32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Panther Meat

Episode Date: May 8, 2023

The 1942 Maple Leafs did it! Jeff and Elliotte break down Toronto’s Game 3 performance against Florida as they go down 3-0 in the series (1:00), Seattle takes care of Dallas at home (18:30), New Jersey wins big in Game 3 (25:25) and Edmonton puts on a show in Las Vegas (36:00),.They guys also get into some news from around the league — Gallant is out as head coach of the Rangers (43:40), Stan Bowman’s name is in the mix (50:20), the latest on Pittsburgh (53:00) and Philadelphia (54:10), Ottawa has another celebrity buyer (55:20), Scott Howson and the AHL (57:00), the Chicago Wolves situation (58:00), Draft Lottery (59:30) and we take an interesting voicemail (thanks Kaylie Dankevy of CCM Hockey for the help!).Also, Jeff is not Daniel Sprong’s agent!Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call The Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemail.Outro Music: Miesha and the Spanks - Dig Me OutListen to the full track hereThis podcast was produced and mixed by Amil Delic, and hosted by Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman.Audio Credits: ABC News, AT&T SportsNet, Bally Sports, KJR FM, Sportsnet, TNT, WTMM-FM and WQAM-AM.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.

sure yeah hey jeff it's spronger here uh just want to say thanks for uh being the president of my fan club uh you know i don't have twitter but everyone's telling me you love going at everyone at twitter so i appreciate the support and uh you know if i'm looking for a new agent i know who to call so uh thanks for everything and appreciate the support you hear that papri song you're out america's in that's so perfect actually so perfect we're gonna wow that just made my night emil thanks so much for that we're um we're gonna get to seattle here in a couple of seconds let me do the uh the proper introduction uh welcome once again to 32 thoughts the podcast presented by the gmc canyon

at4x uh very much looking forward now, more so than ever, to talking about the Seattle Kraken. Thank you so much for that, Daniel Sprong. Hope he's okay, by the way. Yes. More on that coming up a little bit later on. In the meantime, the Florida Panthers have the Toronto Maple Leafs on the brink, Elliot, of elimination.

They are now riding a six-game winning streak. Burbowski was excellent. Anthony Duclair was fast. The Leafs' big guns were silent. And don't look now, but Samsonov's hurts. Sam Reinhardt with the overtime

heroics. 3-2 is the final. They can clinch on Wednesday. Here's Reinhardt. Twisting outside the line. Now advancing. Plays the pick to the far side. Lundell. Back to Reinhardt.

Scores. Sam Reinhardt, the hero. And the Panthers have a 3-0 lead. Jeff, here's the most stunning thing to me. All of the goodwill from the first round is gone. Oh, boy. I never would have imagined that. I didn't think there was a scenario where after Toronto broke its 19-year first-round curse

that three games into round two, all of the anger would be back now florida three and oh in overtime the fifth playoff goal for sam reinhardt has pushed toronto to the break and the rats are back as you see them littering the ice here. This play, though, in the neutral zone is one that the Leafs could have closed off Reinhardt and tried to make a play. He just takes himself some time. You got three Maple Leafs that he's able to sift his way through. Gonna bounce past a little wraparound. And look at Wally. Did not see where that puck went quickly.

All of the people I grew up with or know who are huge Leaf fans are furious after game three. And all of the happiness from beating Tampa has completely evaporated. I know I'm supposed to be this seer, this all-knowing individual about what is supposed to happen. Please forgive me. I never saw this. Never. Let me ask you then, does that include the general manager level as well? Honestly, Jeff, I don't know.

I was talking to someone, we're driving home obviously Sunday night. I was talking to someone who obviously is connected to this. And I said to them, like, what, what does this mean? And he said the same thing I just said to you. Cause I feel like, first of all, if you were going to tell me that Florida was going to beat the Maple Leafs, I could have seen that, you know, they beat Boston. Why couldn't they beat the Toronto Maple Leafs? But if you told me they'd be on the precipice of a sweep, I don't think I would have believed it. And if you would have told me Toronto would have lost game three in that way, and we'll get to it. I wouldn't have

believed it. I think right now everyone's in shock and everyone is trying to process it. So as we do the car cast and I'm driving home Sunday night, I don't know if anybody has the real answer to that question. Cause I think everybody is stunned. They thought this was over. They were through a round. We we were gonna see her about round two everything was calm they were gonna run it back they would have to make some salary cap changes and they would have to get some business done but basically all the big names were in the

clear right yeah and now we're sitting here today and you're asking me this question i think the thing that we're are is unprepared like i said we thought this was over and particularly when it comes to the core four and you know nylander had a brilliant assist on the second goal yep but they've gone from 34 points 14 14 goals in six games against Tampa, to four points, no goals in four games against Florida. Now, the one thing here you're always wondering in the playoffs, is there an injury that someone's dealing with? You know, what someone was saying to me was you almost hope the answer is yes

so it can explain what happened because the crazy thing about game three is their best players you know matthews hit the post on his first shift and he had some good defensive plays and the kneelander assist but other than that those guys didn't make any impact on the game at all and that is the most stunning thing about this is that look you can lose it happens one team wins as Brian Burke says I checked only one team wins the Stanley Cup but what's not acceptable is to lose like that. And that's where we are after game three. You know, no offense to David Kampf, but would I be wrong in saying I thought David Kampf was Toronto's best player in game three?

Him and Lafferty. Yeah, him and Lafferty. If those two are your best players, when you have a team with Matthews, Marner, Tavares, Nylander, Riley, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, things probably aren't going very well, and they're not. The Samsonov injury and the Samsonov question looms large now. And here with one hand on the stick, Matthews tries to get around Ekblad. That turnover leads to this chance off the rush.

Good blocker save. Now the rebound. There's a trip right there by Shen. And as Shen trips up for Hagee, it's Shen that just goes barreling in on Samsonov. And keep your eye on Samsonov's head and neck and shoulder right there. As he takes the brunt of it.

Because your eyes as a goalie are on the puck only. So that's a good first save. Now he's looking at the puck. Trying to track it. And as he's going to his right you can see how his neck and head just gets jolted. Although I thought Joseph Wall came in and did really well. Honestly, I thought he did well. I don't blame him for this one at all.

Like he had to walk into a power play. He immediately got a one-timer, which he stopped. Then he got the breakaway. And I thought Kevin did an excellent breakdown of how that should not have been allowed to happen but it did there's a pass straight on duclair pass the defense works and dixie scores anthony duclair a power play goal and this game is tied duclair went in all alone after the stretch pass and he's able to beat wall and the panthers tie this game and won like the second shot he faced was a Duclair breakaway, and then he stopped one later.

I don't blame this one on Wall at all, and I would assume he's starting game four if Samsonov can't play. Of course. Now, Matt Murray apparently has said he's healthy, and he's been eager to play. I just don't know that you're throwing him into that. I think Wall is your guy. But the other thing, too, is on the winner, Jeff, Kevin mentioned it on air, when Reinhardt circled and turned back into the Toronto zone, I said, uh-oh.

And the reason I was concerned for them is because Reinhardt made a smart play where he could go and come at them with speed and all the Leaf guys were basically standing still. Mike Rupp did a great breakdown on Twitter of everything that went wrong for Toronto on that play. There were a bunch of plays they should have made, and none of them got made. Keefe could have gone Gerard Gallant once and said,

our best players weren't there and they've got to be a lot better than that he didn't do it toronto's players in the post game looked absolutely shell-shocked i mean so were we all watching it it's gonna seem like forever before game four florida's gonna want to play that game monday afternoon oh yeah they're gonna be like let's get out here and let's start again it's gonna feel like forever for the leafs but it's so amazing to me like i thought that they would win the round and they'd be free like an angel flying around the sky because all the pressure was off it looks looks like it's worse. Yeah. That they feel even more. And again, for the 96th time in this podcast, I'm astonished at what I'm watching.

It does very much feel like the lion's share of this team is treating that first round victory like their Stanley Cup. Like that was the goal this year. The goal was to get out of the first round. You know, you guys talked about this post game on the panel and a lot of players have taken the foot off the gas. That's what it seems like again,

to your point. And I'm the same way I want to see reveal day. And I want to hear reveal day on, you know, who's injured and what's the nature of those injuries. But it does very much seem like the goal is to win a round of the playoffs. And they did that. And then they took their foot off. Meanwhile, the Florida Panthers have just kept on rolling. Let's park some time here by talking about the Florida Panthers. We've talked

about this a lot from the, the Toronto Maple Leafs point of view. I thought this was another gutsy effort by the Florida Panthers. You know, Sam Lafferty makes it 1-0 end of the first period. Okay. Florida Panthers, never a sense of panic here. As great as that Anthony DeClaire goal was, and man, did he burn right in between the two Toronto Maple Leaf defenders, that was a hell of a pass by Aaron Ekblad. Yes, it was.

That was a laser beam, tape-to-tape pass by Aaron Ekblad. And then the two teams essentially exchanged similar goals, like shots from the point that were deflected. One off of Stahl, which counted for Gustafsson, one off Verhege, which counted, of course, for Verhege. And then the stalemate was on. And then it turned into the goaltenders' duel. And then you're right.

That play is going to get broken down time and time again. And for everybody, like here's the thing that I thought of on the Reinhardt play. For everybody out there who thinks the Maple Leafs are too soft and they're seeing it against a team with snarl like the Florida Panthers, that was a protein shake. That was a protein shake for all those people because how many different Maple Leafs in that sequence had a chance to either get a lick in on Reinhardt or slow Reinhardt down, but give it to Reinhardt.

He read the play perfectly and it's a wraparound. It's a very, very defendable wraparound and defendable by so many players and listen Reinhardt played that thing spectacularly and the look on his face afterwards

and the look on his teammates face just tell you everything you need to know about this team like at a certain point and I don't know exactly

when it was but the Florida Panthers against the Boston Brewers really started believing in themselves and you can see confidence growing you really can but the Florida Panthers against the Boston Bruins really started believing in themselves and you can see confidence growing. You really can with this Florida Panthers team. And I know I'm going to go back to what my buddy said the other day after the last game, 2012 Los Angeles Kings, Elliot, you said, we'll see. You know what happened in the second round with the Los Angeles Kings in 2012, they swept the St. Louis Blues, Elliot,

and the confidence continued to grow, Elliot. Are you coming over to Camp 2012 LA yet, Elliot? Soon. We'll see. We'll see. You know, the thing that I give them credit for was, as Sheldon Keefe said, they gave up two two-on-ones in the first period. Matthews hit the post on the other right away, and they made their adjustment and they fixed it. Well, cut to Florida.

They defended well. Obviously, Austin rips one off the crossbar just seconds into the game. Could have changed that narrative. But, yeah, Florida played hard today. They defended the middle guys well there was a lot of opportunities for our guys there you know in the first five minutes so if we had three or four odd man rushes out of that and like the way we started the game that way obviously got florida's attention on it and they they plugged it up pretty good after that so yeah not the 505

not a lot of space no power plays in the game makes it makes it tough on those guys you know Bobrovsky again so one of the former Florida coaches reached out to me they heard what we were talking about apparently he's the kind of guy he loses 10 pounds during the game I heard you mention that on the show yeah that's wild he's a really slight guy. He's not that big. So he's got a very strict routine about eating and rehydration. And the extra day, like this person told me, the extra day would be huge for him. And he gets it again because he can do everything he needs to do for recovery.

And he's a guy who really needs it. And, you know, he's been fantastic again i don't know if there's a rhyme or reason to this after all the struggles he's had he's had but he's been doing it right now and you know the other thing jeff is enough with the complaining about the officiating i know tron didn't get a power play tonight and it is weird i'm not gonna I know Toronto didn't get a power play tonight, and it is weird. I'm not going to argue that. But for a lot of that game, they weren't generating anything that kind of would create power plays. Like, I think when your best offensive players are as quiet

as Toronto's were on this night, you don't get a lot of penalties. Like, the one thing about the Oilers guys McDavid and Dreisaitl is their motors are always going always always and were there missed calls I'm sure there were but it's not like you were looking at that game and go here's a thousand missed calls that Toronto should have gotten as a matter of fact at the end of regulation there were probably about three in the last two minutes that Toronto could have had and they swallowed their whistles there too. I already see that narrative out there. Oh, like they were screwed by the referees again.

This has got nothing to do with it. Like, not on this night. I don't want to hear that. I don't care that they didn't get any power plays. They didn't really deserve any. I don't care that they didn't get any power plays. They didn't really deserve any. And they got saved at the end of regulation when they could have got some called against them.

One more thing on this series, then we'll flip over to Dallas, Seattle. There's an extra day here again. Part of me is really anticipating, you know, the negativity growing to the point where by the time the puck hits the ice for game four, we're going to convince ourselves that the Maple Leafs are the 74-75 Washington Capitals. Like this is just going to be this cloud of negativity around. Listen, they've shot

themselves in the foot here. Like I'm not trying to make excuses for him. I just know how Toronto reacts to situations like this. This is going to be for a Maple Leafs fan, Elliot. Awful. Just awful. Getting to Wednesday. Well, it's going to be venting. Like a lot of them will be venting, but you have to be okay with that. When you have that kind of performance in that kind of a game.

Oh yeah. That's life. You know, like if we have a bad podcast or a bad show which neither of which has ever happened no i don't know that is you know it's bad people are going to tell you man that really stunk and all you can do is say next podcast going to be better next show is going to be better that's the way it is when you have a night like that you have to take it because people are upset and people are gonna vent and sometimes criticism is unfair or it's over the top but in this case this is not a situation where you can really say boy it's unfair that's what happens

by the way the other thing you know what tonight proved? What's that? That already they miss nyes when he's not playing. See, I think that too, but then I catch myself and say, hold on. He's barely played in the league long enough to grow hair on his chest. Yes. By the way, there are some people who come out of college and are very hairy, Jeff. I just felt I should correct you on that.

Okay, very good. But the thing is, I disagree with you. I think, yeah, he hasn't been around a long time, but he's very aware defensively, and he's very energetic, and he wins battles. And they could have used that. I just can't pin a large part of this on their missing Matthew Nyes because they went through this entire season. No, no, I don't think a large part is fair. I just think he proved that he was...

They do miss him. Oh, for sure. An important ingredient. You can't have chocolate chip cookies without the chips, Jeff. I do enjoy a good chocolate chip cookie and I'm still unclear about what are these bad shows you speak of. Without the chips, Jeff. I do enjoy a good chocolate chip cookie. And I'm still unclear about what are these bad shows you speak of.

I'm unfamiliar with these concepts. Listen to the 32 Thoughts podcast ad-free on Amazon Music, included with Prime. Okay, let's get to Seattle. And wow, what a performance that was by the Seattle Kraken. This crowd going nuts here after game three. Ronick Foxa lost it. There's the buzzer. There's the horn.

And the Seattle Kraken pick up their first home win in the playoffs in the month of May. It's a 2-1 series lead following a 7-2 win here in game three. Seattle Kraken this game open in the second period. Five goals and they ride it to a 7-2 victory. Grubauer was near perfect. I know goalies, whenever they hear, he'd like to have that one back. What the goalie hears is,

well, I'd like to have all of them back. Thank you very much. But this wasn't the best performance we've seen out of Jake Ottinger. Scott Wedgwood comes in for the third. I mentioned off the top after we heard nicely from Daniel Sprong. Sprong did not come out for the third period.

And also on the Dallas side of things, Miro Haskinen gets hit in the face Heard nicely from Daniel Sprong. Sprong did not come out for the third period. And also on the Dallas side of things, Miro Haskinen gets hit in the face by a puck. It leads to a goal. Parche shooting. That falls Haskinen. Eberle puts in the rebound. George!

The initial shot catching Miro Haskinen right in the the face and it falls right to Jordan Eberle he'll finish the play he'll check on Heiskanen cracking on top one nothing 17 50 to play in the second fancy little dangle right at the front of the net we've seen this happen before in the in the playoffs he did not return either again that one looms large over the Dallas Stars here. I think he's okay. I'm under the impression he's going to be okay. Well, I hope so because on the ladder of players you can afford to lose for the Dallas

Stars, he's right up at the top where you cannot afford to lose a player like Miro Heiskanen. Number two on my Norris ballot. Word. And they really struggled without him. We're not supposed to reveal our places for our place here, Elliot.

Frank can put me in voting jail if he wants to. You're going to go in voting prison. Frank's apparently a pretty tough judge too. I won't get a lenient sentence. I'll get 20 years in voting prison for that one. At least you have a podcast to make your picks, Elliot.

At least you have a podcast to make your picks. That. At least you have a podcast to make your picks. That's right. Interesting for Seattle. With the Carson-Suse goal, and we're going to get there in a second, the Seattle Kraken have now had 16 different goal scorers in the playoffs, only the fifth team to do so. Now, Colorado did it last year.

Vegas did it in 2020. The Jackets did it in 2019, and the Detroit Red Wings did it in 2011. But did it in 2019 and the detroit red wings did it in 2011 but i always find it remarkable and this but we've talked about this balanced attack by the seattle kraken before and this was that balanced attack on display again on sunday evening eberly venberg susie beneers Suse, Beneers, Tolvanen, Gord, Schwartz, some great play from the netminder once again, and all of a sudden the Seattle crack and have a 2-1 series lead

to which Elliott Friedman says what? Well, the biggest question I have is what's going on with Eidinger? You know, we said after game one that won't happen again, and it didn't happen in game two, but he had a really rough night in game three. It was Soucy really fooled him. The Seuss is loose.

Carson Soucy from the left circle goes up the pads of Ottinger and in. This roof has blown off. It's a 3-0 Kraken lead, 13-30. The fifth goal right before the end of the second period, he pushed the puck right back into harm's way. 40 seconds to go in the second. Donato trying to back pass in front. Tolvanen follows up and scores.

Eli, Ellie Tolvanen with 37. half seconds to play in the second period. 5-1, cracking back up by four. The Beneers goal wasn't great either. Like the Susie Beneers back-to-back, those two were tough. Walks in, top of the left circle, scores! A laser from the super rookie, Matty B. From the left side, 4-0, from the left side for nothing. 11-38 left here in the second.

I wanted to give some real credit to Baneers because they punished him last game, and he came back big. That guy showed some real guts in this game, and I think he deserves a lot of credit for it. But you can have one bad game early, but now that's game three. It's been two bad games, and we're getting later into the series.

Jake Ottinger's runway here is over. Like, he has to get going again. Now, don't forget the Stars, similar script against Minnesota. They were down. And one thing about Dallas is they kind of have a reputation in some of these series. It takes them a couple of games to get going. Like, for whatever reason, they always seem to finish

stronger than they start. Well, they're putting that to the test right now because they're basically out of runway. They have to get going. Ottinger's got to get better. They're in danger of Seattle manhandling them even worse than the Kraken did to Colorado. They're feeling really good about their mix and the way they go about things. And the other thing too is Dallas pushes teams around.

Yep. And even they did it quite a bit with Minnesota, which is one of the most physical teams in the NHL. I have to say seattle does not mind this like gourd is right in their kitchen like susie you know he after he scored he did the run to his bench and then he basically went down the dallas bench yelling at them i thought you were gonna high five them he did the train right by his bench and Dallas' bench. Yeah, he kept going. Guys usually peel off

by the time they finish their bench. He kept going. I thought he was going to go into the bench at the end. So Seattle seems to be very comfortable playing the kind of game that Dallas has liked to play. Climate Pledge Arena.

Like there were times where like that, first of all, that place was so loud. That place was jacked on Sunday. Like there were times I'm trying to listen to Alex Faust and Jennifer Botterill doing the play by play in the color. And it's like they were fighting against the fans to get their voice to rise above, like give it to Kraken fans for each. Like that building was loud all night. That was a great crowd.

The concert sounded really fun in the intermissions. Oh, 100%. It really sounded a lot of fun in there, yes. All right, so the Seattle Kraken jump out to a 2-1 series lead. It is one of the best stories going in the playoffs right now. Okay, Carolina Hurricanes and the New Jersey Devils, 8-4 finalists, we all predicted. Devils picking up their first win against Carolina. And that will do it.

And the Devils defeat Carolina by a score of 8-4. Well, all the Devils feel good, right? I just hope Vitek Vanacek does. He, while they're getting the puck here, I wonder if that's for Luke Hughes. The New Jersey Devils are back. Front and center, Jack Hughes. Vitek Vanacek gets a start.

It's 3-0 after the first period. We have highlights like Damon Severson scoring with both Jack and Luke Hughes getting the assists. Timo Mayer with his first goal in the playoffs, his first point in the playoffs. Into the hurricane zone. Mercer for Jack Hughes. Skates behind the net. Checked by Shea. Mayer goes for help.

Tries to warp around and he scores! Puck came loose on the double team. Timo Meyer's on the board. I know really deep inside of you, Elliot, even though you like to pretend that this thing doesn't exist. I know really deep down

inside of you. You love it when I bring things up like this. Okay? Yep. What was for this series, perfect about the Nason-Hala fight? What was perfect about that fight for this series? All right, give it to me. Both players played for the other team as well.

Guaranteed as Hala knocks Jarvis down. And now we're going to have a fight. Nason and Hala, they're in front of the devil's bench. The helmets have come off. You don't see this too often. The helmets are off. They're sizing each other up. Holla reaches.

Had a hold of Mason's sweater. Mason throws a left. A couple of rights thrown in by each side. And Mason throws a couple. Each player has both played for New Jersey and Carolina. It is the perfect fight for this series. And I know there's a part of you that loves that. Yep.

And there's a bigger overriding part that's going to laugh at me for bringing that up on the podcast. Let's see which one wins here. What's your response to that? I like the Ajo Hughes fight more, even though what did they say that wasn't a fight? Jack Hughes taken down at the side of the net.es fight more, even though what did they say? That wasn't a fight. Jack Hughes taken down at the side of the net.

Oh, no, it's Meyer. And he was battling, throwing some big right hands at Ajo. The Swiss against the Finns. It is Jack Hughes. It is Jack. Oh, it was Jack. Excuse me. Yeah. And Meyer was there too, but Jack is very heated.

Wasn't a fight. I like how Hughes went. One day after the UFC, he shoots in for a single leg and tries to take him down with a single leg. I thought that was a really nice touch by Jack Hughes. And there's also something with Hall and the Carolina fans. They don't like him, right? So it does fit that he would get into a fight against them.

Seriously, who scores three shorthanded goals and loses by four? There's no way that's happened in the NHL before. No way. Clearly, Carolina needs to take more penalties. Yeah, that's right. Exactly. They want New Jersey down in player. Yeah, Stahl, Jarvis, and Martinuk with shorthanded goals.

Michael McLeod, by the way, with a shorty as well. So four shorthanded goals in that game. That was a wild one. That was, Freddie Anderson got pulled. You know, Rod Brindamore afterwards. You know, I got to give the other, you know, I give the other, really the credit is they came and they took it to us and that's what happened.

So we were horrible. I mean, that's probably putting it mild, but it's because of what they were doing. And they were the better team, no doubt. Well, we were no good. I don't have anyone else to tell you. I've never seen us play like that. But I give the credit to the other team.

I mean, they were on it. They were dialed in. And then, like I said, gave up a couple, and one we'd like to have back for sure, the shorthand one, that was kind of the backbreaker there. That can't happen, but, you know, and then some weird things the rest of the game where,

you know, I mean, at the end of the day, we just weren't good enough. You know Carolina's coming out better next game. Oh, yeah. You know, New Jersey, if they win this, they should just concede the first two games of the Eastern Final. We'll just give up. We'll start the series 0-2.

I thought Hughes was fantastic. I really did. I thought Jack Hughes was excellent. First of all, you thought he was going to have a real hop and a step because it was a big game. But I think inserting luke also really ramped him up i don't think that kid needs a lot of motivation i think he's just motivated to be great because of who he is but i guarantee to you he was extra wired to play with his brother

who also had an impact on the game. I think you said it. I think Brendan Moore said it. That was an absolute stinker of a performance by them, and the Devils made them pay. Absolutely made them pay. They've got so much talent. If you let that happen, they're going to kill you. Now, the thing that I really like for new jersey is that because

of what way it went down meyer he's going to feel much better about himself because he got some cookies bratt is going to feel much better about himself because he got some cookies severson that goal that team really got caved in in game two there's going to be a lot of New Jersey players who are going to be leaving the ring feeling a lot better about themselves because they got points so they'll be running on a full tank when game four starts but I'm with you no chance Brendan Moore allows that team to play that poorly again. Although, the last time I said that, I was talking about Gerard Galland leading into Game 4

after New Jersey Devils jumped right back into the series with Game 3, and the New Jersey Devils just took the ball and ran away with it afterwards. You know how I feel about the Devils, and you know how I feel about a lot of players on this New Jersey Devils team, and I know how much you like some of those players as well.

I do think we're going to see better from the Carolina Hurricanes, but it's not like we haven't seen New Jersey rise from the dead after two games before. We just saw it against the New York Rangers. 100%. I think this is, hopefully, this is turning into a really good series here. There's no reason it can't continue

to be entertaining. If you're a Carolina, who are you starting in game four, all things being equal? Selfishly, I want Kachetkov. Like, I want Kachetkov to start. Okay. What do you think the reasonable chance of that occurring is? Very slim.

I think they go back to Freddie Anderson. Again, but that's what sports is, right? My head says one thing and my heart feels a different way. Oh, yeah. I get it. We've had this discussion before. Like, my head says one thing and my heart feels another. My heart says, I want to see Kachetkov in there.

My head says, he's going to go back to Freddie Anderson. I think he goes to Anderson. The only thing that made me wonder, Jeff, was there any any chance if ranta's healthy because he's battling an illness yes they would go back to him but he's not so and anderson up until this he's played pretty well and for new jersey i think we may have a true tandem here they're going back to vanichek and they should but i am wondering if this is going to be a back-and-forth, a true back-and-forth duo. Schmid and Vanacek in and out.

Well, you know what's interesting about that? Because I think if you chose two teams and said, okay, one of these two teams is going to go the full flip-flop route here with their goaltenders, is going to go the full flip-flop route here with their goaltenders is going to go true tandem and break with nhl stanley cup tradition it would be one of these two ultra progressive teams would it not yes okay we're going to have a little break here uh we're going to come back and the next section you're going to hear on the podcast we recorded earlier on sunday afternoon all right that's going to include the ed podcast we recorded earlier on Sunday afternoon.

All right, that's going to include the Edmonton-Vegas game, and that's going to include a whole bunch of news as well. Jeff, before we do that, we wanted to make time for Peter DeBoer's statement from the morning skate prior to Game 3 of the Seattle-Dallas series. You've all heard about the awful shooting in Allen, Texas, and we all thought that the way DeBoer spoke was so good, we wanted to include it on the podcast. The terrifying moments of gunmen open fire at an outlet mall near Dallas, at least eight people killed. This marks the 199th mass shooting in the U.S. so far this year.

Just before we start, I just want to acknowledge how heartbroken we are about the mass shooting in Allen, Texas. You know, it's really close to home, obviously, and just tragic. And, obviously, and just tragic. And, you know, I, frankly, when you hear, you know, victims as young as five years old, you just, you get tired of hearing it. And I think, you know, when you hear Sandy Hook and Parkland and Nashville, you know, unless it's in your backyard, you compartmentalize it and put it aside and then when it happens in your backyard you realize you know the horror of it and uh you know i don't pretend to know the answer on how to fix it but it's it's too great a country and too

many intelligent people not to do something about it. So just horrific. Anyway. Elliot Edmonton in convincing fashion in a lot of ways uh even up their series with the Vegas Golden Knights five to one is the final um Leon Dreisaitl the story comma again and it's leon dreisaitl a man on a mission that's his 13th of the playoffs and a really tough rugged game we saw on saturday night a lot of it revolved around evander kane and keegan colasar but they weren't the only two that were engaged this one had a lot of new school skill and a lot of old school toughness. Chris Chapman, Fox Sports Las Vegas. Bruce, after the first game of the Winnipeg series, you talked about being emotionally engaged.

Why did it take the team until they were down 4-0 and it seemed like Keegan Colasar getting punched while he was on the ice for the team to become emotionally engaged? Most disappointing part of the game for me as a head coach. You're going to have nights you're going to get out executed, certainly by this team. They were more competitive, but we got sort of out-teammated, for lack of a better term, and that's disappointing.

That should never happen to the Vegas Golden Knights. We talked about that going forward, that hopefully that's the first thing we correct i'm not going to win if you're not playing as a team um the competitive spirit is in our group it wasn't here today it was here game one it was here as winnipeg so it'll come back i have faith in the guys we'll execute we've been a good executing team but you know sticking together as a team in those regards especially for a guy that stuck up for his teammates all year in every situation we got to do a better job there and i think eventually we got to it but it's kind of sticking together as a team in those regards, especially for a guy that's stuck up for his teammates all year in every situation.

We've got to do a better job there. And I think eventually we got to it, but it's kind of late. And so let's do it from the start. I think the team togetherness in the playoffs, it shows, right? And the other team senses it and knows it. And we have to get back to that first and foremost and get the compete level up. Execution will come after that.

This is why I don't react to game one of a series because there's lots of time for things to sort themselves out, and I won't overreact to game two of the series, same reason. So we've seen the Vegas Golden Knights dominate for a game, and we've seen the Edmonton Oilers dominate for a game. The one thing I would be worried for for Vegas is that the level that Dreisaitl and McDavid are going at, they can almost steal you a game

when they're not playing very well. Like if you look at game one, now not that I'm expecting Dreisaitl to score four goals every night, although maybe I should be. I was going to say, why not? The shooting percentage you guys showed on Saturday was 66%. I know.

It's ridiculous. And the power play is insane. The thing is about those guys right now is they're going, especially Dreisaitl, they're going so well right now that even when they're awful five on five, they can almost win you the game. Like they're within a goal of winning that game. And Vegas dominated it in a lot of the key moments.

Game two, when Edmonton was really firing like that, Vegas, I mean, nobody has what those two guys have. And so Vegas got blown off the ice. And so I think right now when you're playing Edmonton, you have to realize that even on a night where you're good and they're not those guys can almost steal the game and that's what I would be concerned about that we haven't had a game yet where both of those teams are at their best and you know that's coming somewhere in the series I thought the other really good bit of news for Edmonton in game two was Skinner didn't face a lot of shots.

In the first period, it was 19 to four. But I think three of those, Jeff, were grade A chances. And he stopped them. That, to me, was not only was it big that they won and that those guys, the two big guys, had great nights. And they battled Vegas physically. But Skinner had a night where he didn't have a lot of action, and when he did see it, there were great chances, and he was really good.

If I was the Oilers, that would actually be the thing that would make me the happiest. Do you have a thought on the Laurent Boissois pull, giving way to Aiden Hill? I understood it. I'm still going back with Boissois in Game 3, but I thought it was not a bad thing to get Hill some work. Yes, I agree with that.

And keep Brassois rested for this explosive team that again goes three for six on the power play. And now Leon Dreisaitl has 13 goals in eight games. The most in a series, as we know, is 12 by Yari Curry. Leon Dreisaitl has six in two games. Elliot, it's like, it just keeps on adding up. The most in the playoffs, as we all know, Reggie Leach and Yari Curry with 19 each. Provided Edmonton keeps this thing rolling.

Not only is Leon Dreisaitl going to break it, he's going to shatter it. If Edmonton keeps on rolling here. Yeah, I mean, obviously he's playing on another level. You know, and I'm not sure why anyone would be surprised at this point. He's, you know, the best player in the world a lot of nights. And, you know, he's showing that on a regular basis.

This might sound goofy. This is a question probably better for a goaltender to answer, but let me, let me know if you think that there's anything to this. I think we've all looked at Leon Dreisaitl's stick and, you know, the blade is referred to, I think the guys call it the burger flipper. This thing is huge. You know, the canoe paddle, whatever. And I'm trying to think to myself say

what is it about dry sidle that whenever he shoots the bucket goes in what i wonder about is when you have a shorter blade or a traditional blade there's only so many places on the blade you can use as a release point the thing that impresses me about dry sidle is he has this enormous paddle that he uses but it's not as if he just uses one area on it and uses the rest of the blade just to like, you know, sweep pucks at the face off. Like he uses the full blade and he uses different release points on the blade, which I'm guessing must really throw a goaltender off. Like you don't see blades like that. We always hear, you know, Kelly talks about this, you know, reading the blade and you know open blade closed blade you kind of know where it's going

is there something you think and again i'm just asking your opinion with the fact that his blade is so long and it seems like he can release the puck at any point on that blade i mean it must contribute to this goal scoring phenom that we've seen for a number of years. And we're seeing it probably added zenith right now in the playoffs. I think that that is true because if you look at the way he scores, there's a lot of different kinds of shots, right? Yeah. Like there's the one timer, there's the flips. He can go low, he can go high, and he's got an incredibly accurate shot like I do think all of that is

true he's got an arsenal a whole bunch of different ways that he can score on you I think the one timer is the obvious thing and when you've got the kind of passers he has passing to him throwing it there to me that's basic like that's an incredibly hard stop for goalies to make but I think the thing that really stands out to me is that even when they're kind of in position to handle him, he still finds ways to beat them. So it's got to be something like that. An accurate shot with a lot of different ways to do it.

Guy's phenomenal. He's incredible. First, I gave Burns the consmith if Carolina wins the cup. And now I'm just going to, I'm sorry. Sorry, Brent. You had the consmite for three days. Now Dreisaitl's got it. It happens fast in the playoffs.

Things move quick. Okay, Elliot, time for the news portion of the podcast today. And let's do this shotgun style. I'm spitting out names that you give us the very latest. And we'll start with some tough news for Gerard Gallant out as Rangers head coach I don't think this is going to surprise anyone we've been kind of expecting it you know I've said this several times the Rangers looked into it during the year I don't think he was clueless to the fact that the Rangers considered it during the season

they righted the ship they They lost in the playoffs. You know that in that organization, there's going to be consequences and patient owner. And I don't think anybody is surprised this happened. You know, they sure made it sound like a mutual kind of thing. And maybe at the end of the day, it was. Like one of the things I absolutely think happened in Calgary, for example, was after the exit meetings, the management and the coach looked at it and said, this wasn't going to work.

And even though, you know, the decision was made to let go of Sutter, I think at the end, I was told that he realized it was the only way it was going to go. Look, I think in New York, it was probably the same kind of decision-making process. Gallant, I think, wants to coach, and I wouldn't be surprised if he becomes a contender in some of these other places. You know, one of the things that I definitely believe is once we know the results of the draft lottery on Monday, I think that's going to influence who some of these teams look at for coaches. There's no doubt to me that whoever is going to be the head coach of the next head coach,

the New York Rangers, is going to have to be somebody who can reach the likes of Panarin and Lafreniere. You know, someone said to me that those are the two players that, and they weren't the only ones, those are the two players that the Rangers were most concerned about after the playoffs. Panarin, the way he played and Lafreniere, the way he played. And it's not all on Gallant. I've been very consistent about that. Like for me, when I have a terrible podcast, it's not your fault. And it's not Amel's fault.

It's my fault, right? I don't like to blame anybody else for my mistakes. Not according to our group text. I think the players have to take responsibility. But I do think that whoever takes over this job is going to be someone who they think can light a fire under those two players and yeah like Panarin's a little bit different he's a veteran I think Lafreniere is actually the bigger project he's still a young player he was a number one pick overall just a couple years

ago he's had a very concerning run in terms of okay okay, what exactly do we have here? Are we going to get the most out of this player? And while, again, I think Lafreniere has to take blame for that, I do think that a priority is going to be, can we find a coach who can reach him, who can get the most out of him? And I think part of the interview process is going to be, how do you think you can accomplish that?

Like, I don't think the Rangers want to trade this guy. Jeff, I say it to you many times, you can trade your problem or you can solve your problem. And it's always better to solve your problem. So I think that's going to be a focal point of the search. The thing that makes it difficult when the two fires here you need to address, Artemi Panarin and Alexei Lafreniere, the two issues here are one is 31 and one is 21. There are two athletes here who need two different types of things.

Lafreniere is in a certain position in his career and Artemi Panarin is in a different one. This is a really unique type of coach that you're looking to bring in here now and by the way we should point out you know there was a lot of talk around Joel Quenville Larry Brooks in the post saying that the Rangers will not pursue him yes that's true and that name wasn't coming out by accident like there was a lot of smoke around it during the series against the devils. You know, ultimately it's up to the Rangers to say why they aren't doing this. But I know one of the theories going around right now is that there's no guarantee that

the NHL and specifically commissioner Bettman would be willing to consider making Quenville eligible to coach in a timeline that made any sense for a team that would be looking for him this year. So I think that's one of the reasons. I don't know that that's all of the reasons, you know, one of the other names, I think over the year that the Rangers thought about it was Barry trots and obviously he's not available he's got another job now and that's the GM of the Nashville Predators so I think everybody is curious to see where it's going here like one of the names that has been kind of talked about is Chris Knobloch who's done a really nice job with Hartford in the American Hockey League. They're in the playoffs.

They had a big run at the end of the year to get there. And Brooks mentioned him in one of his articles. I had a couple of other people mention him to me. I think there's a general feeling about the Rangers, and that is that are they a team that is willing to go for someone who's never had NHL head coaching experience? That's kind of not their MO, right? And sometimes that's worked for them and sometimes it hasn't. But I think there's a lot of, we'd have to see it to believe it, the Rangers going with someone new.

And maybe they'll surprise everybody. First of all, I don't believe in hard and fast rules. I think you should look for people all over the map and see what you come up with. I think you should try to find people who've never done it before just to see if they can bring anything fresh and new to the table i think though there's so much at stake like they just fired a coach who had back-to-back 100 point seasons and they went to the stanley cup semi-final last year so i think there's a lot

of skepticism that if that's the guy you're going to fire, are you really willing to try something that's more of a wild card than that? So you mentioned Joel Quainville a second ago, and if he's going to indeed coach anywhere, this will need approval by the National Hockey League. Ditto for someone like Stan Bowman. And you mentioned him Saturday on hockey night in Canada, visa V the Calgary flames.

What's the latest. I actually mentioned that it's believed that Calgary and Pittsburgh were among the teams that had interest in Bowman. So I mentioned on Saturday night that teams were allowed to talk to them, but they haven't been cleared. Like they still have to be cleared by the commissioner. Now, a couple of people sent me a note that Gary Bettman was on the podcast

with Bob McCown and John Shannon. The interview was taped on Thursday. It aired on Friday. And he said that teams were not cleared to talk to Bowman or Quenville yet. Now, I checked this on Saturday. I didn't go to air without checking it. You know, obviously I'm going to take Bettman's word on the record as top. So what I think is,

is it's possible that there was some confusion here about what teams were and were not allowed to do, but I think that will be changed or has been changed by the time that this podcast drops on Monday. So I think that's where we are. But I had heard that there were teams interested in talking to Bowman, just like that. They were potentially interested in talking to Quenville, but the league has the biggest say on this as it should. Is there anything new on either Calgary or Pittsburgh outside of the interest, although unable to contact Stan Bowman?

I heard that Calgary interviewed some people that have been GMs before, and I've heard that they interviewed some people who have not been GMs before. I don't know 100%. They're really trying to keep it quiet. But as you know, I've mentioned Mark Hunter a couple of times. I think he's in the radar there.

I think they're also looking at some people who are still going in the playoffs. Like, I don't know that these two names are on Calgary's radar 100%. But I've heard that, you know that people whose teams are still in the playoffs that might want to be talked to are Eric Tulsky's name in Carolina. Actually, I think there's been a couple of different names in Carolina. I think Tulsky's name has been up. I think Aaron Schwartz's name has been up. And someone told me they even heard Darren York's name somewhere.

So I think there's a couple people in Carolina's office that people want to talk to. I've heard Brandon Pridham's name in Toronto, and I've also heard Rich Peverly's name in Dallas and Jason Botterill in Seattle. So I think that there are going to be people there who are still in the playoffs that are still going to be part of some of these conversations. So, you know, it's up to these teams about when they're willing to let people speak. So I think Calgary has gone for some people who've been GMs before. I think they've looked at some people who haven't. Pittsburgh, I still think they're doing their initial phase or kind of getting going there. As I've said to you a couple of times,

or kind of getting going there. As I've said to you a couple of times, Jeff, Pittsburgh's process is a little different because A, I think they are potentially interested in waiting to see what happens with Dubas in Toronto. And B, I think also we're not sure how many people Pittsburgh's going to be hiring yet and what the structure will be. So I'm not 100% certain on how long or how

this is going to work, but I do believe they're talking to people and doing their research on people, but I still don't think we're close yet on any announcement. Although I always worry, I say that and then it drops and, oh, this is our Pittsburgh, I think could go in a lot of different directions. You know, I do want to mention, I've talked about Philly a bit. Like I said, I do think it's possible we hear from Philly this week. And I did have someone warn me that

there are some names involved in this that haven't gotten out yet. So I'm always wary, especially when there's like a non-hockey person involved like Billy King is here. I always assume that he's going to find especially when there's like a non-hockey person involved like Billy King is here. Sure. I always assume that he's going to find some names out there that we're not going to think of.

And someone hinted to me that that was potentially the case that you haven't uncovered everybody there as they really try to keep that one quiet. One more quick follow-up. Still consider Craig Conroy to be amongst top candidates in Calgary? I do until they decide he's not, right? Right. You know, the other thing I heard about Calgary was someone mentioned to me that it's possible

that Brad Tree Living might not be allowed to talk to teams until July. He's not commenting on it. And I asked the Flames for comment and haven't heard anything on that. But I did hear it from someone who was involved in one of the searches. I really hope that's not the case. I hope that's not true. That's not what we should be doing here. But I asked and I haven't gotten an answer. Ottawa senators, the latest Elliot. Well, I think there's only one solution here for Mike Anlauer, and that is he has to get Batman's endorsement.

That's the thing now. This is going to be now a contingency for whether it's expansion. We're almost bored of entertainers. The Weeknd, yawn. Ryan Reynolds, yawn. Snoop Dogg, yawn. Ryan Reynolds, yawn. Snoop Dogg, yawn. We've heard all this before. Bring me Batman.

Now you've got to have Batman. Yeah. And you can pick one. It can be the Michael Keaton Batman. It can be the Ben Affleck Batman. It can be the Christian Bale Batman. Heck, it could be the Adam West Batman. That's my guy.

But Batman has to endorse the team now. Because we're getting bored. We're unimpressed now by entertainers. This is now going to be the standard for whether it's a franchise sale, whether it's an expansion team. Which celebrity do you have attached to your offer? This is going to become industry standard

in hockey now, Elliot. It's true. I think you're totally right about that. I am wondering, too, how many other teams totally right about that. I am wondering too, how many other teams in the league are looking at this and saying, geez, if we're going to get 900 million to a billion for all. Yeah,

totally. I wonder how many more are we're going to be hearing about this. I, someone told me they suspect there's already at least one out there. So we'll see where all this goes. The other thing too is, is that if someone called me, they were laughing about the NDA rant we had the other day.

They said, boy, they have totally lost control of this one. Just totally lost control. Scott Housen and the American hockey league. Now over the past couple of months, we've wondered who was going to win the power struggle. Was Scott Housen going to remain president and CEO,

or would there be enough groundswell to oust him? Where are we at there, Elliot? The board meeting is this week, but I heard on the weekend, Jeff, that it looked as if Housen was going to survive. We'll see how this all works and how it's all going to look when it's done. see how this all works and how it's all going to look when it's done but i think the nhl's decision to step in here played a huge role some people said to me that the big lesson everybody learned here was that if you want to make major changes in the nhl's biggest developmental league which is the AHL,

you better let them know in advance. And the fact that the league was not consulted on this really bothered them, and I don't think they wanted the uncertainty. So we'll see what happens on Tuesday, but I'm under the impression that he's going to stay. The other thing I heard is that there have been conversations between Carolina and Chicago, the wolves about extending their affiliation. If you'll remember about a month ago, the wolves had sent out an email saying they were going independent this year. I had heard

that there had been some influential individuals who did not like this idea and were trying to broker a solution. And I believe that the Hurricanes and the Wolves, the Hurricanes were their NHL affiliate this year, the Hurricanes and the Wolves were trying to reach a solution so that this did not occur and that the two teams would stay connected. I'm getting differing viewpoints on whether or not this will actually be successful, but I just wanted to say that there have been conversations and we'll see if this can be bridged. Like I said, I've heard that not everybody thinks this is a good idea and they want to see if they can find a solution, but we're not sure at this point that it's going to happen.

So AHL hired guns, Brett Sterling, Eric Westrom, Kirby Law, Darren Haydar. Yeah, keep your skates sharpened just in case. Just in case. Just in case. Stay in push-up position, as we like to say. Just stay in push-up position. Okay, Elliot, and something you mentioned earlier, and that is you referenced the draft lottery.

And on Monday, someone's franchise changes significantly. We will finally find out where Conor Bedard is going at the NHL draft in June. We've talked about how much of a major event Lottery Day is, and some years it's more consequential than others. This is one of those you're about to see your franchise change at a lot of levels, certainly on the ice. You mentioned in our Gerard Gallant conversation,

maybe who you choose as your head coach. And thirdly, financially, this changes an organization because everybody will want to watch Conor Bedard at the NHL level. I don't think it's overestimating it, Jeff, to say that this has now become the biggest day of the year on the NHL calendar. People might not like to hear this but i don't think there's a day that shakes the league as much as the draft lottery does especially when you take a look

at some of the talents that have been at the top of the draft in the last decade yeah con. Connor McDavid. Yep. Austin Matthews. Connor Bedard now. Jack Hughes. Jack Hughes, who will be on a lot of hard ballots this year, he has really helped revive the New Jersey Devils. It's not only who wins. As you kind of said, it's who drops. You take a look at some of those teams that have dropped down. You know, Detroit was furious about it.

And, you know, one of the reasons they changed the lottery odds was because of what happened with Detroit. And you take a look at some of the teams that have dropped from maybe one to three. Arizona in the McDavid-Igle year, for example. Oh, yeah. You take a look at some of the bad lottery luck that Vancouver's had. And the hardest thing about it for people, like I've talked to people about it

in the last few days, the hardest thing about it is how little control you have over it. Like one of the things I've had a big argument about with people is i think all of the gms should be there or a representative somebody should be there i believe it's an important night that everybody be represented and i got hard pushback from teams about this why and i'll tell you why and they said elliot you do not understand the disappointment that it causes they said that you know like oh yeah and i'm telling you know jeff you can i'm just repeating what was said to me i don't know that i agree with it i get it i i get it big tough hockey guys are gonna have a sad you know what know what? I get it. If it was me, I would go. I only judge others like I judge myself.

If it was me, I would go. And they just simply said. You know what? And I think they should go. I think they should absolutely 100% go. Totally they should go. But they just feel that you get crushed in this thing and I don't want people to see it.

Listen, Elliot, of all 32 general managers in the NHL, how many do you think publicly have referenced, quote, for the good of the game? My guess is about 32 at various points. We're doing this for the good of the game. This needs to be done for the good of the game. You know what? We need to do this.

It's the right thing for the good of the game. I'm with you, Elliot. You know what's the right thing for the good of the game. You know what? We need to do this. It's the right thing for the good of the game. I'm with you, Elliot. You know what's the right thing for the good of the game? Go. Because it puts even more heat. It puts more attention. It puts more shine. It puts more significance on this

lottery. All the GMs that are in contention should be there that night. And if they're upset that they lose they've grown up knowing this is what sports is yeah i get it you know what i think it is jeff it's because of what i was saying before it's that they don't control it like if you lose in an nhl game at least you were on the ice giving it everything you had this is lottery balls hang on yes hang on you don't think that these gms had tried to tank it gave it their all yeah are you saying that uh the tank nation out there they didn't give it the good old college try and everyone knows all you can do

is increase your odds there's no guarantee you're gonna get there yeah i don't know man that i don't like it i'm really uncomfortable with it because for all the lip service to go to the game not showing up because you might lose isn't that like the total antithesis of sports hey we're not going to play this series because we might lose what it's an excellent rant merrick it really is it's a great rant that's all it is and that's all it is and we'll move on well and i'll say to this is i had this conversation a lot in the last few days yeah like i get it i'll say this the angriest conversation i ever had with trevor linden was after a draft lottery like the draft lottery could even make trevor linden snap wow the nicest guy in the room jeff the other thing in my conversations with people and i'm gonna call them back and i'm gonna send them actually

i'm gonna call them i'm just gonna take an audio of you ripping them and saying jeff says you're a suck sure which is what i should have said as opposed to just listening but you you put it much better than i did anyway one of the other reasons about Bedard is, aside from the fact that he's just an incredible player, there's a lot of things that people seem to really like about him. They like the fact that he didn't orchestrate a trade. Initially, there were some people who told me, doesn't he want to win? Doesn't he want to go to a team that has a better chance

of winning than Regina did? And the more they got to know him and want to go to a team that has a better chance of winning than regina did and the more they got to know him and got to hear him and see how he played at the world juniors and they kind of realized that he was like no this team took me and i want to try to make it work there loyalty that really appealed to a lot of teams. And I think you can understand why. Like some of the teams that are going to be at the bottom of this have either not been successful in the long time. You know, they're not sure they're going to be successful for the next few years. And they said that really resonated with them because you feel that you're going to have someone there

who's going to do everything he can to say, I'm going to do what it takes to make this team a winner. Now, we know that in the NHL, not everything is on the players. You have to have good ownership. You have to have a good organization. You have to make good decisions, and you have to find good players but you know what these teams see is a guy who will do everything he can to make sure that he does the most he can do without complaint or question and the interview he did on the ice

after they won the goal where he didn't want to talk about himself and he talked about the teammates, that was one that scored a lot of points too. Like there's, as people say, there's a lot to really like about this kid. You always wonder about the makeup of the stars. There's nobody questioning this kid's makeup. Okay, Elliot, one thing that we haven't had a chance to get around to, the thought line, the emails, we we had to get around to um the thought line the emails we're going to get back to doing more of these sort of shortly as the series start

to wind down uh again the thought line number 1-833-311-3232 the email uh 32thoughtsatsportsnet.ca we got a really interesting one from Amy and uh it's something that Elliot, to be blunt and no disrespect, were totally unqualified to answer. Let's hear the voicemail first. Hey, guys. It's Amy calling from oil country. Just a thought behind Hyman and his alligator skin. I'm just curious if you have any thoughts about two technologies in

athletic wear safety. One is MIPS and helmets. And is that happening in hockey helmets? I think it might be, but I'm not sure at the NHL level. I would expect so. The other one is D30. It is in body armor for mountain biking and stuff like that. So it performs like oobleck.

It's malleable, but then when it gets smashed it just stops i was wondering if that is in the hockey gear um you know maybe for goalies or for the guys quads or i don't know i hope to hear your thoughts on that thank you bye-bye good question excellent question and one that elliot and i are completely unqualified to answer but, Elliot, there are people in this hockey world who are qualified to answer these questions. So we turn to Kaylee Dankevi, who's the product manager from CCM Hockey. Take it away, Kaylee. Hey, Jeff. Thanks for sharing Amy's question. I'm Kaylee, and I'm the goalie equipment product manager at CCM Hockey. Amy, it's great to hear from someone who's as passionate about hockey gear as we are. And you're right. MIPS is a great technology featured in helmets for many other sports and something that we have looked at.

But when we look more specifically at hockey impacts, there are more effective options. For us, that's a new technology called Nestec, which is a 3D printed lattice structure that offers great impact protection in key areas, that offers great impact protection in key areas while also improving the overall fit and comfort of the helmet and gives the added performance benefit of greater breathability and airflow. It's featured in our SuperTACS X helmet, which is used by over 150 NHL players, including Austin Matthews and John Tavares. And I should mention, it also features D3O.

Goalies, stay tuned. This tech may be coming your way soon enough. And Amy, you're bang on in regards to D3O. Goalies, stay tuned. This tech may be coming your way soon enough. And Amy, you're bang on in regards to D3O. It's a key technology in our CCM player and goalie equipment. We use it for high impact protection in a lot of key areas. For players, this includes shoulder pad caps, the knee cradle of shin pads, the backhand of our gloves, and more. And for goalies, we use it in areas like the sternum of a chest protector, the palm of our gloves and more. And for goalies, we use it in areas like the sternum of a chest protector, the palm of our gloves, and finger protection of our blockers. It's something that we value really highly over here,

and it's a fantastic technology that a lot of our players and goalies appreciate at all levels, including the pros. Thanks again for the questions. Great job, Jeff. Great job, Amel. And great job, Amy. That's really good. Good job. Along's really good. Good job. Along with the bit.

Could you have given anywhere as close to a thorough answer as Kaylee just did? Nope. Nope. Nope. Not at all. Not at all. Amy, thanks for the voicemail. Kaylee, thanks so much for the answer there that Elliot and I were incapable of answering.

And this is why I love Twitter feeds like GearGeek and websites like GearGeek.com. I could listen to this stuff and read this stuff all day long. Okay, Elliot, today we leave everybody with a band we featured in season two of the podcast. Misha and the Spanx are a Calgary-based duo with a post-punk sound heard in the early 90s during the grunge era. Over the next two weeks, the band will be performing in Ottawa, Toronto, London,

Kitchener, New York, and Buffalo. Check out their website for tickets. From their latest album, Unconditional Love in Hi-Fi, here's Misha and the Spanx with Dig Me Out on 32 Thoughts, the podcast. Turned in, I've got no relief Wake me up from this fever dreamy I can't look at the pages, look at the pages Look at the pages, oh no, no They'd dig me out, that's what they'd say I didn't wanna be here in the first place Everywhere I look, it's right in front of me Everywhere I look, they stare back at me

And pull me like a trigger, baby Life's ahead of me, I can't see it I'm burning up, I got no relief Take me, I promise, be the dream I can't look at the pages, look at the pages Look at the pages dig me out