32 Thoughts: The Podcast - The Deal is Demidone

Episode Date: April 11, 2025

In this edition of 32 Thoughts, Kyle Bukauskas and Elliotte Friedman unpack how the Montreal Canadiens managed to get Ivan Demidov to the NHL this season (2:20). Afterwards, they touch on Gabriel Landeskog's comeback story (15:35). The fellas touch on the NCAA Frozen Four and what David Carle will do now that his season is done (26:21). Then, Kyle and Elliotte talk about the playoff standings out East followed by the Winnipeg Jets solidifying their spot atop the Central (29:39). Elliotte gives Kyle his flowers for suggesting Connor Hellebuyck should get Hart consideration (33:18) and the guys talk about the displeasure on Long Island after their big L to the Rangers (36:37). Kyle and Elliotte unpack a couple of great interviews by Iain MacIntyre with Brock Boeser and Quinn Hughes (40:10) and Connor McDavid's return on Wednesday night (48:33). The Final Thought focuses on the loss of two giant names in the world of hockey, Greg Millen and Ray Shero (51:55). Kyle and Elliotte answer your questions and respond to your voicemails in the Thought Line (1:06:12).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

I talked to you in English last night after the game, and you said Sidney will make the throw if you give it to him. Why did you think that and why do you think he made it? He's just good at everything in life. He's just the perfect guy, you know, perfect boyfriend, perfect hockey player. And now he can throw. He can play golf.

I saw him hit a ball out of the park at PNC, so he can do it all. You guys are lucky. Okay, we are. We agree. Of course you made that. Of course you did. Gino, did you expect that? Yes.

Nailed it. Welcome to 32 Thoughts, the podcast presented by the GMC Sierra AT4X, Shremati, Friedman, Bukaskis back with you. A show as automatic as Sidney Crosby throwing a dart with the pigskin in front of a packed house in Pittsburgh. Elliot. Did you have any doubt he was going to hit that? Not at all.

No. And the fact that Paul Skeens missed, you knew Sid was not missing. The only thing that was missing from that was Crosby saying, hey Paul, watch how it's done. It brought me back to our conversation with Evan Vegas about would you want to face Paul Skeens in the batter's box? And he's like, oh yeah, bring it on. Now I would love that opportunity.

Since he showed Skeens up by doing what Skeens couldn't do, he's gonna get drilled. First pitch. It's some great PR move. We've got the two great Pittsburgh superstars together. Skeens gonna dust them. Yes, 100 mile an hour right to the back. And then just be ready.

And Skeens is a big boy as we learned in that photo of all of them. You saw that photo. I've seen Rothlisberger in person. I knew he was a big guy. I did not realize that Skeens was six foot six. Like Dom Senes, Crosby's tiny. He's not tiny.

Those guys are mammoth humans. But again, I don't know anybody who was surprised that he threw that football right through for a million dollars. It was the opposite of the biggest upset of the year. It was the smallest upset of the year. Yes. Good hype in Pittsburgh this week watching all of that go down and great hype in Montreal right now, Elliot. You were there Tuesday as the news was coming to light that Ivan Demidov signed his entry level deal.

I don't know if you saw there was Canadians fans waiting his arrival at Pearson Airport in Toronto on Thursday night. Didn't seem to be much thought though, like really up until it happened earlier this week, Elliot, that he was going to arrive here in North America this soon. So how did Demidov and the Canadians and everyone involved arrive at this point? Kyle, you know, someone said to me, this is what you mean when you say on the podcast, when it comes to the KHL, whatever is true now might not be true in 15 minutes. So you always have to be aware and alert.

Like as recently as the day before, you're texting people, you're asking people, where does it stand? And they're telling you, we don't think it's happening or it's not going to happen or we have no idea. And all of the sudden sudden it changed really fast. Now it's interesting there was an interview in one of the Russian media outlets that Alexander Medvedev who's the chairman of the board of directors for St. Petersburg you know he talked about the salary cap was going to prevent them from keeping Demidov

next year. And I'm not sure I'm buying that at all. But he did talk about how the possibility of the first round matchup of Ovechkin and Demidov if Montreal plays Washington was appealing for them to see. You know, I think what it comes down to is the kid's contract was coming up and he wanted to go to North America. And ultimately I just think they knew they weren't going to be able to keep them. And when you realize you don't have the leverage, the question becomes

how difficult do you want to be? You know, and how much of a challenge do you want to make it? And ultimately it just sounds like here at the end of the day They just decided that they weren't gonna stop demodav from going over now And it was their decision to make on their own timeline And they did it quick enough that he's gonna get a chance to come over here and play You know I you know that's what someone said to me, just at the end of the day, it's on the whim of the Russian teams because the NHL has to respect their contracts, which don't end until

the end of May. And that's what happened here. They just decided, okay, we're going to let them go. And you know, it's Montreal's win, it's hockey's win because I think we all want to see this player and as you said the city of Montreal like they are alive as it is to begin with they are absolutely electrified by what the Canadians are doing here like the thing is on Tuesday night at Detroit against Detroit the game I was at they were absolutely smoked in the first period. They got out shot 20 to three,

the ice was completely tilted, Montembo saved them, but it was a building that felt, Kyle, that they were going to win. Yeah, that's how they've been winning lately. Sometimes, you know, your sense of building, they're panicking, they're like, oh God, this is terrible, nope. Everybody thought they were going to win, which they did.

And now this news on top of it, because it was so unexpected, it's a massive W for the team and the fans. It is a smorgasbord of enthusiasm. Everything is coming up Canadians right now. And of course, on Friday night on our air against Ottawa, they have a chance to clinch a playoff berth. But I just think at the end of the day, you never know in Russia where these things are gonna go.

And I just think they realize that, do we wanna be difficult? Do we wanna be difficult and hold Demodove until the end of May? I think they're hoping that somewhere down the road, the favor is repaid to them somehow. We'll see. And at the risk of not overhyping things here, Elliot, like you can't seem to turn any direction when it comes to any type of demodav discourse and not be told about how much potential this guy has already, how much of an impact he's made over in the KHL already.

I mean, Eric Engels wrote about how one of the greatest scoring players in that league under the age of 20, he broke Kaprizov's records that previously stood in that league. Our colleagues over on the draft side, whether it's Sam Constantino or Jason Bukola, have talked about him at length. They're plugged in over there pretty good. It seems like anywhere you turn in this conversation, Elliot, you continue to hear about a player that has the ability to make an impact right away on a team that's on the cusp of a playoff berth. Everyone I know who's seen him play, Kyle, says he's a stud. And it's interesting because you're going to have to put him in a position where he

can score. You're not going to bury him on the fourth line or anything like that. But are you going to break up your number one line right now? No, there's no chance you're going to do that. But are you going to break up your number one line right now? No, there's no chance you're going to do that. It's going really well. And even, as we talked about on one of the more recent pods, the Dvorak line is going really well. So it's going to be interesting. We interviewed Marten Sanlouis on Tuesday and we didn't talk too much about Demidov on camera because it was for playoffs and it's kind of a tough one. So much is going to develop between now and the start of the playoffs,

but we talked a little bit off camera and you know he just said he's excited. He's seen the same highlights everybody else has seen and he's going to figure out where it makes sense to play, but as he pointed out, you just never know what your lineup is going to look like, especially at the end of the regular season. Are you going to rest guys once you've clinched? Are you going to rest guys for a couple games that have been banged up here and there? So, you know, the one thing I think a lot of us are kind of expecting that the target is Monday at home against Chicago. So he's in Toronto. And you know, one of the things you asked me before we started the pod tonight is he

going to stay in Toronto and meet them when the team comes in on Saturday, or does he go to Ottawa to meet with them before they play the senators on Friday? And I think that depends on the US embassy. They've got to get him a US work visa. So that might determine the answer for them. But there's no question they want to get him into games quick. And he wants to get into games quick. And, you know, hopefully we'll see this sooner or later. But there's a ton of excitement not only from Canadian fans, but I think also from hockey fans like I want to see this. Canadian fans but I think also from hockey fans like I want to see this you know I think yeah it's it's it's it's an unbelievable time of year to show up

right before the playoffs but who doesn't want to see this the kids at talent now one of the interesting sidelines is the trades that were happened around him last year. So I think everybody knew Sellebrinia was going one but then a lot of predictions and a lot of questions were about what was gonna happen between him and Montreal. Remember it was Chicago 2, it was Anaheim 3, and it was Columbus 4. And right before the draft, I think it was about, I can't remember, I looked at my notes,

I can't remember exact timelines, but I think it was about the day before the draft, Kyle, and forgive me if my timelines are a little bit off, but it was a day or so before the draft, I think everybody kind of settled that Lev Shunov was going number two to Chicago that they weren't going to take Demidov they were going to take Lev Shunov there and you know as we now know Chicago did make that pick and they offered this year's unprotected first to Columbus fourth overall and clearly they felt that Demidov was not going to Anaheim. And Anaheim surprised a few people, including Seneke himself, as you'll remember from his

reaction on the camera, when they took Seneke third. So Columbus had the option to take that deal. They didn't take the deal and they took Caden Lindstrom. And all of a sudden, right there was Montreal. So Columbus turned down that deal. But the other deal, and this has kind of been rumored in, I think Montreal over the last little while, and I mean, I've heard the same rumors, and I finally think I've got a confident answer on what happened here.

So Montreal was working on a deal for Trevor Zegras. They were trading for him and they were offering one player, I believe a young defenseman, and they were offering a first round pick. And it wasn't the number five pick. It was the pick which eventually drafted Michael Haig, who had another marvelous moment with his family when he was drafted by the Canadians. But that pick was in the deal to Anaheim. And where I think that changed

was when Anaheim took Seneke, Montreal realized that Demidov was getting to them. And I talked about this with Eric Engels on Tuesday, and one of the things that Engels talks about covering the Canadians all the time is that Kent Hughes and Jeff Gordon, they're very careful about redundancy. They don't like redundancy. They don't like redundancy. And I think they felt if they were going to draft Demidov, then that was going to lead to redundancy if they traded for Zegras. And I think in that moment, they said, you know what, like if you look at them,

they already have Suzuki, he's going to be there for a billion years They already have Caulfield. He's going to be there for a billion years. They already have Slavkovsky He's going to be there for a billion years They're hoping that Demidov is going to be there for a billion years and then if you add going to be there for a billion years and then if you add Zegras if you're trading that much for him you're hoping he's gonna be there for a billion years they're both left-hand shots and eventually you're gonna have to extend Zegras at a pretty big ticket so I when Eric said that to me when I said this

is what I think happened he said this is why I think it happened. And it also makes me wonder if Demidov had been taken, I wonder if Seneke was Montreal's pick. Ah. So all of that, I think, is where this ends up. But they get them, they're thrilled to have them at the draft and now. And again, the last week of the regular season, you're always looking for big storylines, right? Demidov's debut is gonna be a very, very big storyline. Yes, and we'll get to another big storyline potentially here

in just a sec, Elliot. But on the topic of you know Russian prospects here a couple other names that you put in your blog this week. Alexander Nikitian with the Carolina Hurricanes and Arseny Gritsiuk of the New Jersey Devils. Anything noteworthy with those two players and the path forward. So Nikesh from what I understand is that they were officially waiting for the release to arrive on paper. There seemed to be a lot of confidence that this was going to get done. Again I refer to my KHL rule. What is true now? Will it be true in 15 minutes? Because it's overseas, you also wonder if we're going to have a situation where by the time this drops, we might have

clarity. But as we record this, and this part of the podcast is being recorded at 1110 p.m. Eastern on Thursday night, I'm under the impression that the release has been asked for. People are confident it's going to happen. I believe a release has been asked for people are confident. It's going to happen I believe a contract has been agreed with between team and player But until the release is in the hand you can't say it's done But there is hope the Devils fans as you mentioned wondering about Gritsuk. I don't think he's gonna play until next year He's because he's older 24. he only signs a one-year contract as per CBA rules. I think we see him next season not this season for the Devils. Okay, Gabe Landiscag, the captain of

the Colorado Avalanche. Elliott, he was loaned to the Colorado Eagles, the American League who play Colorado Eagles, the American League, who play five times to wrap up their regular season, including tonight here at home. What are the odds Landisgog suits up in that one? Someone in the American Hockey League was telling me that it was a bonanza for Colorado Eagles jerseys with Landisgog 92 on them. It was a day they never expected. Yes, there was a spike in Landiscock 92s. I think that's actually cool. I think that would be a really cool piece of memorabilia

to own. So I'll say this, he's going to take the morning skate Friday. That's the plan. And then they'll see like that's the one thing that everybody cautioned me on this. And they said that the plan is for him to play. But because he's coming back from such a serious injury and because of the nature of it, you have to take everything one step at a time. First you've got to go through the morning skate. Are you okay? Great. In the afternoon, is Are you okay? Great. In the afternoon, is everything stay okay? Nothing flares up? Great. Play the game. See how it

goes. I was actually a little bit surprised to hear he planned to play and desired to play. I was just wondering if he would skate and practice with the team but not play simply because if he goes into an AHL game and something happens like he hits a ride or you know anything can happen then if anything bad happens like I hate to think negative thoughts but you know do you look at it there and say unfortunately this is not gonna work and that's why I kind of wondered if he would play a playoff game first but I can understand why everybody would not want that obviously I'm Unfortunately, this is not going to work. And that's why I kind of wondered if he would play a playoff game first. But I can understand why everybody would not want that.

Obviously, I'm rooting for him as much as as everybody else is. I want to see this be successful. He's refused to give up. These are such long odds from this kind of injury. I really want to see it happened, but he's going to play. It's his goal to play. And but but as I said on radio on Thursday don't guess it's step by step and how does he feel and how does it feel the entire sport is rooting for him and you know

somebody said to me like do you worry that someone in the American Hockey League is gonna say I'm gonna get noticed if I take a run at Gabriel Landisgog? And, you know, I can understand why people ask this question or think about this kind of a thing, but A, I hope not. That's not what this is about. And B, you see the amount of people in the league rooting for Landiscock to come back and recognize what he's doing to try to come back. I think if any player did that, no matter which team they came to the

NHL with, the opponents would be trying to kill them. Yeah, well honestly when you say that it makes my mind go back to when Patrick Siloff caught Clark MacArthur in training camp during the scrimmage here in Ottawa when MacArthur was just coming back. Oh, I forgot about that. He missed a bunch of time with concussion the year previous.

That was an ugly scene. And yeah, I don't think anyone's gonna be going out of their way to take a run at Gabriel Gabriel Landisgog when the time does come That he suits up for the Colorado Eagles. Did you see who he was practicing on the line with? No, I didn't who was he on the line with? Taylor McCarr Really? Yes. Maybe they will be a package deal at the end of the season Yes. Yes. Sorry. I like that. Yeah, you're out. Taylor's in.

No, I didn't realize that Kyle. Good pickup. By the way, so McCarr has 30 goals this season for the Avalanche. The Eagles have Jacob McDonald at 29 for their AHL team. And I looked it up. It's never happened where an NHL team had a 30 goal scorer on defense and the AHL team and I looked it up, it's never happened where an NHL team had a 30 goal scorer on defense and the AHL team also had a 30 goal scorer on defense in the same year. This could be the first time it ever happened. So maybe not only can Landiscahg play, but he could get a historic assist. Oh, yeah, nice, nice touch. That would be something almost three years since we last saw him suit up in a game. Unbelievable.

Yeah, I you talk about perseverance. Dedication to hockey. That's it. All right, another thing from your blog this week. How concerned should Tampa Bay Lightning fans be that Isaac Howard is going back to Michigan State for a fourth year of college hockey? I have to say that I don't think anything in my notes got as much attention as that did this week.

That one kind of blew up. It's funny, you publish that thing and you never know what's going to go viral. Like there's times I sit there and I think, oh, this will be a big thing and no one cares. And you know, I thought there'd be some reaction to Howard, but I wasn't expecting that much. And like sometimes you sit there and you think, oh, this is this nobody's going to care about this, and all of a sudden you're dealing with a five alarm blaze of angry people mad about this particular topic. I'll say this.

The one thing I want to say about Howard first is that sometimes when this happens, you get subtle shots at the player, maybe from the organization or somebody around the organization saying, ah, you know, we don't want them anyway. You know, in Tampa, it's hard to hear anything because Julian Breeswaugh keeps all their employees locked in his basement. But for anybody I was able to reach, like nobody said a bad word about Howard. As a matter of fact, you know, they were sending out social media posts in support of him going for the Hobie Baker, which will be announced on Friday.

He's one of the finalists. And you know, so he was, and also like nobody said anything like, we don't like the player or we don't want him back or good riddance or anything like that. I think the Lightning know that the odds are now against them and that he probably is not going to be part of their organization. But nobody said anything bad about him, which I thought was interesting cuz sometimes people do. Obviously, Michigan State is excited.

Basically, what I was told, because nobody really wanted to get into mudslinging, they just didn't see eye to eye. Whether it was Burning the Year or his spot in the organization or on the roster, it just wasn't there. That whatever the path Howard saw and the path the lightning saw, it didn't line up with each other. And the other thing someone said to me is, you know, with NIL money at Michigan State and they've got a lot of it, then, you know, he can make more money next year at Michigan

State than he could in the American Hockey League. And that's a thing. That's a real thing. And if you if you're worried that the team your path to the team isn't secure, then you know, you can be a free agent in a year, he can be a free agent, not this coming August 15, but August 15 2026. So maybe he says, boy, I'm not convinced that this team sees me as the fit that I want. I might as well wait a year, go back, have fun at school, and then pick my organization a year from now. And that seems to be where it stands.

Now, the one thing that I have no doubt is that Julian Brizbois is getting besieged by teams wanting to know what are you thinking here or can we talk to them. I have no doubt some teams will ask if they can have permission and or at least talk to the player what are you thinking. You know Julian Brizbois can be tough like you know I had some people say to me if he's gonna deal this this player he's gonna do it on his timeline. That said you know the later it goes as we mentioned Howard's a free agent not this coming summer but next summer the more the leverage seeps towards the player right? So I gotta think that if he's gonna do it,

he's gonna do it at the draft or right around there. And we'll see who decides to go get him because he's a talented player and it's clear that he doesn't see his future in Tampa Bay at this time. Hoby Baker finalists this year, right? Yes. And you may have seen that the Tampa Bay Lightning don't have a first round pick until I believe

the 2050s. Yes. So you can understand why Lightning fans are going, hold on a sec, what? Now he's not coming? But this is an organization that looks at the whole theory of you have to build your team through the draft and go yeah there was a time where we did that about 10-15 years ago we're past that now we'll handle it at the trade deadline we'll handle it at free agency we'll handle it at the draft beyond you know what i understand why the lightning

fans reacted as they did because it was a shock. Like everybody thought people who follow college hockey more than I do said to me he's going to the Lightning. They thought for sure he was going to the Lightning and there was and because like I said because of their social media posts, you really got the impression that he was going. So I was taken a bit of back so I could understand why Lightning fans were taken aback. Look like, Brisebois history is that he generally knows what he's doing, right? I was surprised by this one.

I really was though that they didn't bring him in. Like he would think that, you know, he's your guy, you've drafted him, and you would think that they would see what a lot of other people saw. All right, so while we're on the topic of college hockey, Elliot, Thursday night, Denver loses in double overtime to Western Michigan in the semis of the Frozen 4.

Heck of a hockey game. So their bid for a repeat in three national championships in the last four years falls just short. But with that, inevitably, the question is, what does their head coach, David Carl, do now? I think that's going to be one of the biggest questions the next little while. And it's tough because, you know, you don't really even wait for much of a postmortem. But I do think teams are going to make their pitch if they haven't already.

Karl has made it very clear that he is not going unless it's a good situation, both financially and path to victory-wise. You know, one thing that he definitely knows and feels is there's no better feeling than winning. He does it as well as anybody else does at his level. So he's not going to go anywhere, I don't think, where he doesn't see even if it's a rebuild he doesn't at least see the kinds of players there that have a path to victory. So I do think he's going to have decisions to make. They've got a couple other players you know Carter King their captain Calgary Flames development camp I think that's another one that we're going to be watching over the next couple of days too,

because you know, the Flames already brought up Zayn Perrek and we'll see what they do there. This is another player that's been on their radar and their fans hope they get. You know, the Flames have a must win on Friday night. They have to win that game in regulation. They cannot give Minnesota that point after a heartbreaking loss the other night to Anaheim. I don't know about you, Kyle, but I didn't see a chance that they were gonna lose that game when it was 3-1. You know, when Anaheim made it 3-2, I went to get a glass of water and all I heard was scores again and I thought how many replays are we showing of this and then I realized it was an actual goal. It's like what

just happened? I couldn't believe what I saw in that face-off but that was a they have to have to get win in regulation against Minnesota they're pretty much pretty much done. Yeah. Five points back of the wild. Couple games in hand with St. Louis, I should say that they're also five points behind one game in hand on Minnesota. But yeah, they are running out of racetrack to close up that gap. By the way, did you hear with the whole idea of, you know, okay, where could a potential coach go when it comes to opportunities and doors open in the NHL? Did you hear Chris Pronger on with Kipper and Bourne this week? No, what did he say? Well,

so they bring him in and they go, Chris, where are you right now? And Chris goes, I'm in Philadelphia. And Kipper goes, how was the interview? And what did he say? He just laughed. He laughed. It's good that he caught it. But I just, the fact that Nick asked that question, I got a kick out of that. That's a good question. I like that. That was the interview. That was the interview.

So, you got a huge game tonight for Calgary. Their season effectively is that against Minnesota. And another big game for Winnipeg on Thursday, Elliot, they go into Dallas and make, I don't wanna say quick work of Dallas, but. It was an impressive win. Another impressive win, four nothing. So they've got 112 points now atop the central. That is exactly the amount of points that the Stars can now get as they

have three games remaining. They don't clinch the division yet because in theory the Stars could still catch them, tie them in points and get them on the tiebreaker but they have put themselves in a wonderful position to sit atop the central, the division that even though you could end up with the president's trophy, it's coming down to the wire to just clinch your own division. Three points up on Washington. They've got three games left. The Capitals have four, so they control their own destiny there too.

So you know, that was an impressive win. Of all the games I watched on Thursday night. That was by far the most impressive on the road. Clinical, never panicked, kept control. You know, I wrote the other day about what Adam Lowry said, relentless. They looked they looked pretty relentless in that game. You know, the Dallas fans were not thrilled at the end The Stars have lost four in a row for the first time all season

I tend not to overreact to this stuff at this time of year and Tyler Sagan looks like he's pretty close to coming back But I'm really impressed by the way the Jets have all but slammed the door on the central division. They are in position to go wire to wire as the number one team in the NHL and as we know next week is a new season but I thought that was such an impressive victory. So I wrote a bit about the Jets this week and some of the stuff we talked about in our playoff previews. But I think they've talked about don't get too high, don't get too low. They talked about being 10% better every year. It's the way it goes. I said this about Toronto. They have 100 points and they control their own destiny in what

with Winnipeg's, I think are the two toughest divisions in hockey. And we talk about Toronto, like they're the 27th place team in the NHL. And you know why that is? It's because of what's happened in the postseason. Now Winnipeg, even though the team is not entirely the same they have a final four birth It was eight years ago, but they've got one with a bunch of these players But because of what happened last year, it's always yeah, but Winnipeg in Toronto and maybe it's a Canadian thing But it's always yeah, but I just don't know how you can't look at this Winnipeg team and

say whatever happens, they're going in the right way. Like they've handled everything well this year and they're giving themselves the best possible chance to win. I'll tell you something else too, Kyle. I have, I don't like to give you credit for anything because it goes right to your head and you become impossible to deal with. But your Hello Buck dissertation has really sat with me

for the heart. There's no greater accomplishment of my year than this. It's the best thing you have accomplished all season. The heart is, it's Dry Cytl, it's Kucherov in no particular order. It's Dry Cytl, it's Kucherov, it's McKinnon, it's Eichel, it's Wurensky for me. People scream Ovechkin deserves more vote. I actually went back, so whenever we dropped this podcast I listen once just to make sure none of me you or Dom has made a horrendous mistake

that somehow made it to air but I actually went back and I listened to that one again just to listen to your your thing it is it is stuck with me the hello buck for MVP debate well what's stuck with me, the hello buck for MVP debate. Well what stuck with me about some of the stuff you included on your blog in your conversations with the Jets was something Scott Arneal said about Colorado when they faced them last year in the playoffs and that was we saw their ability to play to the moment and you look at some of the games they played post-trade deadline. I know it's been going on all year, but when things have really started to ramp up There was that home game against Dallas

Shortly after the deadline big win the home game against Washington two of the best teams in the league They win that one There was that it felt like an important game suddenly on the road in Vegas. Eric Comrie's in goal, they get him the shutout. Earlier this week, St. Louis on Monday, they end their winning streak at home. And then here Thursday night in Dallas, they shut them out again. Like I know there's been some losses along the way, but like the marquee matchups, the real, let's see where we're at here as a group, which is all you can do now until, as you say,

the new season starts next week, they have played to those moments when called upon. I agree with you, and I don't know if that matters in the postseason. That's one of the things I talked about with Marten Sandowí this week, because Montreal, they went unbeaten against Florida this year.

And I said to him, does that matter in a playoff series? And he said no, and far be it for me to disagree with Marty Saint-Louis, but I tend to agree with him on this. I think sometimes during the record season, sure, there's big games, like all those ones you mentioned, and those cannot be discounted. But sometimes you get teams three and four. Maybe you're a little bit more rested You know, you can't play 82 great games in the playoffs Everybody's focused and the game plans are more detailed right it changes

But you can't look at Winnipeg and say those players Especially those players haven't prepared to be more ready to play in the postseason than they were last year, in retrospect. They have learned their lessons and they're going in the right way. You know, I have to tell you, I was going through my DMs tonight. I was getting a lot of Islander fans. They were not happy with what they saw on Thursday night. Losing 9-2 to the Rangers of all teams? At home.

At home. Now, Sorokin didn't play. I know there's a lot of panic about the injury because he's had back problems. Someone just said to me, don't panic. This is not a long-term significant problem here for Sorokin. But it was Hoegberg starting and he wasn't very good. And Tristan Lennox made his NHL debut and actually Patrick Waugh apologized for it post game. He said it was kind of unfair, but we had to do it I

Know the islanders fans are furious, you know the the thing that I always tell people don't overreact to one game Don't but you'll remember when the Rangers made big changes a couple years ago, you know, that was the year that the Wilson-Pinarrin thing happened and that was seen as a big thing. But someone else also told me that that year the Islanders really pushed the Rangers around, including once later in the season, and that made Jim Dolan mad. He didn't like the way the Rangers looked against the Islanders late in the year and I always say don't overreact to one game but the

Islanders fans they're they're mad right now tonight and I'm sure the players are embarrassed too. Nobody wants that to the Rangers on whole mice. The one thing I always remember is just how us like similar games, especially the that year the island has really pushed the Rangers around that really bothered the Rangers owner. So my way is you don't overreact to one game. My point is I recognize how that can make fans and an organization feel. By the way, Kyle, you know, we should mention,

we're talking about injuries. Thomas Hurdle came back tonight. That's a big one for Vegas. Because I do remember the night he got hurt, there was concern about it, so I'm glad it wasn't a thing. He had a great quote, he told the reporters in the morning that he was asked if he blamed Lilberg from Tampa for the injury, and he said his dad told him

if he had scored, there would have been no injury, so it was really his fault, which I thought was a great line that definitely fits hurdles personality but I got a great line into that but that was the second biggest thing that happened in the Vegas Seattle game on Thursday night you know what the biggest was what's that John Bon Jovi was there. Oh, wow. I wonder if we see him in Toronto at all during the playoffs. Oh, yeah. He's down with yeah with Mr. Tanenbaum. Yes. I remember him. He was down by the dresser of the year. They beat Tampa. I'm

not sure if he was there for game six but one of those games in Tampa in that series. That's right, I forgot about that. I'm standing in the hallway waiting to do the post-game walk-off interview, and it's like, John Bon Jovi emerges out of nowhere. You should have interviewed him. Yeah, I think he was loitering, waiting to be asked for. I could tell.

In hindsight, that's what he was waiting for. All right. So disappointing times on Long Island. And as we know, Elliott disappointing times in Vancouver, all season long. And how about the quote that Brock Besser gave Ian McIntyre, and he had the article up on sportsnet.ca Thursday about his future. We live through trade deadline, what was going to happen, didn't get moved.

Patrick Alveen's comments post deadline, but Besser telling McIntyre actually earlier in this week when they were down in Dallas, honestly, it's unlikely at this point that he remains a Canuck beyond the conclusion of this season. You know, first of all, before I get to Besser, I'd like to shout out Ian McIntyre. I think Ian's had a huge

season. He's had a lot of big stories. He's had a lot of great quotes. And I think one of the things when I write, I always take pride in, am I writing the big thing or is someone telling me the big thing? And this year, Ian's had a lot of articles where someone told him the big thing and what that means is that it's clear the people he covers out there have great respect for the way that Ian does his job and so I think Ian should be proud of that. He's had a really big year out there. The Besser thing, you know what that is to me is it's kind of heartbreak. Brock Besser

was drafted by the Canucks. He was a Canucks success story, draft-wise wise if you'll remember you know he got drafted in 2015 he was the 23rd overall pick okay you go back to that draft now Brock Besser is is eighth among players in goals. And he's, I think, ninth in points. But you look at it. OK, we think about him as a scorer. Who's ahead of him in goals? Connor McDavid, Miko Ratnan, Sebastian Ajo, Kyle Conner, Jack Eichel, Mitch Marner, Timo Meyer. Okay? That's the first pick, the second pick, the fourth pick, the ninth pick, the

tenth pick, the seventeenth pick. He was 23 and Sebastian Ajo was 35 another home run pick if you're the 23rd pick and that's where you stand and When you take a look at it too, I can mean you always look okay. Are there goalies drafted? Well, there was one before them. Okay, were there defensemen drafted? There were a few and you don't expect them to beat him in scoring and they haven't But these were some there were three of them were really high-end defensemen Hanifin Provarov and war and ski So, you know Besser drops to 23rd and Thomas Shabbat was taken before him too Bessers 23rd in that draft. He is a huge success story for the Vancouver Canucks Now he's had a lot of challenges. He's had a lot of challenges He's had a lot of injuries You know the blood clot that forced him to miss game seven last year. He's had a lot of personal tragedy

but Brock Besser was drafted Vancouver and he became a man in Vancouver and I think that the longer you go with one organization, like you learn it's just business and you see things that happen that are just business to other people. But when it's you and it goes this long, you think, you know what, I could be a one organization guy.

And he's had trade rumors. and last year he wanted to be traded, and then he rescinded the trade request because he liked what he had. Like this guy, for the most part, he thought he was going to be a Canuck forever. And now that it's happening, and it's not really his choice, you know what, like I think he's, I think it's the heartbreak that you feel. And I don't know, like sometimes I think that cooler heads can prevail.

Like, so it got out, they offered him five times eight. I don't know if I see the Canucks beating that and I don't know if I see Besser accepting that. So I'm not sure who else is going to bridge the gap here or if it's possible to bridge the gap. But I just think that's what he is. I think he's heartbroken. Like a lot of people in Vancouver this year, they thought the worst was over. They go to that game seven against Edmonton last year, they thought the worst was over. They go to that game seven against Edmonton last year, they give the Oilers everything they could handle. Everybody in Vancouver thinks the worst is over. And then comes this nightmare of a season and everything's thrown

into chaos again. And I think that's part of this too. I think Rutherford can't believe what's happened. I think Alveen can't believe what's happened. I think Tauke can't believe what's happened. Hughes can't believe what's happened. And Besser is just the same way. He can't believe this has all happened and this is the way it all could end. And I think that's what we're dealing here. You know, I think Ian had some interesting quotes this week from Quinn Hughes too. This talk it thing, and I don't know where it's going to go,

but the organization knows how Quinn Hughes feels. Okay? They know he likes Rick Talkett. They have received that message loud and clear. It's going to be interesting to see where that goes. But I think they know how Hughes feels. And the other thing I thought was really interesting in Ian's article today was about Pedersen and we're talking about forward Pedersen EP40.

I don't know what these Vancouver fans are calling all these Pedersen's. I lose track now of it. But EP40, I thought it was really interesting that they said they want him staying in Vancouver. Because I absolutely believe that priority number one of the Canucks this summer is Peterson shows up ready to play in great shape. And that's going to be a thing. Because that kind of dovetails into the talk of conversation too, like I'm sure if you're going, all right, if this is a

place I'm going to continue with here, what kind of player is my highest paid guy going to be? Yep, Going forward. And I still think back to conditioning has been a thing. Yeah. It was this year and it's been a thing before. Pedersen may not agree with it, but they feel strongly and they've got leverage now to feel that way. Still think back to when Vancouver came through Toronto, there was all the travel they couldn't get out of Carolina the night before and stuff and talk at what he said about Hughes before the game that night. That's stuck with me.

So and hand in hand with, as you say, the quotes from Hughes, what he feels about the head coach, a lot of mutual respect there and the desire to like that's that guy's kind of captain and that's that guy's kind of captain and that's that guy's kind of coach which is kind of neat. So Dom just sent us a text says they call him Petey, Meaty and Junior is that true Dom? That is correct. They're calling Marcus Pederson Meaty? Dan Murphy coined that nickname. Oh, suddenly all things are explained. Oh, it's nice. Ian was mopping up all the big developments in Vancouver this year. It was nice that Murph got one. Meaty.

Meaty. That's Murph's contribution to the Canucks season, meaty. Yeah. Hey, you wanted to talk about McDavid's return Wednesday night, three assists, looked like Connor for much of it also. The boon, four minutes and penalties. Yes, was it unanimous? There goes the Lady Bing, I'm sure he's crushed.

Was it unanimous, you think, that internally, given the green light to have him return? I'm not so sure that everyone thought it was the best idea, but such is the power of Conor McDavid. I thought one of the things he said in the post game I thought was really interesting was that he talked about how he wasn't taking anyone else out of the lineup and because they played short the other night in their in their game in Anaheim and they were gonna have to play short again he realized that if he went in it's not like anybody was gonna have to sit I

thought that was I thought that was very captain-y. I think it's, he said, nobody's gonna have to sit, and I wanna play, so what's the harm in me playing? I'm not taking anybody out. He knew the rules. I thought that whole point, he made a point to say that. I thought that was very interesting. Yes, I'm not convinced the others all thought it was a great idea

But you know if McDavid says I'm gonna play you know what are they gonna do say no and someone gave me a great Nickname for him they said They said the bearded they called him the bearded ball of hate and nobody was going to tell him no Yeah, I'd love that Nobody was going to tell him no. I'd love that nickname if I was called that. The bearded ball of hate. Great story when he was around seven years old and he's explaining to his mom, Kelly,

you know, as I get a bit older, when I'm around 15, I'm gonna be moving out to go pursue my dream of playing junior hockey and his mom's looking at him going, no, you're not gonna move away from your mom, are you? And he looks at her and he's like seven years old and he's like, are you gonna stop me? Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Good to see some things have never changed.

His parents, his coaches, the management, nobody's telling him what to do. Oh, he's gonna do it. All right, before we get to final thought, I also just wanted to wish Chaz Lucius all the best. The Jets first round pick from back in 2021. He announced this week he's retiring from hockey some health issues. EDS he's been diagnosed with he has been advised to no

longer continue to play. You think about like a guy that's of course up and to this point his whole life has been about hockey or so much of it to being to the point where you can play professionally and to do that for a living. Hopefully he finds joy and a passion with wherever life takes him from this point on but wanted to wish him all the best. Yeah absolutely and I thought the goodbye message was really well done. Lucius did a real nice job with it. The one thing I really liked in it was Mike Keane. We just talked about McDavid being kind of captain-y.

Mike Keane was a guy who was a captain for a long time in the NHL. I like to read that Lucius thanked him for checking in on him not only as a player, but as a person and I guess I'm not really surprised that Mike Keene would be like that but I thought it was a really good line in the in the in the thank you goodbye. All right and that brings us to Final Thought which is brought to you by GMC and Elliot I don't have to tell you it's just been a very difficult week. I mean, two giant names in the game of hockey. Our broadcasting world too, gone far too soon.

Greg Millen, Ray Shearow, Millen of course, over 600 games in the NHL between the pipes, over 30 years as a broadcaster. Shearow, the Shearow name's synonymous with a big chunk of the history of the National Hockey League. He was the general manager of the Penguins when they won the cup in 2009. GM of the Devils also worked for the Senators, the Predators early. Earlier on in his career, the Minnesota Wild as well.

I met Ray a couple of times, Elliot, always friendly interactions, didn't get a chance to know him all that well on a personal level. But Greg, of course, had a chance to work a number of games with him over the years. I think Marchese brought it up when you guys were talking about him on the radio show this week. I always got a kick out of Jim Ralph calling that section of the US departures at Pearson Airport where you've got to walk walkaways to get down it. It's like the F-90s, the Millen wing because those are often the flights that were going to all the places that he played St. Louis, Hartford, Pittsburgh, Detroit,

you name the rest of them, all the flights there were as that portion of the airport. But I think of Millen and his brilliance and just understanding and the leadership too of course that he was big on. Him being in the booth, working that final game that Bob Cole called in Montreal, the final game of the regular season in 2019 and it was a effectively a meaningless game, but suddenly it felt like it meant everything because of course it was Mr. Cole's last game. Ryan Paling made his NHL debut that night

for Montreal and scored a hat trick. And you've got Austin Matthews on the other side. And we all know what he did in his first game in the National Hockey League. So that became an incredible storyline. The game goes to overtime though, Elliot, and I'm sure you remember this, that entire overtime Greg Millen did not say a word. He did not say a word because that was Bob's final call and he sat there and at one point, you know, Bob looked over at him and he was

going, Greg, you know, like he's inviting him into the conversation and Greg just said, Bob? And pointed to the ice like, oh, and this is all you, my man, like this is all you. I always thought about that was just a really, a real wonderful touch in a moment like that and says a lot about, you know, who he is as a person. So yeah, we're thinking about the family and the families and the friends and everybody that those two people touched and there were a lot of them. So Elliot, I'll leave the floor to you for your thoughts and I know you've got something else you wanted to share too. Yes, Kyle, in a couple minutes, we're going to read a tribute that was sent to us for Ray Shero. Someone sent it to us and asked us to read it on the pod and I'm

gonna do that in a few minutes. But first, you know, I've written and spoken a lot this week about Greg Mellon and you'll remember that on Monday night the Calgary broadcast crew, a lot of whom worked with Greg, that was the team he did most this year. They really weren't in a position where they could broadcast the game in San Jose, so the great Sharks broadcast was substituted on our air so they could collect themselves, understandably. Then on Wednesday, during one of the intermissions of Cal Calgary Anaheim, Ryan Leslie, John Abbott

and Kelly Rudy did a tribute to Greg and we're going to play that for you right here. Welcome back to Anaheim. No score through 20 minutes of play here at the Honda Center in Anaheim on Telus Flames Hockey as we welcome you inside John Abbott, Kelly Rudy and myself. Guys, as we know, it's been a very difficult couple of days since we lost our good friend and colleague, Greg Millen. And I just wanted to share this intermission with you guys and our audience and to everybody who knew him and loved him.

And that list is long, isn't it? I wanted to start with you, Kelly, because you said the other day when we heard the news, you said, I'm going to be listening to Bruce Springsteen. You're missing. Yes. Everything is everything. And you're missing Millsie. So let's talk a little bit about your memories of him when you heard the news and certainly what came to mind as you hear about our friend. Well, then you get reflective, right?

And so we're all hurting Monday. We're still hurting. But I got a special text from Elliott Friedman to get me through the day. And so he reminded me back in 2007, in fact, right here in Anaheim in the final and the hotel we had, we're saying it had a basketball court. So a bunch of us thought we're going to get together and play basketball. And I wanted Mills you on my team because I knew he was a great athlete. I don't think Elliott or Brian Spear or Joel Darling or Mike Dotson knew what kind of athlete Millsy was. So I'm

quick to pick and basically it's Millsy and I against Elliott and Brian Spear. Elliott kind of thinks he's a bit of an athlete, right? So I knew just get the ball in Millsy's hands. We annihilated them. It was something like 100 to to four Millsy had about 96 of our points I'm not gonna take any credit for that love the shot but I also have another story that really puts in context how competitive Millsy was so 2009 we're in Pittsburgh for the final we have a rare day off so Millsy and I think we're gonna take Bob Cole out for a day of golfing so we're there I'm, and every single time I putt, I push it right a little bit.

And so finally on the 18 hole, I get another short putt, I push it right. And I'm mad, I'm saying a couple bad words, and Millsy, we shake hands, and Millsy says, well here, Kelly, just sort of here. He lines me up and goes, now try. Of course it goes right in the middle of the cup. And I go, thanks, that's really gonna help me for the rest of summer he goes yeah I

noticed it on the second hole second hole Bob did you know that and he goes yeah I'm guilty pointed out on the fourth hole but he was so competitive yet to win we're playing like two bucks a hole John you had the pleasure of working around him early on in your career and this year I know how special it was for you to share a booth with him. Your thoughts and memories? It was. Greg was with me in my very first NHL season and at that point my first game was in Nashville.

He was on the TV side, I was on the radio side and he was settling down a kid so nervous to be in his first NHL game and wouldn't you know it, 12 years later he's in the booth in Seattle with me for the first hockey night in Canada game and he's know it 12 years later he's in the booth in Seattle with me for the first hockey night in Canada game and he's settling me down again it was an honor to share the booth with them we had a quick bond we had lots of laughs I think I've laughed more this year than I have ever and he loved to work hard but he wanted to keep it fun and just so much admiration for Greg miss him I just love the idea that we had this great friendship with him on the road.

You get to see him, a lot of them, and the practical joke side of it for him. We're always ripping him. I do a really mean impression of him, which is wonderful. That guy's unbelievable. He kind of liked it. Unbelievable. Of course, Eric is a part of the broadcast team as well. Just the meals.

There's the NHL TV. Unbelievable. He'd make up a pass and he'd drive wherever he wanted he just was a throwback and for me he was a connection to the greats as well look at this he's leaving our old broadcast partner Rick Ball before the game's over because he had a plane he had to catch thanks to Ryan Moyer for that video because I think that's what everybody knew about him including the poke in the holes and the coffee cup in the press box. You could just see members in the media going what the there's coffee all over and he'd be giggling away. It was just wonderful.

So I think that you know, just so many different memories, but Kelly, you know early on your playing career. I think that's a great story to tell because you've certainly got broadcast memories, but also playing against him. You want to share that one special one? Well, they're so classy. So I'm in my second year in the National Hockey League. We're in Hartford I get my first ever National Hockey League shutout one nothing So they're picking the three stars Greg, of course has chosen second star. He does his little twirl around the ice I'm chosen his first star. I go out there and there's Millsie at the other end It's so classy banging a stick in appreciation then waves at me and stuff But he also set the standard for us in broadcasting too, right? Like he talks about a lot of fun and you know how hard he worked on the ice

Well, that's how hard he worked in the broadcast booth He taught me so much about work ethic and coming prepared and I just love these old shots of him And yeah, you're right John. We're gonna miss him. So will flames fans. He did a wonderful job so much about work ethic and coming prepared and I just love these old shots of him and yeah you're right John we're gonna miss him so will Flames fans he did a wonderful job. John you had a some memories as well just the idea that he worked with so many I said he was a connection to the greats in terms of the broadcasting for me like he worked with Mr. Cole and just so many and I know for you to be the next last one to share a booth with him was so important for so many

Yeah, you think of how he came into the league and and he would tell us those stories and dick Irvin was a huge mentor of his and you think of us honoring here him here today and look at him so far We're keeping it together, but I would love to think of those In the booth that were with him the late Bob Cole obviously he was part of Bob's last broadcast and you remember how special that was. Chris Cuthbert you think of Jim Hussin, Ken Daniels, Dean Brown, Joe Bowen, John Bartlett, Dave Randolph and of course Rick Ball preceding me in the Calgary booth and I know they they would all want to say their own great memories of Greg and they had a lot of them.

We loved them in Calgary. We were lucky to have them. I'm so thankful we had that time. Real quick story, I don't have much time left, but the idea that we were flying into Anaheim, and before we took off, it was Michael Backlund who jumped on the PA on the plane and just said, guys, I'd like to salute.

We lost a good one today. And that was Greg Millen, and the entire plane saluted Millsy. That just speaks volumes the players knew him and loved him and respected him we as broadcasters did as well and so our very best to and all of the kids all of the grandchildren as well and as we take a break here we just want to say we're thinking of you this show is for you so many great memories and hey to the grandkids as they get older if you ever want to talk About your granddad give us a call. We'd be happy to we'll step aside when they built you brother

They broke the mold Greg Millen our friend That was a beautiful job guys in Really really difficult circumstances beautiful job Ryan John and Kelly Okay, Ray Shiro. So there have been a lot of fantastic tributes this week to Ray Shiro who like Greg left us way too soon. But one was sent to me privately that I've been that I've been asked to share on this person's behalf. I wanted to thank the author for trusting me to present this

because it's a very personal and powerful tribute. It's an honor to be given the responsibility of reading this on behalf of this particular person. Here we go. Ray brought me to New Jersey when I was in my 20s. I was moving to a new country and didn't know anyone. Here we go. I'm asking him to let go of his daughter move her to a new country and take a big risk for us I want to let him know personally that we will take care of you Ray said he knew I was a young adult that I didn't need my dad's permission But Ray is such a family oriented person that he wanted my dad to know I was going somewhere that would look after me

Whatever I needed that he wanted my dad to know I was going somewhere that would look after me whatever I needed. Family meant so much to Ray and that was the foundation of what he built here in New Jersey and for that he has left us all in a better place but all that much more heartbroken. I hear he did the same for Sidney Crosby, he did it for Nico Heesheer, for Jesper Bratt, and me? Wow, he cared about us all the same. I will miss not being able to text Ray for no reason. I will miss the excitement of seeing his name pop up on my phone, wondering what Ray could possibly be texting me about at some odd hour of the day. It was often just a text to remind me how proud he was of me. That's who Rei Shirou was. He did everything for everyone and expected nothing in return.

The only thing he ever asked was to pay it forward one day. He changed all of our lives by empowering us and believing in us, especially when we doubted ourselves. He did not stand for self-doubt. I only knew Ray less than a decade and that is far too short, but man, I was lucky I had that long. I am deeply honored to have spent the time I did with him, to call him a friend, and I will forever look for signs every day to know that he is still with me. Right now he'd probably be annoyed at me for speaking about him this way. Tell me to delete this email, pick myself up and focus on the playoffs. But I won't delete the email. I want your audience to know this little slice of Ray Shirow who never wanted the spotlight but in this moment I refused to not

shine it on him. End note. That's a great tribute and one thing about Ray Shirow and Greg Millen they were great family people. Great family people. All right, welcome back. Time once again for the Thoughtline, the glue that holds this entire podcast together. Elliot, one of these days we will have an all thought line pod to satisfy our listeners That is very Weak glue I would not trust it to hold anything together Elmer's white liquid glue. Yeah, that's cool

Around in your day. Oh, yeah get all over your fingers peel it off. I Or was that around in your day? Oh yeah, get it all over your fingers, peel it off. I knew people who used to just intentionally put it on their fingers so they could have fun peeling it off. Strange time back then. It was a strange time back then. But you had to explore, you had to figure it out.

An experiment. All right, enough glue, what do you got? Okay, a couple things for the thought line. We were in Montreal this week taping an interview with Martin Saint-Louis. I know you were doing pre-playoff interviews in Ottawa. And just a couple of shout outs, a couple of people we ran into. I was in the lounge waiting to fly home on Wednesday afternoon and there was a gentleman named Nick who was reading the blog as I walked in. There was another

gentleman named Brett who just happened to show that he was listening to the pod as he was getting food off of the Air Canada lounge food trough that Kyle knows so well. So just shout out to those people and anyone else who's listening and reading, but they happened to be right there while I was there. I appreciated them showing it. And I just wanted to mention Jason Denemy. So Jason, I ran into him after the game on Tuesday night between the Canadians and the Red Wings. Jason was a really good player. He played four years in the OHL. He won two OHL championships

and then went to the Memorial Cup twice with the Sioux Greyhounds. That was a really good Sioux team, 91-92. He was a terrific player. He's out in Prince Edward Island now and someone who was in his group was mentioning his son. like he's going to be a heck of a player. So it was good to see Jason and best wishes to his son who I believe if I remember correctly just finished minor midget a really good defenseman. If I'm off there, I apologize. But a good young player and all the best wishes to Jason and his family and

His young son as he launches his hockey career. What do you got sir? Nice so a few things here on the docket today first of all do you remember a player by the name of Dave Shand? Of course he was a defenseman He was true. He played for Washington. I think he played for Atlanta and he also played for the Maples. Yes, and he also played for the Peterborough Pete's with Greg Millen. Really? Yes, yes. So someone wrote this in anonymously, but wanted to shout out Dave Shan because we were

talking about, you told the Brad McCrimmon story a couple of pods back as we were discussing players that just the ice time unbelievable amounts and the legendary stories even before that stuff was tracked so there's a story with Dave Shan where they had one year their defenseman was blue line was decimated and one game it was three defensemen that they dressed and Dave Shan apparently played the entire game on the right side and Jerry West and Gary Purden switched off with one another on the left for an entire game.

He was the 60 minute man with the Peterborough Peets one year and so they just wrote in and said, Peterborough Peets fans of course have been affected along with the rest of us with the passing of Greg Millen and just wanted to share that tie in with what we were talking about a few weeks back and an old teammate of Millsie with the Pete's. So quickly looking up hockey database, that would be 1974-75. Doug Jarvis, the leading scorer on that team, Stan Jonathan among the other players

there. Wow, that's a, what do you think the chances are that the anonymous writer is Dave Shand himself? Don't want any credit here, but just going to slide this. But it was me. Yeah, but it was me. The goaltender on that team, by the way, Frank Salive, in addition to Greg Millen, Frank Salive later went into horse racing

and was one of the great voices of horse racing. Oh, great. Yes. Beautiful tie in there. All right, couple of voicemails here today as well. Elliot, the first one is Matt from Nova Scotia. Yes. Beautiful tie in there. Yes. All right. Couple of voicemails here today as well. Elliot, the first one is Matt from Nova Scotia. Hey boys, Matt from Nova Scotia.

So to Elliot and the gang, I have a question for you. Everyone's obviously talking about a bench game, his amazing record that he broke. But for some reason, I know people have mentioned it but it's way not talked about enough is Crosby's record of a point per game for 20 years in a row he broke a record that only Gretzky held and he is now standing by himself alone above everyone else in the league So what do you guys think is more impressive? The Avetskin goal record or Crosby being the most consistent and player for 20 years in NHL history? Personally I'm gonna say my homeboy Crosby from Nova

Scotia. He grew up five minutes from me. Kind of hard to not say that. But do you think there would be any other players as well that potentially could break Crosby's record being longevity is always an issue now. And I know you guys potentially said Matthews could break a best skins record. But do you think that is even a possibility? As I was listening to that before he said he was from Nova Scotia and grew up five minutes from Crosby, I was thinking to myself, guess which team or player this caller supports? I'm going to bet it's Sidney Crosby. And it was, of course.

And look, nobody is dissing Crosby in this. What he accomplished 20 years of point per game, it's incredible. And nobody is throwing dirt on Crosby's accomplishment here. It's like that tweet that one guy wrote where he says, you can say, I like pancakes and somebody will say, so you hate waffles? No, that's a whole new sentence. What on earth are you talking about?

You can appreciate both. It's no problem. No, that's a whole new sentence. What on earth are you talking about? You can appreciate both. It's no problem. Now looking at Crosby's 20 years of point per game, I mean, the guy you think of right now is Connor McDavid, who's just about to finish his 10th season of point per game. I mean, that's the guy who jumps into your memory, right? Like he's the first guy anybody would think of and we'll see he's got another decade of consistency to do it. People have to understand that this Ovechkin record it's the biggest, it's goals, it's hockey, it's like Barry Bonds

chasing Hank Aaron for the home run record. That is the sexiest record in the sport. It is the sexiest thing in the sports, aside from the broadcasters. Goals. So when everybody looks at this particular accomplishment, that's the big one. It's not waffles. I like waffles, therefore I hate pancakes. I like goals, therefore I hate points per game. It's just that this is the single biggest one and nobody ever thought it was going to get broken. The reason I mentioned Matthews as somebody who can break it, number one he's got to stay healthy, but right now his goals per game, 0.65, that's slightly ahead of Gretzky Novach skin's pace. They're at point six

So that's why people mention it, but he's 500 goals away right now. Like he's gonna have to stay healthy and stay consistent Yes, so you mentioned McDavid. He's halfway there. He's done at ten straight years Macklin Celebri I mean he's running out of racetrack here, but he's got 62 points in 66 games. I mean, if he keeps finishing the year with games like he had against Minnesota the other night, maybe he has a chance to finish the season point per game, and he could be off and running 19 years from now. So wait a second. You're mentioning a guy who hasn't even done it once.

Yeah. Well, because everyone goes to Conor McDavid. We don't give the obvious answers here. This is big brain section. This is galaxy brain section of the pod. Oh, it's galaxy bringing. All right. But you know what?

Hey, celebrate is a hell of a player. All right, Matt. Thank you for that one. Up next, Lorenzo from Lausanne, Switzerland. Wow. Hi Kyle, Switzerland. Wow. Hi, Kyle, Dom, and company. OK. Buongiorno.

Longtime listener on my work commutes, but first time writing. I must be one of the very few Italian guys in love with hockey, so much so I even tried to start playing at age 20. Good job. What position does a 20 year old guy with no skating experience play? You guessed it.

Goalie. Nice. What a disaster that was. Quick question for you regarding free agency. On July 1st, teams are only allowed to offer 7-year deals to players, even the ones that held their rights until June 30th. Would it be possible for a team to offer a 1-year deal at a very high AAV and tell them that once they sign, they will immediately work on another 7 or 8-year contract, bringing

it to 8 or even 9 years total? Would it be legal? Thanks for your amazing work PS. My nightmares are still haunted by Elliot's smooching sounds I'm glad those had such an effect on you. That was the entire goal first of all it's never too late to learn how to play hockey and Welcome we we love having. And I would say this, there are probably a lot of Italian people listening to this podcast right now who would be insulted that you would say Italians don't like hockey. At least in North America, they are some of

our more most passionate fans. Okay. So the situation that you're discussing here. Yes, the the short answer is yes that can happen and I'll give you a recent example. Yes, Barry caught Kenyami who not only was he signed to a one and an eight year deal. It-year offer sheet with the Carolina Hurricanes that the Montreal Canadians did not match in the summer of 2021. And his next contract was an eight-year deal with the Hurricanes at an AAV of $4.8 million. Now, I do think Montreal looked at that in a somewhat askance manner. And I think there was a slight investigation that was done to it but they were cleared. So yes you can do that the only rule is is that if you sign a player to a one-year deal he cannot be extended until after January 1st of the next calendar year. Very good Elliott Lorenzo thank you for

the question. Another voicemail up next. Taylor from Victoria. Hey guys, Taylor from Victoria here. Just looking at the Demidov contract and noticed that he has a signing bonus of $525,000 if he were to win the cons might I believe that's for like year two and three and AV down the line but I'm curious if there's ever been a rookie to win the cons might and if that hasn't happened who has played the least amount of games or which player has played the least amount of games and won the cons might let me know what you think. Thanks, love the pod, bye. Good question. Yes, the answer is yes, it has happened.

Is it Patrick Wa? He's one of them. I believe there are four such instances. Four rookies have won the Kahn's Mice? Yes, and there is a common thread between all of them besides the fact that they are rookies. I mean I assume there got to be goalies right? Yes. Was Cam Ward a rookie? Uh-huh. Okay so Cam Ward, Patrick Wa, Mike Vernon wasn't. I'm trying to remember the goalies who won the Con Smythe.

I'm going back to the history. There's another pretty famous one. Was Ron Hextall a rookie? Yes he was. Okay. The one I would have thought you've gotten first is the one that'll come last. Oh, because I'm kind of going back in my head through all the years. Oh, Ken Dryden. I was kind of going back in my head through all the years right Oh Ken Dryden bingo like I'm I was kind of going backwards

I started with wah and then although Can't pass forward yeah, and then I went backwards Wow, I that's amazing so four instances of that and Ken Dryden right he came into the fold He won the rookie. He's the only one who won the rookie of the year the next season. Correct. Yes. Because I think he only played six games. If I remember correctly, played six games that year 1971. And then the next year he won the rookie of the year. Right. I remember it like Matt Murray, with Pittsburgh. He hadn't played enough games in the 1516

year to lose his rookie status. So though he didn't want to con Smythe, but he didn't cross. I'm both then. Yeah. Yes. But he essentially won his second Stanley Cup when he was still considered a rookie. Wow. Seventeen.

That's a great question. Now, just just so to answer the CBA part of Taylor's question, there's a reason that they gave Demidov that bonus, $525,000 for the Con Smythe. When you sign this late in the season, there's a lot of bonuses you can't reach, just because you won't be able to play enough. And they won't let you add those bonuses to the contract.

They say there's no way you can qualify for them. You can't get them. We're not going to let you inflate the amount of your contract with bonuses that you cannot possibly get. So what they do is they put that in there. The same thing happened with Ryan Leonard of Washington. He got not the same amount. He got $275,000. But it's there. And the reason it is is entry-level contracts are three years. If you sign contracts for multi-years,

there's a limit to how much of a difference there can be between the highest paid year of the contract and the lowest paid year of the contract and the lowest paid year of the contract. It's basically you can call it the Luongo rule, you can call it the Zetterberg rule, you can call it whatever you want to call it, where there used to be huge differences between the highest year and the lowest year. This one, in this new CBA, they changed that.

So what that allows you to do is if you didn't have that bonus there, that potential bonus driving up the AAV of the contract, when you play your full seasons in year two and three, you would be eligible for less bonuses. So it's kind of an accounting trick. Yes, it is theoretically possible that Demidov and Leonard could win the Con Smythe, but it's more about an accounting trick for the second and third years of their deal. Right, helps convince the players to sign, right? Gives a little more incentive. Yes. Very good. Thank you, Taylor, for the voicemail. Okay, this next one, Kevin from Boston. Hey, Kyle, Elliott and Dom, I was at the Bruins game on Saturday where

at the Bruins game on Saturday where Pastas five-point night got him to 94 points on the season and with five games remaining it would not be surprising to see him hit a hundred points. In fact now he has hit a hundred points. So with the Bruins being one of the bottom five teams in the league I'm wondering if that is the most points from someone on a team that has finished so low in the standings. Thanks guys. Love the pot. Players do hit the century mark in points, Elliot, on teams that have finished in the bottom five of the league. Hmm. I'm guessing that's not the highest. There's got to be players who had massive points on terrible teams.

Yeah, I would say there's one other example of a guy that had a massive amount. Hold on one sec. I'm just looking up someone right now. The name that jumped into my head is a year that his team finished last in their division, but may not have finished in the bottom five of the league. By my count, there are one, two, three. I think they finished sixth lowest in the NHL, and that is Dennis Maruk of the 1981-82 Washington Capitals. He had 136 points, 60 goals and 76 assists.

The Capitals were 26, 41 and 13 as a team. Missed the playoffs, I believe, sixth worst in the NHL. Is that who you were referring to? No. It was not. But I still think it's a good one. Is that who you were referring to? No. It was not. But I still think it's a good one. It is a good one.

And it's only because, as you say, just outside the top five. What year are we looking at here? Excuse me, bottom five. So there is five other examples of this, of 100 points or more one recent one two happen in the same season both players rookies and two other examples from the 90s were Ovechkin and Crosby like in their first season bingo correct yeah oh five or six yeah there's no other one that made sense. Yes. So that's two of them.

Think about the recent one. That was a layup with slight defensive pressure. You should make that layup. Yes. That's how my middle school basketball team defended. That's what I gave you. Ha ha ha. All right, the recent one.

Very weak interior defense? Yes. Interior, exterior. More recent one. Two years ago. Is it Claude Giroud? No. So 2022-23? Yep.

Okay, Vegas won the Stanley Cup that year. Who would have been a big scorer on a terrible team? Was it a defenseman? Might have been. Was it Eric Carlson? Yes. Oh god. 90s, like the only people in the 90s off the top of my head I could think of, like when Anaheim was new, would it be like Paul career or something like that? No right headspace, but Not him Ilya Kovalchuk No All right, just just give it to me. We don't need to have

So 93 94 Wayne Gretzky 130 points on a Los Angeles Kings team. You know what I just sixty-six points. I was thinking Gretzky but I just wasn't sure if LA was that low. Okay. All right I should have just blurted it out. Never wrong going with Gretzky. And in 90-91 Joe Sackick a hundred and nine points on a Quebec Nordique team that won all of 16 games. Mm hmm. You know what? I'm a little disappointed I didn't guess those. I have to tell you. That's okay. That's what next week's for.

Bounce back. Redeem yourself. Hey, I've got another, we got a few more. It's too late in life to redeem myself, I have to say. You are what you are at this point, Elliot. No changing. We've got a few more submissions of first NHL game memories. Really?

Okay. Yeah, sure. Let's hear one. All right. David in Tampa. Hello Sportsnet stats peeps. Dom, Kyle and Freliet Eadman. Oh my God.

I almost wrote in after the first story of the father and child first game story. But after the second one on the pod, I had to write in. My dad is from Philadelphia and saw the Broad Street Bullies win both cups and I came home from the hospital in a Flyers jersey. bullies win both cups and I came home from the hospital in a Flyers jersey. My dad always loved the Flyers until the 96 playoffs when Eric Lindrass cheap-shotted Michelle Petit of the Lightning, but that's another story. My dad took me to my first game in March of 93, Lightning Red Wings. As you can imagine, the nearing their peak wings destroyed the expansion bolts 8-3, but 12-year-old David was hooked on hockey and I've loved it ever since.

Similar to the other story of sneaking into the forum, we were at opening night of the Ice Palace, now known as Amalie Arena, on October 20, 1996, and my dad comes and gets me out of our seats and says to come with him because he's found the Stanley Cup. First off I didn't believe him but then I followed him and sure as heck we walked through an open door into the fancy restaurant and lounge area and there it was. Not only did we get our picture taken with the Stanley Cup, we ate all the fancy food and rubbed elbows with people way above our pay grade. I have countless memories of going to games with my dad including the 1999

All-Star game which was Wayne Gretzky's last All-Star appearance. Sadly my dad has Alzheimer's and is in an assisted living facility now and barely remembers me, my mom, my wife and kids and that's only sometimes so hearing these stories was very emotional for me So I wanted to share mine because my dad means so much to me Thanks for all you do and keep up the good work go bolts PS as Elliot says It's a fool that sleeps on the Tampa Bay Lightning Well, first of all, it's a beautiful story and it's actually kind of fitting that it appears this week.

You know, Ray Shero passed this week and his dad, Fred, of course, was the coach of those Philadelphia Flyers. They won the Stanley Cups, the first expansion team to win it. So I think on some level, the cosmos align that that story gets told in this podcast. But I wish you the best to you and your family. Alzheimer's is very hard. And I just I'm just glad that you have those memories together, because those are great ones. You know, there is nothing better and I've seen it happen. And there is nothing better than if you, for example, get to go to a sporting event and you sneak into one of those suites

and you do get some time there to enjoy the food and enjoy the view, it is a great thing. So good on you and all the best to you and your family. Awesome. Great place to wrap up this edition of the Thoughtline. 1-833-311-3232 if you would like to leave a voicemail or you can submit an email at 32thoughts at sportsnet.ca. Thanks as always to Griffin Porter for helping curate this for us each and every week. We'll take one final break and come back to conclude this edition of 32 Thoughts, the podcast. Stay tuned.

Welcome back. Okay. Lots to keep an eye on across the network this final Weekend of the regular season as we get closer and closer to the Stanley Cup playoffs in cloning What I'm working too hard this weekend. I've decided. Oh Really? Yes. I know it's not Nice job, Dom. I know it's not rocket surgery, as I like to say, but Friday night, you're working to Montreal, Ottawa, right? Yes. And then Saturday, we've got Hockey Night in Canada.

Are you working that too? Are you working in Toronto, Montreal? I am. And then Sunday we've got the last Sportsnet Leaf Regional of the year, which is Toronto at Carolina. I'm going to be pooped by the end of this weekend. Will you guys have a monitor going in the studio of Corey Connors potentially on the second nine at Augusta going for the green jacket? You know what?

I'll give you one clue. So our last regional was against Anaheim two weeks ago, the game on the Sunday night in California. And when it was over, we get off the end, we're like, oh, we've only got one left. And one person on the crew said the only tough thing about that game is it's up against the last round of the masters i'll give you one guess which guy said it well it's either amber or kiprios you're gonna pick one

You're gonna pick one? I'll say Nick. No, you're wrong. It was Amber. Nick's a big golfer, so it's a good pick. That's why I went there. Justin actually is a big golfer too, but he's a professional, so he wouldn't say that. But not a surprise. Not a surprise, not a surprise. Amber was already doing flow charts

and Excel spreadsheets on how all the viewership was going to work. He's probably been doing it for three months already. Yes, that's right. He was trying to find the exact window when to have the one big question segment to maximize the viewership for that. Those two minutes. That is so true.

I'm laughing because it's true. So yeah, busy weekend on the network. Yeah, you've got like the American League schedule, eh? A little three and three. Yeah, seriously, three and three. You know what they say about that, by that third game you hope no scouts are watching, right? Like that's what it's going to be like on Sunday.

Yes. Yeah, another special national night for us Friday night, Montreal and Ottawa. Talk about a big game, 7 o'clock Eastern. All of a sudden, that one really matters. I don't know if anybody would have thought that at the beginning of the season, that on April 11th, Montreal, Ottawa would be such a big game with playoff implications,

but here we are. Here we are. What a treat. What a treat. 7 Eastern, 4 Pacific, pre. What a treat. Seven Eastern, four Pacific, a pregame show at six 30 Eastern. And later on that night on sports net three 60, you can see the sharks and the oilers at nine 30 Eastern, seven 30 mountain time

Saturday hockey central six 30 Eastern, three 30 Pacific. A couple of early games, as you alluded to Elliot Montreal and Toronto. Could that be a clinching night for the Canadians? We'll see Winnipeg and Chicago the other early game and then Minnesota and Vancouver is the nightcap and one other thing to keep an eye on nationally on Sunday we know Toronto's got their regional game they'll be in Carolina but on Sportsnet one the Calgary Flames and San Jose Sharks at 10 o'clock Eastern, 8 Mountain Time. The Flames

and the Sharks, Elliot. We'll see if we have anything left come Sunday night as we reconvene again to record the next edition of this podcast. Rest up. Don't tell me what to do. what to do. Have a good weekend everybody. Talk to you Monday.