32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Secure The Bag

Episode Date: July 11, 2022

Buckle up! Jeff and Elliotte discuss the latest around the goalie market, some names to keep an eye on this week and a couple of interesting stories to follow.They guys touch on Matt Murray (00:30) and Jack Campbell (3:40), Adrian Kempe (9:00), J.T. Miller (11:35), Brent Burns (15:20), the Panthers (18:10) and the Blue Jackets (19:30), Evgeni Malkin (20:45), Claude Giroux (23:20), Johnny Gaudreau (24:00), Ondřej Palát (25:10), the Strome’s (25:30) and the Red Wings (26:50), Andrew Copp (28:20), a few things on the Avalanche (28:50), David Perron (31:20), Nick Deslauriers (32:00), Phil Kessel (32:45), John Klingberg (33:00), Josh Manson (33:50), Miles Wood (35:30), Shane Wright (36:30), potential rule changes (39:25), Andreas Athanasiou (40:50) and they give a quick thought on Montreal (44:30).Check out the limited edition 32 Thoughts merchandise line HEREMusic Outro: Offenbach - Seulement qu’une aventureListen to all their music including this track on SpotifyThis podcast was produced and mixed by Amil Delic, and hosted by Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman.Audio Credits: 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.

A song called My French teacher, Paul Kite, used to bring in Offenbach records for us to listen to. That's so cool. So we've looked back at the draft. Now let's look forward to Free Agency. Welcome once again to 32 Thoughts,

the podcast, Jeff Merrick, alongside Elliot Friedman and Amil Delic. We're going to do a little bit of, I don't know, how shall we phrase it? Rapid fire with some of the free agents. We're looking forward to talking about our Wednesday free, but in the meantime, let's open up by talking about goaltenders and specifically Matt Murray and specifically the Ottawa Senators and the Toronto Maple Leafs. What's the latest? So I got a note on Sunday that someone said said to me get working on this one and look like we know

what happened with matt murray last week he he vetoed a trade to buffalo and then ottawa continued its efforts you know it was believed that he was interested in toronto it was believed he was interested in edmonton i don't think there's It was believed he was interested in Edmonton. I don't think there's going to be a vacancy in Edmonton. We'll get to that in a minute. But I think he was very interested in Toronto. There's a lot of history, a lot of history with Matt Murray in Toronto. Kyle Dubas, Sheldon Keefe, but also John Elkin, who runs the goalie department for the Maple Leafs.

He has a long history with Murray. They've skated together in the summers. If there's anybody who knows Murray as well as anyone does, Elkin would be very, very high on that list. So I think they've been working on this for a few days and I heard it really heated up on Sunday and what I think is going on there is I don't think Murray is eligible to be bought out I don't think he was cleared to return yet now if you heard Pierre Dorian during draft week he said he was progressing really well and was expected to be on the ice soon.

But I still don't think that means he was cleared. And therefore, he wasn't eligible to be bought out. And I think once the Maple Leafs and the Senators got close on this trade, the Maple Leafs wanted to take a look at him. And I believe the Senators have allowed that to happen. So I think that's what we're waiting for here just to make sure there's no medical issue. So the cap hit on Matt Maria 6.25, the actual money this season is $7 million, Elliot, and then $8 million next season. Not that I think that the decimal point for the actual salary is much of a concern to the Tronomy beliefs, but the cap hit certainly is. Does the money here, you think, get massaged?

How does this one work? Because this is two years. It's a big chunk of change. Does Ottawa eat money? Does Ottawa attach something to this to sweeten the deal? Do you have any idea how this one breaks down? As we record this right now, just after eight o'clock on sunday night i'm not sure with the auto trade to buffalo the sanders were eating a quarter of the contract

from what i understand now buffalo was different though and they needed to reach the cap floor they needed a goalie and to get to the cap floor so that's one of the reasons they were doing it toronto doesn't have that problem. They need a goalie. I'm not sure about all the various questions that are going on here. And also there's another question here, and that is, is this being routed through a third team? We'll figure this all out. Okay. And so as we're talking about the Maple Leafs, then the question becomes what's happening with Jack Campbell.

And it seems as if there are two chances he goes back to Toronto slim and none and it sounds like slim may have left town and all eyes are on the Edmonton Oilers everything I'm hearing is that they're the favorite for his services of course nothing illegal happens with Campbell or any other free agent in the National Hockey League. But I think we'd all be surprised if he wasn't an oiler. And I think a lot of the predictions are that Darcy Kemper is favored to end up in Washington. We'll see where this all goes. But I do think the Maple Leafs have taken a look at the market and seen that they like Murray as based on what's available.

Now, I had long conversations today with a couple people, some of whom who know Murray, some don't, and I got a general consensus. There are a lot of people who think Matt Murray still has the ability. are a lot of people who think matt murray still has the ability they think that he has addressed some structural flaws that he has had in his game in terms of moving side to side that think make him a better goaltender now the biggest question they have about murray is can he stay healthy and they think that is toronto's biggest gamble here is not his ability but his health and he just can't stay healthy that's the gamble they think toronto was taking the health the thing about matt murray too last season there were long stretches where he really just to be blunt didn't look good and that's being kind and then there were long stretches where he really, just to be blunt, didn't look good. And that's being kind. And then

there were long stretches where he really did, Elliot. Like this is a trying to grab a handful of water thing for me based on just last season. I think I'm like a lot of people. I think, you know, A, you want the player to be healthy. B, you want to see all the structural issues get worked out and you want to see him successful. But based on what we've seen recently and as recently as last season, I still don't know who Matt Murray is. I think the other thing there too is that the

relationship between Murray and Ottawa really fell apart last year. And I think Toronto was banking on his pride. One quick note on Campbell and Edmonton. This lines up for a number of reasons and whenever and i always laugh when an athlete says oh it's not about the money it's about the respect and i judge respect by money um but you know the money is there for jack campbell right something in the neighborhood of as you mentioned five times five so that makes sense

there i have had people telling me that they think there's a five times five out there for camp yeah we've heard similar there's a zach hyman situation former teammate that could be a magnet that could be a lure and the other thing too is man edmonton's really close for each and as much as it might say how can you walk away from the toronto maple edmonton's close edmonton's right there like a lot of this does line up almost perfectly here for Jack Campbell doesn't it there is a story to be done here on Jack Campbell in Toronto and we've talked about it a little bit and that is that earlier this season there was an offer which I had heard was in the three years at 2.75 million range and I believe it was at a time where the Leafs were not yet comfortable to throw all of the money at Campbell. I think it was early in the year, if not before

the year started. I mentioned on a podcast, I think it was last week that from what I heard, the third year of that deal was very low, like under a million dollars. And as a result, deal was very low, like under a million dollars. And as a result, what I think happened was Campbell and his camp countered with the opposite end of the spectrum. It was low from Toronto and really high from Campbell in return. And I don't know that it ever got back on track. Like, I'm not sure. I don't know for certain, Jeffff but i'm not sure they ever had

another offer between the two of them i think talks just fell apart and they never came back and maybe someday we'll find out why both sides feel that happened but i just think that things got off the rails quickly this year in the negotiation room between these two sides, and I don't think they ever put it back together. Okay. We're going to get to some of the free agents or pending free agents. Oh, the other thing too I wanted to mention about Murray before we do that is his numbers,

and we know Toronto does look very hard at numbers. There are some numbers on him this year that were good. So I did want to mention that too. I think that's why Toronto's making this gamble. Their analytics would probably rate Murray a bit higher than others would. But again, like I said, the biggest gamble on Murray is the health. I want to say it again too. There were times this guy looked excellent

for the Ottawa Senators. And what I'm wondering about Toronto too is, are they looking for another goalie too? Like, is it Matt Murray and then Eric Sheldon's our backup? Or is it Matt Murray and we're going to get somebody else as well? Okay, before we get talking about

a couple of pending free agents here, I want to get your thoughts on a couple of things. One, I just want to mention Adrian Kempe because he's one of my favorite players for one very specific reason, Elliot. I always have had a soft spot in my heart for hockey players that when they join the NHL and start their career, it's immediate volatility and it's almost immediate chaos and they stick through it and they come with the other end, a better player.

I don't know if I don't even want to say that because of it, maybe in spite of it. But Adrian Kempe signs re-ups with the Los Angeles Kings, four years, $22 million. AAV is $5.5 million. Adrian Kempe's played in the NHL for each for six seasons. He's had four coaches. Daryl Sutter, John Stevens, Willie Desjardins, and now Todd McClellan. Yes.

I'm always curious to find out or see how players react when every season they're getting a new coach. Like a lot of the Oilers players are looking at this and like from, you know, that previous era of Oilers players saying like, yeah, that's what what we live through too I always find it intriguing to see what happens to players who go on this carousel of coaches to start their season free I just want to make sure that that was out there and it's one of the reasons well outside of he's a really skilled

hockey player is one of the fastest players in the NHL I just like Adrian Kempe what say you about him or this deal or anything for that matter? You know what? I think it's a really good deal. Look, the guy had a great year last year. I don't think anyone has ever doubted his talent. Go back to game five,

right? As the Los Angeles Kings take a three, two series lead, who's the one that just burns wide and scores a gorgeous goal to send this thing to game six and a potential closeout for the Los Angeles Kings? It's Adrian Kempe. I'm always happy to see people secure the bag and he did it. Oh, and I should mention too that there were some rumblings that maybe the Kings would move quick, but I asked Rob Blake at the GM meetings and he said, no, he likes the tandem.

And as he reminded me this year, they can handle that cap number and goal. So he threw cold water on that. Mikey Anderson, Sean Dursey, RFA is about to get a little bit of bump and pay as well. They had real nice seasons. They've got room. I think they're going to solve all this.

I had someone who said to me on the draft floor, he said, Kings are winning the Pacific next year. Book it. Ooh. All right. Remember that one from this podcast. But if it's bad, just remember that Jeff said

it, not me. Right. I got the bad takes here. That's my, uh, it's my responsibility on the podcast. Um, the JT Miller, uh, situation going back to Thursday. What is the latest you can share with us?

I think that the one thing that, uh, I said Friday and Friday's podcast, by the way, I really missed you in the first half of Friday's podcast. And so did the audience. I'm sure. I'm sure everybody was heartbroken. I said. By the way, it was, it was so bizarre not being

able to have contact with anybody. Yeah. It was, it was bizarre for a lot of reasons. Yeah. No question about it. It was a wild, wild day, especially since you were, like you were driving around, right? Weren't you going to the baseball tournament?

Baseball and well, I got out, I got out early and then, well, both kids had baseball tournaments. So yeah, it was, it was busy. Anyway, with Miller, I mentioned in that show that I did by myself. Sorry, I have, I have tears going down my face as I mentioned that.

You didn't have your Jeffy security blanket around you. My security blanket wasn't there. At that point in time, I don't think Vancouver had given anybody permission to speak to Miller. And so that was Friday night. And I got a call today and someone said, don't hold. It was true at the time, but there are some indications that that may change. Now, I don't know the timing. I don't know if it's happened yet.

I don't know if it will happen. Like I don't know the timing, but someone said to me today, don't be so hard and fast anymore that Vancouver won't give permission. It was true at the time, but they think there's a point here and they just wouldn't tell me when that could change a little bit. So we'll see where this develops over the next week.

One of the things that I think it's important to do on this podcast is sort of point out reasons, things that might be obvious to longtime hockey fans about, say, for example, Elliot's talking about how you know um vancouver canucks won't let a team like the islanders talk to jt miller

about an extension before coming up you know arriving at a deal there's a number of reasons for that but the one that i've always uh held close to is it puts too much power in the player's hands and if the player doesn't want to go there, why would you allow him to talk to that team, give a ridiculous number, and therefore kibosh the trade? That is, agree, disagree, the most obvious reason why in some situations you don't let the player talk to the other team.

You don't want to, essentially what you're saying is I don't want to surrender any power in any, in a, in any type of trade. That is true. I think there's definite truth to that. I was having some conversations about people about this over the weekend. I think there was, nobody would confirm it to me.

So I'm not going to say the player, but I think there was one recent case where a team was getting close on a trade and they were given permission, at least to speak to the player and they were only given permission for a certain amount of time like the the team said i will let the other team and the talk to the agent for 24 hours and you have a time window to see if you can get a deal done and sometimes simply the team that's acquiring you, they don't need to get a deal done, but they'll say to you, if we acquire this player,

what are we looking at? And maybe they'll give you a range. And that's kind of what happens, but you're right, Jeff, there are teams that will look at it and say, no, we don't want you to do that. Like I said, I'd heard on Friday by that time, the Canucks hadn't let anyone talk to Miller. I don't know as we taped this on Sunday that they've let anyone talk to Miller, but I have been told that don't be so strong on it because it may change.

Okay. Let's get to some players and some teams and let's start with Brent Burns of the San Jose Sharks. A while ago, actually, I'd kind of forgotten about it. Not a pending UFA, by the way, I should point out. We're not there yet. No, he's still got term that San Jose was thinking about. Does it really make sense for them to bring back both Eric Carlson and Brent Burns? And Carlson has complete control over his situation.

Burns has a small list of teams he can be traded to. I think they checked the market on Carlson. I just don't think there was a lot there because of his contract. Burns has a lot less term remaining. And I've heard there's been quite a bit of interest. Someone told me today that he's a name that we've kind of forgotten that you should put back on the radar because he thinks several teams have called San Jose and said, you know, what are we talking about here?

Now, Burns, like I said, has control and I don't know how many places he wants to go to, but don't forget he has a permanent residence in Texas. Now, I don't think that would be an easy deal to do, would be Dallas and San Jose. It would take work, but I did have someone say to me that if the Stars could make it work, he could see a situation where Burns could end up there. That is a fascinating one.

And I still think Brent Burns has a lot to give. And that doesn't just include the true itemization of what's in his knapsack. I still think on the ice, he has a lot to give. I just thought it was a blender, isn't it? Hasn't that secret been revealed? I've heard some stories about what's really in there oh okay uh what happens if we have a look inside your knapsack or inside your briefcase fridge what do we find uh you would find a book spy the lie is the book i'm reading again right now i've read it before i'm reading it again about how to spy liars because i work

with several of them very nice and uh you know you have my laptop and all my pens and gum, assorted other funny stuff. What would be in yours? Oh, mine's boring like yours, man. I'd have a book. Like right now I'm reading Dave Grossman's On Killing. I'd have all my notes. I'd have my laptop.

I'd have my Mac 30, just in case a camera shows up and I need a little powder. Hair gel, IFB. You probably don't just have a thing of hair gel. You probably have like a bathtub of hair gel in there. No, I just got the one. I just have the one.

And I forgot it in Montreal as everyone made fun of my Lyle Lovett style hair at the restaurant. I thought it looked really good. I thought it looked good too, man, Joel. You and Eraserhead, twin brothers. I thought I was looking good, man. And then Joel too. A man, Joel, you and a racer head twin brothers. I thought I was looking good, man. And then Joel made me like goo it all up. Oh,

well, um, Florida Panthers. What's the latest with the cats? I just think there's a lot going on there. I think Florida is going to extend Huberto at some point. I think that's going to get done. I think they'd like to extend weaker too.

I think the bigger question is, can they do it? I had a couple of teams tell me Florida's got a lot swirling around. They're in a lot of things. I think Ottawa has interest in Uyghur. Ottawa got their score in Debrinket, but they are still looking at a defenseman. As I mentioned on the podcast on Friday, I think they took a look at D'Angelo. Uyghur makes a lot of sense because he's an Ottawa area guy, but I think in a perfect world, Florida would like to keep him.

So I think Florida's got a lot of balls in the air. And as one team said to me, he said, this is the dumbest thing you'll say on your podcast, which he actually said is quite a feat because he said a lot of dumb things there. He said they could do something, they could do nothing, but he thinks Florida's got a lot going on. and he also

said that florida has not given up hope on keeping jeru either i don't know if that's going to happen but he thinks the panthers could be a really interesting team this week because i know a lot of teams believe they're going to get huberto done and they think they'd like to get weger done they just don't know if they can do it without moving some other things around. And I think there are some teams looking at, at Weger cause he's good, but I don't think the Panthers preference is to find a way to make it work. I mean, we'll see.

You know, Thursday night, um, there were a lot of big names in the air and Alexander Romanov turned out to be one of them. Now with the New York Islanders, how many other teams, Frege, do you think we're in as the Habs look to make room on the back end? I've been all over Columbus a lot lately. They were in on McDonough and it just was the

wrong time for Ryan McDonough to go there. I think they were in on Romanov too. I think Columbus, that 12th pick, they had a lot going on around there. I think they were thinking about the potential of Kirby Dock who went to Montreal and I think they were looking at Romanov too. So Columbus had a lot going on. They're aggressive.

And I, even though things didn't work out for them on the weekend, I think they're going to continue to be aggressive. Columbus had defense on the brain, man. Yeah, they did. All week long. And then you look at, you know, you look at who they drafted in the first round, their two first

round draft picks are both defensemen, David Juracek, Denton Matejchuk. Yeah. They were thinking D all week long in Montreal. With that, Elliot, let's get to some of the free agents that we'll be talking about leading up until Wednesday and noon Eastern, the free agent window officially opens and we will wonder

about players like, and we'll try to go as rapid fire as we can here and respect your time, Evgeny Malkin. I hear the thing with Malkin is term. I think he wants a bit more term. Rob Rossi of the Athletic had a really good story about him on the weekend. You know, I think he's talked about

there've been two-year offers. I definitely think there've been three-year offers. I'd heard, and I think he's talked about there have been two-year offers i definitely think there have been three-year offers i'd heard and i think it's pretty reliable during the year that they tied up the end of his contract to the end of crosby's contract which has three years left but i just heard they weren't close on money now until proven wrong i'm going to guess here that the penguins thought there was a team that was offering Letang a really high number on four years. And I know there are some teams in the league who believe that was the case too. Now, technically, they're not supposed to offer anything,

but, you know, Jeff, teams do talk. Like I always say, gambling here at Casablanca? Really? What? So I definitely believe there were some teams out there who thought that LeTang was coming in around maybe four times nine somewhere. And the reason they're thinking it was four times nine was

because the number ended up being 36 for him. So six times six, it equals four times nine. Although if you talk to people who work in the financial business, get as much money in your pocket as you can quickly. So they think that's why that number ended up there. I don't know it's true, but it's a good theory.

So I think Malkin has kind of looked at that and said, okay, LeTang got six years. You know what? You know, maybe I could get four. I don't know if five is feasible. I honestly don't know if five is is feasible i honestly don't know but four and look like if you look at what the penguins did they used term to flatten out the number right like maybe that's what ends up happening here i don't know i think the biggest issue with malkin is not that they want don't want them it's health and uh that was the same thing that kind of happened with letang

too but letang had such a fantastic season that i think they just overcame the health now they're trying to figure out what to do with malkin i really do think they want to get it done but i think this one's been a real challenge i i think at the end of the day he wants to be there and they want him to be there they moved out of their comfort zone with letang faster than they did with malkin and they showed like people told me that it was pretty clear as recently as a month ago that they were willing to move out of their comfort zone with letang i don't have a good answer yet on where that stands with malkin okay so we whisper the name close you a couple of moments ago now

let's say it close you i think there's quite a bit of interest in him. I still think Florida wants to try and keep him. I mean, I think Otto was out there for sure. You know, we talked about Edmonton. I think there could be others too, but. Would Colorado be an option there? But again, he's got to want to go there, right? He didn't want to go there last time.

Well, the only place he wanted to go was Florida. Yes, but I do think Ottawa was a possibility for him. I do. I just think that right now the issue is I think Florida would like to keep him, but like I said, they've got to move things around. Johnny Goudreau. I think we're going to get clarity on this early in the week.

I do. I think Calgary, like I said on the podcast that let's watch what Philly does. You know, I went to Chuck Fletcher on the floor on Friday and I said JVR and he just looked at me and he goes, he's a flyer. He wasn't giving me any more than that. And I respect that. I've got no problem with it. I think people like JVR as a player. He

scored 24 goals last year and goal scoring is hard to find in this league. And he's got a good reputation. He's a good guy. I just think teams are really trying to make this hard on Philly to trade him. So I still think we've got to wait and see what Philly does to clear cap room. I think they've got a lot of their guys kind of out there they're testing the market on i've said many times i think that the number is eight times 9.5 from calgary i think there's been an indication the number may have to be higher than that i don't think that calgary's that crazy about it my guess with a team like philly is that they also have a number they don't want to go by so i think we're getting close to decision time here andre palat i still heard that one could go

either way because i think we all looked at the ryan mcdonough deal and said okay they opened the doors for palat here i remember last week we said it was a challenge. I've heard it could go either way. Ryan Strom. Well, I guess you could put both Strom brothers in there. Strom and the Rangers were talking all year, and they just never got to a sweet spot. And I think that continued after the season. after they got knocked out, they kept trying.

I heard term was an issue. I don't know if number was an issue or not, but I heard term was an issue. I heard that the, you know, the Rangers were careful about how much term they wanted to give. I mean, we'll see. Centers are always valuable. Cop, I think the Rangers are just very careful because they don't want to box themselves in.

What I heard was Drury wanted to check out all options. Like he liked Kopp, he liked Strom, but I heard that he didn't have a lot of flexibility and he wanted to keep it for as long as he can. Like if they are looking at a guy like Kadri, I mean, first of all, I don't know how that would all work, but I heard the jury wanted to keep a certain amount of flexibility and never got to a place he was comfortable with

on any of his guys yet. And you know, there's Dylan Strom out there too. I mean, someone's going to give him a shot. For sure. Absolutely they will. Dylan Strom is a guy who had a really good finish to the year and i think he's gonna have quite a bit of opportunity i don't disagree you know you mentioned andrew cop there a couple of seconds ago you know which team i wonder about i mean i

think we are detroit well let me know what do you think about this theory now i think if they do dylan larkin first of all it's gonna be big number. And I think they're doing term. By the way, I think that one's going to get done. I do. And it's going to be a long-term deal. I don't think Eisman will have any problem signing Dylan Larkin to a long-term deal. I've heard that that one, as much as I ever hear anything out of Detroit, I've heard that that one is tracking positively. The one thing that I wonder about is how eager Steve Iserman is,

if at all, and some people have told me not at all, to give other players term. He's interested in players, sure, but the hang-up from his point of view is I don't think he wants to be married to long-term deals. For someone like Dylan Larkin, yes, but for other players, I'm not so sure that he he's there I'll bet you Moritz Seider gets one well no listen for those types of yeah they you know born in the organization you know found

success in the organization reward those you know listen that's Steve's story right I was drafted a Red Wing I became a captain with the Red Wings. You know, I, I spent my career here. I think that resonates with Eisenman. So for players like Sider, for most of what happens with Raymond's career as well. And we all think that's trending in a great direction. I think those guys eventually end up with term. I'm just thinking of like free agents for each.

I just don't know. Cause I was thinking about Andrew cop with Detroit as well. I just don't know where Eisenman's at on, on term for these guys, but you know, the team that I do wonder about for Kopp with Detroit as well. I just don't know where Iserman's at on term for these guys. But you know the team that I do wonder about for Andrew Kopp? Who's that? Nashville. Interesting.

The Nashville Predators with adding one more player to their top six mix now that they have Philip Forsberg done. I don't think that's a bad idea at all. It makes a lot of sense to me. That's one that I wonder about there okay getting back to the list um we've talked a lot these playoffs about Valeria Nachushkin and how coveted Valeria Nachushkin is by the avalanche to the point where you know it looks like Colorado was about to say goodbye to Kadri and say hey Valeria don't go anywhere what do you

hear so my predictions on Colorado my camper one that they had a decent chance of keeping him that flamed out colorado's had a busy day they signed georgiev they signed mcdonald i still think they have a shot at natchushkin and i think this is one we could get clarity on earlier in the week but i still think they have a shot at keeping him and they're working hard to do that and i think he wants to stay the other thing i've kind of heard about them is that they might not qualify obey kubel because they just don't have room and from what i understand it's not because he broke the stanley cup you know they just don't have room so he's another really good depth player who's going to be out on the market.

So Caudry, I think there's a lot of teams in on them. I have heard that not to count out the New York teams possibly looking at Caudry, the Rangers and the Islanders. Like what someone said to me was, and this is a team I know that's interested in him, they think there's a lot of competition and they think there's going to be some unique attempts to try to get them done. I don't know what that means, but he said that they believe the New York teams will be in.

Now, the one thing I do want to say about the Islanders is Lou Lamorello is notorious for not calling until 12 1201 Eastern on Wednesday. He is old school. He does not break the rules. And that's why what this guy said to me was you might have to wait for some clarity if the Islanders are indeed part of this. But teams do suspect that both the Rangers and the Islanders will talk to Cadre.

So we'll see where that goes. Now, the other thing I want to say about Colorado is at some point in time, we're going to get some clarity on Patrick Kane and Jonathan Taves. And I think they wanted to breathe after the trades and the moves at the draft. But I do think they were going to talk to chicago about their futures last year colorado was one of the teams that inquired about patrick kane before the trade deadline to see if

he was available if and i stress this is an if if patrick kane's available i could see colorado making another try for him that's my opinion but i could see it now we all thought that the obvious thing is david perron re-ups with the st louis blues because that's where david perron is most comfortable they're comfortable having him he's very productive member of that organization he's gone back not once not twice but thrice to that team but it's 904 eastern sunday july 10th as i say this to you elliot what do you hear about David Perron? I still think they want to bring him back. I think it comes down to

can they clear room? They've been really quiet. Really quiet. A couple of other names for forwards, and I want to get to defense here in a couple of moments. A couple of other names for forwards are ones that we may not have thought would have been big names, but here we are.

And I think Nick Delorier is going to get a payday here for each. I do too. I really think Nick Delorier is getting paid here. The one thing that Bill Guerin did say to me in a conversation I had with him at the draft is if we could fit him in, we'd already have signed him. So he is going to get paid.

Like I said to you a couple of podcasts ago, I wonder about Philadelphia as they start to talk about things like identity and who we are and flyers and old orange and all those types of things. They definitely want to get bigger down their lineup. There's no question about that. What about Phil Kessel? I've wondered Nashville. Yeah. But I don't know. Like they tried to get bigger down their lineup. There's no question about that. What about Phil Kessel? I've wondered Nashville. Yeah.

But I don't know. Like they tried to get them. I wondered if they were going to be the team. You know who I've heard a little bit this weekend is Tyler Mott. Hmm. I heard there's some good teams who really like him. Not a surprise. A real good player.

Let's get to some defensemen. Okay. John Klingberg. So I heard at the draft carolina i mentioned that on the last podcast someone reached out to me and said they don't see carolina giving him the biggest deal but they definitely could see carolina being interested they were around him earlier on this season yes carolina was i do think that they've kind of been you know like interested in dating carolina and klingberg like slip a note in the locker let's see if it happens i've mentioned seattle several times i don't know but um there

have been a few teams that see that match, but what they've also said is that what he might get in the market, they're just not sure that Carolina would be willing to do. What about Josh Manson? I've wondered if he's going back to Anaheim. I think we all wondered that one. I don't think he wanted to go in the first place. I'm sure he's very happy.

He went to Colorado and got a Stanley cup, but there's family ties in the area and I don't think he wanted to go in the first place. I'm sure he's very happy he went to Colorado and got a Stanley Cup, but there's family ties in the area. I don't think he wants to be very far from them. I think that's true. That would make a lot of sense if he goes back. See, the teams I'd heard, and I think when I wrote my last blog, I'd heard Anaheim going back and becoming the post-Getzlaff captain, staying in Denver. someone thought that maybe la would have interest in him too now la has more of a need on the other side not the one that

manson plays but you know i mean i i could see in la being interested in that but they didn't think that was the top priority for the kings elliot, let me throw in a dark horse here. I'm just going to throw a dart and we're going to see if it lands on Wednesday. For John Klingberg, I wonder about the Ottawa Senators. Well, look, they were interested in D'Angelo, right? Yeah. They had interest in him.

John Klingberg paired with Thomas Chabot. We know Ottawa's taking the next step with this organization. Just curious. Just curious. Okay, so there's a list and we'll do another podcast post free agent agent window opening um so sometime after wednesday uh but a couple of quickies to end the podcast here today frege miles wood anything there lately frege well it's just that there was a bit of a rumor on on sunday that maybe he'd been given permission to talk to teams now they told me that's not the case that uh you know he is an rfa not a ufa it doesn't

mean you can't talk like d'angelo and bear were given permission to talk but uh the devil said no they're they're trying to sign him they have arbitration too but they're trying to sign him you know wood only played three games last year he got hurt but a lot of teams would like him he would have a lot of interest out there if he was available. And I do think some teams are trying to see if there was any chance New Jersey wouldn't qualify him, which they said they were going to. But, you know, I was a bit disappointed purely because of our news point of view, because I just think that that would have been an interesting guy

a lot of people would have been after. But the Devils threw cold water on my excitement. Hey, just as an aside here about something from Sunday, did you see Shane right at the Jays Mariners game? You know what? I went for a walk and missed the point in the game where they talked to him. It was awesome.

Yeah. Well, first of all, in Seattle, they're thrilled that they got him at four. You know, there there's a feeling there that feeling there that they won the draft. Did a nice sit down with Jamie Campbell,

addressed the Montreal stare, looking at the table. Let's clear the air here. I did notice a look that you gave when you were shaking the hand of the commissioner, Gary Bettman. Was that intended for the Montreal Canadiens draft table? Not at all, no. I was just kind of looking at the cameras in front of me. To be honest, I don't really remember too much of going up on stage. It was kind of all a whirlwind for me. So, I mean, I wasn't intentionally trying to stare anyone down. I guess maybe it looked like

that from the video or whatever it was, but there's no intent to stare anyone down. Just kind of look at the camera and I just know, I guess their table was right behind it. So, I guess it kind of looked like it, but there's no intent to stare anyone down. Just kind of look at the camera. And I just know, I guess their table was right behind us. I guess it kind of looked like it, but there's no intent behind that, no. I wonder if they sign him this week. Like, I wonder if it's that kind of week for Seattle and Shane Wright. Like, they're, you know,

if Ron Francis is the general manager. Now, do you think he plays in the NHL next season or no? I do. I think there were a couple of, maybe, you know, maybe Seattle might be the only team that after having drafted him that he would go in right away and play. Like Montreal, I thought if Montreal

drafted him first overall, there's still very much the rebuilding phase of things. Maybe you send him back to Kingston, look for a trade to a team that's going to be really good next year like North Bay or Guelph or something like that. But I just wonder, with Ron Francis as the general manager, there's an interesting dynamic there with one of the assistant coaches,

Paul McFarland, who initially left the Toronto Maple Leafs to go to the Kingston Frontenacs and was poised to coach Shane Wright with Kingston, and then the pandemic happened. He never got and was poised to coach Shane Wright with Kingston. And then the pandemic happened. He never got to coach him. And before Shane Wright arrived, he took the Seattle job. Now, albeit, you know, even though he's an assistant coach and not the head coach, he does get to kind of coach Shane Wright here now.

I think they jump him in next season. I really do. I really think that they go right up the gut next season with Matty Beneers and Shane Wright. And I think it begins maybe with them signing, maybe with Seattle signing him as early as this week for each. But it was just pretty cool to see him on the Jays-Mariners broadcast. A bright moment in an otherwise gloomy Jays game

as they get swept by the Mariners. I watched like the first seven innings of that game. I went for the walk. I missed the Carlos Santana bomb. Yeah. And the ball's going through Vladdy's glove and oh, just, oh geez. Okay. A couple of quick things.

Oh wait, Athens-CU? I want to get to Athens-CU before I get there. I want to end on Athens-CU because it's really interesting. Potential rule changes coming out of GMs? Yes, there was one apparently. So as everybody who follows hockey may know, sometimes you forget these things, but when you call a major penalty,

now you can appeal it, right? Right. But you can't take it down to no penalty. You can take it from five minutes down to two, but there has to be a penalty. However, there is something going, I believe the competition committee has already heard it. I think it's now going to the board of governors, but basically what it comes down to is there was a play this year. And some of you will remember it between Colorado and Boston where Nathan McKinnon took a big hit from Taylor Hall and McKinnon's own stick bloodied his

nose. And they called Hall a major penalty. This was in January of this year. And they looked at the video and they're like, oh, it was his own stick, but you could only take it down to two. And I think now what they've done is they suggested that you can take it down to zero. If it's a play like that, where say a player's own stick is responsible for cutting himself on a clean hit like that one from Hall to McKinnon, it's now not only down from five to two, it can also be down from five to no penalty at all. I heard that came up at the GM meetings. So still no traction on the Merrick penalty kill idea, where if you score while you're

shorthanded, the player comes out of the box. I did not hear that, but I support you on this one. You're right. Okay, so that's probably going nowhere. Andreas Athanasiou, this one's interesting. Let's finish the podcast with this one. So there are three types of players who qualify for performance bonuses.

The first group is, of course, the rookies on their entry-level contracts. The second group is players who are over 35. And the third group that even I forget about sometimes is, is if you've played 400 NHL games, but you've missed 100 the last two seasons. Right. So you do qualify for performance bonuses. Well, Andreas Athanasiu is a very interesting case.

He's at 378 career games, but because we lost a bunch of games to the pandemic, that 400 was adjusted downward, and he qualifies for that. Now, it's 100 days on IR, I should say, the last two seasons. days on ir i should say the last two seasons and athena see you is at 99 days on ir plus covid list so i think the argument here is should he qualify for the hundred so he's at 99 now he missed more time on the covid list but the covid list technically isn't ir so there's two issues here so he qualifies because the 400 games was adjusted downward because of covid now you have to be a hundred days injured reserve. He's at 99 through the last two seasons. He's at 99. So one of the things they're arguing is if he gets credit for the COVID list,

he'd be over 100. Or he injured his finger, I think, during the preseason and missed a couple of preseason games. And I think they've argued that he should get credit for that now i'm not sure this is gonna work i don't know this is gonna work but you have to try it i really i appreciate the thinking going on behind this one i see i love stuff like this yes i know you do and actually i kind of like it too i i appreciate this i've heard the nhl pa has brought this up to the league that he got injured in the preseason legitimately and he had to miss time in the

preseason like apparently he missed games so their argument is he should be over and he should qualify for performance bonuses. And I think it might actually help Athens CU get a spot this year because there are going to be teams who are looking for a player like him on a really inexpensive contract. And if you can get them to a low number plus bonuses can work. low number plus bonuses can work. Like I always say in situations like this, I just want to be in the room to see the expressions on the faces when that gets presented and pitched. I'm not sure it's going to work, but I know he's trying.

I love it. Okay. So next big events, tent poles, as they call them, ladies and gentlemen, there are a couple along the way certainly with qualifying offers and such and buyouts

and all these fun things like I don't know offer sheets but the main one is coming up on Wednesday noon eastern the free agency window opens hope you can join us on sportsnet for coverage of it in the meantime get ready all you fantasy GMs. Hope your team gets the player or players that you want.

Either way, we will discuss it post-free agency. Taking us out today, Elliot, is a band that calls Montreal home. Man, by the way, do you have a couple quick thoughts on Montreal? Every time I go there, I just want to say a couple of things about Montreal. To me, it's one of my favorite. Just was a great weekend. Great weekend. And one of my favorite

Canadian cities. I just, like I said, I love the cobblestone streets of old Montreal. What I love about Montreal, we've talked about this before, is everybody needs to have the Montreal hockey experience

Saturday night, you know, 7.01, the lights go down, the music hits and the spotlights and the ghosts of, you know, Bellevue and Richard and all that gets, there's nothing like it. And on game day on Saturdays, the whole city is talking about hockey, every bar, every cafe, every restaurants up and down the street. Everyone's talking about the game.

Everybody should have that experience. Montreal is amazing. And taking us out, a band calling Montreal home, Offenbach was formed in the late 60s and left their mark on the Quebec music scene with hundreds of songs and some of the most memorable live performances this country's ever seen.

With their hit, Sulemant qu'une aventure, translation, Just an Adventure, here's Offenbach on 32 Thoughts, the podcast. Mais là, toi, tu me tournes l'âme En jetant mon amour aux flammes À bout de force, je me laisse brûler Tu n'étais seulement qu'une aventure Sur mon corps de pierre, une migratinue Sous-titrage Société Radio-Canada C'est la petite anus à faire la vie dure En me laissant tomber en amour avec toi