32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Stars, Stripes, and a Score to Settle

Episode Date: January 2, 2026

In this edition of 32 Thoughts, Kyle Bukauskas and Elliotte Friedman react to the unveiling of the U.S. Olympic roster for Milan and the team’s “unfinished business” mindset, including the surprise omission of Jason Robertson. The guys break down the Swedish (30:21) and Finnish (34:49) Olympic rosters, the fallout from Connor Bedard (41:05) and Mark Scheifele (46:27) missing out, and growing frustration in Winnipeg as the Jets slide down the standings (48:41). They discuss the buzz around the Winter Classic in Miami and how the NHL can better capitalize on the event, and why any suggestion of special treatment around Brad Marchand is off base (55:38). The segment wraps with optimism around a fun, young Buffalo Sabres team chasing an 11th straight win (1:04:32), and a Final Thought on James Reimer’s name resurfacing as a potential NHL goaltending option (1:07:45).Kyle and Elliotte answer your emails and voicemails in the Thoughtline (1:11:04). Today we highlight Nova Scotia's 3-piece rock back The Boojums and their track Burnin Up. Check them out here.Listen to all the 32 Thoughts music here.Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call the Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemail.This podcast was produced and mixed by Dominic Sramaty and hosted by Elliotte Friedman & 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

Oh, by the way, I'm still waiting on, like, water to be delivered to my room, so I may, or a wrap on the door here at some point to go answer. Okay. I'm taken forever. What did you order, Vos, Evian, Mount Valley? I'm not picky. There's no water in the room when you check in. It's crazy. Drink from the tap, you pretentious.

Don't they know that you're a titanium member? Yeah, I know. It doesn't go very far anymore. In the travel world, they want to use to be, Fridge, let me tell you. Welcome to a rare evening edition of 32 Thoughts, the podcast, before we go any further. Happy 2026 to everyone. Happy New Year to you, Elliot, to you, Dom, how have the last few days been, Fridge, anything you want to touch on before we dive into a whole whack of stuff to get to here. Did you guys make it past 1210 local time?

Because if you did, then you beat me. I am a boomer. That had to have been Carolyn had all the right intentions to try to pull out and extract some New Year's stories out of the three of you at the start of the pregame show

for Leif's Jets the other night and all of you were like, eh, yeah, got there, went to bed shortly thereafter. Talk about a thud. Yes. What time did you go to bed after New Year's?

I was closer to, to one. I got home around 10.45-ish traveling from Minnesota. So you made it. You made it? I made it. Yeah. Wasn't down to the wire. I thought more we talked about it last episode. It would have been great to just like go full on like Ryan Atwood from the OC. Just burst through the doors right at midnight. Perfect time. Misha Barton turns the big smile. No, not necessary. I appreciate you trying to save the hipness of this podcast. podcast by bringing up Misha Barton and the O.C. when I said I went to bed 10 minutes after midnight. Dom, I know you went out, so I know you were home later than midnight. You watched it just over the border in Washington State, so I know you can't drive that fast. Hope you had a great new year with your much more attractive, significant other. I did thank you. Yeah, we got home at 2. 2 a.m.

Excellent. Well, I'm glad you guys. save the hipness of this pod. All right, let's dive into it. So yes, the reason why we wanted to wait a little bit later on on Friday to put this out because we knew we were getting the Olympic rosters, we already got Canada a few days ago, we now have Team USA, Team Sweden, team Finland, and Elliot, we will start with the Americans because understandably there was surprise, some debate, some pushback on Canada leaving Sam Bennett off of the roster.

You and I were both surprised that he was not. there. I think it pales in comparison to the reaction about, first of all, Jason Robertson not being named to Team USA. You can put Adam Fox in that equation as well. But whether it's him, the two of them, down the list, Cole Coughfield not there, Lane Hudson not there. But a lot of familiar names from the four nations going back for the Americans at the Olympics, as Bill Garron said to a lot of them, unfinished business for Team USA. So where do you want to start with? their roster being unveiled. I have lots of interesting and conflicting thoughts.

When I was going through my notes for this podcast, I had so many things that exploded out of my head at once that I didn't know where to start. What's number one? I couldn't put a coherent sentence together. Not the first time that's ever happened, but I had a challenge doing it. I was as surprised about Robertson as everyone else.

I get it. I understand the complaints. I looked at it and said, I would have put him there. But I don't think that this team is bad. I don't look at them and say, this is a bad team. Quinn Hughes is there. They added Tatee Thompson and they added Clayton Keller. I look at this group, and I see a lot of Bill Guerin going back to the poker table and saying, I almost won this tournament last year. And there are a lot of USA fans who still think that they were the better team. And if it wasn't for Jordan Bennington, they would have been the ones parading around the ice in Boston with those medals.

Didn't happen. You can think it didn't happen. But there are a lot of American fans who think that Biddington is the sole reason that they didn't win the Four Nations last year. And I think Bill Guerin is one of those people. How many times did you hear

unfinished business on Friday? The words of the day on Friday were unfinished business. So I think a lot of this is Bill Guerrins saying I'm going with a lot of this group. I'm bringing them back to do what we didn't do. The other thing I'm thinking is when we get to Milan in February, and remember, you dress 20, 13 and 7 with two goalies, who's actually going to be in the games? That's the important part of all of this. that can't be forgotten

It happened a year ago Like look for example Game one For the U.S. Kyle Conner's on the first line Four games later Gold Medal game He's not even in the lineup

So I look at Like Hughes is not going to be A seventh or eighth defenseman He's going to play tage thompson to me he's going to play keller i'm curious to see where he's going to start but i could see a situation where tage thompson if the u.s win the gold medal where tage thompson and clayton keller are two key parts of that team and two guys who were there aren't like i think this whole robertson thing and coffield too because

I would have given a long look to Caulfield as well. I think this whole Robertson thing came down to who would you rather have? Robertson, Connor, Keller, and they took two out of those three. Now, I know there's going to be a lot of people who are going to scream and say they'd rather have all three of those guys than somebody else is coming back. I get it. I understand it. I know that's what you're thinking.

But we talked about the Canada situation the other day, and it came down to three of the four. Suzuki, Horvatt, Sorrelli, Bennett. We all know who got left out, much to all our shock. To me, Bill Garen's gamble here is going to be about not only who I'm bringing back, but who I'm bringing that's new, those three guys, I think we're good enough to win. The Robertson Snub, great players are going to be left out.

They got left out of Canada. They got left out of the U.S. I'm shocked at it, but I think Bill Guerin looks at his team and says, we can win with what we had and the three new guys. we can win this. I mean, to that line of thinking, Elliot, being around that team there over the Four Nations for a whole host of reasons,

A, how well they were playing, but just walking into that dress room, of course, like there was the nice touch of having, you know, the Goudreau jersey present there in the dress room in one of the stalls. But there was just something about how that group were kind of clicking and how they all quickly came together.

You just felt like, I know going into that Four Nations, I felt Canada was going to win. But as that went on and the more you saw just the interactions within the U.S., you thought, geez, they are going to be a very, very tough out. However, it's going to shake down by the end of it here. So from that standpoint, I understand. I still think they're a great team, Kyle.

Like I look at that roster, even with who's missing. And that is a scary opponent for everybody, not just the Canadians. And I think a lot of people look at, okay, Mike Sullivan's the head coach. We know John Cooper had quite a say on certain parts of the roster. You have to imagine it was similar for Sullivan and the U.S. He coaches J.T. Miller. He's there. He coaches Vincent Trocheck.

But they left off one of their other guys, right? They left off one of their other guys. So I don't know how much of this argument, you can make. They left out Fox. Well, that's, that's what I'm getting to. So it's interesting that whether. Can we just talk about Robertson for another second, though?

Sure. We get to Fox. No problem. So I've thought a lot about this Robertson. I know there's a line in one of Mike Russo's articles about how we just didn't have the support there from anyone at the table. You know, first of all, again, I think Jason Robertson is a heck of a player. Um, this is an, we're talking about making the pod even more unhipped.

Here's another old time reference. So there's a Hall of Famer named Frank Mahavlich. And Frank Mahavlich's glory days were in the 60s and the 70s. And Frank Mahavich had the Maple Leaf record for most goals in the season 48 before Rick Vive broke it. And then he went to Detroit. He was excellent. He went to Montreal.

He won Stanley Cups. He won Stanley Cups. cups in Toronto too. He's in the Hall of Fame and he's there for a reason. But one of the reasons that Frank Mahavlich was sort of was traded by Toronto was there was this impression about him that because he wasn't like a hard, fast skater, what does he really do aside from score? And I hear this complaint about Robertson and it reminds me a lot of that. it's like the way they talk about Robertson now some people is the way Frank Mahavlich got talked about when he was in Toronto before he got traded and the Maple Leafs realized they made a huge mistake some people they just produce maybe they don't have five star tools maybe they're not the best skaters they just produce like last year after the stars got knocked out in the Western Conference Final by Edmonton, they briefly put Robertson on the market.

You'll remember there was a lot of noise. And they did it. And they kind of looked around and they got some offers. Like I think Chicago was one of the teams that was really in there for Robertson. And they looked around and they said, there's nothing we're getting offered here that makes us jump to trade this guy. and I think there's two reasons for that. Some of it is probably what we just talked about is that he's not the sexiest looking player out there.

But secondly, because also I think Dallas knows that what he can do when he's at his best. And what did they tell him? Go home, have a healthy summer, be back, get hot. And that's what he's done. As we talked about, he was healthy, for the first time. He changed his skates.

Kyle, he went back to the old model for the first time, a different model for the first time in a decade. You talked to him about that. And what's he done? He's hit it out of the park.

But also, like Dallas themselves, they could have signed him already. I still think they're going to. I think they are working, look, I think they're kind of modeling how their cap situation,

is going to look over the next few years as they try to get Robertson done here. I think it's their goal to sign him now. But even they kind of waited to do it, right? Let's see how this year goes before we do it. And if you go back and you read Moneyball, which was

the Michael Lewis book of the Oakland A's and how they went harder on numbers, what's the line they always talked about. We're not selling jeans here. When they're talking about that catcher, Jeremy Brown, who walks all the time,

who they draft out of nowhere, we're not selling jeans. The scouts are saying, this guy's out of shape. He's not a first round pick. No, we're not selling jeans. We're going for this guy. And in that particular case, it didn't work.

I just think that Robertson kind of, because he's not the fastest skater, because he's not the most overpowering guy, he just produces, I think sometimes people look at him and they're like, hmm, this isn't the sexiest player. So you find, you find something else about this guy that you like better or this guy that you like better or this guy looks better. To me, it's, it's, it's really weird. Like I see a guy who just produces, who does his job, who's getting points, but I just think

that because he doesn't do anything that makes you look at him and say, wow, it hurts him a bit. And I think that's what happens. I really do think that's what happens. Robertson is a grinder. And I don't say that as an insult. I like to think of myself as a grinder. I think it's an important thing people have to try to be successful, but I don't think he has that wow factor.

And as a result, like I think when you look at, like I do think it could have come down to like a Robertson or a Connor. And I think that Connor has a kind of wow factor, his shot, that you look at that and you say yes. And I just look at it. I'm like, I don't know. I wonder if that's what hurts him. What do you think?

Well, first of all, fashion freed strikes again. You're not sexy out there. You're not sexy enough. So that's very good. I am definitely not sexy. No, you are. You are in your own way you are. Oh, thank you, Kyle.

I really love that. I mean, I just always, I mean, what's the hardest thing to do in the game is to score? And he does it well. Now I understand, I understand, because I don't believe it's you look at where your season leaders and points and go, okay, we'll take that guy to top fall by that guy, fall by that guy, and you build your team that way. And clearly, Bill Guerin's not about doing that either. I just thought with how well he had been playing, maybe there isn't the five-star toolbox there, but there was enough to say we cannot. lead this guy off that's where my mind was at with with Robertson with how with how with how he's played no like had injury down the stretch last year what you know ultimately played into not a super impactful playoff um but this fall out of the gate it's been a much different story i i thought i thought there would have been would have been enough there but hey the thing is the thing is though is that yeah i i'm with you but like i i i i think think the Robertson discussion as it is is overshadowing that they added offense to this

team like I don't think you can I don't think you can look at it and say they didn't add offense Quinn Hughes offense tage Thompson offense Clayton Keller offense like they have they brought scoring talent that they didn't have last time it's just for whatever reason Robertson he doesn't grab people the way other people do I also wonder too like Tage Thompson brilliant of the world championships like Keller played well for the US over there too um like through no fault of his own like Jason Robertson just happened to be playing on a good team that was still in the playoffs then like he didn't have the option to go over to the the world's like if if it's in an alternate universe

where he had the chance to go do that, rips it up there, scores eight goals, whatever. Americans still win gold, you know, is the feeling about him around Bill Garon and Company, is it any different? I suppose we'll never know, but it's clear between Thompson and Keller that their role at the world's past spring

had to have factored into the decision that was made and what was announced here on Friday. Yeah, I, I, great, players get left off great players get left off and robertson's a great player and keller was close last time too he was really close he was one of the last cuts at the four nations and i heard he was incredibly disappointed and made it known and i give like he was very clear about his disappointment not making it and didn't hide it and i give him a lot of credit for a year later doing what he had to to erase that you know the thing about garen in his comments like that was a lively

post media session with him it always is but this and it always is he just is he always just is he like in his kitchen when he's doing them like i just the the background is just it blows he should have been rolling meatballs while during yeah like it was the same thing with after the hugh's trade wasted opportunity like you should have been actually rolling the meatballs while talking to people. But, you know, like on some level, I agree with Garrett in the sense that, look, in the social media era, everybody's got their opinions out there. And you have to have the courage of your conviction. You have to be willing to go out there and say, I know everybody's going to go out there and have an opinion. And in six weeks, seven weeks, we're going to know

if he's right or wrong. But you have to be willing to get up there and say, hey, everybody out there's going to say what they want. This is what we did and this is how we did it and I'm sticking with that. I think that's very important. I don't think you should be afraid of giving reasons or discussing or things like that. I mean, that's life in the big city. You're the GM of a national team shouldn't back away from that. But I do agree with having the courage of your conviction and saying, hey, guys, like it or not, these are the choices we made and I'm responsible for them. Like that's, that's what you have to do not everybody's going to like what you do

hey not everybody likes everything I say on this podcast generally I'm like I said it everybody out there you have at it like it lump it your opinion that's what I said you gotta have the courage of your convictions I don't have a problem with him saying that now Fox let's go there

you know it's tough for me to look at it and say oh you know they've got their guys and they wanted their guys from their team and they didn't take Fox. Like you can't look at it and say, oh, well, they wanted their Rangers there. Well, they didn't take their best defensemen. It's not that simple. You take a look at it.

Fox lost his job to Quinn Hughes, somebody was getting bumped. And Seth Jones, somebody was getting bumped. You know, you take a look at it. Jeff Jones last year is a reminder that the situation you're in determines a lot of what you can do. You have a lot of personal responsibility. You've got to do great things. You've got to take care of your own business. You've got to have good habits.

You've got to be ready, right? You have to do everything you can to make yourself the best you can no matter where you are. but last year Chicago versus Florida is a reminder that environment matters too Chicago was just not ready to win and he went into Florida and he was a beautiful piece of the puzzle. The way I saw him play in the playoffs last year and it seems as if every time I watch him play this year for the Panthers

he's played very well I don't watch every minute of every one of their games but I remember after the playoffs last year I said he's going to be on the Olympic team because he's a perfect puzzle piece in a great situation. And that's what this team is going to be. It's going to be a great situation and he's a perfect puzzle piece. You know, I'm shocked that they left Fox off. We've seen what this can do. And if you're the Rangers right now, there's two situations you've got to remember. One is one they know really well, although maybe the organization more than the individuals. That's Martin San Luis. You know, I thought Fox got up there. He handled it like

an adult. You could see how disappointed he was, but he talked honestly. You know, I remember when Canada won gold in 2014 in Sochi and Martin San Luis celebrated with the rest of the Canadians, I remember interviewing him after the gold medal game. I was the rinkside reporter. I was Sochi Bukoskis. And I remember thinking, I remember thinking and saying, Kyle, do I ask him right now about his being unhappy in Tampa. And I'm like, I'm not going to ask him right now after you just won the gold medal. Like this is over.

Everything's fine. And a week later, he was gone. Like, it never, I remember thinking, I should have asked him in the aftermath of the gold medal. It was, it was the, I should have asked the question. And so, like I think about that, and I'm sure the Rangers are too.

But the other one I remember, and it's not exactly the same, but it's there because it was a coach's decision but you'll remember in 2002 Curtis Joseph started game one for Canada they lost to Sweden they were terrible as a team

it wasn't Joseph's fault entirely and they went to Martin Broder after they lost that first game and after they won the Olympics they came back home they wanted to do a gold medal celebration for Toronto's next home game and Joseph asked them not to do it like he said you know

I don't feel great about it. I got pulled. You know, he got his gold medal. I mean, there's no shame in it. He was a part of the team, but he wasn't feeling great. And you know how much pride Joseph had. That's one of the reasons he went from an undrafted goalie

to a guy who I think should be in the Hall of Fame. And he asked them not to do it. And Mike Feudor reminded me of this today. And I went back through some of my old notes. And, you know, he told the organization, I'd really prefer not to do it. And they did it anyway. And Pat Quinn, who coached the team and coached the Maple Leafs,

he comes out to shake his hand. And I can't remember if it was his glove or his blocker, but Joseph doesn't take it off. He doesn't take off his glove or his blocker. And he shakes Quinn's hand with whichever one it was on. And as you know, not long after, he left. He went as a free agent. to Detroit.

And I don't think that was the only reason he left the Maple Leafs, but it definitely strained the relationship. And if you're the Rangers, that's what you have to navigate now. Like Fox is a great player, and you cannot underestimate the pride of these guys. Look, like, I'm fortunate enough. I'm going to be on the panel for the Olympics men's hockey.

CBC was great enough to hire me for this. If I had not been hired, I would have been stunned. Absolutely. I would have been like, you know what? Life goes on. The world stops rotating for no one. But I would be disappointed if I wasn't there, Kyle. So, like, I don't understand how anybody expects Fox or anyone else, Robertson

Bennett, whoever it is, who didn't make one of these teams, Hampus Lindholm, Patrick Linae, even though he's hurt right now, caught Kenyemi whoever you want to name like all these guys are going to be stung and I don't know how anybody can expect differently but you can't look at that USA roster and say that's a bad roster I mean it's a

it's a great roster I remember one of the first big assignments I had when I first started at Sportsnet was that trade deadline I was sent down to Tampa and St. Louis gets traded to New York. So it was me, and you know Alex Kuhn, one of our camera operators. Yeah.

And at the time, I think we had a combined age of like 42. And suddenly we were covering the biggest story in the league, that trade deadline day. And I'll always remember the press conference with Steve Eisenman after the fact. And there was a couple times where he was asked about, you know, not initially naming St. Louis to the team Canada roster. And the word snub kept coming up. And finally, Isman goes, do you know, know what the definition of the word snub

actually is. It means you're not even considering, so you're totally ignoring the person completely. It goes, this was not the case here. Like, we, he was very much part of the conversation. He just wasn't, like, he finally had enough with the whole idea that St. Louis was snubbed from Team Canada, and he shot back. Anyway, it was a wild day. Wild day. Did you pull out a dictionary

on the, on the podium? Did he have one with him? No, he did not. Here's what snub means. Yeah. I'll just tell you, nobody pushed back on what he said. I'll say that much. I've been on the other end of those. You have to decide when you're coming back at him. I think deep down, though, he kind of likes it when people

come at him. Anyway, but I could be completely wrong about that. By the way, before we move off Team USA, I did want to read one note I received from an Evan Mapstone. With the U.S. roster announced a no Thatcher Demco, has Team Canada side a sigh

of relief that they can put away their secret weapon, Kyle Demko's worst nightmare, Bacoscus. Oh, I know. It was a tough phone call to get today from

Big Armstrong saying, you don't have to continue along the testing. You won't be needed in Milan. So I'll just be a broadcaster. That's it. Sideline reporter. Anyway, anything else on Team USA?

Like, to me, I understand all the Robertson discourse, but that's a hell of a team. team. Yes. That is a hell of a team. And to your earlier comment about who's really all going to be there by the time we arrive in Milan come February, a year ago, all four of the countries participating in that event had some at least one last minute change, right? Sinland decimated on the back end.

We know what happened to Canada throughout. Quinn Hughes ultimately wasn't able to go when Jake Sanderson arrives. so you hope everyone and wish them good health, but you know it would be foolish to assume everyone announced over the last few days it's all going to remain the same by the time the tournament actually starts on February the 11th.

We already had one scare, Bo Horvind, although it looks like fortunately he has escaped the worst. Okay, a week sounds like? A week at least, then we'll see, but definitely not. the worst case scenario all right i'm in new york i've got the islanders and leifs on saturday i was looking forward to to watching him but good to know that it's not you should interview boharvat during the game i don't like to tell you what to do but you should

well if he's there where else is he going to be i guess so i don't i don't know if there's other treatment he's got to do i mean the man has a family but you're right game nights teammates always show up to games the man has a family the man has a family A man has a family. Yeah, that's good. Okay, you want to get to Sweden, Finland? Sure. Okay, all right.

So, Sweden, what were some of the big surprises for you? I mean, certainly, at home on the blue line, Holmberg there. We thought Emil Heinenman, who's been having a great year for the islanders, is maybe, you know, more of a depth piece there, not named to Sweden. There were some surprises. Hampus Linholm. Yeah. That one surprised me a bit.

You know, Ekman Larson, who's kind of been a bit of a afterthought for Sweden for a while now, he earned it. Like, he deserved to be there. He's played really well this year. But Holmberg really stood out to me because Yumi and David didn't even have him on our long list. Like Holmberg came from way out of left field. And good for him. That's not to rip him. Good for him.

You know, Holmberg being there, first of all, that Swedish team is really good. If you tell me that Sweden's going to be in the final, I am not going to be surprised at all by this. Like, that is a good hockey team. But Holmberg to me, and I assume he probably starts as their 14th guy. Maybe I'm wrong about that.

Holmberg to me is a guy who's there to play Canada in the USA. Like that's a guy you could see buzzing in a depth forward role, causing problems. Like a lot of people really like Holmberg as a player. The quintessential line you hear about him is he can do everything but score. And one guy who said to me, if he could score, he'd be, he'd play a thousand games in the NHL because he can do everything else extremely well. that guy to me is someone that Sweden is taking specifically for Canada in the U.S.

Like he's just like if you get into, if you think you're getting a grinding game with one of those two teams and you need someone who can grind against some of their depth lines, that's what Holmberg is there for. It's a very, very interesting pick to me. But I look at them and I think they're a great team. I remember when Holmberg first got called up the first few games with Toronto and Sheldon Keith was still the coach. I remember after one of the games, he was like, because as a coach, he's like the perfect player. He doesn't make a mistake. And you're like, oh my gosh.

I don't think he said that, but, you know, Sheldon coached a lot of high-end talent over his time in Toronto. And I think that was the only time, the only player he ever described as like the perfect player who doesn't make a mistake was Ponda's Holmberg. You're like, holy smokes, clearly he sees something there. Aside from the offense, everything else is really high end. So, yeah, it's too bad, right? You know how the others guys used to joke that Nugent Hopkins was like the coach's favorite player? I could see Holmberg being that exact kind of guy. Exactly.

So he's there. Congratulations to him. You mentioned no hampas Linholm, like just going down the list. So William Carlson, I guess, injury is going to keep him out, unfortunately. Yeah. It's going to take him out of the conversation. So you needed a body to fill there. Like when we were going over some of our lists, you know, we wondered about a Marcus

Johansson doesn't get it. I've really liked Andre Brokowski this year, not name, but even like Alexander Wenberg in San Jose, like there's just a lot of Ricard Raquel, who was there at Four Nations last year. Elias Patterson does make it. We talked about that a little bit. So too does Mika Zabanajad. And in goal, too.

How about that? The two Minnesota Wild backstops, it just got to the point where it was undeniable. They had played too well to not get the opportunity to represent their country together, along with Jacob Markstrom. Yeah, I'm not surprised by a lot of their picks. I think it's great that they went with the two wild goalies. That's what I would have done. Like I said, I'm surprised about Lindholm, Hampus, but I look up and down that team, tremendous team, could win the gold medal. That's, that's, like, you've got to, you're going to have to work to knock one.

of Canada, USA, Sweden off the podium. Those are, especially with Barkov being out, those are your three big favorites. No question. Okay. How about Finland? I think, uh, couple surprises. You'd mention, yeah, and you had mentioned the name Miko Lettinen and he's there. Yes.

Somebody said to me the, on Friday morning after he got announced, first time I've actually thought you were smart on your podcast having Miko Lettinen's name in there. but you know I cheated I asked somebody over there so Latin and I'm not surprised I mean they only have seven defensemen in the NHL right so it's not like a huge surprise there caught Kenymi we discussed this in our preview pod on Tuesday it's just amazing how his star has fallen just unbelievable to watch really line A I had him on my team because nobody to fish ruled him out, but obviously team Finland isn't counting on them there. And I guess the only other decision we were wondering was, you know, who would be the goalies behind Saros and the way Buffalo's going, you can't argue with Lukinen and I can't argue with Lankanin and as a result, Corpusalo gets left out. But the Kotkinemi thing, I'm not surprised he's not there, but just like as an overall

bigger picture conversation. that's, you know, if you take a look at what's happened in Carolina, you know, it was reported, I think, by Dave Panyoda that they offered him to L.A. for Deno, which didn't work. And I think that if Quinn Hughes deal had happened to the hurricanes, Kotkenyemi would have been part of that deal there to Vancouver, which obviously didn't happen. But it's just, it's just unfortunate for him, just how much he's fallen out of favor. Now, one other thing I wanted to talk about from the Olympics, we've been talking a lot about Tom Wilson and the way the game is going to be played. On his interview on Real Kippur and Bourne, Doug Armstrong talked about the officials.

And he said that if it's more than 50% NHL players, you get NHL referees. So if you look for Canada, because there's a lot of this talk is about Tom Wilson and the one, major penalty in the Canada Latvia game from the world juniors that got the one player thrown out and would everybody be nervous about this? So it's interesting. If you look at Canada, they play Czechia in the opening round and they'll be more than 50% NHLers. They play Switzerland in the opening round and that'll be more than 50% NHLers and they play France. Now France has one spot open and I'm told that player is going to be Alexander Texier that he's the one guy who has not been named to France

that is going to be named France and that means that that game will have more than 50% NHL players because Canada would have 22 France would have zero and it's 22 of 22 it's 22 of 44 right so Texier I suppose

he plays in that game, if he's named to the team, they'll be over 50%. So Armstrong says that's what he's been told, and he talked about it, how about how, so now they'll get NHL officials for every game and he talked about how, yes, there are some differing

rules, obviously between the double IHF and the NHL, but, and I actually went back to the show, and I transcribe the quote, so I would have it. And you know, what he says, is a referee is going to ref the rules that he knows is the best, and those are NHL rules.

They might be able to call a foot in the crease, but a body check is a body check. They're not going to be able to say, oh, that's a body check last week and next week, but not tonight. Their brains don't work that way. So I just think the game is going to be called like an NHL game. and I found that whole thing very interesting and also Canada has been pretty tight on the details like they were one of the countries that knew about the ring being shorter when some other people were fooled

so I just think it's really interesting that you know Armstrong research this he's done the legwork that's what he believes is going to be the case and if Texier does go as I'm told he's going they're going to get NHL refs in all their games and we'll see if that stands as Armstrong believes it the way the games are called. That's a great line, by the way. Call a foot in the crease,

but you can't change how you view a hit in the moment if you're a referee, unless maybe you go to the school of Will Ferrell. Do you think he'll show up in Milan? Yes, yes. I am so jealous of Carlin Bate. Like for all the right reasons, she nailed that interview, by the way, because you've got to know like when you're, it's one thing to do the interview, but it's entirely different when you know you're part of a bit and how to play off your guest in that case. She did it wonderful. Will was delightful.

That was, that was great. And an otherwise tough night for the L.A. Kings. Oh. That was, that was a great bit of television. So good. That was a bad loss. That was, you got to close that out. You got to have your coffee.

Coffee is for closers. They didn't close. So just a few more things on now that we've seen, at least for four of the countries, what the Olympic rosters are going to look like. And it's been neat seeing, you know, some of the defending that we've seen from either, you know, peers, other teammates of players that maybe weren't selected. And then you had what Jeff Blasheel said about Connor Bradar. and that, you know, the idea that there isn't a 200-foot player here

have been kind of missing the point, you know, for a first-year head coach there in Chicago with that group, you've got to think that goes a long, long way. And it just did stick out with how he went about defending his star player and someone he believed was more than deserving to get a shot with Team Canada, obviously a roster that's very difficult to make. Mm-hmm. Yeah, first of all, I respect Blaschell standing up for his guy.

I think that's very important. I like that. I like that about him. That's what, like a player needs that from a coach in that moment. Build up your defense and stand up for your guy. And, you know, I will tell you this. There are a lot of coaches who, with their own eye test, believe what Blash Ill believes. Like I was talking to one the other day, he said,

Bedard has done, it goes back to what we've talked about, how Bedard has changed the way people see him in the league for the better and has done it better than anybody else this year. Like they all talk about how he's on the more on the right side of the puck. Like he's in much better position this year. He defends much harder. Like you, if you ask any coach right now about the coachy things they like to see from players, they'll tell you that Bidar is much better and they'll agree with Blaschell. Again, it comes down to great players get left out.

But I don't necessarily think there's any, like, there's no bias against Bedard. I don't think there's politics against Bedard. I just think that a lot of people go back to that Four Nations final last year. And you take a look at all the people who played great in it and there were no passengers in that game that they just felt like that's the game we got to see people playing for better for worse. That's what it is. I thought the most interesting thing he kind of talked about there was the defensive metric. Because, again, it's going back to baseball, for a long time, the thing that baseball had trouble figuring out was, what is the proper way to measure defense? Like, when I was a kid, Kyle, and we've already established that was in the Paleozoic age, like it was fielding percentage, right?

It was, it was fielding percentage, and fielding percentage, and I'm not looking this up right now. So just if I'm getting it wrong, give me a break. have the idea right. It was basically put-outs plus errors, which equaled plus assists, which equaled total chances divided by errors. It was something like that. And the worst player was at like 940, and the best player was obviously as close to a thousand as you could get to.

And, but for a long time, like people who really knew baseball said that that wasn't the best way to quantify. it because it didn't count things like range and eventually they came up with range factor which does a better job it's not perfect but it does a much better job and other even fancier stats like right now they're counting all the baseball hall of fame votes and one of the players who a lot of people are arguing for is andrew jones who is one of the best range factors ever among outfielders and has over 400 homers and is not there anyway the point I'm trying to make which as usual I made it a lot harder to understand is that it took a long time for baseball to find defensive stats that properly quantify what somebody does and the NHL I couldn't help but thinking of that when it came to Blaschell and when he comes out and says we do not know how to quantify defense well enough yet

I'd be very curious to know if people believe that's true. I'm not qualified enough to answer that question, but it made me think of baseball, that they were measuring defense for a long time that was worse. Like, it's been really fun watching online just from a pure, embrace debate, Skip Bayless philosophy,

the last couple days about, like, a lot of these decisions, decisions and people are out there ripping player cards and they're saying player cards are warping what people see about these guys and the teams are always saying don't pay attention to the public analytics we have much more detailed stuff and like one of the guys I like out there is the J-Fresh guy I think that guy works really hard and you know the other day on the pod when you know he's like oh these guys think they're taking all eight and he's got Bennett is a lock and you know he's he's going on there and I sent him a DM because I really like his work and I said hey I could be wrong about some of this stuff hey and he and I was wrong

I was wrong about two I was wrong about Bennett and I was wrong about badard but it's just been really interesting about all this and hearing Blashill say we don't measure defense properly and I'm going to that's one of my next kind of things I'm going to ask around about over the next few weeks? Is that true? Are we like baseball where we took a long time to figure how to measure defense right? And finally, Kyle, if it's okay with you, I would like to talk about Mark Schifley. Please do. Do you see his scrum after the game in Toronto? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Tough to watch. It was tough to watch. Really tough to watch. And it's two things. One, he's crushed. You didn't make it. And remember a year ago at the Four Nations of Crosby couldn't play, it was going to be Shifley. So he was

that close. And this year, you know, he's not there. And plus, they're losing. You know, they're 32nd in the league. And they had a really crushing, heartbreaking defeat in Toronto before he met with the media. This is another conversation we can have. But the thing that was really tough for him is that, you know, he actually found out the day before. he knew they play the new year's eve game in detroit and because of just the reality of our business now there's nobody on the road to talk to him so he's got to sit there there's no morning escape the next day because they're playing back to back so he's basically got to sit there for 24 hours 48 hours almost 36 hours he knows no matter what happens after the toronto game he's going to have to

answer all this and then they lose in the most crushing way possible. They don't even get a point out of it. So it was really tough to watch there. You know, really tough to watch there. It's not for Hildaby at the end there. He would have an electric goal to tie it. Like did you see Wool?

Will got pulled 4 to 1 and he's looking up at the jumbo drawn at the replay of the last save and saying, wow, what a saved by Hildeby to steal this game for us. So it was awful to watch him. I felt terrible for him. Um, like a lot of these guys, he stood up there and he answered every question. He doesn't want to talk after that. He certainly doesn't want to talk about the Olympics, but he didn't hide. He stood in there.

He took it. You could feel his pain. Um, you know, I, I felt awful for him watching it. And, you know, I, I have a lot of thoughts on the Jets. Um, it's stunning to watch this. Um, I, you know, one of the big debates. that Jets fans are having right now is do you break up the top line and to spread out your scoring?

And, you know, I was talking, just preparing for the game because we did the regional broadcast. As you said, he was great and that top line was great. They scored. They were a big reason that Jets had the lead. And, you know, I was talking to another coach about it, and I was like, what do you think? And he said, the biggest challenge is right now,

Winnipeg of your, Scott Arne, you're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't. And the reason is you just don't have enough guys scoring. And even if you break up that line, you just don't have enough guys going. It's not going to do it enough for you. And, you know, I said, well, you know, they've moved Valardi off the line.

What happens if you split those two guys up, Connor and Shifley? And he said the way he looks at it is, especially he texted me after that game, said in a game like that one you don't want to break them up because they're the reason you're winning right and then sometimes he's watched them because they played them recently he breaks them he breaks like maybe valardi doesn't necessarily break up the other two he said you're worried if you break up the other two you're never going to score because no one else is scoring and

those guys feed off each other so well and he says if you watch some of their games he does break up some combination of them. You know, Jets fans, I haven't watched every minute of every game, so I don't know what the exact numbers are. But you can tell that when they fall behind, as a coach, you go back to what works, right? And you're sitting there and you're saying, oh my God, we're down to nothing, I need a goal.

What's my best line? I got to put them back together. And I do agree with that on some level. After watching that even closer on, Thursday night after I had that conversation, I can see it. You break it up, and then when things go badly, you put them back together because it's the only thing you know. And I think the bigger problem, after watching them closely for a couple games, because

I watched the New Year's Eve game, too, it's that they just don't have enough guys now who are a threat to score. Like breaking up that line, not breaking up that line, that's not the issue. And sooner or later, the Jets are going to have to face a really difficult decision. and like you're this is not a year like i think they're out there i think they're looking for things but number one can you get speed that's that's one thing you're looking at but you're not chasing rentals when you're 32nd in the league not for big prices like maybe if you can get somebody for a fourth or fifth round draft pick that you think will make a difference

maybe you try that but you're not trading a first or a second for a rental when you're 32nd in the league and you know do I think they'd be looking at guys with term a hundred percent that's kind of what they do look for guys with term but the challenge what the Jets is they're on and people hate it when I say this but I can't avoid saying it they're on so many no trade lists it's hard to get guys to go in the middle of the season and so like the one thing I do think is that I'm looking at some of their guys in the HL, guys like Lambert, who's asked to, who's been given permission, I just wonder at some point if you're going to say, you know what,

this season isn't going well, he's getting half the year no matter what to show us what he can do. Like that's the one thing I wonder if the jets are going to end up doing is just saying, we're going to have to inject some new blood here because it's, it's better than the blood we have that's just not giving us enough. offense. Like, I think they, I think that's the number one thing. I just, when you have this many guys not scoring, breaking up your top line is not going to change it for you. And, I mean, what's one way to try to address scoring and get around the whole no trade

clause conversation is to have a pick high in the draft. And right now they're on a crash course to do that. But, I mean, there's still, as you say, there's a lot of hockey left to go. It wasn't a lot of hockey left. A lot of hockey left. A similar conversation around a team like, Calgary and suddenly they're knocking on the door of the eight spot in the west, how much is that is sustainable? That's a whole other conversation, but things can change. It's just because, yeah, like a lot of their, their cores all locked up. You know what you have going forward in that sense. It's going to be tough to find help that you see projecting beyond the short term right now. So as frustrating as it's all been, especially because they started the year pretty well,

as frustrating as it's all been, it's not. It's not. not, I wouldn't think it's worst case scenario to at some point take a knee, as you say, take a long, hard look at some guys playing the American League right now, give them a shot. I know like Braden Yeager's still figuring it out his first year as a pro, maybe you wait a bit there, but whether it's a brand Lambert or go on down the list from there, to have the opportunity to see some of those guys up and depending on how things shake out, you know, maybe you got an opportunity to pick a guy this June that can make an immediate impact. help turn things around right away starting next fall. But it's a tough spot when you're in it.

There's no question, especially given how they were going just a year ago. I mean, we all saw the stat as Sean Reynolds did on New Year's Eve. President's trophy winners, first in the league to start 2025 and 32nd going into the final day of the calendar year. You just don't see it often. Well, you know, it's funny. That reminds me, Scott Arnail, the first thing he said in his media conference after the game on Thursday was one goal games, we won them. all the year ago and that's a reminder that one goal games they are a dangerous mistress because in a sport as random as hockey is doesn't take much for that luck to go the other way right now it's all going against winnipeg here yeah i'm shocked at it though i never

i never thought we'd see this this year i didn't think they'd be as good as they were last year but i didn't think i'd we'd see this yeah but the more you would watch, though, and you kind of highlighted it, and I know to bring up Sean Reynolds again, he's talked about it early on this year. I think we may have underestimated just the value of the speed they lost

over the offseason, and now you're seeing that coming into play too on top of trying to find scoring here as they're going through it. So it's been a tough go for Winnipeg. It was a tough final game of 2025 for Florida, as

they coughed that lead up to Montreal And Paul Maurice was saying, oh, I'm going to grumble about this one for a few days and find a way to be happy in time for the game at Lone Depot Park, the home of the Miami Marlins. By the way, can I just say, I like the setup down there. I like the look down there. You can always, it's been, the Winter Classic has been happening for a long, long time, Ellie. As you know, I love that somebody sent a screen grab of you in the stands at the old Ralph Wilson Stadium, teeing up the 2008 Winter Classic. like I was 18 years ago. So you can always, you could always go back.

When you were three years old. Yeah, exactly. It was a big deal to have a high deaf TV back then. You can always go back to a snowy environment where it's minus 10, minus 20. You can always go back to that. I like that they're doing something different. I'll get to that in a second. The one thing I think we do need to do is get.

a bit more exterior buzz to it like I love going I went to the first 18 of them and the thing I feel very strongly is that it's more for the people who are there than the TV audience if you go you have a great time that is 99% of the people who go have a great time and the 1% I'm sorry there's something wrong with you if you can't go to that game and have a great time, there's something wrong with you, okay? You have no sports soul. And that's why I'm happy for the fans of the Panthers and the lightning this year that they're getting a game because I think every market should get a game. Because of the college football playoffs, it's not on New Year's Day anymore. You can't put it up against that.

There was a time, like, look what happened. Like, football right now, it's eating every other sport for lunch. Christmas Day was always the NBA's day, and now the NFL is taking it. And the NFL had like the worst quarterback matchups on Christmas Day. Like they had guys no one's ever heard of, and they beat the NBA 3,4, 5 to 1. The NHL used to own January 1st. It was a great TV day. now college football

they had three of their quarterfinals and only one of the games was good like the Mississippi Georgia game was good the other two were total slaughters Alabama got ounded Bob Stauffer ounded but football's king

okay so I saw your face there that was excellent the NHL's lost kind of the exclusivity of that day I think next year's is a chance to be unique. But I do think, like the one thing about Betman is they did the one on Lake Tahoe with no fans for COVID because that was different. Like I've thought about, like, could you put it on like a battleship, like an aircraft carrier or something like that? One of the things I think they've talked about, we mentioned in a previous pod was can you put it on the Canada-USA border?

Like one half on, like Quebec, Vermont, or the Dakotas in Saskatchewan, Montana, Alberta. And I'd like to thank Dom for his geography pointers that people weren't all screaming at me for getting this wrong. I'd love to see all that. And the challenge is, and Bettman feels very strongly about this, is that you have to be able to have fans there. he says the outdoor game is for the fan bases and he won't do it if not enough fans get a chance to go. He feels very strongly about that. Like I got a DM from a fan who said they should just rotate it through the northeast. There's got to be other options out there that can electrify things again.

Unfortunately, they lost the January 1st date. like that game a couple years ago Dallas Nashville we all watched it and we saw like the pig races and the Cory Perry Walk of Shame we can all watch those and get behind it and say that's awesome even if they're not the two biggest fan bases in the

NHL I do think it's important to go to Florida but I also think we've got to look for some interesting ideas to kind of jumpstart this one again So do you know what that number is for the league? Like is it

it's got to be somewhere or it's a minimum 30,000 fans, 40,000 to make it worth their while of putting on an event like this, or do they think that way? Kyle, I don't know if there's an exact number, but like I've talked about 5,000 seat stadiums before, like temporary 5,000 seat stadiums, and I've been told that's a no-go. Okay. Like even 10, I even 10, I think, would be too small. Okay. So when you talk about temporary stadiums,

Temporary teams or anything like that or temporary facilities, I don't think that appeals to him. Okay. So for this one, Panthers Rangers, later tonight we're recording this Friday afternoon, there is a school of thought out there that if not for the Winter Classic, Brad Marchon may have gotten a suspension for his hit on Mike Matheson the other night. No, no, no, no.

And you're pushing back on it. And I'm with you. I understand your reasoning here. Like, well, first of all, like, I disagree. I thought he should have got a game, okay? For people who are saying Brad Marchand, they wouldn't suspend him for the Winter Classic, he's already been suspended for a Winter Classic. He missed the one in Gillette Stadium.

So Peros wasn't part of the Department of Player's Safety back then, but they've done it before. And again, like I've said this, 242, Paris is the guy who ended his old NHL roommate's consecutive game streak. Like, Andrew Cogliana was going to set the record and Paris suspended him. So he's not afraid to make difficult decisions. And I don't think he really cares about the outdoor classic either.

He just felt that was a penalty and not a suspension. Like, he thought it was like a minor penalty handled on the ice and not a suspension. I personally disagree with him but I think the idea that he's afraid to suspend him for the outdoor game is just it's crazy talk anybody who would suspend his old roommate

and then his consecutive game streak isn't going to be afraid of that and Marchand has been suspended for one of those before right it was a yeah it was the low bridge kind of clip he got a Mark Borvetsky the senator that was a three gamer

yeah and actually I'm sure you saw the beautiful piece of video that Michael Penelho and Patrice Bergeron put together that spoof video for Marchand a thousand points and they got, well, I got a number of players to send in something for it and Borvietzky was one of them where he was kind of joking about how he clipped them and it cost him three games and anyway.

So appears fences can be mended. That was ugly at the time. Sure was. So he'll be playing in it. Anything else on this matchup before we move on here, Winter Classic? You know who plays on February 5th, the last games before the Olympic break? You were telling me about this before we started recording. Tampa and Florida.

What could possibly go wrong? I'll say there were some jokes flying around yesterday. I'm not making them on the podcast. just because if they come true, I don't want to be seen as joking about it. Yes. Yeah. And, well, now that it's in the past,

were you not thinking something similar when the day that Macklin Celebrini is named to Team Canada that Bill Garrens, Minnesota Wilde were playing in San Jose? That's actually pretty interesting, too, and you put on a show. Yes, that's right. We want the radio down from the executive. of us going get that celebrini off the ice now oh boy also tomorrow so that's winter

classic later tonight tomorrow the buffalo sabers go for a franchise record 11 wins in a row against columbus we were talking about this a little bit before earlier aliet i mean what's different about them the team that started the year that was scuffling GM change of course but in terms of the players on the ice it's been really the same cast of characters that they broke camp with. We've highlighted having a healthy Josh Norris makes a huge, huge difference. What do you look at and see with them right now? They're getting saves.

You know, Lucan has been better. Lion got hurt. That's a big one. We always talk about Lion has 10 to 15 games run every year, which saves your season, and he's been excellent. But I think Norris coming back has been massive. He's been excellent for them. I also think Lukanan making saves, like you don't win without goaltending.

They're getting it. That Oslin looks like a real player. Like it's funny, you can't just say, oh, well, Kevin Adams left, or is out, and now they've won 10 in a row. They won three in a row before he was gone, and I don't know that the GM being fired has that much of a day-to-day impact on the team. I'll just say this like Josh Dohn has been great all year We mentioned Osland Down the middle now They're Thompson Norris McLeod

That's really good Their D has been excellent Like Samuelson we've talked about I'm taking a big step this year Tuck has been great Like we didn't even mention Tuck as a snub maybe not the Eisenman

definition of a snub but we didn't even talk about a talk not getting picked for the U.S. team. Like everybody's elevated. But for me it's Norris and the fit down the middle and it's

particularly Lukinen because they need them right now. They absolutely need him right now. He's playing some of the best hockey's played in a long time. Like, you know, we talked a couple months ago about how Luchanan was unhappy that you know he might get dropped from the finish team because he wasn't playing some of that's on you you got to play and to his credit he's done it fun to watch buffalo fans deserve it yes yeah i just whether it's ozlin don't just young players that are kind of realizing

on the go the way different ways they can impact the game like that that can be really really powerful. And Thompson alone, like the level that he's starting to get to and continuing to push past as they're going through here. Like you're looking at him in a completely different light right now, even though he's been great at times in the last few years. It's been really, really impressive throughout the Buffalo lineup. So they'll go for 11 straight tomorrow against Columbus. All right. Let's get to the final thought here. reach. So you mentioned another injury and goal, Alex Line with Buffalo. There's been a few around the league. We've got Lena Sallmark, a different conversation. We wish him the best

taking the leave of absence in Ottawa. The name James Rimer, what are you hearing there? He got PTO briefly with Toronto in camp. He was at the Spangler Cup with Canada. Is he a name that could be out there in terms of interest around the league. Yeah, I've heard his name has started to come up a bit. And, you know, Reimer, as you mentioned, he played for Team Canada. And I think some of these teams have kind of poked around him a little to see if, you know, what his plans are, what do he be willing to come in?

Like I've heard he wants a good situation in the sense of, you know, he wants a team that's competitive, but I think a couple of teams have checked in on him to see what his plans are. He hasn't played yet this year, obviously. By the way, you know, Davos won it,

but those U.S. college selects, They were fun to watch. They did a great job. They lost to Canada, actually in the first game, three to two. But then they got to the final. And they played really well. They were really enthusiastic. It was hard not to like what you would have seen there.

But Rimer, I think, is someone, some people have checked in with after the tournament was over to see if, how he would feel or what his plans are or what it would take to bring him in. So I'm curious to see if we're going to hear any news on him over the next little while. Rimer was the, by the way, it was Canada won one game. They lost a couple.

The one they won was against those college selects and Rimer played against them. He won that game for Canada. All right. And it is noteworthy if he wants to go somewhere where I thinks he's got a chance to win. He hasn't been part of a team. You look at the last number of years

in the league, the way he's bounced around to a couple of different organizations. Like he was with Carolina when they went into the bubble in 2020, and then the shortened season in 2021. Part of that didn't play in the playoffs that year in 2021, but it's been a while for Rimer to be in a situation where he's got a chance to at least be around a group that's got a shot at getting to the postseason. So given where he's at and how many more kicks of the can you think he has, not a surprise at all that he would like to be somewhere.

that he would view and many would as playoff bound. Okay, now is the final thought. Now, with that, why don't we take our first break? And we'll come back with the thought line. You're listening to 32 Thoughts, the podcast. It continues after this. All right, welcome back. Here we go.

The first edition of the thought line. 2026 edition, but Friege, is there anything left over from 2025? We have to get in before we move forward. Yeah, there's a couple of things, Kyle. First of all, I wanted to thank a Twitter follower named Chris O'Hallorin, who sent me a link to something that just opened up in Toronto called the Museum of Bad Gift. where local artists and community members display notoriously bad gifts they have received over the years. So I haven't had, he sent it to me three days ago.

I haven't had the opportunity to go yet, but I'm going to because I'm curious to see if a certain gift is going to be in there. That would be great if they knew. You kept it quiet, but they knew. That's right. I walk in and the gift is there. This is start like honest to goodness. No chance of saying it. No, no, no.

You like how many months ago did you tell, well, it was it back in the summer? The raccoon story. And now every week. I'm still getting them. Yeah, people are still sending me stuff. This week, there was raccoons in a house. And somebody sent it to me and goes, is this your house? Yeah, right.

Now you tell a story about a bad gift, and we have a bad gift museum popped. I know. So be careful what story you tell next. I shudder to think the butterfly effect that it has on everything. Just a couple of notes. I had a Ray Calyendo who said, hey, next time you have Amber on 32 thoughts, make sure that he gets a better night's sleep or something. He sounded pissed off and disagreeable. entire Olympic show. And we know that he's anonymous despite his denials. I think thou doth

protest too much. That's good. I saw Amber on Wednesday and I read that too and he was just rolling his eyes. I know. I think we put him in a bad mood by mentioning the anonymous thing right away and he just wasn't able to recover from it. By the way, by the way, there was a couple people that wrote into the thought line that were grilling us for not going at Biazza. to see if he was the anonymous. You know what? I totally forgot. That is a deserved critique.

You have every reason those of you who wrote in, who took issue with Kyle and I not doing that, you are right. I just completely forgot. There's no other explanation or excuse for it. I will take, Kyle, I will take the heat for that one. I also wanted to shout out an Instagram user by the name of, Drew Walden, who sent me video from the Sportsnet Instagram account of Matthew Nye's fighting Nico Hescher and wrote underneath it, he looks huge.

Oh, that's, I forgot about that one. Yeah, that's another one that stuck around for a little bit. You know, it was disappointing because the devils didn't skate when they were here on Tuesday morning. I went to the morning skate. Sheldon Keefe did his scrum, but none of the players were there. I really wanted to know if he sure was aware of that whole thing. Oh, I have zero doubts. He knows. The devils do seem to be, they do a good job staying on top of what's out there. Yes. Yes, they do. I have no doubts. Had he seen you, he would have had a bicep flex ready for you.

All right, that's it. What else we got? All right. So this one from Jared had to get in here off the top. Greetings from the home of Connor Bredard and Macklin Sellebrini. I'm a longtime listener and had to send an email following your discussion around Poland. I am a professional firefighter and Canadian Army veteran. I have been heavily involved with a charity called Firefighter Aid Ukraine, which trains.

first responders and medics being impacted by the ongoing conflict. Due to the airspace being closed in Ukraine on four separate occasions in the last few years, I have flown in and out of Poland on my way to Kiev. I can confirm a few things about Poland. Number one, the history and the architecture is incredible. Number two, the food is fantastic. And finally, as someone who married way up, I can confirm that much of the male population in Poland is indeed

punching above their weight class and the other half of the population are indeed easy on the eyes. Happy belated festivus. Happy belated festivist to you too. First of all, that's incredible work you're doing. That number one, I think that should be pointed out.

Tom, make sure the link to the charity is put in the show notes, please. And secondly, I'm glad to hear the scouting reports were accurate because The scouting reports are not always accurate. And if this last two podcasts have told me anything, I do have to get to Poland. Do have to get there.

Yes. And given Jared's description of Poland, I stand corrected. You would not stick out like a sore thumb there. You would fit right in. No, I still would probably stick out like a sore thumb. And Jared, you should know that when it comes to the three of us, I am definitely punching above my weight. Kyle is absolutely

punching above his weight. And the fact that Dom's girlfriend is still with him is a modern miracle. Oh, gosh. Thank you, Jared, for many reasons. That's awesome. Okay, Jake from Lakeville, Minnesota. This is a two-parter here.

32 thoughts team. This is an anonymous raccoon from Detroit. I am currently wearing a Pittsburgh penguin's Tristan Jari jersey with brown shoes and yellow laces. Did I mention I play the triangle and my best friend is a Puma? I could see how raccoons and puma might get along. I think that part of the story, I could see it. It seems to make sense. Yes, especially now.

It seems anything is possible with a raccoon. A quick lighthearted question for everyone first. What is your favorite joke or bit from the? the podcast? The raccoons are making me laugh right now with the amount of stuff people sending me. Whenever there's a news story about a raccoon, I get 25 DMs about it. Okay. And the fact that one sent me the drunken raccoon report in Arabic still makes me laugh. It was an international story. That's, yeah. It's good. It's like, you know, when they used to show in like sporting events, this is how this play was called in China.

This is how this play was called in the UK. This is how this play was called in Germany. I was getting the raccoon reports from Saudi Arabia. Yeah, it's just it's the same photo in the bathroom with just different text around it. God, that is good. My, I still, the one that made me laugh the hardest was, remember the whole bit last season with the puck and the tracking device? Oh, yes. It was now listening in.

It was, you know, sent on behalf of Commissioner Betman. The wilder and wilder that got, I just, I could not contain my laughter at certain points. I do want to say that the runner up for me this year was when we got the note about weird injuries. And then they started happening. Jack Hughes, Torupchenko. So my earlier point. Yes. You put it out in the world.

And then it just runs wild. Don, do you have one? I don't. Sorry, guys. Okay. That was Dom Schramatti, producer of 32 Thoughts, the podcast. Thank you, Dom. You know what, Dom?

It's like a major league. Do you have anything to say? Nope, that's, they don't call him the best color man the league for nothing. Yeah. That's, yeah, it's the, uh, the S&Ls get, uh, from the Super Bowl. Remember when the power outage and they had to fill for forever? It was, uh, was it the 49ers and Ravens? Yes.

And they just kept back to ewing each other between the panel and Steve Task. Oh, well, I've just received word that our own Steve Tasker on the sideline has some new information. Steve? I don't know who told you that, J.B. And I'm willing to bet that you made it up. Suffice it to say, I have no new information. Back to you, J.B. Back to you, Steve.

You can't back to you, me. I just back to you. You, back to you. And right back to you. Nothing, fellas. Back to you. Okay, there is a second part to Jake's sufficient here. Okay.

So we have the fun, and now we get into this. Okay, if there's time, I'd like to know if you can explain the NHL pension, what benefits players get after retirement, what milestones they need to hit to receive a full pension. Do goalies have different requirements than skaters? What about coaches and folks in the front office? Thanks for all the hard work and the laughs. Happy New Year. So I did a bit of digging into this, Elliot.

I don't know if you got anything off. There is a lot of layers to this. Well, first of all, the games played thing is real. Like there are a certain amount of, like, the more you play and there's certain benchmarks you have to hit where, yes, it does get you more. And there is a different number for goalies than there is for skaters, like different standards, yes. 10 years, you're fully vested, I was told, when it comes to the pension. 10 years and lead.

I thought it was games. I didn't realize it was years. That's probably better, I would have to say, yes. And what's interesting, I didn't realize that the player's pension is effectively fully funded by the players. That has changed. So yes, you are right about that. It was, and that was the case.

in 2000 and uh i i don't remember was 2005 or 2013 actually i think it was the 2013 lockout the players talked about what a big improvement the pension was for them and the league would say well the players are funding it but one of the things that marty walsh uh one of the things that marty walsh really cared about was that in the most recent CBA, Kyle, of the one that was just done, it is now funded by the league. That has changed.

Okay. So it's back to a defined benefit. Yes. In 86, it was defined benefit for a number of years, though it still wasn't much money at all. When Alan Eagelson was in charge, it went to a defined contribution. That didn't do a whole ton for the players.

It's been back to define benefit for quite some time now. There are, there's a lot of work done by Glenn Healy and some others back in 2004. I'm sure you remember for players from back in the day when pension was almost nil. It's not so much that now they're getting just a bunch. It's considered supplemental gifting. I think for a lot of the players that played back in the day when the money was a bit different and how it was allocated. That was a huge, huge achievement, I think, for them at the time to get that alumni set up a little better moving forward. And apparently with just in the last few months here, Elliot, I think just before the season got started, they finally had a breakthrough with the alumni where whether you play one shift in the league, a thousand games in the league, as soon as your playing days are done, like you've got now a family doctor available to you and your immediate family.

Big win. That was a big win for Glenn Healy. I'm actually not joking when I say this. Some people might think I am. I'm not. I think Healy, whenever he steps down running the Alumni Association, he should be put in the Hall of Fame as a builder. For the work that he has done there and for some of the help he has given people, oftentimes quietly, he really cares about that role. And that was a big win for him.

So I just want to correct something. I misspoke something before. When I was talking about the difference between goaltenders and skaters, that's for a thousand games. So a skater gets a thousand games. A goaltender, I think it's 400 appearances. So it's obviously not the same because goalies don't play as much as skaters do. but the way it works right now, and I just double-checked it,

it doesn't matter except that if you were on the roster. So even if you didn't get into a game, you get credit for just being on the roster. And I think the maximum, from what I understand, the maximum benefit, I believe, is just under $300,000 a year, and that's because that's the most the IRS allowed. house in the States. So that, I believe, is the pension.

I just checked a couple of notes I had. And if I'm wrong, I'm sure I'll get a note about it. But I was definitely wrong about the first part. So I was wanted to correct it. Okay, very good. And Jake also asked about, you know, coaches and people in the front office. All I was told there, it's like you've got to work somewhere for a very long time for an organization to set something up for you in that sense, like in a lot of situations.

you're kind of an independent contractor. I think there, but I do think one of the things that's happened there is that there have been improvements. You're right. I don't know the exact numbers there, but there are certain jobs you work, like with the titles that you contribute to a pension. Like there are, one of the do things I know is that for like health insurance and things like that, depending on the title you have inside an organization, it determines what level health insurance you receive and also how much you get thrown to a pension. As a matter of fact, I was actually recently talking with someone who was getting a promotion

in their organization. And one of the things the organization was going through was, if you get this title, this is how much your pension, our pension contribution. is worth. If you get this other title, this is how much our pension contribution is worth. So I'm not as certain about those answers, Jake. I'm sure we'll get some people who reach out to us and say, okay, here's more. But I was talking to someone recently who said that the title did affect how much of a pension

contribution the team would make for him. Okay, great. Jake, thank you for the two questions there. All right, John and San Jose. Dear whoever I have to suck up to in order to get my question answered, you're awesome. Evidently, you picked the right guy, John. Good work, yes. I'm curious about how the 40-game limit for burning an RFA year works in regards to injured or loaned players.

I know it's 40 games on the roster, even if they're not in the lineup for each game. I'm a Sharks fan, and I'm curious how it works for someone like Michael Mesa. You didn't play every game, spent a bit of time injured, lone to the American League, now playing for Team Canada at the World Juniors. The Sharks will have their 40th game of the season while he's at the World Junior tournament, so I'm curious if this season is counted. I'm hoping he'll stick at the NHL level after the tournament, but just wondering how it all works. so if you're on the roster but you're injured that counts but it does count I am under the impression that being loaned to the world juniors does not count

but if you're injured it counts okay so they'll have a bit more time to decide if they so choose once he gets back from that yes okay there you go John

thank you for the question David from Nanaimo BC hello to Kyle Dom and the King of the Raccoons and there you go moves on As of the time I am submitting this question, the Edmonton Oilers sit in third position of the Pacific Division and look like they are quite likely a team to make the playoffs once again,

despite the fact that they have yet to put together three consecutive victories. So my question is, has any team ever made the playoffs without stringing three wins in a row? And if so, what is the highest point total ever achieved from a team who did not win three consecutive games? As an Oilers fan, I like to think that with how McDavid and Dry Saddler are playing, they will find a way to have a streak longer than two at some point this season, but you never know. Keep up the good work on the pod. You guys make the long days at work feel quicker with some good laughs and questionable takes.

Yes, we try to have a bit of everything here. We try our best. Did you look this one up? I would have no idea off the top of my head. Yeah. First off, I was a little bit surprised, especially with how the Oilers have. have come on here of late that, yeah, they haven't won three in a row yet this year.

But I did do some digging. And? Well, SportsNet stats did. Of course. We know you didn't. We know who's doing that digging. Yeah. So back in the day, it did happen a number of times in the original six era.

You remember those years post-1967 expansion where all the expansion teams were in the same division. Only three times has it happened in the 16-team playoff format in league history. And hasn't happened for a while. 1983, the St. Louis Blues. The next year. Yeah. The next season, 1984, Chicago Blackhawks. The most recent time was in 95, Toronto. But remember, that was a short-in season. Yeah, it was like 48 games. So had they gone? I will say that was a really inconsistent team, so I'm not surprised.

But those are the three examples under the 16-team format, Fridge, that we see here now today, that that has happened. And he asked about who has the most points in a season for a team that not win three in a row the 2009-2010 Dallas Stars

88 points in 82 games missed the playoffs didn't win at least three in a row I think the Oilers will get there at some point this year but I was a bit surprised to read it hadn't happened yet

to this point in the season yeah wow I mean And that's the way this league is now. So win two, lose two, win two, lose two, win four, lose four, win five, lose five. Streeky league. Yeah. Apparently not win three, lose three for Edmondson yet, though.

Strangely enough. No, they're stuck in a time loop. Last one here. It's a voicemail. This is Derek from Tampa Bay. Hey, Kyle Elliott, Dom. This is Derek from Tampa Bay, Minnesota Hockey Kid down here enjoying lots of good news this year like the Minnesota trade and contract work and also the recent victory of the lightning over those jerks from South Florida. But I had a question.

I'm curious about how you guys watch on Monday's episode. Kyle talked about how he had to go back and watch the third period of a game. I often hear Elliot mentioned how he missed something and had to go back and watch it. I know you guys are media members of one of Canada's great networks, so I thought possibly you're getting your access through that. But I'm just curious if you guys are watching on YouTube like me, trying to find the exact minutes you're looking for, the exact fight, the exact goal, or if you're using your privilege and really living it up.

Anyways, just curious about that. Have a great one. Love the pod. You guys are awesome. Oh, thank you. First of all, Derek. Why don't you go first? sure so I don't know if I'd call it living it up but I love the way Derek put that so for me because of how often I travel in different regions sometimes down in the states other times across Canada you know there's still we still live in a world where blackouts can take hold so for those and I'm not the only one but for those of us that are often traveling throughout the season we have access it's actually through DeZone now we have access to an NHL TV account

You do. I don't. I know. You don't travel enough. Yes. You can't be trusted. But as I say, there is a handful of like a lot of the remote crew that are the commentators and core production team that are on the road lots during the season where it would be worth having. We do have a setup where, you know, we've got a count where we can log in and it basically, it eliminates all blackouts, you know, because sometimes even nowadays, for each, as you know, you'll get to a hotel, you know, say we're in Denver. get in on a Thursday for a game on a Saturday and, you know, the avalanche you're playing on Thursday night,

but the hotel doesn't even have the channel that the game is on, you know? So at least it's little things like that, whether it just cuts out any issue. If you want to watch a game, you'll never have an issue finding it so long as you have Internet. So that helps in all those cases. And there's times where if it's just one specific highlight, maybe I'll run to YouTube and find it on there.

but other times it's great to be able to go back and to watch games that way. Very fortunate to be able to do it, but sometimes it's part of the job you have to. For me, there are some people who can put on five TVs and watch all sorts of different games at once. I'm at work right now recording this part of the podcast, and I have a setup and we have a setup here

where you have five, six, seven TVs. And I think when you're on the air live, you have to have that. when I'm at home however I pick one game I say okay one game at a time this is the game I'm watching and this is the game I'm looking at but I'm scrolling through social media I'm keeping an eye on things and if I see something or I hear something I'll use my iPad or I'll use my phone and log in and say okay and I use Sportsnet Plus based in Canada I don't travel as much as Kyle I don't qualify for this hoity tooty super secret link that he gets um I'll just just log into my Sportsnet Plus account and I'll go find the highlight. If the game I'm watching gets irrelevant or another better game starts, I'll switch, but I have one big game going at one time. And there'll be times during the night when I'll see a quote from a coach or a player

and I'll say, what did I miss there? Or someone will send me a note, did you see this? or there'll be, for example, potential suspension play and the next morning I'll go back and I'll look. Like, let me watch this again before I comment. Is there something, you know, basically a lot of times it comes down to, am I sure what I saw? Because if I say something wrong, people are going to tell me, right?

And so that's the way it usually goes for me. Before I say something or post something about it, I'll always go back and. watch and say, okay, let me make sure I know what I think I'm seeing here. Yeah, and I'm with you. At most, I'll have a second game going on the iPad, but I can't go beyond that. I can't do the Matt Marquesi 18 games at once. TV, iPad, laptop, phone, PlayStation, TV, fridge.

with all the games you can't watch everything you can't we i mean a lot of us try there's no question there's a lot of people in this business who really try to keep on top of as many things as they can but it's impossible to keep on top of everything with any detail and you know sometimes i'll miss something and or i'll misspeak something and a fan of a team will say you're completely wrong about that or i've had uh managers of teams reach out to me and say you know you got that one wrong and it happens like I admit it like I've had I've had fans of teams send me DMs and say hey you got that wrong and I'll go back and I'll check and I'll say you know what you're right I I mucked that up so you try to watch as much as you can you try to cover as much

as you can but there's so much going on things will always slip through all right good place to leave it Derek thank you very much for the voicemail if you would like to send in a voicemail like Derek did. You can do so 1833-3-3-1-31-32, or you can send us an email of 32 Thoughts at Sportsnet.ca as well, Elliot, should remind everybody that would like to secure a pair of tickets to our live show in Moncton on January 15th, a little less than two weeks from now. We put it out there at the start of the week. The trivia question is we're looking for all New Brunswick-born NHL players.

that's the caveat, NHL players that have won the Stanley Cup in the history of the national occupying. We've got a number of submissions already. Keep it coming. We're running out of time to submit them.

We are going to announce the winners on Monday's pod. So just a few more days to get those in. Keep guessing. Keep guessing. We hope to see you there.

Don, are you coming to Moncton? Are you coming with us? Yes, I am. I'm glad you had to answer that one. Yeah, seriously. I don't know, guys. All right. We'll take one final break and wrap up this edition of 32 Thoughts the podcast after this.

All right, whether you're listening to this, maybe later on Friday night or first thing Saturday morning, have I got news for you? Cancel your plans on Saturday. Know where you need to be other than your couch or wherever you like to consume hockey in the year 2026. A full days worth here on the network. So starting at 3.30 Eastern, 1.30 Mountain Time. The Edmonton Oilers have a matinee affair with the Philadelphia Flyers from Edmonton. I can be seen nationally on Sportsnet and should near perfectly roll right into Hockey Central Saturday with Ron McLean and Company at 630 Eastern. Three early games to choose from this week on Hockey Night in Canada.

Where I am in New York, the Islanders, Matthew Schaefer and Bo Horvatt, the Olympian and Company, hosting the Toronto Maple Leafs. Winnipeg Jets are in our nation's capital. to face the Senators for an all-Canadian clash there. And the Nashville Predators are in Calgary. So note that for Flames fans. It is a 5 o'clock local start there from the Saddle Dome. Seven Eastern is part of the early window on hockey night. The lone late game this week from Vancouver,

a rematch of the 2011 Stanley Cup final, the Bruins and the Canucks, Zeeve Booiam. One of the newest members of the Vancouver organization will be this week's guest on After Hours, Scott Oak and Dave Tomlinson should be a tremendous conversation there. All right, taking us out today, a track from The Boojums, who are a three-piece rock band hailing from Port Hawksbury, Nova Scotia.

Formed in late 2024, they quickly made waves by uploading grainy, self-recorded live VHS performances to YouTube and Instagram, catching attention with their infectious hooks and raw, no-frills energy. Their sound is a throwback and a leap forward. melding 60s garage rock, 70s punk, 80s alternative, and 90s power pop into something undeniably fresh. Their self-titled debut LP captures the band in full force, a stripped down, emotionally charged ride through personal growth, heartbreak, love, mortality, and life in small town Nova Scotia. With wailing vocals, snarling guitars, thunderous drums, and filthy eight-string bass lines, the boojums deliver rock and roll that feels both timeless and vital. Here are the boo jumps and burning up on 32 Thoughts, the podcast.

We can find this track along with all of the others on the 32 Thoughts, the music playlist on Spotify. Have a great weekend, everyone. We'll talk to you again Monday. I want to put the hammer down, let her open up wide. I'll feel it in my bones like it see it in your eyes. I know, I know, I know, I know. Maybe this time we can finally make it. Just let it end without trying to break it.

Come a little closer, baby, I can't take it. No more. No more. No more. You're burning up. Learning it, baby. Just like it's waning, burning up, burning up baby, burning up, burning up what she's going. Once upon a time you would know on the scene, just a movie little chick with a washed

out jeans. Want to get a little closer and want to know what you mean. I know, I know, I know, I know, oh. A little girl is your daddy home And you get sick and tired of being there all alone Give me just a call Would you pick up the phone Say hello, hello, hello, hello Maybe this time we can finally make it Just let it bend without trying to break it

Come my little closer, baby I can't take it no more No more, no more, no more We're burning up, burning up, burning up, just like I'm saying, and burning up, burning up, burning up, burning up, burning up watching all. Burning up, burning up, baby, lighting up, just like a flame, yeah, burning up, burning up baby, burning up, burning up, burning up. Burning up, burning up, burning a baby, and dying up, just not a flame. Burning up, burning up, burning a baby, burning on, burning up, burning off. Thank you.