32 Thoughts: The Podcast - The Easter Exit

Episode Date: April 6, 2026

In this episode of 32 Thoughts, Kyle Bukauskas and Elliotte Friedman react to a coaching change on Long Island as the Islanders replace Patrick Roy with Peter DeBoer. They touch on Philadelphia picking up a win on dollar soft-serve night with Porter Martone continuing to impress, while also noting the Flyers’ tough tiebreaker situation as the Eastern Conference playoff race tightens (23:00). The guys also discuss Tim Stützle’s underrated consistency (30:30), Detroit slipping and needing answers (32:30), and the Western Conference race heating up (40:20). They get into why the timing may not work between Toronto and Doug Armstrong (42:30), Kyle battling sleep in L.A. (45:00), and the Avalanche hosting an advanced stats event that Elliotte believes the league needs more of (47:00). The episode also covers growing interest in the Leafs’ GM role (57:00), Florida taking heat around the league (1:02:32), and a potential shift in CHL exceptional status for American players (1:04:53). The Final Thought honors broadcasting legends Vic Rauter and Scott Oake as they announce their retirements (1:10:01) Kyle and Elliotte answer listener questions in the Thoughtline (1:17:44) In the final segment Elliotte sits down for a one on one interview with Anze Kopitar of the LA Kings (1:39:04) Listen to all the 32 Thoughts music here. Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call the Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemail. This podcast was produced and mixed by Dominic Sramaty and hosted by Elliotte Friedman & Kyle Bukauskas. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates

Who's the guy who saved the three homers and there's the shot of him in the crowd holding up the ball? Yes, Joe Adele. First of all, that was one of the most incredible things I've ever seen. The guy making three catches in a game. Unbelievable. But that third one, that great photo of him standing up holding the ball, that would have been me with my 17th cup of soft serve ice cream. Welcome to 32 Thoughts, the podcast presented by your Canadian Toyota dealers and the 100% electric BZ, available now during red tag days. I'm Elliot and Kyle back with you.

We hope all who celebrated had a great Easter, having a great Passover as well. Elliot, for the second straight Sunday, we have a coaching change in the NHL. It was an Easter exit on Long Island. Patrick Waugh out after just over two years. He had two years remaining on his deal. In comes Peter DeBoer with turn. So the Islanders, they wake up Monday with four games left on their schedule. they have lost four in a row and are outside of the playoffs by a point.

Now, I kind of thought going into this year, easy to forget, this was a team playing with house money, the Matthew Schaefer story has been incredible. But I suppose if the person you want is available, you better get them before somebody else does. And perhaps it's a sign, Elliot, we are entering the go zone for the Islanders. 40 years ago, the Islanders had the Easter epic. Now they've got the Easter exit. That's what we're going with here. Yeah, we're workshopping it.

That's very good, Kyle. I have to say, I heard nothing you said after Easter exit because I was tying the two of them together in my head. That took you a long time. Older than you. There's something that you said there that. It's kind of stuck with me all day, and I've heard it repeated a lot. And I do think some of it is true. And that is about if you want to get someone, go out and get them before someone else does.

Peter DeBore could afford to be picky and choosy this year. He had a season left on his contract with Dallas. He was getting paid. He had the Olympics, so he knew he had something he could focus on. He didn't have to jump in to anything. But I think we all thought he was going to be somewhere next year. However, I don't only think this is about next season or the Allenders making sure they get their man before someone else did. I think this is about now.

Just like Vegas indicated that this year was still incredibly important to them, and they were not going to punt on this season, they fired DeBoer when they have four days off out of nowhere late in the season. Basically, Kyle, it's mini training camp time. You know, they could have said to DeBoer, hey, we're going to let this year play out. Don't sign anywhere until we speak to you.

We're interested in you in the off season. And we'll talk to you then. And who knows? Maybe DeBoer stepped up and said, hey, or his representative stepped up and said, hey, I've got another offer. But to me, this is about this year. This is about we're wobbly now. We're falling apart. We might miss the playoffs.

Like Saturday night, we had four early games and two late games, Kyle. I didn't watch a second of Islanders Carolina, but what I did do was look at the scoreboard and see at one point the shots of that game were 36 to 6. Like they were getting, and Carolina pommels a lot of teams at home. Yes, that is their emoll. They are the shot suppressors. They tilt the ice to their way.

They do this, I mean, maybe not to that extent, but they do this to a lot of people. And I just think that, yes, I understand the narrative that the islanders wanted DeBoer to be their guy not just now but for years to come. To me, this is about now. This is about we're not quitting on this year. And this is we want to make the playoffs this year. And we're hoping, like, DeBoer is an excellent X's and O's guy. Excellent. And they are hoping, like Vegas got the new coach bounce, right? There's the dead cat bounce and there's the new coach bounce. Vegas got it. They just beat Edmonton who had been owning them the last nine of the last 10 times they played and were red hot. They are hoping that they get that similar bounce to the end of the season and they get back in. This is not only about the future, this is about the present and can debaubour.

or write the ship. This is a big job, a big challenge, because, look, people who watch the island is closer than I do, they know that Sorokin has had a superhuman season, and he would be a very deserving winner of the Vezna Trophy if he gets it. And I'll say this,

I think you said it last pod, right? Sorokin deserves MVP consideration, too. Whether it was last pod or somewhere there, certainly if they get in, he should be talked about. Kyle just wants to everyone to know that he mentioned it I don't know when Kyle says

but I did say this you brought it up Schaefer is going to be rookie of the year and he could get MVP votes to 100% but other than that the Islanders underlying numbers they've been rough and if you go back to last season there were questions about

was system and Lamarrella and him didn't see eye to eye on the way they played. Well, now we're going to find out, is it system? Is it roster? Can Peter DeBore install something over the next three days that maybe makes a technical change that can pull them back in? That's one of the gambles here.

That's one of the bets. If you take a look at, if you ask people about Philadelphia, who's one of the teams has caught the islanders and is a half. ahead of them now and incredibly in the playoffs. They say that the Flyers adjusted some of the way they play in their defensive zone, and it's really helped them. Now, they're getting saves. Vladar's been pretty good most of the year,

and Erson has been much better since the Olympics. And we're going to talk about them. They've also had a great jolt. Martone had a big Sunday night. Forster coming back. Tippett's had a big second half, and ultimately players determine where you go, but they did tinker with their system too. And I think that's one of the Alters's short-term bets here. Can a great X's and O's coach, which DeBore is, can he redesign them in three days and help get them in? Never mind the future term that he got. What can he do now?

And it is, I mean, just the, especially when you consider this season, the fact that they've got three days starting two day before their next game. I mean, not a lot of teams have that particularly this late in the year. Everything has been so truncated. You've got a little bit of runway to try to instill whatever DeBore wants to hone in on right off the hop as he takes foot. behind the bench on Long Island. Because yes, like, Sorokin's been among the best. I think for anyone that tracks

the goals saved above expected stats, he's right up there in terms of the best in the league this year. But underneath all of that, there were a lot of red flags. And it's funny because for years, the islanders

were very good defensively, but they didn't have much punch at the other end of the ice. And And I'm not to say that as a group, they've been shooting the lights out offensively this season. But now it's the other side that's been the root of a lot of their problems and certainly of late here in losing the last four in a row. So where do you think it shifted?

Because I don't know. Or has it been the case all season where it's been a real priority from the top to get in the playoffs this year? Or was it the momentum of the Schaefer story and where, the team was starting to turn towards, did the expectations and maybe the goal for this year start to shift a bit for the organization? Well, there's a couple of things. I think what happens, Kyle, is that you kind of go where the season takes you. You know, when Matthew Darsh took the job, you know, they didn't talk about a total tear down and rebuild, right?

That wasn't what he pitched them on. and it wasn't what the organization wanted to see. And then they get Schaefer, and he exceeds expectations by a mile, and they're in the race, right? And you go this long being in there, and you feel pretty confident about being in there. And I don't want to say you count your chickens before they hatch.

I don't think you ever do that. but the thing I do believe is that the longer you're there, the harder it is to fall out, right? It's like, I always say this about the playoffs. The longer you go, the harder it is to lose. And like, just imagine, Kyle, if they were in, like, imagine you worked for the Islanders, you played for the Islanders, you were a fan of the Islanders, the longer they're in the playoff spot, the harder it is to miss. and I think that's what it is.

I think that, you know, the one thing I will say about their ownership, they fired Patrick Wa. I think he had two years left. And I know there's a dispute about four. I had someone said they thought it might be three and an option. You know, we'll see that'll sort itself out over the next few days. Ownership's eating a lot of money here. You know, Peter DeBore is not,

not you're not buying him off the shelves at Target. You are paying a premium for Peter DeBoer. And, you know, that says to me that that's an ownership that's committed. And I think that one of the reasons they'd be willing to do that is because they look at their group and say, man, we've been there all year and we think this guy can make a difference. Let's do it. Because, and I think that pain of missing potentially when you've been there all season plays a very big part of that. Like, you know, like Islanders ownership, the front office, they're human, right, Kyle? They, they want it so bad. You know, they see, like, this has been such a magical season in so many ways for the

Islanders, particularly around Schaefer. You know, Braden-Shend, waves is no trade, partially because of the Schaefer mystique. Like you don't want to lose that. You want to capitalize on that. And also, you know, when you make the playoffs, it does so much for your business. So, you know, it's like the old line. You can't make money without spending money. They're spending it to make it.

Like there's a commitment there. You know, I'm looking at their numbers. You look at the sport logic numbers, limiting scoring chances against. I see 27th, 26th, 32nd, 23rd, 23rd, 31st, right? And then limiting ozone possession time against, 25th, 31st, 22nd, 29th, 20th. Like, that's where they are. And Edmonton was another team that had really bad similar numbers and a lot of those things. And they've moved the needle.

You know, they're not, they were not good. for too long that they can really move too far up the list. But if you look at their numbers since we came back from the Olympics, they've improved. Now, you know, the one thing I want to say about DeBore is, everybody remembers what happened last year with Dallas. He took that shot at Ottinger and that was the end. And I think DeBore to me, and we talked about this,

he's like Cassidy. He'll get in there. Like if you take a look at the last four teams he's coached, he's made at least the Western Conference Final or the Conference Final in the first season. He was at all of these jobs, right? Mm-hmm. So it's going to be a big challenge to do that again this year. But he comes in and he ignites them fast.

And then he burns out quick. You've got, it's like Cassie, got three or four years. He's excellent technical. he's hard, hard, hard, hard on players. The one thing I heard from him after he was done in Dallas, and I heard this from players too, is that the more intense the games got or the bigger the stakes got,

the more stressed he got. Okay. And actually it was funny, we were talking about Travis Green a couple pods ago, like you taking credit it for Sorokan. I can't remember exactly which part. This is taken on this life here. It was.

But we talked about green, setting the tone for Ottawa in a positive way. We're not panicking. We've got this under control. And we are going to find ways at time. What one player told me was at times in Dallas, as the games got bigger, the stress that DeBoer felt, it manifested itself on the team. And he said, if the one lesson from his time in Dallas is that DeBoer is a little calmer as the games get bigger, he's going to be an even better coach.

That was the constructive criticism that I heard about him. Just calmer as it gets bigger. And, you know, he's been right there. He's knocked on the door over and over and over again. He's been to Stanley Cup finals, two of them. He's been to conference finals so many times. You've got to kick the door in. And sometimes you can't do it with your foot.

Sometimes you've got to pick the lock. The irony is is that his teams have never lost a game. seven that he's coached. I know. It's amazing. You know why? It's funny. I didn't even say that.

I wish I would have thought of that. But that's what... Should have called me. That's what the... What's that? You should have called me. I know. I wish you...

Why weren't you there with me? Exactly. Where were you? And then I would have said, hey, you should mention, ask about the game seven. That's right. Damn. You should be with me all the time.

Do you think... Do you have any sense that DeBoer coming off the Olympics, had he engaged or met with many other teams before this team up? The only thing I know is that Utah considered it. I don't know how far it went and the mammoth righted themselves. But Utah did think about it this year. I don't know if they ever asked for permission. I'm not sure how far that went.

but I heard from a pretty good source that they considered it at one point this year but they righted the ship and they stayed with what they have. Yes, and it looks to be a good move for them at this point. They're in a great position. By the way, I just want to say this about Patrick Waugh. He's one of the favorite from a media point of view.

He's one of my favorite people I've ever dealt with. I just find that anytime I talk about talk about hockey with him, I learned something. I don't know, there's not too many people who love hockey more than Patrick Gua does. And he waited a long time for this chance. And I hope I see him again. I really, really love talking hockey with Patrick Waugh. You know, I'll say this too, Kyle. Someone said to me, How can you fire somebody on Easter? And as I said to Ron, any holiday that involves chocolate is a sacred holiday.

Okay? Yeah. I don't care what denomination you are. Chocolate is sacred. And I just said, but I said to this person, this is business. We all know, as I, one of my lines, that's like. life in the big city, right? Sports, we've seen coaches, and I think Tom Golitti had the quote.

Peter DeBore once got fired on Christmas and rehired on Easter, resurrected on Easter. I've seen coaches in all different sports. I remember the Raiders, I think they fired Mike White on Christmas Day. I think the Chicago Bulls fired Bill Cartwright once, like either on Christmas Day or Christmas Eve or Boxing Day. DeBoar, I think, got fired on Boxing Day. Derek Lalonde and Detroit got fired just right after Christmas. Yeah.

What was Ron Wilson in Toronto? Was that Christmas Day or Boxing Day? No, that was the day he announced his extension. Oh, that was the extension. Yeah, sorry, it wasn't the firing. That was such an epic store. Oh, my God. I'm glad you're.

He got fired later in the season. Oh, that's right. But Ron Wilson hated the Toronto media so much. Right. He tweeted out that I got a guy. great Christmas gift today. And it was his extension. So all the reporters had to work over Christmas.

I forgot what it was. That reminds me, too. I reported, remember when the NHL had those Lake Tahoe games? I sure do. I reported that on January 1st of whatever year that was, that they were going to play those games. Emily Kaplan, the next time she saw me, she gave me a total stink eye. She said, you had to report that at New Year's Day at like 10 in the morning.

So what's wrong with you? That's what she said to me. What's wrong with you? I said, Emily, it's too early on that day. Emily, that question has a lot of variables. It could go in a lot of different directions. Yes. time do you have.

We were on those six-hour plane rides from Edmonton to Florida. I'm not even sure that that would have been enough time. Oh, yeah, that's right. That's right on the charter. Oh, even with the fuel up in Kansas City, still not enough time. Oh, my God, that Ron Wilson story, I completely forgot about that. I'm so glad you reminded me that. Anyway, that's life in the big city.

That's business. Can't get mad about that. You know, the thing that's really interesting, too, is that another thing that's business, when Vegas made the coaching change, they had to ask for permission to speak to Torterella. I asked when nobody would tell me. Tortorella was asked when he wouldn't say. I heard this was a whirlwind. That was the word I got, whirlwind.

I don't know exactly when they asked permission for Dallas to speak to DeBoer. but that's another thing about this business is that you don't make the change in a lot of cases unless you have someone. And that means, and I remember talking to a veteran coach about this once, and he said, I remember the first time that happened to me,

I was like, how dare this guy do that? How dare they do it to me? And then, you know, then he did it to somebody else. And he said, man, it's one of the things that sucks about it, because I know what it feels like, and I would never talk about it publicly. But I remember the first time I was asked about a guy who already had a job, and he said,

I said, you have a coach. And the GM or whoever it was said to him, look, I respect that that's how you feel. I think that's a really good thing that you, that's your first answer. But the bottom line is we might be making a change. we might have to do something here. Are you interested or not? And that was when he realized that that's just the reality of the world we've chosen. Hyman Roth, Godfather 2, this is the life we chose.

Yes, sir. And now the DeBorah minicamp begins today. Next game, Thursday against Toronto, four games left, all at home for the Islanders. The Leafs, the Sends, the Canadian. Canadians, the hurricanes, as they fight for their playoff lives. Okay, earlier, Elliot, you mentioned how sacred chocolate is, particularly on a holiday. Yes?

You know how I knew that the Flyers were going to win on Sunday? How's that? They had a promotion at the rink on Sunday, $1 ice cream. When I saw that, I'm like, there's no way you lose on dollar ice cream day. No way. How much would you have spent on ice cream, on dollar ice cream day? Man, like I shudder to think, especially if it's soft serve. Oh, if I handed you a $20 bill, would you have had change?

Yeah, I would have left a few tracks for the jukebox, but not many. But a couple of hits. How much ice cream can you eat in one sitting? Like, if you were sitting down at night, If you were sitting down at night and you had a liter tub. No, that's because that's gluttonous. That's a little gluttonous, ain't it? You know, you got to have a bit of self-restraint.

Dom just said a full pint of Hagen-Daws. Hagen-Daz, I would consider. But anyway, you know, you know me, I like to do the toppings with the softserve. Yeah, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Just load it up. I'm glad I was in Philadelphia. I would have been like, I would have been knocking over kids in the line.

Hey, coming back for more. You would have been, we, I don't know, for those that saw the image of, that fan of the, was at the Pittsburgh Pirates game over the weekend,

getting some sun. Come on dollar ice cream night. I would have been like, who's the guy who saved the three homers and there's the shot of him in the crowd holding up the ball? Yes, Joe Adele. First of all,

That was one of the most incredible things I've ever seen. The guy making three catches in a game. Unbelievable. But that third one, that great photo of him standing up holding the ball, that would have been me with my 17th cup of soft serve ice cream. Kyle, you know how I knew Philly was going to win on Sunday, too? Beyond the dollar ice cream? No, how did you know?

When they pulled out Lauren Hart and God bless America. Oh, yes. That's a double whammy. Yes, because there was a time when you played God Bless America before a Flyers game. It was over before the puck dropped. So, Martone, wow, does that kid look fantastic. It's early. And you hope when a kid comes in, there's that jolt.

Even though technically you're a boy against men still, you heard Breyer talk about how much he's physically changed in a year. He looks tremendous. He had an assist, which was beautiful. He scored the winning goal. You know, like I said, Forster's back. He's given them a lift. Tip, it's been huge.

The guy I'm really, there's two guys I'm really happy for. One is Erson and the other is Jamie Drysdale. And, you know, Vladar has been steady all year. Erson has finally given them some good games. really good since the Olympics. He was struggling. Like you worried about his future there. We'll see now.

But Drysdale, too. Like, he's part of that deal with Gochay. And every time Gocee scores, like, Drysdale has shown that he is, you know, the toughest thing is to be the other player in that deal, right? Because you're always comparing yourself to the guy that got traded for.

Well, now at least you can look at Drysdale and you can see he's carved out a role. You know, he's, we have an idea of what he's going to be. and you do see a long NHL career for him at a pretty critical position. Now, the Flyers still have to wrap it up here, but they have been fantastic. You can't help but be incredibly impressed with the way Phillies come here and made a run out of this. You know, I'll say this too. Tocott has been kind of a lightning rod this year.

they had a video of him post game a couple of about a week ago that was really good so one of the things that Washington's been really good at is running those carbary videos they make him look like a coach that you want to run through walls for Philly's got to show more of those things talk it is really good in those moments Carolina does it with Brindamore brindamore when Brindamore talks like you can see why he's so incredibly important to those organizations. All those guys are riveted to everything he says. But I remember I saw that one and I was like, I got to see more of that.

Yeah. Yeah. It's interesting. So Martone gets interviewed on TNT after he gets the overtime winner and he kind of unprompted, shouted out, talk it for just like not overloading him with information when he first came in, just letting him go out and play. I know you hear that a lot. certainly for a player in Martone's position. But for him to mention that there was like, okay, understanding, of course, as you say,

the Lightning Rod aspect, the Tockev storyline that's been there through much of the season Philly, I thought that was noteworthy there. And also, I think port, like, as we talked about now, that things are changing when it comes to 19-year-olds in the first round being eligible to go in the H.L.

like it's for the Porter Martone types. Like that would have been a guy earmarked for going to the American League. Of course, has a great year at Michigan State. Their season ends a bit earlier than I'm sure he had anticipated. But to Breyer's point of how much he's grown physically in that time, that's going to be so valuable for teams moving forward to be able to place players that are in that zone to be able to go to the American League a little bit earlier

than how it's constructed. right now. But yeah, Philadelphia kind of out of nowhere as we were all watching the Islanders, the Red Wings, the Blue Jackets, the Senators, Boston, of course, they've pulled away a little bit there in the race and are sitting a little more comfortably. They get an extra point here in the overtime loss. But almost out of nowhere through all of that has been the flyers. And as you say, there's a whole host of reasons why. But whether it's the gold tending, being better. I really enjoy watching Owen Tippett, don't you?

Big body and man does he fly. I know he's been a great skater for a long time, but it's really impressive when you're seeing him put it all together. You know, one other thing I would say about Talkett, too, is that if you're on that team Canada staff, like John Cooper is the motivator, right? He's the guy who's there to push

all the buttons. So the other guys who were there, DeBore Casti Tocket, they got to be the technicians. They got to be the guys who, you know, basically are responsible for things. So talking to me, he's got to be a good technical coach. Now, I think he'd be a guy that drives you hard because he made the NHL and played a thousand games the hard way on effort. But he, you know, we talked about, and I have to watch it closer. Somebody sent me some video and I have to look at it, but I'm on vacation this week, so I won't be looking at it this week. Just about some of the changes that they made defensively.

And it's a small thing that you probably wouldn't notice as much. Like, I sometimes miss these details, but oftentimes a small thing can be a big thing, and it's really helped them. The only thing I don't like for Philly is their tiebreaker. That's what I don't like for them. They're at 24. It's a bad tiebreaker. They won't catch Ottawa.

They won't catch the island. They won't catch Detroit and they probably won't catch Columbus 27. So, you know, that's the big challenge there. Philly has to win. They have to win games. They can't be tied with anybody. That's their biggest issue. You know, elsewhere in the east, Brady Kachuk, big game on Sunday, scored a couple of goals.

We talked about that brutal trip to Carolina when you get that 5 o'clock Sunday game after playing at 7 o'clock the night before, and you get that second game in Carolina at 5, and they're just waiting to you to pound you into oblivion. Well, they got the other end of that. They got beat by Ottawa. And, you know, in all of the drama this year, you know who has not gotten enough credit in Ottawa?

Who? Stutzler. I agree. What a goal Sunday. You know, I'm starting to go through my ballot now. And he's probably not going to be on my heart ballot, but I do a long list of who could I vote for. He's on it.

I don't think he's going to be there. I just think there's too much competition. But he has had just a completely, we're going to talk about consistency. Kyle, and when we talk about some people in our business in a few minutes, to me, this is. been an incredibly consistent year from him. He has just always shown up.

He's always shown up to play. And this has been a year, every Sanders fan knows it. It's high, low. It's like the roller coaster of emotions. If you are a dating relationship, there's no way you would have last. It's too hard. But Stutzland and me, day in, day out, he's been excellent. And he was again on Sunday.

We've talked about the Islanders. Columbus, they're running out of gas. So many injuries. You can just see it. They're still there. It's not impossible, but they're on fumes and Detroit. Boy, that was a disappointing one on Sunday. To fall behind like that and then tie and then lose on a power play goal late in the third period.

That one, those losses, they ripped the heart out of you. you. And you know what? We've talked about it with bonus and what a great year he's done. I gritted my teeth and that was like, uh, when I saw his quotes from the game during the week.

The one where he talked about selfish and stuff like that. Look, I, and McClellan's had a few post games like that. And look, the one thing is, I get it. These guys are fierce, fierce

competitors. And when you shove a mic into, I'm responsible for this, I've done this, when you shove a mic into Rick Bonas's face 20 minutes after a game like that, he's such a fierce competitor, that's what you're going to get. Like I always remembered that. We expect these guys, players, coaches to compete and care just as much as fans do. And if you lose a tough game, especially at this time of year, you stick in the mic in their face less than half hour after it's over, you can get that. And I'm never going to criticize. We always say, hey, we rip them when we're boring. We can't rip them when we're honest. I just think, like, those Columbus guys have played their hearts out to get back into the race. That's a tough thing to hear. Right. Like,

they had a big like you almost have to I think it's like I thought about like what if I was a PR guy in a situation like that what I would try to do and Columbus is one of the best in in Todd Chirac I would be like I would stand between Rick Bonas and the door of his coach's office I'd say Rick, I'm not letting you out there until you've seen this. Because it's like, you know, they had a big players and only meeting after the loss of the Jets on Saturday. I guess they were there for like 20 minutes or something like that. I understand it's frustrating. I understand it's hard.

But those guys have played their hearts out and they're really beaten up. And I just think in that moment, I don't know. I think sometimes you need the Velvet Glove. like McClellan clobbered the red wings early in the season and he was right and it got them going and look I think the red wings and the blue jackets are two different things. I think that if the red wings don't make it this year and again they still have time this is not over but to me like we talked about the disappointment of being there and not making it for the islanders if the red wings don't make it that disappointment is going to be just as great because it's how

many years in a row, they've been right there and they can't seal the deal. They can't do it. And you know a guy like Eiserman whose nickname was cutthroat and would do anything to win, he's going to be looking at this saying, I can't believe this. And I have to do something about this. This is too much. In Columbus, I think it's a little different because they were really struggling and they fought their way back in. But I just think at this time of the year, you've got to be so careful what you say because your players can be like,

really? Like, this is how hard we're going and this is what we get. And, you know, I think it's a little different in Detroit because they've been so close and they haven't got there. And McClellan and Eisenman might think the tough love is what it needs.

I just, I know bonus, I know how much he cares, I know how badly he wants to win. I just watched that one last week and I was like, oh, that's going to be a tough one for this team to handle. Yes, as like Detroit, they were, by and large, free and clear. I think they had, what, a 12 point cushion in January? Like, they had put themselves in a really good spot. So all of that leading to, as you say, how difficult it is now. sitting here at the possibility of them missing outright again, knowing how long it's been. And I don't like to use the word fragile because I'm not in there.

I don't know what's really going on, but it just seemed like, especially on Sunday there, like that first Caprizov goal to go up two to one and it's kind of the odd bounce off the inside of his leg and it gets through Talbot and it just seemed like, you know, the scoreboard said two to one, but it felt like it was four to one. you know, and then it became 4 to 1 before they finally started to dig in. And I think we've seen that a few times with Detroit here lately. You could just tell. And who was it that?

I think it was Craig Simpson because we were doing the Los Angeles Toronto game over the weekend. And of course, the game didn't mean the whole lot to Toronto, but it meant everything to the Kings. And they had to battle their own internal demons to, as they always do now, into overtime they go. Almost half their seat, like 38% of their season into overtime. It's crazy. But his point of, you know, you want something so bad. And sometimes you just, you find yourself a situation that's going,

why is it not all coming together for us? It's not for a lack of want or not for a lack of care or effort. Detroit's just in that spot right now. You know, the other thing, too, is that I saw people ripping Comfer for his post game. Okay. That's fine. He's in shock. And here's the thing.

If I was a Red Wing player, I would have gone home on Sunday night and I would look at myself in the mirror and I would have just said like, what's wrong with me here? Why is this happening year after year after year? I would be looking at myself saying, what am I doing wrong?

Like you can't It's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's not anyone else's fault it's like that's the way I would be thinking I would be like what have what have what have what have what have I done here how come I haven't made a difference and and like I said I saw people ripping that comfort bit and he's in shock he's like I cannot believe this happened to us I cannot believe that we're in this position again and they are So they're at 88 points. They're two out. Islanders one out.

Columbus two out. Washington, three out. They played an extra game. It's unbelievable with them. Like win, lose, get clobbered, kill somebody. Right. They're annihilated by the Rangers. The Rangers are killing.

The Rangers are playing out of playoffs now. I see all the Rangers fans on social media getting mad at their wins. We're rooting our lottery odds. Yeah, I know. Them and Flames fans can resonate with them on that. But Ottawa hanging down that final spot at the 90 points and five games to play. In the West, that was a great game, by the way, late Sunday night, Colorado, St. Louis, Hatrick, Robert Thomas.

Oh, what a game. Snuggarood Holloway line. Just incredible for them. They are hanging around. They're hanging around. Now, there are three points out, but with a few teams to jump over, but they're still there. They have a good tiebreaker, though. That's the team in the rearview mirror you have to be nervous about because they have the great tiebreaker.

You know, I was watching that and I'm thinking of myself, how can you trade this guy? I was thinking of the same. I'm like, really? This is the guy that they're looking at trading? the more I look at that and I do think they thought about it like it was legit as he has said they never came to him

but I do think they looked into it was serious the more I watch it now the more I think they just not want to light a fire under the guy it's it would fit their history no yes I mean whether that did it or not

he's playing great right now. So for now, because of that game, we still don't have the locked in Dallas, Minnesota first round series. Correct. Yeah, Colorado could have clinched the conference in the division Sunday night, but they did not do it.

Yeah, I watched Thomas and I was thinking, I've thought that a bit, that they wanted it known that they were talking about him, and I think they, to me, the most likely team was always Utah, and they felt that, I think at the end, they felt that Utah wouldn't put Denway or a Gindla in it, and they weren't doing it without at least one of them. But I don't think the blues were too unhappy for Thomas to see if Thomas felt a little uncomfortable with it. by the way, I mentioned on Saturday, I don't think the timing is going to work out here

between the Maple Leafs and the Blues on Doug Armstrong. It's the second time, you know, the first time, as I mentioned, there were some people in Maple Leaf's organization who wanted to talk to Armstrong when Tree Living was hired, and St. Louis was like, no, like, we're not doing this. So they never did. And I don't know what the case is here, but I do think the blues, like Jeremy Rutherford wrote an article, like the timing is not right for the blues. I don't think Jeremy writes that.

That to me was the kind of the red alert of the whole situation. I don't think he writes that unless he knows. And everything I've heard in the aftermath of that is that it appears to be the case. I'll say this too quickly about Toronto. I don't think Toronto was going to go after DeBoer. I think if they wanted to hire him, they could have done it earlier in the year. I just,

my theory on Toronto is if they do make a coaching change, maybe like a Mani Malhotra is the kind of guy that they look at. So an up-and-comer. An up-and-comer. just this I would and again this is just listening to Pelly talk and going back over that

press conference and seeing what he's kind of looking at I think early in this search I think they want to try something a bit different does it not feel like 2014 in a lot of ways like is that not what Tim Lywicky back then was kind of envisioning for the future

as they charted a path out of what had been a very dark period of Maple Leafs hockey. Now, ultimately they did hire Babcock. Yes. Coaching-wise, they went there before going elsewhere, but I mean from Shanahan to Dubus and how that whole department all changed. Yeah, and Babcock built a structure for them. He absolutely did.

But I, you know, I heard some people, they like, I had some people texting me. Do you think Toronto could have taken DeBoer? that's why the Islanders did it. I don't think it was going to be Toronto. I do think somebody would have done it, but I'm not convinced it would have been Toronto. Hmm.

Okay. I don't know how we got off on this tangent. How was L.A. on the weekend? By the way, I heard a story about you. Okay. You had a big dinner Thursday night, right? I did, yeah. I heard you were falling asleep.

It was after dinner. Oh, it was after dinner. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I ran out of steam. They didn't draw on your face or anything like that. No, they were very nice. It was just kind of the dozing at like the heavy head, had the bobblehead going. It was a very comfy couch for sitting on.

I don't know what you want me to say. They were understanding. They said you'd been up since 3 a.m. And they didn't rip you, but they did say you started to nod off at the end of the night. Yes. It had nothing to do with the company. It was a great time. I also just wanted to shout out.

Elliot Parker Kelly Forever be known now as a 20 goal score in the National Hockey League undrafted guy shows up in Ottawa system years ago

earns his first shot in the bigs purely on hard work and determined to get a shot and then goes from there and finds a role

on one of the best teams in hockey and he's parlayed that into a new contract and now a career year. I've got a lot of time for that guy. And of course, it dates back to being around him on a regular basis living in Ottawa and covering the senators there.

I was really happy to see that and him reach a milestone like that because I'm not sure many people ever saw him as a 20 goal scorer in the NHL. So good for him. I agree with you. That's a great story. Great call out. And so the Avalanche hosted a sports analytics event.

Yes. Last week, right? And I said to Eric Parnas, who runs this for the avalanche, a really sharp young guy, I sent him a note and I said, you've got to publicize this a bit more. Like, I didn't know anything. And I confess it could be my fault as much as anyone else's. But I don't think a lot of people really knew about it. And so I asked some people that you know this was going on and they were like, not really.

But I went back and I was able to ask some people a bit more. And I love this kind of stuff. I think the NHL should be doing more of it. I think the NHL should have things like this around the draft. Like when we talk about how it's not an in-person draft anymore, how can the NHL make it an event? they should be having an NHL advanced stats advanced like this. But, you know, one of the things the Jared Bednar talked about was all the different things he checks out.

But Parker Kelly is a victory for whether it's analytics or scouting in general. This is why I think that pro scouting is the most, one of the most important skills a team can have. because there was something that the avalanche saw in Parker Kelly, whether it was the numbers or the person at the, the avalanche scout who was at the games, they found a guy who was a perfect fit, a perfect fit. And I just think that there's always going to be guys who don't,

Brian Burke would always say the word pop. There's always going to be guys who don't pop in one organization, but that doesn't mean they can't pop in yours. Kelly is a perfect example. We talked about Alex Steve's last pod. I just think that I think finding guys like that, particularly on a team like the avalanche where you've got McKinnon making 12.5.

McCar's about to make, if he wants it, McCar's going to be making 15 million. You've got NACIS at 10. You've got to find guys like that. I'm glad you shouted him out. because I wanted to mention that event that they held. You know, there was, they, I saw some quotes after it was over about quantifying forechecking, finding a way to put numbers to who's a good forechecker and who isn't.

And Parker Kelly said, yes, I'd like to hear that too because I bet you I'm pretty good at it, basically. But, yes, he is. Scotty Bowman in the 70s, when he coached the Canadians, the players would tell you he knew puck battles. He kept score of puck battles. Who won the puck battle and who didn't? And he knew which of his guys were good at it. He knew which of his guys weren't.

He would look and say, here's the puck battle over here. Mario Trombly, you won this battle. Doug Reisbrow, you lost it. He knew all this stuff. and so when people talk about advanced stats I think people like Bowman were doing stuff like this 30, 40, 50 years ago and to me it's that simple

you could count it puck battle who won it there's a puck battle Adam Oates also said another thing I really remember he said can you tie a puck battle or can you win a puck battle I said what's the difference and he talked about one player he used to coach

I'm not going to say who this player was. But he said he liked the player, but the thing that he realized that that player couldn't be the best was because he could only tie puck battles. And that meant that in order for his team to win them, a second player had to come in and get the puck. Needed help.

And I always, I never forgot. That's one thing I always watch, always watch for. Can you tie them or win them? And I think if you want to come up with a number, just do it. I think that's all you need to do. Win, lost, tie. Big time.

Big time. So he's excellent at it and has now turned into a pretty good goal score as well. So big win for St. Louis. They're sticking around. I also have to say to, L.A., like a little over a week ago, I'm watching San Jose, and I'm thinking, man, nothing wrong with this, but I thought has Celebrini, has the gats. gas run a little bit empty here.

Like they finally, and the team itself, like they ran out of, out of the energy required to keep pushing. Turns out no, they haven't yet. I know it was a tough loss against Nashville of all teams on Saturday, but they remain right in the mix. I still, after seeing what they've done here the last week,

I'm withholding judgment. I'm going, they may still have some magic left in them, yet. I know for one way or another, whether it's losses that have piled up or teams that have gotten hot, there's still so much to be determined in both conferences at the bottom of those playoff races. A little under two weeks left here of the regular season. And there's plenty of reasons to tune in every night, which is fantastic. I can already hear this at the game one of the Stanley Cup final. Betman. How about this playoffs? Yes, yes. Really boring this year, hey guys? Expanded playoffs, you still want your expanded playoffs? Well, yes, I do, but you were right this season.

It was very exciting. Yes. Nashville, L.A., again on Monday night. So did you see the Evangelist, a winner in the shootout? Yes. Do you think he did it on purpose? Yes. You did, eh?

Yeah, I do. I was exhausted that night. I needed to go to bed. It was the last game. Evidently so was I. I tweeted that he lost the puck. And in the morning, I had a couple of texts from people saying he didn't lose. He did it on purpose.

I was like, maybe I was too tired to notice. You think he did it on purpose? I don't know. I just, the skill now, I think there's, yeah, I'm willing to believe that. Okay. It was all part of the plan. So Nashville almost coughs up a hairball in San Jose, finds a way. St. Louis and Winnipeg.

still alive, and St. Louis and Winnipeg have good tiebreaker numbers. St. Louis 29, the best of all those teams, Winnipeg 26 tied with Nashville for second. You know, I think it's pretty simple. Like, right now, you do the math, you look at the numbers, and you look at the tiebreakers, this is Nashville's job spot to lose. They're in control. They're the one team that controls their own destiny. And I just rewatch that Evangelise to shootout winner. Zero percent chance

that he lost the puck. That was all part of the plan. You're doubling down, eh? Yes. Too smooth. Too smooth. Was anything interesting with you in L.A. this weekend, aside from falling asleep on Amber and B.XA.?

Yeah. Well, it was the full L.A. King's experience. Down early, they come rushing back, third period is all chaotic and it gets to overtime and they get the two points. I still couldn't find out whatever the heck it was that Matthew and I said to Scott Lotton,

but boy, it struck a nerve because he came in with a purpose there after that Toronto Power Play goal. And what's interesting, because Lottin had dinner with half the team the night before. I wonder if Nyes was there. Manhattan Beach.

I didn't get specifics on which of the 10 guys were all there. But anyway, but as you know, Lotton's a competitor, so too as Nyes. It was just, it was a little surprising to see. And, you know, like when both Cowan and Nyes were asked about a post game, neither were exactly laughing it off. It was interesting. was interesting. But L.A. somehow, and you can even see just some of the members of the organization around

there on Saturday. It's like, hey, you guys are in it and they're kind of shaking their heads going, yes, like they're, they can't believe it. It's just been such a bizarre year, but they're going, yeah, we're still right there. And two big points on Saturday is their seven-game homestand continues here. It's just been an odd year for L.A., but with the way the West has unraveled. They've got a chance. By the way, great one by the S.N.

Stats crew on Saturday night. Quentin Bifield, the first player in history to score more than one overtime goal against the Maple Leafs in the same regular season. And he's a hometown guy,

as you know. Did it in Toronto, does it in L.A. It was a good night for Byfield on, on Saturday. Oh, we're going to get to more consistency stuff here at a moment, but we should also mention Sidney Crosby,

21 straight years of over a one pre game. No one else in the history of the NHL can say they did that. He stands alone. I hope he goes for 25. Yeah. Don't we all? Because that would mean one more Olympics. That would mean one more Olympics.

He has to go back. He has to go back to the Olympics. He can't let it end that way. Yeah, I agree. You mentioned Toronto briefly with the Doug Armstrong. Is there anything else you wanted to add or clarify from the GM search talk we had on Friday? Yeah, I just, a couple of things. Number one, as I said on Saturday, I do think, I heard this from a few different people.

I do think the sunny meta interest is real and we'll see where it goes. That's one. This is my personal opinion. I also wonder about Kevin Adams for this job because the more I've heard about him and what Pelley said, I think there's a lot of similarity. and you know one of the things someone said to me was they signed Matia Samuelson to a big contract kind of out of nowhere and they made an analytic bet on that one and it didn't start out great but boy it looks really good now

and apparently that's a lot of the reason that Adams made some of the decisions that they did It took a lot longer than I think anybody wanted or hoped. But, hey, this is a results-oriented business, and it looks that way now. So I could see it. But I also heard on Sunday that, and I actually heard this internally, it was kind of like, we're shutting this down. There's too much talk.

Oh, really? Yeah. Yeah. Like it got crazy last week. You know, it just with all, it was the first week and we're all throwing out candidates and I'm just as guilty as anyone else. I think the least want to lock it down a little bit. Okay. And I think the other thing too is that, you know, we talked about the Zoom call.

And I guess it was, as you can imagine, it's been pretty intense there. And there are some people who. don't like how things were being portrayed are kind of starting to push back and say, hey, there's a lot of blame to go around here. Inevitably, when you get into this situation and the threat of big change coming, I can totally see it.

And Nashville will see if this is the week. They had in-person visits last week, I believe Brett Peterson from Florida, Bill Scott from Edmonton, Darren York from Carolina. They asked permission to talk to Eric Tulski. They were denied, bold, bold request. Interesting one, yes. Yeah, bold requests.

But we'll see if this is the group they're choosing from and if they are making a decision or there's anyone else out there I'm missing. You know what? Kyle, you started the podcast with all. the surprises. I think we should be ready for anything. And last thing I just wanted to mention about the Western Conference, we talked a little bit about Tortorella and Vegas.

They needed that game in Edmonton on Saturday night. Edmonton has pounded them, pounded them in the playoffs, pounded one nine in the last 10. Edmonton won five in a row going into that game. and they just needed to remind them that they share the block. Edmonton's not just the bully on the block. They share the block, and they did. And it was a rare bad one for the Oilers lately.

They've been a lot better. Four of the goals were what rush goals that they couldn't sort out. But I really thought that that was a game Vegas had to have over the Oilers. I don't like this for Anaheim. I don't think they're going to win this division. I think either Edmonton or Vegas is going to do it. And that means Anaheim is going to get one of them in the first round, but it's going to be a victory for the docks if they even get there.

It's just that they're going through their worst stretch at the worst possible time. And before we go to our final topics here, I want to talk about Florida briefly for a second here. Sure. So everyone's getting their licks in. after three trips to the finals and two Stanley Cups, did you see Tampa celebrate their elimination by putting tweets up on the Chobotron? Yes.

Oh. That's a big screen down there in Tampa. And then they got hounded twice in a row by Pittsburgh. You just talked about Crosby. What a year for the penguins. But Parker Wetherspoon took the big shot at Cachuk. Everybody's getting their licks in on the Panthers. and they've simply run out of gas.

It happens. They've run out of gas. I could just see the Panthers like, take a number, take a number, take a number, take a number, we'll see you next year. One of the big off-season stories I think in the league is going to be what the Panthers do with that pick. Do they keep it, especially if it ends up being a high pick? Do they keep it or do they trade it for the best available player? And now they're one point below Toronto.

Yep. With a huge tankathon game next Saturday night on hockey night in Canada. Yes. What a way to wrap up. But geez. Like, you're going, are they going to get in under the Leafs, bump Toronto just out of the top five? And then that goes to Boston.

Anyway, like there's still so much chaos that could be had. Like the Panthers may not be doing Panthers things in the playoffs this spring, but it could be very well doing Panthers things by way of the draft lottery and all the types of ways they can flex their muscle. I'm very curious to see what's going to happen with that pick. You know, if it ends up being one or two, I don't know that you're trading it. But if it ends up in that next little area, I don't know. Just watch.

That would be the regime to consider it. Yes. All right. So before we get to the final thought, the final item you had on headlines on Saturday, Cade O'Rourke, star with the Toronto Junior Canadians from Texas. Could an American be the next player granted exceptional status? Canadian Hockey League. So the OHL draft isn't until June 12th.

They got time here. The last one to get it in the OHL was Michael Mesa, and they did it 15 days before the draft. So there's some time here if they want to stick to that timeline. Some of the people I know at the OHL Cup thought that a decision could come today, but I don't believe that's true. So the interesting thing about this story is he was born in Texas, and as you mentioned, he's lived for the last four years in Toronto playing for the junior Canadians. No full U.S. born player has ever been named as an exceptional status player.

Shondae was a dual citizen. He's the closest. And I have heard that that. could be, could be a thing here. Let me just say, I think that's crazy. There is a battle for players, and everybody is worried about losing players. If you have the opportunity to add this player, if you don't think he's ready for this, that's one thing.

You cannot make this decision simply because he's not a partial Canadian. Like when I heard this on the weekend, I said, I really hope. whole, that's not the reason. You are battling for talent. You take the player if he's ready. Who cares where they're from? Players from all over the world come and play in the Canadian hockey league. Just do it if that's the reason.

Now, you may have heard of this podcaster, Jeff Merrick, you heard of him? Yes. Okay, just making sure. Have you? Have you? Yes. I just want to make sure you were. familiar with his work. Yes. So O'Rourke was born in Texas, and technically that's WHL

property. And Merrick had heard that maybe one of the issues was the Western Hockey League felt that if he was going to go anywhere early, it was to them. And I also, but then I heard since Jeff had uncovered that, which was a good angle, I wasn't aware of that, that apparently O'Rourke and his representation feel that he has established himself as an itarian and he should be taken there. So there was an interesting little angle that he worked out, Jeff, but I think that this has been sort,

that part has been sorted. But, you know, I saw the goal. They lost in the final, Detroit, Honeybaked won the championship of the OHL Cup, but I saw the goal he scored in the semifinal to put the junior Canadians into. the championship game. And I was like, wow, what a talent. And he looks bigger than everybody else.

Now, he's 15. He'd be playing against much older players if he went to the OHL next year. So the physical advantage might disappear. Again, if they don't think he's ready, that's one thing. I just hope it's not because he's not part Canadian somewhere. I don't think the CHL can afford that right now. I don't think that's a place they want to go, particularly at least since I'm hearing that in some of these other leagues,

like I had a couple people reach out to me on Sunday as part of this. And they were like with all the player transfers, leagues like the USHL now, they might try to get more guarantees about penalties if you leave early. And could the CHL do that too? And, you know, it's a battle out there.

It's a fight for bodies. You've got someone who wants to play for you. It has to be a better reason than that not to make it work. Yeah, especially if he's spent the last four years in Toronto playing presumably in the GTHL. Like, don't now decide, well, hold on. He's not Canadian. How can we proceed with this? Yeah.

I hope. By the way, Cato Ork born January 2011, he has almost lived his entire existence without knowing what Buffalo Sabres playoff hockey looks like. And is now potentially on the cusp of being drafted at the OHL. It's incredible. Beer Sabre back Monday night. Yes, you mentioned that to me. And who are they playing again Monday?

Oh, right, Tampa. That's a match made in heaven. There'll be a lot of beer savers consumed. Yes. Probably even, too, the actual saber. Okay, let's get to the final thought, which is brought to you, presented by the Toyota BZ. Elliot, it was a tough weekend for the Canadian sports media landscape.

So Vic Router, over 40 years of brilliance, he made the final one last time as he now enters retirement. And we wish Vic all the very best in his next chapter of his life. And then late Saturday night, our Scott Oak announced this season is going to be, it for him. It's time for his retirement for broadcasting. So Saturday, this coming Saturday, will be his final after hours and then one more playoff run over 50 years in the business. The majority of those with Hockey Night in Canada and CBC Sports, you've been his teammate since 2003 Elliot. So what was your reaction to all of this? I'm not yet ready to get into my thoughts about Scott Oak. I want to do this.

and I want it to be done a certain way. So I reserve the right to not say anything about it or at least properly say goodbye until his last broadcast. We know his last after hours is this week, but he's going to do some playoffs. I believe there is, Kyle, a negotiation going on as to which actual playoffs he's going to do. But I'm going to wait. How is that any different from the other last few years? Nothing has changed. Wait, you actually want me to do something?

So I'm going to wait until I find out it's his actual last game and I'm going to do it then. But you know, the one thing I wanted to say, I think there's a lot of similarity between Scott and Vic Router. I didn't, I met, I didn't know Vic Router very well. I met him a few times, but I really don't know him that well. I've heard a lot of great thing. But the one thing I would say is very equal about both of them is that when you say, like, who's the biggest personality at SportsNet or who's the biggest personality at TSN, they may not be the first answer.

I don't know where they would come up, but for a lot of their careers, they might, or when Scott was at CBC, they might not have been the first name that came up. I don't know where they would have come up on your list. but I would say this if you asked who the most consistent teammate was, the person who always consistently did a great job, the person who was always there, the person who knew you knew that if you said, hey, you're in charge of this,

it was going to get done and you didn't need to worry about it. Like you always knew when you penciled Scott in for after hours, we don't have to worry about after hours this week. here's our guest, Scott will take care of it. And it was going to go to air and it was going to work because Scott own that segment or anything else that Scott did. I mean, he might complain about 13B on a regional jet or 36E, no reclining seat. If he got that, he was going to complain.

But when it was the actual work, you never had to worry. You could say, Scott O' got this and it was over. And from what I understand about Vic Router, he was the exact same way. Whether he was doing curling or he was doing soccer or whatever he was doing, if you said, oh, Vic Routers got this, you just never had to worry about it. Like it was taken care of. It was his corner of the universe or his corner of what he was responsible for, and it was taken care of.

And I have learned over the years the hardest thing to be at work is consistent. It is people take it for granted in sports to be a consistently great player is the hardest thing to do. And I always respected that about Scott close up. And I've respected that I've heard about Vic Router is that you knew if you gave them something to do, it was going to get taken care of. And I think that is an incredible skill and an incredible compliment. You just never had to worry about these guys and the jobs they did. And I just think in this day and age, it's an art.

And I'm glad that both of them got to call their own shots. Like really do. Yes. Yes. It's not going to happen to all of us. So I'm glad that they did. Yeah. So my favorite Scott Oak story,

I'll just tell quickly in terms of my interactions with them over the years. So I'd done one season of working on NHL broadcast in Montreal and did a little hockey night. And then the next year, I had been asked to start doing leaf games on Saturdays and to work with Shrelli Najek at the time, who I hadn't really worked with in that producer reporter role. And so I was called around a couple of people before the season of kind of going, all right, what am I getting myself into?

I remember I called you to ask because you had worked with Shirelli, of course, for a lot of years. And then I asked Scott, of course, too. So I didn't have his phone number at the time. So I sent him an email. I just said, hey, Scott, can I bend your ear and pick your brain on working with Shirelli at some point if you have a few minutes?

And he writes back something along the lines of, Hello, please direct all interview requests through Sportsnet PR. Thanks very much, Scott. I was reading this. I'm like, shoot, I'm like, does he, I don't know, does he think I'm like an intern? Does he not know who I am? Like, it's entirely plausible.

I didn't know him particularly well then. Like I was starting to kind of panic going, oh my God. And then like two minutes afterwards, he writes back again going, that's pretty good, eh? And then goes, here's my number. Yes, you can call me sometime tomorrow. happy to chat. And that's, that's so oaky, right? Like just, carving with a great sense of humor. Uh, but in the end, he is, he's always there

willing to help. So yeah. Like I said, I have to, that's a great memory, great memory, great story. You know, what he answers when he, when you call him, it's go ahead, call her. That's, that's how he answers the phone. Yes. That is fantastic. Um, I, like I said, I, I reserve the right to collect my thoughts and talk later. Yeah, the other good one. Hey, Scott, how you doing? Oh, pretty good, but there's still plenty of time to change that. Oh, gosh, yes.

Great teammates. Great, great teammates. And that's what you take with you as we move forward. Okay, that was the final thought presented by the Toyota BZ. Oh, also, I'm always so terrible about mention this early on in the podcast. We've got our interview that you did with Anzay Kopitar a couple weeks ago. A portion of it ran on the pregame show on Hockey Central on Saturday night. The extended version of your conversation with Kopitur will run at the end of this podcast.

But before we get to that, the thought line, of course. That is next on the other side of 32 Thoughts, the podcast. Okay, buckle up. Brand new edition of The Thought Line just dropped. And, Elliot, I begin this one with a question to you. Are you ready? Yes. Are you a fan of horse racing?

I don't know a lot about it, but I like it. I like going to it. Hmm. Okay. Well, this is perfect because Ben, a Predators fan from Louisville, Kentucky, submitted this. Yes. Hello, Kyle, Elliot, and Dom. My name is Ben, a Predators fan living in Louisville, Kentucky,

home of the most exciting two minutes in sports. The Kentucky Derby. As we are now a month out from the first Saturday in May, I found myself looking at the horses expected to run in this year's derby. And you can imagine my excitement to learn one of the front runners is named the Puma, or maybe the Puma. And so I have to ask, does Elliot have any kind of ownership stake in this horse? The Puma?

No, I don't. And it's Puma. We all know that. It's Puma. I'm going to have to ask Ed Olick about this because all my horse racing knowledge comes from Edzo. I like to bet on the Kentucky Derby every year. I pick one horse and I put down a bet. A few years ago, as Kyle knows, that horse won while the camera was on me on the air.

And my coworkers kept the video of it. And they sent it to our group chat saying, this is the moment Elliott realized his horse won the Kentucky Derby. But I will be wagering on the Puma this year.

Ben, I thank you for this critical knowledge. Oh, gosh. That's good. Like it out, and we may have to revisit this now in a month.

In a month. Because if he's in the race, all eyes will be on the Puma. You have anything else before we get to the rest of the thought. I have a couple here that I just wanted to get to. So me and some buddies went out for dinner on Tuesday night

at a place called Prime Steak House in Toronto. And there was a waitress there who was helping serve us. And she was from Columbia. And Kyle, I'll give you one guess as to what came up in conversation. while we were there eating. Did you talk about coffee? No, it was not coffee. I can see why you would think that,

because Columbia is famous for its coffee. What else do you think could have come up? Something that has been a podcast topic in recent weeks. Not a lot. No, not raccoons. Not a big podcast topic, but a slight podcast topic. Well, we just talked about the Puma. Okay, so what it was, we could do this all day, so I'll just end the pain for the listeners.

She wanted to see in the final of the World Baseball Classic, Venezuela against the Dominican Republic. And she started, I don't even know how we got started on this conversation. And then she said, that pitch was a ball. And I was like, you can't take that pitch. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, really have dinner elsewhere. I think you'll have more of those conversations. I think there's a lot of like-minded people in that.

Really nice lady, but still really upset that the Dominican got knocked out on a pitch where they were caught looking. She thought it was a ball. Anyway, I thought you would like that. That is great. Okay, a couple of other notes. I had one, I've had a couple of people write like Easy on the Raccoons. So I'm going to take a slight, like they're like, I'm getting tired of hearing about raccoons. I'm going to take a slight break.

But so Nicholas Kramer sent me a long note, which I won't read, but at the end of it, he said, P.S. I was ashamed to hear you say that the Tina Turner version of Proud Mary is the best. As a lover of Creedens Clearwater Revival, I can attest that their version is the best. Now, Nicholas, CCR's version is outstanding. I don't know if I said that this was the best. version. I can't remember. I might have. I can't remember half the things I say on this podcast. But I will say that it's not only the Tina Turner version, it's the Angela Bassett in the Tina Turner movie with Lawrence Fishburn. That is incredible and everybody should watch

it. A couple other things. You know, we were talking about when the NHL playoffs went from three to five to seven games in the opening rounds. And I had won four, player who's a big listener to the pod reach out and he said that it used to be in the playoffs too and we said it was because of money and it is but he pointed out something I completely forgot is that it used to be that in the NHL playoffs the league and the owners used to get all the money there wasn't a revenue share like there is now the champions got $25,000 Canadian in Canada $25,000 U.S. in the States, and the loser in the final got $18,000.

And he actually said, this was a guy who played at that time. He actually said that when he looks back, like non-North American players, he used to get the label that they didn't care. He said, like, some of them were making less than they would in the regular season to play six, eight extra weeks.

And, you know, he said obviously it doesn't excuse all of it, I don't think, but he said he had a greater understanding years later about why that maybe was in some cases. So that was what he wanted to bring. I was definitely money, but it was also because the players didn't, all they got was that little extra bonus payment. They didn't get 50% like they did now. And finally, I wanted to shout out.

I ran into an old friend the other day. Her name is Rebecca Glass. She's a big Canadians fan. She lives now in Minnesota, and she gets the package so she can watch Montreal games in Minnesota, but she's a big fan of the pod too, and I wanted to shout her out. Nice. Very good. All right, Josh from Burlington, Ontario. Greetings gentlemen.

Okay, Josh, we start with you. While watching the opening weekend in Major League Baseball, I had noticed that Athletics First Baseman Nick Kurtz was wearing a gold Major League Baseball logo man on the back of his jersey to commemorate his rookie of the year campaign the season prior. That got me thinking whether or not the National Hockey League has ever done something similar in the past. And if not, has there ever been a discussion or ideas thrown around by the NHL to commemorate award winners in a similar fashion of the podcast? Keep up the great work. And go halves go.

I would just say, though having no inside knowledge on this, Elliot, if it hasn't been talked about, I got to think it is coming. If for no other reason is that who is the jersey supplier of the NHL these days? Fanatics. And they're all over this stuff. That's, that's, it's really good call. I don't remember anything like that in the NHL, but if you've ever watched European hockey,

there have been times when, like I remember when Doug Gilmore played in, one of the lockout seasons, which was, I think, 94, 95. yes. He played for a team in Switzerland called Rappers Will Yona, and their leading scorer got to wear a gold helmet. So, like, there was, everybody was playing with, like, I guess it was a white helmet and there was one guy in the gold helmet. So, like, especially in Europe, they've had some stuff like this. I can't remember it off the top of my head in the

NHL, but you're right about that, Kyle. You're definitely, the idea that it's impossible. It's not so far-fetched anymore. Right, because I think the point is eventually, you know, those special logo man's, they end up on a card. Yes. And that becomes very, very valuable. Something that Dom would like to get his hands on, perhaps. But I don't know if, if the NHL like to... And become, suddenly become $500,000 poor. Yes, exactly. And the value just plummets. But even like, you know, like the NHL shields right on the front. If Dom buys your card, sell, quick. That's right. That's right. If you see Dom Schramatti light up on your phone as an incoming call, answer it. But as you know, like with the NHL shield kind of on the front of the collar of the jerseys,

like whether you do a golden one for the Rock or Richard Trophy winner or something like that, I just, I don't know when it comes to MLB, like how many different sets of jerseys they go through a year where they can then, you know, carve one up and put portions of it. it into a baseball card. We've talked about this on the pod with hockey. Typically, it's two sets for the whole regular season. And then if you make the playoffs, it's a, it's a fresh set for that and onwards from there. But maybe in baseball, there's more turnover with the jerseys that they use and there's greater opportunity for it. But I just think now with fanatics, part of the deal here with hockey, the NHL in particular, I think that stuff is coming. But it's just a feeling.

I think it's a great idea. You know, it's just, I think people think that stuff, is fun. Yes. And suddenly cards, collectibles, it's white hot in terms of interest and the value of some of that stuff. It's incredible. Okay, Henry from Finland. Hey, Elliot Kyle and Dom was listening to your last episode and the thought line question about equipment laundry and it reminded me about an incident that happened when I was playing third tier minor league hockey here in Finland maybe 10 years ago. We had the oldest team in the league. We had the oldest team in league and we tried to recruit younger players. So we got this young kid who was serving his mandatory military service here in my hometown. He was a little bit odd, but we thought maybe it's because

we were older and didn't understand all the things going on with the younger kids of the day. However, as the season progressed, we started to notice that his equipment stunk really bad. And towards the end of the season, one of our guys noticed that this kid had shoved all his equipment inside a garbage bag and put the garbage bag inside his hockey bag. The player asked the guy what he was doing and the kid just said that he doesn't have a place to dry his equipment in the army barracks. So he put them inside the garbage bag so that his dad's car wouldn't start to stink of hockey gear. So he stored his wet equipment inside the closed garbage bag all season long. Oh my God.

After the season was over and the kid was done with his 12 months military service, he decided to move back to his hometown. So he returned his jersey back to the team. In Finland, if a number is retired, the actual translation is freezing the jersey. Well, in this case, we had to go to the other end of the heat spectrum. We burned the jersey because the stink was beyond salvageable. So no one wore that number after that kid from that one fateful. season. He got his number retired.

Yes. Due to odor. That's, uh, that person's our all-time leading goal score. That person is our all-time leading points getter. That person had the most shoutouts. That person won 12 championships. That guy stunk. Oh my gosh.

That's fantastic. Retirement ceremony. Everyone's handed out clothespins to put over their noses. Yes. For your goodbye gift, we present you with an army-sized box of Tide. Exactly. But I honestly, like,

there's a, Clearly, he's a, whether how young he is, he's a man of principal because the thought of it going, I don't want to stink up my dad's car. Yes. That's respect. There are extenuating circumstances. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. That's, uh, anyway, there was no question there.

I just thought that was a heck of a story. Yeah, that is worth. There doesn't need to be a question. If you have a good story like that, submit it and we will read it. Okay. Ben from Peterborough, we'll wrap it up here. Good day. Griffin, Dom.

Elliot and Kyle. Two questions. First one is brief. Why the sudden influx of equipment managers getting to 2,500 games in the last week? Yes, I know there was another one this week. Darren Ranger, right? Yes.

In L.A. I saw that, yes. Yeah, Babcock and Buffalo, you talked about being there at the practice. I can't be anything other than a coincidence. Minnesota and San Jose, too, were the other two guys. Yep. Thank you. Okay.

Main question. Weird stat was thrown out the other night while I was watching my sabers dominate like I knew they would this year. Lindy Ruff has now been part of the sabers in some capacity for five different decades, breaking out as a player in 1979, a player in the 80s, coach in the 90s and 2000s, part of the 2010s, and again in the 2020s. That got me thinking about how many games has been involved in not just with the sabers, but elsewhere.

So I made up my own stat line, O.T. BG on the bench games, taking Lindy's playing career and coaching, adding up all of his years between Buffalo and Dallas and New Jersey, assistant coach in Florida with the Rangers, and playoff games were applicable, added them all up. The grand total number of NHL games Lindy has stood on the bench for either in skates or dress shoes, 3,192. That's a game a day for 8.7 years straight. I know he is top five in all time games as a coach,

but adding in his playing and assistant coach games makes me think he must be number one in my made-up stat line. Am I correct? Joel Quinville may have him beat perhaps. I only went to Trent, so I thought I would ask Elliot since he got into Western, and as my Western alum wife says, getting into Western is harder than graduating from Trent.

Okay. Okay, so, oh my God, this is so good. That last part, Ben, you have no idea how funny that that last line of your thing is. Because so we had a friend who went to Trent, and she's a really smart person. But we used to tell her that you're smarter than all of us, but. But it doesn't matter because you go to Trent. So it doesn't count. And, you know, she used to laugh at it, but there were times, you know, when someone's having a bit of a grind of a day or they've had a hard week where it would get to her.

And then we would, when we knew we were getting somewhere with this, we became even more ruthless. Oh, yes. But I don't want to say her name. It was great person. She had a great sense of humor. And if she, I don't keep in touch with her. more probably because of that and but if she does hear this I wonder why I'm probably she does she will talk to me anymore what's the point um I don't know I understand why if she does hear this in the pod she will undoubtedly start laughing because there was someone by the way they used to have a great squash team Trent was terrible at sports terrible at sports except for squash for some reason that was the only team they ever had that had that in any success and still Western would kill them.

But, you know, because when you were doing it before you did on the bench, the first guy I thought of was Jean Belvo, who technically has won the most Stanley Cups, not as a player. Henri Richard has the most Stanley Cups as a player. But Jean Belvo, I think he's got his name on the Cups 16 times because of the position he held with Montreal after he retired. Right. So I would- management, right? That's right. Like he was, he was part of the, I don't even remember what all the titles were, but he won 16 Stanley Cups. His name is on the cup 16 times. That is the record. So I would have thought it would have been him, but actually on the bench, like Gordy Howe is at basically 2,200, but that was playing. Like he didn't coach. So I'm trying to think who else is there.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I just want to throw in the qualifier because I know he asked about like assistant games coach as well. So I went to our SportsNet stats crew about all this. And they're just because bonus would have to be up there. Yes. And so the reason why, especially when you factor that in, but they're just like assistant games coached, I guess it's just not easily as available in terms of finding an exact number as head coach games coached. So they just weren't comfortable factoring that in.

So Ben, I'm sorry. I had a great idea with like whether your head coach, assistant coach, a player, you're on the bench. So for the purpose of this exercise, it's games played and games as a head coach, regular season and playoffs, all time. Lindy Rough is number two. Number two, hold on.

Number two. Well, then it's got to be, is it Toe Blake? No. Ooh. Is it Quenville? Yes. It is Quenville, eh? Yeah.

2903. That's a great set. 28006. Number three on the list. You ready? Give me an error. As a coach, well, 80s for sure.

Is it Pat Quinn? No. Okay. I'm just going to jog my memory by looking at all the teams. Well, wait a second. Glenn Sather? No.

Okay. Let me just jog my memory by looking at the teams. Last year was 93, 94. Oh, Al Arbor? Yes. Yeah. He's number three. Number four,

I was looking at the standings, and the moment I looked at Islanders, I was like, oh, Al Arbor. Yes. Number four is Jacques Lamar. Number five, also an active head coach,

but not Quinville, not rough. All right. Let me, let me think of this one. You're making me do too much thinking. I know. I mean, he goes through the whole top five here.

He would be there more on playing than coaching at this point. Okay. No more hints. You're confusing me. My pee brain. Confusing me. Just let me put the ball in the hole. Let's let me put the ball in the hole.

I would have to say, this would be. Is it, it's not Barubei, is it? Nope. Who is it? Rod Brinamar. Brinamar, Brinamor, of course. Yeah, Brinnamar.

Brinnamar. Brinam. Yeah. Very good. Yeah, yeah. Ben, thank you for that. And the Trent Western line at the end was a perfect kicker. That brings back so many memories.

And of course, that trips something in your brain too, which is great. Oh, so funny. So funny. Another edition of the thought line in the books. There you have it. 1833, 311, 323. If you'd like to call and leave a voicemail or email us at 32 Thoughts at Sportsnet.ca.

When we come back, Elliot's conversation with Anzay Kopitar of the LA Kings on 32 Thoughts, the podcast. All right, as promised, Elliot's conversation with the man who has appeared in the most games and put up the most points in the history of the Los Angeles Kings franchise,

Anzee Kopatar. lot of ways the Patrice Bergeron of the West when you consider the respect he has among his peers and a couple of Selky trophies don't hurt either. We have known all season this would be it, but he is trying to extend the farewell beyond 82 games this season with the Kings. He's a future Hall of Famer. He is the King of Kings. Copatar and Elliot on 32 Thoughts, The Podcast. You know, I was thinking you were 19 years old when you came over to join the Kings for the first time and I always think about myself at 19 and what I was like back then and the things that

I looked back at I was just I can't believe I was like that. So when you look back at 19 year old Kopitar, what do you laugh about? I mean, there's a bunch of things, right? Definitely not as mature as I am now, obviously. I mean, there's not a whole lot of things that I would maybe change Because, you know, I had a good time, obviously. You know, before that I spent a couple years in Sweden, which was great. Maybe grow up in a hurry because I was there by myself. So that was good. And then, yeah, coming to L.A., I mean, in my eyes, you know, L.A. was Hollywood, right?

Because at that point, I've never been to the U.S. before. So, yeah, you see it on TV. And then all of a sudden you're living there. So it's kind of, it was kind of surreal. But at the same time, you know, we have our little. bubble by the beach there so you don't stray too much from it. And, you know, it's obviously a great, great place to look. What was maybe one thing about the U.S. or Hollywood that you learned was true? And maybe one thing that you learned about the U.S. or Hollywood that you thought was true that was

nowhere near true. Well, I learned in a hurry that I have no idea how, how bad traffic is, right? When you go into Russia, I had no idea how that is how, you know, five lanes on the highway can can come to a complete stock for hours and hours. So I didn't, I couldn't comprehend that at first. No, but I mean, growing up, I was a big fan of Baywatch, you know, the TV show. So learn that I guess that's true. So it was fun. You know, I finally realized all these years, I have one thing in common.

I watch Baywatch 2. So there you go. There you go. You know, I asked some of the guys who were on your team the first year you played in L.A., like when they realized, you know, how much ability you had. And I don't know if you'll remember this, but you had a game against Anaheim early, and you went around Chris Pronger.

And some of the guys said, holy cow, like, what a player we have here. Do you remember that? Yeah, that was my first NHL game. Yeah. So, yeah, I mean, obviously I remember that. That game's going to stick with me forever. I just remember before the game I was obviously nervous

I mean going back to 02 and 06 Olympics you're watching these guys on TV and never in your wildest dream or yeah you're dreaming about maybe playing or actually just seeing them going to a game and watch a game like that

let alone sitting next to Rob Lakin in a locker room, right? That was a surreal moment for me. But then, you know, once you hit the ice, that kind of goes away. You're still a little bit nervous. You don't want to make any mistakes and all that. But then I felt like after the first period,

I kind of settled in. I was like, okay, I can, you know, I can play this. Yes, it's hard. It's fast. It's the best thing you're in the world, right? But I still somewhat belong here. And then after I scored that first goal, you know, it's kind of obviously you're getting your confidence

a little bit more. and I think it was just cool how all those guys kind of, you know, got behind me and really, like, pushed me and, you know, made me feel really comfortable right off the get-go, which I think it's a big thing for a young guy coming into the league just to make sure that, you know, he's comfortable off the ice, on the ice, and obviously around the locker. Who pushed you the hardest?

I wouldn't necessarily, it's, that they pushed me, you know? Well, probably Mark Crawford pushed me the artist. But, no, I mean, they were just, you know, just looking after me and making sure that everything was the way it's supposed to be. And, you know, like I said, I was in awe sitting next to Blakey and, you know, watching him on TV again. And now you're next to him.

Now you're going for Darius with him. So I just try to mimic him. And I guess it turned out pretty okay. I was sent a picture. I wanted to, I wanted to. to, it's not embarrassing in any way, shape, or form. It's a, it's a beautiful photo. And it's a view.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's a good one. That's first one, I think. Yeah, I think so. Maybe the second one, I don't. Yeah, it's the 14. That's, okay. So it's you and Justin.

Yeah. And I just, like, when you see that, what do you think? I mean, it brings me back. I mean, it gives me goosebumps. But, you know, brings me back to our winning years, right? There was a lot happening, especially over those three years, you know, winning the Cup, going to the conference finals, winning another Cup. And I think the best part about us was the team, we maybe swapped three or four guys.

You know, the rest of the team was always the same, which made it so much special because a year, you know, 23 guys roster, 25, and 20 of those guys are, have been together for five years, five plus years, some of, in some cases. And, you know, you really grow together. You, you know, you connect with your teammates when you're together for extended period of time. It's the connection is obviously a lot different than, you know, if you're with the guy a couple of years.

It's, it just goes a little bit deeper. So the fact that we were, you know, there for X amount of years in heaven, that's is, you know, a brotherhood, then it's really special. If I was to ask you one story that you remember about celebrating the Stanley Cup, what would be the first story that would come to your mind? As a team or myself? Or yourself? Myself.

Or any particular teammates? The memory you have. I guess the biggest memory I have, maybe for myself, is in 12, I took the cup back to Slovenia, right? You're riding such a high that you want to do. a million things with it, right? So, and I did, and I enjoyed it very much, but I felt like looking back,

it was a little bit too rushed, right? But you don't know whether you're going to win it again or not and whether, you know, it's coming back in this. So I guess the comparison to 14 is we took it a lot easier, you know, we just enjoyed it more, you know. Even if we were sitting at home and just staring at the cup, it was plainly fine. We didn't have to go places to take pictures and stuff.

But it was just with the, you know, the little bubble around me, with the people around me that I trust and love dearly. We just enjoyed it a lot more maybe than the first time around, but even the first time around, obviously, it was great. I remember in that first one, you're celebrating the cup, and you made sure you took the cup to a corner where there were a bunch of Kings fans so they could see the cup and touch it over the glass. I thought that was such a great gesture. Yeah, to be completely honest with you, I don't remember right now. I mean, I was right in the high. There's, you know, people that have been Kings fans for 30 plus years, 40 plus years. And, you know, yes, they had the conference finals and, sorry, the Cup finals in 93,

but they couldn't really, you know, get over the hump, right? So for us to do it and be the first team to do it in franchise history, it was very special. And I'm sure it was special for the fans. And I don't know, at the time, I just thought it'd be cool for, you know, to share with the fans, I guess, up close. Okay. The other series I always remember was the Chicago one. Yeah.

What do you remember about that series? Yeah, I mean, that whole playoff run, you know, all the game sevens and all of them on the road. And I guess to start being down three nothing to Sharks and come back. Yes. Yeah, I mean, that series against Chicago was probably the best hockey I've ever been a part of. We, the year before, they beat us. So I guess we wanted to have a little bit of revenge and, you know, to win in Chicago and over time, yeah, it was special, obviously, and probably the best hockey I've ever been a part of.

What was your relationship like with like Taves, Thornton, Getslav? Like, you play, you went head to head for a long time with a lot of big, strong guys. Yeah, it was, what, 15 plus years past those guys? I mean, it was, yeah, I mean, I think at one point, you know, the California swing was one of the toughest ones. Yeah. You came and play us in Anaheim and then finish off in San Jose. That was a pretty tough three-game struts.

And we did it within the division. So, yeah, and then obviously Jonathan and all those years in Chicago, they had great teams, big, heavy, skilled teams. And, yeah, we just went head-to-head. And, you know, sometimes you came on top. of times you didn't. Who was the toughest? So you meant, we were talking about Hollywood before and did you like obviously Donchich,

like there's all sorts of stars, Kobe Bryant, Shaq, although Shaq was probably gone before. Was he still here when you got, he was gone? Jack, Shaq was gone. He was gone. So, but like, what was your like big, when you look back, maybe like a big Hollywood moment as a king that you remember the most? Well, at the time. Lakers practice facility was next door.

Yeah. So I guess the parking log that we have right now, it belonged to the Lakers. So you'd see Kobe walk in to practice and stuff. And every once in a while, he'd come and say hi. So that to me was a big, like big thing, right? You meet Kobe Bryant and, you know, he says hi and all that stuff. So it was pretty cool. Okay.

Did you guys, did you ever much have any conversation about comparing basketball to hockey or what it was like or anything like that? No, no, I don't think it wasn't. And back then Phil Jackson, their practices were close. So every once in a while, we'd sneak in and watch practice a little bit, but not very often. A couple other stories I heard about you. Justin Williams said you went from a nowhere golfer to a two handicapped. And you own a golf course now.

Is that true? No, no, no, no. I don't own a golf course. Okay. So he claimed you own a golf course in Slovenia. No, it's not. True? Not true. Okay. But are you a two handicapped? I am, yes, I am. I got it down to two. I haven't been playing much lately, but I do enjoy golf, and he's about 90% to blame for that because he's obviously a very good golfer. And yeah, when he got traded to L.A., we just kind of started playing golf together, and that was our thing to do on off days. And I remember one time we went to Palm Springs. on for, I think it was the All-Star break.

So, yeah, I spent some time there, and that's how I got hooked into golf. Now, do you beat him from time to time now? We haven't played in a little bit, but for the most part, he did beat me. But I got him a couple of months. That's good. I heard that you have a friendship now with Zach Brown, the F1 driver, and I guess that started over internet DMs. Is that true?

Yeah, yeah, I slid into his. DM. It was one time, you know, it was after a game, and I was, I couldn't sleep. I was watching Drive to Survive. And then the episode came on to the one where he's playing hockey. And I was obviously very naive and didn't do any research or anything. So I just DM them to see if he's ever in L.A. If he wants to come to a game, I'd like to invite him and, you know, maybe say hi after and stuff.

So, and I, at that point, I had no idea that he was born and raised in L.A., right? So when he messaged me back, he goes, yeah, I'm actually a pretty big King's fan and, you know, from Dion and Robitide Days and all that stuff. So I was like, I just made a fool out of myself. But, okay, you know, I guess it was worth it. You guys shoot your shot. Yeah, because we are pretty good friends now. And, you know, I've been to a race too, and I'm looking forward to go to a few more. Which one did you go to?

I went to Belgian Grand Prix. Okay. That was really cool. my wife's been to a couple of Vegas racist so yeah but that's during our season so I couldn't I couldn't I guess skip town for

a little bit but you know I guess after this year I'll have plenty plenty time on my hands so you mentioned your wife and your generosity is really well known I heard a story that one of the training staff I believe came to Slovenia last year and actually got married on your property

and your wife did the service. Is that true? Part of it, yes. So one of our trainers... I'm like normal, about 45% accurate here. That's okay. No. One of our trainers did come and visit and we had a late night.

And yeah, they were looking for a, I guess, a reverend to marry them. And like I said, it was a late night, early morning and she committed to it. She woke up the next day and looked over and said, Yep, that's exactly what you said. So I was like, okay. They actually got married in L.A. Okay. And we had their reception at our house because it was a smaller wedding and everything.

But, yeah, I guess we host it and they got them married. Okay, because the story I was told was that your wife actually took the online course. She did. Oh, she did? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, so that's all true. That is true, except for they didn't get married in Slovenia. They got married in L.A.

That's an awesome thing to do. Yeah. That's a great judge. Did your wife enjoy it? Who had more fun watching it? Her or you? I had more fun because she is petrified of speaking in public, and now all of a sudden she's officiating a wedding.

But she did a great job. It really turned out great. So, you know, I enjoyed it because one of my really good friends is getting married. And I also enjoyed it because my wife was officiating because I do know she hates public speaking, but she did a good job. Okay. Ange, was there ever a time in your career where you thought you wouldn't be a king? that you ever thought that maybe you would go somewhere else?

Honestly, I didn't know. I felt like L.A. was my team. This is where I belonged. And, yeah, we had some thin years. We had obviously some really good years and then some not so good years. But it didn't really cross my mind to where I'd go somewhere else. You know, both of the kids were born in L.A. My wife has spent 19 years in L.A. now, too.

So it's, it didn't cross my mind, and it would be really hard to imagine looking back now that I would leave. Did you, could you ever, like, so this is the question. I've asked a couple of guys who played only on one team. If you ever had to wear another NHL jersey, what would it be? I mean, that's hard to say. If I really have to pick some, Probably Montreal.

Probably, yeah. I don't know. I just, I enjoy the city. It's a great place to play. I enjoy playing there. I guess it's a little closer to home. Obviously being Quebec, maybe a little bit more European style too, right?

So it would maybe hit a little bit closer to home. But yeah, if I really had to pick one, it'd probably be the Canadian. I appreciate you playing along. So, you know, you're, I understand you saw, Jonathan Quick while you were here. I just wonder of all the guys that you've played with for so long. And, you know, you're moving back to Slovenia after.

Like, is there one, are there anybody in particular who was really hard to sort of say goodbye to as a player? Um, yeah, Quicky was the hardest just because how it went down, right, being trident and all that. You know, talking about a guy that I thought it should have been obviously a king for, forever. It didn't work out that way, unfortunately. So he was hard to say goodbye. Justin Williams was another guy. You know, he was, we hung out a lot when he was in L.A., you know, we were really good friends still are. But yeah, it was hard to see him go. Obviously, Dustin Brown. But it was a little bit different because he went out on his own terms, right? So it's, you know, so it's his decision. It's a little bit easier to comprehend and accept that. But yeah, I'm going to miss all those guys. I mean, Drew,

obviously, he's going to be here for a little bit longer. It's going to be a lot quieter in your life. It might be a little bit quieter, but then again, I'm going to miss that last. I'm going to miss it. Just a couple more. Number one, we talked about some of your greatest successes and you had some huge ones. Maybe what was the toughest defeat, the one you look back at and you say, oh, that one still bothers me a lot? I mean, I guess the conference finals when we lost the Chicago down was tough. I mean, it's hard to say because other than that, I mean, we made the playoffs and got beat in the first round. I think probably last year's lost to Edmonton, yeah, where, you know, it was up to nothing and had the game on our stick and was a game three or game four, I don't remember exactly,

but we had a good chance. And if we went at either three or four and we're up three one coming home, I thought we would have a really good chance of, you know, closing them out and then, you know, go on to the next round. So maybe that one's things the most. And still, you have a chance this year to write another story. So yeah, we're hanging around. So I think we're on the outside looking in right now, but we're there. And, you know, we feel good to where our game is going right now. And we'll see what happens. Okay. I guess the last one I have is everybody who admires you says that one of the things that you're best at is your stoicism. Like you just never let anything rattle you.

Last game in L.A. Are you going to be emotional? Yeah, I mean, I probably don't show it as much maybe as I should or maybe as I need to. But I am a pretty emotional guy. I just don't, you know, like I said, I don't show it. But I think it's going to be, it'll definitely be emotional, obviously. I think it's going to make it extremely harder because my parents are going to be there too. Obviously, my wife and kids, everybody's going to be there.

And, yeah, there's potentially going to be some tears, too. I'm not afraid to admit it. Actually, that reminds me of one more thing. I heard that the first beer you ever had with your dad was at the two, was it 2012? Yeah, it was after we won, yeah. That was a beautiful story when I heard that. Yeah, I mean, You know, you have obviously the respect and a little bit of, you know, fear for your parents.

And he was always on the strict side of things. And I got to imagine that he knew that, you know, we were out having beers with teammates. I just, I don't know, never felt really comfortable drinking in front of him. But then we won and he came to the locker room and we were all drinking. So he saw me for the first time. And he had one too? He had a couple. Yeah, he had a couple.

That's awesome. So you've still got a lot of life left in front of you. What are you looking forward to? Well, I'm really looking forward to be a dad now. I mean, as a professional athlete, you miss a lot of stuff, especially kid stuff, right? So I'm really looking forward to drive them everywhere and anywhere, spend time at home. I mean, they're getting older now, so they understand more too. So it'll be, yeah, it's going to be a chapter in my life that I'm really looking forward to.

Obviously, looking forward to have more time for golf and maybe go to a few more F1 races and take more vacations. But the one thing I'm really looking forward to is just be a dad and support them with what they're doing. Best thing about life being a dad. 100%. Our thanks once again to Anzay Kopitar and the Los Angeles Kings for helping make that conversation happen. Well done. Elliot, just some programming notes for you here this week. Tuesday night, Sportsnet 360, so a game that can be seen nationally, coast to coast.

The Oilers in Utah to face the mammoth at 930 Eastern 7.30 Mountain Time. Scotia Bank Wednesday night hockey this week, the Washington Capitals, and the Toronto Maple Leafs Hockey Central at 7 Eastern. Puck drop a little after 730 ET 430 Pacific Time. And later that night, this is a big one. the San Jose sharks and the Oilers again. That'll be on Sportsnet West, but also Sportsnet 1. If you would like to watch that one nationally as well, 10.30 Eastern, that was 8.30 mountain time for the Oilers and the sharks.

Fireworks whenever those two teams get together and the stakes are very high, as you know, as we inch closer and closer to the end of the regular season. That'll do it for the latest edition of 32 Thoughts. The podcast, have yourselves a great week. I appreciate you taking some time out of your day to spend it with us. We'll talk to you again on Friday.