32 Thoughts: The Podcast - The Brind’Amour Flex

Episode Date: May 3, 2021

Rod Brind’Amour is stepping up for his staff in Carolina. Jeff and Elliotte break down (00:10) the contract talks between Canes brass and their head coach, Brind’Amour’s request to see his staff taken care of before he signs his contract and what the market might look like if Brind’Amour was available. They also discuss the […]

Are you just getting foot rubs all weekend long online? Is that what you're getting? Little foot massages online? You know, Elliot, one of the things we always talk about here on this podcast is not just looking after ourselves, but looking after everybody around us. And that's not just family, that's neighbors, that's colleagues, that's everybody. But watching headlines on Saturday and hearing your report on Rod Brindamore, it feels like the coach of the Carolina Hurricanes is taking

that to another level here. For those that didn't watch headlines on Saturday, you want to spell this one out for us? So I spent a lot of last week trying to figure out what was going on with Rod Brindamore because nobody believes he's going to, he wants to leave Carolina. I know there's this rumor about, could he be the first head coach of the Seattle Kraken?

Is he interested in going anywhere else? But nobody believes he really wants to leave. And depending on who you talk to, there's a belief also that he may be very close to a deal and may even have a verbal deal. I don't know. It depends on who you talk to, right? A month or two ago, several of us reported. I think Frank Cervelli had a report about it.

Sarah Sivian had a report about it. I think Dan Rosen from NHL.com had a report about it. I'd heard it that Brindamore was getting close to having a deal done. And for whatever reason, it hasn't happened. And now there are people saying that they're wondering if it's going to happen. And I do think that there are teams out there looking at this and saying, if we have the opportunity, we'll back up the Brinks truck for Brindamore and give him more money than in Carolina, because the belief is if he stays there, he's going to take less than he can get on the market because he wants to be there.

But the issue is his staff, and I'm not just talking about his coaching staff, the assistant coaches, the goaltending coach, but also the training and the equipment staff, they don't have contracts for next year. And apparently what Brenda Moore has said is, I want these people taken care of, and I won't sign until I know that they're taken care of. And, you know, I don't know where this is going to go. I think there is a chance he still stays, obviously. Like I said, I believe he wants to stay. But I think right now he's taking a stand for the rest of his staff because he feels that they should be taken care of too.

And if you know anything about Brendamore, I don't think this would come as a huge surprise. No, he's always been that guy. My question when I saw your report on Saturday was, what happens within the organization when the negotiation between Rod Brindamore and the squad reaches that point? It's one thing to get the coach done. It's one thing to get his immediate assistance done.

And isn't it a whole other thing to take care of? First of all, good on Rod Brindamore. I want to make that up front, like first and foremost here. Good on Brindamore. Because in this time, and I know, like we all know, as you pointed out, Rod Brindamore has options. Like Rod Brindamore hits the market. He's as unemployed for as long as he wants to be.

I get that. I will tell you, I got a text today from someone who said, I really hope that the the hurricanes saw that go public and they sign everyone because i think there's some coaches nervous about what that could mean for them sure because all of a sudden there's a shark in the water like all of a sudden rod brindamore becomes available teams that already have coaches and might be on the fence whether they like him or not. All of a sudden that could sway. So I understand all that.

I do wonder though, if you're the general manager, if you're Don Waddell, how do you receive that information? If you're Tom Dundon, how do you receive that information? Well, I think they already knew. I don't believe that Don Waddell and or Tom Dundon would be surprised that that is the case. I think it's well known inside the organization that that's the issue. What they probably don't like is that it's public. We'll see where that goes. We'll see if that changes anything. I don't know that it will, but I'm sure that that's something that they would rather have been internal.

For example, I sent a note to the hurricane saying that this is what I was hearing because I legitimately did make a whole bunch of calls last week wondering, you know, why isn't this done? Like what's going on here? And finally, you know, someone helped me unearth the answer. The thing that, you know, is interesting to me about all of this is the Carolina Hurricanes are doing a lot of things right. They're in first place in the NHL. They've done a really good job finding and developing players. They've taken some gambles on some players that have really worked out well. And Brindamore is at the heart of that.

He sets the tone for the day-in, day-out team operations of the players. And clearly those guys like playing for him. So what I'm wondering is, and they know him better than anybody else, why would you fool around with that? why would you fool around with that? Why would you screw around with that? If you're the Carolina Hurricanes, why would you screw around with that?

Yeah. Why tempt the fate? Listen, right now for the Carolina Hurricanes, things are going great. They are the top team in a division that has the Tampa Bay Lightning and a resurgent Florida Panthers in it. They are the talk, and now they have been for a couple of seasons now, of the NHL,

although they play in a very quiet market, let's just say. I mean, this isn't New York, Philadelphia, Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, et cetera. Like, right now, everything is coming up Carolina. Like, if the Carolina Hurricanes win the Stanley Cup this year. Are you surprised?

No. Who would be surprised? No, no one would. They're really good. In a situation like this, and I think there's a few reasons for this. I think very quietly, and we've talked about it before. I think, listen, as much as you have to give credit to Don Waddell for what he's been able to do, they've got some secret weapons in that organization,

and namely Eric Tulsky is one of them. I think that Eric Tulsky is one of the smarter people around the NHL and has been for a long time. A lot of those moves go right through Tulsky, and a lot of the communication to the coaches go through Eric Tulsky. So they've got some secret weapons that don't get talked about a lot in the NHL

on their staff. But I'm with you. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Not only is it not broke, it's going great right now. They have a chance to be good for a long time. For a long time, absolutely. And they have a dynamic roster,

a lot of players that do a lot of different things. So give us some context here. As far as a salary for Rod Brendamore, I don't know whether Dundon would be scared away from a number. Are we talking about the Joel Quenville, Aline Vigneault, Claude Julien club? If he stays in Carolina, he's going to be way under market. Okay. And Dundon is a guy who's made it very clear. He's a smart guy. I disagree with him on some things, but I agree with him on others. One of the things that he has made it very clear is that he thinks executive

and coaches salaries in the NHL are way too high. And he wants to change that. salaries in the NHL are way too high and he wants to change that and the thing is if Brindamore comes in where I've heard he could potentially be coming in it's a steal it's still a lot of money like nobody's going to be holding any tag days for Rod Brindamore but it's a steal so if you're saving that much money under market for Brindamore why are you drawing such a hard line on all the people he wants around with him somebody out there can explain it to me i'm just looking at it from my point of view and you know brindamore is clearly going with the don't bleep with happy rule right yeah and i respect that especially now i think there's a

whole world of people who are going through that right now sure if brendan moore's going on the don't bleep with happy rule and taking below his market to stay why are you drawing a hard line with the people around him why tempt fate right that he gets upset and says, forget it. Okay. So the best type of leverage you can have in any negotiation, you know this as well as I do and anyone else listening to this podcast, the best leverage you can have in a negotiation is if you have the ability to walk away. And Rod Brindamore does because he has options. So let's say it doesn't get that far. Let's say that Rod Brindamore gets, uh, gets redone here by the Carolina hurricanes.

He gets re-upped and gets everybody around him done at the same time as well. What happens to his stroke in the organization? That feels like a real power move, doesn't it? I think Britton Moore has always kind of been like that. I remember in 2006, we went to Carolina. I was working at Hockey Night in Canada at the time at CBC, and I was doing the headliner. I can't remember if we're still calling it the headliner or we'd switched it to inside hockey. I don't remember which name the piece was. And Carolina had a great year that year.

You know, of course they won the Stanley cup and we went down there to do a piece on Brindamore and he was finally getting the respect that he deserved. Right. And I do remember asking him like about, you know, the way his play was getting recognized. And he looked right at me and he said, I've never changed a thing. The fact is a lot of you are just noticing. And it wasn't exactly that, but I'm paraphrasing it. I remember it.

I remember him looking at me and saying that. And that's who he is. If you ask him a question, you're getting an honest answer. He's going to tell you what he thinks. And he's telling the Carolina Hurricanes what he thinks. Take care of my staff. One final thing on the Carolina Hurricanes. We'll get to the rest of the podcast here in a second. much influence do you think justin williams has on this team uh quite a bit i think they listen to his opinion quite a bit the only reason i asked that is williams played for rod brindamore if there's one person that could exert some influence based on having played for this coach would it not be justin williams

maybe it's possible i think he's definitely influenced uh dundon with some ideas before you know dundon is a really interesting guy he's successful obviously he's opinionated obviously he's driven, obviously. One thing I learned is that for a lot of people who don't play sports for a living, but they're around sports, what's their game? Their game is winning the negotiation. Right, Jeff? Yes, that is their competition. How many people have you met in this business that the negotiation or the argument is their game?

Oh, how long do you have, Elliot? So it's everybody, right? Everybody. Listen, it's at every single level, Elliot. A hundred percent. So this is Tom Dundon's game. It's winning the negotiation. He's like a lot of very successful people I know.

Why are they successful? Because they're determined to win every inch of the negotiation, right? Well, like I said, I think right here, Tom Dundon has his win. He can get Rod Brindamore, one of the best coaches in the National Hockey League, signed for well under the market value. He's won that negotiation. Why isn't it signed? Because I believe Rod Brindamore has said, okay, you've got me done.

Now take care of all these other people. If you're Tom Dundon, what are you winning by blowing this like let's just say the absolute worst case scenario happens and britain moore says i won't tolerate this i'm done at the end of this year i'm either retiring to golf in carolina or I'm going somewhere else. What have you won here? If you're the hurricanes. You haven't, you have a new coach that comes in at a price that the owner wants. Yeah.

Cause I think he's already won. You know what though? Good on Rod Brindamore here. Stick up for your principles. Not everybody can afford to. Stick up for your principles. Stick up for your people. Leverage the to. Stick up for your principles. Stick up for your people. Leverage the position that you have to help others around you.

And on that, we'll kick off the podcast. Welcome to 31 Thoughts, the podcast. Thanks so much for listening. Thank you for the downloads and thank you for the kind words about episode number 200. Welcome to episode 201. Elliot, now there are officially, after the final payment was made late last week, 32 teams in the NHL welcome a Seattle Kraken.

I have one big question about Seattle. I'm going to hold off here for a couple of seconds. But as we greeted this news late last week, what went through your mind right away? You know what the first thing i thought of is who's going to be the first kraken who's going to be the reed duke yes because and that is the first thing i thought about who's going to be the reed duke of the kraken the first player they sign yes the ultimate trivia question it was reed duke or the uh the brandon wheat kings uh signed by the vegas golden knights who's going to be that guy for seattle so vegas uh the kelly mccrimmon association went to his junior team brandon to grab the first one

what happens with seattle they go to the thunderbirds and sign a player everett silver tips that's actually not a bad idea that's a really good idea jeff i give you credit who's that that is a great i don't know if there's an undrafted free agent from seattle or everett that they could sign yeah i like the way you think that's a guaranteed i'm just watching a highlight right now yeah one of my favorite baseball players, Andrew McCutcheon, just hit a 444-foot home run for the Phillies. That is a 444-foot home run for the Kraken if they sign one of the silver tips or one of the Thunderbirds. That's a 470 George Springer, baby.

I'll go 470 all day long. That bomb that he hit a couple nights ago. So you really need the extra 26 feet, eh? Yeah. You really need that? Yeah. I'm that petty, baby. I'll go 470 all day long. That bomb that he hit a couple nights ago. So you really need the extra 26 feet, eh? You really need that? Yeah. I'm that petty, Elliot. I am that petty. So that's one thing I thought about.

You know, I thought about the expansion draft. I love the Vegas expansion draft. It was such a fun event. I don't think there's going to be much of a chance this year I'm going to be able to get to go to Seattle, but I'd love to be there. I'd love to go to the Seattle expansion draft. I don't think there's going to be much of a chance this year I'm going to be able to get to go to Seattle, but I'd love to be there. I'd love to go to the Seattle expansion draft. I loved it. It sounds like it's going to be in multiple

locations, right? With various celebrities and locally. Yes, it sounds like, listen, no surprise. Yeah, I think the one thing we were all expecting out of Seattle is there's going to be a real element of showmanship about this. Like there's going to be a real element of showmanship about this. Like there's going to be no, no such thing as a low key presentation for anything, especially

not something as substantial as the expansion draft. But the one thing that I, that I wonder about, and I have for a long time here, and again, all of this is going to be sort of lurking, you know, out from under the shadows of what happened with the Vegas Golden Knights and what they were able to do with their expansion draft and the team they put together and what they did in that first season. Talk about raising an impossibly high bar for the Seattle Kraken here. To me, the question is this. To me, the question is this.

If you're Ron Francis, do you want a good team for 21-22? Or do you want a good team for 25-26? I think this question is now irrelevant. Why is that? Because I think he's going to be able to do lots of different things here. You think he'll be able to do both? Yes. You know, the pandemic has changed everything for a lot of us it's particularly changed things for seattle there were a lot of gms in this league and

organizations in this league who talk tough about how we're not going to make the same mistakes with seattle that we did with vegas well now look what's happened oh they all they all want to make deals well before i i think it was legitimate at one point in time i thought it was legitimate that seattle was going to get squeezed here a little bit more that you know that the they had opportunities to avoid the mistakes now because the cap is flat we're in a different spot there's going to be the opportunity to do some things you know one of the things i'm very curious about if seattle is going to do is they have to draft a minimum salary, right? Yes.

So will they target the minimum and that leaves them a ton of cap room to do whatever they want with, whether it's free agents or extort trades or whatever they want to do? See, I wonder about them playing with that cap space and saying, here's a chance for us to pick up picks and prospects and help a lot of teams out of some really uncomfortable situations. That's why I asked the question, do you want to be good in 22 or do you want to be good in 26? That's why I think this gives you the opportunity to do both. They're going to get players and they have the opportunity, take some really bad contracts here for a couple of years and essentially buy first rounders and buy prospects for getting teams out of pickles, getting them out of salary cap jams or getting the owners out under the weight of bad deals that

they now regret. By the way, the draft is structured this year. But by the way, all expansion drafts are done and every other expansion draft will be done this way at the same time too when you're paying as much money as Vegas and Seattle did. You're going to get players. That is going to happen.

I don't think that anyone's going to or should expect Seattle to replicate what Vegas did because that was just a freak. But they'll be a competitive team. My only question is, how much does Ron Francis want to say, you know what, it would be nice to be competitive this season,

but if we can pick something up that's going to help us down the road, like we're in this for the long play, not just a short pop. I think the pandemic and what it's done to NHL economics, they're going to be able to do both. they're going to be able to do both they're going to be able to do both so you think there's going to be a lot of side deals here yes so you think there's going to be a lot of bribes essentially elliot is what you're saying

there will be a lot of bribery just like a chicago election there will be a lot of bribery like you know like one of the teams i'm wondering is philly yes well you wonder if players like james van reams dyke or jacob voracek yeah if there are deals there not unlike what we saw with pittsburgh and vegas with mark andre flurry i think philly is going to be one of the biggest teams to watch this offseason. All they've been doing since before the trade deadline, I think, is sitting there and saying, what are we going to do here? I think Philly's going to be a fascinating watch. Let's get to Philly, because that's one of the teams that I want to discuss

sort of under the umbrella of teams, you're surprised that, you know, here we are six or seven games, five or six games remaining in the season. And these teams are out. I want to talk about the races here in a couple of moments, because really there aren't any outside of Dallas and Nashville. There's races for positioning, but not so much to get in.

But as far as teams that are on the outside of all of this, and maybe Dallas is going to end up being that answer from Stanley Cup finalists out of the playoffs. But top of the charts for me has got to be the Philadelphia Flyers. And I know we spent a lot of time on them a few episodes ago, but pick up on the conversation we just had or the point you were just trying to make there about what Philly is poised to do here.

First of all, let me say on Dallas, I don't know if anyone's ever exempt from criticism, but they'd be as close as anyone I could get to. Because of COVID and injuries. And they had the situation in Texas where the power grid went down and they couldn't play for a week because of that too. Some of them were housing coworkers and teammates

because there was flooding in their places. I used to have a house that had some trouble with flooding. It's a nightmare. It's an absolute nightmare. Like, to me, the Stars, I know it'll be disappointing if they don't make the playoffs. I know the overtime win by Nashville heavily

tilted the odds. Stretching out at the blue line, here is Ekholm down the left wing. Ekholm goes behind the net, they can wrap around, and it's tipped in the net! Eric Haula is there! And the Predators win it overtime! What a drive from Ekholm, he gets behind the net, puts it out in front, and Haula... Boom! Good finish, just pumps it in.

That was a tense game so oh i mean obviously i'm watching toronto vancouver and i'm watching montreal ottawa but i had that nashville dallas game on and it was tense yeah zero zero in overtime you probably want a little bit more to happen but it was a tense game and the odds are now really tilted in nashville's favor between the schedule and that win. But to me, like I said, as close as you can get to be exempt from criticism this year, the Dallas Stars are on that list for me. That's fair. And they haven't had Sagan for the entire season and, and, and, and, and.

Bishop. Bishop's another one. Do we not under-recognize the importance of Matt Niskanen on this team? Because that blue line looks and looked completely different this season without Matt Niskanen. Defensively, the Philadelphia, the one area where you look at and you say, what was the problem with Philly this year defensively they had a real hard time like they were bad they're just flat out bad yeah you know Hart had a rough year he won't play the defense was terrible in

front of him I think Chuck Fletcher has some real like I said I think he's going to be really interesting to watch in the offseason I do I think it's going to be fascinating what they decide to do like this year if you're losing has been total hell and like these guys they can't do anything and they're like we joked last week about how guys are texting me and saying we're just sick of each other and we hate each other yeah I think Philly is one of those teams that's going through that. So I think top to bottom, the way they play, their roster,

their coaching staff, like everything is on the table. Everything. After a year like this, nobody avoids the microscope. And I think they've been planning it for some time. Like it's not like they're going to play their last game whenever it is next week, and they're going to say,

okay, let's sit down. I think the Flyers have been doing it for some time now. I'll tell you this. There was this crazy rumor going around last week that they were supposed to have a day off one day. The day off was canceled and switched for another day, and then the players were like, no, we were given this day off. We'll just keep the schedule the way it is.

It was so weird. It's just a crazy situation where I just think the level of frustration among everybody in that organization is just off the charts. So the first order of business then is to get yourself right for the expansion draft and all the deals business then is to get yourself right for the uh the expansion draft and all the the deals that are going to come along with it but after that is done of course eyes on the nhl draft in late july but is not the main job this season for the philadelphia flyers to get carter hart healthy and performing again because without that guy you know are you you know just winding your you know

winding your watch on the way to the electric chair i think teams have to be really careful about this year this is such an unusual year you know philly had a COVID outbreak right after that, they had to go right across the country and they lost to Boston in that outdoor game. They got killed by the Bruins and their season just nosedive from there. Right. Yeah. To me, because Carter Hart's had a really rough year and he has had a rough year. It doesn't mean that you're sitting there and saying, okay, this guy is no good now. I agree with you. I think you analyze it and you analyze it pretty strenuously, but I would bet on him recovering.

Wouldn't you? Absolutely. Yes. Based on his history, based on his track record, based on what we've seen professionally from him, I would say absolutely. But that still has to be job number one. Yeah. He's a guy that needs to get the TLC in the off season, right?

Like he needs to get the full attention. Cause that's it without Carter Hart. It doesn't matter what you're doing. It doesn't matter what you do to, you know, find a partner for Ivan Proveroff. It doesn't matter what you're doing for the expansion draft. It doesn't matter who you're, it doesn't matter. You don't have that goalie. Everything's, I mean, it's the story of Philadelphiaadelphia everything gets undone because of the goaltending now not that i'm pinning everything on carter hart because the defense had a really tough go

of it this year too well i think you mentioned that you know they the niskanen thing and that's something they're going to target they are absolutely going to target how do we fix that okay so you mentioned that nashville dallas game on saturday and you're right that was tense that was edge of your seat and you only had the the payoff in overtime but if you look at the races around the league yeah you know i think going into this season when we said okay look at the schedule and it's only interdivision so this is going to go right down to the wire it's going to come down to those last handful of games. I mean, Nashville-Dallas is the only playoff spot that's up for grabs here that we're having any conversation about.

You know, like, many is two points back of Colorado for second in the West. Tampa and Florida are two points back of Carolina for first in the Central. The East is a log jam. You know, you have Pittsburgh and Washington and the Islanders all within four points.

And you have Boston two points within the Islanders. By the way, by the way, you guys cannot allow a Hey Berkey this year of how Brian Burke saved the penguins. That will not happen. Brian doesn't want it to happen. Brian goes out of his way to mention. He's like, if, if anyone from, if anyone,

if anyone from my team said that Brian Burke and Ron Hextall are taking credit for this, they'd be livid. He wants you to say it. Hey, Berkey, tell us about how you and Ron Hextall saved the Penguins this year. They've only got four games left. They're tops of the division right now, and that episode is not going to come out, I assure you.

Hey, Berkey, tell us how you came intoburgh with a big red s on your chest this year how you went to that phone booth and tore off your white shirt and there was a big s on your uh on your dry fit underneath that red tie you always wear it turned into a cape um so there really aren't any races here other than just jockeying for a position and for my money well you forgot the interesting one in the north and that is all of a sudden montreal winnipeg yes well all of a sudden the winnipeg jets have lost six games in a row yeah boom and we've seen benchings we've seen ir irate players, whether it's, you know, Mark Shifley, whether it's Connor Hellebuck. I don't have a problem with any of that. I don't have a problem with any of it either.

I'm fine. Listen, I expect star players to be upset when they're sat down or taken out of play. I'm totally fine with it. But all of a sudden, any Maple Leaf fan or Montreal Canadian fan that was, you know, getting excited about this opening round matchup, oh, finally going to see the Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadiens. Well, guess again, it might be Leafs Winnipeg in the opening round and Edmonton Montreal as well.

There were two big goal celebrations on Saturday night, you know, Caulfield scoring. Chuck has been on the ice since the start of this overtime. He has not been able to get off. It's featured in Caulfield's goal! Cole Caulfield, his first NHL goal, is a game winner in overtime. And Holla scoring for the Predators. The way those two teams celebrated, you would have thought they would have won the Cup. Or pretty close to it.

I'm exaggerating when I say the Cup, but you would have thought maybe they would have won a playoff round. Just the stress and relief of those two victories. Even though Winnipeg's really struggling, I still wonder if Montreal has enough to pass them. Although the Canadians, they had an unbelievable weekend. Like just everything they were going through, they had an incredible weekend. To fall behind Winnipeg like they did and win, to fall behind Ottawa like they did and win, and Ottawa's been a lot better. I don't know if I would have believed that for a lot of chunks in the past couple weeks,

they had that in them. And I still think with all the injuries they have it's going to be a challenge but i'm astonished at how winnipeg has has opened up the door there let me nitpick again okay let me get on my soapbox again first of all congratulations to cole caulfield great goal great celebration getting there how many times can you watch slow neutral zone regroups the overtimes are getting they're getting awful i'll just be blunt they're getting terrible yeah like all it is nobody wants to change possession everyone wants to catch everyone on a line change or catch them on a and it worked um on a switch and and it worked it just took a while to get there oh don't have it oh neutral zone regroup here we go back and it's slow like

when three on three started it was it was the worst thing was there jeff is that it worked i know and then then coffee because now more people are going to do it. I know. I'm watching this. I'm like, oh, my God, this is so awful. And then, whoa, I'm jumping out of my chair. OK, well, that was great. And it worked.

But just, I don't know, man. That doesn't seem like the spirit of three-on-three overtime to me. I remember that first season. The first season of three-on-three, there was one Detroit Ottawa overtime, which was just five glorious minutes of odd man rushes and scoring chances and up and down. And was that the one where Nyquist held the puck for a minute? No, no, no. This was, I can't remember exactly. I actually, I would like to go back and fight.

It was in the first season of three on three and it was late in the season. And it was to me, the best three on three I've ever seen. Detroit and Ottawa. It was spectacular. And then to watch on Saturday and again, great finish. Cole Caulfield. Awesome. That was fantastic. But man, slow neutral zone regroups over and over again. And then Ottawa grabs the puck and does the same thing. Like, oh man, I don't know if this is what the NHL was shooting for. Can I tell you one thing in Winnipeg I am really curious about? What's that? So at the trade deadline, we've talked about this,

that Winnipeg tried to get another defenseman in addition to what they did with Ben. Yeah. And Sheveldayoff was very, very upset about it. He could tell he was noticeably upset that he couldn't get another D. Well, he wanted Jamie Oleksiak. Yes, we've talked about that, that he was the guy.

Well, around the same time, that that he was the guy well around the same time he said that he wanted to see villi heinola yep how many times has he played since that game i don't know how many times he played once oof see i think one of the more interesting things about the way hockey is still different from a lot of other sports, never mind a lot of other sports, I would say baseball in particular. In baseball, the manager in a lot of places, the power has been taken out of their hands. The organization sets the roster and comes up with a lot of the in-game strategy. Now, it's a much slower game than hockey is. In hockey, you can't make those decisions that slowly. You need a coach who's on the ball and saying, okay, I'm ready to do this. You don't have the timeframe you do in baseball. But I think there's a lot of coaches in hockey who still,

and a lot of teams who look at it like, we set the roster of the overall team, but the coach decides who plays and who gives out the ice time. Now, I think some teams mold it a bit better than others but i still think there's a church and state separation in most cases this one with heinol is interesting to me because he's played once uh since shovel day off said that i do believe that winnipeg is one of those teams that's like, we may put up the overall roster, decide who's on there from one to 23 or whatever, but Paul Maurice picks the lineup. Like, I just think that they would like to see this guy and they're going to make the playoffs.

Calgary is 10 points back of them with six games to go but i i wonder if internally the jets are just like we have to see if this guy can play now we have to see it speaking of players you want to see i want to talk about quentin byfield so quentin byfield made his uh debut last week in the nhl yeah so great story second overall draft pick honestly, Elliot, I remember watching him play York Simcoe Express in the OMHA before he joined the Sudbury Wolves at the OHL. And he, I mean, physically he's just bigger than everybody. But the skill set, the skating, like all of it. Like he looked like, the first thing I thought of was he looked like a combination. You're going to laugh when you say this.

A combination of Joe Thornton when he played with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds and Yevgeny Malkin. Like that's what he looked like. It was freakish. And the obvious is so I would look at him and go, oh, that's a new Eric Lindros. That's a new Eric Lindros.

But anyway, so second overall pick. And I look back, first of all, great story and congratulations to the player. I look back at the conversation that we had, I think it was on the last podcast. I know they kind of all run together here.

One of our podcasts, but we talked about the NHL-CHL deal and how a player like Byfield this season, if the OHL were playing, the decision would have been he's either on the NHL roster or he's on the OHL roster. And I could see a situation where, you know, Byfield, the Kings would have kept them around at a camp, played up until the magic number where all of a sudden, you know, you're burning the first year of the contract and they make a decision and maybe send him back to the OHL. Who knows? Maybe he goes back there. But this year being a year where the OHL wasn't playing,

he stays in the American Hockey League. And it seems as if that was the best scenario for him. Like that worked. Him having that transition between the OHL. And let's face it, he goes back to the Sudbury Wolves of the OHL. He has nothing to prove. He's like, there's not a whole lot of growth that's going to happen for a player like Quinton Byfield going back to dominate junior one more season versus playing however many games he played with the, with the Ontario Reign of the American Hockey League. That worked for him. played with the Ontario Reign of the American Hockey League. That worked for him. Now, we talked about this on a previous podcast, about how this deal is going to get looked at in a different way.

And another player that comes to mind, and this might be an even better example, an even better example of how teams are looking at this arrangement between the NHL and the CHL and saying, we need to rethink this. I don't know how they're going to do it. Maybe they don't even know how they're going to do it, but it needs to get discussed again. And it probably will. And this example is Jamie Drysdale.

So Jamie Drysdale was probably a player who out of training camp would have probably right away been sent back to Erie and wouldn't have had a chance to play in the American Hockey League. It would have been just like, okay, kid's not ready, send him back. But not only was he allowed to stay in the American League because the OHL wasn't playing, but all of a sudden he started developing in leaps and bounds. He's in the NHL now.

He's not going back. And Elliott, he's in the nhl now he's not going back and elliot he's one of anaheim's best defensemen and that doesn't happen if the ohl isn't in action this year so i think there's a there's a few players that are like this but the one big one that pops we look at okay which player would have been sent back right away at a training camp and not even been given the obligatory nine games. To me, it's probably Jamie Drysdale. Like,

I think you're bang on about this, that this agreement is going to get looked at again. I don't know how they do it. One player every two years can, you know, come in right from that, right from the draft and not have to go back to junior. I don't know.

All I know is there's enough examples now, and this year has shown, like this year has proven because of the OHL being dark, this year has proven that these players can handle it, and there's a lot of them. What do you think? I don't disagree with anything you just said there. I think the thing that saves it is that when push really came to shove, I think it was last year,

and they could have voted on this, there were a lot of teams that said this is still our number one feeder league and we can't ruin it. So does it become, say, like the Max Domi question? If you're hindering into your fourth year of junior, can you go play AHLl is there a compromise that can be reached or a team can only do it three years out of five that's another idea or once

every two years or however you want to do it is there that compromise there now the junior hockey operators will look at that and say hold on a second second here. If you want, you know, the CHL and for the purposes of this conversation, specifically the OHL to be this, you know, developmental hothouse here, you need to keep as many high end athletes in the league as possible. there were players like Quentin Byfield in the league when Quentin Byfield joined the league. So this would be an example of, you know, climbing up to the top of the roof and then kicking down the ladder and saying, I'm here, screw everybody else. Now I fall more on the side of if the player can play in the American hockey league, he probably should go. But I know junior hockey operators would look at it and say, hold on a second here. If you want this as a top developmental league, you better keep some elite level players here. But the winds are very much moving towards this thing changing, right?

Like it's going to happen, I would imagine. In some way. Something happens here. Do you have a thought on Quinton Byfield? I mean, we started this whole diatribe by bringing up Quinton Byfield in transition to Jamie Drysdale, but you ever thought on Byfield? I'm just really happy for him. You know, getting the opportunity, will wet the appetite i wish he would have scored he had a glorious chance in that first game but he got the opportunity and i think in the long run it's only gonna make him better i'm really interested in this king's team because they got a lot of young players and I wonder how much a they

are friendly with each other and how much they look around and say how many of us are going to make it because you can be friendly but you also have to compete like hell you're competing for the spots do you say the same thing about the Anaheim Ducks? Because that's another team that's loaded with young players. I said earlier that Philly is one of the teams I'm really wondering about. Anaheim is another. The fact that Bob Murray sets such a high bar for some of his best players makes me wonder if he's looking to try to hit some kind of home run this off season and not commit to a full rebuild but try to get right back into it because all three california teams are out like anaheim was in on line a right oh yeah could you not see them

taking a run at someone like eichel if Eichel's available? 100% I could. I just wonder about that. Like if somebody like that is available, they could do it. They have the prospects. There's no denying that. I've been thinking about Anaheim since the deadline. He set a high price.

He set a high price. He set a high price. What is he thinking? Now, again, don again don't well we can't say radio me please don't podcast me everyone this is just me wondering not saying it's going to happen like i started the podcast by saying i was making calls last week because i was wondering what was going on why isn't this happening with brindamore i'm ending the pod by wondering why didn't that happen with anaheim and that's one of my theories brindamore was fact this is conjecture you're not ending the podcast that way you're going to end the podcast by doing two things here okay one what are your thoughts on ilia kovalchuk now avant- Omsk wins the Gagarin Cup and he's a free agent and Sergei Tolchinsky,

great import story into the OHL there. He wins the game-winning goal. But he resigned, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I just throw that in there because it's a fascinating story, his import draft story.

When he terminated his deal, I immediately asked, is there any chances coming back this year? And he wasn't on anyone's reserve list. Yeah. So he can't play in the playoffs or

anything like that so i was initially told no and then you know someone said to me there might be someone who's looking into at least getting his rights so we'll see where it goes a couple of other things here to close out um one thing you mentioned on headlines women's world hockey championships are rescheduled august 20th to 31st yeah ron did a really good interview with of things here to close out. One thing you mentioned on headlines, Women's World Hockey Championships are rescheduled August 20th to 31st. Yeah, Ron did a really good interview with Renee Fizell. Absolutely.

And I thought that was excellent. And one of the things that I was, one of the things, I mean, I had been whispered about August going back a few months, like, hey, worst case scenario, the IIHF is going to do this thing in August and it's a worst case situation right now.

So there it is in August. I wondered about Edmonton and wondered about Red Deer as well as potentials for the obvious reason. And you mentioned Calgary. Well, Calgary is definitely making a big push for it. You know, Edmonton's had a lot and good on them. I think Calgary is really making a push for this one. Okay.

And one final thing. Okay. First of all, you know how much I love talking about Peter Forsberg. Yes. And you know how much I loved when Peter Forsberg came on this podcast. Yes. And I'm pretty sure you guessed by now that I'm a huge Peter Forsberg fan. Yes.

When you think of Peter Forsberg's signature move, what do you think of Peter Forsberg's signature move, what do you think of? Not the one that you think of, because I like the reverse hit. That's the one. Oh, I thought you were going to talk about the goal, the one that Verana scored in the shootout the other day. The interesting thing about Forsberg to me is

the one thing that to me defines Peter Forsberg isn't the postage stamp goal right and that was actually created by and Forsberg talked about this on this podcast Kent Nielsen of the world championship scoring against John Van Biesbroeck and he did it while he was being chased it wasn't on a penalty shot or a shootout or anything like that we saw Jacob Verana do that that's the touchstone for this conversation on Saturday against Curtis McIlwain. Yes! Oh, my God. With the Forsberg.

It's Veranian. Datsoukian. Verana's done it again. A beautiful goal. Little bicycle kick. And the move Peter Forsberg made things. To me, the Peter Forsberg, the signature move is that,

Colby Armstrong always calls it the cold shoulder. The bump back, right? The reverse hit or whatever, is like being able to initiate contact while you have the puck. To me, when anyone says the Forsberg, generally they mean that postage stamp goal that he scored against Corey Hirsch.

Yeah. But to me, it's that cold shoulder, isn't it? Forsberg, generally they mean that postage stamp goal that he scored against Corey Hirsch. Yeah. But to me, it's that cold shoulder, isn't it? And I guess when you look at, Forsberg popularized the move that Kent Nielsen essentially created, right? Much like Gordie Howe popularized the Gordie Howe hat trick, which was first done by Harry Cameron in 1917. That'll always be popular and as we know gordie howe only had himself two gordie howe hat tricks yes yes i knew

that but the way he played it became synonymous with that moment because gordie was tough no denying that gordie could score gordie could set up gordy was ambidextrous right like before Yvonne Cornway there was Gordy Halb shooting left and shooting right but I don't know this is essentially just a way for me Elliot to bring up Peter Forsberg again here on this podcast just because he's one of my favorite players of all time but so you just rambled on for an extra two minutes and wasted everybody's time because you wanted to talk some more about Peter Forsberg? I think I brought some information. I mentioned Kent Nelson.

I sort of dovetailed it to Harry Cameron in 1917 and gave a little bit of context here. I've got no problem with talking about Peter Forsberg. None. I could do it all day long. All right. And there we go. Listen, thanks to everyone for tuning into the podcast this week. Once again, another podcast coming up a little bit later on this week, as per usual. Taking us out, a band we featured a couple of seasons ago, BSI, is back with another

track from their upcoming double album that's due out at the end of the month. From Reykjavik, Iceland, here's BSI with Vesterbyr Beach on 31 Thoughts, the podcast. Got me going all night long. Got me going all night long. Got me going all night long. Got me going all night. We're together forever. Being better. We're better.

Got me going all night long. In the night with Heather Got me going all night long Got me going all night long Got me going all night We're together Forever In love with heaven We're together forever Being together is home I know that you are free like me And I know That you know That I forgot to let you know

About that thing that you