32 Thoughts: The Podcast - The Core 4 Deliver and the Kings’ Royal Downfall

Episode Date: May 2, 2025

In this edition of 32 Thoughts, Justin Cuthbert, Kyle Bukauskas, and Elliotte Friedman break down the four series that were played on Thursday night:Senators-Leafs (1:00)Kings-Oilers (18:48)Wild-Golden Knights (29:30)Stars-Avalanche (35:57)The Final Thought focuses on what's ahead for Game 6 between the Jets and Blues on Friday (40:03).Kyle and Elliotte answer your voicemail and email submissions via the Thought Line (48:45).In the last segment, Kyle and Elliotte run a post mortem on the Monteal Canadiens (1:04:40), the Tampa Bay Lightning (1:11:50), and the New Jersey Devils (1:16:33). Elliotte unpacks Mike Sullivan reportedly landing with the New York Rangers (1:22:00), before he touches on a few other eligible coaching candidates looking for work (1:25:17). Kyle and Elliotte wrap the podcast talking about the difference in finalists for the Ted Lindsay and Hart Trophy Awards (1:29:47).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

My question is, is there anything against the six skater or someone on the ice jumping back on the bench and allowing the goalie to sprint back into the net? And then more importantly, has this been done before? Much less I'm wondering if it's ever been done successfully where a goalie has made a save and then the team has tied the game. Because of the former goalie myself, Elliot, the idea of doing that and winning the game makes my nipples erect. But what to hear the answer. Thanks guys. To ease their own, I always say. Whatever floats your boat. Welcome to 32 Thoughts, the podcast presented by the GMC Sierra AT4X, Kyle Bacoskas, Elliot Friedman, Dom Schermatti, Justin Cuthbert. Four elimination games, three eliminations, and now the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs

waits only on the central division. With the Ottawa Senators, Minnesota Wild, L.A. Kings, and Colorado Avalanche needing to win in order to survive, only the latter will live to see another game, and with it, deliver at least one game seven to hockey fans. Colorado and its opponent the Dallas Stars join Winnipeg and St. Louis as the only team still vying for positions in round two. Guys after a busy Thursday night let's sift through the wreckage and begin with Toronto and Ottawa. It wasn't without drama how could it be but it was a professional performance from the Toronto Maple Leafs in game six,

after inviting criticism for their effort in game five. The core four delivered an opening goal from Auston Matthews and a pair from William Nylander, and a nitpick lineup decision delivered the eventual game winner number 67, if that matters, Max Pacioretty breaking a late game deadlock. The tallest hurdle may await with the Florida Panthers on deck,

but exhale surely for Leaf fans, Leaf players, and Leaf's management. Kyle, how did it feel in the aftermath? Well, certainly some relief on the Toronto side. That was another spectacular building in Ottawa on Thursday night there for game six, Justin Elliott, I'm sure it came through on the television well. I was a little worried, like, you know, so the T's plays tonight, a highway to hell by ACDC, like the Queensway, getting from downtown out to the arena is like highway to hell most days,

and certainly was on game night. They actually put up a big screen out in front of gate one as kind of a little watch party out front of the rink so you had even more people coming out I was worried Jesus this building gonna be even three quarters full by the time puck drop happens not because of lack of interest but just the time it took for everybody to get out there it was as you say like there was all the talk and yes Perube laid out the fact that it can't just be about the core on the off day, it's about the whole team and I totally understand his positioning on it, but you knew if this was going to be put to bed once and for

all, the top players had to have their fingerprints all over it and the head coach said afterwards like their captain led the way, Austin Matthews, even when he spoke in the morning before the game, you know, not that he ever comes across as nervous or tight or anything like that, but he seemed almost a little more relaxed than he typically was. He set the tone, dynamite in faceoffs once again, it allowed things to get rolling for them. The power play goal, like Elliott, you showed how long it had been since the last time they had scored one in a potential closeout situation. So for the Maple Leafs, like all the noise that was going on around them, they did a good job blocking that out. We'll

get to the Ottawa side of things in a little bit, but Elliot, the biggest thing was you know the the calls were out for the main characters to deliver and they were front and center here in game six. See I saw game six as validation for the plan and the belief that Craig Barubei had. I think he felt very strongly he didn't want to rush into a ton of changes because it would show panic and he didn't want the Maple Leafs and their fans to think that he was panicking. So when he decided to keep the lineup the same except for deployment along the forward lines, I think that was his way of saying that I believe in this group And I believe this is the best roster that I can put out there

I think he also was determined to show the way that he leads Which is that you worry about what you can do you battle like you have to battle? But you don't pay any attention to the outside noise is the only way you could be successful and Kyle here's your interview with Matthews and there's something that he says here I think that's very important oh it feels great I mean I think we came into this game a lot of noise on the outside but I think just the belief in this group in the room the belief in one another to just go out there and play shift by shift. I'm proud of the guys. That's one

step, a big game tonight and just keep moving forward. So that's the key phrase there, the noise on the outside. I think at times, like everybody's different, right? Some people, like just imagine everyone listening to this on social media. If you're on social media, a lot of of people they get freaked out by comments others just ignore comments and I think there are players on the Maple Leafs who have been freaked out by noise before and Barubez whole thing is Don't let the noise affect you and when your coach is saying don't let the noise affect you and we're not gonna panic and Your captain is saying don't let the noise affect you and we're not going to panic and your captain is saying don't let the noise affect you and you win.

It shows that you have actually taken a big step on that. You can shut out the noise and I think at times that has been one of Toronto's biggest problems like Vancouver this year. It was a lot. They couldn't shut out the noise and it affected them this time You know like I'll tell you guys so My brother-in-law is is a is a huge leaf fan. Okay, and You know, we're married to sisters. We get along really well

We don't speak on the phone a lot, but we get along really well when we see each other and I got a text from him Just after noon saying hey, can I give you a call? And I'm like, yeah, what's up? And he calls me and he's like, talk me off the ledge. They're not going to blow this series, are they? And so my son has a basketball practice on Thursdays, and the coach was wearing a Leaf t-shirt that said, just once before I die. And like that was what Leaf Nation was like and we have seen times in

their existence where that nervousness has manifested itself into the room. It didn't happen in game six. Like they were pushed. They had a 2-0 lead, they blew it, you know, Perron scored a brilliant goal, they tied the game, but they still found a way to go ahead and they scored the empty netter to clinch it. And I think it was not only the fact that they did all that but all of Barubei's decisions worked beautifully for them. Pacioretty, he kept him in the lineup and moved him up. Like someone was sending me social media posts of Pacioretty like during the game like what people were saying about him. Get

him out of there, he's terrible terrible why is he in the lineup 1 plus 1 including the winning goal. William Nylander had a bad back check in game number 5 on the short-handed goal. What is what is Baru Beidou? He has him out on the ice to protect the one goal lead with Ottawa's net empty like that shows he doesn't have a long doghouse. That shows that he believes he needs his best players to win. Nylander scores the empty net goal. Stollers was very solid when people were wondering is this too much in a row for him and do they need to go to Woll. Scott Lawton, they traded him for the deadline, it was a

difficult time for him in the short term but when the playoffs started he's like nope I'm depending on that guy that line became very important for them he has the big shot block right before Nylander scores like everything that Barube did he was like a guy playing craps who's rolling sevens every time he was hot and all he does is promote We're gonna work. We're gonna play hard. We're gonna win our battles But we're gonna be calm and in game six the biggest game of Toronto season all of that and all of his decisions Worked out for him like he everything that Craig Barube was brought in to do was validated in game six

of this series. It was a big night for Barube and a big night for the players. Matthews was good, Marner was good, Nylander was good, everybody was good. And Ottawa pushed them very far. So they had to be good. Yes, everything good except for a narrow disaster with the lineup card, Elliott. Now I appreciate you taking the time in the intermission because you had the proper time to explain it all. Yeah, you had to rush. I saw what you were doing.

Yes, you had to rush. You never have enough time in game. So do you want to get into that? Yeah, so what happened was, so Toronto's American Hockey League team got knocked out in the first round by Cleveland, who are of course Columbus's AHL team. And so you call up your black aces, right? And one of them is Alex Nylander. And so all of the sudden the Maple Leafs have two

Nylanders on the roster they have Alex and they have William and I Heard after the game that the Maple Leafs had realized they'd made a mistake. I heard very conflicting things during the game. Like initially we thought when we saw the lineup sheet that the NHL had made a mistake and the NHL was like no this was not us. This was entered by them and I think the Maple Leafs realized very quickly that they made the mistake because the numbers were different. You know Willie wears 88

and Alex wears 92 because what happens is I guess when you type in Nylander's name, Alex comes before Willie so it defaulted to that one. Something along those lines happened and you know I had people say to me when you first explained it that why is he allowed to play? He shouldn't be allowed to play and they should get a penalty. And the way it works is in that situation, if you alert the officials or the officials see it and alert you before the game, before puck drop, you can make the change no harm, no foul.

If the game starts and it hasn't been rectified Then the player has to leave and if he's in the starting lineup you actually get a penalty so I Was under the impression that the Officials had gone to the Leafs and said we noticed this But apparently the Leafs had also realized they'd made the mistake and they went to the officials. Whatever the case was, it had to get done before the puck dropped and it was. And that would have been a nightmare if that happened. There were Leaf fans of a certain age who remembered that happened with Pat Quinn about 25 years ago. Same thing. Yes.

I can see Islanders. Yes. So Jeff Geerda was producing the game in our truck on Thursday night. He was doing stats that night that Pat Quinn accidentally put Rennberg on the lineup card instead of Reichel. Peter LaViellette waited until the first stoppage to alert the referees that there was a mistake,

and Robert Reichel was removed from the game. Well, I mean, that's the last thing you need. I'm actually glad that this got sorted out, because whoever... and the other thing too is it should be noted is it's not handwritten cards anymore. Barube made a joke at the end of the game that he wishes it was still handwritten, because then that wouldn't have happened. Now it's an electronic system. And Barube is not... Ultimately, it rests with him to double check and check. But I don't think he'd be the person that would be entering the names into the computer

system they do now. But if you notice Postgame, he didn't blame anybody else he said that's on me which I really respect because even though you're the head coach and you are ultimately in charge very rarely is the head coach responsible for that although sometimes if not often he would check it just to make sure I just like the fact he he kind of blamed himself and didn't, his quote was blaming himself and not blaming anybody else. I really like that but I'm glad it didn't matter because I have been that guy on the

internet before. It's not fun to be that guy on the internet so I would hate to see that happen to anybody. Good that it didn't affect anything. Oh, by the way, Justin, Kyle gave me credit for mentioning the power play in the pregame that they were 0 for 30 in their last 30 in clinching games on the power play. I wonder if your dad left the city right after the game because he literally said it right before they scored Well, I was gonna say I was gonna say if that mistake lineup mistake not rectified How would they ever live that down in Leaf Nation lore?

Like I'm not sure if William Nylander doesn't play in that game how they get over that if it doesn't go well in game Six, but I guess maybe the same would apply to him if the Maple Leafs were able to get a game six victory or a game seven victory I guess nonetheless. A cautionary tale maybe the lineup mishap if you know for a general manager looking to potentially ice three brothers on the same team? Someone joked with me after the game that they should send they should send Alex home for the rest of the season so this doesn't happen again. He was actually in the building Thursday.

Was he really? Yes, irony of it all. Him and Michael Nylander too, they were both in Ottawa Thursday night. Technically Alex could have played. Maybe he sabotaged it so he could get into a game. Sorry, bro. You're out.

I'm in. Happy birthday. 92 jersey in storage somewhere. Go downtown. Have a steak. Enjoy your birthday. I'm in the game. Now I think this is a conspiracy.

Ottawa-wise, we'll do a post-mortem in probably the next pod, but the thing I love post-game was Brady Kachuk. He didn't want to hear about moral victories. That's an easy narrative to write about Ottawa. You came back from down 3-0. The next time, I'll bet you the next time Ottawa's in a playoff series, they're not down 3-0. You know the next time, I'll bet you the next time Otto was in a playoff series they're not down 3-0 right away. They start a little quicker but you know people could say oh you got the great experience you finally made the playoffs like this. You pushed Toronto, you made them nervous. He didn't want to hear any of that. Like I love that. No moral victories For Brady Kachak, even though everything is true. I mean look they they finally broke through

They finally got into the playoffs and the thing I really like to is a lot of guys you really hope are their core Were very very good. Kachak was good. Stutzel was good. Sanderson was good Pinto was good. Greg was good. I thought Shabbat really got better as the series continued, but the other guy would add to that list, I thought Cleven was very good. And I think that if there was any doubt that he was gonna be a core part of that team, like Cleven's got a playoff game. Like he's naturally mean. He's got that surliness to him that you want.

I thought it was a really good sign for Ottawa that all those guys were good. I think it's an added bonus that Cleven was a guy who elevated his game. Like, I think Cleven's going to be one of those guys who in the regular season might just be up and down up and down up and down because the regular season doesn't always translate to the game he plays but he'll be a guy that you need in the playoffs because his game does translate to the game that you need. Yeah that group went through years and years of trying to find moral victories so you can understand why the captain wasn't too interested in discussing that in the aftermath of game

six. But it was just neat to see again the connection between city and team. Not that it ever went away completely, But it does evolve over eight years without playoffs and to have that spark again You know you never like to see any market go that long without playoff appearances, but when it does come back It's a and it's a younger fan base different generation of fans here not the same that grew up with the teams that were so close to breaking through in the early 2000s, different set of circumstances that are now growing up with the Brady Kachucks of the world. It was neat to see and they come a long way in a relatively

short period under Travis Green, so moral victories, not interested in hearing right now but I think a lot of good came out of the last two weeks here for the Ottawa Senators. Yeah something to build on I mean it's been a busy last few seasons ownership change management change coaching change a lot of player movement but the Ottawa Senators now exit the season more accomplished than they've been and they have something real to build on. Agreed.

Okay guys, let's go to Edmonton and Los Angeles. Though not a reverse sweep, the Edmonton Oilers did erase a multi-game deficit with four consecutive wins, to count four consecutive first-round series triumphs now over the LA Kings. Third period dramatics changed the series, but for Edmonton they weren't required. In the end the Oilers dominated a low scoring game in game five and they dominated a high scoring game in game six and they now move on to meet the Vegas Golden Knights at a rematch of a very memorable series from a couple years ago. It feels guys like the Oilers figured out how to proceed without Matthias Ekholm as the series went along. The best defense from this group is a

smothering offense. Elliot, what did you see from game five and game six with the Edmonton Oilers? Well, first of all, we should mention, just since you mentioned Echholm, Chris Knobloch postgame said doubtful for second round. I think the Oilers would be pleasantly surprised if he showed up at all in this next round

against the Golden Knights. So that's the first update we should mention. You know, I would say this about this series, Justin. This is a crushing one for the Kings. If I was a member of the Kings or a member of the organization after this series I would be in the wilderness for a week. Like that's how upset I am. I'm not even saying that for a laugh or to make fun of anybody, but that is the kind of thing. If I was on the receiving end of that after everything I'd kind of been through I would

be a hermit. Nobody could find me. That's how disappointed I would be with that defeat. They were up two nothing after two games they looked like a completely different team they looked like they could score with the others you know we talked about at the beginning you have to win a game or two six to five against them they won one of those games and they won the other one big and even though those were coming home like it was the Kings who had the home ice advantage Kempe had all the nine points in the first three games you know some people say that the real turning point of the series was the challenge the the bad challenge in game three I don't believe that I I think that game was

still 4-4 at the time, and you were still up 2-1 in the series, even when you lost that game. I think they lost it in the third period of game four. They were up 3-1, and a couple things started to happen. Number one, Calvin Pickard, it's not beautiful. It's not prime Martin Bordur, it's not prime Patrick Waugh, but he battles. He battled. Even at the start of this one, game six, I did not like the second goal at all. And it's interesting, they showed a great highlight, Kevin did, about how Pickard kind of looks at the bench

and Chris Knobloch looks the other way. He doesn't want Pickard to see him. And in that moment, Pickard knows he's staying in because we wondered if he was going to get pulled. And I guarantee to you Pickard wondered if he was going to get pulled. And he battled. Like in that series, his job wasn't supposed to be prime Dominik Hasek. His job was to make one more save than Darcy Kemper, and he did it four times in a row against a Vezna nominee.

I think the other thing that really mattered was, as the series went on and LA didn't didn't trust their depth you know in game six it was Connor Brown had a big night but Arvidsson was good Janmark was good and Frederick got healthy he scored he went from a guy who looked like in game one he was going to be a non-factor to a guy who scored his first goal and Evander Kane I don't think we even realized how effective he was going to be able to be because he'd been out all year. He was effective and I don't know if the Oilers planned it. They said we're going to stick with all these guys and including Frederick because we think they're going to get healthier and get better and help us but it worked out that way.

healthier or get better and help us, but it worked out that way. And like I said, if I was LA, I would be incredibly, incredibly disappointed with this loss because I think this was our best team of the four. I think it was their best opportunity to win of the four. They won those first two games. They were in control of the series and they let, like it was the the others were like Hulk Hogan. They started doing the blowfish and once the blowfish started and the crowd got into it, you knew the big leg drop was coming. And there was nothing LA could do about it. They hulked out. And they won the series.

Like I said, if I was the Kings, I would be really, really disappointed. Really disappointed. So I'm doing the postgame stuff after the game in Ottawa and I check my phone and I see it's 2-2, 10 minutes in and I'm like, okay, it's another one of these games. And then I'm driving home, it's in the second period now, I'm listening to Cam Moon and Bob Stauffer, like you would have thought the Oilers were down 10-3, not up 3-2. Like Stauffer's going, I don't understand how they're playing, all these chances are giving up.

This doesn't sound like Stauffer, I have to tell you. He was all over them. He was perplexed by how they were playing. It sounds very much like Stoffer, I should say. That's sarcasm. Oh, good. It's late. So I'm going, oh my gosh, are we going back to LA for a game seven? But you know as you touched on Elliot,

you know the problem early on in the series is that it felt like the old Edmonton Oilers story in the playoffs where you're playing Connor and Leon more than half the game it feels like and just hoping they can do enough damage to withstand the minutes that they're not on but as the series got on like the other guys got involved and that was a huge key to when they went on the run last year you know a couple years previous when they got to the conference final for the first time as this group where it was it was a little more spread out and so I think that's you know the kind of the the one thing you've got to hang on to I mean the goaltending question is you would think will continue as as

time goes on here with Edmonton and how they divvy those minutes, but having more involved is gonna be, you know, the ultimate opportunity for them to keep this going. And I liked Connor McDavid in the postgame with Gene when he asked him about Vegas and seeing them again. He said, yeah, we we remember what happened a couple years ago against them. Like that's that's already in their minds a chance to get back at a team that ended their season. their minds a chance to get back to the end of their season so a nice way to kind of set the tone for a second-round matchup between two teams that know each other rather well. You know I also should we also want to credit Klingberg I thought he gave them really good minutes too. I'll say this though guys I didn't like game six from a stylist I mean I loved it from a fan point of view if I was a coach I'd hate it. It was entertaining, but I

I wouldn't if I was the orders I wouldn't like that in terms of We cannot play that way against Vegas I just Vegas was like Edmonton and I know we're gonna talk about them in a couple minutes here, but Vegas got stronger as their series continued. They're gonna come in I think a more ready team to play Edmonton they weren't ready against Minnesota, but Minnesota caught them early. That's not gonna happen against Edmonton. They're gonna have to be a lot tighter. I thought they were too loose, especially in game six.

They're gonna have to be a lot tighter against Vegas. Yeah, it'll be interesting to see what it looks like because it kind of felt like to me that they saw LA as this team that wanted to shut it down and load up and neutralize and they just had to almost do it like an exaggerated version of opening it up and it did open them up for some chances against clearly, but in the end the track meets style just was always going to favor the Oilers, but you're right. I don't know if you could do that against Vegas I will I will say though and we're going to get to Vegas and Minnesota in a second the way Kaprizov and Boldy ran wild in that series against Vegas it will be

interesting to see how McDavid and Dry Cytl fare in a similar matchup potentially with the top line of Vegas because there were really no answers for Kaprizov and Boldy and we know what McDavid and Dreisaitl can do. Yeah never worried about those two finding ways to push through regardless of the opponent it's just the rest of the lineup and can you have enough soft minutes or even a few where you can win them and find an edge that way. I don't worry about that as much now. I would have worried about that after two games in this Edmonton LA series, but the way those players played the last four, it's very obvious to me that Knobloch is determined

It's it's like what Barube said right? I'm tired about the core four. It's everybody he is determined to make sure that everybody on Toronto has an identity right and Knobloch is wired the same way in Edmonton He is determined to make sure everybody on Edmonton on that older team Has an identity and feels like they're part of the group and Vegas is very much the same way very much the same way. And that really was the story of the series for Edmonton like all of the sudden everybody in that lineup started like hitting their peak performance it wasn't just McDavid and Dry Saddle carrying them through they got a lot of

solid performances up and down the roster as that series went on. Guys, let's transition to Vegas and Minnesota. A hundred Stanley Cup playoff games were completed the other day from Vegas, and they start the next hundred with a 12-series victory in franchise history in six games over the Minnesota Wild. Twelve series wins is more than seven active NHL franchises already, but it wasn't easy in this opening round series as we've discussed. Minnesota made it tough and made it tough by having its best players outplay the Golden Knights best players.

It was a struggle for Jack Eichel. In particular, he came into game six without a goal and a dash six, but he got his first of the series in game six and the top guys for Vegas started to take over it wasn't the cleanest it wasn't the most convincing but Vegas does what Vegas has always done survive and advance I thought that is the series went on like obviously now for Vegas for Minnesota you look back to the overtime of game four. That was where the series changed. It's not exactly a genius statement to say that.

But Minnesota did. You know the tough thing for Minnesota is like Eichel came out post game. I saw his quotes where he talked about they give us everything we can handle. You know they did, but when you lost in the first round eight times in a row, it's really hard to be satisfied with that. If you're a player, you're a fan, or an other member of the organization, you don't want to hear, oh you guys gave a real fight. You want results at that point, right? So I can understand how that sounds really hollow. They did play hard. They did give Vegas everything they could handle, but they didn't get it done, unfortunately, for them. And it really changed with the game

for overtime defeat. It was a great series, it was very competitive. I thought really for the first time, he'll out-dueled Gustafson. Gustafson left before the third period of game number five with some kind of, I don't know, stomach flu, food poisoning kind of thing and they rallied around Flurry but they lost that game in overtime as well and in this one, like I said, I thought it was really the first time where Hill established real dominance over Gustafsson in a game and it's a good sign for Vegas as they go into the round against Edmonton because I think for a lot of the series Hill had kind of been outplayed. Stone finished the series a lot better than he started it. Eichel

finished the series a lot better than he started it. Theodore finished the series a lot better than he started it. I think you could make a real point that both Vegas and Edmonton are clearly going into their second round series, that both of them going better than when they started their previous series. I have to say this, I never thought I would be covering Marc-Andre Fleury's last game in the NHL. I thought he'd outlast me, even though I have a longer runway in theory as a media member. It was surreal to see the camera go to him at the end of the game and some of those fan

videos on social media. We're really going to miss him as a player and a personality. I wonder if he joins the organization in some facet. We'll see, he's been pretty tight-lipped about what he's been thinking. I mean, we know he's gonna go to the Hall of Fame someday, but that was very emotional and very strange to see. You could really see the mixed emotions on Flurry's face.

You're preparing for it, you're preparing for it, you're preparing for it. You know this is your last season, but when it finally hits you and you finally realize the moment is here, it's very, very difficult to handle. Even though the fans did a great job of sending him off, the Vegas players staying on the ice to send him off. You know it was obviously a hard exit from him for the Golden Knights. That was another exclamation point to the series. The one

Minnesota player I wanted to shout out besides the obvious was Ryan Hartman. You know Ryan Hartman played great for them in the series. He scored both their goals in game six. When Hartman got suspended this year, Bill Garren made it pretty clear that this was his last chance. And if he didn't clean up his act and perform, they would be looking to get rid of him. I thought he was one of their best players in the playoffs. Obviously he was excellent in game six. And he was really challenged. And he answered that challenge for the most part. Again we'll talk about Minnesota the next pod but Harpon was a guy I

wanted to shout out. Yeah he was definitely a force in the game with those goals but just around it the entire night. Just quickly on Flurry one of my favorite all-time careers you guys have probably talked a lot about it you know given that this was his you you know, last, his last dance season. But an unintentional and an intentional entertainer, I think his save against the Red Wings in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final, maybe the greatest of all my lifetime, at least the most memorable. This was someone who was thrust into controversies time and time again and only made more fans because of it. This is an all-time great goaltender career in the NHL and you're right Elliot he's gonna be missed in the game. Mm-hmm. 100%. Very quickly I got this from Sinbin. The Golden Knights have

won 42 consecutive playoff games where they score three goals or more against the Oilers Elliot. That will be tested. Yeah, but they're one of the teams that can skate with them. They've proven it before. I mean, you'll remember the last time they beat the Oilers, one of the big heroes of that series was Marcia Soh, who's not there anymore. But it's a great rivalry. I'm looking forward to this series. I think it's going to be great hockey, but like I said I think the Oilers have to be a little tighter than they were in game six or else they will have problems there.

Okay let's go to Colorado and Dallas, the only surviving team, the Colorado Avalanche. History though was made by two Dallas Stars teammates in this game Elliott. Rupe Hintz and former Av Miko Rantanen became the first teammates in NHL history with four points apiece in the same period in a Stanley Cup playoff game but it wasn't enough. Colorado delivering in the clutch counting four goals in the third period with its season on the line. This was a series destined to go the distance and it will indeed require the maximum allotted. Dallas was in this position to win the game and in the series, but you mentioned or we've been talking about the style of play, maybe in Edmonton, the

style of play, maybe involving Vegas and Minnesota. This game was high flying, high event. It didn't look for a second like the type of game that Pete DeBoer and the Dallas Stars wanted and maybe that's why in the end it will go 7. I cannot believe some of the goals that are being scored in this series Justin. Like the one the other night that went off of Blackwood's back and in this one the winning goal Sam Steele basically shot it off Colin Blackwell's face and it ended up in the net. I only have one prayer to the hockey gods one request of the hockey gods in game seven Saturday night and that is don't let this series end on one of these joke goals like have it be there's been too many insane, ridiculous,

what on earth just happened here goals in this series. We need good ones to end it. Great game. I think if we would have expected any series to go seven beforehand it would have been this one. So I can't say I'm really surprised. Martin Naciusez who we've been waiting to arrive had a huge goal on the assist from a car that was a great pass. Lubuskin who'd been who we showed earlier in the series he had a minus 5 in this one tough night. Bixl I mean I couldn't believe when I saw he was back on the bench I thought he might be I couldn't believe when I saw he was back on the bench. I

thought he might be out for 20 years when I saw the collision that he got in so I'm legitimately happy that he was able to come back and play the game. You know McKinnon and McCarr were great. Interesting that the morning skate all of a sudden Peter DeBoer said that Jason Robertson is day to day so you wonder like they're in game seven with no Robertson and no Hayskinnon. Autinger has been spectacular. He was spectacular again in this one. He's been a little bit better than Blackwood in this series.

One of the reasons Dallas is here. You know, I mean one game can change, but I think Autinger has outplayed him so far. Really an incredible series. Considering who hasn't been able to play for Dallas, it's really lived up to the hype. I think a lot of people thought that Colorado, I don't think necessarily would win easy, but win easier because those two guys were gonna be out. And like you said, Ranton arrived, Hinn's hadn't scored a ton, but he was playing hard and he was great in this one.

I have no idea how to handicap this on Saturday night. No idea at all, except, and like we talk about it when we discuss Florida-Tampa in that series, whoever loses this one, you've basically lost a Stanley Cup final. You didn't lose in the first round, you're gonna lose a Stanley Cup final. I have no idea how to handicap this. I think Colorado has tilted the ice at times and Dallas

has to play slower, but Dallas has counterpunched beautifully considering who's out of their lineup. Coin flip series and such reward potentially for the winner Saturday night in game seven. Not to say the Winnipeg Jets or the St. Louis Blues wouldn't be able to stand up to them in a second round series, but you know Winnipeg's going through some injuries here with Merck Shieffley and we'll see what that all means, but it's possible as you mentioned that the toughest opponent is right in front of them to start these playoffs. So it will be interesting to see who gets through and how a difference in style will impact that team.

I mean, Winnipeg and St. Louis are playing a different series than this is. This one has been high flying and unbelievably exciting and St. Louis and Winnipeg is hard hitting and mean. And we'll see how that all plays out when we get the two teams from the central division advancing to the second round. The final thought is brought to you by GMC and let's talk a little bit about a game six, Friday night, St. Louis and Winnipeg.

Mark Shifely not making the trip. After an injury picked up in game five, the coaches will go on and debate how and when that injury happened. Can I give you a third option actually on this one? So Justin, there was a lot of debate about the Shen hit. Then Montgomery brought up the Foxa hit. There's a third option there's a Jordan Cairo hit too. Okay I'm wondering if it's all three. I just wonder if Shifely took three big hits in a row and it was the cumulative effort of those hits that knocked him out of the lineup. I think that's a reasonable thesis.

This is why I like you better than Kyle. Yeah, well he kept playing and everyone's trying to watch it or everyone's trying to figure out exactly how it happened, right? Because we get the war of words and we have all these instances of Mark Shifely taking hard contact and it just looked like he became a little less sharp as it went. And again, I shouldn't like Jim Montgomery trying to diagnose the situation.

But Mark Shifely stopped looking like Mark Shifely as that was all accumulating. And I don't think you could put your finger on it other than to suggest that, yeah, the punishment that he was taking added up to something real and something that will keep him out of the game six lineup. The whole thing too with the coaches, as you just mentioned, Jim Montgomery, to me that

was a coach who was saying, I got to make sure that the NHL doesn't think they need to suspend my guy, Braden Shan. I was going to make sure. So that's what that was. He was coming out and defending his guy. I got no problem with that. Scott Arneal hears that and he's like, you should not be talking about my player. And then he's coming out and he's defending his guy.

And when you're a player playing as hard as these guys are in the postseason You have to know that your coach has your back and your organization has your back those were both messages to their own players as Much as they were messages to anyone else and I respect and understand why both of those coaches Did that now? Hopefully this is a short-term thing for Shifeley and we get them back for either a game one next round or a game seven this round. I know which one the Jets and their fans are hoping for. I have to say

this in a season of impressive wins that was as impressive a victory as the Jets have had all year. They lost Shifeley for two periods in a game of impressive wins that was as impressive a victory as the Jets have had all year. They lost shifely for two periods in a game that was still very much in doubt and they won and credit to Vladimir Nemesnikov who played maybe the best game of his NHL career. All of a sudden he became the number one center and he did the job. I would also give a lot of credit to Hello Buck. There was one goal that had an odor to it, everybody knows, but he also made an unbelievable stick save, and he didn't give up after that bad goal.

It would have been easy considering everything to sag, to have the crappy body language, to feel devastated, but he battled. And I think in those moments, especially with everything that Hello Buck's been going through, the most important thing that you do is battle. Maybe you don't, it's like Pickard, maybe you don't look like a prototypical

goaltending video, but you battle to make your saves. And in a game that was really hard for the Jets, they were all battling. They saw their goal tender battle with them. So I thought that was really important. This is a huge challenge. St. Louis doesn't lose at home. Their last game there, they got embarrassed. You know, with Halleback still trying to find his highest level of game and shyfully not playing, there's a lot of excuses.

But I thought in game five, considering everything that was going on, I thought all those Jets guys elevated and they'll have to do it again. You just have to believe that you can do it again. And I think if I was the Jets and I was Arneal, I'd be hammering on them. A lot of things went badly for us in game five, and we could have lost, but we found a way, and we're gonna do that again. But you know, again, St. Louis, deadly at home,

they're gonna come out, the building's gonna be crazy. You know, like, there'll be moments in there where it looks like the ice is tilted against the Jets, but I'd be selling ourselves that if we could win that game five, we can win no matter what. Any surprise that there wasn't more of a discussion after the Braden Shen hit? I mean, we've seen a lot of data points already in these playoffs. Yeah. It was a jump, that was interference, that was not blindside, but unsuspecting, and it

takes the star player, the star forward out of the lineup for the Winnipeg Jets. You know, I have to say this. You use the word unsuspecting. The one thing, Justin, is I don't think you can be unsuspecting anymore in these playoffs if the puck is anywhere near you. Like Barkov, to me, he was unsuspecting because he didn't play the puck. But Shifely had, even though it was late, and you're right there was a jump, I didn't like that, but he had, like if you touch the puck, even, you know, normally you're still not going to expect to get hit that late. I think now if you touch the puck, you've got to be expecting you're going to get hit even if it's late. Like that's one thing that's been established in these

playoffs. You touch the puck, someone's going to hit you. And so I don't think you can be unsuspecting in that situation. It was a jump. I mean, if you're going to only give someone a minor there, I mean, if you're gonna only give someone a minor there, and even I know Arneal was mad, I just never got a sense there that that one was gonna be supplemental discipline. No, I didn't. I wasn't surprised. Even though I'm sure the Jets and their fans are mad, based on everything I've seen so far, that wasn't as bad as the Kachak one, which didn't get a suspension. So if that one wasn't gonna get a suspension, I didn't think this one was going to. Tough spot for the Winnipeg

Jetski. But you know one thing I should say Justin is the first panel in the Toronto game on Thursday night that that which was Brady Kachuk on Carlo I could see that being a derivative of that play There was some it wasn't as violent it didn't cause as much damage But you could see that one and say okay. There are roots in what? happened in Winnipeg and we're making sure this call is made.

It's a key part of the playoffs, staying within the confines of what is potentially dangerous but also, I guess, legal enough. It's an interesting game that they're all playing. Big opportunity for Winnipeg in game six. They can move on and meet the winner of Dallas and Colorado. But yeah, it's a tough spot without Mark Scheifli. We'll see if they could get it done. That was The Final Thought brought to you by GMC.

All right, welcome back. Time once again for the Thoughtline. Elliot, before we get started, I was thinking about this just before we began this segment. A lot of long hours already through the playoffs for your group, particularly in the studio. What's some of the most bizarre topics of conversation that have come up to this point as you're killing time in between intermissions and watching multiple games at one time? I have a strange feeling you're going in some particular direction here, but- I promise I'm not. This is like the speeding ticket all over again.

But there are certain things that do come up and many of them I'm not going to repeat. But there are often strange conversations. Some relate to golf, some relate to home insurance costs, some relate to home repair. Yes. One of us is going through a home insurance renewal right now where we're talking about rates and things like that. And there are other things that are not to be shared with the general public. Sounds like an episode of Marketplace. All right, a few submissions to get through here today. Wait a second, why do you ask?

I was just curious. I gotta go, you guys spend so much time there each and every night, and knowing the characters that are in that green room, there's gotta be some good banter. There's a lot of ripping each other's ideas. There's no question that happens. Yeah, just pure curiosity. All right, we'll begin today with Husky from Aurora, Colorado, who's curious in his own way. Hello Dom, Griffin, Kyle, and

the one and only Mr. Elliot Bukasius, aka Kyle's dad. Oh my god. I don't know if I would be proud or embarrassed. It's for 50-50. Yes, that goes both ways. It's like that movie with Adam Sandler. That's my boy. I never saw that one. Me neither, but I figured it would be really relatable.

Okay, Husky asks, my question for you Elliot is what if a team scores a goal but the puck was kicked into the net with a distinct kicking motion and there was goalie interference since there are two infractions how would the coach and video room go about selecting which infraction to review and if the coach says he room go about selecting which infraction to review? And if the coach says he wants to challenge for goalie interference, and the ref in situation room deem there wasn't goalie interference, if the refs in situation room notices the kicking motion, can they do a self-initiated review?

Also, you guys missed a team that relocated and kept the weird name except it's the other way around. The Houston Rockets originally started out as the San Diego Rockets before moving to Houston in 1971. Love the pod and all the work everyone does and let's go Stars! Houston Rockets, Elvin Hayes. There you go. That is correct. Husky, there's a simple answer to a very complicated question. A kicked in puck is a league review. Goaltender interference is a video review, a team coaching challenge. Okay?

And as you saw the other night with Minnesota and Vegas, there is a pattern here. The league review goes first. The first thing the league must determine was, did the puck enter the net in a legal way? If the puck is distinctly kicked in, it did not enter the net legally, therefore it is no goal and they don't even have to review for the goaltender interference. The team has the burden or the onus taken off them. So the league first says did the puck enter the net legally? If yes, then now the team has to decide if they want to challenge. If the answer is no, it's no goal and the goalie interference doesn't matter. League review, good goal or not, always

goes first. Yes, and when it comes to this time of year, because there's always seems to be a little bit of confusion over what's challengeable and what isn't, it's always good to point out like stuff with high sticks on scoring plays, like if it's high stick directly into the net, that would be a league review. But if it's a high stick earlier in the play that's missed, then that would be something a coach could challenge that would fall into the missed stoppages category there. Thank you for the question Husky. Voicemail next, Matt in Maryland, go ahead. I have a question regarding polled goaltenders. I was watching the Panthers lightning game

five last night. Vasilevsky got lifted and the Panthers pinned the puck in Tampa's zone. My question is, is there anything against the six skater or someone on the ice jumping back on the bench and allowing the goalie to sprint back into the net? And then more importantly, has this been done before? Much less I'm wondering if it's ever been done successfully where a goalie has made a save and Then the team has tied the games because of the former goalie myself Elliot the idea of doing that and what building the game Makes my nipples erect To ease their own I always say whatever floats your boat. I'm good with all of that

I always say whatever floats your boat. I'm good with all of that When it comes to your question, I do remember the previous podcast co-host Jeff Merrick talking about this The answer is yes, it can happen we have seen plenty of situations where a goalie charges to the bench sees that the situation isn't going well, and goes back towards the net. And the only danger there is too many men. The skater who's going on for the goalie jumps on, gets involved in the play, and suddenly

you've got a penalty because the goaltender changed their mind. In terms of goalies changing on the fly, Merrick once talked about a game from the early 90s with Pittsburgh where Scottie Bowman had his two goalies doing it. And looking at the roster from that year, it looks like it was Ken Reget and Wendell Young. Other than that, and it was late in the year, a game that I don't think was meaningful, I'd have to listen to the podcast again, and I'm not putting myself through all that

to determine if that was the exact situation, but it was something like that. There's a reason it doesn't happen often, and that is because it's insane and it looks very risky. I remember when we were in Peewee, we were playing a tournament over on the lower mainland and we weren't a very good team. We were playing against a team that was far better than us. So we were struggling to score. I remember we got a five on three power play at one point in the game and the power play started and our coach pulled our goalie.

So we were six on three. It was like almost a two minute five on three. So there was like time. So we went six on three. We couldn't score. And so now there's like 20 seconds left in the power play and like calling one of our players back to the bench to then put our goalie back into the net on the fly. So we did it once in Peely.

Didn't work. How did it go? As I said, we lost the game, we didn't score. But we did pull off the goalie change from the net and back in the net all during continuous play. Did you like, were you guys cheering it? Did you guys enjoy it? I think we're just fearful of, oh my god,

if we get scored on here, how bad that's going to look. And as you can imagine, I was not one of the six on the ice trying to score, so I just watched it all from the bench. Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha. Was not tapped for that one. All right.

That's a good, Yeah good memory though, too Geez cuz you don't see it often because usually once you're committed. There's a reason you don't see it often. Yes All right up next Jacob from Caledonia. Hey Kyle Elliott and Dom I was watching my oilers play the LA Kings on Sunday night and heard the announcers say that Connor McDavid and Sydney Crosby are the only two players left in the league that use non-changeable blades. Any idea why that is or why they do it? Go Oilers.

Thanks for the great pod. Once I saw this, I was just bubbling with glee. So I have to say that we don't do this podcast with video because people see enough of us already, but Kyle and I are looking at each other via video while we record this, and he was literally rubbing his hands as he was answering the question. The last time I saw Kyle that excited, he was eating ice cream out of a baseball helmet cup. Yes, that's right. Oh man talking equipment and eating

ice cream. It is like that's the same type of joy for me. Same type of what you nailed it. Alright, so hit us. Hit us with the answer. So, I know for Crosby for sure he does it because as wild as this sounds, but he says it's the reason the way those blades are put in he feels they are stiffer like the interchangeable ones the quick release blades he find like when he cuts in the ice and turns they're too flimsy for his liking like he as you know the with the way he skates and moves on the ice, he likes to dig in

when he carves in a skating stride and having the old school non-changeable blades is a reason for that. I would imagine Connor McDavid would be a similar reason why. And the other thing with McDavid is, I think I've mentioned it on the pod once before, but he's been, he went back and forth a lot this year, but he's been using, you know, those that are into hockey gear, will know the original CCM jet speed model of skates that came out, I believe the year he was drafted in the NHL back in 2015. And I swear I saw him even in the series against LA. He's wore them at least one game there. So he's another guy like Sid that he finds a piece of equipment that he likes

and does not like to move to something different. Even as brands are like wanting to push the latest and greatest models to have on their top guys, he's not one that likes to change his skates. I'm not surprised about that at the least. People at this level. They are. Absolute madmen when it comes to the tools of the trade,

and you have to give them a good reason to even think about changing. One final one, John from Cochrane, Alberta. Howdy boys. Watching the Leafs and Sens overtime the other night and they mentioned that the Sens had never played in three consecutive overtime games and it got me wondering has there ever been a seven game series where every game was decided in overtime and if not what is the most games in one seven game series? Love the pod and all the deep dives into trivia. Hmm I'm trying to think off the top of my head where I will say I would bet in

four or five game series there's been every one in overtime, but I can't imagine there's been a seven game series where every game went to overtime. Am I correct about that? You would be right in thinking that, yeah. Never had seven overtime games in one series. What's the record, like five? Yes, three instances.

It's gone five overtimes. And ironically, all three instances, I never went seven games. OK, so Toronto, Washington is one of those from 2017. The only reason I remember that is I was referencing that this week with the Montreal Canadians. So are the other ones earlier than that? Yes, that would be the most recent.

One is not too much removed from 2017, and then there's one from a long ways ago when you were finishing your college applications. So that, so you're talking about like 1950, is that what you're saying? Yeah, exactly. Oh my gosh, you're locked in today. Cause I knew you would be making some sort of stupid joke about me being born in 1930.

I just know who I'm dealing with. Yeah. So like 1950, that wouldn't be the cup final where the Red Wings beat the Rangers, was it? No, that was a seven game. It wasn't that cup final, but it was a... Oh, was it the Bill Borilko one, 1951, Leafs and Canadians? Yes. Yes. Nicely done. Yes. Yes, I remember that one had a lot of over times in it before Barilko scored. OK, so the other one, we're not thinking too long ago from Toronto, Washington, 2017.

Yeah. All right. So I remember the series. I've got no recollection of five over times. Really? Six games. Yeah. What like approximately what year are we talking about here? We are talking the early 2010s, 2012 to be specific. 2012, okay, so I'm trying to remember what playoff series I did those years. Was it, oh you know because you know which one I was gonna actually think of but it's obviously wrong was was Kings Blackhawks 2014 it's clearly not that one no I think they went for yeah they that one

and it was decided in overtime to hit me I can't think of it off the top of my head it's a tricky one the Phoenix Coyotes and the Chicago Blackhawks. Oh God, I never, we could have been guessing until, until hockey comes back to Phoenix and I wasn't gonna guess that one. Yeah, that's what I say. I was like, I remember them playing, but five overtimes, no.

Way over my head. But that's the best. Wow. Five in one series. You know what, you know what Meatloafaf one said two out of three ain't bad. Yes Very good, Elliot. You are the meatloaf of this pod The thought line one eight three three three one one thirty two thirty two or you can email us at 32thoughts.ca. One final break and we'll wrap up the pod as it continues after this. Okay, welcome back Elliot.

It's about time that we touch on the most recently departed from the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Nice. Oh, on Wednesday night. So why don't we start with the Montreal Canadiens, a team that had hoped to be in the mix come springtime. They get into the playoffs, a 15-point increase year over year, and go into this summer with the words of Martin Saint-Louis, the pain you feel right now is not even close to the joy that's coming. Well, of all the teams we've talked about so far in the postseason who are out,

the one that will feel the best about itself is Montreal. Losing sucks and even if you don't think you're going to get there, even as a surprise entry to the postseason, you still hate to lose. It stinks. But they gave Washington a real fight, a couple of overtime games. And I thought even in game five, they came out really well. Logan Thompson had to bail out the Capitals earlier, but the Capitals, as you would expect, were just a little bit better, more experienced, deeper, just top to bottom. Hey, they finished first in the Eastern Conference for a reason, and I thought in the big moments of this series,

too many of them that really mattered, the Capitals showed their experience and their depth over Montreal. But that power play, it's going to terrorize the Eastern Conference and the Atlantic division for years. You take a look at it, like all of those young guys, they played hard in the playoffs Suzuki played hard Caulfield played hard stuff Kovsky played hard Sometimes I remember with Slavkovsky He's only really played with a ton of contact for a couple years and he's still learning you can tell he's still learning How to deal with it? He's confident. He's a big guy He will get there and he will be a force

big guy, he will get there and he will be a force, but I still think he is coming to grips with exactly what it takes physically to succeed in this league. Hudson, he played hard, he's a gamer, and Demidov played hard. There was a play in game five where Wilson had him in his tracks and Demidov saw him coming. Sometimes, it's like Slavkovsky, right? Like some of those guys who come over to North America for the first time, they are not used to those guys trying to destroy them in a postseason series.

And Demidov clearly remembering what happened the previous game, he handled it and he was ready for it. And like, and there's more coming. Like there's still the possibility of Rheinbacher someday. You know the other thing too is Montembeau got hurt and he was playing really well. I like Dobesz, he battles like he really fought and they've got Fowler now in the minor like they got lots and lots of talent coming. You can see it coming for Montreal. Dobrik, the one thing he has to fix is that first goal.

In 15 of his 17 starts this year, he gave up the first goal. That has to change, but he battles. He fights. He's in the fight there with you. One of the NHL's new leading critics of officiating, he's a battler. That's what I was gonna say. Battled off the ice too. Yes, we were joking that when Logan Thompson

was talking to one of the officials in game five, he was like, hey, I think you do a great job. I'd like that other guy down the end of the ice. That's right. Can I just stay for the record? You guys are fantastic. But you see it there. Now, the biggest change for Montreal next year, Kyle,

is gonna be, they're not gonna get any more easy games. Now there's a target on them. Now there is expectation on them. You can never go backwards, right? In sports when you go backwards, it's a failure. So from right from the beat, like you're not gonna be able to come out next year and surprise people. Now this year they proved they could overcome a horrible start and make the playoffs. But I think next year becomes even harder for

them because people won't be looking at them as eh, they'll be looking at them as that's a team that made the postseason, played hard, and every night we got to face them, we got to be ready for that power play. So how will they handle the weight of expectation? How will they all deal with that? I think the other thing, too, is I look at their group. Like, some of Martin San Luis' favorites are gonna be gone. David Savard is retiring, right?

Like, they have a lot of good young defensemen. San Luis favorites are going to be gone. David Savard is retiring, right? Yeah. They have a lot of good young defensemen. Like I like Struble who got taken out of the lineup in this series. But for San Luis, that was a guy he trusted. He's going to be gone now. Who's going to take that spot? You know, Christian Dvorak for a long time was sort of like the public complainant in Montreal by the end of the year,

he was a really important player on that team. He's probably going to be gone, right? But Saint-Louis trusted him. How are they going to find a player in that position that Saint-Louis going to trust? So it's going to be interesting. Anytime you lose those kinds of players, there's an opportunity there for someone who gains San Luis faith that they could become that player. And you know, the other thing I do think you have to believe is, I think Montreal, they've been bold, they're not afraid to take big swings. And you have to think that with some of these holes in their lineup,

do they sit there and do they say, hey, we've always said we're not blocking guys, right? Okay. But still do they go out there and they take a swing at another short-term thing? Patrick Laine, I mean, when you watch the power play in the last couple games with Caulfield back in that one timer slot, you can see how they're going to say, hey, the fit isn't there for Lani. And I can't remember if I mentioned this on a previous pod, so if I didn't, I'll say it again. There was talk about whether or not Lani was a healthy scratch and whether they were hiding for him. I'll just say this.

Someone I know saw him. He was wearing, he said he had something on his body that tells you he's got an injury. And then there was some video, some behind the scenes video of the Canadians, and I guess he was bandaged, bandaged on his hand or his thumb or something like that. So I texted the guy who called me and I said, is this what we're talking about? And he's like, I cannot confirm, but I will not deny. So Lonnie had an injury, but now that you've seen Caulfield in the bumper,

you're not sure there's a fit there anymore. So there are changes coming, but for the Canadians, I wonder how big they swing, particularly in that center position. are changes coming, but for the Canadians, I wonder how big they swing, particularly in that center position. And also, not only do they have the young players already in house, Elliot, and those who could still be coming from the minors and elsewhere, Kent Hughes has a lot of draft capital to work with as well.

So if they want to take a big hearty cut or a few this summer, they've got the artillery to go with it. True. Okay, Tampa Bay Lightning. This was probably Tampa, Florida was maybe the West version of Dallas, Colorado, where yes, it's occurring in the first round, but maybe you don't quite look at it as a first round exit for Tampa. But for the Lightning, that is three consecutive first round defeats in a row. Playoff Vasilevsky was not at the level, the same type of lore that we had been used to when they were going to finals, three straight seasons.

What is next for Tampa, Elliot? So I would not want to be around Julian Brizbaugh for the next week or so. As a matter of fact, if I was another Tampa employee, I would be like, I just came down with the sniffles. My throat feels kind of tingly. You don't want sick people around the office. JBB, as he is known, will not allow this to stand. Not only did they lose, and you know what Kyle, you're right about one thing. I talk about this now all the time. In the playoffs, it's not when you lose, it's who you lose to.

In this system, that's the way you have to think. Tampa Bay's out in round one but basically to me they've just lost a Stanley Cup final. Tampa Bay and Florida is a Stanley Cup final. So you have to think like that. Matthew Kachak goes on ESPN after the game and says this isn't really a rivalry right now. Wasn't that something? Like how much do you think that is going to stick in the craw of Breezwa and Cooper? You didn't just win, you twisted the knife. And I think the other thing that has to be recognized here

is that Florida's best players were better than Tampa's best players. And Florida's depth was better than Tampa's best players and Florida's depth was better than Tampa's depth and you know, I said this on radio today. I'll say it again If I had to pick one goalie in the NHL right now to win one game Bobrovsky's my pick I don't disagree with you. Yeah, like I think you look at, you know, Halobach still finding his way and we'll talk, we talked about the Jets, Halobach still finding his way in the postseason.

Vasilevsky, as you said, has struggled. To me right now, Bobrovsky is the guy. He's the number one guy. But you lose and Tampa won't stand for it. So I think this, I think they're gonna have to challenge their best players. They'll say, look, like you guys got outplayed here and he'll work at the depth. How can they find the same kind of effective depth that Florida had? But again, I don't overreact to it. They're still a great team and they still got a big window,

but they have to bolster, they have to challenge their best and bolster around them. And I was joking about it at the beginning, Kyle, but Brizbois will, he showed up at the office, I guarantee to you, on Thursday morning saying, what's our plan? What are we doing? Who are we going to get who who can we get our hands on that's gonna fix this? That guy won't take a day off

He's immediately looking at how he he's gonna solve this problem The other one I want to take a look at is John Cooper There all of a sudden a lot of rumors about his future. It is known that him and the Utah owner, Ryan Smith are tight. And I don't think it's exactly a secret that if those two wanted to work together, they could. Cooper is under contract for one more year. I think there's family reasons that he wants to stay in the Tampa area. His kid's finishing high school. So I think I don't expect him to go anywhere this year. Also, he is the Olympic coach for next year. I'm not sure if you want to be taking on a new job in a year where you're also expected to do that.

Um, Cooper is also a passionate, passionate, fiery guy. Uh, I think he will see this as a challenge that he doesn't want to go away from. He could always tell me if I'm wrong but that's the way I see it. I don't like I'm expecting him to be back behind the bench this year and someone said to me do you think he could be in trouble? I was like in trouble. I think the only way he would be in trouble is if he wanted to leave. OK, yes, the standard never lowers in Tampa, Elliot, certainly with Julian Breesbaugh in charge there. The New Jersey Devils. You and Justin touched on them a little bit last pod, but they held a number of

their exit interviews on Thursday. We didn't hear from Jack Hughes or Luke Hughes, but did hear from a number of others. They threw all they could at Carolina with the bodies they were able to dress over those five series. But as you touched on earlier, maybe looking for some scoring depth and the idea of getting a little bit bigger at the forward position this summer. Yeah, I do feel that way, Kyle. But the number one thing I would say about the devils and the thing I think is the best omen for them is that even though they had a lot of excuses and they lost in five games, they never quit.

They played hard. Um, I think that that matters to me, the way they played and the way they competed until that series was over, um, says to me that that's a team with a lot of heart and a lot of character and a lot of players who will play for their organization and more importantly for each other. I don't think that's a small thing. I think that's very important. You know a couple things about it too, like a lot of their key players like Brad had a great ear, Hissier had a great ear. Luke Hughes took more steps. Jack Hughes, I thought before he hurt,

it was hurt, had a great year. The guys who in a lot of ways are the young core of their team, I thought had really big seasons. And you want that to be the case. You want those players to be important for you. Mercer had a rough year. I don't ever like to give up on players after one rough season. I don't like to give up on youth. I always bet on talent but there's no question next year would be a big year for Mercer if he's still there. You know, Palat, a great player, a champion, you worry is he physically gonna be able to deliver.

So those are some of the questions you have. I don't worry about their D. And I think the other thing that should be mentioned is, and Keefe did, is Siman Nemec. Like if there was any question about him being ready to play next year, he was excellent given the opportunity at the end of a very hard year. It says a lot to me about his character and his makeup.

Given an opportunity, he took it. That's a great sign for the Devils too. You know, one of the things I heard there this year that was a big adjustment was Keefe's intensity. You know, Lindy Roth is not a shrinking violet. He is not a wimpy man by any stretch of the imagination, but he's a bit more laid back. And Keith is, he's intense almost all the time. And I think that was an adjustment.

Everyone in the organization, including the players, like his bluntness in public, like the Kova Sevik thing or the, or not having enough scoring. Like we were used to that in Toronto. That's just Sheldon Keefe, the way he's wired. I think that some people had difficulty adjusting to that. Year two, you hope everybody figures it out and it's different. Although a year ago when the Devils had the opening, they looked into Sullivan. Would it be possible? And it wasn't. He wasn't available. But they

asked, if Sullivan hadn't gone to the Rangers, I was shooting the breeze with a couple guys and they were like could you see a trade, a coaching trade Sullivan to the Devils for Keefe. I thought it was a great idea. I thought it was brilliant spitballing. Unfortunately, we're never going to see it. I also think at some point this summer, and I'm not even joking about this, you have to do it to do your due diligence, at the very least Tom Fitzgerald makes the Quinn Hughes phone call. He says, look, what's going on? Now that the class are over, you can do that.

You just, you phone, you call, you call Jim Rutherford, Patrick Alveen, you say, hey guys, what's going on here? I know what what I've read I know what I've heard tell me what's really going on and is there is there a conversation to be had here you it's it's like malpractice if you don't make that phone call so and and you can't blend and then and Fitzgerald I have no doubt will maybe Tom saw him at the Knicks game the other night yeah you know well, because the Hurricanes were playing at the same time. Well, priorities, I guess. I was going to say, like...

Long-term vision. So, let's just say, let's ask Devils fans, yes, if Tom Fitzgerald was at the Knicks game the same time when you guys were playing game five, but he was there to try to sweet talk Quinn Hughes into playing for the Devils. Is that okay? Yeah, that's probably better than when they did the Take on Me video a few years ago. That would maybe usurp that. I think that's how they would feel about it. Kyle gives it two thumbs up. How do the rest of the Devils fans feel? Yes, so the New Jersey Devils should point out have not made the playoffs in back-to-back years since 09-10. We'll try to accomplish that and build on their first round appearance here in this spring. And Elliot, news

breaking on Thursday. It looks like, and as you were pushing right out of the gate, the New York Rangers are in line to land Mike Sullivan as the newest head coach. Right from the beginning when it got out that Sullivan was leaving Pittsburgh, what did we say? It has to be the Rangers. And the reason it had to be the Rangers was for them as much as it was for him. The New York Rangers, Chris Drury has liked Mike Sullivan ever since he got the job as general manager. Ever since. But it never lined up. When he first got it, there was some question Sullivan stayed every time they've had an opening

it just wasn't the right time well now they had an opening and Sullivan was out I think the Rangers would have considered it a failure and it would have been looked upon industry-wide as a failure if the Rangers hadn't convinced him to be their next head coach and as multiple reports indicated Thursday afternoon night we are on that path and it looks like it's going to get done. It'll be interesting to see what the contract is. It'll be interesting to see what the contract is the richest coaching contract in NHL history Is Mike Babcock who over eight years was 50 million from the Maple Leafs? Front-loaded I don't know if Sullivan's gonna beat that overall number, but he might beat the AAV

It was around 50 million million so let's say approximately 6.25 million for Babcock. I think Sullivan could beat that. I don't know if he'll beat the whole number but he could beat the AAV. So that's a big deal as another coach said to me on Thursday night that's good for all coaches. I believe people like Sullivan that matters to them. They don't just want to get a big contract for themselves, although it's nice. They also want to raise the bar for other coaches if they can. And it looks here like Sullivan's gonna do that. That will matter to him. John Tortorella, I'd heard, I was kind of doing some work into other coaches out there. I'd heard Tortorella was still interested in coaching.

He may be joining the organization. We'll see what that role could look like. He was an assistant coach with Sullivan on Team USA at the Four Nations. But this one had to happen for New York. I don't think there was a second option that would have been anywhere near as appealing to them, and he brings them instant credibility after an extremely difficult season. So as the Rangers try to turn it around and breeze some new life into their franchise, they get a win and a win they really needed after a season full of L's. Okay elsewhere on the coaching market anything else going on that you would like to touch upon? You know Philadelphia

we talked about the last pod about Rick Tauket and, you know, the feeling that he's their number one guy, and I still believe that. But I will say this, that there is, seems to be a growing belief that he will consider television next season. If you go back to his release announcing that he's leaving the Canucks, he talked about other projects or other options besides coaching. There definitely seems to be the belief that he will consider TV next year if the overall landscape isn't as he wants it.

But Philly's definitely interested and I think he's the first guy on their list. Also on Philly's list, Brad Shaw we mentioned there were reports that they interviewed Pat Ferschwiler from Western Michigan what a great year winning the NCAA championship. I think another coach who could be on Philly's radar, somebody mentioned him to me the other day, he's got a history with Daniel Brier, they were teammates in the NHL, and that is Jay McKee, the former Buffalo Sabre, who has spent the last seven years

coaching in the Ontario Hockey League, coaching in the Ontario Hockey League. First with the Kitchener Rangers and the last few seasons with the Brantford Bulldogs. He won an OHL Championship in 2022. I think he could be another name on Philly's radar. But I was going through the list of some of the coaches with some other people the other day and it is amazing how many people

with experience are available and looking. You know Peter Lavielette who was of course just let go by the Rangers you know I was speaking to someone who knows him on Thursday because I kind of wondered you know is Lavielette done? Is he had enough? Is he gonna maybe move on to the next phase of his life whatever that may be and this person told me no that that Peter La Violette is definitely interested in showing that and is motivated to show I should say that he is more the coach that took the Rangers to the Eastern Conference final two years ago than this year. And one of the things I think we all realize

watching the NHL this season was the Rangers problems were much bigger than La Violette. They had a lot of issues in their room, they had a lot of issues in their organization, and when you're the coach you wear them, but I think most people would say that a lot of the issues there were not of his Making but things that he had to deal with and I think lavalette wants to show that I think he's willing to coach again But there's also there's Jay Woodcroft. There's Joel Cuenville who's very much in the Anaheim picture There's Greg Cronin wants to coach again. Jeff Blaschel wants to coach again. He was interviewed in San Jose last year.

Dallas Aikens, Luke Richardson, Mike Yeo, Todd Nelson. Like there's a lot of coaches out there who have previous NHL experience who are still, Jeremy Culleton, who are still interested in coaching and doing that job again so you know I've explained before I think teams lists are a little different there's kind of the top tier guys and then there's the next group of guys and I think teams list of the next group are very very different you know Derek Lalonde who's sitting with us on the panel and then there's guys who don't have the

head coaching experience yet but I think there are people that teams want to talk to. Manny Malhotra, Jeff Halpern, Jay Leach. Like there's there's a lot of there's a lot of coaching jobs right now open. It's a quarter of the league, but there's also a lot of candidates. And I think what teams are really trying to do is they're trying to say, okay, who appeals, who's at our top, and if we don't go there,

who's in our next level? And I think it really differs from team to team. We'll see how it shakes out over the next few weeks. Okay, one final thing here, Elliot. So on Wednesday, the Ted Lindsay finalists were Oh yeah. That's voted on by the players themselves. Three finalists, Nathan McKinnon, Kale Makar, Nikita Kuturov. On Thursday, the Heart Trophy finalists were revealed as voted on by members of the PHWA Connor Hellebuck, Kucherov and Leon Dreisaitl. So

Kucherov was the only player there to land on both lists. Four other different players in and around that between the player vote and the media vote. What do you think of that? So generally Kyle I have no issue with this. I recognize that players and media may see this a lot differently. You know the one thing that the player list features with Kucherov and McCarr and McKinnon, it's guys who've won. And you know I was talking to a couple players about this on Thursday and I was just asking like, what do you see that we don't? And anybody who's won a Stanley Cup or was a key player on a Stanley Cup team, I think they gain an extra status in the league because the players and we're watching it all right now

How brutal these playoffs have been the players have deeper respect? For you if you've gotten there and you've climbed the mountain because they know how hard it is And I think when so I think that Players look at you differently when you've accomplished that. And you know what, I do think they look at things a bit differently than we do in general, which again is fine. I've told this story before, but I just remember when Eric Carlson won the Norris, I had players who called me, they said, did you vote for him? I said Norris, I had players who called me.

They said, did you vote for him? I said, yes, I did. 100 points. That's a spectacular season. And some of them were really upset about that. They just don't see the top defenseman in the league the same way. And that was the time.

People can disagree all we want. That's totally fine. That's sports. But I never really get a ton of feedback about, you guys really got this one wrong, as I did with that one. And it's obvious that there are things that we value that they don't value as much.

There are things that they see that they claim we don't see as much. And again, this is all fine. But what this was a real reminder to me, you know, Kucherov, McKinnon, McCarr versus Kucherov, Dreisaitl, Hellebuck is how much they value people who've climbed the mountain. Yeah. And I've said it before and I still strongly believe, I think the players, some way, somehow, should have even more of an influence on the voting process beyond just the Ted Lindsay that they vote on, because you say they're living it, they see it through a different lens than we'll ever be able to comprehend. You know, I have no problem with that.

If someone says, says like we don't think you do a good enough job voting that you get to have a ballot, if someone if someone in charge feels that strongly about it, I accept that decision. But I love voting. I'll admit it. For all the people who think I'm a lousy voter and there are many of you, I really do enjoy doing it. Okay. Big one. Friday night, Elliot, game six, Winnipeg and St. Louis. I hope they had enough time to recoup their energy, only having one day off in

between game nine and six. They're not used to the quick turnaround in this series. I've had so much time off, but on the air, 7 30 Eastern, 6 30 Central, a little after eight o'clock Eastern from St. Louis. Jets-Blues, game number six. Winnipeg can punch their ticket to round number two.