32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Pressure, Punishment, and Presidents

Episode Date: May 18, 2026

In this edition of 32 Thoughts, Kyle Bukauskas and Elliotte Friedman begin the podcast by previewing Game 7 between the Montreal Canadiens and the Buffalo Sabres. The guys also dive into the NHL sanctioning the Vegas Golden Knights as a result of flagrant violations of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs Media Regulations (19:00). They talk about the Toronto Maple Leafs parting ways with assistant general managers Brandon Pridham and Derek Clancey (28:30). The Final Thought focuses on the Nashville Predators GM search (34:00). Kyle and Elliotte answer your questions and comments in The Thought Line (47:51). In the final segment newly appointed "CoPoHo" of the Vancouver Canucks, Henrik Sedin joins Kyle and Elliotte for an interview (1:09:17). Listen to all the 32 Thoughts music here. Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call the Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemail. This podcast was produced and mixed by Dominic Sramaty and hosted by Elliotte Friedman & Kyle Bukauskas. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates

What job is BXA begging you for? I don't know what he's really begging for, but he's reached out a lot in the last couple of days. He asked him, I'm sure he could take over his president or come in as part owner. So he's reached out. Have you accepted the calls or do you leave it, you let it go to voicemail?

No, no, no, no. We accept the call. He's a great friend. And, I mean, if you watch you guys in the show every Saturday or every day here at all, so it's a good back and forth to you guys.

Welcome to 32 Thoughts, the podcast, presented by your Canadian Toyota dealers and the 2026 Tacoma. Get yours before red tag days are over. Your Monday edition, Dom, Ellie, and Kyle back with you. One game remains in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, and it is

tonight where we are in Buffalo. Also, at the end of this episode, you'll hear an interview that we did earlier on Sunday with the new co-president of hockey operations of the Vancouver Canucks, former captain, Hockey Hall of Famer, Henrik Sedeen. Henrik will be joining us later on in this edition of 32 thoughts. But before we get to all of that, Elliot, on Saturday night, the stage was set perfectly. The fans were jammed outside of the arena in downtown Montreal.

It had been building all day long. at 8 o'clock start on a Saturday night. Finally, the Canadians play on a Saturday. The crowd was packed even earlier than any other home game all playoffs. Then they get out to the 3-1 lead. They chase Alex Lyon from the net. Party time was about to begin in Montreal, and they were packing their bags for Carolina until the Sabres took it all away from them

and is forced to game seven here tonight back at the Key, Bank Center. And it feels like it's almost a race of who can get to the road game first. As Lindy Ruff even joke, they're trying to make a case to play Game 7 in Montreal. How do you feel about a seventh and deciding game of this series? It's kind of funny you said that because someone called me on Sunday while I was at the gym, and they said, if Lindy Ruff wants to win game seven, he should hire a Canadian's alumni to carry a torch into Key Bank Center at the start of the game. He should borrow the Canadians open.

You know, normally Buffalo, they have someone bang the drum. It's been Josh Allen. It's been Sandra Janorette. It's been Jason Pallmanville. They said, no, put the drum in mothballs and do the Canadians opening and see if that helps the Sabres win at home. One of the big debates is all the Sabres fans buying tickets to the games in Buffalo, this guy was like, who cares?

Let them all in. You win when there's 20,000 Rabid's Canadians fans. You won the game 8 to 3. Fill your building with Canadians fans. Clearly, that's the key to the savers winning. The other one, the other thing, another guy said to me,

says, I have a new nickname for Lindy Druff. And I go, oh, yeah, what's that? He goes, Don Draper. I started laughing. I thought that was really good. For those of you who don't know, Don Draper is the star of the show, Madman. He's the key character, and he's an elite advertising executive. And I say,

you're talking about all the slogans? He says, yeah, I saw the piece about the slogans. Everybody robs, everybody rides, Freaking Giver, all that stuff. And then he comes up with JFG on Saturday morning. There's a famous scene where Don Draper is trying to sell. Lucky Strike Cigarettes. And he said that Lindy Ruff right now is Don Draper selling Lucky Strike Cigarettes. He's everything he touches turns to gold with these slogans. Yeah, yes, with the slogans, with lineup and personnel decisions in game six, right? Three of his forward lines into a blender.

I know it wasn't, it wasn't Alex Lyons night, but, you know, it really didn't seem to matter in the end for Buffalo because Lukinen did his job, but it's not like he was under any amount of immense pressure when he came in in terms of what action he saw the rest of the way, the final 50 or so minutes. The sabers were that good in front of them. It was pedal to the metal and yes, JFG, the rest of the way for Buffalo. So the sabers, I think at times looked a little out of sorts through this series in terms of trying to understand and and defend what Montreal was throwing at them. But boy, were they ever a group that applied the pressure all over the ice?

It was almost as if like that opening shift in game six with Slavkovsky, it looked like he was coming through the neutral zone and like lost an edge and went sliding into the boards. And maybe that was a bad omen and a sign of things to come for Montreal on Saturday. But now a clean slate again, Montreal just went through it. Last round against Tampa, a young Buffalo team for this group. It's their first game seven experience. I don't know how to handicap this one because why even try.

Every time you try to anticipate something to happen in the playoffs is usually the opposite. But I don't think we'll see a 2-1 nail-biter if this series has taught us anything. Kyle, the most interesting thing about the series is six games in, we haven't had too many games where both teams have been good, right? It's usually been one team has been good and one team has been bad. I mean, maybe the three two game you look at and you say that was a game where both teams were good, but that's been the minority. I think in a lot of these other series in the playoffs,

there's been more games where both teams have gone back and forth in a pretty even game. than this series. And that's one of the most fascinating things to me about it, is that do we get a game seven where both teams are good, trading haymakers, or do we get another game where one team is strong and one team isn't? To me, there's two keys to game number seven. Number one is the goaltending. Doeish, 14 games in a row, high intensity games. You know, we've seen, it a lot in these playoffs. We're seeing teams go to two goal tenders more. And Dobish has been fantastic and he's been tremendous in this run. And you forget that he won one nothing game seven at Tampa in a game where they were outshot 29 to 9 at your peril. I do not discount this guy at all. I'm just wondering he's never played 14 games in a row like this before. And he's starting to get beat Kyle by some leakers. And I'm just wondering if he's tired.

Now, you can't do anything about it. He's your guy and he has to show up. And we all know he's got a really good mental game. But that's the one thing I worry about for the Canadians is, is he just fatigued. You know, if you take a look at it since he's been a pro, he's never had a run of games like this. So it's the first time he's going through it and he's been great. but I think it's normal to wonder when you look what's happening if he's just a bit worn down. And at the other end, I mean, it's, you know, Kyle, are you a guy who believes in fate?

Yes, in certain situations, absolutely. I believe in karma. I don't know that I believe in fate, but fate has landed at the doorstep of Uco-Paka-Lukinen. You know, after game five, people were wondering, is that the last game he's, ever going to play for the Sabres. And now, holy smokes, here he is in game 7, four nights later, and he's got a chance to prove again he's the number one goalie on this franchise. And, you know, I will say this. Someone who watched the game the other night said, you know, it's hard in a small sample size to say, okay, how much better he looks. But they did say that he was much calmer in the

net in game six than he showed in game five. So maybe that. that's just the key for him as much as anything else, not looking like he's all over the map and just playing calm, cool, and collected. But, you know, I'm sure if you're in Buffalo right now, the idea of the season being on the line with him, he's got to prove it to you. And to me, the second thing, Kyle,

after goaltending is Buffalo's discipline. You know, again, I know the Sabres had a great night in the power play in game six, and that hasn't always been the case. But Montreal's power play has generally been more dangerous. And if you take a look at those three guys, Slavkovsky, Suzuki, and Caulfield, I think they've got 30 points in the playoffs

and 25 of them are on the power play. You're not letting them hurt you at even strength, but you're letting them kill you on the power play. Buffalo has shown in this series that their discipline drops, and they cannot allow that to happen. in game seven. All I want, Kyle, is both teams to show up. I don't want this to be lopsided. It hasn't happened a lot in this series. I hope it happens in game seven.

The interesting thing, too, if you are worried about the workload it's been for Dobish and just the energy level as he has continued to just battle through two rounds and be the guy the whole way, say for the few minutes of garbage time that Fowler got in game six, you know, I think something has to be said for not getting trapped in your own zone as much as Montreal was. Like how demanding that is on a goaltender when you're constantly engaged and bracing for a potential shot to come your way for an extended period. That can really wear on the fatigue. And you know the savers are certainly aware of that too. Are we going to see a game seven here where both teams stay at a hotel the night before? both teams don't go to the rink in the morning. It looks like it.

Yeah, I'm trying to think of another time that that may have happened. I suppose, you know, in the era of being in the bubble, I'm sure there was a few examples, but that, of course, was a unique situation. Nothing unlike where they're facing tonight here in Buffalo. It is interesting. It was interesting that Lindy Ruff admitted that one of the reasons he kept the savers away from the rink was the pressure, that they feel enough pressure.

I thought that was very interesting that, He admitted that, you know, we're recording this before we know what the Sabres do. And we'll see if I'm right or it changes. My guess is that the Sabres probably flew back home. They let everybody go home for a few hours. And they said, okay, come this time tonight, everybody's checking into the hotel. That's my guess, recording this on Sunday afternoon as to what they did. We'll see if that's correct.

But it is fascinating. Remember, when Edmonton was in Florida, they were supposed to take a day off and they all went to the rink because there was like nothing else that they wanted to do, right? So this is the, we'll call this the reverse Edmonton. Yes, yes. I know you get the sense that, I mean, though Lindy's very accommodating, obviously he's been around a long time, but he doesn't, he's not one to, I would say, embrace the Montreal media frenzy that awaits. when you land in that city as the road head coach. I wonder if that's part of the whole two. When you talk about just staying away from the pressure,

because before it was the morning of game four, yeah, they were down two games to one. And he came to the podium for his pregame media at the rink. He didn't go full John Tortorella, and we'll get to Torts in Vegas in a little bit. He didn't go full torts, but it was teetering. I guess I would say he went full Lindy, Like it was short answers, like basically setting the tone of,

we're just here to play and we're going to be ready to go tonight. Don't need to discuss anything else. Like that was when they were contemplating. They're looking at all the lineup changes. Like Lukinen was going to play. Shen was coming into the lineup and he's being asked about that. He goes, well, how do you know they're playing? Meanwhile, like all those guys had already just done media talking about how excited they

are to get in the lineup. It was a master class of sorts. And you just got the sense that, yeah, he certainly, he doesn't need all of them. to make himself feel fulfilled and on a given day. That's not a bad theory, Kyle, but when you were talking about the full Lindy, I was thinking about the triple Lindy. The triple Lindy is?

No, it was maybe before my time. It is, back to school, Rodney Dangerfield as Thornton Mellon. Fantastic movie. No, a movie. No, a movie. It is a great, back to school is a great, movie and Rodney Dangerfield joins his son is on the diving team and he goes back to school, much the embarrassment of his son, and they have to win a diving competition late.

So Dangerfield joins the diving team and he does the triple Lindy. So when you said the full Lindy, it's a great movie. It's funny. I don't know if any of this stuff translate before anyone goes and looks at this, I don't know if the stuff from the 80s translates now to 2026 very well, but if you saw back to school, you will remember the triple Lindy. Wow.

I've got to go look that up after we're done here. The triple Lindy. That is excellent. Alex talked to speak on... The most difficult dive of all time. I, uh, well, yeah, I love listening to Sum 41 growing up. If anyone's seen their music video for In Too Deep, was a diving theme to that.

Very entertaining. And yeah, how much of that holds up in today's day versus back then? But anyway, it was very clever for its time. Alex Tuck spoke on the off day for the Sabres. You know, he's someone that has lived, you know, a couple of deep playoff runs with Vegas, of course, in the past. At his interesting, he goes, I really don't want to talk too much about his own experience. But he did say, I think we are the better team.

It's just been a tough series for Tuck. talked about it. But for him, you know, you can make six frustrating games completely disappear with one great game seven. That's the beauty thing. You can always rewrite your own narrative. Yes. It's been a few episodes since you dropped that one.

So I'm glad I teed you up to. You know what's interesting about what you just said there too is that I, I agree with you in the sense that I think the savers believe they're better than the Canadians. and I think the Canadians believe they're better than the savers. I think whoever loses this series is going to go away and say, we were the better team, we just didn't do it. I always remember Martam Broder was talking about the 2001 Stanley Cup final between the Avalanche and the Devils,

and he said, we were good in three games and bad in four, and they were good in four games and bad in three, and that's why they won the cup. I always remember Broder's saying that. Ah, well, to your point about how we have yet to see a game where both teams are going at the same time. Hopefully we get it here later tonight. Okay, Kyle, one last question about Montreal Buffalo.

Okay. Would you play Brendan Gallagher? Well, we all saw what happened when he was injected into the lineup last round. Yeah. It's just been, what's interesting was, he played game seven in Tampa. They won, and they go to Buffalo a couple days later, and he has not seen a second of this series.

He did not start the series against the Sabres, coming off a win, and he hasn't been in at any point. It would, I guess, be a lot to ask to insert him in now into a game seven, but I wonder if there's something that the coaching staff saw in terms of how Buffalo plays that thought, maybe not best suited to Gallagher's style. What do you think? That's the one thing I wonder.

In the last round with Tampa getting closer to Game 7, I thought about Headman, and I made the comparison to Game 7, 2003, and Scott Stevens of the Devils going to Pat Burns the night before Game 7 and said,

we'd really like to have Ken Danico in the lineup, think we'll be better off with them, and they played them. Now, it didn't work out for Headman, and the lightning, but part of me is wondered if they just would want Gallagher's veteran presence on the road. I agree with you, though. The big question I have is Buffalo is so fast.

They are so fast. And the way they broke down the Canadians man on man in game number six, that's the one question I would have, but it is something that came to my head. would you want his presence in game seven? Just that speed is the only thing that makes me ponder. Yeah, I mean, you could sell it as, look, give us seven of your absolute best minutes, you know, and then see from there.

But it's been interesting. Obviously, it's in the large scope of things work for Montreal, like they're in a game seven of the second round, but you even think of a guy like Oliver Cappan, 20-goal score in the regular season, and now he can't get into the lineup either. I know it's obviously a different game here now in the playoffs. He's a young guy that's got a bright future ahead of him.

But it's been a tough lineup to crack for Montreal, for a young guy with a lot of upside and had some pop offensively this year, and their longest-serving member of the Canadians too. All right. So game seven, we look forward. to that later on. We'll also, we'll get to Colorado and Vegas

and properly tee up that series for Wednesday's episode as Wednesday night is game one of the Western Conference final. But we should spend a little bit of time on what happened with Vegas at the end of their series against Anaheim. Now, that night we recorded very late and of course didn't have all the information

at the time until you were able to check in on a few things later on what would have been Friday morning. But John Tortorella doesn't do the media after the game. They don't open the dressing room. They bring a couple of players out to the podium. And as a result of that, he was fined, Tortarella, $100,000. And the team was docked their second round draft pick this year. Two very, very stiff penalties.

First, I just want to ask how ultimate. the league got to that conclusion in terms of what kind of punishment they were going to throw at the organization. You know, there's a lot of talk about, okay, they were mad about the McNabb's suspension. Was there more there in terms of either what Vegas was unhappy about or what the league was unhappy about in punishing them? Yeah, can I go through some steps here, Kyle? Is that okay? Yes, that's what this is all for. But, you know, sometimes you ask specific questions, so I don't want you to think that I'm not answering them or paying attention.

So when we recorded the pod, after that game, we pointed out how Vegas had arrived that night in an ornery mood because they were taking a hit on the Cassidy thing, the Bruce Cassidy lack of permission, which they felt they didn't want to deal with during a series. And also they were mad about the McNabb suspension. Now, I know some Vegas fans, they sent me some notes, some very politely, some, Kyle, not so very politely, about the fact that Vegas flies out of an airport near the rink there that has a curfew. I looked into that.

First of all, I don't think they flew out of that airport after game six. I think they flew out of Long Beach, which is also as a curfew, but they could go at about 11.30 p.m., I think. And also the other thing, too, is those games in Anaheim, they were over at 9.30. They started earlier than Anaheim games normally do. And one game, game four, where Vegas traveled, the game ended, I think, 932, and game six ended at 929. And yes, there was some handshaking at the end of that. But, like, honestly, that's not the reason for this.

And if it was, Vegas would have said so. So, Kyle, the league had indicated they had warned Vegas about some stuff before. Now, I want to make this clear. I stay out of this stuff. We're a rights holder. I didn't ask any of our producers if Vegas had declined to do anything. I heard that there were a couple of interview requests that were not fulfilled, but I didn't ask any of our guys.

I don't want to put any of our producers in trouble, so I didn't ask any of them. I'd rather, if people are mad, they'd be mad at me and not any of our producers. But I did hear that there were a couple of requests that were turned down, and you're not supposed to turn down rights holder requests unless there's a good reason. But then I heard, and I was told this by a couple different people, that there was a request for someone on Vegas to wear a microphone. and it was turned down.

When I heard that, I knew why they got hammered. And we've talked about this on the podcast before, Kyle, but a couple years ago, at the beginning of every year, the league calls all the coaches and the GMs to a meeting. It's been in Detroit, it's been in Chicago, and they go over the season. And a couple of years ago, Colin Campbell said, you guys are going to have to wear mics

and we don't want to hear no. Like this is important to us now. You take a look at all the shows, drive for survive, all behind the scenes, NHL stuff. It's big now. They told them you're going to have to wear them.

And that year, I think it was two years ago, a couple of coaches started to say no. And Bettman himself sent a memo out. And we've reported on this. M.O. before, where he made it very clear that he considered it paramount to the success of the league that these microphones be worn. I think he, if I remember correctly, I didn't look it up, but I believe he even looked at the line, he used the line, the future of our league is at stake.

Something very serious, some very serious language like that. And he made it very clear he would take it as like a personal affront if people turn down wearing microphones. So when I heard that that was in the mix here and then this happened, I'm not surprised. I'm not surprised he hit both the organization and Tortorella. Now, there's been a lot of reporting in the aftermath that, you know, they gave Vegas the opportunity to appeal. There's been a lot of reporting in the aftermath, Kyle, that. That draft pick, which is now a second rounder,

might be either taken away or lessened as a punishment. I'll say this. There are some teams that had some interesting reactions to those reports. Because, you know, Tortorella, I'll say this about my relationship with him. We've had our battles like everyone else, but I really like dealing with him. And I think for the most part, he's been extremely helpful. in helping me learn more about hockey and covering the game better. And I actually really like dealing with him.

But the one thing I feel strongly about is that some of these things, like closing the dressing room, that's not, he doesn't do that unilaterally. That is an organizational decision. And, you know, I think that some of the other teams out there are looking at this and saying, hey, you certainly got our attention with the second rounder. If you lessen that, you're putting it all on the coach. It's sort of like how the players argue that, you know, when people wonder why the fines for player safety are so low,

it's because years ago, the Players Association took a hard stand on. If we let them be higher, it's always going to be on the players won't get suspended they'll just be given big fines and they fought it that's why they're as low as they are and i found it very interesting that some team said hey Vegas will be happy to write a check just like we'd be happy to write a check but a there's no way that tortarella could unilaterally do some of these things and be if you make it just the fine, you increase the chances that teams won't be as scared about doing it.

Like the second round pick got everybody's attention. And that was, and every organization is saying, okay, we're, like, Batman wrote that memo, we get the message. So it'll be interesting to see if he does lower the draft pick, because if you really want to, want this stuff to happen, some people will say, eh, we can write a check. Second rounder, yeah, I don't want to lose that. So it'll be interesting to see what happens here. Yeah, especially for a team who loves trading their draft picks like Vegas does. Well, I, because I kind of wondered, and of course I don't have the answer to this,

but I just wondered, was that torturella going out on his own saying, I'm not doing anything post game with the media, or was he carrying out marching orders from above him within the organization? Did you hear anything? I don't know that. I don't know that, Kyle. I honestly don't know. I will say this.

I asked other teams about it. And I asked what the general belief was around the league. And the answer was a guy like Tortorella would have the juice to say I'm not going out there. but they're not convinced on his own he could have shut down the dressing room. Like that's one you would have to run up the flagpole, especially since he's the interim guy, right? Yeah, he just got there.

Yeah, so as powerful as he is, he's relatively new in the organization. And, you know, it's interesting. The whole thing is interesting. I'll say this. I think another reason Batman did this is because it became an annoyance that was too big.

They turned down interview requests, whatever. It's annoying. They do that with the microphone. They don't do the microphone. Wait, they did what? And now they did this? Like you're just,

it's like somebody compared it to waving a red cape in front of a bull named Batman. Eventually, you were just going to be, he was going to say enough of this. But, you know, I think that it's interesting because if he wants to change the behavior, what he did with the draft pick sure did that. You know, some teams would look at a $100,000 fine. They're like, eh, I don't want that.

But there would be other teams that would be like, I'll write the check. Right. Cost to do a business sometimes. Yeah. Yeah. And I couldn't help but think the timing, too. Of course, it's the playoffs. but it seems like Elliot, I mean, every other day I'm seeing news releases about that game two was the highest watch game two in U.S. cable hits.

And that game five was the highest watch game five featuring a Canadian team in U.S. cable television history. Like I just wondered if that was part of it too, that there seems to be obviously a lot of momentum coming off of, as it have to do with the Olympics, does it have to do with four nations? has it just been, you know, some compelling playoff hockey this spring where the league was like, you're not halting the momentum here. You're not, we don't need any sideshow distractions with everything going on. Like if they've done this in November, is it the same reaction? It's a good question. It's a really good question, Kyle.

Like I said, like my reaction to those kinds of things is if you don't want to talk to me, fine. You don't have to. But I'll go other ways about finding my business. I look at it as how can I get from point A to point B? If I have to find out something, I'll try to find out something whether or not someone wants to talk to me. It's just kind of the way I've always been,

but you have to recognize the people who do need that content to cover the league. Yeah, and there are, I mean, there are written guidelines about this stuff too. Yeah. Is there not? Yeah, it's in the CBA. Yeah, it is there.

Yeah, yeah. Kyle, one other thing here, and it's not exactly connected, but a few people thought maybe it becomes part of the overall picture is the Bruce Cassidy situation. The last I'd heard on Sunday afternoon, he still had not yet been given permission.

If it is not sorted out by the time Vegas meets with the league, a few people just said they wonder if it becomes part of the conversation or maybe does Bettman say to them, look, there's a lot of noise around you guys right now. What are you doing here with Bruce Cassidy? So that's something else that's not taken care of by the time

where we don't get clarity by the time they talk to the NHL. I did have a couple people wonder if that would be part of the conversation. Starting to get the sense there may be more than a handful of teams that become Avalanche fans

for the next couple weeks. No comment. I'll say this. There's a lot to admire about that team. Oh, yeah. They've been a huge success ever since they came in. They have demanding standards.

They expect to be great. They've become a place to play. They use that. They use the expansion draft to their advantage. You know, they have a lot of really good players there. They play good structure. They play intelligent hockey. They're not the fastest team, but they're one of the smartest teams.

This one has perked up a lot of people. I would definitely, definitely say that. Oh, and by the way, Kyle, I also wanted to mention, speaking of appeals, Charlie McAvoy's window to appeal closed. So he has accepted his six-game suspension from the National Hockey League. That will be imposed start of next season. Yes. By the way, I wanted to shout out.

Is there anything else you want to talk about on this particular issue? Nope. I've said my piece. Okay, so I wanted to shout out Danny Webster, who covers Vegas for the Vegas Review. journal who just on a completely unrelated topic sent me a DM on Sunday pointing out that the ducks went one and no against Vegas when Wild Wing came through the tunnel before the game. They went 0 and 2 when he repelled from the rafters.

Wow. He's the anti-saber tooth. We are turning this into a thing. I like it. What's our first line wingers, goals per 60? Yeah. What's our defensemen's top defensemen? Now that's data driven.

Yeah. You've got info. Quality of competition. On what your mascot. What's our goalies, goals save above expected? And what's our record based on our mascot entrance? Yes. That's top of the list and everything else files under.

That's the most sure stat. Repel or no repel? And then go from there. That's, well, done daddy pointing that out yeah okay and i feel like i feel like i should point this out because i don't want danny getting in any trouble i mentioned him after that vagus segment danny is not the source of any of the vagus stuff i used i feel like i should make that very clear if anybody gets mad you know where to find me very good and his phone number is five eight seven no

Okay, Toronto Maple Leafs. So on Sunday, as the new regime continues to build out their front office and change things as inevitably happens. So Brandon Pridham has been there a long time, guy that ran their salary cap, assistant general manager. They parted ways there. And another assistant GM and with player personnel, Derek Clancy, he will be departing the organization as well. I suppose that's not huge surprise Elliot, but in particular with Pridham, I mean, that's a body that had been in that organization

and been leaned on for a lot of different things for a long, long time. One of the things I learned this year was that Irvin Johnson and Brandon Pridham have the same nickname, and it's not Magic. Do you know what Pat Riley's nickname was for Magic Johnson, what he called him?

I wish I had the answer. I think I got halfway through it. I wish I had the answer. I like that show. Yeah, very good. His nickname for Magic Johnson was Buck. And I learned that Braddon Pridim's nickname is Buck. No way.

All right. Yep. Yeah. So, as you said, Brandon Pridham is out. Derek Clancy came in with Bradtree Living. So I think there was kind of an understanding that that was going to happen. You know, Derek Clancy, by the way, has some history. with Ryan Johnson because they used to work together in the Vancouver organization.

So I don't know this. Please don't anybody report as fact. But a lot of businesses, okay, do you have a connection somewhere? So we'll see if that is a factor at all. But with Brandon Pridum, I think a lot of people, including I would bet Pritum himself, just felt like it was time. I think he still had two years under contract. And I heard that the Maple Leafs were interested in.

in keeping him. But I think he still has two years under contract, and I heard that if he wanted to stay, the Maple Leafs would gladly keep him. But I think it was just time. You know, it's hard. He had an interview for the GM job that I don't think went really well. And, you know, he was interviewed by the predators in their GM search.

You know, I just think it was time. And I don't think you'll have trouble finding another opportunity somewhere else. His son, by the way, Jack, plays for the Kitchener Rangers, and they're going the Memorial Cup. They just won the O HL title. So at least you'll have something fun to do in the interim. Some other Toronto stuff. So I've mentioned a few names in that I think will be of interest in the Toronto

coaching search. I've mentioned Benny Malhotra, and we interview Henrik Sidene later in the pod, Kyle. And he says that as of filing this pod, today. Nobody had asked for permission to speak to Malhotra yet. But I've mentioned Malhotra's name. I've mentioned Jay Woodcross name. There's a lot of names out there. I'm going to probably stop doing that for a while because I think the Maple Leafs are determined to do a big search and talk to a lot of people. And the word is it's premature to name anybody as a favorite right now.

like they are determined to take some time here. But the one thing I can tell you is that there has been at least initial contact between the Maple Leafs and University of Denver head coach David Carl. Now, I don't want anyone to get carried away with this. I think it is simply an initial conversation. You know, the coaches like to talk. Everybody likes to talk about who's going for what. but I've heard it has simply been an initial conversation to gauge his interests. I believe they will talk again,

but I would caution anyone against running with it too hard or feeling that he's a favorite. I think the Maple Leafs are determined not to rush into this, and they're going to talk to a lot of people. But at the very least, I can say that I've heard, that there's been initial contact between Carl and the Leafs, just to see if there's room for a more in-depth conversation. There's one player thing I wanted to mention.

I guess it was let known across the league that Chicago probably isn't going to be able to sign Ilya McAev, and so his rights are available if any team wants to talk to him in advance of free agency. Right before we go to final thought. So two of our great panel guests in the playoffs, Brendan Dillon, who wore a beautiful gray jacket,

gray and white jacket on one of our shows this year, thing was awesome, and Jake Allen, who I believe is supposed to return sometime during the third round. Jake first showed up a couple years ago, and he was excellent. And I've heard he may be coming back. They are both represented by Alainois,

who helped put the deal together to have both of them appear on the show, and they've been great for us. And we found out on the weekend, Kyle, that he's joining forces with another agent by the name of Dominic Debloa. De Blua's biggest client would probably be Thomas Shabbat, but that was a piece of business I heard on the weekend,

and Alainoa has helped make hockey night in Canada a little bit better, so I was happy to shout him out with this. Very good, Elliot. And also, just before we get to the final thought, we should shout out the field for the Memorial Cup is now set. Congratulations to Shakutomi, capturing the title in the QMJHL on Sunday night over the Moncton Wildcats. Great run for Moncton and an unbelievable final. And kudos to Shakutomi for getting that one over the finish line at home.

That looked like an incredible scene in their barn there. So, Shakutomi from the Q, Kitchener from the OHL. Congratulations to Everett, their first ever, WHL title, and the Colona Rockets. hosting and that gets underway this weekend. Great backdrop for a Memorial Cup out in Colonna. And they were robbed of that back in 2020. Spoken like a true BC homer. And just any human being that enjoys a beautiful setting.

Tough to be Colonna. Doesn't matter where you're from. Very good. Okay, with that, it will take us to the final file, which is presented by your Canadian Toyota dealers, and Elliott, Nashville, still looking for their next general manager. Is there anything new you can add with the Predators? Well, I would like to say, Kyle, first of all,

that there was a Twitter follower who sent me a note. His name is Gray Cotham. I'm not sure if this is a real name or not. I'm guessing no, but... Just putting it out there. 90 minute, 32 thoughts pod and zero mention of Nashville GM search. This was Friday. A trade for you.

I receive Preds GM updates. You receive VALs, Tennessee volunteers, football tickets to a game of your choice, and unconditional love. You get your update here. Which one is more valuable? Definitely not the unconditional love. I'll tell you this. So we can usually only go in September. I was looking at the schedule and seeing who they have next year in September.

Oh, we doing this? And the game they have in September, there's a big one, Texas at Tennessee on September 26th. Oh, my. Now that's just before the regular season. and we'll start next year, right? That's right. That's right. And then there was a fan name

Seth Dean who wrote, picked the Texas game, Elliot, call his bluff. Seth, I'm calling the bluff right here. September 26, 2006, Texas. So Gray Cotham, if that is indeed your real name, here is your update.

I still do not believe an announcement is imminent. I will say this, Kyle. what is Nashville doing might be the number one question across the NHL right now. As this process has continued, more and more people are asking,

it's sort of like waiting for your favorite show if it goes on a 16-month hiatus. When is this thing finally dropping? People start to ask. And it's kind of that way with Nashville. And again, I do find their position defensible in the sense that

If there's somebody they really want and you have to wait, wait. You have to get this right. All I know about the Predators is an announcement is not imminent, but I do acknowledge that when I talked about a curveball, it's not a guarantee here, but I think it's possible. I believe the Predators are working on something or want the operative, to work on something that is not guaranteed. But they are not going to close their process unless they know whether or not they can

actually do it. So whatever is preventing them from closing the loop or finalizing things, they're going to wait it out until they get at least the opportunity to talk to the person. they want. And they're being very guarded on what this might be. And someone said to me on Sunday, Elliot, you're not the only one who's going nuts trying to figure out what this is.

So, at the risk of, I don't want to get you in trouble, but it sounds like they're trying to talk to somebody whose team is still chasing a Stanley Cup. I think that's possible, possible. But I do want to be careful because I don't know for sure, and I don't want to throw out some guess that causes unnecessary carnage. Right. You do enough necessary carnage.

Exactly. If I'm going to create carnage, it has to be necessary. carnage. Yes. Yes. Not wild and unnecessary carnage. Okay. All right. We're leaving it there for now? Yeah. Very good. That was the final thought presented by your Canadian Toyota dealers. We'll take our first break when we come back. The Thought Line and yes, don't forget, still to come a little later on our interview with Henrik Sidene of the Vancouver Canucks. You're listening to 32 Thoughts, the podcast. Welcome back. Time. now for another edition of the thought line.

Regrettably, we did not have this as part of Friday's episode, just due to time constraints as we're running around chasing the sabres and the Canadians back and forth between Buffalo and Montreal. But, Elliot, we have it for you here today. And any shoutouts to get out of the way before we proceed. Kyle, I have two, and they're both from the gym. Mm. Before game six, yes, you would think that I would be in better,

shape, I have to say. Before game six, in Montreal, I was in the hotel gym, and I met someone by the name of AJ Baines. And A.J. Baines played in the Western

Hockey League for the Camloops Blazers. He is the youngest captain, or at least was at the time, the youngest captain in Camloops Blazers history. And, and And after he was done there, he played a decade. One year in the ACHL with Greenville, he won a Calder Cup with the Hamilton Bulldogs in 2007. That, of course, was with Corey Locke, Mikhail Gorboski, Andre Kastitzen, Kyle Chipchura,

Maxim LaPierre, and of Carrie Price, among others. he also played several years in Norfolk and he retired after 2009 where he played in Iowa and he's really tight with Ryan Roshag but nobody is perfect anyway a really good guy

and it was great to meet him in the gym and even though he's been retired for 16 years and is now almost 50 that is a guy who's in excellent physical condition And meanwhile, in my gym in Toronto, the JCC there, one of the guys who comes in is Nikita Soshnikov, who played this year back in the KHL, yeah, for Vladovostok, which is really out there. Still playing. He's got another year in Russia, he said. He's married to somebody.

He met in Toronto. And her father-in-law works out at the gym, really good guy. and so he works out there in the summer and he's got another year in his contract overseas but he still is not, especially since of his family connection, he has not given up the hope of eventually coming back and playing again in North America.

So a really nice guy, always like Nikita. I'm embarrassed to say he came up to me at the gym and I did not immediately recognize him. So I feel terrible about that, but really nice guy and was good to see him. He was not the first. Hopefully, take some solace in that.

Yes. That's awesome. I've had trouble with recognition lately, as we talked about on the last point. Yes, yes, yes, you did. Oh, that's outstanding. Okay, so just a couple to get here today. First one from Carl. Dear Dom, Kyle, and Fridge.

On Friday night, I had the pleasure of attending a concert with my girlfriend at Massey Hall, featuring legendary 91-year-old trumpeter Herb Alpert. While we were waiting for the show to begin, I heard a familiar voice behind me. Sneaking a glance back, I realized I was sitting a row ahead of renowned honey-garlic wing lover and former basketball reporter, Elliot Friedman. I realized that the playoff schedule is grueling,

and this was likely a rare night off for him to spend with his family. So I resisted the urge to lean back during the show and say something like, Pretty Good for 91, A Stank? I hope they enjoyed the show as much as we did. Well, Carl, first of all, I always say, say hi anytime. I appreciate, but I do appreciate you feeling, you know, some level of Lee Maloney's with his family. I really do appreciate that, Carl.

Generally, if someone wanted to say hi for a couple seconds, I'm always gained. But yes, that's true. Normally I would go, for me to take a night off in the playoffs, even when I'm not working, it's rare in the sense that normally I would go into the, if I'm on the road,

I'd go into the city the night before, but I made an adjustment to take my family to see Herb Alpert and the new Tijuana Brass at Massey Hall. And he, like, he's 91, but he looks like he's like 70. He looks fantastic. And it was a great,

two-hour show. It was really, my parents, this is really dating myself. My parents used to have Herb Alpert LPs when I was a kid. So I knew who he was, but The Rise is one of his favorite songs.

If you want to get a taste of it, it was a great show, and Carl, I'm glad you enjoyed it. I think I know there were two guys sitting in front of me to my left. There were two women in front of me. there was another guy on the right. There were only five seats in the row in front of us.

So Carl's one of the two guys to the left or the guy to the right who I think was on a date. So I hope you had a good time. Yes, you were hyping up that concert for a week, so I'm glad you enjoyed. Oh, fantastic. Just really, really good. There's not a great trumpeter, Chuck Mangione,

but he's passed away. I really like that kind of music. Awesome. James from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Hello, gang. I was watching the Vancouver Rise play their opener a few weeks ago, and Lacey Kindle came into the game. Lacey, who is an academy call-up and only 16 years old,

is the younger sister of Penguins rookie Ben Kindle. Impressive family. Yes. There are a few examples of siblings in hockey for sure, but it triggered me to think of siblings in the NHL and elite in other sports. I have a PWHL-CFL example of, Cheyenne Darkangelo and Isaac Darkangelo with the Victoire and the Toronto Argonauts. Can you think of any NHL slash non-hockey sibling pairs?

Enjoy the show and don't let Kyle bail on nights on the town. So, Kyle, the number one that jumps into my head is the nurses. Darnell with the others and Kia, who plays for the new WNBA team in Toronto, the tempo. obviously Sarah the cousin, great hockey player, and the father, the mother, both great athletes, the uncle, Donovan McNabb, a whole family of great athletes. But Darnell and Kia would be the first ones that would jump out at my head. You got any of that jump out at you?

So two that came to mind for me. A more recent current one is Jeff and Mike Malott. Mike, of course, the U.S. Seaf Fighter. and Chris and Ryan Getslap to continue the CSL trend. I was thinking of brother's sister for a second, but the Getslaps, as you were talking about the Mlots, the Getslaps jumped into my head.

Those are two great ones that you add there. And I'm sure there's more. Yeah. I'm sure there's a lot more, but those are the ones that jump into my head immediately. I wanted to include that one because, I mean, the Kindle siblings, like that's very cool.

And I thought, I know we'll come up with a couple. And then the great listeners will remind us of all the ones we didn't think of. Yes. And there will no doubt, there will no doubt be a lot of them, a lot of them. Okay, a few more here, Fridge. Ethan from Calgary. Hey, Kyle, Dom, and Elliott. As we get closer to the Stanley Cup final, I have been thinking about guys who have the

potential to win their first or get their second or third. So a couple of trivia questions. Which Stanley Cup final winning team, let's say since 2000, had the most players winning their first Stanley Cup? Has there been a team where every player was a first-time winner? On the flip side, which team that won had the most players become multiple Stanley Cup winners? Interested to hear Friege's guesses, don't give them too many hints. I certainly won't do that.

So which teams had the most multiple winners? Well, you've got to figure it's one of those teams that won a lot, like Montreal, Islanders. We're doing since 2000. Oh, sorry, excuse me. I should actually listen to these things. Since 2000, I would still pick some of the repeat winners, such as Detroit, 08, Chicago, L.A., Pittsburgh, one, back-to-back. it's got to be, you know, obviously Florida won back to back.

So it's got to be one of those teams. So it was actually the Lightning in 21. They had 20 players that won the year previous. Now we're going based on, for the sake of this argument. Oh, of course, of course. The Lightning won two in a row. Yes, absolutely. Yeah.

I know. I know. It's a little bit later. I know you knew that the Lightning went back to back. I fell asleep. I just woke up. I'm groggy. Sorry.

Yeah. So they had the most since 2000 with 20 guys. And it's going based on the players that had their name on the cup just for argument's sake. If anyone's looking for any technicalities, going by names on the cup from once to twice. That's the most. Now, could you think of the team that has? the least or possibly no Stanley Cup winners. Okay, so I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm going through the list of

Stanley Cup champions. I'm not, I'm not denying it. I want, I want to make a good guess at this. Um, and this is since 2000. Mm-hmm. I'm thinking about who was on that first panther team that won. Well, they had Teresenko.

So that's the first one I think of. I mean, some of these teams that won recently, does Kessel count for Vegas? Well, he played four playoff games. Yeah. Other than that, oh, they had Petrangelo. Oh, no, that's, they don't count.

They had more. trying to think like some of these recent teams they would not have had a lot of players that won because Colorado I don't know they would call out trying to think they had Darren Helm so I was thinking is there anybody that had zero there is somebody who had zero there is one team Capitals had or pick is it the blues got it that's right because that was the first of of Maroons wins. Okay. Yeah. Wow.

First for Petrangelo, who later did it with Vegas. Yes. Yes. Wow. So that was, and that was the first team since the Flames in 89 to win the cup with no previous winners. Well, I was looking at it because Pittsburgh, the first time they won, they had Garen. And, you know, the Bruins, they had Racki. So they'd won before. the Dockshead Niedermeier.

Yeah, I mean, that makes sense. St. Louis Blues in 2019. Wow. And I don't believe there are, of the five remaining as we record this, no teams with no winners. Montreal has New Hook. Buffalo has Luke Chen.

Obviously, Colorado, Vegas. Though, Carolina. No, Carolina, when they were, one they had, they had, no, I'm thinking of, I'm thinking of today's Carolina. Oh, today's Carolina? Oh, Jordan's doll, of course. Yes.

Longest in between. Right. Right. What's wrong with you? We addressed this. Yeah. How many cups for Tampa again? Yeah.

Three. I was thinking of that first one. Yeah. Jacobs-Slavon has a gold medal. Does that count? Survey says, no. Okay, so this is how we're going to end the thought line this time, Elliot. So we have Henrik Siddin coming up in a little bit, but first I, these came in two separate email batches from Griffin, but I'm combining them here.

This is, I'm calling this Kevin's Corner. Okay, you have a little smirk on your face, so I can only have a little smirk. imagine what this is. I'm calling this Kevin's Corner to wrap up. Okay. First, this is a written one. Alex from Vancouver, BC. Hello, Elliot and Kyle. Longtime 32 Thoughts fan here with a funny one for you. I work for an airline in Canada that will remain nameless, but I'm sure you know. And recently, myself has said, yeah, it's going to, a lot of work trying to parse down who it could be. And recently, myself and some fellow crew members were discussing famous people we have had on our flights. One of the people that came up in our discussion was Kevin B.XA. My colleague claims that Kevin flew on one of their flights and spent the entirety of the flight, outside of takeoff and landing, sitting slash lying on the floor with his feet up on the empty seat next to him, including eating his meal on the floor.

I assume you both have traveled many miles with Kevin. Is this a common practice for him? I have seen this before. Yes, me too. On the charters. Exactly. I have to say that the charters were referring to, which by the way were hosted by the staff of the airline

were not referring to, and they were first class. Oh, yes. Those flight attendants and pilots. Excellent. those were long flights from Edmonton to Florida and back oftentimes after we'd been out late the night before so it looked like at times the whole all like

80 people on there looked ragged and it was Zombiland disturbed zombie land is a good way to put it but yes I did see Kevin lie on the floor many times on those flights and knowing what everybody knows of Kevin, I don't think it would surprise anybody that he would eat food off the floor.

Yes, with his bare hands. But yeah, that was his move on the charter because the way the seats were configured where normally the exit row would be, there weren't seats there. Like it was kind of left open because there would be trolleys there, like just for snacks or whatever

that may stay there. But he would use that space and he would sit up against like the wall of the cabin and legs straight out pointed towards the aisle and he would just hang out on the floor. It was comfortable for him. So it's amazing to know that even on a commercial flight, when there's an empty seat next to him, he will not hesitate to do the same. But feet up is nuts.

I hate feet. I know. Okay, so that was that one. And then we've got a voicemail too. Dom, let's play that. Yeah, hey, what's up saying? Hair gel guy and the guy that's probably off somewhere in his car. I have a confession to make in that is that my wife's been reading these romantic

balking books. And the other day she admitted to me that she's been imagining the main characters as Kevin Vexa. And I feel like I just really had to get that off my chance. chest. Elliot, I thought you'd appreciate that. Yeah, well, thanks guys. And I just want to say shout out to Corey.

Grew up playing hockey with him, Kyle's brother. Thanks, guys. Have a good one. Do you know this person, Kyle? So, of course, we didn't hear him include his name. I played the audio for my brother and said, do you recognize the voice at all? And he couldn't, he couldn't decode it. I have to say this.

If someone called into our show, and said, my wife is imagining this lead character as Kevin B. Exa, I would disguise my voice too. This is anonymous 2026. First of all, sir,

if I was you, I would take a deep, clean shower, and then I would have your wife mind wiped. Men in Black styles. And we never speak of this again. Yeah. I knew you would have a reaction like that.

Which of why I had to put this in. But two Kevin-driven submissions here in a matter of days. One, I completely would not have stopped coming. Yeah. And the other one's not a shock. He's got that main character energy. What can I tell you? That is going to, that story about him being the person she's imagining, that is going to go right to his head.

He's going to be sitting there on the set, leaning back, practically in a recliner. Ron's going to throw to him, and he's not going to be paying attention. And Ron's like, Kevin, it's your turn to talk. And he's going to say, sorry, I'm just thinking of myself being the lead in a romantic novel. Well, his wife, Kate, is a very accomplished author. I mean, she could write them in the way easily. That's right. It makes too much sense.

Good call. I hope he hears this in time that whenever that first throw to you and David in the pregame show later tonight, he manages to work it in some way, shape, or form. There is no hope for the future of civilization. I now give in to our AI overlords. That's just the final straw. That's the final straw. Let AI take over.

We can't handle this anymore. You know what, Kyle, it's funny. We have all this about BXA because I got an instant DM from a Daniel Mills. Hey, Elliot, can you ask Kevin how his pizza pizza was on Sunday night? Not going to say where it was. And also pass along an apology for us, yelling his name, and him dropping his dipping sauce. Oh my gosh.

How loud did they yell? Butterfingers, BXA. They go full Catherine O'Hara and Home Alone? That's awesome. Poor Kevin in his sauce. Yeah, it's tough when you lose the sauce. Nothing like losing a good ranch sauce. Right, Kyle?

Well, yes, it was probably blue cheese for all we know. The ranch is sacred. Kevin B.XA, main character looks, supporting cast coordination. Okay, so that was Kevin's Corner as we wrap up this edition of the thought line. 1833-3-3-1-3-3-2-3-2 for leaving a voicemail or email us at 32 thoughts at sportsnet.com. We'll take one more break. And when we come back, our interview with Henrik Sedin of the Vancouver Canucks on 32

Thoughts, the podcast. Okay, as promised, our conversation with Henrik Sidene of the Vancouver Canucks. Last week, it was announced he and his brother Daniel are the new co-presidents of hockey operations, our co-po-ho, as they're already referring it to in the Vancouver market. Those two, along with Ryan Johnson, as general manager, are heading up the future of the Vancouver Canucks. There is a lot of work to be done beginning with what they want to do behind the bench, who they're going to take third overall at this year's draft, and ultimately rebuilding an organization that they live through some very successful years, also some trying

times as well, and still chasing that elusive first Stanley Cup. in franchise history. And stay tuned for Henrik's answer to Elliot's question about the grouse grind. It is phenomenal. Here's Henrik Sidene, so generous, so good with his time, and always worth listening to on 32 Thoughts, the podcast. So Henrik, first of all, like, thanks so much for joining us here on 32 Thoughts.

I wanted to start when you get through all the commotion of initially, the announcement going public, the first press conference, everything. I understand like your brother's already gone over to the world championships for you. What is kind of priority number one now that you've accepted the role? Well, me and RJ has been talking here

almost every hour to go through the different things we have to do and looking at our staff and what needs to be done. So it's an ongoing discussion about all those little things. Henrik, I think the biggest question a lot of people have is sort of why now? We understand that when you guys retired, you wanted to take some time.

You were kind of around a little bit. Why was now the right time for you and Daniel to take a bigger role? I think there's two things. Number one, like you said, we retired 2018, stepped away for three years, almost, got back into slowly, a little bit of an advisor role. to management at the time. And then Patrick stepped in. And when he took over,

we had kind of somewhat looked at being closer to the team. So being on the ice, helping out with the development, the younger guys, and also be a bridge between Abbotsford and Canucks. So we spent a lot of time with both teams. We've been kind of in the background. We haven't really wanted to be seen or anything. But we spent a lot of time on ice.

I mean, we were at every game. at home. We watched every Abbottes for games to get an understanding of the players. And so I think that helped. And then number two is ownership came to us with their vision and plan. And that was something we could fully, fully support. And so we felt strongly about stepping on into his role this time. You know, Henrik, I will tell you that when, Francesco Aquini came up and used the word rebuild at the media conference. Some people I know fell over.

They never thought they would hear the day where he would say the word rebuild. So I'm curious, did you and Daniel say to him, you weren't taking the job unless there was an understanding that that needed to happen? Well, I can put it this way, if they wouldn't have come to us with their plan and how they see this being. being done, if it would have said something different where we need to win tomorrow, that was not something we could support and feel that we could do a good job. So that he used to word rebuild was surprising. But for us talking to him and the ownership for a couple of weeks, we knew that that's what it was going to say. So, Henrik, I had heard both you and your brother, like it had been, I don't know if anything formal,

but at least the idea, if you wanted to do something larger than just in your development role over the last few years, there was opportunity to maybe take a bigger role within the organization if both you wanted. But maybe you guys had felt you were still in the learning and information gathering process. Could you talk maybe a little bit more about that? And if other opportunities had come up prior to this one you've taken on now? Yeah, no, nothing official. Like we've always said we wanted to do a lot of different things. And I think that's a strength of our step in now that we've touched a lot of different parts of the organization.

We've never looked for the spotlight. We wanted to help the players that we worked with as well as we could. And for us, there was such a huge joy and happiness when we could see the guys from Abbott's were taking a step up to join the big team. So that was enough for us. But when this opportunity came, now we felt more ready than a couple years ago. So, Henrik, a lot of people in Vancouver have been asked this question

and they've sort of given their answer. Two years ago, the Canucks were in an incredible game seven against the Edmonds and Oilers. I don't know if anybody envisioned that two seasons later, this is where we'd be. What do you think happened? From your point of view, what would you say was the unfortunate reasons that we went from there to hear?

Yeah, good question. I think number one, it's very hard to be successful year after year after year in this league as a team. You need good leadership. You need your best pace to lead every night. you need to have a desire to win every night and you want to you need to want a lead as well and that's i think that year with talk coming in patrick jim coming in it was a somewhat to a perfect storm where everything uh everything got together and and they they we we had a good team on paper so it's a little bit disappointing that we couldn't keep keep building on that but

this is where we are right now and we can't do anything about it. Okay. You know, it was interesting too to hear you talk. Clearly you and Daniel felt the pride of being a Canuck had dropped. What did you see?

We just felt like we want people in this province and say that to be proud to be a Canuck fan. And you could tell even the last 20, 25 games last year, when you could see that this group, the young core

the players got together and they played like a team and the fans they bought that I mean the the last game of the season after such a terrible year that the wave was going around

the building because I think they saw something that they wanted to see for a long time that was guys sticking up with each other guys playing as a team and I think they just want to see have something to be proud of And that's what we saw the last stretch.

So I wonder with that, Henry, because I do believe, you know, with that whole idea of having pride in the sweater, it's not just lip service if it truly is something that that matters to the organization and understanding that you want to do this right, but along the way there's likely to be some growing pain. So how do you keep that whole idea of the pride within the sweater if maybe over the next few years, the success you ultimately want to get to may not come really. away. Yeah, and that's, we talk a lot about both me and Ryan, that there might be times where we feel and the city feels that we're taking two steps forward. And there's going to be times where they feel like this is going the wrong way, but you have to stick to the plan. And you can't stress about when things are going downhill a little bit, and you can't be over positive when things are going well either for a short period of time. So we know what you need to do. We got to get some, feel this role,

Straub with some character guys and build a team that the fans can be proud of. I certainly got the impression from the media conference that the two of you and Ryan recognize this will not be a short process. So I'm curious, Henrik, when you remember being on good teams, I want to get, like, what, how, in your mind, how do you build a good team in an organization? What are critical to do? What's critical to doing that?

Critical is to get 22 players feeling a big part of your success. That's the only way you can win. And that means that you have to have different players playing different roles. That's my opinion. I know Ryan agrees too. And you can't have a few guys doing everything. Everyone needs to take pride in something and help the team. And your best players needs to sacrifice.

their own success to make guys around you better. And that's part of being a leader. You cannot win by yourself. That's impossible. Which means that, again, if you're a 90-point player, maybe you have to do certain things that might not help you every night, but it's going to help the team and your teammates to be better.

What do you remember about early in your careers learning those lessons? Like when did you first start to see the value in that mentality? Well, I think the first couple years, as a young guy, years tried to survive. And that's, so it is tough sometimes as a young guy to realize these things. And it took us a long time to go into understanding that. I mean, I was 28, 29 when I took over as a captain. And I wasn't ready before that.

So it takes a long time. But I think when we kind of took over as first line, players in this market. We quickly understood that we needed everyone to buy in and to grow as as players and people for us to win and be successful.

And that's something we worked with every day. Like coming into the rink, I think a lot of people when they talk about us, they would say that we came in with a great attitude. We would do stuff in the gym that maybe wouldn't help us that day because we were a little bit older. But if you want,

your 21, 22 year old growing as a player understanding what it takes to play in May and June. You had to do that, and that's where we want to get to. Will you refuse to draft any player who cannot beat you in the grouse grind? Then we couldn't draft anyone. It's impossible. We can't do that.

That's a great answer. So I wanted to ask you a little bit about Leos Patterson. You know, Henrik, there's been a lot of noise around him the last few years. How do you see him as part of the future of the team or do you see him as part of the future of the team?

Yeah, it's like it's a Canadian market. There's going to be, there's going to be a lot of talk about your best players and the guy who gets paid the most. That's just the way it is. And especially where, where he's been in his career, putting up over 100 points. And I think for him, we're going to be there to support him.

I mean, he, in the end, he needs to decide. We can't push him to do anything. He needs to decide what player he wants to be. Because when he is prepared and when he comes into season well prepared, I think he's going to surprise a lot of people. But it's going to be up to him to decide what he wants to do. And I think Ardus is, he's got some standards that he's going to hold guys to and doesn't matter if you're the best paid player or if you're fourth-finer.

The standard is going to be the same. So we'll be there to support him. He's going to have to make a decision. Do you still see that he can be the elite player in this league that he has shown he can be? If it decides and preparation is there, he can come back. And we're not going to ask him to be anything. It doesn't have to be unbelievable for us. He should come in, be a great teammate.

Sean, he's done the preparation that he needs to, and a lot of people around him, players around him are going to get better from that too. Okay. I wanted to ask, Henrik, like, you and your brother, you gave everything you could as players to that organization and that market. I'm just curious, like, why you embrace this challenge

here. Like you could have said we're fine just doing our thing on the ice and helping players develop, understanding obviously the great reward that can come with this, but also the criticism too. Why did you want to do it? Because we care.

We care about this organization. We've stayed in the city. We live this market. We know this markets. We understand the pressure. We're not scared to take criticism. It's just a different role now, but we're super excited to work with people that we enjoy working with. And I think there's something good happening here. We saw

at the end of last year. We know it's going to be tough. End of seasons are tough to talk about because we know if you're out of it, it's going to look better sometimes. But there's a lot of work to do, but we're excited about this group of players that are coming. Henry, we talked about what makes a successful team. I'm also curious, what makes a successful organization? You know, you and Daniel are very high character people. How much did you talk about with Ryan or with the Ackalini family about how the organization needs to change or what values are going to be important for you guys to install?

Yeah, there needs to be values for sure. There needs to be alignment. That's number one. And that's something we have discussed a lot in the past couple weeks. From top to bottom, we can't be, we're talking, speaking one language and Ryan and coaching staff speaks a different one. It needs to be alignment from top to bottom. We talk a lot about being connected. And that's from top to bottom within the organization.

We also community is going to be a huge part going forward. We need to get back to playing a big part. this community. That's part of being a professional outfit, but it's, it's a bigger, even bigger to be a Vancouver Canucks. And we've always said, like, you're going to win some, you're going to lose some, but if you can do that part well, it's going to help you as a player. It's pretty obvious from watching your media conference that you're going to tell the people who need to know things first before you tell any of us, which I respect, will your front office, and not necessarily talk about people,

but the way you do things in your front office, will that change at all? Well, there's going to be, I don't know if it's going to change, but we've talked a lot about, there's got to be a process and we got to stick to the plan. And we all know what the plan is.

So all decisions are based on that. Audrey is going to do a lot of heavy lifting. He's going to come up with what he thinks is going to help us moving forward. And we will support him if that's, if that's part of the plan that we are trying to follow. So there's going to be, there's a Canadian market. People are interested. There's already, I mean, going through this process,

there was a lot of rumors that we read while being on the inside that really surprised you. And you wonder where the things are coming from. So a lot of times, I think media is trying to come up with stories that is not true. And that's tough to live with. in this market and something you've got to be prepared to just let go. Kyle, I think he's talking about you, by the way, just so you know, Kyle. I was going to say, we have that issue on the show every week. So, so Henrik, here's, here's what, so let's just say there's an idea.

And, you know, there's you and there's Daniel and there's Ryan. Who, like, how ultimately is the decision is made? Because Kevin BX had told me, if it comes down to you and Dan, Daniel and you disagree, neither one of them will ever give in. So, like, is Ryan the tie-breaking vote? Or like, how does it work? It's hard to build consensus sometimes. Yeah, no, it is.

I mean, Jus is joking there, but it's, no, I mean, me and that, we disagree on a lot of things. There's no question. We disagree on a daily basis. Some things we don't have to agree on, but in this case, we're going to have to come to a decision. And that's as long as I think we're going to be prepared for a lot of things that are going to be thrown at us and have talked through things before. So that's not going to be a problem for us.

Hockey-wise, hockey decisions, we have a good understanding of what we both see in different things. Okay. And so Adam Flett, how do you go about making the decision on your current coach? Yeah, that's something we're discussing right now. So this has happened. We had a press conference on Thursday, so we're going through a lot of different parts of our organization. So we're discussing on a daily basis here.

So that's something that I think you'll hear more of it from next year, next week. Okay. I also just was curious, Henrik, on that note, you know, Mani Malhotra, obviously a very popular guy in that marketplace as well. And at the same time, you know, it didn't take long for his name to be linked Could other teams elsewhere in the league be interested at the NHL level? I just wonder how aware of that you are and kind of how you view him within the organization. No, he's many. We play with him.

We know what kind of character is. And we were closer with him last year in Abbottesford as well in the year before. So we know how he works. He's on a tremendous job out there, not only winning the championship, but helping the young players out there. So he's done a great job. I understand if there's interest around the league. There's no question about that.

So that's something we know for sure. Okay. So that leads to the follow-up. Will you allow anyone to talk to him if they want to? Yeah, that's something we're going to discuss. If they reach out, there's something we're going to discuss with RJ. But I don't think anyone has reached out yet. Okay.

Okay. I wanted to ask about Ryan as well, Henrik. I mean, it's very clear as soon as his name emerged as a candidate here when this process started. He's a guy that has a lot of respect around the league. Of course, you played with him for a time. I'm just wondering what you and Daniel observed of him within the organization that impressed you most. He was very well-spoken on Thursday. Yeah, he was.

And he is, he's well-spoken. Well, he built the championship team out of now, for number one. We saw it first hand and what we like with Ryan is that he he's a big believer in the environment in the dressing room and around him. How he treats people, how he gets people to play hard, to coach hard and to work really extremely hard for him. And we truly believe that that's what we need right now in this, for this organization is to, to, to, to, to, to, to, get that back into this franchise. So for us, he was the perfect choice.

I just wanted to ask you, just some of the young players that you saw this year, Hank. You know, obviously, Le Caramacki, he's someone that a lot of the fans are curious about. Vlander is someone who a lot of the fans are curious about. When you take a look at some of the young, you know, Booiam, everybody knows he's a big part of the future. but when you see that group of players, just, you know, like, who's that group? Who's in that group where you look and say, when we're good, they're still going to be young enough

to be in our window of key players on our team? Who do you look at? Well, I think you mentioned a lot of those players, a lot of those names. I'm not going to start mentioning a name because I will forget someone and then that's not going to... And then it's a problem, yes, yes. But I'll say this, that if you get a...

group like that. And I compare a little bit to the group we had coming up here before we became really good in BX, Raymond, Alex Settler, Kessler, Burroughs, like a young group of guys that push each other every day and that's what you need.

You can have good players, you can have good prospects, but if they don't come together, decide that we're going to make a difference, it's tough to get anywhere. And that's what we saw a little bit late last year, where they push each other every practice. They have fun doing it, but it's hard work. I just wanted to ask on Thursday you had a really great line,

Henrik, about to do this fast, we've got to go slow. I'm paraphrasing a little bit, but that was your life. I wanted, did that come to you in the moment, and you had kind of been thinking about that as you've gone through the whole process of like, all right, what does the future look like for the Cadux? Because it's a really good philosophy. Yeah, I just felt like, I mean,

if we want to do this as fast as possible, I mean, a lot of rebounds, you don't want it to go on forever. No one wants that. But I think you can, to get there as fast as possible, you have to do things the right way. And that's like I talked about before, there's going to be some moments during this year, so the first year we're winning four in a row. And this market is going to be a go crazy after trades and getting better players and prepare for a playoff round.

And there's going to be times when we're going to look. lose five-minute row where people are thinking that this is going downhill. So I think we want to make people realize that we're going to try to do this the right way. There's not going to be a straight line upwards. It's going to be bombs and Bruce along the way, but we have a plan doing it. What of your amateur scouts told you about the third pick in the draft? And do they have like a temporary idea of what it's going to look like? It's going to be a really good player for us.

And me personally, I really like third picks. That's right. Of course. No, but I think in this draft, anyone that's followed it, know that the top part of the draft is good. And you'll get a good player either way. But in the end, when you draft, you can draft, but if you don't develop them and you do the right thing

and you have a plan for them. For us, that's the most important part. Are you best, do you go by position or best player available? Do you have a philosophy on that? No, I haven't talked. We haven't talked enough about that. We just had the amateur meetings, so we'll discuss them more going forward.

So of all the new things that's kind of come with with this role, from, you know, as a contract negotiations, you just mentioned that the draft coming up, free agency, dealing with other, managers or people like they're running hockey operations around the league. What are you most looking forward to kind of diving into? Well, for me, like I, again, I come back to where we worked the last couple of years. For me, it's, it's, it's now drafting and developing guys and having a plan for each,

each player drafts and to, because they're going to be a big part of this, this team going forward. So I think that's number one. The drafts coming up here and then, and then what do we do with those drafts? picked players because there's going to be maybe one they can step me right away but there's plenty of them who is who we can see playing for this team in three four years and they're going to be as big as the as the first guy we draft which current pacific division team are you most excited for the conucks to pass who did you hate the most as a player me as a player when i

played yeah well i mean emminton they weren't really on top of their game when we play them. So I would say, I mean, back in the day, L.A. and Chicago was our biggest, biggest rivals, and those were just amazing to play every time. So why don't we try to pass, I would say Chicago. I would try to pass Chicago. Still, still Chicago, eh?

Oh, yeah. Wow. All these years later. I mean, you know the rivalry and everything that. And it was such fun games. they're a tremendous team and we always matched up well against each other. What job is BXA begging you for? I don't know what he's really begging for, but he's reached out a lot in the last couple of days. He has to him, I'm sure he could take over as president or come in as part owner.

So he's reached out. Have you accepted the calls or do you leave it, you let it go to voicemail? No, no, no, we accept the call. He's a great friend. And, I mean, we watch you guys in the show every Saturday or every day here now. So it's a good back and forth to you guys. I guess the last one I have, Hendrik, is, is there anything else that, you know, there's so, you get to ask so many questions that sometimes people say, I never got a chance to say this,

or I never got a chance to make this clear. Is there anything that you've wanted to say over the last three or four days that you haven't had the opportunity to say. Not really, only that we're excited. But I don't know. There's been so many questions. I could have tough on to answer, but there's a lot of hard work now going into this next couple of weeks a month, but we'll be super excited when the season starts and we can

start building something special because it's really good people that works in this organization and it's been fun to be around with amateur scout meetings and being around Ryan for a daily basis now. So I think it's going to be a fun atmosphere to work in. Awesome. Awesome. Well, we know it's a lot of work ahead and it's only just beginning. But yeah, we're thrilled for you and for Daniel and for Ryan.

And wish you all the best here in your new chapter with the organization. Thanks so much, Henrik. Thank you, Henrik. Our thanks again to Henrik and the Vancouver Canucks and our producer, Dom Schramatti, for organizing that for us here on Sunday when we record. that conversation tonight. Lone game left in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Game 7,

the Sabres, and the Canadians. For our listeners up in Canada, you can watch the Hockey Central pregame show on at 7 Eastern 4 Pacific Time leading up to puck drop a little after 730 ET on Sportsnet and CBC. The winner will face the Carolina Hurricanes. Game one of that series will go Thursday this week.

We will talk to you again on Wednesday to set up Colorado and Vegas and be officially into conference final mode. Have yourselves a great Monday and a great week.