32 Thoughts: The Podcast - “Re-sign Lindy!”

Episode Date: November 11, 2022

What a return of Jack Eichel! Jeff and Elliotte talk about Eichel’s return to Buffalo (00:30) and the red-hot Golden Knights, the Devils continue to impress (7:00), Börje Salming returns to Toronto (11:00) and the guys say a few words about each of the Hockey Hall of Fame inductees (18:30).They also go around the league and touch on the Senators (30:15), St. Louis (33:40), Calgary (34:00), Martin Brodeur’s new role in New Jersey (34:15), Vancouver (35:30), how the Evander Kane injury impacts the Oilers (36:50) and they address the Mitchell Miller situation (47:25).Jeff and Elliotte say a few words about the late Peter McNab and the legacy he leaves behind (41:20).View the Herbert Carnegie piece from Inside Hockey HEREGET YOUR 32 THOUGHTS MERCH HEREEmail the podcast at [e-mail] or call The Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemailThis podcast was produced and mixed by Amil Delic, and hosted by Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman.Audio Credits: 104.5 The Team, Altitude Sports, ESPN, Hockey Hall of Fame, KKSE-FM, NHL Network and Sportsnet.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.

Last year, I should have won when Elliot cheated with the rules. This year, I play him by his goofy rules, and I'm still winning this thing. And you've got Arizona Saturday night. I didn't even realize it. See, you're keeping it. Saturday's gorgeous. I love this pool. I love everything about this pool.

This pool sucks. You know who's really quiet lately? Aaron? The Olympic gold medalist paging Aaron Ambrose when the swelling in your fingers goes down, and you can text again, and you come up for air. Let's talk about the in-season cup, Ambrose, when the swelling in your fingers goes down and you can text again and you come up for air, let's talk about the in-season cup, Ambrose. Welcome once again to 32 Thoughts to Podcast presented by GMC and the new Sierra AT4X. Before we get to the Hockey Hall of Fame and its Hall of Fame weekend

and we do want to park some time and talk about Borya Salming, first a couple of real exciting games on Thursday Night Elliot, starting with Vegas. And a little bit different than the last time the Golden Knights were at Key Bank, and specifically we're talking about Jack Eichel with the hat. By the way, that was a wild third period. And Jack Eichel ends up with the hat trick out of all of it. Eichel fires across to Stevenson.

Petrangelo again. Blackheart. Out you go. Score! Jack Eichel is on the board, and he's giving it to the crowd. Two-goal lead. Stevenson has Eichel right down the middle of the ice. Eichel in front.

Shot. Score! You go back. Jack, do it again two goals and an assist for jack eichel in buffalo new york 10 seconds left eichel will try again for the hat track he got it from 195 feet and there are some hats coming on to the ice in buffalo he's been on fire uh the vegas golden knights are on fire your thoughts on what we saw thursday night last year jack eichel was arrested in buffalo by the karma police he walked in there he wasn't 100 yet the nerves were still very raw and you could tell everything he said he was he was not ready yet to go back you know what it's

like it's like jeff when you break up with someone and you you go out somewhere and you say this is never the place where her and i in our cases went so i'm going to be safe i'm not going to see her and then you go and you sit on the table and she's right there with someone else and you can't handle it there's no way you can handle it properly it sounds like you're speaking from experience here no this has never happened to me. I've only heard it happening to other people. So Eichel, last year, he was too raw to go back to Buffalo at that time. Yeah. And they lost and he got booed and he was upset and the Sabres looked tremendous.

It was a game of the year for them and everything was bad. This year, they're doing better. He's healthy. He's playing better. He's in a better frame of mind. He goes in there a bit more conciliatory. He admits that last year he was a little bit too raw for him. And the karma police let him out of jail.

And they say, all right, Jack Jack you came in a better frame of mind we're gonna let you have this one and the amazing thing is he got stopped on two breakaways and after the second one you know he's kind of laughing he's like what do I have to do here but then he finally got going and Vegas is on a tear they've been really good nine in a row he did give it to the crowd a little bit although there were some vegas fans in that corner when he scored the first one but it just goes to show jeff it's all attitude if you go in negative it's not gonna work if you go in positive it's gonna work and the the thing that was really noticeable too is when they won the reaction of the players on the bench oh yeah you can always tell if a team likes a guy or not

and they were thrilled for him they were thrilled in the third goal celebration the empty netter and they were thrilled at the end of the game on the bench and you you can't fake that you know if a team likes a guy and is happy for a guy they were happy for him let me ask you a question about vegas because we talked about this with kelly mccrimmon a couple of days ago that podcast will be coming out next week but one of the things that we talked to mccrimmon about you asked him this about going from the the underdog lovable vegas golden knights to becoming one of the things that we talked to McCrimmon about, you asked him this, about going from the underdog, lovable Vegas Golden Knights, to becoming one of the more hated teams around the NHL.

Are they starting to become one of the more popular and well-regarded and, dare I say, liked teams in the NHL? Because his Eichel story is fantastic right now. Well, I think it's still a little early. I think that the chance is there for that. There's no question. You know, I'll tell you something really interesting. They put Laurent Boursois on waivers today.

Yeah. So Boursois' last NHL game was March 15th. He had two surgeries last year. He's played two games in Henderson. He's played 80 minutes. He has a 6.76 goals against average and a 7.69 save percentage. Look, we all know Brassois is a better goalie than that, right? But, you know, he's rusty.

He's not ready to play yet, at least at the NHL level. And they put him on waivers because right now, you know, he's not good enough or ready enough to play ahead of either logan thompson or aiden hill and you know one of the things you kind of wonder like you know how does the player feel about that and i've heard in this case there's no complaints about the way everything's been handled and i don't know if that means we're going to see a kinder gentler kelly mccrimmon i don think, I think it's too premature to say that. But what it says to me is that, you know, the Knights probably know that they have some image repair that they have to do.

All that said is that what is the thing that fixes your image the best? It's W's. And right now they're getting W's. You know, this conversation, I thought it was a really good conversation. And I don't think I'm spoiling it to say that the Golden Knights looked at the way they were constructed. And they said, if you want to win in this league, you have to have a number one center. And you have to have a defenseman that eats a lot of minutes. They went through a lot of pain to do it,

but now they've got Eichel who finally looks like Eichel and they've got Petrangelo and we all know how good he is. I mean, we'll see, like you said, it's still early, but this is what they wanted. Now we're going to see how it does.

You know who else is piling up the W's Elliot? Who's that? The new Jersey Devils. And those W's are part of the in-season cup. And Elliot, nice try, but in the in-season cup, my Devils beat your Ottawa Senators. Yeah. But the real New Jersey Devils have now won eight games in a row.

And don't look now, but that former first overall draft pick of the New Jersey Devils, the Swiss kid, what's his name again? He got two, including the overtime winner. Oh, yeah, what a draw by Sleesha. Devils win it. Here's Hamilton out high for Hughes. Now right wing circle.

Looks around. Now for Hamilton. It's right. They score! Power play game winner for the Devils and the winning streak is at 8. Oh, and everybody, not everybody, half went down on

Dougie Hamilton. The other half is celebrating with the kids. Akira Smead, his first National Hockey League win and did he deserve it, Maddie? Oh, my my my, Delilahilah he was brilliant when they needed him what a difference a year makes huh last year Devils couldn't get any goaltending this year goaltending stands tall and they stand taller it's just awesome that was a great game and

you know what the most important thing was I thought was the crowd in jersey they were alive like i've been to games in jersey or that building and to be honest it was more at the the previous building the metal lands i've been in games in in that building at their old arena where it was intimidating if you were a fan of the visiting team because you could feel the passion and you could feel that it was like putty and seinfeld we're the devils we're the devils don't mess with the devil buddy we're number one we beat anybody we're the devils the devils that atmosphere last night reminded me of it like those fans in the overtime they were going crazy the sanders should have won that game in overtime on their own power play and akira schmidt made two

unbelievable saves like vanachek gets hurt that's the second time in a week they've won a game where their goalie got hurt like they did Like they did it in Edmonton. Blackwood went down. Vanachek came in. And now in this one, Vanachek goes down and Schmidt came in. And like I said, two ridiculous saves in overtime. But to me as a fan, the best thing was that New Jersey's crowd was bonkers. That shows that what they're doing right now it's resonating in their

market and you always want to see that when do they start chanting re-sign lindy next game we're calling for it re-sign lindy come on devils fans re-sign lindy all those people that wanted him fired now you have to cheer for him to be re-signed. You painted your face? Why? You know, support the team. The Devils play at home Saturday night against Arizona. Coyotes have played really well lately. They have to play Saturday night at home against New Jersey.

You know what you've got to do. Re-sign Lindy. Re-sign Lindy. Get that coaching an extension. Today we are pleased to announce six members of the Hockey Hall of Fame's class of 2022. All are distinguished individuals whose careers and achievements exemplify excellence and greatness in the game of hockey. Talking about Hall of Fame weekend. We're recording this on Thursday evening. It is just before 8.30 Eastern and Hall of Fame weekend we're recording this on thursday evening uh it is just before 8 30

eastern and a hall of fame weekend is on the horizon and a pleasant surprise for this weekend the presence of hall of famer uh one of the smoothest skating defensemen the game has ever seen swedish legend nhl legendoreas Salming is in Toronto. Obviously on Monday night, when they have the inductions, that is going to be the number one story. Those players getting into the hall of fame is going to get, be what gets all the attention. But you know, the Maple Leafs play the hall of fame game on Friday at home against Pittsburgh. And then they play again at home on Saturday against

Vancouver. And the hope is that they're going to be able to honor Salming in both of them. And that says to me that for the weekend itself, he's going to be the big star. Now, if you've been following along what's been happening, sadly, he's battling ALS and he's lost his ability to speak but for those of you who are not old enough to remember him as a player it is impossible to understand the significance of his arrival in North America and how beloved he was as a player. When the Maple Leafs had their 100th season, they gave a whole bunch of people, former players, media members, other dignitaries a vote on the top 100 Maple Leafs. And I was one of the people that had a vote and to me it was very important that salming be the first post 67 1967 player to be ranked i believe i had 10 players who played with the lease pre-1967

so he was the first player who was on that list who didn't win a Stanley Cup in Toronto. But his impact was so huge and so great in the city and in the sport because he was the first Swede to really make it big time. And the abuse he took as part of that, it's going to be enormous. And he was my favorite player growing up. I love Salming, the flamboyance, the way when he skated the puck up the ice, everybody was, all eyes were on him. It was incredible. I, I'm really excited to see him this weekend.

And it's, I think it's going to be incredibly emotional for a lot of people. It will be, uh, on a personal note, he gave me one of my biggest thrills ever as a young hockey fan. It was a very early weekend morning, I believe. Yeah, it would have been a Sunday, of course. My dad took me to High Park, the outdoor rink,

to go and skate and Borea Salming showed up very early. It was just me and my dad out there and Borea Salming showed up. Jim McKinney was there and passing the puck around with Salming. I can only imagine how my late father would have felt watching his son play with one of

the best players to ever play. I think I probably would have been about seven or maybe eight years old and it always stuck in my mind. How could it not? And when I think about Boreas Salming, you know what I think of? I think of toughness and we don't necessarily think of toughness in terms of survival and endurance. But when it comes to Boreas Salming, I really believe that the toughness that he displayed putting up with what he put up with in the 70s, where you could make the argument rightfully so, Elliot, that half the league probably should have been incarcerated and he was there taking every slash and cross check and punch and hit from behind muggings on a daily basis and rose above it and continued to play his game like this

is a weekend where the siddines are going in and i think the siddines had that kind of toughness too they took it they took it they took it they never quit yeah they were never intimidated they never quit boria salming was the exact same type of tough hockey player and he was one of my favorites i know he was one of yours uh how could you not be seduced by how he skated the pocket whatever i think of salming like do you not think of that you know head up you know head on a swivel looking around looking for his pass skating effortlessly out of his own zone. He was a delight to watch. What a treat of a hockey player, Freach. The first long-form TV piece I ever did when I first started Headline Sports

was a 15-minute feature on Boreas Salming and his rise to the NHL through the 1970s. And I was really proud of it. And the thing that I really remember the most was Philadelphia came into town and Bob Clark was still the general manager. And I asked him to talk about Salming and he agreed to do it. And I can't remember the exact quote, but he kind of got a little bit solemn, and he said, Boreas-Salming was tough. You know, you can take a look at it, Mel Bridgman versus Boreas-Salming. That's the one that everybody remembers from April 1976. That's not a good one.

There behind the net, we got Salming, Bridgman. We got Salming, Bridgman. Now Bridgman is going at it with, I believe, Boya Salming, and he's really raining right hands in on him. And someone's going to be a third man in here. Everyone's going at it. Newell has paid to both benches to stay right where you are. Kelly's in there, Schultz is in there,

Bridgman really ripped into Salming. The mugging he took, and then he scored a huge goal later in the series. And Bob Clark talked about that. And he just said, look, and the way Bob Clark says it, you know, he means it. Basically said, boy, it was tough. He was tough. He took everything we threw at him and he was tough. And I relayed that to Salming and he kind of paused and I can't remember exactly what he said, but he said, wow. And he goes, that's a big compliment. I never knew they felt that way about me. And he could tell it really meant something to him.

And I think you're totally right, Jeff, that I think toughness is not just how you throw a punch it's how you take one how you stand up when everything is going poorly for you and just comport yourself and go ahead but you know obviously I don't like to equate toughness in hockey to what he's going through now because it's a much more serious thing but you are not surprised at all to hear that you know he's battling this with all the grace and all of the strength that you would expect the whole hockey world is thinking of him and it's going to be an outpouring of emotion this weekend for boria salming the likes of which the city of Toronto has perhaps never seen before. One of the most popular Maple Leafs ever and a true pioneer coming over when he did in the 70s when players like, you know, Václav Nenemansky started coming over with the Toronto

Toros. There were the Swedes. There was Borya Salming. There was Inge Hammerström. Like it was, it was a pretty exciting time to be a hockey fan because the game was really opening up to European hockey players as well. And as much as Nedimanski stood above,

and he did for a number of years, Salming was also that guy, not just in Toronto, but around the entire NHL. So Hall of Fame weekend. It's the Sedins. It's Daniel Alfredson. It's Roberto Luongo. It's Rika Salonen and it's Herb Carnegie in the builders category. You have a thought or two, you want to pull a couple of these names out here, Elliot, and have a thought or two?

Sure. I mean, when I started hocking out, I've talked at length about my relationship with Alfredson over the years. It's not like,'s not like we're good friends or anything like that, but I covered a lot of that Ottawa team. He was the captain. He was incredible to deal with, win or lose. He was always out front and a really good, sly, funny sense of humor. Like just a hilarious, hilarious guy. Competitive as heck in practice i mean i

remember kovalev was he was one of the best keep away players ever oh yeah and i i remember when he played in ottawa him and alfredson going at each other and i said to alfredson he did pretty well against you and he looked at me and he said, he cheats. He wasn't having any of that that he lost to Kovalev. And what did, hang on, what did he tell you about 2007, the cup final? So, I mean, Sanders fans will remember, they had a lot of time off after they knocked out Buffalo

before the cup final, And so we were waiting. We wanted to do some stories on them. And we asked if we could go to Alfredson's home and we did. And during a break in our conversation, he was so gracious to us. During a break in our conversation, he said, can I tell you a secret? And I said, sure. And he goes, do you promise not to tell anybody this is off the record? And I said, sure.

And he said, if we win, I'm retiring. I have other things I want, sure. And he goes, do you promise not to tell anybody? This is off the record. And I said, sure. And he said, if we win, I'm retiring. I have other things I want to accomplish. And I was like, wow, I wish you hadn't told me that, but I kept the secret. I mean, he was, he was seeing if he could trust me. And, uh, I know that he's told other people that story and he appreciated the trust being kept. And I mean, that's what you got to do right someone tells you something that's a secret you got to keep it uh the sedins the thing

that amazes me most about those guys is how other people talk about them and henrik you know is not going to start the weekend in toronto he's recovering from covid. So Daniel's going to start and then Henrik's going to join. But the way other people talk about them is really impressive. Just high, high quality. I always remember that when they signed their extensions, not the last ones they signed, but their second last extensions, right after it was done, they announced a big donation, a million and a half to the Vancouver Children's Hospital. And they didn't tell anybody during the negotiation they were going to do that. And apparently it comes up a lot in conversation. If you give me X amount of money, I'll turn back and I'll donate it to buy

a box or something like that. And they never brought it up. And the only reason it went public was because they were told by the hospital, we'll get more donations if we tell everybody you're doing this. So only for that reason did they agree to it. I think that says a ton about those guys. You know, as players, the Sedins, you had to see them in person. I don't think TV did them justice. You had to see them in person. And the other thing I would say about them was

one of the great stories I've heard about them when they played in Vancouver was the Canucks kept on going to them and saying, okay, you need to play with a right-hand shot or you need to play with a physical player. And finally, they went to them and said, what do you need? And they said, look, we don't need a right-hand shot. We don't need a physical player.

We just need a smart player who can read off us and figure out where we need them to be. And the Canucks admitted that they kicked themselves for years that they didn't ask them earlier about who needed to play with them. Instead, they kept on coming up with their own ideas. And finally, they went to them and said, you know, what do you need? And the most successful guy was Burroughs, who was a very, very good player, but a left-hand shot. That's the kind of stuff I think about those guys.

Like just beloved players who were very smart who you had to see in person to really appreciate finish for rika salanin goes in as well 16 seasons with the national team um one of the most decorated uh women hockey players of all time uh the all-time leading european scorer in the world championships and the olympics as well the first non-north american born woman to go into the hockey hall of fame anyone that i talked to from either of the the women's program the canadian or the or the american will say like this one might have been overdue like she's had respect from everybody for years and they're they're thrilled that she goes in and i think a lot of people are thrilled as well that roberto luongo goes into the hockey hall of fame here elliot one thing about

salanin is that i remember watching her a few years ago at the worlds and i looked her up on the internet and she was 46 or something like that oh yeah here's this player who was a great player and retired and came back and you still noticed her. 16 seasons with the national team. It's remarkable. We just talked about endurance and, you know, and perseverance. Like that's Salonen. Yeah.

I don't know her at all. So I don't have any personal stories, but that was the one thing that really stood out to me. And I think it's important that they've put a lot of women's players in there, but as you said, they've all been North American. Yep. And I think it's important as hockey tries to grow the women's game outside of North America, that that kind of honor is shown, that that kind of representation is shown to matter. I was thinking, you know, who would be the first female player

I could think of who would go to the Hall of Fame? And the one I always thought about was Kim Martin, the Swedish goalie who beat the U.S. at the Olympics in 2006 in Italy in the semifinals. I think it's Kim Martin Hassan now. I just want to be correct with the name and give it proper respect. But that was the player I always thought would be maybe the first one, just because I was there for that game. I covered that game, and I remember that performance. But I certainly can't argue with the selection that was made.

You know, Luongo, first of all, super glad he got in. Very deserving. You know what I remember about Luongo? I don't know why this is the first thing I think of when it comes to Luongo, but I think of that game with the Panthers in 2000, I think it was 2015 against Toronto, when he got injured in the first period and played the rest of the first,

and they were all over him. He played great. So he leaves the bench. Al Montoya comes into play, and then he gets hurt in the third period. Montoya stayed in, but he was clearly hurting, okay? And Robbie Tallis, who's the goaltending coach of the Panthers, he had to put on the pads just in case. And Luongo comes back and he's wearing like a shirt and pants.

He comes back in the game. I think that is so, so good. I just, I always remember watching that game and just loving it. Like, just like, this is a guy who cares about his team. This is a guy who wants to stand up for his teammates. I thought it was awesome. I'm trying to remember who the player was that would have gone in.

Like it would have been the first since Jerry Topazini, a player, a skater going in. We hadn't seen that going back to 1961. Something tells me it might have been was it derrick mckenzie who they were considering putting the pads on i can't remember who it was derrick mckenzie was the guy that was the guy that's what i thought okay so derrick who's now the head coach of the sudbury wolves who's now the head coach of the sudbury wolves now you know the one thing i remember about luongo is that um you know, in Vancouver, the pressure he felt.

Oh, yeah. The one thing that I think is great about Luongo is now that he's retired and stepped away, he remembers his time in Vancouver the way it should be remembered as a success. I think during his time there, he's admitted and his other teammates have said he didn't enjoy it as much as you would have hoped he would have enjoyed it. But now I think he looks at it much more fondly. And that's very, very important. That's the way it should be. TC Carling told a story once about Luongo, and he asked Luongo, what's the difference between starting and knowing you're going to back up?

And he says, well, the difference is I won't feel like throwing up the entire day. Like, that's a guy who felt the pressure, felt it. And finally, and I just picked the book up again, and now that it's Hall of Fame weekend, I'm probably going to read it again this week. Well, I am going to read it again this weekend. A Fly in a Pail of Milk, the Herb Carnegie story.

I encourage every single hockey fan listening to this podcast to pick up and crack the spine of. It is an outstanding and at times certainly heartbreaking read. Herb Carnegie goes in in the builders category for each. Earlier on, i mentioned the boria salming piece from headline sports there there are things that you do that leave a lasting impression on you or people that you talk to that leave a lasting impression on you and herb carnegie was one of those people i was re-watching the piece when hockey night was still at CBC it's from 2009 it's inside hockey

Herbert Carnegie and it was the same day that the Bruins honored Willie O'Ree and someone suggested to me that if you really want to make this day doubly meaningful you should also track down herb Carnegie who lived in Toronto because he also should have had a chance and he was living with his daughter Bernice at the time. We did. We went to their place and did an interview with him. Almost going to put a link to that piece in the show notes.

It's always stuck with me. You know, I don't really want to talk about it. I think if you'd like, you should watch it. And you'll understand why it's always stayed with me. And I'm glad that he's finally getting the recognition that he deserves. Not far from where I live, Jeff, is Herb Carnegie Arena in North York. Yep. And I always get a little bit of a smile whenever I drive by it. You know why I get a smile when I drive by that rink?

Because when I grew up playing in the MTHL, that was called North York Centennial Arena. And they had the best ice in the city, period. And that is still true. And I love the fact that the best ice in the city of Toronto now has Herb Carnegie's name on it because as Red Story points out in the Herb Carnegie book, A Fly in the Pail of Milk. As a player, he was very talented. As a gentleman, he was on par, I would say, with Jean Beliveau. Great player, great gentleman. Takes his rightful place in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Listen to 32 Thoughts, the podcast, ad-free on Amazon Music, included with Prime.

So, Elliot, it's been an interesting couple of days for the Ottawa Senators. Nikita Zaitsev placed on waivers, clears. Magnus Helberg placed on waivers, doesn't clear, claimed by the seattle kraken and you believe they are snoop snoop snooping around yeah with sites have you know first of all he obviously hasn't played well that's not exactly a news alert anybody who's been watching the games recognizes that and with him it just looks like the more he tries to do

and the more desperate he gets the worse it gets you're sort of in that pit where you just dig yourself deeper it's a terrible terrible place to be and i empathize with him for that ottawa has about three and a half million in cap space he hasn't gone to the minors yet the other thing i've heard and I heard it from another team today, is that Ottawa has basically allowed Zaitsev's agent to shop around to see what's out there. But there's just nothing out there right now. So number one, if he gets traded, he can clear waivers now. But number two, at least that's in the next 10 games, 30 days.

But number two, he hasn't gone to the minors, but if they put him there, they get an extra 1.125 million. And I do think Otto was out looking for things. I heard defense. Someone else said that they thought it might be a center too, but I heard defense. So all of a sudden, if he wants to, Pierre Dorian's got an extra 1.125 million to play with and i don't think that's insignificant i think that there's some things they're looking for out there and a little bit of extra cap room is not going to hurt them you know i mentioned you on radio earlier this week that i wouldn't be surprised if you know a couple of the couple of the phone calls were maybe to Winnipeg and perhaps to Vancouver as well for each.

Yeah, Winnipeg, I mean, he was there, right, Dorian? And it was like a royal visit the way that one was covered. Well, they kind of do have a boat by my count. What's the word you like using? Eleventy billion? Yes. Defensemen on the roster. But the thing is, Winnipeg's going really well right now, right?

They are. They're hot. Top in the central. I think it's public now that Vili Hainola, if he's not going to play, would like to go somewhere else. But I don't think that's the kind of move Ottawa's looking for. I would think they're probably thinking about something a little better, although I could be wrong. But Winnipeg's going well. You don't necessarily think they're looking thinking about something a little better, although I could be wrong. But Winnipeg's going well. You don't necessarily think they're looking to break up too much.

The thing about Vancouver is that I know some people were guessing like Myers to Ottawa or something like that. I don't know. But, you know, Myers has a partial no trade. I mean, Jeff, you know this league. Chances are, likely, it's got the usual 10 teams on it right the other canadian teams and pick your four destinations in the states so i don't think there's any guarantee that that could happen like some people just said that they did this to get

so that dj smith wouldn't play him i don't think it's that simple because as we sit here right now and record this you know he's not been sent down he's still on the roster which says to me that it's not necessarily get him out of here in terms of we can't play him at all it's to me it's flexibility and i'm very curious to see where it goes i think the other teams we're watching for you know one is obviously st louis i think he's looking for d i think he's looking for some bite you know i talked to you on the radio show this week about would someone like nick richie make sense for the blues i've kind of wondered about a player like that for them and you know the other team i'm wondering about is calgary you know their gm brad tree

living you know he's a guy who is not afraid to do things, and we know they've been looking for another forward. I don't know that anything's imminent, but I'm watching the flames right now, and I'm wondering if there's any possible chance that Tree Living shakes them up that way. Elsewhere, Elliot, Thursday, we're greeted with the news that Martin Bordeaux now has a new title on his New Jersey Devils business card. It is Executive VP of hockey operations. So he's out of the business of business with the New Jersey Devils and full on in with hockey operations now.

And the one thing that everybody took pains to say is that Tom Fitzgerald still has the final say on hockey decisions. And Scott Cleminson is fine. It's the same role. He's not going anywhere. Right Scott Clemonson is fine. It's the same role. He's not going anywhere. Right. Clemonson is fine. I heard your radio interview today. I was listening to that interview.

You can't tell that Fitzgerald's from Boston, right? Really hard to tell. Just a little bit. Just hard to tell. But look, when they both had the same kind of titles, executive vice president, right? You're sitting there and you're wondering, what exactly does that mean?

It sounds like almost a split title but no i like brett hull less jackson which didn't which you know wasn't good somebody has to be able to make the call and fitzgerald is the one who still makes the call but it's never bad to have a more engaged martin brodeur on your hockey operation staff okay ell, I don't know that we're contractually obliged to do it, although judging by how many times we do talk about the Vancouver Canucks, you'd swear there's some type of arrangement where we're obliged to do this every podcast. But here we go.

Vancouver Canucks, Tanner Pearson hand surgery, not great for him, not great for the team. What's the latest with the BC squad? I just think that they should come to a decision on Bruce Boudreaux. It's not fair to keep lighting them up like this. Jim Rutherford's an excellent quote. And I know the reporters everywhere around the league really appreciate his candor. I just think you get to a point where you say enough's enough.

And we're at that point right now with Rutherford and the Canucks and Bruce Boudreaux make a decision if you don't like the way he's coaching then fire him but don't do this don't continue this either he's your coach or he isn't and if he isn't make the change if he is you don't have to like it but at least publicly support him you know i joked with you on air that they're trying to make him quit like office space yeah he's not doing that i think it's actually really nice whenever budro comes to toronto he gets a chance to see his mother yep and i know that's a very very big deal for him and with an off day on thursday i hope he got that opportunity

because it's the kind of thing that can brighten you up at an otherwise dreary time. Evander Kane, that was frightening. Earlier this week, Elliot, the visual of him jumping up, holding his wrist, and as he skates away,

you look behind him and there's that pool of blood. That is a horrifying scene. Thankfully, as he put out on social media, he's going to be okay. Three to four months though, he's placed on LTIR. First of all, we're just happy that he's okay because that looked absolutely terrifying

and everybody was horrified at the time. Everybody in the building, each team, everybody watching on television as well. Thankfully, he's okay. And now it's over to the Oilers with some cap space and an open roster spot. Yeah, the problem with the cap space, Jeff,

is that Kane's coming back. If he was out for the year or close enough to a point where you could hold him out to the playoffs, then you could go out and you could add somebody else and stash a guy like everybody likes to. But he's coming back in the middle of the season. So you have to plan for him returning. Do you just look at this and say, okay, Dylan Holloway, let's see what you got.

Or you do something small that you think you can handle, but we already know how much trouble the Oilers have had this year dancing around the salary cap. It's been a huge challenge for them. But Dylan Holloway, I think is the most obvious solution that you can use in the short term. Give him his opportunity. You know, the other thing here too, is that we should really give credit as, as Kane did to the trainers and the medical staff. You could see how scared he was, how absolutely terrified he was. And, you know, I used to be a summer camp counselor and we dealt with cuts a lot one of the things we were really told because you know you're out in the i don't

know if wilderness is the right word but you're kind of out there and if you have a cut you have to know how to kind of force it closed and you also have to know how to keep it clean right so every year we would do that kind of cut training and there was one year where someone i worked with slashed i can't remember if it was above or below the knee i think it was above the knee now that i remember correct now i remember it on like a metal barbecuing grill a a thick one. They were walking around at night. I don't know why one had been there and he walked into it and it sliced open like a hole above his knee in the thigh.

And I just remember I was the closest person to it and I jumped on him. I squeezed it tight because that's what you're supposed to try to do. But like there was blood all over me. And then we had someone bring the car up and because i was the craziest driver i was elected to drive and someone else held it tight the hospital was about a 10 minute drive it was through back roads and then you go into the city of sudbury

and i'm driving through red lights and everything and i and i pull up at the hospital and they said later like like they thought I was like a gunshot victim because I came in running in with like blood all over me. We've got a guy with a cut. The wrist is really scary because you can do real damage and you can get in a serious situation with the wrist and you could see how scared he was. But once again, you know, as someone said to to me sometimes the safest place to get hurt is a sports arena because you've got doctors there you've got trainers there you could tell that the people

working for the oilers and the lightning they knew exactly what to do and in that situation you bank on your training and it's very clear that everybody there learned well uh they did and i always when i see situations like that, I always think of how, just bluntly, how Jim Pizzatelli saved Clint Malarchuk's life after the skate slash, the inadvertent skate slash in that St. Louis game with Steve Tuttle. And how Pizzatelli, who himself was a combat medic in Vietnam, it was a matter of inches and probably a matter of minutes.

And here we are on the Hall of Fame weekend and celebrating great people in the game. in Vietnam, it was a matter of inches and probably a matter of minutes. And here we are on the Hall of Fame weekend and celebrating great people in the game. Any chance I get to mention Jim Pizzatelli and what he was able to do to save Clint Malarchuk's life, I will always do it. These people snap into action quickly and there's no time for your own emotions to take over. It's all clinical. It's all clinical. It's all business. And we can all remember and recall those that are old enough

to remember that game and that situation, how much gratitude certainly Malarchuk and his family owe to Pizzatelli, but everybody in hockey. That was a horrifying, horrifying situation that was saved by a great trainer. That's a great tribute jeff and speaking of them as we tape this podcast right now i got a text i'm watching the canadian teams i'm watching ottawa against jersey i'm watching calgary and boston and i'm watching edmonton in carolina and someone said to me are you watching watching the Colorado broadcast? And I said, no, I'm not. And they said they did a wonderful tribute to Peter McNabb tonight. And I know he

is somebody in particular that you wanted to mention. I love talking to Peter McNabb. You're probably the same way. I think everybody really enjoyed talking to Peter McNabb. When you've done hockey talk radio as long as I have and as long as you have, there are certain people that you're just comfortable with and you know what you're going to get. And it's a friendly voice and it's insightful and it's intelligent. And you come away from the conversation feeling really good about it. I can't tell you, Elliot, how many times I said, you know, when we're going to talk about the avalanche, oh, let's get Peter McNabb. Oh, let's get Peter McNabb. Always Peter McNabb available.

Was always one of my favorite go-tos to talk about the Avs. And he was right there from the beginning when they came over from Colorado. Peter McNabb, and I know the news is late by the time you're listening to this, it happened earlier on this week, passed away at the age of 70. And the outpouring of emotion was overwhelming. And the outpouring of emotion everywhere was genuine because that's the kind of guy that Peter McNabb was. And a lot of people, a lot of newer fans will know him as, you know, one of the voices with the Colorado Avalanche,

one of the analysts with the Colorado Avalanche. Before that, people will know him as an analyst from the New Jersey Devils post-career. I just want to make sure that people understand too from some younger fans, how good an athlete, not just hockey player, but how good an athlete Peter McNabb was. He went to the University of Denver Elliott

on a baseball scholarship. He was an elite, elite level baseball player, ended up playing hockey with the pioneers and of course ended up getting drafted by the Buffalo Sabres in the sixth round back in 1972. And so he played in that era where I really first started to pick up and watch hockey games.

Like that was the Buffalo Sabres. How many times we talked to Elliot? We grew up in Southwestern Ontario and we watched the Swords all the time. And McNabb, it was the French Connection. Obviously, those were the headline makers. And there was young Peter McNabb as well. And there's always teams in the league, Elliot, that don't do business together.

They just, for whatever reasons, rivalry, however, they just don't end up doing business. reasons, rivalry, however, they just don't end up doing business. So in 1976, the Buffalo Sabres signed Andre Savard, who was a free agent with the Boston Bruins and the compensation was Peter McNabb. And that was the first time that those two teams did any business. It was inadvertent. It wasn't deliberate business. It was the first time those two teams ever mixed. They didn't do business again until 2009. and that was the Danny Pye trade.

These are just two teams, rivals, of course, in the same division historically that just didn't do business together. But Peter McNabb was part of that history. He was the first. And when he got to the Boston Bruins, Elliot, just go have a look at the goal totals. This was a really, really good Boston Bruins, Elliot, just go have a look at the goal totals. This is a really, really good Boston Bruins team. Every year you could pencil them in for what, minimum 25, maybe 30 goals. It's like 24 goals, 38 goals, 41 goals, 35 goals, 40 goals, 37 goals, 36 goals. Every single season, Peter McNabb would produce. He finished up his career after finishing with

Boston, the Vancouver Canucks, and finished up with the New Jersey Devils in 86, 87, and then turned to broadcasting. And that's when a lot of people just got to know how much of a genuine, wonderful, decent, intelligent, like the way that he presented the game was so watchable and so listenable, Elliot. He was one of my favorite media people to deal with on a consistent basis. And man, I am going to miss Peter McNabb a lot. That's a beautiful tribute, Jeff. Beautiful. Four seconds, three seconds, two seconds, one second. It's over. They did it. They did it. The job is done.

The Colorado Avalanche are Stanley Cup champions. And they will lift Lord Stanley a mile high. The one and only Peter McNabb. Peter, I'm so glad that you got to make the trip to experience this. Does it change for you? You've seen three of them now. Do they get better

every time? How do you compare this one? Well, this one actually has a little better feel, maybe different feel. I'm actually on the ice. I wasn't on the ice for the last couple. And the players have come by. They've the last couple and the players have come by they've been wonderful but the parents have come by and said hello and the joy that is out here right now because the actual ecstatic nature of the original celebration has died down it's almost

as if they're taking a breath you know it just goes on and on and the story will be written and the story will get richer and richer. The parade. I mean, every single one of these guys knows that Colorado is waiting for them. Colorado is waiting for them. And fans, you are loving a really, really good team. But more importantly, guys, as you well

know, a really good group of guys. Yeah, this one maybe had a little different feel for sure elliot will finish up the podcast by talking about what has been over the past week the biggest story in hockey and that is Mitchell Miller but before we get there you wanted to say a few things about Gary Bettman this is going to be I think one of the bigger storylines to come from this I re-watched the Bettman media conference the one from, after talking with someone about it. And when he made his statement about Mitchell Miller and he's not eligible to play... He's not coming into the NHL.

He's not eligible at this point to come into the NHL. I can't tell you that he'll ever be eligible to come into the NHL. If in fact, at some point, they think they want him to play in the NHL, and I'm not sure that they're anywhere close to that point, we're going to have to clear him and his eligibility, and it'll be based on all the information that we get firsthand at the time. So the answer is they were free to sign him to play somewhere else. That's another league's issue. But nobody should think at this point he is or may ever be NHL eligible. And the Bruins understand that now. He was answering reporters' questions, but he wasn't talking to the reporters.

He was talking to other groups of people. Now, he knew at that time that there were some other teams that had complained to the league about the whole situation on friday and said that it had in such a quick time damaged their relationship with some of their fans that come from equity seeking groups some of them had already heard that some of the programs they had with these groups were in peril because of the way everything unfolded on Friday. So I think Bettman was speaking to these fans on a level saying that, you know, Miller wasn't welcome in the NHL and the NHL was going to stand in the way. But I also think he was speaking to the players and the players association.

But I also think he was speaking to the players and the players association. And what a couple of people said to me is that one of the things that they believe that Bettman is going to do is take a harder line on player behavior. So if you'll notice a couple of days after Finland, he and Bill Daley had a media conference in Winnipeg. And not only did they mention that Miller was ineligible to play and he'd already been After Finland, he and Bill Daley had a media conference in Winnipeg. And not only did they mention that Miller was ineligible to play, and he'd already been dropped by the Bruins at this time, but he also mentioned that Logan Mayhew is still ineligible to play.

So I think we've been very clear with Logan Mayhew, too. He's not eligible to play in our league right now either. So Montreal's made a decision with respect to Logan. boston made a different decision with respect to mitchell miller but neither player would would be eligible without clearing with us at the time their ability and eligibility to play in the league and both clubs were advised about that and this has put the players association into a tough place like as some people said to me and even some nhl executives said to me they can't just let the nhl terminate this contract and to this point that hasn't happened you know maybe there'll be a settlement maybe he'll be kept to the end of the year and the Bruins can buy him out for

one third because he's still young enough to do that. But if there's any kind of process where they try to terminate it, the Players Association is going to be in a tough position of having to defend this because you have to defend the sanctity of the standard player contract. You cannot allow there to be any precedence where the standard player contract. You cannot allow there to be any precedence where the standard player contract can be voided for something that happened before it was signed. But Bettman is, I think, more than happy to have that fight. I think he wants to show that the NHL is taking a more hard line

on incidents where players get themselves into legal trouble. And we know that we're still waiting for an answer on whether or not there's going to be any fallout from the 2018 World Junior investigation, which a few people said to me is one of the first things they thought of after the Miller situation reached its conclusion with the Bruins. So this is something to watch here. I don't think it's a coincidence he's taken this line. I think he was trying to send a message to teams and fan bases. And also, I think he was trying to send a message to the Players Association that he's prepared to be, or at least try to be more stern on these situations,

which we all recognize need to stop happening. You know, Elliot, the one thing that they could do, and this would take an arrangement between the NHL and the players association, because I agree with you. I don't necessarily know that the players association wants to defend the player as much as they want to defend the standard player contract. The one thing that the two sides could come to is an arrangement whereby the contract is terminated without prejudice, which means it doesn't become a precedent setting case. case. So if there's a similar case, they can't point to the situation with Mitchell Miller and said, look, you've already agreed to this, or we've already done it this way. This now opens

a door. This essentially, Ellie, would just be treated as a one-off and would not set any precedent whatsoever. To be honest, I'm not somebody who's really interested in the whole storyline of what happens to the contract. I just think that the overall situation of the message that the commissioner, I believe, is trying to send is of more importance here. The other thing I think we need to see here after this week is, and God forbid we ever have anything again like this. Nobody wants it. Nobody needs it. I think it's incumbent upon the NHL, the Players Association, the Diversity and Inclusion Committee, and anyone else who is an interested partner to come up with a template for what a player

needs to be reinstated. After the results of this past week, it can't be anything that anyone could look at and feel and say, yeah, that's good enough for me, or no, that's not good enough for me. You have to be able to say, here's your checklist. And it has to be a checklist that will be acceptable to the people who have been wronged or the person who has been wronged. And you say, look, if you're ever suspended or we declare you ineligible, this is the exact steps that you have to follow to be reinstated. Because I think everybody has to know. There were a lot of things that went wrong last week, Jeff. But one of the things that went wrong last week Jeff but one of the things that went wrong and I don't understand it is you know we know now that the Bruins were working on this for months we know

now that Eustace King who's the agent who represents the player I believe he's been working on this for like four to six months and what should have happened was that the moment the Bruins made the announcement everything should have been put on the table you know instead we had drips and drabs and pockets of information being released after no that's not the way this should have worked it should have been here's everything everything is out the table. Here's what you need to know. This is what this player has done, and this is what we did to make sure. But none of that was there. It should not have been a media conference about,

we think he deserves a second chance. And even Don Sweeney admitted he wasn't 100% convinced of that. It should have been, this is why he deserves the second chance, and here are the tangible steps. And I think the other thing, too, is that Miller should have been, this is why he deserves the second chance. And here are the tangible steps. And I think the other thing too, is that Miller should have announced that he was donating a percentage of his salary, either to Isaiah Meyer Crothers or to an anti-bullying slash anti-racism or both charity. I think also as part of that, there should be a statement from the victim

or the people that were impacted by the act in the first place and they should have their say on how they feel about this it can be a statement if the people are not comfortable talking in public which everyone gets that and at least should be out there, notarized, submitted by an attorney, however proof you want of it. That's important. That has to be out there. All of that should have been public. No secrets, no hiding out there. So this had no chance because none of that was put out there. And then a couple of days later, everybody's playing catch up. Some of the information is disputed. Some of it's confirmed. It shouldn't be like that. It should be all out there at the one time, no secrets. Here's what we know. Here's

what he's done. Here's the amends he has made. And here's where his salary is going to, not just him, but to this person or this group or something like that. And everybody wants him, after reading that statement the other day, for him to be okay. The concern is that this story, every couple of days, there's something else, right? Another part to the story gets revealed and i think one thing you learn about things like this is it's almost never an easy stop there's always something that spills out right and i hope this chapter is concluded for isaiah's sake so that he can go back to being a private citizen with a lot more calm and quiet around him. The thing that concerns me though, Jeff,

is that every time we've thought this story was coming to a close, there's been another twist and another turn. And I don't know where this is going to go. I suspect it isn't over. But I hope that everyone acts now with Isaiah's best interests in mind.