32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Sorting Through the Trade Market for Defencemen

Episode Date: December 8, 2023

Jeff and Elliotte dive into Patrick Kane's debut with the Detroit Red Wings which resulted in a 6-5 overtime loss at the hands of the San Jose Sharks. They whip through a few stories from Thursday in the NHL including: the LA Kings continuing to roll, the Canucks breaking the Minnesota Wild's winning streak, and Leafs taking the battle of Ontario 4-3 over the Senators. Jeff and Elliotte dive into the defencemen market, and most notably the Leafs who have lost John Klingberg (13:11). They talk about the New Jersey Devils' role in the trade market (25:38) and discuss if Calgary will make a decision on their goaltending (35:02). Jeff and Elliotte touch on Philip Broberg and the resurgent Edmonton Oilers (44:25) and wrap the podcast by talking about the Shohei Ohtani sweepstakes (1:02:47).The guys answer your questions in the Montana’s Thought Line (51:24).Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call the Montana's Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemail.This podcast was produced and mixed by Dominic Sramaty and hosted by Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman.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. 

Everybody talks about love and building bridges and making people love one another. That's not what this podcast is about. This is the pro hate everyone else podcast. There's only one team, my team. That's it. That's right. The story was supposed to be Pat Kane, but it turned out to be the San Jose Sharks, but we're going to start by talking about Pat Kane anyway. Welcome to 32 Thoughts, the podcast presented as always by the GMC, Sierra HD, Merrick Schramatti, and Elliot Friedman, who has returned from the Board of Governors meeting in Seattle. But that is old news, Elliot. The new news is we just saw Patrick Kane in a Detroit Red Wings uniform. It was jarring. I would bet it was jarring i would bet it was specifically jarring to chicago blackhawks fans to see that but nonetheless patrick kane 16 minutes and 33 seconds of ice time uh didn't register any points

no goals no assists created a lot look good uh flashes of the patrick kane we're used to but at the end of it and we'll get to the san jose sharks a six to five loss a four goal comeback by the team in teal but initially your thoughts on pat king let me take it to the sharks for a second jeff oh geez you know there's this scene in movies and tv shows yes where there's a wedding going on and whoever is marrying them, whether it's a preacher, a rabbi, a father, a captain of a ship, you name it. You name it. There's that moment where they say, does anybody here have any objections? Speak them now or forever hold your peace.

That was like the San Jose Sharks getting up in that moment and objecting to the wedding. Because Detroit's up four to nothing. Everybody's celebrating Patrick Kane. And the Sharks said, we are going to ruin this party. I thought Kane was not bad at all. He created some chances early in the first period. He had one glorious opportunity where he hit the post and should have scored.

And he's probably kicking himself for that one. The thing that I thought was really interesting is of all the Detroit forwards, he had the fifth most ice time, 16 and a half minutes. And even though he was playing on a line that you'd expect to get a lot of ice time with Valeno and Debrinket, you didn't necessarily think they'd push him in game one.

Lalonde had kind of hinted that. But I didn't think he looked out of place. It was a wild game. It was a wild game. It was a great game to watch. Eight goals in 11 minutes in the second period, just crazy. But I don't know if it's the teal helmets. Maybe the teal helmets have a superpower on it. San Jose stole that game and ruined the evening.

They look good in those teal helmets, by the way. They look fantastic. We talked about this last year when the Carolina Hurricanes had the white jerseys and the red helmets and the red gloves and i said i hope this becomes a trend in the nhl and we saw this in sweden as well with some teams and now we see with the san jose sharks that if you're gonna stick with white jerseys okay you gotta go with the dark helmets and And I think San Jose looked fantastic. That is, by the way, San Jose's second big comeback this week. There was a comeback against the New York Islanders as well. So, you know, as we were all treating the San Jose Sharks like piñatas this year,

all of a sudden, now their team, resiliency, coming back against the Islanders, coming back against the Detroit Red Wings. I'm telling you, good on the San Jose Sharks for not rolling over. Good on the San Jose Sharks. It was a great game, a really great game. It's going to be interesting. You know, Granlund is a guy whose stock really dropped last year. You know, the trip to Pittsburgh was really bad for him.

It turned out he was a really bad fit, and he became kind of the flashpoint in a whole battle over their organization and where they were going and who was at fault and who to blame, right? And he ends up in San Jose, and he's still got another year left, which kind of makes him hard to move

another year at five million but he's had a bit of he's had a bit of a resurgence lately like he since he scored that beautiful goal against Vancouver he's kind of breathed some new life into himself and a little bit even into the team but I'm kind of rooting for him because it was almost like last year he became a pawn in this gigantic fight over the pittsburgh penguins and i don't think it's easy to be in the middle of that especially when you're traded there after it's already begun so i like to see him do well and he made a great play on the winning goal he really did uh okay elsewhere around the nhl on thursday whip through a couple of stories here quickly congratulations los angeles kings 11 straight road victories off the start of the season that is a new nhl record uh quentin byfield with two goals his seventh and

his eighth he had three points on jay kopitar had three points as well the los angeles kings are a force elliott and they shut out the montreal canadiens by a final score of four nothing had three points as well. The Los Angeles Kings are a force, Elliot, and they shut out the Montreal Canadiens by a final score of 4-0. Congratulations, LA. We've talked about them at times. That was a great win for last night. You know, you could see, you know, some teams, they kind of show up

on record-breaking nights and they land face-first into the ground because it's just, it's the pressure, the expectation, or you're just due for a loss. Not that team last night. They were really good. And I really do think one of the stories of the season is Quentin Byfield. He scored another beautiful goal last night. We've talked about, I think, again,

the Kings this year are a reminder of, you know, you look at the Sabres, you look at the Senators, you look at teams that are trying to win with young cores, right? Detroit to some degree, although it's starting to age a bit, and they've brought in some new players I think what this reminds you of like there are some teams and Chicago was a team in 2009 they started to win with a pretty young group and some guys still on their entry level deals I think what the Kings and other teams are a reminder of is that you can have really good young players,

but it's really hard to win with them at the forefront if there are not veterans who can make a difference. And now I think Byfield, because he doesn't have to play a big role at center, it's like the world is off his shoulders. It's like he can just play and he doesn't have to worry about everything he's he's going to grow into an even better piece because all the pressure in the world isn't on him he can play with Kopitar and Kempe and you know guys like Deneau and Dubois can do the heavy lifting and I've said I think a million times but I really believe it it all comes down to roles can you get people into the right roles and the Kings have realized that some of their young players that they were hoping to grow with they're better suited for these roles than maybe what they

initially thought they're they're a heck of a team and everybody contributes by field working with Barb Underhill the skating has improved and now that he's not as hunched over as he's always been like i i used to watch him in the omha playing for york simcoe express and he was like big strong he was like eric lindros uh with yse and guys would just bounce off of him he was just so physically bigger than everybody else but he was still hunched over he's more straight up now and you realize just how large a man he is and you know what lost on a lot of this conversation about the la kings that's a really big strong team yes they're big man and you see it in byfield now too like whoa because he was all hunched over before, but now you look at him and you're like, wow, that guy is,

that guy is one large, highly skilled individual. Okay, Vancouver Canucks derail the Minnesota Wild. 2-0 is the final score. So that ends the Minnesota Wild four-game winning streak under John Hines, newly appointed head coach. And all eyes on this one were on the relationship between Andre Kuzmenko and Rick Tockett, Elliot. I'm not surprised he wasn't scratched.

It just doesn't strike me as a very Tockett thing to do. He's demanding, and you can tell he's sick of answering questions about it. But I think he kind of looks at the big picture you know kuzmenko he had a big back check in the second period you can tell he's really yeah he's really he kind of got the message you know 12 15 not the most ice time he's ever received but you know there were guys who played less um you know minnesota's bubble was just due to burst. They'd been on such a run.

You knew that was going to happen. And it does happen from time to time. But that's a good win for Vancouver. And I think Kuzmenko knows what Tuckett expects of him. And if he's going to do it, he's going to play. And I saw some things in this particular game where he just said, okay, I'm going to do some of those things. And if he does, it's just going to sort its way out.

Okay, Battle of Ontario. The Maple Leafs won this one despite getting horribly outshot. 4-3 is the final score. But the big story coming out of this one, it was just a lazy backhand with about nine and a half minutes left in the game. And something went with Joseph Wall.

And he was pulled. Afterwards, Sheldon Keefe says, quote, he will miss some time for sure. Yeah, it was, you know, he was unbelievable that game. You know, the Maple Leafs didn't play great. Walser did. And I have to say this Martin Jones who hadn't appeared in a game he's on the bench as the backup because or at least an NHL game he's on the bench as a backup because Samsonow's getting over an illness here and just

think of how long he'd been sitting until he got thrown into that one and he had to make some big saves the you know they they smelled blood when wool when it was out of that game they they said we've got a guy sitting here and i and big credit to jones for for standing strong in a difficult situation but you know one of my buddies is a really huge leaf and he texted me when when wool went out and he said what do you think the chances are that's just a cramp and i looked at my phone i looked at the television they said yeah that's a pretty bad cramp i i would have to say you know so you know he's gonna be out for a bit they're cursed you know injury wise right now they just keep they keep getting injuries and they keep thinning themselves

out they keep battling i give them a lot of credit they really battle um but again you know we're talking about toronto and whatever they could add these look like they're all injuries where players are going to come back so you kind of have to battle your way through it. Like, Lagasin's been really good for them. But, you know, he was sick that night and he couldn't play. You know, what's it going to be? It's going to be Samsonov and Jones now, Jeff. And, you know, Samsonov, it's been a really weird year for him. He's had some really good games.

He's had some really good games he's had some really strange games um you know we've had you know we've had the full samsonov experience this year like when he left washington this is kind of what we were warned about incredible talent but a big question about the consistency and you know it's his job right now he has another chance to take the number one spot um you know if i mean number one is he ready to play if not we could see jones on saturday night against nashville but if you're samsonov you've got to be looking at this as dr fate has knocked on your door again and And I'm not talking about the DC superhero. He's right there saying, it's your time.

The Maple Leafs with their sixth regulation win. Now it's time for a long conversation about defensemen. I do wonder if a new shark is in the water looking for a defenseman. And that is most notably the New Jersey Devils with their Dougie Hamilton injury slash situation. But as it relates to defensemen and headlines this week, a lot of it revolved around Brad True Living,

general manager of the Maple Leafs, making it official. John Klingberg will not play this season, so his money stays on LTIR. Follow us through the dominoes after that. Jeff, there is an actual devil shark. There's a devil shark? I didn't know if you were even aware of that. Obviously not.

But that's where I thought you were going. Devil shark. I mean, yeah, of course. Elliot, I was saying yes. Isn't Guel supposed to be the big veterinary animal school? Like, shouldn't you know these things there? I took English and philosophy.

It's an Aggie school and I took English and philosophy. Another example of the failure of a University of Guelph education. Okay. So, yes. Now, there's a couple of things at play here we should keep track of. Number one, someone said to me, the only reason Zdorov got traded when he did was because Vancouver had the money to do it. Vancouver, we talked about Rutherford, his history, snap him up, go, I'm not waiting. Calgary makes it very clear,

we have a deal here, anyone else, well, we all need you to take money. Calgary says, nope, we're're not doing that we can make this deal without keeping anything zadorov gets traded to vancouver there's not a lot of other teams that can do that right now jeff so i think that's one factor in all this and also there are injuries out there like you look at toronto everyone's talking about Klingberg out for the year yes he is but you know Lilligran's coming back you know Giordano's coming back you're in a situation with New Jersey we don't yet have clarity on Hamilton at least not publicly and he's making nine million a year so you're in a position where you can't just trade for these people without considering what the ramifications are down the line. So you have to remember that. You know, Jeff, the first thing I'd like to say

about Toronto is my prediction is this. As long as there is the opportunity to get Tanev, I think he's their number one choice. Tree Living knows him. He signed him. He knows him better than anybody else who's out there. And at the end of the day, if you're going to place a bet, you're always going to give edge to the person that you know. Now, if you heard the interview with Nick and Justin, Tree Living poo-pooed the idea that Calgary doesn't want to deal with him. But we'll see. Whatever the case is, as long as Tanev is out there, and I think Vancouver likes him too, among others, I would suspect Dallas does, I would suspect New Jersey does, and I'm sure there are others. But as long as he's available, that's the guy. So everyone else we're talking about with Toronto, I think

they're behind him. The other thing that was brought up to me this morning before we taped is, look, it's almost the holidays. The trade freeze is not far away it's a week away and there are going to be teams that are going to say if we don't have to do anything maybe we're not going to be so quick to do anything as we get through the christmas trade freeze you know for example guys like tanev look at anybody who makes more than Zdorov. All these teams are going to need you to hold money, keep money, or whatever. So there is a bit of a complication with all this now, and we should keep that in mind. But yes, look, Toronto's looking for D.

New Jersey's looking for D. Carolina is looking to move D out. Nashville's now got an extra D, and one of them who has permission, Tyson Berry, to seek moves elsewhere. Ethan Bear is getting closer now, and Bear has now said to teams, if you want to come watch me skate, I'm out in Kelowna.

Who doesn't want to go to colona at any time of the year it's one of the most beautiful places in canada who doesn't want to go there and bear is a situation where you don't have to trade for them it's money and you know i think and i was like this too i think vancouver wanted them and i think Bear wanted to go to Vancouver. But teams can read Cap Friendly or Puckpedia just like we can. They see what Vancouver's cap situation is. And, you know, it was funny. In one of my fantasy football leagues, you have to pay for free agents to pick up a free agent.

And one guy needed a free agent last week and he looked at another guy who we knew would seem the same player and he saw how much money the guy had left in his budget and he bid one dollar more and he got the player and the other guy was so mad but I mean what are you going to do so there are teams who know what Vancouver can do and I think there are teams who are prepared to outbid them so you know look all of a sudden as you said Jeff it's a big D market there's a lot of teams looking and suddenly there are more available like I'll tell you you talk about the shifting landscape like at the beginning of the year one team told me if if we're going to need defense you know when we're going to need defense. You know what we're going to be looking at? We're going to be looking at Winnipeg.

Because Winnipeg on the UFA defense, they have Dillon. They have DeMello. Logan Stanley is not a UFA. He's a restricted free agent with Arborites. But it's a situation there where the player wants to play more. And I think at different times times Winnipeg has explored the market for him but now you're looking at the Jets they're going pretty well they've got a couple of wins now after they were on a bit of a down streak and all of a sudden their players

who are UFAs might not be available so the market shifts on you a little bit that's kind of what you've got here. You know, there's a couple of players that I'm thinking of specifically in this market, and they're players on expiring contracts, although they're on a team that's playing real well. And some would say

punching above their weight, albeit. It's a team that's in a rebuilding process. Don't tell the coach that, and don't tell a lot of the players that. But Nick Seeler and Sean lot of the players that. But Nick Seeler and Sean Walker of the Philadelphia Flyers. Teams are calling. I don't think that should be a surprise to anybody.

I don't think that Philadelphia is in a hurry. Why would they? I don't think they're in a hurry to let go of them. Things are going great right now for Philadelphia. But both are expiring. Both have played well. Seeler has a snarl and a bite to his game. Sean Walker has been a revelation in Philadelphia.

Tortorella loves him by all indications. I don't know that it's both for Toronto, but could you see one? I could like as you said here you know Philadelphia is kind of in a situation where there's two things here number one they have to figure out what they're going to do and number two they're in no hurry to do anything um you know as you mentioned they have walker who's played very well for them they've been really impressed and they have sealer who they've liked well why wouldn't they keep both of them like and the thing is here too is that i don't think anybody's under any illusions about you know who the flyers are and where they're going this season but but the other thing you always have to keep an eye on is how do things go over in your room i i think

about after one conversation i had with al mckinnis I always think about that how is this going to go over in your room and know the Flyers aren't expected to do much this year but look at how hard that team is playing look at how much they're competing look at I mean you cannot you cannot look at that team and say they are mailing it in they are they're doing everything you could ask and if you if let's just say for argument's sake they were to trade guys now what message are you sending to your room and the other thing too is Jeff is that and I've always remembered this since you know Terry Pagula's first days in Buffalo he came in there with all the best of intentions like the fan base

was like we're not spending money we're not spending money we're not spending money he goes out and he spends on Christian Ehrhoff he goes out and he spends on Vili Lino and then all of a sudden the players in the room are upset like you so you always have to look at can we reward the players who are already here so i think and and these guys are the guys who run that team they're players daniel briere was a player keith jones was a player you don't think they know all this stuff so they can afford to sit there and wait things are going well the fans are happy they're playing hard why rush into any decision that you don't need to make why agree completely and that's why i say they're not in any rush to do this but they are in a situation

where there's a couple of players okay are on are on expiring deals yes so eventually you've got to make your decisions we talked about walker i do think walker is going to be a target uh for a bunch of teams depending on what philly decides to do i think sealer going back to last year i had people telling me that there were teams looking at sealer because not only was he a u he wasn't a ufa last year but teams love that he was locked up for another year at 775 he was very attractive to some teams out there so we'll see what philly wants to do here and i don't think that's changed with sealer at all you know as i said with walker i don't think he was toronto's first choice. It doesn't mean he's a bad guy or anything like that,

but I think they were looking for a guy with a bit more of an edge. Seeler certainly has the edge. He's a left-hand shot. I think Toronto prefers a right-hand shot. You know, I wrote about Ristolainen. I got some pushback on it, and then I got some more pushback on the pushback like it's crazy out there right now but I got I got pushback on it that he was

Toronto's target I think it's right to mention that you know he's a right hand shot he's signed um you know he hasn't played a ton but he's really taken big steps there the one thing about that is like just say for argument's sake Toronto or a lot of other teams wanted to do this it would probably mean retention and so again that's a separate conversation it's what the price for the player and what's the price for the retention and the other thing is like there's a lot of people out there who are like, Philly is going to take a ninth-round pick and a D-level prospect to move. No, I don't think that's the case. I think they see value in him, and I don't think that they're going to be rushing to take just whatever it can to move him.

I think they like Ristolainen. I think they see value for him. I think they really Ristolainen. I think they see value for him. I think they like, they really like his attitude and the people who've watched him go from Buffalo to Philadelphia, even though he's been hurt, they say that Philadelphia has unlocked some things in him and found things with him that unfortunately Buffalo couldn't. So, you know, he's, the people who watch him a lot more than i do say there's definitely an improved player there a player who's shown he's willing to learn and has done so you know

one of the teams that i really do wonder about elliot are the new jersey devils in all of this and the dougie hamilton injury looms large um It's a torn pack out indefinitely. Does that mean the season? Does that mean he comes back at some point? As you've pointed out, it is a big cap hit. So you need to be sensitive, whatever moves you make, should he come back? And all of a sudden you have to scramble to make room for Dougie Hamilton. But this season hasn't gone the way that we expected,

the way that the Devils expected. There's a number of reasons for it, injuries being one, but also underperformance at a couple of positions. How do you see the New Jersey Devils and general manager Tom Fitzgerald in the market right now? I think they're looking around at things probably more than they've let on. And they should.

It's probably similar to what Toronto is doing. Toronto is noisy. It's difficult to make. There's so much media covering your team and so much airtime that needs to be filled that it's really hard to do things in Toronto in a vacuum. New Jersey, it's a little different. It's quieter around the Devils. But I bet you that Tom Fitzgerald is no different than Brad Tree Living.

He's at least gauging the market. He's looking to see what's out there. If you look at a lot of the moves that they've made, you know, Hamilton, all they traded for him was basically a free agent signing. Palat was a free agent signing. If you take a look at some of the players they've traded for, they've traded for them at points where they knew

if they wanted, they could get team control. Timo Meier couldn't sign him to an extension when they traded for him. Got one done later. Tyler Toffoli, if they want to sign him, they're going to have the control to do it. John Marino was in the middle of a long-term deal. Siegenthaler, they traded for him and were in position to sign him to an extension. So that's kind of what I look at for them. If they're going to trade for someone, to me, it's someone who they might want to keep. So I'm looking through that and I'm saying, who are those people?

And of course, the Devils, like everybody else, they want to win the trade. They are tough negotiators when it comes to both the contracts that they've done and also the trades that they like to make. They really grind, as a lot of teams do. So to me, that's what I'm looking at. Who are the people out there that either have control or the devils look at and say, we're going to have the choice of keeping this player or not.

It won't necessarily be the player that has leverage it'll be us because it's a player that we want and so I'm kind of going through my list of of of players for that you know the to me the goalie market is going to be interesting now because I've got to think at some point Carolina is going to be there. They haven't declared Frederick Anderson out for the season, but I'm under the impression they are prepared for the possibility that he won't play again this year. And Jeff, one other thing about New Jersey, I think something else they could be looking for is another depth forward. They've got Brendan Smith playing forward for them a lot right now.

He's game and I give him a lot of credit for it, but I don't think that's what you want to be doing long term. So you're looking at the way they're going right now. They've got some of the worst goaltending statistics in the league and otherwise they've got a really

good team. They can't be looking at this and say, this is going to continue. In this whole situation here, this is where I start to look at someone like John Gibson. Now, you talk about grinders. There's no bigger grinder in the NHL right now than the Anaheim duo of Pat Verbeek and Jeff Solomon. So you know you've got to deal with them. duo of Pat Verbeek and Jeff Solomon. So you know you've got to deal with them. But Gibson, I think everybody knows because Anaheim's not going to be in a winning position for a while.

I think he'd like to move. I think they're willing to accommodate him. That isn't going to be an easy deal to make because like I said, Verbeek's a really tough negotiator gibson has control over where he wants to go i'm sure he would have no problem with the likes of carolina and new jersey but the question is how do they feel like how do they feel about gibson the the one knock on gibson like the like the thing is i was asking some people about gib Gibson and here's the thing with him last year he faced a ton of shots and he stood up this year early in the season he played extremely well as Anaheim went on a win streak that surprised us with this the biggest concern about him is not the contract the biggest concern about him is availability and I think that that's like if you're going to commit to that contract you need to know that he's going to be available and you know he gets he's had some injuries he gets hurt a bit and he's a goalie goalies get hurt it's a big strain on their body but every time he's a goalie. Goalies get hurt. It's a big strain on their body.

But every time there's a goalie opening out there, people say Gibson, and for good reason. He's a talented, talented guy. I think what scares people about him is are you going to get the full bang for your buck in terms of his availability to play? And, Jeff, it's not like it got any better on Thursday they lost to Calgary in a game they were winning two to nothing Dustin Wolfe made some some big big saves after it looked like Calgary was going to get blown out of the building you know the thing too about Brendamore is, you know, sometimes coaches,

like he wears his heart on his sleeve and he is who he is. He's never going to change. But, you know, he has that outburst the other night. He was mad again, which the outburst was hilarious. Like, I mean, it went viral for good reasons. But then he has, do you think he said 50 or 15? I thought it was 50. It sounded like 50 to me, maybe because I i'm projecting and i wanted him to say 50 because it's funnier no no it sounded like 50 you're not wrong but someone said to me do you think he's doing the math because it's five nothing

and he's just extrapolating it over three periods no where even if you're going 50 i'm choosing 50 i'm taking i get that i totally get that but you know what listen i'll tell you what yeah it was pretty it was there was that line to darren pang but there was a there was a bomb of a line after this game where he said we've got a lot of guys who aren't pulling their weight so now he's starting to drill down and getting closer to going after guys specifically. Like that from Rod Brindamore, that's a bomb. Well, you're talking about Thursday night, right? Yeah. Yeah, well, because the thing is, you can't blame the goalies all the time.

Like, even if you're not getting saves, you can't do that. Because I think what he's also saying there is he's saying, look, maybe our goaltending isn't great, but we can't use it as a crutch or an excuse for the way things are going, right? You have to tell your other players to bear down. I see two things there. Even a guy who's as beloved by his players as Brynden Moore is, you can't go to this too often. You can't go to this too often. You can't. It's like when you listen to music online, a true connoisseur of music

doesn't pick a whole bunch of songs that sound the same in a row. You have some that go a certain way and then others go a certain way. You know, you have some difference. You mix them in. You charge yourself up. Like you go to a good concert

and a true concert genius just changes it up here and there you can't always come with the same note is what i'm saying and i just were i just worry a really long way to get there you could you could have just said it's not a punk rock guitar solo you just play just play one note over and over and over again. Why say two words when I can say 2,000 words? You should know this by now. Fair point. Get to the point already, Elliot. Anyway, I worry for Brindamore

that you can't keep doing that all the time. And he's starting to do it a lot. So one of two things are going to have to happen. Either he's going to have to find a different way to get them going which i'm sure he would but the second thing is something's going to happen have to happen with this roster like i you know again i wonder if carolina sits there and says we got to look around at at goalies here at what point do you think calgary makes a decision on their goalies? We've talked so much about their defensemen.

They also have three goaltenders. Dustin Wolfe started on Thursday night against Carolina. At what point do we see a decision there? Because that opens up the market a lot. First of all, Markstrom has control over everything, so that's number one. But number two is, when does Calgary think Wolfe is ready? Because in training camp, he didn't win a job.

Now, he's going to get a run now. Markstrom's out for a while, so Wolfe is going to get a run. Today, they said that Wolfe was going to start against Carolina. It was almost like cheering for the emperor coming down from the rafters. I just think that Wolfe has to have a run here. We know he can do it

at the AHL level. We know how talented he is. But he didn't do enough in the exhibition season to convince Calgary that it was time to turn over the job to him. Does he do it now? By the way, another defenseman who people keep asking me about is Adam Larson. Really, eh?

In Seattle. Yeah. It's interesting because, hang on, you wrote in your notes this week about, it wouldn't surprise, I'm paraphrasing here, you can spell it out yourself, wouldn't surprise you if all of a sudden, out of nowhere, boom, Ron Francis announces a big deal. Well, it's just because I think they know he's got to get a score, right? Like Seattle, as well as they scored last year,

they had to work for a lot of those goals. I think everybody just looks at Seattle and says they need a natural goal scorer. Now, I don't necessarily, like Ron Francis in trade rumors, that's just a no-go. He's a vault. So I don't even know if larson's even available and he has some control over it but you know a lot of a lot of my buddies who watch the oilers over the years like they they really like larson and they think he just got a raw deal there right from the start because of how he was traded there um there's a lot of people

out there who really like adam larson as a player i just don't even know if it's even feasible let me let me throw another name out at you while we're doing this game here um what about will borgen right hand shot that was that was another guy who last year his name came up a lot. Yeah, I mean, you know, Alexiak too. You know, Seattle's going to try to stay in the race, obviously. They're still in it. And I think that that is as big a deal as much as anything else. But I get a lot of people asking me about Larson and what his situation is. But I've heard nothing, to be honest.

Larson and you know what his situation is but I've heard nothing to be honest um I I just think that there's so few teams out there that have room right now that unless you have the room like Vancouver does or someone else does we might be waiting a little bit. Okay. Let me get to one of the big headline stories from this week. And that was, and it's caught a lot of people by surprise, myself included, the Ottawa Senators announcement of Jacques Martin as the senior advisor to the coaching staff of the Ottawa Senators. So it's a return to, you know, a former name from the Ottawa Senators, a return to you know a former name from the ottawa senators a return to glory alfredson's back um and now jacques martin returns to the mix how did you see this one well the the first thing everybody asked is do you think that he wants to be the head coach.

And I didn't get that impression from that media conference yesterday. Did you? I did not. Yeah, I mean, he's 71 years old. What I got from that though, listening to Steve Steyos speak, is that we don't want to make decisions right now until we have our general manager installed.

You know what? Honestly, I don't know if that's relevant. I really don't. Steve Steyos is the president of hockey operations. What, he needs permission from a general manager to change the coach? No, but do you not get the sense that Steve Steyos as a longtime hockey person, is much more differential to hiring a manager and then allowing that person to name their coaching staff?

I don't. I don't think that at all. I think Steve Steyos is confident in his own skin. And I think if he felt the right move was there, that he would do it. So how did you see Martin then? I think that's 1940s thinking, Jeff. Get out of the 40s okay well you know my love of hockey history yes yeah and of i love lucy i'm sure you're a big fan and i know you probably also like the dick van dyke show so like 1940s oh when he trips over

the when he trips over the ottoman it's so clutch clutch. It's so awesome. Come on. I still always laugh. I still see whenever the repeats come on of those, I get a kick out of him and Mary Tyler Moore, his wife on the show, sleeping in separate beds. How quaint. Anyway, as I was saying, no, I don't think that thinking is relevant anymore. Like, you know, they have, they already have him there and Ann Lauer there who's no shrinking violet, nothing.

I think they're more than capable of making a decision if they want to. Honestly, as I've said, I know I'm a broken record. I think it all comes down to just calming down the market, showing the players that you're going to run a calm organization after all the craziness of the previous regime. And also, I think you have more names and availability this offseason. And so if you want to make a change you have more options to do it you know i think

what's really interesting to me is like ottawa was well prepared for all these questions the before stay was talked about jacques martin he talked about how hard he sees smith and the coaching staff work every day before you know jacques martin really started talking about things he talked about how much he thinks the details are better than they were a year ago so they really wanted to create an environment where this was not going to throw any gasoline on the fire this is all about support how many times was the word resource used in that media conference yesterday it was used so often that if we all got a dollar we wouldn't have to go to work tomorrow like that's how much it was used steos compared the hiring to the hiring of matt nickel this is here to complement what we already

have yes that's what he kept coming back to. You know, I think this too, like to me, it's screamed Daniel Alfredson. You know, if you're a Sanders fan, you know,

the story about Daniel Alfredson, that when, before Jacques Martin came in, Daniel Alfredson was thinking of going back to Sweden. He just thought it was so bad there. And Jacques Martin comes in and he stabilizes things. You know, Jacques Martin and I didn't see eye to eye on a lot of things, but I absolutely think he should be in the ring of honor in Ottawa.

Like, he should be there because he stabilized that franchise as much as anybody else did. And so for a lot of fans, like I saw the reaction online, and again, I think Twitter is not always a true barometer of what people think, but I saw the reaction of the Ottawa fans. They were pretty ecstatic. It's another W for the organization. But look, Alfredson was just on the bench in Sweden and Martin comes in

next couple of weeks. Alfredson, I know he feels that Martin was a great details oriented coach. And again, I'm not saying that he's submarining the current coaching staff. I don't think that's his way, but I could see him saying, you know what? This really helped us when we were learning how to win and going from a bad team to a good one. Why can't it work here? And to me, that's what I see there. That's what I see. I just can't imagine that Martin at 71 years old is going to go behind the bench. years old is going to go behind the bench although as i wrote i heard when they fired gee boucher and mark crawford took over there was some contact with martin about taking over

his head coach then but that's already five years ago right so you know i mean i'm not ageist but i think they're you can find 66 year old coaches i don't know how many 71-year-old coaches you find. You know, Elliot, another defense we should probably talk about is Philip Broberg. Yeah. Sent to the American Hockey League on Thursday, but there's a backstory here. Have you been able to crystallize what's happened

with Broberg and the Oilers? I think this. Everybody knows that the player is unhappy and it might be time. Whether or not he's actually been given permission, the Oilers deny it, but it's out there. And he was sent down, and I think that was one of the requests that was made. If you're not going to play him there, send him down so he can get games in and get ice time in. He's going to play 20 minutes a night down in Bakersfield.

games in and get ice time in. He's going to play 20 minutes a night down in Bakersfield. And you kind of wonder if this is the last time we're going to see him as an oiler. I definitely think there's interest. I definitely think that the oilers know that they can do this if they want. It's just a matter of what they determine they want as price. But I've heard there's a lot of interest out there. The toughest thing about these deals is, Jeff, that there are always teams that are interested in someone who's young, who doesn't work out in the first place. You can always find a lineup of teams that are interested in that. What it becomes a battle on is price because the team says, well,

this is a 22 year old player was a first round draft pick and teams trading former like, well, he hasn't had that role. So if you think you're getting a first round pick or something like that, you're crazy. So that always becomes the battle because there's the fear of seeing that player turn into what you thought they would be somewhere else. Let's park a couple of minutes here to talk about the Oilers. We documented their walk down the staircase, and now we're documenting the walk back up the staircase. 6-1 is the final.

Rod Brindamore, not thrilled with his team's performance by any stretch of the imagination, and it started early. Two goals in under one minute. Fastest two goals to start a game in Oilers history. And man, does that cover some ground and cover some Hall of Fame players. Ryan McLeod scores 27 seconds in. Matthias Ekholm scores. Zach Hyman, who's been just fantastic for Edmonton, even in the losing streak.

Hyman's been great. He's got 10 goals in his last 11. He gets a hat trick in this one. 6-1 is the final. And at the end of the first period, Elliot, the Oilers got a standing ovation as they skated off the ice after 20 minutes of play. Did you think we'd see that two weeks ago?

But there it was. Remember, right before the Heritage Classic, they got booed off the ice at the end of the second period against the Rangers. And now they're getting standing ovations. Now they're getting the standing ovations. Look, what's the number one thing that tells you about the Edmonton Oilers?

Healthy? Health. You actually got it right. I was convinced you about the Edmonton Oilers? Healthy. Health. You actually got it right. I was convinced you'd get it wrong. You got it right. I'm very proud of you. It's all health. I get a cookie.

You know, like the thing is, when you have Connor McDavid on your team, when things are going badly, you can look at it and you can say, give the puck to this guy and save us. It's not always the way you can win, but it's a great strategy when things are going badly. And that was gone because McDavid wasn't himself.

And now we've watched him go from 100th in the league in points to top 10 in a blink of an eye. And he's healthy. Ekholm, who you mentioned, is healthy. That team is itself, again, closer to it. Now, they overwhelmed Carolina. And we'll talk about Carolina's goalie situation in a minute. talk about Carolina's goalie situation in a minute but I think it's just a reminder of what was missing at the start of the year it was health now were they loose 100% were they leaky 100%

were they not getting great goaltending 100% but Connoravid is like oxy 10 remember in high school when you broke out in acne you put on the oxy 10 and it saved your skin holy connor mcdavid is oxy 97 you put you put it on fully healthy and it makes you look that much more attractive. And you know what? Look, the other thing, too, is we should say this. In the first period, a month into the season, Edmonton would have given up a goal that would have killed their momentum. Skinner, all he had to do was not let any bleeding start,

and he did it. Yeah, but it looks very much like the Oilers are back, although what's the margin for error that they can allow? Zero. This is a tough, tight rope to walk, but if you want anyone walking it, you want it to be McDavid. Points percentage, even on the streak, though they have games in hand. They do.

Points percentage, 457. You still don't have enough room for error, although they've got their goal differential back up to zero. There's only two teams in the bottom 10 to 12 of the league 20th down in points percentage positive goals differential while Edmonton's at 0 and Ottawa's at plus 5 always watch that

okay that's it we'll take our first pause when we come back Elliot it is the Montana's Thought Line with your favorite tag and some great questions don't go anywhere. Listen to the 32 Thoughts podcast ad-free on Amazon Music, included with Prime. time now for the montana's thought line montana's barbecue and bar canada's home for barbecue try the ribs try the pecan salad there you go 32 thoughts at sports that.ca 1-833-311-3232 you're right it doesn't flow off the tongue 1-833-311-3232 is the phone number, the email, 32thoughtsatsportsnet.ca.

Jeff in New Jersey. Hi guys, your discussion on Monday's podcast about hypothetical regional trophies among select rivals jogged my memory of some 20 years ago when this actually happened in the NHL. In 2001, it was announced that the Pat LaFontaine trophy would go to the winner of the regular season series between the Islanders and Rangers with the losing team making a donation to the charity of LaFontaine's choosing. There is little record of this blip in hockey history and the idea faded, but it was sanctioned

between the teams. We got a lot of feedback on this one. You know, I was reminded that the kings and the ducks actually did this i think for like a year or something like that i was reminded of the governor's cup between tampa and florida which was first called the Sunshine Cup. Then it became the Nextel Cup Challenge. And then the governor of Florida renamed it the Governor's Cup. But it was last awarded in 2014 and has since just sort of faded out. But it has been done before.

And we got a great reaction to that one, Frej. I actually think this should happen in a few different places. that one for each i actually think this should happen in a few different places you could have the the california cup the alberta cup the ontario cup where again if the leaves fans lose they claim not to care about it uh the the turnpike cup or the lincoln tunnel cup whatever you want to call it between the rangers dev Devils, and the Islanders. You could do a lot of things here. Yeah, I'm in. More stuff like that.

You know what it builds to? Hate between the organizations. Hate between the organizations. Which is always good. Which is always good. And fan bases. And fan bases, yes. Reinforces the hatred between the organizations.

Reinforces. That's what we're here. Everybody talks about love and building bridges and making people love one another. That's not what this podcast is about. This is the pro-hate-everyone-else podcast. There's only one team, my team. That's it.

That's right. Renaud from Cantlie, Quebec. Hey, fellas. fellas first off love the podcast and the passion you have for your craft is palpable as listeners renault wrote that just as i wrote it to him thank you renault well done your check is in the mail uh i was part of an icing controversy this weekend elliot an icing controversy and wanted your thoughts okay here we go my son's team was down two goals and pulled the goaler. First of all, great use of goaler.

Our opponents iced the puck and it hit the post and deflected in the corner behind the goal line. All three refs looked at each other and the play was called dead by one of the linesmen. After the call, they discussed briefly and decided to have the face-off at center ice. The explanation was received that they didn't all agree that it should have been called icing due to the puck touching the post on his trajectory before crossing the goal line.

This is a rare occasion, but a similar play happened last year in the NHL, December 9, 2022, where the Coyotes scored with 14 seconds to go against the Bruins following an icing that was waived off seemingly for the same reason. I'm not sure about that. Knowing that a shot off the post is not considered a shot on net, shouldn't this scenario be considered icing? We got together with the coaching staff after the game to discuss further. We're all 99% sure it should have been icing, but we couldn't find this exact scenario in the rule book. P.S. Shout out to our amazing group of kids and parents. Our hockey team's name is Les Coyotes de Collines de Lutoway.

So salut les coyotes. I checked on this, Elliot. You know what it is? What's that? Icing. It is a call. That should be called icing. Now, it used to be waved off.

Remember if the puck would enter the crease on an icing, it was waved off? Yes. But they've got rid of that. Now, as long as it crosses the line, it is icing. That should have been the correct call, not taking it to center ice. I love rules questions.

All right, I'll leave that one to you. I'll trust your source on this one. Got a good source on this one. Deep, deep, deep source. Deep, deep, deep, deep undercover? Deep, deep, deep. Beverly Hills Cop, very good. Eddie Murphy, I love that one.

Banana in the tailpipe, Elliot. Banana in the tailpipe. From Irshad. As-salamu alaykum. Peace be unto you as well, Irshad. Absolutely love the podcast. I've been thinking about this for years. In a previous podcast, Elliot,

you mentioned specifically that Montreal did not want to have two players on LTIR, Weber and Price. Why is that? If they are on LTIR, Weber and Price. Why is that? If they are on LTIR, why does it matter? Isn't it free cap space? Great job, Elliot. And the other two are pretty good as well.

You know, thank you, Rashad. You know, I think there is a bit of a misnomer. And to be honest, I think we as reporters have contributed to this misnomer that injured players and have a payroll of $11 billion. Right. Your favorite number. Yeah. That's not, I think,

like I said, I think I'm as guilty as other people is creating that misconception. Basically what it is, is when, when you go on to LTIR, Basically, what it is, is when you go on to LTIR, you try to go as close as you can to it and then put the biggest possible number that you can put on it, like Weber, like Price, because those were both big cap numbers. So the whole goal of manipulating it is, let's just say you had carry price going going on LTIR $10.5 million. What you would want to do, if you could, is you would want to get yourself as close to the cap

without going over it, because you can't, and then put Carey Price on LTIR. So there would be teams that have weird paper call-ups. Like they'd call up a player that was not going to play in the NHL or you'd be like, why are you calling up this player? It was because you wanted to get to as close to the cap as you could. Tampa did it this year. Vegas has done it. You get to like within a dollar of the cap and then you put your biggest salaried guy into LTIR,

and all of a sudden, poof, you've got almost $10.5 million of extra space to do it. The problem is it doesn't keep expanding. Putting both Weber and Price on there, it doesn't give you any more room. It just means you're paying even more guys not to play, and you can't build up cap space it's not where you want to be you don't want to be there because it really destroys your flexibility

and even more so potentially in the offseason you just don't want that you don't just keep on creating more and more space you only get a certain finite number and then you just keep adding dead money that's why you don't want that all right excellent uh excellent question urshad we thank you for that one we'll finish up with one more this is arthur uh i've always heard that from the original six days the chicago blackhawks have blocked the league from putting a team in Milwaukee. This seems like it would make for such a great rivalry with the Hawks, and hockey is very popular through the state. Seems like a natural fit. For a city that has other major league franchises, why don't we ever hear about Milwaukee as a potential landing spot for an NHL team?

Love the show. It's winter now. I want to try the pot roast soup okay very good milwaukee fridge as a potential good actually nhl pot roast soup there was some noise geez 20 years ago maybe 25 years ago about milwaukee wasn't there yeah but you know to be honest i've never really heard it in recent years as a serious serious contender you know you hear Quebec City they're legit we heard Seattle they were legit Vegas turned out to be legit we've heard Houston here and there we've heard Atlanta here and there

obviously Salt Lake City but I've never heard Milwaukee with any depth to it and I do think there is something to the question about Milwaukee at different times I have heard the Blackhawks wouldn't be thrilled about that so it's a it's a thing but I to be honest I've never I mean I've heard Milwaukee kicked around here and there but never once where I it was made out to me to be like, watch Milwaukee. And generally you get an idea who to watch for. You see the interesting thing about all of this, like if you go, if you look at the Bradley center, right? I mean, it opened in 1988 and the first of, I believe it was the first event was an exhibition

hockey game, the Hawks and the Oilers. Do you not remember? This would have been like 88, 99, 90, that there was some movement towards Milwaukee becoming that geographical rival for the Chicago Blackhawks. I don't know where it took a wrong turn, but I think the Bradley Center was originally built not just for basketball, but also for hockey. Vaguely, but I haven't heard it recently.

They do have the Meraki Admirals, we should point out. Yes. When I used to do AHL games, that was the team that I always dreaded coming to town. You know why? Because you couldn't see the numbers on the uniforms? Couldn't see the nameplates because of the colors. It was so hard me and bart

louie be like oh no they haven't changed their jerseys yet this is so hard we're just guessing game up here uh okay uh we'll continue on with the podcast thanks so much for the uh for the emails there at 32 thoughts at sportsnet.ca the phone line 1-833-311-3232 the montana's thought line montana's barbecue and bar, Canada's home for barbecue. We're going to talk about Shohei Otani. That's right. And there's going to be a hockey connection. That's coming up next.

All right, so the sports story dominating headlines elliot and we're sort of invested in this as well as rogers employees and blue jays fans actually my very first job there to tell you this elliot was selling hot dogs and jumbo cokes at exhibition stadium 1985 for toronto blue jays games so how about a jays fan going all the way back to when it was rumored that the giants were going to go to toronto and become the toronto whatever's um shohei otani and the pursuit of a superstar this one has been fascinating to watch um my rooting interest is obviously the blue jays although i still think he's going to the dodgers how have you seen all of this i have to tell you jeff i also had a job doing that at exhibition stadium but i ended up same day getting an offer of something that was

closer to home so i i took that one i passed up on the versa foods opportunity oh we could have been colleagues could have walked the stairs together played hacky sack on our break i could have i could have had 20 more years of your infuriating scenarios i'm i'm really disappointing and i missed it we could have watched that that red sox Jays game with Bruce Keeson and Ernie Witt and George Bell and chirping him after the Grand Slam. Karate kick? Yeah, the big

diving kick by George Bell. I swear, you know what? There were a lot of great memories there. A lot of great memories there. I only took the job so I could watch Jays games for free. I'll be honest with you. I have no idea. Well, don't you think that everybody did that? Everybody did that. I don't know. We had some guys that are for free. I'll be honest with you. I have no idea. Well, don't you think that everybody did that? Everybody did that.

We had some guys that are pretty serious. We had some people that are pretty serious. I just wasn't one of them. So I'm watching this. I wouldn't have been one of them either. So I'm watching all this Otani stuff. And first of all, it's amazing theater. He's got everybody guessing you know sort of like

Patrick Kane did recently until the end John Tavares until the end it's kind of been fun watching it from my living room chair as opposed to being in the middle

because you really see it's funny I kind of watch the reporters doing this. This must be me when I'm in the middle of some of this stuff. Just grasping at every morsel of information. You have to do all your shows. You have your responsibilities and nothing's happening. And you've got to put something out there.

And some of the reporters are getting really frustrated with Otani's privacy, which I don't have a problem with. It's your free agency. You do it the way you want. But I have to say it's very instructive to watch it from the outside and see how some of the reporters are just grasping at the tiniest morsel of information. And I watch it and I'm thinking to myself,

ah, so that's what I look like in the middle of all these things. Hang on. You know what I love the best? What's that? The pie chart odds. That's what I really love. It's content, man.

Listen, I get it. There's a lot of hours of programming to fill. It's the biggest story. You need a hook. You need a slant. You need to create some type of conversation to fill. It's the biggest story. You need a hook. You need a slant. You need to create some type of conversation around it. Ohtani's not making it easy for anybody at all,

but that is my favorite. And, you know, next time there's a big free agent on the market, Elliot, I think we'd be doing our viewers a disservice if we don't do pie chart odds. Well, I was today years old

when I learned that Rogers can't afford to sign Otani unless we get rid of the hockey deal um I I think it's I think it's a really fascinating story you know I give all the credit in the world to one of our regular uh fan uh compatriots uh JP Morosi who I think is just one of the great great people in sports um you know he had the big scoop last year when he got aaron judge to the yankees i i really like jp i don't want to bug shy or banner those guys they've got enough uh worrying on i really don't like to judge a bug jp either but you know oh it's high i'm sure you do i'm shameless i'm texting i'm like what's going on

what's going on we have a chance we have a chance yeah shamelessly i apologize jp you know the thing about the thing about otani that's really interesting is you know i'm trying to think of a hockey comparison in the sense that you know really otani is a guy who i've learned everything happens on his schedule. Like it's very much that there's reporters out there who talk about the angels all the time and they refuse to believe that the angels are out of it because, you know, Otani really is demanding about how he's handled and what he gets to do and what his schedule is. And the angels have basically allowed that they're like okay you know what what you need we're gonna do and baseball is a bit of a different sport and i think you can do that a little easier i'm not sure you could do that in in the nhl um you know i i think every player has

their differences every player has ways that they need to be handled and no two people are the same. But it sounds like it's pretty extreme for him in terms of what he asked for and what he gets. And I just don't know if that would fit in an NHL clubhouse. But this whole thing to me is really fascinating. He's a mega star. He goes well beyond North American borders. He's a franchiseastar. He goes well beyond North American borders.

He's a franchise-changing person. What he can do on the field, he's obviously an incredible talent. I can see why all these teams are basically throwing themselves at his feet and saying, what do you need, and we'll make it work. It's fascinating stuff. And I'm trying to talk myself into this but i think it's like to me i'm with you i i think the dodgers is more likely but i don't think it's impossible like the people i know who really know baseball like two weeks ago they were saying no way no way

no way and now they're like you know what they've got a chance here so it's and and i and i see what rogers strategy is like they've just done big renovations at the stadium there have been all these stories about how mad people are about the changing of the seats and what the tickets cost they spent a lot of money on it and he's an international star um you know the blue jays do really good numbers on tv but they're going to be even bigger if they get them like i i get it i i understand what they're thinking here like all everybody who's complaining about the the price of tickets at the rogers whatever we're calling it these days like they they're not going to be complaining too much if otani's there so you know i get it i i see

what they're doing what what the question i have though though jeff sorry i keep interrupting you is does this mean they don't think like the guerrero bichette team can win that's the one thing i ask here what i wonder about that is is this an indication that they think that both those two at the plate need some protection, specifically Guerrero. Don't forget some big bats left and Vladi got hurt because of it last year because there weren't big bats around him. So he did not see pitches.

He had a real tough time at the plate last year because there was no protection around him. You put Otani and Vlad Guerrero together, look out. Yeah, I mean, yeah, you yeah you're right i mean it makes them it makes them better you know and it's i think it's what two years until they have to sign those guys again so you can you you can figure it out here's what i uh because like you i'm trying to figure out okay so what does this sort of remind you of in hockey and there hasn't been anything like this like you mentioned john John Tavares, like that was,

that was a big decision for him. You know what I reminded myself about the other day? And you were part of this, part of this chase. Brad Richards, when he was a free agent, remember the lineups with teams making their pitches? Yep.

Would that be the top one? The Maple Leafs iPad didn't work. The Kings couldn't get the, the Kings getting locked out at the doors that was a crazy one yeah but i mean everybody was in on that one like the line yes you know for the agency were out the door yeah came to pitch that's a good one too that's a really good one but this guy is is bigger than than anything we've ever seen. Like it's, I know. Just trying to figure out what's closest to this and in, in hockey.

Well, you know, it was huge too. Although it was a different scenario is where was Quebec going to trade Eric Lindros? Yep. That was a big one. This isn't free Asian.

This is like, where's Lindros going to go? And then when the trade was made, there was even more controversy. Anyhow, we'll see where Ohtani lands, and all of us here in Canada will cross our fingers. But knowing in the backs of our minds,

the evil Los Angeles Dodgers will probably end up getting them. I don't know. It's more interesting than I thought it was going to be. I don't know baseball like a lot of those other baseball reporters do. And like the big ones, they thought it was a slam dunk for the Dodgers. And the fact that some of them are saying, we're not so sure now. Like, I think if it was purely a negotiation tactic by Otani's group to get more money out of the Dodgers, that's over now.

We're past that. The longer it goes, the more the Jays are in it. Well, actually, they seem to indicate that here's the thing like i'm watching uh shy's reporting today and what jeff blair says and they're talking about at least our fans will know we're in it what that says to me is they've made their biggest pitch they've thrown everything they can on the table and it's out out of their hands. You know what was funny was listening to all the radio shows, like you and Nick and Justin and the Raptors guys talk about, well, if Otani signs, we have to drop out of our show. Oh, I've been given strict marching orders.

Here's what's going to happen. We're going to talk for a couple of minutes until we get a baseball host in place and then you're gone buddy I wonder if Blair and Barker have got to live at the studios right now or Blake Murphy as well oh Murph yeah Murph loves his baseball

just pitch a tent you're sleeping here we'll get you a comfy pillow but you're not going anywhere baseball people chained to the building we'll see what happens with the time in the meantime enjoy your hockey Comfy pillow, but you're not going anywhere. Baseball people chained to the building. We'll see what happens with Atani. In the meantime, enjoy your hockey this weekend. We will talk to you again Monday morning.

Have a great few days.