32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Patiocast

Episode Date: June 29, 2021

Elliotte is on a patio and the Stanley Cup final is underway! The guys recap game 1 (00:00) and detail how the Lightning attacked the Canadiens. They also discuss the state of the union address by Gary Bettman and Bill Daly highlighting the sexual assault allegations within the Blackhawks organization in 2010 (9:00) and where […]

Hi there, can I get two tables for four? Yes. Thanks very much. Injury? What injury? Welcome to 31 Thoughts, the podcast presented by the GMC Sierra AT4. Elliot and Nikita Kucherov, front and center. As we thought this was going to be the first of many car casts, it is turning out to be the first patio cast on 31 thoughts.

The podcast set the scene for us. I'm at my office here at my home in Stouffville, Ontario. Where are you? Well, we are at the Boston pizza, which is right next to our CBC base studios. For those of you who are not familiar,

those of us who have been in the studio have broadcast all the playoffs from here. But after game two, there's going to be a kind... Oh my God, I'm looking. There's a 31 Thoughts podcast commercial on the big screen right next to me as I record this.

I just have to look at myself. Oh, fantastic. Anyway... Oh God. Anyway, so after game two, the show is going on the road to Montreal, but our technical and production crew is staying in Toronto. And then for the games in Montreal, we'll all be on the road. But for the games in Tampa, some of the studio crew is coming back to Toronto

while the rest of us stay on the road. So these next two games are our last games together of the studio crew is coming back to Toronto while the rest of us stay on the road. So these next two games are our last games together of the season and so we just wanted to go out as a group post-game tonight. Those nights are always fun. Those nights are always special. It's a tight knit group when you're together

for that long. And as you know they save us all the time. 100%. They're the ones that save us. They're the ones that save us. They're the ones that make us look good night in and night out. 5-1 is the final. Tampa draws first blood. No reason for panic if you're the Montreal Canadiens,

or is there a reason for panic if you're the Montreal Canadiens? You know, Ron came up with the stat that the last three years, the team that lost game one came back to win the series. Washington, St. Louis, and Tampa. You know, the one thing that really stood out to me was Gallagher is the emotional leader, the heartbeat, the true heartbeat of the Canadians, and they went after him. It was very clear that they targeted Gallagher and they said

he has driven his three previous opponents crazy and instead of waiting for that to happen to us we're going to take it right to him and they did you know thankfully that play at the end of the game he was able to stay in it looked like it could have been really ugly there for a second and Gallagher to his credit didn't back down and at times gave as good as he got but I saw a Tampa team that said part of Montreal's identity is kind of Gallagher and the nasty way they play. We're going to remind everybody. We're pretty nasty, too. They sent that Goodrow, Gord and Coleman line after him.

And, you know, to me, that was that was a big tone setter in the series. They took one of Montreal's most important players and they said, we're going to target you tonight. You know, the interesting thing about that is normally when a team goes out of their way to go at Gallagher, they get distracted and they chase them all over the ice. But that didn't happen with Tampa. Like a couple of things happened here.

One, they did go after Gallagher, both physically and verbally. And Craig Simpson showed that and how they were relentless on Gallagher. Normally, that brings a team to distraction, and that's just what Gallagher wants. But that didn't happen with Tampa. They also kept the big boys away from Philip Deneau. Deneau wasn't able to do Philip Dano things on Monday night but you talked about this in the last podcast we had a little conversation about it

there is a focus to Tampa we saw it last year in the bubble and we're seeing it now as much as they went after Gallagher they weren't distracted by Gallagher and we're going to get the coochie off here in a second but he didn't distract them but Tampa every chance they got here in a second, but he didn't distract them, but Tampa,

every chance they got, got in a good lick on them. Well, it was almost like if you're going to be in this game, you're going to be in this game on our terms, not your terms, our terms. And,

you know, the one time he got knocked over by Hedman, that's what Montreal has done to every opponent all year or all playoffs. If you get close to price we knock you on your ass this time it was it was tampa doing it it was you know i i really thought game one was a clinic from the lightning they shut them down they didn't give them too much and you know they went they went nasty at them you know we've talked about how tampa like there's a lot of teams in the league that think that they get treated as choir boys but really they're a bunch of pricks now you know if anyone didn't realize that we saw it on on game one nikita kucherov referenced him off the uh off the top two goal performance he looked profoundly different from game seven against the islanders

on friday to game one against montreal on monday yeah i mean i'm trying to figure out how he was feeling on friday was there an injury did they send him to lords to heal up and bathe in holy water and come back for monday like from friday to monday he's a different player i remember i said the other day I wondered if maybe he doesn't play game one. Maybe when he said the other day that he wasn't hurt on media day and his typical crusty self, maybe he actually willed himself to health.

I don't remember which X-Man is the healer, but maybe he just, that X-Man visited him and healed his rib. But I mean, he was he was great and that power play was humming again i get texts during the game from scott lennox all the time one of our producers telling me what to say and he said you should count how many times that all five lightning players on the power play touch the puck and it's hugely because of what he does and directing it the uh they were firing the puck around, no doubt about it.

And listen, one of the stories going into this one was what was going to be mightier, Tampa's power play or Montreal's penalty kill. But I want to get your thoughts on Andre Vasilevsky. There were moments in the second period where he stops Weber on a breakaway on a bad route of pinch. There's a stop on Anderson right after that. And then there's a stop on Gallagher on a partial breakaway. Your thoughts on what we saw from Vasilevsky because the other story was going to be Vasilevsky versus Price. We've seen some games to this playoff where he hasn't been at his best.

And tonight he was really sharp. It was going to be borderline impossible to beat. Like I would like to see the team in the NHL that would have beaten Tampa tonight. That was an excellent game. And one thing we should mention early about this game with Nikita Kucherov, I should have mentioned this a couple of seconds ago. It might've even been his first shift.

I think it was, it might've been Kucherov's first shift, mentioned this a couple of seconds ago. It might have even been his first shift. I think it might have been Kucherov's first shift, the way he went at Nick Suzuki physically, as if saying, if you had any doubt that I was healthy, or if you have any doubt about how good I'm feeling, this should let you know I'm fine. Well, I think less than Gallagher, I think they wanted to let Suzuki know. Suzuki has a reputation that when he takes a bump, he gets better.

He doesn't shy away from it. He's engaged. But I think Tampa really wanted to test that. I think, too, they really missed Armia tonight. Montreal did. I believe it. I'll tell you this. I was really happy to see Jake Evans back and playing

because of what he went through. I just felt that they really missed Armia. Tough night for the kids as well. Nick Suzuki and Cole Caulfield. That's a sort of burn the tape night for those guys. That's a tough one. It's like most of my broadcasts are burn the tape

night. Amen. You and me both, brother. All right. With that, we'll kick it off. Elliot's settling in for our first patio cast. Welcome to 31 Thoughts, the podcast presented by the GMC Sierra AT4. Next question comes from Emily Kaplan of ESPN. Go ahead, Emily. Hi, Gary and Bill. I was curious, would the NHL consider punishment to the individuals or the clubs for the Chicago Blackhawks, depending on what the review shows.

All options are available if there's something that warrants punishment. And I think we need to wait and see what the result of the investigation and the litigation that seems to be pending as well. These are allegations. What we know is based on what's public. These are allegations. What we know is based on what's public, and that's why we're going to be interested to see what the investigation reveals and doesn't reveal. And so I think everybody needs to not get ahead of themselves. These are allegations that relate to a period of time that's quite some time ago, and sometimes it takes a little bit of time to piece things together.

When we get all the information, we will do what is necessary and appropriate. Emily Kaplan of ESPN with a great question. And there it is. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman talking about possible punishments as now there is an independent investigation that has been launched on the sexual assault allegations vis-a-vis the Chicago Blackhawks, which we talked about last time on the podcast. You wrote about on 31 Thoughts, the blog, your thoughts on what we heard from the commissioner on Monday night. I think it was pretty much what we expected.

I wondered how many times he would be asked about it. I didn't count. It was about five or six. I think it was pretty much what we expected. And, you know, he basically said, we're going to leave it up to the independent investigation and see what is discovered here and what the investigation reveals. I mean, we don't know yet if it's going to be a public investigation. You know, one lawyer I know made an interesting point to me. He said that one of the things you learn in situations like this is how differently the general public thinks and how differently lawyers think, right? And the general public always thinks, I want this report public. I want to see it. I want to read it. And a lawyer friend of mine, he said, I'm against that. And I go, why? And he says, because people are not going to be as honest. There will be people who will be more honest if

they know that it's not going to be a public report. And I thought that was an interesting perspective that, you know, I thought about. I think generally it's better public, but that was his position. We're not at the end of this story by any means. It's not going to go away. I think the NHL realizes it's not going to go away until we have some sort of resolution. It kind of went the way I expected it to. And I just don't think it's over yet. I think the NHL realizes it isn't over yet.

Might it calm down a little bit? Maybe. I don't know. It depends on who else is willing to come forward and go on the record and talk about it but I think we are going to see a situation where the Blackhawks and the league say we're not doing anything until we get the results of the investigation and it'll be interesting to see first of all if the investigation is actually in formal interviews or formal depositions, because that could become a big deal too.

Just as a follow-up to that, in the meantime, while this investigation is ongoing, there are some very public events on the horizon that Chicago will participate in. How much does Stan Bowman stay away from the spotlight? I don't know. Do you think? I don't know the answer to that. I don't. It must be a conversation within the Blackhawks organization right now.

I would think so. I mean, I've asked that. It's going to be hard. I mean, you saw Bettman tonight. He answered the first question about it, and then there were five or six more coming. So like I said, it's not going to go away. It's something that people are going to be asking. Okay, to other elements of the Gary Bettman pre-final press conference,

which is now and has been for a long time tradition in the Stanley Cup playoffs. The Olympic talk was interesting. How much of that is more posturing, and how much of that is that's just the reality of where we're at? I think that the NHL is one point in the thing where Bettman says. We have real concerns about whether or not it's sensible to be participating, having our players participate and us shutting down for the Olympic break. But as Bill said, we made a promise that if it can all be worked out, then we'll go along with it. But we are concerned both about the timing right now

and about the open issues and the prospects of actually being there. And I believe that is the position that they have taken. They made a deal with the players, they made a promise with the players, and they want to live up to it. However, there's a couple of things going on here. Number one, you know, the IOC is scrambling to get the Summer Olympics done, so this is a backburner issue, which I think everybody gets. Number two, there's a real question about, you know, families and everything. Will they be able to travel to some players? That's very meaningful.

So if you can't, that could be a problem. And if you can't, what does that mean for your accommodations while you're in China? And I think the third thing is, look, I'm not a scientist. There's a new variant. I just think people really don't know where we're going here. And I think all of those unknowns are a factor. As Bettman said, they're beyond the time that they wanted to know. So I think the thing we don't know here is how long are they willing to wait?

I think they realize they made a deal. I get the sense after that press conference the NHL doesn't really want to go, but they made a deal, and they'll live with it if they can get it done. No surprises here, Gary Bettman, defending the officials, much to the chagrin of many that are howling

for blood and want sacrifices and are demanding answers about why the game is called the way it is. Anything surprise you? Of course he does. It was interesting. I mean, we thought that Vegas was getting the all-star game next year.

We were right. We knew Minnesota was getting an outdoor game. I heard Nashville was getting one, but I didn't realize it would be that quick. I mean, Vegas-Nashville next year in a very short time span, there are going to be some reporters whose livers are going to sustain some serious damage. I mean, that is a tough road trip. Vegas and Nashville not too far apart.

You know, the draft in Montreal, it's supposed to be more normal next year. Hopefully it will be. The goal all along, and we've been hearing this going back to pre-bubble last year, was to get things back to normal for 21-22. Like that has been the strategy all along, no? Yes, it has.

Get through this, get through this and get it to normal. And the draft in Montreal is obviously one that's owed from last season when the first virtual draft took place. I'll let the motorcycle go. Yeah. A couple of things from around the NHL and a few things that you write about on the blog. Okay. We keep talking about coaching vacancies, and it seems if every podcast we do.

And like you, I've heard plenty about Andre Tournier in Arizona. I've heard plenty about Andre Tournier in Arizona. I don't know that I'd go as far to say that he is a favorite to get that job, but I'll tell you, Elliot, it feels like that to me. And Tournier is someone who, while I don't know that he's been offered assistant coaching positions, I'm pretty sure that he would have turned them down because in his mind he feels and many do as well that he's ready for a head coaching position in the nhl a lot of things are lining up right now it seems for andre tourney to be the favorite for that job in arizona have you heard? Well, a week ago I said Van Ryan was

probably the favorite and the podcast had barely been edited when we found out that Van Ryan was out of it. So I'm terrible at these picks at Arizona. I do get the same sense of you. The way I wrote it today in my notes was they've done a really deep dive on him. I wrote that like that for a reason. I agree with you. I think they've really gone down the road with them. I think it's just a matter of, do they close the deal? I clearly believe he's, again, I don't know if I want to say the favorite, but he's very much in the picture and he appears to be the guy that they've focused on. And as we both know, all the questions we're asking about it,

we're getting nothing. It's like high school date night. Jeff, we're both getting shut down. So that usually means where there's smoke, there's fire. Yeah, it is interesting too. And for those, I mean, if you're an Arizona Coyotes fan listening to this podcast right now, and you're saying, well, why Andre Tourney?

This guy's done incredible work with young athletes and if the arizona coyotes are as you mentioned i think last podcast building things around players like jacob chikrin and getting rid of the more veteran high price help and you've written about oliver reckman larson and we've talked about players like phil kessel it does make a lot of sense to have someone that, whether it's with the Ottawa 67s of the OHL, whether it's with the Team Canada World Juniors, that you bring in someone like Cherny

to help work with young kids because that's the direction that Arizona is heading. The Maple Leafs and Wayne Simmons. Close? It sounds like he's coming back. It may be an expansion thing where they wait, but it sounds like he's coming back.

There were a number of people that seemed to say they didn't like it. Why? I thought Simmons really played well before he got hurt. They were loving him early in the season. The injury hurt him. I thought the injury really affected him, absolutely. At the end of the day, he wants to be there. So that's probably the most important thing.

Victor Arvidsson's name with Nashville. That's a new one. I've heard he's out there. I think Nashville, you know, Nashville wants to change up the mix a bit. I think he potentially might want a fresh start too like there's a lot of that around the league this year that was a really hard year and i think some guys are looking around and saying maybe it's better for me and the team like i think fogel's like that too i think that's

another situation where it might be both team and players saying maybe it's time for something fresh i think that might be the case for arvidsson too i've definitely heard his name out there you know i know we talked a lot about come trade deadline time you know before nashville went on the run which ultimately got them into the playoffs we talked a lot about oh nashville done david well trade everything and then they had the run and made it into the playoffs did that change? Or is there still a sense that things need to change in Nashville? And that was just a hot streak, but the serious issues remain. Do you have a sense of where Nashville's at internally?

I think they do want to make some changes, but I think the biggest thing is that at home has gone from likely being traded to trying to extend them. I think he wants to stay. I think they want to keep him. So I think that's the biggest change is the turning that home. But I still do think organizationally they want to maybe do some different things. And I think Arvidsson is one of those things.

I really enjoyed thought number 14. I don't remember which one that is. I agree with it 100%. And I think everybody does as well. Thought 14, I can't find anyone in the NHL who thinks Alexander Ovechkin's extension isn't already, quote, in the drawer, and they don't want to announce it for expansion draft reasons.

Washington is one of those teams that's expansion draft concerned about what they have to do, so I think it's a done deal. I mean, I could be gold. I could be on old takes exposed and Russian machine never breaks and all those great blogs in Washington is the biggest moron on the planet in two months. But I think that's a done deal.

To me, there's something really juicy in this week's 31 thoughts when you stop to think about the implications of it and the fear it must spread in one franchise when you're talking about seattle in the expansion draft taking players and trading them there's some interesting ones out there and you write about matt dumba and we've talked plenty about matt dumba and listen they hung on hung on to him at the Vegas draft, and it cost them. It cost them Alex Tuck. But the name that's really spicy out here is Mark Giordano.

And we talked about him before. But the idea of Seattle drafting him and then flipping him to a team like the Edmonton Oilers, to me, is just too juicy a story. For the Oilers to end up with the captain of the Calgary Flames, a former Norris Trophy winner, is just too juicy, Elliot. I'm sorry. For me, that's a bit of speculation. Number one, we all know he could be left exposed.

So that's a bit of speculation number one we all know he could be left exposed so that's number one number two i don't know if it benefits seattle to have giordano for a year right and number three i think there's a lot of teams that would like him we know that edmonton is going to be without less or i should say appears likely they're going to be without cleft bomb that could open up some room on the blue line. Giordano's obviously got a lot of ties to Alberta. It just is one of those things that's an educated guess, right? But it makes

sense. And plus, I think especially if Seattle retains, I think they could get a lot for Giordano. Absolutely. But then you know what? I mean, we had this conversation before. Do you want to be good now? Do you want to be good in 2025? I know you maintain you could probably do both, but you could really load up for a future run,

figuring you're going to get one year's grace out of an expansion market. I think also, don't forget, if Seattle follows the Vegas model, I think they will. They're going to take some D and they're going to flip them. Yes, I agree with that.

I'm going to finish up here and let you get to your table and all of your colleagues here. Quick thought on the Vancouver Canucks, Elias Pettersson, Quinn Hughes. Is there anything new to report there now that other CAA clients in the Sedins are part of the mix? I think they're going to have some conversations this week is what I'm hearing. I think the most – okay, first of all, there was a Buffalo always.

I want to credit this one Sabres fan. So I mentioned how there's the young D, right? Hughes cannot give him an offer sheet. Heiskanen can get one. Makar can get one. Fox, he still has another year under contract. But there's one Sabres fan who was furious. He said it's Duke or Dan 13.

At Duke or Dan 13. You didn't mention Deline. Come on. I know the Sabres are terrible, but the lack of respect is absolutely ridiculous and really aggravating. I apologize to Duke or Dan 13 and all Sabres fans. You're right. I should have mentioned the lane, too I don't know that his number is gonna be as high as some of those other guys, but because the reason I mentioned McCarty's gonna use is that I have heard like Shabbat Thomas Shabbat signed eight times a teal the year before the final season of his ELC

All of these guys are out of their ELCs. Hughes is a bit less time, but I think they all consider themselves, and I've heard they all consider themselves ahead of Shabbat where he signed his 8x8. Now, that doesn't necessarily mean that's what they're going to sign for. There's the COVID issue.

I think Makar's number is going to be big that could be a monster I wouldn't be surprised if that one comes in 8 times 9ish if that's where they go to but I think those numbers are going to be big

that's huge okay your tongue's hanging out I can hear it from here you go and have your s I look forward to our next, I don't know if it's going to be a patio cast or a car cast or whatever. The next one will be a car cast because I'm traveling Thursday. So the next one will be a car cast afternoon too. So you'll be well behaved. All right.

To the table you go and say hi to our colleagues for me. All right. Take care guys. Taking us out. Experimental Collective from Brooklyn that blends hip-hop, jazz, indie rock, and a number of other genres as well. From their 2017 self-titled record, here's Standing on the Corner with Played Us Cheap from 31 Thoughts

the podcast. Hope you enjoyed our first patio cast, by the way. We're back to Elliot'sobile on Wednesday. Now there are smokin' in the back, y'all Because they're smokin' at the back, y'all Now I don't have it, I don't know what you need I don't know what it is you need from me. I don't got it. You don't get it. Bye.