32 Thoughts: The Podcast - The Hair and Hot Air

Episode Date: September 30, 2024

 In this episode of 32 Thoughts with Kyle Bukauskas (the hair) and Elliotte Friedman (the hot air), we kick things off with the Patrik Laine knee incident from Saturday night that left the Finn injured. They discuss whether Cedric Pare warranted further discipline. Afterwards, Elliotte gets into how important Matthew Knies is to the future of the Toronto Maple Leafs (25:50). Then, the fellas set up the Board of Governors meetings that go down Tuesday in New York (27:48). Kyle and Elliotte then unpack Drew Doughty's recovery timeline following successful surgery on his ankle (30:50).  Afterwards, the guys get into the fallout of the Penguins not making it to Detroit Saturday for their preseason game (49:37). The final thought focuses on Lindy Ruff showing off some personality and his Buffalo Sabres impressing in Munich, Germany (51:51). Kyle and Elliotte answer your questions in the Thought Line (56:25).The fellas sit down with LA Kings Centre Quinton Byfield for an exclusive one-on-one interview (71:05).Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call the Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemailThis podcast was produced and mixed by Dominic Sramaty & Cam Barra and hosted by Elliotte Friedman & Kyle Bukauskas.The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.  

I have a buddy who's a huge Flyers fan and he saw Mishkov score the other night against Boston overtime and he's like Mishkov's going to be better than Bedard poor Bedard he's just sitting there you know playing as great as he can trying to lift the Blackhawks back into a stratosphere and he's getting Danielson compared to him he's getting Mishkov compared to him you know here's a guy who's just done nothing wrong. Everybody's saying, well, he's good. But these other guys, they're just as good or they're better. And you say my friends are dumb.

Welcome to 32 Thoughts, the podcast presented by GMC, Sermati, Friedman, Bukowskis with you back now in our respective homes after a productive few days down in Southern California. Elliot, I feel you had to be pried away from Manhattan Beach to finally be put on your flight home. You were enjoying your time down there so much. I don't understand how anybody in California gets any work done. The weather is so good. I would be outside all the time. I just, I would be even less productive than I am now. It was really something to behold. And even walking around, you just felt you're wondering who you may see down there. There was someone I walked by on the Saturday morning. I was convinced I've seen, I'm going, I'm seeing you in a movie

or a TV show. Couldn't think of his name. Couldn't think of where exactly I saw him, but I'm going I'm seeing you in a movie or a TV show couldn't think of his name couldn't think of where exactly I saw him but I'm going I know I've seen you on my TV screen before we'll get to a lot more with what's going on in the LA Kings in our few days down there also we're going to have an interview with Quentin Byfield a little later on in the episode here today but let's start with some fireworks in Montreal on Saturday night Fridge where do you want to begin here I mean the opening shift David Reinbacker takes that open ice hit he was done for the night I mean the real crusher of course was Patrick Laine his second shift to the game Cedric Paré a young defenseman in the Toronto system caught him with what looked

to be a pretty good knee-on-knee. Eric Engels, our colleague, used the word devastating afterwards to describe that whole scene he was there covering that night. We talked last podcast about the idea of shortening the preseason after we saw Drew Doughty get hurt, William Nylander going off early last week. What was some of the reaction you were getting to what we saw in Montreal Saturday night? First things first, as we recorded this podcast on Sunday, the Canadians do not know the extent of the damage yet

with Laine and Reinbacher. And I think the best way to put it is that they are hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst. And I think that's the way everybody looks at it, too. Nobody, whether they're a star like Laine, a high pick like Reinbacher, wherever you are in the lineup, even if you're lower down the lineup, nobody wants to see players get hurt so hopefully they will get the best possible news although as I said they are bracing for worse than that when I saw the lineups in this game yesterday I was like wow like there are a lot of players there who are not going to be starting the season with their two teams. I was actually kind of surprised at what I saw there. And we'll get to the whole exhibition conversation in a minute. Let's go step by step. That's the easiest way to do this, Kyle.

For me, I thought the paré play was a penalty, but I did not think it was a deliberate attempt to injure. And I didn't think he was going to get suspended. You? I was a little surprised there wasn't supplemental discipline only because I'm with you, of course, thought it would be a penalty. I want to say, and Kevin, I apologize if I'm taking something out of context, but I believe I can picture him saying in the past that it's one thing if you're lunging forward to make a hit on a player as a defenseman

and there's a bit of contact with the knee, but his knee came out almost 90 degrees as Leinert was trying to go by them. And I understand you can make the case it wasn't an attempt to injure, but how many examples do we see every year where you could make the case that there wasn't an attempt to injure, yet something bad happened and supplemental discipline followed? So that one surprised me.

I will say that. I look in the history of kneeing suspensions. Like that's one of the things I always do is I say, okay, where are examples of players getting suspended for kneeing? And for example, if you go back a year, Arthur Kaliev gets four games and two of them were in the regular season. Kaliev had been hit by a different Anaheim player moments before, and his knee is much more blatant than Paré's. There's another one too, if you go back years, there's a Matt Cook kneeing suspension, a seven gamer from 2014. It was on Tyson Barry. And it was much, much more blatant, Kyle, than this one. So, you know, people say the NHL Department of Player Safety is not consistent. I think if you look through their history, you can absolutely find some consistency. And that was one of the things I kind of looked at last night in the aftermath

of this. How did Paré's play compare to some of the other plays? And I agree with you. He stuck it out. He absolutely stuck it out. That's why I thought it was a penalty. But when you look at previous kneeing suspensions, then it's not comparable. And as we saw last year, players are starting to appeal more. And I think that's got the Department of Player Safety even more nervous about getting their decisions overturned or looked at under more of a microscope. And for that reason, I think they've become even more aware of everything kind of has to look the same. And so when I saw those previous suspensions and I saw that play last night, I saw a penalty and the officials missed it on the ice.

But I didn't think it would line up as a suspension. Although I think your point about Kevin is a great point. Paré has to be more careful. And what I will tell you, Kyle, I heard a lot of in the aftermath was, and this was the one thing I thought of immediately, is there is definitely a belief that the onus, the onus absolutely, if you're not an NHL player, and Paré is a pro, but he's not an NHL player. If you're not an NHL player, it is your responsibility not to hurt guys like Laine in exhibition games. And I guarantee to you that will be a big feeling

around the league is that parade is in the wrong, not because he made a dirty play, but because the onus is on him to make sure that Lonnie does not get hurt in that situation. And a lot of veterans believe that very strongly. But it's kind of a catch 22 thing, don't you think? Because if we're going off the basis and I totally buy it, the idea that he's not trying to be malicious there and attempt to injure by any means, but he's also thinking, I can't let this guy get by me because if he gets walked, he's coming back to the bench and they're going, you really want us to the bench and they're going, you really want us to consider you to maybe be an option somewhere down the road

or to be in a situation where you could be a call-up if need be, if the situation presents itself? I mean, the guy's trying to fight for his NHL life too to get a chance here one day. It's really tough to find the median. Yes, and you know what, Kyle? i sympathize with that i understand that like one coach who i really think is a smart guy he sent me a note and he said it's a penalty kill peray is defending his blue line he knows that line a cannot get by him and he's defending his blue line but the code as it is is that the only an exhibition play the veteran players will tell you that it's on parade to make sure that Lonnie doesn't get hit there even though all he's trying to do is make a proper defensive play and I know

veterans feel very strongly about that like I I would guarantee to you that if you asked veteran players around the league about that play they would say hey no attempt to injure uh this is not a guy who was looking to injure Patrick Laine but the onus is on him to make sure Laine doesn't get hurt. And to take this one step further, Kyle, I will bet you this is why Jack, I did not get suspended because if there is, if there's no injury on the play, he's getting suspended for that. But I think because of the injury, I would bet a lot of people and you can call everyone Neanderthals I don't care I just understand this is the way it goes I would guarantee to you that a lot of people would look at it and say because there was a serious injury on the play or what

looks to be a serious injury um Jack I did not get the worst punishment he could have gotten I'll tell you this I have no doubt they didn't like him punching him with the glove on and that's why Jack I got 27 minutes and thrown out of the game and I'm sure he was told don't do that again but but because of the injury I think he got less punishment than he could have what do you think of that well what do you think of that that's a lot there it is a lot there i i think i mean you've seen the size of jack guy's hands i thought he took kind of the softer route keeping the gloves on have you ever been hit by a glove before yes i have and i probably more than i've been hitting by a bare fist and that doesn't

sound fun at all. That sounds worse. I think the glove would be worse. If you've ever been punched by a fist or you've been punched by a glove, feel free to weigh in on what hurts more. But the few amount of times it's happened to me, the glove hurts more. Okay. A reminder, thought line still to come later on in the show i mean the one thing we get out of this is that we are what nine days away from the opener in montreal toronto montreal and the fans already hate each other you know canadians fans leave fans they don't like each

other to begin with i was watching some of the discourse and they really hate each other right now they're going to be frothing for the next week and a half the other thing about jack i wanted to point out kyle is and somebody made a good point to me about this i didn't see the game toronto montreal played two days earlier in toronto and there was a max domi cross check to lane Lane Hudson, and Domi got a penalty for it. And I wasn't aware of this because we were out west, but a few people told me that Jack Eye, who was dressed that night too, took a lot of criticism for doing nothing about it. And Jack Eye is not blind.

Like, he's got to be aware of this criticism. And I have no doubt that played a role in rallying him up too. He hears it. He's got to be aware of this criticism. And I have no doubt that played a role in riling him up too. He hears it. He's got to be aware of it. And then this happens again two days later with another play. He's going to be riled up to protect his guys. And if you look at what happened in Philly, Boston, you saw Sean Couturier go after one of the Bruins because Mishkov got wrapped up a bit.

And what did Brad Shaw say in the postgame for the Flyers, the Flyers associate coach? He said that kind of thing brings a team together. And there's no question that, you know, the Canadians are looking at Jack I to send a message. And he knows that he's the guy who's responsible for sending the message so there there was a lot that boiled over here um I wasn't surprised about the outcome I was not surprised that Parag didn't get suspended and I wasn't surprised with the injury that Jack I didn't get suspended all right Kyle just took a few final points on this feel terrible for line a his injury is sucking up most of the conversation because of the way

it happened but I don't think anything should be lost here on Reinbacher first round pick a year ago had a really tough year last year in terms of the setup for him. It wasn't ideal, as all Canadians fans know. Just not a great year overseas. Now he comes over to North America. The Canadians are happy to have him under their wing where they can see him. And this happens. It's really two tough years in a row for a young player.

And nothing that a top prospect needs in terms of their development. I think also, Kyle, neither team is really happy with the outcomes here and the way it's been adjudicated, but both teams could have had worse penalties. So it's one of those situations where nobody's happy, but the justice could have been a lot worse. And they're probably going to look at it and say, particularly in Montreal's case with Jack Eye, as upset as they are about the play, which as you said, should have been called a penalty on the ice, they're probably happy that Jack Eye doesn't get a big suspension. Well, certainly plenty of

things to keep tabs on as we go forward here not just in Toronto and Montreal but across the league here as we enter week two of the preseason certainly on the injury front so Sunday night Kraft Hockeyville and Sudbury looked like a great night great show great turnout but Brady Kachuk for the Senators a brief scare they're leaving the game for a small period of time in the third period thankfully for them he comes back and finishes the game but there was another moment we were thinking holy smokes how many more top players are going to fall with injuries early on in preseason the penguins i mean we're going to talk about them a little later on in their travel issues over the weekend they did make it to

sudbury but what's going on with Eric Carlson, Ilya Sorokin on the island as well, Elliot? This injury epidemic we seem to be dealing with here at the outset of preseason. What's the fix for it all? I don't know if there is a fix. You know, here's the thing, Kyle. Guys need to play preseason games. You can't play no games and then start in game one of the regular season. That is a recipe for injuries, too.

I agree that we shouldn't play as many exhibition games as we do. As I said earlier, when I saw the lineups for that game, Montreal, Toronto, I was like, you know, this is one of those nights where there could be trouble just because there weren't a lot of NHL players in it. I don't think anybody expected that, but you know, that's what we got. Most star players or top players only play two or three games anyway in the exhibition season. So let's just say if we chop them from six or seven to two or three,

they're going to play all of those games anyway. So I don't know if we're really eliminating the problem. And the thing about Lainey is Lainey is coming back off, A, an injury, and B, a summer where his training started a bit late because he was getting help. He was in the program. So you have to play him. So I don't know if there's as easy a solution here

as everybody seems to be saying. I would just think the number one thing, Kyle, that maybe we can do to fix this is how can we make it so there aren't as many games where the rosters look like that one? Okay. So maybe the first week is a lot more junior, drafted, American League-bound players as opposed to your NHL regulars.

Is that what you're getting at? Well, I think now what you're seeing in this league, I guess partially yes, but I do want to side with the fans here a little bit. If you're going to pay the prices for these tickets, you want to see some of your players. So I don't want people spending, like unless you're a really hardcore fan

and that's okay with you, especially if you're a young kid and you can get into a preseason game where you can't get into a regular season game. I want them to be able to see some players. Like one of the things we're seeing a lot more of now is, you know, Kyle is that you're loading up your home roster. You're saying, okay, if you're buying a ticket to a home game, you get to see your guys. Like look at the lineup the Maple Leafs put up on their first exhibition game against Ottawa. Now, I loved it because it was a Sportsnet television game,

so I got a good team to talk about. But, you know, that's what we're kind of doing right now. If you're buying a ticket at home you get to see your players and the teams on the road are like eh you know this isn't our home fan so we'll be a little different with our roster that Toronto Montreal roster was more of a both teams were kind of throwing a roster out there that wasn't too NHL heavy. So I don't know if what you said there fixes the problem, but maybe what we just have to do is, look, I agree in general, there should be fewer games, but maybe the roster rules

have to be a little bit tougher. You know who's going to get screwed over with that are the young players because they won't get as many NHL exhibition games and also you know the players on PTOs or the players who are kind of like we're going to talk in a couple seconds here about all the players who've really surprised everyone in the first week if we cut down our schedules none of those guys are going to get to play too often. Like Noah Philp probably isn't on the edge of cracking the Oilers roster if we're cutting the preseason. But that might be what we have to do.

To me, the idea that your best players won't play two or three games, that's crazy. They need two or three games to play in almost all cases. But maybe what we can do if we shrink the schedule is just better rosters for more games. Yeah, I'm with you, though, because if you start to tinker with that too much, it throws the whole ecosystem at this time of year out of whack. And for a lot of players, their development path gets a bit skewed in terms of the opportunities management and then their scouts, or maybe even opposing team scouts or other teams around the league

to get a sense of where they're at. It just, I feel you'd be a little naive to think that there's a one size fits all solution here. Like it would be great if there was a day that we could all say no car accidents happen anymore, but it's tough to realistically see that happening. I would love for a day where we can get through preseason, everybody's healthy, the young players get a chance to show their teams where they're at and where they think they're going. Those that are fighting for their NHL careers get one, get another opportunity to try to make a case for themselves. And those that are going to be in the NHL for 82 games plus this year get tuned up the

way they need to be. I'm just not sure there's a path to getting all of that done without some troubles along the way, namely injuries. This game is just too fast. I know it's not as fast in the preseason as it is in the regular season, but too much goes on for injuries not to crop up, even in the games that don't mean all that much in September. You know what, too, Kyle? Look at the weirdness of these plays. That Dowdy injury was a complete fluke. The Nylander concussion is borderline insane,

what happened on that play. Now this one, it was a really terrible outcome. And I know there's a lot of dispute about how everybody feels about this, but it's absolutely not a deliberate attempt to injure. As you said, these are high speed, high contact plays. And again, I'm taking the Nylander play out of there because it's so weird. But these are high speed, high contact plays.

And I'm with you. I if if if guys play maybe one exhibition I think there are some guys who could play one and just get going in the regular season but if you really think that having guys play no exhibition games or most guys play one exhibition game is the solution to this i think we're only going to ask for more injuries early in the year i i really do i really do you know what stands out about this too kyle is that some of these injuries that have we've seen here they're complete flukes like the dowdy play is a bad accident the nylander robertson play is borderline insane like you look at it you can't even believe it happened obviously unfortunately this linea

situation is a little bit different but you know these accidents they're gonna happen as you said it's a high-collision sport. And if you go into a situation where you're saying, okay, we only want our star players to maybe play one exhibition game, two, some guys are going to be able to do it, but I'm not convinced a lot of guys are going to like that or think that's really good. Quickly, you want to

touch on the penguins elliott it was a great show their stars put on sunday in sudbury two goals from crosby a hat trick from malkin they did all the scoring in a 5-2 win what are your thoughts on the pens these days watching that game on sunday night i'm watching that. I'm watching Sunday night football. Yay Vikings, by the way. Never in doubt. Earlier in the day. Who's your favorite team? I thought we were going to get through this without discussing it. Who's your favorite team?

I'm a Packers guy. Oh, right. I forgot. Were you in a rash texting? No. Heart emojis back and forth? No, because I know this. As great as the Vikingsikings are right now

the better they get in the regular season that means the heartbreak will only be greater when it eventually comes crashing back down to earth i know the vikings yeah we'll see in the divisional round exactly 98 yard hell mary with no time left. Vikings lose. You know what? I was watching that game with the Penguins and the Sanders. And you know what it said to me, Kyle? What's that? When we watch the Penguins this year, we are going to see some stuff that we're going to say,

oh boy, they should have just cratered the team. And we're going to see some stuff that's going to say the magic is still there. Like every night, I'm going to be looking at the Penguins. And I'm going to be saying, what is it going to be tonight? They're past their prime or magic. And you know what? We're going to get a lot of both. A lot of both.

That's why it's going to be so much fun to watch them this year, because you almost don't know what you're going to be getting on a nightly basis. And that'll be part of the attraction to tune in. Hey, you wanted to touch on Matthew Nyes. I mean, you mentioned that there weren't a ton of NHL regulars in the lineup, but the fact that he was wearing an A Saturday night caught your eye? Yes, that did catch my eye. And I'm wondering if they're going to sign him.

I think Nyes is on the precipice of being a really long-term important piece of the Toronto Maple Leafs he's heading into the last year of his ELC and I think there have been some conversations about it I don't know how much or in depth they've really talked about it, but there's been some rumors that there have been some conversations. Watching him with the A on Saturday night, there weren't a lot of people they could have given it to, but they gave it to him, and that says a lot about how they see him. And you know my rule. If you have a cornerstone player and he's 21 years old,

then you go out and you sign them for as long as you can because the price never goes down. He'll be 22 in a couple of weeks. So just seeing him with the A made me think of that. And the other thing I thought about for Toronto is that Hildeby, who played the whole game and won, someone said to me he was by far the Leafs' best prospect in the American Hockey League last year,

and there's nothing we've seen so far that disputes that. I'm pretty sure they got asked about him last year, and I don't think they ever considered it seriously. And you can see that they have a – I think they are starting to have bigger future plans for this guy so on nize i mean you're thinking some term right out of the gate could be i would come in is that what i'm hearing i would i absolutely would if i was them like i said cornerstone players price never goes down and putting the A on him says to me that they think very, very highly of him.

All right. The Board of Governor meetings coming up in New York on Tuesday. Elliot, you're going to be there for them. Anything of interest on the agenda that we should be keeping an eye out for? Well, I don't think there'll be anything hugely substantial. It doesn't sound like it. I could always be proven to be wrong, but that's where it kind of stands right now. I would expect that the Tampa sale for $2 billion in that area is, depending on who you talk to it's anywhere from like uh like one eight to two um i think that one gets approved although i don't think that means you're going to see much change in the way the

lightning are run for a little while i think this is going to be a gradual process but i i think that one gets worked out um i like expansion I know there have been some rumors about expansion. I don't expect anything too huge out of this one when it comes to expansion, although I have no doubt on some level they're going to talk about it or be updated about it. It seems to me that when it comes to expansion, the NHL, it's almost like in the past, you opened up the process and then you waited to see who came. I think it's going to be almost the reverse. It's going to be, we're going to know exactly who's out there, exactly

what all these bids can do, and then kind of announce expansion when everybody's ready. And I don't think they're close to that right now. I don't know if this will be part of the Board of Governors, but there are two resolutions, Kyle, I'm expecting this week. And I think everybody hopes they kind of get done this week. Number one, you know, the Columbus Blue Jackets, obviously they have to deal with their cap situation. And I think they're hoping to get that done this week.

And the other one, Kyle, that has to get sorted out is Robin Leonard and Vegas and their cap situation. And I think there is hope to get that sorted out sooner rather than later as well. All right. We'll keep an eye on all those this week from New York. Why don't we go back to where we were last week, Elliot, in Los Angeles a few days around the Kings, spend some time with people in their hockey ops, watch them practice a few days.

We were out in Ontario to watch their preseason game against Anaheim on Saturday. That might be the best looking matchup this season. Oh, yeah. Across the NHL in terms of their uniforms. That was incredible to see in person for the first time. Both sides looked fantastic. But the injury to Drew Doughty, gosh, man, what a gut punch, obviously, for him.

It was tough the first day we get in. We see that, watching that on TV when they were in Vegas on the Wednesday. Anything further? The team announced on Friday, month to month, he did have surgery done on his ankle. What else are you hearing on the Doughty file? So they announced month to month for Doughty. And then Jim Hiller, the head coach, said that he will play this season. then Jim Hiller the head coach said that he will play this season what I think they're hoping for is around January beginning of January now it might like the one thing about Drew Doughty is

it might be earlier it's clear to me in these situations that teams always want to be under promising and over delivering right so I think that's why the kings are being careful with the timeline and month to month because i don't think they really know but number one they know how hard dowdy's gonna work at it uh there's no question about that and number two i did hear more after yesterday that um it's they really don't think it's one of those things that is going to cost him, say, 75% of the season or he's on LTIR until the trade deadline. Give or take a little bit of time,

I think we're looking around New Year's. And again, I was told it could be before that. But you just have to wait and see how he heals uh how the surgery goes but i don't think anyone believes that this is a crushing devastating injury that's going to cost him 75 of the season thankfully um as we talked about on the last pod uh he is very much on team canada's radar for the four nations face off which starts in february and i think there's real hope that he's going to be ready in in plenty of time before that um but i i think it was like the kings were very careful in their announcement and I get that but I think privately there is some hope that it's you know

nowhere near like I had one Kings fan who sent me a DM saying boy that really sounds ominous that the best we're hearing is it's not going to cost him the year and I just think that there's a little bit more optimism than that although the kings don't want to get ahead of themselves they recognize there's a process here and they just don't want to say anything that if it goes too long people really begin to panic and i completely get that so beyond that what were some of your takeaways from our our time down in south bay and getting to spend some time around the Kings. Well, as you said, those uniforms, like that was the Stanley Cup of uniform matchups. Yes, they could have handed it out Saturday in Ontario.

If there was a Stanley Cup for head-to-head uniform games, yes, you could have awarded that on Saturday. You know, first of all, credit to the Kings and the Ducks fans. It's a, you know, it's a Saturday afternoon in California. The weather's beautiful and they filled the building. It seats about 11,000. And, you know, honestly, it's a beautiful rink. You know, traffic in LA, like it's a Saturday afternoon in LA. Game at three o'clock local the weather's beautiful you know how traffic is there and the Ducks and Kings fans there they sold it out and you know

like people always talk about how the hardcore hockey fan of California doesn't get enough respect and that is one of those cases where i looked at it and i said i i see what you guys mean here because it wasn't just the king like it's the king's home rank and there were a lot of kings fans there but there are ducks fans there too like they they made the trip so it was a great atmosphere and you could tell the players were wired there were fights early they were at each other's throats all game long. It was fun. It was a fun way to spend an afternoon. We were watching the Kings a bit more. So you know one of my rules, Kyle, be careful about how much you overrate the first week of

the exhibition season. And we'll talk about that again in a couple minutes. But one of the things that I always say is the veterans don't really care until week two. Week one is if you're a veteran player, you know you're on the roster, you're basically in the recliner all week. You're flipping the channels. You're, you know, you're yawning a little bit. You're doing some light stretching. And then week two is when you really start up and get going the rest of the time. And, you know, Leferriere, they put him on the first line with Kopitar and Kempe.

And I think he's got three goals already. And he even took a face-off, which he was admitted he was kind of surprised about in that game. So they're giving him a big opportunity. It's pretty clear to me they want Akil Thomas and Alec Turcotte to make that team. Jordan Spence is going to make that team. Brant Clark is going to make that team. Jordan Spence is going to make that team. Brant Clark is going to make that team. Like he's running the number one power play right now. And you can see the brains there.

And you can see the confidence there. Like there were times where he wasn't exactly like beaver tailing, but you could tell he had his hands on the stick and he was like, get me the puck, get me the puck. Like you can see the confidence there. You know, he was running the power play on the last day we were there for practice, and I spoke to him after about it, and I'm like, what's the most important thing? And he's like, funnel the pucks through and keep the motion going.

And the other thing he said about Kempe, he talked about Kempe, he said that he has a big radius to shoot I said what's the number one thing you noticed about the guys that you work with and and he said that Kempe is a guy who you don't have to put it exactly in the right spot like there's a big circle of places you could put it a big radius and he can and he can fire it and he he said, that's a weapon that they're going to be using. So LA in the middle of all this really wants to start promoting their youth. Caleb Jones is an interesting guy in the sense that they're going to give him a chance to play his off wing, which he's done before because of doubt he got hurt, LA's a really, really interesting team.

And I'm curious now, too, Kyle, if Doughty's out, do they give an A to somebody? And I know you were thinking about Byfield, who's great in the interview that you mentioned that we're tagging on today. But I wonder if it's going to be Mikey Anderson. I know they think very highly of him too i wonder if they give mikey anderson some time with a letter that's a great point wouldn't

surprise me in the least another impressive younger-ish player 25 years old i was i mean i think with this team you're gonna find out a lot about them right out of the gate. The Dowdy thing is one element, but they're starting seven straight on the road. Yes. To begin this season. Now, last year, I believe they set an NHL record. They won their first 11 road games of the year. They were dynamite away from crypto to start last season. So something

similar would be great for them. Tough to repeat those numbers, of course. But the fact that they're with all the renovations going on in their home barn, going up to Quebec City this week, spending some time out there, two games out that way, a little getaway north of there before the regular season begins, and how many new players they brought in that have just changed the energy. That was one of the first things we heard when we touched down there middle of last week was the physicality, the intensity. Right out of the gate, day one of camp has been different than for what a lot of those regular, or I should say, for what a lot of those returning players have been accustomed to. The Warren Fogles, the Tanner Janos, the Joel Edmundsons of the world, they seem to be making an impact, at least on the ice, early, and we'll see yet if that carries over when the games start to count for real. But I believe all of that plays into the idea, as you

say, Elliot, that they're starting to turn over some leafs in allowing younger players an opportunity and bigger roles for those that have been around for a little bit now all setting the stage for what could be a critical first couple of weeks for them to to begin the year and set themselves up to in the direction that that they want to go I think they're going to be a lot of a lot of fun to watch and we should just shut out before we move on here elliot quickly i mean we sat down with zach dooley and jesse cohen on on their podcast all the king's men on friday really enjoyed the chance to to chat with them also wanted to just say give a shout out to alec palmer emma lunn jack Jablonski of their social media and content team. Like Kings fans, very spoiled with some of the creative stuff that they put out there for the fan base to consume.

So thanks to all of them for welcoming us and being so good to us. A great time in L.A., Elliot. Would happily go back anytime. It was. And the thing is, too, it was good to meet, as you mentioned, some of the people who cover the league out west that don't travel as much. Like everybody knows, for example, like Eric Stevens. Everybody knows him who works for the Athletic. But you mentioned some of the other people we don't see as much.

I also met Derek Lee. He covers the Ducks. And, you know, Derek Lee, I sat beside him for a little bit at the game, the Empire Classic. And he's a young guy who you could tell has a lot of enthusiasm. So it was nice to meet him. You know, for Anaheim, unfortunately, we didn't get to see a lot of the really good young players that we like to see. But that Dostal, I mean's he's a good goalie you know gibson is out now uh three to six weeks because of the appendectomy so there's an opening there to to be his backup and and we'll see what that means but you know dostel who won the world championships in in prague for

for the czech republic you know that is a brilliant young goalie. And, uh, you know, the guy we're going to talk about players who are really curious about over the next week, but their first goal was scored by, uh, Sam Colangelo. And, you know, when you're a young player on Anaheim, they have a ton of young players. So you really have to do something to stand out. You know, he's a 22-year-old guy, and he played, I think, three games last year, scored his first NHL goal. You got to do things on this team to get noticed,

and scoring goals gets you noticed. But the Ducks team looked great, even though they didn't win, because those uniforms are spectacular. One other thing I've been keeping an eye on with Anaheim is Cam Fowler. We talked a few weeks ago about how I believe that this is a situation that he's available, and we'll see what happens here. I guess it's just quiet right now, not much going on. But that is

one, especially because Pat Verbeek tries to work so stealth that could just come at any time if he finds the right partner. Okay. So now we enter the second week of training camp. As you say, Elliot, this is the week where the vets start to wake up from their slumber and get going. But also, as you say, there's some other names out there, whether it's young players or some fringe guys that maybe weren't on as many people's radars or still kicking around in week number two. I don't know where you'd like to start here,

but just some of the names that pop out, like Noah Philp in Edmonton, Achoo Rachu in Vancouver, Carter Yakumchuk in Ottawa, Nate Danielson in Detroit. How about Philp Elliott? I mean, nice goal Saturday against Seattle. 26-year-old, big centerman, didn't play at all last season.

Chris Knobloch said he's shown them he doesn't have as much rust as you might think for a player in his situation. How about Philp? I think that's the great place to start. As you mentioned, he didn't play last year he's a little bit older he's 26 so this is the week where all of these players it's about to get harder on them because as we said the veterans will say okay now it's time to ramp it up. And all these players deserve credit because there's a ton of young guys or non-NHL guys who are so hungry this week. They are out there and they are doing whatever they can

to get attention. And if you're still surviving or getting noticed at this point, you've done something better than 95% of the other players. And these are the guys who are the real cream of the cream. Phillip is an interesting one. As you said, right-hand shot, teams always love right-handed centers, took the year off, a little bit older. And you can tell, you know, especially too, because he played at the University of Alberta. Locally, that's a big story. You know, university hockey is not always the biggest in Canada, but there it is. The players who play for the Golden Bears, they get noticed. So all of a sudden, this story in particular has got momentum. Now, Philp, Yakimchuk, Brad Lambert, Ratu, I think is a great story too,

and we'll talk about him more in a second. Nate Danielson, as you mentioned, as good as they were this week, they have to be 100% better next week. Because now everybody kind of knows them ah this is the guy that's getting the attention and oh okay yes let's see let's see what they're going to do now when the other players start to care so you can't rest you cannot rest you have to keep pushing but as you said you know these are the guys you want to see this week.

Ratu, I always look at guys like this because I remember years ago when I did spring training and I missed doing spring training, when Pedro Martinez was traded by the Expos to the Red Sox, the next year at training camp, I did a piece on Carl Pavano and Tony Armas Jr. They were the pitchers who got traded for Martinez. And you could tell this was their first camp with the Expos. They were still in Montreal. And they were like already beaten down by it.

They were like, oh my God, I can't believe I got to talk about this stuff. And they'd just been traded. So you'd look at ratu got traded for bo horvat and you go into a market like vancouver people are constantly on you they're not hard but they're watching you the microscope and the spotlight on you are harder than they are on almost everybody else you know the first round picks get it. The other, Pedersen gets it because he's got the same name as Pedersen up with the Canucks.

But you know the Canucks fans are all watching Ratu because he got traded for Bo Horvat. And the kid looks like he had a hell of a summer. And he's playing hard. You can see that they told him, like, all right, what are you going to do? Look at the NHL roster that Canucks have. They have one of the deepest forward groups in all of the NHL. And so he knows, like, he can't just peek around the curtain. He's got to blast the door down.

And he's done a really nice job. I've enjoyed like we're carrying four Canucks preseason games. I think we've had two or three on already. You get enough chance to watch them. And I'm impressed by what he's done. But like all these other guys, like this is the week. As big as last week was, this week is better because it it doesn't get easier and now people are going to be like coming for you and in the case of danielson in detroit la did you say

what patrick kane said about him what did he say i missed that he said that i don't consider patrick kane's words very important so i completely missed it well I've got news for you. You should. He said he said he reminds him of Bedard with the way he stick handles and how he shoots. Wow. So that's pretty high praise. Another Western League guy. Yeah, that's the Western. That's that's Kyle. We should sponsor this.

Kyle Bukowskis' weekly WHL drop in. I don't know what sponsor you want to get. Some cowboy boots or something like that but that can be kyle's whl drop-in well it's funny so after you called out my brother and i he texted me after that episode and he said it'd be funny if i just fed you like a meaningless whl stad every week and then you threw it into the episode like it was something very noteworthy. I'll tell you this. The ad people at our place, they'll sell anything. So it could work.

You know, it's funny. Like you talk about the Cain made the Bedard comparison. I have a buddy who's a huge Flyers fan. And he saw Mishkov score the other night against Boston overtime. And he's like, Mishkov's going to be better than Bedard. Poor Bedard. He's just sitting there, you know, playing as great as he can, trying to lift the Blackhawks back into a stratosphere. And he's getting Danielson compared to him. He's getting Mishkov compared to him. You know, here's a guy who's just done nothing wrong. Everybody's saying,

well, he's good, but these other guys, they're just as good or they're better. Pretty funny stuff. That's how you know you're making an impact when everybody's getting compared to you so early in your NHL career. And you say my friends are dumb. That's good. Really good. Pittsburgh, Elliot. Their issues with the plane on the weekend were supposed to play in Detroit Saturday night.

Couldn't get off the ground at home, so the game got postponed. What's the fallout of all that? Someone was asking me, actually a couple of people were asking me, do the Penguins get fined for that? And the answer is no. I don't think anything like that is happening. But I do think there's an understanding. Look, like if you're a Red Wings fan, you've bought tickets on a Saturday night to go see the Red Wings. And it may not be a regular season game. It's exhibition. But still, like, especially if you're taking your kids, that's a big deal. That's a big deal. And obviously, anybody with children who's at school age, Saturday is much more convenient day to go to a game than, say, Monday, which is when they're going to have to play it now.

And I do think there's an understanding that this can't happen a lot. And so I've heard there are going to be conversations about what kinds of backup plans need to be in place. You know, in the preseason, you don't have to go in the night before. Usually ski at home in the morning and you fly in the afternoon, save money. I think everybody understands it.

You don't need to spend that much time on the road during exhibition play. But I did hear there was a recognition that you don't want that to be happening. It doesn't, it's bad for the Penguins. It's bad for the Red Wings. it's bad for the penguins it's bad for the red wings it's bad for the red wings at home and their fans i think everybody understands that so i'm sure there will be uh conversations about it and should mention kyle that uh we always

touch on swayman and i don't get the sense of any movement this weekend. I think the Bruins have bent a little bit, a little bit. But I still think they're still pretty far apart. And we're going to need more movement on both sides. Unless one side completely collapses, which I don't get the sense of right now. There's still going to have to be movement on both sides uh for this to happen all right well that'll bring us then to the final thought which is presented by gmc so the buffalo sabres elliott played an exhibition game the other day over in germany against red bull munich they won five nothing what was more impressive to you about lindy ruff his choice of headwear or his excitement

about attending octoberfest uh b uh the the attending oct so i heard this and first of all i loved it because when you go on the road like first and foremost it's a business trip but secondly there should be opportunities when you do things like this for some fun. And, you know, first of all, JJ Paterka getting the ovation, that was awesome. You know, that's what that should be about. That's a moment he's never going to forget for the rest of his career. And that's awesome. But, you know But when people say coaches get recycled or people are too old, this is my argument against that kind of thinking. Age is just a number.

It's not about the age. It is about do you adapt for the times and do you understand the changes in people? Like Lindy Ruff started coaching in the 90s. Does he understand the change between the players he was coaching then and the players he's coaching now and the answer to me is yes and you know i'll tell you a story i heard a few years ago and it was adam mayor who told me this story about ruff adapting and this is this has got to be maybe over 10 years ago. But he talked about when later in his time as coach of Buffalo,

the Sabres veterans went to rough before a road trip to Florida. And they had a couple days off before, and they were supposed to take a day or two in Buffalo and then fly down. And the veterans went to rough, and they they said can we go down early and maybe go golfing and they said going into it we're going to try this but they they felt the old lindy ruff when he first started would have said no freaking way get out of my office but they were hopeful and again this was about 10 years ago he. He would be more willing to do it. And he said to them, I'll make you a deal. We'll do it, but you owe me two wins.

And Mare said, they did. They got their golf in and they got their two wins. And to me, that is what coaching is all about. It's not how old you are. It's not how many jobs you've had or you don't have. It's all about, do you adapt? Do you adapt your strategies on the ice? Do you adapt your strategies off the ice? Do you accept the way we do things now

with fitness and sports science and analytics like that small thing with lindy ruff and octoberfest like there was all this video this year of the savers having bad practices and him making them do push-ups on the ice like i got no problem with any of that as long as there's also that side to your job. Yeah, you're in Germany. Go to Oktoberfest. And I just thought that's a small thing, but Kyle, a very big thing. Yeah, I remember talking to him last season when he was still in New Jersey,

asking him, you've been doing this for so long. Like, what still gets you excited? What still has you coming back for more? And he said, I love the ability to compete, to be in the fight and the camaraderie, which leads into why he would be so open and be pushing for something like that. Of course, you worry about the hockey stuff

and getting your team ready for the season, but being able to balance that out and understanding the unique situation that they are in being overseas in Germany at this time of the year, I think it's a really great thing. Kyle, before we wrap up the final thought, there was just one thing I want to mention.

I'm sure there are hockey fans somewhere on the Eastern seaboard who had to deal. I mean, I saw some of the video from the hurricane, like it's terrible. So just all the hockey fans out there who may have been affected, just wishing you the best and, you know, hope that if you do listen to this pod, we can bring you a couple minutes of peace in the middle of what is a terrible, terrible time. Well said, Elliot. That was the final thought presented by GMC. When we come back, the thought line

and our conversation with Quinton Byfield of the LA Kings. More 32 Thoughts to come after this. Quinton Byfield of the LA Kings. More 32 Thoughts to come after this. Listen to the 32 Thoughts podcast ad-free on Amazon Music, included with Prime. Okay, time now for the Thought Line. A a reminder the phone number to call in 1-833-311-3232 the email address if you'd like to write us 32thoughts at sportsnet.ca before we get into this week's questions and comments i should bring up so remember last week elliot the one of the questions was a really fun one about a player or team or event that you'd like to see turned into a movie i mentioned the salt lake city 2002 olympics i thank everyone that sent me an email

or a tweet online a dm on social reminding me of the gold rush doc that came out shortly after those olympics so i i have the vhs somewhere in my parents place place on a shelf. Sorry, what's that? VHS? Yes. I thought you would be the one that would know that. Yes. I got to tell you, I didn't think you were old enough to know VHSs. Your first demo reel was probably on a VHS. Yes, it was.

That's true. So anyway, so I watched that a bunch as a kid. And I should have clarified precision and language, Elliot, a good lesson for me here. I should have just said I would love a fresh documentary on that team to come out. We're approaching 25 years since it happened. But thank you to everyone for pointing me towards it. I think someone's got it uploaded on YouTube now.

So for those that haven't seen it, go watch it if you're interested. It's really good behind the scenes stuff. But as I say, I would love to see a fresh one in the near future. Okay. Allow me to support you on this one. I find in the moment people are careful. They're careful. 20 years later, it's over.

We won. Let's give up all the secrets. I'm 100% with you on this. Ah, that makes me feel nice and warm. Let's start with a voicemail, Elliot. Mike from Montana. Kyle, welcome to the show. Thanks for joining. I have a question about the waiver wire. This time of year, the waiver wire is a very busy place. I'm wondering, what is the waiver wire? Is there a ticker? Is there an email? Is it a group text between all the GMs? How do they handle the succession of teams from number one to 32? And who goes next? Thanks very much, guys. Keep up the good work.

Thank you, Mike. And we get this question periodically and kyle and i thought it was a really good idea to go over this again because at the beginning of the year some people forget and some people need a refresher or a reminder so a good question and this is how it works let's do it first the order for the first month of the season until November 1st, actually, until November 1st, the waiver order is determined by the reversed standings from the previous season. So the worst team in the league last year has the first pick until November 1st. And it goes like that. And starting November 1st, it goes by points percentage this year.

Obviously, at that time, not everybody's going to be playing the same amount of games. So it goes by points percentage. And this is not like, say, a snake draft in a hockey pool or fantasy football. It doesn't go 132, 32, 1, 132. It is simply 32 to 1. That's the way it goes. Now, so for example, say a player gets put on waivers. Let's look today.

Who was put on waivers today? Let's say Martin Furk. Martin Furk put on waivers today. Let's say 10 teams put in a claim the lowest ranked team from last year's standings gets the player that claims them so if one passes and two eight 16 take them two gets them if one to eight pass and nine is the top team to claim them they get them now as to how it works, I think that's actually a really good question. All I know is that there's an email that goes out to everyone in the league.

I think it's like, actually, I don't know who all gets it, but there's a list of people who are executives who get it. And eventually the Players Association gets a copy of it too. And so the way it works is it starts at 2 p.m. Eastern time, 11 a.m. Pacific. So on a day before 2 p.m. Eastern, a team can send a note note to the league we're putting this player or these players on waivers and then at two o'clock a big note goes out to everybody who's on this distribution list and says here who's here's who's on waivers today 24 hours later another note goes out saying okay here's who was claimed and who they were awarded to and here are the new players on waivers today that's how it goes so it's it's like a mass email list to a bunch of executives that i don't know who's exactly on it the one thing that i find very

interesting is in the last cba they used to kind of know that if a team got, if a player got claimed by like eight teams, it was kind of not common knowledge that these were the teams that claim this player. In the last CBA, the league changed it. They won the right to keep that secret. And I guess it's like a negotiation tactic or something and agents hate it it makes agents crazy and I understand why because they want to know who's interested in their player right like if eight guys claim their player I want to know for the future hey these other seven teams maybe I can end land my player there. But it's kept private, so they've got to work a little harder. Or maybe some teams keep it hidden entirely.

So hopefully that explains it all, but that's the way the process works. Very thorough. Well done. Let's go to Tyler next from Chicago. I was thinking about the Hawks-Sabres game last November, and I realized that there were five former first overall picks in that game that night. Bedard, Hall, Dahlin, Johnson, and Power. Has there ever been a game with more number one overall picks before?

It feels like that would be pretty tough to beat. Kind of hoping there hasn't been to say I was witness to history that night. Keep up the great work, fellas. So happy to have the pod back. Do you know this answer, Elliot? I do not off the top of my head. Do you? So I didn't off the top of my head earlier.

I had to reach out to the good people at Sportsnet Stats. So that tied the record. Five first overall picks in one NHL game. Would you hazard a guess of how many times it has happened in NHL history? First of all, great work. I'm not used to a co-host doing research here, so I'm really impressed by this. That's not true. Off the top of my head, Kyle, I would have to guess it involved the Oilers

because at those times when they had Hall and they had Nugent Hopkins and they had Yakupov I gotta figure they played somebody else that had two number one overall picks on their team yes so my question to you is though because it's never been more than five first overall picks in one game that's the record yeah how many times in nhl history have we seen that do you have a guess i'm gonna say i have no idea so this is a pure guess pure guess i have no clue i am without clue uh i am going to guess eight 46 46 yeah i never five times last season alone all of them involving the sabers wow well you know what i i guess i should have guessed that because when before hall got hurt you know buffalo chicago there were two for the blackhawks in addition to whatever Buffalo had, but I don't remember. Wow.

I mean, 46. Like, I would not have expected that. Wow. Yeah. What's the oldest? Do you know? Did they tell you? No, I didn't follow up on that one.

No, it's okay. Well, you know, next time maybe you'll do go the extra mile. But. You gave me my flowers too early. Kyle, that's great work. I never would have guessed 46. Never. Yeah.

So, Tyler, thank you for the question. You were kind of a part of history that night, though it's not as rare as we initially thought. Jeremy from Vernon, B.C. Hello, Elliot and Kyle. Watching the Canucks versus the Kraken game and noticing Kevin Lankanen playing with his old Nashville predators, pads and mask curious of how long a goalie is allowed to play with former teams colors. Can he play with his Nashville color pads and mask all year? Or does the league step in at some point,

maybe a dumb question, but curious of the answer, no dumb questions here, just dumb hosts. I reached out. Great line. Great. Some people in the equipment world in the National Hockey League.

And the response I got back is, I mean, I don't believe there's ever a situation where the league steps in or there's like a certain amount of time that, you know, you need to have the proper colored equipment by this point. But it really all comes down to Elliot. My understanding is, is how quickly whichever the manufacturing company that a goalie is partnered with, how quickly they can get the new gear out to them. And I mean, it's not so much an issue nowadays because they already come broken in in so many ways, but to the point where the goalie is comfortable using it again. So typically what will happen, you know, a goalie will be traded to a new team. happen, you know, a goalie will be traded to a new team. Their equipment guys will be on the horn with whether it's Bauer or True or Bryans, whoever the manufacturer is, right away and get an order going to get that process started as soon as possible. Because I would believe for the team's

sake and also the players, you want to be wearing the equipment that matches the colors of the new team you're now playing for as quickly as possible. One of the things that they'll do sometimes, they'll use something that's called pad skins, Elliot. It's kind of like an adhesive. If there's like little bits of trim, if it's a predominantly white goalie pad with little bits of team color on it from wherever they were coming previous, they'll have some what's called pad skins in the correct color of wherever they are now and go over top of that just as a temporary measure to make everything look matchy matchy. But otherwise, it's predominantly how quickly can the equipment company get the new stuff in? Yes, again, great work, great research.

I'll give you another example of how on like how on top of things that the, that these companies can be. Patrick Kane, when he got traded from Chicago to the Rangers, the people at Bauer, they were well aware of the rumors and they had gloves made up in Rangers colors in advance for him. Like they were on top of it. They were saying, we better have some colors ready for him. So in that particular case, and I'm sure it's not the only one that, that's the one I heard of, but I heard that,

you know, they were on top of things. They were alert. They heard the rumors and they were proactive in making sure that Kane had proper colors as quick as possible because, you know, you should always believe everything you read on social media. And that one was right.

Very good. Okay. Another voicemail. This one, another Jeremy. This one from Victoria. Elliot has talked a lot in the past week or so about teams not wanting to go into LTIR. I wonder if he could explain that. Also, just a thought, a new nickname for the podcast

would really be good if you used hot air and hair. Thanks and keep up the great work, guys. That's pretty good. I actually really like that, hot air and hair. I think that one might stick, hot air and hair. That's Jeremy. It rolls right off the tongue. We'll send you a residual that's uh that's you should have copyrighted that before you like pat riley copyrighted three pete uh before you sent that in very good um basically here's the reason that teams want that edmonton has talked about it vancouver has talked about it other teams have talked about it if you're in long-term injured reserve if you're using that you cannot accrue cap space at the deadline so you know cap space one of the biggest

mistakes people make with caps cap space is they think okay let's just say the a team has five million dollars in cap space They think it's okay. Then you have five, every day you don't touch it, you have $5 million in cap space. That's not the way it works. It's like interest. You just keep, you add, every day you have $5 million in space available,

you just accrue more and more space. So when you go out, get to as close to the deadline you have more room to go out and get a player that's the way it goes but if you're in long-term injured reserve you are not allowed to do that so you're not banking any space and if you get things like lots of injuries has happened to Vegas a few years ago, then all of a sudden you get really trapped. Like you can be in situations where you can't dress full rosters. It's happened before. You're down to 17 or sometimes we saw a few years ago, Calgary had to play with 15 guys once. So that's what we're talking about here. When you are in, when you are not in LTIR,

boat here. When you are not in LTIR, you can bank space. When you're in LTIR, you can't. It's that simple. All right. That'll wrap another edition of The Thought Line. Thank you once again to everyone who called in, who wrote in. A lot more fun topics to discuss here on this episode. And a thank you to Griffin Porter for helping curate the list for us each and every week. When we come back, our interview with Quentin Byfield. Stay tuned. So last week, Ellie and I had a chance to spend some time with Quinton Byfield, 22 years old, breakout season a year ago. He's living on his own this year and sounds like there could be a lot more growth to come.

Poised to have another big season. Quinton Byfield, the big center for the LA Kings on 32 Thoughts. Enjoy. Now, I wanted to ask, center for the LA Kings on 32 Thoughts. Enjoy. Now, I wanted to ask, I saw a tinted visor. Yes. What's the story there? Honestly, there's not too much. Just growing up, I always kind of liked watching guys with the tinted visors and, you know, always kind of admired that. And then, you know, I asked them before about it and they said, like, you needed, like, kind of a prescription for it, like, because, like, concussion or eye problems or something. But then when I kind of had an injury, like, up there,

nothing serious at all, but then I asked the doctor, I was like, do you need a prescription? He's like, no. So then I go to our equipment guys, like, Grangie and them. I was kind of getting a tip about it. Yeah, yeah. So then I just put it on, tried it out, and, you know, really like it. Like, because I've always been a little sensitive to light.

I like it a little darker. So just kind of test out the whole summer and just go forward with it. Now, there's a story going around that you tried this last year and you were mocked mercilessly in practice. Is this true? Yeah, that is true. It was after the St. Louis game. I actually got, like, I got hit in the back of the head.

So then I had to go to do the concussion protocol, which I was all fine with, and then came out, finished Louis game, I actually got like, I got hit in the back of the head. So then I had to go to do the concussion protocol, which I was all fine with and then came out, finished the game and everything. Then the next day I was like, I go try the Tindadvisor. And then I was, it was terrible practice by me. So then everybody's just like chirping me about it. Everybody on my team, all the coaches were even getting to me. And then our old coach, Todd, he comes up to me. He's like, it's probably not a good idea after you get hit in the head

to put on tinted visors because then you create a target or something for yourself. And I was pressured to take it off. It's back. Is it going to start the year? It's back to start the year, though, but I was pressured to take it off before. Okay. Now, is there a better combo coming out of the gate this year than the tinted visor and the matte black helmets you guys will wear at home?

Oh, no. I think they did a really good job with the jerseys um the matte black too it's different like there's i don't know if there's anybody else like i know vancouver had um their skate jerseys yeah their third one so um to wear those all year at home like i think it looks really sharp really clean and that combo will look good nice so we're i think there's a lot of people excited to see you this year quentin like what are you at the 230 now people are saying big and strong ready to wreck havoc even more on the nhl how are you feeling yeah um i feel good you know it was a long summer for us um just wanted to kind of focus on you know putting on more muscle getting a little bit thicker um you know coming back to center as well you know kind of focus on, you know, putting on more muscle, getting a little bit thicker, you know, coming back to center as well. You know, I kind of worked on that in the offseason,

just, you know, just watching guys, watching their routes. I mean, just watching old game clips of me playing center. So I try to get back used to that. But, you know, going through training camp, new line mates as well playing with Fiala and Fogle. So there's some new there. But I feel like we got going well during camp and then played last night as well playing with Fiala and Fogle. So there's some new there, but I feel like we got going well during camp and then played last night as well.

And we had a pretty strong game. So we just got to keep that moving forward. Now, when you say you watch Roots, like who did you watch? Like what video did you watch? Yeah, like there's some Kopi clips, you know, because you want to be a two-way guy. So some clips of him.

Chandler Stevenson as well. Just, you know, a beer guy that skates really well um you know watch him even matthews like he plays a really good 200 foot game and um you know really good offensively so i'm kind of mixed with everything there um even i even watch some old bergeron you know right like a lot of those defensive guys kind of you know i want to be good down low and be trusted down there and it was a really great season for you coming off uh with the Kings last year and I was just reading some of the comments he had about it and he said you allowed yourself to make a little more mistakes almost you know giving yourself a bit of a break at times so what was that like and just almost letting yourself go in a way offensively how did you get to that point yeah um you know I think

growing up my whole life was always you know I was always uh doing good offensively and um you know i never had to like think or like double think of myself like making this play or anything so um you know coming into the nhl is a lot different um you know every play you know everyone's so good like you make a little mistake here it's a two-on-one another other way. And, you know, everybody can score. So, there's big, you know, big plays like that. So, it's like I don't want to be the guy making that turnover. I don't want to be the guy making that mistake. You know, I don't want to lose the game for us. Like, just things like that.

Like, it was all negative kind of going through my mind. If I make this play, I mess up. So, it was like, more so I was playing defensive with my game. It was just like if I get the line, you know, kind of just get behind them, make the safe play, you know, go after it. But then last year if I get the line, you know, kind of just get, get behind them, make the safe play, you know, go after it. But then last year,

I felt really comfortable, you know, obviously playing with Kopi and Juice, play with them, you know, a little bit the year prior as well.

So there's some familiarity there. And then, you know, I just want to be comfortable and said, you know, I'm going to make

that play if I mess up. You know, I kind of mess up, I can get back there. You know, I got two other guys back there, you know, in our D, trust them well. So well so um trying to let myself go and just play hockey and start

clicking again i wanted to ask um i mean we live in such a world now where it's all what have you done for me lately and that goes beyond hockey um and so certainly like just because your path may be different from other players at a similar age. It doesn't mean it's the wrong one. So I wonder, did it ever bother you? Or how did you deal with the fact that maybe you weren't on the same path or in the NHL at the same time as some other guys in your draft class that were drafted around you? Yeah. No, it definitely kind of sucked for sure. But everybody has a different path.

There's a lot going on, a lot of adversity at that point. Like during COVID, our draft was online. We didn't have like NHL combine. We had nothing like that. So it was very weird. Even that was a short season. So it was like coming in, there's a whole like contract if you want to burn it or not. Like there's a lot of variables to that which was kind

of weird um so it was all just different to me then and then obviously I come in the next year it was pre-season I got hurt the last last preseason game in the third period uh couldn't be any worse and then I was out for four months and coming into the season halfway through the season you know you don't really have a role but like you want to come in um try to figure out but you know everybody else already has their jobs kind of set in so you can't really do too much there either then you gotta wait for the next year and then the next year I come in I was sick like there's a lot of obstacles for me um you know everybody was patient with me it was really good and kind of you know put me on wing let me come in um you know get comfortable get my confidence back and um you know that's kind of put me on wing, let me come in, get comfortable, get my confidence back.

And that's kind of what started happening. And then I feel more comfortable now. But there's a lot of opportunity, adversity. There's a lot of different things that everybody goes through. There's not just one path to it. So it's the end goal and see it's a long career and that's what you want. You know what your coach Jim Hiller had said? He said he felt that it was always going to work out because you never stopped working.

Like no matter what happened, you never gave up on the work. Yeah. Yeah. That's a big thing for me. It's just you always want to compete. Even when I was going through those rehabs, it sucked because you're coming in. I was coming in at like 6 a.m. before, you know, everybody got here. Because you didn't want to be in their way in the gym either.

So I was getting here early, you know, just by myself, just for four months straight, just, you know, doing cardio. You know, working out is the worst. So you're doing that by yourself. No, but that was a grind. But just some mindset, like you don't want to lose those battles. battles you know there's other guys who are working just as hard as you so um you never want to be a step behind you want to be a step forward so um you know every practice try go as hard as I can um you know even just like four track even if you can't get the puck there uh you want to be able to go as fast as you can get there so you rush them to make the play so um that's just kind

of my mindset in that way you know former king mike richards he once told me a story that there was a year philly wasn't very good and he was learning how to play one center and one night he was like getting his ass kicked by matt sundin and the next night he was getting his ass kicked by sako koivo and he said that the one thing the veterans on the fires told him was this is gonna pay off like you're gonna be better for this so i'm, was there a night that you had early in your career where some veteran just schooled you and someone said, you're going to remember this in a good way? Yeah, I think, well, honestly, it was my first game ever.

We played Anaheim, and that was Ryan Getzlaff. My first draw, I wasn't too great on face-offs coming in. I've worked on that, but it was a center nice draw, and he just cleaned, just cleaned back, and I was like, oh, this is how it's going to be. So it was kind of like that the whole night. He's obviously a well-respected guy in the league, and he's a very good player.

But, yeah, he's a big body, so he kind of just worked me all night on the corners, draws, everything, you name it. So that was kind of like my moment coming in. I was like, it's going to be a lot harder than I might have thought. So, yeah, that was kind of it. You were saying that you would love to score from distance a little more this year as opposed to always being in tight. Naturally, the goals are going to be there.

The chances will be there as well. But I'm just curious like the mindset of a shooter like this is one thing to say i would love to score more goals than last year but you're actually thinking about where on the ice you want to be to to be in those situations so how do you go about kind of mapping that out and uh as you try to accomplish all that this year yeah i think just last year you know my main goal is obviously go to the net, and that's still really what I want to do. You know, I got a lot of goals from in there. I said that's where probably all my goals were from last year.

But, you know, I felt at times I was, like, deferring or pulling up a little bit when I was entering the zone instead of, you know, having the mindset of attacking the net, you know, make a little deception move, get a quick shot off. You know, you're not going to score all of them, but, you know, the more that you do that, the more it's going to go in, the more you have to respect those, you know, me shooting from far, then the next play opens up too. So, just kind of things like that, you know, even the sharp angle shots, you see a ton of goals going by the goalie's ears now.

So, just not being scared to put the puck to the net sometimes, not from wherever, basically. How much do you hate the Oilers? I hate them, and we got Foggy, too. It's tough. He's your winner. I hated you. You don't fight well, right?

Yeah, yeah. So, yeah, I don't like them. And I work out with them in the summer, so it's just not fun. What is that like? It's good. Like, they're all – obviously, we're out of the – like, I mean, they're always winning against us, so they're always happy. But they're, like, such a good group of guys, those, like, Connor, Leon,

Hyman, Nercy. Like, they're all great dudes. And, you know, obviously, you know connor and leon are you know two of the best players in the league so obviously working out those guys seeing what they do on a daily basis can only help you as well so um you know in the summer we're all friends but when it comes to you know the games it's it's game on so rob thomas said that he was there when the offer sheets came down and he said they were really mad and the the oilers guy said it wasn't that bad you were there like what is the truth yeah i i honestly don't know um because i think those guys

were all in the same room together and i i don't think i was in the room at that time but you could feel a little bit of um the tension there a little bit i guess um but yeah it's it's hockey it's the offer she's happened but yeah um you know honestly i'm surprised it doesn't happen more right all right uh can i ask you about your jersey number i read that 55 because of sergey gonchar right when he played in pittsburgh so for a power forward why uh the defenseman ends up being the inspiration for your jersey number from like a young age yeah uh so when i was younger Pittsburgh Penguins were you know kind of the team there with you know Crosby, Mulligan, Gonchar um you know all those guys and um growing up everybody wanted 87 or 71 so you know I just kind of want to be different and at the time I was playing defenseman

as well so oh you were yeah so then I was I went 55 I played defenseman until I was playing defenseman as well. Oh, you were? Yeah, so then I went 55. I played defenseman until I was, I think, 7 or 8. And then the coaches got mad at me for rushing it too much. So I wasn't really a true defenseman. So they said, if you're going to rush it like that and play offense and you want to play deep, go to center. So that's kind of how I got into that position. And that's how the 55 started.

If you were still a defenseman, do you think you would have made the NHL? Great question. I honestly don't know. The answer is yes. You have to say yes. You're a talented guy. You've got to say yes. I was going to map it out a little bit more.

I feel like for myself, I could skate the puck and be a big guy with some range back there, so I feel like it would be good. If I was a righty, a big right-handed defenseman like a skate could be really good. But I don't know. Who knows? I think I could have, but it would have been different. Everything would be different.

I have no doubt you could have. You know, one of the things I think the Kings are hoping for, and it's almost kind of sacrilege to say, is they want you to take the number one center job from Kopitar. And I know everything he's done for this franchise is a god here, but can you ever say to yourself, that's what I have to do this year? Yeah, obviously I think that's the goal. I think, obviously I wouldn't say that if he didn't want me to do that either.

He obviously wants the best for the team. We all do. We have a competitive battle within our locker room i think that's good for our team and pushes everyone so um i think everybody's battling to move up the lineup more minutes and everything so um you know i think that's what's really good about our uh you know our group we have you know four really good lines that you know can show up any night and prove themselves so i think that's kind of um you know what i'm looking at to do this year and um you know can show up any night and prove himself so i think that's kind of um you know what i'm looking at to do this year and um you know he's doing the same thing like

he doesn't want me to give it to me so you know that's so good about this team what's like the biggest piece of advice he's given you or like the lasting impression you will have of avanzi kopitar 15 20 30 years down the road uh um i don't know if there's like some words, like obviously there is words, but it's not coming to my head, but it's more so what I see. You know, I feel like he's more of a leader by example and what he does. You know, when he talks, everybody listens, like you're room quiet, you know, everyone focuses up, listens to what he says. And, you know, he's a true leader in that sense. But you know i think for me just watching what he does on a daily basis you know he's first guy in here um you know he's getting his treatment you know he's stretching uh riding

the bike and like fully warmed up you know being one of the first guys on the ice uh one of the last guys on the ice doing all the right things you know taking care of his body eating right you know like he does everything proper and everything right. So, you know, just looking up and coming at a young age and seeing someone that does that, you know, makes you want to do that. And like when I was in junior, like I wasn't stretching. I wasn't working out. Like so like it totally changed my mindset.

You know, just following a guy like Kobe. What was the – so I'm just curious. Like what was the biggest thing you saw after junior? You said, uh-oh, this is going to change in a hurry? Yeah, it was probably me playing defense. I think versus Aubrey. Crossing your own blue line? Yeah, I was crossing my own red line at that point. But, yeah, it was like in the D zone.

Like, I was obviously trying to fix it in the OHL, but it's a different league. I don't know if I stopped really that much, so I think that was a huge thing. I was doing a lot of circles in the D zone and stuff like that, and then leaving the zone early too. You don't have to be going a million miles an hour all the time. That's what they kind of taught me here. They kind of want me underneath the puck, getting speed behind them. I'm fast enough to beat those guys up to ice,

and it's just an easier play for the D, for the winger, if you're supporting them rightly instead of being way ahead of them. They have to make a forced play. So I'll probably say those. What's the angriest you've ever seen Kopitar? Honestly, I'll probably say those. What's the angriest you've ever seen Kopitar? Uh, honestly, I don't know. That's a good question. I, I can't recall if I'm being honest, like I don't know if he's ever had a bad day in

his life. So, um, any game, like he, he's always, you know, always calm. Um, you know, cool. Like, you know, even if he has, you know, I um you know cool like you know even if he has you know i remember we in winnipeg i think he had four goals that game he was still just you know kind of straight face you know it's like if that was me like everybody would hear that um but now like even like like he's just so even keel all the times like i haven't seen him you know lose his mind or anything like that so um you know i feel like that's good too like it makes us feel like you know if he's

not doing it then like we can't do that either so everybody's kind of on the same page how much did your teammates hear about your goal against columbus last year how much have you watched that thing back uh i watched it so much um i think we we came out with the the youtube video it's like 11 hours and i was joking about it. Like, I just had it on the whole summer, just had the background in the TVs. But, yeah, no, like at that time, they didn't want to let me see it because they didn't want my head to get too big. They know it's like that.

But it's one of those goals where it happened, and I didn't really even know what I was doing in the moment. I was just trying to get the puck to the net or anything but um it's one of those goals that it's hard hard to top again for me right Craig Simpson our colleague talks about all the time like some of his best moments offensively he's like I couldn't even tell you what I did right like just the mind goes blank and the instincts take over it's just all happening it's just let's try to get this puck on the net and make a play here right um I just wanted to I saw at the NHL media tour your dad was with you and he was so proud.

He was taking all the pictures. He was watching everything you do and we see that from time to time. And I had a chance to meet your parents briefly last year at the All-Star game and just a word about them. Your mom is really good with the shepherd's pie. Your dad didn't realize where the keys were. but obviously they're a huge factor in who you are and what was the best thing that they ever did for you oh man like they you know they're awesome um there's just like i can't even describe it you know what they do like for like my mom what she did for me she just growing up like in

hockey um you know she always she'd go to work she worked nine to five come home pick me up drive me to the rink um you know every day so like what she was doing she missed two two minor hockey games in my whole minor hockey career and like i played eight years of minor hockey wow so like that just tells you enough there um you know she's still working with um my minor hockey team york simple express like she's still on the board there so like she's always just giving back in that way so um if i have any problems here too i always just call my mom uh with all the help um anything so she's she's always there for me um she's always playing others in front um for herself so no she's just the best

i'll like if i didn't have her i don't know what i'd be doing and then obviously my dad too like he you know it was very cool too like as a family like we grew hockey we kind of grew playing hockey together um you know no one in my family played hockey before um you know my dad came over when he was 18 from jamaica he didn't know the game but obviously in canada you know hockey's the number one sport so um you know going through the ranks the whole way up uh we kind of all figured it out together um he's always there he's always the biggest fan he's watching every single hockey games he's still you know still a big leafs fan um to this so on the wednesday the 16th, when the Leafs play the Kings in Toronto,

who's he going to be cheering for? Yeah, like, I don't know. Like, he'll have my jersey on for sure, but he might have a Matthews jersey underneath. So that'll be interesting to see. And you still, like, in the summer times, you go back to the family home, right? Yeah, yeah.

You know, I was trying to, last year I was like, I might try to rent a place for myself. And they're like, no, you're coming home. You know, I can trying to. Last year I was like, I might try to rent a place for myself. And they're like, no, you're coming home. I can't be mad. It's obviously, they do so much for me. And I want to be there. I don't see them much in the season. So obviously being with them and seeing my dog as well, it's good.

And then my mom's always in the cooking, doing my laundry. So it's nice. I just get home and relax great last one for me i just wonder i spending a couple days around here elliot and i uh and tom seems like there's a bit of a different feel around the group just with like some jobs open now more young guys more young players like what's yours to read on everything yeah i feel like there's a lot of excitement in uh in my room right now um obviously so there's more young guys you know the new guys that came in you know they brought presence in training camp you know being physical um so like there's a lot of new for us you know

obviously um you know jimmy is our head coach you know his first head coach job as well so um there's a lot of new a lot of excitement a lot of young guys you know getting opportunity to play as well so um i think there's a really good buzz for us and I mean as we're saying before there's a lot of guys pushing for each other's jobs which you know creates those battles you know in practice you know in games you know challenge each other challenge each other internally so no it's gonna be a really exciting year and I think it's gonna be a good one for us. Three last quick ones for you. One, do you think about Team Canada? You know, honestly, that's, you know, if I ever got the opportunity to play, it's always an honor to play for Team Canada. You know, I feel like

if you asked me that, you know, last year, it would have been no. You know, then had better seasons for myself and then, you know, kind of heard some buzz around and, you know last year have it been no um you know then had better seasons for myself and then um you know kind of heard some buzz around and um you know kind of got on the radar but there's so many you know good hockey players from canada so many good forwards so um you know obviously i would like to be there but um you know there's so many guys that you know deserve to be there as well um it's obviously gonna be so hard to make you know but i think it was ron mcclain who was the first guy to say it last year at the all-star break he said watch byfield yeah at the end of your season last year you said there was something that was bothering

you that you had to fix can i ask what that was or um i got the end like an injury or something yeah i was for the last month and a half like even going into playoffs honestly the last so it was for the last month and a half until the final game uh was against chicago that's the first time i felt you know better i was just battling a sickness again um for a month and a half it was just i had a fever for the full time so it was just kind of get through the game i get through practice go home nap you know that was my whole month and a half so that was a real battle for me at that moment and then um you know going to playoffs i ended up feeling better but that was more so just you know my tonsils um i always had that problem with strep though and everything so i finally got those

removed um this summer so hopefully uh no more sicknesses this year but the key thing is you get a lot of ice cream out of it oh god time in see and my mom came down um for that too she came down for two weeks and just took care of me they don't do enough okay here's my last one i was looking at your instagram page and you have one of the more interesting signatures that i have seen before and that is that you link to the dictionary definition of smile on your Instagram page I loved it why did you do that honestly I I don't remember um it was I've had that probably for since I made Instagram um you know I always just always always have a smile on my face um you know I always just like to have a

good time, have fun with the guys. Like, you know, I play hockey for a job. You know, I play, play hockey. Like there should never be a bad day. So just always smiling. I think, you know, everybody should be doing that as well. So I kind of just had it there, had it when I was younger

and just kept it the whole time. Love it. I think that's great. Hope you have plenty to smile about this season. This has been great. Thanks so much. Appreciate it. Thank you guys. So great to hear from Quentin Byfield.

We thank him again for his time. And one final thank you to the LA Kings organization for having us out there last week, more preseason hockey to come this week, including some more games on the network this Monday night, seven mountain time six pacific the oilers and canucks that's on sportsnet pacific if you want to catch that one and keep an eye out this week on wednesday special edition episode of 32 thoughts we are bringing back the in-season

cup that's right brand new season new stakes two new contestants that'll be joining us for a competition that lasts all season long we'll reveal who will be part of the action we'll do the draft on wednesday's episode as well and plenty more to come this week on 32 thoughts enjoy the next few days we'll talk to you again on Wednesday.