32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Philadelphia Cheesed

Episode Date: April 2, 2021

The Flyers have some serious decisions to make over the coming months. Jeff and Elliotte discuss the situation in Philadelphia as the team goes through a difficult stretch (00:02), who might be available for the expansion draft, why Shayne Gostisbehere was waived, and how they might approach the trade deadline. They also chat about the […]

Opening day and the Blue Jays find themselves in the Bronx opening up against the New York Yankees. Dan Shulman in Toronto, Hazel May in Toronto, Buck Martinez at his home in Florida. And are we ever excited to talk some Blue Jays baseball with you? Elliot, to start the podcast today, I want to make a promise to you. Okay. I'm going to promise to really try hard to pay attention during the podcast but it's going to be tough because the jays and yankees are playing right now it's the season opener i'm in my office and i said i was going to turn it off to do the

podcast and it's uh top of the second and i haven't turned oh there's a base and the blue jays have just scored their first run oh yes they have two on nobody out one one Oh, there's a base hit. And the Blue Jays have just scored their first run of the season. Oh, yes, they have. Two on, nobody out. 1-1 and a swing and a base hit into center field for Gurriel. Who needs Dan Schulman to call your play-by-play? He is overrated. You don't need Buck Martinez. You don't need Dan Schulman.

You've got Elliott and Jeff here calling the Jays and the Yankees. Slider that stays on the inner half. It didn't break away. It stayed on the inner half, but Gurriel goes right back up the middle. Oh, yeah, right up the gut. Look at that. Scoring easy like breaking sticks. It's so funny you said that because I was going to just watch the game

and do the podcast. I actually have my microphone facing the television. Oh, yeah, you're going to be great today. This is going be a high paid attention to i hope you should ask me really ridiculous questions and see if i actually am paying attention what's gonna happen is after the podcast comes out you're gonna get a bunch of tweets like why did you hear what elliot said you're gonna be like i said what i said huh what i didn't say that what are you talking about can't radio yourself if you're not paying attention

all right there you go take it yanke Yankees. 1-0 Jays. Philadelphia Flyers. Let's start there. Tough situation. Tough week. A near-death experience against the Buffalo Sabres. And then... Should have lost twice.

Well, that's it. Like, the near-death experience earlier on this week, and then Wednesday, they lose to the Buffalo Sabres in spectacular fashion. They blew three goal leads to the Flyers twice this year, but they're not going to do it again tonight. Sabres in their 18 game winless drought as they beat the Flyers in Buffalo six to one. I know the story coming out of it is, hey, the Buffalo Sabres 18 game winless streak

is over, but isn't the real story what's happening with the Philadelphia Flyers? I think so. The one thing I think that Philadelphia is fortunate about here is they have a GM who tends to be patient. You know, Chuck Fletcher is the kind of guy, like sometimes I think when you've got that Elmo emoji of fire going on around you or the dog this is fine emoji going on around you. going on around you or the dog this is fine emoji going on around you sometimes you need someone who can say all right i'm doing something impulsive i'm acting i'm showing that i feel i need to do something and sometimes it's better that you have someone there who says yeah you know everything's kind of burning down all around me and And that's something valuable. I really liked over there. That's now gone. But I think the worst thing I can do here is overreact. And to me, I think this is a case where you need option two. Now I'm sure Flyers fans, and I know because some

of them send me direct messages, they want massive fire sale right now. They want massive changes. They're furious and they want blood. But last year, Philly was kind of the surprise team. And this year, they're the disappointment team. So the truth is probably somewhere in the middle. And I think when you've kind of ridden that emotional wave in the last two seasons, you really have to be smart about the choices you make. So I think this is the right time to have kind of a patient guy there. I do think Philly will make, maybe not now, but maybe it's at the draft or the summer. I think Philly is going to make one or two major changes. Pause on that for one second.

I want to get back to this idea of major changes. Pause on that for one second. I want to get back to this idea of major changes. But hearing you talk about the nature of a general manager that is calm and doesn't make knee-jerk reactions or just react based on emotions instead of intelligence, isn't that what got Ron Hextall fired in the first place? Yes, it did. But also there was something deeper going on there with Hextall it was very clear there was a big divide between Hextall and some of the other flyer alumni that was not just his patience it was also like a personality clash developed and there's a lot of big personalities there Hextall is a personality. Paul Holmgren is a big personality.

Bob Clark, who I still think has a big say there, obviously is an enormous personality. I think that was a factor as much as anything else was. Fletcher, I don't think that personality clash, they're disappointed, don't get me wrong, but i don't think that there's that added layer to it i think they're kind of all on side with each other here so what do you see the flyers doing then and just let me couch it this way claude geroux has one more year on his contract yeah um sean couturier has one more year on his contract yeah scott lotten's on an expiring deal right now. He's a UFA at season's end. Sanheim's a restricted free agent. Gustafson's a UFA.

Go right down the list. We can all see it at Cap Friendly. Well, Gustafson, it just hasn't worked. No. He's going to be gone. Right. So what happens here then with the Philadelphia Flyers? Okay, I think there's a couple of things, first of all.

This week, one of the biggest stories was Carter Hart. hart yes i really don't have a problem with this i know vigno can be kind of blunt and people didn't like the language but to me carter hart is still a huge part of what they're going to be and for the team to say we're taking a step back here and we're having the guy kind of refocus i don't have a problem with that at all. So one of the things that people are kind of talking about, I actually think that's a good plan. There's a few things here. Number one, I always thought the Flyers were going to be

a 7-3 team for the expansion draft. Seven forwards, 3D. Now I'm not so sure about that anymore. You know, Provorov, Sanheim, Myers, those guys were getting protected for sure. Yep. I think if they go out and they get another defenseman, whether it's like an Ekholm or an Ellis or someone else,

just name your pieces, I think they could potentially be a 4-4 team. There's two forwards they have to protect. One is Giroux and one is Hayes. And other than that, they don't have to protect anybody. Now they still could choose to go seven and three, but I'm beginning to wonder if this may have changed their thinking. That's one of the things that is kind of being talked about now. Has Philly said, this season's going to make us change how we attack the expansion draft?

The other thing I think there is, I think at times, Philly's been asked about guys like Patrick, like Konechny. Like when he got benched, they got calls about Konechny. I'll get to Lawton in a sec. But the most interesting thing to me about the Flyers is who are they going to decide are their core guys? Couturier is their, for lack of a better term, Patrice Bergeron. I can't see him going anywhere.

And he's due a raise here at the end of his contract next yeah 4.3 and so he's got one more year but if you were going to tell me that they would look at their veteran core and say it's time for a change i don't think anybody's gonna have a problem with that i could see that on the blue line it's proveroff and myers and sanheim but now i wonder like the whole niskanen thing him being away has kind of exposed a need they have and that's why i wonder if it ends up being a four and four situation now because they say we need to go out and get another right hand shot d and i do think that's a conversation they're having are we now a 4 and 14 for expansion i'm just going to ask you about about one player whose name that we've heard off and on at various

times he's uh they're in love with him they're out of love with him he's uh top of the lineup he's going towards the bottom of the lineup he's always been well one one of the more entertaining players both on and off the ice and a really highly skilled guy and someone that can produce and at times falls off and that's jake for a check what's the decision there there's still a term and it's a big ticket. Yeah, it's four years left. I don't have a great answer for you on this one. At the very least, you could see how he's going to be left open in the expansion draft.

Hayes and Giroux are the two guys they have to protect for the draft. And if you want to buy him out, it's a big ticket like there's one year and it's two years from now where because he's got a five million dollar signing bonus on it it's basically eight million against your cap right i don't know i i'll tell you this i love voracek so do i like you know you know that we're going to have this conversation. He could tear into us in a Zoom call.

I think this team is going to do some big-time surgery. They're not coming back with the same group next year. Right. The problem is that contract with Voracek, contracts like that really aren't getting moved right now. Not in a flat cap world no chance let me ask you one more thing about the flyers we saw this week which raised some eyebrows and it probably shouldn't because i don't think anyone thought he was really going

to get claimed by anybody shane goss despair on waivers should we read anything into that well first of all i believe that um with goss despair they'd offered him around and there's been times where goss despair has been prominent in trade rumors i don't think that was a surprise when elena vino comes out and says we think he's going to clear he's not saying that to belittle goss despair as a player yeah he's saying because the flyers have done their research and they know we know what the market is and isn't for him right that? That's what that's about. I think they knew he was going to clear.

I think they know that they can trade Goss Despair if they're willing to eat money or they're willing to put a sweetener in there. So that's kind of where we are. The thing about Goss Despair is he's pretty blunt and I like that. The quote he had about Hart last week where he came out and said, you know,

basically we're hanging him out to dry. As a reporter, I'm never going to criticize that because I love a guy being that blunt. You know, one of the things I heard was when this happened, you're kind of, okay, what's the reason? Do they not like him? Is he not playing hard?

And people have told me he's actually played really hard. They challenged him last year to to change some things about what he did and i heard that the reviews on him were pretty positive in terms of he tried to make those changes and he really put in a good effort so it's not lack of effort you know one of the things i kind of do wonder about is like i said he's pretty sharp-tongued i wondered if something was said internally, like between him and someone, whether a coach or something that they just didn't like. But, you know, I think at the end of the day, the fit has just turned out to not work.

And I think he's been available and everybody kind of knows it. You know who was great for him? Like really great for him who early in his career when he started dave haxtall the way that dave haxtall used shane goss despair was like he was only in situations where he could shine offensive zone starts power play time nothing in his own zone wasn't starting there no face offs there like he was never in a position where he was going to look bad when he entered the NHL.

The thing that I wonder about Goss's bear is did Dave Hackstall do such a good job with Shane Goss's bear that our expectations of him were unreasonable. I don't know about that. You know, I Rick Wilson, who's a great defense coach, you know,

you know, Rick Wilson, he coached a lot of great players. He was brought into Philly to deal with their defense. And I remember when he retired, I called him cause I liked, I really liked listening to Rick Wilson talk and I called him and I asked him what all their guys, and I asked him about Goss' despair. And he paused, he said, you know, he says, I'm only going to answer this question to you on one condition. And I said, okay, you know, what is it? And he goes, I don't want it to look like I'm ripping this guy or I don't like this guy. And I said, okay. And he said, I just felt I couldn't get through to him. I really tried.

And for whatever reason, we just didn't connect. And I don't know what to say about that because I don't want to put words into Rick Wilson's mouth, I promised. But it just sounds to me that the Flyers just felt that for whatever reason, I guess after Hextel was gone, the connection was broken. And people came back to me on him this year and said, he's worked really hard and he's really tried to do it. It's just obviously it hasn't worked now i do want to talk about two guys for a second i want to talk about lawton and i want to talk about patrick i just wonder about nolan patrick's future

in philly or in general in philly i wonder if it's time i do think at times they've been asked about him and they've kind of said, no, you know, right shot center, second overall pick. You don't want to give up on that too easy, but I wonder if both player and team are beginning to think it's time. We'll see where it goes.

Can I insert something there? Sure. Is it too, am I being too simplistic? If I say Nolan Patrick, Vegas Golden Knights, just because of the

Kelly McCrimmon Association from the Brandon Wheat Kings. Nolan Patrick went through a, he went through a wall for Kelly McCrimmon. Like significantly hurt himself to play for the Brandon Wheat Kings. I remember that time

they got to that Memorial Cup in Red Deer. Oof. And he was the best player in the Western Hockey League playoffs that year for Brandon. I don't know. Maybe it's just too simple a line, maybe. Yeah, it is too simple a line. There's no question about that. But it doesn't mean you're wrong.

People like people they know, right? 100%. The other guy is Lawton. You mentioned he's a UFA. I think they've tried to sign him. I think it's possible that last year when they were talking to Winnipeg about line A, that Lawton was potentially around that. I will say this.

Contracts are hard to do right now, especially when you're going through what Philly is going through. The bottom line is this. I believe that the flyers think that that guy loves being a flyer and wants to be a flyer. The question is, can you get it done? And now, because you're in the middle of this terrible streak,

does that mean you say, okay, here's the guy we don't have signed and it's the easiest move we could potentially make? Because there's a lot of teams out there. If you told them that Scott Lawton was available for a playoff run, they're throwing themselves at a guy like him. But one thing I do strongly believe, Jeff, is that the Flyers know that that guy loves being a flyer and it means a lot to him and it's always harder to move out guys who really feel part of

the team i just wonder if there is and you get a better sense than me, is there a Barkley Goodrow vibe about Scott Lawton? No offense to Barkley Goodrow. I think he's got a higher ceiling. But look, I'll tell you this. If I was Toronto, I'd be all over that. Here's why I say it. This is all with eyes to last year. Blake Coleman, Barkley Goodrow to Tampa,

puts him over the top, solidifies that third line with Yanni Gert, and it's off the races. And that becomes one of the stories for Tampa. Now everybody's got to go out and get themselves a Coleman and a Barkley Goodrow. Is there that type of feeling around Scott Lawton in the league? You've seen him play.

Of course, I'm a junior in Oshawa. Yeah, too. If he's available, there's a lot of teams out there. What does this mean for affiliate deadline then for each? Well, the one thing is, like I said, I think Fletcher's going to be careful. I think he's going to take his time. I do think that they look at it now like they have to solve their Provorov partner issue. Long term, it's Myers, isn't it?

I think they're looking for another right-hand shot D. Who is that guy is it david savard is there another right hand shot the available is it you know we know they were interested in that home but i don't think they're interested in paying that price and i know he's a lefty but he can play the right side i don't think they want to pay the at home price now they don't they don't think it's very smart so you think think the Philadelphia Flyers right now are thinking more about the future than... You're not saving this season....than the playoff spot

because right now, as we record this, we're three points back of the Boston Bruins and the Bruins have three games in hand. Why would you do something to save this year if you're Philly? It's not smart. Mm-hmm. So they're sellers. I think sellers is a bad way of looking at it i think they're long-term thinkers

all right uh the long-term play gary sanchez just homeward for the yankees two run shot yeah two to one i thought the other yankee fans hated gary sanchez tell you what man let me he was the guy that i wanted playing on the j Jays too. I wanted him so bad. Then again, I wanted, I wanted everybody who was on the market. I wanted real Muto on the Jays too. Like everybody who was available,

send them to Toronto. You know what? Here's my expert baseball analysis. I think the blue Jays should go for Aaron judge. That's the kind of move I think that would really improve the team and put people in the crowd. The good baseball takes here on the, you know, why didn't the Jays get Mookie bets? What's wrong with them of move I think that would really improve the team and put people in the crowd. The good baseball takes here on. You know, why didn't the Jays get Mookie Betts?

What's wrong with them? What a bunch of idiots. They didn't get Aaron Judge. Let's kick off this podcast hockey style. 31 Thoughts, the podcast. Welcome to it. Presented by the GMC Sierra 1840. Welcome once again to 31 Thoughts, the podcast. Thanks for joining us today.

We got a lot to go over and we're going to get some hashtag S31s in as well. We're all surprised and slash saddened and hopeful that everyone is okay and that it turns out alright. Wednesday night, Elliot, as the Vancouver Canucks-Calgary Flames game was postponed.

The day previous, Adam Gaudet tests positive for COVID. And then Wednesday night, they get shut down. It's been tough for BC all week long from a hockey point of view. The Kelowna Rockets, the Western Hockey League, their entire operation got shut down as well. What should we know about what happened in Vancouver on Wednesday? We don't know much here, Jeff.

So I'm going to be very careful. On Thursday, the league announced that the Canucks, they won't resume any practicing before Tuesday, and the earliest they'll play any game next week is Thursday. And we know that the COVID list

includes Adam Godet and Travis Hamanick was added to it, and there's a coach. So, you know, we still don't know the variant yet at this point in time, whether or not it's the original or the new one. So I'm not going to guess here, but obviously it's serious enough that they felt that they had to wait.

Yes. It's the smartest thing to do. You know, there's also the involvement of the province of British Columbia, and there's probably been nowhere in North America that's been tougher on its standards than BC. Remember last summer, BC was supposed to host one of the bubbles in Vancouver, but they weren't willing to do what the NHL asked. And so it went to Edmonton. The number one thing we're all hoping for is the best for Hammonick. You know, he opted out of the bubble last year for family reasons. He has made it very clear he only wants to play in Western Canada.

I think last year in the offseason, teams like Toronto and Philadelphia had asked about him. He said, no, I want to stay West. We've reported that Carolina was interested in him. He said again, no, I want to stay West. So you know how important it is to him. And, you know, we just hope that he and everybody else involved here is okay. Okay.

So that is a, as we like to say, fluid story. The other story that is not fluid, but is done. That is the Thatcher Demko deal. It's five years, $5 million per season. And the Vancouver canucks are hoping that they're paying for the goaltender they saw in the bubble and they've seen for the better part of this season i'm a big believer jeff that if you're gonna bet bet on the people you know and that means either you give them the reward of the contract or you don't give them the reward of the contract, but you bet on the people that you know.

And Vancouver knows Thatcher Demko. He's a guy they're going to bet on. You can say, okay, he's only played 62 games, whatever it is. Yes, all of this is true, but they know him. He's been in their organization. They've seen him practice. They've seen his work ethic. They know how he is. They know how he isn't. People can look at this and they can say, well, there's no precedence for this. No,

there isn't. But they have more information on Demko than anyone else does. The interesting thing about it is there's not a lot of comps. The last goalie to arbitration, I believe, was Anton Forsbergberg and that is a case that has nothing to do with this particular case so they're looking at the whole thing and they're saying what exactly do we have here i think the team was looking at it that way and i think the agent was looking at it that way i think that jari was probably the closest, three and a half. So Demko goes Arb this year, Arb next year, UFA. So I'm thinking that with an AAV of five, and it's a middle-heavy contract,

most of the cash is in the middle. With an AAV of five, the team gave Demko a bit more than it's worth the next couple of years, and Demko gave the Canucks, as long as he keeps going this way, Demko gave the canucks a bit of a break in the three ufa years so they worked on it and they got it done like everybody here compromised i think it's i think it's a really i mean it's a great deal for the player 25 million and i think it's a good deal for the team like i look at that

contract and i think that's a good like if you're gonna bet i think it's a good bet because if it works out you've got a goaltender of five million dollars if you've got a legit number one and let me ask you something you watch the games sometimes yeah you're not like watching like old jimmy valiant videos during the middle of shows the boogie woogie man what you're the boogie woogie man you watch the games like would you bet on demko right now uh based on what i've seen recently yes i mean the one of the things that i heard early on about thatcher demko and i don't see any evidence of it now was that there were some in the quote-unquote goalie community who kept telling me he's too slow in his crease i don't see that

anymore no one's talking about that anymore. It's like if you're looking for areas of improvement to where you're talking about, where that's behind him and he's improving. And if you look at and assume steady growth, then you say, okay, well, that's one criticism that doesn't exist with Thatcher Demko anymore. Like that's one area that's been completely cleaned up.

And that goes to the other point of they know this guy. And I think that in any position, it may be goalie more than any other position, Elliot, you really need someone to be honest about themselves. Because if you're honest about yourself and you have a strong work ethic, you'll work to improve the areas where you need to work. There are plenty of goalies

that just want to do the exact same thing every day in practice because it's easy for them and it's comfortable. They don't improve, but they get through practice and they can look good. They don't work on the most sensitive parts of their game. I don't think you can say that about Thatcher Damko. That's why I look at this deal and I say, okay, I don't want to make up my mind about a goaltender until I see him for 100 games.

But this one sort of feels different. I'm still not 100% because I still believe in my 100 game rule for netminders. But I'll look at this deal and say, I understand it both based on the numbers involved and the track record and performance of the goalie. Again, it is still a gamble because we haven't seen him that long, but to me, it's a safe gamble for Vancouver. Jeff, speaking of goalies, Sheldon Keefe told the media today that... The update on Freddie is he did have a follow-up appointment as we had talked about. The feedback I've been given is that he's progressing well

and just going to continue to monitor him and reassess him next week. Sheldon, just to follow up on that, so I'm guessing you're not seeing Freddie being available for at least another week? He's not going to join us on this trip. Has Freddie Anderson been on ice at all during these recent days?

No, he hasn't. I think what Toronto has done is they've started to look around and see if we have to do this. And at this point in time, I don't think they want to, but if we have to do this, who's available?

I think one of the guys they've checked in on is Ulmark from Buffalo, who is a UFA. Just asking Buffalo what you're thinking and if we have to do it. I think earlier on

they checked on Arizona's guys. I wouldn't be surprised if they checked on Riddick too. Like that's just sensible to me, but I don't know that. But I've heard that the Arizona guys in Allmark are among the guys they have asked about. There's always been rumors about the Maple Leafs being involved or being interested rather. There's always been rumors, Elliot, about the being involved or being interested rather there's always been rumors elliot about the maple leafs being interested in alexander georgiev with the rangers and if they start to fall out of it would that be a target of interest for the maple leafs you think

i don't know it's a good question i haven't heard it i just know that last year like they were never close like the rangers and i know there's a lot of talk about it but they just i i heard they were never close so the question then becomes elliot now that thatcher demko has been signed elias petterson quinn hughes travis green ian clark tanner pearson who's next jim benning said last week that on the week off he was going to try to take care of some of some business obviously he did that they got demko done and i think that really heated up in said last week that on the week off, he was going to try to take care of some business. Obviously, he did that. They got Demko done, and I think that really heated up in the last week. I think there have been some conversations with Pearson. I'm getting some really mixed messaging on where this is.

I think it's going to be tight to get it done. I think it's a real challenge. The Hughes and Pedersen, I don't think those have started yet. I'm under the impression that Vancouver is looking at about 15 million for the two of them next year. So we'll see where that goes. The coaches, I have not heard a thing. I don't know where that is. And I'll tell you this. I believe that some teams ownership says says here's your budget and don't surprise me just let me know if you're up to anything big i think because of vancouver's

overall situation right now i do think ownership has a big hand in this stuff has to be run through them i just think right now they haven't committed to what they're doing with their coaches yet uh okay to the team that vancouver was supposed to play on wednesday night the calgary flames them. I just think right now they haven't committed to what they're doing with their coaches yet. Uh, okay. To the team that Vancouver was supposed to play on Wednesday night, the Calgary flames. Now you look at the standings and you say, ah, there are only four points out as we record this podcast, but they're chasing Montreal.

Montreal has five games in hand. You look at the goal differential for the Calgary flames and it's ugly, dash 16. Yeah. We've been talking a couple of years now and the decision's sort of always been kicked down the road. We've been talking about when is it the end for this core? Are we there now with Calgary? Well, I think we wait to see how it plays out, but I think we're getting close.

You know, I don't think that the Fl flames really have anything necessarily going on right now, but I think everybody knows that where we are and if they don't make the playoffs this year, they're going to have some big decisions to make. I think people know that if you want to call Calgary, they're willing to listen to a lot of things. I just don't get the sense that anything is anywhere close to imminent. How much of a big stick does Daryl Sutter have in all of this now? I think he has a lot of things. I just don't get the sense that anything is anywhere close to imminent. How much of a big stick does Daryl Sutter have in all of this now?

I think he has a lot. Like I've said, I believe that the only way that they were making a coaching change right now was Sutter. And that is because of the deep respect and deep connections that the people in the organization have to him. So they are going to listen to his opinion. As we fly around the NHL, I would like to know what is happening. And I think a lot of people do too, because it seems to be one of the more interesting

stories right now. What is happening with the Nashville Predators? They have rattled off six wins in a row. Tonight, it is Thursday. They'll play the Dallas Stars. That may extend to seven or that may be a loss. Don't know. Dallas is a bizarre team for a lot of people this season.

We've said before that it looks like this Nashville Predators team could be the kingmaker come trade deadline time with various names flying around. But then they find themselves in a playoff position. Win six games in a row. Many have pointed out that, okay, you beat up on Detroit, you beat up on Chicago, take it with a grain of salt, but all you can do is win the games that are in front of you. What's happening with Nashville?

Well, I do a hit every Thursday in Nashville on the ESPN station there, one Oh two five. And they, they told me that when I did my hit earlier today, that what David Poyle, he's on there every Tuesday and he said basically contrary to reports up in Canada, it's pretty quiet right now.

And I said, did he mention me specifically by name or just referring to all of us up there? And they laughed and they said, no, he didn't refer to anybody specifically by name. I think that with nashville it's kind of tied down a bit like my guess is that when things weren't going very well for the predators they didn't mind all the rumors because they didn't think that anyone there should be comfortable but now that they're making their charge and they're in the race and depending

on who you like they could actually be your favorite to make the playoffs that you know they're trying to turn down the heat a little bit no no no we could make this why do we want to make people uncomfortable so you know i do think that david poyle is at the poker table but i also think he's looking at it and saying do i give our team a shot in the playoffs you know if you finish fourth you likely get Tampa, right? Maybe you get Carolina, maybe you get Florida, but you're probably thinking Tampa. It's tough. It's tough, man. Fourth in that division is tough. But what I've

said too, and I do believe this, that more than any other season in terms of the business of your organization, make the playoffs, how many more tickets do you sell for next year? Not insignificant. The other thing about Nashville is

they only have a couple of players on expiring contracts. Like all the names that we see flying around, whether it's Ekholm, whether it's Ellis, whether it's Philip Forsberg, like they don't have to do any deal. Like no one's, outside of Michael Granlund and Eric Holla, no one's walking away.

It's not as if they're walking away and they're not going to get an asset in return. These players still have term. Nashville's in an interesting spot. There's no gun to anyone's head here. David Poyle doesn't have to do anything. We just assume that, okay, bottoming out,

try to recoup something come trade deadline time and start to turn this thing over. As much as people may say he's under pressure to do something, I don't think he is because these players have term outside of Grandland and Holla. That's it. But the question is, do you believe you have the right mix? I don't think that they believe that they have the right mix. My only question is, how much runway do they still have until they need to make decisions on these players like do they have to make a deal by April 12th no

do they have to do anything with Acon by April 12th no no one's going to walk away here and leave David Poyle without anything in return outside of those two forwards that I just mentioned like they're kind of in an enviable spot here you might just say they're playing with house money in both chicago and columbus and to another extent as well dallas is just handing them a playoff spot if i'm dallas i'm not making any big decisions on my team this year they've had a brutal schedule they've had a

covid outbreak they had that texas heating situation where some of the players had like flooding in their houses and they're competing hard. Plus also you've learned that you've really got a player in Jason Robertson, right? You sure do. So I'm looking at this for Dallas. I'm not making any crazy decisions because our guys are playing hard in the middle of what's been a complete nightmare.

As a matter of fact, I'm really impressed with how hard they play they can't win in overtime but they compete they compete hard like they have every excuse to quit this year and they haven't done it they do have a hard time scoring goals uh back to nashville quickly though the one thing you always sort of look for a silver lining in anything in in a miserable season they may end up making the playoffs yeah good on nashville and it seems as if we've been waiting even though he's only 21 years old it feels like we've been waiting for like la tolvanen to turn it on and demonstrate he's a legit top six forward that can shoot and score for how many years i know it's not a ton of games but does does it feel to you like Tolvanen's finally here?

In my hit today, they asked me if he's going to get any Calder trophy love. And I'm a big believer in recency bias. Yeah. So if he finishes strong, I think that helps him. But, you know, I said that he's in my list, but I just don't know how anyone's taking the Calder away from Kaprizov right now. You mentioned Carolina a couple of seconds ago. Let's stay in this division.

A fantastic March, 10, 2, and 2. Curious about them at deadline. And they do have an emerging star. Or do we say someone who's already there in Martin Natchez? Been an embarrassment of riches for the Carolina Hurricanes up front for a number of years. And now they have another one. This Natchez kid, Elliot, is real good.

See, I don't want to call him underrated because everybody's calling him underrated, and if everybody does something, I don't want to do it. I was making this point on Hockey Central with Sarah Sivian the other day. You can say that every player on Carolina is always underrated because they don't get coverage. Oh, my God.

Stop with the whining about this. Oh my goodness. Hang on. How many times have you heard, man, Jacob Slavin's underrated? We've been saying it for how many years now? Like at a certain point, things like Slavin's underrated, Ajo's underrated.

It has to stop, doesn't it? Yes, it does have to stop. Look, they're a good team. That's it. They could win the Stanley Cup this year. Could, yep. And they'll be doing it with, you know, you want to talk about getting called or loved, do it with a rookie netminder, Alex

Nadelkovich. My theory on this is if there's one team that comes out of nowhere to make a whopper of a deal, it's Carolina. For what position? Could be goal. We've thought all season long they're looking for another defenseman. And they were. They weren't? Could be goal. We've thought all season long. They're looking for another defenseman. And they were,

they, they weren't on Hammonick. That to me would be the position I would circle come trade deadline time. They think that way. The owner likes to be bold, right? He does. And also I have to say this.

I had someone say to me that the Brendan Moore extension is not as close as it's being portrayed i also had someone say to me that brindamore the extension it's not as close as everyone thought last week including myself it doesn't mean it's not going to happen but apparently it wasn't as close as we all thought so we'll. I still think he ends up there. It's just that someone told me to pump the brakes on it. Staying in the Central, Florida Panthers. As they find themselves, as we record this,

on a three-game winning streak, second place in the Central by way of points, not percentage, and down Aaron Ekblad. Barkov's coming back this weekend. That's good news. But the Aaron Ekblad injury Barkov's coming back this weekend. That's good news. But the Aaron Ekblad injury, the season-ending injury, is a tough one to swallow because this guy, I don't think he's going to win the Norris.

I didn't think he was going to win the Norris trophy, but he was going to be on ballots. Yo, there's no question about that. Honestly, I like Hedman this year. I think he's going to win it if everything continues the way it's going. But, you know, Ekblad, McAvoy, Darnell Nurse. Ekblad was definitely up there. It was awful to watch.

I'll tell you this. I just said that Carolina could take a swing. Florida's another team that could take a swing. You know, you can't replace them, but you're having a really good year zito viola there are also guys who think big right they are and don't you kind of owe your fans if it can get to that spot a really good series against tampa oh we talked about this last week we've been waiting for this series forever and you just don't want it to be a squash match. Tell you what, one of the big stories of this season is in Florida. Not just the team, but Carter Verhage.

And I know a lot of it is the Alexander Barkov effect. Sure, he's made a lot of players wealthy and made a lot of players look good. He has that magic wand. You got to be good to play with good players. You do. And the one thing that i come back to with carter for haggie i remember talking to one scout about him i can't remember what stop for haggie was on and he said look the skating is always going to hold this guy back and i said well what

was he like when he was younger and he said i can remember our crew we had skaters listed a b and c you know a if you're an elite level skater b if you B, and C. A, if you're an elite level skater, B, if you're a good skater, and C, if you're a poor skater. We had Carter Verhage, a C minus. That's how bad the skating was. This guy

has improved his game immensely from team to team to team. He finds a home in Florida. Yes, Barkoff helps helps but this guy's improved himself tremendous remember brian brick would always talk about blake wheeler and how much he's the most improved player in the nhl hands down period carter verhage is probably the most improved player in the nhl this season isn't he yeah i i would say so and don't forget like this was a guy who wasn't qualified last year. It's insane. By a team that generally makes very good decisions.

Got to hand it to him. He's put in the work. Sticking with Florida, some news. There was some thought or some feeling slash belief that Spencer Knight, first-round draft pick, Boston College, would, considering the nature of the Sergey Bobrovsky contract ahead of him, choose to stay with Bostonoston college for four years go uh go over the free agency route and choose his team didn't do that he comes out signs an entry-level deal with the florida panthers and is now a member of the

cats your thoughts on spencer knight's decision one of the things I had heard was that the Panthers said to them, look, yes, we have a $70 million goaltender here, but look who's playing. What, Chris Drieger? Yes, because he won the net. Yeah. Chris Drieger's had an incredible year in the Florida goal. He's a major reason that they've been off to the start they've been off to.

And when he deserved to play, he played. You know, sometimes teams say, you know, we're invested in this goalie. We're paying him a ton of money. He gets the net. The Panthers haven't really done that. Bobrowski's played well at times, and he's played. Drieger's played well a lot of times, and he gets to play. And I think they were able to take that tonight and say,

look, you're going to be on an entry-level contract for three years. Certainly there's bonuses involved, but you're going to get a chance to play. And I think he saw that. Now, we'll see what they do with Drieger and Goal. We'll see the kind of moves they have to make. I have no doubt that they will get offers on him if not already i have no doubt that they will have a decision to make at some point in time a ufa but i'm not surprised that knight decided to go pro he's got two more years

before he can even entertain being an unrestricted free agent. And he's simply ready to play. So I can recall, was it a couple of months ago, I mentioned this idea on this podcast. The idea of, you know, why wouldn't Spencer Knight just play the four years and then choose his team? And I had a goalie coach from another team get in touch with me and said, I heard your take and it's a bad one.

And here's why. He said, what you need to consider is the development of the goaltender. Sure, there's the goalie in front of him with the million-year contract. We all understand that. But if you're handling Spencer Knight right now, a couple of things. One, you can't leave him at the the college level to face college level shots and situations or he'll stagnate goalie's a sensitive position he needs to take that next step he needs pro situations and pro shots and so there's nothing wrong with having a goalie play in the

american hockey league for two or three years that That takes the Bobrovsky contract down a couple of more seasons. And then you have a situation, even then, when he's ready to play in the NHL, where he needs to fight for a position. You never want to hand anybody anything, especially a goaltender. Let him fight for it. But he said the one thing you missed on in your hot take, Marek, was the development of the goalie you were just thinking of oh freedom and choose my team forgetting the fact that what's

he going to be like after four years of the same quality of shot and environment a couple other players coming out as well cam york for the philadelphia flyers alex new hook tough one for bc the other day they lose night and alex new hook you know the other day. They lose Knight and Alex Newick. You know, the other thing here, and one case I've heard it in is Jake Sanderson from North Dakota, who was the first round pick in Ottawa last year. It doesn't look like, you know, Ottawa's had a really good week. Jacob Bernard Docker, he signed with the Senators. Shane Pinto, he signed with the Senators. Both of those guys left North Dakota to join the Senators.

Now, the one guy who hasn't is Jake Sanderson. And, you know, he's only played one year. So I don't think that's a big deal. But one of the things I heard about Sanderson was, you know, there's a lot of players who looked at this year and said, I was kind of robbed of a year. And I think anybody who's that age understands what they're talking about. Or, you know, kids, high school kids, university kids, you know, because of COVID, they lost

a year of their regular college experience. And I think one of the things that Sanderson, and I don't think he's the only one, but I think one of the things they kind of thought about was you know Bernard Docker he'd played already at North Dakota for this was his third year Pinto had already played at North Dakota this was his second year and although unfortunately for Pinto last year he didn't get a chance to play for the NCAAs because the season ended early, and this year they got knocked out. At least he had some of the college experience. From what I heard, and I haven't seen the contract as we talk about this,

I heard Pinto got a good bonus. So that's something Ottawa did to help convince him. The other thing here about Sanderson is this year was his first year he's never had the full college experience yet and I can totally understand that if you know you want another opportunity to go and see what life is like maybe closer to normal as a guy who loved his four years in university at Western. I'm all for that. And you know, nobody has to panic here.

They still got his rights for three more years. The kid won't be 19 until July. I look at it as no panic and I don't see why anybody has to worry about this decision. I totally understand it. Do you have a thought on the Boston Bruins? Cause I got a hot take on them. Well,

I just think they're going to wait to see what Tuca Rast's situation is. Okay. Like if Rast can't play, do they take a run or do they say not our year? You want my take? Okay, what's your take? Hot juicy.

So we all know and we've seen Bruce Cassidy talk about this and openly lobby for more goal scoring with his squad. Mm-hmm. You know I cheer for the story.

Yes. Whatever the best story is. Okay, so here's what I want you to do. Cam Neely comes out of retirement. Oh, that would be fantastic. Yeah, the old putting the puck in between the defenseman's gates and charging over him, the signature Cam Neely move. No, just work with me on this.

Making his return to the Boston Bruins to fill the nets, Phil Kessel. That would be quite a story. Wouldn't that be the best story in hockey right now? Look, the Bruins have some picks. Arizona needs picks. The Bruins need scoring. Arizona's got Phil Kessel. And Arizona doesn't have a first rounder this year.

I'm just putting it out there. Kessel's got some terms. Sure, it's 6.8. Yeah, that's the second year that's the issue. I know it depends on what you're going to do with David Krejci and what's happening with Jake Dabrowski and all these things. I just want that idea out there in the universe right now. Somewhere in Boston, somebody just crashed into a traffic circle.

Someone in the bruins organization right now is swearing at me uh not exactly a surprise do you have a thought on the new york rangers right now um is this push for the playoffs legit what do we make of the rangers right now to be honest jeff i i think we need some more pushes for the playoffs right you know we don't have enough of them the canadian division the math isn't good for anyone who's out of the top four yep no we talked about the central there's kind of that three or four team battle for fourth between chicago dallas columbus and and nashville in the west we've got a weird playoff race that we didn't really expect with st louis and arizona and still la battling to get into it you left the team out

there hold on you want to count out san jose i i just i don't know what to make of them either but okay put them in because i like races right and although they've basically admitted they're kind of waving the white flag but you know they're there and then in the other division the east you've got you know we talked about boston and Philly and, you know, the Rangers. It's clear to me that the goalie is legit. Shisterkin is their guy. Yep. And they're the only team with a goal differential that good.

That's not in the playoffs. Yes. Now, some of that is philly like they've blown up philly a couple of times and you know and i guess they're plus 14 in those games sabana jad has just feasted on the philadelphia flyer yes i just wonder if they gave away too many points early but i like the race right and i do think the the rangers are you know like i said we've talked about their interest in ikel i i think they're a team to watch in the sense i i think over the next few months they could do something really interesting the whole zibanejad thing is also fascinating because now

like a couple months ago i i think they were really even a couple weeks ago i think they were kind of really worried what they had there. And now maybe they're feeling a little bit better. It's, it's hard to say, but I just worry they gave up too many points. Although I want playoff races. That's what I want. I want, I want playoff races. Can we go back to San Jose real quick?

Sure. The best moment of the week, true or false. Eric Carlson with the apple all right eric is that the best office of game you've ever had uh two goals and essentially a hat trick when the game winner and the uh not even close shang i have some very mixed feelings about that and they're not directed at carlson okay i mean the thing was funny when i saw it i was like okay uh that's that's unusual and that's different and he had some good comic timing what i didn't like was the pile on on the reporter that came after oh no one liked that no no no no no i i no that's gross first of all like i'm no

better than any other reporter i've asked good questions i've asked bad questions but you know what i didn't like about that is that some of the people who were dunking on that reporter are people who say oh people are really mean to each other on social and don't you consider people's mental health yeah and then they just dunked on this guy i don't even know who it was so that's my whole issue with things like that is initially it's like holy cow that's funny and then it becomes oh everybody has to retweet it with a comment that twists the knife a little bit more yeah it's late at night we all ask bad questions it's zoom which makes it even and when you ask convoluted questions on zoom it only makes the situation worse so who

knows like i don't know what happened maybe the guy was just throwing it out there because it was late at night and whatever it wasn't a good question but like i've asked terrible questions so here's my thing jeff like it just turns into a pile on yes here's my thing about dumb questions sometimes you get great answers out of them you just have to nobody wants to ask a dumb question hang on no hold on a second here i'm going somewhere with this yeah and i'm not i'm not saying as to that was a quote unquote dumb question but there is value in asking a Columbo-style question or playing goofy janitor to try to get something out of someone. Just because it doesn't fit the model of every reporter has to know

every single hockey player's biography, chapter and verse, doesn't make it a stupid question. Sometimes some of the best conversations and some of the best answers come from the tiniest, maybe most ridiculous questions or conversations that you can have. I have no problem putting that question out there at all. I would rather hear that one and the answer that it may get as opposed to, you know, how crucial is it to have gone two for four on the power play? I think that's so true. And I'll tell you something else.

When I first started out, someone said to me, I don't ever want to hear you say talk about in a question, talk about this or talk about that. And another reporter, and for the life of me, I can't remember who it was, said that is the stupidest advice ever. That is somebody who just is concerned with the look as opposed to the interview. And I said, what do you mean by that? And he said, someday you'll see.

And I remember being in a press conference once, I think it was a golf one at the Canadian Open, and someone said, asked a question, and the golfer said, I don't understand what you mean by that question. Like, is there a question in there? And then the guy was flustered and he said, just talk about this. And the guy gave a great answer. And the person said to me,

actually, I said, oh my God, like that's exactly what that person was talking about. So you're right. Sometimes I think we get, oh, let's get caught up in the style of how we ask something. And instead of our goal is to get the best answer. But again, I didn't like that thing because it turned into a pile on, on someone. And again, it's, it's my whole thing with the, with the let's talk that makes me crazy sometimes is some of the people I always see tweeting, you know, bell, let's talk are the same people who pile on you the other 364 days of the year.

So it did annoy me. I have to tell you one final thought on that other side, we'll do some hashtag S 31s reporters. And I know I'm always sensitive to it as well, but one conversation with one person that I greatly respect turned me around on it. I was always hesitant my entire career to ask the, how do you feel question? The, how do you feel right now? How does this make you feel? I was until I had a conversation once I was doing a rink side. I can't even remember where and Shirely Najak pulled me aside. Shirely is a longtime producer at Hockey Night, pulled me aside and said, you know, I know you guys don't like asking that question,

but sometimes it's the right question to ask. I agree. I know you feel dumb asking it, but sometimes that's the most important thing at that time. He's like, you got to swallow your own ego. You got to swallow your ego and ask the question that's the right one. And sometimes the how do you feel right now question is the best question. I agree with that. And you know what, I think I don't think he ever told me that, but he's right. And the reason is, it's again, we get

caught looking at our own navels. We worry that people are going to criticize us for not asking the right style of question. And as I've gotten older, I've just learned that that is stupid. And if someone doesn't like it, too bad if it works. All right, there you go. Uh, other side, quick pause, uh, ask 31 your thoughts next on 31 thoughts, the podcast. Okay. okay welcome back to the podcast want to get right to your twitter questions at hashtag s31 elliot this one comes to us from plast and i hope i'm pronouncing that right i suspect i'm not any good book recommendations regarding russian players defecting to the NHL? So, yes, and I'm turning to look at my bookshelf, which I'm trying to, because I never want to get a title wrong.

Breakaway by Tal Pinchewski is an excellent one. And the other one I'd recommend is a bit of the reverse. It's Behind the Red Line by Todd Harchie, who was one of the first North American players to spend a year in Russia, at least of the reverse. It's Behind the Red Line by Todd Hartge, who was one of the first North American players to spend a year in Russia, at least of recent generations. So those are the two I would recommend to you. I'd also recommend, if you want to watch something, Sportsnet did a great piece with Jerry Meehan and Don Luce

about the defection of Alex McGilney. It was like a 30-minute special. It was excellent. That's produced by Jeremy McElhinney, by the It was like a 30 minute special. It was excellent. That's produced by Jeremy McElhinney, by the way. You can find that doc in our show notes. One thing I do want to mention for this question as well, and it's coming out, I think at the end of this year. So late 2021. Vashie Nedimansky, who's Václav Nedimansky's son, is putting out a documentary about his dad called Big Ned.

You can see the trailer and information on it at bignedfilm.com. And something, the last time I was DMing with Vashy that I didn't know Elliot, is you went to school with him. Hang on, you went to school with Václav Nedimansky's son? For a year, yes. For a year. He was, when Václav Nedimansky's son. For a year, yes. For a year. He was, when Václav played for the Toronto Toros, Václav went to Bayview Glen Private School with me.

Oh, that's fantastic. Not surprisingly, we went skating one day and he was the best skater in the class. I know, shocking. His dad was a stud. So glad that he made it to the Hockey Hall of Fame. I can still remember Václav Nenemansky and Richard Farda coming over to play with the Toronto Toros.

Here's an interesting question. This is a philosophical one. This is from Kobe. Hockey media types seem to spend a lot of time talking about how they would change the sport, sometimes drastically, brackets, looking at you, Merrick. If hockey is so great, why do we need to change everything about it

but the pucks in the ice that's a great question i wonder let me ask you this i don't know maybe people on twitter can share this with me is it a specifically canadian thing to always want to change this game or worry about this game no i think you see it all the time in every sports i remember like just some of the guys i know who cover other games you think that everything is like endemic to your game no the same complaints happen about the same sport every sport complains about their refereeing and umpiring every sport complains about the way it's played is it good or bad you know for all the love inside the nba gets it's a great show,

Barkley and O'Neal are very open about the fact they hate the way the NBA is played now. Major League Baseball is going through a big problem right now with the three true outcomes, walk, strikeout, home run, balls and player down, and they're concerned about it. So I think it's only natural to nitpick at your game. The only sport right now that doesn't really have problems is the NFL, and because it's just too big for all its problems. You know, you can talk about all the issues it has. They just did billions in television.

This comes to us from at TH3 underscore N3. Well, you get the gist. Why do you always go to bot farms? Like, where are you going to these bot farms? This can't be a bot farm because, again, if it is a bot farm, I want this bot farm to tweet us every single week because there's good questions involved in this bot farm. This hockey bot farm is awesome.

With teams stressing possession in three-on-three overtime, you get long stretches of circling back, regrouping, et cetera. Should the league introduce a shot clock and or over and back rule a la the nba to encourage shots and possession changes speaking of changing the game there's one about changing the game like i just like i really think right now we're going through all this conversation about officiating why give them more to worry about? Hmm. From an entertainment point of view, originally the three-on-three overtime was just,

it was sprints, up and down, up and down. Until coaches legislated the fun out of it? Well, that was it, right? Remember how we kept saying, oh, this is great. The coaches can't get their hooks into it. Oh, yes, they can. Now they have their hooks into it. And if you don't have the perfect shot, it's too risky.

We can't risk the odd man rush the other way. Let's just regroup, regroup, regroup. Let me ask you a question. Okay, because I am willing to consider the possibility of this. If you send it back the other way, what's the penalty? What do you mean if you send it back the other way?

If you pass it back over the red line or something, what's the infraction? If you're conservative, change of possession. If you're more radical, penalty shot. I'm just making this up off the top of my head. Well, that's the thing. I want to know what would you do? Like to me, blowing it dead in the face off, that doesn't solve your problem. No, no, no.

You're just slowing the game down. So what are you doing? and a face-off, that doesn't solve your problem. No, no, no. You're just slowing the game down. So what are you doing? Essentially, what this bot farm is getting at is you want to get it back to the origins of the three-on-three where it was just five minutes of sprints.

How do we get there is essentially what we're asking. I don't know how we get there. But what is the answer? Well, I mean, Penalty Shot would do it, right? For an overback. I would love to be in the GM meeting when that gets proposed. Okay, this is what we're thinking, guys. If you pass the puck back over the red line after you've gained the blue line, penalty shot.

And there has to be a camera. One more about changing the rules, and we'll get out of here and let people have the rest of their weekend without listening to us two bozos. This comes to us from Byron. I know the BOG won't be talking about it, but this call the rulebook situation

is hampered by the two-minute penalty. Do you feel there is any appetite, or do you have an appetite, to change penalty length? One minors two minute minors three minute overtime no just no no just in any in any situation no i don't no no no so it has to be either a two five ten that's it or a penalty shot why well i think the thinking is that there are some calls that don't rise to the level of a full two-minute power play, but is an infraction enough that something should be called, but two minutes is too stiff.

I'm just saying. I'm just following the logic of the question. We're ending the logic. Okay. The logic is terrible. And here's why the logic is terrible. Yeah. The logic is terrible, and here's why the logic is terrible.

Yeah? If we're all complaining here there's too much interference and there's too many penalties not being called, why give people incentive to commit more penalties? Here's what I think the thinking is at. I'll give you an actual game application for it. If you're off to the side of the net wide open net and someone passes you the puck and the other team's defenseman comes out of nowhere slashes you on the wrist before you can tap the puck into the net what's the call slashing two minutes do you not think that that

slash is different than a slash that happens in the neutral zone on a rush? Amo, for the first time, I wish we were televising this podcast so people could see the look on my face right now. If everybody is complaining about judgment calls, why are we adding judgment to the rule book? We need a better Botfarm. That one's not from a bot farm. That's from Byron. Bot farm was the other one. Okay, Byron, I'm sorry.

I didn't mean to say you were a bot farm. Jeff, before we leave, I have to ask you, are you a Godzilla versus Kong guy? I'm going tonight with the kids, driving. Oh, that's awesome. We've actually been talking about that. Do we want to do that? I love Godzilla.

Same. My parents, when I was a kid, they bought me like a two foot tall Godzilla, which was my favorite toy. So I was always a big Godzilla guy. I watched all the movies. This morning, before we did the podcast, I rewatched the original 1963 battle on Mount Fuji between Godzilla and Kong. Oh, wow.

And Godzilla was kicking the crap out of Kong. And he never knew this, but an electrical storm came and the scientists who were watching it overhead in the helicopter said, electricity is good for Kong. I did not know this. And he recovered

and they both fell into the ocean together. Next week, you'll give us your review as we return to the Monday podcast. You'll give us your review. Enjoy it. Absolutely. And if Godzilla doesn't win, this is a joke. I just want to say this for the record.

No, no, no. I'm team Godzilla on this one too. A lot of it is because whenever we'd go visit our cousins in Livonia, Michigan as kids, we would always watch, I don't know how, either always on TV and on Michigan television or they just own the videos watch i don't know how that was either always on tv and on michigan television or they just own the videos i don't remember i was pretty young it was a non-stop stream of godzilla movies and ultraman oh man i loved ultraman oh yeah ultraman was great but

tons of godzilla movies so that's some of my earliest memories of uh of hanging out with my cousins in livonia so i am very excited uh very excited about Godzilla King Kong later on this evening. And dude, like for the first time since I was a kid, I'm going to a drive-in. When's the last time you went to a drive-in? The last time I went to a drive-in, I think I was a teenager and we saw a triple header that involved Wildcats with Goldie Hawn. Whoa. Spies Like Us with with dan akroyd and i can't remember what the third movie was okay so how many people and beers did you sneak in no i was with my

cousins and my aunt and uncle so there wasn't anything of that going on like that no there was none are you gonna go see uh godzilla King Kong? Yes, I think so. We're talking about taking my son to the movie. So I would like to go, yes. Awesome. I will let you know, Elliot. I will let you know. Have a great time.

Thanks, bud. And letting you know that taking us out today is an artist whose band has supported some of the biggest names in the music industry, including Gary Clark Jr.,

The Who, Lenny Kravitz, The Black Crows. From his album, Charge It To The Game, here's Tash Neal with Catching Up on 31 Thoughts, the podcast. Thinking in your mind there must be some way to get out of this place Soon you're gonna find the loneliness you thought was already there So take a bow, look at Cal, it's funny how life ain't always fair It seems that I was just lying And it was what I wanted to

It seems that the sun is shining And maybe now it's catching up to you Now I think the time concealed is better than the time left alone Cause now I know the difference between the dog you cheated and the dog you bought Think that the path you chose was better than the four that hit the road Soon you'll find the fault was mine, the other crime was not in your soul And if it seems that I've always been lying If it burns, well I never wanted to And if it seems that the sun doesn't shine

And if the night is catching up to me