32 Thoughts: The Podcast - The Hot Stove Is Heating Up

Episode Date: March 7, 2022

Take a bow, Jason Robertson! Jeff and Elliotte discuss the play of the Dallas Stars, their transition to a new core, and Robertson’s hat-trick-filled weekend (00:01). They hit on some other great stories from around the league including Nick Robertson’s first career regular-season goal, the Colorado-Calgary game (10:30), the play of Cale Makar (13:30), and the seven-point performance by Nick Schmaltz (38:35).As we get closer to the trade deadline, Jeff and Elliotte do a bit of a tour around the league looking at players/teams of interest -- Tomas Hertl (17:20), Hampus Lindholm (18:15), Max Comtois (22:15), Claude Giroux (24:15), Rasmus Ristolainen (27:00), Jack McBain (31:40), Vancouver (29:10), Shea Weber’s contract (36:45), and the Toronto Maple Leafs (42:00).They also address the comments made by Angela James via social media  regarding the state of women’s hockey (46:15) and they take your questions (54:00).Music Outro: Ryan Scott - Love U Like The Sun In JuneListen to his debut album “A Freak Grows in Brooklyn” on SpotifyThis podcast is produced and mixed by Amil Delic, and hosted by Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman.Audio Credits: Arizona Sports 98.7 FM, Bally Sports Southwest, Bally Sports West and Sportsnet.The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

Okay, let's go. I'm just reading Tony Gwynn's stats. Why are you reading Tony Gwynn's stats? I love Tony Gwynn. I looked through his stats last week. What is with you two guys? Unbelievable. It's insane.

All right, let's get going. Welcome to 32 Thoughts to Podcast, presented as always by the all-new GMC AT4 lineup. Jeff Merrick, Emil Delic, and Elliot Friedman along with you for another Monday Morning Pod. And Elliot, why don't we start with a good news story for a change? Why don't we start with something a little more uplifting than who's getting traded, who's upset about leaving? Why don't we do a good news story? And that good news story coming out of this weekend is Jason Robertson of the Dallas Stars. Back-to-back hat tricks. That's outstanding. So goals number 24 to 29 this weekend for Jason Robertson. And before I get your thoughts on this player,

let's rewind quickly to our interview with him from the NHL Players Tour in Chicago before the season began, where he talks a little bit about his confidence. I think I'm a lot more inspired to do even better. I think expectation last year was, you know, lot more inspired to do even better. I think expectation last year was, you know, I just wanted to make the team. And then coming in this year, during the summer,

the whole time, I'm like, okay, I'm going to come in, I'm going to try to, you know, help this team go to playoffs, like be a big piece. And coming in now with a lot of confidence because of what I did last year, you know, I watched all the games I played last year, thinking about what I could do differently, how to do differently, what I shouldn't and could have done. So there's a lot more mentally I'm ready to keep going.

One thing I really need to work on, or not really work on, just want to keep doing more, is get in the middle of the ice. Attack the middle of the ice. Don't be so timid, waiting around the perimeter, looking for guys because the ice is there. I think I'm fast enough to go to the middle ice and, you know, create more scoring chances. So that's what I'm looking forward to. You know, one of the interesting things about Jason Robertson's weekend is, you know, we focus so much on Robertson's shot, which has always been his

calling card, even going back to when I first used to watch him play with the Kingston Frontenacs of the OHL. We look at all those goals. We're not pointing at the shot for anything here, are we, Freed? Not really. I mean, there were a couple of good shots, but they weren't ones where he stepped up and really wired them too much.

There was the hat trick on Sunday was a rebound in front, a shot that kind of dribbled through the goalie in an empty netter. But the one on Friday, I mean, that was just a spectacular hat trick.

That's awesome. Including the winner in overtime where it was the end of a minute, 37-second shift, and he wiped out at the end of it just hilariously. A race for the bucket center. Robertson, a breakaway for the hat trick in overtime. He scores! What a night! What an exclamation point a hat trick overtime game winner

robertson the hero and the stars skid off with the win you know what a player he's turning into by the, I want everyone to know that I noticed we got the Jeff Hockey snob when I watched him in Kingston. Because the rest of us, of course, didn't do that. I want you to know that, you know, I noticed it, Jeff. I'm just trying to give you some context from where I first saw him. Right, yes. And that was Kingston. And the story was, you have to see this American kid playing for the Kingston Frontenacs because he's got the best shot in the OHL.

It's ridiculous. It always pops when you see a junior hockey kid who already has an NHL shot. It really stands out. And when Robertson played, he was that guy. He would shoot from anywhere, Freed. And you can't blow pucks by NHL goaltenders, but you can sure blow pucks past junior goaltenders. And Jason Robertson did that on the regular. I was just sort of providing a little color, Elliot,

just giving a little context. This comes down to, I knew about Jason Robertson and the rest of you didn't. You know how many hipsters it takes to change a light bulb, Elliot? It's actually kind of a rare number. You probably never heard of it. Anyway, continue.

That's so good. I like that. I think the interesting thing about this this year is Dallas as a team is kind of turning over a bit. Yes. Sagan's been really good lately. Ben certainly is not to be underestimated. But what we're seeing is the turning over of the Dallas Stars, eventually from the Jamie Benn, Tyler Sagan Stars,

to the Jason Roberts and Rupe Hintz Stars. And Joe Pavelski is a very big part of that, and I believe the Stars are hopeful that they're going to lock him up and he's going to resign. But I think what you're seeing this year is that Dallas is changing kind of the core of its team, or if you want to say adding to the core of the team. You know, the Stars have some really big decisions to make. And I think a lot of it depended on did they make a run for the playoffs or not? You know, they're there. You know, Robertson has really played an enormous role in getting them there,

and this weekend especially. But I look at him, and I think this kid is turning himself into a franchise player. Well, there's another franchise player that it seems as if all of this is being built around, and we've talked plenty about him since his rookie season, and that's Miro Haskin. Yes. It seems to me as if you look at the future of the Dallas Stars,

as to your point, they're starting to turn this thing over and start handing it to that, you know, next generation of hockey player. It's being done around Haskinen. It's being done around Robertson, Ruppe Hins. I know they really want it to be done around Denis Gurionov,

who's one of the more frustrating players in the entire NHL. Just complete flashes of brilliance occasionally, which just must be so frustrating for the squad. You're like, where is that every game? And the other is Jake Ottinger, who's now finally arrived as well. And he's going to be someone, albeit a restricted free agent, just like Jason Robertson, is going to be doing a new contract at season's end.

But that's that, how should we refer to it, Elliot? Next core of the Dallas Stars. And of course, Robertson is a huge part of that. And you can make the argument, he does the most difficult thing to find in a rebuild, and that's a young player who can score goals. And Robertson does that. Yes, and there's not much else to say there. And you're

right. I think the stars, it's good that you pointed out Haskin and Ottinger because I, number one, I forgot to do it. And number two, especially in Haskin's case, he can't ignore it, but we are seeing the turnover of the Dallas stars very much in front of our eyes. I should also mention Jeff, that it was a big weekend for the Robertson family, not only because Jason got back-to-back hat tricks, but Nick scored his first regular season goal. And he's got a break. He's got Nick Robertson. Scores! Nick Robertson has his first regular season NHL goal. He had one in the bubble for the Maple Leafs against Columbus in 2020.

And boy, is it a big one. Morgan Riley trying to go and get this puck for Robertson. You get an example of just speed here. The puck's in play, a little battle that Tavares chips it by Miller. Now Nylander, like he did earlier, does an excellent job of getting to that and just passed the puck to an area. Nylander knows Robertson's got good speed. He leads him and then the quick release goes five hole as Demko sliding across. But he's battled injury and he's battled to get back. So Robertson and Sandin were the first two of the really young Maple Leafs who signed for no bonuses, right? Yes.

Because the Maple Leafs told them that they had a better chance of reaching the NHL if they didn't have bonuses that the teams had to worry about in such a tight cap situation. So he did it. And I think a lot of people thought that he would be a regular far sooner than this. And number one, he's battled some injuries. And number two, there's a lot of really good,

high-level skilled players on that roster. And, you know, the one thing too is I've heard through the grapevine that Jason's success now, it's not that it's been tough on Nick because I wouldn't want to say that, but I think that if you have a sibling, whether it's a brother or a sister

who is successful, I think sometimes you as a sibling feel that pressure to succeed too. Nick is determined to make it in the NHL and why not? Why wouldn't he be determined to make it in the NHL? And I still think he's going to get there. And I still think he has the chance to be a very effective player. But I think at times, I think some in the American Hockey League have felt that he feels the pressure to get there faster because of how successful Jason's been. So I'm rooting for Nick and I hope that this is the first of many for him in his NHL career. Two great players, two great people as well. I've had a chance to talk to both and get to know both. Really wonderful. You can tell they're raised really well. Nice kids. Yeah, really.

And just dynamic shots and really dynamic players as well. So I'll just throw it out there. Nick Robertson for John Klingberg, you in? It's that time of year, Frege. Well, look, we know that toronto had considered a clingberg deal yes i don't know that robertson was in that deal make it a family affair in uh in dallas uh this is like i said you mentioned this is the this was a huge weekend for the robertson family it was uh you mentioned was a huge weekend for the dallas stars it was like they're right in there like

there's a pack there you know know, for that wildcard spot. It's, you know, Dallas and Nashville and Edmonton, Vancouver. That's a big win on Saturday. The Anaheim ducks as well. Like there's that group in there and now Dallas is on a nice little run and a nice little role. And they might be starting to pull away from that pack a little bit. Not unlike Nashville did not too long ago only to

fall back down to earth and allow a couple of teams in but you know this was a big weekend for those players and that team this is a big week coming up elliot for a lot of teams as well and you touch before we talk about a big week coming up i do want to mention that Colorado Calgary game on Saturday night. So good, Elliot. That was a phenomenal game. And there are some games, even though you're sitting in the studio, you're saying to yourself, boy, it was a pleasure to be around to work that game. And that was one of them.

And there's a player in this league this year I think has got the coming out party going and doesn't get enough attention and that player is lynn holm from calgary sneaky good first line center two-way guy and he's a very undercover elite member of the best line in the nhl elliot alongside gaudreau and kachuk well you have your best third line and now, is this your best first line? Have you proclaimed your best first line? Yeah, I've been on that best first line for a while now. The play he made in overtime to knock Rantanen off the puck, just elite level play. He had two goals in that game and he scored right after Colorado had scored goals to negate it. That

Calgary team, this is an interesting one because I think they're still considering potentially adding, maybe plugging another hole up front here and there and maybe a depth D. I was talking about that with some people on Saturday and you know what they were saying to me, Jeff? They were saying if they were the Flames, they seem to have some magic. They would be very careful about how much they'd tinker with what they've got going there it's really working it's really good and speaking of Lindholm as well someone told me this recently that back at his draft Boston was desperately trying to get in to draft him that the Boston Bruins really liked Lindholm to the point where I think they were talking with the player like okay will you come over right away if we draft you like they were Boston was serious about getting up

because that was a Nathan McKinnon draft and Barkov, Drouin, Seth Jones, Lindholm goes fifth to the Carolina Hurricanes and the one thing about Lindholm as well and this goes back to Carolina is he's super versatile like he looks obviously great playing center and that's his natural position. But how many times did we see him with Carolina, specifically Elliott, bounce back and forth between the wing and center and played up and down the lineup? He can play wherever you want him to play.

That's it. Like he is the, like one of the most versatile forwards in the game period. Yet to your point, not a peep because he's surrounded by stars. By the way, before we close the book on calgary okay i did want to point out that i'm really happy that sacrificial lamb dan vladar got a victory in that game after kevin tried to set him up for failure at the top of the i know cole bx is a

big listener to this podcast yeah and cole you to be disappointed in your dad for the way he tried to set up Vladar for defeat at the beginning of that show. And by the way, speaking of Kevin BX, he is one of the big stars of the episode one, season two of Hey Berkey, which is coming out very soon. Oh, that's a good show. I like Hey Berkey. Stay tuned for that one. Oh, you're going gonna have a couple of cameos in there too elliot don't worry you're gonna get your facetime animated great you know another player it's funny a friend of mine the next morning i wake up and it's just a two-word

text after that game because we were texting about the game as it was going on a lawyer friend of mine in boston he just said two-word text in the morning. Makar Hart. What do you think of that? That one shift he had before their third goal was ridiculous. This is going to be a wide open heart this year. No, no, no, no. It's a goalie in New York. Come on. Yes, I know

how you feel. This is going to be a wide open heart this year. Wide open. And right now as we sit here this weekend, I do agree with you. Shisterkin is probably my vote. I'm sorry. I'm getting a little older and losing my hearing.

Can you say that again, please, Elliot, a little louder and clear so Amel can capture that and maybe use it as my ringtone for you? This is almost as painful for me as the illegitimate election in-season cup is going right now oh in season cup is awesome and i've got a guaranteed win night coming up on tuesday arizona and detroit unbelievable did you see you could have a second one i know it's so good so what happens so what happens how could you get

two guaranteed win nights in a row who has to win tuesday so if detroit wins on tuesday then they'll capture the in-season cup, which is still a win for me. Then their next game is Thursday against the Minnesota wild. And your boy, Jeffy also has Minnesota too. Love this pool. This is like one of those elections where the winner is already determined before the election begins. So my favorite kind, oh, this is just fantastic. And one thing I do want to mention as well, and I love this.

The great four or five class that have put together the In-Season Cup on Twitter, and it is at In-Season Cup to follow along with this pool that we're involved in, Carolyn Cameron, Elliot, myself, David Amber. Do you know how many followers it has? How many? 2,500. That's pretty good. 2,500.

That's amazing for this goofy little pool that we're doing throughout the season, which is really only interesting to four people. And at any given time, three of them are angry at each other. I think it's outstanding. There's people out there who are talking about some, they do some rules tweaks and things like that. Yeah. I don't agree with all of them.

Yeah. But I like the fact that people are willing to, you know, it's your pool, put your own spin on it the way you like that. Yeah. I don't agree with all of them. Yeah. But I like the fact that people are willing to, you know, it's your pool, put your own spin on it the way you like it. How about the, uh, Carolyn Cameron shouldn't be allowed to sit with the winner for two weeks in

between games. How about that rule? As a matter of fact, I think Dave lost two days with Toronto and I'm going to have them reinstated because it's not fair. If she, if she got two weeks with it, then Dave should get his two days with it. I still think I should get one for day one, but that is another story.

No, no, no. All right, start the podcast, and we'll talk about some free agents. Here we go. Welcome to it. 32 Thoughts. Merrick Delitzsch Friedman, presented by the all-new GMC-AT4 line. Okay, so Elliot, before I was so rudely interrupted by you, comma, again, in brackets, welcome to my life, I want to get into a discussion about the free agent players for this week.

You talked about this on Saturday, whether it's Tomas Hertel in San Jose, Hampus Lindholm in Anaheim, Coach Rue in Philadelphia as well. I think we can probably throw in, you already referenced Joe Pavelski, maybe John Klingberg in that mix as well. Is this the week where teams finally make their minds up about these players, or is that already done?

No, I think we're going to see some traction. You know, I had a couple teams tell me that they don't see Hurdle being available. I don't know that I'd go that far. Like when San Jose came out and said, we're going to sign them. I think some of the things you always wonder about, Jeff, are these teams serious or not? Sometimes there's

teams out there that they have the reputation of saying oh yeah we're going to really sign them but they come up with offers that the player kind of says or the agent says that's just not going to get it done and we we never believe that you were serious in the first place that is definitely not the case with the Sharks here they're making a run at it i don't know how i would handicap it but they are definitely trying to get that done like their efforts from what i hear are are very legitimate lynn holm the ducks and we talked about a little bit they've made it clear that they are not going to do term. Now, I think, I can't prove it, but they might be willing to make a slight exception for Lindholm. It's just no way that they're going to be able to offer Lindholm, say, four years and think they have any chance of getting this done, right?

Someone made a really good point to me. said for Raquel you can argue I think for Raquel you might be able to get away with four years because some of the other forwards in the NHL have gotten four-year deals especially last summer but you know so maybe depending on how Raquel feels you get away with that but probably not with Manson and definitely not with Lindholm so I don't know what Anaheim's, nobody's going to talk specifically yet about negotiations. And Verbeek had a town hall last week

with fans on the weekend where he said, we're going to try to sign them. But I just don't know how reasonable it is if you're not willing to go six years or seven years with Lindholm. I just, I don't know. Do we know that that's what Lindholm wants? I don't know that. Does Lindholm want Max what Lindholm wants? I don't know that.

Does Lindholm want Max Term here? The one thing I do know is that at some point in time, there was a conversation. Now this was under, I think while Bob Murray was still GM, it was a while ago, so it would be. There was some point in time where there was a conversation and apparently what the Ducks and Lindholm talked about, and he's represented by Claude Lemieux,

is that you know what the market is for defenseholm talked about, and he's represented by Claude Lemieux, is that you know what the market is for defensemen. You've seen all these deals. Jones signed eight times nine. Nurse signed eight times nine. Wierenski signed a five-year deal at nine and a half. He's younger than those guys. I mean, you know what the market is.

And so I don't know what Lindholm is willing to do so I don't know what Lynn Holm is willing to do. I don't know where this is going to go, but I will say if Anaheim is really, really so careful about term that they're, they're not willing to go there unless they're really willing to bump up the AV. I just don't know how it happens, but we'll figure it out. You know, the ones that are different, like we just mentioned Pavelski, there seems to be optimism that he wants to stay you know Goodrow that one in Calgary has been very very quiet I don't think there's much action going on there at all and the Forsberg one all I've heard is that right now they're not close but

you know you've got two veteran grinders there David Poyle and JP Berry and they've both seen everything I will say this. I was talking to some other people about that particular situation and they said, there's so much experience in that negotiation that that's one that could get done in an hour if they both decided to get serious and get it done. So the two ones that I really thought were really hot last week in terms of where like talks were trying to go were, were hurdle and Lindholm.

Cause I think Lindholm will get done first. If it gets done in Anaheim. I was going to say, I don't think that Anaheim would go the remainder of the season and just let Lindholm go. No, there's no chance. Like I can see Dallas doing that with Klingberg because listen,

their expectation is we're going deep into the playoffs here. Like we're going for it. You know, Anaheim looks at this as, Hey, maybe we're, you know, we're in this playoff race right now and that's great. And for many, it might be a surprise. I think there was an expectation that there'd be maybe two more years of pain. So I don't know that they'd look at Hampus Lindholm and say, yeah, you know what? Let's take a good run at this.

And if we lose them, we lose them. I think that they're looking at this as we're still rebuilding for a couple of years here. You know, we still have, you know, Mason McTavish coming. Like we still have young players that are on the horizon that are going to be in this lineup. If Lindholm is going to go somewhere else, we need to turn that into assets. I would be shocked if we get the trade deadline and he's not signed or traded.

There's no way that's happening from what I can tell. Just a quick note. You mentioned a player on Anaheim who got an assist as we're doing this on Sunday night. Got back in the lineup after a few scratches. I think it's safe to say that your resilience has been tested in recent weeks. It's so great to see you on the board. He was just saying it might have been your best period he's seen in a long while.

Just how do you feel about your play so far tonight? I think it's good. Obviously, I don't play a lot this year. It was kind of a weird one, but I'm just trying to chip in when I can. I think the last two periods and the last game I played, I think that's the kind of game that I want to bring. I just have to

keep going and hopefully I can help the team a little more. Excellent. Keep it up. Thanks, Max. Thank you. This has been a tough season for Max Comtois. Last year, he's a leading scorer for the Anaheim Ducks. This year, it was cold to start the season, hadaheim Ducks. And this year, you know, it was cold to start the season, had the hand issue, ended up having surgery on it, came back into the lineup. I want to say it was early December and then he caught COVID and was out

again and hasn't been able to find his spot back in the lineup. And there's a, there's a few things working against Max Comtois here. You you know one of them is the left side is really good with Anaheim I mean Adam Henrique is a real good player as we all know Sonny Milano is having a career season Sam Steele has been playing real well you know Nick Delorier might be the toughest player in the NHL and does things that few other players in the entire league are willing to do and also we should mention about Delorier. He's a second unit penalty killer on the Anaheim Ducks. I think they're top 10. That's a top 10 penalty kill and Delorier is a second unit on that. So he's a pretty necessary guy in the lineup. So Comtois had a hard time finding his groove,

finding his way back in the Ducks organization. So that's someone that I don't think, Elliot, we should be surprised about if come March 21st trade deadline, he ends up finding a new home. We've talked about what the thousand games means, etc. We've talked about Colorado and you've talked about Florida as well.

And something really interesting on Friday night. So Lehigh Valley, AHL affiliate for the Philadelphia Flyers, facing off against Charlotte. That's the AHL affiliate for Florida and Seattle as well. And on Friday, everybody was there. So, and by everybody, I mean Chuck Fletcher, general manager of the Flyers, Danny Breer, Dean Lombardi, Bill Barber, who actually dropped the puck before the game as well. He should throw that note in there too.

So everybody was there, and I'm of the belief, and I believe the consensus seems to be that they were there to see Owen Tippett. And we've talked about Owen Tippett before. Speaking of guys that are having a hard time finding their way in the lineup, Owen Tippett couldn't find his way into that stacked Panthers lineup. He's playing in the American Hockey League right now. The belief is they were all there to see Owen Tippett. And you put two and two together, does that mean that there's a Clojureau, Florida Panthers deal on the horizon

and could Owen Tippett be part of it? We know the Panthers have put Tippett out there and have made him available. Have a thought on that one? Like Florida doesn't have a first rounder this year. And I don't necessarily think that would be a deal breaker if Florida was the team. I just feel that if you're trying to compete as quickly as you can

and Philly wants to come back next year, Owen Tippett makes a lot of sense for me because he's a guy who's ready to play. But is it going to be Tippett and a future first rounder? I'm just curious to see what the rest of the deal could be. And then we've got to figure out if it's going to be Florida. I don't know about Colorado in this this one i have a feeling colorado like i still think they're around on this one but i wonder if they're looking elsewhere i i think colorado's up to something trying to do something pretty big i think they look at this is their year to go for it and they should so i you know jeru would definitely be big but i also kind of wonder if they've got some other feelers out there i think boston's probably kicked tires

on this i think the rangers have kicked tires on this you know the rangers i also think are going to try something pretty big i've believed for some time now that florida if i was placing a wager and it wouldn't be a very confident wager because I'm not sure where this is all going to go, Florida might be that team. And Tippett, to me, makes perfect sense in that deal, but it's obviously got to be Tippett Plus, so I'm wondering what it's going to be.

You know, something else I wanted to address with Philly, there was a report out there that Ristolainen turned down six times, like 635 or something like that. I don't think that that's correct in this particular case. One of the things I was wondering about was how could you turn down 36 million? It just seems really strange to me. I think the offer was somewhere between four and four, seven, five. Now, maybe what the confusion is, is that this happens to all of us at this time of year. It really does. And like I say, I don't like to drag other reporters because I know what a tough job

this is. And I don't want people to think that i disparage anybody else because i don't only me only you the only thing that i would say is i i kind of wondered if it's possible that that was either a counter or a number that ristaline would take or something like that i don't think he turned down a number that high i do think they're negotiating. So I'm curious to see where this is going to end up. But I had heard the number was somewhere between four and four, seven, five. We'll see where that one goes.

Do you think at the end of this risk to land in just days, you know, you you've seen what I've written and said about it. That's why this time of year is so tricky because even though I, like I said about hurdle, I think San Jose is taking a real run at this. I wouldn't want to handicap it because I think everybody goes through a lot of emotions. You know, how good's your team?

Where do you think you're going? Especially with a guy like Ristolani. Like I'll tell you this, like I've heard the Philly players, they just love the guy and he really likes them, but you know, he hasn't played in the playoffs. All of these conflicting emotions come with you. Like the one guy I I've heard that there's been like nothing going on right now is Nick Paul. And I just wonder if what that means is that Ottawa was going to come up to him, you know,

right before the deadline and with their best offer and say, are you taking it? But it's a really confusing and confounding time. Like here's an example with Vancouver. Rutherford has us all chasing our own tail and he's probably laughing his head off as we're all doing it. You know, I've had some people say to me, they think it's likely going to be Besser that gets moved. But I had some other people say to me, don't go's likely going to be Besser that gets moved. But I had some other people say to me, don't go with that. Don't do that. And I say, okay, what do you think? They said, they think it's going to be the player who can get them the best defenseman that they can get. I think Lundquist's name has come up, Nils Lundquist in New York. The name Bowen Byron

has been thrown around there a little bit. I'm not convinced that Colorado is doing that, but I do think that Rutherford wants a young defenseman who he thinks that he can build around with Quinn Hughes. And someone said to me, I will bet you that whoever gets traded from Vancouver, you're going to look at the defenseman in the deal, and you're going to say, that's the guy that Vancouver wanted all along. Here's what I wonder about with Colorado and Vancouver. It's not Brock Besser, it's JT Miller. And here's why. Because JT Miller has one more year of term. And if Nazem Khadri is going to walk away next season, JT Miller slides into that second line center position next year. And that's the final year that Nathan McKinnon's on the $6.3 million deal.

It gives you cadre insurance and it gives you a gritty playoff style player. That's why I think they've also talked about Andrew cop. We mentioned him on Friday. Yeah. I think your theories is very good. That's a good theory. And I think it's going to be a player like that. It's going to be Miller or it's going to be cop.

But you know, again, I, I'm not so convinced it's going to be Miller. I think Jim Rutherford is going to take stock of it and he's going to say, here's the best young defenseman or I can get. And you know, Winnipeg,

by the way, so they just had healers come back and I think they wanted to see their team with Ehlers. Yep. They got one point in two games. They lost that overtime game to Dallas, and they lost to the Rangers tonight. Shusterkin, by the way, your guy tried to score at the end of regulation, and it got stopped at center ice.

He's tried twice. He's tried twice. He's going to get one. That's going to be his final kiss to the voters. But I think the other thing, too, is that I think what Vancouver's done is they're trying to find out, okay, Besser, what do you think in next deal? Miller, what do you think in next deal? I think they want to know that too. So he's trying to figure out all of his options.

What did you make of my report about Jack McBain on Saturday? Yes. What did you make of my report about Jack McBain on Saturday? Yes. So, you know, I wanted to ask you a bit more about that because, like, as you pointed out earlier, you're the only guy who sees these people before they meet the NHL. Well, I saw him play with the junior Canadians in the OJHL, as a matter of fact. I watched him play at Stouffville Arena, as a matter of fact. Oh, my gosh. Against the Stouffville Spirit.

I'm so old. I remember when his dad was a first-round draft pick. And Drew McBain. You just mentioned Winnipeg Jets. Absolutely. Yeah, I remember when his dad was a first round draft pick and Drew McBain he just mentioned Winnipeg Jets absolutely yeah I remember his draft so like I confess I mean obviously I know who Jack McBain is yeah but I don't know him that well tell us a little bit about him okay so Jack McBain is a center plays at Boston College was a third round draft pick of the Minnesota Wild he's now in his fourth year with Boston College. And much like we've seen other

college players after four seasons, if they don't sign with their NHL team, they become free agents. Now the most high profile, as you know, Elliot, was Adam Fox, who's now with the Rangers and is making all the money and picking up Norris trophies along the way. But there have been others who have done their four years and then not signed with the team that drafted them and gone free agency. We think of Jimmy Vesey. I remember how Nashville felt about that. I mean, Zach Hyman as well was going to Michigan,

was drafted by the Florida Panthers. He ended up trading his rights to the Toronto Maple Leafs who ended up signing him. But you wonder what happens here considering, you know, you and I have talked about, you know, you never want to let a player get too close to free agency because what the heck, you know, you can, what's the harm in having a look at what's out there? And Minnesota has a cap crunch coming up. As we all know, I mentioned Jack McBain as a center. Minnesota's in a tough spot right now. They've lost eight of their last 10.

They're trending downwards and allowing teams into this race. Considering this is a go for it season for the Minnesota wild. I wonder if they trade Jack McBain's rights at trade deadline to bring in a player, to bring in an asset that can help them this season. I don't know a hundred percent, but I would say there's a likelihood that Jack McBain doesn't sign with the Minnesota wild. And unless the deal gets worked out, you know, a trade, and then a deal gets worked out with another team, he becomes a free agent on August the 15th. Nobody's going to trade for them and give up any kind of asset for them until they know they're going to be able to sign them correct so if you're bill garen and you want

to do a deal you'd have to let any potential team talk to him before that's what i would think this happened with adam fox who went from he's drafted by calgary, went to Carolina. Traded to Carolina in the Dougie Hamilton deal. I remember seeing Brad Tree Living at draft where he got made the trade. I remember seeing Brad Tree Living walk over to Matt Cater. Now you can't call them agents when they're in the NCAA. You have to call them family advisors. You have to flip the business card over. On the one side, it says agent.

On the other side, it says family advisors. You got to pay attention to which one you look at. I remember him walking over to Matt Cater, who was the representative. Family advisor, Elliot. For Adam Fox. And I saw them talking to each other. And when, this is funny, when they split up, they both saw me looking at them and they're like rolling their eyes.

And, and when they left, I said to tree living, okay, what's happening? He said, you'll know tomorrow. I think he said, and I said, go to cater. And he says, what's happening? You'll know tomorrow. And the next day Fox was in that deal, the Dougie Hamilton deal. So that was a perfect example. And VC was another great example of players who've done that.

The other thing that I should mention about McBain too, he did play for Team Canada at the Olympics. And the last time I checked, which would have been yesterday, he had 17 goals in 21 games for BC and over a pointy game player. They're a much different team when he's in the lineup than without. Actually, you can find this on YouTube. He scored a really great goal right off the face off two weeks ago. It's a great,

you see this very rarely. It's a cocky move. You take a shot off the draw after the goalie's right side and just plunked it in anyway it seemed like ellie like once every five years this situation arises with this jimmy vc and then adam fox and now it's jack mcbain uh who may may follow in those footsteps and we we wonder what happens with the minnesota wild here if they end up moving him to bring in an asset to help them this season. Now,

I just, before we wrap this up and we go to the viewer emails and listener, this is, this is a audio property. You're not on television. Why are you wearing a suit? Elliot? This is podcast.

I guarantee you. I am. I am not wearing a suit, but that's, that's pretty good point. The listeners. One of the things we also talked about was the idea of trading for Shea Weber's contract. So Michael Russo, the tremendous athletic reporter of the Minnesota Wild, he texted me on Sunday morning. He basically said, did you hear that

the Wild were involved in that? And I actually did not. I was thinking more of a team that was trying to get to the floor, but Michael brought up a really good point that Minnesota's got a cap penalty the next two years. And if there was any team where it made sense to use Weber's contract, it might be them. Because you take yourself right to the edge and then you give yourself an extra 7.6 million in cap room by putting Weber on LTIR. That's for the next four years.

And then what you also do is you only have to pay 6 million in cash total. So there you go. You've just done the trade. Jack McBain for Shea Rubber's contract. Well, that's very good. You just did the deal, Elliot. Well done.

How come these idiots can't make trades? They're so easy. We just stumbled into one here on the podcast. That's wild. But, you know, as we're taping this, I haven't seen what Russo wrote,

but I did text him tonight to say, are you writing this? Because I didn't want to spoil it. The worst thing I could do is go on and say, Michael Russo is going to write this, and he hasn't written it yet, and someone steals the idea. Way to go. But he told me he is writing it,

so it's going to be out there at the time that this is there. But it makes sense. It makes sense for them too. You know, Elliot, one of the other feel-good stories from the weekend involves the Arizona Coyotes and a certain seven-point performance by Nick Schmaltz. It would be tough to say, let's talk about all the fun things that happened this weekend. Jason Robertson, double hat tricks, Calgary, Colorado, great game, and not mention Nick Schmaltz. That would be borderline negligence.

The thing too about Schmaltz with the seven point game is that sometimes I look at these games and say, okay, how many second assists were there or something like that? That wasn't the case in this one. Only the last point was really a second assist where he wasn't involved at the end of the play when Dyson Mayo scored the goal. You look at those first six points, he scores two of them. They win the draw on the Ottawa end.

Gossespierre shooting through traffic. But goes to the left of the net. They score! On the rebound, Nick Schmaltz, who else? The red hot coyote by Murray into the corner. Now turned back over to Schmaltz. He scores! Murray sent the puck wide to the left of the net,

but the Senators turned it over, and Nick Schmaltz, ever the opportunist, pounces on that loose puck, and if you're Ottawa, he's the last player-timer of his, which was a great save. One of them was forcing Matt Murray into a turnover steal. Back in his own zone. Passes on the left wing. Out of the reach of Chabot. Intercepted by Mayo to Keller.

He'll put the puck in behind the net. Now stolen in front. Here's Keller shooting. He scores! One of them, you need two great passes that led to a goal. Keller, by the way, with now 10 career multi-goal games and 50 multi-point games in his career.

Now off the boards, Keller comes swooping in, can't play it, small serves in front, to Kraus, he scores! And the other one was another great pass. Six out of these seven points

were directly responsible for him, and the last one was the second assist. Making an 8-5 Arizona win and a record day for Nick Schmaltz. Two goals, five assists, the most points in a game, seven in Coyotes franchise history. He had a dominant, dominant game.

That turned out to be a great trade for them. That was Schmaltz for Strowman Perlini. That turned out to be a great trade for them. That was Schmaltz for Strowman Perlini. That turned out to be a great deal. I remember last year, because he's signed to a big deal. Yes. If they had bought him out last year, it was only a one-third buyout. And there was a crazy rumor going around

that maybe they were going to do that. And I remember I called Bill Armstrong, and I said, is there any chance you're going to do that? He, he, I remember he was like, there was a pause. Like why on earth would we even do that?

And I said, I'm just checking, you know, you don't have to get mad at me. And he says, we're not interested in doing that. He's a good player. And you know,

seven point night, pretty impressive. Not bad. Also getting business done. Liam O'Brien with the, uh, the two year deal and Travis Boyd as well. So getting some players under term. Travis Boyd is playing in between Keller and Schmaltz. There probably aren't many better situations for Travis Boyd than that one. And so now he gets two years locked up at decent money.

Yep. Smart decision. If you're the Toronto Maple Leafs, Elliot, are you feeling Boston footsteps here? Feeling them. You can see them. Objects in your rear view mirror might be closer than they appear. Yeah.

To be honest, I'd kind of forgotten about it. And then all of a sudden Amber, who is the Sportsnet hockey panicker, was the one who said, you know, Boston's two points behind the Leafs right now. And I'd completely forgotten just watching that game on Saturday night. You heard what Dubas said on Friday. Yep.

I mean, a lot of it's going to depend on Muzzin's health and where we're at. We still have quite a bit of flexibility to get creative and try to make something happen. But I don't think we'll have, you know, unless we get the news we don't want on muz i i think we'll just have the one the one move left uh left in us here sorry he's not going in goal he's going on d he's got one move left no not at this time i think our if we're going to focus on anything you're always just trying to make the team better but i think at at this time, it's maybe more on defense. How's Rodion? He's got one move and it's going to be a D move. And I'm really curious what this D move is going to end up being. But the thing that's interesting is that they're saying that their defense has been not bad. They don't have a huge problem with that.

Like the one thing I really think here is that keith is a bit careful now after the soft comment this year yes like that soft comment blew up in his face i see what he's doing he's saying i am not making this worse and the other thing too is good coaches they realize when their team is fragile and they're saying, I'm not going to be the one to kick on them now. They need to see me as an ally to them and not to someone who's pouring dirt on them. And so I see what Keefe is doing and I see what Dubas is doing and I understand it because the fan base is in a panic you can see what's going on they're having trouble making saves you know cassie made a really good point she's wondering a little bit

about at times campbell's stick position because you know some of them are getting through them at a place where the stick could be but you can see he's battling his confidence. He's saying all the right things. They're saying all the right things. But they're talking about how their defense has been not bad. I was talking about this with a coach on another team, and he was saying to me, if you really look at the numbers, since January 1st, their play in front of their own net and against the rush is way down from where it was

from the beginning of the season until their COVID shutdown. So yes, I do think they have to get saves. Their goalies have to be better, but they've been leakier than they have been in the past. And you know, that game on Wednesday night with Sandin scores the goal in the first period off a really smart play, play breaks down Skinner. I don't have any problem with Skinner leaving him, and he backs away to create an opening in scoring, but then he had a really tough time in front of his own net, as Stewie showed.

I'm looking at this right now, and I think the Maple Leafs have said we can't trade everything. We can't acquire six new players, so we're going to do our one move and hope it fixes but what i see is a team the goalies aren't confident and the confidence of the team is coming down with them and some of the weaknesses that were being covered up by saves before they're not getting covered up now and the coach and the gm want to be very careful that they don't say anything that makes the situation worse. So now we've got the Campbell stick to stare at much like after talking to Mike McKenna last week on the radio show, I can't stop looking at Peter Morazic's right foot.

Morazic's foot, yes. His right leg is significantly ahead of his left leg, which leads to some problems, but he won't get it out of his game. And that goes back to probably Grand Rapids. So now I'm going to be staring at Peter Mrazik's right foot and Jack Campbell's goal stick. Thanks for the distraction, everybody. Okay. So before we get to the listener, not the viewer stuff.

Ears, not eyes. It's a podcast. Ears, not eyes. There was something that hit Twitter on Sunday and you're way more up on this than I am. And that was the hall of famer. Angela James had a post about the battle between the PHF and the PWHPA.

One of these leagues has to go away. There's not this many letters. Or just combine them and add PHF to the PWHPA. One of these leagues has to go away. So there's not this many letters. Or just combine them and add PHF to the PWHPA to make it nice and really confusing. So a couple of things happened this weekend. Well, listen, I believe this is going to happen early this week. Maybe if you're listening to this podcast on

Monday, when it comes out, maybe it's already happened. The Toronto six are the top team in the PHF and they have new ownership. Anthony Stewart, Angela James, Bernice Carnegie, co-founder of the Carnegie Initiative and former NHL head coach, Ted Nolan. There are other investors. I just don't know who they are. I can't nail that part down, but those are four of the big ones here. So Angela James is also the assistant coach of this team. Like Angela James, like I don't know how much more we have to add to her resume.

She's a Hall of Famer. She's actually in a number of Hall of Fames. You know, she's one of the most accomplished women hockey players to ever put on skates, a tremendous athlete. And like her words carry weight. Like if you look at the generation of female hockey players, Elliot, that one gold in Salt Lake City, you talk to a lot of them. That's like, wow, Angela James is our hero, Angela James, Angela James. And for good reason. So

when she speaks and it is seldom, it isn't often that Angela James weighs in on huge issues, but when she does speak, there's a gravity there and it carries weight. True. So she came out this weekend and said that she's been very quiet about the PWHPA and the PHF, saying she's sat back while she's been coaching for the Toronto Six. She says, I'm disappointed in the PWHPA. That's a group that's being led by Jaina Hefford, another Hall of Famer. She writes, whose interests are you protecting? It isn't the interest of the non-national team players that have supported your association for three years now without playing a league game. Their careers have passed by now, and you want another group of women elite players to follow you

while you claim to make a sustainable league. The fans and players deserve more than a showcase game or two. The NHL has repeatedly said, until you and the PHF can come together, they will not step in and support a women's league. Essentially, Angela James, and you can read the entire text, Soraya Tinker tweeted this out on Sunday. Essentially, she's saying, you know, it's time for the women's game, considering that both entities, the PWHPA and the PHF, considering they both have shared goals.

And we've talked about this countless times, Elliot. There are two different entities here with the same goal. Angela James writes, why can't you work out these differences? And that's one of the keys that I think a lot of people are wondering about. And now that Angela James is a co-owner of one of the PHF teams, I wonder how vocal she's going to be in pushing the issue. Like we knew there was going to be a pressure point right after the Olympics.

Something had to happen. This momentum needed to be captured and channeled into something. And it sounds as if Angela James is very much trying to keep that conversation in the forefront. The idea that there are two entities with shared goals and they really need to be working together. She says, women's hockey is bigger than the PHF

and the PWHPA. Together, we can make history. The best women players in the game deserve to be competing at a pro level in one league. Yes, it is sustainable. Hashtag for the game. That is huge coming from a giant in the game in Angela James.

You know, I don't have a lot to say about it. The points I would make is, look, it's obvious, as you said, she's got now, in addition to the emotional investment in it, because she's a huge supporter of women's hockey. She cares a lot about it. She's worked on that particular team, but now she's got financial reasons to really throw herself behind it.

But the thing is, too, is that she's right. People don't like to hear this, but one of the biggest reasons that it's having trouble getting off the ground in a league is the two splinter sides themselves. And they have to sort this out it's like a family squabble right if the families are mad at each other only they can sort it out nobody else gonna sort it out you know how i feel about this one elliot it's funny i was having this conversation

with a couple of people last week when i was doing the the pwhpa ottawa showcase and that's we think there's a fight right now between these two sides, but there's not. I think these two sides need to compete against each other. First, they need to be in the same marketplace, each with leagues. Like there's all kinds of rumors about the PWHPA and what Jaina Hefford,

along with Deloitte can put together here for a league for the PWHPA athletes. I look at it like NHL, WHA. I look at it like SiriusXM. They need to be in the marketplace together. I disagree with you on this. And I don't like disagreeing with you on this stuff because you've done the research more than I have.

My point is that maybe there haven't been two leagues or have been for times, but this has been going on for long enough. We're past that. have my point is that maybe there haven't been two leagues or have been for times there have but this has been going on for long enough we're past that sometimes in life you have to take the l for the good of the overall situation right we don't like it nobody likes doing it it can really suck from an ego point of view but you get to a point where you say, you know what? It's better off for the overall situation if we take an L. And now it's up to both those sides to everyone to sit down and say, for the betterment of the game, we got to make this work. Neither one of us is going to be completely happy.

But in the long run, if this is as successful as we believe it can be, we're all going to sit back in 25 years and say, why the hell did we take so long? In a perfect world, you're 100% right. It's not a perfect world, but that means you got to try to make it better. I'm sorry, but that's where we are, Jeff. Your iron is never going to be hotter. Never. It is hot right now. That part is 100% true. And you would hate to see this momentum in this- Hot like me in the mirror. Oh, good Lord. Hey, by by the way how would you think of

my suit on saturday it was a great suit that purple thing was fantastic that burman special before we come back for um viewer mail before we come back for viewer mail yes david letterman's viewer mail so if you were watching wednesday hockey last week buffalo Buffalo, Toronto, I had a slight trip on my tongue that ended up going viral and people loved it. It was funny. Whatever are you talking about, Elliot? So, you know, I don't think there's anything wrong with what I said from a language point of view,

but if you have a young gun who you're a little worried about, sensitive about things they may hear, I'll put together a little mix. So, you know, turn down your pod for the next 20 seconds. I think that's as close as Amo is going to get to a diss track. Well done, Delage. More 32 Thoughts in moments. Sometimes it's break your down, break your, break your, break your, break your, break your, break your, break your, break your, break your, break your, break your, break your, break your, break your game down to the basement. Good grief. Oh, well, how much time did you spend working on that?

Seriously, how long does that take you? No, hang on. I have a better question. How long did it take you to decide to do that after you heard elliot uh mangle his new tongue on wednesday three seconds how long did it take you to do that about five minutes nice work almost oh well done mr delich sir it'll be a little something extra in your envelope this week um yeah not for me there won't let's get to some emails and some phone calls here.

This is an industry one. This is interesting. I'm curious your perspective on this one because I have a very strong opinion on it. We'll see where you're at. From Tracy in Edmonton. Hi, Jeff and Elliot. During the pandemic, it became common,

brackets even necessary, for radio and television broadcast teams in all sports to cover games from remote studios rather than in person. This seems to be subsiding in many sports, but seems delayed in the NHL, perhaps due to the amount of cross-border travel required. Do you see a return to normal anytime soon, example, the 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs,

or is this more likely a trend? Appreciate your thoughts. I have incredible amount of respect for people who call the games off monitors. I think it's really hard. I think it's always better to be at the rink just because you can talk to people. You feel the crowd better. You see things that sometimes the TV monitor doesn't pick up. you see things that sometimes the tv monitor doesn't pick up i don't think i'm speaking out of school when i'm saying that there were times during covid where i know members of our crew

they weren't crazy and this is both on camera and behind the camera they weren't crazy about traveling because of the quarantines they faced if they got it. For example, we had some people who caught COVID in the States and they were stuck in their hotel rooms for 14 days, depending on the rules. Like in some places you got it, you know, you could maybe go out after five, as long as you had no symptoms, but other places you had to stay there for in your room, basically for a full 14 days. And that wasn't fun. I don't travel very much anymore you know in the states the rules

are very different they're traveling i hope we get back to it more i believe our basketball crews are starting to travel more our hockey crews i don't know what's going on there to be perfectly honest i saw where the tsn guys said that they were starting to travel again. Look, TV stations, we like to cut costs. That's what we like to do. It's definitely less expensive to do remotes. You save on travel, that's a lot of money. You save on per diems, that's a lot of money. I hope it doesn't stay this way for good.

I think you really lose something. And I think when the broadcasters lose something, the viewers lose something. That's what I think. I think having people at the games is an investment in your broadcasters, is an investment in your crews. It's an investment in your people.

I mean, so much that gets presented is discovered or massaged or, you know, learned through these relationships face-to-face. You know, you just mentioned Mike Russo in the last segment, you know, Russo and I, for the longest time, we'd always see each other at the draft and that's it. It's like, Hey, we should really do this more often. Like we only see like every year we would see each other once a year and have a great conversation. It was like that with Katie Strang as well. I'd see Katie at the draft, and then that was it.

I'd be the one face-to-face conversation I had with Katie. I don't think that I'm in the minority here. I would be a better broadcaster, and I think we all would be, if we were at the rinks more, if we were all at the games more. I do feel very disconnected from a lot of the league. Yes. I feel the same way. Yeah. I've had this feeling for a few years.

I don't feel like I'm at my best because I'm not at the rink as much as I would like to be, or as I should be. I still try to do the job to the best of my ability, but I do feel that you really do lose something the farther away from the rink you are. Agreed. That's how I feel about it. Okay, Elliot, this one is from Madeline in Toronto. Now, she's a nurse.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. And huge respect. And also a Toronto Maple Leafs fan. My nursing friends and I listen to your podcast all the time and love it. Full respect to all the nurses. Thank you so much for all of your dedication and hard work. And man, you people deserve all the money. Madeline submits this. I had a thought on your discussion about adding a shot clock to OT in the NHL. I love the idea.

As a kid in Richmond Hill, Ontario, I played a sport called ringette. We use a 30 second shot clock in ringette. And when it expires, the possession of the ring is given to the opposing goalie and they have five seconds to make a play. I think this gets the goalie more involved in the offense and really changes their playmaking ability while also adding the increased risk of turnovers and resulting

in a potential goal. Let me know what you think. Great job, Jeff. Great job, Amel. So we had a lot of feedback. Hang on, hang on. You missed that. Great job, Jeff. Great job, Amal. So we had a lot of feedback. Hang on, hang on. You missed that. Great job, Jeff.

Great job, Amal. Madeline got the assignment. A2, Madeline. A2. Beware the Ides of March, two weeks away. That's awesome. Well, first of all, I wanted to thank everybody. We had a lot of response on this whole idea.

And I have to say that there's an idea i actually like better than the shot clock and it also came in an email from a jim t who actually said that instead of the he doesn't like the shot clock because offensive zone pressure should be rewarded and once the puck enters the ozone under control by the attacking team, it can't leave the zone while still under control. He prefers if the attacking player retreats back, they must dump the puck and all of their team must touch up to their side of the red line. So the other team has a free out.

I like that better. I think I like that better than a shot clock. Okay. I mean, I'm again, I'll come back to the whole idea of like trying these things out at a summer someone else and i do apologize someone else suggested doing it at the all-star game oh that ain't a bad idea that's a cool idea yeah have a young stars game or something

you know maybe even the all-star three-on-three tournament itself with these rules i don't know how all the hungover players will feel if the game's like in Vegas. Too confusing. Too confusing. And they have to go up and down the ice. Too confusing. What am I doing here? Wait a second.

I'm still a little bit foggy from last night. Hold on a second here. Next year, it'll be Florida. It'll be like sunburned players trying to get up and down the ice. You know what? What's the worst sunburn you ever had? Oh, I had a bad one when I was like a 17 year old. I remember it. It was so bad. I fell asleep in the sun. It was one of those things where you could just touch, went up to Arcata and then down in Sacramento and ended up staying on campus at Stanford.

And that was really cool. And anyway, but on the one day there, we're at my buddy's cousin's house and he's got like a pool and a terrace, a great spot. And so I lathered up, I'm like, I'm working on my tan today and lathered all up and no problem, fell asleep in the sun and burned my eyelids. Have you ever burned your eyelids, Elliot? No, I can't say I have. Every single time you blink, you're in agony.

I never realized how much I blink in a day. It was honestly like some of the most annoying pain I've ever felt. Because you can't do anything about it. You got to blink. And every time I would blink, it would be agony. Anyway, on that lovely note, let's get to another email. This is obviously inspired by our conversation and your inclusion of Michael Misha in 32 Thoughts last week.

Michael Misha of the Mississauga Senator. So here's the question. Alessandro in Halifax. Can you explain how the decision is made between who is deemed exceptional and not exceptional when discussing younger players joining the junior leagues?

Would love to hear more about the process and decision making of who the committee thinks is good enough and whether it is based more heavily on stats or visual and who is part of that decision. You would be better to answer that than i would it's reviewed by um hockey canada what they do is they put together an evaluation panel um like the player has to apply for exceptional status which just so everybody knows allows you into junior hockey

one year earlier so you can join as a 15 year old playing junior hockey in the CHL. Now it's not all based on skill, but skill is certainly a component. It's also, are they physically mature enough? Are they mentally mature enough? And I believe academic ability as well. And it's a panel of people from Hockey Canada and outside Hockey Canada as well. And it's a full kaleidoscope. It's, you know, it's physical skill, you know, can this player play, can this player play at that level? And can they mentally handle the challenges of playing as a 15 year old where it's going

into a league where there are overagers who are 20? Will they be able to handle it, you handle it physically and handle it mentally as well? So it's a panel put together by Hockey Canada. Nice. Taking us out, Elliot, is a New York-based musician, an axe murderer. Folks, prepare yourself for Shredfest 2022. Ryan Scott is a freak on the guitar, mixing influences of blues, jazz, R&B, and even some Brazilian psychedelia.

Ooh, I like the sounds of that. Ryan delivers all of this with beautifully crafted lyrics that complement his guitar skills. From his debut record, A Freak Grows in Brooklyn, here's Ryan Scott with Love You Like the Sun in June on 32 Thoughts, the podcast. Have a good week. If I could get out my way I'd take the path of least resistance the podcast. Have a good week. I forget my emotions clear My pride has never been conflicted

And then you came along A joy I could have predicted I'm sure I am, but I'm predicted I'm gonna love you in a point of years, I won't I'll love you like there's nothing in you I'm gonna love you like I can't hold my breath And you'll only I was all alone I couldn't close my eyes to listen That fever's always coming Questions of my own existence You made it clear to me

Forgot about the cold statistics