32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Sam the Florida Man

Episode Date: May 14, 2021

Sam Bennett has 15 points in 10 games with the Florida Panthers. He joins Jeff and Elliotte on the podcast (37:00) to talk about the trade that sent him to Florida, when he felt like his role was diminishing with the Flames, why he’s playing so well with the Panthers, the worldly skills of Alexander […]

Sam, thanks very much for doing this. I hope it wasn't too painful. Other than the little delay at the beginning, it was all good. Okay, Elliot, as we record this podcast, it is 10.33 a.m. Eastern on Thursday morning. New York Rangers, David Quinn, his staff outside of Benoit Allaire, who stays. What has Chris Drury done this week?

What is Chris Drury going to do the remainder of this offseason for the Rangers? Well, I think what Chris Drury is going to do is they're doing their research on candidates, right? They have made it clear that they are looking for someone with experience. And, you know, some of these guys, they know, if you look at the list of potential options out there, there are some people there that, you know, you can look up and down and say, okay, the Rangers know this guy, they know that guy, they know this guy, they don't know that particular guy. And one of the people people i don't think they know very well that they're doing a lot of uh research on is gallant and i do think that um they are potentially

interested in gallant but they're doing their research on them you know they know Hartley Chris Drury certainly does he was his first NHL head coach yeah they know Tortorella I don't think he's the favorite one of the reasons I think Tortorella's name kind of got out there is because and we mentioned it on our podcast is because the word is that James Dolan really likes Tortorella but I think Drury is going to have a big say in this particular hire. Obviously, you know, they know about Babcock. They know about why Galant was not a guy that they didn't know as much about.

And they're asking a lot of questions about him. And I do think he's a legit contender. The thing about here that I kind of wonder about, we all think Brindamore is going back to Carolina, but in the off chance it doesn't happen, I think the Rangers would be very interested. You know, they can't say anything because it's tampering. I'm not getting any help from them on that, but I do think that that is a guy that they would love to have if the opportunity came available. Right. they would love to have if the opportunity came available.

Right. Like, didn't we have this conversation already, perhaps more revolving around general managers than coaches, but that certainly does apply here as well. How much does the New York Rangers situation right now with an owner who wants this to be moved along quicker sort of mirror what we saw not too long ago with the Philadelphia Flyers under Ron Hextall, that things weren't moving fast enough. Do you see more similarities or differences between these two scenarios? I think there's a real fairness to that. I do think that's happening again in Philadelphia this off season. You've got to sell tickets for next year, right? And the

Flyers had a disappointing season and it's going to affect your got to sell tickets for next year, right? Yeah. And the Flyers had a disappointing season. It's going to affect your ability to sell tickets for next year. So I absolutely think that these kinds of things are a factor. For sure they are. So you just wonder too, how much speeding things up ultimately ends up biting you in the butt. You know, whether it's, you know, short-term or long-term. I know that there's not one perfect formula. I know there's not one perfect model. I know there's not one perfect way to do it. A lot of it involves luck and having the right people in the right places, being in the right division, being in

the right environment. I don't know where you're at, Frej, but I always get weirded out when I hear ownership say, this isn't happening fast enough. Let's move this forward instead of just letting things play themselves out. How do you feel about that? Generally, I think the more patient approach is the right one. I think the less reactionary you are.

Look, we just had Kirk Muller on the podcast, right? And what did he talk about? He talked about Montreal. You have to be able to ride the waves, right? And I believe that. You're going to have days where you're I believe that you're going to have days where you're the best. You're going to have days where you're the worst. And the key is not getting too caught up in that and building the momentum and believing in your process.

Trust the process as the Philadelphia 76ers once told us. However, I do think that maybe I'm just wrong about this, but you can tell me if you think I'm wrong about this. But I think in general, most people are more risk averse now because, and we've talked about this a lot, I think social media has changed how criticism reaches us and how effective criticism can be. It used to be when we were kids, it was a letter to the editor or maybe an email to your boss, but nobody else saw

it like maybe you knew it was there and literally editor for a day or something like that now it's out there it's constant everyone can see it and i think it's creating in general a more risk averse society and you know i could be totally wrong this is me talking anecdotally i don't have data to back this up but i see people more and more afraid to make decisions than in general in all walks of life and more afraid to put themselves out there than ever i don't disagree with that point at all but what i do feel is right now there is a clash happening between exactly what you're talking about, which is people being less risk averse right now than ever before. And that is clashing with the idea of how technology, we're going off on a weird

branch here, how technology has raised our expectations about how quickly things can get changed. Like we grew up, we're in an era right now where tech solves a lot of things and solves things quickly. So right now it seems as if there is a collision between I don't want to take a lot of risks, but we have an expectation that things can change quickly because we're so conditioned by our technology

that that's what happens in our day-to-day world. So it's a weird spot that we're existing in right now. One of hesitation and one of sprint going on at the exact same time. I think that's very fair. That just leads to anxiety and wringing your hands about everything. But I kind of feel like that's where we're at. And maybe we're seeing this played out in all different areas of our life, most namely sports right now. Yeah, I think that's very good. Like, I don't have a problem with you. I think the other thing you have to think about, Jeff, and I remember early in my career, someone told me this, and it's a good way to look at things.

They said to me, when you report about, say, hockey, what's your skin in the game? And I go, okay, well, I love hockey or basketball or whatever sport it is. I mean, I want to do well at it because the better I do at reporting about it, the better my career will be. And he goes, that's fair. That's very fair. That is skin in the game because your career depends on it. Think about it like for people who own the team's perspective, the people who actually have money in it, the success or failure of that team affects their bottom line. And think about it from their point of view. Sometimes you don't have to think about it from their point of view all the

time, but that is extremely relevant. Now, imagine you're somebody who owns an NHL team and you're trying to sell tickets as we come out of the pandemic. And I think you have to consider that or you have to run your budget as you come out of the pandemic. Like one of the things we've talked about before, Jeff, is that we think after this this year the players are going to owe the owners about one billion dollars okay so that and you know I understand everybody feels certain ways about that that's fine I'm just saying that that is a fact of the matter so I remember that lesson

I was told earlier in my career so when I hear that there's pressure for teams to do better, I think about that's coming from the people who have the financial skin in the game. And I understand that coming out of this, like I actually think the Philadelphia Flyers are talking a good game. Like Chuck Fletcher and Alain Vigneault, whether you agree with it or not, or whether you believe it or not, I think it's the right play in the sense that they're saying this year was really screwed up. Some people couldn't train properly and some people couldn't handle the lack of normalcy. And I think everybody in the world understands that over the past year. And I think that one of the things you have to be most concerned about is how do you judge people who struggled this year?

Like one of the guys I look at is Seth Jones. He had a really tough season. I think he's better than he played this season. And I've been told he really struggled with just the overall way that this year went in terms of, you know, you couldn't be normal off the ice. Not to say he's a party animal or anything like that, but you can't do the things that you normally do.

And I think that's a really good point. But, you know, I also think part of Philly is they want to do the right things. They want to process this year the right way. They believe Carter Hart's going to come back. They think this year is unusual, but there's also the pressure of you got to sell tickets because the people have skin in the game. Look at it.

Like we're going to bring people back into the building. We lost a ton of money. We got to start making some of that back and people will say, Oh, it's Comcast. It's a rounding area.

Forget that. That's not the way these people think you have to think about it like they do. And Jeff, some of that back and people will say oh it's comcast it's a rounding area forget that that's not the way these people think you have to think about it like they do and jeff i think that's all over the map this year i really do and you know what i also think that fans are becoming less tolerant than ever where once upon a time what was the old saying we used to parrot it back all the time and it was it was true in sports you can sell one of two things. You can sell wins or you can sell hope. Hope right now is a really hard thing to sell. And there is, in sports, perhaps, there's a lot of emotions that go into it. But I've always felt the most dangerous emotion for a fan to have is hope.

emotion for a fan to have is hope because that is in a lot of ways the quickest way to surrender your money without reciprocity and i think fans now more so than ever and maybe this goes back to the original point about technology fueling an idea that things can change fast but i think right now there is less tolerance for hope in the sports world right now. So that could speak to what's happening with the Rangers right now. There's an understanding that the marketplace can't be sold hope right now, especially now with everyone in tight budgets. Like in New York's case, I think that's the owner. I think Glenn Sather played a role, but I think it's also the owner looking at it and saying, this is too

slow for me i don't know if i would say that's the market or the rangers fans i don't follow every ranger fan i don't profess to have my total pulse on the whole thing but the general reaction i got was that i think they were shocked and they seemed kind of happy with where things were going. Maybe not 100% happy, but I think they were happy. Generally, they believed they were going in the right direction. I don't think you can say that one's fan related. I think that one is ownership related. It's very clear that some of those losses to the Islanders really soured.

Yeah, that's fair. James Dolan on what was going on there. Okay, yeah, there's lots there still with the New York Rangers. We'll see how this one develops in the days, weeks, and months to come. Also, a little bit later on, you will hear from Sam Bennett of the Florida Panthers on this very podcast. So welcome to it. 31 Thoughts to Podcast, presented by the GMC Sierra 1840. Nick, what is your mindset now after this year?

How do you feel about it? And have things changed in your mind? Do you still want to be part of the solution? Would you like to move on elsewhere? How do you feel about it? Yeah, I mean, I think that's a pretty loaded question. I think there's a lot to it. I think, you know, for sure, I would say I've been a bit upset about the way that things have been handled since I've been hurt. I'd be lying to say that things have moved

smoothly since my injury. So yeah, I think that there's been a bit of a disconnect, I think, from the organization a bit and myself. And, you know, it's been tough at times. But, you know, right now, for me, I think the most important thing is just trying to get healthy and figure out a way to be available to play hockey next year, you know, wherever now for me, I think the most important thing is just trying to get healthy and figure out a way to be available to play hockey next year, you know, wherever that might be. I mean, I think there's a lot to that question. I think in the situation that I'm in right now, you know, my main and number one focus has been to try and figure out a way to one, be cleared to play and two, just try and get myself in as good of condition to be ready to have a good year next year oh boy um welcome to the podcast thanks for joining us today jack eichel elliot

friedman all season long it seemed as if all you had to do for this podcast, other hockey podcasts, hockey radio shows, television, is just say the name Jack Eichel and you would elicit a response instantly. Where is Jack Eichel at? I'm trying to get you to get inside his head here. And also the Buffalo Sabres minds as well, starting with general manager Kevin Adams and right up to the owner Terry and Kim Pagula. What's happening with Jack Eichel and the Buffalo Sabres minds as well, starting with general manager Kevin Adams and right up to the owner Terry and Kim Pagula.

What's happening with Jack Eichel and the Buffalo Sabres as best you can glean? Well, Kevin Adams confirmed a lot of what had kind of been reported. So basically Eichel has a herniated disc and there was a period of time and Kevin Weeks clarified it. It was 12 weeks. And just so everyone knows, that period ends May 30th. And they had decided that they wanted Eichel to rest for 12 weeks just to see how the rest would have an effect on his neck and could they avoid surgery. And everybody agreed to that.

Now, we're two and a half weeks away from that. And apparently, Eichel still believes he needs surgery. And what he's looking at is something called cervical disc replacement. And I believe he's got a good medical team behind him. I can't imagine a guy with $50 million left on his contract wouldn't have the best of the best looking at him. I heard some names. I wasn't able to confirm them, so I'm not going to mention them, but if they're the people I heard, these are really legitimate, highly respected medical people. The issue is cervical disc replacement. It's been in Europe a lot longer than it's been in North America, but there just isn't a large history of elite level athletes competing after having it done. Right. Wesley, for example, reached out on Twitter and said he had a C6, C7 procedure done in his vertebrae,

and he still played for almost a decade more. And I sent him a note and he said, no, no, no, it was a spinal fusion. It wasn't what Eichel was talking about here. And it was nice to chat with Glenn Wesley and hear his family is doing really well, but it's not the same thing. Now, this has started to gain a bit more approval in north america and that's why the sabers don't support it they're like this hasn't happened in the nhl before and we don't want to be the first with a 50 million dollar player and to be honest i don't know if that means they would approve like i don't want anyone to say oh the sabers would approve a 1 million dollar player like i don't know if that means they would approve. I don't want anyone to say, oh, the Sabres would approve a $1 million player.

I don't know. I'm just saying they're not eager to be the test case for this. And there's an MMA fighter, Chris Weidman. Do you know who this is? Oh, I certainly do. Yeah. He suffered a bad injury last month. Against Uriah Hall a couple weeks ago.

It's a bad one. But it was not related to that. It was a leg injury. Yes. Against Uriah Hall a couple weeks ago. It's a bad one. But it was not related to that. It was a leg injury. So he had this surgery over a year ago, and he fought three times since the surgery, and he does a testimonial video where he really stands by it. Once I finally got the surgery and I woke up, that pain was immediately gone.

Right away, I felt so much better, and I was so happy I got the surgery. I had some strength that I lost in that two-month period, some atrophy and that started coming back pretty quickly and here I am getting ready for a fight coming up and I feel great so it worked. I've had 23 surgeries, well this was the 23rd and so I'm no stranger to surgeries and usually they don't scare me but getting a neck surgery kind of scared the crap out of me. But it ended up becoming, it was the easiest surgery I've ever had.

And about two weeks after the surgery I felt almost 100% and really other than like a day or two of like having trouble swallowing, no pain. Strength was coming back. Really just a simple recovery my advice to anybody who's going to decide to get a neck surgery is to first make sure you find a doctor that is capable of doing the artificial disc replacement it's a very simple surgery i'm not saying for the surgeon but for the patient it wasn't there's there was no pain and it was super successful for me there's another uh fighter who had it last month and he's doing cardio again now and he's told espn that his doctors say he'll be healthy in three months so more and more people are starting to do this but there just isn't the level and you know the good thing about writing this is i'm starting to get more people coming to me and i'm going to do some follow-ups on it but eichel's team believes in it and the reason that eichel is frustrated

is that let's just say three months is the recovery we're at may 30th he's going to want i'm putting kind of words in his mouth here but i'm saying he probably wants to do it june 1st right he's just like at a point where he's like say oh okay if this is when it ends i want to go may has 31 days i want to go may 31st and get the surgery done so i can be ready for training camp and i did ask kevin adams are you guys prepared to change your minds on this yesterday and he just didn't want to go there so it's a tough one because the way the CBA looks like, Jeff, it looks like the Sabres have the hammer here. It looks like that. So I don't know where this is going to end,

but that's where we are. What does all of this mean for a potential deal as we're already at that point of the conversation with Jack Eichel? I think Reinhardt's getting traded. I think it's very possible Aristolining gets traded. The guys who did buffalo a a real favor dylan cousins did them a big favor by you know coming right out and saying i want to be here yeah you know who i was really impressed with on their zoom

call was don granato i don't know if he's going to end up being the head coach here you know obviously kevin adams said they're going to open up the process but if you listen to him talk i was unbelievably impressed for example like all the media is talking about how upset like those guys looked the three guys i mentioned and don granato says these guys love to play the game of hockey when they walk in this locker, I can assure you they are dramatically different than anything you see elsewhere. They feel they are in control of, give me the puck. I want to skip. They're doing what they love to do. So dramatically different, dramatically different. As a coach, I can tell you, as a coach, I'm speaking, I have no concern. I've had hundreds and hundreds of players at the professional level that have

been through way more challenging and perceived difficult situations. These guys want to play hockey. I was sitting here. I said, one of life's challenges is turning a negative into a positive. You can't always do it and it's not always easy but i saw a coach there who was flipping the script i was unbelievably impressed with with granado's zoom call i i really liked it but the thing is like eichel's been there six years reinhardt's been there six years ristelainen's been there eight years these These guys just need a change. They need a change. And I think the Sabres know that. I think they're going to try to make them all work.

How many teams do you think could make a deal for Jack Eichel? LA can do it. Anaheim can do it. Colorado could do it, but I don't see it. Ottawa can do it, but I don't see it. Montreal can do it. Ottawa can do it, but I don't see it. Montreal can do it.

You know, somebody told me, and they don't know if it's possible. St. Louis wanted to move some of their young pros. And again, I don't know that they have any interest in it. But someone did say he could see a team like St. Louis being able to put a package that could do it. You know, someone said to me, Winnipeg could do it. He just doesn't see any chance that Winnipeg would want to do it. But number one on the list has to be the Rangers. Boston's going to want to try to do it.

Columbus is going to want to try to do it. The Rangers are the team that everyone's looking at. The biggest question is, will Buffalo do everything in their power not to do it with them? The other thing, too, is Chris Drury's agents when he played were Peter Fish and Peter Donatelli. Those are the guys who rep Eichel. So draw your line there. It's just that there's going to be a comfort level there, right?

Sure. But the thing is, the other thing, tier two, we don't know is how are other teams going to feel about this process this procedure that eichel wants to do you know kevin adams talked about uh going forward with quote people that want to be here and people that want to be part of the solution how different does buffalo look next season and and hearing you talk about granada was second ago, by the way, Elliot, all I can hear is Kevin Adams

in my head on that call saying people who want to be here. Yeah, yeah. Because clearly he does, obviously. How different does this team look next season? Oh, I think it's going to look different. Is anybody going to be surprised

if Eichel and Reinhardt are not back? And I have to say that Reinhardt gained a lot of fans this year. He's finished with 25 goals, 10th in the league. Moved to the middle. Moved to the middle at a time where it didn't go very well. One of the things that really stood out to me, a late season conversation I had,

just because the whole night was so memorable, was Michael Hauser's parents. And one of the things that his father and his mother and one of his brothers, Alex, they all watched the game together. One of the things that they talked about was when that game was 2-0 Islanders and we all thought it was going to end like 52-1,

how the Sabres played in front of Hauser. Right. Like they took that game over from the Islanders, that first win. That was not a fluke victory. That was a win that the Sabres earned. And to hear the pride of the family and A, their son's win,

and B, how thankful they were that the team rallied around their son. You know, like that matters to me in a lousy year. And Reinhardt was a part of that. And Ristolano was a part of that. And some of. And Reinhardt was a part of that. And Ristolainen was a part of that. And some of their younger guys that will stay will be a part, were a part of that. I know Ristolainen takes a beating online. Yeah.

The guy cares a lot though. Like to me, that's always the bottom line. Do you care? Are you competitive? Yes and yes. I can work with that. Cheer for people. How many times have we said it here on this

podcast all right jeff hold on before we uh before we go on with the rest of the podcast two things yes number one when i was figuring out that may had 31 days within it i was counting my knuckles like you know that old game january february march so i got to the third knuckle and i realized yes may has 31 days and i want everyone to know that. Second thing is, okay, we're going to do a quick game. Yeah. Quick game. Okay. No thinking allowed.

Oh, word association. Oh, I've been waiting for this for a long time. Okay, great. Here we go. It's kind of like that. Okay. Here's our quick game. Yeah.

Playoffs. Okay. Okay. Playoffs. Okay. Let me, let me rattle them down for you. Cause you're a degenerate gambler. No, no, no.

We're, I'm going to rattle them down for you. you're a degenerate gambler you know we're i'm gonna rattle them down for you i'm making you pick first okay yeah okay so carolina nashville carolina i'm with you florida tampa tampa so here's the thing on that really quickly i usually just cheer for the best story and i think the best story in this situation is florida winning to add a log to this feud i just can't go against tampa i want florida for the story kucherov and stamko's back yeah that's it like my yeah my heart says panthers my head says tampa okay i'm with you p Pittsburgh Islanders. Islanders. Really? Honestly, it took me a long time to come around to the Islanders, and this is the one year where it's finally going to sink me. Watch. It's just

that they play such a playoff style. It seems like they've been playing a playoff style since the beginning of the season. Okay, I'm going to go Pittsburgh. Washington-Boston. Boston. I bet Washington to win the cup before the season. I put money down

on it because I got some really long odds. I don't like the way they're going in. I don't. I don't like the way the season has ended for the Washington Capitals at all. Colorado, St. Louis. Colorado. I agree. I think that's going to be a tighter series than we realize

though. Vegas, Minnesota. I hope it goes seven because as we've talked about on this podcast before, these have been the best games of the season every time these two teams get together, but I can't go against Vegas. I'll take Knights. I'm with you. Canada. Toronto, Montreal.

Toronto. I'm with you. Edmonton, Winnipeg. This one I fight with. I really, really want to say Edmonton for the McDavid dry saddle factor. I'm going Oilers. I don't know, man. That is so, I know it's supposed to be, hey, just give me a name.

That's the one I fight with. Because I can talk myself into both of them really easily. I'm going Oilers. So just to be different, I'll go Winnipeg. I don't like it because I didn't pick any upsets. Anyway, I'm living with what I did. Okay, I want to do a couple of things here. Is it still the song remains the same?

We don't have to spend too much time on it because it's been talked about so much. Is it still song remains the same in Vancouver? I believe believe so i don't think we get clarity on this until the end of the season it's weird though there's a real lack of information flow and it's very hard in that market to have a lack of information flow because right and plus they're playing for a week like it's it's crazy but yeah i think we get it after the season. Is there anything happening with the Anaheim ducks? That's one of the things that I wonder about here at the end of the season. You know, I've asked about this, any announcements coming, any announcements coming, looked into it. I've heard nothing, not getting much.

getting much. I believe the plan for next year is young team around Getzlaff and Gibson and try to build it from there. We know what they've been asking for. I think they're in the Eichel and I think they will look to do something big in the off season if they can. The other thing they haven't done is they

haven't come out and definitively said there are no changes. Until you get that, you're still sitting there and going, okay, what's happening here exactly? Ottawa Senator season. We looked at this year and we said, okay, this is going to be a challenging one. This is going to be a lottery season, et cetera. And a lot of bad things happen with the Ottawa Senators, most specifically around their start, where we wondered about, you know, every position with the organization, what's happening with the coach is the GM on the hot seat. What's like,

what's the story with the Ottawa senators. And, you know, I'll tell you what, if you take away their start, they're kind of right there with, you know, not with, you know, the, the Maple Leafs and the Oilers, but they're in that mix of teams that by the end are probably scrapping for a playoff spot, which is probably better than most people had expected for the Ottawa Senators. How did you see their season? I thought it was a big success. You know, I got to tell you something.

You know what John Davis is, right? West Coast hockey? Of course, yes. Yeah, great guy. So John Davis said this year, if you would have bet $100 on every Ottawa game, you would have ended up up $1,300. He told me that this morning.

Wow. He said $100 in all 56, you would be up $670. If you started betting it in February, you would have been up $1,300. Wow. Yeah, I'm telling you, man, that start starched them. Well, it all became once they started getting saves, you could see the confidence of the team grow.

And I said, Wednesday night, when they won an overtime against Toronto, it was fitting that Josh Norris scored their last goal of the season. Yeah. Like we know what Shabbat could do. We had an inkling of what Kachuk could do, and we really saw the growth. I don't think anybody is surprised. I thought Bathurston took a huge step this year.

Like, that guy could be a 30-goal scorer. Hands down, and that's always been one of the areas of concern, like, the last few years, what's going to happen on the right side? Like, haven't there been a lot of talk this year about using one of those two picks on a right winger like gotta grab a right winger gotta grab a right winger that guy can play yep but to me the big breakthrough this year was norris you've got a first line center there well what you have is more than just the first line center you have a first line yes like kachuk norris and batherson is a real good line

and those guys are tight and those guys are young and brady kachuk and norris go back to the development program and you know batherson is fit in great on that right side i don't know man like already you've got one of your biggest hurdles taken care of like when you're building when you're rebuilding a franchise how difficult is it to put together an elite level first line it's probably one of the hardest things to do they've got it and we haven't even mentioned someone like tim Stutzla yet or really any of their other prospects. They're loaded and they're getting some of their business done. Like I think Zub is close to having an extension.

They're grinding away on Mete. There's optimism they're going to get it done. Kachok's comments, he's going to leave it to his agent, but he's seemed very confident they'll get it done. You know, Batherson's now an interesting one because as you said, he's a scorer. Yeah. And that's the thing that you get paid for in this league is goals and points, right?

Yep. So, you know, you've got to get your business done, but they're starting. Put it this way. If you're a Sander fan, you cannot wait until next year. Well, that's what I wanted to get to here. Before we do, I did want to mention, I was really happy to see Connor Brown

have the season that he did. Oh, yes. Like that's someone, you know, outside of the goal scoring streak, just the production, a 21 goal season, a 56 game campaign. Five shorthanded. You know, we always talk about cheering for players

and good on Connor Brown, man. That guy made the best of his situation. So if you're an Ottawa Senators fan, how much are you looking forward to going back to your old division next year? You look at them right now, you think you're better than Buffalo and Detroit. Yep. I bet you right now, if you're Ottawa, you think you're better than Montreal.

Probably, yes. I agree with that. That's the line that's going to fire this podcast into the sun this week, by the way. I know. That's going to be the headline out of the pod. But you're not wrong. If you're a Sens fan, that's legit how you believe. Yes. Totally.

Now, Florida, we both think this is a really good team, but so far it's a one-year thing. So you're curious to see is this where they're going is their staying power or is this a one-year thing nobody knows panthers fans hope that's another one that'll go into the sun there's some real hardcore panthers fans of this podcast and they're going to be angry at this disrespect but then you've got Tampa Bay and you've got Boston and you've got Toronto who Ottawa gave all sorts of trouble to this year yeah like those have been your big three the last three or four years right but if you're Ottawa again do you get the goaltending but you're thinking like next year we should be thinking we're going for the playoffs we should

be excited they got one more year of high draft picks yeah they're gonna have a high pick this year in their mind and then after that it's we're shooting for playoffs but at least you want to be playing meaningful games in march and april next year uh before we get to our guest uh sam bennett of the florida panthers speaking of the panthers, I did a Reddit AMA earlier this week. And one of my questions, and I didn't really know how to answer it, so I did, and I sort of danced around it and talked about something else, was about you, Elliot. Oh, God. And it was a question about working with you doing television. And someone said, does Elliot have any rituals or things that he does

before every show and i said outside of not being on time i don't know of any so i'll ask you on behalf of our friends at reddit hockey do you have any game day rituals yourself i have one i'm not going to share is that is that is that where you kiss me on the cheek before we go to set that one no i would share that one i'm not embarrassed of that all right okay i'm not embarrassed of that at all there is a five minute meditation involved about half hour before the show i do a five minute where i just think and that is one thing i do this is the most ridiculous thing but there is a certain way i get dressed i have a process to changing from by the way that white

suit jacket that deb got us on wednesday night that thing was beautiful that was gorgeous but there is a certain way i get dressed there's a five minute meditation and there is one thing that i uh that i won't share. Okay, so there you go. From Reddit hockey user from earlier on this week, those are Elliott's rituals. Hang on, Jeff, just before we go to commercial, we have Sam Bennett coming up, joining us from the Florida Panthers.

Thank you to Adlin from Florida for setting this up for us. But I was thinking about the interview after we recorded it, and first of all, he's a good interview. He's blunt. He tells you what's on his mind. And as a reporter, you really appreciate that. The second thing I was thinking after it was over was Calgary had to make the deal. They had to get the best possible deal they could get for himself

because this is someone who, as we reported, and as you could tell from the interview, he was ready for a change. is someone who as we reported and as you could tell from the interview he was ready for a change and the flames deal was a second rounder and a pick who was a second rounder a couple years ago it's a good return for bennett and if you're the flames and they felt they had to make the trade i'm replaying this interview with bennett in my head right now as we're talking about this playing this interview with Bennett in my head right now as we're talking about this. He was ready to go, and you had no choice but to make the best deal you could. We step away on the other side.

Florida Panthers forward Sam Bennett. We'll be right back. Please be joined now by Sam Bennett of the Florida Panthers. And listen, Sam, thanks so much for stopping by. We're going to do a lot here on you, your story, etc. One thing I want to get out of the way early is you've been part of the Battle of Alberta. And now for the first time in the playoffs, we're going to see the Battle of Florida. And we've already seen these two teams go at it a couple of different times where it's been pretty nasty. Is there any way you can compare the two sets of events, the Battle of Alberta and the Battle of Florida,

from your point of view? Yeah, honestly, I didn't think that I would find a rivalry as big as the Battle of Alberta, but the Battle of Florida definitely is just as intense. Already, we can just feel the hatred between the teams and how intense the games were at the end of the year. I think they're just going to be even more intense in the playoffs. I'm definitely looking forward to that. Okay, let me ask an Elliott question then before Elliott jumps on it. Who do you already hate the most over there?

That was my exact question. I figure it had to be Yanni Gord. It's got to be Yanni Gord, right? I don't think that there's one guy yet. There's a couple of guys that are a little annoying out there, but I can't put my finger on one guy just yet. I just wanted to ask you about just switching teams. I know we'll get into a little bit more specific in Calgary in a couple of minutes,

but this is a year where a lot of things are different. It's a challenge to get traded in a normal season, but you went from one side of North America to another. You went from one way of living in North America right now to another. Canada and Florida are very different. What was it like this year to adjust and be traded that far in this time? It was weird. I mean, that was my first time getting traded, so I think anytime you get traded, it's going to be a little weird at first, especially this year

with, you know, you go from all the lockdowns in Canada to Florida being, you know, pretty much wide open. So, yeah, it's been crazy different. I've been loving every second of Florida. I mean, I go down to the beach and lay by the beach any

chance i get so don't really get that option in calgary so it's uh it's definitely been uh a really nice change and i've been enjoying every minute of it i have to say jeff until this interview i didn't know calgary wasn't known for its beaches nice mountains though nice mountain Nice mountains, though. Nice mountains. I'm glad I could tell you all that. Let me follow that up with this one then, Sam. What did you think Florida and the Panthers were like before you got there? And what are the Panthers and Florida like now that you are there? Yeah, well, I mean, this year especially, I didn't... honestly, the only hockey that I was watching was hockey in the North Division. We didn't really pay attention to any of the other teams,

so I honestly didn't know a lot about the Panthers. I had to, right when I got traded, I had to ask someone what place they were in. So, I mean, I didn't know that much, and obviously I knew they were a good team and they had some great players, but, um, I really didn't know that much. And, you know, now I'm here, I've really enjoyed playing for, for coach Q and with all these, these guys, it's a really great group that we got here. There's a lot of fans this year.

There's a lot of debate about the divisions because nobody's playing against each other. So we only have like you, the reference of what we see the most. And I'm like you, I've watched the North more than everyone else. So all these fans are looking at some of the offensive totals in the North this year.

And their criticism is the North doesn't play defense. Knowing that whatever answer you give is going to start an internet flame war. Does, is defense played in the North? Yeah. I mean, it is for sure. I mean, if you look at my point totals in the North, they weren't anywhere near what they are, you know, here in this division. So yeah, I mean, I, I can't say that one division is harder

or there's more defense than one division. I think for the most part, it's all pretty similar in my opinion. You know, one of the things, Sam, that whenever we talk to someone who's played with the Florida Panthers or has just joined the Florida Panthers and only played there for a short amount of time, one of the things they always come back with is I had no idea how freaking good Alexander Barkoff was or Alexander Barkoff is from your point of view your thoughts on Alexander Barkoff I think he's arguably one of the best players if not the best player in the league just the way he plays the game and

does everything right I was surprised at how good he actually was because like he said you don't really notice it until you actually watch him every day and uh you know I've been playing uh second line center right after him so he usually plays before me and i just try to watch him and do the little things that he does and i think that's actually helped me a lot you know early on when i was uh getting used to the systems and everything here i'm curious about that is there a particular quote-unquote little thing that you noticed in particular that you picked up and it's something that you've gotten better at the one thing i noticed about him is he's incredibly strong and i don't think i've seen someone take the puck off him yet it's amazing how how strong he is on his stick and in the battles his little cut back and

i think really if i'm copying anything it's more in the d zone where he is where he's going in the d zone i think that's something that i take from him. You know, I remember talking once with Paul McFarlane, who was one of your coaches in Kingston and was an assistant coach with the Florida Panthers. And we were talking about Barkov and he said, you know, one of the great joys is watching him after practice, you know, working on his shootout moves and what he's going to do. He said he's got a million different things that he can do.

Have you been privy to that yet? Yeah, I have. We usually do shootouts at the end of practice, so I've gotten to witness a couple pretty cool shootout moves he does and some pretty creative ones. So he's very, very talented and very gifted. Sam, I wanted to ask you, you have 15 points in 10 games there. It's the best points per game of your career.

I don't want to lead you in any particular way, shape, or form. I want to leave it open to you. Why has it worked so well for you in the start in Florida? And why do you think it ended just so badly in Calgary? I mean, I think uh for the most part um you know I think it's been the opportunity I've gotten way more ice time than I've ever gotten in Calgary I got but on the the power play um I play penalty kill now I have a team that believes in me and you know I think the coaching staff believes

in me here and you know that's nice as a player to feel that and to have a team rely on you and I've just been fortunate enough to take advantage of it early obviously I know it's it's a short sample size and I got a lot more to prove still but you know know i think just that uh that belief in me is has really given me my confidence back and obviously i always knew that producing this league and be effective you know top six for it so to be able to actually go out there and do that it's uh you know it's it's been a lot of fun i'm surprised because i like just you're a high pick for them and i know remember when you first came in in the playoffs and you came on the scene so well.

And I always thought that they believed in you. Did you feel differently? I mean, I feel like they did early. And then as my time went on, I kind of got put in a different role than where I probably would have liked to have been. And I think that's just the way it goes over time. Younger guys and newer guys are going to come up and they're going to get the

opportunity early. And the guys that have been there for a while, you know, they might get pushed down and, and, uh, forgot of a little bit. And I think that might've happened to me a little bit.

Was there one game one moment one road trip where you finally just said to yourself i need i need a change of scenery here i'm i'm better than this i know i am but i'm not going to be that player here in calgary yeah i mean i think you know for a while i've always thought, I wonder if I was on another team, would I get a bigger role, a bigger opportunity? But, I mean, you don't really, as a player, you don't really have control over that for at least your first seven years. So even if I did want out or something, it wasn't really up to me.

So I really just tried to grind through and do everything I could to help the team and try and get a bigger role. But, you know, I think after I played pretty well in the playoffs last year and got a bigger role more ice time on the power play and then came back at the beginning of this year, you know, back to the last ice time, no special teams. You know, back to the last ice time, no special teams. I mean, I kind of, I guess, saw my role diminish again.

So that was a little frustrating for me at the beginning of the year this year. Do you keep in touch with any of your former Flames teammates? Yes, I do. Quite a few of them, actually. There's some great guys on that Calgary team that I'm sure I'll be friends with for a really long time. Sam, I want you to pick one of these sentences. Sentence number one, Sam Bennett is a center. Statement number two, Sam Bennett is a winger. Pick one.

That's pretty black and white. I would say Sam Bennett is a is a centerman it's interesting because the reason I bring that up I remember having a conversation uh with someone uh from a team at the draft uh when you went and I watched you a ton in Kingston and man you would go to the net so hard and I remember bringing this up with someone and I said you know man Bennett goes to the net so flipping hard like you wonder if injuries are going to be a factor with this guy because he's you went in there hard like every single game Sam and this guy stopped me and said you realize that there are 30 coaches in the NHL that wish they had that problem with all of their players, right? How have you, if at all,

changed your game since you got to the NHL? Honestly, with how I'm playing now, it's reminded me the most of how I played in junior. And, you know, that's how I feel. That's the confidence I feel. You know, I'm playing the same type of role. So, you know, I think in Calgary, you know, I was all over the place I was playing left wing center right wing you know I was different positions different roles almost every game so I think uh you know now as as I'm consistently

playing center and on the on the second line here know, I think I've gotten back to how I used to play, uh, back in junior. Have you talked to Ekblad much? Yeah. I see him. I see him all the time. He's always in the room getting treatment all the time. And, uh, have you reminded him how much better you were than him when you guys played in the OHL together?

No, uh, we haven't, we haven't talked about that. I think you would probably disagree with you there on that one, though. How's he doing? He's doing really well. Good. He's doing really well. I think his recovery's coming along really

well, so we're just hoping that it keeps progressing, and you never know. If we go deep, you never know. He may be able to make it back. First of all, I would love to see that. That would be fascinating to see that. Secondly, you've always had good playoff numbers. If you look at your totals,

they're 19 points in 30 games, including 11 goals. I remember once getting into an argument with a player who said, you shouldn't treat playoff games any different. You should approach every game as if it's meaningful. He would say you shouldn't cheat yourself in the regular season. And I'm not saying you did that, but obviously there's something about the playoffs that makes you get to another level. What is that?

How do you get there? How do you prepare yourself for that? I love big games. I love physical games, and I think it's easy to get up for those games. But I mean, also, my opportunity in the playoffs over those 30 games was a lot more than I was getting in the regular season so if that's like that's the only thing that I can really say why I don't know my numbers would be better in the playoffs but you know playoff hockey is a lot of fun it's intense and it's

physical and I think that when I'm engaged physically in games and you know being aggressive I think that's when I play my best so you know I have a theory that you know people say the officiating standards change in the playoffs and that's possible you would know better than me you play but I also think the players change during the playoffs like I think they're each team will get a few games during the regular season where the team just doesn't have it. And they say, okay, we don't have it tonight. Or the intensity is not always there tonight. The travel is tougher.

The back-to-backs and things like that. But the playoffs is a different animal. Nobody takes nights off. The players change. The schedule gets better. I think it's the whole league changes once the puck drops in the playoffs and everybody's focused and no one relaxes do you buy that theory yeah I would agree with that to some degree I definitely think that you can get away with a little bit more every play is magnified I think every mistake

is more important you know every shift is more important and I know, every shift is more important. And I think every player realized that once you get, you get into the game. So definitely I would feel that the game changed a little bit that way. I've always wondered too. And again, like Elliot mentions, you play, we don't. Are you aware when you've made another player or another team quit in the playoffs? How aware are you as a player? We're like, all right, this guy's done.

He's licking the envelope now. He's finished or this team's folding up here. Can you feel that on the ice? Yeah, I think you can. You can see it sometimes with certain players. If they were going back for pucks earlier in the series and then later in the series, they're not going back for pucks earlier in the series and then later in the series they're, you know, not going back first or they're looking around.

Definitely as players you notice those little things. So that's all part of it. And that's the goal is to try and get them to quit. I need this for the broadcast this weekend, but how many times did BX do that in your 2015 playoff series? I'm not sure. That was a long time ago. Was it more than once per game?

Because I'm taking the over. I'm not sure. I don't know. I don't want to throw him under the bus. Oh, you should, because he'd throw all of us under the bus. You should know that. But, but I respect your professionalism on this one. No, he'd be, yeah. Just so you know, Sam, he'd be firing us all under there. Um, I want to ask you about Joe Quenville and listen, I don't have to tell you you're playing for a

legend. Like you're playing for a Hall of Famer. For my money, maybe you can tell me different. No one has a better death stare than Joel Quenville. I've never seen anything like it. It frightens me just watching on my television. But even though you've only been there a short amount of time, what have you learned from Joel Quenville? I mean, he's been great.

He's very old school in his style he really does a good job of you know just letting the players play he gives us the systems and everything and gives us little pointers here and there but you know he he lets us play and he's given me a lot of freedom and i've i've honestly i've you know enjoyed playing for him as much as any coach I've ever had. It's been great. You sound like a guy who's going to tell his agent, make this work. Yeah, we'll see in the offseason.

For sure, I've enjoyed every second of Florida. I'll leave the contract talks out of it, but, uh, you know, I've enjoyed it here for sure. This Tampa series is, uh, has caught everyone's imagination. Good luck. Hey, have a great time. Enjoy yourself. This is going to be a fun one. Thanks, Sam. Talk to you later. That's Sam Bennett of the Florida Panthers. What a wonderful time, uh, we just had with him, wish him all the best. Uh, thanks to Sam for stopping by the podcast today. And thanks to Adeline Biedenbach of the Florida Panthers

for hooking that up. Thank you, Adeline. Taking us out. And by the way, enjoy the playoffs, right? Like we're back. We're still doing podcasts right through, but it's been a grind getting here. I know it has been for me.

I suspect it is for you too, to say nothing of how torturous this has been for our producer Amel all the way through dealing with me and Friege. But enjoy the playoffs. Like, this is it. Christmas morning is coming. This is it. So I put up with everything. All the 56 games, etc. for your

favorite team. This is the payoff. The playoffs. Enjoy it. Taking us out. Canadian duo just dropped a new single Ewan and Seamus Curry. They're of course from the platinum selling Canadian band The Sheepdogs. They make up the duo Bros.

They return with a new groove-filled track and a far-out stylized cop drama inspired animated video you should definitely check out. Here are Bros with their latest single Theme from Bros. 31 Thoughts to Pop. Thank you.