32 Thoughts: The Podcast - The Eich-stravaganza

Episode Date: November 5, 2021

The Buffalo Sabres have traded Jack Eichel! Elliotte tells us about his exclusive sit-down with the newest member of the Vegas Golden Knights (00:01) and when he plans to make his return to play. The guys then break down the Jack Eichel saga from every perspective including Eichel’s (8:45), Terry and Kim Pegula (15:00), Kevyn Adams (19:00), Pat Brisson (23:45), Vegas Golden Knights (27:30), Calgary Flames (32:00), Carolina Hurricanes (38:30) and the NHL (43:30). Watch Elliotte’s interview with Jack Eichel here Music Outro: NOBRO – Better Each Day Listen to more tracks by NOBRO here This podcast is produced and mixed by Amil Delic, and hosted by Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman. Email your questions, suggestions & comments to the podcast [e-mail] Audio Credits: Sportsnet. 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

Hey, Jeff and Elliot, this is Oliver Shilton from the flames. I just want to thank you guys for hyping my Instagram account up. I appreciate all the support and let's get on with the podcast. That's awesome. We got, by the way, a lot of thank yous from some people when we, as Oliver says, hyped up his Instagram for each. That was really nice of him. Start the podcast. I am honestly without speech.

So was that a Ryan Leslie thing, Amal? Because that's something that Ryan Leslie would be more than happy to get. Peter. Peter Hanlon. Peter Hanlon. Okay. Who's the media relations guy for the Flames? First star.

Atta boy. As Elaine Bennis once said, I am speechless. I am without speech. You got me on that one. Excellent. What a way to kick it off. 32 Thoughts, the podcast brought to you by the all-new GMC AT4 lineup. And yes, this will be the Jack Eichel edition of the podcast.

And Elliot, before we get into the finer strokes, the details of the deal, you've had a busy day or a busy couple of days driving to Buffalo, going to Jack Eichel's house interviewing Jack Eichel my first question for you is when you walk into I'm always curious about this about athletes about anybody really when you walk into Jack Eichel's house can you tell he's a hockey player I didn't you can't no paraphernalia all over the place no not really college jerseys and nothing like that no not really and maybe it's because he's hurt and he needs a surgery but you know his gear wasn't around i bet you for example if he'd been skating more often

his gear would have been somewhere and i think also and i will defend him on this one because i remember him telling me this first of all his place was very tastefully decorated i don't know if it's him or his girlfriend or somebody else who did it uh but it was it was really nice place and he did admit that they kind of cleaned it up a bit for our arrival so maybe that took some things away but while we were setting up and i want to give credit to our camera guys alex and alvin because you know camera guys they're a bit i don't know what the right word is but they like to take their time when it comes to setting up that you know sometimes they'll say oh you're doing a fancy sit down we need two hours to set

up i was like, guys. Gotta get the shot, man. Gotta get the shot. Guys, you know, he just got traded. We don't have two hours for you guys to set it up. And so they did it as fast as they could, which was still about an hour. They were really good. Those two guys deserve a lot of credit.

So while they were doing it, I had to do a radio interview. And so I went off to another side of the house and I found a piece of paraphernalia slash memorabilia. And I said to Eichel, this is going in the interview. You are going to have to explain this to us. And I think it's going to air on Saturday night on hockey night. Yeah. So it's a T this is called a tease.

This is called a listener or viewer hook. This is a hook. But it was hilarious. But no, you wouldn't, I don't think you would have gone out of your way to notice this is a hockey player. Okay, so you arrive there. The trade's already been announced. I'm guessing Eichel's in a great mood at this point. Oh, yeah.

He's happy. There was something really interesting he said about how he was embarrassed about the discourse around him you know it's been a long process it's been dragged out it's probably been um it's not probably it's definitely been made a lot probably uh more public and and um a lot bigger deal in the media and i feel like people have been talking about it and quite honestly i feel a little bit embarrassed it's As a hockey player, you want to be in the media, and you want people talking about you for your performance and good things and your team-winning games, not things like this. So it's definitely been a little tough at times, just the conversations that people are having about you or about whether it's a trade and surgery and just your whole situation.

But he said that at this time of year, you want to be playing and he's not playing. And now he sees a path to returning. And I really do think that he's excited to be a Vegas Golden Knight. I think he's really happy about it. Really happy. As you mentioned, you're going to be able

to see some of this on Hockey Night. We've seen some of this on Hockey Central, at our YouTube channel as well. I don't want to give too much away because I do want people to watch it on our various platforms and on Saturday as well. Is there anything before we get into this trade that you want to say about your sit down with Jack? Well, you know, first of all, I want to say that Eichel had decided he was going to talk today. And so I drove to Buffalo on Wednesday night and I woke up on Thursday morning at 7.30 and I saw a text at dated 3.05 AM saying, you better be working on this when you wake up. Andrew Peters was actually the first one to kind of get it out, the former Sabres player who co-hosts the great podcast with Craig Reve. And I didn't realize that at the time. I saw that note and I sent a text and I got information back that it was Vegas

and it was done. So I actually didn't realize till later that Andrew had been the first one to report it and you know it was a scramble and I was staying not far from where Eichel lives and we went over there and he was excellent to deal with but I just think for everyone him the Sabres their fans I think it's great that this is over and and that's what someone said to me yesterday that you can debate you know who won the trade or what the return was but one thing you can't debate is it's a good thing it's done and i do agree with that it was time to move on and you know my ego is not so large that i would think that my interview was the reason the deal got done. You know, I do think Buffalo wasn't crazy about the idea of him talking without a trade being done.

I think, you know, the Sabres, I do think were concerned about what he could have said if he was frustrated that he was still a Sabre, unable to get the surgery he want and not get traded. So, you know, I don't think that was the reason the deal got done, but I do think it was something the organization was aware of. You know, I talked to Pat Breeson on my radio show and he said, you know, much like you've talked about here on this podcast and elsewhere, this is a deal where it was hot and then it cooled. They thought a couple of weeks ago, a deal was close and then it went away. It's like, you know, a melody in a symphony. It rises and it

falls and it vanishes and then it returns. And they thought they had it last Friday bleeding into last Saturday and then it went away again. And Brisson said that, you know, we had a really good feeling that it was going to be, you know, sort of Wednesday into Thursday that this deal got done. And so we all know what it is. It's Eichel and a third in exchange for Alex Tuck, Peyton Krebs, top 10 protected first in 2022 and a second round pick as well. What I thought might be interesting to do on the podcast here is, you know, borrow something out of the pages of the great Akira Kurosawa. And that is, you know, Russia man effect here, which is look at this event,

not just the trade itself but the entire saga because this has been a story but look at it from a number of different angles and from a number of different people's points of view so okay first of all i would just like to say yes how many people listening to this podcast let's take a second out of it yeah we're rolling their eyes at jeff's akira kurosawa roshamon you love listen i know you love kurosawa films too so you can just stop free you know that gift of robert downey jr just rolling his eyes that was me i just want everyone to know that i know i'm not the only one they did a tribute to it on gilligan's island once

roshamon so if you want we can do a gilligan's island once russia man so if you want we can do a gilligan's island look at the jack eichel trade yeah this is a really hip podcast we're doing gilligan's island references oh god we're so old they kicked us out of this industry yet soon soon soon so i'm just gonna throw at you mainly names okay and i want you i want you to as best as you can put yourself in that person's headspace over the course of this saga and let us know what you think was going through their minds okay okay that's actually a terrible reference but a good idea okay is a very hipster reference man i love me some kurosawa movies okay we'll start with the obvious one yeah jack eichel you know for jack eichel i think he was pretty honest in the message i enjoyed getting a chance to talk to him because there's so many

things we'd heard and you didn't know what was true and what wasn't true but you know he was pretty honest um you know you could only air so much in the interview we're going to air more of it i was able to add some more quotes in the written story but what i really appreciated was he walked me through his decision making process and i learned things i didn't realize before number one he was given three options which was sort of conservative treatment therapy and then you know two surgical options fusion or the disc replacement and at the beginning he took the conservative therapy the treatment and you know after about a month he started to realize i better start looking at the other things and then after three months when he said you're kind of told if you don't see improvements you're not going to he kind of went into the picking between the two surgeries and he and he said and i did hear this

he did a lot of research into the two surgeries and why one was better than the other and why he chose the disc replacement he talked about it about range of motion about people saying they'd had issues uh with the fusion and i asked him were you afraid to be first he says i understand why people could say that but i really felt i did the research and it was almost like he was saying i earned the right to make the decision because i didn't take it as a joke i took it very seriously and i learned what i had to learn and you know he said it's my body my choice i'm the one that he said you know there's going to be a time when i'm no longer a saber or they're no longer paying me and i'm going to have to live

with the choice i made you know it's a convincing argument it's it's a very convincing argument and you know the other thing too is and he admitted it's been ducked before. It has been believed for a long time now that Jack Eichel asked for a trade after the 2019-20 season when the Sabres weren't invited to the COVID bubble. I'd heard it. Other people had heard it. It had been denied to us in reporting. And this time he just came clean and said, yes, that was true. So, and he talked about how he felt that that situation and the fact that he did that affected the relationship with ownership. And it's like, I called it like a marriage gone bad. You know, when he was drafted by the Sabres, you look at it, great market, American market, ownership that's big into USA hockey.

One of the top American cornerstone players of his generation, it seemed like it was perfect, right? And we've talked about it before, Jeff. You have to really love someone before you can really hate them. And I just think that that trade request poisoned the waters,

and it's a major reason we ended up where we are, and he agrees with that. We're going to get to other people that, that you touched on there, namely Kevin Adams. I want to get to, you know, your thoughts on what Terry Pagula,

the Pagula family really have gone through with this cycle saga, even going back to the trade request. But one thing that I don't want to get lost here. And so I want to get to it early, put yourself in the minds of a Buffalo Sabres fan. What do you think they've been through, through all of this, as you look at it through a fan's lens, on a player's lens, or an agent's lens, or a manager's lens, through a fan's lens? What have they been through here in the Eichel Saga? Well, first of all, I have a real soft spot for the Sabres fans.

I'm a Toronto guy. We've talked about, both of us, how we watched Sabres games growing up on WGRZ. Ted Darling, man. Ted Darling. Ted Darling, whose son has worked with both of us for a long time. The Sabre dance song that was the intro. If you're from Southwestern Ontario and you're a sports fan you know like myself and a lot of others of you listening to this podcast you understand the passion of the sabers and

you know when i went to western and met more people from saint catherine's and sort of that niagara region area you understand even more the passion of the Sabres and the Bills and how much they mean to those people who grew up there. The other reason I have a ton of respect for the Sabres is, and their fan base is, if they're not playing, but there's a big event on, they're watching. Their jerseys are generally among the hottest selling. Now, the last 10 years have really hurt that fan base, and I don't blame those fans.

Like, you know, 10 years of losing will test anyone. Those are great fans. And I told you the other day, I don't check my mansions a lot, but I watch them as they came in today. I was in Buffalo, so I was listening to WGR and listening to some of the reaction of the trade. And there's a lot of heartbreak. And I think some people blame Eichel and some people blame the Sabres.

And what I feel from the Sabres fans is just a lot of pain. This should have worked. This should have been the start of the next great generation of Sabres. And I think they look at him and the way he's leaving, he's going to go light it up in Vegas. Who doesn't believe that, Jeff? And it's going to hurt those Sabres fans to see it. And I feel badly for those real passionate Sabres fans

because they're great hockey fans. One of the things I thought about the last decade was Chicago's fans finally got a chance to see them win. And no matter what we feel about it now, in the moment, they got to celebrate it. St. Louis' fans finally got a chance to see their team win. Washington's fans finally got a chance to see their team win washington's fans finally got a chance to see la their team win la's fans finally got a chance to see their team win when i think of fans in the nhl deserve

to see their team win buffalo's are right up there and i think this is painful for them because they know that jack eichel the the prime of his career, should have been spent in Buffalo. Then let's take this from the Terry Pagula, or Terry and Kim Pagula, the Pagula family's point of view. We've talked about this before. I'm of the firm belief that Terry Pagula, no matter what happened, midway through a season, end of a season, things going bad. He always had a belief that as long as they had Jack Eichel, things were ultimately going

to be okay. Walk us through what you think Terry Pagula went through in the Eichel saga. I think it should be Terry and Kim Pagula because while Terry is the owner of the team, Kim Pagula has a major influence on the team. She's definitely involved. I've seen her many times at NHL Board of Governors meetings. She very much has a say. Look, Eichel said it, that when he went to them with a trade request,

they took it very personally. And there's two groups of people in the world. I can say this about a lot of things, but there's two groups of people in the world, Jeff, the people who can say, I understand that this is business and the people who don't understand that because it's a sports team, right? Sports teams aren't, I mean, they're businesses. I think we all know that but they're not supposed to be businesses they're supposed to be escape for a lot of fans but

you know jack eichel saw this as business his trade request and then they were so hurt and they were so disappointed i have no doubt it made the situation harder. You know, we'll never know what Jack Eichel was going to say about the medical process. Because he was traded, he talked about his own path through it and his own feelings. He left the Sabres side out of it. But you heard what he said. He said...

I'm not going to get into that. Yeah, another time. Unfortunately, like I... If I hadn't been traded last night, the question would have went differently. And again, it goes back to what I said about the fans. I think the Pagoulas saw Jack Eichel the same way the fans did,

as a U.S.-born savior of their team. And when he asked for a trade, they saw it as a betrayal and it affected the entire process. They haven't said anything publicly, but I think it's not unfair to say that they were hurt. As hurt as the fans are, I think the owners were hurt, rightly or wrongly, no matter how anyone feels about that. I know you're all going to have your opinions. I'm just dealing with what I believe to be your facts. I think they were hurt, and I definitely think it affected the process.

Do you remember that initial press conference when it was announced that Bakoulos had purchased the Buffalo Sabres? I drove down to Buffalo and was at initial press conference when it was announced that Pagoulas had purchased the Buffalo Sabres? I drove down to Buffalo and was at that press conference. So you'll remember then Terry Pagoula in tears when he noted that Gilbert Perrault was there. I think in the Pagoulas' mind that they had in Jack Eichel, this generation's version of Gilbert Perrault. 100%. Who was going to take them to the Stanley Cup. I think that's how Terry looked at Jack Eichel, this generation's version of Gilbert Perrault. 100%.

Who was going to take them to the Stanley Cup. I think that's how Terry looked at Jack Eichel. This is our new Gilbert Perrault. Yep. He's taking us there. And the other thing too is, he got the big extension, 80 million plus over eight years. I'm not convinced that that's a deal

that Jason Botterell wanted to do, but the ownership, I think ownership wanted to do that deal. So that adds to another level of how they feel. We've talked a lot about Kevin Adams. As much as you can put yourself in his mind through all of this. He did a couple of trades in the off season,

namely Ristolainen and Reinhardt, but we knew this one was going to be the whopper. You're Kevin Adams going through all of this. Give us that perspective. Well, first of all, I think Eichel was in the toughest position because it's his career, right? It's his career and he's trying to get the medical care that he wants.

And we've said many times, I agree that Eichel should be able to choose what he wants. But the second toughest position, I believe, is Adams. Because he knows this is the biggest trade he's ever going to make, you'd think. And he knows his ownership is really unhappy with the player. So he's got to manage both of that. So he's sitting there and he's saying, I want to make a great trade for us, but my owners are breathing down my neck and the player is extremely unhappy and i think in the last couple of weeks especially and eichel by the way credited all of his agents

peter fish and peter donatelli who were his first agents and then jp barry and pat bresson who were second ones but i think over the last couple of weeks, Brisson and Berry really turned up the heat. They knew they had a really unhappy client and they were turning up the heat in any way that they could. And that is not an easy position to be in. Now, one of the things I've talked about in the last couple of days especially after the deal was done jeff was how krebs got in the deal and that was a big key for buffalo and that's what helped close it but i think the other thing that happened here is that buffalo needed a player who was willing to come to him and say i want to be a saber like i had thought that they might take guys to flip somebody called me on

thursday afternoon and said you're not necessarily wrong about flipping a guy but what you are wrong about is that Buffalo was tired of players who wanted out of Buffalo. They really thought they had to do something here where they got a player who was happy to be there. And when Alex Tuck comes out and talks about how excited he is to be there, you know, Adam said that too. He said, you know, he wants to be here.

And there are other teams who were convinced that Buffalo wanted Tuck because they knew that that would be his attitude. You know, the one thing I've learned, we've learned about Adams, he's got a lot of patience. He's very patient. Like I'm generally pretty good at compartmentalizing.

I have my moments, but I'm generally very good at compartmentalizing i have my moments but i'm generally very good at compartmentalizing i wonder if adams is really good at it because he's taken a lot of heat from every different direction and he's still sitting there and saying i have a goal and i'm going to hit that goal. And, you know, he got Krebs, who's a guy he wanted. He got Tuck, who's a veteran, talking about how much he's willing to be in Buffalo. I think those things were important to Adams and the Sabres.

I'll tell you this, though. I think Adams is really good at keeping a secret. Cause I know he's at least he doesn't give me very much jerk, but I'd love to see the phone logs between Calgary and, and Buffalo on Wednesday night. I think the, the flames were really unhappy with the sabers, but I would be a little bit surprised if Adams leaked, because I think he

really tries to keep keep things very quiet leaked in order to drive the price up which many speculated we'll we'll talk about that because i do think i want to get to calgary here in a second but there's other stuff that i want to do but if you want to finish that thought we can finish it and then move on your call like adams doesn't strike me as a leaker he really does now do i think the leak might have come from elsewhere yes i i definitely do but adams does not strike me as a leaker one more thing in camp eichel as best you can i mean he's a veteran agent he's been around a long time, wildly respected. Your thoughts on Pat Brisson

through all this. What goes through Pat Brisson's mind as he came in, you know, after Fish and Donatelli to quote unquote, I guess, close the deal here with Eichel. Take us through Pat Brisson's brain, if you could.

Like players don't make switches for no reason, right? Being an agent is one of the toughest businesses i've ever come across like it is a nasty nasty nasty business not only do you have to negotiate and advocate on behalf of your clients but you've got to fight to keep them. Because when things are going sideways, you've got people in those players' ears saying, yeah, your agent's not doing a great job there. Yeah, I could do a better job for you.

Or maybe you have a teammate saying, yeah, my agent, I think, would handle this better. It's really, really nasty nasty so when a player makes a switch they're not switching because they're happy with the way the world is revolving they're making a switch because they want action so prat prasan comes in and gets eichel it's not because you know he's gonna sit on his back deck in a bathing suit drinking pina coladas he's got to go to work and if anyone knows eichel he's an intense guy he's boston he's in your face he's intense he's competitive he's Boston he's in your face he's intense he's competitive he's demanding he's determined and what he expects out of himself he demands out of others and he went to Brisson to close this

deal and I think it was hard so you're facing a challenge of how do you get it done and you have a client who wants it done yesterday i think it was just as stressful on the agent as it was on everybody else he worked hard he created pressure points for the sabers they had eichel go to a whole bunch of doctors you know the breakthrough was you know two weeks ago they got a doctor and you know I've got his name here on a piece of paper uh Dr Frank camisa he is basically what it works is when you disagree with your team you can get a second opinion Dr cam know he agreed that the ADR was a good recommendation and that helped change things and they took him to a whole bunch of different doctors they kept on getting more and more medical reports saying this was legitimate

and they tried everything they could to put pressure on the Sabres. They worked to earn that trade. There's no question about it. To the Vegas side of things, we'll start with general manager, Kelly McCrimmon. Your thoughts on him through all of this. Well, I got a text tonight from someone in the Western Hockey League, and it made a good laugh. And it was about what it's like to trade with Kelly McCrimmon. And what was the line here?

I'm just about to read it. Oh, yes. The word I will use to summarize making a trade with Kelly McCrimmon is hell. Oh, yes. And you've got another grinder there working with him, and that's George McPhee. George McPhee. You've got two real grinders there. And you know what's interesting about this is

someone said to me on jeez i don't even know what day it is anymore i think it was on thursday they said to me maybe it was wednesday whatever it was before the trade happened this so it must have been wednesday he said like i think we all understood this guy from another team in the league you know vegas is in it to win it, and it made sense for them to make the gamble on Eichel. But all of a sudden, they're really banged up, and their playoff spot isn't guaranteed. How do they feel about that?

That's something we wouldn't have been saying about Vegas at the beginning of the season. We were all saying if there was one team that was guaranteed to make the Pacific division playoffs, it was Vegas. But I think Vegas just looked at it. Like we believe in our group, Mark stone, not too long. We'll find a way and we'll be better off for it.

And there were a lot of reasons here for them to say, we can't make this deal, especially cap cap but they were like nope we'll find a way now someone joked with me on thursday morning that some vegas player is going to come up with a hangnail the next couple of days because they're going to need six to eight hangnail six to eight they're going to need guys to get on ltir but buffalo asked for a lot we know they asked for a lot. People looked at the final trade and they were like, really, that's it?

But I think what Vegas said was, when did they agree to put Peyton Krebs in it? I think it was recently. And I think Vegas' point was, look, if you want us to put Peyton Krebs in this, that counts as extra stuff from us that you would have asked for from other teams. And I do think Peyton Krebs is a guy that Buffalo liked a lot. And Vegas simply said, look, if you want them and you get them, that means you're not getting other things. And Vegas held strong to that position.

Preston Pyshko 1 other person I want to ask you about in Vegas through all of this, who I don't want to say I feel sorry for it, but maybe just I feel for. Yeah. And here it is again with this person. Scott Luce is the head of amateur scouting for the Vegas Golden Knights, and their goal more picks. They trade away first rounders that they've drafted.

They trade away future first-rounders, second-rounders. Doesn't matter. They're all in, as you mentioned, to win it. What do you think goes through Scott Luce's head? Adding to that, he's a Buffalo guy, so I'm even more curious what he would say look i i think if you're them you're telling him this guy you took 17th and you know you're the junior guy krebs got hurt and people backed away from him right yes he fell because of the injury

and now you know two years after being the 17th overall pick he's the cornerstone for a franchise center, a number one center. Like, I think what you say to Scott Luce is, congratulations, you took a guy 17th overall that we could turn into Jack Eichel. And the other thing too is, and you know this better than me, Daniel Chayko, they took 38th overall last year. You know, people really like that guy, right? Yep, they do. Nick Suzuki, who took 13th overall last year. People really like that guy, right?

Yep, they do. Nick Suzuki, who took 13th overall, he's not yours anymore, but he looks like he's a hell of a player. Nick Haig went 34th overall. He looks like he's a heck of a player. I think at the end of the day, you look at some of those picks and you say, we can respect that, and we need you to do it again i want to get here um brad for living gm of the calgary flames yeah he's not very happy i don't think right now so the whole calgary situation is really interesting

i've said this many times i think Calgary was in this the whole way. There have been some reports they were close. I don't like to say I'm any smarter or better than anybody else. I'm just saying what I've heard. I don't know that they were ever close. As a matter of fact, I've been told that they weren't close, but they were always there and they were always trying to find a way to make it work. I think they were willing to deal some of their top prospects. I think they were willing to deal upcoming first-round picks.

I think they were looking to deal maybe a player or two off their roster. But they didn't have anyone that Buffalo liked as much as Krebs. They didn't have anyone that Buffalo liked as much as Krebs, and they didn't have anyone that Buffalo thought would be as excited to go there as Tuck. And those are what I heard were the two big strikes against Calgary. The other thing, too, is I think Buffalo asked about Kachuk, and I think they asked about Mangiapane. And Calgary just wasn't willing to go there.

And I know it got out. I don't like shooting down other people's reports. I've had that done to me. I don't like it. The internet was set afire by the whole Kachuk thing, the night before the trade was made i really think that at that time everybody knew the deal was going to vegas like when i saw eichel on thursday i said to him i thought the deal was getting done last friday and he said he actually thought it was the day before that and it was vegas and i think for

a week now everybody kind of knew it was going to be vegas like one of the things i heard they were arguing about was the protection of the first rounder which ended up being one to ten but i think both sides were kind of fighting over that but i think everybody knew it was going to be vegas and i think that's why tree living is so mad is because not only was it kachok name out there but i think at that time he knew he wasn't getting the player i think sense that it was close. They tried, they tried, they tried. But Buffalo didn't like their guys as much as they liked Krebs and Tuck. Jordan Eberle first had trick and crack in history.

Yeah, I know. I'm just seeing that sticking into the Buffalo Sabres here. By the way, I saw that you retweeted something while i was talking yes that's right but that's something good we're going to mention at the end of the past so it's good to know that while i'm droning on and on you're like looking at twitter well there have been plenty of times and i'm always impressed at how amel um quiets up your audio on the podcast where i'll be talking and i can hear you typing. Yeah, but that's because your stuff is terrible. Mine's actually good.

We will talk about something that John Bartlett's doing towards the end of this podcast here. So I read Eric Francis's story on Thursday about how it's pretty obvious the Flames are blaming Adams for this because him and Kevin Weeks used to play together. Again, I would be surprised if it was Adams. You know, based on what I know of him, it would surprise me. But I do think that was, you know, hey, like we've all been kind of there before.

It was definitely a leak with an intended purpose. But I think there's two things that probably drove Tree Living crazy. And I didn't really get a chance to speak to him on Thursday. And that is that, number one, you know, now your fans think that you had this offer on the table and you couldn't get the deal done. And I just don't think that was the case. I really don't think that was the case i i really don't and secondly is now kachuk sitting here going wait a sec we're six one and two wtf and you have to settle him down and my line is awesome by the way if you have matthew kachuk and my line is playing great yes and you know one of the things i think the the flames did

way was we're going well here if we trade kuchuk and get eichel we're waiting we just hurt ourselves for three months at least and you know like again i don't think they were trading Kachuk in the first place in this, but I do think that they looked at that and said, okay, even if in theory we did, we're really subtracting through the dog days of the NHL season. You see, the thing about Kachuk's name there, to me at first glance, it didn't make sense from the Buffalo Sabres point of view. Certainly you want the player, but there's a contract issue attached to it. Now he is in a position where his qualifying offer, I believe is just south of $9 million. So he could just accept his qualifying offer, play next season, and he's an unrestricted free agent.

accept his qualifying offer, play next season, and he's an unrestricted free agent. I can't see Buffalo interested in that, other than if it was going to be the Flames and Kachuk was going to be part of it, it came with either an extension or he gets flipped to another team. Those would be the only two scenarios that I would see working if it was going to be Calgary and it was going to be Kachuk in the deal. That's the only way that I could see it working.

And like I said earlier, there are teams who believe, and if you listen to Adam's press conference, it fits that Tuck was key to them because he'd want, they think he'd want to stay. Right. Let's get into the mindset of a couple of other teams here. Now in your interview with Chad Geichel, he mentioned, you know, Hey, I thought I was going to Colorado and Minnesota was there. We've talked about the Rangers a couple of different times, the Anaheim Ducks as well.

The Carolina Hurricanes, you mentioned on Thursday morning that they were in it. I don't know how deep they were in it. You can fill us in there, but do you have a thought on the other teams, the other moons in this orbit here? You know, first of all, Carolina, I think they kind of botted their time. You know, under Dundon, he likes stars. You know, first of all, Eichel's a good player. And secondly, I think he likes the idea of stars.

I could have this star playing for me. Now, I think they kind of botted their time and waited. I do think they eventually got into it. But one of the things I heard they kind of discussed was, we have something special brewing here. We have a good team with players who are good players and really seem to like each other. And they've bought into what the coach is selling.

And we just have a mindset and an attitude here and you know not to say that eichel's gonna like completely destroy that but it's kind of like you don't want to upset it you don't are you really do you really want to change it and i do think they weighed that you know i also think that if you're Buffalo and you're trading Eichel there, you're probably asking for a Seth Jarvis, right? And I'm not sure that they really wanted to do that. So I think at the end of the day, they looked into it, but they just ultimately decided this wasn't something that they wanted to do. But I do think they were in it you know minnesota that's not a surprise i think we all knew at a time there was a time where bill garen was looking

at it pretty hard colorado uh i'd reported that they had shown interest but i have to say eichel was more enthusiastic about it than in terms of his belief that it could happen than i had heard but you know i always assume that the player knows more than i do you know the uh the other name that i that i wondered about when you mentioned carolina um on thursday morning about because i'm with you on seth jarvis i also wondered about martin natchez as well as you know young future stud player. What about some of those other teams? What about Colorado?

What about Minnesota? What about the Rangers and the Ducks? We just talked about Colorado and we just talked about Minnesota. So I think that covers what we know about them, but I hadn't heard Anaheim's name in a while. And I think they dropped out. but I hadn't heard Anaheim's name in a while. And I think they dropped out. I think for whatever the reason was, whether it was the ask or the,

the surgery or the whole situation, I think Anaheim just pulled away at the end. I hadn't heard their name in a while. And the Rangers, you know, when they got Sabinich had done, there was no way they were going to be able to do it without retention. I think the other thing too is that i believe the rangers felt that the only way it was going to end up

there is if their package was monumentally better than everybody else's like i don't think they thought it was impossible but i think it had to be like if trade with vegas was going to be this, trade with Rangers had to be this times a billion. Someday I'd like to find out what some other teams did here. Montreal, I heard Bergevin wasn't convinced that Eichel was the right play. That's interesting because the last time Buffalo put a center to market, Montreal was very interested in Ryan O'Reilly. I'd heard Bergevin wasn't sure that Eichel was the right play. Columbus was one that always made a lot of sense to me,

and they could make the deal. And they're really private. It's not easy to get information out of there. I'd be curious to know what Columbus thought about the whole thing LA could have done it but I heard once they got Deneau I think that was the road they preferred to go down even though they're not really the same

player you know Colorado is the one like when we found out they were they at least asked and now to hear Eichel say he thought maybe it was more than that you know someday I'm gonna fill all these guys with true serum and we're going to find out what really happened. Is that carny for booze? Whatever you want.

Different things work for different people. Let me ask you this one then. Not a person, but a league. The NHL. How do they feel about what just happened? I think they're happy that it's over. feel about what just happened? I think they're happy that it's over. I would bet you that when they made this provision of the CBA, they never thought this would be the result.

I guess it's always possible and you prepare for every circumstance and they try to prepare for every circumstances, but I don't think you've ever really thought that this was going to happen like you know sydney crosby did very unusual treatments for his concussion and neck problems which worked but the penguins backed it they're like oh this is sydney crosby we're going to do it yeah and conor mcdavid's recovery from his bad knee injury a couple years ago you know the oilers really weren't sure about this but they're thinking it's Connor McDavid and he wants to do it although initially he wasn't sure eventually decided to do it and you're saying okay it's Connor McDavid we're not going to argue with him well all of a sudden I have a situation where the Sabres have said we're going to argue with

them and I don't know if the nhl ever expected this but i think they're glad it's over and so is the players association and i did ask this about eichel he didn't answer this when the cba is up in in five years this is going to be a big flash point the economic issues are always number one but this article or this area of the cba always number one but this article or this area of the cba it's going to be a big issue because the players noticed there are a lot of players who were who were saying oh what if what if that's me and i'll tell you if i was buffalo i would be worried about that i would be i i if i was the sabers i'd be worried about how players would feel about our organization because they fought Eichel on this.

Hmm. Do you think that is, and that is now a recruiting red flag? I will say I had some players say that to me. Hmm. How would you feel about that? That could be me. Yeah.

Well, I mean, a lot of players were watching intently because of that very question. Yeah. Hey, this is Jack Eichel, but one day this could be me. The one thing I wonder now is now that there have been NHL, NHLPA doctors who have said, listen, we're fine with ADR,

and now Jack Eichel's going to have the disc replacement. with ADR and now Jack Eichel is going to have the disc replacement. I wonder now if this makes it impossible for another team to try to, if they have a similar situation as Eichel to block the player from having this type of surgery. I think what it does is it shows everybody how this is going to work, right? If the team tries to block it, what the player's options are, and how nasty it's going to get. Like this was nasty. Oh, yeah. It was personal and it was nasty.

And everybody now understands the cost to the player, the agents, the team. Everyone's going to be looking at this and saying, yeah, yeah, we don't want that. What are you thinking if you're Peyton Krebs? I like, by the way, that they're starting him in Rochester. I think that's a really smart idea by the Buffalo Sabres. Start him down there. Don't just jump right in with the Buffalo Sabres.

There's no need to present him right away as, hey, we have jack eichel but we have this player let them develop more um you know with jj peterka and these types of players jack quinn in the american league i like i think that's a really smart idea and you know what turn the temperature down around the jack eichel trade there's no need for that player to be with the buffalo sabers right now the thing number one you have to tell them hey you're wanted yeah i remember when i was still working at the score and this is not a me covering basketball this is i used to cover baseball and after the expos traded pedro martinez After the Expos traded Pedro Martinez, I went down to spring training.

I interviewed Carl Pavano and Tony Armas Jr., who were the guys traded for him. And you could see, and this was spring training, they were already tired of talking about it. They hadn't even thrown a pitch yet, except off the spring training mound. It wasn't even a spring training game. It was just like pitchers and catchers report. And they were tired of it. That is so hard to manage.

We really talked about earlier about Adams is a good compartmentalizer. You have to be really good at that to handle this. This is not for everyone. But I think you have to build Krebs up. You have to say, this is a team that wants you. I like the AHL thing too. And they added him right to their Twitter handle. That's great.

Where they said, come down and watch Jack Quinn and JJ Paterka. And by the way, now we add Peyton Krebs to that too. Come down and watch him too. I love that. I thought it was great. I just think you have to build the guy up again. It's like the Brian Campbell story when he signed his big deal and the Panthers said to him,

don't think of yourself as having to justify the $51 million or whatever it is. We gave that to you because you earned it. Just be you you and that's what you have to tell peyton krebs right now you don't have to justify being traded for jack eichel just be you just be you um final thought two things one uh as we wrap up the podcast thanks for hanging through an entire podcast based on jack eichel and many people are saying guys all your podcasts have been about

Jack Eichel the last six months we will move on I swear final thought on uh on what we've just been through and then who's the next player we're following getting traded you know uh Holford and Brough asked me that on Thursday morning in Vancouver on the Sportsnet radio station out there and I said maybe it's Dylan Strom or maybe it's Branstrom. They go, what about Thomas Hurdle? And I said, well, San Jose is going really well right now. Do you think that guy's getting traded while they're going really well? Like, it seems to me like you have a better chance to keep him.

So I don't know. I might dispute him right now. Maybe it's one of the Leaf defensemen they're looking at moving. Hurdle's staying where he is if they keep playing well. I mean, you know who it is? It's probably Kessel. By the way, big victory by me over you in the in-season cup on Thursday night. I really don't want to talk about it.

Nothing like winning the cup for the first time and getting five days off right after to just sit with it and build up my bank. It's the worst. I'm not going to touch a single win. I have Tampa. I have Carolina. I'm not going to touch a single win.

I am rooting for you to go winless the entire season. Can I get a piece of the... Listen, if I go winless, can I get a piece of the pool, a piece of the pot? I do think that. Like that's remarkable. Like really remarkable. I do think if you go winless, you should get some sort of prize.

I don't know what it is yet, but you should get a prize. I'm sure you and David and Cameron can come up with something for me if I go bagel on this season. Okay, yeah. Before I wrap up, this is a great initiative launched by our colleague, John Bartlett. Wonderful guy. Heart's very much in the right place. So on November 4th, John Bartlett announces an initiative he's part of called Very Inclusive Playgrounds. It's a, I'll read part of the release here, a game-changing day for playgrounds in Canada.

John Bartlett proud to announce the official launch of Very Inclusive Playgrounds, a non-profit organization that helps to plan, design, and build fully accessible and truly all-inclusive playgrounds that will allow children to play together regardless of their abilities, providing communities a safe place to promote dignity, understanding, and respect among children and adults while educating the public about what inclusion looks like. To check them out on Twitter and Instagram, it's at VIP Playgrounds, and website is VIP Playgrounds dot CA.

John Bartlett, uh, you are a very talented broadcaster and a very generous human being as well. And someone we're all proud to call a colleague and a friend. Well done, Bartz. Excellent, Bartz.

Taking us out today, Elliot Nobro, a four-piece punk band from Montreal who dropped their debut four-track EP a year ago. The group is hitting the road in February with Billy Talent and Pup. And if you're in the Philadelphia area, check them out on the 17th with Tokyo Police Club with their latest single, Here's Nobro, each day on 32 thoughts the podcast being a bitch is not illegal, so... I've spent my whole life running away You know I think I kinda like it like you better away So catch me if you can, baby, cause I'm playing I think I kinda like you like you better stay So I found my keys, got off all my head Told my boss that he was ugly, guess I ain't got fun in here

He asked if I was joking, too, that thought was clear And I think I gotta, gotta get the fuck out of here Guess I ain't leg up in here Get the leg up in here Love Love So I turned your head and started driving away Took a focal from your eyes and said No, no way

I threw myself out in the window making a mistake I think you kinda like me like you're better away You like me better away I think I whole life. I spent my whole life. I think I like it. I think I like it. I think I like it, like it, like it, like it, like it.