32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Overtimes. Overtimes Everywhere.

Episode Date: May 8, 2024

Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman open this edition of 32 Thoughts by looking back at the two Stanley Cup Playoff games from Tuesday night. First they focus on the incredible comeback by the Colorado Avalanche over the Dallas Stars. Then they delve into the Rangers win over the Hurricanes (9:21). The playoff talk is parked when Jeff and Elliotte shift focus to the NHL Draft Lottery that saw San Jose land the first overall pick and the opportunity to draft Macklin Celebrini (20:02). Then, the fellas dive into the latest news across the NHL, including the Ottawa Senators hiring Travis Green as Head Coach (26:40), the Blues removing the interim title from Drew Bannister (35:11), reactions to the Rob Blake presser in LA (41:00), and they talk about the career of Rick Bowness, who announced his retirement from the NHL this week (46:36). They wrap the first segment by talking about the latest regarding the Toronto Maple Leafs (52:32). The guys answer your questions in the Montana’s Thought Line (1:02:58).The fellas wrap the pod by previewing the Bruins-Panthers and Canucks-Oilers series (1:13:49).Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call the Montana's Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemailThis podcast was produced and mixed by Dominic Sramaty and hosted by Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman.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.

10th in behind for Rannick Foxa, Robertson trying to work it out for Johnston, big hit there in behind and Cagliano zooms it ahead, Wood wins speed, Wood drives in, backhand, scores! Miles Wood, the hero in overtime! Overtime, very much the call of the day on tuesday evening welcome to 32 thoughts the podcast presented by the gmc sierra elevation elliott's we're going to get to the double overtime that we saw between the carolina hurricanes and the new york rangers in a moment but first it only took one but what a comeback by the colorado avalanche they go down three cob claw their way back nathan mckinnon ties things up early in the third period it goes to OT and Miles Wood from Andrew Cogliano Miles Wood is the OT hero in this one what a comeback

on the road for the Colorado Avalanche such a wild game with swings Jeff Dallas dominated early Colorado I mean nobody thought the game was over even it was 3-0 Dallas you're looking at Colorado and who they've got on their lineup and they're saying okay they can still come back in this but what really shocked me Jeff after the 3-0 lead is how few chances

Dallas had like for the second and third period they really didn't have many great chances until late in the third period. They were hanging on. Yes. Like you should get him a car score those goals. And like Dallas is hanging on for dear life here.

And this is after like the like this and the suitor goal. Okay. Point shot floater. Wyatt Johnson with a nice Jamie bet on the power play. And you're thinking, okay, Dallas is rolling here. And then by the end of the second period, you're saying to yourself, Dallas is just trying to keep their head above water here now all of a sudden. Yes.

Like Colorado is just swimming all over them here. And then at the beginning of overtime, Dallas got the first five shots. And you think, okay, they're right. They're going to win. And then the Aalanche get four out of the next five and win the game and mileswood beats miro haiskanen in a race to the puck you know who was picking that if if those two guys mileswood is quick he's got i'm not saying i'm not saying he's slow i'm not calling him tortoise miles wood here Jeff I'm just saying

that nobody expects he's going to lose to anybody even Connor McDavid he's going to slow down from time to time you know that's a game that's a game no question now Dallas has come back from this before obviously no problem they were down to against Vegas. But you know that if they lose the series, they're going to look back at game one and they're going to say, oh, that cost us big. Cost us big. And the other thing about this is that Dallas, the thing I wonder about here about both Dallas and Boston is

they're not going to get any rest. You know, Colorado got a bit of rest. Florida got a bit of rest. Dallas is not going to get rest. Did you not see in that first? Did it not feel to you like Colorado had too much rest? It was eight days for the Avalanche. Did you not date yourself in that first did it not feel to you like colorado had too much rest it was eight eight days for the avalanche did you not date yourself in that first period holy smokes like that's too much rest for this team i know you want an easy series along the way and try to get it done in four or five

but they sat for a while eight days between you did you not think in the first period yeah you know what colorado is showing that that's too long to rest. Maybe, but BX does have a theory that if you have a quick turnaround from game seven to game one, at least from when he played, he thinks it doesn't hurt you. It thinks it catches up with you later in a series like games two or three or four. So I think that's an interesting theory. And I would always defer to somebody who played. To me, it was just weird, the swings of momentum in that game.

You know, Ottinger's worst game against Vegas was game one. So you sit there and you're hoping that that's an omen. You know, when it's 3-0, you're thinking maybe from here on in, the Avalanche should just forfeit games one of a series because that was their worst game against Winnipeg too. But Georgiev settled down. And not so much that he settled down, but Colorado settled him down because, as we said, he didn't have a lot to do. But once again, Jeff, once again, you take a look at the goal scores. It's Nichushkin.

Yep. A goal and assist he was a major difference against Winnipeg like look at the goals Nechushkin from Makar and McKinnon Makar from Nechushkin and Rantanen McKinnon from Rantanen and Makar and then Wood from Cogliano and Gerrard to win it the big dogs ate the big dogs ate a big t-bone they did let me let me ask you about uh as you like to say controversy in this game i would hate to be a referee who has to make a judgment on embellishment would hate to be a referee who has to make a judgment on embellishment what did you make of the rupe hens embellishment call in the third period did manson absolutely i didn't like it did he embellish it man i would hate to make that call oh man i didn't agree like did you think that was bad embellishment i didn't no i don't that's why i'm

like but the thing is okay to perfectly perfect perfect honesty here you know what i thought i thought that was a situation where the official said we got a we got a close game here we got a tied game we got manson i'm gonna sit in the box for a hook i gotta call that one hang on i can offset it with an embellishment because it looks close enough it's the easy way out yeah i i agree with that um but like but if you the other game we're going to talk about here which is rangers carolina i think they could have called more embellishment than they did and they didn't do it like they like they called a ton of penalties they called a ton of penalties in like they they called a ton of penalties

in that game and we'll talk about it more there even in overtime essentially it said you elliot saying is we'll complain about anything at any point there's no real standard for us we'll just bitch at something that stares us in the face well it comes down it comes down to you know which referees you have and all these teams know that there's a book on these officials and some call games one way and some call games another way officiating becomes even more of a firestorm at this time of year like i'll tell you this one guy actually kind of feel a bit badly for is chris rooney okay because whenever he does a game involving the bruins he hits he's a pastor knack he's a bot yeah he's a boston area guy. I get people who say to me, well, he shouldn't ever referee the Bruins

because he's from Boston. And I get people who say to me, well, he bends over backwards to penalize the Bruins to show he's not biased because he's from Boston. Can't win. It's a complete total no-win situation for the guy. But I wasn't crazy about that one in the moment. And one of the things what did Rick Talkett talk about when the league discussed going into round two with the teams

in the series what did they talk about they talked about embellishments so you know it's uppermost in these officials minds they when whenever something is sort of like the call that everyone's thinking about here yeah or you get told to watch it you're watching it you are sensitive to it it's it's like an old college basketball coach abe lamons he would go to coaching clinics and he would say the worst thing you can do to your players is tell them what not to think about you want an example and everybody would go sure and he'd say okay everybody here close your eyes yep don't think of a brown cow yeah what's everybody thinking about a brown cow they're all thinking about a brown cow so you've warned them about embellishment they're all thinking about embellishment now jeff um remember when we did that Kevin Fiala referee Gord Dwyer oh embellishment

thing from oh yeah oh yeah let's just say that the next day a lot of opinions were shared was it was it hang on was it Elliot Stan the bunch it was it was interesting like there were some people I thought that would have been happy with it. Weren't very happy with it. And there were some people who I didn't think were going to be very happy with it. And we're like, yeah, I don't mind that. But still, I would kind of refer if I would kind of prefer that that be everyone's dirty little secret. Right. So I think in particular, um, embellishment embarrasses people and i i just i just didn't

like it at that time i i didn't agree with that call i get it uh game two of this exciting series goes thursday okay as we mentioned it was a double night of overtimes on tuesday elliott's we've already covered off the color Avalanche and the Dallas Stars. How about a wild one between the New York Rangers and the Carolina Hurricanes? Can you make the arguments that despite the fact that the New York Rangers now have a 2-0 series lead by virtue of a Vincent Trocek overtime goal to lead the Rangers to a 4-3 victory on Tuesday night, a pair of goals by Alexi Lafreniere, Chris Kreider with a big one to tie it as well. Igor Shcherkin facing 57 shots.

Can you not make the point that the Rangers are up 2-0, but they've been outplayed in both games? This series is not over. Oh, not even close. Dallas came back from 2-0 down, and they lost the first two at home. Carolina isn't exactly in the same spot with the first two games on the road, but this series is not over.

Carolina could come back and win this. Now, some people agreed. Some people disagreed. I thought that Game 2, Rangers-Hurricanes, was the best game of the playoffs so far. It was excellent. Agree or disagree? Yes, best game of the playoffs so far. It was excellent. Agree or disagree? Yes, yes.

I could not agree more. Well, then you may continue on this podcast. Well, it was great. It was a wonderful game that had a little bit of everything in it. And again, the performance of the night, with all due respect to Vincent Trocek, with all due respect to Alexi Lafreniere,

and I'm looking at you as well, Jake Ensel, with your pair, Igor Shishdurkin was the player. Anderson was good too, but come on, dude. He stood in front of 57 shots. This was a Shishdurkin game. Obviously, Jeff, I'm not disagreeing with that. I just thought Anderson was also tremendous. I thought the goalies were fantastic but what a mean game I wonder if actually something was said during the game to

the two teams because Svechnikov hit Shostakhin and he didn't look like he was really trying to get away from him Cooley got a penalty for skating into Anderson, even though he was trying to score. There were a couple other situations where the goalies got bumped. And that's one where I did wonder if the officials said, hey, guys, enough with the goalies. But it was a mean, mean game. These teams were legitimately trying to hurt each other. And Trouba, first of all, in to nhs he was a train on the track he heard it coming he felt it coming he got down and then he was lucky the skates didn't slice him on the way back like what a mean nasty awesome hockey game the the way that i saw that play was natchez lost an edge and went down

but truba thought that natchez was bailing on the hit did you see it the same way no i think he heard him coming i think he bailed on the hit you think he did that deliberately eh well i i do i mean i look he was trying to stop if you i'm looking at the replay right now he's trying to stop and he sees maybe he lost an edge but i think he sees true becoming and feels true becoming and he's like whoa if i don't protect myself i'm dead here now kevin initially thought he low bridged him. I completely disagree with that. Lost an edge. Yeah. I'm not even sure he lost an edge.

I think it was more like he said, I feel this guy coming. I'm getting out of the way. Yeah. And I don't blame him. Like, Trouba could have hit him into next week. Yeah. He really could have. Share your thoughts about the double OT hero, Vincent Trocek.

Not just the player and the double OT goal and all of that. What about the thumbs up to Gensel? The patented Vincent Trocek thumbs up. 35 minutes. If you're going to talk the talk, you got to walk the walk. He did. He led everybody in ice time and he won the game. walk he did he led everybody in ice time and he won the game and the celebration in the corner with all the fans there was an awesome celebration that's the way I feel Jeff if you're gonna if

you're gonna be mouthy or taunt or do whatever you're gonna do you have to back him up and he did now fallout what did you think of the uh penalty in overtime a little bit soft for my liking there were a lot of penalties in overtime here and and i did think jeff there were too many uh i there were there were too many for my liking the one i completely agreed with was panarin when on that two-on-one panarin water skied so badly i thought he was going to drop a skate and do a slalom he got that's how much water skiing he was doing he got a high to call that one intonation's pretty good yes i'll give you that one the the cross-checking one that led to the game-winning goal i mean there were a lot of penalties called in this game i i was i was watching mark messier uh one of his hits and he was he was he hated the call and but the thing that was most interesting

to me was he talked about the cross check being a push and not quote-unquote like a real cross check i had someone who texted me and said that's crazy a cross check is a cross check and i said no nah no it's not no it's not and if and by the way if anyone knows cross checks it's Mark Messier David Oliver on line two well the thing is a lot of people who played especially in Messier's era they saw a cross check as two different things there were two different types of cross checks one of them was the actual crosscheck where you smashed your stick into somebody's back and that or smashed your stick into somebody's chest or wherever you did it. Someone's head, probably not, but someone's head. You shouldn't, but it did happen from time to time

like a hard, hard smash, a full extension of the arms to those players and there are some players in this day and age who still feel the same way that's a cross check that's a penalty but there are others who feel strongly that there's also what could technically be defined as a cross check but it's like a push it's like a it's like a slight push or you're using it to move someone somewhere on the ice and those players don't feel that that's a cross-checking penalty that's not a full extension that's not an attempt to injure or physically dominate someone that's those are battles for position where the arms don't get fully extended or you don't use a super ton of force and a couple years ago when they had that cross-checking crackdown that's one of the two things they talked about number one was the battle

in front of the net versus cross checks elsewhere on the ice. They were willing to be more accepting of the battle in front of the net as opposed to cross checks around the ice and Shays was not in front of the net. But the other thing they talked about was more of a push versus a physical attempt to damage someone with your stick or knock someone down with your stick and so when I heard Messi talking about this I understood exactly what he was talking about he said that was not a cross check and I know that that should be penalized and while I understand not everybody sees it that way, I believe there is a huge segment of player who does agree with him.

So what happens now? Game three, the venue changes to Raleigh. What do you expect? It'll be home ice. I mean, I don't think they're switching goalies. No.

You can't blame Anderson for this. Like, you can't. I don't think you're looking at it and saying, Kuchetkov, you're our guy. I'm staying with the guy who's played very well in two games. I mean, what else are you going to do here? I mean, you're sticking with Anderson. He's been good.

The one thing I wonder about here is do they go back to kuznetsov is this just a one game you've got to be a lot smarter than that because you can never have enough scoring and they had plenty of chances to win that game but I I think if it was me I would want cuznetsov in the lineup after this benching I would say okay you're getting another chance you need that skill one other thing about cuznetsov and the reason I think you see him back in is comtois only played 619 right so I gotta think they're gonna put cuznetsov back in because he can give you more of that but the other ice time that really stood out for me caught kenyemi 915 and only three shifts in the overtime that's not a lot of shifts elliot no that's that's not good that's not good

hurricanes are gonna need more there surprised that uh lavi let played rempy jeff i'm not surprised at all i mean sometimes the benches get shortened that's not really a conversation about him as that just happens in the playoffs but again i thought he was under control like that game had a chance to get really out of hand. And Rempe, I thought, was very calm, didn't do anything that hurt his team, played it smart. You know, after Svechnikov got the penalty for tripping Shostakhin, Rempe gave a bit of a snow shower to Anderson. But he didn't do anything undisciplined. He played it smart and that's what he needs to do. Now, Ron and Jen thought that play with Shosturkin from Svechnikov

should have been a major. I didn't. I don't know about that one. That's a little bit too much sugar in the coffee for me on that one. Yeah, I thought it was a minor, and boy, the Rangers are lucky that Fox did not connect with that swing, because then you really have a problem. If he connects with with that you look at what happened to petrangelo he got suspended last year for something kind of similar they would have had no choice if he connects with

that to suspend fox and that's just bad for everybody okay Okay. With that, let's get to another big story from Tuesday, and that was the NHL Draft Lottery. And the big winner, surprise, surprise, the San Jose Sharks. Macklin Celebrini going home. The junior shark is heading back to the Bay Area, Elliot Friedman. It's how it should have played out. I think we wonder now, you know, San Jose gets a first overall pick. They'll take Macklin Celebrini.

Does that mean that Will Smith is coming out as well? So many different questions now fall. And like you look around the Western Conference too, like don't you get the feeling that the last thing the Western Conference needs is another elite level centerman to join Connor McDavid and Nathan McKinnon and Mark Shifley and Anze Kopitar and Jack Eichel and Rupe Hins and Elias Pettersson and Conor Bedard and Robert Thomas. Like, holy smokes, down the middle, the West is awesome, Brage.

Jeff, you know who would disagree with the premise of your question? Who's that? The San Jose Sharks, because they didn't have anybody like that you just named will smith coming yes they do but they'll take celebrini of course of course i'm saying that tongue-in-cheek good look good listen the san jose that was a terrible joke jeff that was i was just saying there's a lot of good centers in the western conference trying to be creative a little bit flowery but listen it's almost one o'clock in the morning here on a wednesday morning as we record this thing i'm a little bit be creative and a little bit flowery. Listen, it's almost one o'clock in the morning here on a Wednesday morning as we record this

thing. I'm a little bit punch drunk and a little giddy after watching all these overtime. So forgive me, Elliot. Forgive me. No, you are not forgiven. You go to the penalty box and you feel shame. Feel ashamed. I thought it was justice a bit.

I think San Jose really needs the player. bit i think san jose really needs the player like to me if you asked me anybody in the league like first everybody would want celebrini everybody could use celebrini but if there was a team that needed to win that lottery and get that player it was the san jose sharks because one they you know we've talked about how they were kind of half pregnant in a world where you can't be half pregnant to start well to start the season yeah now they're fully pregnant okay they're not half pregnant anymore they're fully pregnant they're going into the rebuild and he kickstarts their rebuild and the second thing is to he's a local guy yeah he's got history in the region it's not just a good young player who has a chance to be a franchise cornerstone it's a good young player with a chance to be a franchise cornerstone

from the region in a region who badly needs someone like that yeah this is a fifth deck home run for the sharks a huge night for their franchise if if if the nhl fixed lotteries then they would have fixed this one for san jose um he was obviously very excited i heard the celebrini family his father rick um you know works for the golden state warriors as most fans know by now um you know he said that, I guess, in an interview, is going to live at home. I wonder if Macklin gets a vote on this. Does he want to live at home or does he want to live somewhere else?

But this was a huge victory for San Jose. And really what it does is it restarts and it re-energizes the franchise. And one thing I said on air, and I do believe this, it makes their coaching job a little bit more attractive. Because now, and obviously your coaching hire is very important for a lot of different reasons, but now it becomes even more important because whoever this is is going to teach Macklin Celebrini the ropes.

And I wonder if it changes at all the way the Sharks look at this job. You're right. Like this is the home run. This would be one where you look at and you say, okay, thumb on the scale here. Like you got the storybook finish. You got the conclusion that you you got the uh the conclusion

that you wanted the struggling team gets the local boy the local boy goes home even though he's born in british columbia we all know the san jose story with macklin celebrini uh at this point it's a great story he's a wonderful player it's a great story they'll build the whole thing around him and will smith and uh continue to build the the the the pieces of the san jose sharks here um i'm having a really hard time being in any way shape or form cynical about this one like elliott there are just some hockey stories you look at and you just go yeah that's right that's the way it should be congratulations to everybody involved that's how i feel about this one i would agree with that a couple other things i know there was a big

conspiracy theory about the picture that john buchigro sweated out oh my god i understand because of some things that have happened in the past couple of years that the nhl is sensitive to this but well not one thing is they don't do the lottery is televised at 6 30 eastern 3 30 pacific they actually do the lottery at um 5 45 p.m now and they and they lock everybody in the room and nobody's allowed to contact anyone they film it they put it up now on all their websites um they invite media there greg Wyshynski, your old buddy, was there. Sheng Pan, who covers the Sharks, was there. Whatever Butcher Gross tweeted out, it was a rehearsal. Like, that was not, like, a couple hours. Like, first of all, I didn't realize he took it.

Elliot, we do it at the draft every year. Yeah. Like, you know, I didn't realize he took it down. I was like, why did he take it down? That's not the real thing. People are texting me and saying, did ESPN just spoil the draft? I'm like, no, they haven't even done it yet. So I thought the whole thing was a little bit crazy.

And I'll tell you something else. A few years ago, when it did leak out accidentally, the next year, they put up what's called a slate. And a slate is something that goes on all the TV monitors. It's just like, you know, when your TV used to freeze and it said, please stand by, that's called a slate. They put up a slate with a fake draft lottery result to see if anyone sent it out anywhere. And it did happen. And they and they were like okay now we know

how even more careful how we have to be there's no way they would have blown it like that early i was really surprised at the entire controversy okay elliot some news uh made official by the ottawa senators on tuesday they have hired travis, as you and I talked about on the radio show on Monday afternoon, hired Travis Green as their head coach. This was interesting. We all wondered names like Craig Berube early in the season. We wondered about names like John Gruden, head coach of the AHL Marlies with the Toronto organization. How did they land on Travis Green?

Why did they land on Travis Green? And what other names should we keep in mind here? Like I still do think that somewhere down the road, Gruden is involved in coaching in some capacity in Ottawa. I feel same way about Jay McKee as well, whether it's Ottawa, whether it's AHL Belleville, I don't know, but what should we be aware of in all of this process? I think they had extended conversations with Craig Berube.

We talked about it on your show the other day. I think there were two issues. Number one, I don't think that Ottawa, and these are just conversations with other coaches, in the circles that it wasn't seen as Berube's number one choice. I think he felt there were other options that he thought were potentially better for him. I know there's a lot of talk in Ottawa about money and I don't think it's that simple. I think that Berube is basically Berube signed a contract in St. Louis that he's still under. And he feels that that is his worth. And he can afford to be a pick and choose because if there's anything he doesn't like,

then he can just say, look, I'll wait for longer. He's being paid next year by the Blues if he doesn't coach. So I think he can afford to be a little bit choosy. I think he can afford to say, this is my number. And I don't think it's necessarily that the Senators are being cheap here, but I think they knew what the number was going to be. And I think they just felt that it wasn't where they wanted to go to. Plus, it was the fact that I think they sensed that they were not necessarily his number one choice

and I think that's important and so they go to green they interviewed a lot of people um you know I think this about green when Travis like I threw out the New Jersey thing that was a half season thing and I don't think it's a fair indicator of green as a coach. So you, I go out, you throw it out. Like, don't,

don't count that on the, on the, on the resume here. Yeah. I mean, obviously you look at it. If he'd done anything that was a huge red flag, then you say,

okay, we can't do this, but I'm not of the opinion that anything like that happened when he got to Vancouver Vancouver was an organization that was not as stable as it is right now you know during the time there there was a power struggle upper in the office between you know the owner and Trevor Linden and Jim Benning like things just were not that stable and you know he he had Thatcher Demko when he was young and he certainly saw the potential in Demko he had Hughes and Pedersen when they were young and he certainly saw the potential in those guys and he drove them

hard and uh you know I think it's interesting I. After I went on your show and talked about this, I got a call from someone who was close to that situation. And he said that the thing that will help Green in Ottawa in this case is that those players that he's going to be dealing with are going to be a little older in Ottawa than the guys in Vancouver were. I think Green was a huge adjustment for Hughes and Pedersen. Not that they were unwilling or anything like that, because I think those guys know that you have to get pushed. But I think it was early in their career and he grinded them and it was a big challenge for them. I think they have a better understanding now. Those two guys, they want to win and they want to be great players.

I think they were, I don't know if unprepared is the right word, but I think it was a real jolt going to them. The type of training camp they had, like the Sedins have said that that was one of their hardest training camps and they played for John Tortorella so I think Green will learn from what those players liked and didn't like and also I think the Senators will benefit from the fact that the players that Green has to make better and more cohesive are older and a bit more experienced than those two guys were there so you know that

every coaching hire is a risk i think you know i mean we'll see where this goes i think some of the reaction is a little bit over the top but i but green's personality um is is i think what the senators wanted i think the other thing here too is, and I always, I always look for connections. Travis Green played with Keith Kachuk in Arizona and I kind of look at it and wonder, is there a little bit of Keith Kachuk saying, I know this guy and it works for us. You can't let the captain pick the coach, but you want to know that there's not going to be any preconceived problems. And I just can't help but wonder, it's's my opinion i'm sure people will run wild with

the conspiracy theories but it's my opinion that green and kachuk having a bit of a history can't be a bad thing here uh no not at all um i i do wonder about the assistance i wonder if daniel alfredson is still involved on the bench. Certainly he'll be involved in the player development capacity as well. And I think it's interesting. I think we're, and you and I talked about this Tuesday on the radio show, like the movement towards hiring coaches with a, I don't know, Elliot, what do we say, stiffer spine?

Seems to be very much a thing in the NHL right now. The pendulum is swinging back. Well, you know what? I just believe this Jeff, that I think there's a chance someday that I may end up going into management when they throw me off TV. I'm 53 years old. My day is coming. And I've wondered,

and someone asked me once, would you ever want to go into management? And initially I said, no. And I thought about it and I said, maybe I might. And one of the things I said, they said, what kind of boss will you be? And I said, I really don't know the answer, but I know this. Some people are going to like me and some people are going to hate me. And I'm probably going to see things they didn't understand before that I'm going to understand

better once I'm in that seat. But the one thing I did say is that I will be encouraging, but I will also be honest because that's the way I expect to be led. If I'm having a rough day or I'm having a rough show, I think it's always good when somebody says, hey, just pull yourself through it or this is what you need to do. But when I stink, I expect someone to tell me I stink. And many of you on social media do. So I thank you for that.

You know, I think, Jeff, like you're never going to be successful unless you have those brutally honest people in your corner. Someone who can say to you, Elliot or Jeff or Dom, you're being a complete idiot or what you're doing is not good enough to be successful. And sometimes in the moment, we really hate those people, but almost always later, we say, boy, that person had our best interest in mind as long as you don't cross the line we recognize those people have our best interests in mind you'll you'll send for me right like when you get this like big shot management job like you'll you'll you'll you'll send for me right? I think you're going to make an excellent intern. Sticking with coaches, Drew Bannister no longer intern.

He gets the St. Louis Blues job. So now we look at New Jersey and San Jose, and we're going to get to L.A. here in a second, and Columbus and Winnipeg and Seattle still having vacancies. But Drew Bannister with the official business card Tuesday. Jeff, I'm not surprised that they went with Drew Bannister with the official business card Tuesday. Jeff, I'm not surprised that they went with Drew Bannister. And one of the reasons I'm not surprised is there wasn't a lot of news coming out of St. Louis. I think they interviewed Todd McClellan.

I think they were a team that talked to David Carl from the University of Denver, and we'll talk a bit more about him in a minute. But I don't think there was a lot of depth in terms of what was coming out of there. And some of it was because Doug Armstrong tends to be very quiet and very secretive. He likes to keep the blues out of the news in that way. Also, because I think Bannister, if he wasn't already a legitimate candidate and the way that Armstrong talked at the media conference he sure was he became I think over the last little while

really the lead candidate I think the one thing there that might have changed everybody's mind is it certainly isn't a huge coincidence that they finalized this after Boston won. I think there's a lot of people kind of wondering if the Bruins had lost to the Maple Leafs in the first round, would Jim Montgomery have been available and would the Blues have pursued him? So I'm not surprised about Bannister for all of those reasons. As we talked about with Ottawa, I hate the way this gets portrayed or warped or whichever word you want to use. But the Blues, I don't think we're in position to spend top dollar on a coach. You know, if Berube doesn't get hired here or chooses not to take a job, they're still going to be paying him.

So I think that was a factor Bannister gets a two-year deal to continue to show that he's the right guy there a couple of other things that really stood out to me Jeff that are not necessarily about the coach number one Armstrong mentioned that he had Bannister talked to some various members of his team not the players but Armstrong's management team and one of the people he mentioned was Alex Steen. And a couple people said to me that this is something worth watching, that Alex Steen, who was a longtime player with the Maple Leafs and the Blues, and won a Stanley Cup with the Blues, is now somebody who may be growing in St. Louis management and potentially someone who could be groomed to be a future general manager. So I think that's something worth watching. A couple people were saying it's not a coincidence that Steen's name came up

as someone Doug Armstrong wanted Bannister to meet with. So just wanted to add that on the pod. I think also, you know, Jordan Kairou scored 37 goals under Berube the year before. Everybody remembers how poorly this year started for him. You know, the fact that he had that very emotional night after Berube was fired. Kairou seemed to really respond to Bannister, who did make the team a bit more offensive after a slow start. He finished with 31 goals. I would think that, you know, the fact that Kairou recovered very nicely under him would also be a factor.

He's a pretty big part of the Blues' future. They need him to be, and he responded. I mentioned David Carl there a couple minutes ago. It seems very likely that he's going to be returning to the University of Denver. Elliot, he kind of has a great setup there. Like a really, really good setup. I don't think that should surprise anybody, but nonetheless. Oh, yes, he does, and he knows it.

It's a great setup for him and his family and also you know people talk about carl as a hugely competitive guy he has a chance to win back-to-back world juniors this year people think that that is very meaningful for him and it probably worked out very well for the university of den. Not that Carl was likely to leave anyway, but that that kind of carrot was put in front of him because that would really motivate him. Just a couple other names I would say to keep up in coaching circles. Mentioned on your radio show earlier today, Berube and the Devils. I've been on that. Jay Woodcroft, I think, is a key part of that search

as well. Just a couple other names that I'm hearing too. Ryan Warsofsky, I think he was an assistant in San Jose. He was a real up-and-comer a couple years ago when he was hired on David Quinn's staff. Unfortunately, a lot of those guys are in limbo now because of the coaching change, but I've heard he's gotten at least one interview I don't know if that's what the Sharks are not but I heard he's gotten at least one interview and I had a couple of people say to me that you should be looking around at Gerard Gallant and DJ Smith too now I haven't pinned down exactly where yet, but I had someone say to me, you should start chasing those particular situations. So we'll see where all this goes.

OK, Los Angeles Kings here quickly and we'll see what happens with the coaching decision. It sounds like Jim Hiller is being given some serious consideration by Rob Blake. Rob Blake had some interesting comments a couple of days ago about his team, whether it was no buyout for Pierre-Luc Dubois, whether it was the priority about getting a Quinton Byfield deal done, whether it was blending in younger players into the lineup,

whether it was, I don't know how you see it otherwise, taking a swipe at Artur Kaliev, moving away from the 1-3-1. What did you pull out of the Rob Blake presser the other day? A couple of things. The Dubois thing

was obviously the biggest news that they weren't considering doing that. I'm not surprised that Blake is staying on for another year based on the conversation we had last week. We talked on Monday's pod that people had said there was no chance they were going to buy out Dubois. And he made that pretty clear.

I do think Hiller has a decent chance at keeping that job. I don't know that I would put a percentage on it, but that seems to be the word around the NHL. At the very least, Blake is going to talk to him about it. And, you know, Blake also said, you know, we're going to talk about how we want to play. And Hiller seemed to indicate, it was interesting. They basically framed it as Hiller has ideas about what we should do, but we didn't have time during the season to implement them.

So there's going to be a conversation about what Hiller thinks they should play. And Hiller is a guy who does have some pretty good offensive ideas, from what I understand. Byfield, I'm curious about that one too, Jeff, because obviously he's a cornerstone. And you know my rule, which is sign them for as long as you can, as quick as you can, because the price never goes down. The interesting thing is the NHLPA just went through three agents meetings with all the representatives. One was held in LA, one was held in New York, and one was held in New York and one was held in Toronto. And basically what they told them was 5% increase this year,

5% increase or 5% increase this summer for next season, 5% increase the year after in the summer of 2025, as per the CBA. We'll see if there's any wiggle room, but that's what you should expect. And then we'll see. So there are some agents who came out of that saying, you know, what do I do here? Do I sign players who have high ceilings and Byfield would be one of them to short-term deals and then wait to see where the cap goes or do I just go term now? So it'll be interesting to see how Byfield feels, his reps feel, and the Kings feel.

I think if they feel that he's as good as he is, do it. But there's two sides to this. Kaliev is clearly getting dealt. It's the best outcome for the player. Blake was pretty blunt when talking about that. But like I said, it's the best outcome for the player. They didn't use him and he needs to go kickstart his career somewhere else. Obviously, I think they'll look at the goalie market, see what they want to do there. But again, like this whole thing to me is, you know, it's people keep on saying, oh, the king's got to give Dubois better wingers. It's on Dubois, too. You know, he has to show them that he is the player that they paid for.

And that, to me, is the number one thing that they have to deal with this summer is how are they going to unlock them? Because, you know, do the Kings deserve some criticism? Absolutely they do. But the player deserves criticism too. So you have to work together to find this solution. Because for the next two years, I believe, he's their highest paid player in terms of actual cash. So anytime you put a player in that position, if he doesn't produce, it's very, very hard to overcome that. So I know the Kings fans are not happy and they see different problems. But for me, the linchpin to them getting better is him getting to his potential i i wonder if he goes back to the wing i i i really do i i wonder if you know and blake talked about this at the presser

you know how close by field was to becoming a full-time center with the los angeles kings i really do wonder and then listen pierre-luc dubois enjoyed a lot of success for a long time in junior hockey playing wing. It was the Columbus Blue Jackets really that kind of made him the full-time center with that organization. And it's just kind of stuck. I wonder if at least to start next season

they look for Pierre-Luc Dubois on the wing. But we'll see. We'll see when we get there. With coaches this week, we have to talk about Rick Bonas, who called it a career and what a marvelous career it was, finishing up with the Winnipeg Jets a number of stops along the way. When we think hockey lifer,

we think Rick Bonas. When we think about all the different players that he's helped on the ice, off the ice, you and I talked about, you know, his work with Victor Hedman when he was a young player

with the Tampa Bay Lightning organization. Rick Bonas calls it a career. We suspect that Scott O'Neill will be the next head coach there in Winnipeg. Nothing official yet as we record this. Your thoughts on Rick Bonas, Bones, calling it a career, Frege? A coaching career, because I think he could end up in television. Ah, maybe sitting next to you. You and BXA, in between you and BXA?

Well, why not? Not full time, but part time I could see it. I think he's got a lot to offer. Because the thing is, Jeff, every time I ever talk to Rick Bonas, I learn something. He's a good teacher. And you talked about it with players,

but he was also a very good teacher for broadcasters. Can you explain to me why you're doing this or what you're thinking here and he was more wordy than I am sometimes which is hard to believe but you always you always felt that you were getting something right and I really like that about him he like as you heard him yesterday, he just loves hockey. He loves talking about hockey. He loves being around hockey. So I can't ever see him not there. Like I wonder if also he becomes maybe a consultant for some team just because I'd always want his notes. I want to know I can call him and talk to him and say, hey, what do you think about this? Or what do you think about that? the one thing I was happiest about for him is his first year as an NHL head coach was part of a

season in Winnipeg 28 games that doesn't count but his second year as a head coach was the 91 92 Boston Bruins and they went to the Stanley Cup semifinal before they got beaten by that juggernaut pittsburgh team and you think that you're set and the boston bruins fired him that summer and they replaced him with brian sutter so you're sitting there and you're thinking I just got to the Stanley Cup Finals and what just happened to me? So he goes into the first itineration of the Ottawa Senators and you know that was set up for failure everybody knows that now they just weren't going to be successful in the short term. He won 39 games in three and a half years and he got another brief chance with the Islanders and

he got another brief chance with the Coyotes and then he became a very successful assistant coach for a long time in Vancouver and Tampa and Dallas and I Remember in Tampa we had a conversation. He, do you ever think that I'll get another chance? And at the time he had to be, geez, at the time he had to be 60 years old, right around there. And at that time, Jeff, internally, like you're thinking, I don't know, like, I don't know if that's going to happen, but I thought about it and i asked around and you know he he he wanted it so badly and he got it in the most challenging of situations when dallas had to move on from jim montgomery in the middle

of a season and he ran with it and that was the thing i was happiest for because you look at all the situations where he was head coach you would have thought in his first full stop he would have had a run in Boston and instead it sent him on this trajectory where each situation seemed to be weirder or more challenging than the previous one and I was just happy for him that he got another chance to have a run he got to a stanley cup final i know he loved coaching the jets um you know i i'm happy he got that chance i really am uh i'm with you about the teaching uh in the the couple of interviews that we did with him here on the podcast you walk away from is saying i didn't know that i didn't know this i'm i understand the game better uh from having spoken to uh to rick

bonus so listen congratulations uh on a wonderful career uh hockey lifer is a term we like to talk about a lot here on this podcast and rick bonus certainly fits that bill just don't take all of our jobs in television okay um the vegas golden knights and jonathan marshes so it seems as if Okay, the Vegas Golden Knights and Jonathan Marcheseau. It seems as if interest is mutual. Much like anything with Vegas, though, how do you do it, Elliot? Well, it's very clear to me after what Kelly McCrimmon and Jonathan Marcheseau said at the exit interviews, and I believe this to be true, they're going to take a run at this and they're going to take a run at

this pretty quickly. And when Vegas decides they're going to do something, they either get it done or do everything possible short of that. So we should be on alert for the possibility this actually does occur and then we have to see what happens around it as I said the other day I think Stevenson's going to be a challenge for them not impossible but I think it's going to be a challenge for them Marcia so he confirmed something that I'd heard, but you never want to put words in people's mouth, especially down the stretch of a season.

But the word on Marcius was he had kind of indicated internally that he thought he might be done there. And he did say that that was going through his mind. But now with the season over, Vegas basically has seven weeks here to figure out how to do it and so we'll see where this goes um it's gonna take juggling but when player wants to stay and team wants to say especially that team if they say we want someone they really want someone say we want someone they really want someone i think we should be prepared for a serious run at it here um okay so it's been an interesting week for the toronto maple leafs and the week's not even over uh and who knows what's going to happen between now and when we see management sit down

and address the media on friday a particular note there bre Brendan Shanahan is scheduled to speak. Now, anything stand out to you from either Sheldon Keefe's media availability? I mean, it seemed quite obvious that right out of the gate, he talked about this is a results-oriented business and we haven't gotten the results and I take full responsibility for that. Like right away, he just dove on it. I know that Mitch Marner, the comments about being perceived as gods in the market didn't exactly go over well in some corners, but players are emotional.

It's a couple of days after a loss. I don't take a whole lot. I don't read too much i'm not gonna be attacking marner for this yeah um did did anything stand out for to you from from monday or tuesday from the maple leafs jeff i think i have a little bit of a better idea of why this week is unfolding as it is you know the players in sheldon Keefe had their availabilities on Monday. I think Wednesday is an important day in terms of meeting and planning in the organization. Like, I don't know exactly who's all going to be in this. I don't know exactly when it's all going to happen.

when it's all going to happen. But I do think that Wednesday is a day where they're really going to start to drill down on where things are going to go here over the next little while. I think you have to get over the emotion of the situation. Everybody wanted to wait a couple of days, but now it's time to start moving everything forward. You know, one thing I believe,

the NHL Tuesday was draft lottery day. I don't think the league wanted a lot of news on that day. You know, Ottawa's coaching situation had gotten out, so they kind of understood, okay, that one. But I don't think they wanted too much there to interfere with the Celebrity celebration. Also, Sheldon Keefe was inducted into the Brampton Sports Hall of Fame on Tuesday night. And I think the Maple Leafs also, too, are very sensitive of that. But I think

Wednesday is going to be the day where they really start to meet and go over what's coming. And I think that's why the availability was pushed from Thursday to Friday. Because you meet Wednesday, maybe you have to make some short-term decisions on Thursday, let everybody know, and then meet the media on Friday. So I think that's where we kind of are with the Maple Leafs. And I think that, like I said, Wednesday is going to be a meeting day. You know, the thing about Bradtree Living is he's not a guy who likes to overreact quickly. He likes to think, he likes to ponder. And that's not a bad thing. You know, I'll tell you this, like a couple of years ago, there was a, I said something about

one team that I felt that they were dragging it out with their coach. And someone from that organization called me and they were mad. They said, you know, you're saying I'm not being fair to that coach. I've got to be right to my organization. I have to make sure I make the most thorough decision. And I have to say to myself, okay, if not that coach, then who? and I have to say to myself, okay, if not that coach, then who? And I have to do the most thorough job to determine if this is my coach or not. So I don't like it, especially that there's a hiring cycle going on right now, Jeff. I don't like that these things take time, but the organization is

simply going to say to me, we have to do this right. And Tree Living is not a guy who likes to rush to judgment. So we'll see what the timeline is here. I've got to think by the fact they're not talking until Friday for a reason. And I'm not ready to jump to any conclusions yet on what this all means, but they're not talking until Friday for a reason. And I suspect one of those things is to make sure that they feel they're making the right decision at coach so that's number one tree living is gonna want when he kept Keefe last year the first that one

of the first things he did was if I'm gonna make the change who's better so I have no doubt he's going through that number two you know the the fans are mad at the players saying we're so close you know I thought Riley's answer about we're close but also we're still very far because we've only won one round I thought that was the fairest answer I understand why the fans hate that I do I just don't know what else the players can be expected to say. You know, like they defended Marner. They're not going to dump all over each other.

But I think everybody understands the overall frustration, which is why we are where we are. I had some really interesting conversations about Marner. And, you know, a couple of people reminded me, Darren Ferris, the agent, he likes to take people to UFA. And they said that his, and based on that, people believe that he will say to Marner, you've earned your UFA status, wait for it. Now, maybe that might change. Maybe Marner will feel differently.

Maybe, I mean, who knows what will happen here. But his base advice is usually that. Now, Nick Kiprios, who's been very good on Marner information over the last few years, said that he thinks they will discuss the possibility of being moved, and he may turn out to be right, but that has historically been Ferris' advice. That is true. And a few people warned me there's going to be a lot of posturing here and you better be careful what you believe or

you don't believe which is true look this team is waiting until friday for a reason and the reason is they they probably want to sort out some things so like i said i'm not going to jump to any conclusions and we'll see where we go over the next couple of days but i will tell you privately jeff yes i have like there's been some wild stuff out there and you know you're just chasing it down and right now there's not as we sit here and we do this pod there's nothing that appears to be true should we raise any type of eyebrow i know you've just said you're not going to get led into this but here i am trying to lead you into this do we raise any type of eyebrow that is going to be Keith Pelley,

Brendan Shanahan, and Brad Trilliving speaking on Friday? I think you raised the eyebrow that all three are there. The only thing is, and I don't want people to go wild with this, even though I know they will. I'm going to regret saying this. But remember the Sabres, it was like, we're going to have Kevin Adams and Don Granato, and then they made a coaching change, right? So just because a team announces something doesn't mean it's going to end up that way.

I should say that it doesn't mean it won't. It's just that the fact that it's, look, if everything was so easy to figure out, they would have done their media conference monday or tuesday so it's clear there's something they're working at here there's things they're considering it here that are saying you know what we're going to take the full week to do this but i think you have to be prepared for the fact that something can change elliot before we get to the the break and on the other side the montana's thought line a quick shout out to a couple of western Hockey League teams that just gave us an incredible seven game series, six of which went into overtime. Congratulations to the Moose Jaw Warriors for winning game seven in overtime. 3-2 is the final and congratulations to the Saskatoon Blades. these two teams elliott gave us a tremendous seven game series where six went into overtime can you imagine what everybody must have been going through you talk about an emotional roller

coaster that was that series want to point out as well the game-winning goal in overtime scored by atlee calvert who is by the way someone who was born in moose jaw raised in moose jaw now plays for the moose jaw warriors ladies and gentlemen that is rare uh elliot his brother rowan plays on the saskatoon blades oh i didn't know that wow family moment in the western hockey league on tuesday night the one son is a hero the other one is crushed anyhow congratulations to the Moose Jaw Warriors there now Moose Jaw will face off against Portland for the championship of the Western Hockey League in the queue we have big camo facing off against drummondville and in the Ontario Hockey League it's a couple of classics the London Knights facing off against the Oshawa Generals. Wow.

Good luck to all. Good luck to all. All that needs is the Toronto Marlboros somewhere, and I would remember it from my childhood. Has there ever been a series where all seven games went overtime? I mean, I was following it in Colby Armstrong's Twitter. I was thinking about that. I don't know. I can't remember one that went seven overtimes.

I mean, we've seen goofy seven-game series before. Was it 92 American Hockey League, St. John's facing off against Adirondack and every road team. And that was the final, Calder Cup. And the road team won every single game. Congratulations to Adirondack, Barry Melrose's team. But I don't know that I've seen a seven-game series where they all went to overtime. I mean, I'm sure it's happened somewhere in hockey.

I just don't have that at instant recall here. Have you heard of anything like that? I don't remember a series where all seven games went to overtime. I don't. I'm sure if it happened, someone out there was going to tell us about it, but I don't remember it. Okay, we'll take a quick break. Montana's Thought Line on the other side.

Listen to the 32 Thoughts podcast ad-free on Amazon Music, included with Prime. Welcome back to the podcast. Time now for the Montana's Thought Line. Montana's Barbecue and Bar, Canada's home for barbecue. Thank you, Rick Turner. 32 thoughts at sportsnet.ca. 1-833-311-3232. 32 thoughts at sportsnet.ca. 1-833-311-3232. 32 thoughts at sportsnet.ca, 1-833-311-3232.

Elliot, we're going to start with Jesse from Annapolis, Maryland. Hello, gents. Flames fan transplanted into Annapolis. Hello, Naval Academy. Yes, transplanted into Annapolis, Maryland. Was listening to the pod today and appreciate all the info. You were discussing the potential of Mike Sullivan and John Cooper's availability later in the summer.

My question is this. I know John Gruden was traded from Oakland to Tampa. Has that ever happened in the NHL? Coach Trades Elliott. Well, you on your radio show the other day mentioned michelle bergeron yes he was traded for a first round pick right from quebec to the rangers so this is a fascinating one this i believe ellie it was the only time this has happened in the history of the nhl i stand to be corrected on this one but i believe that is the only time this has happened was 1987 the general managers involved phil esposito

of the new york rangers and maurice filion of the quebec nordiques so filion trains trades michelle bergeron to the new york rangers for a first round pick and 75 000 in cash and the nordiques turned that pick into someone i thought was going to be dynamite in the NHL. And I was way off. And that was Daniel Doré. Remember big, strong defenseman Daniel Doré? Yeah, because Daniel Doré later became a Ranger scout. So when I saw him there, I remembered that he was part of that trade. So that whole thing started off as a joke. So Phyllis Macedo apparently was at the draft in Detroit talking to Fillion and said like, hey, why don't you trade me your coach and expecting Fillion to laugh. And instead Fillion said, let's talk. Now I've never been

able to confirm this. Maybe you know this, but apparently the Michel Bergeron-Maurice Fillon relationship turned really bad But that's what I was always told that was very much in question here. And that's what soured Fillion on Michel Bergeron was a Dale Hunter trade. Bergeron wanted to keep him. Fillion wanted to trade him. Now, the other thing we should mention as well, and Elliot, you'll know this one well, you used to have to compensate teams when you took their coach. That was a few years ago. And the reason that ended was because when Gary Bettman told the teams that he was going to allow them to do that, he said, this better not turn into a problem.

I do not want to mediate difficulties or I'll get rid of this. And it almost immediately turned into a problem. And one of the cases that was a flashpoint was Peter Chiarelli from Boston to Edmonton because in that particular case, the Oilers and some other teams said compensation was only supposed to be if someone still had a job, right?

Peter Shirely was fired from Boston. The Oilers asked to speak to him. And when they hired him, the Bruins demanded compensation. And the Oilers said, no, that's not what this is about. It's about he's no longer your GM. We can take him for that job. And the Bruins said, nope nope he's under contract and that's the way we read it so almost immediately there was a problem and Bettman eventually got rid of it and

the funny thing about that was there were some teams who sided with the Oilers there were some teams who sided with the Bruins but I remember one guy at the time said this is going to end it all and he was right like Bettman just said, no. Now, Jeff, there's one other case I would like to bring up because someone I know heard you talking about this and said there is another case since Bergeron-Doré. And they said it wasn't specifically a trade, but if you go back and look at it, it was part of a process that the NHL had to approve. and look at it it was part of a process that the NHL had to approve when Mike Keenan left the Rangers after winning the Stanley Cup in 94 for the St. Louis Blues it was an incredibly messy there were ended up and there were some conversations about how yes yeah yeah yeah that ended up with Gary Bettman moderating it and as part of allowing Keenan to go to the Blues,

Peter Nedved was traded from the Rangers for Doug Lidster and Esa Tikkanen. So while technically that was a hockey trade. Good point. It was all approved as part of the same package that betman said this is what it's going to take to solve all this so while technically keenan was not traded for nedved the trade was allowed as part of letting keenan go to the blues that was let's just say an interesting time in New York Rangers history. Yes, it was. With Mike Keenan.

But great call and great catch there. Mark, hello, Jeff and Elliot. While I know this situation didn't warrant it, when Dreisaitl got hauled down going for the empty net, it got me thinking, if a player commits an infraction that it warrants a penalty shot while his team's net is empty does the penalized team get to return the goalie to the net for the penalty shot thanks love the show you want to knock that one down yes you you do get to put your goalie back

in the net you you don't have god uh challenging the penalty shot uh Good question. Simple answer. Jerry from Adelaide, formerly Waterloo. Good day from Adelaide. Love the pod. Huge fan of the article and the pod has become necessary. Listening as I do my walks on the beach. Oh, rub it in, Jerry. Okay.

So Jerry goes on amongst a couple of other things he talks about here and rubs it in our face about where he lives and we don't. He has a question about after Zach Hyman scored his hat trick and a flood of hats hitting the ice. The point of his email, here's what he says. I got asked, what do they do with all the hats they collect and put into the bins? This is him watching hockey, I'm assuming in Adelaide, with a bunch of people who weren't necessarily hockey fans but had this question. He says, I've been around hockey for 40 years,

always loved the tradition of hat throwing, but never have I asked the question, what happens to the hats? I was stumped. Do the players get them? Would they want someone's sweaty hat? Did they go to charity? Do the fans collect them back?

If so, how? Given the NHL slash NHLPA constantly advertising their NHL green, hopefully they aren't going to a landfill. Anyway, a quick Google search didn't yield a satisfactory answer. Hence, I throw to you boys, the experts, keep up the great work, boys. Special shout out to Dom for continuously herding the cats and keeping the boys on track. Try the ribs, but also check your tire pressure.

There you go. All right, Jerry from Adelaide. What happens to the hats, Elliot? A lot of them get donated. I've seen this year that in some of Hyman's cases where he had hat tricks, he's donated them to some local shelters or charities i know that happens uh the uh there are some teams someone told me i don't know who it is but someone told me there are some teams that say that if you can identify your hat we'll give it back to you i i heard i didn't know

this but i was told this but hyman had a hat trick late in the year, and there were like 1,000 of them thrown on the ice, and they showed the pictures in all the bags. It was really quite incredible. And the Oilers donate them. They donate to charities or shelters or things like that. One of the funniest things I ever heard, Jeff, was this is probably about 20, 25 years ago.

Sports Illustrated did a story on for example when a team like a team wins the Super Bowl I think they were doing it for football whether it was the college football championship or the Super Bowl you know they have hats and shirts like Patriots win Super Bowl Patriots Super Bowl champions so somebody got the idea what happens to like for example the patriots won their first super bowl beating the rams what happens to the rams hats and shirts because obviously they're not giving those out and overseas right yeah donated to needy countries uh you know for example and they they track some to africa countries that needed clothing

places like that around the world i thought that was a great story it's one of those stories you read it and you're like damn it i wish i'd thought of that idea i i love it because you know in in a lot of countries that you know need the clothing whether it's the hats the shirts there's like an alternative sports universe that's existing where there's all these, all these champions that never happened. And you know, that I'm in love with the alternative sports universe. And that just hits me right in the, Oh yeah, give me some of that. Like you're telling me, like if you had a chance to have a Rams Superbowl shirt, Elliot or hat, you wouldn't wear that one proudly. I would wear it. And when they eventually won, I would say,

told you. So the Rams won the Superbowl before they lost to the Patriots, but then they won the Superbowl again with Matthew Stafford and Aaron Donald 20 years later. So I would have pulled out the shirt 20 years later and said, told you. I love it. Thanks for that email.

The Montana's thought line, Montana's barbecue and bar, Canada's home for barbecue. We're back in a moment. Jeff, Elliot, and Tom on 32 Thoughts try their ribs today. Oh, yeah. Welcome back to 32 Thoughts, the podcast presented by the GMC Sierra Elevation. Elliot wrapping up another pod, reminding people tonight's two big games. Boston Bruins facing off against the Florida Panthers. boston leads this series one nothing as everybody predicted and we finally

get to see the edmonton oilers face off against the vancouver canucks bracket that one for a second i want to finish with that but initially the boston bruins look to take a 2-0 series lead on the road over the Florida Panthers, Elliot? What gives? First of all, all the credit to the Bruins and particularly dad energy, Brandon Carlo and Jeremy Swayman, who's been phenomenal to start the playoffs.

Are we doing consum my trophy watch already? Are we already? No, I'm not. I'm not Anthony Stewart. We do it on the first night of the playoffs. He's my leader. The thing about Swayman is like now I'm riding him until he tires.

Monday was the first time he's ever played six days, six games in a row. It's the first time he's ever played six games in 13 days and he was great. So I'm just going with him now. Like I told you, I would have started all Mark in game one. And Kevin said he would have started all Mark in game two, regardless. Now I'm just going with him until he's tired. Go, go, go.

They were the far better team in game one. I was really impressed with their game and a lot of depth scoring like that. Laura looks like a real steal 14th defenseman taken in that draft. A lot of good D ahead of him, but that's that's a real steal for them. I think that you know what you know what really stood out to me Jeff is I thought they were relaxed. I thought they got stressed as that series against Toronto went on there was a lot of stress around both those teams obviously but I thought it really affected the Bruins and that was the first unstressed game I saw them play in about four or five games they were free it was a little bit of playing with house money for them

and I think the Carlo thing also gave them something that kind of jolted them and exciting them like when he showed up all of the high fives he got they had a new energy i can't imagine that florida is going to be that bad again i love what you know marie's had a couple of good days of quotes first of all he defended marner on the play, the game-winning goal, something that Andrew Brewer pointed out in his excellent article on Sportsnet.ca. And secondly, he said, yeah, Ekblad had a rough night, but he's going to be a lot better. And I suspect a lot of their players will be better, too. And also, it's looking like Sam Bennett's getting pretty close. And you know he's going to add some piston vinegar to the series.

For sure. I do wonder if that gets moved along after losing game one. Like if Florida Panthers would have won that first game, would there be a pressure on for Sam Bennett to come back? Probably not.

I do see the point about Aaron Eckblad. And that was kind of a weird turnover off the boards on the Morgan Geeky goal. Like that was a, I don't know, that was bizarre. And I think we do expect more out of Aaron Ekblad in game two and subsequent. A couple of other things, your thoughts on, you know,

I really like Justin Brazzo. I know you guys talk a lot about him on TV and for good reason. That, I mean, that four to one goal, like what a great big man power move that was to the net and he does it all the time it doesn't always work but I don't know to that game one to me was like well first of all the Jeremy Swayman show and number two that was all about defense and depth scoring Morgan Geeky Justin Bra Justin Brazzo, Jake Dabruska,

I know is not exactly a depth guy. He's a top guy, but he chimes in with the 5-1 empty net goal there. That to me was a really good, solid effort. And it wasn't just the regular starring cast like Brad Marchand and David Pasternak, et cetera, Charlie McAvoy that were getting it done for the Boston Bruins.

Good win. Really, really good done for the Boston Bruins. Good win. Really, really good win by the Boston Bruins. Now we get to the all-Canadian matchup. Vancouver Canucks and the Edmonton Oilers. If for no other reason than this we can just calm everybody down at least a little bit or let everyone come up and have a breath on social media, we finally get game one, Elliot. what are you looking for in this series i'm looking for the provinces of alberta and british columbia to fall into the earth and completely disappear

in anger at each other i get the feeling we're already close, even before Parker dropped Elliott. I'm not going to lie to you. You're 100% right. We talked about it the other day. It's not going to take much to push this. It's over. I can't wait for this series to start.

I think it's going to be an incredible series. I think the Canucks players believe that Shelovs can give them enough goaltending to keep them in the games. And they know it's on them to protect him. I think this is going to be incredible hockey. Who did Dreisaitl say they wanted to beat this year to you at All-Star? Vancouver Canucks. He pointed out how they'd manhandled them earlier this year.

So look, Jeff, you don't need any more motivation at this time of year. A trip to the Western Conference Final is enough, but you can already feel it boiling. Yeah, it's good. A washed pot never boils. That's a lie here, Jeff. We're watching this pot,

and it's boiling right in front of us. I can't wait for it to start. It's going to be great. Enjoy it. You got the two games tonight. We'll talk all about it. You'll hear from us again first thing Friday morning.

Enjoy the hockey. We're back in a couple of days. hear from us again first thing Friday morning. Enjoy the hockey. We're back in a couple of days. Thanks for listening once again to 32 Thoughts, the podcast.