 from the weekend between the Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche (14:38). Elliotte looks ahead to Nathan MacKinnon's long summer of courting Crosby to the Avalanche (18:04). Kyle and Elliotte touch on Jared Bednar's future with the Avs (27:56) and talk about the Bednar look-a-like (31:08). The fellas look ahead to three of the four second round matchups beginning with Florida vs. Toronto (31:54) and Washington-Carolina (37:49) before they hit Vegas-Edmonton in the Final Thought (41:41). Kyle and Elliotte answer your voicemail and email submissions via the Thought Line (45:25).In the last segment, Kyle and Elliotte review the latest news and notes from around the NHL. First, Elliotte adds to the Mike Sullivan hire by the New York Rangers (1:00:37). Kyle asks Elliotte about what's next for the LA Kings after falling to the Oilers for the fourth straight year (1:04:28). Elliotte provides an update on Joel Quenneville and the Anaheim Ducks situation (1:10:04) and on Adam Foote being a candidate for the Canucks vacant head coaching position (1:11:10). The fellas talk about Kirill Kaprizov potentially becoming the highest paid player in the league (1:12:57) before touching on Matt Coronato's extension with the Flames (1:15:33). Finally, they touch on Brady Tkachuk's comments during his year-end presser (1:18:11). Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call the Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemail.This podcast was produced and mixed by Dominic Sramaty and hosted by Elliotte Friedman & Kyle Bukauskas.The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates

I probably got more text about that after we aired it than anything else I've aired I've done this year. Oh my gosh. It's a great reminder, eh? It's entertainment at the end of the day, my man. It's supposed to be fun. It's supposed to be fun. And that was very fun.

Welcome to 32 Thoughts, the podcast presented by the GMC Sierra AT4X. Dom, Elliott, Kyle with you. Justin has the show off. The Game 7 extravaganza weekend Elliot did not disappoint Dallas and Colorado on Saturday we'll get to that a little bit later but we have to start with what we just saw Sunday night in the peg the Jets and the Blues a lot to unpack here, Elliot, but I thought Adam Lowry's pregame interview with Scott Oak, the tone that was set

with how he presented everything there, it was almost fitting that after utter chaos for the bad and the very good, at the end of it all, it was the Jets captain, the puck going off him and in, sending Winnipeg to round two in improbable fashion considering where things stood in the dying moments. Kyle you and I are on the same wavelength. We are simpatico because when Lowry celebrated the goal the first thing I thought about was the pregame interview.

How calm he was, how businesslike he was. We talked about in the Toronto series how Craig Barube was calm and the captain was calm. Same thing here. The way that Lowry talked in the pregame, when your captain is calm, everybody is calm. One of the greatest 24-hour stretches in hockey history That Dallas comeback followed by that Winnipeg comeback to third period to goal comebacks No, Hayskinen and Robertson for Dallas no Shifeely and Morrissey for the Jets.

Hellebuck reeling for a good part of that game. Their comeback seems so much more improbable as it was unfolding and also the latest game seven time goal in NHL history. Cole Perfetti's goal that sent us into overtime. Just an amazing night and I will say this, the person I am happiest for is Connor Hellebuck. I have a thing. I'd rather see somebody win a big game as opposed to somebody lose a big game, meaning that it's one on a great play as opposed to a bad mistake.

If Winnipeg had lost that game, you know, there were other goalies in the league saying on Sunday, this was kind of the defining moment of Hellebock's career. And I think they were kind of rooting for him a bit you know Bennington he's got his championship from the Four Nations he's got his Stanley Cup Hellebock is still trying to build so I think there was and he had been struggling so bad I think there were guys who were pulling for him who really wanted to see him do well and And you know, the second goal got a lot of attention, but even on the first one, a couple guys were texting me, he was really

jumpy. Like you could tell he was really nervous and really edgy. But when Winnipeg started to take over that game and Lowry said with Scott Oak after he felt They really started to go in the second period Hellebuck settled and in the overtime. I thought he stood tall like one of the goalies said to me That he didn't and when you go back and you look at I think it was the fourth goal the other night the one through Traffic in game six they six. There were basically five blues or jets in front of him and he couldn't see the puck. He said when you're a goalie in that situation, wherever you are, you stay there and you make yourself as big as possible so you hope the puck hits you if you can't see it.

Instead, he was moving back into the the net which he kind of likes to do But he was making himself smaller. He said This goal he said to me. That's not what you're supposed to do. You're supposed to stand tall in Your spot wherever you are make yourself big and I thought in overtime He was challenging shooters again. I thought he was making himself big, he wasn't shrinking and I'll just say this, biggest game of his life he gets the W. I'm really happy for Hellebuck because I want to see people win a big game as opposed to seeing people lose it. Hellebuck, incredible turnaround after a shaky start. Cole

Profetti to Elliott. Two goals on the night, both deflections. This was a player who in the past under Rick Bonas had struggled to get ice time in the biggest moments and there he was there in game seven on Sunday night. The power play goal to inject some life back into the building and then the big one with just a couple of seconds remaining to tie it out of nowhere. A young player having, I'm sure in a lot of ways, of coming of age type moment when the team needed a goal to at least give themselves a chance in overtime. You know, Perfetti was fantastic. You know, the Jets had a lot of guys who played the game of their lives. Neil Pionk,

best game of his life. Hayden Flurry, inserted to the lineup because Logan Stanley couldn't go, played the most he'd ever played in a game was 25 minutes. He had one game in Anaheim, and I think that was four or five years ago. Like if you look back at his game logs, there's not a lot of games over 20 minutes, especially in the last few years. But inserted into this one, he was confident. You know, as far as I'm concerned, that guy's not coming out of the lineup.

He was one of their best players. He just missed the net in overtime right before they scored, and he looked his eyes up into the heavens like I can't believe I didn't score There he was made you switch overtime picks. Yes. He made me switch overtime picks I thought Elers, you know Elers was kind of funny I was thinking he's gonna end this game one way or the other like either for st Louis or for Winnipeg like he was he was taking a risk

He was but he was determined. You could really see it. I was really surprised. I really felt as the game got going, early on the Jets were really discombobulated. They had a huge breakdown on that first goal. They were down 2-0. They were down 3-1. But I thought for the back for the back half of regulation on I agree with Lowry I think they they took over the game and a lot of guys whether it was Flurry whether it was Nemesnikov some of those guys played the best hockey of their careers and That's why they won

I really thought they had more players at the top of their games than St. Louis did, which was, you know, we talked about the guys that Dallas was missing. They still had Rantanen. You know, they still had a superstar player. Winnipeg didn't, I mean, they have good players, but they had nobody like that in the lineup, but everybody elevated to get themselves there like that was that was a big big big guts win big guts win yes and they attacked over time as much as you could while understanding you've

already played three periods to that point but the way they were going at Bennington early on in OT and he's stopping this stop and that, I'm like are we at Canada Life Center or are we at TD Garden back in February? Did you not get some shades of Four Nations with how he was shutting the door early on in OT? Absolutely, I mean you look at the goals that beat him, there were a couple of tips, there was that one which was another tip, you weren't beating that guy clean. You just weren't. He was going to stop you.

And I think there's probably a lot of Canadian hockey fans who watched that and looked at Bennington and said, you're just not going to score on him. And you know, I have to admit, I was one of them. I was sitting there saying, they're just not going to beat this guy. The other thing that stood out to me too was, there were the last, the game time goal, Kyle, it would have been easy for the Jets to panic.

Ehlers fans on that shot, Lowry doesn't panic, he wins the puck battle to get it back to him. Ehlers fires it over, he makes a play, he fires it across ice to Connor right on the tape Now I think Connor kind of fanned on it a little bit, but he wasn't caught flat-footed He was aware that Ehlers got was gonna get that puck to him or could get that puck to him He wasn't shocked. He made a play like all three of those guys

Lowry Ehlers and Connor and obviously perfetti with the tip in but all three of those guys made Lowry, Ehlers, and Connor, and obviously Profetti with the tip in, but all three of those guys made a play with what, seven seconds left after it looked like it was total disaster. I mean, just clutch. Like they were all clutch and Pionk obviously led the way. Just a fantastic performance. Fantastic performance. To me, that's even a more improbable comeback

than Dallas's was, and that was pretty improbable. Yes, it was like after Saturday night, you're going, well, how can Winnipeg's St. Louis possibly come anywhere close to the level of drama that we saw in Dallas? They did, and maybe they surpassed it. How about the shot though of Mark Shipman in the tunnel afterwards, level of drama that we saw in Dallas. They did. Maybe they surpassed it. How about the shot though of Mark Chipman in the tunnel afterwards, greeting

the players coming off the ice? Like that to me watching that. If you weren't totally sure how big this game was for the entire organization, that showed you right there as he was waiting to give everybody some love as they were making their way back to the dressing room. I was worried he was going to break some hands with those handshakes and high-fives he was giving. He was going to hurt people. He was so pumped up. He hulked it up at the end of that. Now, here's a stat for you, and I'm going to credit a tweeter and a listener named Taylor Choma. So during the overtime, and I was looking this up just before they scored, Jim Montgomery has now coached

in four game sevens in the playoffs, and all of them have gone to overtime. All of them. Oh wow. So Dallas, St. Louis. So 2019, that's the one I forgot about, Dallas, St. Louis, round two two game seven, the Blues won that game in overtime two to one. He was coaching the Stars at the time. 2023 round one game seven,

Boston losing to Florida four to three in overtime. Of course the year the Bruins had their incredible season. Last year round one game seven, Boston beat Toronto to one and overtime in game seven and this year round one game seven st. Louis loses to Winnipeg four to three in double overtime in game seven so if you ever see Jim Montgomery on a bench in game seven be prepared for a long. Make sure you are extra stocked up. And he is now one in three. Yeah, if he's behind the bench for a game seven, if you have any chores to do,

do it over the ensuing two and a half hours, because the real game starts after regulation. Take that ironing board and put it in front of the television. You got lots of time. Yes. That's right. You want to touch on the St. Louis side here a little bit before we move on, Elliot? I mean, man, battle just to get into the playoffs.

Heck of a run. The coaching change. I know we'll delve into that on a later pod for sure. But man, it was right there. Similar to Colorado. Two goal lead in the third period and you end the night with your season over. It'll be painful there's no question about that you could see how angry Bennington was at the end of the

game he's won so much and he's still not satisfied was hugely disappointing and painful for them. But the one thing about the Blues is I think they showed that, you know, that dip they took, it's over. And they're back, right? Great finish to the season, gave the president's trophy team everything they could handle. Lost Holloway, unfortunately that's just the way it is at this time of year. You lose guys late and they weren't able to get them back. But I think they've showed they're going to be a force for a little while. The Broberg and Holloway acquisitions and even the Cam Fowler one, that's another trade this year that kind of doesn't get enough credit for how much of a difference it made to a team, but the Blues have made

some acquisitions over the past few months that that will help them for a long time. And that's Peter DeBoer, what did he say, the central division, the best division in hockey. Those teams are going to be beating up on each other for years to come. Third longest game seven in Stanley Cup playoff history and the Winnipeg Jets, President's Trophy winners, march on into round two and will face the Dallas Stars, game one on Wednesday night. And I think Kyle, the number one thing I'm looking at is now is, you know, Hellebuck

gets that win. How much does it change him? How different does he feel? Because if he can approach it like, finally the weight is off my shoulders you can be a completely different human. Yep Kevin Biax have brought up Luongo in 2011 once they got through Chicago different guy as they marched on all the way to game seven of the Stanley Cup final. didn't get good wood on it, but Sagan got it out! Rantanen again! Unbelievable! A legendary performance by Rantanen against his former team.

It's Saturday night was stuff of legend on behalf of Miko Rantanen. A hat-trick in game seven against his old team punching the stars through to the second round. Pete DeBoer going to nine and oh all time in game sevens, which is just mind blowing to think about and to say out loud. And I think of Rantin and skating down the ice to ice it with the empty net goal as the dying seconds ticked down. And we kind of joked I think before the series, not that we were comparing him to Wayne Gretzky

But that idea of when Gretzky played the Oilers in the first round that first year after he was traded till LA Gretzky put the final touches on game 7 with an empty net goal ranted and does the same in D on Saturday night That was an incredible game and an incredible performance from him. It's funny you mention that because I had in my notes Craig Simpson and Craig Simpson talking about how after the Kings beat the others in that series, Glenn Sather walked in and said, ah, you know, you feel good for your buddy who just beat you and ended your season. You know, you feel good for your buddy who just beat you and ended your season You feel you feel really good for him and it's stuck in their craw for the whole year Yeah, Elliot. I believe the line was something to the effect of that was a hard year for everybody

It's tough to go up against your friend, but your friend just jammed it up your you-know-where and now your season is over Yes, and what happened? They eventually got them back, right? Swept them the next year. So there's no doubt, no doubt at all. Like, it's amazing. Rantnan did the great interview with Emily Kaplan where he said, those are my brothers always.

And he handled it the way that you're supposed to handle it. Those can be your friends. Those can be the that you're supposed to handle it. Those can be your friends. Those can be the people you want to Stanley Cup with. But when the game is going on, it's business. You're here to win. Those are not your friends while you're playing. You're there to win and that's the way it should be.

Now Ray Ferraro made an interesting comment about Rantn had said something very different on the ice in the moment and I have no doubt that in the privacy of the Dallas dressing room Maybe some of the comments were a little bit more Heated or pointed or nastier towards the Colorado organization but I Exactly as say there did there like Nathan McKinnon, you could see his quotes post game about they didn't have their number one defenseman in their best forward and we still lost, so I don't know what we do here.

It will be revenge on the mind of McKinnon and the Avalanche all summer long. It is a powerful motivation. And Kyle, you know who I feel the worst for? Oh, the Bednar impersonator? No, not the Bednar impersonator. Sam Gerard? Not Sam Gerard. Okay, who? Sidney Crosby. And you know why? Because we found out Sunday he's going to play for Canada at the World Championships. And so is McKinnon. And you don't think McKinnon's going to be all over Crosby about, Hey, the NHL needs you in the playoffs.

Hey, the NHL needs you in the playoffs. Pittsburgh just made a coaching change because Kyle Dubas and Mike Sullivan disagreed on the path from here. Sullivan wanted to win sooner. Sullivan wants to win sooner. Dubas sees more of a rebuild. You don't think McKinnon's going gonna be all over Crosby saying, you want to miss more years in the playoffs? Why don't you come to Colorado, play with me,

and we rule the league from the Western Conference? And when he isn't gonna be saying it, he's just gonna be staring at Crosby, burning holes in his head, and Crosby's gonna know he's just looking at me thinking we should be in Colorado together. It's gonna be like this the whole summer. First at the World Championships and then when they get back to Nova Scotia. Long summer for McKinnon to work Crosby. Oh boy, those those hill sprints

now it's going to be Nathan that'll be dragging Sid by the ankle. And I'm not even saying it as a joke. McKinnon's going to think about this all summer. All summer it's going to be on on his mind. summer. All summer it's going to be on his mind. But the credit goes to Dallas. Incredible performance. Rantanen, it's a reminder. You always bet on talent, right? Always bet on talent. It was a whirlwind of a season for Rantanen. Things that he never saw coming. I guess he was asked post-game. I don't even know who asked it. If you would have been told at the end of the year that you would have scored the goal that knocked Dallas out of the playoffs, what would you have thought? He played on three teams and nobody could have predicted this year for Rantanen. I know, I think too for Dallas, you know, their penalty

killing. Autinger out-dueled Blackwood. You know, at the beginning of the series, Kyle, we said that someone is gonna have to be a hero on the blue line, aside from Harley, who was great. And those penalty killers and those Dallas defensemen, they played their hearts out. They deserve a lot of credit. In addition to Autinger, who it reminded me of when, when Philadelphia completed that three, nothing comeback against Boston.

Um, they were down three, nothing in game seven. And Peter Lavillette did the interview where he said on TV, I told Michael Layton he can't give up another goal, like no more. And I thought about that with Autinger. When McKinnon scored to make it two to nothing, I just said Autinger, if they have any hope, Autinger can't give up one more. And he didn't.

He made some big saves even after Dallas took the lead. A couple other things, you know, McKinnon was incredible. I like what Derek Lalone said about they didn't give up. They didn't stop pressing. They kept going at them and still Dallas won. I had a couple of goalie coaches reach out to me and say that they think that Jeff Reese, the goalie coach for the Stars,

saw something that helped them win the series. Dallas scored two goals similarly to Wyatt Johnston's one that won the series, the cross crease pass on the power play. And that one was from Duchenne, the series winner, the 3-2 goal. He said that it was clear that when the puck was on Blackwood's glove side he wanted to keep his stick to protect his five hole. That was the play he preferred to make so he wouldn't put it out to block a pass or make a pass harder and he said that he guaranteed that Jeff Reese saw that and told his forwards that that play would be available and twice the stars scored on it including the series winner. And you know when I hear stuff

like that even if it's not true it's such a good thought that I want to put it on the podcast or put it out there because I do think that kind of thing happens. You know, it's just, it was an incredible series. And, you know, Kyle, one of the conversations I was having on Sunday, just talking to a player in the league who knows a few guys on Dallas, and he said to me, you cannot understand

how proud those players are at what they just accomplished. They knew they were underdogs, they knew what they were missing for the whole series and the fact that they did it they were just so proud of what they accomplished. There's more to do but he just said he was really excited to exchange messages with a couple of the guys and realize what it meant to them that even though it's just one round, they won, beaten that team considering what they were missing. And I just thought that was a really cool thing to mention.

Kudos to the stars and kudos to Rantanen. Always, always, always bet on talent. When you have a star player, and it's interesting, like one of the reasons Colorado traded them was they didn't think they could pay all three of those guys, right? And you know, if you look at what Colorado did this year, they went all in. They were pot committed. Colorado trade up a couple firsts, a couple seconds, a third and a fourth, and they go out in the first round. And also Richie too, included in that is Richie, a great prospect. I always want teams who load up to be successful because I think it's more exciting for the sport. And I stand by what I said, which is that losing to Dallas is not the end of the world. And even though you lose in the first round, it's not a typical first round loss.

And you have to think like that. But it's a painful, painful day for the Colorado Avalanche. And the one thing I think about is, you know, you need depth, you need good players, but watching what Rantanen did in the third period and the last three games of that series, he had two four point periods. Like a couple of people said to me, they're gonna have to sit down

and they're gonna have conversations like this whole thing about you can't have three players or four players eating that much of your cap. Are you sure about that? As the cap goes up to over a hundred million and over a hundred and ten million, maybe you are going to have to think differently. Maybe you are going to have to say after a series like that one, if you have a talent

like that and it means that three players eat up such a big chunk of your cap, that's what you're going to have to do. Because now Dallas, because of their tax situation, they get them at 12 and they haven't even paid a cent of that contract yet and it's already paid off basically. It's going to change the way a lot of people think, but as much as I was saying, great for Dallas. The city, the sports fans in that city are mourning over the whole Donchich thing and the stars give them that. The building was crazy.

It was an electric atmosphere. I'm in the minority. I love the green lights down the stairs. A lot of people hate them. I think they look terrific. It was an awesome, awesome victory. And Colorado will be motivated, like Joe Sackock and Nathan McKinnon. I'm very curious to see what this summer is going to be like, because that stings. And someone said to me that the tough thing is, is that, you know, Rantin hits the hat trick with 2.7 seconds left. So you have to sit there and wait 10 minutes for all the hats to be cleared and all that's going. He joked if he was coaching, he would have just said, we're leaving, like drop the puck, score

10 more. We don't even care even care I just I just can't even stand this it's uh it's gonna sting it's gonna sting for Colorado really will sting if you're it'll sting for a lot of reasons okay cuz you lost and B because the guy you traded is the guy at the end of the day who led the comeback against you but you know Dallas is now the favorite in the second round. Like I just think after that and with Haskin and Robertson due back, although Peter DeBoer doesn't

start till Wednesday, Peter DeBoer didn't commit to when, but with those guys due back, they're now, they're now the favorites and they showed they got the guts of the champion, man. Like the, the the the odds makers the fans I'm sure there were definitely people who picked them but there weren't a lot of people who picked them and and they did it great win yeah something about the look and randinan's face there at the 2-1 goal it was like oh boy

there's still a lot of time left. And he looked like he was nowhere near finished. And he wasn't. 11 points to final three games of that series is incredible. Anything on Jared Bednar here and just kind of the future? I'm glad you mentioned that because I have been asked some questions about it. They've got one series win since they won the Stanley Cup. And someone said to me, I said, I can't see it.

And they go, well, look what happened with the Nuggets this year. The Nuggets right before the playoffs fired their general manager and head coach, and they just won a seven game series. They beat the Clippers. And so someone was saying, hey, if they did that, then they could certainly do it.

And I was like, oh, okay, I guess that's possible. But that was- Same ownership, right? Yeah, same ownership team, that's right. But there were a lot of internal politics about how badly the relationship was and how badly that was affecting the team. And I saw some stories saying that some of the Nuggets players had kind of said that if that didn't happen, they might not have won their first round series.

I still don't see it, Kyle. The same dynamic doesn't exist as far as I know in the avalanche. Jared Bednar, he's a hell of a coach. The thing about Mike Sullivan is why did it happen? Because A, it was time and B, he wanted to win and the Penguins do this. He's like, no, rebuild. There's no rebuild happening in Colorado. They are not. They're not looking at this and saying, OK, time to tear it down and start all over again. They are not doing that. They believe Bednar is a very good coach and they don't believe

that there are many people available who are better coaches than Bednar. And very good coach and they don't believe that there are many people available who are better coaches than Bednar and they're right. So the only reason I think you would see a change is if for any reason the Avalanche and Bednar believe that it's time for him to, which I don't see, or two, they really think there's someone better than him who drops on their lap. And I would like to see who that would be. So I would be shocked. I would be absolutely shocked and I'll tell you this the other thing too is you know McKinnon is such a demanding driven guy

and I think him and Bednar found a really good equilibrium. Bedenar understands how to work with him, when to let him go, when to rein it in. And I think if you bring in somebody new, to learn that dynamic, that's not easy. Those two work well together. And I would be very, very careful about tampering with that. I'd also like to say this, just Gabriel Landeskog, I think that went better than a lot of people

expected. I don't think I would count on, bet you could count on one hand the amount of people that thought that comeback would be as good as it was. So I'm looking forward to next season. Yes. Bednar does have an incredible ability of just being the calm, relaxed guy, but at the same time, at the same level as one of the most tightly wound competitive players in the whole league in Nathan McKinnon. It's a pretty impressive balance that he runs in his role behind the bench. By the way, kudos to you for getting to the bottom of the lookalike man behind the Colorado bench in Dallas. Well, you know what? I also want to shout

out producer Matt Marstrom because it was in the second period he said that guy's back. And I was like, wait a sec, he wasn't there in the first. I was looking for him. And that's when we figured out what was going on, because we looked at the seat, and I said, he wasn't sitting next to that woman before. So that's when we figured it out. It was funny. People love that stuff.

I probably got more text about that after we aired it than anything else I've done, I've done this year. Oh my gosh. It's a great reminder, eh? It's entertainment at the end of the day, my man. It's supposed to be fun. It's supposed to be fun. And that was very fun.

All right. So we have our four second round matchup set finally. The first one comes later on tonight, Elliott, a game one from Toronto, the Maple Leafs and the Panthers, the defending champions going up against the Leafs for the second time in three years. Toronto's a different team. Florida's a bit of a different team. I guess if you're Toronto, maybe the most concerning thing was how quickly the Panthers dispatched a very good Tampa Bay Lightning team in the first round. How do you view the matchup for the Atlantic Division right to go to the conference final? I'm looking forward to it. I think it's going to be a great series, much better than the one they had two years ago

where the Panthers won in five games. I think this is going to be a much better series. It was funny, I was at practice for Toronto on Saturday morning because Dave Amber and I were taping some interviews and someone said to me, eight o'clock, really? And I said, draft lottery, you know, draft lottery is Monday night. That's the only night you have to put up with that. And they were like, oh, okay, thank God. You know, Florida to me, obviously, they're Obviously, they're a force. They're mean. They're nasty. You know, I'll say this and I can imagine this is not going to be received very well

at all on the one side of Florida. But I know some people who scouted that series who said that they thought the Panthers intimidated the Lightning. You know, they thought that the Kachak hit and the Ekblad hit, the response after Barkov was injured, they thought the Lightning were a bit intimidated. And I that that one's not gonna go over well but that's what they thought so you mean we'll see like Toronto played I was so impressed with the Maple Leafs they got out to the lead and then when they could have fallen apart they didn't they proved that this is a different group they they stayed on

the path they didn't panic. They won the series. I think the thing that's most interesting, Kyle, is that of the eight first round series, I thought Toronto, Ottawa was the least nastiest of all of them. And this is obviously going to be very different. Like when you play with Florida, it's not going to be like that. They're just a mean team. But I think the meanness overshadows how high IQ they are, how great they play, how committed to defense they are. I'm going to show a couple of plays that someone

sent me the way they for-check on Monday night in the pregame. That's a play that they use that they do extremely well and that Toronto's going to have to handle if they're going to have success. Like that's one of the things that people talk about with the lightning is that they're so nasty and they're so mean, it kind of overshadows how smart they are and how committed they are to defending. I think right now, as I've said, Kyle, if I had to pick one goalie to win a game, Barofsky would be my guy. I think he's the best goalie in the league.

But again, with Toronto, there's nothing I didn't like in the first round. Yeah, they were up 3-0 and they had to win in're going to people are going to push back on you in the playoffs. You know, Barube gave other players besides the top four an identity. I like the fact he went back to Nylander with the net empty in game six after Nylander had that terrible back check in game five. He said, look, we're going to need you to there's no doghouse here. There's nothing not to like, uh, in this series. I also want to give congratulations to, uh, Mitch Marner and his wife, Stephanie.

They had their first child. And, you know, I don't want to say this lightly. It's not like an X factor in the series, but I do believe this as a person. And you and Dana are going to find this out soon. But when the moment that child comes out and you hold them in your hands, you are immediately a different and better person, right? Like you feel you have greater purpose and you feel there's more to life. So I'm very happy for the Marner's. I'll tell you one funny story. I went up to Brandon Carlo on Saturday morning and I said,

have you heard from your old Boston teammates? And he goes, yeah. And I go, who were they cheering for? You or Marchand? And he said, you know what? They're really struggling. Who is the lesser of two evils, the Maple Leafs or the Panthers?

I think a lot of those guys are really torn. They love Marshawn, but they hate the Panthers. And they like Brandon a lot, but they really don't like the Maple Leafs. So it's funny. He said a lot of those guys, like Chara and his buddies, they have no idea. It's like they almost want the Earth to open up and swallow

both those teams. Right, right, but they're two ex teammates somehow escaping. They're the only two left standing. Oh My gosh, that's a good and I'm just I'm fascinated to watch that you mentioned it's gonna be a meaner series So in the Marshans, the Bennets, the Kachaks go hard to that Toronto net I mean Stolarz is one thing but you look at the Toronto blue line now compared to previous iterations, like nobody back there do you look at and think, oh, how are they going to handle the physicality? They're all more than capable of holding their own.

So the back and forth in that regard, I think is going to be really something to watch. So game one, Monday night there. Game one the early game on Tuesday the Washington Capitals and the Carolina Hurricanes. Elliott they met back in 2019. It was a bit of an upset the Carolina beat the then defending Stanley Cup champions that year. Different set of circumstances here now. Do the Hurricanes have the roster complexion to handle the heaviness that is Alex Ovechkin, Tom Wilson, Alexi Protas and company? I do because I think the Hurricanes, they're just, that's the way they're built right,

to be in your face, straight lines, go down the ice against you. So I, like they've stood up to the capitals before like is you know, that's those are two teams that really hate each other, really hate each other. So it's going to be another hate filled series. To me, Logan Thompson answered one of the biggest questions about the capitals. Post-Foreign Nations, they were one of the worst defensive teams in the NHL. One of the worst save percentages, one of the worst goals against averages, and also the worst in both among anyone who made the playoffs. And Thompson was great in round one, needed to be. He had to be very good to beat the Canadians in a lot of those games. So that is instantaneously the first thing

I look at is that I don't have the questions about the capitals and goal as I did before the the playoffs he's healthy he played great and they won the series Anderson I thought was really good in round one. He got hurt. He's been skeening so it doesn't look like This is going to be an issue The penalty kill was masterful for Carolina. They took one of the league's best power plays, New Jersey dismantled it. That will have to be the same thing for them against Washington here. A huge, huge key. But again, I think you mentioned it, Wilson made the biggest play of the series in round one

for Washington. And you know, he was a lightning rod. They went after him. They tried to make his life miserable. And when it really mattered, he made the biggest play that led to the goal that basically won the series for the Washington Capitals. And as you said, you would think Washington would have the physical physical advantage Wilson is a unicorn. There aren't many like him I do think the Hurricanes have players that can stand up to him

but there's no one like him and You know for me for Carolina I think the guy who really has to get going is Svetnikoff I Think this is a series where he can't just be okay. I think he's got to be great. Like that's the guy I think Carolina really needs to win this series. Because when you look at their history, particularly in the playoffs, Elliot, and I'm speaking of Carolina, it's very much like a death by thousand cuts because they play the same way, they continue to come at you and they bank on eventually over time, the opposition breaks down enough that they

can take over. But when they get into a situation where they're playing a team that can for check like they do, they can play at the same pace that they do. Oftentimes they don't always have the game breakers to match when it comes to finding opportunities to score enough to win games. I mean, look at their conference final against Florida a couple of years ago. And so you mentioned Svechnikov, that's gonna be a big, big key for them here

against a very good Capitals team. Can the game breakers come through and deliver enough and outscore Washington enough over the course of this series? That's another one that should be nice and nasty too in the East. Okay, Tuesday night, Elliott, the later game out West, Vegas and Edmonton for the second time in three years. We mentioned Connor McDavid right away. The Inc. wasn't even finished on the score sheet of their game six victory against Los Angeles and he was saying, yeah we remember what happened against Vegas a couple years ago. We owe them a series.

Oilers and Vegas. Here we go again, Elliott. Yeah, looking forward to it. Gonna be a great series, I believe. You know, one of the things that I really think is different about this series for Edmonton and would be different than the last time they met Vegas was, the last time they met Vegas, Vegas was a deeper tee. And that's one of the reasons Edmonton lost that series. Vegas trusted more guys than the Oilers did. This year the Oilers are coming in after a series where their depth was excellent and that will be, they trusted and that

will be different than the last time they played the Golden Knights. Like they actually outscored the Kings when McDavid and Dreisaitl were not on the ice, which is something that has rarely happened in playoff series past for Edmonton. So that is a good, good omen coming in. And if you'll notice at the end of the Kings series, they were down to Minnesota. And eventually one of the reasons they took over was they put Eichel, Stone and Carlson together. They loaded up to handle Kaprizov and Boldy and it worked for them. Those guys were great.

It was a smart, smart ploy by the Golden Knights and Bruce Cassidy. But it makes me wonder when this series begins, do we see that again or does he break up from that? Does he go back to zero and say new series new rules? or does he say it worked and I'm sticking with what gets there because if they stick with Eichel Stone and Carlson you could make an argument the bay that the way that Edmonton finished the last series that they are a Deeper team so this chess match is going to be very, very fascinating for me. Big rivalry, two teams do not like each other. Going to be fantastic. I think Vegas will not sit back like the Kings did

at times. They will be aggressive. They will attack. They will for check that Edmonton defense. Like some of those Edmonton defenders like Klingberg didn't face some of the for check pressure he faced earlier in the season. And he picked the Kings apart because of that. He played great. I don't think you're going to see that with Vegas. Remember, they don't take a lot of penalties. They let everybody know they don't take a lot of penalties. So you don't expect a lot of power plays.

And the last thing I wanted to do was shut out Brett Kulak because once again he was just a stud for the Oilers he's the most overlooked guy but in a big series and big moments he was great for them and he was again against the Kings. Okay Elliot out of the gate are you continuing to roll with Pickard? Do you go back to Stuart Skinner? Have you had any thoughts about that? I think you gotta stick with the guy that's 4-0, don't you? Yes, I'm not making the change.

I'm telling Skinner to be ready to go back in, but I am not making the change. You always dance with the date you brought to the prom unless they give you good reason to switch. All right. That was the final thought brought to you by GMC. We'll take our first break and come back with the Thoughtline. 32 Thoughts, the podcast continues after this. Okay. welcome back.

Time now for the Thoughtline. Elliot, before we get to that, we should mention because you were clamoring during the last round, the Battle of Ontario for signage of Kyle Bukowsky sent me these tickets in Ottawa. We got a photo of the sign left behind at the CTC, I believe, after game four. And later on, we confirmed, we linked that sign to the gentleman you ran into in the coffee shop a few days prior. It was him. It was him. It was.

Oh my God, that's hilarious. It was. And the most unbelievable thing, because somebody else reached out to me for something entirely different and then said, by the way, small world, a buddy of mine was the guy that Elliot ran into in the coffee shop the other day about the sign. And he sent me the photo of the group at the Canadian Tire Center

with Kyle Bukaskis got me these tickets. It all came together. I know this is going to be too old a reference for a lot of our audience, but one of the most popular shows of the 80s was The A-Team. It was after Rocky III, it was Mr. T's big project, but the leader of The A-Team was Hannibal Smith, played by the great George Papard. And at the end of every show, he said, I love it when a plan comes together.

Ah, nice. Ha ha ha ha ha. Elliot is just fist pumping profusely here. This is great. Too bad there's no video. People cannot see. I am celebrating harder than Miko Ranton at the end of game seven, Dallas, Colorado.

All right, well fitting then that we start here. Justin in Colorado Springs. Greetings, Dom, Elliot, Kyle, and the glue Justin. Yes, game recognizing game among the Just Yes. A couple of times over the past few weeks you have mentioned black aces. Who are these players? What are the roles? And how did this name come into existence? P.S. I like waffles and pancakes as well. Nice. I like waffles and pancakes as both. Justin, you and I have something in common. I don't know how the name Black Ace has started. We'll see if Kyle does. But basically what those

are is that from after the trade deadline till your American Hockey League team is eliminated from post-season competition, you are allowed four call-ups. If you're in an emergency situation, that's an exception, but other than that, you are allowed four call-ups. Then after your American Hockey League team is knocked out, whether they don't make the postseason or they lose in the playoffs, you can call up as many players as you want from your American Hockey League team and they can skate with you and be available. And that group of players is known as the Black Aces.

Now Kyle, I assume, is going to provide the answer to this, right Kyle? Yes, Elliot. History has shown that Eddie Shore, the former Bruin, back when he was running the then Springfield Indians in the American Hockey League back in the 40s, he was one of the first, believed to be the first, to use the term black aces, at least in regards to hockey. That's what he would consider the players on his team working his way back from injury, or maybe they were in the doghouse, wasn't happy how they were performing.

They would be the odd men on the outside. As far as the term Black Ace itself is concerned, I think you have to go back to, there was an Old West gunfighter back in the 1800s by the name of Wild Bill Hickok. And anyway, as the story goes, he was murdered while playing a game of poker. The hand he had at the time when he was killed had a pair of black aces and a pair of black eights.

And that's where the black aces came from because it was kind of considered to be an unlucky hand. And as time has gone on, as the sport has evolved, black aces is now really just exclusively used to label those additional call-ups from the American league when playoff time rolls around in the National Hockey League for each. Kyle, that's why you're the best co-host of all time. Oh wow. We got to that quicker than I thought.

It's good. It's a good question Justin and good refresher every time we get to this point of the season. Up next, Jeremy from Philly. Hello, Com Elliotston. Oh my god, that's a tough one. I don't know about that one, Jeremy. I don't know. I appreciate the attempt at creativity, but I don't know about that one. Throwing it all out there and just seeing what sticks. No problem with the effort. Jeremy from Philly here and as always Go Birds wondering after watching the one of the calls in the Blues Jets game why do we almost never hear embellishment calls in the regular season? Are players really flopping that much for an edge in the playoffs? Are we just looking for it more in the playoffs so it's easier to notice and perceive? There's also the referee part of this

question too, such as why does it seem to never be called until halfway through a series? Are they only worried about it in the playoffs? I'm also a soccer fan, Vancouver having a great year by the way, yes Dom would know that very well, and I don't want hockey's edge to trend towards those kind of soft tactics. Now I will say, Elliot, just for perspective, there was 22 embellishment calls during the regular season across the NHL. And I believe heading into Sunday, two such calls in the first round of the playoffs. Well, Jeremy, I like your question a lot more than I like your attempt at morphing our names

at the beginning of it. I completely agree with you. I think that embellishment in the playoffs, and I've used the term a couple of times, is a scourge on the playoffs. I cannot stand it. I think it's a big problem. And one of the issues, I believe, is that in the regular season, they have that diving registry where you get fined and you get named.

And if you get enough of them, eventually you get suspended. And it gives you a reputation. That should not go away in the playoffs. As a matter of fact, I think it should be ramped up in the playoffs. One of the other problems I feel is that officials don't seem to want to call embellishment without another penalty attached to it. I guess some people make the argument, well, if you're going to call embellishment, well, they are being tripped or they are being hooked or are being held.

I don't know if I agree with that. I just think if you embellish a call, you should be called out for it. You should be known for it. You shouldn't get the benefit of the doubt for it. Referring in the plasas we've seen is already hard enough without that. And I do think the NHL has to come down much harder on it. And I do think that the perpetrators and we kind of all know who they are. But if you get a reputation, everybody should be aware of it. I, I agree with you. It has to be much more of a focal

point in the playoffs because it's a, it's, it's a nightmare out there and it's hard enough to referee this game as it is. Yeah, and I think to your point, going from it's an embellishment and also a trip so both guys are going, it's just one being called the embellishment. Now the player's in much more of a situation where it's a bad luck, it's a bad luck for the team. I think that could be a great tool to start to weed those plays out where you're truly,

it's not just a four on four situation. You're putting your team, a man down if you're going to try to get away with that stuff. I think that's a great way to go about it to start to curb it. All right. Up next, Matt, a wings fan in Colorado. Dom Ayol, watching the Blues Jets, I notice that Nino Nidorider wears his visor so high it would pretty much only protect him from pucks dropped from the rafters.

This seems to almost make a mockery of the visor rule, so what gives? Are there any measurable regulations here, or does simply having a clear piece of plastic attached anywhere to the helmet suffice? Is there a rule? Well, the way it's worded in the rule book, visors are to be affixed to the helmets in such a fashion as to ensure adequate eye protection. I remember a few years ago when there's a couple things that the league was really trying to crack down on like obstruction, the cross-checking around the net, like remember there was just an influx of penalties called throughout the pre-season and early on as they were trying to bring things back to center and another

one was the visor and Leo Comerot was still with Toronto at the time. He had a reputation from having the visor basically over the top of his head and for a while there the referees were all over him about it's got to be across your eyes, it's got to be across your eyes and I think as time went on like they just quit bugging up about it. Like I feel if a player is stubborn enough to constantly have it tilted up eventually the referees stop correcting you and I suppose you're just putting any type of danger into your own hands by tilting it up that way. Because I think they could be a little more stickler if the referees wanted to, but I'm sure they're going, there's other battles to worry about than that.

Well, it used to be a big problem in junior, right? Junior players were notorious for this. I remember as a student at Western, there was a guy who played for the London Knights named Rick Corvo. He was a really good defenseman and he wore his visor so high, it was basically protecting the back of his neck. So this is not a new thing. But I doubt they ever call a penalty on that. It's kind of like a few years ago, I remember they posted a picture in every dressing room of how a uniform was supposed to be worn. And one of the things they talked about was, well, the jersey's got to be down and looking like this. And they posted it in Washington. And they joked that they put it somewhere where they knew Ovechkin would see it and

He walked by it the first time and saw it and just rolled his eyes and they're like, oh that's not gonna be an effect here So some are Some are taking a lot more seriously than others and I will say this Matt as a Red Wings fan living in Colorado You definitely should keep your visor down. Oh, nice. Nice, nice, nice. Yeah. Especially after this weekend.

Don't be speaking too loudly. All right. Well, wrap with Sonya. Hello, Elliot and Kyle. Please settle a dispute between my husband and I. We were watching the Knights and Wild Game 6 and thought about the Ironman streak and three times Stanley Cup champion Phil Kessley played a thousand sixty four games in a row until the end of his contract with Vegas He's been gone from the NHL for two years

Theoretically if a team signed them for this upcoming season does the Ironman streak continue? Is this an unbreakable NHL record? Love the podcast and wish you talk more about the caps. First of all, in the future, Sonja, I would tell you I want you to win, because we know in any argument between husband and wife, the husband is stupid if he tries to win it, okay? And I know that, Kyle knows that, and anybody who's married, who's listening to this podcast or in a serious relationship, knows that too. Secondly, I am always open to bribery. If someone says, this is my position in the argument, and I will then mow you $100 to be donated to charity.

I will warp my answers so that you win the argument. So these are things that people should know. I want everyone to understand the kind of people they're dealing with. Kessel's Iron Man streak is over. If a player has the lack of a contract and doesn't sign a new one, the streak ends. One of the most famous ending streaks was Steve Larmer, who played in 884 consecutive games from the Blackhawks and it was at the beginning of the 1993-94 season where he got into a contract dispute with the Blackhawks. Larmer had a chance to break Jarvis's

record which at that time was 964. He was 80 away and he was so upset at Chicago he sat out. It ended the streak and he was traded to the Rangers and he was so upset at Chicago, he sat out. It ended the streak and he was traded to the Rangers and he won the Stanley Cup. And I always remembered that. I personally think Larmor should be in the hockey hall of fame, but that was one of the most famous such incidents.

But if you don't have a contract and the season resumes, then your streak ends. And as far as if you think it will ever be broken, well, Brent Burns is 139 games away. Oh right, I forgot of that. He is at 925. I remember the last game of the regular season in Ottawa, I believe he played one shift and spent the rest of the night sitting on the bench cheering on his teammates, but he got that game and still in the hunt. So he would be the next closest right now among active players. Sonya, thank

you for that. Thank you to everyone who wrote in and Griffin Porter for once again helping curate this. 1833 311 3232 or you can email us at 32 thoughts at Sportsnet dot see a one final break. We'll come back with a conclusion of 32 thoughts. The podcast stay tuned. Okay, welcome back. As some news and notes over the last few days, as we continue to recap the weekend and push forward to the week ahead, this one to begin, Elliot, that was really starting to catch fire as we recorded late

into the night on Thursday and early Friday morning, Mike Sullivan, the new head coach of the New York Rangers. What would you like to add to that docket? Well, just a bit of information, a bit of information about the contract. It's a five-year deal. I don't, honestly, I don't know what's out there. It was a whirlwind of a weekend, but it's a five-year deal and

You know Mike Babcock had the largest contract ever signed by a coach It was eight years and approximately 50 million dollars front-loaded Six point two five ish the AAV the number is north of that I don't have the exact number but Sullivan did sign the richest AAV of Any head coach so it's north of Babcock's number which was in the 6.25 range So Sullivan may not be the highest paid coach in the history of the actual largest contract But he is the highest paid coach in terms of average annual value paid a coach. So he definitely moved the bar and you know I remember when Babcock

signed that deal that was one of the things he said he moved the bar and in this case Sullivan even though he doesn't sign for as much term he moves the bar. It's amazing in some cases, Elliot, whether you're fired or you go separate ways from a team you've been with for a long time could be one of the more lucrative decisions of your life with how things go from that point on. Certainly it's been the case for Sullivan. There's a story that Howard Stern tells and I remember it years ago and first hearing it and I think there's a lot of truth to it, particularly if you're a talented person

as Sullivan is. When he got fired from WNBC, him and his staff, they were devastated and they thought that they were done. And his agent at the time was a guy by the name of Don Buchwald. And Don Buchwald came into the office and he was carrying champagne. And he looked at everybody who was like down and devastated. And he said, what's wrong with all you guys? And they said, oh, we just got fired from the biggest job we ever had. We're doomed. And he said, he replied, you guys don't realize this, but this is going to be the best thing that ever happened to you.

You know, I tell people that all the time. It's the kind of mentality I try to fill people's head with, that everything has to be seen as an opportunity. And Mike Sullivan did great things in Pittsburgh. He won a couple of Stanley Cups, but it was time. I think it absolutely was time. And it was perfect for him because the Rangers needed him. You know, as we said a couple of times on this pod,

the Rangers could not let anyone else get Mike Sullivan and he obviously will be highly paid but he will be rejuvenated too. There's been a couple times I've moved jobs, jobs where I was very happy and I looked back a time later and said I didn't realize how much I needed that and he will be rejuvenated for this and And I always try to tell people that, too, that sometimes it looks like the end of the world, but it doesn't have to be. And there are other times, as I've learned myself, that you needed a move even if you didn't realize it. I'm a big believer in that kind of thinking.

Really good. OK, so in terms of where things go in Los Angeles, then, Elliott, the four straight years exiting at the hands of the Edmonton Oilers, Rob Blake, general manager over his time, Kings haven't won a round since he's been at the helm, Jim Hiller came in part way through last year, did a wonderful job to get them into the playoffs, but it's the same old story out in LA. So where do they go from here? I was under the impression they were going to take the weekend and think. As we discussed in the last pod, that was a hugely disappointing loss for the Kings,

a very painful one. And I think everybody there just wanted to take a timeout take a deep breath and think and not rush into any decisions now there was a report from John Hoeven Mayor's Manor that Blake and Hiller will return next year I'm not interested in disputing it that because I think he could end up being right I was just under the impression that nothing was settled and everyone wanted to take a deep breath before they did anything or committed to anything. So let me just say that I'm not disputing it. I'm just not sure yet. One of the biggest things I think in Blake's case was if he wanted to continue. I think there was some question

about that, whether it was going to be the organization's decision or his decision. You know, the one thing I think about Hiller and obviously, you know, obviously it was a, like I said, it was a brutal loss for the Kings. There's no sugar coating it. At the beginning of the year, I think there were a lot of people who didn't think the Kings were as good as they were going to be. And you know, I always look at situations like this and say, the team overachieved. They got into the playoffs at the second seed in the in the Pacific division. They did lose very painfully. But are you throwing the baby out with the bathwater? Is this something that you can look at and say,

this was a coach who did a good job with our team this year, and do we throw them out over six games? I don't like that kind of thinking. The biggest question I have, as I would say, is, okay, Jim, what kinds of things did you learn from the playoffs that you think will make you a better coach and able to get this team to the next level.

Like I, I'm not racing, like I am not racing to fire Jim Hiller after this season. You know, I think there's, I think there's a couple of things that obviously have to be fixed. I think that the Kings have to change their identity late in games. I think one of the reasons that they lost the series was because some of the some of the Oilers defensemen in particular who'd struggled under aggressive for checking in the season were given more time to make plays. That's something you can fix. The Oilers were deeper than the Kings. Is that something you can fix? You know byfield played it really his first full season at center. He looks like he's a player

You know, where are you going with that? That's to me. That's a positive for Hiller and the Kings Brandt Clark, are you committed to giving him even more of a role? I think he showed he's ready to take a bigger step. If the answer is yes from Hiller, then I think that's a positive for the Kings. I just think that, like I always look at teams, where did you expect them at the beginning of the year and where did you expect it and where did they end up? You know, I think for most people, the Kings did a lot better than everyone thought. And yes, again, I recognize it sucks and I recognize it's painful. I think if your answer is to fire the coach after the full season that they just had, yeah, I don't see it. I think overall, he did a better job with this team than a lot of people expected. I'm curious to see DJ Smith, one of his assistants,

I think will get some traction around the league for coaching. We mentioned in the last pod, like there's a lot of coaches with NHL experience who are assistants now or don't have head coaching jobs right now who teams will look at I think DJ Smith will be one of those guys I absolutely think that DJ will get some calls. They were one of the better defensive teams throughout the regular season they're goaltenders a finalist for the Vezna and full credit to him for that but it was also you felt like it was a perfect scenario for everyone involved.

Should not have lost this series. Should not have lost the series. Did not play the biggest moments well enough. And I'll say this too, like people said the challenge was the biggest season series turner. I disagree with that. You were, it wasn't good. Don't get me wrong. You were up 2-1.

You had a 3-1 lead in the third period of game four. That's where the series fell apart. And one of the reasons is I just think the Kings, like Colorado lost game seven against Dallas, but they didn't lose because they weren't aggressive. Like I would rather lose aggressive than lose passive. And that's one thing I think you can fix. Yes. Well, yeah. And find enough guys that you trust to play so your bench doesn't go

too short and you're just hanging on from dear life from that point on. Okay, Joel Quenville and the Anaheim Ducks Elliott Yeah, I think we're gonna know this week if that's serious I think we'll have a good idea this week if if Cuenville and the Ducks are at all going to be a match if that's real or he and they may end up looking somewhere else You know another name I'm hearing out there a lot and he's still coaching right now is Mitch Love, who's in Washington. He's on the Capitals bench. I've heard there's some teams who are going to want to talk to him, but they'll probably have to wait until the Capitals are out,

unless the Capitals are comfortable with letting him interview between series, if they continue to move on. But that's a name, like he has a tie to Seattle, he coached out there in juniors. And I don't think the Kraken would be the only team that would look there. Like I wonder about like if Pittsburgh is looking for a younger coach to develop with their team, I could see him being a kind of guy like that, but that's a name I think has is on a few teams list. Okay, how about as Vancouver begins and continues their search for their next head coach, how much consideration would an internal candidate like Adam Foote receive? I think Adam Foote would have a serious chance there in Vancouver. I think Adam Foote would have a serious chance there in Vancouver. And one of the reasons I think, well first of all, he's a really smart guy.

That's number one. But number two, I'd be curious to see if that was something that would sort of be Quinn Hughes approved. They're close too. Good relationship. Foote has really helped Hughes improve as as a player given him good advice. They bounce things off each other very well. I wouldn't be surprised if in addition to the fact

I think he really knows hockey well. That would have foot on Vancouver's shortlist Islanders. There was a lot of news on the weekend about a potential hiring. We'll see where that goes. Islanders there was a lot of news on the weekend about a potential hiring we'll see where that goes you know I I could see why there's the possibility of that because some of the contenders like Yarmouk Ekalainen you have to worry for a team to wait to talk to him I know there was some noise about Mark Bergevin on the weekend I had a couple people say to me that's premature

but I do believe that Bergevin is a serious contender there I hate to guess on the islanders because Lamarello is still there which means a certain amount of secrecy in the process, but I do believe that Bergevin is a serious contender there. All right. Minnesota, Elliot, the shackles are about to be released in their salary cap structure starting this summer.

The financial buyout burden of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter goes from almost $15 million to just over $1.6 starting next year. We remember Craig Leopold's line before this past season about nobody will offer Kirill Kaprizov more. How do they stick handle things now going forward and take advantage of the extra dough Bill Guerin has to work with?

The Minnesota fans were really excited on Sunday. It was clean out day, goodbye day for the Wild, and Kaprizov said all the right things, basically saying, I don't see why this can't work out. So let's go with that. Let's keep it optimistic. If he feels that way, then that's where we're going to take as our landing point. The thing I'm really interested in, Kyle, is that there are people in the league who believe that this will end up being the NHL's highest paid player. That

in this next wave of contracts, with the cap going up over a hundred and over a hundred and ten who feel that Kaprizov is going to end up being number one on the list. We'll see. This was good news for the Wilde and their fans today based on what he said. Now the negotiations begin and I think a lot of people are really curious to see Where this number is gonna end up because like I said, there is a there are definitely those Who if they had to bet and bet on who's gonna be the highest paid player in the NHL They would place their money on Kaprizov. We'll see where it ends up

Well interesting because as you know this this summer, Connor McDavid could signed an extension as well. Like they're in the same timeline in terms of what's remaining on their deals. Yes. And you'll remember that the conversation last time with McDavid was they walked in, they said, we're not going to ask for the 20%. The others were like, thank God, because we would have given it to you and remember with McDavid too initially the contract was supposed to be 13.33 and he's like now we'll go to 12.5 so I don't know how comfortable he is with all of that although I think there is definitely a realization that you don't fool around with this negotiation and you Generally give him what he wants as you should. Yes, and speaking of a player getting a really nice ticket

How about Matt Coronado the Calgary Flames Elliott a seven-year deal six and a half per 22 years old coming off a 24-goal season and the Flames clearly banking on the idea that this goal season and the Flames clearly banking on the idea that this contract as the landscape continues to evolve and Coronado continues to evolve as a player looks very very good for both sides as time goes on. I got one great text from someone saying I'm just loving the responses underneath your tweet like he said like the first one is steal the The second one is flames got fleas. Third one is like it always makes me laugh. I think people just do it for the heck of it.

And I always love those. I don't understand how anybody could think this is a bad deal. You know, I mean, look, worse comes to worse. You never know what can happen. But to me, this is such a great bet by team and player. This is a guy who had a 60-point season he started a little bit slowly he was sent back down the American Hockey League he showed a great attitude and he came back and and he was a tremendous scorer on a team that really battled to score goals. He ended up basically with 25 goals and 60 points on a team that really struggled to

score and that says to me it's worth the bet. He's a top six forward in the NHL and with where the cap is going, you are not going to be able to get a lot of top six forwards for six and a half million. Now obviously he wasn't going to be an unrestricted free agent right away. There's some restricted years there, but I don't care. I think that is a great contract and I think player and team are going to be really happy with that one. That is a contract I would be very, if I wagered, if I wagered Kyle, that is a contract I'd

be very comfortable wagering on that that would be a good contract. Or someone Venmo'd you wagering funds. That's right because I helped them win an argument. Yes, that's an important distinction. Okay, one final thing here. Brady Kachuck. So the Ottawa Senators had their player exit interviews on Saturday. Kachak was the first man up at the podium, held court for I believe 22 minutes, fielded a lot of questions, including going back to earlier in the year, the rumors about his future with the organization. Of course, they remember to think back to the stuff with the New York Rangers in December

too, but he quashed all of it as he's done pretty well every time that topic has been brought forth to him. But the timing of him doing it here now was noteworthy, Elliot. Yes. And the thing about Kachak, and the other thing is he confirmed that there'd been an injury since the Four Nations, right? That everybody believed. The thing about Kciuk is I'm not worried about his near future in Ottawa because they made the playoffs. And I don't think

anybody really has to worry either about this summer. I think that if Ottawa had missed the playoffs this year, then I think there might have been reason to worry Because you know, he wants to make the playoffs and but the fact that they got there and the future looks pretty good for them I don't think anyone's got anything to fear This summer. I really don't now you've always got to keep moving forward, you've always got to keep improving, you've now you've established yourself as a playoff team, you have to establish yourself as a threat from here on in. But I understand why people have to ask the question, there's always a lot

of noise and you have to make sure sure but the moment Ottawa made the playoffs this summer I wasn't worried about this being an offseason story. Gotta keep moving but I wasn't worried about this summer at all for them. And with regards of how the Senators move forward, Elliot, I thought the best line given by any player that spoke there on Saturday came from Jake Sanderson when he said comfort kills growth as a hundred percent, a hundred percent true. All right. Well, we've got a busy Monday night here. Elliot seven Eastern for Pacific is the 2025 draft lottery. So that will lead into the pregame show at seven thirty teeing up game one Leafs Pan, second meeting in the second round in the past three years.

The defending champs come to Toronto to begin their second round series. Buckshot for that one, a little after eight Eastern, five Pacific on Sportsnet and CBC. Enjoy that, enjoy the beginning of the second round and we'll be back to talk to you again on Wednesday. Have a great week everybody.