32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Sid's Coming Back

Episode Date: September 13, 2024

In this edition of 32 Thoughts, Kyle Bukauskas and Elliotte Friedman unwrap the biggest news and notes from their time at the U.S. NHL Players Media Tour in Las Vegas. They kick things off with their takeaways from their interview with Sidney Crosby as he inferred that a return to Pittsburgh is on the horizon. Elliotte highlights that the term of his next deal will be key (5:00). Then, the fellas talk about Cole Perfetti's future with the Winnipeg Jets (9:24), and Jeremy Swayman's contract negotiations with the Boston Bruins (12:40). Kyle and Elliotte check-in on Seider, Raymond, Berggren and the Detroit Red Wings (18:51), before shifting their focus to the Toronto Maple Leafs who were busy signing Robertson and Hakanpää (23:00). The guys check-in on some key injuries to Artyom Levshunov and Luke Hughes (27:00). Plus, they talk about whether Phil Kessel has a shot at extending his NHL career (32:00). The Final Thought focuses on the celebration of life for the Gaudreau brothers and the passing of Stephen Peat (33:00).In the back half of the podcast you will hear from Sidney Crosby who sat down with Kyle and Elliotte in Las Vegas (37:30) and David Pastrnak who joined Elliotte in Prague (49:59).This podcast was produced and mixed by Dominic Sramaty and hosted by Elliotte Friedman and Kyle Bukauskas.The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.  

If Kyle and I were the stars of True Detective, all crimes would go unsolved. Especially because our old teammate Shirely Najak, he would always say, I'm not worried about the focal point on the screen, I'm watching around there. That's where the good stuff is. That's right.

And we blew it. That's exactly what he talks about. We blew it. We blew it. We blew chunks. Welcome to 32 Thoughts, the podcast presented by GMC, Kyle Bukoskis, Elliot Friedman with you. And Elliot, when I first started at Sportsnet, long before I was working rinkside on NHL telecasts, I remember going to the rink, going to a morning skate and being so struck by walking into the dressing room as all the media came in to interview players

and seeing one christine simpson who i had watched on my television for a number of years interact with the players and the coaches how much respect that she had and the appreciation that those players showed for her and i I thought that was the ultimate tell, one of the ultimate tells of where you wanted to be in this business and being respected at that level. And earlier this week, Elliot, Christine shared that her time at Sportsnet had come to an end.

She had been part of the fabric of the network since it first went on the air in 1998. She is someone that we are going to miss. Yes, Kyle, very well said. So Christine lives in Toronto, but she goes back and forth to London, Ontario quite a bit to visit her family. And that's about a two hour drive, give or take, depending on how slowly or quickly you drive. And that was a place where she would always tell me that she would listen to the pod she used her drives to and from the city to catch up with the podcast and make sure she was up to date with it so I know she was a big listener she was also a great teammate and the features she did were

always first rate there were times that players weren't sure teams weren't sure they wanted to do a feature. Are you sending us Elliot? No, not interested. Oh, you're sending us Christine? For sure. We'd be happy to do it. So she definitely has a pull when it comes to all the people around the NHL.

It is very weird. When I first saw her tweet on Wednesday, I really didn't even know what to say because it's just very weird. The idea of a sports net without Christine, she's pretty much been here since the beginning and outdates you and me for sure our arrivals at the station. So it's just a very strange thing, not easy to process. And it's just weird that she's not going to be around, but we wish her all the best. And Christine, I hope you keep listening. And you know, Elliot, one of the players that Christine would have spent a lot of time interviewing over the years was Sidney Crosby.

You and I were just at the NHL, NHLPA player media tour in Las Vegas earlier this week. And our first interview, bright and early Tuesday morning, was the captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins and it's funny in our episode last week you kind of joked as you had shared the information you had at the time with where things were at with Crosby and the Penguins and what a potential new contract would look like and why one hadn't been signed yet you wondered you know what kind of mood was Sid going to be in how is he going to to greet you? But he came into our room smiling, in great spirits, clearly had a great summer, and was in a really good frame of mind as well.

You know, Kyle, I was thinking about this. I'm trying to remember the first time they did this event. I remember that in 2009, after they won the Stanley Cup, we did a piece with Malkin and Crosby. They both came together and we sat them down. We watched a bunch of plays from their Stanley Cup run. But I can't remember if that's the first time it was ever done or it was even predating that. But Crosby comes to this every year. And this was, and not to say that he was in a terrible mood the previous

times but this was probably the best season opening mood I've ever seen him in like we had to do him at 6 45 a.m he was the first guy he made it very clear that that was the best time for him and if Sidney Crosby says you know what I need to do it then then you're going to show up and you're going to do it but he walked in the room that stood out to me too just what a great mood he was in and how accommodating he was. You know people will hear what he has to say as everybody knows now he indicated that a contract is going to get done with the Penguins. He kind of downplayed you'll hear it in the interview he'll down he downplayed what I talked about that you know the concern about maybe the Penguins aren't going to be very good and

if that played any kind of effect on his decision making he poo-pooed that kind of but I think the most interesting thing now and again you'll be able to hear some of his comments in the upcoming conversation but to me the most interesting thing here is going to be the term. And, you know, the one thing I really believe about Sid is that one of my favorite baseball players was Mike Schmidt. And if you were a Mike Schmidt fan, you'll remember that he retired two months into his last season. He just said, I'm not Mike Schmidt anymore. last season he just said I'm not Mike Schmidt anymore and you know he could have been a mere mortal instead of a hall of fame level third baseman but he said no like you know what that's that's not good enough for me and he just said before I drop off to a level that I really think

is unacceptable I'm going to retire and one of the people who's friendly with Crosby has told me in the past and I can't remember if I've discussed this on the pod before that if he wanted to instead of being a number one center he could easily turn himself into a like a 40 goal winger but I just don't see like I see Crosby in the same vein as the Mike Schmidt. I think there is a level he expects to see himself at, and he's not going below that level. Now, the one thing he has changed is that he once said, as you pointed out, he's not playing when he's 40. Now, he's kind of backed away from that now.

I guess that's what happens when you just had 94 points and barely missed the top 10 in scoring So he thinks that his level is still very high deeper into his career But to me he's not it doesn't sound like he's gonna go for a ton of term because he wants to make sure that he's still the same Sidney Crosby and The other thing I was told this week after after the pod we previously did is that Crosby wants to make sure that his contract like if he does get to a point where he says okay that's enough or he feels there's a diminishing or

anything like that he doesn't want his contract to be a concern for the Penguins. Like it comes to a point where, oh, you know, they might get stuck with something or a cap hit or something like that. I do think he I've heard he's very aware of that. and he's very conscious of nothing he signs could be problematic cap wise for the Penguins, not that they would ever complain. So I think these are the kinds of things we're looking at here. I just think, Elliot, like you've been doing this for a long time. Like how many other examples of guys can you think of that think that way? I mean, it's one thing to keep yourself at a certain standard and not want to continue playing if you don't think you can get there. But also the frame of mind of going,

I want to make sure the franchise that I've spent my entire career with doesn't get faced with any type of salary cap hurdles, if that is the case. I just think it's another example of him, Sidney Crosby, kind of being in the class of his own here. There's no doubt about that, Kyle. He's obviously hugely loyal to the Penguins and his legacy with that organization is not only important to them, but it's important to him. Again, not that he ever would. I just don't think he ever wants anything he does to affect the organization negatively I think that's very very important to him and a couple of people said that it was very very important to him so we'll get a contract uh in the next little while and you know again I I think the

biggest thing I'm curious about is the term and where the 8-7 is going to be in the contract is it going to be like 10.875 he kind of laughed that off I tried that one too and he wasn't going there but like I'm wondering if it's going to be like 10.875 or something like that so that's a big win for not only Penguins fans, but hockey fans, the idea that Crosby is more open to playing later in his career than maybe he was a couple of years ago. So as 87 figures out how the twilight years of his career are going to look,

we've got another player who was in Vegas, Elliot, that doesn't have a contract signed, that's still in the very early stages of his career. And that's Cole Profetti of the Winnipeg Jets. And it's interesting, you know, it was maybe a little bit of a surprise with the fact that he didn't have a new contract done, that he was still the Jets representative here at this event, because you knew he was going to be facing the same question over and over again about where things stood in the negotiations.

But, you know, he came into our room, spent some time with our colleague, Luke Fox. This was a young player who was confident, had no problem answering the questions he knew was coming his way. It just seemed like this was a young player that's very comfortable in his own skin and knows that there is a path to getting something done sooner rather than later. I'm trying to remember a situation, Kyle, where a player without a contract showed up at this. I'm not saying it's never happened because I can't say that for certain,

but I don't remember it ever happening. And I think it says a lot about Perfetti and the Jets and where everybody thinks this is going, that was here. Now I've said before and I still believe it to be true I don't think this will be a term deal. I think it's going to be a bridge a short-term contract. I would be surprised if it was anything different than that and while both sides are still being really quiet on this as As I left Vegas on Thursday, I still was under the impression there was a bit of a gap still to solve. Always reminding people that this could change with one phone call. So we'll see where it goes.

But overall, the fact that Perfetti showed up in this situation is a good omen for everybody involved here including the jets fans i thought his quotes to luke were really interesting um you know about what rick bonus told him i did the same thing with jason robertson and and rupe hints and and now they're stars rupe hints by the way he cut his hair short it's blonde the dallas players are calling him the real slim shady that's his that's his new nickname right now. It's outstanding. He was laughing when he told us that. But, you know, he said he disagreed, but, you know, he understood what at least Bonus was thinking.

You know, he was very calm and he was very rational discussing it. And we've seen with some of these conversations, particularly swimming Boston, it's really spilled out into the media and it hasn't been pretty. We're not there yet. Um, I, I think that perfetti would have preferred this get started on earlier,

but he's not panicking or like in, in any kind, at least right now, he's not in any kind of frame of mind where he's saying, I'm angry at the Jets or this is going to be a problem. Although, you know, once training camp starts, you're hoping for everybody's sake that this is sorted out. OK, so you mentioned his name just a moment ago, Elliot. it out okay so you mentioned his name just a moment ago elliot jeremy swayman the rfa netminder in boston negotiation that by all accounts had a wide gap wide gap between the two sides any update there are they inching any closer i i'm not hearing anything like that i i know there were some reports that maybe swayman and the Bruins were closer than people

had thought or even I had thought. I don't have, again, with the caveat that anything can change in one phone call, I just don't have any reason to believe that yet at this point in time. It should be pointed out that Lewis Gross, who represents Swayman, also represented the Goudreau brothers. So he had other more important things on his mind. I have no doubt that the Bruins were respectful of that. The whole hockey world was outstanding when it came to just rallying around the family over the last couple of weeks. But I think it put a temporary halt to the Swayman proceedings.

And at this point in time, I just don't have any information that the gap is closed what's really interesting is some of the conversations I had in Vegas about this particular situation is that they wondered if anybody involved here would go back in time if they could if you could use and had access to H.G. Wells time machine, that's a really hip young reference, but if you had access to H.G. Wells time machine, could you go back in time and say, we'll do arbitration? And I think Swayman's pretty clear that he wouldn't, but I wonder if the Bruins would. If the Bruins would have done it, then Swayman could pick the term of the award one or two years, and two years walks them right to unrestricted free agency. The Bruins knew that. They wanted no part of that. They were well aware of that idea.

This is always second guessing. The Bruins would just say, you know what? We should have taken the two-year award that they would have asked for. And we could have dealt with, we would have at least had him signed for two years at an arbitration number, which everyone could have lived with. And then sorted out the long-term contract either next summer or during the following season. Like they signed Pasternak, you know, 60% into his unrestricted free agent year. They got it all worked out. Like, so I kind of look at this and wonder if we could do this all over again, if the Bruins would just say, ah, we'll fall into the arbitration two-year trap and deal with it later, punt the problem down the road because

you know right it hasn't been easy it's been very challenging and i don't know yet what the solution here is going to be i guess i'm just trying to understand here elliot like last year in the playoffs swayman was their guy when the chips were down yeah they traded Allmark he's in Ottawa now I understand Jonas Corpus Allo came back the other way but Swayman is their de facto number one guy here so my question is like I understand the Bruins can't hand over a blank check but how did they expect this to go yeah you know I've had some people who asked me about that too, is why would they have made the Allmark deal without signing Swayman? I think my theory on that is, and again, it's my theory, is that you'll remember the Allmark trade was right before July 1st. Right before Game 7, the cup final.

Yes, that was a wild couple of minutes. Bucks dropping, what? Allmark's getting traded to Ottawa? Allmark could have switched the teams on his list. And at that point in time, they could trade Allmark to Ottawa without asking him. And if you go to July 1st, what happens if Allmark switches his list? So my guess is that had everything to do with why that happened at that time um yeah i i think a lot of things here uh you know i had a general manager tell me watching this whole situation that this is another reminder like every few

years you get a reminder of why you cannot take an important player to arbitration and he said, everyone is looking at this and the way Swayman has learned from it, has commented about it, has discussed it. And it's a reminder of why arbitration can be such a dangerous thing. Dangerous, dangerous, dangerous. Because I think the executives go in there and they understand it's a business they're they're they're used to negotiating they do it all the time they're usually a little bit older the players tend to be younger they haven't seen this

as much before and you know one of the great stories i remember is tim taylor who was the stanley cup champion with the Red Wings and the Lightning. I remember when he retired and became an executive. I can't remember if it was the Blues or the Flames or who it was. I don't even want to look at it. Somebody can tell me who it was. But he talked about how being in the box during a game with the other management for the first time. And he heard about the way they talked

about the players and he said like I am almost 40 and I can't believe what this sounds like so I think this has been a real eye-opener for some managers and teams around the league that this is why you don't get too many arbitration cases anymore because especially a young player can take it very personally and it can not everyone can just say that's business and throw it away sometimes it really can shape your feelings and your negotiations in the future. Okay it was St. Louis by the way Elliot that's where Tim Taylor began his front office career once his playing days were done so you were right there. See this is the thing you, this is the thing, Kyle. This is your job.

Clean up on aisle four. I make a mess out of this podcast, and you correct the mistakes. Fact checker. Fact checker. That's all I've got. And I will carry it. I will run with it. All right, so let's check in then on a few other RFAs around the league.

Detroit, Moritz Seider, Lucas Raymond, Jonathan Bergeron as well. Any updates from HockeyTown? No, Mr. Fear of God Iserman and very quiet guy. Not a lot I'm getting here. Like I've said, I think Bergeron gets done. I just think the player and everybody involved there recognizes that Bergeron has to be in camp. I don't see a situation where he sits out. As I mentioned in the last pod, I think they have an idea of what Sider and Raymond could look like. And if they're not done, they'll just slide Bergeron in there at a number where they think it can all work. I would be shocked if that one isn't sorted out well in advance of the season it's too

important for the player as for the other two with Raymond I had mentioned the Jarvis contract as a comparable Jarvis is 7.9 in actual cash 7.4 with the deferred money and the AAV and you know I because they both have won 30 goal season Jarvis and Raymond I thought it was perfect and I had an agent tell me I guarantee to you that you are wrong in terms of what Raymond's people his agent is JP Berry what they're looking for and I said oh yeah why do you think I'm wrong and he said because there's other players like Stutzla who's at a higher number than Seth Jarvis is. So if you're an agent, you're always going to pick the highest possible comparable. And in this case, I think it's Stutzla.

Now, what he did tell me, though, this agent, is that he said that there are some teams out there who really try to remove the Ottawa contracts like Stutzla's as a comparable. And they kind of talk about that as that's a contract that Ottawa needed to do because of where they were at the time and the message they were trying to send their market at the time. But the teams think it's too high. And they say like he laughed. He said, I to you they brought out Stutzler and Iserman said don't even bring that here that's their situation and that's not our situation but he did say to me he thought my estimate of Jarvis is probably too low for the ask although there's no question that Iserman is lower than where the agent and the player want to be cider all i think about

there is i think his numbers above raymond and i i just don't know where this is going to go here the other thing i've heard is that i've heard some of these uh players who are coming in from europe they're having who don't have contracts yet uh once they're signing I heard the visas are taking a long time. So I don't know what you can do there. Like ultimately the negotiations got to be first, but someone was telling me in a couple of cases, it's taken a lot longer than, you know, people were hoping. So again, I think it's cider at a higher number than Raymond. A couple of people said my Jarvis theory is probably too low for the agent

and probably still too high for Iserman and that he guarantees that the Stutzle one has been brought up as a comparable because their numbers were reasonably close, especially I think at even strength, but he guarantees there's no way Iserman's even listening to that as a proper comparable so we'll

see okay dawson mercer new jersey again with with dawson mercer i i've said before and i'll stick with it i just don't think there's space for the devils to do long term so i think that's going to be a bridge i've also said the same thing about Thomas Harley. It was interesting. I did have a couple of people who said to me they think there will be an attempt to go long-term there, but I just don't know how Dallas can make that work necessarily. I mean, everybody, but that doesn't mean it can't happen. There also doesn't seem to be as much angst about Harley's deal

as there has been about some of the other ones one of the reasons is that Jim Neal you know tends to be a pretty calm guy generally but there just doesn't appear to be the angst around Harley as some of the other contracts all right the Toronto Maple Leafs a couple of transactions signings this Nick Robertson, they signed him for one year. Yanni Hakenpaul comes in on defense on a one-year deal. And Elliot, if I'm not mistaken, I mean, you had linked those two from kind of the outset of free agency. This week, it becomes official. Max Pacioretty signs a PTO.

So he, along with Stephen Lawrence, come into camp looking for a full-time gig it was a busy few days of business for Toronto and now they're gonna have a busy roster to kick off training camp yeah and sometimes like this handshake deals stay quiet until they're done but Alan Walsh is the agent for patch already he basically came out and said there's a contract here very on brand yeah so we're yeah there's no secrets there uh that that one's you know what's funny about that is so i i took my wife and son to see pink this summer uh at the rogers center and we walked into patch already on the street and no way i just i said hi to him i said i said what are you doing here

and he kind of gave me like a oh I'm here visiting some friends and I really didn't think much of it because I was with my family you know I that one just smacked me right in the face and I totally missed it like totally missed it that obviously he was here you know skating and working out for the Leafs at that time the one thing I really think about tree living is I think he's prepared to have some competition here I don't think him and Berube are afraid of you know hey if you get a great offer you make your move right but I don't think they're afraid of letting some players who would look at this and think am I on the bubble here be a little bit uncomfortable I don't think they're afraid of that I think they want the competition I think they want to see who it drives and it wouldn't surprise

me like you don't have to have your roster set until the day before the season begins. So it wouldn't shock me if the Leafs let this play out a little bit. And I think that is their plan. Again, you could get a good offer. You say, ah, we got to take this. I think they're interested in making their camp a little more competitive. And so we'll see where that goes were you at all surprised that despite the trade request earlier in the summer that nick robertson signs back in

toronto for one year i just think the options were limited um i think the as we said last week it didn't benefit him to sit out and i'm talking about this as a guy who's really stubborn like i am a really annoyingly stubborn human being so i get where robertson's coming from but sometimes you just have to take the knee and concede defeat you bend the knee like they said on game of thrones kyle you bend the knee and this was Robinson's time where it was it was better for him that he just said all right I'm coming and I'll do this so I think he did the right thing I don't think it was very easy to convince him but I think that he did the right thing and again there's there's gonna some opportunity here. And the thing that benefits the Maple Leafs, and it also benefits him, is that if he plays well, everyone wins.

He wins because it sets himself up into a good place. The team wins because Robertson's playing great. So there's a huge benefit for everyone involved here to make this work. I also think, Kyle, you know, sometimes teams get pushed around by players when they have the leverage. So when a team thinks it has the leverage, sometimes they like to push back. And I think that definitely happened with Robertson.

Okay, some news on the injury front across the league this week as well, Elliot. A few days ago, we learned that Artem Levshinov the second overall pick by Chicago at this past June's draft in Vegas he's going to miss some time and it was announced on Thursday by the New Jersey Devils Luke Hughes who's entering his sophomore year in the NHL Calder Trophy finalist last year he's been dealing with a shoulder injury they expect him to miss six to eight weeks yeah the internet sleuths found that one standing on the michigan sideline in the sling yes right i always love when that happens because i know what the teams are thinking the teams are like we're gonna

wait we're gonna wait we're gonna announce this at the start of camp like this Sorokin thing he didn't skate the other day with the at the Islanders captain's practice it seems pretty clear now that whatever the case is the Islanders are either going to announce it at five o'clock on a Friday afternoon or on the first day of training camp and so it sounds to me like the devil's that was obviously their plan but then you know he's standing someone sees him standing in the sideline. Like, you know, it's so funny now. Like, you know, one of the things they teach you is that when you're posting a picture, people aren't just going to look at the main focal point of the picture.

You better check the background. So I'll, I'll give you an example when i was in prague we're doing the walk and talk with philip ronick and the canucks posted some pictures no problem all good but i'm wearing like a pair of pants and a suit jacket a bla blazer, as I'm walking down the streets of Prague with Roenick, and I've got my hand in my pocket, and it looks like I'm scratching myself. And some of the Canucks fans, they blew up that part of the picture,

and they sent it to me, and they're like, Elliot, are you itchy? And I'm just laughing. Like, it's funny. You can't not laugh at that, but it's always a reminder that whatever picture you post you better make sure there's nothing going around that's not the focal point that you think is harmless that becomes the picture because that's what happened here with

Luke Hughes so you know what's funny about that is we asked Jack about in Vegas about what kind of season he thought Luke is going to have. And I thought about it. Jack hesitated a bit. So he was he obviously knew, but he didn't want to say anything. We didn't ask Quinn that because our interview with Quinn went off in a lot of different directions. So we didn't have time to get to that. I wanted to ask him about Luke's second season. But I wondered, too, if he would have clammed up and held to the Omerta

or he would have said something. So that's unfortunate for Luke Hughes. Maybe it gives them some space to sign Mercer now. But I also think that that's more of a philosophical thing as opposed to a cap space one at least in terms of the bridge deal in terms of the number they're looking at who is the other guy you asked about the other injury Lev Shinov oh yeah so Lev Shinov is in a walking boot I don't know exactly when this puck hit him that hurt him because someone said to me it's possible he'd been bothered by something for a little bit of time.

But it sounds like he's going to be in a walking boot for two weeks, and this is a week-to-week thing. Someone said to me they thought the max would be like six weeks, but everybody seemed to be hopeful it would be before that. So it's just too bad. Like, you want to see Levchenov in this prospect tournament, and he's not going to be there. Nobody likes to see guys get hurt.

You know where we really failed to pick up on when chatting with both Jack and Quinn was when they talked about the low score on the golf course for the Hughes brothers for the summer and the club championship. They talked about each other, but there was no mention of Luke there. Yes. So basically what you're telling everybody is we did like a zero out of 10 job at these interviews. Zero. Yes. Yeah. We were 30 minutes from the strip. That's where our minds were. The players are in preseason form. We are not.

We were not even in preseason form at this one. The slews, if Kyle and I were the stars of True Detective, all crimes would go unsolved. Especially because our old teammate Shirely Najak, he would always say, I'm not worried about the focal point on the screen. I'm watching around there. That's where the good stuff is. That's right. That's exactly what he talks about. We blew it. We blew it. We blew chunks. We didn't just blow it. We blew chunks. And we will try to be better going forward. Hey, no, no, no, no. I'm not promising that. All right. Well,

that makes one of us. Phil Kessel, Elliot. He has not played a National Hockey League game since four games during the Golden Knights run to the Stanley Cup in 2023. But you seem to think he's not done trying to land somewhere to continue his career. He wants to play. I've heard this. So Paul Bissonette had a tweet this week about how come Phil Kessel can't get a job. And I was looking at it because I had heard and I was going to check that Kessel was calling teams and really wanted to play. And that seems to confirm it.

And then I heard it from a couple of people. He's legit about it. a couple of people he's legit about it like that three on three league that was supposed to start up but didn't I heard Kessel was one of the guys they were really talking to about playing there you know he wants to play he loves hockey and he wants to play I don't know if this is going to happen but it's very very legitimate that he has put it out there that he wants to play all right Elliot that'll bring us to the final thought, which is presented by GMC. And listen, it was a real emotional start to the week.

Monday was the funeral for Johnny Goudreau and his brother, Matthew. It was incredible strength and composure from Meredith and Madeline Goudreau as they provided their eulogies for their husbands. And Elliot, you wanted to make a point of the support that was not only on hand there Monday, but continues to be shown around the hockey world.

Yes, someone reached out to me and just said, can you mention on the podcast how grateful that everyone was for the amount of support that was shown to the family first of all in terms of who everybody was expecting to show support like you expect the teammates the the friends to be there and they all were nobody failed the teams didn't fail you know their their representatives the NHl the players association you know nobody failed everybody came through the best they could i think also like just some of the people who showed up at the funeral that maybe weren't being expected to be there you know martin san luis and uh and jeff

gordon were there representing the canadians brian burke was there john tortorella was there um you know there were obviously everybody was expecting, you know, Sean Monahan and Kevin Hayes to be there. But there and I don't mean to exclude anyone, but there were just a number of people who were there. We were driving in the limousine from the service to the burial site, the plot. And there was just such a lineup of cars behind us as we looked out the back. And I remember thinking, like, wow, that's a lot of people. In that moment, it really gives you some strength. And it's the one thing that gives you really a good feeling on that day. So I wanted to mention that. But also, it was mentioned, too, that just the outpouring of the fans,

the GoFundMe support, both the one that was created for Matthew Goudreau's family, there was the Columbus Blue Jacket fans put one up, and also just all the highlights that were, there were some threads out there talking about, name your favorite Goudreau play or Goudreau moment. And I think there's a Flames fan blog that's doing like a Johnny Goudreau goal a day. I know that that was, you know, really, really well received. Like everybody plays a role, right?

Like you think, well, you're not Goudreau's friend or you're not Goudreau's teammate. So what do you, what can you do? role right like you think well you're not goudreau's friend or you're not goudreau's teammate so what do you what can you do i think this is proof that just throwing something a positive memory out there on social media it matters like people noticed all this so i just you know i just wanted to mention that um you know there was another tragedy in the hockey world uh stephen pete uh who played for the capitals amongst other teams. He died this week after being hit by a car. Um, you know, Steven Pete had a really, really hard post hockey life. And I know there's some people who listen to this podcast who really worried about him. Um,

you know, really wanted to see if they could find a way to help him. I know Glenn Healy at the alumni, he worked with Pete quite a bit or worked to try to help Pete quite a bit. When I spoke to Glenn a couple of days ago, he was well aware of what was happening and they were trying to figure out what they could do. It's a really, really sad story. And Pete obviously not as big a name as Johnny and Matthew Goudreau, but that doesn't make it any less impactful. And I was just really sorry to hear about it.

And we just wanted to make sure that people knew about the story and heard about Stephen Pete as well. To the friends and the family of Stephen Pete, we send our love. That was the final thought presented by GMC. Back with more after this. Listen to the 32 Thoughts podcast ad-free on Amazon Music, included with Prime. So before we get to our interview with Sidney Crosby, we wanted to mention that the Thought Line is coming back this year. We're going to start it up again next week more details on all of that to come on Monday's podcast so stay tuned on that front okay now time for our conversation with Crosby that we had earlier this week at the player media tour in Las Vegas the captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins, three-time Stanley Cup champion, and goes into this year eight goals shy of 600 for his career.

The one, Sidney Crosby. Enjoy. Sidney Crosby, the captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins, entering your 20th season now in the National Hockey League, I wonder, like, in this state of your career, how often over the course of a season does one of the training staff come up to you and say, hey, so-and-so across the hall would love a stick, would love something signed? Like, how often does that crop up now over the year? Fairly often. Almost nightly, I think, at this point. But I tend to do that a little more myself now. So, yeah, I think, you know, more myself now so uh yeah i think you know as i as i

kind of go through it you know you realize uh you know those are those are cool things you know sticks and and have memories and things like that so um try to take advantage of that too and and trade when i can yeah what do you do with them like do they just is there a spot in my house where they are displayed or yeah i've i've just got them in a room right now. I'm not sure what I'm going to do, but I think it's always fun when, you know, guys come over to the house. They want to see the different sticks, different curves, and things like that. So, yeah, it's something I started to do probably the last number of years. And, yeah, it's fun when people see all the sticks.

Do you have a specific message that you write or you personalize it for each person try to personalize it uh you know there's uh it depends depends on the situation the player um there might be history there yeah and um yeah usually it's you know it's usually something personal though if i can't what's the funniest message you've ever when you think is the funniest message you've ever written to someone I can't remember but there's been a number of times where guys have asked me for sticks before the game and by the time you know you get it over there it's after but there's been a run in during the game so there's always some some fresh material to use as far as personalizing stuff. Dear Corey Perry, you're in charge.

Sidney Crosby. Yeah, there's always stuff like that, but it's fun. That's part of it. Okay, so I'm interested in this little way, Kyle, because a couple of years ago you were here, you know, you just turned 37. You said you wouldn't be doing this at 40, I remember. Is that still the way you're thinking? Because you're still at

the top of your game. You could play for years. Yeah, I mean, I think that I just, I don't want to look too far ahead. You know, I think when you talk to guys who start to get later on in their careers, you know, there's a lot of things that you're balancing and you go off, you know, your body and how you feel mentally and things like that so to predict that now is is impossible but i would say i'm probably a little more open than i was before to to to get into that point if uh if i feel good so um it's just it's hard to say and predict that okay you said yesterday you're getting close and something's going to happen i the one thing i was curious, I have two questions.

Number one, I was curious about the term for that reason. And number two, is there going to be an 8-7 in the contract? The 8-7, I don't know. But as far as the term, I think a lot of it has to do with what we just talked about. You know, it's just trying to you're basically trying to predict you know where you're going to be at and you know in a few years and uh i'd love to sign an eight-year deal right now don't get me wrong but uh you know with with my age and you know and not knowing how long i'm going to play for um yeah we'll see we'll see what that term is

but you know it wouldn't be something on the long run I don't think. Is there anything that drives you beyond just the idea of continuing to win more at the stage? I wouldn't say I mean just continuing to play at a high level and making sure that you know I do do my best you know to be I to be the best I can on a nightly basis. And then, and obviously, hopefully that transfers into winning hockey games. I mean, that's why you play. And it's not really a lot of fun watching, you know, watching the playoffs. You know, you work so hard to be there

and to compete, you know, for the Stanley Cup. So, you know, not being there the last couple of years, I think it's difficult. And you want to find a way to get back there. So we've been really close and haven't been able to get over the hump. So hopefully we're able to do that this year. So with that said, sorry, I was just going to say, like, how did you decongress then after last year? Well, it was tough. We made a great run. So, you know, to kind of keep ourselves in the fight there for a while. So I think, you know, I think there was a lot of things to feel good about

with that finish of the season. Um, hopefully we can carry a little bit of that momentum, you know, onto this year, but, uh, yeah, just understanding how close it is, um, between, you know, I know getting in and not getting in and just, you know, trying to evaluate all that stuff. But you can do that all day. And at some point, you just got to move by it. And I think just getting the rest, making sure that I took care of my body as best I could and get ready for this one. Actually, that's one of the things I heard said was that just the biggest thing for you is

that you're a penguin. You always wanted to be a penguin. But I did hear that if the biggest things for you is that you're a penguin. I always wanted to be a penguin, but I did hear that if there was one thing you were weighing, it's just like that competitive drive that you still have with where the penguins are. And would you be, I don't even know if okay is the right word, but would you be able to handle things if things didn't result in playoffs? That's what I heard your biggest thing was. Yeah, I wouldn't say that. I think it's, listen, it's so hard to make it.

There's lots of teams that go into a season that expect to make it that don't. You know, I think that, you know, the biggest thing, you know, when I think about our team is just our culture and the expectation to win has been there, you know, every year. You know, regardless of if we won the cup the year before or a young team there, you know, every year, you know, regardless of if we won the cup the year before or a young team or, you know, there's been so many different situations we've been in going into season. So, but I think I really, I really enjoy, you know, the expectation

to win. I think that that's something that pushes all of us. And, you know, for the guys that have been there for a number of years, you know, Tanger and Gino, that's something that pushes all of us. And, you know, for the guys that have been there for a number of years, you know, Tanger and Gino, that's something that we're proud of. You know, we want to go into a season with that expectation, regardless of what moves are made, what the team looks like. That's something we feel like being a part of that for a long time. That's important that we want to keep that. And, you know, there's going to be different moves.

There's going to be turnover. And that's okay. But, you know, we're coming into the season season to try to win and I don't think there's anything wrong with that and hopefully that gets the best out of us. Sid you watched a lot of playoffs this year any particular reason you watched more than normal or anything you noticed that really stood out to you? I couldn't tell you why I mean if I had to guess I think it's just not being not being in there for the last couple of years. I think you just, you want to see what separates, you know, the teams that make it and that don't. And the game's always changing. It's always evolving. And ultimately, I think the same things give teams success, but there's little things that that may change just you look at say when St. Louis won you know they're a little bit of a heavier team and the years that we won we're probably more you know skill speed team so you just you look at trends and things like that but if I had to guess that's probably why I just was interested to see you know what teams had success and why and that

sort of thing but I thought the hockey was unbelievable to be honest watching it the speed I thought it was physical um I don't think that you know it's it's gotten faster but hasn't lost the edge which is awesome you know that's that's part of the game and um I thought that was on display you know all throughout the playoffs so I go back to the stick topic for a second we were when you guys came through Toronto on play last year, they were doing a little snooping around in the room, and you actually had said to us you were contemplating changing kind of your setup with your stick, which for those that know how you like to have done things over your career, like that was a big deal.

I know you were practicing with something a little bit different. Did you ever use a different curve or anything in games last season? Not in games. I've always kind of messed around with it a little bit. And I've done it a number of times besides last year. It's just I always feel like I end up coming back to the same one. And that's a pretty big change when you use something for a long time, as much as I have, especially with my curve, how straight it is.

That's a big adjustment, but always looking for ways. And if that's one of them that can make me better, great. But if it's going to be more of a hassle and more of an adjustment, then I'll stick with what I have at this point. Last two for the interview. Number one, Crosby, McKinnon, Martyr. Is that the Team Canada line?

Two righties, huh, you're throwing them in? I don't know. I think there's going to be a lot of different combinations you can put together with that team. But, you know, thinking of the skill and, you know, the guys that are assembled, it'll be pretty cool to see those combinations and what it's going to end up being. But I don't know if I'll get put with two righties or not.

Who's going to play center? Who's going to play the wing? Yeah, we'll see. And if you took batting practice, could you hit one out on Paul Skeens? I don't think so. I would love to make contact with one the way he throws it. Have you met him at all? I haven't yet, so hopefully I get a chance.

He's awesome. Yeah, he's playing unbelievable. I was following a couple games there when he had no hitter going, and I think he ended up getting taken out in one of them. I would have loved to see him get one, but it's only a matter of time, I think, at this point. If they can do an ask, like, hey, would you want to stand in? I'd love to, yeah. I think, at this point. Yeah. If they came to you and asked, like, hey, would you want to stand in? I'd love to.

Yeah. I'd love to. Yeah. That'd be scary, I think. But I'd love to make contact. Yes. Well, whether it's at the plate or, most importantly, on the ice, we still love watching it.

So thanks so much for the time. Thank you. Appreciate it. So, Elliot, if Crosby ever does get a chance to stand in the batter's box with Paul Staines, like. If that's going to happen now, I guarantee you. Oh, for sure. We are going to have front row seats.

We better. You're telling me they're not going to do this? The two biggest stars in Pittsburgh sports, well, I mean, you probably could add T.J. Watt to that too, but two of the biggest stars in Pittsburgh sports, Skeens and Crosby, and the Pirates and the Penguins are going to let that opportunity pass. I just, I'm a big believer in manifestation, Elliot.

So the more we talk about it, the better it's going to be. So let's keep this rolling. And I want to be able to go Sportsnet, clear that Penguins budget, take it out of the Blue Jays budget. And you've got the biggest budget of all my friend. So we did Vegas. One less expensive coffee for Jamie Campbell and we can go down. That's right.

So earlier in the summer, you went to Prague in Czechia with our crew from sports net for the European edition of the NHL NHLPA player media tour and among the players you got to catch up with was the superstar out of Boston David Pasternak. Yeah he was in a good mood too similar to Crosby just a great mood and I thought it was a really good interview so we wanted to play it. We't just talk about swayman simply because you just didn't know if it was going to be timely or not but we talked about a lot of good things surrounding pasternak and i thought people would just want to hear it so here we go elliott friedman and david pasternak from prague enjoy all right so david this summer what was the better party

winning the little championship or the wedding? Oh, that's a first-time question. You're going to put me in this. Yeah, what was better? I think it was perfect timing to have it both, you know. Honestly, it was very different crowds, you know, different parties. But the parade was awesome at the Old Square, fun. different crowds, you know, different parties. But, the parade was awesome at the Old Square,

fun, but, you know, the wedding was, the wedding was amazing. It was with a lot of closest friends, you know,

so it was, that was the special thing about it. Here it was with a lot of fans and the whole country brought together. Two different parties, two were amazing. What a great summer, kick off the summer you know the wedding i remember my wife said when we got married my wife said all i care about is that everybody says that

was the best party they've been to this summer did you accomplish that i hope so yeah they uh you know the workers everybody at the end of the weekend was saying that it's the best wedding they've seen, you know. And that makes you happy, right? We had amazing guests. They made it super special for us. They were unbelievable. Everybody enjoyed themselves, dancing, you know. We had a 10-minute rain and we were eating outside,

so we were a little worried. But, you know, Big Z took credit, you know, took his shirt off and started dancing. Everybody started dancing. So that was special to see that you really have the best guests there. And we really were planning it a lot for them to enjoy and have a lot of fun. So I hope they enjoyed it. I saw, like, there's a lot of guys that you don't play with anymore, like Chara, Taylor Hall, Tory Crew, who I know you're very close with.

Like, how emotional is it for you to see all these guys still? It's good. I'm used to whoever I get a friend with, they either get traded or they retire. I'm getting used to it now, but that's the business you know we are living it I mean like you can't get mad or anything you know or said that's that's the business we are in you know that didn't change every single year so you obviously play hockey since you were kid because it's such an amazing sport you found so many friends you know and

and that's the beauty of the sport, that you find live friends, you know, and, yeah, they play in different teams, but all these guys, you know, I've become super close, and, you know, happy that we stay friends, even, you know, not just colleagues, but, you know, we found a friendship, so obviously it doesn't mean

that you don't play in Boston anymore, you know, you're not friends. So they definitely became closer friends. That's why they were there. Okay, so Torrey Krug is not your teammate anymore, but I heard you guys have some sort of beer drinking game that you continue even though you're not teammates. What is this? Yeah, that was actually me, Torrey Krug and David Krejci. Krejci is the one who brought it up.

Okay. And he calls it the gentleman's game. And there is only two rules. But this, if you start a game, it goes forever. Like, no matter if you are together or not. And the one rule is, so I'm lefty, so I always have to drink with the right hand. Okay. So I cannot drink with my left. And they are both righties, so I'm lefty, so I always have to drink with the right hand. Okay. So I cannot drink with my left. And they are both righties, so they drink with their left. And the second rule is you can put the drink on the table.

Like if I catch it with the edge, if my finger touches the drink, then you have to finish it. So you always have to put it far, you know. But if you put it over here and then I call you out and I can touch it, then you have to finish the drink. And same thing with the hand. If you drink with your right hand, I call you out and you have to finish the drink. And this goes forever. And it's a gentleman's game. So you call, it's honor system.

And like during, will you get like a random picture from Tori Krug or David Krejci saying, I broke the rule? No, no, no. No, not that. But like I've got burned. For example, we were FaceTiming or I sent them a picture of having a beer. And sometimes I was close to the edge. So they would call you out even through the message. But yeah, it's just now I can't even drink, honestly, with my left. Anything I drink is always with my right because we've been playing it for so long.

That's awesome. I love that. That is a fantastic story. I actually have heard you're like the king of FaceTiming. We all saw it after you won the championship at the Worlds. Is it true that you're the king of FaceTiming? You do it all the time. Yeah, I mean, I'm super bad at texting, and any time the text has longer than

one sentence there is no reply from me there's no chance i can reply really panic i panic always when i see long text i don't want to read them uh so it's always for me it's easier to facetime and answer that but uh yeah it's good i like to I like to see the person when I talk to it you know and it's better you have the eye contact it can be true then

it's it's good but obviously I don't know if I'm a kink but you know what I'll say is that

this is good if anybody ever wants a text reply from you don't make it more than one sentence that's what we've all learned from now. That's true. Or FaceTime.

Or FaceTime. So, World Championships, you know, earlier today we talked to Peter Morazic and we talked to Martin Nietzsche and they said that when they think about that parade, they still get goosebumps on their arm. That it still makes, they still get so excited when they think about that victory you uh yeah it was obviously insane and big big relief uh big rally voice we were waiting for a medal for a very long time uh we did that a lot of, so there was a big relief at first before all the celebration and everything else kicked in, at least in my head.

And then, like, yes, on the old square, it's just... I remember thinking, like, there was four steps up to the stage, and I took the two steps and I looked at the square, and the first thing I was thinking is, I want to relive it again. But I haven't even got up there, but that's the first thought I was thinking is I want to relive it again but I haven't even got up there but that's the first thought that stick with me which was great you know and like

that was the first thing that I thought of I wasn't even got to the stage and already said I want this again you know so it was very beautiful it was unbelievable how I said the whole country got together which you know that's the beauty of the sport that you pull the country all together no

matter where you from or who you cheer for you know they all been there they created amazing atmosphere so for me yes do I feel like I did needed this winning for my career because I've been waiting for a big win like that so yes it was Měl jsem takový význam pro moji kariéru, protože jsem se tím těšil a to bylo v pohodě pro moji kariéru. Význam pro motivaci a pro většinu významů. Ale samozřejmě jsem byl víc rád za zem, kterou jsme tu chtěli. put the country together and made them cheer for Czech again and get the medal after 14 years that I take, I put that a little over myself or anything. Completely understand. You know, Vemelka said that he will remember your goal

for the rest of his life. Oh, that's awesome. I will probably too, you know. That's like, as he said, I could never see myself go on my knees celebrating a goal. I thought I would like, I was interested. I could never see myself go on my knees celebrating a goal. I thought I would never, ever do that. But it was just so much emotions and so much relief. Like, for me, it was so much relief and so much excitement that happened.

That was good. That's awesome. You know, and you talk about country over self. And that's one of the things I do wonder about. First of all, you must be thinking, now that the NHLers are going back to the Olympics, you must be thinking about... I remember watching the pictures in 1998 when Czech Republic won. And you must be thinking about, let's do that again in 2026.

Well, yeah, not necessarily thinking about gold medal at the Olympics. Obviously we have to stay true to ourselves. We have a lot of work to do in hockey. Yes, we can be very competitive. We have a lot of skills. We have a lot of young players that hopefully in two years by the Olympics, you know, going to be a big part of the team, Olympics. But then at the same time, yes, you have to create a good group of people, you know, and make sure you build a team and, you know, not the players. So we'll see how that goes. But, you know, that's very far away.

Right now I'm focusing, you know, on winning a Stanley Cup and that's very far away I would right now I'm focusing you know on on on winning a Stanley Cup and and that's uh that's my next goal okay so let's let's talk about Boston um you know there are still Leaf fans who are a little annoyed at you for the game seven overtime winner um just like you you talked about that you want that win. How close do you feel you are or the Bruins are? Yeah, well, I guess you could say we are farthest as we've been in past years. But I think at the same time, we proved a lot of people wrong. Like last year, we were not even supposed to make a playoffs. You know, we beat a better team, which was, I think, Toronto,

like on the paper, a better team. And we beat them. Then we lost against Florida, who were so deep and so good that I think, I really feel like we could take them to seven. There was one game that, you know, circumstances was how they were, but I think we would win that game. You know, we pushed them to seven, and then you never know what happened in game seven.

So I still think we put a really good fight against Florida, but they were just deeper and better. Okay, so when you look at the Bruins now, you traded Altmark out, you added some people. How do you feel about this team going into the season? It's hard to judge. You get new faces coming in. Every team starts from zero.

The team changes, and you as a leader that is there for a while, you have to make sure that the faces change. But in our organization organisation nothing has changed. We have to keep holding the structure together and make sure those guys make sure we make it easy transition for the new faces that come. And obviously build a team because we have to be close together and play for one another. So that's where you start always as a game one starts in the regular season, to build so you are at your best in April.

So yeah, I think we got much better this summer, like you said, we made some moves. Definitely excited to see how everything everything going to sit together. We got some more experience. Guys, we had a lot of young guys last year get experience. I'm very excited. We got obviously Elias, Lindholm and

Zadorov. Big signing. Exciting to see those guys and make sure they feel comfortable joining our team. Zdorov looks like a Bruin, like when I see like Boston Bruins, like Zdorov fits that uniform, doesn't he?

Yeah, for sure, no, I mean you know, like I was very surprised of how skilled he is, you know, for his size he can move, you know, I was very surprised at how skilled he is, you know, for his size. He can move, you know, he can score. We saw it in the playoffs last year. And he's obviously a big body and he can lay down some big guys, you know. And so excited to see some of those big hits.

I love to see open-eyed hits when they're clean, obviously. So I can't wait to see some of those this season. Is it weird at all still that there's no Chara, there's no Bergeron? Did it take you guys a bit of time to get used to not having those two guys there? Of course. I mean, those are legends. They were there over decades, almost two decades, or maybe two decades. I'm not sure.

Yeah, he was there 20 years. Yeah almost two decades, or maybe two decades, I'm not sure. Yeah, he was there 20 years. Yeah, two decades. So, I mean, you lose these franchise faces or franchise players to retirement. Of course, it's going to feel weird and different, you know, but it is, you know, you can't stop time and that's hockey they retired

and you know how I said it was up to me and Marshy and McAvoy to step in their shoes and I think we couldn't have better teachers or teachers you can say I guess as Bergie and Z

to follow their lead. So I think they made us as ready as they could. Okay, three more for you. Go ahead. So one thing I like to do when I go to Boston is look up at the banners. I love looking up at the banners. Do you ever imagine 88 up there? The last thing I think about, yeah. I mean, I just want to win Stanley Cup.

I mean, I could care less about some banner. Obviously, if I win Stanley Cup, that means to me way more than my number being up there. I'm not playing individual sports so i i really don't don't think about it yes do i want to perform uh i'm uh statistic wise yes because that's my job obviously i need to make points i need to score but that's because that's my job and uh if if i don't do those then i'm not doing my job so yes, yes, I have to do that. But with that thing, I have to be selfish, you know, to think about it. Yes.

But, like, thinking about, like, winning some trophies, individual trophies, or hard MVP, or, you know, even Rocket Richard. That's definitely not in my books when I'm getting ready for the season. Okay. Second one is, I don't know where this will go after that answer, which is a really good answer, is 61 is your career high. Do you think about beating that? Oh, yeah.

Yeah, I mean, I don't know. I don't know if I can beat that. You're a talented guy, man. We'll see. You know, this last year I took away more of playmaking role than I used to the years before. I love playmaking. I want to do both.

But then also with that, if you start overpassing, then a lot of goals are going to go away. So I don't know. Would I like to beat it yes obviously I've that's you like you should as a player you know you want to beat it you want to be better than last year but I don't mind sparing the numbers between playmaking and scoring goals but I love both so as long as there is one or the other, I can help or pass the score, and I'd be more happy than scoring 60 again. Awesome. Second last one.

People who talk about you say that you're incredibly caring and you really look out for other people. What does that mean to you that people say that about you? Well, that's very nice to hear. I don't know if people say that about you well that's very that's very nice to hear i don't know people say that but uh yeah i mean i'm very family oriented obviously um always care for my friends and so yeah i mean well there's been a lot that you know people say that and recognize it so it's it's nice because it's true and and uh you know proud of that. Okay, and last one.

If there's anything about the NHL you could change, what would it be? I would make the game-winning shootout count as a goal in the statistic, like in Europe. Yeah? Because the shootouts, they don't count, right? Yes. Which I understand, but the game-winning shootout should count as a goal in your statistics.

Okay. Because that counts in Europe. Okay. Yeah. I like that.. Because that counts in Europe. Okay. I like that. That can get you over 61. Yeah. Focus more, too. Thanks so much.

Thank you. So that's going to do it for this week's episode. We got a chance to sit down with a number of players in Vegas this past week. We're going to roll those interviews out as we go along here, an inch closer to the beginning of the regular season. In the meantime, though, we are going to be back with our regularly scheduled pod drops of Mondays and Fridays starting next week. As we mentioned, the thought line is coming back. Stay tuned on all of those fronts. We are less than a week from the opening

of training camps across the league. We can't wait. In the meantime, though, take care. Thank you for listening and have a great weekend.