32 Thoughts: The Podcast - The Cycle of (NHL) Life

Episode Date: September 23, 2024

In this episode of the 32 Thoughts Podcast, Kyle Bukauskas and Elliotte Friedman focus on the battle of Ontario from Sunday night between the Leafs and Senators (5:10). They also talk about Max Pacioretty's future as a Toronto Maple Leaf (8:17). Then, Kyle and Elliotte delve in Utah Hockey Club's first game in the NHL (12:04). They continue to provide the latest on the remaining RFA front (16:30). That bleeds into a conversation about Ville Heinola health (19:06). Elliotte then provides an update on Robin Lehner (22:12). The fellas shift their focus to Vancouver who signed Kevin Lankinen in the wake of Thatcher Demko's injury (23:32). Afterwards, Kyle then provides an update on the future arena location of the Ottawa Senators (28:33). The final thought hones in on Utah HC extending Dylan Guenther (39:40). Kyle and Elliotte answer your questions in the Thought Line (45:16).The guys welcome in OHL Commissioner, Bryan Crawford, for a chat ahead of their season opener (53:30). Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call the Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemailThis podcast was produced and mixed by Dominic Sramaty & Cam Barra 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.  

It's sort of like the cycle of life as we all learned in the Lion King. Oh, it's a circle. I always say cycle. Okay. Yeah. It's sort of like the, there you go, Dom. It's sort of like the circle of life as we, as we see in the Lion King. Welcome to 32 Thoughts, the podcast presented by GMC, Dom Schamadi, Elliot Friedman, Kyle Bukoskis with you. And we should shout out Cam Barrett. Yes, we should. He's also doing some...

See, like Cam, like Kyle's trying to already erase you, but I'm here to point out that you're helping us out too. Just want everyone to know that. The show has gotten... Who's the team player? The show has gotten so complex. Mind you, Elliot has gotten so complex, we need a second producer now to get these episodes done. That's true.

Hey, we said goodbye to summer this weekend. We're now into fall. You a big fall guy, Elliot? You a fan of the foliage? Picker of the pumpkins? No, I hate the fall, actually, because it means summer's over so i i have a real dislike and hatred of the fall because summer is my favorite season uh and if you disagree with me on this you are wrong and a loser and i actually i fully agree the suit you had on sunday night screams

summer so i was happy to see that i find fall is like the shot across the bow for what's to come in winter time so i'm totally aligned with you there but at least hockey is back busy weekend to kick off the pre-season a number of things loved it number of things to get to particularly on sunday night we're going to get into all of that also a little later on in the episode going to hear an interview we did with Brian Crawford, the new commissioner of the Ontario Hockey League. OHL regular season gets underway this week. Saginaw, the defending Memorial Cup champions,

they host Windsor on Wednesday night. Also just wanted to mention quickly, Landon Dupont, the WHL, 15 years old. He was the latest player granted exceptional status by the Canadian Hockey League. Defenseman with the Everett Silvertips, whole ton of ton of skill picked up an assist in his debut as well before we get to the nhl pre-season elliott saturday night by the way by the way we're gonna get a lot of this on the pod cal what's your brother's name cory cory bukowskis works in the whl and i have heard that one of cory's goals is to kind of milk that in the pod by sprinkling whl tidbits through his brother so if you get weird wild random whl notices you'll know that it is pure nepotism now why are you exploiting us like this i would never do that

to you i'm not exploiting it. You're exploiting it. I can tell you that much right now. I just think it's newsworthy. It has nothing to do with family. It's a good weekend for the kid to start his career in the WHL. And we're going to be seeing him in the NHL in the not-too-distant future. Fun player to watch. Hey, before we get to the hockey, Elliot,

Saturday night you and your wife, Steph, were at Scotiabank Arena to watch comedian Shane Gillis. How was that? It was it was a great show. So he set a record for largest attendance in Scotiabank Arena. Seriously? And you think of the eye, you think about a college. I didn't believe it either initially. But you think about it because they don't use a huge stage like a pretty small square. They can do more floor seating like wwe goes there a lot ufc goes there a lot but the floor footprint is pretty large and also if you have a concert you have a stage where you have to wipe out good chunks of seating because you can't see around

the stage so he set an attendance record and you know the sound system was a little rough so i'm not 100 sure but i think he took a bit of a shot at the Maple Leafs. I was checking with some other people who were there, but he talked about the historic nature of the building, sort of, because the Maple Leafs play there and he was looking at the banners. And he made a comment along the lines of, but I noticed a lot of those banners are black and white. And there were some non-Leave fans who were sitting around me who loved it. They were howling. So I didn't hear it 100%. I asked a couple of my friends who were there, is that what he said?

And they're like, yeah, we think so. So it was just funny. It was a good line. And the non-Leave fans around me really thought he said it. And they loved it. But it was a great show. But as Butcher Gross would say, enough chit-chat. Get to the news.

Yeah. So a lot going on here. The first weekend of the preseason was Macklin Celebrini scores his first with San Jose. Stephen Stamkos, the patented one-timer against Florida. Weird. Some things never change, though. Just weird. Weird.os, the patented one-timer against Florida. Weird. Some things never change, though. Just weird. Weird.

The fact that he's still doing it against Florida, that remains the same. I looked at that goal. I said, I've seen that goal 500 times, but he still looks weird in that Predators jersey. I don't know how long it's going to take me to get used to that. Yeah, I'm with you. But why don't we start with the game you worked on Sunday night. You're in studio with Ron McLean and Justin Bourne. The Battle of Ontario.

The Leafs dressed a very NHL regular heavy lineup. The Senators did not turn into a pretty entertaining finish capped up by Carter Yakumchuk. The Sens a seventh overall pick last June. Beautiful rush and finish in overtime. Neat moment for the 18-year-old.

I'm going to give you credit here, Elliot, because Ron said right off the top of the show, no sitting on the fence, and you delivered, stating not in pencil, but in marker, the Sens are making the playoffs this season. You had visual evidence to go with it. I saw, I was watching your post-game hit. You used the word orgasmic to describe how Sens fans must have been feeling after that one.

I think the next time you come here to town, I mean, they may vacate 24 Sussex just to make sure you have a place to stay. Well, it would be an improvement. There's no question about that. You know, I have to say this, though. I got two texts right away. I got two texts right away. By the time I was off the air, after I put that the Sens are going to the playoffs, I had two texts right away from people in the game saying, I'll take that bet.

Okay. So not everybody is as confident as I am. I think Gallmark will make a difference. I think they'll make the playoffs. But, know, like, do I have a rule, uh, Kyle, I have a rule and that is I do not overrate the first week of the preseason. I think the first week of the preseason is all about the newcomers and the people fighting for jobs and the rookies like this week should be owned by the Carter Yakimchuks and I'll give you another one, Jan Janik, who had a four-point game, a goal and three assists.

Like this week should be owned by these kinds of players. Jakimchuk as the first-round draft pick, he should be making an impression. Janik who's trying to make it in the fourth line, he should be trying to make an impression. The studs, the superstars, the guys who are guaranteed jobs, I think the second week is more for them as they ramp it up. So for me, if you're someone battling for a job or you're a young player, I want to

see you more in the second week. But you can only go one day at a time. second week but you can only go one day at a time and tonight when yakum chuck undressed the maple and got that goal i can i can imagine i am sure you were leading the senators fans kyle charging up and down the rito canal preparing for the parade route it was a beautiful goal all credit to the kit leave me out of this please and i hope you realize what you've done here because now after every sense game this year, win or lose, the hockey timelines are going to be filled with that meme of you and your Sens playoff card, either in celebration or in mocking.

That's going to last all season. I was laughing because people were tweeting it, old takes exposed. I'm being 60 to 82 games from now whenever we see where the senators are if it goes wrong i know i'm going to get it and you know what that's the fun of the of the whole thing the other storyline i really thought was patch ready um you know so there was a kind of a weird interaction on on friday he was kind of on the fifth line in practice and and they were and a couple of the reporters were asking him questions about how you know you're on the fifth

line you're on a pto and and he was kind of looking at them uh in a way that like i've been on the receiving end of that look before which is what are you talking about like someone's looking at me like i like you are totally wrong and i don't understand why you're asking me these questions and when i saw that look on patch ready's face i started asking around he's on a pto it's not a pto i think there's a deal there and you know there's been tweets about it there's been a lot of reporting about it. But I'm now more convinced than ever, after watching Pacioretty and the look on his face, it's not a PTO. Like, he has a deal. And what my theory is, and we'll see if my theory is proven right or my theory is proven wrong, Kyle.

But what my theory is, is that they're going to see where their roster is and they're going to give him a salary. And it's not like they don't kind of already know what it is. I'm sure they already kind of know what it is. But I think what it's going to be is they're going to give him a salary that works their cap. And look, it's Brandon Pridham. It's, you know know he is the cap master and what it says to me is that they have worked with the team and the agent the agent here is alan walsh and they they've basically said we're when all this is said and done we see

does anyone get hurt ltir um does anybody get waived? Does anyone get sent down to the minors? What's the salary got to be at the end of this? And I think that's exactly the way they're going to do it. And I think this is a PTO in name only. And if there was any doubt about it, he had a three-point night. There was only a deal there. And the way he was looking at the questions on Friday absolutely convinced me of that.

It's just a matter of plugging in the number to help the Leafs figure out what cap space is necessary. So that's what's going on here with Pacioretty. And by the way, there was some commentary about Pacioretty wearing 67. He's not the first Leaf in the modern era to do that. Robert Shfela did it. Oh, yeah. 67 yeah he's not the first leaf in the modern era to do that robert schweiler oh yeah yeah pat quinn traded for robert schweiler about 25 years ago and i remember he had a scrum too where he was looking at us with that same expression like we're we're sending him you know you're wearing 67 he's like yeah so and the maple leafs haven't won the cups in 67 he's like yeah so who cares that's got nothing to do with me

and they're like don't you think it's weird and he goes no i don't care and then he didn't talk to us again for months he's like i can't believe i have to deal with these guys so it's not the first time anyone's worn 67 but patch already is going to be on this team and and we'll see what happens around him yeah and toronto does have a precedent with this whole contract situation pto but knowing that something's going to come a little later on i think of zach astin reese a couple years ago right and maybe it wasn't as much of a slam dunk from the outset of training camp but it wasn't until a few days before the season that they actually signed him to a deal though it was believed for days leading up to that he was going to get one it came down to what the roster was going to look like and how much

space they were going to have salary cap wise to fit him in and that ultimately played a big role in what the contract dollar is so not a big surprise that it seems to be a similar path here for the veteran max patch already okay utahockey Club played their first preseason game Sunday night in Des Moines, Iowa against the St. Louis Blues. And it was one of those unfortunate plays for Utah, the pass that bounced over Dylan Gunther's stick. We're going to talk about him a little later on in the show. The puck went the length of the ice into the empty net

as Utah had their goalie pulled for a delayed penalty. And the Blues social media admin were very much ready for what came next. You know, I have to tell you, that was a brilliant tweet. What did they write? This is the, let's watch the first goal in Utah history. Congrats to Utah HC for their first goal. Yeah. I think Matthew DeFranks, who covers the Blues,

he had a tweet that said like, oh oh, my, or something like that. He also had the video down there, too. Like, it was funny. Technically, Michael Carcone will get credit for the first goal in Utah history. He scored the first one they got. But it is kind of funny the first one went in that way i am really enjoying the new doug armstrong a cap friendly site on the blues website which i never thought he would do his social media doing this and two offer sheets like this is this is a bizarro world i i didn't know that i ever thought i would see this

but that was quite a tweet um like i'll tell, because I was watching Ottawa-Toronto much more closely, Kyle, when I saw the tweet in the first place, I didn't realize what had happened. I was like, this is a really classy move of the Blues to credit Utah for their first goal. And then I realized they're putting the shift to them. I started laughing when I actually watched the highlight. I was like like this is this is really good but you know dylan gunther who we'll talk about later as you mentioned completely justifies the extension by scoring the first winning goal in utah history uh later on it

was uh it was uh it was a funny night like that was a funny tweet. When I realized what they did, I was laughing my head off. Yes, Utah did get the last laugh in the end, defeating the Blues in the preseason contest. Why don't we do it? It's our daily RFA roundup and check-in. I believe there's three left still to be signed. Before we do that, let's just mention Celebrini. Sure.

First goal, just a blast of a shot. And, you know, when I was in Europe, I can't remember if it was Zetterlund or Eklund. I think it was Zetterlund. But I asked them about, it was one of the two of them. I asked them both about Celebrini, about watching him. And they said they watched a lot of his games last year, as many as they could. And they said that what, whichever one said it,

said that what struck them about Celebrini the most was he was a scorer and he was a passer. And we saw both of those in game one, the beautiful goal, the absolute bomb of a shot, and then the great pass to toffoli on toffoli's goal um if you hadn't watched him a ton you could see those highlights and you and you saw both of those things that the young sharks players were talking about like you see the talent on the first night and if i'm a sharks fan i am so jacked up watching that like you're just looking at that

and saying you can see the skill and the other text I got that was interesting was I had a buddy who was at the Calgary Seattle game and he said to me you better learn to spell Brustovitz because this guy is going to be a player he had a he had an assist in their game against seattle like a long pass and um my buddy was in seattle where the flames won six to one and he just said this is this guy can play like he's he's a good player so calgary's got about 15 rookie defensemen that could play this year and he's he's one of Yeah, and just on Celebrini, the pass that he made to set up was none other than Tyler Toffoli, who let it be known that one of the reasons why he signed with the Sharks

was the chance to play with their first overall pick. So not a bad start for the young man with the Sharks. As I was mentioning earlier, Swayman, Perfetti, the RFA contract negotiations. Is there anything, Elliot, you would like to add to those files? Honestly, Kyle, I don't think the weekend was big in news on either of those cases. I didn't get the sense much movement on Swayman. So still a philosophical difference on an eight-year deal

and i don't get the sense there's a lot of willingness right now as of the weekend to do a shorter term on both sides um as for uh perfetti i didn't get the sense much had changed on the weekend i mean we'll see i i don't think perfetti is quite as dug in as swayman is and we'll see what happens early in the week you know the jets were on the road uh they went to edmonton so i i kind of wonder if that slows everything down a bit we'll see early in the week you know the one thing about perfetti is i i always wonder about these kinds of things. When does everybody worry? Like we talked about how polite this one was, how Perfetti went to the media tour, how he participated in the charity fishing event.

Like the one thing I always worry for everybody involved here, when does it turn? Like when does the frustration boil over and how does everybody try to prevent that from happening or work to prevent that from being a problem you know what kyle the one thing too about perfetti is it seems as if with every contract that's getting signed everyone feels there's like a new comparable right and you know i've talked about pinto uh jacob stallery who's debuting and writing on the Jets for us at Sportsnet. He talked about some lower comparables that he thought were more fair. Then the Gunther contract comes up and he's only played 78 games. And people are like, oh, no, what does this mean?

The one thing this all kind of reminds me is everybody can pick their comparable that they like. can pick their comparable that they like and i've i've kind of stuck with pinto even though i know the jets don't like it because their numbers are so similar um but it comes down to a place where everyone's got to be comfortable right the team the player the agent and um you know we're not we're not there yet but the one thing i i just worry about in this case like swimming we've seen some of the anger boil over i i just think if you're winnipeg and perfetti you're like okay how can we prevent that from happening especially with a young player um you know older players they tend to say it's business um i i'm used to that now younger players the first time you go through it it's always harder so the jets have

that to deal with they also have the health status of vinnie ain't a lot to worry about as well elliot and this is a tough one man two training camps in a row like just gutting news on the injury front like last year fractures his ankle in the final preseason game he had made the jets and then the injury knocks him out for half the year spends the rest of it in manitoba with the moose scott arneal the head coach said on friday haenel is now dealing with an infection that's related to the surgery that he had on that ankle and it's not a day-to-day thing either he said they'll reevaluate in a week what was your reaction when you heard all that well i was really disappointed to hear it i thought it absolutely sucked uh same for kaliev in uh in in la i i just i i hate to see injuries

at any level i hate to see those particular kinds of injuries even more because it affects a young player's ability to make the leap right like as you said handle a second year in a row and it sounds like they're going to look at the pin like anybody who was listening to this has ever had a pin put into their body you know that one of the worries is infection it happens nobody ever wants it to happen but it happens and i think that's one of the things they're looking at here and i remember from the tanner pearson story in vancouver one of the things you worry about is the bone degenerating. And if the bone degenerates, like it's as Scott Arneal said, it's time.

It's not a short time. Now, I don't know yet that's what happened here, but I guaranteed you it's one of the things that they're looking at. I really hope it didn't happen because if it does, it is a long-term injury. You know, Kaliev has what, one practice or one scrimmage, and he gets hurt, and now he's out for a while. I hate to see that happen to young players in particular who are trying, trying to make the permanent leap to the NHL.

Yeah, Vili Hainala, their first-round pick back in 2019, and just two false starts in a row here to try to make his NHL career in earnest. So that's something to keep an eye on in Winnipeg. Also, Elliot, I was watching Sportsnet Central over the weekend. Have you noticed our colleague Sean Reynolds there in the Winnipeg Bureau, his flow these days? He looks like a 1980s Huey Lewis. Well, a nice reference. Old school hip.

Very good, Mr. Bacoskis. Yeah. Well, I brought that up because last week you ripped me for my age because I didn't understand what borking meant initially. So I had to throw in the Huey Lewis for you. You stick that in your pipe and bork it. That's good stuff. Well, the thing is, like like you know like like rattle and i say this is a compliment he is a little bit of a himbo like he can pull this off a lot of the rest

of us at sports that couldn't pull this off but uh himbo sean he certainly can good looking man yes he gets the flow going gene principe as well over the course of the year the hair gets longer so our reporters across the country are ready for a new season as are a lot of the players let's go to vegas next elliot robin letter we mentioned last week he did not report to camp for his physical he's been on ltir the last couple seasons after hip surgery in 2022 he gave you a brief statement this weekend you had a story about it up on our website sportsnet.ca the statement read all i can say at this time is everyone knows why i couldn't be there i am waiting calmly for things to be sorted out so where does this story go from here well i want to be careful with this because as kelly mccrimmon said correctly this is a unique situation um i am under the

impression that as lenner said everybody knew for a while now that he wasn't going to be at the beginning of training camp. And I believe the league, the Players Association and the Golden Knights have been working on an acceptable solution to all parties for a little bit of time now. And I think there is some hope it will be done this week. time now and I think there is some hope it will be done this week like obviously there's time you don't have to set your uh your your cap till the night before the regular season but I'm under the impression they're hoping it's going to be done this week and you know I don't want to say much more other than that then uh I I believe that everybody's been working together with some time and his absence was not unexpected as leonard

said i think everybody knew we were heading down this road for some time okay vancouver elliott the canucks they signed kevin lankanen to a one-year deal 875k seems like i mean we heard thatcher demko early on in training camp say he believes he's going to get to 100 again they still don't have a concrete timeline though for his return lankanen and the canucks have been linked to here for a while any part of this signing and news here elliot send off alarm bells about demco's future at all no not alarm bells look i think we all have to realize now we should all understand what the situation here is in Vancouver. Not that it takes much to set off a five alarm blaze in Canuck Town, but we should all understand what's going on here. Number one, the Canucks are not going to rush Demko back.

Number two, Demko understands at the beginning of the year he's not to rush back. Number two, Demko understands at the beginning of the year, he's not to rush back. So, Vancouver wants to start the season and be prepared in case knock on wood, God forbid, there's any kind of relapse, that they have the best possible tandem. And Lankanen's a good goalie.

In a pinch, he can absolutely handle your net for you. So, it's Lankanen- and Shelovs to start the year. It gives them the best possible depth they can have right now, barring making a trade. Now, there's a couple of things that the Canucks are going to have to deal with here, and they can punt these situations until later. Number one is, you know, what happens when Demko's healthy?

Do you carry three goalies? Do you put Lankanen on waivers? I think you've got to be really worried you're going to lose him. Or do you send Shilovs back down to the American Hockey League because he is not eligible for waivers until he plays game number 60. And Shilovs right now is at 19 games, including the playoffs. So there is a chance he could hit it this year. But if not, he's not waiver eligible until next year.

The one thing about this is I understand that Shelaw's, through his representatives, made it known that he wanted to be in the NHL this season. Now, as a team, and the Canucks will decide this later, they'll figure out how they want to handle it. You're going to say, look, we've got to do what's right for ourselves. We've got to do what's best for our organization. But they know that Shelaw prefers to play in the NHL. It's not anything they have to worry about now, but it's something they will have to deal with when Demko is healthy.

Yeah, and I think about just last season, Ali, the Montreal Canadiens, they had a three goalie system for much of the year for a similar reason, because they didn't want to lose the young netminder Caden Premo to waivers. And eventually that was sorted out when Jake Allen was dealt to New Jersey. And being around the team, I mean, I think because of the three personalities that were involved there, everyone was willing to work their way through the situation. but you could tell it wasn't ideal having three goalies trying to get everybody starts,

the practices, who was in the net and the rotation and all of that. But as you say, that's a conversation for a different day for the Vancouver Canucks.

Right now, they're just trying to get that Jardimko healthy and have some depth of the position in the meantime. By the way, did you see Brock Besser's comments the other day about believing that he could have scored 50 last season if not for some breaks going one way or the other or the cold

streak he went through one point of the year? We see all the time players not wanting to disclose what their personal goals are for the year. What did you think when you heard Brock say that? I loved it. And the reason I loved it is when you are challenged by your team, like Patrick Alvin's not shy about this. He comes out and he says,

we want Brock to show us a little bit this year. You have two choices as a human being when someone says that about you. Number one, you can shrink from the challenge and falter and then prove that they were right to make the decision they did or number two you can say all right challenge accepted and i'm going to show you that you should have done it because the season i'm going to have this year means you're going to have to pay me even more so that's what besser is doing and that's the only way and elite level athletes they they have to be all like that because you get challenged

all the time so i loved it i love the attitude that that besser's uh coming in with like one thing that rutherford and alvin have shown is that they will either change their mind or they will get you signed if they think you're worth it look jt miller there were a lot of people who thought that jt miller would never be a long-term Canuck. They liked what they saw. They signed him. Pedersen, we didn't think we'd see Pedersen signed last year. They twisted his arm a bit. They got

him signed. That's the way they go about business. Brock Besser has a path to be signed here, but they've told him, this is your path to getting signed. Erase any doubts and all besser can do if he wants to be in vancouver and i think he does is erase those doubts all right so let's go out to the nation's capital next where on friday the ottawa senators and the ncc the national

capital commission announced an agreement in principle for the sale of a parcel of land at labretton flats with the plan to build a new arena the deal involves over 10 acres up from the six acres that was a part of the original negotiation and for so long the discussions were around the senators leasing the land but they are going to own it outright once the fair market value is determined so they got to figure out still what kind of contamination they're dealing with down there. Ottawa, as you know, Elliot, they have been down this road before with La Breton and the NCC, but they still call the Canadian Tire Center out in Kanata home. Michael Anlauer, by the way, so he has celebrated his one-year anniversary as owner on the weekend. He spoke to the media.

When he walked into the room, he saw me and asked, how many thoughts? So, you know, the owner of the Senators is a fan of the podcast. He said five years could be a possible timeline, but he wouldn't commit to it. It's still much too early in the process. He kind of joked, you know, he likes to under promise and over deliver. Which is smart. It is. Do you want to first crack at this or should I go?

No, you're the ottawa guy and you know we're going to have a disproportionate amount of senator stories in in the pod now because you're here so why don't why don't you go first like first of all i want to say are the people in ottawa happy with this and i'm not talking about the media uh i'm talking about like the general public is the the people that really matter are they happy with this I think in general yes like the the irony is they build the arena in Kanata in the mid-90s it's in the middle of nowhere well the Kanata Stittsville area like the population has ballooned particularly in the last 10 to 15 years but there's so many people now in the area that it's a short drive to the rink.

Those that live a little bit north of the valley, it's an easy commute to come to games. So I can imagine for a few of those people, now they're looking at a longer drive, but I believe by and large, everyone sees this as a good thing and a necessary step for the long-term viability of the team. And just to have something that, you know, the city and the community is proud of. So but the question that obviously would come up with this is, well, why should it be different this time around?

And here are my thoughts on this. I mean, we heard Sarah Leader, the team president, say on Friday, there's a desire from all the parties involved to bring this thing to life. Like this negotiation, it went down to the wire. The deadline was on Friday, the day they announced this. And as of the spring, my understanding was the talks were not progressing well. Even Michael Landlauer said the initial meetings with the NCC, they told them there's not going to be any parking available, that it had to be zero emissions. Like he jokes. So what does that mean? Like visiting teams couldn't fly into town for playing us,

so they have to take electric scooters to the rink for games. But even in July, Ann Lauer finally sat down with Toby Nussbaum, the CEO of the NCC. Things started to pick up from there. There's an overwhelming sense of a willingness from all sides to find a solution here. The one thing, too, I wanted to mention is that often the NCC gets the blame for why this hasn't happened yet, because, you know, it's the government. They're slow. They're hard to deal with.

Well, they are. All of those things are true. But someone did tell me, Elliot, and this is someone that does not work for the NCC, said that they've been fine through this whole process. Maybe not easy to deal with, but at least willing to compromise, even go back to 2016. The last time the senators went through this, the NCC was on board with what the Sens wanted to do. But that fell apart because Eugene Melnick and his partner at the time, Jod Ruddy, they couldn't get along. And there was the lawsuit and countersuit between the two of them. And it all went up in flames from there.

So I just, Ann Lauer has been incredibly intentional from the outset, saying this is not a real estate play for him. He wants an arena that, as I said, the community can be proud of, that players want to play in. Of course, the math has to make sense for the owner, but everything he has done so far, he has approached it through the lens of the fan. And just to go back to Sarah Leder for a sec, this is he's a founding father of the Sens. He was part of that initial group that brought the NHL back to Ottawa in the early 90s. And he said it's like a personal mission for him in coming back to the organization last year is getting this project done once and for all

on top of seeing the team win again of course so there's still so much to sort out they got to design the arena permits zoning how much it's going to cost how it's all going to be paid for naturally the question is what kind of involvement are taxpayer dollars going to play if at all but i think there's still so much to be sorted before we get to that point. But for all the other reasons above that I listed, I think that's why this is going to be different. And somewhere down the line with this current group of people

that are at the table, I mean, Elliot, I may be visiting you in an assisted living home by this time, but at some point, I think this group is going to get an arena down on La Breton Flats once and for all. Mike Anlauer, that was 46 thoughts. The next time he walks into a room and says, how many thoughts, Kyle? You can answer 46 on this particular podcast. I think Anlauer is right to say one thing there.

Always under-promise and over-deliver. That is always, always, always the smartest plan of attack. And the smartest people do that. The reason that, as I said in the middle of your dissertation there, the reason that people say that about governments is it's true. It always comes down to deadlines. Always, always, always. You think in advance, you can do something in advance of the deadline. Maybe someday someone will surprise me, but I told you, my father was a developer.

He was in this business. He was in this business for a long time. Governments go at their own pace. And the thing about what they asked for at the beginning, yeah, I roll my eyes and laugh, but that's what you do at the start of the negotiation. You stick a pin in the ground and you say, I know I'm not going to get this stuff, but let's see what I can get. So that's the way this is going to go. And the people in Ottawa understand that. And I guarantee you this, that Michael Einlauer understands that when you're dealing with

a government, it will get done when they want it to get done and it will get done close to deadlines. There are exceptions. Maybe they'll prove me wrong here, but I've seen enough of this to know from all those years my father was in the business. That is the way it works with governments. Almost, almost, almost no exceptions. But I'm really happy to hear that we're at least a step closer um you know it was interesting for me kyle to see some people say as you said that

um they weren't happy because it was moving away from them when for most of the last i mean how long has this been been around 20 years i think it's 96 open yeah. Okay, so 30 years. So most of the last 30 years, all I've ever heard is, it's too far. It's out of the way. It's not where. Yeah. So it just goes to show you that no matter what you do, no matter what you do, there's always going to be someone who hates it. So just do it. And also remember that Rome wasn't built in a day.

And I know that every day I look in the mirror. Good points, Elliot. And you quickly wanted to touch on Evander Kane in Edmonton. He had surgery at the end of last week. Yes, Kyle. I initially wrote Thursday. It was actually on Friday. But as we've kind of said, the Oilers are not expecting him to be out for their whole season and we're looking at new year I don't want to say early January February it's one of those things how does his body heal I mean he's in great shape how does he get back into the flow things like that so I've been told new year don't know exactly when but again at this point in time they're not expecting him to be out for the entire regular season all of you ltir stashers you uh it looks like it's not going to happen in this particular case okay and before we get to the final thought elliot last week i know

you're a big fan of baseball one of the great milestones i mean just in sport forget baseball by itself but shoe otani reaches it 50 home runs 50 stolen bases in one season it had never been done before also that night it was one of like the greatest individual statistically wise in terms of offense performances that you've ever seen in the game of baseball and baseball's been around a long time so it kind of got me thinking a little bit i know you can't think of a direct comparable do like 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a season when it translates to hockey but what would be the hockey version of that and so i went to our stats department at sportsnet for some help because i would be completely clueless on my own

but they came back with a couple of ones. So 50 even strength goals, 50 even strength assists in one season. Wayne Gretzky is the only person to have done it. He's done it three times. 50 goals, 100 primary assists. Wayne Gretzky, again, the only guy. He did it one time. What do you think? is there any kind of comparable on the hockey front that you like first of all kyle i really appreciate and respect that you tried to do some work on this and i think it's also really good on some level that you pick something only wayne gretzky has done because it should be that kind of a thing i just don't know if there's anything so sexy in hockey. I guess, you know what I guess it would be? If anyone ever got to 100 goals and 100 assists.

Yeah, that's fair. 100 goals and 100 assists. I think that's the only thing you could compare. Like, I remember when I was a kid, it was a big deal, especially because a lot of our hockey pools back then, penalty minutes counted right so if you got a kevin stevens or a rick tocket or a brendan shanahan who had 100 points or 200 penalty minutes those guys were going in the first round because it was such a big deal

and it's a unique stat and i don't think we'll ever see anything like that again but to me the only thing you can compare it to is 100 goals and 100 assists maybe i'm wrong but that's the i don't think you're wrong i just worry that's geez i mean i guess i'm sure a lot of baseball historians thought there was no way we'd ever see the day of 50 home runs 50 stolen bags in one year so maybe there will be a day that someone's knocking on the door of 100 goals and 100 assists. You know who could do it? Connor McDavid. You got it.

If anyone could do it, it would be him. I hope he doesn't listen to this garbage because he's going to hate hearing that. And that leads us to our final thought presented by GMC, the Utah Hockey Club or the Utahns, as you put out there, Elliot. I actually like that. I'll hand it to you. It's the official nickname of what people call themselves in Utah. I like it. They signed Dylan Gunther.

I thought it was actually the Utah hands. I thought it was like U-T-A-H-A-N-S. But I was told that was not correct. There is no second A. That's San Diego Inns, San Diego Unns. San Diego Unns. That's right. That's exactly it.

So, Gunther, I think we'd mentioned on our podcast of every team that we heard that Utah was looking to sign him. And they got it done. that we heard that Utah was looking to sign him, and they got it done. And this one had a lot of interesting reaction from excellent bet to are you serious? The guys played 78 NHL games. Like there was a widely, widely separate reaction to this.

Polarization, I dare say. So, Kyle, we have some evidence that we want to enter into the record. Yes, Ali, actually, you're right, because earlier this month when we were down in Vegas, we talked to one of Gunther's teammates, Clayton Keller. He was talking about Dylan Gunther specifically his shot have a listen to what he had to say Dylan Gunther I think he's got a special shot and I think he's

going to be a 50 goal scorer without a doubt I think after Austin I don't know many guys who can shoot the puck like that so effortless and just score from pretty much anywhere. So that's a guy that I think can light the lamp for sure. Okay, so Keller is the expert on all things Utah when it comes to hockey. So the moment I heard some of the reaction to this contract, the first thing I thought of was what Keller said. The other thing that's interesting here about Gunther was the way that his season ended.

His 28th game of the year was on March 10th. He ended up playing 45 games. Look at his points. These are his points totals for those last 18 games of the season 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 4 0 2 2 sounds like a computer code it sure does if you aren't asleep after i read all of that i should let you know that of all those points uh 10 were goals and so and that was one of the things that was said to me uh after the contract got announced or it got out there that it was happening was that Gunther had an incredible finish to the year. And Utah's a team that is analytically inclined. There's no

question about that. And I think they feel very comfortable with this bet. Now, there are teams that are going to look at this and say, oh, my God, what have you done to all our comparables? But you have to do what you think is right for your business. And I think Utah is very confident and very comfortable that this bet is going to work out. We'll see over the next eight years. But it was definitely one that turned heads, but definitely one that they believe in.

And I think also most importantly, like they went out and they traded for Sergeyev, who's in the middle of a big contract, and they traded for Marino, who's got a nice contract. in the middle of a big contract, and they traded for Marino, who's got a nice contract. But this is the first guy that they've signed that's their own since they left. And that's never a coincidence. That is a message to their market.

Because over the years, they've had the challenge, and it's not always fair. It's not always fair, but they've had the challenge of proving in the NBA they can get guys to stay there. Like Stockton and Malone, those guys stayed there for 1,000 years. But for whatever reason, Utah's always had this thing, like do players want to play there? Well, right now, they put a stake in the ground as their hockey team that one of their young cornerstone players signs long-term.

And the other thing, too, is it comes in under Keller's number, which I thought was interesting as well, too. But that's a big sign for Utah. It's a sign that turned a lot of heads around the NHL. But like I said, they feel very comfortable that this will be a good bet for them. And obviously, Keller does too. That was the final thought presented by GMC. When we come back, we've got the thought line, our interview with Brian Crawford, and plenty more of the 32 Thoughts podcast. Stay tuned.

Stay tuned. Listen to the 32 Thoughts podcast ad-free on Amazon Music, included with Prime. Okay, welcome back. Time now for the Thought Line. A reminder, the number to call, 1-833-311-3232. You can write to us, 32thoughts at sportsnet.ca. You can leave your name and where you're writing us from, but it's not mandatory, as I learned last week, Elliot.

Much softer with it this time. We would love to give you a proper shout-out, but if you're not comfortable, that is okay. Let's start this week with Jan from Slovakia, Elliot. I wonder how this one got picked, Dom. No, it's a good question. Hello from Slovakia, Kyle and Elliot. Do you think that if other teams knew it would have only taken one year for Matvei Mishkov to come to the NHL, they would have drafted him earlier. Which NHL team do you think would have picked him? Love your podcast. Everyone in Slovakia loves your eye, Slavkovski. He's our future.

Keep up the great work. Well, first of all, that's a great question. It is actually a great, great question. So I don't necessarily think it was Dom's Slovakian bias that got this question picked. And we love being there and by the way when we air the uh slavkovsky piece uh we when we did a little walk with him through the main part of the of kosecha uh you could see people coming up to him like he's a star he is

absolutely a star you know the one thing i really believe about Mishkov, Jan, is that he wanted to go to the Flyers. And I don't know if manipulated is the right word, so I don't want any of the negative connotations that come with that. But it's very clear that Mishkov and his representatives kind of worked the draft in a way that got them where they wanted to go. And that was Philadelphia. It's clear now he really wanted to go to Philly. And if, okay, I mean, the base answer to your question is, if people knew it might have only taken one year, yes. But I think Mishkov and his representatives and the Flyers were working as hard as they

could to make sure that nobody else was going to realize that necessarily and that the player wanted to go to certain spots and didn't want to go to other spots. And I think because of the Russian option, it scares some teams away. Now, I know there were some teams that didn't like that this happened, but hey, if you can work it, you can work it. And I have no problem with what mishkov and the flyers did and i think at the end of the day he wanted to be in philadelphia and very clearly some teams knew that he didn't necessarily want to go there and you're just not going to take the chance so i don't know if anything would have mattered or been different he wanted to go somewhere and he got there all right vlad in south carolina greetings elliot kyle and dom writing you guys from fort

mills south carolina by way of winnipeg go jets go i had a question i'm hoping you guys could provide some insight on how do future considerations work in trades what stops a gm from offering a bag of pucks as the future considerations to complete a trade? Is it simply their reputation on the line? Or are there guidelines that say, for example, no less than a fifth round draft pick can finalize this trade? How about a time frame? Love what you guys do and keep up the awesome work. Yes, there generally is an understanding when these deals are made about what it could potentially be.

You know, one of the things that kind of happened was when Mark Stahl was traded from the Rangers to Detroit. I don't think the Rangers ever got anything back. And there's there's some understanding that that can occur. So when the deals are made, generally people are made aware of what the return is going to be, if any. Okay, this next one comes from Ian. Hey, fellas. I have been stewing on an idea to improve the current NHL LTIR rules and wanted to get your thoughts. What would you say if the NHL had two different categories of LTIR?

if the NHL had two different categories of LTIR. At a certain point of the season, preferably prior to the trade deadline, the injured player has to be designated to one of the LTIR categories. The first one is simple. The injured player is designated as out for the playoffs and 100% of their salary is eligible for recapture per the current NHL ruling.

The second category is designated for players that are eligible to return, and so only a certain percentage of their salary is available for the team to use as more cap space. Let me know what you think. Well, what do you think, Elliot? I don't think that's a bad idea. I mean, it's going to take a lot smarter person than me to figure out the answer as to how that was going to work. I don't necessarily think that's a bad idea at all. I wouldn't be surprised if it's one of the things they kind of look at.

There's no question that they are going to see if there are solutions to what's been happening. You always worry about the law of unintended consequence. And I always remember it was Toronto in the 2002 playoffs. of unintended consequence. And I always remember it was Toronto in the 2002 playoffs. I think when they got to the Stanley Cup semifinal, which they lost to Carolina, there was a point there where they had like 10 guys out.

And, you know, as a result, you know, what happens? Like if that was to happen to a team now, it would be a nightmare if you went into a playoff game and you couldn't well you only could play with 15 skaters so you you have to find solutions to that um i i know that there were people who said that if you can't play game 82 of the regular season maybe you should have to miss a playoff round or something like that um you know personally i don't have a big problem with it it's in the rules if it's in the rules you can do it. And I'm a guy who in fantasy football and things like that,

I try to bend the rules as much as I can, but I do think they are going to try to deal with this on some level the next time around. By the way, I got some interesting pushback from one of the questions from the last ThoughtLine, and that was from one of the questions from the last thought line. And that was the one, uh, yeah. The one about the,

uh, designated player exempt from the cap, which I like. I had a couple of people in the league say, uh, you did it. Yeah. You got some feedback there.

Sorry. No, I just, I also like the idea. Oh yeah. I like the idea. I like the idea a lot, but I had some people who pushed back against it in the league.

Uh, one said that he thinks it will hurt player movement, I like the idea. I like the idea a lot. But I had some people who pushed back against it in the league. One said that he thinks it will hurt player movement, which means that you have to make up more bleep on your podcast. And so he said, I think that would be basically. Yeah. I said, is this going to be bad for you? I said, no, it isn't. But, you know, that was pretty funny. But his point was he thinks it'll hurt player movement

and another person who said that he said that he thinks it's going to make some teams too good for too long and basically his point was that there has to be a cycle right that teams go up and teams go down and he and it's better for the league if you had like dynasties aren't bad but eventually you need change right like you need change it's sort of like the if you like dynasties aren't bad. But eventually you need change, right? Like you need change. It's sort of like the circle of life as we as we see in the Lion King. Like it has to go that way. And he says it would really interfere with that.

And he thinks it would also make more extreme the ups and the downs. Like teams would be really good for six, seven years. And then they'd be equally as bad for six, seven years. I thought it was an interesting perspective. Yeah. But I just, if it's even just one player, like hockey is still so much of a team driven sport in terms of results. I don't think you're running the risk.

Yeah. Equal time. Equal time. All right. A reminder for the thought line, the phone number 1-833-311-3232. 32thoughts at sportsnet.ca. We thank you to those who submitted this week. When we come back, our interview with the new commissioner of the Ontario Hockey League, Brian Crawford, on the other side.

Okay, time now for our conversation with Brian Crawford, the new commissioner of the Ontario Hockey League from Hamilton. He's just 42 years old and still in the circles of executives, very young when you consider how much he has accomplished already in his career. He has had a very interesting journey to get to this point. We hope you enjoy this one, our interview with Brian Crawford. So pleased to be joined by Brian Crawford, the new commissioner of the Ontario Hockey League. Brian, first of all, welcome to the podcast. How are you doing?

Doing so well. Thank you very much for having me. So you take the job back in June, a couple of months at the helm now. The regular season gets underway this week. What's the lead up been like for yourself? Yeah, it's been fantastic. It's been a lot of meetings, of course, and getting to know all the people in our community. I actually am just about to start a league-wide community tour that will last from next week all the way through to the middle of December.

the middle of December, get a chance to go to each of our communities, meet with all of our teams, meet with all of our community leaders, and get a chance to really see the league from the inside out. So it's been a fantastic start. The league's in a great place and a ton of opportunity in front of us. So before we get to the league, I want to talk about you a little bit because you've got a pretty interesting background. Like I remember when I was back doing OUA broadcast at the SCORE, Ontario University Athletics, you played football for Queens. You played in the CFL. since your football playing days, you go from running Ontario University sports on an interim basis to Canada basketball, to golf Canada, now to this. So can you kind of take us through your career path?

Because it's unique. Usually someone picks maybe one sport, maybe two. This is now four for you. So I'm curious to see how you got from point a to point b yeah it's uh it's been quite quite a journey and one that i feel very thankful uh for um early in my career uh with the argonauts uh you know i was thinking about what i wanted to do long term and um you know i have my my now wife uh to thank for that, that she got me thinking about that. And, you know, when I was first drafted, it was probably more about, you know, just giving it a shot and seeing what happens.

And, you know, lo and behold, the better part of a decade later, it was kind of time to think about retiring. But I started to think about what to do very early on. And, you know, grad school maybe was a possibility, those sorts of things. And I had a conversation with Pinball. And he said, figure out what you love to do and make that your career. And it was kind of the most true thing anyone had ever said to me when it came to, you know, what to do with your life. And, you know, I was thinking about it. And I wasn't necessarily wanting to be a professional coach.

And, you know, I didn't play a sport that I could retire from, you know, for life, so to speak, and knew that I loved business and sport business. And so I went about, you know, trying to find some opportunities to learn more about it and had an opportunity to join the OUA. And I spent eight years at the OUA and five of them while I was playing football full time. So I was working full time and playing football. And that was really the introduction along with working with the players union during my playing days. And from there, it kind of took off. And that was a great place to learn, to really learn the business of sport, a multi-sport setting, 23 different sports for men and women, you know, hundreds of events a year and student, you know, thousands of student athletes. So it was a great place to start from.

From there, I was recruited and had the opportunity to join Canada Basketball and join them in the business operations and leading a hosting program and grassroots development and a whole bunch of things with Michelle O'Keefe as the CEO there. It was amazing to, you know, have the chance to work in, you know, a sport that has just been exploding in our country and be part of kind of charting the path that the team there has since run with and continue to have some great success. speak to Golf Canada and the PGA Tour and have the chance to join, you know, one of the largest sport entertainment properties in our country and one that was kind of on the precipice of, you know, some great growth opportunities in front of it. And that was an incredible six-year run with Golf Canada and the RBC Canadian Open. And it was just such a fantastic experience working with so many great people. I couldn't have imagined, you know, what the results would have been, you know, when I first kind of got the call about it. And that kind of led us to the OHL that once again was, you know, through a recruitment process that they had reached out and inquired about whether I'd be interested in having a conversation.

And lo and behold, here we are. and having a conversation and, uh, lo and behold, here we are. Brian, when you retired from the Canadian football league, um,

by the way, I always hated you because one of the broadcasts, uh, I did on OUA football, Queens, Queens put a huge beat down on Western and you had like two touchdowns in that game. And I thought it was just disgusting. I erased those tapes from memory.

But one thing I do remember was when you retired from football, playing for the Argos, and you played for seven years, you had the most special teams tackles in the franchise's history. I think it was 137. Tell me about the hardest tackle you ever made or the hardest hit you ever took trying to make a tackle well i'll tell you the hardest hit i'd ever taken was from mike o'shea who was on my team and we were playing in hamilton uh in probably a labor day classic and uh you know i'm captain

of the special teams and you know it's my responsibility to make sure we're organized and i think we had punt return we we go out there we had too many players on the field and you get called for too many players on the field and we go running back off the defense comes running back on and osh absolutely two-handed me in the chest so hard it winded me because he was like count them up and was so frustrated that you know the special teams had just made a mistake after the defense you know had held so to this day I remember being two-handed by Osh who went on to become you know my coach you know I normally played with Osh but got to play for him and you know he as a special teams coach was one of the best coaches I'd ever had and you know I I knew and I then said

to him you know at the time that the only thing that was going to outshine his playing career would be his coaching career. And that's absolutely been the case. One of the smartest, most creative football minds I've ever been around. But yeah, you take a few hits here and there playing football. That's part of it. And certainly special teams, there's a lot of danger out there. and you know I was very fortunate to survive it and and you know I missed one football game in my entire football career so I feel pretty fortunate that you know I had some good luck on my side and was able to retire healthy and and and be able to move on to to new things. And it's been an impressive journey for you since those playing days came to an end, Brian.

I want to ask more about, you know, now going from Golf Canada to the Ontario Hockey League, because you think about what you were all able and your team was able to accomplish in your time as the tournament director of the RBC Canadian Open. Of course, you know, a year ago, it was a where-you-win moment for Canadian sports fans with Nick Taylor walking it off. I was told that, I mean, you were looking at a pretty unique opportunity for a bigger role, an expanded role with the PGA before this came up with the OHL. It just seemed like you had so much positive momentum going in the golf space. So what ultimately led you to want to move over into hockey and the chance

to be the commissioner of the OHL? Yeah. You know, the, um, you know, to me, it's never been about, uh, you know, the playing surface or the type of equipment you wear, you know, so it's not about the sport per se. It's, it's really about what sport does for people. And I've been a firm believer in its importance and its place in people's lives and our communities and had tremendous opportunities at the PGA Tour and with Golf Canada. And, you know, feel very fortunate to have been part of the run that we had, as you mentioned.

Obviously, Nick's walk-off win was incredible. And, you know, I feel so fortunate to have been, you know, a part of that, you know, had a front row seat for that moment in Canadian sport and back-to-back titles by Rory and amazing, amazing people in the golf world. And as you mentioned, had joined, had become the chair of the Tournament Advisory Council for the PGA Tour. And that was a tremendous opportunity and one that was hard to to to leave but the chance to join one of the most important sport institutions in our country one that has such an impact to me it's about people as i said

and the ohl is about developing people and about developing young people. And on top of that, we play this central galvanizing role in the communities that we're in. And, you know, those two things are just, that's the, that's, that to me is the mission of sport beyond anything else. The, you know, the, the fact that we develop more players for the NHL and for national teams and you sport than anyone else that's a secondary byproduct and a bonus to all the other important work that you know our league is doing and is done so the chance to join that to follow a leader like david branch and fill this role and try to take the ohl and junior hockey in canada to new places and bigger heights is is a challenge that was you know really exciting to me and And, you know, I thought,

you know, at the end of the day, kind of a no brainer opportunity. You know, Brian, there is a feeling that the world in the development world in the NHL is really about to change. You know, you're well aware of the belief that the NCAA is about to change its rules. It keeps losing in court and you can see this coming. I don't know when, but you can see it coming. The NHL told its general managers to be prepared for a change. I'm just, what are you expecting? How differently do you think the world is going to look in terms of North American development in five years as opposed to now? Yeah, I mean, we certainly seem to be on the doorstep of some pretty significant change and likely in a lot shorter window than even five years time. You know, we could be reflecting

back five years from now on something that's been in place for several seasons. You know, I generally, you know, we feel that it's better to have more opportunities for players for their development pathway. We of course believe that the OHL and the CHL in Canada is the best opportunity for young players, 16 to 20 year olds to play and develop at the highest level. And if they can have the chance to further their education and have more choice about where they go

on both sides of the border, that I think is ultimately a great thing and is gonna continue to help develop hockey players as well at the highest levels for the NHL and other leagues. So I think that that is all part you know, part of, you know, a growth that's in the right direction that certainly can be positive for, you know, everyone in the hockey system. Like, I'm just curious, like, how do you think it's going to look different? How do you think it's going to look different? Well, certainly, you know, no longer if this sort of change

progresses that, you know, a know a young young player and their family at 14 and 15 years of age has to really decide exactly what they want to do with their development pathway you know when they're 20 you know to have the opportunity to for a Canadian player to play here in Canada and still potentially have the opportunity to follow a U. best development leagues in the world in the chl and then still have all sorts of opportunity to continue their hockey whether it be in the ncaa whether it be right to the nhl or the ahl so i think that's one of the you know big changes that that perhaps for the first time in decades to have all of the best 16, 17, 18, 19 year olds playing in the CHL together, of course, will dramatically increase the quality of play.

So that I think is the biggest potential change as it relates to us and then to the players and their families themselves and just opening up those opportunities so that they're unencumbered. So you don't see the changing landscape to the development model in North America as it seems to be going as a threat per se to the future of the OHL or junior hockey in Canada? No, I think generally it's a great opportunity for us. Of course, we have to continue to evolve. We have to be progressive. We have to develop our league. You know, one of the things I said, you know, when I first started was that, you know, if we're content to just rest on the fact that we are the best development and league in the world and that our sport is the number one sport in our

country, we won't be for very long. So we have to continue to do things that progress the player experience of progress, the development system that grow within our communities. If we have to continue to do things that progress the player experience, that progress the development system, that grow within our communities if we want to continue to maintain and grow from the positions that we currently sit in. So I think that that's one of the most important things. And when we think about threats, that's the threat that we become complacent with where we are. So we have to grow and evolve and continue to offer all the things that make our program the best in the world. And we have to figure out new ways to continue to do that. So I'll ask you a little

bit about that then quickly, Brian, because I go back to your time at Golf Canada and you think about the Canadian Open over your time there, like the live concerts you brought in. And of course, like the rink hole and how that's become such a signature part of that event. Like you helped oversee breathing a lot of new life into what's typically known as a much more traditional type sport. So when you look at junior hockey in your time the last few months and taken over at the Ontario Hockey League, what areas do you look at and say, you know, there's some real untapped potential here? Yeah, so I think that, you know, kind of first and foremost, you know, for us as a whole, and this really applies across all the CHL, is a focus on the business development of the leagues and looking at how we can grow our business and our brand and our market our media market or broadcasts and communications to new levels that can allow us to reinvest in hockey

development as well right and hockey operations so figuring out what are the new ways that we can continue to reach audiences that maybe have not traditionally been part of our family. We have such, as I said, it's such an important place in so many communities as a galvanizing force within those communities about the shared experience for somebody who is living in, you know, Sudbury or Oshawa or Windsor or something like that, that we need to figure out how to build upon that position of strength to bring in more people, to speak to young people in the way that they consume media and the way that they consume highlights, how they are communicated with through social media channels.

All of those sorts of things becoming more progressive in how we do that, improving the ways that we broadcast the in-game, in-venue experience, right? It needs to be, you mentioned some of the things that, you know, we did at Golf Canada and that's being done on PGA Tour and we see across the sports landscape is it needs to be about a sport and entertainment experience. And that's what people are looking for. They're looking for a shared experience that they can partake in, that they can come out and feel like they were a part of something. And junior hockey, the rise of young people up through to achieve their dreams in the community

setting that is speaking to that shared experience. You know, that's the sorts of things that we need to focus on growing and expanding upon. Learning from other best practices, you know, from leagues around the world and certainly throughout North America about how they do things that improve their business, whether it be the NHL, Major League Baseball, Minor League Baseball, the sorts of things that we can glean from those and then find partners that will help us continue to strive to get to those new places. What do you think the biggest challenges are facing the OHL

and junior hockey in Canada and North America, I should say, never mind Canada? Yeah, well, just, I i mean sticking with the business conversation that you know it is a crowded market of course uh in um sport entertainment and entertainment properties there's lots of uh things that are competing for people's eyeballs and attention uh and that will be you know continue to be one of the bigger challenges uh as a provider of an entertainment product because part of what we do at the end of the day is providing an entertainment product. And so that's where I said we have to make the product valuable to people and appealing to people to choose to spend their time and their resources

on being a fan of our league and engaging in our league. I think from there, of course, we have to be part of the OHL and one of the most significant parts of the hockey system in Canada. We have to be a leader. We have to lead in a way that addresses issues that exist within our game. Obviously, access to the game is such a critical thing, both for young players and players in general and fans of the game, you know, new Canadians who need to be brought in to become part of this community and why it's so special. You know, the culture of hockey and the issues that need to be addressed there, we would be disingenuous to suggest that there aren't areas that we as major junior hockey and that hockey

in general is working through and that we need to make sure that the great parts of hockey that is the vast majority of the experience is what is guiding us and what is reflective upon what it is that we're all about. So, you know, those are, I think, some of the, you know, initial kind of, you know, big high level challenges that, you know, we face and need to grow upon and figure out how to, you know, big high level challenges that, you know, we face and need to grow upon and figure out how to, you know, advance our businesses and grow in, you know, kind of a modernized way. You know, one of the things too, that I remember asking Dan near when he took over the WHL, some of the teams there and some of the people there told me that one of the biggest challenges they had is that some of the teams see the league as we run

our own individual fiefdoms and the league leaves us alone and just handles league stuff i think all the junior leagues battle this to some degree were you concerned about that have you seen anything like that that would concern you uh not to this point no i mean i think that generally my sense has been you know our you're speaking to our 20 franchises that there is a real um energy and enthusiasm uh for what's next for for our league um and i think that there is a real openness to uh looking at opportunities that maybe haven't been considered before. I will say that certainly the three leagues, along with the CHL as an office,

and there is a continuing to work through how all of the leagues work, how the three leagues work together, how the CHL fits into that. You know, relatively young in that, you know, it was really three independent leagues that came together and had the Memorial Cup and those sorts of things that didn't have centralized leadership, the way that it does now, and has evolved in the last just five years. So I think there's a lot there that the, you know, 60 franchises across the CHL, you know, are figuring out within their leagues, and then within the CHL as a whole. So I think to, you know, your comments that that's part of that transition. I think that

you've got all sorts of diverse ownership groups in different groups that are part of the league that do have different goals and objectives and aspirations, community owners, ownership groups that have been in place for decades, ownership groups that are very new. So, you know, I think that's, you know, a natural byproduct that there are going to be a lot of different interests. And that's part of, you know, my job. And, you know, I mentioned off the top, you know, doing the community tours that you truly need to understand where everyone is coming from, what their goals and objectives and motivations are, so that we can build consensus towards you know common goals and vision

i guess on that front then brian i'll ask you i mean you mentioned early on you know succeeding david branch 45 years he held the job for it's a long time so with that in mind, as you've gotten to know some of the other owners, governors that have been been at this for a while, too, how receptive have they been to your ideas and visions for where you see and would like to see things going? Yeah, so I mean, first and foremost, you know, having the opportunity to follow David, you know, is, is an honor, right? It's it's pretty special to, you know, what he's accomplished in hockey and certainly with the OHL and the CHL and having, having him available and, and kind of part of our,

part of our operations going forward was a, you know, an appealing factor for me that he's someone that I'm going to be able to, you know, connect with and rely on for that institutional knowledge that he has. So I think that in kind of the initial phase here, as I mentioned, the response has been quite positive, quite strong. Some of the areas where we'll spend time and energy that will be new to a lot of the governors on the business side and marketing and brand and operations side, some of the maybe structure that will be updated from what we've been previously doing. I think those are some of the kind of initial things. It's, you know, it's a big transition for everyone, certainly for, you know, the staff in the office, for all of the teams to go from one style of leadership to

another, which is, you know, ultimately, you know, I will strive to be my own leader and you won't strive to be, you know, what David was necessarily. And I think that that is, you know, takes time for people to, you know, transition through that. But like I said, it's generally been overwhelmingly positive and kind of excited about what's going to happen next for the league. Where are we going to go and how are we going to do this together? So Dave was the good cop around the office and you're going to be the bad cop? I don't know. I would actually suggest that perhaps David had the reputation of being the bad guy from time to time, a little more perhaps often. But, yeah, it's, you know, we've got a kind of diverse staff as well.

And we've got kind of a mixture of people that have had quite a bit of tenure and that are in a farther advanced stage in their career. And then a bunch of people that are younger in their careers or newer in their roles. And, you know, the job of the leadership is to, you know, make sure that you put all the right people in all the right seats and that you galvanize everybody towards a common mission, vision, values, and that everybody kind of rowing in the same direction and believing in the same thing. And I ultimately, you know, believe that, you know, people support what they help build. And, you know, it'll be a priority of mine to get everybody engaged in building it so that they ultimately are going to support us as we go towards, you know, new directions. Brian, there have been a lot of tough stories around junior hockey, a lot of tough stories. And the CHL has been going through a bunch of different lawsuits on different files. Was any of you afraid to take this job because of all of that?

No, I think that, you know, those things are just unfortunate aspects of the job. And of course, you know, we'd much rather spend our time, you know, tackling growing hockey in the province and growing hockey in the country and developing young people in a way that makes them, you know, incredible contributors to our communities long-term. And the reality is that these are some of the things that we need to address and to deal with. And they're all unique in their own ways and their challenges, but they're things that we have to work our way through to come out the other side in a better place than we were beforehand. And at the end of the day, we have incredibly talented

people who are part of, you know, guiding us through and working with them. And you have to be able to, you know, trust the people they have around you. You have to bring in great people to be around you that can do the work that needs to be done. And so I would say that, you know, for me, I'm a very positive, optimistic person. And I look at the challenges and however difficult they might be, there is a positive outcome that can be found in all of them.

And ultimately, that's how I look at those sorts of challenges. So we'll find the positive outcome and be better for it down the road. Okay, last one last one for me is um what's your best tiger woods story my best tiger wood story oh geez um so i mean i certainly through uh through my role uh with the tournament advisory council and and uh role on the uh player advisory council um had a chance to be in some meetings with Tiger.

But I think, unfortunately, the best story that I have of Tiger was I was at the Players' Championship, I guess, in 2019. And I saw Tiger do the next best thing to see Tiger Woods do other than an ace was a quadruple bogey on the Island Green to see Tiger Woods be completely human and plunk it in the water that many times was, you know, hard to see in some ways because he was in the hunt that year on Sunday. And for him to struggle on the Island Green, it made you feel like, wow, that's a pretty incredible thing to see. So that would probably be one of the things I remembered most about that with Tiger.

Not that he probably wants to remember that moment very much. Have you had a chance to play that hole and did you score better? I have. I put it right on the green. I put it right on the green and then proceeded to like, you know, pre-putt or something. But it was, you know, that's the cool thing about golf, right? That you can play a hole that, you know, the greatest player of all time played hole that, you know, the greatest player of all time played. And, you know, I was sitting there watching this happen, as were thousands of other people

that were sitting there. And it was just, you know, this kind of air of, oh, my God, is this actually happening right now to Tiger Woods? And on the flip side of that, to have also seen him win at Eastlake in this unbelievable mob scene, like it's just the dynamic between those two moments are incredible and a pretty, pretty special guy to be, to have a chance to even have a glimpse of and been around just a little bit and, you know, have shaken his hand kind of thing. And there's a lot of really great people in golf and, you know, he certainly is one of the most interesting that's for sure. Okay. Last one for me, you played rep hockey in Hamilton once upon a time. Is that right? Yeah, that's right. So our colleague, Kevin BX, as I'm sure you know, is from Grimsby. I believe he's just a year older than you. Did you ever have any run-ins with him growing up?

Oh, geez, yeah. Not that I can remember. No, I played for the Hamilton, well, we were the Hamilton Huskies, and then we were the Hamilton Reps, you know, AAA teams here in the city. And we used to play in the Alliance League, which was like London and kind of all of that kind of Southwestern Ontario direction. So, yeah, I don't recall any, but I did have a chance to play with some great players,

you know, usually more in summer hockey and Team Ontario, stuff like that. You know, Steve Inott and Mike Camilleri, a great junior player by the name of Jay Harrison, who was a Leaf draft choice, played with some really phenomenal players, you know, over the years in different places. And, you know, Michael Camilleri was certainly the, had the most skill of any player I think I'd ever, you know, been on the ice with. Just his hands were incredible.

And, yeah. So, you know, I was lucky to play hockey as a young player, kind of up into high school and then somehow discovered football in grade 12 and decided that I just wanted to play football with my friends. And lo and behold, I was able to do it for a while. So pretty lucky that way too. And now back in the world of hockey again, Brian, thank you so much for the time here

with us today. Have a great season and all the best going forward. Thanks so much, guys. You have a great season as well. All right, we hope you enjoyed the latest episode of 32 Thoughts, the podcast, as we mentioned. The NHL preseason is underway. A reminder, some games that you can catch on Sportsnet

over the next few days, Tuesday night, 7 Eastern, Washington and Boston. Later that evening, 10 Eastern, 7 Pacific, Seattle and Vancouver, and plenty more to come as we inch closer to the beginning of the regular season. We thank you so much for listening once again. We'll talk to you again on Friday.