32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Rocky Mountain High

Episode Date: June 16, 2022

What a start to the final! Jeff and Elliotte recap game 1 as Elliotte walks home from Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado (00:01). They also address Gary Bettman and Bill Daly’s press conference ahead of the Stanley Cup final (19:20), coaches who have found landing stops and teams that are still looking (24:50), Peter MacTavish parting ways with the Senators (35:00) and the latest on John Gibson (37:10).Check out the limited edition 32 Thoughts merchandise line HEREMusic Outro: Mating Ritual - BungalowListen to our 32 Tracks playlist on Amazon Music. All the tracks you hear on this podcast during the playoffs are featured there.This podcast was produced and mixed by Amil Delic, and hosted by Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman.Audio Credits: Altitude Sports Radio 92.5 FM, AM 970 WFLA 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.

You guys know Kyle too, right? Of course. I said Elliot Friedman. What's your names? Joe and Joanne. Joe and Joanne. Well, that's easy to remember. Are you guys staying for game two also?

Yes. Oh, well, enjoy your weekend in Denver, guys. Have a great time. Thank you. All right. Nice to meet you guys. Take care, guys. Take care.

Okay. So how are we going to describe this? This isn't a regular podcast. This isn't even a car cast. I know. Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the first 32 Thoughts Footcast as Elliott Friedman has left Ball Arena and is on his way somewhere. Maybe the saloon, maybe the hotel. We don't know.

But Elliott's in Denver and we're doing a podcast, folks, and we'll do it after every single Stanley Cup final game. Elliott, first of all, where are you walking on the maiden voyage of the 32 Thoughts Footcast? You guessed hotel, you guessed saloon. I think the right answer is going to be the hotel saloon. Oh, very good.

So both of your answers were correct. And also, I would like to acknowledge that walking with me and being serenaded by my wonderful voice through this walk is Kyle Bacostas, who wore an incredible, what is that, beige? It looks like cream. He says it's cream. Just a beautiful suit that he is still wearing as we walk back.

Kyle looked very nice, looked very handsome this evening. Well done, Kyle Bukowskis. You did very well, as you always do. Okay, so before we get into the specifics of the game, a little bit later on, we're going to go over some news and notes from around the NHL. Lots on what the commissioner and the deputy commissioner had to say. A couple of interesting notes on the Ottawa Senators,

some notes on the Florida Panthers and their coaching situation, and a quick note about Marc Savard. Now the Windsor Spitfires are out. But set the scene, like set up ball arena, game one, the crowd before, the crowd during, and the crowd after, which we couldn't help but noticing, refused to leave the arena, Elliot. Yes, well, we went on air at 5.30 local time, and it was really dead in there. And we were like, boy, it's kind of dead in there. And then once the warm-up started, they were riled up.

And once things really got going, they were riled up. It was a great crowd. No, I haven't been to many games lately, unfortunately, because of COVID. But it was such a wonderful feeling to be back there. And as you know, Jeff, I love it at Madison Square Garden when they play Baba O'Reilly. So good. Out here in the fields, I'll fight for my meals. Here they played Smashing Pumpkins, and I think it was Tonight Tonight. Tonight. And that's a tremendous song too.

And the music selection was fantastic. And I have to say, if you've never heard this crowd do All the Small Things by Blink-182, it's an experience. And I love that song. It's one of my favorite songs. And I was singing along too. I don't know if that is a violation of professional ethics, but I'm admitting to it. The Colorado crowd was fantastic.

And one of the things we were talking about after the game is, it's a young crowd. Now, I don't go to enough games anymore. I don't have the role that Kyle has now that I really miss, but I'm going to ask Kyle here. This is not, it was good for the listeners. Like, is that one of the younger crowds you've ever seen? Yes. Kyle says, yes. It's it was a, it was a new wave of fans and. And I'm not ageist, Jeff. I have nothing against old people because I am one myself. But I think you always want to see a situation where younger fans can get into the building.

And there were a lot of them tonight for a final game. That's a great sign. Just as a pause, that is one of the great concerns about a lot of teams around the NHL. I know the older demographic have the money and the older demographic has the season tickets, et cetera. But there's always been an issue about how do we get younger people in the building? I know the Blackhawks had that issue once upon a time and looked to remedy it. I know the Maple Leafs actually consulted, I believe, the Chicago Blackhawks to try to

figure out a way that they could get younger people into the venue because that's your next wave of season ticket holders. So it's really good to hear that at Ball Arena in Denver, there's a substantial amount of younger fans. That's a great thing for the industry. That's a great thing for hockey. To the game itself, Darcy Kemper starts for the Colorado Avalanche. No Nazem Khadri, no Andrew Cogliano. They are out for Colorado. Braden Point is in for the Tampa Bay Lightning. And this was an exhibition in speed by the Colorado Avalanche. We knew the first 10 minutes was going to be an onslaught by the Avs. It was.

Landeskog scores. Nachushkin scores. Nachushkin was great all game, as Kelly mentioned in the broadcast. Nick Paul makes it 2-1, but then Arturi Lekkonen on the 5-on-3 power play late in the first period makes it 3-1. McKinnon was tripped up by Belmar. Play continues. Backdoor feed is blocked.

McKinnon swats it for Landeskog. Below the goal line, Rantanen shoots. He scores! Dipped in front by Arturi Lekanen. It's a work of art. It's a five-on-three goal, and the Avalanche do indeed restore their two-goal lead with 2.29 to go in the first. It is 3-1 Colorado.

Big goal. I mean, five-on-three, you don't get many of them. Very seldom for a minute and a half. That was almost clinical by the colorado avalanche in that first period the one thing that that i noticed elliot is i don't know that i've seen tampa have a harder time getting out of their own zone because colorado was on them so quickly it started early in the first and maintained all throughout the game what are some of the things that you noticed specifically about the first? I think that's a great point.

I do think they had a lot of trouble getting out of their zone. I thought Hedman had a rough night. First of all, he was pissed off about another head hit

he got by Manson or a stick, but he didn't have a great night. He's so important to that. I agree with you. I mean, look, in the first period,

I thought that game was going to end five or six to one. Now, I have to say, I thought Colorado had to have this game tonight. You know, Tampa, they just got in. They had one day to practice. It's not easy to do that. They were coming off another long series,

and we always know Tampa gets better as the series goes on. I thought this was a game Colorado had to have. And in the first period, I thought they were going to win by five goals. Tampa, we know the Tampa gets better as the series goes on, but Tampa got better as the game went on. Yeah, Vasilevsky settled and they did too. That's the thing. Like Vasilevsky didn't look great early.

He started to settle down. The Avalanche settled down. Andre Palat finishes off a gorgeous play by nikita kucherov and mcdonough winds it out to center ice kucherov to plot across the avalanche line back for kucherov high slot dances right circle back and front palat score what a play and palat buries it and it's not just that he makes that play, and it's a great tap by Palat, gets himself behind Kael McCarr. Like, he did that against Devon Taves and Kael McCarr. Let's not lose sight of this.

It's a great play on its own, but the fact that it was made against, I mean, I would say, and I think many would agree, Elliot, the number one defensive pair in the entire NHL, Devon Taves and Kael McCarr. That just makes it extra spicy. Your thoughts on that play, which was just too silky smooth. And let's give it up for Andre Palat, who gets by Kael McCarr, who last time I checked was a pretty good skater, Elliot. That's the second guy that Kucherov has done that to.

Remember who the other guy was? Aaron Ekblad in the Florida series, yeah. So basically, if we had gone to the Olympics, Kucherov would have been undressing all the Canadian defense. Kucherov would have crushed Canada single-handedly, made them look ridiculous like they were pylons in the 70s from Bobby Orr videos where Bobby

Orr skates around a bunch of pylons in Detroit Red Wings jerseys and we all go wow, look at Bobby skate. That's what it would have been like. Oh, and by the way, since we just mentioned Kucherov, you and I uncovered a story about him, your tip, and I asked him, tell everybody what you wondered. So I had Curtis McElhinney on the radio show and we were talking about Nikita Kucherov and I was asking him, I can't remember how we got on the discussion about his quirks and his traits and everything. And he said the one thing that he does is he's

always changing the color of his tape. Sometimes it'll be black, the one thing that he does is he's always changing the color of his tape. Sometimes it'll be black. Sometimes it'll be white. Now, McElhaney was under the impression that he did it to throw off goaltenders. So his blade, I don't know, would look confusing. Hey, I thought Kucherov had a black blade. Hang on. I thought he had a white blade. This is somehow confusing for a goaltender. So I gave you a call and said, hey, heads up on this one. Maybe, you you know you can do something with it on the show and so you went and asked kucherov so what's the deal for each so in media day i went up to him and i asked him and he was actually surprised jeff he seemed surprised that someone

would ask him about this that we had noticed and you know i said is it uh full goaltenders and he laughed and he said no he says if you go after vasvsky, I bet you he wouldn't care what tape I had on. He said though, and this actually was interesting to me too, because I think it shows what a student of the game Kucherov is. He said that he sees how other players tape their sticks sometimes and he tries to copy them. And the guy he's copying right now is artemi panarin he said that he really likes panarin's game and he copied the way he taped a stick now i have to

double check this to see if there's any chance that he's putting me on no it's panarin i look though because you you told me that so i was watching that's because it's mainly the toe like he doesn't he doesn't go he doesn't go heel to toe it's mainly the toe. He doesn't go heel to toe. It's mainly the toe tape job. Because you told me that. Okay, first time I see Kucherov, I'm going to look for the tape job. And it's totally Panarin. It is 100% Panarin.

Okay, good. Because Kucherov has a bit of a sly, wicked sense of humor. So I always have to make sure he's not, this guy's going to go on air and say I'm music player. He has no idea what he's talking about. If he told you he was doing the David Pasternak, then he might be having you on, which is just a couple of strips of tape,

you know, higgledy-piggledy all over the blade, but no, that is absolutely the Artemi Panarin tape job that he is using, and now I will forever be staring at Nikita Kucherov's blade to notice the tape and the tape job that he's trying to emulate.

You know, the interesting thing as well, McElhinney told me that he's pretty adventurous with his equipment and specifically his sticks. And he mentioned that there was a while ago where Pat Kane was on a real heater. So in practice, I don't know if he ever used it in games, Kucherov started using the Pat Kane pattern. Like thinking like thinking like okay so

kane is hot it's working for him let's see if i can get anything out of this kind of stick and he'll mess around with that in practice well like these fans will tell you that kucherov has always had a long patrick kane fascination that he's admired the way that kane plays and he's watched shifts of his he told me this story once, too, and I believe it's been written about and talked about in sort of lightning media circles for a while now. So I'm not at all surprised to hear that. So he was excellent.

And did you notice what we got tonight, Elliot, from Tampa? Overtime? I believe you like to refer to it as the snifter, but Warren Rakel noticed he calls it... The sifter. I got tons of tweets and DMs and texts about sifters and snifters, and nonetheless,

Mikhail Sergeyev, who I thought had a really good game, especially that block on Rantan at the end of the third. That was a great block by Sergeyev while they're still killing the Pat Maroon puck over glass penalty. Sergeyev had a good game, and yes, Elliot, we got a sifter, or as you like to call it,

snifter from the point. The puck came down to Hagel. Brandon Hagel marches to the right corner. Right point Sergeyev. Sergeyev shoots, score! Another quick wrist shot! Another quick wrist shot from Sergeyev! It's 3-3!

With 6.21 left in the second. Another quick wrist shot from Saganjab. It's 3-3. With 6.21 left in the second. Another quick wrist shot by Saganjab. Just like in game five. Exactly. I thought when it was 3-3, I thought we were getting a you got Tampa game. That's totally what I thought because I thought we're going to have to call this

you got Tampa part two. But I give Kevin a lot of credit. We asked him going into overtime, the fresh ice, does it really matter? And he said it will if they gain the zone because the one timer from a car to McKinnon, they'll be able to do it with fresh ice. And they got one.

They got one, but it didn't work. Now, I thought Maroon was going to win the game when he pulled his way to the front of the net. So close. And that would have been an unbelievable story. They kill off the penalty. He comes back and he wins it. And you know, Maroon would have just eaten it up.

He would have given us great quotes. He would have given everybody great quotes. But, you know, again, I thought that Burakovsky-Komfer ranting in line was the best line of the night. I thought they really carried the play when they were on the ice. As you and Kelly mentioned, the Chushkin was really good. It was a fair ending. Players that deserve

to win the game, they won the game. John Cooper said as much after the game. The right team won. That was Colorado's game. Do you have a quick thought on Valeria Chushkin's game? I mean, the great pass to Burakovsky, the 2-0 goal, which is just a great shot.

Defensively, this guy's amongst the elite in the NHL. You can make the argument we saw the very best of Valeria Natchushkin in Game 1. Yes, and somewhere Anthony Stewart is saying, I'm telling you, that guy deserves 8x8.

All of the money is his life. There are a few pending unrestricted free agents here that you could say all of the money. There life. Well, there are a few pending unrestricted free agency that you could say all of the money. There's Nick Paul who scored. There's the Chushkin that scored. There's Lekanen that scored. And there's Palat that scored. Like all these players are pending unrestricted free agents here.

So if you're Anthony Stewart, there are all the money, a lot of people getting all of the monies here. Before we move on to the game, I want to talk to you about something that didn't happen, but I think they wanted it to happen. Okay. What's that?

So there was an idea floating around that the game began tonight with the anthems at the Stanley cup at center ice, the two teams on the blue line and the Stanley cup at center, like a kind of like, this is what we play for idea. Okay. And I think that there is some will to do it, but I just don't know. I don't know why it didn't happen.

I have some suspicions. I think it might be one of those, we've never done it like this before. Or is it, you just don't put the stanley cup out until it's ready to be awarded kind of thing i suspect it's something along those lines but the other thing i've heard is that while it didn't happen tonight i think if there's a game seven they want to do it that night now i understand superstition and I'm not playing for the Stanley Cup, and if the teams really don't want to do that, alright, I guess.

But, how awesome would it be? I'll go with you one more. I've talked about this. I used to talk about this on the old podcast I used to do with Greg. I think in the Stanley Cup Final, the Stanley Cup, before game one, needs to come out of the box

and needs to always be visible. I think it always needs to be visible in the arena. There needs to be a constant visual reminder that this is the thing that everybody is playing for. It needs to be somewhere in the rink. I don't know if you suspend it somewhere. It's behind the benches. It's up somewhere if you suspend it somewhere, it's behind the benches, it's up somewhere,

there's a stand for it somewhere. I don't know. I've always felt this. I'm really glad you brought this up. One of the things that I've always wanted to happen is to get that cup out of the box, not when you're ready to present it after the Stanley Cup is won,

but as a constant reminder that this is what they are playing for. Every couple of cutaways when you go to commercial, whatever it is, that it's always there. It's always present. It's a constant reminder that this is what's up for grabs. I don't like hiding it. I really don't like hiding the cup until that last moment.

I love that you brought this up because this one's always bugged me. Get it out there. Put it out there in the arena for everybody to see. And it's a cool thing for fans there to see as well. Hey, that's where the cup is. Wow, the cup is in the building. Look, there it is. You can see it.

It's not hidden in a box surrounded by guys from the hall of fame and white gloves get that thing out of its box put it in the rink it's a cool thing for the fans there to look great on television look great on tablet look great everywhere and remind everybody what's at stake i love that elliot i heard it was being discussed it obviously didn't happen i like the idea of starting the series with it out there and then putting it away until at least for the teams until game seven. Again, I'll go a step or two or three or four or five further,

take it out, leave it out, and then bring it down from the stands or bring it down from wherever. But out of the box, nah, it's time to freshen. But out of the box, nah. It's time to freshen up the presentation of the Stanley Cup. Put it in the rink, Frege. What do you think of that, by the way?

Put it in the rink somewhere. For game one? No, for all the games. No, I don't agree with that. Why not? I do think there's such a thing as overexposure. Let's start this way, Jeff. And let's see how we go.

They use it for commercials. Jeff, I have rules. We start this way and then we go. No, we're not wading into the pool here. We're going off the three meter springboard. I have decided. No, I think eventually we get to that point. Maybe, maybe. But I think there is something special about the mystery of, you know, it being wheeled in and deciding game and then shining it up like the shots we always show. Anyway, I heard about the idea of putting it at center ice for the Anthems. I wish they would have done it. So anything more on the game before we move on to news?

I think that was going to be a lot better game too and we get a great game another great game. That's another thing too like we talked about this you know we talked about this a couple of different times in a couple of different series but like that was awesome that was fantastic and I hope this thing goes seven if all the games are like that

that was ups and downs and skill and speed and rough at times controversial give me that for seven games and we'll all go home happy regardless of whoever wins yep nhl commissioner gary bettman Deputy Commissioner Bill Daley speaking today. Amongst the things they discussed, record revenues for the 21-22 season. The Stanley Cup will not go either to Russia or Belarus. We had heard about that going back a few weeks and Bill Daley made that official today. Yeah, they said the teams have been notified that that's going to happen.

There's one player on Colorado, Natchezhkin. There's three on Tampa, Vasilevsky, Kucherov, and Sergachev. And he made a point to say that whoever wins it will be owed a day in the future, but not right now, which is obviously the right call.

Yeah, that's completely understandable. The World Cup of Hockey, looking for something in season. International hockey has always been a Bill Daly issue and part of his portfolio. Looking at February 2024, but there could be some European club issues involved there.

The other thing too, Jeff, I would bet that, look, Russia's going to be a big part of a World Cup, right? Yes. It's a tough thing to do right now. That is a really hard thing. No, you can't. No, there's no chance you can do that right now. But the a really hard thing. No, you can't. No, there's no chance you can do that right now. But the one thing

that got a lot of play is the idea that Evander Kane's arbitration hearing on his contract termination with the San Jose Sharks may not be resolved by free agent day. And teams will still be permitted to sign

Evander Kane, even though the arbitration hasn't actually occurred, and there is a chance he might be forced to go back to San Jose if the arbitrator rules that the contract was terminated incorrectly. That, to me, is wild, Elliot. Yes. That a team can sign Evander Kane, budget for Evander Kane, plan for Evander Kane, construct the roster around Evander Kane, and then the arbitrator can rule, nah, he's going back to San Jose.

I know it's not a perfect scenario. I get it all. But I did not for a second, Elliot, consider this could be a possibility. Did you? No, because I was always under the impression because everybody told me that this would be sorted out by July 13th. The league told the teams that.

The Players Association had been told that. The teams were certainly under that impression. So when they revealed today that... So we still have hearing dates that we need to acquire from our arbitrator, Arbitrator Das. He is unavailable to us during the month of June, unfortunately. So we have to work on some dates as early in the summer as we can.

And, you know, we're currently in discussions with the Players Association as to what all that means in terms of Evander's status. Just a quick follow-up. Do you anticipate that that will be resolved before free agency opens? I have no basis really to say at this point. If it goes to the second day of hearing and we wait for a decision from the arbitrator, which will want a written award, my guess is that'll be past the date of free agency. I think a lot of us were like, what? And I know that after the press conference was

over, a few of us went to Daly to get more clarity. And that's when I asked him if this situation could happen. And he said, it's a possibility. Now, the one thing that he did say too, is that there's not much in the way of settlement talks going on between the Sharks and Kane right now. Both sides, according to what he said, feel very strong in their positions and i i never want to guess on how an arbitrator will rule you just never know but he did leave open the possibility that a team could sign him and the arbitrator could say sorry that contract was voided and he belongs to the sharks now nobody has a you know a percentage nobody was willing to guess to that it's just something that everybody has to understand is on the table here i don't know how a team does it how could you sign again

i'm asking rhetorically because no one really has an answer here how could you sign a vander cane construct a roster uh around a person that may just vanish from your team, you're left with, sure, the salary cap space because you don't have the Vander Koehn contract to carry, but the players that you would want to fill that spot with by then are gone. It's a great question. It's absolutely a great question. And what one GM said to me tonight, and this is a GM who I know is not pursuing Kane. I said, what do you think? He said, let me think about it. And he texted me back in about half an hour

and he said the only way he would consider it if he was interested was he would have to have a deal worked out with the Sharks. He'd say, Evander, I'll sign you to whatever contract, but he would have to know that if the Sharks won, he had a trade in place. And San Jose would have to know that if the Sharks won, he had a trade in place. And San Jose would have to eat a percentage of the contract depending

on the team. Right. That makes sense. Yes. He says that's the only way he could do it. Okay, so a couple of other news and notes from around the NHL. What's happening with Florida and the coaching situation? We've been wondering about clarity now for a while since the Florida Panthers were eliminated by the Tampa Bay Lightning. Are we any closer to getting any kind of understanding of what's happening behind the bench?

I believe that the Panthers have been doing phone interviews with people. I don't know that anyone's met them in person, but I believe that they've been, I don't even know what to call them, phone interviews, phone conversations, but I believe they've been talking to people. And I will say this, I think I might know one or or two but i don't have it confirmed because i think that uh you know it's so fresh people are worried about well they'll think the leak came from this person or that person it's it's leak worrying season is what it is right now yes it is yes it is i'm very confident to say that the panthers have at least been in contact with people gauging their

interest in talking to them about potentially coaching now I don't think that necessarily means Andrew Burnett is out like all Samuelson being let go leaked out yeah there's been a lot of reporting that Derek McKenzie's out too and I believe believe that's true. So as we record this after game one, like I don't think they've told Andrew Burnett what the future is. So I think it's always possible. He can still end up as the coach, but I definitely think they're talking to people. Look,

I always try to treat people the way I would like to be treated. I think if you're talking to other people, you have to give Burnett some clarity. It's the right and the fair thing to do. He took over this year in a really difficult situation and he did a really good job. Now I know they're disappointed and I understand it, but still it's not all on the coach, and I still think for the job he did in a really difficult situation, if it was me, I wouldn't do that. I would say to him, look, this is what we're thinking. These are the possibilities, and these are your chances.

I think you owe him that. Well, speaking of wild scenarios, then, we've gone from talking about the Evander Kane situation where a team could sign him on July 13th and then lose him back to the San Jose Sharks whenever the arbitrator can get around to having the hearing. That's a wild idea. So is the idea of a head coach being nominated for the Jack Adams

and at the end of the season gets demoted to assistant coach. You're right, because he does have one more year on his contract as an assistant coach. He's got the one more season. Now, I'm just doing this off the top of my head, but I'm pretty sure, Elliot, that a coach has never been nominated for the coach of the year and then been demoted. I would say that's a pretty safe bet.

That's a pretty safe one. But may you live in interesting times is the saying. May you live in interesting times, and saying. May you live in interesting times. And that would be a very interesting situation. Let's do some other coaching stuff. The big news of the week, the Vegas Golden Knights and Bruce Cassidy. I don't think this is a huge surprise. I think it was trending that way towards the end of last week.

And I don't think Vegas necessarily knew that it was going to get trots and kind of wanted to move on. Like I think I've said a couple times now on your show, I heard Jim Montgomery had a good interview there, but somebody told me on Friday that it was starting to trend towards Cassidy. I checked with someone on the weekend there and they kind of said to me, don't jump to conclusions yet. And then Sunday I had someone who told me, Cassidy, this is a guy who's a really good source. And he said, Cassidy on Monday, Vegas, book it. And I looked around and I heard he was still doing other interviews. And the guy texted me and he says, I was a day early. And I laughed.

I said, yeah, you were a day early. It's possible he decided to do another interview or two and then eventually chose Vegas. And, you know, we talked on your radio show today and I don't want to repeat it about Vegas was a long shot team and we'll see if Cassidy changes that hang on by that you mean uh shot from the point like that's like Peter DeBoer's offense a lot was predicated with shots in the point not like long shot like okay it's a long shot that he's going to go there like a team that had that tries to produce offense from shots from

the point yes correct but another coach listened to that our conversation and he said there's another thing that's going to be interesting about cassidy he had a really good d zone defensive system in boston he actually said that toronto copied it and he said the interesting thing is vegas has played a lot of man to man that's not cassidy and you see it's going to be interesting it's not cassidy no cassie not Cassidy. No, Cassidy doesn't play that way. So he said that's going to be an interesting adjustment for a lot of those players too.

It's in it because at first blush you look at that situation and say, okay, veteran team he goes from coaching the best two-way center in the game to coaching the best two-way winger in the game from Bergeron to Stone. It looks like this is a fit for Bruce Cassidy. I think it is a fit.

Like it really does look like the best of all possible scenarios for Cassidy. Like this is his kind of team, no? Yeah, I think it is. Like I said, there's going to be some interesting stylistic changes. One from shots of the point probably, and the other they're going to go from man to man. Like a couple of coaches said, it's going to be interesting to see how long it takes for Vegas players who've been used to playing a certain way to make the change.

But I agree with you. That's the guy Vegas wanted. I think at the end of the day, they weren't sure they were going to get trots. And when Cassidy became available, they were like, beeline. Beeline for him. The other question about Vegas is roster construction. You go to CapFriendly, it says $200,000 they have left to spend on their salary cap. I think that'll start to become clear in the next little while.

Yeah, I think we'll start to get a better understanding shortly, but that'll be an interesting one for sure. What else is intriguing right now as it relates to coaches, whether it's Philadelphia, whether it's Dallas, whether it's Detroit, whether it's Winnipeg, what's Boston, what's jumping out at you right now? Well, Philly, Tortorella meets with them Thursday, and the expectation is that will get done. I think Philly was a team, Trotz was their first choice. I think they wanted some clarity. He informed them that it wasn't going to be them and they went to Tortorella one of the reasons I think the Flyers like Tortorella is they cannot have a bad start to next year they think they have to come out of the gate quick and Tortorella's teams he has them in shape and he generally has them ready to go and I think that really appealed to them. And I think there are a

lot of people in the organization who liked the idea of piss and vinegar flyers. And Torts is definitely a piss and vinegar guy. And he's excited. I've heard he's really excited for this. By the way, I think we talked about DeBoer being a candidate there, or at least a guy they interviewed there. I think another guy they interviewed there was Jack Capuano. I think he was another guy who got an interview there. Peter DeBoer in Dallas. Yeah. Anything new there? I mean, I think a lot of people looked at Bruce Cassidy signing in Vegas and saying, well, okay, that opens the runway then for Peter DeBoer. Has it? So last week I was a little premature. This week, I think it's fair to say that I think they're talking to him about the job. I just think the question is, is there, you know, do they get it closed or not?

You know, you tweeted out tonight about Mark Savard, right? Yes. What did you tweet out about Savard? So Windsor Spitfire's loss to the Hamilton Bulldogs in the OHL Championship Final Games, Game 7, Game 7. Great game. And Mark Savard, I'm told, will be speaking to a couple, I was told, a couple of NHL teams. Okay. Well, you've long put them together with Dallas.

So, he's been on Dallas' radar all season long, which is no surprise. Their number one prospect plays in Windsor. And that's Wyatt Johnson, who we all expect will be playing, or will at least be given every opportunity to make the Dallas Stars team next season. There's a belief that he's going to play with the Dallas Stars next season. So people are checking in, whether it's a general manager, whether it's Rich Peverly, whether it's Joe McDonnell, whomever,

checking in on Windsor, you're there to watch the player. You can't help but notice how the coach handles the player and handles the team. And so he's been on Jim Nils radar, I believe, for a long time this season. When I saw your tweet, I thought that was really interesting. Look, all I can tell everybody is this. Coaches know what's going on. Not just head coaches, assistant coaches, people around them. They kind of know what's going on there.

And there's a bunch of them who think that it is trending towards DeBoer in Dallas we just have to see if the deal closes you know the other team the minute I put that tweet out you know the majority of fans came from saying send him here Boston where they still love Mark Savard oh yeah you know what that actually you know so first of all when you sent that out yeah you know I didn't even think of that. I should have thought of that. When you sent that out, I immediately thought of Dallas because you've been blubbering about Dallas for a month and a half now. But I thought Detroit because he's right across the bridge. Yeah, Windsor. think of Boston. I should have because, and we'll credit Joey McDonald, who's a great reporter out of the Boston area who had a scoop today that I guess he named Spencer Carberry from Toronto. He named Jay Leach, who we knew. He named Jim Montgomery, who we knew. And he mentioned Joe Sacco. I was happy to see Joe Sacco's name on that too. So Mark Savard's name kind of fits in

with all that. So I think that unless Trot shows up here, Boston sure looks like they're trending younger or fresher. There's no question about that. You know, when people are going to ask me about Winnipeg, I just don't think we have a clear answer yet on Trot. I think Vegas knew he wasn't ready. Philly knew he wasn't ready. And I think Winnipeg's got a shot here as we do this on Wednesday night. I'm just not sure what the timeline is.

All right. So the coaching carousel continues and we're following the bouncing Barry Trotz to see what happens here. Ottawa and Peter McTavish. Now we've talked about Ottawa the last couple of podcasts. Peter McTavish now ex of the've talked about Ottawa the last couple of podcasts. Peter McTavish, now ex of the organization

going back to the agency world. Elliot. So when I mentioned on Saturday night that Ottawa was looking to bolster their front office, their hockey ops, I had heard that they were going to be interviewing for an AGM. But someone said to me, uh-oh, I was about to get a body check. Kevin

just walked by me on the street. Oh, great. Kevin asked if you were watching the street. Is that fair? Yeah. Oh, great. Kevin asked if you were watching the game tonight. Yeah, Windsor and Hamilton. He said he was watching Windsor-Hamilton, the OHL game seven. Wrap it up, boys. I just got to wrap it up, boys.

We're supposed to go have a beer. So one of the reasons I heard about Ottawa was I heard that they were interviewing for an AGM. And the thing I couldn't really pin down was is it an additional AGM because some teams have more than one or were they replacing somebody and just people told me be careful what you say here because it's not as clear a situation as some normal one guy out one guy in kind of thing. And so now we have clarity. So Peter McTavish started with CAA and the three people I heard he's really loyal to there

are Pat Brisson, JP Berry, and Jim Nice. And I think what I heard is he was trying to keep a lid on it because he wanted to tell them before it got public. And so I think that's why it got kind of held up a couple of days. So he's going to Cortex, which is the one that Kent Hughes just left, and he's going to be going back into the agent business. So they are going to be interviewing people to replace him. And I have also been kind of told that we'll see what else happens here.

There might be some other stuff down the road. Excellent reporting. One of the guys who I wanted to mention in Boston, I think Mike Vellucci could be interviewed there. Eventually Mike Vellucci is going to find himself behind NHL bench. Yes, he will. He's just too good and been around too many opportunities. Eventually he's going to land.

I think so too. Also the Anaheim Ducks and specifically John Gibson. And there's been a lot of noise around his future with Anaheim, a team that, by the way, I'm pretty sure Mason McTavish is penciled in on that roster next season. And if you saw him play in the series against the Windsor Spitfires, he looks more than ready to join an NHL team. Anyway, a lot of the noise lately around their netminder.

Does he want to trade? Does he want to stay? How does the organization feel about him? Who's committed to who? Who wants to move on? As far as you can glean, what's the latest with the net minder and the organization well first of all i want to give john gibson credit because sometimes in the

summer players just say you know what i'm done and if i if i don't have to talk to anybody i'm not going to so especially if you've got a signed contract and you're not a free agent but gibson was the one who came out and went to Eric Stevens of the Athletic and he came out and said, look, I haven't asked for a trade and he cleared the air. I think that's always a really smart thing for a player to do if they want to get their message out there. The way I see it is this. I think John Gibson wants to win. I think he's in a place in his life where, you know, he wants to be back in contention in the playoffs. And what I think he would say to Anaheim is if we're going to be contending

soon, he's probably okay with that. I think it comes down to what is the speed of what Anaheim is going to do here. And if the answer is we're coming back, I think he probably can deal with that. I think if we're talking about a five year rebuild, I don't think he would be as happy. So I think him and Verbeek are probably trying to figure out where this is going. And the other thing is Verbeek is not going to trade Gibson

unless he gets an offer that makes him happy. And in a lot of ways there, they don't even have to talk about that, about whether he wants to go or not, because Verbeek isn't going to trade him unless he gets a good offer to do it. And secondly, it comes to one of the teams that Gibson has protection with. It's got to go

through him anyway. So I guarantee you this, the Ducks know how John Gibson feels. They think he wants to win. And the question to them is going to be, how long here until we're ready? And until that's settled, we'll figure this out as we go along. You know, I mentioned at the top, they have $39 million in cap space available, according to CapFriendly. Like if they want to, they can either spend or trade their way into contention again here if they want to aggressively do that. Now, you know, eventually there's going to be, you know, a contract for Troy Terry. There's going to be you know a contract for troy terry there's going to be a contract for trevor zegras like some big numbers are coming up soon they will lose

you know other other contracts along the way but to me i you know i again i used to talk about this all the time and it's going to continue to pop up you know if they want to go back to contending do they jump back into the jacob chickren sweepstakes now that you know if they want to go back to contending do they jump back into the jacob chickren sweepstakes now that you know hampus lindholm is not there any longer you know that's a team that has a lot of picks in the next couple of drafts that's a team that has a lot of prospects that are on the horizon too there's a very young team but if they want to jump back into contending like i think anaheim has everything there. Like they have enough to say to John Gibson,

we're going to try to get back into this thing. Yes. And we, and we have the flexibility to do it. And also we have draft capital and we have prospects if we're going to go out and progressively pursue the trade market. So if they want to, they have the ability to do so.

Agreed. All right. Game one is done. Footcast is done. Walk back to hotel cast. It's going to be sit cast for you and drink cast for you. So we'll turn this podcast off. But not before we tell you that it's taken us out of Dance Rock Duo. They're actually siblings based out of Los Angeles, Ryan and Taylor, who make up the band Mating Ritual, have been making music together since 2016 when they released their four-track self-titled EP. Their synth rock sound is layered with electronic melodies heard during the 80s New Wave era. I loved that era of music. With Bungalow, here's Mating Ritual on 32 Thoughts, the footcast.

Life is a rhythm And you can play it the way you want Live by the river Or rent a P.O.S. by the beachfront If you want to You can make do Some mini mansion in Beverly Hills If you're into

What I'm into Then come on Nice, Jack. Nice. Life in the bundle Can make you feel invincible Nice, Jack. Nice. Nice. I'd like to show you around.