32 Thoughts: The Podcast - The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Episode Date: October 14, 2024

In this episode of 32 Thoughts, Kyle and Elliotte kick off the podcast by breaking down the battle of Alberta from Sunday night. They take time to focus on the Oilers' 0-3-0 start to the season (8:35) and give the Flames their flowers for starting 3-0-0 (12:02). Kyle and Elliotte shift to another 3-0-0 Canadian team in Winnipeg (15:00). That makes way for the all-Canadian matchup between the Habs and Sens on Hockey Night (18:37). Afterwards, Kyle and Elliotte talk about Ville Husso landing on waivers (26:30) and Elliotte lays out his read on the goalie situation in Pittsburgh (32:00). The guys talk about how the future of the league is in really good hands with Connor Bedard (37:16). They also delve into the Colorado Avalanche's slow start the season (42:14). Elliotte lays out the latest with Igor Shesterkin and the New York Rangers (45:04) and The Final Thought focuses on the Toronto Maple Leafs' start the season (52:00).Kyle and Elliotte answer your questions in the Thought Line (1:02:47).In the final segment, Elliotte and Kyle look ahead to Columbus Blue Jackets' home opener on Tuesday night where the franchise will honour the Gaudreau brothers (1:22:32).Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call the Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemailThis podcast was produced and mixed by Dominic Sramaty 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.  

How often after your workouts do you go right for the cold pizza, Elliot? Today, so I went from the gym and then I came back and I hadn't eaten yet and I looked in the fridge quickly and the first thing I saw was cold pizza and I said, I'm 20 again, I'm going right for that. Nice. Do you heat it up or do you just eat it cold? No, I like cool, I like it cold. Yes. Cold like Kyle's heart. Oh yes. cold like kyle's heart oh yes what no dom like depending on the place elliot don't you i find it's it's better cold oh yeah do you guys talk about this in the second segment we can talk about this in the second segment okay welcome to it 32 thoughts the podcast presented by gmc

shramati friedman buukask is with you. Happy Thanksgiving to our Canadian listeners. Happy Thanksgiving. And everyone who celebrates, and to all those who don't in October, happy Monday. Elliot. And you're a month late.

Yes, October's the time to have it. You need a bit of separation before the holiday season kicks into overdrive in December. Don't you agree? Nobody wants to see their entire family twice in two months you may pretend that you want to see your entire family twice in two months but we all know the truth you don't that may be what your family tells you elliot i enjoy seeing mine any time of year kyle i hate to you this, but they're lying to you. Okay, speaking of thanks,

you want to hazard a guess of what the Oilers may not be thankful for, Corey Perry in particular, on this Monday? Big MVP night by the Calgary Flames video coaches. Two goals taken off the boards. The Arvidsson offside one was blatant. That was an easy catch by them, and Arvidsson made a bad play there. Okay, the goal taken down. Two things can be very true, though.

Number one, I don't like this call number two by now everyone and I mean everyone me you Kyle producer Dom all of our listeners the players the executives people around the league and even Taylor Swift should be aware that if you go into the blue paint, the goal is not going to count. We've seen it at least three times this week. Now, I recognize not everybody watches every game. I get it. There was a goal disallowed in the game between the Rangers and the Utahns on Saturday night

because Matt Rempe was in the crease. That member Montreal-Boston, I think that was the second night of the season, at least the North American, or the third night of the season, actually, the Thursday night. And I thought it was a really soft call, but Brazzo did touch Caden Primo in the crease.

Yeah. Thank you for reminding me. I temporarily had a mind blip. I temporarily forgot. Like the thing is, and that goal was disallowed. And the one thing I agree with everybody is these calls, they look S-O-F-T soft. They look really soft. And if a Stanley Cup final game was decided on something

like that, I would hate it and they are soft. It's true, you're 100% right and people are right not to like it. Here's why it works this way though. I've had this argument before with the league and they believe this very strongly. People complain that goaltender interference is too subjective a call and I think we've all had those feelings where we look at it and say how on earth did they come to that conclusion but the one place where they are incredibly consistent almost a hundred percent consistent is if you go into the crease on your own volition, you are not pushed there, you are not held there, and you make contact with the goalie, the goal is not going to count. It is the most consistent goalie interference call there is,

goalie interference call there is Kyle but the league feels very strongly that is the one we can look at in black and white and say crease yes push there no held there no too bad so sad doesn't count and while I agree the optics of it look terrible and we want goals in this league the moment I saw where Perry was I said to myself that is not gonna count and I think they look soft I think it's I don't like it but I understand it and to be honest by now in this league everybody everybody should know it. Don't go into the crease on your own, and you're not going to have a problem. Your thoughts, Bukaskas. I'm with you. It's right there in the rule book.

It's pretty black and white. As soon as I saw Perry's heels in the blue paint, I thought, uh-oh, this is going to be trouble. the blue paint, I thought, oh, this is going to be trouble because that's the one thing that you can kind of don't have to guess on when it comes to, as you say, what can be perceived as a pretty subjective challenge over the years. But this one isn't. The one thing I may take issue, when the league put out its explanation, it said Edmonton's Corey Perry had significant presence in the crease. I mean, I don't know if it was significant.

It was significant the same way the triangle player is significant in the orchestra. But he was there enough. He was there enough. I'm with you. I love when he waved the white flag on the bench. I was howling. Yes, that was great. Steph, she's like, be quiet.

Max is trying to sleep, but I couldn't help it. I was laughing so hard when he waved the white flag. White flag, white flag. Oh my God, that was great. And until the rule changes, like I'm not sure what the solution is here because the crease needs to count for something and this is just the byproduct of how it's all structured the rule and how they go about

protecting the goalie space around the net and like I have to tell you when I saw on social how many people disagreed with the call or thought it was a terrible call my reaction was do you think it's a terrible call because you think they got it wrong or do you think it's a terrible call because it just looks bad because I agree with the looks bad part it's not pretty but if you thought that goal was going to count you just haven't been watching enough lately because it's very clear that that goal is not going to count more and more and more often all right so that really started to shift the tide in that game towards calgary maybe not so much the perigold being called back but the derrick ryan one uh called back for the offside two instances where it could have been two nothing edmonton it stayed

one nothing and then the flames got their legs and eventually took the game over and it ends up being a 4-1 final for calgary credit to them three and oh out of the gate for the flames not many saw this coming neither did many see owen three for the oil and three goals for total to start the season i mean i was going through some of the postgame comments elliot connor mcdavid saying we're not controlling the puck well enough and thinking some practice habits playing a role in that hyman admitted they got distracted after those two goals get called back Chris Knobloch using the word disconnected that there's not enough desperation that there isn't that same feel that guys need to have that he wants to see when things are rolling well all things and you touched on it a few weeks back Elliot all things that if you just read and print you think oh boy this is a

team that's starting to panic already but when you hear them say it when you see the body language that looks on their faces still very much a group that isn't happy with how they've started but doesn't seem to be feeling they're in real trouble just yet what's your read so i looked up what the others are shooting because I remember last year when they were going through their really terrible phase early in the year, their finishing was terrible and their goaltending was terrible. They're shooting, I think, 3%. You're not going to win any games shooting 3%, and that one's going to even out. The goaltending hadn't been great. I didn't think that was the issue

on Sunday night but you know what I look at? I think they look slow and I never thought I would say that but I don't know if it's purely a speed thing, Kyle, or it's a moving the puck quickly thing. One thing that's very clear early on is that they're having trouble sorting out their defense pairs. You know, Emerson, who I was really curious to see. You know, people who saw Emerson more than I did last year, they really liked him. They thought that Edmonton, he would thrive on a better team it's

early it can change but it hasn't started that way and he was out of the lineup on on Sunday night and a transition even when you have a nuclear weapon like McDavid who's a one-man breakout you know he's not on the ice for 35 minutes you have to be able to move the puck I think between the fact that they aren't scoring right now shooting very poorly their defense pairs are a bit of a mumbo jumbo and they're not moving the puck up the ice they just look like they are being throttled right now and you know Chicago right now and you know Chicago that was you would have started this week and you would have said okay maybe they don't beat Winnipeg Winnipeg's a good team but at worst this week they're two and one with Chicago and Calgary right and they're all in three and I don't panic especially with that team i don't panic early but the number one thing

i look at is you can see they're struggling to figure out how the d is going to work and the forwards too i mean knob block had the top six moving around as the game went on trying to find something to click jeff skinner started the night there victor arvidsson was up with dry sidle and mcdavDavid towards the end as they were pushing to try to get something going. I'm with you. Yeah, just watching them in the postgame, they don't seem to feel they're in real trouble yet.

I feel similar, but nothing seems to be coming naturally through three games, which is a bit of a surprise. I know they were in a similar spot last season, but given what they went through the rest of the way, I'm a little bit surprised. I will say that. When McDavid said enough about last year, last week, I was like, okay, they're coming out 10 and 0.

Yeah. Nope. They just want to make all the sports net predictors look bad. That's what their goal is here. I think this is all we hate the media, and we want them to make them look terrible. So we got Calgary 3-0. The Jets are 3-0. The Utahns are 3-0.

Dallas is 3-0. Vegas is 3-0. I think Calgary-0 Dallas is 3-0 Vegas is 3-0 I think Calgary no question most surprising team they're playing hard they're playing really hard and that Justin Kirkland what a fantastic story 10 years since he's been drafted gets a huge point with the goal I thought they were going to have to rip that smile off his face with a crowbar. Just a fantastic smile on his face right now. And the Flames, there's no quit in them. You take a look at their games. They could have folded against Vancouver, didn't.

That was the best possible first night outcome for them because it gave them confidence. There were times they could have fallen apart against the Flyers, didn't. And again, there were times that they could have fallen apart against the Oilers and didn't. The one thing about that team is John Tortorella, his rule always with his young teams is, and he did with the Flyers last year, is forget the scoreboard, just play.

That's what Ryan Huska's got the Flames doing. It's forget the scoreboard, just play. No matter what happens, go. And they're going. And I'll tell you this, like, you know, Craig Conroy's told his guys, settle down, we're going to see how this is going to go. I think, you know, depending on how all this season goes i think one of the most lusted after players is going to be rasmus anderson that you know if if calgary ever gets to a point

where they say okay we'll listen to this um gms are going to be chasing after that guy like you chase after hair gel but right now now, if Calgary keeps winning, Calgary keeps winning, the guy's going nowhere. He's played really well, and the team has played really well. They deserve a lot of credit because they're just not quitting. They're just playing. Kirkland had a heck of a post-game interview with our Gene Prince of A2.

I would recommend going and seeking that out online if you get a moment. Did you see Gene's open to the game Sunday night? I saw it later. I was watching the end of Winnipeg and Minnesota, so I didn't see it. But believe me, I got texts about it, and I was like, okay, I better go look this up in the boxing in the boxing

phenomenal and you know from the prince of puns to the prince of punch on the robe i just thought every year you're wondering how is he going to one-up himself and one weekend he's already managed to do it so well done Gino out of the gate and you okay how come when I want my hair to look like that it looks terrible and his looks good well because he has better hair than you Elliot simple as that well you are the expert on the subject so I will defer uh well so you were watching the end of uh the winnipeg minnesota game that mark shifley goal late in the first period it's funny so toronto pittsburgh on saturday late in the second the leafs get a power play face off with just over two seconds remaining and craig simpson in the

booth kind of makes a comment you know it might be tough to to get a shot off off the draw because they had matthews at the top of the circle waiting for it. And sure enough, they got it off and Blomquist had to make a save. Well, Marner switched hands. He went left-handed. It was brilliant play. Brilliant play. Blomquist had to make a save on it, but he did.

And then similar scenario, but only the Jets pull the goalie to go six on five. And, man, what a release by Shifley. Well, he's off to a great start and they're off to a great start. You know, the one thing about that is I love that play. I scream for it on broadcast. Pull the goalie, pull the goalie. It goes back to the 2019 final. When, like this was a Stanley Cup final game, Bruce Cassidy did it.

I think there were five seconds left in a period. Oh, that's right. And the Bruins pulled their goalie, Tuka Rask, against the Blues. And the next day I asked him, like, what's the time limit? And he said that the Bruins tested it in practice, that they would see how long it took someone to shoot down the other end of the ice and they were pretty much like five seconds is about as much as they would be willing to do it for and probably even less if i remember correctly he even joked with his shot he would have given it

like 10 seconds but with like a good player shot it was five seconds or less and so I've always been intrigued by that if you'll notice at the end of regulation Minnesota got a penalty and I knew they were going to lose right there I remember Ron Wilson was a guy who always felt if you went down four on three in overtime you were were doomed. He always felt that way, that in that situation, they were going to score on you. And I'm sure the Wild and Bill Guerin hated that call. Bogosian saved a goal right there. He got Minnesota the point. I'm sure Bogosian hated the call, but he got Minnesota a point because if he's not grabbing on to Shifley's stick, Shifley scores in regulation.

But I wondered right there if they would do it again and I could see the concern like if you're Scott O'Neill, you're probably saying if Minnesota gets some fluke goal here, then you lose the point and you really feel terrible. But I kind of wondered if the Jets would try it again. I always think at home that the home clock has got the fast finger, right? Like hit the button so if you've got the net empty, it's impossible for them to score. But they decided not to do it. However, Jets look good.

You know, all the usual suspects, especially Shifley, who's hot. One of the guys I really liked at the start of the year has been Dylan Sandberg. I'm a big Sandberg fan, and I like the way he started the season for them. And Kyle, I know we're going to talk about some Lane Hudson here, but Logan Stankoven is off to a great start to the year. Marty St. Louis has to do is make one change, and we'll get there. And Lane Hudson might just get a stranglehold on this Calder race. Okay, so why don't we talk a little Montreal then. First hockey night in Canada of the season on Saturday. The all-Canadian matchup was the Canadians hosting the Senators.

The Sens had had the Habs number for a while, nine straight wins against them coming into Saturday night, but it was Montreal prevailing, two more goals for Cole Caulfield. You mentioned Lane Hudson, a couple more assists, another dynamite performance for Sam Montempo. He's allowed just one goal and two starts out of the gate here. What was the scuttlebutt, the chatter in studio as you watched that one on Saturday?

This is what matters here, Kyle. Humanity needs and deserves meaningful Montreal-Ottawa games. I might be asking too much of the world's various higher powers or deities to demand a playoff series at this point in time. I don't know that we're going to get that. But what we need is one or two extremely meaningful end-of-season games between the Canadians and the Sanders because these two teams they hate each other. The fan bases hate each other and what makes big games better? Hate.

We need love more love in the world in general but around major sporting events it is okay to have hate and you can feel coming off your TV screen your iPad screen your phone screen whichever your projector screen whichever screen you look at you can feel the hate just burning out of the arena whenever these two teams play and whenever their fans are engaged with each other that that whole thing with Hudson and Kachuk, where Hudson's doing all the head fakes and Kachuk gets annoyed and he snaps at the bench at the end, that play itself, like it's such a harmless play. It's funny, but it's harmless. But the way he's looking at them at the bench, you can tell they hate each other and and montreal it's never a

rivalry when one team is dominating that's over montreal finally got their win against the centers now kyle it's really on by my check elliot they they play once in February, they play again in March, and they play again in April. Please, please, please, said Sabrina Carpenter. Let those games mean something. I'm with you on this, Kyle. A big game between these two teams. You remember years ago they played in a playoff series. That was the one where

Eric Greiber hit Lars Eller and oh yeah man that was a that was a mean series that was a mean series Hudson you know the thing right now is I picked Mishkov to win the Calder trophy at some point in time this guy's gonna end up on the number one power play i'm really curious to see they're already calling for i know like game two fans are like san luis what are you doing put him on the number one like you can tell on some level san luis doesn't want to make this too much too soon but an elite offensive mind like him how long is he going to wait and and you know Mishkov's good he's really good and it's still early we're only a weekend in but if you put Hudson on that first power play and he's going to have his struggles he's going to accumulate points and you know what

like the people who picked Hudson and theens players were at the forefront of that. They were the ones telling everybody, this guy is going to do great things. I got to tell you, Hudson gets on that power play, Kyle. He's going to be tough to beat. He's going to be really, really tough to beat for that Calder. It was fascinating, even opening night against Toronto, right away, I know he played the two games at the end of last year, but right away, Elliot, you could tell he had earned respect in terms of the Leafs players backing off at times because they didn't want to be put on a poster with how he moves and shakes around the ice. It was really something to watch, game number one of the season also so Caulfield four goals yeah is

he becoming like the right shot version of Dreisaitl and Matthews in terms of doing damage from what three feet in from the goal line that goal he scored spot like also the goal he scored like Olmark gave him no room and he still blew it by him like that that is the difference in this league now like all these skilled coaches and all these young scorers it used to be goalies played the percentages I'm going to leave you this open because you can't hit that now everybody can hit it that's the problem now like a goalie leaves any hole and all these shooters can hit it I think Caulfield he's he's super dangerous it's it's a great comparison it really fits you need a bit more of a resume before you can claim that but he's I know certainly but you know what Kyle what you're right about is is that he's sending notice

that he's gonna be that guy like like one of the things you're going to see with power plays and penalty killing now is that, you know, when you're on the penalty kill, you say, okay, we're taking away your best play, and we're going to try to take away your second best play. That's what penalty killing is, right? That's the goal. And now teams are more aggressive than ever.

But ultimately, you try to take away the best play. That's what's going to happen with Caulfield now. Teams are going to look at this and say, how are they setting this up and how are we going to take that away? And maybe you can't because he's just too good or maybe they find something else that now you're going to have to work and deal with but it's up there i'll say this too ottawa there's got to be a lot of broken ankles up by your neck of the woods kyle because they win that game against florida and they look really good boy did those sanders fans online jump off the bandwagon quickly

quickly. The ERs of Ottawa have to be full of people getting x-rays of broken ankles and taped up and like the city's got to be out of crutches. You cannot jump off the bandwagon that quickly. That's too soon. You can't live life a roller coaster like that. It's bad for your mental health. One great win, one tough loss. The whole goal in life, people, is to let that emotional wave be as close to a straight line as possible. Too soon. Did you put your Saturday's pajamas away, Kyle?

Hold on. I'm not the one that's been touting them as a playoff team from the beginning of the preseason. I should be asking you that question. I hope you didn own no i did not it's too early and i do not own senator's pajamas yeah just because i live in the area it doesn't come when you purchase your mortgage a pair of senator's pajamas i'll have you i figured it was like osmosis like it just it just seeps into you. Right down the Ottawa River.

Okay. So a great first night between the Sens and the Habs. And unfortunately, now we've got to wait until February, I believe, until their next meeting. But as we talked about. That's good. The later the better. Later the better. It's well worth the wait.

There's a lot of goalie news again to talk about here elliot we went through a number of things uh last week on the podcast why don't we start with villi husso in detroit put on waivers on sunday played just the one game so far this year the home opener against pittsburgh tough one given up four they lost to the penguins that night how surprised were you to see his name on the wire i was i was very surprised like there are times during the year where a name comes on the waiver wire and you're like like like scooby-doo like that kind of thing i thought that was tim allen i thought that was a tim allen No, I was not a big home improvement guy. I hope that one sounded better.

But you look at it, like I remember years ago when the Kings put Mike Richards on, or a couple years ago when the Sharks put Evander Keane on and tried to terminate his contract. There's things you look at, and you're like, wow, you're not expecting to see that. And Huso was right there when I saw it it surprised me and there is a bit of a cap reason to this Christian Fisher got hurt on Saturday night and there went over Nashville and they need to call up someone so yes it it makes sense they've got three goalies Cam Talbot got the shutout. They've got Alex Lyon there who bailed them out last season. And Alex Lyon is the bailout king. Teams get in trouble.

He shows up. He allows them to float above water. I really like watching Lyon play. But it's still, it's a surprise. Like that sends a thunderbolt in your dressing room when your game one starter is on waivers three days after that game it doesn't matter if it's for roster reasons that shakes everybody up everybody looks around and says wow and I have no doubt that that is exactly what Steve Iserman wanted, that he would do that,

not only for the obvious cap reasons, but to let people know that there are fewer sacred cows here than you think there are. And he's not afraid to do things like that. Now, I went back and I rewatched some of that just after the announcement came. And there was one goal that was bad. But there were some other goals where the breakdowns around him were really bad. But this is a league where performance matters. And Iserman is sending a message. I don't expect Huso to get claimed.

I wouldn't be surprised if we see him back pretty soon. Derek Lalonde has been pretty clear that they're going to go through a three goalie rotation and right now after a shutout over Nashville, Talbot absolutely deserves a bit of runway here as much as they can give him.

But boy, as I said, that's a thunderbolt. That will send a message to the Red Wings, the players, their fans, that Iserman is not joking around this season. And the thing that's really interesting to me about that is that he has been quoted in the past, like he said, I don't know if we're a playoff team yet. And I wonder if he thinks or they think as an organization

that that took the foot off the gas pedal a bit, that maybe the players sometimes hear that and they say, oh, our manager thinks we're not ready yet. And Eisenman's saying, okay, whatever I may have said about that, I'm not tolerating this, and I expect better than what I saw opening night. Like we said, much better game two to shut out nashville that's an accomplishment yeah but you know to that's you know eiserman you know he he does things for a reason he sure does okay so i was in toronto on sat Saturday night, Leafs and Penguins, the Leafs home opener, and you were at the morning skate as well.

How was the crowd? It was a typical Saturday night in Toronto, Elliot. I'll give you that. It was a typical Saturday night in Toronto. I mean, they- It seemed kind of quiet. Well, and I think just the long lead up, you could tell the players weren't exactly wired at the level they wanted to be.

I'm speaking of the Maple Leafss like penguins came out great and then yeah i thought toronto took the game over in periods two and three slowly but surely but we're at the morning skate and you're kind of wondering what the lineups were going to look like there were a couple of questions right john tavaris had the illness we saw brian Rust out. He hadn't played yet to that point in the season dealing with an injury. I remember I was having a couple of conversations with some people with the Penguins just about the goaltending because Yoel Blomquist won his first game in Detroit Thursday. And the sense was they probably go back to Tristan Jari, but they didn't. They went with the kid and should probably point out, you know,

at the end of last season, Elliot, I mean, Jari lost his net as they made a push to try to get in playoffs. It was Alex Nadelkovich. He's coming back from an injury, but the fact that, you know, and, and Mike Sullivan even admitted that morning was the way that Blomquist played against the Red Wings played a factor in them kind of altering their plans for who was going to get the net on Saturday against Toronto. I mean, they end up falling to the Maple Leafs, but it certainly wasn't on Blomquist.

So what's your read on the goalie situation in Pittsburgh? Well, I didn't have any problem with the start. I mean, Pittsburgh is a team that needs to get off to a great beginning to this season, right? And wins matter. Performance matters. Like we talked about in the last case, performance matters. And, you know, Jari, I mean, Pittsburgh was awful in game number one. There were some goals he gave up I didn't like, but they were generally not very good.

There were some goals he gave up I didn't like, but they were generally not very good. And for Blomqvist to come back and beat Detroit like that, to me, he earned that start. And you can draw out a calendar as you want. Game one, ex-goalie. Game two, ex-goalie. Game three, ex-goalie. Sometimes it blows up two games into a season. Players know who deserves to start, and Blomqvist winning that game,

I thought it was a perfectly reasonable decision for Sullivan to make. He wants Ws. That's what he cares about. He wants to win. The thing to me that's interesting about Jari is he signed five times five before last season, and you look at him last year um i i think the penguins have at times considered their options here and so i i think that has been going on where you know I think that has been going on where, you know, they've had him out there or they've talked to other teams about him. I mean, obviously nothing has happened, but it's occurred. And as you mentioned, Delkovich took over late. They really like Blomqvist. I have to tell you, I was talking to a guy who sees a lot of Scranton

Wilkes-Barre yesterday because when I heard he was starting I figured okay who who might know this guy or who might have seen this guy and I called someone who see who sees the the AHL Penguins a lot and he's a huge fan like he really likes this Blomqvist he saw him quite a bit last year so and when he heard he was starting he said you know that guy that guy can play and so the question becomes how much of a load can he handle right now you know Jari he had six shutouts last year that was one of the best numbers in the league and he had a save percentage right around the league average. Those are good numbers. Like, you look at the numbers and you say, I like that.

But there's an inconsistency to him. And he's one of those guys, he gets hurt, too. And, you know, just by the fact I heard his name kind of talked about a bit I think with the Penguins it's kind of like we like Jari but we want to see more we want to see him be a bit more dependable and that's not putting him on waivers like they did with huso but to me that was a little bit of we don't mind if he's a little bit insecure about his position we don't want him to be comfortable in thinking I'm the guy he has to make sure he keeps that designation that's what that said to me about what Sullivan was doing and it was one of those rare mornings too Elliot where, where, I mean, both the Leafs and the Penguins

had the day off the day before. So it was full morning skate, both sides. I don't know about you, but I was talking to Mike Zeisberger, the longtime sports writer about it. I mean, the Penguins come onto the ice, Sidney Crosby appears from the tunnel. And like, you can hear kids

that were in the building there screaming his name. And like kids that, again, may not have even been born when he won his last Stanley cup in 2017, but the guy still moves the needle. Do you still, is there something about though the penguins are aging, maybe their best years as a group, as a core are behind them, but there's something about when they roll into town, even in 2024. I do.

I know why. And I hope that never leaves me, Kyle, like the fandom, like just loving hockey and loving going to see the morning skates like I do. I hope that never goes away. My, like, cynicism never takes over me completely like it's taken over Kevin BX. Uh, um, you know, you see, you, you, you see him skate in, uh, and you Malkin

Latang Carlson, like they all still have this aura about them, particularly Crosby, like, you know, he's the one and Crosby, um, you know, he still does the scrum at his stall, and he'll talk to a couple people afterwards. And I think he wants to win really badly always, but he generally just seems really at peace with himself. And I'm with you. When he rolls in and they roll in behind him to me it's it's very much a thing you know who i understand has got a little bit of this growing now is bedard

um like oh yeah like i'll like like uh someone told me this and i checked it apparently his Q rating among kids is bonkers that the amount of young people who follow Bedard content or his games or or what he does like that was a great commercial the NHL did last week the young kids commercial that was as good an ad as the nhl has ever done and bedard being in the middle of it that was not an accident um crosby is still very much the pied piper and i think he always will be the standard bearer but i also think with him bedard is and he's still young and he's still new and I can understand people they probably don't want all this stuff thrown on him right away but I have heard the young audience behind him is like they are loyal and they are big big fans and the league's gonna be in good

hands with him for a long time and you can see watching him play he's he's tired of losing and not tired of losing in in a in a bad way but like tired of losing like like when he scored against Edmonton on Saturday night let's freaking go and them talking about yeah that's true I can't once we once we're independent we can say the real word. When you work for a big corporation, you have to be a bit more careful. But them talking about no more moral victories, he's driven. And there was a play. I can't remember what period it was in, Kyle.

There was a play where he was open, ice and he wanted the puck and he didn't get it whoever had the puck took a shot and it didn't go in they didn't score and the camera lingered on Bedard for a second and he you can tell he's disappointed but he doesn't slam his stick down or roll his eyes it's just like a brief shrug okay and then let's on to the next play because if his body english was bad and he was mad at his teammate about that it would be on every highlight show forever but it was just a momentary flicker of i kind of would have wanted that pass but nothing like embarrassing a teammate um you teammate that you would look at and say, blow it up all over the highlights.

And watching Crosby on Saturday night, walking into the building and seeing him in the morning and watching Bedard at night, and I wasn't there, but you watch him play you see it like i i don't know about you but i i really see it i think there's i think there's a lot of similarity there yeah i agree and that nhl ad you brought up may have been the best one since uh alex ovechkin ordering a bunch of room service to crosby's room hi i'd like to order some food how many people in the room just me three pizza chicken fingers two meatloaf dinner. I got the blue. Six large french fries. I need some sausage.

Five lobsters. Lots of ketchup. Chicken corn dog. Canadian bacon. Six Pepsi. No, just the group. That's it. My name?

Sidney Crosby. It's funny. You know what? It's funny. We're on the same wavelength. I thought about that one, too. I really did. Yeah. I will say too i mean for an aging penguins core as we talked about a lot i thought of

getting malcolm looked fantastic saturday night 800 career assists uh the game before and then i think career point 1300 he got against the maple leafs he looked like he was moving really well good legs to start the year and he's two goals away from.500 too. He's at.498, so it's a milestone month for him. But you know these guys. You know what they want. They want the Ws. And, you know, it's like they just don't have a large margin for error, Kyle.

Like that first Toronto goal, like when they completely blew the play um every mistake it seems just ends up in their net like that's and they just don't have a great margin for error which is stunning to say about a team with those four hall of famers on it so pittsburgh now falls to one and two on the year. The Colorado Avalanche, Elliot, are still looking for their first win of the year. Had their home opener on Saturday. A great beginning. Nikolai Jokic on hand to one MVP to another. One MVP to another.

A great moment shared there with Nathan McKinnon prior to puck drop. But then the game got started. Alexander Georgiev pulled for a second straight night. He has given up eight goals on 25 shots to start the season but you wanted to point out how Jared bednar came right to his defense post game yes I thought that was really well done saying he's our guy and we see this as a mental thing right now um look whether or not Jared Bednar believes it you've got to come right out and say it. You do not open the door a crack. You say unless you think it's over you come right

out and you slam the door shut and you say we're going to help him work through it which is basically what he did. Now they claim Kapo Kokkinen on waivers from Winnipeg, so I'm curious to see what all of this is going to mean, and we'll talk about the waiver week that was in a few minutes. But, you know, I wondered when they picked up Kokkinen, what exactly is this going to mean? But for now, it's Georgiev. He's their guy. I assume assume unless they say he's taking a

week off to practice like the Leafs did with Samsonov last year I assume he's starting their next game but you know I think Colorado's another team right now like they're the elite of the elite they've got unbelievable players but they're another team because of all the injuries their margins are really slim right now and we have seen two games where every mistake has ended up against their net and the thing about Columbus too and we're going to talk about Columbus later because you're going there this week but yep I don't know about you Kyle but when when Colorado tied that game after Georgiev got pulled, I thought they were going to win 9-3.

I thought they were just going to blow Columbus out of the building. And then Anunin got beat quick. And you can see it right now. Like, Colorado has—it's always weird to me when really good teams show vulnerability, but you could see it with Colorado that they're like uh-oh we can't get a save here and I thought they really tightened up and as happy as McKinnon was at the beginning of the game they didn't tell him Jokic was coming it was a great surprise he was 180 degrees different at the end of the game when he got the misconduct yes he was yes

he was yeah we, he was. Yeah, we are going to talk about the Blue Jackets a little later on in the pod. So, yeah, I mean, we talked about it before the year, just the lack of depth for Colorado, and would their big guys be enough to overcome the shortcomings further down the lineup? And as you say, vulnerable looking early, but only two games in. Only two games in. only two games in.

Hey, don't panic. Yes, that's right. As you said, too early, too early for that sort of thinking. First edition of Saturday headlines, you and Ron McLean on hockey night in the second intermission. Among the things you talk about, no surprise, Igor Shosturkin, as you touched on with Ron. Obviously, neither side loved the fact that some numbers went public last week but you believe there's there's still a path to a resolution here in season I do a couple of things number one I think Shosturkin was really unhappy that that got out good for media bad forostakhin. I don't think he liked it very much. Some people compared it to Neely. For one thing, Neely was the guy who put his face

on it. Whether you liked it or not, like Cam Neely went out there and he put his face on it. Number two, I think the other thing is that Swayman didn't have a contract. Shisterkin does. And the leverage really tips towards him. Even though they got beat and they gave up six goals the other night to Utah, he's still a fantastic goalie. And the leverage tips towards him because he's a UFA. Now, as everybody knows, they'd indicated

that they weren't going to talk in season. And the one thing I always ask myself is, does a player really want to stay where he is? And I think in Shosturkin's case, the answer is absolutely yes. So with that knowledge, if the Rangers hit the number in the, in during the season, season I just can't and the agent takes it to him I just can't see him saying no I can't like if I didn't think he wanted to be there

like even as annoyed as he is about the fact this got out you can still work past that right ultimately do you want to be there I think the is yes. So it's going to be incumbent during the season on the Rangers to hit the number. I'll say this, Kyle. I had one executive tell me on the weekend, his attempt to try to solve this would be offer Shesterican $1 more than Panarin and see what happened. That's a pretty interesting move because it would satisfy what they were after in a lot of ways. Yep. Technically. Yes. Yes, it would satisfy what they were after in a lot of ways. Yep. Technically.

Yes. Yes, it would. I like it. That's a great one. Hey, before we move on, anything you wanted to say on Elias Pettersson's start to the year in Vancouver? Give me a week. Give me a week. Let's see this week.

Boy, big break for, very fortunate for the Canucks too that Myers wasn't hurt worse. When I first saw, just like Barkov, when I first saw those two, Barkov and Stutzle, like I thought, I thought both those guys, I was hoping they were going to get up. And then when Myers left the game, I was really worried about him too. Good injury news on the weekend. And both of those cases, I was really happy to see. Okay so Elliot as you say we're going to talk about the week that was on the waiver wire particularly Raphael Lavoie and the back and forth between Vegas and Edmonton but there was a number of thought line submissions with questions around all of that so we'll save that talk for then a little later on in the pod

but how about the Anaheim Ducks and Trevor Zegers in particular? So they shut out the San Jose Sharks 2-0. Zegers provides the empty netter to seal it late. The fact that he was even out on the ice in that situation was noteworthy. Greg Cronin saying afterwards he's a guy that wants to be out there. His line was up so out he went and they got the job done what do you read into all of that well I think that's important I thought it was important Anaheim did that because if you demand something from a player

and they have demanded that Zegers change the way he plays then you also have to give the player a chance to prove it and and be rewarded like that's trust to me to me that's trust that's Anaheim saying Trevor we're asking you something but to Zgris that should say all right we're gonna see okay you're trying we're gonna give you the opportunity to do it and they'll and not just do it lip service like actually do it which they did like i thought that was really big i saw i i i saw the end of that game and i was like when they scored i said is that zegras out there and then i looked and it looked it up and it was him and i just think that's really important like if you've got a young player who

you're trying to kind of for lack of a better term Kyle bend to your will you have to give him the opportunity to prove that it's actually true like you're telling him the truth so I thought that was really huge I think the other thing too is you know I don't think there was a lot of action around Zegers in terms of trade after the draft you know I think everybody knew last year as I wrote that and that Montreal was kind of looking at it like I heard that dissipated like it's just not there and so you know he kind of goes through another phase of proving himself again and you know like maybe it works out maybe the end is it works out long term in anaheim and everybody lives happy ever after forever and ever amen which is probably the best solution but there's no one who's going to look

at that last night about a him being on the ice and two him scoring that empty netter and you know Kyle I don't know about you but when you played when you were a kid like if I remember the thing about it's so funny now watching guys score empty nets from 150 feet away is that when I was a kid and I'm 54 years old if you tried that shot you got benched like even in house league they wouldn't put you on the ice if you tried that and now everybody not only do they do it but they all hit it um but like that's people are going to look at that and they're going to say you know what that's that's pretty good for zegras and like the other thing is and i wrote about it last week cronin is a tough tough guy and um you know you saw those

quotes from ilia labushkin that were overseas like maybe he just had to dial it back a bit and they spoke to him about it and you know I'll say this I know guys who play for Greg Cronin they say he really cares he is a good coach he wants players to get better he is super intense and the whole thing about coaching is finding the happy medium and the the thing about that is you can look at that and you can say he demanded something of a player and the player got rewarded and to me that's what coaching is all about it has to be like that so small thing but big thing for Zegers good Good early steps for Anaheim. I was looking at Pavel Minchukov played 25 minutes that night too, nearly half the game for the second-year defenseman.

They love those kids. They love those kids. Yes, they do. And you can see why when you're starting to see some dividends being paid off, though it is early there too. Why don't we get now to the final thought, which is presented by GMC. So, Elliot, the Toronto Maple Leafs. Two wins and a loss the first week of the year.

They go into New Jersey against their former coach, victorious there, and four-two winners over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday. A lot of talk post-game about how quickly it seems that how Craig Berube wants them to play and the players going out and executing that style has kind of come together. Surely there's going to be some growing pains along the way yet. What's been your read on the Leafs in the early going and Austin Matthews as he's begun season number one as the captain one of the things that made me laugh last night was I don't know because you're in the pregame

you're meandering around did you see Kevin's breakdown of the way Toronto plays defense I heard it I didn't see it okay so he looked really tiny on the green screen and yeah so someone sent me a movie poster of the incredible shrinking woman which you know that's my generation that's like lily tomlin from 1978 but i was i was laughing pretty hard and someone said it reminded uh them of the old Willy Wonka where the kid gets sucked into the TV like Kevin that's that's my TV exactly so I was laughing but the the thing about Toronto is we did their first exhibition game and they had a lot of coverage mistakes and I remember Justin Bourne watching it and saying oh boy like they don't know what Berube wants them to do yet and I asked one of the players about it and they said the first few

days of camp was almost all battle drills like Berube wanted to see who was going to go hard in the battle drills and then he was going to worry about how they wanted them to play. So I thought, aside from the fact that Kevin looked like the Adam from DC Comics, or the Ant-Man, I guess would be better, from Marvel, it was really well done, what he showed how they're playing. And, you know, the new guys have been really good right now. And I believe this about Ekman Larson. I said this with Marquesi and Futa last week. People are going to look at Oliver Ekman Larson differently now

because he's not an $8 million player. And too often, and I guess that's what happens in a cap world, people look at you and they determine how good or bad you are by what you make. And now that Ekman Larson's salary is down, people are going to love this contract. And that started early. But I got a couple. Sorry, I just want to say quick, he can rip it, hey, from the point.

The snapshots that he pulls off and the way he can move along the blue line, like, yeah, he's going to be a threat there that Toronto fans are going to come to really enjoy. Yes, and he's off to a good start, and he feels very comfortable. The one thing I thought was interesting was I had a couple people, so Matthews has no points after three games, and it's rare for him, but it's not unheard of but i thought the thing that was really interesting was i got a couple of texts from people who were like he's

doing different stuff out there um and like they just see like what one guy said to me and i have to watch it a bit more closely but what one guy said to me was they put the c on him and it's not like like they said it's wrong to say he didn't care about defense before because he did but it's almost like they said it raised him to like a higher level of consciousness about what he's supposed to be right and what the captain is supposed to be and he might dispute that I'm not sure that he would like that because he takes great pride in how well-rounded he wanted to be in the first place but a couple guys did say to me last night like um like this like he doesn't give away a lot but but he seems completely, and I'm sure inside he wants to produce, but they say he almost looks completely unbothered by the fact that he's not producing while they're winning.

some clips and I'm going to look for some things this week where they said that you can see that he's trying to be even more detail oriented than he was and but then there's this one guy he always says this to me and then I say well give me an example he says no now you have to find it so I have to start going looking through it but I just thought that was an interesting take on him so far because you know a lot of people will look at it and they'll say three games zero points and they'll be like what the heck my fantasy team there were there were some people who were pretty complimentary of the way he was playing well he was a selkie finalist last year i know i know like it's come out of nowhere but they said it's they said they feel it's in subtle ways it's it's even more pronounced

like i'll say this last year actually we're going to go really off on this there have been moments in uh in voting over the last couple years where some, and I have a vote, and I know you do too, where some people have said to me that they've had real issues. And one of them was Matthews last year. They said he has improved, but he's not one of the best defensive forwards in the NHL. forwards in the nhl and another one was uh i think i've mentioned this before on the pod uh the eric carlson year where he won the norris they felt it was way too lopsided and that it it what it didn't deserve to be as lopsided as it was but there have been a couple and you know one of the people who in particular thought that um it was it was too much too soon last year, said it's early, but he's noticing even more positive differences.

I believe that there needs to be more of a player involvement on voting for the awards. You do, eh? I do. I know they do the Ted Lindsay Award, but I think in the grand scheme of things. You're going to get fired from voting i i it's it's an incredible honor to do and it's like it is you take it absolutely serious because this is the history of the game um but because of all that you know they know best and i think they

need to have more of a say overall. What would you do then, just out of curiosity? I wonder, like, is there a way to break it down in terms of a certain amount of players? And I guess that becomes the tough part, but there's just, there's, I don't know if a committee is something that you would go with, but you've got X number of media or those that, from the Professional Writers Association that have votes.

You have players that that weigh in as well. I just feel more of a more of a balance, I think, is would be huge because, as I say, they they know best and they talk, they watch. They talk, they watch. I think that would be helpful in helping ensure the right people are in the mix for these major awards. Well, a couple things about that. I think for the most part, especially since the voting is public right now, I think the voting has really improved. I think that was the best thing that the professional hockey writers did was they made the votes public because you can't hide. You cannot hide and if you get something wrong, everybody knows it and I think that has really, I think that's really improved the voting process.

Like as I said, you know, people who disagree, it's their opinion which is totally fine, doesn't always make it right but it's their opinion which is totally fine. Like I said you know people who disagree it's their opinion which is totally fine doesn't always make it right but it's their opinion which is totally fine like I said the public nature of the voting has made it a lot better and I will tell you this I believe very strongly that if the NHL does change it which is again they're right it's their awards it has to stay public i believe that anybody who votes on these awards their ballots should be public whether it's an executive a player a media member it should be out there and i'll and i'll tell you why i believe that um a few years ago there was a vesna race and

the the gm's vote on the vesna and a few gm's believed that there was a voteesna race and the the GM's vote on the Vesna and a few GM's believe that there was a vote that was done a certain way to give players some votes that would benefit one of the other goalies and and it bothered them like it like a few guys reached out to me to say that a couple years later um uh i was talking with a couple of the managers about it and because they were because there were some managers who believed that maybe things should change and i said are you guys willing to put your names to it and uh because it should be it it should be that way it should be public and uh they told me about that one particular story and they said they weren't sure that the managers should be public and they told me about that one particular story and they said

they weren't sure that the managers would be willing to put their names to it that's the only thing i think i think i think if it's whoever votes after it's over their vote should be public i agree votes should always be public just like our terrible takes on this little podcast, Elliot. Everything should stay in line. That's right. That picture of me holding the Sens playoffs. It's out there. Exactly. It's public. You're holding yourself accountable, Elliot. No one can rip you for that, regardless of how all of this plays out. That was the final thought presented by GMC. When we come back, the thought line. More 32 Thoughts after this. all of this plays out. That was the final thought presented by GMC. When we come back, the thought line.

More 32 Thoughts after this. Listen to the 32 Thoughts podcast ad-free on Amazon Music, included with Prime. Okay, time for hockey's favorite audience participation segment. It's the Thought Line. A reminder, the phone number to call, 1-833-311-3232. 32thoughts at sportsnet.ca. Before we get started, Elliot, you started something last week with your numerical realization in san jose yes and once

again thank you to all of our great listeners who submitted other examples i i love that you guys do that i i really do and we appreciate it So here's what was submitted to us. And at the top of the list, I'm going to shout out an ex-user, Joe Edward, and he actually included the score sheet saying the Canadiens' 10,000th goal was scored by No. 95, Sergey Berezin, assisted by number 94, Yannick Perrault, and number 93,

Doug Gilmore. Wow. Now, David Alter, who covers the Maple Leafs and will never age, the guy looks like he's 17 years old still. He said that that line was on the ice when Doug Gilmore took that famous penalty with the misconduct where he smashed the door and the glass broke and he did not break character he just

stared straight ahead as the glass smashed that said it was 95 94 and 93 I would also shout out Jeff Murdoch from the Oilers Anderson 9 9, Tikkanen 10, Messier 11. That would be another example. Bill Todd Hunter, sequential numbers on a line, Florida Panthers, 9, 10, 11 as well. Bennett, Duclair, Huberto a couple of years ago. Duclair, Huberto a couple of years ago, and Jordan Drieger, he said he remembers the Jets having a line of Ehlers-Roslovec line A 27, 28, and 29. I cannot verify all of those, but they all sound good,

so we're counting them. Once again, we appreciate the great listeners and your fact-checking. Yes. I also saw one from Ben Wright, the Hanson brothers, of course. Who could forget? 16, 17, and 18. We've got a few on the thought line as well. Trent Frederick, Craig Smith, and Charlie Coyle in Boston.

And this oldie from the Nordiques, 789, Robbie Fittorek, Mark Tardif, and Real Cloutier. Wow. Yeah. Cloutier was a big scorer. I like Cloutier. When I was a kid, he was a really good pool player for me. Great numbers. Thanks for all those.

Yes, thank you. All over it so let's kick off uh today's edition with josh an oilers fan in calgary so this was one of many submissions regarding rafael lavoie and his journey over the last couple of weeks hello kyle elliott dom and cam shout out cambera with rafael lavoie being waived for a third time in five days, I was wondering if there are any limitations on the number of times a player can be placed on waivers. Hypothetically, if the player were to be claimed and waived a fourth time, could the Oilers reclaim him again? Does he at some point become waiver ineligible? It has to be tough for

the player that could be the member of three or more different teams in the matter of a week or so. Yes, is there an end point at any time of the waiver carousel, Elliot? No, there really isn't. If you're eligible to be waived, you can be waived at any time. So there were a couple of recent cases one of them was Eric Comrie. Eric Comrie was a member of the Winnipeg Jets in January of 2021. He was put on waivers, New Jersey claimed him and then a month later he was put on waivers and Winnipeg claimed him. Brian Burke was at the morning skate on Saturday and he brought up one from, I never remembered this one, but he told me about it. In 2003, Wade Brookbank, he started the year with the Ottawa Senators.

Nashville claimed him in the waiver draft, which no longer exists, but they used to have a draft for waivers, and Nashville claimed him. On December 17th, he was traded from Nashville to Vancouver. Two days later, he was put on waivers, and Ottawa took him. Then then Ottawa traded him to Florida and on January 3rd The Panthers put him on waivers and Berkey claimed him back So Berkey and John Muckler from Ottawa were having a waiver thing with Wade Brookbank and all of this is perfectly legal if not Infuriating now this was tough for Lavoie. He basically sat in his hotel in Edmonton for three days figuring out

what was gonna happen with him. So Edmonton put him on waivers, Vegas claimed him. And if you'll remember Vegas had three players on waivers the day before, and they thought they were going to lose one or two of them. And they did. They lost Aston Reese to Columbus. And they were worried they might lose another guy, so they made two claims. They claimed Lavoie and they claimed Cole Schwint, who they kept. Now, all of a sudden, because they gained two and lost one, they had one guy too many. They opted to keep Schwint.

They put Lavoie back on waivers. Edmonton claimed him, but so did somebody else. And we'll get to that in a second. But if Edmonton had been the only team to claim him, they could have sent him down to the American Hockey League. And since they weren't, they had to put him back on waivers again. And this time Vegas claimed him and the mystery other team did not. And so Vegas got to send him to Henderson of the American Hockey League. And thankfully for Lavoie, this nightmare was over.

There's been a lot of speculation that Colorado was the other team that made the claim the first time and then didn't. I don't know that that's the case. Some people have hinted to me that they don't believe it to be true. I have wondered, and I don't know but I have wondered if the other team was Dallas because Dallas had some injuries at the beginning of the year their 13th forward was Oscar Bach who earned his spot but I kind of wondered if they thought Lavoie might be an improvement on that. And then obviously Dallas could have changed their mind. Like people are like Vegas conspired with someone to screw around with Edmonton here.

I don't buy that for a second. Number one, Colorado is not helping Vegas. Like those two teams are the fiercest of rivals. There's no way that anyone at vegas is calling up colorado and saying can you claim this guy so we can laugh at edmonton like it's a good story but that's not happening um i think it was a team that made a claim initially because they had some roster thinness and then changed their minds and the two teams you know know that would be behind Edmonton the waiver order again there was some denial it was Colorado Dallas was the team I wanted about now I was

talking with Phil Lecavalier who represents uh Lavoie and we were talking about solutions obviously this doesn't happen often but as we talked about with Comrie and Brookbank it happens and some of the things that we were kind of talking about is if they wanted to fix this in the CBA one of the things that you could do is and I really like this idea is that if a player puts it if a team puts a player on waivers, like Edmonton put Lavoie, the second time around, they have to go last.

It shouldn't be in the standings. That Edmonton would have to go, when Vegas puts them back on waivers, Edmonton would have to be the last claim. Therefore, if Lavoie had another place to go kickstart his career, he would be awarded there. And if Edmonton made a claim and they were the last team, they would immediately get to send him down to the minors. I actually really liked that idea.

I thought it made a lot of sense to me. The other one we talked about was if you get claimed, you have to be on the roster for, I don't know, a week, 10 days, pick a time. The the idea of if one of the guys you put on waivers, say in the last 30 days is put back on, you drop to last in the order no matter where you are in the standings. I like that. I like that idea. I think that's a good idea. And I think it should be put in the next CBA. That's a really fascinating one.

So, Josh, thank you for the question. And yeah, problem solved. You are not, that's what we're here for. We solve the world's problems, at least when it comes to the waiver wire. Josh, thanks for the question. And as they say, yeah, you were not the only one after the week it was for Raphael Lavoie.

Up next, Ethan of New Jersey by way of Massachusetts. Hello, Kyle Dom. Oh, boy. Long time, first time. I don't know if that one's going to stick. No, but we appreciate the effort. Ethan says, as a right-handed catching goaltender, I always root for the, as he puts it, full right goalies in the league.

With the Capitals' tandem this year being Logan Thompson and Charlie Lindgren, it got me wondering how many full right goalie tandems have occurred in league history. The last one I can remember was Steve Mason and Michael Hutchinson with the Jets several years back, but I have to imagine there have been at least a couple more. Go Bruins. So that definitely was one for a brief period of time as Hutchinson was kind of up and down from the Moose to the Jets that year.

I don't have the exact total, Elliot. First off, are there any that come to your mind? Off the top of my head, I can't think of any. So the good folks at Sportsnet St stats say the last time a team opened a season with two right-handed goalies on the roster was the 2010-2011 columbus blue jackets steve mason and matthew garon but it is rare that's that's really where i Let me just add to that, Kyle. Guerin did it twice. In Edmonton, he was teamed briefly with Jeff Drouin-Delaurier, who was also a right-handed catcher.

So Guerin wasn't just a rookie doing it in Columbus. He was a veteran of the double right-handed grabbing team. Thank you for the question, Ethan. Great question. Great questions. Okay, next. John from Vaughn. That's kind of fun. Hello, Elliot and Kyle. Big Maple Leafs and Penguins fan because of Crosby. I love listening to you guys on my commute when I'm bored at work and going for runs while I train for marathons. Man. Well, I'm here to cure your boredom. That's got to be the ultimate test.

That's got to be the ultimate test. Training for a marathon and pushing through, having to listen to us yammer on in your ears. If you can get through that, 42.2 kilometers doesn't seem so bad. So John asks, I was wondering if you could explain how performance bonuses affect a team's cap space thanks and keep up the great work okay so performance bonuses in the team cap space let's just say i signed kyle to a contract i already know this story is unbelievable but let's just say i signed k to a contract. Kyle gets a million dollars, and he's got one $500,000 bonus if he plays 10 games,

and he has another $500,000 bonus if he plays 50 games. Now, there's no way Kyle would play 10 games for me, but let's go with it on this. The million-dollar salary is on this year's cap. You cannot sign a player without the ability to fit his regular salary onto your cap here's where the difference comes in bonus kyle plays his 10th game gets another 500k kyle plays his 50th game gets another 500k for bonuses if you don't have room on your cap this year, you're capped out, you can put them on your cap next year. That's how it works. So you have a choice. You can pay it

this year if you can or you pay the piper next year. It's that simple. Now there's only three kinds of players who are eligible for bonuses. Number one, entry-level contracts, bonuses. Over 35 contracts, bonuses. The other one is for players who spent a significant amount of time injured. And for example, in Toronto, Max Pacioretty qualified for that. He's been so badly injured the last couple of years, unfortunately, that you can give him bonuses. So his salary counts against the cap this year. If he gets the $625,000 or $626,000 bonuses and the Maple Leafs don't have room for it this year, it will come off next year's cap. Very good. John, thank you for that. year, it will come off next year's cap. Very good.

John, thank you for that. Craig from Fort St. John, B.C. Good day, gentlemen. Big fan of the show and never miss an episode. Thank you, Craig. I have an idea for the NHL draft every year. This is right up your alley, Frege. Okay.

The Stanley Cup champs of that season should start the draft off by selecting which team they would like to face opening night of the regular season at their oh i love this and possibly a great way to market opening night i know i love it be something you would be i love it i love it like when sean michaels called out the undertaker to go toe-to-toe once again at WrestleMania 26, that kind of promo-style moment to kick off the draft would be awesome. I am totally for this. This is one of the greatest ideas that has ever appeared on this podcast and noticed it didn't come from anyone who hosts it.

I do think teams should get to pick who opens. 100%. Yeah. You should get to pick who sees you raise the banner. A billion percent. Well done, Craig, for that one. A billion percent. Nice job, Craig.

Great stuff. You are now NHL VP ideas. Go for it it now i i have to say this craig i do think surreptitiously the nhl has tried this at like not the announcement at the draft but i do think they do a better job now of saying who can we make this really interesting for now I know it's sometimes they've backed away from it but Florida Boston this year was a pretty good call I will give them that great stuff Craig thank you for the suggestion we're going to wrap up the thought line this week with a voicemail Elliot Sam from the Big Apple apple hey kyle hey elliot it's uh sam from new york city giving you a call late at night here watching the debut of maclum soberini and

i just saw his first goal and just wondering is that the fastest goal in a first overall pick history appreciate your guys work and i hope to hear back from you soon. So, Elliot, the answer is no. I'm assuming you did the work here. I did, yes. Good for you. I wish I knew this off the top of my head. That's a great question, though. Excellent question. So the answer is no, but he's the second fastest.

Would you know who the first is? Okay, okay, okay. You did really good last week, narrowing down back back game seven losses in the final i'm trying to think who scored a goal in their first game was a first overall pick is it anybody in recent memory no but it would have been your childhood wheelhouse okay my childhood wheelhouse okay I'm not looking at anything I want I want to see okay my childhood so I was born in 1970s okay I'm trying to think who I'm trying to remember somebody scoring early into their first game you know it's the first guy who jumps into my head as a guy as a guy who jumped it well

wait a minute was it Mario you got it there it is yes yes yes the I'll tell you this I I was looking up from the first pick in the draft and I looked at Dale Howarchuk and I was like Dale Howarchuk had a great start to his career. And then I looked up three more years and saw Lemieux and I was like, no, it's Mario. It's Mario. What's the difference? What was the time difference? So Celebrini scored 7-0-1 into his first game last week.

Mario Lemieux, 2-59 into his first game. October the 11th, 1984 versus Boston. First goal, first shot. And then years later, Jake Gensel did the same thing in his debut, first goal and his first shot with the Penguins, just like Mario. But he wasn't a first overall pick. Wow.

That's a great question. Really good. Great question. I didn't think about how celebrini would stack up in that statistic he's number two which is great we are like hockey fans ask great questions they do really good questions we could learn a thing or two from our listeners we could learn a lot actually great thank you everyone who submitted again this week. Thank you to Griffin Porter for helping curate our list. Once again,

that was the thought line. 1 8 3 3 3 1 1 32 32 32 thoughts at sportsnet.ca. More podcasts. When we return. All right, Kyle, final segment. And maybe we'll call this segment Kyle's Travels. You're going home for a couple of days quickly, but then you are going to Columbus for Tuesday night's home opener in what is sure to be a very, very emotional night.

Yes, Elliot. So the Blue Jackets have their home opener Tuesday night. The Florida Panthers are in town. So Sam Bennett, Matthew Kuchuk, who, of course, played with Johnny Goudreau for a number of years in calgary they'll be in the building for it and the team announced a few weeks back now that this is not going to be a typical opening night with the usual festivities you would see attached to that they're going to save those things for later on in the week. Tuesday night's going to be for honoring the life of Johnny Goudreau

and his brother Matthew. So all the fans in attendance, they're going to receive a number 13 patch as they come into Nationwide Arena, just like the ones that the players are wearing on their jerseys. It's, gosh, I think about watching the home opener festivities for the Calgary Flames and the way they honor Johnny Goudreau on Saturday night and how they highlighted, really, just a lot of the things that fans, teammates, family members, staff members all fell in love with Johnny Forer as a person and and of course as a player and you have to imagine those sort of things are going to be highlighted again in

Columbus um yeah it's it's going to be an emotional one no question like you know you shared the photo there on on Saturday of of Sean Monaghan, who got the new Player of the Game award that the Blue Jackets are doing this season, the donkey cap, which is a nod to Johnny, because that was one of the go-to chirps he would have for his buddies, right? Calling them a donkey and the number 13 stitched onto the side there. Monaghan iced the game against Colorado there with the empty net goal and a neat moment of him explaining the significance behind their player of a game award this season. So I don't want to say I'm looking forward to it necessarily, of course, but you think about just some of the beautiful words that have been said already

about Johnny and his his brother Matthew from teammates to his family members and and beyond um you know it's it's it's going to be a really powerful night I think in in Columbus and and I have no doubt that the the organization is is gonna do a good job and in honoring you know two people that we lost far too soon you know it's it's it's gonna be a hard one to to get through but no doubt a powerful evening for for everyone there that's that's going to experience it I know exactly what you're saying about you don't want to say you're looking forward to being there but because it's the right is the wrong phrase to use. But I understand that you want to experience the emotions of that night

because the hockey world has done such a great job honoring him. And I'm with you. When I saw the donkey hat, I thought that was brilliant, like just brilliant work by the Blue Jackets and their players. But I think the words you're looking for are you want to be part of the experience or you want to help share the experience because it's been done so well and there's no question it will be done beautifully on Tuesday night. I totally understand where you're coming from.