32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Pierre-Luc Dubois, Mark Scheifele & Jason Dickinson

Episode Date: September 16, 2021

Pierre-Luc Dubois chats with Jeff and Elliotte (7:20) about his skate-filled summer, focusing on his physical and mental health, watching different players around the league, and why he likes playing with Russian players. Mark Scheifele joins the podcast (27:00) to chat about his skates with Ryan O’Reilly and Adam Oates in Lucan, Ontario, how he […]

You good? Yeah. You got the arm right on your cheek. I know. I was sleeping. You gonna have a little snooze? Welcome once again to 31. Is it still 31?

Is it 32? No, it's 31. Still 31 Thoughts, the podcast. Jeff Merrick alongside Elliot Friedman setting the stage here. By the way. We are, yes. I'm calling it 32 now. Well.

I know officially it's not started, but I have to put myself in the right mindset. You know me, Elliot. I go where I'm put. I do what I'm told. Yes. And Emil says, you're calling it 31, Merrick. So I'm calling it 31 thoughts, the podcast. Set the scene.

We are at the- You are weak. I am a true independent thinker. Nobody pulls my strings. Who's going to have more longevity then? You will. No question about it. Okay.

So we're at the Toronto stop for the nhl media tour and thanks to the nhl alumni association for allowing us into their very spacious and comfortable office here yeah scott and riley and savannah taking good care of us today at the fort performance center in the west end of toronto i'm going to hear from three different nhl players going to be a winnipeg vancouver slant to today's edition of 31 thoughts the podcast going to hear from three different NHL players. It's going to be a Winnipeg, Vancouver slant to today's edition of 31 Thoughts, the podcast. We'll hear from Jason Dickinson, a new Vancouver Canuck. Where does he slot in? That's one of the questions that we get to with him. Also talk to him about the transition from Dallas to Vancouver. And did he think at the end of all of it, he was always going to be the odd man out with the stars?

Quick thought on what we're going to hear a little bit later on, our interview with Jason Dickinson, your thoughts on the player. Oh, I think he's a heck of a player. I think Vancouver had a pretty good off season. I think they added a lot of depth. I still think their D might be one or two players short, but I like what they did up front. I think they've added some really good forwards.

And, you know, like as we tape this, Pettersson, Hughes aren't signed. I think they've made progress on Hughes, at least at the end of the week. Last week, I hadn't gotten a lot of sense about progress on Pettersson, though. I hesitate to say that because things can change pretty quickly.

But I liked what Vancouver did for the most part last offseason. And I'm curious to see because things can change pretty quickly, but I liked what Vancouver did for the most part last off season. And I'm curious to see what Vasily Podkolzin can bring to the, to the mix. We're used to hotshot Calder trophy candidates in Vancouver. We had a brief reprieve last season. You wonder if we get back to it this year

with Podkolzin. We'll also hear from Mark Scheifele, who will not play the first game for the Winnipeg Jets this season, still suspended technically for that hit last year in the playoffs on Jake Evans. And we get into a few things with Scheifele, who is, we all know,

is one of the more thoughtful hockey players out there, a 24-7 guy. He's not the guy that turns the TV off when his team is out of the playoffs. He's the all-in guy uh we asked the olympic question with uh mark shafley as well we'll hear from shafley here in a couple of moments anything stand out anything stand out with mark shafley and you this off season any questions you have about double nickels in winnipeg well one of the things

that you know we talked about briefly in the interview was that I do check my Twitter DMs fairly frequently, but I don't check my Instagram ones. And part of that is I'm not on Instagram as much as I am on Twitter. And secondly, I can only check one area of hate-filled messages at a time. You can't do two. It's simply too much. Take a full bath. Dive right't do two. It's simply too much. Just take a full bath. Dive right in, Elliot. That's right.

That's right. I jump into the acid bath on Twitter, so I'm limited to how much I can do it on Instagram. So finally, later in the summer, I did check my DMs on Instagram and, you know, there were a few people who knew Shifley after his suspension for hitting Jake Evans. They wrote to me and they said that, you know, they people who knew Shifley after his suspension for hitting Jake Evans. They wrote to me and they said that, you know, they were friendly with Shifley.

They knew Shifley and they felt what had happened to him had been unfair. And, you know, I think the thing that they all agreed on was that they agreed he deserved to have a punishment. And we all know what the punishment was. As you said, he still suspended one more game. know what the punishment was. As you said, he's still suspended one more game. But they thought that some of the things that happened in the aftermath of that, particularly with his family, were way over the top and unacceptable. So that was one of the things we talked about.

And I didn't know what to expect when we asked him the question. We'll leave it to everyone here to hear it. But I know there were some people that felt that while they understood that he needed to have a punishment for it, they thought some of the things that happened in the aftermath were really unfair to his family members. And we'll kick off the podcast, Elliot, with an interview, which was the first one we did when we got here that I really enjoyed. Yeah, he was good.

Which was Pierre-Luc Dubois, one of the more controversial players from last season, the trade from Columbus to Winnipeg, the quarantine, the injuries, the struggles, the criticism, all of it, he's wide open with. First of all, I agree with you. I thought Dubois was really interesting to listen to. He was willing to talk and philosophical. I think that it's pretty obvious,

and people will hear it, that this is a guy who now looks at this as the fresh start. You may have looked at last year as the fresh start. It just didn't line up that way. And this is the fresh start. And do you get the sense that he's nudging closer to explaining what happened in Columbus? We thought we were going to drag it out of him. First of all, he's much stronger than the two of us. He could handle the two of us together with one hand tied behind his back.

He's a physical marvel. He's clearly not ready yet. I don't know if he ever will. I wonder. I don't know. I got the sense in listeners hearing this podcast and judge for themselves. It almost feels as if he's entering a process of wanting to and just wanting to find the right time or the right venue.

I don't know. See, like I have a rule. I reach a point, Jeff, personally, where I say, if I don't say it by now, it's the past. Yeah, I don't get that sense of the past. I don't know if that's it. I don't.

This is officially the start of the new season. Yes. And I'm really looking forward to this year of podcasting with you and amal and everyone else and we're glad to have you all back and uh i'm really excited for this year to start last year was a strange year because of covid and everything this year we're hoping it's going to be a little bit more normal so i hope like i think everybody in hockey needed a vacation a lot of us

have been going for 23 months straight before getting August off. Some people working harder than others, like me working really hard, Jeff working really hard, Amal about 60% of the two of us. But we know a lot of people out there, like in hockey and outside, needed a break last summer in August.

And I hope you all got refreshed and we're really looking forward to this season. We're excited to be back for all of you. We're ready to go. We have comfortable footwearwear we're all set to rock and roll for another season with that we'll kick it off here's pierre luke dubois of the winnipeg jets on 30 for me it's two that's the podcast We're going to start this interview with Pierre-Luc Dubois of the Winnipeg Jets by handing it over to Elliot. Pierre, I'm going to handle all the sophisticated hockey questions,

but Elliot wants to go into beard chat with you. So Elliot, all yours. Well, Pierre-Luc, you were informing us in the pre-conversation we were having that there was a beard in the summer and there is a beard coming in the winter. Fill us in. Yeah, so first day of the summer I shaved to get some sun on the face and everything. And then I think one month in, I just, I was like, ah, I want to see where my beard can go. I want to see how long it can get. I never,

never let it go. So, um, I went three months without shaving, you know, and my girlfriend was like, okay, I think it's time to pull the plug on this one. Um, we were going to see her family. So she's like, can you please, you know, clean it up a bit. So I let it go. But the compromise was I shave and then now it's coming back but in a bigger way so I said Christmas at Christmas I'll make a decision but I want to last till Christmas then you know you always have pictures and stuff like that so I think that's when I'll make uh I'll make a decision after that so for three months without shaving how long did it get I mean I always look at my beard and it feels, I look in the mirror and I'm like, you know, almost embarrassed by it. And then I'll see a picture and it looks thick. So to me,

it got long to me. I never, I've never had a beard that long. It looked better in pictures. I thought then it looked in the mirror for myself, but I think that's always just like a psychological issue or something like that. Hang on. Let me jump in on this one quickly. Yeah. What did you think of Elliot's beard when you would see it on television? So they asked me a question about that earlier and it was impressive. I liked it.

And then they asked me turtleneck or beard. I said a mix of, I want to see a mix of both. I do too, actually. Yeah, the turtleneck kind of gave me Ron Burgundy, which I love. So I think maybe this year it's mustache and turtleneck. Maybe. You know, I got to tell you, Pierre-Luc, so

you've, you've got a girlfriend and I'm married and my wife said to me this off season, she said, look, two years ago was the beard. Last year was the hair. Can you be normal for a season? Yeah, one year. For one year, can you just be normal? So this year, I think I just have to be normal.

So as we get to the serious stuff, more serious, like I just got to think like this is a reset for you. Last year was a lot of change in your life. This year has got to be a reset and a chance to kind of start all fresh. Yeah. Oh, 100%. You know, you're never ready for the year to end.

You never want the year to end, but when it ended, you kind of look back at the mistakes you made, the, you know, the, the things that you could have changed. And one of the big things for me, you you know every summer is a big summer for myself and last year you know I started off in Montreal then it got complicated to find ice and to be able to work out so I went to Columbus then there we had a COVID outbreak so it was kind of like you're in the gym two weeks you're out of the gym for a week you're in the gym for two weeks I had three weeks

like I was at home and back then we didn't know if you could work out with COVID. So they told us don't work out. So I was at home for three weeks, just, you know, watching TV. So I got to camp, not in the best shape that I know I can get. And you're a fitness guy. Like people have told me you're big. I love working out. Yeah. I love working out. I love everything that comes with it. So that's a big part of my game. And I think the way I play on the ice, you know, as a physical game is not just hitting, it's protecting the puck, being a center, being down low and winning those battles. So to not feel like your body is where it should be, you know, is never a good sign. And then when I got traded, the quarantine, the injuries, it was just, I felt like I was playing catch up a lot throughout the season. season and you know now have to have 12 weeks in Montreal and to be ready for camp it feels really good did you ever feel comfortable last year like it seemed like every every couple of weeks there was another pause for Pierre-Luc Dubois there was another setback they were like at any point did the season settle in for you? No, not really.

It was tough to get a rhythm going. I've never been injured in my life. I've never missed a game, even in juniors. I missed maybe one game when I was 16 from, like, growing pains, basically. So, like, I haven't missed time being injured. You know, I had two injuries, you know, one kind of muscle-related, the other, you know, so it was's something else and then just from getting to a new team practicing we didn't have that many practices you know changing lines changing positions I found it tough to find you know your your base and you work from there it was

kind of tough for that but I think you learn from it and you know it's only gonna make me stronger and who knows maybe one day I'll be 30 years old and the kid is going to come in and he's going to have the same problems I had you know last year and I'll be able to guide him through it because I've I've went through it you know I can always be for myself I have worked on my own mental game to be positive and generally I am but I've had situations in my career where like I have a bad show or a bad thing that happens to me and most of the time I'm pretty good at getting out of it. But if one is followed up with another and then another, you get into this place where you feel

like you're on this treadmill of doom and you can't get out of it and it tears you apart. Like, did you kind of have that? Yeah. Like I said earlier, you're always going to have bad games and you're always going to have bad shifts and you're always going to have a little period where you're maybe not playing the best hockey you can play but the

tough thing for me was last year was that you know I knew my game wasn't where I wanted it to be but physically I wasn't where I wanted to be either where usually I can rely on that you know usually I can say look win your battles you know do do these things physically well and the rest will follow and there was one thing that was tough for me last year as I never I always felt like I was trying to catch up physically you know my fourth or fifth game of the season or sixth game of the season was like game 20 when everybody else is you know I felt like I was in pre-season mode when the guys were in you know beginning of the season mode I felt like I was in the beginning of the season mode when the guys were in you know Christmas and middle and then I felt like every you know block of the season I was always a little bit behind so that was a

I couldn't rely on that part but I'm somebody that expects a lot for myself I'm somebody that I don't know what I can do and when I don't do it you know I try to figure out why and and try to improve so it was it was a tough year but I mean it only makes you stronger at the end of the day and the only way to become a leader and to, you know, one day, hopefully win the Stanley Cup is to go through adversity. What was the summer specifically like for you by way of what you worked on? Other than getting healthy, getting comfortable again, getting into a good place mentally and physically,

what did you work on this summer? I skated a lot more than I usually skate. Last year, I didn't skate that much because of everything with COVID. So that's one thing where my trainer and I wanted to change a bit. Same thing with the cardio. We changed it up, trying to get it even better

than it was before. But I mean, I watched video this summer just to kind of get my game back. I think, like a show for you guys you want you almost want that the next show to happen so you can forget about it yes so i wanted the season to start so i can kind of you know push the last one under the rug and four months without playing is a long time so you know i was watching video from the years before watching videos of other guys um who'd you watch Those guys are fun to watch.

Those guys like Dreisaitl, Kopitar, Barkov. So the power guys. Yeah, even guys like Aho, who's, for me, a big part of my game is puck protection. And I think a lot of times we put that in the category of a big guy with long arms, which I kind of fall into that category. But then you look at guys like Panarin,

who I played with for two years, who's 5'10", 175. I don't know who's not that big but he's probably the best puck protection guy I've played with and against you know just the way that the technique and the skill that he brings to instead of just strength and you know length he brings a more thought process behind it more hands more skill all that so I think if you can mix a bit of both of those, then you become unstoppable. But yeah, I think Dreisaitl is a really fun guy to watch. He always has a trick up his sleeve. The passing, the creativity, I think it's something everybody can learn from.

You're a big, strong center. I'm curious, from your point of view, whose stick is toughest to lift up out there? Bergeron is a very strong guy. Ryan O'Reilly, same thing, even like Dreisaitl. Those guys, whether it's face-offs or in the corner, it's always like you fall for the trap of, oh, I think I got him. He doesn't see me coming. And they probably don't even see you coming, but they're just so strong and they just play a heavy game that they have a heavy stick. It's impressive, and it's a skill that you don't really think of,

who has a heavy stick, who's strong on the puck. Well, Datzik was the legend, right? Yeah, and I played against him once at the World Championships, and it was the same thing. I was so excited to play against him. I mean, I don't know how old he was, but it was the same thing I was so excited to play against them and I mean I don't know how old he was but it was it was scary it was scary it was almost scary like this guy you know I'm sneaking up on him and I can't even take it away from him so it's it's really impressive any regrets last year Pierre-Luc like any no I don't like living with regrets I think everything happens

for a reason I'm a firm believer in that I think that you have to learn you have to get out of your comfort zone I think when you stay in your comfort zone that's when you you stagnate that's when you don't really evolve there's a lot of new things that happened to me last year for the first time and you know it was the first time that most of them were negative almost you know a lot of them were tough a lot of them were tough. A lot of them I didn't have an answer to right away, but you have to go through. I think you have to go through adversity at some point

because one day you're going to have adversity and you don't want it to be for the first time in your life adversity at 30 years old and to the conference final of the Stanley Cup. You want it to happen earlier on. You want to be able to go through it, to have answers. Every year there's new challenges. Every year there's ups and downs. But, you know, there's always going to be new challenges.

But to be able to go through everything that happened last year, I don't see it as regret. I see it as learning. I see it as, you know, getting out of your comfort zone and new challenges that, you know, thought could have could have come up what was the hardest thing that you either read or heard about yourself last year that you said hold on this is way off base yeah there's a lot i mean it kind of you know for me the hard part was um you know I got traded, it was the people kind of putting words in my mouth of why he wants out. This happened, this happened.

It's because of this or he said this or all that. And in reality, I thought, and with my agent, Pat, we thought that the classiest way to do it is to talk less. When it came to the organization myself you know we talked and you know we gave i gave my reasons and and all that but we didn't think anybody on the outside needed to know you know it's a business at the end of the day and but to to read articles about you know why why he wants out and why this and why that. And he said, apparently this happened. And, you know, he's insults of people that have never met me, have no idea who I am,

have probably never even done an interview with me. It was kind of tough to deal with that. It was hard on my parents, to be honest. You know, for my mom to see stuff like that, it was tough on her. But like I said you you go through adversity and i guess i was just a part of it um now i feel like that was a very hard part of my life and i went through it and i'm still alive so you know there's the worst things that could happen

will you ever say it publicly like say on a podcast interview? Yeah. Preseason podcast? Will you ever say it publicly? I don't know. It's one of those things where it was tough for me last year because it came to a point where there's article after article and interviewing of people speculating why. And people can speculate it's fine but sometimes you speculate a lot people start to believe that's the truth there came a

point where you know I told Pat can I do it you know can I just go say it can I just go talk and I think that was the immature side of me saying it I think that sometimes saying less is better and yeah maybe one day maybe when I retire maybe I write a book I don't know you know like maybe I think I and I think and I thought you know the organization did so many good things for me you know they drafted me they believed in me you know they drafted me third overall when nobody thought I'd go third overall they gave me a chance so I don't know why I'd go out there and say necessarily bad things or say things that I might regret later on. Maybe saying less would annoy people and make people mad. But down the line, I think that's the best way to be respectful.

First time I saw you play was when you were in Cape Breton and you were playing with Sveshnikov and Lazarev. Like, what a ridiculous line. So Evgeny Sveshnikov was picked up by your team, the Winnipeg Jets. How much of a hand did you have in that, if anything at all? Not really. So I saw a rumor on Twitter. That's how I found out. I texted him right away.

I said, please tell me this is true um he's he's one of the guys I love to play with you know when I played with him in Cape Breton um but he's also just he was my big brother when I got there he was um you know at my draft he got presented at the same time as me that's when I first met him he's such a hard-working guy I looked up to him when I got to Cape Breton. So when I found out that he could sign in Winnipeg, I texted him right away. I said, please tell me this is true.

And if you have a decision to make, please just do it. So I'm really happy he's there. I'm really happy we signed him. I'm excited to see him. I think he's in Winnipeg. He just got there. I'm really excited to see him. I think it's going to be good.

I think to have kind of that older brother figure that I once had back and playing with him, I think it could help a lot. Watching those games in that line, and specifically you and Svetlakov, it looked like the game was too easy for you. Did it feel that way? Because that's what it looked like.

At times, yeah. Playing with the two Russians, they kind of taught me how to play in a way. They would give me shit for chipping a puck. A simple play. They'd yell at me. They'd first yell at each other in Russian, and I knew exactly what they were talking about. Then they'd tell me.

They'd give me shit for it. knew exactly what they were talking about. And then they tell me, you know, they give me shit for it. And I think my first year in Columbus, Torts was trying to find, you know, a guy to play with Panera, and he was mixing different guys, and I was the only guy that didn't play with him. And all I was thinking was, I can play with him.

I know how to play. I played with Russians in Cape Breton. I know it's the NHL compared to junior, but I know how to do it. And the first game I played with them, I played really well, and we won. It was in Buffalo. And then after that, I just kept going. And it was the same thing with Brett. He'd give me shit for chipping a puck or dumping it.

But I just love the way they play. I love the way they space out the game, the passes they make, the things they try. I just love that spaced-out game. What know, the passes they make, the things they try. You know, I just love that spaced out game. What do they want you to do? Like Lazarev and Svetlankov, what do they want you to do? So, like, one, like, specific thing is they'd say, you know, don't cycle the puck, and we don't want an F3 that's just, like,

standing there in the slot. Yeah. Always movement. So instead of, like, cycling the puck turn and the guy that's behind will come back and we'll switch we'll switch off we'll create confusion we'll we'll skate maybe you come up the f3 comes behind you on the boards and we and then we switch you know on an entry cut to the middle the guy cuts behind you it felt like what's the movie the russian five i think yeah yeah and you know you you see like how the Russians played and like miracle and stuff like that. They're just switching around. That's what it

felt like. And, uh, at first I'm like, okay, we can, and then it started going better and better. And then I got, it became more natural. Um, and then I got to the NHL with Panarin and it was kind of the same thing, you know, for him, it was stay wide. If you're on your one-timer side, stay wide. Don't come close to me. You know, I'm, I'm good one-on-one. Don't come close to me. Um, I can win my battles. I can find space space i can beat my guy then somebody else will have to jump on me and then that's when i find you so i love playing like that it's because it's such an instinct to go over and help out yeah and that's what i try to tell you know the guys is don't come close because i i like those one-on-ones in the corners. And if a second guy comes, then that means somebody else is open out there.

I find that when you're too close to each other, you can't beat your guy because if you beat your guy, then the other guy is right in your face because your teammate's right there. So it's kind of like putting a blanket on everybody. You could put a blanket on five guys if they're all close to each other,

but if you spread out the zone, then mistakes can happen. Reads have to happen. I think reads is when you make mistakes and you create space so for those guys that's that's what the game is about can you play like that with anyone in winnipeg i mean i played with pretty much everybody in winnipeg i played a lot of positions you look at nick eilers and the talent that he has i think we can find chemistry there. We play a different way than we played in Columbus, so that was a little adjustment period for me. In Columbus, my first year, the motto was safe is death.

I mean, I have clips. Sometimes the five guys are below the top circle, and the two defensemen are in front of the net. That's got to be Jones and Wierenski. Yeah, yeah, and sometimes there's a goal. I remember it was in Carolina. Nudovara gets a pass backdoor and it's just a tap and everybody's looking around like,

why is the defenseman backdoor? And he was standing there for like seven seconds. It wasn't like he just came down and got the pass. He was like standing backdoor by himself because that's where the open space was. So that's how we played in Columbus for a while. And then in Winnipeg, it's a different style of game. So it's a little adjusting.

But I think that this year with more practices and having played there last year, I think we can build some chemistry. Last one for me. Who was the guy when you got to Winnipeg who you played against that you thought he was the biggest idiot alive? And then you met them and you're like,

this guy's actually a really good guy. We played Winnipeg twice. So so they're a big team i that i did not i did not like to play neil pionk actually he's like a fire hydrant you know he's not tall but he's solid and he steps up on guys and when he was in new york he stood up on me one time and i remember thinking okay like i don't you know sometimes you get out there like okay i have to get my head up who's out here you know and you look around i remember seeing him and i was like okay it's fine like i'm and he stood up on me and i didn't fall but i lost you know my breath and i remember thinking at home like who is this guy he drove marner crazy too

yeah he's tough to play against and he's he't talk. He doesn't smile on the ice. He's just like status quo, and he doesn't get emotional. But he stands up on guys. He gets under a guy's skin. So when I got there and I got to meet everybody, he's a nice guy. You know, loves to talk, loves to joke around. So it was pretty interesting getting to know him. That's awesome.

And this has been really interesting getting to know you. Thanks so much for doing this. Great to see you in a great space mentally, physically as well. Best of luck with the Jets this year. Thank you very much. With Mark Schaefer of the Winnipeg Jets and lots to get to with you,

whether it's the NHL and I would imagine we're going to get into some type of Olympic conversation at some point in the next 15 minutes. But you were just telling the story before we went to air about skating in a very small town in Ontario with a rich history of things like the Donnelly family and for NHL fans, the birthplace of Logan Couture of the San Jose Sharks. What's the story of skating in Lucan, Ontario? Yeah.

So Adam Oates, well, his family's from Toronto area. And then his wife's family is actually from Kitchener. So his wife's family were up in like Godrich area, like Grand Bend for kind of like a little holiday. So they were there for the week. And then Ryan O'Reilly lives in Godrich and I was living in Kitchener. So I don't know how they found lice or ice in Lucan, Ontario, but. What was the rake like?

Honestly, it was actually really nice. Like the outside looked like it was like a barn, but the inside actually had like kind of nice seating. Like it kind of looked like they kind of revamped it. The ice was actually fantastic. That would be after Hockeyville, I think. Right. Yes.

That's right. Yeah. So I think it was about a 45 minute drive for me yeah kind of all down a bunch of back roads driving through the country so kind of a funny place to skate but you know had some good skates with o'reilly and oatsy and you had breakfast at this really weird spot with them and then joey hishing came the one day we all went out for breakfast with with him and then o'reilly's dad came too so a weird story but, but a good week of skating. I'm betting Adam didn't pay for breakfast.

He did, actually. He did? What's he paid for breakfast? This is the biggest upset ever. I know. Once in a while, you got to... Actually, I can't say. He's paid for a good amount of dinners for me.

I think I've usually taken the really big ones, but he's taken care of a lot of dinners for me, so I can't give him any flack for it. Because every time I pull, I've, I've usually taken the really big ones, but he's taken care of a lot of, a lot of dinners for me. So I can't give him any flack for it. Cause every time I pull out my wallet, he does the fake cough and pretends there's dust coming out of it. And I'm like, oh, you gotta be kidding me. So, uh. He's got the onion wallet. Every time he opens it, he cries.

I know that all too well. What is the most, maybe strangest is the, not the right word, but I'm going to use it anyway. What's the strangest place you've ever played? Maybe you've played in so many rigs mark um is there one that comes to mind like wow how did i end up here i think one was probably in yerslavl like it was a canada russia series it was the the summer of my second world junior year um and we did this like canada russia series we played four gate or i don't know how many games we played in Russia and then we played games in Halifax

and we were in Yaroslavl and I remember there was one meal where they actually served like fish heads to us it was actually a nice hotel but it was a really weird spot and it was really close to the rink that we were playing at and there was a McDonald's close

like right beside and this mcdonald's must have been the busiest place in all of your slavo because like every night it was just bumping like lying out the out the door and the one day there was fish heads and our coach was steve spot and he's like guys you guys aren't eating this go to mcdonald's enjoy enjoy enjoy yourselves tonight so we have like we have like 23 guys walk over to McDonald's and obviously none of us speak Russian. So we have like the menu and we're like pointing. It was pretty funny.

So that's probably one of the strangest spots. We were just with Pierre-Luc Dubois and I don't know how much you've had a chance to chat with him this off season, but he looks and sounds like a new man. He went through a real roller coaster of a season last year. Have you talked to him much this off season? Because he just appears to be in a much better headspace. Yeah.

I've talked to him a little bit and he says he feels great. I know our strength coach went over and went to Montreal to see him and he came back and said how in great shape Doobie looks and he's been skating a lot. Actually, I saw Doobie's dad on the golf course the other day in Winnipeg and we were just talking and I asked how his summer was and how much you've seen him or how much you've talked to him and he was like he's actually skated the most he's ever skated in a summer.

So I've only talked to him a little bit, but from what he said, he feels great. I'm sure he's ready for a regular season, not like last year. I couldn't imagine you know what he went through all the time you know throughout the summer to start the year and then all of a sudden you know you quarantine the whole quarantine thing um mid-season would be sounds awful you know getting back into shape you know we got hurt getting back into shape all that all that stuff so i'm sure he's looking forward to getting to Winnipeg and settling in and getting to skate and work out and get ready before camp.

So, you know, I know we're all excited. I know I'm excited to see, to see him this year. You know, he's a, he's a fantastic player and, you know, yeah, he went through a lot of adversity, you know, I think, uh, you know, from the sounds of it and, you know, from when I've talked to him, he sounds like he's ready for a good season. So I think that adversity, when you could take about, when you take that the right way and you work hard, um only get things happen so i'm looking forward to see you know what he does this year will you miss the canadian division

um that's a no i i i think i think we're so i think i think everyone's so excited to play every team again i think that's what it is i love to play canadian teams a little more because we only get to like i love coming to toronto i get to go to dinner with my parents um you know i get to see friends i get to you know they get they get to come to the game all that stuff but you know i'm definitely excited to you know go down to the states a little bit and and the crazy thing is is now we haven't seen players or teams in so long like it feels like forever ago that we played against the color Avalanche and Nate McKinnon. And you're like, that team's changed so much.

Like, I think we only played Kale McCarr twice. So it's like now all of a sudden we got to go back and play this guy, this two-year-older McCarr, when we could have had him, you know, in a rookie season more. They're both really still really good. They're both really excellent.

We definitely are. So I'm excited to play every team. I think that's the biggest thing and obviously getting to travel around a little more and I'm very excited for that. Last year was challenging for everybody. I mean, COVID has made everybody's life

challenging to be generous. And I can only a lot of times last year where I said I can only imagine what it's like being on a hockey team and going through this. And there were times every player goes through it. Every team does where the nerves felt really close to the skin. Guys would snap quickly. Totally understandable. We're all going through it. When you look back at last season, you ever say to yourself, whew, uh, maybe I should have taken it back a little bit here, but given the circumstances, it's understandable.

How do you look at last year? I think you just look at it as a learning lesson. Like, you know, everyone has never gone through this. You know, we're going, we're an entire world is going through something that they've never gone through before. We're all learning. We're all coping.

We're all figuring out a whole lot of things, you know, kind of minute by minute. You know, we really don't know what to expect. And kind of the way I looked at it last year was we were just, we were very lucky to be able to play hockey. We were so lucky to be able to play hockey and do our jobs. And, you know, in the way I looked at it, I was hoping that, you know, it gave, you know, hockey fans, you know, a little bit of reprieve from a very stressful time getting to watch hockey. That's kind of the way I looked at it. We got to play hockey. We got to reprieve people to be able to watch hockey

and just get enthralled in a game and get excited about a game and watch their favorite team and watch a sport that they love and get out of their head. Because this past year and a half has been probably the most anxious time for a lot of people. Everything that people that are going through, a lot of alone time,

a lot of time not getting to see your family. If you have older relatives, you weren't able to see them. So it's a tough time and I think it's something we're all going to learn from. I think it's something that we're all going to be better off from. you know, but it was definitely, there's, there was a lot of, a lot of tough days for a lot of people last year. And I think when you,

when you have your health, when you have your, when you have your loved ones that are all healthy and happy, um, you know, all you can do is, is be thankful. And, you know, that's kind of the way I looked at this last year and a half. You talked about Pierre-Luc going through his adversity. Um, I don't check my Instagram DMs, but at some point during the summer I did. And Mark, I wanted to tell you, I had some DMs from people who knew you and they said that they were very upset for you because they felt that obviously there was a penalty that had to be paid, but they felt that what you went through after the suspension was too much. but they felt that what you went through after the suspension was too much. And they were very concerned for you and the public nature of it. And some of the criticism you took, just how do you feel right now after everything in the way the season ended? Honestly, I feel great.

You know, I'm a, I'm a pretty positive person. You know, I'm very lucky. I have some pretty amazing parents, you know, I have amazing girlfriend, amazing dog, brother and sister, everything. You know, I, I, I honestly, I'm very lucky to have the people that I have around me. Cause it was, you know, there were some tough, some tough days, some tough thoughts going through my mind, but you know, I look at that as, you know, that's, you know, what we do is a privilege. You know, you have the responsibility to take, you know, public criticism. That's kind of the name of the game. You know, you're, you're going to deal with it. And,

you know, my parents have taught me how to cope, how to, how to understand that. And, you know, my parents, you know, they got bullied, they got calls, they got threats, all that stuff, but you know, they don't deserve that. You know, that's something that I think is totally across the line. I can handle that criticism. I can handle that. That's something that I, you know, when you sign an NHL contract and you, you know, play in front of millions of people, you know, you have to take that responsibility. And I look at that as something that I, that you, it's a learning lesson. It's something that I signed up for. And, you know, that's a privilege that I have to be an NHL hockey player and be in the public eye.

But, you know, my parents don't, my family doesn't. But, you know, I got through it I you know I kind of had my my last remarks at the end of the season and I went by my summer you know kind of the way that I always do is trying to become a better hockey player a better person a better all-around human being and you know I worked on my game I got in the gym I I golfed a lot I got to see my friends I got to see my family I got to enjoy my summer and you know things started to open up a little bit which was obviously very nice and you know my thought the whole summer was just become a better hockey player, become a better hockey player for the Winnipeg jets, for my teammates, for my line mates, for myself. And,

you know, I had a, I had a great summer of doing that. I put in a lot of hard work and, you know, then we get the news about the, you know, the NHL players going to the Olympics. So, you know, I have, I have a lot of things to, to be thankful about. So to be honest, I'm in, I'm in a great place and, you know, that's a lot of thanks to, thankful about. So to be honest, I'm in a great place. And, you know, that's a lot of thanks to my friends, to my family and my loved ones. So, you know, I'm very lucky to have them. Okay, so you opened a door there. So Olympics.

Who will your line mates be? How much, because you talk about becoming a better person, becoming a better player, becoming a better Winnipeg Jet, et cetera. I would have to imagine somewhere in the back of your head, you have to be thinking about the Olympics now. Oh, it's been in my mind for probably, you know, the last year and a half, I would say, you know, ever since there were talks about it. And, you know, obviously the news a few days ago were, you know, very, very positive. And, you know, that's been in my mind all summer, you know, that's been a, you know, obviously my, my first and main focus is the Winnipeg Jets, but, you know, that's been in my mind all summer. You know, that's been a, you know, obviously my first and main focus is the Winnipeg Jets.

But, you know, to have that in the back of your mind gives you that much more motivation, that much more, you know, a little more energy every single day to leave a little more in the gym, leave a little more on the rink. You know, I was really happy with that news. And, you know, I'm going to be working every single day to make that team. Do you have a specific Olympic hockey memory? I mean, you would have been 9 or 10 for Salt Lake, I want to say. And Sochi, you were playing in the NHL.

Is there one Olympic moment for you where you said, man, I'd love to be part of that. I'd love that to be me. I think as a kid, watching Steve Eisenman, my favorite player, obviously his accolades with the Canadian Olympic team. I was talking about it in another interview about how there's a lot of sentiment on Canadian Olympic teams usually. Just put sentiment on there.

Skill adapts. Skill adapts. So I brought up Steve Eisenman and Joe Sackick playing on the same line. Then you got Bergeron and Crosby playing on the same line. So you guys know me know bergeron and crosby playing on the same line so you guys know me i love watching hockey so i have lots of memories of that but i'd say you know two biggest memories are probably you know that mario lemieux fake fake um that one was pretty that one was pretty special and then uh obviously the crosby golden goal i don't think many things beat that so you know obviously it's Stanley Cup winning a Stanley Cup

and going to the Olympics and winning a gold medal and those are probably the two on every single hockey players not even just NHL hockey players every kid growing up those are the two things at the very top of the dream board and you know it's definitely on mine. We wish you all

the best whether it's with the Winnipeg Jets or Team Canada. Thanks so much and best of luck this season. See you in Beijing. I hope so. Jason Dickinson joins us here on the podcast and first of all uh congratulations on becoming a member of the Vancouver Canucks whenever anyone goes from an American team to a Canadian team we always ask the same question what do you think it's going to be like playing in Canada now you're Ontario kid but what do you think it's going to be like playing in Vancouver? Yeah, it's going to be a big change from Dallas, obviously.

The market's going to be a little vicious. No, they're pretty even-handed, fair, right down the middle. You know, they're Canadians. They're passionate about hockey, so I can't blame them at all. It's going to be exciting to play in front of passionate fans that really care about the game. Did you know something was going to happen with you and whether it was going to be Seattle or whether it was going to be a trade?

Did you have a sense that something was going to happen? Yeah. Yeah. You know, I'd spoken to my agent and we had a pretty honest conversation that we knew, you know, I was kind of going to be the odd man out. There were some obvious names that they had to protect, you know, the no movement clause situations, things like that. You have to protect those guys.

So we knew that something was going to happen. And then, thankfully enough, Jim Nill was very upfront with us and spoke to us along the entire process and wasn't leaving us in the dark. Where else could you have gone? Did you know? Because there was a lot of interest, I heard. Yeah. I didn't get the entire list of teams,

but I knew that there was about six or seven that were talking for about maybe a week before the expansion draft. Sorry. The lists were due. The lists were due. Yeah, exactly. So during that week, there was a number of

teams that were checking in, but no extreme interest in what Dallas was asking. Now, nobody listens to this podcast. So you can tell us which teams did you say, please don't send me there. Whatever you do, please don't send me to this city. There's no team that I would say that to.

Anywhere I can play in the NHL, I'll be happy. That is a very smart answer. You're a wise, wise individual. You know, I just want to talk to you about last year. Like you go to game six of the Stanley Cup final, you're right there and you guys had to battle a lot to get there. Like your team was beaten up. You were one of several guys who were basically on fumes to get there.

You get a couple months off and then right at the beginning of the season, you have an outbreak on your team. And, you know, just just the last calendar year or so of hockey in Dallas, what was that like? Yeah, it was tough. Like you said, a lot of guys battling through things. It was a very dense schedule for us this past season, especially.

Obviously, the bubble run that we had was also very busy. We were basically playing every other day. And then the season after, it was the same thing. And it got frustrating, obviously. We saw where we were the year before, and we kept seeing our playoff hopes die out as the season went on. And it was hard to accept that, because obviously we had a group there that was good enough to be there,

good enough to get to the playoffs at the very least and you know we were just underperforming it seemed like every time we lost it was by one goal or it was in overtime i think we had a ridiculous number of overtime losses last year that you know if we win those games we would have been sitting in a much different position and getting seggy or bish back by the end of the season would have helped us in a playoff push but we had left ourselves too little too late. When I say the name Anton Hudobin

so you're smiling. Look at the smile. What goes through your mind? All I can picture is that video of him in the dressing room. We're not going home. That's Dobie you know he is an incredible guy around the room. He brings that energy no matter what. He resets every single day.

He is competitive. After games that he didn't perform so well, he's going to have fire. But the next day he's coming in like it never even happened and he's going to reset and he's going to show up for you. Before the interview, you and I talked very briefly about your time playing

with the Guelph Storm of the OHL and you were a big time scorer. You're a real good offensive player in the OHL. Were we watching the same game? No, listen, you were part of an offensive, like that team with, who would, Robbie Fabry would have been on that team. Yeah, Fabry, Mitchell. Scott Kosmichuk would have been on that team. Oh yeah. You, Mitchell. Scott Kosmichuk would have been on that team. Oh, yeah.

You had a good team, and you were a real big piece of that. How did you have to change your game when you turned pro? I think things got a little bit tighter. Margins were smaller. I think in junior, I had a little bit more leeway to create more and be a little bit riskier because the game just wasn't quite as fast and as skilled as the NHL is. So I had to tighten up a little bit when I became pro.

I went to the A and had to figure things out for a few years. And I didn't make my jump into the NHL when I thought I would. And that was because I didn't know how to balance my game anymore. I thought I could continue playing the same way I was. my game anymore I thought I could continue playing the same way I was and it was when I figured out that I could be much better defensively than I was being and still be dominant on the offensive side not as productive necessarily but more dominant in the fact that I wouldn't be giving up chances I would be creating more and not necessarily the puck wouldn't necessarily go in the net but I'd be creating that time and zone I'd be creating that and not necessarily, the puck wouldn't necessarily go in the net, but I'd be creating that time and zone.

I'd be creating that tough kind of style for other top players to play against. See, the guy that I think of hearing you talk like that is Andrew Cogliano. Yeah. That he's a guy who profoundly changed the game and has always been sort of an undercover Selkie Trophy candidate because of it.

Yeah. That's why Cogs was on our proverbial shutdown line, you know, him, Faxa and Como. That's what they did. They went out there and made, they made the game extremely hard for top players just by forechecking and controlling the puck in zone.

It was impossible to get the puck from that line and they just dominated in that aspect. They didn't put up a ton of points for us, but they were relentless. Yep. So what are you expecting in Vancouver? Who was the first person to call you first of all from the organization? Well, Jim Benning called me right away to say congratulations. Welcome to the team. I spoke to Travis Green the next day same sort of thing welcome to the team don't want to take up too much of your time excited to have you we think you can fit in great with this team and where we're headed and then yeah from there it was kind of now we're

going to talk about where are you going to fit in so where do they see it where do they tell you told me to be flexible something I've gotten used to I kind of made that my identity in Dallas was on a given night I didn't know where I was going to play so I was just open to anything I was ready to play wing I was ready to play center I was ready to play top six bottom six wherever they needed me I was ready to go so I think it's going to be similar situation to start the season and then we'll kind of iron out exactly what kind of a role I can form in Vancouver. You know, it's important to be a good teammate and to be flexible like that. But does any of you ever say, I'd really like to play with two guys for a year?

Yeah, of course. Chemistry is, it's talked about, but not enough. In Dallas in particular, I think of like jamie and tyler you know they're two guys that have had chemistry for years they've created that you know so something like that is important to finding success and continuing to have success because if you're constantly having turnover you're constantly trying to learn other guys games and figure out what they like and what they don't like and where to be on the ice for them and how to get yourself into the right spots to make that line successful.

So when you're doing it on a constant nightly basis, it's even harder. So definitely a little consistency goes a long way. We joked about the beginning of the interview, but I'm a big believer in if you play in Canada, yes, the risk can be high, but the rewards are high. If you are successful there, they will remember and appreciate it forever.

What have your teammates, your new teammates told you about playing there? You know, we haven't dove into it. I've been warned to be ready that when the Knights are bad, they're bad. But like you said, when the Knights are good, they're real good. And, you know, the nights are good they're real good and you know the team

wins or loses in the playoffs and the city burns right that's how it goes so you know you're gonna you know you're gonna get good fans people that understand the game and truly truly care about it it's not just the average fan that's like oh oh, this is something to do on a given night. You've got people that truly care about the organization and where it's been, and it's not jumping from team to team. They've been with this team since the beginning. Last one real quick. Vancouver plays Edmonton first time next season. You line up against Connor McDavid. What do you do?

Shadow him. I'm going to be stuck to his hip. Don't give him an inch because he'll take a foot. That guy is incredible. It's hard to shut him down. I tried to do it in junior, and I was happy if he walked out of the game with two points. That was a good night.

I don't think much has changed for him at this point, really. He's doing the same stuff at the NHL level. It's scary, I know. Yeah, definitely try to minimize the amount of open ice he gets listen good luck with the canucks thanks so much for doing this best of luck this season thanks guys and there you go that's today's edition of 31 thoughts the podcast oops sorry elliot and elliot's world it's 32, the podcast. Oops, sorry, Elliot. In Elliot's world, it's 32 Thoughts, the podcast. We should have made this a lot cleaner, but hey,

you know our vibe by now. You get our coffee shop days. What are you going to say? More podcasts coming up as the NHL media tour. We're part of all of it. A lot of player interviews coming your way. Hope you enjoyed today's edition of the podcast. More is still to come.