32 Thoughts: The Podcast - The Jet Fuel and Gasoline Weren’t Enough

Episode Date: May 28, 2025

In this edition of 32 Thoughts, Kyle Bukauskas and Elliotte Friedman discuss the Edmonton Oilers taking a 3-1 stranglehold over the Dallas Stars after defeating them on Tuesday night. They also delve into the Carolina Hurricanes breaking their 15-game Eastern Conference Final losing streak by staving off elimination against the Florida Panthers (21:22). The Final Thought congratulates the Minnesota Frost for clinching the PWHL title in back-to-back seasons (34:42).In the News & Notes segment, Kyle and Elliotte talk about the shuffling in the Tampa Bay front office after Mathieu Darche joined the Islanders (38:45). Elliotte follows up on the coaching vacancies with the Penguins, Bruins, and Kraken (43:51). The guys discuss K'Andre Miller's future as an RFA with the Rangers (47:12). Elliotte wraps up the podcast with an update on Darche's busy first days on Long Island (48:32).Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call the Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemail.This podcast was produced and mixed by Dominic Sramaty and hosted by Elliotte Friedman & Kyle Bukauskas.The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates

By the way, I was driving on the interstate the other day, like the highways in Florida. It's either you see something that's not street legal or there's a stalled vehicle on the shoulder or both. There was a guy sitting in like the box of a pickup truck and they're driving down the interstate doing 70 miles an hour. That was incredible. Welcome to 32 Thoughts, the podcast presented by the GMC Sierra AT4X. The cronies are back with you. Elliott, Dom, Kyle, once again. Elliott, I've got one question before we get underway.

What is that one question? Are you a jet fuel guy or gasoline guy? Both. I don't have right answer for whips who can't drink both jet fuel and gasoline. And I'm talking about the real stuff, not whatever was in Rupee install. That was a great pickup to kick off the night. I love that. the real stuff, not whatever was in Rupee Hints stall. That was a great pickup to kick off the night. I love that.

It's like Michael's secret stuff. Kyle, we're doing this right after the game and it was a tough one for Hints and Dallas. So I'm not sure if anybody's gonna spend a lot of time figuring out what exactly is in those bottles, but it's unfortunate because you can tell Hintz is far from himself, right? At the end of the second period,

there was that loose puck with about five seconds left. And it would have been very difficult for him to create a legit chance out of it. He didn't have a lot of time, but he just didn't have the separation speed to get there and make even something out of it. He's just, he's a gamer. You expect no different.

That guy competes as hard as anyone, but he's far, far from a hundred percent. And as we talked about during the broadcast, I know it drives fans crazy. I know it drives reporters crazy, but that is why players and teams hide injuries from us. Everybody in Edmonton knows that, everybody in the league knows knows anyone who follows hockey knows hints has an injured ankle or an injured foot top of the foot and We all saw

Bouchard take a chop at it. You'll remember a couple years ago someone reminded me during the game We showed it when Leon Dreisaitl was playing against Calgary on a sore ankle The flames were going right after it. That's playoff hockey showed it when Leon Dreisaitl was playing against Calgary on a sore ankle, the flames were going right after it. That's playoff hockey. That's what happens. And that is why teams hide injuries. And I've made this argument before that the reason, and it drives me as crazy as much as it does anyone else, But this is why I accept that argument. And I've said this before that teams believe their players will be targeted and players believe they will be targeted.

And other people have disagreed with me. They say, no, that's not true. That was exhibit A. It is 100% true. It 100% happens in the playoffs. Players will do anything to win. And if you know someone is hurting somewhere, you're going after it. And Bouchard was the reminder of it. And that's why players freak out if they feel an injury has been exposed in a way that they are not comfortable with. Yep, playoffs especially. That's why it's even more of a lockdown when it comes to disclosing that stuff.

Even more so than in the regular season. So kind of a similar story as game number three, Elliot, where I mean Dallas, there were stretches of this one where they carried the play, but Stuart Skinner once again for a second year in a row, freezed. He is out dueling Jake Ottinger at the other end. Dynamite again here in game number four, as Ron continues to point out, he is Mr. Game Four for whatever that's worth. But it was an important game for him to shut the door when he had to and gave enough cushion for Edmonton to take a commanding 3-1 series lead heading back to Dallas. The game completely swung. Edmonton had the only goal of the first period, but Dallas dominated. That was a great period for Dallas. They were fantastic.

They had great chances. They had 17 shots and Skinner just shut them down. And then by the third, and then they had that power play in the second period the Stars did where it looked like the Harlem Globetrotters playing against the Washington Generals and Jason Robertson scored. Nobody was going to stop that shot. But by the third period and they were down, you know, they're down Connor Brown, then they go down Zach Hyman and Evander Kane was not 100 percent, although he played the third

period. And by that time, Edmonton just played locked down defense. They just did not give Dallas much in the third period. But in the first, as you said, Skinner was great again. And it's not like Ottinger's been bad, that has not been the case here. But Skinner has been that good. And he's kind of admitted himself, he never knows when the roller coaster

is coming and you hope that this high stays for if you're an Euler fan at least five more wins but he's locked in right now he's in the bubble nothing's bothering him and he's enjoying the moment. I loved his post game interview when he said to Gene those are all just numbers. All that matters is battling and competing. Kelly Rudy always said to me and I remind him about it tonight, Kelly Rudy always said there's only one stat that mattered to him, wins. And you and I have talked that in this playoffs there's only one stat that matters to Skinner and Pickard that wins that they get at least one more save than the other guy and now Skinner he's not just that he's showing elite level

form and you know it's funny a buddy of mine who's an Euler fan, he said, I'm going to close my eyes on the off day and pray that it doesn't end in game five in Dallas. But it's Skinner right now is as locked in as any goalie of the four starters remaining in the playoffs right now. if today he's the best, he's playing the best in this round, and nobody would have picked that coming in to the semi-final. And I say this, the way he handles himself, I'm glad to see it.

I root for people who handle themselves really well in terrible situations. And he is a prime, prime example of that at this point in time. He lost his job. He looked buried and he's pulled himself up off the mat. He's somebody who is easy to root for. Ryan Nugent Hopkins is a guy who is easy to root for. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is a guy who is easy to root for what? Seven primary assists in this series to this point, eight points overall. And four multiple point games.

So that pass, that set up to dry side on the opening goal, what amazed me about that, like Haskinen, if you watch him, like it's almost like he's thinking, like he knows there's no way, there's not a chance that Nugent Hopkins is going to try to shoot there. He just stays right over by Dryside. He'll go, I know you're going to pass, and he does. And Dryside still finds a way to, from that angle, put it by Heiskeden and pass to Autinger. But he's another guy that's, he is Stewart Skinner's favorite player for

one, but another guy that has had his moments and is in a great, great run here for the Oil as they continue to look to people beyond 97 and 29 at critical moments along this playoff run. You know, Dry Settle missed two power play chances in the third period. When he misses from the right side, I'm in shock. I always assume when he shoots from that low right side, face off, circular below, he's gonna score. Always.

I don't care if he's right at the goal line, I think he's gonna score. Always. I don't care if he's right at the goal line, I think he's gonna score. And he missed a couple eight and I was like, I can't believe he missed that. By the way, Evander Kane, when he was getting his neck worked on at the end of the second period, he left a bit early. I don't think he was injured, I think he just wanted a neck rub. He took a page out of the Stramatti playbook. Yes. Called over an RMT.

And I can understand that. As somebody who likes a good neck rub, I empathize with what Kane was doing in that situation. I'm not really hurt, I just want a good neck rub. Yes, well when the resources are there, sometimes you gotta take advantage of it. Hey, you know what? It's not gonna last forever.

They're there for a reason, right? If they're not doing anything, hey, you look a little bored over there, come give me a neck rub. Yes, no, it was a much, yes. It is a, well, relaxed but wired at the right moments looking group for Edmonton here as the series has gone on. Is there anything you got a sense of Zach Hyman status?

I guess Chris Nobloch said the post game will see more going forward. But yeah, he said he'd update on Wednesday. There's concern about it. There's there's no question. You know, Zach Hyman. He's not skating off the ice and going right to the room like that, unless it's real, right? And Kyle, a lot of these guys are like that.

You know, they may go down on the ground. We've talked a lot about the diving. But when an NHL player charges right off the ice like that, you're sitting there going, that's really not good. And so we'll see what Knobloch says tomorrow. It's obviously a travel day, game five on Thursday night, but obviously there's a lot of concern there.

Hopefully it's not that bad. All of a sudden Edmonton has some real injury questions too. Uh, with, as we mentioned, Brown already out. So you never want to see injuries cost a team a chance at, at winning the Stanley cup. Um, you know, by the way, I could see the stars being in real ill humor on Thursday night too, you know, Ben took way, I could see the stars being in real ill humor on Thursday night too.

You know, Ben took a bit of a run at Bouchard. He didn't like that slash to hints. He was pretty unhappy about it. If I was a Dallas player, I would be really unhappy about it too. That's our number one center. And obviously this is hugely frustrating for them. Second year in a row they could lose to Edmonton in the West final and you know they've had real moments in this series where they could

have taken control both games in Edmonton. Skinner absolutely stoned them and there are just so many players who are not going for them. They can't get three or four guys going at once. Like, you know, I'll say this, like Peter DeBoer, he really likes to dawn off. He really likes to dawn off for him to scratch to dawn off. I mean, that really surprised me. I mean, that really surprised me. But it just shows like how much these guys, they're all struggling. And, you know, Robertson, he looked so excited when he got the goal. You're thinking, okay.

He knew he scored that one. He knew he scored that one, unlike the one the other day. You know, the guy I really want to talk about is Wyatt Johnston. So Wyatt Johnston coming into this game was minus 17 and he picked up another minus in this game on the empty netter. So that's, I went back and I counted, I think that's six empty net goals that he's been on for now. So it's a third of the goals against. He's minus 18, but six of them are empty netters. And the minus 18 figure, it's the worst figure that's been compiled in 40 years, I believe. like someone told me they did the research and we haven't seen anything like that

Wyatt Johnston is a great player. I really believe you can always rewrite your Narrative you can always add a new chapter to your book They put Granlin with him at the start of game four, you know, obviously it didn't work scoring wise for him but If it was me and Peter DeBoer is a hell of a lot better coach than I could ever be in my dreams but if it was me I'd have him with ranting and and hints or whatever combination you've got up there in game five. I have to do something to get this guy going.

I have to give him, you know, he's played a lot with Ben and to Donov. Those guys haven't scored much. Like I said, they tried him with Grandlin. That didn't work. Now I'm going with him and the big guys, and it's not only about now. It's also about the summer. Now I'm going with him and the big guys and it's not only about now It's also about the summer. I I don't know if I want like if they lose

All these guys are gonna be miserable all summer and they're gonna do what they can to take the next step But I don't want Wyatt Johnson being crushed all summer without giving him the opportunity to play with our best guys With our two number one lines, so I would consider doing that in game Five just putting Johnston with say hints and Rantin or whatever you're doing up there there's another crazy stat that's flowing with this team, and that is that Rantnan, when he plays over 20 minutes, and he played 23 in this one, he doesn't get points. Like, our West Coast hockey buddy, John Davis,

has been on this one. The vast majority of his points, like 95%, come when he plays under 20 minutes. And that's another tough one for DeBoer because he's looking at it from the bench and he's thinking, he's my best player, he's my best scorer, and I've got to go to him more because nobody else is scoring. But the data tells you the more he plays, the less he scores. It's a catch 22, Kyle.

It's a vicious cycle. You know what the numbers tell you, but nobody else is scoring either. Right. And I wonder too, because in a way you're going, that doesn't even make sense why it is that way. But like the fact of the matter is, a lot of the production came early towards the end of that Colorado series early portion of the Winnipeg series. And I wonder as the games have gone on and more and more now is the north of 20 minutes. Is it just the accumulation of everything

that started to take a bite out of His production here, too And the fact that he hasn't got a lot of run support around him. You know what? I think it also is too kyle it's that he plays like, uh, Like a heavier game in the sense. He's around the boards a lot and he digs and he fights puck battles Like obviously he can beat you in open ice. He's skilled enough to do anything he wants, but he fights hard for the puck. And I just wonder if the style of game he plays means that because he's battling

and competing all the time, that that affects him as well. By the way, I wanted to shout out one Euler fan and I'm going to get their name when hints took warmup and left early in game number three. Do you remember in our thought line question when they asked what that patch was and we told them it was the tags. Yeah. And then we knew Arvidson wasn't playing because he wasn't wearing a tag inside the patch.

So when we said that he left and we didn't know if he was playing, an Euler fan named Zack sent me a reply saying was hints wearing a tag and I responded to him and I said yes he did and it was green so there was a chance that he was going to play even though he didn't and Peter DeVore said he wasn't close. The fan listening to the pod and asked if he was wearing a tag, and therefore we have known if he was playing or not. So Zach, thank you for listening to the pod. Nice. Nice. Thank you for clarifying that. And just going back to your earlier point for Dallas Elliott, as we kind of wrap up our

thoughts on this series here in game number four on Tuesday night. I mean, we saw Carolina season on the line, game four the other night. It had been a tough go offensively for that team, but what does Rod Bryndemore do? He goes back to Ajo, Svechnikov, Jarvis. Now, they didn't score the first goal, that was Stankhoven, but they had a much better night. They got the empty netter to maybe give them some better feelings going forward. Yeah, you wonder if for De Boer in a similar situation here now where you're trying to find some sort of source

to get you going again after things had dried up. Beyond the third period of game number one loading up your horses be it Wyatt Johnston and trying to get him going with that's why I wouldn't that's why I would do that I'm with you 100 percent by the way these stars and oilers fans they are in a fight on social media. I don't know if I've ever seen two fan bases root for injuries to each other's players like the Oilers and Stars are right now. Really?

I mean, we just had Edmonton, Vancouver a year ago. Maybe you're right. Maybe I have recency bias, but these oiler fans and stars fans, they, some of you guys sound like sociopaths, like, come on, like seriously, dial it down a little bit out there. Well, Ellie, you remember Troy, the oiler fan who wrote into the thought line not too long ago, there is a phobia about teams in green. And that's right. Str have struggled with the stars over

the last number of years. So that could feed into all of this too. There may be something more to that than we thought, but there's really nothing to fear now at this point. If you're the Oilers beyond the health, of course, of Zach Hyman and Connor Brown. One win away, game five on Thursday night, back down in Dallas to get back to the Stanley Cup final for Edmonton. Two wins away from a rematch. One from Florida, one from Edmonton. By the way, before we talk a bit more about your game,

tomorrow night, did you get some Carolina barbecue on Tuesday night? I did, I did. Did not go to the press meal at the arena for it, but meandered on in towards Downtown Rally. Actually, Joshua Cloak sent a recommendation at the start of the series. Very good guy. Knows his good eats. So if he sent the recommendation, I thought this has to be worth trying. Grab some takeout and it was great. I don't have to eat for three days.

Awesome. Elliot, the streak is over for the Carolina Hurricanes in the conference final. Finally a win for the first time since Rod Brindemore was not coaching but scoring the goal that punched their ticket to the cup final back in 2006 against Buffalo. They stave off elimination game four down in Florida. An impressive three nothing performance by the hurricanes to bring it back to rally for a game five on Wednesday night. That felt watching that game there.

I don't know if you're looking at it saying that was a bad game by Florida at all, but going into this series, if you thought the hurricanes had any chance against these Panthers, that was the formula that had to work for the hurricanes, and you just wonder if it's too late, but they got one. All you can do is win one at a time. Kyle, is there a way to win four at a time in the NHL that I'm not aware of? Checking, checking, no. At this stage, no.

All you can do is ask for one at a time, and they got the one. Now, I thought they were really good for long stretches. They suppressed Florida for times. Florida had one stretch where they went a long time without a shot in goal and were stuck under double digits for way too long. Like it took them a while to get to 10 in this game. But I thought there were other times that Florida had great

chances or buzzed around them. And to me, the difference was that Carolina battled. You know, I was always warned, Glenn Healy always warned me, be very, very careful using two words, always warn me be very very careful using two words soft or quit okay he said if you are going to use the word soft or quit then you better know what you're talking about and you better be right i would say in game three carolina was non-competitive. And that's why Bryndamore was so mad at the end of the game. They allowed themselves to be pushed around. They didn't fight back. And I thought in game four, they battled. They were competitive. They were in the fight. Of course, there's going to be minutes where Florida skates rings around you or Florida dominates, but they held strong. They really battled. I thought one of the keys was unlocking Slaven. No more of this 21 to 22 minute stuff. He needs

to play, especially, you know, essentially they're down to 5D. They're playing Nikitian and you can see why they think he's a stud, but they don't yet trust Morrow fully. Morrow will be a good player, but he didn't play basically half the game, right Kyle? So in that situation, you can't rotate guys. You've got to lean on somebody. And they finally got Slaven up to 30 minutes. The concern for me is not that I think Slaven can handle that. Another guy who was brilliant was Brent Burns, who played 25 minutes. I thought it was one of his best

games of the year, if not the best. Now, if Burns hears this, he may feed me to one of his king cobras and I apologize in advance, but just at 40 years old he's in phenomenal shape. He's in superhuman shape. But can you depend on him to do that every two nights at this high level? That's a challenge. The challenge of being short, Chatfield and Walker if they can't return is that. Slaven, I think if you have to go to him for 30 minutes, it's not ideal, but he's at the peak of his career. Burns in 2017 or 18, hey man, I'd play him for 40 minutes, never mind 25.

I think that's one of the challenges. How often can you go to that? But the guy battled and I tipped my cap to them. They had to do what they did to win. The other thing I really liked was, this has been a really rough series for Taylor Hall, a really rough series for Taylor Hall. He got demoted to the fourth line. He had two one timers on the power play that he flubbed,

one of which almost went in anyway, but he flubbed. He's having a rough series. On the goal that was disallowed, Kyle, the one that was offside, and if Paul Maurice challenges an offside, you might as well just take the goal off the board anyway because they're never wrong with the Panthers. But they celebrate the goal and Lua Storinan like stands in the middle of their celly and starts bumping guys around and Hall leaves the celebration to go after him. And I just loved it. I loved that he did that. You know, he got pushed around a bit in the first period of this game. He gets demoted. He's not feeling great. He's there to score. He's not scoring, but he found another way to get himself involved and just stick up for the group. I really liked that. Carolina should have done that four games ago, but you can always start like you always have to start. I just thought that Carolina's overall attitude was

better and it's a big hole and there's no guarantee they're going to win another one, but they showed a lot more fight and that's what they have to do. I thought one of the most important stats for them besides, you know scoring more than the opposition. But in game three, Elliott, they gave up 14 chances to Florida off of turnovers, 14. And Gary Galley talked about how lethal the Panthers have been within five seconds of a turnover.

They only gave up one in all of game four. Really? It seemed like more than that. Really? I thought, I mean mean a little bit in the third period when they started to press, but Sporlogic only had it at one for the whole night. Like it just felt way different in terms of their mistakes feeding into what Florida was trying to do.

And as I'm sitting there watching the game there at ice level and Paul Maurice actually brought it up in the post game, it kind of felt like the Panthers in game six against Toronto with the chance to close it out. It's not that they were bad. It's not that they were way off their game. It just things weren't clicking. They got beat in sync. And they got beat. I don't know if it came across this way on TV. I mean, the puck bounces bounces down there most of the time. It was unbelievable in game four.

That was one of those nights? Oh yeah. Like those days were- It was like the heat we're playing? Pardon me? The heat we're playing? It was like basketball? Yes, yeah that's right. Like I'm waiting for Dwayne Wade to emerge from the shadows, but I like, it was reminded me of like playing road hockey growing up. And there were those times where for some inexplicable reason,

the orange hockey ball could not be found. And so you had to resort to like a tennis ball and it was just terrible because you couldn't stick handle, you couldn't make plays. The thing would bounce like crazy. It looked like it was a tennis ball out there. you couldn't make plays, the thing would bounce like crazy. It looked like it was a tennis ball out there. I always remember the orange road hockey ball brings up such great memories of going into my house and my legs being completely bruised from taking shots off them. Oh, such great memories. The orange hockey ball. Everybody out there has got an orange hockey ball memory. You know, the other thing I really like, first of all, I don't know if I'm buying that

they only committed one turnover that led to a chance. I'm not sure. Maybe, you know, Mike Kelly is a really bright guy. Maybe he just can't count to two. I'm not sure I'm buying that. But it was a way different game in that aspect. It was much better. I'm not arguing that, but I'm not necessarily. But it was a way different game in that aspect. It was much better. Way better. I'm not arguing that, but I'm not necessarily buying. It was only one. You know the other thing I really liked? Well, there's two.

Number one, Anderson. You know, when Anderson walked in on the rink with the team, he didn't exactly exude the confidence of the Stu Skinner strut from pregame three in Edmonton. But he battled like he he held his he held the net, got help from a post. That's fine. As Tom Barrasso said, you want me to stop the ones that aren't going in either. But he was good.

And I loved at the end of the game, the first empty netter when Svetsnikov gave it to Ajo. You did? I did. And I'll tell you why I did. I covered a game once where the Red Wings blew it on a play like that and Scottie Bowman lit into them. He said, this isn't charity. Score the goal.

We're here to win. But I think Svechnikov wanted Ajo to feel good. Aho has been taking a pounding this series. And also, he's their best player. When you don't score, it rests on him, right? That's the way it goes. You're at the top of the food chain offensively, it rests on you. He gave him a cookie. He wanted him to feel good. I like that. I know coaches don't always like that, as I said, but I liked that Svechnikov did that for Ajo. Yeah, I thought Ajo had a really great game, like as a whole. Yeah, like you talk about guys battling, he really dug in, was all around it. And I see what you mean. I mean, you can have a good game, but nothing beats the feeling of actually seeing it go in the back of the net. Goalie in or otherwise?

100%. I also love, so I guess we'll see lineup wise for game five, Reinhardt, Mikala, Greer all skated on Tuesday. So that's something to keep an eye on there. I also love, I guess Seth Jarvis was asked about, you know, some of the rookies that are being put in this moment and what he remembers about, I think when he was 21 years old, two years ago, playing against Florida, and he's like, it's not like I'm 40 here, guys.

Like I'm still a pretty young guy myself, the only way Seth Jarvis could. So a bit of life for Carolina. Yeah, I would like to talk about, I know that people didn't like the Kachak dive call. I really think this, and I believe strongly in this, anyone who listens to this pod, and thank you always, you know how much I hate diving. That call to me happens because number one, I think they wanted to even it up. They weren't sure it was a penalty but number two, There's so much

diving out there. The on ice officials are totally screwed up over it. They they can't tell what is a dive and what isn't at real speed. If you don't want that call, and I agree it was not embellishment in that case, although I love stall what he did, put his hands to his helmet. That was hilarious. If you don't want that call, the players have to stop diving and the teams have to tell their players to stop diving. When Kevin Dineen coached Florida, he had a big anti-diving thing.

He told his players, we will not dive. I would like to see more of that because it leads to calls like that one. Rod Brendan-Morse said, yeah, it's gonna take all 20 guys to win one game. We saw that in effect for game four. Can they do it again back at home to extend it to a game six back in Sunrise? Bigger question.

Will John Bartlett get his peach cobbler? Will whining on national television get John Bartlett his peach cobbler? What do you think the first question was amongst the crew after the game was over and we knew we were going back? Are we getting peach cobbler? The cobbler. You know, I have to say something to the great crew at NHL and Sportsnet and Hawkington Canada because we are surrounded by great crew members. If that is the first question after a game, it's not exactly helping the stereotype that media is only in it for the food. Hey, as you know, these are grinds. You gotta find joy where you can.

Third or fourth question, guys. Not the first question. Third or fourth question. What time's the flight? What time is call time? Do we have to pull cords out of the building after the game? Then we go with, is there going to be Peach Cobbler? Yeah, but you know, when you're in sync as a crew,

those first ones you just laid out, like, it's unspoken. Hey man. You know what the times are for all of those. I'm just trying to destroy the stereotypes out there that all of us are just in it for the free food. Cobbler watch is on for game five and rally. All right, why don't we get to the final thought. Brought to you by GMC, congratulations to the Minnesota Frost back-to-back

Walter Cup champions. All four games in the best of five final against the Ottawa charge went to overtime. Liz Shepard's had the championship winning goal, Elliott for the Frost, So congratulations to them. What a run for Ottawa had been kind of a tough regular season. They get into the playoffs. Montreal picked them in the opening round. They dispatch them, move on to the final, and we're right there with all four going beyond regulation.

Also wanted to shout out rookie netminder Gwyneth Phillips for each. So, Emirates Mashmire, who's like been a team Canada mainstay and has been the backstop for Ottawa since the PWHL launch, got hurt during the regular season, bad injury. So, rookie Gwyneth Phillips comes into the rescue. Her stat line over the playoffs, Elliot Elliott didn't lose in regulation right yes eight games four wins four losses in overtime a nine 52 save percentage and a one twenty three goals against average that was it was

like she was named playoff MVP so it was almost J.S. Shiger like with Anaheim in 2003. So impressive. Well, a couple things about that. It's an interesting comparison in the sense that so this is the second time a playoff MVP obviously has been awarded in the PWHL because it's the second time it's ever happened. And the losing goaltender in the championship final won the trophy. The second time the Kahn Smythe trophy was ever awarded was 1966. John Belloval won the first one and it was Roger Crozier, the losing goaltender in the Stanley Cup final as Montreal beat Detroit, Stanley Cup final as Montreal beat Detroit he won he won the Kahn Smythe trophy so he was the first goalie to win the award the first player ever to win it in a losing effort just goes to show doesn't matter who's playing it's hockey

Brilliant. Same for everyone it is hockey by way, I also got a note from a friend of mine who lives in the States. He said, the game ended in overtime while we were on the air, so I really wasn't paying a lot of attention in the moment. He said, the Walter Cup has now been won twice by American teams. He said, you guys can't win the Stanley Cup and you guys can't win the Walter Cup either. The drought's already beginning in the PWHL. I was like, those Four Nations medals look pretty good, pal. That's right. And now, now an offseason of real uncertainty across the league and in the P2A with Seattle and Vancouver coming in and the expansion draft, what only

three players are able to protect there for the first round of it. So there could be a lot of faces and new places come season number three in the PWHL. That was the final thought brought to you by GMC. No thought line this episode. We will come back with news and notes from around the league. 32 Thoughts, the podcast continues after this. Okay, welcome back. Elliot, a few other things to get to. So Matthew Darsh, we learned over the weekend, longtime member of the Tampa Bay Lightning,

now the new general manager of the New York Islanders. And now more shuffling to the Tampa front office. What's going on there? Yes, Kyle. So word got out on Tuesday afternoon that Stacy Roost, who'd been part of their brain trust for the last 12 years, he was the GM of the Syracuse Crunch is no longer part of the organization. Now, we'll see what happens here. It's not clear as we record this if he's going with say, DARS to the New York Islanders or LA or anywhere else. I just don't know at this point in time. So I don't want to say anything that proves to be wrong, but it just is interesting that the Tampa Bay Lightning are now without two key members of their brain trust over

the last decade. And I've heard that there are a lot of people who reached out when Darsh left saying, is there, what are you doing there? Is there a spot for me there? I have no doubt that once the news gets out about Roost, there'll be even more people who reach out and say now you've got two spots open. What are you doing there? From what I heard, Julian Breesbaugh,

and this will surprise no one who knows him, he has a plan. He's got some people in mind. He's a vault. He makes it very, very difficult. So I haven't figured out what is going on yet in terms of replacements as we record this on Tuesday. But you can always sense how a lot of teams would be content with, oh, this has been quite a decade. Two Stanley Cups, a third trip to the final. We're in

semi-retirement. That is not Julian Rizzois. That is not the Tampa Bay Lightning. He Brizebois that is not the Tampa Bay Lightning. He is going to be out there determined, especially since Florida has been so good. You can just see Brizebois grinding his teeth to that. And I just don't think that the lightning will ever take the pedal off the metal. But there's openings. People want them. Breeze why says he has a plan. Well, I wonder how they particularly approach the Syracuse crunch like the professional development side of

things for that organization, because we've heard Breeze why talk openly about how not so worried about picks when I know I've got the opportunity to bring in players that can help us win now. Like, they are in a position to approach that side of it a little differently than maybe some other organizations do. Do you still get the sense though that this is a team that is very bullish on building something beneath the NHL club that can lead to a track record of success and the pipeline continuing to funnel some more fines to go along with

how they go about bringing in guys to be part of the organization. I think you have I think you have to Kyle, like, you can never give up on drafting and developing. And if you remember when Tampa was at their peak, you look at some of the players. Like Andre Pallott was a late round draft pick. Yanny Gord was an absolute find of a player.

Like there were guys on that team who played big roles. Even Braden Point obviously wasn't the highest of high draft picks, right? Yeah, Alex Golan, Tyler Johnson. They found guys. You know, they don't have a lot of picks. They trade a lot for Janot. They trade a lot for Bjork, Stratton, and Gord this year.

But you have to be in a situation where you can find players, even if you're not picking high. And how many compliments did they get? How many stories were written about what geniuses Tampa were because they found these players, right? So you can never give up on that. And the other thing too about BreezeBlo is he is so competitive that I think it would bother him if Tampa allowed that to dry up for any longer period of time. He would look at it as I can still do it even if we don't have the high picks because he believes in himself and they've done it before. So I absolutely

think Kyle that's part of what they're thinking is we've done it before and we're going to do it again. All right they're always a fascinating organization to watch Elliot. How about other coaching updates? The three vacancies that remain Pittsburgh, Boston, Seattle. It's our, I guess, multi-weekly check-in. Where are we at? Yeah, you know what? Pittsburgh, I think, I heard they're getting to in-person visits. Here's some of the people I suspect are on that list. Mitch Love, I mentioned earlier this week, I think he was going to Pittsburgh this week.

I'm thinking DJ Smith. Oh, Toronto Connection. I'm thinking Jay Woodcroft. Okay. So those are, and I will always admit I could be missing names. There's always things out there I don't see. But I think those

I think those are three of Pittsburgh's finalists. Okay. Boston, there were dueling reports on Monday. There was one report that Woodcroft was negotiating a contract or compensation with Boston. And there was another report that Sturm is going to be the head coach. I have been on the Sturm train early. Someone said to me, you better get on this guy. He's got a good chance to be the next head coach of the Bruins. All I can tell you is that as we record this,

late Tuesday night slash Wednesday morning, I'm under the impression Sturm is supposed to still visit Boston. Now whether that's to do another interview or be given the job, I can't say that as we record it, but he's very much in it and I'm under the impression he's still supposed to visit the Bruins. So it wouldn't be surprising me at all

if that was eventually proven to be correct. Woodcroft, I think he's another serious contender there. I just got told the contract report I can't confirm that and I'm not interested in getting into fights over who's reporting water disputing anybody else's Reporting I'm really not interested in that at all. That's all I can tell you at this point in time I think those guys are both legit contenders for the job and I think those guys are both legit contenders for the job. And we'll see where it goes.

Like I said, I heard Sturm is still supposed to go to Boston to meet with the Bruins. We'll see where it all goes. I've heard Jay Leach's name in there and I've heard Joe Sacco's name in there. So as we record this late Tuesday, early Wednesday, I haven't been given an indication that either one of them has been told they're out but as I always say there's things I miss and situations change quickly at this time of year we'll see Seattle no change since last pod where I mentioned Lambert Quinn. I think Sturm and Love were in there too, but I just don't know that they were at

the most likely candidates there because they might have other options too. And wanted to see how those situations played out. All right. So as teams evaluate where they're at, where they hope to go as we inch closer to the official beginning of the offseason on July the 1st, Keandre Miller with the Rangers, Elliott. It wasn't an easy season for the entire team, wasn't an easy season for Miller individually. He's due a new contract as an RFA, is there anything percolating

for a potential change of scenery there? I remember a couple weeks ago or was it last week, I can't even remember now, like my, all these podcasts they just blend together. We talked about Bowen Byrom being out there, his name being out there. I had a couple people reach out and say, you should expand the names of some defensemen. There's some other defensemen out there. And one of them people said to me was Kayandre Miller that it's not a guarantee, but they are testing the

market on Miller. They want to know what it is. So we'll see where it goes. But his name is definitely out there. Twenty-five years old. Played 74 games last year, 7 goals, 20 assists. But great skater. Great skater. Trying season all around there on New

York. Anything else you want to touch on before we wrap this sucker up? Yes, one more thing. We've had to wait a few days to hear from Matthew Darsh after he was named as GM of the Islanders. I don't think it's because he hasn't been busy. I have heard that he's been reaching out to players. I think he met with Patrick Waugh, but I think he's been contacting players, kind of telling them the lay of the land, how things are going to look, what some of his initial plans are, just touching base. It sounds

like it was important to him and the Islanders that the players, as many of them and the coach, heard from him before the public did. Very good. And we should also point out, you know, it's been over a week since the maple leaf season came to an end, but we're going to hear from General Manager Brad Treleving. His end of season press conference will be tomorrow, Thursday at 10 a.m. So that's something to keep an eye on as well for your viewing pleasure tonight. However, game five, Eastern Conference final, the Panthers take another run at punching their ticket back to the Stanley Cup final in Raleigh.

Hockey Central pregame show, 730 Eastern, 430 Pacific, puck drop, game time a little after 8 Eastern. Will the Cobbler be present inside the Lenovo Center? It's what we're all wondering, Elliot. Expect the update on the pregame. By the way, I have to tell you, that hit you did, people don't realize that Kyle delayed the pod on Sunday night's taping for an hour because he said he had to do something. That open you did for game four, Carolina, Florida, was worth it. As I said after it aired, you should just quit. You can never do anything better than that.

That's the only downside of this series extending. It's like, okay, now what the heck do we do for game five after that? Cobbler. The cobbler. That's right. That's right. A photo. Hopefully it's there.

Bartlett should, if it's there, Bartlett should eat it on camera. Yeah. That's right. You wouldn't need much prompting. No, that's good. Scott Lennox, the producer, helped put the brains behind that. Michelle Mathot, director of photography. She did today.

Oh yeah. Nice. Matt Runge in the truck, putting it all together. It was just, yeah, a team effort. That's, that was a fun one to do. So that was great job. Great job. All right.

Have a good couple of days, everybody. Enjoy game five tonight. We'll speak to you again come Friday.