32 Thoughts: The Podcast - The Buzz Is Back in Buffalo

Episode Date: March 9, 2026

Kyle Bukauskas and Elliotte Friedman open with Buffalo and Tampa Bay’s wild 8–7 thriller, highlighting Rasmus Dahlin’s elite play (7:30), before discussing Matt Barzal’s hit on Macklin Celebrini (15:30) and Nazem Kadri’s emotional return against Colorado (23:00). They move through league storylines including a proposal to extend overtime through the end of a power play (26:00), Winnipeg slipping in the standings (30:00), Edmonton’s big win over Vegas (33:00), and questions about the Golden Knights following Alex Pietrangelo’s absence (39:00). The guys also touch on Kent Hughes’ mystery trade that never materialized (42:30), the Blues rebounding after a turbulent week, (48:00) the growing value of players with term (50:00), Nick Schmaltz’s contract talks tied to playing center (52:00), concerns about Florida’s "load management" (54:00), another note on the Kadri deal (57:00), and a Final Thought honoring Troy Murray (1:00:00). Kyle and Elliotte answer listener questions in the Thoughtline (1:06:58). 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

30 years ago, that game against Colorado was the day Detroit arrived. Do we look back at March 8, 26, and say, this is the day the Buffalo Sabres arrived on the scene? Welcome to 32 Thoughts, the podcast presented by the Toyota BZ. Go all-electric and a winter-ready Toyota BZ at your local dealer today. Dom, Elliot, I got to think if your BZ needed a charge on Sunday night, all you had to do

was plug it directly into Key Bank Center during the Sabres and Lightning. One of the games of the year. Eight seven Buffalo comes out on top. Top spot in the division for the time being on the line, 102 penalty minutes,

multiple lead changes, a four point night for Tage Thompson, three points for Nikita Kutra, after a four-pointer in Toronto the night before. It was nasty throughout my kind of hockey, as Lindy Ruff put it in the post game. It's as if, Elliot, the Sabres said to Tampa, you may not have to worry about Florida down the stretch this year, but now you got to worry about 60 minutes of sizing each other up. The buzz is back in Buffalo.

It was like watching hockey at the Thunderdome or the Roman Coliseum. Very nice. There are sometimes television, and I was watching on television on Sunday, does not do justice to the atmosphere of an arena. There was no problem with that on Sunday afternoon. Like, you could feel the energy. I've said this before, and the Maple Leafs are playing in Buffalo on Saturday. But when the leaves and the sabres were good,

you'd get all the leaf ends who would come down to Buffalo and watch those games. And the crowd, there would be as many fights in there as there were on the ice. I would always, when both those teams were good, I would always make sure, uh, Toronto, Buffalo, keep that night free. I'm going down there. Because one of the great things about the Buffalo Press Box and is that, it's basically right on top of the top row so you can interact with some of the people there. And when those games are nuts, it's bananas in there.

That is one of the things that I've really enjoyed most about watching the Sabres climb back up is that those nights are going to start coming back. Where you're in press row and it's happening right in front of you. I just love it. But, you know, watching that game today, Kyle, you know what I was thinking? I was thinking about March 26th, 1997. Now, you may be too young to remember this, but in...

Enlighten me here. In Detroit, any listener in Detroit, here's that date. Oh, of course. And their ears perk up. Of course. Yeah, but you know what, Kyle, like I can understand how that wouldn't be instinctive

for someone of your more youthful generation. So when Brandon Janahan went into the Hockey Hall of Fame, Ron McLean interviewed him on the set of Hockey Night in Canada and he talked about that night. And, you know, it's not exactly the same. Detroit had lost to Colorado the year before. There was the Chris Draper, Claude Lemieux hit

that got Lemieux suspended. And that was the night Detroit came of age. They won two Stanley Cups right after. and it was the trigger to their four Stanley Cups in a little over a decade. I'm not so sure Buffalo is going to do that, but when the Sabres were a really good team, their identity was this.

Matthew Barnaby, Rob Ray, Brad May, all those guys with 300 penalty minutes, they hammered you on the ice. You left Buffalo, win or lose, you left Buffalo with bruises. And it's different now, but if you wanted to win in the Eastern Conference, you had to go through the bully that was the Tampa Bay Lightning. And yes, the lightning have the great skill, the elegance of Headman, the skill of Kuturov, Braden Point, all those other guys, but they rough you up too. And they did it to Florida, and Florida realized we can't just be

skilled, we have to be mean, and they turned into the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers. And that was because they got thrown around by the lightning and embarrassed by the lightning for years. And now the Buffalo Sabres, who incredibly and unbelievably are in first place in the Atlantic Division and two points behind Carolina for first place in the Eastern Conference are sitting here saying, we're ready to take on the Tampa Bay Lightning firsthand. Like, it was the easiest bet that Sam Carrick would go into Buffalo and immediately become a fan favorite.

Like, that guy is a blue collar saber. And wait until Logan Stanley shows up and wait until Luke Shen shows up. those guys, like if those two guys were eligible were able to play today, they would have been right in the middle of all of that against the lightning. And, you know, we talked in the last pot about, oh, they took their swing at Robert Thomas didn't work.

They took their swing at Colton Pereko didn't work. But the guys they did bring in are going to be perfect, perfect. They're going to be like the watch, the cufflinks. the tie clip. They're going to be the perfect, perfect appendices on outstanding attire. Like, that's the kind of stuff that a man puts on to look good. Like, for a female, it's the perfect pair of earrings. It's a cashmere scarf, Kyle.

Yes, I hear that's a great option these days. That you and I have brought back for Milan. It's that final, final piece of the attire. that makes you look that much better. What a fantastic hawk. I mean, I couldn't believe they came back and won. It was incredible. But to me, like I said,

30 years ago, that game against Colorado was the day Detroit arrived. Do we look back at March 8, 2026, and say, this is the day, the Buffalo Savers. arrived on the scene. It's, well, you listen to Rasmus Dahlin afterwards that finally we're here, finally we're doing these good things. It is in their minds, you can tell, it's all coming together. Still a long ways to go. Yep. But as you get deeper into the year, you get tested in different ways,

especially a team like Tampa is willing to do, and they tried to do. And they took their blows. in a variety of ways. They gave and they got. And they gave it right back. Yeah. And man, it was an incredible. Do you, I was wondering about this watching, I got to try to do some homework on,

I mean, besides just being a great player that also has a bite to him, but Rasmus Dahlin's ability to drive opponents crazy. Mm-hmm. Think about Matthews, the outdoor game, took the suspension. We just saw Malkin.

The other night. And then Brandon Hagle, I mean, he wasn't the only one. Like, you could tell there was a number of lightning they were trying to get into his kitchen early. And he just either A, gave it back, skated away, or just kept playing.

It was phenomenal to watch. At the end of the game when that game was over, and by the way, I think there was something really fitting about Josh Done, scoring the first goal and the last goal, the game winner. Because I think Josh Donan in a lot of ways is emblematic of where the Sabre started this year and where they finished. But, you know, when the game was over, I was thinking about Dahlene. Kay, is he a top five defensemen in the league now?

Yeah. Yeah, like, okay. Well, top five, like, that's a pretty heady company. Well, I'm thinking. So my four, my Mount Rushmore right now in the NHL, Hughes-McCarr-Ware-Warenski-Haskinan. Those are my guys. And I think, so who were you putting five ahead of Daly? Well, again, it would be a select list. Like, McAvoy would have some say there. Yep. I mean, I'm a big Jake Sanderson fan. I've let that be known.

Yep. But, I mean, Dahlene's right in that conversation. There's no question. See, the reason, and I'll get Sabres fans, and they'll be like, hey, he's better than say, Hayeskinen. Okay? Hold on a second. Hayskin has done it for years. Like, those four guys at the top, the Mount Rushmore of current NHL defensemen, they have done it for a year.

You have to do it for years, and one of those guys has to decline before you take them out in my eyes. I think McAvoy, like Sanderson, he's rising too. And we'll talk about him again in a couple minutes, but he's rising too. But McAvoy, I think, is a great call. I think he's right there. I think Josh Morrissey is a guy who does not get enough love. and deserves to be seen right there. But I was,

I was thinking about this. Headman, you know, a great player for a long time, right there. Headman probably, I'm probably disrespecting him a little bit, which is a bad thing because he may actually listen to the podcast.

Not a good thing to be disrespecting headman, because I think he actually listens to this garbage. No, you know it's all respect for him here. All those, all Foreslaces. Pick which Florida guy you want, Foresling. But, you know, Rasmus may be five right now. He may be five. Like, I'm with you.

At the end of the game, I was thinking about him. And I'm glad you pointed out what Lindy Ruff said about how, when they walked into the room after, like, all the smiles. How many games do you think Lindy Ruff played like that in his NHL career? Especially like I said, the Sabres. Like that was their identity. How many times did Lindy Ruff walk into a dressing room during his playing career? Like exhausted, everybody's smiling at each other because of just the Titanic struggle that they just won. Right.

And that makes a team. Like the lightning, lightning are one for all, all for one. You mess with one of us, you mess with all of us. Remember when the Leafs a couple years ago showed video of the Lightning doing that, when the Leafs felt that not enough happened when Lilligrin got hurt? And they showed the video of the Lightning attacking everybody. Like that's what the Sabres did when Hegel jumped Dalline. Like even Luchanan was about to fight.

Yeah. You got there quick. Those kinds of wins. You know what they do? They put hair on your chest. and realize kind of what the group can be capable of if you weren't certain already it was really cool to watch

especially like think about early on in the year Elliot conversations we were having how big of a year this was for the Dallines, the Tage Thompson's of the world in Buffalo and where things are at now it's a long time coming is a very long,

long time coming as fans of Buffalo know. The other thing too, like the videos of like that plaza as everyone was starting to file out of the arena and just the sounds, the energy of Sabers fans walking out, it was cool to see. It's, uh, it's been too long.

Buffalo and the Plaza's great, great place. It's going to be awesome. I wonder for this Saturday when Toronto's there. Because I've only really covered games when the Leafs have been near their peak of trying to win and the Sabres have not been,

and the crowd reflecting that, what's the balance Saturday? I'm not, I don't know, maybe I'll be wrong, but I don't think there'll be a lot of Leaf fans rushing down there. Wouldn't be surprised. I'm just curious.

So this weekend, post-deadline, it almost seemed as if the hockey got turned up a notch. Like, there were some games between teams, teams that you wouldn't think would be like Buffalo Tampa when those teams are good you expect there to be a rivalry because as we talk about Buffalo is trying to climb the mountain and Tampa's there sort of got one of the teams with the high ground trying to push everybody down the hill so when you have the high ground you have the advantage so Buffalo's got a fight to force their way through I was watching San Jose Islanders and that was a me

game out of nowhere. Like I laugh that Horvatt got fined for poking Eklund on the, well, no, I understand that one because obviously if you fight with guys on the bench or somebody comes off the bench, it's a big suspension. So there are examples of the NHL finding people who either are on the bench and interact with others or they're on the ice and they interact with the bench. Actually, when I saw the, when the push notification came across my phone that they'd find him $2,500, I was like, I should have known that was coming, that they were going to give it the Horvette, even though I laughed my head off about it. Did you see Celebrity in the post game, though?

He was mad. He was really mad. That guy, you saw it during the Olympics and again over here, does not. not handle losing well. And I'm not saying that in a bad way, but just the competitiveness. Wow, wow, wow. Well, he didn't like the hit he took from Barzell. And it was interesting.

I didn't really like it either, to be honest. I don't think I don't think Barzell was out to hurt him, but I wasn't, I didn't like it. I got a couple texts from players who said that they didn't like that Celebrini reached. Like it's like it's, it's, it's like he reached and. kind of made himself vulnerable. And what a couple guys said to me was in the NHL, he's never played in too many of these intense March, April games before, like where the regular season starts to turn and ramp up for playoff teams.

Like as you mentioned, he's obviously played in big games in the Olympics. But I think some guys in the NHL, the first time it happens to them here, they're not always prepared for it. so he'll be ready now and he'll be aware more aware of it now but you could see he was really mad about that play and you know san jose like a bunch of those guys like to foley was the guy who came back at horvette on the bench he's played in a lot of big games before for the kings for montreal like he's seen this stuff but a lot of the other san jose guys haven't and the other

one was Ottawa, Seattle. Again, you would think there would be no rivalry between those two teams. And that turned into a mean game. Now, I checked on Sunday. They didn't have an update on Sanderson yet. I don't like to see that. I hate, I mean, I hate seeing anybody get hurt, but I hate seeing really good players right before the playoffs go down. And Ottawa's making a run of this. They're making a legit charge. They're five points out. He's one of their best players. I understand he was either supposed to get an MRI on Sunday or he was going for one first thing Monday morning.

I'm not sure. But they're supposed to look at results on Monday and determine exactly what we're dealing with here. I hope it's not bad. I was shocked that Tyler Cleven did not get suspended. I wasn't. He escapes it. He gets fined. I really liked that Cleven.

I think he's a great player for them. What a goalie scored Saturday. I said, what a goal he scored Saturday. The pass was great. The shot was great. Like, that was real. It's always a reminder that you don't think that, like, a guy like him would do that, but these players are so skilled. He's fortunate.

He didn't get suspended there. Like, I saw that and I was like, yeah, he's getting a couple. We all thought he was getting a couple games. but he escapes with it and fortunate for Ottawa. I always wonder in situations like that if that, like clearly Cleven was mad that Sanderson got hurt, right, Kyle? Mm-hmm. So whenever I see a player get less than I thought,

especially on a cross-check to the face, I'm kind of like, uh-oh, does that mean that the injury is worse than we realize? So we'll find out Monday morning. I hope not. We don't need guys like Jake Sanderson out of the lineup. Can I just circle back to the Celebrini Barzell hit there just for a quick second? I'm just, I'm really, I guess I'm a little bit surprised that is what the feedback you got from other players on Celebrini there.

But I suppose it's just a good reminder of why a player's perspective can be so important because they're the ones that live it. Yeah. they see it different because I look at that and going like I don't think there's anything wrong with a guy in a position trying to make a play defensively like he doesn't have the puck on his stick to try to reach to poke a puck free he should be in no situation that's what I thought I'm glad you know I'm glad you brought that up because that was my that was my position like he doesn't have the puck yeah if it's reversed if he's got possession then yes don't reach you're asking for trying to trouble. So, yeah, that's why I'm always, a player's perspective is I'm all ears because having not done it at that level, you just, you see it different. Yeah. I can understand why he was mad. I did. But all of a sudden, these games, they ratched it up. There's a lot of, a lot of meaner, meaner games this weekend. And that is not going to be the, exception. That is going to be the rule. Like what are we talking about here? Buffalo, Tampa,

Islanders, sharks, senators cracking, all teams that are either going to be in the playoffs or trying to make the playoffs right there. Yeah. Well, I can remember a couple years ago coming out of the All-Star break, remember the Rangers and the Flames play it on like a Monday night and it went from like zero to 700 and suddenly like that almost set the tone for the entire last couple months of the year in the lead up to the playoffs. And understanding it comes a little bit later here because of how condensed the year has been, the Olympic break in that, but now trade deadline's over. You know what you got as a group and those that are in it.

It's gone to a bit of a different gear. Also, he should point out, I mean, there was a pretty good list of guys making immediate impacts in their new teams, like just over the weekend. Ryan Strom scores for Calgary. Yeah, I was very happy for him. It was hard for him. And, you know, I'll say this for the Ducks. The Ducks did Strom a favor.

Been a hard year for him. They made sure he got somewhere to play. I, you know, I like teams that do that. Get, you know what, if it's not working, even if you have to take a seventh rounder, get someone a chance to play. I like that the Ducks did that for Stron. Yes, good karma there.

And he got on the plane. He couldn't get to Calgary on the Friday night, but he flew first thing in the morning on Sunday and he's like, I'm playing and he scored. That was, I was very happy for him. Yeah, so he scores on short rest, Corey Perry the same in Toronto Saturday, in Buffalo Sunday.

Lands at four, customs closed till five, on the 9.30 bus to the morning skate. Yeah, first guy, what are the first guys to the ring? That's the first bus at 9.30 from the hotel when he was there. It's, uh, some people just love what they do. You know, whether you like Cory Perry and I scored twice, as you said, whether or not you like Cory Perry or not,

we should all love what we do as much as Cory Perry does. That's the way life is supposed to work. Love what you do. It doesn't always work that way. But he's got the passion. Yes. And so he's one of them. We mentioned Sam Carrick, of course.

like he scores on Sunday in Buffalo, Scott Lawton in L.A., Warren Fogle in Ottawa, Jonathan Duran, and then Nick Wah. All the former leaves score. Yes. And after watching that game on Sunday, Colorado, Minnesota,

I thought, oh, that's the game of the day. Nothing's top in this. This was a hell of a contest. And it was a great game. But Nick Waugh scores the goal, the ties of the game, eventually puts Colorado an opportunity to win. in a shootout, but could you tell

Avs fans, Miss Nazim Kadri, and we're ready to welcome him back? What a great ovation. That was a great. And it was cool seeing all the people pull their coderogers. He's out of mothballs or whatever, right? Yes. Well, that'd been that long, but yes. But still, like, you wonder how many people would have, I don't know what they would have done with them. I mean, I know he was a hugely popular guy there, but it was cool seeing all the Cadreys

jersey's come out. Yes. It was, that was fantastic and it was good that he waved and, and showed his, and acknowledged it. I think that's very important. Let the fans know that you know.

So you want to hear a story I was working on for headlines on Saturday. So I was told that Nathan McKinnon went to avalanche management and said, if it's true that we can get Nazim Kodry, we have to go get them back. Really? Yes. So I called someone there and I said, can you check this for me?

And they said, sure. No, I don't, you know, I think you can shout this person out. I don't think there's anything wrong here, but Brandon McNicholas, who's the excellent media relations person for the Avalanche, runs a great show there. And so I called Brennan. I said, I heard this. Can you check it for me? Great hair. Great fashion, Brendan, too.

Oh, yes. Like, you know, yes, he, he, he dresses much better than most humans. There's, there's no, and he's, he's got Bukascus level hair. Yes, that is definitely true. He is in the Bacoscus zone. Uh, so he calls me back about half hour after I call him and, uh, he says, I'm sorry that's, that's, that's not true. Um, while like the leadership group, players like McKinnon and Landisog are consulted and do talk with management from time to time about what they're thinking. McKinnon did not, uh, specifically say or go get cadre or anything like that. And my answer to Brandon was, do you not realize that you guys are ruining a really good story?

like this was going to be the lead of my segment on Saturday night. My, is my disappointment coming across the phone to you that I could not do this this evening? And he was kind of laughing. He was like, well, if you say it, maybe he won't deny it. And I'm like, and we're laughing. Obviously, we're not going to do that. But I was disappointed that that lore turned out to be false. and we couldn't use it.

You know, Daryl Ray had a really good tweet at the end of the game, The Stars Broadcaster, and this is one of the things we've talked about before. Yes. If that was the Olympics or an international tournament, McKinnon would not have been able to take the shootout. In the NHL, if you get a misconduct or a major, you would not be able to take the shoot out either. But because McKinnon took only a minor penalty in overtime,

even though it wasn't finished by the time the game ended, in that situation, that's a difference between international hockey and the NHL. In the international game, McKinnon would not have been able to shoot. In the NHL, he's okay to shoot. But Daryl had in his tweet the idea that the overtime should continue until, the power play is over. Yes. Do it. And I think somebody wrote that in one of our thought lines a couple weeks ago.

And I kind of wrote it down but forgot about it in the Olympics and the trade deadline. But I was reminded of it when Darrell tweeted about it today. So he took the penalty at 357 of overtime at the buzzer. He still had 57 seconds left to serve. I got to say, this is growing on me. I'm all for it. What's wrong with another 57 seconds of power play? And the moment the clock hits zero,

if the puck isn't in the net, you blow it dead. And then we go to the shootout. Yes. Because it keeps teams honest. How incredible would that be? Yes. It does. I'm all, yeah.

It's not even growing. It is fully developed on me. I'm all for it. I thought about it when the thought line listener brought it up, I have to tell you, watching that game, I was like, yeah, let's do it. Because if they're not going to bend on tacking on a few more minutes so I have overtime, that's not a bad compromise.

I agree. Because the most you can get is a minute 59, right? Yeah, unless it's a double-miner. That's right. You're right. You know what? You could get $3.50. Okay. God forbid a major. God forbid a major. But yeah, I'm all for that. You know, it would be, it's not often you would be in that situation anyways. That would be a lot of three-on-three overtime periods where that wouldn't come into play.

Well, Elliot, a week from now, we're going to be down in Florida getting ready for the GM meetings. I wonder. I can't see that being an agenda. Yeah, maybe we can get it on there. Well, you can. No, I don't know. But just having that conversation. I would love to know who would laugh us out of the room and who would say,

keep talking. They might laugh us out of the room anyway. Yeah. Just because. Just because. Just because. I also wanted to shut out Dominic Shine. Great story.

Great story. First NHL goal over 500 games in the American Hockey League scores his first NHL goal for the Red Wings as they beat the Devils three to nothing. That's perseverance, man. 521 games in the American Games. That's love too. Like that's no different than Cory Perry, man.

No different than Cory Perry. Yeah. That's love for what you do. Tremendous. Yeah, good for him. And, you know, I want, yes, I wanted to mention to, do you watch Vegas Edmonton? Yep, caught most of it. Okay.

I don't know what to make of, I have a lot of theories on Edmonton. We talk about them a lot. I don't know what to make a Vegas. Before we break this down, I also want to mention Winnipeg. Have you noticed Winnipeg all of a sudden is five points out? Yeah. If I was Seattle, San Jose, L.A. and Nashville, I would be looking behind me saying, I don't like seeing that in my rear view mirror.

The other thing, too, is, first tiebreaker, regulation wins, Cracken 23. That's a really good sign for them. Winnipeg 21, Nashville 21, Sharks 18, King 16. And right now, like Utah, you got to think they're going to be, Winnipeg's not catching them, they're 10 points out with 20 games to go, you don't think. But Cracken, 67, Shark 66, Kings Predators, 64, Jets, 62. The Jets may have left themselves too short a runway, but with Helobach feeling like the King of the Mountain again, I would be really nervous if I was one of these teams.

I would be really, I was all of these teams, I'd be like, I, this is the last guy I wanted to see for the last 20 games of the season. And he may play all 20 of them. Yeah, you're right. I, it's kind of, and they've been, they've been good lately. It's not like they've ripped off 10 in a row, but suddenly just the mere presence of them kind of in and around the others is enough to go, okay. there's still a race to be had and they can they're part of it.

I don't think it's okay. It's like, oh, freak. That guy, the gold medal hero? Last guy I want to see right now. Yes. It's by, it's L.A. Vegas.

It's to Christmas vacation. You see the, the beater truck in the rear rear mirror. And Chevy Chase is trying to kick the station wagon in the high gear. I'm not sure if you can get it going fast enough. You know, Edmonton,

they won that game. That was a huge game for them. Pod Colson scored a huge goal. Trent Frederick scored, I mean, just massive. Yeah. Like,

you're hoping that whatever, you know, whatever happened there, you can get them going, but that Pod Colson goal was a big goal. was a big goal. It doesn't officially count as the game winning goal because Vegas got a second one. You know,

Edmonton, so there's a lot of talk out there about Jari got into it in practice with some of his teammates out there. It's been a hard year for the Oilers. You know, I think teams, you know, Buffalo's going through it now.

It's where you finally make your rise and everything's fun. Like Edmonton made their run. rise. It's fun. Toronto years ago made their rise. It's fun. And eventually it's like until you win, you're at your ceiling, right? Like Edmonton goes back to back to back finals. Toronto had that curse of getting past the first round. We'll see where Buffalo gets to. But you reach the point where the fun goes away and it's like we're banging our head against the ceiling and we're trying to break through. And Edmonton, there's only one place to go. They've been in the final twice in a row.

And that's where I think things get really hard on you because it's success is only measured in one way. And losing is painful. And, you know, I think a lot of the challenges for the Oilers, I think, kind of run through that. And, you know, it's interesting. Like, Stetcher had some comments. You can see players, like, you're watching Victor Arvinson. year in Boston having a really successful year and you know manjapani he didn't play great but he got he was frustrated you could tell like when I look at Edmonton right now I remember there was

Ilya Colvichuk and Bob Hartley I remember having a conversation with both of them at one time when when they were both in Atlanta and Bob Hartley would say to Ilya Kovalchuk Ilya, it can't be all you. Like if we're going to start winning, you have to, other guys have to be allowed to take more ownership. I can't play you, I don't know, 25 minutes all the time. Or you have to share the puck with your teammates. You can't try to beat guys one on five.

And Kovulchuk, who I have to say over the years, I really liked dealing with him. He was a really insightful guy. really, really good guy to talk to. He once told me that the biggest challenge when they were losing was he went back to only trusting himself. Like, I'm the captain. I'm the number one pick.

I'm the best player. I have to fix it. And, you know, he admitted, like in some of those times he became, I've got to be the guy who solves this. He became more selfish. He used that word. And so that was the thing that they, I always remembered that conversation,

like Hartley and Colvichuk, they were dynamite to talk to about that. I think with the Oilers, and we talked about this in the last pod, Stan Bowman's part of Team USA when they come back. And it's an unselfish team. Like everybody accepts their role and everybody is important.

And you could see, like, the best players on that team, they were like, oh, you know, this is Trochec's role. This is Miller's role. This is Sanderson's role. They're all important, right? And I think that one of the battles, I think the others are having internally, and we'll get to the goaltending in a second. But I think they really believe strongly that they have to give other guys more ownership of it. And we've talked about getting, they want to get bottom six players who are happy with their roles. Like I think Dickinson was a really good pickup for them.

I think Murphy was a really good pickup for them. And but I really do think that what we're going to see for the others over the last 20 games is, number one, they got to make the playoffs because they were making it a bit scary there. But secondly, I think they've got to force this. like we need more guys to take ownership of our results and that means they're probably going to have to push McDavid and Drysiddle in one direction but the other guys are going to have to be more demanding of their ice like it's I think these last 20 games

in Edmonton are going to be fascinating I you know and Jari and Ingram have to stop the puck They got lucky there because Ingram had a rough one that didn't count because of offside. And that could have really sewered the game for Edmonton. Ingram and Jari don't have to be great, but they've got to be solid. And it looks to me like Jari and the Oilers are having a challenge getting used to each other here. That's another one that they're going to have to work out over the last 20 games. but I see a team here where like if the oilers do this right,

if they get on the same page, and I think it's incumbent on both sides, the best players to sit back and say, all right, we're giving you guys a chance to take more ownership and all those other guys to say, we're going to take advantage of this opportunity to get more ownership.

And they have to step up, because of over 20 games they don't do it, the same thing that used to happen with Colvichok is going to happen with McDavid and Drysend. They're going to say, look, these guys didn't take hold of their ice. If it works, if it works, and I think there's an internal push to try to make this work, I always try to be optimistic, Kyle.

I believe in the best for everyone and everything. It could make the Oilers a much, much better team. And that's why I'll be watching them pretty intently over the last 20 games. Good start. As you said, Frederick scores, Pocleson scores. Got to continue. I don't know what to make of Vegas, though.

You know, Stone's hurt. Eichel's a stud, future Hall of Famer, no doubt about it. But I watch Vegas a bit. They are really struggling. Like they do not look right.

Yeah. I mean, and I don't know if it's an extension of also the Olympic, like a hurdle never really looked right with Chequia over there. You know what I was? In the last game, I thought, against Canada, I thought he played really well. I thought it was his best game. Sure, but over the grand picture of it all,

you're right. You know, it was not hurdle-like. You know, he evidently minus three here on. Sunday against Edmonton, you know, and of course it's not just him, but just a microcosm of where things have been at with Vegas that, as you say, it just something's looked off. Now, part of it, as we've talked about, and Knights fans know, goaltending has been a struggle at times. And you think they really looked at that. They tried before the deadline to... Kelly McCriman denied it in the way that.

Kelly McCriman denies things. People just love to hear themselves talk. I laughed when I saw. And you know what? The one thing I'll say that he did do that I thought was smart was he defended Aden Hill. And the thing that was smart about that was that whether we're right or we're wrong, Hill's the guy now, right? Like he's their number one guy and you have to back him.

I think, you know, Hill's had a really hard season. He's been injured. He hasn't played great. But, you know, McCriman stood up for him, which he has to do. But I do think they looked at it. How seriously, like, I'll tell you this. Like, I think Edmonton at least considered the idea. And it's, I think Edmonton at least considered the possibilities of what if we went out and we got another goalie.

And I just think they felt. they would have to trade Jari, they didn't think it was possible, and ultimately they just passed, right? Like, I just find it very hard to believe that a team like Vegas, which is always considering options, didn't look at this.

But in the end, it didn't get done, so you back your guy and you go. I just wonder to, Kyle, if, you know, the loss of Petrangelo. That's where I was going next. Like, not only the player, but the personality in the room. Yes, especially when you're going through these,

these stretches. Yeah, I, I, I, I, I, I just wonder if his, the loss of his presence is as big as anything else. They, uh, I've been watching them a lot lately. They, like, there, there, there would be a lot of, when, when Vegas is at their best, um, they just found ways to win games, right? Like, they, they have, and they don't have stone right now. Obviously, that's big, but I just saw a team.

They were always clutch. Like, they were clutch. Like, in big moments, they found ways. And it's not going that way right now for them. All right, you want to hit me with some news here? Yeah, so just a couple things, I guess, still left over after deadline day on Friday. Any further inroads on the Montreal trade that Kent Hughes tried to get done? There was a big one that could be revisited that,

what was it you know like I said I had a theory I asked it was denied to me I just don't think it's there were some Canadians fans who sent me DM saying that wasn't a very nice thing to do I'm sorry guys like I really I really didn't I'm not trying to do that for like to torture anyone or taunt anyone it's just like you know I really do believe if I've been told something's wrong you shouldn't do it aside from joking about McKinnon begging for Cadry, I think that's actually a fun thing to joke about as opposed to this. You know, Dave Panyoda had a note about a right shot defenseman that they were looking at. I didn't get the sense that that was the one that didn't get over the finish line.

But, you know, I could be wrong. I think it was a forward. And, you know, we'll just see where it goes over time. So the answer is no. I think it was a forward, but I don't, like I said, the idea I had was denied to me in multiple places. So it's not the right thing to come out with it. But, you know, someone's going to figure it out. Like it's sooner or later, we're all going to figure out what this is.

Okay. And what about the one that we believe got nicks because it was filed just a little too late? Yeah, I heard from someone about that that people weren't happy that that got out. I wonder why. Yeah, I don't know that one yet either. Like the Scott Lawton of the Kings one, that was at like 25930, somebody said. Like it barely, it barely got in. Jeez, using every bit.

So someone called me on Sunday morning. It was actually quite funny. They said that a lot of teams, when you're talking about three or four things right before the deadline, that whoever is responsible, a lot of times it's your cap person or an AGM who's responsible for sending the email into the league,

you'll have like three or four open because you know you're working on two or three things and you'll have like, okay, this is a if you, If you finish this deal, he's sending this one in. If you finish this deal, he's sending this one in. And, you know, this guy told me a story a couple of years ago and where he sent it.

He was working on three of them at once, and he sent in the wrong one. And it was lucky because the central registries called him immediately, and it was still with two or three minutes to the time. And they said, you just sent us something for. for a player with a team with a player who's not on that team. And he realized he had copy and pasted another deal that they were working on with a different team. And he put that player on the wrong team. So he was able to change it and get it in on time.

But he says, you know, it's something you don't want to happen. But in the craziness of the last seconds before the deadline, it can happen. But there was one apparently that got neutralized because it came in at like 301 or something like that. Oh, man. So that actually, that reminds me of sitting next to you in Italy working. And one of the days there is we were waiting for lineups to be posted before, I think, one of the Canada games. And you had a couple different drafts ready to go out about this person is playing. Well, it was Crosby, right?

Yes. I think it was around the Crosby game. I think it was Crosby the gold medal game. You know, what happened was on the Saturday, so Canada won the semi-final against Finland on the Friday, the Saturday was the bronze medal game, and the Sunday was the gold medal game. On the Saturday, I was told Crosby was definitely playing.

And I never reported it because, you know, you just, you can't be wrong. I just wasn't sure, and you can't be wrong about that, right? so and also nobody would confirm it like that's one of those things you want a second source so on Sunday morning you know that same person who's an excellent source um called me you said you haven't gone with this yet I said no and I said well I'm not as confident today um and so you know Sid's never talked about it in any real depth but you know he thought he was playing on Saturday and Sunday morning he was like I'm not so sure he's playing

And so you're right. You have two different ones ready. And then finally you get the confirmation about which one the case is, which unfortunately wasn't playing. But yes, I do often do that. I use my word to put together two or three combinations of things and pray to God I don't send out the wrong one. That's why I have a 10 second rule, Kyle.

Don't send anything out until you look at it for 10 seconds. Yeah. Especially if it's non-sports related. Right. A couple other things I think that it'll be interesting to look at. Very interesting, St. Louis has won twice since the deadline, A, they beat San Jose and then they shut out Anaheim two playoff teams ahead of them. Tumultuous week. Tumultuous week.

And, you know, the other thing, too, is I think it's very likely that if by some miracle, the island and the blues were not in the same hotel in California that Braden Shen would not have been a New York Islander. Right. Yeah. Tell that story. So they were staying in the same hotel and they were trying to get Shen. And I'll tell you this. I've heard different stories. Someone said to me the rumor was that Brayden Shen had turned down the deal to the Islanders and it already said no. But that was disputed to me by a couple other people who said,

no he just hadn't agreed and they weren't sure he was going to and since the islanders were there they asked for permission to have matthew darsh and patrick waugh meet face to face with shan and the blues agreed to it and i think in i think in that particular case you'd probably ask the agent too uh the agent here is uh ben hankinson you'd probably say okay is it okay if we do this And the permission was granted. And, you know, one guy who knows Patrick, why, he just said to me, you know, Patrick, no chance. Like, if he had to throw Shen into a duffel bag and say, you're not leaving until you say yes, Wa would have done that.

Like, and also they said he's just a very good salesman. But that got him to say yes. And so it's kind of fascinating about how that fluke, was the final piece to getting him to say yes to that deal. A couple other things, Colin, you can tell me if there's anything else you want to mention. I believe that term is going to be something teams are going to be paying for in trades. With the cap going up and free agency or new contracts going to be higher and higher, if you can acquire a player with some term, teams will pay more.

more of a premium for that. And that is... Cost certainty is going a long way. Cost certainty is very real. That will become more expensive. You know, we talked about Austin Matthews a bit on Saturday. I don't want to talk about this every podcast. I think it gets a bit too much.

But, you know, Kevin and Jennifer and Ron and Kelly talked about his body language and look on his face and Saturday's game against Tampa when they got blown out. in the first period. I just think we have to wait until they meet with Matthews after the season. And then we'll get some clarity. I think it's going to be a big difference in terms of what he sees as the big picture. How long do they think it's going to be before the Maple Leafs are a contender again? That's going to be the big question that they'll have to answer to him and he'll have to look at for himself.

ultimately, like I think if it's a short-term thing, I could see him dealing with it. If it's a long-term thing, I'm not going to be as convinced. And, you know, like I said, I think I'm going to wait until they actually talk and see what happens. Nick Schmaltz mentioned him on Saturday. So I think I'm right about the idea that he's getting closer to resigning. I spoke to another team on Sunday that I think had a really good handle on where that stands.

And they said that from what they understood, the biggest issue was not the number. It was the term. Nick Schmaltz just turned 30. And I think that was the bigger question for the mammoth. I don't know that they wanted to go eight years. So I'm not sure what the term is going to end up here, but I heard that was kind of one of the final sticking points, but it seemed to be headed in the right direction.

The other thing I heard about this conversation, that was quite fascinating, and I'm sure we'll talk to them about it, when or if this gets closed, but Schmaltz has played a lot of this year at center, and I think he wants to be a center. I think and and I believe that that was part of the conversation. Again, this is another team that I think had some interest in Smaltz if he had hit the market.

And what they were told was that Schmaltz being a center and staying a center was a big part of that conversation. And the last thing I want to talk about before we get to the final thought, Kyle, is that I made a comment about Ron asked me about Florida, the Panthers, I had a couple teams tell me that they're going to be fascinating to watch in the last month of the season. I said, why?

And they go, and we'll see if this is true. I just thought it was a funny conversation. There are teams out there that think the Panthers are going to try to nosedive to finish in the bottom 10. Well, because we talked so much about Toronto's predicament,

like suddenly they can kind of enter that lexicon too, right? Yes. So. Is that Jones draft pick they gave up? So as we finish on Sunday, they are 23rd and, you know, in a 32 team league. So they would keep their pick, right? Now, the lottery is a different thing. you can drop two spots in the lottery.

That's the most you can drop now, is two spots. And so right now, they're in a spot. And the other thing, too, about the Panthers, and somebody pointed this out to me, it's actually kind of funny. The first tiebreaker is regulation wins. Florida has 25 of them.

That's a really good number. Like, 25 regulation wins by the Panthers is just right around the top 10 of the league. The biggest challenge for them is that they have to lose to all these teams, right? So if they end up in a tie, they could end up in a worse position because of how many of these games they've won. It's actually really funny. Anyway, they've got some guys who aren't healthy.

I think we're curious about that. But I had one team say to me, we might see some load management here by the Panthers to make sure that they get into the bottom 10 and stay there. It would be so Florida. Well, in a lot of ways, I completely understand it. I'd say if I was running the team, I would probably do the same thing.

because they need that pick. You know, you might as well get it if it's there. And, you know, Toronto, they have to finish bottom five after the lottery to keep their pick or goes to Boston. Now, it's going to be harder for them. They're six points up on St. Louis. But the way they're going right now, it's not impossible. Yes. There does not appear to be much light at the end of the tunnel for them.

so they don't have any wins coming out of the Olympic break. And it was ugly much as Saturday against Tampa as well. But that Florida thing, I'm going to be curious to watch it. Like, do they make sure they end up bottom 10 to keep their pick? You know, one thing about the, I wanted to talk about that briefly. It didn't come out for like a year about what happened there. And like I do consider that. partially my fault in the sense that I have to check that kind of stuff. Like I didn't realize

that there was a top 10 protection there. And one of the things I really made sure to do, Kyle, after the Calgary, Colorado Cadry trade this week was, okay, what are these conditions? Like, I checked the release from the flames and I checked the release from the avalanche and they didn't say the conditions and I'm like, I'm not doing this again. Like I missed this last year. and I went to check. And basically, if you didn't see the show on Saturday night, Colorado traded their 2027 first to Toronto and the Nick Wa deal. And it's top 10 protected.

And if the Maple Leafs don't get to use it in 2027, they get an unprotected first in 2028. So Calgary got a conditional 2028 first in their deal with the avalanche for Cadry. but if they don't get to use, which is also top 10 protected, but if they don't get to use it because either the avalanche are in that position or the Maple Leafs need the pick, they get non-protected in 2029, the flames do. And also it was a conditional second rounder. The year of that draft, the avalanche have two second round picks.

There's, and I believe Minnesota's, and the flames get the better of those two second round picks. So that is something that I'm going to try to do a better job of keeping an eye on. One of the thing about that Cadre deal, we talked about on Friday about how that deal, everybody thought it was dead after Nick Waugh got traded to Colorado. And there were some hard feelings. I had some mild pushback on the hard feelings. Some people said yes. Some people said no. But I think what happened to get that deal over the finish line is

Colorado still felt they could make the trade after the W-D deal. I think some of us thought that they couldn't. Colorado, the avalanche felt they could. We were correct on Friday when we reported that the initial salary retention was 15%. from the flames. It had to go up to 20 after the avalanche got wah because they just needed it to go to 20. And I heard that the package was rejigged slightly in the flames favor

for them to take those extra five percentage points. That made, did make the lull of the first three quarters of Friday all worth it. Once the juices got flowing towards trying to get to the bottom of that one, That was great. Good, good finish. Okay. Time now for the final thought,

which is presented by the Toyota BZ Go All Electric and a winter ready Toyota BZ at your local dealer today. Elliot, we lost Troy Murray over the weekend. Gone at the age of 63 after a battle with cancer. Over 900 games in the league. Longtime analysts for the Chicago Blackhawks

on the broadcasting side. Won a Stanley Cup with Colorado back in 96. Seems like I didn't have the pleasure of getting to know him, but it seems like anyone who came across him came away better for it. Nick Falino had some really nice things to say after the Minnesota game on Sunday. Your thoughts on the life of Troy Murray, Elliot? Well, I think also, you know, A. Olick was really close with Troy Murray. Bruce Cassidy had some really nice comments about Troy Murray.

Kevin Shevoldeoff, the GM of the Jets, was very close with Troy. Murray. And a lot of the Chicago reporters you could see, whether they are electronic or print people or broadcast people, had really nice things to say about Troy Murray. That's always the best sign, right? Is not so much about how you see yourself, but other people see you. I told Troy Murray this story once, and it always makes me smile whenever I think about it. I was in high school when Murray broke through as an NHL player with the Blackhawks in the 80s. And in 85, 86, he basically won our hockey pool, our high school hockey pool for a friend of mine.

And so, and I looked it up just to verify the numbers. But Troy Murray in 1985, he had a good season for the Blackhawks. He had 26 goals and 66 points. and, you know, really good year. And actually that year, he had a great year in the playoffs. The Blackhawks went to the Final Four where they got beat, and he had 19 points in 15 games. He had a great playoff.

So the next season, one of my friends took him in one of the later rounds of our hockey pool, and Murray had his best season of his NHL career. He had 45 goals and 99 points. and, you know, I've talked about this before about how Joe Newendike had a marvelous year out of nowhere, and I took him late in a pool, and his first pro year was 8788, and he had 51 goals, and he won me the pool because he was a late round pick who completely demolished every other late round pick, allowing me to win the pool. Well, Troy Murray, that year, his 99-point year,

was the late-round pick who demolished everybody else and won the pool for a buddy of mine. So I told him that story once, and he loved it. I wouldn't say I was anywhere near as close to Murray as a lot of other people were, but as we mentioned, there were a lot, a lot of people who thought very highly of him. The moral of the story, the final closing line of the story about that year in 8586

was that season, the Blackhawks were first place in the Norris Division and they played the Maple Leafs in the first round. And for those of you who are old enough to remember, that was a time when the Maple Leafs and the Red Wings were kind of the sad sack teams in that division and they would make the playoffs with like 55 points every year. much to the annoyance and hatred of all the other teams in the league who missed the playoffs with like 20 or 30 more points than they had. Right.

So the Blackhawks and the Maple Leafs played in the first round, and it was a 30-point difference, and the Maple Leafs swept them. And the third and final game, that was the best three out of five, the third and final game was at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, and the Maple Leafs killed them. They beat them seven to two. It was in the 80s, that was one of the best games or the most celebratory games ever played at Maple Leaf Gardens, a decade where a lot went wrong for the Maple Leafs.

And one of the guys who lost the pool was at that game with his dad. And he told me that that was the only good thing that he remembered about Troy Murray that season. was that he saw him swept out of the playoffs in shame after Murray's 99 points cost him the hockey pool in the regular season. So that's my, that's my Troy Murray story. Oh, gosh. And that was the year he won the Selke too, right? When he put up 99 points. Is that the year he won the Selke?

I want to say it was. Yes, you're right. I completely forgot about that. It's right. Ed Olchuk said over the weekend, Like he could have been well past the century mark that year if he was not so dialed in on both sides of the puck. So speaks to what a great player he was on both sides. And as we've heard here over the last few days and those that were around him lived through,

what a great person he was to write up until the very end. That was his best season. I'm just looking at it. It was his best season by 30 points. but we should also remember the final year of his NHL career because he played another year in the International Hockey League won a Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche. So even though he had to wait a long time, 15 years, Kyle,

always shows about what we talked about last pod, good karma. Troy Murray created a lot of good karma around him. At the end of his career, his final NHL season at age 34, he was rewarded with a Stanley Cup. Very good. and all the best to the Murray family and those close to them. That was the final thought presented by the Toyota BZ.

With that, we'll take our first break. When we come back, it's another edition of the thought line. 32 thoughts the podcast continues after this. Okay, welcome back. We've once again reached the crossroads of chaos here at the podcast. It's another edition of the thought line. So, Ellie, remember last pod we were talking about cages over face shields

of players wearing when dealing with different injuries and what have you Project 734 on Instagram sent to us a photo that he has of a Nico Heeshire hockey card

and on the card the image of Heeshire and this is relatively recent he's the captain of the devils in the photo he is wearing a cage a full-on cage. I didn't remember that. Me neither.

Dave Salter sent me a note saying Paul Henderson during War I during his entire time during the 7980 season with the Atlanta Flames. So that was another one that got shouted out to me that I just didn't remember. Another one, Jason Goldie reminded us. Remember when Morgan Barron took the skate right to the face.

Oh, that's right. He had the K-John immediately following that and continued to play. So thank you for that reminder, Jason. Good memory there. Any other shoutouts you got to Big Man? Just one. Katie Burke sent me some information. I wanted to shout her out.

I'm working on it. And other than that, again, a tremendous amount of raccoon content. Don, why don't you explain the video that you got sent? Thank you, Elliot. So we got a Instagram DM from one Reed Tanigami, who I guess has some security footage around his home. And one night, three raccoons came into his backyard and onto the security camera. And Reed sent us the footage and has said,

I've named them Dom, Kyle, and Elliot. That's outstanding. I don't know whether to be flattered or worried. I'm actually kind of flattered. I am very flattered. I don't have a lot of other shoutouts. It was crazy a few days, so I haven't really had a lot of time to go through everything.

I'll probably get back to regular shoutouts later in the week. That's all right. That's what the main body of the thought line is for. And let's begin. Savo, Bonjourno. That means hello in Italian, I think. Thank you. Right, it does.

Love the podcast. You guys do great work. With the trade deadline now passed, I was wondering which two teams have made the most trades with each other since the year 2000. It seems like the Lightning and Rangers are always making deals. So I would be curious to know if they top the list. Keep up the good work. Okay. Savo, I see your year two.

2000 qualifier. We're going to push it back just a little bit further to 1998. Just a little bit further. Just a little bit. Just a little bit further. Two years earlier. So almost 30 years worth of trades. And the lightning are in there. It's not the Rangers. Lightning don't have the most. But would you have any guess of the top of your head? Not two teams I would have expected, first of all. I'm going to go with the Blackhawks. I can see your face. That's a no.

Yeah, sorry. Bad poker face. Yeah. The moment you said that, I was like, no. I'm going to go with Kings and the Rangers. Ah, like you're thinking. Not correct. Okay.

So since 1998, the team, two teams that have made the most trades with each other, the Nashville Predators, interesting, because that's right around the time they came into the league. Yes, I actually threw out those teams because I figured it probably wasn't them, but I was, clearly my thinking was flawed. Yeah, the Predators and the Flyers

have made 25 trades with one another over that time. And second on that list, also the Flyers, and the Lightning at 24. I should have guessed the Flyers. Phillies been an active franchise over the last almost 30 years. Savo, thank you for that question. William in Atlanta. Good day, Mr. Friedman and the supporting cast.

Yes, William. Very nice of William acknowledging the rest of us. I was properly, properly recognized. With the trade deadline now in the rearview mirror, I saw that there were a few videos posted to social media of trade calls made to NHL's Central Registry to give an interesting behind-the-scenes, look at how a trade is formally rubber-stamped. My understanding is that representatives of the participating teams must be, quote, in the queue

before the official 3 o'clock deadline. My question is, how many operators are working the phones at Central Registry to formalize these trades? Could two teams, in theory, continue to negotiate terms of a trade while on hold up until someone initiates their trade call? I was thinking about this after the Cadre trade wasn't reported until well after, 3 o'clock Eastern. Do the terms of the trade have to be locked in at 3? Are the teams monitored to make sure nothing else is negotiated while they're on hold? I imagine a GM may try to finagle an extra

draft pick or prospect from a trade while awaiting the trade call if there was a substantial wait time. Thanks for all you guys do. Keep up the adequate work. Thank you, William. It's an excellent question. The first part of your question, I don't know how many people are involved. I can ask, but I don't know the answer. I know that there's a couple of key members of central registry that approve every trade, but I don't know how many overall are involved. The second part of your question, I can answer because I asked it again this weekend to remind myself, basically what has to happen is one of the two teams has to have submitted an email before three, three, 3 p.m. Before 3 p.m. that says everything that is on the trade. And then the second team also has to

confirm that email before 3 p.m. saying yes, we agree to what is written here. This is how we have it. So after 3 o'clock, no, you cannot change. You cannot say, okay, let's get on the line and we'll continue negotiating this deal. That doesn't work. You have to submit the e-clock. You have to submit the email with what exactly is in the trade, any paperwork, such as a player waving their no trade clause, and the other team has to file and say, this is what we have and this is what we agree to. So I heard that there was a trade that was vetoed this year because one of the teams did not get their paperwork in on time. And if you don't both have an email that says the exact same thing, the trade before 3 p.m., the trade cannot happen.

Got Lawton trade from Toronto to the Kings, I think it got in like at 25930. I heard that one I heard was close. I don't know if it was the closest one, but that one was really close. And that one was really close. Because in theory, if an agent or someone wanted to say, hey, when was my guy actually traded? if there's not an email that says before 3 p.m., the agent or whoever can say, nope, that one doesn't work, can't have it.

Got it. All right. Thank you, William, for the question. Thank you, Elliot, for the explanation. Josh from Pittsburgh. Howdy from Pittsburgh. Love listening to Yins. Very Pittsburgh.

Less of a thought, more of a question. I refuse to use AI and I'm too lazy to research on my own. I'm with you on both cases. cases. I refuse to use AI and I'm too lazy. I understand. Yes. Yeah, throw me in there too. So I noticed H.L prospects that come up such as Rector McGrady or Coyvinen or Avery Hayes have all had to wear neck guards mandated by the AHL. Is there a separate rule for rookies that go straight to the NHL? I noticed Ben Kind of weird. Kind of weird if our youngest guy is, quote, grandfathered in to a rule. Keep up the raccoon talk. So the answer is no. There is not mandatory neck guards right now,

although there were in the Olympics. All players had to wear one, although some of them, what they chose could only be very loosely actually described as a neckguard, what some of these guys were doing. But right now in the HL, you have to wear one. Double IHF, you have to wear one. NHF, you have to wear one. NHL, you do not have to wear one. And clearly, we've seen this before in certain cases with helmets and visors and even to some degree fighting. The NHL, maybe the Players Association wasn't ready yet to put that in where all of their players had to do it, although it happened eventually. But they go through youth hockey. They try to build behaviors, get used to things, get used to visors, get used to next,

guards, get used to stricter rules on fighting, and sometimes maybe it doesn't become an NHL rule right away, but it becomes a part of the culture and playing the sport so that you get used to it. Excellent. Logan from Logan, Utah. Hello, gentlemen. My name is Logan McKenna, writing you from the beautiful town of Logan, Utah. Yes, I am Logan from Logan.

I am a newer hockey fan. My fandom began when the mammoth came to town, and I started listening to the podcast shortly thereafter. Welcome aboard. Logan. Thank you for all your wonderful work. My question to you is this. As I write this, the mammoth are in the first wildcard spot, two points behind the Golden Knights who sit atop the Pacific Division. Hypothetically, if the mammoth were to take the first wildcard spot and likely face the winner of the Pacific but have more points

than the division winner, who would have home ice advantage? Does the division winner always have home ice advantage or is it determined by points? And if it is determined by points, has the division winner ever not had home ice advantage? Thanks again. Tusks up. Boy, that's a great question. So, no, it's determined by where you rank. Yeah, you know, I understand that.

But it's like, it's a great question because, you know, years ago in the NHL playoff system, this used to have. It was a different setup for divisions, but it was the Southeast division. And there was a time it would have Washington, it would care, it had Carolina, had the old Atlanta thrashers, and the teams weren't very good. They used to call it the South Least Division. And, you know, the team that would win there would often have less points than some of the non-division championships, but those teams had the,

home ice advantage. If you were a division winner, you always had the home ice advantage. And that's the way it goes. It goes by seating as opposed to point totals. So if Utah does play, the Pacific Division champion has more points, doesn't matter. If you're the wild card, you do not have home ice advantage. And Logan being from Logan always reminds me, Kyle, of Kyle, Texas. Yes. Yes. Still trying to set the, Guinness World Record. Kyle Jackson. But Logan, welcome to you

and the rest of the mammoth fan base and glad that you found something that you could enjoy listening to and informing you. Even though we freely admit we entertain and inform by accident. That's never our intentions.

Sometimes it just happens. But yeah, I remember I think Ovechkin's first year in the playoffs with Washington. Like they clinched late in the year, and they literally went from, you know, ninth in the conference right up to third.

That was Bruce Boudreau's first year, I believe. Yeah. And, you know, lost to Philadelphia in seven in the first round. But that was the jump. Like, he went from ninth all the way to third because that was top spot in the division.

And everybody else in the other divisions that were in playoff spots. Had more points than the caps, but they still rocketed right up into the top three because that's the way it went back then. Okay, Chris, good afternoon, gentlemen. Everyone knows Bill Guerin bleeds red, white, and blue, and it shows in his roster construction.

On the NHL roster, as of now, right after the trade deadline, the Minnesota Wild only have one Canadian forward. Felino brothers do have dual citizenship, but they show as Americans. So, this year, combine the Minnesota Wild have 40 points from Canadian players. You can check the numbers to make sure they're correct. I did with SED stats.

So my question is, what is the lowest points by Canadians on a team in NHL history? Thanks for your time and great work. Would it be the Canucks this year? It would be, well, the Canucks two years ago, when they won the Pacific Division, they had 33 points from Canadian-born players. That was the second least in history. Second least?

Yeah. The least, almost amazingly. Hold on. Hold on. Yeah, the Canucks this year, yeah, you know, they have DeBroscott 32, Keene at 20s. They're at 60 with the two of them. But they don't have a lot,

they have 60 points from Canadians this year. It is not a lot. What's the total? 21. I have to say, the answer is surprising to me. How recent is it? Not at all. Gotta go back all the way back where it all began.

Oh, really? Like in the 20s? And I think it was simply because this team A, didn't last very long. So is it like the Pennsylvania, Quakers or the Pittsburgh Hornets or something like that. No, even before then. Really? Like the Seattle Metropolitan's?

Yeah, but were they ever part of the, they were the West Coast League, right? They were the West Coast team. Yeah, we're just looking at NHL, but it would have been around that era. Okay, I'm trying to think of like who were the, like there was the Brooklyn Americans, the New York Americans.

Yeah, as I'd, as I'd, As reality is hitting me of why these teams at the top, it's because they simply just, I don't think the team lasted a full season. Oh, trying to remember who that would be. It was a bit of a qualifier. Year one. Oh, like 1917, 18?

Yes. The other Montreal team. Oh, oh, okay, so there were the, the Mojaroons were laterers, the Wanderers. That's right. Didn't their arena burn down or something like that? Yes. Yeah.

I think they only played like four games. That's a bit of a qualifier. Yes. We don't have a lot of points by Canadian players, but our arena burn downs. We consider that a legitimate excuse. So the Canox is the answer, the non-Arina Burndown edition. Okay, that sounds about right. Teams that did not have their rank burned down during the year.

They are at the top. However. I would have picked them. I actually would have picked the recent Canucks. I don't know I would have picked that team, but I would have picked the recent Canucks. Yeah. And you were right there. I will say in terms of goals by Canadian-born players on one team in a season, this year's Minnesota Wild could end up at the top of the list.

They've got eight. The most in all complete season is that same Vancouver team with 11. So unless, you know. Do you think Bill Guerin, who does listen to this podcast, I understand? Spurgeon, you're not dressing. Yeah, and Middleton. Middleton, you're not dressing. Spurgeon and Middleton, if they're like at 10,

and they're 10, and Garen goes, no, I hate Canada. I'm not dressing Spurgeon. I'm not dressing Middleton. You guys are taking maintenance right before the playoffs. But here's the thing, though. Here's the thing. They now have a recent waiver claim. Robbie Fabry.

Yes. He's played a vote. One game, two games? Two games as we record the pod. I would be very happy if Robbie Fabry, who's been through a lot in his hockey career, busted out in the last game of the season with a four-goal game, putting Minnesota over the top. That's right. And he climbs the boards after score.

his fourth and celebrate. And the wild don't break the record, much to their chagrin, but Robbie Fabry gets a four-goal game. Yes. Garon's like, you think winning the Olympic gold over Canada was my biggest victory this year? Just wait. No. It was setting the record for the fewest goals by Canadians in the season. Okay.

One more. This is pretty good. Jeff from Quinn, Nisota. Oh. Oh, Quintasota. I hope you have a jersey, Jeff, that says Quinnasota on it. Oh, yeah.

They've got to get, there must be T-shirts at the team store by now with that on the front. Hello, Kyle, Don. It's amazing, like, Hughes, I was just looking at it. He's been there for 32 games, and he's fifth in team scoring. Yes. What are the rest of the wilds players doing this season? Well, like there's some other guys that were playing exceptionally well, too. He could finish third in team scoring.

He's two points behind Faber and three behind Erick's and Eck. Yes. Hello, Kyle Dom and the man apparently in need of a comb. Yes. After, yeah. Though not this weekend. Fresh haircut helped. After listening to Saturday's pod, you reminded me of a story that taught me a valuable lesson.

Okay. When my wife was pregnant with our first of three children, and when I had yet to begin working on my now elite dad bod, my wife's fellow nurses threw her a baby shower at work, and we were showered with many generous gifts and delicious treats. That evening, the wild were playing the Jets, and I decided to dig into a rather large tub of what I thought were chocolate-covered almonds or some kind of nut. Let me tell you, they were delicious. I could not put them down. By the end of the wild game, I had ate up. the entire tongue. By most standards, I was an excellent physical shape and at that time of my life, but on this particular night, I was tossing and turning, and it felt like my heart may explode. My pulse was sky high. I did not want to wake my wife, so I spent the night quietly wondering if this was going to be the end for me. The next morning, I started feeling a bit better,

but I found myself getting ready for work having not slept one wink the previous night. My wife, who had already begun her morning routine, came storming back into her room and asked me if I was okay. A bit confused, I told her yes, but admitted I had a rough night and couldn't fall asleep. She then started laughing and told me that it probably wasn't a good idea to eat a full tub of chocolate-covered coffee beans

before going to bed. To this day, I have not lived that one down. Silver lining is that I now know, like Elliot does, how delicious coffee beans can be. Oh, excellent. Love you guys. Keep up the good work. And as always, enjoy your spoils within healthy moderation.

Yeah, Jeff, I'm glad to see that we are kindred spirits, that we both understand that. I've never tried them in chocolate. I just like them, oh, natural, but I may have to do that now. I will admit, Kyle, I thought this story was going in a different direction. My late great aunt, Eva Bross, great lady. she would send her son, my uncle, to school, and this is in the 60s, she would send him to school with chocolate every day. And there were other kids who periodically would steal my uncle's chocolate.

If they got their hands on it before he ate it, they would steal it. And, you know, sometimes he got to eat it. Other times it got stolen, he would get annoyed. and then once my great aunt said, I'm going to teach those kids a lesson. Oh, boy. So it was Kit Kat, okay? Okay.

So she unwrapped the Kit Kat. She took the Kit Kat out and she put X-Lax in there. Oh, my God. And X-Lax is a laxative. And she took pains to re-wrap the X-Lax in the Kit-Cat, passably enough that you would think it was, fresh and that was the last time and she said you know you are not to eat it you're to let them steal it and so he did and it was the last time anyone ever stole his kit cat oh my gosh she was doing like

steffler lloyd christmas type antics well before their time this was a was an incredibly A resourceful woman. Bravo. To your great aunt. That's awesome. Great. Well, we are caffeinated now through another edition

of the thought line. That was good. Thank you, Jeff, for that story. And I'm glad Elliot Snacking brought that memory back for you to share it all here. That is great.

1833-3-1-31-32. If you'd like to call and leave a voicemail here at the thought line or, as you know, you can email us at 32 thoughts at sportsnet.ca. We'll take one final break and wrap up this edition of the pod

after this. All right, welcome back. Before we go, we are past due for an in-season cup update for those that are not on X that haven't been following along with myself, with Elliot, with Emily Agard,

Randi B. Janda. So Emily Aigard has gone on an incredible run, both leading into the Olympic break and has stayed red-hot coming out of it. So much so that she's,

She is in control of the board. She is leading total days with the in-season cup at 44 as of this recording. Another win for her St. Louis Blues on Sunday night against Anaheim. She had the ducks as well. There's been a couple of all A-Guard Bowls here the last couple of days where she cannot lose, but she will put her title on the line on Tuesday against Elliott's New York Islanders. We'll see if anything changes there. So Emily's leading at 44.

I'm in second at 39. Elliot hasn't done much for months. He remains at 26. And Randy, credit to him after a very slow start, has at least got himself back in the mix at 22 total days. A reminder, at in-season cup, for those that do have X, that have any interest in following along, you can do so there.

We have a Tuesday night special for you. It's as if Tuesday is Saturday. a couple of games nationally at 7 o'clock Eastern. So on SportsNet East, Ontario and Pacific, it's the Toronto Maple Leafs in Montreal to face the Canadians and original six clash there. And on SportsNet West, that again can be seen nationally, the Calgary Flames in Madison Square Garden to face the Rangers.

Later that night, it's Connor McDavid and the Oilers on the road continuing their trip into Colorado, to face McKinnon, Cadre, Macar, and the rest, and the avalanche. That's at 10 Eastern 8 o'clock mountain time, coast to coast on Sportsnet. The next night, our usual national night, Scotiabank Wednesday night hockey on the air at 7 Eastern with David Amber and Company for Hockey Central. Pucked drop a little after 730 ET, another all-Canadian clash. So Montreal Canadians in Ottawa to face the Sends, that is a big one. as you can well imagine, both teams, Montreal trying to continue to grab hold of a playoff spot

and Ottawa chasing down one of those spots in the Eastern Conference. All right? Music will be back on Friday. Until then, have a great week. We appreciate you spending. As always, a few hours out of your day here with us. We will talk to you again come Friday.